THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. " ]
Sra,—Much is being written to-day to illustrate and bring home to Englishmen the true meaning and appreciation of the fine spirit of the French nation. This Mrs. Himaphry Ward long ago insisted upon in writing in David Grieve of the events of 1870, where the soldier-artist, Henri Regnault, points out that our English estimate of the French character from the cabarets of Montmartre is inadequate and unjust :- "Only believe this—we have things better worth seeing than ' Lee Trois Rats '—things that represent us better. That is what the foreigner is always doing ; he spends his time in wondering at our monkey-tricks ; there is no nation can do them so well as we ; and the great France— the undying France !—disappears in a splutter of blague ! " And when Regnault falls in the fight at Buzenval, outside Paris, in November, 1870, the following scrawl was found upon him :— " We have lost many men ; we must remake them—better, stronger. The lesson should profit us. No more lingering amid facile pleasures Who dares now live for himself alone ? It has been for too long the custom with us to believe in nothing but enjoyment and all bad passions. We have prided ourselves on despising everything good and worthy. No more of such contempt." This, and Paul Deroulede's " Hymne francais," are a fit summary of the
spirit of France :-
"France veux-tu mon sang ? Il eat h toi, ma France
ST to faut ma souffrance,
Souffrir sera ma loi,
S'il to faut ma mort, mort Is Et viva toi, ma France."
Aldhurst, Purley.
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