of the hotel of the Roman Antiquities.  Poitiers was therefore a place of happiness for him.  It was soon known in the town, that one of the shipwrecked persons from the raft, was within its walls; and during the whole day nothing was spoken of but that melancholy event.  Two persons, well known for their talents, and the high offices which they have filled, came to the relief of Mr. Correard:  both had been formerly exiled; they knew what misfortune was, and knew how to pity that of an unhappy man, who had just experienced such extraordinary hardships; they invited him to spend the whole of the fine season at their country houses; but desiring to reach Paris as soon as possible, he refused the generous offer that was made him, and after having rested three days at Poitiers, he left it by the diligence, and at last arrived in the capital.

On his arrival, his first step was directed by gratitude; he recollected the signal services which he had received from the English officers, during his abode at Saint Louis; and his heart urged him to enquire of the ambassador of that nation, if he had not received any intelligence respecting his benefactors.[58]

After he had thus discharged the duty which was imposed on him by their beneficence, he made all the necessary applications to the office of the Marine to obtain an employment in the capital.  He was answered that it was impossible, advising him to make an application for a situation in the colonies, particularly Cayenne.  Three months passed in useless solicitations to obtain this employment, as well as the decoration of the legion of honour, which he had been led to hope for.

During this time he neglected nothing which he thought might conduce to enable him to attain the object which he thought he might propose to himself without being accused of extravagant pretensions.  Excited by the advice of a great many persons, whose judgment, as well as their noble and generous sentiments, commanded implicit confidence, he resolved to go to the very fountain of favors, to carry into the royal palace the sight of his strange misfortune, to invoke that hereditary goodness, the bright patrimony of the Bourbons, which so many other unfortunate persons have not solicited in vain.  But the malignant influence of the adverse star, which so long persecuted Mr. Correard, doubtless continued to manifest itself here.  Neither he nor any other person will accuse the heart of the august personages to whom he addressed his petition; but whether timidity, the natural concomitant of misfortune, or a certain delicacy, hindered him from renewing his applications, for fear of seeming importunate, whether, as in the crowd of solicitors who surround princes, it is morally impossible that some should not be forgotten or less remarked, Mr. Correard’s ill-fortune placed him among this less favored number, or whether it be the effect of some other unknown adverse cause, he obtained on this side only vain hopes, as well as a just idea of the obstacles of every kind, with which the best princes are, as it were, surrounded without being conscious of it, and which keep back or turn aside the favor, which is always granted in their heart, just at the moment that it is on the point of being declared.