of Mazarin. On his death, Louis XIV. and the court appeared in
mourning, an honour not common, though Henry IV. had shewn it to the
memory of Gabrielle d'Estrees. Voltaire, who appears unwilling to
ascribe much ability to the cardinal, takes an opportunity, on
occasion of his death, to make the following observation.
--"We cannot refrain from combating the opinion, which supposes
prodigious abilities, and a genius almost divine, in those who have
governed empires with some degree of success. It is not a superior
penetration that makes statesmen; it is their character. All men,
how inconsiderable soever their share of sense may be, see their own
interest nearly alike. A citizen of Bern or Amsterdam, in this
respect, is equal to Sejanus, Ximenes, Buckingham, Richelieu, or
Mazarin; but our conduct and our enterprises depend absolutely on
our natural dispositions, and our success depends upon fortune."
Age of Louis XIV., chap. 5.]

His avidity to heap up riches was not alone confined to the thousand
different means, with which he was furnished by his authority, and the
situation in which he was placed: his whole pursuit was gain: he was
naturally fond of gaming; but he only played to enrich himself, and
therefore, whenever he found an opportunity, he cheated.

As he found the Chevalier de Grammont possessed a great deal of wit, and
a great deal of money, he was a man according to his wishes, and soon
became one of his set. The Chevalier soon perceived the artfulness and
dishonesty of the Cardinal, and thought it was allowable in him to put in
practice those talents which he had received from nature, not only in his
own defence, but even to attack him whenever an opportunity offered.
This would certainly be the place to mention these particulars; but who
can describe them with such ease and elegance as maybe expected by those