Explore "Europe Revised" by Irvin S. Cobb on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
London is essentially a he-town, just as Paris is indubitably a / she-town. That untranslatable, unmistakable something which is not to / be defined in the plain terms of speech, yet which sets its mark on / any long-settled community, has branded them both -- the one as being / masculine, the other as being feminine. For Paris the lily stands, the / conventionalized, feminized lily; but London is a lion, a shag-headed, / heavy-pawed British lion.
One thinks of Paris as a woman, rather pretty, somewhat regardless of / morals and decidedly slovenly of person; craving admiration, but too / indolent to earn it by keeping herself presentable; covering up the dirt / on a piquant face with rice powder; wearing paste jewels in her / earlobes in an effort to distract criticism from the fact that the / ears themselves stand in need of soap and water. London, viewed in / retrospect, seems a great, clumsy, slow-moving giant, with hair on his / chest and soil under his nails; competent in the larger affairs and / careless about the smaller ones; amply satisfied with himself and / disdainful of the opinions of outsiders; having all of a man's vices and / a good share of his virtues; loving sport for sport's sake and power for / its own sake and despising art for art's sake.