ryday life, placed
in situations more or less embarrassing, but presenting nevertheless
perfect types of the respective classes thus harmlessly and admirably
satirized. In this lies their chief value, and as years roll on and the
_Punch_ volumes become scarce, this value will necessarily increase.

ABHORRENCE FOR FRENCHMEN.

A shy and unobtrusive member of the society in which he moved, and which
delighted in the enjoyment of his friendship, John Leech was the keenest
of observers, noting and satirizing as no one before his time had
attempted, or indeed had been able to do, the cant and hypocrisy, the
pride and selfishness, the upstart and arrogant exclusiveness, the
insular prejudices and weaknesses, which form a part of our national
character; but doing this, he loved his countrymen and countrywomen for
their finer qualities, and hated the bungling foreigners who presume to
caricature them without the barest knowledge of their subject. This is
the secret of the hearty abhorrence which Leech always testified for
Frenchmen. The ignorance of his countrymen on the subject of English
women has been amusingly ridiculed by one of the most distinguished of
their own writers--Eugene Sue, in his novel of "Mathilde":--"_That_ an
Englishwoman! Nonsense; there is nothing more easy to recognise than an
Englishwoman; you have only to look at her dress; it is simple enough,
in all conscience! A straw bonnet all the year through; a pink spencer;
a Scotch plaid petticoat, and bright green or lemon-coloured boots; you
may see the costume any day in _Les Anglaises pour rire_, at the
_Varietes_. We all know it is a Vaudeville, and it would not be publicly
acted unless it were authentic. I repeat it once more, ever since this
world has been a world, Englishwomen--real genuine Englishwomen--have
never been differently dressed." M. Taine, who devoted himself to the
study of our language and literature, and spent much time amongst us,
has (if I remember rightly) admitted the errors which prevail amongst
his countrymen and women with reference to ourselves; but such observers
as M. Taine and M. Sue are unfortunately rare in France, and many have
essayed to depict us, with as much knowledge of their subject as our Sir
John Maundeville possessed when he sat down to write his absurd but
quaint and amusing "Book of Voiage and Travaile." John Leech resented
this deplorable ignorance on the part of our neighbours; and the _Punch_
volumes are fi