Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/101

 no standard by which to make the comparison.

French are much more fortunate than us in this particular. An universal sameness of character appears to spread itself over the whole continent, particularly the fools and coxcombs of every country abroad seem almost cast in the same mold. The battered beau, who affects the boy at threescore, or the petit maitre, who would be a man at fifteen, are characters which may be seen in every coffee-house out of England. The French pictures therefore of life and manners are immediately allowed to be just, because foreigners are acquainted with the models from whence they are copied. The Marquis of Moliere strikes all Europe. Sir