such consistency and strength-this gives to all associations in France a force which it would be vain to calculate upon elsewhere-this is what contributed to give the ancient magistracy, the old corporations, and the old nobility of France, the immense power they possessedthis gives the literary institutions of France, and not only the literary institutions, but the literary men of France, such an immense power at the present day—and above all, this gives, as I have said, that spirit of combination and concentration to the French as a nation, which it is so important for a military people to possess. Applied to France then, French vanity is not ridiculous. Applied to the French individually, it does, I confess, very frequently become so.* Just that old man with a bald head, one dark tooth, and a light limp from the gout! That old gentleman said to a lady of my acquaintance the other day, "I am very unhappy, madam; what is to be done in society I am sure I do not know! I am a see * A good trait of French self-confidence may be found in this anecdote : were discussing Sir S. Romilly and Gen. S. some point of English law. Sir S. Romilly stated his conviction. "Pardonnez-moi," said the French general, vous vous trompez étrangement, mon cher Ro 66 milly, je le sais—car—j'ai lu Blackstone ce matin.” man of honour. I see those young creatures," (pointing out two or three of the prettiest women in the room,)" I see those young creatures, the tears in their eyes,-pierced to the heart by a gentle glance-I say to myself, si je me lance ....... the mischief is done: but I retire; I can't help pitying those beautiful flowers which a soft indiscretion might for ever tarnish; I can't help feeling pity for them, madam; I am a man of honour; but what distresses me is, to find that every body has not the same pity that I have.” The old gentleman spoke with perfect sincerity: by a kind of mutual sympathy for each other's weaknesses, both sexes in France cheerfully accord that old age is no impediment to the tender passion: nor is it so indeed: if the aged lady or the aged gentleman have any thing beyond their personal charms to gratify the self-love of an admirer. That the infamous Duc de Richelieu at seventy desolated a province with his intrigues is perfectly conceivable to any one, who has seen the cold and disgusting manner with which French women even now prostitute themselves to a reputation. Nor is this all: where no such inducement exists-on Sawney's simple maxim, "I'll scratch you if you scratch me," you will frequently find, billing and cooing in some retired corner of a salon, two sexagenarian lovers, who, with all the skill of old practitioners, go through the forms of a courtship, which it is not to be presumed they can carry further than the form;-might not one have fancied oneself in that island of Mr. Moore's, "Where lips till sixty shed no honey, And grandames were worth any money:" Might not one have fancied oneself in that island at the time when one saw Monsieur de Châteaubriand, (sixty years old,) desperately in love with a ' Duchesse,' (of the same age,) while Madame Récamier, (no younger,)-flying France in jealousy of Monsieur de Châteaubriandcompleted the misery of her old lover, Benj. Constant, who was at once tormented by the reproaches of his aged wife, and the disdain of his aged mistress? It is marvellous when a people have a predominant passion, how it insinuates itself into all their affairs: We have seen the influence of French vanity in the government, the history, the society of France, we may find it in a remarkable manner even in the commerce. It has established this principle, a very agreeable one, no doubt, viz, that the way to make money is to spend it. If you ask the editor of a certain newspaper why he has race horses' he tells you that a race horse is an 'advertisement." 6 His carriage is 'an advertisement;' his dinners are 6 ⚫ advertisements; his mistress is an advertise ment' and the more expensive, and the more faithless she is, the course she becomes. better advertisement' of This is a system: and as an Englishman toils for wealth in order to increase his comforts, so a Frenchman displays his extravagance in order to make his fortune. Well then, you find this vanity the predominating genius of the camp, the court, the counter, -it reigns no less at the Bourse, the Morgue, or the prison. The Frenchman wishes to live with ostentation; * if he cannot do this, he does not care whether he lives or not. Ab Like most passions this vanity is good and bad, little and great; now sublime, now ridiculous; but upon the whole, perhaps, it appears in France, as more good than bad, more great than little, even more sublime than ridiculous. surd in the drawing-room; fatal in darker scenes; it has made the French army the most renowned in the world, and the French nation the most united. But it has also made of the French--a * In 1810 anotaire's' clerk killed himself, leaving a piece of paper behind him, on which he declared that having duly calculated and considered, he did not think it possible for him to be so great a man as Napoléon— therefore he put an end to his existence. |