Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1856-10-11

Examples of English stoIidity are the anecdotes of

Europe.
They are good lovers, good haters, and slow but
Iobstlnate admirers. In all things they are very
much stepped in their temperament, like men
hardly awaked from deep sleep, which they enjoy
Their habits and instincts cleave to nature They
are of the earth. earthly, full of coarse strength,
rude exercise, butchers meat and sound sleep
Any hint for the conduct of life which reflects on
this animal existence, is looked on with suspicion
as threat to stop the supplies. A saving stu
pldIty masks and protects their perception as the
curtain of the eagles eye. The Englishman is in
tensely patriotic, for his country is so small His
confidence in his own nation makes him proyok-
lngly incuriOus about other nations He dislikes
foreigners. When he adds epithets Of praise
his climax is % so English when he wishes to
pay you the highest compliment, he says,
should not know you from an Englishman" He
has such good opinion of England that the ordi-
nary phrases of dsparagng what relates to oneself
IN talking with stranger, mistaken for an in
suppressible homage to the merits of his nation
The New-YOrker or Pennsylyanian who modestly
laments the disadvantage of new country log
huts and savages, is surprised by the instant COM
miseration of the whole company, who plainly ac-
count all the world out of England as heap of
rubbish
The same insular limitation pinches his foreign
politics. He sticks to his traditions and usagts,
and so help him God, he will force his island by
laws down the thfOat Of great Countries like India
China, Canada, Australia, and not only So but
impose Mapping on the Congress of Vienna and
trample down all nationaties with his taxed boots
English nature is so rash and aggressive as to be
little Incompatible with every other. The world
is not vice enough for two. Beside this national
ity, the English have personal sef-complacency.
through which every man delights in showing HIM
self for what he is and in doing what he can In
all companies, each of them has too good an upin-
ion OF himself to initiate anybody. He hides no
defect of his form, features, dress, connections or
birthplace. for he thinks every circumstance be-
longing to him comes recommended to you. II
one Of them have bald, or red, or a green head,
or bow-legs, u scar, or mark, or paunch, or a
squeaking or q raven voice, he has not the slight
est doubt that there is something mOdish and be-
coming in it.
In point of manners, the English are grave and
taciturn race. They are proud and private, and
even if disposed to recreation, will avoid an open
garden. Meat and wine produce no effect on them
they are as cold, quiet and composed at the end
as at the beginning of dinner. In mixed companies
they shut their mouths Swedenborg whether by
stroke of humor, or in his pitiless logic, placed
the English souls in a heaven by themselves. They
do not wear their heart on their sleeve for DAVIS to
peck at. They have that phlegm or staidness
which it is Il compliment to disturb. Still when
they speak, they always speak their mind. They
dare to dIsplease. They like the sayers of No bet
ter than the sayers of Yes. They mediate oppo-
sition. Each of them has an opinion which he
feels it becomes him to express all the that it
differs from yours.
OF all men, the Englishman stands the irmest
in his shoes They have in themselves what they
value in their horses, mette and bottom. The one
thing which they admire is pluck. The cabmen
have 1.-THE merchants have 1.-THE women have
1.-THE journals have it. 1t requires good con-
stituton to travel in England, simply on account
of the vigor and Drawn of the people. If they
only order eggs and mullins for breakfast, il is
with an energy which it wonld be vain to resist.
The EngIishman speaks with all his body. His
elocution is from the stomach, not from the lips.
He is petulant about his accommodation at inns
and on the roads, and pungent and loud in his ex
pressions, if his chop or his toast is neglected.
His vgor is shown in his respiration. Even the
inartculate noises he makes in clearing his throat
are significant of hurley strength. i his is also
shown in the stony neglect Of each by the other.
Every man in this polished country consults only
his own convenience as much a solitary pioneer
in Wisconsin. He walks, eats, drinks, shayeS,
dresses, gesticulaies in his own fashion, without
reference to the bystanders. No man gives him
self the slightest concern about any personal &C.
centricity in others. An Englishman carries his
closed umbrella like a walking-stick in pouring
rain, wears a wig, or shawl, or a saddle, or
stands on his head, and no remark IS made. Each /
of these islanders is island in himself safe, tran
quill incommunicable. In q company of strangers, /
you would think him deaf; his eyes never wander
from his table and newspaper. He Is never be-
trayed into any curiosity or unbecomng emotion. /
He does not give his hand. He does not let you
meet his eye. sea shell should be the crest of
England, not only because it represents power
built on the waves, but also the hard finish of the
men. The Englishman is finished like u cOwry
or q murex. After the splre and the splneS are
formed hard enamel varnishes every part. But
this japan costs them dear. There is prose IN /
certain Englishmen which exceeds III wooden
deadness all rivalry with the people of other
countries.
The literature Of England is distinguished for
the strong common sense, which has marked the
English mind for thousand years. The English
have no fancy. They never surprised into
covert or a witty word, such as pleased the Arhen-
ians and the old Italians. They delight IN strong
earthly expressions, which, though spoken among
princes are equally fit and welcome to thee mob. /
Their songs and ballads are refreshed by the smell
of earth and of the breath of cattle. They ask
their constitutional utility in verse. The poet
nimbly RECEIVERS himself from every sally of the 4
imagination The EngIishman loves the farm
yard, the land and market. n taste for plain,
strong speech, marks the English. The influence /
of Plato once tinged the British mind, but 1t fell
from the heights of speculation TO low level.
Locke, to whom the meaning OF ideas was un-
known, became the type OF philosophy, and the /
powers cf thought fell into neglect. The later
English want the faculty of Plato and Aristotle OF
grouping men in natural classes by an insight OF
general laws. They shrink from generalization
Every one of them is a thousand years old, and
lives by his memory; and when you say this, they /
accept it as praise. They have lost all command
ing views in literature, philosophy and science.
good Evglishman shuts himself out of three
fourths of his mind, and confines himself to one
fourth He has learning, common sense, power
8. h1 Etnr