"
With his naturally imperious manner he had the self-sufficiency of
an upstart, and became ridiculous by being extravagantly
impertinent. An intercourse with the great had so far intoxicated
him that he gave himself airs which none but the contemptible part
of them ever assume. He never called his lackey but by "Eh!" as if
amongst the number of his servants my lord had not known which was
in waiting. When he sent him to buy anything, he threw the money
upon the ground instead of putting it into his hand. In short,
entirely forgetting he was a man, he treated him with such shocking
contempt, and so cruel a disdain in everything, that the poor lad, a
very good creature, whom Madam d'Epinay had recommended, quitted his
service without any other complaint than that of the impossibility
of enduring such treatment. This was the La Fleur of this new
presuming upstart.
All these things were nothing more than ridiculous, but quite
opposite to my character, they contributed to render him suspicious to
me. I could easily imagine that a man whose head was so much
deranged could not have a heart well placed. He piqued himself upon
nothing so much as upon sentiments. How could this agree with
defects which are peculiar to little minds? How can the continued
overflowings of a susceptible heart suffer it to be incessantly
employed in so many little cares relative to the person? He who
feels his heart inflamed with this celestial fire strives to diffuse
it, and wishes to show what he internally is.
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