_D’Eon’s Reply._ ‘London, September 25, 1763. ‘... I take the liberty of observing to you on the subject of _the position to which chance has called me_, that Solomon said a long time ago—everything here below was chance, opportunity, good luck, happiness, and misfortune, and that I am more than ever persuaded Solomon was a great preacher. I will modestly add that _the chance_ which gave the title of minister plenipotentiary to a man who has negotiated successfully during the past ten years, was in probability not one of the most mistaken. What has come to me by _chance_ might come to another by _good luck_. He who becomes a minister or ambassador by _chance_ can never countenance arrangements repugnant to himself, without giving but a poor idea of his heart and mind.... I am sorry that the expenditure should seem heavy, but it has been indispensable.... I appeal to ample written testimony to this effect ... there is a large staff here to be paid and boarded at the expense of the coming ambassador ... the _chance_ which created me a minister should have been at the same time charitable enough to guarantee to me some kind of condition, because a minister who keeps no state is a being that has never existed.... I have been obliged to assume to myself certain state, just as all bodies take position according to respective gravitation. Not feeling the least remorse, I must be proof against reproach.... A man, no matter who, can only form an estimate of himself, even so far as his opinion goes, by comparing himself to one or more other men. There are several proverbs which serve to prove the truth of this. It is commonly said: _He is as stupid as any thousand—he is as wicked as any four—he is as shabby as any ten—men._ This is the only scale by which we can be guided, except in certain cases where men measure themselves by women. An ambassador, no matter who, may be worth half a man, a whole man, twenty, a thousand, or ten thousand men. It is necessary to determine how a minister plenipotentiary, who is a captain of dragoons, and has completed ten political campaigns (without counting campaigns in the field), stands relatively to an ambassador who is a lieutenant-general, and is making his début. Admitting proportions to be one to ten, the assessment would always be in favour of the minister plenipotentiary, papers being at hand, C.Q.F.D. Everybody will understand that domestics, horses, and secretaries have consumed and continue to consume the same amount of food under the management of the Plenipotentiary D’Eon as under that of the Duke de Nivernois. They have remained ever since under the same sky and with an equally good appetite.... There are occasions upon which gratuities must be distributed....