, 1873-05-11
FRENCH TRAtTS--lil.

l.
T.: FRENCH TRAITs.-IlL 49,
Bf PRoF. WILLIAM MATHEWS, or TIE uy1VER
T. s1TY OF CHICAGO.
Now what do theeo facts indicate regarding
tile French mind2 What are the qualities o
the French people that render clear7esB funda
mental law with them OF all good composition
We have in it, first, q proof OF the genial, sym
pathetic, and communicative spirit Of the nation
The French arc an eminently social people, and
their authors have always their readers directly
before them. 4 German writes obscurely,
because his happiness Is in secluded rurninar
ton 4 Frenchman always writes clearly,
because his happiness is in social and intellec-
tual intercourse. The first calls up shadowy
dreams not less with his pen than with his pipe.
The other Is engaged in the commerce OF
thought in his study, not less than in the salon,
Hence the superiority Of the French in conver-
sation and letterwriting, and in all the forms OF
literature where grace, sprightliness, and spor-
tiyeness are required The ease, Ivelineas,
brilliancy, and aairete OF their familiar letters Is
confessed by the critics Of every nation; md
i their :. s. Historical Memoirs (which are but
another kind OF familiar letters, addressed to 60
ciety ut large-aurpass in number and excellence
those Of all other countries put together. The
delicacy and keenness Of French wit must strike
every reader of their literature. Light, playful,
! MISUNDERSTANDING as the su1beam-its meaning
Gun trayol from ono mind to another by the airy
I conveyance of intonation, an interjection, OF
4 word Anglo-Saxon Wit, in comparison, is pom
derous and clumsy, reminding one Of the ele-
| phant wreathing his 1.-the proboscis;" and, in
decd, one might as Tcll attempt to catch the SUM-
beam, and shut it up in box, as to express in
| Sa1on-Engleh the dclicate, ethereal beauty Of
French nit or sentiment, which, e1pressible only
by that tongue Of polished steel, dedes nike m-
tat1on and t1anelation.
As the Fronch are tho witticst Of the Euro-
! pean peoples, SO there ii none by whom wit is
more keenly appreciated, or among whom it
produces so prodiSious effects. How many
political events in France has bon mot heralded!
how many haa it occasioned! Never was there
government in France that did not turn palo
ut caricaturo, shudder at a political song, Or
tremble st an epigram. Lemercur says, in his
address to the Academy, "The history Of France
is written by its song-nakers; and Chalnfort
wittily desjgnatcs "the old old regime" ns ssan
absolute monarchy tempered by epigrams.r
Hardly any man ever became famous in France
without having witticism OF somo kind attached
to his reputation. Henry ~, it has beon said,
reigued by bon ,nots; md even Bonaparto could
not dispense with them. A series OF bon naoks
begun by Voltaire, continued by Diderot, and
systematized by Holvetius-destroyed the an
cient religion, sapped the foundations OF tho
throne, and changed tho dcstinics Of the mon
archy which Louis XIV. imagined ho had fixed
for centuries
1t is the social nature of the French,-this in
- +Ir sn1.$ $,.kf l..
ton not only Of their virtues, but also Of their
most beautiful intellectual qualities, and Of their
un1iyaled influence (at least till worry recently),
in Europe. What other nation has exhibited 60
constant and SO vivid sympathy for tho strug-.
giles for freedom beyond its border, and in what
other literature shall We find 80 e1panaive:and
eoumenica1 genius, OF 30 generous an apprecia-
ton Of foreign 1deas Who will say that Guizot
claims too much when he asserts TINT France is
the focus, the centre Of the civilization Of
Europe that the best ideas and institutions Of !
other countries, before they could become gem
aration, and thence start forth for the conquest
Of the world7 Or who will accuse Demogeot OF
e1aggeration when he declares that, though
England started the eighteenth century on
It's hterary career, it was from Franco that it
received its most powerful. aud lasting i'm
pulse7 That which among the English Was scat
tered, he anyB, conferred in France in i burning
focus; acomnon aim gaTe to new ideas an ire
sistlble power Disciplined even in mutiny, the
French philosophers, notwithstanding their bck-
erings. had in common enc purpose, ono method,
ono will; for France il everywhere one. "TheY
gave to the cold speculations OF Englishmen the
fiery lie Of rousing popular eloquence; the !
discreet and learned skepticism. of Collins, Tin
da1 and Bo1ingbroko was sharpened by the biting |
sarcasm Of Voltaire, and glowed with the burn
ing theism OF Rousseau. Newton left his sane
tuary and camo among us, thanks to the author
Of the 4Lettres Anglaiscs,' and Of the tElemcnts
do Philosopher the frigid and didactio analysis
Of Locke felt cold and unpalatablo after |
the spirit-stirrins pages Of Emile aud OF the |
tcontrat Social It seemed, indeed, ns though !
an English idea could set a herring in the world
only after having found in France its European |
expression and it's immortal form" T. De MAESTRO, /
Who had profoundly studied the Trench charac-
Ter, shows in the "Soriees de st. PeterBbourg,"
that there never. existed nation easier to de-
ceive, harder to undeceive, or more powerful to
deceive othors. "Two peculiar characteristics" !
BAYS he, addressing the French, '' distinguish.
you from all the other peoples Of the world,-l
he spirit OF association and the spirit OF prose.
ytism- All your ideas. are national and:
passionate to the core. The electric |
spark, running, like tho lightning from
which it comes, through mass of
men in communication, feably represents the IN ]
hsd almost said thundering, in
'asion Of taste, Of & system, Of passion among
he French, who cannot live, isolated If you
Tould but act upon yourselves, one might Let !
7ou alone hut the passion: the necessity, the !
age for acting upon others, is the most salient |
rait Of your character. :. Every people !
,as it's mission such is yours. The slightest !
opinion which you launch upon Europe ia bat:
ering-ram propelled BY 30, 900 Of men,"
It is true that in the recent deplorsb1e war.
france was the unjust aggreasor; yet re need
Iot fear to ask. in What other land would . rsr |