After the July revolution (1830), and through the influence of the De Broglie family, of whose estates Mérimée's grandfather had been the manager, the author was appointed _maître de requêtes_, the officer to whom petitions to the Council of State were addressed. Six weeks afterwards he was appointed chief of cabinet in the ministry of marine, a position which he exchanged later for similar positions in the ministries of commerce and of the interior. And when his minister, the Count of Argout, became governor of the Bank of France (1836), the latter procured for him the position of Inspector General of Public Monuments, the only position--on account of its opportunities for artistic criticism--which he took seriously. He held it with great merit until his failing health made it impossible for him to perform its duties. On the 18th of November, 1843, he was elected a member of the _Académie des Inscriptions_ and on the 4th of March, 1844, occurred his reception at the _Académie française_. On the 23d of June, 1853, he received an appointment to the Senate of France. These last appointments he received, or affected to receive, with indifference, and his attitude in the academy as well as in the senate was that of an indolent spectator. He owed his senatorship to Empress Eugénie, whom he had known since his first journey to Spain and whose mother, the Countess of Montijo, had become one of his best friends. Through his friendship with the empress he became _persona grata_ at the court of Napoleon III, and though he was not of the stuff of which courtiers are made, he took an active part in many of the functions and festivities of the court.