only lasted for forty years, and it is not likely that any treaty will
last longer between two courts so essentially opposed to one another.

The Abbe de Bernis was created minister for foreign affairs some time
after the ratification of the treaty; three years after he re-established
the parliament, became a cardinal, was disgraced, and finally sent to
Rome, where he died. 'Mors ultimo linea rerum est'.

Affairs fell out as I had foreseen, for nine months after he left Venice
he conveyed to M---- M---- the news of his recall, though he did it in the
most delicate manner. Nevertheless, M---- M---- felt the blow so severely
that she would very possibly have succumbed, had I not been preparing her
for it in every way I could think of M. de Bernis sent me all
instructions.

He directed that all the contents of the casino should be sold and the
proceeds given to M---- M----, with the exception of the books and prints
which the housekeeper was ordered to bring to Paris. It was a nice
breviary for a cardinal, but would to God they had nothing worse!

Whilst M---- M---- abandoned herself to grief I carried out the orders of
M. de Bernis, and by the middle of January we had no longer a casino. She
kept by her two thousand sequins and her pearls, intending to sell them
later on to buy herself an annuity.

We were now only able to see each other at the grating; and soon, worn
with grief, she fell dangerously ill, and on the 2nd of February I
recognized in her features the symptoms of approaching death. She sent me
her jewel-case, with all her diamonds and nearly all her money, all the
scandalous books she possessed, and all her letters, telling me that if