refusal to yield up its charm to men of another tongue.

The favour, however, with which the _Sentimental Journey_ was received
abroad, and which it still enjoys (the last French translation is
very recent), is, as Mr. Fitzgerald says, "worthily merited, if grace,
nature, true sentiment, and exquisite dramatic power be qualities that
are to find a welcome. And apart," he adds, "from these attractions
it has a unique charm of its own, a flavour, so to speak, a fragrance
that belongs to that one book alone. Never was there such a charming
series of complete little pictures, which for delicacy seem like the
series of medallions done on Sèvres china which we sometimes see in
old French cabinets.... The figures stand out brightly, and in what
number and variety! Old Calais, with its old inn; M. Dessein, the
monk, one of the most artistic figures on literary canvas; the
charming French lady whom M. Dessein shut into the carriage with the
traveller; the _débonnaire_ French captain, and the English travellers
returning, touched in with only a couple of strokes; La Fleur, the
valet; the pretty French glove-seller, whose pulse the Sentimental one
felt; her husband, who passed through the shop and pulled off his hat
to Monsieur for the honour he was doing him; the little maid in the
bookseller's shop, who put her little present _à part_; the charming
Greuze 'grisset,' who sold him the ruffles; the reduced chevalier
selling _patés_; the groups of beggars at Montreuil; the _fade_
Count de Bissie, who read Shakespeare; and the crowd of minor
_croquis_--postilions, landlords, notaries, soldiers, abbés,
_précieuses_, maids--merely touched, but touched with wonderful art,
make up a surprising collection of distinct and graphic characters."