[1] Here is an instance of misleading by mistranslation. The English newspapers speak of Parisian “Communists” when they ought to say Communards. A Communist is a Socialist of a particular kind, who wants to have goods in common after the fashion of the early Christians. A Communard is a person who wishes for an extreme development of local government. He thinks that the Commune (something like a township) ought to have more autonomy--be more independent of the State. M. Charles Beslay, an old friend of mine, became a Communard and was Governor of the Bank of France under the Commune. He was a most upright and honourable gentleman, and so far from being a Communist that he defended the treasure of the Bank of France throughout the civil war of 1871, and afterwards handed it over intact to the proper authorities. I do not accuse English journalists of intentional dishonesty in this case; there is no English equivalent for _Communard_, the nearest English rendering would be _township home-rule-man_. [2] Observe that the like-minded companions were “few.” [3] It is curious that the French gymnastic societies should be rather discouraged by the Church, as giving too much attention to the body. I have seen formal expressions of clerical disapprobation. There may be some other reason. Everything has a political colour in France, and I believe that the gymnastic societies, now very numerous, are mainly republican. [4] A French friend of one of my sons was invited to shoot at Ferrières, on the preserves of Baron Rothschild, but he said he soon had enough of it, as the game was so abundant that the interest in the pursuit of it was entirely destroyed. He compared it, as an amusement, with the shooting of fowls in a poultry yard. [5] There are some remarkable exceptions. It would be possible to form one French regiment of very fine men, but I doubt if there are enough for two regiments. Napoleon’s _Cent Gardes_ were specimens. [6] “In that case,” it may be objected, “boys who left school at fourteen would miss Latin altogether.” Yes, it is Professor Seeley’s desire that they should omit Latin, and those who left at sixteen would omit Greek. The time so gained would be devoted to real culture through English. [7] Since the above paragraph was written I have consulted a very able _Professeur de Faculté_ and Latin examiner on this _Question du Latin_. He says: “The young men who come up for examination have an imperfect knowledge of Latin, and the standard of attainment falls lower and lower. The remedy that I should propose would be to reduce to fifteen the number of _lycées_ where Latin and Greek are taught. In those fifteen _lycées_ I would maintain a really high standard of genuine scholarship. That would be sufficient for all the real scholars that the country wants, and then the teaching in the ordinary _lycées_, being relieved of false pretension about Latin and Greek, might itself become genuine in other ways.”