d'Ivernois in the office of attorney-general, made every effort todefend me.Colonel Pury, although a private individual, did more,and succeeded better.It was the colonel who found means to makeMontmollin submit in his Consistory, by keeping the elders to theirduty.He had credit, and employed it to stop the sedition; but hehad nothing more than the authority of the laws, and the aid ofjustice and reason, to oppose to that of money and wine: the combatwas unequal, and in this point Montmollin was triumphant.However,thankful for his zeal and cares, I wished to have it in my power tomake him a return of good offices, and in some measure discharge apart of the obligations I was under to him.I knew he was verydesirous of being named a counselor of state; but having displeasedthe court by his conduct in the affair of the minister Petitpierre, hewas in disgrace with the prince and governor.I however undertook,at all risks, to write to the lord marshal in his favor: I went so faras even to mention the employment of which he was desirous, and myapplication was so well received that, contrary to the expectations ofhis most ardent well wishers, it was almost instantly conferred uponhim by the king.In this manner fate, which has constantly raised meto too great an elevation, or plunged me into an abyss of adversity,continued to toss me from one extreme to another, and whilst thepopulace covered me with mud I was able to make a counselor of state.
The other pleasing circumstance was a visit I received from Madam deVerdelin with her daughter, with whom she had been at the baths ofBourbonne, whence they came to Motiers and stayed with me two or threedays.By her attention and cares, she at length conquered my longrepugnancy; and my heart, won by her endearing manner, made her areturn of all the friendship of which she had long given me proofs.
This journey made me extremely sensible of her kindness: mysituation rendered the consolations of friendship highly necessaryto support me under my sufferings.I was afraid she would be toomuch affected by the insults I received from the populace, and couldhave wished to conceal them from her that her feelings might not behurt, but this was impossible; and although her presence was somecheck upon the insolent populace in our walks, she saw enough of theirbrutality to enable her to judge of what passed when I was alone.
During the short residence she made at Motiers, I was still attackedin my habitation.One morning her chambermaid found my windowblocked up with stones, which had been thrown at it during thenight.A very heavy bench placed in the street by the side of thehouse, and strongly fastened down, was taken up and reared against thedoor in such a manner as, had it not been perceived from the window,to have knocked down the first person who should have opened thedoor to go out.Madam de Verdelin was acquainted with everythingthat passed; for, besides what she herself was witness to, herconfidential servant went into many houses in the village, spoke toeverybody, and was seen in conversation with Montmollin.She didnot, however, seem to pay the least attention to that which happenedto me, nor never mentioned Montmollin nor any other person, andanswered in a few words to what I said to her of him.Persuaded that aresidence in England would be more agreeable to me than any other, shefrequently spoke of Mr.Hume, who was then at Paris, of his friendshipfor me, and the desire he had of being of service to me in his owncountry.It is time I should say something of Hume.
He had acquired a great reputation in France amongst theEncyclopedists by his essays on commerce and politics, and in the lastplace by his history of the House of Stuart, the only one of hiswritings of which I had read a part, in the translation of the AbbePrevot.For want of being acquainted with his other works, I waspersuaded, according to what I heard of him, that Mr.Hume joined avery republican mind to the English paradoxes in favor of luxury.Inthis opinion I considered his whole apology of Charles I.as a prodigyof impartiality, and I had as great an idea of his virtue as of hisgenius.The desire of being acquainted with this great man, and ofobtaining his friendship, had greatly strengthened the inclination Ifelt to go to England, induced by the solicitations of Madam deBoufflers, the intimate friend of Hume.After my arrival inSwitzerland, I received from him, by means of this lady, a letterextremely flattering; in which, to the highest encomiums on my genius,he subjoined a pressing invitation to induce me to go to England,and the offer of all his interest, and that of his friends, to make myresidence there agreeable.I found in the country to which I hadretired, the lord marshal, the countryman and friend of Hume, whoconfirmed my good opinion of him, and from whom I learned a literaryanecdote, which did him great honor in the opinion of his lordship andhad the same effect in mine.Wallace, who had written against Humeupon the subject of the population of the ancients, was absentwhilst his work was in the press.Hume took upon himself to examinethe proofs, and to do the needful to the edition.This manner ofacting was according to my own way of thinking.I had sold at six sols(three pence) a piece, the copies of a song written against myself.