[CONTENTS.]
I.
1630-1721.
| A friend of Richelieu and Mazarin, | [10] |
| A hapless ambassador, | [11] |
| A great chief of the Parisian police, | [14] |
II.
1694-1724.
| A man of the world who can count his conquests, | [23] |
| Schooldays: emancipation, | [24] |
| Death of Louis XIV.: a retrospect, | [26] |
| Entry into public life: relations with his father, | [28] |
| Director of the Press, | [30] |
| In battle with the Parlement against the schemes of Law, | [31] |
| In the Rue Quincampoix, | [33] |
| Law arrested by d'Argenson, Intendant of Valenciennes, | [34] |
| A dutiful correspondent: Madame de Balleroy, | [35] |
| Appearance of "Mon Frère": relations of the brothers, | [37] |
| The Abbé de St. Pierre, | [40] |
| The work of an Intendant, | [42] |
| Difficulties: a "Partie Carrée," | [43] |
| D'Argenson's resignation: its consequences, | [45] |
| A judgment of his character, | [48] |
III.
1724-1744.
| Bolingbroke in exile: the "Club de l'Entresol," | [55] |
| An active member, | [57] |
| "Un café d'honnêtes gens," | [58] |
| Cardinal Fleury and the Entresol, | [59] |
| The society suppressed, | [60] |
| A political aspirant, | [61] |
| Keen interest in the ecclesiastical quarrels, | [62] |
| D'Argenson, and Chauvelin's opinion of him, | [65] |
| Disadvantages: an embarrassed patron, | [66] |
| Political disappointments, | [70] |
| Relations with his wife, | [71] |
| D'Argenson and the fall of Chauvelin: a keen regret, | [74] |
| Appointed Ambassador to Portugal, | [77] |
| Six years of expectancy and intrigue, | [78] |
| Fleury and the Portuguese Embassy, | [79] |
| D'Argenson joins the Court opposition, | [80] |
| At feud with the Cardinal, | [82] |
| The weight of his indictment, | [85] |
| D'Argenson and Voltaire, | [87] |
| Their correspondence: literary quarrels, | [88] |
| "The best and most instructive work that I have read for twenty years," | [89] |
| The Prince Royal of Prussia, | [91] |