This is, indeed,
the way in which all countries, and especially France, should be seen,
for, without a sympathetic knowledge of her people and their ways of
life, we lose the most interesting feature in French travel. Travellers
who only see the outside of things in foreign countries, indeed, may be
compared to those who gaze upon a skeleton, instead of the living form,
warm with life, sympathy, and beauty. Old France, as studied in her
glorious monuments, whether Gallic, Merovingian, Mediaeval, or
Renaissance, pales in interest before the New, that France which alone
has taught the world the lesson of Equality, and is teaching us every
day what misfortunes may be overcome by a noble people, inspired with
true patriotism, allied to democratic feeling. In Republican France,
now, who can doubt? and I am all the more thankful here to be able to
bear witness to the unanimity, prosperity, and marvellous development
found in the different strata of French social life. There are, without
doubt, blots on this bright picture; but none can deny that the more we
learn to know France the more we admire and love her, and that, if the
richest and most beautiful country in the world, it is also the one in
which happiness and well-being are most generally diffused.
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