The German is not so proud,
humoursome, and dry as the Englishman; not so indolent, bigoted, and
niggardly as the Italian; but a plain, faithful, modest fellow,
indefatigable, staid, quiet, intelligent and brave, yet almost always
misknown, purely from his constitution. The words of Tacitus still are
true: "_nullos mortalium armis aut fide ante Germanos_." Should you
class the four most cultivated nations of Europe, according to the
temperaments, the German would be Phlegma; and as such, I, a German, in
German modesty, which foreign countries should duly acknowledge, can
assign it only the fourth rank. Among the English, whims are mixed in
every thing; amongst the French, gallantry; among the Spaniards,
bigotry; among the Germans, when things can go halfway, _eating_,
_drinking_, and _smoking_; and the last is the true support of Phlegma.
Genius with the Germans, tends to the root, with the French to the
blossom, with the British to the fruit. The Italians are imagination;
the French, wit; the English, understanding; the Germans, memory.
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