Nevertheless, the observation of M. Forgues is just and authentic–the Attic flavour of l'esprit Gaulois is alien to the loosely articulated structure of American humour. The noteworthy criticism which Mark Twain directed at Paul Bourget’s ‘Outre Mer’, and the subsequent controversy incident thereto, forced into light the racial and temperamental dissimilarities between the Gallic and the American Ausschauung. Mr. Clemens once remarked to me that, of all continental peoples, the French were most alien to the spirit of his humour.