His majesty received a great return
for this reception, in the services rendered him by Marshal Keith, and
by what was infinitely more precious, the sincere friendship of his
lordship. The great mind of this worthy man, haughty and republican,
could stoop to no other yoke than that of friendship, but to this it
was so obedient, that with very different maxims he saw nothing but
Frederic the moment he became attached to him. The king charged the
marshal with affairs of importance, sent him to Paris, to Spain, and
at length, seeing he was already advanced in years, let him retire
with the government of Neuchatel, and the delightful employment of
passing there the remainder of his life in rendering the inhabitants
happy.
The people of Neuchatel, whose manners are trivial, know not how
to distinguish solid merit, and suppose wit to consist in long
discourses. When they saw a sedate man of simple manners appear
amongst them, they mistook his simplicity for haughtiness, his
candor for rusticity, his laconism for stupidity, and rejected his
benevolent cares, because, wishing to be useful, and not being a
sycophant, he knew not how to flatter people he did not esteem. In the
ridiculous affair of the minister Petitpierre, who was displaced by
his colleagues, for having been unwilling they should be eternally
damned, my lord, opposing the usurpations of the ministers, saw the
whole country of which he took the part, rise up against him, and when
I arrived there the stupid murmur had not entirely subsided.
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