THE FRENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 67 



stolidity, says of the Huguenot immigratiou : "This 

 people, oppressed and hardly handled, came over to us 

 in so great swarms, that it seemed about to equal the 

 number of the inhabitants, and scarcely to be provided 

 with places to live in. Not alone were they received 

 cheerfully as brothers and fellows in faith ; but people 

 of every diverse sect lavisht.'d abounding gifts upou 

 them : and everywhere, as guests, free from the charge 

 of scot or lot, they were furnished and favoured with 

 rare immunities. The engaging joyousuess, which no 

 tyranny could quench, the couileous grace which could 

 gain an entrance by its modest tact everywhere, soon 

 made so much impression here on the more and better 

 part of the people, and so used its mind to their manners, 

 that it came to be reckoned an honoui" the most to re- 

 semble the foreigners." 



This is a high tribute indeed, and something of the 

 same result was produced in America by those gracious 

 qualities and graceful manners which found as much 

 contrast in the New Englanders as in the Hollanders, who 

 come of the same sturdy and conquering though less 

 polished stock. 



in 



In Great Britain the French immigrants made lasting in Great 

 impress, and gave trade and manufacture au impulse 

 and breadth never afterwards lost. The lace makers 

 spread their manufactures over several countries, and 

 made this industry famous and remunerative. Furriers 

 and beaver hat makers in large numbers settled iu 

 Wandsworth ; and for forty years, until a theft restored 

 the art, France was compelled to import all the best 

 goods of this kind, made by Frenchmen, from England. 

 It is said that even the cardinals of the Holy College had 

 to buy their hats in English Wandsworth ; which ought 

 to have been sufficiently humiliating to the high officials 

 of the Church which drove the industry forth from 

 France. 



Britain 



