324 The Bight Bev. The Lord Bishop of London [Fob. 5, 



for the growth of a national spirit, as the limits in which their actual 

 life was lived were too narrow to express that life in its fulness. A 

 nation could only be formed by the power and influence of a 

 dominant and resolute personality. Hence men were so interested 

 in the development of such a personality that they were ready to 

 watch various experiments and to endure much tyranny in the hopes 

 of final success. This created a curious accentuation of the value of 

 individual character, and an absence of any sense of its limitations, 

 which was undoubtedly fitted to produce picturesqueness, but had 

 serious drawbacks in practice. 



In the same way, the historical circumstances of the consolidation 

 of the provinces of France under the Monarchy developed a high ap- 

 preciation of individual character ; and the keenly logical intelligence 

 of the French mind gave it a permanent place in literature. 



England, on the other hand, became in early times an organised 

 community, and there was no violent break in the pursuit of this or- 

 ganisation. I cannot now trace in detail the results of the different 

 course of English and French history as reflected in the characters of 

 the people. But this at least is obvious : the average Frenchman 

 conceives of himself as having a right to gratify his individual desires, 

 without thought of others, to a degree unknown to the average 

 Englishman. French civilisation is concerned with the arrangement 

 of the externals of life in the most comfortable way. English civili- 

 sation is concerned primarily with political institutions and with 

 the organisation of the activities of life. The Frenchman conceives 

 himself as an individual, the Englishman conceives himself as part 

 of a community. The Frenchman, though wedded to his own country, 

 and having no desire to leave it, still considers himself as a citizen 

 of the world. The Englishman, though a rambler and an adventurer, 

 ready to make his home anywhere, still considers himself an English- 

 man wherever he goes. France took for the motto of its aspirations 

 " Liberty, Fraternity, Equality." I believe that if England* had had 

 occasion to formulate its aspirations in the same way, its motto would 

 have run " Liberty, Justice, Duty." 



Now picturesqueness is obtained by isolating men from their 

 surroundings, by getting clear-cut situations. To this a Frenchman 

 lends himself ; he is accustomed to think and act by and for himself. An 

 Englishman objects to isolation ; however much he may be alone, and 

 however decidedly he may act, it is as a representative of England, 

 with a mass of national tradition behind him, which he would not 

 rid himself of if he could. He will take enormous responsibility 

 upon himself, but while taking it repudiates it. He minimises his 

 own individual part in what he does, and is persistently apologetic. 



1 think I can illustrate my meaning from our literature. Shake- 

 speare has shown with curious insight the difference between northern 

 and southern peoples. Othello and Romeo, when touched with passion, 

 are pure individuals, and act entirely with reference to their own 

 feelings. The difficulties of Hamlet lay in the fact that he could not 



