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French intelligence and taste Excerpt from a private letter to an South African correspondent 3rd June 1970         [I really don't know how to thank you adequately for the delightful and most interesting French magazine "Nouvelle Ecole" which you so kindly sent me. It is full of the most interesting matter & a striking example of the high level of intelligence & taste in the French public.         It was Anatole France's opinion that the French & Germans are the most intelligent nations of Europe, & the longer I live the more do I feel inclined to agree. Unfortunately for the World, vulgarity is so widespread that what impresses the populace everywhere is not intelligence but wealth. And that accounts for the fact that although these two nations may be the most intelligent, they fail to enjoy the prestige & prominence of the Anglo-Saxons who are the richest, whether in their native land or in America.]

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