him into the ministry, he succeeded at last in getting him named
Comptroller-General and President of the Council.--[Comte de Brienne,
later Archbishop of Sens.]

This Abbe de Vermond directed almost all the Queen's actions. He
established his influence over her at an age when impressions are most
durable; and it was easy to see that he had taken pains only to render
himself beloved by his pupil, and had troubled himself very little with
the care of instructing her. He might have even been accused of having,
by a sharp-sighted though culpable policy, purposely left her in
ignorance. Marie Antoinette spoke the French language with much grace,
but wrote it less perfectly. The Abbe de Vermond revised all the letters
which she sent to Vienna. The insupportable folly with which he boasted
of it displayed the character of a man more flattered at being admitted
into her intimate secrets than anxious to fulfil worthily the high office
of her preceptor.

[The Abbe de Vermond encouraged the impatience of etiquette shown by Marie
Antoinette while she was Dauphiness. When she became Queen he endeavoured
openly to induce her to shake off the restraints she still respected. If
he chanced to enter her apartment at the time she was preparing to go out,
"For whom," he would say, in a tone of raillery, "is this detachment of
warriors which I found in the court? Is it some general going to inspect
his army? Does all this military display become a young Queen adored by
her subjects?" He would call to her mind the simplicity with which Maria
Theresa lived; the visits she made without guards, or even attendants, to
the Prince d'Esterhazy, to the Comte de Palfi, passing whole days far from
the fatiguing ceremonies of the Court. The Abbe thus artfully flattered
the inclinations of Marie Antoinette, and showed her how she might
disguise, even from herself, her aversion for the ceremonies observed by