She did not object to my love, but she wished me to renounce the Church and to marry her.

In spite of my infatuation for her, I could not make up my mind to such a step, and I went on seeing her and courting her in the hope that she would alter her decision.
The priest, who had at last confessed his admiration for my first sermon, asked me, some time afterwards, to prepare another for St.Joseph's Day, with an invitation to deliver it on the 19th of March, 1741.

I composed it, and the abbe spoke of it with enthusiasm, but fate had decided that I should never preach but once in my life.

It is a sad tale, unfortunately for me very true, which some persons are cruel enough to consider very amusing.
Young and rather self-conceited, I fancied that it was not necessary for me to spend much time in committing my sermon to memory.

Being the author, I had all the ideas contained in my work classified in my mind, and it did not seem to me within the range of possibilities that I could forget what I had written.