614 



FRANCE. 



is never checked ; the expression of no emotion is suppressed, and the voice is as much 

 trained and modulated in talking, as in singing. Napoleon feared the salons of Paris more 

 than the armies of his enemies. He knew the taste and talents of the French for epigrams, 

 of which he dreaded to become the object, as he was aware of the infiuence of ridicule over 

 his subjects. It must be allowed, that these Parisian squibs are sufficiently pointed and poised 

 to wound, but they are more generally political than personal. There is much satire, but little 

 calumny. 



In France, the condition of females is peculiar. In the fields they labor, and perhaps even 

 more than in England, with the men ; but it is not the toil of compulsion, or poverty. They 

 are allowed to feel at least an equal interest in all matters of property, and in many cases, they 

 have the entire management ; the shops, the cafes, &c., of Paris, are under the charge of 

 females, and in these, their realms, the husband is little more than a subject. The salique law, 

 that regulates the succession of the crown, has no force in the shops, or salons. In French 

 society, woman is placed on an elevated pedestal, and if, by reason of her good sense, she is 

 iiot spoiled, it is not because flattery is not offered, and incense burned. The boudoir is the 

 sanctuary of a married dame, and the husband, who should enter it unbidden, would regard his 

 power more than his character ; he would bear the reproach of society, and be deemed a brute ; 

 for it is a great evil, in French society, that the unmarried females have too little freedom, and 

 the married, quite too much. The boudoir is a fit retreat for the graces, and other females of 

 the mythology. Paintings, statues, vases, and flowers, nature and art, combine to adorn it. 

 It is the palace of Armida, the bovver of Calypso ; but it breathes of Helicon less than of 

 Paphos. 



French Peasantry. 



It is the character and condition of the most numerous class, that has the greatest mfluence 

 upon a country ; and in France, the peasantry are '."uly a respectable body. They constitute 

 a great majority of the people, and their condition has been exceedingly improved by the Re- 

 volution. The abrogation of all feudal service, which was severely exacted, is alone of vast 

 advantage. The corvee con)pelled the peasant not only to labor on roads and bridges, but to 

 do other service, to which little pay was attached, at the bidding of his feudal lord. With the 

 dissolution of the monasteries, and the confiscation of the property of the emigrants, there 

 came a division of lands, that enabled ihe peasants to become landholders. They were allow- 

 ed 5 years, in which to pay for the land, and they were permitted to purchase in the smallest 

 Tuantities. This circumstance alone has vastl}' improved liieir characters. It has given them 



