"Nobody will ever know," he himself said, "the steadfastness I found necessary; I still recall that long and dark staircase of M.de Maurepas' which I mounted in fear and sadness, uncertain of succeeding with him as to some new idea which I had in my mind, and which aimed most frequently at obtaining an increase of revenue by some just but severe operation.

I still recall that upstairs closet, beneath the roof of Versailles, but over the rooms, and, from its smallness and its situation, seeming to be really a superfine extract and abstract of all vanities and ambitions; it was there that reform and economy had to be discussed with a minister grown old in the pomps and usages of the court.

I remember all the delicate management I had to employ to succeed, after many a rebuff.

At last I would obttin some indulgences for the commonwealth.

I obtained them, I could easily see, as recompense for the resources I had found during the war.