8478. TOULOUSE (Archbishop of), Influence with Queen.—
It may not be uninstructive
to give you the origin and nature of
his influence with the Queen [Marie Antoinette].
When the Duke de Choiseul proposed
the marriage of the Dauphin with this lady,
he thought it proper to send a person to Vienna
to perfect her in the language. He asked his
friend, the Archbishop of Toulouse, to recommend
to him a proper person. He recommended
a certain abbé. The abbé, from his first
arrival in Vienna, either tutored by his patron,
or prompted by gratitude, impressed on the
Queen's mind the exalted talents and merit of
the Archbishop, and continually represented him
as the only man fit to be placed at the helm of
affairs. On his return to Paris. being retained
near the person of the Queen, he kept him constantly
in her view. The Archbishop was
named of the Assemblée des Notables, had occasion
enough there to prove his talents, and
Count de Vergennes, his great enemy, dying
opportunely, the Queen got him into place. He
uses the abbé even yet for instilling all his notions
into her mind.—
To John Jay. Washington ed. ii, 310.
Ford ed., iv, 463.
(P.
1787)
