served his King so well, is paid.” You, also, were touched, and kindly replied: “I will make inquiries. I should be very glad to see that he is paid, but how is it to be done!” That same evening I left for England, and have remained crushed ever since under the burden of my debts.... It is no proof that my claims are groundless, because your predecessors failed to do me justice. They succeeded each other in office with such rapidity, as rarely to have had time to inquire into the many matters on hand, and it is precisely because they failed in their justice towards me, that I seek it at your hands.... Whether you be pleased or displeased, Monsieur le Duc, I will respectfully continue to appeal to your sense of justice ... and I will not cease to serve the King with my wonted zeal.... I respect your economy which is not disposed to pay my debts, but I have greater regard for your justice, which should pay them ... for mercy’s sake let me be paid my first expenses to Russia, that I may satisfy my creditors ...;’ then, defending himself against the charge of extravagance, he says: ‘Life and style of living in Paris is very different to what both are in London ... my accounts should be seen and examined.... I defy any housekeeper to find in my accounts a single item of useless expenditure of fifteen or twenty guineas throughout.... I have never been at the head of any house except that of my father, and in a twelvemonth it came to grief.... If you desire to know me, Monsieur le Duc, I tell you frankly that I am of use only for thinking, imagining, questioning, reflecting, comparing, reading, writing, or to run from east to west, from north to south, to fight on hill and dale. Had I lived in the time of Alexander or of Don Quixote, I should certainly have been Parmenion or Sancho Panza. If you remove me out of my element, I will squander the entire revenue of France in the course of a twelvemonth without committing a single folly, and afterwards present you with an able treatise on economy....’ One extract, I think, suffices as an illustration of the general character of de Guerchy’s letters to D’Eon:— ‘Jouy, September 4, 1763. ‘... The Duke de Nivernois informs me that he has lately written to you on the subject of your communication, having reference to the position to which chance has called you, and to your wishes therewith so soon as I shall have arrived in London.... I have shown the accounts you have sent to the Duke de Praslin ... we find the expenditure excessive, the half of my emoluments having been consumed ... nobody here expects you to keep up any state.... I do not approve of the numerous gratuities with which I am charged, and do not hold myself responsible for them....’ [Sidenote: PLENIPOTENTIARY _v._ AMBASSADOR.]