Page:Once a Week Jul - Dec 1859.pdf/368

 YOUNG FRANCE.

October 20. 1850. J

357

We should  only  like  to  see  what  a “prope* gentlewoman ” in the  “good  society ” of  France in the  present  day  would  say  to  Mademoiselle Jacqueline de  Meurdrac!

Well, this  youthful  heroine  resolved  to  live  and die unmarried,  and  a brave  cavalier  of  the  name  of La  Guette,  whose  estate  was  not  far  from  her father’s, swore  to  himself  a solemn  oath  that  he would  confer  his  name  upon  no  woman  born. Somehow or  other,  the  two  met  and — changed their minds. Jacqueline was  eighteen,  M.  de  la Guette  eight-and- twenty,  and  he  decided  he  would have no  wife  save  Mademoiselle  de  Meurdrac,  and she that  she  would  have  no  husband  save  M.  de la  Guette. This being  settled  (which  in  those days  surprised  no  one  any  more  than  the  rest), Madame de  Meurdrac  was  applied  to,  and  gave her consent,  and  then  came  M.  de  Meurdrac to be  spoken  with. But it  so  happened  that  Etna and Vesuvius  are  not  more  volcanic  than  were  M. de  Meurdrac  and  M.  de  la  Guette. The meeting took place  one  morning  at  breakfast.

“Monsieur,” said  insinuatingly  the  young c&valier, “I have  so  much  land,  so  many  farms, and such  and  such  sums  in  good  shining  crowns — I want to  marry.”

“Then,” replied  the  future  father-in-law,  with a smile, “you  must  address  yourself  to  the  young lady you  admire,  or  to  her  father.”

“You are  he,”  cried  the  suitor  impatiently.

But the  old  gentleman  took  it  all  the  wrong way.

“You no  doubt  fancy,”  he  exclaimed,  “that because you  are  rich  you  can  marry  my  daughter, but that  is  what  I will  not  hear  of — my  daughter is not  to  be  bought. ”

La Guette  lost  his  breath  and  his  pains  in  de- claring Jacqueline was  resolved  to  be  his  wife. Old Meurdrac’s  wrong-headedness  would  not  be influenced; high  words  ensued; after  high  words came noisy  deeds; crack  went  the  plates  at  the walls, bang  went  the  bottles  on  the  floor; and when Jacqueline  rushed  in  to  quiet  the  irate couple, she  found  both  in  the  act  of  drawing  their swords. The girl  instinctively  seized  a pistol,  and the three  glared  angrily  at  each  other,  hesitating who should  begin  the  fray. Madame de  Meur- drac, at the  head  of  all  her  servants,  broke into the  room,  and  by  force  of  numbers  the  com- batants were disarmed,  and  the  fiery  demande  en mariage  of  Mademoiselle  Jacqueline  was  brought to a rather  violent  close.

Nevertheless, Jacqueline  de  Meurdrac  had  re- solved she would  marry  M.  de  la  Guette,  and  none other; and so  in  the  end  marry  him  she  did; and with him  she  went  campaigning,  having  on  one occasion served  the  Prince  de  Cond6  as  aide-de- camp; and having  accompanied  him  into  the  thick of the  fire  in  an  action  on  the  banks  of  the  Dor- dogne, during which  his  Royal  Highness  amused himself with  more  than  once  shouting:

“Come, gentlemen,  make  way  for  Madame  de la  Guette  1”

Our purpose,  however,  is  not  to  write  Jacqueline de Meurdrac’s  biography,  or  that  of  any  other  French lady of  note,  but  merely  to  show  how  different French manners  and  customs  were  amongst  our neighbours to  what  they  have  now  become. It is

praise to  say  of  an  English  girl  that  she  is  “spirited it is  so  difficult  to  apply  the  term  to  modern French girls,  that  not  very  long  since  the eldest son  of  a very  illustrious  house  in  France, dutifully asking  his  mother  whether  it  was  “a proper thing  for  ladies  to  ride  on  horseback?” (!) received the  following  answer:

“It is  a thing  to  be  tolerated  in  certain  cases — for instance,  where  health  requires — but  never  to be  encouraged!”

Compare a state  of  society  where  these  words contain a truth,  with  that  which  is  pre  supposed by the  good  repute  of  a woman  like  Madame  de  la Guette; who,  when  she  was  presented  to  Queen Anne of  Austria,  after  one  of  her  warlike  actions, received the  compliments  of  the  whole  court  on “her  courage  and  brave  bearing.”

The great  question  of  education — what  it  makes of girls  and  boys,  and  men  and  women — is  one that touches  every  country,  and  it  has  proved itself latterly  to  be  one  most  nearly  touching  us. Let us  reflect  on  what  the  daughters,  sisters* wives of  Englishmen  have  shown  themselves  to be  in  India. Let us  count  upon  what  the  sons of such  women  will  one  day  be,  and  glory  in  the thought that  it  is  still  a praise  to  say  of  an  English girl that  she  is  “high-spirited.”

This applies,  too,  in  the  same  degree  to  the manly education  of  our  boys;  witness  India, where no  Englishman  asked  to  be  “defended ” or “fought  for,”  as  Frenchmen  invariably  do  on  all occasions of  trouble  or  revolt. We defended  our- selves; and that  we  were  able  to  do  so— civilians equally with  soldiers,  women  almost  equally  with men — depends upon  our  system  of  education, which is  itself  in  turn  dependent  upon  our  social and political  institutions,  and  upon  our  time- honoured manners  and  customs,  far  more  than  we are  apt  to  think; and  do  not  let  us  be  unmindful of the  saying  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  upon the Eton  play-ground: that  it  was  “here  we  won the battle  of  Waterloo  1”  If  we  needed  a further proof of  the  superiority  of  our  public-school  edu- cation over that  of  France,  we  should  find  it  in the  impression  produced  by  it  upon  one  of  the most distinguished  and  perhaps  the  most  unpre- judiced of Frenchmen  of  our  day — upon  M.  de Montalembert. In his  volume  upon  “The  Future of England,”  if  the  writer’s  own  countrymen  find set down  what  they  most  may  envy,  we  find noted what  we  should  most  be  proud  of. We are forced into  recognising  as  benefits  to  be  preciously preserved, many  things  we  had  so  long  enjoyed that, unconscious  of  their  immense  value,  we  had accepted them  as  matters  of  course.

Let us,  above  all,  hold  to  that  wilful,  generous, headstrong, bold,  healthy,  joyous  animal — the true English  “boy” — the  boy  “who  bullied Keate,” as  “Eothen ” somewhere  says,  but  who rescues India; let  him  be  a “boy,”  not  a lesser man, as  he  is  in  France; and,  above  all,  let  him “play ” too much,  which  no  created  being  ever does in  that  country.

The muscular  development  and  animal  health of the  French  people  is  never  on  a level  with  our own, which  disables  them  from  supporting  reverses or a protracted  struggle  with  the  patience  and energy which  we  display.