CHARACTERS. 



597 



discover}', to an inconceivable de- 

 gree of population, the more dif- 

 ficult accurately to calculate, as it 

 is scattered over immense regions, 

 and its census is attended with 

 the incorrections we have alluded 

 to in speaking of Hispanola. 



To prove how far the want of 

 intercourse tends to the formation 

 of false notions, and how much 

 the French have studied to engraft 

 a good opinion of themselves on 

 other nations, to the prejudice of 

 their rivals, I will mention the 

 peculiarities remarked in a young 

 Creole Spaniard, who accompa- 

 nied me lately to England, as it 

 raay be considered a faithful out- 

 line of the general bias in their 

 way of thinking, and will evince 

 what erroneous predispositions 

 exist, and with what subtlety and 

 design the malignant misrepresen- 

 tations of the French have been 

 spread. His maitres d'agremens 

 had been all of the Gallic tribe, 

 and had generall)' led him to think 

 that England was the very tomb 

 of existence, her cities scenes of 

 want and plodding enterprise, her 

 public buildings devoid of design, 

 and confined to ranges of galleries 

 and balls for the purposes of manu- 

 facture; the people, in short, dis- 

 tant, dull,inhospitable,andegotists. 



With such a schooling, one 

 may judge of the feelings of a na- 

 tive youth, set down in the midst 

 of London ; gazing at its curiosi- 

 ties and buildings, and enjoying 

 every delight or luxury it affords. 

 He could scarcely believe that the 

 music and representations at Co- 

 vent Garden, were by English per- 

 formers, or that dancing so ex- 

 quisite, could be produced by such 

 drones as they had been repre- 

 sented to him ; that the delicious 



viands of which he partook, and 

 the great display of pastry in the 

 sliops, could be prepared by any 

 but an eleve at Paris. 



When he saw a beautiful, well- 

 formed, well-dressed, and elegant 

 female trip by him, " Is she not 

 French," was the first and spon- 

 taneous question ; for English la- 

 dies had always been delineated 

 to him as resembling Dutch house- 

 wives, and devoid of taste, grace, 

 and animation. Science could not 

 be cultivated amongst us, since all 

 works of that nature which the Spa- 

 nish language boasted, were bor- 

 rowed from the French ; even the 

 novels of Richardson, which so 

 much delight the Spanish reader, 

 with difficulty would he place to 

 the credit of the nation to whom 

 theybelonged, because the editions 

 he had read in his own language, 

 were preceded by a " translated 

 from the French." He had, indeed, 

 heard of such a building as St. 

 Paul's, and of some others that 

 equally filled him with astonish- 

 ment; but had never met with any 

 printed description to enable him 

 to form a correct idea of their 

 magnificence, or of the talents and 

 exhibitions of English painters and 

 statuaiies. The acquirements of 

 the English in the arts had been 

 limited to their manufactures, to 

 the moulding of buttons, the 

 grinding of razors, and suchlike 

 handicraft ; what he at first only 

 allowed them to possess was a 

 good breed of horses, and well- 

 trained sailors. A small inter* 

 course with the nation, however, 

 soon obliterated the prejudices he 

 had received from French influ- 

 ence and tutoring; and, as his 

 ideas enlarged, he discovered that 

 hisearly notions had been founded 



