"Brother," said he, as he entered, "I have come to tell you that I am chancellor." "Chancellor!" said the other, turning round; "and what have you done with the other one ?" "He died suddenly to-night." "O, very well, brother, I am very glad; I would rather it were you than I;" and he resumed his pipe.

Madame D'Aguesseau was better pleased.

Her husband has eulogized her handsomely.

"A wife like mine," he said, "is a good man's highest reward." The new system of government, as yet untried, and confided to men for the most part little accustomed to affairs, had to put up with the most formidable difficulties, and to struggle against the most painful position.

The treasury was empty, and the country exhausted; the army was not paid, and the most honorable men, such as the Duke of St.Simon, saw no other remedy for the evils of the state but a total bankruptcy, and the convocation of the States-general.