FRANCE is, xar' ox, the land of experiment, as
England is the land of compromise. There is scarcely
a religious, political, or social experiment she has not
tried; scarcely a religious, political, or social phase
which she has not passed through. The form of Ro-
manism in its narrowest and harshest bigotry which
she exhibited towards the close of the reign of Louis
XIV., was exchanged under his successors for a wild,
angry, aggressive infidelity. This in its turn was suc-
ceeded by a cold and contemptuous indifference, which
is now giving place to a somewhat more hopeful spirit
in the poetical and mystical faith of Lamennais and
Lamartine among the adherents of the old creed, and
to the stiff and dogmatic opinions of Guizot, Coquerel,
and Quinet among the votaries of the new.
In polity
France was at one time a military aristocracy, when
the Guises and the Condés were almost the equals of
the reigning prince. Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis
XIV. curbed the power of these rival potentates, and
established a central and relentless despotism, which
lasted till 1789, and was then followed in rapid succes-
1 From the "North British Review, May 1851."
Revue des deux Mondes. Paris 1849, 1850.