We have been cheated so often at Rouen, that we are inclined to ask the
question whether we, English people, really possess a higher working
morality than the French. Are we really more straightforward and
honourable than they? Are there bounds which they overstep and which we
cannot pass? It has been our pride for centuries to be considered more
noble and manly than many of our neighbours; is there any reason to fear
that our moral influence is on the wane, in these days of universal
interchange of thought, free-trade, and rapid intercommunication?
In the course of our journey through Normandy, we have not said much
about modern paintings, but at Rouen we are reminded that there are many
French artists hard at work. The most prominent painters are those of
the school of Edouard Frere, who depict scenes of cottage life, with the
earnestness, if not always with the elevated sentiment of Mason, Walker,
and other, younger, English painters. The works of many of these French
artists are familiar to us in England, and we need not allude to them
further; but there is an exhibition of water-colour drawings at Rouen,
about which we must say a word.[51]
These sketches of towns in Normandy, and of pastoral scenes, have a
curious family likeness, and a mannerism which the French may call
'_chic_,' but which we are inclined to attribute to want of power and
patient study.
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