set you at
ease?'--'That is very true in reasoning,' said he; 'but the sentiment is
more prompt, and inspires me with fear before I have time to say to
myself all that is calculated to allay it.'"

I got her to repeat this conversation, and wrote it down immediately,
that I might not forget it.

An anonymous letter was addressed to the King and Madame de Pompadour;
and, as the author was very anxious that it should not miscarry, he sent
copies to the Lieutenant of Police, sealed and directed to the King, to
Madame de Pompadour, and to M. de Marigny. This letter produced a strong
impression on Madame, and on the King, and still more, I believe, on the
Duc de Choiseul, who had received a similar one. I went on my knees to
M. de Marigny, to prevail on him to allow me to copy it, that I might
show it to the Doctor. It is as follows:

"Sire--It is a zealous servant who writes to Your Majesty. Truth is
always better, particularly to Kings; habituated to flattery, they see
objects only under those colours most likely to please them. I have
reflected, and read much; and here is what my meditations have suggested
to me to lay before Your Majesty. They have accustomed you to be
invisible, and inspired you with a timidity which prevents you from
speaking; thus all direct communication is cut off between the master and
his subjects. Shut up in the interior of your palace, you are becoming
every day like the Emperors of the East; but see, Sire, their fate! 'I
have troops,' Your Majesty will say; such, also, is their support: but,
when the only security of a King rests upon his troops; when he is only,
as one may say, a King of the soldiers, these latter feel their own
strength, and abuse it. Your finances are in the greatest disorder, and
the great majority of states have perished through this cause. A
patriotic spirit sustained the ancient states, and united all classes for
the safety of their country. In the present times, money has taken the
place of this spirit; it has become the universal lever, and you are in
want of it. A spirit of finance affects every department of the state;
it reigns triumphant at Court; all have become venal; and all distinction
of rank is broken up. Your Ministers are without genius and capacity
since the dismissal of MM. d'Argenson and de Machault. You alone cannot
judge of their incapacity, because they lay before you what has been
prepared by skilful clerks, but which they pass as thei