but utterly incapable of understanding them--consequently a dupe in
friendship, in business, in everything; governed by all who could manage
to win his admiration, or on very slight grounds could claim his
affection. His capacity was small, and yet he believed he knew
everything, which was the more pitiable, as all this came to him with his
places, and arose more from stupidity than presumption--not at all from
vanity, of which he was divested. The most remarkable thing is that the
chief origin of the King's tender regard for him was this very
incapacity. He used to confess it to the King at every opportunity; and
the King took pleasure in directing and instructing him, so that he was
interested in his successes as if they had been his own, and always
excused him. The world and the Court excused him also, charmed by the
facility with which he received people, the pleasure he felt in granting
requests and rendering services, the gentleness and regretfulness of his
refusals, and his indefatigable patience as a listener. His memory was
so great that he remembered all matters submitted to him, which gave
pleasure to people who were afraid of being forgotten. He wrote
excellently; and his clear, flowing, and precise style was extremely
pleasing to the King and Madame de Maintenon, who were never weary of
praising him, encouraging him, and congratulating themselves for having
placed upon such weak shoulders two burdens, each of which was sufficient
to overwhelm the most sturdy.

Rose, secretary in the King's cabinet, died, aged about eighty-six, at
the commencement of the year 1701. For nearly fifty years he had held
the office of the "pen," as it is called. To have the "pen," is to be a
public forger, and to do what would cost anybody else his life. This
office consists in imitating so exactly the handwriting of the King; that
the real cannot be distinguished from the counterfeit. In this manner
are written all the letters that the King ought or wishes to write with
his own hand, but which, nevertheless, he will not take the trouble to
write. Sovereigns and people of high rank, even generals and others of
importance, employ a secretary of this kind. It is not possible to make
a great King speak with more dignity than did Rose; nor with more fitness
to each person, and upon every subject. The King signed all the letters
Rose wrote, and the characters were so alike it was impossible to find
the smallest difference.