Cheese, Saints And Scholars

Early in his presidency Charles de Gaulle asked,
'How do you govern a country which has 246
varieties of cheese?' to reflect his wonder
at the diversity of France. Would that the English
could have had a similar reflective lightness
with their historic deforestation  and their creation
of settlements in the land of 179 saints and scholars.
I trust the saints scarred the invaders with nightmares.