diff options
Diffstat (limited to '3891.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 3891.txt | 15422 |
1 files changed, 15422 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/3891.txt b/3891.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53bdf8d --- /dev/null +++ b/3891.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15422 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, +Queen Of France, Complete, by Madame Campan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Complete + Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting + to the Queen + + +Author: Madame Campan + +Release Date: October 2, 2006 [EBook #3891] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS MADAM CAMPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF + +MARIE ANTOINETTE, + +QUEEN OF FRANCE + + + +Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, +First Lady in Waiting to the Queen. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +Duchesse du Barry + +Princesse de Lamballe + +The Parisian Bonne + +Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette + +Beaumarchais + +The Reveille + +Madame Adelaide as Diana + +The Bastille + +Opening of The States General + +Louis XVI. + +Marie Antoinette on the way to the Guillotine + +Madame Campan + + + + +PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. + + +Louis XVI. possessed an immense crowd of confidants, advisers, and guides; +he selected them even from among the factions which attacked him. Never, +perhaps, did he make a full disclosure to any one of them, and certainly +he spoke with sincerity, to but very few. He invariably kept the reins of +all secret intrigues in his own hand; and thence, doubtless, arose the +want of cooperation and the weakness which were so conspicuous in his +measures. From these causes considerable chasms will be found in the +detailed history of the Revolution. + +In order to become thoroughly acquainted with the latter years of the +reign of Louis XV., memoirs written by the Duc de Choiseul, the Duc +d'Aiguillon, the Marechal de Richelieu, and the Duc de La Vauguyon, +should be before us. + +[I heard Le Marechal de Richelieu desire M. Campan, who was librarian to +the Queen, not to buy the Memoirs which would certainly be attributed to +him after his death, declaring them false by anticipation; and adding that +he was ignorant of orthography, and had never amused himself with writing. +Shortly after the death of the Marshal, one Soulavie put forth Memoirs of +the Marechal de Richelieu.] + +To give us a faithful portrait of the unfortunate reign of Louis XVI., +the Marechal du Muy, M. de Maurepas, M. de Vergennes, M. de Malesherbes, +the Duc d'Orleans, M. de La Fayette, the Abby de Vermond, the Abbe +Montesquiou, Mirabeau, the Duchesse de Polignac, and the Duchesse de +Luynes should have noted faithfully in writing all the transactions in +which they took decided parts. The secret political history of a later +period has been disseminated among a much greater number of persons; +there are Ministers who have published memoirs, but only when they had +their own measures to justify, and then they confined themselves to the +vindication of their own characters, without which powerful motive they +probably would have written nothing. In general, those nearest to the +Sovereign, either by birth or by office, have left no memoirs; and in +absolute monarchies the mainsprings of great events will be found in +particulars which the most exalted persons alone could know. Those who +have had but little under their charge find no subject in it for a book; +and those who have long borne the burden of public business conceive +themselves to be forbidden by duty, or by respect for authority, to +disclose all they know. Others, again, preserve notes, with the +intention of reducing them to order when they shall have reached the +period of a happy leisure; vain illusion of the ambitious, which they +cherish, for the most part, but as a veil to conceal from their sight +the hateful image of their inevitable downfall! and when it does at +length take place, despair or chagrin deprives them of fortitude to +dwell upon the dazzling period which they never cease to regret. + +Louis XVI. meant to write his own memoirs; the manner in which his +private papers were arranged indicated this design. The Queen also had +the same intention; she long preserved a large correspondence, and a great +number of minute reports, made in the spirit and upon the event of the +moment. But after the 20th of June, 1792, she was obliged to burn the +larger portion of what she had so collected, and the remainder were +conveyed out of France. + +Considering the rank and situations of the persons I have named as capable +of elucidating by their writings the history of our political storms, it +will not be imagined that I aim at placing myself on a level with them; +but I have spent half my life either with the daughters of Louis XV. or +with Marie Antoinette. I knew the characters of those Princesses; I +became privy to some extraordinary facts, the publication of which may be +interesting, and the truth of the details will form the merit of my work. + +I was very young when I was placed about the Princesses, the daughters of +Louis XV., in the capacity of reader. I was acquainted with the Court of +Versailles before the time of the marriage of Louis XVI. with the +Archduchess Marie Antoinette. + + + + +MADAME CAMPAN + + +My father, who was employed in the department of Foreign Affairs, enjoyed +the reputation due to his talents and to his useful labours. He had +travelled much. Frenchmen, on their return home from foreign countries, +bring with them a love for their own, increased in warmth; and no man was +more penetrated with this feeling, which ought to be the first virtue of +every placeman, than my father. Men of high title, academicians, and +learned men, both natives and foreigners, sought my father's acquaintance, +and were gratified by being admitted into his house. + +Twenty years before the Revolution I often heard it remarked that the +imposing character of the power of Louis XIV. was no longer to be found in +the Palace of Versailles; that the institutions of the ancient monarchy +were rapidly sinking; and that the people, crushed beneath the weight of +taxes, were miserable, though silent; but that they began to give ear to +the bold speeches of the philosophers, who loudly proclaimed their +sufferings and their rights; and, in short, that the age would not pass +away without the occurrence of some great outburst, which would unsettle +France, and change the course of its progress. + +Those who thus spoke were almost all partisans of M. Turgot's system of +administration: they were Mirabeau the father, Doctor Quesnay, Abbe +Bandeau, and Abbe Nicoli, charge d'affaires to Leopold, Grand Duke of +Tuscany, and as enthusiastic an admirer of the maxims of the innovators as +his Sovereign. + +My father sincerely respected the purity of intention of these +politicians. With them he acknowledged many abuses in the Government; but +he did not give these political sectarians credit for the talent necessary +for conducting a judicious reform. He told them frankly that in the art +of moving the great machine of Government, the wisest of them was inferior +to a good magistrate; and that if ever the helm of affairs should be put +into their hands, they would be speedily checked in the execution of their +schemes by the immeasurable difference existing between the most brilliant +theories and the simplest practice of administration. + +Destiny having formerly placed me near crowned heads, I now amuse my +solitude when in retirement with collecting a variety of facts which may +prove interesting to my family when I shall be no more. The idea of +collecting all the interesting materials which my memory affords occurred +to me from reading the work entitled "Paris, Versailles, and the Provinces +in the Eighteenth Century." That work, composed by a man accustomed to +the best society, is full of piquant anecdotes, nearly all of which have +been recognised as true by the contemporaries of the author. I have put +together all that concerned the domestic life of an unfortunate Princess, +whose reputation is not yet cleared of the stains it received from the +attacks of calumny, and who justly merited a different lot in life, a +different place in the opinion of mankind after her fall. These memoirs, +which were finished ten years ago, have met with the approbation of some +persons; and my son may, perhaps, think proper to print them after my +decease. + +J. L. H. C. + +--When Madame Campan wrote these lines, she did not anticipate that the +death of her son would precede her own. + + + + + +HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. + + +MARIE ANTOINETTE. + + + + +MEMOIR OF MADAME CAMPAN. + + +JEANNE LOUISE HENRIETTE GENET was born in Paris on the 6th of October, +1752. M. Genet, her father, had obtained, through his own merit and the +influence of the Duc de Choiseul, the place of first clerk in the Foreign +Office. + +Literature, which he had cultivated in his youth, was often the solace of +his leisure hours. Surrounded by a numerous family, he made the +instruction of his children his chief recreation, and omitted nothing +which was necessary to render them highly accomplished. His clever and +precocious daughter Henriette was very early accustomed to enter society, +and to take an intelligent interest in current topics and public events. +Accordingly, many of her relations being connected with the Court or +holding official positions, she amassed a fund of interesting +recollections and characteristic anecdotes, some gathered from personal +experience, others handed down by old friends of the family. + +"The first event which made any impression on me in my childhood," she +says in her reminiscences, "was the attempt of Damiens to assassinate +Louis XV. This occurrence struck me so forcibly that the most minute +details relating to the confusion and grief which prevailed at Versailles +on that day seem as present to my imagination as the most recent events. I +had dined with my father and mother, in company with one of their friends. +The drawing-room was lighted up with a number of candles, and four +card-tables were already occupied, when a friend of the gentleman of the +house came in, with a pale and terrified countenance, and said, in a voice +scarcely audible, 'I bring you terrible news. The King has been +assassinated!' Two ladies in the company fainted; a brigadier of the Body +Guards threw down his cards and cried out, 'I do not wonder at it; it is +those rascally Jesuits.'--'What are you saying, brother?' cried a lady, +flying to him; 'would you get yourself arrested?'--'Arrested! For what? +For unmasking those wretches who want a bigot for a King?' My father came +in; he recommended circumspection, saying that the blow was not mortal, +and that all meetings ought to be suspended at so critical a moment. He +had brought the chaise for my mother, who placed me on her knees. We +lived in the Avenue de Paris, and throughout our drive I heard incessant +cries and sobs from the footpaths. + +"At last I saw a man arrested; he was an usher of the King's chamber, who +had gone mad, and was crying out, 'Yes, I know them; the wretches! the +villains!' Our chaise was stopped by this bustle. My mother recognised +the unfortunate man who had been seized; she gave his name to the trooper +who had stopped him. The poor usher was therefore merely conducted to the +gens d'armes' guardroom, which was then in the avenue. + +"I have often heard M. de Landsmath, equerry and master of the hounds, who +used to come frequently to my father's, say that on the news of the +attempt on the King's life he instantly repaired to his Majesty. I cannot +repeat the coarse expressions he made use of to encourage his Majesty; but +his account of the affair, long afterwards, amused the parties in which he +was prevailed on to relate it, when all apprehensions respecting the +consequences of the event had subsided. This M. de Landsmath was an old +soldier, who had given proofs of extraordinary valour; nothing had been +able to soften his manners or subdue his excessive bluntness to the +respectful customs of the Court. The King was very fond of him. He +possessed prodigious strength, and had often contended with Marechal Saxe, +renowned for his great bodily power, in trying the strength of their +respective wrists. + +[One day when the King was hunting in the forest of St. Germain, +Landemath, riding before him, wanted a cart, filled with the slime of a +pond that had just been cleansed, to draw up out of the way. The carter +resisted, and even answered with impertinence. Landsmath, without +dismounting, seized him by the breast of his coat, lifted him up, and +threw him into his cart.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +"M. de Landsmath had a thundering voice. When he came into the King's +apartment he found the Dauphin and Mesdames, his Majesty's daughters, +there; the Princesses, in tears, surrounded the King's bed. Send out all +these weeping women, Sire,' said the old equerry; 'I want to speak to you +alone: The King made a sign to the Princesses to withdraw. 'Come,' said +Landsmath, 'your wound is nothing; you had plenty of waistcoats and +flannels on.' Then uncovering his breast, 'Look here,' said he, showing +four or five great scars, 'these are something like wounds; I received +them thirty years ago; now cough as loud as you can.' The King did so. +''Tis nothing at all,' said Landsmath; 'you must laugh at it; we shall +hunt a stag together in four days.'--'But suppose the blade was poisoned,' +said the King. 'Old grandams' tales,' replied Landsmath; 'if it had been +so, the waistcoats and flannels would have rubbed the poison off.' The +King was pacified, and passed a very good night. + +"His Majesty one day asked M. de Landsmath how old he was. He was aged, +and by no means fond of thinking of his age; he evaded the question. A +fortnight later, Louis XV. took a paper out of his pocket and read aloud: +'On such a day in the month of one thousand six hundred and eighty, was +baptised by me, rector of ------, the son of the high and mighty lord,' +etc. 'What's that?' said Landsmath, angrily; 'has your Majesty been +procuring the certificate of my baptism?'--'There it is, you see, +Landsmath,' said the King. 'Well, Sire, hide it as fast as you can; a +prince entrusted with the happiness of twenty-five millions of people +ought not wilfully to hurt the feelings of a single individual.' + +"The King learned that Landsmath had lost his confessor, a missionary +priest of the parish of Notre-Dame. It was the custom of the Lazarists to +expose their dead with the face uncovered. Louis XV. wished to try his +equerry's firmness. 'You have lost your confessor, I hear,' said the +King. 'Yes, Sire.'--'He will be exposed with his face bare?'--'Such is +the custom.'--'I command you to go and see him.'--'Sire, my confessor was +my friend; it would be very painful to me.'--'No matter; I command +you.'--'Are you really in earnest, Sire?'--'Quite so.'--'It would be the +first time in my life that I had disobeyed my sovereign's order. I will +go.' The next day the King at his levee, as soon as he perceived +Landsmath, said, 'Have you done as I desired you, +Landsmath?'--'Undoubtedly, Sire.'--'Well, what did you see?'--'Faith, I +saw that your Majesty and I are no great shakes!' + +"At the death of Queen Maria Leczinska, M. Campan,--[Her father-in-law, +afterwards secretary to Marie Antoinette.]--then an officer of the +chamber, having performed several confidential duties, the King asked +Madame Adelaide how he should reward him. She requested him to create an +office in his household of master of the wardrobe, with a salary of a +thousand crowns. 'I will do so,' said the King; 'it will be an honourable +title; but tell Campan not to add a single crown to his expenses, for you +will see they will never pay him.' + +"Louis XV., by his dignified carriage, and the amiable yet majestic +expression of his features, was worthy to succeed to Louis the Great. But +he too frequently indulged in secret pleasures, which at last were sure to +become known. During several winters, he was passionately fond of +'candles' end balls', as he called those parties amongst the very lowest +classes of society. He got intelligence of the picnics given by the +tradesmen, milliners, and sempstresses of Versailles, whither he repaired +in a black domino, and masked, accompanied by the captain of his Guards, +masked like himself. His great delight was to go 'en brouette'--[In a +kind of sedan-chair, running on two wheels, and drawn by a +chairman.]--Care was always taken to give notice to five or six officers +of the King's or Queen's chamber to be there, in order that his Majesty +might be surrounded by people on whom he could depend, without finding it +troublesome. Probably the captain of the Guards also took other +precautions of this description on his part. My father-in-law, when the +King and he were both young, has often made one amongst the servants +desired to attend masked at these parties, assembled in some garret, or +parlour of a public-house. In those times, during the carnival, masked +companies had a right to join the citizens' balls; it was sufficient that +one of the party should unmask and name himself. + +"These secret excursions, and his too habitual intercourse with ladies +more distinguished for their personal charms than for the advantages of +education, were no doubt the means by which the King acquired many vulgar +expressions which otherwise would never have reached his ears. + +"Yet amidst the most shameful excesses the King sometimes suddenly resumed +the dignity of his rank in a very noble manner. The familiar courtiers of +Louis XV. had one day abandoned themselves to the unrestrained gaiety, of +a supper, after returning from the chase. Each boasted of and described +the beauty of his mistress. Some of them amused themselves with giving a +particular account of their wives' personal defects. An imprudent word, +addressed to Louis XV., and applicable only to the Queen, instantly +dispelled all the mirth of the entertainment. The King assumed his regal +air, and knocking with his knife on the table twice or thrice, 'Gentlemen; +said he, 'here is the King!' + +"Those men who are most completely abandoned to dissolute manners are not, +on that account, insensible to virtue in women. The Comtesse de Perigord +was as beautiful as virtuous. During some excursions she made to Choisy, +whither she had been invited, she perceived that the King took great +notice of her. Her demeanour of chilling respect, her cautious +perseverance in shunning all serious conversation with the monarch, were +insufficient to extinguish this rising flame, and he at length addressed a +letter to her, worded in the most passionate terms. This excellent woman +instantly formed her resolution: honour forbade her returning the King's +passion, whilst her profound respect for the sovereign made her unwilling +to disturb his tranquillity. She therefore voluntarily banished herself +to an estate she possessed called Chalais, near Barbezieux, the mansion of +which had been uninhabited nearly a century; the porter's lodge was the +only place in a condition to receive her. From this seat she wrote to his +Majesty, explaining her motives for leaving Court; and she remained there +several years without visiting Paris. Louis XV. was speedily attracted by +other objects, and regained the composure to which Madame de Perigord had +thought it her duty to sacrifice so much. Some years after, Mesdames' +lady of honour died. Many great families solicited the place. The King, +without answering any of their applications, wrote to the Comtesse de +Perigord: 'My daughters have just lost their lady of honour; this place, +madame, is your due, as much on account of your personal qualities as of +the illustrious name of your family.' + +"Three young men of the college of St. Germain, who had just completed +their course of studies, knowing no person about the Court, and having +heard that strangers were always well treated there, resolved to dress +themselves completely in the Armenian costume, and, thus clad, to present +themselves to see the grand ceremony of the reception of several knights +of the Order of the Holy Ghost. Their stratagem met with all the success +with which they had flattered themselves. While the procession was +passing through the long mirror gallery, the Swiss of the apartments +placed them in the first row of spectators, recommending every one to pay +all possible attention to the strangers. The latter, however, were +imprudent enough to enter the 'oeil-de-boeuf' chamber, where, were +Messieurs Cardonne and Ruffin, interpreters of Oriental languages, and the +first clerk of the consul's department, whose business it was to attend to +everything which related to the natives of the East who were in France. +The three scholars were immediately surrounded and questioned by these +gentlemen, at first in modern Greek. Without being disconcerted, they +made signs that they did not understand it. They were then addressed in +Turkish and Arabic; at length one of the interpreters, losing all +patience, exclaimed, 'Gentlemen, you certainly must understand some of the +languages in which you have been addressed. What country can you possibly +come from then?'--'From St. Germain-en-Laye, sir,' replied the boldest +among them; 'this is the first time you have put the question to us in +French.' They then confessed the motive of their disguise; the eldest of +them was not more than eighteen years of age. Louis XV. was informed of +the affair. He laughed heartily, ordered them a few hours' confinement +and a good admonition, after which they were to be set at liberty. + +"Louis XV. liked to talk about death, though he was extremely apprehensive +of it; but his excellent health and his royal dignity probably made him +imagine himself invulnerable. He often said to people who had very bad +colds, 'You've a churchyard cough there.' Hunting one day in the forest +of Senard, in a year in which bread was extremely dear, he met a man on +horseback carrying a coffin. 'Whither are you carrying that coffin?'--'To +the village of ------,' answered the peasant. 'Is it for a man or a +woman?'--'For a man.'--'What did he die of?'--'Of hunger,' bluntly replied +the villager. The King spurred on his horse, and asked no more questions. + +"Weak as Louis XV. was, the Parliaments would never have obtained his +consent to the convocation of the States General. I heard an anecdote on +this subject from two officers attached to that Prince's household. It +was at the period when the remonstrances of the Parliaments, and the +refusals to register the decrees for levying taxes, produced alarm with +respect to the state of the finances. This became the subject of +conversation one evening at the coucher of Louis XV. 'You will see, +Sire,' said a courtier, whose office placed him in close communication +with the King, 'that all this will make it absolutely necessary to +assemble the States General!' + +"The King, roused by this speech from the habitual apathy of his +character, seized the courtier by the arm, and said to him, in a passion, +'Never repeat, these words. I am not sanguinary; but had I a brother, and +were he to dare to give me such advice, I would sacrifice him, within +twenty-four hours, to the duration of the monarchy and the tranquillity of +the kingdom.' + +"Several years prior to his death the Dauphin, the father of Louis XVI., +had confluent smallpox, which endangered his life; and after his +convalescence he was long troubled with a malignant ulcer under the nose. +He was injudiciously advised to get rid of it by the use of extract of +lead, which proved effectual; but from that time the Dauphin, who was +corpulent, insensibly grew thin, and a short, dry cough evinced that the +humour, driven in, had fallen on the lungs. Some persons also suspected +him of having taken acids in too great a quantity for the purpose of +reducing his bulk. The state of his health was not, however, such as to +excite alarm. At the camp at Compiegne, in July, 1764, the Dauphin +reviewed the troops, and evinced much activity in the performance of his +duties; it was even observed that he was seeking to gain the attachment of +the army. He presented the Dauphiness to the soldiers, saying, with a +simplicity which at that time made a great sensation, 'Mes enfans, here is +my wife.' Returning late on horseback to Compiegne, he found he had taken +a chill; the heat of the day had been excessive; the Prince's clothes had +been wet with perspiration. An illness followed, in which the Prince +began to spit blood. His principal physician wished to have him bled; the +consulting physicians insisted on purgation, and their advice was +followed. The pleurisy, being ill cured, assumed and retained all the +symptoms of consumption; the Dauphin languished from that period until +December, 1765, and died at Fontainebleau, where the Court, on account of +his condition, had prolonged its stay, which usually ended on the 2d of +November. + +"The Dauphiness, his widow, was deeply afflicted; but the immoderate +despair which characterised her grief induced many to suspect that the +loss of the crown was an important part of the calamity she lamented. She +long refused to eat enough to support life; she encouraged her tears to +flow by placing portraits of the Dauphin in every retired part of her +apartments. She had him represented pale, and ready to expire, in a +picture placed at the foot of her bed, under draperies of gray cloth, with +which the chambers of the Princesses were always hung in court mournings. +Their grand cabinet was hung with black cloth, with an alcove, a canopy, +and a throne, on which they received compliments of condolence after the +first period of the deep mourning. The Dauphiness, some months before the +end of her career, regretted her conduct in abridging it; but it was too +late; the fatal blow had been struck. It may also be presumed that living +with a consumptive, man had contributed to her complaint. This Princess +had no opportunity of displaying her qualities; living in a Court in which +she was eclipsed by the King and Queen, the only characteristics that +could be remarked in her were her extreme attachment to her husband, and +her great piety. + +"The Dauphin was little known, and his character has been much mistaken. +He himself, as he confessed to his intimate friends, sought to disguise +it. He one day asked one of his most familiar servants, 'What do they say +in Paris of that great fool of a Dauphin?' The person interrogated seeming +confused, the Dauphin urged him to express himself sincerely, saying, +'Speak freely; that is positively the idea which I wish people to form of +me.' + +"As he died of a disease which allows the last moment to be anticipated +long beforehand, he wrote much, and transmitted his affections and his +prejudices to his son by secret notes. + +"Madame de Pompadour's brother received Letters of Nobility from his +Majesty, and was appointed superintendent of the buildings and gardens. He +often presented to her Majesty, through the medium of his sister, the +rarest flowers, pineapples, and early vegetables from the gardens of +Trianon and Choisy. One day, when the Marquise came into the Queen's +apartments, carrying a large basket of flowers, which she held in her two +beautiful arms, without gloves, as a mark of respect, the Queen loudly +declared her admiration of her beauty; and seemed as if she wished to +defend the King's choice, by praising her various charms in detail, in a +manner that would have been as suitable to a production of the fine arts +as to a living being. After applauding the complexion, eyes, and fine +arms of the favourite, with that haughty condescension which renders +approbation more offensive than flattering, the Queen at length requested +her to sing, in the attitude in which she stood, being desirous of hearing +the voice and musical talent by which the King's Court had been charmed in +the performances of the private apartments, and thus combining the +gratification of the ears with that of the eyes. The Marquise, who still +held her enormous basket, was perfectly sensible of something offensive in +this request, and tried to excuse herself from singing. The Queen at last +commanded her; she then exerted her fine voice in the solo of Armida--'At +length he is in my power.' The change in her Majesty's countenance was so +obvious that the ladies present at this scene had the greatest difficulty +to keep theirs. + +"The Queen was affable and modest; but the more she was thankful in her +heart to Heaven for having placed her on the first throne in Europe, the +more unwilling she was to be reminded of her elevation. This sentiment +induced her to insist on the observation of all the forms of respect due +to royal birth; whereas in other princes the consciousness of that birth +often induces them to disdain the ceremonies of etiquette, and to prefer +habits of ease and simplicity. There was a striking contrast in this +respect between Maria Leczinska and Marie Antoinette, as has been justly +and generally observed. The latter unfortunate Queen, perhaps, carried +her disregard of everything belonging to the strict forms of etiquette too +far. One day, when the Marechale de Mouchy was teasing her with questions +relative to the extent to which she would allow the ladies the option of +taking off or wearing their cloaks, and of pinning up the lappets of their +caps, or letting them hang down, the Queen replied to her, in my presence: +'Arrange all those matters, madame, just as you please; but do not imagine +that a queen, born Archduchess of Austria, can attach that importance to +them which might be felt by a Polish princess who had become Queen of +France.' + +"The virtues and information of the great are always evinced by their +conduct; their accomplishments, coming within the scope of flattery, are +difficult to be ascertained by any authentic proofs, and those who have +lived near them may be excused for some degree of scepticism with regard +to their attainments of this kind. If they draw or paint, there is always +an able artist present, who, if he does not absolutely guide the pencil +with his own hand, directs it by his advice. If a princess attempt a +piece of embroidery in colours, of that description which ranks amongst +the productions of the arts, a skilful embroideress is employed to undo +and repair whatever has been spoilt. If the princess be a musician, there +are no ears that will discover when she is out of tune; at least there is +no tongue that will tell her so. This imperfection in the accomplishments +of the great is but a slight misfortune. It is sufficiently meritorious +in them to engage in such pursuits, even with indifferent success, because +this taste and the protection it extends produce abundance of talent on +every side. Maria Leczinska delighted in the art of painting, and +imagined she herself could draw and paint. She had a drawing-master, who +passed all his time in her cabinet. She undertook to paint four large +Chinese pictures, with which she wished to ornament her private +drawing-room, which was richly furnished with rare porcelain and the +finest marbles. This painter was entrusted with the landscape and +background of the pictures; he drew the figures with a pencil; the faces +and arms were also left by the Queen to his execution; she reserved to +herself nothing but the draperies, and the least important accessories. +The Queen every morning filled up the outline marked out for her, with a +little red, blue, or green colour, which the master prepared on the +palette, and even filled her brush with, constantly repeating, 'Higher up, +Madame--lower down, Madame--a little to the right--more to the left.' +After an hour's work, the time for hearing mass, or some other family or +pious duty, would interrupt her Majesty; and the painter, putting the +shadows into the draperies she had painted, softening off the colour where +she had laid too much, etc., finished the small figures. When the work +was completed the private drawing-room was decorated with her Majesty's +work; and the firm persuasion of this good Queen that she had painted it +herself was so entire that she left this cabinet, with all its furniture +and paintings, to the Comtesse de Noailles, her lady of honour. She added +to the bequest: 'The pictures in my cabinet being my own work, I hope the +Comtesse de Noailles will preserve them for my sake.' Madame de Noailles, +afterwards Marechale de Mouchy, had a new pavilion constructed in her +hotel in the Faubourg St. Germain, in order to form a suitable receptacle +for the Queen's legacy; and had the following inscription placed over the +door, in letters of gold: 'The innocent falsehood of a good princess.' + +"Maria Leczinska could never look with cordiality on the Princess of +Saxony, who married the Dauphin; but the attentive behaviour of the +Dauphiness at length made her Majesty forget that the Princess was the +daughter of a king who wore her father's crown. Nevertheless, although +the Queen now saw in the Princess of Saxony only a wife beloved by her +son, she never could forget that Augustus wore the crown of Stanislaus. +One day an officer of her chamber having undertaken to ask a private +audience of her for the Saxon minister, and the Queen being unwilling to +grant it, he ventured to add that he should not have presumed to ask this +favour of the Queen had not the minister been the ambassador of a member +of the family. 'Say of an enemy of the family,' replied the Queen, +angrily; 'and let him come in.' + +"Comte de Tesse, father of the last Count of that name, who left no +children, was first equerry to Queen Maria Leczinska. She esteemed his +virtues, but often diverted herself at the expense of his simplicity. One +day, when the conversation turned on the noble military, actions by which +the French nobility was distinguished, the Queen said to the Count: 'And +your family, M. de Tesse, has been famous, too, in the field.'--'Ah, +Madame, we have all been killed in our masters' service!'--'How rejoiced I +am,' replied the Queen, 'that you have revived to tell me of it.' The son +of this worthy M. de Tesse was married to the amiable and highly gifted +daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, afterwards Marechale de Noailles. He was +exceedingly fond of his daughter-in-law, and never could speak of her +without emotion. The Queen, to please him, often talked to him about the +young Countess, and one day asked him which of her good qualities seemed +to him most conspicuous. 'Her gentleness, Madame, her gentleness,' said +he, with tears in his eyes; 'she is so mild, so soft,--as soft as a good +carriage.'--'Well,' said her Majesty, 'that's an excellent comparison for +a first equerry.' + +"In 1730 Queen Maria Leczinska, going to mass, met old Marechal Villars, +leaning on a wooden crutch not worth fifteen pence. She rallied him about +it, and the Marshal told her that he had used it ever since he had +received a wound which obliged him to add this article to the equipments +of the army. Her Majesty, smiling, said she thought this crutch so +unworthy of him that she hoped to induce him to give it up. On returning +home she despatched M. Campan to Paris with orders to purchase at the +celebrated Germain's the handsomest cane, with a gold enamelled crutch, +that he could find, and carry it without delay to Marechal Villars's +hotel, and present it to him from her. He was announced accordingly, and +fulfilled his commission. The Marshal, in attending him to the door, +requested him to express his gratitude to the Queen, and said that he had +nothing fit to offer to an officer who had the honour to belong to her +Majesty; but he begged him to accept of his old stick, saying that his +grandchildren would probably some day be glad to possess the cane with +which he had commanded at Marchiennes and Denain. The known frugality of +Marechal Villars appears in this anecdote; but he was not mistaken with +respect to the estimation in which his stick would be held. It was +thenceforth kept with veneration by M. Campan's family. On the 10th of +August, 1792, a house which I occupied on the Carrousel, at the entrance +of the Court of the Tuileries, was pillaged and nearly burnt down. The +cane of Marechal Villars was thrown into the Carrousel as of no value, and +picked up by my servant. Had its old master been living at that period we +should not have witnessed such a deplorable day. + +"Before the Revolution there were customs and words in use at Versailles +with which few people were acquainted. The King's dinner was called 'The +King's meat.' Two of the Body Guard accompanied the attendants who +carried the dinner; every one rose as they passed through the halls, +saying, 'There is the King's meat.' All precautionary duties were +distinguished by the words 'in case.' One of the guards might be heard to +say, 'I am in case in the forest of St. Germain.' In the evening they +always brought the Queen a large bowl of broth, a cold roast fowl, one +bottle of wine, one of orgeat, one of lemonade, and some other articles, +which were called the 'in case' for the night. An old medical gentleman, +who had been physician in ordinary to Louis XIV., and was still living at +the time of the marriage of Louis XV., told M. Campan's father an anecdote +which seems too remarkable to have remained unknown; nevertheless he was a +man of honour, incapable of inventing this story. His name was Lafosse. +He said that Louis XIV. was informed that the officers of his table +evinced, in the most disdainful and offensive manner, the mortification +they felt at being obliged to eat at the table of the comptroller of the +kitchen along with Moliere, valet de chambre to his Majesty, because +Moliere had performed on the stage; and that this celebrated author +consequently declined appearing at that table. Louis XIV., determined to +put an end to insults which ought never to have been offered to one of the +greatest geniuses of the age, said to him one morning at the hour of his +private levee, 'They say you live very poorly here, Moliere; and that the +officers of my chamber do not find you good enough to eat with them. +Perhaps you are hungry; for my part I awoke with a very good appetite this +morning: sit down at this table. Serve up my 'in case' for the night +there.' The King, then cutting up his fowl, and ordering Moliere to sit +down, helped him to a wing, at the same time taking one for himself, and +ordered the persons entitled to familiar entrance, that is to say the most +distinguished and favourite people at Court, to be admitted. 'You see +me,' said the King to them, 'engaged in entertaining Moliere, whom my +valets de chambre do not consider sufficiently good company for them.' +From that time Moliere never had occasion to appear at the valets' table; +the whole Court was forward enough to send him invitations. + +"M. de Lafosse used also to relate that a brigade-major of the Body Guard, +being ordered to place the company in the little theatre at Versailles, +very roughly turned out one of the King's comptrollers who had taken his +seat on one of the benches, a place to which his newly acquired office +entitled him. In vain he insisted on his quality and his right. The +altercation was ended by the brigade-major in these words: 'Gentlemen Body +Guards, do your duty.' In this case their duty was to turn the offender +out at the door. This comptroller, who had paid sixty or eighty thousand +francs for his appointment, was a man of a good family, and had had the +honour of serving his Majesty five and twenty years in one of his +regiments; thus ignominiously driven out of the hall, he placed himself in +the King's way in the great hall of the Guards, and, bowing to his +Majesty, requested him to vindicate the honour of an old soldier who had +wished to end his days in his Prince's civil employment, now that age had +obliged him to relinquish his military service. The King stopped, heard +his story, and then ordered him to follow him. His Majesty attended the +representation in a sort of amphitheatre, in which his armchair was +placed; behind him was a row of stools for the captain of the Guards, the +first gentleman of the chamber, and other great officers. The +brigade-major was entitled to one of these places; the King stopped +opposite the seat which ought to have been occupied by that officer and +said to the comptroller, 'Take, monsieur, for this evening, the place near +my person of him who has offended you, and let the expression of my +displeasure at this unjust affront satisfy you instead of any other +reparation: + +"During the latter years of the reign of Louis XIV. he never went out but +in a chair carried by porters, and he showed a great regard for a man +named D'Aigremont, one of those porters who always went in front and +opened the door of the chair. The slightest preference shown by +sovereigns, even to the meanest of their servants, never fails to excite +observation. + +[People of the very first rank did not disdain to descend to the level of +D'Aigremont. "Lauzun," said the Duchesse d'Orleans in her "Memoirs," +"sometimes affects stupidity in order to show people their own with +impunity, for he is very malicious. In order to make Marechal de Tease +feel the impropriety of his familiarity with people of the common sort, he +called out, in the drawing-room at Marly, 'Marechal, give me a pinch of +snuff; some of your best, such as you take in the morning with Monsieur +d'Aigremont, the chairman.'"--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The King had done something for this man's numerous family, and frequently +talked to him. An abbe belonging to the chapel thought proper to request +D'Aigremont to present a memorial to the King, in which he requested his +Majesty to grant him a benefice. Louis XIV. did not approve of the +liberty thus taken by his chairman, and said to him, in a very angry tone, +'D'Aigremont, you have been made to do a very unbecoming act, and I am +sure there must be simony in the case.'--'No, Sire, there is not the least +ceremony in the case, I assure you,' answered the poor man, in great +consternation; 'the abbe only said he would give me a hundred +Louis.'--'D'Aigremont,' said the King, 'I forgive you on account of your +ignorance and candour. I will give you the hundred Louis out of my privy +purse; but I will discharge you the very next time you venture to present +a memorial to me.' + +"Louis XIV. was very kind to those of his servants who were nearest his +person; but the moment he assumed his royal deportment, those who were +most accustomed to see him in his domestic character were as much +intimidated as if they were appearing in his presence for the first time +in their lives. Some of the members of his Majesty's civil household, +then called 'commensalite', enjoying the title of equerry, and the +privileges attached to officers of the King's household, had occasion to +claim some prerogatives, the exercise of which the municipal body of St. +Germain, where they resided, disputed with them. Being assembled in +considerable numbers in that town, they obtained the consent of the +minister of the household to allow them to send a deputation to the King; +and for that purpose chose from amongst them two of his Majesty's valets +de chambre named Bazire and Soulaigre. The King's levee being over, the +deputation of the inhabitants of the town of St. Germain was called in. +They entered with confidence; the King looked at them, and assumed his +imposing attitude. Bazire, one of these valets de chambre, was about to +speak, but Louis the Great was looking on him. He no longer saw the +Prince he was accustomed to attend at home; he was intimidated, and could +not find words; he recovered, however, and began as usual with the word +Sire. But timidity again overpowered him, and finding himself unable to +recollect the slightest particle of what he came to say, he repeated the +word Sire several times, and at length concluded by paying, 'Sire, here is +Soulaigre.' Soulaigre, who was very angry with Bazire, and expected to +acquit himself much better, then began to speak; but he also, after +repeating 'Sire' several times, found his embarrassment increasing upon +him, until his confusion equalled that of his colleague; he therefore +ended with 'Sire, here is Bazire.' The King smiled, and answered, +'Gentlemen, I have been informed of the business upon which you have been +deputed to wait on me, and I will take care that what is right shall be +done. I am highly satisfied with the manner in which you have fulfilled +your functions as deputies.'" + +Mademoiselle Genet's education was the object of her father's particular +attention. Her progress in the study of music and of foreign languages +was surprising; Albaneze instructed her in singing, and Goldoni taught her +Italian. Tasso, Milton, Dante, and even Shakespeare, soon became familiar +to her. But her studies were particularly directed to the acquisition of +a correct and elegant style of reading. Rochon de Chabannes, Duclos, +Barthe, Marmontel, and Thomas took pleasure in hearing her recite the +finest scenes of Racine. Her memory and genius at the age of fourteen +charmed them; they talked of her talents in society, and perhaps applauded +them too highly. + +She was soon spoken of at Court. Some ladies of high rank, who took an +interest in the welfare of her family, obtained for her the place of +Reader to the Princesses. Her presentation, and the circumstances which +preceded it, left a strong impression on her mind. "I was then fifteen," +she says; "my father felt some regret at yielding me up at so early an age +to the jealousies of the Court. The day on which I first put on my Court +dress, and went to embrace him in his study, tears filled his eyes, and +mingled with the expression of his pleasure. I possessed some agreeable +talents, in addition to the instruction which it had been his delight to +bestow on me. He enumerated all my little accomplishments, to convince me +of the vexations they would not fail to draw upon me." + +Mademoiselle Genet, at fifteen, was naturally less of a philosopher than +her father was at forty. Her eyes were dazzled by the splendour which +glittered at Versailles. "The Queen, Maria Leczinska, the wife of Louis +XV., died," she says, "just before I was presented at Court. The grand +apartments hung with black, the great chairs of state, raised on several +steps, and surmounted by a canopy adorned with Plumes; the caparisoned +horses, the immense retinue in Court mourning, the enormous +shoulder-knots, embroidered with gold and silver spangles, which decorated +the coats of the pages and footmen,--all this magnificence had such an +effect on my senses that I could scarcely support myself when introduced +to the Princesses. The first day of my reading in the inner apartment of +Madame Victoire I found it impossible to pronounce more than two +sentences; my heart palpitated, my voice faltered, and my sight failed. +How well understood was the potent magic of the grandeur and dignity which +ought to surround sovereigns! Marie Antoinette, dressed in white, with a +plain straw hat, and a little switch in her hand, walking on foot, +followed by a single servant, through the walks leading to the Petit +Trianon, would never have thus disconcerted me; and I believe this extreme +simplicity was the first and only real mistake of all those with which she +is reproached." + +When once her awe and confusion had subsided, Mademoiselle Genet was +enabled to form a more accurate judgment of her situation. It was by no +means attractive; the Court of the Princesses, far removed from the revels +to which Louie XV. was addicted, was grave, methodical, and dull. Madame +Adelaide, the eldest of the Princesses, lived secluded in the interior of +her apartments; Madame Sophie was haughty; Madame Louise a devotee. +Mademoiselle Genet never quitted the Princesses' apartments; but she +attached herself most particularly to Madame Victoire. This Princess had +possessed beauty; her countenance bore an expression of benevolence, and +her conversation was kind, free, and unaffected. The young reader excited +in her that feeling which a woman in years, of an affectionate +disposition, readily extends to young people who are growing up in her +sight, and who possess some useful talents. Whole days were passed in +reading to the Princess, as she sat at work in her apartment. Mademoiselle +Genet frequently saw there Louis XV., of whom she has related the +following anecdote: + +"One day, at the Chateau of Compiegne, the King came in whilst I was +reading to Madame. I rose and went into another room. Alone, in an +apartment from which there was no outlet, with no book but a Massillon, +which I had been reading to the Princess, happy in all the lightness and +gaiety of fifteen, I amused myself with turning swiftly round, with my +court hoop, and suddenly kneeling down to see my rose-coloured silk +petticoat swelled around me by the wind. In the midst of this grave +employment enters his Majesty, followed by one of the Princesses. I +attempt to rise; my feet stumble, and down I fall in the midst of my +robes, puffed out by the wind. 'Daughter,' said Louis XV., laughing +heartily, 'I advise you to send back to school a reader who makes +cheeses.'" The railleries of Louis XV. were often much more cutting, as +Mademoiselle Genet experienced on another occasion, which, thirty years +afterwards, she could not relate without an emotion of fear. "Louis XV.," +she said, "had the most imposing presence. His eyes remained fixed upon +you all the time he was speaking; and, notwithstanding the beauty of his +features, he inspired a sort of fear. I was very young, it is true, when +he first spoke to me; you shall judge whether it was in a very gracious +manner. I was fifteen. The King was going out to hunt, and a numerous +retinue followed him. As he stopped opposite me he said, 'Mademoiselle +Genet, I am assured you are very learned, and understand four or five +foreign languages.'--'I know only two, Sire,' I answered, trembling. +'Which are they?' English and Italian.'--'Do you speak them fluently?' +Yes, Sire, very fluently.' 'That is quite enough to drive a husband mad.' +After this pretty compliment the King went on; the retinue saluted me, +laughing; and, for my part, I remained for some moments motionless with +surprise and confusion." + +At the time when the French alliance was proposed by the Duc de Choiseul +there was at Vienna a doctor named Gassner,--[Jean Joseph Gassner, a +pretender to miraculous powers.]--who had fled thither to seek an asylum +against the persecutions of his sovereign, one of the ecclesiastical +electors. Gassner, gifted with an extraordinary warmth of imagination, +imagined that he received inspirations. The Empress protected him, saw +him occasionally, rallied him on his visions, and, nevertheless, heard +them with a sort of interest. "Tell me,"--said she to him one day, +"whether my Antoinette will be happy." Gassner turned pale, and remained +silent. Being still pressed by the Empress, and wishing to give a general +expression to the idea with which he seemed deeply occupied, "Madame," he +replied, "there are crosses for all shoulders." + +The occurrences at the Place Louis XV. on the marriage festivities at +Paris are generally known. The conflagration of the scaffolds intended +for the fireworks, the want of foresight of the authorities, the avidity +of robbers, the murderous career of the coaches, brought about and +aggravated the disasters of that day; and the young Dauphiness, coming +from Versailles, by the Cours la Reine, elated with joy, brilliantly +decorated, and eager to witness the rejoicings of the whole people, fled, +struck with consternation and drowned in tears, from the dreadful scene. +This tragic opening of the young Princess's life in France seemed to bear +out Gassner's hint of disaster, and to be ominous of the terrible future +which awaited her. + +In the same year in which Marie Antoinette was married to the Dauphin, +Henriette Genet married a son of M. Campan, already mentioned as holding +an office at the Court; and when the household of the Dauphiness was +formed, Madame Campan was appointed her reader, and received from Marie +Antoinette a consistent kindness and confidence to which by her loyal +service she was fully entitled. Madame Campan's intelligence and +vivacity made her much more sympathetic to a young princess, gay and +affectionate in disposition, and reared in the simplicity of a German +Court, than her lady of honour, the Comtesse de Noailles. This +respectable lady, who was placed near her as a minister of the laws of +etiquette, instead of alleviating their weight, rendered their yoke +intolerable to her. + +"Madame de Noailles," says Madame Campan, "abounded in virtues. Her +piety, charity, and irreproachable morals rendered her worthy of praise; +but etiquette was to her a sort of atmosphere; at the slightest +derangement of the consecrated order, one would have thought the +principles of life would forsake her frame. + +"One day I unintentionally threw this poor lady into a terrible agony. The +Queen was receiving I know not whom,--some persons just presented, I +believe; the lady of honour, the Queen's tirewoman, and the ladies of the +bedchamber, were behind the Queen. I was near the throne, with the two +women on duty. All was right,--at least I thought so. Suddenly I +perceived the eyes of Madame de Noailles fixed on mine. She made a sign +with her head, and then raised her eyebrows to the top of her forehead, +lowered them, raised them again, then began to make little signs with her +hand. From all this pantomime, I could easily perceive that something was +not as it should be; and as I looked about on all sides to find out what +it was, the agitation of the Countess kept increasing. The Queen, who +perceived all this, looked at me with a smile; I found means to approach +her Majesty, who said to me in a whisper, 'Let down your lappets, or the +Countess will expire.' All this bustle arose from two unlucky pins which +fastened up my lappets, whilst the etiquette of costume said 'Lappets +hanging down.'" + +Her contempt of the vanities of etiquette became the pretext for the first +reproaches levelled at the Queen. What misconduct might not be dreaded +from a princess who could absolutely go out without a hoop! and who, in +the salons of Trianon, instead of discussing the important rights to +chairs and stools, good-naturedly invited everybody to be seated. + +[M. de Fresne Forget, being one day in company with the Queen Marguerite, +told her he was astonished how men and women with such great ruffs could +eat soup without spoiling them; and still more how the ladies could be +gallant with their great fardingales. The Queen made no answer at that +time, but a few days after, having a very large ruff on, and some 'bouili' +to eat, she ordered a very long spoon to be brought, and ate her 'bouili' +with it, without soiling her ruff. Upon which, addressing herself to M. +de Fresne, she said, laughing, "There now, you see, with a little +ingenuity one may manage anything."--"Yes, faith, madame," said the good +man, "as far as regards the soup I am satisfied."--LAPLACE's "Collection," +vol. ii., p. 350.] + +The anti-Austrian party, discontented and vindictive, became spies upon +her conduct, exaggerated her slightest errors, and calumniated her most +innocent proceedings. "What seems unaccountable at the first glance," +says Montjoie, "is that the first attack on the reputation of the Queen +proceeded from the bosom of the Court. What interest could the courtiers +have in seeking her destruction, which involved that of the King? Was it +not drying up the source of all the advantages they enjoyed, or could hope +for?" + +[Madame Campan relates the following among many anecdotes illustrative of +the Queen's kindness of heart: "A petition was addressed to the Queen by a +corporation in the neighbourhood of Paris, praying for the destruction of +the game which destroyed their crops. I was the bearer of this petition +to her Majesty, who said, 'I will undertake to have these good people +relieved from so great an annoyance.' She gave the document to M. de +Vermond in my presence, saying, 'I desire that immediate justice be done +to this petition.' An assurance was given that her order should be +attended to, but six weeks afterwards a second petition was sent up, for +the nuisance had not been abated after all. If the second petition had +reached the Queen, M. de Vermond would have received a sharp reprimand. +She was always so happy when it was in her power to do good." + +The quick repartee, which was another of the Queen's characteristics, was +less likely to promote her popularity. "M. Brunier," says Madame Campan, +"was physician to the royal children. During his visits to the palace, if +the death of any of his patients was alluded to, he never failed to say, +'Ah! there I lost one of my best friends! 'Well,' said the Queen, 'if he +loses all his patients who are his friends, what will become of those who +are not?'"] + +When the terrible Danton exclaimed, "The kings of Europe menace us; it +behooves us to defy them; let us throw down to them the head of a king as +our gage!" these detestable words, followed by so cruel a result, formed, +however, a formidable stroke of policy. But the Queen! What urgent +reasons of state could Danton, Collot d'Herbois, and Robespierre allege +against her? What savage greatness did they discover in stirring up a +whole nation to avenge their quarrel on a woman? What remained of her +former power? She was a captive, a widow, trembling for her children! In +those judges, who at once outraged modesty and nature; in that people +whose vilest scoffs pursued her to the scaffold, who could have recognised +the generous people of France? Of all the crimes which disgraced the +Revolution, none was more calculated to show how the spirit of party can +degrade the character of a nation. + +The news of this dreadful event reached Madame Campan in an obscure +retreat which she had chosen. She had not succeeded in her endeavours to +share the Queen's captivity, and she expected every moment a similar fate. +After escaping, almost miraculously, from the murderous fury of the +Marseillais; after being denounced and pursued by Robespierre, and +entrusted, through the confidence of the King and Queen, with papers of +the utmost importance, Madame Campan went to Coubertin, in the valley of +Chevreuse. Madame Auguid, her sister, had just committed suicide, at the +very moment of her arrest. + +[Maternal affection prevailed over her religious sentiments; she wished to +preserve the wreck of her fortune for her children. Had she deferred this +fatal act for one day she would have been saved; the cart which conveyed +Robespierre to execution stopped her funeral procession!] + +The scaffold awaited Madame Campan, when the 9th of Thermidor restored her +to life; but did not restore to her the most constant object of her +thoughts, her zeal, and her devotion. + +A new career now opened to Madame Campan. At Coubertin, surrounded by her +nieces, she was fond of directing their studies. This occupation caused +her ideas to revert to the subject of education, and awakened once more +the inclinations of her youth. At the age of twelve years she could never +meet a school of young ladies passing through the streets without feeling +ambitious of the situation and authority of their mistress. Her abode at +Court had diverted but not altered her inclinations. "A month after the +fall of Robespierre," she says, "I considered as to the means of providing +for myself, for a mother seventy years of age, my sick husband, my child +nine years old, and part of my ruined family. I now possessed nothing in +the world but an assignat of five hundred francs. I had become responsible +for my husband's debts, to the amount of thirty thousand francs. I chose +St. Germain to set up a boarding-school, for that town did not remind me, +as Versailles did, both of happy times and of the misfortunes of France. +I took with me a nun of l'Enfant-Jesus, to give an unquestionable pledge +of my religious principles. The school of St. Germain was the first in +which the opening of an oratory was ventured on. The Directory was +displeased at it, and ordered it to be immediately shut up; and some time +after commissioners were sent to desire that the reading of the Scriptures +should be suppressed in my school. I inquired what books were to be +substituted in their stead. After some minutes' conversation, they +observed: 'Citizeness, you are arguing after the old fashion; no +reflections. The nation commands; we must have obedience, and no +reasoning.' Not having the means of printing my prospectus, I wrote a +hundred copies of it, and sent them to the persons of my acquaintance who +had survived the dreadful commotions. At the year's end I had sixty +pupils; soon afterwards a hundred. I bought furniture and paid my debts." + +The rapid success of the establishment at St. Germain was undoubtedly +owing to the talents, experience, and excellent principles of Madame +Campan, seconded by public opinion. All property had changed hands; all +ranks found themselves confusedly jumbled by the shock of the Revolution: +the grand seigneur dined at the table of the opulent contractor; and the +witty and elegant marquise was present at the ball by the side of the +clumsy peasant lately grown rich. In the absence of the ancient +distinctions, elegant manners and polished language now formed a kind of +aristocracy. The house of St. Germain, conducted by a lady who possessed +the deportment and the habits of the best society, was not only a school +of knowledge, but a school of the world. + +"A friend of Madame de Beauharnais," continues Madame Campan, "brought me +her daughter Hortense de Beauharnais, and her niece Emilie de Beauharnais. +Six months afterwards she came to inform me of her marriage with a +Corsican gentleman, who had been brought up in the military school, and +was then a general. I was requested to communicate this information to +her daughter, who long lamented her mother's change of name. I was also +desired to watch over the education of little Eugene de Beauharnais, who +was placed at St. Germain, in the same school with my son. + +"A great intimacy sprang up between my nieces and these young people. +Madame de Beauharnaias set out for Italy, and left her children with me. +On her return, after the conquests of Bonaparte, that general, much +pleased with the improvement of his stepdaughter, invited me to dine at +Malmaison, and attended two representations of 'Esther' at my school." + +He also showed his appreciation of her talents by sending his sister +Caroline to St. Germain. Shortly before Caroline's marriage to Murat, and +while she was yet at St. Germain, Napoleon observed to Madame Campan: "I +do not like those love matches between young people whose brains are +excited by the flames of the imagination. I had other views for my +sister. Who knows what high alliance I might have procured for her! She +is thoughtless, and does not form a just notion of my situation. The time +will come when, perhaps, sovereigns might dispute for her hand. She is +about to marry a brave man; but in my situation that is not enough. Fate +should be left to fulfil her decrees." + +[Madame Murat one day said to Madame Campan: "I am astonished that you are +not more awed in our presence; you speak to us with as much familiarity as +when we were your pupils!"--"The best thing you can do," replied Madame +Campan, "is to forget your titles when you are with me, for I can never be +afraid of queens whom I have held under the rod."] + +Madame Campan dined at the Tuileries in company with the Pope's nuncio, at +the period when the Concordat was in agitation. During dinner the First +Consul astonished her by the able manner in which he conversed on the +subject under discussion. She said he argued so logically that his talent +quite amazed her. During the consulate Napoleon one day said to her, "If +ever I establish a republic of women, I shall make you First Consul." + +Napoleon's views as to "woman's mission" are now well known. Madame +Campan said that she heard from him that when he founded the convent of +the Sisters of la Charite he was urgently solicited to permit perpetual +vows. He, however, refused to do so, on the ground that tastes may +change, and that he did not see the necessity of excluding from the world +women who might some time or other return to it, and become useful members +of society. "Nunneries," he added, "assail the very roots of population. +It is impossible to calculate the loss which a nation sustains in having +ten thousand women shut up in cloisters. War does but little mischief; +for the number of males is at least one-twenty-fifth greater than that of +females. Women may, if they please, be allowed to make perpetual vows at +fifty years of age; for then their task is fulfilled." + +Napoleon once said to Madame Campan, "The old systems of education were +good for nothing; what do young women stand in need of, to be well brought +up in France?"--"Of mothers," answered Madame Campan. "It is well said," +replied Napoleon. "Well, madame, let the French be indebted to you for +bringing up mothers for their children."--"Napoleon one day interrupted +Madame de Stael in the midst of a profound political argument to ask her +whether she had nursed her children." + +Never had the establishment at St. Germain been in a more flourishing +condition than in 1802-3. What more could Madame Campan wish? For ten +years absolute in her own house, she seemed also safe from the caprice of +power. But the man who then disposed of the fate of France and Europe was +soon to determine otherwise. + +After the battle of Austerlitz the State undertook to bring up, at the +public expense, the sisters, daughters, or nieces of those who were +decorated with the Cross of Honour. The children of the warriors killed +or wounded in glorious battle were to find paternal care in the ancient +abodes of the Montmorencys and the Condes. Accustomed to concentrate +around him all superior talents, fearless himself of superiority, Napoleon +sought for a person qualified by experience and abilities to conduct the +institution of Ecouen; he selected Madame Campan. + +Comte de Lacepede, the pupil, friend, and rival of Buffon, then Grand +Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, assisted her with his enlightened +advice. Napoleon, who could descend with ease from the highest political +subjects to the examination of the most minute details; who was as much at +home in inspecting a boarding-school for young ladies as in reviewing the +grenadiers of his guard; whom it was impossible to deceive, and who was +not unwilling to find fault when he visited the establishment at +Ecouen,--was forced to say, "It is all right." + +[Napoleon wished to be informed of every particular of the furniture, +government, and order of the house, the instruction and education of the +pupils. The internal regulations were submitted to him. One of the +intended rules, drawn up by Madame Campan, proposed that the children +should hear mass on Sundays and Thursdays. Napoleon himself wrote on the +margin, "every day."] + +"In the summer of 1811," relates Madame Campan, "Napoleon, accompanied by +Marie Louise and several personages of distinction, visited the +establishment at Ecouen. After inspecting the chapel and the refectories, +Napoleon desired that the three principal pupils might be presented to +him. 'Sire,' said I, 'I cannot select three; I must present six.' He +turned on his heel and repaired to the platform, where, after seeing all +the classes assembled, he repeated his demand. 'Sire,' said I, 'I beg +leave to inform your Majesty that I should commit an injustice towards +several other pupils who are as far advanced as those whom I might have +the honour to present to you.' + +"Berthier and others intimated to me, in a low tone of voice, that I +should get into disgrace by my noncompliance. Napoleon looked over the +whole of the house, entered into the most trivial details, and after +addressing questions to several of the pupils: 'Well, madame,' said he, 'I +am satisfied; show me your six best pupils.'" Madame Campan presented +them to him; and as he stepped into his carriage, he desired that their +names might be sent to Berthier. On addressing the list to the Prince de +Neufchatel, Madame Campan added to it the names of four other pupils, and +all the ten obtained a pension of 300 francs. During the three hours +which this visit occupied, Marie Louise did not utter a single word. + +M. de Beaumont, chamberlain to the Empress Josephine, one day at Malmaison +was expressing his regret that M. D-----, one of Napoleon's generals, who +had recently been promoted, did not belong to a great family. "You +mistake, monsieur," observed Madame Campan, "he is of very ancient +descent; he is one of the nephews of Charlemagne. All the heroes of our +army sprang from the elder branch of that sovereign's family, who never +emigrated." + +When Madame Campan related this circumstance she added: "After the 30th of +March, 1814, some officers of the army of Conde presumed to say to certain +French marshals that it was a pity they were not more nobly connected. In +answer to this, one of them said, 'True nobility, gentlemen, consists in +giving proofs of it. The field of honour has witnessed ours; but where +are we to look for yours? Your swords have rusted in their scabbards. +Our laurels may well excite envy; we have earned them nobly, and we owe +them solely to our valour. You have merely inherited a name. This is the +distinction between us." + +[When one of the princes of the smaller German States was showing Marechal +Lannes, with a contemptuous superiority of manner but ill concealed, the +portraits of his ancestors, and covertly alluding to the absence of +Lannes's, that general turned the tables on him by haughtily remarking, +"But I am an ancestor."] + +Napoleon used to observe that if he had had two such field-marshals as +Suchet in Spain he would have not only conquered but kept the Peninsula. +Suchet's sound judgment, his governing yet conciliating spirit, his +military tact, and his bravery, had procured him astonishing success. "It +is to be regretted," added he, "that a sovereign cannot improvise men of +his stamp." + +On the 19th of March, 1815, a number of papers were left in the King's +closet. Napoleon ordered them to be examined, and among them was found +the letter written by Madame Campan to Louis XVIII., immediately after the +first restoration. In this letter she enumerated the contents of the +portfolio which Louis XVI. had placed under her care. When Napoleon read +this letter, he said, "Let it be sent to the office of Foreign Affairs; it +is an historical document." + +Madame Campan thus described a visit from the Czar of Russia: "A few days +after the battle of Paris the Emperor Alexander came to Ecouen, and he did +me the honour to breakfast with me. After showing him over the +establishment I conducted him to the park, the most elevated point of +which overlooked the plain of St. Denis. 'Sire,' said I, 'from this point +I saw the battle of Paris'--'If,' replied the Emperor, 'that battle had +lasted two hours longer we should not have had a single cartridge at our +disposal. We feared that we had been betrayed; for on arriving so +precipitately before Paris all our plans were laid, and we did not expect +the firm resistance we experienced.' I next conducted the Emperor to the +chapel, and showed him the seats occupied by 'le connetable' (the +constable) of Montmorency, and 'la connetable' (the constable's lady), +when they went to hear mass. 'Barbarians like us,' observed the Emperor, +'would say la connetable and le connetable.' + +"The Czar inquired into the most minute particulars respecting the +establishment of Ecouen, and I felt great pleasure in answering his +questions. I recollect having dwelt on several points which appeared to +me to be very important, and which were in their spirit hostile to +aristocratic principles. For example, I informed his Majesty that the +daughters of distinguished and wealthy individuals and those of the humble +and obscure mingled indiscriminately in the establishment. 'If,' said I, +'I were to observe the least pretension on account of the rank or fortune +of parents, I should immediately put an end to it. The most perfect +equality is preserved; distinction is awarded only to merit and industry. +The pupils are obliged to cut out and make all their own clothes. They +are taught to clean and mend lace; and two at a time, they by turns, three +times a week, cook and distribute food to the poor of the village. The +young girls who have been brought up at Ecouen, or in my boarding-school +at St. Germain, are thoroughly acquainted with everything relating to +household business, and they are grateful to me for having made that a +part of their education. In my conversations with them I have always +taught them that on domestic management depends the preservation or +dissipation of their fortunes.' + +"The post-master of Ecouen was in the courtyard at the moment when the +Emperor, as he stepped into his carriage, told me he would send some +sweetmeats for the pupils. I immediately communicated to them the +intelligence, which was joyfully received; but the sweetmeats were looked +for in vain. When Alexander set out for England he changed horses at +Ecouen, and the post-master said to him: 'Sire, the pupils of Ecouen are +still expecting the sweetmeats which your Majesty promised them.' To +which the Emperor replied that he had directed Saken to send them. The +Cossacks had most likely devoured the sweetmeats, and the poor little +girls, who had been so highly flattered by the promise, never tasted +them." + +"A second house was formed at St. Denis, on the model of that of Ecouen. +Perhaps Madame Campan might have hoped for a title to which her long +labours gave her a right; perhaps the superintendence of the two houses +would have been but the fair recompense of her services; but her fortunate +years had passed her fate was now to depend on the most important events. +Napoleon had accumulated such a mass of power as no one but himself in +Europe could overturn. France, content with thirty years of victories, in +vain asked for peace and repose. The army which had triumphed in the +sands of Egypt, on the summits of the Alps, and in the marshes of Holland, +was to perish amidst the snows of Russia. Nations combined against a +single man. The territory of France was invaded. The orphans of Ecouen, +from the windows of the mansion which served as their asylum, saw in the +distant plain the fires of the Russian bivouacs, and once more wept the +deaths of their fathers. Paris capitulated. France hailed the return of +the descendants of Henri IV.; they reascended the throne so long filled by +their ancestors, which the wisdom of an enlightened prince established on +the empire of the laws. + +[A lady, connected with the establishment of St. Denis, told Madame Campan +that Napoleon visited it during the Hundred Days, and that the pupils were +so delighted to see him that they crowded round him, endeavouring to touch +his clothes, and evincing the most extravagant joy. The matron +endeavoured to silence them; but Napoleon said, 'Let them alone; let them +alone. This may weaken the head, but it strengthens the heart.']" + +This moment, which diffused joy amongst the faithful servants of the royal +family, and brought them the rewards of their devotion, proved to Madame +Campan a period of bitter vexation. The hatred of her enemies had +revived. The suppression of the school at Ecouen had deprived her of her +position; the most absurd calumnies followed her into her retreat; her +attachment to the Queen was suspected; she was accused not only of +ingratitude but of perfidy. Slander has little effect on youth, but in +the decline of life its darts are envenomed with a mortal poison. The +wounds which Madame Campan had received were deep. Her sister, Madame +Auguie, had destroyed herself; M. Rousseau, her brother-in-law, had +perished, a victim of the reign of terror. In 1813 a dreadful accident +had deprived her of her niece, Madame de Broc, one of the most amiable and +interesting beings that ever adorned the earth. Madame Campan seemed +destined to behold those whom she loved go down to the grave before her. + +Beyond the walls of the mansion of Ecouen, in the village which surrounds +it, Madame Campan had taken a small house where she loved to pass a few +hours in solitary retirement. There, at liberty to abandon herself to the +memory of the past, the superintendent of the imperial establishment +became, once more, for the moment, the first lady of the chamber to Marie +Antoinette. To the few friends whom she admitted into this retreat she +would show, with emotion, a plain muslin gown which the Queen had worn, +and which was made from a part of Tippoo Saib's present. A cup, out of +which Marie Antoinette had drunk; a writing-stand, which she had long +used, were, in her eyes, of inestimable value; and she has often been +discovered sitting, in tears, before the portrait of her royal mistress. + +After so many troubles Madame Campan sought a peaceful retreat. Paris had +become odious to her. + +She paid a visit to one of her most beloved pupils, Mademoiselle Crouzet, +who had married a physician at Mantes, a man of talent, distinguished for +his intelligence, frankness, and cordiality. + +[M. Maigne, physician to the infirmaries at Mantes. Madame Campan found +in him a friend and comforter, of whose merit and affection she knew the +value.] + +Mantes is a cheerful place of residence, and the idea of an abode there +pleased her. A few intimate friends formed a pleasant society, and she +enjoyed a little tranquillity after so many disturbances. The revisal of +her "Memoirs," the arrangement of the interesting anecdotes of which her +"Recollections" were to consist, alone diverted her mind from the one +powerful sentiment which attached her to life. She lived only for her +son. M. Campan deserved the tenderness of, his mother. No sacrifice had +been spared for his education. After having pursued that course of study +which, under the Imperial Government, produced men of such distinguished +merit, he was waiting till time and circumstances should afford him an +opportunity of devoting his services to his country. Although the state +of his health was far from good, it did not threaten any rapid or +premature decay; he was, however, after a few days' illness, suddenly +taken from his family. "I never witnessed so heartrending a scene," M. +Maigne says, "as that which took place when Marechal Ney's lady, her +niece, and Madame Pannelier, her sister, came to acquaint her with this +misfortune.--[The wife of Marechal Ney was a daughter of Madame Auguie, +and had been an intimate friend of Hortense Beauharnais.]--When they +entered her apartment she was in bed. All three at once uttered a +piercing cry. The two ladies threw themselves on their knees, and kissed +her hands, which they bedewed with tears. Before they could speak to her +she read in their faces that she no longer possessed a son. At that +instant her large eyes, opening wildly, seemed to wander. Her face grew +pale, her features changed, her lips lost their colour, she struggled to +speak, but uttered only inarticulate sounds, accompanied by piercing +cries. Her gestures were wild, her reason was suspended. Every part of +her being was in agony. To this state of anguish and despair no calm +succeeded, until her tears began to flow. Friendship and the tenderest +cares succeeded for a moment in calming her grief, but not in diminishing +its power. + +"This violent crisis had disturbed her whole organisation. A cruel +disorder, which required a still more cruel operation, soon manifested +itself. The presence of her family, a tour which she made in Switzerland, +a residence at Baden, and, above all, the sight, the tender and charming +conversation of a person by whom she was affectionately beloved, +occasionally diverted her mind, and in a slight degree relieved her +suffering." She underwent a serious operation, performed with +extraordinary promptitude and the most complete success. No unfavourable +symptoms appeared; Madame Campan was thought to be restored to her +friends; but the disorder was in the blood; it took another course: the +chest became affected. "From that moment," says M. Maigne, "I could never +look on Madame Campan as living; she herself felt that she belonged no +more to this world." + +"My friend," she said to her physician the day before her death, "I am +attached to the simplicity of religion. I hate all that savours of +fanaticism." When her codicil was presented for her signature, her hand +trembled; "It would be a pity," she said, "to stop when so fairly on the +road." + +Madame Campan died on the 16th of March, 1822. The cheerfulness she +displayed throughout her malady had nothing affected in it. Her character +was naturally powerful and elevated. At the approach of death she evinced +the soul of a sage, without abandoning for an instant her feminine +character. + + + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, + +QUEEN OF FRANCE + +Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, + +First Lady in Waiting to the Queen + + + + +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 +Parc-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 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. + +[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.] + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +During the first few months of his reign Louis XVI. dwelt at La Muette, +Marly, and Compiegne. When settled at Versailles he occupied himself with +a general examination of his grandfather's papers. He had promised the +Queen to communicate to her all that he might discover relative to the +history of the man with the iron mask, who, he thought, had become so +inexhaustible a source of conjecture only in consequence of the interest +which the pen of a celebrated writer had excited respecting the detention +of a prisoner of State, who was merely a man of whimsical tastes and +habits. + +I was with the Queen when the King, having finished his researches, +informed her that he had not found anything among the secret papers +elucidating the existence of this prisoner; that he had conversed on the +matter with M. de Maurepas, whose age made him contemporary with the epoch +during which the story must have been known to the ministers; and that M. +de Maurepas had assured him he was merely a prisoner of a very dangerous +character, in consequence of his disposition for intrigue. He was a +subject of the Duke of Mantua, and was enticed to the frontier, arrested +there, and kept prisoner, first at Pignerol, and afterwards in the +Bastille. This transfer took place in consequence of the appointment of +the governor of the former place to the government of the latter. It was +for fear the prisoner should profit by the inexperience of a new governor +that he was sent with the Governor of Pignerol to the Bastille. + +Such was, in fact, the truth about the man on whom people have been +pleased to fix an iron mask. And thus was it related in writing, and +published by M. ----- twenty years ago. He had searched the archives of +the Foreign Office, and laid the real story before the public; but the +public, prepossessed in favour of a marvellous version, would not +acknowledge the authenticity of his account. Every man relied upon the +authority of Voltaire; and it was believed that a natural or a twin +brother of Louis XIV. lived many years in prison with a mask over his +face. The story of this mask, perhaps, had its origin in the old custom, +among both men and women in Italy, of wearing a velvet mask when they +exposed themselves to the sun. It is possible that the Italian captive +may have sometimes shown himself upon the terrace of his prison with his +face thus covered. As to the silver plate which this celebrated prisoner +is said to have thrown from his window, it is known that such a +circumstance did happen, but it happened at Valzin, in the time of +Cardinal Richelieu. This anecdote has been mixed up with the inventions +respecting the Piedmontese prisoner. + +In this survey of the papers of Louis XV. by his grandson some very +curious particulars relative to his private treasury were found. Shares +in various financial companies afforded him a revenue, and had in course +of time produced him a capital of some amount, which he applied to his +secret expenses. The King collected his vouchers of title to these +shares, and made a present of them to M. Thierry de Ville d'Avray, his +chief valet de chambre. + +The Queen was desirous to secure the comfort of Mesdames, the daughters of +Louis XV., who were held in the highest respect. About this period she +contributed to furnish them with a revenue sufficient to provide them an +easy, pleasant existence: The King gave them the Chateau of Bellevue; and +added to the produce of it, which was given up to them, the expenses of +their table and equipage, and payment of all the charges of their +household, the number of which was even increased. During the lifetime of +Louis XV., who was a very selfish prince, his daughters, although they had +attained forty years of age, had no other place of residence than their +apartments in the Chateau of Versailles; no other walks than such as they +could take in the large park of that palace; and no other means of +gratifying their taste for the cultivation of plants but by having boxes +and vases, filled with them, in their balconies or their closets. They +had, therefore, reason to be much pleased with the conduct of Marie +Antoinette, who had the greatest influence in the King's kindness towards +his aunts. + +Paris did not cease, during the first years of the reign, to give proofs +of pleasure whenever the Queen appeared at any of the plays of the +capital. At the representation of "Iphigenia in Aulis," the actor who +sang the words, "Let us sing, let us celebrate our Queen!" which were +repeated by the chorus, directed by a respectful movement the eyes of the +whole assembly upon her Majesty. Reiterated cries of 'Bis'! and clapping +of hands, were followed by such a burst of enthusiasm that many of the +audience added their voices to those of the actors in order to celebrate, +it might too truly be said, another Iphigenia. The Queen, deeply +affected, covered her eyes with her handkerchief; and this proof of +sensibility raised the public enthusiasm to a still higher pitch. + +The King gave Marie Antoinette Petit Trianon. + +[The Chateau of Petit Trianon, which was built for Louis XV., was not +remarkably handsome as a building. The luxuriance of the hothouses +rendered the place agreeable to that Prince. He spent a few days there +several times in the year. It was when he was setting off from Versailles +for Petit Trianon that he was struck in the side by the knife of Damiens, +and it was there that he was attacked by the smallpox, of which he died on +the 10th of May, 1774.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Henceforward she amused herself with improving the gardens, without +allowing any addition to the building, or any change in the furniture, +which was very shabby, and remained, in 1789, in the same state as during +the reign of Louis XV. Everything there, without exception, was +preserved; and the Queen slept in a faded bed, which had been used by the +Comtesse du Barry. The charge of extravagance, generally made against the +Queen, is the most unaccountable of all the popular errors respecting her +character. She had exactly the contrary failing; and I could prove that +she often carried her economy to a degree of parsimony actually blamable, +especially in a sovereign. She took a great liking for Trianon, and used +to go there alone, followed by a valet; but she found attendants ready to +receive her,--a concierge and his wife, who served her as femme de +chambre, women of the wardrobe, footmen, etc. + +When she first took possession of Petit Trianon, it was reported that she +changed the name of the seat which the King had given her, and called it +Little Vienna, or Little Schoenbrunn. A person who belonged to the Court, +and was silly enough to give this report credit, wishing to visit Petit +Trianon with a party, wrote to M. Campan, requesting the Queen's +permission to do so. In his note he called Trianon Little Vienna. Similar +requests were usually laid before the Queen just as they were made: she +chose to give the permissions to see her gardens herself, liking to grant +these little favours. When she came to the words I have quoted she was +very, much offended, and exclaimed, angrily, that there were too many, +fools ready, to aid the malicious; that she had been told of the report +circulated, which pretended that she had thought of nothing but her own +country, and that she kept an Austrian heart, while the interests of +France alone ought to engage her. She refused the request so awkwardly +made, and desired M. Campan to reply, that Trianon was not to be seen for +some time, and that the Queen was astonished that any man in good society +should believe she would do so ill-judged a thing as to change the French +names of her palaces to foreign ones. + +Before the Emperor Joseph II's first visit to France the Queen received a +visit from the Archduke Maximilian in 1775. A stupid act of the +ambassador, seconded on the part of the Queen by the Abbe de Vermond, gave +rise at that period to a discussion which offended the Princes of the +blood and the chief nobility of the kingdom. Travelling incognito, the +young Prince claimed that the first visit was not due from him to the +Princes of the blood; and the Queen supported his pretension. + +From the time of the Regency, and on account of the residence of the +family of Orleans in the bosom of the capital, Paris had preserved a +remarkable degree of attachment and respect for that branch of the royal +house; and although the crown was becoming more and more remote from the +Princes of the House of Orleans, they had the advantage (a great one with +the Parisians) of being the descendants of Henri IV. An affront to that +popular family was a serious ground of dislike to the Queen. It was at +this period that the circles of the city, and even of the Court, expressed +themselves bitterly about her levity, and her partiality for the House of +Austria. The Prince for whom the Queen had embarked in an important +family quarrel--and a quarrel involving national prerogatives--was, +besides, little calculated to inspire interest. Still young, uninformed, +and deficient in natural talent, he was always making blunders. + +He went to the Jardin du Roi; M. de Buffon, who received him there, +offered him a copy of his works; the Prince declined accepting the book, +saying to M. de Buffon, in the most polite manner possible, "I should be +very sorry to deprive you of it." + +[Joseph II, on his visit to France, also went to see M. de Buffon, and +said to that celebrated man, "I am come to fetch the copy of your works +which my brother forgot."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +It may be supposed that the Parisians were much entertained with this +answer. + +The Queen was exceedingly mortified at the mistakes made by her brother; +but what hurt her most was being accused of preserving an Austrian heart. +Marie Antoinette had more than once to endure that imputation during the +long course of her misfortunes. Habit did not stop the tears such +injustice caused; but the first time she was suspected of not loving +France, she gave way to her indignation. All that she could say on the +subject was useless; by seconding the pretensions of the Archduke she had +put arms into her enemies' hands; they were labouring to deprive her of +the love of the people, and endeavoured, by all possible means, to spread +a belief that the Queen sighed for Germany, and preferred that country to +France. + +Marie Antoinette had none but herself to rely on for preserving the fickle +smiles of the Court and the public. The King, too indifferent to serve +her as a guide, as yet had conceived no love for her, notwithstanding the +intimacy that grew between them at Choisy. In his closet Louis XVI. was +immersed in deep study. At the Council he was busied with the welfare of +his people; hunting and mechanical occupations engrossed his leisure +moments, and he never thought on the subject of an heir. + +The coronation took place at Rheims, with all the accustomed pomp. At +this period the people's love for Louis XVI. burst forth in transports +not to be mistaken for party demonstrations or idle curiosity. He replied +to this enthusiasm by marks of confidence, worthy of a people happy in +being governed by a good King; he took a pleasure in repeatedly walking +without guards, in the midst of the crowd which pressed around him, and +called down blessings on his head. I remarked the impression made at this +time by an observation of Louis XVI. On the day of his coronation he put +his hand up to his head, at the moment of the crown being placed upon it, +and said, "It pinches me." Henri III. had exclaimed, "It pricks me." +Those who were near the King were struck with the similarity between these +two exclamations, though not of a class likely to be blinded by the +superstitious fears of ignorance. + +While the Queen, neglected as she was, could not even hope for the +happiness of being a mother, she had the mortification of seeing the +Comtesse d'Artois give birth to the Duc d'Angouleme. + +Custom required that the royal family and the whole Court should be +present at the accouchement of the Princesses; the Queen was therefore +obliged to stay a whole day in her sister-in-law's chamber. The moment +the Comtesse d'Artois was informed a prince was born, she put her hand to +her forehead and exclaimed with energy, "My God, how happy I am!" The +Queen felt very differently at this involuntary and natural exclamation. +Nevertheless, her behaviour was perfect. She bestowed all possible marks +of tenderness upon the young mother, and would not leave her until she was +again put into bed; she afterwards passed along the staircase, and through +the hall of the guards, with a calm demeanour, in the midst of an immense +crowd. The poissardes, who had assumed a right of speaking to sovereigns +in their own vulgar language, followed her to the very doors of her +apartments, calling out to her with gross expressions, that she ought to +produce heirs. The Queen reached her inner room, hurried and agitated; he +shut herself up to weep with me alone, not from jealousy of her +sister-in-law's happiness,--of that he was incapable,--but from sorrow at +her own situation. + +Deprived of the happiness of giving an heir to the crown, the Queen +endeavoured to interest herself in the children of the people of her +household. She had long been desirous to bring up one of them herself, +and to make it the constant object of her care. A little village boy, +four or five years old, full of health, with a pleasing countenance, +remarkably large blue eyes, and fine light hair, got under the feet of the +Queen's horses, when she was taking an airing in a calash, through the +hamlet of St. Michel, near Louveciennes. The coachman and postilions +stopped the horses, and the child was rescued without the slightest +injury. Its grandmother rushed out of the door of her cottage to take it; +but the Queen, standing up in her calash and extending her arms, called +out that the child was hers, and that destiny had given it to her, to +console her, no doubt, until she should have the happiness of having one +herself. "Is his mother alive?" asked the Queen. "No, Madame; my +daughter died last winter, and left five small children upon my hands." "I +will take this one, and provide for all the rest; do you consent?" "Ah, +Madame, they are too fortunate," replied the cottager; "but Jacques is a +bad boy. I hope he will stay with you!" The Queen, taking little Jacques +upon her knee, said that she would make him used to her, and gave orders +to proceed. It was necessary, however, to shorten the drive, so violently +did Jacques scream, and kick the Queen and her ladies. + +The arrival of her Majesty at her apartments at Versailles, holding the +little rustic by the hand, astonished the whole household; he cried out +with intolerable shrillness that he wanted his grandmother, his brother +Louis, and his sister Marianne; nothing could calm him. He was taken away +by the wife of a servant, who was appointed to attend him as nurse. The +other children were put to school. Little Jacques, whose family name was +Armand, came back to the Queen two days afterwards; a white frock trimmed +with lace, a rose-coloured sash with silver fringe, and a hat decorated +with feathers, were now substituted for the woollen cap, the little red +frock, and the wooden shoes. The child was really very beautiful. The +Queen was enchanted with him; he was brought to her every morning at nine +o'clock; he breakfasted and dined with her, and often even with the King. +She liked to call him my child, and lavished caresses upon him, still +maintaining a deep silence respecting the regrets which constantly +occupied her heart. + +[This little unfortunate was nearly twenty in 1792; the fury of the people +and the fear of being thought a favourite of the Queen's had made him the +most sanguinary terrorist of Versailles. He was killed at the battle of +Jemappes.] + +This child remained with the Queen until the time when Madame was old +enough to come home to her august mother, who had particularly taken upon +herself the care of her education. + +The Queen talked incessantly of the qualities which she admired in Louis +XVI., and gladly attributed to herself the slightest favourable change in +his manner; perhaps she displayed too unreservedly the joy she felt, and +the share she appropriated in the improvement. One day Louis XVI. saluted +her ladies with more kindness than usual, and the Queen laughingly said to +them, "Now confess, ladies, that for one so badly taught as a child, the +King has saluted you with very good grace!" + +The Queen hated M. de La Vauguyon; she accused him alone of those points +in the habits, and even the sentiments, of the King which hurt her. A +former first woman of the bedchamber to Queen Maria Leczinska had +continued in office near the young Queen. She was one of those people who +are fortunate enough to spend their lives in the service of kings without +knowing anything of what is passing at Court. She was a great devotee; +the Abbe Grisel, an ex-Jesuit, was her director. Being rich from her +savings and an income of 50,000 livres, she kept a very good table; in her +apartment, at the Grand Commun, the most distinguished persons who still +adhered to the Order of Jesuits often assembled. The Duc de La Vauguyon +was intimate with her; their chairs at the Eglise des Reollets were placed +near each other; at high mass and at vespers they sang the "Gloria in +Excelsis" and the "Magnificat" together; and the pious virgin, seeing in +him only one of God's elect, little imagined him to be the declared enemy +of a Princess whom she served and revered. On the day of his death she ran +in tears to relate to the Queen the piety, humility, and repentance of the +last moments of the Duc de La Vauguyon. He had called his people +together, she said, to ask their pardon. "For what?" replied the Queen, +sharply; "he has placed and pensioned off all his servants; it was of the +King and his brothers that the holy man you bewail should have asked +pardon, for having paid so little attention to the education of princes on +whom the fate and happiness of twenty-five millions of men depend. +Luckily," added she, "the King and his brothers, still young, have +incessantly laboured to repair the errors of their preceptor." + +The progress of time, and the confidence with which the King and the +Princes, his brothers, were inspired by the change in their situation +since the death of Louis XV., had developed their characters. I will +endeavour to depict them. + +The features of Louis XVI. were noble enough, though somewhat melancholy +in expression; his walk was heavy and unmajestic; his person greatly +neglected; his hair, whatever might be the skill of his hairdresser, was +soon in disorder. His voice, without being harsh, was not agreeable; if +he grew animated in speaking he often got above his natural pitch, and +became shrill. The Abbe de Radonvilliers, his preceptor, one of the Forty +of the French Academy, a learned and amiable man, had given him and +Monsieur a taste for study. The King had continued to instruct himself; +he knew the English language perfectly; I have often heard him translate +some of the most difficult passages in Milton's poems. He was a skilful +geographer, and was fond of drawing and colouring maps; he was well versed +in history, but had not perhaps sufficiently studied the spirit of it. He +appreciated dramatic beauties, and judged them accurately. At Choisy, one +day, several ladies expressed their dissatisfaction because the French +actors were going to perform one of Moliere's pieces. The King inquired +why they disapproved of the choice. One of them answered that everybody +must admit that Moliere had very bad taste; the King replied that many +things might be found in Moliere contrary to fashion, but that it appeared +to him difficult to point out any in bad taste? + +[The King, having purchased the Chateau of Rambouillet from the Duc de +Penthievre, amused himself with embellishing it. I have seen a register +entirely in his own handwriting, which proves that he possessed a great +variety of information on the minutiae of various branches of knowledge. +In his accounts he would not omit an outlay of a franc. His figures and +letters, when he wished to write legibly, were small and very neat, but in +general he wrote very ill. He was so sparing of paper that he divided a +sheet into eight, six, or four pieces, according to the length of what he +had to write. Towards the close of the page he compressed the letters, and +avoided interlineations. The last words were close to the edge of the +paper; he seemed to regret being obliged to begin another page. He was +methodical and analytical; he divided what he wrote into chapters and +sections. He had extracted from the works of Nicole and Fenelon, his +favourite authors, three or four hundred concise and sententious phrases; +these he had classed according to subject, and formed a work of them in +the style of Montesquieu. To this treatise he had given the following +general title: "Of Moderate Monarchy" (De la Monarchie temperee), with +chapters entitled, "Of the Person of the Prince;" "Of the Authority of +Bodies in the State;" "Of the Character of the Executive Functions of the +Monarchy." Had he been able to carry into effect all the grand precepts +he had observed in Fenelon, Louis XVI. would have been an accomplished +monarch, and France a powerful kingdom. The King used to accept the +speeches his ministers presented to him to deliver on important occasions; +but he corrected and modified them; struck out some parts, and added +others; and sometimes consulted the Queen on the subject. The phrase of +the minister erased by the King was frequently unsuitable, and dictated by +the minister's private feelings; but the King's was always the natural +expression. He himself composed, three times or oftener, his famous +answers to the Parliament which he banished. But in his letters he was +negligent, and always incorrect. Simplicity was the characteristic of the +King's style; the figurative style of M. Necker did not please him; the +sarcasms of Maurepas were disagreeable to him. Unfortunate Prince! he +would predict, in his observations, that if such a calamity should happen, +the monarchy would be ruined; and the next day he would consent in Council +to the very measure which he had condemned the day before, and which +brought him nearer the brink of the precipice.--SOULAVIE, "Historical and +Political Memoirs of the Reign of Louis XVI.," vol. ii.] + +This Prince combined with his attainments the attributes of a good +husband, a tender father, and an indulgent master. + +Unfortunately he showed too much predilection for the mechanical arts; +masonry and lock-making so delighted him that he admitted into his private +apartment a common locksmith, with whom he made keys and locks; and his +hands, blackened by that sort of work, were often, in my presence, the +subject of remonstrances and even sharp reproaches from the Queen, who +would have chosen other amusements for her husband. + +[Louis XVI. saw that the art of lock-making was capable of application to +a higher study, He was an excellent geographer. The most valuable and +complete instrument for the study of that science was begun by his orders +and under his direction. It was an immense globe of copper, which was +long preserved, though unfinished, in the Mazarine library. Louis XVI. +invented and had executed under his own eyes the ingenious mechanism +required for this globe.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +Austere and rigid with regard to himself alone, the King observed the laws +of the Church with scrupulous exactness. He fasted and abstained +throughout the whole of Lent. He thought it right that the queen should +not observe these customs with the same strictness. Though sincerely +pious, the spirit of the age had disposed his mind to toleration. Turgot, +Malesherbes, and Necker judged that this Prince, modest and simple in his +habits, would willingly sacrifice the royal prerogative to the solid +greatness of his people. His heart, in truth, disposed him towards +reforms; but his prejudices and fears, and the clamours of pious and +privileged persons, intimidated him, and made him abandon plans which his +love for the people had suggested. + +Monsieur had more dignity of demeanour than the King; but his corpulence +rendered his gait inelegant. He was fond of pageantry and magnificence. +He cultivated the belles lettres, and under assumed names often +contributed verses to the Mercury and other papers. + +[During his stay at Avignon, Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII, lodged with +the Duc de Crillon; he refused the town-guard which was offered him, +saying, "A son of France, under the roof of a Crillon, needs no +guard."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +His wonderful memory was the handmaid of his wit, furnishing him with the +happiest quotations. He knew by heart a varied repertoire, from the +finest passages of the Latin classics to the Latin of all the prayers, +from the works of Racine to the vaudeville of "Rose et Colas." + +The Comte d'Artoisi had an agreeable countenance, was well made, skilful +in bodily exercises, lively, impetuous, fond of pleasure, and very +particular in his dress. Some happy observations made by him were +repeated with approval, and gave a favourable idea of his heart. The +Parisians liked the open and frank character of this Prince, which they +considered national, and showed real affection for him. + +The dominion that the Queen gained over the King's mind, the charms of a +society in which Monsieur displayed his wit, and to which the Comte +d'Artois--[Afterwards Charles X.]--gave life by the vivacity of youth, +gradually softened that ruggedness of manner in Louis XVI. which a +better-conducted education might have prevented. Still, this defect often +showed itself, and, in spite of his extreme simplicity, the King inspired +those who had occasion to speak to him with diffidence. Courtiers, +submissive in the presence of their sovereign, are only the more ready to +caricature him; with little good breeding, they called those answers they +so much dreaded, Les coups de boutoir du Roi.--[The literal meaning of the +phrase "coup de boutoir," is a thrust from the snout of a boar.] + +Methodical in all his habits, the King always went to bed at eleven +precisely. One evening the Queen was going with her usual circle to a +party, either at the Duc de Duras's or the Princesse de Glumenee's. The +hand of the clock was slily put forward to hasten the King's departure by +a few minutes; he thought bed-time was come, retired, and found none of +his attendants ready to wait on him. This joke became known in all the +drawing-rooms of Versailles, and was disapproved of there. Kings have no +privacy. Queens have no boudoirs. If those who are in immediate +attendance upon sovereigns be not themselves disposed to transmit their +private habits to posterity, the meanest valet will relate what he has +seen or heard; his gossip circulates rapidly, and forms public opinion, +which at length ascribes to the most august persons characters which, +however untrue they may be, are almost always indelible. + +NOTE. The only passion ever shown by Louis XVI. was for hunting. He was +so much occupied by it that when I went up into his private closets at +Versailles, after the 10th of August, I saw upon the staircase six frames, +in which were seen statements of all his hunts, when Dauphin and when +King. In them was detailed the number, kind, and quality of the game he +had killed at each hunting party during every month, every season, and +every year of his reign. + +The interior of his private apartments was thus arranged: a salon, +ornamented with gilded mouldings, displayed the engravings which had been +dedicated to him, drawings of the canals he had dug, with the model of +that of Burgundy, and the plan of the cones and works of Cherbourg. The +upper hall contained his collection of geographical charts, spheres, +globes, and also his geographical cabinet. There were to be seen drawings +of maps which he had begun, and some that he had finished. He had a +clever method of washing them in. His geographical memory was prodigious. +Over the hall was the turning and joining room, furnished with ingenious +instruments for working in wood. He inherited some from Louis XV., and he +often busied himself, with Duret's assistance, in keeping them clean and +bright. Above was the library of books published during his reign. The +prayer books and manuscript books of Anne of Brittany, Francois I, the +later Valois, Louis XIV., Louis XV., and the Dauphin formed the great +hereditary library of the Chateau. Louis XVI. placed separately, in two +apartments communicating with each other, the works of his own time, +including a complete collection of Didot's editions, in vellum, every +volume enclosed in a morocco case. There were several English works, +among the rest the debates of the British Parliament, in a great number of +volumes in folio (this is the Moniteur of England, a complete collection +of which is so valuable and so scarce). By the side of this collection was +to be seen a manuscript history of all the schemes for a descent upon that +island, particularly that of Comte de Broglie. One of the presses of this +cabinet was full of cardboard boxes, containing papers relative to the +House of Austria, inscribed in the King's own hand: "Secret papers of my +family respecting the House of Austria; papers of my family respecting the +Houses of Stuart and Hanover." In an adjoining press were kept papers +relative to Russia. Satirical works against Catherine II. and against +Paul I. were sold in France under the name of histories; Louis XVIII. +collected and sealed up with his small seal the scandalous anecdotes +against Catherine II., as well as the works of Rhulieres, of which he had +a copy, to be certain that the secret life of that Princess, which +attracted the curiosity of her contemporaries, should not be made public +by his means. + +Above the King's private library were a forge, two anvils, and a vast +number of iron tools; various common locks, well made and perfect; some +secret locks, and locks ornamented with gilt copper. It was there that +the infamous Gamin, who afterwards accused the King of having tried to +poison him, and was rewarded for his calumny with a pension of twelve +thousand livres, taught him the art of lock-making. This Gamin, who +became our guide, by order of the department and municipality of +Versailles, did not, however, denounce the King on the 20th December, +1792. He had been made the confidant of that Prince in an immense number +of important commissions; the King had sent him the "Red Book," from +Paris, in a parcel; and the part which was concealed during the +Constituent Assembly still remained so in 1793. Gamin hid it in a part of +the Chateau inaccessible to everybody, and took it from under the shelves +of a secret press before our eyes. This is a convincing proof that Louis +XVI. hoped to return to his Chiteau. When teaching Louis XVI. his trade +Gamin took upon himself the tone and authority of a master. "The King was +good, forbearing, timid, inquisitive, and addicted to sleep," said Gamin +to me; "he was fond to excess of lock-making, and he concealed himself +from the Queen and the Court to file and forge with me. In order to convey +his anvil and my own backwards and forwards we were obliged to use a +thousand stratagems, the history of which would: never end." Above the +King's and Gamin's forges and anvils was an, observatory, erected upon a +platform covered with lead. There, seated on an armchair, and assisted by +a telescope, the King observed all that was passing in the courtyards of +Versailles, the avenue of Paris, and the neighbouring gardens. He had +taken a liking to Duret, one of the indoor servants of the palace, who +sharpened his tools, cleaned his anvils, pasted his maps, and adjusted +eyeglasses to the King's sight, who was short-sighted. This good Duret, +and indeed all the indoor servants, spoke of their master with regret and +affection, and with tears in their eyes. + +The King was born weak and delicate; but from the age of twenty-four he +possessed a robust constitution, inherited from his mother, who was of the +House of Saxe, celebrated for generations for its robustness. There were +two men in Louis XVI., the man of knowledge and the man of will. The King +knew the history of his own family and of the first houses of France +perfectly. He composed the instructions for M. de la Peyrouse's voyage +round the world, which the minister thought were drawn up by several +members of the Academy of Sciences. His memory retained an infinite +number of names and situations. He remembered quantities and numbers +wonderfully. One day an account was presented to him in which the +minister had ranked among the expenses an item inserted in the account of +the preceding year. "There is a double charge," said the King; "bring me +last year's account, and I will show it yet there." When the King was +perfectly master of the details of any matter, and saw injustice, he was +obdurate even to harshness. Then he would be obeyed instantly, in order +to be sure that he was obeyed. + +But in important affairs of state the man of will was not to be found. +Louis XVI. was upon the throne exactly what those weak temperaments whom +nature has rendered incapable of an opinion are in society. In his +pusillanimity, he gave his confidence to a minister; and although amidst +various counsels he often knew which was the best, he never had the +resolution to say, "I prefer the opinion of such a one." Herein +originated the misfortunes of the State.--SOULAVIE'S "Historical and +Political Memoirs Of the Reign Of LOUIS XVI.," VOL ii. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The winter following the confinement of the Comtesse d'Artois was very +severe; the recollections of the pleasure which sleighing-parties had +given the Queen in her childhood made her wish to introduce similar ones +in France. This amusement had already been known in that Court, as was +proved by sleighs being found in the stables which had been used by the +Dauphin, the father of Louis XVI. Some were constructed for the Queen in +a more modern style. The Princes also ordered several; and in a few days +there was a tolerable number of these vehicles. They were driven by the +princes and noblemen of the Court. The noise of the bells and balls with +which the harness of the horses was furnished, the elegance and whiteness +of their plumes, the varied forms of the carriages, the gold with which +they were all ornamented, rendered these parties delightful to the eye. +The winter was very favourable to them, the snow remaining on the ground +nearly six weeks; the drives in the park afforded a pleasure shared by the +spectators. + +[Louis XVI., touched with the wretched condition of the poor of Versailles +during the winter of 1776, had several cart-loads of wood distributed +among them. Seeing one day a file of those vehicles passing by, while +several noblemen were preparing to be drawn swiftly over the ice, he +uttered these memorable words: "Gentlemen, here are my sleighs!"--NOTE BY +THE EDITOR.] + +No one imagined that any blame could attach to so innocent an amusement. +But the party were tempted to extend their drives as far as the Champs +Elysees; a few sleighs even crossed the boulevards; the ladies being +masked, the Queen's enemies took the opportunity of saying that she had +traversed the streets of Paris in a sleigh. + +This became a matter of moment. The public discovered in it a +predilection for the habits of Vienna; but all that Marie Antoinette did +was criticised. + +Sleigh-driving, savouring of the Northern Courts, had no favour among the +Parisians. The Queen was informed of this; and although all the sleighs +were preserved, and several subsequent winters lent themselves to the +amusement, she would not resume it. + +It was at the time of the sleighing-parties that the Queen became +intimately acquainted with the Princesse de Lamballe, who made her +appearance in them wrapped in fur, with all the brilliancy and freshness +of the age of twenty,--the emblem of spring, peeping from under sable and +ermine. Her situation, moreover, rendered her peculiarly interesting; +married, when she was scarcely past childhood, to a young prince, who +ruined himself by the contagious example of the Duc d'Orleans, she had had +nothing to do from the time of her arrival in France but to weep. A widow +at eighteen, and childless, she lived with the Duc de Penthievre as an +adopted daughter. She had the tenderest respect and attachment for that +venerable Prince; but the Queen, though doing justice to his virtues, saw +that the Duc de Penthievre's way of life, whether at Paris or at his +country-seat, could neither afford his young daughter-in-law the +amusements suited to her time of life, nor ensure her in the future an +establishment such as she was deprived of by her widowhood. She +determined, therefore, to establish her at Versailles; and for her sake +revived the office of superintendent, which had been discontinued at Court +since the death of Mademoiselle de Clermont. It is said that Maria +Leczinska had decided that this place should continue vacant, the +superintendent having so extensive a power in the houses of queens as to +be frequently a restraint upon their inclinations. Differences which soon +took place between Marie Antoinette and the Princesse de Lamballe +respecting the official prerogatives of the latter, proved that the wife +of Louis XV. had acted judiciously in abolishing the office; but a kind of +treaty made between the Queen and the Princess smoothed all difficulties. +The blame for too strong an assertion of claims fell upon a secretary of +the superintendent, who had been her adviser; and everything was so +arranged that a firm friendship existed between these two Princesses down +to the disastrous period which terminated their career. + +Notwithstanding the enthusiasm which the splendour, grace, and kindness of +the Queen generally inspired, secret intrigues continued in operation +against her. A short time after the ascension of Louis XVI. to the +throne, the minister of the King's household was informed that a most +offensive libel against the Queen was about to appear. The lieutenant of +police deputed a man named Goupil, a police inspector, to trace this +libel; he came soon after to say that he had found out the place where the +work was being printed, and that it was at a country house near Yverdun. +He had already got possession of two sheets, which contained the most +atrocious calumnies, conveyed with a degree of art which might make them +very dangerous to the Queen's reputation. Goupil said that he could +obtain the rest, but that he should want a considerable sum for that +purpose. Three thousand Louis were given him, and very soon afterwards he +brought the whole manuscript and all that had been printed to the +lieutenant of police. He received a thousand louis more as a reward for +his address and zeal; and a much more important office was about to be +given him, when another spy, envious of Goupil's good fortune, gave +information that Goupil himself was the author of the libel; that, ten +years before, he had been put into the Bicetre for swindling; and that +Madame Goupil had been only three years out of the Salpetriere, where she +had been placed under another name. This Madame Goupil was very pretty +and very intriguing; she had found means to form an intimacy with Cardinal +de Rohan, whom she led, it is said, to hope for a reconciliation with the +Queen. All this affair was hushed up; but it shows that it was the +Queen's fate to be incessantly attacked by the meanest and most odious +machinations. + +Another woman, named Cahouette de Millers, whose husband held an office in +the Treasury, being very irregular in conduct, and of a scheming turn of +mind, had a mania for appearing in the eyes of her friends at Paris as a +person in favour at Court, to which she was not entitled by either birth +or office. During the latter years of the life of Louis XV. she had made +many dupes, and picked up considerable sums by passing herself off as the +King's mistress. The fear of irritating Madame du Barry was, according to +her, the only thing which prevented her enjoying that title openly. She +came regularly to Versailles, kept herself concealed in a furnished +lodging, and her dupes imagined she was secretly summoned to Court. + +This woman formed the scheme of getting admission, if possible, to the +presence of the Queen, or at least causing it to be believed that she had +done so. She adopted as her lover Gabriel de Saint Charles, intendant of +her Majesty's finances,--an office, the privileges of which were confined +to the right of entering the Queen's apartment on Sunday. Madame de +Villers came every Saturday to Versailles with M. de Saint Charles, and +lodged in his apartment. M. Campan was there several times. She painted +tolerably well, and she requested him to do her the favour to present to +the Queen a portrait of her Majesty which she had just copied. M. Campan +knew the woman's character, and refused her. A few days after, he saw on +her Majesty's couch the portrait which he had declined to present to her; +the Queen thought it badly painted, and gave orders that it should be +carried back to the Princesse de Lamballe, who had sent it to her. The +ill success of the portrait did not deter the manoeuvrer from following up +her designs; she easily procured through M. de Saint Charles patents and +orders signed by the Queen; she then set about imitating her writing, and +composed a great number of notes and letters, as if written by her +Majesty, in the tenderest and most familiar style. For many months she +showed them as great secrets to several of her particular friends. +Afterwards, she made the Queen appear to write to her, to procure various +fancy articles. Under the pretext of wishing to execute her Majesty's +commissions accurately, she gave these letters to the tradesmen to read, +and succeeded in having it said, in many houses, that the Queen had a +particular regard for her. She then enlarged her scheme, and represented +the Queen as desiring to borrow 200,000 francs which she had need of, but +which she did not wish to ask of the King from his private funds. This +letter, being shown to M. Beranger, 'fermier general' of the finances, +took effect; he thought himself fortunate in being able to render this +assistance to his sovereign, and lost no time in sending the 200,000 +francs to Madame de Villers. This first step was followed by some doubts, +which he communicated to people better informed than himself of what was +passing at Court; they added to his uneasiness; he then went to M. de +Sartine, who unravelled the whole plot. The woman was sent to St. +Pelagie; and the unfortunate husband was ruined, by replacing the sum +borrowed, and by paying for the jewels fraudulently purchased in the +Queen's name. The forged letters were sent to her Majesty; I compared +them in her presence with her own handwriting, and the only +distinguishable difference was a little more regularity in the letters. + +This trick, discovered and punished with prudence and without passion, +produced no more sensation out of doors than that of the Inspector Goupil. + +A year after the nomination of Madame de Lamballe to the post of +superintendent of the Queen's household, balls and quadrilles gave rise to +the intimacy of her Majesty with the Comtesse Jules de Polignac. This +lady really interested Marie Antoinette. She was not rich, and generally +lived upon her estate at Claye. The Queen was astonished at not having +seen her at Court earlier. The confession that her want of fortune had +even prevented her appearance at the celebration of the marriages of the +Princes added to the interest which she had inspired. + +The Queen was full of consideration, and took delight in counteracting the +injustice of fortune. The Countess was induced to come to Court by her +husband's sister, Madame Diane de Polignac, who had been appointed lady of +honour to the Comtesse d'Artois. The Comtesse Jules was really fond of a +tranquil life; the impression she made at Court affected her but little; +she felt only the attachment manifested for her by the Queen. I had +occasion to see her from the commencement of her favour at Court; she +often passed whole hours with me, while waiting for the Queen. She +conversed with me freely and ingenuously about the honour, and at the same +time the danger, she saw in the kindness of which she was the object. The +Queen sought for the sweets of friendship; but can this gratification, so +rare in any rank, exist between a Queen and a subject, when they are +surrounded, moreover, by snares laid by the artifice of courtiers? This +pardonable error was fatal to the happiness of Marie Antoinette. + +The retiring character of the Comtesse Jules, afterwards Duchesse de +Polignac, cannot be spoken of too favourably; but if her heart was +incapable of forming ambitious projects, her family and friends in her +fortune beheld their own, and endeavoured to secure the favour of the +Queen. + +[The Comtesse, afterwards Duchesse de Polignac, nee Polastron, Married the +Comte (in 1780 the Duc) Jules de Polignac, the father of the Prince de +Polignac of Napoleon's and of Charles X.'s time. She emigrated in 1789, +and died in Vienna in 1793.] + +The Comtesse de Diane, sister of M. de Polignac, and the Baron de Besenval +and M. de Vaudreuil, particular friends of the Polignac family, made use +of means, the success of which was infallible. One of my friends (Comte +de Moustier), who was in their secret, came to tell me that Madame de +Polignac was about to quit Versailles suddenly; that she would take leave +of the Queen only in writing; that the Comtesse Diane and M. de Vaudreuil +had dictated her letter, and the whole affair was arranged for the purpose +of stimulating the attachment of Marie Antoinette. The next day, when I +went up to the palace, I found the Queen with a letter in her hand, which +she was reading with much emotion; it was the letter from the Comtesse +Jules; the Queen showed it to me. The Countess expressed in it her grief +at leaving a princess who had loaded her with kindness. The narrowness of +her fortune compelled her to do so; but she was much more strongly +impelled by the fear that the Queen's friendship, after having raised up +dangerous enemies against her, might abandon her to their hatred, and to +the regret of having lost the august favour of which she was the object. + +This step produced the full effect that had been expected from it. A +young and sensitive queen cannot long bear the idea of contradiction. She +busied herself in settling the Comtesse Jules near her, by making such a +provision for her as should place her beyond anxiety. Her character +suited the Queen; she had merely natural talents, no pedantry, no +affectation of knowledge. She was of middle size; her complexion very +fair, her eyebrows and hair dark brown, her teeth superb, her smile +enchanting, and her whole person graceful. She was seen almost always in +a demi-toilet, remarkable only for neatness and good taste. I do not +think I ever once saw diamonds about her, even at the climax of her +fortune, when she had the rank of Duchess at Court. + +I have always believed that her sincere attachment for the Queen, as much +as her love of simplicity, induced her to avoid everything that might +cause her to be thought a wealthy favourite. She had not one of the +failings which usually accompany that position. She loved the persons who +shared the Queen's affections, and was entirely free from jealousy. Marie +Antoinette flattered herself that the Comtesse Jules and the Princesse de +Lamballe would be her especial friends, and that she should possess a +society formed according to her own taste. "I will receive them in my +closet, or at Trianon," said she; "I will enjoy the comforts of private +life, which exist not for us, unless we have the good sense to secure them +for ourselves." The happiness the Queen thought to secure was destined to +turn to vexation. All those courtiers who were not admitted to this +intimacy became so many jealous and vindictive enemies. + +It was necessary to make a suitable provision for the Countess. The place +of first equerry, in reversion after the Comte de Tesse, given to Comte +Jules unknown to the titular holder, displeased the family of Noailles. +This family had just sustained another mortification, the appointment of +the Princesse de Lamballe having in some degree rendered necessary the +resignation of the Comtesse de Noailles, whose husband was thereupon made +a marshal of France. The Princesse de Lamballe, although she did not +quarrel with the Queen, was alarmed at the establishment of the Comtesse +Jules at Court, and did not form, as her Majesty had hoped, a part of that +intimate society, which was in turn composed of Mesdames Jules and Diane +de Polignac, d'Andlau and de Chalon, and Messieurs de Guignes, de Coigny, +d'Adhemar, de Besenval, lieutenant-colonel of the Swiss, de Polignac, de +Vaudreuil, and de Guiche; the Prince de Ligne and the Duke of Dorset, the +English ambassador, were also admitted. + +It was a long time before the Comtesse Jules maintained any great state at +Court. The Queen contented herself with giving her very fine apartments +at the top of the marble staircase. The salary of first equerry, the +trifling emoluments derived from M. de Polignac's regiment, added to their +slender patrimony, and perhaps some small pension, at that time formed the +whole fortune of the favourite. I never saw the Queen make her a present +of value; I was even astonished one day at hearing her Majesty mention, +with pleasure, that the Countess had gained ten thousand francs in the +lottery. "She was in great want of it," added the Queen. + +Thus the Polignacs were not settled at Court in any degree of splendour +which could justify complaints from others, and the substantial favours +bestowed upon that family were less envied than the intimacy between them +and their proteges and the Queen. Those who had no hope of entering the +circle of the Comtesse Jules were made jealous by the opportunities of +advancement it afforded. + +However, at the time I speak of, the society around the Comtesse Jules was +fully engaged in gratifying the young Queen. Of this the Marquis de +Vaudreuil was a conspicuous member; he was a brilliant man, the friend and +protector of men of letters and celebrated artists. + +The Baron de Besenval added to the bluntness of the Swiss all the +adroitness of a French courtier. His fifty years and gray hairs made him +enjoy among women the confidence inspired by mature age, although he had +not given up the thought of love affairs. He talked of his native +mountains with enthusiasm. He would at any time sing the "Ranz des +Vaches" with tears in his eyes, and was the best story-teller in the +Comtesse Jules's circle. The last new song or 'bon mot' and the gossip of +the day were the sole topics of conversation in the Queen's parties. Wit +was banished from them. The Comtesse Diane, more inclined to literary +pursuits than her sister-in-law, one day, recommended her to read the +"Iliad" and "Odyssey." The latter replied, laughing, that she was +perfectly acquainted with the Greek poet, and said to prove it: + +"Homere etait aveugle et jouait du hautbois." + +(Homer was blind and played on the hautboy.) + +[This lively repartee of the Duchesse de Polignac is a droll imitation of +a line in the "Mercure Galant." In the quarrel scene one of the lawyers +says to his brother quill: 'Ton pere etait aveugle et jouait du +hautbois.'] + +The Queen found this sort of humour very much to her taste, and said that +no pedant should ever be her friend. + +Before the Queen fixed her assemblies at Madame de Polignac's, she +occasionally passed the evening at the house of the Duc and Duchesse de +Duras, where a brilliant party of young persons met together. They +introduced a taste for trifling games, such as question and answer, +'guerre panpan', blind man's buff, and especially a game called +'descampativos'. The people of Paris, always criticising, but always +imitating the customs of the Court, were infected with the mania for these +childish sports. Madame de Genlis, sketching the follies of the day in +one of her plays, speaks of these famous 'descampativos'; and also of the +rage for making a friend, called the 'inseparable', until a whim or the +slightest difference might occasion a total rupture. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The Duc de Choiseul had reappeared at Court on the ceremony of the King's +coronation for the first time after his disgrace under Louis XV. in 1770. +The state of public feeling on the subject gave his friends hope of seeing +him again in administration, or in the Council of State; but the opposite +party was too firmly seated at Versailles, and the young Queen's influence +was outweighed, in the mind of the King, by long-standing prejudices; she +therefore gave up for ever her attempt to reinstate the Duke. Thus this +Princess, who has been described as so ambitious, and so strenuously +supporting the interest of the House of Austria, failed twice in the only +scheme which could forward the views constantly attributed to her; and +spent the whole of her reign surrounded by enemies of herself and her +house. + +Marie Antoinette took little pains to promote literature and the fine +arts. She had been annoyed in consequence of having ordered a performance +of the "Connstable de Bourbon," on the celebration of the marriage of +Madame Clotilde with the Prince of Piedmont. The Court and the people of +Paris censured as indecorous the naming characters in the piece after the +reigning family, and that with which the new alliance was formed. The +reading of this piece by the Comte de Guibert in the Queen's closet had +produced in her Majesty's circle that sort of enthusiasm which obscures +the judgment. She promised herself she would have no more readings. Yet, +at the request of M. de Cubieres, the King's equerry, the Queen agreed to +hear the reading of a comedy written by his brother. She collected her +intimate circle, Messieurs de Coigny, de Vaudreuil, de Besenval, Mesdames +de Polignac, de Chalon, etc., and to increase the number of judges, she +admitted the two Parnys, the Chevalier de Bertin, my father-in-law, and +myself. + +Mold read for the author. I never could satisfy myself by what magic the +skilful reader gained our unanimous approbation of a ridiculous work. +Surely the delightful voice of Mold, by awakening our recollection of the +dramatic beauties of the French stage, prevented the wretched lines of +Dorat Cubieres from striking on our ears. I can assert that the +exclamation Charming! charming! repeatedly interrupted the reader. The +piece was admitted for performance at Fontainebleau; and for the first +time the King had the curtain dropped before the end of the play. It was +called the "Dramomane" or "Dramaturge." All the characters died of eating +poison in a pie. The Queen, highly disconcerted at having recommended +this absurd production, announced that she would never hear another +reading; and this time she kept her word. + +The tragedy of "Mustapha and Mangir," by M. de Chamfort, was highly +successful at the Court theatre at Fontainebleau. The Queen procured the +author a pension of 1,200 francs, but his play failed on being performed +at Paris. + +The spirit of opposition which prevailed in that city delighted in +reversing the verdicts of the Court. The Queen determined never again to +give any marked countenance to new dramatic works. She reserved her +patronage for musical composers, and in a few years their art arrived at a +perfection it had never before attained in France. + +It was solely to gratify the Queen that the manager of the Opera brought +the first company of comic actors to Paris. Gluck, Piccini, and Sacchini +were attracted there in succession. These eminent composers were treated +with great distinction at Court. Immediately on his arrival in France, +Gluck was admitted to the Queen's toilet, and she talked to him all the +time he remained with her. She asked him one day whether he had nearly +brought his grand opera of "Armide" to a conclusion, and whether it +pleased him. Gluck replied very coolly, in his German accent, "Madame, it +will soon be finished, and really it will be superb." There was a great +outcry against the confidence with which the composer had spoken of one of +his own productions. The Queen defended him warmly; she insisted that he +could not be ignorant of the merit of his works; that he well knew they +were generally admired, and that no doubt he was afraid lest a modesty, +merely dictated by politeness, should look like affectation in him. + +[Gluck often had to deal with self-sufficiency equal to his own. He was +very reluctant to introduce long ballets into "Iphigenia." Vestris deeply +regretted that the opera was not terminated by a piece they called a +chaconne, in which he displayed all his power. He complained to Gluck +about it. Gluck, who treated his art with all the dignity it merits, +replied that in so interesting a subject dancing would be misplaced. +Being pressed another time by Vestris on the same subject, "A chaconne! A +chaconne!" roared out the enraged musician; "we must describe the Greeks; +and had the Greeks chaconnes?" "They had not?" returned the astonished +dancer; "why, then, so much the worse for them!"--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The Queen did not confine her admiration to the lofty style of the French +and Italian operas; she greatly valued Gretry's music, so well adapted to +the spirit and feeling of the words. A great deal of the poetry set to +music by Gretry is by Marmontel. The day after the first performance of +"Zemira and Azor," Marmontel and Gretry were presented to the Queen as she +was passing through the gallery of Fontainebleau to go to mass. The Queen +congratulated Gretry on the success of the new opera, and told him that +she had dreamed of the enchanting effect of the trio by Zemira's father +and sisters behind the magic mirror. Gretry, in a transport of joy, took +Marmontel in his arms, "Ah! my friend," cried he, "excellent music may be +made of this."--"And execrable words," coolly observed Marmontel, to whom +her Majesty had not addressed a single compliment. + +The most indifferent artists were permitted to have the honour of painting +the Queen. A full-length portrait, representing her in all the pomp of +royalty, was exhibited in the gallery of Versailles. This picture, which +was intended for the Court of Vienna, was executed by a man who does not +deserve even to be named, and disgusted all people of taste. It seemed as +if this art had, in France, retrograded several centuries. + +The Queen had not that enlightened judgment, or even that mere taste, +which enables princes to foster and protect great talents. She confessed +frankly that she saw no merit in any portrait beyond the likeness. When +she went to the Louvre, she would run hastily over all the little "genre" +pictures, and come out, as she acknowledged, without having once raised +her eyes to the grand compositions. + +There is no good portrait of the Queen, save that by Werthmuller, chief +painter to the King of Sweden, which was sent to Stockholm, and that by +Madame Lebrun, which was saved from the revolutionary fury by the +commissioners for the care of the furniture at Versailles. + +[A sketch of very great interest made when the Queen was in the Temple and +discovered many years afterwards there, recently reproduced in the memoirs +of the Marquise de Tourzel (Paris, Plon), is the last authentic portrait +of the unhappy Queen. See also the catalogue of portraits made by Lord +Ronald Gower.] + +The composition of the latter picture resembles that of Henriette of +France, the wife of the unfortunate Charles I., painted by Vandyke. Like +Marie Antoinette, she is seated, surrounded by her children, and that +resemblance adds to the melancholy interest raised by this beautiful +production. + +While admitting that the Queen gave no direct encouragement to any art but +that of music, I should be wrong to pass over in silence the patronage +conferred by her and the Princes, brothers of the King, on the art of +printing. + +[In 1790 the King gave a proof of his particular good-will to the +bookselling trade. A company consisting of the first Parisian +booksellers, being on the eve of stopping payment, succeeded in laying +before the King a statement of their distressed situation. The monarch was +affected by it; he took from the civil list the sum of which the society +stood in immediate need, and became security for the repayment of the +remainder of the 1,200,000 livres, which they wanted to borrow, and for +the repayment of which he fixed no particular time.] + +To Marie Antoinette we are indebted for a splendid quarto edition of the +works of Metastasio; to Monsieur, the King's brother, for a quarto Tasso, +embellished with engravings after Cochin; and to the Comte d'Artois for a +small collection of select works, which is considered one of the chef +d'oeuvres of the press of the celebrated Didot. + +In 1775, on the death of the Marechal du Muy, the ascendency obtained by +the sect of innovators occasioned M. de Saint-Germain to be recalled to +Court and made Minister of War. His first care was the destruction of the +King's military household establishment, an imposing and effectual rampart +round the sovereign power. + +When Chancellor Maupeou obtained from Louis XV. the destruction of the +Parliament and the exile of all the ancient magistrates, the Mousquetaires +were charged with the execution of the commission for this purpose; and at +the stroke of midnight, the presidents and members were all arrested, each +by two Mousquetaires. In the spring of 1775 a popular insurrection had +taken place in consequence of the high price of bread. M. Turgot's new +regulation, which permitted unlimited trade in corn, was either its cause +or the pretext for it; and the King's household troops again rendered the +greatest services to public tranquillity. + +I have never be enable to discover the true cause of the support given to +M. de Saint-Germain's policy by the Queen, unless in the marked favour +shown to the captains and officers of the Body Guards, who by this +reduction became the only soldiers of their rank entrusted with the safety +of the sovereign; or else in the Queen's strong prejudice against the Duc +d'Aiguillon, then commander of the light-horse. M. de Saint-Germain, +however, retained fifty gens d'armes and fifty light-horse to form a royal +escort on state occasions; but in 1787 the King reduced both these +military bodies. The Queen then said with satisfaction that at last she +should see no more red coats in the gallery of Versailles. + +From 1775 to 1781 were the gayest years of the Queen's life. In the +little journeys to Choisy, performances frequently took place at the +theatre twice in one day: grand opera and French or Italian comedy at the +usual hour; and at eleven at night they returned to the theatre for +parodies in which the best actors of the Opera presented themselves in +whimsical parts and costumes. The celebrated dancer Guimard always took +the leading characters in the latter performance; she danced better than +she acted; her extreme leanness, and her weak, hoarse voice added to the +burlesque in the parodied characters of Ernelinde and Iphigenie. + +The most magnificent fete ever given to the Queen was one prepared for her +by Monsieur, the King's brother, at Brunoy. That Prince did me the honour +to admit me, and I followed her Majesty into the gardens, where she found +in the first copse knights in full armour asleep at the foot of trees, on +which hung their spears and shields. The absence of the beauties who had +incited the nephews of Charlemagne and the gallants of that period to +lofty deeds was supposed to occasion this lethargic slumber. But when the +Queen appeared at the entrance of the copse they were on foot in an +instant, and melodious voices announced their eagerness to display their +valour. They then hastened into a vast arena, magnificently decorated in +the exact style of the ancient tournaments. Fifty dancers dressed as pages +presented to the knights twenty-five superb black horses, and twenty-five +of a dazzling whiteness, all most richly caparisoned. The party led by +Augustus Vestris wore the Queen's colours. Picq, balletmaster at the +Russian Court, commanded the opposing band. There was running at the +negro's head, tilting, and, lastly, combats 'a outrance', perfectly well +imitated. Although the spectators were aware that the Queen's colours +could not but be victorious, they did not the less enjoy the apparent +uncertainty. + +Nearly all the agreeable women of Paris were ranged upon the steps which +surrounded the area of the tourney. The Queen, surrounded by the royal +family and the whole Court, was placed beneath an elevated canopy. A +play, followed by a ballet-pantomime and a ball, terminated the fete. +Fireworks and illuminations were not spared. Finally, from a prodigiously +high scaffold, placed on a rising ground, the words 'Vive Louis! Vive +Marie Antoinette!' were shown in the air in the midst of a very dark but +calm night. + +Pleasure was the sole pursuit of every one of this young family, with the +exception of the King. Their love of it was perpetually encouraged by a +crowd of those officious people who, by anticipating the desires and even +the passions of princes, find means of showing their zeal, and hope to +gain or maintain favour for themselves. + +Who would have dared to check the amusements of a queen, young, lively, +and handsome? A mother or a husband alone would have had the right to do +it; and the King threw no impediment in the way of Marie Antoinette's +inclinations. His long indifference had been followed by admiration and +love. He was a slave to all the wishes of the Queen, who, delighted with +the happy change in the heart and habits of the King, did not sufficiently +conceal the ascendency she was gaining over him. + +The King went to bed every night at eleven precisely; he was very +methodical, and nothing was allowed to interfere with his rules. The +noise which the Queen unavoidably made when she returned very late from +the evenings which she spent with the Princesse de Gugmenee or the Duc de +Duras, at last annoyed the King, and it was amicably agreed that the Queen +should apprise him when she intended to sit up late. He then began to +sleep in his own apartment, which had never before happened from the time +of their marriage. + +During the winter the Queen attended the Opera balls with a single lady of +the palace, and always found there Monsieur and the Comte d'Artois. Her +people concealed their liveries under gray cloth greatcoats. She never +thought she was recognized, while all the time she was known to the whole +assembly, from the first moment she entered the theatre; they pretended, +however, not to recognise her, and some masquerade manoeuvre was always +adopted to give her the pleasure of fancying herself incognito. + +Louis XVI. determined once to accompany the Queen to a masked ball; it was +agreed that the King should hold not only the grand but the petit coucher, +as if actually going to bed. The Queen went to his apartment through the +inner corridors of the palace, followed by one of her women with a black +domino; she assisted him to put it on, and they went alone to the chapel +court, where a carriage waited for them, with the captain of the Guard of +the quarter, and a lady of the palace. The King was but little amused, +spoke only to two or three persons, who knew him immediately, and found +nothing to admire at the masquerade but Punches and Harlequins, which +served as a joke against him for the royal family, who often amused +themselves with laughing at him about it. + +An event, simple in itself, brought dire suspicion upon the Queen. She +was going out one evening with the Duchesse de Lupnes, lady of the palace, +when her carriage broke down at the entrance into Paris; she was obliged +to alight; the Duchess led her into a shop, while a footman called a +'fiacre'. As they were masked, if they had but known how to keep silence, +the event would never have been known; but to ride in a fiacre is so +unusual an adventure for a queen that she had hardly entered the +Opera-house when she could not help saying to some persons whom she met +there: "That I should be in a fiacre! Is it not droll?" + +From that moment all Paris was informed of the adventure of the fiacre. It +was said that everything connected with it was mysterious; that the Queen +had kept an assignation in a private house with the Duc de Coigny. He was +indeed very well received at Court, but equally so by the King and Queen. +These accusations of gallantry once set afloat, there were no longer any +bounds to the calumnies circulated at Paris. If, during the chase or at +cards, the Queen spoke to Lord Edward Dillon, De Lambertye, or others, +they were so many favoured lovers. The people of Paris did not know that +none of those young persons were admitted into the Queen's private circle +of friends; the Queen went about Paris in disguise, and had made use of a +fiacre; and a single instance of levity gives room for the suspicion of +others. + +Conscious of innocence, and well knowing that all about her must do +justice to her private life, the Queen spoke of these reports with +contempt, contenting herself with the supposition that some folly in the +young men mentioned had given rise to them. She therefore left off +speaking to them or even looking at them. Their vanity took alarm at +this, and revenge induced them either to say, or to leave others to think, +that they were unfortunate enough to please no longer. Other young +coxcombs, placing themselves near the private box which the Queen occupied +incognito when she attended the public theatre at Versailles, had the +presumption to imagine that they were noticed by her; and I have known +such notions entertained merely on account of the Queen's requesting one +of those gentlemen to inquire behind the scenes whether it would be long +before the commencement of the second piece. + +The list of persons received into the Queen's closet which I gave in the +preceding chapter was placed in the hands of the ushers of the chamber by +the Princesse de Lamballe; and the persons there enumerated could present +themselves to enjoy the distinction only on those days when the Queen +chose to be with her intimates in a private manner; and this was only when +she was slightly indisposed. People of the first rank at Court sometimes +requested special audiences of her; the Queen then received them in a room +within that called the closet of the women on duty, and these women +announced them in her Majesty's apartment. + +The Duc de Lauzun had a good deal of wit, and chivalrous manners. The +Queen was accustomed to see him at the King's suppers, and at the house of +the Princesse de Guemenee, and always showed him attention. One day he +made his appearance at Madame de Guemenee's in uniform, and with the most +magnificent plume of white heron's feathers that it was possible to +behold. The Queen admired the plume, and he offered it to her through the +Princesse de Guemenee. As he had worn it the Queen had not imagined that +he could think of giving it to her; much embarrassed with the present +which she had, as it were, drawn upon herself, she did not like to refuse +it, nor did she know whether she ought to make one in return; afraid, if +she did give anything, of giving either too much or too little, she +contented herself with once letting M. de Lauzun see her adorned with the +plume. In his secret "Memoirs" the Duke attaches an importance to his +present, which proves him utterly unworthy of an honour accorded only to +his name and rank. + +A short time afterwards he solicited an audience; the Queen granted it, as +she would have done to any other courtier of equal rank. I was in the +room adjoining that in which he was received; a few minutes after his +arrival the Queen reopened the door, and said aloud, and in an angry tone +of voice, "Go, monsieur." M. de Lauzun bowed low, and withdrew. The +Queen was much agitated. She said to me: "That man shall never again come +within my doors." A few years before the Revolution of 1789 the Marechal +de Biron died. The Duc de Lauzun, heir to his name, aspired to the +important post of colonel of the regiment of French guards. The Queen, +however, procured it for the Duc du Chaatelet. The Duc de Biron espoused +the cause of the Duc d'Orleans, and became one of the most violent enemies +of Marie Antoinette. + +It is with reluctance that I enter minutely on a defence of the Queen +against two infamous accusations with which libellers have dared to swell +their envenomed volumes. I mean the unworthy suspicions of too strong an +attachment for the Comte d'Artois, and of the motives for the tender +friendship which subsisted between the Queen, the Princesse de Lamballe, +and the Duchesse de Polignac. I do not believe that the Comte d'Artois +was, during his own youth and that of the Queen, so much smitten as has +been said with the loveliness of his sister-in-law; I can affirm that I +always saw that Prince maintain the most respectful demeanour towards the +Queen; that she always spoke of his good-nature and cheerfulness with that +freedom which attends only the purest sentiments; and that none of those +about the Queen ever saw in the affection she manifested towards the Comte +d'Artois more than that of a kind and tender sister for her youngest +brother. As to the intimate connection between Marie Antoinette and the +ladies I have named, it never had, nor could have, any other motive than +the very innocent wish to secure herself two friends in the midst of a +numerous Court; and notwithstanding this intimacy, that tone of respect +observed by persons of the most exalted rank towards majesty never ceased +to be maintained. + +The Queen, much occupied with the society of Madame de Polignac, and an +unbroken series of amusements, found less time for the Abbe de Vermond; he +therefore resolved to retire from Court. The world did him the honour to +believe that he had hazarded remonstrances upon his august pupil's +frivolous employment of her time, and that he considered himself, both as +an ecclesiastic and as instructor, now out of place at Court. But the +world was deceived his dissatisfaction arose purely from the favour shown +to the Comtesse Jules. After a fortnight's absence we saw him at +Versailles again, resuming his usual functions. + +The Queen could express herself with winning graciousness to persons who +merited her praise. When M. Loustonneau was appointed to the reversion of +the post of first surgeon to the King, he came to make his +acknowledgments. He was much beloved by the poor, to whom he had chiefly +devoted his talents, spending nearly thirty thousand francs a year on +indigent sufferers. The Queen replied to his thanks by saying: "You are +satisfied, Monsieur; but I am far from being so with the inhabitants of +Versailles. On the news of your appointment the town should have been +illuminated."--"How so, Madame?" asked the astonished surgeon, who was +very modest. "Why," replied the Queen, "if the poor whom you have +succoured for the past twenty years had each placed a single candle in +their windows it would have been the most beautiful illumination ever +witnessed." + +The Queen did not limit her kindness to friendly words. There was +frequently seen in the apartments of Versailles a veteran captain of the +grenadiers of France, called the Chevalier d'Orville, who for four years +had been soliciting from the Minister of War the post of major, or of +King's lieutenant. He was known to be very poor; but he supported his lot +without complaining of this vexatious delay in rewarding his honourable +services. He regularly attended the Marechal de Segur, at the hour +appointed for receiving the numerous solicitations in his department. One +day the Marshal said to him: "You are still at Versailles, M. +d'Orville?"--"Monsieur," he replied, "you may observe that by this board +of the flooring where I regularly place myself; it is already worn down +several lines by the weight of my body." The Queen frequently stood at +the window of her bedchamber to observe with her glass the people walking +in the park. Sometimes she inquired the names of those who were unknown +to her. One day she saw the Chevalier d'Orville passing, and asked me the +name of that knight of Saint Louis, whom she had seen everywhere for a +long time past. I knew who he was, and related his history. "That must +be put an end to," said the Queen, with some vivacity. "Such an example +of indifference is calculated to discourage our soldiers." Next day, in +crossing the gallery to go to mass, the Queen perceived the Chevalier +d'Orville; she went directly towards him. The poor man fell back in the +recess of a window, looking to the right and left to discover the person +whom the Queen was seeking, when she thus addressed him: "M. d'Orville, +you have been several years at Versailles, soliciting a majority or a +King's lieutenancy. You must have very powerless patrons."--"I have none, +Madame," replied the Chevalier, in great confusion. "Well! I will take +you under my protection. To-morrow at the same hour be here with a +petition, and a memorial of your services." A fortnight after, M. +d'Orville was appointed King's lieutenant, either at La Rochelle or at +Rochefort. + +[Louis XVI. vied with his Queen in benevolent actions of this kind. An old +officer had in vain solicited a pension during the administration of the +Duc de Choiseul. He returned to the charge in the times of the Marquis de +Montesnard and the Duc d'Aiguillon. He urged his claims, to Comte du Muy, +who made a note of them. Tired of so many fruitless efforts, he at last +appeared at the King's supper, and, having placed himself so as to be seen +and heard, cried out at a moment when silence prevailed, "Sire." The +people near him said, "What are you about? This is not the way to speak +to the King."--"I fear nothing," said he, and raising his voice, repeated, +"Sire." The King, much surprised, looked at him and said, "What do you +want, monsieur."--"Sire," answered he, "I am seventy years of age; I have +served your Majesty more than fifty years, and I am dying for +want."--"Have you a memorial?" replied the King. "Yes, Sire, I +have."--"Give it to me;" and his Majesty took it without saying anything +more. Next morning he was sent for by the, King, who said, "Monsieur, I +grant you an annuity of 1,500 livres out of my privy purse, and you may go +and receive the first year's payment, which is now due." ("Secret +Correspondence of the Court: Reign of Louis XVI.") The King preferred to +spend money in charity rather than in luxury or magnificence. Once during +his absence, M. d'Augivillers caused an unused room in the King's +apartment to be repaired at a cost of 30,000 francs. On his return the +King made Versailles resound with complaints against M. d'Augivillers: +"With that sum I could have made thirty families happy," he said.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +From the time of Louis XVI.'s accession to the throne, the Queen had been +expecting a visit from her brother, the Emperor Joseph II. That Prince +was the constant theme of her discourse. She boasted of his intelligence, +his love of occupation, his military knowledge, and the perfect simplicity +of his manners. Those about her Majesty ardently wished to see at +Versailles a prince so worthy of his rank. At length the coming of Joseph +II., under the title of Count Falkenstein, was announced, and the very day +on which he would be at Versailles was mentioned. The first embraces +between the Queen and her august brother took place in the presence of all +the Queen's household. The sight of their emotion was extremely +affecting. + +The Emperor was at first generally admired in France; learned men, +well-informed officers, and celebrated artists appreciated the extent of +his information. He made less impression at Court, and very little in the +private circle of the King and Queen. His eccentric manners, his +frankness, often degenerating into rudeness, and his evidently affected +simplicity,--all these characteristics caused him to be looked upon as a +prince rather singular than admirable. The Queen spoke to him about the +apartment she had prepared for him in the Chateau; the Emperor answered +that he would not accept it, and that while travelling he always lodged at +a cabaret (that was his very expression); the Queen insisted, and assured +him that he should be at perfect liberty, and placed out of the reach of +noise. He replied that he knew the Chateau of Versailles was very large, +and that so many scoundrels lived there that he could well find a place; +but that his valet de chambre had made up his camp-bed in a lodging-house, +and there he would stay. + +He dined with the King and Queen, and supped with the whole family. He +appeared to take an interest in the young Princesse Elisabeth, then just +past childhood, and blooming in all the freshness of that age. An +intended marriage between him and this young sister of the King was +reported at the time, but I believe it had no foundation in truth. + +The table was still served by women only, when the Queen dined in private +with the King, the royal family, or crowned heads. + +[The custom was, even supposing dinner to have commenced, if a princess of +the blood arrived, and she was asked to sit down at the Queen's table, the +comptrollers and gentlemen-in-waiting came immediately to attend, and the +Queen's women withdrew. These had succeeded the maids of honour in +several parts of their service, and had preserved some of their +privileges. One day the Duchesse d'Orleans arrived at Fontainebleau, at +the Queen's dinner-hour. The Queen invited her to the table, and herself +motioned to her women to leave the room, and let the men take their +places. Her Majesty said she was resolved to continue a privilege which +kept places of that description most honourable, and render them suitable +for ladies of nobility without fortune. Madame de Misery, Baronne de +Biache, the Queen's first lady of the chamber, to whom I was made +reversioner, was a daughter of M. le Comte de Chemant, and her grandmother +was a Montmorency. M. le Prince de Tingry, in the presence of the Queen, +used to call her cousin. The ancient household of the Kings of France had +prerogatives acknowledged in the state. Many of the offices were tenable +only by those of noble blood, and were sold at from 40,000 to 300,000 +franca. A collection of edicts of the Kings in favour of the prerogatives +and right of precedence of the persons holding office in the royal +household is still in existence.] + +I was present at the Queen's dinner almost every day. The Emperor would +talk much and fluently; he expressed himself in French with facility, and +the singularity, of his expressions added a zest to his conversation. I +have often heard him say that he liked spectaculous objects, when he meant +to express such things as formed a show, or a scene worthy of interest. +He disguised none of his prejudices against the etiquette and customs of +the Court of France; and even in the presence of the King made them the +subject of his sarcasms. The King smiled, but never made any answer; the +Queen appeared pained. The Emperor frequently terminated his observations +upon the objects in Paris which he had admired by reproaching the King for +suffering himself to remain in ignorance of them. He could not conceive +how such a wealth of pictures should remain shut up in the dust of immense +stores; and told him one day that but for the practice of placing some of +them in the apartments of Versailles he would not know even the principal +chef d'oeuvres that he possessed. + +[The Emperor loudly censured the existing practice of allowing shopkeepers +to erect shops near the outward walls of all the palaces, and even to +establish something like a fair in the galleries of Versailles and +Fontainebleau, and even upon the landings of the staircases.] + +He also reproached him for not having visited the Hotel des Invalides nor +the Ecole Militaire; and even went so far as to tell him before us that he +ought not only to know what Paris contained, but to travel in France, and +reside a few days in each of his large towns. + +At last the Queen was really hurt at the Emperor's remarks, and gave him a +few lectures upon the freedom with which he allowed himself to lecture +others. One day she was busied in signing warrants and orders for payment +for her household, and was conversing with M. Augeard, her secretary for +such matters, who presented the papers one after another to be signed, and +replaced them in his portfolio. While this was going forward, the Emperor +walked about the room; all at once he stood still, to reproach the Queen +rather severely for signing all those papers without reading them, or, at +least, without running her eye over them; and he spoke most judiciously to +her upon the danger of signing her name inconsiderately. The Queen +answered that very wise principles might be very ill applied; that her +secretary, who deserved her implicit confidence, was at that moment laying +before her nothing but orders for payment of the quarter's expenses of her +household, registered in the Chamber of Accounts; and that she ran no risk +of incautiously giving her signature. + +The Queen's toilet was likewise a never-failing subject for animadversion +with the Emperor. He blamed her for having introduced too many new +fashions; and teased her about her use of rouge. One day, while she was +laying on more of it than usual, before going to the play, he pointed out +a lady who was in the room, and who was, in truth, highly painted. "A +little more under the eyes," said the Emperor to the Queen; "lay on the +rouge like a fury, as that lady does." The Queen entreated her brother to +refrain from his jokes, or at all events to address them, when they were +so outspoken, to her alone. + +The Queen had made an appointment to meet her brother at the Italian +theatre; she changed her mind, and went to the French theatre, sending a +page to the Italian theatre to request the Emperor to come to her there. +He left his box, lighted by the comedian Clairval, and attended by M. de +la Ferte, comptroller of the Queen's privy purse, who was much hurt at +hearing his Imperial Majesty, after kindly expressing his regret at not +being present during the Italian performance, say to Clairval, "Your young +Queen is very giddy; but, luckily, you Frenchmen have no great objection +to that." + +I was with my father-in-law in one of the Queen's apartments when the +Emperor came to wait for her there, and, knowing that M. Campan was +librarian, he conversed with him about such books as would of course be +found in the Queen's library. After talking of our most celebrated +authors, he casually said, "There are doubtless no works on finance or on +administration here?" + +These words were followed by his opinion on all that had been written on +those topics, and the different systems of our two famous ministers, Sully +and Colbert; on errors which were daily committed in France, in points +essential to the prosperity of the Empire; and on the reform he himself +would make at Vienna. Holding M. Campan by the button, he spent more than +an hour, talking vehemently, and without the slightest reserve, about the +French Government. My father-in-law and myself maintained profound +silence, as much from astonishment as from respect; and when we were alone +we agreed not to speak of this interview. + +The Emperor was fond of describing the Italian Courts that he had visited. +The jealous quarrels between the King and Queen of Naples amused him +highly; he described to the life the manner and speech of that sovereign, +and the simplicity with which he used to go and solicit the first +chamberlain to obtain permission to return to the nuptial bed, when the +angry Queen had banished him from it. The time which he was made to wait +for this reconciliation was calculated between the Queen and her +chamberlain, and always proportioned to the gravity of the offence. He +also related several very amusing stories relative to the Court of Parma, +of which he spoke with no little contempt. If what this Prince said of +those Courts, and even of Vienna, had been written down, the whole would +have formed an interesting collection. The Emperor told the King that the +Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of Naples being together, the former +said a great deal about the changes he had effected in his State. The +Grand Duke had issued a mass of new edicts, in order to carry the precepts +of the economists into execution, and trusted that in so doing he was +labouring for the welfare of his people. The King of Naples suffered him +to go on speaking for a long time, and then casually asked how many +Neapolitan families there were in Tuscany. The Duke soon reckoned them +up, as they were but few. "Well, brother," replied the King of Naples, "I +do not understand the indifference of your people towards your great +reforms; for I have four times the number of Tuscan families settled in my +States that you have of Neapolitan families in yours." + +The Queen being at the Opera with the Emperor, the latter did not wish to +show himself; but she took him by the hand, and gently drew him to the +front of the box. This kind of presentation to the public was most warmly +received. The performance was "Iphigenia in Aulis," and for the second +time the chorus, "Chantons, celebrons notre Reine!" was called for with +universal plaudits. + +A fete of a novel description was given at Petit Trianon. The art with +which the English garden was not illuminated, but lighted, produced a +charming effect. Earthen lamps, concealed by boards painted green, threw +light upon the beds of shrubs and flowers, and brought out their varied +tints. Several hundred burning fagots in the moat behind the Temple of +Love made a blaze of light, which rendered that spot the most brilliant in +the garden. After all, this evening's entertainment had nothing +remarkable about it but the good taste of the artists, yet it was much +talked of. The situation did not allow the admission of a great part of +the Court; those who were uninvited were dissatisfied; and the people, who +never forgive any fetes but those they share in, so exaggerated the cost +of this little fete as to make it appear that the fagots burnt in the moat +had required the destruction of a whole forest. The Queen being informed +of these reports, was determined to know exactly how much wood had been +consumed; and she found that fifteen hundred fagots had sufficed to keep +up the fire until four o'clock in the morning. + +After staying a few months the Emperor left France, promising his sister +to come and see her again. All the officers of the Queen's chamber had +many opportunities of serving him during his stay, and expected that he +would make them presents before his departure. Their oath of office +positively forbade them to receive a gift from any foreign prince; they +had therefore agreed to refuse the Emperor's presents at first, but to ask +the time necessary for obtaining permission to accept them. The Emperor, +probably informed of this custom, relieved the good people from their +difficulty by setting off without making a single present. + +About the latter end of 1777 the Queen, being alone in her closet, sent +for my father-in-law and myself, and, giving us her hand to kiss; told us +that, looking upon us both as persons deeply interested in her happiness, +she wished to receive our congratulations,--that at length she was the +Queen of France, and that she hoped soon to have children; that till now +she had concealed her grief, but that she had shed many tears in secret. + +Dating from this happy but long-delayed moment, the King's attachment to +the Queen assumed every characteristic of love. The good Lassone, first +physician to the King and Queen, frequently spoke to me of the uneasiness +that the King's indifference, the cause of which he had been so long in +overcoming, had given him, and appeared to me at that time to entertain no +anxiety except of a very different description. + +In the winter of 1778 the King's permission for the return of Voltaire; +after an absence of twenty-seven years, was obtained. A few strict +persons considered this concession on the part of the Court very +injudicious. The Emperor, on leaving France, passed by the Chateau of +Ferney without stopping there. He had advised the Queen not to suffer +Voltaire to be presented to her. A lady belonging to the Court learned +the Emperor's opinion on that point, and reproached him with his want of +enthusiasm towards the greatest genius of the age. He replied that for +the good of the people he should always endeavour to profit by the +knowledge of the philosophers; but that his own business of sovereign +would always prevent his ranking himself amongst that sect. The clergy +also took steps to hinder Voltaire's appearance at Court. Paris, however, +carried to the highest pitch the honours and enthusiasm shown to the great +poet. + +It was very unwise to let Paris pronounce with such transport an opinion +so opposite to that of the Court. This was pointed out to the Queen, and +she was told that, without conferring on Voltaire the honour of a +presentation, she might see him in the State apartments. She was not +averse to following this advice, and appeared embarrassed solely about +what she should say to him. She was recommended to talk about nothing but +the "Henriade," "Merope," and "Zaira." The Queen replied that she would +still consult a few other persons in whom she had great confidence. The +next day she announced that it was irrevocably decided Voltaire should not +see any member of the royal family,--his writings being too antagonistic +to religion and morals. "It is, however, strange," said the Queen, "that +while we refuse to admit Voltaire into our presence as the leader of +philosophical writers, the Marechale de Mouchy should have presented to me +some years ago Madame Geoffrin, who owed her celebrity to the title of +foster-mother of the philosophers." + +On the occasion of the duel of the Comte d'Artois with the Prince de +Bourbon the Queen determined privately to see the Baron de Besenval, who +was to be one of the witnesses, in order to communicate the King's +intentions. I have read with infinite pain the manner in which that +simple fact is perverted in the first volume of M. de Besenval's +"Memoirs." He is right in saying that M. Campan led him through the upper +corridors of the Chateau, and introduced him into an apartment unknown to +him; but the air of romance given to the interview is equally culpable and +ridiculous. M. de Besenval says that he found himself, without knowing +how he came there, in an apartment unadorned, but very conveniently +furnished, of the existence of which he was till then utterly ignorant. +He was astonished, he adds, not that the Queen should have so many +facilities, but that she should have ventured to procure them. Ten +printed sheets of the woman Lamotte's libels contain nothing so injurious +to the character of Marie Antoinette as these lines, written by a man whom +she honoured by undeserved kindness. He could not have had any +opportunity of knowing the existence of the apartments, which consisted of +a very small antechamber, a bedchamber, and a closet. Ever since the +Queen had occupied her own apartment, these had been appropriated to her +Majesty's lady of honour in cases of illness, and were actually so used +when the Queen was confined. It was so important that it should not be +known the Queen had spoken to the Baron before the duel that she had +determined to go through her inner room into this little apartment, to +which M. Campan was to conduct him. When men write of recent times they +should be scrupulously exact, and not indulge in exaggerations or +inventions. + +The Baron de Besenval appears mightily surprised at the Queen's sudden +coolness, and refers it to the fickleness of her disposition. I can +explain the reason for the change by repeating what her Majesty said to me +at the time; and I will not alter one of her expressions. Speaking of the +strange presumption of men, and the reserve with which women ought always +to treat them, the Queen added that age did not deprive them of the hope +of pleasing, if they retained any agreeable qualities; that she had +treated the Baron de Besenval as a brave Swiss, agreeable, polished, and +witty, whose gray hairs had induced her to look upon him as a man whom she +might see without harm; but that she had been much deceived. Her Majesty, +after having enjoined me to the strictest secrecy, told me that, finding +herself alone with the Baron, he began to address her with so much +gallantry that she was thrown into the utmost astonishment, and that he +was mad enough to fall upon his knees, and make her a declaration in form. +The Queen added that she said to him: "Rise, monsieur; the King shall be +ignorant of an offence which would disgrace you for ever;" that the Baron +grew pale and stammered apologies; that she left her closet without saying +another word, and that since that time she hardly ever spoke to him. "It +is delightful to have friends," said the Queen; "but in a situation like +mine it is sometimes difficult for the friends of our friends to suit us." + +In the beginning of the year 1778 Mademoiselle d'Eon obtained permission +to return to France, on condition that she should appear there in female +dress. The Comte de Vergennes entreated my father, M. Genet, chief clerk +of Foreign Affairs, who had long known the Chevalier d'Eon, to receive +that strange personage at his house, to guide and restrain, if possible, +her ardent disposition. The Queen, on learning her arrival at Versailles, +sent a footman to desire my father to bring her into her presence; my +father thought it his duty first to inform the Minister of her Majesty's +wish. The Comte de Vergennes expressed himself pleased with my father's +prudence, and desired that he would accompany him to the Queen. The +Minister had a few minutes' audience; her Majesty came out of her closet +with him, and condescended to express to my father the regret she felt at +having troubled him to no purpose; and added, smiling, that a few words +from M. de Vergennes had for ever cured her of her curiosity. The +discovery in London of the true sex of this pretended woman makes it +probable that the few words uttered by the Minister contained a solution +of the enigma. + +The Chevalier d'Eon had been useful in Russia as a spy of Louis XV. while +very young he had found means to introduce himself at the Court of the +Empress Elizabeth, and served that sovereign in the capacity of reader. +Resuming afterwards his military dress, he served with honour and was +wounded. Appointed chief secretary of legation, and afterwards minister +plenipotentiary at London, he unpardonably insulted Comte de Guerchy, the +ambassador. The official order for the Chevalier's return to France was +actually delivered to the King's Council; but Louis XV. delayed the +departure of the courier who was to be its bearer, and sent off another +courier privately, who gave the Chevalier d'Eon a letter in his own +writing, in which he said, "I know that you have served me as effectually +in the dress of a woman as in that which you now wear. Resume it +instantly; withdraw into the city; I warn you that the King yesterday +signed an order for your return to France; you are not safe in your hotel, +and you would here find too powerful enemies." I heard the Chevalier +d'Eon repeat the contents of this letter, in which Louis XV. thus +separated himself from the King of France, several times at my father's. +The Chevalier, or rather the Chevalaere d'Eon had preserved all the King's +letters. Messieurs de Maurepas and de Vergennes wished to get them out of +his hands, as they were afraid he would print them. This eccentric being +had long solicited permission to return to France; but it was necessary to +find a way of sparing the family he had offended the insult they would see +in his return; he was therefore made to resume the costume of that sex to +which in France everything is pardoned. The desire to see his native land +once more determined him to submit to the condition, but he revenged +himself by combining the long train of his gown and the three deep ruffles +on his sleeves with the attitude and conversation of a grenadier, which +made him very disagreeable company. + +[The account given by Madame Campan of the Chevalier d'Eon is now known to +be incorrect in many particulars. Enough details for most readers will be +found in the Duc de Broglie's "Secret of the King," vol. ii., chaps. vi. +and g., and at p. 89, vol. ii. of that work, where the Duke refers to +the letter of most dubious authenticity spoken of by Madame Campan. The +following details will be sufficient for these memoirs: The Chevalier +Charles d'Eon de Beaumont (who was born in 1728) was an ex-captain of +dragoons, employed in both the open and secret diplomacy of Louis XV. +When at the embassy in London he quarrelled with the ambassador, his +superior, the Comte de Guerchy (Marquis do Nangis), and used his +possession of papers concerning the secret diplomacy to shield himself. +It was when hiding in London, in 1765, on account of this business, that +he seems first to have assumed woman's dress, which he retained apparently +chiefly from love of notoriety. In 1775 a formal agreement with the +French Court, made by the instrumentality of Beaumarchais, of all people +in the world, permitted him to return to France, retaining the dress of a +woman. He went back to France, but again came to England, and died there, +at his residence in Millman Street, near the Foundling Hospital, May 22, +1710. He had been a brave and distinguished officer, but his form and a +certain coldness of temperament always remarked in him assisted him in his +assumption of another sex. There appears to be no truth in the story of +his proceedings at the Russian Court, and his appearing in female attire +was a surprise to those who must have known of any earlier affair of the +sort.] + +At last, the event so long desired by the Queen, and by all those who +wished her well, took place; her Majesty became enceinte. The King was in +ecstasies. Never was there a more united or happier couple. The +disposition of Louis XVI. entirely altered, and became prepossessing and +conciliatory; and the Queen was amply compensated for the uneasiness which +the King's indifference during the early part of their union had caused +her. + +The summer of 1778 was extremely hot. July and August passed, but the air +was not cooled by a single storm. The Queen spent whole days in close +rooms, and could not sleep until she had breathed the fresh night air, +walking with the Princesses and her brothers upon the terrace under her +apartments. These promenades at first gave rise to no remark; but it +occurred to some of the party to enjoy the music of wind instruments +during these fine summer nights. The musicians belonging to the chapel +were ordered to perform pieces suited to instruments of that description, +upon steps constructed in the middle of the garden. The Queen, seated on +one of the terrace benches, enjoyed the effect of this music, surrounded +by all the royal family with the exception of the King, who joined them +but, twice, disliking to change his hour of going to bed. + +Nothing could be more innocent than these parties; yet Paris, France, nay, +all Europe, were soon canvassing them in a manner most disadvantageous to +the reputation of Marie Antoinette. It is true that all the inhabitants +of Versailles enjoyed these serenades, and that there was a crowd near the +spot from eleven at night until two or three in the morning. The windows +of the ground floor occupied by Monsieur and Madame--[The wife of +Monsieur, the Comte de Provence.]--were kept open, and the terrace was +perfectly well lighted by the numerous wax candles burning in the two +apartments. Lamps were likewise placed in the garden, and the lights of +the orchestra illuminated the rest of the place. + +I do not know whether a few incautious women might not have ventured +farther, and wandered to the bottom of the park; it may have been so; but +the Queen, Madame, and the Comtesse d'Artois were always arm-in-arm, and +never left the terrace. The Princesses were not remarkable when seated on +the benches, being dressed in cambric muslin gowns, with large straw hats +and muslin veils, a costume universally adopted by women at that time; but +when standing up their different figures always distinguished them; and +the persons present stood on one side to let them pass. It is true that +when they seated themselves upon the benches private individuals would +sometimes, to their great amusement, sit down by their side. + +A young clerk in the War Department, either not knowing or pretending not +to know the Queen, spoke to her of the beauty of the night, and the +delightful effect of the music. The Queen, fancying she was not +recognised, amused herself by keeping up the incognito, and they talked of +several private families of Versailles, consisting of persons belonging to +the King's household or her own. After a few minutes the Queen and +Princesses rose to walk, and on leaving the bench curtsied to the clerk. +The young man knowing, or having subsequently discovered, that he had been +conversing with the Queen, boasted of it in his office. He was merely, +desired to hold his tongue; and so little attention did he excite that the +Revolution found him still only a clerk. + +Another evening one of Monsieur's body-guard seated himself near the +Princesses, and, knowing them, left the place where he was sitting, and +placed himself before the Queen, to tell her that he was very fortunate in +being able to seize an opportunity of imploring the kindness of his +sovereign; that he was "soliciting at Court"--at the word soliciting the +Queen and Princesses rose hastily and withdrew into Madame's +apartment.--[Soulavie has most criminally perverted these two +facts.--MADAME CAMPAN.]--I was at the Queen's residence that day. She +talked of this little occurrence all the time of her 'coucher'; though she +only complained that one of Monsieur's guards should have had the +effrontery to speak to her. Her Majesty added that he ought to have +respected her incognito; and that that was not the place where he should +have ventured to make a request. Madame had recognised him, and talked of +making a complaint to his captain; the Queen opposed it, attributing his +error to his ignorance and provincial origin. + +The most scandalous libels were based on these two insignificant +occurrences, which I have related with scrupulous exactness. Nothing +could be more false than those calumnies. It must be confessed, however, +that such meetings were liable to ill consequences. I ventured to say as +much to the Queen, and informed her that one evening, when her Majesty +beckoned to me to go and speak to her, I thought I recognised on the bench +on which she was sitting two women deeply veiled, and keeping profound +silence; that those women were the Comtesse du Barry and her +sister-in-law; and that my suspicions were confirmed, when, at a few paces +from the seat, and nearer to her Majesty, I met a tall footman belonging +to Madame du Barry, whom I had seen in her service all the time she +resided at Court. + +My advice was disregarded. Misled by the pleasure she found in these +promenades, and secure in the consciousness of blameless conduct, the +Queen would not see the lamentable results which must necessarily follow. +This was very unfortunate; for besides the mortifications they brought +upon her, it is highly probable that they prompted the vile plot which +gave rise to the Cardinal de Rohan's fatal error. + +Having enjoyed these evening promenades about a month, the Queen ordered a +private concert within the colonnade which contained the group of Pluto +and Proserpine. Sentinels were placed at all the entrances, and ordered +to admit within the colonnade only such persons as should produce tickets +signed by my father-in-law. A fine concert was performed there by the +musicians of the chapel and the female musicians belonging to the. Queen's +chamber. The Queen went with Mesdames de Polignac, de Chalon, and +d'Andlau, and Messieurs de Polignac, de Coigny, de Besenval, and de +Vaudreuil; there were also a few equerries present. Her Majesty gave me +permission to attend the concert with some of my female relations. There +was no music upon the terrace. The crowd of inquisitive people, whom the +sentinels kept at a distance from the enclosure of the colonnade, went +away highly discontented; the small number of persons admitted no doubt +occasioned jealousy, and gave rise to offensive comments which were caught +up by the public with avidity. I do not pretend to apologise for the kind +of amusements with which the Queen indulged herself during this and the +following summer; the consequences were so lamentable that the error was +no doubt very great; but what I have said respecting the character of +these promenades may be relied on as true. + +When the season for evening walks was at an end, odious couplets were +circulated in Paris; the 'Queen was treated in them in the most insulting +manner; her situation ranked among her enemies persons attached to the +only prince who for several years had appeared likely to give heirs to the +crown. People uttered the most inconsiderate language; and those improper +conversations took place in societies wherein the imminent danger of +violating to so criminal an extent both truth and the respect due to +sovereigns ought to have been better understood. A few days before the +Queen's confinement a whole volume of manuscript songs, concerning her and +all the ladies about her remarkable for rank or station was, thrown down +in the oiel-de-boeuf.--[A large room at Versailles lighted by a bull's-eye +window, and used as a waiting-room.]--This manuscript was immediately put +into the hands of the King, who was highly incensed at it, and said that +he had himself been at those promenades; that he had seen nothing +connected with them but what was perfectly harmless; that such songs would +disturb the harmony of twenty families in the Court and city; that it was +a capital crime to have made any against the Queen herself; and that he +wished the author of the infamous libels to be discovered and punished. A +fortnight afterwards it was known publicly that the verses were by M. +Champcenetz de Riquebourg, who was not even reprimanded. + +[The author of a great many songs, some of which are very well written. +Lively and satirical by nature, he did not lose either his cheerfulness or +his carelessness before the revolutionary tribunal. After hearing his own +sentence read, he asked his judges if he might not be allowed to find a +substitute.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +I knew for a certainty that the King spoke to M. de Maurepas, before two +of his most confidential servants, respecting the risk which he saw the +Queen ran from these night walks upon the terrace of Versailles, which the +public ventured to censure thus openly, and that the old minister had the +cruelty to advise that she should be suffered to go on; she possessed +talent; her friends were very ambitious, and longed to see her take a part +in public affairs; and to let her acquire the reputation of levity would +do no harm. M. de Vergennes was as hostile to the Queen's influence as M. +de Maurepas. It may therefore be fairly presumed, since the Prime +Minister durst point out to his King an advantage to be gained by the +Queen's discrediting herself, that he and M. de Vergennes employed all +means within the reach of powerful ministers in order to ruin her in the +opinion of the public. + +The Queen's accouchement approached; Te Deums were sung and prayers +offered up in all the cathedrals. On the 11th of December, 1778, the +royal family, the Princes of the blood, and the great officers of State +passed the night in the rooms adjoining the Queen's bedchamber. Madame, +the King's daughter, came into the world before mid-day on the 19th of +December.--[Marie Therese Charlotte (1778-1861), Madame Royale; married in +1799 Louis, Duc d'Angouleme, eldest son of the Comte d'Artois.]--The +etiquette of allowing all persons indiscriminately to enter at the moment +of the delivery of a queen was observed with such exaggeration that when +the accoucheur said aloud, "La Reine va s'accoucher," the persons who +poured into the chamber were so numerous that the rush nearly destroyed +the Queen. During the night the King had taken the precaution to have the +enormous tapestry screens which surrounded her Majesty's bed secured with +cords; but for this they certainly would have been thrown down upon her. +It was impossible to move about the chamber, which was filled with so +motley a crowd that one might have fancied himself in some place of public +amusement. Two Savoyards got upon the furniture for a better sight of the +Queen, who was placed opposite the fireplace. + +The noise and the sex of the infant, with which the Queen was made +acquainted by a signal previously agreed on, as it is said, with the +Princesse do Lamballe, or some error of the accoucheur, brought on +symptoms which threatened fatal consequences; the accoucheur exclaimed, +"Give her air--warm water--she must be bled in the foot!" The windows +were stopped up; the King opened them with a strength which his affection +for the Queen gave him at the moment. They were of great height, and +pasted over with strips of paper all round. The basin of hot water not +being brought quickly enough, the accoucheur desired the chief surgeon to +use his lancet without waiting for it. He did so; the blood streamed out +freely, and the Queen opened her eyes. The Princesse de Lamballe was +carried through the crowd in a state of insensibility. The valets de +chambre and pages dragged out by the collar such inconsiderate persons as +would not leave the room. This cruel custom was abolished afterwards. The +Princes of the family, the Princes of the blood, the chancellor, and the +ministers are surely sufficient to attest the legitimacy of an hereditary +prince. The Queen was snatched from the very jaws of death; she was not +conscious of having been bled, and on being replaced in bed asked why she +had a linen bandage upon her foot. + +The delight which succeeded the moment of fear was equally lively and +sincere. We were all embracing each other, and shedding tears of joy. The +Comte d'Esterhazy and the Prince de Poix, to whom I was the first to +announce that the Queen was restored to life, embraced me in the midst of +the cabinet of nobles. We little imagined, in our happiness at her escape +from death, for how much more terrible a fate our beloved Princess was +reserved. + +NOTE. The two following specimens of the Emperor Joseph's correspondence +forcibly demonstrate the vigour, shrewdness, and originality of his mind, +and complete the portrait left of him by Madame Campan. + +Few sovereigns have given their reasons for refusing appointments with the +fullness and point of the following letter: + +To a Lady. + +MADAM.--I do not think that it is amongst the duties of a monarch to grant +places to one of his subjects merely because he is a gentleman. That, +however, is the inference from the request you have made to me. Your late +husband was, you say, a distinguished general, a gentleman of good family, +and thence you conclude that my kindness to your family can do no less +than give a company of foot to your second son, lately returned from his +travels. + +Madam, a man may be the son of a general and yet have no talent for +command. A man may be of a good family and yet possess no other merit +than that which he owes to chance,--the name of gentleman. + +I know your son, and I know what makes the soldier; and this twofold +knowledge convinces me that your son has not the disposition of a warrior, +and that he is too full of his birth to leave the country a hope of his +ever rendering it any important service. + +What you are to be pitied for, madam, is, that your son is not fit either +for an officer, a statesman or a priest; in a word, that he is nothing +more than a gentleman in the most extended acceptation of the word. + +You may be thankful to that destiny, which, in refusing talents to your +son, has taken care to put him in possession of great wealth, which will +sufficiently compensate him for other deficiencies, and enable him at the +same time to dispense with any favour from me. + +I hope you will be impartial enough to see the reasons which prompt me to +refuse your request. It may be disagreeable to you, but I consider it +necessary. Farewell, madam.--Your sincere well-wisher, JOSEPH +LACHSENBURG, 4th August, 1787. + +The application of another anxious and somewhat covetous mother was +answered with still more decision and irony: + +To a Lady. + +MADAM.--You know my disposition; you are not ignorant that the society of +the ladies is to me a mere recreation, and that I have never sacrificed my +principles to the fair sex. I pay but little attention to +recommendations, and I only take them into consideration when the person +in whose behalf I may be solicited possesses real merit. + +Two of your sons are already loaded with favours. The eldest, who is not +yet twenty, is chief of a squadron in my army, and the younger has +obtained a canonry at Cologne, from the Elector, my brother. What would +you have more? Would you have the first a general and the second a +bishop? + +In France you may see colonels in leading-strings, and in Spain the royal +princes command armies even at eighteen; hence Prince Stahremberg forced +them to retreat so often that they were never able all the rest of their +lives to comprehend any other manoeuvre. + +It is necessary to be sincere at Court, and severe in the field, stoical +without obduracy, magnanimous without weakness, and to gain the esteem of +our enemies by the justice of our actions; and this, madam, is what I aim +at. JOSEPH VIENNA, September, 1787. + +(From the inedited Letters of Joseph IL, published at Paris, by Persan, +1822.) + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +During the alarm for the life of the Queen, regret at not possessing an +heir to the throne was not even thought of. The King himself was wholly +occupied with the care of preserving an adored wife. The young Princess +was presented to her mother. "Poor little one," said the Queen, "you were +not wished for, but you are not on that account less dear to me. A son +would have been rather the property of the State. You shall be mine; you +shall have my undivided care, shall share all my happiness, and console me +in all my troubles." + +The King despatched a courier to Paris, and wrote letters himself to +Vienna, by the Queen's bedside; and part of the rejoicings ordered took +place in the capital. + +A great number of attendants watched near the Queen during the first +nights of her confinement. This custom distressed her; she knew how to +feel for others, and ordered large armchairs for her women, the backs of +which were capable of being let down by springs, and which served +perfectly well instead of beds. + +M. de Lassone, the chief physician, the chief surgeon, the chief +apothecary, the principal officers of the buttery, etc., were likewise +nine nights without going to bed. The royal children were watched for a +long time, and one of the women on duty remained, nightly, up and dressed, +during the first three years from their birth. + +The Queen made her entry into Paris for the churching. One hundred +maidens were portioned and married at Notre-Dame. There were few popular +acclamations, but her Majesty was perfectly well received at the Opera. + +A few days after the Queen's recovery from her confinement, the Cure of +the Magdelaine de la City at Paris wrote to M. Campan and requested a +private interview with him; it was to desire he would deliver into the +hands of the Queen a little box containing her wedding ring, with this +note written by the Cure: "I have received under the seal of confession +the ring which I send to your Majesty; with an avowal that it was stolen +from you in 1771, in order to be used in sorceries, to prevent your having +any children." On seeing her ring again the Queen said that she had in +fact lost it about seven years before, while washing her hands, and that +she had resolved to use no endeavour to discover the superstitious woman +who had done her the injury. + +The Queen's attachment to the Comtesse Jules increased every day; she went +frequently to her house at Paris, and even took up her own abode at the +Chateau de la Muette to be nearer during her confinement. She married +Mademoiselle de Polignac, when scarcely thirteen years of age, to M. de +Grammont, who, on account of this marriage, was made Duc de Guiche, and +captain of the King's Guards, in reversion after the Duc de Villeroi. The +Duchesse de Civrac, Madame Victoire's dame d'honneur, had been promised +the place for the Duc de Lorges, her son. The number of discontented +families at Court increased. + +The title of favourite was too openly given to the Comtesse Jules by her +friends. The lot of the favourite of a queen is not, in France, a happy +one; the favourites of kings are treated, out of gallantry, with much +greater indulgence. + +A short time after the birth of Madame the Queen became again enceinte; +she had mentioned it only to the King, to her physician, and to a few +persons honoured with her intimate confidence, when, having overexerted +her strength in pulling lip one of the glasses of her carriage, she felt +that she had hurt herself, and eight days afterwards she miscarried. The +King spent the whole morning at her bedside, consoling her, and +manifesting the tenderest concern for her. The Queen wept exceedingly; +the King took her affectionately in his arms, and mingled his tears with +hers. The King enjoined silence among the small number of persons who +were informed of this unfortunate occurrence; and it remained generally +unknown. These particulars furnish an accurate idea of the manner in +which this august couple lived together. + +The Empress Maria Theresa did not enjoy the happiness of seeing her +daughter give an heir to the crown of France. That illustrious Princess +died at the close of 1780, after having proved by her example that, as in +the instance of Queen Blanche, the talents of a sovereign might be blended +with the virtues of a pious princess. The King was deeply affected at the +death of the Empress; and on the arrival of the courier from Vienna said +that he could not bring himself to afflict the Queen by informing her of +an event which grieved even him so much. His Majesty thought the Abbe de +Vermond, who had possessed the confidence of Maria Theresa during his stay +at Vienna, the most proper person to discharge this painful duty. He sent +his first valet de chambre, M. de Chamilly, to the Abbe on the evening of +the day he received the despatches from Vienna, to order him to come the +next day to the Queen before her breakfast hour, to acquit himself +discreetly of the afflicting commission with which he was charged, and to +let his Majesty know the moment of his entering the Queen's chamber. It +was the King's intention to be there precisely a quarter of an hour after +him, and he was punctual to his time; he was announced; the Abbe came out; +and his Majesty said to him, as he drew up at the door to let him pass, "I +thank you, Monsieur l'Abbe, for the service you have just done me." This +was the only time during nineteen years that the King spoke to him. + +Within an hour after learning the event the Queen put on temporary +mourning, while waiting until her Court mourning should be ready; she kept +herself shut up in her apartments for several days; went out only to mass; +saw none but the royal family; and received none but the Princesse de +Lamballe and the Duchesse de Polignac. She talked incessantly of the +courage, the misfortunes, the successes, and the virtues of her mother. +The shroud and dress in which Maria Theresa was to be buried, made +entirely by her own hands, were found ready prepared in one of her +closets. She often regretted that the numerous duties of her august +mother had prevented her from watching in person over the education of her +daughters; and modestly said that she herself would have been more worthy +if she had had the good fortune to receive lessons directly from a +sovereign so enlightened and so deserving of admiration. + +The Queen told me one day that her mother was left a widow at an age when +her beauty was yet striking; that she was secretly informed of a plot laid +by her three principal ministers to make themselves agreeable to her; of a +compact made between them, that the losers should not feel any jealousy +towards him who should be fortunate enough to gain his sovereign's heart; +and that they had sworn that the successful one should be always the +friend of the other two. The Empress being assured of this scheme, one +day after the breaking up of the council over which she had presided, +turned the conversation upon the subject of female sovereigns, and the +duties of their sex and rank; and then applying her general reflections to +herself in particular, told them that she hoped to guard herself all her +life against weaknesses of the heart; but that if ever an irresistible +feeling should make her alter her resolution, it should be only in favour +of a man proof against ambition, not engaged in State affairs, but +attached only to a private life and its calm enjoyments,--in a word, if +her heart should betray her so far as to lead her to love a man invested +with any important office, from the moment he should discover her +sentiments he would forfeit his place and his influence with the public. +This was sufficient; the three ministers, more ambitious than amorous, +gave up their projects for ever. + +On the 22d of October, 1781, the Queen gave birth to a Dauphin.--[The +first Dauphin, Louis, born 1781, died 1789.]--So deep a silence prevailed +in the room that the Queen thought her child was a daughter; but after the +Keeper of the Seals had declared the sex of the infant, the King went up +to the Queen's bed, and said to her, "Madame, you have fulfilled my wishes +and those of France: you are the mother of a Dauphin." The King's joy was +boundless; tears streamed from his eyes; he gave his hand to every one +present; and his happiness carried away his habitual reserve. Cheerful +and affable, he was incessantly taking occasion to introduce the words, +"my son," or "the Dauphin." As soon as the Queen was in bed, she wished +to see the long-looked-for infant. The Princesse de Guemenee brought him +to her. The Queen said there was no need for commending him to the +Princess, but in order to enable her to attend to him more freely, she +would herself share the care of the education of her daughter. When the +Dauphin was settled in his apartment, he received the customary homages +and visits. The Duc d'Angouleme, meeting his father at the entrance of +the Dauphin's apartment, said to him, "Oh, papa! how little my cousin +is!"--"The day will come when you will think him great enough, my dear," +answered the Prince, almost involuntarily.--[Eldest son of the Comte +d'Artois, and till the birth of the Dauphin with near prospects of the +succession.] + +The birth of the Dauphin appeared to give joy to all classes. Men stopped +one another in the streets, spoke without being acquainted, and those who +were acquainted embraced each other. In the birth of a legitimate heir to +the sovereign every man beholds a pledge of prosperity and tranquillity. + +[M. Merard de Saint Just made a quatrain on the birth of the Dauphin to +the following effect: + +"This infant Prince our hopes are centred in, will doubtless make us +happy, rich, and free; And since with somebody he must begin, My fervent +prayer is--that it may be me!" + +--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The rejoicings were splendid and ingenious. The artificers and tradesmen +of Paris spent considerable sums in order to go to Versailles in a body, +with their various insignia. Almost every troop had music with it. When +they arrived at the court of the palace, they there arranged themselves so +as to present a most interesting living picture. Chimney-sweepers, quite +as well dressed as those that appear upon the stage, carried an ornamented +chimney, at the top of which was perched one of the smallest of their +fraternity. The chairmen carried a sedan highly gilt, in which were to be +seen a handsome nurse and a little Dauphin. The butchers made their +appearance with their fat ox. Cooks, masons, blacksmiths, all trades were +on the alert. The smiths hammered away upon an anvil, the shoemakers +finished off a little pair of boots for the Dauphin, and the tailors a +little suit of the uniform of his regiment. The King remained a long time +upon a balcony to enjoy the sight. The whole Court was delighted with it. +So general was the enthusiasm that (the police not having carefully +examined the procession) the grave-diggers had the imprudence to send +their deputation also, with the emblematic devices of their ill-omened +occupation. They were met by the Princesse Sophie, the King's aunt, who +was thrilled with horror at the sight, and entreated the King to have the +audacious, fellows driven out of the procession, which was then drawing up +on the terrace. + +The 'dames de la halle' came to congratulate the Queen, and were received +with the suitable ceremonies. + +Fifty of them appeared dressed in black silk gowns, the established full +dress of their order, and almost all wore diamonds. The Princesse de +Chimay went to the door of the Queen's bedroom to receive three of these +ladies, who were led up to the Queen's bed. One of them addressed her +Majesty in a speech written by M. de la Harpe. It was set down on the +inside of a fan, to which the speaker repeatedly referred, but without any +embarrassment. She was handsome, and had a remarkably fine voice. The +Queen was affected by the address, and answered it with great +affability,--wishing a distinction to be made between these women and the +poissardes, who always left a disagreeable impression on her mind. + +The King ordered a substantial repast for all these women. One of his +Majesty's maitres d'hotel, wearing his hat, sat as president and did the +honours of the table. The public were admitted, and numbers of people had +the curiosity to go. + +The Garden-du-Corps obtained the King's permission to give the Queen a +dress ball in the great hall of the Opera at Versailles. Her Majesty +opened the ball in a minuet with a private selected by the corps, to whom +the King granted the baton of an exempt. The fete was most splendid. All +then was joy, happiness, and peace. + +The Dauphin was a year old when the Prince de Guemenee's bankruptcy +compelled the Princess, his wife, who was governess to the children of +France, to resign her situation. + +The Queen was at La Muette for the inoculation of her daughter. She sent +for me, and condescended to say she wished to converse with me about a +scheme which delighted her, but in the execution of which she foresaw some +inconveniences. Her plan was to appoint the Duchesse de Polignac to the +office lately held by the Princesse de Guemenee. She saw with extreme +pleasure the facilities which this appointment would give her for +superintending the education of her children, without running any risk of +hurting the pride of the governess; and that it would bring together the +objects of her warmest affections, her children and her friend. "The +friends of the Duchesse de Polignac," continued the Queen, "will be +gratified by the splendour and importance conferred by the employment. As +to the Duchess, I know her; the place by no means suits her simple and +quiet habits, nor the sort of indolence of her disposition. She will give +me the greatest possible proof of her devotion if she yields to my wish." +The Queen also spoke of the Princesse de Chimay and the Duchesse de Duras, +whom the public pointed out as fit for the post; but she thought the +Princesse de Chimay's piety too rigid; and as to the Duchesse de Duras, +her wit and learning quite frightened her. What the Queen dreaded as the +consequence of her selection of the Duchesse de Polignac was principally +the jealousy of the courtiers; but she showed so lively a desire to see +her scheme executed that I had no doubt she would soon set at naught all +the obstacles she discovered. I was not mistaken; a few days afterwards +the Duchess was appointed governess. + +The Queen's object in sending for me was no doubt to furnish me with the +means of explaining the feelings which induced her to prefer a governess +disposed by friendship to suffer her to enjoy all the privileges of a +mother. Her Majesty knew that I saw a great deal of company. + +The Queen frequently dined with the Duchess after having been present at +the King's private dinner. Sixty-one thousand francs were therefore added +to the salary of the governess as a compensation for this increase of +expense. + +The Queen was tired of the excursions to Marly, and had no great +difficulty in setting the King against them. He did not like the expense +of them, for everybody was entertained there gratis. Louis XIV. had +established a kind of parade upon these excursions, differing from that of +Versailles, but still more annoying. Card and supper parties occurred +every day, and required much dress. On Sundays and holidays the fountains +played, the people were admitted into the gardens, and there was as great +a crowd as at the fetes of St. Cloud. + +Every age has its peculiar colouring; Marly showed that of Louis XIV. even +more than Versailles. Everything in the former place appeared to have +been produced by the magic power of a fairy's wand. Not the slightest +trace of all this splendour remains; the revolutionary spoilers even tore +up the pipes which served to supply the fountains. Perhaps a brief +description of this palace and the usages established there by Louis XIV. +may be acceptable. + +The very extensive gardens of Marly ascended almost imperceptibly to the +Pavilion of the Sun., which was occupied only by the King and his family. +The pavilions of the twelve zodiacal signs bounded the two sides of the +lawn. They were connected by bowers impervious to the rays of the sun. +The pavilions nearest to that of the sun were reserved for the Princes of +the blood and the ministers; the rest were occupied by persons holding +superior offices at Court, or invited to stay at Marly. Each pavilion was +named after fresco paintings, which covered its walls, and which had been +executed by the most celebrated artists of the age of Louis XIV. On a line +with the upper pavilion there was on the left a chapel; on the right a +pavilion called La Perspective, which concealed along suite of offices, +containing a hundred lodging-rooms intended for the persons belonging to +the service of the Court, kitchens, and spacious dining-rooms, in which +more than thirty tables were splendidly laid out. + +During half of Louis XV.'s reign the ladies still wore the habit de cour +de Marly, so named by Louis XIV., and which differed little from, that +devised for Versailles. The French gown, gathered in the back, and with +great hoops, replaced this dress, and continued to be worn till the end of +the reign of Louis XVI. The diamonds, feathers, rouge, and embroidered +stuffs spangled with gold, effaced all trace of a rural residence; but the +people loved to see the splendour of their sovereign and a brilliant Court +glittering in the shades of the woods. + +After dinner, and before the hour for cards, the Queen, the Princesses, +and their ladies, paraded among the clumps of trees, in little carriages, +beneath canopies richly embroidered with gold, drawn by men in the King's +livery. The trees planted by Louis XIV. were of prodigious height, which, +however, was surpassed in several of the groups by fountains of the +clearest water; while, among others, cascades over white marble, the +waters of which, met by the sunbeams, looked like draperies of silver +gauze, formed a contrast to the solemn darkness of the groves. + +In the evening nothing more was necessary for any well-dressed man to +procure admission to the Queen's card parties than to be named and +presented, by some officer of the Court, to the gentleman usher of the +card-room. This room, which was very, large, and of octagonal shape, rose +to the top of the Italian roof, and terminated in a cupola furnished with +balconies, in which ladies who had not been presented easily obtained +leave to place themselves, and enjoy, the sight of the brilliant +assemblage. + +Though not of the number of persons belonging to the Court, gentlemen +admitted into this salon might request one of the ladies seated with the +Queen at lansquenet or faro to bet upon her cards with such gold or notes +as they presented to her. Rich people and the gamblers of Paris did not +miss one of the evenings at the Marly salon, and there were always +considerable sums won and lost. Louis XVI. hated high play, and very +often showed displeasure when the loss of large sums was mentioned. The +fashion of wearing a black coat without being in mourning had not then +been introduced, and the King gave a few of his 'coups de boutoir' to +certain chevaliers de St. Louis, dressed in this manner, who came to +venture two or three louis, in the hope that fortune would favour the +handsome duchesses who deigned to place them on their cards. + +[Bachaumont in his "Memoirs," (tome xii., p. 189), which are often +satirical; and always somewhat questionable, speaks of the singular +precautions taken at play at Court. "The bankers at the Queen's table," +says he, "in order to prevent the mistakes [I soften the harshness of his +expression] which daily happen, have obtained permission from her Majesty +that before beginning to play the table shall be bordered by a ribbon +entirely round it, and that no other money than that upon the cards beyond +the ribbon shall be considered as staked."--NOTE By THE EDITOR.] + +Singular contrasts are often seen amidst the grandeur of courts. In order +to manage such high play at the Queen's faro table, it was necessary to +have a banker provided with large, sums of money; and this necessity +placed at the table, to which none but the highest titled persons were +admitted in general, not only M. de Chalabre, who was its banker, but also +a retired captain of foot, who officiated as his second. A word, trivial, +but perfectly appropriate to express the manner in which the Court was +attended there, was often heard. Gentlemen presented at Court, who had +not been invited to stay at Marly, came there notwithstanding, as they did +to Versailles, and returned again to Paris; under such circumstances, it +was said such a one had been to Marly only 'en polisson';--[A contemptuous +expression, meaning literally "as a scamp" or "rascal"]--and it appeared +odd to hear a captivating marquis, in answer to the inquiry whether he was +of the royal party at Marly, say, "No, I am only here 'en polisson'," +meaning simply "I am here on the footing of all those whose nobility is of +a later date than 1400." The Marly excursions were exceedingly expensive +to the King. Besides the superior tables, those of the almoners, +equerries, maitres d'hotel, etc., were all supplied with such a degree of +magnificence as to allow of inviting strangers to them; and almost all the +visitors from Paris were boarded at the expense of the Court. + +The personal frugality of the unfortunate Prince who sank beneath the +weight of the national debts thus favoured the Queen's predilection for +her Petit Trianon; and for five or six years preceding the Revolution the +Court very seldom visited Marly. + +The King, always attentive to the comfort of his family, gave Mesdames, +his aunts, the use of the Chateau de Bellevue, and afterwards purchased +the Princesse de Guemenee's house, at the entrance to Paris, for +Elisabeth. The Comtesse de Provence bought a small house at Montreuil; +Monsieur already had Brunoy; the Comtesse d'Artois built Bagatelle; +Versailles became, in the estimation of all the royal family, the least +agreeable of residences. They only fancied themselves at home in the +plainest houses, surrounded by English gardens, where they better enjoyed +the beauties of nature. The taste for cascades and statues was entirely +past. + +The Queen occasionally remained a whole month at Petit Trianon, and had +established there all the ways of life in a chateau. She entered the +sitting-room without driving the ladies from their pianoforte or +embroidery. The gentlemen continued their billiards or backgammon without +suffering her presence to interrupt them. There was but little room in +the small Chateau of Trianon. Madame Elisabeth accompanied the Queen +there, but the ladies of honour and ladies of the palace had no +establishment at Trianon. When invited by the Queen, they came from +Versailles to dinner. The King and Princes came regularly to sup. A +white gown, a gauze kerchief, and a straw hat were the uniform dress of +the Princesses. + +[The extreme simplicity of the Queen's toilet began to be strongly +censured, at first among the courtiers, and afterwards throughout the +kingdom; and through one of those inconsistencies more common in France +than elsewhere, while the Queen was blamed, she was blindly imitated. +There was not a woman but would have the same undress, the same cap, and +the same feathers as she had been seen to wear. They crowded to +Mademoiselle Bertin, her milliner; there was an absolute revolution in the +dress of our ladies, which gave importance to that woman. Long trains, +and all those fashions which confer a certain nobility on dress, were +discarded; and at last a duchess could not be distinguished from an +actress. The men caught the mania; the upper classes had long before +given up to their lackeys feathers, tufts of ribbon, and laced hats. They +now got rid of red heels and embroidery; and walked about our streets in +plain cloth, short thick shoes, and with knotty cudgels in their hands. +Many humiliating scrapes were the consequence of this metamorphosis. +Bearing no mark to distinguish them from the common herd, some of the +lowest classes got into quarrels with them, in which the nobles had not +always the best of it.--MONTJOIE, "History of Marie Antoinette."] + +Examining all the manufactories of the hamlet, seeing the cows milked, and +fishing in the lake delighted the Queen; and every year she showed +increased aversion to the pompous excursions to Marly. + +The idea of acting comedies, as was then done in almost all country +houses, followed on the Queen's wish to live at Trianon without ceremony. + +[The Queen got through the characters she assumed indifferently enough; +she could hardly be ignorant of this, as her performances evidently +excited little pleasure. Indeed, one day while she was thus exhibiting, +somebody ventured to say, by no means inaudibly, "well, this is royally +ill played!" The lesson was thrown away upon her, for never did she +sacrifice to the opinion of another that which she thought permissible. +When she was told that her extreme plainness in dress, the nature of her +amusements, and her dislike to that splendour which ought always to attend +a Queen, had an appearance of levity, which was misinterpreted by a +portion of the public, she replied with Madame de Maintenon: "I am upon +the stage, and of course I shall be either hissed or applauded." Louis +XIV. had a similar taste; he danced upon the stage; but he had shown by +brilliant actions that he knew how to enforce respect; and besides, he +unhesitatingly gave up the amusement from the moment he heard those +beautiful lines in which Racine pointed out how very unworthy of him such +pastimes were.--MONTJOIE, "History of Marie Antoinette."] + +It was agreed that no young man except the Comte d'Artois should be +admitted into the company of performers, and that the audience should +consist only of the King, Monsieur, and the Princesses, who did not play; +but in order to stimulate the actors a little, the first boxes were to be +occupied by the readers, the Queen's ladies, their sisters and daughters, +making altogether about forty persons. + +The Queen laughed heartily at the voice of M. d'Adhemar, formerly a very +fine one, but latterly become rather tremulous. His shepherd's dress in +Colin, in the "Devin du Village," contrasted very ridiculously with his +time of life, and the Queen said it would be difficult for malevolence +itself to find anything to criticise in the choice of such a lover. The +King was highly amused with these plays, and was present at every +performance. Caillot, a celebrated actor, who had long quitted the stage, +and Dazincourt, both of acknowledged good character, were selected to give +lessons, the first in comic opera, of which the easier sorts were +preferred, and the second in comedy. The office of hearer of rehearsals, +prompter, and stage manager was given to my father-in-law. The Duc de +Fronsac, first gentleman of the chamber, was much hurt at this. He +thought himself called upon to make serious remonstrances upon the +subject, and wrote to the Queen, who made him the following answer: "You +cannot be first gentleman when we are the actors. Besides, I have already +intimated to you my determination respecting Trianon. I hold no court +there, I live like a private person, and M. Campan shall be always +employed to execute orders relative to the private fetes I choose to give +there." This not putting a stop to the Duke's remonstrances, the King was +obliged to interfere. The Duke continued obstinate, and insisted that he +was entitled to manage the private amusements as much as those which were +public. It became absolutely necessary to end the argument in a positive +manner. + +The diminutive Duc de Fronsac never failed, when he came to pay his +respects to the Queen at her toilet, to turn the conversation upon +Trianon, in order to make some ironical remarks on my father-in-law, of +whom, from the time of his appointment, he always spoke as "my colleague +Campan." The Queen would shrug her shoulders, and say, when he was gone, +"It is quite shocking to find so little a man in the son of the Marechal +de Richelieu." + +So long as no strangers were admitted to the performances they were but +little censured; but the praise obtained by the performers made them look +for a larger circle of admirers. The company, for a private company, was +good enough, and the acting was applauded to the skies; nevertheless, as +the audience withdrew, adverse criticisms were occasionally heard. The +Queen permitted the officers of the Body Guards and the equerries of the +King and Princes to be present at the plays. Private boxes were provided +for some of the people belonging to the Court; a few more ladies were +invited; and claims arose on all sides for the favour of admission. The +Queen refused to admit the officers of the body guards of the Princes, the +officers of the King's Cent Suisses, and many other persons, who were +highly mortified at the refusal. + +While delight at having given an heir to the throne of the Bourbons, and a +succession of fetes and amusements, filled up the happy days of Marie +Antoinette, the public was engrossed by the Anglo-American war. Two +kings, or rather their ministers, planted and propagated the love of +liberty in the new world; the King of England, by shutting his ears and +his heart against the continued and respectful representations of subjects +at a distance from their native land, who had become numerous, rich, and +powerful, through the resources of the soil they had fertilised; and the +King of France, by giving support to this people in rebellion against +their ancient sovereign. Many young soldiers, belonging to the first +families of the country, followed La Fayette's example, and forsook +luxury, amusement, and love, to go and tender their aid to the revolted +Americans. Beaumarchais, secretly seconded by Messieurs de Maurepas and +de Vergennes, obtained permission to send out supplies of arms and +clothing. Franklin appeared at Court in the dress of an American +agriculturist. His unpowdered hair, his round hat, his brown cloth coat +formed a contrast to the laced and embroidered coats and the powder and +perfume of the courtiers of Versailles. This novelty turned the light +heads of the Frenchwomen. Elegant entertainments were given to Doctor +Franklin, who, to the reputation of a man of science, added the patriotic +virtues which invested him with the character of an apostle of liberty. I +was present at one of these entertainments, when the most beautiful woman +out of three hundred was selected to place a crown of laurels upon the +white head of the American philosopher, and two kisses upon his cheeks. +Even in the palace of Versailles Franklin's medallion was sold under the +King's eyes, in the exhibition of Sevres porcelain. The legend of this +medallion was: + +"Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis." + +The King never declared his opinion upon an enthusiasm which his correct +judgment no doubt led him to blame. The Queen spoke out more plainly +about the part France was taking respecting the independence of the +American colonies, and constantly opposed it. Far was she from foreseeing +that a revolution at--such a distance could excite one in which a +misguided populace would drag her from her palace to a death equally +unjust and cruel. She only saw something ungenerous in the method which +France adopted of checking the power of England. + +However, as Queen of France, she enjoyed the sight of a whole people +rendering homage to the prudence, courage, and good qualities of a young +Frenchman; and she shared the enthusiasm inspired by the conduct and +military success of the Marquis de La Fayette. The Queen granted him +several audiences on his first return from America, and, until the 10th of +August, on which day my house was plundered, I preserved some lines from +Gaston and Bayard, in which the friends of M. de La Fayette saw the exact +outline of his character, written by her own hand: + + "Why talk of youth, + When all the ripe experience of the old + Dwells with him? In his schemes profound and cool, + He acts with wise precaution, and reserves + For time of action his impetuous fire. + To guard the camp, to scale the leaguered wall, + Or dare the hottest of the fight, are toils + That suit th' impetuous bearing of his youth; + Yet like the gray-hair'd veteran he can shun + The field of peril. Still before my eyes + I place his bright example, for I love + His lofty courage, and his prudent thought. + Gifted like him, a warrior has no age." + +[During the American war a general officer in the service of the United +States advanced with a score of men under the English batteries to +reconnoitre their position. His aide-de-camp, struck by a ball, fell at +his side. The officers and orderly dragoons fled precipitately. The +general, though under the fire of the cannon, approached the wounded man +to see whether any help could be afforded him. Finding the wound had been +mortal, he slowly rejoined the group which had got out of the reach of the +cannon. This instance of courage and humanity took place at the battle of +Monmouth. General Clinton, who commanded the English troops, knew that the +Marquis de La Fayette generally rode a white horse; it was upon a white +horse that the general officer who retired so slowly was mounted; Clinton +desired the gunners not to fire. This noble forbearance probably saved M. +de La Fayette's life, for he it was. At that time he was but twenty-two +years of age.--"Historical Anecdotes of the Reign of Louis XVI."] + +These lines had been applauded and encored at the French theatre; +everybody's head was turned. There was no class of persons that did not +heartily approve of the support given openly by the French Government to +the cause of American independence. The constitution planned for the new +nation was digested at Paris, and while liberty, equality, and the rights +of man were commented upon by the Condorcets, Baillys, Mirabeaus, etc., +the minister Segur published the King's edict, which, by repealing that of +1st November, 1750, declared all officers not noble by four generations +incapable of filling the rank of captain, and denied all military rank to +the roturiers, excepting sons of the chevaliers de St. Louis. + +["M. de Segur," says Chamfort, "having published an ordinance which +prohibited the admission of any other than gentlemen into the artillery +corps, and, on the other hand, none but well-educated persons being proper +for admission, a curious scene took place: the Abbe Bossat, examiner of +the pupils, gave certificates only to plebeians, while Cherin gave them +only to gentlemen. Out of one hundred pupils, there were not above four +or five who were qualified in both respects."] + +The injustice and absurdity of this law was no doubt a secondary cause of +the Revolution. To understand the despair and rage with which this law +inspired the Tiers Etat one should have belonged to that honourable class. +The provinces were full of roturier families, who for ages had lived as +people of property upon their own domains, and paid the taxes. If these +persons had several sons, they would place one in the King's service, one +in the Church, another in the Order of Malta as a chevalier servant +d'armes, and one in the magistracy; while the eldest preserved the +paternal manor, and if he were situated in a country celebrated for wine, +he would, besides selling his own produce, add a kind of commission trade +in the wines of the canton. I have seen an individual of this justly +respected class, who had been long employed in diplomatic business, and +even honoured with the title of minister plenipotentiary, the son-in-law +and nephew of colonels and town mayors, and, on his mother's side, nephew +of a lieutenant-general with a cordon rouge, unable to introduce his sons +as sous-lieutenants into a regiment of foot. + +Another decision of the Court, which could not be announced by an edict, +was that all ecclesiastical benefices, from the humblest priory up to the +richest abbey, should in future be appanages of the nobility. Being the +son of a village surgeon, the Abbe de Vermond, who had great influence in +the disposition of benefices, was particularly struck with the justice of +this decree. + +During the absence of the Abbe in an excursion he made for his health, I +prevailed on the Queen to write a postscript to the petition of a cure, +one of my friends, who was soliciting a priory near his curacy, with the +intention of retiring to it. I obtained it for him. On the Abbe's return +he told me very harshly that I should act in a manner quite contrary to +the King's wishes if I again obtained such a favour; that the wealth of +the Church was for the future to be invariably devoted to the support of +the poorer nobility; that it was the interest of the State that it should +be so; and a plebeian priest, happy in a good curacy, had only to remain +curate. + +Can we be astonished at the part shortly afterwards taken by the deputies +of the Third Estate, when called to the States General? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +About the close of the last century several of the Northern sovereigns +took a fancy for travelling. Christian III., King of Denmark, visited the +Court of France in 1763, during the reign of Louis XV. We have seen the +King of Sweden and Joseph II. at Versailles. The Grand Duke of Russia +(afterwards Paul I.), son of Catherine II., and the Princess of +Wurtemberg, his wife, likewise resolved to visit France. They travelled +under the titles of the Comte and Comtesse du Nord. They were presented +on the 20th of May, 1782. The Queen received them with grace and dignity. +On the day of their arrival at Versailles they dined in private with the +King and Queen. + +The plain, unassuming appearance of Paul I. pleased Louis XVI. He spoke +to him with more confidence and cheerfulness than he had spoken to Joseph +II. The Comtesse du Nord was not at first so successful with the Queen. +This lady was of a fine height, very fat for her age, with all the German +stiffness, well informed, and perhaps displaying her acquirements with +rather too much confidence. When the Comte and Comtesse du Nord were +presented the Queen was exceedingly nervous. She withdrew into her closet +before she went into the room where she was to dine with the illustrious +travellers, and asked for a glass of water, confessing "she had just +experienced how much more difficult it was to play the part of a queen in +the presence of other sovereigns, or of princes born to become so, than +before courtiers." She soon recovered from her confusion, and reappeared +with ease and confidence. The dinner was tolerably cheerful, and the +conversation very animated. + +Brilliant entertainments were given at Court in honour of the King of +Sweden and the Comte du Nord. They were received in private by the King +and Queen, but they were treated with much more ceremony than the Emperor, +and their Majesties always appeared to me to be very, cautious before +these personages. However, the King one day asked the Russian Grand Duke +if it were true that he could not rely on the fidelity of any one of those +who accompanied him. The Prince answered him without hesitation, and +before a considerable number of persons, that he should be very sorry to +have with him even a poodle that was much attached to him, because his +mother would take care to have it thrown into the Seine, with a stone +round its neck, before he should leave Paris. This reply, which I myself +heard, horrified me, whether it depicted the disposition of Catherine, or +only expressed the Prince's prejudice against her. + +The Queen gave the Grand Duke a supper at Trianon, and had the gardens +illuminated as they had been for the Emperor. The Cardinal de Rohan very +indiscreetly ventured to introduce himself there without the Queen's +knowledge. Having been treated with the utmost coolness ever since his +return from Vienna, he had not dared to ask her himself for permission to +see the illumination; but he persuaded the porter of Trianon to admit him +as soon as the Queen should have set off for Versailles, and his Eminence +engaged to remain in the porter's lodge until all the carriages should +have left the chateau. He did not keep his word, and while the porter was +busy in the discharge of his duty, the Cardinal, who wore his red +stockings and had merely thrown on a greatcoat, went down into the garden, +and, with an air of mystery, drew up in two different places to see the +royal family and suite pass by. + +Her Majesty was highly offended at this piece of boldness, and next day +ordered the porter to be discharged. There was a general feeling of +disgust at the Cardinal's conduct, and of commiseration towards the porter +for the loss of his place. Affected at the misfortune of the father of a +family, I obtained his forgiveness; and since that time I have often +regretted the feeling which induced me to interfere. The notoriety of the +discharge of the porter of Trianon, and the odium that circumstance would +have fixed upon the Cardinal, would have made the Queen's dislike to him +still more publicly known, and would probably have prevented the +scandalous and notorious intrigue of the necklace. + +The Queen, who was much prejudiced against the King of Sweden, received +him very coldly. + +[Gustavus III., King of Sweden, travelled in France under the title of +Comte d'Haga. Upon his accession to the throne, he managed the revolution +which prostrated the authority of the Senate with equal skill, coolness, +and courage. He was assassinated in 1792, at a masked ball, by +Auckarstrum.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +All that was said of the private character of that sovereign, his +connection with the Comte de Vergennes, from the time of the Revolution of +Sweden, in 1772, the character of his favourite Armfeldt, and the +prejudices of the monarch himself against the Swedes who were well +received at the Court of Versailles, formed the grounds of this dislike. +He came one day uninvited and unexpected, and requested to dine with the +Queen. The Queen received him in the little closet, and desired me to +send for her clerk of the kitchen, that she might be informed whether +there was a proper dinner to set before Comte d'Haga, and add to it if +necessary. The King of Sweden assured her that there would be enough for +him; and I could not help smiling when I thought of the length of the menu +of the dinner of the King and Queen, not half of which would have made its +appearance had they dined in private. The Queen looked significantly at +me, and I withdrew. In the evening she asked me why I had seemed so +astonished when she ordered me to add to her dinner, saying that I ought +instantly to have seen that she was giving the King of Sweden a lesson for +his presumption. I owned to her that the scene had appeared to me so much +in the bourgeois style, that I involuntarily thought of the cutlets on the +gridiron, and the omelette, which in families in humble circumstances +serve to piece out short commons. She was highly diverted with my answer, +and repeated it to the King, who also laughed heartily at it. + +The peace with England satisfied all classes of society interested in the +national honour. The departure of the English commissary from Dunkirk, +who had been fixed at that place ever since the shameful peace of 1763 as +inspector of our navy, occasioned an ecstasy of joy. + +[By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) it was stipulated that the fortifications +and port of Dunkirk should be destroyed. By the Treaty of Paris (1763) a +commissary was to reside at Dunkirk to see that no attempt was made to +break this treaty. This stipulation was revoked by the Peace of +Versailles, in 1783.--see DYER'S "Modern Europe," 1st edition, vol. i., +pp. 205-438 and 539.] + +The Government communicated to the Englishman the order for his departure +before the treaty was made public. But for that precaution the populace +would have probably committed some excess or other, in order to make the +agent of English power feel the effects of the resentment which had +constantly increased during his stay at that port. Those engaged in trade +were the only persons dissatisfied with the treaty of 1783. That article +which provided for, the free admission of English goods annihilated at one +blow the trade of Rouen and the other manufacturing towns throughout the +kingdom. The English swarmed into Paris. A considerable number of them +were presented at Court. The Queen paid them marked attention; doubtless +she wished them to distinguish between the esteem she felt for their noble +nation and the political views of the Government in the support it had +afforded to the Americans. Discontent was, however, manifested at Court +in consequence of the favour bestowed by the Queen on the English +noblemen; these attentions were called infatuations. This was illiberal; +and the Queen justly complained of such absurd jealousy. + +The journey to Fontainebleau and the winter at Paris and at Court were +extremely brilliant. The spring brought back those amusements which the +Queen began to prefer to the splendour of fetes. The most perfect harmony +subsisted between the King and Queen; I never saw but one cloud between +them. It was soon dispelled, and the cause of it is perfectly unknown to +me. + +My father-in-law, whose penetration and experience I respected greatly, +recommended me, when he saw me placed in the service of a young queen, to +shun all kinds of confidence. "It procures," said he, "but a very +fleeting, and at the same time dangerous sort of favour; serve with zeal +to the best of your judgment, but never do more than obey. Instead of +setting your wits to work to discover why an order or a commission which +may appear of consequence is given to you, use them to prevent the +possibility of your knowing anything of the matter." I had occasion to +act on this wise advice. One morning at Trianon I went into the Queen's +chamber; there were letters lying upon the bed, and she was weeping +bitterly. Her tears and sobs were occasionally interrupted by +exclamations of "Ah! that I were dead!--wretches! monsters! What have I +done to them?" I offered her orange-flower water and ether. "Leave me," +said she, "if you love me; it would be better to kill me at once." At +this moment she threw her arm over my shoulder and began weeping afresh. I +saw that some weighty trouble oppressed her heart, and that she wanted a +confidant. I suggested sending for the Duchesse de Polignac; this she +strongly opposed. I renewed my arguments, and her opposition grew weaker. +I disengaged myself from her arms, and ran to the antechamber, where I +knew that an outrider always waited, ready to mount and start at a +moment's warning for Versailles. I ordered him to go full speed, and tell +the Duchesse de Polignac that the Queen was very uneasy, and desired to +see her instantly. The Duchess always had a carriage ready. In less than +ten minutes she was at the Queen's door. I was the only person there, +having been forbidden to send for the other women. Madame de Polignac +came in; the Queen held out her arms to her, the Duchess rushed towards +her. I heard her sobs renewed and withdrew. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards the Queen, who had become calmer, rang to +be dressed. I sent her woman in; she put on her gown and retired to her +boudoir with the Duchess. Very soon afterwards the Comte d'Artois arrived +from Compiegne, where he had been with the King. He eagerly inquired +where the Queen was; remained half an hour with her and the Duchess; and +on coming out told me the Queen asked for me. I found her seated on the +couch by the side of her friend; her features had resumed their usual +cheerful and gracious appearance. She held out her hand to me, and said +to the Duchess, "I know I have made her so uncomfortable this morning that +I must set her poor heart at ease." She then added, "You must have seen, +on some fine summer's day, a black cloud suddenly appear and threaten to +pour down upon the country and lay it waste. The lightest wind drives it +away, and the blue sky and serene weather are restored. This is just the +image of what has happened to me this morning." She afterwards told me +that the King would return from Compiegne after hunting there, and sup +with her; that I must send for her purveyor, to select with him from his +bills of fare all such dishes as the King liked best; that she would have +no others served up in the evening at her table; and that this was a mark +of attention that she wished the King to notice. The Duchesse de Polignac +also took me by the hand, and told me how happy she was that she had been +with the Queen at a moment when she stood in need of a friend. I never +knew what could have created in the Queen so lively and so transient an +alarm; but I guessed from the particular care she took respecting the King +that attempts had been made to irritate him against her; that the malice +of her enemies had been promptly discovered and counteracted by the King's +penetration and attachment; and that the Comte d'Artois had hastened to +bring her intelligence of it. + +It was, I think, in the summer of 1787, during one of the Trianon +excursions, that the Queen of Naples--[Caroline, sister of Marie +Antoinette.]--sent the Chevalier de Bressac to her Majesty on a secret +mission relative to a projected marriage between the Hereditary Prince, +her son, and Madame, the King's daughter; in the absence of the lady of +honour he addressed himself to me. Although he said a great deal to me +about the close confidence with which the Queen of Naples honoured him, +and about his letter of credit, I thought he had the air of an +adventurer.--[He afterwards spent several years shut up in the Chateau de +l'Oeuf.]--He had, indeed, private letters for the Queen, and his mission +was not feigned; he talked to me very rashly even before his admission, +and entreated me to do all that lay in my power to dispose the Queen's +mind in favour of his sovereign's wishes; I declined, assuring him that it +did not become me to meddle with State affairs. He endeavoured, but in +vain, to prove to me that the union contemplated by the Queen of Naples +ought not to be looked upon in that light. + +I procured M. de Bressac the audience he desired, but without suffering +myself even to seem acquainted with the object of his mission. The Queen +told me what it was; she thought him a person ill-chosen for the occasion; +and yet she thought that the Queen, her sister, had done wisely in not +sending a man worthy to be avowed,--it being impossible that what she +solicited should take place. I had an opportunity on this occasion, as +indeed on many others, of judging to what extent the Queen valued and +loved France and the dignity of our Court. She then told me that Madame, +in marrying her cousin, the Duc d'Angouleme, would not lose her rank as +daughter of the Queen; and that her situation would be far preferable to +that of queen of any other country; and that there was nothing in Europe +to be compared to the Court of France; and that it would be necessary, in +order to avoid exposing a French Princess to feelings of deep regret, in +case she should be married to a foreign prince, to take her from the +palace of Versailles at seven years of age, and send her immediately to +the Court in which she was to dwell; and that at twelve would be too late; +for recollections and comparisons would ruin the happiness of all the rest +of her life. The Queen looked upon the destiny of her sisters as far +beneath her own; and frequently mentioned the mortifications inflicted by +the Court of Spain upon her sister, the Queen of Naples, and the necessity +she was under of imploring the mediation of the King of France. + +She showed me several letters that she had received from the Queen of +Naples relative to her differences with the Court of Madrid respecting the +Minister Acton. She thought him useful to her people, inasmuch as he was +a man of considerable information and great activity. In these letters +she minutely acquainted her Majesty with the nature of the affronts she +had received, and represented Mr. Acton to her as a man whom malevolence +itself could not suppose capable of interesting her otherwise than by his +services. She had had to suffer the impertinences of a Spaniard named Las +Casas, who had been sent to her by the King, her father-in-law, to +persuade her to dismiss Mr. Acton from the business of the State, and from +her intimacy. She complained bitterly to the Queen, her sister, of the +insulting proceedings of this charge d'affaires, whom she told, in order +to convince him of the nature of the feelings which attached her to Mr. +Acton, that she would have portraits and busts of him executed by the most +eminent artists of Italy, and that she would then send them to the King of +Spain, to prove that nothing but the desire to retain a man of superior +capacity had induced her to bestow on him the favour he enjoyed. This Las +Casas dared to answer her that it would be useless trouble; that the +ugliness of a man did not always render him displeasing; and that the King +of Spain had too much experience not to know that there was no accounting +for the caprices of a woman. + +This audacious reply filled the Queen of Naples with indignation, and her +emotion caused her to miscarry on the same day. In consequence of the +mediation of Louis XVI. the Queen of Naples obtained complete +satisfaction, and Mr. Acton continued Prime Minister. + +Among the characteristics which denoted the goodness of the Queen, her +respect for personal liberty should have a place. I have seen her put up +with the most troublesome importunities from people whose minds were +deranged rather than have them arrested. Her patient kindness was put to +a very disagreeable trial by an ex-councillor of the Bordeaux Parliament, +named Castelnaux; this man declared himself the lover of the Queen, and +was generally known by that appellation. For ten successive years did he +follow the Court in all its excursions. Pale and wan, as people who are +out of their senses usually are, his sinister appearance occasioned the +most uncomfortable sensations. During the two hours that the Queen's +public card parties lasted, he would remain opposite her Majesty. He +placed himself in the same manner before her at chapel, and never failed +to be at the King's dinner or the dinner in public. At the theatre he +invariably seated himself as near the Queen's box as possible. He always +set off for Fontainebleau or St. Cloud the day before the Court, and when +her Majesty arrived at her various residences, the first person she met on +getting out of her carriage was this melancholy madman, who never spoke to +any one. When the Queen stayed at Petit Trianon the passion of this +unhappy man became still more annoying. He would hastily swallow a morsel +at some eating-house, and spend all the rest of the day, even when it +rained, in going round and round the garden, always walking at the edge of +the moat. The Queen frequently met him when she was either alone or with +her children; and yet she would not suffer any violence to be used to +relieve her from this intolerable annoyance. Having one day given M. de +Seze permission to enter Trianon, she sent to desire he would come to me, +and directed me to inform that celebrated advocate of M. de Castelnaux's +derangement, and then to send for him that M. de Seze might have some +conversation with him. He talked to him nearly an hour, and made +considerable impression upon his mind; and at last M. de Castelnaux +requested me to inform the Queen positively that, since his presence was +disagreeable to her, he would retire to his province. The Queen was very +much rejoiced, and desired me to express her full satisfaction to M. de +Seze. Half an hour after M. de Seze was gone the unhappy madman was +announced. He came to tell me that he withdrew his promise, that he had +not sufficient command of himself to give up seeing the Queen as often as +possible. This new determination: was a disagreeable message to take to +her Majesty but how was I affected at hearing her say, "Well, let him +annoy me! but do not let him be deprived of the blessing of freedom." + +[On the arrest of the King and Queen at Varennes, this unfortunate +Castelnaux attempted to starve himself to death. The people in whose +house he lived, becoming uneasy at his absence, had the door of his room +forced open, when he was found stretched senseless on the floor. I do not +know what became of him after the 10th of August.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The direct influence of the Queen on affairs during the earlier years of +the reign was shown only in her exertions to obtain from the King a +revision of the decrees in two celebrated causes. It was contrary to her +principles to interfere in matters of justice, and never did she avail +herself of her influence to bias the tribunals. The Duchesse de Praslin, +through a criminal caprice, carried her enmity to her husband so far as to +disinherit her children in favour of the family of M. de Guemenee. The +Duchesse de Choiseul, who, was warmly interested in this affair, one day +entreated the Queen, in my presence, at least to condescend to ask the +first president when the cause would be called on; the Queen replied that +she could not even do that, for it would manifest an interest which it was +her duty not to show. + +If the King had not inspired the Queen with a lively feeling of love, it +is quite certain that she yielded him respect and affection for the +goodness of his disposition and the equity of which he gave so many proofs +throughout his reign. One evening she returned very late; she came out of +the King's closet, and said to M. de Misery and myself, drying her eyes, +which were filled with tears, "You see me weeping, but do not be uneasy at +it: these are the sweetest tears that a wife can shed; they are caused by +the impression which the justice and goodness of the King have made upon +me; he has just complied with my request for a revision of the proceedings +against Messieurs de Bellegarde and de Monthieu, victims of the Duc +d'Aiguillon's hatred to the Duc de Choiseul. He has been equally just to +the Duc de Guines in his affair with Tort. It is a happy thing for a queen +to be able to admire and esteem him who has admitted her to a +participation of his throne; and as to you, I congratulate you upon your +having to live under the sceptre of so virtuous a sovereign." + +The Queen laid before the King all the memorials of the Duc de Guines, +who, during his embassy to England, was involved in difficulties by a +secretary, who speculated in the public funds in London on his own +account, but in such a manner as to throw a suspicion of it on the +ambassador. Messieurs de Vergennes and Turgot, bearing but little +good-will to the Duc de Guines, who was the friend of the Duc de Choiseul, +were not disposed to render the ambassador any service. The Queen +succeeded in fixing the King's particular attention on this affair, and +the innocence of the Duc de Guines triumphed through the equity of Louis +XVI. + +An incessant underhand war was carried on between the friends and +partisans of M. de Choiseul, who were called the Austrians, and those who +sided with Messieurs d'Aiguillon, de Maurepas, and de Vergennes, who, for +the same reason, kept up the intrigues carried on at Court and in Paris +against the Queen. Marie Antoinette, on her part, supported those who had +suffered in this political quarrel, and it was this feeling which led her +to ask for a revision of the proceedings against Messieurs de Bellegarde +and de Monthieu. The first, a colonel and inspector of artillery, and the +second, proprietor of a foundry at St. Etienne, were, under the Ministry +of the Duc d'Aiguillon, condemned to imprisonment for twenty years and a +day for having withdrawn from the arsenals of France, by order of the Duc +de Choiseul, a vast number of muskets, as being of no value except as old +iron, while in point of fact the greater part of those muskets were +immediately embarked and sold to the Americans. It appears that the Duc +de Choiseul imparted to the Queen, as grounds of defence for the accused, +the political views which led him to authorise that reduction and sale in +the manner in which it had been executed. It rendered the case of +Messieurs de Bellegarde and de Monthieu more unfavourable that the +artillery officer who made the reduction in the capacity of inspector was, +through a clandestine marriage, brother-in-law of the owner of the +foundry, the purchaser of the rejected arms. The innocence of the two +prisoners was, nevertheless, made apparent; and they came to Versailles +with their wives and children to throw themselves at the feet of their +benefactress. This affecting scene took place in the grand gallery, at +the entrance to the Queen's apartment. She wished to restrain the women +from kneeling, saying that they had only had justice done them; and that +she ought to be congratulated upon the most substantial happiness +attendant upon her station, that of laying just appeals before the King. + +On every occasion, when the Queen had to speak in public, she used the +most appropriate and elegant language, notwithstanding the difficulty a +foreigner might be expected to experience. She answered all addresses +herself, a custom which she learned at the Court of Maria Theresa. The +Princesses of the House of Bourbon had long ceased to take the trouble of +speaking in such cases. Madame Addlaide blamed the Queen for not doing as +they did, assuring her that it was quite sufficient to mutter a few words +that might sound like an answer, while the addressers, occupied with what +they had themselves been saying, would always take it for granted that a +proper answer had been returned. The Queen saw that idleness alone +dictated such a proceeding, and that as the practice even of muttering a +few words showed the necessity of answering in some way, it must be more +proper to reply simply but clearly, and in the best style possible. +Sometimes indeed, when apprised of the subject of the address, she would +write down her answer in the morning, not to learn it by heart, but in +order to settle the ideas or sentiments she wished to introduce. + +The influence of the Comtesse de Polignac increased daily; and her friends +availed themselves of it to effect changes in the Ministry. The dismissal +of M. de Montbarrey, a man without talents or character, was generally +approved of. It was rightly attributed to the Queen. He had been placed +in administration by M. de Maurepas, and maintained by his aged wife; +both, of course, became more inveterate than ever against the Queen and +the Polignac circle. + +The appointment of M. de Segur to the place of Minister of War, and of M. +de Castries to that of Minister of Marine, were wholly the work of that +circle. The Queen dreaded making ministers; her favourite often wept when +the men of her circle compelled her to interfere. Men blame women for +meddling in business, and yet in courts it is continually the men +themselves who make use of the influence of the women in matters with +which the latter ought to have nothing to do. + +When M. de Segur was presented to the Queen on his new appointment, she +said to me, "You have just seen a minister of my making. I am very glad, +so far as regards the King's service, that he is appointed, for I think +the selection a very good one; but I almost regret the part I have taken +in it. I take a responsibility upon myself. I was fortunate in being +free from any; and in order to relieve myself from this as much as +possible I have just promised M. de Segur, and that upon my word of +honour, not to back any petition, nor to hinder any of his operations by +solicitations on behalf of my proteges." + +During the first administration of M. Necker, whose ambition had not then +drawn him into schemes repugnant to his better judgment, and whose views +appeared to the Queen to be very judicious, she indulged in hopes of the +restoration of the finances. Knowing that M. de Maurepas wished to drive +M. Necker to resign, she urged him to have patience until the death of an +old man whom the King kept about him from a fondness for his first choice, +and out of respect for his advanced age. She even went so far as to tell +him that M. de Maurepas was always ill, and that his end could not be very +distant. M. Necker would not wait for that event. The Queen's prediction +was fulfilled. M. de Maurepas ended his days immediately after a journey +to Fontainebleau in 1781. + +M. Necker had retired. He had been exasperated by a piece of treachery in +the old minister, for which he could not forgive him. I knew something of +this intrigue at the time; it has since been fully explained to me by +Madame la Marechale de Beauvau. M. Necker saw that his credit at Court +was declining, and fearing lest that circumstance should injure his +financial operations, he requested the King to grant him some favour which +might show the public that he had not lost the confidence of his +sovereign. He concluded his letter by pointing out five requests--such an +office, or such a mark of distinction, or such a badge of honour, and so +on, and handed it to M. de Maurepas. The or's were changed into and's; +and the King was displeased at M. Necker's ambition, and the assurance +with which he displayed it. Madame la Marechale de Beauvau assured me +that the Marechal de Castries saw the minute of M. Necker's letter, and +that he likewise saw the altered copy. + +The interest which the Queen took in M. Necker died away during his +retirement, and at last changed into strong prejudice against him. He +wrote too much about the measures he would have pursued, and the benefits +that would have resulted to the State from them. The ministers who +succeeded him thought their operations embarrassed by the care that M. +Necker and his partisans incessantly took to occupy the public with his +plans; his friends were too ardent. The Queen discerned a party spirit in +these combinations, and sided wholly with his enemies. + +After those inefficient comptrollers-general, Messieurs Joly de Fleury and +d'Ormesson, it became necessary to resort to a man of more acknowledged +talent, and the Queen's friends, at that time combining with the Comte +d'Artois and with M. de Vergennes, got M. de Calonne appointed. The Queen +was highly displeased, and her close intimacy with the Duchesse de +Polignac began to suffer for this. + +Her Majesty, continuing to converse with me upon the difficulties she had +met with in private life, told me that ambitious men without merit +sometimes found means to gain their ends by dint of importunity, and that +she had to blame herself for having procured M. d'Adhemar's appointment to +the London embassy, merely because he teased her into it at the Duchess's +house. She added, however, that it was at a time of perfect peace with +the English; that the Ministry knew the inefficiency of M. d'Adhemar as +well as she did, and that he could do neither harm nor good. + +Often in conversations of unreserved frankness the Queen owned that she +had purchased rather dearly a piece of experience which would make her +carefully watch over the conduct of her daughters-in-law, and that she +would be particularly scrupulous about the qualifications of the ladies +who might attend them; that no consideration of rank or favour should bias +her in so important a choice. She attributed several of her youthful +mistakes to a lady of great levity, whom she found in her palace on her +arrival in France. She also determined to forbid the Princesses coming +under her control the practice of singing with professors, and said, +candidly, and with as much severity as her slanderers could have done, "I +ought to have heard Garat sing, and never to have sung duets with him." + +The indiscreet zeal of Monsieur Augeard contributed to the public belief +that the Queen disposed of all the offices of finance. He had, without +any authority for doing so, required the committee of fermiers-general to +inform him of all vacancies, assuring them that they would be meeting the +wishes of the Queen. The members complied, but not without murmuring. +When the Queen became aware of what her secretary had done, she highly +disapproved of it, caused her resentment to be made known to the +fermiers-general, and abstained from asking for appointments,--making only +one request of the kind, as a marriage portion for one of her attendants, +a young woman of good family. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The Queen did not sufficiently conceal the dissatisfaction she felt at +having been unable to prevent the appointment of M. de Calonne; she even +one day went so far as to say at the Duchess's, in the midst of the +partisans and protectors of that minister, that the finances of France +passed alternately from the hands of an honest man without talent into +those of a skilful knave. M. de Calonne was thus far from acting in +concert with the Queen all the time that he continued in office; and, +while dull verses were circulated about Paris describing the Queen and her +favourite dipping at pleasure into the coffers of the comptroller-general, +the Queen was avoiding all communication with him. + +During the long and severe winter of 1783-84 the King gave three millions +of livres for the relief of the indigent. M. de Calonne, who felt the +necessity of making advances to the Queen, caught at this opportunity of +showing her respect and devotion. He offered to place in her hands one +million of the three, to be distributed in her name and under her +direction. His proposal was rejected; the Queen answered that the charity +ought to be wholly distributed in the King's name, and that she would this +year debar herself of even the slightest enjoyments, in order to +contribute all her savings to the relief of the unfortunate. + +The moment M. de Calonne left the closet the Queen sent for me: +"Congratulate me, my dear," said she; "I have just escaped a snare, or at +least a matter which eventually might have caused me much regret." She +related the conversation which had taken place word for word to me, +adding, "That man will complete the ruin of the national finances. It is +said that I placed him in his situation. The people are made to believe +that I am extravagant; yet I have refused to suffer a sum of money from +the royal treasury, although destined for the most laudable purpose, even +to pass through my hands." + +The Queen, making monthly retrenchments from the expenditure of her privy +purse, and not having spent the gifts customary at the period of her +confinement, was in possession of from five to six hundred thousand +francs, her own savings. She made use of from two to three hundred +thousand francs of this, which her first women sent to M. Lenoir, to the +cures of Paris and Versailles, and to the Soeurs Hospitalieres, and so +distributed them among families in need. + +Desirous to implant in the breast of her daughter not only a desire to +succour the unfortunate, but those qualities necessary for the due +discharge of that duty, the Queen incessantly talked to her, though she +was yet very young, about the sufferings of the poor during a season so +inclement. The Princess already had a sum of from eight to ten thousand +francs for charitable purposes, and the Queen made her distribute part of +it herself. + +Wishing to give her children yet another lesson of beneficence, she +desired me on New Year's eve to get from Paris, as in other years, all the +fashionable playthings, and have them spread out in her closet. Then +taking her children by the hand, she showed them all the dolls and +mechanical toys which were ranged there, and told them that she had +intended to give them some handsome New Year's gifts, but that the cold +made the poor so wretched that all her money was spent in blankets and +clothes to protect them from the rigour of the season, and in supplying +them with bread; so that this year they would only have the pleasure of +looking at the new playthings. When she returned with her children into +her sitting-room, she said there was still an unavoidable expense to be +incurred; that assuredly many mothers would at that season think as she +did,--that the toyman must lose by it; and therefore she gave him fifty +Louis to repay him for the cost of his journey, and console him for having +sold nothing. + +The purchase of St. Cloud, a matter very simple in itself, had, on account +of the prevailing spirit, unfavourable consequences to the Queen. + +The palace of Versailles, pulled to pieces in the interior by a variety of +new arrangements, and mutilated in point of uniformity by the removal of +the ambassadors' staircase, and of the peristyle of columns placed at the +end of the marble court, was equally in want of substantial and ornamental +repair. The King therefore desired M. Micque to lay before him several +plans for the repairs of the palace. He consulted me on certain +arrangements analogous to some of those adopted in the Queen's +establishment, and in my presence asked M. Micque how much money would be +wanted for the execution of the whole work, and how many years he would be +in completing it. I forget how many millions were mentioned: M. Micque +replied that six years would be sufficient time if the Treasury made the +necessary periodical advances without any delay. "And how many years +shall you require," said the King, "if the advances are not punctually +made?"--"Ten, Sire," replied the architect. "We must then reckon upon ten +years," said his Majesty, "and put off this great undertaking until the +year 1790; it will occupy the rest of the century." + +The King afterwards talked of the depreciation of property which took +place at Versailles whilst the Regent removed the Court of Louis XV. to +the Tuileries, and said that he must consider how to prevent that +inconvenience; it was the desire to do this that promoted the purchase of +St. Cloud. The Queen first thought of it one day when she was riding out +with the Duchesse de Polignac and the Comtesse Diane; she mentioned it to +the King, who was much pleased with the thought,--the purchase confirming +him in the intention, which he had entertained for ten years, of quitting +Versailles. + +The King determined that the ministers, public officers, pages, and a +considerable part of his stabling should remain at Versailles. Messieurs +de Breteuil and de Calonne were instructed to treat with the Duc d'Orleans +for the purchase of St. Cloud; at first they hoped to be able to conclude +the business by a mere exchange. The value of the Chateau de Choisy, de +la Muette, and a forest was equivalent to the sum demanded by the House of +Orleans; and in the exchange which the Queen expected she only saw a +saving to be made instead of an increase of expense. By this arrangement +the government of Choisy, in the hands of the Duc de Coigny, and that of +La Muette, in the hands of the Marechal de Soubise, would be suppressed. +At the same time the two concierges, and all the servants employed in +these two royal houses, would be reduced; but while the treaty was going +forward Messieurs de Breteuil and de Calonne gave up the point of +exchange, and some millions in cash were substituted for Choisy and La +Muette. + +The Queen advised the King to give her St. Cloud, as a means of avoiding +the establishment of a governor; her plan being to have merely a concierge +there, by which means the governor's expenses would be saved. The King +agreed, and St. Cloud was purchased for the Queen. She provided the same +liveries for the porters at the gates and servants at the chateau as for +those at Trianon. The concierge at the latter place had put up some +regulations for the household, headed, "By order of the Queen." The same +thing was done at St. Cloud. The Queen's livery at the door of a palace +where it was expected none but that of the King would be seen, and the +words "By order of the Queen" at the head of the printed papers pasted +near the iron gates, caused a great sensation, and produced a very +unfortunate effect, not only among the common people, but also among +persons of a superior class. They saw in it an attack upon the customs of +monarchy, and customs are nearly equal to laws. The Queen heard of this, +but she thought that her dignity would be compromised if she made any +change in the form of these regulations, though they might have been +altogether superseded without inconvenience. "My name is not out of +place," said she, "in gardens belonging to myself; I may give orders there +without infringing on the rights of the State." This was her only answer +to the representations which a few faithful servants ventured to make on +the subject. The discontent of the Parisians on this occasion probably +induced M. d'Espremenil, upon the first troubles about the Parliament, to +say that it was impolitic and immoral to see palaces belonging to a Queen +of France. + +[The Queen never forgot this affront of M. d'Espremenil's; she said that +as it was offered at a time when social order had not yet been disturbed, +she had felt the severest mortification at it. Shortly before the +downfall of the throne M. Espremenil, having openly espoused the King's +side, was insulted in the gardens of the Tuileries by the Jacobins, and so +ill-treated that he was carried home very ill. Somebody recommended the +Queen, on account of the royalist principles he then professed, to send +and inquire for him. She replied that she was truly grieved at what had +happened to M. d'Espremenil, but that mere policy should never induce her +to show any particular solicitude about the man who had been the first to +make so insulting an attack upon her character.--MADAME CAMPAN] + +The Queen was very much dissatisfied with the manner in which M. de +Calonne had managed this matter. The Abbe de Vermond, the most active and +persevering of that minister's enemies, saw with delight that the +expedients of those from whom alone new resources might be expected were +gradually becoming exhausted, because the period when the Archbishop of +Toulouse would be placed over the finances was thereby hastened. + +The royal navy had resumed an imposing attitude during the war for the +independence of America; glorious peace with England had compensated for +the former attacks of our enemies upon the fame of France; and the throne +was surrounded by numerous heirs. The sole ground of uneasiness was in +the finances, but that uneasiness related only to the manner in which they +were administered. In a word, France felt confident in its own strength +and resources, when two events, which seem scarcely worthy of a place in +history, but which have, nevertheless, an important one in that of the +French Revolution, introduced a spirit of ridicule and contempt, not only +against the highest ranks, but even against the most august personages. I +allude to a comedy and a great swindling transaction. + +Beaumarchais had long possessed a reputation in certain circles in Paris +for his wit and musical talents, and at the theatres for dramas more or +less indifferent, when his "Barbier de Seville" procured him a higher +position among dramatic writers. His "Memoirs" against M. Goesman had +amused Paris by the ridicule they threw upon a Parliament which was +disliked; and his admission to an intimacy with M. de Maurepas procured +him a degree of influence over important affairs. He then became +ambitious of influencing public opinion by a kind of drama, in which +established manners and customs should be held up to popular derision and +the ridicule of the new philosophers. After several years of prosperity +the minds of the French had become more generally critical; and when +Beaumarchais had finished his monstrous but diverting "Mariage de Figaro," +all people of any consequence were eager for the gratification of hearing +it read, the censors having decided that it should not be performed. +These readings of "Figaro" grew so numerous that people were daily heard +to say, "I have been (or I am going to be) at the reading of +Beaumarchais's play." The desire to see it performed became universal; an +expression that he had the art to use compelled, as it were, the +approbation of the nobility, or of persons in power, who aimed at ranking +among the magnanimous; he made his "Figaro" say that "none but little +minds dreaded little books." The Baron de Breteuil, and all the men of +Madame de Polignac's circle, entered the lists as the warmest protectors +of the comedy. Solicitations to the King became so pressing that his +Majesty determined to judge for himself of a work which so much engrossed +public attention, and desired me to ask M. Le Noir, lieutenant of police, +for the manuscript of the "Mariage de Figaro." One morning I received a +note from the Queen ordering me to be with her at three o'clock, and not +to come without having dined, for she should detain me some time. When I +got to the Queen's inner closet I found her alone with the King; a chair +and a small table were ready placed opposite to them, and upon the table +lay an enormous manuscript in several books. The King said to me, "There +is Beaumarchais's comedy; you must read it to us. You will find several +parts troublesome on account of the erasures and references. I have +already run it over, but I wish the Queen to be acquainted with the work. +You will not mention this reading to any one." + +I began. The King frequently interrupted me by praise or censure, which +was always just. He frequently exclaimed, "That's in bad taste; this man +continually brings the Italian concetti on the stage." At that soliloquy +of Figaro in which he attacks various points of government, and especially +at the tirade against State prisons, the King rose up and said, +indignantly: + +"That's detestable; that shall never be played; the Bastille must be +destroyed before the license to act this play can be any other than an act +of the most dangerous inconsistency. This man scoffs at everything that +should be respected in a government." + +"It will not be played, then?" said the Queen. + +"No, certainly," replied Louis XVI.; "you may rely upon that." + +Still it was constantly reported that "Figaro" was about to be performed; +there were even wagers laid upon the subject; I never should have laid any +myself, fancying that I was better informed as to the probability than +anybody else; if I had, however, I should have been completely deceived. +The protectors of Beaumarchais, feeling certain that they would succeed in +their scheme of making his work public in spite of the King's prohibition, +distributed the parts in the "Mariage de Figaro" among the actors of the +Theatre Francais. Beaumarchais had made them enter into the spirit of his +characters, and they determined to enjoy at least one performance of this +so-called chef d'oeuvre. The first gentlemen of the chamber agreed that +M. de la Ferte should lend the theatre of the Hotel des Menus Plaisirs, at +Paris, which was used for rehearsals of the opera; tickets were +distributed to a vast number of leaders of society, and the day for the +performance was fixed. The King heard of all this only on the very +morning, and signed a 'lettre de cachet,'--[A 'lettre de cachet' was any +written order proceeding from the King. The term was not confined merely +to orders for arrest.]--which prohibited the performance. When the +messenger who brought the order arrived, he found a part of the theatre +already filled with spectators, and the streets leading to the Hotel des +Menus Plaisirs filled with carriages; the piece was not performed. This +prohibition of the King's was looked upon as an attack on public liberty. + +The disappointment produced such discontent that the words oppression and +tyranny were uttered with no less passion and bitterness at that time than +during the days which immediately preceded the downfall of the throne. +Beaumarchais was so far put off his guard by rage as to exclaim, "Well, +gentlemen, he won't suffer it to be played here; but I swear it shall be +played,--perhaps in the very choir of Notre-Dame!" There was something +prophetic in these words. It was generally insinuated shortly afterwards +that Beaumarchais had determined to suppress all those parts of his work +which could be obnoxious to the Government; and on pretence of judging of +the sacrifices made by the author, M. de Vaudreuil obtained permission to +have this far-famed "Mariage de Figaro" performed at his country house. +M. Campan was asked there; he had frequently heard the work read, and did +not now find the alterations that had been announced; this he observed to +several persons belonging to the Court, who maintained that the author had +made all the sacrifices required. M. Campan was so astonished at these +persistent assertions of an obvious falsehood that he replied by a +quotation from Beaumarchais himself, and assuming the tone of Basilio in +the "Barbier de Seville," he said, "Faith, gentlemen, I don't know who is +deceived here; everybody is in the secret." They then came to the point, +and begged him to tell the Queen positively that all which had been +pronounced reprehensible in M. de Beaumarchais's play had been cut out. +My father-in-law contented himself with replying that his situation at +Court would not allow of his giving an opinion unless the Queen should +first speak of the piece to him. The Queen said nothing to him about the +matter. Shortly, afterwards permission to perform this play was at length +obtained. The Queen thought the people of Paris would be finely tricked +when they saw merely an ill-conceived piece, devoid of interest, as it +must appear when deprived of its Satire. + +["The King," says Grimm, "made sure that the public would judge +unfavourably of the work." He said to the Marquis de Montesquiou, who was +going to see the first representation, 'Well, what do you augur of its +success?'--'Sire, I hope the piece will fail.'--'And so do I,' replied the +King. + +"There is something still more ridiculous than my piece," said +Beaumarchais himself; "that is, its success." Mademoiselle Arnould +foresaw it the first day, and exclaimed, "It is a production that will +fail fifty nights successively." There was as crowded an audience on the +seventy-second night as on the first. The following is extracted from +Grimm's 'Correspondence.' + +"Answer of M. de Beaumarchais to -----, who requested the use of his +private box for some ladies desirous of seeing 'Figaro' without being +themselves seen. + +"I have no respect for women who indulge themselves in seeing any play +which they think indecorous, provided they can do so in secret. I lend +myself to no such acts. I have given my piece to the public, to amuse, +and not to instruct, not to give any compounding prudes the pleasure of +going to admire it in a private box, and balancing their account with +conscience by censuring it in company. To indulge in the pleasure of vice +and assume the credit of virtue is the hypocrisy of the age. My piece is +not of a doubtful nature; it must be patronised in good earnest, or +avoided altogether; therefore, with all respect to you, I shall keep my +box." This letter was circulated all over Paris for a week.] + +Under the persuasion that there was not a passage left capable of +malicious or dangerous application, Monsieur attended the first +performance in a public box. The mad enthusiasm of the public in favour +of the piece and Monsieur's just displeasure are well known. The author +was sent to prison soon afterwards, though his work was extolled to the +skies, and though the Court durst not suspend its performance. + +The Queen testified her displeasure against all who had assisted the +author of the "Mariage de Figaro" to deceive the King into giving his +consent that it should be represented. Her reproaches were more +particularly directed against M. de Vaudreuil for having had it performed +at his house. The violent and domineering disposition of her favourite's +friend at last became disagreeable to her. + +One evening, on the Queen's return from the Duchess's, she desired her +'valet de chambre' to bring her billiard cue into her closet, and ordered +me to open the box that contained it. I took out the cue, broken in two. +It was of ivory, and formed of one single elephant's tooth; the butt was +of gold and very tastefully wrought. "There," said she, "that is the way +M. de Vaudreuil has treated a thing I valued highly. I had laid it upon +the couch while I was talking to the Duchess in the salon; he had the +assurance to make use of it, and in a fit of passion about a blocked ball, +he struck the cue so violently against the table that he broke it in two. +The noise brought me back into the billiard-room; I did not say a word to +him, but my looks showed him how angry I was. He is the more provoked at +the accident, as he aspires to the post of Governor to the Dauphin. I +never thought of him for the place. It is quite enough to have consulted +my heart only in the choice of a governess; and I will not suffer that of +a Governor to the Dauphin to be at all affected by the influence of my +friends. I should be responsible for it to the nation. The poor man does +not know that my determination is taken; for I have never expressed it to +the Duchess. Therefore, judge of the sort of an evening he must have +passed!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Shortly after the public mind had been thrown into agitation by the +performance of the "Mariage de Figaro," an obscure plot, contrived by +swindlers, and matured in a corrupted society, attacked the Queen's +character in a vital point and assailed the majesty of the throne. + +I am about to speak of the notorious affair of the necklace purchased, as +it was said, for the Queen by Cardinal de Rohan. I will narrate all that +has come to my knowledge relating to this business; the most minute +particulars will prove how little reason the Queen had to apprehend the +blow by which she was threatened, and which must be attributed to a +fatality that human prudence could not have foreseen, but from which, to +say the truth, she might have extricated herself with more skill. + +I have already said that in 1774 the Queen purchased jewels of Boehmer to +the value of three hundred and sixty thousand franca, that she paid for +them herself out of her own private funds, and that it required several +years to enable her to complete the payment. The King afterwards +presented her with a set of rubies and diamonds of a fine water, and +subsequently with a pair of bracelets worth two hundred thousand francs. +The Queen, after having her diamonds reset in new patterns, told Boehmer +that she found her jewel case rich enough, and was not desirous of making +any addition to it. + +[Except on those days when the assemblies at Court were particularly +attended, such as the 1st of January and the 2d of February, devoted to +the procession of the Order of the Holy Ghost, and on the festivals of +Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, the Queen no longer wore any dresses +but muslin or white Florentine taffety. Her head-dress was merely a hat; +the plainest were preferred; and her diamonds never quitted their caskets +but for the dresses of ceremony, confined to the days I have mentioned. +Before the Queen was five and twenty she began to apprehend that she might +be induced to make too frequent use of flowers and of ornaments, which at +that time were exclusively reserved for youth. Madame Bertin having +brought a wreath for the head and neck, composed of roses, the Queen +feared that the brightness of the flowers might be disadvantageous to her +complexion. She was unquestionably too severe upon herself, her beauty +having as yet experienced no alteration; it is easy to conceive the +concert of praise and compliment that replied to the doubt she had +expressed. The Queen, approaching me, said, "I charge you, from this day, +to give me notice when flowers shall cease to become me."--"I shall do no +such thing," I replied, immediately; "I have not read 'Gil Bias' without +profiting in some degree from it, and I find your Majesty's order too much +like that given him by the Archbishop of Granada, to warn him of the +moment when he should begin to fall off in the composition of his +homilies."--"Go," said the Queen; "You are less sincere than Gil Blas; and +I world have been more amenable than the Archbishop."--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Still, this jeweller busied himself for some years in forming a collection +of the finest diamonds circulating in the trade, in order to compose a +necklace of several rows, which he hoped to induce her Majesty to +purchase; he brought it to M. Campan, requesting him to mention it to the +Queen, that she might ask to see it, and thus be induced to wish to +possess it. This M. Campan refused to do, telling him that he should be +stepping out of the line of his duty were he to propose to the Queen an +expense of sixteen hundred thousand francs, and that he believed neither +the lady of honour nor the tirewoman would take upon herself to execute +such a commission. Boehmer persuaded the King's first gentleman for the +year to show this superb necklace to his Majesty, who admired it so much +that he himself wished to see the Queen adorned with it, and sent the case +to her; but she assured him she should much regret incurring so great an +expense for such an article, that she had already very beautiful diamonds, +that jewels of that description were now worn at Court not more than four +or five times a year, that the necklace must be returned, and that the +money would be much better employed in building a man-of-war. + +[Messieurs Boehmer and Bassange, jewellers to the Crown, were proprietors +of a superb diamond necklace, which had, as it was said, been intended for +the Comtesse du Barry. Being under the necessity of selling it, they +offered it, during the last war, to the king and Queen; but their +Majesties made the following prudent answer: "We stand more in need of +ships than of jewels."--"Secret Correspondence of the Court of Louis +XVI."] + +Boehmer, in sad tribulation at finding his expectations delusive, +endeavoured for some time, it is said, to dispose of his necklace among +the various Courts of Europe. + +A year after his fruitless attempts, Boehmer again caused his diamond +necklace to be offered to the King, proposing that it should be paid for +partly by instalments, and partly in life annuities; this proposal was +represented as highly advantageous, and the King, in my presence, +mentioned the matter once more to the Queen. I remember the Queen told +him that, if the bargain really was not bad, he might make it, and keep +the necklace until the marriage of one of his children; but that, for her +part, she would never wear it, being unwilling that the world should have +to reproach her with having coveted so expensive an article. The King +replied that their children were too young to justify such an expense, +which would be greatly increased by the number of years the diamonds would +remain useless, and that he would finally decline the offer. Boehmer +complained to everybody of his misfortune, and all reasonable people +blamed him for having collected diamonds to so considerable an amount +without any positive order for them. This man had purchased the office of +jeweller to the Crown, which gave him some rights of entry at Court. +After several months spent in ineffectual attempts to carry his point, and +in idle complaints, he obtained an audience of the Queen, who had with her +the young Princess, her daughter; her Majesty did not know for what +purpose Boehmer sought this audience, and had not the slightest idea that +it was to speak to her again about an article twice refused by herself and +the King. + +Boehmer threw himself upon his knees, clasped his hands, burst into tears, +and exclaimed, "Madame, I am ruined and disgraced if you do not purchase +my necklace. I cannot outlive so many misfortunes. When I go hence I +shall throw myself into the river." + +"Rise, Boehmer," said the Queen, in a tone sufficiently severe to recall +him to himself; "I do not like these rhapsodies; honest men have no +occasion to fall on their knees to make their requests. If you were to +destroy yourself I should regret you as a madman in whom I had taken an +interest, but I should not be in any way responsible for that misfortune. +Not only have I never ordered the article which causes your present +despair, but whenever you have talked to me about fine collections of +jewels I have told you that I should not add four diamonds to those which +I already possessed. I told you myself that I declined taking the +necklace; the King wished to give it to me, but I refused him also; never +mention it to me again. Divide it and try to sell it piecemeal, and do +not drown yourself. I am very angry with you for acting this scene of +despair in my presence and before this child. Let me never see you behave +thus again. Go." Baehmer withdrew, overwhelmed with confusion, and +nothing further was then heard of him. + +When Madame Sophie was born the Queen told me M. de Saint-James, a rich +financier, had apprised her that Boehmer was still intent upon the sale of +his necklace, and that she ought, for her own satisfaction, to endeavour +to learn what the man had done with it; she desired me the first time I +should meet him to speak to him about it, as if from the interest I took +in his welfare. I spoke to him about his necklace, and he told me he had +been very fortunate, having sold it at Constantinople for the favourite +sultana. I communicated this answer to the Queen, who was delighted with +it, but could not comprehend how the Sultan came to purchase his diamonds +in Paris. + +The Queen long avoided seeing Boehmer, being fearful of his rash +character; and her valet de chambre, who had the care of her jewels, made +the necessary repairs to her ornaments unassisted. On the baptism of the +Duc d'Angouleme, in 1785, the King gave him a diamond epaulet and buckles, +and directed Baehmer to deliver them to the Queen. Boehmer presented them +on her return from mass, and at the same time gave into her hands a letter +in the form of a petition. In this paper he told the Queen that he was +happy to see her "in possession of the finest diamonds known in Europe," +and entreated her not to forget him. The Queen read Boehmer's address to +her aloud, and saw nothing in it but a proof of mental aberration; she +lighted the paper at a wax taper standing near her, as she had some +letters to seal, saying, "It is not worth keeping." She afterwards much +regretted the loss of this enigmatical memorial. After having burnt the +paper, her Majesty said to me, "That man is born to be my torment; he has +always some mad scheme in his head; remember, the first time you see him, +to tell him that I do not like diamonds now, and that I will buy no more +so long as I live; that if I had any money to spare I would rather add to +my property at St. Cloud by the purchase of the land surrounding it; now, +mind you enter into all these particulars and impress them well upon him." +I asked her whether she wished me to send for him; she replied in the +negative, adding that it would be sufficient to avail myself of the first +opportunity afforded by meeting him; and that the slightest advance +towards such a man would be misplaced. + +On the 1st of August I left Versailles for my country house at Crespy; on +the 3d came Boehmer, extremely uneasy at not having received any answer +from the Queen, to ask me whether I had any commission from her to him; I +replied that she had entrusted me with none; that she had no commands for +him, and I faithfully repeated all she had desired me to say to him. + +"But," said Boehmer, "the answer to the letter I presented to her,--to +whom must I apply for that?" + +"To nobody," answered I; "her Majesty burnt your memorial without even +comprehending its meaning." + +"Ah! madame," exclaimed he, "that is impossible; the Queen knows that she +has money to pay me!" + +"Money, M. Boehmer? Your last accounts against the Queen were discharged +long ago." + +"Madame, you are not in the secret. A man who is ruined for want of +payment of fifteen hundred thousand francs cannot be said to be +satisfied." + +"Have you lost your senses?" said I. "For what can the Queen owe you so +extravagant a sum?" + +"For my necklace, madame," replied Boehmer, coolly. + +"What!" I exclaimed, "that necklace again, which you have teased the Queen +about so many years! Did you not tell me you had sold it at +Constantinople?" + +"The Queen desired me to give that answer to all who should speak to me on +the subject," said the wretched dupe. He then told me that the Queen +wished to have the necklace, and had had it purchased for her by +Monseigneur, the Cardinal de Rohan. + +"You are deceived," I exclaimed; "the Queen has not once spoken to the +Cardinal since his return from Vienna; there is not a man at her Court +less favourably looked upon." + +"You are deceived yourself, madame," said Boehmer; "she sees him so much +in private that it was to his Eminence she gave thirty thousand francs, +which were paid me as an instalment; she took them, in his presence, out +of the little secretaire of Sevres porcelain next the fireplace in her +boudoir." + +"And the Cardinal told you all this?" + +"Yes, madame, himself." + +"What a detestable plot!" cried I. + +"Indeed, to say the truth, madame, I begin to be much alarmed, for his +Eminence assured me that the Queen would wear the necklace on Whit-Sunday, +but I did not see it upon her, and it was that which induced me to write +to her Majesty." + +He then asked me what he ought to do. I advised him to go on to +Versailles, instead of returning to Paris, whence he had just arrived; to +obtain an immediate audience from the Baron de Breteuil, who, as head of +the King's household, was the minister of the department to which Boehmer +belonged, and to be circumspect; and I added that he appeared to me +extremely culpable,--not as a diamond merchant, but because being a sworn +officer it was unpardonable of him to have acted without the direct orders +of the King, the Queen, or the Minister. He answered, that he had not +acted without direct orders; that he had in his possession all the notes +signed by the Queen, and that he had even been obliged to show them to +several bankers in order to induce them to extend the time for his +payments. I urged his departure for Versailles, and he assured me he +would go there immediately. Instead of following my advice, he went to +the Cardinal, and it was of this visit of Boehmer's that his Eminence made +a memorandum, found in a drawer overlooked by the Abbe Georgel when he +burnt, by order of the Cardinal, all the papers which the latter had at +Paris. The memorandum was thus worded: "On this day, 3d August, Boehmer +went to Madame Campan's country house, and she told him that the Queen had +never had his necklace, and that he had been deceived." + +When Boehmer was gone, I wanted to follow him, and go to the Queen; my +father-in-law prevented me, and ordered me to leave the minister to +elucidate such an important affair, observing that it was an infernal +plot; that I had given Boehmer the best advice, and had nothing more to do +with the business. Boehmer never said one word to me about the woman De +Lamotte, and her name was mentioned for the first time by the Cardinal in +his answers to the interrogatories put to him before the King. After +seeing the Cardinal, Boehmer went to Trianon, and sent a message to the +Queen, purporting that I had advised him to come and speak to her. His +very words were repeated to her Majesty, who said, "He is mad; I have +nothing to say to him, and will not see him." Two or three days +afterwards the Queen sent for me to Petit Trianon, to rehearse with me the +part of Rosina, which she was to perform in the "Barbier de Seville." I +was alone with her, sitting upon her couch; no mention was made of +anything but the part. After we had spent an hour in the rehearsal, her +Majesty asked me why I had sent Boehmer to her; saying he had been in my +name to speak to her, and that she would not see him. It was in this +manner I learnt that he had not followed my advice in the slightest +degree. The change of my countenance, when I heard the man's name, was +very perceptible; the Queen perceived it, and questioned me. I entreated +her to see him, and assured her it was of the utmost importance for her +peace of mind; that there was a plot going on, of which she was not aware; +and that it was a serious one, since engagements signed by herself were +shown about to people who had lent Boehmer money. Her surprise and +vexation were great. She desired me to remain at Trianon, and sent off a +courier to Paris, ordering Boehmer to come to her upon some pretext which +has escaped my recollection. He came next morning; in fact it was the day +on which the play was performed, and that was the last amusement the Queen +allowed herself at that retreat. + +The Queen made him enter her closet, and asked him by what fatality it was +that she was still doomed to hear of his foolish pretence of selling her +an article which she had steadily refused for several years. He replied +that he was compelled, being unable to pacify his creditors any longer. +"What are your creditors to me?" said her Majesty. Boehmer then +regularly related to her all that he had been made to believe had passed +between the Queen and himself through the intervention of the Cardinal. +She was equally incensed and surprised at each thing she heard. In vain +did she speak; the jeweller, equally importunate and dangerous, repeated +incessantly, "Madame, there is no longer time for feigning; condescend to +confess that you have my necklace, and let some assistance be given to me, +or my bankruptcy will soon bring the whole to light." + +It is easy to imagine how the Queen must have suffered. On Boehmer's +going away, I found her in an alarming condition; the idea that any one +could have believed that such a man as the Cardinal possessed her full +confidence; that she should have employed him to deal with a tradesman +without the King's knowledge, for a thing which she had refused to accept +from the King himself, drove her to desperation. She sent first for the +Abbe de Vermond, and then for the Baron de Breteuil. Their hatred and +contempt for the Cardinal made them too easily forget that the lowest +faults do not prevent the higher orders of the empire from being defended +by those to whom they have the honour to belong; that a Rohan, a Prince of +the Church, however culpable he might be, would be sure to have a +considerable party which would naturally be joined by all the discontented +persons of the Court, and all the frondeurs of Paris. They too easily +believed that he would be stripped of all the advantages of his rank and +order, and given up to the disgrace due to his irregular conduct; they +deceived themselves. + +I saw the Queen after the departure of the Baron and the Abbe; her +agitation made me shudder. "Fraud must be unmasked," said she; "when the +Roman purple and the title of Prince cover a mere money-seeker, a cheat +who dares to compromise the wife of his sovereign, France and all Europe +should know it." It is evident that from that moment the fatal plan was +decided on. The Queen perceived my alarm; I did not conceal it from her. +I knew too well that she had many enemies not to be apprehensive on seeing +her attract the attention of the whole world to an intrigue that they +would try to complicate still more. I entreated her to seek the most +prudent and moderate advice. She silenced me by desiring me to make +myself easy, and to rest satisfied that no imprudence would be committed. + +On the following Sunday, the 15th of August, being the Assumption, at +twelve o'clock, at the very moment when the Cardinal, dressed in his +pontifical garments, was about to proceed to the chapel, he was sent for +into the King's closet, where the Queen then was. + +The King said to him, "You have purchased diamonds of Boehmer?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"What have you done with them?" + +"I thought they had been delivered to the Queen." + +"Who commissioned you?" + +"A lady, called the Comtesse de Lamotte-Valois, who handed me a letter +from the Queen; and I thought I was gratifying her Majesty by taking this +business on myself." + +The Queen here interrupted him and said, "How, monsieur, could you believe +that I should select you, to whom I have not spoken for eight years, to +negotiate anything for me, and especially through the mediation of a woman +whom I do not even know?" + +"I see plainly," said the Cardinal, "that I have been duped. I will pay +for the necklace; my desire to please your Majesty blinded me; I suspected +no trick in the affair, and I am sorry for it." + +He then took out of his pocket-book a letter from the Queen to Madame de +Lamotte, giving him this commission. The King took it, and, holding it +towards the Cardinal, said: + +"This is neither written nor signed by the Queen. How could a Prince of +the House of Rohan, and a Grand Almoner of France, ever think that the +Queen would sign Marie Antoinette de France? Everybody knows that queens +sign only by their baptismal names. But, monsieur," pursued the King, +handing him a copy of his letter to Baehmer, "have you ever written such a +letter as this?" + +Having glanced over it, the Cardinal said, "I do not remember having +written it." + +"But what if the original, signed by yourself, were shown to you?" + +"If the letter be signed by myself it is genuine." + +He was extremely confused, and repeated several times, "I have been +deceived, Sire; I will pay for the necklace. I ask pardon of your +Majesties." + +"Then explain to me," resumed the King, "the whole of this enigma. I do +not wish to find you guilty; I had rather you would justify yourself. +Account for all the manoeuvres with Baehmer, these assurances and these +letters." + +The Cardinal then, turning pale, and leaning against the table, said, +"Sire, I am too much confused to answer your Majesty in a way--" + +"Compose yourself, Cardinal, and go into my cabinet; you will there find +paper, pens, and ink,--write what you have to say to me." + +The Cardinal went into the King's cabinet, and returned a quarter of an +hour afterwards with a document as confused as his verbal answers had +been. The King then said, "Withdraw, monsieur." The Cardinal left the +King's chamber, with the Baron de Breteuil, who gave him in custody to a +lieutenant of the Body Guard, with orders to take him to his apartment. M. +d'Agoult, aide-major of the Body Guard, afterwards took him into custody, +and conducted him to his hotel, and thence to the Bastille. But while the +Cardinal had with him only the young lieutenant of the Body Guard, who was +much embarrassed at having such an order to execute, his Eminence met his +heyduc at the door of the Salon of Hercules; he spoke to him in German and +then asked the lieutenant if he could lend him a pencil; the officer gave +him that which he carried about him, and the Cardinal wrote to the Abbe +Georgel, his grand vicar and friend, instantly to burn all Madame de +Lamotte's correspondence, and all his other letters. + +[The Abbe Georgel thus relates the circumstance: "The Cardinal, at that +trying moment, gave an astonishing proof of his presence of mind; +notwithstanding the escort which surrounded him, favoured by the attendant +crowd, he stopped, and stooping down with his face towards the wall, as if +to fasten his buckle, snatched out his pencil and hastily wrote a few +words upon a scrap of paper placed under his hand in his square red cap. +He rose again and proceeded. On entering his house, his people formed a +lane; he slipped this paper, unperceived, into the hand of a confidential +valet de chambre, who waited for him at the door of his apartment." This +story is scarcely credible; it is not at the moment of a prisoner's +arrest, when an inquisitive crowd surrounds and watches him, that he can +stop and write secret messages. However, the valet de chambre posts off +to Paris. He arrives at the palace of the Cardinal between twelve and one +o'clock; and his horse falls dead in the stable. "I was in my apartment," +said the Abbe Georgel, "the valet de chambre entered wildly, with a deadly +paleness on his countenance, and exclaimed, 'All is lost; the Prince is +arrested.' He instantly fell, fainting, and dropped the note of which he +was the bearer." The portfolio containing the papers which might +compromise the Cardinal was immediately placed beyond the reach of all +search. Madame de Lamotte also was foolishly allowed sufficient time +after she heard of the arrest of the Cardinal to burn all the letters she +had received from him. Assisted by Beugnot, she completed this at three +the same morning that she was: arrested at four.--See "Memoirs of Comte de +Beugnot," vol i., p. 74.] + +This commission was executed before M. de Crosne, lieutenant of police, +had received an order from the Baron de Breteuil to put seals upon the +Cardinal's papers. The destruction of all his Eminence's correspondence, +and particularly that with Madame de Lamotte, threw an impenetrable cloud +over the whole affair. + +From that moment all proofs of this intrigue disappeared. Madame de +Lamotte was apprehended at Bar-sur-Aube; her husband had already gone to +England. From the beginning of this fatal affair all the proceedings of +the Court appear to have been prompted by imprudence and want of +foresight; the obscurity resulting left free scope for the fables of which +the voluminous memorials written on one side and the other consisted. The +Queen so little imagined what could have given rise to the intrigue, of +which she was about to become the victim, that, at the moment when the +King was interrogating the Cardinal, a terrific idea entered her mind. +With that rapidity of thought caused by personal interest and extreme +agitation, she fancied that, if a design to ruin her in the eyes of the +King and the French people were the concealed motive of this intrigue, the +Cardinal would, perhaps, affirm that she had the necklace; that he had +been honoured with her confidence for this purchase, made without the +King's knowledge; and point out some secret place in her apartment, where +he might have got some villain to hide it. Want of money and the meanest +swindling were the sole motives for this criminal affair. The necklace +had already been taken to pieces and sold, partly in London, partly in +Holland, and the rest in Paris. + +The moment the Cardinal's arrest was known a universal clamour arose. +Every memorial that appeared during the trial increased the outcry. On +this occasion the clergy took that course which a little wisdom and the +least knowledge of the spirit of such a body ought to have foreseen. The +Rohans and the House of Conde, as well as the clergy, made their +complaints heard everywhere. The King consented to having a legal +judgment, and early in September he addressed letters-patent to the +Parliament, in which he said that he was "filled with the most just +indignation on seeing the means which, by the confession of his Eminence +the Cardinal, had been employed in order to inculpate his most dear spouse +and companion." + +Fatal moment! in which the Queen found herself, in consequence of this +highly impolitic step, on trial with a subject, who ought to have been +dealt with by the power of the King alone. The Princes and Princesses of +the House of Conde, and of the Houses of Rohan, Soubise, and Guemenee, put +on mourning, and were seen ranged in the way of the members of the Grand +Chamber to salute them as they proceeded to the palace, on the days of the +Cardinal's trial; and Princes of the blood openly canvassed against the +Queen of France. + +The Pope wished to claim, on behalf of the Cardinal de Rohan, the right +belonging to his ecclesiastical rank, and demanded that he should be +judged at Rome. The Cardinal de Bernis, ambassador from France to his +Holiness, formerly Minister for Foreign Affairs, blending the wisdom of an +old diplomatist with the principles of a Prince of the Church, wished that +this scandalous affair should be hushed up. The King's aunts, who were on +very intimate terms with the ambassador, adopted his opinion, and the +conduct of the King and Queen was equally and loudly censured in the +apartments of Versailles and in the hotels and coffee-houses of Paris. + +Madame, the King's sister-in-law, had been the sole protectress of De +Lamotte, and had confined her patronage to granting her a pension of +twelve to fifteen hundred francs. Her brother was in the navy, but the +Marquis de Chabert, to whom he had been recommended, could never train a +good officer. The Queen in vain endeavoured to call to mind the features +of this person, of whom she had often heard as an intriguing woman, who +came frequently on Sundays to the gallery of Versailles. At the time when +all France was engrossed by the persecution against the Cardinal, the +portrait of the Comtesse de Lamotte Valois was publicly sold. Her +Majesty desired me one day, when I was going to Paris, to buy her the +engraving, which was said to be a tolerable likeness, that she might +ascertain whether she could recognise in it any person whom she might have +seen in the gallery. + +[The public, with the exception of the lowest class, were admitted into +the gallery and larger apartments of Versailles, as they were into the +park.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The woman De Lamotte's father was a peasant at Auteuil, though he called +himself Valois. Madame de Boulainvilliers once saw from her terrace two +pretty little peasant girls, each labouring under a heavy bundle of +sticks. The priest of the village, who was walking with her, told her +that the children possessed some curious papers, and that he had no doubt +they were descendants of a Valois, an illegitimate son of one of the +princes of that name. + +The family of Valois had long ceased to appear in the world. Hereditary +vices had gradually plunged them into the deepest misery. I have heard +that the last Valois then known occupied the estate called Gros Bois; that +as he seldom came to Court, Louis XIII. asked him what he was about that +he remained so constantly in the country; and that this M. de Valois +merely answered, "Sire, I only do there what I ought." It was shortly +afterwards discovered that he was coining. + +Neither the Queen herself nor any one near her ever had the slightest +connection with the woman De Lamotte; and during her prosecution she could +point out but one of the Queen's servants, named Desclos, a valet of the +Queen's bedchamber, to whom she pre tended she had delivered Boehmer's +necklace. This Desclos was a very honest man; upon being confronted with +the woman De Lamotte, it was proved that she had never seen him but once, +which was at the house of the wife of a surgeon-accoucheur at Versailles, +the only person she visited at Court; and that she had not given him the +necklace. Madame de Lamotte married a private in Monsieur's body-guard; +she lodged at Versailles at the Belle Image, a very inferior furnished +house; and it is inconceivable how so obscure a person could succeed in +making herself believed to be a friend of the Queen, who, though so +extremely affable, seldom granted audiences, and only to titled persons. + +The trial of the Cardinal is too generally known to require me to repeat +its details here. The point most embarrassing to him was the interview he +had in February, 1785, with M. de Saint-James, to whom he confided the +particulars of the Queen's pretended commission, and showed the contract +approved and signed Marie Antoinette de France. The memorandum found in a +drawer of the Cardinal's bureau, in which he had himself written what +Baehmer told him after having seen me at my country house, was likewise an +unfortunate document for his Eminence. + +I offered to the King to go and declare that Baehmer had told me that the +Cardinal assured him he had received from the Queen's own hand the thirty +thousand francs given on account upon the bargain being concluded, and +that his Eminence had seen her Majesty take that sum in bills from the +porcelain secretaire in her boudoir. The King declined my offer, and said +to me, "Were you alone when Boehmer told you this?" I answered that I was +alone with him in my garden. "Well," resumed he, "the man would deny the +fact; he is now sure of being paid his sixteen hundred thousand francs, +which the Cardinal's family will find it necessary to make good to him; we +can no longer rely upon his sincerity; it would look as if you were sent +by the Queen, and that would not be proper." + +[The guilty woman no sooner knew that all was about to be discovered than +she sent for the jewellers, and told them the Cardinal had perceived that +the agreement, which he believed to have been signed by the Queen, was a +false and forged document. "However," added she, "the Cardinal possesses +a considerable fortune, and he can very well pay you." These words reveal +the whole secret. The Countess had taken the necklace to herself, and +flattered herself that M. de Rohan, seeing himself deceived and cruelly +imposed upon, would determine to pay and make the beat terms he could, +rather than suffer a matter of this nature to become public.-"Secret +Correspondence of the Court of Louis XVI."] + +The procureur general's information was severe on the Cardinal. The +Houses of Conde and Rohan and the majority of the nobility saw in this +affair only an attack on the Prince's rank, the clergy only a blow aimed +at the privileges of a cardinal. The clergy demanded that the unfortunate +business of the Prince Cardinal de Rohan should be submitted to +ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the Archbishop of Narbonne, then +President of the Convocation, made representations upon the subject to the +King; the bishops wrote to his Majesty to remind him that a private +ecclesiastic implicated in the affair then pending would have a right to +claim his constitutional judges, and that this right was refused to a +cardinal, his superior in the hierarchical order. In short, the clergy +and the greater part of the nobility were at that time outrageous against +authority, and chiefly against the Queen. + +The procureur-general's conclusions, and those of a part of the heads of +the magistracy, were as severe towards the Cardinal as the information had +been; yet he was fully acquitted by a majority of three voices; the woman +De Lamotte was condemned to be whipped, branded, and imprisoned; and her +husband, for contumacy, was condemned to the galleys for life. + +[The following extract is from the "Memoirs" of the Abbe Georgel: "The +sittings were long and multiplied; it was necessary to read the whole +proceedings; more than fifty judges sat; a master of requests; a friend of +the Prince, wrote down all that was said there, and sent it to his +advisers, who found means to inform the Cardinal of it, and to add the +plan of conduct he ought to pursue." D'Epremesnil, and other young +counsellors, showed upon that occasion but too much audacity in braving +the Court, too much eagerness in seizing an opportunity of attacking it. +They were the first to shake that authority which their functions made it +a duty in them to respect.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +M. Pierre de Laurencel, the procureur general's substitute, sent the Queen +a list of the names of the members of the Grand Chamber, with the means +made use of by the friends of the Cardinal to gain their votes during the +trial. I had this list to keep among the papers which the Queen deposited +in the house of M. Campan, my father-in-law, and which, at his death, she +ordered me to preserve. I burnt this statement, but I remember ladies +performed a part not very creditable to their principles; it was by them, +in consideration of large sums which they received, that some of the +oldest and most respected members were won over. I did not see a single +name amongst the whole Parliament that was gained directly. + +The belief confirmed by time is, that the Cardinal was completely duped by +the woman De Lamotte and Cagliostro. The King may have been in error in +thinking him an accomplice in this miserable and criminal scheme, but I +have faithfully repeated his Majesty's judgment about it. + +However, the generally received opinion that the Baron de Breteuil's +hatred for the Cardinal was the cause of the scandal and the unfortunate +result of this affair contributed to the disgrace of the former still more +than his refusal to give his granddaughter in marriage to the son of the +Duc de Polignac. The Abbe de Vermond threw the whole blame of the +imprudence and impolicy of the affair of the Cardinal de Rohan upon the +minister, and ceased to be the friend and supporter of the Baron de +Breteuil with the Queen. + +In the early part of the year 1786, the Cardinal, as has been said, was +fully acquitted, and came out of the Bastille, while Madame de Lamotte was +condemned to be whipped, branded, and imprisoned. The Court, persisting +in the erroneous views which had hitherto guided its measures, conceived +that the Cardinal and the woman De Lamotte were equally culpable and +unequally punished, and sought to restore the balance of justice by +exiling the Cardinal to La Chaise-Dieu, and suffering Madame de Lamotte to +escape a few days after she entered l'Hopital. This new error confirmed +the Parisians in the idea that the wretch De Lamotte, who had never been +able to make her way so far as to the room appropriated to the Queen's +women, had really interested the Queen herself. + +[Further particulars will be found in the "Memoirs of the Comte de +Beugnot" (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1871), as he knew Madame de Lamotte +from the days of her early childhood (when the three children, the Baron +de Valois, who died captain of a frigate, and the two Mademoiselles de +Saint-Remi, the last descendants of the Baron de Saint-Remi, a natural son +of Henri II., were almost starving) to the time of her temporary +prosperity. In fact, he was with her when she burnt the correspondence of +the Cardinal, in the interval the Court foolishly allowed between his +arrest and her capture, and De Beugnot believed he had met at her house, +at the moment of their return from their successful trick, the whole party +engaged in deluding the Cardinal. It is worth noting that he was then +struck by the face of Mademoiselle d'Oliva, who had just personated the +Queen in presenting a rose to the Cardinal. It may also be cited as a +pleasing quality of Madame de Lamotte that she, "in her ordinary +conversation, used the words stupid and honest as synonymous."--See +"Beugnot," vol. i., p. 60.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The Abbe de Vermond could not repress his exultation when he succeeded in +getting the Archbishop of Sens appointed head of the council of finance. I +have more than once heard him say that seventeen years of patience were +not too long a term for success in a Court; that he spent all that time in +gaining the end he had in view; but that at length the Archbishop was +where he ought to be for the good of the State. The Abbe, from this time, +in the Queen's private circle no longer concealed his credit and +influence; nothing could equal the confidence with which he displayed the +extent of his pretensions. He requested the Queen to order that the +apartments appropriated to him should be enlarged, telling her that, being +obliged to give audiences to bishops, cardinals, and ministers, he +required a residence suitable to his present circumstances. The Queen +continued to treat him as she did before the Archbishop's arrival at +Court; but the household showed him increased consideration: the word +"Monsieur" preceded that of Abbe; and from that moment not only the livery +servants, but also the people of the antechambers rose when Monsieur +l'Abbe was passing, though there never was, to my knowledge, any order +given to that effect. + +The Queen was obliged, on account of the King's disposition and the very +limited confidence he placed in the Archbishop of Sens, to take a part in +public affairs. While M. de Maurepas lived she kept out of that danger, +as may be seen by the censure which the Baron de Besenval passes on her in +his memoirs for not availing herself of the conciliation he had promoted +between the Queen and that minister, who counteracted the ascendency which +the Queen and her intimate friends might otherwise have gained over the +King's mind. + +The Queen has often assured me that she never interfered respecting the +interests of Austria but once; and that was only to claim the execution of +the treaty of alliance at the time when Joseph II. was at war with Prussia +and Turkey; that, she then demanded that an army of twenty-four thousand +men should be sent to him instead of fifteen millions, an alternative +which had been left to option in the treaty, in case the Emperor should +have a just war to maintain; that she could not obtain her object, and M. +de Vergennes, in an interview which she had with him upon the subject, put +an end to her importunities by observing that he was answering the mother +of the Dauphin and not the sister of the Emperor. The fifteen millions +were sent. There was no want of money at Vienna, and the value of a +French army was fully appreciated. + +"But how," said the Queen, "could they be so wicked as to send off those +fifteen millions from the general post-office, diligently publishing, even +to the street porters, that they were loading carriages with money that I +was sending to my brother!--whereas it is certain that the money would +equally have been sent if I had belonged to another house; and, besides, +it was sent contrary to my inclination." + +[This was not the first time the Queen had become unpopular in consequence +of financial support afforded by France to her brother. The Emperor Joseph +II, made, in November, 1783, and in May, 1784, startling claims on the +republic of the United Provinces; he demanded the opening of the Scheldt, +the cession of Maeatricht with its dependencies, of the country beyond the +Meuse, the county of Vroenhoven, and a sum of seventy millions of florins. +The first gun was fired by the Emperor on the Scheldt 6th November, 1784. +Peace was concluded 8th November, 1785, through the mediation of France. +The singular part was the indemnification granted to the Emperor: this was +a sum of ten millions of Dutch florins; the articles 15, 16, and 17 of the +treaty stipulated the quotas of it. Holland paid five millions and a +half, and France, under the direction of M. de Vergennes, four millions +and a half of florins, that is to say, nine millions and forty-five +thousand francs, according to M. Soulavie. M. de augur, in his "Policy of +Cabinets" (vol. iii.), says relative to this affair: + +"M. de Vergennes has been much blamed for having terminated, by a +sacrifice of seven millions, the contest that existed between the United +Provinces and the Emperor. In that age of philosophy men were still very +uncivilised; in that age of commerce they made very erroneous +calculations; and those who accused the Queen of sending the gold of +France to her brother would have been better pleased if, to support a +republic devoid of energy, the blood of two hundred thousand men, and +three or four hundred millions of francs, had been sacrificed, and at the +same time the risk run of losing the advantage of peace dictated to +England." MADAME CAMPAN.] + +When the Comte de Moustier set out on his mission to the United States, +after having had his public audience of leave he came and asked me to +procure him a private one. I could not succeed even with the strongest +solicitations; the Queen desired me to wish him a good voyage, but added +that none but ministers could have anything to say to him in private, +since he was going to a country where the names of King and Queen must be +detested. + +Marie Antoinette had then no direct influence over State affairs until +after the deaths of M. de Maurepas and M. de Vergennes, and the retirement +of M. de Calonne. She frequently regretted her new situation, and looked +upon it as a misfortune which she could not avoid. One day, while I was +assisting her to tie up a number of memorials and reports, which some of +the ministers had handed to her to be given to the King, "Ah!" said she, +sighing, "there is an end of all happiness for me, since they have made an +intriguer of me." I exclaimed at the word. + +"Yes," resumed, the Queen, "that is the right term; every woman who +meddles with affairs above her understanding or out of her line of duty is +an intriguer and nothing else; you will remember, however, that it is not +my own fault, and that it is with regret I give myself such a title; +Queens of France are happy only so long as they meddle with nothing, and +merely preserve influence sufficient to advance their friends and reward a +few zealous servants. Do you know what happened to me lately? One day +since I began to attend private committees at the King's, while crossing +the oiel-de-boeuf, I heard one of the musicians of the chapel say so loud +that I lost not a single word, 'A Queen who does her duty will remain in +her apartment to knit.' I said within myself, 'Poor wretch, thou art +right; but thou knowest not my situation; I yield to necessity and my evil +destiny.'" + +This situation was the more painful to the Queen inasmuch as Louis XVI. +had long accustomed himself to say nothing to her respecting State +affairs; and when, towards the close of his reign, she was obliged to +interfere in the most important matters, the same habit in the King +frequently kept from her particulars which it was necessary she should +have known. Obtaining, therefore, only insufficient information, and +guided by persons more ambitious than skilful, the Queen could not be +useful in important affairs; yet, at the same time, her ostensible +interference drew upon her, from all parties and all classes of society, +an unpopularity the rapid progress of which alarmed all those who were +sincerely attached to her. + +Carried away by the eloquence of the Archbishop of Sens, and encouraged in +the confidence she placed in that minister by the incessant eulogies of +the Abbe de Vermond on his abilities, the Queen unfortunately followed up +her first mistake of bringing him into office in 1787 by supporting him at +the time of his disgrace, which was obtained by the despair of a whole +nation. She thought it was due to her dignity to give him some marked +proof of her regard at the moment of his departure; misled by her +feelings, she sent him her portrait enriched with jewelry, and a brevet +for the situation of lady of the palace for Madame de Canisy, his niece, +observing that it was necessary to indemnify a minister sacrificed to the +intrigues of the Court and a factious spirit of the nation; that otherwise +none would be found willing to devote themselves to the interests of the +sovereign. + +On the day of the Archbishop's departure the public joy was universal, +both at Court and at Paris there were bonfires; the attorneys' clerks +burnt the Archbishop in effigy, and on the evening of his disgrace more +than a hundred couriers were sent out from Versailles to spread the happy +tidings among the country seats. I have seen the Queen shed bitter tears +at the recollection of the errors she committed at this period, when +subsequently, a short time before her death, the Archbishop had the +audacity to say, in a speech which was printed, that the sole object of +one part of his operations, during his administration, was the salutary +crisis which the Revolution had produced. + +The benevolence and generosity shown by the King and Queen during the +severe winter of 1788, when the Seine was frozen over and the cold was +more intense than it had been for eighty years, procured them some +fleeting popularity. The gratitude of the Parisians for the succour their +Majesties poured forth was lively if not lasting. The snow was so +abundant that since that period there has never been seen such a +prodigious quantity in France. In different parts of Paris pyramids and +obelisks of snow were erected with inscriptions expressive of the +gratitude of the people. The pyramid in the Rue d'Angiviller was +supported on a base six feet high by twelve broad; it rose to the height +of fifteen feet, and was terminated by a globe. Four blocks of stone, +placed at the angles, corresponded with the obelisk, and gave it an +elegant appearance. Several inscriptions, in honour of the King and +Queen, were affixed to it. I went to see this singular monument, and +recollect the following inscription: + +"TO MARIE ANTOINETTE." + "Lovely and good, to tender pity true, + Queen of a virtuous King, this trophy view; + Cold ice and snow sustain its fragile form, + But ev'ry grateful heart to thee is warm. + Oh, may this tribute in your hearts excite, + Illustrious pair, more pure and real delight, + Whilst thus your virtues are sincerely prais'd, + Than pompous domes by servile flatt'ry rais'd." +The theatres generally rang with praises of the beneficence of the +sovereigns: "La Partie de Chasse de Henri IV." was represented for the +benefit of the poor. The receipts were very considerable. + +When the fruitless measure of the Assembly of the Notables, and the +rebellious spirit in the parliaments, had created the necessity for +States General, it was long discussed in council whether they should be +assembled at Versailles or at forty or sixty leagues from the capital; +the Queen was for the latter course, and insisted to the King that they +ought to be far away from the immense population of Paris. + +[The Assembly of the Notables, as may be seen in "Weber's Memoirs," vol. +i., overthrew the plans and caused the downfall of M. de Calonne. A +prince of the blood presided over each of the meetings of that assembly. +Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., presided over the first meeting. + +"Monsieur," says a contemporary, "gained great reputation at the Assembly +of the Notables in 1787. He did not miss attending his meeting a single +day, and he displayed truly patriotic virtues. His care in discussing the +weighty matters of administration, in throwing light upon them, and in +defending the interests and the cause of the people, was such as even to +inspire the King with some degree of jealousy. Monsieur openly said that +a respectful resistance to the orders of the monarch was not blamable, and +that authority might be met by argument, and forced to receive information +without any offence whatever."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +She feared that the people would influence the deliberations of the +deputies; several memorials were presented to the King upon that +question; but M. Necker prevailed, and Versailles was the place fixed +upon. + +The day on which the King announced that he gave his consent to the +convocation of the States General, the Queen left the public dinner, and +placed herself in the recess of the first window of her bedchamber, with +her face towards the garden. Her chief butler followed her, to present +her coffee, which she usually took standing, as she was about to leave the +table. She beckoned to me to come close to her. The King was engaged in +conversation with some one in his room. When the attendant had served her +he retired; and she addressed me, with the cup still in her hand: "Great +Heavens! what fatal news goes forth this day! The King assents to the +convocation of the States General." Then she added, raising her eyes to +heaven, "I dread it; this important event is a first fatal signal of +discord in France." She cast her eyes down, they were filled with tears. +She could not take the remainder of her coffee, but handed me the cup, and +went to join the King. In the evening, when she was alone with me, she +spoke only of this momentous decision. "It is the Parliament," said she, +"that has compelled the King to have recourse to a measure long considered +fatal to the repose of the kingdom. These gentlemen wish to restrain the +power of the King; but they give a great shock to the authority of which +they make so bad a use, and they will bring on their own destruction." + +The double representation granted to the Tiers Etat was now the chief +topic of conversation. The Queen favoured this plan, to which the King +had agreed; she thought the hope of obtaining ecclesiastical favours would +secure the clergy of the second order, and that M. Necker was sure to have +the same degree of influence over the lawyers, and other people of that +class comprised in the Tiers Dat. The Comte d'Artois, holding the +contrary opinion, presented a memorial in the names of himself and several +princes of the blood to the King against the double representation. The +Queen was displeased with him for this; her confidential advisers infused +into her apprehensions that the Prince was made the tool of a party; but +his conduct was approved of by Madame de Polignac's circle, which the +Queen thenceforward only frequented to avoid the appearance of a change in +her habits. She almost always returned unhappy; she was treated with the +profound respect due to a queen, but the devotion of friendship had +vanished, to make way for the coldness of etiquette, which wounded her +deeply. The alienation between her and the Comte Artois was also very +painful to her, for she had loved him almost as tenderly as if he had been +her own brother. + +The opening of the States General took place on the 4th of May, 1789. The +Queen on that occasion appeared for the last time in her life in regal +magnificence. During the procession some low women, seeing the Queen +pass, cried out "Vive le Duc d' Orleans!" in so threatening a manner that +she nearly fainted. She was obliged to be supported, and those about her +were afraid it would be necessary to stop the procession. The Queen, +however, recovered herself, and much regretted that she had not been able +to command more presence of mind. + +The rapidly increasing distrust of the King and Queen shown by the +populace was greatly attributable to incessant corruption by English gold, +and the projects, either of revenge or of ambition, of the Duc d'Orleans. +Let it not be thought that this accusation is founded on what has been so +often repeated by the heads of the French Government since the Revolution. +Twice between the 14th of July and the 6th of October, 1789, the day on +which the Court was dragged to Paris, the Queen prevented me from making +little excursions thither of business or pleasure, saying to me, "Do not +go on such a day to Paris; the English have been scattering gold, we shall +have some disturbance." The repeated visits of the Duc d'Orleans to +England had excited the Anglomania to such a pitch that Paris was no +longer distinguishable from London. The French, formerly imitated by the +whole of Europe, became on a sudden a nation of imitators, without +considering the evils that arts and manufactures must suffer in +consequence of the change. Since the treaty of commerce made with England +at the peace of 1783, not merely equipages, but everything, even to +ribands and common earthenware, were of English make. If this +predominance of English fashions had been confined to filling our +drawing-rooms with young men in English frock-coats, instead of the French +dress, good taste and commerce might alone have suffered; but the +principles of English government had taken possession of these young +heads. Constitution, Upper House, Lower House, national guarantee, +balance of power, Magna Charta, Law of Habeas Corpus,--all these words +were incessantly repeated, and seldom understood; but they were of +fundamental importance to a party which was then forming. + +The first sitting of the States took place on the following day. The King +delivered his speech with firmness and dignity; the Queen told me that he +had taken great pains about it, and had repeated it frequently. His +Majesty gave public marks of attachment and respect for the Queen, who was +applauded; but it was easy to see that this applause was in fact rendered +to the King alone. + +It was evident, during the first sittings, that Mirabeau would be very +dangerous to the Government. It affirmed that at this period he +communicated to the King, and still more fully to the Queen, part of his +schemes for abandoning them. He brandished the weapons afforded him by +his eloquence and audacity, in order to make terms with the party he meant +to attack. This man played the game of revolution to make his own +fortune. The Queen told me that he asked for an embassy, and, if my +memory does not deceive me, it was that of Constantinople. He was refused +with well-deserved contempt, though policy would doubtless have concealed +it, could the future have been foreseen. + +The enthusiasm prevailing at the opening of this assembly, and the debates +between the Tiers Etat, the nobility, and even the clergy, daily increased +the alarm of their Majesties, and all who were attached to the cause of +monarchy. The Queen went to bed late, or rather she began to be unable to +rest. One evening, about the end of May, she was sitting in her room, +relating several remarkable occurrences of the day; four wax candles were +placed upon her toilet-table; the first went out of itself; I relighted +it; shortly afterwards the second, and then the third went out also; upon +which the Queen, squeezing my hand in terror, said to me: "Misfortune +makes us superstitious; if the fourth taper should go out like the rest, +nothing can prevent my looking upon it as a sinister omen." The fourth +taper went out. It was remarked to the Queen that the four tapers had +probably been run in the same mould, and that a defect in the wick had +naturally occurred at the same point in each, since the candles had all +gone out in the order in which they had been lighted. + +The deputies of the Tiers Etat arrived at Versailles full of the strongest +prejudices against the Court. They believed that the King indulged in the +pleasures of the table to a shameful excess; and that the Queen was +draining the treasury of the State in order to satisfy the most unbridled +luxury. They almost all determined to see Petit Trianon. The extreme +plainness of the retreat in question not answering the ideas they had +formed, some of them insisted upon seeing the very smallest closets, +saying that the richly furnished apartments were concealed from them. They +particularised one which, according to them, was ornamented with diamonds, +and with wreathed columns studded with sapphires and rubies. The Queen +could not get these foolish ideas out of her mind, and spoke to the King +on the subject. From the description given of this room by the deputies +to the keepers of Trianon, the King concluded that they were looking for +the scene enriched with paste ornaments, made in the reign of Louis XV. +for the theatre of Fontainebleau. + +The King supposed that his Body Guards, on their return to the country, +after their quarterly duty at Court, related what they had seen, and that +their exaggerated accounts, being repeated, became at last totally +perverted. This idea of the King, after the search for the diamond +chamber, suggested to the Queen that the report of the King's propensity +for drinking also sprang from the guards who accompanied his carriage when +he hunted at Rambouillet. The King, who disliked sleeping out of his +usual bed, was accustomed to leave that hunting-seat after supper; he +generally slept soundly in his carriage, and awoke only on his arrival at +the courtyard of his palace; he used to get down from his carriage in the +midst of his Body Guards, staggering, as a man half awake will do, which +was mistaken for intoxication. + +The majority of the deputies who came imbued with prejudices produced by +error or malevolence, went to lodge with the most humble private +individuals of Versailles, whose inconsiderate conversation contributed +not a little to nourish such mistakes. Everything, in short, tended to +render the deputies subservient to the schemes of the leaders of the +rebellion. + +Shortly after the opening of the States General the first Dauphin died. +That young Prince suffered from the rickets, which in a few months curved +his spine, and rendered his legs so weak that he could not walk without +being supported like a feeble old man. + +[Louis, Dauphin of France, who died at Versailles on the 4th of June, +1789, gave promise of intellectual precocity. The following particulars, +which convey some idea of his disposition, and of the assiduous attention +bestowed upon him by the Duchesse de Polignac, will be found in a work of +that time: "At two years old the Dauphin was very pretty; he articulated +well, and answered questions put to him intelligently. While he was at +the Chateau de La Muette everybody was at liberty to see him. The Dauphin +was dressed plainly, like a sailor; there was nothing to distinguish him +from other children in external appearance but the cross of Saint Louis, +the blue ribbon, and the Order of the Fleece, decorations that are the +distinctive signs of his rank. The Duchesse Jules de Polignac, his +governess, scarcely ever left him for a single instant: she gave up all +the Court excursions and amusements in order to devote her whole attention +to him. The Prince always manifested a great regard for M. de Bourset, +his valet de chambre. During the illness of which he died, he one day +asked for a pair of scissors; that gentleman reminded him that they were +forbidden. The child insisted mildly, and they were obliged to yield to +him. Having got the scissors, he cut off a lock of his hair, which he +wrapped in a sheet of paper: 'There, monsieur,' said he to his valet de +chambre,' there is the only present I can make you, having nothing at my +command; but when I am dead you will present this pledge to my papa and +mamma; and while they remember me, I hope they will not forget +you.'"--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +How many maternal tears did his condition draw from the Queen, already +overwhelmed with apprehensions respecting the state of the kingdom! Her +grief was enhanced by petty intrigues, which, when frequently renewed, +became intolerable. An open quarrel between the families and friends of +the Duc Harcourt, the Dauphin's governor, and those of the Duchesse de +Polignac, his governess, added greatly to the Queen's affliction. The +young Prince showed a strong dislike to the Duchesse de Polignac, who +attributed it either to the Duc or the Duchesse d'Harcourt, and came to +make her complaints respecting it to the Queen. The Dauphin twice sent +her out of his room, saying to her, with that maturity of manner which +long illness always gives to children: "Go out, Duchess; you are so fond +of using perfumes, and they always make me ill;" and yet she never used +any. The Queen perceived, also, that his prejudices against her friend +extended to herself; her son would no longer speak in her presence. She +knew that he had become fond of sweetmeats, and offered him some +marshmallow and jujube lozenges. The under-governors and the first valet +de chambre requested her not to give the Dauphin anything, as he was to +receive no food of any kind without the consent of the faculty. I forbear +to describe the wound this prohibition inflicted upon the Queen; she felt +it the more deeply because she was aware it was unjustly believed she gave +a decided preference to the Duc de Normandie, whose ruddy health and +amiability did, in truth, form a striking contrast to the languid look and +melancholy disposition of his elder brother. She even suspected that a +plot had for some time existed to deprive her of the affection of a child +whom she loved as a good and tender mother ought. Previous to the +audience granted by the King on the 10th August, 1788, to the envoy of the +Sultan Tippoo Saib, she had begged the Duc d'Harcourt to divert the +Dauphin, whose deformity was already apparent, from his, intention to be +present at that ceremony, being unwilling to expose him to the gaze of the +crowd of inquisitive Parisians who would be in the gallery. +Notwithstanding this injunction, the Dauphin was suffered to write to his +mother, requesting her permission to be present at the audience. The +Queen was obliged to refuse him, and warmly reproached the governor, who +merely answered that he could not oppose the wishes of a sick child. A +year before the death of the Dauphin the Queen lost the Princesse Sophie; +this was, as the Queen said, the first of a series of misfortunes. + +NOTE: As Madame Campan has stated in the foregoing pages that the money +to foment sedition was furnished from English sources, the decree of the +Convention of August, 1793, maybe quoted as illustrative of the entente +cordiale alleged to exist between the insurrectionary Government and its +friends across the Channel! The endeavours made by the English Government +to save the unfortunate King are well known. The motives prompting the +conduct of the Duc d'Orleans are equally well known. + +Art. i. The National Convention denounces the British Government to +Europe and the English nation. + +Art. ii. Every Frenchman that shall place his money in the English funds +shall be declared a traitor to his country. + +Art. iii. Every Frenchman who has money in the English funds or those of +any other Power with whom France is at war shall be obliged to declare the +same. + +Art. iv. All foreigners, subjects of the Powers now at war with France, +particularly the English, shall be arrested, and seals put upon their +papers. + +Art. v. The barriers of Paris shall be instantly shut. + +Art. vi. All good citizens shall be required in the name of the country +to search for the foreigners concerned in any plot denounced. + +Art. vii. Three millions shall be at the disposal of the Minister at War +to facilitate the march of the garrison of Mentz to La Vendee. + +Art. viii. The Minister at War shall send to the army on the coast of +Rochelle all the combustible materials necessary to set fire to the +forests and underwood of La Vendee. + +Art. ix. The women, the children, and old men shall be conducted to the +interior parts of the country. + +Art. x. The property of the rebels shall be confiscated for the benefit +of the Republic. + +Art. xi. A camp shall be formed without delay between Paris and the +Northern army. + +Art. xii. All the family of the Capets shall be banished from the French +territory, those excepted who are under the sword of the law, and the +offspring of Louis Capet, who shall both remain in the Temple. + +Art. xiii. Marie Antoinette shall be delivered over to the Revolutionary +Tribunal, and shall be immediately conducted to the prison of the +Conciergerie. Louise Elisabeth shall remain in the Temple till after the +judgment of Marie Antoinette. + +Art. xiv. All the tombs of the Kings which are at St. Denis and in the +departments shall be destroyed on August the 10th. + +Art. xv. The present decree shall be despatched by extraordinary +couriers to all the departments. + + + + + + +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. + + +The ever-memorable oath of the States General, taken at the Tennis Court +of Versailles, was followed by the royal sitting of the 23d of June. In +this seance the King declared that the Orders must vote separately, and +threatened, if further obstacles were met with, to himself act for the +good of the people. The Queen looked on M. Necker's not accompanying the +King as treachery or criminal cowardice: she said that he had converted a +remedy into poison; that being in full popularity, his audacity, in openly +disavowing the step taken by his sovereign, had emboldened the factious, +and led away the whole Assembly; and that he was the more culpable +inasmuch as he had the evening before given her his word to accompany the +King. In vain did M. Necker endeavour to excuse himself by saying that +his advice had not been followed. + +Soon afterwards the insurrections of the 11th, 12th, and 14th of +July--[The Bastille was taken on the 14th July, 1789.]--opened the +disastrous drama with which France was threatened. The massacre of M. de +Flesselles and M. de Launay drew bitter tears from the Queen, and the idea +that the King had lost such devoted subjects wounded her to the heart. + +The character of the movement was no longer merely that of a popular +insurrection; cries of "Vive la Nation! Vive le Roi! Vive la Liberte!" +threw the strongest light upon the views of the reformers. Still the +people spoke of the King with affection, and appeared to think him +favourable to the national desire for the reform of what were called +abuses; but they imagined that he was restrained by the opinions and +influence of the Comte d'Artois and the Queen; and those two august +personages were therefore objects of hatred to the malcontents. The +dangers incurred by the Comte d'Artois determined the King's first step +with the States General. He attended their meeting on the morning of the +15th of July with his brothers, without pomp or escort; he spoke standing +and uncovered, and pronounced these memorable words: "I trust myself to +you; I only wish to be at one with my nation, and, counting on the +affection and fidelity of my subjects, I have given orders to the troops +to remove from Paris and Versailles." The King returned on foot from the +chamber of the States General to his palace; the deputies crowded after +him, and formed his escort, and that of the Princes who accompanied him. +The rage of the populace was pointed against the Comte d'Artois, whose +unfavourable opinion of the double representation was an odious crime in +their eyes. They repeatedly cried out, "The King for ever, in spite of +you and your opinions, Monseigneur!" One woman had the impudence to come +up to the King and ask him whether what he had been doing was done +sincerely, and whether he would not be forced to retract it. + +The courtyards of the Chateau were thronged with an immense concourse of +people; they demanded that the King and Queen, with their children, should +make their appearance in the balcony. The Queen gave me the key of the +inner doors, which led to the Dauphin's apartments, and desired me to go +to the Duchesse de Polignac to tell her that she wanted her son, and had +directed me to bring him myself into her room, where she waited to show +him to the people. The Duchess said this order indicated that she was not +to accompany the Prince. I did not answer; she squeezed my hand, saying, +"Ah! Madame Campan, what a blow I receive!" She embraced the child and me +with tears. She knew how much I loved and valued the goodness and the +noble simplicity of her disposition. I endeavoured to reassure her by +saying that I should bring back the Prince to her; but she persisted, and +said she understood the order, and knew what it meant. She then retired to +her private room, holding her handkerchief to her eyes. One of the +under-governesses asked me whether she might go with the Dauphin; I told +her the Queen had given no order to the contrary, and we hastened to her +Majesty, who was waiting to lead the Prince to the balcony. + +Having executed this sad commission, I went down into the courtyard, where +I mingled with the crowd. I heard a thousand vociferations; it was easy +to see, by the difference between the language and the dress of some +persons among the mob, that they were in disguise. A woman, whose face +was covered with a black lace veil, seized me by the arm with some +violence, and said, calling me by my name, "I know you very well; tell +your Queen not to meddle with government any longer; let her leave her +husband and our good States General to effect the happiness of the +people." At the same moment a man, dressed much in the style of a +marketman, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, seized me by the other +arm, and said, "Yes, yes; tell her over and over again that it will not be +with these States as with the others, which produced no good to the +people; that the nation is too enlightened in 1789 not to make something +more of them; and that there will not now be seen a deputy of the 'Tiers +Etat' making a speech with one knee on the ground; tell her this, do you +hear?" I was struck with dread; the Queen then appeared in the balcony. +"Ah!" said the woman in the veil, "the Duchess is not with her."--"No," +replied the man, "but she is still at Versailles; she is working +underground, molelike; but we shall know how to dig her out." The +detestable pair moved away from me, and I reentered the palace, scarcely +able to support myself. I thought it my duty to relate the dialogue of +these two strangers to the Queen; she made me repeat the particulars to +the King. + +About four in the afternoon I went across the terrace to Madame Victoire's +apartments; three men had stopped under the windows of the throne-chamber. +"Here is that throne," said one of them aloud, "the vestiges of which will +soon be sought for." He added a thousand invectives against their +Majesties. I went in to the Princess, who was at work alone in her +closet, behind a canvass blind, which prevented her from being seen by +those without. The three men were still walking upon the terrace; I +showed them to her, and told her what they had said. She rose to take a +nearer view of them, and informed me that one of them was named +Saint-Huruge; that he was sold to the Duc d'Orleans, and was furious +against the Government, because he had been confined once under a 'lettre +de cachet' as a bad character. + +The King was not ignorant of these popular threats; he also knew the days +on which money was scattered about Paris, and once or twice the Queen +prevented my going there, saying there would certainly be a riot the next +day, because she knew that a quantity of crown pieces had been distributed +in the faubourgs. + +[I have seen a six-franc crown piece, which certainly served to pay some +wretch on the night of the 12th of July; the words "Midnight, 12th July, +three pistols," were rather deeply engraven on it. They were, no doubt, a +password for the first insurrection.--MADAME COMPAN] + +On the evening of the 14th of July the King came to the Queen's +apartments, where I was with her Majesty alone; he conversed with her +respecting the scandalous report disseminated by the factious, that he had +had the Chamber of the National Assembly undermined, in order to blow it +up; but he added that it became him to treat such absurd assertions with +contempt, as usual; I ventured to tell him that I had the evening before +supped with M. Begouen, one of the deputies, who said that there were very +respectable persons who thought that this horrible contrivance had been +proposed without the King's knowledge. "Then," said his Majesty, "as the +idea of such an atrocity was not revolting to so worthy a man as M. +Begouen, I will order the chamber to be examined early to-morrow morning." +In fact, it will be seen by the King's, speech to the National Assembly, +on the 15th of July, that the suspicions excited obtained his attention. +"I know," said he in the speech in question, "that unworthy insinuations +have been made; I know there are those who have dared to assert that your +persons are not safe; can it be necessary to give you assurances upon the +subject of reports so culpable, denied beforehand by my known character?" + +The proceedings of the 15th of July produced no mitigation of the +disturbances. Successive deputations of poissardes came to request the +King to visit Paris, where his presence alone would put an end to the +insurrection. + +On the 16th a committee was held in the King's apartments, at which a most +important question was discussed: whether his Majesty should quit +Versailles and set off with the troops whom he had recently ordered to +withdraw, or go to Paris to tranquillise the minds of the people. The +Queen was for the departure. On the evening of the 16th she made me take +all her jewels out of their cases, to collect them in one small box, which +she might carry off in her own carriage. With my assistance she burnt a +large quantity of papers; for Versailles was then threatened with an early +visit of armed men from Paris. + +The Queen, on the morning of the 16th, before attending another committee +at the King's, having got her jewels ready, and looked over all her +papers, gave me one folded up but not sealed, and desired me not to read +it until she should give me an order to do so from the King's room, and +that then I was to execute its contents; but she returned herself about +ten in the morning; the affair was decided; the army was to go away +without the King; all those who were in imminent danger were to go at the +same time. "The King will go to the Hotel de Ville to-morrow," said the +Queen to me; "he did not choose this course for himself; there were long +debates on the question; at last the King put an end to them by rising and +saying, 'Well, gentlemen, we must decide; am I to go or to stay? I am +ready to do either.' The majority were for the King staying; time will +show whether the right choice has been made." I returned the Queen the +paper she had given me, which was now useless; she read it to me; it +contained her orders for the departure; I was to go with her, as well on +account of my office about her person as to serve as a teacher to Madame. +The Queen tore the paper, and said, with tears in her eyes, "When I wrote +this I thought it would be useful, but fate has ordered otherwise, to the +misfortune of us all, as I much fear." + +After the departure of the troops the new administration received thanks; +M. Necker was recalled. The artillery soldiers were undoubtedly +corrupted. "Wherefore all these guns?" exclaimed the crowds of women who +filled the streets. "Will you kill your mothers, your wives, your +children?"--"Don't be afraid," answered the soldiers; "these guns shall +rather be levelled against the tyrant's palace than against you!" + +The Comte d'Artois, the Prince de Conde, and their children set off at the +same time with the troops. The Duc and Duchesse de Polignac, their +daughter, the Duchesse de Guiche, the Comtesse Diane de Polignac, sister +of the Duke, and the Abbe de Baliviere, also emigrated on the same night. +Nothing could be more affecting than the parting of the Queen and her +friend; extreme misfortune had banished from their minds the recollection +of differences to which political opinions alone had given rise. The +Queen several times wished to go and embrace her once more after their +sorrowful adieu, but she was too closely watched. She desired M. Campan +to be present at the departure of the Duchess, and gave him a purse of +five hundred Louis, desiring him to insist upon her allowing the Queen to +lend her that sum to defray her expenses on the road. The Queen added +that she knew her situation; that she had often calculated her income, and +the expenses occasioned by her place at Court; that both husband and wife +having no other fortune than their official salaries, could not possibly +have saved anything, however differently people might think at Paris. + +M. Campan remained till midnight with the Duchess to see her enter her +carriage. She was disguised as a femme de chambre, and got up in front of +the Berlin; she requested M. Campan to remember her frequently to the +Queen, and then quitted for ever that palace, that favour, and that +influence which had raised her up such cruel enemies. On their arrival at +Sens the travellers found the people in a state of insurrection; they +asked all those who came from Paris whether the Polignacs were still with +the Queen. A group of inquisitive persons put that question to the Abbe +de Baliviere, who answered them in the firmest tone, and with the most +cavalier air, that they were far enough from Versailles, and that we had +got rid of all such bad people. At the following stage the postilion got +on the doorstep and said to the Duchess, "Madame, there are some good +people left in the world: I recognised you all at Sens." They gave the +worthy fellow a handful of gold. + +On the breaking out of these disturbances an old man above seventy years +of age gave the Queen an extraordinary proof of attachment and fidelity. +M. Peraque, a rich inhabitant of the colonies, father of M. d'Oudenarde, +was coming from Brussels to Paris; while changing horses he was met by a +young man who was leaving France, and who recommended him if he carried +any letters from foreign countries to burn them immediately, especially if +he had any for the Queen. M. Peraque had one from the Archduchess, the +Gouvernante of the Low Countries, for her Majesty. He thanked the +stranger, and carefully concealed his packet; but as he approached Paris +the insurrection appeared to him so general and so violent, that he +thought no means could be relied on for securing this letter from seizure. +He took upon him to unseal it, and learned it by heart, which was a +wonderful effort for a man at his time of life, as it contained four pages +of writing. On his arrival at Paris he wrote it down, and then presented +it to the Queen, telling her that the heart of an old and faithful subject +had given him courage to form and execute such a resolution. The Queen +received M. Peraque in her closet, and expressed her gratitude in an +affecting manner most honourable to the worthy old man. Her Majesty +thought the young stranger who had apprised him of the state of Paris was +Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was very devoted to her, and who +left Paris at that time. + +The Marquise de Tourzel replaced the Duchess de Polignac. She was +selected by the Queen as being the mother of a family and a woman of +irreproachable conduct, who had superintended the education of her own +daughters with the greatest success. + +The King went to Paris on the 17th of July, accompanied by the Marechal de +Beauvau, the Duc de Villeroi, and the Duc de Villequier; he also took the +Comte d'Estaing, and the Marquis de Nesle, who were then very popular, in +his carriage. Twelve Body Guards, and the town guard of Versailles, +escorted him to the Pont du Jour, near Sevres, where the Parisian guard +was waiting for him. His departure caused equal grief and alarm to his +friends, notwithstanding the calmness he exhibited. The Queen restrained +her tears, and shut herself up in her private rooms with her family. She +sent for several persons belonging to her Court; their doors were locked. +Terror had driven them away. The silence of death reigned throughout the +palace; they hardly dared hope that the King would return? The Queen had +a robe prepared for her, and sent orders to her stables to have all her +equipages ready. She wrote an address of a few lines for the Assembly, +determining to go there with her family, the officers of her palace, and +her servants, if the King should be detained prisoner at Paris. She got +this address by heart; it began with these words: "Gentlemen, I come to +place in your hands the wife and family of your sovereign; do not suffer +those who have been united in heaven to be put asunder on earth." While +she was repeating this address she was often interrupted by tears, and +sorrowfully exclaimed: "They will not let him return!" + +It was past four when the King, who had left Versailles at ten in the +morning, entered the Hotel de Ville. At length, at six in the evening, M. +de Lastours, the King's first page, arrived; he was not half an hour in +coming from the Barriere de la Conference to Versailles. Everybody knows +that the moment of calm in Paris was that in which the unfortunate +sovereign received the tricoloured cockade from M. Bailly, and placed it +in his hat. A shout of "Vive le Roi!" arose on all sides; it had not been +once uttered before. The King breathed again, and with tears in his eyes +exclaimed that his heart stood in need of such greetings from the people. +One of his equerries (M. de Cubieres) told him the people loved him, and +that he could never have doubted it. The King replied in accents of +profound sensibility: + +"Cubieres, the French loved Henri IV., and what king ever better deserved +to be beloved?" + +[Louis XVI. cherished the memory of Henri IV.: at that moment he thought +of his deplorable end; but he long before regarded him as a model. +Soulavie says on the subject: "A tablet with the inscription 'Resurrexit' +placed upon the pedestal of Henri IV.'s statue on the accession of Louis +XVI. flattered him exceedingly. 'What a fine compliment,' said he, 'if it +were true! Tacitus himself never wrote anything so concise or so happy.' +Louis XVI. wished to take the reign of that Prince for a model. In the +following year the party that raised a commotion among the people on +account of the dearness of corn removed the tablet inscribed Resurrexit +from the statue of Henri IV., and placed it under that of Louis XV., whose +memory was then detested, as he was believed to have traded on the +scarcity of food. Louis XVI., who was informed of it, withdrew into his +private apartments, where he was found in a fever shedding tears; and +during the whole of that day he could not be prevailed upon either to +dine, walk out, or sup. From this circumstance we may judge what he +endured at the commencement of the Revolution, when he was accused of not +loving the French people."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +His return to Versailles filled his family with inexpressible joy; in the +arms of the Queen, his sister, and his children, he congratulated himself +that no accident had happened; and he repeated several times, "Happily no +blood has been shed, and I swear that never shall a drop of French blood +be shed by my order,"--a determination full of humanity, but too openly +avowed in such factious times! + +The King's last measure raised a hope in many that general tranquillity +would soon enable the Assembly to resume its, labours, and promptly bring +its session to a close. The Queen never flattered herself so far; M. +Bailly's speech to the King had equally wounded her pride and hurt her +feelings. "Henri IV. conquered his people, and here are the people +conquering their King." The word "conquest" offended her; she never +forgave M. Bailly for this fine academical phrase. + +Five days after the King's visit to Paris, the departure of the troops, +and the removal of the Princes and some of the nobility whose influence +seemed to alarm the people, a horrible deed committed by hired assassins +proved that the King had descended the steps of his throne without having +effected a reconciliation with his people. + +M. Foulon, adjoint to the administration while M. de Broglie was +commanding the army assembled at Versailles, had concealed himself at +Viry. He was there recognised, and the peasants seized him, and dragged +him to the Hotel de Ville. The cry for death was heard; the electors, the +members of committee, and M. de La Fayette, at that time the idol of +Paris, in vain endeavoured to save the unfortunate man. After tormenting +him in a manner which makes humanity shudder, his body was dragged about +the streets, and to the Palais Royal, and his heart was carried by women +in the midst of a bunch of white carnations! M. Berthier, M. Foulon's +son-in-law, intendant of Paris, was seized at Compiegne, at the same time +that his father-in-law was seized at Viry, and treated with still more +relentless cruelty. + +The Queen was always persuaded that this horrible deed was occasioned by +some indiscretion; and she informed me that M. Foulon had drawn up two +memorials for the direction of the King's conduct at the time of his being +called to Court on the removal of M. Necker; and that these memorials +contained two schemes of totally different nature for extricating the King +from the dreadful situation in which he was placed. In the first of these +projects M. Foulon expressed himself without reserve respecting the +criminal views of the Duc d'Orleans; said that he ought to be put under +arrest, and that no time should be lost in commencing a prosecution +against him, while the criminal tribunals were still in existence; he +likewise pointed out such deputies as should be apprehended, and advised +the King not to separate himself from his army until order was restored. + +His other plan was that the King should make himself master of the +revolution before its complete explosion; he advised his Majesty to go to +the Assembly, and there, in person, to demand the cahiers, and to make +the greatest sacrifices to satisfy the legitimate wishes of the people, +and not to give the factious time to enlist them in aid of their +criminal designs. + +[Cahiers, the memorials or lists of complaints, grievances, and +requirements of the electors drawn up by the primary assemblies and sent +with the deputies.] + +Madame Adelaide had M. Foulon's two memorials read to her in the +presence of four or five persons. One of them, Comte Louis de Narbonne, +was very intimate with Madame de Stael, and that intimacy gave the Queen +reason to believe that the opposite party had gained information of M. +Foulon's schemes. + +It is known that young Barnave, during an aberration of mind, since +expiated by sincere repentance, and even by death, uttered these atrocious +words: "Is then the blood now, flowing so pure?" when M. Berthier's son +came to the Assembly to implore the eloquence of M. de Lally to entreat +that body to save his father's life. I have since been informed that a +son of M. Foulon, having returned to France after these first ebullitions +of the Revolution, saw Barnave, and gave him one of those memorials in +which M. Foulon advised Louis XVI. to prevent the revolutionary explosion +by voluntarily granting all that the Assembly required before the 14th of +July. "Read this memorial," said he; "I have brought it to increase your +remorse: it is the only revenge I wish to inflict on you." Barnave burst +into tears, and said to him all that the profoundest grief could dictate. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +After the 14th of July, by a manoeuvre for which the most skilful factions +of any age might have envied the Assembly, the whole population of France +was armed and organised into a National Guard. A report was spread +throughout France on the same day, and almost at the same hour, that four +thousand brigands were marching towards such towns or villages as it was +wished to induce to take arms. Never was any plan better laid; terror +spread at the same moment all over the kingdom. In 1791 a peasant showed +me a steep rock in the mountains of the Mont d'Or on which his wife +concealed herself on the day when the four thousand brigands were to +attack their village, and told me they had been obliged to make use of +ropes to let her down from the height which fear alone had enabled her to +climb. + +Versailles was certainly the place where the national military uniform +appeared most offensive. All the King's valets, even of the lowest class, +were metamorphosed into lieutenants or captains; almost all the musicians +of the chapel ventured one day to make their appearance at the King's mass +in a military costume; and an Italian soprano adopted the uniform of a +grenadier captain. The King was very much offended at this conduct, and +forbade his servants to appear in his presence in so unsuitable a dress. + +The departure of the Duchesse de Polignac naturally left the Abbe de +Vermond exposed to all the dangers of favouritism. He was already talked +of as an adviser dangerous to the nation. The Queen was alarmed at it, +and recommended him to remove to Valenciennes, where Count Esterhazy was +in command. He was obliged to leave that place in a few days and set off +for Vienna, where he remained. + +On the night of the 17th of July the Queen, being unable to sleep, made me +watch by her until three in the morning. I was extremely surprised to +hear her say that it would be a very long time before the Abbe de Vermond +would make his appearance at Court again, even if the existing ferment +should subside, because he would not readily be forgiven for his +attachment to the Archbishop of Sens; and that she had lost in him a very +devoted servant. Then she suddenly remarked to me, that although he was +not much prejudiced against me I could not have much regard for him, +because he could not bear my father-in-law to hold the place of secretary +of the closet. She went on to say that I must have studied the Abbe's +character, and, as I had sometimes drawn her portraits of living +characters, in imitation of those which were fashionable in the time of +Louis XIV., she desired me to sketch that of the Abbe, without any +reserve. My astonishment was extreme; the Queen spoke of the man who, the +day before, had been in the greatest intimacy with her with the utmost +coolness, and as a person whom, perhaps, she might never see again! I +remained petrified; the Queen persisted, and told me that he had been the +enemy of my family for more than twelve years, without having been able to +injure it in her opinion; so that I had no occasion to dread his return, +however severely I might depict him. I promptly summarised my ideas about +the favourite; but I only remember that the portrait was drawn with +sincerity, except that everything which could denote antipathy was kept +out of it. I shall make but one extract from it: I said that he had been +born talkative and indiscreet, and had assumed a character of singularity +and abruptness in order to conceal those two failings. The Queen +interrupted me by saying, "Ah! how true that is!" I have since discovered +that, notwithstanding the high favour which the Abbe de Vermond enjoyed, +the Queen took precautions to guard herself against an ascendency the +consequences of which she could not calculate. + +On the death of my father-in-law his executors placed in my hands a box +containing a few jewels deposited by the Queen with M. Campan on the +departure from Versailles of the 6th of October, and two sealed packets, +each inscribed, "Campan will take care of these papers for me." I took +the two packets to her Majesty, who kept the jewels and the larger packet, +and, returning me the smaller, said, "Take care of that for me as your +father-in-law did." + +After the fatal 10th of August, 1792,--[The day of the attack on the +Tuileries, slaughter of the Swiss guard, and suspension of the King from +his functions.]--when my house was about to be surrounded, I determined to +burn the most interesting papers of which I was the depositary; I thought +it my duty, however, to open this packet, which it might perhaps be +necessary for me to preserve at all hazards. I saw that it contained a +letter from the Abbe de Vermond to the Queen. I have already related that +in the earlier days of Madame de Polignac's favour he determined to remove +from Versailles, and that the Queen recalled him by means of the Comte de +Mercy. This letter contained nothing but certain conditions for his +return; it was the most whimsical of treaties; I confess I greatly +regretted being under the necessity of destroying it. He reproached the +Queen for her infatuation for the Comtesse Jules, her family, and society; +and told her several truths about the possible consequences of a +friendship which ranked that lady among the favourites of the Queens of +France, a title always disliked by the nation. He complained that his +advice was neglected, and then came to the conditions of his return to +Versailles; after strong assurances that he would never, in all his life, +aim at the higher church dignities, he said that he delighted in an +unbounded confidence; and that he asked but two things of her Majesty as +essential: the first was, not to give him her orders through any third +person, and to write to him herself; he complained much that he had had no +letter in her own hand since he had left Vienna; then he demanded of her +an income of eighty thousand livres, in ecclesiastical benefices; and +concluded by saying that, if she condescended to assure him herself that +she would set about procuring him what he wished, her letter would be +sufficient in itself to show him that her Majesty had accepted the two +conditions he ventured to make respecting his return. No doubt the letter +was written; at least it is very certain that the benefices were granted, +and that his absence from Versailles lasted only a single week. + +In the course of July, 1789, the regiment of French guards, which had been +in a state of insurrection from the latter end of June, abandoned its +colours. One single company of grenadiers remained faithful, to its post +at Versailles. M. le Baron de Leval was the captain of this company. He +came every evening to request me to give the Queen an account of the +disposition of his soldiers; but M. de La Fayette having sent them a note, +they all deserted during the night and joined their comrades, who were +enrolled in the Paris guard; so that Louis XVI. on rising saw no guard +whatever at the various posts entrusted to them. + +The decrees of the 4th of August, by which all privileges were abolished, +are well known. + +["It was during the night of the 4th of August," says Rivarol, "that the +demagogues of the nobility, wearied with a protracted discussion upon the +rights of man, and burning to signalise their zeal, rose all at once, and +with loud exclamations called for the last sighs of the feudal system. +This demand electrified the Assembly. All heads were frenzied. The +younger sons of good families, having nothing, were delighted to sacrifice +their too fortunate elders upon the altar of the country; a few country +cures felt no less pleasure in renouncing the benefices of others; but +what posterity will hardly believe is that the same enthusiasm infected +the whole nobility; zeal walked hand in hand with malevolence; they made +sacrifice upon sacrifice. And as in Japan the point of honour lies in a +man's killing himself in the presence of the person who has offended him, +so did the deputies of the nobility vie in striking at themselves and +their constituents. The people who were present at this noble contest +increased the intoxication of their new allies by their shouts; and the +deputies of the commons, seeing that this memorable night would only +afford them profit without honour, consoled their self-love by wondering +at what Nobility, grafted upon the Third Estate, could do. They named +that night the 'night of dupes'; the nobles called it the 'night of +sacrifices'."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The King sanctioned all that tended to the diminution of his own personal +gratifications, but refused his consent to the other decrees of that +tumultuous night; this refusal was one of the chief causes of the ferments +of the month of October. + +In the early part of September meetings were held at the Palais Royal, and +propositions made to go to Versailles; it was said to be necessary to +separate the King from his evil counsellors, and keep him, as well as the +Dauphin, at the Louvre. The proclamations by the officers of the commune +for the restoration of tranquillity were ineffectual; but M. de La Fayette +succeeded this time in dispersing the populace. The Assembly declared +itself permanent; and during the whole of September, in which no doubt the +preparations were made for the great insurrections of the following month, +the Court was not disturbed. + +The King had the Flanders regiment removed to Versailles; unfortunately +the idea of the officers of that regiment fraternising with the Body +Guards was conceived, and the latter invited the former to a dinner, which +was given in the great theatre of Versailles, and not in the Salon of +Hercules, as some chroniclers say. Boxes were appropriated to various +persons who wished to be present at this entertainment. The Queen told me +she had been advised to make her appearance on the occasion, but that +under existing circumstances she thought such a step might do more harm +than good; and that, moreover, neither she nor the King ought directly to +have anything to do with such a festival. She ordered me to go, and +desired me to observe everything closely, in order to give a faithful +account of the whole affair. + +The tables were set out upon the stage; at them were placed one of the +Body Guard and an officer of the Flanders regiment alternately. There was +a numerous orchestra in the room, and the boxes were filled with +spectators. The air, "O Richard, O mon Roi!" was played, and shouts of +"Vive de Roi!" shook the roof for several minutes. I had with me one of +my nieces, and a young person brought up with Madame by her Majesty. They +were crying "Vive le Roi!" with all their might when a deputy of the Third +Estate, who was in the next box to mine, and whom I had never seen, called +to them, and reproached them for their exclamations; it hurt him, he said, +to see young and handsome Frenchwomen brought up in such servile habits, +screaming so outrageously for the life of one man, and with true +fanaticism exalting him in their hearts above even their dearest +relations; he told them what contempt worthy American women would feel on +seeing Frenchwomen thus corrupted from their earliest infancy. My niece +replied with tolerable spirit, and I requested the deputy to put an end to +the subject, which could by no means afford him any satisfaction, inasmuch +as the young persons who were with me lived, as well as myself, for the +sole purpose of serving and loving the King. While I was speaking what +was my astonishment at seeing the King, the Queen, and the Dauphin enter +the chamber! It was M. de Luxembourg who had effected this change in the +Queen's determination. + +The enthusiasm became general; the moment their Majesties arrived the +orchestra repeated the air I have just mentioned, and afterwards played a +song in the "Deserter," "Can we grieve those whom we love?" which also +made a powerful impression upon those present: on all sides were heard +praises of their Majesties, exclamations of affection, expressions of +regret for what they had suffered, clapping of hands, and shouts of "Vive +le Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!" It has been said that white +cockades were worn on this occasion; that was not the case; the fact is, +that a few young men belonging to the National Guard of Versailles, who +were invited to the entertainment, turned the white lining of their +national cockades outwards. All the military men quitted the hall, and +reconducted the King and his family to their apartments. There was +intoxication in these ebullitions of joy: a thousand extravagances were +committed by the military, and many of them danced under the King's +windows; a soldier belonging to the Flanders regiment climbed up to the +balcony of the King's chamber in order to shout "Vive le Roi!" nearer his +Majesty; this very soldier, as I have been told by several officers of the +corps, was one of the first and most dangerous of their insurgents in the +riots of the 5th and 6th of October. On the same evening another soldier +of that regiment killed himself with a sword. One of my relations, +chaplain to the Queen, who supped with me, saw him stretched out in a +corner of the Place d'Armes; he went to him to give him spiritual +assistance, and received his confession and his last sighs. He destroyed +himself out of regret at having suffered himself to be corrupted by the +enemies of his King, and said that, since he had seen him and the Queen +and the Dauphin, remorse had turned his brain. + +I returned home, delighted with all that I had seen. + +I found a great many people there. M. de Beaumetz, deputy for Arras, +listened to my description with a chilling air, and, when I had finished, +told me that all that had passed was terrific; that he knew the +disposition of the Assembly, and that the greatest misfortunes would +follow the drama of that night; and he begged my leave to withdraw that he +might take time for deliberate reflection whether he should on the very +next day emigrate, or pass over to the left side of the Assembly. He +adopted the latter course, and never appeared again among my associates. + +On the 2d of October the military entertainment was followed up by a +breakfast given at the hotel of the Body Guards. It is said that a +discussion took place whether they should not march against the Assembly; +but I am utterly ignorant of what passed at that breakfast. From that +moment Paris was constantly in commotion; there were continual mobs, and +the most virulent proposals were heard in all public places; the +conversation was invariably about proceeding to Versailles. The King and +Queen did not seem apprehensive of such a measure, and took no precaution +against it; even when the army had actually left Paris, on the evening of +the 5th of October, the King was shooting at Meudon, and the Queen was +alone in her gardens at Trianon, which she then beheld for the last time +in her life. She was sitting in her grotto absorbed in painful +reflection, when she received a note from the Comte de Saint-Priest, +entreating her to return to Versailles. M. de Cubieres at the same time +went off to request the King to leave his sport and return to the palace; +the King did so on horseback, and very leisurely. A few minutes +afterwards he was informed that a numerous body of women, which preceded +the Parisian army, was at Chaville, at the entrance of the avenue from +Paris. + +The scarcity of bread and the entertainment of the Body Guards were the +pretexts for the insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789; but it +is clear to demonstration that this new movement of the people was a part +of the original plan of the factious, insomuch as, ever since the +beginning of September, a report had been industriously circulated that +the King intended to withdraw, with his family and ministers, to some +stronghold; and at all the popular assemblies there had been always a +great deal said about going to Versailles to seize the King. + +At first only women showed themselves; the latticed doors of the Chateau +were closed, and the Body Guard and Flanders regiment were drawn up in the +Place d'Armes. As the details of that dreadful day are given with +precision in several works, I will only observe that general consternation +and disorder reigned throughout the interior of the palace. + +I was not in attendance on the Queen at this time. M. Campan remained +with her till two in the morning. As he was leaving her she +condescendingly, and with infinite kindness, desired him to make me easy +as to the dangers of the moment, and to repeat to me M. de La Fayette's +own words, which he had just used on soliciting the royal family to retire +to bed, undertaking to answer for his army. + +The Queen was far from relying upon M. de La Fayette's loyalty; but she +has often told me that she believed on that day, that La Fayette, having +affirmed to the King, in the presence of a crowd of witnesses, that he +would answer for the army of Paris, would not risk his honour as a +commander, and was sure of being able to redeem his pledge. She also +thought the Parisian army was devoted to him, and that all he said about +his being forced to march upon Versailles was mere pretence. + +On the first intimation of the march of the Parisians, the Comte de +Saint-Priest prepared Rambouillet for the reception of the King, his +family, and suite, and the carriages were even drawn out; but a few cries +of "Vive le Roi!" when the women reported his Majesty's favourable +answer, occasioned the intention of going away to be given up, and orders +were given to the troops to withdraw. + +[Compare this account with the particulars given in the "Memoirs" of +Ferribres, Weber, Bailly, and Saint-Priest, from the latter of which the +following sentence is taken: + +"M. d'Estaing knew not what to do with the Body Guards beyond bringing +them into the courtyard of the ministers, and shutting the grilles. +Thence they proceeded to the terrace of the Chateau, then to Trianon, and +lastly to Rambouillet. + +"I could not refrain from expressing to M. d'Estaing, when he came to the +King, my astonishment at not seeing him make any military disposition. +'Monsieur,' replied he, 'I await the orders of the King' (who did not open +his mouth). 'When the King gives no orders,' pursued I, 'a general should +decide for himself in a soldierly manner.' This observation remained +unanswered."] + +The Body Guards were, however, assailed with stones and musketry while +they were passing from the Place d'Armes to, their hotel. Alarm revived; +again it was thought necessary that the royal family should go away; some +carriages still remained ready for travelling; they were called for; they +were stopped by a wretched player belonging to the theatre of the town, +seconded by the mob: the opportunity for flight had been lost. + +The insurrection was directed against the Queen in particular; I shudder +even now at the recollection of the poissardes, or rather furies, who wore +white aprons, which they screamed out were intended to receive the bowels +of Marie Antoinette, and that they would make cockades of them, mixing the +most obscene expressions with these horrible threats. + +The Queen went to bed at two in the morning, and even slept, tired out +with the events of so distressing a day. She had ordered her two women to +bed, imagining there was nothing to dread, at least for that night; but +the unfortunate Princess was indebted for her life to that feeling of +attachment which prevented their obeying her. My sister, who was one of +the ladies in question, informed me next day of all that I am about to +relate. + +On leaving the Queen's bedchamber, these ladies called their femmes de +chambre, and all four remained sitting together against her Majesty's +bedroom door. About half-past four in the morning they heard horrible +yells and discharges of firearms; one ran to the Queen to awaken her and +get her out of bed; my sister flew to the place from which the tumult +seemed to proceed; she opened the door of the antechamber which leads to +the great guard-room, and beheld one of the Body Guard holding his musket +across the door, and attacked by a mob, who were striking at him; his face +was covered with blood; he turned round and exclaimed: "Save the Queen, +madame; they are come to assassinate her!" She hastily shut the door upon +the unfortunate victim of duty, fastened it with the great bolt, and took +the same precaution on leaving the next room. On reaching the Queen's +chamber she cried out to her, "Get up, Madame! Don't stay to dress +yourself; fly to the King's apartment!" The terrified Queen threw herself +out of bed; they put a petticoat upon her without tying it, and the two +ladies conducted her towards the oile-de-boeuf. A door, which led from +the Queen's dressing-room to that apartment, had never before been +fastened but on her side. What a dreadful moment! It was found to be +secured on the other side. They knocked repeatedly with all their +strength; a servant of one of the King's valets de chambre came and opened +it; the Queen entered the King's chamber, but he was not there. Alarmed +for the Queen's life, he had gone down the staircases and through the +corridors under the oeil-de-boeuf, by means of which he was accustomed to +go to the Queen's apartments without being under the necessity of crossing +that room. He entered her Majesty's room and found no one there but some +Body Guards, who had taken refuge in it. The King, unwilling to expose +their lives, told them to wait a few minutes, and afterwards sent to +desire them to go to the oeil-de-boeuf. Madame de Tourzel, at that time +governess of the children of France, had just taken Madame and the Dauphin +to the King's apartments. The Queen saw her children again. The reader +must imagine this scene of tenderness and despair. + +It is not true that the assassins penetrated to the Queen's chamber and +pierced the bed with their swords. The fugitive Body Guards were the only +persons who entered it; and if the crowd had reached so far they would all +have been massacred. Besides, when the rebels had forced the doors of the +antechamber, the footmen and officers on duty, knowing that the Queen was +no longer in her apartments, told them so with that air of truth which +always carries conviction. The ferocious horde instantly rushed towards +the oeil-de-boeuf, hoping, no doubt, to intercept her on her way. + +Many have asserted that they recognised the Duc d'Orleans in a greatcoat +and slouched hat, at half-past four in the morning, at the top of the +marble staircase, pointing out with his hand the guard-room, which led to +the Queen's apartments. This fact was deposed to at the Chatelet by +several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted respecting the +transactions of the 5th and 6th of October. + +[The National Assembly was sitting when information of the march of the +Parisians was given to it by one of the deputies who came from Paris. A +certain number of the members were no strangers, to this movement. It +appears that Mirabeau wished to avail himself of it to raise the Duc +d'Orleans to the throne. Mounier, who presided over the National +Assembly, rejected the idea with horror. "My good man," said Mirabeau to +him, "what difference will it make to you to have Louis XVII. for your +King instead of Louis XVI.?" (The Duc d'Orleans was baptised Louis.)] + +The prudence and honourable feeling of several officers of the Parisian +guards, and the judicious conduct of M. de Vaudreuil, lieutenant-general +of marine, and of M. de Chevanne, one of the King's Guards, brought about +an understanding between the grenadiers of the National Guard of Paris and +the King's Guard. The doors of the oeil-de-boeuf were closed, and the +antechamber which precedes that room was filled with grenadiers who wanted +to get in to massacre the Guards. M. de Chevanne offered himself to them +as a victim if they wished for one, and demanded what they would have. A +report had been spread through their ranks that the Body Guards set them +at defiance, and that they all wore black cockades. M. de Chevanne showed +them that he wore, as did the corps, the cockade of their uniform; and +promised that the Guards should exchange it for that of the nation. This +was done; they even went so far as to exchange their grenadiers' caps for +the hats of the Body Guards; those who were on guard took off their +shoulder-belts; embraces and transports of fraternisation instantly +succeeded to the savage eagerness to murder the band which had shown so +much fidelity to its sovereign. The cry was now "Vivent le Roi, la +Nation, et les Gardes-du-corps!" + +The army occupied the Place d'Armes, all the courtyards of the Chateau, +and the entrance to the avenue. They called for the Queen to appear in +the balcony: she came forward with Madame and the Dauphin. There was a +cry of "No children!" Was this with a view to deprive her of the interest +she inspired, accompanied as she was by her young family, or did the +leaders of the democrats hope that some madman would venture to aim a +mortal blow at her person? The unfortunate Princess certainly was +impressed with the latter idea, for she sent away her children, and with +her hands and eyes raised towards heaven, advanced upon the balcony like a +self-devoted victim. + +A few voices shouted "To Paris!" The exclamation soon became general. +Before the King agreed to this removal he wished to consult the National +Assembly, and caused that body to be invited to sit at the Chateau. +Mirabeau opposed this measure. While these discussions were going forward +it became more and more difficult to restrain the immense disorderly +multitude. The King, without consulting any one, now said to the people: +"You wish, my children, that I should follow you to Paris: I consent, but +on condition that I shall not be separated from my wife and family." The +King added that he required safety also for his Guards; he was answered by +shouts of "Vivo le Roi! Vivent les Gardes-du-corps!" The Guards, with +their hats in the air, turned so as to exhibit the cockade, shouted "Vive +le Roi! Vive la Nation!" shortly afterwards a general discharge of all +the muskets took place, in token of joy. The King and Queen set off from +Versailles at one o'clock. The Dauphin, Madame, the King's daughter, +Monsieur, Madame,--[Madame, here, the wife of Monsieur le Comte de +Provence.]--Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de Tourzel, were in the carriage; +the Princesse de Chimay and the ladies of the bedchamber for the week, the +King's suite and servants, followed in Court carriages; a hundred deputies +in carriages, and the bulk of the Parisian army, closed the procession. + +The poissardes went before and around the carriage of their Majesties, +Crying, "We shall no longer want bread! We have the baker, the baker's +wife, and the baker's boy with us!" In the midst of this troop of +cannibals the heads of two murdered Body Guards were carried on poles. The +monsters, who made trophies of them, conceived the horrid idea of forcing +a wigmaker of Sevres to dress them up and powder their bloody locks. The +unfortunate man who was forced to perform this dreadful work died in +consequence of the shock it gave him. + +[The King did not leave Versailles till one o'clock. The Queen, the +Dauphin, Madame Royale, Monsieur, Madame Elisabeth, and Madame de Tourzel +were in his Majesty's carriage. The hundred deputies in their carriages +came next. A detachment of brigands, bearing the heads of the two Body +Guards in triumph, formed the advance guard, and set out two hours +earlier. These cannibals stopped a moment at Sevres, and carried their +cruelty to the length of forcing an unfortunate hairdresser to dress the +gory heads; the bulk of the Parisian army followed them closely. The +King's carriage was preceded by the 'poissardes', who had arrived the day +before from Paris, and a rabble of prostitutes, the vile refuse of their +sex, still drunk with fury and wine. Several of them rode astride upon +cannons, boasting, in the most horrible songs, of the crimes they had +committed themselves, or seen others commit. Those who were nearest the +King's carriage sang ballads, the allusions in which by means of their +vulgar gestures they applied to the Queen. Wagons, full of corn and +flour,--which had been brought into Versailles, formed a train escorted by +grenadiers, and surrounded by women and bullies, some armed with pikes, +and some carrying long branches of poplar. At some distance this part of +the procession had a most singular effect: it looked like a moving forest, +amidst which shone pike-heads and gun-barrels. In the paroxysms of their +brutal joy the women stopped passengers, and, pointing to the King's +carriage, howled in their ears: "Cheer up, friends; we shall no longer be +in want of bread! We bring you the baker, the baker's wife, and the +baker's little boy!" Behind his Majesty's carriage were several of his +faithful Guards, some on foot, and some on horseback, most of them +uncovered, all unarmed, and worn out with hunger and fatigue; the +dragoons, the Flanders regiment, the hundred Swiss, and the National +Guards preceded, accompanied, or followed the file of carriages. I +witnessed this heartrending spectacle; I saw the ominous procession. In +the midst of all the tumult, clamour, and singing, interrupted by frequent +discharges of musketry, which the hand of a monster or a bungler might so +easily render fatal, I saw the Queen preserving most courageous +tranquillity of soul, and an air of nobleness and inexpressible dignity, +and my eyes were suffused with tears of admiration and grief.--"Memoirs of +Bertrand de Molleville."] + +The progress of the procession was so slow that it was near six in the +evening when this august family, made prisoners by their own people, +arrived at the Hotel de Ville. Bailly received them there; they were +placed upon a throne, just when that of their ancestors had been +overthrown. The King spoke in a firm yet gracious manner; he said that he +always came with pleasure and confidence among the inhabitants of his good +city of Paris. M. Bailly repeated this observation to the representatives +of the commune, who came to address the King; but he forgot the word +confidence. The Queen instantly and loudly reminded him of the omission. +The King and Queen, their children, and Madame Elisabeth, retired to the +Tuileries. Nothing was ready for their reception there. All the +living-rooms had been long given up to persons belonging to the Court; +they hastily quitted them on that day, leaving their furniture, which was +purchased by the Court. The Comtesse de la Marck, sister to the Marechaux +de Noailles and de Mouchy, had occupied the apartments now appropriated to +the Queen. Monsieur and Madame retired to the Luxembourg. + +The Queen had sent for me on the morning of the 6th of October, to leave +me and my father-in-law in charge of her most valuable property. She took +away only her casket of diamonds. Comte Gouvernet de la Tour-du-Pin, to +whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted 'pro tempore', +came and gave orders to the National Guard, which had taken possession of +the apartments, to allow us to remove everything that we should deem +necessary for the Queen's accommodation. + +I saw her Majesty alone in her private apartments a moment before her +departure for Paris; she could hardly speak; tears bedewed her face, to +which all the blood in her body seemed to have rushed; she condescended to +embrace me, gave her hand to M. Campan to kiss, and said to us, "Come +immediately and settle at Paris; I will lodge you at the Tuileries; come, +and do not leave me henceforward; faithful servants at moments like these +become useful friends; we are lost, dragged away, perhaps to death; when +kings become prisoners they are very near it." + +I had frequent opportunities during the course of our misfortunes of +observing that the people never entirely give their allegiance to factious +leaders, but easily escape their control when some cause reminds them of +their duty. As soon as the most violent Jacobins had an opportunity of +seeing the Queen near at hand, of speaking to her, and of hearing her +voice, they became her most zealous partisans; and even when she was in +the prison of the Temple several of those who had contributed to place her +there perished for having attempted to get her out again. + +On the morning of the 7th of October the same women who the day before +surrounded the carriage of the august prisoners, riding on cannons and +uttering the most abusive language, assembled under the Queen's windows, +upon the terrace of the Chateau, and desired to see her. Her Majesty +appeared. There are always among mobs of this description orators, that +is to say, beings who have more assurance than the rest; a woman of this +description told the Queen that she must now remove far from her all such +courtiers as ruin kings, and that she must love the inhabitants of her +good city. The Queen answered that she had loved them at Versailles, and +would likewise love them at Paris. "Yes, yes," said another; "but on the +14th of July you wanted to besiege the city and have it bombarded; and on +the 6th of October you wanted to fly to the frontiers." The Queen +replied, affably, that they had been told so, and had believed it; that +there lay the cause of the unhappiness of the people and of the best of +kings. A third addressed a few words to her in German: the Queen told her +she did not understand it; that she had become so entirely French as even +to have forgotten her mother tongue. This declaration was answered with +"Bravo!" and clapping of hands; they then desired her to make a compact +with them. "Ah," said she, "how can I make a compact with you, since you +have no faith in that which my duty points out to me, and which I ought +for my own happiness to respect?" They asked her for the ribbons and +flowers out of her hat; her Majesty herself unfastened them and gave them; +they were divided among the party, which for above half an hour cried out, +without ceasing, "Marie Antoinette for ever! Our good Queen for ever!" + +Two days after the King's arrival at Paris, the city and the National +Guard sent to request the Queen to appear at the theatre, and prove by her +presence and the King's that it was with pleasure they resided in their +capital. I introduced the deputation which came to make this request. +Her Majesty replied that she should have infinite pleasure in acceding to +the invitation of the city of Paris; but that time must be allowed her to +soften the recollection of the distressing events which had just occurred, +and from which she had suffered too much. She added, that having come +into Paris preceded by the heads of the faithful Guards who had perished +before the door of their sovereign, she could not think that such an entry +into the capital ought to be followed by rejoicings; but that the +happiness she had always felt in appearing in the midst of the inhabitants +of Paris was not effaced from her memory, and that she should enjoy it +again as soon as she found herself able to do so. + +Their Majesties found some consolation in their private life: from +Madame's--[Madame, here, the Princesse Marie Therese, daughter of Marie +Antoinette.]--gentle manners and filial affection, from the +accomplishments and vivacity of the little Dauphin, and the attention and +tenderness of the pious Princess Elisabeth, they still derived moments of +happiness. The young Prince daily gave proofs of sensibility and +penetration; he was not yet beyond female care, but a private tutor, the +Abbe Davout, gave him all the instruction suitable to his age; his memory +was highly cultivated, and he recited verses with much grace and feeling. + +[On the 19th of October, that is to say, thirteen days after he had taken +up his abode at Paris, the King went, on foot and almost alone, to review +some detachments of the National Guard. After the review Louis XVI. met +with a child sweeping the street, who asked him for money. The child +called the King "M. le Chevalier." His Majesty gave him six francs. The +little sweeper, surprised at receiving so large a sum, cried out, "Oh! I +have no change; you will give me money another time." A person who +accompanied the monarch said to the child, "Keep it all, my friend; the +gentleman is not chevalier, he is the eldest of the family."--NOTE BY THE +EDITOR.] + +The day after the arrival of the Court at Paris, terrified at hearing some +noise in the gardens of the Tuileries, the young prince threw himself into +the arms of the Queen, crying out, "Grand-Dieu, mamma! will it be +yesterday over again?" A few days after this affecting exclamation, he +went up to the King, and looked at him with a pensive air. The King asked +him what he wanted; he answered, that he had something very serious to say +to him. The King having prevailed on him to explain himself, the young +Prince asked why his people, who formerly loved him so well, were all at +once angry with him; and what he had done to irritate them so much. His +father took him upon his knees, and spoke to him nearly as follows: "I +wished, child, to render the people still happier than they were; I wanted +money to pay the expenses occasioned by wars. I asked my people for +money, as my predecessors have always done; magistrates, composing the +Parliament, opposed it, and said that my people alone had a right to +consent to it. I assembled the principal inhabitants of every town, +whether distinguished by birth, fortune, or talents, at Versailles; that +is what is called the States General. When they were assembled they +required concessions of me which I could not make, either with due respect +for myself or with justice to you, who will be my successor; wicked men +inducing the people to rise have occasioned the excesses of the last few +days; the people must not be blamed for them." + +The Queen made the young Prince clearly comprehend that he ought to treat +the commanders of battalions, the officers of the National Guard, and all +the Parisians who were about him, with affability; the child took great +pains to please all those people, and when he had had an opportunity of +replying obligingly to the mayor or members of the commune he came and +whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" + +He requested M. Bailly to show him the shield of Scipio, which is in the +royal library; and M. Bailly asking him which he preferred, Scipio or +Hannibal, the young Prince replied, without hesitation, that he preferred +him who had defended his own country. He gave frequent proofs of ready +wit. One day, while the Queen was hearing Madame repeat her exercises in +ancient history, the young Princess could not at the moment recollect the +name of the Queen of Carthage; the Dauphin was vexed at his sister's want +of memory, and though he never spoke to her in the second person singular, +he bethought himself of the expedient of saying to her, "But 'dis donc' +the name of the Queen, to mamma; 'dis donc' what her name was." + +Shortly after the arrival of the King and his family at Paris the Duchesse +de Luynes came, in pursuance of the advice of a committee of the +Constitutional Assembly, to propose to the Queen a temporary retirement +from France, in order to leave the constitution to perfect itself, so that +the patriots should not accuse her of influencing the King to oppose it. +The Duchess knew how far the schemes of the conspirers extended, and her +attachment to the Queen was the principal cause of the advice she gave +her. The Queen perfectly comprehended the Duchesse de Luynes's motive; +but replied that she would never leave either the King or her son; that if +she thought herself alone obnoxious to public hatred she would instantly +offer her life as a sacrifice;--but that it was the throne which was aimed +at, and that, in abandoning the King, she should be merely committing an +act of cowardice, since she saw no other advantage in it than that of +saving her own life. + +One evening, in the month of November, 1790, I returned home rather late; +I there found the Prince de Poix; he told me he came to request me to +assist him in regaining his peace of mind; that at the commencement of the +sittings of the National Assembly he had suffered himself to be seduced +into the hope of a better order of things; that he blushed for his error, +and that he abhorred plans which had already produced such fatal results; +that he broke with the reformers for the rest of his life; that he had +given in his resignation as a deputy of the National Assembly; and, +finally, that he was anxious that the Queen should not sleep in ignorance +of his sentiments. I undertook his commission, and acquitted myself of it +in the best way I could; but I was totally unsuccessful. The Prince de +Poix remained at Court; he there suffered many mortifications, never +ceasing to serve the King in the most dangerous commissions with that zeal +for which his house has always been distinguished. + +When the King, the Queen, and the children were suitably established at +the Tuileries, as well as Madame Elisabeth and the Princesse de Lamballe, +the Queen resumed her usual habits; she employed her mornings in +superintending the education of Madame, who received all her lessons in +her presence, and she herself began to work large pieces of tapestry. Her +mind was too much occupied with passing events and surrounding dangers to +admit her of applying herself to reading; the needle was the only +employment which could divert her. + +[There was long preserved at Paris, in the house of Mademoiselle +Dubuquois, a tapestry-worker, a carpet worked by the Queen and Madame +Elisabeth for the large room of her Majesty's ground-floor apartments at +the Tuileries. The Empress Josephine saw and admired this carpet, and +desired it might be taken care of, in the hope of one day sending it to +Madame--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +She received the Court twice a week before going to mass, and on those +days dined in public with the King; she spent the rest of the time with +her family and children; she had no concert, and did not go to the play +until 1791, after the acceptation of the constitution. The Princesse de +Lamballe, however, had some evening parties in her apartments at the +Tuileries, which were tolerably brilliant in consequence of the great +number of persons who attended them. The Queen was present at a few of +these assemblies; but being soon convinced that her present situation +forbade her appearing much in public, she remained at home, and conversed +as she sat at work. The sole topic of her discourse was, as may well be +supposed, the Revolution. She sought to discover the real opinions of the +Parisians respecting her, and how she could have so completely lost the +affections of the people, and even of many persons in the higher ranks. +She well knew that she ought to impute the whole to the spirit of party, +to the hatred of the Duc d'Orleans, and the folly of the French, who +desired to have a total change in the constitution; but she was not the +less desirous of ascertaining the private feelings of all the people in +power. + +From the very commencement of the Revolution General Luckner indulged in +violent sallies against her. Her Majesty, knowing that I was acquainted +with a lady who had been long connected with the General, desired me to +discover through that channel what was the private motive on which +Luckner's hatred against her was founded. On being questioned upon this +point, he answered that Marechal de Segur had assured him he had proposed +him for the command of a camp of observation, but that the Queen had made +a bar against his name; and that this 'par', as he called it, in his +German accent, he could not forget. + +The Queen ordered me to repeat this reply to the King myself, and said to +him: "See, Sire, whether I was not right in telling you that your +ministers, in order to give themselves full scope in the distribution of +favours, persuaded the French that I interfered in everything; there was +not a single license given out in the country for the sale of salt or +tobacco but the people believed it was given to one of my favourites." + +"That is very, true," replied the King; "but I find it very difficult to +believe that Marechal de Segur ever said any such thing to Luckner; he +knew too well that you never interfered in the distribution of favours. + +"That Luckner is a good-for-nothing fellow, and Segur is a brave and +honourable man who never uttered such a falsehood; however, you are right; +and because you provided for a few dependents, you are most unjustly +reported to have disposed of all offices, civil and military." + +All the nobility who had not left Paris made a point of presenting +themselves assiduously to the King, and there was a considerable influx to +the Tuileries. Marks of attachment were exhibited even in external +symbols; the women wore enormous bouquets of lilies in their bosoms and +upon their heads, and sometimes even bunches of white ribbon. At the play +there were often disputes between the pit and the boxes about removing +these ornaments, which the people thought dangerous emblems. National +cockades were sold in every corner of Paris; the sentinels stopped all who +did not wear them; the young men piqued themselves upon breaking through +this regulation, which was in some degree sanctioned by the acquiescence +of Louis XVI. Frays took place, which were to be regretted, because they +excited a spirit of lawlessness. The King adopted conciliatory measures +with the Assembly in order to promote tranquillity; the revolutionists +were but little disposed to think him sincere; unfortunately the royalists +encouraged this incredulity by incessantly repeating that the King was not +free, and that all that he did was completely null, and in no way bound +him for the time to come. Such was the heat and violence of party spirit +that persons the most sincerely attached to the King were not even +permitted to use the language of reason, and recommend greater reserve in +conversation. People would talk and argue at table without considering +that all the servants belonged to the hostile army; and it may truly be +said there was as much imprudence and levity in the party assailed as +there was cunning, boldness, and perseverance in that which made the +attack. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In February, 1790, another matter gave the Court much uneasiness; a +zealous individual of the name of Favras had conceived the scheme of +carrying off the King, and affecting a counter-revolution. Monsieur, +probably out of mere benevolence, gave him some money, and thence arose a +report that he thereby wished to favour the execution of the enterprise. +The step taken by Monsieur in going to the Hotel de Ville to explain +himself on this matter was unknown to the Queen; it is more than probable +that the King was acquainted with it. When judgment was pronounced upon +M. de Favras the Queen did not conceal from me her fears about the +confessions of the unfortunate man in his last moments. + +I sent a confidential person to the Hotel de Ville; she came to inform the +Queen that the condemned had demanded to be taken from Notre-Dame to the +Hotel de Ville to make a final declaration, and give some particulars +verifying it. These particulars compromised nobody; Favras corrected his +last will after writing it, and went to the scaffold with heroic courage +and coolness. The judge who read his condemnation to him told him that +his life was a sacrifice which he owed to public tranquillity. It was +asserted at the time that Favras was given up as a victim in order to +satisfy the people and save the Baron de Besenval, who was a prisoner in +the Abbaye. + +[Thomas Mahy, Marquis de Favras, was accused in the month of December, +1789, of having conspired against the Revolution. Having been arrested by +order of the committee of inquiry of the National Assembly, he was +transferred to the Chatelet, where he defended himself with much coolness +and presence of mind, repelling the accusations brought against him by +Morel, Turcati, and Marquis, with considerable force. These witnesses +declared he had imparted his plan to them; it was to be carried into +execution by 12,000 Swiss and 12,000 Germans, who were to be assembled at +Montargis, thence to march upon Paris, carry off the King, and assassinate +Bailly, La Fayette, and Necker. The greater number of these charges he +denied, and declared that the rest related only to the levy of a troop +intended to favour the revolution preparing in Brabant. The judge having +refused to disclose who had denounced him, he complained to the Assembly, +which passed to the order of the day. His death was obviously inevitable. +During the whole time of the proceedings the populace never ceased +threatening the judges and shouting, "A la lanterne!" It was even +necessary to keep numerous troops and artillery constantly ready to act in +the courtyard of the Chatelet. The judges, who had just acquitted M. de +Besenval in an affair nearly similar, doubtless dreaded the effects of +this fury. When they refused to hear Favras's witnesses in exculpation, +he compared them to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The principal charge +against him was founded on a letter from M. de Foucault, asking him, +"where are your troops? in which direction will they enter Paris? I +should like to be employed among them." Favras was condemned to make the +'amende honorable' in front of the Cathedral, and to be hanged at the +Place de Greve. He heard this sentence with wonderful calmness, and said +to his judges, "I pity you much if the testimony of two men is sufficient +to induce you to condemn." The judge having said to him, "I have no other +consolation to hold out to you than that which religion affords," he +replied, nobly, "My greatest consolation is that which I derive from my +innocence."--"Biographic Universelle"] + +On the morning of the Sunday following this execution M. de la Villeurnoy +came to my house to tell me that he was going that day to the public +dinner of the King and Queen to present Madame de Favras and her son, both +of them in mourning for the brave Frenchman who fell a sacrifice for his +King; and that all the royalists expected to see the Queen load the +unfortunate family with favours. I did all that lay in my power to +prevent this proceeding. I foresaw the effect it would have upon the +Queen's feeling heart, and the painful constraint she would experience, +having the horrible Santerre, the commandant of a battalion of the +Parisian guard, behind her chair during dinner-time. I could not make M. +de la Villeurnoy comprehend my argument; the Queen was gone to mass, +surrounded by her whole Court, and I had not even means of apprising her +of his intention. + +When dinner was over I heard a knocking at the door of my apartment, which +opened into the corridor next that of the Queen; it was herself. She asked +me whether there was anybody with me; I was alone; she threw herself into +an armchair, and told me she came to weep with me over the foolish conduct +of the ultras of the King's party. "We must fall," said she, "attacked as +we are by men who possess every talent and shrink from no crime, while we +are defended only by those who are no doubt very estimable, but have no +adequate idea of our situation. They have exposed me to the animosity of +both parties by presenting the widow and son of Favras to me. Were I free +to act as I wish, I should take the child of the man who has just +sacrificed himself for us and place him at table between the King and +myself; but surrounded by the assassins who have destroyed his father, I +did not dare even to cast my eyes upon him. The royalists will blame me +for not having appeared interested in this poor child; the revolutionists +will be enraged at the idea that his presentation should have been thought +agreeable to me." However, the Queen added that she knew Madame de Favras +was in want, and that she desired me to send her next day, through a +person who could be relied on, a few rouleaus of fifty Louis, and to +direct that she should be assured her Majesty would always watch over the +fortunes of herself and her son. + +In the month of March following I had an opportunity of ascertaining the +King's sentiments respecting the schemes which were continually proposed +to him for making his escape. One night about ten o'clock Comte +d'Inisdal, who was deputed by the nobility, came to request that I would +see him in private, as he had an important matter to communicate to me. He +told me that on that very night the King was to be carried off; that the +section of the National Guard, that day commanded by M. d'Aumont, was +gained over, and that sets of horses, furnished by some good royalists, +were placed in relays at suitable distances; that he had just left a +number of the nobility assembled for the execution of this scheme, and +that he had been sent to me that I might, through the medium of the Queen, +obtain the King's positive consent to it before midnight; that the King +was aware of their plan, but that his Majesty never would speak decidedly, +and that it was necessary he should consent to the undertaking. I greatly +displeased Comte d'Inisdal by expressing my astonishment that the nobility +at the moment of the execution of so important a project should send to +me, the Queen's first woman, to obtain a consent which ought to have been +the basis of any well-concerted scheme. I told him, also, that it would +be impossible for me to go at that time to the Queen's apartments without +exciting the attention of the people in the antechambers; that the King +was at cards with the Queen and his family, and that I never broke in upon +their privacy unless I was called for. I added, however, that M. Campan +could enter without being called; and if the Count chose to give him his +confidence he might rely upon him. + +My father-in-law, to whom Comte d'Inisdal repeated what he had said to me, +took the commission upon himself, and went to the Queen's apartments. The +King was playing at whist with the Queen, Monsieur, and Madame; Madame +Elisabeth was kneeling on a stool near the table. M. Campan informed the +Queen of what had been communicated to me; nobody uttered a word. The +Queen broke silence and said to the King, "Do you hear, Sire, what Campan +says to us?"--"Yes, I hear," said the King, and continued his game. +Monsieur, who was in the habit of introducing passages from plays into his +conversation, said to my father-in-law, "M. Campan, that pretty little +couplet again, if you please;" and pressed the King to reply. At length +the Queen said, "But something must be said to Campan." The King then +spoke to my father-in-law in these words: "Tell M. d'Inisdal that I cannot +consent to be carried off!" The Queen enjoined M. Campan to take care +and, report this answer faithfully. "You understand," added she, "the +King cannot consent to be carried off." + +Comte d'Inisdal was very much dissatisfied with the King's answer, and +went out, saying, "I understand; he wishes to throw all the blame, +beforehand, upon those who are to devote themselves for him." + +He went away, and I thought the enterprise would be abandoned. However, +the Queen remained alone with me till midnight, preparing her cases of +valuables, and ordered me not to go to bed. She imagined the King's +answer would be understood as a tacit consent, and merely a refusal to +participate in the design. I do not know what passed in the King's +apartments during the night; but I occasionally looked out at the windows: +I saw the garden clear; I heard no noise in the palace, and day at length +confirmed my opinion that the project had been given up. "We must, +however, fly," said the Queen to me, shortly afterwards; "who knows how +far the factious may go? The danger increases every day." + +[The disturbances of the 13th of April, 1790, occasioned by the warmth of +the discussions upon Dom Gerle's imprudent motion in the National +Assembly, having afforded room for apprehension that the enemies of the +country would endeavour to carry off the King from the capital, M. de La +Fayette promised to keep watch, and told Louis XVI. that if he saw any +alarming movement among the disaffected he would give him notice of it by +the discharge of a cannon from Henri IV.'s battery on the Pont Neuf. On +the same night a few casual discharges of musketry were heard from the +terrace of the Tuileries. The King, deceived by the noise, flew to the +Queen's apartments; he did not find her; he ran to the Dauphin's room, +where he found the Queen holding her son in her arms. "Madame;" said the +King to her, "I have been seeking you; and you have made me uneasy." The +Queen, showing her son, said to him, "I was at my post."--"Anecdotes of +the Reign of Louis XVI."] + +This Princess received advice and memorials from all quarters. Rivarol +addressed several to her, which I read to her. They were full of +ingenious observations; but the Queen did not find that they, contained +anything of essential service under the circumstances in which the royal +family was placed. Comte du Moustier also sent memorials and plans of +conduct. I remember that in one of his writings he said to the King, +"Read 'Telemachus' again, Sire; in that book which delighted your Majesty +in infancy you will find the first seeds of those principles which, +erroneously followed up by men of ardent imaginations, are bringing on the +explosion we expect every moment." I read so many of these memorials that +I could hardly give a faithful account of them, and I am determined to +note in this work no other events than such as I witnessed; no other words +than such as (notwithstanding the lapse of time) still in some measure +vibrate in my ears. + +Comte de Segur, on his return from Russia, was employed some time by the +Queen, and had a certain degree of influence over her; but that did not +last long. Comte Augustus de la Marck likewise endeavoured to negotiate +for the King's advantage with the leaders of the factious. M. de +Fontanges, Archbishop of Toulouse, possessed also the Queen's confidence; +but none of the endeavours which were made on the spot produced any, +beneficial result. The Empress Catherine II. also conveyed her opinion +upon the situation of Louis XVI. to the Queen, and her Majesty made me +read a few lines in the Empress's own handwriting, which concluded with +these words: + +"Kings ought to proceed in their career undisturbed by the cries of the +people, even as the moon pursues her course unimpeded by the baying of +dogs." This maxim of the despotic sovereign of Russia was very +inapplicable to the situation of a captive king. + +Meanwhile the revolutionary party followed up its audacious enterprise in +a determined manner, without meeting any opposition. The advice from +without, as well from Coblentz as from Vienna, made various impressions +upon the members of the royal family, and those cabinets were not in +accordance with each other. I often had reason to infer from what the +Queen said to me that she thought the King, by leaving all the honour of +restoring order to the Coblentz party,--[The Princes and the chief of the +emigrant nobility assembled at Coblentz, and the name was used to +designate the reactionary party.]--would, on the return of the emigrants, +be put under a kind of guardianship which would increase his own +misfortunes. She frequently said to me, "If the emigrants succeed, they +will rule the roast for a long time; it will be impossible to refuse them +anything; to owe the crown to them would be contracting too great an +obligation." It always appeared to me that she wished her own family to +counterbalance the claims of the emigrants by disinterested services. She +was fearful of M. de Calonne, and with good reason. She had proof that +this minister was her bitterest enemy, and that he made use of the most +criminal means in order to blacken her reputation. I can testify that I +have seen in the hands of the Queen a manuscript copy of the infamous +memoirs of the woman De Lamotte, which had been brought to her from +London, and in which all those passages where a total ignorance of the +customs of Courts had occasioned that wretched woman to make blunders +which would have been too palpable were corrected in M. de Calonne's own +handwriting. + +The two King's Guards who were wounded at her Majesty's door on the 6th of +October were M. du Repaire and M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie; on the +dreadful night of the 6th of October the latter took the post of the +former the moment he became incapable of maintaining it. + +A considerable number of the Body Guards, who were wounded on the 6th of +October, betook themselves to the infirmary at Versailles. The brigands +wanted to make their way into the infirmary in order to massacre them. M. +Viosin, head surgeon of that infirmary, ran to the entrance hall, invited +the assailants to refresh themselves, ordered wine to be brought, and +found means to direct the Sister Superior to remove the Guards into a ward +appropriated to the poor, and dress them in the caps and greatcoats +furnished by the institution. The good sisters executed this order so +promptly that the Guards were removed, dressed as paupers, and their beds +made, while the assassins were drinking. They searched all the wards, and +fancied they saw no persons there but the sick poor; thus the Guards were +saved. + +M. de Miomandre was at Paris, living on terms of friendship with another +of the Guards, who, on the same day, received a gunshot wound from the +brigands in another part of the Chateau. These two officers, who were +attended and cured together at the infirmary of Versailles, were almost +constant companions; they were recognised at the Palais Royal, and +insulted. The Queen thought it necessary for them to quit Paris. She +desired me to write to M. de Miomandre de Sainte-Marie, and tell him to +come to me at eight o'clock in the evening; and then to communicate to him +her wish to hear of his being in safety; and ordered me, when he had made +up his mind to go, to tell him in her name that gold could not repay such +a service as he had rendered; that she hoped some day to be in +sufficiently happy circumstances to recompense him as she ought; but that +for the present her offer of money was only that of a sister to a brother +situated as he then was, and that she requested he would take whatever +might be necessary to discharge his debts at Paris and defray the expenses +of his journey. She told me also to desire he would bring his friend +Bertrand with him, and to make him the same offer. + +The two Guards came at the appointed hour, and accepted, I think, each one +or two hundred louis. A moment afterwards the Queen opened my door; she +was accompanied by the King and Madame Elisabeth; the King stood with his +back against the fireplace; the Queen sat down upon a sofa and Madame +Elisabeth sat near her; I placed myself behind the Queen, and the two +Guards stood facing the King. The Queen told them that the King wished to +see before they went away two of the brave men who had afforded him the +strongest proofs of courage and attachment. Miomandre said all that the +Queen's affecting observations were calculated to inspire. Madame +Elisabeth spoke of the King's gratitude; the Queen resumed the subject of +their speedy departure, urging the necessity of it; the King was silent; +but his emotion was evident, and his eyes were suffused with tears. The +Queen rose, the King went out, and Madame Elisabeth followed him; the +Queen stopped and said to me, in the recess of a window, "I am sorry I +brought the King here! I am sure Elisabeth thinks with me; if the King +had but given utterance to a fourth part of what he thinks of those brave +men they would have been in ecstacies; but he cannot overcome his +diffidence." + +The Emperor Joseph died about this time. The Queen's grief was not +excessive; that brother of whom she had been so proud, and whom she had +loved so tenderly, had probably suffered greatly in her opinion; she +reproached him sometimes, though with moderation, for having adopted +several of the principles of the new philosophy, and perhaps she knew that +he looked upon our troubles with the eye of the sovereign of Germany +rather than that of the brother of the Queen of France. + +The Emperor on one occasion sent the Queen an engraving which represented +unfrocked nuns and monks. The first were trying on fashionable dresses, +the latter were having their hair arranged; the picture was always left in +the closet, and never hung up. The Queen told me to have it taken away; +for she was hurt to see how much influence the philosophers had over her +brother's mind and actions. + +Mirabeau had not lost the hope of becoming the last resource of the +oppressed Court; and at this time some communications passed between the +Queen and him. The question was about an office to be conferred upon him. +This transpired, and it must have been about this period that the Assembly +decreed that no deputy could hold an office as a minister of the King +until the expiration of two years after the cessation of his legislative +functions. I know that the Queen was much hurt at this decision, and +considered that the Court had lost a promising opening. + +The palace of the Tuileries was a very disagreeable residence during the +summer, which made the Queen wish to go to St. Cloud. The removal was +decided on without any opposition; the National Guard of Paris followed +the Court thither. At this period new opportunities of escape were +presented; nothing would have been more easy than to execute them. The +King had obtained leave (!) to go out without guards, and to be +accompanied only by an aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette. The Queen also +had one on duty with her, and so had the Dauphin. The King and Queen +often went out at four in the afternoon, and did not return until eight or +nine. + +I will relate one of the plans of emigration which the Queen communicated +to me, the success of which seemed infallible. The royal family were to +meet in a wood four leagues from St. Cloud; some persons who could be +fully relied on were to accompany the King, who was always followed by his +equerries and pages; the Queen was to join him with her daughter and +Madame Elisabeth. These Princesses, as well as the Queen, had equerries +and pages, of whose fidelity no doubt could be entertained. The Dauphin +likewise was to be at the place of rendezvous with Madame de Tourzel; a +large berlin and a chaise for the attendants were sufficient for the whole +family; the aides-de-camp were to have been gained over or mastered. The +King was to leave a letter for the President of the National Assembly on +his bureau at St. Cloud. The people in the service of the King and Queen +would have waited until nine in the evening without anxiety, because the +family sometimes did not return until that hour. The letter could not be +forwarded to Paris until ten o'clock at the earliest. The Assembly would +not then be sitting; the President must have been sought for at his own +house or elsewhere; it would have been midnight before the Assembly could +have been summoned and couriers sent off to have the royal family stopped; +but the latter would have been six or seven hours in advance, as they +would have started at six leagues' distance from Paris; and at this period +travelling was not yet impeded in France. + +The Queen approved of this plan; but I did not venture to interrogate her, +and I even thought if it were put in execution she would leave me in +ignorance of it. One evening in the month of June the people of the +Chateau, finding the King did not return by nine o'clock, were walking +about the courtyards in a state of great anxiety. I thought the family, +was gone, and I could scarcely breathe amidst the confusion of my good +wishes, when I heard the sound of the carriages. I confessed to the Queen +that I thought she had set off; she told me she must wait until Mesdames +the King's aunts had quitted France, and afterwards see whether the plan +agreed with those formed abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +There was a meeting at Paris for the first federation on the 14th of July, +1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. What an astonishing +assemblage of four hundred thousand men, of whom there were not perhaps +two hundred who did not believe that the King found happiness and glory in +the order of things then being established. The love which was borne him +by all, with the exception of those who meditated his ruin, still reigned +in the hearts of the French in the departments; but if I may judge from +those whom I had an opportunity of seeing, it was totally impossible to +enlighten them; they were as much attached to the King as to the +constitution, and to the constitution as to the King; and it was +impossible to separate the one from the other in their hearts and minds. + +The Court returned to St. Cloud after the federation. A wretch, named +Rotondo, made his way into the palace with the intention of assassinating +the Queen. It is known that he penetrated to the inner gardens: the rain +prevented her Majesty from going out that day. M. de La Fayette, who was +aware of this plot, gave all the sentinels the strictest orders, and a +description of the monster was distributed throughout the palace by order +of the General. I do not know how he was saved from punishment. The +police belonging to the King discovered that there was likewise a scheme +on foot for poisoning the Queen. She spoke to me, as well as to her head +physician, M. Vicq-d'Azyr, about it, without the slightest emotion, but +both he and I consulted what precautions it would be proper to take. He +relied much upon the Queen's temperance; yet he recommended me always to +have a bottle of oil of sweet almonds within reach, and to renew it +occasionally, that oil and milk being, as is known, the most certain +antidotes to the divellication of corrosive poisons. + +The Queen had a habit which rendered M. Vicq-d'Azyr particularly uneasy: +there was always some pounded sugar upon the table in her Majesty's +bedchamber; and she frequently, without calling anybody, put spoonfuls of +it into a glass of water when she wished to drink. It was agreed that I +should get a considerable quantity of sugar powdered; that I should always +have some papers of it in my bag, and that three or four times a day, when +alone in the Queen's room, I should substitute it for that in her +sugar-basin. We knew that the Queen would have prevented all such +precautions, but we were not aware of her reason. One day she caught me +alone making this exchange, and told me, she supposed it was agreed on +between myself and M. Vicq-d'Azyr, but that I gave myself very unnecessary +trouble. "Remember," added she, "that not a grain of poison will be put +in use against me. The Brinvilliers do not belong to this century: this +age possesses calumny, which is a much more convenient instrument of +death; and it is by that I shall perish." + +Even while melancholy presentiments afflicted this unfortunate Princess, +manifestations of attachment to her person, and to the King's cause, would +frequently raise agreeable illusions in her mind, or present to her the +affecting spectacle of tears shed for her sorrows. I was one day, during +this same visit to St. Cloud, witness of a very touching scene, which we +took great care to keep secret. It was four in the afternoon; the guard +was not set; there was scarcely anybody at St. Cloud that day, and I was +reading to the Queen, who was at work in a room the balcony of which hung +over the courtyard. The windows were closed, yet we heard a sort of +inarticulate murmur from a great number of voices. The Queen desired me +to go and see what it was; I raised the muslin curtain, and perceived more +than fifty persons beneath the balcony: this group consisted of women, +young and old, perfectly well dressed in the country costume, old +chevaliers of St. Louis, young knights of Malta, and a few ecclesiastics. +I told the Queen it was probably an assemblage of persons residing in the +neighbourhood who wished to see her. She rose, opened the window, and +appeared in the balcony; immediately all these worthy people said to her, +in an undertone: "Courage, Madame; good Frenchmen suffer for you, and with +you; they pray for you. Heaven will hear their prayers; we love you, we +respect you, we will continue to venerate our virtuous King." The Queen +burst into tears, and held her handkerchief to her eyes. "Poor Queen! she +weeps!" said the women and young girls; but the dread of exposing her +Majesty, and even the persons who showed so much affection for her, to +observation, prompted me to take her hand, and prevail upon her to retire +into her room; and, raising my eyes, I gave the excellent people to +understand that my conduct was dictated by prudence. They comprehended +me, for I heard, "That lady is right;" and afterwards, "Farewell, Madame!" +from several of them; and all this in accents of feeling so true and so +mournful, that I am affected at the recollection of them even after a +lapse of twenty years. + +A few days afterwards the insurrection of Nancy took place. + +[The insurrection of the troops at Nancy broke out in August 1790, and was +put down by Marechal de Bouille on the last day of that month. See +"Bouille," p. 195.] + +Only the ostensible cause is known; there was another, of which I might +have been in full possession, if the great confusion I was in upon the +subject had not deprived me of the power of paying attention to it. I +will endeavour to make myself understood. In the early part of September +the Queen, as she was going to bed, desired me to let all her people go, +and to remain with her myself; when we were alone she said to me, "The +King will come here at midnight. You know that he has always shown you +marks of distinction; he now proves his confidence in you by selecting you +to write down the whole affair of Nancy from his dictation. He must have +several copies of it." At midnight the King came to the Queen's +apartments, and said to me, smiling, "You did not expect to become my +secretary, and that, too, during the night." I followed the King into the +council chamber. I found there sheets of paper, an inkstand, and pens all +ready prepared. He sat down by my side and dictated to me the report of +the Marquis de Bouille, which he himself copied at the same time. My hand +trembled; I wrote with difficulty; my reflections scarcely left me +sufficient power of attention to listen to the King. The large table, the +velvet cloth, seats which ought to have been filled by none but the King's +chief councillors; what that chamber had been, and what it was at that +moment, when the King was employing a woman in an office which had so +little affinity with her ordinary functions; the misfortunes which had +brought him to the necessity of doing so,--all these ideas made such an +impression upon me that when I had returned to the Queen's apartments I +could not sleep for the remainder of the night, nor could I remember what +I had written. + +The more I saw that I had the happiness to be of some use to my employers, +the more scrupulously careful was I to live entirely with my family; and I +never indulged in any conversation which could betray the intimacy to +which I was admitted; but nothing at Court remains long concealed, and I +soon saw I had many enemies. The means of injuring others in the minds of +sovereigns are but too easily obtained, and they had become still more so, +since the mere suspicion of communication with partisans of the Revolution +was sufficient to forfeit the esteem and confidence of the King and Queen; +happily, my conduct protected me, with them, against calumny. I had left +St. Cloud two days, when I received at Paris a note from the Queen, +containing these words: + +"Come to St. Cloud immediately; I have something concerning you to +communicate." I set off without loss of time. Her Majesty told me she +had a sacrifice to request of me; I answered that it was made. She said +it went so far as the renunciation of a friend's society; that such a +renunciation was always painful, but that it must be particularly so to +me; that, for her own part, it might have been very useful that a deputy, +a man of talent, should be constantly received at my house; but at this +moment she thought only of my welfare. The Queen then informed me that +the ladies of the bedchamber had, the preceding evening, assured her that +M. de Beaumetz, deputy from the nobility of Artois, who had taken his seat +on the left of the Assembly, spent his whole time at my house. Perceiving +on what false grounds the attempt to injure, me was based, I replied +respectfully, but at the same time smiling, that it was impossible for me +to make the sacrifice exacted by her Majesty; that M. de Beaumetz, a man +of great judgment, had not determined to cross over to the left of the +Assembly with the intention of afterwards making himself unpopular by +spending his time with the Queen's first woman; and that, ever since the +1st of October, 1789, I had seen him nowhere but at the play, or in the +public walks, and even then without his ever coming to speak to me; that +this line of conduct had appeared to me perfectly consistent: for whether +he was desirous to please the popular party, or to be sought after by the +Court, he could not act in any other way towards me. The Queen closed +this explanation by saying, "Oh! it is clear, as clear as the day! this +opportunity for trying to do you an injury is very ill chosen; but be +cautious in your slightest actions; you perceive that the confidence +placed in you by the King and myself raises you up powerful enemies." + +The private communications which were still kept up between the Court and +Mirabeau at length procured him an interview with the Queen, in the +gardens of St. Cloud. He left Paris on horseback, on pretence of going +into the country, to M. de Clavieres, one of his friends; but he stopped +at one of the gates of the gardens of St. Cloud, and was led to a spot +situated in the highest part of the private garden, where the Queen was +waiting for him. She told me she accosted him by saying, "With a common +enemy, with a man who had sworn to destroy monarchy without appreciating +its utility among a great people, I should at this moment be guilty of a +most ill-advised step; but in speaking to a Mirabeau," etc. The poor +Queen was delighted at having discovered this method of exalting him above +all others of his principles; and in imparting the particulars of this +interview to me she said, "Do you know that those words, 'a Mirabeau,' +appeared to flatter him exceedingly." On leaving the Queen he said to her +with warmth, "Madame, the monarchy is saved!" It must have been soon +afterwards that Mirabeau received considerable sums of money. He showed +it too plainly by the increase of his expenditure. Already did some of his +remarks upon the necessity of arresting the progress of the democrats +circulate in society. Being once invited to meet a person at dinner who +was very much attached to the Queen, he learned that that person withdrew +on hearing that he was one of the guests; the party who invited him told +him this with some degree of satisfaction; but all were very much +astonished when they heard Mirabeau eulogise the absent guest, and declare +that in his place he would have done the same; but, he added, they had +only to invite that person again in a few months, and he would then dine +with the restorer of the monarchy. Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy +to do harm than good, and thought himself the political Atlas of the whole +world. + +Outrages and mockery were incessantly mingled with the audacious +proceedings of the revolutionists. It was customary to give serenades +under the King's windows on New Year's Day. The band of the National +Guard repaired thither on that festival in 1791; in allusion to the +liquidation of the debts of the State, decreed by the Assembly, they +played solely, and repeatedly, that air from the comic opera of the +"Debts," the burden of which is, "But our creditors are paid, and that +makes us easy." + +On the same day some "conquerors of the Bastille," grenadiers of the +Parisian guard, preceded by military music, came to present to the young +Dauphin, as a New Year's gift, a box of dominoes, made of some of the +stone and marble of which that state prison was built. The Queen gave me +this inauspicious curiosity, desiring me to preserve it, as it would be a +curious illustration of the history of the Revolution. Upon the lid were +engraved some bad verses, the purport of which was as follows: "Stones +from those walls, which enclosed the innocent victims of arbitrary power, +have been converted into a toy, to be presented to you, Monseigneur, as a +mark of the people's love; and to teach you their power." + +The Queen said that M. de La Fayette's thirst for popularity induced him +to lend himself, without discrimination, to all popular follies. Her +distrust of the General increased daily, and grew so powerful that when, +towards the end of the Revolution, he seemed willing to support the +tottering throne, she could never bring herself to incur so great an +obligation to him. + +M. de J-----, a colonel attached to the staff of the army, was fortunate +enough to render several services to the Queen, and acquitted himself with +discretion and dignity of various important missions. + +[During the Queen's detention in the Temple he introduced himself Into +that prison in the dress of a lamplighter, and there discharged his duty +unrecognised.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +Their Majesties had the highest confidence in him, although it frequently +happened that his prudence, when inconsiderate projects were under +discussion, brought upon him the charge of adopting the principles of the +constitutionals. Being sent to Turin, he had some difficulty in +dissuading the Princes from a scheme they had formed at that period of +reentering France, with a very weak army, by way of Lyons; and when, in a +council which lasted till three o'clock in the morning, he showed his +instructions, and demonstrated that the measure would endanger the King, +the Comte d'Artois alone declared against the plan, which emanated from +the Prince de Conde. + +Among the persons employed in subordinate situations, whom the critical +circumstances of the times involved in affairs of importance, was M. de +Goguelat, a geographical engineer at Versailles, and an excellent +draughtsman. He made plans of St. Cloud and Trianon for the Queen; she +was very much pleased with them, and had the engineer admitted into the +staff of the army. At the commencement of the Revolution he was sent to +Count Esterhazy, at Valenciennes, in the capacity of aide-de-camp. The +latter rank was given him solely to get him away from Versailles, where +his rashness endangered the Queen during the earlier months of the +Assembly of the States General. Making a parade of his devotion to the +King's interests, he went repeatedly to the tribunes of the Assembly, and +there openly railed at all the motions of the deputies, and then returned +to the Queen's antechamber, where he repeated all that he had just heard, +or had had the imprudence to say. Unfortunately, at the same time that +the Queen sent away M. de Goguelat, she still believed that, in a +dangerous predicament, requiring great self-devotion, the man might be +employed advantageously. In 1791 he was commissioned to act in concert +with the Marquis de Bouille in furtherance of the King's intended escape. + +[See the "Memoirs" of M. de Bouille, those of the Duc de Choiseul, and the +account of the journey to Varennes, by M. de Fontanges, in "Weber's +Memoirs."--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +Projectors in great numbers endeavoured to introduce themselves not only +to the Queen, but to Madame Elisabeth, who had communications with many +individuals who took upon themselves to make plans for the conduct of the +Court. The Baron de Gilliers and M. de Vanoise were of this description; +they went to the Baronne de Mackau's, where the Princess spent almost all +her evenings. The Queen did not like these meetings, where Madame +Elisabeth might adopt views in opposition to the King's intentions or her +own. + +The Queen gave frequent audiences to M. de La Fayette. One day, when he +was in her inner closet, his aides-de-camp, who waited for him, were +walking up and down the great room where the persons in attendance +remained. Some imprudent young women were thoughtless enough to say, with +the intention of being overheard by those officers, that it was very +alarming to see the Queen alone with a rebel and a brigand. I was annoyed +at their indiscretion, and imposed silence on them. One of them persisted +in the appellation "brigand." I told her that M. de La Fayette well +deserved the name of rebel, but that the title of leader of a party was +given by history to every man commanding forty thousand men, a capital, +and forty leagues of country; that kings had frequently treated with such +leaders, and if it was convenient to the Queen to do the same, it remained +for us only to be silent and respect her actions. On the morrow the +Queen, with a serious air; but with the greatest kindness, asked what I +had said respecting M. de La Fayette on the preceding day; adding that she +had been assured I had enjoined her women silence, because they did not +like him, and that I had taken his part. I repeated what had passed to +the Queen, word for word. She condescended to tell me that I had done +perfectly right. + +Whenever any false reports respecting me were conveyed to her she was kind +enough to inform me of them; and they had no effect on the confidence with +which she continued to honour me, and which I am happy to think I have +justified even at the risk of my life. + +Mesdames, the King's aunts, set out from Bellevue in the beginning of the +year 1791. Alexandre Berthier, afterwards Prince de Neufchatel, then a +colonel on the staff of the army, and commandant of the National Guard of +Versailles, facilitated the departure of Mesdames. The Jacobins of that +town procured his dismissal, and he ran the greatest risk, on account of +having rendered this service to these Princesses. + +I went to take leave of Madame Victoire. I little thought that I was then +seeing her for the last time. She received me alone in her closet, and +assured me that she hoped, as well as wished, soon to return to France; +that the French would be much to be pitied if the excesses of the +Revolution should arrive at such a pitch as to force her to prolong her +absence. + +[General Berthier justified the monarch's confidence by a firm and prudent +line of conduct which entitled him to the highest military honours, and to +the esteem of the great warrior whose fortune, dangers, and glory he +afterwards shared. This officer, full of honour, and gifted with the +highest courage, was shut into the courtyard of Bellevue by his own troop, +and ran great risk of being murdered. It was not until the 14th of March +that he succeeded in executing his instructions ("Memoirs of Mesdames," by +Montigny, vol. i.)] + +I knew from the Queen that the departure of Mesdames was deemed +necessary, in order to leave the King free to act when he should be +compelled to go away with his family. It being impossible that the +constitution of the clergy should be otherwise than in direct opposition +to the religious principles of Mesdames, they thought their journey to +Rome would be attributed to piety alone. It was, however, difficult to +deceive an Assembly which weighed the slightest actions of the royal +family, and from that moment they were more than ever alive to what was +passing at the Tuileries. + +Mesdames were desirous of taking Madame Elisabeth to Rome. The free +exercise of religion, the happiness of taking refuge with the head of the +Church, and the prospect of living in safety with her aunts, whom she +tenderly loved, were sacrificed by that virtuous Princess to her +attachment to the King. + +The oath required of priests by the civil constitution of the clergy +introduced into France a division which added to the dangers by which the +King was already surrounded. + +[The priests were required to swear to the civil constitution of the +clergy of 1790, by which all the former bishoprics and parishes were +remodelled, and the priests and bishops elected by the people. Most +refused, and under the name of 'pretres insermentes' (as opposed to the +few who took the oath, 'pretres assermentes') were bitterly persecuted. A +simple promise to obey the constitution of the State was substituted by +Napoleon as soon as he came to power.] + +Mirabeau spent a whole night with the cure of St. Eustache, confessor of +the King and Queen, to persuade him to take the oath required by that +constitution. Their Majesties chose another confessor, who remained +unknown. + +A few months afterwards (2d April, 1791), the too celebrated Mirabeau, the +mercenary democrat and venal royalist, terminated his career. The Queen +regretted him, and was astonished at her own regret; but she had hoped +that he who had possessed adroitness and weight enough to throw everything +into confusion would have been able by the same means to repair the +mischief he had caused. Much has been said respecting the cause of +Mirabeau's death. M. Cabanis, his friend and physician, denied that he +was poisoned. M. Vicq-d'Azyr assured the Queen that the 'proces-verbal' +drawn up on the state of the intestines would apply just as well to a case +of death produced by violent remedies as to one produced by poison. He +said, also, that the report had been faithful; but that it was prudent to +conclude it by a declaration of natural death, since, in the critical +state in which France then was, if a suspicion of foul play were admitted, +a person innocent of any such crime might be sacrificed to public +vengeance. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +In the beginning of the spring of 1791, the King, tired of remaining at +the Tuileries, wished to return to St. Cloud. His whole household had +already gone, and his dinner was prepared there. He got into his carriage +at one; the guard mutinied, shut the gates, and declared they would not +let him pass. This event certainly proceeded from some suspicion of a +plan to escape. Two persons who drew near the King's carriage were very +ill treated. My father-in-law was violently laid hold of by the guards, +who took his sword from him. The King and his family were obliged to +alight and return to their apartments. + +They did not much regret this outrage in their hearts; they saw in it a +justification, even in the eyes of the people, of their intention to leave +Paris. + +So early as the month of March in the same year, the Queen began to busy +herself in preparing for her departure. I spent that month with her, and +executed a great number of secret orders which she gave me respecting the +intended event. It was with uneasiness that I saw her occupied with cares +which seemed to me useless, and even dangerous, and I remarked to her that +the Queen of France would find linen and gowns everywhere. My observations +were made in vain; she determined to have a complete wardrobe with her at +Brussels, as well for her children as herself. I went out alone and almost +disguised to purchase the articles necessary and have them made up. + +I ordered six chemises at the shop of one seamstress, six at that of +another, gowns, combing cloths, etc. My sister had a complete set of +clothes made for Madame, by the measure of her eldest daughter, and I +ordered clothes for the Dauphin from those of my son. I filled a trunk +with these things, and addressed them, by the Queen's orders, to one of +her women, my aunt, Madame Cardon,--a widow living at Arras, by virtue of +an unlimited leave of absence,--in order that she might be ready to start +for Brussels, or any other place, as soon as she should be directed to do +so. This lady had landed property in Austrian Flanders, and could at any +time quit Arras unobserved. + +The Queen was to take only her first woman in attendance with her from +Paris. She apprised me that if I should not be on duty at the moment of +departure, she would make arrangements for my joining her. She determined +also to take her travelling dressing-case. She consulted me on her idea +of sending it off, under pretence of making a present of it to the +Archduchess Christina, Gouvernante of the Netherlands. I ventured to +oppose this plan strongly, and observed that, amidst so many people who +watched her slightest actions, there would be found a sufficient number +sharp-sighted enough to discover that it was only a pretext for sending +away the property in question before her own departure; she persisted in +her intention, and all I could arrange was that the dressing-case should +not be removed from her apartment, and that M. de charge d'afaires from +the Court of Vienna during the absence of the Comte de Mercy, should come +and ask her, at her toilet, before all her people, to order one exactly +like her own for Madame the Gouvernante of the Netherlands. The Queen, +therefore, commanded me before the charge d'affaires to order the article +in question. This occasioned only an expense of five hundred louis, and +appeared calculated to lull suspicion completely. + +About the middle of May, 1791, a month after the Queen had ordered me to +bespeak the dressing-case, she asked me whether it would soon be finished. +I sent for the ivory-turner who had it in hand. He could not complete it +for six weeks. I informed the Queen of this, and she told me she should +not be able to wait for it, as she was to set out in the course of June. +She added that, as she had ordered her sister's dressing-case in the +presence of all her attendants, she had taken a sufficient precaution, +especially by saying that her sister was out of patience at not receiving +it, and that therefore her own must be emptied and cleaned, and taken to +the charge d'affaires, who would send it off. I executed this order +without any, appearance of mystery. I desired the wardrobe woman to take +out of the dressing-case all that it contained, because that intended for +the Archduchess could not be finished for some time; and to take great +care to leave no remains of the perfumes which might not suit that +Princess. + +The woman in question executed her commission punctually; but, on the +evening of that very day, the 15th of May, 1791, she informed M. Bailly, +the Mayor of Paris, that preparations were making at the Queen's residence +for a departure; and that the dressing-case was already sent off, under +pretence of its being presented to the Archduchess Christina. + +[After the return from Varennes M. Bailly put this woman's deposition into +the Queen's hands.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +It was necessary, likewise, to send off all the diamonds belonging to the +Queen. Her Majesty shut herself up with me in a closet in the entresol, +looking into the garden of the Tuileries, and we packed all the diamonds, +rubies, and pearls she possessed in a small chest. The cases containing +these ornaments, being altogether of considerable bulk, had been +deposited, ever since the 6th of October, 1789, with the valet de chambre +who had the care of the Queen's jewels. That faithful servant, himself +detecting the use that was to be made of the valuables, destroyed all the +boxes, which were, as usual, covered with red morocco, marked with the +cipher and arms of France. It would have been impossible for him to hide +them from the eyes of the popular inquisitors during the domiciliary +visits in January, 1793, and the discovery might have formed a ground of +accusation against the Queen. + +I had but a few articles to place in the box when the Queen was compelled +to desist from packing it, being obliged to go down to cards, which began +at seven precisely. She therefore desired me to leave all the diamonds +upon the sofa, persuaded that, as she took the key of her closet herself, +and there was a sentinel under the window, no danger was to be apprehended +for that night, and she reckoned upon returning very early next day to +finish the work. + +The same woman who had given information of the sending away of the +dressing-case was also deputed by the Queen to take care of her more +private rooms. No other servant was permitted to enter them; she renewed +the flowers, swept the carpets, etc. The Queen received back the key, +when the woman had finished putting them in order, from her own hands; +but, desirous of doing her duty well, and sometimes having the key in her +possession for a few minutes only, she had probably on that account +ordered one without the Queen's knowledge. It is impossible not to +believe this, since the despatch of the diamonds was the subject of a +second accusation which the Queen heard of after the return from Varennes. +She made a formal declaration that her Majesty, with the assistance of +Madame Campan, had packed up all her jewelry some time before the +departure; that she was certain of it, as she had found the diamonds, and +the cotton which served to wrap them, scattered upon the sofa in the +Queen's closet in the 'entresol'; and most assuredly she could only have +seen these preparations in the interval between seven in the evening and +seven in the morning. The Queen having met me next day at the time +appointed, the box was handed over to Leonard, her Majesty's +hairdresser,--[This unfortunate man, after having emigrated for some time, +returned to France, and perished upon the scaffold.--NOTE BY EDITOR]--who +left the country with the Duc de Choiseul. The box remained a long time +at Brussels, and at length got into the hands of Madame la Duchesse +d'Angouleme, being delivered to her by the Emperor on her arrival at +Vienna. + +In order not to leave out any of the Queen's diamonds, I requested the +first tirewoman to give me the body of the full dress, and all the +assortment which served for the stomacher of the full dress on days of +state, articles which always remained at the wardrobe. + +The superintendent and the dame d'honneur being absent, the first +tirewoman required me to sign a receipt, the terms of which she dictated, +and which acquitted her of all responsibility for these diamonds. She had +the prudence to burn this document on the 10th of August, 1792.--[The date +of the sack of the Tuileries and slaughter of the Swiss Guard]--The Queen +having determined, upon the arrest at Varennes, not to have her diamonds +brought back to France, was often anxious about them during the year which +elapsed between that period and the 10th of August, and dreaded above all +things that such a secret should be discovered. + +In consequence of a decree of the Assembly, which deprived the King of the +custody of the Crown diamonds, the Queen had at this time already given up +those which she generally used. + +She preferred the twelve brilliants called Hazarins, from the name of the +Cardinal who had enriched the treasury with them, a few rose-cut diamonds, +and the Sanci. She determined to deliver, with her own hands, the box +containing them to the commissioner nominated by the National Assembly to +place them with the Crown diamonds. After giving them to him, she offered +him a row of pearls of great beauty, saying to him that it had been +brought into France by Anne of Austria; that it was invaluable, on account +of its rarity; that, having been appropriated by that Princess to the use +of the Queens and Dauphinesses, Louis XV. had placed it in her hands on +her arrival in France; but that she considered it national property. +"That is an open question, Madame," said the commissary. "Monsieur," +replied the Queen, "it is one for me to decide, and is now settled." + +My father-in-law, who was dying of the grief he felt for the misfortunes +of his master and mistress, strongly interested and occupied the thoughts +of the Queen. He had been saved from the fury of the populace in the +courtyard of the Tuileries. + +On the day on which the King was compelled by an insurrection to give up a +journey to St. Cloud, her Majesty looked upon this trusty servant as +inevitably lost, if, on going away, she should leave him in the apartment +he occupied in the Tuileries. Prompted by her apprehensions, she ordered +M. Vicq-d'Azyr, her physician, to recommend him the waters of Mont d'Or in +Auvergne, and to persuade him to set off at the latter end of May. At the +moment of my going away the Queen assured me that the grand project would +be executed between the 15th and the 20th of June; that as it was not my +month to be on duty, Madame Thibaut would take the journey; but that she +had many directions to give me before I went. She then desired me to +write to my aunt, Madame Cardon, who was by that time in possession of the +clothes which I had ordered, that as soon as she should receive a letter +from M. Augur, the date of which should be accompanied with a B, an L, or +an M, she was to proceed with her property to Brussels, Luxembourg, or +Montmedy. She desired me to explain the meaning of these three letters +clearly to my sister, and to leave them with her in writing, in order that +at the moment of my going away she might be able to take my place in +writing to Arras. + +The Queen had a more delicate commission for me; it was to select from +among my acquaintance a prudent person of obscure rank, wholly devoted to +the interests of the Court, who would be willing to receive a portfolio +which she was to give up only to me, or some one furnished with a note +from the Queen. She added that she would not travel with this portfolio, +and that it was of the utmost importance that my opinion of the fidelity +of the person to whom it was to be entrusted should be well founded. I +proposed to her Madame Vallayer Coster, a painter of the Academy, and an +amiable and worthy artist, whom I had known from my infancy. She lived in +the galleries of the Louvre. The choice seemed a good one. The Queen +remembered that she had made her marriage possible by giving her a place +in the financial offices, and added that gratitude ought sometimes to be +reckoned on. She then pointed out to me the valet belonging to her +toilet, whom I was to take with me, to show him the residence of Madame +Coster, so that he might not mistake it when he should take the portfolio +to her. The day before her departure the Queen particularly recommended +me to proceed to Lyons and the frontiers as soon as she should have +started. She advised me to take with me a confidential person, fit to +remain with M. Campan when I should leave him, and assured me that she +would give orders to M. ------ to set off as soon as she should be known +to be at the frontiers in order to protect me in going out. She +condescended to add that, having a long journey to make in foreign +countries, she determined to give me three hundred louis. + +I bathed the Queen's hands with tears at the moment of this sorrowful +separation; and, having money at my disposal, I declined accepting her +gold. I did not dread the road I had to travel in order to rejoin her; +all my apprehension was that by treachery or miscalculation a scheme, the +safety of which was not sufficiently clear to me, should fail. I could +answer for all those who belonged to the service immediately about the +Queen's person, and I was right; but her wardrobe woman gave me +well-founded reason for alarm. I mentioned to the Queen many +revolutionary remarks which this woman had made to me a few days before. +Her office was directly under the control of the first femme de chambre, +yet she had refused to obey the directions I gave her, talking insolently +to me about "hierarchy overturned, equality among men," of course more +especially among persons holding offices at Court; and this jargon, at +that time in the mouths of all the partisans of the Revolution, was +terminated by an observation which frightened me. "You know many +important secrets, madame," said this woman to me, "and I have guessed +quite as many. I am not a fool; I see all that is going forward here in +consequence of the bad advice given to the King and Queen; I could +frustrate it all if I chose." This argument, in which I had been promptly +silenced, left me pale and trembling. Unfortunately, as I began my +narrative to the Queen with particulars of this woman's refusal to obey +me,--and sovereigns are all their lives importuned with complaints upon +the rights of places,--she believed that my own dissatisfaction had much +to do with the step I was taking; and she did not sufficiently fear the +woman. Her office, although a very inferior one, brought her in nearly +fifteen thousand francs a year. Still young, tolerably handsome, with +comfortable apartments in the entresols of the Tuileries, she saw a great +deal of company, and in the evening had assemblies, consisting of deputies +of the revolutionary party. M. de Gouvion, major-general of the National +Guard, passed almost every day with her; and it is to be presumed that she +had long worked for the party in opposition to the Court. The Queen asked +her for the key of a door which led to the principal vestibule of the +Tuileries, telling her she wished to have a similar one, that she might +not be under the necessity of going out through the pavilion of Flora. M. +de Gouvion and M. de La Fayette would, of course, be apprised of this +circumstance, and well-informed persons have assured me that on the very +night of the Queen's departure this wretched woman had a spy with her, who +saw the royal family set off. + +As soon as I had executed all the Queen's orders, on the 30th of May, +1791, I set out for Auvergne, and was settled in the gloomy narrow valley +of Mont d'Or, when, about four in the afternoon of the 25th of June, I +heard the beat of a drum to call the inhabitants of the hamlet together. +When it had ceased I heard a hairdresser from Bresse proclaim in the +provincial dialect of Auvergne: "The King and Queen were taking flight in +order to ruin France, but I come to tell you that they are stopped, and +are well guarded by a hundred thousand men under arms." I still ventured +to hope that he was repeating only a false report, but he went on: "The +Queen," with her well-known haughtiness, lifted up the veil which covered +her face, and said to the citizens who were upbraiding the King, "Well, +since you recognise your sovereign, respect him." Upon hearing these +expressions, which the Jacobin club of Clermont could not have invented, I +exclaimed, "The news is true!" + +I immediately learnt that, a courier being come from Paris to Clermont, +the 'procureur' of the commune had sent off messengers to the chief places +of the canton; these again sent couriers to the districts, and the +districts in like manner informed the villages and hamlets which they +contained. It was through this ramification, arising from the +establishment of clubs, that the afflicting intelligence of the misfortune +of my sovereigns reached me in the wildest part of France, and in the +midst of the snows by which we were environed. + +On the 28th I received a note written in a hand which I recognised as that +of M. Diet,--[This officer was slain in the Queen's chamber on the 10th of +August]--usher of the Queen's chamber, but dictated by her Majesty. It +contained these words: "I am this moment arrived; I have just got into my +bath; I and my family exist, that is all. I have suffered much. Do not +return to Paris until I desire you. Take good care of my poor Campan, +soothe his sorrow. Look for happier times." This note was for greater +safety addressed to my father-in-law's valet-de-chambre. What were my +feelings on perceiving that after the most distressing crisis we were +among the first objects of the kindness of that unfortunate Princess! + +M. Campan having been unable to benefit by the waters of Mont d'Or, and +the first popular effervescence having subsided, I thought I might return +to Clermont. The committee of surveillance, or that of general safety, +had resolved to arrest me there; but the Abbe Louis, formerly a +parliamentary counsellor, and then a member of the Constituent Assembly, +was kind enough to affirm that I was in Auvergne solely for the purpose of +attending my father-in-law, who was extremely ill. The precautions +relative to my absence from Paris were limited to placing us under the +surveillance of the 'procureur' of the commune, who was at the same time +president of the Jacobin club; but he was also a physician of repute, and +without having any doubt that he had received secret orders relative to +me, I thought it would favour the chances of our safety if I selected him +to attend my patient. I paid him according to the rate given to the best +Paris physicians, and I requested him to visit us every morning and every +evening. I took the precaution to subscribe to no other newspaper than +the Moniteur. Doctor Monestier (for that was the physician's name) +frequently took upon himself to read it to us. Whenever he thought proper +to speak of the King and Queen in the insulting and brutal terms at that +time unfortunately adopted throughout France, I used to stop him and say, +coolly, "Monsieur, you are here in company with the servants of Louis XVI. +and Marie Antoinette. Whatever may be the wrongs with which the nation +believes it has to reproach them, our principles forbid our losing sight +of the respect due to them from us." Notwithstanding that he was an +inveterate patriot, he felt the force of this remark, and even procured +the revocation of a second order for our arrest, becoming responsible for +us to the committee of the Assembly, and to the Jacobin society. + +The two chief women about the Dauphin, who had accompanied the Queen to +Varennes, Diet, her usher, and Camot, her garcon de toilette,--the women +on account of the journey, and the men in consequence of the denunciation +of the woman belonging to the wardrobe,--were sent to the prisons of the +Abbaye. After my departure the garcon de toilette whom I had taken to +Madame Vallayer Coster's was sent there with the portfolio she had agreed +to receive. This commission could not escape the detestable spy upon the +Queen. She gave information that a portfolio had been carried out on the +evening of the departure, adding that the King had placed it upon the +Queen's easy-chair, that the garcon de toilette wrapped it up in a napkin +and took it under his arm, and that she did not know where he had carried +it. The man, who was remarkable for his fidelity, underwent three +examinations without making the slightest disclosure. M. Diet, a man of +good family, a servant on whom the Queen placed particular reliance, +likewise experienced the severest treatment. At length, after a lapse of +three weeks, the Queen succeeded in obtaining the release of her servants. + +The Queen, about the 15th of August, had me informed by letter that I +might come back to Paris without being under any apprehension of arrest +there, and that she greatly desired my return. I brought my father-in-law +back in a dying state, and on the day preceding that of the acceptation of +the constitutional act, I informed the Queen that he was no more. "The +loss of Lassonne and Campan," said she, as she applied her handkerchief to +her streaming eyes, "has taught me how valuable such subjects are to their +masters. I shall never find their equals." + +I resumed my functions about the Queen on the 1st of September, 1791. She +was unable then to converse with me on all the lamentable events which had +occurred since the time of my leaving her, having on guard near her an +officer whom she dreaded more than all the others. She merely told me +that I should have some secret services to perform for her, and that she +would not create uneasiness by long conversations with me, my return being +a subject of suspicion. But next day the Queen, well knowing the +discretion of the officer who was to be on guard that night, had my bed +placed very near hers, and having obtained the favour of having the door +shut, when I was in bed she began the narrative of the journey, and the +unfortunate arrest at Varennes. I asked her permission to put on my gown, +and kneeling by her bedside I remained until three o'clock in the morning, +listening with the liveliest and most sorrowful interest to the account I +am about to repeat, and of which I have seen various details, of tolerable +exactness, in papers of the time. + +The King entrusted Count Fersen with all the preparations for departure. +The carriage was ordered by him; the passport, in the name of Madame de +Korf, was procured through his connection with that lady, who was a +foreigner. And lastly, he himself drove the royal family, as their +coachman, as far as Bondy, where the travellers got into their berlin. +Madame Brunier and Madame Neuville, the first women of Madame and the +Dauphin, there joined the principal carriage. They were in a cabriolet. +Monsieur and Madame set out from the Luxembourg and took another road. +They as well as the King were recognised by the master of the last post in +France, but this man, devoting himself to the fortunes of the Prince, left +the French territory, and drove them himself as postilion. Madame +Thibaut, the Queen's first woman, reached Brussels without the slightest +difficulty. Madame Cardon, from Arras, met with no hindrance; and +Leonard, the Queen's hairdresser, passed through Varennes a few hours +before the royal family. Fate had reserved all its obstacles for the +unfortunate monarch. + +Nothing worthy of notice occurred in the beginning of the journey. The +travellers were detained a short time, about twelve leagues from Paris, by +some repairs which the carriage required. The King chose to walk up one +of the hills, and these two circumstances caused a delay of three hours, +precisely at the time when it was intended that the berlin should have +been met, just before reaching Varennes, by the detachment commanded by M. +de Goguelat. This detachment was punctually stationed upon the spot fixed +on, with orders to wait there for the arrival of certain treasure, which +it was to escort; but the peasantry of the neighbourhood, alarmed at the +sight of this body of troops, came armed with staves, and asked several +questions, which manifested their anxiety. M. de Goguelat, fearful of +causing a riot, and not finding the carriage arrive as he expected, +divided his men into two companies, and unfortunately made them leave the +highway in order to return to Varennes by two cross roads. The King looked +out of the carriage at Ste. Menehould, and asked several questions +concerning the road. Drouet, the post-master, struck by the resemblance +of Louis to the impression of his head upon the assignats, drew near the +carriage, felt convinced that he recognised the Queen also, and that the +remainder of the travellers consisted of the royal family and their suite, +mounted his horse, reached Varennes by cross roads before the royal +fugitives, and gave the alarm.--[Varennes lies between Verdun and +Montmedy, and not far from the French frontier.] + +The Queen began to feel all the agonies of terror; they were augmented by +the voice of a person unknown, who, passing close to the carriage in full +gallop, cried out, bending towards the window without slackening his +speed, "You are recognised!" They arrived with beating hearts at the +gates of Varennes without meeting one of the horsemen by whom they were to +have been escorted into the place. They were ignorant where to find their +relays, and some minutes were lost in waiting, to no purpose. The +cabriolet had preceded them, and the two ladies in attendance found the +bridge already blocked up with old carts and lumber. The town guards were +all under arms. The King at last entered Varennes. M. de Goguelat had +arrived there with his detachment. He came up to the King and asked him +if he chose to effect a passage by force! What an unlucky question to put +to Louis XVI., who from the very beginning of the Revolution had shown in +every crisis the fear he entertained of giving the least order which might +cause an effusion of blood! "Would it be a brisk action?" said the King. +"It is impossible that it should be otherwise, Sire," replied the +aide-decamp. Louis XVI. was unwilling to expose his family. They +therefore went to the house of a grocer, Mayor of Varennes. The King +began to speak, and gave a summary of his intentions in departing, +analogous to the declaration he had made at Paris. He spoke with warmth +and affability, and endeavoured to demonstrate to the people around him +that he had only put himself, by the step he had taken, into a fit +situation to treat with the Assembly, and to sanction with freedom the +constitution which he would maintain, though many of its articles were +incompatible with the dignity of the throne, and the force by which it was +necessary that the sovereign should be surrounded. Nothing could be more +affecting, added the Queen, than this moment, in which the King felt bound +to communicate to the very humblest class of his subjects his principles, +his wishes for the happiness of his people, and the motives which had +determined him to depart. + +Whilst the King was speaking to this mayor, whose name was Sauce, the +Queen, seated at the farther end of the shop, among parcels of soap and +candles, endeavoured to make Madame Sauce understand that if she would +prevail upon her husband to make use of his municipal authority to cover +the flight of the King and his family, she would have the glory of having +contributed to restore tranquillity to France. This woman was moved; she +could not, without streaming eyes, see herself thus solicited by her +Queen; but she could not be got to say anything more than, "Bon Dieu, +Madame, it would be the destruction of M. Sauce; I love my King, but I +love my husband too, you must know, and he would be answerable, you see." +Whilst this strange scene was passing in the shop, the people, hearing +that the King was arrested, kept pouring in from all parts. M. de +Goguelat, making a last effort, demanded of the dragoons whether they +would protect the departure of the King; they replied only by murmurs, +dropping the points of their swords. Some person unknown fired a pistol +at M. de Goguelat; he was slightly wounded by the ball. M. Romeuf, +aide-de-camp to M. de La Fayette, arrived at that moment. He had been +chosen, after the 6th of October, 1789, by the commander of the Parisian +guard to be in constant attendance about the Queen. She reproached him +bitterly with the object of his mission. "If you wish to make your name +remarkable, monsieur," said the Queen to him, "you have chosen strange and +odious means, which will produce the most fatal consequences." This +officer wished to hasten their departure. The Queen, still cherishing the +hope of seeing M. de Bouille arrive with a sufficient force to extricate +the King from his critical situation, prolonged her stay at Varennes by +every means in her power. + +The Dauphin's first woman pretended to be taken ill with a violent colic, +and threw herself upon a bed, in the hope of aiding the designs of her +superiors; she went and implored for assistance. The Queen understood her +perfectly well, and refused to leave one who had devoted herself to follow +them in such a state of suffering. But no delay in departing was allowed. +The three Body Guards (Valory, Du Moustier, and Malden) were gagged and +fastened upon the seat of the carriage. A horde of National Guards, +animated with fury and the barbarous joy with which their fatal triumph +inspired them, surrounded the carriage of the royal family. + +The three commissioners sent by the Assembly to meet the King, MM. de +Latour-Maubourg, Barnave, and Potion, joined them in the environs of +Epernay. The two last mentioned got into the King's carriage. The Queen +astonished me by the favourable opinion she had formed of Barnave. When I +quitted Paris a great many persons spoke of him only with horror. She told +me he was much altered, that he was full of talent and noble feeling. "A +feeling of pride which I cannot much blame in a young man belonging to the +Tiers Etat," she said, "made him applaud everything which smoothed the +road to rank and fame for that class in which he was born. And if we get +the power in our own hands again, Barnave's pardon is already written on +our hearts." The Queen added, that she had not the same feeling towards +those nobles who had joined the revolutionary party, who had always +received marks of favour, often to the injury of those beneath them in +rank, and who, born to be the safeguard of the monarchy, could never be +pardoned for having deserted it. She then told me that Barnave's conduct +upon the road was perfectly correct, while Potion's republican rudeness +was disgusting; that the latter ate and drank in the King's berlin in a +slovenly manner, throwing the bones of the fowls out through the window at +the risk of sending them even into the King's face; lifting up his glass, +when Madame Elisabeth poured him out wine, to show her that there was +enough, without saying a word; that this offensive behaviour must have +been intentional, because the man was not without education; and that +Barnave was hurt at it. On being pressed by the Queen to take something, +"Madame," replied Barnave, "on so solemn an occasion the deputies of the +National Assembly ought to occupy your Majesties solely about their +mission, and by no means about their wants." In short, his respectful +delicacy, his considerate attentions, and all that he said, gained the +esteem not only of the Queen, but of Madame Elisabeth also. + +The King began to talk to Petion about the situation of France, and the +motives of his conduct, which were founded upon the necessity of giving to +the executive power a strength necessary for its action, for the good even +of the constitutional act, since France could not be a republic. "Not yet, +'tis true," replied Petion, "because the French are not ripe enough for +that." This audacious and cruel answer silenced the King, who said no +more until his arrival at Paris. Potion held the little Dauphin upon his +knees, and amused himself with curling the beautiful light hair of the +interesting child round his fingers; and, as he spoke with much +gesticulation, he pulled his locks hard enough to make the Dauphin cry +out. "Give me my son," said the Queen to him; "he is accustomed to +tenderness and delicacy, which render him little fit for such +familiarity." + +The Chevalier de Dampierre was killed near the King's carriage upon +leaving Varennes. A poor village cure, some leagues from the place where +the crime was committed, was imprudent enough to draw near to speak to the +King; the cannibals who surrounded the carriage rushed upon him. "Tigers," +exclaimed Barnave, "have you ceased to be Frenchmen? Nation of brave men, +are you become a set of assassins?" These words alone saved the cure, who +was already upon the ground, from certain death. Barnave, as he spoke to +them, threw himself almost out of the coach window, and Madame Elisabeth, +affected by this noble burst of feeling, held him by the skirt of his +coat. The Queen, while speaking of this event, said that on the most +momentous occasions whimsical contrasts always struck her, and that even +at such a moment the pious Elisabeth holding Barnave by the flap of his +coat was a ludicrous sight. + +The deputy was astonished in another way. Madame Elisabeth's comments +upon the state of France, her mild and persuasive eloquence, and the, ease +and simplicity with which she talked to him, yet without sacrificing her +dignity in the slightest degree, appeared to him unique, and his heart, +which was doubtless inclined to right principles though he had followed +the wrong path, was overcome by admiration. The conduct of the two +deputies convinced the Queen of the total separation between the +republican and constitutional parties. At the inns where she alighted she +had some private conversation with Barnave. The latter said a great deal +about the errors committed by the royalists during the Revolution, adding +that he had found the interest of the Court so feebly and so badly +defended that he had been frequently tempted to go and offer it, in +himself, an aspiring champion, who knew the spirit of the age and nation. +The Queen asked him what was the weapon he would have recommended her to +use. + +"Popularity, Madame." + +"And how could I use that," replied her Majesty, "of which I have been +deprived?" + +"Ah! Madame, it was much more easy for you to regain it, than for me to +acquire it." + +The Queen mainly attributed the arrest at Varennes to M. de Goguelat; she +said he calculated the time that would be spent in the journey +erroneously. He performed that from Montmedy to Paris before taking the +King's last orders, alone in a post-chaise, and he founded all his +calculations upon the time he spent thus. The trial has been made since, +and it was found that a light carriage without any courier was nearly +three hours less in running the distance than a heavy carriage preceded by +a courier. + +The Queen also blamed him for having quitted the high-road at +Pont-de-Sommevelle, where the carriage was to meet the forty hussars +commanded by him. She thought that he ought to have dispersed the very +small number of people at Varennes, and not have asked the hussars whether +they were for the King or the nation; that, particularly, he ought to have +avoided taking the King's orders, as he was previously aware of the reply +M. d'Inisdal had received when it was proposed to carry off the King. + +After all that the Queen had said to me respecting the mistakes made by M. +de Goguelat, I thought him of course disgraced. What was my surprise +when, having been set at liberty after the amnesty which followed the +acceptance of the constitution, he presented himself to the Queen, and was +received with the greatest kindness! She said he had done what he could, +and that his zeal ought to form an excuse for all the rest. + +[Full details of the preparations for the flight to Varennes will be found +in "Le Comte de Fersen et La Cour de France," Paris, Didot et Cie, 1878 (a +review of which was given in the Quarterly Review for July, 1880), and in +the "Memoirs of the Marquis de Bouille", London, Cadell and Davis, 1797; +Count Fersen being the person who planned the actual escape, and De +Bouille being in command of the army which was to receive the King. The +plan was excellent, and would certainly have succeeded, if it had not been +for the royal family themselves. Marie Antoinette, it will have been seen +by Madame Campan's account, nearly wrecked the plan from inability to do +without a large dressing or travelling case. The King did a more fatal +thing. De Bouille had pointed out the necessity for having in the King's +carriage an officer knowing the route, and able to show himself to give +all directions, and a proper person had been provided. The King, however, +objected, as "he could not have the Marquis d'Agoult in the same carriage +with himself; the governess of the royal children, who was to accompany +them, having refused to abandon her privilege of constantly remaining with +her charge." See "De Bouille," pp. 307 and 334. Thus, when Louis was +recognised at the window of the carriage by Drouet, he was lost by the +very danger that had been foreseen, and this wretched piece of etiquette +led to his death.] + +When the royal family was brought back from Varennes to the Tuileries, the +Queen's attendants found the greatest difficulty in making their way to +her apartments; everything had been arranged so that the wardrobe woman, +who had acted as spy, should have the service; and she was to be assisted +in it only by her sister and her sister's daughter. + +M. de Gouvion, M. de La Fayette's aide-de-camp, had this woman's portrait +placed at the foot of the staircase which led to the Queen's apartments, +in order that the sentinel should not permit any other women to make their +way in. As soon as the Queen was informed of this contemptible +precaution, she told the King of it, who sent to ascertain the fact. His +Majesty then called for M. de La Fayette, claimed freedom in his +household, and particularly in that of the Queen, and ordered him to send +a woman in, whom no one but himself could confide out of the palace. M. de +La Fayette was obliged to comply. + +On the day when the return of the royal family was expected, there were no +carriages in motion in the streets of Paris. Five or six of the Queen's +women, after being refused admittance at all the other gates, went with +one of my sisters to that of the Feuillans, insisting that the sentinel +should admit them. The poissardes attacked them for their boldness in +resisting the order excluding them. One of them seized my sister by the +arm, calling her the slave of the Austrian. "Hear me," said my sister to +her, "I have been attached to the Queen ever since I was fifteen years of +age; she gave me my marriage portion; I served her when she was powerful +and happy. She is now unfortunate. Ought I to abandon her?"--"She is +right," cried the poissardes; "she ought not to abandon her mistress; let +us make an entry for them." They instantly surrounded the sentinel, +forced the passage, and introduced the Queen's women, accompanying them to +the terrace of the Feuillans. One of these furies, whom the slightest +impulse would have driven to tear my sister to pieces, taking her under +her protection, gave her advice by which she might reach the palace in +safety. "But of all things, my dear friend," said she to her, "pull off +that green ribbon sash; it is the color of that D'Artois, whom we will +never forgive." + +The measures adopted for guarding the King were rigorous with respect to +the entrance into the palace, and insulting as to his private apartments. +The commandants of battalion, stationed in the salon called the grand +cabinet, and which led to the Queen's bedchamber, were ordered to keep the +door of it always open, in order that they might have their eyes upon the +royal family. The King shut this door one day; the officer of the guard +opened it, and told him such were his orders, and that he would always +open it; so that his Majesty in shutting it gave himself useless trouble. +It remained open even during the night, when the Queen was in bed; and the +officer placed himself in an armchair between the two doors, with his head +turned towards her Majesty. They only obtained permission to have the +inner door shut when the Queen was rising. The Queen had the bed of her +first femme de chambre placed very near her own; this bed, which ran on +casters, and was furnished with curtains, hid her from the officer's +sight. + +Madame de Jarjaye, my companion, who continued her functions during the +whole period of my absence, told me that one night the commandant of +battalion, who slept between the two doors, seeing that she was sleeping +soundly, and that the Queen was awake, quitted his post and went close to +her Majesty, to advise her as to the line of conduct she should pursue. +Although she had the kindness to desire him to speak lower in order that +he might not disturb Madame de Jarjaye's rest, the latter awoke, and +nearly died with fright at seeing a man in the uniform of the Parisian +guard so near the Queen's bed. Her Majesty comforted her, and told her +not to rise; that the person she saw was a good Frenchman, who was +deceived respecting the intentions and situation of his sovereign and +herself, but whose conversation showed sincere attachment to the King. + +There was a sentinel in the corridor which runs behind the apartments in +question, where there is a staircase, which was at that time an inner one, +and enabled the King and Queen to communicate freely. This post, which +was very onerous, because it was to be kept four and twenty hours, was +often claimed by Saint Prig, an actor belonging to the Theatre Francais. +He took it upon himself sometimes to contrive brief interviews between the +King and Queen in this corridor. He left them at a distance, and gave +them warning if he heard the slightest noise. M. Collot, commandant of +battalion of the National Guard, who was charged with the military duty of +the Queen's household, in like manner softened down, so far as he could +with prudence, all, the revolting orders he received; for instance, one to +follow the Queen to the very door of her wardrobe was never executed. An +officer of the Parisian guard dared to speak insolently of the Queen in +her own apartment. M. Collot wished to make a complaint to M. de La +Fayette against him, and have him dismissed. The Queen opposed it, and +condescended to say a few words of explanation and kindness to the man; he +instantly became one of her most devoted partisans. + +The first time I saw her Majesty after the unfortunate catastrophe of the +Varennes journey, I found her getting out of bed; her features were not +very much altered; but after the first kind words she uttered to me she +took off her cap and desired me to observe the effect which grief had +produced upon her hair. It had become, in one single night, as white as +that of a woman of seventy. Her Majesty showed me a ring she had just had +mounted for the Princesse de Lamballe; it contained a lock of her whitened +hair, with the inscription, "Blanched by sorrow." At the period of the +acceptance of the constitution the Princess wished to return to France. +The Queen, who had no expectation that tranquillity would be restored, +opposed this; but the attachment of Madame de Lamballe to the royal family +impelled her to come and seek death. + +When I returned to Paris most of the harsh precautions were abandoned; the +doors were not kept open; greater respect was paid to the sovereign; it +was known that the constitution soon to be completed would be accepted, +and a better order of things was hoped for. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +On my arrival at Paris on the 25th of August I found the state of feeling +there much more temperate than I had dared to hope. The conversation +generally ran upon the acceptance of the constitution, and the fetes which +would be given in consequence. The struggle between the Jacobins and the +constitutionals on the 17th of July, 1791, nevertheless had thrown the +Queen into great terror for some moments; and the firing of the cannon +from the Champ de Mars upon a party which called for a trial of the King, +and the leaders of which were in the very bosom of the Assembly, left the +most gloomy impressions upon her mind. + +The constitutionals, the Queen's connection with whom was not slackened by +the intervention of the three members already mentioned, had faithfully +served the royal family during their detention. + +"We still hold the wire by which this popular mass is moved," said Barnave +to M. de J----- one day, at the same time showing him a large volume, in +which the names of all those who were influenced with the power of gold +alone were registered. It was at that time proposed to hire a +considerable number of persons in order to secure loud acclamations when +the King and his family should make their appearance at the play upon the +acceptance of the constitution. That day, which afforded a glimmering +hope of tranquillity, was the 14th of September; the fetes were brilliant; +but already fresh anxieties forbade the royal family to encourage much +hope. + +The Legislative Assembly, which had just succeeded the Constituent +Assembly (October, 1791), founded its conduct upon the wildest republican +principles; created from the midst of popular assemblies, it was wholly +inspired by the spirit which animated them. The constitution, as I have +said, was presented to the King on the 3d of September, 1791. The +ministers, with the exception of M. de Montmorin, insisted upon the +necessity of accepting the constitutional act in its entirety. The Prince +de Kaunitz--[Minister of Austria]--was of the same opinion. Malouet wished +the King to express himself candidly respecting any errors or dangers that +he might observe in the constitution. But Duport and Barnave, alarmed at +the spirit prevailing in the Jacobin Club, and even in the Assembly, +where Robespierre had already denounced them as traitors to the country, +and dreading still greater evils, added their opinions to those of the +majority of the ministers and M. de Kaunitz; those who really desired +that the constitution should be maintained advised that it should not be +accepted thus literally. + +[The extreme revolutionary party, so called from the club, originally +"Breton," then "Amis de la Constitution," sitting at the convent of the +Dominicans (called in France Jacobins) of the Rue Saint Honore.] + +The King seemed inclined to this advice; and this is one of the +strongest proofs of his sincerity. + +Alexandre Lameth, Duport, and Barnave, still relying on the resources of +their party, hoped to have credit for directing the King through the +influence they believed they had acquired over the mind of the Queen. They +also consulted people of acknowledged talent, but belonging to no council +nor to any assembly. Among these was M. Dubucq, formerly intendant of the +marine and of the colonies. He answered laconically in one phrase: +"Prevent disorder from organising itself." + +The letter written by the King to the Assembly, claiming to accept the +constitution in the very place where it had been created, and where he +announced he would be on the 14th September at mid-day, was received with +transport, and the reading was repeatedly interrupted by plaudits. The +sitting terminated amidst the greatest enthusiasm, and M. de La Fayette +obtained the release of all those who were detained on account of the +King's journey [to Varennes], the abandonment of all proceedings relative +to the events of the Revolution, and the discontinuance of the use of +passports and of temporary restraints upon free travelling, as well in the +interior as without. The whole was conceded by acclamation. Sixty +members were deputed to go to the King and express to him fully the +satisfaction his Majesty's letter had given. The Keeper of the Seals +quitted the chamber, in the midst of applause, to precede the deputation +to the King. + +The King answered the speech addressed to him, and concluded by saying to +the Assembly that a decree of that morning, which had abolished the order +of the Holy Ghost, had left him and his son alone permission to be +decorated with it; but that an order having no value in his eyes, save for +the power of conferring it, he would not use it. + +The Queen, her son, and Madame, were at the door of the chamber into which +the deputation was admitted. The King said to the deputies, "You see +there my wife and children, who participate in my sentiments;" and the +Queen herself confirmed the King's assurance. These apparent marks of +confidence were very inconsistent with the agitated state of her mind. +"These people want no sovereigns," said she. "We shall fall before their +treacherous though well-planned tactics; they are demolishing the monarchy +stone by stone." + +Next day the particulars of the reception of the deputies by the King were +reported to the Assembly, and excited warm approbation. But the President +having put the question whether the Assembly ought not to remain seated +while the King took the oath "Certainly," was repeated by many voices; +"and the King, standing, uncovered." M. Malouet observed that there was +no occasion on which the nation, assembled in the presence of the King, +did not acknowledge him as its head; that the omission to treat the head +of the State with the respect due to him would be an offence to the +nation, as well as to the monarch. He moved that the King should take the +oath standing, and that the Assembly should also stand while he was doing +so. M. Malouet's observations would have carried the decree, but a deputy +from Brittany exclaimed, with a shrill voice, that he had an amendment to +propose which would render all unanimous. "Let us decree," said he, "that +M. Malouet, and whoever else shall so please, may have leave to receive +the King upon their knees; but let us stick to the decree." + +The King repaired to the chamber at mid-day. His speech was followed by +plaudits which lasted several minutes. After the signing of the +constitutional act all sat down. The President rose to deliver his +speech; but after he had begun, perceiving that the King did not rise to +hear him, he sat down again. His speech made a powerful impression; the +sentence with which it concluded excited fresh acclamations, cries of +"Bravo!" and "Vive le Roi!"--"Sire," said he, "how important in our eyes, +and how dear to our hearts--how sublime a feature in our history--must be +the epoch of that regeneration which gives citizens to France, and a +country to Frenchmen,--to you, as a king, a new title of greatness and +glory, and, as a man, a source of new enjoyment." The whole Assembly +accompanied the King on his return, amidst the people's cries of +happiness, military music, and salvoes of artillery. + +At length I hoped to see a return of that tranquillity which had so long +vanished from the countenances of my august master and mistress. Their +suite left them in the salon; the Queen hastily saluted the ladies, and +returned much affected; the King followed her, and, throwing himself into +an armchair, put his handkerchief to his eyes. "Ah! Madame," cried he, +his voice choked by tears, "why were you present at this sitting? to +witness--" these words were interrupted by sobs. The Queen threw herself +upon her knees before him, and pressed him in her arms. I remained with +them, not from any blamable curiosity, but from a stupefaction which +rendered me incapable of determining what I ought to do. The Queen said +to me, "Oh! go, go!" with an accent which expressed, "Do not remain to see +the dejection and despair of your sovereign!" I withdrew, struck with the +contrast between the shouts of joy without the palace and the profound +grief which oppressed the sovereigns within. Half an hour afterwards the +Queen sent for me. She desired to see M. de Goguelat, to announce to him +his departure on that very night for Vienna. The renewed attacks upon the +dignity of the throne which had been made during the sitting; the spirit +of an Assembly worse than the former; the monarch put upon a level with +the President, without any deference to the throne,--all this proclaimed +but too loudly that the sovereignty itself was aimed at. The Queen no +longer saw any ground for hope from the Provinces. The King wrote to the +Emperor; she told me that she would herself, at midnight, bring the letter +which M. de Goguelat was to bear to the Emperor, to my room. + +During all the remainder of the day the Chateau and the Tuileries were +crowded; the illuminations were magnificent. The King and Queen were +requested to take an airing in their carriage in the Champs-Elysees, +escorted by the aides-decamp, and leaders of the Parisian army, the +Constitutional Guard not being at the time organised. Many shouts of +"Vive le Roi!" were heard; but as often as they ceased, one of the mob, +who never quitted the door of the King's carriage for a single instant, +exclaimed with a stentorian voice, "No, don't believe them! Vive la +Nation!" This ill-omened cry struck terror into the Queen. + +A few days afterwards M. de Montmorin sent to say he wanted to speak to +me; that he would come to me, if he were not apprehensive his doing so +would attract observation; and that he thought it would appear less +conspicuous if he should see me in the Queen's great closet at a time +which he specified, and when nobody would be there. I went. After having +made some polite observations upon the services I had already performed, +and those I might yet perform, for my master and mistress, he spoke to me +of the King's imminent danger, of the plots which were hatching, and of +the lamentable composition of the Legislative Assembly; and he +particularly dwelt upon the necessity of appearing, by prudent remarks, +determined as much as possible to abide by the act the King had just +recognised. I told him that could not be done without committing +ourselves in the eyes of the royalist party, with which moderation was a +crime; that it was painful to hear ourselves taxed with being +constitutionalists, at the same time that it was our opinion that the only +constitution which was consistent with the King's honour, and the +happiness and tranquillity of his people, was the absolute power of the +sovereign; that this was my creed, and it would pain me to give any room +for suspicion that I was wavering in it. + +"Could you ever believe," said he, "that I should desire any other order +of things? Have you any doubt of my attachment to the King's person, and +the maintenance of his rights?" + +"I know it, Count," replied I; "but you are not ignorant that you lie +under the imputation of having adopted revolutionary ideas." + +"Well, madame, have resolution enough to dissemble and to conceal your +real sentiments; dissimulation was never more necessary. Endeavours are +being made to paralyse the evil intentions of the factious as much as +possible; but we must not be counteracted here by certain dangerous +expressions which are circulated in Paris as coming from the King and +Queen." + +I told him that I had been already struck with apprehension of the evil +which might be done by the intemperate observations of persons who had no +power to act; and that I had felt ill consequences from having repeatedly +enjoined silence on those in the Queen's service. + +"I know that," said the Count; "the Queen informed me of it, and that +determined me to come and request you to increase and keep alive, as much +as you can, that spirit of discretion which is so necessary." + +While the household of the King and Queen were a prey to all these fears, +the festivities in celebration of the acceptance of the constitution +proceeded. Their Majesties went to the Opera; the audience consisted +entirely of persons who sided with the King, and on that day the happiness +of seeing him for a short time surrounded by faithful subjects might be +enjoyed. The acclamations were then sincere. + +"La Coquette Corrigee" had been selected for representation at the Theatre +Francais solely because it was the piece in which Mademoiselle Contat +shone most. Yet the notions propagated by the Queen's enemies coinciding +in my mind with the name of the play, I thought the choice very +ill-judged. I was at a loss, however, how to tell her Majesty so; but +sincere attachment gives courage. I explained myself; she was obliged to +me, and desired that another play might be performed. They accordingly +selected "La Gouvernante," almost equally unfortunate in title. + +The Queen, Madame the King's daughter, and Madame Elisabeth were all well +received on this occasion. It is true that the opinions and feelings of +the spectators in the boxes could not be otherwise than favourable, and +great pains had been taken, previously to these two performances, to fill +the pit with proper persons. But, on the other hand, the Jacobins took +the same precautions on their side at the Theatre Italien, and the tumult +was excessive there. The play was Gretry's "Les Evenements Imprevus." +Unfortunately, Madame Dugazon thought proper to bow to the Queen as she +sang the words, "Ah, how I love my mistress!" in a duet. Above twenty +voices immediately exclaimed from the pit, "No mistress! no master! +liberty!" A few replied from the boxes and slips, "Vive le Roi! vive la +Reine!" Those in the pit answered, "No master! no Queen!" The quarrel +increased; the pit formed into parties; they began fighting, and the +Jacobins were beaten; tufts of their black hair flew about the +theatre.--[At this time none but the Jacobins had discontinued the use of +hairpowder.--MADAME CAMPAN.]--A military guard arrived. The Faubourg St. +Antoine, hearing of what was going on at the Theatre Italien, flocked +together, and began to talk of marching towards the scene of action. The +Queen preserved the calmest demeanour; the commandants of the guard +surrounded and encouraged her; they conducted themselves promptly and +discreetly. No accident happened. The Queen was highly applauded as she +quitted the theatre; it was the last time she was ever in one! + +While couriers were bearing confidential letters from the King to the +Princes, his brothers, and to the foreign sovereigns, the Assembly invited +him to write to the Princes in order to induce them to return to France. +The King desired the Abbe de Montesquiou to write the letter he was to +send; this letter, which was admirably composed in a simple and affecting +style, suited to the character of Louis XVI., and filled with very +powerful arguments in favour of the advantages to be derived from adopting +the principles of the constitution, was confided to me by the King, who +desired me to make him a copy of it. + +At this period M. M-----, one of the intendants of Monsieur's household, +obtained a passport from the Assembly to join that Prince on business +relative to his domestic concerns. The Queen selected him to be the +bearer of this letter. She determined to give it to him herself, and to +inform him of its object. I was astonished at her choice of this courier. +The Queen assured me he was exactly the man for her purpose, that she +relied even upon his indiscretion, and that it was merely necessary that +the letter from the King to his brothers should be known to exist. The +Princes were doubtless informed beforehand on the subject by the private +correspondence. Monsieur nevertheless manifested some degree of surprise, +and the messenger returned more grieved than pleased at this mark of +confidence, which nearly cost him his life during the Reign of Terror. + +Among the causes of uneasiness to the Queen there was one which was but +too well founded, the thoughtlessness of the French whom she sent to +foreign Courts. She used to say that they had no sooner passed the +frontiers than they disclosed the most secret matters relative to the +King's private sentiments, and that the leaders of the Revolution were +informed of them through their agents, many of whom were Frenchmen who +passed themselves off as emigrants in the cause of their King. + +After the acceptance of the constitution, the formation of the King's +household, as well military as civil, formed a subject of attention. The +Duc de Brissac had the command of the Constitutional Guard, which was +composed of officers and men selected from the regiments, and of several +officers drawn from the National Guard of Paris. The King was satisfied +with the feelings and conduct of this band, which, as is well known, +existed but a very short time. + +The new constitution abolished what were called honours, and the +prerogatives belonging to them. The Duchesse de Duras resigned her place +of lady of the bedchamber, not choosing to lose her right to the tabouret +at Court. This step hurt the Queen, who saw herself forsaken through the +loss of a petty privilege at a time when her own rights and even life were +so hotly attacked. Many ladies of rank left the Court for the same +reason. However, the King and Queen did not dare to form the civil part +of their household, lest by giving the new names of the posts they should +acknowledge the abolition of the old ones, and also lest they should admit +into the highest positions persons not calculated to fill them well. Some +time was spent in discussing the question, whether the household should be +formed without chevaliers and without ladies of honour. The Queen's +constitutional advisers were of opinion that the Assembly, having decreed +a civil list adequate to uphold the splendour of the throne, would be +dissatisfied at seeing the King adopting only a military household, and +not forming his civil household upon the new constitutional plan. "How is +it, Madame," wrote Barnave to the Queen, "that you will persist in giving +these people even the smallest doubt as to your sentiments? When they +decree you a civil and a military household, you, like young Achilles +among the daughters of Lycomedes, eagerly seize the sword and scorn the +mere ornaments." The Queen persisted in her determination to have no +civil household. "If," said she, "this constitutional household be +formed, not a single person of rank will remain with us, and upon a change +of affairs we should be obliged to discharge the persons received into +their place." + +"Perhaps," added she, "perhaps I might find one day that I had saved the +nobility, if I now had resolution enough to afflict them for a time; I +have it not. When any measure which injures them is wrested from us they +sulk with me; nobody comes to my card party; the King goes unattended to +bed. No allowance is made for political necessity; we are punished for +our very misfortunes." + +The Queen wrote almost all day, and spent part of the night in reading: +her courage supported her physical strength; her disposition was not at +all soured by misfortunes, and she was never seen in an ill-humour for a +moment. She was, however, held up to the people as a woman absolutely +furious and mad whenever the rights of the Crown were in any way attacked. + +I was with her one day at one of her windows. We saw a man plainly +dressed, like an ecclesiastic, surrounded by an immense crowd. The Queen +imagined it was some abbe whom they were about to throw into the basin of +the Tuileries; she hastily opened her window and sent a valet de chambre +to know what was going forward in the garden. It was Abbe Gregoire, whom +the men and women of the tribunes were bringing back in triumph, on +account of a motion he had just made in the National Assembly against the +royal authority. On the following day the democratic journalists +described the Queen as witnessing this triumph, and showing, by expressive +gestures at her window, how highly she was exasperated by the honours +conferred upon the patriot. + +The correspondence between the Queen and the foreign powers was carried on +in cipher. That to which she gave the preference can never be detected; +but the greatest patience is requisite for its use. Each correspondent +must have a copy of the same edition of some work. She selected "Paul and +Virginia." The page and line in which the letters required, and +occasionally a monosyllable, are to be found are pointed out in ciphers +agreed upon. I assisted her in finding the letters, and frequently I made +an exact copy for her of all that she had ciphered, without knowing a +single word of its meaning. + +There were always several secret committees in Paris occupied in +collecting information for the King respecting the measures of the +factions, and in influencing some of the committees of the Assembly. M. +Bertrand de Molleville was in close correspondence with the Queen. The +King employed M. Talon and others; much money was expended through the +latter channel for the secret measures. The Queen had no confidence in +them. M. de Laporte, minister of the civil list and of the household, +also attempted to give a bias to public opinion by means of hireling +publications; but these papers influenced none but the royalist party, +which did not need influencing. M. de Laporte had a private police which +gave him some useful information. + +I determined to sacrifice myself to my duty, but by no means to any +intrigue, and I thought that, circumstanced as I was, I ought to confine +myself to obeying the Queen's orders. I frequently sent off couriers to +foreign countries, and they were never discovered, so many precautions did +I take. I am indebted for the preservation of my own existence to the +care I took never to admit any deputy to my abode, and to refuse all +interviews which even people of the highest importance often requested of +me; but this line of conduct exposed me to every species of ill-will, and +on the same day I saw myself denounced by Prud'homme, in his 'Gazette +Revolutionnaire', as capable of making an aristocrat of the mother of the +Gracchi, if a person so dangerous as myself could have got into her +household; and by Gauthier's Gazette Royaliste, as a monarchist, a +constitutionalist, more dangerous to the Queen's interests than a Jacobin. + +At this period an event with which I had nothing to do placed me in a +still more critical situation. My brother, M. Genet, began his diplomatic +career successfully. At eighteen he was attached to the embassy to +Vienna; at twenty he was appointed chief secretary of Legation in England, +on occasion of the peace of 1783. A memorial which he presented to M. de +Vergennes upon the dangers of the treaty of commerce then entered into +with England gave offence to M. de Calonne, a patron of that treaty, and +particularly to M. Gerard de Rayneval, chief clerk for foreign affairs. +So long as M. de Vergennes lived, having upon my father's death declared +himself the protector of my brother, he supported him against the enemies +his views had created. But on his death M. de Montmorin, being much in +need of the long experience in business which he found in M. de Rayneval, +was guided solely by the latter. The office of which my brother was the +head was suppressed. He then went to St. Petersburg, strongly recommended +to the Comte de Segur, minister from France to that Court, who appointed +him secretary of Legation. Some time afterwards the Comte de Segur left +him at St. Petersburg, charged with the affairs of France. After his +return from Russia, M. Genet was appointed ambassador to the United States +by the party called Girondists, the deputies who headed it being from the +department of the Gironde. He was recalled by the Robespierre party, +which overthrew the former faction, on the 31st of May, 1793, and +condemned to appear before the Convention. Vice-President Clinton, at +that time Governor of New York, offered him an asylum in his house and the +hand of his daughter, and M. Genet established himself prosperously in +America. + +When my brother quitted Versailles he was much hurt at being deprived of a +considerable income for having penned a memorial which his zeal alone had +dictated, and the importance of which was afterwards but too well +understood. I perceived from his correspondence that he inclined to some +of the new notions. He told me it was right he should no longer conceal +from me that he sided with the constitutional party; that the King had in +fact commanded it, having himself accepted the constitution; that he would +proceed firmly in that course, because in this case disingenuousness would +be fatal, and that he took that side of the question because he had had it +proved to him that the foreign powers would not serve the King's cause +without advancing pretensions prompted by long-standing interests, which +always would influence their councils; that he saw no salvation for the +King and Queen but from within France, and that he would serve the +constitutional King as he served him before the Revolution. And lastly, +he requested me to impart to the Queen the real sentiments of one of his +Majesty's agents at a foreign Court. I immediately went to the Queen and +gave her my brother's letter; she read it attentively, and said, "This is +the letter of a young man led astray by discontent and ambition; I know +you do not think as he does; do not fear that you will lose the confidence +of the King and myself." I offered to discontinue all correspondence with +my brother; she opposed that, saying it would be dangerous. I then +entreated she would permit me in future to show her my own and my +brother's letters, to which she consented. I wrote warmly to my brother +against the course he had adopted. I sent my letters by sure channels; he +answered me by the post, and no longer touched upon anything but family +affairs. Once only he informed me that if I should write to him +respecting the affairs of the day he would give me no answer. "Serve your +august mistress with the unbounded devotion which is due from you," said +he, "and let us each do our duty. I will only observe to you that at +Paris the fogs of the Seine often prevent people from seeing that immense +capital, even from the Pavilion of Flora, and I see it more clearly from +St. Petersburg." The Queen said, as she read this letter, "Perhaps he +speaks but too truly; who can decide upon so disastrous a position as ours +has become?" The day on which I gave the Queen my brother's first letter +to read she had several audiences to give to ladies and other persons +belonging to the Court, who came on purpose to inform her that my brother +was an avowed constitutionalist and revolutionist. The Queen replied, "I +know it; Madame Campan has told me so." Persons jealous of my situation +having subjected me to mortifications, and these unpleasant circumstances +recurring daily, I requested the Queen's permission to withdraw from +Court. She exclaimed against the very idea, represented it to me as +extremely dangerous for my own reputation, and had the kindness to add +that, for my sake as well as for her own, she never would consent to it. +After this conversation I retired to my apartment. A few minutes later a +footman brought me this note from the Queen: "I have never ceased to give +you and yours proofs of my attachment; I wish to tell you in writing that +I have full faith in your honour and fidelity, as well as in your other +good qualities; and that I ever rely on the zeal and address you exert to +serve me." + +[I had just received this letter from the Queen when M. de la Chapelle, +commissary-general of the King's household, and head of the offices of M. +de Laporte, minister of the civil list, came to see me. The palace having +been already sacked by the brigands on the 20th of June, 1792, he proposed +that I should entrust the paper to him, that he might place it in a safer +situation than the apartments of the Queen. When he returned into his +offices he placed the letter she had condescended to write to me behind a +large picture in his closet; but on the loth of August M. de la Chapelle +was thrown into the prisons of the Abbaye, and the committee of public +safety established themselves in his offices, whence they issued all their +decrees of death. There it was that a villainous servant belonging to M. +de Laporte went to declare that in the minister's apartments, under a +board in the floor, a number of papers would be found. They were brought +forth, and M. de Laporte was sent to the scaffold, where he suffered for +having betrayed the State by serving his master and sovereign. M. de la +Chapelle was saved, as if by a miracle, from the massacres of the 2d of +September. The committee of public safety having removed to the King's +apartments at the Tuileries, M. de la Chapelle had permission to return to +his closet to take away some property belonging to him. Turning round the +picture, behind which he had hidden the Queen's letter, he found it in the +place into which he had slipped it, and, delighted to see that I was safe +from the ill consequences the discovery of this paper might have brought +upon me, he burnt it instantly. In times of danger a mere nothing may +save life or destroy it.--MADAME CAMPAN] + +At the moment that I was going to express my gratitude to the Queen I +heard a tapping at the door of my room, which opened upon the Queen's +inner corridor. I opened it; it was the King. I was confused; he +perceived it, and said to me, kindly: "I alarm you, Madame Campan; I come, +however, to comfort you; the Queen has told me how much she is hurt at the +injustice of several persons towards you. But how is it that you complain +of injustice and calumny when you see that we are victims of them? In +some of your companions it is jealousy; in the people belonging to the +Court it is anxiety. Our situation is so disastrous, and we have met with +so much ingratitude and treachery, that the apprehensions of those who +love us are excusable! I could quiet them by telling them all the secret +services you perform for us daily; but I will not do it. Out of good-will +to you they would repeat all I should say, and you would be lost with the +Assembly. It is much better, both for you and for us, that you should be +thought a constitutionalist. It has been mentioned to me a hundred times +already; I have never contradicted it; but I come to give you my word that +if we are fortunate enough to see an end of all this, I will, at the +Queen's residence, and in the presence of my brothers, relate the +important services you have rendered us, and I will recompense you and +your son for them." I threw myself at the King's feet and kissed his +hand. He raised me up, saying, "Come, come, do not grieve; the Queen, who +loves you, confides in you as I do." + +Down to the day of the acceptance it was impossible to introduce Barnave +into the interior of the palace; but when the Queen was free from the +inner guard she said she would see him. The very great precautions which +it was necessary for the deputy to take in order to conceal his connection +with the King and Queen compelled them to spend two hours waiting for him +in one of the corridors of the Tuileries, and all in vain. The first day +that he was to be admitted, a man whom Barnave knew to be dangerous having +met him in the courtyard of the palace, he determined to cross it without +stopping, and walked in the gardens in order to lull suspicion. I was +desired to wait for Barnave at a little door belonging to the entresols of +the palace, with my hand upon the open lock. I was in that position for +an hour. The King came to me frequently, and always to speak to me of the +uneasiness which a servant belonging to the Chateau, who was a patriot, +gave him. He came again to ask me whether I had heard the door called de +Decret opened. I assured him nobody had been in the corridor, and he +became easy. He was dreadfully apprehensive that his connection with +Barnave would be discovered. "It would," said the King, "be a ground for +grave accusations, and the unfortunate man would be lost." I then +ventured to remind his Majesty that as Barnave was not the only one in the +secret of the business which brought him in contact with their Majesties, +one of his colleagues might be induced to speak of the association with +which they were honoured, and that in letting them know by my presence +that I also was informed of it, a risk was incurred of removing from those +gentlemen part of the responsibility of the secret. Upon this observation +the King quitted me hastily and returned a moment afterwards with the +Queen. "Give me your place," said she; "I will wait for him in my turn. +You have convinced the King. We must not increase in their eyes the +number of persons informed of their communications with us." + +The police of M. de Laporte, intendant of the civil list, apprised him, as +early as the latter end of 1791, that a man belonging to the King's +offices who had set up as a pastrycook at the Palais Royal was about to +resume the duties of his situation, which had devolved upon him again on +the death of one who held it for life; that he was so furious a Jacobin +that he had dared to say it would be a good thing for France if the King's +days were shortened. His duty was confined to making the pastry; he was +closely watched by the head officers of the kitchen, who were devoted to +his Majesty; but it is so easy to introduce a subtle poison into made +dishes that it was determined the King and Queen should eat only plain +roast meat in future; that their bread should be brought to them by M. +Thierry de Ville-d'Avray, intendant of the smaller apartments, and that he +should likewise take upon himself to supply the wine. The King was fond +of pastry; I was directed to order some, as if for myself, sometimes of +one pastry-cook, and sometimes of another. The pounded sugar, too, was +kept in my room. The King, the Queen, and Madame Elisabeth ate together, +and nobody remained to wait on them. Each had a dumb waiter and a little +bell to call the servants when they were wanted. M. Thierry used himself +to bring me their Majesties' bread and wine, and I locked them up in a +private cupboard in the King's closet on the ground floor. As soon as the +King sat down to table I took in the pastry and bread. All was hidden +under the table lest it might be necessary to have the servants in. The +King thought it dangerous as well as distressing to show any apprehension +of attempts against his person, or any mistrust of his officers of the +kitchen. As he never drank a whole bottle of wine at his meals (the +Princesses drank nothing but water), he filled up that out of which he had +drunk about half from the bottle served up by the officers of his butlery. +I took it away after dinner. Although he never ate any other pastry than +that which I brought, he took care in the same manner that it should seem +that he had eaten of that served at table. The lady who succeeded me found +this duty all regulated, and she executed it in the same manner; the +public never was in possession of these particulars, nor of the +apprehensions which gave rise to them. At the end of three or four months +the police of M. de Laporte gave notice that nothing more was to be +dreaded from that sort of plot against the King's life; that the plan was +entirely changed; and that all the blows now to be struck would be +directed as much against the throne as against the person of the +sovereign. + +There are others besides myself who know that at this time one of the +things about which the Queen most desired to be satisfied was the opinion +of the famous Pitt. She would sometimes say to me, "I never pronounce the +name of Pitt without feeling a chill like that of death." (I repeat here +her very expressions.) "That man is the mortal enemy of France; and he +takes a dreadful revenge for the impolitic support given by the Cabinet of +Versailles to the American insurgents. He wishes by our destruction to +guarantee the maritime power of his country forever against the efforts +made by the King to improve his marine power and their happy results +during the last war. He knows that it is not only the King's policy but +his private inclination to be solicitous about his fleets, and that the +most active step he has taken during his whole reign was to visit the port +of Cherbourg. Pitt had served the cause of the French Revolution from the +first disturbances; he will perhaps serve it until its annihilation. I +will endeavour to learn to what point he intends to lead us, and I am +sending M.----- to London for that purpose. He has been intimately +connected with Pitt, and they have often had political conversations +respecting the French Government. I will get him to make him speak out, +at least so far as such a man can speak out." Some time afterwards the +Queen told me that her secret envoy was returned from London, and that all +he had been able to wring from Pitt, whom he found alarmingly reserved, +was that he would not suffer the French monarchy to perish; that to suffer +the revolutionary spirit to erect an organised republic in France would be +a great error, affecting the tranquillity of Europe. "Whenever," said +she, "Pitt expressed himself upon the necessity of supporting monarchy in +France, he maintained the most profound silence upon what concerns the +monarch. The result of these conversations is anything but encouraging; +but, even as to that monarchy which he wishes to save, will he have means +and strength to save it if he suffers us to fall?" + +The death of the Emperor Leopold took place on the 1st of March, 1792. +When the news of this event reached the Tuileries, the Queen was gone out. +Upon her return I put the letter containing it into her hands. She +exclaimed that the Emperor had been poisoned; that she had remarked and +preserved a newspaper, in which, in an article upon the sitting of the +Jacobins, at the time when the Emperor Leopold declared for the coalition, +it was said, speaking of him, that a pie-crust would settle that matter. +At this period Barnave obtained the Queen's consent that he should read +all the letters she should write. He was fearful of private +correspondences that might hamper the plan marked out for her; he +mistrusted her Majesty's sincerity on this point; and the diversity of +counsels, and the necessity of yielding, on the one hand, to some of the +views of the constitutionalists, and on the other, to those of the French +Princes, and even of foreign Courts, were unfortunately the circumstances +which most rapidly impelled the Court towards its ruin. + +However, the emigrants showed great apprehensions of the consequences +which might follow in the interior from a connection with the +constitutionalists, whom they described as a party existing only in idea, +and totally without means of repairing their errors. The Jacobins were +preferred to them, because, said they, there would be no treaty to be made +with any one at the moment of extricating the King and his family from the +abyss in which they were plunged. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +In the beginning of the year 1792, a worthy priest requested a private +interview with me. He had learned the existence of a new libel by Madame +de Lamotte. He told me that the people who came from London to get it +printed in Paris only desired gain, and that they were ready to deliver +the manuscript to him for a thousand louis, if he could find any friend of +the Queen disposed to make that sacrifice for her peace; that he had +thought of me, and if her Majesty would give him the twenty-four thousand +francs, he would hand the manuscript to me. + +I communicated this proposal to the Queen, who rejected it, and desired me +to answer that at the time when she had power to punish the hawkers of +these libels she deemed them so atrocious and incredible that she despised +them too much to stop them; that if she were imprudent and weak enough to +buy a single one of them, the Jacobins might possibly discover the +circumstance through their espionage; that were this libel brought up, it +would be printed nevertheless, and would be much more dangerous when they +apprised the public of the means she had used to suppress it. + +Baron d'Aubier, gentleman-in-ordinary to the King, and my particular +friend, had a good memory and a clear way of communicating the substance +of the debates and decrees of the National Assembly. I went daily to the +Queen's apartments to repeat all this to the King, who used to say, on +seeing me, "Ah! here's the Postillon par Calais,"--a newspaper of the +time. + +M. d'Aubier one day said to me: "The Assembly has been much occupied with +an information laid by the workmen of the Sevres manufactory. They +brought to the President's office a bundle of pamphlets which they said +were the life of Marie Antoinette. The director of the manufactory was +ordered up to the bar, and declared he had received orders to burn the +printed sheets in question in the furnaces used for baking his china." + +While I was relating this business to the Queen the King coloured and held +his head down over his plate. The Queen said to him, "Do you know +anything about this, Sire?" The King made no answer. Madame Elisabeth +requested him to explain what it meant. Louis was still silent. I +withdrew hastily. A few minutes afterwards the Queen came to my room and +informed me that the King, out of regard for her, had purchased the whole +edition struck off from the manuscript which I had mentioned to her, and +that M. de Laporte had not been able to devise any more secret way of +destroying the work than that of having it burnt at Sevres, among two +hundred workmen, one hundred and eighty of whom must, in all probability, +be Jacobins! She told me she had concealed her vexation from the King; +that he was in consternation, and that she could say nothing, since his +good intentions and his affection for her had been the cause of the +mistake. + +[M. de Laporte had by order of the King bought up the whole edition of the +"Memoirs" of the notorious Madame de Lamotte against the Queen. Instead +of destroying them immediately, he shut them up in one of the closets in +his house, The alarming and rapid growth of the rebellion, the arrogance +of the crowd of brigands, who in great measure composed the populace of +Paris, and the fresh excesses daily resulting from it, rendered the +intendant of the civil list apprehensive that some mob might break into +his house, carry off these "Memoirs," and spread them among the public. +In order to prevent this he gave orders to have the "Memoirs" burnt with +every necessary precaution; and the clerk who received the order entrusted +the execution of it to a man named Riston, a dangerous Intriguer, formerly +an advocate of Nancy, who had a twelve-month before escaped the gallows by +favour of the new principles and the patriotism of the new tribunals, +although convicted of forging the great seal, and fabricating decrees of +the council. This Riston, finding himself entrusted with a commission +which concerned her Majesty, and the mystery attending which bespoke +something of importance, was less anxious to execute it faithfully than to +make a parade of this mark of confidence. On the 30th of May, at ten in +the morning, he had the sheets carried to the porcelain manufactory at +Sevres, in a cart which he himself accompanied, and made a large fire of +them before all the workmen, who were expressly forbidden to approach it. +All these precautions, and the suspicions to which they gave rise, under +such critical circumstances, gave so much publicity to this affair that it +was denounced to the Assembly that very night. Brissot, and the whole +Jacobin party, with equal effrontery and vehemence, insisted that the +papers thus secretly burnt could be no other than the registers and +documents of the correspondence of the Austrian committee. M. de Laporte +was ordered to the bar, and there gave the most precise account of the +circumstances. Riston was also called up, and confirmed M. de Laporte's +deposition. But these explanations, however satisfactory, did not calm +the violent ferment raised in the Assembly by this affair.--"Memoirs of +Bertrand de Molleville."] + +Some time afterwards the Assembly received a denunciation against M. de +Montmorin. The ex-minister was accused of having neglected forty +despatches from M. Genet, the charge d'affaires from France in Russia, not +having even unsealed them, because M. Genet acted on constitutional +principles. M. de Montmorin appeared at the bar to answer this +accusation. Whatever distress I might feel in obeying the order I had +received from the King to go and give him an account of the sitting, I +thought I ought not to fail in doing so. But instead of giving my brother +his family name, I merely said "your Majesty's charge d'affaires at St. +Petersburg." + +The King did me the favour to say that he noticed a reserve in my account, +of which he approved. The Queen condescended to add a few obliging +remarks to those of the King. However, my office of journalist gave me in +this instance so much pain that I took an opportunity, when the King was +expressing his satisfaction to me at the manner in which I gave him this +daily account, to tell him that its merits belonged wholly to M. d'Aubier; +and I ventured to request the King to suffer that excellent man to give +him an account of the sittings himself. I assured the King that if he +would permit it, that gentleman might proceed to the Queen's apartments +through mine unseen; the King consented to the arrangement. Thenceforward +M. d'Aubier gave the King repeated proofs of zeal and attachment. + +The Cure of St. Eustache ceased to be the Queen's confessor when he took +the constitutional oath. I do not remember the name of the ecclesiastic +who succeeded him; I only know that he was conducted into her apartments +with the greatest mystery. Their Majesties did not perform their Easter +devotions in public, because they could neither declare for the +constitutional clergy, nor act so as to show that they were against them. + +The Queen did perform her Easter devotions in 1792; but she went to the +chapel attended only by myself. She desired me beforehand to request one +of my relations, who was her chaplain, to celebrate a mass for her at five +o'clock in the morning. It was still dark; she gave me her arm, and I +lighted her with a taper. I left her alone at the chapel door. She did +not return to her room until the dawn of day. + +Dangers increased daily. The Assembly were strengthened in the eyes of +the people by the hostilities of the foreign armies and the army of the +Princes. The communication with the latter party became more active; the +Queen wrote almost every day. M. de Goguelat possessed her confidence for +all correspondence with the foreign parties, and I was obliged to have him +in my apartments; the Queen asked for him very frequently, and at times +which she could not previously appoint. + +All parties were exerting themselves either to ruin or to save the King. +One day I found the Queen extremely agitated; she told me she no longer +knew where she was; that the leaders of the Jacobins offered themselves to +her through the medium of Dumouriez; or that Dumouriez, abandoning the +Jacobins, had come and offered himself to her; that she had granted him an +audience; that when alone with her, he had thrown himself at her feet, and +told her that he had drawn the 'bonnet rouge' over his head to the very +ears; but that he neither was nor could be a Jacobin; that the Revolution +had been suffered to extend even to that rabble of destroyers who, +thinking of nothing but pillage, were ripe for anything, and might furnish +the Assembly with a formidable army, ready to undermine the remains of a +throne already but too much shaken. Whilst speaking with the utmost +ardour he seized the Queen's hand and kissed it with transport, +exclaiming, "Suffer yourself to be saved!" The Queen told me that the +protestations of a traitor were not to be relied on; that the whole of +his conduct was so well known that undoubtedly the wisest course was not +to trust to it; that, moreover, the Princes particularly recommended +that no confidence should be placed in any proposition emanating from +within the kingdom; that the force without became imposing; and that it +was better to rely upon their success, and upon the protection due from +Heaven to a sovereign so virtuous as Louis XVI. and to so just a cause. + +[The sincerity of General Dumouriez cannot be doubted in this instance. +The second volume of his Memoirs shows how unjust the mistrust and +reproaches of the Queen were. By rejecting his services, Marie Antoinette +deprived herself of her only remaining support. He who saved France in +the defiles of Argonne would perhaps have saved France before the 20th of +June, had he obtained the full confidence of Louis XVI. and the +Queen.--NOTE BY THE EDITOR.] + +The constitutionalists, on their part, saw that there had been nothing +more than a pretence of listening to them. Barnave's last advice was as +to the means of continuing, a few weeks longer, the Constitutional Guard, +which had been denounced to the Assembly, and was to be disbanded. The +denunciation against the Constitutional Guard affected only its staff, and +the Duc de Brissac. Barnave wrote to the Queen that the staff of the +guard was already attacked; that the Assembly was about to pass a decree +to reduce it; and he entreated her to prevail on the King, the very +instant the decree should appear, to form the staff afresh of persons +whose names he sent her. Barnave said that all who were set down in it +passed for decided Jacobins, but were not so in fact; that they, as well +as himself, were in despair at seeing the monarchical government attacked; +that they had learnt to dissemble their sentiments, and that it would be +at least a fortnight before the Assembly could know them well, and +certainly before it could succeed in making them unpopular; that it would +be necessary to take advantage of that short space of time to get away +from Paris, immediately after their nomination. The Queen was of opinion +that she ought not to yield to this advice. The Duc de Brissac was sent +to Orleans, and the guard was disbanded. + +Barnave, seeing that the Queen did not follow his counsel in anything, and +convinced that she placed all her reliance on assistance from abroad, +determined to quit Paris. He obtained a last audience. "Your +misfortunes, Madame," said he, "and those which I anticipate for France, +determined me to sacrifice myself to serve you. I see, however, that my +advice does not agree with the views of your Majesties. I augur but +little advantage from the plan you are induced to pursue,--you are too +remote from your succours; you will be lost before they reach you. Most +ardently do I wish I may be mistaken in so lamentable a prediction; but I +am sure to pay with my head for the interest your misfortunes have raised +in me, and the services I have sought to render you. I request, for my +sole reward, the honour of kissing your hand." The Queen, her eyes +suffused with tears, granted him that favour, and remained impressed with +a favourable idea of his sentiments. Madame Elisabeth participated in +this opinion, and the two Princesses frequently spoke of Barnave. The +Queen also received M. Duport several times, but with less mystery. Her +connection with the constitutional deputies transpired. Alexandre de +Lameth was the only one of the three who survived the vengeance of the +Jacobins. + +[Barnave was arrested at Grenoble. He remained in prison in that town +fifteen months, and his friends began to hope that he would be forgotten, +when an order arrived that he should be removed to Paris. At first he was +imprisoned in the Abbaye, but transferred to the Conciergerie, and almost +immediately taken before the revolutionary tribunal. He appeared there +with wonderful firmness, summed up the services he had rendered to the +cause of liberty with his usual eloquence, and made such an impression +upon the numerous auditors that, although accustomed to behold only +conspirators worthy of death in all those who appeared before the +tribunal, they themselves considered his acquittal certain. The decree of +death was read amidst the deepest silence; but Barnave'a firmness was +immovable. When he left the court, he cast upon the judges, the jurors, +and the public looks expressive of contempt and indignation. He was led +to his fate with the respected Duport du Tertre, one of the last ministers +of Louis XVI. when he had ascended the scaffold, Barnave stamped, raised +his eyes to heaven, and said: "This, then, is the reward of all that I +have done for liberty!" He fell on the 29th of October, 1793, in the +thirty-second year of his age; his bust was placed in the Grenoble Museum. +The Consular Government placed his statue next to that of Vergniaud, on +the great staircase of the palace of the Senate.--"Biographie de +Bruxelles."] + +The National Guard, which succeeded the King's Guard, having occupied the +gates of the Tuileries, all who came to see the Queen were insulted with +impunity. Menacing cries were uttered aloud even in the Tuileries; they +called for the destruction of the throne, and the murder of the sovereign; +the grossest insults were offered by the very lowest of the mob. + +About this time the King fell into a despondent state, which amounted +almost to physical helplessness. He passed ten successive days without +uttering a single word, even in the bosom of his family; except, indeed, +when playing at backgammon after dinner with Madame Elisabeth. The Queen +roused him from this state, so fatal at a critical period, by throwing +herself at his feet, urging every alarming idea, and employing every +affectionate expression. She represented also what he owed to his family; +and told him that if they were doomed to fall they ought to fall +honourably, and not wait to be smothered upon the floor of their +apartment. + +About the 15th of June, 1792, the King refused his sanction to the two +decrees ordaining the deportation of priests and the formation of a camp +of twenty thousand men under the walls of Paris. He himself wished to +sanction them, and said that the general insurrection only waited for a +pretence to burst forth. The Queen insisted upon the veto, and reproached +herself bitterly when this last act of the constitutional authority had +occasioned the day of the 20th of June. + +A few days previously about twenty thousand men had gone to the Commune to +announce that, on the 20th, they would plant the tree of liberty at the +door of the National Assembly, and present a petition to the King +respecting the veto which he had placed upon the decree for the +deportation of the priests. This dreadful army crossed the garden of the +Tuileries, and marched under the Queen's windows; it consisted of people +who called themselves the citizens of the Faubourgs St. Antoine and St. +Marceau. Clothed in filthy rags, they bore a most terrifying appearance, +and even infected the air. People asked each other where such an army +could come from; nothing so disgusting had ever before appeared in Paris. + +On the 20th of June this mob thronged about the Tuileries in still greater +numbers, armed with pikes, hatchets, and murderous instruments of all +kinds, decorated with ribbons of the national colours, Shouting, "The +nation for ever! Down with the veto!" The King was without guards. Some +of these desperadoes rushed up to his apartment; the door was about to be +forced in, when the King commanded that it should be opened. Messieurs de +Bougainville, d'Hervilly, de Parois, d'Aubier, Acloque, Gentil, and other +courageous men who were in the apartment of M. de Septeuil, the King's +first valet de chambre, instantly ran to his Majesty's apartment. M. de +Bougainville, seeing the torrent furiously advancing, cried out, "Put the +King in the recess of the window, and place benches before him." Six +royalist grenadiers of the battalion of the Filles Saint Thomas made their +way by an inner staircase, and ranged themselves before the benches. The +order given by M. de Bougainville saved the King from the blades of the +assassins, among whom was a Pole named Lazousky, who was to strike the +first blow. The King's brave defenders said, "Sire, fear nothing." The +King's reply is well known: "Put your hand upon my heart, and you will +perceive whether I am afraid." M. Vanot, commandant of battalion, warded +off a blow aimed by a wretch against the King; a grenadier of the Filles +Saint Thomas parried a sword-thrust made in the same direction. Madame +Elisabeth ran to her brother's apartments; when she reached the door she +heard loud threats of death against the Queen: they called for the head of +the Austrian. "Ah! let them think I am the Queen," she said to those +around her, "that she may have time to escape." + +The Queen could not join the King; she was in the council chamber, where +she had been placed behind the great table to protect her, as much as +possible, against the approach of the barbarians. Preserving a noble and +becoming demeanour in this dreadful situation, she held the Dauphin before +her, seated upon the table. Madame was at her side; the Princesse de +Lamballe, the Princesse de Tarente, Madame de la Roche-Aymon, Madame de +Tourzel, and Madame de Mackau surrounded her. She had fixed a tricoloured +cockade, which one of the National Guard had given her, upon her head. +The poor little Dauphin was, like the King, shrouded in an enormous red +cap. + +[One of the circumstances of the 20th of June which most vexed the King's +friends being that of his wearing the bonnet rouge nearly three hours, I +ventured to ask him for some explanation of a fact so strikingly in +contrast with the extraordinary intrepidity shown by his Majesty during +that horrible day. This was his answer: "The cries of 'The nation for +ever!' violently increasing around me, and seeming to be addressed to me, +I replied that the nation had not a warmer friend than myself. Upon this +an ill-looking man, making his way through the crowd, came up to me and +said, rather roughly, 'Well, if you speak the truth, prove it by putting +on this red cap.' 'I consent,' replied I. One or two of them immediately +came forward and placed the cap upon my hair, for it was too small for my +head. I was convinced, I knew not why, that his intention was merely to +place the cap upon my head for a moment, and then to take it off again; +and I was so completely taken up with what was passing before me that I +did not feel whether the cap did or did not remain upon my hair. I was so +little aware of it that when I returned to my room I knew only from being +told so that it was still there. I was very much surprised to find it +upon my head, and was the more vexed at it because I might have taken it +off immediately without the smallest difficulty. But I am satisfied that +if I had hesitated to consent to its being placed upon my head the drunken +fellow who offered it to me would have thrust his pike into my +stomach."--"Memoirs of Bertrand de Molleville."] + +The horde passed in files before the table;the sort of standards which +they carried were symbols of the most atrocious barbarity. There was +one representing a gibbet, to which a dirty doll was suspended; the +words "Marie Antoinette a la lanterne" were written beneath it. Another +was a board, to which a bullock's heart was fastened, with "Heart of +Louis XVI." written round it. And a third showed the horn of an ox, +with an obscene inscription. + +One of the most furious Jacobin women who marched with these wretches +stopped to give vent to a thousand imprecations against the Queen. Her +Majesty asked whether she had ever seen her. She replied that she had +not. Whether she had done her any, personal wrong? Her answer was the +same; but she added: + +"It is you who have caused the misery of the nation." + +"You have been told so," answered the Queen; "you are deceived. As the +wife of the King of France, and mother of the Dauphin, I am a +French-woman; I shall never see my own country again, I can be happy or +unhappy only in France; I was happy when you loved me." + +The fury began to weep, asked her pardon, and said, "It was because I did +not know you; I see that you are good." + +Santerre, the monarch of the faubourgs, made his subjects file off as +quickly as he could; and it was thought at the time that he was ignorant +of the object of this insurrection, which was the murder of the royal +family. However, it was eight o'clock in the evening before the palace +was completely cleared. Twelve deputies, impelled by attachment to the +King's person, ranged themselves near him at the commencement of the +insurrection; but the deputation from the Assembly did not reach the +Tuileries until six in the evening; all the doors of the apartments were +broken. The Queen pointed out to the deputies the state of the King's +palace, and the disgraceful manner in which his asylum had been violated +under the very eyes of the Assembly; she saw that Merlin de Thionville was +so much affected as to shed tears while she spoke. + +"You weep, M. Merlin," said she to him, "at seeing the King and his family +so cruelly treated by a people whom he always wished to make happy." + +"True, Madame," replied Merlin; "I weep for the misfortunes of a beautiful +and feeling woman, the mother of a family; but do not mistake, not one of +my tears falls for either King or Queen; I hate kings and queens,--it is +my religion." + +The Queen could not appreciate this madness, and saw all that was to be +apprehended by persons who evinced it. + +All hope was gone, and nothing was thought of but succour from abroad. The +Queen appealed to her family and the King's brothers; her letters probably +became more pressing, and expressed apprehensions upon the tardiness of +relief. Her Majesty read me one to herself from the Archduchess +Christina, Gouvernante of the Low Countries: she reproached the Queen for +some of her expressions, and told her that those out of France were at +least as much alarmed as herself at the King's situation and her own; but +that the manner of attempting to assist her might either save her or +endanger her safety; and that the members of the coalition were bound to +act prudently, entrusted as they were with interests so dear to them. + +The 14th of July, 1792, fixed by the constitution as the anniversary of +the independence of the nation drew near. The King and Queen were +compelled to make their appearance on the occasion; aware that the plot of +the 20th of June had their assassination for its object, they had no doubt +but that their death was determined on for the day of this national +festival. The Queen was recommended, in order to give the King's friends +time to defend him if the attack should be made, to guard him against the +first stroke of a dagger by making him wear a breastplate. I was directed +to get one made in my apartments: it was composed of fifteen folds of +Italian taffety, and formed into an under-waistcoat and a wide belt. This +breastplate was tried; it resisted all thrusts of the dagger, and several +balls were turned aside by it. When it was completed the difficulty was +to let the King try it on without running the risk of being surprised. I +wore the immense heavy waistcoat as an under-petticoat for three days +without being able to find a favourable moment. At length the King found +an opportunity one morning to pull off his coat in the Queen's chamber and +try on the breastplate. + +The Queen was in bed; the King pulled me gently by the gown, and drew me +as far as he could from the Queen's bed, and said to me, in a very low +tone of voice: "It is to satisfy her that I submit to this inconvenience: +they will not assassinate me; their scheme is changed; they will put me to +death another way." The Queen heard the King whispering to me, and when +he was gone out she asked me what he had said. I hesitated to answer; she +insisted that I should, saying that nothing must be concealed from her, +and that she was resigned upon every point. + +When she was informed of the King's remark she told me she had guessed it, +that he had long since observed to her that all which was going forward in +France was an imitation of the revolution in England in the time of +Charles I., and that he was incessantly reading the history of that +unfortunate monarch in order that he might act better than Charles had +done at a similar crisis. "I begin to be fearful of the King's being +brought to trial," continued the Queen; "as to me, I am a foreigner; they +will assassinate me. What will become of my poor children?" + +These sad ejaculations were followed by a torrent of tears. I wished to +give her an antispasmodic; she refused it, saying that only happy women +could feel nervous; that the cruel situation to which she was reduced +rendered these remedies useless. In fact, the Queen, who during her +happier days was frequently attacked by hysterical disorders, enjoyed more +uniform health when all the faculties of her soul were called forth to +support her physical strength. + +I had prepared a corset for her, for the same purpose as the King's +under-waistcoat, without her knowledge; but she would not make use of it; +all my entreaties, all my tears, were in vain. "If the factions +assassinate me," she replied, "it will be a fortunate event for me; they +will deliver me from a most painful existence." A few days after the King +had tried on his breastplate I met him on a back staircase. I drew back +to let him pass. He stopped and took my hand; I wished to kiss his; he +would not suffer it, but drew me towards him by the hand, and kissed both +my cheeks without saying a single word. + +The fear of another attack upon the Tuileries occasioned scrupulous search +among the King's papers. + +I burnt almost all those belonging to the Queen. She put her family +letters, a great deal of correspondence which she thought it necessary to +preserve for the history of the era of the Revolution, and particularly +Barnave's letters and her answers, of which she had copies, into a +portfolio, which she entrusted to M. de J----. That gentleman was unable +to save this deposit, and it was burnt. The Queen left a few papers in +her secretaire. Among them were instructions to Madame de Tourzel, +respecting the dispositions of her children and the characters and +abilities of the sub-governesses under that lady's orders. This paper, +which the Queen drew up at the time of Madame de Tourzel's appointment, +with several letters from Maria Theresa, filled with the best advice and +instructions, was printed after the 10th of August by order of the +Assembly in the collection of papers found in the secretaires of the King +and Queen. + +Her Majesty had still, without reckoning the income of the month, one +hundred and forty thousand francs in gold. She was desirous of depositing +the whole of it with me; but I advised her to retain fifteen hundred +louis, as a sum of rather considerable amount might be suddenly necessary +for her. The King had an immense quantity of papers, and unfortunately +conceived the idea of privately making, with the assistance of a locksmith +who had worked with him above ten years, a place of concealment in an +inner corridor of his apartments. The place of concealment, but for the +man's information, would have been long undiscovered? The wall in which +it was made was painted to imitate large stones, and the opening was +entirely concealed among the brown grooves which formed the shaded part of +these painted stones. But even before this locksmith had denounced what +was afterwards called the iron closet to the Assembly, the Queen was aware +that he had talked of it to some of his friends; and that this man, in +whom the King from long habit placed too much confidence, was a Jacobin. +She warned the King of it, and prevailed on him to fill a very large +portfolio with all the papers he was most interested in preserving, and +entrust it to me. She entreated him in my presence to leave nothing in +this closet; and the King, in order to quiet her, told her that he had +left nothing there. I would have taken the portfolio and carried it to my +apartment, but it was too heavy for me to lift. The King said he would +carry it himself; I went before to open the doors for him. When he placed +the portfolio in my inner closet he merely said, "The Queen will tell you +what it contains." Upon my return to the Queen I put the question to her, +deeming, from what the King had said, that it was necessary I should know. +"They are," the Queen answered me, "such documents as would be most +dangerous to the King should they go so far as to proceed to a trial +against him. But what he wishes me to tell you is, that the portfolio +contains a 'proces-verbal' of a cabinet council, in which the King gave +his opinion against the war. He had it signed by all the ministers, and, +in case of a trial, he trusts that this document will be very useful to +him." I asked the Queen to whom she thought I ought to commit the +portfolio. "To whom you please," answered she; "you alone are answerable +for it. Do not quit the palace even during your vacation months: there +may be circumstances under which it would be very desirable that we should +be able to have it instantly." + +At this period M. de La Fayette, who had probably given up the idea of +establishing a republic in France similar to that of the United States, +and was desirous to support the first constitution which he had sworn to +defend, quitted his army and came to the Assembly for the purpose of +supporting by his presence and by an energetic speech a petition signed by +twenty thousand citizens against the late violation of the residence of +the King and his family. The General found the constitutional party +powerless, and saw that he himself had lost his popularity. The Assembly +disapproved of the step he had taken; the King, for whom it, was taken, +showed no satisfaction at it, and he saw himself compelled to return to +his army as quickly as he could. He thought he could rely on the National +Guard; but on the day of his arrival those officers who were in the King's +interest inquired of his Majesty whether they were to forward the views of +Gendral de La Fayette by joining him in such measures as he should pursue +during his stay at Paris. The King enjoined them not to do so. From this +answer M. de La Fayette perceived that he was abandoned by the remainder +of his party in the Paris guard. + +On his arrival a plan was presented to the Queen, in which it was proposed +by a junction between La Fayette's army and the King's party to rescue the +royal family and convey them to Rouen. I did not learn the particulars of +this plan; the Queen only said to me upon the subject that M. de La +Fayette was offered to them as a resource; but that it would be better for +them to perish than to owe their safety to the man who had done them the +most mischief, or to place themselves under the necessity of treating with +him. + +I passed the whole month of July without going to bed; I was fearful of +some attack by night. There was one plot against the Queen's life which +has never been made known. I was alone by her bedside at one o'clock in +the morning; we heard somebody walking softly down the corridor, which +passes along the whole line of her apartments, and which was then locked +at each end. I went out to fetch the valet de chambre; he entered the +corridor, and the Queen and myself soon heard the noise of two men +fighting. The unfortunate Princess held me locked in her arms, and said +to me, "What a situation! insults by day and assassins by night!" The +valet de chambre cried out to her from the corridor, "Madame, it is a +wretch that I know; I have him!"--"Let him go," said the Queen; "open the +door to him; he came to murder me; the Jacobins would carry him about in +triumph to-morrow." The man was a servant of the King's toilet, who had +taken the key of the corridor out of his Majesty's pocket after he was in +bed, no doubt with the intention of committing the crime suspected. The +valet de chambre, who was a very strong man, held him by the wrists, and +thrust him out at the door. The wretch did not speak a word. The valet +de chambre said, in answer to the Queen, who spoke to him gratefully of +the danger to which he had exposed himself, that he feared nothing, and +that he had always a pair of excellent pistols about him for no other +purpose than to defend her Majesty. The next day M. de Septeuil had all +the locks of the King's inner apartments changed. I did the same by those +of the Queen. + +We were every moment told that the Faubourg St. Antoine was preparing to +march against the palace. At four o'clock one morning towards the latter +end of July a person came to give me information to that effect. I +instantly sent off two men, on whom I could rely, with orders to proceed +to the usual places for assembling, and to come back speedily and give me +an account of the state of the city. We knew that at least an hour must +elapse before the populace or the faubourgs assembled on the site of the +Bastille could reach the Tuileries. It seemed to me sufficient for the +Queen's safety that all about her should be awakened. I went softly into +her room; she was asleep; I did not awaken her. I found General de +W----in the great closet; he told me the meeting was, for this once, +dispersing. The General had endeavoured to please the populace by the +same means as M. de La Fayette had employed. He saluted the lowest +poissarde, and lowered his hat down to his very stirrup. But the populace, +who had been flattered for three years, required far different homage to +its power, and the poor man was unnoticed. The King had been awakened, +and so had Madame Elisabeth, who had gone to him. The Queen, yielding to +the weight of her griefs, slept till nine o'clock on that day, which was +very unusual with her. The King had already been to know whether she was +awake; I told him what I had done, and the care I had taken not to disturb +her. He thanked me, and said, "I was awake, and so was the whole palace; +she ran no risk. I am very glad to see her take a little rest. Alas! her +griefs double mine!" What was my chagrin when, upon awaking and learning +what had passed, the Queen burst into tears from regret at not having been +called, and began to upbraid me, on whose friendship she ought to have +been able to rely, for having served her so ill under such circumstances! +In vain did I reiterate that it had been only a false alarm, and that she +required to have her strength recruited. "It is not diminished," said she; +"misfortune gives us additional strength. Elisabeth was with the King, +and I was asleep,--I who am determined to perish by his side! I am his +wife; I will not suffer him to incur the smallest risk without my sharing +it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +During July the correspondence of M. Bertrand de Molleville with the King +and Queen was most active. M. de Marsilly, formerly a lieutenant of the +Cent-Suisses of the Guard, was the bearer of the letters. + +[I received by night only the King's answer, written with his own hand, in +the margin of my letter. I always sent him back with the day's letter +that to which he had replied the day before, so that my letters and his +answers, of which I contented myself with taking notes only, never +remained with me twenty-four hours. I proposed this arrangement to his +Majesty to remove all uneasiness from his mind; my letters were generally +delivered to the King or the Queen by M. de Marsilly, captain of the +King's Guard, whose attachment and fidelity were known to their Majesties. +I also sometimes employed M. Bernard de Marigny, who had left Brest for +the purpose of sharing with his Majesty's faithful servants the dangers +which threatened the King.--"Memoirs of Bertrand de Molleville," vol. +ii., p. 12.] + +He came to me the first time with a note from the Queen directed to M. +Bertrand himself. In this note the Queen said: "Address yourself with +full confidence to Madame Campan; the conduct of her brother in Russia has +not at all influenced her sentiments; she is wholly devoted to us; and if, +hereafter, you should have anything to say to us verbally, you may rely +entirely upon her devotion and discretion." + +The mobs which gathered almost nightly in the faubourgs alarmed the +Queen's friends; they entreated her not to sleep in her room on the ground +floor of the Tuileries. She removed to the first floor, to a room which +was between the King's apartments and those of the Dauphin. Being awake +always from daybreak, she ordered that neither the shutters nor the +window-blinds should be closed, that her long sleepless nights might be +the less weary. About the middle of one of these nights, when the moon +was shining into her bedchamber, she gazed at it, and told me that in a +month she should not see that moon unless freed from her chains, and +beholding the King at liberty. She then imparted to me all that was +concurring to deliver them; but said that the opinions of their intimate +advisers were alarmingly at variance; that some vouched for complete +success, while others pointed out insurmountable dangers. She added that +she possessed the itinerary of the march of the Princes and the King of +Prussia: that on such a day they would be at Verdun, on another day at +such a place, that Lille was about to be besieged, but that M. de J-----, +whose prudence and intelligence the King, as well as herself, highly +valued, alarmed them much respecting the success of that siege, and made +them apprehensive that, even were the commandant devoted to them, the +civil authority, which by the constitution gave great power to the mayors +of towns, would overrule the military commandant. She was also very +uneasy as to what would take place at Paris during the interval, and spoke +to me of the King's want of energy, but always in terms expressive of her +veneration for his virtues and her attachment to himself.--"The King," +said she, "is not a coward; he possesses abundance of passive courage, but +he is overwhelmed by an awkward shyness, a mistrust of himself, which +proceeds from his education as much as from his disposition. He is afraid +to command, and, above all things, dreads speaking to assembled numbers. +He lived like a child, and always ill at ease under the eyes of Louis XV., +until the age of twenty-one. This constraint confirmed his timidity. + +"Circumstanced as we are, a few well-delivered words addressed to the +Parisians, who are devoted to him, would multiply the strength of our +party a hundredfold: he will not utter them. What can we expect from +those addresses to the people which he has been advised to post up? +Nothing but fresh outrages. As for myself, I could do anything, and would +appear on horseback if necessary. But if I were really to begin to act, +that would be furnishing arms to the King's enemies; the cry against the +Austrian, and against the sway of a woman, would become general in France; +and, moreover, by showing myself, I should render the King a mere nothing. +A queen who is not regent ought, under these circumstances, to remain +passive and prepare to die." + +The garden of the Tuileries was full of maddened men, who insulted all who +seemed to side with the Court. "The Life of Marie Antoinette" was cried +under the Queen's windows, infamous plates were annexed to the book, the +hawkers showed them to the passersby. On all sides were heard the +jubilant outcries of a people in a state of delirium almost as frightful +as the explosion of their rage. The Queen and her children were unable to +breathe the open air any longer. It was determined that the garden of the +Tuileries should be closed: as soon as this step was taken the Assembly +decreed that the whole length of the Terrace des Feuillans belonged to it, +and fixed the boundary between what was called the national ground and the +Coblentz ground by a tricoloured ribbon stretched from one end of the +terrace to the other. All good citizens were ordered, by notices affixed +to it, not to go down into the garden, under pain of being treated in the +same manner as Foulon and Berthier. A young man who did not observe this +written order went down into the garden; furious outcries, threats of la +lanterne, and the crowd of people which collected upon the terrace warned +him of his imprudence, and the danger which he ran. He immediately pulled +off his shoes, took out his handkerchief, and wiped the dust from their +soles. The people cried out, "Bravo! the good citizen for ever!" He was +carried off in triumph. The shutting up of the Tuileries did not enable +the Queen and her children to walk in the garden. The people on the +terrace sent forth dreadful shouts, and she was twice compelled to return +to her apartments. + +In the early part of August many zealous persons offered the King money; +he refused considerable sums, being unwilling to injure the fortunes of +individuals. M. de la Ferte, intendant of the 'menus plaisirs', brought +me a thousand louis, requesting me to lay them at the feet of the Queen. +He thought she could not have too much money at so perilous a time, and +that every good Frenchman should hasten to place all his ready money in +her hands. She refused this sum, and others of much greater amount which +were offered to her. + +[M. Auguie, my brother-in-law, receiver-general of the finances, offered +her, through his wife, a portfolio containing one hundred thousand crowns +in paper money. On this occasion the Queen said the most affecting things +to my sister, expressive of her happiness at having contributed to the +fortunes of such faithful subjects as herself and her husband, but +declined her offer.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +However, a few days afterwards, she told me she would accept M. de la +Ferte's twenty-four thousand francs, because they would make up a sum +which the King had to expend. She therefore directed, me to go and +receive those twenty-four thousand francs, to add them to the one hundred +thousand francs she had placed in my hands, and to change the whole into +assignats to increase their amount. Her orders were executed, and the +assignats were delivered to the King. The Queen informed me that Madame +Elisabeth had found a well-meaning man who had engaged to gain over Petion +by the bribe of a large sum of money, and that deputy would, by a +preconcerted signal, inform the King of the success of the project. His +Majesty soon had an opportunity of seeing Petion, and on the Queen asking +him before me if he was satisfied with him, the King replied, "Neither +more nor less satisfied than usual; he did not make the concerted signal, +and I believe I have been cheated." The Queen then condescended to +explain the whole of the enigma to me. "Petion," said she, "was, while +talking to the King, to have kept his finger fixed upon his right eye for +at least two seconds."--"He did not even put his hand up to his chin," +said the King; "after all, it is but so much money stolen: the thief will +not boast of it, and the affair will remain a secret. Let us talk of +something else." He turned to me and said, "Your father was an intimate +friend of Mandat, who now commands the National Guard; describe him to me; +what ought I to expect from him?" I answered that he was one of his +Majesty's most faithful subjects, but that with a great deal of loyalty he +possessed very little sense, and that he was involved in the +constitutional vortex. "I understand," said the King; "he is a man who +would defend my palace and my person, because that is enjoined by the +constitution which he has sworn to support, but who would fight against +the party in favour of sovereign authority; it is well to know this with +certainty." + +On the next day the Princesse de Lamballe sent for me very early in the +morning. I found her on a sofa facing a window that looked upon the Pont +Royal. She then occupied that apartment of the Pavilion of Flora which +was on a level with that of the Queen. She desired me to sit down by her. +Her Highness had a writing-desk upon her knees. "You have had many +enemies," said she; "attempts have been made to deprive you of the Queen's +favour; they have been far from successful. Do you know that even I +myself, not being so well acquainted with you as the Queen, was rendered +suspicious of you; and that upon the arrival of the Court at the Tuileries +I gave you a companion to be a spy upon you; and that I had another +belonging to the police placed at your door! I was assured that you +received five or six of the most virulent deputies of the Tiers Etat; but +it was that wardrobe woman whose rooms were above you. + +"In short," said the Princess, "persons of integrity have nothing to fear +from the evil-disposed when they belong to so upright a prince as the +King. As to the Queen, she knows you, and has loved you ever since she +came into France. You shall judge of the King's opinion of you: it was +yesterday evening decided in the family circle that, at a time when the +Tuileries is likely to be attacked, it was necessary to have the most +faithful account of the opinions and conduct of all the individuals +composing the Queen's service. The King takes the same precaution on his +part respecting all who are about him. He said there was with him a +person of great integrity, to whom he would commit this inquiry; and that, +with regard to the Queen's household, you must be spoken to, that he had +long studied your character, and that he esteemed your veracity." + +The Princess had a list of the names of all who belonged to the Queen's +chamber on her desk. She asked me for information respecting each +individual. I was fortunate in having none but the most favourable +information to give. I had to speak of my avowed enemy in the Queen's +chamber; of her who most wished that I should be responsible for my +brother's political opinions. The Princess, as the head of the chamber, +could not be ignorant of this circumstance; but as the person in question, +who idolised the King and Queen, would not have hesitated to sacrifice her +life in order to save theirs, and as possibly her attachment to them, +united to considerable narrowness of intellect and a limited education, +contributed to her jealousy of me, I spoke of her in the highest terms. + +The Princess wrote as I dictated, and occasionally looked at me with +astonishment. When I had done I entreated her to write in the margin that +the lady alluded to was my declared enemy. She embraced me, saying, "Ah! +do not write it! we should not record an unhappy circumstance which ought +to be forgotten." We came to a man of genius who was much attached to the +Queen, and I described him as a man born solely to contradict, showing +himself an aristocrat with democrats, and a democrat among aristocrats; +but still a man of probity, and well disposed to his sovereign. The +Princess said she knew many persons of that disposition, and that she was +delighted I had nothing to say against this man, because she herself had +placed him about the Queen. + +The whole of her Majesty's chamber, which consisted entirely of persons of +fidelity, gave throughout all the dreadful convulsions of the Revolution +proofs of the greatest prudence and self-devotion. The same cannot be +said of the antechambers. With the exception of three or four, all the +servants of that class were outrageous Jacobins; and I saw on those +occasions the necessity of composing the private household of princes of +persons completely separated from the class of the people. + +The situation of the royal family was so unbearable during the months +which immediately preceded the 10th of August that the Queen longed for +the crisis, whatever might be its issue. She frequently said that a long +confinement in a tower by the seaside would seem to her less intolerable +than those feuds in which the weakness of her party daily threatened an +inevitable catastrophe. + +[A few days before the 10th of August the squabbles between the royalists +and the Jacobins, and between the Jacobins and the constitutionalists, +increased in warmth; among the latter those men who defended the +principles they professed with the greatest talent, courage, and constancy +were at the same time the most exposed to danger. Montjoie says: "The +question of dethronement was discussed with a degree of frenzy in the +Assembly. Such of the deputies as voted against it were abused, ill +treated, and surrounded by assassins. They had a battle to fight at every +step they took; and at length they did not dare to sleep in their own +houses. Of this number were Regnault de Beaucaron, Froudiere, Girardin, +and Vaublanc. Girardin complained of having been struck in one of the +lobbies of the Assembly. A voice cried out to him, 'Say where were you +struck.' 'Where?' replied Girardin, 'what a question! Behind. Do +assassins ever strike otherwise?"] + +Not only were their Majesties prevented from breathing the open air, but +they were also insulted at the very foot of the altar. The Sunday before +the last day of the monarchy, while the royal family went through the +gallery to the chapel, half the soldiers of the National Guard exclaimed, +"Long live the King!" and the other half, "No; no King! Down with the +veto!" and on that day at vespers the choristers preconcerted to use loud +and threatening emphasis when chanting the words, "Deposuit potentes de +sede," in the "Magnificat." Incensed at such an irreverent proceeding, +the royalists in their turn thrice exclaimed, "Et reginam," after the +"Domine salvum fac regem." The tumult during the whole time of divine +service was excessive. + +At length the terrible night of the 10th of August, 1792, arrived. On the +preceding evening Potion went to the Assembly and informed it that +preparations were making for an insurrection on the following day; that +the tocsin would sound at midnight; and that he feared he had not +sufficient means for resisting the attack which was about to take place. +Upon this information the Assembly passed to the order of the day. Petion, +however, gave an order for repelling force by force. + +[Petion was the Mayor of Paris, and Mandat on this day was commandant of +the National Guard. Mandat was assassinated that night.--"Thiers," vol. +i., p. 260.] + +M. Mandat was armed with this order; and, finding his fidelity to the +King's person supported by what he considered the law of the State, he +conducted himself in all his operations with the greatest energy. On the +evening of the 9th I was present at the King's supper. While his Majesty +was giving me various orders we heard a great noise at the door of the +apartment. I went to see what was the cause of it, and found the two +sentinels fighting. One said, speaking of the King, that he was hearty in +the cause of the constitution, and would defend it at the peril of his +life; the other maintained that he was an encumbrance to the only +constitution suitable to a free people. They were almost ready to cut one +another's throats. I returned with a countenance which betrayed my +emotion. The King desired to know what was going forward at his door; I +could not conceal it from him. The Queen said she was not at all +surprised at it, and that more than half the guard belonged to the Jacobin +party. + +The tocsin sounded at midnight. The Swiss were drawn up like walls; and +in the midst of their soldierlike silence, which formed a striking +contrast with the perpetual din of the town guard, the King informed M. de +J-----, an officer of the staff, of the plan of defence laid down by +General Viomenil. M. de J----- said to me, after this private conference, +"Put your jewels and money into your pockets; our dangers are unavoidable; +the means of defence are nil; safety might be obtained by some degree of +energy in the King, but that is the only virtue in which he is deficient." + +An hour after midnight the Queen and Madame Elisabeth said they would lie +down on a sofa in a room in the entresols, the windows of which commanded +the courtyard of the Tuileries. + +The Queen told me the King had just refused to put on his quilted +under-waistcoat; that he had consented to wear it on the 14th of July +because he was merely going to a ceremony where the blade of an assassin +was to be apprehended, but that on a day on which his party might fight +against the revolutionists he thought there was something cowardly in +preserving his life by such means. + +During this time Madame Elisabeth disengaged herself from some of her +clothing which encumbered her in order to lie down on the sofa: she took a +cornelian pin out of her cape, and before she laid it down on the table +she showed it to me, and desired me to read a motto engraved upon it round +a stalk of lilies. The words were, "Oblivion of injuries; pardon for +offences."--"I much fear," added that virtuous Princess, "this maxim has +but little influence among our enemies; but it ought not to be less dear +to us on that account." + +[The exalted piety of Madame Elisabeth gave to all she said and did a +noble character, descriptive of that of her soul. On the day on which +this worthy descendant of Saint Louis was sacrificed, the executioner, in +tying her hands behind her, raised up one of the ends of her handkerchief. +Madame Elisabeth, with calmness, and in a voice which seemed not to belong +to earth, said to him, "In the name of modesty, cover my bosom." I +learned this from Madame de Serilly, who was condemned the same day as the +Princess, but who obtained a respite at the moment of the execution, +Madame de Montmorin, her relation, declaring that her cousin was +enceinte.-MADAME CAMPAN.] + +The Queen desired me to sit down by her; the two Princesses could not +sleep; they were conversing mournfully upon their situation when a musket +was discharged in the courtyard. They both quitted the sofa, saying, +"There is the first shot, unfortunately it will not be the last; let us go +up to the King." The Queen desired me to follow her; several of her women +went with me. + +At four o'clock the Queen came out of the King's chamber and told us she +had no longer any hope; that M. Mandat, who had gone to the Hotel de Ville +to receive further orders, had just been assassinated, and that the people +were at that time carrying his head about the streets. Day came. The +King, the Queen, Madame Elisabeth, Madame, and the Dauphin went down to +pass through the ranks of the sections of the National Guard; the cry of +"Vive le Roi!" was heard from a few places. I was at a window on the +garden side; I saw some of the gunners quit their posts, go up to the +King, and thrust their fists in his face, insulting him by the most brutal +language. Messieurs de Salvert and de Bridges drove them off in a +spirited manner. The King was as pale as a corpse. The royal family came +in again. The Queen told me that all was lost; that the King had shown no +energy; and that this sort of review had done more harm than good. + +I was in the billiard-room with my companions; we placed ourselves upon +some high benches. I then saw M. d'Hervilly with a drawn sword in his +hand, ordering the usher to open the door to the French noblesse. Two +hundred persons entered the room nearest to that in which the family were; +others drew up in two lines in the preceding rooms. I saw a few people +belonging to the Court, many others whose features were unknown to me, and +a few who figured technically without right among what was called the +noblesse, but whose self-devotion ennobled them at once. They were all so +badly armed that even in that situation the indomitable French liveliness +indulged in jests. M. de Saint-Souplet, one of the King's equerries, and +a page, carried on their shoulders instead of muskets the tongs belonging +to the King's antechamber, which they had broken and divided between them. +Another page, who had a pocket-pistol in his hand, stuck the end of it +against the back of the person who stood before him, and who begged he +would be good enough to rest it elsewhere. A sword and a pair of pistols +were the only arms of those who had had the precaution to provide +themselves with arms at all. Meanwhile, the numerous bands from the +faubourgs, armed with pikes and cutlasses, filled the Carrousel and the +streets adjacent to the Tuileries. The sanguinary Marseillais were at +their head, with cannon pointed against the Chateau. In this emergency +the King's Council sent M. Dejoly, the Minister of Justice, to the +Assembly to request they would send the King a deputation which might +serve as a safeguard to the executive power. His ruin was resolved on; +they passed to the order of the day. At eight o'clock the department +repaired to the Chateau. The procureur-syndic, seeing that the guard +within was ready to join the assailants, went into the King's closet and +requested to speak to him in private. The King received him in his +chamber; the Queen was with him. There M. Roederer told him that the +King, all his family, and the people about them would inevitably perish +unless his Majesty immediately determined to go to the National Assembly. +The Queen at first opposed this advice, but the procureur-syndic told her +that she rendered herself responsible for the deaths of the King, her +children, and all who were in the palace. She no longer objected. The +King then consented to go to the Assembly. As he set out, he said to the +minister and persons who surrounded him, "Come, gentlemen, there is +nothing more to be done here." + +["The King hesitated, the Queen manifested the highest dissatisfaction. +'What!' said she,' are we alone; is there nobody who can act?'--'Yes, +Madame, alone; action is useless--resistance is impossible.' One of the +members of the department, M. Gerdrot, insisted on the prompt execution of +the proposed measure. 'Silence, monsieur,' said the Queen to him; +'silence; you are the only person who ought to be silent here; when the +mischief is done, those who did it should not pretend to wish to remedy +it.' . . . + +"The King remained mute; nobody spoke. It was reserved for me to give the +last piece of advice. I had the firmness to say, 'Let us go, and not +deliberate; honour commands it, the good of the State requires it. Let us +go to the National Assembly; this step ought to have been taken long ago: +'Let us go,' said the King, raising his right hand; 'let us start; let us +give this last mark of self-devotion, since it is necessary.' The Queen +was persuaded. Her first anxiety was for the King, the second for her +son; the King had none. 'M. Roederer--gentlemen,' said the Queen, 'you +answer for the person of the King; you answer for that of my +son.'--'Madame,' replied M. Roederer, 'we pledge ourselves to die at your +side; that is all we can engage for.'"--MONTJOIE, "History of Marie +Antoinette."] + +The Queen said to me as she left the King's chamber, "Wait in my +apartments; I will come to you, or I will send for you to go I know not +whither." She took with her only the Princesse de Lamballe and Madame de +Tourzel. The Princesse de Tarente and Madame de la Roche-Aymon were +inconsolable at being left at the Tuileries; they, and all who belonged to +the chamber, went down into the Queen's apartments. + +We saw the royal family pass between two lines formed by the Swiss +grenadiers and those of the battalions of the Petits-Peres and the Filles +Saint Thomas. They were so pressed upon by the crowd that during that +short passage the Queen was robbed of her watch and purse. A man of great +height and horrible appearance, one of such as were to be seen at the head +of all the insurrections, drew near the Dauphin, whom the Queen was +leading by the hand, and took him up in his arms. The Queen uttered a +scream of terror, and was ready to faint. The man said to her, "Don't be +frightened, I will do him no harm;" and he gave him back to her at the +entrance of the chamber. + +I leave to history all the details of that too memorable day, confining +myself to recalling a few of the frightful scenes acted in the interior of +the Tuileries after the King had quitted the palace. + +The assailants did not know that the King and his family had betaken +themselves to the Assembly; and those who defended the palace from the +aide of the courts were equally ignorant of it. It is supposed that if +they had been aware of the fact the siege would never have taken place. + +[In reading of the events of the 10th of August, 1792, the reader must +remember that there was hardly any armed force to resist the mob. The +regiments that had shown signs of being loyal to the King had been removed +from Paris by the Assembly. The Swiss had been deprived of their own +artillery, and the Court had sent one of their battalions into Normandy at +a time when there was an idea of taking refuge there. The National Guard +were either disloyal or disheartened, and the gunners, especially of that +force at the Tuileries, sympathised with the mob. Thus the King had about +800 or 900 Swiss and little more than one battalion of the National Guard. +Mandat, one of the six heads of the legions of the National Guard, to +whose turn the command fell on that day, was true to his duty, but was +sent for to the Hotel de Ville and assassinated. Still the small force, +even after the departure of the King, would have probably beaten off the +mob had not the King given the fatal order to the Swiss to cease firing. +(See Thiers's "Revolution Francaise," vol. i., chap. xi.) Bonaparte's +opinion of the mob may be judged by his remarks on the 20th June, 1792, +when, disgusted at seeing the King appear with the red cap on his head, he +exclaimed, "Che coglione! Why have they let in all that rabble? Why +don't they sweep off 400 or 500 of them with the cannon? The rest would +then set off." ("Bourrienne," vol. i., p.13, Bentley, London, 1836.) +Bonaparte carried out his own plan against a far stronger force of +assailants on the Jour des Sections, 4th October, 1795.] + +The Marseillais began by driving from their posts several Swiss, who +yielded without resistance; a few of the assailants fired upon them; some +of the Swiss officers, seeing their men fall, and perhaps thinking the +King was still at the Tuileries, gave the word to a whole battalion to +fire. The aggressors were thrown into disorder, and the Carrousel was +cleared in a moment; but they soon returned, spurred on by rage and +revenge. The Swiss were but eight hundred strong; they fell back into the +interior of the Chateau; some of the doors were battered in by the guns, +others broken through with hatchets; the populace rushed from all quarters +into the interior of the palace; almost all the Swiss were massacred; the +nobles, flying through the gallery which leads to the Louvre, were either +stabbed or shot, and the bodies thrown out of the windows. + +M. Pallas and M. de Marchais, ushers of the King's chamber, were killed in +defending the door of the council chamber; many others of the King's +servants fell victims to their fidelity. I mention these two persons in +particular because, with their hats pulled over their brows and their +swords in their hands, they exclaimed, as they defended themselves with +unavailing courage, "We will not survive!--this is our post; our duty is +to die at it." M. Diet behaved in the same manner at the door of the +Queen's bedchamber; he experienced the same fate. The Princesse de +Tarente had fortunately opened the door of the apartments; otherwise, the +dreadful band seeing several women collected in the Queen's salon would +have fancied she was among us, and would have immediately massacred us had +we resisted them. We were, indeed, all about to perish, when a man with a +long beard came up, exclaiming, in the name of Potion, "Spare the women; +don't dishonour the nation!" A particular circumstance placed me in +greater danger than the others. In my confusion I imagined, a moment +before the assailants entered the Queen's apartments, that my sister was +not among the group of women collected there; and I went up into an +'entresol', where I supposed she had taken refuge, to induce her to come +down, fancying it safer that we should not be separated. I did not find +her in the room in question; I saw there only our two femmes de chambre +and one of the Queen's two heyducs, a man of great height and military +aspect. I saw that he was pale, and sitting on a bed. I cried out to +him, "Fly! the footmen and our people are already safe."--"I cannot," said +the man to me; "I am dying of fear." As he spoke I heard a number of men +rushing hastily up the staircase; they threw themselves upon him, and I +saw him assassinated. + +I ran towards the staircase, followed by our women. The murderers left +the heyduc to come to me. The women threw themselves at their feet, and +held their sabres. The narrowness of the staircase impeded the assassins; +but I had already felt a horrid hand thrust into my back to seize me by my +clothes, when some one called out from the bottom of the staircase, "What +are you doing above there? We don't kill women." I was on my knees; my +executioner quitted his hold of me, and said, "Get up, you jade; the +nation pardons you." + +The brutality of these words did not prevent my suddenly experiencing an +indescribable feeling which partook almost equally of the love of life and +the idea that I was going to see my son, and all that was dear to me, +again. A moment before I had thought less of death than of the pain which +the steel, suspended over my head, would occasion me. Death is seldom +seen so close without striking his blow. I heard every syllable uttered +by the assassins, just as if I had been calm. + +Five or six men seized me and my companions, and, having made us get up on +benches placed before the windows, ordered us to call out, "The nation for +ever!" + +I passed over several corpses; I recognised that of the old Vicomte de +Broves, to whom the Queen had sent me at the beginning of the night to +desire him and another old man in her name to go home. These brave men +desired I would tell her Majesty that they had but too strictly obeyed the +King's orders in all circumstances under which they ought to have exposed +their own lives in order to preserve his; and that for this once they +would not obey, though they would cherish the recollection of the Queen's +goodness. + +Near the grille, on the side next the bridge, the men who conducted me +asked whither I wished to go. Upon my inquiring, in my turn, whether they +were at liberty to take me wherever I might wish to go, one of them, a +Marseillais, asked me, giving me at the same time a push with the butt end +of his musket, whether I still doubted the power of the people? I +answered "No," and I mentioned the number of my brother-in-law's house. I +saw my sister ascending the steps of the parapet of the bridge, surrounded +by members of the National Guard. I called to her, and she turned round. +"Would you have her go with you?" said my guardian to me. I told him I did +wish it. They called the people who were leading my sister to prison; she +joined me. + +Madame de la Roche-Aymon and her daughter, Mademoiselle Pauline de +Tourzel, Madame de Ginestoux, lady to the Princesse de Lamballe, the other +women of the Queen, and the old Comte d'Affry, were led off together to +the Abbaye. + +Our progress from the Tuileries to my sister's house was most distressing. +We saw several Swiss pursued and killed, and musket-shots were crossing +each other in all directions. We passed under the walls of the Louvre; +they were firing from the parapet into the windows of the gallery, to hit +the knights of the dagger; for thus did the populace designate those +faithful subjects who had assembled at the Tuileries to defend the King. + +The brigands broke some vessels of water in the Queen's first antechamber; +the mixture of blood and water stained the skirts of our white gowns. The +poissardes screamed after us in the streets that we were attached to the +Austrian. Our protectors then showed some consideration for us, and made +us go up a gateway to pull off our gowns; but our petticoats being too +short, and making us look like persons in disguise, other poissardes began +to bawl out that we were young Swiss dressed up like women. We then saw a +tribe of female cannibals enter the street, carrying the head of poor +Mandat. Our guards made us hastily enter a little public-house, called +for wine, and desired us to drink with them. They assured the landlady +that we were their sisters, and good patriots. Happily the Marseillais +had quitted us to return to the Tuileries. One of the men who remained +with us said to me in a low voice: "I am a gauze-worker in the faubourg. +I was forced to march; I am not for all this; I have not killed anybody, +and have rescued you. You ran a great risk when we met the mad women who +are carrying Mandat's head. These horrible women said yesterday at +midnight, upon the site of the Bastille, that they must have their revenge +for the 6th of October, at Versailles, and that they had sworn to kill the +Queen and all the women attached to her; the danger of the action saved +you all." + +As I crossed the Carrousel, I saw my house in flames; but as soon as the +first moment of affright was over, I thought no more of my personal +misfortunes. My ideas turned solely upon the dreadful situation of the +Queen. + +On reaching my sister's we found all our family in despair, believing they +should never see us again. I could not remain in her house; some of the +mob, collected round the door, exclaimed that Marie Antoinette's +confidante was in the house, and that they must have her head. I +disguised myself, and was concealed in the house of M. Morel, secretary +for the lotteries. On the morrow I was inquired for there, in the name of +the Queen. A deputy, whose sentiments were known to her, took upon +himself to find me out. + +I borrowed clothes, and went with my sister to the Feuillans--[A former +monastery near the Tuileries, so called from the Bernardines, one of the +Cistercian orders; later a revolutionary club.]--We got there at the same +time with M. Thierry de Ville d'Avray, the King's first valet de chambre. +We were taken into an office, where we wrote down our names and places of +abode, and we received tickets for admission into the rooms belonging to +Camus, the keeper of the Archives, where the King was with his family. + +As we entered the first room, a person who was there said to me, "Ah! +you are a brave woman; but where is that Thierry, that man loaded with +his master's bounties?" + +[M. Thierry, who never ceased to give his sovereign proofs of unalterable +attachment, was one of the victims of the 2d of September.--MADAME +CAMPAN.] + +"He is here," said I; "he is following me. I perceive that even scenes +of death do not banish jealousy from among you." + +Having belonged to the Court from my earliest youth, I was known to many +persons whom I did not know. As I traversed a corridor above the +cloisters which led to the cells inhabited by the unfortunate Louis XVI. +and his family, several of the grenadiers called me by name. One of them +said to me, "Well, the poor King is lost! The Comte d'Artois would have +managed it better."--"Not at all," said another. + +The royal family occupied a small suite of apartments consisting of four +cells, formerly belonging to the ancient monastery of the Feuillans. In +the first were the men who had accompanied the King: the Prince de Poix, +the Baron d'Aubier, M. de Saint-Pardou, equerry to Madame Elisabeth, MM. +de Goguelat, de Chamilly, and de Hue. In the second we found the King; he +was having his hair dressed; he took two locks of it, and gave one to my +sister and one to me. We offered to kiss his hand; he opposed it, and +embraced us without saying anything. In the third was the Queen, in bed, +and in indescribable affliction. We found her accompanied only by a stout +woman, who appeared tolerably civil; she was the keeper of the apartments. +She waited upon the Queen, who as yet had none of her own people about +her. Her Majesty stretched out her arms to us, saying, "Come, unfortunate +women; come, and see one still more unhappy than yourselves, since she has +been the cause of all your misfortunes. We are ruined," continued she; +"we have arrived at that point to which they have been leading us for +three years, through all possible outrages; we shall fall in this dreadful +revolution, and many others will perish after us. All have contributed to +our downfall; the reformers have urged it like mad people, and others +through ambition, for the wildest Jacobin seeks wealth and office, and the +mob is eager for plunder. There is not one real patriot among all this +infamous horde. The emigrant party have their intrigues and schemes; +foreigners seek to profit by the dissensions of France; every one has a +share in our misfortunes." + +The Dauphin came in with Madame and the Marquise de Tourzel. On seeing +them the Queen said to me, "Poor children! how heartrending it is, +instead of handing down to them so fine an inheritance, to say it ends +with us!" She afterwards conversed with me about the Tuileries and the +persons who had fallen; she condescended also to mention the burning of my +house. I looked upon that loss as a mischance which ought not to dwell +upon her mind, and I told her so. She spoke of the Princesse de Tarente, +whom she greatly loved and valued, of Madame de la Roche-Aymon and her +daughter, of the other persons whom she had left at the palace, and of the +Duchesse de Luynes, who was to have passed the night at the Tuileries. +Respecting her she said, "Hers was one of the first heads turned by the +rage for that mischievous philosophy; but her heart brought her back, and +I again found a friend in her." + +[During the Reign of Terror I withdrew to the Chateau de Coubertin, near +that of Dampierre. The Duchesse de Luynes frequently came to ask me to +tell her what the Queen had said about her at the Feuillans. She would +say as she went away, "I have often need to request you to repeat those +words of the Queen."--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +I asked the Queen what the ambassadors from foreign powers had done under +existing circumstances. She told me that they could do nothing; and that +the wife of the English ambassador had just given her a proof of the +personal interest she took in her welfare by sending her linen for her +son. + +I informed her that, in the pillaging of my house, all my accounts with +her had been thrown into the Carrousel, and that every sheet of my month's +expenditure was signed by her, sometimes leaving four or five inches of +blank paper above her signature, a circumstance which rendered me very +uneasy, from an apprehension that an improper use might be made of those +signatures. She desired me to demand admission to the committee of +general safety, and to make this declaration there. I repaired thither +instantly and found a deputy, with whose name I have never become +acquainted. After hearing me he said that he would not receive my +deposition; that Marie Antoinette was now nothing more than any other +Frenchwoman; and that if any of those detached papers bearing her +signature should be misapplied, she would have, at a future period, a +right to lodge a complaint, and to support her declaration by the facts +which I had just related. The Queen then regretted having sent me, and +feared that she had, by her very caution, pointed out a method of +fabricating forgeries which might be dangerous to her; then again she +exclaimed, "My apprehensions are as absurd as the step I made you take. +They need nothing more for our ruin; all has been told." + +She gave us details of what had taken place subsequently to the King's +arrival at the Assembly. They are all well known, and I have no occasion +to record them; I will merely mention that she told us, though with much +delicacy, that she was not a little hurt at the King's conduct since he +had quitted the Tuileries; that his habit of laying no restraint upon his +great appetite had prompted him to eat as if he had been at his palace; +that those who did not know him as she did, did not feel the piety and the +magnanimity of his resignation, all which produced so bad an effect that +deputies who were devoted to him had warned him of it; but no change could +be effected. + +I still see in imagination, and shall always see, that narrow cell at the +Feuillans, hung with green paper, that wretched couch whence the +dethroned, Queen stretched out her arms to us, saying that our +misfortunes, of which she was the cause, increased her own. There, for +the last time, I saw the tears, I heard the sobs of her whom high birth, +natural endowments, and, above all, goodness of heart, had seemed to +destine to adorn any throne, and be the happiness of any people! It is +impossible for those who lived with Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette not to +be fully convinced, while doing full justice to the King's virtues, that +if the Queen had been from the moment of her arrival in France the object +of the care and affection of a prince of decision and authority, she would +have only added to the glory of his reign. + +What affecting things I have heard the Queen say in the affliction caused +her by the belief of part of the Court and the whole of the people that +she did not love France! How did that opinion shock those who knew her +heart and her sentiments! Twice did I see her on the point of going from +her apartments in the Tuileries into the gardens, to address the immense +throng constantly assembled there to insult her. "Yes," exclaimed she, as +she paced her chamber with hurried steps, "I will say to them Frenchmen, +they have had the cruelty to persuade you that I do not love France!--I! +the mother of a Dauphin who will reign over this noble country!--I! whom +Providence has seated upon the most powerful throne of Europe! Of all the +daughters of Maria Theresa am I not that one whom fortune has most highly +favoured? And ought I not to feel all these advantages? What should I +find at Vienna? Nothing but sepulchres! What should I lose in France? +Everything which can confer glory!" + +I protest I only repeat her own words; the soundness of her judgment soon +pointed out to her the dangers of such a proceeding. "I should descend +from the throne," said she, "merely, perhaps, to excite a momentary +sympathy, which the factious would soon render more injurious than +beneficial to me." + +Yes, not only did Marie Antoinette love France, but few women took greater +pride in the courage of Frenchmen. I could adduce a multitude of proofs +of this; I will relate two traits which demonstrate the noblest +enthusiasm: The Queen was telling me that, at the coronation of the +Emperor Francis II., that Prince, bespeaking the admiration of a French +general officer, who was then an emigrant, for the fine appearance of his +troops, said to him, "There are the men to beat your sans culottes!" "That +remains to be seen, Sire," instantly replied the officer. The Queen +added, "I don't know the name of that brave Frenchman, but I will learn +it; the King ought to be in possession of it." As she was reading the +public papers a few days before the 10th of August, she observed that +mention was made of the courage of a young man who died in defending the +flag he carried, and shouting, "Vive la Nation!"--"Ah! the fine lad!" said +the Queen; "what a happiness it would have been for us if such men had +never left off crying, 'Vive de Roi!'" + +In all that I have hitherto said of this most unfortunate of women and of +queens, those who did not live with her, those who knew her but partially, +and especially the majority of foreigners, prejudiced by infamous libels, +may imagine I have thought it my duty to sacrifice truth on the altar of +gratitude. Fortunately I can invoke unexceptionable witnesses; they will +declare whether what I assert that I have seen and heard appears to them +either untrue or improbable. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The Queen having been robbed of her purse as she was passing from the +Tuileries to the Feuillans, requested my sister to lend her twenty-five +louis. + +[On being interrogated the Queen declared that these five and twenty louis +had been lent to her by my sister; this formed a pretence for arresting +her and me, and led to her death.--MADAME CAMPAN.] + +I spent part of the day at the Feuillans, and her Majesty told me she +would ask Potion to let me be with her in the place which the Assembly +should decree for her prison. I then returned home to prepare everything +that might be necessary for me to accompany her. + +On the same day (11th August), at nine in the evening, I returned to the +Feuillans. I found there were orders at all the gates forbidding my being +admitted. I claimed a right to enter by virtue of the first permission +which had been given to me; I was again refused. I was told that the +Queen had as many people as were requisite about her. My sister was with +her, as well as one of my companions, who came out of the prisons of the +Abbaye on the 11th. I renewed my solicitations on the 12th; my tears and +entreaties moved neither the keepers of the gates, nor even a deputy, to +whom I addressed myself. + +I soon heard of the removal of Louis XVI. and his family to the Temple. I +went to Potion accompanied by M. Valadon, for whom I had procured a place +in the post-office, and who was devoted to me. He determined to go up to +Potion alone; he told him that those who requested to be confined could +not be suspected of evil designs, and that no political opinion could +afford a ground of objection to these solicitations. Seeing that the +well-meaning man did not succeed, I thought to do more in person; but +Petion persisted in his refusal, and threatened to send me to La Force. +Thinking to give me a kind of consolation, he added I might be certain +that all those who were then with Louis XVI. and his family would not stay +with them long. And in fact, two or three days afterwards the Princesse +de Lamballe, Madame de Tourzel, her daughter, the Queen's first woman, the +first woman of the Dauphin and of Madame, M. de Chamilly, and M. de Hue +were carried off during the night and transferred to La Force. After the +departure of the King and Queen for the Temple, my sister was detained a +prisoner in the apartments their Majesties had quitted for twenty-four +hours. + +From this time I was reduced to the misery of having no further +intelligence of my august and unfortunate mistress but through the medium +of the newspapers or the National Guard, who did duty at the Temple. + +The King and Queen said nothing to me at the Feuillans about the portfolio +which had been deposited with me; no doubt they expected to see me again. +The minister Roland and the deputies composing the provisional government +were very intent on a search for papers belonging to their Majesties. +They had the whole of the Tuileries ransacked. The infamous Robespierre +bethought himself of M. Campan, the Queen's private secretary, and said +that his death was feigned; that he was living unknown in some obscure +part of France, and was doubtless the depositary of all the important +papers. In a great portfolio belonging to the King there had been found a +solitary letter from the Comte d'Artois, which, by its date, and the +subjects of which it treated, indicated the existence of a continued +correspondence. (This letter appeared among the documents used on the +trial of Louis XVI.) A former preceptor of my son's had studied with +Robespierre; the latter, meeting him in the street, and knowing the +connection which had subsisted between him and the family of M. Campan, +required him to say, upon his honour, whether he was certain of the death +of the latter. The man replied that M. Campan had died at La Briche in +1791, and that he had seen him interred in the cemetery of Epinay. "well, +then," resumed Robespierre, "bring me the certificate of his burial at +twelve to-morrow; it is a document for which I have pressing occasion." +Upon hearing the deputy's demand I instantly sent for a certificate of M. +Campan's burial, and Robespierre received it at nine o'clock the next +morning. But I considered that, in thinking of my father-in-law, they +were coming very near me, the real depositary of these important papers. +I passed days and nights in considering what I could do for the best under +such circumstances. + +I was thus situated when the order to inform against those who had been +denounced as suspected on the 10th of August led to domiciliary visits. My +servants were told that the people of the quarter in which I lived were +talking much of the search that would be made in my house, and came to +apprise me of it. I heard that fifty armed men would make themselves +masters of M. Auguies house, where I then was. I had just received this +intelligence when M. Gougenot, the King's maitre d'hotel and +receiver-general of the taxes, a man much attached to his sovereign, came +into my room wrapped in a ridingcloak, under which, with great difficulty, +he carried the King's portfolio, which I had entrusted to him. He threw +it down at my feet, and said to me, "There is your deposit; I did not +receive it from our unfortunate King's own hands; in delivering it to you +I have executed my trust." After saying this he was about to withdraw. I +stopped him, praying him to consult with me what I ought to do in such a +trying emergency. He would not listen to my entreaties, or even hear me +describe the course I intended to pursue. I told him my abode was about +to be surrounded; I imparted to him what the Queen had said to me about +the contents of the portfolio. To all this he answered, "There it is; +decide for yourself; I will have no hand in it." Upon that I remained a +few seconds thinking, and my conduct was founded upon the following +reasons. I spoke aloud, although to myself; I walked about the room with +agitated steps; M. Gougenot was thunderstruck. "Yes," said I, "when we +can no longer communicate with our King and receive his orders, however +attached we may be to him, we can only serve him according to the best of +our own judgment. The Queen said to me, 'This portfolio contains scarcely +anything but documents of a most dangerous description in the event of a +trial taking place, if it should fall into the hands of revolutionary +persons.' She mentioned, too, a single document which would, under the +same circumstances, be useful. It is my duty to interpret her words, and +consider them as orders. She meant to say, 'You will save such a paper, +you will destroy the rest if they are likely to be taken from you.' If it +were not so, was there any occasion for her to enter into any detail as to +what the portfolio contained? The order to keep it was sufficient. +Probably it contains, moreover, the letters of that part of the family +which has emigrated; there is nothing which may have been foreseen or +decided upon that can be useful now; and there can be no political thread +which has not been cut by the events of the 10th of August and the +imprisonment of the King. My house is about to be surrounded; I cannot +conceal anything of such bulk; I might, then, through want of foresight, +give up that which would cause the condemnation of the King. Let us open +the portfolio, save the document alluded to, and destroy the rest." I +took a knife and cut open one side of the portfolio. I saw a great number +of envelopes endorsed by the King's own hand. M. Gougenot found there the +former seals of the King, such as they were before the Assembly had +changed the inscription. + +[No doubt it was in order to have the ancient seals ready at a moment's +notice, in case of a counter-revolution, that the Queen desired me not to +quit the Tuileries. M. Gougenot threw the seals into the river, one from +above the Pont Neuf, and the other from near the Pont Royal.--MADAME +CAMPAN.] + +At this moment we heard a great noise; he agreed to tie up the portfolio, +take it again under his cloak, and go to a safe place to execute what I +had taken upon me to determine. He made me swear, by all I held most +sacred, that I would affirm, under every possible emergency, that the +course I was pursuing had not been dictated to me by anybody; and that, +whatever might be the result, I would take all the credit or all the blame +upon myself. I lifted up my hand and took the oath he required; he went +out. Half an hour afterwards a great number of armed men came to my +house; they placed sentinels at all the outlets; they broke open +secretaires and closets of which they had not the keys; they 'searched the +flower-pots and boxes; they examined the cellars; and the commandant +repeatedly said, "Look particularly for papers." In the afternoon M. +Gougenot returned. He had still the seals of France about him, and he +brought me a statement of all that he had burnt. + +The portfolio contained twenty letters from Monsieur, eighteen or nineteen +from the Comte d'Artois, seventeen from Madame Adelaide, eighteen from +Madame Victoire, a great many letters from Comte Alexandre de Lameth, and +many from M. de Malesherbes, with documents annexed to them. There were +also some from M. de Montmorin and other ex-ministers or ambassadors. +Each correspondence had its title written in the King's own hand upon the +blank paper which contained it. The most voluminous was that from +Mirabeau. It was tied up with a scheme for an escape, which he thought +necessary. M. Gougenot, who had skimmed over these letters with more +attention than the rest, told me they were of so interesting a nature that +the King had no doubt kept them as documents exceedingly valuable for a +history of his reign, and that the correspondence with the Princes, which +was entirely relative to what was going forward abroad, in concert with +the King, would have been fatal to him if it had been seized. After he +had finished he placed in my hands the proces-verbal, signed by all the +ministers, to which the King attached so much importance, because he had +given his opinion against the declaration of war; a copy of the letter +written by the King to the Princes, his brothers, inviting them to return +to France; an account of the diamonds which the Queen had sent to Brussels +(these two documents were in my handwriting); and a receipt for four +hundred thousand francs, under the hand of a celebrated banker. This sum +was part of the eight hundred thousand francs which the Queen had +gradually saved during her reign, out of her pension of three hundred +thousand francs per annum, and out of the one hundred thousand francs +given by way of present on the birth of the Dauphin. + +This receipt, written on a very small piece of paper, was in the cover of +an almanac. I agreed with M. Gougenot, who was obliged by his office to +reside in Paris, that he should retain the proces-verbal of the Council +and the receipt for the four hundred thousand francs, and that we should +wait either for orders or for the means of transmitting these documents to +the King or Queen; and I set out for Versailles. + +The strictness of the precautions taken to guard the illustrious prisoners +was daily increased. The idea that I could not inform the King of the +course I had adopted of burning his papers, and the fear that I should not +be able to transmit to him that which he had pointed out as necessary, +tormented me to such a degree that it is wonderful my health endured the +strain. + +The dreadful trial drew near. Official advocates were granted to the +King; the heroic virtue of M. de Malesherbes induced him to brave the most +imminent dangers, either to save his master or to perish with him. I hoped +also to be able to find some means of informing his Majesty of what I had +thought it right to do. I sent a man, on whom I could rely, to Paris, to +request M. Gougenot to come to me at Versailles he came immediately. We +agreed that he should see M. de Malesherbes without availing himself of +any intermediate person for that purpose. + +M. Gougenot awaited his return from the Temple at the door of his hotel, +and made a sign that he wished to speak to him. A moment afterwards a +servant came to introduce him into the magistrates' room. He imparted to +M. de Malesherbes what I had thought it right to do with respect to the +King's papers, and placed in his hands the proces-verbal of the Council, +which his Majesty had preserved in order to serve, if occasion required +it, for a ground of his defence. However, that paper is not mentioned in +either of the speeches of his advocate; probably it was determined not to +make use of it. + +I stop at that terrible period which is marked by the assassination of a +King whose virtues are well known; but I cannot refrain from relating what +he deigned to say in my favour to M. de Malesherbes: + +"Let Madame Campan know that she did what I should myself have ordered her +to do; I thank her for it; she is one of those whom I regret I have it not +in my power to recompense for their fidelity to my person, and for their +good services." I did not hear of this until the morning after he had +suffered, and I think I should have sunk under my despair if this +honourable testimony had not given me some consolation. + + + + +SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER IX. + + +MADAME CAMPAN'S narrative breaking off abruptly at the time of the painful +end met with by her sister, we have supplemented it by abridged accounts +of the chief incidents in the tragedy which overwhelmed the royal house +she so faithfully served, taken from contemporary records and the best +historical authorities. + + +The Royal Family in the Temple. + +The Assembly having, at the instance of the Commune of Paris, decreed that +the royal family should be immured in the Temple, they were removed +thither from the Feuillans on the 13th of August, 1792, in the charge of +Potion, Mayor of Paris, and Santerre, the commandant-general. Twelve +Commissioners of the general council were to keep constant watch at the +Temple, which had been fortified by earthworks and garrisoned by +detachments of the National Guard, no person being allowed to enter +without permission from the municipality. + +The Temple, formerly the headquarters of the Knights Templars in Paris, +consisted of two buildings,--the Palace, facing the Rue de Temple, usually +occupied by one of the Princes of the blood; and the Tower, standing +behind the Palace. + +[Clery gives a more minute description of this singular building: "The +small tower of the Temple in which the King was then confined stood with +its back against the great tower, without any interior communication, and +formed a long square, flanked by two turrets. In one of these turrets +there was a narrow staircase that led from the first floor to a gallery on +the platform; in the other were small rooms, answering to each story of +the tower. The body of the building was four stories high. The first +consisted of an antechamber, a dining-room, and a small room in the +turret, where there was a library containing from twelve to fifteen +hundred volumes. The second story was divided nearly in the same manner. +The largest room was the Queen's bedchamber, in which the Dauphin also +slept; the second, which was separated from the Queen's by a small +antechamber almost without light, was occupied by Madame Royale and Madame +Elisabeth. The King's apartments were on the third story. He slept in +the great room, and made a study of the turret closet. There was a +kitchen separated from the King's chamber by a small dark room, which had +been successively occupied by M. de Chamilly and M. de Hue. The fourth +story was shut up; and on the ground floor there were kitchens of which no +use was made."--"Journal," p. 96.] + +The Tower was a square building, with a round tower at each corner and a +small turret on one side, usually called the Tourelle. In the narrative +of the Duchesse d'Angouleme she says that the soldiers who escorted the +royal prisoners wished to take the King alone to the Tower, and his family +to the Palace of the Temple, but that on the way Manuel received an order +to imprison them all in the Tower, where so little provision had been made +for their reception that Madame Elisabeth slept in the kitchen. The royal +family were accompanied by the Princesse de Lamballe, Madame de Tourzel +and her daughter Pauline, Mesdames de Navarre, de Saint-Brice, Thibaut, +and Bazire, MM. de Hug and de Chamilly, and three men-servants--An order +from the Commune soon removed these devoted attendants, and M. de Hue +alone was permitted to return. "We all passed the day together," says +Madame Royale. "My father taught my brother geography; my mother history, +and to learn verses by heart; and my aunt gave him lessons in arithmetic. +My father fortunately found a library which amused him, and my mother +worked tapestry . . . . We went every day to walk in the garden, for +the sake of my brother's health, though the King was always insulted by +the guard. On the Feast of Saint Louis 'Ca Ira' was sung under the walls +of the Temple. Manuel that evening brought my aunt a letter from her +aunts at Rome. It was the last the family received from without. My +father was no longer called King. He was treated with no kind of respect; +the officers always sat in his presence and never took off their hats. +They deprived him of his sword and searched his pockets . . . . Petion +sent as gaoler the horrible man--[Rocher, a saddler by trade] who had +broken open my father's door on the 20th June, 1792, and who had been near +assassinating him. This man never left the Tower, and was indefatigable +in endeavouring to torment him. One time he would sing the 'Caramgnole,' +and a thousand other horrors, before us; again, knowing that my mother +disliked the smoke of tobacco, he would puff it in her face, as well as in +that of my father, as they happened to pass him. He took care always to be +in bed before we went to supper, because he knew that we must pass through +his room. My father suffered it all with gentleness, forgiving the man +from the bottom of his heart. My mother bore it with a dignity that +frequently repressed his insolence." The only occasion, Madame Royale +adds, on which the Queen showed any impatience at the conduct of the +officials, was when a municipal officer woke the Dauphin suddenly in the +night to make certain that he was safe, as though the sight of the +peacefully sleeping child would not have been in itself the best +assurance. + +Clery, the valet de chambre of the Dauphin, having with difficulty +obtained permission to resume his duties, entered the Temple on the 24th +August, and for eight days shared with M. de Hue the personal attendance; +but on the 2d September De Hue was arrested, seals were placed on the +little room he had occupied, and Clery passed the night in that of the +King. On the following morning Manuel arrived, charged by the Commune to +inform the King that De Hue would not be permitted to return, and to offer +to send another person. "I thank you," answered the King. "I will manage +with the valet de chambre of my son; and if the Council refuse I will +serve myself. I am determined to do it." On the 3d September Manual +visited the Temple and assured the King that Madame de Lamballe and all +the other prisoners who had been removed to La Force were well, and safely +guarded. "But at three o'clock," says Madame Royale, "just after dinner, +and as the King was sitting down to 'tric trac' with my mother (which he +played for the purpose of having an opportunity of saying a few words to +her unheard by the keepers), the most horrid shouts were heard. The +officer who happened to be on guard in the room behaved well. He shut the +door and the window, and even drew the curtains to prevent their seeing +anything; but outside the workmen and the gaoler Rocher joined the +assassins and increased the tumult. Several officers of the guard and the +municipality now arrived, and on my father's asking what was the matter, a +young officer replied, 'Well, since you will know, it is the head of +Madame de Lamballe that they want to show you.' At these words my mother +was overcome with horror; it was the only occasion on which her firmness +abandoned her. The municipal officers were very angry with the young man; +but the King, with his usual goodness, excused him, saying that it was his +own fault, since he had questioned the officer. The noise lasted till +five o'clock. We learned that the people had wished to force the door, +and that the municipal officers had been enabled to prevent it only by +putting a tricoloured scarf across it, and allowing six of the murderers +to march round our prison with the head of the Princess, leaving at the +door her body, which they would have dragged in also." + +Clery was not so fortunate as to escape the frightful spectacle. He had +gone down to dine with Tison and his wife, employed as servants in the +Temple, and says: "We were hardly seated when a head, on the end of a +pike, was presented at the window. Tison's wife gave a great cry; the +assassins fancied they recognised the Queen's voice, and responded by +savage laughter. Under the idea that his Majesty was still at table, they +placed their dreadful trophy where it must be seen. It was the head of +the Princesse de Lamballe; although bleeding, it was not disfigured, and +her light hair, still in curls, hung about the pike." + +At length the immense mob that surrounded the Temple gradually withdrew, +"to follow the head of the Princess de Lamballe to the Palais Royal." + +[The pike that bore the head was fixed before the Duc d'Orleans's window +as he was going to dinner. It is said that he looked at this horrid sight +without horror, went into the dining-room, sat down to table, and helped +his guests without saying a word. His silence and coolness left it +doubtful whether the assassins, in presenting him this bloody trophy, +intended to offer him an insult or to pay him homage.--DE MOLLEVILLE'S +"Annals of the French Revolution," vol. vii., p. 398.] + +Meanwhile the royal family could scarcely believe that for the time their +lives were saved. "My aunt and I heard the drums beating to arms all +night," says Madame Royale; "my unhappy mother did not even attempt to +sleep. We heard her sobs." + +In the comparative tranquillity which followed the September massacres, +the royal family resumed the regular habits they had adopted on entering +the Temple. "The King usually rose at six in the morning," says Clery. +"He shaved himself, and I dressed his hair; he then went to his +reading-room, which, being very small, the municipal officer on duty +remained in the bedchamber with the door open, that he might always keep +the King in sight. His Majesty continued praying on his knees for some +time, and then read till nine. During that interval, after putting his +chamber to rights and preparing the breakfast, I went down to the Queen, +who never opened her door till I arrived, in order to prevent the +municipal officer from going into her apartment. At nine o'clock the +Queen, the children, and Madame Elisabeth went up to the King's chamber to +breakfast. At ten the King and his family went down to the Queen's +chamber, and there passed the day. He employed himself in educating his +son, made him recite passages from Corneille and Racine, gave him lessons +in geography, and exercised him in colouring the maps. The Queen, on her +part, was employed in the education of her daughter, and these different +lessons lasted till eleven o'clock. The remaining time till noon was +passed in needlework, knitting, or making tapestry. At one o'clock, when +the weather was fine, the royal family were conducted to the garden by +four municipal officers and the commander of a legion of the National +Guard. As there were a number of workmen in the Temple employed in pulling +down houses and building new walls, they only allowed a part of the +chestnut-tree walk for the promenade, in which I was allowed to share, and +where I also played with the young Prince at ball, quoits, or races. At +two we returned to the Tower, where I served the dinner, at which time +Santerre regularly came to the Temple, attended by two aides-de-camp. The +King sometimes spoke to him,--the Queen never. + +"After the meal the royal family came down into the Queen's room, and +their Majesties generally played a game of piquet or tric-trac. At four +o'clock the King took a little repose, the Princesses round him, each with +a book . . . . When the King woke the conversation was resumed, and I +gave writing lessons to his son, taking the copies, according to his +instructions, from the works of, Montesquieu and other celebrated authors. +After the lesson I took the young Prince into Madame Elisabeth's room, +where we played at ball, and battledore and shuttlecock. In the evening +the family sat round a table, while the Queen read to them from books of +history, or other works proper to instruct and amuse the children. Madame +Elisabeth took the book in her turn, and in this manner they read till +eight o'clock. After that I served the supper of the young Prince, in +which the royal family shared, and the King amused the children with +charades out of a collection of French papers which he found in the +library. After the Dauphin had supped, I undressed him, and the Queen +heard him say his prayers. At nine the King went to supper, and +afterwards went for a moment to the Queen's chamber, shook hands with her +and his sister for the night, kissed his children, and then retired to the +turret-room, where he sat reading till midnight. The Queen and the +Princesses locked themselves in, and one of the municipal officers +remained in the little room which parted their chamber, where he passed +the night; the other followed his Majesty. In this manner was the time +passed as long as the King remained in the small tower." + +But even these harmless pursuits were too often made the means of further +insulting and thwarting the unfortunate family. Commissary Le Clerc +interrupted the Prince's writing lessons, proposing to substitute +Republican works for those from which the King selected his copies. A +smith, who was present when the Queen was reading the history of France to +her children, denounced her to the Commune for choosing the period when +the Connstable de Bourbon took arms against France, and said she wished to +inspire her son with unpatriotic feelings; a municipal officer asserted +that the multiplication table the Prince was studying would afford a means +of "speaking in cipher," so arithmetic had to be abandoned. Much the same +occurred even with the needlework, the Queen and Princess finished some +chairbacks, which they wished to send to the Duchesse de Tarente; but the +officials considered that the patterns were hieroglyphics, intended for +carrying on a correspondence, and ordered that none of the Princesses work +should leave the Temple. The short daily walk in the garden was also +embittered by the rude behaviour of the military and municipal gaolers; +sometimes, however, it afforded an opportunity for marks of sympathy to be +shown. People would station themselves at the windows of houses +overlooking the Temple gardens, and evince by gestures their loyal +affection, and some of the sentinels showed, even by tears, that their +duty was painful to them. + +On the 21st September the National Convention was constituted, Petion +being made president and Collot d'Herbois moving the "abolition of +royalty" amidst transports of applause. That afternoon a municipal +officer attended by gendarmes a cheval, and followed by a crowd of people, +arrived at the Temple, and, after a flourish of trumpets, proclaimed the +establishment of the French Republic. The man, says Clery, "had the voice +of a Stentor." The royal family could distinctly hear the announcement of +the King's deposition. "Hebert, so well known under the title of Pere +Duchesne, and Destournelles were on guard. They were sitting near the +door, and turned to the King with meaning smiles. He had a book in his +hand, and went on reading without changing countenance. The Queen showed +the same firmness. The proclamation finished, the trumpets sounded +afresh. I went to the window; the people took me for Louis XVI. and I was +overwhelmed with insults." + +After the new decree the prisoners were treated with increased harshness. +Pens, paper, ink, and pencils were taken from them. The King and Madame +Elisabeth gave up all, but the Queen and her daughter each concealed a +pencil. "In the beginning of October," says Madame Royale, "after my +father had supped, he was told to stop, that he was not to return to his +former apartments, and that he was to be separated from his family. At +this dreadful sentence the Queen lost her usual courage. We parted from +him with abundance of tears, though we expected to see him again in the +morning. + +[At nine o'clock, says Clery, the King asked to be taken to his family, +but the municipal officers replied that they had "no orders for that." +Shortly afterwards a boy brought the King some bread and a decanter of +lemonade for his breakfast. The King gave half the bread to Clery, +saying, "It seems they have forgotten your breakfast; take this, the rest +is enough for me." Clery refused, but the King insisted. "I could not +contain my tears," he adds; "the King perceived them, and his own fell +also."] + +They brought in our breakfast separately from his, however. My mother +would take nothing. The officers, alarmed at her silent and concentrated +sorrow, allowed us to see the King, but at meal-times only, and on +condition that we should not speak low, nor in any foreign language, but +loud and in 'good French.' We went down, therefore, with the greatest joy +to dine with my father. In the evening, when my brother was in bed, my +mother and my aunt alternately sat with him or went with me to sup with my +father. In the morning, after breakfast, we remained in the King's +apartments while Clery dressed our hair, as he was no longer allowed to +come to my mother's room, and this arrangement gave us the pleasure of +spending a few moments more with my father." + +[When the first deputation from the Council of the Commune visited the +Temple, and formally inquired whether the King had any complaint to make, +he replied, "No; while he was permitted to remain with his family he was +happy."] + +The royal prisoners had no comfort except their affection for each other. +At that time even common necessaries were denied them. Their small stock +of linen had been lent them; by persons of the Court during the time they +spent at the Feuillans. The Princesses mended their clothes every day, +and after the King had gone to bed Madame Elisabeth mended his. "With +much trouble," says Clrry, "I procured some fresh linen for them. But the +workwomen having marked it with crowned letters, the Princesses were +ordered to pick them out." The room in the great tower to which the King +had been removed contained only one bed, and no other article of +furniture. A chair was brought on which Clery spent the first night; +painters were still at work on the room, and the smell of the paint, he +says, was almost unbearable. This room was afterwards furnished by +collecting from various parts of the Temple a chest of drawers, a small +bureau, a few odd chairs, a chimney-glass, and a bed hung with green +damask, which had been used by the captain of the guard to the Comte +d'Artois. A room for the Queen was being prepared over that of the King, +and she implored the workmen to finish it quickly, but it was not ready +for her occupation for some time, and when she was allowed to remove to it +the Dauphin was taken from her and placed with his father. When their +Majesties met again in the great Tower, says Clery, there was little +change in the hours fixed for meals, reading, walking and the education of +their children. They were not allowed to have mass said in the Temple, +and therefore commissioned Clery to get them the breviary in use in the +diocese of Paris. Among the books read by the King while in the Tower +were Hume's "History of England" (in the original), Tasso, and the "De +Imitatione Christi." The jealous suspicions of the municipal officers led +to the most absurd investigations; a draught-board was taken to pieces +lest the squares should hide treasonable papers; macaroons were broken in +half to see that they did not contain letters; peaches were cut open and +the stones cracked; and Clery was compelled to drink the essence of soap +prepared for shaving the King, under the pretence that it might contain +poison. + +In November the King and all the family had feverish colds, and Clery had +an attack of rheumatic fever. On the first day of his illness he got up +and tried to dress his master, but the King, seeing how ill he was, +ordered him to lie down, and himself dressed the Dauphin. The little +Prince waited on Clery all day, and in the evening the King contrived to +approach his bed, and said, in a low voice, "I should like to take care of +you myself, but you know how we are watched. Take courage; tomorrow you +shall see my doctor." Madame Elisabeth brought the valet cooling +draughts, of which she deprived herself; and after Clery was able to get +up, the young Prince one night with great difficulty kept awake till +eleven o'clock in order to give him a box of lozenges when he went to make +the King's bed. + +On 7th December a deputation from the Commune brought an order that the +royal family should be deprived of "knives, razors, scissors, penknives, +and all other cutting instruments." The King gave up a knife, and took +from a morocco case a pair of scissors and a penknife; and the officials +then searched the room, taking away the little toilet implements of gold +and silver, and afterwards removing the Princesses' working materials. +Returning to the King's room, they insisted upon seeing what remained in +his pocket-case. "Are these toys which I have in my hand also cutting +instruments?" asked the King, showing them a cork-screw, a turn-screw, +and a steel for lighting. These also were taken from him. Shortly +afterwards Madame Elisabeth was mending the King's coat, and, having no +scissors, was compelled to break the thread with her teeth. + +"What a contrast!" he exclaimed, looking at her tenderly. "You wanted +nothing in your pretty house at Montreuil." + +"Ah, brother," she answered, "how can I have any regret when I partake +your misfortunes?" + +The Queen had frequently to take on herself some of the humble duties of a +servant. This was especially painful to Louis XVI. when the anniversary +of some State festival brought the contrast between past and present with +unusual keenness before him. + +"Ah, Madame," he once exclaimed, "what an employment for a Queen of +France! Could they see that at Vienna! Who would have foreseen that, in +uniting your lot to mine, you would have descended so low?" + +"And do you esteem as nothing," she replied, "the glory of being the wife +of one of the best and most persecuted of men? Are not such misfortunes +the noblest honours?"--[Alison's "History of Europe," vol. ii., p. 299.] + +Meanwhile the Assembly had decided that the King should be brought to +trial. Nearly all parties, except the Girondists, no matter how bitterly +opposed to each other, could agree in making him the scapegoat; and the +first rumour of the approaching ordeal was conveyed to the Temple by +Clery's wife, who, with a friend, had permission occasionally to visit +him. "I did not know how to announce this terrible news to the King," he +says; "but time was pressing, and he had forbidden my concealing anything +from him. In the evening, while undressing him, I gave him an account of +all I had learnt, and added that there were only four days to concert some +plan of corresponding with the Queen. The arrival of the municipal +officer would not allow me to say more. Next morning, when the King rose, +I could not get a moment for speaking with him. He went up with his son +to breakfast with the Princesses, and I followed. After breakfast he +talked long with the Queen, who, by a look full of trouble, made me +understand that they were discussing what I had told the King. During the +day I found an opportunity of describing to Madame Elisabeth how much it +had cost me to augment the King's distresses by informing him of his +approaching trial. She reassured me, saying that the King felt this as a +mark of attachment on my part, and added, 'That which most troubles him is +the fear of being separated from us.' In the evening the King told me how +satisfied he was at having had warning that he was to appear before the +Convention. 'Continue,' he said, 'to endeavour to find out something as +to what they want to do with me. Never fear distressing me. I have +agreed with my family not to seem pre-informed, in order not to compromise +you.'" + +On the 11th December, at five o'clock in the morning, the prisoners heard +the generale beaten throughout Paris, and cavalry and cannon entered the +Temple gardens. At nine the King and the Dauphin went as usual to +breakfast with the Queen. They were allowed to remain together for an +hour, but constantly under the eyes of their republican guardians. At +last they were obliged to part, doubtful whether they would ever see each +other again. The little Prince, who remained with his father, and was +ignorant of the new cause for anxiety, begged hard that the King would +play at ninepins with him as usual. Twice the Dauphin could not get +beyond a certain number. "Each time that I get up to sixteen," he said, +with some vexation, "I lose the game." The King did not reply, but Clery +fancied the words made a painful impression on him. + +At eleven, while the King was giving the Dauphin a reading lesson, two +municipal officers entered and said they had come "to take young Louis to +his mother." The King inquired why, but was only told that such were the +orders of the Council. At one o'clock the Mayor of Paris, Chambon, +accompanied by Chaumette, Procureur de la Commune, Santerre, commandant of +the National Guard, and others, arrived at the Temple and read a decree to +the King, which ordered that "Louis Capet" should be brought before the +Convention. "Capet is not my name," he replied, "but that of one of my +ancestors. I could have wished," he added, "that you had left my son with +me during the last two hours. But this treatment is consistent with all I +have experienced here. I follow you, not because I recognise the +authority of the Convention, but because I can be compelled to obey it." +He then followed the Mayor to a carriage which waited, with a numerous +escort, at the gate of the Temple. The family left behind were +overwhelmed with grief and apprehension. "It is impossible to describe +the anxiety we suffered," says Madame Royale. "My mother used every +endeavour with the officer who guarded her to discover what was passing; +it was the first time she had condescended to question any of these men. +He would tell her nothing." + + + + +Trial of the King.--Parting of the Royal Family.--Execution. + + +The crowd was immense as, on the morning of the 11th December, 1792, Louis +XVI. was driven slowly from the Temple to the Convention, escorted by +cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Paris looked like an armed camp: all +the posts were doubled; the muster-roll of the National Guard was called +over every hour; a picket of two hundred men watched in the court of each +of the right sections; a reserve with cannon was stationed at the +Tuileries, and strong detachments patroled the streets and cleared the +road of all loiterers. The trees that lined the boulevards, the doors and +windows of the houses, were alive with gazers, and all eyes were fixed on +the King. He was much changed since his people last beheld him. The beard +he had been compelled to grow after his razors were taken from him covered +cheeks, lips, and chin with light-coloured hair, which concealed the +melancholy expression of his mouth; he had become thin, and his garments +hung loosely on him; but his manner was perfectly collected and calm, and +he recognised and named to the Mayor the various quarters through which he +passed. On arriving at the Feuillans he was taken to a room to await the +orders of the Assembly. + +It was about half-past two when the King appeared at the bar. The Mayor +and Generaux Santerre and Wittengoff were at his side. Profound silence +pervaded the Assembly. All were touched by the King's dignity and the +composure of his looks under so great a reverse of fortune. By nature he +had been formed rather to endure calamity with patience than to contend +against it with energy. The approach of death could not disturb his +serenity. + +"Louis, you may be seated," said Barere. "Answer the questions that shall +be put to you." The King seated himself and listened to the reading of +the 'acte enonciatif', article by article. All the faults of the Court +were there enumerated and imputed to Louis XVI. personally. He was charged +with the interruption of the sittings of the 20th of June, 1789, with the +Bed of Justice held on the 23d of the same month, the aristocratic +conspiracy thwarted by the insurrection of the 14th of July, the +entertainment of the Life Guards, the insults offered to the national +cockade, the refusal to sanction the Declaration of Rights, as well as +several constitutional articles; lastly, all the facts which indicated a +new conspiracy in October, and which were followed by the scenes of the +5th and 6th; the speeches of reconciliation which had succeeded all these +scenes, and which promised a change that was not sincere; the false oath +taken at the Federation of the 14th of July; the secret practices of Talon +and Mirabeau to effect a counter-revolution; the money spent in bribing a +great number of deputies; the assemblage of the "knights of the dagger" on +the 28th of February, 1791; the flight to Varennes; the fusilade of the +Champ de Mars; the silence observed respecting the Treaty of Pilnitz; the +delay in the promulgation of the decree which incorporated Avignon with +France; the commotions at Nimes, Montauban, Mende, and Jales; the +continuance of their pay to the emigrant Life Guards and to the disbanded +Constitutional Guard; the insufficiency of the armies assembled on the +frontiers; the refusal to sanction the decree for the camp of twenty +thousand men; the disarming of the fortresses; the organisation of secret +societies in the interior of Paris; the review of the Swiss and the +garrison of the palace on the 10th August; the summoning the Mayor to the +Tuileries; and lastly, the effusion of blood which had resulted from these +military dispositions. After each article the President paused, and said, +"What have you to answer?" The King, in a firm voice, denied some of the +facts, imputed others to his ministers, and always appealed to the +constitution, from which he declared he had never deviated. His answers +were very temperate, but on the charge, "You spilt the blood of the people +on the 10th of August," he exclaimed, with emphasis, "No, monsieur, no; it +was not I." + +All the papers on which the act of accusation was founded were then shown +to the King, and he disavowed some of them and disputed the existence of +the iron chest; this produced a bad impression, and was worse than +useless, as the fact had been proved. + +[A secret closet which the King had directed to be constructed in a wall +in the Tuileries. The door was of iron, whence it was afterwards known by +the name of the iron chest. See Thiers, and Scott.] + +Throughout the examination the King showed great presence of mind. He was +careful in his answers never to implicate any members of the constituent, +and legislative Assemblies; many who then sat as his judges trembled lest +he should betray them. The Jacobins beheld with dismay the profound +impression made on the Convention by the firm but mild demeanour of the +sovereign. The most violent of the party proposed that he should be +hanged that very night; a laugh as of demons followed the proposal from +the benches of the Mountain, but the majority, composed of the Girondists +and the neutrals, decided that he should be formally tried. + +After the examination Santerre took the King by the arm and led him back +to the waiting-room of the Convention, accompanied by Chambon and +Chaumette. Mental agitation and the length of the proceedings had +exhausted him, and he staggered from weakness. Chaumette inquired if he +wished for refreshment, but the King refused it. A moment after, seeing a +grenadier of the escort offer the Procureur de la Commune half a small +loaf, Louis XVI. approached and asked him, in a whisper, for a piece. + +"Ask aloud for what you want," said Chaumette, retreating as though he +feared being suspected of pity. + +"I asked for a piece of your bread," replied the King. + +"Divide it with me," said Chaumette. "It is a Spartan breakfast. If I +had a root I would give you half."--[Lamartine's "History of the +Girondists," edit. 1870, vol. ii., p. 313.] + +Soon after six in the evening the King returned to the Temple. "He seemed +tired," says Clery, simply, "and his first wish was to be led to his +family. The officers refused, on the plea that they had no orders. He +insisted that at least they should be informed of his return, and this was +promised him. The King ordered me to ask for his supper at half-past +eight. The intervening hours he employed in his usual reading, surrounded +by four municipals. When I announced that supper was served, the King +asked the commissaries if his family could not come down. They made no +reply. 'But at least,' the King said, 'my son will pass the night in my +room, his bed being here?' The same silence. After supper the King again +urged his wish to see his family. They answered that they must await the +decision of the Convention. While I was undressing him the King said, 'I +was far from expecting all the questions they put to me.' He lay down +with perfect calmness. The order for my removal during the night was not +executed." On the King's return to the Temple being known, "my mother +asked to see him instantly," writes Madame Royale. "She made the same +request even to Chambon, but received no answer. My brother passed the +night with her; and as he had no bed, she gave him hers, and sat up all +the night in such deep affliction that we were afraid to leave her; but +she compelled my aunt and me to go to bed. Next day she again asked to +see my father, and to read the newspapers, that she might learn the course +of the trial. She entreated that if she was to be denied this indulgence, +his children, at least, might see him. Her requests were referred to the +Commune. The newspapers were refused; but my brother and I were to be +allowed to see my father on condition of being entirely separated from my +mother. My father replied that, great as his happiness was in seeing his +children, the important business which then occupied him would not allow +of his attending altogether to his son, and that his daughter could not +leave her mother." + +[During their last interview Madame Elisabeth had given Clery one of her +handkerchiefs, saying, "You shall keep it so long as my brother continues +well; if he becomes ill, send it to me among my nephew's things."] + +The Assembly having, after a violent debate, resolved that Louis XVI. +should have the aid of counsel, a deputation was sent to the Temple to +ask whom he would choose. The King named Messieurs Target and Tronchet. +The former refused his services on the ground that he had discontinued +practice since 1785; the latter complied at once with the King's +request; and while the Assembly was considering whom to, nominate in +Target's place, the President received a letter from the venerable +Malesherbes, then seventy years old, and "the most respected magistrate +in France," in the course of which he said: "I have been twice called to +be counsel for him who was my master, in times when that duty was +coveted by every one. I owe him the same service now that it is a duty +which many people deem dangerous. If I knew any possible means of +acquainting him with my desires, I should not take the liberty of +addressing myself to you." + +[Christian Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, an eminent French +statesman, son of the Chancellor of France, was born at Paris in 1721. In +1750 he succeeded his father as President of the Court of Aids, and was +also made superintendent of the press. On the banishment of the +Parliaments and the suppression of the Court of Aids, Malesherbes was +exiled to his country-seat. In 1775 he was appointed Minister of State. +On the decree of the Convention for the King's trial, he emerged from his +retreat to become the voluntary advocate of his sovereign. Malesherbes +was guillotined in 1794, and almost his whole family were extirpated by +their merciless persecutors.] + +Other citizens made similar proposals, but the King, being made +acquainted with them by a deputation from the Commune, while expressing +his gratitude for all the offers, accepted only that of Malesherbes. + +[The Citoyenne Olympia Degonges, calling herself a free and loyal +Republican without spot or blame, and declaring that the cold and selfish +cruelty of Target had inflamed her heroism and roused her sensibility, +asked permission to assist M, de Malesherbes in defending the King. The +Assembly passed to the order of the day on this request.--BERTRAND DE +MOLLEVILLE, "Annals," edit. 1802, vol, viii., p. 254.] + +On 14th December M. Tronchet was allowed to confer with the King, and +later in the same day M. de Malesherbes was admitted to the Tower. "The +King ran up to this worthy old man, whom he clasped in his arms," said +Clery, "and the former minister melted into tears at the sight of his +master." + +[According to M. de Hue, "The first time M. de Malesherbes entered the +Temple, the King clasped him in his arms and said, 'Ah, is it you, my +friend? You fear not to endanger your own life to save mine; but all will +be useless. They will bring me to the scaffold. No matter; I shall gain +my cause if I leave an unspotted memory behind me.'"] + +Another deputation brought the King the Act of Accusation and the +documents relating to it, numbering more than a hundred, and taking from +four o'clock till midnight to read. During this long process the King had +refreshments served to the deputies, taking nothing himself till they had +left, but considerately reproving Clery for not having supped. From the +14th to the 26th December the King saw his counsel and their colleague M. +de Size every day. At this time a means of communication between the +royal family and the King was devised: a man named Turgi, who had been in +the royal kitchen, and who contrived to obtain employment in the Temple, +when conveying the meals of the royal family to their apartments, or +articles he had purchased for them, managed to give Madame Elisabeth news +of the King. Next day, the Princess, when Turgi was removing the dinner, +slipped into his hand a bit of paper on which she had pricked with a pin a +request for a word from her brother's own hand. Turgi gave this paper to +Clery, who conveyed it to the King the same evening; and he, being allowed +writing materials while preparing his defence, wrote Madame Elisabeth a +short note. An answer was conveyed in a ball of cotton, which Turgi threw +under Clery's bed while passing the door of his room. Letters were also +passed between the Princess's room and that of Clery, who lodged beneath +her, by means of a string let down and drawn up at night. This +communication with his family was a great comfort to the King, who, +nevertheless, constantly cautioned his faithful servant. "Take care," he +would say kindly, "you expose yourself too much." + +[The King's natural benevolence was constantly shown while in the Temple. +His own dreadful position never prevented him from sympathy with the +smaller troubles of others. A servant in the Temple named Marchand, the +father of a family, was robbed of two hundred francs,--his wages for two +months. The King observed his distress, asked its cause, and gave Clery +the amount to be handed to Marchand, with a caution not to speak of it to +any one, and, above all, not to thank the King, lest it should injure him +with his employers.] + +During his separation from his family the King refused to go into the +garden. When it was proposed to him he said, "I cannot make up my mind to +go out alone; the walk was agreeable to me only when I shared it with my +family." But he did not allow himself to dwell on painful reflections. +He talked freely to the municipals on guard, and surprised them by his +varied and practical knowledge of their trades, and his interest in their +domestic affairs. On the 19th December the King's breakfast was served as +usual; but, being a fast-day, he refused to take anything. At dinner-time +the King said to Clery, "Fourteen years ago you were up earlier than you +were to-day; it is the day my daughter was born--today, her birthday," he +repeated, with tears, "and to be prevented from seeing her!" Madame +Royale had wished for a calendar; the King ordered Clery to buy her the +"Almanac of the Republic," which had replaced the "Court Almanac," and ran +through it, marking with a pencil many names. + +"On Christmas Day," Says Clery, "the King wrote his will." + +[Madame Royale says: "On the 26th December, St. Stephen's Day, my father +made his will, because he expected to be assassinated that day on his way +to the bar of the Convention. He went thither, nevertheless, with his +usual calmness."--"Royal Memoirs," p. 196.] + +On the 26th December, 1792, the King appeared a second time before the +Convention. M. de Seze, labouring night and day, had completed his +defence. The King insisted on excluding from it all that was too +rhetorical, and confining it to the mere discussion of essential points. + +[When the pathetic peroration of M, de Seze was read to the King, the +evening before it was delivered to the Assembly, "I have to request of +you," he said, "to make a painful sacrifice; strike out of your pleading +the peroration. It is enough for me to appear before such judges, and +show my entire innocence; I will not move their feelings."--LACRETELLE.] + +At half-past nine in the morning the whole armed force was in motion to +conduct him from the Temple to the Feuillans, with the same precautions +and in the same order as had been observed on the former occasion. Riding +in the carriage of the Mayor, he conversed, on the way, with the same +composure as usual, and talked of Seneca, of Livy, of the hospitals. +Arrived at the Feuillans, he showed great anxiety for his defenders; he +seated himself beside them in the Assembly, surveyed with great composure +the benches where his accusers and his judges sat, seemed to examine their +faces with the view of discovering the impression produced by the pleading +of M. de Seze, and more than once conversed smilingly with Tronchet and +Malesherbes. The Assembly received his defence in sullen silence, but +without any tokens of disapprobation. + +Being afterwards conducted to an adjoining room with his counsel, the King +showed great anxiety about M. de Seze, who seemed fatigued by the long +defence. While riding back to the Temple he conversed with his companions +with the same serenity as he had shown on leaving it. + +No sooner had the King left the hall of the Convention than a violent +tumult arose there. Some were for opening the discussion. Others, +complaining of the delays which postponed the decision of this process, +demanded the vote immediately, remarking that in every court, after the +accused had been heard, the judges proceed to give their opinion. +Lanjuinais had from the commencement of the proceedings felt an +indignation which his impetuous disposition no longer suffered him to +repress. He darted to the tribune, and, amidst the cries excited by his +presence, demanded the annulling of the proceedings altogether. He +exclaimed that the days of ferocious men were gone by, that the Assembly +ought not to be so dishonoured as to be made to sit in judgment on Louis +XVI., that no authority in France had that right, and the Assembly in +particular had no claim to it; that if it resolved to act as a political +body, it could do no more than take measures of safety against the +ci-devant King; but that if it was acting as a court of justice it was +overstepping all principles, for it was subjecting the vanquished to be +tried by the conquerors, since most of the present members had declared +themselves the conspirators of the 10th of August. At the word +"conspirators" a tremendous uproar arose on all aides. Cries of +"Order!"--"To the Abbaye!"--"Down with the Tribune!" were heard. +Lanjuinais strove in vain to justify the word "conspirators," saying that +he meant it to be taken in a favourable sense, and that the 10th of August +was a glorious conspiracy. He concluded by declaring that he would rather +die a thousand deaths than condemn, contrary to all laws, even the most +execrable of tyrants. + +A great number of speakers followed, and the confusion continually +increased. The members, determined not to hear any more, mingled +together, formed groups, abused and threatened one another. After a +tempest of an hour's duration, tranquillity was at last restored; and the +Assembly, adopting the opinion of those who demanded the discussion on the +trial of Louis XVI., declared that it was opened, and that it should be +continued, to the exclusion of all other business, till sentence should be +passed. + +The discussion was accordingly resumed on the 27th, and there was a +constant succession of speakers from the 28th to the 31st. Vergniaud at +length ascended the tribune for the first time, and an extraordinary +eagerness was manifested to hear the Girondists express their sentiments +by the lips of their greatest orator. + +The speech of Vergniaud produced a deep impression on all his hearers. +Robespierre was thunderstruck by his earnest and, persuasive eloquence. +Vergniaud, however, had but shaken, not convinced, the Assembly, which +wavered between the two parties. Several members were successively heard, +for and against the appeal to the people. Brissot, Gensonne, Petion, +supported it in their turn. One speaker at length had a decisive +influence on the question. Barere, by his suppleness, and his cold and +evasive eloquence, was the model and oracle of the centre. He spoke at +great length on the trial, reviewed it in all its bearings--of facts, of +laws, and of policy--and furnished all those weak minds, who only wanted +specious reasons for yielding, with motives for the condemnation of the +King. From that moment the unfortunate King was condemned. The +discussion lasted till the 7th, and nobody would listen any longer to the +continual repetition of the same facts and arguments. It was therefore +declared to be closed without opposition, but the proposal of a fresh +adjournment excited a commotion among the most violent, and ended in a +decree which fixed the 14th of January for putting the questions to the +vote. + +Meantime the King did not allow the torturing suspense to disturb his +outward composure, or lessen his kindness to those around him. On the +morning after his second appearance at the bar of the Convention, the +commissary Vincent, who had undertaken secretly to convey to the Queen a +copy of the King's printed defence, asked for something which had belonged +to him, to treasure as a relic; the King took off his neck handkerchief +and gave it him; his gloves he bestowed on another municipal, who had made +the same request. "On January 1st," says Clery, "I approached the King's +bed and asked permission to offer him my warmest prayers for the end of +his misfortunes. 'I accept your good wishes with affection,' he replied, +extending his hand to me. As soon as he had risen, he requested a +municipal to go and inquire for his family, and present them his good +wishes for the new year. The officers were moved by the tone in which +these words, so heartrending considering the position of the King, were +pronounced . . . . The correspondence between their Majesties went on +constantly. The King being informed that Madame Royale was ill, was very +uneasy for some days. The Queen, after begging earnestly, obtained +permission for M. Brunnier, the medical attendant of the royal children, +to come to the Temple. This seemed to quiet him." + +The nearer the moment which was to decide the King's fate approached, the +greater became the agitation in, Paris. "A report was circulated that the +atrocities of September were to be repeated there, and the prisoners and +their relatives beset the deputies with supplications that they would +snatch them from destruction. The Jacobins, on their part, alleged that +conspiracies were hatching in all quarters to save Louis XVI. from +punishment, and to restore royalty. Their anger, excited by delays and +obstacles, assumed a more threatening aspect; and the two parties thus +alarmed one another by supposing that each harboured sinister designs." + +On the 14th of January the Convention called for the order of the day, +being the final judgment of Louis XVI. + +"The sitting of the Convention which concluded the trial," says Hazlitt, +"lasted seventy-two hours. It might naturally be supposed that silence, +restraint, a sort of religious awe, would have pervaded the scene. On the +contrary, everything bore the marks of gaiety, dissipation, and the most +grotesque confusion. The farther end of the hall was converted into +boxes, where ladies, in a studied deshabille, swallowed ices, oranges, +liqueurs, and received the salutations of the members who went and came, +as on ordinary occasions. Here the doorkeepers on the Mountain side +opened and shut the boxes reserved for the mistresses of the Duc +d'Orleans; and there, though every sound of approbation or disapprobation +was strictly forbidden, you heard the long and indignant 'Ha, ha's!' of +the mother-duchess, the patroness of the bands of female Jacobins, +whenever her ears were not loudly greeted with the welcome sounds of +death. The upper gallery, reserved for the people, was during the whole +trial constantly full of strangers of every description, drinking wine as +in a tavern. + +"Bets were made as to the issue of the trial in all the neighbouring +coffee-houses. Ennui, impatience, disgust sat on almost every +countenance. The figures passing and repassing, rendered more ghastly by +the pallid lights, and who in a slow, sepulchral voice pronounced only the +word--Death; others calculating if they should have time to go to dinner +before they gave their verdict; women pricking cards with pins in order to +count the votes; some of the deputies fallen asleep, and only waking up to +give their sentence,--all this had the appearance rather of a hideous +dream than of a reality." + +The Duc d'Orleans, when called on to give his vote for the death of his +King and relation, walked with a faltering step, and a face paler than +death itself, to the appointed place, and there read these words: +"Exclusively governed by my duty, and convinced that all those who have +resisted the sovereignty of the people deserve death, my vote is for +death!" Important as the accession of the first Prince of the blood was +to the Terrorist faction, his conduct in this instance was too obviously +selfish and atrocious not to excite a general feeling of indignation; the +agitation of the Assembly became extreme; it seemed as if by this single +vote the fate of the monarch was irrevocably sealed. + +The President having examined the register, the result of the scrutiny was +proclaimed as follows: + + Against an appeal to the people........... 480 + For an appeal to the people............... 283 + + Majority for final judgment............... 197 + + +The President having announced that he was about to declare the result of +the scrutiny, a profound silence ensued, and he then gave in the following +declaration: that, out of 719 votes, 366 were for DEATH, 319 were for +imprisonment during the war, two for perpetual imprisonment, eight for a +suspension of the execution of the sentence of death until after the +expulsion of the family of the Bourbons, twenty-three were for not putting +him to death until the French territory was invaded by any foreign power, +and one was for a sentence of death, but with power of commutation of the +punishment. + +After this enumeration the President took off his hat, and, lowering his +voice, said: "In consequence of this expression of opinion I declare that +the punishment pronounced by the National Convention against Louis Capet +is DEATH!" + +Previous to the passing of the sentence the President announced on the +part of the Foreign Minister the receipt of a letter from the Spanish +Minister relative to that sentence. The Convention, however, refused to +hear it. [It will be remembered that a similar remonstrance was forwarded +by the English Government.] + +M. de Malesherbes, according to his promise to the King, went to the +Temple at nine o'clock on the morning of the 17th. + +[Louis was fully prepared for his fate. During the calling of the votes +he asked M. de Malesherbes, "Have you not met near the Temple the White +Lady?"--"What do you mean?" replied he. "Do you not know," resumed the +King with a smile, "that when a prince of our house is about to die, a +female dressed in white is seen wandering about the palace? My friends," +added he to his defenders, "I am about to depart before you for the land +of the just, but there, at least, we shall be reunited." In fact, his +Majesty's only apprehension seemed to be for his family.--ALISON.] + +"All is lost," he said to Clery. "The King is condemned." The King, who +saw him arrive, rose to receive him. + +[When M. de Malesherbes went to the Temple to announce the result of the +vote, he found Louis with his forehead resting on his hands, and absorbed +in a deep reverie. Without inquiring concerning his fate, he said: "For +two hours I have been considering whether, during my whole reign, I have +voluntarily given any cause of complaint to my subjects; and with perfect +sincerity I declare that I deserve no reproach at their hands, and that I +have never formed a wish but for their happiness." LACRETELLE.] + +M. de Malesherbes, choked by sobs, threw himself at his feet. The King +raised him up and affectionately embraced him. When he could control his +voice, De Malesherbes informed the King of the decree sentencing him to +death; he made no movement of surprise or emotion, but seemed only +affected by the distress of his advocate, whom he tried to comfort. + +On the 20th of January, at two in the afternoon, Louis XVI. was awaiting +his advocates, when he heard the approach of a numerous party. He stopped +with dignity at the door of his apartment, apparently unmoved: Garat then +told him sorrowfully that he was commissioned to communicate to him the +decrees of the Convention. Grouvelle, secretary of the Executive Council, +read them to him. The first declared Louis XVI. guilty of treason against +the general safety of the State; the second condemned him to death; the +third rejected any appeal to the people; and the fourth and last ordered +his execution in twenty-four hours. Louis, looking calmly round, took the +paper from Grouvelle, and read Garat a letter, in which he demanded from +the Convention three days to prepare for death, a confessor to assist him +in his last moments, liberty to see his family, and permission for them to +leave France. Garat took the letter, promising to submit it immediately +to the Convention. + +Louis XVI. then went back into his room with great composure, ordered his +dinner, and ate as usual. There were no knives on the table, and his +attendants refused to let him have any. "Do they think me so cowardly," +he exclaimed, "as to lay violent hands on myself? I am innocent, and I am +not afraid to die." + +The Convention refused the delay, but granted some other demands which he +had made. Garat sent for Edgeworth de Firmont, the ecclesiastic whom +Louis XVI. had chosen, and took him in his own carriage to the Temple. M. +Edgeworth, on being ushered into the presence of the King, would have +thrown himself at his feet, but Louis instantly raised him, and both shed +tears of emotion. He then, with eager curiosity, asked various questions +concerning the clergy of France, several bishops, and particularly the +Archbishop of Paris, requesting him to assure the latter that he died +faithfully attached to his communion.--The clock having struck eight, he +rose, begged M. Edgeworth to wait, and retired with emotion, saying that +he was going to see his family. The municipal officers, unwilling to lose +sight of the King, even while with his family, had decided that he should +see them in the dining-room, which had a glass door, through which they +could watch all his motions without hearing what he said. At half-past +eight the door opened. The Queen, holding the Dauphin by the hand, Madame +Elisabeth, and Madame Royale rushed sobbing into the arms of Louis XVI. +The door was closed, and the municipal officers, Clery, and M. Edgeworth +placed themselves behind it. During the first moments, it was but a scene +of confusion and despair. Cries and lamentations prevented those who were +on the watch from distinguishing anything. At length the conversation +became more calm, and the Princesses, still holding the King clasped in +their arms, spoke with him in a low tone. "He related his trial to my +mother," says Madame Royale, "apologising for the wretches who had +condemned him. He told her that he would not consent to any attempt to +save him, which might excite disturbance in the country. He then gave my +brother some religious advice, and desired him, above all, to forgive +those who caused his death; and he gave us his blessing. My mother was +very desirous that the whole family should pass the night with my father, +but he opposed this, observing to her that he much needed some hours of +repose and quiet." After a long conversation, interrupted by silence and +grief, the King put an end to the painful meeting, agreeing to see his +family again at eight the next morning. "Do you promise that you will?" +earnestly inquired the Princesses. "Yes, yes," sorrowfully replied the +King. + +["But when we were gone," says his daughter, "he requested that we might +not be permitted to return, as our presence afflicted him too much."] + +At this moment the Queen held him by one arm, Madame Elisabeth by the +other, while Madame Royale clasped him round the waist, and the Dauphin +stood before him, with one hand in that of his mother. At the moment of +retiring Madame Royale fainted; she was carried away, and the King +returned to M. Edgeworth deeply depressed by this painful interview. The +King retired to rest about midnight; M. Edgeworth threw himself upon a +bed, and Clery took his place near the pillow of his master. + +Next morning, the 21st of January, at five, the King awoke, called Clery, +and dressed with great calmness. He congratulated himself on having +recovered his strength by sleep. Clery kindled a fire, and moved a chest +of drawers, out of which he formed an altar. M. Edgeworth put on his +pontifical robes, and began to celebrate mass. Clery waited on him, and +the King listened, kneeling with the greatest devotion. He then received +the communion from the hands of M. Edgeworth, and after mass rose with new +vigour, and awaited with composure the moment for going to the scaffold. +He asked for scissors that Clery might cut his hair; but the Commune +refused to trust him with a pair. + +At this moment the drums were beating in the capital. All who belonged to +the armed sections repaired to their company with complete submission. It +was reported that four or five hundred devoted men, were to make a dash +upon the carriage, and rescue the King. The Convention, the Commune, the +Executive Council, and the Jacobins were sitting. At eight in the +morning, Santerre, with a deputation from the Commune, the department, and +the criminal tribunal, repaired to the Temple. Louis XVI., on hearing +them arrive, rose and prepared to depart. He desired Clery to transmit +his last farewell to his wife, his sister, and his children; he gave him a +sealed packet, hair, and various trinkets, with directions to deliver +these articles to them. + +[In the course of the morning the King said to me: "You will give this +seal to my son and this ring to the Queen, and assure her that it is with +pain I part with it. This little packet contains the hair of all my +family; you will give her that, too. Tell the Queen, my dear sister, and +my children, that, although I promised to see them again this morning, I +have resolved to spare them the pang of so cruel a separation. Tell them +how much it costs me to go away without receiving their embraces once +more!" He wiped away some tears, and then added, in the most mournful +accents, "I charge you to bear them my last farewell."--CLERY.] + +He then clasped his hand and thanked him for his services. After this he +addressed himself to one of the municipal officers, requesting him to +transmit his last will to the Commune. This officer, who had formerly +been a priest, and was named Jacques Roux, brutally replied that his +business was to conduct him to execution, and not to perform his +commissions. Another person took charge of it, and Louis, turning towards +the party, gave with firmness the signal for starting. + +Officers of gendarmerie were placed on the front seat of the carriage. The +King and M. Edgeworth occupied the back. During the ride, which was +rather long, the King read in M. Edgeworth's breviary the prayers for +persons at the point of death; the two gendarmes were astonished at his +piety and tranquil resignation. The vehicle advanced slowly, and amidst +universal silence. At the Place de la Revolution an extensive space had +been left vacant about the scaffold. Around this space were planted +cannon; the most violent of the Federalists were stationed about the +scaffold; and the vile rabble, always ready to insult genius, virtue, and +misfortune, when a signal is given it to do so, crowded behind the ranks +of the Federalists, and alone manifested some outward tokens of +satisfaction. + +At ten minutes past ten the carriage stopped. Louis XVI., rising briskly, +stepped out into the Place. Three executioners came up; he refused their +assistance, and took off his clothes himself. But, perceiving that they +were going to bind his hands, he made a movement of indignation, and +seemed ready to resist. M. Edgeworth gave him a last look, and said, +"Suffer this outrage, as a last resemblance to that God who is about to be +your reward." At these words the King suffered himself to be bound and +conducted to the scaffold. All at once Louis hurriedly advanced to +address the people. "Frenchmen," said he, in a firm voice, "I die +innocent of the crimes which are imputed to me; I forgive the authors of +my death, and I pray that my blood may not fall upon France." He would +have continued, but the drums were instantly ordered to beat: their +rolling drowned his voice; the executioners laid hold of him, and M. +Edgeworth took his leave in these memorable words: "Son of Saint Louis, +ascend to heaven!" As soon as the blood flowed, furious wretches dipped +their pikes and handkerchiefs in it, then dispersed throughout Paris, +shouting "Vive la Republique! Vive la Nation!" and even went to the +gates of the Temple to display brutal and factious joy. + +[The body of Louis was, immediately after the execution, removed to the +ancient cemetery of the Madeleine. Large quantities of quicklime were +thrown into the grave, which occasioned so rapid a decomposition that, +when his remains were sought for in 1816, it was with difficulty any part +could be recovered. Over the spot where he was interred Napoleon +commenced the splendid Temple of Glory, after the battle of Jena; and the +superb edifice was completed by the Bourbons, and now forms the Church of +the Madeleine, the most beautiful structure in Paris. Louis was executed +on the same ground where the Queen, Madame Elisabeth, and so many other +noble victims of the Revolution perished; where Robespierre and Danton +afterwards suffered; and where the Emperor Alexander and the allied +sovereigns took their station, when their victorious troops entered Paris +in 1814! The history of modern Europe has not a scene fraught with +equally interesting recollections to exhibit. It is now marked by the +colossal obelisk of blood-red granite which was brought from Thebes, in +Upper Egypt, in 1833, by the French Government.--ALLISON.] + + + + +The Royal Prisoners.--Separation of the Dauphin from His Family. +--Removal of the Queen. + + +On the morning of the King's execution, according to the narrative of +Madame Royale, his family rose at six: "The night before, my mother had +scarcely strength enough to put my brother to bed; She threw herself, +dressed as she was, on her own bed, where we heard her shivering with cold +and grief all night long. At a quarter-past six the door opened; we +believed that we were sent for to the King, but it was only the officers +looking for a prayer-book for him. We did not, however, abandon the hope +of seeing him, till shouts of joy from the infuriated populace told us +that all was over. In the afternoon my mother asked to see Clery, who +probably had some message for her; we hoped that seeing him would occasion +a burst of grief which might relieve the state of silent and choking agony +in which we saw her." The request was refused, and the officers who +brought the refusal said Clery was in "a frightful state of despair" at +not being allowed to see the royal family; shortly afterwards he was +dismissed from the Temple. + +"We had now a little more freedom," continues the Princess; "our guards +even believed that we were about to be sent out of France; but nothing +could calm my mother's agony; no hope could touch her heart, and life or +death became indifferent to her. Fortunately my own affliction increased +my illness so seriously that it distracted her thoughts . . . . My +mother would go no more to the garden, because she must have passed the +door of what had been my father's room, and that she could not bear. But +fearing lest want of air should prove injurious to my brother and me, +about the end of February she asked permission to walk on the leads of the +Tower, and it was granted." + +The Council of the Commune, becoming aware of the interest which these sad +promenades excited, and the sympathy with which they were observed from +the neighbouring houses, ordered that the spaces between the battlements +should be filled up with shutters, which intercepted the view. But while +the rules for the Queen's captivity were again made more strict, some of +the municipal commissioners tried slightly to alleviate it, and by means +of M. de Hue, who was at liberty in Paris, and the faithful Turgi, who +remained in the Tower, some communications passed between the royal family +and their friends. The wife of Tison, who waited on the Queen, suspected +and finally denounced these more lenient guardians,--[Toulan, Lepitre, +Vincent, Bruno, and others.]--who were executed, the royal prisoners being +subjected to a close examination. + +"On the 20th of April," says Madame Royale, "my mother and I had just gone +to bed when Hebert arrived with several municipals. We got up hastily, +and these men read us a decree of the Commune directing that we should be +searched. My poor brother was asleep; they tore him from his bed under +the pretext of examining it. My mother took him up, shivering with cold. +All they took was a shopkeeper's card which my mother had happened to +keep, a stick of sealing-wax from my aunt, and from me 'une sacre coeur de +Jesus' and a prayer for the welfare of France. The search lasted from +half-past ten at night till four o'clock in the morning." + +The next visit of the officials was to Madame Elisabeth alone; they found +in her room a hat which the King had worn during his imprisonment, and +which she had begged him to give her as a souvenir. They took it from her +in spite of her entreaties. "It was suspicious," said the cruel and +contemptible tyrants. + +The Dauphin became ill with fever, and it was long before his mother, who +watched by him night and day, could obtain medicine or advice for him. +When Thierry was at last allowed to see him his treatment relieved the +most violent symptoms, but, says Madame Royale, "his health was never +reestablished. Want of air and exercise did him great mischief, as well +as the kind of life which this poor child led, who at eight years of age +passed his days amidst the tears of his friends, and in constant anxiety +and agony." + +While the Dauphin's health was causing his family such alarm, they were +deprived of the services of Tison's wife, who became ill, and finally +insane, and was removed to the Hotel Dieu, where her ravings were reported +to the Assembly and made the ground of accusations against the royal +prisoners. + +[This woman, troubled by remorse, lost her reason, threw herself at the +feet of the Queen, implored her pardon, and disturbed the Temple for many +days with the sight and the noise of her madness. The Princesses, +forgetting the denunciations of this unfortunate being, in consideration +of her repentance and insanity, watched over her by turns, and deprived +themselves of their own food to relieve her.--LAMARTINE, "History of the +Girondists," vol. iii., p.140.] + +No woman took her place, and the Princesses themselves made their beds, +swept their rooms, and waited upon the Queen. + +Far worse punishments than menial work were prepared for them. On 3d July +a decree of the Convention ordered that the Dauphin should be separated +from his family and "placed in the most secure apartment of the Tower." +As soon as he heard this decree pronounced, says his sister, "he threw +himself into my mother's arms, and with violent cries entreated not to be +parted from her. My mother would not let her son go, and she actually +defended against the efforts of the officers the bed in which she had +placed him. The men threatened to call up the guard and use violence. My +mother exclaimed that they had better kill her than tear her child from +her. At last they threatened our lives, and my mother's maternal +tenderness forced her to the sacrifice. My aunt and I dressed the child, +for my poor mother had no longer strength for anything. Nevertheless, when +he was dressed, she took him up in her arms and delivered him herself to +the officers, bathing him with her tears, foreseeing that she was never to +behold him again. The poor little fellow embraced us all tenderly, and +was carried away in a flood of tears. My mother's horror was extreme when +she heard that Simon, a shoemaker by trade, whom she had seen as a +municipal officer in the Temple, was the person to whom her child was +confided . . . . The officers now no longer remained in my mother's +apartment; they only came three times a day to bring our meals and examine +the bolts and bars of our windows; we were locked up together night and +day. We often went up to the Tower, because my brother went, too, from +the other side. The only pleasure my mother enjoyed was seeing him +through a crevice as he passed at a distance. She would watch for hours +together to see him as he passed. It was her only hope, her only +thought." + +The Queen was soon deprived even of this melancholy consolation. On 1st +August, 1793, it was resolved that she should be tried. Robespierre +opposed the measure, but Barere roused into action that deep-rooted hatred +of the Queen which not even the sacrifice of her life availed to +eradicate. "Why do the enemies of the Republic still hope for success?" +he asked. "Is it because we have too long forgotten the crimes of the +Austrian? The children of Louis the Conspirator are hostages for the +Republic . . .but behind them lurks a woman who has been the cause of +all the disasters of France." + +At two o'clock on the morning of the following day, the municipal officers +"awoke us," says Madame Royale, "to read to my mother the decree of the +Convention, which ordered her removal to the Conciergerie, + +[The Conciergerie was originally, as its name implies, the porter's lodge +of the ancient Palace of Justice, and became in time a prison, from the +custom of confining there persons who had committed trifling offences +about the Court.] + +preparatory to her trial. She heard it without visible emotion, and +without speaking a single word. My aunt and I immediately asked to be +allowed to accompany my mother, but this favour was refused us. All the +time my mother was making up a bundle of clothes to take with her, these +officers never left her. She was even obliged to dress herself before +them, and they asked for her pockets, taking away the trifles they +contained. She embraced me, charging me to keep up my spirits and my +courage, to take tender care of my aunt, and obey her as a second mother. +She then threw herself into my aunt's arms, and recommended her children +to her care; my aunt replied to her in a whisper, and she was then hurried +away. In leaving the Temple she struck her head against the wicket, not +having stooped low enough. + +[Mathieu, the gaoler, used to say, "I make Madame Veto and her sister and +daughter, proud though they are, salute me; for the door is so low they +cannot pass without bowing."] + +The officers asked whether she had hurt herself. 'No,' she replied, +'nothing can hurt me now." + + + + +The Last Moments of Marie Antoinette. + + +We have already seen what changes had been made in the Temple. Marie +Antoinette had been separated from her sister, her daughter, and her Son, +by virtue of a decree which ordered the trial and exile of the last +members of the family of the Bourbons. She had been removed to the +Conciergerie, and there, alone in a narrow prison, she was reduced to what +was strictly necessary, like the other prisoners. The imprudence of a +devoted friend had rendered her situation still more irksome. Michonnis, a +member of the municipality, in whom she had excited a warm interest, was +desirous of introducing to her a person who, he said, wished to see her +out of curiosity. This man, a courageous emigrant, threw to her a +carnation, in which was enclosed a slip of very fine paper with these +words: "Your friends are ready,"--false hope, and equally dangerous for +her who received it, and for him who gave it! Michonnis and the emigrant +were detected and forthwith apprehended; and the vigilance exercised in +regard to the unfortunate prisoner became from that day more rigorous than +ever. + +[The Queen was lodged in a room called the council chamber, which was +considered as the moat unwholesome apartment in the Conciergerie on +account of its dampness and the bad smells by which it was continually +affected. Under pretence of giving her a person to wait upon her they +placed near her a spy,--a man of a horrible countenance and hollow, +sepulchral voice. This wretch, whose name was Barassin, was a robber and +murderer by profession. Such was the chosen attendant on the Queen of +France! A few days before her trial this wretch was removed and a +gendarme placed in her chamber, who watched over her night and day, and +from whom she was not separated, even when in bed, but by a ragged +curtain. In this melancholy abode Marie Antoinette had no other dress +than an old black gown, stockings with holes, which she was forced to mend +every day; and she was entirely destitute of shoes.--DU BROCA.] + +Gendarmes were to mount guard incessantly at the door of her prison, and +they were expressly forbidden to answer anything that she might say to +them. + +That wretch Hebert, the deputy of Chaumette, and editor of the disgusting +paper Pere Duchesne, a writer of the party of which Vincent, Ronsin, +Varlet, and Leclerc were the leaders--Hebert had made it his particular +business to torment the unfortunate remnant of the dethroned family. He +asserted that the family of the tyrant ought not to be better treated than +any sans-culotte family; and he had caused a resolution to be passed by +which the sort of luxury in which the prisoners in the Temple were +maintained was to be suppressed. They were no longer to be allowed either +poultry or pastry; they were reduced to one sort of aliment for breakfast, +and to soup or broth and a single dish for dinner, to two dishes for +supper, and half a bottle of wine apiece. Tallow candles were to be +furnished instead of wag, pewter instead of silver plate, and delft ware +instead of porcelain. The wood and water carriers alone were permitted to +enter their room, and that only accompanied by two commissioners. Their +food was to be introduced to them by means of a turning box. The numerous +establishment was reduced to a cook and an assistant, two men-servants, +and a woman-servant to attend to the linen. + +As soon as this resolution was passed, Hebert had repaired to the Temple +and inhumanly taken away from the unfortunate prisoners even the most +trifling articles to which they attached a high value. Eighty Louis which +Madame Elisabeth had in reserve, and which she had received from Madame de +Lamballe, were also taken away. No one is more dangerous, more cruel, +than the man without acquirements, without education, clothed with a +recent authority. If, above all, he possess a base nature, if, like +Hebert, who was check-taker at the door of a theatre, and embezzled money +out of the receipts, he be destitute of natural morality, and if he leap +all at once from the mud of his condition into power, he is as mean as he +is atrocious. Such was Hebert in his conduct at the Temple. He did not +confine himself to the annoyances which we have mentioned. He and some +others conceived the idea of separating the young Prince from his aunt and +sister. A shoemaker named Simon and his wife were the instructors to whom +it was deemed right to consign him for the purpose of giving him a +sans-cullotte education. Simon and his wife were shut up in the Temple, +and, becoming prisoners with the unfortunate child, were directed to bring +him up in their own way. Their food was better than that of the +Princesses, and they shared the table of the municipal commissioners who +were on duty. Simon was permitted to go down, accompanied by two +commissioners, to the court of the Temple, for the purpose of giving the +Dauphin a little exercise. + +Hebert conceived the infamous idea of wringing from this boy revelations +to criminate his unhappy mother. Whether this wretch imputed to the child +false revelations, or abused his, tender age and his condition to extort +from him what admissions soever he pleased, he obtained a revolting +deposition; and as the youth of the Prince did not admit of his being +brought before the tribunal, Hebert appeared and detailed the infamous +particulars which he had himself either dictated or invented. + +It was on the 14th of October that Marie Antoinette appeared before her +judges. Dragged before the sanguinary tribunal by inexorable +revolutionary vengeance, she appeared there without any chance of +acquittal, for it was not to obtain her acquittal that the Jacobins had +brought her before it. It was necessary, however, to make some charges. +Fouquier therefore collected the rumours current among the populace ever +since the arrival of the Princess in France, and, in the act of +accusation, he charged her with having plundered the exchequer, first for +her pleasures, and afterwards in order to transmit money to her brother, +the Emperor. He insisted on the scenes of the 5th and 6th of October, and +on the dinners of the Life Guards, alleging that she had at that period +framed a plot, which obliged the people to go to Versailles to frustrate +it. He afterwards accused her of having governed her husband, interfered +in the choice of ministers, conducted the intrigues with the deputies +gained by the Court, prepared the journey to Varennes, provoked the war, +and transmitted to the enemy's generals all our plans of campaign. He +further accused her of having prepared a new conspiracy on the 10th of +August, of having on that day caused the people to be fired upon, having +induced her husband to defend himself by taxing him with cowardice; +lastly, of having never ceased to plot and correspond with foreigners +since her captivity in the Temple, and of having there treated her young +son as King. We here observe how, on the terrible day of long-deferred +vengeance, when subjects at length break forth and strike such of their +princes as have not deserved the blow, everything is distorted and +converted into crime. We see how the profusion and fondness for pleasure, +so natural to a young princess, how her attachment to her native country, +her influence over her husband, her regrets, always more indiscreet in a +woman than a man, nay, even her bolder courage, appeared to their inflamed +or malignant imaginations. + +It was necessary to produce witnesses. Lecointre, deputy of Versailles, +who had seen what had passed on the 5th and 6th of October, Hebert, who +had frequently visited the Temple, various clerks in the ministerial +offices, and several domestic servants of the old Court were summoned.. +Admiral d'Estaing, formerly commandant of the guard of Versailles; Manuel, +the ex-procureur of the Commune; Latour-du-Pin, minister of war in 1789; +the venerable Bailly, who, it was said, had been, with La Fayette, an +accomplice in the journey to Varennes; lastly, Valaze one of the +Girondists destined to the scaffold, were taken from their prisons and +compelled to give evidence. + +No precise fact was elicited. Some had seen the Queen in high spirits +when the Life Guards testified their attachment; others had seen her vexed +and dejected while being conducted to Paris, or brought back from +Varennes; these had been present at splendid festivities which must have +cost enormous sums; those had heard it said in the ministerial offices +that the Queen was adverse to the sanction of the decrees. An ancient +waiting-woman of the Queen had heard the Duc de Coigny say, in 1788, that +the Emperor had already received two hundred millions from France to make +war upon the Turks. + +The cynical Hebert, being brought before the unfortunate Queen, dared at +length to prefer the charges wrung from the young Prince. He said that +Charles Capet had given Simon an account of the journey to Varennes, and +mentioned La Fayette and Bailly as having cooperated in it. He then added +that this boy was addicted to odious and very premature vices for his age; +that he had been surprised by Simon, who, on questioning him, learned that +he derived from his mother the vices in which he indulged. Hebert said +that it was no doubt the intention of Marie Antoinette, by weakening thus, +early the physical constitution of her son, to secure to herself the means +of ruling him in case he should ever ascend the throne. The rumours which +had been whispered for twenty years by a malicious Court had given the +people a most unfavourable opinion of the morals of the Queen. That +audience, however, though wholly Jacobin, was disgusted at the accusations +of Hebert. + +[Can there be a more infernal invention than that made against the. Queen +by Hdbert,--namely, that she had had an improper intimacy with her own +son? He made use of this sublime idea of which he boasted in order to +prejudice the women against the Queen, and to prevent her execution from +exciting pity. It had, however, no other effect than that of disgusting +all parties.--PRUDHOMME.] + +He nevertheless persisted in supporting them. + +[Hebert did not long survive her in whose sufferings he had taken such an +infamous part. He was executed on 26th March, 1794.] + +The unhappy mother made no reply. Urged a new to explain herself, she +said, with extraordinary emotion, "I thought that human nature would +excuse me from answering such an imputation, but I appeal from it to the +heart of every mother here present." This noble and simple reply affected +all who heard it. + +In the depositions of the witnesses, however, all was not so bitter for +Marie Antoinette. The brave D'Estaing, whose enemy she had been, would +not say anything to inculpate her, and spoke only of the courage which she +had shown on the 5th and 6th of October, and of the noble resolution which +she had expressed, to die beside her husband rather than fly. Manuel, in +spite of his enmity to the Court during the time of the Legislative +Assembly, declared that he could not say anything against the accused. +When the venerable Bailly was brought forward, who formerly so often +predicted to the Court the calamities which its imprudence must produce, +he appeared painfully affected; and when he was asked if he knew the wife +of Capet, "Yes," said he, bowing respectfully, "I have known Madame." He +declared that he knew nothing, and maintained that the declarations +extorted from the young Prince relative to the journey to Varennes were +false. In recompense for his deposition he was assailed with outrageous +reproaches, from which he might judge what fate would soon be awarded to +himself. + +In all the evidence there appeared but two serious facts, attested by +Latour-du-Pin and Valaze, who deposed to them because they could not help +it. Latour-du-Pin declared that Marie Antoinette had applied to him for +an accurate statement of the armies while he was minister of war. Valaze, +always cold, but respectful towards misfortune, would not say anything to +criminate the accused; yet he could not help declaring that, as a member +of the commission of twenty-four, being charged with his colleagues to +examine the papers found at the house of Septeuil, treasurer of the civil +list, he had seen bonds for various sums signed Antoinette, which was very +natural; but he added that he had also seen a letter in which the minister +requested the King to transmit to the Queen the copy of the plan of +campaign which he had in his hands. The most unfavourable construction +was immediately put upon these two facts, the application for a statement +of the armies, and the communication of the plan of campaign; and it was +concluded that they could not be wanted for any other purpose than to be +sent to the enemy, for it was not supposed that a young princess should +turn her attention, merely for her own satisfaction, to matters of +administration and military, plans. After these depositions, several +others were received respecting the expenses of the Court, the influence +of the Queen in public affairs, the scene of the 10th of August, and what +had passed in the Temple; and the most vague rumours and most trivial +circumstances were eagerly caught at as proofs. + +Marie Antoinette frequently repeated, with presence of mind and firmness, +that there was no precise fact against her; that, besides, though the +wife of Louis XVI., she was not answerable for any of the acts of his +reign. + +[At first the Queen, consulting only her own sense of dignity, had +resolved on her trial to make no other reply to the questions of her +judges than "Assassinate me as you have already assassinated my husband!" +Afterwards, however, she determined to follow the example of the King, +exert herself in her defence, and leave her judges without any excuse or +pretest for putting her to death.--WEBER'S "Memoirs of Marie Antoinette."] + +Fouquier nevertheless declared her to be sufficiently convicted; +Chaveau-Lagarde made unavailing efforts to defend her; and the +unfortunate Queen was condemned to suffer the same fate as her husband. + +Conveyed back to the Conciergerie, she there passed in tolerable composure +the night preceding her execution, and, on the morning of the following +day, the 16th of October, she was conducted, amidst a great concourse of +the populace, to the fatal spot where, ten months before, Louis XVI. +had perished. + +[The Queen, after having written and prayed, slept soundly for some hours. +On her waking, Bault's daughter dressed her and adjusted her hair with +more neatness than on other days. Marie Antoinette wore a white gown, a +white handkerchief covered her shoulders, a white cap her hair; a black +ribbon bound this cap round her temples.... The cries, the looks, the +laughter, the jests of the people overwhelmed her with humiliation; her +colour, changing continually from purple to paleness, betrayed her +agitation.... On reaching the scaffold she inadvertently trod on the +executioner's foot. "Pardon me," she said, courteously. She knelt for an +instant and uttered a half-audible prayer; then rising and glancing +towards the towers of the Temple, "Adieu, once again, my children," she +said; "I go to rejoin your father."--LAMARTINE.] + +She listened with calmness to the exhortations of the ecclesiastic who +accompanied her, and cast an indifferent look at the people who had so +often applauded her beauty and her grace, and who now as warmly +applauded her execution. On reaching the foot of the scaffold she +perceived the Tuileries, and appeared to be moved; but she hastened to +ascend the fatal ladder, and gave herself up with courage to the +executioner. + +[Sorrow had blanched the Queen's once beautiful hair; but her features and +air still commanded the admiration of all who beheld her; her cheeks, pale +and emaciated, were occasionally tinged with a vivid colour at the mention +of those she had lost. When led out to execution, she was dressed in +white; she had cut off her hair with her own hands. Placed in a tumbrel, +with her arms tied behind her, she was taken by a circuitous route to the +Place de la Revolution, and she ascended the scaffold with a firm and +dignified step, as if she had been about to take her place on a throne by +the side of her husband.-LACRETELLE.] + +The infamous wretch exhibited her head to the people, as he was accustomed +to do when he had sacrificed an illustrious victim. + + + + +The Last Separation.--Execution of Madame Elisabeth. +--Death of the Dauphin. + +The two Princesses left in the Temple were now almost inconsolable; they +spent days and nights in tears, whose only alleviation was that they were +shed together. "The company of my aunt, whom I loved so tenderly," said +Madame Royale, "was a great comfort to me. But alas! all that I loved +was perishing around me, and I was soon to lose her also . . . . In +the beginning of September I had an illness caused solely by my anxiety +about my mother; I never heard a drum beat that I did not expect another +3d of September."--[when the head of the Princesse de Lamballe was carried +to the Temple.] + +In the course of the month the rigour of their captivity was much +increased. The Commune ordered that they should only have one room; that +Tison (who had done the heaviest of the household work for them, and since +the kindness they showed to his insane wife had occasionally given them +tidings of the Dauphin) should be imprisoned in the turret; that they +should be supplied with only the barest necessaries; and that no one +should enter their room save to carry water and firewood. Their quantity +of firing was reduced, and they were not allowed candles. They were also +forbidden to go on the leads, and their large sheets were taken away, +"lest--notwithstanding the gratings!--they should escape from the +windows." + +On 8th October, 1793, Madame Royale was ordered to go downstairs, that she +might be interrogated by some municipal officers. "My aunt, who was +greatly affected, would have followed, but they stopped her. She asked +whether I should be permitted to come up again; Chaumette assured her that +I should. 'You may trust,' said he, 'the word of an honest republican. +She shall return.' I soon found myself in my brother's room, whom I +embraced tenderly; but we were torn asunder, and I was obliged to go into +another room.--[This was the last time the brother and sister met] . . . +Chaumette then questioned me about a thousand shocking things of which +they accused my mother and aunt; I was so indignant at hearing such +horrors that, terrified as I was, I could not help exclaiming that they +were infamous falsehoods. + +"But in spite of my tears they still pressed their questions. There were +some things which I did not comprehend, but of which I understood enough +to make me weep with indignation and horror . . . . They then asked me +about Varennes, and other things. I answered as well as I could without +implicating anybody. I had always heard my parents say that it were +better to die than to implicate anybody." When the examination was over +the Princess begged to be allowed to join her mother, but Chaumette said +he could not obtain permission for her to do so. She was then cautioned +to say nothing about her examination to her aunt, who was next to appear +before them. Madame Elisabeth, her niece declares, "replied with still +more contempt to their shocking questions." + +The only intimation of the Queen's fate which her daughter and her +sister-in-law were allowed to receive was through hearing her sentence +cried by the newsman. But "we could not persuade ourselves that she was +dead," writes Madame Royale. "A hope, so natural to the unfortunate, +persuaded us that she must have been saved. For eighteen months I +remained in this cruel suspense. We learnt also by the cries of the +newsman the death of the Duc d'Orleans. It was the only piece of news +that reached us during the whole winter." + +[The Duc d'Orleans, the early and interested propagator of the Revolution, +was its next victim. Billaud Varennes said in the Convention: "The time +has come when all the conspirators should be known and struck. I demand +that we no longer pass over in silence a man whom we seem to have +forgotten, despite the numerous facts against him. I demand that +D'ORLEANS be sent to the Revolutionary Tribunal." The Convention, once +his hireling adulators, unanimously supported the proposal. In vain he +alleged his having been accessory to the disorders of 5th October, his +support of the revolt on 10th August, 1792, his vote against the King on +17th January, 1793. His condemnation was pronounced. He then asked only +for a delay of twenty-four hours, and had a repast carefully prepared, on +which he feasted with avidity. When led out for execution he gazed with a +smile on the Palais Royal, the scene of his former orgies. He was detained +for a quarter of an hour before that palace by the order of Robespierre, +who had asked his daughter's hand, and promised in return to excite a +tumult in which the Duke's life should be saved. Depraved though he was, +he would not consent to such a sacrifice, and he met his fate with stoical +fortitude.--ALLISON, vol. iii., p. 172.] + +The severity with which the prisoners were treated was carried into every +detail of their life. The officers who guarded them took away their +chessmen and cards because some of them were named kings and queens, and +all the books with coats of arms on them; they refused to get ointment for +a gathering on Madame Elisabeth's arm; they, would not allow her to make a +herb-tea which she thought would strengthen her niece; they declined to +supply fish or eggs on fast-days or during Lent, bringing only coarse fat +meat, and brutally replying to all remonstances, "None but fools believe +in that stuff nowadays." Madame Elisabeth never made the officials +another request, but reserved some of the bread and cafe-au-lait from her +breakfast for her second meal. The time during which she could be thus +tormented was growing short. + +On 9th May, 1794, as the Princesses were going to bed, the outside bolts +of the door were unfastened and a loud knocking was heard. "When my aunt +was dressed," says Madame Royale, "she opened the door, and they said to +her, 'Citoyenne, come down.'--'And my niece?'--'We shall take care of her +afterwards.' She embraced me, and to calm my agitation promised to return. +'No, citoyenne,' said the men, 'bring your bonnet; you shall not return.' +They overwhelmed her with abuse, but she bore it patiently, embracing me, +and exhorting me to trust in Heaven, and never to forget the last commands +of my father and mother." + +Madame Elisabeth was then taken to the Conciergerie, where she was +interrogated by the vice-president at midnight, and then allowed to take +some hours rest on the bed on which Marie Antoinette had slept for the +last time. In the morning she was brought before the tribunal, with +twenty-four other prisoners, of varying ages and both sexes, some of whom +had once been frequently seen at Court. + +"Of what has Elisabeth to complain?" Fouquier-Tinville satirically asked. +"At the foot of the guillotine, surrounded by faithful nobility, she may +imagine herself again at Versailles." + +"You call my brother a tyrant," the Princess replied to her accuser; "if +he had been what you say, you would not be where you are, nor I before +you!" + +She was sentenced to death, and showed neither surprise nor grief. "I am +ready to die," she said, "happy in the prospect of rejoining in a better +world those whom I loved on earth." + +On being taken to the room where those condemned to suffer at the same +time as herself were assembled, she spoke to them with so much piety and +resignation that they were encouraged by her example to show calmness and +courage like her own. The women, on leaving the cart, begged to embrace +her, and she said some words of comfort to each in turn as they mounted +the scaffold, which she was not allowed to ascend till all her companions +had been executed before her eyes. + +[Madame Elisabeth was one of those rare personages only seen at distant +intervals during the course of ages; she set an example of steadfast piety +in the palace of kings, she lived amid her family the favourite of all and +the admiration of the world .... When I went to Versailles Madame +Elisabeth was twenty-two years of age. Her plump figure and pretty pink +colour must have attracted notice, and her air of calmness and contentment +even more than her beauty. She was fond of billiards, and her elegance and +courage in riding were remarkable. But she never allowed these amusements +to interfere with her religious observances. At that time her wish to +take the veil at St. Cyr was much talked of, but the King was too fond of +his sister to endure the separation. There were also rumours of a +marriage between Madame Elisabeth and the Emperor Joseph. The Queen was +sincerely attached to her brother, and loved her sister-in-law most +tenderly; she ardently desired this marriage as a means of raising the +Princess to one of the first thrones in Europe, and as a possible means of +turning the Emperor from his innovations. She had been very carefully +educated, had talent in music and painting, spoke Italian and a little +Latin, and understood mathematics.... Her last moments were worthy of her +courage and virtue.--D'HEZECQUES's "Recollections," pp. 72-75.] + +"It is impossible to imagine my distress at finding myself separated from +my aunt," says Madame Royale. "Since I had been able to appreciate her +merits, I saw in her nothing but religion, gentleness, meekness, modesty, +and a devoted attachment to her family; she sacrificed her life for them, +since nothing could persuade her to leave the King and Queen. I never can +be sufficiently grateful to her for her goodness to me, which ended only +with her life. She looked on me as her child, and I honoured and loved +her as a second mother. I was thought to be very like her in countenance, +and I feel conscious that I have something of her character. Would to God +I might imitate her virtues, and hope that I may hereafter deserve to meet +her, as well as my dear parents, in the bosom of our Creator, where I +cannot doubt that they enjoy the reward of their virtuous lives and +meritorious deaths." + +Madame Royale vainly begged to be allowed to rejoin her mother or her +aunt, or at least to know their fate. The municipal officers would tell +her nothing, and rudely refused her request to have a woman placed with +her. "I asked nothing but what seemed indispensable, though it was often +harshly refused," she says. "But I at least could keep myself clean. I +had soap and water, and carefully swept out my room every day. I had no +light, but in the long days I did not feel this privation much . . . . +I had some religious works and travels, which I had read over and over. I +had also some knitting, 'qui m'ennuyait beaucoup'." Once, she believes, +Robespierre visited her prison: + +[It has been said that Robespierre vainly tried to obtain the hand of +Mademoiselle d'Orleans. It was also rumoured that Madame Royale herself +owed her life to his matrimonial ambition.] + +"The officers showed him great respect; the people in the Tower did not +know him, or at least would not tell me who he was. He stared insolently +at me, glanced at my books, and, after joining the municipal officers in a +search, retired." + +[On another occasion "three men in scarfs," who entered the Princess's +room, told her that they did not see why she should wish to be released, +as she seemed very comfortable! "It is dreadful,' I replied, 'to be +separated for more than a year from one's mother, without even hearing +what has become of her or of my aunt.'--'You are not ill?'--'No, monsieur, +but the cruellest illness is that of the heart'--' We can do nothing for +you. Be patient, and submit to the justice and goodness of the French +people: I had nothing more to say."--DUCHESSE D'ANGOULEME, "Royal +Memoirs," p. 273.] + +When Laurent was appointed by the Convention to the charge of the young +prisoners, Madame Royale was treated with more consideration. "He was +always courteous," she says; he restored her tinderbox, gave her fresh +books, and allowed her candles and as much firewood as she wanted, "which +pleased me greatly." This simple expression of relief gives a clearer +idea of what the delicate girl must have suffered than a volume of +complaints. + +But however hard Madame Royale's lot might be, that of the Dauphin was +infinitely harder. Though only eight years old when he entered the +Temple, he was by nature and education extremely precocious; "his memory +retained everything, and his sensitiveness comprehended everything." His +features "recalled the somewhat effeminate look of Louis XV., and the +Austrian hauteur of Maria Theresa; his blue eyes, aquiline nose, elevated +nostrils, well-defined mouth, pouting lips, chestnut hair parted in the +middle and falling in thick curls on his shoulders, resembled his mother +before her years of tears and torture. All the beauty of his race, by +both descents, seemed to reappear in him."--[Lamartine]--For some time the +care of his parents preserved his health and cheerfulness even in the +Temple; but his constitution was weakened by the fever recorded by his +sister, and his gaolers were determined that he should never regain +strength. + +"What does the Convention intend to do with him?" asked Simon, when the +innocent victim was placed in his clutches. "Transport him?" + +"No." + +"Kill him?" + +"No." + +"Poison him?" + +"No." + +"What, then?" + +"Why, get rid of him." + +For such a purpose they could not have chosen their instruments better. +"Simon and his wife, cut off all those fair locks that had been his +youthful glory and his mother's pride. This worthy pair stripped him of +the mourning he wore for his father; and as they did so, they called it +'playing at the game of the spoiled king.' They alternately induced him +to commit excesses, and then half starved him. They beat him mercilessly; +nor was the treatment by night less brutal than that by day. As soon as +the weary boy had sunk into his first profound sleep, they would loudly +call him by name, 'Capet! Capet!' Startled, nervous, bathed in +perspiration, or sometimes trembling with cold, he would spring up, rush +through the dark, and present himself at Simon's bedside, murmuring, +tremblingly, 'I am here, citizen.'--'Come nearer; let me feel you.' He +would approach the bed as he was ordered, although he knew the treatment +that awaited him. Simon would buffet him on the head, or kick him away, +adding the remark, 'Get to bed again, wolfs cub; I only wanted to know +that you were safe.' On one of these occasions, when the child had fallen +half stunned upon his own miserable couch, and lay there groaning and +faint with pain, Simon roared out with a laugh, 'Suppose you were king, +Capet, what would you do to me?' The child thought of his father's dying +words, and said, 'I would forgive you.'"--[THIERS] + +The change in the young Prince's mode of life, and the cruelties and +caprices to which he was subjected, soon made him fall ill, says his +sister. "Simon forced him to eat to excess, and to drink large quantities +of wine, which he detested . . . . He grew extremely fat without +increasing in height or strength." His aunt and sister, deprived of the +pleasure of tending him, had the pain of hearing his childish voice raised +in the abominable songs his gaolers taught him. The brutality of Simon +"depraved at once the body and soul of his pupil. He called him the young +wolf of the Temple. He treated him as the young of wild animals are +treated when taken from the mother and reduced to captivity,--at once +intimidated by blows and enervated by taming. He punished for +sensibility; he rewarded meanness; he encouraged vice; he made the child +wait on him at table, sometimes striking him on the face with a knotted +towel, sometimes raising the poker and threatening to strike him with it." + +[Simon left the Temple to become a municipal officer. He was involved in +the overthrow of Robespierre, and guillotined the day after him, 29th +July, 1794.] + +Yet when Simon was removed the poor young Prince's condition became even +worse. His horrible loneliness induced an apathetic stupor to which any +suffering would have been preferable. "He passed his days without any +kind of occupation; they did not allow him light in the evening. His +keepers never approached him but to give him food;" and on the rare +occasions when they took him to the platform of the Tower, he was unable +or unwilling to move about. When, in November, 1794, a commissary named +Gomin arrived at the Temple, disposed to treat the little prisoner with +kindness, it was too late. "He took extreme care of my brother," says +Madame Royale. "For a long time the unhappy child had been shut up in +darkness, and he was dying of fright. He was very grateful for the +attentions of Gomin, and became much attached to him." But his physical +condition was alarming, and, owing to Gomin's representations, a +commission was instituted to examine him. "The commissioners appointed +were Harmond, Mathieu, and Reverchon, who visited 'Louis Charles,' as he +was now called, in the month of February, 1795. They found the young +Prince seated at a square deal table, at which he was playing with some +dirty cards, making card houses and the like,--the materials having been +furnished him, probably, that they might figure in the report as evidences +of indulgence. He did not look up from the table as the commissioners +entered. He was in a slate-coloured dress, bareheaded; the room was +reported as clean, the bed in good condition, the linen fresh; his clothes +were also reported as new; but, in spite of all these assertions, it is +well known that his bed had not been made for months, that he had not left +his room, nor was permitted to leave it, for any purpose whatever, that it +was consequently uninhabitable, and that he was covered with vermin and +with sores. The swellings at his knees alone were sufficient to disable +him from walking. One of the commissioners approached the young Prince +respectfully. The latter did not raise his head. Harmond in a kind voice +begged him to speak to them. The eyes of the boy remained fixed on the +table before him. They told him of the kindly intentions of the +Government, of their hopes that he would yet be happy, and their desire +that he would speak unreservedly to the medical man that was to visit him. +He seemed to listen with profound attention, but not a single word passed +his lips. It was an heroic principle that impelled that poor young heart +to maintain the silence of a mute in presence of these men. He remembered +too well the days when three other commissaries waited on him, regaled him +with pastry and wine, and obtained from him that hellish accusation +against the mother that he loved. He had learnt by some means the import +of the act, so far as it was an injury to his mother. He now dreaded +seeing again three commissaries, hearing again kind words, and being +treated again with fine promises. Dumb as death itself he sat before +them, and remained motionless as stone, and as mute." [THIERS] + +His disease now made rapid progress, and Gomin and Lasne, superintendents +of the Temple, thinking it necessary to inform the Government of the +melancholy condition of their prisoner, wrote on the register: "Little +Capet is unwell." No notice was taken of this account, which was renewed +next day in more urgent terms: "Little Capet is dangerously ill." Still +there was no word from beyond the walls. "We must knock harder," said the +keepers to each other, and they added, "It is feared he will not live," to +the words "dangerously ill." At length, on Wednesday, 6th May, 1795, +three days after the first report, the authorities appointed M. Desault to +give the invalid the assistance of his art. After having written down his +name on the register he was admitted to see the Prince. He made a long and +very attentive examination of the unfortunate child, asked him many +questions without being able to obtain an answer, and contented himself +with prescribing a decoction of hops, to be taken by spoonfuls every +half-hour, from six o'clock in the morning till eight in the evening. On +the first day the Prince steadily refused to take it. In vain Gomin +several times drank off a glass of the potion in his presence; his example +proved as ineffectual as his words. Next day Lasne renewed his +solicitations. "Monsieur knows very well that I desire nothing but the +good of his health, and he distresses me deeply by thus refusing to take +what might contribute to it. I entreat him as a favour not to give me +this cause of grief." And as Lasne, while speaking, began to taste the +potion in a glass, the child took what he offered him out of his hands. +"You have, then, taken an oath that I should drink it," said he, firmly; +"well, give it me, I will drink it." From that moment he conformed with +docility to whatever was required of him, but the policy of the Commune +had attained its object; help had been withheld till it was almost a +mockery to supply it. + +The Prince's weakness was excessive; his keepers could scarcely drag him +to the, top of the Tower; walking hurt his tender feet, and at every step +he stopped to press the arm of Lasne with both hands upon his breast. At +last he suffered so much that it was no longer possible for him to walk, +and his keeper carried him about, sometimes on the platform, and sometimes +in the little tower, where the royal family had lived at first. But the +slight improvement to his health occasioned by the change of air scarcely +compensated for the pain which his fatigue gave him. On the battlement of +the platform nearest the left turret, the rain had, by perseverance +through ages, hollowed out a kind of basin. The water that fell remained +there for several days; and as, during the spring of 1795, storms were of +frequent occurrence, this little sheet of water was kept constantly +supplied. Whenever the child was brought out upon the platform, he saw a +little troop of sparrows, which used to come to drink and bathe in this +reservoir. At first they flew away at his approach, but from being +accustomed to see him walking quietly there every day, they at last grew +more familiar, and did not spread their wings for flight till he came up +close to them. They were always the same, he knew them by sight, and +perhaps like himself they were inhabitants of that ancient pile. He +called them his birds; and his first action, when the door into the +terrace was opened, was to look towards that side,--and the sparrows were +always there. He delighted in their chirping, and he must have envied +them their wings. + +Though so little could be done to alleviate his sufferings, a moral +improvement was taking place in him. He was touched by the lively +interest displayed by his physician, who never failed to visit him at nine +o'clock every morning. He seemed pleased with the attention paid him, and +ended by placing entire confidence in M. Desault. Gratitude loosened his +tongue; brutality and insult had failed to extort a murmur, but kind +treatment restored his speech he had no words for anger, but he found them +to express his thanks. M. Desault prolonged his visits as long as the +officers of the municipality would permit. When they announced the close +of the visit, the child, unwilling to beg them to allow a longer time, +held back M. Desault by the skirt of his coat. Suddenly M. Desault's +visits ceased. Several days passed and nothing was heard of him. The +keepers wondered at his absence, and the poor little invalid was much +distressed at it. The commissary on duty (M. Benoist) suggested that it +would be proper to send to the physician's house to make inquiries as to +the cause of so long an absence. Gomin and Larne had not yet ventured to +follow this advice, when next day M. Benoist was relieved by M. Bidault, +who, hearing M. Desault's name mentioned as he came in, immediately said, +"You must not expect to see him any more; he died yesterday." + +M. Pelletan, head surgeon of the Grand Hospice de l'Humanite, was next +directed to attend the prisoner, and in June he found him in so alarming a +state that he at once asked for a coadjutor, fearing to undertake the +responsibility alone. The physician--sent for form's sake to attend the +dying child, as an advocate is given by law to a criminal condemned +beforehand--blamed the officers of the municipality for not having removed +the blind, which obstructed the light, and the numerous bolts, the noise +of which never failed to remind the victim of his captivity. That sound, +which always caused him an involuntary shudder, disturbed him in the last +mournful scene of his unparalleled tortures. M. Pelletan said +authoritatively to the municipal on duty, "If you will not take these +bolts and casings away at once, at least you can make no objection to our +carrying the child into another room, for I suppose we are sent here to +take charge of him." The Prince, being disturbed by these words, spoken +as they were with great animation, made a sign to the physician to come +nearer. "Speak lower, I beg of you," said he; "I am afraid they will hear +you up-stairs, and I should be very sorry for them to know that I am ill, +as it would give them much uneasiness." + +At first the change to a cheerful and airy room revived the Prince and +gave him evident pleasure, but the improvement did not last. Next day M. +Pelletan learned that the Government had acceded to his request for a +colleague. M. Dumangin, head physician of the Hospice de l'Unite, made +his appearance at his house on the morning of Sunday, 7th June, with the +official despatch sent him by the committee of public safety. They +repaired together immediately to the Tower. On their arrival they heard +that the child, whose weakness was excessive, had had a fainting fit, +which had occasioned fears to be entertained that his end was approaching. +He had revived a little, however, when the physicians went up at about +nine o'clock. Unable to contend with increasing exhaustion, they +perceived there was no longer any hope of prolonging an existence worn out +by so much suffering, and that all their art could effect would be to +soften the last stage of this lamentable disease. While standing by the +Prince's bed, Gomin noticed that he was quietly crying, and asked him. +kindly what was the matter. "I am always alone," he said. "My dear +mother remains in the other tower." Night came,--his last night,--which +the regulations of the prison condemned him to pass once more in solitude, +with suffering, his old companion, only at his side. This time, however, +death, too, stood at his pillow. When Gomin went up to the child's room +on the morning of 8th June, he said, seeing him calm, motionless, and +mute: + +"I hope you are not in pain just now?" + +"Oh, yes, I am still in pain, but not nearly so much,--the music is so +beautiful!" + +Now there was no music to be heard, either in the Tower or anywhere near. + +Gomin, astonished, said to him, "From what direction do you hear this +music?" + +"From above!" + +"Have you heard it long?" + +"Since you knelt down. Do you not hear it? Listen! Listen!" And the +child, with a nervous motion, raised his faltering hand, as he opened his +large eyes illuminated by delight. His poor keeper, unwilling to destroy +this last sweet illusion, appeared to listen also. + +After a few minutes of attention the child again started, and cried out, +in intense rapture, "Amongst all the voices I have distinguished that of +my mother!" + +These were almost his last words. At a quarter past two he died, Lasne +only being in the room at the time. Lasne acquainted Gomin and Damont, +the commissary on duty, with the event, and they repaired to the chamber +of death. The poor little royal corpse was carried from the room into +that where he had suffered so long,--where for two years he had never +ceased to suffer. From this apartment the father had gone to the +scaffold, and thence the son must pass to the burial-ground. The remains +were laid out on the bed, and the doors of the apartment were set +open,--doors which had remained closed ever since the Revolution had +seized on a child, then full of vigour and grace and life and health! + +At eight o'clock next morning (9th June) four members of the committee of +general safety came to the Tower to make sure that the Prince was really +dead. When they were admitted to the death-chamber by Lasne and Damont +they affected the greatest indifference. "The event is not of the least +importance," they repeated, several times over; "the police commissary of +the section will come and receive the declaration of the decease; he will +acknowledge it, and proceed to the interment without any ceremony; and the +committee will give the necessary directions." As they withdrew, some +officers of the Temple guard asked to see the remains of little Capet. +Damont having observed that the guard would not permit the bier to pass +without its being opened, the deputies decided that the officers and +non-commissioned officers of the guard going off duty, together with those +coming on, should be all invited to assure themselves of the child's +death. All having assembled in the room where the body lay, he asked them +if they recognised it as that of the ex-Dauphin, son of the last King of +France. Those who had seen the young Prince at the Tuileries, or at the +Temple (and most of them had), bore witness to its being the body of Louis +XVII. When they were come down into the council-room, Darlot drew up the +minutes of this attestation, which was signed by a score of persons. +These minutes were inserted in the journal of the Temple tower, which was +afterwards deposited in the office of the Minister of the Interior. + +During this visit the surgeons entrusted with the autopsy arrived at the +outer gate of the Temple. These were Dumangin, head physician of the +Hospice de l'Unite; Pelletan, head surgeon of the Grand Hospice de +l'Humanite; Jeanroy, professor in the medical schools of Paris; and +Laasus, professor of legal medicine at the Ecole de Sante of Paris. The +last two were selected by Dumangin and Pelletan because of the former +connection of M. Lassus with Mesdames de France, and of M. Jeanroy with +the House of Lorraine, which gave a peculiar weight to their signatures. +Gomin received them in the council-room, and detained them until the +National Guard, descending from the second floor, entered to sign the +minutes prepared by Darlot. This done, Lasne, Darlot, and Bouquet went up +again with the surgeons, and introduced them into the apartment of Louis +XVII., whom they at first examined as he lay on his death-bed; but M. +Jeanroy observing that the dim light of this room was but little +favourable to the accomplishment of their mission, the commissaries +prepared a table in the first room, near the window, on which the corpse +was laid, and the surgeons began their melancholy operation. + +At seven o'clock the police commissary ordered the body to be taken up, +and that they should proceed to the cemetery. It was the season of the +longest days, and therefore the interment did not take place in secrecy +and at night, as some misinformed narrators have said or written; it took +place in broad daylight, and attracted a great concourse of people before +the gates of the Temple palace. One of the municipals wished to have the +coffin carried out secretly by the door opening into the chapel enclosure; +but M. Duaser, police commiasary, who was specially entrusted with the +arrangement of the ceremony, opposed this indecorous measure, and the +procession passed out through the great gate. The crowd that was pressing +round was kept back, and compelled to keep a line, by a tricoloured +ribbon, held at short distances by gendarmes. Compassion and sorrow were +impressed on every countenance. + +A small detachment of the troops of the line from the garrison of Paris, +sent by the authorities, was waiting to serve as an escort. The bier, +still covered with the pall, was carried on a litter on the shoulders of +four men, who relieved each other two at a time; it was preceded by six or +eight men, headed by a sergeant. The procession was accompanied a long +way by the crowd, and a great number of persona followed it even to the +cemetery. The name of "Little Capet," and the more popular title of +Dauphin, spread from lip to lip, with exclamations of pity and compassion. +The funeral entered the cemetery of Ste. Marguerite, not by the church, as +some accounts assert, but by the old gate of the cemetery. The interment +was made in the corner, on the left, at a distance of eight or nine feet +from the enclosure wall, and at an equal distance from a small house, +which subsequently served as a school. The grave was filled up,--no mound +marked its place, and not even a trace remained of the interment! Not +till then did the commissaries of police and the municipality withdraw, +and enter the house opposite the church to draw up the declaration of +interment. It was nearly nine o'clock, and still daylight. + + + + +Release of Madame Royale.--Her Marriage to the Duc d'Angouleme. +--Return to France.--Death. + + +The last person to hear of the sad events in the Temple was the one for +whom they had the deepest and most painful interest. After her brother's +death the captivity of Madame Royale was much lightened. She was allowed +to walk in the Temple gardens, and to receive visits from some ladies of +the old Court, and from Madame de Chantereine, who at last, after several +times evading her questions, ventured cautiously to tell her of the deaths +of her mother, aunt, and brother. Madame Royale wept bitterly, but had +much difficulty in expressing her feelings. "She spoke so confusedly," +says Madame de la Ramiere in a letter to Madame de Verneuil, "that it was +difficult to understand her. It took her more than a month's reading +aloud, with careful study of pronunciation, to make herself +intelligible,--so much had she lost the power of expression." She was +dressed with plainness amounting to poverty, and her hands were disfigured +by exposure to cold and by the menial work she had been so long accustomed +to do for herself, and which it was difficult to persuade her to leave +off. When urged to accept the services of an attendant, she replied, with +a sad prevision of the vicissitudes of her future life, that she did not +like to form a habit which she might have again to abandon. She suffered +herself, however, to be persuaded gradually to modify her recluse and +ascetic habits. It was well she did so, as a preparation for the great +changes about to follow. + +Nine days after the death of her brother, the city of Orleans interceded +for the daughter of Louis XVI., and sent deputies to the Convention to +pray for her deliverance and restoration to her family. Names followed +this example; and Charette, on the part of the Vendeans, demanded, as a +condition of the pacification of La Vendee, that the Princess should be +allowed to join her relations. At length the Convention decreed that +Madame Royale should be exchanged with Austria for the representatives and +ministers whom Dumouriez had given up to the Prince of Cobourg,--Drouet, +Semonville, Maret, and other prisoners of importance. At midnight on 19th +December, 1795, which was her birthday, the Princess was released from +prison, the Minister of the Interior, M. Benezech, to avoid attracting +public attention and possible disturbance, conducting her on foot from the +Temple to a neighbouring street, where his carriage awaited her. She made +it her particular request that Gomin, who had been so devoted to her +brother, should be the commissary appointed to accompany her to the +frontier; Madame de Soucy, formerly under-governess to the children of +France, was also in attendance; and the Princess took with her a dog named +Coco, which had belonged to Louis XVI. + +[The mention of the little dog taken from the Temple by Madame Royale +reminds me how fond all the family were of these creatures. Each Princess +kept a different kind. Mesdames had beautiful spaniels; little grayhounds +were preferred by Madame Elisabeth. Louis XVI. was the only one of all his +family who had no dogs in his room. I remember one day waiting in the +great gallery for the King's retiring, when he entered with all his family +and the whole pack, who were escorting him. All at once all the dogs +began to bark, one louder than another, and ran away, passing like ghosts +along those great dark rooms, which rang with their hoarse cries. The +Princesses shouting, calling them, running everywhere after them, +completed a ridiculous spectacle, which made those august persons very +merry.--D'HEZECQUES, p. 49.] + +She was frequently recognised on her way through France, and always with +marks of pleasure and respect. + +It might have been supposed that the Princess would rejoice to leave +behind her the country which had been the scene of so many horrors and +such bitter suffering. But it was her birthplace, and it held the graves +of all she loved; and as she crossed the frontier she said to those around +her, "I leave France with regret, for I shall never cease to consider it +my country." She arrived in Vienna on 9th January, 1796, and her first +care was to attend a memorial service for her murdered relatives. After +many weeks of close retirement she occasionally began to appear in public, +and people looked with interest at the pale, grave, slender girl of +seventeen, dressed in the deepest mourning, over whose young head such +terrible storms had swept. The Emperor wished her to marry the Archduke +Charles of Austria, but her father and mother had, even in the cradle, +destined her hand for her cousin, the Duc d'Angouleme, son of the Comte +d'Artois, and the memory of their lightest wish was law to her. + +Her quiet determination entailed anger and opposition amounting to +persecution. Every effort was made to alienate her from her French +relations. She was urged to claim Provence, which had become her own if +Louis XVIII. was to be considered King of France. A pressure of opinion +was brought to bear upon her which might well have overawed so young a +girl. "I was sent for to the Emperor's cabinet," she writes, "where I +found the imperial family assembled. The ministers and chief imperial +counsellors were also present . . . . When the Emperor invited me to +express my opinion, I answered that to be able to treat fittingly of such +interests I thought, I ought to be surrounded not only by my mother's +relatives, but also by those of my father . . . . Besides, I said, I +was above all things French, and in entire subjection to the laws of +France, which had rendered me alternately the subject of the King my +father, the King my brother, and the King my uncle, and that I would yield +obedience to the latter, whatever might be his commands. This declaration +appeared very much to dissatisfy all who were present, and when they +observed that I was not to be shaken, they declared that my right being +independent of my will, my resistance would not be the slightest obstacle +to the measures they might deem it necessary to adopt for the preservation +of my interests." + +In their anxiety to make a German princess of Marie Therese, her imperial +relations suppressed her French title as much as possible. When, with +some difficulty, the Duc de Grammont succeeded in obtaining an audience of +her, and used the familiar form of address, she smiled faintly, and bade +him beware. "Call me Madame de Bretagne, or de Bourgogne, or de +Lorraine," she said, "for here I am so identified with these +provinces--[which the Emperor wished her to claim from her uncle Louis +XVIII.]--that I shall end in believing in my own transformation." After +these discussions she was so closely watched, and so many restraints were +imposed upon her, that she was scarcely less a prisoner than in the old +days of the Temple, though her cage was this time gilded. Rescue, +however, was at hand. + +In 1798 Louis XVIII. accepted a refuge offered to him at Mittau by the +Czar Paul, who had promised that he would grant his guest's first request, +whatever it might be. Louis begged the Czar to use his influence with the +Court of Vienna to allow his niece to join him. "Monsieur, my brother," +was Paul's answer, "Madame Royale shall be restored to you, or I shall +cease to be Paul I." Next morning the Czar despatched a courier to Vienna +with a demand for the Princess, so energetically worded that refusal must +have been followed by war. Accordingly, in May, 1799, Madame Royale was +allowed to leave the capital which she had found so uncongenial an asylum. + +In the old ducal castle of Mittau, the capital of Courland, Louis XVIII. +and his wife, with their nephews, the Ducs d'Angouleme and de Berri, +were awaiting her, attended by the Abbe Edgeworth, as chief +ecclesiastic, and a little Court of refugee nobles and officers. + +[The Duc d'Angonleme was quiet and reserved. He loved hunting as means of +killing time; was given to early hours and innocent pleasures. He was a +gentleman, and brave as became one. He had not the "gentlemanly vices" of +his brother, and was all the better for it. He was ill educated, but had +natural good sense, and would have passed for having more than that had he +cared to put forth pretensions. Of all his family he was the one most ill +spoken of, and least deserving of it.--DOCTOR DORAN.] + +With them were two men of humbler position, who must have been even more +welcome to Madame Royale,--De Malden, who had acted as courier to Louis +XVI. during the flight to Varennes, and Turgi, who had waited on the +Princesses in the Temple. It was a sad meeting, though so long anxiously +desired, and it was followed on 10th June, 1799, by an equally sad +wedding,--exiles, pensioners on the bounty of the Russian monarch, +fulfilling an engagement founded, not on personal preference, but on +family policy and reverence for the wishes of the dead, the bride and +bridegroom had small cause for rejoicing. During the eighteen months of +tranquil seclusion which followed her marriage, the favourite occupation +of the Duchess was visiting and relieving the poor. In January, 1801, the +Czar Paul, in compliance with the demand of Napoleon, who was just then +the object of his capricious enthusiasm, ordered the French royal family +to leave Mittau. Their wanderings commenced on the 21st, a day of bitter +memories; and the young Duchess led the King to his carriage through a +crowd of men, women, and children, whose tears and blessings attended them +on their way. + +[The Queen was too ill to travel. The Duc d'Angouleme took another route +to join a body of French gentlemen in arms for the Legitimist cause.] + +The exiles asked permission from the King of Prussia to settle in his +dominions, and while awaiting his answer at Munich they were painfully +surprised by the entrance of five old soldiers of noble birth, part of the +body-guard they had left behind at Mittau, relying on the protection of +Paul. The "mad Czar" had decreed their immediate expulsion, and, +penniless and almost starving, they made their way to Louis XVIII. All +the money the royal family possessed was bestowed on these faithful +servants, who came to them in detachments for relief, and then the Duchess +offered her diamonds to the Danish consul for an advance of two thousand +ducats, saying she pledged her property "that in our common distress it +may be rendered of real use to my uncle, his faithful servants, and +myself." The Duchess's consistent and unselfish kindness procured her +from the King, and those about him who knew her best, the name of "our +angel." + +Warsaw was for a brief time the resting-place of the wanderers, but there +they were disturbed in 1803 by Napoleon's attempt to threaten and bribe +Louis XVIII. into abdication. It was suggested that refusal might bring +upon them expulsion from Prussia. "We are accustomed to suffering," was +the King's answer, "and we do not dread poverty. I would, trusting in +God, seek another asylum." In 1808, after many changes of scene, this +asylum was sought in England, Gosfield Hall, Essex, being placed at their +disposal by the Marquis of Buckingham. From Gosfield, the King moved to +Hartwell Hall, a fine old Elizabethan mansion rented from Sir George Lee +for L 500 a year. A yearly grant of L 24,000 was made to the exiled +family by the British Government, out of which a hundred and forty persons +were supported, the royal dinner-party generally numbering two dozen. + +At Hartwell, as in her other homes, the Duchess was most popular amongst +the poor. In general society she was cold and reserved, and she disliked +the notice of strangers. In March, 1814, the royalist successes at +Bordeaux paved the way for the restoration of royalty in France, and +amidst general sympathy and congratulation, with the Prince Regent himself +to wish them good fortune, the King, the Duchess, and their suite left +Hartwell in April, 1814. The return to France was as triumphant as a +somewhat half-hearted and doubtful enthusiasm could make it, and most of +such cordiality as there was fell to the share of the Duchess. As she +passed to Notre-Dame in May, 1814, on entering Paris, she was vociferously +greeted. The feeling of loyalty, however, was not much longer-lived than +the applause by which it was expressed; the Duchess had scarcely effected +one of the strongest wishes of her heart,--the identification of what +remained of her parents' bodies, and the magnificent ceremony with which +they were removed from the cemetery of the Madeleine to the Abbey of St. +Denis,--when the escape of Napoleon from Elba in February,1815, scattered +the royal family and their followers like chaff before the wind. The Duc +d'Angouleme, compelled to capitulate at Toulouse, sailed from Cette in a +Swedish vessel. The Comte d'Artois, the Duc de Berri, and the Prince de +Conde withdrew beyond the frontier. The King fled from the capital. The +Duchesse d'Angouleme, then at Bordeaux celebrating the anniversary of the +Proclamation of Louis XVIII., alone of all her family made any stand +against the general panic. Day after day she mounted her horse and +reviewed the National Guard. She made personal and even passionate +appeals to the officers and men, standing firm, and prevailing on a +handful of soldiers to remain by her, even when the imperialist troops +were on the other side of the river and their cannon were directed against +the square where the Duchess was reviewing her scanty followers. + +["It was the Duchesse d'Angouleme who saved you," said the gallant General +Clauzel, after these events, to a royalist volunteer; "I could not bring +myself to order such a woman to be fired upon, at the moment when she was +providing material for the noblest page in her history."--"Fillia +Dolorosa," vol. vii., p. 131.] + +With pain and difficulty she was convinced that resistance was vain; +Napoleon's banner soon floated over Bordeaux; the Duchess issued a +farewell proclamation to her "brave Bordelais," and on the 1st April, +1815, she started for Pouillac, whence she embarked for Spain. During a +brief visit to England she heard that the reign of a hundred days was +over, and the 27th of July, 1815, saw her second triumphal return to the +Tuileries. She did not take up her abode there with any wish for State +ceremonies or Court gaieties. Her life was as secluded as her position +would allow. Her favourite retreat was the Pavilion, which had been +inhabited by her mother, and in her little oratory she collected relics of +her family, over which on the anniversaries of their deaths she wept and +prayed. In her daily drives through Paris she scrupulously avoided the +spot on which they had suffered; and the memory of the past seemed to rule +all her sad and self-denying life, both in what she did and what she +refrained from doing. + +[She was so methodical and economical, though liberal in her charities, +that one of her regular evening occupations was to tear off the seals from +the letters she had received during the day, in order that the wax might +be melted down and sold; the produce made one poor family "passing rich +with forty pounds a year."--See "Filia Dolorosa," vol. ii., p. 239.] + +Her somewhat austere goodness was not of a nature to make her popular. The +few who really understood her loved her, but the majority of her +pleasure-seeking subjects regarded her either with ridicule or dread. She +is said to have taken no part in politics, and to have exerted no +influence in public affairs, but her sympathies were well known, and "the +very word liberty made her shudder;" like Madame Roland, she had seen "so +many crimes perpetrated under that name." + +The claims of three pretended Dauphins--Hervagault, the son of the tailor +of St. Lo; Bruneau, son of the shoemaker of Vergin; and Naundorf or +Norndorff, the watchmaker somewhat troubled her peace, but never for a +moment obtained her sanction. Of the many other pseudo-Dauphins (said to +number a dozen and a half) not even the names remain. In February,1820, a +fresh tragedy befell the royal family in the assassination of the Duc de +Berri, brother-in-law of the Duchesse d'Angouleme, as he was seeing his +wife into her carriage at the door of the Opera-house. He was carried +into the theatre, and there the dying Prince and his wife were joined by +the Duchess, who remained till he breathed his last, and was present when +he, too, was laid in the Abbey of St. Denis. She was present also when +his son, the Duc de Bordeaux, was born, and hoped that she saw in him a +guarantee for the stability of royalty in France. In September, 1824, she +stood by the death-bed of Louis XVIII., and thenceforward her chief +occupation was directing the education of the little Duc de Bordeaux, who +generally resided with her at Villeneuve l'Etang, her country house near +St. Cloud. Thence she went in July, 1830, to the Baths of Vichy, +stopping at Dijon on her way to Paris, and visiting the theatre on the +evening of the 27th. She was received with "a roar of execrations and +seditious cries," and knew only too well what they signified. She +instantly left the theatre and proceeded to Tonnere, where she received +news of the rising in Paris, and, quitting the town by night, was driven +to Joigny with three attendants. Soon after leaving that place it was +thought more prudent that the party should separate and proceed on foot, +and the Duchess and M. de Foucigny, disguised as peasants, entered +Versailles arm-in-arm, to obtain tidings of the King. The Duchess found +him at Rambouillet with her husband, the Dauphin, and the King met her +with a request for "pardon," being fully conscious, too late, that his +unwise decrees and his headlong flight had destroyed the last hopes of his +family. The act of abdication followed, by which the prospect of royalty +passed from the Dauphin and his wife, as well as from Charles X.--Henri V. +being proclaimed King, and the Duc d'Orleans (who refused to take the boy +monarch under his personal protection) lieutenant-general of the kingdom. + +Then began the Duchess's third expatriation. At Cherbourg the royal +family, accompanied by the little King without a kingdom, embarked in the +'Great Britain', which stood out to sea. The Duchess, remaining on deck +for a last look at the coast of France, noticed a brig which kept, she +thought, suspiciously near them. + +"Who commands that vessel?" she inquired. + +"Captain Thibault." + +And what are his orders?" + +"To fire into and sink the vessels in which we sail, should any attempt be +made to return to France." + +Such was the farewell of their subjects to the House of Bourbon. The +fugitives landed at Weymouth; the Duchesse d'Angouleme under the title of +Comtesse de Marne, the Duchesse de Berri as Comtesse de Rosny, and her +son, Henri de Bordeaux, as Comte de Chambord, the title he retained till +his death, originally taken from the estate presented to him in infancy by +his enthusiastic people. Holyrood, with its royal and gloomy +associations, was their appointed dwelling. The Duc and Duchesse +d'Angouleme, and the daughter of the Duc de Berri, travelled thither by +land, the King and the young Comte de Chambord by sea. "I prefer my route +to that of my sister," observed the latter, "because I shall see the coast +of France again, and she will not." + +The French Government soon complained that at Holyrood the exiles were +still too near their native land, and accordingly, in 1832, Charles X., +with his son and grandson, left Scotland for Hamburg, while the Duchesse +d'Angouleme and her niece repaired to Vienna. The family were reunited at +Prague in 1833, where the birthday of the Comte de Chambord was celebrated +with some pomp and rejoicing, many Legitimists flocking thither to +congratulate him on attaining the age of thirteen, which the old law of +monarchical France had fixed as the majority of her princes. Three years +later the wanderings of the unfortunate family recommenced; the Emperor +Francis II. was dead, and his successor, Ferdinand, must visit Prague to +be crowned, and Charles X. feared that the presence of a discrowned +monarch might be embarrassing on such an occasion. Illness and sorrow +attended the exiles on their new journey, and a few months after they were +established in the Chateau of Graffenburg at Goritz, Charles X. died of +cholera, in his eightieth year. At Goritz, also, on the 31st May, 1844, +the Duchesse d'Angouleme, who had sat beside so many death-beds, watched +over that of her husband. Theirs had not been a marriage of affection in +youth, but they respected each other's virtues, and to a great extent +shared each other's tastes; banishment and suffering had united them very +closely, and of late years they had been almost inseparable,--walking, +riding, and reading together. When the Duchesse d'Angouleme had seen her +husband laid by his father's side in the vault of the Franciscan convent, +she, accompanied by her nephew and niece, removed to Frohsdorf, where they +spent seven tranquil years. Here she was addressed as "Queen" by her +household for the first time in her life, but she herself always +recognised Henri, Comte de Chambord, as her sovereign. The Duchess lived +to see the overthrow of Louis Philippe, the usurper of the inheritance of +her family. Her last attempt to exert herself was a characteristic one. +She tried to rise from a sick-bed in order to attend the memorial service +held for her mother, Marie Antoinette, on the 16th October, the +anniversary of her execution. But her strength was not equal to the task; +on the 19th she expired, with her hand in that of the Comte de Chambord, +and on 28th October, 1851, Marie Therese Charlotte, Duchesse d'Angouleme, +was buried in the Franciscan convent. + + + + +The Ceremony of Expiation. + + +"In the spring of 1814 a ceremony took place in Paris at which I was +present because there was nothing in it that could be mortifying to a +French heart. The death of Louis XVI. had long been admitted to be one of +the most serious misfortunes of the Revolution. The Emperor Napoleon +never spoke of that sovereign but in terms of the highest respect, and +always prefixed the epithet unfortunate to his name. The ceremony to +which I allude was proposed by the Emperor of Russia and the King of +Prussia. It consisted of a kind of expiation and purification of the spot +on which Louis XVI. and his Queen were beheaded. I went to see the +ceremony, and I had a place at a window in the Hotel of Madame de Remusat, +next to the Hotel de Crillon, and what was termed the Hotel de Courlande. + +"The expiation took place on the 10th of April. The weather was extremely +fine and warm for the season. The Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, +accompanied by Prince Schwartzenberg, took their station at the entrance +of the Rue Royale; the King of Prussia being on the right of the Emperor +Alexander, and Prince Schwartzenberg on his left. There was a long +parade, during which the Russian, Prussian and Austrian military bands +vied with each other in playing the air, 'Vive Henri IV.!' The cavalry +defiled past, and then withdrew into the Champs Elysees; but the infantry +ranged themselves round an altar which was raised in the middle of the +Place, and which was elevated on a platform having twelve or fifteen +steps. The Emperor of Russia alighted from his horse, and, followed by +the King of Prussia, the Grand Duke Constantine, Lord Cathcart, and Prince +Schwartzenberg, advanced to the altar. When the Emperor had nearly +reached the altar the "Te Deum" commenced. At the moment of the +benediction, the sovereigns and persons who accompanied them, as well as +the twenty-five thousand troops who covered the Place, all knelt down. +The Greek priest presented the cross to the Emperor Alexander, who kissed +it; his example was followed by the individuals who accompanied him, +though they were not of the Greek faith. On rising, the Grand Duke +Constantine took off his hat, and immediately salvoes of artillery were +heard." + + + + +NOTE. + +The following titles have the signification given below during the period +covered by this work: + +MONSEIGNEUR........... The Dauphin. + +MONSIEUR.............. The eldest brother of the King, Comte de Provence, +afterwards Louis XVIII. + +MONSIEUR LE PRINCE.... The Prince de Conde, head of the House of Conde. + +MONSIEUR LE DUC....... The Duc de Bourbon, the eldest son of the Prince de +Condo (and the father of the Duc d'Enghien shot by Napoleon). + +MONSIEUR LE GRAND..... The Grand Equerry under the ancien regime. + +MONSIEUR LE PREMIER... The First Equerry under the ancien regime. + +ENFANS DE FRANCE...... The royal children. + +MADAME & MESDAMES..... Sisters or daughters of the King, or Princesses +near the Throne (sometimes used also for the wife of Monsieur, the eldest +brother of the King, the Princesses Adelaide, Victoire, Sophie, Louise, +daughters of Louis XV., and aunts of Louis XVI.) + +MADAME ELISABETH...... The Princesse Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI. + +MADAME ROYALE......... The Princesse Marie Therese, daughter of Louis +XVI., afterwards Duchesse d'Angouleme. + +MADEMOISELLE.......... The daughter of Monsieur, the brother of the King. + + + + + +THE ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man born solely to contradict +Advised the King not to separate himself from his army +Ah, Madame, we have all been killed in our masters' service! +Alas! her griefs double mine! +Allowed her candles and as much firewood as she wanted +Better to die than to implicate anybody +Brought me her daughter Hortense de Beauharnais +Carried the idea of the prerogative of rank to a high pitch +Common and blamable practice of indulgence +Condescension which renders approbation more offensive +Customs are nearly equal to laws +Difference between brilliant theories and the simplest practice +Dignified tone which alone secures the respect due to power +Displaying her acquirements with rather too much confidence +Duc d'Orleans, when called on to give his vote for death of King +Elegant entertainments were given to Doctor Franklin +Etiquette still existed at Court, dignity alone was wanting +Extreme simplicity was the Queens first and only real mistake +Fashion of wearing a black coat without being in mourning +Favourite of a queen is not, in France, a happy one +Formed rather to endure calamity with patience than to contend +Grand-Dieu, mamma! will it be yesterday over again? +Happiness does not dwell in palaces +He is afraid to command +His ruin was resolved on; they passed to the order of the day +His seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs +History of the man with the iron mask +How can I have any regret when I partake your misfortunes +I hate all that savours of fanaticism +I do not like these rhapsodies +I love the conveniences of life too well +If ever I establish a republic of women.... +Indulge in the pleasure of vice and assume the credit of virtue +King (gave) the fatal order to the Swiss to cease firing +La Fayette to rescue the royal family and convey them to Rouen +Leave me in peace; be assured that I can put no heir in danger +Louis Philippe, the usurper of the inheritance of her family +Mirabeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than good +Most intriguing little Carmelite in the kingdom +My father fortunately found a library which amused him +Never shall a drop of French blood be shed by my order +No one is more dangerous than a man clothed with recent authority +No accounting for the caprices of a woman +No ears that will discover when she (The Princess) is out of tune +None but little minds dreaded little books +Observe the least pretension on account of the rank or fortune +Of course I shall be either hissed or applauded. +On domestic management depends the preservation of their fortune +Prevent disorder from organising itself +Princes thus accustomed to be treated as divinities +Princess at 12 years was not mistress of the whole alphabet +Rabble, always ready to insult genius, virtue, and misfortune +Saw no other advantage in it than that of saving her own life +She often carried her economy to a degree of parsimony +Shocking to find so little a man in the son of the Marechal +Shun all kinds of confidence +Simplicity of the Queen's toilet began to be strongly censured +So many crimes perpetrated under that name (liberty) +Spirit of party can degrade the character of a nation +Subjecting the vanquished to be tried by the conquerors +Taken pains only to render himself beloved by his pupil +Tastes may change +That air of truth which always carries conviction +The author (Beaumarchais) was sent to prison soon afterwards +The Jesuits were suppressed +The three ministers, more ambitious than amorous +The charge of extravagance +The emigrant party have their intrigues and schemes +The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points +The anti-Austrian party, discontented and vindictive +There is not one real patriot among all this infamous horde +They say you live very poorly here, Moliere +Those muskets were immediately embarked and sold to the Americans +Those who did it should not pretend to wish to remedy it +To be formally mistress, a husband had to be found +True nobility, gentlemen, consists in giving proofs of it +Ventured to give such rash advice: inoculation +Was but one brilliant action that she could perform +We must have obedience, and no reasoning +Well, this is royally ill played! +What do young women stand in need of?--Mothers! +When kings become prisoners they are very near death +While the Queen was blamed, she was blindly imitated +Whispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?" +"Would be a pity," she said, "to stop when so fairly on the road" +Young Prince suffered from the rickets +Your swords have rusted in their scabbards + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie +Antoinette, Queen Of France, Complete, by Madame Campan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS MADAM CAMPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 3891.txt or 3891.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/9/3891/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |