I am happy on every occasion to offer those little delicate compliments which are always acceptable to ladies. I have more than once observed to Lady Catherine, that her charming daughter seemed born to be a duchess, and that the most elevated rank, instead of giving her consequence, would be adorned by her. These are the kind of little things which please her ladyship, and it is a sort of attention which I conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 14. The oily and smarmy Mr. Collins is at his sycophantic best (or worst!) when he drops the name of Lady Catherine de Bourgh into the conversation – and he does a lot of that in the Bennets’ home.