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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
226
An
English
woman
who
typifies
the
begueule
may
be
spotless
as
snow;
but
she
is
presumed
to
have
snow's
other
quality,
and
at
the
same
time
to
be
a
thoroughly
absurd
and
intolerable
creature.
Well,
here
is
the
point
of
difference.
Fastidiousness
of
speech
is
not
a
direct
outcome
of
Puritanism,
as
our
literature
sufficiently
proves;
it
is
a
refinement
of
civilization
following
upon
absorption
into
the
national
life
of
all
the
best
things
which
Puritanism
had
to
teach.
We
who
know
English
women
by
the
experience
of
a
lifetime
are
well
aware
that
their
careful
choice
of
language
betokens,
far
more
often
than
not,
a
corresponding
delicacy
of
mind.
Landor
saw
it
as
a
ridiculous
trait
that
English
people
were
so
mealy-mouthed
in
speaking
of
their
bodies;
De
Quincey,
taking
him
to
task
for
this
remark,
declared
it
a
proof
of
blunted
sensibility
due
to
long
residence
in
Italy;
and,
whether
the
particular
explanation
held
good
or
not,
as
regards
the
question
at
issue,
De
Quincey
was
perfectly
right.
It
is
very
good
to
be
mealy-mouthed
with
respect
to
everything
that
reminds
us
of
the
animal
in
man.
Verbal
delicacy
in
itself
will
not
prove
an
advanced
civilization,
but
civilization,
as
it
advances,
assuredly
tends
that
way.
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