This paper contained
an insipid Jansenist parody on that beautiful scene in Racine's
Mithridates: I had not read ten lines of it, but by forgetfulness left
it in my pocket, and this caused all my necessaries to be confiscated.
The commissioners at the head of the inventory of my portmanteau,
set a most pompous verbal process, in which it was taken for granted
that this most terrible writing came from Geneva for the sole
purpose of being printed and distributed in France, and then ran
into holy invectives against the enemies of God and the Church, and
praised the pious vigilance of those who had prevented the execution
of these most infernal machinations. They doubtless found also that my
shirts smelt of heresy, for on the strength of this dreadful paper,
they were all seized, and from that time I never received any
account of my unfortunate portmanteau. The revenue officers whom I
applied to for this purpose required so many instructions,
informations, certificates, memorials, etc., etc., that, lost a
thousand times in the perplexing labyrinth, I was glad to abandon them
entirely. I feel a real regret for not having preserved this verbal
process from the office of Rousses, for it was a piece calculated to
hold a distinguished rank in the collection which is to accompany this
Work.
The loss of my necessaries immediately brought me back to
Chambery, without having learned anything of the Abbe Blanchard.
Reasoning with myself on the events of this journey, and seeing that
misfortunes attended all my enterprises, I resolved to attach myself
entirely to Madam de Warrens, to share her fortune, and distress
myself no longer about future events, which I could not regulate.
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