For My Part I Never Knew A Fanatic That Was Not An
Hypocrite At Bottom.
Their pretensions to superior sanctity, and
an absolute conquest over all the passions, which human reason
was never yet able to subdue, introduce a habit of dissimulation,
which, like all other habits, is confirmed by use, till at length
they become adepts in the art and science of hypocrisy.
Enthusiasm and hypocrisy are by no means incompatible. The
wildest fanatics I ever knew, were real sensualists in their way
of living, and cunning cheats in their dealings with mankind.
Among the lower class of people at Boulogne, those who take the
lead, are the sea-faring men, who live in one quarter, divided
into classes, and registered for the service of the king. They
are hardy and raw-boned, exercise the trade of fishermen and
boatmen, and propagate like rabbits. They have put themselves
under the protection of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary,
which is kept in one of their churches, and every year carried in
procession. According to the legend, this image was carried off,
with other pillage, by the English, when they took Boulogne, in
the reign of Henry VIII. The lady, rather than reside in England,
where she found a great many heretics, trusted herself alone in
an open boat, and crossed the sea to the road of Boulogne, where
she was seen waiting for a pilot. Accordingly a boat put off to
her assistance, and brought her safe into the harbour: since
which time she has continued to patronize the watermen of
Boulogne. At present she is very black and very ugly, besides
being cruelly mutilated in different parts of her body, which I
suppose have been amputated, and converted into tobacco-stoppers;
but once a year she is dressed in very rich attire, and carried
in procession, with a silver boat, provided at the expence of the
sailors. That vanity which characterises the French extends even
to the canaille. The lowest creature among them is sure to have
her ear-rings and golden cross hanging about her neck. Indeed
this last is an implement of superstition as well as of dress,
without which no female appears. The common people here, as in
all countries where they live poorly and dirtily, are hard-featured,
and of very brown, or rather tawny complexions. As they
seldom eat meat, their juices are destitute of that animal oil
which gives a plumpness and smoothness to the skin, and defends
those fine capillaries from the injuries of the weather, which
would otherwise coalesce, or be shrunk up, so as to impede the
circulation on the external surface of the body. As for the dirt,
it undoubtedly blocks up the pores of the skin, and disorders the
perspiration; consequently must contribute to the scurvy, itch,
and other cutaneous distempers.
In the quarter of the matelots at Boulogne. there is a number of
poor Canadians, who were removed from the island of St. John, in
the gulph of St. Laurence.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 66 of 276
Words from 33852 to 34356
of 143308
