Note 146 — II. OF PERSONAL MERIT.

This compliment was addressed to the princes of the Condé family, of whom one, the Prince de Conti (1629-1661), was in command of the army in Catalonia, though he had never served. Compare the saying of Mascarille in Molièreʼs Les Précieuses Ridicules: “People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.”