The foreign affairs were intrusted to the Duke of Praslin, his cousin.

The power rested almost entirely in the hands of the Duke of Choiseul.

Of high birth, clever, bold, ambitious, he had but lately aspired to couple the splendor of successes in the fashionable world with the serious preoccupations of politics; his marriage with Mdlle.

Crozat, a wealthy heiress, amiable and very much smitten with him, had strengthened his position.

Elevated to the ministry by Madame de Pompadour, and as yet promoting her views, he nevertheless gave signs of an independent spirit and a proud character, capable of exercising authority firmly in the presence and the teeth of all obstacles.