e silver-gilt trappings are
decked with rubies and sapphires, naively exclaims, "Has not the king
added 200,000 livres to my treasury? That is no reason for keeping
them!"[2225] They would rather throw it out of the window. Which was
actually done by the Marshal de Richelieu with a purse he had given to
his grandson, and which the lad, not knowing how to use, brought back
intact. Money, on this occasion, was at least of service to the passing
street-sweeper that picked it up. But had there been no passer-by to
pick it up, it would have been thrown into the river. One day Mme.
de B--, being with the Prince de Conti, hinted that she would like a
miniature of her canary bird set in a ring. The Prince offers to have it
made. His offer is accepted, but on condition that the miniature be
set plain and without jewels. Accordingly the miniature is placed in a
simple rim of gold. But, to cover over the painting, a large diamond,
made very thin, serves as a glass. Mme. de B--, having returned the
diamond, "M. le Prince de Conti had it ground to powder which he used
to dry the ink of the note he wrote to Mme. de B--on the subject." This
pinch of powder cost 4 or 5,000 livres, but we may divine the turn and
tone of the note. The extreme of profusion must accompany the height
of gallantry, the man of the world being so much the more important
according to his contempt for money.

III. Universal Pleasure Seeking.

Moral divorce of husband and wife.--Gallantry.--Separation
of parents and children.--Education, its object and
omissions.--The tone of servants and purveyors.--Pleasure
seeking universal.

In a drawing room the woman who receives the least attention from a man
is his own wife, and she returns the compliment. Hence at a time like
this, when people live for society and in society, there is no place for
conjugal intimacy.--Moreover, when a married couple occupy an exalted
position they are separated by custom and decorum. Each party has his or
her own household, or at least their own apartments, servants, equipage,
receptions and distinct society, and, as entertainment entails ceremony,
they stand towards each other in deference to their rank on the footing
of polite strangers. They are each announced in each other's apartment;
they address each other "Madame, Monsieur," and not alone in public,
but in private; they shrug their shoulders when, sixty leagues out from
Paris, they encounter in some ol