England and the English

Front matter

gl. Jlen»ntram-5latit«. ENGLAND AHD THE ENGLISH. BY EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, ESQ., M.P. AUTHOR OP « PELHAM," "EUGENE ARAM," "PAUL CLIFFORD," " PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE," &c *Ordinegentis * Mores, et stadia, et populos, et prœlia dicam." Virgil. * Every now .and then we should examine ourselves ; selfamendment is the offspring of self-knowledge. But foreigners do not examine our condition; they only glance at its sur face. Why should we print volumes upon other countries and be silent upon our own ? Why traverse the world and neglect the phenomena around us? Why should the spirit of our researches he a lynx in Africa-and a mole in England ? Why, in one word, should a nation be never criticised by a native ? " 1 PARIS, BAUDRY'S EUROPEAN LIBRARY, RUE DD COQ, NBAR THB LOUVsIE. SOLD ALSO BY" AMYOT, RUE DE LA TAIX ; TRUCHY, BOULEVARD DES 1TALIENS ; THEOPHILE BARROIS, JUN., RUE RICHELIEU: LIBRAIRIE DES ETRANCERS, RUE NEUVE-SAINT-AUGUSTIN; AND FRENCH AND ENOLISH LIBRARY, RUE VIVIENNE. 1834.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. It is only to express my thanks to certain kind correspondents for the assistance they have afforded me , that I shall delay the Reader from the work now before him. To one gentleman of the highest scientific attainments and reputation I am indebted for many suggestions, of which I have availed myself in my brief view of the " State of Science." To another gentleman, qualified, perhaps, before all men living, to judge profoundly of the philosophy of Bentham, I am also indebted for considerable aid in the sketch of that remarkable writer's moral and legislative codes, which will be found in the Appendix ; and to the taste and critical knowledge of a third gentleman I owe many obligations, in the chapter devoted to the survey of the " State of the Arts" amongst us at this time. To the last gentleman my acknowledgments are perhaps the greater, because he has suffered me, in his general approbation of my theories, to apply a part of his knowledge to some conclusions with which he does not wholly agree. London, July 9, 1833, CONTENTS. BOOK THE FIRST.

Chapter I. View Of The English Character

.Apology for Freedom with a great Name — National Prejudices illustrated — Distinctions between the Vanity of the French and English — The Root of our Notions is the Sentiment of Property — Anecdote of the French Patriot and the English one — The sense of Independence — Us Nature with us defined — Freedom not the Cause of Unsociability. — Effects of Commerce upon the Disposition to Gaiety — Story of the Dutchman and the English Merchant .......... l

Chapter II

The effect of the openness of public honours to the Plebeian counteracted by the Patrician influences — Mr. Hunt's bon mot — Character of Lord Lachrymal — Mistake ofthe People in their jealousy of tbe Crown — Causes that distinguish the influence of the English, from that of any other, Aristocracy — The numerous Grades of Society — How created — Spirit of imitation and vying — The Reserve and Orgueil of the English traced to their Causes — The Aristocracy operate on Character — Character on Laws — Want of Amusements among the Poor. ........ 8

Chapter III

Story of a Chinese Emperor — Applied to this work — Dislike to Foreigners, how caused — Abatement of the dislike — One cause, however, still continues — A necdote of a Russian, and his two visits to England — National Honesty and national Honour — English Generosity — Rather a characteristic of the People than the Nobles — Chivalry, the attribute more of the former than the latter — Illustrative Anecdotes — Regard for Character — Its consequences overrated, wherefore? — Common Sense, not a characteristic of the highest and lowest Classes — Causes and Effects of that common sense among the middle class — The accusation of the Ferocity of the English refuted — Pro- CONTENTS. pensity to suicide not a distinction of the English — The vitality of Ab surdities illustrated by the story of Archimedes — National Spirit of Industry — The last Adventure of Micromegas . . . . 19

Chapter IV

Courage of the English — Description of English Duelling — Valour of the English Army — Question of Flogging in the Army dispassionately considered — Its Abolition, to be safe, must be coupled with other Reforms in the Code .42

Chapter V. Supplementary Illustrations Of Character

The Sir Harry Hargrave of one party — The Tom Whitehead of another — William Muscle, of the Old School of Radicals — Samuel Square, a Pseudophilosopher of the New — My Lord Mute, the Dandy Harmless — Sir Paul Snarl, the Dandy Venomous — Mr. Warm, the Respectable Man — Mr. Cavendish Fitzroy, a corollary from the theorem of Mr. Warm — The English Thief— The Practical Man . 51 BOOK THE SECOND.

Chapter I. Society And Manners

Respect paid to Wealth— Fable from Quevedo— Fashion — Distinction between Fashion and Opinion— Contention between the Great and the Rich— The Love of Display — Anecdote of Lucien Bonaparte — First blow to Parade given by a Despot— Custom of Matchmaking— Marriages for Love not very common— Quin's bon mot applicable to the Herd of Elegans— Open Matchmaking is prejudicial to Sincerity, and contributes to Dulness— So poor an Ambition blights the Sympathy with public Virtue— Story of the Thurstons .—A clever Woman's Excuse for the Radicalism of her Nephew— Political Sentiment stronger among Females of the Middle and Lower Class — Anecdote of a Scot and Lot Voter, and his affianced— Power of Ridicule stronger with us than the French— More dangerous in its Influence over a grave than a frivolous People— Influence of Cliques— Society in the Provinces more natural and courteous than in London— Character of the Longuevilles— Clubs ; their salutary Effect— They contain the Germ of a great social Revolution .......... CONTENTS IX

Chapter II. Conversation And Literary Men

Inelegance os Conversation— With us the Court does not cultivate the Graces of Language — Samples of Dialogue — Literary Men ; their want of a fixed Position with us — They do not mix enough in Society to refine its Tone — Effect of Night Sittings in Parliament in diminishing the intellectual Attractions of Society— Men of Letters fall into three Classes— Characters of Nettleton, Nokes, and Lofty. ...... 77

Chapter III

The seeling of Melancholy and Weariness; how engendered — We grow out of it with Age — The Philosophy of Idleness, its Sadness — A Reason why we are a Religious People ........ 85

Chapter IV

Portrait of M , an Exclusive Reformed — Causes of his Amelioration — Fashion has received a Shock — Opinions travel upward, Manners downward — View of Society in a Manufacturing Town — The Manufacturers and the Operatives — Cause in Customs for a Movement in Politics-^Political Unions Injurious to the Popular Cause . . . . . 86

Chapter V. The Social Habits Of The Population

The Physical State of the inhabitants of Manufacturing Towns — Proportion of Deaths in a Manufacturing and Agricultural District no Standard ofthe Proportion of Disease — The Childhood of the Poor — Extract from Elia — Evidence on the Factory Bill — Progress to Manhood — Artificial Stimulus — Noble Traits of the Operatives, Desires better than their Condition — Immorality, two Causes, Physical and Moral — Excess of early Labour should be restricted — National Education promoted — Poor-laws are the History of the Poor — Indisposition to work, not want of it, is the Cause of Pauperism— Evidence ofthe Truth of that Proposition — Fable of Eriel and Mephistopheles — The Aged worse off than the Able-bodied — Relief considered aRight — Pernicious Influence of the Aristocracy — The Clergy vindicated — Public Charities, how prejudicial — Present Poor-laws deaden natural Affections of Parent and Child — Cause of Licentiousness — Inundations of the Irish — Remedies, difficulty of them exaggerated — Governments should be really executive, not merely executional— Outline of a proposed Reform in the Poor-laws— Concluding Remarks. ......... "* CONTENTS. X BOOK THE THIRD.

Chapter I. The Education Of The Higher Classes

Religion and Education, subjects legitimately combined— Quintilian's Remark against learning too hastily — We learn too slowly — Reason why Parents submit to a deficient Education for their Children — Supposition that Connexions are acquired at Schools considered and confuted — Supposition that Distinctions at a Public School are of permanent Advantage to the after Man — Its fallacy— Abolition of Close Boroughs likely to affect the Number sent to Public Schools— What is taught at a Public School ?— the Classics only, and the Classics badly. — The abuses of Endowments thus shown — The Principle of Endowments defended — In vain would we defend them unless their Guardians will reform — Tbe Higher Classes necessitated, for Self-preservation, to establish a sounder System of Education for themselves. 125

Chapter II. State Of Education Among The Middling Classes

Religion more taught in Schools for the Middle Orders than those for the Higher — But Moral Science equally neglected — King's College and the London University ......... 144

Chapter III. Popular Education

Governments require Strength in order to dispense with Violence — State of our popular Education — Report on Lord Brougham's Committee — The Poor defrauded of some Schools — Ousted from others — Ancient popular Education in England— How corrupted — Progress made by Sunday and Lancasterian Schools — Beneficial Zeal of the Clergy — Religion necessary to the Poor — A greater Proportion of our People educated than is supposed ; but how educated ! — Evidence on this Subject — The Class-books in the Schools at Saxe Weimar — Comparative Survey of popular Education in Prussia, &c. CONTENTS. XI

Chapter IV. View Of The State Of Religion

National Character evinced in the varying Modes of Christianity — Religion must not be separated from the Emotions and made solely a matter of Reason— A Semi-liberalism common to every Noblesse — Its debasing effects — Coldness in the Pulpit — Its Cause — The Influence of the Higher Classes on Religion — Church Patronage — Description of Country Clergymen — Evidence of the Bishop of London upon New Churches — Another (a political) Cause of Weakness in the Established Church — But the Established Church should (if reformed) be preserved — Reasons in savour os it — But if a State Religion, it should become more a Portion of the State . 160

Chapter V. The Sabbath

Theological error of the Puritans — Over-restraint produces Over-loosenes* — The Preservation of the Sabbath regarded in a legislative point of view — Two Caases of Demoralization connected with its infringement — How amended — Amusement better than Idleness, the French Boor and the English — Instruction better than Amusement — Rope-dancer and Philosopher — Ridiculous Questions of the Sabbath Committee — Two Deductions to be drawn from it — The Evidence before it — Corroboration of the Principle of this Work 174

Chapter VI. State Of Morality

A popular Error confuted, by tracing the origins of Morality, Religion, and Philosophy — Importance of studying Morality as a Science — Invariable Injury both to Religion and Morals, where Ecclesiastics alone have taught Morality — Advantage to Religion in the cultivation of Moral Science — The English backward in the Science, hence Faults in their Morality — Erroneous Laws — Distinction between public and private Virtue — Regard to Appearances — Anecdote of the Opera-dancer — Abstract Science necessary to practical Results — Religious Rules misapplied — Bishop, the Murderer — Public Charities — Too much Influence assigned to Fear — Want of Morality shown in Taxes — Gin-drinking — Progress of Intemperance — Singular Evidence on that Point — Too exclusive a regard for Sexual Decorum baffles itself — State of Liscentiousness in this Country — All our Notions vague and vacillating — Want of Moral Science leaves the Influences to the World, hence exaggerated respect to Wealth and Station ..... 181

Chapter VII. What Ought

TO" BE THE AIM OF ENGLISH MORALISTS IN THIS AGE. Influence of Moral Philosophy upon the World — Evils of our exclusive Attention to Locke — Philosophy the Voice of a certain Intellectual Want — What is that Want in our Day — What should be the true Moral to inculcate — Picture of a Moralist. 1S9 CONTENTS. XII BOOK THE FOURTH.

Chapter I. View Of The Intellectual Spirit Of The Time

The Influence of the Press — Is the Influence rather of Opinion than of Knowledge — Its Voice more true with respect to Things than Persons — The Duke of Wellington's Horse versus Lord Palmerston's — The Press represents — Whom?— Those who buy it! — Important Deduction from this Fact— Not the Poor, but the Hangers on of the Rich who buy the Scurrilous papers — The Valet and the Mechanic — If one Part of the Press represents, another Part originates Opinion — The preservation of the anonymous in Periodicals — Its effects — Difference between a French Editor and an English — Why is the Press Anti-aristocratic? — Effects of Removing the Newspaper Duties ; — The Intellectual Spirit of the Times — Eastern Tradition . . 195

Chapter II. Literature

Observation of a German — Great Writers and no great Works — The Poverty of our present Literature in all Departments, save the Imaginative — History — Political Composition — The Belles Lettres peculiarly barren — Remarks on the Writings of Disraeli, Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, and Southey — Causes of the Decline of the Belles Lettres, and the undiminished Eminence of fictitious Literature alone — The Revolution that has been wrought by Periodicals — The Imaginative Faculty has reflected the Philosophy of the Age — Why did Scott and Byron represent the Mind of their Generation ? — The Merit of Lord Byron's earlier Poems exaggerated — Want of Grandeur in their Conception — The Merit of his Tragedies undervalued — Brief Analysis in support of these Opinions — Why did the Tragedies disappoint the World ? — The Assertion that Byron wanted Variety in* dramatic Character contradicted — The Cause of the public Disappointment — The Age identified itself with him alone — Recollections of the Sensations produced by his Death— Transition of the Intellectual Spirit of the Period from the ideal to the actual — Cause of the craving for fashionable Novels — Their Influence — Necessity of cultivating the Imagination — Present intellectual Disposition and Tendency of the Age .... CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter III

Cheap Works — Diffusion of Knowledge — Its necessary Consequences — Writers are less profound in proportion as the public are more numerous — Anecdote of Dr. Suggestions how to sill the Fountain while we diffuse the Stream — Story of the Italian Master ..... 256

Chapter IV. Style

More clear, natural, and warm than formerly — but less erudite, and polished — More warm, but more liable to extravagance — Cause of the success of fiction — Mr. Starch and his dogmas — Every great writer corrupts his language^ — The Classic School and the Romantic — Our writers have united the* two • . 262

Chapter V. The Drama

The public do not always pay for their Amusement — The State of the French Theatre — The French Drama murders and the English robs — Vulgar Plagiarism from the old Dramatists — Jack Old-Crib — The Influence of the Laws — Want of able Dramas, but not of dramatic Talent — Should Political Allusions be banished from the Stage ? — Inquiry into what should be the true Sources of Dramatic Interest — The Simple and the Magnificent — The Simple considered — Kings no longer the fitting agents of the Tragic emotion — Ancient Rides of TTagic Criticism are therefore not applicable to Modern Times — Second Source of Dramatic Interest — The Magnificent considered — In Melodrame are the Seeds of the new Tragedy, [as in Ballads lay the Seeds of Modern Poetry ......... 266

Chapter VI. Moral Philosophy

Each great Movement has its Philosophy — The Philosophy of our time is that of the Economists — Moralists not silenced but affected by the tone of general speculative research— Ours are therefore of the material school — Bailey- Mill — Hazlitt — Bentham— Character of Bentham's Philosophy, &c. — Bentham greater as a Legislator than Moralist — Insufficiency of the greatest happiness principle — Singular that no ideal school has sprung up amongst us — Professorships the best means to advance those studies which the public cannot reward. . . . ... . . . 279

Chapter VII. Patronage

Patronage as influencing Art and Science— Two sorts of Patronage — that of Individuals, that ofthe State — Individual Patronage in certain case** perni- CONTENTS. cious — Individual Patronage is often subserviency to Individual Taste — Domestic Habits influence Art — Small Houses— The Nobleman and his two Pictures— Jobbing— What is the Patronage of a State ? That which operates in elevating the people, and so encouraging Genius — The qualities that obtain Honours are the Barometers of the respect in which Intellect, Virtue, Wealth, or Birth are held— The remark of Helvetius— Story of a man of Expectations — Deductions of the chapter summed up . . 287

Chapter VIII. The State Of Science

The public only reward in Science that which is addressed to their wants — The higher science cannot, therefore, be left to their encouragement — Examples of one man accomplishing the invention of another, often through want of mechanical means in the inventor — If the Public cannot reward the higher sciences, the State should — How encouraged here — Comparison between the Continent and England in this respect — Three classes of scientific men ; the first nothing can discourage ; the last the public reward ; the intermediate class disheartened by indifference — Aristocratic influence deleterious by means of the Royal Society — Number of lesser Societies on branches of knowledge — The nature of Ambition— Its motives and objects common to philosophers as to other men. ..... 293

Chapter IX. The State Of The Arts

Late rise ofthe art of painting in England — Commencement ofthe Royal Academy — Its infidelity to its objects — In two respects, however, it has been serviceable — Pictorial art higher in this country and more generally cultivated than in any other — But there is an absence of sentiment in our painters — The influence of the Material extends from philosophy to art — True cause of the inspiring effect of Religion upon Art. — Sculpture — Chantrey — Gibson. — Historical painting — Haydon, &c. — Martin — Iiis wonderful genius — New source of religious inspiration from which he draws — His early hardships — Portrait Painting — Its general badness. — Fancy pictures — Wilkie characterized. — Landscape painting — Turner. — Miscellaneous — E. Landseer — Water-colours — Engraving- — Arts applied to manufactures — The caprices of Fashion. — Sitk-working — Anecdote of Court patriotism. — Architecture — Introduction of the Greek school — Corrupted, not corrected it — The unoriginal always the inappropriate in architecture as in poetry — We must find the first principles in the first monuments — Not of other nations but our own. — Summing up of the above remarks. .... 304

Chapter X. Supplementary Characters

Lord Plume — Sneak — Mendlehon — St. Malo, the young Poet — His Opposite, Snap, thc Philosopherling — Gloss Crimson, the Rojal Academician. CONTENTS. XV BOOK THE FIFTH.

Chapter I

A VIEW OF OUR POLITICAL STATE. Address to the people. — Resume of the principal bearings of former portions of this work.— Our social errors or abuses not attributable either to a Monarchy or an Established Church ..... 327

Chapter II

The King has no interest counter to that of the people — Corruption lucrative only to the Aristocracy — The last scarcely less enemies to the King than to the People — The loyalty of Lord Grey — The assertion, that to weaken the Aristocracy weakens the Crown, contradicted — The assertion, that an Aristocracy protects the People from the Crown, equally false — Ancient dogmas inapplicable to modern times — The Art of Printing divides, with a mighty gulf, the two great periods of civilization — A Republic in this country > ould be an unrelieved Aristocracy — The feeling of the People is aristocratic — A certain Senator's boast — The destruction of titles would not destroy the aristocratic power — The advantage of Monarchy. . . 329

Chapter III

The Monarchy shown to be less expensive than is believed. — An excuse for defending what Whigs say no one attacks .... 337

Chapter IV

The House of Lords not to be confounded with the Aristocracy — Caution against the advice of Journalists — Objections to a numerous creation of Peers — The people proved to be less strong than they imagine — The abolition of the House of Lords proved to be dangerous to the safe working of tbe Commons — A third mode of reforming a second chamber, but the people are not prepared for it . . . . . . . 339

Chapter V

A reformed Code os Opinion the best method of reforming Ihe great Errors of the Legislation. ........ CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. The State Of Parties

The Tories; they are not extinct — Two great Divisions among them — Sir Robert Peel described — His very Merits displease one Division of this Party — That Division characterized — The Ultra Radicals — The Ministerial Party — Unity necessary to Government— The advantage of a new National Party 344

Chapter VIII

Who should compose this Party, and what should be its objects. — The advantage and necessity of strong Government — Only to be obtained by the corge policy, of merging people and Government in the name of State. — The difference between the People and the Public. — Obstacles to the formation of a National Party in the perils that threaten the Country. 356 CHAPTER THE LAST. The Author's Apology. 362

Appendix

. ( A ). POPULAR EDUCATION. Necessity of a Minister and Board of Instruction — Education has been retarded by the Indiscretion of its Defenders — Necessity of making Religion its Groundwork — The Difficulties of differing Sects how obviated — Reference to Prussia — The Expediency of incorporating Labour Schools with all Intellectual Schools — Heads of a proposed National Education — Schools for Teachers — Evidence adduced of their Necessity and Advantage — How shall the Schools be supported as to Funds. ..... 367 Appendix B. — Remarks on Bentham's Philosophy. . . 376 Appendix C— Mr. Mill, his Mind and Writings .... BOOK THE FIBST. VIEW OF THE ENGLISH CHARACTER. INSCRIBEn TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRINCE TALLEYRAND. ■ Before you can rectify the disorders of a state, you must examine the character of the people."

VOLTATHE. ■* I am he Have measured all the shires of England over, For to these savages I was addicted To search their natures and make odd discoveries." The New Inn. Ben jonson. Act 5. Scene s». VIEW OF THE ENGLISH CHARACTER.

Chapter I

Apology for Freedom with a great Name — National Prejudices illustrated — Distinctions between the Vanity of the French and English — The Root of our Notions is the Sentiment of Property — Anecdote of the French Patriot and the English one — The sense of Independence — Its Nature with us defined — Freedom not the Cause of Unsociability — Effects of Commerce upon the Disposition to Gaiety — Story of the Dutchman and the English Merchant. I am about, in this portion of my work, to treat of the character of my countrymen: for when a diplomati,st like your Excellency is amongst them, they may as well be put upon their guard. I shall endeavour to tell my countrymen the causes that have stamped with certain impressions the National Character, in the belief that the knowledge of self is a better precaution against deceit, than even the suspicion of others.

I inscribe this portion of my work to your Excellency on the same principle as that on which the Scythian brought to Darius a mouse, a bird, a fish, and a bundle of arrows : — they were the symbols of his nation, and given as instructions to its foe. I make up also my bundle of national symbols, and I offer them to the representative of that great people with whom for eight centuries we have been making great wars, occasioned by small mistakes. Per haps if the symbols had been rightly conslrued a little earlier, even a mouse and a fish might have taught us better. A quarrel is, nine times out of ten, merely the fermentation of a misun derstanding. I have another reason for inscribing these preliminary chap ters to Prince Talleyrand : this is not the first time he has been NATIONAL PREJUDICES. amongst us — great changes have been over the world during. the wide interval between his first and his present visit to Eng land.

Those changes which have wrought such convulsions in states, have begun by revolutions in the character of nations ; — every change in a constitution is occasioned by some change in the people. The English of the present day are not the Eng lish of twenty years ago. To whom can I dedicate my observations on the causes that influence character so fittingly as to the man who can read character at a glance. The consciousness that I set over my testimony so penetrating a judge must make me doubly scrupulous as to its accuracy : and my presumption in appealing to such an arbiter, is an evidence, indeed, of teme rity ; but it is also a proof of my honesty, and a guarantee for my caution. I remember to have read in an ancient writer/ of a certain district in Africa remarkable for a fearful phenomenon.

" In that climate," says our authority, " the air seemed filled with gigantic figures of strange and uncouth monsters sighting (or in pursuit of J each other. These apparitions were necessarily a little alarming to foreigners, but the natives looked upon them with the utmost indifference " Is not this story an emblem of national prejudices ? The shadowy monsters that appal the stranger seem ordinary enough to us ; we have no notion of a different atmosphere, and that which is a marvel to others is but a commonplace to yourselves. Yet if the native is unob servant, your Excellency will allow that the traveller is credulous; and if sometimes the monsters are unremarked by the one, sometimes also they are invented by the other. Your Excellency remembers the story of the French Jesuit, who was astonished to find priestcraft in China ; the man who practised it in the name of the Virgin thought it a monstrous piece of im pudence to practise it in the name of Fo !

In the same spirit of travel you read of an Englishwoman complaining of rudeness in America, and a German prince affecting a republican horror at an aristocracy in England. His Excellency, Prince Talleyrand, knows better than the whole corps of diplomatists how small a difference there is really between man and man — the stature and limbs vary little Diodorus Siculus. ANECDOTE OF THE CALLATIANS. 3 in proportions — it is the costume that makes all the distinction. Travellers do not sufficiently analyse their surprise at the no velties they see, and they often proclaim that to be a difference in the several characters of nations, which is but a difference in their manners. One of the oldest illustrations of national prejudice is to be found in Herodotus. The Greeks in the habit of burning their parents were wonderfully indignant at the barba rity of the Callatii, who were accustomed to eat them.

The Persian king summons the Callatii before him in the presence of the Greeks: — "You eat your fathers and mothers — a most excellent practice — pray, for what sum will you burn them ?" The Callatii were exceedingly disgusted at the question. Burn their parents ! They uttered yells of horror at so inhuman a suggestion ! The Callatian and the Greek experienced filial affection in an equal degree, but the man who made a dinner of his father would have considered it the height of atrocity to have made a bonfire of him. The passions are universally the same — the expression of them as universally varying. Your Excellency will allow that the French and the English are both eminently vain of country — so far they are alike — yet if there be any difference between the two nations more strong than another, it is the manner in which that vanity is shown.

The vanity of the Frenchman con sists (as I have somewhere read) in belonging to so great a country : but the vanity ofthe Englishman exults in the thought that so great a country belongs to himself. The root of all our notions, as of all our laws, is to be found in the sentiment of property. It is my wife whom you shall not insult; it is my house that you shall not enter ; it is my country that you shall not traduce ; and by a species of ultra-mundane appropriation, it is my God whom you shall not blaspheme ! We may observe the different form of the national vanity in the inhabitant of either country, by comparing the eulogia which the Frenchman lavishes on France, with the sarcastic despon dency with which the Englishman touches upon England. A few months ago I paid a visit to Paris : I fell in with a French marquis ofthe Bourbonite politics: he spoke to me ofthe present state of Paris with tears in his eyes.

I thought it best to sympathize and agree with him : my complaisance was displeas ing : — he wiped his eyes with the air of a man beginning to i * THE ENGLISH PATRIOT take offence. " Nevertheless, sir," quoth he, " our public buildings are superb !" I allowed the fact. " We have made great advances in civilization." There was no disputing the proposition. " Our writers are the greatest in the world." I was silent. " En fin — what a devil of a climate yours is, in comparison to ours!" I returned to England, in company with a Frenchman, who had visited us twenty years since, and who was delighted with the improvement he witnessed in London ; I introduced him lo one of our patriots, — " What a superb street is Regent-street," cried the Frenchman. "Pooh, sir, mere lath and plaster!" replied the patriot.