prominent feature of the English character. A hundred
Englishmen of any class, forgathered for any purpose of conference or
recreation, will have less merriment in the course of their sitting than
a score of Frenchmen or Americans would have in a similar time. Hence it
is generally remarked that the English of almost any class show to least
advantage when attempting to enjoy themselves. They are as awkward at a
frolic as a bear at a dance. Their manner of expressing themselves is
literal and prosaic; the American tendency to hyperbole and exaggeration
grates harshly on their ears. They can only account for it by a
presumption of ill breeding on the part of the utterer. Forward lads
and "fast" people are scarce and uncurrent here. A Western "screamer,"
eager to fight or drink, to run horses or shoot for a wager, and
boasting that he had "the prettiest sister, the likeliest wife and the
ugliest dog in all Kentuck," would be no where else so out of place and
incomprehensible as in this country, no matter in what circle of
society.

The _Women_ of England, of whatever rank, studiously avoid peculiarities
of dress or manner and repress idiosyncrasies of character. No where
else that I have ever been could so keen an observer as Pope have
written:

"Nothing so true as what you once let fall;
Most women have no character at all."

Each essays to think, appear and speak as nearly according to the
orthodox standard of Womanhood as possible. Hardly one who has any
reputation to save could tolerate the idea of attending a Woman's Rights
Convention or appearing in a Bloomer any more than that of standing on
her head in the Haymarket or walking a tight-rope across the pit of
Drury Lane. So far as I can judge, the ideas which underlie the Woman's
Rights movement are not merely repugnant but utterly inconceivable to
the great mass of English women, the last Westminster Review to the
contrary notwithstanding.

I do not judge whether they are better or worse for this. Their
conversation is certainly tamer and less piquant than that of the
American or the French ladies. I think it evinces a less profound and
varied culture than that of their German sisters; but none will deny
them the possession of sterling and amiable qualities. Their physical
development is unsurpassed, and for good reasons--their climate is mild
and they take more exercise than our women do. Their fullness of bust is
a topic of general admiration among