ld attend the King of England in the character of
ambassador had been the subject of grave deliberation at Versailles.
Barillon could not be passed over without a marked slight. But his
selfindulgent habits, his want of energy, and, above all, the credulity
with which he had listened to the professions of Sunderland, had made
an unfavourable impression on the mind of Lewis. What was to be done
in Ireland was not work for a trifler or a dupe. The agent of France in
that kingdom must be equal to much more than the ordinary functions of
an envoy. It would be his right and his duty to offer advice touching
every part of the political and military administration of the country
in which he would represent the most powerful and the most beneficent
of allies. Barillon was therefore passed over. He affected to bear his
disgrace with composure. His political career, though it had brought
great calamities both on the House of Stuart and on the House of
Bourbon, had been by no means unprofitable to himself. He was old, he
said: he was fat: he did not envy younger men the honour of living
on potatoes and whiskey among the Irish bogs; he would try to console
himself with partridges, with champagne, and with the society of the
wittiest men and prettiest women of Paris. It was rumoured, however that
he was tortured by painful emotions which he was studious to conceal:
his health and spirits failed; and he tried to find consolation in
religious duties. Some people were much edified by the piety of the old
voluptuary: but others attributed his death, which took place not long
after his retreat from public life, to shame and vexation, [168]

The Count of Avaux, whose sagacity had detected all the plans of
William, and who had vainly recommended a policy which would probably
have frustrated them, was the man on whom the choice of Lewis fell. In
abilities Avaux had no superior among the numerous able diplomatists
whom his country then possessed. His demeanour was singularly pleasing,
his person handsome, his temper bland. His manners and conversation
were those of a gentleman who had been bred in the most polite and
magnificent of all Courts, who had represented that Court both in
Roman Catholic and Protestant countries, and who had acquired in his
wanderings the art of catching the tone of any society into which
chance might throw him. He was eminently vigilant and adroit, fertile in
resources, and skilful in discovering the weak parts of a