Chamberlains or Greys, who yet have more right to represent their country: he comes as such a romantic surprise. A Frenchman like Lafayette is taken for granted. The word of an Englishman is proverbial; the perfidy of Albion equally so." "And the Germans?" Sylvia asked. "Oh, they have never been thought worthy of a generalization. We have apprehended them vaguely as one apprehends pigs--as a nation of gross feeders and badly dressed women drinking a mixture of treacle and onions they call beer, with a reputation for guttural peregrination and philosophy." "Their music," Sylvia protested. "Yes, that is difficult to explain. Yes, I think we must give them that; but when we remember Bach and Schumann, we must not forget Wagner and the German band." "I think your characterization is rather crude," Sylvia said. "It is crude. But there is no bygone civilization with which Germanic _Kultur_ can be compared. So as with any novelty one depends upon a sneer to hide one's own ignorance." "The Italians interest me more," Sylvia said. "The Italians seem to me rather to resemble the English, and naturally, because they are the most direct heirs of Rome. I'm bound to say that I don't believe in an imperial future for them now. It's surely impossible to revive Rome. They still preserve an immense capacity for political craft, but it is an egotism that lacks the sublime unconsciousness of English egotism. The Italians have never recovered from _Il Principe_ of Machiavelli. It's an eclectic statecraft; like their painting from Raphael onward, it's too _soigné_. Moreover, Italy suffers from the perpetual sacrifice of the southern Italian to the northern. The real Italians belong to the south, and for me the _risorgimento_ has always been a phenix rising from the ashes of the south; the bird is most efficient, but I distrust its aquiline appearance. One of the most remarkable surprises of this war has been the superior fighting quality--the more quickly beating heart--of the Neapolitans and Sicilians. I found the same surprising quality in the Greeks during the last Balkan war. To me, who regard the Mediterranean as still _the_ civilized sea of the world, the triumph of Naples has been a delight." "And the Russians?" Sylvia went on.