mpadour was so charmed with his generosity, that
she gave him a richly enamelled snuff-box as a token of her regard, on the
lid of which was beautifully painted a portrait of Socrates, or some other
Greek sage, to whom she compared him. He was not only lavish to the
mistresses, but to the maids. Madame du Hausset says: "The count came to
see Madame du Pompadour, who was very ill, and lay on the sofa. He shewed
her diamonds enough to furnish a king's treasury. Madame sent for me to
see all those beautiful things. I looked at them with an air of the utmost
astonishment; but I made signs to her that I thought them all false. The
count felt for something in a pocket-book about twice as large as a
spectacle-case, and at length drew out two or three little paper packets,
which he unfolded, and exhibited a superb ruby. He threw on the table,
with a contemptuous air, a little cross of green and white stones. I
looked at it, and said it was not to be despised. I then put it on, and
admired it greatly. The count begged me to accept it; I refused. He urged
me to take it. At length he pressed so warmly, that madame, seeing it
could not be worth more than a thousand livres, made me a sign to accept
it. I took the cross, much pleased with the count's politeness."

How the adventurer obtained his wealth remains a secret. He could not have
made it all by the sale of his _elixir vitae_ in Germany, though no doubt
some portion of it was derived from that source. Voltaire positively says
he was in the pay of foreign governments; and in his letter to the King of
Prussia, dated the 5th of April 1758, says that he was initiated in all
the secrets of Choiseul, Kaunitz, and Pitt. Of what use he could be to any
of those ministers, and to Choiseul especially, is a mystery of mysteries.

There appears no doubt that he possessed the secret of removing spots from
diamonds; and in all probability he gained considerable sums by buying at
inferior prices such as had flaws in them, and afterwards disposing of
them at a profit of cent per cent. Madame du Hausset relates the following
anecdote on this particular: "The king," says she, "ordered a
middling-sized diamond, which had a flaw in it, to be brought to him.
After having it weighed, his majesty said to the count, 'The value of this
diamond as it is, and with the flaw in it, is six thousand livres; without
the flaw, it would be worth at least ten thousand. Will you undertake to
make me a gainer of fo