'You recollect the duchesse in St.-Simon, who, on the death of a sinner
of illustrious race, said, "On me dira ce qu'on voudra, on ne me
persuadera pas que Dieu n'y regarde deux fois avant de damner un homme de
sa qualite." The archbishop's feeling was the same, only changing
_qualite_ into virtue.
'There is something amusing,' he continued, 'when, separated as we are
from it by such a chasm, we look back on the prejudices of the _Ancien
Regime_. An old lady once said to me, "I have been reading with great
satisfaction the genealogies which prove that Jesus Christ descended from
David. Ca montre que notre Seigneur etait Gentilhomme."'
'We are somewhat ashamed,' I said, 'in general of Jewish blood, yet the
Levis boast of their descent from the Hebrew Levi.'
'They are proud of it,' said Tocqueville, 'because they make themselves
out to be cousins of the Blessed Virgin. They have a picture in which a
Duc de Levi stands bareheaded before the Virgin. "Couvrez-vous donc, mon
cousin," she says. "C'est pour ma commodite," he answers.'
The conversation passed to literature.
'I am glad,' said Tocqueville, 'to find that, imperfect as my knowledge
of English is, I can feel the difference in styles.
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