I cannot do justice to this spirituel old man's mode of telling the story, or describe the finesse of his arch smile while recounting it.
"The Idler in France"
Marguerite Gardiner
It was not the least of the Duchess's mortifications to be constantly contrasting her former lover-elegant, captivating, and spirituel-with her husband, awkward, insipid, and dull, as the fat weed that rots on Lethe's shore.
"Marriage"
Susan Edmonstone Ferrier
They are generally what the French call "spirituel," and often have rather desperate love-affairs which they keep very closely to themselves.
"Beyond"
John Galsworthy