Sentence:  But she is totally devoid of elegant accomplishments, excepting the knowledge of French and Italian, which she acquired from the most grotesque monster you ever beheld, whom my father has engaged as a kind of librarian, and whom he <WSD>patronizes</WSD>, I believe, to show his defiance of the world's opinion. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support.