this from the Passion of Pride.«
    »Indeed,« says she, »I neither derive it from the Passion of Pride, nor from
the Passion of Folly; but methinks you should have accepted the Offer, and I am
convinced you hurt him very much when you refused it. But pray proceed in your
Story.« Then Booth went on as follows:
    »As Amelia recovered her Health and Spirits daily, we began to pass our Time
very pleasantly at Montpelier: for the greatest Enemy to the French will
acknowledge, that they are the best People in the World to live amongst for a
little while. In some Countries it is almost as easy to get a good Estate as a
good Acquaintance. In England, particularly, Acquaintance is of almost as slow
Growth as an Oak; so that the Age of Man scarce suffices to bring it to any
Perfection, and Families seldom contract any great Intimacy till the Third, or
at least the Second Generation. So shy indeed are we English of letting a
Stranger into our Houses, that one would imagine we regarded all such as
Thieves. Now the French are the very Reverse. Being a Stranger among them
entitles you to the better Place, and to the greater Degree of Civility; and if
you wear but the Appearance of a Gentleman, they never suspect you are not one.
Their Friendship indeed seldom extends so far as their Purse; nor is such
Friendship usual in other Countries. To say the Truth, Politeness carries
Friendship far enough in the ordinary Occasions of Life, and those who want this
Accomplishment rarely make Amends for it by their Sincerity: for Bluntness, or
rather Rudeness, as it commonly deserves to be called, is not always so much a
Mark of Honesty as it is taken to be.
    The Day after our Arrival we became acquainted with Mons. Bagillard. He was
a Frenchman of great Wit and Vivacity, with a greater Share of Learning than
Gentlemen are usually possessed of. As he lodged in the same House with us, we
were immediately acquainted, and I liked his Conversation so well, that I never
thought I had too much of his Company. Indeed I spent so much of my Time with
him, that Amelia (I know not whether I ought to mention it) grew uneasy at our
Familiarity, and complained of my being too little with her, from my violent
Fondness for my new Acquaintance; for our Conversation turning chiefly upon
Books, and principally Latin ones (for we read several of the Classics together)
she could have but little Entertainment by being with us. When my Wife had once
taken