As to the attitude of the people. proverbs are sometimes more than mere wise rules drawn up from long experience, Occasionally, they typify some special virtue in the make-up of a nation, and in this connection I can think of no more proud or Self-revealing utterance than "An Englishman's home iş his castle." In France the saying is "A charcoal-burner is master in his own house," but it is not so widely used. nor has it such a deep significance as its English counterpart which seems to embody some of the principlee of Magna Charta (and that's going a long way back) with, in addition, a statement to the world at large which practically amounts jib,.9 challenge.
An Englishman goes about his busines: "free, proud, independent. and pi with himself. He does his duty, pays his taxes, honours hia King, and his castle belongs to him and to none else And when an entire nation becomes imbued with the same spirit, it is not difficult t6 assess the tremendous force this represent. True, the poor old castle i" being battered about quiet a lot ye; tens of thousands of jans have been killed in Great Britain and many more wounded since the Boche began his wilful work of destruction. Try for a mcment to imagine what that represents in lucky escapes, terrifying episodes. heroic deeds....and sorrow It is simply unimaginable. But still the spirit remains, No thought of submission. no knuckling down to the foul aggressor. however severe his blows may be. Only the hardened determination of brave men and women to see this thing through to the bitter end, and have done with it once and for all.
Of course I do not pretend to sum up the whole British character in due short proverb. however aptly, it may illustrate love of freedom and independence. There is much more to it than that. Nor can I in so short a time, analyze what are, to my mind, the Englishman's chief qualities....and his faults, but there is one other trait on the credit side of hig make-up to which I wish to dřaw attention, and that is his abhorrence of all that i" false and untrue.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.