were related. "How?" asked the duke. "Sir, by Adam."
"Give this man a penny," said the duke, turning to a
gentleman of his train; "and if all of his relations give
him as much he will soon be a richer man than I am."

If our readers will turn to "Joe Miller," Page 45, they will
find this jest attributed to the witty duke of Buckingham.
It is a very good joke for a duke, but savors more of a
desire to be witty than to be charitable. (translator)

This tale amused the king, and M. de Richelieu assured him that he had
never told it before. A thousand considerations had induced him to keep
it to himself until the present time. "But now," said he, "the third
generation of madame l'intendante is no longer young, and I have no fear
of being called out to fight a duel."

Next day there was a general rumor of my presentation. My friends
asserted that I had the king's promise. This was imprudent on their
part, and they injured my interest whilst they flattered my vanity. They
put the Choiseul cabal to work, who intrigued so well that not a person
could be found who would perform the office of introductress. You
know the custom: the presentation is effected by the intermediation of
another lady, who conducts the person to be presented to the princesses,
and introduces her. This custom had passed into a law, and it would have
been too humiliating to me to have dispensed with it.

This was a dire blow for me: it distressed me sadly, and I wept over it
with my friends. The duc de Richelieu said to me,

"With money and promises everything can be managed at court. There is no
place where they know better how to value complaisance, and the price at
which it is sold. Do not give yourself any uneasiness; we shall find the
lady we want."

And we did find her, but her compliance was dearly bought. Two ladies
who were applied to stipulated for most outrageous conditions. One, the
marquise de Castellane, consented to present me, but demanded that she
should be created a duchess, and have a gift of five hundred thousand
livres: the other, whose name I forget, asked for her husband the order
of the Holy Ghost and a government, a regiment for her son, and for
herself I forget what. These ladies seemed to think, like Don Quixote
and Sancho Panza, that governments and five hundred thousand livres
were to be picked up on the highway. In truth, they spoke out without
disguise.

At this juncture the chance