The laity adored him for his charities, for the gentle firmness of his government, for the natural grace of manner that enhanced a hundred-fold the value of everything he said and did. Always ready to help, yet always modest in offering assistance, he seemed when about some kindly action to be receiving rather than doing a favor. He was always a perfect gentleman, a high-bred man of rank, a model of politeness, and was equally adapted to every grade of society. Men of all classes were at ease in his company. He directed every one to the subject he best understood, and then disappeared himself, thus giving them an opportunity to produce out of their own stock the materials they were most able to furnish. Thus every one parted from him well pleased with himself. Perhaps no one ever possessed in a higher degree the happy talent of easy conversation. His mind was entirely given up to the person with whom he conversed. No one felt his superiority; every one found him on his own level. In visits to the sick at home, to the hospitals and wounded soldiers, he was indefatigable, nor was he a stranger to the Cambrai prisons. He went into the cottages of the poor, and spoke to them of God, and comforted them under the hardships which they suffered. If, when he visited them, they presented him with any refreshments in their unpretending and unpolished manner, he pleased them by seating himself at their humble table and partaking cheerfully and thankfully of what was set before him. Various anecdotes illustrate his benevolence. In one of his rural excursions he met with a peasant in great affliction. Inquiring the cause, he was informed by the man that he had lost his cow, the only support of his indigent family. Fénelon attempted to comfort him, and gave him money to buy another. The peasant showed gratitude, but still was sad, grieving for the cow he had lost, to which he was much attached. Pursuing his walk, Fénelon found at a considerable distance from the place of the interview the very cow which was the object of so much affection. The sun had set, and the night was dark, but the good archbishop drove her back himself to the poor man’s cottage.