The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Part 24

[1] "Le pet.i.t nombre de ceux que la Reine appelle 'sa societe'"--_Mercy to Marie Teresa_, February 15th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 18.

[2] "Il faut cependant convenir que dans ces circonstances si rapprochees de la familiarite, la Reine, par un maintien qui tient a son ame, a toujours su imprimer a ceux qui l'entouraient une contenance de respect qui contrebalancait un peu la liberte des propos."--_Mercy to Maria Teresa_, Arneth, ii, p.520.

[3] Brunoy is about fifteen miles from Paris.

[4] "Au reste il est temps pour la sante de la Reine que le carnaval finisse. On remarque qu'elle s'en altere, et que sa Majeste maigrit beaucoup."--_Marie Therese a Louis XVI._, la date Fevrier 1, 1777, p 101.

[5] Once when he had spoken to her with a severity which alarmed Mercy, who feared it might irritate the queen, "Il me dit en riant qu'il en avait agi ainsi pour sonder l'ame de la reine, et voir si par la force il n'y aurait pas moyen d'obtenir plus que par la douceur."--_Mercy to Maria Teresa_, Arneth, iii., p. 79.

[6] Arneth, iii., p. 73.

CHAPTER XIII.

[1] When Mercy remonstrated with her on her relapse into some of her old habits from which at first she seemed to have weaned herself, "La seule reponse que j'aie obtenu a ete la crainte de s'ennuyer."--_Mercy to Maria Teresa_, November 19th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 13.

[2] See Marie Antoinette's account to her mother of his quarrel with the d.u.c.h.ess de Bourbon at a _bal de l'opera_, Arneth, iii., p. 174.

[3] "Il y a apparence que notre marine dont on s'occupe depuis longtemps va bientot etre en activite. Dieu veuille que tous ces mouvements n'amenent pas la guerre de terre."--_Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa_, March 18th, 1777, Arneth, iii., p. 174.

[4] "Jamais les Anglais n'ont eu tant de superiorite sur mer; mais ils en eurent sur les Francais dans tous les temps."--_Siecle de Louis_, ch x.x.xv.

[5] The Comte de la Marck, who knew him well, says of him, "Il etait gauche dans toutes ses manieres; sa taille etait tres elevee, ses cheveux tres roux, il dansait sans grace, montait mal a cheval, et les jeunes gens avec lesquels il vivait se montraient plus adroits que lui dans les diverses exercices d'alors a la mode." He describes his income as "une fortune de 120,000 livres de rente," a little under 5000 a year.-- _Correspondance entre le Comte de Mirabeau et le Comte de la Marck_, i. p.

47.

[6] "On a parle de moi dans tous les cercles, meme apres que la bonte de la reine m'eut valu le regiment du roi dragons."--_Memoires de ma Main, Memoires de La Fayette_, i., p 86.

[7] "La lettre ou Votre Majeste, parlant du Roi de Prusse, s'exprime ainsi .... 'cela ferait un changement dans notre alliance, ce qui me donnerait la mort,' j'ai vu la reine palir en me lisant cet article."--_Mercy to Maria Teresa_, February 18th, 1778, Arneth, iii., p. 170.

[8] See c.o.xe's "House of Austria," ch. cxxi. The war, which was marked by no action or event of importance, was terminated by the treaty of Teschen, May 10th, 1779.

[9] "Il n'a pas voulu y consentir, et a toujours ete attentif a exciter lui-meme la reine aux choses qu'il jugeait pouvoir lui etre agreables."-- _Mercy to Maria Teresa_, March 29th, 1778, Arneth, iii., p. 177.

[10] Marie Antoinette to Joseph II, and Leopold II., p. 21, date January 16th, 1778.

[11] Louis.

[12] Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, May 16th, Arneth, iii., p. 200.

[13] Weber, i., p.40.

[14] One of his admirers, seeing his mortification, said to him: "You are very simple to have wished to go to court. Do you know what would have happened to you? I will tell you. The king, with his usual affability, would have laughed in your face, and talked to you of your converts at Ferney. The queen would have spoken of your plays. Monsieur would have asked you what your income was. Madame would have quoted some of your verses. The Countess of Artois would have said nothing at all; and the count would have conversed with you about 'the Maid of Orleans.'"--_Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI. et la Famille Royale_, p. 125, March 3d.

CHAPTER XIV.

[1] "La cour se precipite pele-mele avec la foule, car l'etiquette de France veut que tous entrent a ce moment, que nul ne soit refuse, et que le spectacle soit public d'une reine qui va donner un heritier a la couronne, ou seulement un enfant au roi."--_Mem. de Goncourt_, p. 105.

[2] Arneth, iii., p. 270.

[3] Madame de Campan, ch. ix.

[4] _Ibid_., ch. ix.

[5] Chambrier, i., p. 394.

[6] "Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., et la Famille Royale," p. 147, December 24th, 1778.

[7] _Garde-malades_ was the name given to them.

[8] "Du moment qu'ils [les enfants] peuvent etre a l'air on les y accoutume pet.i.t a pet.i.t, et ils finissent par y etre presque toujours; je crois que c'est la maniere la plus saine et la meilleure des les elever."

[9] Letter of Marie Antoinette to Maria Teresa, May 15th, 1779, Arneth, iii., p. 311.

[10] Maria Teresa had offered the mediation of the empire to restore peace between England and France.

[11] Spain had recently entered into the alliance against England in the hope of recovering Gibraltar. And just at the date of this letter the combined fleet of sixty-six sail of the line sailed into the Channel, while a French army of 50,000 men was waiting at St. Malo to invade England so soon as the British Channel fleet should have been defeated; but, though Sir Charles Hardy had only forty sail under his orders, D'Orvilliers and his Spanish colleague retreated before him, and at the beginning of September, from fear of the equinoctial gales, of which the queen here speaks with such alarm, retired to their own harbors, without even venturing to come to action with a foe of scarcely two-thirds of their own strength. See the author's "History of the British Navy," ch.

xiv.

[12] Letter of September 15th.

[13] Letter of October 14th.

[14] Letter of November 16th.

[15] Letter of November 17th.

[16] Kaunitz had been the prime minister of the empress, who negotiated the alliances with France and Russia, which were the preparations for the Seven Years' War.

CHAPTER XV.

[1] "On a.s.sure que sa majeste ne joue pas bien; ce que personne, excepte le roi, n'a ose lui dire. Au contraire, on l'applaudit a tout rompre."-- _Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI. et la Famille Royale_ p. 203, date September 28th, 1780.

[2] In May, 1780, Sir Henry Clinton took Charleston, with a great number of prisoners, a great quant.i.ty of stores and four hundred guns.--LORD STANHOPE'S _History of England_, ch. lxii.

[3] "Cette disposition a ete faite deux ans plutot que ne le comporte l'usage etabli pour les enfants de France."--_Mercy to Maria Teresa_, October 14th, Arneth, iii. p. 476.

[4] Madame de Campan, ch. ix.

[5] "Gustave III. et la Cour de France," i., p. 349.

[6] An order known as that "du Merite" had been recently distributed for foreign Protestant officers, whose religion prevented them from taking the oath required of the Knights of the Grand Order of St. Louis.

[7] "Sa figure et son air convenaient parfaitement a un heros de roman, mais non pas d'un roman francais; il n'en avait ni le brillant ni legerete."--_Souvenirs et Portraits_, par M. de Levis, p. 130.

[8] "La Marck et Mirabeau," p. 32.