Reminiscences of a Boyhood in the Early Part of the Century

Bücher

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Excerpt from Reminiscences of a Boyhood in the Early Part of the Century: A Fragment of a Life London and Paris have been brought within a few hours of each other. Intercourse with the Continent was not so close and frequent as it is now, when so many English spend their winters on the sunny slopes of the Riviera, by the shores of the blue Mediterranean, or amid the classic ruins and art treasures of Rome, and their summers amid the green valleys, the upland pasture-lands, and the magnificent mountains of Switzerland. Indeed, France, which can be sighted from the white cliffs of Dover across the silver streak, was regarded with a jealousy and suspicion which amounted to positive dislike. The French were looked upon as the natural enemies of the English, and were ridiculed and caricatured, and the popular idea of a Frenchman was that of a man who had all the graces of a dancing master, and a strange appetite for frogs, light and frivolous in nature, and with no weight or solidity of character. It is not, therefore, a matter for surprise that England held no very high place in the affec tions of her neighbour, and that the suspicion and jealousy were frankly returned. One result, however, of this state of feeling between the two countries and their wider separation was this - a thing not to be deplored, - the unhealthy odour of patchouli and musk did not permeate our literature or the drama so fully as in a day when England and France are in close and constant communication, and travelling is as luxurious as it is rapid, and swarms of Cook's tourists invade the Continent each returning summer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.