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diff --git a/3879.txt b/3879.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12524f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/3879.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2278 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 4 +by Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 4 + Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady's Maid to Madame de + Pompadour, and of an Unknown English Girl and The Princess Lamballe + + +Author: Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +Release Date: December 3, 2004 [EBook #3879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XV. AND XVI. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XV. AND XVI. + +Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, +Lady's Maid to Madame de Pompadour, +and of an unknown English Girl +and the Princess Lamballe + + + + +BOOK 4. + + + +SECTION V. + + +"The accession of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette to the crown of France +took place (May 10, 1774) under the most propitious auspices! + +"After the long, corrupt reign of an old debauched Prince, whose vices +were degrading to himself and to a nation groaning under the lash of +prostitution and caprice, the most cheering changes were expected from +the known exemplariness of his successor and the amiableness of his +consort. Both were looked up to as models of goodness. The virtues of +Louis XVI. were so generally known that all France hastened to +acknowledge them, while the Queen's fascinations acted like a charm on +all who had not been invincibly prejudiced against the many excellent +qualities which entitled her to love and admiration. Indeed, I never +heard an insinuation against either the King or Queen but from those +depraved minds which never possessed virtue enough to imitate theirs, or +were jealous of the wonderful powers of pleasing that so eminently +distinguished Marie Antoinette from the rest of her sex. + +"On the death of Louis XV. the entire Court removed from Versailles to +the palace of La Muette, situate in the Bois de Boulogne, very near +Paris. The confluence of Parisians, who came in crowds joyfully to hail +the death of the old vitiated Sovereign, and the accession of his adored +successors, became quite annoying to the whole Royal Family. The +enthusiasm with which the Parisians hailed their young King, and in +particular his amiable young partner, lasted for many days. These +spontaneous evidences of attachment were regarded as prognostics of a +long reign of happiness. If any inference can be drawn from public +opinion, could there be a stronger assurance than this one of +uninterrupted future tranquility to its objects? + +"To the Queen herself it was a double triumph. The conspirators, whose +depravity had been labouring to make her their victim, departed from the +scene of power. The husband, who for four years had been callous to her +attractions, became awakened to them. A complete change in the domestic +system of the palace was wrought suddenly. The young King, during the +interval which elapsed between the death and the interment of his +grandfather, from Court etiquette was confined to his apartments. The +youthful couple therefore saw each other with less restraint. The +marriage was consummated. Marie Antoinette from this moment may date +that influence over the heart (would I might add over the head and +policy!) of the King, which never slackened during the remainder of their +lives. + +"Madame du Barry was much better dealt with by the young King, whom she +had always treated with the greatest levity, than she, or her numerous +courtiers, expected. She was allowed her pension, and the entire +enjoyment of all her ill-gotten and accumulated wealth; but, of course, +excluded from ever appearing at Court, and politically exiled from Paris +to the Chateau aux Dames. + +"This implacable foe and her infamous coadjutors being removed from +further interference in matters of State by the expulsion of all their +own Ministers, their rivals, the Duc de Choiseul and his party, by whom +Marie Antoinette had been brought to France, were now in high expectation +of finding the direction of the Government, by the Queen's influence, +restored to that nobleman. But the King's choice was already made. He +had been ruled by his aunts, and appointed Ministers suggested by them +and his late grandfather's friends, who feared the preponderance of the +Austrian influence. The three ladies, Madame la Marechale de Beauveau, +the Duchesse de Choiseul, and the Duchesse de Grammont, who were all +well-known to Louis XVI. and stood high in his opinion for many excellent +qualities, and especially for their independent assertion of their own +and the Dauphine's dignity by retiring from Court in consequence of the +supper at which Du Barry was introduced these ladies, though received on +their return thither with peculiar welcome, in vain united their efforts +with those of the Queen and the Abbe Vermond, to overcome the prejudice +which opposed Choiseul's reinstatement. It was all in vain. The royal +aunts, Adelaide especially, hated Choiseul for the sake of Austria, and +his agency in bringing Marie Antoinette to France; and so did the King's +tutor and governor, the Duc de Vauguyon, who had ever been hostile to any +sort of friendship with Vienna; and these formed a host impenetrable even +to the influence of the Queen, which was opposed by all the leaders of +the prevailing party, who, though they were beginning externally to +court, admire, and idolize her, secretly surrounded her by their noxious +and viperous intrigues, and, while they lived in her bosom, fattened on +the destruction of her fame! + +"One of the earliest of the paltry insinuations against Marie Antoinette +emanated from her not counterfeiting deep affliction at the decease of +the old King. A few days after that event, the Court received the +regular visits of condolence and congratulation of the nobility, whose +duty prescribes their attendance upon such occasions; and some of them, +among whom were the daughters of Louis XV., not finding a young Queen of +nineteen hypocritically bathed in tears, on returning to their abodes +declared her the most indecorous of Princesses, and diffused a strong +impression of her want of feeling. At the head of these detractors were +Mesdames de Guemenee and Marsan, rival pretenders to the favours of the +Cardinal de Rohan, who, having by the death of Louis XV. lost their +influence and their unlimited power to appoint and dismiss Ministers, +themselves became ministers to their own evil geniuses, in calumniating +her whose legitimate elevation annihilated their monstrous pretensions! + +"The Abbe Vermond, seeing the defeat of the party of the Duc de Choiseul, +by whom he had been sent to the Court of Vienna on the recommendation of +Brienne, began to tremble for his own security. As soon as the Court had +arrived at Choisy, and he was assured of the marriage having been +consummated, he obtained, with the Queen's consent, an audience of the +King, for the purpose of soliciting his sanction to his continuing in his +situation. On submitting his suit to the King, His Majesty merely gave a +shrug of the shoulders, and turned to converse with the Duc d'Aiguillon, +who at that moment entered the room. The Abbe stood stupefied, and the +Queen, seeing the crestfallen humour of her tutor, laughed and cheered +him by remarking, 'There is more meaning in the shrug of a King than in +the embrace of a Minister. The one always promises, but is seldom +sincere; the other is generally sincere, but never promises.' The Abbe, +not knowing how to interpret the dumb answer, finding the King's back +turned and his conversation with D'Aiguillon continuing, was retiring +with a shrug of his own shoulders to the Queen, when she exclaimed, +good-humouredly, to Louis, laughing and pointing to the Abbe, 'Look! +look! see how readily a Church dignitary can imitate the good Christian +King, who is at the head of the Church.' The King, seeing the Abbe still +waiting, said, dryly, 'Monsieur, you are confirmed in your situation,' +and then resumed his conversation with the Duke. + +"This anecdote is a sufficient proof that LOUIS XVI. had no +prepossession in favour of the Abbe Vermond, and that it was merely not +to wound the feelings of the Queen that he was tolerated. The Queen +herself was conscious of this, and used frequently to say to me how much +she was indebted to the King for such deference to her private choice, in +allowing Vermond to be her secretary, as she did not remember the King's +ever having held any communication with the Abbe during the whole time he +was attached to the service, though the Abbe always expressed himself +with the greatest respect towards the King. + +"The decorum of Marie Antoinette would not allow her to endure those +public exhibitions of the ceremony, of dressing herself which had been +customary at Court. This reserve was highly approved by His Majesty; and +one of the first reforms she introduced, after the accession, was in the +internal discipline of her own apartment. + +"It was during one of the visits, apart from Court etiquette, to the +toilet of the Queen, that the Duchesse de Chartres, afterwards Duchesse +d'Orleans, introduced the famous Mademoiselle Bertin, who afterwards +became so celebrated as the Queen's milliner--the first that was ever +allowed to approach a royal palace; and it was months before Marie +Antoinette had courage to receive her milliner in any other than the +private apartment which, by the alteration Her Majesty had made in the +arrangements of the household, she set apart for the purpose of dressing +in comfort by herself and free from all intruders. + +"Till then the Queen was not only very plain in her attire, but very, +economical--a circumstance which, I have often heard her say, gave great +umbrage to the other Princesses of the Court of Versailles, who never +showed themselves, from the moment they rose till they returned to bed, +except in full dress; while she herself made all her morning visits in a +simple white cambric gown and straw hat. This simplicity, unfortunately, +like many other trifles, whose consequences no foresight would have +predicted, tended much to injure Marie Antoinette, not only with the +Court dandies, but the nation; by whom, though she was always censured, +she was as suddenly imitated in all she wore or did. + +"From the private closet, which Marie Antoinette reserved to herself, and +had now opened to her milliner, she would retire, after the great points +of habiliment were accomplished, to those who were waiting with memorials +at her public toilet, where the hairdresser would finish putting the +ornaments in Her Majesty's hair. + +"The King made Marie Antoinette a present of Le Petit Trianon. Much has +been said of the extravagant expense lavished by her upon this spot. I +can only declare that the greater part of the articles of furniture which +had not been worn out by time or were not worm or moth-eaten, and her own +bed among them, were taken from the apartments of former Queens, and some +of them had actually belonged to Anne of Austria, who, like Marie +Antoinette, had purchased them out of her private savings. Hence it is +clear that neither of the two Queens were chargeable to the State even +for those little indulgences which every private lady of property is +permitted from her husband, without coming under the lash of censure. + +"Her allowance as Queen of France was no more than 300,000 francs. It is +well known that she was generous, liberal, and very charitable; that she +paid all her expenses regularly respecting her household, Trianon, her +dresses, diamonds, millinery, and everything else; her Court +establishment excepted, and some few articles, which were paid by the +civil list. She was one of the first Queens in Europe, had the first +establishment in Europe, and was obliged to keep up the most refined and +luxurious Court in Europe; and all upon means no greater than had been +assigned to many of the former bigoted Queens, who led a cloistered life, +retired from the world without circulating their wealth among the nation +which supplied them with so large a revenue; and yet who lived and died +uncensured for hoarding from the nation what ought at least to have been +in part expended for its advantage. + +"And yet of all the extra expenditure which the dignity and circumstances +of Marie Antoinette exacted, not a franc came from the public Treasury; +but everything out of Her Majesty's private purse and savings from the +above three hundred thousand francs, which was an infinitely less sum +than Louis XIV. had lavished yearly on the Duchesse de Montespan, and +less than half what Louis XV. had expended on the last two favourites, De +Pompadour and Du Barry. These two women, as clearly appeared from the +private registers, found among the papers of Louis XV. after his death, +by Louis XVI. (but which, out of respect for the memory of his +grandfather, he destroyed), these two women had amassed more property in +diamonds and other valuables than all the Queens of France from the days +of Catherine de Medicis up to those of Marie Antoinette. + +"Such was the goodness of heart of the excellent Queen of Louis XVI., +such the benevolence of her character, that not only did she pay all the +pensions of the invalids left by her predecessors, but she distributed in +public and private charities greater sums than any of the former Queens, +thus increasing her expenses without any proportionate augmentation of +her resources." + +[Indeed, could Louis XVI. have foreseen--when, in order not to expose the +character of his predecessor and to honour the dignity of the throne and +monarchy of France, he destroyed the papers of his grandfather--what an +arm of strength he would have possessed in preserving them, against the +accusers of his unfortunate Queen and himself, he never could have thrown +away such means of establishing a most honourable contrast between his +own and former reigns. His career exhibits no superfluous expenditure. +Its economy was most rigid. No sovereign was ever more scrupulous with +the public money. He never had any public or private predilection; no +dilapidated Minister for a favourite: no courtesan intrigue. For gaming +he had no fondness; and, if his abilities were not splendid, he certainly +had no predominating vices.] + +NOTE: + +[I must once more quit the journal of the Princess. Her Highness here +ceases to record particulars of the early part of the reign of Louis +XVI., and everything essential upon those times is too well known to +render it desirable to detain the reader by an attempt to supply the +deficiency. It is enough to state that the secret unhappiness of the +Queen at not yet having the assurance of an heir was by no means weakened +by the impatience of the people, nor by the accouchement of the Comtesse +d'Artois of the Duc d'Angouleme. While the Queen continued the intimacy, +and even held her parties at the apartments of the Duchess that she might +watch over her friend, even in this triumph over herself, the poissardes +grossly insulted her in her misfortune, and coarsely called on her to +give heirs to the throne! + +A consolation, however, for the unkind feeling of the populace was about +to arise in the delights of one of her strongest friendships. I am come +to the epoch when Her Majesty first formed an acquaintance with the +Princesse de Lamballe. + +After a few words of my own on the family of Her Highness, I shall leave +her to pursue her beautiful and artless narrative of her parentage, early +sorrows, and introduction to Her Majesty, unbroken. + +The journal of the history of Marie Antoinette, after this slight +interruption for the private history of her friend, will become blended +with the journal of the Princesse de Lamballe, and both thenceforward +will proceed in their course together, like their destinies, which from +that moment never became disunited.] + + + + +SECTION VI. + + +[MARIA THERESA LOUISA CARIGNAN, Princess of Savoy, was born at Turin on +the 8th September, 1749. She had three sisters; two of them were married +at Rome, one to the Prince Doria Pamfili, the other to the Prince +Colonna; and the third at Vienna, to the Prince Lobkowitz, whose son was +the great patron of the immortal Haydn, the celebrated composer. + +The celebrated Haydn was, even at the age of 74, when I last saw him at +Vienna, till the most good-humoured bon vivant of his age. He delighted +in telling the origin of his good fortune, which he said he entirely owed +to a bad wife. + +When he was first married, he said, finding no remedy against domestic +squabbles, he used to quit his bad half and go and enjoy himself with his +good friends, who were Hungarians and Germans, for weeks together. Once, +having returned home after a considerable absence, his wife, while he was +in bed next morning, followed her husband's example: she did even more, +for she took all his clothes, even to his shoes, stockings, and small +clothes, nay, everything he had, along with her! Thus situated, he was +under the necessity of doing something to cover his nakedness; and this, +he himself acknowledged, was the first cause of his seriously applying +himself to the profession which has since made his name immortal. + +He used to laugh, saying, "I was from that time so habituated to study +that my wife, often fearing it would injure me, would threaten me with +the same operation if I did not go out and amuse myself; but then," added +he, "I was grown old, and she was sick and no longer jealous." He spoke +remarkably good Italian, though he had never been in Italy, and on my +going to Vienna to hear his "Creation," he promised to accompany me back +to Italy; but he unfortunately died before I returned to Vienna from +Carlsbad. + +She had a brother also, the Prince Carignan, who, marrying against the +consent of his family, was no longer received by them; but the +unremitting and affectionate attention which the Princesse de Lamballe +paid to him and his new connexions was an ample compensation for the loss +he sustained in the severity of his other sisters. + +With regard to the early life of the Princesse de Lamballe, the arranger +of these pages must now leave her to pursue her own beautiful and artless +narrative unbroken, up to the epoch of her appointment to the household +of the Queen. It will be recollected that the papers of which the +reception has been already described in the introduction formed the +private journal of this most amiable Princess; and those passages +relating to her own early life being the most connected part of them, it +has been thought that to disturb them would be a kind of sacrilege. +After the appointment of Her Highness to the superintendence of the +Queen's household, her manuscripts again become confused, and fall into +scraps and fragments, which will require to be once more rendered clear +by the recollections of events and conversations by which the preceding +chapters have been assisted.] + +"I was the favourite child of a numerous family, and intended, almost at +my birth--as is generally the case among Princes who are nearly allied to +crowned heads--to be united to one of the Princes, my near relation, of +the royal house of Sardinia. + +"A few years after this, the Duc and Duchesse de Penthievre arrived at +Turin, on their way to Italy, for the purpose of visiting the different +Courts, to make suitable marriage contracts for both their infant +children. + +"These two children were Mademoiselle de Penthievre, afterwards the +unhappy Duchesse d'Orleans, and their idolised son, the Prince de +Lamballe. + +[The father of Louis Alexander Joseph Stanislaus de Bourbon Penthievre, +Prince de Lamballe, was the son of Comte de Toulouse, himself a natural +son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan, who was considered as the most +wealthy of all the natural children, in consequence of Madame de +Montespan having artfully entrapped the famous Mademoiselle de +Moutpensier to make over her immense fortune to him as her heir after her +death, as the price of liberating her husband from imprisonment in the +Bastille, and herself from a ruinous prosecution, for having contracted +this marriage contrary to the express commands of her royal cousin, Louis +XIV.--Vide Histoire de Louis XIV. par Voltaire.] + +"Happy would it have been both for the Prince who was destined to the +former and the Princess who was given to the latter, had these +unfortunate alliances never taken place. + +"The Duc and Duchesse de Penthievre became so singularly attached to my +beloved parents, and, in particular, to myself, that the very day they +first dined at the Court of Turin, they mentioned the wish they had +formed of uniting me to their young son, the Prince de Lamballe. + +"The King of Sardinia, as the head of the house of Savoy and Carignan, +said there had been some conversation as to my becoming a member of his +royal family; but as I was so very young at the time, many political +reasons might arise to create motives for a change in the projected +alliance. 'If, therefore, the Prince de Carignan,' said the King, 'be +anxious to settle his daughter's marriage, by any immediate matrimonial +alliance, I certainly shall not avail myself of any prior engagement, nor +oppose any obstacle in the way of its solemnisation.' + +"The consent of the King being thus unexpectedly obtained by the Prince, +so desirable did the arrangement seem to the Duke and Duchess that the +next day the contract was concluded with my parents for my becoming the +wife of their only son, the Prince de Lamballe. + +"I was too young to be consulted. Perhaps had I been older the result +would have been the same, for it generally happens in these great family +alliances that the parties most interested, and whose happiness is most +concerned, are the least thought of. The Prince was, I believe, at +Paris, under the tuition of his governess, and I was in the nursery, +heedless, and totally ignorant of my future good or evil destination! + +"So truly happy and domestic a life as that led by the Duc and Duchesse +de Penthievre seemed to my family to offer an example too propitious not +to secure to me a degree of felicity with a private Prince, very rarely +the result of royal unions! Of course, their consent was given with +alacrity. When I was called upon to do homage to my future parents, I +had so little idea, from my extreme youthfulness, of what was going on +that I set them all laughing, when, on being asked if I should like to +become the consort of the Prince de Lamballe, I said, 'Yes, I am very +fond of music!' No, my dear,' resumed the good and tender-hearted Duc de +Penthievre, 'I mean, would you have any objection to become his +wife?'--'No, nor any other person's!' was the innocent reply, which +increased the mirth of all the guests at my expense. + +"Happy, happy days of youthful, thoughtless innocence, luxuriously felt +and appreciated under the thatched roof of the cottage, but unknown and +unattainable beneath the massive pile of a royal palace and a gemmed +crown! Scarcely had I entered my teens when my adopted parents strewed +flowers of the sweetest fragrance to lead me to the sacred altar, that +promised the bliss of busses, but which, too soon, from the foul +machinations of envy, jealousy, avarice, and a still more criminal +passion, proved to me the altar of my sacrifice! + +"My misery and my uninterrupted grief may be dated from the day my +beloved sister-in-law, Mademoiselle de Penthievre, sullied her hand by +its union with the Duc de Chartres.--[Afterwards Duc d'Orleans, and the +celebrated revolutionary Philippe Egalite.]--From that moment all +comfort, all prospect of connubial happiness, left my young and +affectionate heart, plucked thence by the very roots, never more again to +bloom there. Religion and philosophy were the only remedies remaining. + +"I was a bride when an infant, a wife before I was a woman, a widow +before I was a mother, or had the prospect of becoming one! Our union +was, perhaps, an exception to the general rule. We became insensibly the +more attached to each other the more we were acquainted, which rendered +the more severe the separation, when we were torn asunder never to meet +again in this world! + +"After I left Turin, though everything for my reception at the palaces of +Toulouse and Rambouillet had been prepared in the most sumptuous style of +magnificence, yet such was my agitation that I remained convulsively +speechless for many hours, and all the affectionate attention of the +family of the Duc de Penthievre could not calm my feelings. + +"Among those who came about me was the bridegroom himself, whom I had +never yet seen. So anxious was he to have his first acquaintance +incognito that he set off from Paris the moment he was apprised of my +arrival in France and presented himself as the Prince's page. As he had +outgrown the figure of his portrait, I received him as such; but the +Prince, being better pleased with me than he had apprehended he should +be, could scarcely avoid discovering himself. During our journey to +Paris I myself disclosed the interest with which the supposed page had +inspired me. 'I hope,' exclaimed I, 'my Prince will allow his page to +attend me, for I like him much.' + +"What was my surprise when the Duc de Penthievre presented me to the +Prince and I found in him the page for whom I had already felt such an +interest! We both laughed and wanted words to express our mutual +sentiments. This was really love at first sight. + +[The young Prince was enraptured at finding his lovely bride so superior +in personal charms to the description which had been given of her, and +even to the portrait sent to him from Turin. Indeed, she must have been +a most beautiful creature, for when I left her in the year 1792, though +then five-and-forty years of age, from the freshness of her complexion, +the elegance of her figure, and the dignity of her deportment, she +certainly did not appear to be more than thirty. She had a fine head of +hair, and she took great pleasure in showing it unornamented. I remember +one day, on her coming hastily from the bath, as she was putting on her +dress, her cap falling off, her hair completely covered her! + +The circumstances of her death always make me shudder at the recollection +of this incident! I have been assured by Mesdames Mackau, de Soucle, the +Comtesse de Noailles (not Duchesse, as Mademoiselle Bertin has created +her in her Memoirs of that name), and others, that the Princesse de +Lamballe was considered the most beautiful and accomplished Princess at +the Court of Louis XV., adorned with all the grace, virtue, and elegance +of manner which so eminently distinguished her through life.] + +"The Duc de Chartres, then possessing a very handsome person and most +insinuating address, soon gained the affections of the amiable +Mademoiselle Penthievre. Becoming thus a member of the same family, he +paid me the most assiduous attention. From my being his sister-in-law, +and knowing he was aware of my great attachment to his young wife, I +could have no idea that his views were criminally levelled at my honour, +my happiness, and my future peace of mind. How, therefore, was I +astonished and shocked when he discovered to me his desire to supplant +the legitimate object of my affections, whose love for me equalled mine +for him! I did not expose this baseness of the Duc de Chartres, out of +filial affection for my adopted father, the Duc de Penthievre; out of the +love I bore his amiable daughter, she being pregnant; and, above all, in +consequence of the fear I was under of compromising the life of the +Prince, my husband, who I apprehended might be lost to me if I did not +suffer in silence. But still, through my silence he was lost--and oh, +how dreadfully! The Prince was totally in the dark as to the real +character of his brother-in-law. He blindly became every day more and +more attached to the man, who was then endeavouring by the foulest means +to blast the fairest prospects of his future happiness in life! But my +guardian angel protected me from becoming a victim to seduction, +defeating every attack by that prudence which has hitherto been my +invincible shield. + +"Guilt, unpunished in its first crime, rushes onward, and hurrying from +one misdeed to another, like the flood-tide, drives all before it! My +silence, and his being defeated without reproach, armed him with courage +for fresh daring, and he too well succeeded in embittering the future +days of my life, as well as those of his own affectionate wife, and his +illustrious father-in-law, the virtuous Duc de Penthievre, who was to all +a father. + +"To revenge himself upon me for the repulse he met with, this man +inveigled my young, inexperienced husband from his bridal bed to those +infected with the nauseous poison of every vice! Poor youth! he soon +became the prey of every refinement upon dissipation and studied +debauchery, till at length his sufferings made his life a burthen, and he +died in the most excruciating agonies both of mind and body, in the arms +of a disconsolate wife and a distracted father--and thus, in a few short +months, at the age of eighteen, was I left a widow to lament my having +become a wife! + +"I was in this situation, retired from the world and absorbed in grief, +with the ever beloved and revered illustrious father of my murdered lord, +endeavouring to sooth his pangs for the loss of those comforts in a child +with which my cruel disappointment forbade my ever being blest--though, +in the endeavour to soothe, I often only aggravated both his and my own +misery at our irretrievable loss--when a ray of unexpected light burst +upon my dreariness. It was amid this gloom of human agony, these +heartrending scenes of real mourning, that the brilliant star shone to +disperse the clouds which hovered over our drooping heads,--to dry the +hot briny tears which were parching up our miserable vegetating +existence--it was in this crisis that Marie Antoinette came, like a +messenger sent down from Heaven, graciously to offer the balm of comfort +in the sweetest language of human compassion. The pure emotions of her +generous soul made her unceasing, unremitting, in her visits to two +mortals who must else have perished under the weight of their +misfortunes. But for the consolation of her warm friendship we must have +sunk into utter despair! + +"From that moment I became seriously attached to the Queen of France. She +dedicated a great portion of her time to calm the anguish of my poor +heart, though I had not yet accepted the honour of becoming a member of +Her Majesty's household. Indeed, I was a considerable time before I +could think of undertaking a charge I felt myself so completely incapable +of fulfilling. I endeavoured to check the tears that were pouring down +my cheeks, to conceal in the Queen's presence the real feelings of my +heart, but the effort only served to increase my anguish when she had +departed. Her attachment to me, and the cordiality with which she +distinguished herself towards the Duc de Penthievre, gave her a place in +that heart, which had been chilled by the fatal vacuum left by its first +inhabitant; and Marie Antoinette was the only rival through life that +usurped his pretensions, though she could never wean me completely from +his memory. + +"My health, from the melancholy life I led, had so much declined that my +affectionate father, the Duc de Penthievre, with whom I continued to +reside, was anxious that I should emerge from my retirement for the +benefit of my health. Sensible of his affection, and having always +honoured his counsels, I took his advice in this instance. It being in +the hard winter, when so many persons were out of bread, the Queen, the +Duchesse d'Orleans, the Duc de Penthievre, and myself, introduced the +German sledges, in which we were followed by most of the nobility and the +rich citizens. This afforded considerable employment to different +artificers. The first use I made of my own new vehicle was to visit, in +company with the Duc de Penthievre, the necessitous poor families and our +pensioners. In the course of our rounds we met the Queen. + +"'I suppose,' exclaimed Her Majesty, 'you also are laying a good +foundation for my work! Heavens! what must the poor feel! I am wrapped +up like a diamond in a box, covered with furs, and yet I am chilled with +cold!' + +"'That feeling sentiment,' said the Duke, 'will soon warm many a cold +family's heart with gratitude to bless Your Majesty!' + +"'Why, yes,' replied Her Majesty, showing a long piece of paper +containing the names of those to whom she intended to afford relief, 'I +have only collected two hundred yet on my list, but the cure will do the +rest and help me to draw the strings of my privy purse! But I have not +half done my rounds. I daresay before I return to Versailles I shall +have as many more, and, since we are engaged in the same business, pray +come into my sledge and do not take my work out of my hands! Let me have +for once the merit of doing something good!' + +"On the coming up of a number of other vehicles belonging to the sledge +party, the Queen added, 'Do not say anything about what I have been +telling you!' for Her Majesty never wished what she did in the way of +charity or donations should be publicly known, the old pensioners +excepted, who, being on the list, could not be concealed; especially as +she continued to pay all those she found of the late Queen of Louis XV. +She was remarkably delicate and timid with respect to hurting the +feelings of any one; and, fearing the Duc de Penthievre might not be +pleased at her pressing me to leave him in order to join her, she said, +'Well, I will let you off, Princess, on your both promising to dine with +me at Trianon; for the King is hunting, not deer, but wood for the poor, +and he will see his game off to Paris before he comes back: + +"The Duke begged to be excused, but wished me to accept the invitation, +which I did, and we parted, each to pursue our different sledge +excursions. + +"At the hour appointed, I made my appearance at Trianon, and had the +honour to dine tete-a-tete with Her Majesty, which was much more +congenial to my feelings than if there had been a party, as I was still +very low-spirited and unhappy. + +"After dinner, 'My dear Princess,' said the Queen to me, 'at your time of +life you must not give yourself up entirely to the dead. You wrong the +living. We have not been sent into the world for ourselves. I have felt +much for your situation, and still do so, and therefore hope, as long as +the weather permits, that you will favour me with your company to enlarge +our sledge excursions. The King and my dear sister Elizabeth are also +much interested about your coming on a visit to Versailles. What think +you of our plan. + +"I thanked Her Majesty, the King, and the Princess, for their kindness, +but I observed that my state of health and mind could so little +correspond in any way with the gratitude I should owe them for their +royal favours that I trusted a refusal would be attributed to the fact of +my consciousness how much rather my society must prove an annoyance and a +burthen than a source of pleasure. + +"My tears flowing down my cheeks rapidly while I was speaking, the Queen, +with that kindness for which she was so eminently distinguished, took me +by the hand, and with her handkerchief dried my face. + +"'I am,' said the Queen, I about to renew a situation which has for some +time past lain dormant; and I hope, my dear Princess, therewith to +establish my own private views, in forming the happiness of a worthy +individual.' + +"I replied that such a plan must insure Her Majesty the desired object +she had in view, as no individual could be otherwise than happy under the +immediate auspices of so benevolent and generous a Sovereign. + +"The Queen, with great affability, as if pleased with my observation, +only said, 'If you really think as you speak, my views are accomplished.' + +"My carriage was announced, and I then left Her Majesty, highly pleased +at her gracious condescension, which evidently emanated from the kind +wish to raise my drooping spirits from their melancholy. + +"Gratitude would not permit me to continue long without demonstrating to +Her Majesty the sentiments her kindness had awakened in my heart. + +"I returned next day with my sister-in-law, the Duchesse d'Orleans, who +was much esteemed by the Queen, and we joined the sledge parties with Her +Majesty. + +"On the third or fourth day of these excursions I again had the honour to +dine with Her Majesty, when, in the presence of the Princesse Elizabeth, +she asked me if I were still of the same opinion with respect to the +person it was her intention to add to her household? + +"I myself had totally forgotten the topic and entreated Her Majesty's +pardon for my want of memory, and begged she would signify to what +subject she alluded. + +"The Princesse Elizabeth laughed. 'I thought,' cried she, 'that you had +known it long ago! The Queen, with His Majesty's consent, has nominated +you, my dear Princess (embracing me), superintendent of her household.' + +"The Queen, also embracing me, said, 'Yes; it is very true. You said the +individual destined to such a situation could not be otherwise than +happy; and I am myself thoroughly happy in being able thus to contribute +towards rendering you so.' + +"I was perfectly at a loss for a moment or two, but, recovering myself +from the effect of this unexpected and unlooked for preferment, I thanked +Her Majesty with the best grace I was able for such an unmerited mark of +distinction. + +"The Queen, perceiving my embarrassment, observed, 'I knew I should +surprise you; but I thought your being established at Versailles much +more desirable for one of your rank and youth than to be, as you were, +with the Duc de Penthievre; who, much as I esteem his amiable character +and numerous great virtues, is by no means the most cheering companion +for my charming Princess. From this moment let our friendships be united +in the common interest of each other's happiness.' + +"The Queen took me by the hand. The Princesse Elizabeth, joining hers, +exclaimed to the Queen, 'Oh, my dear sister! let me make the trio in +this happy union of friends!' + +"In the society of her adored Majesty and of her saint-like sister +Elizabeth I have found my only balm of consolation! Their graciously +condescending to sympathise in the grief with which I was overwhelmed +from the cruel disappointment of my first love, filled up in some degree +the vacuum left by his loss, who was so prematurely ravished from me in +the flower of youth, leaving me a widow at eighteen; and though that loss +is one I never can replace or forget, the poignancy of its effect has +been in a great degree softened by the kindnesses of my excellent +father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre, and the relations resulting from my +situation with, and the never-ceasing attachment of my beloved royal +mistress." + + + + +SECTION VII. + + +[The connexion of the Princesse de Lamballe with the Queen, of which she +has herself described the origin in the preceding chapter, proved so +important in its influence upon the reputation and fate of both these +illustrious victims, that I must once more withdraw the attention of the +reader, to explain, from personal observation and confidential +disclosures, the leading causes of the violent dislike which was kindled +in the public against an intimacy that it would have been most fortunate +had Her Majesty preferred through life to every other. + +The selection of a friend by the Queen, and the sudden elevation of that +friend to the highest station in the royal household, could not fail to +alarm the selfishness of courtiers, who always feel themselves injured by +the favour shown to others. An obsolete office was revived in favour of +the Princesse de Lamballe. In the time of Maria Leckzinska, wife of +Louis XV., the office of superintendent, then held by Mademoiselle de +Clermont, was suppressed when its holder died. The office gave a control +over the inclinations of Queens, by which Maria Leckzinska was sometimes +inconvenienced; and it had lain dormant ever since. Its restoration by a +Queen who it was believed could be guided by no motive but the desire to +seek pretexts for showing undue favour, was of course eyed askance, and +ere long openly calumniated. + +The Comtesse de Noailles, who never could forget the title the Queen gave +her of Madame Etiquette, nor forgive the frequent jokes which Her Majesty +passed upon her antiquated formality, availed herself of the opportunity +offered by her husband's being raised to the dignity of Marshal of +France, to resign her situation on the appointment of the Princesse de +Lamballe as superintendent. The Countess retired with feelings +embittered against her royal mistress, and her annoyance in the sequel +ripened into enmity. The Countess was attached to a very powerful party, +not only at Court but scattered throughout the kingdom. Her discontent +arose from the circumstance of no longer having to take her orders from +the Queen direct, but from her superintendent. Ridiculous as this may +seem to an impartial observer, it created one of the most powerful +hostilities against which Her Majesty had afterwards to contend. + +Though the Queen esteemed the Comtesse de Noailles for her many good +qualities, yet she was so much put out of her way by the rigour with +which the Countess enforced forms which to Her Majesty appeared puerile +and absurd, that she felt relieved, and secretly gratified, by her +retirement. It will be shown hereafter to what an excess the Countess +was eventually carried by her malice. + +One of the popular objections to the revival of the office of +superintendent in favour of the Princesse de Lamballe arose from its +reputed extravagance. This was as groundless as the other charges +against the Queen. The etiquettes of dress, and the requisite increase +of every other expense, from the augmentation of every article of the +necessaries as well as the luxuries of life, made a treble difference +between the expenditure of the circumscribed Court of Maria Leckzinska +and that of Louis XVI.; yet the Princesse de Lamballe received no more +salary than had been allotted to Mademoiselle de Clermont in the selfsame +situation half a century before. + +(And even that salary she never appropriated to any private use of her +own, being amply supplied through the generous bounty of her +father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre; and latterly, to my knowledge, so +far from receiving any pay, she often paid the Queen's and Princesse +Elizabeth's bills out of her own purse.) + +So far from possessing the slightest propensity either to extravagance in +herself or to the encouragement of extravagance in others, the Princesse +de Lamballe was a model of prudence, and upon those subjects, as indeed +upon all others, the Queen could not have had a more discreet counsellor. +She eminently contributed to the charities of the Queen, who was the +mother of the fatherless, the support of the widow, and the general +protectress and refuge of suffering humanity. Previously to the purchase +of any article of luxury, the Princess would call for the list of the +pensioners: if anything was due on that account, it was instantly paid, +and the luxury dispensed with. + +She never made her appearance in the Queen's apartments except at +established hours. This was scrupulously observed till the Revolution. +Circumstances then obliged her to break through forms. The Queen would +only receive communications, either written or verbal, upon the subjects +growing out of that wretched crisis, in the presence of the Princess; and +hence her apartments were open to all who had occasion to see Her +Majesty. This made their intercourse more constant and unceremonious. +But before this, the Princess only went to the royal presence at fixed +hours, unless she had memorials to present to the King, Queen, or +Ministers, in favour of such as asked for justice or mercy. Hence, +whenever the Princess entered before the stated times, the Queen would +run and embrace her, and exclaim: "Well, my dear Princesse de Lamballe! +what widow, what orphan, what suffering or oppressed petitioner am I to +thank for this visit? for I know you never come to me empty-handed when +you come unexpectedly!" The Princess, on these occasions, often had the +petitioners waiting in an adjoining apartment, that they might instantly +avail themselves of any inclination the Queen might show to see them. + +Once the Princess was deceived by a female painter of doubtful character, +who supplicated her to present a work she had executed to the Queen. I +myself afterwards returned that work to its owner. Thenceforward, the +Princess became very rigid in her inquiries, previous to taking the least +interest in any application, or consenting to present any one personally +to the King or Queen. She required thoroughly to be informed of the +nature of the request, and of the merit and character of the applicant, +before she would attend to either. Owing to this caution Her Highness +scarcely ever after met with a negative. In cases of great importance, +though the Queen's compassionate and good heart needed no stimulus to +impel her to forward the means of justice, the Princess would call the +influence of the Princesse Elizabeth to her aid; and Elizabeth never sued +in vain. + +Marie Antoinette paid the greatest attention to all memorials. They were +regularly collected every week by Her Majesty's private secretary, the +Abbe Vermond. I have myself seen many of them, when returned from the +Princesse de Lamballe, with the Queen's marginal notes in her own +handwriting, and the answers dictated by Her Majesty to the different, +officers of the departments relative to the nature of the respective +demands. She always recommended the greatest attention to all public +documents, and annexed notes to such as passed through her hands to +prevent their being thrown aside or lost. + +One of those who were least satisfied with the appointment of the +Princesse de Lamballe to the office of superintendent was her +brother-in-law, the Duc d'Orleans, who, having attempted her virtue on +various occasions and been repulsed, became mortified and alarmed at her +situation as a check to his future enterprise. + +At one time the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans were most constant and +assiduous in their attendance on Marie Antoinette. They were at all her +parties. The Queen was very fond of the Duchess. It is supposed that +the interest Her Majesty took in that lady, and the steps to which some +time afterwards that interest led, planted the first seeds of the +unrelenting and misguided hostility which, in the deadliest times of the +Revolution, animated the Orleanists against the throne. + +The Duc d'Orleans, then Duc de Chartres, was never a favourite of the +Queen. He was only tolerated at Court on account of his wife and of the +great intimacy which subsisted between him and the Comte d'Artois. Louis +XVI. had often expressed his disapprobation of the Duke's character, +which his conduct daily justified. + +The Princesse de Lamballe could have no cause to think of her +brother-in-law but with horror. He had insulted her, and, in revenge at +his defeat, had, it was said, deprived her, by the most awful means, of +her husband. The Princess was tenderly attached to her sister-in-law, +the Duchess. Her attachment could not but make her look very +unfavourably upon the circumstance of the Duke's subjecting his wife to +the humiliation of residing in the palace with Madame de Genlis, and +being forced to receive a person of morals so incorrect as the guardian +of her children. The Duchess had complained to her father, the Duc de +Penthievre, in the presence of the Princesse de Lamballe, of the very +great ascendency Madame de Genlis exercised over her husband; and had +even requested the Queen to use her influence in detaching the Duke from +this connexion. + +(It was generally understood that the Duke had a daughter by Madame de +Genlis. This daughter, when grown up, was married to the late Irish Lord +Robert Fitzgerald.) + +But she had too much gentleness of nature not presently to forget her +resentment. Being much devoted to her husband, rather than irritate him +to further neglect by personal remonstrance, she determined to make the +best of a bad business, and tolerated Madame de Genlis, although she made +no secret among her friends and relations of the reason why she did so. +Nay, so far did her wish not to disoblige her husband prevail over her +own feelings as to induce her to yield at last to his importunities by +frequently proposing to present Madame de Genlis to the Queen. But +Madame de Genilis never could obtain either a public or a private +audience. Though the Queen was a great admirer of merit and was fond of +encouraging talents, of which Madame de Genlis was by no means deficient, +yet even the account the Duchess herself had given, had Her Majesty +possessed no other means of knowledge, would have sealed that lady's +exclusion from the opportunities of display at Court which she sought so +earnestly. + +There was another source of exasperation against the Duc d'Orleans; and +the great cause of a new and, though less obtrusive, yet perhaps an +equally dangerous foe under all the circumstances, in Madame de Genlis. +The anonymous slander of the one was circulated through all France by the +other; and spleen and disappointment feathered the venomed arrows shot at +the heart of power by malice and ambition. Be the charge true or false, +these anonymous libels were generally considered as the offspring of this +lady: they were industriously scattered by the Duc d'Orleans; and their +frequent refutation by the Queen's friends only increased the malignant +industry of their inventor. + +An event which proved the most serious of all that ever happened to the +Queen, and the consequences of which were distinctly foreseen by the +Princesse de Lamballe and others of her true friends, was now growing to +maturity. + +The deposed Court oracle, the Comtesse de Noailles, had been succeeded as +literary leader by the Comtesse Diane de Polignac. She was a favourite of +the Comte d'Artois, and was the first lady in attendance upon the +Countess, his wife. + +(The Comtesse Diane de Polignac had a much better education, and +considerably more natural capacity, than her sister-in-law, the Duchess, +and the Queen merely disliked her for her prudish affectation. The +Comtesse d'Artois grew jealous of the Count's intimacy with the Comtesse +Diane. While she considered herself as the only one of the Royal Family +likely to be mother of a future sovereign, she was silent, or perhaps too +much engrossed by her castles in the air to think of anything but +diadems; but when she saw the Queen producing heirs, she grew out of +humour at her lost popularity, and began to turn her attention to her +husband's Endymionship to this now Diana! When she had made up her mind +to get her rival out of her house, she consulted one of the family; but +being told that the best means for a wife to keep her husband out of +harm's way was to provide him with a domestic occupation for his leisure +hours at home, than which nothing could be better than a handmaid under +the same roof, she made a merit of necessity and submitted ever after to +retain the Comtesse Diane, as she had been prudently advised. The +Comtesse Diane, in consequence, remained in the family even up to the +17th October, 1789, when she left Versailles in company with the De +Polignacs and the D'Artois, who all emigrated together from France to +Italy and lived at Stria on the Brenta, near Venice, for some time, till +the Comtesse d'Artois went to Turin.) + +The Queen's conduct had always been very cool to her. She deemed her a +self-sufficient coquette. However, the Comtesse Diane was a constant +attendant at the gay parties which were then the fashion of the Court, +though not greatly admired. + +The reader will scarcely need to be informed that the event to which I +have just alluded is the introduction by the Comtesse Diane of her +sister-in-law, the Comtesse Julie de Polignac, to the Queen; and having +brought the record up to this point I here once more dismiss my own pen +for that of the Princesse de Lamballe. + +It will be obvious to every one that I must have been indebted to the +conversations of my beloved patroness for most of the sentiments and +nearly all the facts I have just been stating; and had the period on +which she has written so little as to drive me to the necessity of +writing for her been less pregnant with circumstances almost entirely +personal to herself, no doubt I should have found more upon that period +in her manuscript. But the year of which Her Highness says so little was +the year of happiness and exclusive favour; and the Princess was above +the vanity of boasting, even privately in the self-confessional of her +diary. She resumes her records with her apprehensions; and thus +proceeds, describing the introduction of the Comtesse Julie de Polignac, +regretting her ascendency over the Queen, and foreseeing its fatal +effects.] + +"I had been only a twelvemonth in Her Majesty's service, which I believe +was the happiest period of both our lives, when, at one of the Court +assemblies, the Comtesse Julie de Polignac was first introduced by her +sister-in-law, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, to the Queen. + +"She had lived in the country, quite a retired life, and appeared to be +more the motherly woman, and the domestic wife, than the ambitious Court +lady, or royal sycophant. She was easy of access, and elegantly plain in +her dress and deportment. + +"Her appearance at Court was as fatal to the Queen as it was propitious +to herself! + +"She seemed formed by nature to become a royal favourite, unassuming, +remarkably complaisant, possessing a refined taste, with a good-natured +disposition, not handsome, but well formed, and untainted by haughtiness +or pomposity. + +"It would appear, from the effect her introduction had on the Queen, that +her domestic virtues were written in her countenance; for she became a +royal favourite before she had time to become a candidate for royal +favour. + +"The Queen's sudden attachment to the Comtesse Julie produced no +alteration in my conduct, while I saw nothing extraordinary to alarm me +for the consequences of any particular marked partiality, by which the +character and popularity of Her Majesty might be endangered. + +"But, seeing the progress this lady made in the feelings of the Queen's +enemies, it became my duty, from the situation I held, to caution Her +Majesty against the risks she ran in making her favourites friends; for +it was very soon apparent how highly the Court disapproved of this +intimacy and partiality: and the same feeling soon found its way to the +many-headed monster, the people, who only saw the favourite without +considering the charge she held. Scarcely had she felt the warm rays of +royal favour, when the chilling blasts of envy and malice began to nip it +in the bud of all its promised bliss. Even long before she touched the +pinnacle of her grandeur as governess of the royal children the blackest +calumny began to show itself in prints, caricatures, songs, and pamphlets +of every description. + +"A reciprocity of friendship between a Queen and a subject, by those who +never felt the existence of such a feeling as friendship, could only be +considered in a criminal point of view. But by what perversion could +suspicion frown upon the ties between two married women, both living in +the greatest harmony with their respective husbands, especially when both +became mothers and were so devoted to their offspring? This boundless +friendship did glow between this calumniated pair calumniated because the +sacredness and peculiarity of the sentiment which united them was too +pure to be understood by the grovelling minds who made themselves their +sentencers. The friend is the friend's shadow. The real sentiment of +friendship, of which disinterested sympathy is the sign, cannot exist +unless between two of the same sex, because a physical difference +involuntarily modifies the complexion of the intimacy where the sexes are +opposite, even though there be no physical relations. The Queen of +France had love in her eyes and Heaven in her soul. The Duchesse de +Polignac, whose person beamed with every charm, could never have been +condemned, like the Friars of La Trappe, to the mere memento mori. + +"When I had made the representations to Her Majesty which duty exacted +from me on perceiving her ungovernable partiality for her new favourite, +that I might not importune her by the awkwardness naturally arising from +my constant exposure to the necessity of witnessing an intimacy she knew +I did not sanction, I obtained permission from my royal mistress to visit +my father-in-law, the Duc de Penthievre, at Rambouillet, his +country-seat. + +"Soon after I arrived there, I was taken suddenly ill after dinner with +the most excruciating pains in my stomach. I thought myself dying. +Indeed, I should have been so but for the fortunate and timely discovery +that I was poisoned certainly, not intentionally, by any one belonging to +my dear father's household; but by some execrable hand which had an +interest in my death. + +"The affair was hushed up with a vague report that some of the made +dishes had been prepared in a stew-pan long out of use, which the clerk +of the Duke's kitchen had forgotten to get properly tinned. + +"This was a doubtful story for many reasons. Indeed, I firmly believe +that the poison given me had been prepared in the salt, for every one at +table had eaten of the same dish without suffering the smallest +inconvenience. + +"The news of this accident had scarcely arrived at Versailles, when the +Queen, astounded, and, in excessive anxiety, instantly sent off her +physician, and her private secretary, the Abbe Vermond, to bring me back +to my apartments at Versailles, with strict orders not to leave me a +moment at the Duke's, for fear of a second attempt of the same nature. +Her Majesty had imputed the first to the earnestness I had always shown +in support of her interests, and she seemed now more ardent in her +kindness towards me from the idea of my being exposed through her means +to the treachery of assassins in the dark. The Queen awaited our coming +impatiently, and, not seeing the carriages return so quickly as she +fancied they ought to arrive, she herself set off for Rambouillet, and +did not leave me till she had prevailed on me to quit my father-in-law's, +and we both returned together the same night to Versailles, where the +Queen in person dedicated all her attention to the restoration of my +health. + +"As yet, however, nothing in particular had discovered that splendour for +which the De Polignacs were afterwards so conspicuous. + +"Indeed, so little were their circumstances calculated for a Court life, +that when the friends of Madame de Polignac perceived the growing +attachment of the young Queen to the palladium of their hopes, in order +to impel Her Majesty's friendship to repair the deficiencies of fortune, +they advised the magnet to quit the Court abruptly, assigning the want of +means as the motive of her retreat. The story got wind, and proved +propitious. + +"The Queen, to secure the society of her friend, soon supplied the +resources she required and took away the necessity for her retirement. +But the die was cast. In gaining one friend she sacrificed a host. By +this act of imprudent preference she lost forever the affections of the +old nobility. This was the gale which drove her back among the breakers. + +"I saw the coming storm, and endeavoured to make my Sovereign feel its +danger. Presuming that my example would be followed, I withdrew from the +De Polignac society, and vainly flattered myself that prudence would +impel others not to encourage Her Majesty's amiable infatuation till the +consequences should be irretrievable. But Sovereigns are always +surrounded by those who make it a point to reconcile them to their +follies, however flagrant, and keep them on good terms with themselves, +however severely they may be censured by the world. + +"If I had read the book of fate I could not have seen more distinctly the +fatal results which actually took place from this unfortunate connexion. +The Duchess and myself always lived in the greatest harmony, and equally +shared the confidence of the Queen; but it was my duty not to sanction +Her Majesty's marked favouritism by my presence. The Queen often +expressed her discontent to me upon the subject. She used to tell me how +much it grieved her to be denied success in her darling desire of uniting +her friends with each other, as they were already united in her own +heart. Finding my resolution unalterable, she was mortified, but gave up +her pursuit. When she became assured that all importunity was useless, +she ever after avoided wounding my feelings by remonstrance, and allowed +me to pursue the system I had adopted, rather than deprive herself of my +society, which would have been the consequence had I not been left at +liberty to follow the dictates of my own sense of propriety in a course +from which I was resolved that even Her Majesty's displeasure should not +make me swerve. + +"Once in particular, at an entertainment given to the Emperor Joseph at +Trianon, I remember the Queen took the opportunity to repeat how much she +felt herself mortified at the course in which I persisted of never making +my appearance at the Duchesse de Polignac's parties. + +"I replied, 'I believe, Madame, we are both of us disappointed; but Your +Majesty has your remedy, by replacing me by a lady less scrupulous.' + +"'I was too sanguine,' said the Queen, 'in having flattered myself that I +had chosen two friends who would form, from their sympathising and +uniting their sentiments with each other, a society which would embellish +my private life as much as they adorn their public stations.' + +"I said it was by my unalterable friendship and my loyal and dutiful +attachment to the sacred person of Her Majesty that I had been prompted +to a line of conduct in which the motives whence it arose would impel me +to persist while I had the honour to hold a situation under Her Majesty's +roof. + +"The Queen, embracing me, exclaimed, 'That will be for life, for death +alone can separate us!' + +"This is the last conversation I recollect to have had with the Queen +upon this distressing subject. + +"The Abbe Vermond, who had been Her Majesty's tutor, but who was now her +private secretary, began to dread that his influence over her, from +having been her confidential adviser from her youth upwards, would suffer +from the rising authority of the all-predominant new favourite. +Consequently, he thought proper to remonstrate, not with Her Majesty, but +with those about her royal person. The Queen took no notice of these +side-wind complaints, not wishing to enter into any explanation of her +conduct. On this the Abbe withdrew from Court. But he only retired for +a short time, and that to make better terms for the future. Here was a +new spring for those who were supplying the army of calumniators with +poison. Happy had it been, perhaps, for France and the Queen if Vermond +had never returned. But the Abbe was something like a distant country +cousin of an English Minister, a man of no talents, but who hoped for +employment through the power of his kinsman. 'There is nothing on hand +now,' answered the Minister, 'but a Bishop's mitre or a Field-marshal's +staff.'--'Oh, very well,' replied the countryman; 'either will do for me +till something better turns up.' The Abbe, in his retirement finding +leisure to reflect that there was no probability of anything 'better +turning up' than his post of private secretary, tutor, confidant, and +counsellor (and that not always the most correct) of a young and amiable +Queen of France, soon made his reappearance and kept his jealousy of the +De Polignacs ever after to himself. + +"The Abbe Vermond enjoyed much influence with regard to ecclesiastical +preferments. He was too fond of his situation ever to contradict or +thwart Her Majesty in any of her plans; too much of a courtier to assail +her ears with the language of truth; and by far too much a clergyman to +interest himself but for Mother Church. + +"In short, he was more culpable in not doing his duty than in the +mischief he occasioned, for he certainly oftener misled the Queen by his +silence than by his advice." + + + + +SECTION VIII. + + +"I have already mentioned that Marie Antoinette had no decided taste for +literature. Her mind rather sought its amusements in the ball-room, the +promenade, the theatre, especially when she herself was a performer, and +the concert-room, than in her library and among her books. Her coldness +towards literary men may in, some degree be accounted for by the disgust +which she took at the calumnies and caricatures resulting from her +mother's partiality for her own revered teacher, the great Metastasio. +The resemblance of most of Maria Theresa's children to that poet was +coupled with the great patronage he received from the Empress; and much +less than these circumstances would have been quite enough to furnish a +tale for the slanderer, injurious to the reputation of any exalted +personage. + +"The taste of Marie Antoinette for private theatricals was kept up till +the clouds of the Revolution darkened over all her enjoyments. + +"These innocent amusements were made subjects of censure against her by +the many courtiers who were denied access to them; while some, who were +permitted to be present, were too well pleased with the opportunity of +sneering at her mediocrity in the art, which those, who could not see +her, were ready to criticise with the utmost severity. It is believed +that Madame de Genlis found this too favourable an opportunity to be +slighted. Anonymous satires upon the Queen's performances, which were +attributed to the malice of that authoress, were frequently shown to Her +Majesty by good-natured friends. The Duc de Fronsac also, from some +situation he held at Court, though not included in the private household +of Her Majesty at Trianon, conceiving himself highly injured by not being +suffered to interfere, was much exasperated, and took no pains to prevent +others from receiving the infection of his resentment. + +"Of all the arts, music was the only one which Her Majesty ever warmly +patronised. For music she was an enthusiast. Had her talents in this +art been cultivated, it is certain from her judgment in it that she would +have made very considerable progress. She sang little French airs with +great taste and feeling. She improved much under the tuition of the +great composer, her master, the celebrated Sacchini. After his death, +Sapio was named his successor; but, between the death of one master and +the appointment of another, the revolutionary horrors so increased that +her mind was no longer in a state to listen to anything but the howlings +of the tempest. + +"In her happier days of power, the great Gluck was brought at her request +from Germany to Paris. He cost nothing to the public Treasury, for Her +Majesty paid all his expenses out of her own purse, leaving him the +profits of his operas, which attracted immense sums to the theatre. + +"Marie Antoinette paid for the musical education of the French singer, +Garat, and pensioned him for her private concerts. + +"Her Majesty was the great patroness of the celebrated Viotti, who was +also attached to her private musical parties. Before Viotti began to +perform his concertos, Her Majesty, with the most amiable condescension, +would go round the music saloon, and say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I +request you will be silent, and very attentive, and not enter into +conversation, while Mr. Viotti is playing, for it interrupts him in the +execution of his fine performance. + +"Gluck composed his Armida in compliment to the personal charms of Marie +Antoinette. I never saw Her Majesty more interested about anything than +she was for its success. She became a perfect slave to it. She had the +gracious condescension to hear all the pieces through, at Gluck's +request, before they were submitted to the stage for rehearsal. Gluck +said he always improved his music after he saw the effect it had upon Her +Majesty. + +"He was coming out of the Queen's apartment one day, after he had been +performing one of these pieces for Her Majesty's approbation, when I +followed and congratulated him on the increased success he had met with +from the whole band of the opera at every rehearsal. 'O my dear +Princess!' cried he, 'it wants nothing to make it be applauded up to the +seven skies but two such delightful heads as Her Majesty's and your +own.'--'Oh, if that be all,' answered I, 'we'll have them painted for +you, Mr. Gluck!'--'No, no, no! you do not understand me,' replied Gluck, +'I mean real, real heads. My actresses are very ugly, and Armida and her +confidential lady ought to be very handsome: + +"However great the success of the opera of Armida, and certainly it was +one of the best productions ever exhibited on the French stage, no one +had a better opinion of its composition than Gluck himself. He was quite +mad about it. He told the Queen that the air of France had invigorated +his musical genius, and that, after having had the honour of seeing Her +Majesty, his ideas were so much inspired that his compositions resembled +her, and became alike angelic and sublime! + +"The first artist who undertook the part of Armida was Madame Saint +Huberti. The Queen was very partial to her. She was principal female +singer at the French opera, was a German by birth, and strongly +recommended by Gluck for her good natural voice. At Her Majesty's +request, Gluck himself taught Madame Saint Huberti the part of Armida. +Sacchini, also, at the command of Marie Antoinette, instructed her in the +style and sublimity of the Italian school, and Mdlle. Benin, the Queen's +dressmaker and milliner, was ordered to furnish the complete dress for +the character. + +"The Queen, perhaps, was more liberal to this lady than to any other +actress upon the stage. She had frequently paid her debts, which were +very considerable, for she dressed like a Queen whenever she represented +one. + +"Gluck's consciousness of the merit of his own works, and of their +dignity, excited no small jealousy, during the getting up of Armida, in +his rival with the public, the great Vestris, to whom he scarcely left +space to exhibit the graces of his art; and many severe disputes took +place between the two rival sharers of the Parisian enthusiasm. Indeed, +it was at one time feared that the success of Armida would be endangered, +unless an equal share of the performance were conceded to the dancers. +But Gluck, whose German obstinacy would not give up a note, told Vestris +he might compose a ballet in which he would leave him his own way +entirely; but that an artist whose profession only taught him to reason +with his heels should not kick about works like Armida at his pleasure. +'My subject,' added Gluck, 'is taken from the immortal Tasso. My music +has been logically composed, and with the ideas of my head; and, of +course, there is very little room left for capering. If Tasso had +thought proper to make Rinaldo a dancer he never would have designated +him a warrior.' + +"Rinaldo was the part Vestris wished to be allotted to his son. However, +through the interference of the Queen, Vestris prudently took the part as +it had been originally finished by Gluck. + +"The Queen was a great admirer and patroness of Augustus Vestris, the god +of dance, as he was styled. Augustus Vestris never lost Her Majesty's +favour, though he very often lost his sense of the respect he owed to the +public, and showed airs and refused to dance. Once he did so when Her +Majesty was at the opera. Upon some frivolous pretext he refused to +appear. He was, in consequence, immediately arrested. His father, +alarmed at his son's temerity, flew to me, and with the most earnest +supplications implored I would condescend to endeavour to obtain the +pardon of Her Majesty. 'My son,' cried he, 'did not know that Her +Majesty had honoured the theatre with her presence. Had he been aware of +it, could he have refused to dance for his most bounteous benefactress? +I, too, am grieved beyond the power of language to describe, by this mal +apropos contretemps between the two houses of Vestris and Bourbon, as we +have always lived in the greatest harmony ever since we came from +Florence to Paris. My son is very sorry and will dance most bewitchingly +if Her Majesty will graciously condescend to order his release!' + +"I repeated the conversation verbatim, to Her Majesty, who enjoyed the +arrogance of the Florentine, and sent her page to order young Vestris to +be set immediately at liberty. + +"Having exerted all the wonderful powers of his art, the Queen applauded +him very much. When Her Majesty was about leaving her box, old Vestris +appeared at the entrance, leading his son to thank the Queen. + +"'Ah, Monsieur Vestris,' said the Queen to the father, you never danced +as your son has done this evening.' + +"'That's very natural, Madame,' answered old Vestris, 'I never had a +Vestris, please Your Majesty, for a master.' + +"'Then you have the greater merit,' replied the Queen, turning round to +old Vestris--'Ah, I shall never forget you and Mademoiselle Guimard +dancing the minuet de la cour.' + +"On this old Vestris held up his head with that peculiar grace for which +he was so much distinguished. The old man, though ridiculously vain, was +very much of a gentleman in his manners. The father of Vestris was a +painter of some celebrity at Florence, and originally from Tuscany." + + + + +SECTION IX. + + +"The visit of the favourite brother of Marie Antoinette, the Emperor +Joseph the Second, to France, had been long and anxiously expected, and +was welcomed by her with delight. The pleasure Her Majesty discovered at +having him with her is scarcely credible; and the affectionate tenderness +with which the Emperor frequently expressed himself on seeing his +favourite sister evinced that their joys were mutual. + +"Like everything else, however, which gratified and obliged the Queen, +her evil star converted even this into a misfortune. It was said that +the French Treasury, which was not overflowing, was still more reduced by +the Queen's partiality for her brother. She was accused of having given +him immense sums of money; which was utterly false. + +"The finances of Joseph were at that time in a situation too superior to +those of France to admit of such extravagance, or even to render it +desirable. The circumstance which gave a colour to the charge was this: + +"The Emperor, in order to facilitate the trade of his Brabant subjects, +had it in contemplation to open the navigation of the Scheldt. This +measure would have been ruinous to many of the skippers, as well as to +the internal commerce of France. It was considered equally dangerous to +the trade and navigation of the North Hollanders. To prevent it, +negotiations were carried on by the French Minister, though professedly +for the mutual interest of both countries, yet entirely at the +instigation and on account of the Dutch. The weighty argument of the +Dutch to prevent the Emperor from accomplishing a purpose they so much +dreaded was a sum of many millions, which passed by means of some monied +speculation in the Exchange through France to its destination at Vienna. +It was to see this affair settled that the Emperor declared in Vienna his +intention of taking France in his way from Italy, before he should go +back to Austria. + +"The certainty of a transmission of money from France to Austria was +quite enough to awaken the malevolent, who would have taken care, even +had they inquired into the source whence the money came, never to have +made it public. The opportunity was too favourable not to be made the +pretext to raise a clamour against the Queen for robbing France to favour +and enrich Austria. + +"The Emperor, who had never seen me, though he had often heard me spoken +of at the Court of Turin, expressed a wish, soon after his arrival, that +I should be presented to him. The immediate cause of this let me +explain. + +"I was very much attached to the Princesse Clotilde, whom I had caused to +be united to Prince Charles Emanuel of Piedmont. Our family had, indeed, +been principally instrumental in the alliances of the two brothers of the +King of France with the two Piedmontese Princesses, as I had been in the +marriage of the Piedmontese Prince with the Princess of France. When the +Emperor Joseph visited the Court of Turin he was requested when he saw me +in Paris to signify the King of Sardinia's satisfaction at my good +offices. Consequently, the Emperor lost no time in delivering his +message. + +"When I was just entering the Queen's apartment to be presented, 'Here,' +said Her Majesty, leading me to the Emperor, 'is the Princess,' and, then +turning to me, exclaimed, 'Mercy, how cold you are!' The Emperor answered +Her Majesty in German, 'What heat can you expect from the hand of one +whose heart resides with the dead?' and subjoined, in the same language, +'What a pity that so charming a head should be fixed on a dead body.' + +"I affected to understand the Emperor literally, and set him and the +Queen laughing by thanking His Imperial Majesty for the compliment. + +"The Emperor was exceedingly affable and full of anecdote. Marie +Antoinette resembled him in her general manners. The similitude in their +easy openness of address towards persons of merit was very striking. Both +always endeavoured to encourage persons of every class to speak their +minds freely, with this difference, that Her Majesty in so doing never +forgot her dignity or her rank at Court. Sometimes, however, I have seen +her, though so perfect in her deportment with inferiors, much intimidated +and sometimes embarrassed in the presence of the Princes and Princesses, +her equals, who for the first time visited Versailles: indeed, so much as +to give them a very incorrect idea of her capacity. It was by no means an +easy matter to cause Her Majesty to unfold her real sentiments or +character on a first acquaintance. + +"I remember the Emperor one evening at supper when he was exceedingly +good-humoured, talkative, and amusing. He had visited all his Italian +relations, and had a word for each, man, woman, or child--not a soul was +spared. The King scarcely once opened his mouth, except to laugh at some +of the Emperor's jokes upon his Italian relations. + +"He began by asking the Queen if she punished her husband by making him +keep as many Lents in the same year as her sister did the King of Naples. +The Queen not knowing what the Emperor meant, he explained himself, and +said, 'When the King of Naples offends his Queen she keeps him on short +commons and 'soupe maigre' till he has expiated the offence by the +penance of humbling himself; and then, and not till then, permits him to +return and share the nuptial rights of her bed.' + +"'This sister of mine,' said the Emperor, 'is a proficient Queen in the +art of man training. My other sister, the Duchess of Parma, is equally +scientific in breaking-in horses; for she is constantly in the stables +with her grooms, by which she 'grooms' a pretty sum yearly in buying, +selling, and breaking-in; while the simpleton, her husband, is ringing +the bells with the Friars of Colorno to call his good subjects to Mass. + +"'My brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, feeds his subjects with +plans of economy, a dish that costs nothing, and not only saves him a +multitude of troubles in public buildings and public institutions, but +keeps the public money in his private coffers; which is one of the +greatest and most classical discoveries a Sovereign can possibly +accomplish, and I give Leopold much credit for his ingenuity. + +"'My dear brother Ferdinand, Archduke of Milan, considering he is only +Governor of Lombardy, is not without industry; and I am told, when out of +the glimpse of his dragon the holy Beatrice, his Archduchess, sells his +corn in the time of war to my enemies, as he does to my friends in the +time of peace. So he loses nothing by his speculations!' + +"The Queen checked the Emperor repeatedly, though she could not help +smiling at his caricatures. + +"'As to you, my dear Marie Antoinette,' continued the Emperor, not +heeding her, 'I see you have made great progress in the art of painting. +You have lavished more colour on one cheek than Rubens would have +required for all the figures in his cartoons.' Observing one of the +Ladies of Honour still more highly rouged than the Queen, he said, 'I +suppose I look like a death's head upon a tombstone, among all these +high-coloured furies.' + +"The Queen again tried to interrupt the Emperor, but he was not to be put +out of countenance. + +"He said he had no doubt, when he arrived at Brussels, that he should +hear of the progress of his sister, the Archduchess Maria Christina, in +her money negotiations with the banker Valkeers, who made a good stock +for her husband's jobs. + +"'If Maria Christina's gardens and palace at Lakin could speak,' observed +he, 'what a spectacle of events would they not produce! What a number of +fine sights my own family would afford! + +"'When I get to Cologne,' pursued the Emperor, there I shall see my great +fat brother Maximilian, in his little electorate, spending his yearly +revenue upon an ecclesiastical procession; for priests, like opposition, +never bark but to get into the manger; never walk empty-handed; rosaries +and good cheer always wind up their holy work; and my good Maximilian, as +head of his Church, has scarcely feet to waddle into it. Feasting and +fasting produce the same effect. In wind and food he is quite an +adept--puffing, from one cause or the other, like a smith's bellows!' + +"Indeed, the Elector of Cologne was really grown so very fat, that, like +his Imperial mother, he could scarcely walk. He would so over-eat +himself at these ecclesiastical dinners, to make his guests welcome, +that, from indigestion, he would be puffing and blowing, an hour +afterwards, for breath. + +"'As I have begun the family visits,' continued the Emperor, 'I must not +pass by the Archduchess Mariana and the Lady Abbess at Clagenfurt; or, +the Lord knows, I shall never hear the end of their klagens.--[A German +word which signifies complaining.]--The first, I am told, is grown so +ugly, and, of course, so neglected by mankind, that she is become an +utter stranger to any attachment, excepting the fleshy embraces of the +disgusting wen that encircles her neck and bosom, and makes her head +appear like a black spot upon a large sheet of white paper. Therefore +klagen is all I can expect from that quarter of female flesh, and I dare +say it will be levelled against the whole race of mankind for their want +of taste in not admiring her exuberance of human craw! + +"'As to the Lady Abbess, she is one of my best recruiting sergeants. She +is so fond of training cadets for the benefit of the army that they learn +more from her system in one month than at the military academy at +Neustadt in a whole year. She is her mother's own daughter. She +understands military tactics thoroughly. She and I never quarrel, except +when I garrison her citadel with invalids. She and the canoness, +Mariana, would rather see a few young ensigns than all the staffs of the +oldest Field-marshals!' + +"The Queen often made signs to the Emperor to desist from thus exposing +every member of his family, and seemed to feel mortified; but the more +Her Majesty endeavoured to check his freedom, and make him silent, the +more he enlarged upon the subject. He did not even omit Maria Theresa, +who, he said, in consequence of some papers found on persons arrested as +spies from the Prussian camp, during the seven years' war, was reported +to have been greatly surprised to have discovered that her husband, the +Emperor Francis I., supplied the enemy's army with all kinds of provision +from her stores. + +"The King scarcely ever answered excepting when the Emperor told the +Queen that her staircase and antechamber at Versailles resembled more the +Turkish bazars of Constantinople + +[It was an old custom, in the passages and staircase of all the royal +palaces, for tradespeople to sell their merchandise for the accommodation +of the Court.] + +than a royal palace. 'But,' added he, laughing, 'I suppose you would not +allow the nuisance of hawkers and pedlars almost under your nose, if the +sweet perfumes of a handsome present did not compensate for the +disagreeable effluvia exhaling from their filthy traffic.' + +"On this, Louis XVI., in a tone of voice somewhat varying from his usual +mildness, assured the Emperor that neither himself nor the Queen derived +any advantage from the custom, beyond the convenience of purchasing +articles inside the palace at any moment they were wanted, without being +forced to send for them elsewhere. + +"'That is the very reason, my dear brother,' replied Joseph, 'why I would +not allow these shops to be where they are. The temptation to lavish +money to little purpose is too strong; and women have not philosophy +enough to resist having things they like, when they can be obtained +easily, though they may not be wanted.' + +"'Custom,' answered the King-- + +"'True,' exclaimed the Queen, interrupting him; custom, my dear brother, +obliges us to tolerate in France many things which you, in Austria, have. +long since abolished; but the French are not to be: treated like the +Germans. A Frenchman is a slave to habit. His very caprice in the +change of fashion proceeds more from habit than genius or invention. His +very restlessness of character is systematic; and old customs and +national habits in a nation virtually spirituelle must not be trifled +with. The tree torn up by the roots dies for want of nourishment; but, +on the contrary, when lopped carefully only of its branches the pruning +makes it more valuable to the cultivator and more pleasing to the +beholder. So it is with national prejudices, which are often but the +excrescences of national virtues. Root them out and you root out virtue +and all. They must only be: pruned and turned to profit. A Frenchman is +more easily killed than subdued. Even his follies generally spring from +a high sense of national dignity and honour, which foreigners cannot but +respect.' + +"The Emperor Joseph while in France mixed in all sorts of society, to +gain information with respect, to the popular feeling towards his sister, +and instruction as to the manners and modes of life and thinking of the +French. To this end he would often associate with the lowest of the +common people, and generally gave them a louis for their loss of time in +attending to him. + +"One day, when he was walking with the young Princesse Elizabeth and +myself in the public gardens at Versailles and in deep conversation with +us, two or three of these louis ladies came up to my side and, not +knowing who I was, whispered, 'There's no use in paying such attention to +the stranger: after all, when he has got what he wants, he'll only give +you a louis apiece and then send you about your business.'" + + + + +SECTION X. + + +"I remember an old lady who could not bear to be told of deaths. 'Psha! +Pshaw!' she would exclaim. 'Bring me no tales of funerals! Talk of +births and of those who are likely to be blest with them! These are the +joys which gladden old hearts and fill youthful ones with ecstasy! It is +our own reproduction in children which makes us quit the world happy and +contented; because then we only retire to make room for another race, +bringing with them all those faculties which are in us decayed; and +capable, which we ourselves have ceased to be, of taking our parts and +figuring on the stage of life so long as it may please the Supreme +Manager to busy them in earthly scenes! Then talk no more to me of weeds +and mourning, but show me christenings and all those who give employ to +the baptismal font!' + +"Such also was the exulting feeling of Marie Antoinette when she no +longer doubted of her wished-for pregnancy. The idea of becoming a +mother filled her soul with an exuberant delight, which made the very +pavement on which she trod vibrate with the words, 'I shall be a mother! +I shall be a mother!' She was so overjoyed that she not only made it +public throughout France but despatches were sent off to all her royal +relatives. And was not her rapture natural? so long as she had waited +for the result of every youthful union, and so coarsely as she had been +reproached with her misfortune! Now came her triumph. She could now +prove to the world, like all the descendants of the house of Austria, +that there was no defect with her. The satirists and the malevolent were +silenced. Louis XVI., from the cold, insensible bridegroom, became the +infatuated admirer of his long-neglected wife. The enthusiasm with which +the event was hailed by all France atoned for the partial insults she had +received before it. The splendid fetes, balls, and entertainments, +indiscriminately lavished by all ranks throughout the kingdom on this +occasion, augmented those of the Queen and the Court to a pitch of +magnificence surpassing the most luxurious and voluptuous times of the +great and brilliant Louis XIV. Entertainments were given even to the +domestics of every description belonging to the royal establishments. +Indeed, so general was the joy that, among those who could do no more, +there could scarcely be found a father or mother in France who, before +they took their wine, did not first offer up a prayer for the prosperous +pregnancy of their beloved Queen. + +"And yet, though the situation of Marie Antoinette was now become the +theme of a whole nation's exultation, she herself, the owner of the +precious burthen, selected by Heaven as its special depositary, was the +only one censured for expressing all her happiness! + + + + + +"Those models of decorum, the virtuous Princesses, her aunts, deemed it +highly indelicate in Her Majesty to have given public marks of her +satisfaction to those deputed to compliment her on her prosperous +situation. To avow the joy she felt was in their eyes indecent and +unqueenly. Where was the shrinking bashfulness of that one of these +Princesses who had herself been so clamorous to Louis XV. against her +husband, the Duke of Modena, for not having consummated her own marriage? + +"The party of the dismissed favourite Du Barry were still working +underground. Their pestiferous vapours issued from the recesses of the +earth, to obscure the brightness of the rising sun, which was now rapidly +towering to its climax, to obliterate the little planets which had once +endeavoured to eclipse its beautiful rays, but were now incapable of +competition, and unable to endure its lustre. This malignant nest of +serpents began to poison the minds of the courtiers, as soon as the +pregnancy was obvious, by innuendoes on the partiality of the Comte +d'Artois for the Queen; and at length, infamously, and openly, dared to +point him out as the cause? + +"Thus, in the heart of the Court itself, originated this most atrocious +slander, long before it reached the nation, and so much assisted to +destroy Her Majesty's popularity with a people, who now adored her +amiableness, her general kind-heartedness, and her unbounded charity. + +"I have repeatedly seen the Queen and the Comte d'Artois together under +circumstances in which there could have been no concealment of her real +feelings; and I can firmly and boldly assert the falsehood of this +allegation against my royal mistress. The only attentions Marie +Antoinette received in the earlier part of her residence in France were +from her grandfather and her brothers-in-law. Of these, the Comte +d'Artois was the only one who, from youth and liveliness of character, +thoroughly sympathised with his sister. But, beyond the little freedoms +of two young and innocent playmates, nothing can be charged upon their +intimacy,--no familiarity whatever farther than was warranted by their +relationship. I can bear witness that Her Majesty's attachment for the +Comte d'Artois never differed in its nature from what she felt for her +brother the Emperor Joseph. + +[When the King thought proper to be reconciled to the Queen after the +death of his grandfather, Louis XV., and when she became a mother, she +really was very much attached to Louis XVI., as may be proved from her +never quitting him, and suffering all the horrid sacrifices she endured, +through the whole period of the Revolution, rather than leave her +husband, her children, or her sister. Marie Antoinette might have saved +her life twenty times, had not the King's safety, united with her own and +that of her family, impelled her to reject every proposition of +self-preservation.] + +"It is very likely that the slander of which I speak derived some colour +of probability afterwards with the million, from the Queen's +thoughtlessness, relative to the challenge which passed between the Comte +d'Artois and the Duc de Bourbon. In right of my station, I was one of +Her Majesty's confidential counsellors, and it became my duty to put +restraint upon her inclinations, whenever I conceived they led her wrong. +In this instance, I exercised my prerogative decidedly, and even so much +so as to create displeasure; but I anticipated the consequences, which +actually ensued, and preferred to risk my royal mistress's displeasure +rather than her reputation. The dispute, which led to the duel, was on +some point of etiquette; and the Baron de Besenval was to attend as +second to one of the parties. From the Queen's attachment for her royal +brother, she wished the affair to be amicably arranged, without the +knowledge either of the King, who was ignorant of what had taken place, +or of the parties; which could only be effected by her seeing the Baron +in the most private manner. I opposed Her Majesty's allowing any +interview with the Baron upon any terms, unless sanctioned by the King. +This unexpected and peremptory refusal obliged the Queen to transfer her +confidence to the librarian, who introduced the Baron into one of the +private apartments of Her Majesty's women, communicating with that of the +Queen, where Her Majesty could see the Baron without the exposure of +passing any of the other attendants. The Baron was quite gray, and +upwards of sixty years of age! But the self-conceited dotard soon caused +the Queen to repent her misplaced confidence, and from his unwarrantable +impudence on that occasion, when he found himself alone with the Queen, +Her Majesty, though he was a constant member of the societies of the De +Polignacs, ever after treated him with sovereign contempt. + +"The Queen herself afterwards described to me the Baron's presumptuous +attack upon her credulity. From this circumstance I thenceforward totally +excluded him from my parties, where Her Majesty was always a regular +visitor. + +"The coolness to which my determination not to allow the interview gave +rise between Her Majesty and myself was but momentary. The Queen had too +much discernment not to appreciate the basis upon which my denial was +grounded, even before she was convinced by the result how correct had +been my reflection. She felt her error, and, by the mediation of the +Duke of Dorset, we were reunited more closely than ever, and so, I trust, +we shall remain till death! + +"There was much more attempted to be made of another instance, in which I +exercised the duty of my office, than the truth justified--the nightly +promenades on the terrace at Versailles, or at Trianon. Though no +amusement could have been more harmless or innocent for a private +individual, yet I certainly, disapproved it for a Queen, and therefore +withheld the sanction of my attendance. My sole objection was on the +score of dignity. I well knew that Du Barry and her infamous party were +constant spies upon the Queen on every occasion of such a nature; and +that they would not fail to exaggerate her every movement to her +prejudice. Though Du Barry could not form one of the party, which was a +great source of heartburning, it was easy for her, under the +circumstances, to mingle with the throng. When I suggested these +objections to the Queen, Her Majesty, feeling no inward cause of +reproach, and being sanctioned in what she did by the King himself, +laughed at the idea of these little excursions affording food for +scandal. I assured Her Majesty that I had every reason to be convinced +that Du Barry was often in disguise, not far from the seat where Her +Majesty and the Princesse Elizabeth could be overheard in their most +secret conversations with each other. 'Listeners,' replied the Queen, +'never hear any good of themselves.' + +"'My dear Lamballe,' she continued, 'you have taken such a dislike to +this woman that you cannot conceive she can be occupied but in mischief. +This is uncharitable. She certainly has no reason to be dissatisfied +with either the King or myself. We have both left her in the full +enjoyment of all she possessed, except the right of appearing at Court or +continuing in the society her conduct had too long disgraced.' + +"I said it was very true, but that I should be happier to find Her +Majesty so scrupulous as never to give an opportunity even for the +falsehoods of her enemies. + +"Her Majesty turned the matter off, as usual, by saying she had no idea +of injuring others, and could not believe that any one would wantonly +injure her, adding, 'The Duchess and the Princesse Elizabeth, my two +sisters, and all the other ladies, are coming to hear the concert this +evening, and you will be delighted.' + +"I excused myself under the plea of the night air disagreeing with my +health, and returned to Versailles without ever making myself one of the +nocturnal members of Her Majesty's society, well knowing she could +dispense with my presence, there being more than enough ever ready to +hurry her by their own imprudence into the folly of despising criticisms, +which I always endeavoured to avoid, though I did not fear them. Of +these I cannot but consider her secretary as one. The following +circumstance connected with the promenades is a proof: + +"The Abbe Vermond was present one day when Marie Antoinette observed that +she felt rather indisposed. I attributed it to Her Majesty's having +lightened her dress and exposed herself too much to the night air. +'Heavens, madame!' cried the Abbe, 'would you always have Her Majesty +cased up in steel armour, and not take the fresh air, without being +surrounded by a troop of horse and foot, as a Field-marshal is when going +to storm a fortress? Pray, Princess, now that Her Majesty, has freed +herself from the annoying shackles of Madame Etiquette (the Comtesse de +Noailles), let her enjoy the pleasure of a simple robe and breathe freely +the fresh morning dew, as has been her custom all her life (and as her +mother before her, the Empress Maria Theresa, has done and continues to +do, even to this day), unfettered by antiquated absurdities! Let me be +anything rather than a Queen of France, if I must be doomed to the +slavery of such tyrannical rules!' + +"'True; but, sir,' replied I, 'you should reflect that if you were a +Queen of France, France, in making you mistress of her destinies, and +placing you at the head of her nation, would in return look for respect +from you to her customs and manners. I am born an Italian, but I +renounced all national peculiarities of thinking and acting the moment I +set my foot on French ground.' + +"'And so did I,' said Marie Antoinette. + +"'I know you did, Madame,' I answered; but I am replying to your +preceptor; and I only wish he saw things in the same light I do. When we +are at Rome, we should do as Rome does. You have never had a regicide +Bertrand de Gurdon, a Ravillac or a Damiens in Germany; but they have +been common in France, and the Sovereigns of France cannot be too +circumspect in their maintenance of ancient etiquette to command the +dignified respect of a frivolous and versatile people.' + +"The Queen, though she did not strictly adhere to my counsels or the +Abbe's advice, had too much good sense to allow herself to be prejudiced +against me by her preceptor; but the Abbe never entered on the propriety +or impropriety of the Queen's conduct before me, and from the moment I +have mentioned studiously avoided, in my presence, anything which could +lead to discussion on the change of dress and amusements introduced by +Her Majesty. + +"Although I disapproved of Her Majesty's deviations from established +forms in this, or, indeed, any respect, yet I never, before or after, +expressed my opinion before a third person. + +"Never should I have been so firmly and so long attached to Marie +Antoinette, had I not known that her native thorough goodness of heart +had been warped and misguided, though acting at the same time with the +best intentions, by a false notion of her real innocence being a +sufficient shield against the public censure of such innovations upon +national prejudices, as she thought prayer to introduce,--the fatal error +of conscious rectitude, encouraged in its regardlessness of appearances +by those very persons who well knew that it is only by appearances a +nation can judge of its rulers. + +"I remember a ludicrous circumstance arising from the Queen's innocent +curiosity, in which, if there were anything to blame, I myself am to be +censured for lending myself to it so heartily to satisfy Her Majesty. + +"When the Chevalier d'Eon was allowed to return to France, Her Majesty +expressed a particular inclination to see this extraordinary character. +From prudential as well as political motives, she was at first easily +persuaded to repress her desire. However, by a most ludicrous +occurrence, it was revived, and nothing would do but she must have a +sight of the being who had for some time been the talk of every society, +and at the period to which I allude was become the mirth of all Paris. + +"The Chevalier being one day in a very large party of both sexes, in +which, though his appearance had more of the old soldier in it than of +the character he was compelled 'malgre lui', + +[It may be necessary to observe here that the Chevalier, having for some +particular motives been banished from France, was afterwards permitted to +return only on condition of never appearing but in the disguised dress of +a female, though he was always habited in the male costume underneath +it.] + +to adopt, many of the guests having no idea to what sex this nondescript +animal really belonged, the conversation after dinner happened to turn on +the manly exercise of fencing. Heated by a subject to him so +interesting, the Chevalier, forgetful of the respect due to his assumed +garb, started from his seat, and, pulling up his petticoats, threw +himself on guard. Though dressed in male attire underneath, this sudden +freak sent all the ladies--and many of the gentlemen out of the room in +double--quick time. The Chevalier, however, instantly recovering from +the first impulse, quietly pat down his, upper garment, and begged pardon +in, a gentlemanly manner for having for a moment deviated from the forma +of his imposed situation. All, the gossips of Paris were presently +amused with the story, which, of coarse, reached the Court, with every +droll particular of the pulling up and clapping down the cumbrous +paraphernalia of a hoop petticoat. + +"The King and Queen, from the manner in which they enjoyed the tale when +told them (and certainly it lost nothing in the report), would not have +been the least amused of the party had they been present. His Majesty +shook the room with laughing, and the Queen, the Princesse Elizabeth, and +the other ladies were convulsed at the description. + +"When we were alone, 'How I should like,' said the Queen, 'to see this +curious man-woman!'--'Indeed,' replied I, 'I have not less curiosity than +yourself, and I think we may contrive to let Your Majesty have a peep at +him--her, I mean!--without compromising your dignity, or offending the +Minister who interdicted the Chevalier from appearing in your presence. I +know he has expressed the greatest mortification, and that his wish to +see Your Majesty is almost irrepressible.' + +"'But how will you be able to contrive this without its being known to +the King, or to the Comte de Vergennes, who would never forgive me?' +exclaimed Her Majesty. + +"'Why, on Sunday, when you go to chapel, I will cause him, by some means +or other, to make his appearance, en grande costume, among the group of +ladies who are generally waiting there to be presented to Your Majesty.' + +"'Oh, you charming creature!' said the Queen. 'But won't the Minister +banish or exile him for it?' + +"'No, no! He has only been forbidden an audience of Your Majesty at +Court,' I replied. + +"In good earnest, on the Sunday following, the Chevalier was dressed en +costume, with a large hoop, very long train, sack, five rows of ruffles, +an immensely high powdered female wig, very beautiful lappets, white +gloves, an elegant fan in his hand, his beard closely shaved, his neck +and ears adorned with diamond rings and necklaces, and assuming all the +airs and graces of a fine lady! + +"But, unluckily, his anxiety was so great, the, moment the Queen made her +appearance, to get a sight of Her Majesty, that, on rushing before the +other ladies, his wig and head-dress fell off his head; and, before they +could be well replaced, he made so, ridiculous a figure, by clapping +them, in his confusion, hind part before, that the King, the Queen, and +the whole suite, could scarcely refrain from laughing; aloud in the +church. + +"Thus ended the long longed for sight of this famous man-woman! + +"As to me, it was a great while before I could recover myself. Even now, +I laugh whenever I think of this great lady deprived of her head +ornaments, with her bald pate laid bare, to the derision of such a +multitude of Parisians, always prompt to divert themselves at the expense +of others. However, the affair passed off unheeded, and no one but the +Queen and myself ever knew that we ourselves had been innocently the +cause of this comical adventure. When we met after Mass, we were so +overpowered, that neither of us could speak for laughing. The Bishop who +officiated said it was lucky he had no sermon to preach that day, for it +would have been difficult for him to have recollected himself, or to have +maintained his gravity. The ridiculous appearance of the Chevalier, he +added, was so continually presenting itself before him during the service +that it was as much as he could do to restrain himself from laughing, by +keeping his eyes constantly riveted on the book. Indeed, the oddity of +the affair was greatly heightened when, in the middle of the Mass, some +charitable hand having adjusted the wig of the Chevalier, he re-entered +the chapel as if nothing had happened, and, placing himself exactly +opposite the altar, with his train upon his arm, stood fanning himself, a +la coquette, with an inflexible self-possession which only rendered it +the more difficult for those around him to maintain their composure. + +"Thus ended the Queen's curiosity. The result only made the Chevalier's +company in greater request, for every one became more anxious than ever +to know the masculine lady who had lost her wig!" + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Fatal error of conscious rectitude +Feel themselves injured by the favour shown to others +Listeners never hear any good of themselves +Only retire to make room for another race +Regardlessness of appearances + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., +Volume 4, by Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XV. 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