"This is a fine manoeuvre; he knows well enough that, by means of that
dignity, he would compel the Ministers to assemble at his house, and then
M. l'Abbe would be the central point. Wherever there is a Cardinal in
the council, he is sure, in the end, to take the lead. Louis XIV., for
this reason, did not choose to admit the Cardinal de Janson into the
council, in spite of his great esteem for him. The Cardinal de Fleury
told me the same thing. He had some desire that the Cardinal de Tencin
should succeed him; but his sister was such an intrigante that Cardinal
de Fleury advised me to have nothing to do with the matter, and I behaved
so as to destroy all his hopes, and to undeceive others. M. d'Argenson
has strongly impressed me with the same opinion, and has succeeded in
destroying all my respect for him." This is what the King said,
according to my friend Quesnay, who, by the bye, was a great genius, as
everybody said, and a very lively, agreeable man. He liked to chat with
me about the country. I had been bred up there, and he used to set me a
talking about the meadows of Normandy and Poitou, the wealth of the
farmers, and the modes of culture. He was the best-natured man in the
world, and the farthest removed from petty intrigue. While he lived at
Court, he was much more occupied with the best manner of cultivating land
than with anything that passed around him. The man whom he esteemed the
most was M. de la Riviere, a Counsellor of Parliament, who was also
Intendant of Martinique; he looked upon him as a man of the greatest
genius, and thought him the only person fit for the financial department
of administration.

The Comtesse d'Estrades, who owed everything to Madame de Pompadour, was
incessantly intriguing against her. She was clever enough to destroy all
proofs of her manoeuvres, but she could not so easily prevent suspicion.
Her intimate connection with M. d'Argenson gave offence to Madame, and,
for some time, she was more reserved with her. She, afterwards, did a