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THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE,

For JULY, 1816.

Mr. URBAN,

July 17. HE observations of News-writers,

Tif not always worthy of atten

tion, have sometimes a force and propriety which entitle them to preservation in some more permanent work. In fact, the authors of those fugitive records are, in general, men of quick parts, who, if they were not compelled by their employment to write much and read little, would be equal to the production of more valuable publications. The following passage from a daily paper, very lately published, appears to me to be a striking example of the first remark.

"Emigrations from this Country to France are more to be regretted in a moral than in a financial point of view; and we shall be much surprised if they do not produce a disastrous effect upon the mauners and morals of this Country. Above all, we dread the effect upon the female part of the empire. A British woman is a character sui generis. There is a delicacy, a timidity, a tenderness, a loveliness in it, that we shall vainly seek in any other portion of the globe. How admirably adapted to be the real comforters of our lives! such good mothers, such dutiful children, such affectionate wives, so graceful in their carriage, so perfectly formed to make home the seat and centre of all human happiness! Now, as we would have no alloy in this pure and bright silver, so we fear to see it exposed to adinixture with other nations. It is the asual practice of the French to ridicule the dress and manners of English women. They want the French je ne sçai quoi, tournure, &c. In other words, they have that retiring timidity which adds a charm to loveliness; and they want that decisive look, and walk, and carriage, which the French call tournure. Ridicule is a powerful weapon, and the timid are ever unable

to resist it. Hence the very timidity of our countrywomen may induce them to copy the inanners of the French, rather than expose themselves to raillery and sarcasın. Adieu then all the domestic comforts; for of all people on the earth, the French have no home, in our sense of the word. Absent in the morning, and absent in the evening: they fly from home to theatres and operas; and the little circle of family affections that surround and gladden a British fire-side, may be looked for in France in vain.

"It is the grafting of French manners upon British that we dread; and hence it is that we view the numerous Emigrations to France with regret and apprehension, particularly those of the female members of families. Let fathers think well of this! But was it not so, we may be asked, before the Not to such an extent. Revolution ? But who is there that does not see the vast difference between the French character before the Revolution and since?"

Whoever this writer is, he has touched a string with which many a British heart will vibrate in unison; and with which they ought to vibrate, since its sounds are those of truth the expression of good judgment and An English woman right feeling. frenchified, is a creature corrupted and degraded; and though this is almost equally true of an Englishman, yet the danger is not the same, for the reason above assigned. John Bull is sturdy and rough, and will not, in many instances, be led to imitate what, in bis heart, he dislikes and despises. Instead of being abashed by ridicule, he will repay it by contempt. Not so the more sensitive sex, which thereby is the more endangered.

To our men, however, rather than our women, is the contagion of actual profligacy likely to extend, Mixing

without

without fear in every kind of society, they will fall, as formerly they did, into the snares of gamblers, pandars, and prostitutes. But the effects will chiefly fall upon the individuals; returning home with their foreign depravities and diseases, they will be despised by the community at large, and the infection will not spread. There is, however, a species of moral poison which, even now, is diligently smuggled into the country, and which, if the magistrates are not vigilant, may produce much evil. I speak of licentious prints, which already are openly exhibited for sale, having been either actually imported, or founded upon hints suggested by French depravity. There is one kind in particular, which, presenting nothing improper to the eye, is exposed without scruple in the windows of a shop; but which, by a slight machinery contrived in it, admits of a sudden metamorphosis of the most profligate nature. Such figures are now actually offered for sale in great numbers at a house within the precincts of the royal residences; thus aspiring to rival, if it can be done with impunity, the Palais royal at Paris. But happily we have laws to prevent such improprieties; we have magistrates accustomed to enforce them; and a voluntary Society, whose professed object is to walch over the morals of the people, and to stop, as much as possible, such channels of corruption. This abuse, I trust, cannot long escape their notice; and, that it may have the less chance of doing so, I have taken the trou ble, Mr. Urban, of thus stating the fact for publication in your useful repository. If the progress of vice cannot wholly be prevented, under the present state of intercourse with the most corrupt of people, let it at least be compeiled, as formerly, to have recourse to artifices and secret expedients; and not be suffered thus to insult the British publick by indecencies so slightly veiled that they cannot fail to explain their real intention to the least inquisitive eye.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

ANTIGALLICUS.

July 19.

I' T is a matter of very deep regret to every person who has the good of his Country sincerely at heart, that at the present moment, when every exertion is imperiously called for to

support public credit, and to give employment to the thousands of artizans who are starving for want of it, such vast numbers of our countrymen should pass over to France, and there consume the income which is drawn from their native land, to the enriching of the former, and the great impoverishment of the latter.

Were the design of these numerous visitors merely confined to a short sojourn in a land which, for the last 24 years, has been the theatre of such surprising Revolutions:-were they desirous only of viewing the effects which have been produced on the na tional manners and character of a people, by the very extraordinary experiments which they have made in RELIGION and in POLITICS during the above interval,-we should not feel inclined very severely to condemn their conduct. But when we behold almost innumerable families of the first consideration, both as to rank and opulence, systematically determine to quit their own country for a number of years, and to carry with them their large establishments, with a view of living abroad and letting their houses and estates in this country; the pub lic evils which must at length arise from this plan, and the mischiefs which will fall upon these mistaken persons themselves from it, are well deserving the most serious attention. And perhaps if these plans can be shewn to be founded in error, as will in all probability be made manifest ere long to those who are now making the experiment, others may be deterred from following their culpable example, and may be induced to rest contented in the country which gave them birth; and in which, if they will but consider the matter with unprejudiced eyes, they may enjoy blessings and advantages which no other country upon earth affords.

ECONOMY is the first general object which presents itself to the mind, as an advantage of so serious a kind that many inconveniencies, they think, are to be hazarded to accomplish it; but in this there are very cogent reasons to suppose those who make the experiment will be considerably disappointed. More than one publication has been recently laid before the publick, tending to prove that the expences of removing a family from England to France will be at least

66

equal

equal to the whole savings that can be made in two years." And we receive daily accounts from a variety of quarters, that the price of all the necessaries of life is so constantly increasing in France, that, before the period above-named shall be expired, it will be as expensive living there as it is in England. Should this be the case, as we have every reason to think will really come to pass, the first, and most seducing reason for emigration will absolutely prove false and deceit

ful.

EDUCATION of Children is the second reason which has generally been urged in favour of Emigration to France; which, it is said, can be as well accom plished as in England, and at a much cheaper rate. But here the same objection with respect to the question of cheapness will present itself, as in the instance we have mentioned above. Masters will very soon learn to set such a price upon the instruction which they give, as will render the stranger no gainer by the change which he has made. The mischief, however, as to this object, it is feared will not rest here. When we consider the corrupted RELIGION which is now established in that country,-the shocking and indeed horribly relaxed state of MORALITY, and the unsettled POLITICS, which still prevail there; what principles in these three very important branches of EDUCATION can we expect will be instilled into the ductile minds of youth, but such as are corresponding to the present prevailing system of those Sciences!!

It is now pretty clearly ascertained that JACOBINISM, which caused such

horrible tragettes during "the System of Terror," and brought so many innocent victims to the GUILLOTINE, is so far from being extinguished in FRANCE, that it is even now in full activity in that country; and if any faTourable combination of circumstances should allow it to once more display its full energies, a repetition might be looked for of those scenes which once deluged that unhappy country with the blood of her citizens. The principles of this blood-stained monster would, no doubt, be imbibed in that system of education taught in France, and very probably would thus be introduced in no long period into this Country; and what might be the pro

bable consequence of this introduction is almost too shocking to contem piate!! A poem, in the dramatic form, faithfully pourtraying the features of this Fiend, and intituled "Du RAND, OF JACOBINISM DISPLAYED," is now in the press, and will be pub lished very speedily, wherein will be seen what unfeeling cruelty and baseness those can be guilty of who are actuated by its diabolical spirit..

The limits of a post letter will not allow me to enter inore fully into the discussion of this important subject ; otherwise it would be no diflicult matter, both by reasoning and by exa amples that might be adduced, to prove that the habits, customs, and manners,—the insincerity, deceit, and hypocrisy,—the filthiness, both in the habitations and cookery, of the French nation, the frequent ignorance of their language, which many Englishmen carry with them,—and, above all, the rooted antipathy, let them cover it with what grimace and external politeness soever they will, which FRENCHMEN probably always will entertain for ENGLISHMEN, must almost necessarily make a residence of any continuance amongst them of an English family, irksome and disgusting in the extreme!!

I recommend, Sir, these consider ations to the serious reflection of your numerous Readers, if you will honour. them with a place in your publication. MENTOR,

Yours, &c,

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Tour through various parts of FLAN DERS, GERMANY, and HOLLAND, in the year 1815, (Continued from Part I. p. 488.).

to a spacious and elegant hotel, my arrival at Lille, 1 repaired to which I had been recommended by the French lady whose keen wit and lively humour had afforded me so much entertainment in travelling from Calais to Dunkirk. On presenting a note from that lady to the maîtresse d'hôtel, I met with marks of attention no less distinguished than if, instead of being Monsieur le Curé, I had been Monseigneur l'Evêque. I had travelled part of the way to Lille with three English gentlemen and a young lady, the sister of one of them, who, on our being set down at the post house, were pleased to express a wish of ac companying me to my hotel; and for

my

my sake, or rather for my fair fellow traveller's sake, they were welcomed with equal attention. They had crossed the channel for the purpose of visiting the field of Waterloo. I soon found them to be an agreeable party, and they made me a proposal, in a manter too flattering to be resisted, that we should travel together to that celebrated spot. Although I generally dislike to be tied and bound to a party of strangers, yet on the present occasion I felt great satisfac tion in the prospect of passing a few days in a society which promised me a large share of rational and elegant enjoyment. After getting rid of the dust of our journey from Cassel, we sat down to a well cooked, handsome dinner, consisting of two courses and a luxurious dessert, at a cheaper rate than we could bave had a bit of fish and a beef-steak at one of the Covent Garden hotels, or even at my favourite place of resort, the London Coffee House on Ludgate Hill. The Burgundy was exquisite, and the flavour of it was heightened by the enjoyment of the feast of reason and the flow of soul: our hearts beat in unison to the first toast-Old Englund in a bumper. They who bave never been upon foreign ground can form no conception of the feelings which swell the heart on recollecting the natale solum with all its endearing associa tions on such occasions we beartily despise those cold-blooded political Theorists whose system of civic education would exciude from their vocabulary the love of country, to make way for the more liberal phraseology of citizen of the world. The party with which I now had the pleasure of associating, felt the amor patriæ in a strong degree, but without forfeiting their claim to philanthropy. They were Christians as well as Patriots, and could see no reason why the benevolent affections which a Christian cherishes towards the whole human race, should extinguish the glow of patriotic feeling, and the attachments of friendship, notwithstanding all that a fanciful lay Theologian has advanced to prove the contrary. The Dext toast was given and received with warm sensibility, “All who are near and dear to us on the other side

* See Soame Jenyns's "View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion," p. 58, &c.

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"Low Thurcaston's sequester'd shade,” once the residence of the classic Hurd, now possessed by a worthy friend, "Through whose free-opening gate None comes too early-none departs too late."

With these and various other scenes before the mental eye, I drank the toast con amore. I had hitherto been an entire stranger to every one of the party; but, upon comparing notes over the social glass, several pleasing discoveries took place in regard to places, acquaintance, and friends, which attached us more closely to each other than we could have conceived at our first interview. We seemed to forget that we were in French Flanders, and could scarcely talk of any thing but S-ss—x and L-c-t-sh.

After dinner we sallied forth to view the town, attended by a guide who was dignified with the title of commissionaire, in other words a licensed valet de place, who, in rather a gro tesque style of dress, strutted before us with a consequential air, repeating the nomenclature of streets, squares,

A beech-tree is wanting to make the scene quite Virgilian.

+ See a poem, lately published, inti tuled "Rothley Temple," by the Rev. T. Gisborne, an effort of genius and taste which Spenser's muse would not have disowned.

churches,

churches, and public edifices. I have nothing to add to the general description given of Lille in my last letter, that would be particularly interest ing; and shall only remark that I have seen but few places in the course of my travels which surpass it in magnificence, beauty, and regularity, There is much refinement and elegance among the higher classes of society in Lille. Those who have a taste for public amusements may find ample gratification here; and the garrison diffuses through the place an air of gaiety and gallantry, without which the French may be said to be out of their element.

"Gay sprightly land of mirth and social

ease,

Pleas'd with thyself, whom all the world can please." Goldsmith's Traveller. Lille abounds with churches, but I fear there is not much of the spirit of true devotion among the clergy or laity. I happened to be introduced to an elderly lady residing at Lille, a warm devotee of the Romish church, with whom I had a conversation on the state of religion there. The good lady lamented the decay of piety throughout the country at large, which she was firmly convinced might be traced to the profligacy of the priesthood, who might thank themselves for the spoliation they had undergone during the Revolution. "They had previously lost (I use her own words) the confidence of the people, and they became the unpitied victims of revolutionary rage." I observed, that Mr. Burke, in his meme rable Reflections on the Revolution in France, had given a very different representation of the character of the French clergy, and that he had laboured to impress upon the people of England that, "generally speaking, before the period of the Revolution, they stood high in public estimation, both in regard to attention to their duties, and the goodness of their mo rals." “Ob! Sir,” replied the good lady, "Mr. Burke knew but little of them, if he said so; you would be astonished to think what shoals of reverend sceptics and atheists polluted France at the accession of Louis XVI.; and hence that moral profligacy in the Sanctuary which sickened the hearts of the faithful." I fully agreed with her that nothing had so direct a tendency as Infidelity to harden the heart

and to generate sensuality; and I had no doubt she would agree with me that the greatest monster in human nature was an unbelieving priest, to whom, above all other men, might emphatically be applied the words of the Psalmist, “that the things which should have been for his wealth, ure unto him an occasion of falling.” Had I been disposed to enter into an argument with the good lady, I might have shewn the tendency of Popery to generate Infidelity*, where the mind is enlightened by science, but unacquainted with the pure fountain of Inspiration; but I forbore, from tenderness to her deeply-rooted prejudices, and remembering that it is written "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment-neither do men put new wine into old bottles."

But I had like to have forgot that I was perambulating the streets of Lille. After our precursor had gone through his vocabulary, he re-conducted us to our hotel, not a little fatigued with our survey of the town; and here I bad the pleasure of finding the French officer whom I mentioned in my last letter, waiting for my return. This gentleman had a strong sense of religion upon his mind, although, like Pope, he might be said to be "Nor Papist, nor Protestant, but both between,

Like good Erasmus in an honest mean.'

In regard to the state of religion at Lille and the country in general, he said there was too much truth in the information I had received from the pious Catholic lady. He was sorry to say that, generally speaking, the clergy in French Flanders were far from being patterns of purity; in proof of which he reminded me of an observation made by a gentleman with whom we had travelled in the diligence from Cassel, that many of them lived openly in a state of concubinage; to which another gentleman, who was a zealous Catholic, subjoined in a

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