Affixing his sanction
to two lines in a tragedy by Dorat had cost him twenty-four hours'
meditation within the walls of the Bastille; and for permitting
the representation of some opera (the name of which I forget) he
had been deprived of a pension of 2,000 francs; but, wedded to
the delights of his snug post, Marin always contrived, after
every storm, to find his way back to its safe harbor. He had
registered a vow never to resign the office of censor, but to keep
it in despite of danger and difficulty. I soon discovered that
he passed from the patronage of Lebel to that of Chamilly, and I
was not slow in conjecturing that he joined to his avocations of
censor and gazetteer that of purveyor to his majesty's
.
Spite of my indefatigable endeavors to render Louis XV happy and
satisfied with the pleasures of his own home, he would take
occasional wandering fits, and go upon the ramble, sometimes in
pursuit of a high-born dame, at others eager to obtain a poor and
simple ; and so long that the object of his fancy were
but new to him, it mattered little what were her claims to youth,
beauty, or rank in life. The marechale de Mirepoix frequently
said to me, "Do you know, my dear creature, that your royal
admirer is but a very fickle swain, who is playing the gay gallant
when he ought to be quietly seated at his own fireside. Have a
care, he is growing old, and his intellect becomes more feeble
each day; and what he would never have granted some few years
back, may be easily wrung from him now.
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