In my time epigrammatists and poetasters who assailed ministers or even
the king's mistresses were sent to the Bastille, but the wits still
persisted in being amusing, and there were some who considered a jest
incomplete that was not followed by a prosecution. A man whose name I
have forgotten--a great lover of notoriety--appropriated the following
verses by the younger Crebellon and went to the Bastille rather than
disown them.

"All the world's upside down!
Jupiter has donned the gown--the King.
Venus mounts the council stair--the Pompadour.
Plutus trifles with the fair--M. de Boulogne.
Mercury in mail is drest--Marechal de Richelieu.
Mighty Mars has turned a priest--the Duc de Clermont, abbe of
St. Germain-des-pres."

Crebillon, who was not the sort of man to conceal his writings, told the
Duc de Choiseul that he had written some verses exactly like these, but
that it was possible the prisoner had been inspired with precisely the
same ideas. This jest was applauded, and the author of "The Sofa" was let
alone.

Cardinal de Bernis passed ten years in exile, 'procul negotiis', but he
was not happy, as he told me himself when I knew him in Rome fifteen
years afterwards. It is said that it is better to be a minister than a
king--an, opinion which seems ridiculous when it is analyzed. The
question is, which is the better, independence or its contrary. The axiom
may possibly be verified in a despotic government under an absurd, weak,
or careless king who serves as a mere mask for his master the minister;
but in all other cases it is an absurdity.