London, September 1790, Russian vs English

"The English winter is not so cold as ours. On the other hand, we have beautiful days such as are rare here even in summer. How, then, can an Englishman help looking like September?
Secondly, their cold nature I do not find at all pleasing.
'It is a volcano covered with ice', a French émigré told me, laughing.
But I stand, I look, I see no flames, and all the while I am shivering. My Russian heart likes to pour itself out in sincere, animated conversation. It likes the play of eyes, sudden changes of expression, a meaningful gesture of the hand. The Englishman is taciturn, indifferent. He talks as though he were reading, never revealing sudden impulses of the heart which like an electric shock shake our entire physical system." 

Letters of a Russian Traveler, 1789-1790, N. M. Karamzin.