"Those English people enjoy themselves as we bore ourselves to death," once said Mme. Vigée-Lebrun.
When I say that women are rarely seen at the great public dinners, which are the distinguishing feature of English society, I exaggerate. They are sometimes admitted ... to the galleries, from thence to contemplate the lords of creation consuming their prodigious repast.
Gallantry could surely go no further.
Looking from the gallant knights of the trencher to the pretty faces in the gallery, I have more than once exclaimed to myself: "Nobody can say that an Englishman's eyes are bigger than his stomach."
CHAPTER XVII.
FAITH AND REASON.
The various religions in existence were founded by men of different nations to suit their own character.
The French, impressionable and fond of pompous pageants, adopted a mystical religion, which addresses itself to their senses; the English, cool and argumentative, preferred a religion which addresses itself to their reason. This is why churches in France savor of the theater, and churches in England savor of the lecture-room.
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