Jonville,
envoy from France, to whom I found means to send a letter,
vinegared, perfumed and half burnt, procured eight days of the time to
be taken off: these I went and spent at his house, where I confess I
found myself better lodged than in the Lazaretto. He was extremely
civil to me. Dupont, his secretary, was, good creature: he
introduced me, as well at Genoa as in the country, to several
families, the company of which I found very entertaining and
agreeable; and I formed with him an. acquaintance and a correspondence
which we kept up for a considerable length of time. I continued my
journey, very agreeably, through Lombardy. I saw Milan, Verona,
Brescia, and Padua, and at length arrived at Venice, where I was
impatiently expected by the ambassador.
I found there piles of despatches, from the court and from other
ambassadors, the ciphered part of which he had not been able to
read, although he had all the ciphers necessary for that purpose,
never having been employed in any office, nor even seen the cipher
of a minister. I was at first apprehensive of meeting with some
embarrassment; but I found nothing could be more easy, and in less
than a week I had deciphered the whole, which certainly was not
worth the trouble; for not to mention the little activity required
in the embassy of Venice, it was not to such a man as M. de Montaigu
that government would confide a negotiation of even the most
trifling importance. Until my arrival he had been much embarrassed,
neither knowing how to dictate nor to write legibly.
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