[Footnote 131: Count d'Argenson had become chief of police in succession to Machault in the spring of 1720. In June he was involved in his father's disgrace: see p. 34. Shortly afterwards he received the Intendancy of Touraine, and only returned to Paris in the early part of 1722, when he resumed the direction of the police. In the autumn of 1723, he became chancellor of the Orléans household, and held that position at the Regent's death in December. His dismissal from the police followed a few weeks afterwards: see below (Marais, "Journal," III. p. 73). Before the end of January 1724, through the influence of the young Duke of Orléans, he was provided with a seat at the Council of State.] [Footnote 132: Mentioned by d'Argenson in the course of the letter of January 4 quoted below. _Cf._ Marais, "Journal," III. p. 77, and Barbier.] [Footnote 133: Journal (Rathery), I. p. 59.] [Footnote 134: Marais, "Journal," III. p. 73.] [Footnote 135: Journal (Rathery), I. p. 59.] [Footnote 136: Ibid., I. p. 63] [Footnote 137: Ibid., I. p. 60.] [Footnote 138: Ibid., I. pp. 64-67] [Footnote 139: Ibid., I. p. 44.] [Footnote 140: Ibid., I. pp. 67-70] [Footnote 141: Ibid., I. p. 53.] [Footnote 142: Ibid., I. p. 54.] [Footnote 143: "L'esprit public au XVIII. siècle," p. 197. See also par. p. 200.] [Footnote 144: As d'Argenson himself admits ("Essais," II. pp. 84,85).] [Footnote 145: "Essais dans le goût de ceux de Montagne," (Montaigne) II. p. 84 (1785).] [Footnote 146: Ibid., II. p. 86.] [Footnote 147: These papers, after a chequered career, fell into the hands of the Abbé d'Olivet, Voltaire's correspondent, who published a selection of them as "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Louis XIV., par le feu M. l'Abbé de Choisy, de l'Académie Française" ("Essais," II. p. 86).] [Footnote 148: The essay in which he refers to it was written some years after the suppression of the Entresol.] [Footnote 149: "Essais," II. p. 103 (1785). The meetings were held every Tuesday. The tone prevailing in the little coterie is suggested by the amusing criticism of Perrault's poem, "On the Creation of the World:" see "Essais," II. p. 105.] [Footnote 150: "Lettres de Henry St. John" (Grimoard), III. p. 193. In another letter of October 6th, he asks to be remembered to "our little society" (III. p. 206). The letters are in French.] [Footnote 151: Journal (Rathery), I. p. 91.] [Footnote 152: Ibid., I. p. 102. "Je demandai de moi-même à admettre l'abbé."] [Footnote 153: Journal (Édition Jannet), I. p. 67.] [Footnote 154: This account of the Entresol is derived from d'Argenson's Journal (Rathery), I. pp. 91-111; "Essais dans le goût de ceux de Montagne, ou Loisirs d'un Ministre," _passim_; "Lettres de Henry St. John," edited by Grimoard, 1808: see Appendix, III. p. 459. There is also a conscientious account in a paper by M. Tessin, "Un membre de l'Entresol" (Bibliothèque Nationale).] [Footnote 155: Journal (Rathery), I. p. 96.]