TASTES DIFFER. 73 



it above all things ? I do not know if the excellent 'Mrs. 

 Ellis still continues her appeals to the women of England 

 under all possible guises and in all possible postures ; but 

 I do think that an appeal to the spinsters of England on 

 the consequences of a French invasion, with a living fron- 

 tispiece representing Miss Bi;.dget in the arms of an un- 

 shaven grenadier, with a perspective filled by warring 

 arms, naked legs, and hairy fiices, would bring the subject 

 home in a manner quite a-propos, and I hope she will ex- 

 cuse my hinting it to her. 



There are two modes in this country of showing polite- 

 ness and attention which, were I to become a Gallic Me- 

 thusaleh, I could never be reconciled to; the first, is the 

 everlasting hat worship; the second, male kissing. Go 

 where you will, and whatever be the weather, whether it be 

 man, woman, or child that is accosted, off goes the hat, and 

 that not submissively, or with the Wellington touch, or 

 even a lift, but clean off down to the ground. This may be 

 all very well in moderation, but is a great bore in excess, and 

 I question whether it would not, on the whole, be better in 

 a sanitary, pecuniary, and comfortable point of view, to go 

 bareheaded. The present practice is constantly exposing 

 the head and wearing out the hat brim, to say nothing of 

 the constant attention required. In Germany I heard of 

 a machine which did the work without wearing out the 

 hat, and saved all trouble beyond pulling a string, and it 

 should be introduced in France. And, after all, it is all 

 external, and the man who would never pass a lady 

 Avithout hatting her most profoundly, would help himself 

 before her at dinner, push past her for a better place at 



