The dismissal of M.de Montbarrey, a man without talents or character, was generally approved of.

It was rightly attributed to the Queen.

He had been placed in administration by M.de Maurepas, and maintained by his aged wife; both, of course, became more inveterate than ever against the Queen and the Polignac circle.
The appointment of M.de Segur to the place of Minister of War, and of M.
de Castries to that of Minister of Marine, were wholly the work of that circle.

The Queen dreaded making ministers; her favourite often wept when the men of her circle compelled her to interfere.

Men blame women for meddling in business, and yet in courts it is continually the men themselves who make use of the influence of the women in matters with which the latter ought to have nothing to do.
When M.de Segur was presented to the Queen on his new appointment, she said to me, "You have just seen a minister of my making.