178

DOMESTIC MA.NNERS OF TUE rRTJSSIANS.

species, we could not have been more fond of indulging in themonkey mimicry of the manners of otliers. A Cliinaman is inthe very elysium of delight if he can only be allowed to wear apeacock's feather, because, poor human mandrill! (rather thanmandarin,) some harmless idiot before bim thought it a sign ofmoral greatness to do so. In like manner tbe Red IndianChief, " Thunder Cloud," scores his cheeks after the fashion ofour legs of roast pork, carving his fancied nobility upon hisface, as young people cut their title on the bark of trees; andthen immediately all the other red-faced apes proceed to dis-figure their countenances, in the hope of being thought betterthan their neighbours.

But as the homely proverb teils us, " good wine needsno bush," so a really great character requires no bit ofred ribbon on his coat to ruddle bim with the mark of asuperior breed. Arago had ribbons enough to decoratea May-pole rather than a man, and yet he could afford toappear in public with nothing but his brains and his worth todistinguish him from the ordinary run of humanity. InPrussia, however, no person could venture to make the samesacrifice, for with the Preussen it is mostly the same as withour booths at a fair,—the external decorations are of theshowiest kind, whilst the interior is of the meanest and dirtiestcharacter. Spies are decorated—postmen are decorated —policemen also belong to the distinguished classes—whilst turn-pikemen and tax-collectors can hardly avoid the vulgärhonour of ribbons. ". Two things," says the " Eckensteher,""are inevitable to a Prussian government officer—death andthe third class of the < Red Eagle';" for medals that seemequal in costliness to new halfpennies are distributed to the" beamte " as plentifully as silver pennies to our old women onMaunday-Thursday: so that it is no extraordinary sight tomeet an official with a row of coins displayed upon his coat as