“There must be plenty of deaf people there,” observed Jack.

“Possibly; but there are no dumb people.  Added to the endless vociferations of the human voice, there is an eternal barking of dogs, elephants snorting, cows lowing, and myriads of pigs grunting.  Then there is the thump, thump of the tam-tam, the whistling of fifes, and the screeching of a horrible instrument resembling a fiddle, which can only be compared with the Belzebub music of Hawai.  If, amongst these discordant sounds, you throw in a cloud of mosquitoes and a hurricane of dust, you will have a tolerable idea of an Indian street.”

“There may be animation and life enough, Willis, but I should prefer the monotony of Regent-street for all that.  Would you like to air yourself in Paris a bit?”

“Yes, but not just now; the less my countrymen see of France, under present circumstances, the better.”

“What is England and France always fighting about, Willis?”

“Well, I believe the cause this time to be a shindy the mounseers got up amongst themselves in 1788.  They first cut off the head of their king, and then commenced to cut one another’s throats, and England interfered.”

“That,” observed Fritz, “may be the immediate origin of the present war [1812].  But for the cause of the animosity existing between the two nations, you must, I suspect, go back as far as the eleventh century, to the time of William, Duke of Normandy.”

“What had he to do with it?”

“A great deal.  He claimed a right, real or pretended, to the English throne.  He crossed the Channel, and, in 1066, defeated Harold, King of England, at the battle of Hastings.”

“Both William and Harold were originally Danes, were they not?” inquired Jack.

“Yes; I think Rollo, William’s grandfather, was a Norman adventurer, or sea-king, as these marauders were sometimes called.  William, after the victory of Hastings, proclaimed himself King of England and Duke of Normandy, and assumed the designation of William the Conqueror.”

“Then how did France get mixed up in the affair?” inquired Willis.

“William’s grandfather, when he seized the dukedom cf Normandy, became virtually a vassal of the King of France, though it is doubtful whether he ever took the trouble to recognize the suzerainty of the throne.  As sovereign, however, the King of France claimed the right of homage, which consisted, according to feudal usage, in the vassal advancing, bare-headed, without sword or spurs, and kneeling at the foot of the throne.”

“Was this right ever enforced?”

“Yes, in one case at least.  John Lackland—­or, as the French called him, John Sans Terre—­having assassinated his nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany, in order to obtain possession of his lands, was summoned by Philip Augustus, King of France, to justify his crime.  John did not obey the summons, was declared guilty of felony, and Philip took possession of Normandy.  Thus the first step to hostilities was laid down.”