VII. 



ON FEMININE TASTE IN RURAL AFFAIRS. 



April, 1849. 

 TTyHAT a very little fact sometimes betrays the national charac- 

 V V ter ; and what an odd thing this national character is ! Look 

 at a Frenchman. He eats, talks, lives in public. He is only happy 

 when he has spectators. ■ In town, on fhe boulevards, in the cafe, at 

 places of pubHc amusement, he is all enjoyment. But in the 

 country — ah, there he never goes willingly ; or else, he only goes 

 to sentimentalize, or to entertain his town friends. Even the natural 

 bom country people seem to find nature and solitude ennuyaht, 

 and so collect in little villages to keep each other in spirits ! The 

 Frenchman eats and sleeps almost any where ; but he is never " at 

 home but when he is abroad." 



Look, on the other hand, at John Bull. He only lives what he 

 feels to be a rational life, when he lives in the country. His country 

 place is to him a little Juan Fernandez island ; it contains his own 

 family, his own castle, every thing that belongs to him. He hates 

 the smoke of town ; he takes root in the soil. His bbrses, his dogs, 

 his trees, are not separate existences ; they are parts of himself. 

 He is social with a reservation. Nature is nearer akin to him than 

 strange men. His dogs are truly attached to him ; he doubts if his 

 fellows are. People often play the hypocrite ; but the trees in 

 his park never deceive him. Home is to him the next best place 

 to heaven. 



And only a little narrow strait of water divides these two 

 nations ! 



