st keenly
alive, no mothers can be more devotedly attached to their children than
they are, and it is repaid to them with interest by their offspring, as
a devotional affection towards parents is carried to an extreme; in some
instances I should say to a fault, as a daughter in general looks up
entirely to them, in regard to the man that they may choose with whom
she is to pass the rest of her life, without presuming that she ought to
make a selection for herself, considering that her marriage is the
affair of her parents, and that she has but to obey their wishes in
that, as well as in all other cases; hence it is rarely found that a
French young lady has aught of romance in her composition, but is on the
contrary the mild, docile, obedient, and affectionate pupil, and often
imitator of her mother. The English young lady is a little more
rebellious; possessing a more independent spirit, she very soon takes
the liberty of thinking for herself, particularly on that subject; and
could she totally have her will would act for herself also. Families are
much more united in France than in England, and agree together in a most
astonishing manner; thus when a daughter marries, instead of quitting
her home, the husband arranges his affairs so as to go and live with her
parents, and in many cases several families live together and form one
little community, which spares the pain of separation of parent and
child. The numerous offspring of the celebrated Marquis de Lafayette was
a remarkable instance of how whole families can live and agree under the
same roof; at his seat called La Grange, his married children and their
children and grandchildren were all residing together, whilst he, like
one of the ancient patriarchs, was the revered head of his people. I
know a case at Boulogne, where in one house there are living together,
two great grandfathers, one grandfather and grandmother, two fathers and
two mothers and their four children, and what renders it more curious is
that they are half English and half French, but all connected by their
sons and daughters intermarrying; but strange to say that the English
could not agree to live together in that manner, and it is a most
extraordinary circumstance much remarked by the French, that wherever
the English are settled in any town in France, they always contrive to
quarrel with each other, and find employment for the French lawyers; at
Boulogne they have at least twice as much practice