That a man, who wore the _laticlave_,
(which in practical effect of splendor we may consider equal to the ribbon
and star of a modern order,) should descend to such a degrading method of
raising money, was felt as a scandal to the whole nobility. [Footnote:
This feeling still exists in France. "One winter," says the author of _The
English Army in France_, vol. ii. p. 106-7, "our commanding officer's wife
formed the project of hiring the chateau during the absence of the owner;
but a more profound insult could not have been offered to a Chevalier de
St. Louis. Hire his house! What could these people take him for? A sordid
wretch who would stoop to make money by such means? They ought to be
ashamed of themselves. He could never respect an Englishman again." "And
yet," adds the writer, "this gentleman (had an officer been billeted
there) would have _sold_ him a bottle of wine out of his cellar, or a
billet of wood from his stack, or an egg from his hen-house, at a profit
of fifty per cent., not only without scruple, but upon no other terms. It
was as common as ordering wine at a tavern, to call the servant of any
man's establishment where we happened to be quartered, and demand an
account of the cellar, as well as the price of the wine we selected!" This
feeling existed, and perhaps to the same extent, two centuries ago, in
England.
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