f their
suckling their children; Isabella's eldest sister had one upon these
terms, and well deserved it by her observance of them; Isabella herself
also received another, which, by intention she as fully merited. She has
not been happy enough to be able to pursue her inclination. When I sent
the laces to the two sisters, I wrote each of them a letter; the first
has been shown about in the world; the second has not the same celebrity:
friendship proceeds with less noise.

Amongst the connections I made in my neighborhood, of which I will not
enter into a detail, I must mention that with Colonel Pury, who had a
house upon the mountain, where he came to pass the summer. I was not
anxious to become acquainted with him, because I knew he was upon bad
terms at court, and with the lord marshal, whom he did not visit. Yet,
as he came to see me, and showed me much attention, I was under the
necessity of returning his visit; this was repeated, and we sometimes
dined with each other. At his house I became acquainted with M. du
Perou, and afterwards too intimately connected with him to pass his name
over in silence.

M. du Perou was an American, son to a commandant of Surinam, whose
successor, M. le Chambrier, of Neuchatel, married his widow. Left a
widow a second time, she came with her son to live in the country of her
second husband.

Du Perou, an only son, very rich, and tenderly beloved by his mother, had
been carefully brought up, and his education was not lost upon him. He
had acquired much knowledge, a taste for the arts, and piqued himself
upon his having cultivated his rational faculty: his Dutch appearance,
yellow complexion, and silent and close disposition, favored this
opinion. Although young, he was already deaf and gouty. This rendered
his motions deliberate and very grave, and although he was fond of
disputing, he in general spoke but little because his hearing was bad.
I was struck with his exterior, and said to myself, this is a thinker, a
man of wisdom, such a one as anybody would be happy to have for a friend.
He frequently addressed himself to me without paying the least
compliment, and this strengthened the favorable opinion I had already
formed of him. He said but little to me of myself or my books, and still
less of himself; he was not destitute of ideas, and what he said was
just. This justness and equality attracted my regard. He had neither
the elevation of mind, nor the discrimination of