Such is the outline of Colbert’s ministerial life. He accomplished much; but the will of an opinionated master, and the jealousy of his ministerial colleagues, especially the celebrated Louvois, compelled him to leave much undone, which he would gladly have done, and to undo, before his death, some of the good which he had done. His plans were deranged by long and expensive wars; and he was obliged to reimpose taxes which he had taken off, and to yield to abuses which he had at first successfully resisted. The good which he had done was then forgotten. He would have escaped much unpopularity by resigning office as soon as his views were thwarted, and his principles laid aside; but if he acted from a desire to serve his country by doing for her the best which was permitted, and mitigating evils which he could not prevent, he had his reward in the solitude of his closet for the ingratitude of the public. Yet it is a severe trial for one who has laboured zealously for his countrymen, to exchange their admiration for their hatred; and that not because he has himself changed, but because the change of circumstances has crippled his powers. That courtiers and nobles should have disliked and persecuted Colbert is no wonder; but it was hard that he, who had lent his whole mind to the relief of the productive classes, should have incurred the hate of the people to such a degree, that from a fear of outrage to his remains, his funeral was celebrated by night, and under military escort. The readiness with which his services were forgotten may be ascribed, in part, to his disposition and manners, which were cold and unconciliating. The king said of him, that in spite of his long residence at court, he had always preserved the air and manner of a _bourgeois_; and his piercing eye, his stern and frowning brow, were calculated to assist the natural austerity of his temper, and to exact obedience, not to inspire good-will. The ‘Vies des Hommes Illustres de France,’ by D’Auvigny, is said to contain a good life of Colbert. The materials of this account are principally derived from the Eloge of M. Necker, (which obtained the prize of the Académie Française in 1775,) and partly from the Biographie Universelle. [Illustration: [Interior of the Libraire du Roi, formerly Libraire du Panthéon.] ] [Illustration] WASHINGTON.