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+The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Louis XV./XVI, by Madame Hausset, v6
+#6 in our series by Hausset, Lamballe and an unknown English Girl
+#44 in our series Historic Court Memoirs
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+Title: The Memoirs of Louis XV./XVI, v6
+
+Author: Madame du Hausset, and of an unknown English Girl and the
+Princess Lamballe
+
+Official Release Date: March, 2003  [Etext #3881]
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+[The actual date this file first posted = 07/22/01]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XV./XVI, by Hausset, v6
+********This file should be named cm44b10.txt or cm44b10.zip********
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+
+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 6.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+"The dismissal of M. Necker irritated the people beyond description.
+They looked upon themselves as insulted in their favourite.  Mob
+succeeded mob, each more mischievous and daring than the former.  The Duc
+d'Orleans continued busy in his work of secret destruction.  In one of
+the popular risings, a sabre struck his bust, and its head fell, severed
+from its body.  Many of the rioters (for the ignorant are always
+superstitious) shrunk back at this omen of evil to their idol.  His real
+friends endeavoured to deduce a salutary warning to him from the
+circumstance.  I was by when the Duc de Penthievre told him, in the
+presence of his daughter, that he might look upon this accident as
+prophetic of the fate of his own head, as well as the ruin of his family,
+if he persisted.  He made no answer, but left the room.
+
+"On the 14th of July, and two or three days preceding, the commotions
+took a definite object.  The destruction of the Bastille was the point
+proposed, and it was achieved.  Arms were obtained from the old
+pensioners at the Hotel des Invalides.  Fifty thousand livres were
+distributed among the chiefs of those who influenced the Invalides to
+give up the arms.
+
+"The massacre of the Marquis de Launay, commandant of the place, and of
+M. de Flesselles, and the fall of the citadel itself, were the
+consequence.
+
+"Her Majesty was greatly affected when she heard of the murder of these
+officers and the taking of the Bastille.  She frequently told me that the
+horrid circumstance originated in a diabolical Court intrigue, but never
+explained the particulars of the intrigue.  She declared that both the
+officers and the citadel might have been saved had not the King's orders
+for the march of the troops from Versailles, and the environs of Paris,
+been disobeyed.  She blamed the precipitation of De Launay in ordering up
+the drawbridge and directing the few troops on it to fire upon the
+people.  'There,' she added, 'the Marquis committed himself; as, in case
+of not succeeding, he could have no retreat, which every commander should
+take care to secure, before he allows the commencement of a general
+attack.
+
+     [Certainly, the French Revolution may date its epoch as far back as
+     the taking of the Bastille; from that moment the troubles
+     progressively continued, till the final extirpation of its
+     illustrious victims.  I was just returning from a mission to England
+     when the storms began to threaten not only the most violent effects
+     to France itself, but to all the land which was not divided from it
+     by the watery element.  The spirit of liberty, as the vine, which
+     produces the most luxurious fruit, when abused becomes the most
+     pernicious poison, was stalking abroad and revelling in blood and
+     massacre.  I myself was a witness to the enthusiastic national ball
+     given on the ruins of the Bastille, while it was still stained and
+     reeking with the hot blood of its late keeper, whose head I saw
+     carried in triumph.  Such was the effect on me that the Princesse de
+     Lamballe asked me if I had known the Marquis de Launay.  I answered
+     in the negative; but told her from the knowledge I had of the
+     English Revolution, I was fearful of a result similar to what
+     followed the fall of the heads of Buckingham and Stafford.  The
+     Princess mentioning my observation to the Duc de Penthievre, they
+     both burst into tears.]
+
+     The death of the Dauphin, the horrible Revolution of the 14th of
+     July, the troubles about Necker, the insults and threats offered to
+     the Comte d'Artois and herself,--overwhelmed the Queen with the most
+     poignant grief.]
+
+"She was most desirous of some understanding being established between
+the government and the representatives of the people, which she urged
+upon the King the expediency of personally attempting.
+
+"The King, therefore, at her reiterated remonstrances and requests,
+presented himself, on the following day, with his brothers, to the
+National Assembly, to assure them of his firm determination to support
+the measures of the deputies, in everything conducive to the general good
+of his subjects.  As a proof of his intentions, he said he had commanded
+the troops to leave Paris and Versailles.
+
+"The King left the Assembly, as he had gone thither, on foot, amid the
+vociferations of 'Vive le roi!' and it was only through the enthusiasm of
+the deputies, who thus hailed His Majesty, and followed him in crowds to
+the palace, that the Comte d'Artois escaped the fury of an outrageous
+mob.
+
+"The people filled every avenue of the palace, which vibrated with cries
+for the King, the Queen, and the Dauphin to show themselves at the
+balcony.
+
+"'Send for the Duchesse de Polignac to bring the royal children,' cried I
+to Her Majesty.
+
+"'Not for the world!' exclaimed the Queen.  'She will be assassinated,
+and my children too, if she make her appearance before this infuriate
+mob.  Let Madame and the Dauphin be brought unaccompanied.'
+
+"The Queen, on this occasion, imitated her Imperial mother, Maria
+Theresa.  She took the Dauphin in her arms, and Madame by her side, as
+that Empress had done when she presented herself to the Hungarian
+magnates; but the reception here was very different.  It was not
+'moriamur pro nostra regina'.  Not that they were ill received; but the
+furious party of the Duc d'Orleans often interrupted the cries of 'Vive
+le roi!  Vive la reine!' etc., with those of 'Vive la nation!  Vive d'
+Orleans!' and many severe remarks on the family of the De Polignacs,
+which proved that the Queen's caution on this occasion was exceedingly
+well-judged.
+
+"Not to wound the feelings of the Duchesse de Polignac, I kept myself at
+a distance behind the Queen; but I was loudly called for by the mobility,
+and, 'malgre moi', was obliged, at the King and Queen's request, to come
+forward.
+
+"As I approached the balcony, I perceived one of the well-known agents of
+the Duc d'Orleans, whom I had noticed some time before in the throng,
+menacing me, the moment I made my appearance, with his upreared hand in
+fury.  I was greatly terrified, but suppressed my agitation, and saluted
+the populace; but, fearful of exhibiting my weakness in sight of the
+wretch who had alarmed me, withdrew instantly, and had no sooner re-
+entered than I sunk motionless in the arms of one of the attendants.
+Luckily, this did not take place till I left the balcony.  Had it been
+otherwise, the triumph to my declared enemies would have been too great.
+
+"Recovering, I found myself surrounded by the Royal Family, who were all
+kindness and concern for my situation; but I could not subdue my tremor
+and affright.  The horrid image of that monster seemed, still to threaten
+me.
+
+"'Come, come!' said the King, 'be not alarmed, I shall order a council of
+all the Ministers and deputies to-morrow, who will soon put an end to
+these riots!'
+
+"We were ere long joined by the Prince de Conde, the Duc de Bourbon, and
+others, who implored the King not to part with the army, but to place
+himself, with all the Princes of the blood, at its head, as the only
+means to restore tranquillity to the country, and secure his own safety.
+
+"The Queen was decidedly of the same opinion; and added, that, if the
+army were to depart, the King and his family ought to go with it; but the
+King, on the contrary, said he would not decide upon any measures
+whatever till he had heard the opinion of the Council.
+
+"The Queen, notwithstanding the King's indecision, was occupied, during
+the rest of the day and the whole of the night, in preparing for her
+intended; journey, as she hoped to persuade the King to follow the advice
+of the Princes, and not wait the result of the next day's deliberation.
+Nay, so desirous was she of this, that she threw herself on her knees to
+the King, imploring him to leave Versailles and head the army, and
+offering to accompany him herself, on horseback, in uniform; but it was
+like speaking to a corpse  he never answered.
+
+"The Duchesse de Polignac came to Her Majesty in a state of the greatest
+agitation, in consequence of M. de Chinon having just apprised her that a
+most malicious report had been secretly spread among the deputies at
+Versailles that they were all to be blown up at their next meeting.
+
+"The Queen was as much surprised as the Duchess, and scarcely less
+agitated.  These wretched friends could only, in silence, compare notes
+of their mutual cruel misfortunes.  Both for a time remained speechless
+at this new calamity.  Surely this was not wanting to be added to those
+by which the Queen was already so bitterly oppressed.
+
+"I was sent for by Her Majesty.  Count Fersen accompanied me.  He had
+just communicated to me what the Duchess had already repeated from M.
+Chinon to the Queen.
+
+"The rumour had been set afloat merely as a new pretext for the
+continuation of the riots.
+
+"The communication of the report, so likely to produce a disastrous
+effect, took place while the King was with his Ministers deliberating
+whether he should go to Paris, or save himself and family by joining the
+army.
+
+"His Majesty was called from the council to the Queen's apartment, and
+was there made acquainted with the circumstance which had so awakened the
+terror of the royal party.  He calmly replied, 'It is some days since
+this invention has been spread among the deputies; I was aware of it from
+the first; but from its being utterly impossible to be listened to for a
+moment by any one, I did not wish to afflict you by the mention of an
+impotent fabrication, which I myself treated with the contempt it justly
+merited.  Nevertheless, I did not forget, yesterday, in the presence of
+both my brothers, who accompanied me to the National Assembly, there to
+exculpate myself from an imputation at which my nature revolts; and, from
+the manner in which it was received, I flatter myself that every honest
+Frenchman was fully satisfied that my religion will ever be an
+insurmountable barrier against my harbouring sentiments allied in the
+slightest degree to such actions.
+
+"The King embraced the Queen, begged she would tranquilise herself,
+calmed the fears of the two ladies, thanked the gentlemen for the
+interest they took in his favour, and returned to the council, who, in
+his absence, had determined on his going to the Hotel de Ville at Paris,
+suggesting at the same time the names of several persons likely to be
+well received, if His Majesty thought proper to allow their accompanying
+him.
+
+"During this interval, the Queen, still flattering herself that she
+should pursue her wished-for journey, ordered the carriages to be
+prepared and sent off to Rambouillet, where she said she should sleep;
+but this Her Majesty only stated for the purpose of distracting the
+attention of her pages and others about her from her real purpose.  As it
+was well known that M. de St. Priest had pointed out Rambouillet as a fit
+asylum for the mob, she fancied that an understanding on the part of her
+suite that they were to halt there, and prepare for her reception, would
+protect her project of proceeding much farther.
+
+"When the council had broken up and the King returned, he said to the
+Queen, 'It is decided.'
+
+"'To go, I hope?' said Her Majesty.
+
+"'No'--(though in appearance calm, the words remained on the lips of the
+King, and he stood for some moments incapable of utterance; but,
+recovering, added)--'To Paris!'
+
+"The Queen, at the word Paris, became frantic.  She flung herself wildly
+into the arms of her friends.
+
+"'Nous sommes perdus! nous sommes perdus !' cried she, in a passion of
+tears.  But her dread was not for herself.  She felt only for the danger
+to which the King was now going to expose himself; and she flew to him,
+and hung on his neck.
+
+"'And what,' exclaimed she, 'is to become of all our faithful friends and
+attendants!'
+
+"'I advise them all,' answered His Majesty, 'to make the best of their
+way out of France; and that as soon as possible.'
+
+"By this time, the apartments of the Queen were filled with the
+attendants and the royal children, anxiously expecting every moment to
+receive the Queen's command to proceed on their journey, but they were
+all ordered to retire to whence they came.
+
+"The scene was that of a real tragedy.  Nothing broke the silence but
+groans of the deepest affliction.  Our consternation at the counter order
+cast all into a state of stupefied insensibility.
+
+"The Queen was the only one whose fortitude bore her up proudly under
+this weight of misfortunes.  Recovering from the frenzy of the first
+impression, she adjured her friends, by the love and obedience they had
+ever shown her and the King, to prepare immediately to fulfil his mandate
+and make themselves ready for the cruel separation!
+
+"The Duchesse de Polignac and myself were, for some hours, in a state of
+agony and delirium.
+
+"When the Queen saw the body-guards drawn up to accompany the King's
+departure, she ran to the window, threw apart the sash, and was going to
+speak to them, to recommend the King to their care; but the Count Fersen
+prevented it.
+
+"'For God's sake, Madame,'--exclaimed he, 'do not commit yourself to the
+suspicion of having any doubts of the people!'
+
+"When the King entered to take leave of her, and of all his most faithful
+attendants, he could only articulate, 'Adieu!' But when the Queen saw him
+accompanied by the Comte d'Estaing and others, whom, from their new
+principles, she knew to be popular favourites, she had command enough of
+herself not to shed a tear in their presence.
+
+"No sooner, however, had the King left the room than it was as much as
+the Count Fersen, Princesse Elizabeth, and all of us could do to recover
+her from the most violent convulsions.  At last, coming to herself, she
+retired with the Princess, the Duchess, and myself to await the King's
+return; at the same time requesting the Count Fersen to follow His
+Majesty to the Hotel de Ville.  Again and again she implored the Count,
+as she went, in case the King should be detained, to interest himself
+with all the foreign Ministers to interpose for his liberation.
+
+"Versailles, when the King was gone, seemed like a city deserted in
+consequence of the plague.  The palace was completely abandoned.  All the
+attendants were dispersed.  No one was seen in the streets.  Terror
+prevailed.  It was universally believed that the King would be detained
+in Paris.  The high road from Versailles to Paris was crowded with all
+ranks of people, as if to catch a last look of their Sovereign.
+
+"The Count Fersen set off instantly, pursuant to the Queen's desire.  He
+saw all that passed, and on his return related to me the history of that
+horrid day.
+
+"He arrived at Paris just in time to see His Majesty take the national
+cockade from M. Bailly and place it in his hat.  He, felt the Hotel de
+Ville shake with the long-continued cries of 'Vive le roi!' in
+consequence, which so affected the King that, for some moments, he was
+unable to express himself.  "I myself,' added the Count, I was so moved
+at the effect on His Majesty, in being thus warmly received by his
+Parisian subjects, which portrayed the paternal emotions of his long-
+lacerated heart, that every other feeling was paralysed for a moment, in
+exultation at the apparent unanimity between the Sovereign and his
+people.  But it did not,' continued the Ambassador, 'paralyse the artful
+tongue of Bailly, the Mayor of Paris.  I could have kicked the fellow for
+his malignant impudence; for, even in the cunning compliment he framed,
+he studied to humble the afflicted Monarch by telling the people it was
+to them he owed the sovereign authority.
+
+"'But,' pursued the Count, 'considering the situation of Louis XVI. and
+that of his family, agonised as they must have been during his absence,
+from the Queen's impression that the Parisians would never again allow
+him to see Versailles, how great was our rapture when we saw him safely
+replaced in his carriage, and returning to those who were still lamenting
+him as lost!
+
+"'When I left Her Majesty in the morning, she was nearly in a state of
+mental aberration.  When I saw her again in the evening, the King by her
+side, surrounded by her family, the Princesse Eizabeth, and yourself,
+madame' said the kind Count, 'she appeared to me like a person risen from
+the dead and restored to life.  Her excess of joy at the first moment was
+beyond description!'
+
+"Count Fersen might well say the first moment, for the pleasure of the
+Queen was of short duration.  Her heart was doomed to bleed afresh, when
+the thrill of delight, at what she considered the escape of her husband,
+was past, for she had already seen her chosen friend, the Duchesse de
+Polignac, for the last time.
+
+"Her Majesty was but just recovered from the effects of the morning's
+agitation, when the Duchess, the Duke, his sister, and all his family set
+off.  It was impossible for her to take leave of her friend.  The hour
+was late--about midnight.  At the same time departed the Comte d'Artois
+and his family, the Prince de Conde and his, the Prince of Hesse
+d'Armstadt, and all those who were likely to be suspected by the people.
+
+"Her Majesty desired the Count Fersen to see the Duchess in her name.
+When the King heard the request, he exclaimed:
+
+"'What a cruel state for Sovereigns, my dear Count!  To be compelled to
+separate ourselves from our most faithful attendants, and not be allowed,
+for fear of compromising others or our own lives, to take a last
+farewell!'
+
+"'Ah!' said the Queen, 'I fear so too.  I fear it is a last farewell to
+all our friends!'
+
+"The Count saw the Duchess a few moments before she left Versailles.
+Pisani, the Venetian Ambassador, and Count Fersen, helped her on the
+coachbox, where she rode disguised.
+
+"What must have been most poignantly mortifying to the fallen favourite
+was, that, in the course of her journey, she met with her greatest enemy,
+(Necker) who was returning, triumphant, to Paris, called by the voice of
+that very nation by whom she and her family were now forced from its
+territory,--Necker, who himself conceived that she, who now went by him
+into exile, while he himself returned to the greatest of victories, had
+thwarted all his former plans of operation, and, from her influence over
+the Queen, had caused his dismission and temporary banishment.
+
+"For my own part, I cannot but consider this sudden desertion of France
+by those nearest the throne as ill-judged.  Had all the Royal Family,
+remained, is it likely that the King and Queen would have been watched
+with such despotic vigilance?  Would not confidence have created
+confidence, and the breach have been less wide between the King and his
+people?
+
+"When the father and his family will now be thoroughly reconciled, Heaven
+alone can tell!"
+
+
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+"Barnave often lamented his having been betrayed, by a love of notoriety,
+into many schemes, of which his impetuosity blinded him to the
+consequences.  With tears in his eyes, he implored me to impress the
+Queen's mind with the sad truths he inculcated.  He said his motives had
+been uniformly the same, however he might have erred in carrying them
+into action; but now he relied on my friendship for my royal mistress to
+give efficacy to his earnest desire to atone for those faults, of which
+he had become convinced by dear-bought experience.  He gave me a list of
+names for Her Majesty, in which were specified all the Jacobins who had
+emissaries throughout France, for the purpose of creating on the same
+day, and at the same hour, an alarm of something like the 'Vesparo
+Siciliano' (a general insurrection to murder all the nobility and burn
+their palaces, which, in fact, took place in many parts of France), the
+object of which was to give the Assembly, by whom all the regular troops
+were disbanded, a pretext for arming the people as a national guard, thus
+creating a perpetual national faction.
+
+"The hordes of every faubourg now paraded in this new democratic livery.
+Even some of them, who were in the actual service of the Court, made no
+scruple of decorating themselves thus, in the very face of their
+Sovereign.  The King complained, but the answer made to him was that the
+nation commanded.
+
+"The very first time Their Majesties went to the royal chapel, after the
+embodying of the troops with the national guards, all the persons
+belonging to it were accoutred in the national uniform.  The Queen was
+highly incensed, and deeply affected at this insult offered to the King's
+authority by the persons employed in the sacred occupations of the
+Church.  'Such persons,' said Her Majesty, 'would, I had hoped, have been
+the last to interfere with politics.'  She was about to order all those
+who preferred their uniforms to their employments to be discharged from
+the King's service; but my advice, coupled with that of Barnave,
+dissuaded her from executing so dangerous a threat.  On being assured
+that those, perhaps, who might be selected to replace the offenders might
+refuse the service, if not allowed the same ridiculous prerogatives,
+and thus expose Their Royal Majesties to double mortification, the Queen
+seemed satisfied, and no more was said upon the subject, except to an
+Italian soprano, to whom the King signified his displeasure at his
+singing a 'salva regina' in the dress of a grenadier of the new faction.
+
+"The singer took the hint and never again intruded his uniform into the
+chapel.
+
+"Necker, notwithstanding the enthusiasm his return produced upon the
+people, felt mortified in having lost the confidence of the King.  He
+came to me, exclaiming that, unless Their Majesties distinguished him by
+some mark of their royal favour, his influence must be lost with the
+National Assembly.  He perceived, he said, that the councils of the King
+were more governed by the advice of the Queen's favourite, the Abbe
+Vermond, than by his (Necker's).  He begged I would assure Her Majesty
+that Vermond was quite as obnoxious to the people as the Duchesse de
+Polignac had ever been; for it was generally known that Her Majesty was
+completely guided by him, and, therefore, for her own safety and the
+tranquillity of national affairs, he humbly suggested the prudence of
+sending him from the Court, at least for a time.
+
+"I was petrified at hearing a Minister dare presume thus to dictate the
+line of conduct which the Queen of France, his Sovereign, should pursue
+with respect to her most private servants.  Such was my indignation at
+this cruel wish to dismiss every object of her choice, especially one
+from whom, owing to long habits of intimacy since her childhood, a
+separation would be rendered, by her present situation, peculiarly cruel,
+that nothing but the circumstances in which the Court then stood could
+have given me patience to listen to him.
+
+"I made no answer.  Upon my silence, Necker subjoined, 'You must
+perceive, Princess, that I am actuated for the general good of the
+nation.'
+
+"'And I hope, monsieur, for the prerogatives of the monarchy also,'
+replied I.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Necker.  'But if Their Majesties continue to be guided
+by others, and will not follow my advice, I cannot answer for the
+consequences.'
+
+"I assured the Minister that I would be the faithful bearer of his
+commission, however unpleasant.
+
+"Knowing the character of the Queen, in not much relishing being dictated
+to with respect to her conduct in relation to the persons of her
+household, especially the Abbe Vermond, and aware, at the same time,
+of her dislike to Necker, who thus undertook to be her director, I felt
+rather awkward in being the medium of the Minister's suggestions.  But
+what was my surprise, on finding her prepared, and totally indifferent as
+to the privation.
+
+"'I foresaw,' replied Her Majesty, 'that Vermond would become odious to
+the present order of things, merely because he had been a faithful
+servant, and long attached to my interest; but you may tell M. Necker
+that the Abbe leaves Versailles this very night, by my express order, for
+Vienna.'
+
+"If the proposal of Necker astonished me, the Queen's reception of it
+astonished me still more.  What a lesson is this for royal favourites!
+The man who had been her tutor, and who, almost from her childhood, never
+left her, the constant confidant for fifteen or sixteen years, was now
+sent off without a seeming regret.
+
+"I doubt not, however, that the Queen had some very powerful secret
+motive for the sudden change in her conduct towards the Abbe, for she was
+ever just in all her concerns, even to her avowed enemies; but I was
+happy that she seemed to express no particular regret at the Minister's
+suggested policy.  I presume, from the result, that I myself had
+overrated the influence of the Abbe over the mind of his royal pupil;
+that he had by no means the sway imputed to him; and that Marie
+Antoinette merely considered him as the necessary instrument of her
+private correspondence, which he had wholly managed.
+
+     [The truth is, Her Majesty had already taken leave of the Abbe, in
+     the presence of the King, unknown to the Princess; or, more
+     properly, the Abbe had taken an affectionate leave of them.]
+
+"But a circumstance presently occurred which aroused Her Majesty from
+this calmness and indifference.  The King came in to inform her that
+La Fayette, during the night, had caused the guards to desert from the
+palace of Versailles.
+
+"The effect on her of this intelligence was like the lightning which
+precedes a loud clap of thunder.
+
+"Everything that followed was perfectly in character, and shook every
+nerve of the royal authority.
+
+"'Thus,' exclaimed Marie Antoinette, 'thus, Sire, have you humiliated
+yourself, in condescending to go to Paris, without having accomplished
+the object.  You have not regained the confidence of your subjects.  Oh,
+how bitterly do I deplore the loss of that confidence!  It exists no
+longer.  Alas!  when will it be restored!'
+
+"The French guards, indeed, had been in open insurrection through the
+months of June and July, and all that could be done was to preserve one
+single company of grenadiers, by means of their commander, the Baron de
+Leval, faithful to their colours.  This company had now been influenced
+by General La Fayette to desert and join their companions, who had
+enrolled themselves in the Paris national guard.
+
+"Messieurs de Bouille and de Luxembourg being interrogated by the Queen
+respecting the spirit of the troops under their immediate command, M. de
+Bouille answered, Madame, I should be very sorry to be compelled to
+undertake any internal operation with men who have been seduced from
+their allegiance, and are daily paid by a faction which aims at the
+overthrow of its legitimate Sovereign.  I would not answer for a man that
+has been in the neighbourhood of the seditious national troops, or that
+has read the inflammatory discussions of the National Assembly.  If Your
+Majesty and the King wish well to the nation--I am sorry to say it--its
+happiness depends on your quitting immediately the scenes of riot and
+placing yourselves in a situation to treat with the National Assembly on
+equal terms, whereby the King may be unbiassed and unfettered by a
+compulsive, overbearing mob; and this can only be achieved by your flying
+to a place of safety.  That you may find such a place, I will answer with
+my life!'
+
+"'Yes,' said M. de Luxembourg, 'I think we may both safely answer that,
+in such a case, you will find a few Frenchmen ready to risk a little to
+save all!'  And both concurred that there was no hope of salvation for
+the King or country but through the resolution they advised.
+
+"'This,' said the Queen, 'will be a very difficult task.  His Majesty, I
+fear, will never consent to leave France.'
+
+"'Then, Madame,' replied they, 'we can only regret that we have nothing
+to offer but our own perseverance in the love and service of our King and
+his oppressed family, to whom we deplore we can now be useful only with
+our feeble wishes.'
+
+"'Well, gentlemen,' answered Her Majesty, 'you must not despair of better
+prospects.  I will take an early opportunity of communicating your loyal
+sentiments to the King, and will hear his opinion on the subject before I
+give you a definite answer.  I thank you, in the name of His Majesty, as
+well as on my own account, for your good intentions towards us.'
+
+"Scarcely had these gentlemen left the palace, when a report prevailed
+that the King, his family, and Ministers, were about to withdraw to some
+fortified situation.  It was also industriously rumoured that, as soon as
+they were in safety, the National Assembly would be forcibly dismissed,
+as the Parliament had been by Louis XIV.  The reports gained universal
+belief when it became known that the King had ordered the Flanders
+regiment to Versailles.
+
+"The National Assembly now daily watched the royal power more and more
+assiduously.  New sacrifices of the prerogatives of the nobles were
+incessantly proposed by them to the King.
+
+"When His Majesty told the Queen that he had been advised by Necker to
+sanction the abolition of the privileged nobility, and that all
+distinctions, except the order of the Holy Ghost to himself and the
+Dauphin, were also annihilated by the Assembly, even to the order of
+Maria Theresa, which she could no longer wear, 'These, Sire,' answered
+she, in extreme anguish, 'are trifles, so far as they regard myself.
+I do not think I have twice worn the order of Maria Theresa since my
+arrival in this once happy country.  I need it not.  The immortal memory
+of her who gave me being is engraven on my heart; that I shall wear
+forever, none can wrest it from me.  But what grieves me to the soul is
+your having sanctioned these decrees of the National Assembly upon the
+mere 'ipse dixit' of M. Necker.'
+
+"'I have only, given my sanction to such as I thought most necessary to
+tranquilise the minds of those who doubted my sincerity; but I have
+withheld it from others, which, for the good of my, people, require
+maturer consideration.  On these, in a full Council, and in your
+presence, I shall again deliberate.'
+
+"'Oh, said the Queen, with tears in her eyes, could but the people hear
+you, and know, once for all, how to appreciate the goodness of your
+heart, as I do now, they would cast themselves at your feet, and
+supplicate your forgiveness for having shown such ingratitude to your
+paternal interest for their welfare!'
+
+"But this unfortunate refusal to sanction all the decrees sent by the
+National Assembly, though it proceeded from the best motives, produced
+the worst effects.  Duport, De Lameth, and Barnave well knew the troubles
+such a course must create.  Of this they forewarned His Majesty, before
+any measure was laid before him for approval.  They cautioned him not to
+trifle with the deputies.  They assured him that half measures would only
+rouse suspicion.  They enforced the necessity of uniform assentation, in
+order to lull the Mirabeau party, who were canvassing for a majority to
+set up D'ORLEANS, to whose interest Mirabeau and his myrmidons were then
+devoted.  The scheme of Duport, De Lameth, and Barnave was to thwart and
+weaken the Mirabeau and Orleans faction, by gradually persuading them, in
+consequence of the King's compliance with whatever the Assembly exacted,
+that they could do no better than to let him into a share of the
+executive power; for now nothing was left to His Majesty but
+responsibility, while the privileges of grace and justice had become
+merely nominal, with the one dangerous exception of the veto, to which he
+could never have recourse without imminent peril to his cause and to
+himself.
+
+"Unfortunately for His Majesty's interest, he was too scrupulous to act,
+even through momentary policy, distinctly against his conscience.  When
+he gave way, it was with reluctance, and often with an avowal, more or
+less express, that he only complied with necessity against conviction.
+His very sincerity made him appear the reverse.  His adherents
+consequently dwindled, while the Orleans faction became immeasurably
+augmented.
+
+"In the midst of these perplexities, an Austrian courier was stopped with
+despatches from Prince Kaunitz.  These, though unsought for on the part
+of Her Majesty, though they contained a friendly advice to her to submit
+to the circumstances of the times, and though, luckily, they were couched
+in terms favourable to the Constitution, showed the mob that there was a
+correspondence with Vienna, carried on by the Queen, and neither Austria
+nor the Queen were deemed the friends either of the people or of the
+Constitution.  To have received the letters was enough for the faction.
+
+"Affairs were now ripening gradually into something like a crisis, when
+the Flanders regiment arrived.  The note of preparation had been sounded.
+'Let us go to Versailles, and bring the King away from his evil
+counsellors,' was already in the mouths of the Parisians.
+
+"In the meantime, Dumourier, who had been leagued with the Orleans
+faction, became disgusted with it.  He knew the deep schemes of treason
+which were in train against the Royal Family, and, in disguise, sought
+the Queen at Versailles, and had an interview with Her Majesty in my
+presence.  He assured her that an abominable insurrection was ripe for
+explosion among the mobs of the faubourgs; gave her the names of the
+leaders, who had received money to promote its organisation; and warned
+her that the massacre of the Royal Family was the object of the
+manoeuvre, for the purpose of declaring the Duke of Orleans the
+constitutional King; that he was to be proclaimed by Mirabeau, who had
+already received a considerable sum in advance, for distribution among
+the populace, to ensure their support; and that Mirabeau, in return for
+his co-operation, was to be created a Duke, with the office of Prime
+Minister and Secretary of State, and to have the framing of the
+Constitution, which was to be modelled from that of Great Britain.  It
+was farther concerted that D'ORLEANS was to show himself in the midst of
+the confusion, and the crown to be conferred upon him by public
+acclamation.
+
+"On his knees Dumourier implored Her Majesty to regard his voluntary
+discovery of this infamous and diabolical plot as a proof of his sincere
+repentance.  He declared he came disinterestedly to offer himself as a
+sacrifice to save her, the King, and her family from the horrors then
+threatening their lives, from the violence of an outrageous mob of
+regicides; he called God to witness that he was actuated by no other wish
+than to atone for his error, and die in their defence; he looked for no
+reward beyond the King's forgiveness of his having joined the Orleans
+faction; he never had any view in joining that faction but that of aiding
+the Duke, for the good of his country, in the reform of ministerial
+abuses, and strengthening the royal authority by the salutary laws of the
+National Assembly; but he no sooner discovered that impure schemes of
+personal aggrandisement gave the real impulse to these pretended
+reformers than he forsook their unholy course.  He supplicated Her
+Majesty to lose no time, but to allow him to save her from the
+destruction to which she would inevitably be exposed; that he was ready
+to throw himself at the King's feet, to implore his forgiveness also, and
+to assure him of his profound penitence, and his determination to
+renounce forever the factious Orleans party.
+
+"As Her Majesty would not see any of those who offered themselves, except
+in my presence, I availed myself, in this instance, of the opportunity it
+gave me by enforcing the arguments of Dumourier.  But all I could say,
+all the earnest representations to be deduced from this critical crisis,
+could not prevail with her, even so far as to persuade her to temporise
+with Dumourier, as she had done with many others on similar occasions.
+She was deaf and inexorable.  She treated all he had said as the effusion
+of an overheated imagination, and told him she had no faith in traitors.
+Dumourier remained upon his knees while she was replying, as if
+stupefied; but at the word traitor he started and roused himself; and
+then, in a state almost of madness, seized the Queen's dress, exclaiming,
+'Allow yourself to be persuaded before it is too late!  Let not your
+misguided prejudice against me hurry you to your own and your children's
+destruction; let it not get the better, Madame, of your good sense and
+reason; the fatal moment is near; it is at hand!' Upon this, turning, he
+addressed himself to me.
+
+"'Oh, Princess,' he cried, 'be her guardian angel, as you have hitherto
+been her only friend, and use your never-failing influence.  I take God
+once more to witness, that I am sincere in all I have said; that all I
+have disclosed is true.  This will be the last time I shall have it in my
+power to be of any essential service to you, Madame, and my Sovereign.
+The National Assembly will put it out of my power for the future, without
+becoming a traitor to my country.'
+
+"'Rise, monsieur,' said the Queen, 'and serve your country better than
+you have served your King!'
+
+"'Madame, I obey.'
+
+"When he was about to leave the room, I again, with tears, besought Her
+Majesty not to let him depart thus, but to give him some hope, that,
+after reflection, she might perhaps endeavour to soothe the King's anger.
+But in vain.  He withdrew very much affected. I even ventured, after his
+departure, to intercede for his recall.
+
+"'He has pledged himself,' said I, 'to save you, Madame !'
+
+"'My dear Princess,' replied the Queen, 'the goodness of your own heart
+will not allow you to have sinister ideas of others.  This man is like
+all of the same stamp.  They are all traitors; and will only hurry us the
+sooner, if we suffer ourselves to be deceived by them, to an ignominious
+death!  I seek no safety for myself.'
+
+"'But he offered to serve the King also, Madame.'
+
+"'I am not,' answered Her Majesty, 'Henrietta of France.  I will never
+stoop to ask a pension of the murderers of my husband; nor will I leave
+the King, my son, or my adopted country, or even meanly owe my existence
+to wretches who have destroyed the dignity of the Crown and trampled
+under foot the most ancient monarchy in Europe!  Under its ruins they
+will bury their King and myself.  To owe our safety to them would be more
+hateful than any death they can prepare for us'
+
+"While the Queen was in this state of agitation, a note was presented to
+me with a list of the names of the officers of the Flanders regiment,
+requesting the honour of an audience of the Queen.
+
+"The very idea of seeing the Flanders officers flushed Her Majesty's
+countenance with an ecstasy of joy.  She said she would retire to compose
+herself, and receive them in two hours.
+
+"The Queen saw the officers in her private cabinet, and in my presence.
+They were presented to her by me.  They told Her Majesty that, though
+they had changed their paymaster, they had not changed their allegiance
+to their Sovereign or herself, but were ready to defend both with their
+lives.  They placed one hand on the hilt of their swords, and, solemnly
+lifting the other up to Heaven, swore that the weapons should never be
+wielded but for the defence of the King and Queen, against all foes,
+whether foreign or domestic.
+
+"This unexpected loyalty burst on us like the beauteous rainbow, after a
+tempest, by the dawn of which we are taught to believe the world is saved
+from a second deluge.
+
+"The countenance of Her Majesty brightened over the gloom which had
+oppressed her, like the heavenly sun dispersing threatening clouds, and
+making the heart of the poor mariner bound with joy.  Her eyes spoke her
+secret rapture.  It was evident she felt even unusual dignity in the
+presence of these noble-hearted warriors, when comparing them with him
+whom she had just dismissed.  She graciously condescended to speak to
+every one of them, and one and all were enchanted with her affability.
+
+"She said she was no longer the Queen who could compensate loyalty and
+valour; but the brave soldier found his reward in the fidelity of his
+service, which formed the glory of his immortality.  She assured them she
+had ever been attached to the army, and would make it her study to
+recommend every individual, meriting attention, to the King.
+
+"Loud bursts of repeated acclamations and shouts of 'Vive la reine!'
+instantly followed her remarks.  She thanked the officers most
+graciously; and, fearing to commit herself, by saying more, took her
+leave, attended by me; but immediately sent me back, to thank them again
+in her name.
+
+"They departed, shouting as they went, 'Vive la reine! Vive la Princesse!
+Vive le roi, le Dauphin, et toute la famille royale!'
+
+"When the National Assembly saw the officers going to and coming from the
+King's palace with such demonstrations of enthusiasm, they took alarm,
+and the regicide faction hastened on the crisis for which it had been
+longing.  It was by no means unusual for the chiefs of regiments,
+destined to form part of the garrison of a royal residence, to be
+received by the Sovereign on their arrival, and certainly only natural
+that they should be so; but in times of excitement trifling events have
+powerful effects.
+
+"But if the National Assembly began to tremble for their own safety, and
+had already taken secret, measures to secure it, by conspiring to put an
+instantaneous end to the King's power, against which they had so long
+been plotting, when the Flanders regiment arrived, it may be readily
+conceived what must have been their emotions on the fraternisation of
+this regiment with the body-guard, and on the scene to which the dinner,
+given to the former troops by the latter, so unpremeditatedly led.
+
+"On the day of this fatal dinner I remarked to the Queen, 'What a
+beautiful sight it must be to behold, in these troublesome times, the
+happy union of such a meeting!'
+
+"'It must indeed!' replied the King; 'and the pleasure I feel in knowing
+it would be redoubled had I the privilege of entertaining the Flanders
+regiment, as the body-guards are doing.'
+
+"'Heaven forbid!' cried Her Majesty; 'Heaven forbid that you should think
+of such a thing!  The Assembly would never forgive us!'
+
+"After we had dined, the Queen sent to the Marquise de Tourzel for the
+Dauphin.  When he came, the Queen told him about her having seen the
+brave officers on their arrival; and how gaily those good officers had
+left the palace, declaring they would die rather than suffer any harm to
+come to him, or his papa and mamma; and that at that very time they were
+all dining at the theatre.
+
+"'Dining in the theatre, mamma?' said the young, Prince.  'I never heard
+of people dining in a theatre!'
+
+"'No, my dear child,' replied Her Majesty, 'it is not generally allowed;
+but they are doing so, because the body-guards are giving a dinner to
+this good Flanders regiment; and the Flanders regiment are so brave that
+the guards chose the finest place they could think of to entertain them
+in, to show how much they like them; that is the reason why they are
+dining in the gay, painted theatre.'
+
+"'Oh, mamma!' exclaimed the Dauphin, whom the Queen adored, 'Oh, papa!'
+cried he, looking at the King, 'how I should like to see them!'
+
+"'Let us go and satisfy the child!' said the King, instantly starting up
+from his seat.
+
+"The Queen took the Dauphin by the hand, and they proceeded to the
+theatre.  It was all done in a moment.  There was no premeditation on the
+part of the King or Queen; no invitation on the part of the officers.
+Had I been asked, I should certainly have followed the Queen; but just as
+the King rose, I left the room.  The Prince being eager to see the
+festival, they set off immediately, and when I returned to the apartment
+they were gone.  Not being very well, I remained where I was; but most of
+the household had already followed Their Majesties.
+
+"On the Royal Family making their appearance, they were received with the
+most unequivocal shouts of general enthusiasm by the troops.  Intoxicated
+with the pleasure of seeing Their Majesties among them, and overheated
+with the juice of the grape, they gave themselves up to every excess of
+joy, which the circumstances and the situation of Their Majesties were so
+well calculated to inspire.  'Oh! Richard! oh, mon roi!' was sung, as
+well as many other loyal songs.  The healths of the King, Queen, and
+Dauphin were drunk, till the regiments were really inebriated with the
+mingled influence of wine and shouting vivas!
+
+"When the royal party retired, they were followed by all the military to
+the very palace doors, where they sung, danced, embraced each other, and
+gave way to all the frantic demonstrations of devotedness to the royal
+cause which the excitement of the scene and the table could produce.
+Throngs, of course, collected to get near the Royal Family.  Many persons
+in the rush were trampled on, and one or two men, it was said, crushed to
+death.  The Dauphin and King were delighted; but the Queen, in giving the
+Princesse Elizabeth and myself an account of the festival, foresaw the
+fatal result which would ensue; and deeply deplored the marked enthusiasm
+with which they had been greeted and followed by the military.
+
+"There was one more military spectacle, a public breakfast which took
+place on the second of October.  Though none of the Royal Family appeared
+at it, it was no less injurious to their interests than the former.  The
+enemies of the Crown spread reports all over Paris, that the King and
+Queen had manoeuvred to pervert the minds of the troops so far as to make
+them declare against the measures of the National Assembly.  It is not
+likely that the Assembly, or politics, were even spoken of at the
+breakfast; but the report did as much mischief as the reality would have
+done.  This was quite sufficient to encourage the D'ORLEANS and Mirabeau
+faction in the Assembly to the immediate execution of their long-
+meditated scheme, of overthrowing the monarchy.
+
+"On the very day following, Duport, De Lameth, and Barnave sent their
+confidential agent to apprise the Queen that certain deputies had already
+fully matured a plot to remove the King, nay, to confine Her Majesty from
+him in a distant part of France, that her influence over his mind might
+no farther thwart their premeditated establishment of a Constitution.
+
+"But others of this body, and the more powerful and subtle portion, had a
+deeper object, so depraved, that, even when forewarned, the Queen could
+not deem it possible; but of which she was soon convinced by their
+infernal acts.
+
+"The riotous faction, for the purpose of accelerating this denouement,
+had contrived, by buying up all the corn and sending it out of the
+country, to reduce the populace to famine, and then to make it appear
+that the King and Queen had been the monopolisers, and the extravagance
+of Marie Antoinette and her largesses to Austria and her favourites, the
+cause.  The plot was so deeply laid that the wretches who, undertook to
+effect the diabolical scheme were metamorphosed in the Queen's livery, so
+that all the odium might fall on her unfortunate Majesty.  At the head of
+the commission of monopolisers was Luckner, who had taken a violent
+dislike to the Queen, in consequence of his having been refused some
+preferment, which he attributed to her influence.  Mirabeau, who was
+still in the background, and longing to take a more prominent part,
+helped it on as much as possible.  Pinet, who had been a confidential
+agent of the Duc d'Orleans, himself told the Duc de Penthievre that
+D'ORLEANS had monopolised all the corn.  This communication, and the
+activity of the Count Fersen, saved France, and Paris in particular, from
+perishing for the want of bread.  Even at the moment of the abominable
+masquerade, in which Her Majesty's agents were made to appear the enemies
+who were starving the French people, out of revenge for the checks
+imposed by them on the royal authority, it was well known to all the
+Court that both Her Majesty and the King were grieved to the soul at
+their piteous want, and distributed immense sums for the relief of the
+poor sufferers, as did the Duc de Penthievre, the Duchesse d'Orleans, the
+Prince de Conde, the Duc and Duchesse de Bourbon, and others; but these
+acts were done privately, while he who had created the necessity took to
+himself the exclusive credit of the relief, and employed thousands daily
+to propagate reports of his generosity.  Mirabeau, then the factotum
+agent of the operations of the Palais Royal and its demagogues, greatly
+added to the support of this impression.  Indeed, till undeceived
+afterwards, he believed it to be really the Duc d'Orleans who had
+succoured the people.
+
+"I dispensed two hundred and twenty thousand livres merely to discover
+the names of the agents who had been employed to carry on this nefarious
+plot to exasperate the people against the throne by starvation imputed to
+the Sovereign.  Though money achieved the discovery in time to clear the
+characters of my royal mistress and the King, the detection only followed
+the mischief of the crime.  But even the rage thus wickedly excited was
+not enough to carry through the plot.  In the faubourgs of Paris, where
+the women became furies, two hundred thousand livres were distributed ere
+the horror could be completely exposed.
+
+"But it is time for me to enter upon the scenes to which all the
+intrigues I have detailed were intended to lead--the removal of the Royal
+Family from Versailles.
+
+"My heart sickens when I retrace these moments of anguish.  The point to
+which they are to conduct us yet remains one of the mysteries of fate."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+"Her Majesty had been so thoroughly lulled into security by the
+enthusiasm of the regiments at Versailles that she treated all the
+reports from Paris with contempt.  Nothing was apprehended from that
+quarter, and no preparations were consequently made for resistance or
+protection.  She was at Little Trianon when the news of the approach of
+the desolating torrent arrived.  The King was hunting.  I presented
+to her the commandant of the troops at Versailles, who assured Her
+Majesty that a murderous faction, too powerful, perhaps, for resistance,
+was marching principally against her royal person, with La Fayette at
+their head, and implored her to put herself and valuables in immediate
+safety; particularly all her correspondence with the Princes, emigrants,
+and foreign Courts, if she had no means of destroying them.
+
+"Though the Queen was somewhat awakened to the truth by this earnest
+appeal, yet she still considered the extent of the danger as exaggerated,
+and looked upon the representation as partaking, in a considerable
+degree, of the nature of all reports in times of popular commotion.
+
+"Presently, however, a more startling omen appeared, in a much milder but
+ambiguous communication from General La Fayette.  He stated that he was
+on his march from Paris with the national guard, and part of the people,
+coming to make remonstrances; but he begged Her Majesty to rest assured
+that no disorder would take place, and that he himself would vouch that
+there should be none.
+
+"The King was instantly sent for to the heights of Meudon, while the
+Queen set off from Little Trianon, with me, for Versailles.
+
+"The first movements were commenced by a few women, or men in women's
+clothes, at the palace gates of Versailles.  The guards refused them
+entrance, from an order they had received to that effect from La Fayette.
+The consternation produced by their resentment was a mere prelude to the
+horrid tragedy that succeeded.
+
+"The information now pouring in from different quarters increased Her
+Majesty's alarm every moment.  The order of La Fayette, not to let the
+women be admitted, convinced her that there was something in agitation,
+which his unexplained letter made her sensible was more to be feared than
+if he had signified the real situation and danger to which she was
+exposed.
+
+"A messenger was forthwith despatched for M. La Fayette, and another, by
+order of the Queen, for M. de St. Priest, to prepare a retreat for the
+Royal Family, as the Parisian mob's advance could no longer be doubted.
+Everything necessary was accordingly got ready.
+
+"La Fayette now arrived at Versailles in obedience to the message, and,
+in the presence of all the Court and Ministers, assured the King that he
+could answer for the Paris army, at the head of which he intended to
+march, to prevent disorders; and advised the admission of the women into
+the palace, who, he said, had nothing to propose but a simple memorial
+relative to the scarcity of bread.
+
+"The Queen said to him, 'Remember, monsieur, you have pledged your honour
+for the King's safety.'
+
+"'And I hope, Madame, to be able to redeem it.'
+
+"He then left Versailles to return to his post with the army.
+
+"A limited number of the women were at length admitted; and so completely
+did they seem satisfied with the reception they met with from the King,
+as, in all appearance, to have quieted their riotous companions.  The
+language of menace and remonstrance had changed into shouts of 'Vive le
+roi!'  The apprehensions of Their Majesties were subdued; and the whole
+system of operation, which had been previously adopted for the Royal
+Family's quitting Versailles, was, in consequence, unfortunately changed.
+
+"But the troops, that had been hitherto under arms for the preservation
+of order, in going back to their hotel, were assailed and fired at by the
+mob.
+
+"The return of the body-guards, thus insulted in going to and coming from
+the palace, caused the Queen and the Court to resume the resolution of
+instantly retiring from Versailles; but it was now too late.  They were
+stopped by the municipality and the mob of the city, who were animated to
+excess against the Queen by one of the bass singers of the French opera.
+--[La Haise]
+
+"Every hope of tranquillity was now shaken by the hideous howlings which
+arose from all quarters.  Intended flight had become impracticable.
+Atrocious expressions were levelled against the Queen, too shocking for
+repetition.  I shudder when I reflect to what a degree of outrage the
+'poissardes' of Paris were excited, to express their abominable designs
+on the life of that most adored of Sovereigns.
+
+"Early in the evening Her Majesty came to my apartment, in company with
+one of her female attendants.  She was greatly agitated.  She brought all
+her jewels and a considerable quantity of papers, which she had begun to
+collect together immediately on her arrival from Trianon, as the
+commandant had recommended.
+
+     [Neither Her Majesty nor the Princess ever returned to Versailles
+     after the sixth of that fatal October!  Part of the papers, brought
+     by the Queen to the apartment of the Princess, were tacked by me on
+     two of my petticoats; the under one three fold, one on the other,
+     and outside; and the upper one, three or four fold double on the
+     inside; and thus I left the room with this paper undergarment, which
+     put me to no inconvenience.  Returning to the Princess, I was
+     ordered to go to Lisle, there take the papers from their hiding-
+     place, and deliver them, with others, to the same person who
+     received the box, of which mention will be found in another part of
+     this work.  I was not to take any letters, and was to come back
+     immediately.
+
+     As I was leaving the apartment Her Majesty said something to Her
+     Highness which I did not hear.  The Princess turned round very
+     quickly, and kissing me on the forehead, said in Italian, "My dear
+     little Englishwoman, for Heaven's sake be careful of yourself, for I
+     should never forgive myself if any misfortune were to befall you."
+     "Nor I," said Her Majesty.]
+
+"Notwithstanding the fatigue and agitation which the Queen must have
+suffered during the day, and the continued threats, horrible howlings,
+and discharge of firearms during the night, she had courage enough to
+visit the bedchambers of her children and then to retire to rest in her
+own.
+
+"But her rest was soon fearfully interrupted.  Horrid cries at her
+chamber door of 'Save the Queen!  Save the Queen!  or she will be
+assassinated!' aroused her.  The faithful guardian who gave the alarm was
+never heard more.  He was murdered in her defence!  Her Majesty herself
+only escaped the poignards of immediate death by flying to the King's
+apartment, almost in the same state as she lay in bed, not having had
+time to screen herself with any covering but what was casually thrown
+over her by the women who assisted her in her flight; while one well
+acquainted with the palace is said to have been seen busily engaged in
+encouraging the regicides who thus sought her for midnight murder.  The
+faithful guards who defended the entrance to the room of the intended
+victim of these desperadoes took shelter in the room itself upon her
+leaving it, and were alike threatened with instant death by the grenadier
+assassins for having defeated them in their fiend-like purpose; they
+were, however, saved by the generous interposition and courage of two
+gentlemen, who, offering themselves as victims in their place, thus
+brought about a temporary accommodation between the regular troops and
+the national guard.
+
+"All this time General La Fayette never once appeared.  It is presumed
+that he himself had been deceived as to the horrid designs of the mob,
+and did not choose to show himself, finding it impossible to check the
+impetuosity of the horde he had himself brought to action, in concurring
+to countenance their first movements from Paris.  Posterity will decide
+how far he was justified in pledging himself for the safety of the Royal
+Family, while he was heading a riotous mob, whose atrocities were
+guaranteed from punishment or check by the sanction of his presence and
+the faith reposed in his assurance.  Was he ignorant, or did he only
+pretend to be so, of the incalculable mischief inevitable from giving
+power and a reliance on impunity to such an unreasoning mass?  By any
+military operation, as commander-in-chief, he might have turned the tide.
+And why did he not avail himself of that authority with which he had been
+invested by the National Assembly, as the delegates of the nation, for
+the general safety and guardianship of the people?  for the people, of
+whom he was the avowed protector, were themselves in peril: it was only
+the humanity (or rather, in such a crisis, the imbecility) of Louis XVI.
+that prevented them from being fired on; and they would inevitably have
+been sacrificed, and that through the want of policy in their leader, had
+not this mistaken mercy of the King prevented his guards from offering
+resistance to the murderers of his brave defenders!
+
+"The cry of 'Queen!  Queen!' now resounded from the lips of the cannibals
+stained with the blood of her faithful guards.  She appeared, shielded by
+filial affection, between her two innocent children, the threatened
+orphans!  But the sight of so much innocence and heroic courage paralysed
+the hands uplifted for their massacre!
+
+"A tiger voice cried out, 'No children!'  The infants were hurried away
+from the maternal side, only to witness the author of their being
+offering up herself, eagerly and instantly, to the sacrifice, an ardent
+and delighted victim to the hoped-for preservation of those, perhaps,
+orphans, dearer to her far than life!  Her resignation and firm step in
+facing the savage cry that was thundering against her, disarmed the
+ferocious beasts that were hungering and roaring for their prey!
+
+"Mirabeau, whose immense head and gross figure could not be mistaken, is
+said to have been the first among the mob to have sonorously chanted,
+'To Paris!'  His myrmidons echoed and re-echoed the cry upon the signal.
+He then hastened to the Assembly to contravene any measures the King
+might ask in opposition.  The riots increasing, the Queen said to His
+Majesty:
+
+"'Oh, Sire!  why am I not animated with the courage of Maria Theresa?
+Let me go with my children to the National Assembly, as she did to the
+Hungarian Senate, with my Imperial brother, Joseph, in her arms and
+Leopold in her womb, when Charles the Seventh of Bavaria had deprived her
+of all her German dominions, and she had already written to the Duchesse
+de Lorraine to prepare her an asylum, not knowing where she should be
+delivered of the precious charge she was then bearing; but I, like the
+mother of the Gracchi, like Cornelia, more esteemed for my birth than for
+my marriage, am the wife of the King of France, and I see we shall be
+murdered in our beds for the want of our own exertions!'
+
+"The King remained as if paralysed and stupefied, and made no answer.
+The Princesse Elizabeth then threw herself at the Queen's feet, imploring
+her to consent to go to Paris.
+
+"'To Paris!' exclaimed Her Majesty.
+
+"'Yes, Madame,' said the King.  'I will put an end to these horrors; and
+tell the people so.'
+
+"On this, without waiting for the Queen's answer, he opened the balcony,
+and told the populace he was ready to depart with his family.
+
+"This sudden change caused a change equally sudden in the rabble mob.
+All shouted, 'Vive le roi!  Vive la nation!'
+
+"Re-entering the room from the window, the King said, 'It is done.  This
+affair will soon be terminated.'
+
+"'And with it,' said the Queen, 'the monarchy!'
+
+"'Better that, Madame, than running the risk, as I did some hours since,
+of seeing you and my children sacrificed!'
+
+"'That, Sire, will be the consequence of our not having left Versailles.
+Whatever you determine, it is my duty to obey.  As to myself, I am
+resigned to my fate.'  On this she burst into a flood of tears.  'I only
+feel for your humiliated state, and for the safety of our children.'
+
+"The Royal Family departed without having consulted any of the Ministers,
+military or civil, or the National Assembly, by whom they were followed.
+
+"Scarcely had they arrived at Paris when the Queen recollected that she
+had taken with her no change of dress, either for herself or her
+children, and they were obliged to ask permission of the National
+Assembly to allow them to send for their different wardrobes.
+
+"What a situation for an absolute King and Queen, which, but a few hours
+previous, they had been!
+
+"I now took up my residence with Their Majesties at the Tuileries,--that
+odious Tuileries, which I can not name but with horror, where the
+malignant spirit of rebellion has, perhaps, dragged us to an untimely
+death!
+
+"Monsieur and Madame had another residence.  Bailly, the Mayor of Paris,
+and La Fayette became the royal jailers.
+
+"The Princesse Elizabeth and myself could not but deeply deplore, when we
+saw the predictions of Dumourier so dreadfully confirmed by the result,
+that Her Majesty should have so slighted his timely information, and
+scorned his penitence.  But delicacy bade us lament in silence; and,
+while we grieved over her present sufferings, we could not but mourn the
+loss of a barrier against future aggression, in the rejection of this
+general's proffered services.
+
+"It will be remembered, that Dumourier in his disclosure declared that
+the object of this commotion was to place the Duc d'Orleans upon the
+throne, and that Mirabeau, who was a prime mover, was to share in the
+profits of the usurpation.
+
+     [But the heart of the traitor Duke failed him at the important
+     crisis.  Though he was said to have been recognised through a vulgar
+     disguise, stimulating the assassins to the attempted murder of Her
+     Majesty, yet, when the moment to show himself had arrived, he was
+     nowhere to be found.  The most propitious moment for the execution
+     of the foul crime was lost, and with it the confidence of his party.
+     Mirabeau was disgusted.  So far from wishing longer to offer him the
+     crown, he struck it forever from his head, and turned against him.
+     He openly protested he would no longer set up traitors who were
+     cowards.]
+
+"Soon after this event, Her Majesty, in tears, came to tell me that the
+King, having had positive proof of the agency of the Duc d'Orleans in the
+riots of Versailles, had commenced some proceedings, which had given the
+Duke the alarm, and exiled him to Villers-Cotterets.  The Queen added
+that the King's only object had been to assure the general tranquillity,
+and especially her own security, against whose life the conspiracy seemed
+most distinctly levelled.
+
+"'Oh, Princess!' continued Her Majesty, in a flood of tears, 'the King's
+love for me, and his wish to restore order to his people, have been our
+ruin!  He should have struck off the head of D'ORLEANS, or overlooked his
+crime!  Why did he not consult me before he took a step so important?  I
+have lost a friend also in his wife!  For, however criminal he may be,
+she loves him.'
+
+"I assured Her Majesty that I could not think the Duchesse d'Orleans
+would be so inconsiderate as to withdraw her affection on that account.
+
+"'She certainly will,' replied Marie Antoinette.  'She is the
+affectionate mother of his children, and cannot but hate those who have
+been the cause of his exile.  I know it will be laid to my charge, and
+added to the hatred the husband has so long borne me; I shall now become
+the object of the wife's resentment'
+
+"In the midst of one of the paroxysms of Her Majesty's agonising
+agitation after leaving Versailles, for the past, the present, and the
+future state of the Royal Family, when the Princesse Elizabeth and myself
+were in vain endeavouring to calm her, a deputation was announced from
+the National Assembly and the City of Paris, requesting the honour of the
+appearance of the King and herself at the theatre.
+
+"'Is it possible, my dear Princess,' cried she, on the announcement,
+'that I can enjoy any public amusement while I am still chilled with
+horror at the blood these people have spilled, the blood of the faithful
+defenders of our lives?  I can forgive them, but I cannot so easily
+forget it.'
+
+"Count Fersen and the Austrian Ambassador now entered, both anxious to
+know Her Majesty's intentions with regard to visiting the theatre, in
+order to make a party to ensure her a good reception; but all their
+persuasions were unavailing.  She thanked the deputation for their
+friendship; but at the same time told them that her mind was still too
+much agitated from recent scenes to receive any pleasure but in the
+domestic cares of her family, and that, for a time, she must decline
+every other amusement.
+
+"At this moment the Spanish and English Ambassadors came to pay their
+respects to Her Majesty on the same subject as the others.  As they
+entered, Count Fersen observed to the Queen, looking around:
+
+"'Courage, Madame!  We are as many nations as persons in this room-
+English, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, and French; and all equally
+ready to form a rampart around you against aggression.  All these nations
+will, I believe, admit that the French (bowing to the Princesse
+Elizabeth) are the most volatile of the six; and Your Majesty may rely on
+it that they will love you, now that you are more closely among them,
+more tenderly than ever.'
+
+"'Let me live to be convinced of that, monsieur, and my happiness will be
+concentrated in its demonstration.'
+
+"'Indeed, gentlemen,' said the Princesse Elizabeth, the Queen has yet had
+but little reason to love the French.'
+
+"'Where is our Ambassador,' said I, 'and the Neapolitan?'
+
+"'I have had the pleasure of seeing them early this morning,' replied the
+Queen; 'but I told them, also, that indisposition prevented my going into
+public.  They will be at our card-party in your apartment this evening,
+where I hope to see these gentlemen.  The only parties,' continued Her
+Majesty, addressing herself to the Princesse Elizabeth and the
+Ambassadors, 'the only parties I shall visit in future will be those of
+the Princesse de Lamballe, my superintendent; as, in so doing, I shall
+have no occasion to go out of the palace, which, from what has happened,
+seems to me the only prudent course.'
+
+"'Come, come, Madame,' exclaimed the Ambassadors; I do not give way to
+gloomy ideas.  All will yet be well.'
+
+"'I hope so,' answered Her Majesty; 'but till that hope is realized, the
+wounds I have suffered will make existence a burden to me!'
+
+"The Duchesse de Luynes, like many others, had been a zealous partisan of
+the new order of things, and had expressed herself with great
+indiscretion in the presence of the Queen.  But the Duchess was brought
+to her senses when she saw herself, and all the mad, democratical
+nobility, under the overpowering weight of Jacobinism, deprived of every
+privileged prerogative and levelled and stripped of hereditary
+distinction.
+
+"She came to me one day, weeping, to beg I would make use of my good
+offices in her favour with the Queen, whom she was grieved that she had
+so grossly offended by an unguarded speech.
+
+"'On my knees,' continued the Duchess, I am I ready to supplicate the
+pardon of Her Majesty.  I cannot live without her forgiveness.  One of my
+servants has opened my eyes, by telling me that the Revolution can make a
+Duchess a beggar, but cannot make a beggar a Duchess.'
+
+"'Unfortunately,' said I, 'if some of these faithful servants had been
+listened to, they would still be such, and not now our masters; but I can
+assure you, Duchess, that the Queen has long since forgiven you.  See!
+Her Majesty comes to tell you so herself.'
+
+"The Duchess fell upon her knees.  The Queen, with her usual goodness of
+heart, clasped her in her arms, and, with tears in her eyes, said:
+
+"'We have all of us need of forgiveness.  Our errors and misfortunes are
+general.  Think no more of the past; but let us unite in not sinning for
+the future:
+
+"'Heaven knows how many sins I have to atone for,' replied the Duchess,
+'from the follies of youth; but now, at an age of discretion and in
+adversity, oh, how bitterly do I reproach myself for my past levities!
+But,' continued she, 'has Your Majesty really forgiven me?'
+
+"'As I hope to be forgiven!' exclaimed Marie Antoinette.  'No penitent in
+the sight of God is more acceptable than the one who makes a voluntary
+sacrifice by confessing error.  Forget and forgive is the language of our
+Blessed Redeemer.  I have adopted it in regard to my enemies, and surely
+my friends have a right to claim it.  Come, Duchess, I will conduct you
+to the King and Elizabeth, who will rejoice in the recovery of one of our
+lost sheep; for we sorely feel the diminution of the flock that once
+surrounded us!'
+
+"At this token of kindness, the Duchess was so much overcome that she
+fell at the Queen's feet motionless, and it was some time before she
+recovered.
+
+"From the moment of Her Majesty's arrival at Paris from Versailles, she
+solely occupied herself with the education of her children,-excepting
+when she resorted to my parties, the only ones, as she had at first
+determined, which she ever honoured with her attendance.  In order to
+discover, as far as possible, the sentiments of certain persons, I gave
+almost general invitations, whereby, from her amiable manners and
+gracious condescension, she became very popular.  By these means I hoped
+to replace Her Majesty in the good estimation of her numerous visitors;
+but, notwithstanding every exertion, she could not succeed in dispelling
+the gloom with which the Revolution had overcast all her former gaiety.
+Though treated with ceremonious respect, she missed the cordiality to
+which she had been so long accustomed, and which she so much prized.
+From the great emigration of the higher classes of the nobility, the
+societies themselves were no longer what they had been.  Madame Necker
+and Madame de Stael were pretty regular visitors.  But the most agreeable
+company had lost its zest for Marie Antoinette; and she was really become
+afraid of large assemblies, and scarcely ever saw a group of persons
+collected together without fearing some plot against the King.
+
+"Indeed, it is a peculiarity which has from the first marked, and still
+continues to distinguish, the whole conduct and distrust of my royal
+mistress, that it never operates to create any fears for herself, but
+invariably refers to the safety of His Majesty.
+
+"I had enlarged my circle and made my parties extensive, solely to
+relieve the oppressed spirits of the Queen; but the very circumstance
+which induced me to make them so general soon rendered them intolerable
+to her; for the conversations at last became solely confined to the
+topics of the Revolution, a subject frequently the more distressing from
+the presence of the sons of the Duc d'Orleans.  Though I loved my sister-
+in-law and my nephews, I could not see them without fear, nor could my
+royal mistress be at ease with them, or in the midst of such distressing
+indications as perpetually intruded upon her, even beneath my roof,
+of the spirit which animated the great body of the people for the
+propagation of anti-monarchical principles.
+
+"My parties were, consequently, broken up; and the Queen ceased to be
+seen in society.  Then commenced the unconquerable power over her of
+those forebodings which have clung to her with such pertinacity ever
+since.
+
+"I observed that Her Majesty would often indulge in the most melancholy
+predictions long before the fatal discussion took place in the Assembly
+respecting the King's abdication.  The daily insolence with which she saw
+His Majesty's authority deprived forever of the power of accomplishing
+what he had most at heart for the good of his people gave her more
+anguish than the outrages so frequently heaped upon herself; but her
+misery was wrought up to a pitch altogether unutterable, whenever she saw
+those around her suffer for their attachment to her in her misfortunes.
+
+"The Princesse Elizabeth has been from the beginning an unwavering
+comforter.  She still flatters Marie Antoinette that Heaven will spare
+her for better times to reward our fidelity and her own agonies.  The
+pious consolations of Her Highness have never failed to make the most
+serious impression on our wretched situation.  Indeed, each of us strives
+to pour the balm of comfort into the wounded hearts of the others, while
+not one of us, in reality, dares to flatter herself with what we all so
+ardently wish for in regard to our fellow-sufferers.  Delusions, even
+sustained by facts, have long since been exhausted.  Our only hope on
+this side of the grave is in our all-merciful Redeemer!"
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VII.
+
+Editors Commentary:
+
+The reader will not, I trust, be dissatisfied at reposing for a moment
+from the sad story of the Princesse de Lamballe to hear some ridiculous
+circumstances which occurred to me individually; and which, though they
+form no part of the history, are sufficiently illustrative of the temper
+of the times.
+
+I had been sent to England to put some letters into the postoffice for
+the Prince de Conde, and had just returned.  The fashion then in England
+was a black dress, Spanish hat, and yellow satin lining, with three
+ostrich feathers forming the Prince of Wales's crest, and bearing his
+inscription, 'Ich dien,' ("I serve.")  I also brought with me a white
+satin cloak, trimmed with white fur. This crest and motto date as far
+back, I believe, as the time of Edward, the Black Prince.
+
+In this dress, I went to the French opera.  Scarcely was I seated in the
+bog, when I heard shouts of, "En bas les couleurs de d'empereur!  En
+bas!"
+
+I was very busy talking to a person in the box, and, having been
+accustomed to hear and see partial riots in the pit, I paid no attention;
+never dreaming that my poor hat and feathers, and cloak, were the cause
+of the commotion, till an officer in the national guard very politely
+knocked at the door of the box, and told me I must either take them off
+or leave the theatre.
+
+There is nothing I more dislike than the being thought particular, or
+disposed to attract attention by dress.  The moment, therefore, I found
+myself thus unintentionally the object of a whole theatre's disturbance,
+in the first impulse of indignation, I impetuously caught off the cloak
+and hat, and flung them into the pit, at the very faces of the rioters.
+
+The theatre instantly rang with applause.  The obnoxious articles were
+carefully folded up and taken to the officer of the guard, who, when I
+left the box, at the end of the opera, brought them to me and offered to
+assist me in putting them on; but I refused them with true cavalier-like
+loftiness, and entered my carriage without either hat or cloak.
+
+There were many of the audience collected round the carriage at the time,
+who, witnessing my rejection of the insulted colours, again loudly
+cheered me; but insisted on the officer's placing the hat and cloak in
+the carriage, which drove off amidst the most violent acclamations.
+
+Another day, as I was going to walk in the Tuileries (which I generally
+did after riding on horseback), the guards crossed their bayonets at the
+gate and forbade my entering.  I asked them why.  They told me no one was
+allowed to walk there without the national ribbon.
+
+Now, I always had one of these national ribbons about me, from the time
+they were first worn; but I kept it in the inside of my riding-habit; and
+on that day, in particular, my supply was unusually ample, for I had on a
+new riding-habit, the petticoat of which was so very long and heavy that
+I bought a large quantity to tie round my waist, and fasten up the dress,
+to prevent it from falling about my feet.
+
+However, I was determined to plague the guards for their impudence.  My
+English beau, who was as pale as death, and knew I had the ribbon, kept
+pinching my arm, and whispering, "Show it, show it; zounds, madame, show
+it!  We shall be sent to prison!  show it!  show it!  "But I took care to
+keep my interrupters in parley till a sufficient mob was collected, and
+then I produced my colours.
+
+The soldiers were consequently most gloriously hissed, and would have
+been maltreated by the mob, and sent to the guard-house by their officer,
+but for my intercession; on which I was again applauded all through the
+gardens as La Brave Anglaise.  But my, beau declared he would never go
+out with me again: unless I wore the ribbon on the outside of my hat,
+which I never did and never would do.
+
+At that time the Queen used to occupy herself much in fancy needle-works.
+Knowing, from arrangements, that I was every day in a certain part of the
+Tuileries, Her Majesty, when she heard the shout of La Brave Anglaise!
+immediately called the Princesse de Lamballe to know if she had sent me
+on any message.  Being answered in the negative, one of the pages was
+despatched to ascertain the meaning of the cry.  The Royal Family lived
+in so continual a state of alarm that it was apprehended I had got into
+some scrape; but I had left the Tuileries before the messenger arrived,
+and was already with the Princesse de Lamballe, relating the
+circumstances.  The Princess told Her Majesty, who graciously observed,
+"I am very happy that she got off so well; but caution her to be more
+prudent for the future.  A cause, however bad, is rather aided than
+weakened by unreasonable displays of contempt for it.  These unnecessary
+excitements of the popular jealousy do us no good."
+
+I was, of course, severely reprimanded by the Princess for my frolic,
+though she enjoyed it of all things, and afterwards laughed most
+heartily.
+
+The Princess told me, a few days after these circumstances of the
+national ribbon and the Austrian colours had taken place at the theatre,
+that some one belonging to the private correspondence at the palace had
+been at the French opera on the night the disturbance took place there,
+and, without knowing the person to whom it related, had told the whole
+story to the King.
+
+The Queen and the Princesses Elizabeth and de Lamballe being present,
+laughed very heartily.  The two latter knew it already from myself, the
+fountain head, but the Princesse Elizabeth said:
+
+"Poor lady!  what a fright she must have been in, to have had her things
+taken away from her at the theatre"
+
+"No fright at all," said the King; "for a young woman who could act thus
+firmly under such an insolent outrage will always triumph over cowards,
+unmanly enough to abuse their advantages by insulting her.  She was not a
+Frenchwoman, I'll answer for it."
+
+"Oh, no, Sire.  She is an Englishwoman," said the Princesse de Lamballe.
+
+"I am glad of it," exclaimed the King; "for when she returns to England
+this will be a good personal specimen for the information of some of her
+countrymen, who have rejoiced at what they call the regeneration of the
+French nation; a nation once considered the most polished in Europe, but
+now become the most uncivil, and I wish I may never have occasion to add,
+the most barbarous!  An insult offered, wantonly, to either sex, at any
+time, is the result of insubordination; but when offered to a woman, it
+is a direct violation of civilised hospitality, and an abuse of power
+which never before tarnished that government now so much the topic of
+abuse by the enemies of order and legitimate authority.  The French
+Princes, it is true, have been absolute; still I never governed
+despotically, but always by the advice of my counsellors and Cabinet
+Ministers.  If they have erred, my conscience is void of reproach.  I
+wish the National Assembly may govern for the future with equal prudence,
+equity, and justice; but they have given a poor earnest in pulling down
+one fabric before they have laid the solid foundation of another.  I am
+very happy that their agents, who, though they call themselves the
+guardians of public order have hitherto destroyed its course, have, in
+the courage of this English lady, met with some resistance to their
+insolence, in foolishly occupying themselves with petty matters, while
+those of vital import are totally neglected."
+
+It is almost superfluous to mention that, at the epoch of which I am
+speaking in the Revolution, the Royal Family were in so much distrust of
+every one about them, and very necessarily and justly so, that none were
+ever confided in for affairs, however trifling, without first having
+their fidelity repeatedly put to the test.  I was myself under this
+probation long before I knew that such had ever been imposed.
+
+With the private correspondence I had already been for some time
+entrusted; and it was only previous to employing me on secret missions of
+any consequence that I was subject to the severer scrutiny.  Even before
+I was sent abroad, great art was necessary to elude the vigilance of
+prying eyes in the royal circle; and, in order to render my activity
+available to important purposes, my connection with the Court was long
+kept secret.  Many stratagems were devised to mislead the Arguses of the
+police.  To this end, after the disorders of the Revolution began, I
+never entered the palaces but on an understood signal, for which I have
+been often obliged to attend many hours in the gardens of Versailles, as
+I had subsequently done in that of the Tuileries.
+
+To pass the time unnoticed, I used generally to take a book, and seat
+myself, occupied in reading, sometimes in one spot, sometimes in another;
+but with my man and maid servant always within call, though never where
+they could be seen.
+
+On one of these occasions, a person, though not totally masked yet
+sufficiently disguised to prevent my recognising his features, came
+behind my seat, and said he wished to speak to me.  I turned round and
+asked his business.
+
+"That's coming to the point!" he answered.  "Walk a little way with me,
+and I will tell you."
+
+Not to excite suspicion, I walked into a more retired part of the garden,
+after a secret signal to my man servant, who followed me unperceived by
+the stranger.
+
+"I am commissioned," said my mysterious companion, "to make you a very
+handsome present, if you will tell me what you are waiting for."
+
+I laughed, and was turning from him, saying, "Is this all your business?"
+
+"No," he replied.
+
+"Then keep it to yourself.  I am not waiting here for any one or
+anything; but am merely occupied in reading and killing time to the best
+advantage."
+
+"Are you a poetess?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And scarcely a woman; for your answers are very short."
+
+"Very likely."
+
+"But I have something of importance to communicate-----"
+
+"That is impossible."
+
+"But listen to me-----"
+
+"You are mistaken in your person."
+
+"But surely you will not be so unreasonable as not to hear what I have to
+say?"
+
+"I am a stranger in this country, and can have nothing of importance with
+one I do not know."
+
+"You have quarrelled with your lover and are in an ill-humour.
+
+"Perhaps so.  Well! come! I believe you have guessed the cause."
+
+"Ah! it is the fate of us all to get into scrapes!  But you will soon
+make it up; and now let me entreat your attention to what I have to
+offer."
+
+I became impatient, and called my servant.
+
+"Madame," resumed the stranger, "I am a gentleman, and mean no harm.  But
+I assure you, you stand in your own light.  I know more about you than
+you think I do."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, madame, you are waiting here for an august personage."
+
+At this last sentence, my lips laughed, while my heart trembled.
+
+"I wish to caution you," continued he, "how you embark in plans of this
+sort."
+
+"Monsieur, I repeat, you have taken me for some other person.  I will no
+longer listen to one who is either a maniac or an officious intruder."
+
+Upon this, the stranger bowed and left me; but I could perceive that he
+was not displeased with my answers, though I was not a little agitated,
+and longed to see Her Highness to relate to her this curious adventure.
+
+In a few hours I did so.  The Princess was perfectly satisfied with my
+manner of proceeding, only she thought it singular, she said, that the
+stranger should suspect I was there in attendance for some person of
+rank; and she repeated, three or four times, "I am heartily glad that you
+did not commit yourself by any decided answer.  What sort of a man was
+he?"
+
+"Very much of the gentleman; above the middle stature; and, from what I
+could see of his countenance, rather handsome than otherwise."
+
+"Was he a Frenchman?"
+
+"No. I think he spoke good French and English, with an Irish accent."
+
+"Then I know who it is," exclaimed she.  "It is Dillon: I know it from
+some doubts which arose between Her Majesty, Dillon, and myself,
+respecting sending you upon a confidential mission.  Oh, come hither!
+come hither!" continued Her Highness, overwhelming me with kisses.  "How
+glad, how very glad I am, that the Queen will be convinced I was not
+deceived in what I told Her Majesty respecting you.  Take no notice of
+what I am telling you; but he was sent from the Queen, to tempt you into
+some imprudence, or to be convinced, by your not falling into the snare,
+that she might rely on your fidelity."
+
+"What! doubt my fidelity?" said I.
+
+"Oh, my dear, you must excuse Her Majesty.  We live in critical times.
+You will be the more rewarded, and much more esteemed, for this proof of
+your firmness.  Do you think you should know him, if you were to see him
+again?"
+
+"Certainly, I should, if he were in the same disguise.
+
+"That, I fear, will be rather difficult to accomplish.  However, you
+shall go in your carriage and wait at the door of his sister, the
+Marquise of Desmond; where I will send for him to come to me at four
+o'clock to-morrow.  In this way, you will have an opportunity of seeing
+him on horseback, as he always pays his morning visits riding."
+
+I would willingly have taken a sleeping draught, and never did I wait
+more anxiously than for the hour of four.
+
+I left the Princess, and, in crossing from the Carrousel to go to the
+Place Vendome, it rained very fast, and there glanced by me, on
+horseback, the same military cloak in which the stranger had been
+wrapped.  My carriage was driving so fast that I still remained in doubt
+as to the wearer's person.
+
+Next day, however, as appointed, I repaired to the place of rendezvous;
+and I could almost have sworn, from the height of the person who alighted
+from his horse, that he was my mysterious questioner.
+
+Still, I was not thoroughly certain.  I watched the Princess coming out,
+and followed her carriage to the Champs Elysees and told her what I
+thought.
+
+"Well," replied she, "we must think no more about it; nor must it ever be
+mentioned to him, should you by any chance meet him."
+
+I said I should certainly obey Her Highness.
+
+A guilty conscience needs no accuser.  A few days after I was riding on
+horseback in the Bois de Boulogne, when Lord Edward Fitzgerald came up to
+speak to me.  Dillon was passing at the time, and, seeing Lord Edward,
+stopped, took off his hat, and observed, "A very pleasant day for riding,
+madame!"  Then, looking me full in the face, he added, "I beg your
+pardon, madame, I mistook you for another lady with whom Lord Edward is
+often in company."
+
+I said there was no offence; but the moment I heard him speak I was no
+longer in doubt of his being the identical person.
+
+When I had learnt the ciphering and deciphering, and was to be sent to
+Italy, the Queen acknowledged to the Princesse de Lamballe that she was
+fully persuaded I might be trusted, as she had good reason to know that
+my fidelity was not to be doubted or shaken.
+
+Dear, hapless Princess!  She said to me, in one of her confidential
+conversations on these matters, "The Queen has been so cruelly deceived
+and so much watched that she almost fears her own shadow; but it gives me
+great pleasure that Her Majesty had been herself confirmed by one of her
+own emissaries in what I never for a moment doubted.
+
+"But do not fancy," continued the Princess, laughing, "that you have had
+only this spy to encounter.  Many others have watched your motions and
+your conversations, and all concur in saying you are the devil, and they
+could make nothing of you.  But that, 'mia cara piccola diavolina', is
+just what we want!"
+
+
+
+SECTION VIII.
+
+Editor in continuation.
+
+I am compelled, with reluctance, to continue personally upon the stage,
+and must do so for the three ensuing chapters, in order to put my readers
+in possession of circumstances explanatory of the next portion of the
+Journal of the Princesse de Lamballe.
+
+Even the particulars I am about to mention can give but a very faint idea
+of the state of alarm in which the Royal Family lived, and the perpetual
+watchfulness and strange and involved expedients that were found
+necessary for their protection.  Their most trifling communications were
+scrutinized with so much jealousy that when any of importance were to be
+made it required a dexterity almost miraculous to screen them from the
+ever-watchful eye of espionage.
+
+I was often made instrumental in evading the curiosity of others, without
+ever receiving any clue to the gratification of my own, even had I been
+troubled with such impertinence.  The anecdote I am about to mention will
+show how cautious a game it was thought necessary to play; and the result
+of my half-information will evince that over-caution may produce evils
+almost equal to total carelessness.
+
+Some time previous to the flight of the Royal Family from Paris, the
+Princesse de Lamballe told me she wanted some repairs made to the locks
+of certain dressing and writing-desks; but she would prefer having them
+done at my apartments, and by a locksmith who lived at a distance from
+the palace.
+
+When the boxes were repaired, I was sent with one of them to Lisle, where
+another person took charge of it for the Archduchess at Brussels.
+
+There was something which strongly marked the kind-heartedness of the
+Princesse de Lamballe in a part of this transaction.  I had left Paris
+without a passport, and Her Highness, fearing it might expose me to
+inconvenience, sent an express after me.  The express arrived three hours
+before I did, and the person to whom I have alluded came out of Brussels
+in his carriage to meet me and receive the box.  At the same time, he
+gave me a sealed letter, without any address.  I asked him from whom he
+received it, and to whom it was to be delivered.  He said he was only
+instructed to deliver it to the lady with the box, and he showed me the
+Queen's cipher.  I took the letter, and, after partaking of some
+refreshments, returned with it, according to my orders.
+
+On my arrival at Paris, the Princesse de Lamballe told me her motive for
+sending the express, who, she said, informed her, on his return, that I
+had a letter for the Queen.  I said it was more than I knew.  "Oh, I
+suppose that is because the letter bears no address," replied she; "but
+you were shown the cipher, and that is all which is necessary."
+
+She did not take the letter, and I could not help remarking how far, in
+this instance, the rigour of etiquette was kept up, even between these
+close friends.  The Princess, not having herself received the letter,
+could not take it from my hands to deliver without Her Majesty's express
+command.  This being obtained, she asked me for it, and gave it to Her
+Majesty.  The circumstance convinced me that the Princess exercised much
+less influence over the Queen, and was much more directed by Her
+Majesty's authority, than has been imagined.
+
+Two or three days after my arrival at Paris, my servant lost the key of
+my writing-desk, and, to remedy the evil, he brought me the same
+locksmith I had employed on the repairs just mentioned.  As it was
+necessary I should be present to remove my papers when the lock was taken
+off, of course I saw the man.  While I was busy clearing the desk, with
+an air of great familiarity he said, "I have had jobs to do here before
+now, my girl, as your sweetheart there well knows."
+
+I humoured his mistake in taking me for my own maid and my servant's
+sweetheart, and I pertly answered, "Very likely."
+
+"Oh, yes, I have," said he; "it was I who repaired the Queen's boxes in
+this very room."
+
+Knowing I had never received anything of the sort from Her Majesty, and
+utterly unaware that the boxes the Princess sent to my apartments had
+been the Queen's, I was greatly surprised.  Seeing my confusion, he said,
+"I know the boxes as well as I know myself.  I am the King's locksmith,
+my dear, and I and the King worked together many years.  Why, I know
+every creek and corner of the palace, aye, and I know everything that's
+going on in them, too--queer doings!  Lord, my pretty damsel, I made a
+secret place in the palace to hide the King's papers, where the devil
+himself would never find them out, if I or the King didn't tell!"
+
+Though I wished him at the devil every moment he detained me from
+disclosing his information at the palace, yet I played off the soubrette
+upon him till he became so interested I thought he never would have gone.
+At last, however, he took his departure, and the moment he disappeared,
+out of the house I flew.
+
+The agitation and surprise of the Princess at what I related were
+extreme.  "Wait," cried she; "I must go and inform the Queen instantly."
+In going out of the room, "Great God, what a discovery!" exclaimed Her
+Highness.
+
+It was not long before she returned.  Luckily, I was dressed for dinner.
+She took me by the hand and, unable to speak, led me to the private
+closet of the Queen.
+
+Her Majesty graciously condescended to thank me for the letter I had
+taken charge of.  She told me that for the future all letters to her
+would be without any superscription; and desired me, if any should be
+given to me by persons I had not before seen, and the cipher were shown
+at the same time, to receive and deliver them myself into her hands, as
+the production of the cipher would be a sufficient pledge of their
+authenticity.
+
+Being desired to repeat the conversation with Gamin, "There, Princess!"
+exclaimed Her Majesty, "Am I not the crow of evil forebodings?  I trust
+the King will never again be credulous enough to employ this man.  I have
+long had an extreme aversion to His Majesty's familiarity with him; but
+he shall hear his impudence himself from your own lips, my good little
+Englishwoman; and then he will not think it is prepossession or
+prejudice."
+
+A few evenings elapsed, and I thought no more of the subject, till one
+night I was ordered to the palace by the Princess, which never happened
+but on very particular occasions, as she was fearful of exciting
+suspicion by any appearance of close intimacy with one so much about
+Paris upon the secret embassies of the Court.
+
+When I entered the apartment, the King, the Queen, and the Princesse
+Elizabeth were, as if by accident, in an adjoining room; but, from what
+followed, I am certain they all came purposely to hear my deposition.
+I was presently commanded to present myself to the august party.
+
+The King was in deep conversation with the Princesse Elizabeth.  I must
+confess I felt rather embarrassed.  I could not form an idea why I was
+thus honoured.  The Princesse de Lamballe graciously took me by the hand.
+
+"Now tell His Majesty, yourself, what Gamin said to you."
+
+I began to revive, perceiving now wherefore I was summoned. I accordingly
+related, in the presence of the royal guests assembled, as I had done
+before Her Majesty and the Princesse de Lamballe, the scene as it
+occurred.
+
+When I came to that part where he said, "where the devil himself could
+never find them out," His Majesty approached from the balcony, at which
+he had been talking with the Princesse Elizabeth, and said, "Well!  he is
+very right--but neither he nor the devil shall find them out, for they
+shall be removed this very night."
+
+     [Which was done; and these are, therefore, no doubt, the papers and
+     portfolio of which Madame Campan speaks, vol.  ii., p.  142, as
+     having been entrusted to her care after being taken from their
+     hiding-place by the King himself.]
+
+The King, the Queen, and the Princesse Elizabeth most graciously said,
+"Nous sommes bien obligis, ma petite anglaise!" and Her Majesty added,
+"Now, my dear, tell me all the rest about this man, whom I have long
+suspected for his wickedness."
+
+I said he had been guilty of no hostile indications, and that the chief
+fault I had to find with him was his exceeding familiarity in mentioning
+himself before the King, saying, "I and the King."
+
+"Go on," said Her Majesty; "give us the whole as it occurred, and let us
+form our own conclusions."
+
+"Yes," cried the Princess, "parlate sciolto."--"Si Si," rejoined the
+Queen, "parlate tutto--yes, yes, speak out and tell us all."
+
+I then related the remainder of the conversation, which very much alarmed
+the royal party, and it was agreed that, to avoid suspicion, I should
+next day send for the locksmith and desire him, as an excuse, to look at
+the locks of my trunks and travelling carriage, and set off in his
+presence to take up my pretended mistress on the road to Calais, that he
+might not suspect I had any connection with any one about the Court.
+I was strictly enjoined by Her Majesty to tell him that the man servant
+had had the boxes from some one to get them repaired, without either my
+knowledge or that of my mistress, and, by her pretended orders, to give
+him a discharge upon the spot for having dared to use her apartments as a
+workshop for the business of other people.
+
+"Now," said the Princesse de Lamballe, "now play the comic part you acted
+between your servant and Gamin:" which I did, as well as I could
+recollect it, and the royal audience were so much amused, that I had the
+honour to remain in the room and see them play at cards.  At length,
+however, there came three gentle taps at the outer door.  "Ora a tempo
+perche vene andata," exclaimed Her Highness at the sound, having ordered
+a person to call with this signal to see me out of the palace to the Rue
+Nicaise, where my carriage was in waiting to conduct me home.
+
+It is not possible for me to describe the gracious condescension of the
+Queen and the Princesse Elizabeth, in expressing their sentiments for the
+accidental discovery I had made.  Amid their assurances of tender
+interest and concern, they both reproved me mildly for my imprudence in
+having, when I went to Brussels, hurried from Paris without my passport.
+They gave me prudential cautions with regard to my future conduct and
+residence at Paris; and it was principally owing to the united
+persuasions and remonstrances of these three angels in human form that I
+took six or seven different lodgings, where the Princesse de Lamballe
+used to meet me by turns; because had I gone often to the palace, as many
+others did, or waited for Her Highness regularly in any one spot,
+I should, infallibly, have been discovered.
+
+"Gracious God!"  exclaimed Her Majesty in the course of this
+conversation, "am I born to be the misfortune of every one who shows an
+interest in serving me?  Tell my sister, when you return to Brussels
+again--and do not forget to say I desired you to tell her--our cruel
+situation!  She does not believe that we are surrounded by enemies, even
+in our most private seclusions! in our prison! that we are even thrown
+exclusively upon foreigners in our most confidential affairs; that in
+France there is scarcely an individual to whom we can look!  They betray
+us for their own safety, which is endangered by any exertions in our
+favour.  Tell her this," repeated the Queen three or four times.
+
+The next day I punctually obeyed my orders.  Gamin was sent for to look
+at the locks, and received six francs for his opinion.  The man servant
+was reproved by me on behalf of my supposed mistress, and, in the
+presence of Gamin, discharged for having brought suspicious things into
+the house.
+
+The man being tutored in his part, begged Gamin to plead for my
+intercession with our mistress.  I remained inexorable, as he knew I
+should.  While Gamin was still by I discharged the bill at the house, got
+into my carriage, and took the road towards Calais.
+
+At Saint Denis, however, I feigned to be taken ill, and in two days
+returned to Paris.
+
+Even this simple act required management.  I contrived it in the
+following manner.  I walked out on the high road leading to the capital
+for the purpose of meeting my servant at a place which had been fixed for
+the meeting before I left Paris.  I found him on horseback at his post,
+with a carriage prepared for my return.  As soon as I was out of sight he
+made the best of his way forward, went to the inn with a note from me,
+and returned with my carriage and baggage I had to lodgings at Passy.
+
+The joy of the Princess on seeing me safe again brought tears into her
+eyes; and, when I related the scene I played off before Gamin against my
+servant, she laughed most heavily.  "But surely," said she, "you have not
+really discharged the poor man?"--"Oh, no," replied I; "he acted his part
+so well before the locksmith, that I should be very sorry to lose such an
+apt scholar."
+
+"You must perform this 'buffa scena'," observed Her Highness, "to the
+Queen.  She has been very anxious to know the result; but her spirits are
+so depressed that I fear she will not come to my party this evening.
+However, if she do not, I will see her to-morrow, and you shall make her
+laugh.  It would be a charity, for she has not done so from the heart for
+many a day!"
+
+
+
+
+SECTION IX.
+
+Editor in continuation:
+
+Every one who has read at all is familiar with the immortal panegyric of
+the great Edmund Burke upon Marie Antoinette.  It is known that this
+illustrious man was not mean enough to flatter; yet his eloquent praises
+of her as a Princess, a woman, and a beauty, inspiring something beyond
+what any other woman could excite, have been called flattery by those who
+never knew her; those who did, must feel them to be, if possible, even
+below the truth.  But the admiration of Mr. Burke was set down even to a
+baser motive, and, like everything else, converted into a source of
+slander for political purposes, long before that worthy palladium of
+British liberty had even thought of interesting himself for the welfare
+of France, which his prophetic eye saw plainly was the common cause of
+all Europe.
+
+But, keenly as that great statesman looked into futurity, little did he
+think, when he visited the Queen in all her splendour at Trianon, and
+spoke so warmly of the cordial reception he had met with at Versailles
+from the Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, that he should have so soon to
+deplore their tragic fate!
+
+Could his suggestions to Her Majesty, when he was in France, have been
+put in force, there is scarcely a doubt that the Revolution might have
+been averted, or crushed.  But he did not limit his friendship to
+personal advice.  It is not generally known that the Queen carried on,
+through the medium of the Princesse de Lamballe, a very extensive
+correspondence with Mr. Burke.  He recommended wise and vast plans; and
+these, if possible, would have been adopted.  The substance of some of
+the leading ones I can recall from the journal of Her Highness and
+letters which I have myself frequently deciphered.  I shall endeavour,
+succinctly, to detail such of them as I remember.
+
+Mr. Burke recommended the suppression of all superfluous religious
+institutions, which had not public seminaries to support.  Their lands,
+he advised, should be divided, without regard to any distinction but that
+of merit, among such members of the army and other useful classes of
+society, as, after having served the specified time, should have risen,
+through their good conduct, to either civil or military preferment.  By
+calculations upon the landed interest, it appeared that every individual
+under the operation of this bounty would, in the course of twenty years,
+possess a yearly income of from five to seven hundred francs.
+
+Another of the schemes suggested by Mr. Burke was to purge the kingdom of
+all the troops which had been corrupted from their allegiance by the
+intrigues growing out of the first meeting of the Notables.  He proposed
+that they should sail at the same time, or nearly so, to be colonized in
+the different French islands and Madagascar; and, in their place, a new
+national guard created, who should be bound to the interest of the
+legitimate Government by receiving the waste crown lands to be shared
+among them, from the common soldier to its generals and Field-marshals.
+Thus would the whole mass of rebellious blood have been reformed.  To
+ensure an effectual change, Mr. Burke advised the enrolment, in rotation,
+of sixty thousand Irish troops, twenty thousand always to remain in
+France, and forty thousand in reversion for the same service.  The lynx-
+eyed statesman saw clearly, from the murders of the Marquis de Launay and
+M. Flesselles, and from the destruction of the Bastille, and of the
+ramparts of Paris, that party had not armed itself against Louis, but
+against the throne.  It was therefore necessary to produce a permanent
+revolution in the army.
+
+     [Mr. Burke was too great a statesman not to be the friend of his
+     country's interest.  He also saw that, from the destruction of the
+     monarchy in France, England had more to fear than to gain.  He well
+     knew that the French Revolution was not, like that of the Americans,
+     founded on grievances and urged in support of a great and
+     disinterested principle.  He was aware that so restless a people,
+     when they had overthrown the monarchy, would not limit the overthrow
+     to their own country.  After Mr. Burke's death, Mr. Fox was applied
+     to, and was decidedly of the same opinion.  Mr. Sheridan was
+     interrogated, and, at the request of the Princesse de Lamballe, he
+     presented, for the Queen's inspection, plans nearly equal to those
+     of the above two great statesmen; and what is most singular and
+     scarcely credible is that one and all of the opposition party in
+     England strenuously exerted themselves for the upholding of the
+     monarchy in France.  Many circumstances which came to my knowledge
+     before and after the death of Louis XVI. prove that Mr. Pitt himself
+     was averse to the republican principles being organized so near a
+     constitutional monarchy as France was to Great Britain.  Though the
+     conduct of the Duc d'Orleans was generally reprobated, I firmly
+     believe that if he had possessed sufficient courage to have usurped
+     the crown and re-established the monarchy, he would have been
+     treated with in preference to the republicans.  I am the more
+     confirmed in this opinion by a conversation between the Princesse de
+     Lamballe and Mirabeau, in which he said a republic in France would
+     never thrive.]
+
+There was another suggestion to secure troops around the throne of a more
+loyal temper.  It was planned to incorporate all the French soldiers, who
+had not voluntarily deserted the royal standard, with two-thirds of
+Swiss, German, and Low Country forces, among whom were to be divided,
+after ten years' service, certain portions of the crown lands, which were
+to be held by presenting every year a flag of acknowledgment to the King
+and Queen; with the preference of serving in the civil or military
+departments, according to the merit or capacity of the respective
+individuals.  Messieurs de Broglie, de Bouille, de Luxembourg, and
+others, were to have been commanders.  But this plan, like many others,
+was foiled in its birth, and, it is said, through the intrigues of
+Mirabeau.
+
+However, all concurred in the necessity of ridding France, upon the most
+plausible pretexts, of the fomenters of its ruin.  Now arose a fresh
+difficulty.  Transports were wanted, and in considerable numbers.
+
+A navy agent in England was applied to for the supply of these
+transports.  So great was the number required, and so peculiar the
+circumstances, that the agent declined interfering without the sanction
+of his Government.
+
+A new dilemma succeeded.  Might not the King of England place improper
+constructions on this extensive shipment of troops from the different
+ports of France for her West India possessions?  Might it not be fancied
+that it involved secret designs on the British settlements in that
+quarter?
+
+All these circumstances required that some communication should be opened
+with the Court of St. James; and the critical posture of affairs exacted
+that such communication should be less diplomatic than confidential.
+
+It will be recollected that, at the very commencement of the reign of
+Louis XVI., there were troubles in Britanny, which the severe
+governorship of the Duc d'Aiguillon augmented.  The Bretons took
+privileges with them, when they became blended with the kingdom of
+France, by the marriage of Anne of Brittany with Charles VIII., beyond
+those of any other of its provinces.  These privileges they seemed rather
+disposed to extend than relinquish, and were by no means reserved in the
+expression of their resolution.  It was considered expedient to place a
+firm, but conciliatory, Governor over them, and the Duc de Penthievre was
+appointed to this difficult trust.  The Duke was accompanied to his vice-
+royalty by his daughter-in-law, the Princesse de Lamballe, who, by her
+extremely judicious management of the female part of the province, did
+more for the restoration of order than could have been achieved by
+armies.  The remembrance of this circumstance induced the Queen to regard
+Her Highness as a fit person to send secretly to England at this very
+important crisis; and the purpose was greatly encouraged by a wish to
+remove her from a scene of such daily increasing peril.
+
+For privacy, it was deemed expedient that Her Highness should withdraw to
+Aumale, under the plea of ill-health, and thence proceed to England; and
+it was also by way of Aumale that she as secretly returned, after the
+fatal disaster of the stoppage, to discourage the impression of her ever
+having been out of France.
+
+The mission was even unknown to the French Minister at the Court of St.
+James.
+
+The Princess was ordered by Her Majesty to cultivate the acquaintance of
+the late Duchess of Gordon, who was supposed to possess more influence
+than any woman in England--in order to learn the sentiments of Mr. Pitt
+relative to the revolutionary troubles.  The Duchess, however, was too
+much of an Englishwoman, and Mr. Pitt too much interested in the ruin of
+France, to give her the least clue to the truth.
+
+In order to fathom the sentiments of the opposition party, the Princess
+cultivated the society also of the late Duchess of Devonshire, but with
+as little success.  The opposition party foresaw too much risk in
+bringing anything before the house to alarm the prejudices of the nation.
+
+The French Ambassador, too, jealous of the unexplained purpose of the
+Princess, did all he could to render her expedition fruitless.
+
+Nevertheless, though disappointed in some of her main objects with regard
+to influence and information, she became so great a favourite at the
+British Court that she obtained full permission of the King and Queen of
+England to signify to her royal mistress and friend that the specific
+request she came to make would be complied with.
+
+     [The Princess visited Bath, Windsor, Brighton, and many other parts
+     of England, and associated with all parties.  She managed her
+     conduct so judiciously that the real object of her visit was never
+     suspected.  In all these excursions I had the honour to attend her
+     confidentially.  I was the only person entrusted with papers from
+     Her Highness to Her Majesty.  I had many things to copy, of which
+     the originals went to France.  Twice during the term of Her
+     Highness's residence in England I was sent by Her Majesty with
+     papers communicating the result of the secret mission to the Queen
+     of Naples.  On the second of these two trips, being obliged to
+     travel night and day, I could only keep my eyes open by means of the
+     strongest coffee.  When I reached my destination I was immediately
+     compelled to decipher the despatches with the Queen of Naples in the
+     office of the Secretary of State.  That done, General Acton ordered
+     some one, I know not whom, to conduct me, I know not where, but it
+     was to a place where, after a sound sleep of twenty-four hours, I
+     awoke thoroughly refreshed, and without a vestige of fatigue either
+     of mind or body.  On waking, lest anything should transpire, I was
+     desired to quit Naples instantly, without seeing the British
+     Minister.  To make assurance doubly sure, General Acton sent a
+     person from his office to accompany me out of the city on horseback;
+     and, to screen me from the attack of robbers, this person went on
+     with me as far as the Roman frontier.]
+
+
+In the meantime, however, the troubles in France were so rapidly
+increasing from hour to hour, that it became impossible for the
+Government to carry any of their plans into effect.  This particular one,
+on the very eve of its accomplishment, was marred, as it was imagined,
+by the secret intervention of the friends of Mirabeau.  The Government
+became more and more infirm and wavering in its purposes; the Princess
+was left without instructions, and under such circumstances as to expose
+her to the supposition of having trifled with the good-will of Their
+Majesties of England.
+
+In this dilemma I was sent off from England to the Queen of France.
+I left Her Highness at Bath, but when I returned she had quitted Bath for
+Brighton.  I am unacquainted with the nature of all the papers she
+received, but I well remember the agony they seemed to inflict on her.
+She sent off a packet by express that very night to Windsor.
+
+The Princess immediately began the preparations for her return.  Her own
+journal is explicit on this point of her history, and therefore I shall
+leave her to speak for herself.  I must not, however, omit to mention the
+remark she made to me upon the subject of her reception in Great Britain.
+With these, let me dismiss the present chapter.
+
+"The general cordiality with which I have been received in your country,"
+said Her Highness, "has made a lasting impression upon my heart.
+In particular, never shall I forget the kindness of the Queen of England,
+the Duchess of Devonshire, and her truly virtuous mother, Lady Spencer.
+It gave me a cruel pang to be obliged to undervalue the obligations with
+which they overwhelmed me by leaving England as I did, without giving
+them an opportunity of carrying their good intentions, which, I had
+myself solicited, into effect.  But we cannot command fate.  Now that the
+King has determined to accept the Constitution (and you know my
+sentiments upon the article respecting ecclesiastics), I conceive it my
+duty to follow Their Majesties' example in submitting to the laws of the
+nation.  Be assured, 'Inglesina', it will be my ambition to bring about
+one of the happiest ages of French history.  I shall endeavour to create
+that confidence so necessary for the restoration to their native land of
+the Princes of the blood, and all the emigrants who abandoned the King,
+their families, and their country, while doubtful whether His Majesty
+would or would not concede this new charter; but now that the doubt
+exists no longer, I trust we shall all meet again, the happier for the
+privation to which we have been doomed from absence.  As the limitation
+of the monarchy removes every kind of responsibility from the monarch,
+the Queen will again taste the blissful sweets she once enjoyed during
+the reign of Louis XV.  in the domestic tranquillity of her home at
+Trianon.  Often has she wept those times in which she will again rejoice.
+Oh, how I long for their return!  I fly to greet the coming period of
+future happiness to us all!"
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT:
+
+Although I am not making myself the historian of France, yet it may not
+be amiss to mention that it was during this absence of Her Highness that
+Necker finally retired from power and from France.
+
+The return of this Minister had been very much against the consent of Her
+Majesty and the King.  They both feared what actually happened soon
+afterwards.  They foresaw that he would be swept away by the current of
+popularity from his deference to the royal authority.  It was to preserve
+the favour of the mob that he allowed them to commit the shocking murders
+of M. de Foulon (who had succeeded him on his first dismission as
+Minister of Louis XVI.) and of Berthier, his son-in-law.  The union of
+Necker with D'ORLEANS, on this occasion, added to the cold indifference
+with which Barnave in one of his speeches expressed himself concerning
+the shedding of human blood, certainly animated the factious assassins to
+methodical murder, and frustrated all the efforts of La Fayette to save
+these victims from the enraged populace, to whom both unfortunately fell
+a sacrifice.
+
+Necker, like La Fayette, when too late, felt the absurdity of relying
+upon the idolatry of the populace.  The one fancied he could command the
+Parisian 'poissardes' as easily as his own battalions; and the other
+persuaded himself that the mob, which had been hired to carry about his
+bust, would as readily promulgate his theories.
+
+But he forgot that the people in their greatest independence are only the
+puppets of demagogues; and he lost himself by not gaining over that class
+which, of all others, possesses most power over the million, I mean the
+men of the bar, who, arguing more logically than the rest of the world,
+felt that from the new Constitution the long robe was playing a losing
+game, and therefore discouraged a system which offered nothing to their
+personal ambition or private emolument.  Lawyers, like priests, are never
+over-ripe for any changes or innovations, except such as tend to their
+personal interest.  The more perplexed the, state of public and private
+affairs, the better for them.  Therefore, in revolutions, as a body, they
+remain neuter, unless it is made for their benefit to act.  Individually,
+they are a set of necessary evils; and, for the sake of the bar, the
+bench, and the gibbet, require to be humoured.  But any legislator who
+attempts to render laws clear, concise, and explanatory, and to divest
+them of the quibbles whereby these expounders--or confounders--of codes
+fatten on the credulity of States and the miseries of unfortunate
+millions, will necessarily encounter opposition, direct or indirect, in
+every measure at all likely to reduce the influence of this most
+abominable horde of human depredators.  It was Necker's error to have
+gone so directly to the point with the lawyers that they at once saw his
+scope; and thus he himself defeated his hopes of their support, the want
+of which utterly baffled all his speculations.
+
+     [The great Frederick of Prussia, on being told of the numbers of
+     lawyers there were in England, said he wished he had them in his
+     country.  "Why?"  some one enquired.  "To do the greatest benefit in
+     my power to society."--"How so?"--"Why to hang one-half as an
+     example to the other!"]
+
+When Necker undertook to re-establish the finances, and to reform
+generally the abuses in the Government, he was the most popular Minister
+(Lord Chatham, when the great Pitt, excepted) in Europe.  Yet his errors
+were innumerable, though possessing such sound knowledge and judgment,
+such a superabundance of political contrivance, diplomatic coolness, and
+mathematical calculation, the result of deep thought aided by great
+practical experience.
+
+But how futile he made all these appear when he declared the national
+bankruptcy.  Could anything be more absurd than the assumption, by the
+individual, of a personal instead of a national guarantee of part of a
+national debt?--an undertaking too hazardous and by far too ambiguous,
+even for a monarch who is not backed by his kingdom--flow doubly frantic,
+then, for a subject!  Necker imagined that the above declaration and his
+own Quixotic generosity would have opened the coffers of the great body
+of rich proprietors, and brought them forward to aid the national crisis.
+But he was mistaken.  The nation then had no interest in his financial
+system.  The effect it produced was the very reverse of what was
+expected.  Every proprietor began to fear the ambition of the Minister,
+who undertook impossibilities.  The being bound for the debts of an
+individual, and justifying bail in a court of law in commercial matters,
+affords no criterion for judging of, or regulating, the pecuniary
+difficulties of a nation.  Necker's conduct in this case was, in my
+humble opinion, as impolitic as that of a man who, after telling his
+friends that he is ruined past redemption, asks for a loan of money.
+The conclusion is, if he obtains the loan, that "the fool and his money
+are soon parted."
+
+It was during the same interval of Her Highness's stay in England, that
+the discontent ran so high between the people and the clergy.
+
+I have frequently heard the Princesse de Lamballe ascribe the King's not
+sanctioning the decrees against the clergy to the influence of his aunt,
+the Carmelite nun, Madame Louise.  During the life of her father, Louis
+XV., she nearly engrossed all the Church benefices by her intrigues.  She
+had her regular conclaves of all orders of the Church.  From the Bishop
+to the sexton, all depended on her for preferment; and, till the
+Revolution, she maintained equal power over the mind of Louis XVI. upon
+similar matters.  The Queen would often express her disapprobation; but
+the King was so scrupulous, whenever the discussion fell on the topic of
+religion, that she made it a point not to contrast her opinion with his,
+from a conviction that she was unequal to cope with him on that head,
+upon which he was generally very animated.
+
+It is perfectly certain that the French clergy, by refusing to contribute
+to the exigencies of the State, created some of the primary horrors of
+the Revolution.  They enjoyed one-third the national revenues, yet they
+were the first to withhold their assistance from the national wants.
+I have heard the Princesse de Lamballe say, "The Princesse Elizabeth and
+myself used our utmost exertion to induce some of the higher orders of
+the clergy to set the example and obtain for themselves the credit of
+offering up a part of the revenues, the whole of which we knew must be
+forfeited if they continued obstinate; but it was impossible to move
+them."
+
+The characters of some of the leading dignitaries of the time
+sufficiently explain their selfish and pernicious conduct; when churchmen
+trifle with the altar, be their motives what they may, they destroy the
+faith they possess, and give examples to the flock entrusted to their
+care, of which no foresight can measure the baleful consequences.  Who
+that is false to his God can be expected to remain faithful to his
+Sovereign?  When a man, as a Catholic Bishop, marries, and, under the
+mask of patriotism, becomes the declared tool of all work to every
+faction, and is the weathercock, shifting to any quarter according to the
+wind,--such a man can be of no real service to any party: and yet has a
+man of this kind been by turns the primum mobile of them all, even to the
+present times, and was one of those great Church fomenters of the
+troubles of which we speak, who disgraced the virtuous reign of Louis
+XVI.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION X.
+
+Amidst the perplexities of the Royal Family it was perfectly unavoidable
+that repeated proposals should have been made at various times for them
+to escape these dangers by flight.  The Queen had been frequently and
+most earnestly entreated to withdraw alone; and the King, the Princesse
+Elizabeth, the Princesse de Lamballe, the royal children, with their
+little hands uplifted, and all those attached to Marie Antoinette, after
+the horrid business at Versailles, united to supplicate her to quit
+France and shelter herself from the peril hanging over her existence.
+Often and often have I heard the Princesse de Lamballe repeat the words
+in which Her Majesty uniformly rejected the proposition.  "I have no
+wish," cried the Queen, "for myself.  My life or death must be encircled
+by the arms of my husband and my family.  With them, and with them only,
+will I live or die."
+
+It would have been impossible to have persuaded her to leave France
+without her children.  If any woman on earth could have been justified in
+so doing, it would have been Marie Antoinette.  But she was above such
+unnatural selfishness, though she had so many examples to encourage her;
+for, even amongst the members of her own family, self-preservation had
+been considered paramount to every other consideration.
+
+I have heard the Princess say that Pope Pius VI. was the only one of all
+the Sovereigns who offered the slightest condolence or assistance to
+Louis XVI. and his family.  "The Pope's letter," added she, "when shown
+to me by the Queen, drew tears from my eyes.  It really was in a style of
+such Christian tenderness and princely feeling as could only be dictated
+by a pious and illuminated head of the Christian Church.  He implored not
+only all the family of Louis XVI., but even extended his entreaties to me
+[the Princesse de Lamballe] to leave Paris, and save themselves, by
+taking refuge in his dominions, from the horrors which so cruelly
+overwhelmed them.  The King's aunts were the only ones who profited by
+the invitation.  Madame Elizabeth was to have been of the party, but
+could not be persuaded to leave the King and Queen."
+
+As the clouds grew more threatening, it is scarcely to be credited how
+many persons interested themselves for the same purpose, and what
+numberless schemes were devised to break the fetters which had been
+imposed on the Royal Family, by their jailers, the Assembly.
+
+A party, unknown to the King and Queen, was even forming under the
+direction of the Princesse Elizabeth; but as soon as Their Majesties were
+apprised of it, it was given up as dangerous to the interests of the
+Royal Family, because it thwarted the plans of the Marquis de Bouille.
+Indeed, Her Majesty could never be brought to determine on any plan for
+her own or the King's safety until their royal aunts, the Princesses
+Victoria and Adelaide, had left Paris.
+
+The first attempt to fly was made early in the year 1791, at St.  Cloud,
+where the horses had been in preparation nearly a fortnight; but the
+scheme was abandoned in consequence of having been entrusted to too many
+persons.  This the Queen acknowledged.  She had it often in her power to
+escape alone with her son, but would not consent.
+
+The second attempt was made in the spring of the same year at Paris.  The
+guards shut the gates of the Tuileries, and would not allow the King's
+carriage to pass.  Even though a large sum of money had been expended to
+form a party to overpower the mutineers, the treacherous mercenaries did
+not appear.  The expedition was, of course, obliged to be relinquished.
+
+Many of the royal household were very ill-treated, and some lives
+unfortunately lost.
+
+At last, the deplorable journey did take place.  The intention had been
+communicated by Her Majesty to the Princesse de Lamballe before she went
+abroad, and it was agreed that, whenever it was carried into effect, the
+Queen should write to Her Highness from Montmedi, where the two friends
+were once more to have been reunited.
+
+Soon after the departure of the Princess, the arrangements for the fatal
+journey to Varennes were commenced, but with blamable and fatal
+carelessness.
+
+Mirabeau was the first person who advised the King to withdraw; but he
+recommended that it should be alone, or, at most, with the Dauphin only.
+He was of opinion that the overthrow of the Constitution could not be
+achieved while the Royal Family remained in Paris.  His first idea was
+that the King should go to the sea-coast, where he would have it in his
+power instantly to escape to England, if the Assembly, through his
+(Mirabeau's), means, did not comply with the royal propositions.  Though
+many of the King's advisers were for a distinct and open rejection of the
+Constitution, it was the decided impression of Mirabeau that he ought to
+stoop to conquer, and temporize by an instantaneous acceptance, through
+which he might gain time to put himself in an attitude to make such terms
+as would at once neutralize the act and the faction by which it was
+forced upon him.  Others imagined that His Majesty was too conscientious
+to avail himself of any such subterfuge, and that, having once given his
+sanction, he would adhere to it rigidly.  This third party of the royal
+counsellors were therefore for a cautious consideration of the document,
+clause by clause, dreading the consequences of an 'ex abrupto' signature
+in binding the Sovereign, not only against his policy, but his will.
+
+In the midst of all these distracting doubts, however, the departure was
+resolved upon.  Mirabeau had many interviews with the Count Fersen upon
+the subject.  It was his great object to prevent the flight from being
+encumbered.  But the King would not be persuaded to separate himself from
+the Queen and the rest of the family, and entrusted the project to too
+many advisers.  Had he been guided by Fersen only, he would have
+succeeded.
+
+The natural consequence of a secret being in so many hands was felt in
+the result.  Those whom it was most important to keep in ignorance were
+the first on the alert.  The weakness of the Queen in insisting upon
+taking a remarkable dressing-case with her, and, to get it away
+unobserved, ordering a facsimile to be made under the pretext of
+intending it as a present to her sister at Brussels, awakened the
+suspicion of a favourite, but false female attendant, then intriguing
+with the aide-de-camp of La Fayette.  The rest is easily to be conceived.
+The Assembly were apprised of all the preparations for the departure a
+week or more before it occurred.  La Fayette, himself, it is believed,
+knew and encouraged it, that he might have the glory of stopping the
+fugitive himself; but he was overruled by the Assembly.
+
+When the secretary of the Austrian Ambassador came publicly, by
+arrangement, to ask permission of the Queen to take the model of the
+dressing-case in question, the very woman to whom I have alluded was in
+attendance at Her Majesty's toilet.  The paramour of the woman was with
+her, watching the motions of the Royal Family on the night they passed
+from their own apartments to those of the Duc de Villequier in order to
+get into the carriage; and by this paramour was La Fayette instantly
+informed of the departure.  The traitress discovered that Her Majesty was
+on the eve of setting off by seeing her diamonds packed up.  All these
+things were fully known to the Assembly, of which the Queen herself was
+afterwards apprised by the Mayor of Paris.
+
+In the suite of the Count Fersen
+
+     [Alvise de Pisani, the last venetian Ambassador to the King, who was
+     my husband's particular friend, and with whom I was myself long
+     acquainted, and have been ever since to this day, as well as with
+     all his noble family, during my many years' residence at Venice,
+     told me this circumstance while walking with him at his country-seat
+     at Stra, which was subsequently taken from him by Napoleon, and made
+     the Imperial palace of the viceroy, and is now that of the German
+     reigning Prince.]
+
+there was a young Swede who had an intrigue purposely with one of the
+Queen's women, from whom he obtained many important disclosures relative
+to the times.  The Swede mentioned this to his patron, who advised Her
+Majesty to discharge a certain number of these women, among whom was the
+one who afterwards proved her betrayer.  It was suggested to dismiss a
+number at once, that the guilty person might not suspect the exclusion to
+be levelled against her in particular.  Had the Queen allowed herself to
+be directed in this affair by Fersen, the chain of communication would
+have been broken, and the Royal Family would not have been stopped at
+Varennes, but have got clear out of France, many hours before they could
+have been perceived by the Assembly; but Her Majesty never could believe
+that she had anything to fear from the quarter against which she was
+warned.
+
+It is not generally known that a very considerable sum had been given to
+the head recruiting sergeant, Mirabeau, to enlist such of the
+constituents as could be won with gold to be ready with a majority in
+favour of the royal fugitives.  But the death of Mirabeau, previous to
+this event, leaves it doubtful how far he distributed the bribes
+conscientiously; indeed, it is rather to be questioned whether he did not
+retain the money, or much of it, in his own hands, since the strongly
+hoped for and dearly paid majority never gave proof of existence, either
+before or after the journey to Varennes.  Immense bribes were also given
+to the Mayor of Paris, which proved equally ineffective.
+
+Had Mirabeau lived till the affair of Varennes, it is not impossible that
+his genius might have given a different complexion to the result.  He had
+already treated with the Queen and the Princess for a reconciliation; and
+in the apartments of Her Highness had frequent evening, and early
+morning, audiences of the Queen.
+
+It is pretty certain, however, that the recantation of Mirabeau, from
+avowed democracy to aristocracy and royalty, through the medium of
+enriching himself by a 'salva regina', made his friends prepare for him
+that just retribution, which ended in a 'de profundis'.  At a period when
+all his vices were called to aid one virtuous action, his thread of
+vicious life was shortened, and he; no doubt, became the victim of his
+insatiable avarice.  That he was poisoned is not to be disproved; though
+it was thought necessary to keep it from the knowledge of the people.
+
+I have often heard Her Highness say, "When I reflect on the precautions
+which were taken to keep the interviews with Mirabeau profoundly secret
+that he never conversed but with the King, the Queen, and myself--his
+untimely death must be attributed to his own indiscreet enthusiasm, in
+having confidentially entrusted the success with which he flattered
+himself, from the ascendency he had gained over the Court, to some one
+who betrayed him.  His death, so very unexpectedly, and at that crisis,
+made a deep impression on the mind of the Queen.  She really believed him
+capable of redressing the monarchy, and he certainly was the only one of
+the turncoat constitutionalists in whom she placed any confidence.  Would
+to Heaven that she had had more in Barnave, and that she had listened to
+Dumourier!  These I would have trusted more, far more readily than the
+mercenary Mirabeau!"
+
+I now return, once more, to the journal of the Princess.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XI.
+
+"In the midst of the perplexing debates upon the course most advisable
+with regard to the Constitution after the unfortunate return from
+Varennes, I sent off my little English amanuensis to Paris to bring me,
+through the means of another trusty person I had placed about the Queen,
+the earliest information concerning the situation of affairs.  On her
+return she brought me a ring, which Her Majesty had graciously,
+condescended to send me, set with her own hair, which had whitened like
+that of a person of eighty, from the anguish the Varennes affair had
+wrought upon her mind; and bearing the inscription, 'Bleached by sorrow.'
+This ring was accompanied by the following letter:
+
+     "'MY DEAREST FRIEND,--
+
+     "'The King has made up his mind to the acceptance of the
+     Constitution, and it will ere long be proclaimed publicly.  A few
+     days ago I was secretly waited upon and closeted in your apartment
+     with many of our faithful friends,--in particular, Alexandre de
+     Lameth, Duport, Barnave, Montmorin, Bertrand de Moleville, et
+     cetera.  The two latter opposed the King's Council, the Ministers,
+     and the numerous other advisers of an immediate and unscrutinizing
+     acceptance.  They were a small minority, and could not prevail with
+     me to exercise my influence with His Majesty in support of their
+     opinion, when all the rest seemed so confident that a contrary
+     course must re-establish the tranquillity of the nation and our own
+     happiness, weaken the party of the Jacobins against us, and greatly
+     increase that of the nation in our favor.
+
+     "'Your absence obliged me to call Elizabeth to my aid in managing
+     the coming and going of the deputies to and from the Pavilion of
+     Flora, unperceived by the spies of our enemies.  She executed her
+     charge so adroitly, that the visitors were not seen by any of the
+     household.  Poor Elizabeth!  little did I look for such
+     circumspection in one so unacquainted with the intrigues of Court,
+     or the dangers surrounding us, which they would now fain persuade us
+     no longer exist.  God grant it may be so! and that I may once more
+     freely embrace and open my heart to the only friend I have nearest
+     to it.  But though this is my most ardent wish, yet, my dear,
+     dearest Lamballe, I leave it to yourself to act as your feelings
+     dictate.  Many about us profess to see the future as clear as the
+     sun at noon-day.  But, I confess, my vision is still dim.  I cannot
+     look into events with the security of others--who confound logic
+     with their wishes.  The King, Elizabeth, and all of us, are anxious
+     for your return.  But it would grieve us sorely for you to come back
+     to such scenes as you have already witnessed.  Judge and act from
+     your own impressions.  If we do not see you, send me the result of
+     your interview at the precipice.--[The name the Queen gave to Mr.
+     Pitt]--'Vostra cara picciolca Inglesina' will deliver you many
+     letters.  After looking over the envelopes, you will either send her
+     with them as soon as possible or forward them as addressed, as you
+     may think most advisable at the time you receive them.
+
+     "'Ever, ever, and forever,
+
+                         "'Your affectionate,
+
+                                        "'MARIE ANTOINETTE!
+
+"There was another hurried and abrupt note from Her Majesty among these
+papers, obviously written later than the first.  It lamented the cruel
+privations to which she was doomed at the Tuileries, in consequence of
+the impeded flight, and declared that what the Royal Family were forced
+to suffer, from being totally deprived of every individual of their
+former friends and attendants to condole with, excepting the equally
+oppressed and unhappy Princesse Elizabeth, was utterly insupportable.
+
+"On the receipt of these much esteemed epistles, I returned, as my duty
+directed, to the best of Queens, and most sincere of friends.  My arrival
+at Paris, though so much wished for, was totally unexpected.
+
+"At our first meeting, the Queen was so agitated that she was utterly at
+a loss to explain the satisfaction she felt in beholding me once more
+near her royal person.  Seeing the ring on my finger, which she had done
+me the honour of sending me, she pointed to her hair, once so beautiful,
+but now, like that of an old woman, not only gray, but deprived of all
+its softness, quite stiff and dried up.
+
+"Madame Elizabeth, the King, and the rest of our little circle, lavished
+on me the most endearing caresses.  The dear Dauphin said to me, 'You
+will not go away again, I hope, Princess?  Oh, mamma has cried so since
+you left us!'
+
+"I had wept enough before, but this dear little angel brought tears into
+the eyes of us all."
+
+"When I mentioned to Her Majesty the affectionate sympathy expressed by
+the King and Queen of England in her sufferings, and their regret at the
+state of public affairs in France, 'It is most noble and praiseworthy in
+them to feel thus,' exclaimed Marie Antoinette; 'and the more so
+considering the illiberal part imputed to us against those Sovereigns in
+the rebellion of their ultramarine subjects, to which, Heaven knows,
+I never gave my approbation.  Had I done so, how poignant would be my
+remorse at the retribution of our own sufferings, and the pity of those I
+had so injured!  No.  I was, perhaps, the only silent individual amongst
+millions of infatuated enthusiasts at General La Fayette's return to
+Paris, nor did I sanction any of the fetes given to Dr. Franklin, or the
+American Ambassadors at the time.  I could not conceive it prudent for
+the Queen of an absolute monarchy to countenance any of their newfangled
+philosophical experiments with my presence.  Now, I feel the reward in my
+own conscience.  I exult in my freedom from a self-reproach, which would
+have been altogether insupportable under the kindness of which you
+speak.'
+
+"As soon as I was settled in my apartment, which was on the same floor
+with that of the Queen, she condescended to relate to me every particular
+of her unfortunate journey.  I saw the pain it gave her to retrace the
+scenes, and begged her to desist till time should have, in some degree,
+assuaged the poignancy of her feelings.  'That,' cried she, embracing me,
+I can never be!  Never, never will that horrid circumstance of my life
+lose its vividness in my recollection.  What agony, to have seen those
+faithful servants tied before us on the carriage, like common criminals!
+All, all may be attributed to the King's goodness of heart, which
+produces want of courage, nay, even timidity, in the most trying scenes.
+As poor King Charles the First, when he was betrayed in the Isle of
+Wight, would have saved himself, and perhaps thousands, had he permitted
+the sacrifice of one traitor, so might Louis XVI. have averted calamities
+so fearful that I dare not name, though I distinctly foresee them, had he
+exerted his authority where he only called up his compassion.'
+
+"'For Heaven's sake,' replied I, 'do not torment yourself by these cruel
+recollections!'
+
+"'These are gone by,' continued Her Majesty, and greater still than even
+these.  How can I describe my grief at what I endured in the Assembly,
+from the studied humiliation to which the King and the royal authority
+were there reduced in the face of the national representatives! from
+seeing the King on his return choked with anguish at the mortifications
+to which I was doomed to behold the majesty of a French Sovereign
+humbled!  These events bespeak clouds, which, like the horrid waterspout
+at sea, nothing can dispel but cannon!  The dignity of the Crown, the
+sovereignty itself, is threatened; and this I shall write this very night
+to the Emperor.  I see no hope of internal tranquillity without the
+powerful aid of foreign force.
+
+     [The only difference of any moment which ever existed between the
+     Queen and the Princesse de Lamballe as to their sentiments on the
+     Revolution was on this subject.  Her Highness wished Marie
+     Antoinette to rely on the many persons who had offered and promised
+     to serve the cause of the monarchy with their internal resources,
+     and not depend on the Princes and foreign armies.  This salutary
+     advice she never could enforce on the Queen's mind, though she had
+     to that effect been importuned by upwards of two hundred persona,
+     all zealous to show their penitence for former errors by their
+     present devotedness.
+
+     "Whenever," observed Her Highness, "we came to that point, the Queen
+     (upon seriously reflecting that these persons had been active
+     instruments in promoting the first changes in the monarchy, for
+     which she never forgave them from her heart) would hesitate and
+     doubt; and never could I bring Her Majesty definitely to believe the
+     profferers to be sincere.  Hence, they were trifled with, till one
+     by one she either lost them, or saw them sacrificed to an
+     attachment, which her own distrust and indecision rendered
+     fruitless."]
+
+The King has allowed himself to be too much led to attempt to recover his
+power through any sort of mediation.  Still, the very idea of owing our
+liberty to any foreign army distracts me for the consequences.'
+
+"My reinstatement in my apartments at the Pavilion of Flora seemed not
+only to give universal satisfaction to every individual of the Royal
+Family, but it was hailed with much enthusiasm by many deputies of the
+constituent Assembly.  I was honoured with the respective visits of all
+who were in any degree well disposed to the royal cause.
+
+"One day, when Barnave and others were present with the Queen, 'Now,'
+exclaimed one of the deputies, 'now that this good Princess is returned
+to her adopted country, the active zeal of Her Highness, coupled with
+Your Majesty's powerful influence over the mind of the King for the
+welfare of his subjects, will give fresh vigour to the full execution of
+the Constitution.'
+
+"My visitors were earnest in their invitations for me to go to the
+Assembly to hear an interesting discussion, which was to be brought
+forward upon the King's spontaneous acceptance of the Constitution.
+
+"I went; and amidst the plaudits for the good King's condescension, how
+was my heart lacerated to hear Robespierre denounce three of the most
+distinguished of the members, who had requested my attendance, as
+traitors to their country!
+
+"This was the first and only Assembly discussion I ever attended;
+and how dearly did I pay for my curiosity!  I was accompanied by my 'cara
+Inglesina', who, always on the alert, exclaimed, 'Let me entreat Your
+Highness not to remain any longer in this place.  You are too deeply
+moved to dissemble.'
+
+"I took her judicious advice, and the moment I could leave the Assembly
+unperceived, I hastened back to the Queen to beg her, for God's sake,
+to be upon her guard; for, from what I had just heard at the Assembly,
+I feared the Jacobins had discovered her plans with Barnave, De Lameth,
+Duport, and others of the royal party.  Her countenance, for some
+minutes, seemed to be the only sensitive part of her.  It was perpetually
+shifting from a high florid colour to the paleness of death.  When her
+first emotions gave way to nature, she threw herself into my arms, and,
+for some time, her feelings were so overcome by the dangers which
+threatened these worthy men, that she could only in the bitterness of her
+anguish exclaim, 'Oh! this is all on my account!'  And I think she was
+almost as much alarmed for the safety of these faithful men, as she had
+been for that of the King on the 17th of July, when the Jacobins in the
+Champ de Mars called out to have the King brought to trial--a day of
+which the horrors were never effaced from her memory!
+
+"The King and Princesse Elizabeth fortunately came in at the moment; but
+even our united efforts were unavailable.  The grief of Her Majesty at
+feeling herself the cause of the misfortunes of these faithful adherents,
+now devoted victims of their earnestness in foiling the machinations
+against the liberty and life of the King and herself, made her nearly
+frantic.  She too well knew that to be accused was to incur instant
+death.  That she retained her senses under the convulsion of her feelings
+can only be ascribed to that wonderful strength of mind, which triumphed
+over every bodily weakness, and still sustains her under every emergency.
+
+"The King and the Princesse Elizabeth, by whom Barnave had been much
+esteemed ever since the journey from Varennes, were both inconsolable.
+I really believe the Queen entirely owed her instantaneous recovery from
+that deadly lethargic state, in which she had been thrown by her grief
+for the destined sacrifice, to the exuberant goodness of the King's
+heart, who instantly resolved to compromise his own existence, to save
+those who had forfeited theirs for him and his family.
+
+"Seeing the emotion of the Queen, 'I will go myself to the Assembly,'
+said Louis XVI., 'and declare their innocence.'
+
+"The Queen sprang forward, as if on the wings of an angel, and grasping
+the King in her arms, cried, 'Will you hasten their deaths by confirming
+the impression of your keeping up an understanding with them?  Gracious
+Heaven!  Oh, that I could recall the acts of attachment they have shown
+us, since to these they are now falling victims!  I would save them,'
+continued Her Majesty, 'with my own blood; but, Sire, it is useless.  We
+should only expose ourselves to the vindictive spirit of the Jacobins
+without aiding the cause of our devoted friends.'
+
+"'Who,' asked she, I was the guilty wretch that accused our unfortunate
+Barnave?'
+
+"'Robespierre.'
+
+"'Robespierre!' echoed Her Majesty.  'Oh, God!  then he is numbered with
+the dead!  This fellow is too fond of blood to be tempted with money.
+But you, Sire, must not interfere!'
+
+"Notwithstanding these doubts, however, I undertook, at the King's and
+Queen's most earnest desire, to get some one to feel the pulse of
+Robespierre, for the salvation of these our only palladium to the
+constitutional monarchy.  To the first application, though made through
+the medium of one of his earliest college intimates, Carrier, the wretch
+was utterly deaf and insensible.  Of this failure I hastened to apprise
+Her Majesty.  'Was any, sum,' asked she, 'named as a compensation for
+suspending this trial?'--'None,' replied I.  'I had no commands to that
+effect.'--'Then let the attempt be renewed, and back it with the argument
+of a cheque for a hundred thousand livres on M. Laborde.  He has saved my
+life and the King's, and, as far as is in my power, I am determined to
+save his.  Barnave has exposed his life more than any of our unfortunate
+friends, and if we can but succeed in saving him, he will speedily be
+enabled to save his colleagues.  Should the sum I name be insufficient,
+my jewels shall be disposed of to make up a larger one.  Fly to your
+agent, dear Princess!  Lose not a moment to intercede in behalf of these
+our only true friends!'
+
+"I did so, and was fortunate enough to gain over to my personal
+entreaties one who had the courage to propose the business; and a
+hundred and fifty thousand livres procured them a suspension of
+accusation.  All, however, are still watched with such severity of
+scrutiny that I tremble, even now, for the result.
+
+     [And with reason; for all, eventually, were sacrificed upon the
+     scaffold.  Carrier was the factotum in all the cool, deliberate,
+     sanguinary operations of Robespierre; when he saw the cheque, he
+     said to the Princesse de Lamballe: "Madame, though your personal
+     charms and mental virtues had completely influenced all the
+     authority I could exercise in favour of your protege, without this
+     interesting argument I should not have had courage to have renewed
+     the business with the principal agent of life and death."]
+
+"It was in the midst of such apprehensions, which struck terror into the
+hearts of the King and Queen, that the Tuileries resounded with cries of
+multitudes hired to renew those shouts of 'Vive le roi! vive la famille
+royale!' which were once spontaneous.
+
+"In one of the moments of our deepest affliction, multitudes were
+thronging the gardens and enjoying the celebration of the acceptance of
+the Constitution.  What a contrast to the feelings of the unhappy inmates
+of the palace!  We may well say, that many an aching heart rides in a
+carriage, while the pedestrian is happy!
+
+"The fetes on this occasion were very brilliant.  The King, the Queen,
+and the Royal Family were invited to take part in this first national
+festival.  They did so, by appearing in their carriage through the
+streets of Paris, and the Champs Elysees, escorted only by the Parisian
+guard, there being no other at the time.  The mob was so great that the
+royal carriage could only keep pace with the foot-passengers.
+
+"Their Majesties were in general well received.  The only exceptions were
+a few of the Jacobin members of the Assembly, who, even on this occasion,
+sought every means to afflict the hearts, and shock the ears, of Their
+Majesties, by causing republican principles to be vociferated at the very
+doors of their carriage.
+
+"The good sense of the King and Queen prevented them from taking any
+notice of these insults while in public; but no sooner had they returned
+to the castle, than the Queen gave way to her grief at the premeditated
+humiliation she was continually witnessing to the majesty of the
+constitutional monarchy,--an insult less to the King himself than to the
+nation, which had acknowledged him their Sovereign.
+
+"When the royal party entered the apartment, they found M. de Montmorin
+with me, who had come to talk over these matters, secure that at such a
+moment we should not be surprised.
+
+"On hearing the Queen's observation, M. de Montmorin made no secret of
+the necessity there was of Their Majesties dissembling their feelings;
+the avowal of which, he said, would only tend to forward the triumph of
+Jacobinism, 'which,' added he, 'I am sorry to see predominates in the
+Assembly, and keeps in subordination all the public and private clubs.'
+
+"'What!' exclaimed the Princesse Elizabeth, can that be possible, after
+the King has accepted the Constitution?'
+
+"'Yes,' said the Queen; these people, my dear Elizabeth, wish for a
+Constitution which sanctions the overthrow of him by whom it has been
+granted.'
+
+"'In this,' observed M. de Montmorin, 'as on some other points, I
+perfectly agree with Your Majesty and the King, notwithstanding I have
+been opposed by the whole Council and many other honest constituent
+members, as well as the Cabinet of Vienna.  And it is still, as it has
+ever been, my firm opinion, that the King ought, previous to the
+acceptance of the Constitution, to have been allowed, for the security of
+its future organization, to have examined it maturely; which, not having
+been the case, I foresee the dangerous situation in which His Majesty
+stands, and I foresee, too, the non-promulgation of this charter.
+Malouet, who is an honest man, is of my opinion.  Duport, De Lameth,
+Barnave, and even La Fayette are intimidated at the prevailing spirit of
+the Jacobins.  They were all with the best intentions for Your Majesty's
+present safety, for the acceptance in toto, but without reflecting on the
+consequences which must follow should the nation be deceived.  But I, who
+am, and ever shall be, attached to royalty, regret the step, though I am
+clear in my impression as to the only course which ought to succeed it.
+The throne can now only be made secure by the most unequivocal frankness
+of proceeding on the part of the Crown.  It is not enough to have
+conceded, it is necessary also to show that the concession has some more
+solid origin than mere expediency.  It should be made with a good grace.
+Every motive of prudence, as well as of necessity, requires that the
+monarch himself, and all those most interested for his safety, should,
+neither in looks, manners, or conversation, seem as if they felt a regret
+for what has been lost, but rather appear satisfied with what has been
+bestowed.'
+
+"'In that case,' said the Queen, 'we should lose all the support of the
+royalists.'
+
+"'Every royalist, Madame,' replied he, 'who, at this critical crisis,
+does not avow the sentiments of a constitutionalist, is a nail in the
+King's untimely coffin.'
+
+"'Gracious God !' cried the Queen; 'that would destroy the only hope
+which still flatters our drooping existence.  Symptoms of moderation, or
+any conciliatory measures we might be inclined to show, of our free will,
+to the constitutionalists, would be immediately considered as a desertion
+of our supporters, and treachery to ourselves, by the royalists.'
+
+"'It would be placed entirely out of my power, Madame,' replied M. de
+Montmorin, 'to make my attachment to the persons of Your Majesties
+available for the maintenance of your rights, did I permit the factious,
+overbearing party which prevails to see into my real zeal for the
+restoration of the royal authority, so necessary for their own future
+honour, security, and happiness.  Could they see this, I should be
+accused as a national traitor, or even worse, and sent out of the world
+by a sudden death of ignominy, merely to glut their hatred of monarchy;
+and it is therefore I dissemble.'
+
+"'I perfectly agree with you,' answered the Queen.  That cruel moment
+when I witnessed the humiliating state to which royalty had been reduced
+by the constituents, when they placed the President of their Assembly
+upon a level with the King; gave a plebeian, exercising his functions pro
+tempore, prerogatives in the face of the nation to trample down
+hereditary monarchy and legislative authority--that cruel moment
+discovered the fatal truth.  In the anguish of my heart, I told His
+Majesty that he had outlived his kingly authority: Here she burst into
+tears, hiding her face in her handkerchief.
+
+"With the mildness of a saint, the angelic Princesse Elizabeth exclaimed,
+turning to the King, 'Say something to the Queen, to calm her anguish!'
+
+"'It will be of no avail,' said the King; 'her grief adds to my
+affliction.  I have been the innocent cause of her participating in this
+total ruin, and as it is only her fortitude which has hitherto supported
+me, with the same philosophical and religious resignation we must await
+what fate destines!'
+
+"'Yes,' observed M. de Montmorin; 'but Providence has also given us the
+rational faculty of opposing imminent danger, and by activity and
+exertion obviating its consequences.'
+
+"'In what manner, sir?' cried the Queen; 'tell me how this is to be
+effected, and, with the King's sanction, I am ready to do anything to
+avert the storm, which so loudly threatens the august head of the French
+nation.'
+
+"'Vienna, Madame,' replied he; 'Vienna!  Your Majesty's presence at
+Vienna would do more for the King's safety, and the nation's future
+tranquillity, than the most powerful army.'
+
+"'We have long since suggested,' said the Princesse Elizabeth, 'that Her
+Majesty should fly from France and take refuge----'
+
+"'Pardon me, Princess,' interrupted M. de Montmorin, 'it is not for
+refuge solely I would have Her Majesty go thither.  It is to give
+efficacy to the love she bears the King and his family, in being there
+the powerful advocate to check the fallacious march of a foreign army to
+invade us for the subjection of the French nation.  All these external
+attempts will prove abortive, and only tend to exasperate the French to
+crime and madness.  Here I coincide with my coadjutors, Barnave, Duport,
+De Lameth, etc.  The principle on which the re-establishment of the order
+and tranquillity of France depends, can be effected only by the non-
+interference of foreign powers.  Let them leave the rational resources of
+our own internal force to re-establish our real interests, which every
+honest Frenchman will strive to secure, if not thwarted by the threats
+and menaces of those who have no right to interfere.  Besides, Madame,
+they are too far from us to afford immediate relief from the present
+dangers internally surrounding us.  These are the points of fearful
+import.  It is not the threats and menaces of a foreign army which can
+subdue a nation's internal factions.  These only rouse them to prolong
+disorders.  National commotions can be quelled only by national spirit,
+whose fury, once exhausted on those who have aroused it, leave it free to
+look within, and work a reform upon itself.'
+
+"M. de Montmorin, after many other prudent exhortations and remarks, and
+some advice with regard to the King and Queen's household, took his.
+leave.  He was no sooner gone than it was decided by the King that Marie
+Antoinette, accompanied by myself and some other ladies, and the
+gentlemen of the bedchamber, couriers, etc., should set out forthwith for
+Vienna.
+
+     [The Princease de Lamballe sent me directions that very evening,
+     some time after midnight, to be at our place of rendezvous early in
+     the morning.  I was overjoyed at the style of the note.  It was the
+     least mysterious I had ever received from Her Highness.  I inferred
+     that some fortunate event had occurred, with which, knowing how
+     deeply I was interested in the fate of her on whom my own so much
+     depended, she was, eager to make me acquainted.
+
+     But what was my surprise, on entering the church fixed on for the
+     meeting, to see the Queen's unknown confessor beckoning me to come
+     to him.  I approached.  He bade me wait till after Mass, when he had
+     something to communicate from the Princess.
+
+     This confessor officiated in the place of the one whom Mirabeau had
+     seduced to take the constitutional oath.  The Queen and Princess
+     confessed to him in the private apartment of Her Highness on the
+     ground floor; though it was never known where, or to whom they
+     confessed, after the treachery of the royal confessor.  This
+     faithful and worthy successor was only known as "the known."  I
+     never heard who he was, or what was his name.
+
+     The Mass being over, I followed him into the sacristy.  He told me
+     that the Princess, by Her Majesty's command, wished me to set off
+     immediately for Strasburg, and there await the arrival of Her
+     Highness, to be in readiness to follow her and Her Majesty for the
+     copying of the cipher, as they were going to Vienna.
+
+     When everything, however, had been settled for their departure,
+     which it was agreed was to take place from the house of Count
+     Fersen, the resolution was suddenly changed; but I was desired to
+     hold myself in readiness for another journey.]
+
+"To say why this purpose was abandoned is unnecessary.  The same
+fatality, which renders every project unattainable, threw insuperable
+impediments, in the way of this."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION XII.
+
+"The news of the death of the Emperor Leopold, in the midst of the other
+distresses of Her Majesty, afflicted her very deeply; the more so because
+she had every reason to think he fell a victim to the active part he took
+in her favour.  Externally, this monarch certainly demonstrated no very
+great inclination to become a member of the coalition of Pilnitz.  He
+judged, very justly, that his brother Joseph had not only defeated his
+own purposes by too openly and violently asserting the cause of their
+unfortunate sister, but had destroyed himself, and, therefore, selected
+what he deemed the safer and surer course of secret support.  But all his
+caution proved abortive.  The Assembly knew his manoeuvres as well as he
+himself did.  He died an untimely death; and the Queen was assured, from
+undoubted authority, that both Joseph and Leopold were poisoned in their
+medicines.
+
+"During my short absence in England, the King's household had undergone a
+complete change.  When the emigration first commenced, a revolution in
+the officers of the Court took place, but it was of a nature different
+from this last; and, by destroying itself, left the field open to those
+who now made the palace so intolerable.  The first change to which I
+refer arose as follows:
+
+"The greater part of the high offices being vacated by the secession of
+the most distinguished nobility, many places fell to persons who had all
+their lives occupied very subordinate situations.  These, to retain their
+offices, were indiscreet enough publicly to declare their dissent from
+all the measures of the Assembly; an absurdity, which, at the
+commencement, was encouraged by the Court, till the extreme danger of
+encouraging it was discovered too late; and when once the error had been
+tolerated, and rewarded, it was found impossible to check it, and stop
+these fatal tongues.  The Queen, who disliked the character of
+capriciousness, for a long time allowed the injury to go on, by
+continuing about her those who inflicted it.  The error, which arose from
+delicacy, was imputed to a very different and less honourable feeling,
+till the clamour became so great, that she was obliged to yield to it,
+and dismiss those who had acted with so much indiscretion.
+
+"The King and Queen did not dare now to express themselves on the subject
+of the substitutes who were to succeed.  Consequently they became
+surrounded by persons placed by the Assembly as spies.  The most
+conspicuous situations were filled by the meanest persons--not, as in the
+former case, by such as had risen, though by accident, still regularly to
+their places--but by myrmidons of the prevailing power, to whom Their
+Majesties were compelled to submit, because their rulers willed it.  All
+orders of nobility were abolished.  All the Court ladies, not attached to
+the King and Queen personally, abandoned the Court.  No one would be seen
+at the Queen's card-parties, once so crowded, and so much sought after.
+We were entirely reduced to the family circle.  The King, when weary of
+playing with the Princesse Elizabeth and the Queen, would retire to his
+apartments without uttering a word, not from sullenness, but overcome by
+silent grief.
+
+"The Queen was occupied continually by the extensive correspondence she
+had to carry on with the foreign Sovereigns, the Princes, and the
+different parties.  Her Majesty once gave me nearly thirty letters she
+had written in the course of two days, which were forwarded by my cara
+Inglesina--cara indeed!  for she was of the greatest service.
+
+"Her Majesty slept very little.  But her courage never slackened; and
+neither her health, nor her general amiableness, was in the least
+affected.  Though few persons could be more sensible than herself to
+poignant mortification at seeing her former splendour hourly decrease,
+yet she never once complained.  She was, in this respect, a real stoic.
+
+"The palace was now become, what it still remains, like a police office.
+It was filled with spies and runners.  Every member of the Assembly, by
+some means or other, had his respective emissary.  All the antechambers
+were peopled by inveterate Jacobins, by those whose greatest pleasure was
+to insult the ears and minds of all whom they considered above themselves
+in birth, or rank, or virtue.  So completely were the decencies of life
+abolished, that common respect was withheld even from the Royal Family.
+
+"I was determined to persevere in my usual line of conduct, of which the
+King and Queen very much approved.  Without setting up for a person of
+importance, I saw all who wished for public or private audiences of Their
+Majesties.  I carried on no intrigues, and only discharged the humble
+duties of my situation to the best of my ability for the general good,
+and to secure, as far as possible, the comfort of Their Majesties, who
+really were to be pitied, utterly friendless and forsaken as they were.
+
+"M. Laporte, the head of the King's private police, came to me one day in
+great consternation.  He had discovered that schemes were on foot to
+poison all the Royal Family, and that, in a private committee of the
+Assembly, considerable pensions had been offered for the perpetration of
+the crime.  Its facility was increased, as far as regarded the Queen, by
+the habit to which Her Majesty had accustomed herself of always keeping
+powdered sugar at hand, which, without referring to her attendants,
+she would herself mix with water and drink as a beverage whenever she
+was thirsty.
+
+"I entreated M. Laporte not to disclose the conspiracy to the Queen till
+I had myself had an opportunity of apprising her of his praiseworthy
+zeal.  He agreed, on condition that precautions should be immediately
+adopted with respect to the persons who attended the kitchen.  This,
+I assured him, should be done on the instant.
+
+"At the period I mention, all sorts of etiquette had been abolished.
+The custom which prevented my appearing before the Queen, except at
+stated hours, had long since been discontinued; and, as all the other
+individuals who came before or after the hours of service were eyed with
+distrust, and I remained the only one whose access to Their Majesties was
+free and unsuspected, though it was very early when M. Laporte called,
+I thought it my duty to hasten immediately to my royal mistress.
+
+"I found her in bed.  'Has Your Majesty breakfasted?' said I.
+
+"'No,' replied she; 'will you breakfast with me?'
+
+"'Most certainly,' said I, 'if Your Majesty will insure me against being
+poisoned.'
+
+"At the word poison Her Majesty started up and looked at me very
+earnestly, and with a considerable degree of alarm.
+
+"'I am only joking,' continued I; 'I will breakfast with Your Majesty if
+you will give me tea.'
+
+"Tea was presently brought.  'In this,' said I, 'there is no danger.'
+
+"'What do you mean?' asked Her Majesty.
+
+"'I am ordered,' replied I, taking up a lump of sugar, 'not to drink
+chocolate, or coffee, or anything with powdered sugar.  These are times
+when caution alone can prevent our being sent out of the world with all
+our sins upon our heads.'
+
+"'I am very glad to hear you say so; for you have reason to be
+particular, after what you once so cruelly suffered from poison.  But
+what has brought that again into your mind just now?'
+
+"'Well, then, since Your Majesty approves of my circumspection, allow me
+to say I think it advisable that we should, at a moment like this
+especially, abstain from all sorts of food by which our existence may be
+endangered.  For my own part, I mean to give up all made dishes, and
+confine myself to the simplest diet.'
+
+"'Come, come, Princess,' interrupted Her Majesty; 'there is more in this
+than you wish me to understand.  Fear not.  I am prepared for anything
+that may be perpetrated against my own life, but let me preserve from
+peril my King, my husband, and my children!'
+
+"My feelings prevented me from continuing to dissemble.  I candidly
+repeated all I had heard from M. Laporte.
+
+"Her Majesty instantly rang for one of her confidential women.  'Go to
+the King,' said Her Majesty to the attendant, 'and if you find him alone,
+beg him to come to me at once; but, if there are any of the guards or
+other persons within hearing, merely say that the Princesse de Lamballe
+is with me and is desirous of the loan of a newspaper.'
+
+"The King's guard, and indeed most of those about him, were no better
+than spies, and this caution in the Queen was necessary to prevent any
+jealousy from being excited by the sudden message.
+
+"When the messenger left us by ourselves, I observed to Her Majesty that
+it would be imprudent to give the least publicity to the circumstance,
+for were it really mere suspicion in the head of the police, its
+disclosure might only put this scheme into some miscreant's head, and
+tempt him to realize it.  The Queen said I was perfectly right, and it
+should be kept secret.
+
+"Our ambassadress was fortunate enough to reach the King's apartment
+unobserved, and to find him unattended, so he received the message
+forthwith.  On leaving the apartment, however, she was noticed and
+watched.  She immediately went out of the Tuileries as if sent to make
+purchases, and some time afterwards returned with some trifling articles
+in her hand.
+
+     [This incident will give the reader an idea of the cruel situation
+     in which the first Sovereigns of Europe then stood; and how much
+     they appreciated the few subjects who devoted themselves to thwart
+     and mitigate the tyranny practised by the Assembly over these
+     illustrious victims.  I can speak from my own experience on these
+     matters.  From the time I last accompanied the Princesse de Lamballe
+     to Paris till I left it in 1792, what between milliners,
+     dressmakers, flower girls, fancy toy sellers, perfumers, hawkers of
+     jewellery, purse and gaiter makers, etc., I had myself assumed
+     twenty different characters, besides that of a drummer boy,
+     sometimes blackening my face to enter the palace unnoticed, and
+     often holding conversations analogous to the sentiments of the
+     wretches who were piercing my heart with the remarks circumstances
+     compelled me to encourage.  Indeed, I can safely say I was known,
+     in some shape or other, to almost everybody, but to no one in my
+     real character, except the Princess by whom I was so graciously
+     employed.]
+
+"The moment the King appeared, 'Sire,' exclaimed Her Majesty, 'the
+Assembly, tired of endeavouring to wear us to death by slow torment,
+have devised an expedient to relieve their own anxiety and prevent us
+from putting them to further inconvenience.'
+
+"'What do you mean?' said the King.  I repeated my conversation with M.
+Laporte.  'Bah! bah!' resumed His Majesty, 'They never will attempt it.
+They have fixed on other methods of getting rid of us.  They have not
+policy enough to allow our deaths to be ascribed to accident.  They are
+too much initiated in great crimes already.'
+
+"'But,' asked the Queen, 'do you not think it highly necessary to make
+use of every precaution, when we are morally sure of the probability of
+such a plot?'
+
+"'Most certainly! otherwise we should be, in the eyes of God, almost
+guilty of suicide.  But how prevent it? surrounded as we are by persons
+who, being seduced to believe that we are plotting against them, feel
+justified in the commission of any crime under the false idea of self-
+defence!'
+
+"'We may prevent it,' replied Her Majesty, 'by abstaining from everything
+in our diet wherein poison can be introduced; and that we can manage
+without making any stir by the least change either in the kitchen
+arrangements or in our own, except, indeed, this one.  Luckily, as we are
+restricted in our attendants, we have a fair excuse for dumb waiters,
+whereby it will be perfectly easy to choose or discard without exciting
+suspicion.'
+
+"This, consequently, was the course agreed upon; and every possible
+means, direct and indirect, was put into action to secure the future
+safety of the Royal Family and prevent the accomplishment of the threat
+of poison."
+
+     [On my seeing the Princess next morning, Her Highness condescended
+     to inform me of the danger to which herself and the Royal Family
+     were exposed.  She requested I would send my man servant to the
+     persons who served me, to fill a moderate-sized hamper with wine,
+     salt, chocolate, biscuits, and liquors, and take it to her
+     apartment, at the Pavilion of Flora, to be used as occasion
+     required.  All the fresh bread and butter which was necessary I got
+     made for nearly a fortnight by persons whom I knew at a distance
+     from the palace, whither I always conveyed it myself.]
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+And scarcely a woman; for your answers are very short
+Can make a Duchess a beggar, but cannot make a beggar a Duchess
+Canvassing for a majority to set up D'Orleans
+Clergy enjoyed one-third the national revenues
+Declaring the Duke of Orleans the constitutional King
+Foolishly occupying themselves with petty matters
+Many an aching heart rides in a carriage
+Over-caution may produce evils almost equal to carelessness
+Panegyric of the great Edmund Burke upon Marie Antoinette
+People in independence are only the puppets of demagogues
+Revolution not as the Americans, founded on grievances
+Suppression of all superfluous religious institutions
+The King remained as if paralysed and stupefied
+These expounders--or confounders--of codes
+To be accused was to incur instant death
+Who confound logic with their wishes
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XV., and XVI., v6
+by Madame du Hausset, and an unknown English girl and Princess Lamballe
+