impending over her own head. It brought the nation into direct contact with the maxim that resistance against the oppressive measures of a government is a right and a duty for the people, and produced a predilection for republican constitutions. A great number of young Frenchmen, many of them belonging to the wealthiest and most distinguished families - among others, the marquis de Lafayette who had fought in North America, and seen things there on their fairest side, returned full of enthusiasm and impressed with the conviction that the constitution of the North Americans might be transferred to the kingdom of France, composed of totally different elements, and must be transferred to it, if the nation was to be put into possession of the rights which had been wrested from it, and into the enjoyment of the liberty which was its due. CHAPTER III. UNPOPULARITY OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. The universal discontent of the French nation with its government increased every year in an alarming degree. The birth of a dauphin in 1781 could not allay the popular displeasure on account of the recent dismissal of Necker; on the contrary, it was aggravated by a new tax, which his successor, Joly de Fleury, thought fit to impose, and which the parliament but faintly resisted. Maurepas, the minister, who, led astray by his egotism, had continually deceived the king, died on the 21st of November, 1781, and, by his death, the counsels of the sovereign seemed to be changed. Louis XIV. declared, after Mazarin's death, that he would himself : govern ;. Louis XV. had given a like promise on the death of cardinal Fleury, but forgotten it again in a few days; and Louis XVI. imagined, after he had lost his weak guide, that he could dispense in future with a prime minister. He therefore loudly declared that there should be no Choiseul while he reigned. It was not long, however, before he conferred on count de Vergennes the title of chief of the council of finance, and with it a certain preponderance over the other ministers. The king had, it is true, resolved to take the administration of the finances under his special superintendence to this end, he frequently transacted business with all his ministers, and subjected their accounts to a very rigid examination, which was, on several occasions, carried even to severity and injustice, so that some of them refused to attend the council, while others manifested such deep affliction, that the king was almost driven to despair. The queen declared herself against the committee of count de Vergennes. Louis was soon weary of a pursuit which so clearly exposed to view the wretched state of the finances, and involved him in numberless vexations; he therefore gave it up. Fleury was obliged to resign, in order to restore unanimity among the ministers. The queen had, meanwhile, become so unpopular, that her every step was watched, and her most innocent actions were censured, misrepresented, and distorted, in the most scandalous manner. A sledge-party, which she formed in the cold winter of 1776, when the snow lay for six successive weeks in Paris-a very rare phenomenon there-furnished abundant scope for slander. The queen had ordered several sledges to be built, and her example was followed by the princes and by the gentlemen of the court: in a few days, a considerable number of them was completed. The tinkling of the bells, the cracking of the whips, the splendid trappings of the horses, adorned with white plumes of feathers, the different forms of the sledges and their rich decorations, formed altogether a striking scene. Some of the sledges, in which were masked ladies, proceeded to the Champs Elysées, and a report was immediately circulated that the queen had driven in a sledge through the streets of Paris. The public persisted in regarding this circumstance as another sign of her fondness for Austria, though several old sledges, found in the coachhouses of Versailles, proved that it was not the first time that the court had indulged in this amusement. These animadversions reached the ears of Marie Antoinette, who never afterwards allowed herself this innocent recreation, though several other winters were very favourable for it. The king himself was not at these parties, but said to some of the courtiers, who were talking of their sledges: "Here are mine," pointing to a train of carts employed by his direction in carrying wood for poor families. These few words show the excellent heart of the well-meaning but weak prince. About this time, the queen contracted an intimacy with the amiable princess de Lamballe, by birth a princess of Savoy, who was then scarcely twenty and in the full bloom of her beauty. Her situation, too, was calculated to excite a deep interest in her behalf: while yet almost a child, she was married to a young prince, son of the duke de Penthièvre, who, seduced by the mischievous example of the duke of Orleans, had shortened his life by his excesses. At eighteen she was left a widow, without children; and it may be asserted that, since her arrival in France, she had experienced nothing but affliction. The queen appointed her grande maîtresse of her household, and the closest friendship prevailed between them. Some time afterwards, the queen became acquainted with the countess Julie de Polignac, for whom she also conceived a warm friendship. Marie Antoinette expressed surprise that she had not before seen her at court; and the confession of the countess, that her narrow circumstances had prevented her even from attending the marriage festivities, caused her new patroness to feel the more sympathy for her situation. Diane de Polignac, lady of honour to the countess d'Artois, and sister-in-law of the countess Julie, had taken the latter, who was otherwise fond of retirement, to court. Marie Antoinette sought, indeed, the charms of intimate friendship; but this lofty feeling, so rare in ordinary life, never can subsist in all its purity between monarchs and subjects, because the intrigues and the jealousies of courtiers oppose an invincible obstacle to it. This very dangerous error was productive of baneful consequences for the tranquillity and the happiness of the queen. Julie de Polignac herself possessed the greatest modesty, but her relatives saw in her elevation the infallible means of founding their own fortune, and of fixing themselves in the queen's favour. The countess Diane, sister of M. de Polignac, baron de Besenval, and M. de Vaudreuil, resorted, therefore, to an expedient which could not fail to produce the desired effect. They prevailed upon the countess Julie to write a letter to her illustrious patroness, whose kindness for her protégée had not yet been expressed by any active tokens. In this letter she bade her an affecting farewell, intimating that she must retire from court for ever, as her slender means forbade the expense of a longer residence there at the same time she dwelt upon the affliction which the separation from a person so dear to her as her majesty must cause her. The queen, unused to be thwarted, now resolved to keep Julie about her for : good; and her husband was in consequence appointed her master of the horse. A familiar circle was soon formed at court, consisting of Julie and Diane de Polignac, Mesdames d'Andlau and de Chalon, and Messrs. de Guignes, Coigny, Adhemar, Besenval, colonel of the Swiss, Polignac, Vaudreuil, Guiche, the prince de Ligne, and the duke of Dorset, the English ambassador. Lamballe, who was rather jealous of the influence of the countess de Polignac, abstained from cultivating any intimate acquaintance with her, as the queen had wished her to do. The favour enjoyed by the countess made her many enemies at court, and the family of Noailles, in particular, considered itself wronged and affronted. There was now to be seen in the circle and the salon of the countess de Polignac a public office, from which places, embassies, pensions, favours of every kind, were dispensed to her protégés. This did the queen incalculable injury, and it was one of the principal causes that rendered her so generally detested. Countess Julie was created a duchess, and appointed gouvernante of the royal children; her husband united with his place of master of the horse that of director-general of the posts; and Marie Antoinette daily spent great part of her time in her company and that of the above-named persons, where the news of the town and the events of the day were canvassed and scandalous anecdotes frequently related. But her endeavours to draw the duke de Choiseul, for whom she entertained a strong partiality, to court again, proved ineffectual. All the rest of the family, excepting the king, took extraordinary pleasure in fêtes, theatrical representations, country parties, nocturnal promenades, and the like. And who durst attempt to dissuade the young, handsome, and lively queen by cold arguments from these in |