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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: of storms. Perhaps Monsieur de Fontaine hoped that one of the sudden
gusts of legislation, whose unexpected efforts then startled the
oldest politicians, might carry him up to the rank of peer. One of his
most rigid principles was to recognize no nobility in France but that
of the peerage--the only families that might enjoy any privileges.
"A nobility bereft of privileges," he would say, "is a tool without a
handle."
As far from Lafayette's party as he was from La Bourdonnaye's, he
ardently engaged in the task of general reconciliation, which was
to result in a new era and splendid fortunes for France. He
strove to convince the families who frequented his drawing-room,
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