Dickens's rather rhetorical chapter on the decadent Monseigneur who has been waited upon for so many centuries that he can no longer swallow his morning chocolate without the aid of four strong men exemplifies the state of the French aristocracy. While the Monseigneur--who represents all the aristocracy--has felt that the world is made for his pleasure, he finds that certain "vulgar embarrassments crept into his affairs, both private and public." The Monseigneur has allied himself with a Farmer-General since he is now becoming poor.
The Farmer-General is a tax collector--"the greatest reality among the personages who attended at the hotel of Monseigneur"-- and, since he has become poor, the Monseigneur pulls his sister from a convent and has her marry this tax collector in order to preserve the family estate and his prestige in court.
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