414 France and Miladi Morgan. [Ocr. 



observance, are actually grounded on a prevalent disdain of the people, 

 and a total want o sympathy with humanity ! Concluding, by her pro- 

 found opinion, ' That the English church is no longer confounded 

 with the church of Christianity.' 6n which subjects she of course con- 

 siders herself a very competent authority. 



" The fact, with respect to the mode of passing the Sabbath in 

 France, is, that from its ravenous pursuit of every low indulgence, the 

 humbler ranks have suffered their chief corruption ; all the low places 

 of refreshment, the drinking-houses, the dancing-booths, the gaming- 

 houses where one may stake from sous to Napoleons, and worse haunts, 

 if possible, than the gaming-houses, are in full glory on the day which 

 you in England give to attendance in church, or innocent family meet- 

 ings at home when the church service is done. In my residence in 

 your country, I saw nothing more pharisaical in the Sabbath than that 

 your men generally went to church, which here they scarcely ever do, 

 and that after it they walked about with their wives and children. The 

 shops, 'tis true, were not open ; nor the theatres ; which I conceived 

 added to the natural enjoyment of the day of rest, by relieving the 

 keepers of the shops, and the persons who belong to those theatres, 

 from their labour, and sending them out to enjoy the fresh air, the use 

 of their limbs, and the meeting with their friends. 



" Without pretending to be wiser or better than the rest of the world, 

 I thought I saw great benevolence in the original designation of one day 

 in the week, if it were merely a day for the labourer to say that he 

 would take his rest, to relieve the working cattle, and to refresh the gene- 

 ral mind by a relaxation of the perpetual anxieties and toils of their 

 being. I say nothing of its importance to higher feelings, of its being a 

 lasting monument to mankind of the hand of the Creator, a sacred 

 interval devoted to sacred recollections, and a period to bring back the 

 thoughts of dignity and virtue that make all the true strength and value 

 of human nature. 



" In France, on the contrary, in its peculiarly crowded theatres, its 

 giddy foolery, and its reckless dissipation on the Sunday, I saw nothing 

 indeed pharisaical, but a vast deal that was gross, scandalous, and cor- 

 rupting. I think that I could, without much difficulty, trace to it three- 

 fourths of that ferocious rage for gaming among the men, and that 

 wretched disregard of character among the women, which make the 

 melancholy distinction of my country. 



" But to give you a more favourable impression of our taste in 

 authors and authorship, than I am inclined to think you have, take the 

 opinion of one of the most eminent names of French literature, who 

 has just seen her book on my table. 



tf ' Ah,' said he, ' Miladi Morgan again and FRANCE, too ! Pray is 

 not this a bookselling ruse ? for she has written about nothing outside the 

 barrier, and Paris is not yet France. Why does she not scribble non- 

 sense on her own country, and let ours alone? I have seen her here, 

 and she is of all bores the bore par excellence. She is sixty years old. 

 What can be the use of her staying in this world ? she has long since 

 gone through the whole course allotted to her highest hopes. She has 

 toadied and gossipped, till her toadyism of the great, and her gossip of 

 the little, were as well known and as wearisome .here as her London 

 wig and rouge. She has read bad novels and praised them in 

 print j she has written bad novels, and puffed them in all kinds of 



