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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"

D?on said: " Everywhere we are still in a nursery.
A great movement attempting to turn us all into half-wits (une grande
campagne de cr?tinisation est en route). When these are the only ones
left, the governments have an easy job. It is very clever." (SR.)
[8] Montaigne, Essays, book I., ch. 42: " Observe in provinces far
from the court, in Brittany for example, the retinue, the subjects,
the duties, the ceremony, of a seignior living alone by himself,
brought up among his dependents, and likewise observe the flights of
his imagination, there is nothing which is more royal; he may allude
to his superior once a year, as if he were the King of Persia... The
burden of sovereignty scarcely affects the French gentilhomme twice in
his life... he who lurks in his own place avoiding dispute and trial
is as free as the Duke of Venice."
[9] "M?moires de Chateaubriand," vol. I. ("Les Soir?es au Chateau de
Cambourg".)
[10] In China, the moral principle is just the opposite. The Chinese,
amidst obstacles and embarrassments, always enjoin siao-sin, which
means, "abate thy affections." (Huc, "L'Empire Chinoise," I., 204.)
[11] In the United states the moral order of things reposes chiefly on
puritan ideas; nevertheless deep traces of feudal conceptions are
found there; for instance, the general deference for women which is
quite chivalric there, and even excessive.


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