On the resignation of Malesherbes (April 1776), whom Turgot wished to replace by the abbe Very, Maurepas proposed to the king as his successor a nonentity named Amelot.
Little is known of the personal part played by Philip in the events associated with his name, and later historians have been divided between the view which regards him as a handsome, lethargic nonentity and that which paints him as a master of statecraft who, under a veil of phlegmatic indifference and pious sentiment, masked an inflexible purpose, of which his ministers were but the spokesmen and executors.
(1745-1765), an amiable nonentity, with the instincts ~ of a shopkeeper, made no pretence of discharging ranc important imperial duties, and the task of ruling the hereditary possessions of the house of Habsburg fell wholly to the empressqueen.