The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. TitmarshThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Paris (France) -- Description and travel
The reader will be glad, at last, to come to the conclusion that we
would fain draw from all these descriptions—why does this immorality
exist? Because the people MUST be amused, and have not been taught HOW;
because the upper classes, frightened by stupid cant, or absorbed in
material wants, have not as yet learned the refinement which only the
cultivation of art can give; and when their intellects are uneducated,
and their tastes are coarse, the tastes and amusements of classes still
more ignorant must be coarse and vicious likewise, in an increased
proportion.
Such discussions and violent attacks upon high and low, Sabbath Bills,
politicians, and what not, may appear, perhaps, out of place in a few
pages which purport only to give an account of some French drawings:
all we would urge is, that, in France, these prints are made because
they are liked and appreciated; with us they are not made, because they
are not liked and appreciated: and the more is the pity. Nothing merely
intellectual will be popular among us: we do not love beauty for
beauty’s sake, as Germans; or wit, for wit’s sake, as the French: for
abstract art we have no appreciation. We admire H. B.’s caricatures,
because they are the caricatures of well-known political characters,
not because they are witty; and Boz, because he writes us good palpable
stories (if we may use such a word to a story); and Madame Vestris,
because she has the most beautifully shaped legs;—the ART of the
designer, the writer, the actress (each admirable in its way,) is a
very minor consideration; each might have ten times the wit, and would
be quite unsuccessful without their substantial points of popularity.
In France such matters are far better managed, and the love of art is a
thousand times more keen; and (from this feeling, surely) how much
superiority is there in French SOCIETY over our own; how much better is
social happiness understood; how much more manly equality is there
between Frenchman and Frenchman, than between rich and poor in our own
country, with all our superior wealth, instruction, and political
freedom! There is, amongst the humblest, a gayety, cheerfulness,
politeness, and sobriety, to which, in England, no class can show a
parallel: and these, be it remembered, are not only qualities for
holidays, but for working-days too, and add to the enjoyment of human
life as much as good clothes, good beef, or good wages. If, to our
freedom, we could but add a little of their happiness!—it is one, after
all, of the cheapest commodities in the world, and in the power of
every man (with means of gaining decent bread) who has the will or the
skill to use it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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