"I replied, with all possible civility, that I was certainly indebted to him for his kind advice, though it was not just then in my power to follow it. I assured him that he had formed an unfair opinion of my friend; that our purses and our very lives were common to each other; that our friendship and intimacy were indissoluble; that we had vowed to live and die together, and that nothing could induce us to break that vow. It was altogether a truly comic scene.
"Some time afterwards I was dining at the table of a Prince: I was seated beside my illustrious host, and wore a uniform covered with lace. The member of the Institute was one of the guests. Surprise and embarrassment were portrayed in his countenance. I spoke to him several times; but he always drew close to his neighbours, whispering to them, and apparently making enquiries. After dinner, he came up to me, and very good-humouredly begged me to relieve him from his perplexity. He said that he perfectly recollected having had the honour of meeting me before, but that he was quite at a loss to comprehend the trick that I had played upon him. I disclaimed any intention of hoaxing him. ‘All that you have seen,’ said I, ‘and all that I have told you, is nothing but reality and truth. The mystery is easily solved. You then saw M. Le Sage who supplies the talent, and you now see M. Le Comte who provides the funds. You now understand how histories are written, and I have learned how reports are made out.’
“An equally ridiculous mistake procured for M. Le Sage in the famous Yellow Dwarf, the honour of being set down as a Weathercock, in quality of genealogist of the order under the humorous name of Parvulus Sapiens (Little Le Sage). For this favour, as I afterwards learned, I was indebted to the suppression that was made during the King’s reign of the genealogy of your Majesty, whose descent I was supposed to have traced from Æneas and Ascanuis. It is difficult to conceive what could have been meant by all this, as there was nothing in the Atlas that could either directly or indirectly have suggested such an idea. However, at all the various times at which the Atlas and its author were assailed, numerous zealous and fervent partisans enquired whether I would be pleased to permit them to take up my defence. I invariably desired that the subject might be dropped; I conceived that, by thus occupying public attention, I should surely endanger my own tranquillity. I smiled at the ill-natured attacks that were made on poor M. Le Sage; but I should have been very sorry to have seen them extended to his alias.
“If however my Atlas enjoyed this general and extensive success, it certainly deserved it. The work is indeed adapted to every age, to every country, to every period; it is suited to all opinions, classes and plans of education. It is an assistant to him who wishes to learn, and a remembrancer to him who has learned. It is a guide to the scholar and an illustrator to the master. It embraces chronology, history, geography, politics, &c. To those who understand it, and know how to use it, it may be truly said to compose a whole library in itself. It is the vade mecum of the pupil and the tutor, of the scholar and the man of business.
“Thus it had an immediate sale, and never, I imagine, did any literary work prove so productive to its author. On its first appearance, the daily subscriptions frequently amounted to 2 or 300 louis. During the period when I personally superintended the publication, I calculated that the receipts constituted a yearly income of at least 60 or 80,000 francs. It procured me a fortune. I had no other, for the Revolution had deprived me of my patrimony, which I had afterwards no hope of recovering; for I had been obliged to renounce it upon oath, before I could be permitted to set foot on the French territory.
“There[“There] have been published 8 or 10,000 copies of my Atlas in various editions; and their sale has thrown into circulation 8 or 900,000, perhaps a million of francs, out of which there has been a clear profit of 300,000 francs now in my hands. This constitutes my whole fortune, for I possess nothing that has not arisen out of my Atlas, and that may not be included in its accounts. On my departure from Europe, the sum of 150,000 francs was due to me in outstanding debts, either good or bad; and I possessed a collection of books obtained by exchange, worth 200,000 francs; which being divided into lots of 1000 crowns each, and exported to foreign countries, seemed to promise certain returns. But, unfortunately, out of all this brilliant produce, I can now only reckon upon what I have already in my hands; the rest is involved in so many chances that I cannot but consider it as lost. I have no agent in Europe to manage my affairs, for I had not time to make arrangements for that purpose; and the details are so numerous, scattered, and diversified, that I could not possibly give any one a clue to follow. The outstanding debts are growing old; some of my debtors are dead, some have left the country, and as for the books, they are mostly scattered about, spoiled, and lost.
“At one time my work was on the point of ensuring to me the possession of a brilliant fortune; but my prospects were defeated by the vilest shuffling. The details of this case are so curious that I cannot forbear mentioning them to your Majesty.
“At the commencement of the year 1813, two merchants, who had discovered that I was the author of Le Sage’s Historical Atlas, called on me, and offered, if I would supply them with two millions’ worth of copies, to pay me immediately at the rate of 20 per cent. in ready money, and to convey the books gratis to London, where they should still be my property and should remain at my disposal. I stared at this—I could not conceive what was meant, and suspected that the merchants were hoaxing me. They, on the other hand, sought to explain themselves, by saying that the offer was made for the sake of procuring licences, an affair with which they found I was totally unacquainted. On repeating this conversation to a friend, I afterwards learned that the vessels which were licensed to sail to England, to bring home colonial goods, could not leave France without exporting goods equal in nominal value to their intended importation. Books were included among the allowable objects of exportation, and the merchants sought to obtain a light freight and a high price, which, at little expense, would entitle them to a considerable importation. My Atlas was admirably calculated for this kind of speculation. However, before I entered into any agreement, I consulted the Director General of Customs, and the President of the Committee of Exportation, by whom I was informed that the thing was perfectly legal. With this assurance I immediately set to work. I entered upon one of the most curious speculations that can possibly be conceived. Only a brief interval was allowed me for making the necessary preparations. One hundred forms in folio were distributed among thirty of the principal printing offices in Paris; and from that moment the presses were kept at work without intermission. All the vellum paper of a certain size was bought up, and it daily increased in price until it reached upwards of 100 per cent. Such a general bustle prevailed among all the printers in Paris as to alarm the police, until the affair was fully investigated and explained. I afforded employment either directly or indirectly to between 300 and 400 hands. At the expiration of one-and-twenty days I was to be ready with the two millions[millions] worth of copies of the Atlas, and was to receive 400,000 francs in ready money. I was perhaps the only individual in the world who could have engaged in such a speculation; for by a singular chance, I had kept all my forms ready composed by purchasing the types at a vast expense. I was now reaping the fruits of ten years’ industry and expenditure. This was truly a prize in the lottery. I was mad with joy at my unexpected good fortune. But alas! I was building on a sandy foundation, and I was doomed to pay dearly for the few happy moments of my illusion.
“The cynical M. de P——, the Director General of the bookselling trade, who was my colleague in the Council of State, seemed bent on my ruin, though I was unable to divine the cause of his animosity. While he was giving me every assurance of his readiness to serve me, he was, in an underhand way straining every nerve to injure me; and was exciting against me all the most active booksellers, whom he had induced to become the agents of his operations. Of these facts I can entertain no doubt; for the letters secretly written on this subject by P.... were confidentially communicated to me; but motives of delicacy forbid my taking the satisfaction of reproaching him with his baseness.
“He first of all intimated to me that the sheets of my Atlas could not be carried out of France, because the law permitted the exportation of books only. I then enquired whether books in sheets were suffered to be exported; and, on receiving an answer in the affirmative, I observed that my sheets must be considered merely as unbound books. M. de P.... then declared that the favour granted by the Emperor could be extended only to booksellers and not to authors; but M. de Montalivet, the Minister of the Interior, objected to this partiality and silenced M. de P..... The latter then asserted that the price of my sheets had been considerably encreased; but it was proved by reference to two hundred advertisements inserted in the Journals during the last ten years, that the price had never varied. He next alluded to the intrinsic value of the work, and affirmed that what I sold for 100 sous did not cost me more than five or six, and started many other difficulties of an equally absurd kind. Meanwhile time was flying; the ships were taking in their freights, the advantages offered by the owners were diminishing, the arbitrary valuations of the committees arrived, and I, who had persevered in my operations in spite of every difficulty, now found myself involved in a thousand anxieties and vexations, and thought myself happy in escaping absolute ruin, and being able to recover my expenses, which exceeded 80,000 francs.”