LANGUAGE AND THE EMOTIONS. 193 



other hand, to a return to coarseness. In coarseness there is still an 

 element of strength ; the terse monosyllable Avhich Bayard gave as a 

 retort to the summons of surrender is an instance. Had he said, 

 " Apr^s vous, messieurs ! " it would almost have been equally strong. 

 The coarseness of some of the earlier English novelists, I tliink, was 

 chiefly a reaction against the French manners of former periods. In 

 my limited personal experience, I have found that many young men, 

 who had spent their days with the ideal of " good form " before them, 

 have taken a childlike delight in using vulgar language when free from 



restraint. 



Language is to a certain extent an indicator of national character. 

 But we must not be led to a one-sided statement of the case. There 

 is an abuse, as well in the neglect or disuse of words expressive of feel- 

 ing as in the too facile application of such words. And I believe that 

 there is a faulty implication in De Quincey's remark quoted above, 

 especially in its application to the English character — the implication, 

 namely, that, where there is no verbal demonstration of feeling, we may 

 infer a greater depth of feeling. In fact, one frequently hears this as- 

 serted, and the proverb, " Still waters run deep," has contributed to 

 confirm such a belief. But this must not be hastily accepted. I be- 

 lieve that it is the extreme and just opposition against the equally 

 faulty assertion that, where there is no demonstrative feeling, there is 

 no feeling whatever. Falsehood, luckily, is not the normal manner of 

 expression, notwithstanding the proposition that " la parole a etk (lonnk, 

 d rhomme pour cacher sa 2)ens(i'i ; " ' and therefore I am inclined to be- 

 lieve that, cceteris paribus, feeling is more likely to be present where we 

 can perceive the outward signs of its existence, than where there is no 

 sign whatever ; as I am more inclined to believe that preciseness and 

 firmness of character are more likely to be possessed by the man who 

 takes great pains with the neatness and cleanliness of his person and 

 attire than by one who does not. But there are action and reaction be- 

 tween the care of the person and the cast of the character ; e. g., clean- 

 liness may be the outward expression of certain traits of character, and 

 when practised may again produce, or strengthen, or prolong these 

 traits. All education rests upon the fact of this interaction. We see 

 what is the desirable cast of mind by its outward manifestations, and 

 try to ingraft such a mental attitude by habitual practice of these mani- 

 festations. It has been suggested to me in conversation that the fact 

 of the lower orders, especially in the country, wearing their " Sunday 

 best," and generally attending to the neatness of their appearance on 

 Sundays, has a reviving and improving effect upon them. The work- 

 day customs, with rough language and more or less brutal indulgences, 

 are cast away with the work-day clothes, and there is a strong feeling 

 that outbursts would be out of keeping Avith such fine dress, and that a 

 man must act up to his (genteel) appearance. 



' Language was given to man to hide his thoughts. 

 VOI-. XIV. — 13 



