What is called “modern ideas,” or “the ideas of the eighteenth century,” or “French ideas”⁠—that, consequently, against which the German mind rose up with profound disgust⁠—is of English origin, there is no doubt about it. The French were only the apes and actors of these ideas, their best soldiers, and likewise, alas! their first and profoundest victims ; for owing to the diabolical Anglomania of “modern ideas,” the âme français has in the end become so thin and emaciated, that at present one recalls its sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its profound, passionate strength, its inventive excellency, almost with disbelief. One must, however, maintain this verdict of historical justice in a determined manner, and defend it against present prejudices and appearances: the European noblesse⁠—of sentiment, taste, and manners, taking the word in every high sense⁠—is the work and invention of France ; the European ignobleness, the plebeianism of modern ideas⁠—is