extent of the last royal favours, and recommended him “to conduct himself with modesty and wisdom in future, and to abandon the romantic pose for the attitude and speech of a sensible man. Thus, and in course of time,” he added, “your talents will be remembered.... With an honest heart and a brave spirit, but not a fierce or violent one, the hatred and envy of the whole universe may be overcome.” In another letter, written somewhat later, in which one can see the personal anxiety caused by the weapons remaining in his correspondent’s hands, the Comte de Broglie urged d’Eon to win the good-will of M. du Châtelet, the new ambassador, by delivering to M. Durand, who was returning to France, “the ministerial and other papers of every description” which were still in his possession. He concluded as follows: “I have received nothing from you since the letter I wrote to you in cypher at the end of last month. You have not acquainted me with what has passed in the interior of England. I recollect, and have not concealed from his Majesty, that you attribute the fact to the absence of your friend, Mr. Cotes, from the capital, but your ingenuity should supply the deficiency.” The reproach itself proves how greatly the Comte de Broglie prized the information supplied by his correspondent. Entirely divested of any official position, d’Eon was still a newsmonger to whom the King’s secret counsellors constantly applied, and whose communications frequently influenced them in their decisions. His cultivated mind and natural curiosity had enabled him to acquire knowledge of state affairs while engaged in diplomatic negotiations. Unreasonable in his personal resentments, pretentious and imprudent in all that concerned himself, in politics he was a discerning judge, an accurate, and frequently a shrewd, observer. His fertile imagination, though wanting in tact, gave facts a graphic and original turn. The portraits he sketched, with a slight tendency towards caricature, were nevertheless faithful. “D’Eon,” says the Duc de Broglie, “was the precursor, if not the first, of those political reporters who play so important a part in the destinies of all the European parliaments.” He delighted and excelled in his task.