ure enough, there is another side to the medal still worse. John
Bull goes home generally sick of what he has seen, and much more
ignorant of the Continent than when he set out. His tour, however, has
laid in its stock of foreign affectation, that renders his home
uncomfortable; his daughters pine after the flattering familiarities
of their whiskered acquaintances at Ems, or Wiesbaden; and his sons
lose all zest for the slow pursuit of competence, by reflecting on the
more decisive changes of fortune, that await on _rouge et noir_. Yet
even this is not the worst. What I deplore most of all, is the false
and erroneous notions continental nations procure of our country, and
its habits, from such specimens as these. The Englishman who, seen at
home, at the head of his counting-house, or in the management of his
farm, presents a fine example of those national traits we are so
justly proud of--honest, frank, straightforward in all his dealings,
kind and charitable in his affections; yet see him abroad, the sphere
of his occupations exists no longer--there is no exercise for the
manly habits of his nature: his honesty but exposes him to be duped;
his frankness degenerates into credulity; the unsuspecting openness of
his character makes him the butt of every artful knave he meets with;
and he is laughed at from Rotterdam to Rome for qualities which,
exercised in their fitting sphere, have made England the greatest
country of the universe. Hence we have the tone of disparagement now
so universally maintained about England, and Englishmen, from one end
of the Continent to the other. It is not that our country does not
send forth a number of men well qualified to induce different
impressions of their nation; but unfortunately, such persons move only
in that rank of foreign society where these prejudices do not exist;
and it is among a different class, and unhappily a more numerous one
also, that these undervaluing opinions find currency and belief.

There is nothing more offensive than the continual appeal made by
Frenchmen, Germans, and others, to English habits, as seen among this
class of our countrymen. It is in vain that you explain to them that
these people are neither among the more educated nor the better ranks
of our country. They cannot comprehend your distinction. The habits of
the Continent have produced a kind of table-land of good-breeding,
upon which all men are equals. Thus, if you rarely meet a foreigner
ignorant