The Abbé Joseph-Marie Terray, Controller-General of Finance under Louis XV., was one of those men who, by their cruel exactions, dissolute living, and reckless expenditure, were directly responsible for the ruin of French credit and for the great Revolution which ensued. Terray was born at Boen in 1715, and died in Paris in February, 1778, almost universally hated and despised. It is true that he had collected a handsome library, that his books were sumptuously bound, and that he had a reputation as a patron of art and letters. But holding many highly paid sinecure offices, and being the proprietor of rich ecclesiastical livings (not to mention the gross jobbery he exercised in the state finances), he could well afford to buy expensive books and to employ a few bookbinders. History records no other good trait in the character of this priestly financier, who was both physically and morally ugly, depraved, and rapacious. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF THE ABBÉ JOSEPH-MARIE TERRAY.] Was it for him that this epitaph was written?-- “Ci-git un grand personnage, Qui fut d’un illustre lignage, Qui posséda mille vertus; Qui ne se trompa jamais, qui fut toujours fort sage; Je n’en dirai pas d’avantage, _C’est trop mentir pour cent écus_.” The game cock was a favourite emblem with the ancient Greeks and Romans, on account of its courage and endurance. “The gait of the cock,” writes Pliny, “is proud and commanding; he walks in a stately stride, with his head erect and elevated crest; alone, of all birds, he habitually looks up to the sky, raising at the same time his curved and graceful tail, and inspiring terror even in the lion himself, that most intrepid of animals.” He will fight to the death, and use his last breath to crow out a defiance, whilst the conqueror, standing over his vanquished rival, will flap his wings and loudly proclaim his victory. For many ages the game cock, as brave and noble a bird as any that lives, was the badge of our Gallic neighbours: “Le coq français est le coq de la gloire, Par les revers il n’est point abattu; Il chante fort lorsqu’il à la victoire, Encor plus fort quand il est bien battu. Le coq français est le coq de la gloire Toujours chanter est sa grande vertu. Est il imprudent, est-il sage? C’est ce qu’on ne peut définir: Mais qui ne perd jamais courage, Se rend maitre de l’avenir.”