Chapter 1.2.IV: Maurepas
Background
Maurepas had been made a secretary of state for Louis XV’s household in 1718 at the age of 17. In this capacity he oversaw ecclesiastical affairs and the administration of Paris. Five years later he took on the additional role of secretary of the marine, and sought to reform France’s navy. As discussed above, he was ingloriously exiled in 1749 after a fight with Madame de Pompadour.
One of Louis XVI’s first acts in 1774 was to bring back this now 73 year old official, who promptly sought to restore the political powers that Maupeou had stripped from the parlements.
One gets the sense of Maurepas as a real deep-state operator. As Carlyle says, he “gyrates”. He appointed Turgot as Controller General, removed him, replaced him with Jacques Necker, and removed him too when he became jealous of his popularity. He seems to have exacerbated Louis XVI’s indecisiveness, and was ultimately unable to fend off any of the brewing crises.
Notes
Nestor was a Greek warrior and the legendary King of the city-state of Pylos, who appears in both the Iliad and the Odyssey as a not-ignoble but certainly long-winded old timer prone to pontification
Montgolfier Named after its inventors the Montgolfière brothers, a style of hot air balloon which first launched with a human in 1783. I guess paris of brothers are good at inventing things that fly.
“Despotism tempered by Epigrams;” Carlyle's unattributed quotations frequently belong to himself, as this one does.
“Louis the Desired” Louis XVI's brother future King Louis XVIII was known as Louis le Désiré, though here Carlyle appears to be referring to the current king. Open to clarification on this issue.
Fortunatus’ Purse Fortunatus is a legenday German hero popular in the 15th and 16th centuries who possessed a magical inexhaustible purse. He appeared in many stories, including the English playwright Thomas Dekker's The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus (1599)
Augean Stable A place marked by great filth or corruption, from Hercules fifth labor, in which cleaned King Augeas's stables in a single day
Patriarch Voltaire Voltaire visited Paris in February 1778, at which time he was 83 and had been away from the city for 25 years. The trip proved too much for him, and he died in Paris on May 30.
the body of this same rose-stifled, beatified-Patriarch cannot get buried except by stealth Voltaire was denied a Christian funeral and his friends had to secretly coordinate his burial at the Abbey of Scellières in Champagne
Beaumarchais Born Pierre-Augustin Caron, Beaumarchais was a French polymath, which at that time meant something. The son of a watchmaker, he invented a mechanism for making clocks more accurate, which he presented to the royal clockmaker Jean-André Lapaute in 1753 when he was 21. Lepaute stole the invention and it was not until after a lengthy court battle that Beaumarchais was vindicated. This led to a royal appointment, and Beaumarchais married the woman who made him a noble (she soon died under mysterious circumstances, as did his second wife, and he has been accused of poisoning them both). His wife's death led to financial troubles which were eased when he was appointed to instruct the King's daughters in music. He went on to write plays, most notably Eugénie and the Figaro trilogy. He led France's covert effort to fund the American Revolution.
winded-up his Law-Pleadings (Mémoires) Beaumarchais had formed a relationship with the wealthy entrepreneur Joseph Paris Duverney, wracking up debts. After Duverney’s death, his heir accused Beaumarchais of forging a document in which his debts were forgiven and Beaumarchais was awarded a sum of money. This led to a length court battle which began in 1773, in which Beaumarchais was at first vindicated and then later convicted on appeal by a judge Goezman. This led Beaumarchais to write his Mémoires contre Goezman, which were both an attack on Goezman and the Maupeou parlement in general, which made him an instant celebrity and led to the removal of Goezman from his post.
labours comparable to the Twelve of HerculesAfter the goddess Hera caused Hercules to temporarily go insance, he killed his wife and children. As penance, he had to serve King Eurystheus and perform for him twelve labors.