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Now the count and the father provincial were old acquaintances;

they saw each other rarely, but always with great demonstrations

of friendship, and reiterated offers of service.

When all was matured in his mind, the count invited the father

provincial to a dinner, where he found a company of choice

guests; noblemen, who, by their deportment, their native

boldness, and lordly disdain, impressed those around them with

the idea of their superiority and power. There were also present

some clients, who, attached to the house by hereditary devotion,

and the service of a life, sat at their lord's table, in a spirit

of implicit submission, "devouring his discourse" and his dinner

with unqualified and equal approbation.