M.de Seignelay was anxious to step into all his posts, and has not obtained a single one; he has plenty of cleverness, but little moral conduct.

His pleasures always have precedence of his duties.

He has so exaggerated his father's talents and services, that he has convinced everybody how unworthy and incapable he is of succeeding him." The influence of Louvois and the king's ill humor against the Colberts peep out in the injustice of Madame de Maintenon.
Seignelay had received from Louis XIV.

the reversion of the navy; his father had prepared him for it with anxious strictness, and he had exercised the functions since 1676.

Well informed, clever, magnificent, Seignelay drove business and pleasure as a pair.