, who acquired
vast quantities of it.

Here, however, the wily natives (who were beginning to appreciate their
own belongings) had revenge. Immense quantities of worthless imitations
were secretly manufactured and sold to the travellers at fabulous prices.
The same artifice was used with paintings, said to be by great masters,
and with imitations of old stuffs and bric-a-brac, which the ignorant and
arrogant invaders pretended to appreciate and collect.

Previous to our arrival there had been an invasion of the Continent by
the English about the year 1812. One of their historians, called
Thackeray, gives an amusing account of this in the opening chapters of
his "Shabby Genteel Story." That event, however, was unimportant in
comparison with the great American movement, although both were
characterized by the same total disregard of the feelings and prejudices
of indigenous populations. The English then walked about the continental
churches during divine service, gazing at the pictures and consulting
their guide-books as unconcernedly as our compatriots do to-day. They
also crowded into theatres and concert halls, and afterwards wrote to the
newspapers complaining of the bad atmosphere of those primitive
establishments and of the long _entr'actes_.

As long as the invaders confined themselves to such trifles, the patient
foreigners submitted to their overbearing and uncouth ways because of the
supposed benefit to trade. The natives even went so far as to build
hotels for the accommodation and delight of the invaders, abandoning
whole quarters to their guests.

There was, however, a point at which complacency stopped. The older
civilizations had formed among themselves restricted and exclusive
societies, to which access was almost impossible to strangers. These
sanctuaries tempted the immigrants, who offered their fairest virgins and
much treasure for the privilege of admission. The indigenous
aristocrats, who were mostly poor, yielded to these offers and a few
Americans succeeded in forcing an entrance. But the old nobility soon
became frightened at the number and vulgarity of the invaders, and
withdrew severely into their shells, refusing to accept any further
bribes either in the form of females or finance.

From this moment dates the humiliation of the discoverers. All their
booty and plunder seemed worthless in comparison with the Elysian
delights they imagined were concealed behind the closed doors of