20 The Woman of Visions ; \_3vhY, 



all this results the originality that momentarily strikes the sight. It is 

 superb : their isolation, in tlie midst of the waters, is no bad emblem of 

 this solitariness and distinct vigour of character. I like to see a people 

 not confounded with its neighbours." 



" But," returned the Count, " you forget, in that case, how much 

 slower is the progress of civilization." 



" True ; but as civilization remedies some evils by the substitution of 

 others, I am not yet certain whether it is a real good. We shall find 

 here the ambitious, the envious, the wicked, as elsewhere ; but we 

 shall find neither the liar nor the traitor. An islander pledges his hatred 

 or his friendship : and one or the other is certain. Can you say as much 

 for the great continental family >" 

 " There are examples there, too." 



" Of course, which, like exceptions, confirm the rule." 

 " I must confess that I am for civilization. Polished and elegant life 



has a charm for me " 



" Which no virtue can counterbalance ! — Is it so ?" said the Scotch- 

 man. " I can conceive that, brought up in a IVIuscovite palace, under 

 the care of a French preceptor, la grace weighs with you ; but I, a true 

 mountaineer, find more nobleness in the movements of Paolo climbing 

 the rocks, than in those of your Chevalier de jMarsan, when he gave us a 

 representation of the famous minuet which procured him such eulogies 

 at Versailles ; and I prefer the downright and frank expression of this 

 guide to that artificial and general manner Avith which we are all too 

 familiar." 



" An island, mountain-torrents, and Scotland for you. I appeal from 

 all your judgments Avhile we remain here," said the count. 



" Do you know that I have got a little Corsican blood in my veins ?" 

 was the answer. 

 " You !" 



" Yes ; one of my ancestors, who followed James the Second to St 

 Germain, married a Corsican lady." 



" It is good to have kinsmen every where, but particularly here, I 

 should imagine. Let us get recognized, I beg." 



" It might be no easy matter : but, were I forced to renounce 

 my clan, I certainly should come here to seek friends, nor feel myself at 

 all out of my element in changing the plaid and bonnet for the barelta, 

 and sotto marsina di fresa, of a Corsican." 



" There is one inconvenience, however : they say that so many indi- 

 viduals of noble families are reduced to poverty here, that we find 

 them exercising all the various trades of ax'tisans ; and you might not be 

 flattered by discovering a relative in the carpenter or the smith of some 

 of the hamlets perched like eagles' nests upon those summits." 



" If you knew our customs, you would see how proud people may be 

 of identifying themselves with a family which commences with a duke, 

 and closes with a shepherd. But you understand nothing of this ; you, 

 whose country is so ne ^, that your nobles have not had time to grow 

 poor." 



" There results from that, that we have much fewer prejudices than 

 you — that of birth, for example." 



" Certainly ; I am more proud of owing my rank to my ancestors than 

 to the will of an empress." 



" Oh, the will of an empress is no such bad point in a man's favour 

 sometimes." 



