Mme. Verdurin’s, Sir,” I was addressed by Brichot, anxious to show off his talents before a newcomer, “you will find that there is no place where one feels more the ‘amenities of life,’ to quote one of the inventors of dilettantism, of pococurantism, of all sorts of words in -ism that are in fashion among our little snobbesses, I refer to M. le Prince de Talleyrand.” For, when he spoke of these great noblemen of the past, he thought it clever and “in the period” to prefix a “M.” to their titles, and said “ M. le Duc de La Rochefoucauld,” “ M.