If he betrays a coarseness of
taste and an insensibility to foreign refinements, he thanks
Heaven for his ignorance--he is a plain John Bull and has no
relish for frippery and knick-knacks. His very proneness to be
gulled by strangers and to pay extravagantly for absurdities is
excused under the plea of munificence, for John is always more
generous than wise.
Thus, under the name of John Bull he will contrive to argue every
fault into a merit, and will frankly convict himself of being the
honestest fellow in existence.
However little, therefore, the character may have suited in the
first instance, it has gradually adapted itself to the nation, or
rather they have adapted themselves to each other; and a stranger
who wishes to study English peculiarities may gather much
valuable information from the innumerable portraits of John Bull
as exhibited in the windows of the caricature-shops. Still,
however, he is one of those fertile humorists that are
continually throwing out new portraits and presenting different
aspects from different points of view; and, often as he has been
described, I cannot resist the temptation to give a slight sketch
of him such as he has met my eye.
John Bull, to all appearance, is a plain, downright,
matter-of-fact fellow, with much less of poetry about him than
rich prose.
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