"Aristocracy has three successive ages, — the age of superiorities, the age of privileges, and the age of vanities; having passed out of the first, it degenerates in the second, and dies away in the third."
Book I, Ch. 1 : The Vallé-aux-loups
In August 1830.
François-René de Chateaubriand sacrifices his political career by refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to Louis-Philippe, and retires to write his memoirs.
Books by Chateaubriand at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7255