This note seems to have been the last that d’Eon received from this influential family, whose dependant he had been in his youth, and whose zealous champion he had afterwards become. The Broglies were by this time so completely neglected that their state was worse than disgrace, and the death of the count, whose health had been undermined by injustice and disappointments, dealt a blow to his house from which it was slow to recover. It was this painful moment that d’Eon had chosen for proving that he had not forgotten the minister’s patronage during a career so sadly and prematurely brought to a close. His new life left him time for reflecting on his past errors, and although he endeavoured to appear content with his lot, he could not conceal his regrets or convince his correspondents. On the same day, January 1, 1780, General de Monet, who knew all his adventures, wrote to him: I envy the tranquillity you must enjoy with your Penates. I trust that you look upon it with your habitual philosophy, of which your life has given you so many opportunities of making good use. Your leisure hours are probably well employed for the benefit of posterity, and the thoughts which fortunate or unfortunate circumstances (it is difficult to say which) give you time to leave in writing, will be a great boon for instruction, and also a means of adding new lustre to the interesting history of your life. But be that as it may, to tell you the truth, I would rather you were in Paris than at Tonnerre, although you would only see there many people agitated by the reforms which our ministers have wisely deemed necessary and just for procuring funds to continue the war without the imposition of new taxes. It is preferable at such critical moments to be far from the tumult.