A FOREIGN VIEW OF ENGLAND.* WHEN Monsieur de Voltaire read
the letters of Monsieur de Saussure—in manuscript—he pronounced the work both "useful and amusing," and since he had been in England.at the same time as the young Swiss he had every right to judge of its merits. The book, indeed, is useful and amusing, especially as it is written without malice or preoccupation. M. de Saussure was not a subtle philosopher. He did not visit England to prove the inferiority of her institutions, or to establish his own patriotism uppn the sure foundation of calumny. He was a simple, artless traveller who desired rather to observe than to judge, and whose gift of observation was unclouded by the mists of theory. The result is that he sent back to Switzerland a just and lucid account of what he saw, and his letters, now translated by Madame van Muyden, present as fair a picture as we know of England in the early part of the eighteenth century.
When first he arrived in this strange country, he suffered all the penalties of his foreign origin. The Channel appalled him, and the passage from Holland to London took many days. The Custom House was somewhat over-rigorous in its search for contraband, and no sooner did he take a walk in the Park than he lost his way, and was compelled by his ignorance of English to spend a night in the streets. The modern traveller would base a violent indictment upon far less inconvenience than this. But M. de Saussure made light of his troubles, and set himself to understand the customs of the natives. Bringing with him the best introductions, he lost no time in presenting himself at Court, and he sketches George I. and his son with remarkable justice. He was not much past twenty when he wrote the earlier letters, yet history confirms the most of his statements, and there is no gainsaying his perspicacity. He notes that the King kissed all the ladies who were presented to him, and, says he, "let not this mode of greeting scandalise you; it is the custom of this country, and many ladies would be displeased should you fail to salute them thus." On this point Voltaire agrees with him, and it
• A Foreign View of England in as Reigns of George I. and George II. By Cesar de Saussure. Translated and edited by Madame van Muyden. London: J. Murray. [10s. 6d.)
would be interesting to know when the custom fell into disuse. But the town astonished the traveller far more than the Court. He thinks that the Strand, Fleet Street, Cheapside, and Cornhill are "the finest streets in Europe," and he sings the praise of the Thames with an eloquence which should endear him to all Englishmen. "The Thames," says he, "is every- where wide, beautiful, and peaceful," and he not unhappily calls it "the foster-mother of this great city." Every tide, he tells us, "brings vessels containing immense riches from every quarter of the globe," and he knows not at which to marvel the more, the gilt and painted galleys, or the merchant vessels which below the bridge almost hide the river. Nor was he deaf to the language of the bargees ; he acknowledges their skill in the warfare of the tongue, and it is only modesty which dissuades him from giving specimens of their quick retort.
The London which he saw is not the practical, Americanised city of to-day. He could hardly praise the modern Strand in the fine terms which he found for the old. The swift transit of the " tubes " would surprise the traveller who was terrified at the rapidity wherewith the sedan-chairs were hustled along the street. On the other hand, how empty would the Thames appear to him, the Thames which then found room for fifteen thousand boats, and on whose margin the familiar cry of "Oars, oars ! " or " Sculler, sculler ! " was always heard ! But in some respects the London of yestArday remains with us. Lord Mayor's Day was then the same orgy of unlicensed noise that it is now. The force of tradition is great, and doubtless it is tradition which then inspires the London mob to excesses of which it is guilty at no other time. "The populace on that day," says M. de Saussure, "is particularly insolent and rowdy, turning into lawless freedom the great liberty it enjoys. At these times it is almost dangerous for an honest man, and more particularly for a foreigner if at all well dressed, to walk the streets, for he runs a great risk of being insulted by the vulgar populace, which is the most cursed brood in existence. He is sure of not only being jeered at and being bespattered with mud, but as likely as
not dead dogs and cats will be thrown at him If the stranger were to get angry, his treatment would be all the worse." Cats and dogs are happily out of fashion, but the rest is as true as ever it was. But M. de Saussure could not only observe; he could discover such things as are commonly hidden from foreign eyes. His letter upon the administration of justice is accurate and sensible. He came to England in the golden age of the footpad and highwayman, and he explains their method of procedure with admirable insight. His account of Jonathan Wild is far clearer than the most of contemporary records, and he visited Tyburn himself with a half-disgusted curiosity. -Above all, he was interested in pageants. He had not been long in England when he witnessed an investiture of Knights of the Bath. He describes the procession and the cere- mony with equal care, and he tells us that when the Knights left King Henry V11.'s chapel "they were met by the King's head cook, his chopper in his hand, girded about the waist with a green apron and a linen napkin. He addressed each Knight in these words : 'Sir, you know what a solemn vow you have just taken. If you observe it, it will be to your honour; but if you betray it, I shall be compelled by my office to cleave off your spurs with my chopper.' " But the grandest ceremony al, which Mohsieur de Saussure assisted in London was the crowning of George IL Never had so splendid a spectacle been witnessed. Old menwho had seen noless than fourprevious Coronations were agreed that this one surpassed all the others in splendour. It takes sixteen pages to enumerate the personages who formed the procession. But it was not the length of the progress which astonished the traveller. To quote his own words, "what embellished this ceremony greatly was the magnificence of the jewels. The Peeresses were covered with them, and wore them in great quantities on the fronts of their borli.z.es, .a their hair, as clasps for fastening their robes and aioass, without counting their necklaces, earrings, and rings." Indeed the skirt of the Queen's robe "was so much embroidered with jewels that it threw out a surprising radiance, and she next day declared that what had fatigued her most was the weight of this skirt." The finest voices in England sang admirable symphonies, and the music was conducted "by the celebrated Mr. Handel." Monsieur de Saussure's enthusiasm is frankly expressed, and he confesses
that he can give no notion of the beauty of what be saw, but his description is always so simple that it compels belief, and happily he wrote before the tricks of the picturesque reporter made accuracy impossible.
His estimate of the English character is flattering yet judicious. He finds that the British people is too strongly prejudiced in its own favour, and that it does not readily endure the opinion of foreigners. On the other hand, the English, in his opinion, are sincere and honourable beneath their cold reserve. They are distinguished by good sense rather than by fancy, and they look at all things from a scientific point of view. They are brave, and their soldiers fight with the greatest valour. Though they are not quick to display their civility, though they are inexpert in the art of flattery, they are none the less generous and grateful. But, on the other hand, he deplores their love of drink and their love of swearing. He notes, also, a certain violence in the spectacles which delight them, and he sums up their character with the sentence, which few will dispute, that "Englishmen push their virtues and vices further than other people." For the rest, there are many opinions of curious interest scattered up and down the book. At a time when all the world was mad about The Beggars' Opera, he declared it neither refined nor witty. He was astonished at the penny post, and thought the practice of insuring against fire one of the marvels of the world. He describes the tiger-man shown at the Tower with much circumstance, and he once saw the King's savage taking the air in the Park. In brief, little escaped his eager eye, and his letters are a document of historic value. Un- happily the competition of to-day has dulled observation, and it will be long before a foreigner looks upon England with Monsieur de Saussure's impartiality. Such strangers as visit our shores are so sternly intent to note England's decay that they can see nothing. They have already made up their minds what they will report before they leave home. The consequence is that all recent books on England are coloured by venom and falsehood. But M. de Saussure lived before the days of international animosity, and his book is as amiable as it is accurate.
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