University of Virginia Library

ENGLISH AND FRENCH CHARACTER.

As I am a mere looker-on in Europe, and hold myself as much
as possible aloof from its quarrels and prejudices, I feel something
like one overlooking a game, who, without any great skill of his
own, can occasionally perceive the blunders of much abler players.
This neutrality of feeling enables me to enjoy the contrasts of
character presented in this time of general peace; when the various
people of Europe, who have so long been sundered by wars, are
brought together, and placed side by side in this great gathering
place of nations. No greater contrast, however, is exhibited, than
that of the French and English. The peace has deluged this gay
capital with English visitors, of all ranks and conditions. They

throng every place of curiosity and amusement; fill the public
gardens, the galleries, the cafés, saloons, theatres; always herding
together, never associating with the French. The two nations
are like two threads of different colors, tangled together, but
never blended.

In fact, they present a continual antithesis, and seem to value
themselves upon being unlike each other; yet each have their
peculiar merits, which should entitle them to each other's esteem.
The French intellect is quick and active, It flashes its way into
a subject with the rapidity of lightning; seizes upon remote conclusions
with a sudden bound, and its deductions are almost intuitive.
The English intellect is less rapid, but more persevering;
less sudden, but more sure in its deductions. The quickness and
mobility of the French enable them to find enjoyment in the multiplicity
of sensations. They speak and act more from immediate
impressions than from reflection and meditation. They are therefore
more social and communicative; more fond of society, and of
places of public resort and amusement. An Englishman is more
reflective in his habits. He lives in the world of his own thoughts,
and seems more self-existent and self-dependent. He loves the
quiet of his own apartment; even when abroad, he in a manner
makes a little solitude around him, by his silence and reserve:
he moves about shy and solitary, and as it were, buttoned up,
body and soul.

The French are great optimists: they seize upon every good
as it flies, and revel in the passing pleasure. The Englishman is
too apt to neglect the present good, in preparing against the possible
evil. However adversities may lower, let the sun shine but
for a moment, and forth sallies the mercurial Frenchman, in holiday

dress and holiday spirits, gay as a butterfly, as though his
sunshine were perpetual; but let the sun beam never so brightly,
so there be but a cloud in the horizon, the wary Englishman ventures
forth distrustfully, with his umbrella in his hand.

The Frenchman has a wonderful facility at turning small
things to advantage. No one can be gay and luxurious on smaller
means; no one requires less expense to be happy. He practises
a kind of gilding in his style of living, and hammers out
every guinea into gold leaf. The Englishman, on the contrary,
is expensive in his habits, and expensive in his enjoyments. He
values every thing, whether useful or ornamental, by what it
costs. He has no satisfaction in show, unless it be solid and complete.
Every thing goes with him by the square foot. Whatever
display he makes, the depth is sure to equal the surface.

The Frenchman's habitation, like himself, is open, cheerful,
bustling, and noisy. He lives in a part of a great hotel, with wide
portal, paved court, a spacious dirty stone staircase, and a family
on every floor. All is clatter and chatter. He is good-humored
and talkative with his servants, sociable with his neighbors, and
complaisant to all the world. Any body has access to himself
and his apartments; his very bedroom is open to visitors, whatever
may be its state of confusion; and all this not from any peculiarly
hospitable feeling, but from that communicative habit
which predominates over his character.

The Englishman, on the contrary, ensconces himself in a snug
brick mansion, which he has all to himself; locks the front door;
puts broken bottles along his walls, and spring-guns and man-traps
in his gardens; shrouds himself with trees and window-curtains;
exults in his quiet and privacy, and seems disposed to keep out

noise, daylight, and company. His house, like himself, has a
reserved, inhospitable exterior; yet whoever gains admittance, is
apt to find a warm heart and warm fireside within.

The French excel in wit; the English in humor: the French
have gayer fancy, the English richer imaginations. The former
are full of sensibility; easily moved, and prone to sudden and
great excitement; but their excitement is not durable: the English
are more phlegmatic; not so readily affected; but capable of
being aroused to great enthusiasm. The faults of these opposite
temperaments are, that the vivacity of the French is apt to sparkle
up and be frothy, the gravity of the English to settle down and
grow muddy. When the two characters can be fixed in a medium,
the French kept from effervescence and the English from stagnation,
both will be found excellent.

This contrast of character may also be noticed in the great
concerns of the two nations. The ardent Frenchman is all for
military renown: he fights for glory, that is to say, for success
in arms. For, provided the national flag be victorious, he cares
little about the expense, the injustice, or the inutility of the war.
It is wonderful how the poorest Frenchman will revel on a triumphant
bulletin; a great victory is meat and drink to him; and at
the sight of a military sovereign, bringing home captured cannon
and captured standards, he throws up his greasy cap in the air,
and is ready to jump out of his wooden shoes for joy.

John Bull, on the contrary, is a reasoning, considerate person.
If he does wrong, it is in the most rational way imaginable. He
fights because the good of the world requires it. He is a moral
person, and makes war upon his neighbor for the maintenance
of peace and good order, and sound principles. He is a money-making

personage, and fights for the prosperity of commerce and
manufactures. Thus the two nations have been fighting, time
out of mind, for glory and good. The French, in pursuit of glory,
have had their capital twice taken; and John, in pursuit of
good, has run himself over head and cars in debt.