How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Page)
Quote #1
As a rule, the speech and behavior of these people were gracious and courtly; and I noticed that they were good and serious listeners when anybody was telling anything—I mean in a dog-fightless interval. (2.7)
There's a very subtle jab at the upper class here: the nobility of the upper class rises only when they're not paying attention to the dogfights.
Quote #2
They were the quaintest and simplest and trustingest race; why, they were nothing but rabbits. (8.3)
Hank mixes condescension in with sympathy for the underclass. He really doesn't think much of them, does he? He's on their side only because the nobles kick them around like soccer balls. If the positions were switched—if the peasants were the nobles and vice versa—things might not look all that different from how they do under the current dynamic.
Quote #3
They were as humble as animals to me; and when I proposed to breakfast with them, they were so flattered, so overwhelmed by this extraordinary condescension of mine that at first they were not able to believe that I was in earnest. (13.4)
Contrast the attitude of the peasants to those of the nobles in earlier passages: The nobles expect everything to be given to them; the peasants start doing cartwheels when you give them the time of day. Neither side is perfect, but Hank sure knows which group he's going to bat for.