n
you, unless it comes under the guise of an incident--"a circumstance
which really occurred to the author"--and now, _en route_.

I wonder am I right in thinking that the present race of travelling
English know less about the Continent and foreigners generally than
their predecessors of, say, five-and-twenty years ago. Railroads and
rapid travelling might be one cause; another is, that English is now
more generally spoken by all foreigners than formerly; and it may be
taken as a maxim, that nothing was ever asked or answered in broken
phraseology that was worth the hearing. People with a limited knowledge
of a strange language do not say what they _wish_, but what they _can_;
and there is no name for the helplessness of him who is tied up in his
preter-pluperfect tense. Now we English are not linguists; even our
diplomatists are remarkable for their little proficiency in French.
I'm not sure that we don't benefit by this in the long-run. "Reden ist
silber, aber Schweigen ist gold"--"Speech is silver, but silence is
gold," says the German adage; and what a deal of wisdom have I seen
attributed to a man who was posed by his declensions into a listener!
One of the only countrymen of my own who has made a great career lately
in public life is not a little indebted to deafness for it. He was so
unlike those rash, impetuous, impatient Irish, who _would_ interrupt--he
listened, or seemed to listen, and he even smiled at the sarcasms that
he did not hear.

Listening, if we did but know it, sits more gracefully on us than
speech, when that speech involves the denial of genders, and the utter
confusion of all cases and tenses.

Next to holding their tongues, there's another thing I wish you English
would do abroad, which is, to dress like sane and responsible people.
Men are simply absurd; but the women, with their ill-behaved hoops and
short petticoats, are positively indecent; but the greatest of all
their travelling offences is the proneness to form acquaintance at
_tables-d'hote_.

It is, first of all, a rank indiscretion for any but men to dine at
these places. They are almost, as a rule, the resort of all that is
disreputable in both sexes. You are sure to eat badly, and in the very
worst of company. My warning is, however, meant for my countrywomen
only: men can, or at least ought, to take care of themselves. As for
myself, don't be shocked; but I do like doubtful company--that is, I am
immensely interested by all th