Boucherat, chancellor and keeper of the seals, died on the 2nd of September.  Harlay, as I have previously said, had been promised this appointment when it became vacant.  But the part he had taken in our case with M. de Luxembourg had made him so lose ground, that the appointment was not given to him.  M. de la Rochefoucauld, above all, had undermined him in the favour of the King; and none of us had lost an opportunity of assisting in this work.  Our joy, therefore, was extreme when we saw all Harlay’s hopes frustrated, and we did not fail to let it burst forth.  The vexation that Harlay conceived was so great, that he became absolutely intractable, and often cried out with a bitterness he could not contain, that he should be left to die in the dust of the palace.  His weakness was such, that he could not prevent himself six weeks after from complaining to the King at Fontainebleau, where he was playing the valet with his accustomed suppleness and deceit.  The King put him off with fine speeches, and by appointing him to take part in a commission then sitting for the purpose of bringing about a reduction in the price of corn in Paris and the suburbs, where it had become very dear.  Harlay made a semblance of being contented, but remained not the less annoyed.  His health and his head were at last so much attacked that he was forced to quit his post:  he then fell into contempt after having excited so much hatred.  The chancellorship was given to Pontchartrain, and the office of comptroller-general, which became vacant at the same time, was given to Chamillart; a very honest man, who owed his first advancement to his skill at billiards, of which game the King was formerly very fond.  It was while Chamillart was accustomed to play billiards with the King, at least three times a week, that an incident happened which ought not to be forgotten.  Chamillart was Counsellor of the Parliament at that time.  He had just reported on a case that had been submitted to him.  The losing party came to him, and complained that he had omitted to bring forward a document that had been given into his hands, and that would assuredly have turned the verdict.  Chamillart searched for the document, found it, and saw that the complainer was right.  He said so, and added, —­“I do not know how the document escaped me, but it decides in your favour.  You claimed twenty thousand francs, and it is my fault you did not get them.  Come to-morrow, and I will pay you.”  Chamillart, although then by no means rich, scraped together all the money he had, borrowing the rest, and paid the man as he had promised, only demanding that the matter should be kept a secret.  But after this, feeling that billiards three times a week interfered with his legal duties, he surrendered part of them, and thus left himself more free for other charges he was obliged to attend to.