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+The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v2
+#2 in our series by Madam Campan
+#48 in our series Historic Court Memoirs
+
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+Title: The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v2
+
+Author: Madame Campan
+
+Official Release Date: March, 2003  [Etext #3885]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 07/29/01]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, by Campan, v2
+*********This file should be named cm48b10.txt or cm48b10.zip*********
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+
+MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, QUEEN OF FRANCE
+
+Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan,
+First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+I was fifteen years of age when I was appointed reader to Mesdames.
+I will begin by describing the Court at that period.
+
+Maria Leczinska was just dead; the death of the Dauphin had preceded hers
+by three years; the Jesuits were suppressed, and piety was to be found at
+Court only in the apartments of Mesdames.  The Duc de Choiseuil ruled.
+
+Etiquette still existed at Court with all the forms it had acquired under
+Louis XIV.; dignity alone was wanting.  As to gaiety, there was none.
+Versailles was not the place at which to seek for assemblies where French
+spirit and grace were displayed.  The focus of wit and intelligence was
+Paris.
+
+The King thought of nothing but the pleasures of the chase: it might have
+been imagined that the courtiers indulged themselves in making epigrams
+by hearing them say seriously, on those days when the King did not hunt,
+"The King does nothing to-day."--[In sporting usance (see SOULAIRE, p.
+316).]
+
+The arrangement beforehand of his movements was also a matter of great
+importance with Louis XV.  On the first day of the year he noted down in
+his almanac the days of departure for Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Choisy,
+etc.  The weightiest matters, the most serious events, never deranged
+this distribution of his time.
+
+Since the death of the Marquise de Pompadour, the King had no titled
+mistress; he contented himself with his seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs.
+It is well known that the monarch found the separation of Louis de
+Bourbon from the King of France the most animating feature of his royal
+existence.  "They would have it so; they thought it for the best," was
+his way of expressing himself when the measures of his ministers were
+unsuccessful.  The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points
+of his private expenses himself; he one day sold to a head clerk in the
+War Department a house in which one of his mistresses had lodged; the
+contract ran in the name of Louis de Bourbon, and the purchaser himself
+took in a bag the price of the house in gold to the King in his private
+closet.
+
+     [Until recently little was known about the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and it
+     was believed that a great number of young women had been maintained
+     there at enormous expense.  The investigations of M. J. A.  Le Roi,
+     given in his interesting work, "Curiosites Historiques sur Louis
+     XIII., Louis XIV., Louis XV.," etc., Paris, Plon, 1864, have thrown
+     fresh light upon the matter.  The result he arrives at (see page 229
+     of his work) is that the house in question (No. 4 Rue St. Mederic,
+     on the site of the Pare-aux-Cerfs, or breeding-place for deer, of
+     Louis XIII) was very small, and could have held only one girl, the
+     woman in charge of her, and a servant.  Most of the girls left it
+     only when about to be confined, and it sometimes stood vacant for
+     five or six months.  It may have been rented before the date of
+     purchase, and other houses seem sometimes to have been used also;
+     but in any case, it is evident that both the number of girls and the
+     expense incurred have been absurdly exaggerated.  The system
+     flourished under Madame de Pompadour, but ceased as soon as Madame
+     du Barry obtained full power over the King, and the house was then
+     sold to M. J. B. Sevin for 16,000 livres, on 27th May, 1771, Louis
+     not acting under the name of Louis de Bourbon, but as King,--"Vente
+     par le Roi, notre Sire."  In 1755 he had also been declared its
+     purchaser in a similar manner.  Thus, Madame Campan is in error in
+     saying that the King made the contract as Louis de Bourbon.]--[And
+     it also possible that Madam Campan was correct and that the house
+     she refers to as sold for a "bag of gold" was another of the several
+     of the seraglio establishments of Louis XV.  D.W.]
+
+Louis XV. saw very little of his family.  He came every morning by a
+private staircase into the apartment of Madame Adelaide.
+
+     [Louis XV. seemed to feel for Madame Adelaide the tenderness he had
+     had for the Duchesse de Bourgogne, his mother, who perished so
+     suddenly, under the eyes and almost in the arms of Louis XIV.  The
+     birth of Madame Adelaide, 23d March, 1732, was followed by that of
+     Madame Victoire Louise Marie Therese on the 11th May, 1733.  Louis
+     had, besides, six daughters: Mesdames Sophie and Louise, who are
+     mentioned in this chapter; the Princesses Marie and Felicite, who
+     died young; Madame Henriette died at Versailles in 1752, aged
+     twenty-four; and finally, Madame the Duchess of Parma, who also died
+     at the Court.]
+
+He often brought and drank there coffee that he had made himself.  Madame
+Adelaide pulled a bell which apprised Madame Victoire of the King's
+visit; Madame Victoire, on rising to go to her sister's apartment, rang
+for Madame Sophie, who in her turn rang for Madame Louise.  The
+apartments of Mesdames were of very large dimensions.  Madame Louise
+occupied the farthest room.  This latter lady was deformed and very
+short; the poor Princess used to run with all her might to join the daily
+meeting, but, having a number of rooms to cross, she frequently in spite
+of her haste, had only just time to embrace her father before he set out
+for the chase.
+
+Every evening, at six, Mesdames interrupted my reading to them to
+accompany the princes to Louis XV.; this visit was called the King's
+'debotter',--[Debotter, meaning the time of unbooting.]-- and was marked
+by a kind of etiquette.  Mesdames put on an enormous hoop, which set out
+a petticoat ornamented with gold or embroidery; they fastened a long
+train round their waists, and concealed the undress of the rest of their
+clothing by a long cloak of black taffety which enveloped them up to the
+chin.  The chevaliers d'honneur, the ladies in waiting, the pages, the
+equerries, and the ushers bearing large flambeaux, accompanied them to
+the King.  In a moment the whole palace, generally so still, was in
+motion; the King kissed each Princess on the forehead, and the visit was
+so short that the reading which it interrupted was frequently resumed at
+the end of a quarter of an hour; Mesdames returned to their apartments,
+and untied the strings of their petticoats and trains; they resumed their
+tapestry, and I my book.
+
+During the summer season the King sometimes came to the residence of
+Mesdames before the hour of his 'debotter'.  One day he found me alone in
+Madame Victoire's closet, and asked me where 'Coche'[Piggy] was; I
+started, and he repeated his question, but without being at all the more
+understood.  When the King was gone I asked Madame of whom he spoke.  She
+told me that it was herself, and very coolly explained to me, that, being
+the fattest of his daughters, the King had given her the familiar name of
+'Coche'; that he called Madame Adelaide, 'Logue' [Tatters], Madame
+Sophie, 'Graille'[Mite], and Madame Louise, 'Chiffie'[Rubbish].  The
+people of the King's household observed that he knew a great number of
+such words; possibly he had amused himself with picking them out from
+dictionaries.  If this style of speaking betrayed the habits and tastes
+of the King, his manner savoured nothing of such vulgarity; his walk was
+easy and noble, he had a dignified carriage of the head, and his aspect,
+with out being severe, was imposing; he combined great politeness with a
+truly regal demeanour, and gracefully saluted the humblest woman whom
+curiosity led into his path.
+
+He was very expert in a number of trifling matters which never occupy
+attention but when there is a lack of something better to employ it; for
+instance, he would knock off the top of an egg-shell at a single stroke
+of his fork; he therefore always ate eggs when he dined in public, and
+the Parisians who came on Sundays to see the King dine, returned home
+less struck with his fine figure than with the dexterity with which he
+broke his eggs.
+
+Repartees of Louis XV., which marked the keenness of his wit and the
+elevation of his sentiments, were quoted with pleasure in the assemblies
+of Versailles.
+
+This Prince was still beloved; it was wished that a style of life
+suitable to his age and dignity should at length supersede the errors of
+the past, and justify the love of his subjects.  It was painful to judge
+him harshly.  If he had established avowed mistresses at Court, the
+uniform devotion of the Queen was blamed for it.  Mesdames were
+reproached for not seeking to prevent the King's forming an intimacy with
+some new favourite.  Madame Henriette, twin sister of the Duchess of
+Parma, was much regretted, for she had considerable influence over the
+King's mind, and it was remarked that if she had lived she would have
+been assiduous in finding him amusements in the bosom of his family,
+would have followed him in his short excursions, and would have done the
+honours of the 'petits soupers' which he was so fond of giving in his
+private apartments.
+
+Mesdames too much neglected the means of pleasing the wing, but the cause
+of that was obvious in the little attention he had paid them in their
+youth.
+
+In order to console the people under their sufferings, and to shut their
+eyes to the real depredations on the treasury, the ministers occasionally
+pressed the most extravagant measures of reform in the King's household,
+and even in his personal expenses.
+
+Cardinal Fleury, who in truth had the merit of reestablishing the
+finances, carried this system of economy so far as to obtain from the
+King the suppression of the household of the four younger Princesses.
+They were brought up as mere boarders in a convent eighty leagues distant
+from the Court.  Saint Cyr would have been more suitable for the
+reception of the King's daughters; but probably the Cardinal shared some
+of those prejudices which will always attach to even the most useful
+institutions, and which, since the death of Louis XIV., had been raised
+against the noble establishment of Madame de Maintenon.  Madame Louise
+often assured me that at twelve years of age she was not mistress of the
+whole alphabet, and never learnt to read fluently until after her return
+to Versailles.
+
+Madame Victoire attributed certain paroxysms of terror, which she was
+never able to conquer, to the violent alarms she experienced at the Abbey
+of Fontevrault, whenever she was sent, by way of penance, to pray alone
+in the vault where the sisters were interred.
+
+A gardener belonging to the abbey died raving mad.  His habitation,
+without the walls, was near a chapel of the abbey, where Mesdames were
+taken to repeat the prayers for those in the agonies of death.  Their
+prayers were more than once interrupted by the shrieks of the dying man.
+
+When Mesdames, still very young, returned to Court, they enjoyed the
+friendship of Monseigneur the Dauphin, and profited by his advice.  They
+devoted themselves ardently to study, and gave up almost the whole of
+their time to it; they enabled themselves to write French correctly, and
+acquired a good knowledge of history.  Italian, English, the higher
+branches of mathematics, turning and dialing, filled up in succession
+their leisure moments.  Madame Adelaide, in particular, had a most
+insatiable desire to learn; she was taught to play upon all instruments,
+from the horn (will it be believed!) to the Jew's-harp.
+
+Madame Adelaide was graced for a short time with a charming figure; but
+never did beauty so quickly vanish.  Madame Victoire was handsome and
+very graceful; her address, mien, and smile were in perfect accordance
+with the goodness of her heart.  Madame Sophie was remarkably ugly; never
+did I behold a person with so unprepossessing an appearance; she walked
+with the greatest rapidity; and, in order to recognise the people who
+placed themselves along her path without looking at them, she acquired
+the habit of leering on one side, like a hare.  This Princess was so
+exceedingly diffident that a person might be with her daily for years
+together without hearing her utter a single word.  It was asserted,
+however, that she displayed talent, and even amiability, in the society
+of some favourite ladies.  She taught herself a great deal, but she
+studied alone; the presence of a reader would have disconcerted her very
+much.  There were, however, occasions on which the Princess, generally so
+intractable, became all at once affable and condescending, and manifested
+the most communicative good-nature; this would happen during a storm; so
+great was her alarm on such an occasion that she then approached the most
+humble, and would ask them a thousand obliging questions; a flash of
+lightning made her squeeze their hands; a peal of thunder would drive her
+to embrace them, but with the return of the calm, the Princess resumed
+her stiffness, her reserve, and her repellent air, and passed all by
+without taking the slightest notice of any one, until a fresh storm
+restored to her at once her dread and her affability. [Which reminds one
+of the elder (and puritanic) Cato who said that he "embraced" his wife
+only when it thundered, but added that he did enjoy a good thunderstorm.
+D.W.]
+
+Mesdames found in a beloved brother, whose rare attainments are known to
+all Frenchmen, a guide in everything wanting to their education.  In
+their august mother, Maria Leczinska, they possessed the noblest example
+of every pious and social virtue; that Princess, by her eminent qualities
+and her modest dignity, veiled the failings of the King, and while she
+lived she preserved in the Court of Louis XV. that decorous and dignified
+tone which alone secures the respect due to power.  The Princesses, her
+daughters, were worthy of her; and if a few degraded beings did aim the
+shafts of calumny at them, these shafts dropped harmless, warded off by
+the elevation of their sentiments and the purity of their conduct.
+
+If Mesdames had not tasked themselves with numerous occupations, they
+would have been much to be pitied.  They loved walking, but could enjoy
+nothing beyond the public gardens of Versailles; they would have
+cultivated flowers, but could have no others than those in their windows.
+
+The Marquise de Durfort, since Duchesse de Civrac, afforded to Madame
+Victoire agreeable society.  The Princess spent almost all her evenings
+with that lady, and ended by fancying herself domiciled with her.
+
+Madame de Narbonne had, in a similar way, taken pains to make her
+intimate acquaintance pleasant to Madame Adelaide.
+
+Madame Louise had for many years lived in great seclusion; I read to her
+five hours a day.  My voice frequently betrayed the exhaustion of my
+lungs; the Princess would then prepare sugared water for me, place it by
+me, and apologise for making me read so long, on the score of having
+prescribed a course of reading for herself.
+
+One evening, while I was reading, she was informed that M. Bertin,
+'ministre des parties casuelles', desired to speak with her; she went out
+abruptly, returned, resumed her silks and embroidery, and made me resume
+my book; when I retired she commanded me to be in her closet the next
+morning at eleven o'clock.  When I got there the Princess was gone out;
+I learnt that she had gone at seven in the morning to the Convent of the
+Carmelites of St. Denis, where she was desirous of taking the veil.
+I went to Madame Victoire; there I heard that the King alone had been
+acquainted with Madame Louise's project; that he had kept it faithfully
+secret, and that, having long previously opposed her wish, he had only on
+the preceding evening sent her his consent; that she had gone alone into
+the convent, where she was expected; and that a few minutes afterwards
+she had made her appearance at the grating, to show to the Princesse de
+Guistel, who had accompanied her to the convent gate, and to her equerry,
+the King's order to leave her in the monastery.
+
+Upon receiving the intelligence of her sister's departure, Madame
+Adelaide gave way to violent paroxysms of rage, and reproached the King
+bitterly for the secret, which he had thought it his duty to preserve.
+Madame Victoire missed the society of her favourite sister, but she shed
+tears in silence only.  The first time I saw this excellent Princess
+after Madame Louise's departure, I threw myself at her feet, kissed her
+hand, and asked her, with all the confidence of youth, whether she would
+quit us as Madame Louise had done.  She raised me, embraced me; and said,
+pointing to the lounge upon which she was extended, "Make yourself easy,
+my dear; I shall never have Louise's courage.  I love the conveniences of
+life too well; this lounge is my destruction."  As soon as I obtained
+permission to do so, I went to St. Denis to see my late mistress; she
+deigned to receive me with her face uncovered, in her private parlour;
+she told me she had just left the wash-house, and that it was her turn
+that day to attend to the linen.  "I much abused your youthful lungs for
+two years before the execution of my project," added she. "I knew that
+here I could read none but books tending to our salvation, and I wished
+to review all the historians that had interested me."
+
+She informed me that the King's consent for her to go to St. Denis had
+been brought to her while I was reading; she prided herself, and with
+reason, upon having returned to her closet without the slightest mark of
+agitation, though she said she felt so keenly that she could scarcely
+regain her chair.  She added that moralists were right when they said
+that happiness does not dwell in palaces; that she had proved it; and
+that, if I desired to be happy, she advised me to come and enjoy a
+retreat in which the liveliest imagination might find full exercise in
+the contemplation of a better world.  I had no palace, no earthly
+grandeur to sacrifice to God; nothing but the bosom of a united family;
+and it is precisely there that the moralists whom she cited have placed
+true happiness.  I replied that, in private life, the absence of a
+beloved and cherished daughter would be too cruelly felt by her family.
+The Princess said no more on the subject.
+
+The seclusion of Madame Louise was attributed to various motives; some
+were unkind enough to suppose it to have been occasioned by her
+mortification at being, in point of rank, the last of the Princesses.
+I think I penetrated the true cause.  Her aspirations were lofty; she
+loved everything sublime; often while I was reading she would interrupt
+me to exclaim, "That is beautiful! that is noble!"  There was but one
+brilliant action that she could perform,--to quit a palace for a cell,
+and rich garments for a stuff gown.  She achieved it!
+
+I saw Madame Louise two or three times more at the grating.  I was
+informed of her death by Louis XVI.  "My Aunt Louise," said he to me,
+"your old mistress, is just dead at St.  Denis.  I have this moment
+received intelligence of it.  Her piety and resignation were admirable,
+and yet the delirium of my good aunt recalled to her recollection that
+she was a princess, for her last words were, 'To paradise, haste, haste,
+full speed.'  No doubt she thought she was again giving orders to her
+equerry."
+
+     [The retirement of Madame Louise, and her removal from Court, had
+     only served to give her up entirely to the intrigues of the clergy.
+     She received incessant visits from bishops, archbishops, and
+     ambitious priests of every rank; she prevailed on the King, her
+     father, to grant many ecclesiastical preferments, and probably
+     looked forward to playing an important part when the King, weary of
+     his licentious course of life, should begin to think of religion.
+     This, perhaps, might have been the case had not a sudden and
+     unexpected death put an end to his career.  The project of Madame
+     Louise fell to the ground in consequence of this event.  She
+     remained in her convent, whence she continued to solicit favours,
+     as I knew from the complaints of the Queen, who often said to me,
+     "Here is another letter from my Aunt Louise.  She is certainly the
+     most intriguing little Carmelite in the kingdom."  The Court went to
+     visit her about three times a year, and I recollect that the Queen,
+     intending to take her daughter there, ordered me to get a doll
+     dressed like a Carmelite for her, that the young Princess might be
+     accustomed, before she went into the convent, to the habit of her
+     aunt, the nun.--MADAME CAMPAN]
+
+Madame Victoire, good, sweet-tempered, and affable, lived with the most
+amiable simplicity in a society wherein she was much caressed; she was
+adored by her household.  Without quitting Versailles, without
+sacrificing her easy chair, she fulfilled the duties of religion with
+punctuality, gave to the poor all she possessed, and strictly observed
+Lent and the fasts.  The table of Mesdames acquired a reputation for
+dishes of abstinence, spread abroad by the assiduous parasites at that of
+their maitre d'hotel.  Madame Victoire was not indifferent to good
+living, but she had the most religious scruples respecting dishes of
+which it was allowable to partake at penitential times.  I saw her one
+day exceedingly tormented by her doubts about a water-fowl, which was
+often served up to her during Lent.  The question to be determined was,
+whether it was 'maigre' or 'gras'.  She consulted a bishop, who happened
+to be of the party: the prelate immediately assumed the grave attitude of
+a judge who is about to pronounce sentence.  He answered the Princess
+that, in a similar case of doubt, it had been resolved that after
+dressing the bird it should be pricked over a very cold silver dish; if
+the gravy of the animal congealed within a quarter of an hour, the
+creature was to be accounted flesh; but if the gravy remained in an oily
+state, it might be eaten without scruple.  Madame Victoire immediately
+made the experiment: the gravy did not congeal; and this was a source of
+great joy to the Princess, who was very partial to that sort of game.
+The abstinence which so much occupied the attention of Madame Victoire
+was so disagreeable to her, that she listened with impatience for the
+midnight hour of Holy Saturday; and then she was immediately supplied
+with a good dish of fowl and rice, and sundry other succulent viands.
+She confessed with such amiable candour her taste for good cheer and the
+comforts of life, that it would have been necessary to be as severe in
+principle as insensible to the excellent qualities of the Princess, to
+consider it a crime in her.
+
+Madame Adelaide had more mind than Madame Victoire; but she was
+altogether deficient in that kindness which alone creates affection for
+the great, abrupt manners, a harsh voice, and a short way of speaking,
+rendering her more than imposing.  She carried the idea of the
+prerogative of rank to a high pitch.  One of her chaplains was unlucky
+enough to say 'Dominus vobiscum' with rather too easy an air; the
+Princess rated him soundly for it after mass, and told him to remember
+that he was not a bishop, and not again to think of officiating in the
+style of a prelate.
+
+Mesdames lived quite separate from the King.  Since the death of Madame
+de Pompadour he had lived alone.  The enemies of the Duc de Choiseul did
+not know in what department, nor through what channel, they could prepare
+and bring about the downfall of the man who stood in their way.  The King
+was connected only with women of so low a class that they could not be
+made use of for any delicate intrigue; moreover, the Parc-aux-Cerfs was a
+seraglio, the beauties of which were often replaced; it was desirable to
+give the King a mistress who could form a circle, and in whose drawing-
+room the long-standing attachment of the King for the Duc de Choiseul
+might be overcome.  It is true that Madame du Barry was selected from a
+class sufficiently low.  Her origin, her education, her habits, and
+everything about her bore a character of vulgarity and shamelessness; but
+by marrying her to a man whose pedigree dated from 1400, it was thought
+scandal would be avoided.  The conqueror of Mahon conducted this coarse
+intrigue.
+
+     [It appeared at this period as if every feeling of dignity was lost.
+     "Few noblemen of the French Court," says a writer of the time,
+     "preserved themselves from the general corruption.  The Marechal de
+     Brissac was one of the latter.  He was bantered on the strictness of
+     his principles of honour and honesty; it was thought strange that he
+     should be offended by being thought, like so many others, exposed to
+     hymeneal disgrace.  Louis XV., who was present, and laughed at his
+     angry fit, said to him: 'Come, M. de Brissac, don't be angry; 'tis
+     but a trifling evil; take courage.'--'Sire,' replied M. de Brissac,
+     'I possess all kinds of courage, except that which can brave
+     shame.'"--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.]
+
+Such a mistress was judiciously selected for the diversion of the latter
+years of a man weary of grandeur, fatigued with pleasure, and cloyed with
+voluptuousness.  Neither the wit, the talents, the graces of the Marquise
+de Pompadour, her beauty, nor even her love for the King, would have had
+any further influence over that worn-out being.
+
+He wanted a Roxalana of familiar gaiety, without any respect for the
+dignity of the sovereign.  Madame du Barry one day so far forgot
+propriety as to desire to be present at a Council of State.  The King was
+weak enough to consent to it.  There she remained ridiculously perched
+upon the arm of his chair, playing all sorts of childish monkey tricks,
+calculated to please an old sultan.
+
+Another time she snatched a packet of sealed letters from the King's
+hand.  Among them she had observed one from Comte de Broglie.  She told
+the King that she knew that rascal Broglie spoke ill of her to him, and
+that for once, at least, she would make sure he should read nothing
+respecting her.  The King wanted to get the packet again; she resisted,
+and made him run two or three times round the table, which was in the
+middle of the council-chamber, and then, on passing the fireplace, she
+threw the letters into the grate, where they were consumed.  The King
+became furious; he seized his audacious mistress by the arm, and put her
+out of the door without speaking to her.  Madame du Barry thought herself
+utterly disgraced; she returned home, and remained two hours, alone,
+abandoned to the utmost distress.  The King went to her; she threw
+herself at his feet, in tears, and he pardoned her.
+
+Madame la Marechale de Beauvau, the Duchesse de Choiseul, and the
+Duchesse de Grammont had renounced the honour of the King's intimate
+acquaintance rather than share it with Madame du Barry.  But a few years
+after the death of Louis XV., Madame la Marechale being alone at the Val,
+a house belonging to M. de Beauvau, Mademoiselle de Dillon saw the
+Countess's calash take shelter in the forest of St. Germain during a
+violent storm.  She invited her in, and the Countess herself related
+these particulars, which I had from Madame de Beauvau.
+
+The Comte du Barry, surnamed 'le roue' (the profligate), and Mademoiselle
+du Barry advised, or rather prompted, Madame du Barry in furtherance of
+the plans of the party of the Marechal de Richelieu and the Duc
+d'Aiguillon.  Sometimes they even set her to act in such a way as to have
+a useful influence upon great political measures.  Under pretence that
+the page who accompanied Charles I. in his flight was a Du Barry or
+Barrymore, they persuaded the Comtesse du Barry to buy in London that
+fine portrait which we now have in the Museum.  She had the picture
+placed in her drawing-room, and when she saw the King hesitating upon the
+violent measure of breaking up his Parliament, and forming that which was
+called the Maupeou Parliament, she desired him to look at the portrait of
+a king who had given way to his Parliament.
+
+     [The "Memoirs of General Dumouriez," vol. i., page 142, contain
+     some curious particulars about Madame Du Barry; and novel details
+     respecting her will be found at page 243 of "Curiosites
+     Historiques," by J. A. Le Rol (Paris, Plon, 1864).  His
+     investigations lead to the result that her real name was Jean Becu,
+     born, 19th August, 1743, at Vaucouleurs, the natural daughter of
+     Anne Becu, otherwise known as "Quantiny."  Her mother afterwards
+     married Nicolas Rancon.  Comte Jean du Barry met her among the demi-
+     monde, and succeeded, about 1767, and by the help of his friend
+     Label, the valet de chambre of Louis XV., in introducing her to the
+     King under the name of Mademoiselle l'Ange.  To be formally
+     mistress, a husband had to be found.  The Comte Jean du Barry,
+     already married himself, found no difficulty in getting his brother,
+     Comte Guillaume, a poor officer of the marine troops, to accept the
+     post of husband.  In the marriage-contract, signed on 23d July,
+     1768, she was described as the daughter of Anne Becu and of an
+     imaginary first husband, Sieur Jean Jacques Gomard de Vaubernier,"
+     and three years were taken off her age.  The marriage-contract was
+     so drawn as to leave Madame du Barry entirely free from all control
+     by her husband.  The marriage was solemnised on 1st September, 1768,
+     after which the nominal husband returned to Toulouse.  Madame du
+     Barry in later years provided for him; and in 1772, tired of his
+     applications, she obtained an act of separation from him.  He
+     married later Jeanne Madeleine Lemoine, and died in 1811.  Madame du
+     Barry took care of her mother, who figured as Madame de Montrable.
+     In all, she received from the King, M. Le Roi calculates, about
+     twelve and a half millions of livres.  On the death of Louis XV.
+     she had to retire first to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames, near Meaux,
+     then she was allowed to go to her small house at St. Vrain, near
+     Arpajon, and, finally, in 1775, to her chateau at Louveciennes.
+     Much to her credit be it said, she retained many of her friends,
+     and was on the most intimate terms till his death with the Duc de
+     Brissac (Louis Hercule Timoldon de Cosse-Brissac), who was killed at
+     Versailles in the massacre of the prisoners in September, 1792,
+     leaving at his death a large legacy to her.  Even the Emperor Joseph
+     visited her.  In 1791 many of her jewels were stolen and taken to
+     England.  This caused her to make several visits to that country,
+     where she gained her suit.  But these visits, though she took every
+     precaution to legalise them, ruined her.  Betrayed by her servants,
+     among them by Zamor, the negro page, she was brought before the
+     Revolutionary tribunal, and was guillotined on 8th December, 1793,
+     in a frenzy of terror, calling for mercy and for delay up to the
+     moment when her head fell.]
+
+The men of ambition who were labouring to overthrow the Duc de Choiseul
+strengthened themselves by their concentration at the house of the
+favourite, and succeeded in their project.  The bigots, who never forgave
+that minister the suppression of the Jesuits, and who had always been
+hostile to a treaty of alliance with Austria, influenced the minds of
+Mesdames.  The Duc de La Vauguyon, the young Dauphin's governor, infected
+them with the same prejudices.
+
+Such was the state of the public mind when the young Archduchess Marie
+Antoinette arrived at the Court of Versailles, just at the moment when
+the party which brought her there was about to be overthrown.
+
+Madame Adelaide openly avowed her dislike to a princess of the House of
+Austria; and when M. Campan, my father-in-law, went to receive his
+orders, at the moment of setting off with the household of the
+Dauphiness, to go and receive the Archduchess upon the frontiers, she
+said she disapproved of the marriage of her nephew with an archduchess;
+and that, if she had the direction of the matter, she would not send for
+an Austrian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MARIE ANTOINETTE JOSEPHE JEANNE DE LORRAINE, Archduchess of Austria,
+daughter of Francois de Lorraine and of Maria Theresa, was born on the
+2d of November, 1755, the day of the earthquake at Lisbon; and this
+catastrophe, which appeared to stamp the era of her birth with a fatal
+mark, without forming a motive for superstitious fear with the Princess,
+nevertheless made an impression upon her mind.  As the Empress already
+had a great number of daughters, she ardently desired to have another
+son, and playfully wagered against her wish with the Duc de Tarouka,
+who had insisted that she would give birth to an archduke.  He lost by
+the birth of the Princess, and had executed in porcelain a figure with
+one knee bent on the earth, and presenting tablets, upon which the
+following lines by Metastasio were engraved:
+
+               I lose by your fair daughter's birth
+               Who prophesied a son;
+               But if she share her mother's worth,
+               Why, all the world has won!
+
+The Queen was fond of talking of the first years of her youth.  Her
+father, the Emperor Francis, had made a deep impression upon her heart;
+she lost him when she was scarcely seven years old.  One of those
+circumstances which fix themselves strongly in the memories of children
+frequently recalled his last caresses to her.  The Emperor was setting
+out for Innspruck; he had already left his palace, when he ordered a
+gentleman to fetch the Archduchess Marie Antoinette, and bring her to his
+carriage.  When she came, he stretched out his arms to receive her, and
+said, after having pressed her to his bosom, "I wanted to embrace this
+child once more."  The Emperor died suddenly during the journey, and
+never saw his beloved daughter again.
+
+The Queen often spoke of her mother, and with profound respect, but she
+based all her schemes for the education of her children on the essentials
+which had been neglected in her own.  Maria Theresa, who inspired awe by
+her great qualities, taught the Archduchesses to fear and respect rather
+than to love her; at least I observed this in the Queen's feelings
+towards her august mother.  She therefore never desired to place between
+her own children and herself that distance which had existed in the
+imperial family.  She cited a fatal consequence of it, which had made
+such a powerful impression upon her that time had never been able to
+efface it.
+
+The wife of the Emperor Joseph II. was taken from him in a few days by
+an attack of smallpox of the most virulent kind.  Her coffin had recently
+been deposited in the vault of the imperial family.  The Archduchess
+Josepha, who had been betrothed to the King of Naples, at the instant she
+was quitting Vienna received an order from the Empress not to set off
+without having offered up a prayer in the vault of her forefathers.  The
+Archduchess, persuaded that she should take the disorder to which her
+sister-in-law had just fallen a victim, looked upon this order as her
+death-warrant.  She loved the young Archduchess Marie Antoinette
+tenderly; she took her upon her knees, embraced her with tears, and told
+her she was about to leave her, not for Naples, but never to see her
+again; that she was going down then to the tomb of her ancestors, and
+that she should shortly go again there to remain.  Her anticipation was
+realised; confluent smallpox carried her off in a very few days, and her
+youngest sister ascended the throne of Naples in her place.
+
+The Empress was too much taken up with high political interests to have
+it in her power to devote herself to maternal attentions.  The celebrated
+Wansvietten, her physician, went daily, to visit the young imperial
+family, and afterwards to Maria Theresa, and gave the most minute details
+respecting the health of the Archdukes and Archduchesses, whom she
+herself sometimes did not see for eight or ten days at a time.  As soon
+as the arrival of a stranger of rank at Vienna was made known, the
+Empress brought her family about her, admitted them to her table, and by
+this concerted meeting induced a belief that she herself presided over
+the education of her children.
+
+The chief governesses, being under no fear of inspection from Maria
+Theresa, aimed at making themselves beloved by their pupils by the common
+and blamable practice of indulgence, so fatal to the future progress and
+happiness of children.  Marie Antoinette was the cause of her governess
+being dismissed, through a confession that all her copies and all her
+letters were invariably first traced out with pencil; the Comtesse de
+Brandes was appointed to succeed her, and fulfilled her duties with great
+exactness and talent.  The Queen looked upon having been confided to her
+care so late as a misfortune, and always continued upon terms of
+friendship with that lady.  The education of Marie Antoinette was
+certainly very much neglected.  With the exception of the Italian
+language, all that related to belles lettres, and particularly to
+history, even that of her own country, was almost entirely unknown to
+her.  This was soon found out at the Court of France, and thence arose
+the generally received opinion that she was deficient in sense.  It will
+be seen in the course of these "Memoirs" whether that opinion was well or
+ill founded.  The public prints, however, teemed with assertions of the
+superior talents of Maria Theresa's children.  They often noticed the
+answers which the young Princesses gave in Latin to the harangues
+addressed to them; they uttered them, it is true, but without
+understanding them; they knew not a single word of that language.
+
+Mention was one day made to the Queen of a drawing made by her, and
+presented by the Empress to M. Gerard, chief clerk of Foreign Affairs, on
+the occasion of his going to Vienna to draw up the articles for her
+marriage-contract.  "I should blush," said she, "if that proof of the
+quackery of my education were shown to me.  I do not believe that I ever
+put a pencil to that drawing."  However, what had been taught her she
+knew perfectly well.  Her facility of learning was inconceivable, and if
+all her teachers had been as well informed and as faithful to their duty
+as the Abbe Metastasio, who taught her Italian, she would have attained
+as great a superiority in the other branches of her education.  The Queen
+spoke that language with grace and ease, and translated the most
+difficult poets.  She did not write French correctly, but she spoke it
+with the greatest fluency, and even affected to say that she had lost
+German.  In fact she attempted in 1787 to learn her mother-tongue, and
+took lessons assiduously for six weeks; she was obliged to relinquish
+them, finding all the difficulties which a Frenchwoman, who should take
+up the study too late, would have to encounter.  In the same manner she
+gave up English, which I had taught her for some time, and in which she
+had made rapid progress.  Music was the accomplishment in which the Queen
+most delighted.  She did not play well on any instrument, but she had
+become able to read at sight like a first-rate professor.  She attained
+this degree of perfection in France, this branch of her education having
+been neglected at Vienna as much as the rest.  A few days after her
+arrival at Versailles, she was introduced to her singing-master, La
+Garde, author of the opera of "Egle."  She made a distant appointment
+with him, needing, as she said, rest after the fatigues of the journey
+and the numerous fetes which had taken place at Versailles; but her
+motive was her desire to conceal how ignorant she was of the rudiments of
+music.  She asked M. Campan whether his son, who was a good musician,
+could give her lessons secretly for three months.  "The Dauphiness,"
+added she, smiling, "must be careful of the reputation of the
+Archduchess."  The lessons were given privately, and at the end of three
+months of constant application she sent for M. la Garde, and surprised
+him by her skill.
+
+The desire to perfect Marie Antoinette in the study of the French
+language was probably the motive which determined Maria Theresa to
+provide for her as teachers two French actors: Aufresne, for
+pronunciation and declamation, and Sainville, for taste in French
+singing; the latter had been an officer in France, and bore a bad
+character.  The choice gave just umbrage to our Court.  The Marquis de
+Durfort, at that time ambassador at Vienna, was ordered to make a
+representation to the Empress upon her selection.  The two actors were
+dismissed, and the Princess required that an ecclesiastic should be sent
+to her.  Several eminent ecclesiastics declined taking upon themselves so
+delicate an office; others who were pointed out by Maria Theresa (among
+the rest the Abbe Grisel) belonged to parties which sufficed to exclude
+them.
+
+The Archbishop of Toulouse one day went to the Duc de Choiseul at the
+moment when he was much embarrassed upon the subject of this nomination;
+he proposed to him the Abby de Vermond, librarian of the College des
+Quatre Nations.  The eulogistic manner in which he spoke of his protege
+procured the appointment for the latter on that very day; and the
+gratitude of the Abbe de Vermond towards the prelate was very fatal to
+France, inasmuch as after seventeen years of persevering attempts to
+bring him into the ministry, he succeeded at last in getting him named
+Comptroller-General and President of the Council.--[Comte de Brienne,
+later Archbishop of Sens.]
+
+This Abbe de Vermond directed almost all the Queen's actions.  He
+established his influence over her at an age when impressions are most
+durable; and it was easy to see that he had taken pains only to render
+himself beloved by his pupil, and had troubled himself very little with
+the care of instructing her.  He might have even been accused of having,
+by a sharp-sighted though culpable policy, purposely left her in
+ignorance.  Marie Antoinette spoke the French language with much grace,
+but wrote it less perfectly.  The Abbe de Vermond revised all the letters
+which she sent to Vienna.  The insupportable folly with which he boasted
+of it displayed the character of a man more flattered at being admitted
+into her intimate secrets than anxious to fulfil worthily the high office
+of her preceptor.
+
+     [The Abbe de Vermond encouraged the impatience of etiquette shown by
+     Marie Antoinette while she was Dauphiness.  When she became Queen he
+     endeavoured openly to induce her to shake off the restraints she
+     still respected.  If he chanced to enter her apartment at the time
+     she was preparing to go out, "For whom," he would say, in a tone of
+     raillery, "is this detachment of warriors which I found in the
+     court? Is it some general going to inspect his army?  Does all this
+     military display become a young Queen adored by her subjects?"  He
+     would call to her mind the simplicity with which Maria Theresa
+     lived; the visits she made without guards, or even attendants, to
+     the Prince d'Esterhazy, to the Comte de Palfi, passing whole days
+     far from the fatiguing ceremonies of the Court.  The Abbe thus
+     artfully flattered the inclinations of Marie Antoinette, and showed
+     her how she might disguise, even from herself, her aversion for the
+     ceremonies observed by the descendants of Louis XIV.-MADAME CAMPAN.]
+
+His pride received its birth at Vienna, where Maria Theresa, as much to
+give him authority with the Archduchess as to make herself acquainted
+with his character, permitted him to mix every evening with the private
+circle of her family, into which the future Dauphiness had been admitted
+for some time.  Joseph II., the elder Archduchess, and a few noblemen
+honoured by the confidence of Maria Theresa, composed the party; and
+reflections on the world, on courts, and the duties of princes were the
+usual topics of conversation.  The Abbe de Vermond, in relating these
+particulars, confessed the means which he had made use of to gain
+admission into this private circle.  The Empress, meeting him at the
+Archduchess's, asked him if he had formed any connections in Vienna.
+"None, Madame," replied he; "the apartment of the Archduchess and the
+hotel of the ambassador of France are the only places which the man
+honoured with the care of the Princess's education should frequent."
+A month afterwards Maria Theresa, through a habit common enough among
+sovereigns, asked him the same question, and received precisely the same
+answer.  The next day he received an order to join the imperial family
+every evening.
+
+It is extremely probable, from the constant and well-known intercourse
+between this man and Comte de Mercy, ambassador of the Empire during the
+whole reign of Louis XVI., that he was useful to the Court of Vienna, and
+that he often caused the Queen to decide on measures, the consequences of
+which she did not consider.  Not of high birth, imbued with all the
+principles of the modern philosophy, and yet holding to the hierarchy of
+the Church more tenaciously than any other ecclesiastic; vain, talkative,
+and at the same time cunning and abrupt; very ugly and affecting
+singularity; treating the most exalted persons as his equals, sometimes
+even as his inferiors, the Abbe de Vermond received ministers and bishops
+when in his bath; but said at the same time that Cardinal Dubois was a
+fool; that a man such as he, having obtained power, ought to make
+cardinals, and refuse to be one himself.
+
+Intoxicated with the reception he had met with at the Court of Vienna,
+and having till then seen nothing of high life, the Abbe de Vermond
+admired no other customs than those of the imperial family; he ridiculed
+the etiquette of the House of Bourbon incessantly; the young Dauphiness
+was constantly incited by his sarcasms to get rid of it, and it was he
+who first induced her to suppress an infinity of practices of which he
+could discern neither the prudence nor the political aim.  Such is the
+faithful portrait of that man whom the evil star of Marie Antoinette had
+reserved to guide her first steps upon a stage so conspicuous and so full
+of danger as that of the Court of Versailles.
+
+It will be thought, perhaps, that I draw the character of the Abbe de
+Vermond too unfavourably; but how can I view with any complacency one
+who, after having arrogated to himself the office of confidant and sole
+counsellor of the Queen, guided her with so little prudence, and gave us
+the mortification of seeing that Princess blend, with qualities which
+charmed all that surrounded her, errors alike injurious to her glory and
+her happiness?
+
+While M. de Choiseul, satisfied with the person whom M. de Brienne had
+presented, despatched him to Vienna with every eulogium calculated to
+inspire unbounded confidence, the Marquis de Durfort sent off a
+hairdresser and a few French fashions; and then it was thought sufficient
+pains had been taken to form the character of a princess destined to
+share the throne of France.
+
+The marriage of Monseigneur the Dauphin with the Archduchess was
+determined upon during the administration of the Duc de Choiseul.
+The Marquis de Durfort, who was to succeed the Baron de Breteuil in the
+embassy to Vienna, was appointed proxy for the marriage ceremony; but six
+months after the Dauphin's marriage the Duc de Choiseul was disgraced,
+and Madame de Marsan and Madame de Guemenee, who grew more powerful
+through the Duke's disgrace, conferred that embassy, upon Prince Louis
+de Rohan, afterwards cardinal and grand almoner.
+
+Hence it will be seen that the Gazette de France is a sufficient answer
+to those libellers who dared to assert that the young Archduchess was
+acquainted with the Cardinal de Rohan before the period of her marriage.
+A worse selection in itself, or one more disagreeable to Maria Theresa,
+than that which sent to her, in quality, of ambassador, a man so
+frivolous and so immoral as Prince Louis de Rohan, could not have been
+made.  He possessed but superficial knowledge upon any subject, and was
+totally ignorant of diplomatic affairs.  His reputation had gone before
+him to Vienna, and his mission opened under the most unfavourable
+auspices.  In want of money, and the House of Rohan being unable to make
+him any considerable advances, he obtained from his Court a patent which
+authorised him to borrow the sum of 600,000 livres upon his benefices,
+ran in debt above a million, and thought to dazzle the city and Court of
+Vienna by the most indecent and ill-judged extravagance.  He formed a
+suite of eight or ten gentlemen, of names sufficiently high-sounding;
+twelve pages equally well born, a crowd of officers and servants, a
+company of chamber musicians, etc.  But this idle pomp did not last;
+embarrassment and distress soon showed themselves; his people, no longer
+receiving pay, in order to make money, abused the privileges of
+ambassadors, and smuggled
+
+     [I have often heard the Queen say that, at Vienna, in the office of
+     the secretary of the Prince de Rohan, there were sold in one year
+     more silk stockings than at Lyons and Paris together.--MADAME
+     CAMPAN.]
+
+with so much effrontery that Maria Theresa, to put a stop to it without
+offending the Court of France, was compelled to suppress the privileges
+in this respect of all the diplomatic bodies, a step which rendered the
+person and conduct of Prince Louis odious in every foreign Court.  He
+seldom obtained private audiences from the Empress, who did not esteem
+him, and who expressed herself without reserve upon his conduct both as a
+bishop and as an ambassador.  He thought to obtain favour by assisting to
+effect the marriage of the Archduchess Elizabeth, the elder sister of
+Marie Antoinette, with Louis XV., an affair which was awkwardly
+undertaken, and of which Madame du Barry had no difficulty in causing the
+failure.  I have deemed it my duty to omit no particular of the moral and
+political character of a man whose existence was subsequently so
+injurious to the reputation of Marie Antoinette.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A superb pavilion had been prepared upon the frontier near Kehl.  It
+consisted of a vast salon, connected with two apartments, one of which
+was assigned to the lords and ladies of the Court of Vienna, and the
+other to the suite of the Dauphiness, composed of the Comtesse de
+Noailles, her lady of honour; the Duchesse de Cosse, her dame d'atours;
+four ladies of the palace; the Comte de Saulx-Tavannes, chevalier
+d'honneur; the Comte de Tesse, first equerry; the Bishop of Chartres,
+first almoner; the officers of the Body Guard, and the equerries.
+
+When the Dauphiness had been entirely undressed, in order that she might
+retain nothing belonging to a foreign Court (an etiquette always observed
+on such an occasion), the doors were opened; the young Princess came
+forward, looking round for the Comtesse de Noailles; then, rushing into
+her arms, she implored her, with tears in her eyes, and with heartfelt
+sincerity, to be her guide and support.
+
+While doing justice to the virtues of the Comtesse de Noailles, those
+sincerely attached to the Queen have always considered it as one of her
+earliest misfortunes not to have found, in the person of her adviser,
+a woman indulgent, enlightened, and administering good advice with that
+amiability which disposes young persons to follow it.  The Comtesse de
+Noailles had nothing agreeable in her appearance; her demeanour was stiff
+and her mien severe.  She was perfect mistress of etiquette; but she
+wearied the young Princess with it, without making her sensible of its
+importance.  It would have been sufficient to represent to the Dauphiness
+that in France her dignity depended much upon customs not necessary at
+Vienna to secure the respect and love of the good and submissive
+Austrians for the imperial family; but the Dauphiness was perpetually
+tormented by the remonstrances of the Comtesse de Noailles, and at the
+same time was led by the Abbe de Vermond to ridicule both the lessons
+upon etiquette and her who gave them.  She preferred raillery to
+argument, and nicknamed the Comtesse de Noailles Madame l'Etiquette.
+
+The fetes which were given at Versailles on the marriage of the Dauphin
+were very splendid.  The Dauphiness arrived there at the hour for her
+toilet, having slept at La Muette, where Louis XV. had been to receive
+her; and where that Prince, blinded by a feeling unworthy of a sovereign
+and the father of a family, caused the young Princess, the royal family,
+and the ladies of the Court, to sit down to supper with Madame du Barry.
+
+The Dauphiness was hurt at this conduct; she spoke of it openly enough to
+those with whom she was intimate, but she knew how to conceal her
+dissatisfaction in public, and her behaviour showed no signs of it.
+
+She was received at Versailles in an apartment on the ground floor, under
+that of the late Queen, which was not ready for her until six months
+after her marriage.
+
+The Dauphiness, then fifteen years of age, beaming with freshness,
+appeared to all eyes more than beautiful.  Her walk partook at once of
+the dignity of the Princesses of her house, and of the grace of the
+French; her eyes were mild, her smile amiable.  When she went to chapel,
+as soon as she had taken the first few steps in the long gallery, she
+discerned, all the way to its extremity, those persons whom she ought to
+salute with the consideration due to their rank; those on whom she should
+bestow an inclination of the head; and lastly, those who were to be
+satisfied with a smile, calculated to console them for not being entitled
+to greater honours.
+
+Louis XV. was enchanted with the young Dauphiness; all his conversation
+was about her graces, her vivacity, and the aptness of her repartees.
+She was yet more successful with the royal family when they beheld her
+shorn of the splendour of the diamonds with which she had been adorned
+during the first days of her marriage.  When clothed in a light dress of
+gauze or taffety she was compared to the Venus dei Medici, and the
+Atalanta of the Marly Gardens.  Poets sang her charms; painters attempted
+to copy her features.  One artist's fancy led him to place the portrait
+of Marie Antoinette in the heart of a full-blown rose.  His ingenious
+idea was rewarded by Louis XV.
+
+The King continued to talk only of the Dauphiness; and Madame du Barry
+ill-naturedly endeavoured to damp his enthusiasm.  Whenever Marie
+Antoinette was the topic, she pointed out the irregularity of her
+features, criticised the 'bons mots' quoted as hers, and rallied the King
+upon his prepossession in her favour.  Madame du Barry was affronted at
+not receiving from the Dauphiness those attentions to which she thought
+herself entitled; she did not conceal her vexation from the King; she was
+afraid that the grace and cheerfulness of the young Princess would make
+the domestic circle of the royal family more agreeable to the old
+sovereign, and that he would escape her chains; at the same time, hatred
+to the Choiseul party contributed powerfully to excite the enmity of the
+favourite.
+
+The fall of that minister took place in November, 1770, six months after
+his long influence in the Council had brought about the alliance with the
+House of Austria and the arrival of Marie Antoinette at the Court of
+France.  The Princess, young, frank, volatile, and inexperienced, found
+herself without any other guide than the Abbe de Vermond, in a Court
+ruled by the enemy of the minister who had brought her there, and in the
+midst of people who hated Austria, and detested any alliance with the
+imperial house.
+
+The Duc d'Aiguillon, the Duc de La Vauguyon, the Marechal de Richelieu,
+the Rohans, and other considerable families, who had made use of Madame
+du Barry to overthrow the Duke, could not flatter themselves,
+notwithstanding their powerful intrigues, with a hope of being able to
+break off an alliance solemnly announced, and involving such high
+political interests.  They therefore changed their mode of attack, and it
+will be seen how the conduct of the Dauphin served as a basis for their
+hopes.
+
+The Dauphiness continually gave proofs of both sense and feeling.
+Sometimes she even suffered herself to be carried away by those
+transports of compassionate kindness which are not to be controlled by
+the customs which rank establishes.
+
+In consequence of the fire in the Place Louis XV., which occurred at the
+time of the nuptial entertainments, the Dauphin and Dauphiness sent
+their, whole income for the year to the relief of the unfortunate
+families who lost their relatives on that disastrous day.
+
+This was one of those ostentatious acts of generosity which are dictated
+by the policy of princes, at least as much as by their compassion; but
+the grief of Marie Antoinette was profound, and lasted several days;
+nothing could console her for the loss of so many innocent victims; she
+spoke of it, weeping, to her ladies, one of whom, thinking, no doubt, to
+divert her mind, told her that a great number of thieves had been found
+among the bodies, and that their pockets were filled with watches and
+other valuables.  "They have at least been well punished," added the
+person who related these particulars.  "Oh, no, no, madame!" replied the
+Dauphiness; "they died by the side of honest people."
+
+The Dauphiness had brought from Vienna a considerable number of white
+diamonds; the King added to them the gift of the diamonds and pearls of
+the late Dauphiness, and also put into her hands a collar of pearls, of a
+single row, the smallest of which was as large as a filbert, and which
+had been brought into France by Anne of Austria, and appropriated by that
+Princess to the use of the Queens and Dauphinesses of France.
+
+The three Princesses, daughters of Louis XV., joined in making her
+magnificent presents.  Madame Adelaide at the same time gave the young
+Princess a key to the private corridors of the Chateau, by means of
+which, without any suite, and without being perceived, she could get to
+the apartments of her aunts, and see them in private.  The Dauphiness,
+on receiving the key, told them, with infinite grace, that if they had
+meant to make her appreciate the superb presents they were kind enough to
+bestow upon her, they should not at the same time have offered her one of
+such inestimable value; since to that key she should be indebted for an
+intimacy and advice unspeakably precious at her age.  She did, indeed,
+make use of it very frequently; but Madame Victoire alone permitted her,
+so long as she continued Dauphiness, to visit her familiarly.  Madame
+Adelaide could not overcome her prejudices against Austrian princesses,
+and was wearied with the somewhat petulant gaiety of the Dauphiness.
+Madame Victoire was concerned at this, feeling that their society and
+counsel would have been highly useful to a young person otherwise likely
+to meet with none but sycophants.  She endeavoured, therefore, to induce
+her to take pleasure in the society of the Marquise de Durfort, her lady
+of honour and favourite.  Several agreeable entertainments took place at
+the house of this lady, but the Comtesse de Noailles and the Abbe de
+Vermond soon opposed these meetings.
+
+A circumstance which happened in hunting, near the village of Acheres,
+in the forest of Fontainebleau, afforded the young Princess an
+opportunity of displaying her respect for old age, and her compassion for
+misfortune.  An aged peasant was wounded by the stag; the Dauphiness
+jumped out of her calash, placed the peasant, with his wife and children,
+in it, had the family taken back to their cottage, and bestowed upon them
+every attention and every necessary assistance.  Her heart was always
+open to the feelings of compassion, and the recollection of her rank
+never restrained her sensibility.  Several persons in her service entered
+her room one evening, expecting to find nobody there but the officer in
+waiting; they perceived the young Princess seated by the side of this
+man, who was advanced in years; she had placed near him a bowl full of
+water, was stanching the blood which issued from a wound he had received
+in his hand with her handkerchief, which she had torn up to bind it, and
+was fulfilling towards him all the duties of a pious sister of charity.
+The old man, affected even to tears, out of respect allowed his august
+mistress to act as she thought proper.  He had hurt himself in
+endeavouring to move a rather heavy piece of furniture at the Princess's
+request.
+
+In the month of July, 1770, an unfortunate occurrence that took place in
+a family which the Dauphiness honoured with her favour contributed again
+to show not only her sensibility but also the benevolence of her
+disposition.  One of her women in waiting had a son who was an officer in
+the gens d'armes of the guard; this young man thought himself affronted
+by a clerk in the War Department, and imprudently sent him a challenge;
+he killed his adversary in the forest of Compiegne.  The family of the
+young man who was killed, being in possession of the challenge, demanded
+justice.  The King, distressed on account of several duels which had
+recently taken place, had unfortunately declared that he would show no
+mercy on the first event of that kind which could be proved; the culprit
+was therefore arrested.  His mother, in the deepest grief, hastened to
+throw herself at the feet of the Dauphiness, the Dauphin, and the young
+Princesses.  After an hour's supplication they obtained from the King the
+favour so much desired.  On the next day a lady of rank, while
+congratulating the Dauphiness, had the malice to add that the mother had
+neglected no means of success on the occasion, having solicited not only
+the royal family, but even Madame du Barry.  The Dauphiness replied that
+the fact justified the favourable opinion she had formed of the worthy
+woman; that the heart of a mother should hesitate at nothing for the
+salvation of her son; and that in her place, if she had thought it would
+be serviceable, she would have thrown herself at the feet of Zamor.
+
+     [A little Indian who carried the Comtesse du Barry's train.  Louis
+     XV.  often amused himself with the little marmoset, and jestingly
+     made him Governor of Louveciennes; he received an annual income of
+     3,000 francs.]
+
+Some time after the marriage entertainments the Dauphiness made her entry
+into Paris, and was received with transports of joy.  After dining in the
+King's apartment at the Tuileries, she was forced, by the reiterated
+shouts of the multitude, with whom the garden was filled, to present
+herself upon the balcony fronting the principal walk.  On seeing such a
+crowd of heads with their eyes fixed upon her, she exclaimed, "Grand-
+Dieu! what a concourse!"--"Madame," said the old Duc de Brissac, the
+Governor of Paris, "I may tell you, without fear of offending the
+Dauphin, that they are so many lovers."  2 The Dauphin took no umbrage at
+either acclamations or marks of homage of which the Dauphiness was the
+object.  The most mortifying indifference, a coldness which frequently
+degenerated into rudeness, were the sole feelings which the young Prince
+then manifested towards her.  Not all her charms could gain even upon his
+senses.  This estrangement, which lasted a long time, was said to be the
+work of the Duc de La Vauguyon.
+
+The Dauphiness, in fact, had no sincere friends at Court except the Duc
+de Choiseul and his party.  Will it be credited that the plans laid
+against Marie Antoinette went so far as divorce?  I have been assured of
+it by persons holding high situations at Court, and many circumstances
+tend to confirm the opinion.  On the journey to Fontainebleau, in the
+year of the marriage, the inspectors of public buildings were gained over
+to manage so that the apartment intended for the Dauphin, communicating
+with that of the Dauphiness, should not be finished, and a room at the
+extremity of the building was temporarily assigned to him.  The
+Dauphiness, aware that this was the result of intrigue, had the courage
+to complain of it to Louis XV., who, after severe reprimands, gave orders
+so positive that within the week the apartment was ready.  Every method
+was tried to continue or augment the indifference which the Dauphin long
+manifested towards his youthful spouse.  She was deeply hurt at it, but
+she never suffered herself to utter the slightest complaint on the
+subject.  Inattention to, even contempt for, the charms which she heard
+extolled on all sides, nothing induced her to break silence; and some
+tears, which would involuntarily burst from her eyes, were the sole
+symptoms of her inward sufferings discoverable by those in her service.
+
+Once only, when tired out with the misplaced remonstrances of an old lady
+attached to her person, who wished to dissuade her from riding on
+horseback, under the impression that it would prevent her producing heirs
+to the crown, "Mademoiselle," said she, "in God's name, leave me in
+peace; be assured that I can put no heir in danger."
+
+The Dauphiness found at the Court of Louis XV., besides the three
+Princesses, the King's daughters, the Princes also, brothers of the
+Dauphin, who were receiving their education, and Clotilde and Elisabeth,
+still in the care of Madame de Marsan, governess of the children of
+France.  The elder of the two latter Princesses, in 1777, married the
+Prince of Piedmont, afterwards King of Sardinia.  This Princess was in
+her infancy, so extremely large that the people nicknamed her 'gros
+Madame.'
+
+     [Madame Clotilde of France, a sister of the King, was
+     extraordinarily fat for her height and age.  One of her playfellows,
+     having been indiscreet enough even in her presence to make use of
+     the nickname given to her, received a severe reprimand from the
+     Comtesse de Marsan, who hinted to her that she would do well in not
+     making her appearance again before the Princess.  Madame Clotilde
+     sent for her the next day: "My governess," said she, "has done her
+     duty, and I will do mine; come and see me as usual, and think no
+     more of a piece of inadvertence, which I myself have forgotten."
+     This Princess, so heavy in body, possessed the most agreeable and
+     playful wit.  Her affability and grace rendered her dear to all who
+     came near her.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR]
+
+The second Princess was the pious Elisabeth, the victim of her respect
+and tender attachment for the King, her brother.  She was still scarcely
+out of her leading-strings at the period of the Dauphin's marriage.  The
+Dauphiness showed her marked preference.  The governess, who sought to
+advance the Princess to whom nature had been least favourable, was
+offended at the Dauphiness's partiality for Madame Elisabeth, and by her
+injudicious complaints weakened the friendship which yet subsisted
+between Madame Clotilde and Marie Antoinette.  There even arose some
+degree of rivalry on the subject of education; and that which the Empress
+Maria Theresa bestowed on her daughters was talked of openly and
+unfavourably enough.  The Abbe de Vermond thought himself affronted,
+took a part in the quarrel, and added his complaints and jokes to those
+of the Dauphiness on the criticisms of the governess; he even indulged
+himself in his turn in reflections on the tuition of Madame Clotilde.
+Everything becomes known at Court.  Madame de Marsan was informed of all
+that had been said in the Dauphiness's circle, and was very angry with
+her on account of it.
+
+From that moment a centre of intrigue, or rather gossip, against Marie
+Antoinette was established round Madame de Marsan's fireside; her most
+trifling actions were there construed ill; her gaiety, and the harmless
+amusements in which she sometimes indulged in her own apartments with the
+more youthful ladies of her train, and even with the women in her
+service, were stigmatised as criminal.  Prince Louis de Rohan, sent
+through the influence of this clique ambassador to Vienna, was the echo
+there of these unmerited comments, and threw himself into a series of
+culpable accusations which he proffered under the guise of zeal.  He
+ceaselessly represented the young Dauphiness as alienating all hearts by
+levities unsuitable to the dignity of the French Court.  The Princess
+frequently received from the Court of Vienna remonstrances, of the origin
+of which she could not long remain in ignorance.  From this period must
+be dated that aversion which she never ceased to manifest for the Prince
+de Rohan.
+
+About the same time the Dauphiness received information of a letter
+written by Prince Louis to the Duc d'Aiguillon, in which the ambassador
+expressed himself in very free language respecting the intentions of
+Maria Theresa with relation to the partition of Poland.  This letter of
+Prince Louis had been read at the Comtesse du Barry's; the levity of the
+ambassador's correspondence wounded the feelings and the dignity of the
+Dauphiness at Versailles, while at Vienna the representations which he
+made to Maria Theresa against the young Princess terminated in rendering
+the motives of his incessant complaints suspected by the Empress.
+
+Maria Theresa at length determined on sending her private secretary,
+Baron de Neni, to Versailles, with directions to observe the conduct of
+the Dauphiness with attention, and form a just estimate of the opinion of
+the Court and of Paris with regard to that Princess.  The Baron de Neni,
+after having devoted sufficient time and intelligence to the subject,
+undeceived his sovereign as to the exaggerations of the French
+ambassador; and the Empress had no difficulty in detecting, among the
+calumnies which he had conveyed to her under the specious excuse of
+anxiety for her august daughter, proofs of the enmity of a, party which
+had never approved of the alliance of the House of Bourbon with her own.
+
+At this period the Dauphiness, though unable to obtain any influence over
+the heart of her husband, dreading Louis XV., and justly mistrusting
+everything connected with Madame du Barry and the Duc d'Aiguillon, had
+not deserved the slightest reproach for that sort of levity which hatred
+and her misfortunes afterwards construed into crime.  The Empress,
+convinced of the innocence of Marie Antoinette, directed the Baron de
+Neni to solicit the recall of the Prince de Rohan, and to inform the
+Minister for Foreign Affairs of all the motives which made her require
+it; but the House of Rohan interposed between its protege and the
+Austrian envoy, and an evasive answer merely was given.
+
+It was not until two months after the death of Louis XV.  that the Court
+of Vienna obtained his recall.  The avowed grounds for requiring it were,
+first, the public gallantries of Prince Louis with some ladies of the
+Court and others; secondly, his surliness and haughtiness towards other
+foreign ministers, which would have had more serious consequences,
+especially with the ministers of England and Denmark, if the Empress
+herself had not interfered; thirdly, his contempt for religion in a
+country where it was particularly necessary to show respect for it.
+He had been seen frequently to dress himself in clothes of different
+colours, assuming the hunting uniforms of various noblemen whom he
+visited, with so much audacity that one day in particular, during the
+Fete-Dieu, he and all his legation, in green uniforms laced with gold,
+broke through a procession which impeded them, in order to make their way
+to a hunting party at the Prince de Paar's; and fourthly, the immense
+debts contracted by him and his people, which were tardily and only in
+part discharged.
+
+The succeeding marriages of the Comte de Provence and the Comte d'Artois
+with two daughters of the King of Sardinia procured society for the
+Dauphiness more suitable to her age, and altered her mode of life.
+
+A pair of tolerably fine eyes drew forth, in favour of the Comtesse de
+Provence, upon her arrival at Versailles, the only praises which could
+reasonably be bestowed upon her.  The Comtesse d'Artois, though not
+deformed, was very small; she had a fine complexion; her face, tolerably
+pleasing, was not remarkable for anything except the extreme length of
+the nose.  But being good and generous, she was beloved by those about
+her, and even possessed some influence so long as she was the only
+Princess who had produced heirs to the crown.
+
+From this time the closest intimacy subsisted between the three young
+families.  They took their meals together, except on those days when they
+dined in public.  This manner of living en famille continued until the
+Queen sometimes indulged herself in going to dine with the Duchesse de
+Polignac, when she was governess; but the evening meetings at supper were
+never interrupted; they took place at the house of the Comtesse de
+Provence.  Madame Elisabeth made one of the party when she had finished
+her education, and sometimes Mesdames, the King's aunts, were invited.
+The custom, which had no precedent at Court, was the work of Marie
+Antoinette, and she maintained it with the utmost perseverance.
+
+The Court of Versailles saw no change in point of etiquette during the
+reign of Louis XV.  Play took place at the house of the Dauphiness, as
+being the first lady of the State.  It had, from the death of Queen Maria
+Leczinska to the marriage of the Dauphin, been held at the abode of
+Madame Adelade.  This removal, the result of an order of precedence not
+to be violated, was not the less displeasing to Madame Adelaide, who
+established a separate party for play in her apartments, and scarcely
+ever went to that which not only the Court in general, but also the royal
+family, were expected to attend.  The full-dress visits to the King on
+his 'debotter' were continued.  High mass was attended daily.  The
+airings of the Princesses were nothing more than rapid races in berlins,
+during which they were accompanied by Body Guards, equerries, and pages
+on horseback.  They galloped for some leagues from Versailles.  Calashes
+were used only in hunting.
+
+The young Princesses were desirous to infuse animation into their circle
+of associates by something useful as well as pleasant.  They adopted the
+plan of learning and performing all the best plays of the French theatre.
+The Dauphin was the only spectator.  The three Princesses, the two
+brothers of the King, and Messieurs Campan, father and son, were the sole
+performers, but they endeavoured to keep this amusement as secret as an
+affair of State; they dreaded the censure of Mesdames, and they had no
+doubt that Louis XV. would forbid such pastimes if he knew of them.  They
+selected for their performance a cabinet in the entresol which nobody had
+occasion to enter.
+
+A kind of proscenium, which could be taken down and shut up in a closet,
+formed the whole theatre.  The Comte de Provence always knew his part
+with imperturbable accuracy; the Comte d'Artois knew his tolerably well,
+and recited elegantly; the Princesses acted badly.  The Dauphiness
+acquitted herself in some characters with discrimination and feeling.
+The chief pleasure of this amusement consisted in all the costumes being
+elegant and accurate.  The Dauphin entered into the spirit of these
+diversions, and laughed heartily at the comic characters as they came on
+the scene; from these amusements may be dated his discontinuance of the
+timid manner of his youth, and his taking pleasure in the society of the
+Dauphiness.
+
+It was not till a long time afterwards that I learnt these particulars,
+M. Campan having kept the secret; but an unforeseen event had well-nigh
+exposed the whole mystery.  One day the Queen desired M. Campan to go
+down into her closet to fetch something that she had forgotten; he was
+dressed for the character of Crispin, and was rouged.  A private
+staircase led direct to the entresol through the dressing-room.  M.
+Campan fancied he heard some noise, and remained still, behind the door,
+which was shut.  A servant belonging to the wardrobe, who was, in fact,
+on the staircase, had also heard some noise, and, either from fear or
+curiosity, he suddenly opened the door; the figure of Crispin frightened
+him so that he fell down backwards, shouting with his might, "Help!
+help!"  My father-in-law raised him up, made him recognise his voice,
+and laid upon him an injunction of silence as to what he had seen.
+He felt himself, however, bound to inform the Dauphiness of what had
+happened, and she was afraid that a similar occurrence might betray their
+amusements.  They were therefore discontinued.
+
+The Princess occupied her time in her own apartment in the study of music
+and the parts in plays which she had to learn; the latter exercise, at
+least, produced the beneficial effect of strengthening her memory and
+familiarising her with the French language.
+
+While Louis XV.  reigned, the enemies of Marie Antoinette made no attempt
+to change public opinion with regard to her.  She was always popular with
+the French people in general, and particularly with the inhabitants of
+Paris, who went on every opportunity to Versailles, the majority of them
+attracted solely by the pleasure of seeing her.  The courtiers did not
+fully enter into the popular enthusiasm which the Dauphiness had
+inspired; the disgrace of the Duc de Choiseul had removed her real
+support from her; and the party which had the ascendency at Court since
+the exile of that minister was, politically, as much opposed to her
+family as to herself.  The Dauphiness was therefore surrounded by enemies
+at Versailles.
+
+Nevertheless everybody appeared outwardly desirous to please her; for the
+age of Louis XV., and the apathetic character of the Dauphin,
+sufficiently warned courtiers of the important part reserved for the
+Princess during the following reign, in case the Dauphin should become
+attached to her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+About the beginning of May, 1774, Louis XV., the strength of whose
+constitution had promised a long enough life, was attacked by confluent
+smallpox of the worst kind.  Mesdames at this juncture inspired the
+Dauphiness with a feeling of respect and attachment, of which she gave
+them repeated proofs when she ascended the throne.  In fact, nothing was
+more admirable nor more affecting than the courage with which they braved
+that most horrible disease.  The air of the palace was infected; more
+than fifty persons took the smallpox, in consequence of having merely
+loitered in the galleries of Versailles, and ten died of it.
+
+The end of the monarch was approaching.  His reign, peaceful in general,
+had inherited strength from the power of his predecessor; on the other
+hand, his own weakness had been preparing misfortune for whoever should
+reign after him.  The scene was about to change; hope, ambition, joy,
+grief, and all those feelings which variously affected the hearts of the
+courtiers, sought in vain to disguise themselves under a calm exterior.
+It was easy to detect the different motives which induced them every
+moment to repeat to every one the question: "How is the King?"  At
+length, on the 10th of May, 1774, the mortal career of Louis XV.
+terminated.
+
+     [Christopher de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, the ardent apostle of
+     frequent communion, arrived at Paris with the intention of
+     soliciting, in public, the administration of the sacrament to the
+     King, and secretly retarding it as much as possible.  The ceremony
+     could not take place without the previous and public expulsion of
+     the, concubine, according to the canons of the Church and the
+     Jesuitical party, of which Christopher was the leader.  This party,
+     which had made use of Madame du Barry to suppress the Parliaments,
+     to support the Duc d'Aiguillon, and ruin the Choiseul faction, could
+     not willingly consent to disgrace her canonically.  The Archbishop
+     went into the King's bedchamber, and found there Madame Adelaide,
+     the Duc d'Aumont, the Bishop of Senlis, and Richelieu, in whose
+     presence he resolved not to say one word about confession for that
+     day.  This reticence so encouraged Louis XV. that, on the Archbishop
+     withdrawing, he had Madame du Barry called in, and kissed her
+     beautiful hands again with his wonted affection.  On the 2d of May
+     the King found himself a little better.  Madame du Barry had brought
+     him two confidential physicians, Lorry and Borden, who were enjoined
+     to conceal the nature of his sickness from him in order to keep off
+     the priests and save her from a humiliating dismissal.  The King's
+     improvement allowed Madame du Barry to divert him by her usual
+     playfulness and conversation.  But La Martiniere, who was of the
+     Choiseul party, and to whom they durst not refuse his right of
+     entry, did not conceal from the King either the nature or the danger
+     of his sickness.  The King then sent for Madame du Barry, and said
+     to her: "My love, I have got the smallpox, and my illness is very
+     dangerous on account of my age and other disorders.  I ought not to
+     forget that I am the most Christian King, and the eldest son of the
+     Church.  I am sixty-four; the time is perhaps approaching when we
+     must separate.  I wish to prevent a scene like that of Metz."
+     (when, in 1744, he had dismissed the Duchesse de Chateauroux.)
+     "Apprise the Duc d'Aiguillon of what I say, that he may arrange with
+     you if my sickness grows worse; so that we may part without any
+     publicity."  The Jansenists and the Duc de Choiseurs party publicly
+     said that M. d'Aiguillon and the Archbishop had resolved to let the
+     King die without receiving the sacrament rather than disturb Madame
+     du Barry.  Annoyed by their remarks, Beaumont determined to go and
+     reside at the Lazaristes, his house at Versailles, to avail himself
+     of the King's last moments, and sacrifice Madame du Barry when the
+     monarch's condition should become desperate.  He arrived on the 3d
+     of May, but did not see the King.  Under existing circumstances, his
+     object was to humble the enemies of his party and to support the
+     favourite who had assisted to overcome them.
+
+     A contrary zeal animated the Bishop of Carcassonne, who urged that
+     "the King ought to receive the sacrament; and by expelling the
+     concubine to give an example of repentance to France and Christian
+     Europe, which he had scandalised."--" By what right," said Cardinal
+     de la Roche-Aymon, a complaisant courtier with whom the Bishop was
+     at daggers drawn, "do you instruct me?"--"There is my authority,"
+     replied the Bishop, holding up his pectoral cross.  "Learn,
+     monseigneur, to respect it, and do not suffer your King to die
+     without the sacraments of the Church, of which he is the eldest
+     son."  The Duc d'Aiguillon and the Archbishop, who witnessed the
+     discussion, put an end to it by asking for the King's orders
+     relative to Madame du Barry.  "She must be taken quietly to your
+     seat at Ruelle," said the King; "I shall be grateful for the care
+     Madame d'Aiguillon may take of her."
+
+     Madame du Barry saw the King again for a moment on the evening of
+     the 4th, and promised to return to Court upon his recovery.  She was
+     scarcely gone when the King asked for her.  "She is gone," was the
+     answer.  From that moment the disorder gained ground; he thought
+     himself a dead man, without the possibility of recovery.  The 5th
+     and 6th passed without a word of confession, viaticum, or extreme
+     unction.  The Duc de Fronsac threatened to throw the Cure of
+     Versailles out of the window if he dared to mention them, but on the
+     7th, at three in the morning, the King imperatively called for the
+     Abbe Maudous.  Confession lasted seventeen minutes.  The Ducs de la
+     Vrillilere and d'Aiguillon wished to delay the viaticum; but La
+     Martiniere said to the King: "Sire, I have seen your Majesty in very
+     trying circumstances; but never admired you as I have done to-day.
+     No doubt your Majesty will immediately finish what you have so well
+     begun."  The King had his confessor Maudoua called back; this was a
+     poor priest who had been placed about him for some years before
+     because he was old and blind.  He gave him absolution.
+
+     The formal renunciation desired by the Choiseul party, in order to
+     humble and annihilate Madame du Barry with solemnity, was no more
+     mentioned.  The grand almoner, in concert with the Archbishop,
+     composed this formula, pronounced in presence of the viaticum:
+     "Although the King owes an account of his conduct to none but God,
+     he declares his repentance at having scandalised his subjects, and
+     is desirous to live solely for the maintenance of religion and the
+     happiness of his people."
+
+     On the 8th and 9th the disorder grew worse; and the King beheld the
+     whole surface of his body coming off piecemeal and corrupted.
+     Deserted by his friends and by that crowd of courtiers which had so
+     long cringed before him, his only consolation was the piety of his
+     daughters.--SOULAVIE, "Historical and Political Memoirs," vol. i.]
+
+The Comtesse du Barry had, a few days previously, withdrawn to Ruelle, to
+the Duc d'Aiguillon's.  Twelve or fifteen persons belonging to the Court
+thought it their duty to visit her there; their liveries were observed,
+and these visits were for a long time grounds for disfavour.  More than
+six years after the King's death one of these persons being spoken of in
+the circle of the royal family, I heard it remarked, "That was one of the
+fifteen Ruelle carriages."
+
+The whole Court went to the Chateau; the oiel-de boeuf was filled with
+courtiers, and the palace with the inquisitive.  The Dauphin had settled
+that he would depart with the royal family the moment the King should
+breathe his last sigh.  But on such an occasion decency forbade that
+positive orders for departure should be passed from mouth to mouth.  The
+heads of the stables, therefore, agreed with the people who were in the
+King's room, that the latter should place a lighted taper near a window,
+and that at the instant of the King's decease one of them should
+extinguish it.
+
+The taper was extinguished.  On this signal the Body Guards, pages, and
+equerries mounted on horseback, and all was ready for setting off.  The
+Dauphin was with the Dauphiness.  They were expecting together the
+intelligence of the death of Louis XV.  A dreadful noise, absolutely like
+thunder, was heard in the outer apartment; it was the crowd of courtiers
+who were deserting the dead sovereign's antechamber, to come and do
+homage to the new power of Louis XVI.  This extraordinary tumult informed
+Marie Antoinette and her husband that they were called to the throne;
+and, by a spontaneous movement, which deeply affected those around them,
+they threw themselves on their knees; both, pouring forth a flood of
+tears, exclaimed: "O God! guide us, protect us; we are too young to
+reign."
+
+The Comtesse de Noailles entered, and was the first to salute Marie
+Antoinette as Queen of France.  She requested their Majesties to
+condescend to quit the inner apartments for the grand salon, to receive
+the Princes and all the great officers, who were desirous to do homage to
+their new sovereigns.  Marie Antoinette received these first visits
+leaning upon her husband, with her handkerchief held to her eyes; the
+carriages drove up, the guards and equerries were on horseback.  The
+Chateau was deserted; every one hastened to fly from contagion, which
+there was no longer any inducement to brave.
+
+On leaving the chamber of Louis XV., the Duc de Villequier, first
+gentleman of the bedchamber for the year, ordered M. Andouille, the
+King's chief surgeon, to open the body and embalm it.  The chief surgeon
+would inevitably have died in consequence.  "I am ready," replied
+Andouille; "but while I operate you shall hold the head; your office
+imposes this duty upon you."  The Duke went off without saying a word,
+and the corpse was neither opened nor embalmed.  A few under-servants and
+workmen continued with the pestiferous remains, and paid the last duty to
+their master; the surgeons directed that spirits of wine should be poured
+into the coffin.
+
+The entire Court set off for Choisy at four o'clock; Mesdames the King's
+aunts in their private carriage, and the Princesses under tuition with
+the Comtesse de Marsan and the under-governesses.  The King, the Queen,
+Monsieur, the King's brother, Madame, and the Comte and Comtesse d'Artois
+went in the same carriage.  The solemn scene that had just passed before
+their eyes, the multiplied ideas offered to their imaginations by that
+which was just opening, had naturally inclined them to grief and
+reflection; but, by the Queen's own confession, this inclination, little
+suited to their age, wholly left them before they had gone half their
+journey; a word, drolly mangled by the Comtesse d'Artois, occasioned a
+general burst of laughter; and from that moment they dried their tears.
+
+The communication between Choisy and Paris was incessant; never was a
+Court seen in greater agitation.  What influence will the royal aunts
+have,--and the Queen?  What fate is reserved for the Comtesse du Barry?
+Whom will the young King choose for his ministers?  All these questions
+were answered in a few days.  It was determined that the King's youth
+required a confidential person near him; and that there should be a prime
+minister.  All eyes were turned upon De Machault and De Maurepas, both of
+them much advanced in years.  The first had retired to his estate near
+Paris; and the second to Pont Chartrain, to which place he had long been
+exiled.  The letter recalling M. de Machault was written, when Madame
+Adelaide obtained the preference of that important appointment for M. de
+Maurepas.  The page to whose care the first letter had been actually
+consigned was recalled.
+
+The Duc d'Aiguillon had been too openly known as the private friend of
+the King's mistress; he was dismissed.  M. de Vergennes, at that time
+ambassador of France at Stockholm, was appointed Minister for Foreign
+Affairs; Comte du Muy, the intimate friend of the Dauphin, the father of
+Louis XVI.[?? D.W.], obtained the War Department.  The Abbe Terray in
+vain said, and wrote, that he had boldly done all possible injury to the
+creditors of the State during the reign of the late King; that order was
+restored in the finances; that nothing but what was beneficial to all
+parties remained to be done; and that the new Court was about to enjoy
+the advantages of the regenerating part of his plan of finance; all these
+reasons, set forth in five or six memorials, which he sent in succession
+to the King and Queen, did not avail to keep him in office.  His talents
+were admitted, but the odium which his operations had necessarily brought
+upon his character, combined with the immorality of his private life,
+forbade his further stay at Court; he was succeeded by M. de Clugny.  De
+Maupeou, the chancellor, was exiled; this caused universal joy.  Lastly,
+the reassembling of the Parliaments produced the strongest sensation;
+Paris was in a delirium of joy, and not more than one person in a hundred
+foresaw that the spirit of the ancient magistracy would be still the
+same; and that in a short time it would make new attempts upon the royal
+authority.  Madame du Barry had been exiled to Pont-aux-Dames.  This was
+a measure rather of necessity than of severity; a short period of
+compulsory retreat was requisite in order completely to break off her
+connections with State affairs.  The possession of Louveciennes and a
+considerable pension were continued to her.
+
+     [The Comtesse du Barry never forgot the mild treatment she
+     experienced from the Court of Louis XVI.; during the most violent
+     convulsions of the Revolution she signified to the Queen that there
+     was no one in France more grieved at the sufferings of her sovereign
+     than herself; that the honour she had for years enjoyed, of living
+     near the throne, and the unbounded kindness of the King and Queen,
+     had so sincerely attached her to the cause of royalty that she
+     entreated the Queen to honour her by disposing of all she possessed.
+     Though they did not accept her offer, their Majesties were affected
+     at her gratitude.  The Comtesse du Barry was, as is well known, one
+     of the victims of the Revolution.  She betrayed at the last great
+     weakness, and the most ardent desire to live.  She was the only
+     woman who wept upon the scaffold and implored for mercy.  Her beauty
+     and tears made an impression on the populace, and the execution was
+     hurried to a conclusion.--MADAME CAMPAN.]
+
+Everybody expected the recall of M. de Choiseul; the regret occasioned
+by his absence among the numerous friends whom he had left at Court,
+the attachment of the young Princess who was indebted to him for her
+elevation to the throne of France, and all concurring circumstances,
+seemed to foretell his return; the Queen earnestly entreated it of the
+King, but she met with an insurmountable and unforeseen obstacle.  The
+King, it is said, had imbibed the strongest prejudices against that
+minister, from secret memoranda penned by his father, and which had been
+committed to the care of the Duc de La Vauguyon, with an injunction to
+place them in his hands as soon as he should be old enough to study the
+art of reigning.  It was by these memoranda that the esteem which he had
+conceived for the Marechal du Muy was inspired, and we may add that
+Madame Adelaide, who at this early period powerfully influenced the
+decisions of the young monarch, confirmed the impressions they had made.
+
+The Queen conversed with M. Campan on the regret she felt at having been
+unable to procure the recall of M. de Choiseul, and disclosed the cause
+of it to him.  The Abbe de Vermond, who, down to the time of the death of
+Louis XV., had been on terms of the strictest friendship with M. Campan,
+called upon him on the second day after the arrival of the Court at
+Choisy, and, assuming a serious air, said, "Monsieur, the Queen was
+indiscreet enough yesterday to speak to you of a minister to whom she
+must of course be attached, and whom his friends ardently desire to have
+near her; you are aware that we must give up all expectation of seeing
+the Duke at Court; you know the reasons why; but you do not know that the
+young Queen, having mentioned the conversation in question to me, it was
+my duty, both as her preceptor and her friend, to remonstrate severely
+with her on her indiscretion in communicating to you those particulars of
+which you are in possession.  I am now come to tell you that if you
+continue to avail yourself of the good nature of your mistress to
+initiate yourself in secrets of State, you will have me for your most
+inveterate enemy.  The Queen should find here no other confidant than
+myself respecting things that ought to remain secret."  M. Campan
+answered that he did not covet the important and dangerous character at
+the new Court which the Abbe wished to appropriate; and that he should
+confine himself to the duties of his office, being sufficiently satisfied
+with the continued kindness with which the Queen honoured him.
+Notwithstanding this, however, he informed the Queen, on the very same
+evening, of the injunction he had received.  She owned that she had
+mentioned their conversation to the Abbe; that he had indeed seriously
+scolded her, in order to make her feel the necessity of being secret in
+concerns of State; and she added, "The Abbe cannot like you, my dear
+Campan; he did not expect that I should, on my arrival in France, find in
+my household a man who would suit me so exactly as you have done.  I know
+that he has taken umbrage at it; that is enough.  I know, too, that you
+are incapable of attempting anything to injure him in my esteem; an
+attempt which would besides be vain, for I have been too long attached to
+him.  As to yourself, be easy on the score of the Abbe's hostility, which
+shall not in any way hurt you."
+
+The Abbe de Vermond having made himself master of the office of sole
+confidant to the Queen, was nevertheless agitated whenever he saw the
+young King; he could not be ignorant that the Abbe had been promoted by
+the Duc de Choiseul, and was believed to favour the Encyclopedists,
+against whom Louis XVI.  entertained a secret prejudice, although he
+suffered them to gain so great an ascendency during his reign.  The Abbe
+had, moreover, observed that the King had never, while Dauphin, addressed
+a single word to him; and that he very frequently only answered him with
+a shrug of the shoulders.  He therefore determined on writing to Louis
+XVI., and intimating that he owed his situation at Court solely to the
+confidence with which the late King had honoured him; and that as habits
+contracted during the Queen's education placed him continually in the
+closest intimacy with her, he could not enjoy the honour of remaining
+near her Majesty without the King's consent.  Louis XVI. sent back his
+letter, after writing upon it these words: "I approve the Abbe de Vermond
+continuing in his office about the Queen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+At the period of his grandfather's death, Louis XVI. began to be
+exceedingly attached to the Queen.  The first period of so deep a
+mourning not admitting of indulgence in the diversion of hunting, he
+proposed to her walks in the gardens of Choisy; they went out like
+husband and wife, the young King giving his arm to the Queen, and
+accompanied by a very small suite.  The influence of this example had
+such an effect upon the courtiers that the next day several couples, who
+had long, and for good reasons, been disunited, were seen walking upon
+the terrace with the same apparent conjugal intimacy.  Thus they spent
+whole hours, braving the intolerable wearisomeness of their protracted
+tete-a-tetes, out of mere obsequious imitation.
+
+The devotion of Mesdames to the King their father throughout his dreadful
+malady had produced that effect upon their health which was generally
+apprehended.  On the fourth day after their arrival at Choisy they were
+attacked by pains in the head and chest, which left no doubt as to the
+danger of their situation.  It became necessary instantly to send away
+the young royal family; and the Chateau de la Muette, in the Bois de
+Boulogne, was selected for their reception.  Their arrival at that
+residence, which was very near Paris, drew so great a concourse of people
+into its neighbourhood, that even at daybreak the crowd had begun to
+assemble round the gates.  Shouts of "Vive le Roi!"  were scarcely
+interrupted for a moment between six o'clock in the morning and sunset.
+The unpopularity the late King, had drawn upon himself during his latter
+years, and the hopes to which a new reign gives birth, occasioned these
+transports of joy.
+
+A fashionable jeweller made a fortune by the sale of mourning snuff-
+boxes, whereon the portrait of the young Queen, in a black frame of
+shagreen, gave rise to the pun: "Consolation in chagrin."  All the
+fashions, and every article of dress, received names expressing the
+spirit of the moment.  Symbols of abundance were everywhere represented,
+and the head-dresses of the ladies were surrounded by ears of wheat.
+Poets sang of the new monarch; all hearts, or rather all heads, in France
+were filled with enthusiasm.  Never did the commencement of any reign
+excite more unanimous testimonials of love and attachment.  It must be
+observed, however, that, amidst all this intoxication, the anti-Austrian
+party never lost sight of the young Queen, but kept on the watch, with
+the malicious desire to injure her through such errors as might arise
+from her youth and inexperience.
+
+Their Majesties had to receive at La Muette the condolences of the ladies
+who had been presented at Court, who all felt themselves called on to pay
+homage to the new sovereigns.  Old and young hastened to present
+themselves on the day of general reception; little black bonnets with
+great wings, shaking heads, low curtsies, keeping time with the motions
+of the head, made, it must be admitted, a few venerable dowagers appear
+somewhat ridiculous; but the Queen, who possessed a great deal of
+dignity, and a high respect for decorum, was not guilty of the grave
+fault of losing the state she was bound to preserve.  An indiscreet piece
+of drollery of one of the ladies of the palace, however, procured her the
+imputation of doing so.  The Marquise de Clermont-Tonnerre, whose office
+required that she should continue standing behind the Queen, fatigued by
+the length of the ceremony, seated herself on the floor, concealed behind
+the fence formed by the hoops of the Queen and the ladies of the palace.
+Thus seated, and wishing to attract attention and to appear lively, she
+twitched the dresses of those ladies, and played a thousand other tricks.
+The contrast of these childish pranks with the solemnity which reigned
+over the rest of the Queen's chamber disconcerted her Majesty: she
+several times placed her fan before her face to hide an involuntary
+smile, and the severe old ladies pronounced that the young Queen had
+decided all those respectable persons who were pressing forward to pay
+their homage to her; that she liked none but the young; that she was
+deficient in decorum; and that not one of them would attend her Court
+again.  The epithet 'moqueuse' was applied to her; and there is no
+epithet less favourably received in the world.
+
+The next day a very ill-natured song was circulated; the stamp of the
+party to which it was attributable might easily be seen upon it.  I
+remember only the following chorus:
+
+                   "Little Queen, you must not be
+                    So saucy, with your twenty years;
+                    Your ill-used courtiers soon will see
+                    You pass, once more, the barriers.
+                    Fal lal lal, fal lal la."
+
+The errors of the great, or those which ill-nature chooses to impute to
+them, circulate in the world with the greatest rapidity, and become
+historical traditions, which every one delights to repeat.
+
+More than fifteen years after this occurrence I heard some old ladies in
+the most retired part of Auvergne relating all the particulars of the day
+of public condolence for the late King, on which, as they said, the Queen
+had laughed in the faces of the sexagenarian duchesses and princesses who
+had thought it their duty to appear on the occasion.
+
+The King and the Princes, his brothers, determined to avail themselves of
+the advantages held out by inoculation, as a safeguard against the
+illness under which their grandfather had just fallen; but the utility of
+this new discovery not being then generally acknowledged in France, many
+persons were greatly alarmed at the step; those who blamed it openly
+threw all the responsibility of it upon the Queen, who alone, they said,
+could have ventured to give such rash advice, inoculation being at this
+time established in the Northern Courts.  The operation upon the King and
+his brothers, performed by Doctor Jauberthou, was fortunately quite
+successful.
+
+When the convalescence of the Princes was perfectly established, the
+excursions to Marly became cheerful enough.  Parties on horseback and in
+calashes were formed continually.  The Queen was desirous to afford
+herself one very innocent gratification; she had never seen the day
+break; and having now no other consent than that of the King to seek,
+she intimated her wish to him.  He agreed that she should go, at three
+o'clock in the morning, to the eminences of the gardens of Marly; and,
+unfortunately, little disposed to partake in her amusements, he himself
+went to bed.  Foreseeing some inconveniences possible in this nocturnal
+party, the Queen determined on having a number of people with her; and
+even ordered her waiting women to accompany her.  All precautions were
+ineffectual to prevent the effects of calumny, which thenceforward sought
+to diminish the general attachment that she had inspired.  A few days
+afterwards, the most wicked libel that appeared during the earlier years
+of her reign was circulated in Paris.  The blackest colours were employed
+to paint an enjoyment so harmless that there is scarcely a young woman
+living in the country who has not endeavoured to procure it for herself.
+The verses which appeared on this occasion were entitled "Sunrise."
+
+The Duc d'Orleans, then Duc de Chartres, was among those who accompanied
+the young Queen in her nocturnal ramble: he appeared very attentive to
+her at this epoch; but it was the only moment of his life in which there
+was any advance towards intimacy between the Queen and himself.  The King
+disliked the character of the Duc de Chartres, and the Queen always
+excluded him from her private society.  It is therefore without the
+slightest foundation that some writers have attributed to feelings of
+jealousy or wounded self-love the hatred which he displayed towards the
+Queen during the latter years of their existence.
+
+It was on this first journey to Marly that Boehmer, the jeweller,
+appeared at Court,--a man whose stupidity and avarice afterwards fatally
+affected the happiness and reputation of Marie Antoinette.  This person
+had, at great expense, collected six pear-formed diamonds of a prodigious
+size; they were perfectly matched and of the finest water.  The earrings
+which they composed had, before the death of Louis XV., been destined for
+the Comtesse du Barry.
+
+Boehmer; by the recommendation of several persons about the Court, came
+to offer these jewels to the Queen.  He asked four hundred thousand
+francs for them.  The young Princess could not withstand her wish to
+purchase them; and the King having just raised the Queen's income, which,
+under the former reign, had been but two hundred thousand livres, to one
+hundred thousand crowns a year, she wished to make the purchase out of
+her own purse, and not burthen the royal treasury with the payment.  She
+proposed to Boehmer to take off the two buttons which formed the tops of
+the clusters, as they could be replaced by two of her own diamonds.  He
+consented, and then reduced the price of the earrings to three hundred
+and sixty thousand francs; the payment for which was to be made by
+instalments, and was discharged in the course of four or five years by
+the Queen's first femme de chambre, deputed to manage the funds of her
+privy purse.  I have omitted no details as to the manner in which the
+Queen first became possessed of these jewels, deeming them very needful
+to place in its true light the too famous circumstance of the necklace,
+which happened near the end of her reign.
+
+It was also on this first journey to Marly that the Duchesse de Chartres,
+afterwards Duchesse d'Orleans, introduced into the Queen's household
+Mademoiselle Bertin, a milliner who became celebrated at that time for
+the total change she effected in the dress of the French ladies.
+
+It may be said that the mere admission of a milliner into the house of
+the Queen was followed by evil consequences to her Majesty.  The skill of
+the milliner, who was received into the household, in spite of the custom
+which kept persons of her description out of it, afforded her the
+opportunity of introducing some new fashion every day.  Up to this time
+the Queen had shown very plain taste in dress; she now began to make it a
+principal occupation; and she was of course imitated by other women.
+
+All wished instantly to have the same dress as the Queen, and to wear the
+feathers and flowers to which her beauty, then in its brilliancy,
+lent an indescribable charm.  The expenditure of the younger ladies was
+necessarily much increased; mothers and husbands murmured at it; some few
+giddy women contracted debts; unpleasant domestic scenes occurred;
+in many families coldness or quarrels arose; and the general report
+was,--that the Queen would be the ruin of all the French ladies.
+
+Fashion continued its fluctuating progress; and head-dresses, with their
+superstructures of gauze, flowers, and feathers, became so lofty that the
+women could not find carriages high enough to admit them; and they were
+often seen either stooping, or holding their heads out of the windows.
+Others knelt down in order to manage these elevated objects of ridicule
+with less danger.
+
+     [If the use of these extravagant feathers and head-dresses had
+     continued, say the memoirs of that period very seriously, it would
+     have effected a revolution in architecture.  It would have been
+     found necessary to raise the doors and ceilings of the boxes at the
+     theatre, and particularly the bodies of carriages.  It was not
+     without mortification that the King observed the Queen's adoption of
+     this style of dress: she was never so lovely in his eyes as when
+     unadorned by art.  One day Carlin, performing at Court as harlequin,
+     stuck in his hat, instead of the rabbit's tail, its prescribed
+     ornament, a peacock's feather of excessive length.  This new
+     appendage, which repeatedly got entangled among the scenery, gave
+     him an opportunity for a great deal of buffoonery.  There was some
+     inclination to punish him; but it was presumed that he had not
+     assumed the feather without authority.-NOTE BY THE EDITOR.]
+
+Innumerable caricatures, exhibited in all directions, and some of which
+artfully gave the features of the Queen, attacked the extravagance of
+fashion, but with very little effect.  It changed only, as is always the
+case, through the influence of inconstancy and time.
+
+The Queen's toilet was a masterpiece of etiquette; everything was done in
+a prescribed form.  Both the dame d'honneur and the dame d'atours usually
+attended and officiated, assisted by the first femme de chambre and two
+ordinary women.  The dame d'atours put on the petticoat, and handed the
+gown to the Queen.  The dame d'honneur poured out the water for her hands
+and put on her linen.  When a princess of the royal family happened to be
+present while the Queen was dressing, the dame d'honneur yielded to her
+the latter act of office, but still did not yield it directly to the
+Princesses of the blood; in such a case the dame d'honneur was accustomed
+to present the linen to the first femme de chambre, who, in her turn,
+handed it to the Princess of the blood.  Each of these ladies observed
+these rules scrupulously as affecting her rights.  One winter's day it
+happened that the Queen, who was entirely undressed, was just going to
+put on her shift; I held it ready unfolded for her; the dame d'honneur
+came in, slipped off her gloves, and took it.  A scratching was heard at
+the door; it was opened, and in came the Duchesse d'Orleans: her gloves
+were taken off, and she came forward to take the garment; but as it would
+have been wrong in the dame d'honneur to hand it to her she gave it to
+me, and I handed it to the Princess.  More scratching it was Madame la
+Comtesse de Provence; the Duchesse d'Orleans handed her the linen.  All
+this while the Queen kept her arms crossed upon her bosom, and appeared
+to feel cold; Madame observed her uncomfortable situation, and, merely
+laying down her handkerchief without taking off her gloves, she put on
+the linen, and in doing so knocked the Queen's cap off.  The Queen
+laughed to conceal her impatience, but not until she had muttered several
+times, "How disagreeable!  how tiresome!"
+
+All this etiquette, however inconvenient, was suitable to the royal
+dignity, which expects to find servants in all classes of persons,
+beginning even with the brothers and sisters of the monarch.
+
+Speaking here of etiquette, I do not allude to majestic state, appointed
+for days of ceremony in all Courts.  I mean those minute ceremonies that
+were pursued towards our Kings in their inmost privacies, in their hours
+of pleasure, in those of pain, and even during the most revolting of
+human infirmities.
+
+These servile rules were drawn up into a kind of code; they offered to a
+Richelieu, a La Rochefoucauld and a Duras, in the exercise of their
+domestic functions, opportunities of intimacy useful to their interests;
+and their vanity was flattered by customs which converted the right to
+give a glass of water, to put on a dress, and to remove a basin, into
+honourable prerogatives.
+
+Princes thus accustomed to be treated as divinities naturally ended by
+believing that they were of a distinct nature, of a purer essence than
+the rest of mankind.
+
+This sort of etiquette, which led our Princes to be treated in private as
+idols, made them in public martyrs to decorum.  Marie Antoinette found in
+the Chateau of Versailles a multitude of established customs which
+appeared to her insupportable.
+
+The ladies-in-waiting, who were all obliged to be sworn, and to wear full
+Court dresses, were alone entitled to remain in the room, and to attend
+in conjunction with the dame d'honneur and the tirewoman.  The Queen
+abolished all this formality.  When her head was dressed, she curtsied to
+all the ladies who were in her chamber, and, followed only by her own
+women, went into her closet, where Mademoiselle Bertin, who could not be
+admitted into the chamber, used to await her.  It was in this inner
+closet that she produced her new and numerous dresses.  The Queen was
+also desirous of being served by the most fashionable hairdresser in
+Paris.  Now the custom which forbade all persons in inferior offices,
+employed by royalty, to exert their talents for the public, was no doubt
+intended to cut off all communication between the privacy of princes and
+society at large; the latter being always extremely curious respecting
+the most trifling particulars relative to the private life of the former.
+The Queen, fearing that the taste of the hairdresser would suffer if he
+should discontinue the general practice of his art, ordered him to attend
+as usual certain ladies of the Court and of Paris; and this multiplied
+the opportunities of learning details respecting the household, and very
+often of misrepresenting them.
+
+One of the customs most disagreeable to the Queen was that of dining
+every day in public.  Maria Leczinska had always submitted to this
+wearisome practice; Marie Antoinette followed it as long as she was
+Dauphiness.  The Dauphin dined with her, and each branch of the family
+had its public dinner daily.  The ushers suffered all decently dressed
+people to enter; the sight was the delight of persons from the country.
+At the dinner-hour there were none to be met upon the stairs but honest
+folks, who, after having seen the Dauphiness take her soup, went to see
+the Princes eat their 'bouilli', and then ran themselves out of breath to
+behold Mesdames at their dessert.
+
+Very ancient usage, too, required that the Queens of France should appear
+in public surrounded only by women; even at meal-times no persons of the
+other sex attended to serve at table; and although the King ate publicly
+with the Queen, yet he himself was served by women with everything which
+was presented to him directly at table.  The dame d'honneur, kneeling,
+for her own accommodation, upon a low stool, with a napkin upon her arm,
+and four women in full dress, presented the plates to the King and Queen.
+The dame d'honneur handed them drink.  This service had formerly been the
+right of the maids of honour.  The Queen, upon her accession to the
+throne, abolished the usage altogether.  She also freed herself from the
+necessity of being followed in the Palace of Versailles by two of her
+women in Court dresses, during those hours of the day when the ladies-in-
+waiting were not with her.  From that time she was accompanied only by a
+single valet de chambre and two footmen.  All the changes made by Marie
+Antoinette were of the same description; a disposition gradually to
+substitute the simple customs of Vienna for those of Versailles was more
+injurious to her than she could possibly have imagined.
+
+When the King slept in the Queen's apartment he always rose before her;
+the exact hour was communicated to the head femme de chambre, who
+entered, preceded by a servant of the bedchamber bearing a taper; she
+crossed the room and unbolted the door which separated the Queen's
+apartment from that of the King.  She there found the first valet de
+chambre for the quarter, and a servant of the chamber.  They entered,
+opened the bed curtains on the King's side, and presented him slippers
+generally, as well as the dressing-gown, which he put on, of gold or
+silver stuff.  The first valet de chambre took down a short sword which
+was always laid within the railing on the King's side.  When the King
+slept with the Queen, this sword was brought upon the armchair
+appropriated to the King, and which was placed near the Queen's bed,
+within the gilt railing which surrounded the bed.  The first femme de
+chambre conducted the King to the door, bolted it again, and, leaving the
+Queen's chamber, did not return until the hour appointed by her Majesty
+the evening before.  At night the Queen went to bed before the King; the
+first femme de chambre remained seated at the foot of her bed until the
+arrival of his Majesty, in order, as in the morning, to see the King's
+attendants out and bolt the door after them.  The Queen awoke habitually
+at eight o'clock, and breakfasted at nine, frequently in bed, and
+sometimes after she had risen, at a table placed opposite her couch.
+
+In order to describe the Queen's private service intelligibly, it must be
+recollected that service of every kind was honour, and had not any other
+denomination.  To do the honours of the service was to present the
+service to a person of superior rank, who happened to arrive at the
+moment it was about to be performed.  Thus, supposing the Queen asked for
+a glass of water, the servant of the chamber handed to the first woman a
+silver gilt waiter, upon which were placed a covered goblet and a small
+decanter; but should the lady of honour come in, the first woman was
+obliged to present the waiter to her, and if Madame or the Comtesse
+d'Artois came in at the moment, the waiter went again from the lady of
+honour into the hands of the Princess before it reached the Queen.  It
+must be observed, however, that if a princess of the blood instead of a
+princess of the family entered, the service went directly from the first
+woman to the princess of the blood, the lady of honour being excused from
+transferring to any but princesses of the royal family.  Nothing was
+presented directly to the Queen; her handkerchief or her gloves were
+placed upon a long salver of gold or silver gilt, which was placed as a
+piece of furniture of ceremony upon a side-table, and was called a
+gantiere.  The first woman presented to her in this manner all that she
+asked for, unless the tirewoman, the lady of honour, or a princess were
+present, and then the gradation pointed out in the instance of the glass
+of water was always observed.
+
+Whether the Queen breakfasted in bed or up, those entitled to the petites
+entrees were equally admitted; this privilege belonged of right to her
+chief physician, chief surgeon, physician in ordinary, reader, closet
+secretary, the King's four first valets de chambre and their
+reversioners, and the King's chief physicians and surgeons.  There were
+frequently from ten to twelve persons at this first entree.  The lady of
+honour or the superintendent, if present, placed the breakfast equipage
+upon the bed; the Princesse de Lamballe frequently performed that office.
+
+As soon as the Queen rose, the wardrobe woman was admitted to take away
+the pillows and prepare the bed to be made by some of the valets de
+chambre.  She undrew the curtains, and the bed was not generally made
+until the Queen was gone to mass.  Generally, excepting at St.  Cloud,
+where the Queen bathed in an apartment below her own, a slipper bath was
+rolled into her room, and her bathers brought everything that was
+necessary for the bath.  The Queen bathed in a large gown of English
+flannel buttoned down to the bottom;.  its sleeves throughout, as well as
+the collar, were lined with linen.  When she came out of the bath the
+first woman held up a cloth to conceal her entirely from the sight of her
+women, and then threw it over her shoulders.  The bathers wrapped her in
+it and dried her completely.  She then put on a long and wide open
+chemise, entirely trimmed with lace, and afterwards a white taffety bed-
+gown.  The wardrobe woman warmed the bed; the slippers were of dimity,
+trimmed with lace.  Thus dressed, the Queen went to bed again, and the
+bathers and servants of the chamber took away the bathing apparatus.  The
+Queen, replaced in bed, took a book or her tapestry work.  On her bathing
+mornings she breakfasted in the bath.  The tray was placed on the cover
+of the bath.  These minute details are given here only to do justice to
+the Queen's scrupulous modesty.  Her temperance was equally remarkable;
+she breakfasted on coffee or chocolate; at dinner ate nothing but white
+meat, drank water only, and supped on broth, a wing of a fowl, and small
+biscuits, which she soaked in a glass of water.
+
+The tirewoman had under her order a principal under-tirewoman, charged
+with the care and preservation of all the Queen's dresses; two women to
+fold and press such articles as required it; two valets, and a porter of
+the wardrobe.  The latter brought every morning into the Queen's
+apartments baskets covered with taffety, containing all that she was to
+wear during the day, and large cloths of green taffety covering the robes
+and the full dresses.  The valet of the wardrobe on duty presented every
+morning a large book to the first femme de chambre, containing patterns
+of the gowns, full dresses, undresses, etc.  Every pattern was marked, to
+show to which sort it belonged.  The first femme de chambre presented
+this book to the Queen on her awaking, with a pincushion; her Majesty
+stuck pins in those articles which she chose for the day,--one for the
+dress, one for the afternoon-undress, and one for the full evening dress
+for card or supper parties in the private apartments.  The book was then
+taken back to the wardrobe, and all that was wanted for the day was soon
+after brought in in large taffety wrappers.  The wardrobe woman, who had
+the care of the linen, in her turn brought in a covered basket containing
+two or three chemises and handkerchiefs.  The morning basket was called
+pret du jour.  In the evening she brought in one containing the nightgown
+and nightcap, and the stockings for the next morning; this basket was
+called pret de la nuit.  They were in the department of the lady of
+honour, the tirewoman having nothing to do with the linen.  Nothing was
+put in order or taken care of by the Queen's women.  As soon as the
+toilet was over, the valets and porter belonging to the wardrobe were
+called in, and they carried all away in a heap, in the taffety wrappers,
+to the tirewoman's wardrobe, where all were folded up again, hung up,
+examined, and cleaned with so much regularity and care that even the
+cast-off clothes scarcely looked as if they had been worn.  The
+tirewoman's wardrobe consisted of three large rooms surrounded with
+closets, some furnished with drawers and others with shelves; there were
+also large tables in each of these rooms, on which the gowns and dresses
+were spread out and folded up.
+
+For the winter the Queen had generally twelve full dresses, twelve
+undresses called fancy dresses, and twelve rich hoop petticoats for the
+card and supper parties in the smaller apartments.
+
+She had as many for the summer; those for the spring served likewise for
+the autumn.  All these dresses were discarded at the end of each season,
+unless, indeed, she retained some that she particularly liked.  I am not
+speaking of muslin or cambric gowns, or others of the same kind--they
+were lately introduced; but such as these were not renewed at each
+returning season, they were kept several years.  The chief women were
+charged with the care and examination of the diamonds; this important
+duty was formerly confided to the tirewoman, but for many years had been
+included in the business of the first femmes de chambre.
+
+The public toilet took place at noon.  The toilet-table was drawn forward
+into the middle of the room.  This piece of furniture was generally the
+richest and most ornamented of all in the apartment of the Princesses.
+The Queen used it in the same manner and place for undressing herself in
+the evening.  She went to bed in corsets trimmed with ribbon, and sleeves
+trimmed with lace, and wore a large neck handkerchief.  The Queen's
+combing cloth was presented by her first woman if she was alone at the
+commencement of the toilet; or, as well as the other articles, by the
+ladies of honour if they were come.  At noon the women who had been in
+attendance four and twenty hours were relieved by two women in full
+dress; the first woman went also to dress herself.  The grandee entrees
+were admitted during the toilet; sofas were placed in circles for the
+superintendent, the ladies of honour, and tirewomen, and the governess of
+the children of France when she came there; the duties of the ladies of
+the bedchamber, having nothing to do with any kind of domestic or private
+functions, did not begin until the hour of going out to mass; they waited
+in the great closet, and entered when the toilet was over.  The Princes
+of the blood, captains of the Guards, and all great officers having the
+entry paid their court at the hour of the toilet.  The Queen saluted by
+nodding her head or bending her body, or leaning upon her toilet-table as
+if moving to rise; the last mode of salutation was for the Princes of the
+blood.  The King's brothers also came very generally to pay their
+respects to her Majesty while her hair was being dressed.  In the earlier
+years of the reign the first part of the dressing was performed in the
+bedchamber and according to the laws of etiquette; that is to say, the
+lady of honour put on the chemise and poured out the water for the hands,
+the tirewoman put on the skirt of the gown or full dress, adjusted the
+handkerchief, and tied on the necklace.  But when the young Queen became
+more seriously devoted to fashion, and the head-dress attained so
+extravagant a height that it became necessary to put on the chemise from
+below,--when, in short, she determined to have her milliner, Mademoiselle
+Benin, with her whilst she was dressing, whom the ladies would have
+refused to admit to any share in the honour of attending on the Queen,
+the dressing in the bedchamber was discontinued, and the Queen, leaving
+her toilet, withdrew into her closet to dress.
+
+On returning into her chamber, the Queen, standing about the middle of
+it, surrounded by the superintendent, the ladies of honour and tirewomen,
+her ladies of the palace, the chevalier d'honneur, the chief equerry, her
+clergy ready to attend her to mass, and the Princesses of the royal
+family who happened to come, accompanied by all their chief attendants
+and ladies, passed in order into the gallery as in going to mass.  The
+Queen's signatures were generally given at the moment of entry into the
+chamber.  The secretary for orders presented the pen.  Presentations of
+colonels on taking leave were usually made at this time.  Those of
+ladies, and, such as had a right to the tabouret, or sitting in the royal
+presence, were made on Sunday evenings before card-playing began, on
+their coming in from paying their respects.  Ambassadors were introduced
+to the Queen on Tuesday mornings, accompanied by the introducer of
+ambassadors on duty, and by M. de Sequeville, the secretary for the
+ambassadors.  The introducer in waiting usually came to the Queen at her
+toilet to apprise her of the presentations of foreigners which would be
+made.  The usher of the chamber, stationed at the entrance, opened the
+folding doors to none but the Princes and Princesses of the royal family,
+and announced them aloud.  Quitting his post, he came forward to name to
+the lady of honour the persons who came to be presented, or who came to
+take leave; that lady again named them to the Queen at the moment they
+saluted her; if she and the tirewoman were absent, the first woman took
+the place and did that duty.  The ladies of the bedchamber, chosen solely
+as companions for the Queen, had no domestic duties to fulfil, however
+opinion might dignify such offices.  The King's letter in appointing
+them, among other instructions of etiquette, ran thus: "having chosen you
+to bear the Queen company."  There were hardly any emoluments accruing
+from this place.
+
+The Queen heard mass with the King in the tribune, facing the grand altar
+and the choir, with the exception of the days of high ceremony, when
+their chairs were placed below upon velvet carpets fringed with gold.
+These days were marked by the name of grand chapel day.
+
+The Queen named the collector beforehand, and informed her of it through
+her lady of honour, who was besides desired to send the purse to her.
+The collectors were almost always chosen from among those who had been
+recently presented.  After returning from mass the Queen dined every
+Sunday with the King only, in public in the cabinet of the nobility, a
+room leading to her chamber.  Titled ladies having the honours sat during
+the dinner upon folding-chairs placed on each side of the table.  Ladies
+without titles stood round the table; the captain of the Guards and the
+first gentleman of the chamber were behind the King's chair; behind that
+of the Queen were her first maitre d'hotel, her chevalier d'honneur, and
+the chief equerry.  The Queen's maitre d'hotel was furnished with a large
+staff, six or seven feet in length, ornamented with golden fleurs-de-lis,
+and surmounted by fleurs-de-lis in the form of a crown.  He entered the
+room with this badge of his office to announce that the Queen was served.
+The comptroller put into his hands the card of the dinner; in the absence
+of the maitre d'hotel he presented it to the Queen himself, otherwise he
+only did him the honours of the service.  The maitre d'hotel did not
+leave his place, he merely gave the orders for serving up and removing;
+the comptroller and gentlemen serving placed the various dishes upon the
+table, receiving them from the inferior servants.
+
+The Prince nearest to the crown presented water to wash the King's hands
+at the moment he placed himself at table, and a princess did the same
+service to the Queen.
+
+The table service was formerly performed for the Queen by the lady of
+honour and four women in full dress; this part of the women's service was
+transferred to them on the suppression of the office of maids of honour.
+The Queen put an end to this etiquette in the first year of her reign.
+When the dinner was over the Queen returned without the King to her
+apartment with her women, and took off her hoop and train.
+
+This unfortunate Princess, against whom the opinions of the French people
+were at length so much excited, possessed qualities which deserved to
+obtain the greatest popularity.  None could doubt this who, like myself,
+had heard her with delight describe the patriarchal manners of the House
+of Lorraine.  She was accustomed to say that, by transplanting their
+manners into Austria, the Princes of that house had laid the foundation
+of the unassailable popularity enjoyed by the imperial family.  She
+frequently related to me the interesting manner in which the Ducs de
+Lorraine levied the taxes.  "The sovereign Prince," said she, "went to
+church; after the sermon he rose, waved his hat in the air, to show that
+he was about to speak, and then mentioned the sum whereof he stood in
+need.  Such was the zeal of the good Lorrainers that men have been known
+to take away linen or household utensils without the knowledge of their
+wives, and sell them to add the value to their contribution.  It
+sometimes happened, too, that the Prince received more money than he had
+asked for, in which case he restored the surplus."
+
+All who were acquainted with the Queen's private qualities knew that she
+equally deserved attachment and esteem.  Kind and patient to excess in
+her relations with her household, she indulgently considered all around
+her, and interested herself in their fortunes and in their pleasures.,
+She had, among her women, young girls from the Maison de St. Cyr, all
+well born; the Queen forbade them the play when the performances were not
+suitable; sometimes, when old plays were to be represented, if she found
+she could not with certainty trust to her memory, she would take the
+trouble to read them in the morning, to enable her to decide whether the
+girls should or should not go to see them,--rightly considering herself
+bound to watch over their morals and conduct.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Carried the idea of the prerogative of rank to a high pitch
+Common and blamable practice of indulgence
+Dignified tone which alone secures the respect due to power
+Etiquette still existed at Court, dignity alone was wanting
+Happiness does not dwell in palaces
+His seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs
+I love the conveniences of life too well
+Leave me in peace; be assured that I can put no heir in danger
+Most intriguing little Carmelite in the kingdom
+Princes thus accustomed to be treated as divinities
+Princess at 12 years was not mistress of the whole alphabet
+Taken pains only to render himself beloved by his pupil
+The Jesuits were suppressed
+The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points
+To be formally mistress, a husband had to be found
+Ventured to give such rash advice: inoculation
+Was but one brilliant action that she could perform
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, v2
+by Madame Campan
+