married to a professional man who earned a wretchedly small income, yet she dressed most expensively, and had but one means of paying her milliner’s bills. She was the representative of a class. When we look these truths and their consequences in the face, we come to understand the close connection that there is between natural morality and simplicity of life. It is of no use to preach morality to people so long as we show by our language, by our manners, by every kind of expression or implication, that we despise them for living plainly and respect them for living luxuriously. By the help of the tailor, the cook, and the carriage-builder I can be a “gentleman” in England, and a “_monsieur comme il faut_” in France; by the help of Epictetus I can live simply and be a common man whom the luxurious man will patronise. [Sidenote: The English Idea] [Sidenote: Utility of English Moral Pride.] This chapter has been occupied more with actions than with ideals, but it would not be complete without some reference to ideals. The English idea takes the form of moral pride, of belief in one’s own moral superiority. This is offensive to other nations because it expresses itself unpleasantly, not in words only but in manners. But however offensive it may be to Frenchmen (and it irritates them to the supreme degree), it is most valuable to the English themselves as a strength and a support. The intense soldierly pride of the military caste in Prussia was offensive, but it enabled the army to endure the discipline that led to all success. No amount of divorce-court evidence, no amount of medical evidence, no amount of ocular evidence, even in the public streets, will ever convince the English that they are not moral, and therefore their moral standard is maintained, at least ideally. It is well for them to have this opinion about themselves so long as they make the feeblest effort to justify it. To have national pride on the side of morality is to give morality a mighty ally. [Sidenote: Want of moral Pride in France.] [Sidenote: Foreigners in Paris.] [Sidenote: The Goddess of French Maidenhood.] [Sidenote: The Virgin Mary and _La Sainte Vierge_.] [Sidenote: _La Sainte Vierge_ an Ideal.] [Sidenote: The Queen of Heaven.]