by the death of Cardinal de la Tremoille, Dubois conceived the hope of obtaining it.  “Impudent as he was,” says St. Simon, “great as was the sway he had acquired over his master, he found himself very much embarrassed, and masked his effrontery by ruse; he told the Duke of Orleans that he had dreamed a funny dream, that he was Archbishop of Cambrai.  The Regent, who saw what he was driving at, answered him in a tone of contempt, ’Thou, Archbishop of Cambrai! thou hast no thought of such a thing?’ And the other persisting, he bade him think of all the scandal of his life.  Dubois had gone too far to stop on so fine a road, and quoted to him precedents, of which there were, unfortunately, only too many.  The Duke of Orleans, less moved by such bad reasons than put to it how to resist the suit of a man whom he was no longer wont to dare gainsay in anything, sought to get out of the affair.  ’Why! who would consecrate thee?’ ‘Ah! if that’s all,’ replied Dubois, cheerfully, ’the thing is done.  I know well who will consecrate me; but is that all, once more?’ ‘Well! who?’ asked the Regent.  ’Your premier almoner; there he is, outside; he will ask nothing better.’  And he embraces the legs of the Duke of Orleans,—­who remains stuck and caught without having the power to refuse,—­goes out, draws aside the Bishop of Nantes, tells him that he himself has got Cambrai, begs him to consecrate him,—­who promises immediately,—­comes in again, capers, returns thanks, sings praises, expresses wonder, seals the matter more and more surely by reckoning it done, and persuading the Regent that it is so, who never dared say no.  That is how Dubois made himself Archbishop of Cambrai.”

He was helped, it is said, by a strange patron.  Destouches, charge d’affaires in London, who was kept well informed by Dubois, went to see George I., requesting him to write to the Regent, recommending to him the negotiator of the treaties.  The king burst out laughing.  “How can you ask a Protestant prince,” said he, “to mix himself up with the making of an archbishop in France?  The Regent will laugh at the idea, as I do, and will do nothing of the sort.”  “Pardon me, sir,” rejoined Destouches, “he will laugh, but he will do it, first out of regard for your Majesty, and then because he will think it a good joke.  I beseech your Majesty to be pleased to sign the letter I have here already written.”  King George signed, and the adroit Dubois became Archbishop of Cambrai.  He even succeeded in being consecrated, not only by the Bishop of Nantes, but also by Cardinal Rohan and by Massillon, one of the glories of the French episcopate, a timid man and a poor one, in despite of his pious eloquence.  The Regent, as well as the whole court, was present at the ceremony, to the great scandal of the people attached to religion.  Dubois received all the orders on the same day; and, when he was joked about it, he brazen-facedly called to mind the precedent of St. Ambrose.  Dubois henceforth cast his eyes upon the cardinal’s hat, and his negotiations at Rome were as brisk as those of Alberoni had but lately been with the same purpose.