became rich, he grew ashamed of the lowness of his birth, and anxious
above all things to be allied to nobility. He had a daughter, an
infant only three years of age, and he opened a negotiation with the
aristocratic and needy family of D'Oyse, that this child should, upon
certain conditions, marry a member of that house. The Marquis d'Oyse,
to his shame, consented, and promised to marry her himself on her
attaining the age of twelve, if the father would pay him down the sum
of a hundred thousand crowns, and twenty thousand livres every year,
until the celebration of the marriage. The Marquis was himself in his
thirty-third year. This scandalous bargain was duly signed and sealed,
the stockjobber furthermore agreeing to settle upon his daughter, on
the marriage-day, a fortune of several millions. The Duke of Brancas,
the head of the family, was present throughout the negotiation, and
shared in all the profits. St. Simon, who treats the matter with the
levity becoming what he thought so good a joke, adds, "that people did
not spare their animadversions on this beautiful marriage," and
further informs us, "that the project fell to the ground some months
afterwards by the overthrow of Law, and the ruin of the ambitious
Monsieur Andre." It would appear, however, that the noble family never
had the honesty to return the hundred thousand crowns.

Amid events like these, which, humiliating though they be, partake
largely of the ludicrous, others occurred of a more serious nature.
Robberies in the streets were of daily occurrence, in consequence of
the immense sums, in paper, which people carried about with them.
Assassinations were also frequent. One case in particular fixed the
attention of the whole of France, not only on account of the enormity
of the offence, but of the rank and high connexions of the criminal.

The Count d'Horn, a younger brother of the Prince d'Horn, and