In
Vernet's studio we feel the predominance of military taste and education
in France; in the _Ecole Polytecnique_, the policy by which her youth
are bred to serve their country; at the manufactories of the Gobelines
and Sevres china, we perceive how naturally the mechanical genius of the
race finds development in pottery and fabrics instead of ships and
machines, as across the Channel and beyond the ocean; and in the
self-possession, knowledge of affairs, and variety of occupation of the
middle class of women, we see why they have no occasion to advocate
their rights and complain of the inequality of the sexes.
[Footnote A: 'Mes habitudes de diner chez les restaurants,' says a
Parisian philosopher, 'ont ete pour moi une source intarrissable de
surprises, de decouvertes, et de revelations sur l'humanite.']
All large cities furnish daily material for tragedy, and life there,
keenly observed and aptly narrated, proves continually how much more
strange is truth than fiction; but the impressive manners and
melo-dramatic taste of the people, as well as their intricate police
system, bring out more vividly these latent points of interest, as a
reference to the _Causes Celebres_ and the Memoirs of Vidocq illustrate.
Pages:
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56