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Monseigneur had one truly noble idea of general public

business, which was, to let everything go on its own way; of

particular public business, Monseigneur had the other truly noble

idea that it must all go his waytend to his own power and pocket.

Of his pleasures, general and particular, Monseigneur had the

other truly noble idea, that the world was made for them. The text

of his order (altered from the original by only a pronoun, which is

not much) ran: “The earth and the fullness thereof are mine, saith

Monseigneur.”

Yet, Monseigneur had slowly found that vulgar

embarrassments crept into his affairs, both private and public; and

he had, as to both classes of affairs, allied himself perforce with a

Farmer-General. As to finances public, because Monseigneur

could not make anything at all of them, and must consequently let

them out to somebody who could; as to finances private, because

Farmer-Generals were rich, and Monseigneur, after generations of

great luxury and expense, was growing poor. Hence Monseigneur

had taken his sister from a convent, while there was yet time to

ward off the impending veil, the cheapest garment she could wear,

and had bestowed her as a prize upon a very rich Farmer-General,

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poor in family. Which Farmer-General, carrying an appropriate

cane with a golden apple