To think of Beaumarchais as he appears later in life, attacking with the audacity which belongs to him alone, the very foundations of feudal despotism in his inimitable _Mariage de Figaro_, and to see him now in his long judicial robes seated upon the _fleur de lis_, gravely judging "pale humans" apropos of rabbits, is a contrast which hardly can be met with in any other career, and certainly not in any other century. That he took his functions seriously and that he also knew how to guard such rights as individuals then possessed is clearly shown in the following characteristic anecdote which we quote from Gudin.
"Soon after his return from Spain, Beaumarchais had a quarrel with the Prince of Condé, on the subject of the privileges of the chase, in connection with a certain garden wall which the Prince had torn down and which Beaumarchais as the protector of the rights of the individual had caused to be rebuilt. The Prince was very angry. M. de Beaumarchais mounted on a horse and went to find him while the nobleman was out hunting.
"'I have come,' said Beaumarchais, 'to give an account of my conduct.'
"A discussion at once arose; the Prince had a good deal of _esprit_ and what is rarer still in one of his rank, he had liberal ideas.
"'Certainly,' Beaumarchais said to him, 'your Highness can obtain anything you wish. Your rank, your power--'
"'No,' replied the Prince, 'it is as lawyer that I pretend to be in the right.'
"'In that case,' said Beaumarchais, 'I demand of your Highness leave to be the lawyer on the opposite side and to plead before you. You shall be the judge.'
"He then proceeded to expose the affair with so much clearness, precision, eloquence, energy, and regard for the Prince that the latter avowed he was in the wrong and from that moment felt for Beaumarchais the greatest affection." And the devoted biographer hastens to add, "It was difficult to see him without loving him; the Dauphin, Mesdames, the Duke de la Vallière, the Duke de Chaulnes and nearly all those with whom he came in contact have experienced the same sentiment."
During Beaumarchais's sojourn in Spain the functions of this office, when not presided over by the Duke in person, were necessarily left to subordinates. Beaumarchais however retained his charge until a period just prior to its final abolishment in 1789.