[44] It was drawn more briefly by the rude daring of the "esprit gaulois." Among the caricatures which accompanied his fall, we find—
"Sixty thousand livres reward!
Lost, between the Rue St. Antoine and the Palais Royal or the Palais des Tuileries an old black dog with a red collar" (the cordon rouge of the order of St. Louis), "who was to be seen about the neighbourhood. Anyone returning the same will receive the above reward. Apply the Abbey of La Madeleine de Traisnel, in the Faubourg St. Antoine" (Buvat, II. p. 102: cf. Marais, I. p. 320).
[45] St. Simon, XVII. p. 102.
[46] "Le ministère gêné et passager:" Voltaire, "Siècle de Louis XIV.," Édit. Garnier, XIV. p. 503.
[47] Marais, II. p. 128.
[48] Journal (Rathery), I. p. 23.
[49] It is a little perplexing to find this incident related under date 1718. It is clear from the tone of the passage that d'Argenson is little more than a boy, without ordinary official experience, and by no means a man of twenty four, on the eve of receiving an Intendancy. Suspicions of the date are confirmed by the fact that for only twenty-seven days of the year 1718 was his father Chief of Police at all. The incident probably occurred some time between 1712, when he appears to have left school, and 1716, when his public career began. A mistake of the kind might naturally arise, as the earlier part of the Journal was not written until long after the events recorded—probably about 1730.
[50] Journal (Rathery), I. p. 18.
[51] His mother's ideas in this matter seem to have followed the liberality of the prevailing fashion. In an unsigned letter to Madame d'Argenson's sister, the Marquise de Balleroy, we come across the following passage: