transforms them into
graces; which imposes on man not servility and falsehood, but civility
and concern for others, and which, in exchange, extracts for him out of
human society all the pleasure it can afford.

V. Happiness.

What constitutes happiness in the 18th Century.--The
fascination of display.--Indolence, recreation, light
conversation.

One can very well understand this kind of pleasure in a summary way,
but how is it to be made apparent? Taken by themselves the pastimes of
society are not to be described; they are too ephemeral; their charm
arises from their accompaniments. A narrative of them would be but
tasteless dregs, does the libretto of an opera give any idea of the
opera itself?--If the reader would revive for himself this vanished
world let him seek for it in those works that have preserved its
externals or its accent, and first in the pictures and engravings of
Watteau, Fragonard and the Saint-Aubins, and then in the novels and
dramas of Voltaire and Marivaux, and even in Colle and Crebillon
fils;[2252] then do we see the breathing figures and hear their voices,
What bright, winning, intelligent faces beaming with pleasure and with
the desire to please! What ease in bearing and in gesture! What piquant
grace in the toilet, in the smile, in vivaciousness of expression, in
the control of the fluted voice, in the coquetry of hidden meanings! How
involuntarily we stop to look and listen! Attractiveness is everywhere,
in the small spirituelle heads, in the slender hands, in the rumpled
attire, in the pretty features, in the demeanor. The slightest gesture,
a pouting or mutinous turn of the head, a plump little wrist peering
from its nest of lace, a yielding waist bent over an embroidery frame,
the rapid rustling of an opening fan, is a feast for the eyes and the
intellect. It is indeed all daintiness, a delicate caress for delicate
senses, extending to the external decoration of life, to the sinuous
outlines, the showy drapery, and the refinements of comfort in the
furniture and architecture. Fill your imagination with these accessories
and with these figures and you will take as much interest in their
amusements as they did. In such a place and in such company it suffices
to be together to be content. Their indolence is no burden to them
for they sport with existence.--At Chanteloup, the Duc de Choiseul, in
disgrace, finds the fashionable world flocking to see him; nothing is
do