He became one of Chancellor René Nicolas de Maupéou's chief advisers, taking part in his struggle against the "parlements" and sharing his downfall in 1774. Lebrun then devoted himself to literature, translating Torquato Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" (1774) and the "Iliad" (1776). He retreated from public life to his property in Grillon, attempting to live a life as envisaged by the "philosophe" Jean-Jacques Rousseau. During the cabinet of Jacques Necker, he was consulted on several occasions, but never appointed to high office.