* * * * A German friend of mine recently
propounded a theory which has a bearing on this theme. He said that, after constant visits to the National Portrait Gallery, he had come to the conclusion that our eighteenth-century heroes were of the same physical type as the Nazi leaders of today. He had identified the Goering type, the Himmler type, the Hess type and even the Goebbels type. He has not been able to identify the Hitler type, since the Fiihrer stands alone. Conversely, when visiting the Houses of Parliament, he had been much struck by the fact that so few of our statesmen bore any resemblance tither to the Nazis or to their own ancestors. I said that it was all the fault of the industrial revolution, valetudinarianism in regard to diet, and the decline of blood sports. I also gave other explanations which it would be most invidious to repeat.
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