26 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
26 chapters
To Jonathan.
To Jonathan.
You have been kind enough to receive favorably two volumes of unpretentious impressions of your great and most hospitable country, published in 1889 and 1891. You are a dear friend and a delightful fellow. You are on the road that will safely lead you to the discovery of everything that can insure the prosperity of the land of which you are so justly proud. Yet the Old World can teach you something; not how to work, but how to live. I have drawn a few sketches for you. Perhaps they will show you
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
People very often speak ill of their neighbors, not out of wickedness, but merely out of laziness; it is so much easier to do so than to study their qualities and all the circumstances that might oblige you to change your opinion. For instance, some fifty years ago, a great English wit, Sydney Smith, said that it required a surgical operation to make a Scotchman understand a joke. Well, an English joke, he probably meant. However, the satire was neatly expressed. When the English get hold of a g
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Would you know what an Englishman is—let him be a duke's son, officer in Her Majesty's service, student, schoolboy, clerk, shopboy, gentleman, or street rough? Well, an Englishman is a lusty fellow, fearless, hardy, and strong-knit, iron-muscled, and mule-headed, who, rather than let go a ball that he holds firmly in his arms, will perform feats of valor; who, to pass this ball between two goals, will grovel in the dust, reckless of lacerated shoulders, a broken rib or jawbone, and will die on a
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Jacques Bonhomme is a small landowner, fond of his country, his cottage, his fields, his cow, and his gros sous . His great aim is to be independent of the world, and to this end he takes great care of his pence, and has no need of any French John Bright to tell him that if he does so, the pounds will take care of themselves; it is a sentiment inborn in him. If you wish to make him happy, when he brings you a load of wood or a cask of cider, pay him in silver five-franc pieces—his coin of predil
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Jacques Bonhomme's wife is the fortune of France. Hard-working, thrifty, sober, you will always see her busy, either working in the field, selling her wares in the market-place of the nearest town, or engaged about her little household. She is the personification of industry, and when the winter of life comes on, you will find her by the chimney corner, or near the cottage door, keeping watch over the little ones, while she knits or spins; it is with her needles or her distaff in her hand that s
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Joseph Prudhomme, whom the Anglo-Saxon people are fond of representing as a fighting cock, sighing constantly after glory and conquest, is a modest proprietor, peaceful, home-loving, steady-going, whom his mother calls " petit ," and his wife leads by the nose. Glory and conquests! he has had enough of all that: it is peace that he asks for at the top of his voice. Like his social inferior, Jacques Bonhomme, the only conquest that he hankers after, is the conquest of that independence which is a
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
To an impartial observer, who goes on his way philosophizing, and keeping his eyes open to what passes on either side of the English Channel, it is really a very amusing sight to see how the two countries seem to make it their aim, each to do the contrary of what the other does. Will you have a few rather diverting illustrations, taken right and left? When we are in difficulties, we take our watch to our aunt ; the English take theirs to their uncle . In France, the curé has a certain number of
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Two incidents that took place lately, in Paris and London respectively, may serve to illustrate French impulsiveness and English sangfroid . The other evening the opera "Les Huguenots" was played at the Grand Opera. The singer who took the part of Marcel was out of sorts, and sang flat. An old gentleman, seated in an orchestra stall, was observed to be restless and uncomfortable during the performance. At the end of the last act, Marcel passes before the church, just at the moment when the Duke
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
The French and the English have this very characteristic feature in common: they can stand any amount of incense; you may burn all the perfumes of Arabia under their noses, without incommoding them in the slightest degree. With this difference, however, in the extremes. The French boaster is noisy and talkative. With his mustache twirled defiantly upward, his hat on one side, he will shout at you, at the top of his voice that, [1] " La France, Mon sieur, sera toujours la Fr-r-rance, les Français
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
The French social failure is generally a radical. If he had cared to do as plenty of others do (and seeing you prosperous, he accompanies this with an expressive glance), if he had cared to intrigue and curry favor, he too could have cut a figure in the world. But unhappily for himself, he does not know how to disguise his opinions; he is, according to the formula, poor but honest. It is his pride that leads him to avoid the lucky ones of the earth; he has no desire to be taken for a schemer. If
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Languages have this in common with many mortals; when they borrow they do not return. This is perhaps a happy thing, for when borrowed words do get returned, good Heavens! what a state they come home in! We thought we were doing a fine thing in taking the words ticket , jockey , budget , tunnel , fashion from the English. They are, however, but French words mutilated, and there is not much to be proud of in reacquiring them. The English had borrowed of us étiqueter, jacquet ( petit Jacques ), bo
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Humor is a subtle, witty, philosophical, and greatly satirical form of gayety, the outcome of simplicity in the character, that is met chiefly among English-speaking people. Humor has not the brilliancy, the vivacity of French wit, but it is more graceful, lighter, and above all more philosophic. A sarcastic element is nearly always present in it, and not unfrequently a vein of sadness. There is something deliciously quiet and deliberate about humor, that is in perfect harmony with the English c
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
To think that those worthy French and English people, who only live twenty-one miles from each other, should not be able to exchange visits without first making acquaintance with the mal de mer ! To think that this must be the last impression that each one takes home with him! The mal de mer ! That uninteresting complaint which awakes no pity in the breast of man! ⁂ The sky is serene, a light breeze gently fans your cheek, the water in the harbor is as smooth as a sheet of glass. You timidly ask
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
British philosophy! Why not English Philosophy ? The difference is enormous. If I were to publish a treatise on the English philosophers, Bacon, Locke, Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Frederic Harrison, etc., I should call my work: "A Study of English Philosophy." But if I said to you that the English, not having succeeded in regaining Khartoum, contented themselves with regaining the road to England, I should add, that is British philosophy. You would not say, "History of British Literature," you
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
It would be imprudent, not to say impudent, to attack the subject of English snobs. There are themes which seem marked "Dangerous ground." If the French want to know all about English snobs, they must turn to Thackeray, who has completely exhausted the subject. ⁂ The snob is the man who is utterly destitute of nobility. I should like to explain the word etymologically thus: Snob from S. Nob . ( Sine Nobilitate ). The snob is the man who is ashamed of his origin, and wishes to occupy a better pla
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
The Anglophobist of the purest water that France ever produced, was the late Marquis de Boissy, senator of the second Empire. This witty, eloquent, spirited old Gaul, was the soul of the august assembly, the only member of it who was not either stuffed or embalmed, and his memory alone will save it from oblivion. His philippics will long ring in the ears of the French. Whether he was in the tribune treating the subject of home or foreign politics, or whether he was making a speech at the agricul
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
A worshiper of grace and beauty, the Frenchman has given to woman a place which she occupies in no other nation. Since the days when Aspasia inspired Socrates and advised Pericles, in no other country has woman's sovereignty been so supreme as it has always been, and still is, in France. The Frenchman is keenly alive to woman's influence, and woman is an ever-present, a fixed, idea with him. Whether he study her from the artistic, physiological, or psychological point of view, his interest in he
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
The various religions in existence were founded by men of different nations to suit their own character. The French, impressionable and fond of pompous pageants, adopted a mystical religion, which addresses itself to their senses; the English, cool and argumentative, preferred a religion which addresses itself to their reason. This is why churches in France savor of the theater, and churches in England savor of the lecture-room. ⁂ Calvinism did not take root in France, and never will, because it
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Nothing is done for mere glory in England, every undertaking has a practical aim. In France, every intelligent boy of the middle class goes through his classical studies; even though he may only be intended for a commercial career, his father makes him try to pass his B. A. or B. Sc. In England, boys learn Latin and Greek in order to pass examinations, which lead to certain positions. With us, education is an indispensable ornament; here, it is a means to an end. Thus, though primary education m
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
Everyone accounted for our disasters of 1870 after his own fashion. The most ingenious theories were brought forward, and we very well know why we believe it to be indispensable and patriotic to learn German. "Ah!" cried some, "if we had only known German, we should not have been defeated." And forthwith instruction in German was decreed obligatory. "That is not it," said others, "it is our geography, of which we did not know even the rudiments, that has been the cause of all the evil. On leavin
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
"If," as M. Rénan says, [6] "those nations which have an exceptional fact in their history expiate this fact by long sufferings and pay for it with their national existence—if the nations that have created unique things by which the world profits often die victims of their achievements," England may hope to live a considerable time yet, for everything that she undertakes is national, never universal. She works for herself and herself alone. Whenever she is asked to co-operate in the execution of
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
How is it that the French are such vandals with regard to their country and their institutions, seeing that the love for their family, respect for their parents, and veneration for souvenirs, are such marked features in their character? The fact is that France is towed unresistingly by Paris, and that we often have to say "the French," when in reality we only mean "the Parisians." We are accused of no longer having much respect for anything. Alas! that it should be impossible to deny such an acc
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
Obedience is the watchword of England. The Englishman revolts only against injustice, and that but figuratively. Brought up to respect the law, it is in the name of the law that he demands redress for his grievances, and by the law that he obtains it. Dieu et mon droit , such is his device; notwithstanding that he has rather monopolized the first, and that his definition of the second is a trifle vague, it is certain that by them he is stimulated to do great deeds. ⁂ Take the schoolboy, for inst
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Ah! what I envy the English is that security for the morrow, which they owe to a form of government no one, so to speak, thinks seriously of questioning. The Englishman is the stanchest monarchist, and at the same time the freest man in the world, which proves that freedom is compatible with a monarchial government. There is no French Legitimist more royalist than he, there is no French Republican more passionately fond of liberty; nay, I will go so far as to say that, in France, people would be
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
The existence of a hereditary House of Lords is a standing insult to the common sense of the English people. England is governed by the eldest sons of the aristocracy. Now, all who have had much to do with youth are perfectly agreed that, as a rule, the eldest son is the least intelligent in each family. The first born is a ballon d'essai . Moreover, the eldest son of the aristocrat is the sole heir to his father's title and estates. He knows that the fortune cannot escape him. And so, at school
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
France, ruined by the wars and extravagances of Louis XIV., exasperated by the turpitudes of Louis XV., encouraged by the weakness of Louis XVI., revolts. Thrones tremble, and the whole world is awe-struck at the terrible Revolution. Kings league themselves together against her; but such is her might that, with soldiers half armed, half clothed, half fed, she puts to flight the allied armies of the enemies, who had sworn to crush her. Up rises a man and wrests from her all the liberty she had ju
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter