François Joachim de Pierre de Bernis was of an old family of gentle blood, whose hereditary estate was near Pont St. Esprit, in Languedoc. He had great taste and talent for Anacreontic poetry. His compositions were lively and elegant, but rather too highly coloured, and by no means instructive for youthful readers. It was, no doubt, the error of the times and of the nation. He was of a short stature, and I do not think that either his features or person could ever have been remarkable for beauty, and yet he was universally known in his youth as “le joli petit abbé,” and “l’aimable abbé.” His mind was very liberal, and his temper generous and disinterested, but he seems to have been always somewhat too indiscriminate, or too tolerant, in the choice of his acquaintance. His circumstances were limited, so that during his early years he was often subjected to great pecuniary embarrassments; but he was always cheerful, always the gentleman, and always well received. He established the necessary proofs of ancestry for becoming a Canon of the Noble Chapter of St. Jean de Lion, of which he wore the cross to the last day of his life, with more pleasure than any other of his numerous decorations, for the consciousness of birth made his other honours sit easy on him. He gained the favour of Madame de Pompadour by his verses and the charms of his society, for no one ever said more amiable things in fewer words, or more to the purpose. She was not, however, his only friend, or the sole cause of his promotion, as it has been often reported. A memoir he wrote on the dispute be tween the Jesuits and Parliament pleased the King (Louis XV.), and, besides, he was generally popular, and had great and powerful protectors, through whom he was sent Minister to Venice. While he was there, the husband of the beautiful Princess de Rohan died. The Princess and he had long been attached to each other, and he knew that she would propose to marry him, but he felt that he would be regarded as too much her inferior with respect to rank and fortune to make a graceful figure in the world. He therefore took priest’s orders when he heard that the Prince was so ill that the next courier might bring tidings of his death. This does not sound well; but it did not forfeit him the friendship of the Princess, for, when she died, she left him her whole fortune, which he nobly gave up to the Rohans, merely reserving for himself a ring, on which was a Moor’s head, and this he wore until his death in remembrance of her. At his return from Venice he was made Prime Minister, but was soon displaced by the Choiseul party, when he was created a Cardinal, but exiled to one of his abbeys; subsequently he was allowed to live at his archbishopric of Alby. Restored to some degree of favour when Louis XVI. ascended the throne, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of His Most Christian Majesty at the Court of Rome, whither he had gone for the Conclave of Ganganelli. There he shone with the greatest splendour. His revenues were enormous, and he expended them most generously. Indeed, his liberality to his own countrymen, his hospitality to the natives and to travellers, his charity to the poor, and his beneficence to his own family, were only limited by his income. He never wished to save, but could not bear the idea of debt. His house and table were sumptuous, his conversation lively and animated, his manners polished, his expressions guarded, and his behaviour dignified and correct.