ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 193 



hair, strong beards, and dark complexions. They are sensual, vain, indolent, 

 dissimulating to strangers, irritable and revengeful, proud as a nation, and 

 implacable as a people, in their hatred of the Spaniards. On the other hand, 

 they have the credit of fidelity in friendship, magnanimity, charity, temper- 

 ance, and courtesy. Music and singing are their favorite amusements ; and 

 bull fights, with them also, rank high among the popular festivals. 



The higher orders of society dress in the styles of the English and 

 French. Women of the middle classes, however, no matter how great 

 the heat of the weather, wrap themselves in a long cloth cloak with a 

 broad collar, and cover their heads with a nmslin cloth. When going to 

 church, they wear a dark silk frock, and a large transparent veil. Here, 

 also, great attention is paid to the covering of the feet, which are generally 

 well formed. The dress of the lower ranks in the country is like that worn in 

 the cities, only of coarser stuff. Men wear waistcoats of light colors, and 

 short jackets over them. Short breeches, shoes, and stockings are worn 

 all over the country. The cloaks are always brown, and furnished 

 with a flat cowl. Many wear the hair in a net ; others have high tapering 

 caps, with sides turned up. Such caps are also worn by the female 

 peasants, who, in addition, Avear striped veils and nets. Country girls, 

 when riding upon their donkeys to market, wear wide boots, short jackets, 

 with long sleeves, fancy colored little caps cocked up in front, and generally 

 carry a fan. They ornament the neck with strings of pearl and metal 

 buttons. 



The inhabitants of France, Belgium,, and the Netherlands. 



Generally speaking, vivacitj^. which not unfrequently degenerates into 

 levity and superficialit}?", characterize the French as a nation. The 

 Frenchman enters Avith enthusiasm upon the boldest enterprises, but soon 

 carelessly abandons them again, in order to undertake new ones. He 

 devotes himself almost entirely to the passing hour, caring but little for 

 the past and the future. His urbanit}', his acuteness of understanding, and 

 his hospitality, are known : he cheerfully relieves the necessities of the poor, 

 and assists the sick in their distress. From time immemorial, on the other 

 hand, he has been justly reproached of a national pride that causes him to 

 look with contempt upon every thing foreign. Of late, however, he has 

 commenced to notice and prize foreign literature, formerly overlooked by him 

 altogether. 



The French peasant is generally very frugal, and in some districts of 

 Lorraine, subsists almost entirely upon potatoes and curdled milk. He is 

 strongly attached to the customs of his forefathers. In the northern 

 departments alone, where he is greatly influenced by civilization, this 

 attachment to the old is, in a measure, disappearing. The country people 

 of some districts on the river Loire, especially in the part Avhich formed 

 the ancient provinces Berry and Poitou, may be pronounced obtuse in the 

 highest degree, indeed even void of feeling. The inhabitant of Brittany, 



365 



