FOREIGN
VISITORS
NI
ENGLAND
SCAITH
DA
110
.S65
FOREIGN VISITORS
IN ENGLAND
KDWARD SMITI

ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
E PLURICUS UNIŲ
SI-QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAME,
CIRCUMSPICE
}
F
DA
110
565
:

RISE
PRAY
WORK
+
The Book-Lover's Library.
Edited by
Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A.
FOREIGN
VISITORS IN ENGLAND,
AND
What they have Thought of As:
BEING
SOME NOTES ON THEIR BOOKS AND THEIR OPINIONS
DURING THE LAST THREE CENTURIES.
BY
EDWARD SMITH
Io
LONDON
ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
1889
1
}
INTRODUCTION.

I
T will be seen, from the ensuing
pages, that there is material for
very curious and interesting in-
quiry in the opinions and experiences of
travellers in Great Britain.
The frequent re-perusal of the memoirs of
such travellers leads one to see that there is
'a good deal of human nature' about
Englishmen; and that we have a special
force of character, which brings us to
extremes of both bad and good. We are,
without doubt, difficult to understand on first
acquaintance. The reason is this: that the
average foreigner comes armed with pre-
judices. But when at last a Frenchman, or
a Dutchman, or a German has succeeded in
penetrating the character and understanding
b
1
vi
Introduction.
something of the habits and modes of
thought of the ordinary English gentleman,
he is first impelled to admire, and at length
to love.
Among our intelligent visitors, there are
some who are disposed to indulge the best
hopes for England's welfare; whilst a very
great number have reached our shores with
their minds overweighted with the prejudices
of their own fatherland. As for those of
our own day, some have deliberately come
as apostles of their own notions: the peace-
and-equality fad, the anti-slavery fad, the
women's rights fad, etc., are in turn flaunted
in our face. This is especially so with
American visitors. In these cases, the objects
and advantages of a trip to London are so
far missed, in that they do not minister to
the special fancies of system-mongers.
The following essay is chiefly devoted to
some visitors of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries; although some refer-
ences are made to diarists of our own and
the last generation. When the
the reader
learns that the bibliography of the subject
Introduction.
vii
extends to at least four hundred items, he
will readily understand that an exhaustive
treatment of the subject would exceed the
modest limits at our disposal.
As far as we are aware, there has been
but one serious endeavour previously to
present a picture of England collected from
the writings of foreigners, viz.: 'England as
seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth
and James I. . . . By WILLIAm Brenchley
RYE, assistant keeper of the department
of printed books, British Museum.' London,
1865. It would be impossible to praise
too highly the execution of this work: a
marvel of erudition and good taste. The
exceptional opportunities enjoyed by Mr.
Rye, supplemented by his own excellent
linguistic and historical attainments, have
here enabled us to come face to face with
society during this interesting period in our
annals, concerning many matters on which
the native annalist is often silent.
62
1
1
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WORKS QUOTED
IN THIS VOLUME.
VON ROZMITAL.-A Bohemian noble (circa 1466).
Quoted from W. B. Rye.
[First published at Olmütz in 1577. The
Quarterly Review of March, 1852 (xc., pp.
413-444), has an article under the title of
'Bohemian Embassy to England, Spain, etc.,
in 1466,' in which the more interesting pas-
sages from this curious work are given at large. ]
GRUTHUYSE.-'Narratives of the Arrival of Louis de
Bruges, Seigneur de la Gruthuyse, in England,
and of his creation as Earl of Winchester, in
1472.' Published in Archeologia, xxvi. 265-286.
[From Additional MSS. 6113. Edward IV.
had been entertained and befriended by this
grandee when in exile; and this journal relates
the efforts made by Edward to honour him pub-
licly at Court and elsewhere.]
Trevisano.—'A Relation, or rather a True Account of
the Island of England
about the year
1500.' Camden Society, 1847.
[Andrea Trevisano, ambassador to England
in 1497.]
GIUSTINIAN.—'Four Years at the Court of Henry
VIII. Selection of despatches written by the
Venetian Ambassador, Sebastian Giustinian, and
Bibliography.
ix
addressed to the Signory of Venice, January 12,
1515, to July 26, 1519. Translated by Rawdon
Brown.' 2 vols., 8vo., London, 1854.
NICANDER NUCIUS.' The Second Book of the
Travels of Nicander Nucius. Edited from the
original Greek MS. in the Bodleian Library,
with an English translation by the Rev. J. A.
Cramer, D.Ď.' Camden Society, 1841.
[Supposed to be in the suite of an embassy to
England, 1545-6.]
PERLIN. Description of England and Scotland.
By Stephen Perlin' (? 1553). Translated and
printed in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory, iv.,
PP. 501 et seq.
[First published in Paris, 1558 Reprinted,
London, 1775, with an English preface.
Nothing else is known of the author.]
VAN METEREN. -The Dutch historian, and some-
time a merchant in London (circa 1558-1612).
Quoted from W. B. Rye.
LEMNIUS. A Dutch physician (? 1560). Quoted
from W. B. Rye.
HENTZNER. —' A Journey into England.
By Paul
Hentzner, in the year 1598.' 8vo. (Latin and
English), Strawberry Hill, 1757.
[Part of the journal of a tutor, who accom-
panied a Silesian nobleman on an extended
tour in Europe. First published at Breslau,
1617. This English portion was introduced to
the English reader by Horace Walpole. Since
his days it has several times been reprinted.]
SULLY.-Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke
of Sully, Prime Minister to Henry the Great . . .'
X
Bibliography.
(1603). Bohn's French Memoirs, 5 vols., post
8vo., London, 1856.
[Printed at the Château Sully in 1638, and
published at Amsterdam. Translated into
English about the middle of the eighteenth
century, and since reprinted. The embassy to
England occurs in the second volume of Bohn's
edition. It is much to be regretted that Sully
was so absorbed in the affairs of his embassy as
not to have made a closer examination of
England and the English, for his shrewdness
and discernment concerning James I. and his
courtiers are marvellous. He left our country
apparently with the best impressions of us. ]
BASSOMPIERRE. 'Memoirs of the Embassy of
the Marshal de Bassompierre to the Court of
England, in 1626. Translated, with notes.
8vo., London, 1819.
[The notes are by John Wilson Croker.]
LA SERRE.-'Entry of Mary de Medecis, Queen
Mother of France, into England, 1638. Trans-
lated from the French by the Sieur de la Serre.'
Printed in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory, iv.,
PP. 520 et seq.
[Printed in London, in the French language,
1639. Reprinted in 1775, in company with
PERLIN, ante. Jean Puget de la Serre, his-
toriographer of France, was a miscellaneous.
writer of somewhat ephemeral books. He is
immensely pleased with his trip to England.]
Sorbière.—' A Voyage to England, containing many
things relating to the state of learning, religion,
and other curiosities of that kingdom. By Mons.
Sorbière . . .' (? 1664). 8vo., London, 1709.
[This translation professes to be the first
Bibliography.
xi
correct one.
The work, when it first appeared
(Paris, 1664), caused an immense sensation,
and brought forth several 'answers.' Louis XIV.
showed his displeasure by a temporary banish-
ment of the author. Dr. Wm. King pub-
lished in 1698 a humorous tract, 'A Journey to
London. By Monsieur Sorbière,' which long
held the reputation of being the real article,
and was reprinted as such as late as 1832
(Appendix to Mirabeau's Letters'). Sorbière
wrote several works of some reputation, and
was among the then leaders of science.
But a
prejudice existed against him as a follower of
Hobbes, whose works he had translated.
probably hit some of our shortcomings with
vigour, but he was a man of more than average
ability, and his voyage' is one of the more
valuable of our series. Sorbière died in
1670.]
C
He
JOREVIN. 'Description of England and Ireland, in
the seventeenth century. By Jorevin' (? 1666).
Printed in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory, iv.,
PP. 549 et seq.
[From a rare book of travels, published in
Paris (1672). Nothing is known of the author.
He is a sociable visitor, and shows us the
popular side of English life.]
COSMO.-Travels of Cosmo III., Grand Duke of
Tuscany, through England, during the reign
of King Charles II., 1669. Translated from
the Italian manuscript in the Laurentian Library
at Florence.
4to., London, 1821.
•
[This is the book largely used by Macaulay
for his notes on Social England in the first
volume of the History of England.' Count
1
xii
Bibliography.
Magalotti, the writer of this journal (and secre-
tary to the prince), was a learned Italian writer
and novelist of the period. He had several
English correspondents, including Somers and
Newton.]
GEMELLI.—Travels through Europe, by Dr. John
Gemelli-Careri, in several letters to the Coun-
seller Amato Danio (1686). Printed in
Churchill's Collection of Voyages, vi., pp. III
et seq. London, 1732.
This author
[Published at Naples, 1701.
wrote also 'A Voyage Round the World,'
which was 'not included' in Harris's Collection,
because of his tendency to take things too much
at secondhand. His notices of England are
particularly interesting, but the papist is very
strong in him.]
MURALT.-Letters describing the Character and
Customs of the English and French Nations . .
by Mr. Muralt, a gentleman of Switzerland
(? 1696). Second edition, 8vo., London, 1726.
[Originally published at Zurich. His
'Letters' are excellent, and his habits of
observation very accurate.]
•
MISSON, M. Misson's Memoirs and Observations in
his Travels over England.
Translated by
Mr. Ozell' (? 1688-97). 8vo., London, 1719.
[H. Misson resided in England several years,
and is perhaps the individual mentioned in
Cooper's List of Protestants and Aliens.' His
brother, Maximilian Misson, shared the author-
ship of these memoirs, and also wrote a de-
lightful 'Voyage to Italy, etc.' Misson's
'Memoirs' first appeared at the Hague,
(1698).]
Bibliography.
xiii
LA MOTRAYE.-'Aubry de la Motraye's Travels
through Europe, Asia, and into Parts of
Africa...(? 1721-22). 3 vols. folio, 1732.
His
[Considered a very accurate observer.
book was published under distinguished patron-
age, bearing a dedication to George I.]
VOLTAIRE.-' Letters concerning the English Nation.
By Mr. De Voltaire' (1728-31). 12mo., London,
1733.
POLLNITZ'The Memoirs of Charles Lewis, Baron
de Pollnitz, being the Observations he made in
his late Travels from Prussia through Germany,
Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England,
etc. . . .' (1733). Third edition, 5 vols. 12mo.,
London, 1745.
[Published at Liège, 1734. Pollnitz was an
adventurer, or soldier of fortune. He was in
London trying to get notice at Court.
He was
delighted with England, and calls it 'a land of
good sense.' He goes into raptures over English
landscape. He would give up all prospects
whatever in exchange for £1,000 a year, with
which to keep body and soul together in this
country !]
LE BLANC.-'Letters on the English and French
Nations. By Monsieur l'Abbé le Blanc'
(1737). 2 vols., 8vo., London, 1747.
•
[John Bernard le Blanc, historiographer and
member of several learned academies. His
Letters' first appeared at the Hague (1745).
He stayed in England about seven years.
Voltaire highly praised his book.]
DU BOCAGE. 'Letters concerning England, Holland,
and Italy. By the celebrated Madame du
Bocage, member of the Academies of Padua,
xiv
Bibliography.
Bologna, Rome, and Lyons .' (1750). 2
vols., 16mo., London, 1770.
[This lady was a celebrated poet, and her
company, when in England, was in great re-
quest. Her Letters
C
are delightful.
lived to a great age, dying in 1802.]
She
GROSLEY.-'A Tour to London; or, New Observa-
tions on England and its Inhabitants. By M.
Grosley, F.R.S., etc. .' (1765). 2 vols., 8vo.,
London, 1772.
[Pierre Jean Grosley, a lawyer and man of
letters, of great reputation in some depart-
ments of history. His Londres' first ap-
peared at Lausanne (1770), and had very great
success. It remained the best guide to London
for thirty or forty years after.]
MORITZ.-Travels, chiefly on Foot, through several
Parts of England, in 1782. . . . By Charles
P. Moritz, a literary gentleman of Berlin. . .
8vo., London, 1783.
[A grammarian and archæologist of some
repute. He died early (age 36). His book
has been reprinted in Pinkerton's Collection,
and occurs in Cassell's National Library.']
SILLIMAN. A Journal of Travels in England,
Holland, and Scotland, and of Two Passages
over the Atlantic, in the years 1805 and 1806.'
2 vols., 12mo., Boston (U.S.), 1810.
[Benjamin Silliman was deputed by the
trustees of Yale College to purchase books and
philosophical instruments in Europe, and this
Journal' is the result. Reprinted at New-
haven (1820), with considerable additions.]
Bibliography.
XV
SIMOND. Journal of a Tour and Residence in Great
Britain during the years 1810 and 1811. . . .' 2
vols., 8vo., Edinburgh, 1815.
{A
very agreeable, good-natured work. The
author had lived long in the United States of
America and was well acquainted with the
English language.]
VON PUCKLER - MUSKAU.
Tour in England,
Ireland and France, in the years 1828 and
By a German Prince.' 4 vols., 8vo.,
1829.
London, 1832.
['Briefe eines Verstorbenen.' Stuttgart, 1831.
A book that became deservedly popular on its
appearance in England. Few writers give
such a clear idea of our country and its institu-
tions.]
VON RAUMER.-'England in 1835: being a series of
letters written to friends in Germany, during a
residence in London, and excursions into the
provinces. By Frederick von Raumer, Professor
of History at the University of Berlin. ..' 3
vols., 8vo., London, 1836.
['Written (says the author) under the in-
fluence of the deepest and warmest feelings.'
The book was much read in Germany. Von
Raumer presently revisited England, and added
two more volumes to a new edition.]
CARUS.-The King of Saxony's Journey through
England and Scotland in the year 1844. By Dr.
C. G. Carus, physician to the King.
London, 1846.
•
>
8vo.,
HAWTHORNE.--' Passages from the English Note-
books of Nathaniel Hawthorne' (1854-57).
vols., 12mo., Boston (U.S.), 1870.
2
[Hawthorne came to England as Consul-
xvi
Bibliography.
General at Liverpool, sent by his friend, Presi-
dent Pierce. He published several writings
on England and English institutions, all in a
pleasant vein, and overflowing with attachment
to the old country,' although sometimes severe
on unpleasant matters which struck him more
than they do ourselves, to whom they are
familiar. After his death, his widow resided
much in England, and died here (1871). She
also wrote Notes on England and Italy' (New
York, 1868).]
ESQUIROS.—The English at Home. By Alphonse
Esquiros....' 4 vols., 8vo. London, 1861-63.
[Esquiros resided here for many years, being
an exile after the coup d'état of December,
1851. He has triumphed over most others in
his attempt to delineate the English people.
The work originally appeared in the Revue
des deux mondes,' during and after 1857
('Angleterre et la vie Anglaise ').]
HOPPIN.-' Old England; Its Scenery, Art, and
People. By James M. Hoppin, professor in
Yale College.' 8vo., New York, 1867.
[Professor Hoppin is one of those who boast
to have bettered themselves by a trip to Eng-
land. He declares that his motive for publica-
tion was to induce his countrymen to spend
more time in England than they usually do,
instead of only making this country a stepping-
stone to the Continent.]
TAINE. Notes on England. By H. A. Taine.' . .
8vo., London, 1872.
DARYL.-' Public Life in England. By Philippe
Daryl. Translated by Henry Frith, and revised
by the author.' 8vo., London, 1884.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.-Royal Visitors.—Foreign Em-
bassies.-Account of Cosmo, Prince of Tus-
cany, and his Visit to Charles II.
CHAPTER II.
The Stranger's arrival in England. -French
Manners.-English Treatment of Strangers
CHAPTER III.
Inns and Innkeepers.—A Pedestrian Visit to
England
CHAPTER IV.
Praises of Kent.-Canterbury and Thomas à
Beckett.-To London by Water. The River
Thames
PAGE
I
26
47
59
T
4
:
xviii
Contents.
CHAPTER V.
The Tower of London.-The City: its Streets
and Shops.-St. Paul's Cathedral.-West-
minster Abbey
CHAPTER VI.
St. James's Park. -The Royal Palaces.-Theo-
balds. Nonesuch. Richmond.- Windsor.
-Greenwich.-Queen Elizabeth and her
Court
CHAPTER VII.
Various Sovereigns of England.—The Houses
of Parliament.-Political liberty of the Eng-
lish people -
PAGE
69
83
100
CHAPTER VIII.
Our National Character
I22
CHAPTER IX.
Our National Character-continued
142
CHAPTER X.
Sunday in England
151
Contents.
xix
CHAPTER XI.
Eating and Drinking.-Cookery.-Toasts.-
Beer.-Tobacco -
CHAPTER XII.
Love of Sports.-Fighting and Wrestling.—
PAGE
160
Fox-hunting
179
CHAPTER XIII.
The Drama and the Stage
187
CHAPTER XIV.
Literature. The Fine Arts. The Royal
Society
195
CHAPTER XV.
The greatest Beauties in the World'
206
ཏྭཱ

1
'.

FOREIGN VISITORS IN
ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.-Royal Visitors.-Foreign Embas-
sies. —Account of Cosmo, Prince of Tuscany, and his
Visit to Charles II.
O see oursels as others see us' may
be of as much service to nations
as to individuals. The observer
who sits down to record his impressions of
a country which he is newly visiting, or
even of one in which he has long dwelt,
will make a high average of mistakes, due
to the personal equation. The editor of
M. TAINE'S 'Notes on England,' granting
that no foreigner has written more acutely and

I
2 Foreign Visitors in England.
instructively about England and the English.
than he has done, rightly judges that TAINE
has not forgotten he is a Frenchman: that
he has not mastered and never can master
the true view of English motives and modes
of thought and action.
Yet the foreigner, whatever his prejudices,
is almost certain to contribute some new and
startling points of view in which national cha-
racteristics may be presented. And it is not
only in the department of morals that fresh
knowledge of ourselves is to be thus acquired:
it is surprising how very many unknown and
unsuspected manners, and arts, and habits
exist among us, concerning which we might
remain for ever ignorant, were it not for the
candid revelations of the intelligent foreigner.
The visitors to England, of whom we have
records concerning their residence in this.
country, and concerning their observations
on the strange and arrogant islanders, may
be divided into three classes: as royal person-
ages, ambassadors, and learned curious persons
bent on the same ingenious inquiries to which
our own adventurous countrymen have some-
Foreign Visitors in England.
3
times devoted themselves. And it must in
justice be remarked that it is not always the
most copious journal or diary which has fur-
nished the soundest reflections: often the
most meagre record has proceeded from the
shrewdest head. It is quite vexing, indeed,
in some cases, to note how little justice has
been done to the opportunity, as, specially, in
that of Marshal BASSOMPIERRE, who came as
envoy to Charles I. from the Court of France;
while others, men of quite ordinary faculties,
have considered themselves bound, like Mis-
SON, to say something about everything; or,
like SORBIERE, have rendered themselves a
laughing-stock, through their ridiculous as-
sumptions and their habitual self-assertion.
Some travellers, again, are easily imposed
upon with fables by the current wag; while
others, oppressed by the weight of their own
prejudices, leave a fixed impression on the
mind of their readers that an insular people
is not the only intolerant one.
I-2
4
Foreign Visitors in England.
The arrival at Dover, or at Harwich, of a
royal visitor to England has always been
signalized by an affectation of unbounded
hospitality. His own splendid equipage was
paralleled by that of his host. Charles V.,
coming to England on a visit to Henry VIII.,
is said to have been accompanied by a retinue
amounting in number to two thousand per-
sons; Henry, not to be outdone in display,
to which he was partial enough on his own
account, went to Dover in person to meet the
Emperor, with a numerous suite of knights
and gentlemen.
On these occasions the
nobility and gentry residing on or near the
route would join the escort, until relieved in
turn by the magnates of the next county or
district. And these attentions would some-
times be heightened in value by amusement
being provided on the way, the thick woods.
of Essex and Kent furnishing ample means
of sport.
Even when the distinguished
stranger was professedly incognito, as was
COSMO, Prince of Tuscany, who came to
England during the reign of Charles II.,
these courtesies were observed. There were
Foreign Visitors in England.
5
few things, indeed, more pleasing to this
prince's vanity than the continued attentions
he received in this way; and, seeing that his
progress to London began in Devonshire, it
is not surprising that he reached the metro-
polis in a highly-flattered mood.
Sometimes the warmth of a royal reception'
would become more general, descending to
the middle and lower ranks of society. When
Marie de Medicis came to visit Charles I.
and his Queen, the acclamations of the people
were accounted 'extraordinary.' At Harwich
and Colchester fireworks and music kept the
rejoicings going till far into the night. Ac-
cording to the chronicler in the Queen's train,
'those of the most melancholy disposition
changed their humour, in order to join in the
general rejoicing.' At Chelmsford, 'all the
neighbouring peasants, men and women, being
assembled in different companies on the road
by which her Majesty was to pass, without
any other order or command than that which
their own zeal had that morning imposed on
them; some led by a violin, others by a bag-
pipe, all together received the Queen, dancing
6
Foreign Visitors in England.
to the sound of these instruments, enlivened
by a thousand acclamations of joy.' As for
the Corporation of London, whether it was a
friendly compliment to King Charles or not,
they told the Queen-mother that the news of
her arrival in the kingdom had struck them
'dumb with joy and admiration.'
The Embassy of the Middle Ages was
usually an affair of splendour, with its fol-
lowing of knights, monks, and musicians;
while the reception of an ambassador who
was in any degree welcome was not much
inferior in distinction to that accorded to
royalty itself. Henry VIII., a 'King bar-
baric' in more senses than one, loved this
sort of pomp, and lavished the most profuse
attentions on every well-accredited visitor.
GIUSTINIAN, Venetian ambassador to his
Court, was met on the way to London by a
company of knights, which being joined by
the merchants and other Venetians then resi-
dent in London, made a stately escort of
Foreign Visitors in England.
7
more than two hundred horse. The Court
reception was exhaustive in its display alike
of jewellery and of compliments. At the
entertainments that followed, the visitors
had the place of honour; and no pains were
spared, so their eyes were dazzled and their
hearts won by all that hospitality could sug-
gest.
The particulars of this Venetian embassy
to Henry VIII., due to the intelligent in-
dustry of the late Mr. Rawdon Brown, are
among the most valuable items which modern
research has furnished as lights upon the
historic past. Mr. Brown having spent the
best years of his life in residence at Venice,
transcribing from the archives of that city
everything bearing upon the diplomatic re-
lations between England and the Republic,
lighted upon these despatches and journals,
and soon found that they might be made
available for the general reader. There will
be found, besides these of Giustinian, many
curious shorter narratives brightening the
pages of the calendars of State papers pre-
pared by Mr. Rawdon Brown.
8
Foreign Visitors in England.
James I. was another complete master of
the arts needful for the due reception of an
acceptable embassy. Queen Elizabeth had
always aimed at receiving her visitors in a
manner worthy of her dignity; and during
her long and brilliant reign numerous occa-
sions arose for the exercise of hospitality and
courtesy to distinguished strangers. Under
her successor, such had been the progress
of taste and order in these matters that an
officer was appointed, in whose hands lay the
proper reception of princes and ambassadors
on their setting foot on English soil. Nothing
could exceed the dignified cordiality of King
James I. when he was in the mood to give
an impressive welcome to a visitor. For
proof of this the reader may be referred to
Mr. Rye's England as seen by Foreigners.
in the days of Elizabeth and James the
First.'
There is one well-known record of an em-
bassy to the Court of Charles I., which is,
however, excessively meagre: a circumstance
much to be regretted, seeing how very shrewd
Foreign Visitors in England.
9
i
are the observations which the writer did
make. This was the renowned Marshal de
BASSOMPIERRE, a man whose life was spent
mostly among courts and fine ladies, when he
was not on the battle-field. The world is
absolutely a loser, in that BASSOMPIERRE
was not such a gossip as SULLY, seeing that
the class of people he met with were the
courtiers of the early part of Charles's reign.
After the Restoration there was more free-
dom, more spontaneity, and less ceremony in
English social life; especially in the Court of
Charles II. Of this we have ample evidence
in the 'Travels of COSMO III., Prince of Tus-
cany.' This, indeed, is one of the best records
we have of the impressions formed by a
foreigner in England at that period. A short
review of this book will prove its manifest
value to the historian.
The party landed at Plymouth at the end
of March, 1669. They appear to have been
expected, for some preparations had been
1
t
ΙΟ
Foreign Visitors in England.
.
made to welcome them. All the gentry in
the neighbourhood, with the tradesmen of
any note, received them with enthusiasm ;
while the populace, 'for want of room in
the public streets, had filled the roofs of the
houses.' COSMO was one of the last of the
Medici family who acquired any distinc-
tion; and though now an almost forgotten
name, was at that period possessed of suffi-
cient reputation to deserve considerable at-
tention as a visitor to King Charles II.
His progress to London was a series of
triumphs, in spite of his wish to preserve an
incognito. At Exeter, being lodged at the New
Inn, several gentlemen 'arrived from the
neighbouring places to pay their compliments
to him. Soon after, the Mayor, Aldermen,
and bailiffs unexpectedly arrived in their
magnificent habits of ceremony, with the
insignia of justice and mace-bearers before
them; they found his Highness upstairs in
the saloon, who after having received them.
graciously, and desired the Mayor to be
covered, heard and replied to their con-
gratulations. He requested his Highness to
Foreign Visitors in England.
II
be allowed to give him a public entertain-
ment at his own house, which invitation his
Highness refused, on the plea of his being
incog., and above all on account of the haste
in which he was from his impatience to be in
London and kiss the hands of his Majesty
the King.'
They visit the cathedrals of Exeter and
Salisbury in a spirit of reverence, tempered
with regrets that orthodoxy has lost hold upon
these once hallowed, but now desecrated,
buildings. They must needs turn aside to
Wilton, at Lord Pembroke's invitation. At
Basingstoke they meet a troop of horse be-
longing to the Earl of Oxford, sent by the
King as an escort. They reach London on
the 15th April, and are lodged in the house
of Lord Henry Germain, chamberlain to the
Queen-mother. Introduced to the King at
Whitehall, Charles welcomes his Excellency
'with a most courteous embrace, a recep-
tion demonstrative of cordiality and especial
regard, and not common to all persons of
quality, but reserved only for great and allied
princes, others being only permitted to kiss
:
C
12 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
his hand.'
This incident is noted by Pepys
(10th April, 1669).
Of Cosmo's residence in London, several
notes may be taken concerning affairs which
have long since passed from memory. St.
Paul's Cathedral is still in ruins: 'Of this
stupendous fabric there is nothing now to
contemplate except the vestiges of its ancient
magnificence, as only the principal walls
(which mark the extensiveness of the build-
ing) are standing, together with the remains.
of the roof, of the larger nave, and of the
pilasters which support it, and which sepa-
rated the larger nave from the smaller ones,
which latter yielded to the violence of the
fire; and one sees only a huge heap of stones,
cemented together by the lead with which
the church was covered; this, when melted,
fell among the ruins, which have entirely
covered the relics of antiquity that were there
formerly, and demolished many splendid
monuments, both of Catholic bishops and
other distinguished men, of which scarcely
any trace is to be seen.' At Westminster
Abbey they are struck with admiration at
Foreign Visitors in England. 13
!
the vaulted roof, and with reverence at the
coronation stone, 'being according to tradi-
tion the same on which Jacob slept when he
had in a dream the vision of the ladder, on
which the angels ascended and descended.’
They attend a meeting of the Royal Society,
and are much struck with the dignified and
polite behaviour of the members present. The
cabinet, under the care of Dr. Robert Hook,
is 'full of the greatest rarities, brought from
the most distant parts; such as quadrupeds,
birds, fishes, serpents, insects, shells, feathers,
seeds, minerals, and many petrifactions, mum-
mies, and gums. . . . Among these curiosities,
the most remarkable are an ostrich whose
young were always born alive; an herb
which grew in the stomach of a thrush; and
the skin of a Moor, tanned, with the beard
and hair white. But more worthy of observa-
tion than all the rest is a clock, whose move-
ments are derived from the vicinity of a load-
stone, and it is so adjusted as to discover the
distance of countries, at sea, by the longitude.'
An account is given of a call made upon
the Hon. Robert Boyle, which we cannot but
"
*
14 Foreign Visitors in England.
J
regard as of intense interest. Himself dis-
tinguished for his literary taste, and his almost
passionate search after useful knowledge,
Count Magalotti waxeth enthusiastic over
Boyle, 'whose works have procured him
(he says) 'the reputation of being one of the
brightest geniuses in England.
This
gentleman not only reduced to practice his
observations on natural philosophy, in the
clearest and most methodical manner, re-
jecting the assistance of scholastic disputa-
tions and controversies, and satisfying curio-
sity with physical experiments; but, prompted
by his natural goodness, and his anxiety to
communicate to nations, the most remote
and idolatrous, the information necessary to
the knowledge of God, caused translations.
of the Bible into the Oriental languages to be
printed and circulated, in order to make them
acquainted with the Scriptures; and has en-
deavoured still further to lead the most rude
and vicious to moral perfection, by various
works which he has himself composed. In-
deed, if in his person the true belief had been
united with the correctness of a moral life,
Foreign Visitors in England. 15
nothing would have remained to be desired;
but this philosopher, having been born and
brought up in heresy, is necessarily ignorant
of the principles of the true religion, know-
ing the Roman Catholic Church only by the
controversial books of the Anglican sect, of
which he is a most strenuous defender, and
a most constant follower; his blindness,
therefore, on this subject, is no way com-
patible with his great erudition. He showed
his Highness, with an ingenious pneumatic
instrument invented by himself, and brought
to perfection by Christian Huygens of Zuy-
lichem, many beautiful experiments to discover
the effect of the rarefaction and compression
of the air upon bodies, by observing what
took place with animals when exposed to it;
and hence may be learned the cause of rheu-
matisms, catarrhs, and other contagious dis-
orders produced by air, and of various natural
indispositions. It was curious to see an ex-
periment on the change of colours: two clear
waters, on being poured into one another, be-
coming red, and by the addition of another
red, becoming clear again; and the experi-
16
Foreign Visitors in England.
ZP#|:ཀ =27PECT
ment of an animal shut up in a vacuum, and
the whole exposed to the pressure of the air.
There was an instrument which shows of
itself the changes of the air which take place
in the twenty-four hours, of wind, rain, cold
and heat, by means of a watch; a thermo-
meter, a mariner's compass, and a small sail
like that of a windmill, which sets an hand
in motion that makes marks with a pencil as
it goes round. There was also another in-
strument of a most curious construction, by
means of which a person who has never
learned may draw any object whatever. He
showed also to his Highness, amongst other
curiosities, certain lenses of a single glass,
worked facet-wise, which multiplied objects;
a globe of the moon of a peculiar construc-
tion, and several other things worthy of atten-
tion.' The Prince of Tuscany was so highly
entertained with Boyle's experiments and
curios, that he repeated his visit. The water-
works near Somerset House, and the rival
machine at Vauxhall, invented by the Marquis
of Worcester, came in for a share of his aston-
ishment and admiration. The Guildhall had
Foreign Visitors in England.
17
'nothing remarkable' in it; but the India
House, with its museum, gratified the party
exceedingly. A visit to the House of Parlia-
ment, and to the principal courts of law,
gives occasion for long disquisition by the
Secretary on the constitution and laws, and
the modes of dispensing justice. They have
a jaunt to Chatham and Sheerness, and in-
spect the Royal Sovereign. Several days are
occupied by a country excursion by way of
Epping to Newmarket. The gaieties there
are interrupted by an opportunity of seeing
Charles touch for the king's evil, a matter
which he always attended to on Fridays,
'according to the ancient usage of the first
Catholic Kings of England, which was handed
down to their successors, continued after the
apostasy, and preserved to the time of the
present King. . . .'
Passing through Cambridge, Northampton,
and Oxford, Cosmo is received by the autho-
rities with unbounded respect, the heads of
the universities according him ovations in
Latin; which the party cannot, however,
follow, because of the strangeness of the
2
18 Foreign Visitors in England.
}
English pronunciation. Having rested at
Billingsbere, at that time a seat of the Neville
family, they pass through Windsor on their
return. The Order of the Garter is a highly
attractive subject. As they linger in St.
George's Chapel, the assiduous inquiries of
the Secretary result in his learning that the
knights are obliged always to wear a garter
of blue ribbon round the left leg, and are
expressly forbidden to go out into public
without this badge under a penalty of two
crowns, which is the perquisite of the officer
of the order who denounces them.'
$6
The Secretary is much taken with King
Charles. His cordial disposition, and his
excessive politeness toward the Italians,
count for much. But his Majesty's dab-
blings in science, and his devotion to 'the
study of mechanics, mathematics, natural
history, and chemistry,' appear to give him
a still higher title to esteem. His pleasure-
seeking is condoned throughout, and Cosmo's
party are nothing loth to follow the merry
1
i
Foreign Visitors in England.
19
}
King to sport when opportunity comes in
the way. Some of their most joyous days
were spent at Newmarket, where coursing
was going on, alternately with horse-racing,
fowling, and the tennis-court. The struggles
of these high personages to outdo one
another in politeness are sometimes very
amusing. The Duke of York at Court was
as amiable as his brother. On one occasion
the Duke called upon his Highness of Tus-
cany, who came downstairs to receive him.
'On departing, the Duke wished not to
allow the prince to go beyond the door of
the drawing-room, but his Highness, not
perinitting so polite an indulgence, observed
the same ceremony in descending the stairs
as he had done in ascending, and accom-
panied his Royal Highness out of the door
of the house, and remained there, though
the Duke was very repugnant to it, till the
carriage drove off.' Again: 'His Highness
afterwards went to visit some ladies, that he
might not be deficient in manifesting the
same politeness toward them which he had
shown to others, whose husbands had been
2-2
20 Foreign Visitors in England.
to pay their respects to him.' On occasion
of a banquet given by the Earl of Devonshire,
the Prince 'walked from the top of the table
to the bottom that he might gratify the guests,
by giving them an opportunity of drinking
toasts to his prosperity and welfare.' . . . Nor
was any politeness omitted on the part of
the Earl, 'who, for his knowledge, his man-
ners, and his virtues, may justly be pronounced
one of the politest and most accomplished
noblemen in England.' His Highness, having
spent a day at Hampton Court, examining the
palace and grounds, and seeing a deer-hunt,
pays his compliments to the King at White-
hall, in the evening; extolling, meanwhile, the
glories of Hampton. His Majesty replies
that the affection which his Highness enter-
tained for the things of this country made
him regard it with partiality; but that they
could not be compared or put in competition
with those of Italy.'
There are numerous odd illustrations of
etiquette in small matters. On visiting the
royal yacht at Sheerness, the Grand Duke was
greeted with a salute from the guns as he sat
Foreign Visitors in England.
21
down to table; and every time his Highness
drank, the discharge of cannon was repeated.
The Lord Mayor and Aldermen paid their
respects to him one afternoon in order to
request him to attend a feast in his honour:
'They had been received in form in one of
the lower rooms by Colonel G——, who, to
make the delay less tedious, had accommo-
dated himself to the national taste, by order-
ing liquor, and amusing them with drinking
toasts, till it was announced that his High-
ness was ready to give them audience.' The
feast for the Corporation had to be relinquished,
because of the Prince's incognito not permit-
ting what would be in reality a State occasion.
Cosmo did not, however, omit what festivities
lay within his reach; and the whole Court
seems to have striven, one after the other,
to induce him to honour their houses by
accepting an invitation to dinner. The
Duke of Buckingham, for example, gave a
grand feast one evening, at which the King
and the Duke of York were present. 'Toasts
were not forgotten, being considered an in-
dispensable appendage to English entertain-
}
22 Foreign Visitors in England.
ment. His Highness began by proposing the
King and the royal family, which was three
times followed up with loud cheers by all
present. His Highness, to do honour to the
toast, would have given it standing; but
this his Majesty would not allow, absolutely
compelling him to keep his seat. In return
for the triple compliment, the King pledged
his Highness and the serene House of
Tuscany in an equal number of rounds, and
at the same time accompanied this act of
kindness by taking hold of his Highness's
hand, which he would have kissed, but the
Prince, anticipating him, with the greatest
promptitude and address kissed that of his
Majesty. The King, repeating his toast,
wished to show the same courtesy to his
Highness; but he, withdrawing his hand with
the most delicate respect, would not permit
it, which his Majesty perceiving, immediately
kissed him on the face. . . . The toasts given
by his Majesty and his Highness having been
thus mutually acknowledged and replied to,
a concluding one was proposed, and drank
with unbounded applause by the guests, to
Foreign Visitors in England.
23
the intimate union and alliance of the
royal House of England and the most serene
House of Tuscany.'
These struggles between Charles and his
visitor lasted to the bitter end. The Prince
received his Majesty at supper on the even-
ing before his departure. At the upper end
of the table' was placed on a carpet a splendid
armchair, and in front of it, by themselves,
a knife and fork, tastefully disposed, for his
Majesty; but he ordered the chair to be re-
moved, and a stool without a back, accord-
ing to the custom of the country, and in all
respects similar to those of the rest of the
company, to be put in its place.' . . . After
many toasts the entertainment was protracted
to a late hour. The King at length took his
departure, and when 'the carriage was about
to drive off, the King's Majesty entreated the
Prince to rest as soon as possible, on account
of the fatigue which he would have to under-
go on the following day, which was fixed for
his departure; but his Highness, keeping his
hand upon the door of the carriage to prevent
its being closed, instead of taking leave, with
1
24 Foreign Visitors in England.
great address stepped himself into the carriage
to wait on his Majesty to the palace, in spite
of the opposition of the latter. On alighting,
his Highness repeated the politeness of offer-
ing his arm to his Majesty, who, however,
would by no means accept of it. They went
up to the King's apartments, where his Majesty
and his Highness renewed their mutual com-
pliments,' etc.
The Prince of Tuscany left London early
in June, to return to the Continent viâ
Harwich. The party dined at Thorndon
Hall with Lord Petre, and the Secretary takes
the opportunity of saying something concern-
ing the quality of our cookery. The table
was served with as much elegance and skill
as is usually met with at the tables of English
noblemen, who do not in general keep French
cooks: their tables, in consequence, though
distinguished by abundance, are deficient in
quality, and in that exquisiteness of relish
which renders the French dishes grateful to
the palate. This is particularly the case with
their pastry, which is grossly made with a
great quantity of spices, and badly baked.'
Foreign Visitors in England.
25
.
He adds that there is also a great want of
that neatness and gentility which is practised
in Italy; for on the English tables 'there are
no forks nor vessels to supply water for the
hands, which are washed in a basin full of
water that serves for all the company. After
resting for the night at the Black Boy inn at
Chelmsford, they visit the aged General
Monk, then residing at New Hall in Bore-
ham, a dropsical invalid. Resting at Col-
chester, they go in the morning via Ipswich
and the river Orwell to Harwich, whence they
sail for Rotterdam on the 14th June.
یا

:

CHAPTER II.
French
The Stranger's arrival in England.
Manners.-English Treatment of Strangers.
HE visitor to England, of whatever
degree, had to undergo one terrible
preliminary trial: one from which
no dignity, no pomp, no gold nor silver
could deliver him. He must needs cross
the Straits of Dover, and face the odious
mal de mer. Most of our foreign friends
tell the same sorrowful story: 'became so
dreadfully ill that they thought they were
dying,' or 'lay on the ship as if dead,' and so
forth. There would be exceptions, of course.
Queen Marie de Medicis, who had a fair trial
of the waves, excited the admiration of her
fellow-voyagers by her 'accustomed air and
majesty.' That the Queen's immunity from
sea-sickness was considered worthy of remark

?
Foreign Visitors in England.
27
is evidenced by the pen of the tender-hearted
narrator of her journey: 'The Queen landed
with an incredible joy, having been seven
whole days in a continual storm; but certainly
the compassion her Majesty had for her ladies
and maids-of-honour gave rise to the greatest
part of this satisfaction. And, not to speak
falsely, the graces and attractions of these
ladies were a little in disorder on their leaving
the ship; for in so great and continued a storm
they were more attentive to the alleviating
their uneasiness than the preserving their
beauty; everything about them seemed so
sorrowful and so deplorable that the most
beautiful among them touched the hearts of
the beholders more with pity than with love;
although after so many apprehensions of
shipwreck the joy to see themselves safe in .
port possessed them so absolutely that one
might observe, at the same time, the appear-
ance of present joy and the marks of a past
sorrow,'
Some travellers were willing to theorize on
the subject of sea-sickness, but with no better.
success than later generations have done.
28 Foreign Visitors in England.
They found the passage of the Straits a grave
interruption to the pleasure of their journey,
and an inconvenience to which the highest and
the lowest must needs submit. One of our
own Kings, indeed, appointed an officer for
his special assistance at sea. Hasted mentions
the singular tenure of a manor in the parish
of River, near Dover, which was granted to
Solomon de Dovere, for 'the sergeantry and
service of holding the King's head between
Dover and Whitsond, as often as it should
happen for him to pass the sea between those
parts, and there should be occasion for it.'
town.
The arrival at Dover, then, must have been
commonly a pleasing change of circumstance.
In spite of its proximity to France, Dover is,
and probably always was, a peculiarly English
There is a Kentish spirit in Dover not
differing from that of the inland parts of the
county; and, unless the recent years of quick
and frequent intercourse have wrought a
change, the town is singularly un-Frenchified.
for a place that has been thronged by passing
foreigners for many centuries. So there is
much novelty on the first arrival.
One of the
Foreign Visitors in England. 29
first discoveries made by a stranger is the
delicious beer, 'most pleasaunte in tast, and
holesomely relised,' which at once restores
his appetite and revives his drooping spirits.
The beer and ale of England are among the
pleasantest surprises that lay in store for him.
But, whether from the visitor's own fault
of manner, or because the brutal and the mis-
chievous instincts were altogether irrepressible
at sight of a foreigner, he had to run the
gauntlet of the boys and the lower classes
of Dover in a way that shocked his sensi-
bilities. The experience of SORBIERE, who
stayed in England during the reign of Charles
II., is a fine example of this sort of annoy-
ance, and of the affronts usually put upon
the foreigner while in Dover. They fall,'
he says, 'to the opprobrious term of French
dogs, which is the epithet they give us in
England-as I have heard them often call
the French in Holland mushrooms, which yet
is more tolerable than Matto Francese, i.e.,
Foolish Frenchman, a name by which the
common people of Italy are pleased to dis-
tinguish them.
To tell you the truth,
1
30 Foreign Visitors in England.
I
both the one and the other make use of these
opprobrious terms with some reason, upon
account of the noise we make at our coming
amongst them, and by way of reprehending
a certain forwardness in us, which they call
indiscretion, which in effect makes us appear
very ridiculous to them. For this forward-
ness is so opposite to their serious temper,
and the coolness of their proceedings, as well
as to the patience with which they allow
everyone to perform what he goes about. . . .
These things depend so much upon men's
behaviour,' etc. This gentleman presently
gives a wise hint that some incivilities would
be avoided by first acquiring a knowledge of
the language. More than once his fellow-
travellers 'not only declined in the inns to
take care as they ought of a stranger, who
could not tell how to make the people under-
stand him, but I was as little regarded as if
I had been a bale of goods. . . .I was
desirous to show my civilities by my inter-
preter to those who were not so much tainted
with rusticity, which they were so far from
taking right, that they deemed it to be
Foreign Visitors in England.
31/
J
raillery, and an affront, which embarrassed
me so that I must have recourse unto my
interpreter to be duly apprised of it.'
There can be little doubt that people like
SORBIERE suffered more of this kind of annoy-
ance than they had need to incur. We do
not find that less self-assertive persons make
similar complaints. What they had to endure
they endured in silence; and the reward of
their self-respect was an early escape from
the danger of being mobbed. Besides, the
recollection of any too boisterous spirits on the
part of the rabble of Dover sank into insignifi-
cance when a traveller found himself face to
face with a London mob. Then he was indeed
helpless. One can never know how many
hundreds of lost and missing persons are to
be put to the credit of the London rough—
a race whose vitality has made his presence
felt for centuries past, as of unexampled
lawlessness and brutality.
SULLY tells the story of an incident which
32 Foreign Visitors in England.
placed him for a few days in a very delicate
predicament. The first night of his arrival in
London, some of his party got into a serious
street brawl, which resulted in the death of
an English citizen of respectable position
in life. The populace, already prejudiced
against the foreigners, as such, now began to
threaten loudly, and followed the French to
their lodgings with threats of immediate venge-
'The affair soon began to appear
ance.
•
of great consequence, for the number of
people assembled was presently increased to
upwards of three thousand, which obliged the
French to fly for an asylum into the house of
the ambassador. . . . The honour of my nation,
my own in particular, and the interest of my
negociation, were the first objects that
presented themselves to my mind. I was
also most sensibly grieved that my entry into
London should be marked at the beginning
with so fatal an accident. . . .' The culprit in
the Duke's retinue was presently found to be
a 'young man, son of the Sieur de Combaut,
principal examiner in Chancery, very rich,
and a kinsman likewise of Beaumont's [the
Foreign Visitors in England.
33-
ambassador in residence], who, entering that
moment, desired me to give young Combaut
into his hands, that he might endeavour to
save him. . . . "I do not wonder," replied I to
Beaumont with an air of authority and indig-
nation, "that the English and you are at
variance, if you are capable of preferring the
interest of yourself and your relations to that
of the King and the public; but the service
of the King my master, and the safety of so
many gentlemen of good families, shall not
suffer for such an imprudent stripling as this."
I told Beaumont in plain terms, that
Combaut should be beheaded in a few
minutes,—to be short, I desired Beaumont to
quit my apartment, for I thought it would be
improper to have him present in the council
which I intended to hold immediately, in
order to pronounce sentence of death upon
Combaut. In this council I made choice
only of the oldest and wisest of my retinue;
and the affair being presently determined, I
sent Arnaud to inform the Mayor of London
of it, and to desire him to have his officers
ready the next day to conduct the culprit to
3
34
Foreign Visitors in England.
the place of execution, and to have the
executioner there ready to receive him.' The
Lord Mayor, seeing the steps which SULLY
had already taken to obtain 'justice,' and,
perhaps, having some shrewd notion that
provocation begun in the streets was too
familiar a thing to warrant the shedding of a
stranger's blood after the heat of the fray was
over, exhorted SULLY to modify the sentence.
But the Duke was inexorable, and would not
consent to revoke it. He, however, deferred
so far as to hand Monsieur Combaut over to
the Lord Mayor, and thus resign him to the
justice and laws of the city. I accordingly
sent Combaut to him, so that the whole
proceeding became a private affair between the
Mayor and Combaut, or rather Beaumont; who
without much difficulty obtained this magis-
trate's consent to set Combaut at liberty,
a favour which none could impute to me.
On the contrary, I perceived both the French
and English seemed to think that if the affair
had been determined by me it would not
have ended so well for Combaut; and the
consequence of this to me, with respect to the
Foreign Visitors in England.
35
English and the French, was that the former
began to love me, and the latter to fear me
more.'
The Abbé LE BLANC, writing from England
early in the eighteenth century, notices the
universal ridicule which some classes of his
fellow-countrymen incurred by their conduct.
among strangers. He points out, with much
justice, that many of the French who leave
their country to seek a fortune elsewhere are
'not the sort of people that can give an
adventurous idea of their countrymen: and
yet it is from these adventurers that the
English in general form their judgment of
the French;' and he remarks that the
characteristic Frenchman of the comedies has
much to do with forming the popular
prejudice :—' People in general think all the
French are like those wretched refugees, who,
in the coffee-houses of London, excite com-
passion rather than contempt. It is after
these originals that the comic authors paint
our manners: in one of their plays a French
petit-maitre drops a bit of cheese in pulling
his handkerchief out of his pocket. . . .' But
3-2
36 Foreign Visitors in England.
this worthy gentleman, in his charity toward
both nations, admits that the frequent wars
between them must have kindled their
reciprocal hatred, which rivalry and jealousy
in trade have kept alive in times of peace.
And he justly claims that it is the vulgar and
ignorant alone who habitually insult the
foreigner; whilst the civilities, on the other
hand, which are exhibited by well-bred
people, seemed to him to be heightened by
some desire to atone for the insults offered
by the populace. The Abbé gives a curious.
anecdote of a stage-manager who, having on
one occasion to restore the pit to good humour,
bethought him of presenting a scene in
which the French manners, customs, and
especially cookery, were held up to ridicule.
The artifice was entirely successful. Yet,
withal, the imitation of French fashion had
long set in, especially in matters of dress.
The few young blades of fortune who
travelled on the Continent of Europe brought
back notions which either were at once
adopted by certain sections of society, or
speedily degenerated into mere fopperies,—
!
Foreign Visitors in England.
37
we have one story of a son being disinherited
for wearing a French bag-wig. But the
exigencies of female curiosity, and love of
dress, could set all other authority at defiance;
and the Parisian standards of fashion have
fairly stood their ground.
MISSON is brutally plain-spoken, of course,
on these affectations. The use of patches'
(he says) 'is not unknown to the French
ladies; but she that wears them must be
young and handsome. In England, young
old, handsome, ugly, all are be-patched till
they are Bed-rid. I have often counted
fifteen patches or more upon the swarthy,
wrinkled phiz of an old hag threescore-and-
ten and upwards. Thus the Englishwomen
refine upon our fashions.' Again: 'The play-
house, Chocolate Houses, and the parks in
spring, perfectly swarm with fops and beaux.
Their whole business is to hunt after new
fashions. . . . They are creatures compounded
of a periwig and a coat laden with powder as
white as a miller's, a face besmeared with
snuff, and a few affected airs.' 'A Beau is
the more remarkable in England, because,
38 Foreign Visitors in England.
i
generally speaking, Englishmen dress in a
plain, uniform manner.'
To return: The testimony is overwhelming
that, for many centuries past, foreigners, and
especially Frenchmen, went about in danger
of insults from the populace. It has been
alleged that Philip, the husband of Queen
Mary, complained bitterly of the insolence
which he had to endure, in common with all
foreigners, from the English people, insomuch
that he found it difficult to live in England at
all. So much does this defective trait weigh
upon the minds of our visitors, that they
devote much time and thought to its probable
cause. It is usually put down to 'national
pride,' until they have spent much time among
us.
After knowing the English people more
intimately, they discover that our national
pride, on the part of persons of any cultivation,
involves courtesy as one of its leading instincts,
and the great divergence of opinion on the
matter seems to point to accidental circum-
stances in each case. The Abbé LE BLANC,
1
Foreign Visitors in England.
39
for example, declares that a Frenchman is
much better received in London than an
Englishman in Paris; that politeness to
strangers is one of those virtues which the
English dispute the most with French people.
As it is not supposed that pleasure
•
brought them hither, the people make it one,
agreeable to deceive their expectations. Their
curiosity is regarded as the effect of their
esteem for the nation; and pains are taken
to justify it.
They know that strangers
come hither to see men, and each particular
person does his endeavours to give the most
advantageous notion of the whole body.'
After an admission that the common people
of London are rough and ill-bred, he adds :
'The great civilities done by well-bred people
are perhaps heightened by a desire to atone
for the insults the populace are always ready
to offer us, and which our very dress will
sometimes occasion. . . . Moreover, here, as
everywhere else, some of the vulgar are to be
found in every rank and condition of life. . . .
There are some here who cannot bear the
sight of a Frenchman with tranquillity.'
40
Foreign Visitors in England.
The scholar LEMNIUS, two hundred years
before this worthy Frenchman, experienced
'incredible courtesy and friendliness' while
in England. PAULUS GIOVIUS, also in the
sixteenth century, says, on the contrary, that
the English are ' commonly destitute of good
breeding, and are despisers of foreigners,
since they esteem him a wretched being, and
but half a man, who may be born elsewhere
than in Britain, and far more miserable him
whose fate it should be to leave his breath
and bones in a foreign land.' PERLIN, half a
century later, makes this astounding summary
of our character: 'It is to be noted that in
this excellent kingdom there is no kind of
order; the people are reprobates, and thorough
enemies to good manners and letters, for they
don't know whether they belong to God or
the devil, which St. Paul has reprehended in
many people, saying, "Be not transported
with divers sorts of winds, but be constant
and steady to your belief."
The anti-Gallican spirit has been ascribed
partly to yet another cause. Nothing dis-
turbed the average good nature of the
Foreign Visitors in England.
41
Englishman in past times so easily as the
immigration of a body of foreign workmen, or
the usurpation on the part of an Italian or
Spanish merchant of a well-established source
of traffic. The calendars of State papers
reveal many curious incidents, founded on the
attempts to restrain such foreign intrusions.
It was bad enough for Popish ambassadors to
bring a train of idle priests and monks; but
for Huguenot refugees to come and settle in
London and the big towns, with the avowed
object of pursuing their handicraft, and thus
necessarily supplanting many of the native
artisans, was touching the people to the quick.
They will have none of it. In June, 1551,
five or six hundred men wait upon the Lord
Mayor, complaining of the great influx of
strangers, whom they are determined to kill,
throughout the realm, if they find no remedy.
In order to pacify them, the Lord Mayor
causes a census to be made: forty thousand
besides women and children are enumerated,
'for the most part heretics fled out of other
countries;' precautionary measures are taken
by the Corporation, so as to prevent breaches
42 Foreign Visitors in England.
of the peace. In November, 1583, the Mayor
of Norwich certifies to 4,679 strangers residing
within the city, being Dutch refugees and
others. In October, 1582, a plan is presented
to the Secretary of State for the employment
of French refugees in the manufacture of
cloth and the erection of a wool staple in
London. The year 1626 witnessed several
efforts to ameliorate the hard lot of foreign
tradesmen, and enable them to exercise their
handicraft without molestation. In 1635 there
was great influx of Walloons with their families,
which caused the authorities of Dover con-
siderable perplexity. Those who came with
money, which they expended in the town,
were tolerably welcome; but it was necessary
to make many of them 'repair to more inland
towns.' Now, this sort of thing had been
going on for many years, perhaps since the
reign of Henry VII. It is not difficult, then,
to trace one mighty source of ill-humour.
Mons. GROSLEY devotes a long chapter to a
consideration of these international jealousies.
He says that the refugees, whether rich or
poor, were all incessantly exclaiming against
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43
France, against the Court, and against the
Jesuits, who had exerted themselves so much
during the reign of James II. to establish
their authority at Court. 'A considerable
number of these refugees, being reduced to
beggary, and to all the servility and meanness
which that humble state either authorizes or
suggests, exhausted and tired out the charity
of the English, who soon used themselves to
consider these beggars as representatives of
the whole French nation.'
An anecdote from JOREVIN will illustrate
the facility with which it was possible to
become embroiled with an offensive character,
solely on the ground of different nationality.
He is waiting at Holyhead, along with a
large party of persons intending to go by the
Irish packet. 'Among them was a young
man who spoke a little French; he was a
clockmaker, and had worked in the galleries
of the Louvre in Paris; with whom, entering
into some discussion touching the skill and
valour of the English, he said he should not
fear two Frenchmen. "It would not be,” said
I, in answer to him, "a man of your sort that
44 Foreign Visitors in England.
could terrify me sword in hand;" when all
of a sudden he drew his sword, crying out,
"Defend yourself!" Whilst I learned to fence
at Rome, there were several English with
whom I practised, and whose faults I easily
discovered; and, in fine, observing this
young man assaulted me precipitately, by
keeping always on the defensive, and con-
sidering his default, I retired a long way,
which caused this young giddy-headed fellow
to throw himself almost out of all kind of
guard. He had a sword of the French
fashion, long and slender, that would not cut,
which is the ordinary way of using the sword
in England. Stopping, then, all on a sudden,
I gave him a thrust in the under part of the
right arm, which made him cry out to me,
in the presence of many persons, who pre-
vented me from killing him in the rage I was
then in at being attacked by such a young
coxcomb. I broke his sword on a rock,
after having disarmed him, and he was blamed
by all for having attacked me without cause.'
This Monsieur JOREVIN wandered over a
great deal of England, and found, usually, a
Foreign Visitors in England.
45
friendly reception everywhere. It is not easy
to make out his quality. He is well-educated,
but credulous; and it is likely that he was
simply an inquiring traveller. He never
failed to make himself at home with 'mine
host;' and there is no reason to believe that
he was often molested by insolent persons.
So it is not surprising that he gives us a
tolerably good character. Here is one other
anecdote of his, relating to an incident which
might have had unpleasant consequences for
a person of less self-control:
'At Stowmarket, where I lodged, a young
man, a friend of the people of the house, en-
tertaining me with several pleasant discourses,
asked me whence I came and of what country
I was, he well knowing by my manner of
speaking English that I was a stranger, and
by my clothes that I was a Frenchman; at
the same time expressing his astonishment
at my travelling the country alone. After
this discourse he went out and gave notice to
several burghers of the town that I was at
such an inn, and that it would not be im-
proper to know on what design I came to
2
46 Foreign Visitors in England.
England, by a way not usually frequented by
passengers. In short, a little after I had
supped, he brought up into my chamber the
parson of the parish and his curate, who gave
me to understand they would be glad to
speak to me, and to learn some news from
me; after which the minister spoke to me in
Latin, declaring that he came on the part of
the townsmen, to know who I was, and what
business brought me among them.... Having
contented them, they told me they were
jealous of the French in England, ever since
the suspicion of their having set the city of
London on fire, whereby it had been lately
almost destroyed. It was, however, necessary
to drink two or three pots of beer during our
parley; for no kind of business is transacted
in England without the intervention of pots
of beer. This being finished, the minister
gave me all the absolution I could desire, and
early in the morning I set off,' etc.


CHAPTER III.
Inns and Innkeepers. A Pedestrian Visit to Eng-
land.
ISITORS usually come viâ Dover
and Canterbury. Sittingbourne was
not an uncommon halting-place for
the night; and one of the itineraries speaks of
a Scotchman who kept an inn there, a good
fellow, who could speak a little Latin. COSMO's
party speak highly of their entertainment at
Rochester. At Gravesend, another visitor
extols the 'Flushing,' whose host is another
intelligent and not ill-educated man. HENTZ-
NER, who landed at Rye, was well enter-
tained there, as is the case, he proceeds,
' everywhere in this country.' There is some
variety in the experiences of our travellers,
but any comparison with the Continental
48
Foreign Visitors in England.
auberge is usually favourable to those of our
own country. The flippant MISSON has his
experience confined to London; he seems to
have been always ready to sponge upon a
friend for board and lodging, and recommends
others to do the same, unless they 'take a
room ready furnished at so much a week.'
But Misson was not a traveller, but rather
an alien resident in London.
POLLNITZ, on the contrary, usually found a
pleasant and unexpected welcome. Perhaps
it was his very good fortune; but he had
certainly better manners than MISSON, and
courtesy goes farther, in a tavern, in promot-
ing one's own comfort than almost anywhere.
He always had the best of attendance and ac-
commodation. Yet he found the 'reckonings
run high.' Monsieur GROSLEY, likewise, is
much taken with our country inns. He says:
'The towns and villages upon the road [this is
between Dover and London] have excellent
inns, but somewhat dear; at these, an English
lord is as well served as at his own house, and
with a cleanliness much to be wished for in
most of the best houses of France. The inn-
:
,
Foreign Visitors in England.
49
keeper makes his appearance only to do the
honours of his table to the greatest person-
ages,
who often invite him to dine with them.'
This gentleman tells a story of an innkeeper
'boycotted' for extortion: The Duc de
Nivernois having stayed at Canterbury, on his
way to London, the innkeeper charged him,
for supper, for himself and small retinue,
forty or fifty guineas, which the envoy paid.
'The indiscreet innkeeper boasted of this
imposition; but the gentry of Canterbury and
the county of Kent, who held their assembly
at his house, advised the Duke to prosecute
the man for extortion. The Duke having, in
the most positive manner, refused to sue for
any satisfaction, the gentry, in the name of
the nation, took upon them to revenge his
cause, which they did in the manner follow-
ing. They entered into an engagement to
hold their assembly no longer at that inn, but
to remove to another house. This resolution
and these motives having been promulged in
the public papers, all the English gentlemen
who happened to travel through Canterbury
thought themselves bound in honour to
4.
:
50 Foreign Visitors in England.
accede to the agreement. The inn being
thus deserted, the innkeeper was ruined in
the course of six months, and turned out
of his house, after having seen all his goods
sold to satisfy his creditors, who had like-
wise entered into the combination against
him.'
The writer of the journal of Cosmo's
travels says much in praise of English
taverns. But then, his party went to the
very best of them; and, in probably every
case, preparations were made beforehand for
their reception.
The Abbé LE BLANC gives a characteristic
anecdote of his experience at Northampton,
at a period when party-spirit ran unusually
high. Having met, on the way to London,
with a peer of the realm who desired that they
might continue their journey in company, he
consented to go with him. But he had to
pay dearly for the honour of his lordship's
company. 'Here each party has its particular
Foreign Visitors in England.
51
inns, and if a member of Parliament is in the
opposition to the Court, he is under a neces-
sity of going to an inn of his party, or he is a
lost man; for either they would believe he
had turned coat, or they would turn it for
him. My fellow-traveller was much better off
than I; for, finding the wine bad, he had
recourse to the beer; and the fowl proving
hard, he revenged himself on the pudding,
which was soft enough. But I, who am not
seasoned to this gross food, and drink little
or no beer, I who am neither of the party of
Corruption nor Opposition, neither Whig nor
Tory, what business had I in this wretched
house? This is not all: I saw the moment.
when I thought that our innkeeper's hatred
to the Ministry would give him a right to sit
down with us. We were obliged, at least, to
drink out of the same pot with him to his
health, and to the healths of all those of the
town of Northampton, who were enemies to
Sir Robert Walpole (against whom I have
not the least subject of complaint) and friends
to our landlord, with whom you see I have no
great reason to be in love. And what is still
4-2
52 Foreign Visitors in England.
worse, I was under a necessity of listening to
the reasoning of this zealous partisan of the
Opposition. My travelling companion had
the politeness to entertain him during the
whole supper-time; for it was not the innkeeper
that made court to my lord, but my lord to
the innkeeper. This last exclaimed bitterly
against the corruption of the Ministry, and the
remissness of the Parliament. My lord used
his utmost endeavours to excuse the conduct
of his party to our political innkeeper, and to
persuade him that they constantly did all that
was possible to be done in the present circum-
stances. "No, my lord," replied he in a passion,
"they do not," etc. . . . Thereupon he wished
us good-night, and departed in great wrath.
As soon as he was gone, "Sir," said
Sir," said my fellow-
traveller, "you must not be surprised at all
this. In this country we are obliged to
manage all sorts of people, in order to keep
up our credit in the county. This fellow,
notwithstanding his appearance, is rich; and
rude and brutal as he is, he passes for an
honest man, and is taken notice of; he is of
greater importance here than you can well
Foreign Visitors in England.
53
imagine; his vote at elections constantly
guides those of all his neighbours."
>
The practice of 'mine host' drinking as
a matter of course with his guest was the
survival of a more intimate form of entertain-
ment. We have a story, nearly a century
earlier, from Monsieur JOREVIN, who, staying
at the Stag Inn at Worcester, has to make
himself thoroughly at home with the host's
family. 'According to the custom of the
country, the landladies sup with strangers
and passengers, and if they have daughters
they are also of the company, to entertain
the guests at table with pleasant conceits,
where they drink as much as the men. But
what is to me the more disgusting in all this
is, that when one drinks the health of any
person in company, the custom of the country
does not permit you to drink more than half
the cup, which is filled up and presented to
him or her whose health you have drunk.
Moreover, the supper being finished, they
set on the table half a dozen pipes, and a
packet of tobacco for smoking, which is a
general custom as well among women as
54
Foreign Visitors in England.
men, who think that without tobacco one
cannot live in England, because, say they, it
dissipates the evil humours of the brain.'
The experiences of a pedestrian, at a period
when it was taken for granted that the
pedestrian traveller was either a beggar or a
vagrant in search of mischief, are well told by
the worthy MORITZ, who devoted a part of
his sojourn in England to a walking-tour. It
would appear that any traveller who did not
choose, or could not afford, the stage-coach
or post-horses, was regarded with anything
but favour by the inhabitants of country
towns and villages. Dusty shoes and clothes
argued the tramp; the tramp bewrayed the
beggar, or something worse. It will be
admitted, however, by those who have tried
it, that there is still in our own days a class
of tavern where you need not present yourself
with a soiled appearance; only it is far rarer
to be repulsed than before the period when
it became the fashion to make on foot the
grand tour of English countryside.
Foreign Visitors in England.
55
MORITZ, then, having determined to see
the heart of England as it only can be seen
in perfection, ventured forth, after taking the
stage as far as Richmond. He knows our
poets by heart, and carries a Milton in his
pocket. But he is ill-prepared for the
unexpected contumely to which he is exposed.
Having taken the road toward Windsor, he
asks a man if he is on the right road to
Oxford. CCC
Yes," said he; "but you want
a carriage to carry you thither." When I
answered him that I intended walking it, he
looked at me significantly, shook his head,
and went into the house again.' Having
presently stopped by the wayside to rest
awhile, and read his Milton, he soon finds
this relief disagreeable, 'for those who rode
or drove past me stared at me with astonish-
ment, and made many significant gestures,
as if they thought my head deranged. So
singular must it needs have appeared to them
to see a man sitting along the side of a public
road, and reading.' Reaching Eton, he
enters the inn, and is disgusted to find that
they consider him but a beggar: 'I was
56 Foreign Visitors in England.
ין
tired, and asked for a bedroom, where I
might sleep. They showed me into one
that much resembled a prison for malefactors.
I requested that I might have a better room
at night. On which, without any apology,
they told me that they had no intention of
lodging me, as they had no room for such
guests; but that I might go back to Slough,
where very probably I might get a night's
lodging.' They, however, 'suffered him to
pay like a gentleman' for his dinner and
coffee. The view from Windsor Terrace
made him forget, in a moment, the insults of
waiters and tavern-keepers. But as soon as
he descended into the town, his troubles came
back; for, although the landlord
courteous, the maid betrayed by her rudeness.
how small were her anticipations that the
travel-stained visitor was likely to be able to
pay his way. He certainly paid her, on
leaving in the morning, with that best of all
coins, a smart retort. At the door stood
the cross maid, who also accosted me with,
Pray remember the chamber-maid!" "Yes,
yes," I said, "I shall long remember your most
was
Foreign Visitors in England.
57
i
ill-mannered behaviour, and shameful in-
civility," and so I gave her nothing.'
This unexpected difficulty haunted the
poor pedestrian during the remainder of his
journey, although there were occasions when
the welcome was all that could be desired.
At Henley he did not apply to the better
class of houses; whilst no others would take
him in. Having reached Nettlebed, after
nightfall, he had better fortune, and he was
received without much hesitation; although
'they certainly did not take me for a person
of consequence.' The next morning, however,
having put on clean linen, and making his
appearance in better trim, they did not, as
they had the evening before, show me into
the kitchen, but into the parlour. I was
also now addressed by the most respectful
term, sir; whereas the evening before I had
been called only master: by this latter
appellation, I believe, it is usual to address
only farmers and quite common people.'
Similar experiences chequered his otherwise
pleasant journey as he passed through
Oxford and Stratford-on-Avon into Derby-
C
58 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
shire. He at length found out that the
surest way to favour, in the second and third
rate houses, was to call for beer and drink
the landlord's health. At length, having
reached Leicester on his return journey,
MORITZ had had enough of pedestrianism,
and took the stage-coach back to London.


CHAPTER IV.
Praises of Kent.-Canterbury and Thomas à
Beckett.-To London by Water.-The River Thames.

C
HE road through Kent pleased
everybody excepting, perhaps,
MISSON, who can only record
that the Kentish agues are famous.'
SORBIERE extols the county in almost
extravagant terms: 'Kent appeared to me
to be a very fine and fruitful county, especially
in apples and cherries; and the trees, which
are planted in rows everywhere, make as it
were a continued train of gardens. The
country mounts up into little hills, and the
valleys are beautified with an eternal verdure ;
and the grass here seemed to me to be finer
and of a better colour than in other places. ...
All the country is full of parks, which yield a
delightful prospect, and where you may see
60 Foreign Visitors in England.
large herds of deer, etc.' A still more glowing
description is that of LA MOTRAYE, Some
fifty years later, who counts the corn and the
fruit-trees, the pippins and cherries, the best
in the world. The oxen are the largest and
best. There is an agreeable variety of hop-
gardens, meadows, orchards, and cornfields.
Canterbury, 'one of the most famous cities
in England,' is the goal of many anticipations
on the part of our visitors, especially when of
the ecclesiastical order. Before the Refor-
mation, the tomb of Beckett was alone
sufficient to attract the footsteps of piety,
although the gorgeous aspect of the shrine,
loaded with the precious gifts of two centuries
of devotees, charmed the most worldly of
sightseers. Here is a description, as it
existed in Henry the Seventh's reign: "The
magnificence of the tomb of St. Thomas the
Martyr, Archbishop of Canterbury, is that
which surpasses all belief. This, notwith-
standing its great size, is entirely covered over
with plates of pure gold; but the gold is
scarcely visible from the variety of precious
stones with which it is studded, such as
Foreign Visitors in England. 61
The
sapphires, diamonds, rubies, balas-rubies and
emeralds; and on every side that the eye
turns, something more beautiful than the
other appears. And these beauties of nature
are enhanced by human skill, for the gold is
carved and engraved in beautiful designs,
both large and small, and agates, jaspers, and
cornelians set in relievo-some of the cameos
being of such a size that I do not dare to
mention it; but everything is left far behind
by a ruby, not larger than a man's thumb-nail,
which is set to the right of the altar.
church is rather dark. yet I saw that ruby
as well as if I had it in my hand; they
say that it was the gift of a King of France.'
The Venetian ambassador GIUSTINIAN, in the
next reign, recorded his emotions at sight
of this dazzling shrine in a similar breathless
tone. But, alas! a very few years of the new
King put another face on the matter; and
new visitors lament over the scattered relics
and the lost treasures which Henry 'caused
to be removed' under the pretext that the
people venerated as a saint a man who had
no pretensions to that title, or 'for other bad
62 Foreign Visitors in England.
purposes, arising out of the false opinions he
has.'
HENTZNER Saw Canterbury just before.
leaving England, toward the close of
Elizabeth's reign, when the Beckett cult was
dead and buried. His note is short and
quaint, and shows unerringly the entire revolu-
tion of sentiment which has passed over the
religious side of the nation: In the vestibule
of the church, on the south side, stand the
statues of three men armed, cut in stone, who
slew Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, made a saint for this martyrdom.'
The glorious church itself, sad to relate,
became an object of far inferior interest
after the great pillage. The free-thinking
SORBIERE can only tell you how many paces
long it is, and how many broad. As for
MISSON, his irreverence reaches an extreme
over Canterbury Cathedral: 'They show you
the tomb of several Kings of Kent, and, if I
remember right, some drops of Thomas à
Beckett's blood; something of him they have.
I'm sure, but can't well call to mind what.'
It has been left for quite modern days, with
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63
a revival of taste for the best specimens of
Gothic architecture, to restore the pilgrimage
to Canterbury,
The journey to London by water was of
infrequent occurrence—in fact, it is not easy
to find a description of one earlier than that
of MORITZ in 1782. As a good-hearted man,
who saw everything with a poet's eye, and,
moreover, a friendly one, he appreciated
everything in England that was not downright
offensive. His whole journal is indulgent,
even in the midst of the inevitable annoy-
ances that beset a stranger's footsteps.
He is delighted with the Thames: 'The
charming banks of the Elbe, which I so lately
quitted, are as much surpassed by these
shores as autumn is by spring. I see every-
where nothing but fertile and cultivated lands;
and those living hedges which in England,
more than in any other country, form the
boundaries of the green cornfields, and give
to the whole of the distant country the appear-
ance of a large and majestic garden. . . . The
prospect toward Gravesend is particularly
beautiful. It is a clever little town, built on
64 Foreign Visitors in England.
the side of a hill; about which there lie hill
and dale, and meadows and arable land,
intermixed with pleasure-grounds and country
seats, all diversified in the most agreeable
manner.' With a party of his fellow-voyagers
from Hamburg, he lands by boat at what
is very probably Greenhithe; and as they
walk to Dartford, is still farther enchanted
with the beauty of the country, the goodness.
of the roads, and the neat village houses.
They proceed by postchaises to London.
This expedient, he says, is adopted on account
of the crowded state of the river; it sometimes
required several days before a ship could
finish her passage.
It is
London Bridge is, among our earlier
travellers, the finest in the world.
usually ornamented with the heads of criminals
fixed on pikes; HENTZNER counted more
than thirty. The appearance of the river,
with its numberless fleets below bridge, and
the constant flitting to and fro of wherries,
gives the first overpowering impression of the
wealth and magnitude of London. We have
undoubtedly lost much of the striking look of
氨
​Foreign Visitors in England.
65
the city, as beheld by a spectator before the
bridges were multiplied; a loss replaced,
however, by the formation and planting of
embankments. But, in spite of the mud
bank and the old-fashioned wharf, there was
a picturesque aspect about waterside London
which pleased the visitor. Monsieur GROSLEY
lamented the want of quays, and saw in this
the tendency of human industry to destroy or
to conceal the best means of showing our
metropolis to advantage.
It would appear that the swans, which were
formerly much more numerous than now,
frequented the river as low down as London;
and that an 'immense number' were to be
seen off Whitehall in HENTZNER'S time.
More than a century later, the swans still
attract the notice of visitors. And reference
to the swans generally involves an allusion to
the severe penalties attending any wilful injury
to the birds. GROSLEY on one occasion
witnessed the infliction of a penalty not set
down in the statutes: a boy having been in
conflict with a swan whose nest he had at-
1
5
66 Foreign Visitors in England.
1
tempted to violate, left part of his nose behind
him.
The palaces, from Somerset House upwards,
contributed largely to the attractions of the
Thames. The gardens at Somerset House,
at Whitehall, and at intervals all the way to
Chelsea, were conserved in a style which has
never been since excelled. The riverside
was adorned with trees and plantations; and
it is probable that Westminster and its neigh-
bourhood had very much the appearance now
presented by the banks of the Thames be-
tween Sion House and Richmond Bridge,
only with a background of stately buildings.
Moreover, there was considerably more.
animation on the river two or three centuries
ago, when Londoners were dependent to a
greater extent than now upon the means of
water-carriage. A remark of M. MURALT,
who could see nothing in London, next to
the Park, more agreeable or commodious than
the river, gives us a strangely unfamiliar
notion of the utility and convenience of the
Thames: 'What pleases me besides is the
Foreign Visitors in England.
67
}
gentleness of its stream, and a thousand little
boats that cover it, and pass from one end of
the city to the other when people have busi-
ness, or for pleasure when they have none.
On these occasions there are sometimes great
numbers of hautboys and violins, which render
the amusements on the water extremely de-
lightful.'
Not less an object of interest to every
stranger was a visit to Greenwich. In the
days when the royal palace existed, there were
frequent receptions. GIUSTINIAN, HENTZNER,
and others who had the privilege of appearing
at Court, have given enthusiastic accounts of
the pleasure they experienced in attending
royalty at Greenwich. On the way thither,
in HENTZNER'S time, was to be seen 'the
ship of that noble pirate, Sir Francis Drake,
in which he is said to have surrounded this
globe of earth.' This famous ship, the
Golden Hind, had for several years been
located in the creek at Deptford, by order of
the Queen; and was a favourite resort of
Londoners on some occasions of festivity.
Several of our visitors mention it.
In 1592
5-2
68 Foreign Visitors in England.
the party with the Duke of Wirtemburg saw
it at Chatham being repaired and refitted.
In 1614 another traveller saw the ship nearly
all destroyed. In fact, it remained at Dept-
ford till it decayed and fell to pieces.


CHAPTER V.
The Tower of London.-The City: its Streets and
Shops.-St. Paul's Cathedral.-Westminster Abbey.
HE Tower appears to have solemnized
the minds of some of our friends.
It was regarded formerly as a
substantial defence to the city. Nowadays,'
says MISSON, 'it is nothing at all; for
though it might, indeed, incommode the
city, he that were governor of it must
expect to perish in it, after having spit a
little of
of his fire, as Samson perish'd
when he destroy'd the Philistines.' Though,
however, it was nothing at all for purposes of
defence, the Tower was one of the wonders
of London. The jewelry and the regalia
brought very many strangers. According
to the earlier accounts, the treasures and
70 Foreign Visitors in England.
1
valuable property deposited in the Tower
were said to 'exceed the anciently famed
wealth of Croesus and Midas.' 'A vast
quantity of gold and silver is treasured up
here,' says NICANDER NUCIUS; and it is
evident that fabulous stories were long afloat
upon this point. There were two cannon of
immense size, made of wood, which Henry
VIII. took with him to strike terror into the
enemy before Boulogne; and a monster
hand-gun, made for the same monarch, which
it required a very powerful man to lift from
the ground, is perhaps the item which JOREVIN,
a hundred years later, took for 'William the
Conqueror's musket.' A visitor of Elizabeth's
time mentions at the top of the armoury an
'unspeakable number of arrows, which is a
sufficient proof that the English used such
things in battle in former times.' Another,
in the following century, informs us that the
Tower of London takes up a great deal of
room in the pocket-books of gentlemen that
travel; 'there they show crowns and sceptres,
axes and clubs, lions, leopards, and other
terrible things.' According to the 'London
Foreign Visitors in England.
71
:
Guide' of Dr. COLSONI, you gave up your
sword on entering the precincts, to the
yeomen, unless you were 'homme de guerre.'
46
The Royal Exchange, with its contiguous
shops, was the leading object of interest to
the secular eye. It was for long the finest
building in London. Cheapside was the
most attractive street, until it found a rival in
that part of the Strand near Somerset Palace.
Under the Stuarts a new Exchange arose, on
the site of Durham House (near the spot now
occupied by Adam Street); and this locality
drew the rank and fashion of the day for
nearly a century. JOREVIN alludes to Cheap-
side as the handsomest street in London,
enriched with many fountains.' There were
'
some who found fault with the meanness of
the architecture of the houses as they stood
before the great fire. The houses as they are
now (except where in recent years palatial
stonework has replaced them) are those which
were so greatly admired in the rebuilt city;
72 Foreign Visitors in England.
and it is likely that Cheapside presented a
very grand appearance at the period of
JOREVIN'S visit. Everything was so abundantly
new and fresh. MISSON remarks, 'Ever since
the great fire the people of London have
built in a manner polite enough. Before
that time their houses were the scurviest
things in the world, as appears very plainly
from whole streets still remaining nothing
but wood and plaster, and nasty little windows
with but one little casement to open. The
stories were low, and widened one over
another all awry, and in appearance ready to
fall. Now the houses are built with brick,
with even fronts-without magnificence, in-
deed, or anything like it, but with symmetry
and neatness enough.'
In older times the visitors appear to have
noticed less of the architecture of the streets
and more of the display in the shop-windows.
To judge from the remarks of some, there
was a profuse exhibition of gold and silver
plate and ornaments in several parts of the
city. It must be Cheapside of which
HENTZNER speaks when he says, 'the streets
Foreign Visitors in England. 73
in this city are very handsome and clean;
but that which is named from the goldsmiths
who inhabit it surpasses all the rest; there is
in it a gilt tower, with a fountain that plays.
Near it on the farther side is a handsome
house built by a goldsmith, and presented by
him to the city. There are besides to be
seen in this street, as in all others where
there are goldsmiths' shops, all sorts of gold
and silver vessels exposed to sale; as well as
ancient and modern medals, in such quantities
as must surprize a man the first time he sees
and considers them.' TREVISANO (temp.
Henry VII.) mentions 'one single street,' in
which there are fifty-two goldsmiths' shops,
so rich and full of silver vessels, great and
small, that in all the shops in Milan, Rome,
Venice, and Florence put together, I do not
think there would be found so many of that
magnificence that are to be seen in London.'
At a later period, it is still admitted that
London has the finest shops of any city in the
world. The aspect of the streets was pleasing
and animated. Fountains and crosses had
disappeared; but the houses were more
74 Foreign Visitors in England.
stately, and the streets could be traversed
with more comfort than in Continental cities,
because of the raised pathway. The squares
were not invariably admired, for most of our
friends were accustomed to see in their own
towns large open courts or quadrangles; and
those in London were not rendered more
beautiful by adorning them with gardens,'
partly because the shrubs and grass-plats re-
minded the spectator of a churchyard. The
lighting of the streets was also considered
an advance beyond that in other cities.
MORITZ tells an anecdote of some German
prince (whose name he does not give) who
was so surprised at the almost festive illumina-
tion of the streets of London by night, that
he seriously believed it to have been particu-
larly ordered on account of his arrival hither.
There was a good deal of dirt about the
streets of London far into the eighteenth
century. The paving with flag-stones was
to be seen only in the new streets. The in-
Foreign Visitors in England. 75
equalities of the roadway were a constant
source of discomfort, from the tossing motion
endured by the riders in coaches, and the
continual danger of being splashed by the mud.
But the saddest complaint against London
was the smoke. St. Paul's Cathedral very soon
shewed the powerful effect of the smoke upon
the beautiful stone with which it was built,
those parts exposed to the rain retaining much
of its whiteness. Fears were expressed by
Monsieur GROSLEY that, sooner or later, the
inhabitants of London would have to bid
adieu to any hopes of seeing the sun at all.
'The vapours, fogs, and rains, with which the
atmosphere of London is loaded, drag with
them in their fall the heaviest particles of the
smoke; this forms black rain, and produces
all the ill effects that may justly be expected
from it upon the clothes of those who are
exposed to it. Their effect is the more
certain and unavoidable, as it is a rule with
the people of London not to use, or suffer
foreigners to use, our umbrellas of taffeta or
waxed silk. For this reason, London swarms
with shops of scourers busied in scouring, re-
76 Foreign Visitors in England.
pairing, and new-furbishing the clothes that
are smoked in this manner. This scouring is
perpetual. Even the buildings themselves
feel the effects of the smoke, and nothing can
prevent their being injured by it.' His com-
plaint goes still further, even to the interior
of houses: the books, the furniture, the works
of art, all suffer from the penetrating qualities
of London smoke.
A good proportion of our earlier visitors
are ecclesiastics, and we find them almost as
enthusiastic over St. Paul's Cathedral and
Westminster Abbey as they are concerning the
Royal palaces. We have several notices of
old St. Paul's. JOREVIN saw it in ruins, with
the portico and a part of the nave still
standing. HENTZNER appears to have made
a careful and pious examination of the build-
ing, and copied down some of the inscriptions;
he also mentions the 'very fine organ which,
at evening prayer, accompanied with other
instruments, is delightful.'
Foreign Visitors in England.
77
Sir Christopher Wren's church is admired
from other points of view. Its immense size,
and its adaptability to a Protestant form of
worship, recommend it. One sarcastic fellow
considers it is capable of putting a stop to
all the corruption of London, provided the
efficacy of the sermons is answerable to the
largeness of the building.' IN GROSLEY'S
time (1765) the cathedral had begun to feel
the effects of exposure to London smoke.
This does not hinder him from declaring that
it is a building worthy the admiration of
'all nations in Europe.' GROSLEY made
some observations which are repeated to
this day, and will continue to be repeated
until Englishmen take in hand, in real
earnest, the completion and proper conserva-
tion of St. Paul's. He objects, also, to
the absurd contributions levied upon the
visitors. This gentleman was present on the
anniversary in May, when the Corporation of
the Sons of the Clergy held their festival.
Far deeper emotions were aroused in the
breast of the visitor to Westminster Abbey,
than were ever excited by St. Paul's. The
78 Foreign Visitors in England.
latter never seemed to be fully consecrated.
Even the building destroyed by the fire had
a somewhat unholy history; so long dese-.
crated by neglect and misuse. But a senti-
meht of reverence was always aroused at
sight of the interior of the Abbey. VOLTAIRE,
who had no love for ecclesiastical buildings,
except from a historic or an artistic point of
view, gives vent to an unusual display of
feeling over the memorials of the past with
which the Abbey is filled. 'Go into West-
minster Abbey (he says), and you'll find that
what raises the admiration of the spectator is
not the mausoleums of the English kings, but
the monuments which the gratitude of the
nation has erected to perpetuate the memory
of those illustrious men who contributed to its
glory. We view their statues in that Abbey
in the same manner as those of Sophocles,
Platc, and other immortal personages were
viewed in Athens; and I am persuaded that
the bare sight of those glorious monuments has
fired more than one breast, and been the
occasion of their becoming great men.
GROSLEY remarks upon the incessant crowds
Foreign Visitors in England.
79
who come to contemplate them: 'I have seen
herb-women holding a little book which gives
an account of them; I have seen milk-women
getting them explained, and testifying not a
stupid admiration, but a lively and most sig-
nificant surprise. I have seen the vulgar weer
at the sight of Shakespeare's beautiful and
expressive statue, which recalled to their
memory those scenes of that celebrated poet
which had filled their souls with the most
lively emotions.'
Mention is made as early as 1610 of a
printed book of the monuments, sold by the
vergers. There was, besides, an account of
the monumental inscriptions in the Abbey
and in St. Paul's, published at Frankfort in
1618, by ARITHMÆUS. HENTZNER tran-
scribes some of the epitaphs in his journal.
These things speak of a tendency to hero-
worship which, the farther back we go, seems
to overpower any more devout sentiment.
HENTZNER had not a word in praise of the
glorious structure itself, and seems to regard
it as but a great mausoleum. After the
close of the seventeenth century the tone
80 Foreign Visitors in England.
is altered. Although there is little taste for
Gothic architecture, Westminster Abbey
comes to be admired as much for itself as for
its contents.
There was one object of interest here—
nowadays almost forgotten-which seized
upon the awe-struck imagination of every-
body. Scarce any visitor to the Abbey fails
to record, with a mysterious regard, that he
was shewn Jacob's pillow. Monsieur JOREVIN
refers to it with a degree of faith which does
not betray a moment's hesitation: 'Jacob's
stone, whereon he rested his head when he
had the vision of the angels ascending and
descending from heaven to earth on a long
ladder. This stone is like marble, of a bluish
colour; it may be about a foot and a half in
breadth, and is enclosed in a chair, on which
the kings of England are seated at their
coronation; wherefore to do honour to
strangers who come to see it, they cause
them to sit down on it.' All the itineraries
mention it circumstantially, in full belief in
its genuineness. Even as late as 'De
Leydsman den Vreemdelingen' (1759), the
Foreign Visitors in England. 81
monkish tale is repeated. VON POLLNITZ has
one of his racy stories to tell about this mys-
terious stone.
The irreverent German says
that amongst the relics which are still pre-
served in this church, there is one which for
its antiquity I believe has not its equal, it
being the stone which served for Jacob's
pillow when he dreamt of that mysterious
ladder which reached up to heaven. This
precious relique is very much neglected, and I
cannot imagine how it came to be so aban-
doned by that pious King James II. The
English would do well to make a present of
it to the Republic of Venice, where this
stone would quadrate exactly with the piece
of Moses's rock in St. Mark's Church. The
Cardinal Cienfuegos showed me a piece of it
when I was last in Rome: he told me that
he stole it in his return from Portugal, where
he had been ambassador, when he came to
London with a commission from the Emperor
to King George I. He added that it was
the only robbery he was ever guilty of in his
life, and that he should have been exceeding
scrupulous of committing it if this stone had
6
82 Foreign Visitors in England.
been as much honoured in England as it
deserved; but that finding it neglected and
despised, he could not help filching a piece
of it, which he was so fortunate as to strike
off with a key at the very nick of time when
the keeper of it happened to be looking
another way.
I told him that I did not
think that he needed to have been so very
scrupulous of this theft; that I was persuaded
that if he had given the keeper a guinea at
most, he might have had a much greater
piece, and that perhaps for a trifle more he
might have brought away the whole stone.'


DEC
CHAPTER VI.
St. James's Park.-The Royal Palaces.-Theobalds.
Nonesuch-Richmond.-Windsor.-Greenwich.—
Queen Elizabeth and her Court.
HE royal palaces vie with the national
monuments in the interest attached
to them by the earlier travellers.
Some of their journals are occupied by recep-
tions at Court; while others confine themselves
to a description of the contents of the buildings.
The gardens at Whitehall and at Somerset
House, with their terraces and lawns reaching
to the river-side, furnished with statues and
classical ornaments in a taste long since dead,
must have been a great attraction to the
Thames, to judge from the enthusiastic
description of JOREVIN and others.
James's Park is an adjunct to Whitehall
Palace. Its great beauty consists in bringing,
as it were, the country into the city.' A story

St.
!
6—2
84 Foreign Visitors in England.
is quoted, by more than one visitor, that
Charles II. intended to ornament the park
with extensive designs, and sent to Paris for
a 'skilful person' for the purpose; but after the
expert ‘had taken a narrow view of the place,
he found that its native beauty, country air,
and deserts, had something greater in them
than any thing he could contrive, and per-
suaded the King to let it alone.' Charles
spent much of his time in St. James's Park,
almost unattended, except by crowds of
fashion that followed him. Before his time,
there must have been a still more rural aspect
about the park, since deer and other animals
were kept there, and the aviary and fowl pre-
serves were more extensive than they are now.
Charles loved to while away his time here,
toying with the birds; and there was, in
consequence, a great following of fashion
tending that way. The time for good com-
pany, according to MISSON, was at noon on
fine days in winter, and late at night during
the hot days of summer. Besides the canal
there were other large ponds and basins of
water. The grass-plats would be covered
2
Foreign Visitors in England. 85
with deer and cows; and when the walks
were full of company, there were united in
one prospect 'the crowd, the grandeur and
magnificence of a wealthy and populous city,
and the striking contrast of rural simplicity.'
A later observer speaks of the cows being
driven to the gate near Whitehall, in the
evening, where they 'swill passengers with
their milk, drawn from their udders on the
spot, and served, with all the cleanliness
peculiar to the English, in little mugs, at the
rate of a penny a mug.’
We have several notices of the palaces
which have disappeared. James I. keeps
court at Theobalds, Elizabeth at Greenwich,
Henry VIII. at Greenwich and Windsor,
Wolsey at Hampton Court, the Stuarts at
Whitehall. There is a sameness about the
descriptions of the various royal entertain-
ments; excepting that, as one generation suc-
ceeds another, there is a manifest process of
evolution from the barbaric to the elegant,
from the mere display of 'pearl and gold' to
the wider magnificence in which these things
are mingled with poetry, and wit, and the
86 Foreign Visitors in England.
4
1
mental accomplishments of an age which
began with the Court of Elizabeth, and pro-
gressed rapidly in refinement under the
Stuarts. The gardens, also, become an
especial object of interest to some visitors.
HENTZNER and his patron appear to have
made a tour of the palaces, beginning with
Theobalds, and he has really more to say
about the adjacent gardens and parks than
about the interiors. Count MAGALOTTI'S
journal is a treasury of the principal English
gardens existing in the days of Charles II.
HENTZNER describes the garden at Theo-
balds as 'encompassed with a ditch full of
water, large enough for one to have the
pleasure of going in a boat and rowing
between the shrubs. There are great variety
of trees and plants; labyrinths made with a
great deal of labour; a jet d'eau, with basin
of white marble; and columns, and pyramids
of wood and other materials up and down
the garden. After seeing these, we were led
by the gardener into the summer-house, in the
lower part of which, built semicircularly, are
twelve Roman Emperors in white marble, and
Foreign Visitors in England.
87
a table of touchstone; the upper part of it is
set round with cisterns of lead, into which the
water is conveyed through pipes, so that fish
may be kept in them, and in summer-time
they are convenient for bathing.' Nonesuch
palace he describes as 'so encompassed with
parks full of deer, delicious gardens, groves
ornamented with trellis-work, cabinets of
verdure, and walks embowered by trees, that
it seems to be a place pitched upon by
pleasure herself to dwell in along with health.
... In the artificial gardens are many
columns and pyramids of marble, two
fountains that spout water one round the
other like a pyramid, upon which are perched
small birds that stream water out of their bills.
In the grove of Diana is a very agreeable
fountain, with Actæon turned into a stag, as
he was sprinkled by the goddess and her
nymphs; with inscriptions.' There is some-
thing of an artificiality of taste in all this; but
HENTZNER does not fail to go into raptures
over an aspect less dependent on the hand of
man. Witness his notice of the view from
Windsor Castle: The situation is entirely
88 Foreign Visitors in England.
worthy of being a royal residence; a more
beautiful being scarce to be found. From
the brow of a gentle rising, it enjoys the
prospect of an even and green country; its
front commands a valley extended every way,
and chequered with arable lands and pastur-
age, clothed up and down with groves, and
watered by that gentlest of rivers the
Thames,' etc.
IS
There are some references to Richmond
Palace, bearing upon courtly entertainments
there; but very little is said of the structure
or its contents. More than one writer, how-
ever, alludes to King Henry VII's Chamber
'where he is said to have died, the wall of
which is besprinkled with his blood.' Men-
tion is made also of a 'large mirror, in which
Henry was able to see what he wished; but
this mirror broke in pieces of itself when the
King died.'
Several of our visitors are tempted into
long inventories of the contents of the royal
Foreign Visitors in England.
89
.
palaces. There is one quoted by Mr. Rye,
which occupies several pages. The follow-
ing, from HENTZNER, will give a vivid idea of
the dazzling curiosities which attracted the
fancy, and were thought 'worthy of observa-
tion' in Whitehall :
'The royal library, well stored with Greek,
Latin, Italian, and French books: among the
rest, a little one in French, upon parchment,
in the handwriting of the present reigning
Queen Elizabeth. . . . All these books are
bound in velvet of different colours, though
chiefly red, with clasps of gold and silver;
some have pearls and precious stones set in
their bindings.
'Two little silver cabinets of exquisite work,
in which the Queen keeps her paper, and
which she uses for writing-boxes.
'The Queen's bed, ingeniously composed of
woods of different colours, with quilts of silk,
velvet, gold, silver, and embroidery.
'A little chest ornamented all over with
pearls, in which the Queen keeps her
bracelets, ear-rings, and other things of
extraordinary value.
90 Foreign Visitors in England.
'Christ's Passion, in painted glass.
'Portraits: among which are, Queen Eliza-
beth at sixteen years old; Henry, Richard,
Edward, Kings of England; Rosamond, etc.
'A small hermitage, half hid in a rock,
finely carved in wood.
"Variety of emblems, on paper, cut in the
shape of shields, with mottoes, used by the
nobility at tilts and tournaments, hung up
here for a memorial.
'Different instruments of music, upon one
of which two persons may perform at the
same time.
'A piece of clockwork, an Ethiop riding
upon a rhinoceros, with four attendants, who
all make their obeisance when it strikes the
hour; these are all put into motion by winding
up the machine.'
Among the curiosities at Windsor is a
unicorn's horn, 'above eight spans and a half
in length, valued at £10,000.' At Hampton
Court everything is so gorgeous and costly,
that the walls of the palace 'shine with gold
and silver.' . . . 'Here is, besides, a certain
cabinet called Paradise, where everything
-
:
Foreign Visitors in England. 91
glitters so with silver, gold and jewels, as to
dazzle one's eyes; and a musical instrument
made all of glass, except the strings.'
•
The chapel at Windsor appears to have
been celebrated for its music. GIUSTINIAN
was enchanted with it. The visit of Frederick,
Duke of WIRTEMBERG, is marked by expressions
of great delight by the writer of his journal.
'In the church his Highness listened for
more than an hour to the beautiful music, the
usual ceremonies, and the English sermon. . .
The music, especially the organ, was ex-
quisitely played. . . . and there was likewise
a little boy who sang so sweetly amongst it
all, and threw such a charm over the music
with his little tongue, that it was really
wonderful to listen to him.' The reception of
GRUTHUYSE, at Windsor, when he attended the
Court of Edward IV., as described in an
ancient manuscript of the period, is a highly-
interesting illustration of life in Windsor
Castle: The King prepares three chambers,
richly hung with cloth of arras, for the use of his
visitor; after having interviewed the King, the
Lord Chamberlain conducts GRUTHUYSE
92 Foreign Visitors in England.
to his chamber for supper. After supper the
King requests his company, and accompanies
him to the Queen's apartments, where she
and her ladies are playing at ninepins and
divers other games, besides dancing, 'the
whiche sight was full plesaunte to them.' . . .
"In the morninge, when Matyns was done,
the King herde in his owne chappell our
ladye masse, whiche was melodyousely songe,
the Lorde Grautehuse being there presente.'
After mass is over the King presents him
with a golden cup, garnished with pearls,
having inside a piece of a unicorn's horn,
and on the outer cover a large sapphire.
After breakfast the King has him and 'all his
compeny into the lyttle parke, where he made
hym to have greate sporte. And there the
Kinge made hym ryde on his owen horse, on a
right feyre hoby, the whiche the Kinge gave
hym.' He also gave him 'a royall crosbowe,
the strynge of silke, the case covered wt
velvette of the King's collours, and his arms
and badges thereupon; also the heddes of
quarrelles were gilte.' In the afternoon there
was hunting; 'there were slaine halfe a doussein
Foreign Visitors in England.
93
buckes, the whiche the Kinge gave to the
sayde Lorde Grautehause. By that tyme it
was nere night, yett the Kinge shewed hym
his garden, and Vineyard of Pleasour, and so
turned into the castell agayne, where they
herde evensonge in theire chambers.' Then
the Queen, another day, has a great banquet.
'Item, there was a syde table, at the whiche
satte a greate vue of ladyes.' . . . 'And
when they had soupped, my Lady Elizabeth,
the Kinge's eldest doughter, daunsed with
the Duke of Buckingeham, and divers other
ladyes also. Then about ix. of the clocke,
the Kinge and the Quene, wt her ladyes and
gentlewomen, brought the sayde Lorde.
Grautehuse to iij. chaumbres of pleasance, all
hanged wt whyte sylke and lynnen clothe,
and all the floures covered wt carpettes. There
was ordeined a bedde for hymselve, of a
good doune as coulde be gotten, the shetes
of Raynys, [stuff from Rennes] also fyne
fustyans; the counterpoynte clothe of golde,
the curteyns of whyte sarsenette. In the
iijde chambre was ordeined a bayne [bath] or
ij, which were covered wt tentes of whyte
•
94
Foreign Visitors in England.
clothe.' Presently the Lord Chamberlain
assists him to prepare for the bath. After
they have bathed, they have 'grene gynger,
divers cyryppes, comfyttes, and ipocras,' and
then retire to bed.
A picture of the Court of Queen Elizabeth
will form a powerful contrast to the above.
When HENTZNER came, in 1598, the Queen
was getting on in years, and her appearances
in public were marked by sobriety and
dignity. She generally dwelt at Greenwich.
She was born in this palace, and spent most
of her summers here after she came to the
throne. To the very last she enjoyed the
park and the river, and here she usually re-
ceived her visitors. HENTZNER'S particularly
vivid and graphic notice is one of the best
accounts extant of Elizabeth in her old age:
'We were admitted into the presence-
chamber, hung with rich tapestry, and the
floor strewed with hay, after the English
fashion, through which the Queen commonly
passes in her way to chapel. At the door
Foreign Visitors in England.
95
3
stood a gentleman dressed in velvet, with a
gold chain, whose office was to introduce to
the Queen any person of distinction that
came to wait upon her. It was Sunday,
when there is usually the greatest attendance
of nobility. In the same hall were the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of
London, a great number of Councillors of
State, Officers of the Crown, and gentlemen,
who waited the Queen's coming out, which she
did from her own apartment, when it was
time to go to prayer, attended in the follow-
ing manner: First went gentlemen, barons,
earls, knights of the garter, all richly dressed,
and bareheaded; next came the chancellor,
bearing the seals in a red silk purse, between
two-one of which carried the royal sceptre,
the other the sword of state, in a red scab-
bard studded with golden fleur-de-lys, the
point upward; next came the Queen (in the
sixty-fifth year of her age, as we were told),
very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but
wrinkled; her eyes small, yet black and
pleasant; her nose a little hooked, her lips
narrow, and her teeth black; she had in her
:
96 Foreign Visitors in England.
ears two pearls, with very rich drops; she
wore false hair, and that red; upon her head
she had a small crown,
her bosom was
•
•
uncovered, as all the English ladies have it
till they marry, and she had on a necklace of
exceeding fine jewels; her hands were small,
her fingers long, and her stature neither tall
nor low; her air was stately, her manner of
speaking mild and obliging. That day she
was dressed in white silk, bordered with
pearls of the size of beans, and over it a
mantle of black silk, shot with silver threads;
her train was very long, the end of it borne
by a marchioness; instead of a chain she
had an oblong collar of gold and jewels. As
she went along in all this state and magni-
ficence she spoke very graciously, first to one,
then to another, whether foreign ministers or
those who attended for different reasons, in
English, French, and Italian; for, besides.
being well skilled in Greek, Latin, and the
languages I have mentioned, she is mistress.
of Spanish, Scotch and Dutch. Whoever
speaks to her it is kneeling, and now and
then she raises some with her hand. While
Foreign Visitors in England.
97
:
we were there W. Slawata, a Bohemian
baron, had letters to present to her; and
she, after pulling off her glove, gave him her
right hand to kiss, sparkling with rings and
jewels, a mark of particular favour. Whereon
she turned her face as she was going along;
everyone fell down on the knees. The ladies
of the court followed next to her, very hand-
some and well-shaped, and for the most part
dressed in white; she was guarded on each
side by the gentlemen pensioners, fifty in
number, with gilt battle-axes. In the ante-
chapel, next the hall where we were, petitions
were presented to her, and she received them
most graciously, which occasioned the ac-
clamation of "Long live Queen Elizabeth !”
She answered it with, "I thank you, my good
people!" In the chapel was excellent music.
As soon as it and the service were over,
which scarce exceeded half an hour, the
Queen returned in the same state and order,
and prepared to go to dinner.'
He then details the ceremonies attendant
on the preparation of her dinner-table, and
concludes :
7
1
เ
1
1
98 Foreign Visitors in England.
'At last came an unmarried lady, and
along with her a married one, bearing a
tasting-knife; the former was dressed in
white silk, who, when she had prostrated
herself three times in the most graceful
manner, approached the table, and rubbed.
the plates with bread and salt with as much
awe as if the Queen had been present. When
they had waited there a little while the Yeo-
men of the Guards entered, bareheaded,
clothed in scarlet, with a golden rose upon
their backs, bringing in at each turn four
dishes, served in plate, most of it gilt; these
dishes were received by a gentleman in the
same order they were brought, and placed
upon the table, while the lady-taster gave to
each of the guard a mouthful to eat of the
particular dish he had brought, for fear of
any poison. During the time that this guard,
which consists of the tallest and stoutest
men that can be found in all England, being
carefully selected for this service, were bring-
ing dinner, twelve trumpets and two kettle-
drums made the hall ring for half an hour
together. At the end of all this ceremonial
Foreign Visitors in England. 99
a number of unmarried ladies appeared, who,
with particular solemnity, lifted the meat off
the table, and conveyed it into the Queen's
inner and more private chamber, where, after
she had chosen for herself, the rest goes to
the ladies of the court. The Queen dines
and sups alone, with very few attendants; it
is very seldom that anybody, foreigner or
native, is admitted at that time, and then
only at the intercession of somebody in
power.'

Dor M
7-2

CHAPTER VII.
Various Sovereigns of England. -The Houses of
Parliament.-Political liberty of the English people.

T is noticeable that our visitors have
usually spoken of the English
Sovereigns with respect. One of
them says 'a monarch of England is capable
of doing as much good as any king in the
world, but he can do no wrong.' Perhaps this
idea has pervaded the minds of some in a
double sense, as though it were of no use to
point out the faults of those who could not pos-
sibly offend. And yet, upon review of the
persons who have occupied the English throne
since the death of Henry VIII., it is difficult
to point to one of them who has not earned
some title to the affection of the people. Even
Mary, before she became the tool of the
Papists, and succumbed to the detestable in-
Foreign Visitors in England. 101
fluences of religious bigotry, was beloved and
admired by all who knew her. As a rule,
the average stranger's estimate of each one
of them does not differ much from our own,
after we have subtracted the enmities aroused
by bigotry and partizanship. James I. is
the pedantic wiseacre; generous, hospitable,
princely, and amiable. Elizabeth is always
the accomplished and dignified Queen, cele-
brated for her elegance, both of body and
mind. Charles I. is the pink of courtesy
and piety; and Charles II. 'beloved by all
ranks, for his birth, for his virtues and his
knowledge, and for the gentleness with which
he treats his people.' MISSON's summary of
Charles II. is unique, and cannot be said to
be altogether inaccurate: A good prince, a
man of wit, curious in physical and mechanical
experiments; a pensioner of France, a Roman
Catholic, if anything; sick of being tossed
from pillar to post, he was resolved to spend
the latter part of his life in peace; fonder of
women, ease, and pleasure, than of Dunkirk,
England, and all the crowns in the universe.'
As for James II., MISSON is willing to credit
(
102 Foreign Visitors in England.
1
him with the qualities of a great prince, if he
could but 'follow the light of reason, and the
natural inclinations of his heart.' But allow-
ing the Jesuits to beset him, in season and
out of season, must needs bring misfortune
upon him.
'Those cursed probabilities,
equivocations, directions of the intentions,
maxims of keeping no faith with heretics, and
other the like principles invented by the
enemy of God and man, possess'd his mind,
fill'd him with fatal prejudices, and led him.
to be guilty of perjury with an honest and
good intention.'
Mons. GROSLEY offers some just observa-
tions on the relation between the English
monarch and his subjects, in the course of
which he remarks how rare it is for men to
love those who force their esteem, or to
always esteem those whom they love.
Henry VII. and William III., the wisest
princes that ever reigned in England, he
points to as belonging to the former category;
while Charles II. (of course!) was 'greatly
beloved, and little esteemed.' GROSLEY CON-
siders that if any king ever deserved the love
Foreign Visitors in England. 103
of his subjects, it was the reigning sovereign.
George III. had then been only five years on
the throne; and the sobriety of his Court, and
the simplicity of his mode of life, added to
the constant affability of his manners, were a
striking novelty in the records of monarchy.
'All those he speaks to he accosts in the
most polite manner, and never opens his
lips except to say the most obliging things.'
His palace practically unguarded, and his
'country retreat inferior in magnificence
to many'; together with the very much
lessened state of his equipages, pointed to
one means among many of acquiring popular
esteem. Yet, our friendly visitor observes
that coachmen and carmen never stop at his
approach, and take a pride in not bowing to
him. 'Why should we bow to George?' say
the insolent rabble; 'he should bow to us.
He lives at our expense !'
It is such a startling development of the
principle of personal freedom, as this anec-
dote furnishes, which so frequently amazed
the stranger on our shores. The objects to
which deference was paid in his own country
104 Foreign Visitors in England.
were not those specially adored by English-
men; and, contrariwise, he found here often
a bigoted adherence to principles which he
had been accustomed to regard as harmless
superstitions. Liberty he found to be a
fetish, at the feet of which the whole nation
professed unmixed devotion. Yet he often
ended with the conclusion that it was a delu-
sive worship. The English people appeared
to enjoy unbridled license to speak and to
write what they liked, and to settle their little
differences by mob-authority. All men, as in
most other civilized countries, were aspiring
to a sort of equality; and in that all men
were engaged in a perpetual warfare. They
believe they enjoy liberty (says LE BLANC)
because they have the word for a device; but
those who find themselves invested with
power, by feeding the rest with chimerical
ideas find means to really enslave them.'
This gentleman elsewhere sarcastically re-
marks that the very general study of politics.
here disorders more heads than it regulates,
because it 'demands an application which
the majority of mankind are not equal to, and
Foreign Visitors in England. 105
such lights as but very few men have an
opportunity of acquiring.' It is hinted, by
more than one writer, that under such a free
constitution as that of England there was no
medium left between slavery and liberty.
This is an extreme notion. But the tyranny
of majorities, duped by fine-sounding names,
and led off by plausible language, doubtless
appeared to such minds to foreshadow a peril
to which the English nation must necessarily be
exposed. Mons. Louis SIMOND, a later writer,
is extremely puzzled because he finds that
there is already a very general personal liberty
in England for all persons, whether enfran-
chised or not. He observes that the right of
making laws does not in itself constitute
liberty; and he quotes (though not with
entire approval) a sarcasm of Rousseau's:
The English think they are free, but they
are much mistaken. They are so only during
an election of members of parliament; as
soon as this election is made, they are slaves,
they are nothing; and the use they make of
their liberty during the few moments of its
duration shows how little they deserve to
keep it."
106 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
Mons. GROSLEY holds that, as factions
exist in both Houses of Parliament, an excel-
lent means of bringing them together and
uniting them on great principles is provided
in the very contest aroused. 'Like those
ebullitions of humour to which man is ex-
posed in proportion to the strength and
vigour of his constitution, these factions are
at once the symptoms and the effects of
real strength in any State.' GROSLEY appears
to have acquired, in taking this point of view,
a very just notion of the causes which have
combined, on the one hand to enable the
English Constitution to disencumber itself
from time to time of corruptive elements,
and on the other to avert the consequences
of revolutionary passion. And it was doubt-
less with similar reflections that many of the
constitution-mongers of 1789 indulged them-
selves with hopes of copying, in some of its
essentials, a system which had worked so
The intelligent foreigner of the present
century devotes less attention to abstract than
to concrete questions. We hear, therefore,
well.
less of comment on constitutional maxims
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 107
than of the look of things. A visit to the
Houses of Parliament is
one of the sights
But they are, as a
methods of pro-
they come to London for.
rule, more interested in
cedure, in petty ceremonies. Americans
especially take note of the circumstance that
pens, ink and paper are not supplied to indi-
vidual members of Parliament, and of the
personal appearance of the speakers of
renown. We hear how they are squeezed
in the strangers' gallery; and the result of an
application for an interview with a member
in the lobby. The House of Commons is
'gorgeous,' and the House of Lords 'blazes
in crimson and gold.' As for the occupiers
of the benches, are they gods or men?
They are truly but men; and they are
men who all wear their hats on as at a
Quaker meeting. But it is no Quaker meet-
ing; for the spirit of heavenly repose which
broods over the assemblies of the saints is
surely not here,' etc.
108 Foreign Visitors in England.
We have, however, some few personal refer-
ences which deserve to be noticed. The
Prince PÜCKLER-MUSKAU, whose Tour is a
delightful repository of anecdote of character,
tells us how he endured six hours of heat and
discomfort for the sake of seeing the House
of Commons at its best. He was present at
a debate during the ministerial crisis in
1827. He describes the clear torrent of
Brougham's eloquence, now torturing with
sarcasm, now taking a higher flight, working
upon the sensibilities or convincing the
reason of his hearers, riveting the attention
without once pausing or halting, without
repeating or recalling or mistaking a word.
Yet with all his pungent wit and rare presence
of mind, he felt that Brougham possessed the
power of touching the heart in a far lower
degree than his immediate opponent, Canning.
'If his predecessor might be compared to a
dexterous and elegant boxer, Canning pre-
sented the image of a finished antique
gladiator. All was noble, refined, simple;
then suddenly, at one splendid point, his
eloquence burst forth like lightning, grand
"
Foreign Visitors in England. 109
and all-subduing.' On an ensuing day, our
visitor was in the Lords' House, and saw the
Duke of Wellington: 'he is no orator, and
was compelled bon gré mal gré, to enter upon
his defence like an accused person. He was
considerably agitated; and this senate of his
country, though composed of men whom, in-
dividually, he perhaps did not care for,
appeared more imposing to him en masse
than Napoleon and his hundred thousands..
There was something touching to me in see-
ing the hero of this century in so subdued a
situation. He stammered much, interrupted.
and involved himself; but at length, with the
help of his party, who at every stumbling-
block gave him time to collect himself by
means of noise and cheers, he brought the
matter tolerably to a conclusion. He occa-
sionally said strong things, probably stronger
than he meant, for he was evidently not
master of his stuff. Among other things, the
following words pleased me exceedingly: "I
am a soldier, and no orator. I am utterly
deficient in the talents requisite to play a
part in this great assembly. . . All the
110 Foreign Visitors in England.
}
1
lords who had resigned made their apology
in turn, as well as they could. Old Lord
Eldon tried the effect of tears, which he
always has at hand on great occasions; but
I did not see that they produced any corres-
ponding emotion in the audience. . . . Lord
Holland distinguished himself as usual by
sharp and striking exposition; Lord King by
a great deal of wit, not always in the best
taste; Lord Lansdowne by calm, appropriate
statement, more remarkable for good sense
than for brilliancy. Lord Grey far excelled
the rest in dignity of manner, a thing which
English orators, almost without exception,
either neglect or cannot acquire.' This
writer notices the extreme decorum visible in
the House of Lords, as compared with the
aspect of the Lower House, 'which is like a
dirty coffee-house, and where many of the
representatives of the people lie sprawling on
the benches with their hats on, and talking of
all sorts of trifles while their colleagues are
speaking.' He owns to a mixture of impres-
sions after having seen the collective wisdom
in session, 'at once elevating and melancholy
Foreign Visitors in England. III
-the former when I fancied myself an
Englishman, the latter when I felt that I was
a German.
This twofold Senate of the
people of England' (he proceeds to say)
'spite of all the defects and blemishes
common to human nature, which are blended
in its composition, is yet something in the
highest degree grand; and in contemplating
its power and operation thus near at hand,
one begins to understand why it is the
English nation is, as yet, the first on the face
of the earth,'
Professor SILLIMAN, from Boston, saw the
House of Commons in 1805, and presents
us with the aspect of Pitt and Fox toward
the close of their careers. When the former
rose to speak there was 'nothing in the sub-
ject which called for a display of eloquence;
he made simply a statement of facts
but this served to identify his voice and
manner. In his person he is tall and spare ;
he has small limbs, with large knees and
feet; his features are sharp; his nose large,
pointed, and turning up; his complexion.
sanguine; his voice deep-toned and com-
1
112 Foreign Visitors in England.
manding, yet sweet and perfectly well modu-
lated; and his whole presence, notwith-
standing the want of symmetry in his limbs,
is, when he rises to speak, full of superiority
and conscious dignity.' . . . 'Fox's manner
is flowing, easy, and natural, but without the
dignity and impressiveness of Pitt. He
stood leaning forward, as if going uphill, and
his fists were clenched and thrust into his
waistcoat-pockets,' etc.
Herr MORITZ tells us of Fox's appearance
(1782) at an earlier period of his life, as a
short, fat, and gross man, with a swarthy
complexion, ‘and, in general, badly dressed.
There is certainly something Jewish in his
looks. But, upon the whole, he is not an
ill-made nor an ill-looking man, and there
are many strong marks of sagacity and fire
in his eyes.' Taking his place near the table,
he gave it 'many a violent and hearty thump,
either to aid or to show the energy with
which he spoke. . . . It is impossible for me
to describe with what fire and persuasive
eloquence he spoke; and how the Speaker
in the chair incessantly nodded approbation
Foreign Visitors in England. 113
Innumerable
from beneath his solemn wig.
voices incessantly called out, "Hear! hear!"
and when there was the least sign that he
intended to leave off speaking, they no less.
vociferously exclaimed, “Go on!" and so he
continued to speak for nearly two hours.'
Burke he describes as a well-made, tall,
upright man, looking elderly and broken.
Mr. Rigby is 'excessively corpulent, and he
has a jolly rubicund face.'
This intelligent and good-natured German
preferred the entertainment he met with at
the Houses of Parliament 'to most other
amusements.' Deeply impressed with the
opportunity of seeing 'the whole of the
British nation assembled in its represen-
tatives,' although in 'rather a mean-looking
building, that not a little resembles a chapel,'
he is yet naturally struck with some of the
comic aspects of the business. 'The mem-
bers of the House of Commons have nothing
particular in their dress; they even come
into the House in their great-coats, and with
boots and spurs. It is not at all uncommon
to see a member lying stretched out on one
i
-
8
114 Foreign Visitors in England.
1
of the benches while others are debating.
Some crack nuts, others eat oranges, or
whatever else is in season. There is no end
to their going in and out; and as often as any-
one wishes to go out he places himself before
the Speaker, and makes him his bow, as if,
like a school-boy, he asked his tutor's per-
mission. Those who speak seem to deliver
themselves with but little, perhaps not always
with even a decorous, gravity. . . . If it
happens that a member rises who is but a
bad speaker, or if what he says is generally
deemed not sufficiently interesting, so much.
noise is made, and such bursts of laughter
are raised, that the member who is speaking
can scarcely distinguish his own words. This
must needs be a distressing situation; and it
seems then to be particularly laughable when
the Speaker in his chair, like a tutor in a
school, again and again endeavours to restore
order.' . 'As all speeches are directed to
the Speaker, the members always preface
their speeches with Sir; and he, on being
thus addressed, generally moves his hat a
little, but immediately puts it on again.
j'
Foreign Visitors in England. 115
This sir is often introduced in the course of
their speeches, and serves to connect what is
said; it seems also to stand a speaker in
some stead when his memory fails him, or
he is otherwise at a loss for matter. For
while he is saying sir, and has thus obtained
a little pause, he recollects what is to follow.'
'One sometimes sees one member
speaking and another accompanying the
speech with his actions. This I remarked
more than once in a worthy old citizen, who
was afraid of speaking himself, but when his
neighbour spoke he accompanied every
energetic sentence with a suitable gesticu-
lation, by which means his whole body was
sometimes in motion.'
Our visitor observes that the principal
point in the debate is frequently lost in
personal contests and bickerings; and that
this sort of thing lasts till it has become
tedious and tiresome. It would seem, from
his description generally, that 'personal ex-
planation' was more frequently necessary a
century ago than it is now.
MORITZ had also the privilege of witnessing
8-2
116 Foreign Visitors in England.
the proceedings at a Westminster election.
With a mind attuned to lofty views of things,
derived from classic and poetical pursuits, he
disdains to dwell upon the rowdyism and
disorder while such lofty interests as the
election of a popular representative are at
stake. Whilst in Prussia,' he says, 'poets
only speak of the love of country as one of
the dearest of all human affections; here
there is no man who does not feel and de-
scribe with rapture how much he loves his
country. . . . All the enthusiasm of my
earliest years, kindled by the patriotism of
the illustrious heroes of Rome—Coriolanus,
Julius Cæsar, Antony-were now revived in
my mind, and though all I had just seen.
and heard be, in fact, but the semblance of
liberty, yet at that moment I thought it
charming, and it warmed my heart. Yes,
depend upon it when you here see how in
this happy country the lowest and meanest
member of society thus unequivocally testifies
the interest which he takes in everything
of a public nature; when you see how even
women and children bear a part in the great
Foreign Visitors in England. 117
concerns of their country; in short, how
high and low, rich and poor, all concur in
declaring their feelings and their convictions.
that a carter, a common tar, or a scavenger,
is still a man-nay, an Englishman, and as
such has his rights and privileges defined and
known as exactly and as well as his King-
take my word for it, you will feel yourself
very differently affected from what you are
when staring at our soldiers in their exercises
at Berlin.'
There is something of singular simplicity,
mingled with sound good sense, about
MORITZ's letters to his friend at home, and
some courage must be attributed to one who
could make use of the comparison involved
in this last sentence while Frederick the
Great yet lived and reigned.
Our parliamentary system would appear to
be regarded as something peculiarly unique ;
something that cannot any way be copied by
another people. This is observable from
generation to generation. The greater num-
118 Foreign Visitors in England.
រ
ber of nationalities have adapted the system.
to their own standard and requirements. Not
one has copied in their entirety the exterior
forms of their model; and there will appear
nothing surprising in the fact when we con-
sider that these forms are the effigies-some-
times grotesque and almost all superannuated
-of historical or pre-historic traditions
special to the Anglo-Saxon race.' A true
enough observation from one of the latest
commentators on our institutions, DARYL,
tinged with just enough of that impatient
flippancy which is characteristic of many
modern minds in their inability to under-
stand the value and the strength of time-
honoured traditions. There is an obvious
unwillingness to believe it possible for liberty
really to exist in a system which has not yet
had the privilege of being turned topsy-turvy.
The author just quoted, studying public
life in England' for ten years or so, has pro-
vided abundant proof of his acquaintance
with our institutions; but his approval is
lukewarm, and he frankly discusses the
future as though it were big with changes,
Foreign Visitors in England. 119
notwithstanding our 'hierarchic sentiment.'
DARYL has sketched several prominent
Liberals, but does not appear to have dis-
covered a 'fine conscience,' or a decent
orator, among the members of the opposite
party. And it is quite new to be informed
that in the Upper House there are 'scarcely
thirty politicians worthy of the name.'
It should be granted that M. DARYL'S
chapter on the House of Commons is one of
the very best sketches of the procedure, and of
the outward and visible signs, of parliamentary
life.
The foreigner who has followed political
life in England with the most seriousness is,
perhaps, VON RAUMER. In his book (‘England
in 1835) he returns freshly to every question
that is agitating the country in Parliament.
He has tried to understand what he is writing
about, and has tolerably succeeded; and
shows little of the disposition-so common
among our critics, and so characteristic of
superficial observers to lay down abstract
theories for our improvement.
In this, per-
haps, lies the secret of Von RAUMER'S un-
Worm
..
H
120 Foreign Visitors in England.
alloyed enjoyment of his trip to England.
He came with the determination to see all
that was best to be seen, and to make the
best of all that he did see. Here, for example,
is a passage from one of his letters, at once
philosophic and homely, written just after the
death of William Cobbett; at the close of a
period when that worthy had been, for some
time past, the foremost of a series of earnest
politicians who made themselves heard from
the very depths of the crowd, yet who had
not altogether succeeded in attaining that
coherent utterance which is usually demanded
by political theorists: These men,' he says,
thought, lived, felt like plebeians, and there-
fore found an echo in the people; and it
would have been more rational to investigate
the causes of this than to make it a subject
of lamentation. Instead of wasting their time
in fruitless abuse, people would then discover
means of redressing real evils, of showing the
groundlessness of false complaints, and of
exhibiting absurdities in all their nakedness.
If there be any individuals who think to turn
the democratical heritage of these men to
account, they will probably find themselves
Maou
Foreign Visitors in England. 121
mistaken. The spirit of resistance to power,
which grows with rank luxuriance on the
rough uncultured soil of the people, has a
native life which, when trained and pruned,
bears the noblest fruit, such, for instance, as
heroic devotion to country. On the other
hand, the revolutionary tendency which is
nurtured in the closet, which borrows all its
force from the annihilation of the positive,.
and thinks to lead nations captive with a few
phrases, is shallow in its origin, presumptuous
in its course, destructive in its results. Popular
life is far too rich, varied, earnest, vivid, to be
long chained to the dry bones of a superficial
system. Their sorrows and their joys are not
to be learned from the political herbariums
of system-mongers; and when once it comes
to blows, there are thoughts and feelings in
motion that are not dreamt of in the philo-
sophy of these political pedagogues.' This
is really admirable; and this passage from
VON RAUMER is one of the tokens which
distinguish the mind of a man free from
party-bias-a quality so little regarded by the
majority of our intelligent visitors as to be
almost absent.

CHAPTER VIII.
Our National Character.

HERE is one comprehensive topic,
upon which all our intelligent
visitors are found competent (at
least, in their own eyes) to give decisive
opinions. These opinions vary in quality,
in candour, in temper, in manner; but
they are, above all, decisive. Everyone has
settled, without hesitation, his views upon
our national character. It is, naturally, a
topic the most interesting to us as a nation;
but when we find that the varieties of dis-
position given to Englishmen extend to every
shade, from that of near perfection down to
one of almost absolute wickedness, the
question becomes truly entertaining.
It is impossible for any intelligent person
Foreign Visitors in England. 123
1
making a study of these foreign visitors with-
out attributing to them certain individualities.
They all betray themselves. We feel that we
have met their counterparts.
There, for example, is the snarling priest,
'wiser in his own eyes than ten men who can
render a reason,' who has reached our shores
ready-primed for complaint and depreciation
at every turn. Because we have left the
bosom of mother Church, i.e., no longer
believe the same as he does, we are capri-
cious, gloomy, and fanatical; we are 'eaten
up with avarice;' we are fierce and cruel, in
the gall of bitterness and in the bond of
iniquity. He stares with what he thinks is
intelligent wonder, but is only stupidity. He
has come with his prejudices, bent on making
every feature reflect them, and every word
and action justify them. Another, such as
SORBIERE, having much good disposition
about him, is possessed nevertheless with a
sort of instinct that Providence has selected
him to set the world quite straight. With a
certain amount of good sense, he yet has his
nose in the air, sniffing at a people who have
124 Foreign Visitors in England.
not been educated in the same way as himself,
and voting them detestable; thus turning an
opportunity of wise self-instruction into one
of useless carping at things strange.
On the other hand, such a one as the
gentle MORITZ finds his delight in showing
how much pleasure he derives from his
journey. He has his proportion of failures
and blunders, and does not exaggerate them
to the discredit of Englishmen; he some-
times meets with ill behaviour, but is ready
to believe that it is partly occasioned by his
own inexperience. He looks at everything
with even too much sentiment, and has rather
the characteristic known as 'simple-minded.'
Most Germans, to judge from the inevitable
preface to their books, show that they have
previously made themselves acquainted with
former travels in this country before com-
mitting themselves to the journey. MORITZ
does not actually say as much, but it is clear
that he has not only read something about
England, but has made himself acquainted
with her literature. This is so different from
the average Frenchman. With some excep-
Foreign Visitors in England. 125
tions, the Frenchman has visited our shores
primed with 'hearsay,' and nothing deeper.
It is true, there are instances in recent times
of a French gentleman's account of England
being actually occasioned by the demerits of
another which he has discovered to be unjust.
Monsieur GROSLEY'S 'Londres,' the work of
a learned and philosophic mind, was, perhaps,
the first systematic and thorough account of
English manners and customs and character
which obtained the honours of general re-
cognition. But another generation arose,
which lamented the errors into which he had
fallen, and was anxious to do more justice to
the theme. In our own times, ESQUIROS
gives us an exhaustive study of England and
its people, the fruit of many years' study and
In no department of
so necessary for the
residence among us.
human inquiry is it
observer to restrain his tendency to self-
exaltation as in the estimate to be made of
strangers, above all the strangers of another
land. Yet, such is human perversity, nine.
travellers out of ten habitually think what
they are predisposed to think; and it may
1
་
126 Foreign Visitors in England.
be safely said that the shorter the period
devoted to the inquiry, the more dogmatic.
and erroneous is the verdict.
A sound patriotic spirit is universally re-
marked in the English character. Our alleged
harshness toward strangers is credited to a
perverse direction which this spirit sometimes
takes. But it is to be noticed that this charge
is instigated, in general, by those persons only
who have seen little of the country. For
example, SULLY, whose embassy to James I.
was not of long duration, and who made
some friends here, and learned to admire
much that he saw, could write in this astound-
ingly ill-tempered vein: 'It is certain that the
English hate us, and this hatred is so general
and inveterate that one would almost be
tempted to number it among their natural
dispositions. It is undoubtedly an effect of
their arrogance and pride; for no nation in
Europe is more haughty and insolent, nor
more conceited of its superior excellence.
Were they to be believed, understanding and
་
Foreign Visitors in England. 127
common-sense are to be found only among
them. They are obstinately wedded to all
their own opinions, and despise those of any
other nation; and to hear others, or suspect
themselves, is what never enters into their
thoughts.' Now, as a marked contrast to
this, let us compare this with what MURALt
says (near a century later), who stayed here
for a not much longer period, but who saw
little of the Court and more of the middle
classes. He notes the same facts as SULLY,
and manages, nevertheless, to convey a quite
different impression of this side of the English
character. He says: 'I have not remarked
any insolence among them to strangers-at
least in the common affairs of life; so that I
cannot see any reason for distinguishing them
from other nations, on that score; and,
generally speaking, their ways are far from
being so harsh or disagreeable to us as most
people imagine. They do not trouble them
selves much about us, when they don't know
us; and when they do, they make us sensible
sometimes that they love themselves best.
That is enough; they are strongly prepos-
1
128 Foreign Visitors in England.
!
'sessed in favour of their own nation. This
influences all their discourse and ways, and
affords matter of complaint to strangers; and
perhaps the folly of the greatest part of the
world may be imputed to the same error.'
The Abbé LE BLANC discourses very con-
siderately on our supposed excess of prejudice
in favour of our own land. He plainly asserts
that it exists, both in the language of poets
and authors and in that of the common
people; only that the former are more
modest in their expressions.'
'The love of our country,' he says, 'which
nature has engrafted on every heart, is one of
the most useful virtues to the support of the
community; but it is with this as with many
others—our vanity may blend some vicious
tincture with it that may alter its purity.
Nothing is proof against this taint of self-love.
Prejudices sometimes render this attachment
to one's native soil ridiculous in particular
instances, which is so commendable in general.
It is more difficult than is imagined to get rid
of these national prejudices, which injure our
reason, and hinder us from putting ourselves
Foreign Visitors in England. 129
in a true point of light to form a right judg-
ment of objects not familiar to us. . . .
... The
power of habit hurries us away, and makes
us condemn manners which have no other
defect but that of not being our own. Accus-
tomed to the hat, the turban shocks us;
simplicity passes for rudeness with those who
do not reflect how much of the arbitrary
enters into what is called politeness; we
laugh at that of the Chinese, without con-
sidering that they have the same right to
laugh at ours. And, indeed, when a person
loves his country-and, what is still more
ridiculous, without loving it-he is unjust
with regard to others.' And he further
implies that his own fellow-countrymen may
possibly deserve as much reproach as the
English in respect of their national prejudices;
and, admitting that the English have the fault
of supposing that they alone are in possession
of all the virtues, he is sorry to have to confess
that it cannot be said of the Frenchmen as it
can of the English, that they generally speak
as modestly of themselves as they do proudly
of their country. A Frenchman seems to
9
130 Foreign Visitors in England.
esteem his nation only with respect to himself;
an Englishman appears not to set any value
on himself, but with respect to his nation;
which gives an air of vanity to the one, and
to the other an air of greatness.'
After long reflection on this subject, no one
will come to any other decision than this:
that the whole idea of our 'national vanity'
is exaggerated. Most persons who came to
English shores, before our naval and mer-
cantile supremacy made it obvious to the
world what stuff we were made off, came with
the fixed notion that the English people had
but moderate abilities for anything but fight-
ing. We were not highly civilized; and we
had the very great demerit of living in a
somewhat inaccessible country. The Straits
of Dover have much to account for in the old
imperfect estimates of our character. It is a
universal tendency of human nature to decry
and to depreciate that which we know
nothing of; and many writers previous to the
seventeenth century are betrayed into this
tendency.
So, when these intelligent, but sometimes.
Foreign Visitors in England. 131
1
!
vain-glorious, strangers land here, and find a
race of intrepid and self-reliant people not
less polished and often better-informed than
themselves, who have a history of centuries,
during which more personal liberty has
existed than in any other country of Europe,
and whose whole political and social daily
existence breathes an independent spirit, it is
too much for them to bear. Rather than
acknowledge the superiority which, in some
respects, is at once obvious, and which bursts
upon them a little unexpectedly, the visitor
resorts to his bundle of prejudices, applies
this or that to the objects and persons
encountered, and thus produces a defective
and distorted picture. Perhaps this is a fault
which belongs still to the average traveller,
but it is more obvious in the French than in
any other. Americans are, too, somewhat
given to a petulant way, born of the discovery
that there are still some things done in the
old country remarkably well, and that there
are still some Englishmen who prefer their
own institutions to American ones. The
absorbing interest of many objects in this
L
9-2

132 Foreign Visitors in England.
country, and the real affection and reverence
which Americans have expressed for its
historic features, do not always hinder them.
from displaying a spirit almost amounting to
arrogance. They can pardon no vain-glory
but their own. One of the most comical
things in the whole of this literature of
English travel is a sentence of HAWTHORNE'S
(at Chester): An American must always
have imagined a better cathedral than this!'
HAWTHORNE, in common with others from
the United States, repeatedly gives vent to
his belief that Englishmen hate Americans,
although there may be some individual cases
of mutual regard. But it is difficult to
imagine how he could justify the following
remark (unless Liverpool folk are widely.
different from Londoners): 'It is very queer,
the resolute quizzing of our manners, when
we are really and truly much better figures,
and with much better capacity of polish for
drawing-room or dining-room than they are.
I had been struck on my arrival at Smithell's
Hall by the very rough aspect of these John
Bulls in their morning garb, their coarse

Foreign Visitors in England. 133
frock-coats, gray hats, checked trousers, and
stout shoes. At dinner-table it was not at
first easy to recognise the same individuals
in their white waistcoats, muslin cravats, thin
black coats, with silk facings perhaps. But
after a while you see the same rough figure
through all the finery, and become sensible
that John Bull cannot make himself fine,
whatever he may put on. He is a rough
animal, and his female is well adapted to
him.'
One may seek in vain for a very long time.
something to account for this rather unkind
turn. It is grotesque as well as unkind. The
American visitor or dweller in London is
usually credited with a little extra self-con-
ceit, unaccompanied by prejudice; and that
is entirely justified by the circumstance that
the average American found in London is a
successful, and pretty often a wealthy, man.
But it is a jaundiced view of the case to re-
present us as habitually seeking to lower his
social qualities by false conceptions. There
will be always a sense of rivalry between
the two nations; but it is absurd and unjust
134 Foreign Visitors in England.
*
on either hand to suspect that the other is
on the watch for deficiences of manner and
personal peccadilloes. And this passage,
quoted from HAWTHORNE, serves but to
show how the best of men look when they
allow the genial side of their nature to dis-
appear under the influence of some temporary
ill-humour. Professor HOPPIN, another visitor
of our own days, in the midst of some
picturesque description, suddenly plunges
into a study of English character, in the
course of which he lets a little light into this
mutual suspicion. He says, 'I have found
in travelling in England that if I could
chastise my own intemperate nationality, and
not let it stick out offensively, that I soon
made friends with Englishmen who, in the
end, would volunteer more in reference to
their own failings than I should ever have
thought of producing to them. Mutual pride
prevents Englishmen and Americans from
seeing each other's good traits and positive
resemblances. And all Englishmen are not
disagreeable, neither are all Americans in-
sufferable. There are the pleasantest and
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 135
I
sweetest people in the world in both nations;
so there are undoubtedly the most insolent
and contemptible.'
We must credit MISSON with one of the
most gracious expressions regarding the out-
ward demeanour of Englishmen. 'Other
nations' (he says) 'accuse the common
people among the English of incivility,
because they generally accost one another
without putting their hands to their hats,
and without that flood of compliments that
usually pours out of the mouth of the
French, the Italians, etc. But they take the
thing in a wrong light; the idea of the
English is that civility does not consist
wholly of these outward shows, which very
often are hypocritical and deceitful. . . . I
am willing to believe that the English are
subject to certain faults, as no doubt all
nations are; but, everything considered, I
am satisfied by several years' experience that
the more strangers are acquainted with the
English, the more they will esteem and love
!
136 Foreign Visitors in England.
What
them. What brave men do I know in
England! What moderation! What gene-
rosity! What uprightness of heart!
piety and charity! Yes, there are in England.
persons that may truly be called accom-
plished: men who are wisdom and goodness
itself.' After this one need not despair.
This, from the pen of one whom it must
have cost something to 'unlearn contempt,'
as Whittier would say, makes one hope that
the difficulty of understanding us is not in-
surmountable. Happily there is some further
testimony to the effect that when the chilly,
phlegmatic, melancholy exterior of the average
Englishman is once removed, an unequalled
warmth, and fervency, and cheerfulness is
discovered.
Before dismissing this topic we may select
a few of the summaries of the English
character. Some of them are oddly con-
tradictory in themselves, and some are sus-
piciously at second-hand. Some are ob-
viously tempered with prejudice, and others
are as unmistakably the effusions of generous.
and kindly natures, who found in this
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 137
country far more of sympathetic welcome
and courteous treatment than by hearsay
they had been led to expect.
'The English are so cunning and faithless.
that a foreigner would not be sure of his life-
among them. A Briton is not to be trusted
on his bended knees.'-(Sasek, journalist of
VON ROZMITAL.)
'Every gentleman and every worthy person
showed unto me all points of most friendly
courtesy, and, taking me first by the hand,
lovingly embraced and bad me right heartily
welcome.' (LEMNIUS.)
'The people are bold, courageous, ardent
and cruel in war, fiery in attack, and having
little fear of death; they are not vindictive,
but very inconstant, rash, vain-glorious, light
and deceiving, and very suspicious, especially
of foreigners, whom they despise. They are
full of courtly and affected manner of words,
which they take for gentility, civility, and
wisdom. They are eloquent, and very hos-
pitable; they feed well and delicately, and
eat a great deal of meat, and, as the Germans
pass the bounds of sobriety in drinking, these
do the same in eating.'-(VAN Meteren.)
·
J
}
138 Foreign Visitors in England.
'The common people of London, giving
way to their natural inclination, are proud,
arrogant, and uncivil to foreigners; against
whom, and especially the French, they enter-
tain a great prejudice, treating such as come
among them with contempt and insult.
C
The nobility, though also proud, have
not so usually the defects of the lower orders,
displaying a certain degree of politeness.
and courtesy towards strangers; and this is
still more the case with those gentlemen who
have been out of the kingdom and travelled,
they having taken a lesson in politeness from
the manners of other nations. Almost all of
them speak French and Italian, and readily
apply themselves to learn the latter language
from the goodwill which they entertain toward
our nation; and although by their civil treat-
ment of foreign gentlemen, whom they en-
deavour to imitate, they moderate a little
that stiffness or uncouthness which is peculiar
to them; yet they fail in acquiring such good
manners as to put them on a level with the
easy gentility of the Italians, not being able
to get the better of a certain natural melan-
Foreign Visitors in England. 139
choly, which has the appearance of eternally
clouding their minds. with unpleasant
thoughts.
'The English in general are by nature
proud and phlegmatic, and patient in their
behaviour, so that they never hurry those
who work for them by an indiscreet im-
patience, but suffer them to go on at their
own pleasure and according to their ability.
This proceeds from their melancholy tem-
perament, for which those who live in the
North of England are more remarkable than
those in the South; the former being satur-
nine, and the latter somewhat more lively.
They consider a long time before they come
to a determination; but having once decided
their resolution is irrevocable, and they main-
tain their opinion with the greatest obstinacy.
'The English are men of a handsome
countenance and shape, and of an agreeable
complexion, which is attributable to the tem-
perature of the climate, to the nature of their
food, and to the use of beer rather than
wine, and, above all to the salubrity of the
air, which is almost always clear; that thick
140 Foreign Visitors in England.
+
atmosphere, which is seen from a distance
hovering over London, not being caused by
corrupt vapours, but arising casually from
the smoke of the mineral coal from Scotland,
which issues from the chimneys, etc.
"Of a most manly spirit, and valiant in
war both by land and sea, to a degree that
amounts almost to rashness.'-(Count
MAGALOTTI.)
'The English may be easily brought to
anything, provided you fill their bellies, let
them have freedom of speech, and do not
bear too hard upon their lazy temper.'-
(SORBIERE.)
The inhabitants of this excellent country
are tall, handsome, well made, fair, active,
robust, courageous, thoughtful, devout, lovers
of the liberal arts, and as capable of the
sciences as any people in the world.'
- (MISSON.)
'The commonalty are rude and cruel,
addicted to thieving and robbing, faithless,
headstrong, inclined to strife and mutiny,
gluttonous, and superstitiously addicted to
the predictions of foolish astrologers; in
Foreign Visitors in England. 141
1
short, of a very extravagant temper, delight-
ing in the noise of guns, drums, and bells,
as if it were some sweet harmony.'-(Dr.
GEMELLI-CARERI.)
'In England the belly always takes the
place of the back.'-(MURALT.)
So much for short generalizations. After
the period of this writer our visitors get
more prosy. They are immersed in detail,
and they descend into the very depths of
things. The Abbé LE BLANC's bulky work is
a veritable encyclopædia of the ways, man-
ners, industries, frivolities, and prejudices of
the English, compared with those of the
French. Much the same may be said of
M. GROSLEY'S endeavour to present a full
picture of society in London. GROSLEY'S
'Londres' remained a text-book for the
study of English life and character until the
end of the eighteenth century.

1
.

CHAPTER IX.
Our National Character-continued.
T must be admitted to be with
justice that the English nation is
credited with a tendency to fanati-
cism. We hear much, throughout the ages,
of the melancholy of the English; one of
its causes is our fanatical rage, which leads
us to extremes before we have reflected upon
the consequences. The English know no
medium in anything,' says one.
In support of this opinion, reference is
usually made by our visitors to the con-
sequences of Wycliffe's intrepidity, to the
party conflicts under the Tudors, andto the
wholesale demoralization of public opinion
under the Stuarts. The roots and branches of
sectarianism are a favourite topic. Monsieur

Foreign Visitors in England. 143
GROSLEY enters largely into it; although he
does not appear to think that it matters so
much, to the sectarian himself, what is the
quality and character of his belief, as is the
need for producing his belief unto the bitter
end. 'Hell is,' he remarks, 'the favourite
topic of the Methodist preachers, who, we are
told, contribute thereby to people Bedlam.'
He observes that the English carry all their
passions to excess; and the stubborn temper
of the people, having its imagination kindled
by superstition, naturally proceeds to extremity.
Hence the great number and variety and ex-
travagance of the sects. The papist GEMELLI-
CARERI is horror-struck with this phase of what
he considers irreligion. The accomplished
narrator of Cosmo's journey is moderate and
dignified, but none the less severe and con-
temptuous, over the religious divisions of
England; and he devotes many pages to a
description of them, according to the accounts.
which he has received in response to his
inquiries.
The Abbé LE BLANC is rather amused than
not by the heat and rancour engendered by
144 Foreign Visitors in England.
sectarianism. The sermons of the different
parties,' he says, 'are commonly a sort of
hostilities which they commit against each
other; and treat more of controversy than of
morality.' The consequence of these disputes
thus tends to inspire men's hearts with senti-
ments quite the reverse of Christian. He
retails an anecdote, indecorous enough, show-
ing the estimate in which he held sectarian
disputes: Two honest Englishmen, one a
devout and constant hearer of a preacher of
the Established Church, and the other a
zealous attendant at the meetings of a Presby-
terian teacher, appointed to meet at a tavern
to discourse on some points of doctrine which
those two ministers had preached on the
Sunday before. . . . A bottle of French wine
was brought, and one of them proposed Pre-
destination. After several bumpers the dis-
pute grew warm; and the texts of Scripture,
and quotations from the Fathers, made such
a noise that two low women-who are but too
frequently found in the taverns of London-
brought thither by the uproar, resolved to
enter the room and put an end to it at once.
Foreign Visitors in England. 145
But
At the sight of these miserable wretches the
heat of the dispute immediately subsided;
our doctors changed the conversation, and
libertinism succeeded to controversy.
the girls were soon sent away, and our worthy
disputants resumed the bottle and predesti-
nation. The quarrel became greater than
ever, and their animosity increased in pro-
portion as the fumes of the wine flew into
their heads. At last they were quite drunk,
and disputed till they drew their swords to
end the controversy; and if the disturbance
had not happily brought somebody into the
room, in all probability predestination had
brought them both to a tragical end."
Political partisanship, another species of
fanaticism observed by our visitors of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, affords
much amusement. Similar stories to the above
are told of the useless personal conflicts en-
gendered by party strife.
To the reaction consequent upon fanati-
*cism is partly attributed our national habits of
ΙΟ
:
146 Foreign Visitors in England.
melancholy.) Some writers dwell long and
learnedly upon our gloomy and melancholy
ways when not excited either by passion or
by healthy, violent exercise. GROSLEY finds
in English religious exercises a direct incen-
tive to gloom, although he is willing to attri-
bute some of it to the fogs, with which he
finds the country is perpetually overcast.
There appears to be a prevailing belief that
there is something in the physical consti-
tution of Englishmen which renders them a
prey to fits of melancholia; and the drinking
of beer is alleged to be contributory thereto.
The somewhat violent bodily exercises to
which Englishmen submit are supposed to
have become necessary in order to escape
these tendencies. Another favourite idea,
allied to this last, entertained by nearly every
Frenchman who visits our shores, is that we
are prone to suicide. It would be a curious
inquiry to trace and compare their various
theories on this subject. They always assume
that suicide is more frequent in England than
elsewhere, although it is extremely likely that
statistics would not support the notion.
4
:
Foreign Visitors in England. 147
GROSLEY actually 'congratulates the French
upon its being unknown to their forefathers,'
and suggests that this crime should continue
to be the undisturbed inheritance of the
Italians and the English. He goes so far as
to maintain that care is taken to block up the
avenues to the river-side, in order to remove
that temptation which would inevitably assault
a Londoner at sight of the water. Yet 'what
precautions,' he asks, 'can prevent those who
are resolved to die from carrying their purpose
into execution? That it is impossible to pre-
vent this mischief I am convinced by the
shocking sight of twenty skulls which were
found in the bed of the Thames, where they
were digging the foundation for the first piles
of the new bridge!' It is difficult to believe
at first that this is serious; but from the grave
way in which he continues to discuss the
subject, it is clear that this is one of the pre-
judices he brought with him which he is un-
able to shake off.
LE BLANC remarks that cheerfulness is
much wanting in English society. Nothing
is so uncommon among the English as that
་
IO 2
148.
Foreign Visitors in England.
4
•
sweetness of temper and cheerfulness of
humour, which are the charms of society,
and they are great losers for want of them.
They would be much happier if they were'
more social.' He says, again: When I see
an Englishman laugh, I fancy I see him
hunting after joy rather than having caught
it. A laugh leaves no more traces on
their countenance than a flash of lightning on
the face of the heavens.' He has discovered
a set of men in England who 'never laugh at
all, and those are the Presbyterians; they
make laughing to be the eighth mortal sin.
There are families of them who have
never laughed for two or three generations.'
The climate of the country is credited with
some share of this. There seems to be an
almost unanimous feeling, indeed, on the part
of our gayer neighbours, that fogs and Puri-
tanism have together overcast the nation, and
made it less happy than it deserves to be.
•
Some of our friends find the English people
excessively variable, cheerful by turns, and
•
Foreign Visitors in England. 149
nothing long. A rather pettish passage from
SULLY, who otherwise had many good reasons
for satisfaction with the demeanour of the
English toward him, will illustrate this view.
There is doubtless some truth in what he
says. But it is ill-humoured, and does
not altogether agree with what he has said
elsewhere: 'Sometimes one would be in-
duced to think they have contracted all the
instability of the element by which they are
surrounded; with them all things must sub-
mit to the reigning disposition; and the sole
difference between them and the most incon-
stant people of Europe is, that their incon-
stancy proceeds not from lightness, but from
their vanity, which continually shows itself in
a thousand different shapes. Their self-love
renders them slaves to all their capricious
humours. What they at one time believe to
have wisely performed, or firmly resolved, is
at another time destroyed without their know-
ing it, or being able to give a reason for it.
They are accordingly so undetermined in
themselves that frequently one would not
take them for the same persons, and hence
150 Foreign Visitors in England.
!
they themselves sometimes appear surprised
on perceiving their own continued irre-
solution.' Monsieur MURALT alludes more
pleasantly to the changeable humours of the
English, and expresses his opinion that they
'would not appear more unsteady than other
people were it not that they take less pains
to bridle their thoughts, and dare to let the
world see what they really are.' POLLNITZ
is still more generous toward our weaknesses
of character. He finds little fault with
the average Englishman, except for some
unevenness of temper; and if you don't take,
notice of that 'he will soon come to himself.

.

CHAPTER X.
Sunday in England.

HE puritanical observance of Sunday
is regarded as a singular defect in
our social organization. It is even
held by some writers to have perceptible
operation in moulding the English character.
It would be difficult to find a single visitor
from the Continent who attempts to excuse
it, or one who is able to understand the
principle at all. There is an ironic tone
about references to it, as though English-
men could not possibly be quite right in
their minds, who consecrate the major part
of their only day of rest and recreation to
mere gloomy inaction, even under the
specious pretence of devoting it to holy
meditation. MISSON, of course, makes merry
over it: 'I believe their doctrine upon this
152 Foreign Visitors in England.
head does not differ from ours, but most
assuredly our scruples are much less than
Cour
theirs. This appears on a hundred occa-
sions. I have observed it particularly in the
printed confessions of persons that are
hanged; Sabbath-breaking is the crime the
poor wretches always begin with. If they
had killed father and mother, they would not
mention that article till after having pro-
fessed how often they had broke the Sabbath.
One of the good old English customs on the
Sabbath-day is to feast as nobly as possible,
and especially not to forget the pudding. It
is a common practice, even among people
of good substance, to have a huge piece of
roast beef on Sundays, of which they stuff
till they can swallow no more, and eat the
rest cold the other days of the week.' With-
out being as frivolous as this flighty Hugue-
not, our visitors one and all regard the
English Sunday with amused wonder. Con-
tempt for the system, and pity for the poor
Londoner especially, finds renewed expres-
sion up to our own times. Perhaps the best
(because so very temperate) outpouring on
+
Foreign Visitors in England. 153
the subject is that of VON RAUMER (1835).
He says: 'People of education doubtless fill
this day in a varied and intellectual manner.
The lower classes, who often have to toil
wearily through every other day, find Sunday
the weariest of all. Often, after serving an
austere master, they are made to see in the
Father of Love an austerer still. Singing,
music, dancing, the drama, and all amuse-
ments which are addressed to our intellectual
nature, are forbidden, and denounced as
schools of the devil. What is the conse-
quence? That people of temperate, regular
habits conduct themselves in a temperate
and regular manner; while a great number
of the less sedate and less patient of restraint
give themselves up to the grossest sensual
enjoyment, and seek in that the distinction
between Sunday and working-day. One set
of people complain of the desecration of the
Sabbath-and in this they are perfectly right;
but the only means they can devise for the
remedy of the evil are still severer laws; and
in this, in my opinion, they are quite wrong.
If all public-houses and gin-shops could be
+
154 Foreign Visitors in England.
5
entirely closed on a Sunday, what would the
common people do then? How would they
get rid of their intolerable ennui? By
spiritual exercises? But are not two sermons,
two services of religion, sufficient? Are
they not as much as the mind of an ordinary
man can bear? By reading? Many cannot
read, and more have no books which they
care to read. By sleeping? Or what? In
this way we should arrive at the conclusion
that, to avoid all these disorders, some
millions of people ought every Sunday to
be chained or locked up.'
Monsieur GROSLEY observes that in Eng-
land the influence of religion on grown
persons is a 'new source of melancholy';
that the Jewish rigour with which they are
obliged to keep the Sabbath, the only holiday
they have, is an absolute specific to nourish
their gloomy temper; that the religious
exercises of the English afford to children
nothing capable of softening and humanizing
their disposition. This is of similar tenor
to the remarks of foreigners generally during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 155
the effect that we had become a less religious
people since the Reformation. The long
prayers which seemed never to end, and the
metaphysical and dogmatical sermons, offered
nothing to strike the senses or arouse feeling.
Religious ardour was absorbed in party con-
flicts. The numerous sects were occupied in
denouncing one another. The clergy of all
denominations were, with some exceptions,
of a low order: 'their sermons more re-
spected than their persons.' Those of the
Establishment naturally drew more notice to
their outward conduct. Yet VOLTAIRE says
that the English clergy had more 'regular'
morals than the priests in France while he
found the more respectable part of the order
lived 'very much on the reserve, most of
them being pedants.' There is, doubtless,
some exaggeration in several statements as to
their frequenting the London coffee-houses,
'often with a pipe in their mouth.' The
coffee-houses were places of resort, especi-
ally for personal appointments. Within the
memory of the present generation, there still
remained one, the Chapter Coffee-house, in
156 Foreign Visitors in England.
Paternoster Row, which held its character
as a house-of-call for country parsons and
others long after it had actually ceased to be
SO.
As for tobacco-smoking in itself, and con-
sidered with reference to those persons who
have a right to indulge in the 'care-dispelling
weed,' it is unfair to withhold it from the
parson, of all people. If a sermon is any-
thing at all, it has exhausted certain energies;
and the best introduction to a restorative is,
doubtless, a sedative. Besides, MISSON has
pointed out that tobacco makes profound
theologians and very moral philosophers,
None but a fanatic would dispute the point.
GROSLEY took the pains to try and under-
stand how Sabbatarianism came to take such
deep root in England, and hints a sincere.
regret that James I. and his successor could
not prevail in the endeavour to lessen the
rigour of the bonds which Puritanism had
wrung from the two immediately preceding
sovereigns. He finds that Protestants could
as easily make use of pious frauds as could
the Papists, when there was a purpose to
Foreign Visitors in England. 157
serve;
and that pious frauds are not unknown
among the contemners of Sabbath-breaking.
Monsieur GROSLEY is sedate and philosophic
throughout his book. But he is very near
being tempted to be merry when he comes
to this topic. He notices that the tolls are
doubled, that the watermen cease to ply
and newspapers are discontinued, when
Sunday comes round; that no one dares to
sing, or to play, or to dance; 'except in
church time, the inhabitants of London
wait, with their arms across, till service is
again celebrated, or till the day is over, with-
out having any other amusement but to gaze
in a melancholy mood at those who pass to
and fro in the streets.' This is on a par with
the very neat observation of the author of
the 'Voyage Philosophique' (which would
be spoilt in translation): 'On est peu matinal
dans ce pays, surtout des jours de fêtes qui
sont consacrés à l'inaction sabbatique, très-
religieusement observée.’
But it is among more recent travellers that
Sabbatarianism is treated with most freedom.
There are even some who approach a tone
1
158 Foreign Visitors in England.
of mockery, at finding a whole nation con-
demned to lose its weekly day of recreation.
at the bidding of a minority. Dr. CARUS
hints that we begin with the 'fourth com-
mandment' because we find it easier to
observe than many others. Let us hope
there is less truth than wit in this very sugges-
tive remark.
With the exception of a few gentlemen of
the cloth from America, the whole system is
treated with more or less of contempt by our
visitors. TAINE's first day in London was a
Sunday: probably the unhappiest day he
ever spent in his life. He has evidently
heard, beforehand, of English Sundays, and
he must needs confirm the doleful tale. He
is ready for suicide after an hour's walk past
the closed shops. Everything is gloomy and
sooty. Somerset House is a frightful thing.
Nelson is hideous, like a rat impaled upon
the top of a pole,—and so forth. He quotes a
fellow-countryman's words to the effect that
Here religion spoils one day out of seven,
and destroys the seventh part of possible
happiness,' and doesn't appear to disapprove
Foreign Visitors in England. 159
the idea. It is pretty certain, at any rate, that
Monsieur TAINE recovered his spirits on the
following day, when he found the world
moving on again.

}

CHAPTER XI.
Eating and Drinking.-Cookery.—Toasts.—Beer.—
Tobacco.

HE difficulty of pleasing 'every-
body' is not oftener exemplified
than in connection with affairs
of the stomach. And, as a topic upon
which prejudices are easily aroused, it is
not surprising that our intelligent visitors
have much to say upon the food and drink
of Englishmen, in some cases with flat dis-
approval; but more generally with the air of
persons who have found, in the substantial
and profuse character of the English dinner-
table, some solace for the absence of taste in
its preparation. Nor is there an entire want
of approval on this latter score. POLLNITZ, for
example, declares that at private houses in
London 'the tables are served with as much
Foreign Visitors in England. 161
taste and delicacy as in any country in the
world.' This gentleman praises the roast
beef of England, and proclaims his love for
their puddings.' But he is not supported by
the declared tastes of other travellers. The
big joints of beef or mutton are regarded as
distinctive accompaniments of the grossness
of our national tastes. MURALT regards it an
emblem of the prosperity and plenty of the
country to see a great piece of thirty or forty
pounds' weight of roast beef, the favourite
dish as well at the King's table as at a trades-
man's.' Monsieur GROSLEY must have been
unfortunate in his experience of family
cookery; for having eaten meat in all the
different shapes in which it is served up to
table, that is to say, roast and boiled, 'I
could find in it neither the consistence, the
juice, nor the exquisiteness of that of France.
Their fowls are soft and flabby; the veal has
all the imperfection of flesh not completely
formed; the mutton has nothing to recom-
mend it but its fat,' etc. MISSON calls the
good as ours in
English mutton 'not so
France; it has quite another taste.' SORBIERE
ΤΙ
་
162 Foreign Visitors in England.
makes a few quaint remarks, which seem to
indicate some chronic failure of digestion.
He says 'The English are not very dainty,
and the greatest lords' tables who do not
keep French cooks are covered only with
large dishes of meat: they are strangers to.
bisks and pottage; only once I saw some
milk-pottage in a large and deep dish, some
of which, as a singular favour, the master of
the house gave in a china dish to some of
his guests. Their pastry is coarse and ill-
baked; their stewed fruits and confectionery-
ware cannot be eaten.' As pastry-making is,
and always was, a fine art, SORBIERE may have
been right enough in noticing the work of
bungling fingers; but it is probable that he
had slender opportunities, perhaps none at
all, of seeing the pastries of the country-side.
He is not supported generally in his views
on our pastry. English puddings, again, are
regarded as a great national speciality. 'I am
in love with their puddings' (says POLLNITZ),
'which are made of flour, eggs, crumbs of
bread, and, in short, a thousand ingredients.
that I know nothing of; but all together
Foreign Visitors in England. 163
makes very good fare.' MISSON describes
the composition of a Christmas pie as a great
nostrum in every family; it is a most learned
mixture of neat's tongues, chicken, eggs,
sugar, raisins, lemon and orange peel, various
kinds of spicery, etc. They also make a sort
of soup with plums, not at all inferior to the
pie, which is in their language called plum-
porridge.' MISSON'S gastronomic turn leads.
him to make many casual allusions to our
food and cookery.
Under the heading
'Table' he has summarised his ideas in a
truly comical, and, perhaps, tolerably accurate
vein. He thus discourses on this universal
topic :
'The English eat a great deal at dinner;
they rest awhile, and to it again, till they
have quite stuffed their paunch. Their supper
is moderate: gluttons at noon, and abstinent
at night. I always heard they were great
flesh-eaters, and I found it true. I have
known several people in England that never
eat any bread, and universally they eat very
little; they nibble a few crumbs, while they
chew the meat by whole mouthfuls. Gener-
II-2
164 Foreign Visitors in England.
#
ally speaking, the English tables are not
delicately served. There are some noblemen
that have both French and English cooks,
and these eat much after the French manner.
But among the middling sort of people (which
are those I spoke of before), they have ten
or twelve sorts of common meats, which in-
fallibly take their turns at their tables, and
two dishes are their dinners: a pudding, and
a piece of roast beef. Another time they
will have a piece of boiled beef, and then
they salt it some days beforehand, and be-
siege it with five or six heaps of cabbage,
carrots, turnips, or some other herbs or roots,
well peppered and salted, and swimming in
butter. Two of these dishes, always served
up one after the other, make the usual dinner
of a substantial gentleman, or wealthy citizen.
When they have boiled meat, there is some-
times one of the company that will have
broth; this is a kind of soup, with a little
oatmeal in it, and some leaves of thyme or
sage, or other such small herbs. They bring
up this in as many porringers as there are
people that desire it; those that please
Foreign Visitors in England. 165
crumble a little bread into it, and this makes
a kind of pottage.
'The pudding is a dish very difficult to be
described, because of the several sorts there
are of it; flour, with eggs, butter, sugar, suet,
marrow, raisins, etc., are the most common
ingredients of a pudding. They bake them
in an oven, they boil them with meat, they
make them fifty several ways. Blessed be
he that invented pudding! for it is a manna
that hits the palates of all sorts of people; a
manna better than that of the wilderness,
because the people are never weary of it.
Ah, what an excellent thing is an English
pudding! To come in pudding time, is as
much as to say, to come in the most lucky
moment in the world. Give an Englishman
a pudding, and he shall think it a noble treat
in any part of the world. It would be
unjust to take, in a rigorous sense, all that
I have said of these common dishes; for
the English eat everything that is produced.
naturally, as well as any other nation. I say
naturally, in opposition to the infinite multi-
tude of our made dishes; for they dress their
meat much plainer than we do.'
•
•
.
-
:
166 Foreign Visitors in England.
Monsieur GROSLEY launches forth into
encomiums on the quality of English bread,
and notices that a very great deal of bread is
consumed here. He observes that Londoners
live principally upon tea and bread-and-butter
until three or four o'clock in the afternoon.
'The slices are so thin' (he adds) ‘that it does
as much honour to the address of the person
that cuts it, as to the sharpness of the knife.'
Madame BoCAGE observes somewhere that
'Their drink is beer, and their food bread-
and-butter.' PERLIN (a hundred and fifty
years earlier) notes that the English eat
much whiter bread than that commonly made
in France. GROSLEY Continues his theme
on bread, with an account of the efforts
formerly tried in Paris to make it with yeast,
in the English fashion.
The Abbé LE BLANC informs us that the
way of living in London fell heavily upon
him more than once, notwithstanding the
restraint he constantly exercised. The habit
of sitting after dinner, drinking and toasting,
he thought a useless and melancholy affair.
The temptation to excess disgusted him. He
Foreign Visitors in ·
England. 167
1
•
sees that a good butler is thought more of
than the confectioner, and seems to regret
that dessert is so shortened, and even neg-
lected, as to deprive us of the best oppor-
tunity for elegant conversation. ' Even at
tables where they serve desserts,' he says,
'they do but show them; and presently take
away everything, even to the table-cloth.
By this the English, whom politeness does
not permit to tell the ladies their company is
troublesome, give them notice to retire.
The table is immediately covered with mugs,
bottles, and glasses; and often with pipes of
tobacco. All things thus disposed, the cere-
mony of toasts begins; . . perhaps the
English derive this custom from the Goths,
who are said to have been hard drinkers ;
and, if so, they have the glory of having
brought it to greater perfection. The young
man toasts his mistress's health; the honest
tradesman, his correspondent's; and the
grave ecclesiastic, his bishop's. As for the
bishop, he has that of his primate; and the
primate may, if he pleases, drink to his
guests "Prosperity to the Protestant Cause,"
•
168 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
or any other toast he thinks proper. The
master of the house is the person who begins.
these rounds, and is obliged to take care of
their order and exactness; both with regard
to the manner of giving and of drinking the
toasts, and to prevent any deviation from the
rule which obliges all the company to drink
equally alike.
The
"Tis customary to toast the reigning
beauties, even those they know only by
sight; and by this means the coxcomb gives
himself the air of a man of fortune.
ladies themselves are pleased at this, when
they come to hear of it, as this public homage
paid to their charms is a proof of their fame.
To make an encomium on a young
beauty, they say "she is one of the first
toasts in England." She, on the contrary,
whose lilies and roses time has faded, is
called a cast-off toast. A man would appear
ridiculous to some sort of people, who should
have the misfortune to give for his toast a
beauty whose charms are faded.
A man
must be acquainted with the map of London
not to commit such an absurdity.
!
Foreign Visitors in England. 169
'The men of learning in this country,
though they submit themselves very little to
the other customs of the nation, are very
exact observers of this ceremony of toasts.
They practise it frequently, and with the
greatest solemnity. . . . I have had Bernoulli,
Euler, Maupertuis, Buffon, toasted to me.
If they dine in taverns, which are very much
frequented at London by persons of all ranks,
the toasts vary still more; very frequently,
after having drunk to the health of their
friends, they drink to the ruin and damnation
of their enemies. There is then no sort of
mad pranks they do not think of, to excite
one another to drink.'
From the references made to these customs
by our travellers, it is clear that they were
regarded as peculiarly English. MISSON,
indeed, remarks that in France the custom
of drinking healths is out of date among
people of any distinction, it being equally
impertinent and ridiculous. Madame BOCAGE
speaks of it without ill-nature: 'imme-
diately after the pudding is despatched,
they drink warm punch. After the dessert,
!
t
170 Foreign Visitors in England.
especially in the country, the cloth is taken
away, and the women retire. The table is of
fine Indian wood, and very smooth; little
round vessels, called sliders, which are of the
same wood, serve to hold the bottles, and the
guests can put them round as they think
proper. The name of each different sort
of wine is graved upon a plate of silver,
fastened to the neck of the flask; the guests
choose the liquor to which they give the
preference, and drink it with as serious an
air as if they were doing penance, at the
same time drinking the healths of eminent
persons and fashionable beauties; this they
call toasting.' GROSLEY and others allege.
the origin of drinking the health to be entirely
barbarous. He has learned that the Scotch
Highlanders (who are still but half-civilised,
and who live in eternal discord and faction),
have preserved the custom in its original
purity: Drinking to a person's health means
that you request him to guard you while you
are drinking. In consequence of this tacit
entreaty, the person whom you drink to
replies, "I will pledge you," or, "I will
Foreign Visitors in England. 171
answer for it"; draws his dagger, fixes it on
the table, and continues upon the watch till
you have drunk off your glass and laid it
down.' GROSLEY, as a man with habits of
literary and historic research, is enabled to
trace a parallel ceremony among his own
French ancestors. PERLIN refers also to this
drinking business very quaintly; and en-
deavours to reproduce, phonetically, the
sounds uttered in the language, with which
he was evidently quite unacquainted: 'In
drinking or eating they will say to you above
a hundred times, drind iou, which is, "I am
going to drink to you"; and you should
answer them in your language iplaigiu, which
means, "I pledge you." If you would thank
them in their language, you must say, god
tanque artelay, which is to say, "I thank you
with all my heart." When they are drunk,
they will swear blood and death that you
should drink all that is in your cup, and
will say thus to you, bigod sol drind iou
agoud oin.
Monsieur JOREVIN is exceedingly disgusted
to find, sometimes, that the custom of the
172 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
country ‘does not permit you to drink more
than half the cup, which is filled up, and
presented to him or her whose health you
have drunk.' As this gentleman was a
genuine traveller, and saw very much of
the provinces, he met with a great deal of
tavern life; and this observation is doubtless
founded upon his experience as a tourist.
He notices, by the way, that no kind of
business is transacted in England without
the intervention of pots of beer.
This topic deserves yet another reference,
as one having the unfortunate distinction of
being a specially characteristic feature of
English national habits. We have in MISSON
a serio-comic description, which surely must
have been drawn from the life, of this im-
portant ceremony: "To drink at table without
drinking to somebody's health, especially
among middling people, would be like drink-
ing in a corner, and be reckoned a very rude
action. There are two principal grimaces
which are universally observed, upon this
occasion, among persons of all degrees and
conditions. The first is that the person
Foreign Visitors in England. 173
whose health is drunk, if an inferior, or even
an equal, must remain as still as a statue
while the drinker is drinking. If, for in-
stance, you are about to help yourself to
something out of the dish, you must stop
suddenly, lay aside your fork or spoon, and
wait, without stirring any more than a stone,till
the other has drunk. After which, the second
grimace is to make him a low bow, to the
great hazard of dipping your peruke into the
sauce upon your plate. I own that to a
stranger these customs seem ridiculous; he
thinks nothing can be more pleasant than to
see a man that is just going to chew a mouth-
ful of victuals, cut a piece of bread, wipe his
fingers, or anything of that nature, in a
moment put on a grave, serious face, keep
his eyes fixed upon the person that drinks
his health, and grow as motionless as if he
were taken with a universal palsy, or struck
with a thunderbolt. As civility absolutely
requires this respectful immobility in the
patient, so there is some caution to be used
on the part of the agent. When you would
drink a man's health, you should first keep
174 Foreign Visitors in England.
I
1
your eyes upon him for a moment, and give
him time, if possible, to swallow his mouth-
ful, that you may not reduce him to the
perplexing and uneasy necessity of putting a
sudden stop to his grinders, and so sitting a
good while with his mouth crammed with
a huge load of victuals; which, commonly
getting all to one side, raises his cheek as
high as an egg, so forming a large kind of a
wen, often shining with grease, equally dis-
torted and unseemly.'
It is maintained by some of our friends
that clubs arose from the necessity of finding
a regular place for drinking. This is a little
too much, although Addison has said some-
thing to a similar effect. Yet Monsieur LE
BLANC is perhaps near the truth, when he
states that Englishmen did not cultivate
sufficiently the society of women for the sake
of elegant conversation, on account of our
ancient habits of intemperance, and that the
same inclination to intemperance in drinking
gave birth to those societies or clubs which
met in public-houses. In vain' (he adds),
'have some affected to grace these sorts of
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 175
associations with the respectable name of
academies; the time and place of meeting
sufficiently let us into the knowledge of their
business. All these societies, in a word,
under the imposing names of Independents,
Literati, Virtuosi, etc., are nothing more than
clubs of topers.'
There is a universal chorus of appreciation
on the subject of beer. From the earliest
traveller to our shores, to the latest, a new
sensation is recorded when he has tasted beer
or ale, ' most pleasaunte in tast, and holesomly
relised,' as a sixteenth-century translator has
it. This is one of the few matters concerning
which the visitor ignores everything but his
own physical sensation. He writes as though
he had reached a goal of satisfaction. 'Bot-
terdel' is the choicest production of any
known country. Cyder is also esteemed.
JOREVIN, while in Worcestershire, was taken
by surprise with a draught of cyder instead of
beer, and 'did not know what to think of it.'
Having asked his landlord where it was made,
'he answered me that it grew upon trees.'
PERLIN mentions that with beer it was the
176 Foreign Visitors in England.
.
custom to eat very soft saffron cakes, in
which there are likewise raisins, which give
a relish to the beer.' Count MAGALOTTI
speaks of another sort of beer made with
the body of a capon which is left to grow
putrid along with the malt.' It must not be
omitted, however, to note that our friends
were acquainted with the subtle effects of a
drop too much. There does not appear to
be any record of a confession on the part of
any, that he was himself overcome; but they
are not backward to notice the result of
in the natives of the country.
HENTZNER'S terse and simple observation,
that beer 'is exceedingly well tasted, but
strong, and what soon fuddles,' may, or
may not, be founded upon his own personal
experience. Dr. GEMELLI refers to 'Drink'
in a similarly short and uncompromising
vein: 'they fill themselves extravagantly with
several sorts of liquors, as beer and ale, aqua
vitæ, perry, mead, cider, mum, and usque-
baugh, a violent burning drink.' This
gentleman usually has the air of having found
a new and hitherto undiscovered country. In
excess
Foreign Visitors in England. 177
this remark he outdoes himself as a describer
of savage life. As he proceeds, alluding to
the custom of pledging the health, and its
reputed origin, it is obvious that he regards
the people as having not long since emerged
from barbarism: 'In the time of the Danes,
the English could not drink with safety,
because while they were in that action the
others basely murdered them; to prevent the
which, every man desired his next neighbour,
or the person he drank to, to defend and
secure him during that time, against the
malice of the others.'
The use of tobacco must have become very
general in England after the Restoration.
According to SORBIERE, 'scarce a day passes.
but a tradesman goes to the alehouse or
tavern to smoke with some of his friends, and
therefore public-houses are numerous here.'
After coffee-houses came into vogue, they
increased in great numbers; they appeared
to take the public taste, and most men had
one or more to which they resorted. At the
beginning of the eighteenth century, the
coffee and chocolate houses were a constant
12
178 Foreign Visitors in England.
rendezvous for men of business as well as
idlers. Our visitors of that period are much
taken with these fashionable places; where
besides coffee many other liquors were to be
had; where they smoked and gambled and
read the Gazette, and discoursed freely about
everything. Coffee-houses doubtless furnished
the most agreeable opportunities for pastime
of all sorts. MURALT notices that the
national character could be well studied in
such places, even by persons unacquainted
with the language of the speakers. 'In my
opinion' (he adds),' they are very proper
places to find people that a man has business
with, or to pass away the time a little more
agreeably, perhaps, than he can do at home.
In other respects they are loathsome, full of
smoke like a guard-room, and as much
crowded. I believe 'tis these coffee-houses
that furnish the inhabitants of this great
city with slander, for there one hears exact
accounts of everything done in town as if it
were but a village.' He observes that it is
common to see the clergy of London in
coffee-houses, and even in taverns,' with
pipes in their mouths.

Love of Sports.
CHAPTER XII.
Fighting and Wrestling. - Fox-
hunting.
ANY of our friends deduce the
national character from our national
M
sports. The inherent fierceness of
the English people is considered (and with
some justice) to arise from the Danish
element, with its hunting and predatory
instincts, and from the Romans with their
sanguinary displays in the arena. But,
while thus reckoning us up, it does not
appear difficult for some of them to take part
as spectators in the more or less brutal ex-
hibitions which London has always afforded.
On the contrary, it is plain enough that they
rather liked them than not.
The average
attendant on a bull-fight, or a cock-fight,
may well be a Spaniard, or an Italian, or a
11

I2-2
180 Foreign Visitors in England.
German. And it may be said to the credit
of the French, that they, among all Europeans,
have by far the least relish for barbarous
diversions. There is a German Duke who
comes to the bear-garden at Southwark;
and 'in order to gratify his highness two
bears and a bull were baited.' Then a
Spanish grandee on another occasion is en-
tertained with a pony-baiting, 'with an ape
fastened on its back; and to see the animal
kicking amongst the dogs, with the screams
of the ape, beholding the curs hanging from
the ears and neck of the pony, is very laugh-
able! When MISSON comes to notice the
bear-garden sports, it is in a very matter-of-
fact way; and if he has any lurking taste for
the business, it is carefully disguised. He
has personally no part in it; it is English,
and that is enough. Anything that looks
like fighting' (he says), 'is delicious to an
Englishman. MISSON's item of Sports and
Diversions, as a comment on this text, is a
EIf
gem in its way.
If two little boys quarrel
in the street, the passengers stop, make a
ring round them in a moment, and set them
Foreign Visitors in England. 181
against one another, that they may come to
fisticuffs. When 'tis come to a fight, each
pulls off his neckcloth and his waistcoat, and
gives them to hold to some of the bystanders;
then they begin to brandish their fists in the
air, the blows are aimed all at the face, they
kick one another's shins, they tug one another
by the hair. He that has got the other down
may give him one blow or two before he
rises, but no more; and let the boy get up
ever so often, the other is obliged to box
him again as often as he requires it. During
the fight, the ring of bystanders encourages
the combatants with great delight of heart,
and never parts them while they fight accord-
ing to the rules. And these bystanders are
not only other boys, porters, and rabble, but
all sorts of men of fashion, some thrusting
by the mob that they may see plainly, others
getting upon stalls, and all would hire places,
if scaffolds could be built in a moment.
The fathers and mothers of the boys let them
fight on as well as the rest, and hearten him
that gives the ground, or has the worst.
These combats are less frequent among grown
182 Foreign Visitors in England.
men than children, but they are not rare.
If a coachman has a dispute about his fare
with a gentleman that has hired him, and the
gentleman offers to fight him to decide the
quarrel, the coachman consents with all his
heart. The gentleman pulls off his sword,
lays it in some shop, with his cane, gloves,
and cravat, and boxes in the same manner
as I have described above. If the coachman
gets soundly drubbed, which happens almost
always, that goes for payment; but if he is
the beator, the beatee must pay the money
about which they quarrelled. I once saw
the late Duke of Grafton at fisticuffs in the
open street, with such a fellow, whom he
lamb'd most horribly. In France we punish
such rascals with our cane, and sometimes
with the flat of the sword; but in England
this is never practised. They use neither
sword nor stick against a man that is un-
armed, and if an unfortunate stranger (for an
Englishman would never take it into his
head) should draw his sword upon one that
had none, he'd have a hundred people upon
him in a moment, that would, perhaps, lay

Foreign Visitors in England. 183
:
him so flat that he would hardly ever get up
again until the Resurrection.
Wrestling, too, is one of the diversions
of the English, especially in the northern
counties Ringing of bells is one of their
great delights, especially in the country. . . .
In winter, football is a useful and charming
exercise; it is a leather ball about as big as
one's head, filled with wind; this is kicked
about from one to another in the streets, by
him that can get at it, and that is all the art
of it.' There are numerous descriptions of
prize-fighting and fencing-bouts, of a character
which has long passed away. SORBIERE calls
them fierce and brutish, and his account
quite warrants his opinion. The Abbé LE
BLANC observes that, in his time, these things
were ceasing to be fashionable, and the only
people who attend are but the lowest of the
populace, or that class of men 'who are
perhaps more despicable than the dregs of
the people, because they imitate them ast
much in their manners, as they are exalted
above them by their birth.' With regard to
boxing, he presently adds, 'the nobility in
"
184 Foreign Visitors in England.
England do not excel in it less than the
common people; one of the peers of the
kingdom is at this day the terror of all the
hackney coachmen in London.'
Fox-hunting and coursing come in for
notice, even on the part of persons to whom
the chase is an absolute novelty. The Abbé
LE BLANC finds himself staying at a country-
house near Stamford, in the midst of a people
whose chief pleasure is hunting, in a nation
where everybody loves it. For himself, the
sound of the horn makes him willingly re-
nounce the seclusion of his study. The
violent passion of everybody for hunting
infects his own spirit. He sees the clergy-
man and the lawyer, the justice of the peace
and the farmer, leave everything for the chase.
He finds expert horsewomen who are con-
tent to risk breaking their necks in order to
serve a fresh opportunity for asserting their
claims to be admired. He tells of a pro-
fessor of mathematics who had the misfortune
to lose his sight, and yet continued both his
lessons on optics and his following of the
hounds. Hunting the stag one day with
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 185
fifty farmers in company, he notices an
oddly-dressed man join in the chase, and
finds that it was the post-boy, [more intent
upon his pleasure than concerned about
the consequence of the letters he carried,
etc.
There is an anecdote related by one of the
earlier travellers, by which he means to
illustrate the extreme eagerness of the
English for the chase, to the utter exclusion
of any thought of danger. The armies of
Henry VIII. and Francis being encamped
near Terouanne, in Picardy, 'by some chance
a fox sprang forth into the intermediate space.
The English being, as was natural, emulous
to take the fox, pursued it; the fox there-
upon ran straight forward toward the army
of the French; but the English, relaxing
nothing, pursued it to the French encamp-
ment, and the latter, seeing the English
coming impetuously toward them, issued
forth and received them, and having put
them to flight, as they were but few, they
advanced still, pursuing them to their in-
trenchments.' In this scrimmage, the English
186 Foreign Visitors in England.
f
are alleged to have lost more than two
thousand men.
Monsieur GROSLEY regards it as a necessity
that the English should foster the pursuits of
hunting and racing. In common with most
Frenchmen, he holds to the tradition of a
settled melancholy in our natural disposition;
and, assuming that this tradition is founded
-on fact, he is perhaps right in asserting that
riding exercise is the best remedy, that it
rouses the disposition with better effect than
any other.

:

}
:
CHAPTER XIII.
The Drama and the Stage.
ROSLEY has much that is serious.
to say upon our melancholy.
He
puts it down to fogs, and to
Protestantism; but he likewise considers
all our amusements to be wanting in the
elements of cheerfulness. The theatrical
exhibitions in England he finds contri-
butory to the national disorder. Our best
comedies do not afford any relief against
melancholy and dejection, with their useless
complications and intrigues, which put the
minds of those who endeavour to unravel
them to the torture. As for the 'tragedies,
which the people are most fond of, they
consist of a number of bloody scenes, shock-
ing to humanity; and these scenes are upon
the stage as warm and affecting as the justest
}
:
:
188 Foreign Visitors in England.
C
action can render them: an action as lively,
pathetic, and glowing, as that of their
preachers is cold, languid, and uniform.'
The most barbarous cruelty, and the most
refined wickedness, are displayed in the
representations of Macbeth, Richard the
Third, King Lear, and other pieces of Shake-
speare.' What those pieces want in point
of regularity, is abundantly compensated by
the choice of incidents of a nature most
affecting, and most capable of harrowing up
the soul. 'Most of their ancient kings act
the part of fools, madmen, or idiots.' The
last act of Richard the Third, with a crowd
of princes and princesses poisoned, assas-
sinated, stabbed,' rising from out of the
earth to curse the sleeping tyrant, failed to
interest him, and appeared to produce upon
other spectators a quite different effect from
what he had anticipated, in recollection of
his perusal of a translation of the play.
Neither is VOLTAIRE satisfied with the pro-
spects of English tragedy as he saw it.
Addison, he maintains, was the first English
writer who composed a regular tragedy, and
Foreign Visitors in England. 189
infused a spirit of elegance through every
part. Shakespeare's great genius, natural
and sublime, was such as, in time, to make
his very faults venerable. Yet this writer's
tragedies are but 'monstrous farces.'. . . ' Most
of the whimsical, gigantic images of this poet
have, through length of time, acquired a
right of passing for sublime. Most of the
modern dramatic writers have copied him;
but the touches and descriptions which are
applauded in Shakespeare, are hissed at in
these writers. . . . Dramatic writers don't
consider that they should not imitate him ;
and the ill-success of Shakespeare's imitators
produces no other effect than to make him
be considered as inimitable.' VOLTAIRE'S
point of view appears to be the gross want
of taste implied in mixing up humour with
tragic scenes, as in Hamlet,' where 'two
gravediggers make a grave, and are all the
time drinking, singing ballads, and making
humorous reflections on the several skulls
they throw up with their spades,' and in
'Julius Cæsar,' with the 'jokes of the Roman
shoemakers and cobblers introduced in the
190 Foreign Visitors in England.
same scene with Brutus and Cassius.' He
gives Otway's 'Venice Preserved' as an
example of a good tragedy utterly spoiled by
the introduction of some buffoonery, ‘calcu-
lated merely for the dregs of the people,'
which the actors speedily struck out from the
play.
Other of our intelligent visitors notice
this frequent defect. It appears to them so
necessary for the English to be sad and gay
in quick return. Both plays and actors are
ia
a mixture of the comic and the serious';
melancholy and merriment follow one another.
'Oroonoko' is mentioned as a play remark-
able for true and pathetic pictures, yet it
could never be endured in France, because
of the low comedy intermixed. In fine,
English tragedies were held to be true to
nature, but wanting in dignity; ruined by
ill-timed horse-play and buffoonery.
The comedies of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries would have been more
highly appreciated had they been less often
'stuffed with rant and obscenity.' MURALT
considers that the comedies which he read,
Foreign Visitors in England. 191
or saw acted, were a source of corruption to
society; that young people were familiarized
with vice as an indifferent affair, and not as
Vice. Idle stories, he says, and swearing
scenes, go down better than anything else.
Another visitor notices that the English stage
is disgraced by the representation of thieves;
and remarks that it is shameful that the
'Beggar's Opera' should so long entertain
the Londoners. There is much complaint
that Molière is so constantly plagiarized by
English playwrights. But VOLTAIRE holds
that Wycherley's 'Misanthrope' will bear
comparison with its prototype for strength
and boldness; although they are less delicate,
and the rules of decorum are not so well
observed.' His opinion of Congreve is very
high, as one who raised the glory of comedy
beyond any English writer before or since
his time.
The performance of low comedy was con-
sidered to be in a much more natural manner
than in France; otherwise, English players
came 'very short of the French.' There
were some comedians who were excellent,
་
}
192 Foreign Visitors in England.
but any below the first rank were miserably
bad. Buffoons were more frequently to be
seen than tolerable actors. 'The English
love caricatures; they are more struck with a
large face and a great nose, than with a noble
and graceful countenance.' The comic cha-
racters were always overstrained. The more
the comedian found of caricature in his part,
the more he seemed to think there should
be in his action-grimaces served him better
than vocal modulation.
There are many curious experiences of the
London stage scattered up and down our
visitors' stories of the first half of the
eighteenth century. Here is one, by the
Abbé LE BLANC, which forcibly accounts for
the views above recited. A play is produced,
which it was known beforehand was to be
damned by the 'first-nighters' of the period:
'Half an hour before the play was to begin,
the spectators gave notice of their disposi-
tions by frightful hisses and outcries, equal,
perhaps, to what were ever heard in a Roman
amphitheatre. I could not have known, but
by my eyes only, that I was among an
Foreign Visitors in England. 193
the pit, took care to
He knew what people
assembly of beings who thought themselves
to be reasonable. The author, who had
foreseen the fury of
be armed against it.
he had to deal with;
easy, put in his prologue double the usual
dose of incense that is offered to their vanity.
This precaution succeeded; the charms
of flattery, more strong than those of music,
deprived them of all their fierceness.
and, to make them
'The author, having by flattery begun to
tame this wild audience, proceeded entirely
to reconcile it by the first scene of his per-
formance. Two actors came in, one dressed
in the English manner very decently, and
the other with black eyebrows, a riband an
ell long under his chin, a big peruke im-
moderately powdered, and his nose all be-
daubed with snuff. What Englishman could
not know a Frenchman by this ridiculous
picture? The common people of London
think we are indeed such sort of folks, and
of their own accord add to our real follies all
that their authors are pleased to give us.
But when it was found that the man thus
13
194 Foreign Visitors in England.
equipped, being also laced down every seam
of his coat, was nothing but a cook, the
spectators were equally charmed and sur-
prised. The author had taken care to make
him speak all the impertinences he could
devise and, for that reason, all the im-
pertinences of his farce were excused, and
the merit of it immediately decided. There
was a long criticism upon our manners, our
customs, and, above all, our cookery. The
excellence and virtues of English beef were
cried up; and the author maintained that it
was owing to the qualities of its juice that
the English were so courageous, and had
such a solidity of understanding, which
raised them above all the nations in Europe.
He preferred the noble old English pudding
beyond all the finest ragouts that were ever
invented by the greatest geniuses that France
has produced; and all these ingenious strokes
were loudly clapped by the audience. The
pit forgot that they came to damn the play.
. . . Intractable as the populace appear in this
country, those who know how to take hold
of their foibles may easily carry their point.'
}
፡

CHAPTER XIV.
Literature. The Fine Arts.-The Royal Society.
T will readily be supposed that
some of these writers were as
deeply interested in the existing
state and prospects of English literature.
VOLTAIRE, who made himself as much of
an Englishman as was possible during the
time he was here, proclaims that learning was
held in greater honour in England than in
his own country. He ascribes much of the
English desire for the cultivation of the mind
to the freedom of our institutions. In Eng-
land (he says), the governments of Greece
and Rome are the subject of every conversa-
tion, so that every man is under the necessity
of perusing such authors as treat of them
and this study leads naturally to that
of polite literature. The people in general
!
13-2
196 Foreign Visitors in England.
-
"
are indispensably obliged to cultivate their
understandings, seeing that everyone enjoys
the liberty of publishing his thoughts with
regard to public affairs. In common with other
visitors of the period, VOLTAIRE rejoices
to note the great honour given in England
to persons of distinguished mental gifts, and
how literary merit is often the stepping-stone
to public employment. The instances of
Addison, Swift, Prior, Newton, are put
forward as triumphant comparison with the
state of things in France. LE BLANC ad-
duces an ingenious reason-which may, per-
haps, have considerable truth in it-for the
spread of literary taste in this country. He
says that we are a people whose leisure is
more burthensome to us than is commonly
seen with our neighbours: "For the English
do not live and converse so much with one
another as the French; wherefore, to fill up
the vacuity of their lives, they are obliged to
read or do nothing. They are naturally
inclined to silence, as we are to exhaust our-
selves in discourse; and silence inspires a
taste for reading, as much as talkativeness is
•
Foreign Visitors in England. 197
averse to it.
Perhaps even a great many
persons, who in this country write books,
would never have attempted any such em-
ployment if they had had spirits enough to
do anything else.'
It is considered a grave disadvantage that
the 'suggestions of Dryden, Locke, and
Swift to found an English Academy did not.
bear fruit.' VOLTAIRE Considers that it would
have been of more benefit to literature than
the French Academy, which immensely im-
proved its language, and fostered the belles
lettres. As the establishment of the Royal
Society gave a great impulse to scientific
inquiry, an Academy of English would have.
introduced methods into the pursuits of
literature which would have been of incal-
culable benefit. It is suggested by LE
BLANC, indeed, that the English do not
know how to make a book. While a French-
man devotes all his arts to good methods,
and can ‘range a number of nothings' into
the most delightful and perfect order, it is
rare to find English treatises that are not
almost destitute of method; books full of
198 Foreign Visitors in England.
most excellent matter, but clumsily put to-
gether. 'The English, who treat of the
abstract sciences, are not solicitous enough
to express themselves clearly; they seem
always afraid of saying too much, and are
as sparing of words as they are prodigal of
ideas. Such is the character of the immortal
Bacon. . . Locke is, perhaps, the only
English author who knew how to avoid this
fault. Those, on the contrary, who write
upon subjects of taste and entertainment,
run too much into diffuseness and redun-
dance; they are always afraid they do not
show wit enough, and continue to crowd
figures upon figures. Every moment they
fly from their subject, that they may not omit.
the least trifles which have any relation to it;
so that the principal idea is often clouded by
the multitude of ideas that are accessory.'
This writer alleges that there was no good
dictionary of English in his time, and hardly
a tolerable grammar.'
It is remarked by these writers, as a matter
to provoke surprise, that eloquence in de-
clamation was at a very low standard, seeing
Foreign Visitors in England. 199
the opportunities that the institutions of the
country afford for its cultivation and exercise.
With some parliamentary exceptions, our
ancestors of two hundred years past would
seem to have been lamentably deficient in
the art of public speaking. The pulpit
oratory is represented as a most tedious
monotony; its substance tinged with 'mere
pedantry.' The art of reading aloud was
marked with affectation and personal pecu-
liarities. And when they happen, in reading,
to go out of prose into verse, 'you would
swear you no longer heard the same person.'
Jo
The condition and prospects of the fine
arts, at this period, must have been very
degraded, to judge from the criticisms passed
by Frenchmen reporting on them to their
countrymen. The English are held, in point
of fact, to have literally no taste at all. They
had no painter before Hogarth, and his truth
to nature was 'too true.' Painting and
200 Foreign Visitors in England.
1
虚
​sculpture appeared to be either unknown,
or but in their infancy. The statues erected
in public places in London are dismal; that
of Queen Anne in St. Paul's Churchyard
looks as if she were holding a wax taper,
and doing public penance.' The equestrian
statue of Charles I., at Charing Cross, is the
least deserving of reprobation. Madame
BOCAGE is very short and incisive on the
point: The heroes, to whose honour the
City of London erects statues, shine only by
their reputation, and not by the ability of the
sculptors. LE BLANC is as sarcastic over
the painters: Sir James Thornhill he regards.
as the only English painter who could dare to
aspire to the kind of decoration attempted in
the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral; and even.
here you 'would be puzzled to decide not in
what part he has excelled, but that in which
he has been less faulty.' This is a kind of
painting (he proceeds) which requires
genius that Nature has refused him.' Even
the portrait-painters do not deserve to be
named: they 'have practised this noble
profession
meanest trade, for
as the
a
Foreign Visitors in England. 201
money alone, without the least ambition of
fame.'
There is a general agreement of opinion
as to the excellence of artisanship in England.
Its reputation appears to have already ex-
tended over all parts of Europe. It is
remarked by one of our friends that the
English artisan has 'the quality, peculiar to
him, never to swerve from the degree of per-
fection in his trade which he is master of;
whatever he undertakes he does as well as he
can.' On the same grounds it is acknow-
ledged, on all hands, that the progress of the
English in the exact sciences in the sciences
grounded on calculations, and the arts that
depend on the rule and compass'—surpassed
that of other countries. GROSLEY brings up
his favourite topic of melancholy as the
motive power; and considers that the ab-
struseness of these pursuits requires that the
whole soul should bury itself in its subject-
hence the aptitude of the English. The
labours which lead to great discoveries, he
says, were in all ages the lot of melancholy
tempers. However that may be, it was
4
•
:
202 Foreign Visitors in England.
universally admitted that England had long
led the way in experimental philosophy.
Bacon and Newton are deeply reverenced by
our intelligent friends. VOLTAIRE passes a
high eulogium on these great men: 'the
equal of Sir Isaac Newton is hardly found in
a thousand years;' and does not fail to seize
the opportunity of propounding his favourite.
text: 'The smallness of these illustrious
persons who enslave their fellow-creatures, as
compared with those who enable us to read
the secrets of the universe.'
The leading cause of the impulse given
to scientific inquiry in the middle of the
seventeenth century is put down to 'the
long eclipse of the monarchy.' SORBIERE'S
special acquaintances in England were scien-
tific men, many of them 'persons of quality,'
as he calls them, who, having no court to
make, applied themselves instead to study;
some turning their heads to chymistry,
others to mathematics, or natural philosophy
—the King himself having been so far from
being neglectful of these things that he has
attained to so much knowledge as made me
1
1
Foreign Visitors in England. 203
astonished, when I had audience of his
Majesty.' We owe to SORBIERE, and to the
writer of Cosmo's journal, some interesting
references to the early days of the Royal
Society. Charles II. made it a special object
of his care, and became its patron; not so
much to give dignity and encouragement to
the society, as because of his taste for scien-
tific pursuits, and his extensive knowledge of
some branches. The founders of the society
did 'all for honour, and nothing to advance
the fortunes of its members.' The subscrip-
tion was heavy, for the society spared no
expense in the collection of rarities, and in
the making of experiments. Although of
thoroughly aristocratic origin, there was a
studious effort always made to ensure equality,
and give precedence to no one. Respect
was offered to every man, whatever his station
in life, English or foreigner, if he made any
observation which he thought worthy the
attention of the society. GROSLEY (who was
himself elected a member) was once present
when a joiner, in his workman's dress, laid
before the society a method which he had
1
204 Foreign Visitors in England.
:
i
invented to explain the causes of the ebbing
and flowing of the tides. He spoke a long
time, without knowing much of the subject;
yet he was listened to with the utmost atten-
tion, thanked for his confidence in the
knowledge of the society, requested to digest
his ideas to writing, or cause them to be
digested for him, and was accompanied to
the door by one of the members.' SORBIERE
was one of the earliest foreigners elected into
the Royal Society. He thought it doing him
great honour. He had been secretary to a
similar academy in Paris, and had some pre-
tensions to be considered a modern philo-
sopher. SORBIERE's references to the etiquette
observed at the meetings of the society arouse
interesting reflections when one recollects that
the age of unlimited deference to rank and
wealth was passing away: "The president
sits at the middle of the table in an easy-
chair. . . . All the other members take their
places as they think fit, and without any
ceremony; and if anyone comes in after the
society is fixed, nobody stirs, but he takes.
a place presently where he can find it, that so
Foreign Visitors in England. 205
no interruption may be given to him that
speaks. . . There is nobody here eager to
speak, that makes a long harangue, or intent
upon saying all he knows. A speaker is
never interrupted; and differences of opinion.
cause no manner of resentment. Nothing
seemed to me more civil, respectful, and
better managed than this meeting; and if
there are any private discourses held between
any while a member is speaking, they only
whisper, and the least sign from the president
causes a sudden stop, though they have not
told their mind out.'
-

1

CHAPTER XV.
'The greatest beauties in the world.'

UR travellers are universally gallant.
They are mostly surprised to see
so much liberty allowed to women-
kind. The saying is often repeated that
England is 'the paradise of women, and
the purgatory of horses,' because the
females are almost like masters, and the
horses are worked harder than in any other
country. Even the captious PERLIN relents
over the ladies, and declares that English-
women are 'the greatest beauties in the world,
and as fair as alabaster . . . they are also
cheerful and courteous, and of a good address.'
RATHGEB, diarist of the Duke Frederick of
Wirtemberg, is less carried away by their
dazzling qualities of mind and person, than
concerned with the extreme amount of
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.
liberty they enjoy, 'which they know well
how to make use of, for they go dressed out
in exceedingly fine clothes, and give all their
attention to their cuffs and stuffs, to such a
degree indeed that many a one does not
hesitate to wear velvet in the streets, which
is common with them, whilst at home they
have not a piece of dry bread.'
The Dutch historian, VAN METEREN, who
lived here many years during the sixteenth
century, thus discourses in much the same
vein: 'Wives in England are entirely in the
power of their husbands, their lives only
excepted. But although the women there
are entirely in the power of their husbands
except for their lives, yet they are not kept
so strictly as they are in Paris and elsewhere.
Nor are they shut up, but they have the free
management of the housekeeping after the
fashion of those of the Netherlands.
·
They go to market to buy what they like
best to eat. They are well-dressed, fond of
taking it easy, and commonly leave the care
of household matters and drudgery to their
servants. They sit before their doors, decked
208 Foreign Visitors in England.
out in fine clothes, in order to see and be
seen by the passers-by. In all banquets and
feasts they are shown the greatest honour;
they are placed at the upper end of the
table, where they are the first served. . .
All the rest of the time they employ in walk-
ing or riding, in playing at cards or otherwise,
in visiting their friends and keeping company,
conversing with their equals and their neigh-
bours, and making merry with them at child-
births, christenings, churchings, and funerals;
and all this with the permission and know-
ledge of their husbands, as such is the
custom. England is called the paradise of
married women. The girls who are not yet
married are kept much more rigorously and
strictly than in the Low Countries. Baron
VON POLLNITZ also alludes to the disposition
to gad about on the part of women who are
not obliged, or have not the disposition, to
be more usefully employed. The ladies.
here,' he says, 'have little to employ them,
their amusement being to give and receive
visits, to go often to court, to have the
pleasure of being seen, which really is of all
Foreign Visitors in England. 209
pleasures that which they seem to take mos
delight in. . . . They turn out of a morning
with a black velvet mask on their faces, a
coif on in form of a hat, with the brims down,
a round gown, and a white apron, and in this
trim they go to the park or where else they
please.' Yet the Baron, one of the gayest
of the gay, and hero of a hundred amours,
is deeply smitten, be their weaknesses what
they may: 'They have in my opinion such
an air of modesty and good-nature, and
withal such a bashful simplicity, as charm
me; and such tender languishing eyes, too,
as, though not universally pleasing, yet
captivate me to such a degree that if I was
but twenty years of age, I should have gone
very much astray. Most of the English-
women are handsome, they have the finest
hair in the world, and are only obliged to
pure nature for their complexions. It is a
pleasure to see them blush,' etc. Epithets
are profuse, indeed, on female charms in
England: 'Of marvellous beauty and wonder-
fully clever.' ... 'Charming, modest, hand-
some, and unaffected.' . . . 'By nature so
14
210 Foreign Visitors in England.
mighty pretty, as I have scarce ever beheld,
for they do not falsify, paint or bedaub them-
selves as in Italy or in other places; but they
are somewhat awkward in their style of dress,
for they dress in splendid stuffs, and many a
one wears three cloth gowns or petticoats,
one over the other.' . . . Dr. GEMELLI says:
The women are very beautiful and genteel,
and courteous of behaviour, being in short
looked upon as one of the valuable things
which England affords, which are:
(
Anglia mons, pons, fons, ecclesia, fœmina,
lana. .
Add to this commendation that they do
whatsoever they please, and do so generally
wear the breeches (as we use to say), that it
is now become a proverb that England is the
hell of horses and the paradise of women ;
and if there were a bridge from the island
to the continent, all the women in Europe
would run thither.'
The Prince of Tuscany made himself very
agreeable to the fair sex. He would readily
escape into their society, and loved to see
Foreign Visitors in England. 211
them on parade in the parks. He had
himself suffered matrimonial shipwreck; but
that misfortune had by no means made him
a woman-hater. Count MAGALOTTI, his
secretary and chronicler, was not less im-
pressionable. This writer's account of
Englishwomen is excellently given. The
women of London,' he says, 'are not inferior
to the men either in stature or in beauty, for
they are all of them handsome, and for the
most part tall, with black eyes, abundance
of light-coloured hair, and a neatness which
is extreme, their only personal defect being
their teeth, which are not, generally speak-
ing, very white. They live with all the
liberty that the custom of the country author-
izes. This custom dispenses with that
rigorous constraint and reservedness which
are practised by the women of other coun-
tries, and they go whithersoever they please,
either alone, or in company; and those of
the lower order frequently go so far as to
play at ball publicly in the streets. They
are very fond of paying respect to foreigners,
and in society show them a vast deal of
14-2
212 Foreign Visitors in England.
courtesy and attention. The slightest pos-
sible introduction is sufficient to be admitted
to their conversation, on the same terms as
their countrymen and relations, who, on
their part, behave to them with the greatest
modesty, holding female honour in the highest
respect and veneration. So great is the
respect which the English entertain for their
women, that in their houses the latter govern
everything despotically, making themselves
feared by the men, courageous as they are on
other occasions.' MISSON is almost always
certain to say something surprisingly different
from what other people do. The present
case is not an exception, for he maintains
that women in England have 'neither so
much favour nor so much honour, as their
beauty, their graceful mien, their genteelness,
and so many charms as they are possessed of,
might justly challenge.'
Monsieur GROSLEY is philosophically
verbose over the English ladies. He finds
them so sensible of their beauty, that they
are little solicitous about artificial adorn-
ments, excepting at public assemblies. Then,
Foreign Visitors in England. 213
with their diamonds and lace they indeed
make a distinguished figure./[He attributes
much of their beauty, and with unquestion-
able truth, to the frequency of outdoor
exercise. GROSLEY has heard of the despotic
power alleged to be held by Englishwomen,
and in the course of his inquiries an incident
occurs which appears to throw some light on
the matter. At a certain evening assembly,
he was asked by a lady whether he had ex-
hausted the curiosities and objects of observa-
tion furnished by the metropolis. 'I made
answer that there was still one of great im-
portance for me to know, and that she and
her company could give me all the informa-
tion I desired: this was, whether in England
the husband or the wife governed the house?
My question being explained to all the ladies.
present, they discussed it, and amused them-
selves with it, and the answer which they agreed
should be returned to me was, that husbands
alone could resolve me. I then proposed it
to the husbands, who with one voice declared
that they durst not decide. The perplexity
discovered by those gentlemen gave me the
214 Foreign Visitors in England.
solution I desired.' We have a signal ex-
ception to this generally flattering tone, in
the report of the Swiss MURALT. He is not
so deeply impressed with the beauty of
Englishwomen. They have all fair hair
and beautiful fair faces, but without any
sprightliness.' Out of a hundred handsome
women, he finds scarce ten that are agreeable-
looking. What pleases him most is 'their
modesty, and a gentle bashfulness that makes
them easily blush, and cast down their eyes
every minute.' . . . 'As for their humour,
they are taken to be gentle, frank, and easy,
at first reserved, but soon growing familiar,
even to a degree of playing the fool; hasty
in anger; lazy, and accustomed to idleness.
From their idleness proceeds their
uneasiness, their curiosity to know things to
come, their fondness of fortune-telling, and
their credulity.'
•
One of the short essays comprised in LE
BLANC'S account of England is principally
devoted to conversation with the fair sex.
The subject is treated in a particularly
Foreign Visitors in England. 215
judicious tone. In his time, it was doubt-
less true that female society was compara-
tively neglected, except in frivolous pastime.
'The English lose a great deal,' he points
out, 'in conversing so little with the sex whom
nature has endowed with the graces; and
whose company has constant charms, and a
certain sweetness not to be found in men.
... Their presence and conversation polishes
and softens men, and by the habit acquired
of endeavouring to please them, a more
agreeable tone of voice is contracted. . . .
But the English seem to fear the company of
women, as much as the French delight in it
-they think the fair sex are made only to
take possession of their hearts, and seldom
or never to afford any amusement to their
minds. They prefer the pleasure of toasting
their healths in a tavern, to that of chatting
with them in a circle.' Alluding to the
excuse made that the women in England are
not so amusing as in France, he does not
hesitate to lay the blame upon the men,
whose 'dangerous habit of drinking destroys
216 Foreign Visitors in England.
the delicacy of sentiments, and perhaps
even the desire of pleasing.' However,
thanks to a later generation, boasting of its
Barbauld, its Wollstonecraft, its Edgeworth,
these things now belong to antiquity.
INDEX.
ADDISON, Joseph, as a dramatist, 188
Ale and beer extolled, 29, 175
American visitors, 107, 111, 131 et seq.
Artisans, foreign, in England, 41
Artisanship of the English, 201
Bassompierre, Marshal de, his embassy to England, x., 9
Bear-garden sports, 180
Beaumont, ambassador in England, 33, 34
Beckett's shrine at Canterbury, 60
Beer, 29, 46, 175
Boxing, 183
Boyle, Robert, visited by Cosmo III., 13-15
Bread, good quality of English, 166
Brougham, Lord, notice of, 108
Brown, Rawdon, his labours in the Venetian archives, 7
Buffoonery on the English stage, 190 et seq.
Burke, Edmund, notice of, 113
Canning, George, notice of, 108
Canterbury, co. Kent, 49, 60-62
Carus, C. G., xv.
-Character of the English people, 122 et seq.
Charles I., 5, 101
Charles II. entertains Cosmo III., 9 et seq.
""
""
his scientific turn, 17, 203
his courtesy, 22, 24
his recreations, 84
his character, 101
Charles V., Emperor, his reception in England, 4
Cheapside, 71
Chelmsford, co. Essex, reception of Marie de Medicis, s
Christmas pudding, 163
Civility of the English, 135
Coffee and chocolate houses, 178
Comedies of Congreve and others, 191
Cookery in England, 24, 161 et seq.
1
218
Index.
Coronation Stone, 80
Cosmo III., Prince of Tuscany, xi., 9 et seq.
Cyder, 175
Daryl, Philippe, his 'Public Life in England,' xvi., 118, 119
Dinners of the English, 161, 163
Dover, co. Kent, 28, 31
Drake, Sir Francis, his ship Golden Hind, 67
Drama in England, 187 et seq.
Drinking customs, 46, 53, 167 et seq.
Du Bocage, Mme., xiii.
Edward IV., his court at Windsor, 91
Eldon, Lord, notice of, 110
Elizabeth, Queen, her court at Greenwich, 94
English character, 122 et seq.
Englishwomen, 206, 216
Esquiros, Alphonse, xvi.
Exeter, co. Devon, 10, 11
Fashions brought from France, 37
Fighting, delicious to an Englishman,' 180 et seq.
Fine Arts in England, 199
Fogs of London, 75
Food and feeding, 160 et seq.
Football described, 183
Foreign visitors, their various characteristics, 3, 123
""
their treatment in England, 29 et seq.
Fox, Charles James, notice of, 112
Fox-hunting, 184
Freedom of manners, 103
Frenchmen in London, 29, 30, 35
Gardens, celebrated, 83, 86
Garter, Order of the, 18
Gemelli-Careri, Dr. J., xii.
Giovius, Paulus, his estimate of the English people, 40
Giustinian, Venetian ambassador, viii., 6, 61
Goldsmiths' shops in London, 73
Gravesend, co. Kent, 47, 64
Greenwich, co. Kent, 67, 94
Grey, Earl, notice of, 110
Grosley, Pierre Jean, visitor from Troyes, xiv., passim
Hampton Court, 20, 90
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, in England, xv., 132
Henry VIII., his magnificent receptions, 4, 6
Index.
219
Hentzner, Paul, visitor at the court of Elizabeth, ix., 47, 62
et seq., 94
Hoppin, James M., xvi.
Innkeeper 'boycotted' for extortion, 49
Inns and innkeepers, 47 et seq.
"Jacob's pillow' at Westminster Abbey, 80
ames I., his hospitality, 8
James II., 19, 21, 101, 102
Jorevin, his adventures in England, xi., 43, 44 et seq., 53
Kent, the county extolled, 59, 64
King, Lord, notice of, 110
King's evil, Charles II. touching for, 17
La Gruthuyse, Louis de Bruges Seigneur de, viii.
La Motraye, xiii., his praise of Kent, 60
La Serre, Sieur de, x.
Le Blanc, Abbé, xiii., notices of England, passim
Lemnius, ix., his friendly experiences, 40, 137
Liberty idolized in England, 104, 105
Literature and learning, 195
London, Corporation of, 6, 21, 34
""
notes on, 69, et seq.
London Bridge, 64
Magalotti, Count, secretary to Cosmo III., notices by, 14, 18, 24
his summary of the English character, 138
Marie' de Medicis, Queen, 5, 26
Meteren, Van, Dutch historian, ix., on the English people, 137
Misson, xii., notices of England, passim
Monk, General, 25
Moritz, C. F., his walking-tour in England, xiv., 54 et seq.
his notes on the House of Commons, 112
Muralt, xii., 214
New Exchange, in the Strand, 71
Nicander Nucius, ix., at the Tower, 70
Northampton, 50, 51
Norwich, foreign settlers in, 42
Otway, Thomas, dramatist, 190
Palaces, Royal, 83 et seq.
Parliament, Houses of, 107-15
Pastry, English, 162
Patriotism an important attribute of the English, 126
Pedestrian travellers, 54, 55
Perlin, Etienne, ix., his estimate of the English people, 40
2.20
Index.
!
Perlin, Etienne, notes on drinking, 171
Philip II., his complaints of the populace, 38
Pitt, William, notice of, 11I
Politics, 104 et seq.
Pollnitz, notes of England, xiii., passim
Pückler-Muskan, Prince von, xv.
Puddings, 165
Raumer, Von, xv., on English politics, 119
on Sabbatarianism, 153
""
""
Refugees settled in England, 35, 41, 42
Religion in England, 142, 154 et seq.
Richmond Palace, 88
Royal Exchange, 71
Royal Society, 197, 202, et seq.
Rozmital, Von, viii., his summary of the English character, 137
St. James's Park, 83-85
St. Paul's Cathedral, 75-77
Sculpture in London, 200
Sea-sickness, 26-28
Sectarianism, 142 et seq.
Shakespeare, William, criticisms on, 188, 189
Shops in London, 72, 73
Silliman, Benjamin, xiv.
Simond, Louis, xv., on English notions of freedom, 105
Sittingbourne, co. Kent, 47
Social intercourse deficient in England, 147, 148
Somerset House (old), 66
Sorbière, Samuel, x., notices of England, passim
Sovereigns of England, 100
Sports, national, 179
Stowmarket, co. Suffolk, adventure there, 45
Street-brawls, 32, 43, 181, 182
Suicide, our alleged tendency to, 146
Sully, Duke of, ix., his first day in London, 32
Sunday, its absurdly strict observance, 151 et seq.
Swans on the Thames, 65
Taine, H., xvi., his arrival in London, 158
Thames River, 63 et seq.
Theatrical performances, 188
Theobalds Palace, 86
Thorndon Hall, co. Essex, 24
Toast-drinking, 168 et seq.
Tobacco-smoking, 53, 156, 177
Tower of London, 69
Index.
221.
-
Tragedies of Shakespeare and others, 188
Trevisano, Andrea, viii.
Voltaire, xiii.
Walloon refugees, 42
Wellington, Duke of, notice, 109
Westminster Abbey, 77-79
Westminster Election (1782), notice of, 116
Whitehall Palace, 83, 89
Windsor Castle, 18, 56, 87, 90, 91
Women, their favoured condition in England, 207 et seq.
Wrestling, 183

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