FRANCE. 



613 



French as the most polished barbarians he had conquered ; and what the ancestors were 

 among the barbarous, the descendants now are among the refined. Strabo describes the an« 

 cient inhabitants as so jealous of their honor, that each one of them fell it incumbent upon him 

 to resent an insult ofl'ered to his neighbor. Like the English, llie French are not without 

 pride, though it is not like that of the English, personal, but national ; the dignify of the indi- 

 vidual vanishes before the glory of France. Glory is the passion of llie French, and if the 

 national honor be advanced, a private or even a public calamity is little heeded. This passion 

 for glory has had ample gratification, though at a tremendous sacrifice of human life. Napo- 

 leon owed his elevation to this passion in the French and to his power of ministering to its 

 gratification ; he gave them glory, and they bartered freedom. 



The French are more sensible to the impressions of joy than of sorrow ; they feel the good 

 and forget the evil. The present outweighs the future, and the existing impulse is the ruling 

 one ; this is the instability which the English call insincerity. This also produces a facility 

 of adaptation to circumstances, that enables them to bear reverses better than any other people, 

 and that makes them feel at home, wherever they are ; in courts, or camps, or among the 

 wildest savage tribes. It is noted in America, that the French settler in the forest, sooner 

 than any other European, becomes identified with the Indian. The natural cheerfulness of 

 the French is sustained by a general urbanity, that exists in no other country ; their politeness 

 then is both a feeling and a habit, and it is a better guard of social order than an armed police. 

 There can be few quarrels and little calumny, where there is no offence ; and pugilism, which 

 is in England held to be so necessary for self-defence, would seldom be called into action in 

 France. 



The forms as well as the spirit of politeness pervade all classes, and a laborer has as high 

 a sense of what is due in this way from him to his equal, as a nobleman can have of what is 

 due to and from his peer. Beggars take off" their hats to salute each other, and if two porters 

 jostle each other in the street, the first impulse of each is to beg the other's pardon ; whereas 

 in England a similar rencontre would give occasion for at least hard words. This imiversal 

 civility, or regard to the feelings of others, is seldom ridiculed by any but the English, who 

 very naturally undervalue what they do not possess themselves. 



The cheerfulness of the French is not boisterous, or occasional ; it is constant, and con- 

 nected with great kindness of feeling. There is so little separation of families, that the man- 

 ner of life seems almost patriarchal, and several generations often live under the same roof, as 

 at La Grange. It is a common and a delightful sight to behold the whole family group from 

 youth to age, come out and enjoy themselves on some holiday or fcle. 7'he very terms by 

 which these address each other show a mingled simplicity and kindness of heart. The grand- 

 sire is called le ban papa, or the good father, and the grandmother la bonne maman. The wife 

 speaks of her husband as notre ??!«»■/, " our husband " ; the children are called pelit, or petite, 

 and the maidservant is known only as la bonne. Wherever the French congregate, there is 

 a spirit of enjoyment spread over them ; there is joy and animation in every face. Wrangling 

 or intoxication, that are so often seen in an English or an American concourse, are almost 

 unknown in France. Dancing is as much the expression of joy as weeping is of grief, and a 

 traveler cannot go far in France without beholding a village dance, to which, as there are no 

 refreshments, the national cheerfulness is the only incentive. In other countries it is not 

 common to see the aged even sitting to behold the dances of the young ; they are too unin- 

 terested in pastime to be present ; but in France the aged have scarcely less vivacity than the 

 youthful ; and the grandfather, surrounded by his offspring, 



" Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore." 



This social disposition has raised conversation to the dignity of an art. Gemus and wit are 

 better titles than nobility, and those who have neither, may successfully cultivate their powers 

 of conversation, till they become good raconteurs, or relaters of stories. A soiree is not 

 esteemed like an English rout according to the number of visiters who cannot find seats, but 

 according to the actual social enjoyment, and the lively conversation ; the best talkers, there- 

 fore, are not the least welcome. It is said, that a lady of rank after a death in her social 

 circle, exclaimed on meeting a friend, " Alas, Madam ! I have suffered a severe loss." The 

 other thinking it could be little less than a husband, wns about to condole with her, when the 



jereaved continued, " I have lost my best talker," {ca}ist'iir.) The French ladies 



carry tliis art of conversation to a point little short of fascination. Animation or enthusiasm 



