‘I am still very much concerned about de Guerchy. I am not sure, however, that we are doing him good service by appointing him ambassador in London. He is not liked in this country. I dread his despatches like fire, and you know how defective despatches disparage a man and his office. A minister is often judged less by the manner in which he conducts business than by the account he gives of it. I believe that our dear friend will do well. I do not think I have anybody better fitted. But he cannot write at all; we must not deceive ourselves on this point.’[91] De Nivernois was out of health when he accepted the mission to England at the urgent instance of the King and of his old friend the Count de Choiseul, shortly afterwards created Duke de Praslin, and he never ceased to complain of his physical sufferings from the day he began to live in a climate that did not suit him. He had always hoped to leave ‘his little D’Eon’ in charge until de Guerchy’s nomination was officially notified. He trembled for that poor novice in politics when he thought of the difficulties he should experience in a country where people were far from being like ordinary men; for this envoy of an absolute monarch, puzzled and perplexed in all probability at the large distribution of political power in England, and the number of those who shared in the responsibilities of government, gave it as his opinion that to conduct negotiations in the country to which he had been accredited was nothing short of hard labour! We cannot resist quoting here, in their place, a few lines from a letter of de Praslin to his friend in London, which serve to expose, with what has already been said, the worth and honesty of purpose of the men who were directing the affairs of France. ‘You make me ill, my dear friend, in continually telling me that you are so.... it is true that we are both engaged in a calling that does not suit us; you will soon be out of it, and I assure you that I should be pleased had I a similar prospect.’[92] [Sidenote: THE DUKE DE PRASLIN’S SUSPICIONS.]