“ the French are never natural in England, nor the English in France. ”
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands (1854). copy citation
| Author | Harriet Beecher Stowe |
|---|---|
| Source | Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands |
| Topic | France England |
| Date | 1854 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6931/pg6931-images.html |
Context
“At tea, Madame M. commented on the manners of a certain English lady of our acquaintance.
"She's an actress; she's too affected!"
Madame Belloc and I defended her.
"Ah," said M. Belloc, "you cannot judge; the French are never natural in England, nor the English in France. Frenchmen in England are stupid and cross, trying to be dignified; and when the English come to France, it's all guitar playing and capering, in trying to have esprit."
But it is hard to give a conversation in which the salient points are made by a rapid pantomime, which effervesces like champagne.”
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