It is afraid of men of energy.

It ought to have torn up all the treaties of 1815 and demanded the Rhine.

They keep the same men too long in the ministry"; etc., etc.
"Come, you've exerted your minds long enough," said Mademoiselle Thuillier, interrupting one of these luminous talks; "the altar is dressed; begin your little game." If these anterior facts and all these generalities were not placed here as the frame of the present Scene, to give an idea of the spirit of this society, the following drama would certainly have suffered greatly.
Moreover, this sketch is historically faithful; it shows a social stratum of importance in any portrayal of manners and morals, especially when we reflect that the political system of the Younger branch rests almost wholly upon it.
The winter of the year 1839 was, it may be said, the period when the Thuillier salon was in its greatest glory.

The Minards came nearly every Sunday, and began their evening by spending an hour there, if they had other engagements elsewhere.

Often Minard would leave his wife at the Thuilliers and take his son and daughter to other houses.