“He is not the god of wealth by any means.  I have no money and no room, and I shall be glad of a supper, if you will ask me.  I will read you my play, the ‘Cercle’, which has been accepted.  I am sure it will be successful?”

The ‘Cercle’ was a short prose play, in which the poet satirised the jargon of Dr. Herrenschwand, brother of the doctor I had consulted at Soleure.  The play proved to be a great success.

I took Poinsinet home to supper, and the poor nursling of the muses ate for four.  In the morning he came to tell me that the Countess of Lismore expected me to supper.

I found the lady, still pretty, in company with her aged lover, M. de St. Albin, Archbishop of Cambrai, who spent all the revenues of his see on her.  This worthy prelate was one of the illegitimate children of the Duc d’Orleans, the famous Regent, by an actress.  He supped with us, but he only opened his mouth to eat, and his mistress only spoke of her son, whose talents she lauded to the skies, though he was in reality a mere scamp; but I felt in duty bound to echo what she said.  It would have been cruel to contradict her.  I promised to let her know if I saw anything more of him.

Poinsinet, who was hearthless and homeless, as they say, spent the night in my room, and in the morning I gave him two cups of chocolate and some money wherewith to get a lodging.  I never saw him again, and a few years after he was drowned, not in the fountain of Hippocrene, but in the Guadalquivir.  He told me that he had spent a week with M. de Voltaire, and that he had hastened his return to Paris to obtain the release of the Abbe Morellet from the Bastile.

I had nothing more to do at Paris, and I was only waiting for some clothes to be made and for a cross of the order, with which the Holy Father had decorated me, to be set with diamonds and rubies.

I had waited for five or six days when an unfortunate incident obliged me to take a hasty departure.  I am loth to write what follows, for it was all my own fault that I was nearly losing my life and my honour.  I pity those simpletons who blame fortune and not themselves for their misfortunes.

I was walking in the Tuileries at ten o’clock in the morning, when I was unlucky enough to meet the Dangenancour and another girl.  This Dangenancour was a dancer at the opera-house, whom I had desired to meet previously to my last departure from Paris.  I congratulated myself on the lucky chance which threw her in my way, and accosted her, and had not much trouble in inducing her to dine with me at Choisi.

We walked towards the Pont-Royal, where we took a coach.  After dinner had been ordered we were taking a turn in the garden, when I saw a carriage stop and two adventurers whom I knew getting out of it, with two girls, friends of the ones I had with me.  The wretched landlady, who was standing at the door, said that if we liked to sit down together she could give us an excellent dinner, and I said