Madam d'Epinay had mentioned me to him, and my opera of the Muses
Gallantes. Duclos, endowed with too great talents not to be a friend
to those in whom the like were found, was prepossessed in my favor,
and invited me to go and see him. Notwithstanding my former wish,
increased by an acquaintance, I was withheld by my timidity and
indolence, as long as I had no other passport to him than his
complaisance. But encouraged by my first success, and by his
eulogiums, which reached my ears, I went to see him; he returned my
visit, and thus began the connection, between us, which will ever
render him dear to me. By him, as well as from the testimony of my own
heart, I learned that uprightness and probity may sometimes be
connected with the cultivation of letters.
Many other connections less solid, and which I shall not here
particularize, were the effects of my first success, and lasted
until curiosity was satisfied. I was a man so easily known, that on
the next day nothing new was to be discovered in me. However, a woman,
who at that time was desirous of my acquaintance, became much more
solidly attached to me than any of those whose curiosity I had
excited: this was the Marchioness of Crequi, niece to M. le Bailli
de Froulay, ambassador from Malta, whose brother had preceded M. de
Montaigu in the embassay to Venice, and whom I had gone to see on my
return from that city. Madam de Crequi wrote to me: I visited her: she
received me into her friendship.
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