for this, after an unmistakably manly fashion—but he bethought himself, as being more to his advantage, of allowing that he still held some of the secret correspondence,[315] hoping against hope that he might yet prevail upon the pitiless King’s agent to yield to other demands, for which he thought he had a right to press. Nevertheless, he did inflict upon him a _gentle_ kind of punishment in the shape of a sorrowful despatch, consisting of no less than thirty-eight pages—the first of a series that was maintained well into the year 1778. [Sidenote: LETTERS TO BEAUMARCHAIS.] ‘Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, January 7, 1776. ‘... You will allow me to tell you that the tone of despotism you have assumed since we signed our preliminary contract, and since your return from Paris, is exceedingly revolting to me, and causes you to be as intractable as was Mr. Pitt in 1761, during the negotiations for peace.... You know how sensitive I am, and you are losing your time and your pains in seeking to alter my views on a matter that solely concerns my scruples on personal honour. I am determined that upon no account, and not for any money in the world, shall it be possible for people to believe I am interested in the infamous policies on my sex.... I cannot depart from the principles of honour I have traced out for myself, and of which I told you before you left for Paris.... It is possible that the wits and financiers of Paris ridicule my article in the “Morning Post” of November 13, and that they think my peculiar situation affords them the opportunity for robbing the English. I will never consent to anything of the sort, even should all France blame me.... I prefer being taken for a stupid and senseless creature, rather than for a thief and knave.... If what I say is right, I am justified; if not, my error must be my excuse.... I am staying with Lord Ferrers, who has invited me for a month past to come here and recruit ... but I have also several affairs to settle with his lordship.... I purpose taking advantage of my being in the country to lay open to you my heart, and address you with all the sensitiveness of Mademoiselle de Beaumont, and the frankness of the Chevalier D’Eon. I will begin by making some observations on the contents of your letter ...;’ and here the Chevalière plied with the essence of flattery the man she had already so successfully cajoled. ‘I can truly swear that in the whole course of my life I have never come across a more cheerful, better informed, and more agreeable man in society than M. de Beaumarchais. As to your generosity in matters of business, if by this you mean the favourable reports you were good enough to make of me to the young monarch and to his worthy minister; if you allude to the lofty, energetic, pleasing, striking, and creditable composition of