"
"Say, rather," replied the duke, quickly, "that you find it suits
your present purpose to put on this want of power. We all know,
that your veto is absolute with his majesty, and it requires
nothing more to obtain whatsoever you desire."
The duc de la Vauguyon was powerful, and represented the whole
of a party--that of the religionists, which was still further
supported by the
; but for this very reason the
triumvirate, consisting of messieurs d' Aiguillon, de Maupeou,
and the abbe Terre, would not have accepted his services at
any price.
The good duke returned several times to the charge; sometimes
endeavouring to move me by gentle intreaties and, at others,
holding out threats and menaces; good and bad words flowed from
his lips like a mixture of honey and gall, but when he found that
both were equally thrown away upon me, he retired offended; and
by the expression of his rage and disappointment, succeeded in
incensing both the dauphin and dauphiness against me. May
heaven preserve you, my friend, from the anger of a bigot!
I think I have detained you long enough with the relation of the
intrigues by which I was surrounded upon the dismissal of the
des Choiseuls, and I will now return to the morning of the 24th
of December. When the exiles were fairly out of Paris, the king
found himself not a little embarrassed in the choice of a prime
minister.
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