ridicule outré est dans la multitude de ces faquins de comtes et de marquis dont toutes les provinces sont remplies, et non seulement les provinces, mais Paris et la cour. Pour un vrai comte et pour un vrai marquis, on trouvera cinq cents Jodelets et mille Mascarilles » (Misson, art. Noblesse, p. 305).
19. « Jamais, je crois, on n’entendit (un Anglais) s’écrier : un homme de ma qualité ! une personne de mon rang ! » (Muralt, éd. Ritter, p. 18).
20. Cf. la n. 6. — « The Merchant is the great Benefactor df the Commonwealth…, enriching ail Nations that share in his Traffick… His Presence is a Blessing wherever he comes… » (The Britîsh Journal, no 25, Saturday July 6, 1728). « If no country can be rich or flourish without Trade (a Fact undisputed) nor be more or less considerable but according to the Proportion it hath of commerce ; and that Men ought to be ; esteemed, honoured and dignified according to the benefit and ; advantage the Country receives from them, the Traders of a Nation ought to be more encouraged and Trade accounted of ail professions the most honourable » (Mist’s Weekly Journal, no 170, Saturday July 20, 1728). « If trade is the Life and Prosperity of a Nation in general, and the most valuable Thing to Religion and civil Government in a commonwealth, then the tradesman is a most useful and valuable Creature to his Country » (Fog’s Weekly Journal, no 16, Saturday January 11, 1729). « The Merchant… may be said to be the most useful Member of the Society in which he lives… I have always thought such a Merchant as the late sir Peter Delme (cf. lettre XXIV) or any great exporter of our Manufactures, superior to any Englishman beneath the quality of a Prime Minister » (The Craftsman, no 323, Saturday October 21, 1732. Cf. The Gentleman’s Magazine, October 1732, p. 1013-15).
21. Comparez les débuts des deux dédicaces de Zaïre à Falkener. — La matière des lettres VIII-X avait été effleurée très rapidement par l’abbé Prévost (Mém. d’un H. de qualité, l. XII, début, éd. 1808, t. 3, p. 145).
