One thing is certain; that the fame difpofition which makes men infolent to the weak, renders them flaves to the powerful; and thofe who are moft apt to treat this unfortunate perfon with an oftentatious contempt at Florence, would have been his moft abject flatterers at St. James's. LETTER LXXIV. Florence. IN a country where men are permitted to speak and write without restraint on the measures of government; where almost every citizen may flatter himself with the hopes of becoming a part of the legislature; where eloquence, popular talents, and political intrigues, lead to honours, and open a broad road to wealth and power; men, after the first glow of youth is past, are more obedient to the loud voice of ambition than to the whifpers of love. But in defpotic ftates, and in monarchies which verge towards defpotifm, where the will of the prince is law; or, which amounts nearly to the fame thing, where the law yields to the will of the prince; where it is dangerous to fpeak or write on general politics, and death death or imprisonment to cenfure the particular measures of government; love becomes a first, instead of being a fecondary object; for ambition is, generally speaking, a more powerful paffion than love; and on this account women are the ob jects of greater attention and respect in defpotic than in free countries. That fpecies of address to women which is now called gallantry, was, if I am not mi taken, unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans; nothing like it appears in any of Terence's comedies, where one would naturally expect to find it, if any fuch thing had exifted when they were written. It now prevails, in fome degree, in every country of Europe, but appears in different forms according to the different characters, cuftoms, and manners, of the various countries. In the courts of Germany it is a formal piece of business; etiquette governs the arrows of Cupid, as well as the torch of Hymen. Hymen. Miftreffes are chofen from the number of quarters on their family coats of arms, as well as from the number of their perfonal charms; and thofe ladies who are well provided in the first, seldom are without lovers, however deficient they be in the second. But though many may avenues, which in England lead to power and diftinction, are shut up in Germany, and the whole power of government is vested in the fovereign, yet the young nobility cannot bestow a great deal of their time in gallantry. The military profeffion, which in the time of peace is perfect idleness in France and England, is a very serious, unremitting employment in Germany. Men who are continually drilling foldiers, and whofe fortunes and reputations depend on the expertness of the troops under their command, cannot pay a great deal of attention to the ladies. Every French gentleman must be a foldier; but fighting is the only part of the bufi nefs they go through with fpirit; they cannot fubmit to the German precision in difcipline, their fouls fink under the tediousness of a campaign, and they languish for a battle from the impetuofity of their difpofition, and impatience to have the matter decided one way or the other. This, with many particular exceptions, is the general style of the French nobleffe; they all ferve an apprenticeship to war, but gallantry is the profeffion they follow for life. In England, the spirit of play and of party draws the minds of the young men of fortune from love or gallantry; those who spend their evenings at a gaming houfe, or in parliament, feldom think of any kind of women but fuch as may be had without trouble; and, of course, women of character are lefs attended to than in fome other countries. When I was laft at Paris, the Marquis de F found an English newspaper on my table; it contained a long and particular account of a debate which had happened VOL. II. D d |