The English seem as silent as the Japanese, yet vainer than the inhabitants of Siam. Upon my arrival I attributed that reserve to modesty¹, which, I now find, has its origin in pride. Condescend² to address them first, and you are sure of their acquaintance; stoop to flattery, and you conciliate their friendship and esteem³. They bear hunger, cold, fatigue⁴, and all the miseries⁵ of life without shrinking, danger only calls forth⁶ their fortitude⁷; they even exult⁸ in calamity⁹, but contemp is what they cannot bear. An Englishman fears contempt more than death; he often flies to death as a refuge from its pressure, and dies when he fancies the world has creased¹⁰ to esteem him.