In
colonies, Spaniards commence by building a church and cloister;
Englishmen a tavern; Frenchmen a fort, where, however, the dancing-floor
must not be wanting; the Germans by grubbing the field. A riding-master
distinguished them even by their modes of riding; the English hop, the
French ride like tailors, the Italian sits on his steed like a frog in
the air-pump, the Spaniards sleep there, the Russians wind the upper
part of their bodies like puppets, and the German alone sits still like
a man--man and horse are one as with the Hungarians.
The royal oak, the favourite tree of our fathers, requires centuries for
its full developement, and so long do we also require. The oak is a
fairer symbol of the German nation than the German postboy, from which
original most foreigners appear to judge of us. A postilion in the
north, however, is the true representative of Phlegma. Bad or good
roads, bad or good weather, bad or good horses and coach, curses or
flattery from the traveller--nothing moves him if his pipe-stump be but
smoking, and his schnaps paid.
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