would have been an accomplished monarch, and France a powerful kingdom.

The King used to accept the speeches his ministers presented to him to deliver on important occasions; but he corrected and modified them; struck out some parts, and added others; and sometimes consulted the Queen on the subject.

The phrase of the minister erased by the King was frequently unsuitable, and dictated by the minister's private feelings; but the King's was always the natural expression.

He himself composed, three times or oftener, his famous answers to the Parliament which he banished.

But in his letters he was negligent, and always incorrect.