This move on the part of the accused was a serious check to _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie, who for a moment had imagined that they had their enemy in their power, and that they were on the point of dealing, through his condemnation, an overwhelming blow to the hostile faction. For the Parlement was not unnaturally inclined to indulgence when the misdeeds of one of its own members was in question, and Le Blanc had had the good fortune to ingratiate himself with it during the Regency. Moreover, the Orléans counted many friends among the magistracy, the Condés comparatively few. However, as the trial was not to come on for several months, they hoped, in the interval, so to strengthen their position that, even if the issue were unfavourable to them, the consequences would be of comparatively small importance. Their great object was to ingratiate themselves with Louis XV. and to combat the increasing influence of Fleury over the young monarch’s mind, in which they perceived an even greater danger than the enmity of the Orléans. “The Prime Minister governs certainly,” writes that shrewd observer, the Venetian Ambassador, Morosini, “and directs the affairs of the kingdom, as well as its foreign policy. The bishop appears to court effacement and to be reluctant to meddle with anything. But nothing is concluded without the King’s consent, and the King decides nothing without the bishop’s approval. A few days ago, for example, _Monsieur le Duc_ presented himself to beg him to name an hour which would be convenient to him for work. The King was playing cards with the Duc de Noailles, and, not seeing the Bishop of Fréjus, gave orders that he should be summoned immediately. After which he continued to play until the arrival of the bishop, whom he then caused to enter into his cabinet with _Monsieur le Duc_. What passed on this occasion is constantly happening.... I hear that the Prime Minister has never had a conversation with the King alone, while the bishop speaks to him when and where he pleases. “Moreover, it is continually being said in public that, if an ecclesiastic is to continue the traditions of the Dubois, the Mazarins, and the Richelieus, it will be without doubt the Bishop of Fréjus.... “_Monsieur le Duc_ and his _entourage_ perceive with mortification the continual encroachments of the bishop. They fear and detest him, but they dare not attack him openly, finding his position too strong.”