Classic Audiobook Collection - Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Henriette Campan ~ Full Audiobook [biography]

Starting point is 00:00:00 Section 1, Volume 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette. All notes written by Madame Campan will be read, and a few by the editor. Section 1. Biographical Notice of Marie Antoinette by Monsieur de la Martín. The first of the characters of the heroic women of the French Revolution is Marie Antoinette, entitled to this preeminence, whether in reference to the elevation of her rank, the great influence she had on the Revolution or the Impearlane. immensity of her misfortunes.

Starting point is 00:00:32 The daughter of kings, the wife and mother of kings, the sinisher of all eyes in the most elegant and polished capital of the world. Profuse amid profusion. The envied and admired of all beholders for station, personal charms, and all the accessories which power, a throne and youth, can bring to happiness. She saw that power annihilated, her throne overturned, her husband murdered, her friends and adherents massacred and exiled, her son handed over to a profligate

Starting point is 00:01:04 and debased ruffian, worse than death, her sister and daughter in prison, herself in a dungeon and in rags, deprived of the common necessaries, and debarred of all the sympathies that make life dear even in the hovel. The scoff of the indigent

Starting point is 00:01:20 and outcast wretches whose existence is a disgrace to civilization. Who can measure such a debt of woe? What pen can do justice to such a a fall. Her first-born and her lord, her sorrows for her fallen state and dignity, herself the sport of circumstance and football of fortune, or else appalling them by their chorus, revealing the tremendous fulfilments of Providence's retributive decrees on the iniquities of a race in the crash of an empire and the downfall of a line of despots consummated in the least

Starting point is 00:01:54 offending and most harmless of all. Mary Antoinette seemed to have been created by nature to contrast with the king, and to entail the eternal interest and pity of posterity on one of those state dramas, which are imperfect unless the misfortunes of a woman complete them. Daughter of Maria Teresa, she had begun life in the storms of the Austrian monarchy, being one of the children the empress held by the hand when she presented herself as a suppliant before the faithful Hungarians, and those troops shouted, Let us die for our king Maria Teresa. her daughter too had the heart of a king. On her arrival in France, her beauty had dazzled the kingdom.

Starting point is 00:02:35 That beauty was now in its full splendor. She was of a tall and flexible figure, a true daughter of the Tyrol. The two children she had given the throne, far from injuring, added to the impression of her person, that character of maternal majesty which sits well on the mother of a nation. The presentiment of her misfortunes, the remembrance of the tragic, scenes of Versailles, the inquietudes of each day, had rather paled her early bloom at the time

Starting point is 00:03:02 we are describing her. The natural majesty of her person took nothing from the grace of her movements. Her neck, well detached from her shoulders, had those magnificent inflections which give so much expression to the attitudes. The woman was perceptible beneath the queen, the tenderness of her heart under the majesty of her condition. Her auburn hair was long and silky. Her lofty and rather projecting forehead joined the temples in those fine curves which impart so much delicacy and sensibility to that seat of thought or soul in woman. Her eyes of that clear blue which recalls the sky of the north

Starting point is 00:03:41 or the waters of the Danube. The aquiline nose, a sign of courage, a large mouth, brilliant teeth, and Austrian, that is, pouting lips. The contour of her face was oval, the physiognomy versatile in expression and impassioned. In the whole of her features, that splendor which cannot be described which darts from the look, the shadow, the reflections of the countenance, enveloping the hole in a halo, resembling the warm and coloured vapour in which objects touched by the sun float.

Starting point is 00:04:12 Last expression of beauty, which invests it with the ideal, renders it charming and changes its attractions. With all these charms, a soul thirsting for attachment, a heart easily moved but asking only to be fixed. A smile, pensive, and intelligent, which had nothing vulgar in intimacies and preferences, because she felt worthy of friendship. This was Marie Antoinette as a woman. End of Biographical Notice of Marie Antoinette.

Starting point is 00:04:47 Section 2, Volume 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Biographical Notice of Madame Campan, Part 1. the private history of royal personages is a subject of general interest their public actions are too much disguised by formality and restricted by ceremony to afford any insight into their inclinations or personal character In order to reach these elevated mortals, we must strip them of the luster which dazzles us, and of the pomp in which they are enveloped. To such an eminence does fortune raise them that, but for the indiscretions of those who surround them, they would almost be regarded as beings of a superior race.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Our curiosity is also frequently stimulated by a jealous feeling. The envy excited by the greatness of princes is allayed by the contemplation of the appetites, passions and caprices, in which they resemble the rest of mankind, the self-love which their glory offends is appeased by their weaknesses. The memoirs of Marie Antoinette will excite neither malignity nor envy. Can there yet exist a feeling adverse to her, which the recollection of her misfortunes does not convert into pity? Scarcely has her brilliant appearance fixed our admiration when her woes claim our compassion, whilst the heart is still yielding to the fascination of her charms, it is wrung by her sorrows.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Her happy hours are fled, before we have time to sympathize in her short-lived felicity. Amidst the rejoicings with which France hails her appearance, the courtly throngs who pay homage to her, the gardens in which her simple taste delights, our imagination is impressed with the fate that awaits her. From the saloons of Versailles, or the groves of Triano, we seem to describe the towers of the temple. Were it possible for the most rigid severity to conceive the slightest reproach against her, it would die on the lips amidst the sighs of regret and the accents of grief. Madame Campan's work will leave similar impressions. She had numerous enemies.

Starting point is 00:06:59 At court, where favor is closely followed by envy, her success created jealousies. She was punished at the time of the revolution for the kindness with which she had been honored by the queen. Those who never felt, as she did, the point of the sword on their bosoms on the memorable tenth of August, reproached her with timidity. Those who never threw themselves, like her at the feet of Petion, entreating permission to share the dangerous captivity of Marie Antoinette, have called her fidelity in question. After having calumniated her conduct, they endeavored to raise a prejudice against the

Starting point is 00:07:33 spirit in which her memoirs are written even before their appearance. These memoirs are now published, and I have the gratification of witnessing the confusion of disappointed malevolence. Madame Campan has taken care not to furnish a triumph to her enemies. A fragment of her manuscripts contains the following passage. I shall relate what I have seen. I shall make known the character of Marie Antoinette, her domestic habits, the way in which she spent her time,

Starting point is 00:08:03 her maternal affection, her constancy in friendship, her dignity and misfortune. I shall in some degree throw open her private apartment, where I have passed so many hours with her, both in the happiest and the most sorrowful years of her life. She afterwards adds in another inedited passage. I have lived long. Fortune has afforded me opportunities of seeing

Starting point is 00:08:26 and forming an opinion of the celebrated women of several periods. I have been intimate with young persons whose elegance and amiable disposition will be remembered long after they have ceased to exist. But never have I found, in any class or, age, a woman of so fascinating a character as Marie Antoinette. One who, notwithstanding the dazzling splendor of royalty, retained such tenderness of heart, who under the pressure of her own misfortunes showed more sensibility to the woes of others. I never saw one so heroic in danger,

Starting point is 00:09:00 so eloquent when occasion required, so unreservedly gay in prosperity. These words are sufficient to make known the character of the work, the lively interest which animates it, and the sentiments in which it originated. They almost induce me to pity the enemies of Madame Compin, whose hatred and hopes will be equally disappointed by these memoirs, which are piquant, without the aid of scandal, and in which the simple truth excites our deepest sympathy. A brief explanation relative to the ensuing notice appears necessary. None of the passages or anecdotes which it contains will be found in the memoirs. for the anecdotes I am indebted to the recollection of the relations, friends, and pupils of

Starting point is 00:09:42 Madame Campan. In the perusal of her manuscripts, correspondence, and other papers, I have collected interesting fragments of which I have not hesitated to make use. They give a tone of truth, both to the minutest particulars and most important facts, which cannot fail to be attractive and gratifying. These fragments are the more valuable from their being entirely in Madame Compin's handwriting. They will be distinguished accordingly, whenever quoted in the following pages. End note. Let us now take a brief survey of her family

Starting point is 00:10:13 in her early years. Jean-Louise Henriette Jeunet was born at Paris on the 6th of October 1752. Monsieur Jeannet, her father, had obtained through his own merit, and the protection of the Duke de Choiselle, the place of the first clerk in the office

Starting point is 00:10:29 of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Literature, which he had cultivated in his youth, was now 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 the progress of the youthful henriette in the study of music and of foreign languages was such as to surprise the first masters the celebrated albanais instructed her in singing and galdoni taught her the italian language tassoe milton dante and even shakespeare soon became familiar to her but her Exercises were particularly directed to the acquisition of a fine style of reading. From prose to verse, from an ode to an epistle, a comedy or a sermon, she was instructed to pass with the requisite variations of modulation and delivery.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Rochon de Chabanne, DuClo, Varte, Marmontel and Toma, 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 talent. in society, and perhaps applauded them too highly. A young female is always sure to pay dearly for the celebrity she acquires. If she is beautiful, all the women become her rivals. If she has talents, there are many of the other sex weak enough to be jealous of them.

Starting point is 00:11:56 Mademoiselle Jeanette was 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, and a week afterwards, she was a week afterwards, she left her father's house. To be at court, to wear a long train, a hoop, and perhaps even rouge, here was a change, here was joy. Her presentation and the circumstances which preceded it

Starting point is 00:12:22 left a strong impression on her mind. I was then fifteen, she says, in a memorandum which she did not intend for the press. My father felt some regret at yielding me up at so early an age to the malignity of courtiers. When I put on my court dress for the first time, 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

Starting point is 00:12:58 to draw upon me. The princesses, said he, will take pleasure in exercising your talents. The great have the art of a place. Codding gracefully and always to excess. Be not too much elated with these compliments, rather let them put you on your guard. Every time you receive such flattering marks of approbation, the number of your enemies will increase. I am warning you, my love, of the inevitable troubles attached to the course of life on which you are entering. And I protest to you, even now, whilst you are thus transported with your good fortune,

Starting point is 00:13:33 that could I have provided for you otherwise, I would never have. abandoned my dear girl to the anxieties and dangers of a court. This language, adds Madame Campan, who wrote these lines at Saint-Germain in 1796, under the government of the directory, might lead one to imagine that my father had a principle of republicanism in his heart, but this would be an error. He was a royalist in his political opinions, but he knew and dreaded the abode of royalty. One may be a royalist and yet a philosopher, just as a Republican may sometimes be an intriguing, ambitious character. Mademoiselle Jeanette at fifteen was somewhat less of a philosopher than her father was at forty.

Starting point is 00:14:19 Her eyes were dazzled by the splendor which glittered at Versailles. The Queen Marie Alexinska, the wife of Louis Quins, 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 caperazant 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 magnificent had such an effect on my senses

Starting point is 00:14:54 that I could scarcely support myself when introduced to the princesses. On the first day of my reading in the inner apartment of the Princess Victoire, I found it impossible to pronounce more than two sentences. my heart palpitated my voice faltered and my sight failed how well was the potent magic of the grandeur and dignity which ought to surround sovereigns understood at versailles mary 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 fault of all those with which she is reproached when once her awe and confusion had subsided mademoiselle jeanet 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 and licentious pleasures to which Louis Kins was addicted, was grave, methodical, and dull. Madame Adelaide, the eldest of the princesses, lived secluded in the interior of her apartments.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Madame Sophie was haughty, Madame Louise a devotee. The gloomy pleasures of pride and the exercises of scrupulous devotion have few charms for youth. Mademoiselle Jeanette, however, never quitted the... the princess's 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. Mademoiselle Jeanette 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 already possess some useful talents.

Starting point is 00:16:45 Whole days were passed in reading to the princess as she sat at work in her apartment. Mademoiselle Jean-Aoff and saw Louis Quain is there. In the circle of her intimate friends, she would sometimes relate the following anecdote. One day, at the castle of Compiang, the king came in whilst I was reading to Madame. I rose and went into another room. Alone in an apartment to 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 my same. I amused my with turning swiftly round with my court hoop and suddenly kneeling down to see my rose-colored silk petticoat swelled around me by the wind in the midst of this grave employment enters his majesty followed by the princess 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 king's laughing heartily i advise you to send a reader that makes cheeses back to school

Starting point is 00:17:48 there was nothing very severe in this lesson but the rail-rays of louis-quins were often much more poignant as mademoiselle jean had already experienced on another occasion which thirty years afterwards she could not relate without an emotion of surprise and fear which it seemed as if she had never overcome louis quince 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 a numerous retinue followed him he stopped opposite me mademoiselle jeanet said he 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 motionless with surprise and confusion for some moments on the spot it would however have been well if louis kings had never indulged in more cutting reportees kings have no right to be scoffers railery is a warfare that requires equal arms and one can never banter to advantage with a wit who commands twenty millions of men justice however demands the acknowledgment that although this monarch was often the aggressor he endured the smartest retorts without losing his temper even the unexpected familiarity of attacks of this kind might be a pungent novelty to a king so long wearied by the burthen of greatness with an easy temper a melancholy turn a satirical genius this prince majestic in his court irresolute in counsel agreeable it is said at an evening party could not escape from ennui without the aid of intemperance or debauchery

Starting point is 00:20:03 a woman whose youth and beauty were sullied by prostitution astonished versailles at this time by the disgraceful influence she had acquired madame du barry was affecting the dismissal of the minister who had just negotiated the marriage of the Dauphin with the Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria. The intrigues of the favorite, the rivalship between the Dukes de Choiselle and Deguillon, the disgrace of the one and the shameful elevation of the other, occupied the last moments of the reign of Louis Quins. The Duke de Choiselle, fickle, haughty and violent, but agreeable, brilliant and generous had an act of mind, great talents and vast ideas. by means of alterations which had become necessary in the army new establishments in the navy new institutions and alliances he wished to raise france from the abasement into which she had sunk through a long series of reverses

Starting point is 00:20:58 he sought the support of public opinion was a friend to parliaments an enemy to the jesuits and wielded power with a light and easy hand resistance provided it was open and honorable did not exasperate him he had faith in the docilious of a nation whose government wished to render it happy at home, powerful and respectable abroad. His pride, a natural failing, became a virtue when it taught him never to stoop to flatter shameful caprices. He was beloved whilst in power, sought, I had almost said flattered when in exile, and he even inspired courtiers with courage to remain faithful to the unfortunate, a virtue they had never known before.

Starting point is 00:21:41 De Grillon, with much address, boldness and perseverance was obdurate, despotic, and tyrannical. In his command, as well as in the ministry, his authority was only evinced by his severities. He gained credit for talents because he possessed the spirit of intrigue and much ambition. But the division of Poland affected as it were in his sight, as forever blasted his reputation as a politician and a man. As a subtle courtier, a bad man and an unskilful minister, he became obnoxious to public hatred, which though he defied it, overwhelmed him at last. The Duke de Gryon did not understand that force is but one of the least springs of power,

Starting point is 00:22:22 when power is not supported by the confidence created by extensive information, great services performed, and above all, by striking successes. He was deceived by the example of his grandfather. Richelieu, while he oppressed the great, rendered essential services to France. His genius induced the nation to overlook his despotism. the abasement of austria the humiliation of spain the violent restoration of order in the state the honours of literature the encouragement of commerce redeemed in a great degree the tyrannical acts of which he is justly accused he imparted to the measures of government something of the loftiness of his own character undoubtedly he was feared but he commanded admiration and nothing induces people to forgive attacks made upon their rights except the glory which dazzling them or the happiness they enjoy.

Starting point is 00:23:17 The Duke de Choiselle has been reproached with having abandoned the system of foreign policy conceived by Cardinal Richelieu. It seems to me that it would be more just to accuse the Duke de Guillon of having endeavored at a later period to follow that system without understanding it. Since the time of Louis-13, France and Austria had changed places, the one still rising, the other sinking. Under Louis-15, the House of Bourbonne, reigned at Naples and Madrid as well as at Versailles.

Starting point is 00:23:48 The triumphs of the arms of France or the wisdom of her treaties had successfully acquired, Alsace, Franch Conte, Flunders, and Lorenne. The magnanimous Maria Theresa had just replaced a mutilated crown on her head. The pride of the heiress of Rodolf of Habsburg had stooped so low as to flatter the vanity of Jean Poisson, Marchioness of Pompadour by calling her her friend. A warlike power suddenly arising close to Austria excited her jealousy and occupied her attention and her forces. The Duke de Choiselle, being minister,

Starting point is 00:24:22 was at liberty to direct his attention to a greater distance. After the Battle of Poltois, Russia long confined to the frozen regions of the north began to be reckoned as one of the European powers. Four women successively placed on the throne of the Tsars had completed the work of a great man. A persevering system of aggrandizement, and what is more extraordinary, a system openly declared was rapidly carrying into effect. Now that Russia has adopted only so much of the arts and civilization of Europe as may increase her military power without enervating her soldiers, now that these

Starting point is 00:24:59 people born on a barren soil in a severe climate have breathed the sweet pure air of our countries, if that powerful colossus which already presses the center of Europe should, with its extended arms succeed in reaching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, what refuge, what rampart would remain for the independence of the threatened nations. They could find no security but in the coalition of the southern states, which is precisely the object of the family compact, prudently conceived and affected with address by the Duke de Choiselle, which strengthened the alliance with Austria. Instead, therefore, of accusing the shallowness of the minister, it appears to me that it would now be

Starting point is 00:25:39 more just to do honor to his foresight. Nevertheless, the alliance with Austria was then the customary pretext for the attacks directed against him. I would willingly have avoided these details had not the rivalship of the two ministers been intimately connected with the history of the times respecting which Madame Campin is about to speak. The Duke de Choiselle had the parliaments, the philosophers, and public opinion on his side. On that of the Duke de Gouillon, were the devotees and Madame du Barry. The two factions disputed the last wishes of the dying Louis-Qins. They disturbed the first years of Louis-Cays, and the fatal influence which the anti-Austrian party exercised over the fate of the youthful Marie Antoinette will presently appear.

Starting point is 00:26:26 The idea of uniting the daughter of Maria Theresa with the grandson of Louis-Kinze had been conceived by the Duke de Choiselle before his disgrace. By this marriage she cemented the alliance of the two states and thought he was securing for himself the favor of a new reign. Thus was explained the sense of that distic, according to which Austria was to expect more from marriage than from war or treaties. The youth, beauty, and disposition of the princess were everywhere the subjects of conversation. Who, that had seen her quit her family to take a place on the first steps of the most splendid throne in Europe would have ventured to form the slightest doubt of her future happiness.

Starting point is 00:27:07 Maria Theresa, happy, though afflicted, had no other uneasiness on her dear daughter's account than that which arose from their separation, and yet prophetic voices seemed already to threaten the future evils which awaited her. Madame Campon often related an anecdote which she had heard from the governor of the children of Prince Connitz. There was at that time at Vienna a doctor named Gassner, who had fled thither to seek an asylum against the persecutions of his sovereign, one of the ecclesiastical electors.

Starting point is 00:27:38 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 listened to them with a degree of interest. Tell me, said she to him one day, whether my Antoinette will be happy.

Starting point is 00:27:59 Gassner turned pale and remained silent. being still pressed by the empress and wishing to give a general kind of expression to the idea with which he seemed deeply occupied madame he replied there are crosses for all shoulders these words were sufficient to make an impression on the imagination of the germans traditions preserved in their country and repeated to them in infancy a mind directed towards research and to a belief in all that is vague and mysterious a natural inclination to melancholy seems to prepare them for receiving more vividly these awful impressions and secret warnings mary antoinette as will be seen in these memoirs was far from being able to repel and overcome the emotions of involuntary terror gertha her countryman the celebrated author of vertr abandoned himself more than any one to the influence of these presentiments which it is often difficult for reason to triumph over an unfavorable omen had occurred to him on the young princess's arrival in France. Gerta, who was then young, was completing his studies at Strasbourg. In an aisle in the middle of the Rhine, a pavilion had been erected, intended to receive

Starting point is 00:29:14 Marie Antoinette and her suite. I was admitted into it, says Gerta in his memoirs. On my entrance, I was struck with a subject depicted in the tapestry, with which the principal pavilion was hung, in which were seen, Jason, Priusa, and Medea, that is to say a representation of the most fatal union commemorated in history. On the left of the throne, the bride, surrounded by friends and distracted attendants, was struggling with a dreadful death.

Starting point is 00:29:44 Jason on the other side was starting back, struck with horror at the sight of his murdered children, and the fury was soaring into the air in her chariot drawn by dragons. Superstition apart, the strange coincidence was really striking. The husband, the bride and the children were victims, in both cases. The fatal omen seemed accomplished in every point. Maria Teresa might have repeated the fine verses which the father of Creusa addresses to his expiring daughter in the Medea of Cornay.

Starting point is 00:30:17 This then, my child, the hymenial day, the royal union anxiously expected, stern fate extinguishes the bridal torch, and for thy marriage bed, the tomb awaits thee. But if we seek you. fatal omens, those which attended the marriage festivities at Paris may well suffice. The occurrences at the Place Louis-Cains are generally known, and it is unnecessary to state how the conflagration of the scaffolds intended for the fireworks, the magistrates want of foresight, the avidity of robbers, the murderous career of the coaches brought on and aggravated the disasters of the day, or how the young Dauphinesque, coming from Versailles by the Cour, La Rene, elated

Starting point is 00:31:02 with joy, brilliantly decorated and eager to witness the rejoicings of the whole people, fled, struck with consternation and drowned in tears, whilst the dreadful scene and the cries of the dying pursued her distracted imagination. Having been led to notice this calamitous event, I will briefly notice one of the scenes it presented. Amidst this distracted multitude pressed on every side, trampled under the horse's feet, precipitated into the ditches of the rue Royal and the Square was a young man with a girl with whom he was in love. She was beautiful. Their attachment had lasted several years. Pecuniary causes had delayed their union, but the following day they were to be married. For a long time, the lover, protecting his

Starting point is 00:31:50 mistress, keeping her behind him, covering her with his own person, sustained her strength and courage. But the tumult, the cries, the terror and peril every moment increased. sinking she said my strength fails i can go no farther there is yet away cried the lover in despair get on my shoulders he feels that his advice has been followed and the hope of saving her whom he loves redoubles his ardor and strength he resists the most violent concussions with his arms firmly extended before his breast he with difficulty forces his way through the crowd at length he clears it arrived at one of the extremities of the place having set down his precious burthen faltering exhausted fatigued to death but intoxicated with joy he turns round it was a different person another more active had taken advantage of his recommendation his beloved was no more the sensibility and benevolence of marie antoinette mitigated calamities which she had not power to remedy madame campan from that time was placed sufficiently near her to estimate all the emotions of her generous heart the marriage of the dauphin had been celebrated in the month of may seventeen seventy none of the princes his brothers were yet married the dauphiness had at first no intimate society but that of the princesses of these the most affable was madame victoire and it was to her that Marie Antoinette paid her most constant visits.

Starting point is 00:33:26 There she almost always met Mademoiselle Jeuné, whose talents in similar age to her own attracted her notice. Mademoiselle Jeune often accompanied her on the harp or piano when she amused herself with singing the airs of Gritri. The Dauphinez was also frequently present at the readings which took place at the princesses. She already appreciated the unction of the Petit Carame and the brilliant imagination of the,

Starting point is 00:33:50 a poet who afterwards mourned her misfortunes in affecting verses. At court, where favor leads to fortune, the regard with which the princesses and the Dauphinesse honored Mademoiselle was soon observed. Her establishment was talked of, and she soon afterwards married Monsieur Campan, whose father was secretary of the queen's closet. Note, the family of Campan, originally from the valley of Campan in Bern, had adopted the name of that place as their own surname. Their true name was Bertolet. The celebrated chemist, whom the sciences have lately lost in 1822, was related to this family. I find in the manuscripts before me a trait highly honorable to his character. On the side of the Bertolet,

Starting point is 00:34:37 said Madame Campan to her son in a paper intended for his information, one of the most distinguished members of the institute must be of the same family, but from a sense of dignity and a repugnance for those who frequented the court and were in favor. He said to several persons at Paris in 1788 that he was related to a Bertolet-Campon, who had a place about the queen at Versailles, but that he felt no inclination to go and explain his relationship to that gentleman, feeling apprehensive of passing for a worshipper of influence and fortune. My advice, adds Madame Campan,

Starting point is 00:35:11 would have been, to seek a man who evinced a character so different from that which is usually met with in persons in the situation to which fate had destined us. And note. Louis Quins bestowed on her a pension of 500 livres, and the doffinesse secured her a place as femme de chambre, allowing her at the same time to continue her duties as reader for the princesses. It is here that the memoirs of Madame Compin may truly be said to begin,

Starting point is 00:35:39 the first chapter descriptive of the court of Louis Quins being only a lively introduction. During a period of 20 years, from the marriage festivities to the attack of the 10th of August, Madame Campan never quitted Marie Antoinette. On the Queen's side, all was goodness and unreserved confidence. It will be seen whether Madame Campan did not return the favor of her patroness by gratitude, faith, and devotedness, proof against all calamity and superior to all danger. In speaking of Marie Antoinette, she has depicted the hatred. of her enemies, the avidity of her flatterers, and the disinterestedness of the real friends

Starting point is 00:36:19 whom she possessed, although seated on the throne. But as she generally confines herself to the domestic circle in which Marie Antoinette delighted, it is indispensably necessary to take a survey of the spirit of that period, and particularly the manners of society. I shall not recall the scandalous years of the regency, a period when the court, escaping from the constraint of a long course of hypocrisy, combined the excesses of debauchery with sarcasms of the most audacious impiety. But it is necessary to notice particularly the reign of Louis Quins, because during that reign, corruption presented two distinct periods. Of the first of these, Richelieu was the model and the hero. To love without pleasure, to yield without resistance,

Starting point is 00:37:07 to part without regret, to call duty a weakness, honor a prejudice, delicacy affectation such were the manners of the times seduction had its code and immorality was reduced to principles even these rapid successes soon tired those who obtained them perhaps because the facility with which triumphs were gained diminished their value courtiers and rich financiers maintained at enormous expense beauties with whom they were not expected even to be acquainted vice became a mere luxury of vanity and The condition of a cortisine led rapidly to fortune. I had almost said, to honor. In the years preceding the accession of Louisais to the throne, and those immediately following, society presented a new spectacle. Manners were not improved, but altered.

Starting point is 00:38:00 By a strange abuse, apologies were found for depravity in the philosophical ideas which daily grew more fashionable. The new partisans of these principles promulgated such noble maxims, thought and discoursed so well that they were not obliged to act with propriety. Men might be inconstant husbands and women faithless wives, so that they spoke with respect, with enthusiasm of the sacred duties of marriage. The love of virtue and of mankind was sufficient without practical morality. Women, surrounded by their lovers, discussed the means of regenerating social order.

Starting point is 00:38:37 There was not a philosopher admitted into one of the fashionable circles, who did not modestly compare himself to Socrates with Aspasia, and Didro, the daring author of philosophical thoughts, Pancé philosophic, the licentious writer of the bijou indiscret, though he aspired to the glory of Plato, did not blush to imitate Petronius. Let it not, however, be supposed that it is my intention to censure the philosophers. If their conduct was irregular, most of their doctrines were pure and have passed from their writings into our morals.

Starting point is 00:39:12 If the ties of kindred have been drawn closer, if we are better husbands, fathers, and citizens, if vice is despised, if young people intent on serious studies reject disdainfully the licentious works which the libertinism of their fathers encouraged, we owe these advantages to a new order of things. In morality, as well as in politics,

Starting point is 00:39:34 legislation and finances, the philosophers have led the way to useful reform, their writings ill understood at that period but read with avidity gave them a great influence over public opinion the court long accustomed to the influence which wit polished manners and the habit of filling great offices secured to it was astonished to see this new powers springing up by its side instead of opposing it flattered this competitor enthusiasm gained on every mind it was at the tables and in the drawing-rooms of the drawing-rooms of the the first nobles that the distinctions of rank were boldly treated as prejudices. These principles of equality often found partisans amongst the nobility, who were the more zealous in defending them because this conduct appeared a proof of their generosity. It became almost an acknowledged truth that Merit was superior to birth,

Starting point is 00:40:28 and it is fair to add that there was, amongst the nobility at that time, as there is now, a great number of men who were uninterested in protesting against this new doctrine. thus whilst the middling classes were rising proud of their knowledge their talents their attainments the higher ranks seemed to meet them half-way through sentiments of curiosity and benevolence the court was still a slave to the laws of etiquette whilst the distinctions of rank were banished from social life hence in my opinion an accusation which inconsiderate vanity has often repeated against marie antoinette falls to the ground of itself when she appeared at versailles she found every one inclined to a change which the state of manners rendered inevitable and her beauty wit grace and a majestic carriage gave her so many real advantages as entitled her to despise the childish importance of etiquette after all what is etiquette nothing but a symbol of the involuntary respect which mankind pay to courage genius glory and virtue true politeness disdained ceremony and true greatness may dispense with it the noble familiarity of henriquet was applauded he had however performed great actions enough to allow of affability and plainness in his manners.

Starting point is 00:41:48 The memory of his achievements dignified him still more than his rank. In seeing the king, men recollected the knight. By his side still hung the sword he had worn at Courtreux, and the French unanimously acknowledged the generous hand that had fed Paris during its rebellion. The illusions of etiquette were necessary to Louis Kins. Louis Ketor's might have dispensed with them. His throne, resplendent with the triumph of arms, literature, and the fine arts was glorious enough without them.

Starting point is 00:42:20 But he was ambitious to be more than a great king, and this demigod, reduced by misfortunes and infirmities, to his original place in the first ranks of human life, endeavored to conceal the ravages of disease, calamity, and age under the vain pomp of ceremony. Princes may be excused for being the regulators of etiquette, since they are its principal slaves. from the cradle to the tomb in sickness and in health at table at council in the chase in the army in the midst of their court in their private apartments princes in france were governed by ceremonial rules the injudicious laws of etiquette pursued them even to the mysteries of the nuptial bed judge how impatiently a young princess lively affectionate and free bred in the simplicity of the german courts must have endured the tyrannical customs which never suffered her for a single instant to be a wife mother or friend but reduced her to the dignified aneur of being always a queen. The respectable lady who was placed near her as a vigilant minister of the laws of etiquette, instead of alleviating their weight, rendered their yoke intolerable to her.

Starting point is 00:43:33 The evil was not, however, so serious when it only affected the attendance, because in these cases the queen used merely to laugh at it. Let Madame Campan herself relate an anecdote on this subject in which she was concerned. Madame de Noai, she says in a manuscript fragment, abounded in virtues. I cannot pretend to deny it. 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 she would have been stifled, and that life would forsake her frame. One day I unintentionally threw this poor lady into a terrible agony.

Starting point is 00:44:16 the queen was receiving i know not whom some persons just presented i believe the lady of honour the queen's tire woman 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 noai 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 lapids or the Countess will expire. All this bustle arose from two unlucky pins which fastened up my lapids whilst the etiquette of the costume said, Lapitz hanging down. End of Part 1 of Biographical Notice of Madame Campan. Section 3, Volume 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 00:45:36 this Librevox recording is in the public domain Biographical notice of Madame Campan Part 2 Nevertheless this contempt of the solemn vanities of etiquette became the pretext for the first reproaches leveled at the queen In fact, what misconduct might not be dreaded from a princess who could absolutely go out without a hoop and who, in the saloons of Triano, instead of discussing

Starting point is 00:46:02 the important rights to chairs and stools, good-naturedly invited everybody to be seated. Note. Even for the suppression of the most ridiculous customs, the Queen was never forgiven. The respectable dowagers who had passed their innocent youth in the Court of Louis Kins, and even under the Regency,

Starting point is 00:46:20 considered the abolition of the hoop as a violation of morals. Madame Campan herself says in some part of her memoirs, almost with regret, that the Great Ruffs and Fartingdale's worn in the Court of the Last of the Valois were not adopted without a motive. that those appendages indifferent in appearance actually had the effect of banishing every idea of gallantry.

Starting point is 00:46:41 Although such a precaution may appear at least a little singular in the dissolute court of Henri Trois, I shall not pretend to deny the efficacy of the fartingale. I will only add a little anecdote quoted by Laplace. Monsieur de Frein Forget being one day in company with 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 farting-dales.

Starting point is 00:47:09 The Queen made no answer at that time, but a few days after having a very large ruff-on and some bouillie to eat, she ordered a very long spoon to be brought and ate her bouillie with it without soiling her rough. Upon which addressing herself to Monsieur Lefran, she said laughing, "'There now, you see, with a little ingenuity,

Starting point is 00:47:28 one may manage anything.' "'Yes, faith, madame,' said he with simplicity, as far as regards the soup, I am satisfied. Volume 2, page 350, of Laplace's collection. End note. The anti-Austrian party, ever 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 Montjois,

Starting point is 00:47:59 whose opinions must certainly be considered genuine, and what overwhelms me with grief is that the first attacks 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?

Starting point is 00:48:21 But these advantages and favors were no longer the exclusive inheritance of a few powerful families. In distributing benefits, the queen sometimes thought proper to consult her affections and other rights besides those of an ancient origin. Judge, says Montchois, of the spite and fury of the great of that class, when they saw the Queen dispensed to others those favours which they wished to be considered

Starting point is 00:48:46 as due to them alone, it will then be easy to understand how she came to have implacable enemies amongst those who were nearest her person. It was not long before hatred and calumny found another pretext. That obscure and scandalous plot which was to compromise the most august name and to dishonour that of a cardinal was already in preparation. It was conceived by an intriguing female.

Starting point is 00:49:13 Its principal agent was a forger of writings. It was seconded by a courtesan, unravelled by a Minim and related by a Jesuit. As if the most singular coincidences were to appear in this famous suit, together with the most odious contrasts, the name of Valois, which had so long ago relapsed into oblivion,

Starting point is 00:49:32 now figured along with those of Roan, Austria, and Bourbon. And when everything conspired to accuse a libertine and credulous priest, a great lord, who with 800,000 livres per annum, was nevertheless ruined,

Starting point is 00:49:46 an ecclesiastical prince, at once the dupe of a swindler, a woman of intrigue, and a quack. Yet it was the queen whom his credulity as well, perhaps, as his guilty hopes injured. It was Marie Antoinette, to whom suspicion

Starting point is 00:50:00 was daringly attached. The court, the clergy, and the parliaments leaked together to humble the throne and the princess who sat on it. Instead of pitying, they blamed her. They did not even pardon her indulgence of the grief and indignation of an injured woman, wife, and queen.

Starting point is 00:50:18 The issue of this famous suit is known. The cardinal was acquitted. Madame de Lamotte, being condemned and exposed, fled, and hastened to publish a pamphlet of the most odious description against the queen. From that moment, fatal for Marie Antoinette until her death, attacks of this species were incessantly renewed against her. The spirit of party quickly undertook the direction of them. The press and the graver became equally subservient to the fury of her enemies.

Starting point is 00:50:48 Obscene prince, licentious verses, infamous libeles, atrocious accusations. I have seen all, I have read all, and I wish I could add. Like that unfortunate princess on one of the most honorable occasions of her life, I have forgotten all. The perusal and view of these monuments of implacable hatred leave an impression of sadness and disgust difficult to overcome, and increased by the idea of the woes accumulated by calumny on the head of the hapless Marie-Antoinette. Let us not anticipate events.

Starting point is 00:51:23 It is not here that the picture of the Queen's last misfortunes is to be found. her imprisonment, her chains, her destitute condition, the outrages which overwhelmed, the strength of mind which supported her, the maternal affection which still attached her to life, the religious sentiments from which she derived consolation. All these affecting and sublime particulars of a scene concluded by so tragical a catastrophe belonged to other memoirs. But there is one reflection which that fatal catastrophe irresistibly excites. When the terrible d'Anton-tortes, exclaimed the kings of Europe menace us it behaves us to defy them let us throw down to them as our gauge the head of a king these detestable words followed by so cruel so lamentable

Starting point is 00:52:12 in effect belonged however to a formidable piece of policy but the queen what horrible reasons of state could danton colluderbois and robespier allege against her where did they find that those Greeks and Romans whose military virtues our soldiers recalled used to murder weak and defenseless beings. 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? Had not the 10th of August torn the diadem from her brow? 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 recognized the affable,

Starting point is 00:53:00 affectionate, sensitive, generous people of France? No. Of all the crimes which so shockingly disgraced the revolution, none is more calculated to show to what a pitch the spirit of party when it has fermented in the most corrupt hearts can deprave the character of a nation. The news of this dreadful event reached Madame Campan, who was weeping over the misfortunes of her benefactress in her obscure retreat. She had not succeeded in her endeavors to share the queen's captivity, and she expected every moment a similar fate. After escaping almost miraculously from the murdering fury of the Marseille,

Starting point is 00:53:39 after being repulsed by Pityon when she implored the favor of being confined in the temple, denounced and pursued by Robespierre, and entrusted through the entire confidence of the king and queen, with papers of the utmost importance, Madame Campan went to conceal her charge and indulge her grief at Coubertin in the Valley of Chavreuse. Madame Ogier, her sister, had just committed suicide at the very moment of her arrest. Note Maternal affection prevailed over her religious sentiments.

Starting point is 00:54:09 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. and note. The scaffold awaited Madame Campan when the ninth of Termidaur restored her to life, but did not restore to her the most constant object of her thoughts, her zeal and her devotion.

Starting point is 00:54:37 A new career now opened to Madame Campan. The information and talents she possessed were about to become useful to her. At Coubertin, surrounded by her nieces, she was fond of directing their studies, as much to divert her mind for a time from her troubles as to form their disposition and judgment. This maternal occupation had caused her ideas to revert to this subject of education,

Starting point is 00:55:00 and awakened once more the earliest inclinations of her youth. Our taste and character developed themselves early in childhood. I remember that in writing an account of the life of Madame Roland, it appeared to me a most interesting spectacle to contemplate the first emotions of her intrepid soul, warmed even at the most tender age, with enthusiasm. for the virtues of antiquity. It was not without surprise that I considered a young girl

Starting point is 00:55:27 at a period of life when pleasure and dress are usually the chief occupations of her sex, fancying herself in solitude, Cleolia, stemming the waves of Tiber, or Cornelia exhibiting her gracchi as her ornaments to the Roman ladies. Rising inclinations are suddenly developed and revealed by circumstances.

Starting point is 00:55:47 Many a general owes his epaulets to the sight of a review, and in our times the ceremony and pomp of processions will no doubt make many a bishop. At the age of twelve years, Mademoiselle Jeanette could never meet a school of young ladies walking out for an airing or passing through the streets without feeling ambitious of the situation, title, and authority of their mistress. Her abode at court had diverted but not altered her ideas and inclinations. At a more advanced age, when able to enlarge the circle of her schemes, she envied Madame

Starting point is 00:56:20 de Maint-Métenon, in the height of absolute power, not the success of her ambitious hypocrisy, not the mysterious honor of a royal and clandestine union, but the glory of having found it sincere. It will presently be seen that Madame Campan had neither the treasures nor the authority of Louis Catoz at her disposal for the realization of her plans. A month after the fall of Robespierre, she says in a most interesting document, I considered of the means of providing for myself, for a mother 70 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 assigneur of 500 francs. I had become responsible for my husband's debts to the amount of 30,000 francs.

Starting point is 00:57:08 I chose Saint-Germain to set up a boarding school. That town did not remind me as Versailles did, both of the happy times and the first Miss fortunes of France, while it was at some distance from Paris, where our dreadful disasters had occurred, and where people resided with whom I did not wish to be acquainted. I took with me a nun of L'Enfant-Jus to give an unquestionable pledge of my religious principles. Note, the school of Saint-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 note. I had not the means of printing my prospectus.

Starting point is 00:57:50 I wrote a hundred copies of it, and sent them to those persons of my acquaintance who had survived our dreadful commotions. At the year's end, I had sixty pupils. Soon afterwards, a hundred. I bought furniture and paid my debts. I rejoiced in having met with this resource so remote from all intrigue.

Starting point is 00:58:10 The brilliant and rapid success of the establishment at St. Germais was undoubtedly owing to the talents, experience and excellent principles of Madame Campan. Nevertheless, it must be allowed that she was wonderfully seconded by public opinion. To court, cherish, and show attention to any person who had been at court was to defy and humble the reigning power, and everyone knows that people never denied themselves that pleasure in France. I was then very young, but I did not fail to observe that disposition in those about me.

Starting point is 00:58:42 All property had changed hands. All ranks were, found themselves confusedly jumbled by the shocks of the revolution. Society resembled a library, in which the books had been replaced at random after tearing off the titles. The great lord dined at the table of the opulent contractor, and the marchioness, all brilliancy, wit, and elegance, sat at the ball by the side of the clumsy peasant grown rich. In the absence of the ancient distinctions and denominations which had been described by the directory, elegant manners and polished language now formed an extraordinary kind of aristocracy. The house of Saint-Germain, conducted by a lady who possessed the style, deportment,

Starting point is 00:59:24 habits and conversation of the best society, was not only a school of knowledge, but a school of the world. A literary man, a friend of Madame de Beau Arne, continued Madame Campan, in the manuscript now before me, mentioned my establishment to her. She brought me her daughter, Ortense de Boernet, and her niece, Emily de Boernet. 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 intelligence to her daughter, who long lamented her mother's change of name.

Starting point is 01:00:02 I was also desired to watch over the education of Little Ogen de Boernet, who was placed at St. Germain in the same school with my son. My nieces Mademoiselle Ogier were with me and slept in the same room as the Mademoiselle Boernet. A great intimacy took place between these young people. Madame de Boernet set out for Italy and left her children with me. On her return, after the conquests of Bonaparte, that General was much pleased with the improvement of his stepdaughter.

Starting point is 01:00:31 He invited me to dine at Malmaison and attended two representations of Esther at my school. one of these representations is connected with an anecdote which is almost historical. The Duchess of Saint-Lieu played Esther. The part of Ely's was supported by the interesting and unfortunate Madame de Broch. They were united by the same uniformity of age and inclinations, the same mutual friendship as are attributed to the characters in Racine's drama. Napoleon, who was then consul, his generals, ministers, and other principal persons in the state

Starting point is 01:01:05 attended the representation. the prince of orange was also observed there whom the hope of seeing holland once more and of re-establishing the rights of his house had at this period brought to france the tragedy of esther was performed by the pupils with the choruses and music every one knows that in the chorus at the end of the third act the young israelites rejoice in the hope of one day returning to their native land a young female says i shall see once more those dear fields Another adds, I shall weep over the sepulcher of my forefathers. At these words

Starting point is 01:01:44 loud sobs were heard. Every eye was turned towards a particular part of the room. The representation was interrupted for a moment. Napoleon, who sat

Starting point is 01:01:54 in the first row, leaned towards Madame Campan, who was behind him, and asked her the cause of this agitation. The Prince of Orange is here, said she.

Starting point is 01:02:05 He perceived something in the verses which have just been sung, applicable to his wishes and situation, and could not restrain his tears. The consul had already different views. What is said about returning home does not apply to him, however, said he.

Starting point is 01:02:22 Previously to commencing this notice on the life of Madame Campan, I went over that house at St. Germain which once attracted such a splendid concourse. I saw that garden, those long covered walks, which served for promenades. Those rooms,

Starting point is 01:02:37 in which Plantade gave instructions in singing, and were Mademoiselle Godfroix, the best pupil of a great master taught painting. I saw that little closet which many a giddy girl has entered an apprehension of a severe reprimand, and from which she was sure to come out impressed and affected by good and kind admonitions.

Starting point is 01:02:56 The appearance of those places is still the same, but how different is their present use? To that lyceum which letters, science and accomplishments formerly embellished the rigors and austerity of a cloister have succeeded. Those scenes in which the sounds of innocent mirth or the lessons of pleasing arts were alternately heard are become the asylum of fasting, prayer, and silence.

Starting point is 01:03:21 The hall of exercises which served for a theatre has been converted into a chapel. The catechism is taught under the roof which echoed the harmonious verses of Racine, and a few verses of the Psalms or passages from the fathers will soon be substituted for that inscription which is still half-legible on the whitened walls. Talents are the ornament of the rich and the wealth of the poor.

Starting point is 01:03:45 In 1802 and 1803, the period destined to produce this change was still far distant. Never had the establishment at Saint-Germain been in a more flourishing condition. What more could Madame Campan wish for? Her fortune was very respectable. Her occupation and duties were, agreeable to her taste. She saw around her nothing but attachment and gratitude. Abroad she met with nothing but esteem, kindness, and respect. Absolute in her own house,

Starting point is 01:04:17 she seemed equally safe from the favors and caprices of power. But the man who then disposed of the fate of France at his pleasure, and regulated that of Europe with the sword, was soon to determine otherwise. By a decree dated, as it were, from the field of battle, New rewards and encouragements were secured and proposed to the brave victors 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 honor. The children of the warriors killed or wounded in glorious battle were to find paternal care in the ancient abodes of the Montmorency and the Condi, nor could those heroes themselves have devoted them to a nobler purpose. Accombed to concentrate around him all superior talents,

Starting point is 01:05:05 fearless himself of superiority, Napoleon sought for a person qualified by experience, name, and abilities to conduct the institution of Equan. He selected Madame Campan. She was now to reap the fruits of ten years' experience at St. Germain. The establishment of Equan was wholly to create. Madame Campan therefore commenced this great undertaking. Count Lassie Pets.

Starting point is 01:05:31 the pupil friend and rival of Bufon, the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, assisted her with his enlightened advice. The watchful attention which the health, instruction, and even the recreations of 300 young persons required, the religious duties which formed the basis of their education, the distribution of their time, the methodical and graduated exercise of the powers of their understanding, the harmony of their principles and attainments with their fortune, and the rank in society they were destined to occupy. The difficult art of seizing the principal features of a character,

Starting point is 01:06:06 discriminating good from bad qualities, destroying the germ of the one and encouraging the others. And of maintaining order and promoting emulation amongst so many pupils of different ages, inclinations, and tempers without exciting pride. All these cares of a complicated administration, all these details of so delicate unemployment, appeared simple, easy and natural when they were,

Starting point is 01:06:28 Madame Campan was seen to fulfill them. This praise even her enemies could not deny her. At all hours she was accessible to everyone, hearing all questions submitted to her with the greatest equality of temper, and deciding them with extraordinary presence of mind, never addressing admonition, reproach or encouragement, but opportunely. Napoleon, who could descend with ease from the highest political subjects to the examination of the most minute details, who, who was as much at home in inspecting a boarding school for young ladies as in reviewing the grenadiers of his guard,

Starting point is 01:07:05 to whom every species of knowledge, every occupation seemed familiar, whom it was impossible to deceive, and who was not unwilling to find fault. Napoleon, when he visited the establishment atiquan, was forced to say, it is all right. Note, Napoleon had 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 in the margin, Every day. End of note. A second house was formed at St. Denis on the model of that ofiquant. Perhaps Madame Campan might have hoped for a title to which her long labors gave her a right.

Starting point is 01:07:56 perhaps the superintendents of the two houses would have been but the fair recompense of her services, but her fortunate years had elapsed. 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. The conquerors seemed to take inward pleasure in destroying the work of the statesman. 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, although victorious, amidst the snows of Russia. Kings and nations combined against a single man.

Starting point is 01:08:41 The territory of France was invaded. The orphans of Equin, 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 Arikate. They reascended the throne so long filled by their ancestors which the wisdom of an enlightened prince established on the empire of the laws. 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.

Starting point is 01:09:23 the suppression of the house of equan had deprived her of her place 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 and the object of these slanders said a noble writer who seemed to transfer into the sentiments of friendship the warmth which animated his filial piety the object of these calumnies is that most faithful subject who during twenty-four years ceased to be attached to the royal family of France, the reader and first attendant of the unfortunate queen, the no less intimate confidant of the hapless king, who, during their protracted martyrdom, risked more than her life for her August lord and lady, who never said or did anything but their orders, but said and did all that she was enjoined however dangerous the task. The object of these calumnies is Madame Campan, in whose favor Mary Antoinette wrote in

Starting point is 01:10:22 1792, a testamentary disposition, extremely honourable to the devotion of the subject and to the goodness of the sovereign. It is Madame Campan, to whom Louis Cés in 1792 confided the most secret and dangerous papers, for whom Louis Cés in the cell of the Fayon, on the 10th of August 1792, cut off two locks of his hair, giving her one for herself, another for her sister, whilst the queen throwing her arms about their necks by turn said to them, "'unhappy women, you are unfortunate only on my account. "'I am still more wretched than you.' "'Slander has little effect on youth.

Starting point is 01:11:03 "'The long futurity to which the young look forward "'makes them hope to triumph over it. "'But, in the decline of life, "'its darts are envenomed with a mortal poison. "'The griefs which then oppress the heart "'tear open all its old wounds. "'Those which Madame Campan had received were deep. "'Her sister, Madame Ogier,

Starting point is 01:11:22 had destroyed herself. Monsieur Rousseau, her brother-in-law, had perished a victim in the reign of terror. In 1813, a dreadful accident had deprived her of her niece, Madame de Brock, one of the most amiable and interesting beings that ever adorned the earth.

Starting point is 01:11:38 Madame Campan seemed destined to behold those whom she loved go down to the grave before her. In the cemetery of Per Lachais, amongst those ostentatious mausoleums generally loaded with lying epitaphs, by the side of the side of the same, of those monuments, most of which seem

Starting point is 01:11:54 raised to flatter the pride of the living rather than out of respect for the ashes of those who sleep beneath them. There is a modest grave on which she has often been seen to weep. No marble decorates it. No inscription is read upon it. It is remarkable, chiefly,

Starting point is 01:12:10 for its simplicity. The unostentatious turf, betraying a grief which shrinks from observation, is the only clue to the secret of the tomb. After so many troubles, Madame Campan sought peaceful retreat. Paris, the abode of apathy and ambition, of the wicked who promulgate slanders and the fools who believe them, Paris, inhabited by crowds of men always equally ready

Starting point is 01:12:35 to flatter the powerful of the day, and to revile him whom they flattered the day before. Paris, its frivolity, its noisy pleasures, its egotism, had for some years been insupportable to her. One of her most beloved pupils, Mademoiselle Grouzé had married a physician at Mont, a man of talent, distinguished for information, frankness, and cordiality. Madame Campan paid her pupil a visit. Mount is a pretty little town. The woods of Rossni which surround it, the seine which laves it with its waters, aisles planted with lofty poplars and shady walks which promise an agreeable solitude

Starting point is 01:13:13 render Mount a pleasant, cheerful residence. This abode pleased her. She soon fixed her habitation there. A few intimate friends. formed a pleasant society in which she took pleasure. She enjoyed, with surprise, a little tranquility after so many disturbances. The revisal of her memoirs, the arrangement of the interesting anecdotes of which her recollections were to consist, were the only affairs which ever diverted her mind from the

Starting point is 01:13:40 one powerful sentiment which attached her to life. She lived only for her son. For him alone she would have wished for favor or riches. He was her consolation, her wealth, her life. her hope. In him she had concentrated all the inclinations of a heart often deceived in its affections. Monsieur Campon deserved the tenderness of his mother. No sacrifice had been spared for his education. He was accomplished, had much taste, and made agreeable verses. After having pursued that course of study which, under the imperial government, produced men of

Starting point is 01:14:16 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. How was the mother to be informed of this loss? Who could bear to inflict this mortal blow? Monsieur Meng, in an account with which he was pleased to entrust us,

Starting point is 01:14:46 described this sad moment with mournful accuracy. I never witnessed so heart-rending a scene, he says, as that which took place, when Marshall Nays, lady, her niece, and Madame Ponelli, her sister, came to acquaint her with this misfortune. 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.

Starting point is 01:15:16 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 widely seemed to wander. Her face grew pale, her features changed, her lips lost their color. She struggled to speak,

Starting point is 01:15:33 but uttered only inarticulate sounds accompanied by piercing cries. Her gestures were wild, her reason was suspended. Every part of her being was an agony. Her respiration scarcely sufficed for the efforts which this unhappy by their maid to express her grief and give vent to her sufferings.

Starting point is 01:15:53 To this state of anguish and despair no calm succeeded until her tears began to flow. Never in my life did I see anything so sad and so awful. Never will the impression I received be effaced from my memory. 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 organization. A cruel disorder which requires a still more cruel operation soon manifested itself. The presence of her family, a tour which she made in Switzerland, a residence at the

Starting point is 01:16:33 waters of Baden, and above all, the sight, the tender and charming conversation of a person by whom she was affectionately beloved, occasionally diverted her mind, but relieved her sufferings only in a very slight degree. She returned to Mont, resolved to undergo the operation. And from that moment, far from betraying a moment's weakness or hesitation, she herself hastened the moment which, as she said, was to restore her to hope and health. With the strength of mind which defies pain, she combined the energy of will which masters it.

Starting point is 01:17:10 Not a cry, not a gesture escaped her. So much courage. astonished old warriors accustomed to the sight of fields of battle and surprised the professional men themselves. Up to the moment of commencing the operation, she discoursed freely and calmly with them. The pain which followed the operation did not seem to have altered her serenity. Gentlemen, she said cheerfully to her physicians, I had much rather hear you talk than see you act. The operation was performed with extraordinary promptitude, and the most complete success by Monsieur Voise,

Starting point is 01:17:47 a most skillful surgeon of Versailles. No unfavorable symptoms appeared. The wound secretized. 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 Monsieur Meng,

Starting point is 01:18:07 who watched her malady with all the solicitude of friendship, I could never look on Madame Campan as living. She herself felt. that she belonged no more to this world when she thought of her family of her friends at Mont and of all those who loved her with the most lively affection her heart failed and in those moments of affecting weakness she would say I shall not die doctor shall I but soon resuming her courage she imparted to others a hope which she no longer cherished herself she constantly saw near her a woman who had never quitted her for forty

Starting point is 01:18:42 years, who had shared in her troubles as well as in her hours of prosperity, who guessed her thoughts, watched her slightest wishes, and repaid her unbounded confidence by the attentions of the tenderest attachment. Here all who knew Madame Campan will name Madame Voise. Courage, said she, death will not separate two friends like us. She herself set the example of the strength of mind with which she wished to inspire others. Sometimes, looking back to the days of her youth, she saw an imagination the young girl so lively and gay, surprised by Louis Quins, in the midst of her play. Sometimes she thought with emotion on the kindness with which Marie Antoinette repaid her attachment. The bullseye at Versailles, said she, will never forgive me for having obtained the confidence of the king and queen.

Starting point is 01:19:35 The demands of a swarm of flatterers were frequently unjust, and when the queen condescended to consult me, I spoke with sincerity. Sometimes the fate of France occupied her thoughts. The light which the throne itself diffuses was, in her opinion, the only security against the extravagant claims of some individuals. Power, said she, now resides in the laws.

Starting point is 01:19:59 In any other situation it would be misplaced. But this truth escapes them. The dust of old parchments blinds them. The day before her death, "'My friend,' she said to her physician, "'I throw myself into the arms of Providence. "'That is the only invisible support that can sustain us. "'The idea is consoling.

Starting point is 01:20:22 "'I am much attached to the simplicity of my religion. "'I revere it. "'I hate all that savors 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 rest. road. The day she died, her window was opened. The sky was clear, the air pure and fresh.

Starting point is 01:20:48 This resembles the air and climate of Switzerland, said she. I passed there two months of unmixed happiness. Her soul is so noble, and our hearts understand each other so well. Her dissolution rapidly approached. Her mind had lost nothing of its strength. Notwithstanding my condition, said she. she, I am desirous of expressing my thoughts. I was a little way from her bed, adds her physician whose words we have quoted. She called me in rather

Starting point is 01:21:20 a higher tone than usual. I ran to her. Then, reproaching herself for this little hastiness, how imperious one is, she said, when one has no time for politeness. A moment after, she was no more. Her friends witnessed her decease on the

Starting point is 01:21:39 16th of March 1822. The cheerfulness she displayed throughout her malady had nothing forced or 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, without renouncing the hopes and consolations of a Christian. Her religion inclined to indulgence and mildness, which is constantly the case with those whose piety is more a matter of faith and sentiment than a formal observance. Though she had long lived in the higher circles, she did not despise the human race.

Starting point is 01:22:16 The envious had never been able to excite a feeling of hatred in her mind. The ungrateful had not wearied her benevolence. Her credit, her time, her plans belonged to her friends. Her purse was always open to the unfortunate. One profound sentiment, her attachment to the queen, one constant study, the education, of youth occupied her whole life. Napoleon once said to her, The old systems of education were good for nothing. What do young women stand in need of to be well

Starting point is 01:22:48 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. Madame Campan's answer contains the leading idea of her system of education. all the cares of this excellent preceptress tended to enable her pupils to be one day the teachers of their own daughters the instructions which she read on sundays to the young ladies at st germain the little anecdotes which she composed as much for their instruction as for her own amusement the work which she was finishing at the moment of her death and which contains the fruits of twenty years experience are all directed to the same object women said she to her friends have lost the empire which chivalric gallantry formally gave them they would now disdain that which they obtained at a later period in the boudoir or on the brilliant stage of the court their new dominion ought to be founded upon good morals and not in opposition to them their success although perhaps less striking will be more satisfactory and durable every day adds to their information without detracting from the lighter graces the modest virtues of their sex but it is not sufficient for their beauty to please for their wit to charm they must command esteem by their qualities

Starting point is 01:24:13 their talents must be destined to form the delight of their family and the circle of their duties must become that of their pleasures likewise surrounded by pupils to whom her conversation was a reward whether she talked to them of the duties of their sex or of the most interesting facts in history, the inquisitive, attentive crowd pressed around her, eager to catch every word. Sometimes her judicious and keen understanding would draw a salutary lesson

Starting point is 01:24:41 from a little amusing story. In past events, she often saw traits calculated to enlighten their minds and elevate their sentiments. I call on all the pupils of Equins to bear witness how often she spoke to them

Starting point is 01:24:56 of Louis Catre, of Charles V, of Louis Dues, of Henri Cattre in particular, and of the virtues with which they and their successors had adorned at the throne. When she came to the stormy period of the revolution, she would explain to them the outrages committed against royal majesty,

Starting point is 01:25:13 tell them of the descendants of kings living in a foreign land, of Louis Cés and his misfortunes, of the queen and the affliction she had been made to endure. These recitals affected their young hearts. When they heard her talk of the royal family of France, daughters of Napoleon's warriors learned the respect that should be paid to calamity, and the gratitude due for benefits received. Beyond the walls of the mansion of Equan, in the village which surrounds it, Madame Campan had taken a small house where she loved to pass a few hours

Starting point is 01:25:45 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 femme de chambre 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

Starting point is 01:26:08 Tipu Sahib'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 picture which represented her royal mistress.

Starting point is 01:26:26 Pardon me, August's shade, unhappy queen, pardon me, she says in a fragment I have preserved in her handwriting. Thy portrait is near me whilst I am writing these words. My imagination, impressed with the remembrance of thy sorrows, every instant directs my eyes to those features which I wish to animate, and to read in them whether I am doing service to thy memory in writing this work. When I look at that noble head which fell by the fury of barbarians, tears,

Starting point is 01:26:57 fill my eyes, and suspend my narration. Yes, I will speak the truth by which thy shade can never be injured. Truth must prove favourable to her, whom falsehood so cruelly wronged. What should I add to these eloquent words? Madame Campan is no more. Let those who slandered her life now insult her memory. Her writings will defend her better than I can. F. Barrier

Starting point is 01:27:25 End of Biographical Notice of Madame Campan Volume 1 Author's Preface and Chapter 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Author's Preface The shelves of our libraries bend under the weight of printed works relating to the last years

Starting point is 01:27:54 of the 18th century. The grand moral and political causes of our revolutions have already been ably traced by superior intellects. But posterity will look also for the secret springs by which these events were brought about. Nothing but memoirs penned by ministers

Starting point is 01:28:10 and favorites will alone satisfy the inquisitiveness of our descendants, and even these only to a certain extent, for kings very seldom yield unbounded confidence. The sovereign interests to one of those who surround him a secret mission, no way militating against his own known sentiments,

Starting point is 01:28:27 and develops to him all the details of some affair of high interest, the courtier proceeds under a persuasion of the importance of his mission but while his pride is flattering itself while he reposes on a certainty that the royal heart has been opened before him he little suspects in the blindness of his vanity the thousand folds always to be concealed from him which that heart contains He is but the dupe and tool of him whose confidante he fancies himself. Some other person has, perhaps, at the very same moment, received an opposite commission, which probably no more tallies with the real designs of the prince than the former. Each singly thinks himself the sole depository of his sovereign's thoughts, and upon this hollow basis each erects his shadowy edifice of a credit which he does not possess.

Starting point is 01:29:16 This court game is especially in vogue when the superior power is under the necessity. of satisfying or of conciliating opposite opinions without really adopting either. But the practice of thus scattering marks of an illusionary confidence has this result, that when the time of commotion and faction arrives, the sovereign finds himself without any solid support or disinterested attachment. Louis Cés possessed an immense crowd of confidants, advisors, 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,

Starting point is 01:29:52 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 Keynes, memoirs written by the duke de chouazel the duke d'eguillon the duc de guillon the marshal de richelieu and the duke de la vauguyon should be before us note by madame campan i heard the marshal de richelieu desire mcampan 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 Su la Vie put forth memoirs of the Marshal de Richelieu.

Starting point is 01:30:52 And note, To give us a faithful portrait of the unfortunate reign of Louis Seize, the Marshal de Mourpa, Monsieur de Vergen, Monsieur de Mazerbe, the Duke of Orleans, Monsieur de la Fayette, the Abbe de Vermon, the Abbe Montescu, Mirabeau, the Duchess de Pollyne, and the Duchess de Luin

Starting point is 01:31:12 should have noted faithfully in writing all the transactions in which they took decided parts. As to the secret history of affairs of a later period, it has been disseminated among a much greater number of persons. There are ministers who have published memoirs, but solely 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 in that little no subject for a book

Starting point is 01:31:58 and those who have long borne the burthen 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. Vane illusion of the ambitious which they cherish for the most part, but as a veil to conceal from their sight the terrifying image of their inevitable downfall. And when that event at length takes place, despair deprives them of fortitude to dwell upon the dazzling period which they never cease to regret. And yet, the historian, who is sometimes perplexed that having to choose among the differing versions presented to him by contemporaries, is much more so if writings are wanting to him. He then has recourse to tradition and trusts to popular talk. He draws portraits from the political caricatures sketched by hatred or by flattery. Calumny is perpetuated, and some noble characters

Starting point is 01:32:57 remained blackened forever. An ill-conducted enterprise is called criminal, and a successful villain becomes a hero. History thus written furnishes no lesson. It is either a romance or a polluted and unconnected collection of libeles, which perhaps brought the smile of contempt even into the face of him who wrote them. Louis says meant to write his own memoirs. The manner in which his private papers were arranged pointed out 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 collected.

Starting point is 01:33:45 Some parts of the correspondence preserved by the Queen 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 the daughters of Louis Keynes 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 Cays, in the capacity of reader.

Starting point is 01:34:25 I was acquainted with the Court of Versailles before the time of the marriage of Louis Cés with the Archdeches Marie Antoinette. My father, who was employed in the Department of Foreign Affairs, enjoyed the reputation due to his talents and to his useful labors. He had traveled 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 placement, than my father. Men of the first celebrity, accumaditions,

Starting point is 01:34:58 and learned individuals, 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 Cateau's 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,

Starting point is 01:35:25 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, the age would not pass away without the occurrence of some grand shock, which would unsettle France and change the course of its progress. Those who thus spoke were almost all partisans of Monsieur Turgo's system of administration. They were Mirabaut the father, Dr. Kenney, Abbe Baudot, and Abbe Nicolie, charged afire to Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and as enthusiastic

Starting point is 01:36:00 and 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 police magistrate, and that, if ever the helm of affairs should be put into their hands,

Starting point is 01:36:31 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. In one of these conversations which, young as I was, engaged my attention, I heard my father compare the monarchy of France to a beautiful and antique statue. He agreed that the pedestal which supported it was mouldering away, and that the contours of the statue were disappearing under the parasitical plants which were gradually covering it. But, he inquired with a few. feeling of painful apprehension.

Starting point is 01:37:07 Where is the artist skillful enough to repair the base without shaking the statue? Such adepts were not to be found, and the attempts at restoration only precipitated ruin. The storm of passion burst, the whole monument gave way, and its fall jarred all Europe. End of author's preface. Chapter 1 I was fifteen years of age when I was appointed reader to the princesses. I will begin by describing the court at that period. Marie Alexenska was just dead.

Starting point is 01:37:42 The death of the dauphin had preceded her by three years. The Jesuits were suppressed, and piety was to be found at court only in the apartments of the princesses. The Duke de Choiselle was in power. The king thought of nothing but the pleasures of the chase. It might have been imagined that the courtiers indulged themselves in epigrammatizing by hearing them say seriously on those days when the king did not hunt, the king does nothing today.

Starting point is 01:38:09 Little journeys were also affairs of great importance with the king. On the first day of the year, he noted down in his almanac the days of departure for Compiang, for Fontainebleau, Choisy, etc. The weightiest matters, the most serious events, never deranged this distribution of his time. Etiquette still existed at court

Starting point is 01:38:31 with all the strictness it had a question. quiet under Louis XIV. Dignity alone was wanting. As to gaiety, it was out of the question. Versailles no longer presented an assemblage graced by French wit and elegance. The focus of wit and information was Paris. Since the death of the Marchioness de Pompadour, the king had no avowed mistress. He contented himself with the pleasures he derived from his little Sorrelio of the park itself. It is well known that the monarch found the separation of Louis de Bourbon from the King of France the most pleasing 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

Starting point is 01:39:14 unsuccessful. The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful particulars 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. Louis Quins saw very little of his family. He came every morning by a private staircase into the apartment of Madame Adelaide. 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,

Starting point is 01:39:59 rang for Madame Sophie, who in turn rang for Madame Louise. The apartments of the princesses were of very large dimensions. Madame Louise occupied the farthest room. The latter poor princess was deformed and very short. She used to run with all her might to join the daily meeting, but in spite of her haste, having a number of rooms to cross, she frequently had only just time to embrace her father before he set out for the chase.

Starting point is 01:40:27 Every evening at six, the ladies interrupted my reading to them to accompany the princes to Louis Kins. This visit was called the king's debautee, meaning unbooting, and was marked by a kind of etiquette. The princesses put on an enormous hoop

Starting point is 01:40:42 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 tafty, which enveloped them,

Starting point is 01:40:54 up to the chin. The gentleman ushers, the ladies in waiting, the pages, the esquires, and the ushers bearing large flambeau 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 had interrupted was frequently resumed at the end of a quarter of an hour. The princesses returned to their apartments and tied the strings of their petticoats and trains resumed their tapestry, and I returned to my book. During the summer season the king sometimes came to the residence of the princesses before the hour of his debautee.

Starting point is 01:41:35 One day he found me alone in Madame Victoire's closet and asked me where Cush was, Cush meaning the fat pig. I stared, 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 a very good. herself, and very coolly explained to me that being the fattest of his daughters, the king had given her the familiar name of Cush, and that he called Madame Adelaide, look, meaning rag, Madame Sophie Greye, meaning scrap, and Madame Louise, sheaf, meaning bad silk, or stuff.

Starting point is 01:42:14 Nothing but the zest of these contrasts could afford the king any amusement in the use of such words. The people of his household observed that he knew a great number of them, and it was supposed that he had learned them from his mistresses. Possibly, too, 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, however, savoured nothing of such vulgarity. His walk was easy and noble. He had a dignified carriage of the head, and his aspect, without being severe, was imposing. he combined great politeness with a truly regal demeanor and gracefully saluted the humblest female whom curiosity led into his path he was very expert in a number of little trifling matters which never occupy attention but for want of something better to employ it for instance he would knock off the top of an egg-shell very cleverly at a single stroke of his fork he therefore always ate eggs when he died in public and the parisian cockneys 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

Starting point is 01:43:26 repartees of louis kings which marked the keenness of his wit and the elevation of his sentiments were quoted with pleasure in the assemblies of versailles they have been recorded in collections of anecdotes and are generally known this prince was still beloved it was wished that a style of life suitable to his age and dignity should at length cast a veil over the follies of the past and to justify the love cherished by the french for his youth it gave them pain to judge him harshly the princesses were blamed for not seeking to prevent the danger of the king's forming an intimacy with some new favourite madame ariette 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 that she would have followed him in his short excursions and would have done the honours of the petit soupe which he was so fond of giving in his private apartments The princesses had too much neglected the means of pleasing the king, but this obviously arose from 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 of the treasury,

Starting point is 01:44:43 the ministers occasionally pressed the most extravagant measures of reform in the king's household, and even on his personal expenses. Cardinal Fleury, who in truth had the merit of re-establishing the finances, carried this system of economy so far as to obtain from the king the suppression of the household and education of the four younger princesses. They were brought up as mere borders in a convent eight leagues distant from the coast. Saint-Cia would have been more suitable for the reception of the king's daughters. Probably the cardinal was infected with some of those prejudices, which will always attach to even the most useful institutions,

Starting point is 01:45:21 and which, since the death of Louis Catoz, had been raised again, the noble establishment of Madame de Maitnon. He preferred in trusting the education of the princesses to a provincial sisterhood. Madame Louisa often assured me that at twelve years of age she was not mistress of the whole alphabet, and never learned to read fluently

Starting point is 01:45:40 until after her return to Versailles. Madame Victoire attributed certain paroxysms of panic terror, which she was never able to conquer, to the violent alarms she experienced at the Abbe of Font-Ovro, where she was sent by way of pedic to pray alone, in the vault where the sisters were interred. No salutary foresight had been exerted to preserve these princesses from those dismal impressions,

Starting point is 01:46:05 against which the most unenlightened mother knows how to guard her children. A gardener belonging to the abbey died raving mad. His habitation without the walls was in the neighborhood of a chapel of the abbey, where the princesses 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. The most absurd indulgences were mixed with these cruel practices. Madame Adelaide, the eldest of the princesses, was haughty and passionate. The good sisters never failed to give way to her ridiculous fancies.

Starting point is 01:46:43 The dancing master, the only professor of graceful accomplishments who had followed the ladies to Fontaveauvreau, was teaching them a dance than much in passion, which, was called the rose-colored minuet. Madame Adelaide insisted that it should be named the blue minuet. The teacher resisted her whim and urged her that she should be laughed at at court if the princess should talk of a blue minuet. The princess refused to take her lesson,

Starting point is 01:47:10 stamped and repeated blue, blue, blue, blue, rose, said the master. The sisterhood assembled to decide the important case. The nuns cried blue with the princess, The minuet was re-christened, and she danced. Among women so little worthy of the office of an instructress, there was, however, one sister, who, by her judicious tenderness, and by the useful proofs which she gave of it to the princesses,

Starting point is 01:47:37 entitled herself to their attachment and obtained their gratitude. This was Madame de Soulange, whom they afterwards caused to be appointed abyss of Royal Leu. Note by Madame Campan. This excellent woman felt. a victim to the revolutionary madness. She and her numerous sisters were led to the scaffold on the same day. While leaving the prison, they all chanted the veni creator upon the fatal ear.

Starting point is 01:48:04 When arrived at the place of execution, they did not interrupt their strains. One head fell and ceased to join its voice with the celestial chorus, but the strain continued. The abbess suffered last, and her single voice, with increased tone, still raged. the devout versicle. It ceased at once. It was the silence of death. End note. They also took upon themselves

Starting point is 01:48:32 the promotion of this lady's nephews. Those of Madame McCarthy, who had weakly indulged her charge, carried for a long time the musket of the king's guard at the door of the princesses without the latter thinking of advancing their fortune.

Starting point is 01:48:46 When the princesses, still very young, returned to court, they enjoyed the friendship of the dophé, 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

Starting point is 01:49:01 to write French correctly and acquired a good knowledge of history. 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.

Starting point is 01:49:16 Italian, English, the higher branches of the mathematics, turning and dialing, successively filled up the leisure moments of the princesses. Madame Adelaide was graced for a short time with a charming figure, but never did beauty vanish so quickly. Madame Victoire was handsome and very graceful. Her address, Mien, and smile were in perfect accordance with the goodness of her heart.

Starting point is 01:49:43 Madame Sophie was remarkably ugly. Never did I behold a person of so revolting an appearance. She walked with the greatest repetition. and in order to recognize people without looking at them, she had acquired the habit of leering on one side like a hair. 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 attractiveness in the society of some favorite ladies. She taught herself a great deal, but she studied alone. The presence of a reader

Starting point is 01:50:21 would have disconcerted her very much. There were, however, occasions on which this princess, generally so intractable, became all at once affable and condescending, and manifested the most communicative good nature. This would happen during a storm. She was afraid of it, and 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. appeal of thunder would drive her to embrace them but with the return of the calm the princess resumed her stiffness her reserve and her repulsive air and passed everyone without taking the slightest notice until a fresh storm restored to her at once her terror and her affability

Starting point is 01:51:07 these ladies found in a beloved brother whose excellent qualities are known to all frenchmen a guide in everything wanting to their education so much neglected in infancy in their august mind in their august mother maria lexenska they possessed the noblest model of every pious and social virtue that princess by her eminent qualifications and her modest dignity veiled the failings with which most unhappily the king was justly reproachable and while she lived she preserved in the court of louis kins that suitable and imposing tone which alone supports 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 higher idea entertained of the elevation of their sentiments and the purity of their conduct. If the ladies 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 gladly have cultivated flowers, but could have no others than those in

Starting point is 01:52:15 their windows. The Marchioness de Durfair, since Duchess de Sivrach, afforded Madame Vittoir the sweets of an amiable society. The princess spent almost all her evenings with that lady, and at length fancied herself one of her family. Note by Madame Campan. The Duchess de Civrack, grandmother of two heroes of Lavande,

Starting point is 01:52:37 L'Eiscourt and La Roche-Jacques, by the marriage of her eldest daughter with Monsieur Donisot, and of the unfortunate Labdoyère by the marriage of her second daughter with Monsieur de Chastelux. and note. Madame de Narbonne had in a similar way taken pains to make her intimate

Starting point is 01:52:54 acquaintance agreeable 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,

Starting point is 01:53:11 and apologize 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 Monsieur Bertin, Minister of the Estcheats, 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.

Starting point is 01:53:37 When I got there, the princess was gone out. I learned that she had gone at seven in the morning to the convent of Carmelites of Saint-Denie, 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 great to show the princess de guistel who had accompanied her to the convent gate and to her attendant 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,

Starting point is 01:54:27 and reproached the king bitterly for the secrecy which he had thought it his duty to preserve. Madame Vigtois missed the society of her favorite sister, but she only shed tears in silence on her abandonment of them. The first time I saw this excellent princess after that event, 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 sofa upon which she was extended,

Starting point is 01:54:59 "'Make yourself easy, my dear. I shall never have Louise's courage. I love the conveniences of life too well. This couch is my destruction.' As soon as I obtained permission to do so, I went to St. Denis to see my August and Holy Mistress. she deigned to receive me with her face uncovered in her private parlor she told me she had just left the wash-house and that it was her turn that day to attend to the linen i greatly misused 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 anie 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 imagine might find full exercise in the contemplation of a better world i had no palace no earthly grander to sacrifice to god nothing but the society of an affectionate family but 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

Starting point is 01:56:40 the seclusion of madame louise was attributed to various motives some were unkind enough to suppose it had 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 soul was 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 freeze gown she achieved it i saw madame louise two or three times more at the grate i was informed of her death by louiseisey my aunt louise said he to me your old mistress is just dead at saint-denie 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 quick quick full speed no doubt she thought she was again giving orders to her groom 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 indolent sofa, she fulfilled the duties of religion with punctuality,

Starting point is 01:58:12 gave to the poor all that she possessed, and strictly observed lent and the fasts. It is true that the table of the princesses had acquired a reputation for dishes of abstinence, which the assiduous parasites at that of their maitre d'autais spread abroad. Madame Victoire was not indifferent to good living, but she had the most religious scruples respecting dishes which it was allowable for her to eat of 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.

Starting point is 01:58:45 The question to be irrevocably determined was, whether it was fish or flesh. She consulted a bishop who happened to be a bishop who happened to be of the party. The prelate immediately assumed a decided tone of voice and the grave attitude of a judge in the highest court of appeal. He answered the princess that it had been resolved, that in a similar case of doubt, after dressing the bird, it should be pricked over a very cold silver dish, that 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,

Starting point is 01:59:19 it might be eaten at all times 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 victor was so disagreeable to her that she listened with impatience for the striking of 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 one must have been as severe in principle as insensible to the excellent qualities of the princess to blame her for it madame adelaide had more talents 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 rendered 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 vobiscombe 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 to think again of officiating in the style of a prelate the ladies lived quite separate from the king since the death of madame de pompadour he had lived alone the enemies of the duke de choise did not know in what society 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 regular intrigue moreover the parko self was a seraglio the beauties of which were often changed it was desirous

Starting point is 02:01:10 to give the king a mistress who might form a circle round her, and in whose drawing-room, through the power of daily insinuations, the long-standing attachment of the king for the Duke de Choiselle might be overcome. It is true that Madame de Berri was selected from a class sufficiently low. Her origin, her education, her habits, and everything about her bore a vulgar and shameful character. But by marrying her to a man who dated his nobility from 1400, it was thought scandal would be avoided. the conqueror of maun conducted this vile intrigue 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 marchioness de pompadour her regular beauty nor even her love for the king would have had any further influence over that worn-out being he wanted a roxelana familiar gaiety without any respect

Starting point is 02:02:10 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 up on the arm of his chair, playing off all sorts of childish monkey tricks calculated to please an old sultan.

Starting point is 02:02:31 In other time she snatched a packet of sealed letters from the king's hand. Among them, she had observed one from Count de Bruey. She told the king, that she knew that vile brouy spoke ill of her to him, and that for that once at least, she would make sure he should read nothing respecting her. The king wanted to get the packet again.

Starting point is 02:02:51 She resisted, and made him run two or three times round the table, which was in the middle of the council chamber, and at length, 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 the countess in tears threw herself at his feet and he pardoned her

Starting point is 02:03:25 madame la marichal de beauvo the duchess de chauze and the duchess de gramont had renounced the honor of the king's intimate acquaintance rather than share it with madame du bari but a few years after the death of louis-quins the duchess Madame la Marichal, being alone at the Val, a house belonging to Monsieur de Beauvo, Mademoiselle de Dillon saw the countess's calash take shelter in the forest of Saint-Germain during a violent storm. She invited her in, and the countess herself related these particulars which I had from Madame de Beauvoir. Note by the editor. Champas relates differently Madame du Barry's visit to the Val. Madame du Barry, says he, being at Vincennes, was curious to see the Val. Madame de Beauvo was amused at the idea of going there and doing the honors.

Starting point is 02:04:14 She talked of what happened under Louis Kins. Madame du Barry was complaining of various matters which appeared to show that she was personally detested. By no means, said Madame de Beauvo, we aimed at nothing but your place. After this frank confession, Madame du Barry was asked if Louis Kins did not say a great deal against her, Madame du Bovo and Madame de Grameau. Oh, a great deal. Well, and what of me, for instance? Of you, madame?

Starting point is 02:04:44 That you are haughty and intriguing, and that you lead your husband by the nose? Monsieur de Beauvoir was present. The conversation was soon changed. End of note. The Count Dubarie, surnamed Le Rouet, the profligate, and Mademoiselle Dubarie advised, or rather prompted Madame Dubarie,

Starting point is 02:05:04 in furtherance of the plans of the party of the Marshal de Richelieu and the Duke de Guillon. Sometimes they set her to act even in such a way as to have a useful influence upon great political measures. Under pretense that the page who accompanied Charles I in his flight was a Dubarie or Barrymore, they persuaded the Countess 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 Mopo Parliament,

Starting point is 02:05:40 she desired him to look at the portrait of a king who had given way to his parliament. The men of ambition who were laboring to overthrow the Duke de Choiselle strengthened themselves by their concentration at the House of the Favorite 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 the princesses. The Duke de la Vogueon, the young Dauphins governor, inspired him

Starting point is 02:06:10 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 was about to be overcome. Madame Adelaide openly avowed her dislike to a princess of the House of Austria. And when Monsieur Campan went to receive his orders at the moment of setting off with the household of the Dauphinez to go and receive the Archduchess upon the frontiers, she said, she disapproved of the marriage of her nephew with a woman. an archduchess, and that if she had had any order to give, it would not have been to seek. End of author's preface and Chapter 1. Volume 1, Chapter 2 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie

Starting point is 02:06:59 Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Libre-Vox recording is in the public domain. 2 Mary Antoinette Joseph Jean de Lorene, Archduchess of Austria, daughter of Francis de Lorene and Maria Teresa, was born on the 2nd of November, 755, the day of the earthquake of 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,

Starting point is 02:07:35 she ardently desired to have another son, and playfully wagered against her wish with the Duke de Paruka, 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 verses by the celebrated metastasio were engraved. Lo perde, logostafilia, appagar my condonato, massever that a boy a somilia, to all mundo a guadagnato. 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.

Starting point is 02:08:18 She lost him when she was scarcely seven years old. One of those circumstances which fixed themselves strongly in the memories of children frequently recalled his last caresses to her. The Emperor was setting out for Insprach. He had already left his palace when he ordered a gentleman to fetch the Archduchess Marit Antoinette and bring her to his carriage. When she came, he stretched out his arms to receive her and said, having pressed her to his bosom.

Starting point is 02:08:45 I wished 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 formed all her schemes for the education of her children by the essentials which had been neglected in her own. Maria Teresa, who inspired awe by her great qualities, taught the Archduces to fear and respect rather than to love her,

Starting point is 02:09:12 at least I observed it 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 upon her such a powerful impression as time had never been able to efface. The wife of the Emperor Joseph II was taken from him in a few days by an attack of smallpox of the worst kind. Her coffin had recently been deposited.

Starting point is 02:09:42 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 a prayer in the vault of her forefathers. The Archduchess persuaded

Starting point is 02:09:58 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 then going down to the tomb of her ancestors, and that she should shortly go again, there to remain. Her anticipation was realized. A confluent smallpox carried her off in a very

Starting point is 02:10:31 few days, and her youngest sister ascended the throne of Naples in her place. The Empress was too much taken up with high political interest to have it in her power to devote herself to maternal attentions. The celebrated Van Sweeten, her physician, went daily to visit the young imperial family, and afterwards to Maria Teresa and gave the most minute details respecting the health of the Archdukes and Archdukeseses,

Starting point is 02:10:56 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 collected 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 Teresa

Starting point is 02:11:20 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 infancy. 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 Countess de Brandes was appointed to succeed her and fulfilled her duties with great exactness and talent. The Queen looked upon her having been confided to her care so late as a misfortune,

Starting point is 02:11:51 and always continued upon terms of friendship with that lady. The education of Marie Antoinette was certainly very much neglected. Note by Madame Campan. With the exception of the Italian language, all that related to Belle Lettre, and particularly to history, even that of her own country, 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

Starting point is 02:12:21 in the course of these memoirs whether that opinion was well or ill found it. End note. The public prince, however, teamed with assertions of the superior talents of Maria Teresa'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 Monsieur Gerard, Chief Secretary 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.

Starting point is 02:13:08 that I ever put a pencil upon 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 proficiency in the other branches of her education.

Starting point is 02:13:29 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 the 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,

Starting point is 02:13:53 finding all the difficulties which a French woman 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.

Starting point is 02:14:18 She had 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 Eglis. She made a distant appointment with her. him, needing, as she said, rest after the fatigues of the journey, and the numerous fad which had taken place at Versailles. But the motive was a desire to conceal how ignorant she was of

Starting point is 02:14:47 the rudiments of music. She asked Monsieur Campan whether his son, who was a good musician, could give her lessons secretly for three months. The dofinez, added she, smiling, must be careful of the reputation of the Archduchess. The lessons were given privately, and at the end of three months, constant application, she sent for Monsieur Lagarde 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, Ophrein for pronunciation and declamation, and one Saint-Ville for taste in French singing. The latter had been an officer in France and bore a bad character.

Starting point is 02:15:33 The choice gave just umbrage to our court. The Marquis de d'Urfort, at that time ambassador at Vienna, was ordered to make a representation to the Empress upon her selection. The two actors were dismissed, and that princess required that an ecclesiastic should be sent to her. It was at that period that the Duke de Choiselle was solicitous to send her a preceptor. Several eminent ecclesiastics declined taking upon themselves so delicate in office. Others who were pointed out by Maria Teresa, among the rest, the Abbe Griselle, belonged to parties which sufficed to exclude them. The Archbishop of Toulouse, since Archbishop of Sance, one day went to Monsieur the Duke de Choiselle

Starting point is 02:16:17 at the moment when he was really embarrassed upon the subject of this nomination. He proposed to him the Abbe de Vermon, librarian of the College de Caternations. The advantageous 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 Vermonde. towards the prelate was very fatal to France, in as much 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. This Abbe de Vermon, of whom, because his powers always remained in the shade historians say but little, directed almost all the Queen's

Starting point is 02:16:57 actions. He had established his influence over her at an age when impressions are the most durable, and it was easy to see that he had only endeavored 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, left her in ignorance. Mary Antoinette spoke the French language with much grace, but wrote it less perfectly. The Abbe de Vermont revised all the letters which she sent to Vienna. The insupportable folly with which he boasted of it developed the character of a man more flattered

Starting point is 02:17:36 at being admitted into her confidence than anxious to fulfill the high office of her preceptor with propriety. His pride received its birth at Vienna, where Maria Teresa, as much to give him authority with the Archduchess as to make herself mistress of his character, permitted him to mix every evening with the private circle of her family, into which the future Dauphinez had been admitted for some time. Joseph II, the elder archduchesses

Starting point is 02:18:01 and a few noblemen honored by the confidence of Maria Theresa composed the party. And all that could be expected from persons of exalted rank in reflections on the world, on courts, and the duties of princes were the usual topics of conversation. The Abbe de Vermon, in relating these particulars, confessed the means which he had made use of to gain admission into this private circle.

Starting point is 02:18:24 The Empress, meeting with him at the Archduchesses, 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 honored with the care of the Princess's education should frequent. A month afterwards, Maria Teresa, 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 be with the Imperial family every evening.

Starting point is 02:18:57 It is extremely probable from the constant and well-known intercourse between this man in Count Merci, Ambassador of the Empire during the whole reign of Louis Seiz, 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. Note by Madame Campan. A person who had dined with the Abbe one day at the Count de Merci's said to that ambassador, How can you bear that tiresome proser? How can you ask it? replied Monsieur de Merci. You could answer the question yourself. It is because I want him.

Starting point is 02:19:33 End note. Born in a low class of citizens, 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 a his inferiors, the Abbe de Vermon 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. Note by Madame Campan. The Abbe de Vermon was the son of a village surgeon and brother of an accoucher, who had acted in that

Starting point is 02:20:21 capacity for the queen. When he was with her majesty in speaking to his brother, he never addressed him otherwise than as Monsieur la Coucher. End note. Intoxicated with the reception he had met with at the Court of Vienna, and having till then seen nothing of grandeur, the Abbe de Vermon admired and valued no other customs than those of the imperial family. He ridiculed the etiquette of the House of Bourbon incessantly. The young Duffiness 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.

Starting point is 02:21:00 Such is the faithful portrait of that man whom the unlucky 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 Vermon too unfavorably. But how can I view with any complacency one,

Starting point is 02:21:22 who, after having arrogated to himself, the office of confidant and a soul, counselor of the queen, guided her with so little prudence, and caused us the mortification of seeing that princess blend, with qualities which charmed all that surrounded her, errors alike injurious to her reputation and her happiness. When a man voluntarily takes upon himself duty so important, complete success alone can justify his ambition, while Monsieur de Choiselle, satisfied with the person whom Monsieur de Brienne had presented, sent him to Vienna with every eul calculated to inspire unbounded confidence, the Marquis de Durfar sent off a valet de Chambre

Starting point is 02:22:02 and a few French fashions, and then it was thought sufficient pains had been taken to form the character of a princess destined to the throne of France. It is universally known that the marriage of the Doffin with the Archduchess was determined upon during the administration of the Duke de Choiselle. The Marquis de Durfar, who was to succeed the Baron de Breté in the embassy to Vienna, was appointed proxy for the marriage ceremony. But six months after the Dauphin's marriage, the Duke de Choiselle was disgraced, and Madame de Marseigne, who grew more powerful through the Duke's disgrace, conferred that embassy upon Prince Louis de Roan, afterwards Cardinal and Grand Almoner.

Starting point is 02:22:45 Hence it will be seen that the Gazette de France is a sufficient answer to those ignorant libelers who dared to assert that the young Archduchess was acquainted with the Cardinal de Roan 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 light and so immoral as Prince Louis de Roan could not have been made. He possessed but superficial knowledge upon any subject and was totally ignorant in diplomatic affairs. His reputation had gone before him to Vienna, and his mission opened under the most

Starting point is 02:23:23 unfavorable auspices. In want of money, and the House of Roan being unable to make him any considerable advances, he obtained from his court a patent which authorized him to borrow the sum of six hundred thousand 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 at the same time the most 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, abused the privileges of ambassadors in order to make money,

Starting point is 02:24:13 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. Note by Madame Campan. I have often heard the Queen say that in the office of the Secretary of the Prince de Roan, there were sold in one year at Vienna, more silk stockings than at Lyon and Paris together. End note.

Starting point is 02:24:47 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 favor by assisting in the attempt to effect a marriage between the Archduchess Elizabeth, the elder sister of Marie Antoinette and Louis 15, an affair which was awkwardly undertaken, and which Madame du Barry had no difficulty in crushing. I have deemed it my duty to omit no particular of the moral and political character of a man whose existence was subsequently so fatal to the reputation of Marie Antoinette. End of Chapter 2. Volume 1, Chapter 3 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame

Starting point is 02:25:38 Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 3. A superb pavilion had been prepared upon the frontiers near Cal. It consisted of a vast saloon connected with two apartments, one of which was assigned to the lords and ladies the court of Vienna, and the other to the suite of the doffinesse, composed of the Countess the Countess de Noai, her lady of honour, the Duchess de Cossé, her tirewoman, four ladies of the bedchamber, the Count de Sotavan, first gentleman usher, the Count of Tessie, first equerry, the Bishop of Chartre, Chief Almoner, the officers of the bodyguards and the pages. When the doffines had been entirely undressed, even to her body linen and

Starting point is 02:26:22 stockings, 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 Contest de Noai. Then, rushing into her arms, she implored her with tears in her eyes, and with a heartfelt sincerity, to direct her, to advise her, and to be in every respect her guide and support. It was impossible to refrain from admiring her aerial deportment. Her smile was sufficient to win the heart, and in this enchanting being in whom the splendor of French gaiety shone forth, an indescribable but august serenity, perhaps also the somewhat proud position of her head and shoulders betrayed the daughter of the Caesars.

Starting point is 02:27:07 While doing justice to the virtues of the Countess de Noai, those sincerely attached to the queen have always considered it as one of the earliest misfortunes of the latter. Perhaps even the greatest that she could experience on her entrance into the world. not to have found in the person assigned her for an advisor, an indulgent and enlightened woman, administering good counsel with that sweetness which engages young persons to follow it. The Countess de Noai had nothing agreeable in her appearance. Her demeanour was stiff and her me and severe. She was perfect mistress of etiquette, but she wearied the young princess with it,

Starting point is 02:27:43 without making her sensible of its importance. So much ceremony was indeed oppressive, but it was adopted. upon the expediency of presenting the young princess to the French in such a manner as to command their respect, and especially of guarding her by an imposing barrier against the deadly shafts of calumny. It would have been proper to convince the Dauphinez that in France her dignity depended much upon customs

Starting point is 02:28:09 by no means necessary at Vienna to attract the respect and love of the good and submissive Austrians towards the imperial family. The Dauphinez was thus perpetually tormented by the remonstrances of the Countess de Noai, and at the same time prompted by the Abbe de Vermon to ridicule both the lessons upon etiquette and her who gave them. She preferred rail-reter to argument

Starting point is 02:28:32 and surnamed the Countess de Noai, Madame L'Eitiquette. This piece of humor gave rise to a presumption that as soon as the young princess could follow her own inclinations, she would free herself from these formal customs. Note by Madame Campan. The Countess de Noai, the Queen's Lady of of honor possessed abundance of good qualities. Piety, charity, and irreproachable morals rendered her worthy of reverence. But with all the frivolity which a narrow mind could add even to the noblest

Starting point is 02:29:01 qualifications, the countess was also abundantly provided. Etiquette was to her a kind of atmosphere. At the slightest derangement of the prescribed order of things, it might be imagined that she was on the point of being suffocated. The queen required a lady of honor who would explained to her the origin of these forms. Very inconvenient, it must be confessed, but invented as offence against malevolence. The custom of having ladies of honour and gentleman ushers, and that of wearing hoops of three owls in circumference, were certainly invented to entrench all young princesses so respectably that the malicious gaiety of the French, their proneness to insinuations, and too

Starting point is 02:29:44 often to calumny, should not by any possibility find an opportunity to attack them. the countess de noai was incessantly teasing the queen with a thousand remonstrances that she ought to have saluted this person in one way and to that person in another all paris knew that the queen had named her madame l'itiquette according to their turn of mind some approved of this nickname and others condemned it but all agreed that the young queen was disposed to free herself from wearisome ceremonies end of note the entertainments which were given at versailles on the marriage of the dole were remarkably splendid. The Dauphinez arrived there in time for her toilette after having slept at La Mouette, where Louis Quins 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 Dauphinez was hurt at this conduct. She spoke of it openly enough to those with whom she

Starting point is 02:30:46 was intimate, but she knew how to conceal her dissatisfaction in public. and her behavior 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 prepared for her until six months after the day of her marriage. The Dauphinez, then fifteen years of age, beaming with freshness, appeared to all eyes more than beautiful. Her walk partook at once of the noble character

Starting point is 02:31:12 of the princesses of her house and of the graces of the French. Her eyes were mild, her smile lovely. 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, to those who were to be satisfied with a smile, while they read in her eyes a feeling of benevolence calculated to console them for not being entitled to honors. Louis Quins was enchanted with the young duffiness. 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 splendor of the diamonds with which she had been adorned during the earliest days of her marriage. When clothed in a light dress of gauze or tafti, she was compared to the Venus de medicis and the Atalanta of the Marley Gardens. Poets sang her charms, painters attempted to copy her features. An ingenious idea of one of the latter was rewarded by Louis Quins. The painter's fancy had led him to place the portrait of Marie Antoinette in the heart of a full-blown rose. The king continued to talk only of the doffiness, and, and, and Madame du Barry angrily endeavored to damp his enthusiasm.

Starting point is 02:32:37 Whenever Marie-Antoinette was the topic, she pointed out the irregularity of her features, criticized the bon moe quoted as hers, and rallied the king upon his prepossession in her favor. Madame du Barry was affronted at not receiving from the doffines 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

Starting point is 02:33:01 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 Choiselle Party contributed powerfully to excite the enmity of the favorite. It is known that the shameful elevation of Madame DuBarre was the work of the anti-Choiseul Party. 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, open, volatile, and inexperienced, found herself without any other guide than the Abbe de Vermon, in a court ruled by the enemy of the minister who had brought her there,

Starting point is 02:33:44 and in the midst of people who hated Austria, and detested an alliance with the Imperial House. The Duke de Guillon, the Duke de la Vogueon, the Marshal de Richelieu, the Roan, 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 interest. They therefore, without abandoning their projects, changed their mode of attack, and it will be seen how well the conduct of the dauphin served as a basis for their hopes. The dofinesque continually gave proof of both sense and feeling. Sometimes even she suffered herself

Starting point is 02:34:29 to be carried away by those transports of compassionate kindness, which are not to be controlled either by rank or by the customs which it establishes. In consequence of the fire in the Place Louis Cains, which occurred at the time of the nuptial entertainments, the Dauphé and Dauphines sent their whole income for the year to the relief of the unfortunate families who lost their relatives on that disastrous day.

Starting point is 02:34:52 This act of generosity is in itself of the number of those ostentatious kindnesses, which are dictated by the policy of princes, at least as much as by their compassion. But the grief of Marie Antoinette was genuine, and lasted several days. Nothing could console her for the loss of so many innocent victims. She spoke of it weeping to her ladies when one of them, 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,

Starting point is 02:35:26 added the person who related these particulars. Oh, no, no, madame, replied the doffiness. They died by the side of honest people. In passing through Rains in her way to Strasbourg, she said, That town is the one of all France which I hope not to see again for a long time. Note by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 02:35:49 The coronation of the French kings takes place in Rince, so that when she should revisit that city, it would most probably be in consequence of the death of her father-in-law, Louis Kins. End note. The Dauphinez had brought from Vienna a considerable number of white diamonds.

Starting point is 02:36:07 The king added to them the gift of the diamonds and pearls of the late Dauphinez, 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 dovinesses of France. Note by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 02:36:28 I mentioned this caller thus particularly because the queen thought it her duty, notwithstanding this appropriation, to give it up to the Commission of the National Assembly when they came to strip the king and queen of the crown diamonds. End of note. The three princesses daughters of Louis Kins joined in making her magnificent presence. Madame Adelaide at the same time gave the young princess a key of the private corridors of the castle. By means of which, without any suite and without being perceived, she could get to the apartment of her aunts and see them in private.

Starting point is 02:37:02 The doffiness on receiving the key told them with infinite grace that if they had meant to make her appreciate the superb presence they were kind enough to bestow upon her, they should not at the same time have offered her one of such inestimable value. For that, to the 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, as 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 obtrusive gaiety of the Dauphinez.

Starting point is 02:37:42 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 parents. parasites and flatterers. She endeavored, therefore, to induce her to take pleasure in the society of the Marchioness de Durfarr, her maid of honor and favorite. Several agreeable entertainments took place at the house of this lady, but the Countess de Noai and the Abbe de Vermon soon opposed these meetings. A circumstance which happened in hunting near the village of Achere in the forest of Fontainebleau afforded the young princess an opportunity of displaying her respect for old age and her compassion for misfortune.

Starting point is 02:38:21 a very old peasant was wounded by the stag the dauphine s jumped out of her calais 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, under such circumstances, the recollection of her rank never checked the effects of 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 considerable in years. She had placed near him a bowl full of water, was stanching the blood which issued from a

Starting point is 02:39:04 wound he had received in his hand, with her hanging. which he had torn up to bind it, and was fulfilling towards him all the duties of a pious nun of the order of charity. The old man, affected even to tears, out of respect, left his August mistress to act as she thought proper. He had hurt himself in endeavoring to bring forward some rather heavy piece of furniture which the princess had asked him for. In the month of July 1770, an unfortunate occurrence that took place in a family which the dofine has honored with her favor, contributed again to show not only her. her sensibility, but also the justness of her ideas.

Starting point is 02:39:40 One of her women had a son who was an officer in the gendarme of the guard. This young man thought himself affronted by a clerk in the war department, and imprudently sent him a formal challenge. He killed his adversary in the forest of Compiang. 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.

Starting point is 02:40:06 no mercy on the first event of that kind which could be proved. The culprit was therefore arrested. His mother, in all the agitation of 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 favor so much desired. On the next day a lady of rank who had certainly suffered herself to be prejudiced against the gendarme's mother,

Starting point is 02:40:33 while congratulating the doffinesse at the malice to add, that the mother had neglected no means of success on the occasion, that she had solicited not only the royal family, but even Madame du Barry. The Dauphinez replied that the fact justified the favorable opinion she had formed of the worthy woman, that the heart of a mother should hesitate at nothing for the salvation of her son,

Starting point is 02:40:56 and that in her place, if she had thought it would be serviceable, she would have thrown herself at the feet of Zamora. Note by Madame Campan. A little Indian who carried the countess to Bari's train. Louis Quins often amused himself with the little Marmossette. Having facetiously made him

Starting point is 02:41:13 governor of Lucien, he received an annual income of 5,000 francs. End note. Some time after the marriage entertainments, the Dauphinez made her entry into Paris and was received with transports of joy. After dining in the King's apartment

Starting point is 02:41:30 at the Tuilerie, she was forced by the reiterated shouts of the multitude with which 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, Great God, what a concourse!

Starting point is 02:41:47 Madame, said the old Duke de Brisec, governor of Paris, I may tell you without fear of offending the dauphin, that they are so many lovers. The dauphin took no umbrage at either acclamations or marks of homage of which the doffinesse 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.

Starting point is 02:42:13 Not all her charms could gain even upon his senses. He threw himself as a matter of duty, upon the bed of the doffinesse, and often fell asleep without saying a single word to her. This distance,

Starting point is 02:42:26 which lasted a long time, was said to be the work of the Duke de la Beau Guillon. The Dauphinez, in fact, had no sincere friends at court, except the Duke de Choiselle and his party. Will it be credited that the plans laid against Marie Antoinette went so far as to aim at a divorce?

Starting point is 02:42:43 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 doffines should not be finished, and a temporary apartment at the extremity of the building was assigned to him. The dauphines, aware that this was the result of intrigue, had the courage to complain of it to Louis Kins, who, after severe reprimands, gave orders so positive that within the week the apartment was ready. every method was tried to continue and 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 the dauphin's indifference to nay his contempt for the charms which she heard extolled on all sides never induced her to break silence and occasional tears which would involuntarily burst from her eyes were the sole symptoms of her inward sufferings discoverable by those in her surferings discoverable by those in her service service. Once only, when tired out with the misplaced remonstrances of an old maid attached to her person who wished to dissuade her from riding on horseback, under the impression that it would prevent her producing airs to the crown, Mademoiselle, said she,

Starting point is 02:44:06 in God's name, do not tease me. Be assured that I am putting no air in danger. I thought it my duty to portray early in these memoirs, the obscure though ambitious man, who guided Marie Antoinette from her infant. down to the fatal epoch of the revolution. I have given the character of the doffinesses made of honour. I have noticed some particulars of the prejudice of Madame Adelaide, the eldest daughter of Louis Kins, against the House of Austria. I have spoken of the great kindness of the second princess, Madame Victoire,

Starting point is 02:44:39 and of her affection for Marie Antoinette. And lastly, I have sketched the character of Madame Sophie, the King's third daughter, who did not afford to her niece, even to the extent which her sisters did, the useful resources of society. The Dauphines found at the court of Louis Keynes, besides the three princesses the king's daughters, the princes also, brothers of the Dauphin who were receiving their education,

Starting point is 02:45:04 and the ladies Clotilde and Elizabeth, still in the care of Madame de Marseigne, governess of the Children of France. The eldest of the two latter princesses in 1777 married the Prince of Piedmont afterwards King of Sardinia. This princess was in her infancy so extremely fat that the people nicknamed her Gros Madame. Note by the editor.

Starting point is 02:45:27 Madame Cloutille de France, a sister of the king, was in fact 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, immediately received a severe reprimand from the Countess de Marcon, who hinted to her that she would do well in not making her appearance again before the princess. Madame Cloutilde sent for her the next day.

Starting point is 02:45:52 My governess, said she, has done her duty, and I will do mine. Come and see us as usual, and think no more of a piece of inadvertency, which I myself have forgotten. This princess, so encumbered with body, possess the most agreeable and playful wit. Her affability and prepossessing grace rendered her dear to all who came near her. A certain poet whose mind was solely occupied with the prodigious sound, of madame clotilde when it was determined that she should marry the prince of peatmont composed the following stanza to understand the humor or rather the meaning of it it must be remembered that two princesses of savoy had just married two french princes though we've only returned one princess for the two who from peatmont were sent us of late yet surely no question or wrong can ensue since the bargains made up by her weight end of note the second princess was the pious elizabeth the victim of her respect and tender attachment for the king her brother and whose exalted virtues deserved a celestial crown note by the editor

Starting point is 02:47:00 elizabeth philippine marie helena of france was born at versailles on the third of may seventeen sixty four madame elizabeth says monsieur de la salle the author of a biographical article upon this interesting and unfortunate princess had not like madame clotilde her sister received from nature that softness and flexibility of character which renders the practice of virtue easy she evinced more than one mark of resemblance to the duke of burgundy the pupil of finelon education and piety operated upon her as they did upon that prince good precepts and the examples which surrounded her adorned her with all good qualities with all virtues and left her nothing of her original inclinations but amiable sensibility lively impressions and a firmness which seemed formed to meet the dreadful trials for which heaven reserved her. We shall have occasion more than once in the course of these memoirs and the whole of this collection to observe her constant friendship, her affecting resignation,

Starting point is 02:48:00 her sublime self-devotion, and her angelic sweetness to the very moment in which she manifested the calm and heroic courage of a martyr. End note. She was still scarcely out of her leading strings at the period of the dauphin's marriage. The dofineess gave her a

Starting point is 02:48:18 marked preference. The governess who sought to advance that one of the two princesses to whom nature had been least favorable was offended at the Dauphinesse's partiality for Madame Elizabeth, and, by her injudicious complaints, weakened the friendship which yet subsisted between Madame Crutilde and Marie Antoinette. There even arose some degree of rivalship upon the subject of education, and that which the Empress Maria Teresa had bestowed upon her daughters was talked of openly and unfavorably enough. the abbie de vermont thought himself affronted took a part in the quarrel and added his complaints and jokes to those of the dauphines upon the criticisms of the governess he even indulged himself in his turn in reflections upon the tuition of madame cloutilde everything transpires at court madame de mercent was informed of all that had been said in the dauphinesse's circle and was very angry with her on account of it from that moment a party of intrigue or rather of gossip again

Starting point is 02:49:18 against Marie Antoinette was established around Madame de Merce's fireside. Her most trifling actions were there construed into 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 stigmatized as criminal. Prince Louis de Roan, sent ambassador to Vienna by this society, was there the echo of these unmerited comments, and entangled himself in a series of culpable accusations, which he dignified with the name of zeal.

Starting point is 02:49:50 He incessantly represented the young Dauphinez 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, the aversion which she never ceased to manifest for the Prince de Roan must be dated. About the same time, the Dauphinez gained information of a letter written, by Prince Louis to the Duke de Guillon, in which the ambassador expressed himself in very

Starting point is 02:50:22 unbecoming terms, respecting the intentions of Maria Theresa with relation to the partition of Poland. This letter of Prince Louis had been read at the Countess de Paris. The levity of the ambassador's correspondence wounded the feelings and the dignity of the dofinez at Versailles, while at Vienna the representations which he made to Maria Teresa 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 Neney to Versailles with directions to observe the conduct of the doffines with attention, and form a just estimate of the opinion of the court and of Paris with regard to that princess.

Starting point is 02:51:05 The Baron deigny, after having devoted sufficient time and attention 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 his effrontery had conveyed to her under the specious name 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 dauphinesse still unable to obtain any influence over the heart of her husband dreading louis-chins justly mistrusting everything connected with madame du barry and the duke duc de guillon had not deserved the slightest reproach as to 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 nene 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 Roan interposed between its protégé and the Austrian envoy, and an evasive answer merely was given. It was not until two months after the death of Louis Keynes that the Court of Vienna obtained his recall. The avowed

Starting point is 02:52:17 grounds for requiring it were first the public gallantries of Prince Louis with women of the court and others of less distinction. 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 colors, assuming the hunting uniforms of various noblemen whom he visited, with so much publicity that one day in particular, during the Feit Du, he and all his legation in green uniforms, laced with

Starting point is 02:52:58 gold broke through a procession which impeded them in order to make their way to a hunting party at the Prince de Pazes. And fourthly, the immense debts contracted by him and his people, which were tardily and only in part discharged. The succeeding marriages of the Count de Provence and Count d'Artois with two daughters of the king of Sardinia, increasing the number of princesses of the same age as Marie Antoinette's at Versailles, procured society for the Dauphinez more suitable to her age and altered her moment. of life. A pair of tolerably fine eyes obtained for the Countess de Provence upon her arrival at Versailles the only praises which could reasonably be bestowed upon her. The Countess d'artre, though not deformed, was very small. She had a fine complexion. Her face tolerably pleasing

Starting point is 02:53:48 was not remarkable for anything except the extreme length of her nose. But being good and generous she was beloved by those about her and even possess some weight, as long as she She was the only one 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 only on those days when they dined in public. This manner of living en-famil, continued until the queen sometimes indulged herself in going to dine with the Duchess de Pollyniac when she was governess. But the evening meetings at supper were never interrupted.

Starting point is 02:54:25 They took place at the house of the Countess to Provence. madame elizabeth made one of the party when she had finished her education and sometimes madame the king's aunts were invited this 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 kins play took place at the house of the dauphinesse as being the first female of the state it had from the death of queen marie alexenska to the marriage of the dauphin been held at the abode of Madame Adelaide. 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 debaute were still continued.

Starting point is 02:55:24 High Mass was attended daily. The airings of the princesses were nothing. more than rapid races in Berlin's, during which they were accompanied by bodyguards, gentlemen ushers, and pages on horseback. They generally galloped some leagues from Bersailles. Kaleshes 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 agreed to learn and perform all the best plays of the French theatre. The dauphin was the only spectator. The three princesses, the two brothers of the king and Messrs. Campan, father and son, were the sole performers. But they made it of the utmost importance to keep this amusement as secret as an affair of

Starting point is 02:56:08 state. They dreaded the censure of the king's aunts, and they had no doubt that Louis Keynes would forbid such pastimes if he knew of their existence. They selected a retired room which nobody had occasion to enter for their performance. A kind of proscenium, which could be taken down and shut up in a closet formed the stage. The Count de Provence always knew his part provokingly well. The Count d'artois knew his tolerably well and recited elegantly.

Starting point is 02:56:37 The princesses performed very indifferently. The Dufinesse acquitted herself in some characters with discrimination and feeling. The chief pleasure of this amusement consisted in there having all the costumes elegant and accurate. The Dauphé entered

Starting point is 02:56:53 into the spirit of the diversions of the young family, laughed heart at the comic characters as they came on the scene, and, from these amusements may be dated his discontinuance of the timid manner of his youth and his taking pleasure in the society of the doffinesse. A wish to extend the list of pieces for performance and the certainty that these diversions would remain secret had procured my father-in-law and my husband the honour of figuring among the princes. It was not till a long time afterwards that I learned these particulars, Monsieur Campan having kept the secret. But,

Starting point is 02:57:26 An unforeseen event had well-nigh exposed the whole mystery. One day the queen desired Monsieur Campan to go down into her closet to fetch something that she had forgotten. He was dressed for the character of Crispin and was rooged. A private staircase led direct to the theatre through the dressing-room. Monsieur 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

Starting point is 02:57:54 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 all his might, Help, help! My father-in-law raised him up,

Starting point is 02:58:10 made him recognize his voice, and laid an injunction of silence as to what he had seen upon him. He felt himself, however, bound to inform the dofiness of what had happened, and she was fearful that another similar occurrence might betray their amusement.

Starting point is 02:58:24 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 familiarizing her with the French language. The Abbe de Vermon visited her daily, but took care to avoid the imposing tone of a governor, and would not, even as reader, recommend the study of history. I believe he never read a single volume of history in his life to his August pupil, and in truth there never existed a princess who manifested a more marked aversion for all serious study. While Louis Kins reigned, the enemies of Marie Antoinette made no attempt to change public opinion with regard to her.

Starting point is 02:59:14 She was always the object of the wishes and love of the French people in general, and particularly of the inhabitants of Paris, who being deprived of the pleasure of possessing her within their city, went at all opportunities to Versailles. The majority of them attracted solely by the pleasure of seeing her. The courtiers did not fully enter into the truly popular enthusiasm which the Dauphinez had inspired. The disgrace of the Duke de Choiselle had removed her real support from her, and the party which had continued in power since the exile of that minister was politically as much opposed to her family as to herself. The Dauphinez was therefore surrounded by enemies at Versailles.

Starting point is 02:59:55 Nevertheless, everybody appeared outwardly desirous to please her. The age of Louis Quince and the character of the dauphin were sufficient to warn the long-sighted sagacity of the courtiers of the important part reserved for the princess under the following reign, in case the dauphin should become attached to her. End of Chapter 3. Volume 1, Chapter 4, of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Madame Compin. This Libre-Fox recording is in the public domain. Four About the beginning of May 1774, Louis Quince, the strength of whose constitution had promised

Starting point is 03:00:40 a protracted life, was attacked by a confluent smallpox of the worst kind. The king's daughters at this juncture inspired the duffiness with a feeling of respect and attachment of which she gave them repeated proofs when she ascended the throne. In fact, nothing could be. be more admirable or 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 crossed the gallery of Versailles, and Ten died of it. The end of the monarch was approaching. His reign, peaceful in general, had preserved a degree of strength imparted to it by the

Starting point is 03:01:20 power of his predecessor. On the other hand, his own weakness had been preparing misfortunes for the prince who was to 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 all every moment to repeat the question,

Starting point is 03:01:47 how is the king? At length on the 10th of May 1774, the mortal career of Louis Keyes terminated. The Countess Du Barry had a few days previously withdrawn to Ruelle to the Duke de Guillance. Fourteen or fifteen persons belonging to the court thought at their duty to visit her there. Their liveries were observed, and these visits became for a long time grounds for dislike. More than six years after the king's death, one of those persons being spoken of in the circle of the royal family, I heard it remarked. That was one of the fifteen Ruelle carriages.

Starting point is 03:02:23 The whole court went to the castle. The bullseye was filled with courtiers in the whole palace with the inquisitive. The Dauphain had settled that he would leave it with the royal family the moment the king should breathe his last sigh. But upon such an occasion, decency forbade that positive orders for departure should be passed from mouth to mouth. The keepers of the stables, therefore, agreed with the people who were in the king's room that the latter should place a lighted taper nearer.

Starting point is 03:02:53 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 bodyguards, pages, and equerries mounted on horseback and all was ready for setting off. The dauphin was with the dauphinse. They were expecting together the intelligence of the death of Louis-Cains. A dreadful noise, absolutely like thunder, was heard in the outer apartment. It was the crowd of courtiers who were deserting the dead son. sovereign's antechamber to come and bow to the new power of Louis-Cais's.

Starting point is 03:03:28 This extraordinary tumult informed Marie Antoinette and her husband that they were to reign. And, by a spontaneous movement which deeply affected those around them, they threw themselves on their knees, and both pouring forth a flood of tears exclaimed, Oh, God, guide us, protect us, we are too young to govern. The Countess de Noai entered, and was the first to salute Marie Antoine. as Queen of France. She requested their majesties would condescend to quit the inner apartments for the Grand Saloon

Starting point is 03:04:00 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, her handkerchief held to her eyes, and in the most affecting attitude. The carriages drove up, the guards and officers were on horseback.

Starting point is 03:04:19 The castle was deserted. Everyone hastened to fly, from a contagion to brave which no inducement now remained. On leaving the chamber of Louis Kins, the Duke de Vique, first gentleman of the bedchamber, ordered Monsieur Andouillet, the King's chief surgeon, to open the body and embalment. The chief surgeon must necessarily have died in consequence. I am ready, replied Andouillie, but while I operate you shall hold the head.

Starting point is 03:04:48 Your office imposes this duty upon you. The Duke went off without saying a word. word, and the corpse was neither opened nor embalmed. A few underservants and poor women 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 whole of the court set off for Choisy at four o'clock. Madame the king's aunts in their private carriage,

Starting point is 03:05:15 and the princesses under tuition with the Countess de Marseigne and their sub-governnesses. the king, the queen, Monsieur the king's brother, madame, and the Count and Countess d'artre went in the same carriage. The solemn scene that had just passed before their eyes, the multiplied ideas offered

Starting point is 03:05:34 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 impression, little suited to their time of life, wholly left them before they had gone half of their journey. A word, oddly pretext,

Starting point is 03:05:51 pronounced by the Countess d'artre, occasioned a general burst of laughter, and from that moment they dried their tears. The intercourse between Choisy and Paris became astonishing. Never was a court seen in greater agitation. What influence will the royal aunts have? And the Queen?

Starting point is 03:06:10 What fate is reserved for the Countess 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 him to have a confidential person near him, and that there should be a prime minister. All eyes were turned upon Messrs. DeMachot and de Morpa, both of them much advanced in years. The first had retired to his estate near Paris, and the second to Pontchartrain, to which place he had long been exiled.

Starting point is 03:06:42 The letter summoning Monsieur de Macheau was already written when Madame Adelaide obtained that important appointment for Monsieur de Morpah and Mr. de Morpah and preference. The page to whose care the first letter had been actually consigned was recalled. Note by Madame Campan. This fact has been doubted, but I can assure the reader that Louis says desired Monsieur Campan to recall the page whom he found ready to mount his horse and whom he desired to come back again to return the letter to the king himself, and that the queen said to my father-in-law, if the letter had gone, Monsieur de Macho would have been prime minister, for the king would never have consented to write a second letter in contradiction of his first intention.

Starting point is 03:07:24 End of note. The Duke de Guillon had been too openly known as the private friend of the king's mistress. He was dismissed. Monsieur Le Vergen, at that time ambassador of France at Stockholm, was appointed minister for foreign affairs. Count Dumois, the intimate friend of the dauphin, the father of Louis-Sais, obtained the war department. the Abbe Therre 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

Starting point is 03:07:55 that order was restored in the finances and that nothing but good 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 prevail to keep him in office His talents were admitted, but the odium which his operations had unavoidably brought upon his character, combined with the immorality of his private life, forbade his further stay at court.

Starting point is 03:08:27 He was succeeded by Monsieur de Cluny. Note by the editor We find in a work of the Times an anecdote upon the subject of the appointment of Monsieur de Cluny, which we give without disputing it, though without taking upon ourselves to vouch for its veracity. Speculators imagine they perceive in Monsieur de Cluny's elevation the dawn of success for that party, which is endeavoring to restore Monsieur de Choiselle to the administration. It seems, however, that the efforts of the party will be unavailing. Monsieur de Morpa, who was informed of all that passes, has concerted with the king a plan for discovering the mainspring of the intrigue carrying

Starting point is 03:09:06 on for the purpose of affecting his downfall. He went to Pontchartrain, after forewarning the monseigne. of all those steps towards that object which might be taken in his absence twice a day did the mentor receive a courier from his master who informed him of all that was done and said with the intention before alluded to one day the king apprised him that an english newspaper had been brought to him in which it was said that if the duke de choiselle were named prime minister as it appeared he would be france would become more powerful alone than all the powers of europe combined on the day of m Monsieur Mour Paz's return, the king said before the whole court, I understand that Monsieur de Choiselle is in Paris. Why is he not at Chant-Loo? For any man who is fortunate enough to possess an estate, that is the season for enjoying it.

Starting point is 03:09:58 All the Duke's friends were dumb, and the next day he himself left Paris. Secret Correspondence of the Court Volume 3, page 10. End note. De Mo Poup, the Chancellor, was banished. this gave universal satisfaction. Lastly, the reassembling of the parliaments produced the strongest sensation.

Starting point is 03:10:20 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 ordered to retire to Pontodam. This was a measure rather of necessity than of severity, a short form. period of compulsory retreat was requisite in order to break off her connection with state affairs completely. The possession of Lucien and a considerable pension were continued to her. Note by Madame Campon

Starting point is 03:10:55 The Countess Du Berri never forgot the mild treatment she experienced from the Court of Louis Cés. During the most violent convulsion of the Revolution, she signified to the Queen that there was not in all France a female more grieved at the sufferings of her sovereign than herself. that the honor 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 honor her by disposing of all she possessed though they did not accept her offer their majesties were affected at her gratitude the countess du barry was as is well known one of the victims of the revolution she betrayed the lowest degree of 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.

Starting point is 03:11:54 And note. Everybody expected the recall of Monsieur de Choiselle. 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 entreated it of the king with the liveliest importunities, but she met with an insurmountable obstacle, and one which she had not foreseen. The king, it is said, had imbibed the strongest prejudices against that minister from secret memoirs penned by his father and which had been committed to the care of the Duke de la Vaux-Griillon, with an injunction to place them in his hands as soon as he should be old enough

Starting point is 03:12:38 to study the art of governing. Note by Madame Campan. These prejudices did not arise from the pretended crime of which slander had accused this minister, but principally from the suppression of the Jesuits, in which he had in fact taken an active part. End note. It was by these memoirs that the esteem which he had conceived for Marshal de Mui was inspired, and we may add that Madame Adelaide, who at this early period possessed a powerful influence over the decisions of the young monarch, confirmed the impressions.

Starting point is 03:13:09 they had made. The Queen conversed with Monsieur Campan the regret she felt at having been unable to contribute to the recall of Monsieur de Choiselle and disclosed the cause of it to him. The Abbe de Vermon, who, down to the time of the death of Louis Quince, had been on terms of the strictest friendship

Starting point is 03:13:27 with Monsieur Campan, called upon him on the second day after the arrival of the court at Choiselle, and assuming a serious and austere air, said, Sir, the Queen was indiscreet enough yesterday to speak to you of a 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.

Starting point is 03:13:50 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 most sharply 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 intrude yourself into secrets of state

Starting point is 03:14:16 you will have me for your most determined enemy The queen ought to have no other confidant than myself here respecting things that ought to remain secret Note by Madame Campan The Abbe de Vermont was not blamable For preventing the queen's talking to one of the officers of her household About matters of importance

Starting point is 03:14:36 but he was so for saying that he himself ought to be the depository of the most momentous secrets. End note. Monsieur Campa answered that he did not covet the important and dangerous character at the new court, which the Abbe appropriated to himself, and that he should confine himself to the duties of his office, being so satisfied with the continued kindness with which the Queen honoured him as to desire nothing more. Notwithstanding this, however, he informed the Queen on the very same evening, of the injunction he had received.

Starting point is 03:15:08 She owned that she had mentioned their conversation to the Abbe, that he had indeed seriously reproved her in order to make her feel the necessity of being secret in concerns of business, and she added, The Abbe cannot like you, my dear Compin. 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.

Starting point is 03:15:34 I know, too, that you are in. capable 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 tranquil with regard to the Abbe's hostility, which shall never in any way hurt you. We run no risk of doing unjust actions, except when the persons about us possess the treacherous art of disguising the motives of hatred or ambition by which they are prompted. Note by Madame Campan, the abbie de vermon was indeed not aware that the young princess would find in her household a well-informed man capable of amusing her by interesting and lively anecdotes of the courts of louis kins the regent and even of louis the abbé had taken pains at vienna to prepossess the dauphinez against m morrow an aged advocate in the councils and historiographer of france whose talents had promoted him to the office of librarian to her

Starting point is 03:16:31 on the day after the arrival of the dauphiness at versailles the countess de noai asked her what orders she had to give for m morrow she replied that the only order she had for him was to give up the key of her library to m campan whom she installed into his office adding that he might retain the title which the king had conferred upon him but that she did not accept of his services her damd honor exclaimed against this determination and spoke very highly of m's talents but the prince's was so prejudiced against him that she insisted upon the execution of her order and added that she would speak to the king about the matter that she knew m morrow's abilities to be almost too considerable and that she desired to have no people about her but those on whom she could rely the historiographer and librarian never more appeared before the queen it is probable that the dauphiness had been informed of the connection of m's morrow with the duke de guillon and some members of that minister's party End note The Abbe de Vermon, having secured himself the office of sole confidant to the Queen, was nevertheless agitated whenever he saw the young monarch.

Starting point is 03:17:43 The latter could not be ignorant that the Abbe had been promoted by the Duke de Choiselle, and was believed to favour the encyclopedists, against whom Louis Sez entertained a latent prejudice, although he suffered them to gain so great an ascendancy during his reign. The Abbe therefore guessed that he could not stand very well with the king. He had, moreover, observed that never, while Dauphins, had that prince addressed a single word to him, and that he very frequently answered him with a shrug of the shoulders.

Starting point is 03:18:13 He therefore determined on writing to Louis-Sais, and intimated that he owed his situation at court solely to the confidence with which the late king had honoured him, and that have its contracted during the queen's education, placing him continually in the closest intimacy with her, he could not enjoy the honor of remaining near her majesty. without the king's consent. Louis Cés sent back his letter after writing upon it these words. I permit the Abbe de Vermon to continue his office about the queen. Although at the period of his grandfather's death,

Starting point is 03:18:46 Louis Cés had not availed himself of his marital privilege, he began to be exceedingly attached to the queen. The first period of so deep a morning not admitting of indulgence in the diversion of hunting, he proposed to her walks in the gardens of Choisy. they went out like man 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 to the amusement of the whole court seen walking upon the terrace with the same apparent conjugal intimacy thus they spent whole hours braving the intolerable wearisomeness of their protracted tte tte-a-tete out of mere obsequiousness The self-devotion of Madame for the king their father throughout his dreadful malady had produced that effect upon their health, which was generally apprehended.

Starting point is 03:19:40 On the fourth day after their arrival at Choisy, the three princesses 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 Mette in the Bois de Boulauang was selected for their reception. Their arrival at their residence, which was very very very important, very near Paris drew so great a concourse of people into its neighborhood that even at daybreak the crowd had begun to assemble round the gates. Shouts of Vive le Rois continued with scarcely a moment's interruption from six o'clock in the morning until sunset.

Starting point is 03:20:16 The hopes to which a new rain gives birth, and the unpopularity which the late king had drawn upon himself during his latter years occasioned all these transports of joy. A fashionable jeweler made a fortune by the sale of morning snuff-boxes, whereon the portals. were on the portrait of the young queen in a black frame of chagrin admitted of the following pun. Comfort in chagrin. All the fashions and every part of dress received names significant of the spirit of the moment.

Starting point is 03:20:44 The symbols of abundance were everywhere represented, and the headdresses of the ladies were surrounded by ears of wheat. Poets hailed the new monarch. All hearts or rather all heads in France were filled with unexampled enthusiasm. Never did the commencement of any rain excite more unanimous testimonials of love and attachment. It must be observed, however, that amidst all this intoxication,

Starting point is 03:21:08 the anti-Austrian party never lost sight of the young queen, but, with the malicious desire to injure her, watched for such errors as might be expected to arise out of her youth and inexperience. Their majesties had to receive at Le Mourette, the morning visits 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 old shaking heads low courtesies keeping time with the motions of the head made it must be admitted a few venerable dowagers appear somewhat ridiculous

Starting point is 03:21:45 but the queen who possessed much dignity and high respect for propriety was not guilty of the grievous sin of forgetting the decorum she was bound to observe an indiscreet piece of drollery of one of the ladies of the palace however drew on her the imputation of having done so. The marchioness de Clair Montaigneur, whose office required that she should continue standing behind the queen, fatigued by the length of the ceremony, found it more convenient to seat herself upon the floor, concealing herself behind the fence formed by the hoops of the queen and the ladies of the palace.

Starting point is 03:22:19 Thus seated and wishing to attract attention and to appear lively, she twitched the dresses of those ladies and played off a thousand other tricks. The contrast of these childs childish pranks with the gloom which reigned over the rest of the queen's chamber, disconcerted her majesty several times. She placed her fan before her face to hide an involuntary smile, and the aeropagus of old ladies pronounced that the young queen had derided all the

Starting point is 03:22:44 respectable persons who were pressing forward to pay their homage to her, that she liked none but the young, that she was deficient in every point of decorum, and that not one of them would attend her court again. The epithet, Macqueuse, was applied. to her, and there is not an epithet less favorably received in the world. The next day, a very ill-natured song was circulated. The seal of the party to which it was attributable might easily be seen upon it.

Starting point is 03:23:13 I remember none of it but 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. The errors of the great are those which ill nature chooses to impute to them, circulate in the world with the greatest rapidity, and become fixed there like an historical tradition, which the meanest bore delights to repeat. More than fifteen years after this occurrence, I heard some old ladies in the most retired

Starting point is 03:23:45 part of Overnes, 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 duchesses and the exegenery princesses who had thought it their duty to make their appearance on the occasion. The king and the princess his brothers determined to avail themselves of the advantages held out by inoculation in order to preserve themselves from the fatal disorder under which their grandfather had just fallen. But the utility of this new discovery, not being then generally acknowledged in France, many persons in Paris were greatly alarmed at the step which the king and princess had just taken. Those who blamed it openly, through all

Starting point is 03:24:25 the responsibility of it upon the queen, who alone, they said, could have ventured to give such rash advice. Inoculation was at this time safely practiced in the northern courts, and the operation upon the king and his brothers performed by Dr. Jobertou, was fortunately quite successful.

Starting point is 03:24:44 When the convalescence of the princes was perfectly established, the court became tolerably cheerful. In the excursions to Marley, parties on horseback and in Kalashas were formed continually. The queen was desirous to gratify herself with one very innocent enjoyment. She had never witnessed the dawn of day, 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

Starting point is 03:25:11 in the morning to the eminences of the gardens of Malie, and being unfortunately little disposed to share in her amusements he himself went to bed. The queen then carried her intention into effect. But as she foresaw the possibility of some inconveniences in this nocturnal party, she determined on having a number of people with her, and even ordered her women to accompany her. All precautions were ineffectual to prevent the effects of calumny, which even thus early sought to diminish the general attachment that she had inspired. A few days afterwards, the most wicked ballad that appeared during the earlier years of this reign was circulated at Paris. The blackest colors were employed to paint an enjoyment so harmless

Starting point is 03:25:55 that there is scarcely a young woman in the country who has not endeavored to procure it for herself. The verses which appeared on this occasion were entitled, Sunrise. Note by Madame Campan. It was thus with libels and ballads that the enemies of Marie Antoinette hailed the first days of her reign. They exerted themselves every way to render her unpopular. their aim was beyond all doubt to have her sent back to Germany, and there was not a moment to be lost in its accomplishment. That the indifference of the king towards his amiable and beautiful wife had lasted so long was already a matter of wonder. Day after day it was to be expected that the seductive charms of Marie Antoinette would undo all their machinations.

Starting point is 03:26:43 End note. The Duke de Leon, then Duke de Chartre, was among those who accompanied the young queen in her nocturnal ramble. He appeared very attentive to her on that occasion, 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 Duke de Chartre, and the queen always kept him at a distance from her private society. It is, therefore, without the slightest foundation in probability that some writers have attributed to feelings of jealousy or wound itself love, the hatred which he displayed towards the queen during the latter years of their existence.

Starting point is 03:27:22 It was on the first journey to Marley that Beaumere, the jeweler, appeared at court, a man whose stupidity and avarice afterwards produced the occurrence which most fatally affected the happiness and reputation of Marie Antoinette. This person had, at great expense, collected six pair-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 Kins, been destined for the countess du barry beaumere 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 burdened the royal treasury with payment for a man

Starting point is 03:28:19 matter of pure fancy. She proposed to Beaumere to take off the two buttons which formed in 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 360,000 francs. The payment for which was stipulated to be made by installments and was discharged in the course of four or five years by the Queen's first femme de Chambre entrusted with her privy purse. I have omitted no particulars of the manner in which the queen first became possessed of these jewels, deeming them very necessary to place the too-famous circumstance of the necklace, which happened near the end of the reign of Marie Antoinette in its true light. It was likewise on this first journey to Malie that

Starting point is 03:29:02 the Duchess de Chartre, afterwards Duchess de Leon, introduced into the queen's household Mademoiselle Bertin, a milliner who became celebrated at that time for the total change which she affected in the dress of the French ladies. be seen that the 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 usual custom which kept all persons of her description out of it, afforded her the means of introducing some new fashion every day. Up to this time the queen had shown but a very plain taste in dress. She now began to make it an occupation of moment, and she was of course

Starting point is 03:29:43 imitated by other women. Everyone instantly wished 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 young women was necessarily much increased. Mothers and husbands murmured at it. Some giddy women contracted debts. Unpleasant domestic scenes occurred.

Starting point is 03:30:06 In many families quarrels arose. In another affection was extinguished, and the general repatriated. report was that the queen would be the ruin of all the French ladies. Fashion continued, its fluctuating progress, and headdresses with their superstructures of gauze, flowers, and feathers arose to such a degree of loftiness that the women could not find carriages high enough to admit them, and they were often seen either stooping or holding their heads out at the windows.

Starting point is 03:30:37 Others knelt down in order to manage these elevated objects of ridicule with the less danger. Note by the editor. If the use of these extravagant feathers and headdresses had continued, say the memoirs of that period very seriously, it would have affected a revolution in architecture. It would have been found necessary to raise the doors and ceilings of the boxes at the theatres, 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 never was so lovely in his eyes as one unadorned by art. One day, Carlin, performing at court before the princess, as Harlequin, stuck in his hat instead of the rabbit's tail, its prescribed ornament, a peacock's feather

Starting point is 03:31:22 of excessive length. This new appendage, which repeatedly got entangled among the scenery, gave him an opportunity of venturing a great deal of buffoonery. There was an inclination to punish him, but it was presumed that he had not assumed the feather without authority. End note. 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 princess's toilette was a masterpiece of etiquette. Everything done on the occasion was in a prescribed form. both the Lady of Honor and the Tirewoman usually attended and officiated, assisted by the first Fem de Chambre and two inferior attendants.

Starting point is 03:32:15 The Tirewoman put on the petticoat and handed the gown to the queen. The Lady of Honor poured out the water for her hands and put on her body linen. When a princess of the royal family happened to be present while the queen was dressing, the Lady of Honor yielded to her the latter act of the office, but still did not yield it directly to the Princess of the Blood. in such a case the lady of honour was accustomed to present the linen to the chief lady in waiting 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 going to put on her body linen i held it ready unfolded for her the lady of honor came in slipped off her gloves and took it her rustling was heard at the door it was opened and in came the duchess del leon she took her gloves off and came forward to take the garment but as it would have been wrong in the lady of honour to hand it to her she gave it to me and i handed it to the princess a further noise it was the countess de provence the d'lion 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 handker

Starting point is 03:33:35 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 the that order of state laid down for days of ceremony in all courts. I mean those minute ceremonies that were observed towards our kings in their inmost privacies,

Starting point is 03:34:15 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 Arisholieu, Oroche Foucault, and a durand in the exercise of their domestic functions, opportunities of intimacy useful to their interests. and to humor their vanity they were pleased with customs which converted the right to give a glass of water to put on a dress and to remove a basin into honorable prerogatives princes thus accustomed to be treated as divinities naturally arrived at the belief that they were of a distinct nature of a pure essence than the rest of mankind this sort of etiquette which led our princes to cause themselves to be treated and private as idols made them in public martyrs to decorum mary antoinette found in the castle of versailles a multitude of established and revered customs which appeared to her insupportable none but sworn femme de chambre wearing the full court dresses were entitled to remain in the room and to attend in conjunction with the dame demer and the tirewoman the queen abolished all this formality as soon as her head was dressed she courtesied 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

Starting point is 03:35:38 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 office 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 serve as usual certain ladies of the court and capital, and this multiplied to the opportunities of learning details respecting the household, and very often misrepresenting them.

Starting point is 03:36:28 One of the customs most disagreeable to the Queen was that of dining every day in public. Marie Alexinska had constantly submitted to this wearisome practice. Mary Antoinette followed it as long as she was Dauphines. The Dauphain 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 Dauphinese take her soup, went to see the princes eat their bouillis, and then ran

Starting point is 03:37:03 till they were out of breath to behold madame at their dessert. Note by Madame Campan. It will be imagined that the charms of conversation, cheerfulness, and good-natured freedom which in France contribute to the pleasures of the table, were strangers to these ceremonies. repass. In fact, it was necessary to have been abituated from infancy to eat in public in order to avoid losing all appetite from being the object to which the eyes of so many strangers were directed. And note. Very ancient usage, too, required that the queens of France should appear in public surrounded only by women. Even at meal times, no person of the other sex attended to serve at table, and although the king ate publicly with the queen, yet he himself

Starting point is 03:37:48 was served by women, with everything which was presented to him directly at the table. The Lady of Honor, 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 Lady of Honor handed them drink. This service had formerly been the right of the maids of honor. 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 of the chamber were not with her. From that time she was accompanied only by a single valet de chambre and two footmen. All the errors of Marie Antoinette were of the same description as those which I have just detailed. An inclination to substitute by degrees the simple customs of Vienna for those of Versailles proved more injurious to her than she could possibly have imagined. the queen frequently spoke to the abbe de vermon of the perpetually recurring impertinences from which she had to free herself and i observed that after having listened to what he had to say on the subject she always indulged in philosophical reveries on simplicity beneath the diadem and paternal confidence in devoted subjects with great pleasure this charming romance of royalty which is not given to all sovereigns to realize flattered the tender heart and youthful fancy of marie an extraordinary degree brought up in a court where simplicity was combined with majesty

Starting point is 03:39:24 placed at versa between a troublesome lady of honour and an imprudent adviser it is not surprising that when she became queen she was desirous of evading disagreeables the indispensable necessity of which she could not see this error sprung for her a true feeling of sensibility. This unfortunate princess, against whom the opinions of the French people were at length greatly excited, possessed qualities which deserved to obtain the highest degree of 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 Dukes of Lorene levied their taxes.

Starting point is 03:40:17 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 of which he stood in need. Such was the zeal of the good Loreneur's 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 the contribution. It sometimes happened, too, that the prince received more money than he 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.

Starting point is 03:40:54 Kind and patient to the utmost in all 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 Saint-Cilla, all well-born. The Queen forbade them the play when the performances were not of a suitable degree of morality. 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 judge of them, and then decide whether the girls should or should not go to see them. rightly considering herself bound to watch over the morals and conduct of these young persons.

Starting point is 03:41:37 I am pleased at being able here to assert the truth respecting two valuable qualities which the queen possessed in a high degree. Temperance and modesty. Her customary dinner was a chicken, roasted or boiled, and she drank water only. She showed no particular partiality for anything but her coffee in the morning, and a sort of bread to which she had been accustomed in her infancy at Vienna. Her modesty in every particular of her private toilette was extreme. She bathed in a long flannel

Starting point is 03:42:08 gown buttoned up to the neck, and while her two bathing women assisted her out of the bath, she required one of them to hold a cloth before her, raised so that her attendants might not see her. And yet, one sulevi has dared, in the first volume

Starting point is 03:42:24 of a most scandalous work, to say that the queen was disgustingly a modest, that she was accustomed to bathe naked, and that she had even given admittance to a venerable ecclesiastic while in that state. What punishment can be too great for libelers who dare to give such perfidious falsehoods the title of historical memoirs? Note by the editor.

Starting point is 03:42:47 Everyone must partake the indignation felt by Madame Campan on reading in the Abbe Sulavi's memoirs, the details to which, with a warmth highly creditable to her, she gives the lie. How could an historian possessed of any sagacity put forth assertion so false. How could a man of any sense of shame? How could a priest write them down?

Starting point is 03:43:09 After reading this passage of his historical memoirs, we may imagine why there exists so much unwillingness to consult them, and how much discredit similar assertions throw upon whatever truths he may have published in the same work. End note. End of Chapter 4. Volume 1, Chapter 5 of Men. Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Carpont.

Starting point is 03:43:40 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Five. During the first few months of his reign, Louis Seyes had dwelt at Lamuette, Merli, and Compieng. When he was settled at Versailles, he busied himself with a general revision 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.

Starting point is 03:44:04 He thought after what he had heard on the son. subject, this iron mask had become so inexhaustible a source of conjecture, only in consequence of the interest which the pen of a celebrated writer had raised 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 Monsieur de Morpé, whose age showed him a contemporary with the epoch during which the anecdote in question

Starting point is 03:44:37 must have been known to the ministers, and that Monsieur de Morpa had assured him he was merely a prisoner of a very dangerous character, in consequence of his disposition for intrigue, and was a subject of the Duke of Mantua. He was enticed to the frontier, arrested there and kept prisoner, first at Pignorol, and afterwards in the Bastille.

Starting point is 03:44:58 This transfer from one prison to the other took place in consequence of the appointment of the governor of the former place to the government of the latter. He was aware of the stratagems of his prisoner, and it was for fear the latter should profit by the inexperience of a new governor that he was sent with the governor of Pignorolle to the Bastille.

Starting point is 03:45:18 Such was, in fact, the real 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 Monsieur three asterisks, twenty years ago. He had searched the depot of foreign affairs, and there he had found, the truth. He laid it before the public. But the public, pre-possessed in favor of a version

Starting point is 03:45:40 which attracted them by the marvelous, would not acknowledge the authenticity of the true account. Every man relied upon the authority of Voltaire, and it is still believed that a natural or a twin brother of Louis Catoz lived a number of years in prison with a mask over his face. The whimsical 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 expose 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 Valcain.

Starting point is 03:46:26 It was in the time of Cardinal Richelieu. This anecdote has been mixed up with the inventions respecting the Piedmontese prisoner. It was also in this review of his grandfather's papers that Louis Seyes found some very curious particulars relative to his private treasury. Certain shares in various companies of finance afforded him a revenue and had at last produced him a capital of some amount

Starting point is 03:46:50 which he applied to his secret expenses. The king collected his vouchers of title to these shares and made a present of them to Monsieur Thiery de Ville d'Averé, his chief valet de Chambre. the queen was desirous to secure the comfort of the princesses the daughters of louis kins who were held in the highest respect about this period she contributed to furnish them with a revenue sufficient to provide them an easy competence 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 kins who was a very selfishly kins who was a very selfishly prince. His daughters, although they had attained 40 years of age, had no other place of residence than their apartments in the palace of Versailles, no other walks than such as they

Starting point is 03:47:42 could take in the large park of that palace, and no other means of gratifying their taste for a garden, but having boxes and vases filled with plants in their balconies or 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 never ceased during the first years of the reign to testify joy whenever the queen appeared at any of the plays of the capital. The representation of Iphigenia in Allis produced her one of the most pleasing triumphs that ever were enjoyed by any sovereign.

Starting point is 03:48:18 The actor who sang the words, Let us sing, let us praise our queen, which were repeated by the chorus, directed by a respectful movement towards her majesty, the eyes of the whole assembly upon her. reiterated cries of encore 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 ifigenia.

Starting point is 03:48:45 The queen, deeply affected, covered her streaming eyes with her handkerchief, and this public proof of sensibility raised the general enthusiasm to a still higher pitch. Such a reception unfortunately induced the queen too often to, to seek for circumstances which might either present or recall enjoyments equally delightful. The King gave her Little Triano. Note by Madame Campan. The seat called Little Triano, which was built for Louis Quins, is not remarkably handsome as a building. The luxuriance of the hot houses rendered the place agreeable to that prince.

Starting point is 03:49:21 He spent a few days there several times in the year. It was while he was setting off from Versailles for Little Triano, that he was struck in the side by the knife of Damien, and it was there that he was attacked by the smallpox, of which disorder he died on the 10th of May 1774. End note. Hence forward, she amused herself with improving the gardens without allowing any addition to the building or any changes in the furniture, which was become very shabby, and remained in 1789 in the same state as during the reign of Louis-Cains. Everything there, without exception, was preserved, and the queen slept in a very faded bed which in fact had been used by the Countess Dubarie.

Starting point is 03:50:04 The charge of extravagance generally made against the Queen is the most unaccountable of all the popular errors respecting her character which have crept into the world. Note by Madame Campan. This charge of prodigality so unjustly laid against the Queen was spread with such industry throughout France and all Europe that it must have been a part of the scheme for rendering the court solely responsible for the bad state of the finances. and note she had exactly the contrary failing and i could prove that she often carried her economy to a degree of parsimony actually blamable and particularly in a sovereign

Starting point is 03:50:42 she took a great liking for her retirement of trianon she used to go there alone followed by a valet but she found attendants ready to receive her a steward and his wife who served as a femme de chambre women of the wardrobe footmen etc when she first took possession of little trianon a report was spread that she had changed the name of the seat which the king had just given her and had called it little vienna or little shonebrun a person who belonged to the court and was simple enough to give credit hastily to this report wishing to visit little 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, feeling a pleasure in granting these little marks of favor. When she came to the obnoxious words she was very much offended and exclaimed angrily that there were too many fools ready to aid the malicious, that she had heard of the reports circulated, that she 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 this request

Starting point is 03:51:56 so awkwardly made, and desired Madame Compant to reply that Triano was not to be seen for some time, and that the Queen was astonished that any man of respectability should believe she would do so ill-judged a thing as to change the French names of her palaces to substitute foreign ones. Before the first visit of the Emperor Joseph II to France, the Queen received a visit from the Archduke Maximilian in 1775. An injudicious pretension, suggested by the persons who advise this prince, a rather an act of stupidity of the ambassador, seconded on the part of the queen by the Abbe Vermont, gave rise at that period to a discussion which incensed the princes of the blood

Starting point is 03:52:38 and the cheap nobility of the kingdom against the queen. Traveling incognito, the young prince insisted that the first visit was not due from him to the princes of the blood, and the queen supported his determination. From the time of the regency, and on account of the residence of the the family of Orleans in the bosom of the capital, Paris had preserved a remarkable degree of attachment and respect for that branch. And although the crown was becoming more and more remote from the princes of the House of Olfellon, they had the advantage, a great one with the Parisians, of being descendants of Henri Cattre. An affront to the princes, and especially to that beloved

Starting point is 03:53:17 family, was a serious ground of dislike to the queen. It was at this period, and perhaps for the first time 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 talents, he was always committing some foolish errors. The Archduke's visit was in every point of view a misfortune. He did nothing but commit blunders. He went to the king's garden. Monsieur de Bufon, who received him there, presented him with a copy of his works.

Starting point is 03:54:02 The prince declined accepting the book, saying to Monsieur de Bufon in the most polite manner possible, I should be very sorry to deprive you of it. It may be supposed that the Parisians were much entertained with this answer. Note by the editor. Joseph II on his visit to France went also to see Monsieur de Bufon, and said to that celebrated man, I come to fetch the copy of your works which my brother forgot. End note. The queen was exceedingly mortified at the blunders committed by her brother, but what hurt her most on the occasion was the being accused of preserving an Austrian heart.

Starting point is 03:54:42 Marie Antoinette had more than once to endure that cruel imputation during the long course of her misfortunes. Habit never dried up the tears drawn forth. by such instances of injustice. 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,

Starting point is 03:55:05 she had put arms into her enemy's hands. They were laboring to deprive her of the love of the people, and endeavored by all possible means to spread a belief that the Queen sighed for Germany and preferred that country to France. Mary 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,

Starting point is 03:55:28 as yet had conceived no love for her, the intimacy that grew between them at Choisy having had no such result. In his closet, Louis Cés was immersed in serious 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 Rince, with all the accustomed pomp. At this period, Louis Saint's experience that which can and should

Starting point is 03:55:59 most powerfully affect the heart of a virtuous sovereign. The people's love for him burst forth in those unanimous transports, which are clearly distinguishable from the impulse of curiosity or the clamors of party. He replied to this enthusiasm, by marks of confidence, worthy of a people happy in being under the government of 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.

Starting point is 03:56:28 I remarked the impression made at this time by an observation of Louis-Sais. On the day of his coronation, in the middle of the choir of the cathedral at Rince, he put his hand up to his head at the moment of the crown being placed upon it and said, It hurts me. Henri Troix had exclaimed,

Starting point is 03:56:46 it pricks me those who were near the king were struck with a similitude between these two exclamations though it will not be imagined that such as had the honour of being near the young monarch on that day were of the class which ignorance renders superstitious while the queen neglected as she was could not even hope for the happiness of being a mother she had the mortification to witness the confinement of the countess d'artre and the birth of the duke d'anglame custom required that the royal family and the whole court should be present at the delivery of the princesses that of a queen was obliged to be absolutely public the queen was therefore compelled to stay the whole day in her sister-in-law's chamber the moment the countess d'artois was informed it was a prince she exclaimed with energy my god how happy i am the queen felt very differently at this involuntary and natural exclamation at that moment she had not even the hope of being a mother she nevertheless disguised her mortification she bestowed all possible marks of tenderness upon the young mother and would not leave her until she was put into bed she afterwards passed along the staircase and through the guard-room with a calm demeanour in the midst of an immense crowd the poissard who had assumed a right of speaking to sovereigns in their own gross and ridiculous language followed her to her very apartments calling out to her in the most licentious expressions that she ought to produce airs the queen hastened to her inner room extremely agitated she shut herself up to weep with me alone not from jealousy of her sister-in-law's happiness of that she was incapable but from affliction at her own situation i have often had occasion to admire the queen's moderation in all cases of great and personal interest she was extremely affecting when in misfortune deprived of the happiness of giving an heir to the crown the queen endeavoured to create illusions around her to beguile her feelings

Starting point is 03:58:49 she had always children belonging to the people of her house near her and lavish the tenderest caresses upon them she had long been desirous of bringing up one of them herself and of making 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, carelessly got under the feet of the queen's horses when she was taking an airing in a calaishe through the hamlet of St. Michel near Lucien. The coachman and postilion stopped the horses, and the child was rescued from its imminent peril without the slightest injury. Its grandmother rushed out of the door of her cottage to take it, but the queen stood up in her calaish and extending her arms to the old woman called out that the child was hers and that providence had given it to her to console her no doubt until she should have the happiness of having one herself

Starting point is 03:59:44 is his mother alive asked the queen no madam 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 james is very wayward i hope he will stay with you the queen taking little james upon her knee said that she would soon make him use to her that it should be her occupation and she ordered the equipage to proceed it was necessary however to shorten the ride so violently did james 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 screamed out lustily 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 poor james 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 and the little red frock and wooden shoes the child was really 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 with the king she liked to her to beaunted with her and often with the king she liked to call him, my child, and lavish the tenderest caresses upon him, still maintaining a deep silence respecting the affliction which constantly occupied her heart. Note by Madame Campan. This little

Starting point is 04:01:32 unfortunate was nearly twenty in seventeen ninety-two. The incendiary endeavors of the people, and the fear of being thought, a favored creature of the queens had made him the most sanguinary terrorist of Versailles. He was killed at the Battle of Jemap. End note. the 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 king began to take pleasure in the society of the queen although he had not yet exercised the privilege of a husband the queen was incessantly talking of the good qualities which she admired in louiseise and gladly attributed to herself the slightest favourable change in his manner perhaps she displayed too unreservedly the joy she felt at it and the part she fancied herself to have in it. One day Louis says, saluted her ladies with more kindness in grace than usual, and the queen said to them, Now confess, ladies, that for one so badly brought up, the king has

Starting point is 04:02:35 saluted you very prettily. The queen detested Monsieur de la Bouillon. She accused him alone of those points in the habits and even the sentiments of the king which hurt her. An old lady who had been first lady of the bedchamber to Queen Maria Letzenska had continued an office near the young queen. She was one of those old people who are fortunate enough to spend their whole lives in the service of kings without knowing anything of what is passing at court. She was a great devotee. The Abbe Griselle, an ex-Jesuit, was her confessor. Being rich from her

Starting point is 04:03:10 savings and an income of fifty thousand livres, which she had long enjoyed, she kept a very good table, and in her apartment, the most distinguished persons who still advocated the order of the Jesuits often assembled. The Duke de la Vogueuillon was intimate with her. Their chairs at the Church de Rekolle were placed near each other. At high mass they sang the Gloria Inex Chelsea's and the Magnificat together. And the pious old 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 all in tears to relate to the queen the acts of piety humanity and repentance of the last moments of the duke de la vauguin 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

Starting point is 04:04:15 five millions of men depend. Luckily, added she, although they are still young, the king and his brothers have incessantly labored to repair the errors of their preceptor. The progress of time and the confidence with which the king and the princess's brothers were inspired by the change of their situation since the death of Louis Kins had developed their characters. I will endeavor to depict them. The features of Louis-Says were fine, though some

Starting point is 04:04:45 impressed with melancholy. His walk was heavy and unmajestic. His person greatly neglected. His hair, whatever might be the skill of his hairdresser, was soon in disorder through his inattention to its neatness. His voice, without being harsh, possessed nothing agreeable. If he grew warm in speaking, he often got above his natural pitch and uttered shrill sounds. The Abbe de Radonvillier, his preceptor, a learned, mild and amiable man, had given him and monsieur also, a taste for study. The king had continued to instruct himself. He knew

Starting point is 04:05:21 the English language perfectly. I have often heard him translate some of the most difficult passages in Milton's poem. He was a skillful geographer and was fond of drawing and coloring maps. He was perfectly well-versed in history, but had not perhaps sufficiently studied the spirit of it.

Starting point is 04:05:39 He relished dramatic beauties and was a judicious critic of them. At Choisy one day, several ladies strongly expressed their dissatisfaction because the French actors were going to perform one of Malier's pieces there. The king inquired of them why they disapproved of the choice. One of them answered, that everyone must admit that Malier's works were in a very bad taste. The king replied that many things might be found in Malier contrary to fashion, but that it appeared to him difficult to point out any in bad taste.

Starting point is 04:06:11 This prince, combined with his attainments the qualities of a good husband, a tender father, and an indulgent master. When we think of so many virtues, the years which have elapsed since the barbarities of faction and the misfortunes of France seemed too short to allow us to believe that depravity could ever rise to the dreadful height which it attained in perpetrating the horrible crime of his destruction. Unfortunately, the king showed too much predilection for the mechanical arts. Masonry and lockmaking so delighted him that he admitted into his private apartment a

Starting point is 04:06:44 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 reproaches from the queen, who would have chosen other amusements for the king? Austere and rigid with regard to himself alone, respecting the laws of the church, the king fulfilled them with scrupulous exactness.

Starting point is 04:07:07 He fasted and observed abstinence throughout the whole of Lent. He did not wish the queen to observe these customs with the same strictness. Though he was sincerely pious, the wisdom of the age had disposed his mind to toleration. Modest and simple in his habits, Turgot, Melzerbe, and Nekkerre judged

Starting point is 04:07:26 that a prince of such a character would willingly sacrifice the royal prerogative for the solid greatness of his people. His heart, in truth, led him to ideas of reform. But his principles, prejudices and fears, and the clamors of pious and privileged persons,

Starting point is 04:07:43 intimidated him and made him abandon the plans which his love for the people had suggested. Monsieur had more dignity of demeanor than the king, but his size and corpulency rendered his gait inelegant. He was fond of pageantry and magnificence. He cultivated the bell-lettre, and under-borrowed names repeatedly contributed verses, of which he himself was the author, to the mercury and other papers. His wonderful memory was the handmaid of his wit, furnishing him with the happiest quotations. He knew everything by heart, from the finest passages of the Latin classics

Starting point is 04:08:19 to the Latin of all the prayers, from the works of Racine to the vaudeville of Rose Ecolat. The Count d'artre had an agreeable countenance, was well made, active in bodily exercises, lively, sometimes impetuous, fond of pleasure, and very particular in his dress. Some happy observations made by him were repeated with pleasure,

Starting point is 04:08:41 pleasure. Several of them gave a favorable idea of his heart. Note by the editor. In a work of that time, there is to be found a reply which does honor to the prince's humanity. The question was respecting the treatment of prisoners. The Count d'artois insisted that their adversity should be respected, and that men who were only accused should not be made to undergo the treatment of culprits convicted by the laws. Upon this subject, the work alluded to says as follows. The Abbe de Beplah, a celebrated preacher, delivered a sermon before the king, the subject of which was, on the marks of charity in a king. The following passage upon jails made a most lively impression. Sire, the state of the prisons of your kingdom would draw tears

Starting point is 04:09:29 from the most unfeeling persons who should visit them. A place of security cannot, without flagrant injustice, become the abode of despair. Your magistrates endeavor to soften the condition, of the unfortunate, but deprived of the assistance necessary for the repair of these infected caverns, they can only listen to the complaints of the wretched and melancholy silence. Yes, sire, I have seen this, and my zeal compels me here, like Paul, to do honor to my ministry. Yes, I have seen prisoners who covered with a universal leprosy arising from the infection of these hideous dens, blessed in our arms, a thousand times the moment which led them to execution. great god can there be under a good prince subjects who long for the scaffold blessed be this immortal day i have fulfilled the wish of my heart that of depositing this weight of grief in the bosom of the best of monarchs

Starting point is 04:10:27 it was observed that the king and his brothers paid the greatest attention to this passage indeed the count d'artre made an excellent reply on the subject of what he had heard the next day as he was rising a selfish and venial courtier such as they almost all are was foolish enough to remark that the abid de be plaix had complained improperly of the manner in which the prisoners were treated in the jails since it might be considered as a part of the punishment which their crimes deserved The prince then interrupted him, indignantly exclaiming, How is it known that they are guilty? That is never known till the sentence is passed. End of note. The Parisians liked the free and open air of this prince as an attribute of the French character

Starting point is 04:11:12 and showed real affection for him. The empire that the queen was gaining over the king's mind, the charms of a society in which Monsieur displayed the graces of his wit, and to which the Count d'artre gave life by the vivacity of youth, gradually softened that roughness in the character of Louis Say's, which a better conducted education might have prevented. Still, this defect showed itself too often, and in spite of his extreme simplicity, the king inspired those who had occasion to speak to him with diffidence. A commendable fear made

Starting point is 04:11:45 those about him avoid his abrupt sallies which were difficult to be foreseen. Courteers submissive in the presence of their sovereign are only the more ready to caricature him. With little good breeding, they called these answers which they so much dreaded, Le Coux de Boutoir de Rois. Note, the literal meaning of the phrase coup de boutoir is a poke from the snout of a bear. Perhaps the English expression nearest insignification is a wrap on the knuckles. And note, 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 duke de duraz or the princess de guemines the hand of the clock was sly put forward to hasten the king's departure to bed by a few minutes he thought in good earnest that bedtime was come retired and found none of his attendants ready to wait on him

Starting point is 04:12:41 this joke became known in all the drawing-rooms of versailles and was much disapproved of kings have no privacy queens have neither closets nor boudoirs this is a truth that can cannot be too strongly impressed upon them if those who are in immediate attendance upon sovereigns be not of themselves disposed to transmit their private habits to posterity the meanest valet will relate what he has seen or heard his tales circulate rapidly and form that alarming public opinion which rises gradually but keeps increasing and at length attaches to the most august persons characters which however often they may be false are almost always indelible End of Chapter 5. Volume 1, Chapter 6 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Coppon. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 6. The winter, following the confinement of the Countess D'Artois was very severe.

Starting point is 04:13:47 The Queen, recollecting the pleasure which sledge parties had given her in her childhood, wished to establish similar ones in France. This amusement had already been seen in the Court of France, as was proved by the circumstance that sledges were found in the stables which had been used by the dauphin, the father of Louisais, in his youth. Some were constructed for the queen in a more modern taste. The princes likewise ordered several, and in a few days there was a tolerable number of these vehicles. They were driven by the princes and nobleman of the court, the noise of the bells and balls with which the harnesses of the horses were furnished, the elegance and whiteness of their plumes, variety of forms in the garages, the gold with which they were all ornamented, rendered

Starting point is 04:14:32 these parties delightful to the eye. The winter was very favorable to them, the snow remaining on the ground nearly six weeks. The races in the park afforded a pleasure shared by the spectators. Note by the editor. Louis says, touched with the wretched condition of the poor of Versailles during the winter of 1776, had several cartloads 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 said these memorable words to them. Gentlemen, here are my sledges.

Starting point is 04:15:09 End note. No one imagined that any blame could attach to so innocent an amusement. But the party were tempted to extend their eyes as far as the Chances-Ele-Zizé. A few sledge has even crossed the boulevards. The ladies being masked, the Queen's enemies, did not omit the opportunity of saying that the Queen had traversed the streets of Paris in a sledge.

Starting point is 04:15:32 This became a matter of moment. The public discovered in such a fashion a predilection for the habits of Vienna. And yet sledge parties were not a new fashion at Versailles. But all that Marie Antoinette did was criticized. Factions formed in courts do not openly carry different insignia as do those generated by revolutionary convulsions.

Starting point is 04:15:54 They are not, however, on that account the less dangerous for those whom they pursue, and the queen was never without a party against her. Sledge-driving, which savors of the custom of the northern courts, had no success among the Parisians. The queen was informed of this, and although all the sledges were preserved and several subsequent winters proved favorable to the amusement, she would not pursue it any further. It was at the time of the sledge parties that the queen became intimate with the Princess de L'ambal, who made her appearance in them, wrapped in fur, with all the brilliancy and freshness of the age of twenty.

Starting point is 04:16:30 She looked like 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 Duke de Leon, she had had, from the time of her arrival in France, a constant succession of calamities. A widow at 18 and childless, she lived with Monsieur the Duke de Pontievre upon the footing of an adopted daughter. She had the tenderest respect and attachment for that venerable prince, but the queen, though doing justice,

Starting point is 04:17:05 as well as the princesses to his virtues, saw that the Duke de Pontievre's way of living, whether at Paris or at his country's seat, could neither afford his young daughter-in-law the amusements of her time of life, nor insure her for 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 from the time of the death of Mademoiselle de Clermont. It is said that Marie Alexinska had decided that this place should continue vacant, the superintendent having so extensive a power in the House of Queens as to be frequently a restraint upon their inclinations. Differences which soon took place between

Starting point is 04:17:49 Marie Antoinette and the Princess de L'ambal, respecting the official prerogatives of the latter, proved that the wife of Louis Quins had acted judiciously in abolishing the office. But a kind of petty treaty made between the Queen and the Princess moved all difficulties. The blame of too obstinate and assertion of claims fell upon a secretary of the superintendents who had been her advisor, and everything was so arranged that a firm and lively friendship reigned between these two princesses, down to the disastrous period, which terminated their career. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm which the slender, graces and goodness of the Queen generally inspired, silent intrigues continued in operation against her. A very short time after

Starting point is 04:18:31 the accession of Louisais 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, an inspector of police, to bring to light 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 Iverdeau. He had already got possession of two sheets which contained the most atrocious calumnies, but conveyed with a degree of art which might make them very dangerous to the queen's reputation. This goopier 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

Starting point is 04:19:14 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 guppil's good fortune gave information that guppille himself was the author of the libel that ten years before he had been put into the bisetre for theft and that madame guppille had only been three years out of the salpeterre where she had been placed under another name this madame guppille 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 and no account of it got abroad but it shows that it was the queen's fate to be incessantly attacked by the meanest and most odious machinations another woman named caute de villey whose husband held the office of one of the treasurers of france being very irregular in conduct and of a scheming turn of mind conceived the mad wish to appear in the eyes of her friends at paris as a person in favour at court whither she was not entitled to go either by birth or office office. During the latter years of the life of Louis Quins, she had made many dupes and picked up considerable sums by passing herself off for the king's mistress. The fear of irritating Madame

Starting point is 04:20:40 Du Barry was, according to herself, the only thing which prevented her enjoying that title openly. She came regularly to Versailles, kept herself concealed in a furnished lodging, and her dopes imagined she was called to court by secret motives. This woman formed the scheme of getting admission if possible, to the presence of the Queen, or at least of establishing probabilities which might enable her to cause it to be believed. She took for her lover, Gabriel de Saint-Chal, intentant of her majesty's finances,

Starting point is 04:21:10 an office, the privileges of which were confined to the right of entering the Queen's apartment on a Sunday. Madame de Villy came every Saturday to Versailles with Monsieur de Saint-Shal and lodged in his apartment. Monsieur Campan was there several times. She painted tolerably well. She requested him to do her the favor to present to the queen a portrait of her majesty

Starting point is 04:21:31 which she had just copied. Monsieur Campa knew the woman's conduct and refused her. A few days after, he saw on her majesty's couch the portrait which he had declined presenting to her. The queen thought it ill-painted

Starting point is 04:21:45 and gave orders that it should be carried back to the Princess de L'ambal who had sent it to her. Madame de Ville had succeeded in her project through the medium of the princess. The ill success of the portrait did not deter the scheming woman from following up the design she had formed of making it believed that she was admitted to an intimacy with the queen. She easily procured through Monsieur de Saint-Chal, patents and orders signed by her majesty. She then set about imitating her writing and composed a great number of notes and letters,

Starting point is 04:22:17 as if written by her majesty in the tenderest and most familiar style. For several months she showed them as great see. secrets to several of her particular friends. Afterwards, she made the queen appear to write to her, as before, to procure her various fancy articles. Under the pretext of wishing to execute her Majesty's commissions faithfully, she gave these letters to the tradesman to read, and succeeded in having it said in several houses that the queen had a particular kindness for her.

Starting point is 04:22:47 She then enlarged her scheme, and represented the queen as desiring her to borrow two hundred thousand 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 Monsieur Berengie, Farmer General, 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 Ville. This first step was followed by some doubt, which he communicated to people better informed than himself of what was passing at court, and who added to his uneasiness. He then went to Monsieur de Certein who unraveled

Starting point is 04:23:26 the whole plot. The woman was then sent to Saint-Pilagie, and the unfortunate husband was ruined by replacing the sum borrowed and 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 the real

Starting point is 04:23:43 handwriting, and the only distinguishable difference was a little more regularity in the disposition of the letters. This trick, discovered and punished with prudence and coolness, produced no more sensation out of doors than that of the Inspector Goupil. If the spirit of independence

Starting point is 04:24:01 spread through the nation had already shorned the throne of some of its dazzling beams, if a party, formed in the very bosom of the court, was struggling to overthrow an Austrian princess, without reflecting that the blows aimed at her equally tended to shake the throne itself,

Starting point is 04:24:16 it will, I must confess, be urged that it was the duty of that princess to be circumspect in her every step, and to render her conduct unassailable. But let not her youth, her inexperience, and her friendless situation be forgotten. No, she was not guilty. The Abbe de Vermon was always the Queen's sole guide. At an age, and invested with a right to represent to her how important the consequences of her slightest levities might be, still he did not make that representation. And she continued, while on the throne, to seek the pleasures of private society with increasing eagerness.

Starting point is 04:24:52 A year after the nomination of the Princess de L'ambal to the post of superintendent of the Queen's household, Boles and quadrilles gave rise to the intimacy of her majesty with the Countess Gilles de Pollyniac. This lady really interested Marie Antoinette. She was not rich and generally lived upon her estate at Clay. 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 marriage of the princes, added to the interest which she had inspired. The Queen was full of sensibility, and took delight in counteracting the injustice of fortune.

Starting point is 04:25:32 The Countess was induced to come to court by her husband's sister, Madame Diana de Polignac, who had been appointed Lady of Honor to the Countess d'Artois. The Countess, Jules, was truly 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 at the very commencement of her favor at court. She repeatedly passed an hour with me while waiting for the queen. She conversed with me freely and ingenuously,

Starting point is 04:26:03 about all that she saw of honor and at the same time of danger 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 at all in its purity between a queen and a subject, when they are surrounded, moreover, by snares laid, by the artifices of courtiers. This very pardonable error

Starting point is 04:26:26 was fatal to the happiness of Marie Antoinette, for happiness is not to be found in illusion. The retiring character of the Countess Jules, afterwards Duchess de Pollyniac, cannot be spoken of too favourably. I always considered her the victim of an elevation which she never sought, but if her heart was incapable of forming ambitious projects,

Starting point is 04:26:48 her family and friends beheld their own fortune in hers and endeavour to fix the favour of the queen permanently. The Countess Diana, sister of Monsieur de Pollyniac, and the Baron de Bezon Val, and Monsieur de Vaudre, particular friends of the Pollyneac family, made use of means, the success of which was infallible. One of my friends, the Count de Moustier, who was in their secret, came to tell me that Madame de Pollyneac was about to quit Versailles suddenly, that she would take leave of the Queen only in writing, that the Countess Diana and Monsieur de Vaudre had dictated. her letter, and that the whole affair was arranged for the purpose of stimulating the hitherto

Starting point is 04:27:25 unprofitable 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 Countess 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 dictated the necessity of her doing so, but she was much more strongly impelled by the fear that the queen's friendship,

Starting point is 04:27:53 after having raised up dangerous enemies against her, might abandon her to their hatred and to the regret of having lost the august favor of which she was then the object. This step produced the full effect that had been expected from it. A young and susceptible queen cannot long bear the idea of contradiction. She determined more firmly than ever to settle the Countess Jules near herself by making such a provision for her as should place her beyond anxiety. Her disposition was just what the queen liked.

Starting point is 04:28:24 She had merely natural talents, no presumption, no affectation of knowledge. She was of the middling size, her complexion very fair, her eyebrows and hair dark brown, her teeth of dazzling whiteness, her smile and chanting, and her whole person beaming with grace. She disliked dress and was seen almost always in an under, remarkable only for its neatness and good taste. Nothing upon her appeared placed with design nor even with care. I do not think I ever once saw diamonds about her,

Starting point is 04:28:58 even at the highest pitch of her fortune, and when she enjoyed the rank of Duchess at court. I always thought that her sincere attachment for the Queen as much as her love of simplicity induced her to avoid everything that might raise a belief of her being a wealthy favorite. She had not one of the failings which usually accompanied that title. She loved the persons who shared the Queen's affections and was entirely free from jealousy.

Starting point is 04:29:24 Marie Antoinette flattered herself that the Countess Jules and the Princess de L'Ambal would be her special friends, and that she should possess a society formed of her own taste. I will receive them in my closet or at Triano, said she. I will enjoy the comforts of private life which exist not for us, unless we have the resolution to secure them for our Ourselves. My memory faithfully recalls to me all the charms which so pleasing an illusion held out to the queen, in a scheme of which she fathomed neither the impossibility nor the dangers. The happiness she thought to secure was only destined to cause her vexation. All those courtiers who were not admitted into 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 Count de Tessé, being given to Count Jules, unknown to the holder, displeased the family of Noailles. This family had just sustained another mortification. The appointment of the Princess de L'ambal, having in some degree rendered the resignation

Starting point is 04:30:32 of the Countess de Noiré necessary, whose husband was thereupon made a Marshal of France. The Princess de L'ambal, although she did not quarrel with the Queen, was alarmed at the establishment of the Countess Jules at court, and did not form, as her majesty had hoped, a part of that intimate society which was composed in succession of Madame Jules and Diana Polyniac, D'And de Chalon, and Monsieur de Guing, Coynie, D'Ademar, de Bezant-Val, Lieutenant-Cournal of the Swiss, de Pollyne, de Vaudre, and de Guiche. The Prince de Ling and the Duke of Dorset, the English ambassador, were also admitted. It was a long time, before the Countess Jules maintained any great state at court.

Starting point is 04:31:17 The Queen contented herself with giving her a fine suite of apartments at the top of the marble staircase. The salary of first equerry, the trifling emoluments derived from Monsieur de Pollynec'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 real worth. I was even astonished one day at hearing her majesty mention with pleasure

Starting point is 04:31:42 that the Countess had gained ten thousand francs in the lottery. She was in great want of it, added the Queen. Thus it will be seen that the Polignacs were not settled at court in any degree of splendor which could justify the murmuring of others. The Noai, however, had perhaps reason to feel hurt on the occasion. They had some right to the reversion after the Count de Tessé. The restoration of the office of superintendent had been likewise mortifying to the Countess de Noai, who finding a superior set over,

Starting point is 04:32:12 her had retired. This family, which had great weight at court, was not, however, the only one which the advancement of the Count de Pollynec incensed against Marie Antoinette. Whatever one courtier sees obtained by others always appears to him a spoliation of his own property. That is a rule. In this instance, however, the substantial part of the favors bestowed upon the Polynex was less envied than the intimacy which was about to be established between them and their dependence and the Queen. In the Society of the Countess Jules was seen an opening to the acquisition of favour, places, and embassies. Those who had no hope of introduction into that society were irritated. Madame de Pauliniac's drawing-room did Marie Antoinette much mischief. It increased the

Starting point is 04:33:00 malice of her enemies. However, at the time I speak of, the society around the Countess Jules, fully engaged in strengthening the Queen's attachment to her, was far from interfering in serious matters to which the young Queen indeed was yet a stranger. To gratify her was the leading object of all the favourite's friends. The Marquis de Vaudré was a conspicuous member of the circle of the Countess Jules. He was a shining wit, the friend and protector of the fine arts. He had a long list of protégés among men of letters and celebrated artists. The Baron de Bezonval preserved all the plainness of the Swiss to which he added all the cunning of a French courtier.

Starting point is 04:33:43 The fifty years he had numbered, and the grey hairs on his head, made him enjoy among women all that confidence inspired by maturity of age, although he had not quite given up the thoughts of love intrigues. He talked of his native mountains with enthusiasm. He would willingly at any time sing the rendez-vash with tears in his eyes, and was the best storyteller. in the Countess Jules' circle. The last new song, the repartee of the day, and the ordinary little tattling tales were the sole topics of conversation

Starting point is 04:34:15 in the Queen's parties. Learning was prescribed in them. The Countess Diana, more inclined to literary pursuits than her sister-in-law, one day recommended her to read the Iliad and Odyssey. The latter replied, laughing,

Starting point is 04:34:29 that she was perfectly acquainted with the Greek poet and said to prove it, Homer was abuegle and joe du ho-boy. Homer was blind and played on the hobooy. Note by the editor. This lively repartee of the Duchess de Pollyniac is a droll imitation of a line in the Mercur-Gallant. In this quarrel scene, one of the lawyers says to his brother Quill,

Starting point is 04:34:53 "'Ton per'etet abuegle and joe de au-bois. Your father was blind and played on the ho-boy.' It was impossible that the Duchess de Pollynec with her wit and refined taste should do otherwise than highly value learning. But the following anecdote conveys a poor idea of the education of some of the men admitted into her society. In 1781, the Duchess de Polignac was pregnant, and in order to be nearer at hand to pay her respects to the Queen, she requested Madame de Bufleur to let her house

Starting point is 04:35:25 called d'auté and famous for its gardens at l'Angle. Madame de Bufleer, who was very fond of her country house, endeavored to remain in it without disobliging the Duchess, and replied in the following lines. Around you all are sedulous to please, your tranquil days roll on in cloudless ease. Empire to you is but the source of joy, or if some grief a while the charm destroy, attentive courtiers with assiduous art banish the transient feeling from your heart. Far otherwise with me, if sorrows press, hear lonely. No one shares in my distress.

Starting point is 04:36:04 My only solace are these fragrant flowers, whose rich perfumes beguile my heavy hours. Madame de Pollynec showed these lines, and her flatterers thinking they were written by Madame de Buflerre pronounced them good for nothing. Of course, the decision of the Duchess's friends was carried to Madame la Marischal. I am sorry, then, said she,

Starting point is 04:36:27 for poor racine, for the lines are his. In fact, The lines will be found in Britannicus Act 2, scene 3. They are addressed to Nero by Junia. Madame de Bufler had merely made a slight alteration in the four last lines, where the name of Britannicus is introduced. We take this anecdote from the secret correspondence. End note.

Starting point is 04:36:52 The Queen found this sort of humor very much to her taste and said that no pedant had ever been her friend. The splendor of the House of Pollyneac was not at its height until several years after the period of which I have just spoken. And the Queen did not make a practice of spending a part of each day at the House of the Duchess until the latter had succeeded the Princess de Gemin in the capacity of governess of the children of France, and the Duke had become both Superintendent of the Post and First Equiry. Before the Queen fixed her assemblies at Madame de Pollynecks, she occasionally passed the evening

Starting point is 04:37:26 at the House of the Duke and Duchess de Dura. They always had a brilliant party of young persons to meet her. They introduced a taste for trifling games, such as question and answer, Gare Pompant, blind man's buff, and especially a game called D'Compatibo. The people of Paris continually criticizing and at the same time, constantly imitating the practices of the court, were infected with the mania for these childish sports. The rage for Decompetivo and Gare Pompant extended to every house where many young women were assembled. Madame de Jean Lise, in one of her plays, written with an intention to sketch the follies of the day, speaks of these famous Decompetivot, and also of the fashion of making a friend called the

Starting point is 04:38:12 inseparable until a whim, or the slightest indifference, produced a total rupture. End of Chapter 6. Volume 1, Chapter 7, of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The Duke de Choiselle made his reappearance at court on the ceremony of the king's coronation. From the general wishes of the public on the subject, his friends conceived hopes of seeing him again in administration or in the Council of State. But these hopes were only of short duration. The opposite party was too firmly fixed at Versailles, and the young queen's influence was outweighed in the mind of the king by long-standing and lasting prejudices. She therefore gave up forever her attempt to reinstate.

Starting point is 04:39:07 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 down to the earliest shocks of the revolution, surrounded by her own enemies and those of her house. Marie Antoinette took but little pains to promote literature and the fine arts. She had suffered some vexations in consequence of her having ordered the performance of the Conitables de Bourbon on the celebration of the marriage of Madame Clotilde, the King's sister with the Prince of Piedmont. The Court and the people of Paris censured as in decorous the performance of a piece in which such parts

Starting point is 04:39:52 were assigned to characters bearing the names of the reigning family and of that which the new alliance was formed. Note by Madame Campan. The Connitable de Bourbon was not, it must be admitted, a fit piece for performance before all the French princes. It might also create some surprise if the whole court should be found approving a composition in which the conitabre of all things desires, the rare pleasure of humbling a king. And note.

Starting point is 04:40:20 The reading of this piece by the Count de Gubert in the queen's closet had produced in her majesty's circle that sort of enthusiasm, which prevents all sober and judicious criticism. She promised she would have no more readings. Yet, at the request of Monsieur de Cubierre the King's Equiry, the Queen agreed to hear the reading of a comedy written by his brother. She collected her intimate friends, Monsieur de Cuanie, de Vaudreille, de Bezonval, and Madame de Pollyneac, and to increase the number of judges, she admitted the two Perney, the Chevalier de Bertin, my father-in-law, and myself. Note by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 04:40:59 The Chevalier de Perney was already known by his heroic poem. and the Chevalier de Bertin by some well-received verses. And note. Molli read for the author. Note. An actor who was the delight of the Teatro Francé. He preceded Fleury and took the same line of character. End note.

Starting point is 04:41:20 I never could satisfy myself by what magic the skillful reader gained our unanimous approbation of a work equally bad and ridiculous. Surely, the delightful voice of Mollet, by awakening our recollection of the dramatic beauties of the French stage prevented the wretched lines of Derard Cubier from striking on our ears. I can assert that the words beautiful, beautiful, 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.

Starting point is 04:41:55 It was called the Dremoman or Dramarturge. All the characters died of poison mixed in a process. pie. The Queen highly disconcerted at having recommended this absurd production, resolved once more never to hear another reading, and this time she kept her word. The tragedy of Mustafa and Zeyangir by Monsieur de Chant-Far was highly successful at the Court Theatre at Fontainebleau. The Queen procured the author a pension of twelve hundred francs, but his play failed on being performed at Paris. The spirit of opposition which prevailed in that city delighted in annulling the decisions of the court. The queen determined never more to give any marked countenance to new

Starting point is 04:42:36 dramatic works. She reserved her patronage for musical composers alone, and in a few years there art arrived at a degree of perfection it had never before attained in France. It was solely to gratify the queen that the manager of the opera collected the first company of comic actors at Paris. Gluck, Pichini and Sikini were brought there in succession. These eminent composers and particularly the first were treated with great distinction at court. Immediately on his arrival in France, Gluck was admitted to the Queen's Toilette, and she never ceased talking to him all the time he remained with her. She asked him one day whether he had nearly brought his grand opera of Armida to a conclusion

Starting point is 04:43:19 and whether it pleased him. Gluck replied very coolly in his German accent, Madame, it will soon be finished, and really it will be sublime. His opinion thus roundly expressed was confirmed, for surely the lyric stage never witnessed a more effective piece. There was a great outcry against the confidence with which the composer had spoken of his own production. 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 fearful lest a modesty merely dictated by politeness, should look like affectation in him.

Starting point is 04:43:59 The Queen did not confine her admiration to the lofty style of the French and Italian operas. Our comic opera also pleased her much. She greatly valued Gritri's music so well adapted to the spirit and feeling of the words that time has not yet diminished its charm. It is known that a great deal of the poetry set to music by Gritri is by Marmantelle. The day after the first performance, of Zamira and Azor, Marmontel and Gritri were presented to the queen in the gallery of Fontainebleau as she was passing through it to go to Mass. The queen addressed all her compliments on the success of

Starting point is 04:44:36 the new opera to Gritri, told him that during the night she had dreamed of the enchanting effect of the trio by Zemira's father and sisters behind the magic mirror. Having said this, she left them. Gritri, in a transport of joy, took Marmonteel in his arms. Ah, my friend, cried he, Excellent music may be made of this. And execrable words, Cooley observed Mermontel to whom her majesty had not addressed a single word.

Starting point is 04:45:06 The Queen had no taste for pictures. The most indifferent artists were permitted to have the honour of painting her. A full-length portrait representing Marie Antoinette in all the pomp of royalty was exhibited in the Gallery of Versailles. This picture, which was intended for the Court of Vienna, and executed by a man who does not deserve to be named, disgusted all people of taste.

Starting point is 04:45:29 It seemed as if this art, which is justly placed in the foremost rank of the fine arts, had in France retrograded several centuries. True it is that Van Lue and Boucher had so corrupted this style of the French school, that, with eyes accustomed to look only at the foreign and native masterpieces which now surround us, we can scarcely believe that Boucher's paintings could have been objects of admiration at a period so near the age of Louis XIV. The Queen had not that enlightened judgment or even that mere taste, which in princes is sufficient to enable them to develop and protect great talents.

Starting point is 04:46:05 She confessed, frankly, that she saw no merit in any portrait beyond the likeness. When she went to the Louvre on the exhibition of the pictures, she would run hastily over all the little imitative subjects and come out as she acknowledged, without having once raised her eyes to the grander compositions. There is no good portrait of the queen save that by Vertmuller, 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.

Starting point is 04:46:38 In the composition of the latter picture, there reigns a striking analogy to that of Henrietta of France, the wife of the unfortunate Charles I, painted by Van Dyke. Like Marie Antoinette, she is seated, surrounded by her children, and that resemblance adds to the melancholy interest raised by this beautiful production. In admitting with that candor which I will never lose sight of, 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,

Starting point is 04:47:10 brothers of the King, on the art of printing. Note by the editor The King looked with interest on the productions of an art so serviceable to literature. In 1790, that prince gave a proof of his particular goodwill to the book-selling trade. The following particulars of this transaction are found in a work which appeared about that time. 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 distress situation. The monarch was affected by it.

Starting point is 04:47:44 He condescended to take from the civil list, the sum of which the society stood in immediate name, need, and became security for the repayment of the remainder of the 1,200,000 livres which they wanted to borrow. Louis Cés wrote with his own hand the following letter to Monsieur Nacquer, at that time his minister of finance. The interest I take in the welfare of this society, and of the numerous workmen they employ, as well in the country as in Paris, and who would have been out of work without prompt assistance, the case descant and other capitalists to whom they have made application being unable to help them, has induced me to advance them as a loan out of the funds of my civil

Starting point is 04:48:24 list, the 50,000 crowns which they wanted indispensably on the 31st of last month. The same motive leads me to secure upon the same fund, such sums as they may be able to procure, in order with the 50,000 crowns which I have advanced them, to make up the sum of 1,200,000 livres, to be repaid in ten years, including my advance. For the repayment of which I fixed no particular time. Sinclu the 4th August 1790 signed, Louis. End note. To Marie Antoinette, we are indebted

Starting point is 04:48:58 for a splendid Quarto edition of the works of Metastasio. To Monsieur the King's brother for a quarto tassau embellished with engravings after Cochin, and to the Count d'Artois for a small collection of select works, which is considered one of the chedeuvre of the celebrated

Starting point is 04:49:14 Didos Press. In 1775, on the death of the Marischal Dumois, the ascendancy of the sect of innovators occasioned the call of Monsieur de Saint-Germain to court that the most important post of minister at war might be entrusted to him. His first care was the abolition of the King's military household establishment which had been an imposing and effectual rampart round the sovereign power. It is to be observed that at the period when the Chancellor Mopou obtained the consent of Louis Kays to the destruction of the Parliament and the banishment of all the ancient

Starting point is 04:49:48 magistrates, the Muscatere were charged with the execution of the commission for this purpose, and that, at the stroke of midnight, the presidents and members were all arrested, each by two musketeers. In the spring of 1755, a popular insurrection had taken place in consequence of the high price of bread. Monsieur Turgo's new regulation, which permitted unlimited trade in corn, was either its cause or the pretense for it. And the King's household troops had, upon that occasion, contributed mainly to the restoration of public tranquility.

Starting point is 04:50:22 Note by the editor. Economy and freedom were Mersutio goes to principles. At court, he insisted chiefly on the application of the former. His numerous retrenchments offended the nobles and clergy. A female relative of the minister once asked a bishop whether it was not allowable to keep Easter and the Jubilee at the same time. Why, madam, replied the prelate, we live in economical times, perhaps we had better do so.

Starting point is 04:50:50 End note. A great number of persons enlightened by the disastrous events at the end of the reign of Louis Seyes have suspected Monsieur de Saint-Germain of a treacherous confederacy in favour of schemes formed long beforehand it is true by the enemies of good order. But by what fatality was the queen drawn in to promote such objects? I could never discover the true cause of it, unless indeed in the marked favor shown to the captains and officers of the bodyguards, who, in consequence of the reduction, became the only soldiers of their rank entrusted with the safety of the sovereign, or else in

Starting point is 04:51:26 the Queen's strong prejudice against the Duke de Grillon, then commander of the lighthorse. Monsieur de Saint-Germain, however, retained fifty gendarme and fifty light-horse to form a royal escort on state occasions. But in 1787, the King disbanded both these military bodies. The Queen then remarked with evident satisfaction that at last she should see no more redcoats in the gallery of Versailles. Note by the editor. The queen said to Monsieur de Saint-Germain, What will you do with the 44 gendarme and 44 light-horse that you keep up? Probably they are to escort the king to the beds of justice. No, madame, they are to accompany him when the te deums are sung. It must be understood that the queen was for a total suppression and for the

Starting point is 04:52:13 kings being guarded at Versailles, as the Empress her mother and the Emperor are at Vienna, and that would have been plain and right. Secret correspondence of the court, reign of Louiscese. And note. From 1775 to 1781, the Queen passed the pleasantest part of her life, and that in which she indulged most in the gratifications which on all sides offered themselves to her. In the little journeys to Choisy, performances frequently took place at the theater twice in one day, grand opera and French or Italian comedy at the usual hour, and, at 11 at night, parodies in which the best actors of the opera presented themselves in the most whimsical parts and costumes.

Starting point is 04:52:58 The celebrated dancer, Gimal, always took the leading character in the latter performance. She danced better than she acted. Her extreme leanness and her small hoarse voice added to the burlesque in the parodied characters of Ernalinda and Ephigenie. The most magnificent and complimentary fact ever given to the queen was one prepared for her by Monsieur, the king's brother, at Brunois. That prince did me the honor to admit me there, and I followed her majesty everywhere in the group that surrounded her.

Starting point is 04:53:29 In roving about the gardens she found, in the first copse, knights in full armor asleep beneath the shade of trees, whence hung their spears and shields. The absence of the beauties who had incited the nephew, of Charlemagne to lofty deeds is supposed to occasion this lethargic slumber. But the queen appears at the entrance at the cops.

Starting point is 04:53:49 They are on foot in an instant. Melodious voices sing the cause of their disenchantment and their eagerness to signalize their skill and valor. They then hastened into a vast arena, magnificently decorated exactly in the style of the ancient tournaments.

Starting point is 04:54:06 Fifty dancers dressed as pages, presented to the night's twenty-five superb black horses, and and twenty-five of a dazzling whiteness, almost richly caparisoned. The party led by Augustus Vestris wore the Queen's Colors. Peek, Ballet Master at the Russian Court, commanded the opposing band. There was running at the black helmet, tilting and lastly desperate single combat, perfectly well imitated.

Starting point is 04:54:32 Although the spectators were aware that the Queen's Colors could not but be victorious, they did not the less enjoy the various and prolonged sensations occasioned by the apparent uncertainty of the triumph. Nearly all the agreeable women of Paris who are always ready to enjoy spectacles of this description were ranged upon the steps which surrounded the area of the tourney. This assemblage completed the illusion. The queen, surrounded by the royal family and the whole court,

Starting point is 04:55:00 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 shouts of vive louis vive mary antoinette were sent forth 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 so hoped to gain or secure favor for themselves. Who would have dared by cold or solid reasonings

Starting point is 04:55:48 to check the amusements of a queen, young, lively, and handsome? A mother or a husband alone 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 feelings of admiration and love. He was a slave to all the wishes of the queen, who, delighted with the happy change in the mind and manner, of the king did not sufficiently conceal the satisfaction she felt at it, nor the ascendancy she was gaining over him. The king went to bed every night at eleven, precisely. He was very methodical,

Starting point is 04:56:24 and nothing was allowed to interfere with his rules. He had not as yet omitted a single night to share the nuptial bed. But the noise which the queen unavoidably made when she returned very late from the evenings which she spent with the Princess de Guimene, or the Duke de Dura, at last annoyed the king. And it was amicably agreed that the queen should apprise him when she intended to sit up late. The king then began to sleep in his own apartment which had never before happened from the time of their marriage. During the winter the opera balls beguiled many of the queen's nights. She attended them with a single lady of the palace and Monsieur and the Count d'ertre were always there. Her people concealed their liverys under grey cloth great-coats.

Starting point is 04:57:07 She always thought she was not recognized while all the time she was known to the whole assembly from the first moment she entered the theater. They pretended, however, not to recognize her, and some masquerade maneuver was always adopted to give her the pleasure of fancying herself incognita. Louis Sais determined once to accompany the queen to amassed ball. It was agreed that the king should hold

Starting point is 04:57:32 not only the grand but the petit-coucher, as if actually going to bed. The queen went to his office. 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 on duty 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 punch and harlequin, which served as a joke against

Starting point is 04:58:03 him for the royal family, who often amused themselves with laughing at him about it. an event very simple in itself brought lamentable suspicions upon the conduct of the queen she was going out one evening with the duchess de luin lady of the palace 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 silent the event would never have been known but to ride in a fiacre is an adventure so whimsical for a queen that she had hardly entered the opera-house when she could not help saying to some persons whom she met there i came 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 that night adventure was mysterious that the queen had kept an assignation in a private house with a nobleman honoured by her kindness the duke de quigny was openly named he was indeed very well received at court but equally so by the king and queen these suppositions of gallantry once set afloat there were no longer any bounds to all the fool foolish conjectures of the gossips of the day, and still less to the calumnies circulated at Paris respecting the Queen. If, during the chase or at cards, she spoke to Lord Edward Dillon, de L'Auberti, or others whose names I cannot at this moment bring to my recollection,

Starting point is 04:59:32 they were so many favoured lovers. The people of Paris did not know that none of these young persons were admitted into the Queen's private circle of friends, nor had even any claim to be introduced there. But the Queen went about Paris in disguise. and had made use of a fiacre. Unfortunately, a single instance of levity gives room for the suspicion of others, and ill-disposed persons do not hesitate to presume that which could not really take place. Calm, in consciousness of innocence, and well-knowing that all about her must do justice to her private life, the queen spoke of these false reports with contempt, contenting herself with a

Starting point is 05:00:10 supposition that some vain folly in the young men above 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 the pleasure of revenge induced them either to say or to leave others to think that it was their misfortune to please no longer. Other young coxcombs placing themselves near the private box which the Queen occupied incognita 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 have given above, was placed in the hands of the gentlemen ushers of the Chamber by the Princess de L'ambal. And the persons there enumerated were to present themselves to enjoy the distinction on those days whereon the Queen chose to be with her intimates in a private manner, and on no other, and this was only after she had been confined or when she was slightly indisposed.

Starting point is 05:01:17 People of the first rank at court sometimes requested audiences of her. The queen then received them in a room within that called the wardrobe woman's closet, and these women announced whoever was coming into her majesty's apartment. I was one day in this cabinet when the Duke de Lozen passed through it after an occurrence which requires some explanation. The Duke de Lozen, since Duke de Beon, who made himself conspicuous in the revolution among the associates of the Duke of Orleon, has left behind him some manuscript memoirs, in which he calumnies the character of Marie Antoinette. He relates one anecdote respecting a heron's plume. The following is the true history of the matter. The Duke de Lozun had a good deal of original wit and something chivalrous in his manners. The Queen was accustomed to see him at the King's suppers, and, and, the Duke de Lozun had a good deal of original wit and something chivalrous in his manners. The Queen was accustomed to see him at the King's suppers,

Starting point is 05:02:07 and at the house of the princess de Guimini, and always showed him attention. One day he made his appearance at Madame de Guinez 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 Princess de Guimini. As he wore it, the queen had not imagined

Starting point is 05:02:28 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 dare to refuse it, nor did she know whether she ought to make one in return fearful if she did give anything of giving either too much or too little she contented herself with wearing the plume once and letting monsieur de l'ousin see her adorned with the present he had made her in his secret memoirs the duke attaches importance to his present of the egrette which proves him utterly unworthy of an honour accorded only to his name and rank his vanity magnified the value of the favour done him a short time after the present of the heron plume, he solicited an audience. The Queen granted it, as she would have done to any other nobleman of equal rank. I was in the room adjoining that in which he was received.

Starting point is 05:03:18 A few minutes after his arrival, the Queen opened the door and said aloud, and in an angry tone of voice, Go, sir. Monsieur de Lozen, 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 Marshal de Biron died. The Duke de Lousin, heir to his name, aspired to the important post of colonel of the regiment of French guards. The Queen, however, procured it for the Duke de Chattelet. Such is often the origin of the most implacable hatred.

Starting point is 05:03:56 The Duke de Biron espoused the cause of the Duke of Orleans, and became one of the most violent animaunt. of Marie Antoinette. It is with reluctance that I enter very minutely on a defense of the queen against two infamous accusations with which libelers have dared to swell their envenomed volumes. I mean the unworthy suspicions of too strong an attachment for the Count D'Artois, and of the motives for the close friendship, which subsisted between the Queen, the Princess de L'Ambal, and the Duchess de Pollyniac.

Starting point is 05:04:28 I do not believe that the Count D'Artre was during the earlier year. years of his own youth, and that of the queen so much enamored as has been said, with the beauty and loveliness of his sister-in-law. But I can affirm that I always saw that prince maintain the most respectful distance towards the queen, that she always spoke of him, of his good nature and his cheerfulness, with that freedom which never attends any other than the purest sentiments, and that none of those about the queen ever saw in the affection she manifested towards the count d'artre, 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,

Starting point is 05:05:08 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 dignified respect observed by persons of the most exalted rank towards royal majesty was never forgotten. note by the editor This testimony is confirmed by an historian the following extract from whom will certainly be read with interest. We shall have occasion to quote a few fragments of letters

Starting point is 05:05:39 from which an idea of the strict friendship that united the Queen and the Duchess de Polignette may be drawn. Suffice for the present the following note written by the Queen to the Duchess in answer to a letter in which the latter, after an illness that had confined her a few days in Paris, wrote to the Queen that she should say, soon have the honor of paying her respects to her. I am doubtless more impatient for our meeting than you, for tomorrow I shall come and dine

Starting point is 05:06:04 with you at Paris. And in fact, the queen did go and dine with her friend. It must be confessed that this strict friendship between a sovereign and a subject appears the more extraordinary as being utterly unexampled. However, that it did exist cannot be denied. Unprincipled people, therefore, had no other course to pursue than to suppose a criminal motive for this friendship. And they succeeded but too well. When the real scheme of dethroning the unfortunate Louiscese was once determined on, it was thought proper to begin by degrading him. The most efficacious way to do which was to attack the morals of the Queen. It was also essential to the success of this infernal

Starting point is 05:06:47 plot that the Duchess de Polignac should be lowered in public opinion before the princess herself was attacked. For if the Duchess could be made to appear to of universal contempt, the opprobrium cast on her would stain her August friend also. Libels against Madame de Pollynec, therefore, were not spared. The author of this history has been often asked whether he had read those libeles, and who unfortunately has not, but he, in his turn, demanded that those who wrote them should own them and produce their proofs. He was never answered, and all intelligent persons who were well acquainted with the Duke and Duchess de Paulyniac

Starting point is 05:07:25 appeared to him convinced that the authors of those liables were vile calumniators hired by the enemies of the king and queen he even interrogated the duchess's servants who had nothing more to hope for from their mistress and their answers proved that she was beloved by her people and that in the bosom of her family she led the most decorous and regular life in short the author has not met with a single person who had ever even received the slightest offence from the duke de poliniac or his duchess having to decide between heavy accusations altogether unsupported by any kind of evidence on the one hand and indisputable facts on the other he was naturally bound to pronounce for the latter his character of an historian did not omit of his doing otherwise history of marie antoinette by monjois and note the queen entirely occupied with the society of madame de polinac and amusements which succeeded each other in an unbroken series had for some time found but little leisure for the Abbey de Vermon. He therefore resolved to retire from court. The world did him the honor to believe that he had hazarded remonstrances upon his August pupil's frivolous employment of her time, and that both as an ecclesiastic and as instructor he was now, when at court, out of his place. But the world deceived itself. His dissatisfaction arose purely from the favor shown to the Countess Jules. After a fortnight's absence, we

Starting point is 05:08:55 saw him at Versailles again, resuming his usual functions. I will relate by and by his motives for absenting himself, and the conditions for which he stipulated upon his return. End of Chapter 7. Volume 1, Chapter 8 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Carpont. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 8. From the time of Louis Seiz's accession to the throne, the Queen had been exceauly

Starting point is 05:09:30 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 wish 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. Note by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 05:10:00 The Queen received the Emperor at Versailles and did not go to meet him in a cabriolet, as is said in some of the collections of anecdotes respecting the Court of Louis-Sais, especially in a very respectable work in which this false anecdote is inserted, as it is likewise in the English spy from which it was probably taken. And note. The first interview between the Queen and her August brother took place in the presence of all the Queen's household. It was extremely affecting. The feelings of nature excite the strongest interest

Starting point is 05:10:33 when displayed by sovereigns in all their unrestrained force. The Emperor was at first generally admired in France. Men of science, skillful officers, and celebrated artists were sensible of the great extent of his information. He made less impression at court and very little in the private circle of the King and Queen. His manners were eccentric, his frankness often degenerated into rudeness, and his simplicity appeared evidently affected, from these characteristics he was looked upon rather as a singular than an admirable prince the queen spoke to him about the apartment she had prepared for him in the castle the emperor answered that he would not accept of it and that while travelling he always lodged at a public-house that was his very expression

Starting point is 05:11:18 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 extensive enough and that he might claim a place there as well as any of the other black guards who were lodged in it but that his valet de chambre had made up his camp-bed in a ready furnished house and there he would lodge he dined with the king and queen and supped with the whole family assembled together he appeared to take an interest in the young princess elizabeth that he hadined with the king and queen and supped with the whole family assembled together he appeared to take an interest in the young princess elizabeth that then just past childhood and blooming in all the freshness of that age. A report of an intended marriage between him and this younger sister of the king was circulated at the time, but I believe it had no foundation in truth. The table still continued to be attended by females only when the queen dined in private with the king, the royal family, or crowned heads. Note by Madame Compin.

Starting point is 05:12:13 The custom was that, 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 controllers and a gentleman in waiting immediately came to attend, and the queen's women withdrew. These had succeeded the maids of honor in several parts of their service, and had preserved some of their privileges. One day the Duchess Delianne 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 honorable, and rendered them a fit resort for ladies of birth without fortune.

Starting point is 05:12:56 Madame de Misery, Baroness de Biasch, the Queen's first lady of the chamber, to whom I was reversioner, was a daughter of the Count de Chema'an, and her grandmother was a Montmorency. The Prince de Tengri in the presence of the Queen used to call her cousin. The ancient household of the kings of France conferred 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 francs. A collection of edicts of the kings in favor of the prerogatives and right of precedents of the persons holding office in the king's household

Starting point is 05:13:30 is still in existence. And note. I was present at the Queen's dinner almost every day. The Emperor would there speak much and fluently. He expressed himself in our language with facility, and the singularity of his expressions added a zest to his conversation. I have often heard him say that he liked spectacular objects when he meant to express such things as formed a show or a scene worthy of interest.

Starting point is 05:13:58 He disguised none of his prejudices upon the subject of the etiquette and customs of the Court of France, and even in the presence of the king aimed his sarcasm at them. The king smiled but never made any answer. The queen appeared to feel pain from them. The Emperor frequently terminated his observations upon the objects in Paris which he had admired by reproaching the King for remaining in ignorance of them. He could not conceive how such rich treasures of art should remain shut up in the dust of immense depositories.

Starting point is 05:14:30 Shortly after the Emperor's departure, the Count D'Angiviller laid before the King plans for the creation of the museum, which was then begun. And note. And told him one's time. day that but for the practice of placing some of them in the apartment of Versailles, he would not know even the principal ched-euvre that he possessed. Note by Madame Capon. The Emperor loudly blamed the practice existing at that time of allowing shopkeepers to erect

Starting point is 05:15:00 shops near the outward walls of the palaces, and to establish something like a fair upon their staircases in the galleries of Versailles and Fontainebleau, and even up to each landing place of the great staircases. and note. He also reproached him for not having visited the Hotel Dese Valide or the military school and even went so far as to tell him

Starting point is 05:15:22 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 indiscreet sincerity and gave him a few lectures upon the thoughtlessness with which he allowed himself to lecture others. One day she was really hurt at the Emperor's indiscreet sincerity, and gave him a few lectures.

Starting point is 05:15:41 was busied in signing warrants and orders for payment for her household, and was conversing with Monsieur O'Jacques 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 stopped, to censure 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 for orders, who deserved her implicit confidence,

Starting point is 05:16:21 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 giving her signature for any improper design. The Queen's Toilette 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, to which his eyes could not accustom themselves. One day while she was laying on more of it than usual before going to the play, he advised her to put on still more, and pointing out a lady who was in the room and was in truth highly painted. A little more under the

Starting point is 05:17:01 eyes, said the emperor to the queen. Lay on the rouge like a fury, as that lady does. The queen entreaty. her brother to cease observations of this sort, and at all events to address them when they were so severe to her alone. This manner of criticizing established fashions and customs agreed very well with the sneering spirit which then prevailed. Otherwise the emperor would have been generally blamed. Those who from principle adhered to the ancient customs were the only persons displeased, and were indeed much offended with him for his misplaced frankness. The queen had made an appointment to meet him and at the Italian theatre. Her Majesty changed her mind and went to the French theatre.

Starting point is 05:17:43 She sent a page to the Italian theatre to request her brother would come to her. The Emperor left his box, lighted by the comedian Clareval, and attended by Monsieur de la Ferte, controller of the Queen's privy purse, who was much hurt at hearing his imperial majesty after condescendingly expressing his regret at not being present during the Italian performance, say to Carval, Your young queen is very giddy, but luckily, you Frenchmen, have no great objection to that.

Starting point is 05:18:12 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 Monsieur Campanded the duty of librarian, he conversed with him about such books as would, of course, be found in the Queen's Library.

Starting point is 05:18:24 After talking of our most celebrated authors, he casually said, There are no works on finance or administration here, of course. These words were followed by his opinion on all that had been written on those topics and the differing systems of our two famous ministers, Sully and Calbert,

Starting point is 05:18:42 on the errors which were daily committed in France in points so essential to the prosperity of the empire, and on the reform he himself would make at Vienna, as soon as he should be able. Holding Monsieur Campan by the button, he spent more than an hour talking vehemently, and without the slightest reserve about the French government. this was certainly wrong for the emperor should have conversed with the secretary librarian only upon matters connected with his office if he had consulted delicacy and dignity

Starting point is 05:19:13 but he was so full of self-sufficiency respecting the science of government that he fell into this childish error he talked nearly an hour my father-in-law and myself continued in profound silence as much from astonishment as from respect and when we were left alone we agreed not to speak of this interview the emperor was fond of telling secret anecdotes of 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 offense. He also related several very amusing stories relative to the court of Parma,

Starting point is 05:20:11 of which he spoke with no little contempt. If what this prince said of those courts and even of Vienna had been written down from day to day, the whole would have formed a very interesting collection. I recollect but one anecdote which calls to mind the infatuation of Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, for the system of the economists, and gives an idea of the judgment the Emperor had formed of him.

Starting point is 05:20:35 The Emperor related to the King that the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of Naples being together, the former talked much about the changes he had effected in his state. He said that he had issued a vast number of new edicts in order to carry the precepts of the economists into execution, and trusted that in so doing he was laboring for the welfare of his people. The king of Naples suffered him to go on speaking for a long time, and then merely asked him how many Neapolitan families there were in Tuscany. The Duke soon reckoned them up as

Starting point is 05:21:07 they were but few. Well, brother, replied the king of Naples, I do not understand the indifference of your people respecting this said welfare, 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,

Starting point is 05:21:27 the latter did not wish to show himself, but she took him by the hand and with a little gentle force drew him forward to the first row of the box. This presentation to the public was most warmly received. The performance was Iphigenia in Olise, and for the second time the chorus, Chanton Celebron Notre Raine,

Starting point is 05:21:47 was called for with the greatest ardor, and sung in the midst of universal plaudits. A fait of a novel description was given at Petitriano. The art with which the English garden was lighted, not illuminated, produced a charming effect. Earthen lamps concealed by painted green boards threw light upon the beds of shrubs and flowers, and brought out their several tints

Starting point is 05:22:09 in the most varied and pleasing manner. Several hundred burning faggots in the moat behind the Temple of Love kept up 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, beyond that for which it was indebted

Starting point is 05:22:26 to the good taste of the artists, yet it was much talked of. The situation did not allow of the admission of a great part of the court, those who were uninvited were dissatisfied, and the people who never forgive any fat but those they share in contributed greatly to the envious exaggerations which were circulated as to the cost of this little fat,

Starting point is 05:22:47 which were so ridiculously absurd as to state that the faggots burnt in the moat 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 1500,000, faggots had sufficed to keep up the fire until four o'clock in the morning. The Emperor left France after staying a few months and promised his sister to come and see her again.

Starting point is 05:23:16 All the officers of the Queen's Chamber had taken many opportunities of serving him during his stay and expected that he would make presents before his departure. Their oath of office positively forbade them receiving a gift from any foreign prince. They had therefore agreed to refuse the Emperor's presence at first, but, to ask the time necessary for obtaining permission to accept of them. The Emperor, probably informed of this custom, relieved the good people from the difficulty of getting themselves released from their oath, for he set off without making a single present.

Starting point is 05:23:50 The Countess d'artois already had two children, while the Queen had not even a hope of giving heirs to the throne. There were many secret conjectures respecting the obstacles which could so long have opposed this. At last about the last, about the last, 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.

Starting point is 05:24:21 That at length she really was the queen of France, and that she hoped soon to have children. That up to that moment she had concealed her grief, but that she had shed many tears in secret. We have calculated and found that she was brought to bed of Madame, daughter of the king, exactly a year after the confidence she had deigned to repose in us. This tardy consummation was not made public. Dating from this long, delayed but happy moment, the king's attachment to the queen assumed every characteristic of love. The good Lassonne, first physician to the king and queen,

Starting point is 05:24:56 frequently spoke to me of the uneasiness that the king's indifference, the cause of which he had been so long and over. had given him, and appeared to me at that time to entertain anxiety of a very different description. In the winter of 1778, the king's permission for the return of Voltaire, after an absence of 27 years, was obtained. A few austere or cautious persons considered this condescension on the part of the court as very injudicious. The emperor on leaving France passed by Farnet and did not think fit to stop there. He had advised the queen not. to suffer Voltaire to be presented to her.

Starting point is 05:25:34 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 endeavor to profit by the knowledge of the philosophers, but that his own business of sovereign

Starting point is 05:25:51 would always prevent his ranking himself amongst the adepts of that sect. The clergy also took steps to hinder Voltaire's appearance at court. Paris, however, carried the honors paid to the great poet to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. It was highly imprudent to give the people of Paris an opportunity of showing with how much pleasure they could maintain an opinion contrary to that of the court.

Starting point is 05:26:15 This was pointed out to the queen, and she was told that, without conferring on Voltaire the honor of her presentation, she might see him in the state apartments. She was not very adverse to following this advice, and appeared embarrassed solely about what she should say to him in case of consenting to see him. She was recommended to talk to him about nothing but the Henriade, Mirope, and Zahir. The Queen told those who had taken the liberty to make these observations to her, that she would still consult a few other persons in whom she had great confidence. The next day she gave for answer that it was irrevocably decided Voltaire should not see

Starting point is 05:26:53 any member of the royal family. His writings being full of principles which aimed too directly at religion and morals. It is, however strange, said the queen as she gave this answer, that while we refuse to admit Voltaire into our presence as the leader of philosophical writers, Madame la Marischal de Mouchy, with all the intriguing disposition of the sect, should have presented to me some years ago Madame Geoffrey, who owed her celebrity to the title of foster mother of the philosophers. When the intended duel of the Count d'Artois with the Prince de Bourbon was known, the Queen determined to see the Baron Bezonval, who was to be one of the persons present at the meeting

Starting point is 05:27:34 privately, in order to communicate the king's intentions. I read with infinite pain the manner in which that simple fact is perverted in Monsieur de Bezanval's memoirs. He is right in saying that Monsieur 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. Monsieur de Bezon Val says that he found himself without knowing how he came there, in a plain apartment, but very conveniently furnished, of the existence of which he was still 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

Starting point is 05:28:21 Lamotte's impure libeles contain nothing so injurious to the character of Marie Antoinette as these lines, written by a man whom she honored by kindness thus undeserved. He could not possibly have had any opportunity of knowing the existence of these apartments, which consisted of a very small antechamber, a bedchamber, and a closet. Ever since the queen had occupied her own apartment, this had been appropriated to her majesty's lady of honor, in cases of confinement or sickness, and was actually in such use 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

Starting point is 05:29:00 inner room into this little apartment to which Monsieur Campan was to conduct him. When men write upon times still in remembrance, they should be scrupulously exact and not indulge in any exaggerations or constructions of their own. The Baron de Besant Val in his memoirs appears mightily surprised at the Queen's sudden coolness, and in a very unfavorable manner refers 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,

Starting point is 05:29:40 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 Bezambal as a brave Swiss, agreeable, polished, and witty, whose grey hairs had induced her to look upon him as a man whom she might see without fear of censure, but that she had been much deceived. Her Majesty, after having enjoined me to the strictest secrecy upon what she was about to impart, informed 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,

Starting point is 05:30:21 rise, sir. The king shall not be informed of an offense which would disgrace you forever. That the Baron grew pale and stammered an apology, that she left her closet without saying another word, and that since that time she hardly ever spoke to him. The Queen said to me on this occasion, It is delightful to have friends, but in a situation like mine, it is sometimes difficult to adopt the friends of our friends. The baron like a bold courtier knew how to digest both the shame attendant on a step so blamable and the resentment which had of course succeeded.

Starting point is 05:30:59 He did not lose the honorable distinction of being on the list of persons received in the Society of Triano. In the beginning of the year 1779, Chevalier deion obtained permission to return to France on condition that he should appear there in no other dress than that of a female. The Count de Vergenne entreated my father, Monsieur Jeannes, chief clerk of foreign affairs who had long known the Chevalier deion, to receive that whimsical personage at his house to guide and restrain if possible his restless disposition. The Queen, on learning his arrival at Versailles, sent a footman to desire my father to bring him into her presence. My father thought it his duty first to inform the minister of her majesty's wish. The Count de Vergenne expressed himself pleased with my father. prudence and desired him to accompany him to the queen.

Starting point is 05:31:49 The minister had a few minutes' audience. Her majesty came out of her closet with him, and, finding my father in the room beyond it, condescended to express to him the regret she felt at having troubled him to no purpose, and added, smiling, that a few words which Monsieur de Vergen had just said to her had forever cured her of her curiosity.

Starting point is 05:32:10 The late discovery and confirmation in London, respecting the true sex of this pretended woman, gives room for belief that the few words uttered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Queen contained merely a solution of the enigma. It is known that while the Chevalier deion was Minister Plenipotentiary in London, he outrageously attacked the honour of the Count de Gersche. And the Court of France not permitting him to make his appearance again in his own country in any other dress than that of a woman, they made some atonement for his insulting conduct towards a family of consideration.

Starting point is 05:32:44 The Chevalier-Déon had been useful in Russia in the private espionage of Louis Quince. While still very young, he had found means to introduce himself at the Court of the Empress Elizabeth and had served that sovereign in the capacity of reader. Resuming afterwards his military dress,

Starting point is 05:33:01 he served with honour and was wounded. Appointed Chief Secretary of Legation and afterwards Minister Plenipotentiary at London, he offended Count de Gershe. the ambassador by the most unpardonable insults. They were of such a nature that the official order for the Chevalier's return to France was actually delivered to the King's Council. But Louis Quins delayed the departure of the courier who was to be the bearer of it, and sent

Starting point is 05:33:25 off another courier privately, who gave the Chevalier-Déon 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 will here find two powerful enemies. I heard the Chevalier-Deon repeat the contents of this letter,

Starting point is 05:33:53 in which Louis Quins, thus separated his personal existence from that of the King of France several times at my father's. The Chevalier, or rather, the Chevalier deon, had preserved all the king's letters. Monsieur de Morpah and de Vergen wished to get these letters out of his head, hands as they feared he would print them. This eccentric being had long solicited his return to France, but it was necessary to find a way of sparing the family he had offended the kind of insult they would see in his return. He was therefore made to resume the costume of that sex, in which in France everything is

Starting point is 05:34:28 pardoned. The desire to see his native land once more undoubtedly determined him to submit to the condition, but he consoled himself by contrasting the long train of his gown and his three-deep ruffles, with the attitude and conversation of a grenadier, which, however, made him very disagreeable company. At last, the event so long desired by the Queen and by all those who wished her well took place. Her Majesty became pregnant. The King was in ecstasies on the occasion.

Starting point is 05:34:59 Never was there a more united or happier couple. The disposition of Louis Sez was entirely altered and was become prepossessing and conciliatory. He had submitted to the yoke of love, and the queen was well 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 shower. The queen, incommoded by her size, spent whole days in close rooms,

Starting point is 05:35:33 and could not sleep until she had breathed the fresh night air which she did, walking with the princesses and her brothers upon the terrace under her apartments. These promenades at first gave rise to no remarks, 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,

Starting point is 05:36:05 surrounded by the whole of the royal family. with the exception of the king, who joined them but twice, disliking to break in upon 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 chose to enjoy these serenades and that there was a crowd near the spot from eleven at night until two or three in the morning.

Starting point is 05:36:36 The windows of the ground floor, occupied by Monsieur and Madame, 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 inconsiderate females might not have ventured farther and wandered to the bottom of the park. It may have been so. But the Queen, Madame and the Countess death why were all over? 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 females at that time but when standing up their different figures always distinguish them and the person's presence 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 come and sit down by their side. A young clerk in the war department, lively and of good address,

Starting point is 05:37:42 either not knowing the queen or pretending not to know her, spoke to her. The beauty of the night and the delightful effect of the music formed the subject of the conversation. The queen, fancying she was not recognized, amused herself by keeping up the incognita, and they talked of several private families of Versailles, who were perfectly well known to the queen, as they all consisted of persons belonging to the king's household or her own. After thus passing 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

Starting point is 05:38:19 the queen, boasted of it in his office. On this being made known he was desired to hold his tongue, and so little attention did he excite that the revolution found him still a mere clerk as before. another evening one of monsieur's body-guard in the same manner came and seated himself near the princesses and knowing them left the place where he was sitting and came up to 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 note by madame campan su la vie has most criminally perverted these two facts and note i was at the queen's residence that very day she talked of this little occurrence at the time of her cushay though she only complained that one of monsieur's guards should have the effrontery to speak to her her majesty added that he ought to have respected her being incognita and that that was not the place where he should have ventured to make a request madame had recognized him and talked of making a complaint to his captain the queen opposed it attributing his

Starting point is 05:39:32 error to his ignorance and provincial origin. The most scandalous tales were made up and inserted in the libels of the day, respecting these two insignificant occurrences which I have related with strupulous exactness. Nothing could be more false than those calumnius reports. It must be confessed, however, that such meetings were liable to serious ill consequences. I ventured to say as much to the queen, and informed her that one evening, when her majesty had beckoned to me to go and speak to her on the bench on which she was sitting, I thought I recognized two women deeply veiled who were seated in profound silence by her side, that those

Starting point is 05:40:11 women were no other than the Countess 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 tail footman belonging to Madame Du Barry, and whom I had seen in her service all the time she resided at court. My advice was useless. led by the pleasure she found in these promenades, and lulled into security by the consciousness of blameless conduct, the queen would not see the lamentable results by which they must necessarily be followed. This was very unfortunate, for, besides the mortifications they brought

Starting point is 05:40:47 upon her, it is highly probable that they prompted the idea of the vile romance which gave rise to the Cardinal de Roan's fatal error. Having enjoyed these evening promenades about a month, the queen ordered a private concert within the colonnade, which contains the group of Pluto and proserpine. Sentinels were placed at all the entrances into the grove 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 Madame de Pollynec, de Chalon, and Dandleau, and Monsieur de Pollynec, de coigny, de Bezambal, and de Vaudreye. There were also a few equerries present.

Starting point is 05:41:36 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, and the most disgusting calumnies

Starting point is 05:41:53 were circulated respecting this private concert. Note by Madame Campan. This anecdote is in the same manner detestably perverted in Sulevi's infamous collection. Yet his six volumes are, unfortunately, admitted into libraries and particularly into the libraries of foreigners. End note. Many people wished to enjoy it, and it really was very delightful. The small number of the persons admitted no doubt occasioned jealousy, and gave rise to offensive comments which were caught up by the public with avidity. It is very essential to know how far the proceedings of the great should be matters of calculation.

Starting point is 05:42:34 I do not pretend here to apologize for the kind of amusement with which the Queen indulged herself this and the following summer. The consequences were so lamentable that the error was no doubt very great. The result will prove it. I shall not withhold that result, 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 spread about Paris. The queen was treated in them in the most insulting manner. Her pregnancy had ranked among her enemies' persons attached to the only prince who for several years had appeared likely to give heirs to the crown. People ventured upon the most inconsiderate language. And these improper

Starting point is 05:43:18 conversations took place in societies, wherein the imminent danger of violating to so criminal and 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, any way remarkable for Rancourt Station was thrown in at the bullseye. 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 of the court and city,

Starting point is 05:43:57 that it was a capital crime to have made any against the queen herself, and that he would have the author of the infamous libel sought out, discovered, and punished. A fortnight afterwards it was known publicly that the verses were by Monsieur Champagnez de Rik-Bour, who was not even molested. Note by Madame Campan. This Monsieur Champonix de Rik-Bour was known as 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, where, after hearing his

Starting point is 05:44:34 own sentence of condemnation read, he asked his judges if he might not be allowed to find a substitute. And note, I was assured at the time that the king spoke to Monsieur de Morpah before two of his most confidential servants respecting the risk which he saw the queen ran from these night-wereux. upon the terrace of Versailles, the public venturing to censure them thus openly. The old minister had the cruel policy to answer the king that she should be suffered to go on, that she possessed talent, that her friends were very ambitious and longed to see her take part in public affairs, and that to let her acquire the reputation of levity would do no harm. Monsieur de Vergen was as hostile to the queen's influence as Monsieur de Morpé.

Starting point is 05:45:19 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 degrading herself that he and Monsieur de Vergen employed all those means within the reach of powerful ministers and availed themselves of the slightest errors of that unfortunate princess in order to ruin her in the opinion of the public. The Queen's pregnancy advanced. Te deums were sung and prayers offered up in all the cathedrals. At length, on the 11th of December 1778, the Queen felt her pains come on. The royal family, princes of the blood and great officers of state, passed the night in the rooms adjoining the queen's bedchamber. Madame, the king's daughter, came into the world

Starting point is 05:46:03 before midday on the 19th of December. The etiquette of allowing all persons indiscriminately to enter at the moment of the delivery of a queen was observed so literally that at the instant when the accoucher, Vermont said aloud, La rene vae be s'accoucher, the torrents of inquisitive persons who poured into the chamber were so great and tumultuous that the rush was near destroying 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. Had it not been for this foresight, 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 anyone might have fancied himself in some place of

Starting point is 05:46:48 public amusement. To Sevoire got upon the fair. furniture to obtain a better sight of the queen, who was placed opposite the fireplace upon a bed prepared for the moment of delivery. The noise and the sex of the infant, which the queen was made acquainted with by a signal previously agreed on, as it is said, with the Princess de Nambal, or some error of the accoucher, brought on symptoms which threatened the most fatal consequences. The accoucher exclaimed, Give her air, warm water, she must be bled in the foot. The windows were cocked up. The king opened them with a strength which his affection for the queen gave him at the moment.

Starting point is 05:47:26 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 accoucher 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 joy which now succeeded the most dreadful apprehensions could hardly be contained. The Princess de laubal was, carried through the crowd in the state of insensibility.

Starting point is 05:47:55 The valet de chambre and pages dragged such inconsiderate persons as would not leave the room out by the collar. This cruel etiquette was abolished ever 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

Starting point is 05:48:28 was equally lively and sincere. We were all embracing each other and shedding tears of joy. The Count de Strasie and the Prince de Poix, to whom I was the first to announce that the Queen had spoken and was restored to life, inundated me with their tears, and embraced me in the midst of a whole room

Starting point is 05:48:46 full of the nobility. When recalling those bursts of happiness, those transports of delight, that moment when heaven gave us back again a princess beloved by all about her, how often have I reflected upon that impenetrable and wholesome obscurity, by which all knowledge of the future is concealed from us? What should we not have felt, if in the midst of our joyful delirium, a heavenly voice unfolding the secret decree of fate had cried to us? Bless not, that human art which calls her back to life. Weep, rather, for her return to a world. fatal and cruel to the object of your affections.

Starting point is 05:49:24 Ah, let her leave it honored, beloved, regretted. You can now weep over her grave. You can now cover it with flowers. The day will come when all the furies of the earth after having pierced her heart with a thousand invened darts. After having engraven on her noble and enchanting features, the premature marks of age, will deliver her over to an execution more cruel than that

Starting point is 05:49:50 inflicted upon criminals. We'll deprive her body of burial, and will precipitate you into the same gulf with herself, if you suffer the slightest demonstration of compassion at so dreadful a spectacle to escape you. End of Chapter 8. Volume 1, Chapter 9 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 05:50:18 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 9. At length, the Queen was restored. to our fondest wishes. During the moment of alarm, 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 the queen. She pressed her to her truly maternal heart. "'Poor little one,' said she, "'you are not what was 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,

Starting point is 05:50:55 shall be mine. You shall have my undivided care, shall share all my happiness, and console me in all my troubles. The king dispatched a courier to Paris, and wrote letters himself to Vienna by the queen's bedside. Part of the rejoicings ordered took place in the capital, and at the age of the king and queen affording ground for a presumption that they would have a numerous progeny, hope was again turned towards a new pregnancy. A great number of attendants watched near the queen during the first night. of her confinement. This made her uneasy. 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. Monsieur de lausanne, the chief physician, the chief surgeon,

Starting point is 05:51:43 the chief apothecary, the principal officers of the buttery, etc., etc., were likewise nine nights without going to bed. The royal children were in like manner watched for a long time, and some of the nurses 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 only a few popular acclamations, but her majesty was perfectly well received at the opera. A few days after the Queen's recovery from her confinement,

Starting point is 05:52:18 the Curie of the Magdalene de la City at Paris, wrote to Monsieur Campan and requested a private individual. 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 curie. 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 made it a rule with herself to use no endeavor

Starting point is 05:52:57 to discover the superstitious woman who had done her the injury. The Queen's attachment for the Countess Jules increased every day. She went frequently to her house at Paris and even took up her own abode at the Chateau de la Mouette to be more on hand to visit her during her confinement. Note by the editor. The following extract from Monshois describes the Queen's feelings towards her friend. The Duchess de Polignac, says Mongeois in the life of Marie Antoinette, actually sunk under the fatigues of the kind of life which her devotion to the Queen had imposed upon her,

Starting point is 05:53:31 and which, however, was so little to her taste. Her health declined in an alarming degree. The physicians ordered her the bath-waters. As it was the established custom of the court that the governess of the children of France should never be absent from them, the Duchess saw herself by this order of the physicians placed in the alternative of either continuing an office, the duty of which her bad health prevented from fulfilling, or of resigning. She tendered her resignation to the Queen, who, having listened to her in silence with her eyes bathed in tears, replied in the following terms, "'You ought not to part from me, nor can you do it. Your heart could not suffer it. In the rank I feel it is difficult to meet

Starting point is 05:54:14 with a friend, and yet it is so useful, so comfortable to confide in an estimable person. You do not judge of me as the common herd do. You know that the splendor which surrounds me adds nothing to happiness. You are not ignorant that my mind, full of bitterness and troubles which I must conceal, feels the necessity for a heart that feels them. But I not, then, to thank heaven for having given me a friend like you, faithful, feeling, attached to me for my own sake, and not for the sake of my rank. The benefit is inestimable.

Starting point is 05:54:48 For God's sake, do not differ. deprive me of it." End note. She married, Mademoiselle de Pollyneque, who was scarcely thirteen years of age, to Monsieur de Grameau, who, on account of this marriage, was made Duke de Guiche, and Captain of the King's guards in reversion after the Duke de Villroix. The Duchess de Courac, Madame Victoire's dame d'Am d'Honour, had been promised the place for the Duke de Lange, her son, and all this much increased the number of discontented families

Starting point is 05:55:17 at court. The name of favourite was too openly given to the Countess Gilles 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 again became pregnant. She had mentioned it only to the king, to her physician, and to a few persons honoured with her intimate confidence, when having exerted her strength and pulling up one of the glasses of her carriage, she felt that she had hurt herself, and eight days afterwards she miscarried.

Starting point is 05:55:52 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 queen repeated several times that she was glad she had not mentioned her pregnancy in her family. That people would not have failed to attribute her misfortune to some imprudence of her own while, in fact, it had been occasioned by a very simple accident.

Starting point is 05:56:21 The king enjoined silence among the small number of persons who were informed of this unfortunate occurrence, and it remained generally unknown. It was some time before the queen recovered her health. The king was much interested in it, and waited impatiently for the moment when new hopes might be indulged. These particulars, which are punctually true, furnished the most 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 terminated her mortal career about the close of 1780, after having proved by her example that, as in the instance of Queen Blanche,

Starting point is 05:57:04 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 Vermon, who had possessed the confidence of Marie and Theresa, during his stay at Vienna, the most proper person to discharge this painful duty towards the Queen. He sent his first valet de Chambre, Monsieur de Chamelli, to him on the evening of the day he received

Starting point is 05:57:39 the dispatches from Vienna, and ordered him to come the next day to the Queen before her breakfast hour. To acquit himself discreetly of the afflicting comming. 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 about 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 Labé, for the service you have just done me. This was the only time during nineteen years that the king spoke to him. So great was a

Starting point is 05:58:16 the queen's grief that it was right to anticipate and provide against its effects. Within an hour after learning the event, she put on temporary morning, while waiting until her court mourning should be ready. She kept herself shut up in her closet for several days, went out only to mass, saw none but the royal family, and received none but the Princess de L'ambal and the Duchess de Pollyniac. She never ceased talking of the courage, the misfortunes, the abilities and pious virtues of her mother. The feelings of Christian meekness never forsook that princess. Her shroud, and the dress in which she was to be buried

Starting point is 05:58:55 made entirely by her own hands, were found ready prepared in one of her rooms. The queen found no greater comfort in her affliction than talking of her beloved mother. She was thoroughly versed in the various events which distinguished the Empress's reign, and in all the qualities which rendered her dear to her family, her intimates, and her people. She often testified the regret she felt in thinking that the numerous duties of her August mother had prevented her 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

Starting point is 05:59:35 admiration. These pages were penned long after I was witness to and sometimes depository of things which would have been well worth recording. I regret the loss of several anecdotes of the Court of Maria Teresa, of which I have only confused ideas remaining, but I cannot avoid relating one in particular which struck me forcibly and which still adheres to my memory. 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 scheme projected by her three

Starting point is 06:00:09 principal ministers to make themselves agreeable to her. of a compact made between them that the losers should not suffer themselves to be infected with any feeling of 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 and support of the other two the empress being well assured of this fact one day after the breaking up of the council over which she had presided turned the conversation upon the subject of women female sovereigns and the duties of their sex and rank and then applying her general reflections to herself in particular she told them she hoped to guard herself all her life against weakness 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 accustomed and 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 should be contented to resign his place and his influence with the public this was sufficient the three ministers more ambitious than amorous gave up their projects forever the queen's second pregnancy was publicly known in the month of april her health was excellent down to the moment of her confinement. At length, on the 22nd of October, 1781,

Starting point is 06:01:37 she gave birth to a dauphin. So deep as silence prevailed in the room at the moment the child first saw the light that the queen thought she had only produced a daughter. But after the keeper of the Seos 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.

Starting point is 06:02:00 the king's joy was boundless tears streamed from his eyes he gave his hand to every one present without distinction and his happiness raised him quite above his habitual manner cheerful and affable to all he was incessantly taking occasion to introduce the words my son or the dauphin as soon as the queen was in bed she would see the long-looked-for infant the princess de giminis brought it to her the queen told her there was known a for commending the precious deposit to her, but that in order to enable her to attend to him more freely, she would herself share with her the cares which the education of her daughter required. When the Dofain was settled in his apartment, he received the customary homages and visits. The Duke d'angulem, meeting his father at the entrance of the Dofins' 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.

Starting point is 06:03:04 The birth of the dauphin appeared to crown the hopes of all classes with universal joy. The people, the nobility all seemed in this respect to belong to one family. Men stopped one another in the streets, spoke without being acquainted, and those who were acquainted embraced each other. Alas, personal interest is much more frequently the source of transports such as these than any sincere attachment to those who seem to occasion them. In the birth of a legitimate heir to the sovereign power, every man beholds a pledge of prosperity and tranquility.

Starting point is 06:03:40 The rejoicings were equally 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. Their new and elegant dresses formed a most agreeable sight. Almost every troop had music. with it. When they arrived at the court of the palace, they there ranged themselves ingeniously and presented a most interesting moving 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

Starting point is 06:04:13 one of the smallest of their fraternity. The chairman carried a sedan highly gilt, in which were to be seen a handsome nurse and a little dauphin. The butchers made their appearance graced with good fat beef. 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 impudence

Starting point is 06:04:56 to send their deputation also with the emblematic devices of their ill-omened occupation. They were met by the Princess 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 drying up on the terrace. The market-woman came to congratulate the queen, and were received with the ceremonies due to that body of dealers.

Starting point is 06:05:20 They appeared to the number of 50, dressed in black silk gowns, the old established full dress of their order, and they almost all wore diamonds. The Princess de Chimey 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 Monsieur de la Arpe. 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 remarked. a remarkably fine voice. The queen was affected by the address and answered it with great affability,

Starting point is 06:05:56 making a distinction between these women and the Poissard who always left a disagreeable impression on her mind. The king ordered a substantial repast for all these women. One of his majesties maitre d'autel wearing his hat sat as president and did the honors of the table.

Starting point is 06:06:14 Note by Madame Campan. Proofs of nobility, or at least of being noble in the third degree, were required for the office of Maitre d'Othel. End note. The public were admitted and numbers of people had the curiosity to go.

Starting point is 06:06:30 The Poissard's songs were numerous and some of them tolerably good. The king and queen were much pleased with the following one and sang it several times during the queen's confinement. "'No crenees not, cher papa, "'d have augmented your family. "'The good God is it purvoire.

Starting point is 06:06:46 "'Fa't so, Versailles, in formille, the bodyguiseant bourbon chanou, and a du pen, du lorriere for all. The bodyguards obtained the king's permission to give the queen a dress ball in the great room of the opera house at Bersailles. Her majesty opened the ball

Starting point is 06:07:03 in a minuet with a private selected by the corps, to whom the king granted the baton of an exempt. The fate was most splendid. All was joy, happiness, and peace. The dauphin was a year old when the prince de Guimeney's bankruptcy compelled the princess his wife,

Starting point is 06:07:20 who was governess to the children of France to resign her situation. Note by the editor. Le Brun had deposited all his savings with the Prince de Guimini whose bankruptcy ruined him. He revenged himself by the following epigrammatic lines,

Starting point is 06:07:35 in which may be seen the bitterness of a satirical poet and the resentment of a creditor. A prince full of titles, a sharper serene, eased our purses of millions of few. See what troops of old men would despair in their mien,

Starting point is 06:07:50 how humbly for justice they sue. A kind rogue of a clerk, for like master like man, thus seeks to console him as well as he can. Take courage, old gentleman, dry up your tears, for princes of honour and conscience are made, if you will but have patience some odd fifty years. Without loss or deduction, you all will be paid.

Starting point is 06:08:14 End note. The queen was at Lamrette, where her daughter was undergoing inoculation. 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 Duchess de Polignac to the office lately held by the Princess de Geminet. She saw, with ecstasy the facility which this appointment would give her to superintend the education of her children without running any risk of hurting the pride of the

Starting point is 06:08:45 governess, and that it would bring together in one place all the objects of her warmest affections, her children, and her friend. The friends of the Duchess 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 plain and quiet habits, nor the indolence, if I may use the expression, of her disposition. If she yields to my wish, then she will give me the greatest possible proof of her devotion to me. The Queen also spoke of the Princess de Chimé and the Duchess de Dura, whom the public pointed out as fit to fill the place of governess,

Starting point is 06:09:26 but she thought the Princess de Chimé's piety too rigid, and as to the Duchess de Dura, her wit and knowledge quite frightened her. What the Queen dreaded as the consequence of her selection of the Duchess de Pollyniac was principally the jealousy of the courtiers, who would never fail to make her feel the mortifications inseparable from that elevation. The Queen showed so lively a desire to see the execution of her scheme that I had no doubt she would soon set it not the obstacle she discovered. I was not mistaken.

Starting point is 06:09:57 A few days afterwards, the Duchess was invested with the Office of Governance. The Queen's object in sending for me to converse about her scheme 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 at the Duchesses, after having been present at the King's private dinner. Sixty-one thousand francs were therefore added to the salary of the latter as governess as a compensation for this increase of expense. The Queen was tired of the excursions to Merlea, and had no great difficulty in setting the King against them.

Starting point is 06:10:42 He did not like the expense of them, for everybody was entertained their gratis. Louis Catoz established a kind of parade upon these excursions differing from that of Versailles, but still more annoying. Card and supper parties occurred perpetually and occasioned much expense and dress. On Sundays and holidays, the fountains played, the people were admitted into the gardens, and there was always as great a crowd as at the fad of Saint-Clu. Every age has its peculiar complexion and that very decidedly. Marley showed the colour of of that of Louis Cateau's even more than Versailles. Everything in the former place appeared to have been produced

Starting point is 06:11:21 by the magic power of a fairy's wand. The palaces and gardens of that seat of pleasure might be also compared to the scenic decorations of the fifth act of an opera. Not the slightest trace of all this splendor remains. The revolutionary spoilers even tore up from the bosom of the earth, the pipes which serve to supply the fountains.

Starting point is 06:11:43 Possibly a brief description of this palace, and the usages established there by Louis Quays may be acceptable. The very extensive garden of Marley rose by an imperceptible assent, up 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 elegant 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

Starting point is 06:12:18 or by persons invited to stay at Malie. Each pavilion was named after fresco paintings which covered its walls and which were executed by the most celebrated artists of the age of Louis Corteur's. Upon a line with the upper pavilion there was on the left the chapel. On the right a pavilion called La Perspective, which concealed a long suite of offices containing a hundred lodging rooms appropriated to the persons belonging to the service of the court,

Starting point is 06:12:45 kitchens and spacious dining rooms, in which more than 30 tables were splendidly laid out. During one half of Louis Kins's reign, the ladies still wore the Marley Court dress, so named by Louis XIV, and which differed but little from that devised for Versailles. The French gown, puckered in the back and great hoops, succeeded this dress,

Starting point is 06:13:07 and maintained their ground to the end of the reign of Louis-Sais. The diamonds, feathers, rouge, and embroidered stuffs, spangled with gold, banished even the slightest traces of rural character from this spot. But the people loved to see the splendor of their sovereign and a brilliant court glittering in the shades of the woods. After dinner and before the hour for cards, the queen, princesses and their ladies, paraded among the clumps of trees in little carriages beneath canopies richly embroidered with gold,

Starting point is 06:13:38 rolled forward by the king's livery servants. The trees were planted by Louis Cateau's, and 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 being 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,

Starting point is 06:14:19 rose to the very top of the Italian roof and terminated in a cupola furnished with balconies, in which females 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 saloon were allowed to request one of the ladies seated with the queen at Lanskinet or Pharaoh to bet upon her cards with such gold or notes as they presented to her. Rich people and the deep gamesters of Paris did not miss one of the evenings at the Marley Saloon, and there were always very considerable sums won or lost. Louis Say's 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 wraps on the knuckles to certain Chevalier de Saint-Lou,

Starting point is 06:15:14 dressed in this manner who came to venture two or three Louis, in the hope that fortune would favor the handsome duchesses who deigned to play them on their cards. Singular contrasts are often seen amidst the grandeur of courts. In order to manage such high play at the Queen's Faroe 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,

Starting point is 06:15:39 not only Monsieur de Chalabre who was the banker, but also a mere retired captain of foot, who officiated as his second. A low word appropriated 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 Malie, came there notwithstanding as they did to Versailles,

Starting point is 06:15:59 and returned again to Paris. Under such circumstances, it was said such a one had been to Marley only in Polisson, and nothing appeared to me more odd than to hear an agreeable Marquis, in answer to the inquiry of one of his inmates, whether he was of the royal party at Marley say, No, I am only here in Polisson, meaning nothing more than, I am here on the footing of all those whose nobility is of a later date than fourteen hundred.

Starting point is 06:16:27 What powerful talents, how many persons of merit, who were unhappily destined too soon to attack the ancient monarch, were in the class designated by the word polisson the marly excursions were exceedingly expensive to the king besides the superior tables those of the almoners equeries m d'htel etc 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 sunk beneath the weight of the national debts thus enabled the queen to indulge her predilection for her petit trianon and for five or six years preceding the revolution the court very seldom visited merli the king always attentive to the comfort of his family gave the princess his aunt's the enjoyment of the chateau of bellevue and afterwards purchased the princess de geminet's house at the interest to paris for madame elizabeth note by madame campan madame elizabeth enjoyed this house for several years but the king arranged that she should not sleep there until she was twenty-five years of age the revolution broke out before that time and note the countess to provence bought a small house at montraille monsieur already had brunois the countess d'ertre built bagatelle versailles became in the estimation of all the members of the royal family the least agreeable of residences they only fancied themselves at home in planar houses surrounded by english gardens the taste for cascades and statues was entirely past the queen occasionally remained a whole month at petit trianon and had adopted all the way

Starting point is 06:18:13 of a country life. She entered the sitting room without driving the ladies from their piano forte or embroidery. The gentleman continued their billiards or backgammon without suffering her presence to interrupt them. There was but little room in the small chateau of Triano. Madame Elizabeth accompanied the queen there,

Starting point is 06:18:33 but the ladies of honor and the ladies of the bedchamber had no establishment at Trianon. When invited by the queen, they came from Versailles to dinner. The king and and princess came regularly to sup. A white gown, a gauze kerchief, and a straw hat were the uniform dress of the princesses. The pleasure of 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 Mel Lee. The queen at first intended to live

Starting point is 06:19:06 at Trianon, free from the trouble and display of all artificial amusements. But she changed her mind, and determined to act plays as it was then the fashion to do in most country houses. It was agreed that no other young man than the Count 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 Monsieur d'Addemand, formerly a very fine one, but latterly become rather tremulous.

Starting point is 06:19:49 His shepherd's dress in Collin in the Duvins de Villege contrasted very ridiculously with his time of life, and the Queen repeatedly said it would be difficult for malevolence itself to find anything to criticize in the choice of such a lover. The King was highly amused with these plays. Louis Cés was present at every performance. he was often waited for before they were begun. Cayu, 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, which

Starting point is 06:20:23 was preferred as easiest, and the second in comedy. The office of hear of rehearsals, prompter, and stage manager was given to my father-in-law. The Duke de Francac, first gentleman of the chamber, was much hurt at this appointment. He thought himself called upon to make serious remonstrable. upon the subject and wrote to the queen who contented herself with making him the following answer you cannot be first gentlemen when we are the actors besides i have already intimated to you my determination respecting 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 fate 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 his rights as first gentlemen of the chamber allowed him to decline being represented by any deputy 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 duke de fronsac never failed whenever he came to pay his respects to the queen at her toilette 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

Starting point is 06:21:47 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 Marshal de Richelieu. The Gagour Imprieu was one of the pieces performed at Triannon. The queen played Goet, the Countess Diana, Madame de Clainville, Madame Elizabeth, the young woman, and the Count d'Artois, one of the men's characters. Collette, in the Devins de Village, was really very well played by the queen. They performed also in the course of the following seasons The Roy and the Firmier, Rose Ecolat,

Starting point is 06:22:22 The Sorcier, L'Anglée, L'Angle in Bordeaux, We never de Alle, The Berbier de Seville, etc. So long as no strangers were admitted to these performances they were but little censured. But a profusion of praise enhanced the idea which the performers entertained of their talents and made them look for a larger circle of admirers. The Queen permitted the officers of the bodyguards

Starting point is 06:22:46 and the equiries of the King and Princess to be present at the play. 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 favor of admission. The Queen refused to admit

Starting point is 06:23:03 the officers of the bodyguards of the princes, the officers of the King's hundred Swiss guards, and many other persons who were highly mortified at the refusal. The company for a private company was good enough, and the acting was applauded to the skies. Nevertheless, as the audience withdrew, criticisms were plainly heard and a few of the visitors would observe that the peace was royally ill-played. While delighted at having given an air to the throne of the Bourbon, and a succession of fight and amusements filled up the happy days of Marie Antoinette, the community was solely engrossed with the Anglo-American War.

Starting point is 06:23:40 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 fertilized, and the King of France by giving support to a people in rebellion

Starting point is 06:24:04 against their ancient sovereign. Many young soldiers belonging to the first families of the country followed Lafayette's example, and broke through all the illusions of grandeur and all the charms of luxury, of amusements and of love, to go and tender their courage and their information to the revolted Americans. Beaumarchais, secretly seconded by Messieurs de Morpa and de Vergen, obtained permission to send out to the American supplies of arms and clothing. Franklin appeared at court in the dress of an American cultivator. His straight unpoutered hair, his round hat, his brown cloth coat,

Starting point is 06:24:40 formed a contrast with the laced and embroidered coats and the powdered and perfumed heads of the courtiers of Versailles. This novelty turned the enthusiastic heads of the French women. Elegant entertainments were given to Dr. Franklin, who, to the reputation of a most skillful naturalist, added the patriotic virtues which had invested him with the noble character of an apostle of liberty. I was present at one of these entertainments, when the most beautiful woman out of 300 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 several porcelain. The legend of this medallion was,

Starting point is 06:25:26 It repuette Coelho Fulman, Sheptrum quait a Iranis. The king never declared his opinion upon an enthusiasm which his correct judgment no doubt led him to blame. However, the Countess Diana, having to keep up to her character as a woman of superior talent, entered with considerable warmth into the idolatry of the American delegate. A jest was played off upon her, which was kept secret enough, and may give us some idea of the private sentiments of Louis Cés. He had a vase de Nui made at the Severn manufactory, at the bottom of which was the medallion with its fashionable legend,

Starting point is 06:26:01 and he sent the utensil to the Countess Diana as a New Year's gift. The Queen spoke out more plainly about the pre-enacted. 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 the day would come when 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.

Starting point is 06:26:42 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 had preserved some lines from Gaston and Bayard, in which the friends of Monsieur de Lafayette saw the exact outline of his character, written by her own hand. quote Why talk of youth When all the ripe experience of the old dwells with him In his schemes profound and cool

Starting point is 06:27:15 He acts with wise precaution And reserves for times of action His impetuous fire To guard the camp To scale the leagre d'wale Or dare the hottest of the fight Are toils that suit the impetuous bearing of his youth Yet like the grey-haired veteran

Starting point is 06:27:33 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. Note by the editor 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 reconnoiter their position. His aide-de-con, 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

Starting point is 06:28:10 he had any signs of life remaining or whether any help could be afforded him. Finding the wound had been mortal, he turned his eyes away with emotion, and slowly rejoined the group which had got out of the reach of the pieces. This instance of courage and humanity took place at the Battle of Monmouth. General Clinton, who commanded the English troops, knew that the 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 Monsieur de la Fayette's life, for it was he himself. At that time he

Starting point is 06:28:51 was but twenty-two years of age. From historical anecdotes of the reign of Louis Sez, and note. These lines were applauded and encoreed at the French theater. All was delirium. There was no class of persons that did not heartily approve of the support given openly by the French government to the cause of the American independence. The Constitution desired for the new nation was digested at Paris, and while liberty, equality,

Starting point is 06:29:19 and the rights of men were commented upon by the Condorcet, beaille, mirabou, etc., the Minister Seguer 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 those who were not gentlemen excepting sons of the Chevalier de saint-ouy the injustice and absurdity of this law was no doubt a secondary cause of the revolution to be aware of the extent of despair nay of rage with which this law inspired the third estate we should form part of that honorable class the provinces were full of plebeian families who for ages had lived as people of property upon their own domains and paid the subsidies 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-Darmes and one in the magistracy, while the eldest preserved the paternal manner. If the family were situated in a country celebrated for wine, they would, besides selling their own produce, add a kind of commission trade in the wines of the canton.

Starting point is 06:30:31 I have seen an individual of this justly respected class, who had been long employed in diplomatic business, and even honored with the title of Minister Plenipotentiary, the son-in-law and nephew of colonels, and Major de Place, and on his mother's side, nephew of a lieutenant-general with a cordon-rugge, unable to introduce his sons as junior lieutenants in a regiment afoot. Another decision of the court, but 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 appendages to nobility. Being the son of a village surgeon, the Abbe de Vermon, who had great influence in the disposition of benefits, was particularly struck with the justice of this decree of the king.

Starting point is 06:31:17 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 curate, one of my friends, who was soliciting a priory near his curacy with the intention of retiring to it. I obtained him his object. On the Abbe's return, he heard of this, came to my house and told me very harshly, that I acted in a manner quite contrary to the king's wishes in the king's wishes in the abbeys' in obtaining similar favors, that the wealth of the church was for the future to be invariably devoted to the support of the poorer nobility, that it was in the interest of the state that it should be so, and a plebeian priest, happy in a good curacy, had only to remain curate.

Starting point is 06:31:57 Can we then wonder at the line of conduct shortly afterwards adopted by the deputies of the third estate, when called to the state's general? End of Chapter 9. Volume 1, Chapter 10, of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Carpont. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 10. About the close of the last century, several of the northern sovereigns took pleasure in traveling.

Starting point is 06:32:30 Christian III, king of Denmark, visited the court of France in 1763, under the reign of Louis Kais. We saw the king of Sweden and Joseph II at Versailles. The Grand Duke of Russia, son of Catherine II, afterwards Paul I, and the Princess of Vertemberg, his wife, likewise resolved to visit France. They travelled under the titles of the Count and Countess Dinau. They were presented on the 20th of May 1782. The Queen received them with infinite grace and dignity.

Starting point is 06:33:03 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 Seiz. He spoke to him with more confidence and cheerfulness than he. had done to Joseph II. The Countess Dunagh was not at first so successful with the Queen. This lady was of a fine height, very fat for her age, with all the stiffness of the German demeanor, well informed, and perhaps displayed her requirements with rather too much confidence. At the moment the Count and Countess Dunall were presented, the Queen was exceedingly intimidated. She withdrew into her closet before she went into the room where she was to dine with the

Starting point is 06:33:44 illustrious travelers 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 first confusion and made her reappearance with ease and confidence. The dinner was tolerably cheerful and the conversation very animated. Brilliant entertainments were given at court in honor of the king of Sweden and the Count D'Nal. 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

Starting point is 06:34:25 personages. However, the king one day asked the Grand Duke of Russia 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 dog that was much attached to him, because his mother would take care to have it thrown into the seine, with a stone around its neck before he should leave Paris. This reply which I myself heard quite thrilled me with horror, whether it depicted the disposition of Catherine or expressed the prince's prejudice against her. The queen gave the Grand Duke a supper at Trianon and had the gardens illuminated.

Starting point is 06:35:06 as they had been for the emperor. The Cardinal de Roan, very indiscreetly, ventured to introduce himself there without the Queen's knowledge. Having always been treated with the utmost coolness ever since his return from Vienna,

Starting point is 06:35:20 he had not dared to ask her himself for permission to see the illumination. But he persuaded the porter of Triano 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

Starting point is 06:35:33 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 had kept on his red stockings and merely thrown a great coat over him, went down into the garden, and with an air of mystery, drew up in two different places to see the royal family and sweet passed by. Her majesty was highly offended at this piece of boldness, and the next day ordered the porter to be discharged. There was a general feeling of disgust at the cardinal's treachery to the unfortunate man, and a

Starting point is 06:36:05 of commiseration towards the latter 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 of the moment 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 too-famous intrigue. of the necklace. But for the artful manner in which the cardinal introduced himself into the gardens of Trianon, but for the air of mystery which he affected whenever the queen met him there,

Starting point is 06:36:46 he would not have been able to say that he had been deceived by any emissary between the queen and himself. The queen, who was much prejudiced against the king of Sweden, received him very coldly. Note by the editor, Gustavus III, king of Sweden, traveled in France under the title of Count Daga. 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 Ankerstrom. End note. All that was said of the private character of that sovereign, his connection with the Count de Vergen from the time of the Revolution of Sweden in 1772, the character of his favorite armsfeld, and the prejudices of the monarch of

Starting point is 06:37:34 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 sent for me immediately. She desired me to send for her clerk of the kitchen that she might be informed whether there was a proper dinner to set before Count Tagga, and to add to it, if necessary. The king of Sweden assured her that there would be enough for him, and I could not help smiling at the idea of augmenting the dinner provided for the king and queen,

Starting point is 06:38:10 not even half of which would have made its appearance had they dined in private. The queen looked significantly and seriously at me, and I withdrew. In the evening she asked me why I had looked 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

Starting point is 06:38:28 a lesson for his presumption. I owned to her that the scene had appeared to me so much in the city style that I had involuntarily thought of the cutlets on the gridiron and the omelet which in families in middling circumstances served to peace 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 gave great satisfaction to all classes of society interested in the national honor. 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.

Starting point is 06:39:08 The government prudently 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 was constantly increasing 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. French industry has since removed that superiority which secured to England the

Starting point is 06:39:48 exclusive trade of the whole world. The English poured into Paris. A considerable number of them were presented at court. The Queen paid them a marked attention. doubtless she wished them to distinguish between the esteem she had for their noble nation and the political views of the government in the support it had afforded to the Americans. Discontent was, however, strongly manifested at court, in consequence of the marks of favor bestowed by the Queen upon the English nobleman. These attentions were called infatuations. This was illiberal, and the Queen justly complained of such absurd jealousy.

Starting point is 06:40:27 The journey to Fontainebleau, and the winter at Paris and at court were extremely brilliant. The spring brought back with it those amusements which the queen began to prefer to the splendor of fayts. The most perfect harmony subsisted between the king and queen. I never saw but one difference between the August couple. It was soon dispelled. The cause of it is still perfectly unknown to me. My father-in-law, whose penetration and experience I respected greatly,

Starting point is 06:40:57 recommended me when he saw me place 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 favor. Serve with zeal to the best of your judgment and 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 are given to you, use them to prevent the possibility of your knowing anything of the matter. I had occasion to avail myself of this wise and useful lesson. One morning at Triano, I went into the Queen's chamber when she was in bed.

Starting point is 06:41:35 There were letters lying upon the bed, and she was weeping bitterly. Her tears were mingled with sobs, which she 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 eaves. her. 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 but concealed trouble oppressed her heart, that she wanted a confidant, and that that confidant ought to be no other than her friend. I told her so, and suggested

Starting point is 06:42:16 sending for the Duchess de Pollyniac. This she strongly opposed. I renewed my arguments and solicitations to procure her the consolation of a disclosure of which she stood in need and her opposition grew weaker. I disengaged myself from her arms and ran to the antechamber, where I knew a horseman always waited, ready to mount, and start at a moment's warning for Versailles. I ordered him to go full speed and tell the Duchess de Pollyniac 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

Starting point is 06:43:04 Duchess rushed towards her. I heard her sobs renewed and withdrew. A quarter of an hour afterwards the Queen, who was 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 Count d'Artois arrived from Confienne where he had been with the king. He hastily crossed the antechamber and the chamber and eagerly inquired where the queen was. He remained half an hour with her and the Duchess,

Starting point is 06:43:36 and on coming out told me the Queen asked for me. I found her seated on her couch by the side of her friend. Her features had resumed their usual cheerful and gracious appearance. She held out her hand to her. 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

Starting point is 06:43:58 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 in waste. The lightest wind drives it away and the blue sky and serene weather are restored. This

Starting point is 06:44:14 is just the image of what has happened to me this morning. She afterwards told me that the king would return from Compiang 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 other served up in the evening at her table, and that this was a mark of attention that she wished the king to observe. The Duchess de Polignac also took me by the hand, and told me how happy she was

Starting point is 06:44:43 that she had been with the queen at a moment where 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 Count d'artre had hastened to bring her intelligence of it. It was, I think, in the summer of 1787, during one of the Triano excursions

Starting point is 06:45:15 that the Queen of Naples 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 Honor he addressed himself to me. Notwithstanding he said a great deal to me about the close confidence with which the Queen of Naples honored him and about his letters of credit. I thought he had quite the air of an adventurer. Note by Madame Campan. I know that he afterwards spent several years shut up in the castle de l'oeuf. End note. He had indeed private letters for the queen, and his mission was not feigned. He talked to me very inconsiderately even before his admission, and entreated

Starting point is 06:45:57 me to do all that lay in my power to dispose the queen's mind in favor of his sovereign's wishes. I declined it, assuring him that it did not belong to me to meddle with state affairs. He endeavored, 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 Monsieur 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.

Starting point is 06:46:27 She thought him a person ill-chosen for the occasion, and yet she thought that the Queen, her sister, had done very well in not making use of a man fit to be avowed, it being impossible that what she solicited should take place. I had an opportunity on the 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 Duke d'Angoulem, would not lose her rank as daughter of the Queen, and that her situation would

Starting point is 06:47:00 be far more preferable to that of Queen of any other country, 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 it would be too late, for that recollections and comparisons would ruin the happiness of all the rest of her life. The queen looked upon the fate 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,

Starting point is 06:47:40 and of 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 equated 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 impertinence of a

Starting point is 06:48:17 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 disgusting proceedings of this charger d'affaire, whom she told, in order to convince him of the nature of the feelings which attached her to to Mr. Acton, that she would have portraits and busts of him executed by the most eminent artist 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 favor he enjoyed. This Las Casas dared to answer her that it would be a useless trouble, that the ugliness of a man

Starting point is 06:49:00 did not always render him displeasing, and 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. Through the intermediation of Louis Seys, the Queen of Naples obtained complete satisfaction in this affair, and Mr. Acton was continued in his post of Prime Minister. Among the characteristics which denoted the great goodness of the Queen,

Starting point is 06:49:32 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 taken up. Her patient benignity was put to a very disagreeable trial by an old member of the Bordeaux Parliament named Castanot. This man declared himself a lover of the queen and was generally known by that appellation.

Starting point is 06:49:58 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 fixed opposite her majesty. He placed himself in the same manner before her eyes at chapel, and never failed to be at the King's dinner or the Concovert.

Starting point is 06:50:27 At the theatre he invariably seated himself as near the Queen's box as possible. He always set off for Fontainebleau, or Saint-Clude the day before the court, and when her majesty arrived at her various residences, the first person she met on getting out of the carriage was this melancholy madman. He never spoke to anyone. While the queen was at Petitriano, the passion of this unhappy man became still more annoying. He would hastily swallow his morsel at some eating-house and spend all the rest of the day, even when it rained in going round and round the garden,

Starting point is 06:51:01 always walking at the edge of the moat. The queen frequently met him when she was walking 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 Monsieur de Cés's permission to enter Trianon, she sent to desire he would come to me, and directed me to inform that celebrated advocate of Monsieur de Castano's derangement, and then to send for him that Monsieur de Césais might have some conversation with him. He talked to him nearly an hour, and made considerable impression upon his mind,

Starting point is 06:51:38 and at last Monsieur de Castellano requested me to inform the queen that positively, 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 Monsieur de Seiz. Half an hour after Monsieur de Seiz was gone, the unhappy madman was announced to me. He came to tell me, 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.

Starting point is 06:52:13 But how was I affected at hearing her say? Well, let him annoy me. But let him not be deprived of the blessing of freedom. Note by Madame Campan. On the fatal arrest of the King and Queen at Varenne, this unfortunate guest in No 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, where he was found, stretched senseless on the floor. I do not know what became of him after the 10th of August.

Starting point is 06:52:44 End note. The direct influence of the Queen on affairs during the earlier years of the reign was only shown in her obliging exertions to obtain from the king a revision of the decrees in two celebrated causes. Note by Madame Campan. The Queen did not venture to meddle with those two causes further than to solicit a revision of them, for 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 Duchess de Presley, through a criminal caprice, carried her enmity to her husband so far as to disinherit her children in favor of the family of Monsieur de Guimini.

Starting point is 06:53:25 The Duchess de Choiselle, 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. End note. If the king did not inspire the queen with a lively feeling of love, it is at least quite certain that she yielded him a mixed tribute of enthusiasm and affection for the goodness of his disposition and the equity of which he gave so many accumulated proofs throughout his reign. One evening she returned very late.

Starting point is 06:54:04 She came out of the king's closet and said to Monsieur de Miserie 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 Monsieur de and Moutier, victims of the Duke de Grillon's hatred to the Duke de Choiselle. He has been equally just to the Duke de Guine in his affair with Le Tour.

Starting point is 06:54:38 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. Our tears of affection mingled with those of the queen. She condescended to suffer us to kiss her charming hands. This affecting scene is not yet effaced from my recollection, and was it under the sway of sovereign so merciful and so feeling that we endured horrors

Starting point is 06:55:08 for which the most cruel tyranny would have been no excuse? And were these the beings, so August, so formed by divine providence for the happiness of the people, whom we had the anguish of seeing sacrificed to a rage equally senseless and barbarous? the Queen laid before the King all the memorials of the Duke de Guine, 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. Monsieur de Vergen and Turgo, bearing but little goodwill to the Duke de Guine, who was the friend of the Duke de Choiselle, were not disposed to render the Ambassador any service.

Starting point is 06:55:50 The Queen succeeded in fixing the King's particular attention on this affair, and the innocence of the Duke de Guine triumphed through the equity of Louis-Sais. An incessant underhand war was carried on between the friends and partisans of Monsieur de Choiselle, who were called the Austrians, and those who sided with Monsieur de Guillaume, de Mourpa and de Vergen, who for the same reason kept up the intrigues carried on at court and in Paris against the Queen. Mary 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 Monsieur de Belgarde and de Moutier.

Starting point is 06:56:29 The first, a colonel and inspector of artillery, and the second a proprietor of a foundry at St. Etienne, were under the Ministry of the Duke de Guillon, condemned to imprisonment for twenty years and a day for having withdrawn from the arsenals of France, by order of the Duke de Choiselle, a vast number of muskets, which were thrown out 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 Duke de Choiselle imparted to the queen as grounds of defense for the accused, the political views which led him to authorize that reduction and sale in the manner in which it had been executed. What rendered the case of Messieurs de Belgarde

Starting point is 06:57:11 and de Moutier more unfavorable was that the artillery officer who made a matter of made the reduction in the capacity of inspector was through a clandestine marriage, brother-in-law of the owner of the foundry who became 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

Starting point is 06:57:45 done them, and that she ought at that very moment to be congratulated upon the most substantial happiness attendant upon her station, that of laying just appeals before the king. Whenever she had to express her thoughts in public, the queen always used the most appropriate, elegant, and striking language, notwithstanding the difficulty a foreigner might be expected to experience. She answered all addresses herself, and persevered in that custom which she first learned at the court of Maria Teresa. The princesses of the house of Bourbon had long ceased to take the trouble of pronouncing their answers in such cases.

Starting point is 06:58:22 Madame Adelaide 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, solely occupied with what they themselves had just been saying, would always take it for granted that a proper answer had been returned. The queen saw that Idle No Salone had pointed out such a court. of 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 plainly, distinctly, and in the best style possible. Sometimes, indeed, when apprised of the subject of the address, she would write down her

Starting point is 06:58:59 answer in the morning not to learn it by heart, but in order to settle the ideas or sentiments she wished to introduce into it. The influence of the Countess de Pollynec increased daily, and her friends availed themselves of it to affect change. in the ministry. The dismissal of Monsieur de Mont Berre, a man without talents or character, was generally approved of. It was justly attributed to the Queen. He had been placed in administration by Monsieur de Morpa and backed by his aged wife. Both, of course, became more inveterate than ever against the Queen and the Polyniac Circle. The appointment of Monsieur de Sigur to the place of minister at war, and of Monsieur de Castri to that of Minister of Marine, were wholly the work.

Starting point is 06:59:43 of that circle. The Queen always dreaded making ministers. Her favorite often wept when the men of her circle compelled her to interfere. Men blame women for meddling in business, and yet in course 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. On the day when Monsieur de Siguere 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 as 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 this appointment.

Starting point is 07:00:23 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, Monsieur de Siguere, and that upon my word of honor, not to back any petition, nor to clog any of his operations by solicitations on behalf of my protege's. 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 morpah wished to drive m ne'erkerre to give in his resignation 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 morpah 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 morpah ended his days immediately after a journey to fontainebleau in seventeen eighty one mackere had retired he had been exasperated by a piece of treachery in the old minister for which he could not forgive him

Starting point is 07:01:40 I knew something of this intrigue at the time it took place. It has since been fully explained to me by Madame la Marichal de Beauvoir. Monsieur Nacquere saw that his credit at court was drooping, and fearing lest that circumstance should injure his financial operations, he wrote to the king requesting his majesty would grant him some favor, which might show the public that he had not lost the confidence of his sovereign. He concluded his letter by pointing out five different requests. Such an office, or such a office, or such a

Starting point is 07:02:10 a mark of distinction, or such a badge of honor and so on, and handed it to Monsieur de Morpah. The oars were changed into ands, and the king was displeased at Monsieur Nacquere's ambition and the assurance with which he displayed it. Madame de Marichael de Beauvoir assures me that Marshal de Castri saw the minute of Monsieur Nacare's letter perfectly in accordance with what he had told him, and that he likewise saw the altered copy. Note by the editor. Louis says, says the biographie universal, deeply regretted Morpa.

Starting point is 07:02:45 During his last illness, he went himself to inform him of the birth of the dauphin to announce it to his friend and rejoice with him. These were his very expressions. The day after his funeral, he said with an air of great affliction, Ah, I shall no longer hear my friend overhead every morning. A simple and affecting eulogy, though little merited by him who was the object of it. Madame Campan adds, I have this anecdote under that lady's hand. End note. The interest which the Queen took in Monsieur Nacquere

Starting point is 07:03:19 decreased 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 Monsieur Nacquere and his partisans incessantly took to,

Starting point is 07:03:39 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 controllers general, Més Jolie de Fleury and Dormason, it became necessary to resort to a man of more acknowledged talent, and the Queen's friends at that time combining with the Count D'Artois,

Starting point is 07:04:02 and from I know not what motive with Monsieur de Vergenne got Monsieur de Calonne appointed. the queen was highly displeased at this and her close intimacy with the duchess de polinac thenceforth began gradually to dissolve it was at this period she said that when sovereigns chose favourites they raised powers about them which being flattered at first for their master's sake were afterwards flattered for their own formed a party in the state acted alone and caused the odium of their actions to fall upon the sovereigns to whom they owed their influence the inconveniences attendant on the private life of a sovereign then struck the queen in all their bearings she talked to me about it in confidence and often told me that i was the only person aware of the vexations that her social habits brought upon her but that she must bear the anxieties of which she herself was the sole author that the appearance of fickleness in a friendship such as that which she had contracted with the duchess or a total rupture would be attended with still greater evils and could only produce fresh calamities it was not that she had to reproach madame de polinac with a single fault which could make her regret the choice she had made of her for a friend but she had not foreseen the inconvenience of having to support the friends of our friends which society obliges one to do her majesty continuing to converse with me upon the difficulty 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'ademarle to be appointed to the london embassy merely because he had teased her into it at the duchess's house

Starting point is 07:05:43 she added however to this avowal that it was at a time of perfect peace with the english that the minister knew the inefficiency of m d'ademar 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 be their attendants that no consideration of rank or favour should bias her in so important a choice she attributed several of her youthful actions to a lady of great levity whom she found in her palace on her arrival in france she also determined to forbid the princesses whom she could control the practice of singing with professors and said sincerely and with as much severity as her slanderers could have done i ought to have heard garah sing and not to have sung duets with him thus impartially did she speak of her youth what was not to be expected from her mature age end of chapter ten volume one chapter eleven of memoirs of the court of marion Antoinette by Madame Campon. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 11.

Starting point is 07:07:08 The Queen did not sufficiently conceal the dissatisfaction she felt at having been unable to prevent the appointment of Monsieur de Calhoun. She even one day went so far as to say at the Duchesses 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 skillful knave. Monsieur de Calhoun was therefore far from acting in concert with the queen all the time that he continued in place. And while dull verses were circulated about Paris, describing the queen and her favorite dipping at pleasure into the coffers of the controller general, the queen was avoiding all communication with him.

Starting point is 07:07:48 During the long and severe winter of 1783 to 84, the king gave three millions of livery for the relief of the indigent. Monsieur de Calhoun, who felt the necessity of making advances to the Queen, caught at this opportunity of showing her his respect and devotion, but in vain. He came and 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

Starting point is 07:08:24 in order to contribute to the relief of the unfortunate all that her savings would enable her to give. The moment Monsieur de Calon left the closet, the queen sent for me, "'Contratulate 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.

Starting point is 07:09:00 Yet I have refused to suffer a sum of money from the royal treasury, although destined for the most laudable purpose, 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 principal women sent to Monsieur Lenoir, to the curates of Paris and Versailles, and to the soers hospitalier, and so distributed them among families in need.

Starting point is 07:09:35 Desire is to implant in the breast of her daughter, not only the desire to succour the unfortunate, but those qualities necessary for the due discharge of that sacred 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 a part of it herself. Wishing to give her children another lesson of beneficence, she desired me on the New Year's Eve to get from Paris as another years all the fashionable playthings and have

Starting point is 07:10:10 them spread out in her closet. Then, taking her children by the hand, she showed them all the dolls and toys which were arranged there, and told her, 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 rigor 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 toy man must lose by

Starting point is 07:10:48 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 Saint-Clu, a matter very simple in itself, had, on account of the prevailing spirit, very unfavorable 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, partly by the removal of the ambassador's staircase, and partly by that of the Paris style of columns placed at the bottom of the marble court, was equally in want of substantial and ornamental repair. The king, therefore, desired Monsieur Meek 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 Monsieur Meek how much money would be wanted

Starting point is 07:11:39 for the execution of the whole work, and how many years he would be in completing it. I forget how many millions of livres were mentioned, but I remember Mr. Meek replied that six years would be sufficient time for performing the whole undertaking if the treasury made the necessary advances from time to time 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 seventeen ninety. It will occupy the rest of the century.

Starting point is 07:12:18 the king afterwards talked of the depreciation of property which took place at versailles whilst the regent kept the court of louis-kins at the tuileries and said that he must consider of means to prevent that inconvenience it was the desire to do this that promoted the purchase of st The queen first conceived the idea of it when one day she was riding out with the Duchess de Pollyniac and the Countess Diana. She mentioned it to the king, who was much pleased with the thought, the purchase confirming him in the intention of quitting Versailles, which he had entertained for ten years. The king determined to continue the ministers, public officers, pages, and a considerable part of his stabling at Versailles. Monsieur de Bretoy and de Calonne were instructed to treat with the Duke de Leon for the of Saint-Clue. At first, they hoped to be able to conclude the business by a mere exchange. The value of Choisy, La Mouette, and one forest, was equivalent to the sum demanded by the House

Starting point is 07:13:16 of Orleans. And in the exchange which the Queen expected, she saw there was a saving to be made instead of an increase of expense. By this arrangement, the government of Choisy in the hands of the Duke de Cuanie and that of La Mourette, in the hands of the Marshal de Soubis, would be suppressed. At the same time, the two conciergerie and all the servants employed in these two royal houses would be reduced. But while the treaty was going forward, Monsieur de Bretoy and de Calonne gave up the point of exchange, and some millions in species were substituted for Choisy and La Mouette. The queen advised the king to give her Saint-Clu as a means of avoiding the establishment of a governor, her plan being to have merely a housekeeper there,

Starting point is 07:14:00 by which means the governor's expenses would be saved. The king agreed, and Saint-Clue was purchased for the Queen. She provided the same liveries for the porters at the gates and servants of the castle as for those at Triannon. The housekeeper at the latter place had put up some regulations of internal police with these words, by order of the Queen. The same thing was done at St. Clu. 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 Queen at the Queen.

Starting point is 07:14:33 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

Starting point is 07:14:54 if she made any change in the form of these regulations, though they might have been altogether superseded without any inconvenience. My name is not Missed. "'in gardens, belonging to myself. "'Surely I may give orders there "'without infringing on the rights of the state?' "'This was the only answer she made to the representations "'which a few faithful servants ventured to make to her on the subject.

Starting point is 07:15:19 "'The discontent of the Parisians on this occasion, "'probably induced by Monsieur de Espramainille, "'upon the first troubles about the Parliament, "'to say that it was impolitic "'and immoral in a queen of France to possess palaces of her own. Thus, a change effected through an economical motive assumed a very different character in the eyes of the public. Note by Madame Campan. The Queen never forgot this affront of Monsieur Despremenilles.

Starting point is 07:15:45 She said that as it was offered at a time when social order had not been disturbed, she had felt the severest mortification at it. Shortly before the downfall of the throne, Monsieur Despermenil, having openly espoused the king's side, was insulted in the Garden of the Tuileries by the Jean-Germain. Jacobin, 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 an inquire after him. She replied that she was truly grieved at what had happened to Monsieur Despermanil,

Starting point is 07:16:17 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. And note. The queen was very much dissatisfied with the manner in which Mr. de calonne had managed this matter the abbe de vermon 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 exhausting because the period when the archbishop of toluse 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 a 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

Starting point is 07:17:13 in which they were administered. In a word, France felt confidence in its own strength and resources when two events, which seems scarcely worthy of a place in history, but which have nevertheless an important one in that of the French Revolution, introduced a spirit of sarcasm and contempt, not only against the highest ranks, but even though. against the most August personages. I allude to a comedy and a great swindling transaction. Beaumarche had long possessed a brilliant reputation in certain circles in Paris, for his wit

Starting point is 07:17:45 and musical talents, and at the theatres for dramas more or less indifferent, when his comedy of the Barber of Seville procured him a more decided reputation upon the French stage. His memoirs against Monsieur Guzman had amused Paris by the ridicule they threw upon a parliament which was disliked, and his admission to an intimacy with Monsieur de Morpaw procured him a degree of influence over important affairs. Thus, honorably situated, he became ambitious of the dangerous reputation of giving a general impulse to the minds of the people of the capital by a kind of drama, in which the most respected manners and customs were held up to popular derision and the ridicule of the new philosophers. After several years of prosperity, the minds of the French

Starting point is 07:18:29 had become more generally turned to criticism and ridicule. And when Beaumarche had finished his monstrous but diverting marriage of Figuero, all people, of any consequence, were eager for the gratification of hearing it read, for the censors of the police had decided that the peace should not be performed. These readings of Figuero grew so numerous through the author's politic complacence 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 insert in his work compelled as it were the approbation of the superior nobility or of persons in power who aimed at the honour of being ranked among the magnanimous

Starting point is 07:19:14 he made his figaro say that none but little minds dreaded little books the baron de bretois and all the men of madame de pauliniac'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 the public attention and desired me to ask monsieur le noir lieutenant of police for the manuscript of the marriage of 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 that she should detain me for 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, That is Beaumarche's comedy. You must read it to us. You will find several parts troublesome, on account of the erasures and references.

Starting point is 07:20:16 I have already run it over, but I wish the Queen to be acquainted with the work. You will not mention this reading to anyone. I began. The king frequently interrupted me by remarks which were always just either of praise or censure. He frequently exclaimed, That's in bad taste. This man continually brings the Italian conchetti on the stage. At that soliloquy of Figuero in which he attacks various points of government,

Starting point is 07:20:45 but aims most particularly at 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 the act of the most dangerous folly. This man scoffs at everything that is to be respected in a government. Surely the king here gave a decision to which experience must have reconciled

Starting point is 07:21:11 all the enthusiastic admirers of the whimsical production in question. It will not be played, then, said the queen. No, certainly, replied Louis says. You may rely upon that. Still, it was constantly reported in company that Figuero was about to be performed. There were even many wagers laid upon the subject. I never should have laid any myself, fancying myself much better informed as to the probability than anybody else. If I had, however, I should have been completely deceived.

Starting point is 07:21:44 The protectors of Beaumarcher, or rather of his work, persuading themselves that they should certainly succeed in their scheme of rendering it popular, in spite of the king's prohibition, distributed the parts in the marriage of Figuero among the actors of the Theatres Francé. Beaumerschet had made them enter into the spirit of his characters, and they determined to enjoy at least one performance of this pretended chad-euvre of the drama. The first gentleman of the chamber agreed that Monsieur de la Fert should lend the theatre of the Hotel de Menue Pleizier at Paris, which was used for rehearsals of the opera.

Starting point is 07:22:18 Tickets were distributed to a vast number of persons of the first rank in society, and the day for the performance was fixed. The king heard of these arrangements only on the very morning of that day and signed a letter de cachet, which prohibited the performance. Note by Madame Campan, A letter de cachet was any written order proceeding from the king's will. The term was not confined merely to orders for arrest. And note.

Starting point is 07:22:48 When the messenger who brought the order arrived, he found a part of the theatre already filled with spectator, and the streets leading to the Hotel de Menoplizia were filled with carriages. The peace was not performed. This prohibition of the kings was looked upon as an attack on public liberty. The disappointment produced so strong a discontent that the words oppression and tyranny were uttered with no less passion and bitterness at that time than during the time which immediately preceded the downfall of the throne.

Starting point is 07:23:19 Beaumarche was so far put off his guard by rage as to exclaim, "'Well, gentlemen, he won't suffer it to be played here. "'Now, I swear, it shall be played, "'perhaps in the very choir of Notre Dame.' "'There was something prophetic in these words. "'Not by the editor. "'The keeper of the Seals had constantly opposed "'the performance of this play.'

Starting point is 07:23:42 "'The King said in his presence one day, "'You will see that Beaumarche will have more weight "'than the keeper of the Seals.' "'Did that Prince imagine he was speaking the truth so accurately. End note. It was generally insinuated shortly afterwards that Beaumarche had at length

Starting point is 07:24:00 determined to suppress all those parts of his work, which could be obnoxious to government, and on pretense of judging of the sacrifices made by the author, Monsieur de Vaudre obtained permission to have this far-famed marriage of Figuero performed at his country house. Monsieur Campan was asked there. He had frequently heard the work read

Starting point is 07:24:20 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 prescribed suppressions. Everybody came to talk to him about it. Monsieur Campan was so astonished at these assertions in favor of an obvious falsehood that he replied by a quotation from Beaumarchais, himself, and, assuming the tone of Basil in the barber of Seville, he said,

Starting point is 07:24:47 "'Faith, gentlemen, I don't know who is deceived here. You all seem to be in the secret.' they then came to the point and earnestly begged him to tell the queen positively that all which had been pronounced reprehensible in monsieur de beau marches's play had been cut out my father-in-law contented himself with replying that his situation at court not allowing of his giving an opinion except in case the queen should first speak of the peace to him he could not say what he thought of it unless she should ask him the queen said nothing to him about the matter permission to perform this play was at length obtained The Queen thought the people of Paris would be finally tricked when they saw merely an ill-conceived peace, devoid of interest, as it must appear since it was deprived of its satire. Note by the editor. This was the opinion of Louis-Sais also. The King, says Grimm, made sure that the public would judge unfavorably of the work.

Starting point is 07:25:44 He said to the Marquis de Montesquieu, who was going to see the first representation, Well, what do you augur of its success? sire i hope the peace will fail and so do i replied the king end note 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 peace and monsieur's justice pleasure 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. Note by the editor. There is something still more ridiculous than my piece, said Beaumarche himself. That is, its success.

Starting point is 07:26:35 Mademoiselle Arnaud foresaw at the first day and exclaimed, It is a production that will fail fifty nights successively. There was as crowded an audience on the 72nd night as on the first. A circumstance related by Grimm enhanced the public curiosity. The following is extracted from his correspondence. Answer of Monsieur de Beaumarché to the Duke David Kier, who requested the use of his private box for some ladies who wished to see Figuero without being seen.

Starting point is 07:27:04 I have no respect, Monsieur de duke, for women who indulge themselves in seeing any play which they think in decorous, provided they can do so in secret. I lend myself to no such fancies. I have given my peace 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 slandering it in company. To indulge in the pleasure of vice

Starting point is 07:27:31 and assume the credit of virtue is the hypocrisy of the age. My peace is not of a doubtful nature. It must be patronized in good earnest or avoided altogether. Therefore, with my respects to you, Monsieur deuc, I shall keep my box. This letter, adds Grimm, was certainly, circulated all over Paris for a week. At first it was said to be addressed to the Duke de Vilcier and afterwards to the Duke of Mont. It got in this form as far as Versailles, where it was pronounced, as it deserved to be,

Starting point is 07:28:04 an extraordinary piece of impertinence. It seemed, the more insolent and as much as it was well known, that certain very great ladies had declared that if they did go to see the marriage of Figuero, it should be only in a private box. The most zealous partisans of Monsieur de Beaumarche did not dare even to attempt to vindicate him. After having enjoyed this new flash of celebrity, owing either to his own consideration or to the threats of his enemies, Monsieur de Beaumarche was compelled to announce publicly that his famous letter never was written to a due corpere,

Starting point is 07:28:39 but to one of his own friends, and that upon the first spur of dissatisfaction. It was proved that the letter was written to a president of one of the first of his own friends, and that upon the letter was written to a president of one of the parliaments, whereupon indignation subsided. For that which appeared impertinent when addressed to men of the court was deemed so no longer when addressed to one of the long robe. End note. The queen testified her displeasure against all who had assisted the author of the marriage of Figuero to deceive the king into giving his consent that it should be represented. Her reproaches were more particularly directed against Monsieur de Vaudre for having had it performed at his house. The violent and domineering disposition

Starting point is 07:29:17 of her favourite's friend at last became disagreeable to her. One evening, on the Queen's return from the Duchesses, she desired her Valé de Chambre to bring her billiard queue into her closet, and ordered me to open the box that contained it. I was surprised at not finding the padlock belonging to it, the key of which the Queen wore on her watch-chain. I opened the box and took out the queue, broken in two. It was of ivory and formed of a single elephant's tooth.

Starting point is 07:29:46 The butt was of a voice. gold and very tastefully wrought. There, said she, that is the way Monsieur de Vaudre has treated a thing I valued so highly. I had laid it upon the couch while I was talking to the Duchess in the saloon. 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.

Starting point is 07:30:11 The noise brought me back into the billiard-room. I did not say a word to him, but my look showed him how. angry I was. He was the more hurt at the accident, inasmuch as he aspires to the post of governor to the dauphin, and with that object in view it is not wise to expose such a fault as passion. I never thought of him for the place. It is quite enough to have consulted my heart only the choice of a governess, and I will not suffer that of governor to the dauphin to be at all affected by the influence of my friends. I should be responsible for it to the nation.

Starting point is 07:30:45 The poor man, continued the queen, does not know that my determination is made, for I have never explained upon the subject to the Duchess. Therefore, judge of the sort of evening he must have passed. Besides, this is not the first occurrence that has shown me that however queens may be wearied with formality at home, they cannot amuse themselves elsewhere without lessening their dignity. End of Chapter 11 and Volume 1 Volume 2 Chapter 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 1

Starting point is 07:31:31 Shortly after the public mind had been highly excited by the performance of the marriage of Figuero, an obscure plot contrived by swindlers, and matured in the haunts of dark depravity, implicated the Queen's character in a vital point and directly assailed the majesty and honor of the throne. I mean the celebrated affair of the necklace purchased, as it was said for the queen by the Cardinal de Roan.

Starting point is 07:31:56 I will relate every circumstance that came to my knowledge respecting this business. The most minute particulars will prove how little reason the queen had to apprehend the blow with which she was threatened, and which must be attributed to a fatality that human prudence could not have foreseen, though prudence might have been more successfully exerted, to extricate her majesty from the consequences of this unfortunate affair. Note by the editor In order to comprehend the account about to be given by the authorous of the memoirs, and to appreciate her historical testimony on this subject,

Starting point is 07:32:30 the reader should be in possession of the leading facts. There are many remarkable circumstances which, though connected with Madame Compin's narrative, do not form part of it because she speaks only of what she herself well knew. A great number of persons acted base are culpable parts in this shameful drama. It is necessary to be acquainted with them. No one knew the whole affair better than the Abbe Giorgel, but at the same time no one was more devoted to the Cardinal de Roan, or showed more ingenuity in discovering means of defending him,

Starting point is 07:33:02 or greater skill in throwing with artfully affected delicacy, a false light upon the irreproachable conduct of a princess exposed to the most shocking suspicions. either through the blind incredulity or the depravity of a prince of the church. The Abbe shows, in this part of his memoirs, a respectful hatred, if we may be allowed the expression, of Marie Antoinette. He supposes the queen to have been aware of the transaction

Starting point is 07:33:28 at a time when she was still wrapped in all the security of a woman whose imagination could not even conceive the idea of such a masterpiece of intrigue. In the historical illustrations, letter A, we give a copious extract from Jean-Gernier. memoirs. The reader who is desirous of information, and to form a judgment upon this subject, is recommended to glance over this extract first, in order to observe in what points the assertions

Starting point is 07:33:53 it contains are rendered doubtful, and how far they are utterly confuted by Madame Campan's testimony. End note. I have already said that in 1774, the Queen purchased jewels of Beaumere, to the value of 360,000 francs, 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 200,000 francs. The queen, after having her diamonds reset in new patterns, told Bermere that she found her jewel case rich enough and was not desirous of making any addition to it.

Starting point is 07:34:35 Still, the jeweler busied himself for some years in forming a collection of the very first diamonds circulating in commerce, in the very first diamonds circulating in commerce, order to compose a necklace of several rows which he hoped to induce her majesty to purchase. He brought it to Monsieur Campan, requesting him to mention it to the Queen that she might ask to see it, and thus be excited to wish to possess it. This, Monsieur Campan refused to do, telling him that he should be overstepping the line of his duty were he to propose to the Queen an expensive sixteen hundred thousand francs, and that he believed neither the Lady of Honor nor the Tirewoman would take upon herself to execute

Starting point is 07:35:09 such a commission. Bermere 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 that she should much regret the incurring of so great an expense for such an article, that she had already very beautiful diamonds,

Starting point is 07:35:31 that jewels of that description were now not worn at court more than four or five times a year, that the necklace must be returned, and that the money would be much, much better employed in building a man of war. Beemere, in deep tribulation at finding his expectations delusive, endeavored, as it is said, for some time to dispose of his necklace among the various courts of Europe, but without meeting with any person willing to become

Starting point is 07:35:54 the purchaser of an article of such value. A year after his fruitless attempts, Beumeur again caused his diamond necklace to be offered for sale to the king, proposing that it should be paid for partly by installments, and partly in life annuities. This proposal was represented as highly advantageous, and the king mentioned the matter once more to the queen. This was in my presence. I remember the queen told him that if the purchase was really not inconvenient, he might make it,

Starting point is 07:36:23 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, 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. Vermeer 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.

Starting point is 07:36:56 This man had purchased the office of jeweller to the crown, which gave him the right 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 Bermere sought this audience, and had not the slightest idea that it was to speak to her again

Starting point is 07:37:19 about an article twice refused by herself and the king. Bermere threw himself on 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 my misfortunes.' When I go hence, I shall throw myself into the river. Rise, Brimard, said the queen in a tone sufficiently severe to recall him to himself. I do not like these rhapsodies.

Starting point is 07:37:50 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 responsible for that misfortune. I not only 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. I refused him in the same manner. Then never mention it to me again. Divide it, and endeavor to sell it piecemeal, and do not drown yourself.

Starting point is 07:38:30 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 beaumere withdrew overwhelmed with confusion and nothing farther was then heard of him while the queen lay-in of madame sophie she told me that m de st james had apprised her that beaumere was still intent upon the sale of his necklace and that her majesty ought for her own satisfaction to endeavour to learn what the man had done with it she desired me not to forget 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 that 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 grand signor came to purchase his diamonds at paris the queen for a long time avoided seeing beaumere being fearful of his rash character and her valet de chambre who had the care of her jewels did the necessary repairs to her ornaments unassisted on the baptism of the duke d'angulem the king made him a present of a diamond epaulette and buckles and directed beaumair to deliver them to the queen beaumere presented them to her majesty upon 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 beaumere's address to her aloud and saw nothing in it but a proof of mental aberration being unable otherwise to account for his complimenting her upon the beauty of her diamonds and begging her not to forget him

Starting point is 07:40:20 she lighted the note 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 as long as I live. That if I had any money to spare, I would rather add to my property at St. Clue 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 with him, and that the slightest advance towards such a man would be injudicious.

Starting point is 07:41:18 On the first of August I left Versailles for my country-house. On the third came Beumeer, 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 Bomer, 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, Monsieur Beaumere. Your last accounts against the Queen were discharged.

Starting point is 07:42:04 long ago. How, madame, are you not in the secret? A man who is ruined for want of payment of fifteen hundred thousand francs can hardly be said to be satisfied. Have you lost your senses? said I. For what can the queen owe you so extravagant a sum? For the necklace, madame, replied Beaumere coolly. How, returned I?

Starting point is 07:42:29 That necklace again? About which you have teased the queen 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 mischief making fool. He then told me that the Queen had determined to have the necklace and had had it purchased for her by the Cardinal de Roan. You are deceived, I exclaimed.

Starting point is 07:42:54 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 Beaumere. She must see him in private, for it was to his eminence that she gave thirty thousand francs which were paid me on account. She took them in his presence out of the little secretary of Severo porcelain next the fireplace in her boudoir.

Starting point is 07:43:19 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 Wits 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 from whence he had just arrived, to obtain an immediate audience from the Baron de Breté, who, as the head of the king's household,

Starting point is 07:43:56 was the minister of the department to which Beemar 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, he had acted without the direct orders of the king, the queen, nor the minister. He answered that he had not acted without direct orders, that he had in his possession all the note signed by the queen,

Starting point is 07:44:19 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 hastened his departure for Versailles, and he assured me he would go thither immediately. Instead of following my advice, he went to the Cardinal, and it was of this visit of Beaumeres that his eminence made a memorandum found in a drawer overlooked by the Abbe Gorgel when he burnt, by order of his eminence all the papers which the latter had at Paris. The memorandum was thus warded. On this day, 3rd of August, Beamer went to Madame Campa's country house, and she told him that the queen had never had his necklace, and that he had been cheated. When Beamer was gone, I was anxious to follow him and go to the Queen at Triano. My father-in-law prevented me, and ordered me to leave the minister to elucidate an affair of such importance,

Starting point is 07:45:11 observing that it was an infernal plot, that I had advised Beumeur very properly and had nothing more to do with the business. After seeing the cardinal, Beumeur did not go to the Baron de Breitoy, but 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 she sent for me to Triano. I found her alone in her boudoir. She talked to me of various trifles, but all the while I was answering her, I was thinking of the necklace, and seeking for an opportunity of telling her what had last been said to me

Starting point is 07:45:53 about it. Till at length she said, "'Do you know that that idiot, Bermere, has been here, asking to speak to me, and saying that you advised him to do so?' "'I refused to receive him,' continued the Queen. "'What does he want? Have you any idea?' I then communicated what the man had said to me, which I thought it my duty not to withhold, whatever pain it might give me to mention such infamous affairs to her. She made me relate several times the whole of my conversation with Bermere, and complained

Starting point is 07:46:25 bitterly of the vexation she felt for the circulation of forged notes signed with her name. But she could not conceive how the Cardinal could be involved in the affair. This was a labyrinth to her, and her mind was lost in it. She immediately sent for the Abbey de Vermon and the Baron de Bretoy. Beamer had never said one word to me about the woman de la Mote, and her name was mentioned for the first time by the Cardinal in his answers to the interrogatories put to him before the king. For several days, the Queen, in concert with the Baron and the Abbe, consulted what was proper

Starting point is 07:47:00 to be done on the occasion. Unfortunately, an inveterate and implacable hatred for the Cardinal rendered these two counsellors, the men of all others, most likely to lead her majesty out of the line of conduct she ought to have pursued. They only contemplated the utter ruin of their enemy at court, and his disgrace in the eyes of all Europe, and never considered how circumspectly such a delicate affair required to be managed. if the queen had called in the count de vergen to advise his experience of men and things would have induced him at once to pronounce that a swindling transaction in which the august name of marie antoinette might be compromised ought to be hushed up

Starting point is 07:47:39 on the fifteenth of august the cardinal who was already dressed in his pontifical garments was sent for at noon into the king's closet where the queen then was the king said to him you have purchased diamonds of bemer yes sire what have you done with them i thought they had been delivered to the queen who commissioned you a lady called the countess de la motte 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 sir could you believe that i should select you to whom i have not spoken these eight years to negotiate anything for me and especially through the mediation of such a woman i see plainly said the cardinal that i have been duped i will pay for the necklace my desire to be of service to your majesty blinded me i suspected no trick in the affair and i am sorry for it He then took out of his pocketbook a letter from the queen to Madame Lamotte, entrusting her with the commission. The king took it, and holding it towards the cardinal said, This is neither written nor signed by the queen.

Starting point is 07:48:49 How could a prince of the house of Roan and a grand almoner of France ever think that the queen would sign Marie Antoinette of France? Everybody knows that queens sign only by their baptismal names. Note by the editor. The following passage occurs in the secret. correspondence. The Cardinal ought, it was said, to have detected the forgery of the approbations and signature to the instructions. His place of Grand Almoner gave him ample opportunity of knowing both her Majesty's writing and her manner of signing her name. To this important

Starting point is 07:49:23 objection it was answered that it was long since Monsieur de Roan had seen her writing, that he did not recollect it, that besides having no suspicions he had no inducement to endeavor to ascertain it, and that the crown jewelers, to whom he showed the instrument, did not any more than himself, detect the imposition. With submission to the authors of the secret correspondence, this answer is nugatory, for merchants are better acquainted with commercial signatures than those of courts, and they might very possibly be ignorant of customs which ought to be familiar to the cardinal, and the Abbe Gorgel himself admits as much. End note. But sir, pursued the king, handing him a copy of his letter to Bermere.

Starting point is 07:50:05 Did you ever write such a letter as this? Having glanced it over, 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 true. Then explain to me, resumed the king, the whole of this enigma.

Starting point is 07:50:26 I do not wish to find you guilty. I had rather you would justify yourself. Account for all the manoeuvres with Bermere, these securities and these notes. The Cardinal then turning pale and leaning against the table said, Sire, I am much too 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 writing as confused as his verbal answers had been. The King then,

Starting point is 07:51:03 said, Withdraw, sir. The cardinal left the king's chamber with the Baron de Brateau, who gave him in custody to an ensign of the bodyguard with orders to take him to his apartment. Monsieur d'Agoot, adjutant of the bodyguard afterwards, took charge of him, and conducted him to his hotel and from thence to the Bastille. But while the cardinal had with him only the young ensign of the bodyguard, who was himself much embarrassed at having such an order to execute,

Starting point is 07:51:30 his eminence met his high-duke at the door of the saloon of Hercules. He spoke to him in German and then asked the ensign if he could lend him a pencil. The officer gave him that which he carried about him, and the Cardinal wrote to the Abbe Gangell, his grand vicar and friend, instantly to burn all Madame Lamotte's correspondence and all his letters in general. The commission was executed before Monsieur Crone, lieutenant of police, had received an order from the Baron de Bretet to put seals upon the Cardinal's papers. note by the editor the secret correspondence in relating these circumstances thus explains the officer's conduct and confusion the ensign being reprimanded for suffering the cardinal to write replied that his orders did not forbid it

Starting point is 07:52:15 and that besides he had been so much disconcerted by the unusual address of the baron de brete in the king's name sir follow me that he had not recovered himself and did not perfectly know what he was about this excuse is not very satisfactory though it is true that this officer who was very irregular in his conduct was much in debt and at first apprehended that the order intimated to him by the baron concerned himself personally the abbe gergerald relates the circumstances of the note in a very different manner the cardinal at that dreadful moment which might have been expected to deprive him of his senses gave an astonishing proof of his presence of mind notwithstanding the escort which surrounded him favored by the attendant crowd he stopped and stooping down with his face towards the wall as if to fasten his buckle or his garter 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 little tale 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 unperceived 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 says 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 fainted and fell dropping the paper of which he was the bearer the portfolio enclosing the papers which might compromise the cardinal was immediately placed beyond the reach of all search and note

Starting point is 07:54:11 the destruction of all his eminence's correspondence and particularly that with madame de la motte threw an impenetrable cloud over the whole of this affair madame the king's step-sister was the sole protectress of that woman and her patronage was confined to allowing a slender pension of twelve or fifteen hundred francs her brother was in the navy but the marquis de chabere to whom he had been recommended could never make a good officer the queen in vain endeavored to call to mind the features of this person of whom she often heard speak as an intriguing woman who came frequently on sundays to the gallery at versailles and at the time when all france was taken up with the prosecution against the cardinal the portrait of the countess de la motte 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 recollect in it any person whom she had seen in the gallery note by madame campan the public as the reader knows with the exception of persons dressed in the style of the lowest of the people were admitted into the gallery and larger apartments of versailles as they were into the park and note the woman de lamotte's father was a peasant at hauteuil though he called himself valois madame de boulin villiers once saw from her terrace two pretty little peasant girls each laboring 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 occupied the estate called Grosbois, that as he seldom came to court, Louis-13 asked him what he was about, that he remained so constantly in the country.

Starting point is 07:56:07 and that this Monsieur de Valois merely answered, Sire, I am doing nothing but what I ought to do. Note, Je ne feke as a ceque je doa, which also means, I only make what I owe, and in that sense was a true answer. And note. It was shortly afterwards discovered

Starting point is 07:56:26 that he was engaged in coining. As soon as the news of the Grand Almoner's arrest spread through Paris, the Prince de Condé, who had married a princess of the House of Rowan, the Marichal de Soure. Bees, and the Princess de Marseigne, exclaimed indignantly against the arrest of a prince of their family. The clergy, from the cardinals down to the youths in the seminaries, gave vent to their

Starting point is 07:56:48 affliction at the disgraceful apprehension of a prince of the church, and an infinite number of persons were eagerly desirous to see the court humbled for so harsh a proceeding. I must interrupt my narrative of the famous necklace plot to say something about this woman, Lamotte. Neither the queen herself nor any lady about her, ever had the slightest connection with that swindler. And during her prosecution, she could point out but one of the queen's servants, a man named Des Clou,

Starting point is 07:57:16 a valet of the Queen's bedchamber to whom she pretended she had delivered Beaumere's necklace. This Des Clue was a very honest man. Upon being confronted with a woman Lamotte, it was proved that she had never seen him but once, which was at the house of the wife of a surgeon Acoucher at Bersailles, the only person she visited at court, and that she had not given him the necklace.

Starting point is 07:57:37 Madame Lamotte married a private in Monsieur's bodyguard. She lodged at Versailles at the Belle Image, a very middling ready-furnished hotel, and it is scarcely to be conceived how so obscure a person could succeed in making herself believed to be a friend of the Queen, who, though so extremely affable, very seldom granted audiences,

Starting point is 07:57:58 and only to titled persons. The trial of the Cardinal is so generally known that it is unnecessary for me to repeat the circumstances of it here, the point most embarrassing to him was the interview he had in february seventeen eighty five with m de st james to whom he confided the particulars of the queen's pretended commission and showed the contract approved and signed mary antoinette of france the memorandum found in a drawer of the cardinal's bureau in which he had himself written what beaumier 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 beaumier had told me and maintained that the cardinal assured him he had received from the queen's own hand the thirty thousand francs given as earnest upon the bargain being concluded and that his eminence had seen her majesty take that sum in bills from the porcelain's secretary in her boudoir. The king declined my offer and said, Were you alone when Bermere told you this?

Starting point is 07:59:00 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 cannot rely upon his sincerity. It would look as if he were sent by the queen, and that would not be proper. Note by the editor. Note by the editor. her. The king's good sense had fathomed this intrigue. A fact related in the secret correspondence proves it. The guilty woman no sooner knew that all was about to be discovered than she sent for the jewelers, and told them the cardinal had perceived that the agreement which he believed to have been signed by the

Starting point is 07:59:40 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 monsieur de rohan seeing himself deceived and cruelly imposed upon would determine to pay and make the best terms he could rather than suffer a matter of this nature to become public and that was in fact the best thing he could do End note. The Attorney General's information was severe upon the Cardinal. The House of Condé, that of Roan, the majority of the nobility and the whole of the clergy, saw nothing in this affair but an attack upon the prince's rank and the privileges of a Cardinal. The clergy required that the unfortunate business of the Prince Cardinal de Roan

Starting point is 08:00:31 should be sent to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the Archbishop of Narbonne, then-president of the convocation, made representations of 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. Note by the editor. While the process was pending, says a paper of the time.

Starting point is 08:01:11 There appeared a brief from the Pope addressed to the Cardinal, in which the Pope informs him, that having held a consistory respecting him, they had unanimously resolved that he had essentially sinned against his dignity as a member of the Sacred College by recognizing a foreign and secular tribunal,

Starting point is 08:01:27 that he was consequently suspended for six months, and that if he persisted in so irregular a line of conduct, he would be struck off the list of Cardinals. All this was but an empty threat, for the abbe le moan a doctor of the sorbonne having appeared for prince louis de rohan proved that his eminence could not avoid submitting to a tribunal appointed for him by the king his master and that with regard to the preservation of the prerogatives of his dignity he had made the customary protests the sovereign pontiff was so satisfied that after all the requisite formalities he declared the cardinal de rohan reinstated in all the rights and honors of the roman purple end note the attorney-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 la motte was condemned to be whipped branded and imprisoned and her husband in contumacy was condemned to the galleys for life the queen's grief was extreme as soon as i learned the substance of the decision i went to her and found her alone in her closet she was a queen's grief was extreme as soon as i learned the substance of the decision i went to her and found her alone in her closet she

Starting point is 08:02:37 She was weeping. "'Come,' said her majesty to me, "'come and lament for your queen, insulted and sacrificed by cabal and injustice. But rather let me pity you as a Frenchwoman. If I had not met with equitable judges in a matter which affected my reputation, what could you hope for in a suit

Starting point is 08:02:57 in which your fortune and character were at stake?' The king came in at this moment and said to me, "'You find the queen much afflicted. She has great reason to be so.' They were determined throughout this affair to see only an ecclesiastical prince, a prince de Roan, while he is in fact a needy fellow.

Starting point is 08:03:17 I use his majesty's own expression. And all this was but a scheme to put money into his pockets, in endeavouring to do which he found himself the party cheated instead of the cheat. Nothing is easier to see through, and it is not necessary

Starting point is 08:03:31 to be an Alexander to cut this guardian knot. The opinion sanctioned by time is, that the Cardinal was completely duped by the woman Lamot in Caliostro. The King may have been in error in thinking him an accomplice in this miserable and criminal scheme, but I have faithfully given His Majesty's judgment about it. However, the generally received opinion that the Baron de Bretoy's hatred for the Cardinal was the cause of the scandal and result of this unfortunate affair, contributed to the disgrace of the former still more than his refusal to give his granddaughter in marriage to the son of

Starting point is 08:04:06 the Duke de Pollyneac. the abbe de vermon through 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 brete with the queen as he had previously always been End of Chapter 1. Volume 2 Chapter 2 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 2. The Abbe de Vermon did not conceal his exaltation when he succeeded in getting the Archbishop of Toulouse appointed President of the Council of Finance. I have often heard him say that 17 years of patience were not too great a price for success at court, that he spent all that time in gaining the and 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 no longer concealed his credit and influence in the Queen's private

Starting point is 08:05:08 circle. Nothing could equal the confidence with which he displayed the extent of his ambition. 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 in general as she did before the archbishop's arrival at court but the household observed a variation which indicated increased consideration the word monsieur preceded that of abbe and such is the influence of favor that from that moment not only the livery servants but also the people of the antechambers rose when m l'abee 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 confidences placed in the archbishop of sans to take part in public affairs while m de m de morpah lived she kept out of that danger as may be seen by the censure which the baron de besan val 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 ascendancy which she 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 the second was at war with prussia and turkey

Starting point is 08:06:38 that she then demanded that an army of twenty-four thousand men should be sent to him instead of fifteen millions of livres 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 monsieur de vergen 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.

Starting point is 08:07:13 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 the care of, with money that I was sending to my brother,

Starting point is 08:07:27 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. The Queen never disguised her dislike to the American War. She could not conceive how anybody could advise a sovereign to aim at the humiliation of England through an attack on the sovereign authority, and by assisting a people to organize a Republican Constitution,

Starting point is 08:07:53 She often laughed at the enthusiasm with which Franklin inspired the French, and upon the peace of 1783, she treated the English nobility and the ambassador from England with marked distinction. When the Count de Moucestier 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

Starting point is 08:08:37 Monsieur de Morpa and the retirement of Monsieur de Calhonne. 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 censured 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 how to her however, that it is not my own fault, and that it is with regret I give myself such a title.

Starting point is 08:09:25 The queens of France are happy 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, added that excellent princess, thus reluctantly forced to act in opposition to her principles, do you know what happened to me lately? One day, since I began to attend private committees of the kings, while crossing the bullseye, 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,

Starting point is 08:10:03 Poor creature, thou art right, but thou knowest not my situation. I yield to necessity and my unfortunate destiny. This situation was the more painful to the queen, inasmuch as Louis says 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 closeness in the king frequently kept from her particulars which it was proper she should know. Obtaining, therefore, only partial information, and guided by persons more ambitious than

Starting point is 08:10:38 skillful, the queen could not be useful in the grand march of affairs. Yet at the same time, her ostensible interference drew upon her, from all parties and all classes of society, and unpopularity, the rapid progress of which alarmed all those who were sincerely attached to her. Led away by the brilliant language of the Archbishop of Sans, and encouraged in the confidence she placed in that minister by the incessant eulogies of the Abbe de Vermon on his abilities, the Queen unfortunately followed up her first mistake, that of bringing him into office by the equally unfortunate error of supporting him at the time of his disgrace, which was conceded

Starting point is 08:11:17 to the despair of the whole nation. She thought it was due to her dignity to give him some marked proof of her regard. Misguided by her feelings, she sent him her portrait, enriched with jewelry, and a patent for the situation of Lady of the Palace for Madame de Kenizzi, his niece, observing that it was necessary

Starting point is 08:11:35 to indemnify a minister sacrificed to court intrigues and the factious spirit of the nation, that otherwise none would be found willing to devote themselves for the interests of the sovereign. However, on the day of the Archbishop's departure, the public joy was universal, both at court and among the people of Paris. There were bonfires. The attorney's clerks burnt the Archbishop in effigy, and on the very evening of his disgrace, more than a hundred couriers were sent out from Versailles to spread the happy tidings among the country seats round Paris and Versailles. I have since seen the Queen shed bitter tears at the recollection of the error she committed at this period. when subsequently, a short time before her death, the Archbishop had the audacity to say in a speech

Starting point is 08:12:21 which was printed that the sole object of one part of his operations during his administration was to promote the salutary crisis which the revolution had produced. When the fruitless measure of the assemblies of the notables and the rebellious spirit of the parliaments had created the necessity for summoning the state general, it was long discussed in council whether they should be assembled at Versailles or at forty or fifty or fifteen leagues from the capital. The queen was of the latter opinion, and insisted to the king that they ought to be far away from the immense population of Paris. Note by the editor. The assembly of the notables as may be seen in Vabeer's memoirs, volume one, overthrew the plans and caused the

Starting point is 08:13:04 downfall of Monsieur de Calonne. A prince of the blood presided over each of the bureau of that assembly. Monsieur afterwards, his majesty Louis XVI, presided over the first. Monsieur, says a paper of the time, gained great reputation at the Assembly of the Notables in 1787. He did not miss attending his bureau 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 always thought and constantly said openly,

Starting point is 08:13:45 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 and note she began to fear that the people would influence the deliberations of the deputies several memorials were presented to the king upon that important question but m necker's opinion prevailed and versailles was the place fixed upon which affords room for the supposition that monsieur necker in his schemes not supposing that the popular commotions which he undoubtedly hoped to be able to regulate would extend it to the annihilation of the monarchy calculated that they would be useful to him politicians were occupied with the double representation granted to the tiers etat it was the sole topic of conversation some foresaw all the inconveniences of the measure others overrated its advantages The queen adopted the plan to which the king had agreed. She thought the hope of obtaining ecclesiastical favors would secure the clergy of the second order, and that Monsieur Nacquerre felt assured that he possessed the same degree of influence over the lawyers and other people of that class who formed the third estate.

Starting point is 08:15:00 The Count d'artre, 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 granted to the Tiers'Eta. 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 thence forward frequented merely to avoid the appearance of a change in her habits.

Starting point is 08:15:29 She almost always returned unhappy. She was treated with a profound respect due to a queen, but all the touching graces of friendship had vanished to make way for the duties of etiquette. which wounded her deeply. The existing coolness between her and the Count D'Eightois was also very painful to her, for she had loved him as tenderly as if he had been her own brother. The opening of the States General took place on the 4th of May. The Queen on that occasion appeared for the last time in her life in Regal magnificence.

Starting point is 08:16:03 I will not pass over unnoticed a well-known fact, which proves that before this period a faction had begun its operations against this princess. During the procession on the opening of the States General, some low women on seeing the Queen pass cried out, the Duke of Allianne forever, in so rebellious a manner that she nearly fainted. She was obliged to be supported, and those about her were fearful it would be necessary to stop the procession. The Queen, however, recovered herself,

Starting point is 08:16:33 and much regretted that she had not been able to command more presence of mind. 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 repeated it frequently that he might perfectly adapt it to the intonations of his voice. His Majesty gave public marks of attachment and respect for the Queen who was applauded, but it was easy to see that these applausees were in fact an homage rendered to the King alone. It was evident during the Queen.

Starting point is 08:17:07 the first sittings that Mirabeau would be very dangerous to the government. It is affirmed that at this period he communicated to the king and still more fully to the queen, a part of his schemes and his proposals for renouncing them. He had brandished the weapons afforded him by his eloquence and audacity in order to treat with the party he meant to attack. This man played a game of revolution in order to make his 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 the contempt justly inspired by vice, which policy would doubtless have concealed could the future have been foreseen.

Starting point is 08:17:49 The general enthusiasm prevailing at the beginning 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. But this era of our history is too well known and has been already too ably described to require that I should go into any further details than those which are peculiarly within my province. The Queen went to bed late, or I should rather say,

Starting point is 08:18:18 that this unfortunate princess began to lose the enjoyment of rest. One evening, about the latter end of May, she was sitting in the middle of her room relating several remarkable occurrences of the day. Four wax candles were placed upon her toilette. The first went out of itself. I relighted it. shortly afterwards the second and the third went out also upon which the queen squeezing my hand with an emotion of terror said to me misfortune has power to make us superstitious if the fourth taper go out like the rest nothing can prevent my looking upon it as a fatal omen

Starting point is 08:18:54 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'Eta arrived at Versailles, full of the strongest prejudices against the court. The falsehoods of the metropolis never failing to spread themselves into the surrounding provinces, they believed that the king indulged in the pleasures of the table to a shameful excess, that the queen was draining the treasury of the state in order to satisfy the most unreasonable luxury. They almost all determined to see little Triano. The extreme plainness of the retreat in question not answering the ideas they had formed, some of them insisted upon seeing the very

Starting point is 08:19:45 smallest closets, saying that the richly furnished apartments were concealed from them. In short, they spoke of one which, according to them, was wholly 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 Triano, the king concluded that they were looking for the scene enriched with Pace tournaments made in the reign of Louis Quins for the theatre of Fontainebleau. The king supposed that his bodyguards upon their return into the country, after having

Starting point is 08:20:23 performed their quarterly duty at court, related what they had seen, and thus their exaggerated accounts being repeated became at last totally perverted. This first idea of the king upon the search after the diamond chamber suggested to the queen that the mistake about the king's supposed propensity to drinking also sprung 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 bodyguard

Starting point is 08:21:00 staggering, as a man half-awake will do, which was mistaken for a state of intoxication. Note by the editors. It is curious to compare the following anecdote with the unjust censure thrown upon Louis Sees, the cause of which Madame Campan explained so naturally. Borsot's play of Asop at Court contains a scene in which the prince permits the courtiers to tell him his failings. They all join chorus in praising him beyond measure, with the exception of one, who reproaches him with loving wine and getting intoxicated, a dangerous vice in anyone, but especially in a

Starting point is 08:21:35 king. Louis Keynes, in whom that disgusting propensity had almost grown into a habit in the year 1739, found fault with Bousseau's peace and forbade the performance of it at court. After the death of that king, the time of mourning being expired, Louis Cés, commanded us up at court for performance, found the play full of good sense, and proper for the instruction of royalty, and directed that it should be often performed before him. And note. 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,

Starting point is 08:22:14 whose inconsiderate conversation contributed not a little to the nourishment of such mistaken notions. Everything in short tended to render the deputies subservient to the schemes of the leaders of the rebellion. Shortly after the open, of the States General, the first Dauphin died. That young prince fell in a few months from a florid state of health into the rickets, which curved his spine, lengthened his face, and rendered his legs so weak that he could not walk without being supported like a decayed old man.

Starting point is 08:22:45 Note by the editor. 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 care bestowed upon him by the Duchess de Pollyniac 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 Lemurte, everybody was at liberty to see him. Having received in the presence of the visitors, a box of sweetmeats sent him by the queen with her portrait upon it, he said, "'Ah, that's Mama's picture.' The dauphin was all always dressed very plain like a sailor. There was nothing to distinguish him from other children

Starting point is 08:23:33 in point of external appearance, but the cross of Saint-Louis, the Blue Ribbon, and the order of the fleece, decorations particularly belonging to his birth. The Duchess Gilles de Pollyniac, 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 her precious charge. A truly affecting trait is related of the young dauphin whom death snatched from us. The prince always manifested a great regard for Monsieur de Bourcet, his valet de Chambre. After falling into a state of weakness from the sickness of which he died, he one day asked for a pair of scissors. That gentleman reminded him that they were forbidden. The child insisted

Starting point is 08:24:17 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, sir, 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 mama, and while they remember me, I hope they will not forget you. And note. How many maternal tears at his languishing condition, the certain forerunner of death,

Starting point is 08:24:51 draw from the queen, already overwhelmed with apprehend. tensions 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 Duke d'Arcourt, the Dauphin's governor, and those of the Duchess de Pollynec, his governess, added greatly to the Queen's affliction. The young prince showed a strong dislike to the Duchess de Paulyniac, who attributed it either to the Duke or the Duchess d'Arcourt, and came to make her complaints respecting it to the queen. It is true that the dauphin twice sent her out of the room, saying to her, with that maturity of manner which languishing sickness always gives to children,

Starting point is 08:25:32 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 had observed that he was fond of sugared sweetmeats and offered him some marshmallow and juju blousenges. The under-governors and the First Vallé 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 describing 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 Duke of Normandy, whose ruddy health and loveliness did,

Starting point is 08:26:19 in truth, form a striking contrast to the languid look and melancholy disposition of his elder brother. At least she could not doubt that a project to deprive her of the affection of a child whom she loved as a good and tender mother ought, and whose sufferings made him an object of increased interest to her had for some time existed. Previous to the audience granted by the king on the 10th of August 1788, to the envoy of the Sultan Tipus Sahib, she had begged the Duke D'Arcourt to divert the Dauphin, whose deformity was already apparent, from his intention to be present at that ceremony, being unwilling to expose him in his then decrepit state to the gaze of the crowd of inquisitive Parisians who would be in the gallery. Notwithstanding

Starting point is 08:27:03 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 princess Sophie who was not weaned. This first misfortune was, as the queen said, the beginning of all that followed from that moment. End of Chapter 2. Volume 2 Chapter 3 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 3. The two memorable oath of the State General taken at the tennis court

Starting point is 08:27:53 of Versailles was followed by the royal sitting of the 23rd of June. The queen looked on Monsieur Nacquers not accompanying the king as treachery or criminal cowardice. She said that he had converted a salutary remedy into poison, that being in full popularity,

Starting point is 08:28:09 his audacity had emboldened the factious and led away the whole assembly, and that he was the more culpable in as much as he had the evening before given her his word to accompany the king to this sitting. In vain did Monsieur Nacquer endeavored to excuse himself by saying that his advice had not been attended to.

Starting point is 08:28:28 Soon afterwards, the insurrections of the 11th, 12th, and 14th of July opened the disastrous drama with which France was threatened. The massacre of Monsieur de Flesel and Monsieur de Lone 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 insurrection was not merely that of a popular tumult, the cries of vive la nation, vive le roi, vive la Liberté, through the strongest light upon the extended plan of the reformers. Still, the people spoke of the king with affection, and appeared to think his character favorable to the desire of the nation

Starting point is 08:29:08 for the reform of what were called abuses. But they imagined that he was restrained by the opinions and influence of the Count D'Artoy and the queen, and those two August personages were therefore objects of hatred to the malcontents. the dangers incurred by the count d'artre determined the king's first step with the national assembly he attended there on the morning of the fifteenth of july with his brothers without pomp or escort he spoke standing and uncovered and pronounced these memorable words upon you i throw myself it is my wish that i and the nation should be one and in full reliance on the affection and fidelity of my subjects i have given orders to the troops to remove from paris and versa the king returned from the chamber of the National Assembly to his palace on foot. The deputies crowded after him and formed his escort,

Starting point is 08:30:01 and that of the princes who accompanied him. The rage of the populace was pointed against the Count d'artre, whose unfavorable opinion of the double representation was an odious crime in their eyes. They repeatedly cried out, The king, forever, 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 castle were thronged with an immense concourse of people. They demanded

Starting point is 08:30:35 that the king and queen should make their appearance in the balcony with their children. The queen gave me the key of the inner doors which led to the Dofain's apartments, and desired me to go to the Duchess de Pollyniac to tell her that she wanted her son, and had directed me to bring him myself into her room where she waited. for him to show him to the people. The Duchess said this order indicated that she was not to accompany the prince. I did not answer.

Starting point is 08:31:01 She squeezed my hand saying, Ah, Madame Compon, what a blow for me! She embraced the child with tears and bestowed a similar mark of attachment upon myself. She knew how much I loved and valued the goodness and the noble frankness of her disposition. I endeavored to compose her by saying that I should bring back the prince to her,

Starting point is 08:31:23 her, but she persisted and said she understood the order and knew what it meant. She then retired into her private room holding her handkerchief to her eyes. One of the sub-governances asked me whether she might go with a dauphin. I told her the queen had given no order to the contrary, and we hastened to her majesty who was waiting for the prince to show him from the balcony. Having executed this painful commission, I went down into the courtyard where I mingled with the crowd. I heard a thousand vociferations.

Starting point is 08:31:55 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 degree of 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 affect the happiness of the people. at the same moment a man dressed much in the style of a market man with this 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 seventeen eighty nine not to make something more of them and that there will not now be seen a deputy of the tierre sita making a speech with one knee on the ground tell her this do you hear i was struck with dread the queen then appeared on 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, mole-like.

Starting point is 08:33:12 But we shall know how to dig her out. The detestable pair moved away from me, and I re-entered 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 Victois's apartments.

Starting point is 08:33:36 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 in vain.' He added a thousand invectives against their majesties. I went into the princess who was at work alone in her closet behind a canvas 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.

Starting point is 08:34:05 She rose to take a nearer view of them and informed me that one of them was named Saint Urugge, that he was a creature of the Duke of Leone, and was furious against government because he had been confined once under a letter de caches as a bad character. The king was not ignorant of all these popular threats. He also knew the days on which money was scattered about Paris,

Starting point is 08:34:27 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 Fobour. Note by Madame Comte. I have seen a six-franc crown-piece which certainly served to pay some wretch on the night of the twelfth of July. The words, Midnight, Twelfth July, three pistols, were rather deeply engraven on it. They no doubt communicated a signal for the first insurrection.

Starting point is 08:34:56 End note. On the evening of the 14th of July, the king came to the Queen's apartment where I was with her majesty alone. He conversed with her respecting the horrid 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 silly assertions with contempt as usual. I ventured to tell him that I had the evening before supped with Monsieur Bigguin, 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.

Starting point is 08:35:32 Then, said his majesty, as the idea of such an atrocity did not seem absurd to so worthy a man as Monsieur Beguin, I will order the chamber to be examined early tomorrow 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 deserved his attention. I know, says he in the speech in question, that unworthy insinuations have been spread about. 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 sub-substableness?

Starting point is 08:36:08 of reports so culpable, which a knowledge of my disposition ought to have refuted in their origin? The proceedings of the 15th of July produced no mitigation of the disturbances. Successive deputations of Poissard 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 tranquilize the minds of the people. The Queen was for the departure.

Starting point is 08:36:48 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 Kings, 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. And that then I was to execute its contents.

Starting point is 08:37:25 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 tomorrow, 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 stay? I am ready to do either. The majority were for the king's stay. Time will show whether the right choice has been made.

Starting point is 08:38:04 I returned to 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 governess 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. Monsieur Nacquère was recalled. The artillery soldiers were undoubtedly corrupted. Where for 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.

Starting point is 08:38:56 These guns shall sooner be leveled against the tyrant's palace than against you. The Count D'Artreux. the Prince de Condé and their children set off at the same time with the troops. A few particulars honorable to the bravery of the Prince de Condé and relative to the birth of the Duke Dengen, which latter appear the more remarkable and affecting, when compared with his tragical end, will not be read without interest. The Prince de Condé acquired reputation in his youth. Instances were related of his courageous behavior at the Battle of Artenbach in the Seven Years' War.

Starting point is 08:39:32 it was said that on being requested to remove ten paces to the left in order to avoid the fire of a battery which was making horrid slaughter by his side he replied to monsieur de tourailles i find none of these precautions in the history of the great condes he afterwards distinguished himself at the battle of mindon in seventeen fifty nine charging the enemy at the head of his reserve over a piece of meadows trued with the bodies of officers of the gendarmerie and carbineers his talents displayed themselves to still greater advantage when he had a separate body of troops under his command with which he gained several advantages over the prince of brunswick louis kins by way of reward gave him the enemy's cannon and the prince of brunswick afterwards visiting him at chantilly and not finding the guns there, the Prince de Conte having had them removed out of sight said, You were determined to conquer me twice, in war by your arms

Starting point is 08:40:27 and by your forbearance in peace. The Battle of Johannesburg carried his reputation to its height, for with an inferior reserve he gained a complete victory over Prince Ferdinand. He held his counsel of war in the midst of a fire of musketry and remained master of the field of battle.

Starting point is 08:40:45 The Duke de Bourbon, the son of the Prince de Corbant, Condé, when scarcely past childhood, became enamored at Mademoiselle de Lyon, and showed so much attachment that he was married to that princess at the age of fourteen, though she was more than six years older than himself. But it was determined that he should travel a year or two before he should be suffered to cohabit with his wife. He eluded the vigilance of those appointed to watch him, and carried her off from the convent in which she was placed. The Duchess de Bourbon was brought to bed of the Duke d'Angay in 1771, after having suffered.

Starting point is 08:41:17 pains which women alone can conceive for 48 hours. The child was born perfectly black and motionless. He was wrapped in linen, steeped in spirit of wine, but this experiment had nearly proved fatal to him, for by some means the linen took fire. The accident was, however, prevented from becoming fatal by the care of the accoucher and physician. End note.

Starting point is 08:41:42 The Duke and Duchess de Pollynec, their daughter, the Duchess de Guiche, the Countess Diana de Pollyniac, the Duke's sister, and the Abbe de Belivierre also immigrated on the same night. Nothing could be more affecting than the parting of the Queen and her friend. The extremes of misfortune had banished from their minds the recollection of differences to which political opinions alone had given rise. The Queen's several times wished to go and embrace her once more after their sorrowful adieu, but her motions were too closely watched.

Starting point is 08:42:13 She was compelled to forego this last consolation, but she desired Monsieur Campan to be present at the departure of the Duchess and gave him a purse of 500 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,

Starting point is 08:42:38 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. Monsieur Campan remained till midnight with the Duchess to see her get into her carriage. She was disguised as a femme de chambre and got up in front of the Berlin. She requested Monsieur Campan to speak of her frequently to the Queen, and then quitted forever that palace, that favour, and that influence, which had raised her up such cruel enemies. On their arrival at Stance, the travellers found the people

Starting point is 08:43:11 in a state of insurrection. They asked all those who came from Paris whether the Paligniacs were still with the queen. A group of inquisitive persons put that question to the Abbe de Belivierre who answered them in the firmest tone and with the most cavalier air that they were far enough from Versailles

Starting point is 08:43:29 and that we had got rid of all such bad people. At the following stage, the postilion got upon the doorstep and said to the Duchess, Madame, there are some good people left in the world. I recognized you all at Sance. They gave the worthy fellow a handful of gold. On the breaking out of these disturbances,

Starting point is 08:43:50 an old man above 70 years of age gave the queen an extraordinary proof of attachment and fidelity. Monsieur Perraq, a rich inhabitant of the colonies, father of Monsieur Doudonard, 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 brought any letters from foreign countries to burn them immediately, especially if he had any for the Queen.

Starting point is 08:44:16 Monsieur Perraq had one from the Archdeches, the Guvernante 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 himself 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 feelings of an old and faithful subject had given him courage to form and execute such

Starting point is 08:44:54 a resolution. The queen received Monsieur Perraq in her closet and expressed her gratitude in an affecting manner, most honorable to the respectable old man. Her majesty thought the young stranger who had apprised him of the state of Paris was Prince George, of Hestarnstadt, who was much attached to her, and who left Paris at that very time. The Marchioness de Toursel succeeded the Duchess de Pollyniac. She was selected by the Queen as being the mother of a family and a woman of a reproachable conduct, and 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 Marshal de Beauvo, the Duke de Ville-Rois,

Starting point is 08:45:37 and the Duke de Ville-Vil-Kier. He also took the Count d'estay and the Marquis Donnell, who were then very popular with him in his carriage. Note by Madame Campan. The Count used to go and dine with the butchers at Versailles, and flattered the people by the meanest condescensions. End note. Twelve bodyguards and the town guard of Versailles escorted him to the Pond du Jour near Sever, where the Parisian guard was waiting for him. His departure caused equal grief and alarm.

Starting point is 08:46:08 to his friends, notwithstanding the calmness he evinced. 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. A deadly silence reigned throughout the palace. Fear was at its height. The King was hardly expected to return.

Starting point is 08:46:34 The Queen had a robe prepared for her and sent orders to her stables to help. all her equipages ready. She wrote an address of a few lines for the assembly, determining to go thither 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. I remember 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, her voice was often interrupted by her tears, and by the sorrowful exclamation, they will never let him return.

Starting point is 08:47:17 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, Monsieur de last tour, the king's first page arrived. He was not half an hour in coming from the barrier de la Confidence de Versailles. Everybody knows that the moment of calm at Paris was that in which the sovereign received the tricoloured cockade from Monsieur Baille and placed it in his hat. A shout of Vive Le Roy arose on all sides. It had not been once uttered before.

Starting point is 08:47:50 The king breathed again at that moment, and with tears in his eyes exclaimed that his heart stood in need of such shouts from the people. One of his equiries, Monsieur de Cubierre, told him the people loved him and that he ought never to have doubted it. The king replied in accents of profound sensibility. Cubier, the French, loved Henri Cater, and what king ever better deserved to be beloved? Note by the editor.

Starting point is 08:48:18 Louis Cés cherished the memory of Henri Cater. He, at that moment, thought of his deplorable end, but he long before regarded him as a model for himself. This is what Sulevi says on the subject. A tablet with the inscription. resurrection resuscit, placed upon the pedestal of the statue of Henri Cattre, on the accession of Louis Cés, flattered him exceedingly. What a fine compliment would that be, said he, were it but true?

Starting point is 08:48:46 Tacitus himself never wrote anything so concise or so happy. Louis Cés 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 Resurrection. from the statue of Henri Cattre, and placed it under that of Louis Quins, whose memory was then detested. Louis Cés, who was informed of it,

Starting point is 08:49:12 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.

Starting point is 08:49:31 End note. 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 it was then that he repeated several times happily no blood has been shed and i swear that never shall a drop of french blood be spilled 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 tranquility would soon enable the assembly to resume its labors and bring its session to a close the queen never flattered herself with so favorable a result m bayy's speech to the king equally wounded her pride and hurt her feelings henri four conquered his people and here are the people conquering their king the word conquest offended her she never forgave monsieur bailly for his fine academical antithesis 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 from his throne without having effected a recognition conciliation with his people. Monsieur Foulon, who was added to the administration while

Starting point is 08:50:56 Monsieur de Bruey was commanding the army assembled at Versailles, had concealed himself at Virie. He was there, recognized, and the peasant seized him and dragged him to the Hotel de Ville. The death cry was heard in the assembly. The electors, the members of the committee, and Monsieur de la Fayette, at that time the idol of Paris, in vain endeavored to save the unfortunate man. After tormenting him, an amendment. manner the particulars of which make humanity shudder. His body was dragged about the streets and to the

Starting point is 08:51:26 Palais Royal, and his heart was carried. Shall I tell it? By women. In the midst of a bunch of white carnations. Note by the editor. This horrible circumstance is related nowhere else. No historian, no record of the time makes any mention of it. It is probable the fact never took place. At least, for the honor of humanity, we ought to believe so. end note m bertie m foulon's son-in-law intendant of paris was seized at compigne at the same time that his father-in-law was seized at virey and treated with still more persevering cruelty the queen was always persuaded that this horrible deed was occasioned by some piece of indiscretion and she imparted to me that m fulon 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 and that these memorials contained two schemes of totally different nature for extricating the king from the dreadful situation in which he was placed.

Starting point is 08:52:30 In the first of these projects, Monsieur Foulon expressed himself without reserve, respecting the criminal views of the Duke of Léon, 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 apprehend, it at the same time, and advised the king not to part with his army until order was restored.

Starting point is 08:52:56 His other plan was that the king ought to 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 minute books and papers, and to make the greatest sacrifices to satisfy the legitimate wishes of the people, and not to give the factious time to turn them to the aid of their criminal designs. Madame Adelaide had Monsieur Foulon's two memorials read to her in the presence of four or five persons. One of them was very intimate with Madame Dostal, and that intimacy gave the Queen reason to believe that the opposite party had gained information of Monsieur Foulon's schemes. It is known that young Barnab, during the lamentable aberration of mind, since expiated by

Starting point is 08:53:43 sincere repentance and even by death, uttered these atrocious words, is there? the blood now flowing so pure, when Monsieur Bertier's son came to the assembly to invoke the eloquence and filial piety of Monsieur de Lally to entreat that body to save his father's life. I have since been informed that a son of Monsieur Foulon, having returned to France, after these first abolitions of the revolution, saw Bernav, and gave him one of those memorials in which Monsieur Foulot advised Louis Seyes to prevent the revolutionary explosion by voluntarily granting all that the Assembly required before the period of the 14th of July. Read this memorial, said he.

Starting point is 08:54:25 I have brought it to increase your remorse. It is the only revenge I wish to inflict on you. Barnab burst into tears and said all that the profoundest grief could dictate. End of Chapter 3. Volume 2, Chapter 4, Part 1, of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 4. Part 1 After the 14th of July, by a maneuver for which the most skillful factions of any age might have envied the assembly,

Starting point is 08:55:06 the whole population of France was armed and organized into a National Guard. A report was spread throughout France on the same day and almost at the same hour that 4,000 brigands were marching towards such towns or villages as it was wished to arm. Never was any plan better laid. Terror spread at the same moment all over the kingdom and found its way into the most retired districts. In 1791, a peasant showed me a steep rock in the mountains of the Mont d'Arre, on which his wife concealed herself on the day when the 4,000 brigands were to attack their village,

Starting point is 08:55:42 and told me they had been obliged to make use of ropes to let her down from the place which fear alone had enabled her to climb. Versailles was certainly the place where the national military, 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.

Starting point is 08:56:09 And an Italian soprano sang a motetto in the garb of a grenadier captain. The king was very much offended at this conduct and forbade his servants to appear in his presence in so unbecoming address. The departure of the Duchess de Pollynec naturally left the Abbe Vermon exposed to all the dangers of favoritism. He was already talked of as an advisor dangerous to the nation. The queen was alarmed at it, and recommended him to remove to Valenciennes where Count Esterazzi was in command.

Starting point is 08:56:40 He was obliged to leave that place in a few days and set off for Vienna, where he remained ever after. 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 Vermon would make his appearance at court again, even if the existing ferment should subside,

Starting point is 08:57:04 because he would not readily be forgiven for his attachment to the Archbishop of Sons, and that she had lost in him a very devoted servant. Then, on a sudden, she 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,

Starting point is 08:57:29 and, as I had sometimes drawn her portraits of living characters, in imitation of those which were fashionable in the time of Louis Cautors, she desired me to sketch that of the Abbe, as its features struck me without any reserve. My astonishment was extreme. The Queen spoke of the man who the day before was living in the greatest intimacy with her, with the utmost coolness, and as a person whom perhaps she might never see again. I remained petrified.

Starting point is 08:57:56 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 judge of him. I promptly collected my ideas about the favourite. But I only remember that the portrait was drawn with sincerity, except that everything which could denote hatred was kept out of it. I shall quote but one extract from it. I said that he had been born talkative and indiscreet,

Starting point is 08:58:27 and had assumed a character of singularity and bluntness in order to conceal those two failings. The Queen interrupted me by saying, Ah, how true that is! I have, since that time, had an opportunity of discovering that notwithstanding the high favor which the Abida Vermon enjoyed, the Queen took precautions to guard herself against an ascendancy, the consequence of which she could not calculate.

Starting point is 08:58:52 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 Monsieur Campan, upon 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 day of the tenth of august at the moment when my house was about to be surrounded i determined to burn the most interesting papers of which i was the depository i thought it however my duty 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 abbey de vermon to the queen i have already related that in the earlier days of madame de polinac's favour he determined to remove from versailles and that the queen had recalled him by means of the count de

Starting point is 08:59:52 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 with her infatuation for the countess jules her family and associates and told her several truths about the possible unfortunate consequences of a friendship which ranked that young 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 but to write to him herself he complained much that he had had no letter in her own hand since he had left vienna lastly he demanded of her an income of eighty thousand livres in ecclesiastical benefices and concluded by saying that if she condescended to write to him herself 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 Abbees were granted and that his absence from Versailles lasted only a single week. In the course of July, the regiment of French Guards, which had been in a state of insurrection

Starting point is 09:01:26 from the latter end of June, abandoned its colors. One single company of Grenadiers remained faithful to its post at Versailles. The Baron de Leval commanded this company. He came every evening to request me to give the queen an account of the disposition of his soldiers. But Monsieur de la Fayette, having sent them a note, they also deserted during the night, and joined their comrades who were enrolled in the Paris Guard, so that Louis Seyes on rising saw no guard whatever at the various posts. The mad decrees of the 4th of August by which all privileges were abolished are well known. Note by the editor

Starting point is 09:02:03 It was during the night of the 4th of August, says Riva Roll, that the demigoural, that the demigarch of the nobility wearied with a protracted discussion upon the rights of man and burning to signalize their zeal rose all at once and with loud exclamations called for the last size 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 fortunate elders upon the altar of the country a few country curates 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 honor 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 conflict increased the intoxication of their new allies by their shouts, and the deputies of the Commons, seeing that this memorable night

Starting point is 09:03:15 would only afford them profit without honor, consoled their vanity by admiring what nobility grafted upon the third estate could do. They named that night the Knight of Dupes, the nobles called it the night of sacrifices. End note. 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 Paler Royal and propositions made to go to Versailles.

Starting point is 09:03:53 It was said to be necessary to separate the king, from his evil counselors, and keep him as well as the dauphin at the Louvre. The proclamations by the municipal officers of the district for the restoration of tranquility were ineffectual, but Monsieur de la Fayette succeeded this time in dispersing the populace. The Assembly declared itself permanent, and during the whole of September, while no doubt the preparations were making 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 fraternizing the officers of that regiment with the bodyguards was conceived, and the latter invited the former

Starting point is 09:04:35 to a dinner, which was given in the great theatre of Versailles, and not in the saloon of Hercules, as some chroniclers say. Boxes were appropriated to various persons who wish 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

Starting point is 09:05:03 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. Around them were placed one of the bodyguard in an officer of the Flandre's regiment alternately. There was a numerous orchestras

Starting point is 09:05:23 in the room, and the boxes were filled with spectators. The air, Oh, Richard, O'Mor-Rois, was played, and shouts of Vive Le Roy shook the roof for several minutes. I had one of my nieces and a young person brought up along with Madame by her majesty with me. They were crying, Vive Le Roy 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 French women brought up in such servile habits, screaming so outrageously for the life of one man, and with true fanaticism, exulting him in their hearts above even their dearest relations. He told them what contempt-worthy

Starting point is 09:06:07 American women would feel on seeing French women 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 produce 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 thus checking the conversation, what was my astonishment at seeing the king, the queen and the dauphin, and to the chamber? It was Monsieur de Luxembourg, who had affected this change of determination in the queen. A general enthusiasm prevailed. The moment their majesties arrived, the orchestra renewed the air I have just mentioned, and afterwards played a song

Starting point is 09:06:51 in the deser. 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 rene, vive the 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.

Starting point is 09:07:28 All the military men quitted the chamber and reconducted the king and his family to their apartments. There was a mixture of intoxication with all these evolutions of joy. A thousand extravagancies were committed by the military, and many of them danced under the king's windows. A soldier belonging to the Flanders regiment climbed up the balcony of the king's chamber in order to shout Vive le Rois 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.

Starting point is 09:08:09 One of my relations chaplain to the Queen, who supped with me, saw him stretched out in a corner of the place of arms. He went to give him spiritual assistance, and received his confession and his last sighs. He destroyed himself from regret of 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. Monsieur 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,

Starting point is 09:08:51 and that the greatest misfortunes would follow close upon 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 immigrate or pass over to the left side of the assembly. He adopted the latter course, and never appeared again among my associates. On the second of October, the military entertainer, was followed up by a breakfast given at the hotel of the bodyguards. 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.

Starting point is 09:09:28 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 to. 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 entirely alone in her gardens at Triano, 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

Starting point is 09:10:07 the Count de Saint-Priest, entreating her to return to Versailles. Monsieur de Cubier at the same time went off to request the king. would leave his port and return to his 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 bodyguards were the pretext for the insurrection of the 5th and 6th of October. But it is clear to demonstration that this new movement of the people was a part of the original plan of the factious. Inasmuch as ever since the beginning of September,

Starting point is 09:10:48 a report had been industrially 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 much talk of going to Versailles to seize the king. At first, only women showed themselves. The great doors of the castle were closed, and the bodyguard and Flanders regiment were drawn up in the place of arms. As the details of that dreadful, day are given with precision in several works. I will only observe that consternation and disorder reigned throughout the interior of the castle. I was not in attendance on the queen at this time. Monsieur Campan remained with her till two in the morning. As he was leaving her, she condescendingly

Starting point is 09:11:31 and with infinite kindness desired him to make me easy as to the dangers of the moment, and to repeat to me Monsieur 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 Monsieur de Lafayette's loyalty, but she has often told me that she believed on that day that Lafayette, having affirmed to the king in the presence of the 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.

Starting point is 09:12:05 She also thought the Parisian army was wholly devoted to him, and that all he said about his being forced to, to march upon Versailles was mere pretense. On the first intimation of the march of the Parisians, the Count 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 Rois, when the women reported his majesty's favourable answer,

Starting point is 09:12:31 occasioned the intention of going away to be given up, and orders were given to the troops to withdraw. The bodyguards were, however, assailed with stones and musketry, they were passing from the place of arms to their hotel. Alarm revived. Again it was thought necessary that the royal family should go away. Some carriages still remained ready for traveling 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 missed.

Starting point is 09:13:03 The insurrection was directed against the queen in particular. I shudder even now at the recollection of the Poissade, 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. Such are the atrocious sentiments with which the ignorance and cruelty to be found in the mass of every populace can inspire them in times of disturbance. So necessary is it that a vigorous and parental authority should, while it defends good citizens against their own failings, all so guard them against all the calamities brought on by factions.

Starting point is 09:13:44 The queen went to bed at two in the morning and went to sleep, being tired out with the events of so distressing a day. She ordered her two women to go to bed, always 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 there obeying her. My sister, who was one of the two ladies in question, informed me the next day of all that I am about to relate. On leaving the queen's bedchamber, these ladies called their femme d'Hambre, and all the 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.

Starting point is 09:14:25 One ran into 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 ante-chamber which leads to the queen. to the great guard room, and beheld one of the bodyguard 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.

Starting point is 09:15:05 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 to the bullseye. A door which led from the queen's toilette closet to that apartment had never before been fastened, but on her side. It was found to be secured on the other side. What a dreadful moment. They knocked repeatedly with all their strength. A servant of one of the king's valet de chambre came and opened the door. The queen entered the king's chamber, but he was not there. Alarmed for the queen's life, he had gone down the staircase and through the corridors under the bull's eye, by means of which he was accustomed to go to the queen's apartments without being under

Starting point is 09:15:50 the necessity of crossing that room. He entered her majesty's room and found no one there but some bodyguards 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 bullseye. 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 note by the editor it is in the middle of this very scene of tenderness and despair that certain memoirs recently published in england have endeavored to inflict the most cruel blow that could possibly be aimed at the queen madame campan cannot have read without a sentiment of equal indignation and grief what they have attempted to pass under the authority of her name we shall not explain ourselves farther and we shall be commended for our reserve we will merely add that if they were desirous of putting an accusation against marie antoinette into the mouth of madame They chose their time very ill, in fixing precisely on the moment wherein she has represented that princess in the most affecting and exalted point of view.

Starting point is 09:17:04 End of Chapter 4, Part 1. Volume 2, Chapter 4, Part 2 of Memoirs of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. 4. Part 2 It is true that the assassins penetrated to the Queen's, chamber and pierced the bed with their swords. The fugitive bodyguards were the only persons who entered it. And if the crowd had reached so far, they would all have been massacred.

Starting point is 09:17:41 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 abandoned horde instantly rushed towards the bullseye, hoping no doubt to intercept her on her way. many have asserted that they recognized the duke of orleans at half-past four in the morning in a great coat and slouched hat at the top of the marble staircase pointing out with his hand the guard-room which preceded the queen's apartments This fact was deposed to at the Chatelle by several individuals in the course of the inquiry instituted, respecting the transactions of the 5th and 6th of October.

Starting point is 09:18:23 The prudence and honorable feelings of several officers of the Parisian guards and the judicious conduct of Monsieur de Vaudre, lieutenant-general of Marine and of Monsieur de Chauvin, one of the King's Guards, brought about an understanding between the grandees of the National Guard of Paris and the King's Guard. The doors of the bullseye were closed and the ante-chamber, which precedes that room, was filled with grenadiers who wanted to get in to massacre the guards. Monsieur de Chavain offered himself to them as a victim, if they wished for one, and demanded of them what they would have. A report had been spread through the ranks that the bodyguard set them at

Starting point is 09:18:59 defiance in that they all wore black cockades. M. de Chavin 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 change the grenadier's caps for the hats of the bodyguards. Those who were on guard took off their shoulder belts. Embracings, and the transports of fraternization instantly succeeded to the savage eagerness to murder the band which had showed so much fidelity to its sovereign. The cry was now, Vive le Rois, La Nation and the Guard du Cor. The army occupied the place down, all the courtyards of the chateau,

Starting point is 09:19:40 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?

Starting point is 09:19:58 Or did the leaders of the Democrats hoped 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.

Starting point is 09:20:21 The exclamation soon became general. Before he agreed to this removal, the king wished to consult the National Assembly, and caused that body to be invited to sit at the castle. Mirabou 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 anyone now said to the people, You wish, my children, that I should accompany you to Paris.

Starting point is 09:20:50 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, Vive le roi, vive la Guard du Cor. The guards, with their hats in the air, turned so as, to exhibit the cockade, shouted, Vive le Roire, Vive la nation! Shortly afterwards, a general discharge

Starting point is 09:21:15 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 Elizabeth, and Madame de Toursel were in the carriage. The Princess de Chimé and the ladies of the bedchamber for the week, the king's suite and servants followed in court carriages.

Starting point is 09:21:36 A hundred deputies in carriages, and the bulk of the Parisian army closed the procession. Great God! What a procession! The Poissard went before, and around the carriage of their majesty's 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 bodyguards were carried on poles. The monsters who made trophies of them conceived the horrid idea of forcing a hairdresser of Sever to dress them up and powder their bloody locks.

Starting point is 09:22:14 The unfortunate man who was forced to perform this dreadful work died in consequence of the shock it gave him. 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. Bayee 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 condescending manner.

Starting point is 09:22:42 He said that he always came with pleasure and confidence among the inhabitants of his good city of Paris. Monsieur Beilly 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 king and queen, their word, children and Madame Elizabeth retired to the Tullery. Nothing was ready for their reception there. All the lodging rooms had long been given up to persons belonging to the court. They hastily quitted them on that very day leaving their furniture which was purchased by the court.

Starting point is 09:23:20 The Countess de la Mac, sister to the marshals de Noailles and de Mooshy, was the occupier of the apartments which were 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. Count Gouverne de la Tour du Pen, to whom the military government of Versailles was entrusted, pro tempore, came and gave orders to the National Guard

Starting point is 09:23:51 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 Monsieur 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

Starting point is 09:24:23 hands forward. Faithful servants at moments like these become useful friends. We are lost, dragged away. perhaps to death. When kings become prisoners, they have not long to live. Note by Madame Compin. Let me here pay a well-merited tribute to the memory of my father-in-law. In the course of that one night he declined from the highest pitch of health into a languishing condition which brought him to the grave in September 1791. End note.

Starting point is 09:24:55 I had frequent opportunities during the course of our misfortunes of observing that the people never obeyed. factions with steadiness, but easily escaped their control when reflection or some other cause reminds them of their duty. As soon as the most violent Jacobin had an opportunity of seeing the queen more 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 of the day of the

Starting point is 09:25:31 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 castle 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 disposition, setting up for counselor, told her 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 Persai, and would likewise love them at Paris.

Starting point is 09:26:09 "'Yes, yes,' said another, "'but on the fourteenth of July you wanted to besiege the city and have it bombarded, and on the sixth 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.

Starting point is 09:26:30 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 bravos 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 unfastened them herself and gave them they were divided among the party which for above half an hour cried out without ceasing, Marie Antoinette forever! Our good queen forever! Two days after the king's arrival at Paris, the city and the National Guard sent to request the queen to appear at the theater, and approve, by her presence and the kings,

Starting point is 09:27:27 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 exceeding 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.

Starting point is 09:28:02 But that the happiness she had always felt in appearing the midst of the inhabitants of Paris was not effaced from her memory and that she should and should ensure. it again as heretofore, as soon as she could find herself able to do so. Their majesties found some consolations in their private life. From Madame's gentleness of manners, and her tender attachment to the August authors of her days, from the accomplishments and vivacity of the little dauphin and the attention and tenderness of the pious Princess Elizabeth, they still derived moments of happiness. Note by the editor.

Starting point is 09:28:37 On the 19th of October, that is to say 13 days after, he had taken up his abode at Paris, the king went, almost alone and on foot, to review some detachments of the National Guard. After the review, Louis Se is met with a child sweeping the street, who asked him for money. The child called

Starting point is 09:28:54 the king Monsieur Le Chevalier. His Majesty gave him six francs. The little sweeper surprised at receiving so large as some cried out, Oh, I have no change. You will give me money another time. A person who accompanied the monarchs said to the child,

Starting point is 09:29:12 Keep it all, my friend. The gentleman is not Chevalier. He is the eldest of the family. End note. The young prince gave daily proofs of sensibility and penetration. He was not yet beyond female care, but a private tutor gave him

Starting point is 09:29:28 all the instructions suitable to his age. His memory was highly cultivated and he recited verses with much grace and feeling. The day after the arrival of the court at Paris, terrified at hearing some noise in the gardens of the Tuileries, he threw himself into the arms of the queen crying out, Good God, Mama, is today yesterday again? A few days after this affecting exclamation,

Starting point is 09:29:52 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 requested to know why his people, who formerly loved him so much, well, were all at once angry with him. And what had he done to irritate them so much?

Starting point is 09:30:15 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 State General.

Starting point is 09:30:50 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 an opportunity of replying obligingly to the mayor or members of the commune, he came and whispered in his mother's ear,

Starting point is 09:31:30 was that right? He requested Monsieur Bayee to show him the shield of Scipio, which is in the royal library, and Monsieur Ba'iie asking him which he was, 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 hurt at his sister's want of memory, and though he never spoke to her in the second-person singular, he bethought

Starting point is 09:32:06 himself of the expedient of saying to her, But, did don't the name of the Queen to Mama. Did don't what her name was. Shortly after the arrival of the king and his family at Paris, the Duchess de Luin came, in pursuance of the advice of a committee of Constitutionals,

Starting point is 09:32:23 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 factious extended, and her attachment to the queen was the principal cause of the advice she gave her. The queen perfectly comprehended the Duchess Delrin's motive, but replied that

Starting point is 09:32:47 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 that. 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.

Starting point is 09:33:16 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

Starting point is 09:33:32 which had already produced such fatal results, that he broke off with the reformers for the rest of his life, that he had just 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 Poit 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.

Starting point is 09:34:07 When the king, the queen, and their children were suitably established at the Tuileries, as well as Madame Elizabeth and the Princess de L'ambal, 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.

Starting point is 09:34:27 Her mind was too much occupied with passing events and surrounding dangers to admit of her applying herself to reading. The needle was the only employment which would divert her mind. Note by Madame Campan. There is still at Paris at the house of Mademoiselle Dupecois, tapestry worker, a carpet worked by the Queen and Madame Elizabeth for the large room of Her Majesty's Ground Floor Apartments at the Tuileries.

Starting point is 09:34:52 The Empress Josephine saw and admired this carpet, and desired it might be preserved in hope of one day sending it to Madame. End note. She received the court twice a week before going to Mass, and on those of the 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. Note by the editor. A judgment may be formed of the situation in which the queen found herself placed during the earlier part of her residence at Paris from the following letter

Starting point is 09:35:28 written by her to the Duchess de Polignac. I shed tears of affection on reading your letters. talk of my courage. It required much less to go through that dreadful crisis which I had to suffer than is daily necessary to endure our situation, our own griefs, those of our friends, and those of the persons who surround us. This is a heavyweight to sustain. And but for the strong ties by which my heart is bound to my husband, my children, and my friends, I should wish to sink under it. But you bear me up. I ought to sacrifice such feeling to your friendship. But it is I who bring misfortune on you all,

Starting point is 09:36:09 and your troubles are on my account. From the history of Marie Antoinette by Mongeois. And note. The Princess de L'ambal, however, had some evening parties in her apartments at de Toulerie, which were tolerably brilliant in consequence of the great number of persons who attended them.

Starting point is 09:36:27 The Queen was present at a few of these assemblies, but being soon convinced that her present situation forbade her appearing in large, circles, she remained at home and conversed as she sat at work. Note by Madame Campan. The Queen returned one evening from one of these assemblies very much affected. An English nobleman, who was playing at the same table with her majesty, ostentatiously displayed an enormous ring in which was a lock of Oliver Cromwell's hair.

Starting point is 09:36:55 End note. 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 should 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 the party, to the hatred of the Duke d'Orlion, 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

Starting point is 09:37:30 of the revolution, General Lukner 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 lukner's hatred against her was founded on being questioned upon this point he answered that marshal de siguer had assured him he had proposed him for the command of a cap of observation but that the queen had made a dash against his name and that this tash 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 sir whether i was not right in telling you that your ministers in order to give themselves full scope in the distribution of favors persuaded the french that i interfered in everything There was not even a license given out in the country for the sale of salt or tobacco, but the people believed it was given to one of my favorites. That is very true, replied the king. But I find it very difficult to believe that Marshal de Seguer ever said any such thing to Lucner.

Starting point is 09:38:38 He knew too well that you never interfered in the distribution of favors. That Lucner is a good-for-nothing fellow, and Seguer is a brave and honorable 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 palace of the Tuileries. Marks of attachment were exhibited even in external symbols.

Starting point is 09:39:13 The women wore enormous bouquets of lilies in their bosoms and upon their heads, and sometimes even bunches of white tulleys. ribbon. At the play there were often disputes between the pit and the boxes about removing these ornaments, which the people thought dangerous insignia. National cockades were sold in every corner of Paris. The sentinels stopped all who did not wear them. The young men peaked themselves upon breaking through this regulation, which was in some degree sanctioned by the acquiescence of the hapless Louis-Sais. Phrase took place, which were to be regretted, because they excited a spirit of rebellion. The king adopted conciliatory measures with the assembly in order to promote

Starting point is 09:39:53 tranquility. 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 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 belong to the hostile army,

Starting point is 09:40:29 and it may truly be said there was as much imprudence and levity in the party assailed as there was of cunning, boldness, and perseverance in that which made the attack. End of Chapter 4. Volume 2, Chapter 5 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 09:40:56 5. In February 1790, the affair of the unfortunate Favreau gave the court much uneasiness. This individual had conceived the scheme of carrying off the king and affecting what was then called a counter-revolution. Monsieur probably out of mere benevolence gave him some money, and thence arose a report that he thereby wished to favor the execution of the enterprise. The step taken by Monsieur going to the Hotel de Ville to explain himself upon this affair was unknown to the queen. It is more than probable that the king was acquainted with it.

Starting point is 09:41:31 One judgment was pronounced upon Monsieur de Favra. 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. Favre corrected his last will after writing it over and went to the scaffold with heroic courage and coolness.

Starting point is 09:42:03 The judge who read his condemnation to him told him that his life was a sacrifice which he owed to public tranquility. It was asserted at the time that Favra was given up as a victim in order to satisfy the people and save the Baron de Besan Val who was a prison. in the Abayi. Note by the editors. The Biographie Universal gives the following particulars of the designs, prosecution, and death of this

Starting point is 09:42:29 unfortunate man. Favra, To Ma'i, Marquis of, born at Blois in 1745, entered the service first in the Corps of Muscatere, and made the campaign of 1761 with them. He was afterwards captain and adjutant in Bezance's regiment, and subsequently lieutenant of the Swiss guard of Monsieur the King's brother. He resigned that commission in 1775 to go to Vienna, where he procured his wife to be acknowledged the only and legitimate daughter of the Prince Dan He Heit Schoenberg. He commanded a legion in Holland on the insurrection against the Stadtholder in 1787.

Starting point is 09:43:07 Possessing a warm imagination and a head fertile in expedience, Favre always had something to propose in all cases and upon every point. He presented a great number of plans. on the subject of finance, and at the breaking out of the revolution, he tendered some upon political measures which rendered him an object of suspicion to the revolutionary party. It is well known that in the highly excited state of the minds of the people, if the leaders of factions pointed out a victim, it was impossible for him to escape from popular fury. Favre was accused in the month of December 1789 of having conspired against the

Starting point is 09:43:45 revolution, and planned the introduction of armed men into Paris during the night, in order to make away with the three principal members of the administration, to attack the king's guard, to carry off the great seal, and even to remove the king and his family to Pironne. Having been arrested by order of the Committee of Inquiry of the National Assembly, he was transferred to the Chatelle, where he defended himself with much coolness and presence of mind, repelling the accusations brought against him by Morel, Turquettez and Marquis with considerable force. These witnesses declared he had imparted his plan to them.

Starting point is 09:44:20 It was to be carried into execution by 12,000 Swiss and 12,000 Germans, who were to be assembled at Monterjee, thence to march upon Paris, carry off the king and assassinate Béis, Lafayette, Antinacare. The greater number of these charges he denied, and declared that the rest related only to the levy of a troop intended to favor the revolution, preparing in Brebant. 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, It was even necessary to keep numerous troops and artillery constantly ready to act in the courtyard of the Chateaile. The judges who had just acquitted Monsieur de Bezonval in an affair nearly similar, doubtlessly.

Starting point is 09:45:12 dreaded the effects of this fury. When they refused to hear Favre's witnesses in exculpation, he compared them to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The principal charge against him was founded on a letter from one Monsieur de Foucault, asking him, Where are your troops? In which direction will they enter Paris? I should like to be employed among them.

Starting point is 09:45:33 Favre was condemned to make the amend honorable in front of the cathedral and to be hanged at the Place de Crive. He heard this sentence with a wonderful calmness and said to the 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

Starting point is 09:45:52 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. From Biography Universal, Ancien and Modern, Volume 14,

Starting point is 09:46:08 page 221. End note. on the morning of the sunday following this execution monsieur de la viller noir came to my house to tell me that he was going on that very day to the public dinner of the king and queen to present the widow fabra 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 favors note by madame campan monsieur de la villeur nois master of the request was deported to sinamari on the eight by the executive directory and there died. End note. 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

Starting point is 09:46:54 and the painful constraint she would experience, having the horrible Saint-Air, the commandant of a battalion of the Parisian guard behind her chair during dinner-time. I could not make Monsieur de Villernoy comprehend my argument. The queen was gone to mass surrounded by her whole court, and I had not even means of apprising her of this intention. When dinner was over I heard a knocking at the door of my apartment,

Starting point is 09:47:19 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 entirely at her ease with me over the foolish conduct of the ultras of the king's party. We must fall, said she,

Starting point is 09:47:39 attacked as we are by men, who possess extraordinary talent and shrink from no crimes 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 favratumi were i free to act as i wish i should take the child of the man who had 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 fabras's situation that she was aware she was in want and desired me to send her the next day through a person who could be relied on a few rule over of fifty louis and to direct that she should be assured her majesty would always watch over her fortune and that of her son the queen wished to send some man devoted to the king's cause with letters to the princess then at turin she cast her eyes upon an officer a chevalier of st louis intimately connected with mcampon's family and of whom she had frequently heard me speak in terms of commentation i did not hesitate a moment between the pleasure of seeing one of my friends interested with a commission which would do him honour, and the danger of entrusting that charge to a man whom I had the misfortune to see carried away by the fatal opinions of the times. Note by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 09:49:21 In 1791 this man procured himself to be chosen one of the Legislative Assembly. So long as I had only his opinions to combat, I did not cease to receive him. When I had his actions to dread, I requested him from the very day of his installation in the Assembly to visit me no more. He became came afterwards a conventional blank but i was indebted to my principles and prudence for the satisfaction of having long ceased all communication with a man who ranked himself among the enemies of my sovereigns and subsequently was one of their murderers and note this i told the queen and entreated her to make another selection her majesty was gratified by my sincerity the commission was given to monsieur de jy three asterisks who from that time invariably evinced the greatest discretion, the most undoubted sagacity, and a zeal that never for a moment slackened. In the month of March following, I had an opportunity of ascertaining the king's real sentiments respecting the schemes which were continually proposed to him

Starting point is 09:50:25 for making his escape. One night, about ten o'clock, the Count Dinistal, who was deputed by the nobility, came to request I would hear him in private, as he had an important matter to communicate to me. He told me that on that very night the king would be carried off, that the section of the National Guard, which was that day commanded by Monsieur Dumont, 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 party of nobles 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,

Starting point is 09:51:07 but that his majesty never would speak decidedly, and that at the moment of action it was necessary he should consent to the undertaking. I remember that I greatly disoblised the Count Dinisdal 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

Starting point is 09:51:27 which ought to have been the basis of any well-concerted scheme. I told him also that it would be impossible for me go at that time down into 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 Monsieur Campan could enter without being called, and that if he chose to give him his confidence he might rely upon him. My father-in-law, to whom the Count Denis Dinsdal repeated what he had said to me, undertook the Commission and went to the Queen's apartments.

Starting point is 09:52:04 The king was playing at whist with the queen, Monsieur and Madame. Madame Elizabeth was kneeling upon a stool near the table. Monsieur 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, sir, what Campan says to us? Yes, I hear, said the king, and continued his game.

Starting point is 09:52:29 Monsieur, who was in the habit of introducing passages from plays into his conversation said to my father-in-law, Monsieur 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 Monsieur Denis Dal that I cannot consent to be carried off.

Starting point is 09:52:56 The queen enjoined Monsieur Campan to take care and report this answer faithfully. You understand, added she. The king cannot consent to be carried off. The Count Dinesdal 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,

Starting point is 09:53:28 and ordered me not to go to bed. She imagined the king's answer would be understood. stood 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 at his windows. I saw the garden clear. I heard no noise in the palace, and a 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 day by day. note by the editor

Starting point is 09:54:05 If the following anecdote be not true it is, after what we have just read, at least very probable. The disturbances of the 13th of April 1790, occasioned by the warmth of the discussions upon D'Angel's imprudent motion in the National Assembly, having afforded room for apprehension that the enemies of the country would endeavor to carry off the king from the capital, Monsieur de la Fayette promised to keep a good lookout,

Starting point is 09:54:30 and told Louis says, that if he saw any alarm movements among the disaffected, he would give him notice of it by the discharge of a cannon from Henri Catesropatry upon the Ponneuve. 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 in her room. He ran to the Dauphins' room, where he found the Queen holding her son in her arms. Madame, said the King to her, I have been seeking you. I was uneasy about you.

Starting point is 09:55:03 The Queen showing her son said to him, I was at my station. This answer was perfectly worthy of the Queen's maternal feelings. From anecdotes of the reign of Louis Sez. And note. This princess received advice and memorials from all quarters. Rivarole addressed several to her which I read to her. They were full of ingenious observations.

Starting point is 09:55:29 But the Queen did not find that they contained anything of essential service under the circumstances in which the royal family was placed. The Count de 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,

Starting point is 09:55:58 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. The Count de Seguer 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. Count Augustus de la Marque likewise endeavored to negotiate for the king's advantage

Starting point is 09:56:32 with the leaders of the factious. Monsieur de Fontange, Archbishop of Toulouse, possessed also the Queen's confidence. But none of the endeavors which were made at home produced any beneficial result. The Empress Catherine II also conveyed her opinion upon the situation of Louis-Sais to the Queen,

Starting point is 09:56:51 and Her Majesty made me read a few lines in the Empress's own handwriting, which concluded with these words words, kings ought to proceed in their career, undisturbed by the cries of the people, as the moon pursues her course unimpeded by the howling of dogs. I shall certainly not enter into any discussion on this maxim of the despotic sovereign of Russia, but it was very inapplicable to the situation of a captive king. All this private advice, whether given from abroad or at home, led to no decision of which

Starting point is 09:57:22 the court could avail itself. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Party followed up its audacious enterprise in a determined manner without meeting any opposition. The advice from without, as well as from Koblenz 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 Koblenz Party, would on the return of the immigrants be put on a kind of guardianship, which would increase his own misfortunes. She frequently said to me, if the immigrants succeed, they will give the law for a long time. It will be impossible to refuse them anything.

Starting point is 09:58:07 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 deserts of the immigrants by disinterested services. She was fearful of Monsieur de Calhoun and with good reason. She had proof that this minister was become her bitterest enemy, and that he made use of the basest and 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 Lamotte, which had been brought to her from London, and in which all those passages, where a total ignorance of the customs of course had occasioned that wretched woman to make blunders which would have been too palpable, were corrected in Monsieur de Cologne's own handwriting. The two kings' guards who were wounded at Her Majesty's door on the 6th of October were Monsieur de Rappere and Monsieur de Mondeu Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur de Mondeur 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 castle.

Starting point is 09:59:19 These two officers, who were attended and cured together at the infirmary of Versailles, were almost constant companions. They were recognized at the Palais Royal and insulted. Note by Madame Campan. A considerable number of the bodyguards who were wounded on the 6th of October betook themselves to the infirmary at Versailles. The presence of mind of Monsieur Voisin, head surgeon of that infirmary, saved their lives. The brigands wanted to make their own.

Starting point is 09:59:49 way into the infirmary in order to massacre them. Monsieur Voisé ran to the entrance hall, invited the assailants to refresh themselves, ordered some wine to be brought, and found means to direct the superior to remove the guards into a ward appropriated to the poor, and to dress them in the caps and great-coats furnished by the institution. The good sisters executed this order with so much promptitude that the guards were removed dressed as paupers, and their beds fresh-made while the assassins were loitering to drink. they searched all the wards and fancied they saw no persons there but the sick poor thus the guards were saved and note the queen thought it advisable for them to quit paris she desired me to write to monsieur de m de m de m de m arre de

Starting point is 10:00:34 and to say 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 open her chest and tell him in her name that gold could not repay such a safety and order me when he had made up his mind to go to open her chest and tell him in her name that gold could not repay such a safety 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 as I was to make to Monsieur de M. de Mondeur. The two guards came at the appointed hour and accepted, I think, each one or two hundred Louis.

Starting point is 10:01:25 A moment afterwards, the queen opened my door. She was accompanied by the king and Madame Elizabeth. The king stood with his back against the fireplace. The queen sat down upon a sofa, and Madame Elizabeth 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. Mio Mondeur spoke and said that all the Queen's affecting and flattering observations were calculated to inspire. Madame Elizabeth spoke of the King's sensibility. The Queen resumed the subject of their speedy departure, urging the necessity of it.

Starting point is 10:02:08 The King was silent, but his emotion was evident, and his eyes were suffused with the tears of sensibility. The Queen rose, the King went out, and Madame Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth thinks with me. If the king had but given utterance to a fourth part of what he thinks of those brave men,

Starting point is 10:02:33 they would have been in ecstasies, 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 affections. She reproached him sometimes, though with great moderation, for having adopted several of the principles of the new philosophy,

Starting point is 10:02:58 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. Note by Madame Campan. The Emperor Joseph sent the Queen an engraving which represented unfrocked nuns and monks. The first were trying on fashionable dresses, the latter were getting their hair dressed. This engraving was always left in the closet and never hung up. The Queen told me to have it taken away,

Starting point is 10:03:25 for that she was hurt to see how much influence the philosophers had over her brother's mind and actions. And note. Mirabaut never entirely gave up the hope of becoming the last resource of the oppressed court, and I remember that at this time some communications passed between the Queen and him. The question was about an office to be conferred,

Starting point is 10:03:46 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 Saint-Clu. The removal was decided on without any opposition. The National Guard of Paris followed the court thither. At this period, new plans of escape were presented.

Starting point is 10:04:25 Nothing would have been more easy at that time than to execute them. The king had obtained leave to go out without guards and to be accompanied only by an aide-de-can of Monsieur de la Fayette. The Queen also had one 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. This is one of the plans of immigration which the queen communicated to me,

Starting point is 10:04:50 the execution of which seemed infallible. The royal family were to meet in a wood four leagues from St. Clu. 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 Elizabeth.

Starting point is 10:05:08 These princesses as well as the queen had equiries and pages of whose fidelity no doubt could be entertained. The Dauphin likewise was to have been at the place of rendezvous with Madame Toursel. A large Berlin and a chaise for the attendance were sufficient for the whole family. The aide-de-can were to have been gained over or mastered. The king was to leave a letter for the National Assembly upon his bureau at St. Clu. The people in the service of the King and Queen would have waited until nine in the evening without anxiety, because the family sometimes

Starting point is 10:05:39 did not return until that hour. The letter could not be forward. The letter could not be forwarded. to Paris until ten o'clock at the earliest. The Assembly would not be sitting at that hour. 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 could have been sent off to have the Royal Family stopped. But the latter would have been six or seven hours beforehand, as they would have started at six leagues distance from Paris.

Starting point is 10:06:07 And at this period, traveling 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 was put in execution, she would leave me in ignorance of it. One evening in the month of June, the people of the castle, 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.

Starting point is 10:06:39 I confessed to the queen that I thought she had set off. She told me she must first wait until the king's aunt had quitted France, and afterwards see whether the plan agreed with those formed abroad. Note by the editor On his return from one of the visits to St. Clue, the king wrote to the Duchess de Pollyniac. I am returned from the country. The air has been of service to us. But how changed did the retreat appear to us? How desolate was the breakfast room?

Starting point is 10:07:08 Neither of you were there. I do not give up the hope. of our meeting there again. But when, I know not. How many things we shall have to say to one another. Your friend preserves her health in spite of all the misfortunes which press upon her. Dear Duchess, speak of me to your husband and all around you, and understand that I shall not be happy until the day I find myself with my old friends again. The farther the first National Assembly advanced in its labours, adds Mongeau, by whom this letter is given, the more unhavis. The more unhappy the queen found herself.

Starting point is 10:07:43 We have proof of this in these few words from another note from Louis Cés to the Duchess de Pollynec. For the last 18 months we have seen and heard nothing but disagreeable things. We do not lose our temper, but we are hurt and rendered melancholy at being thwarted in everything, and particularly at being

Starting point is 10:08:01 misrepresented. In a former letter from the king to the Duchess, the following passage occurs. Your friend is unhappy and exceedingly misrepresented. but I flatter myself that justice will one day be done to her. Still, the wicked are very active. They are more readily believed than the good.

Starting point is 10:08:21 You are a striking proof of it. From the history of Marie Antoinette by Monjoa, page 262. End of Chapter 5. Volume 2, Chapter 6 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevovalk's recording is in the public domain. There was a meeting at Paris for the First Federation on the 14th of July, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. What an astonishing assemblage was this, of 400,000 men, amongst whom there were not perhaps 200, who did not believe that the king found happiness and glory in the order of things then establishing.

Starting point is 10:09:10 The love which was born him by all, with the exception of those who meditated his ruin, still reigned in full force in the hearts of all the French of the departments. But if I may judge from those whom I had an opportunity of seeing, it was totally impossible to enlighten them and rouse them from their enchantment. 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. Note by the editor To the particulars respecting the Federation contained in the Memoirs by Ferrier, was we add the following. On one hand, they described the enthusiasm excited by that festival

Starting point is 10:09:52 even among the English, and on the other, characterize the far too licentious freedom of their stage. Two deputies from Nantes who were sent to England to cement the fraternal union between the London Revolutionary Club and all the friends of the French Constitution wrote the following letter. From all that we have seen and known, we can assure you that the people of London are, at least as enthusiastic on the subject of the French Revolution as the people of France. We went yesterday to see the opera of the Confederation of the French at the Chant-a-Mouse.

Starting point is 10:10:25 This piece has been played daily for six weeks. The house is failed by five o'clock, though the performance does not begin till seven. When we got there, there was no room. But as soon as they heard us speak French without knowing us, they hastened to place us in the front of the boxes. They paid us every possible attention and forced refreshments upon us.

Starting point is 10:10:46 The first act of this opera represents the arrival of several people at Paris to the Federation. The second, the works of the Chantmas. The third, the Confederation itself. In the second act, Capuchins are seen in Grenadier caps, girls caressing a bass.

Starting point is 10:11:04 The king comes in and chops with a hatchet. Everybody at work and singing, It ira, saira. At the third act, you see the municipal officers in scarves, the National Assembly, the National Guard, officiating ministers in pontifical dresses and priests singing. A regiment of children singing, I'm je suldat for la Patry in French and English.

Starting point is 10:11:28 All this appears to us something new upon the banks of the Thames, and every verse is encored and enthusiastically applauded. From anecdotes of the reign of Louis Sees, Volume 4. End note. The court returned to Saint-Clu after the Federation. A wretch named a Rotundo made his way into the palace with the intention of assassinating the queen.

Starting point is 10:11:51 It is known that he penetrated to the inner gardens. The rain prevented her majesty from going out on that day. Monsieur de la Vallette, who was aware of this plot, gave all the sentinels the strictest counters 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. a counter-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 vix dazir about it without the slightest emotion

Starting point is 10:12:24 both he and myself considered what precautions it would be proper to take he relied much upon the queen's temperance yet he recommended me to have always 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 devalication of corrosive poisons the queen had a habit which rendered m vix desir particularly uneasy there was always some pounded sugar upon the table in her majesty's bedchamber and she frequently, without even 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 motive. One day she caught me alone, making such an exchange as I speak of,

Starting point is 10:13:24 and told me that she supposed it was an operation agreed on between myself and Monsieur Vic Dazia, but that I gave myself very unnecessary trouble. Remember, added she, that not a grain of poison will be used 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. While similar melancholy presentiments and the most criminal projects afflicted and rent the heart of this unfortunate princess,

Starting point is 10:13:56 the sincerest 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 at St. Clu, 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.

Starting point is 10:14:20 There was scarcely anybody at St. Clue 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 murmur from a great number of voices, which seemed to articulate only stifled sounds. The Queen desired me to go and see what it was. I raised the muslin curtain,

Starting point is 10:14:41 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 Saint-Louis, young knights of Malta and a few ecclesiastics. I told the queen it was probably an assemblage of persons residing in the neighborhood 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,

Starting point is 10:15:09 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 vener. our virtuous king. The queen burst into tears and held her handkerchief to her eyes. Poor queen, she weeps,

Starting point is 10:15:31 said the women and young girls. But the dread of exposing her majesty and even the persons who showed so much affection for her 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.

Starting point is 10:15:49 They comprehended me, for I heard, that lady is in the right, and afterwards, farewell, madame, from several of them, and all this in accents of feeling so genuine 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. Only the apparent cause of this insurrection 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.

Starting point is 10:16:24 I will endeavor to explain myself. 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.

Starting point is 10:16:44 He now proves his confidence in you by selecting you to write down the whole affair of Nossi 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 a blank paper book, an inkstand, and pens already prepared.

Starting point is 10:17:11 He sat down by my side and dictated to me the report of the Marquis de Bouilliers, which he himself copied at the same time. My hand trembled. i wrote with difficulty my reflection scarcely left me sufficient power of attention to listen to the king the large table the velvet carpet seats which ought to have been filled by none but the king's chief counsellors 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 those which my affection and my apprehension for my sovereigns made me still dread. 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 utility to my employers, the more

Starting point is 10:18:08 scrupulously careful was I to live entirely with my family, and I never indulged in any conversation which could betray the intimacy into which I was admitted. But nothing at court remains long concealed, and I soon saw I had numerous enemies. The means of injuring others, especially in the minds of sovereigns, are but too easy. They were become still more so, since mere suspicion of communication with the partisans of the revolution was sufficient to forfeit the esteem and confidence of the King and Queen. Happily my conduct protected me against the dangers of calumny. I had left St. Clu two days when I received at Paris a note from the Queen containing these words.

Starting point is 10:18:46 come to Saint-Clu 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 French society, that such a renunciation was always painful, but that it must be particularly so to me,

Starting point is 10:19:11 that, for her own part, perhaps it might have suited her very well that a deputy, a man of talent, should be constantly received at my house which might be extremely useful to her, but that 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 Monsieur de Beaumet's deputy from the nobility of Artois, who had taken his seat on the left of the assembly, spent his whole time at my house.

Starting point is 10:19:39 Perceiving upon what false grounds the attempt to injure me was founded, I replied respectfully, but at the same time, Smas, that it was impossible for me to make the sacrifice exacted by her majesty that m de boumetz a man of great judgment had not determined to cross over to the left of the assembly with the intention of afterwards coming to make himself unpopular by spending his time with the queen's first woman and that ever since the first of october seventeen eighty nine 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 that 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 of attempting 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 creates you powerful enemies. The private communications which were still kept up between the court and Merabo at length

Starting point is 10:20:50 procured him an interview with the Queen in the Gardens of Saint-Clue. Note by Madame Campan It was not in her apartments, as is asserted by Monsieur de la Cretel, that the Queen received Merabaut. His person was too generally known. She went alone into her garden to a round tuft of ground which is still upon the heights of the private garden of St. Clu. and note He left Paris on horseback

Starting point is 10:21:16 on pretense of going into the country to Monsieur de Clavier one of our friends but he stopped at one of the gates of the Garden of Saint-Clu and was led, I know not by whom, to a spot situated in the most elevated part of the private garden where the queen was waiting for him. She told me she accosted him by saying with a common enemy,

Starting point is 10:21:37 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 Amirabeau, etc. The poor Queen was delighted at having discovered this method of exulting 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, Amirabeau, appeared to flatter him exceedingly? However, to the best of my judgment, it was flattering him but little, for his abilities did

Starting point is 10:22:10 more harm than ever they could do good. On leaving the queen, he said to her with warmth, Madame, the monarchy is saved. It must have been soon afterwards that Mirabeau received very considerable sums of money. He suffered it to appear too plainly by the increase of his expenditure. Already did some of his remarks upon the necessity of arresting the progress of the factious circulate in society.

Starting point is 10:22:37 Being once invited to meet a person at dinner who was very much attacked, 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 mirabou eulogized 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 mirebeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than good and thought himself the atlas of the whole world in politics 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 guards repaired thither on that festival in seventeen ninety one in allusion to the liquidation of the debts of the state decreed by the assembly they played solely and repeatedly that 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,

Starting point is 10:23:51 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 it, of the history of the revolution. Upon the lid were engraved to some bad verses,

Starting point is 10:24:11 the purport of which was as follows. These stones from the walls which enclosed the innocent victims of arbitrary power have been converted into a toy to be presented to you, Monseigneur, as an homage of the people's love, and to teach you the extent of their power.

Starting point is 10:24:28 The queen said that Monsieur de la Fayette's thirst for popularity doomed him to lent himself without discrimination to all popular follies. her aversion for 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 emigration had already removed a great many people persons who before this period would never have dared to aspire to any office of distinction now sought under pretence of zeal for the king's cause to get into the interior of the tzouderi i knew many of them some were mere wretched adventurers others were well-intentioned but wanted the abilities which would have rendered them useful m de jie three asterisks 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 note by the editor during the queen's detention in the temple he introduced himself into that prison in the dirty dress of a lamplighter and there discharged his duty unrecognized this act of attachment is still known only to his family and a very few intimate friends and note their majesties had the highest confidence in him although it frequently happened that his prudent fears when inconsiderate projects were under discussion brought upon him from thoughtless persons and from enemies the charge of following the principles of the constitutionals

Starting point is 10:26:01 being sent to turin he had some difficulty in persuading the princes from a scheme they had formed at that period of re-entering france with a very weak army by the 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 Count d'Artois alone declared against the plan, which emanated from the Prince de Condé. Among the persons employed in subordinate situations, whom the critical circumstances of the times introduced into affairs of importance, was one Monsieur de Goghler, a geographical engineer at Versailles and an excellent draftsman. He had made plans of Saint-Clu and Trianon for the Queen. She was very much pleased with them and got the engineer admitted into the staff of the army. At the commencement of the revolution, he was sent to Count Esterazzi at Valenciennes in the capacity of aid deacon.

Starting point is 10:26:55 The latter rank was given him solely to remove him from Versailles, where he endangered the queen during the earlier months of the Assembly of the State 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. I had warned the queen of the ill effect that this officer's warmth produced, and she agreed with me an opinion respecting it. But unfortunately at the same time that she sent away, Monsieur de Gougla, she continued in the belief that, in a dangerous predicament,

Starting point is 10:27:35 and one that required great self-devotion, the man might be employed advantageously. In 1791 he was commissioned to act in concert with the Marquis de Bouillet, in furtherance of the king's intended escape. Projectors in great numbers endeavored to introduce themselves, not only to the Queen, but to Madame Elizabeth, who had communications with many individuals who took upon themselves to lay down plans for the conduct of the court.

Starting point is 10:28:02 The Baron de Gillian and Monsieur de Vanuze were of this description. They went to the Baroness de Macquoise, with the Princess spent almost all her evenings. The Queen did not like these meetings, from which Madame Elizabeth might address adopt views in manifest opposition to the king's intentions or her own. The queen gave frequent audiences to Monsieur de la Fayette. One day, when he was in her inner closet, his aide-de-con, who waited for him,

Starting point is 10:28:28 were walking up and down the great room where the person's 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 hurt at such indiscretion which always produced bad effects, and I imposed silence on them. One of them persisted in the appellation brigand. I told her that as to rebel, Monsieur de Lafayette well deserved the name, but that the title of leader of a party was given by history to every man commanding 40,000 men,

Starting point is 10:29:03 a capital and 40 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 only for us 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 Monsieur de la Fayette on the preceding day, adding that she had been assured I had enjoined her women's silence because they did not like him and that I had taken his part.

Starting point is 10:29:33 I have repeated what had passed to the queen word for word. She condescended to tell me that I had done perfectly, right. Whenever jealousy conveyed any false reports to her respecting me, she was kind enough to inform me of them, and they had no effect on the confidence with which she continued to honor me, and which I am happy to think I have justified, even at the risk of my life. Madame the King's aunt set out from Bellevue in the beginning of the year 1791. Note by Madame Campan. Alexander Berthier, Prince de Neuf Chattel, then a colonel on the staff of the army,

Starting point is 10:30:09 and commandant of the National Guard of Versailles favored the departure of madame. The Jacobein of that town procured his dismissal, and he ran the greatest risk on account of having rendered this service to these princesses. And note.

Starting point is 10:30:24 I went to take leave of Madame Victoire. I little thought that I was then seeing that August and virtuous protectress of my earliest youth for the last time in my life. She received me alone in her closet and assured me that she hoped

Starting point is 10:30:39 and wished to return to France very soon, 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. I knew from the Queen that the departure of Madame was deemed necessary, in order to leave the king free to act when he should be compelled to go away with his family.

Starting point is 10:30:59 It being impossible that the constitution of the clergy should be otherwise than in direct opposition to the religious principles of Madame, they thought that their journey to Rome would be attributed to piety alone. It was, however, difficult to deceive an assembly which would, of course, weigh the slightest actions of the royal family, and from that moment they were more than ever alive

Starting point is 10:31:20 to what was passing at the Tuileries. Madame were desirous of taking Madame Elizabeth to Rome. The free exercise of religion, the happiness of taking refuge with the head of the church, and living in safety with her aunt, whom she tenderly loved, all was sacrificed by that virtuous princess to her attention. attachment to the king's person. Note by the editor. The Chronique de Paris, a newspaper written under the influence of the Constitutional Party,

Starting point is 10:31:47 contained the following article on the departure of madame. Two princesses, sedentary from condition, age and choice, find themselves all on a sudden, seized with a mania for traveling and running all over the world. Tis odd, but tis possible. They are going, it is said, to kiss the Pope's toe. Comical, but edifying. Thirty-two sections and all good citizens interpose between them and Rome. That's, of course.

Starting point is 10:32:16 Madame, and particularly Madame Adelaide, wish to enjoy the rights of man. Tis natural. They do not go, say they, with intentions hostile to the revolution. Possible, but doubtful. These fair travelers take eighty persons in their suite. Tis pretty, but they carry off twelve millions.

Starting point is 10:32:36 Very ugly. They want change. of air. That's common enough. But their removal makes their creditors uneasy. That's common enough also. They burn to travel. A maid's desire is a consuming fire. Of course. Others burn to stop them. Of course, too. Madame insist that they are free to go wherever they please. Tis true. End note. The oath required of priest by the civil constitution of the clergy introduced a division into France, which added to the multiplied dangers by which the king was already surrounded. Mirabeau spent a whole night with the Curie de Saint-Eustache, confessor of the

Starting point is 10:33:17 king and queen, to persuade him to take the oath required by that constitution. Their Majesty chose another confessor who remained unknown. A few months afterwards, the two celebrated Mirabaut, the mercenary Democrat and venal royalist, terminated his career. The queen regretted him, and, was herself astonished when she spoke of her 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 caused by his fatal genius. Much has been said respecting the cause of Mirabeau's death. Monsieur Cabanisse, his friend and physician, denied that he was poisoned.

Starting point is 10:33:59 I heard what follows said to the Queen by Monsieur Vic Dazir the very day on which the body was opened. that gentleman assured her that the process 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 professional people had been faithful in their report, but that it was more prudent to conclude it by a declaration of natural death, since in the critical state in which France then was, a person innocent of any such crime might be sacrificed to public vengeance. End of Chapter 6.

Starting point is 10:34:41 Volume 2, Chapter 7 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 7. In the beginning of the spring of 1791, the king, tired of remaining at the Tuileries, wished to return to Saint-Clu. His whole household was 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. not let him pass. This event certainly proceeded from some appearances of a plan for an escape.

Starting point is 10:35:16 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 thus occupied with cares which seemed to me useless and even dangerous, and remarked to her that the Queen of

Starting point is 10:36:02 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 as 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 claws, 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 mail trunk with these things and addressed them by the Queen's orders to one of her women,

Starting point is 10:36:41 the widow of the Mayor of Arras, where she lived, 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,

Starting point is 10:37:08 she would make arrangements for my joining her. She determined also to take with her her traveling dressing case. She consulted me upon her idea of sending it off under pretense of making a present of it to the Archdeuchess Christina, governess of the low countries. I ventured to oppose this plan strongly and observed to her that amidst so many people who watched her slightest actions, it might reasonably be foreseen that there would be

Starting point is 10:37:33 be found a sufficient number sharp-sighted enough to discover that the word present was used only as a pretense for sending away the property in question before her departure. She persisted in her intention, and all I could obtain was that the dressing-case should not be removed from her apartment and a consent that Monsieur de, three asterisks, Chargerie de Fere from the Court of Vienna, during the absence of the Count de Merci, should come and ask her at her toilette before all her people to order one exactly like her own for the governess of the low countries. The Queen, therefore,

Starting point is 10:38:06 commanded me before the Chargé d'Afer to order the article in question. This way of putting her intention in execution occasioned only the slight inconvenience of an expense of 500 Louis, and appeared calculated to lull's suspicion completely. If I omit no circumstance concerning this dressing case, it is, because these minute details are important,

Starting point is 10:38:28 since the early preparations for the jury, were discovered by a woman whose conduct I had long suspected and who I dreaded would give information of them. This was a woman belonging to the wardrobe. Her duty continued uninterrupted throughout the year. As she had been placed with the queen at the time of her marriage, her majesty was accustomed to see her, and was pleased with her address and intelligence. Her situation was above that to which a woman of her class was entitled. Her salary and emoluments had been gradually increased until they afforded her an income of about twelve thousand francs. She was handsome.

Starting point is 10:39:04 She received in her apartments above the Queen's in the little rooms between the two floors, several deputies of the Tiers'Eightas, and she had Monsieur de Gouvillon an aide-de-can of Monsieur de la Fayette for her lover. We shall soon see how far she carried her in gratitude. 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 until the end of six weeks. I informed the queen of this,

Starting point is 10:39:38 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 in saying that her sister was out of patience at not receiving it, and that, therefore, her own must

Starting point is 10:39:56 be emptied and cleaned, and taken to the Charger de Faire who would send it off. I executed this order without appearing to conceal it by the slightest 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. I will anticipate the order of events to show that all these precautions were no less useless than dangerous. After the return from Varenne, the mayor of Paris put into the queen's hands, an information by the wardrobe woman dated the 21st of May, in which she declared that preparations

Starting point is 10:40:38 were making at the Tuileries for departure. That it was supposed she would not guess the true reason for the dressing case being sent from the queen to Brussels, but that the mention of a present made by her majesty to her sister was but a mere pretense, that her majesty liked the article in question too well to deprive herself of it. and that she had often said it would be highly useful to her, in case she should have a journey to perform. She declared also that I was shut up a whole evening with the Queen busyed in packing her diamonds,

Starting point is 10:41:08 and that she had found them separated with cotton upon the sofa in the Queen's closet at the Tuileries. From this information, the Queen concluded that this woman had, unknown to her, a double key to the closet. Her Majesty did one evening, it is true, break off the arranging of her diamonds at seven o'clock to go to the cart-table, and took the key of her closet saying that she would come the next day and finish packing with me, that there was a sentinel under the window, that she had the

Starting point is 10:41:35 key of her closet in her pocket, and therefore saw no danger of her jewels being stolen. It must then have been in the evening, after we left the closet, or very early the next morning, that the wretch discovered the secret preparations. The box of diamonds was placed in the hands of Leonard, the Queen's hairdresser, who went away with the Duke de Choiselle, and the deposit was left at Brussels. Note by the editor. This unfortunate man, after having emigrated for some time, returned to France and perished upon the scaffold. End note. Their majesties had already delivered up the crown diamonds which they had in use to the commissioners of the Assembly. Those which the Queen set out of France belonged to her in her own right. It was during these preparations for

Starting point is 10:42:22 departure, that the Queen told me she had a very precious charge to entrust to me, and that I must find out some persons who could be relied upon in an independent situation of life, and entirely devoted to their sovereigns, to whom I should confide a portfolio that she would place in my hands. I pitched upon Madame Balayette Costair, a member of the Academy of Painting, who lodged in the galleries of the Louvre and in whom, as well as in her husband. I knew that all the qualifications required by the queen were to be found. They proved as faithful as I had foretold they would be. It was not until September 1791,

Starting point is 10:42:59 after the acceptance of the Constitution, that they returned the portfolio to me. The guilty woman of whom I have had but too much to say made her communications respecting this fact also. She said she had seen a portfolio upon a chair where there was not usually one placed, that the queen, pointing to it, spoke to me in a whisper, and that it had disappeared from that time.

Starting point is 10:43:22 Monsieur Beilly, who sent two whole pages of these denunciations to the Queen, made no use of them which could possibly be injurious to her majesty. Madame the Duchess d'Angoulem must have come into possession of all the Queen's diamonds. Her Majesty retained nothing but a suite of pearls and a pair of earrings composed of a ring and two drops each formed of a single diamond. These earrings and several fancy trinkets, which were not worth the trouble of packing up, remained in her majesty's commode at the Tullery,

Starting point is 10:43:51 and were, of course, seized by the committee which took possession of the palace on the 10th of August. After having made the preparations of which I have spoken, I had yet many private commissions all relative to the departure to fulfill.

Starting point is 10:44:05 I was myself upon the eve of quitting Paris with my father-in-law. The queen, apprehensive of the excesses in which the people might indulge at the moment of her flight, against those whose attachment to her person was known, being unwilling that he should remain, in the capital, desired Monsieur Vic Dazil to prescribe the waters of Mondeau for him.

Starting point is 10:44:24 Her Majesty had also the goodness to regret that my situation about her did not admit of my going away with her, and she offered me 500 Louis for the journey I had to take until the time when I should rejoin her. I had as much money as was necessary for myself, and I knew besides of how much consequence it was to her to keep as much as possible. I therefore did not accept them. As for the rest, she assured me that the king was only going to the frontiers, there to treat with the assembly, and would quit France only in case his plan and proposals did not produce the effect hoped for. She relied upon a numerous party in the assembly, many of the members of which she said were cured of their first enthusiasm. I set off, therefore, on the first of June, and on the sixth reached Mondailles,

Starting point is 10:45:11 daily expecting to hear of the departure. At length the news arrived. I had already prepared what I thought would make my escape certain, but the steps taken by the assembly after the departure of their majesties would have rendered that escape more difficult than the Queen had thought. I was ready to begin my journey when I heard a courier who came from the little town of Bess, shouting to the inhabitants of Mondal, with transports of joy that the King and Queen were stopped. That same evening the intelligence was confirmed, and two days afterwards we received a letter from the Queen written under her dictation by one of her gentleman ushers, whose devotion and discretion were known to her. Note by Madame Campan. This officer was massacred in the Queen's Chamber on the 10th of August 1792. End note.

Starting point is 10:46:02 It contained these words. I dictate from my bath into which I have just thrown myself to support at least my physical strength. I can say nothing of the state of my mind. We exist, that is all. Do not return here, accepting upon the receipt of a letter from myself. This is very important. This letter unsigned bore date the day of the Queen's arrival at Paris. We recognized the hand of him who wrote it, and were much affected at seeing that at such a moment the unfortunate princess had deigned to think of us. After the receipt of this letter, I returned to Clermont, where the the Assembly's Committee de Surveillance would have had us arrested, but as it was proved that

Starting point is 10:46:44 Monsieur Campan was really ill at the moment of his departure from Paris, that rigorous course was waived. In the early part of August, the Queen desired me to return to Paris. Writing word that she did not see there was now any further danger in my going there, and that my speedy return would be agreeable to her. I, therefore, cannot give any other particulars of their Majesty's flight than those which I have heard related by the Queen and those persons who witnessed her return home. When the royal family was brought back from Varenne to the Tudelerie, 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 alone have the duty,

Starting point is 10:47:27 and she was to be assisted in it by her sister and her sister's daughter. Monsieur de Gouvion, Monsieur de lafayette's aide de Kahn, 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 pitiful precaution, she informed the king of it, who not being able to credit it, sent to the bottom of the staircase to ascertain the fact. His majesty then called for Monsieur de lafayette, 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.

Starting point is 10:48:08 Monsieur de la Fayette was obliged to comply. Note by Madame Campon. The orders by which all the women attached to the Queen's service were kept out were broken by the people, in a manner which is an instance of those sudden changes which striking circumstances never fail to affect in mobs. On the day when the return of the unfortunate travellers was expected, there were no carriages in motion in the streets of Paris. Five or six of the Queen's women after being refused to,

Starting point is 10:48:35 admittance at all the other gates went with one of my sisters who had the honor to be attached to her majesty, to that of the Fayon, earnestly insisting that the sentinel should admit them. The Poissals attacked them for their boldness in resisting the orders. One of them seized my sister by the arm, calling her a slave of the Austrian. Hear me, said my sister to her firmly, and in the true accent of the feeling which inspired her, I have been attached to the queen ever since I was fifteen years of age. She portioned me and married me. I served her when she was powerful and happy.

Starting point is 10:49:10 She is now unfortunate. Ought I to abandon her? She is right, cried these furies. She ought not to abandon her mistress. Let us make a passage for them. They instantly surrounded the sentinel, forced the passage, and introduced the queen's women, accompanying them to the terrace of the Fayon.

Starting point is 10:49:30 One of these furies whom the slightest impulse would have driven to tear my sister, to pieces, then taking her under her protection gave her some 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 sash of that d'artre, whom we will never forgive.' End note. The measures adopted for guarding the king were at the same time rigorous, with respect to the

Starting point is 10:49:59 entrance into the palace, and insulting as to his household. the commandants of battalion stationed in the saloon called the Grand Cabinet, and which preceded 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 arm-chair 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 and dressing. 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.

Starting point is 10:50:54 Madame de Jarge and 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 was to pursue. Although she had the kindness to desire him to speak lower, in order that he might not disturb Madame de Jardais's rest, the latter awoke, and was near dying with the shock of seeing a man in the uniform of the Parisian guards so near the queen's bed.

Starting point is 10:51:27 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 a sincere attachment to the king. There was a sentinel in the black corridor which runs behind the apartments in question, where there is a staircase, which was at that time a private one, and enabled the king and queen to communicate freely. This post, which was very disagree, because it was to be kept four-and-twenty hours was often claimed by Saint-Pri,

Starting point is 10:52:02 an actor belonging to the French theatre. He devoted himself to it, if I may use the expression, in order to facilitate short interviews between the king and queen in this corridor. He used to leave them at a distance, and give them notice if he heard the slightest noise. Monsieur 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 as far as he could. with prudence all the harsh orders he received. For instance, one to follow the queen to the

Starting point is 10:52:33 very door of her wardrobe was never executed. An officer of the Parisian guard dared to speak insolently to the queen in her own apartment. M. Colot wished to make a complaint to Monsieur de Lafayette against him and have him broken. 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 Varenne journey, I found her getting out of bed. Her features were not very much altered.

Starting point is 10:53:05 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 became in one single night, as white as that of a woman of seventy. I will not here describe the feelings which lacerated my heart. to speak of my own troubles would be very injudicious when I am retracing those of so exalted and unfortunate. Her majesty showed me a ring she had just had mounted for the Princess de L'ambal. It contained a lock of her whitened hair with the inscription, bleached by sorrow. At the period of the acceptance of the Constitution, the princess wished to return to France.

Starting point is 10:53:47 The queen who had no expectation that tranquility would be restored opposed this, but the attachment which Madame de L'ambal had vowed impelled her to come and tempt her own destruction. When I returned to Paris, most of the harsh precautions were abandoned. The doors were kept open. Greater respect was paid to the sovereign. It was known that the Constitution, soon to be completed, will be accepted, and a better order of things was hoped for. On the day of my arrival, the Queen took me into her closet, to tell me that she should

Starting point is 10:54:19 have great need of me in a communication she had established with Bernabe, Du and Alexandre Lamette. She informed me that Monsieur de Jé, three asteris, was her negotiator with these remnants of the Constitutional Party who had good intentions, but unfortunately too late, and told me that Bernalve was a man worthy of esteem. I was astonished to hear Barnab's name pronounced with so much goodwill. When I quitted Paris, a great number of persons spoke of him only with horror.

Starting point is 10:54:49 I observed this to her, and she was not surprised at it, but told me he was much altered that the young man who was full of talent and noble feeling belonged to that class which is distinguished by education and merely misled by the ambition to which real merit gives birth a feeling of pride which i cannot much blame in a young man belonging to the thieres-etat said the queen speaking of bernard made him support everything which smoothed the road to rank and fame for that class in which he was born and if we get the power into our own hands again bernard's pardon is beforehand written in our hearts the queen added that she had not the same feeling towards those nobles who had thrown themselves into the revolutionary party they who obtained all the marks of favour and that very often to the injury of those of an inferior order among whom the greatest talent was to be found. In short, that the nobles, who were born to the safeguard of the monarchy, were too guilty in having betrayed its cause, ever to deserve their pardon. The Queen astonished me more and more by the warmth with which she justified the favorable opinion she had formed of Bernal. She then told me that his conduct upon the road was perfectly correct, while Pityon's Republican rudeness was discussed.

Starting point is 10:56:05 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 Elizabeth poured him out wine to show her that there was enough without saying a word, that this offensive behavior must have been by design, because the man was not without education, and that Bernav was hurt at it. on being pressed by the queen to take something madame replied barnab on so solemn an occasion the deputies of the national assembly ought to engage your majesty's attention solely by their mission and by no means about their wants in short his respectful delicacy his considerate attentions and all that he uttered gained the esteem not only of the queen but of madame elizabeth also the king began to talk to petion about the situation of 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 Pityon, 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

Starting point is 10:57:25 Paris. Pizion held the little Dauphé on his knees and abused 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 d'Anne was killed near the king's carriage upon leaving Varenne.

Starting point is 10:57:56 A poor village curé, 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 Bernouve. Have you ceased to be Frenchmen? Nation of brave men. Are you become a set of assassins? These words alone saved the curé,

Starting point is 10:58:18 who was already upon the ground from certain death. Bernoub, as he spoke to them, threw himself almost out of the coach window, and Madame Elizabeth, affected by this noble burst of feeling, held him by the skirt of his coat. The Queen, while speaking of this event, said that, in the most important and momentous events, whimsical contrasts always struck her, and that on this occasion, the pious Elizabeth holding Bernalve by the flap of his coat was a surprising sight.

Starting point is 10:58:47 The deputy was astonished in another way. Madame Elizabeth's comments upon the state of France, her mild and persuasive eloquence, and the noble simplicity with which she talked to him, at the same time without some, sacrificing her dignity in the slightest degree, everything about that divine princess appeared to him, Celestial. And his heart, which was doubtless inclined to noble feelings, if he had not followed the wrong path, was overcome by the most affecting admiration. The conduct of the two deputies convinced the queen of the total separation between the Republican and constitutional parties. At the ends were she alighted, she had some private conversation with Barnav. The latter set a great

Starting point is 10:59:30 deal about the errors committed by the royalists during the revolution, and declared he had found the interests of the court so feeble and so badly defended that he had been frequently tempted to go and offer it, in himself, a courageous wrestler, who knew the spirit of the age and nation. The queen asked him, what were the weapons he would have recommended her to use? Popularity, madam. And how could I use that? replied her majesty, of which I had been deprived. Ah, madame, it was much more easy for you to regain it than for me to acquire it. This assertion would furnish matter for comment.

Starting point is 11:00:08 I confine myself to the relation of this curious conversation. The Queen mainly attributed the arrest at Varenne to Monsieur Goghler. She said he calculated the time that would be spent in the journey erroneously. He performed that from Maudit 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 in making that transit. 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 Pondosomvel, where the carriage was to meet the forty hussars commanded by him.

Starting point is 11:00:53 She thought that he ought to have dispersed the very small number of people at Verand, and not to have asked the hussars whether they were for king or the nation, that particularly he ought to have avoided taking the king's orders, as he was aware of the reply Monsieur de Dinesdal had received, when it was proposed to carry off the king. And that the king, having said to Gogolah, if force should be employed, will it be hot work? He answered, very hot, sire,

Starting point is 11:01:19 which was sufficient to drive the king to give twenty counter-orders. Is it possible to conceive how such neglect could, occur as that of sending a courier to monsieur de bouilliers who would have had time to reach verne with an imposing force or how nobody even thought of stopping the courier who should follow the king their majesties alighted at the house of a grocer called m soess the mayor of varren the king talked to him a long time respecting his reasons for quitting paris and wanted to prove to him the expediency of the measure which far from being hostile was suggested by his love for his subjects this man could have saved the king. The queen sat down in the shop between two piles of candles and conversed with Madame Soes,

Starting point is 11:02:05 who seemed to be a woman of weight in her own household, and whom Monsieur Soes eyed from time to time as if to consult her. But the only reply the queen got was, What would you have, madame? Your situation is very unfortunate. But you see that would expose Monsieur Soes? They would cut his head off.

Starting point is 11:02:23 A wife ought to think of her husband. Well, replied the queen, "'Mine is your king. He has long made you happy, and wishes to do so still.' Madame Sos went on again about the dangers of her husband.

Starting point is 11:02:38 The aide-de-con came up, and the return to Paris was decided. The Dufin's first femme de Chambre, calculating that delay might give Monsieur de Bouilly time to bring up assistance, threw herself on a bed, and began to cry out that she was dying of a dreadful colic.

Starting point is 11:02:54 The queen went up to her, and the lady squeezed her hand to give her to understand what she was aiming at. Her Majesty said she could not leave a woman who had sacrificed herself to attend her in a dangerous journey in such a condition and that she owed her every attention. But this innocent stratagem was probably seen through

Starting point is 11:03:12 and not the slightest delay was granted. Note by Madame Campan. The Queen informed me while summing up all the events of that ill-omened journey that of two leagues from Bahrain a stranger passed close to the king's carriage full gallop, uttering aloud some words, which the noise of the wheels upon the pavement prevented their hearing. But that subsequently to their arrest, the king and herself, recalling the sound

Starting point is 11:03:37 of the stranger's words, were almost certain that he had said to them, you are known, or you are discovered. End note. After all that the queen had said to me respecting the mistakes made by M. Gogolat, 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 marks of the greatest kindness. She said he had done his best, and that the sincerity of his zeal ought to form an excuse for all the rest. End of Chapter 7. Volume 2, Chapter 8, Part 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Libre-Fox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 11:04:30 8. Part 1 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 fait which would be given in consequence. The Queen began to hope affairs would take a better turn. The conversation between the Jacobein and the Constitutionals on the 27th of July, nevertheless threw her into great terror for some moments. and the firing of the cannon from the shant mass upon a party which called for the trial of the king, and the leaders of which were in the bosom of the assembly, left impressions of the most gloomy description upon the queen's mind. The Constitutionals, with whom her connection was not slackened by the intervention of the three members already mentioned, had faithfully served the royal family during their detention.

Starting point is 11:05:24 We still hold the wire by which this popular mass is moved, said Barnab to Monsieur de S. Blanc, one day at the same time showing him a large volume in which the names of all those who were made to act at will by 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 play upon the acceptance of the constitution that day which afforded a glimmering hope of tranquillity was the fourteenth of september the fate were brilliant but already new alarms but too imperiously forbade the royal family to give way to any consolatory feeling the legislative assembly which had just succeeded the constituent assembly founded their conduct upon the wildest republican principles created from the midst of popular societies it was wholly inspired by the spirit which animated them The Constitution, as I have said, was presented to the King on the 30th of September. I returned to this presentation because it gave rise to a highly important subject of discussion. All the ministers, with the exception of Monsieur de Montmorein, insisted upon the necessity of accepting the constitutional act in all its parts. The Prince de Connitz was likewise of the same opinion.

Starting point is 11:06:45 Malouet wished the king to express himself candidly, respecting any errors or dangers that he might observe in the Constitution. but du paul and barnav alarmed at the spirit prevailing in the society de jacobin and even in the assembly where robespierre had already denounced them as traitors to the country and dreading the occurrence of still greater evils added their opinions to those of the majority of the ministers and m de connitz those who really desired that the constitution should be maintained advised that it should not be accepted thus purely and simply and of this number as i have already said were m m m m m and Monsieur Malouet. The king seemed inclined to this advice, and this is one of the strongest proofs of the unfortunate monarch sincerity. Note by the editors.

Starting point is 11:07:34 In order to confirm the opinion Madame Campa expressed above respecting the intentions of Louis Sais, we think we ought to present the account given by Bertrand de Mollville of his first interview with that prince. Quote, as it was the first time

Starting point is 11:07:50 I ever had the honor of being so close to him and tte-a-tete-tete with him. The most stupid diffidence so completely came over me that if it had been my duty to speak first, it would have been impossible for me to have framed a single phrase. But I took courage when I saw the king still more embarrassed than myself, and, with difficulty, stammering out a few unconnected words he, in his turn, became composed on seeing me at ease,

Starting point is 11:08:14 and our conversation soon became highly interesting. After a few general observations upon the perplexities of the existing state of things, the king said to me, well, have you any objection remaining? No, sire. A desire to obey and gratify your majesty is the only feeling I am sensible of, but in order that I may really be able to serve you, it is necessary that your majesty should have the goodness to inform me what is your intention with regard to the Constitution, and what is the line of conduct you would wish your ministers to adopt? That is true, replied the king.

Starting point is 11:08:52 this is my opinion i do not consider the constitution by any means a masterpiece i think there are very great errors in it and if i had been at liberty to observe upon it advantageous alterations would have been made in it but the time is now gone by such as it is i have sworn to maintain it i ought to be and i will be strictly true to my oath and the rather as i think the utmost exactness in executing the mandates of the constitution is the most certain way to draw the attention of the nation to the alterations that ought to be made in it i neither can nor ought to have any other object than this i certainly will not abandon my intention and i wish my ministers to forward it your scheme appears infinitely judicious sire i feel myself in a condition to accomplish it and i engage to do so i have not sufficiently studied the constitution as a whole and in all its parts to form a decided opinion and I will refrain from forming one until the operation of the Constitution shall have enabled the nation to estimate it by its effects. But may I venture to ask your majesty

Starting point is 11:10:03 whether the Queen's opinion upon this point is in accordance with your own? Yes, certainly it is. She will tell you herself. I immediately went to the Queen who, after assuring me, with the greatest kindness, how truly she felt the obligation under which the King lay to me,

Starting point is 11:10:20 for having accepted the administration in so perplexing a juncture, added, The King has informed you of his views with regard to the Constitution. Do you not think the only way is to be faithful to the oath? Yes, certainly, madam. Well, then, be assured that we shall not be induced to swerve. Courage, Monsieur Bertrand. I hope that with patience, firmness, and consistency,

Starting point is 11:10:45 all is not yet lost. Private memoirs of the latter end of the reign of Louis Seize by Monsieur Bertrand de Molloy. Minister and Secretary of State Under That Reign, Volume 1 End note Alexander de Lamette, DuParre and Bernalve, still relying on the resources of their party,

Starting point is 11:11:04 hoped to have credit for controlling 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 Monsieur Dubuque, formerly intendant of the Marine and the colonies. He answered in one line,

Starting point is 11:11:23 Prevent disorder from organizing itself. Opinions such as those of the sententious and laconic Monsieur Dubuque emanated from the aristocratic party who preferred anything, even the Jacobin, to the establishment of the constitutional laws, and who, in fact, believed that any acceptance which should have any other appearance than that of compulsion would amount to a real sanction sufficient to uphold the new government. The most unbridled disorders seemed preferable. because they buoyed up the hope of a total change, and twenty times over upon occasions when

Starting point is 11:11:57 persons but little acquainted with the secret policy of the court, expressed the apprehensions they entertained of the popular societies. The initiated answered that a sincere royalist ought to favor the Jacobin. My avowal of the terror with which they inspired me often brought this answer upon me, and must even have often procured me the epithet of constitutional, while all the time, through principle and from the want of that sort of information, which I think ought never to be found among persons of my sex, I was intent only upon diligently serving the unfortunate princess with whom my destiny was united. 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 at midday was received with transport, and the reading of it was repeatedly interrupted by very general plus. audits. The sitting was terminated by the highest flight of enthusiasm, and Monsieur de la Fayette obtained the release of all those who were detained on account of the king's departure, the immediate quashing of all proceedings relative to the events of the revolution, and the discontinuance

Starting point is 11:13:05 of the use of passports, and of all 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 expressed 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

Starting point is 11:13:43 his eyes but 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 will have no sovereigns, said she.

Starting point is 11:14:13 We shall fall before their treacherous, though well-planned tactics. they are demolishing the monarchy stone by stone. On the day after that of the deputation, the particulars of their reception by the king were reported to the assembly, and they 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,

Starting point is 11:14:40 and the king standing uncovered. Monsieur Meluay 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 a 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 be in the same posture while he was doing so. Mr. Meluay'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.

Starting point is 11:15:17 Let us decree, said he, that Monsieur 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 midday. 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,

Starting point is 11:15:55 cries of, Bravo, and vive le Roy. Sire, said he, how important in our eyes and how dear to our hearts, how sublime a feature in our history must be the epic 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,

Starting point is 11:16:16 and as a man, a fresh source of enjoyment and of new feelings. At length I hoped to see a return of that tranquility which had so long been chased from the countenances of my August master and mistress. Their sweet left them in the saloon. 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 his tears.

Starting point is 11:16:46 Why were you present at this sitting? Why did you witness it? I heard these words and no more. Pierced at their affliction and feeling the propriety of respecting the display of it, I withdrew, struck with the contrast between the shouts of joy without the palace, and the profound grief which oppressed the sovereigns within.

Starting point is 11:17:09 Half an hour afterwards the queen sent for me. She desired to see Monsieur Gogh to announce to him her departure on that very night for Vienna. the new attacks upon the dignity of the throne which had been exhibited 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 interior of the country.

Starting point is 11:17:40 The king wrote to the emperor. She told me that she would herself at midnight bring the letter which Monsieur Gourer, was to bear to the emperor to my room. During all the remainder of the day, the castle and the Tuileries were prodigiously crowded. The illuminations were magnificent. The king and queen were requested to take an airing in their carriage in the Champs-Elysé, escorted by the aid de Kahn and leaders of the Parisian army, the Constitutional Guard not being at that time organized.

Starting point is 11:18:09 Many shouts of Vive le Roy were heard. But as often as they terminated, 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-ooment cries struck terror into the queen. She thought it not right, however, to make any complaint upon the subject, and pretended not to hear the isolated croak of this fanatic or base hireling, as if it had been drowned in the public acclamations.

Starting point is 11:18:41 A few days afterwards, Monsieur de Montmorein sent me a few lines to say he wanted to speak to me. that he would have come to me if he had not apprehended that his doing so would attract observation, and that he thought it would appear less particular, 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, under existing circumstances, he spoke to me of the king's imminent danger, of the plots which were hatching, and of the La Mement. composition of the legislative assembly.

Starting point is 11:19:19 But he particularly dwelt upon the necessity of appearing, by prudence and circumspection in conversation, as firmly attached as possible to the act the king had just recognized. I told him that could not be done without committing ourselves in the eyes of the Royalist Party which considered moderation a crime, that it was painful to hear ourselves taxed with being constitutional, at the same time that it was our opinion that the only constitution which was consistent with the king's honor, and the happiness and tranquility of his people, was the

Starting point is 11:19:50 entire power of the sovereign, that this was my creed, and it would hurt 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, madam, have resolution enough to disassemble and to conceal your real sentiments.

Starting point is 11:20:24 Dissimulation was never more necessary. The most strenuous endeavors are making to paralyze the evil intentions of the factious to the utmost possible extent. But we must not be counteracted here by certain dangerous expressions which are circulated in Paris as dropping from the king and queen. I told him that I had been already struck with an apprehension of the evil which might be done by the intemperate observations of persons who had no power to act, and that having repeatedly enjoined silence to those in the queen's service in a very

Starting point is 11:20:55 decided manner, I had felt ill consequences from so doing. I know that, said the Count. The Queen informed me of it, and that it was which determined me to come and request you to cherish as much as you can, that spirit of discretion which is so necessary. While the household of the King and Queen were appraised, to all these fears, the festivities in celebration of the acceptation 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. Then were the acclamations sincere.

Starting point is 11:21:38 La Coquette Corrigé was selected for representation at the Te-Are-Francé solely because it was the piece in which Mademoiselle Counta shown most. Yet the notions propagated by the Queen's enemies clashing in my mind with the name of the play, I thought the choice very ill-judged. I was at a loss, however, to tell her majesty so. But sincere attachment gives courage. I explained myself. She was obliged to me and desired another play might be performed. They accordingly acted, La Governante. The Queen, Madame the King's daughter and Madame Elizabeth were all one. received on this occasion. It is true that the opinions and feelings of the whole of the spectators in the boxes could not be otherwise than favorable. Great pains had been taken

Starting point is 11:22:26 previously to these two performances to fill the pit with proper persons. But on the other hand, the Jacobin took the same precautions on their side at the Teatro-Italien and the tumult was excessive there. The play was Gritris' Les Evanments Imprieu. Unfortunately, Madame du Gazon 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,

Starting point is 11:23:01 Vive le roi, vive la reine. Long live the king and queen. Those in the pit answered, No master, no queen. The quarrel increased. The pit formed into parties. They began fighting. and the Jacobin were beaten.

Starting point is 11:23:17 Tufts off their black hair flew about the theatre. Note, at this time, none but the Jacobein had discontinued the use of hairpowder. End note. A strong guard arrived. The Foubor of St. Antoine,

Starting point is 11:23:30 hearing of what was going forward at the Teadri Italien, flocked together, and began to talk of marching towards the scene of action. The Queen preserved the coolest and calmest demeanor. The commandants of the guards

Starting point is 11:23:43 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 a playhouse. While couriers were bearing confidential letters from the king to the princess, his brothers, and to the foreign sovereigns, the Assembly invited him to write the princes in order to induce them to return to France.

Starting point is 11:24:09 The King desired the Abbe de Montesquieu 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 Sez, and filled with very powerful arguments in favor of the advantages to be derived from rallying round that 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, Monsieur Marr, Blanc, one of the intendants of Monsieur's household obtained a passport from the Assembly to join that, prince, on account of some indispensable 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 the origin of it.

Starting point is 11:24:53 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 it was merely necessary that the letter from the King to his brother should be known to exist. The princes were doubtless pre-informed on the subject by the Priory. correspondence. Monsieur nevertheless manifested some degree of surprise, and the messenger returned more grieved than pleased at this mark of confidence, which had nearly cost him his life during

Starting point is 11:25:22 the reign of terror. Among the causes of uneasiness to the queen, there was one which was but too well-founded. It was the thoughtlessness of the French whom she sent to foreign courts. She used to say that, in order to plume themselves upon the confidence with which they were honored, they had no sooner past 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

Starting point is 11:25:49 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 Duke de Brisec had the command of the

Starting point is 11:26:06 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 honors and the prerogatives belonging to them. The Duchess de Dura resigned her place of Lady of the Bedchamber, not choosing to lose her right to the Tabourette court. This step hurt the queen who saw herself forsaken for obsolete privileges at a time when her rights were so warmly attacked. Many ladies of rank left the court for the same reason.

Starting point is 11:26:47 However, the king and queen did not dare to form the civil part of their household, lest by the offices of new denominations, they should confirm the dissolution of the old ones, and also lest they should admit into the highest offices persons not calculated to fill them. Some time was spent in discussing the question whether the household should be formed without equerries and without ladies of honor. The Queen's constitutional advisors were of opinion that the Assembly, having decreed a civil list adequate to uphold the splendor 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.

Starting point is 11:27:27 How is it, Madame, wrote Bernav 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,

Starting point is 11:27:57 and upon a change of affairs we should be obliged to discharge the persons received in 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 rested from us, I am mortified. Nobody comes to my card party. The king goes solitarily to bed. No allowance is made for political necessity.

Starting point is 11:28:27 We are punished for our very misfortunes. The Queen wrote almost all day and spent a part of the night in reading. courage supported her physical strength. Her temper was not at all soured by misfortune, and she was never seen in an ill-humor for a moment. She was, however, the same person who was held up to the people as a woman who was 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 a bay whom they were about to throw into the basin of the tuileries.

Starting point is 11:29:08 She hastily opened her window and sent a valet de chambre to know what was going forward in the garden. It was a big rigoire 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 journalist described the Queen as witnessing this triumph and showing, by expressive gestures at her window, how highly she was exasperated by the honors conferred upon the patriot. The correspondence between the Queen and the Foreign Powers was carried on and 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

Starting point is 11:29:51 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 the operation of finding the letters, and very 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 on the part of the king in collecting information respecting the measures of the factions, and in influencing some of the committees of the assembly. Monsieur Bertrand de Mollville was in close correspondence with the queen.

Starting point is 11:30:31 The king employed Monsieur Talon and others. much money was dissipated through the latter channel on account of the expenses necessary for the secret measures. The Queen had no confidence in them. Monsieur de la Porte, 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 needed no bias. Monsieur de la Port had a private police which gave him some useful information.

Starting point is 11:31:00 End of Chapter 8 Part 1 Volume 2 Chapter 8 Part 2 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 8 Part 2 I determined to sacrifice myself to my duty, but by no means to any intrigue, and I thought that circumstance as I was, I ought to confine myself to obedience to the Queen's orders.

Starting point is 11:31:34 I frequently said on, 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 whatever to my abode, and to refuse all interviews which even people of the highest importance often requested of me. This line of conduct appeared to me the only one suitable to my sex and my situation at court, but it left me exposed to every species of ill-will, and on one and the same day I saw myself denounced by Pududhomme in his Gazette Revolutionaire, as capable of making an aristocrat of the mother of Gracchi,

Starting point is 11:32:13 if a person so dangerous as myself could have got into her household, and by Gautier's Gazette Royalist, as a monarchist, a constitutional, 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, Monsieur Jeunet, began his diplomatic career successfully. At 18, he was attached to the embassy to Vienna. At 20, he was appointed Chief Secretary of Legation in England on occasion of the peace of 1783.

Starting point is 11:32:47 A memorial which he presented to Monsieur de Vergen, upon the dangers of the Treaty of Commerce then entered into with England, gave offence to Monsieur de Calonne, a patron of that treaty, and particularly to Monsieur Gerard de Reynval, chief clerk for foreign affairs. So long as Monsieur de Vergen lived, having upon my father's death declared himself the protector of my brother, he supported him against the enemies his memorial had raised up. But upon his death, Monsieur de Montmorein, being much in need of the long experience in business which he found in Monsieur de Rénaval, guided himself solely by the latter, and according to his instigation. The office of which my brother was the head was suppressed and added to the other offices of foreign affairs.

Starting point is 11:33:30 My brother went to Petersburg, strongly recommended to the Count de Seguer, minister from France to that court, who appointed him Secretary of Legation. Some time afterwards, the Count de Seguer left him at Petersburg, charged with the affairs of France. Note by Madame Campan. After his return from Russia, Monsieur Jeunet was appointed ambassador to the United States by the party called Girondiste, the deputies who headed it being from the Department of the Gironde.

Starting point is 11:33:58 He was shortly afterwards recalled by the Robespierre Party, which overthrew the former faction on the 31st of May 1793, and condemned to appear at the bar of the convention, that is to say, to ascend the scaffold. Vice President Clinton, at that time governor of New York, offered him an asylum in his house and the hand of Cornelia Clinton, his daughter. Mr. Ginez's crime was the execution of instructions which he had received on setting out from the party then in power. He settled in America and lives there as a rich planter and the beloved father of a family. End note. My brother quitted Versailles, 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 had perceived from his correspondence that he inclined to some of the new notions and had taken

Starting point is 11:34:53 the alarm at it when he wrote me a letter which left me no further room for doubt as to his opinions. 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 the most ancient interests, and which would always remain in the spirit of their councils, that he saw no salvation for the king and queen but from the interior of France,

Starting point is 11:35:33 and that only by using every exertion to calm existing apprehensions and to restore harmony to the minds of men, and that he would serve the constitutional king as he served him before the revolution had created a necessity for settling the destinies of France by a new code. 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,

Starting point is 11:36:03 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 or mine. I offered to discontinue all correspondence with my brother. She opposed that, saying it would be dangerous.

Starting point is 11:36:22 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 Shore channels. He answered me by the post and no longer touched upon anything but his family affairs. Once only he wrote to me that if I should write to him respecting the affairs of the day, he would give me no answer.

Starting point is 11:36:48 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 Sen prevent people from seeing that immense capital, even from the pavilion of Flora, and I see it more clearly from Petersburg.

Starting point is 11:37:07 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 very 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,

Starting point is 11:37:25 who came on purpose to inform her that my brother was an avowed constitutional and revolutionist. The Queen replied, I know it, Madame Compin came to tell me so. Persons envious of my situation, and some of ill-regulated minds having subjected me to mortifications,

Starting point is 11:37:42 and these unpleasant circumstances recurring daily, I requested the Queen's permission to withdraw from the 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 during which I was at her majesty's knees, bathing her hands with my tears, I retired to my apartment. A few minutes afterwards a footman

Starting point is 11:38:11 brought me a note from her couched in these terms. I have never ceased to distinguish you, nor to give you and yours proofs of my attachment. I wish to tell you in writing that I have full faith in your honor 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. Note by Madame Campan, I had just received this letter from the Queen, when Monsieur de la Chappelle, commissary general of the king's household and head of the offices of Monsieur de la Porte, minister of the civil list, came to see me. The palace having been already forced by the brigands on the 20th of June, he proposed that I should entrust the paper to him, that he might

Starting point is 11:38:52 place it in a safer situation than the apartments of the unfortunate queen would be. 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 10th of August, Monsieur de la Chappelle was thrown into the prisons of the Abbeyei, and the Committee of Public Safety established themselves in his offices, once they issued all their decrees of death. There it was that a villainous servant belonging to Monsieur de la Porte went to declare that in the minister's apartment, under a board in the floor, a number of papers would be found. They were brought forth, and Monsieur de la Porte was sent the first of all to the scaffold, where he suffered for having betrayed the state by serving

Starting point is 11:39:33 his master and sovereign. M. de la Chappelle was saved as if by a miracle from the massacres of the 2nd of September. The Committee of Public Safety, having abolished his employments in order to seat itself in the King's apartments at the Tullery, Monsieur de la Chappelle had permission to return to his closet to take away some property belonging to him. Turning up 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.

Starting point is 11:40:08 In troublesome times, a mere nothing may save life or destroy it. End note. At the very moment that I was going to express to the Queen the gratitude with which I was penetrated. 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 Compon. I come, however, to comfort you. The queen has told me how much she has heard 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,

Starting point is 11:40:49 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 for you and for us that you should be thought a constitutional 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 let 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 your sentiments as i do occasions for mysterious and secret services recurred every moment bernard was the only one of the three coalesce deputies who had not seen the king and queen since the varen journey the espionage of the assembly was more apprehended on his account than on that of any other down to the day of the acceptance it was impossible to introduce barnab into the interior of the palace but as the queen was now rid of 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 in waiting for him in one of the corridors of the tullery and all in vain the first day that he was to be admitted a man whom bernab knew to be suspicious having met him in the court

Starting point is 11:42:41 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 Bernav at a little door belonging to the Entresol of the palace with my hand upon the open lock. I had been in that position an hour. The king came to me frequently, and always to speak to me of the uneasiness which a servant belonging to the castle who was a patriot gave him. He came again to ask me whether I had heard the door called

Starting point is 11:43:10 the Decre opened. I assured him nobody had been in the corridor, and he became easy. He was dreadfully apprehensive that his connection with Bernalb would be discovered. It would, said the king, be a ground for capital accusations, and the unfortunate man would be lost.

Starting point is 11:43:29 I then ventured to remind his majesty that as I was not the only one in the secret of the business which brought Bernalav in contact with their majesties, one of his colleagues might be induced to speak the communication with which they were honored, 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

Starting point is 11:43:56 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 the number of persons informed of their communications with us. The police of Monsieur Laporte, intendant of the civil list, apprised him as early as the latter end of 1791, that a man belonging to the king's officers, who had set up as a pastry-cook at the Palais-Royal,

Starting point is 11:44:24 was about to re-enter upon 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 at Jacobin, that he had dared to say, it would be a good thing for France if the king's date, were shortened. His duty was confined to the mere laying out of 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

Starting point is 11:44:54 roasted meat in future, that their bread should be brought to them by Monsieur Tieri de Vildeeret, intendant of the smaller apartments, who was likewise to 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 Elizabeth 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. Monsieur Thierry used himself to bring me their majesty's bread and wine,

Starting point is 11:45:32 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 drank about half

Starting point is 11:46:03 from the bottle served up by the officers of his buttlery. 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 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 Monsieur de la Porte gave notice that nothing more was to be dreaded for.

Starting point is 11:46:36 from that sort of plot against the king's life, that the plan was entirely changed, and that all future attempts would be directed as much against the throne as against the person of the sovereign. There are others besides myself who know that about 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,

Starting point is 11:46:59 I never pronounce the name of Pitt, but I feel death at my shoulder. 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

Starting point is 11:47:34 about his fleets. and that the most active step he has taken during his whole reign was to visit the port of cherbourg pitt has 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 monsieur three asterisks 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 give you asterisks 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 as far as such a man can speak out. Note by Madame Campon. I thought for some time that this secret agent was Monsieur Crawford. His memoirs which I have read very eagerly have altered my opinion, because he certainly would have mentioned this mission.

Starting point is 11:48:24 I have forgotten the name of the person whom the Queen sent to London, though she condescended to entrust me with it. End note. Some time afterwards the Queen told me that her secret envoy was returned from London, and that all he had been able to ring from Pitt, whom he found alarmingly reserved, was that he would not suffer the French monarchy to fall, that to suffer the revolutionary spirit to erect an organized republic in France would be a great error, as regarding the tranquility of all Europe. Whenever, said she, Pitt expressed himself upon the

Starting point is 11:48:57 necessity of supporting a 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 Jewelry, 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 Jacobin, at the time when the Emperor Leopold declared for the coalition,

Starting point is 11:49:42 it was said speaking of him that a pie crust would settle that matter. From this moment, the Queen considered the expression as one which had involuntarily escaped the propagandists. She lamented her brother. However, the education of Francis II, which had been superintended by the Emperor Joseph, inspired her with new hopes. She thought he must have inherited the sentiments of the latter for her, and did not doubt that he had, under the care of his uncle, imbibed that valiant spirit so necessary for the support of a crown. At this period, Bernab obtained the queen's consent that he should read all the letters she should write. He was fearful of private correspondences that might clog the

Starting point is 11:50:24 plan marked out for her. He mistrusted her majesty's sincerity upon this point, and the diversity of councils, and the necessity of yielding, on one hand, to some of the views of the Constitutionals, and on the other to those of the French princes, and even of the foreign courts, were unfortunately the circumstances which most rapidly impelled the court toward its ruin. The Queen wished to have shown Bernal of the letter of condolence which she wrote to Francis II. This letter was to be shown to her triumvirate, for thus did she sometimes designate the three deputies whom I have named. She would not have had, but she would not have a single word which, from its interference with their plans, might prevent its going.

Starting point is 11:51:05 She was also fearful of introducing into it anything contradictory to her private sentiments, which the Emperor might learn by other means. Sit down at that table, said she to me, and, sketch me out a letter. Dwell upon the idea that I see in my nephew the pupil of Joseph. If yours be better than mine, you shall dictate it to me. I wrote a letter, she read it and said, it is the very thing. I was too deeply interested

Starting point is 11:51:32 to keep the true line as you have done. The party of the princess was much alarmed on being informed of the connection of the wreck of the constitutional party with the queen, and the queen on her part always dreaded the party of the princess and the attempts of the French who composed it. She did justice to the Count d'Artois,

Starting point is 11:51:52 and often said that his party would act in contravention of his sentiments towards the king, his brother and herself. but that he would be led away by people over whom Calonne had a most lamentable ascendancy. She reproached Count Estérazzi, whom she had loaded with favors for having sided with Calon so entirely that she had reason to consider him absolutely as an enemy. However, the immigrants showed great apprehensions of the consequences which might follow in the interior from a connection with the Constitutionals whom they described as a party existing no longer but in idea,

Starting point is 11:52:26 and totally without means of preparing their errors. The Jacobey were preferred to them, because, said they, there would be no treaty to be made with anyone at the moment of extricating the king and his family from the abyss in which they are plunged. I frequently read to the Queen the letters written to her by Barnab. One among others struck me forcibly, and I think I have retained the substance of it sufficiently well to enable me to give a faithful account of it.

Starting point is 11:52:54 He told the Queen she did not realize efficiently on the strength remaining in the constitutional party. That their flag was indeed torn, but the word Constitution was still legible upon it. That this word would recover its virtue, if the king and his friends would rally round it sincerely. That the authors of the Constitution, enlightened with respect to their own errors, might yet amend it, and restore to the throne all its splendor. That the Queen must not believe the public mind was favorably disposed towards the Jacobin. that the weak joined them because there was no strength elsewhere but the general opinion was for the constitution that the party of the french princes unfortunately shackled by the policy of foreign courts ought not to be depended on

Starting point is 11:53:40 that the majority of the emigrants had already destroyed by misconduct much of the interest excited by their misfortunes that entire confidence ought not to be reposed in the foreign powers guided as they were by the policy of their cabinets and not by the ties of blood and that the interior alone was capable of supporting the integrity of the kingdom he concluded the letter by saying that he laid at her majesty's feet the only national party still in existence that he feared to name it but that she ought not to forget that henri caitre was not assisted by foreign princes in regaining his dominions and that he ascended a catholic throne after having fought at the head of a protestant party bernab and his friends presumed too far upon their strength it was exhausted in the contest with the court the queen was aware of this and if she did seem to have any confidence in them it is probable that she was actuated by a policy which it must be confessed could only prove injurious to her End of Chapter 8. Volume 2, Chapter 9 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Coppa. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. 9.

Starting point is 11:55:02 In the beginning of the year 1792, a worthy priest requested a private interview with me. He had heard of the existence of a new libel by Madame Lamotte. He told me he had observed in the people who came from London to get it printed in Paris, nothing more than a desire of gain, and that they were ready to deliver him the manuscript 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 that if Her Majesty would give him the 24,000 francs, he would deliver me the manuscript upon receiving them. I communicated this proposal to the Queen who rejected it and desired me to answer,

Starting point is 11:55:41 that at the time when she had power to punish the hawkers of these liables, she deemed them so atrocious and improbable that she despised the means of arresting their progress, that if she were to be imprudent and weak enough to buy a single one of them, the Jacobey might possibly discover the circumstance through their espionage. That were this libel bought 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. The Baron Dobier, gentlemen inordinary to the king and my particular first, had a strong memory and a plain and easy way of communicating the substance of the discussions,

Starting point is 11:56:21 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 postion percalé, the name of the newspaper at the time. Monsieur Dobier came one day and said to me, The Assembly has been much occupied with an information laid by the workmen of the Severn Manufactury, 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 colored and held his head down over his plate the queen said to him do you know anything about this sir The king made no answer.

Starting point is 11:57:17 Madame Elizabeth requested him to explain what all this meant. 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 proposed to her, and that Monsieur de la Porte had not been able to devise

Starting point is 11:57:39 any more secret way of destroying the whole of the work than that of having it burnt at Severn among two two hundred workmen, one hundred and eighty of whom must in all probability be Jacobin. She told me she had concealed her vexation from the king, that he was in consternation, and that she should say nothing, since his affection and his good intentions towards her had been the cause of the accident. Some time afterwards, the assembly received a denunciation against Monsieur de Montmorein. The ex-minister was accused of having neglected forty dispatches from Monsieur Jeannes, the Chargered-Daffair from France in Russia, without having even unsealed them because

Starting point is 11:58:17 Monsieur Jeannes acted on constitutional principles. Monsieur de Montmorene appeared at the bar to answer this accusation. Whatever distress I might feel at the moment 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 Chargered affair at St. Petersburg. The king did me the favor to say that he observed a reserve in my account of which he approved. The queen condescended to add a few obliging remarks to those of the king by which I was already so much affected that I withdrew in great emotion. However, my office of

Starting point is 11:58:59 journalists 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 Monsieur d'Aubier, who attended all the sittings, to give me a summary of them, and I ventured to request the king would suffer that excellent man to come and give him an account of the sittings himself.

Starting point is 11:59:22 I went so far as to add, that at a time when the king's feelings were wounded by the conduct of so many faithless subjects, it appeared to me that men warmly devoted as Monsieur D'oubier was, deserved the honor of being about his majesty. I assured the king

Starting point is 11:59:38 that if he would permit it, that gentleman might proceed to the queen's apartments through mine unseen. The king consented to the arrangement. Thence forward, Monsieur Dobier was admitted into the interior and gave the king repeated proofs of zeal and attachment with much intelligence. The Curie of Saint-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 in that office. I only know that he was conducted into her appointment.

Starting point is 12:00:09 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 perform a mass for her at five o'clock in the morning.

Starting point is 12:00:37 It was still dark. She gave me her arm and I lighted her with a taper. I left her entirely alone at the chapel door. She did not return to her room until the dawn of day. This piece of duty performed, with so much mystery, could not tend to edify the public, but demonstrates the Queen's religious principles. Dangers increased daily.

Starting point is 12:01:00 The assembly was strengthened in the eyes of the people by the hostilities of the foreign armies and the army of the princes. The communication with the love of the people, with the latter party became more active. The Queen wrote almost every day. Monsieur de Goglis possessed her confidence for all correspondence with the foreign parties, and I was obliged to have him in my apartments.

Starting point is 12:01:22 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 whereabouts she was, was, that the leaders of the Jacobin offered themselves to her through the medium of Dumourier, or that Dumourier, abandoning the Jacobin, had come and offered himself to her,

Starting point is 12:01:49 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 too much shaken. Whilst speaking with the utmost ardour, he seized the queen's hand and kissed it with transport, exclaiming,

Starting point is 12:02:26 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 court, was not to trust 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 says, and to so just a cause. The Constitutionals on their part saw that there had been nothing more than a mere pretense of listening to them.

Starting point is 12:03:07 Bernalve'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 Duke de Brissac. Bernanav 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 stash afresh, and to make it up of persons whose names he sent her. I did not see the list, but Bernav said that all who were set down in it passed for decided

Starting point is 12:03:46 Jacobey but were not so, in fact, that they, as well as himself, were in despair at seeing the monarchical government attacked, that they had learned 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, and that immediately after the nomination of those whom he pointed out. The Queen was of opinion that she ought not to yield to this advice. The Duke de Brisec was sent to Arlion, and the guard was reduced. Bernalve, seeing that the Queen did not follow his counsel in anything, and convinced that she placed all

Starting point is 12:04:29 her reliance on assistance from abroad, determined to quit Paris. He obtained a last audience. He obtained a audience. Your misfortunes, madame, said he, and those which I anticipate for France determined me to sacrifice myself to serve you. I see 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 suckers. You will be lost before they reach you.

Starting point is 12:04:58 Most ardently do I wish I may be mistaken in so lamentable a prediction. But I am sure to pay 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 the most favourable idea of this deputy's elevated sentiments madame elizabeth participated in this opinion and the two princesses frequently spoke of bernab she also received m dupac's several times but she also received m dupac's several times but with less mystery. Her connection with the constitutional deputies transpired. Alexandre de Lamet was the only one of the three who survived the vengeance of the Jacobin. Note by the editor. After what we have just read respecting Bernalve, after his well-known labors in the cause of liberty, his efforts to support the throne, his talents and his eloquence,

Starting point is 12:05:58 the latter circumstances of his life possess a high degree of interest. The biography de Bucel relates them in these words. When, after the revolution of the 10th of August 1792, the iron closet of the castle of the Tuileries had been discovered and forced, a considerable number of documents which had been imprudently preserved in it, and which were communicated to the convention by Goilley, who had just succeeded Danton, in the administration of justice, proved that the court had established and maintained

Starting point is 12:06:28 during the latter months of the session of the constituent assembly, and from the time of the meeting of the legislative assembly, constant communication with the most powerful members of those assemblies. Bernav, being accused on the 15th of August 1792, with Alexandre de Lamette, ex-member of the Constituent Assembly, Bertrand de Mollville, Du Par de Tertre, du Portailles, Montmorein, and Terby, ex-ex ministers of the Marine, of justice, of war, of foreign affairs, and of public contributions, was arrested at Grenoble and shut up in the prisons of that town.

Starting point is 12:07:04 He remained there 15 months, and his friends began to indulge the hope that he would be forgotten, when an order arrived that he should be removed to Paris. At first he was imprisoned in the Abayi, but transferred a few days afterwards 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 without losing anything of the dignity of misfortune. and made such an impression upon the numerous auditory present at the debates 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 Bernav's firmness was immovable.

Starting point is 12:07:55 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 DuPard de Tertre, one of the last ministers of Louissais. When he had ascended the scaffold, Bernouves 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 32nd year of his age. His bust is now in the Grenoble Museum. The consular government placed his statue next to that of Vernoble. on the great staircase of the senatorial palace.

Starting point is 12:08:36 End note. The National Guard, which succeeded the King's Guard, having occupied the gates of the Tuileries, all who came to see the Queen were incessantly insulted with impunity. The most menacing cries were uttered aloud even in the Tuileries. They called for the destruction of the throne and the murder of the sovereign. These insults assumed the character of the very lowest of the mob. The Queen one day, hearing roars of the folly, laughter under her windows, desired me to see what it was about. I saw a man almost undressed,

Starting point is 12:09:08 turning his back towards her apartments. My astonishment and indignation were apparent. The queen rose to come forward. I held her back, telling her it was a very gross insult offered by one of the rabble. About this time, the king fell into a state of despondence 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 in playing at backgammon which he played after his dinner with Madame Elizabeth when he was obliged to pronounce the words belonging to that game. The Queen roused him from this state, so fatal at a critical period, when every minute increased the necessity for action by throwing herself at his feet, urging every idea calculated

Starting point is 12:09:55 to excite alarm and employing every affectionate expression. She represented also what he owed to his family, and went so far as to tell him that if they were doomed to fall, they ought to fall honorably, and not to wait to be both smothered upon the floor of their apartment. About the 15th of June, 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 wished himself 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 scenes of the 20th of June.

Starting point is 12:10:43 A few days previously, above 20,000 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 Foulbourg Saint-Otoine and Saint-Marsault. Covered as they were with filthy clothes,

Starting point is 12:11:15 they all bore the most terrifying appearance and the steam from them infected the air. People asked each other whence such an army could come. 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 colors, shouting, The nation forever! Down with the veto! The king was without guards. Part of these demoniacs rushed up to his apartment. The door was about to be forced in when the king commanded that it should be opened. Monsieur de Bougainville, dervillis, de parvilles, d'Aubier, de clothe, gente, and other courageous men who were in the apartment of Monsieur de Steptonille, the king's first valet de Chambre instantly ran to his majesty's apartment.

Starting point is 12:12:10 Monsieur 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 Fie Saint-Toma made their way by an inner stair-stair-air-air-house. and arranged themselves before the benches. The order given by Monsieur de Bougainville saved the king from the blades of the assassins, among whom was a poll named Lazuski, who was to strike the first blow. The king's brave defender said,

Starting point is 12:12:39 Sire, fear nothing. The king's reply is well known. Put your hand upon my heart, and you will perceive whether I am afraid or not. Monsieur Vaux, commandant of battalion, warded off a blow aimed by a wretch against the king's person, A grenadier of the Fie Saint-Oma parried a sword-thrust made in the same direction.

Starting point is 12:13:00 Madame Elizabeth ran to her brother's apartments. When she reached his room 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, said she to those around her, that she may have time to escape. The Queen could not join the King.

Starting point is 12:13:21 She was in the Council Chamber, where the idea had also been suggested of placing her behind the great table to protect her as much as possible against the approach of the barbarians. Preserving a noble and becoming demeanor in this dreadful situation, she held the dauphin before her seated upon the table. Madame was at her side, the Princess de L'ambal, the Princess de Tarante, Madame de la Roche Emont, Madame de Tourzel, and Madame de Maccault surrounded her. She had fixed a tricolored cockade which one of the National Guard had given her upon her head.

Starting point is 12:13:55 The poor little dauphine was as well as the king shrouded in an enormous red cap. 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

Starting point is 12:14:11 to which a dirty doll was suspended. The words Marie Antoinette at la Lantern were written beneath it. Another was a board to which a bullock's heart was fastened with an inscription and rounded, heart of Louis Sees. And then a third

Starting point is 12:14:26 showed the horns of an ox with an obscene legend. 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 her whether she had ever seen her. She replied that she had not, whether she had done her any personal wrong.

Starting point is 12:14:47 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. saunter the monarch of the foe bull 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

Starting point is 12:15:35 however it was eight o'clock in the evening before the palace was completely cleared twelve deputies impelled by their attachment to the king's person came and ranged themselves near him at the very commencement of the insurrection but the deputation from the assembly did not reach the truce 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 Merlein de Tionville was so much affected as to shed tears while she spoke. You weep, Monsieur Merlein, said she to him, at seeing the King and his family so cruelly treated by a people whom he always wished to make happy.

Starting point is 12:16:22 true, madame, replied Merle. 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 the only feeling that they inspire me with. It is my religion. The queen could not understand this madness, and saw all that was to be apprehended from persons

Starting point is 12:16:51 who were attacked with it. All hope was gone, and nothing was thought of but succor from abroad. The Queen entreated her family and the King's brothers. Her letters probably became more pressing, and expressed her apprehensions upon the tardiness of relief. Her Majesty read me one to herself, from the Archduchess Christina,

Starting point is 12:17:13 Guvairnaut of the Low Countries. She reproached her 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

Starting point is 12:17:30 were bound to act prudently, entrusted as they were with interest so dear to them. The 14th of July 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.

Starting point is 12:17:57 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 maid in my apartments. It was composed of fifteen folds of Italian tafty and formed into an under waistcoat and a white belt. This breastplate was tried. It resisted all thrusts of the dagger and several balls fired for the purpose 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-pedicoat for three days without being able to find the favorable 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.

Starting point is 12:18:47 Note by Madame Campon Mr. Gentie, the first valet of the wardrobe, assisted me to try on this under waistcoat which the king wore on the 14th July, 1792. But Monsieur de Paris had a second maid a few days before the 10th of August. End note. The Queen was in bed.

Starting point is 12:19:07 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,

Starting point is 12:19:28 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

Starting point is 12:19:47 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

Starting point is 12:20:03 kings 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 of tears. I wished to give her an antispasmodic.

Starting point is 12:20:22 She refused it saying that it was only for women who were happy to feel nervous, that the cruel situation to which she was reduced rendered these suckers useless. In fact, the queen who during her better times was frequently attacked by hysterical disorders enjoyed a more uniform state of 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.

Starting point is 12:20:51 But she would not make use of it. All my entreaties, all my tears were in vain. If the rebels 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 upon a back staircase. I drew back to let him pass.

Starting point is 12:21:14 He stopped, and he 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. This silent mark of his approbation so confused me that I should afterwards have confounded the remembrance of it with the dreams which frequently brought my unhappy sovereigns again before me. If my sisters had not reminded me

Starting point is 12:21:40 that I had communicated this proof of the king's goodness to them shortly after he had given it. The fear of another attack upon the Tuileries occasioned the most scrupulous searches among the king's papers. I burned almost all those belonging to the queen. She put her family letters, a great deal of correspondence

Starting point is 12:21:59 which she thought it necessary to preserve for the history of the era of the revolution, and particularly Bernalve's letters at her answers of which she had preserved copies into a portfolio which she entrusted to Monsieur de G, three asterisks. that gentleman was unable to save this deposit and it was burnt the queen left a few papers in her secretary among them was a paper of instructions to madame de tourzel respecting the dispositions of her children and the characters and abilities of the governesses under that lady's orders this paper which the queen drew up at the time of madame de tourzell's appointment with several letters from maria theresa filled with the best advice and the most laudable instructions were pre-exam of madame de tourzell's appointment with several letters from maria theresa filled with the best advice and the most laudable instructions were pre-reuxed were printed after the tenth of August by order of the assembly in the collection of all the pieces found in the secretaries of the king and queen.

Starting point is 12:22:50 Her majesty had still, without reckoning the current money 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 the next moment be very necessary for her. The king had an immense quantity of papers and unfortunately conceived the idea of privately making a place of concealment in an inner corridor of his apartments, with the assistance of a locksmith who had worked with him above ten years. The place of concealment, but for the man's information, would have been long undiscovered.

Starting point is 12:23:28 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 entrusted 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 to him.

Starting point is 12:24:25 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.

Starting point is 12:24:48 But what he most wishes me to tell you is, no doubt, that the portfolio contains a process verbal of a Cabinet Council in which the King gave his opinion against war. He had it signed by all the ministers, and in case of a proceeding, he trusts that this document will be very useful to him. I asked the Queen's,

Starting point is 12:25:07 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, Monsieur de la Fayette, who had probably given up the idea of establishing a republic in France,

Starting point is 12:25:32 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 20,000 citizens against the late violation

Starting point is 12:25:49 of the residents 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,

Starting point is 12:26:13 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 General Lafayette 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, Monsieur de Lafayette perceived that he was abandoned by the remainder of his party in the Paris Guard. Upon his arrival a plan was presented to the queen in which it was proposed by a junction between Lafayette'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 Monsieur de Lafayette 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 them. with him. I passed the whole month of July without going to bed. I was fearful of some

Starting point is 12:27:13 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 along 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, added 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!

Starting point is 12:27:51 The Valé de Chambre cried out to her from the corridor. Madame, I know the wretch. I have him. Let him go, said the queen. Open the door to him. He came to murder me. The Jacobin would carry him about in triumph tomorrow. the man was a servant of the king's toilette 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

Starting point is 12:28:24 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. On the next day, Monsieur de Scepterre 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 Foubourg Saint-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 set off two men on whom I could. rely, with orders to proceed to the usual places of assembling, and to come back speedily and

Starting point is 12:29:12 give me an account of the state of the city. We knew that at least an hour must elapse before the populace of the Foubourg assembled upon 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. Blank in the great closet. He told me the meeting was

Starting point is 12:29:40 for this once dispersing. The general had endeavored to please the populace by the same means that Monsieur de la Fayette had employed. He saluted the lowest poissade 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.

Starting point is 12:30:03 The king, had been awakened, and so had Madame Elizabeth, 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 rest. He thanked me, and said, I was awake, and so was the whole palace. She ran no risk.

Starting point is 12:30:30 I am very glad to see her take a little rest. "'Alas, her griefs double mine,' added the king as he left me. "'What was my chagrin when, upon awakening and learning what had passed, "'the queen began to weep bitterly from regret and not having been called, "'and 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.

Starting point is 12:31:02 "'It is not diminished,' said she. "'Miss Fortune gives us additional strength. "'Elizabeth 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.' "'End of Chapter 9.

Starting point is 12:31:30 "'Volume 2, Chapter 10, Part 1 "'of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette "'by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain 10 part 1 During the month of July The correspondence of Monsieur Bertrand de Mollville with the king and queen was most active

Starting point is 12:31:49 Monsieur de Mercily formerly a lieutenant of the Saint-Suis of the Guard was the bearer of the letters He came to me the first time with a note from the queen directed to Monsieur Bertrand himself In this note the queen said Address yourself with full confidence to Madame the conduct of her brother in Russia has not at all influenced her sentiments. She is wholly devoted

Starting point is 12:32:12 to us, and if hereafter you should have anything to say to us verbally, you may rely entirely upon herself devotion and discretion. The mobs which gathered almost nightly in the Fubour 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-blind 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 that all was concurring to deliver them but that the opinions of their intimate advisers were alarmingly at variance. That some vouched for complete success while others pointed out insurmountable dangers.

Starting point is 12:33:13 She added that she possessed the itinerary of the march of the princess and the king of Prussia, that on such a day they would be at Verdeu, on another day at such a place, that Lille was about to be besieged, but that Monsieur de Jé, three asterisks, 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 powers 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 upon the king's want of energy, but always in terms expressive of her veneration

Starting point is 12:33:57 of 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 Kins 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.

Starting point is 12:34:42 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 female 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,

Starting point is 12:35:16 and prepare to die. The garden of the Tuileries was full of madmen who insulted all who seemed aside 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 passers' by. On all sides were heard the joyous 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 Tullery should be

Starting point is 12:35:50 closed. As soon as this step was taken, the assembly decreed that the whole length of the terrace that Tulli belonged to it and fixed the boundary between what was called the National Ground and the Koblenst Ground, by a torrents ground, by a torrent. dry-colored 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 Bertier. Note by Madame Campan. A young man who did not observe this written order went down into the garden.

Starting point is 12:36:24 Furious outcries, threats of La Lantern, 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 off their souls. The people cried out, Bravo! The good citizen forever! He was carried off in triumph. End note. 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 howls, and she was twice compelled to return to her apartments. In the early part of August, many zealous sprays.

Starting point is 12:37:03 offered the king money. He refused considerable sums being unwilling to injure the fortunes of individuals. Monsieur de la Fert, intendant of the menu-plizier, 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. Note by Madame Campan. Monsieur Oguier, my brother-in-law, receiver general of the finances,

Starting point is 12:37:39 offered her, through the medium of his wife, a portfolio containing 100,000 crowns in paper money. On this occasion, the Queen said the most affecting things to my sister, expressive of her happiness that having contributed to the fortunes of such faithful subjects as herself

Starting point is 12:37:55 and her husband, but declined, accepting her offer. End note. However, a few days afterwards, she told me she would accept of Monsieur de la Fert's 24,000 francs, because they would make up a sum which the king had to expend. She therefore directed me to go and receive those 24,000 francs, to add them to the 100,000 francs she had placed in my hands, and to change the whole into Assignat to increase their amount. Her orders were executed, and the Assignat were delivered to the king.

Starting point is 12:38:28 The queen informed me that Madame Elizabeth had found a well-meaning man, who had had been a well-meaning man, engaged to gain over Pityon by the bribe of a large sum of money, and that that deputy would, by a preconcerted signal, informed the king of the success of the project. His Majesty soon had an opportunity of seeing Pityon, 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 to the whole of the enigma to me.

Starting point is 12:39:06 Pityon, 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,

Starting point is 12:39:23 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 Manda, who now command. 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 at the same time that he possessed a great deal of loyalty, he had likewise very little sense, and that he was involved in the constitutional vortex.

Starting point is 12:39:52 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 favor of sovereign authority. It is well to know this with certainty. On the next day that Princess de L'Ambal sent for me very early in the morning. I found her sitting upon a sofa opposite a window looking out upon the Pond Royale. She then occupied that apartment of the pavilion of Flora, which was on the level with that of the queen. She desired me to sit down by her.

Starting point is 12:40:28 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 favor. 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?

Starting point is 12:40:47 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. Note by Madame Campan. This was Monsieur de P., blank, who after. afterwards owned it to me, telling me that though he did accept of this base employment, it was because he was sure that my acquaintance consisted only of royalists,

Starting point is 12:41:11 and that, moreover, he did not doubt the sincerity of my sentiments. And note, I was assured that you received five or six of the most virulent deputies of the Chersetat, but this report came from that woman belonging to the wardrobe who was lodged 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

Starting point is 12:41:40 and has loved you ever since she came to 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 Tuilerie 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.

Starting point is 12:42:00 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 the names of all who belonged to the Queen's Chamber upon her desk. She asked me for information respecting each individual. At such a moment, honour and duty face even the recollection of enmity. I was fortunate in having none but the most favorable information to give.

Starting point is 12:42:39 I had to speak of my avowed enemy in the Queen's Chamber, of her who most wished to make me 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 female in question who idolized 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.

Starting point is 12:43:16 When I had done, I entreated her highness to write down in the margin that the lady alluded to was my declared enemy. She embraced me, saying, Ah, write it. We should not record an injustice which must not. 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 for disputation, showing himself, out of mere spirit of contradiction, an aristocrat with Democrats and a Democrat among aristocrats. But still a man of probity and well-affected

Starting point is 12:43:48 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 the most absolute 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 Jacobin. 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 horrid during the months which immediately preceded the 10th of August that the Queen was worked up to long for the coming of the crisis

Starting point is 12:44:40 whatever might be its issue. She frequently said that a long confinement in a tower by the season, side would seem to her less intolerable than those feuds in which the weakness of her party daily announced an inevitable catastrophe. Note by the editor. A few days before the 10th of August, the squabbles between the royalists and Jacobin, and between the Jacobey and the Constitutionals, 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.

Starting point is 12:45:16 Monjois relates the following anecdote. The question of abdication was discussed with a degree of frenzy in the assembly. Such of the deputies, as voted against that scandalous discussion, 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 Renew de Bocaron, Fondier, Girardin, and Vaublanc. geraldine complained of having been struck in one of the lobbies of the assembly a voice cried out to him say where you were struck where replied geraldine what a question behind do assassins ever strike otherwise

Starting point is 12:45:58 history of marie antoinette end note 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 increase the loudness of their voices threefold in an alarming manner, when they chanted the words, deposuit potentes desede in the magnificat. Incensed at such an infamous proceeding, the royalists in their turn thrice exclaimed, "'It reginam!' after the dominis salvum fak regam. The tumult during the whole time of divine service was excessive. At length arrived that terrible night of the 10th of August. On the preceding evening, Pithel Pizio went to the Assembly and informed it that preparations were making for a great insurrection on the following day,

Starting point is 12:47:05 that the toxin 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. Pizion, however, gave an order for repelling force by force. Manda was armed with this order, and finding his fidelity to the king's purse. 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 ninth, I was present at the King's Supper. While his majesty was giving me various orders, we heard a great noise at the

Starting point is 12:47:44 door of the apartment. I went to see what was the cause of it, and I 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 near destroying each other. I returned with a countenance

Starting point is 12:48:08 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 toxins sounded at midnight.

Starting point is 12:48:27 The Swiss were drawn up like real walls, and, in the midst of their soldier-like silence, which formed a striking contrast with the perpetual din of the town guard, the king informed Monsieur de J, three asterisks, an officer of the staff of the plan of defense laid down by General Beaumainil. Monsieur de J, three asteris, said to me, after this private conference, Put your jewels and money into your pockets. Our dangers are unavoidable. The means of defense are unavailing. might be obtained from some degree of energy in the king, but that is the only virtue in which he is deficient.

Starting point is 12:49:06 An hour after midnight, the Queen and Madame Elizabeth said they would lie down on a sofa and a closet in the Entresol, 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 Ponyard of an assassin was. to be apprehended. But that on a day on which his party might fight against the revolutionist, he thought there was something cowardly in preserving his life by such means. During this time, Madame Elizabeth disengaged herself of some of her clothing which

Starting point is 12:49:43 encumbered her in order to lie down on the sofa. She took a Cornelian pin out of her tippet, 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

Starting point is 12:50:07 Among our enemies But it ought not to be less dear to us On that account Note by Madame Campan The princess did not take this precious Trinket when she quitted the Queen's Entresole Into what hands did it fall It would adorn the richest treasury

Starting point is 12:50:23 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-Lou was sacrificed, the executioner in tying her hands behind her back, raised up one of the ends of her handkerchief in front. Madame Elizabeth, with calmness and with a voice which seemed not to come from the earth, said to him, In the name of modesty, cover my bosom.

Starting point is 12:50:52 I learned this trait of heroism from Madame de Cerelli, who was condemned the same day as the princess, but who obtained a respite at the moment of the execution, Madame de Montmorein, her relation, declaring that her cousin was pregnant. End note. 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.

Starting point is 12:51:19 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,

Starting point is 12:51:39 that Monsieur Mandar 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 Elizabeth, Madame and the dauphin, went down to pass. through the ranks of the sections of the National Guard.

Starting point is 12:52:00 The cry of Vive le Roy was heard from a few places. I was at a window on the garden sides. 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. Monsieur de Salverre and Monsieur de Briege drove them off in a spirited manner. The king was as pale as a corpse.

Starting point is 12:52:24 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. Note by the editor Monjoin in his history of Marie Antoinette gives an account of the affair of the chateau, which he says was furnished by an eyewitness. The narrator thus expresses himself. Quote, Monsieur Mandat being gone, the command devolved on Monsieur de la Chene. I then perceived a considerable disdainer. I then perceived a considerable disres. degree of bustle in the interior of the castle.

Starting point is 12:52:59 The National Guard and the Swiss guards being called to their posts all went to them in the greatest order. The interior of the apartments, the staircases and vestibules were occupied by soldiers. The posts of the courtyards were distributed, and cannon were brought from different parts of the great court. All these preparations announced the most terrible resolves. They seemed to express a determination to offer a vigorous resistance. I turned my eyes away and lamented first the manner and then the inefficiency of the means employed. The manner, because I saw a scene of bloodshed and murders without number in preparation. The inefficiency, because in spite of the wild and criminal scheme of an unavailing resistance,

Starting point is 12:53:43 I was convinced beforehand there was no fence strong enough to stem the impetuous torrent. History of Marie Antoinette by Monchoa. End note. i was in the billiard-room with my companions we placed ourselves upon some high benches i then saw monsieur dervilli with the drawn sword in his hand ordering the usher to open the door to the french noblesse two hundred persons entered the room which was nearest to that in which the family were others also 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 ridiculously enough 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 french vivacity which yields to nothing indulged in jests upon that which was no jesting matter monsieur de st supleis one of the king's equerries and a page instead of muskets carried upon their shoulders the tongs belonging to the king's ante-chamber 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 the precaution to provide themselves with arms at all

Starting point is 12:55:08 meanwhile the numerous bands from the foboor armed with pikes and cutlasses filled the carousel and the streets adjacent to the tuileries the sanguinary marseilles were at their head with cannon pointed against the castle in this emergency the king's counsel sent m de joli 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 its ruin was resolved on they passed to the order of the day at eight o'clock the department repaired to the castle the attorney st dike 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 de rherre told him that the king all his family and the people about them would inevitably fall unless his majesty immediately determined to go to the national assembly the queen at first opposed this advice but the attorney st dike told her that she rendered herself responsible for the deaths of the king her children and all who were in the palace upon this 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 come gentlemen there is nothing more to be done here 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 with her she took with her only the princess de l'ambal and madame de tourzel the princess de tarant and madame de la roche emon were inconsolable at being left at the tuileries they and all who belonged to the chamber went down into the queen's apartments end of chapter ten part one volume two chapter ten part two of memoirs of the court of marie antoinette by madame campan this libervox recording is in the public domain

Starting point is 12:57:17 10 Part 2 Note by the editor The informant cited by Monjoie thus relates the efforts made by Monsieur Roderre with the people and the National Guard and the conversation he afterwards had with the king in his closet. This account of the 10th of August contains also several other important particulars,

Starting point is 12:57:38 but we refer them all to the historical illustrations, Letter K, not to interrupt Madame Campan's narrative. Monsieur Roderreire, it must be said to his praise tried all means. At last, being unable to subdue the fury of the people, he calmed it for a few minutes. They granted him half an hour, and the depositories of the law instantly returned into the castle yard. Here they met with obstacles of another kind. The National Guard seemed perfectly resolute and well-disposed. Monsieur Odiréard called their attention to the extent of the danger. He made them promise to remain firm at their posts. He exhorted them not to attack their

Starting point is 12:58:17 fellow citizens, their brethren, as long as they should remain inactive, but he foresaw the approaching moment when the chateau would be attacked. He explained to them the principles of the lawful defense and made the requisition prescribed by the law of the month of May 1791 relative to the public force. The National Guard, however, remained silent, and the gunners discharged their cannon. What could the authorities of the department then do? They joined the king's ministers, and all with one consent conjured him to save himself with his family and take refuge in the bosom of the National Assembly. They're only, sire, said Monsieur Odirere, in the midst of the representatives of the people,

Starting point is 12:59:00 can your majesty, the Queen and the Royal Family be in safety? Come, let us fly. In another quarter of an hour, perhaps, we shall not be able to command a retreat. The King hesitated. The Queen manifested the highest dissatisfied. action. What? said she. Are we alone? Is there nobody who can act?

Starting point is 12:59:23 Yes, Madame, alone. Action is useless. Resistance is impossible. One of the members of the department, Monsieur Gerdre, resolved to add his voice. He insisted upon the prompt execution of the proposed measure. Silence, sir, 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 end note we saw the royal family pass between two lines formed by the swiss grenadiers and those of the battalions of the petit parr and the fee st

Starting point is 13:00:03 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 frightful height and atrocious 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 retracing a few of the frightful scenes acted in the interior of the Tullery after the king had quitted the palace. The assailants did not know that the king and his family had betaken themselves to the bosom of the assembly, and those who defended the palace on the court side were equally ignorant of it.

Starting point is 13:00:57 It is supposed that if they had been aware of the fact, the siege would never have taken place. The Marseille-ois began by driving several Swiss who yielded without resistance from their posts. A few of the assailants fired upon them. Some of the Swiss officers unable to contain themselves at seeing their men fall thus, 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 carousel was cleared in a moment, but they soon returned spurred on by rage and revenge. The Swiss were but eight hundred strong.

Starting point is 13:01:33 They fell back into the interior of the castle. 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 pistols, and the bodies were thrown out of the windows. Monsieur Palas and Monsieur de Marchet,

Starting point is 13:01:59 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 of their attachment to their master. I mentioned 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

Starting point is 13:02:17 with unavailing but praiseworthy courage. We will not survive. This is our post. Our duty is to die at it. Monsieur Ziette behaved in the same manner at the door of the Queen's bedchamber. He experienced the same fate. The Princess de Tarant had fortunately opened the door of the entrance into the apartments.

Starting point is 13:02:38 Otherwise, the dreadful band seeing several women collected in the Queen's saloon would have fancied she was among us and would have immediately massacred us if their rate had been increased by resistance. However, we were all about to perish when a man with a long beard came up exclaiming in the name of Pityon,

Starting point is 13:02:55 spare the women, don't disgrace the nation. A particular circumstance placed me in a 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 to an entre sol, where I supposed she had taken refuge, to induce her to come down, fancying it of consequence to our

Starting point is 13:03:19 safety that we should not be separated. I did not find her in the room in question. I saw there only our two femme de chambre and one of the queen's two high ducks, a man of great height and a perfectly martial physiognomy. I cried out to him, fly, the footman 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 high duck to come to me. The women threw themselves at their feet and held their sabers. The narrowness of the staircase impeded the assassins, but I had already felt a horrid hand

Starting point is 13:04:07 thrust down my back to seize me by my clothes when someone called out from the bottom of the staircase, What are you doing above there?' The terrible Marseillae who was going to massacre me answered by a hem, the sound of which will never escape my memory. The other voice replied only by these words, We don't kill women. I was on my knees. My executioner quitted his hold of me and said,

Starting point is 13:04:34 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.

Starting point is 13:05:01 Death is seldom seen so close without striking his blow. I can assert that upon such an occasion the organs, unless fainting ensues, are in full activity, and that I heard every silly, uttered by the assassins just as if I had been calm. Five or six men seized me and my women, and having made us get upon benches placed before the windows, ordered us to call out, the nation forever. I passed over several corpses. I recognized that of the

Starting point is 13:05:32 old Viscount de Brough, to whom the queen had sent me at the beginning of the night, to desire him and another old gentleman 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, but would cherish the recollection of the Queen's goodness. Near the grating on the side next to the bridge, the men who conducted me asked whether I wished to go.

Starting point is 13:06:05 Upon my asking in my turn, whether they were at liberty to take me wherever I might wish to go, one of them, who was a Marseilleux, 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 father-in-law's house. I saw my sister ascending the steps of the parapet of the bridge, surrounded by men of the National Guard. I called to her, and she turned around. 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 just, joined me. Madame de la Roche-Emon and her daughter, Mademoiselle Pauline de Toursel,

Starting point is 13:06:48 lady to the princess de L'ambal, the other females belonging to the queen, and the old Count D'Afrie were led off together to the prisons of the Abayi. Our progress from the palace of 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 gallery 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 Tullery 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 bottoms of our white gowns.

Starting point is 13:07:35 The Poissard 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 Paisalsals began to ball 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 Manda. Our guards hastily made us 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 Marseille had quitted us to return to the Tuileries.

Starting point is 13:08:18 One of the men who remained with us said to me in an undervoice, I am a gauze worker in the Fouboor. 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 Manda's head. These horrible women said yesterday at midnight upon the sight of the Bastille, that they must have their revenge for the sixth 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

Starting point is 13:08:51 as i crossed the carousel i saw my house in flames but as soon as the first moment of a fright was over i thought no more of my personal misfortunes my ideas turned solely upon the dreadful situation of the queen on reaching my sisters we found all our family in despair believing they should never see us again. I could not remain at her house. Some of the mob, collected round the door, exclaimed that Marie Antoinette's confidant was in the house, and that they must have her head. I disguised myself and was concealed at the house of Monsieur Morel, secretary for the lottery.

Starting point is 13:09:30 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 Fayon. We got there at the same time with Monsieur Thierry de Ville d'Avri, the king's first valet de chambre. We were taken into an office where we wrote down our names and places of abode,

Starting point is 13:09:54 and we received tickets for admission up 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 good creature. But where is that Thierry? That man loaded with his master's bounties. "'He is here,' said I. "'He is following me,

Starting point is 13:10:17 "'and I perceive that even scenes of death "'do not banish jealous feelings from among you.' "'Not by Madame Campan. "'Monsieur, who never ceased to give his sovereign proofs "'of the most respectful and unalterable attachment, "'was one of the victims of the second of September. "'And note.' 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 louisines and his family several of the grenadier spoke to me calling me by name

Starting point is 13:10:53 one of them said to me well the poor king is lost the count d'artois would have managed it better not a bit said another the royal family occupied small suite of apartments consisting of four cells formerly belonging to the ancient monastery of the Fayon. In the first where the men who had accompanied the king, the prince de Poit, the Baron Dobier, Monsieur de Saint-Pardou, equerry to Madame Elizabeth, Monsieur Gogh, Monsieur Gogh, Mr. Gau-Glau, Monsieur Chamelli, and Monsieur U. 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 an indescribable state of affliction.

Starting point is 13:11:47 We found her accompanied only by a bulky 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 her. one still more unhappy than yourself, since she has been the cause of all your misfortunes. We are ruined, continued she. We are arrived at that point to which they have been leading us for

Starting point is 13:12:18 three years, through all possible outrages. We shall fall in this dreadful revolution, and many others will perish after us. All have alike contributed to our downfall. The reformers have urged it like mad people, and others through ambition for their own interest, for the Wildest Jacobin seeks wealth and distinction, and the mob is eager for plunder. There is not one lover of his country among all this infamous horde. The immigrant party had their intrigues and schemes. Foreigners sought to profit by the dissensions of France. Everyone had a share in our misfortunes.

Starting point is 13:12:56 The dauphin came in with Madame and the Marchioness de Toursel. On seeing them, the Queen said to me, poor children how heart-rending 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 without the smallest affectation i say it 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 princess dearent whom she grew greatly loved and valued, of Madame de la Roche Amon and her daughter, of other persons whom she had left at the palace, and of the Duchess de Luin, 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.

Starting point is 13:13:55 Note by Madame Campan, During the reign of terror, I withdrew to the Chateau de Coubertin, near that of de d'Anpierre. The Duchess de Louisine frequently came to request I would repeat to her what the Queen had said about her at the Fayon. We wept together, and she would say as she went away, I have often need to request you to repeat those words of the Queen. End note. 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

Starting point is 13:14:30 given her a proof of the private 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 carousel, 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 into 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 yet become

Starting point is 13:15:09 acquainted. After hearing me, he said, that he would not receive my deposition, that Marie Antoinette was now nothing more than any other French woman, and that if any of those detached papers bearing her signature should be misapplied, she would have at a future period a right to make a complaint, and to support her declaration by the facts which I had just related. The Queen regretted having sent me, and entertained an apprehension that she had by her very caution, pointed out a method of fabricating forgeries which might be dangerous to her. Then again she exclaimed,

Starting point is 13:15:43 My apprehensions are as absurd as the step I make you take. They need nothing more for our ruin. All is over. She gave us an account of what had taken place subsequently to the king's arrival at the Assembly. It is all well known, and I have no occasion to repeat it. 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 been at the Fayon, that his habit of laying no restraint upon himself and his great appetite had prompted him to eat as if he had been at his palace, that those

Starting point is 13:16:17 who did not know him as she did did not feel the piety and the magnanimous. anonymity of his resignation, all which produced so bad an effect that deputies who were devoted to him had warned him of it, but that no change could be affected. I still see an imagination, and shall always see, that narrow cell at the Fayon 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 aggravated her own. There, for the last time, I saw the tears. I heard the sobs, of her whom her high birth, the endowments of nature, and above all the

Starting point is 13:16:56 goodness of her heart, had seemed to destined for the ornament of a throne and the happiness of her people. It is impossible for those who have lived with Louis-Sais and Marie Antoinette, not to be fully convinced, even doing all 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 greatly contributed to the glory of his reign. What affecting things I have heard the Queen say in the depth of her affliction, occasioned by the ill-founded opinion of a part of the court and the whole of the people,

Starting point is 13:17:33 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 forth from her apartments in the to Rely into the gardens for the purpose of addressing 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 Marianne, Teresa, am I not the one whom fortune has most highly favored?

Starting point is 13:18:19 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 by which honourable pride and sensibility can be flattered. I protest I only repeat her own words here, but if, prompted by existing circumstances, her noble heart did at first send forth this burst of feeling,

Starting point is 13:18:44 the soundness of her judgments soon pointed out to her the dangers of such a proceeding with regard to the people. I should descend from the throne, said she, merely perhaps to excite a momentary sensibility, which the factious would soon render more injurious than beneficial to me. Yes, not only did Marie Antoinette love France, but few women possessed in greater vigor than herself, that feeling of pride which the courage of Frenchmen must inspire. I could adduce a multitude of proofs of this. I will relate two traits which demonstrate the noblest national enthusiasm. The Queen was telling me that at the period of the coronation of the Emperor Francis II,

Starting point is 13:19:28 that Prince, in bespeaking the admiration of a French general officer who was then an immigrant, in favour of the fine appearance of his troops, said to him, "'There are the men to beat your sanc-culot.' "'That remains to be seen, sire,' instantly replied the officer. the queen added i don't know the name of the 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 tenth 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 ah the fine fellow said the queen what a happiness it would have been for us if such men had never left off crying vive le 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 libeles may imagine i have thought it my duty to sacrifice truth on the altar of gratitude fortunately there are still in existence unexceptionable witnesses whom i can invoke they will declare whether what i assert that i have seen and heard appears to them either untrue or improbable

Starting point is 13:20:45 End of Chapter 10. Volume 2. Conclusion of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Conclusion The Queen, having lost her watch and purse as she was passing from the Tuileries to the Feillian, requested my sister to lend her twenty-five Louis. Note by Madame Carpon. On being interrogated, the Queen declared that these five-and-twenty Louis had been led to her by my sister.

Starting point is 13:21:20 This formed a pretense for arresting her and myself, and led to the death of that virtuous mother of a family. Note added by the editor. Madame O'Gie, who was remarkable for her height and beauty, was a woman of the greatest resolution. Death had no terrors for her, but the idea of perishing innocent upon a scaffold aroused her indignation. Never, said she, shall the executioner lay his hand on me?

Starting point is 13:21:49 Her religious sentiments would perhaps have inspired her with more resignation, but she was a mother, and the desire of preserving her property to her family, suffered her to think of nothing but the means of anticipating an arrest otherwise inevitable. At the instant when the officers presented themselves for the purpose of arresting her, she precipitated herself from a third floor. This last sacrifice of maternal tenderness renders her end as honorable as her self-devotion to the queen had been praiseworthy and affecting. And notes. I spent part of the day at the Fayon, and her majesty told me she would ask Petion to let me

Starting point is 13:22:28 be with her in the place which the assembly should decree for the 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 Fayon. 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 Abbeye on the 11th.

Starting point is 13:23:06 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 transfer of Louis Sais and his family to the temple. I went to Pityon's accompanied by a man for whom I had procured a place in the post-office, Monsieur Valadon, and who was much disposed to serve me. He determined to go up to Petyon alone. He supplicated him and 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.

Starting point is 13:23:42 seeing that the well-meaning man did not succeed, I thought to do more in person. But Pityon persisted in his refusal and threatened to send me to the prison of La Force. He was still more cruel when thinking to give me a sort of consolation, he added, I might be certain that all those who were then with Louis Sains and his family would not stay with them long. And, in fact, two or three days afterwards, the Princess de L'ambal, Madame de Toursel, her daughter, the Queen's first woman, the first woman, the first woman. woman of the dauphin and Madame, Monsieur de Chimilly and

Starting point is 13:24:16 Mr. U were carried off during the night and transferred to La Force. After the departure of the king and queen from the temple, my sister was detained a prisoner in the apartments their majesties had quitted for 24 hours. From this time, I was reduced to the misery of having no further intelligence

Starting point is 13:24:34 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 Fayon about the portfolio which had been deposited with me. No doubt they expected to see me again. The Minister Roland and the deputies

Starting point is 13:24:53 composing the provisional government were very intent on search for papers belonging to their majesties. They had the whole of the Tzuileries ransacked. The infamous Robespierre bethought himself of Monsieur Campan, the Queen's private secretary, and said that his death was feigned,

Starting point is 13:25:10 that he was living on known in some obscure part of France, and was doubtless the depository of all the important papers. In a great portfolio belonging to the king, there had been found a solitary letter from the Count d'Artois which by its date, and the subjects of which it treated, indicated the existence of a continued correspondence. This letter appears among the documents used on the trial of Louiscese. A former preceptor of my sons had studied with Robespierre, the latter meeting him in the street and knowing the connection which have subsisted between him and the family of Monsieur Campan, required him to say upon his honour whether he was certain of the death of the latter.

Starting point is 13:25:50 The man replied that Monsieur Campan had died at L'Abrich in 1791, and that he had seen him interred in the cemetery of Epiné. Well then, resumed Robespierre, bring me the certificate of his burial at twelve tomorrow. It is a document for which I have pressing occasion. Upon hearing the deputy's demand, I instantly, sent for a certificate of Monsieur 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 depository of these important papers. I passed days and nights in considering

Starting point is 13:26:28 what I could do for the best, or what would be least mischievous under such circumstances. I was thus situated when the order to inform against what were called the Atontat of the 10th of August led to domiciliary visits. My servants were informed that the people of the quarter in which I lived talked much of the search that would be made in my house and came to apprise me of it.

Starting point is 13:26:51 I heard that fifty armed men would make themselves masters of Monsieur Oguier's house where I then was. I had just received this intelligence when Monsieur Gugno, the king's maitre d'autel and receiver general of the household,

Starting point is 13:27:05 a man much attached to his sovereign, came into my room, wrapped up in a riding cloak 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.

Starting point is 13:27:31 I stopped him, praying him to concert 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,

Starting point is 13:27:52 There it is. Decide for yourself. I will have no hand in it. Upon that I remained a few seconds buried in thought, and I remember that my conduct was founded upon the following reasons. I spoke aloud, although to myself. I walked about the room

Starting point is 13:28:08 with agitated circumstances. steps. The unfortunate gougnault 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.

Starting point is 13:28:43 It is my duty to translate 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 particulars of 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

Starting point is 13:29:14 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 my want of foresight, give up that which would possibly 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 with the king's own hand. Monsieur Guginot found there the ancient seals of the king, such as they were before the assembly had changed the inscription.

Starting point is 13:29:55 Note by Madame Campan. 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. Guginot threw the seals into the river. one from off the Pond Neuf and the other from near the Pond Royale. And note. 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

Starting point is 13:30:24 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.

Starting point is 13:30:55 They broke open secretaries and closets, of which they had not the keys. They searched the garden pots and boxes. They examined the cellars, and the commandant repeatedly said, look particularly for papers. In the afternoon, Monsieur Gugno returned. He had still the seals of France about him, and he brought me a statement of all that he had burnt.

Starting point is 13:31:17 The portfolio contained twenty letters from Monsieur, 18 or 19 from the Count D'Artois, 17 from Madame Adelaide, 18 from Madame Victoire, a great many letters from Count Alexandre de Lamette, and many from Monsieur de Mazelbe with documents annexed to them.

Starting point is 13:31:35 There were also some from Monsieur de Montmorein 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 of Mirabeau. It was tied up with a scheme for an escape which he thought necessary. Monsieur Guginot, 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 without, in concert with the

Starting point is 13:32:12 king, would have been fatal to him if it had been seized. After he had finished, he placed in my hands the Procée 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 400,000 francs under the hand of a celebrated banker. This sum was part of the 800,000 francs which the Queen had gradually saved during her reign,

Starting point is 13:32:50 out of her pension of 300,000 francs per annum, and out of the 100,000 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 almanop. I agreed with Monsieur Gugnaud, who was obliged by his station to reside in Paris, that he should retain the Procée Verbal of the Council and the receipt for the 400,000 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.

Starting point is 13:33:29 The idea that I could not inform the King of the course I had adopted of Vercise. burning his papers, and the fear that I should not be able to transmit him that which he had pointed out as necessary to him tormented me to such a degree that it is wonderful my health endured the trial. I was, moreover, harassed every morning by the fears and projects of a very worthy person who proved to me that in times of civil tumults, terror causes the commission of actions which assist the factious, and that secrets of importance should be interested to none but persons of strong minds incapable of feeling fear. The seamstress, who had been shut up a week in my apartment at the Tuileries,

Starting point is 13:34:08 to make the king's breastplate there, was very pious, and very much attached to the royal family. I thought I could rely upon her. But the poor woman persuaded herself that she, her children and her husband, were in danger of destruction. If she did not go to the assembly and declare that at such a time she had been sent for to the castle of the Tuileries for a purpose which she thought at her due,

Starting point is 13:34:30 to denounce. She came every morning as soon as I awoke to inform me that she was going to Paris, and that she would not ruin her whole family. I calmed her and brought her to her senses. I proved to her that I had merely used her as she would her own needle, that the affair could not transpire unless she disclosed it, and that in case it did, which however appeared to me impossible, the unfortunate monarch would be first attacked for having ordered the work, and next I should be called in question for having procured it to be executed, but that she who had only worked by the day

Starting point is 13:35:06 under my direction had nothing to fear. She would leave me in a more quiet state, but would return on the moral fraught with new fears. Nor were visions wotting in the case. The Virgin had told her that her children and husband were not to be sacrificed for any human being whomsoever. I remained at least a fortnight tormented by this perpetual uneasiness.

Starting point is 13:35:28 happily time set her weak head at rest when the assembly held up to the people louisais and marie antoinette as having wished to put all paris to the sword they would not have failed to impute weakness to the king on account of his breastplate which he had at first consented to wear merely in compliance with the queen's entreaties and of which he had refused to make use on the night of the tenth of august the dreadful trial drew near official defenders were granted to the king the heroic virtue of m de mazelbe 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 gougnaud to come to me at versailles he came immediately we agreed that he should see m de mazzeerbe without availing himself of any intermediate person for that purpose m gougnaud 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 magistrate's room he imparted to m de mazerbe what i had thought right to do with respect to the king's papers and placed in his hands the process verbal of the council which his majesty had preserved in order to serve if occasion required it for a ground of his defence however this paper is not mentioned in neither of the speeches of his defender probably it was determined not to make use of it i pause at that terrible period which is marked by the assassination of a king whose divine virtues are well known but i cannot refrain from relating what he deign to say in my favour to m de 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

Starting point is 13:37:30 i did not hear of this until the morning after he had suffered and i think i should have sunk under my despair if i had not been consoled by this honourable testimony note by the editor madame campan's memoirs terminate here her recital ends with her services about the unfortunate princess who fully appreciated her zeal and herself devotion she was unwilling to speak of anything but what she had seen with her own eyes or learned from the mouth of the queen herself and her silence respecting the lamentable events which succeeded the 10th of August gives greater weight to her testimony upon all that goes before. And note. End of conclusion. Volume 2. Continuation Part 1 of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan.

Starting point is 13:38:26 This Libre box recording is in the public domain. Continuation. From the committal to the temple to the death of Louiscez. Part 1 The faithful, and elegant relation of the weaknesses, the sorrows, the sufferings, attributable to nothing less than the sins of the unfortunate royal family of France, terminates abruptly with the separation of their illustrious narrator, Madame Campan, from the August victim whom she had served so faithfully through such vicissitudes of splendor

Starting point is 13:38:56 and despair of magnificence and misery. That separation occurred on Monday the 13th day of August 1792, when Louis, with Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, the king's sister, Madame Royal, the king's daughter, afterwards Duchess d'Angoulem, and the Dauphin, the Princess de Nambal, one male and two or three female attendants, were conveyed to the temple. When Pityon, the infamous mayor of Paris, refused to Madame Campan the sad consolation of sharing the imprisonment, and endeavouring at least to alleviate the sufferings of her royal mistress.

Starting point is 13:39:31 This cruelty was fetally followed by worse barbarities. On pretense of suspicious circumstances, the Princess de N'Aubal and all the female attendants were removed by the orders of the insurrectionary commune, now the executive, or rather so supreme power of France, the former to be confined in the common prison called La Ba'aille, whence she was never to issue until the day of her atrocious murder. The temple in which the royal family was now immured is no other than the old castellated pile, half monastery, half fortress, formerly the possession and abode of the celebrated order of knights Templars, from which they had been driven out to the gibbet, the faggot, and the

Starting point is 13:40:09 rack, five centuries before, on a false charge of necromancy and magic by the then-ancessor of its present tenant. It consisted of two parts. One called the palace into which the royal family were placed in the first instance. The other known as the tower, the ancient keep or dungeon of the place to which they were consigned on the very night of their arrival. The prison was composed of a high, square tower. quote from the history of the French revolutions recently issued in Chambers People's Edition, flanked by two turrets in one of which was a winding staircase leading to a terrace on the top. In each story of the tower were three rooms, when being simply the size of the turret and very

Starting point is 13:40:50 small. The first story was occupied by guards and municipal officers. The second by the queen and the princesses, and the third by the king and the faithful lierie. The only attendant left to wait on the whole family after the removal of Monsieur U, who was carried off on the 2nd of September and narrowly escaped the murders of that period. A municipal officer was constantly on guard in each of the upper stories. During the day he sat in the same room with the prisoners,

Starting point is 13:41:20 and by his presence prevented them from holding confidential intercourse, a restraint they found of all others the most irksome and galling. During the night, one lay at the door of the king's room with the bed in sight. The other watched over the queen in like manner, but had the decency to allow the door to be closed. The life led by the prisoners was pretty uniform, except when disturbed by the caprices of municipalities, with a larger share of vulgar arrogance than was usual with their fellows.

Starting point is 13:41:48 At first it would appear that some degree of decency was observed towards the unfortunate royal family. Although restrictions, the more cruel because utterly unnecessary, such as the constant presence of the rudest and most brutal of the populace, as superintendents and watchers was inflicted on them day and night. Although but one personal attendant was permitted to the royal family, a measure attributed to the jealousy of extreme precaution, thirteen are said to have been employed in the kitchens allowed to the establishment. Though it is very difficult to conceive how so many could be employed in preparing food for three adults and two children, and though the fact rests only on the authority of Monsieur Tierre, who never gives his data.

Starting point is 13:42:28 and must be admitted a most partial or rather partisan historian, and 28,745 livres, about $5,400 were the expenses of the table during two months. No news of any kind was, however, permitted to enter the precincts of the temple, save the tidings of victories gained by the Republic over the invading Austrian and Prussian forces, which were regularly sent into the prison by the representatives of the commune, not as an act of mercy, but as a refinement of cruel. since these tidings proving the inability of their friends to rescue them by force of arms served only to deprive them up every hope up to the period when the trial and punishment of the royal prisoner louis began to be very seriously mooted the lives of the prisoners were as uniform as they were sad and monotonous and are thus simply and therefore the more touchingly related by the faithful attendant cleri who devoted himself with a fidelity more like that of a canine than of the human species

Starting point is 13:43:28 to alleviate the miseries of his hapless master, from whom he parted only at the foot of the scaffold, which he was soon to ascend the best if the weakest of dethroned and decapitated kings. The largest room was the queen's bedchamber, in which the dauphin also slept. The second, which was separated from the queens by a small antechamber almost without light, was occupied by Madame Royale and Madame Elisabeth. This chamber was the only way to the turret room of this story. and the turret room was the only place of office for this whole range of building being in common for the royal family the municipal officers and the soldiers the king's apartments were on the third story he slept in the great chamber and made a study of the church closet there was a kitchen separated from the king's chamber by a small dark room which had been successfully occupied by m de chamilie and m de hugh and on which the seals were now fixed the fourth story was

Starting point is 13:44:28 was closed, and on the ground floor there were kitchens of which no use was now made. The king usually rose at six in the morning. He shaved himself and I dressed his hair. He then went to his reading room, which, being very small, the municipal officer remained on duty in the bedchamber that he might always keep the king in sight. His Majesty continued praying on his knees till seven or eight o'clock, 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.

Starting point is 13:45:07 Note, this and the previous statement concerning the kitchens on the ground floor being closed appear utterly to contradict the statement of Monsieur Tierre, and we regard the words of the faithful domestic as far more credible than that of the revolutionary partisan. and note. At nine o'clock, the queen, the children, and Madame Elizabeth 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 Cornet and Racine, gave him lessons in geography, and exercised him in coloring 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 a commander of a legion of the national guards

Starting point is 13:46:08 at two we returned to the tower where i served the dinner at which time santel regularly came to the temple attended by two aid de khan the king sometimes spoke to him the queen never in the evening the family's sat round a table while the queen read to them books of history or other works proper to instruct and amuse the children. Madame Elizabeth took the book in her turn, and in this manner they read till eight o'clock. 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,

Starting point is 13:46:57 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 the time was passed as long as the king remained in the little tower. End quote. We learn from other authorities that the favorite authors of Louis were Plato,

Starting point is 13:47:17 Hume, Boussouet, Finelon, Montesquieu, and the French Traigues, and Gideons, Cornet, Racine, and Voltaire, and from the same source that the turret chamber of the suite, used as dining and sitting-rooms, contained a small library of twelve to fifteen hundred volumes, which proved the greatest solace of the captives. Thus, things passed on with a monotonous tranquility, interrupted only by the anticipations of their future fate, and the occasional insults of their brutal keepers, and yet more brutal visitors from the commune. insults endured by the king with a calm and patient dignity, which would have been absolute heroism, had it not been attributable in some degree to the natural indifference of an impassive temper, by the queen with a haughty scorn, interrupted by occasional bursts of feminine spirit,

Starting point is 13:48:05 until the hideous massacres of the prisoners in all the places of detention throughout the metropolis, from the second to the seventh of September. These massacres which Mr. Carlyle attempts to palliate by representing them as no more, more horrible or detestable than any other equal amount of death, whether resulting from famine, war, or pestilence, and which other apologists of the revolutionary crimes have attempted to ascribe entirely to the casual fury of the mob, were in reality planned deliberately by Danton Marat, and other members of the Mountain Party, as is proved by the fact that pits filled with quicklime were prepared for the reception of the corpses in anticipation of their slaughter by the orders

Starting point is 13:48:46 of Manuel and Pétion. In the course of these deliberate slaughters, the prisoners being arraigned before mock tribunals and then slaughtered with every species of torture, insult, and indignity, even to the maiming of corpses. Slaughters interrupted by regular intervals during which the corpses were removed

Starting point is 13:49:05 while the workmen, Uvriye as they were then termed, quietly sat down, ate their dinners, brought to them in baskets by their wives and daughters, drank wine supplied to them by the authority, and received wages from the commune. Slaughterers greedily inspected by the fiendish women of the period,

Starting point is 13:49:23 who insisted on having the streets illuminated by night, that they might glut their woman eyes on the sufferings and the carnage which ceased not day or night. In the course of these slaughters, it is variously computed that prisoners of all sexes, ages and ranks, from the wanton in the hospital of the Bicestre to the princess and the abbeye, were deliberately butchered by authority to the number of eight and up to fourteen thousand.

Starting point is 13:49:46 Of all these, none was more hideous or brutal than that of the Princess de L'Aubal. She was young, very beautiful, gentle, kindly disposed to all, moderate in her opinions, had never taken any part in politics, but she was beloved by the Queen, was the friend of the king, and with these crimes against her, what could her virtues avail in her behalf with a revolutionary mob? On her mock trial she consented to swear fealty to liberty and equality, but refused to swear hatred to the king, the queen, and loyalty. This was her condemnation. With the byword, let Madame be set at liberty, the fatal sentence at the Abbeyei she was consigned to her murderers. The atrocities which followed are thus described by eyewitnesses, and though they are like to make the blood to run cold and the hair to bristle with horror, it is yet good to contemplate the,

Starting point is 13:50:43 them, in order to perceive more clearly of what the people, whose voice a philosopher has proclaimed the voice of God is capable, when controlled by no laws, human or divine, and left to the guidance of its own unbridled temper. The Princess de Nambal, having been spared on the night of the second, flung herself on her bed, oppressed with every species of anxiety and horror. She closed her eyes, but only to open them in an instant startled with frightful dreams. About 8 o'clock next morning, two National Guards entered her room to inform her that she was going to be removed to the Abbei. She slipped on her gown and went downstairs into the Sessions' room. When she entered this frightful court, the sight of weapons stained with blood and of executioners whose hands, faces and clothes were smeared over with the same red dye,

Starting point is 13:51:32 gave her such a shock that she fainted several times. At length, she was subjected to a mock examination, after which, just as she was subjected to a mock examination after which, she was stepping across the threshold of the door, she received on the back of her head a blow with a hanger, which made the blood spout. Two men then laid fast hold of her, and obliged her to walk over dead bodies while she was fainting every instant. They then completed her murder by running her through with their spears on a heap of corpses. She was afterwards stripped, and her naked body exposed to the insults of the populace. In this state it remained more than two hours. When any blood gushing from its wound stained the skin, some men placed there for the

Starting point is 13:52:15 purpose, immediately washed it off to make the spectators take more particular notice of its whiteness. I must not venture to describe the excesses of barbarity and lustful indecency with which this corpse was defiled. I shall only say that a cannon was charged with one of the legs. Towards noon, the murderers determined to cut off her head and carry it in triumph round Paris. her other scattered limbs were also given to troops of cannibals who trailed them along the streets the pike that supported the head was planted under the very windows of the duke of orleans he was sitting down to dinner at the time but rose from his chair and gazed at the ghastly spectacle without discovering the least symptom of uneasiness terror or satisfaction madame de l'anbe's sincere attachment to the queen was her only crime in the midst of our commotions she had played no part nothing could render her suspected by the people to whom she was only known by repeated acts of beneficence when summoned to the bar of la force many among the crowd besought pardon for her, and the assassins for a moment stood doubtful, but soon murdered her.

Starting point is 13:53:27 Immediately they cut off her head and her breasts, her body was opened, her heart torn out, and the tigers who had so mangled her took a barbarous pleasure in going to show her head and heart to Louis Sais and his family at the temple. Madame de L'Ambal was beautiful, gentle, obliging, and moderate. Even the cynical Pantagruelist's Carlisle, who in his strange admiration, for whatever is strong, stringent, energetic, and decisive, whether in man or masses, apologizes for every crime and cruelty, and grins and gibbers with grim exaltation over all suffering and sorrow of the feeble-minded great in his bitter scorn of all that is weak,

Starting point is 13:54:08 is moved by this fiendish deed to unequence as nigh akin to pity, as his stern and hard nature is capable of that emotion. What followed is thus related by Mr. Redhead in Chambers' popular edition of the French revolutions, which I prefer to the narration of Monsieur Tierre, as it is fuller and far more circumstantial, while it states honestly both sides of the picture. The historian of the revolution carefully concealing all the darker traits of the scene, while he shows all the gentler and more redeeming traits. Quote, The murder of the Princess de Lanbelle recalled to memory the illustrious captives of the temple

Starting point is 13:54:45 who seemed to have been forgotten up to that moment. A detachment of the assassins employed at La Foss, now moved towards their prison, bearing aloft the head and the heart of the princess, and followed by a tumultuous rabble. The king and his family were at dinner when they heard the tumult caused by their arrival. They rose from table in great alarm, but the municipal officers on guard over them maintained a dogged silence and refused to satisfy their anxious inquiries. The outer gate, meanwhile, was besieged by the multitude, who demanded admittance, and access into the interior of the temple

Starting point is 13:55:19 to lay the head of L'Ambal, as the ringleader expressed it, at the foot of the throne. Certain commissioners of the commune, who had been deputed to protect the asylum of the national hostages, for such Louis and his family were denominated, parlayed with the assailants,

Starting point is 13:55:34 and agreed to admit them into the court and garden of the tower on their promising to proceed no farther. Such a promise was, of course, purely derisory, and it is certain that the lives of the royal family were abandoned to the mercy or denials. discretion of these murderers. Resistance, the commissioners had resolved amongst themselves, would be impolitic, dangerous,

Starting point is 13:55:55 and perhaps unjust. And, in fact, the muskets of the National Guards had been purposely left unloaded, and their bayonets taken from them. Therefore, no material obstacle opposed to the assassins. The way was made smooth before them. But they had undoubtedly secret instructions, and pretended to respect a tri-colored ribbon which the municipal officers had hung. across the door of the tower, in accordance with a stale device which furnished orators with the

Starting point is 13:56:22 theme of much lively bombast. They insisted, however, that the king and queen should show themselves at the windows, that they might see the head of the princess and, learn the fate that was in store for the enemies of the people. Finding that their interpolations were not regarded, for the officers with the king happened to be men of some humanity, kept him and the queen from going to the window. they asserted that the royal family had been removed from the temple, and claimed that a deputation should be permitted to enter and verify the fact. To this demand the commissioners were feigned to exceed, and four of the ruffians were taken to the room in which the royal family were assembled.

Starting point is 13:57:02 One of these, more forward than the rest, was urgent that the king and queen should show themselves, but the municipal officers positively refused to allow them. Whereupon he turned to the queen and said, It is Lambat's head they want to keep you from seeing, but I advise you to show yourself if you would not have the Avengers come up here. On hearing these words, the Queen immediately fainted. The King advanced to the wretch and rebuked him with sternness. We are prepared, sir, for everything, he observed to him,

Starting point is 13:57:33 but you might have spared the Queen the relation of this horrible disaster. The deputation then hastily withdrew, and guaranteed to the mob without, that the hostages were at all events safe, within their dungeons. But for several hours, gangs of miscreants continued around the prison, bellowing with fearful howls, beating with furious discordance, loud, resonant drums, and renewing every moment the dread of a violent eruption. It was eight in the evening before tranquility was restored in the neighborhood of the temple, and the royal captives left to snatch some repose after the

Starting point is 13:58:07 cruel agitations of the day. End quote. From this fearful moment, the sufferings no less than the fears of the royal family were cruelly augmented. Their restrictions and the impertinent annoyances of their democratic visitors increased daily. The king's sword was taken from him, and then the pen-knives and scissors of the princesses were demanded, as if they would have committed suicide. When they went out to walk in the garden, the guards insulted them with obscene language, popped smoke in their faces, and purposely obstructed their way, treading on their feet and otherwise pressing on their persons. in fact nothing that low-bred cruelty could devise was omitted for their torture for what torture can be greater to the high-minded and delicately bred and nobly nurtured than the contamination of contact and endurance of obscenity and insult from the low and profane rabble

Starting point is 13:59:01 it is related by cleri in his journal that one of the soldiers on guard within the tower wrote one day on the king's chamber door and that on the inside the guillotine is permanent and ready for the tyrant louis says. The king read the words which I made an attempt to rub out, but his majesty prevented me. Up to this period, the royal family had been detained merely as it was expressed as national hostages, and royalty was considered as not abolished but merely suspended. The time had now, however, come, when this farce was to be brought to a termination. Accordingly, we quote as before from Cleary's journal of the sufferings of the royal captives. quote On the 21st of September

Starting point is 13:59:46 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon Lubin, a municipal officer attended by horsemen and a great mob came before the tower to make a proclamation. Trumpets were sounded, and a dead silence ensued. Lubin's voice was of the stentorian kind. The royal family could distinctly

Starting point is 14:00:04 hear the proclamation of the abolition of royalty and of the establishment of a republic. Ebert, so well known by the name of Per du Chaine, and D'Etournel since made minister of the public contributions were then on guard over the family. They were sitting at the time near the door, and rudely stared the king in the face. The monarch perceived it, but having a book in his hand continued to read without suffering the smallest alteration to appear in his countenance. The queen displayed equal resolution. At the end of the proclamation the trumpet sounded again,

Starting point is 14:00:37 and I went to the window. The eyes of the public were the poor. populace were immediately turned upon me. I was taken for my royal master and overwhelmed with abuse. The same evening I informed the king that curtains and more clothes were wanting for the dauphin's bed as the weather began to be cold. He desired me to write the demand for them which he signed. I used the same expressions that I had hitherto done. The king requires for his son, and so forth.

Starting point is 14:01:06 It is a great piece of assurance in you, said D'etournel, thus to persist in a title abolished by the will of the people as you have just heard. I replied that I had heard a proclamation but was unacquainted with the object of it. It is, rejoined he, for the abolition of royalty. And you may tell the gentleman, pointing to the king, to give over taking a title no longer acknowledged by the people. I told him I could not alter this note, which was already signed, as the king would ask me the reason, and it was not my part to tell him.

Starting point is 14:01:39 You will do as you like. continue detournel but I shall not certify the demand end quote end of continuation part one volume two continuation part two of memoirs of the court of Marie Antoinette by madame campan this Librevox recording is in the public domain continuation from the committal to the temple to the death of Louis sixteen part two from this period forward their sufferings were if possible yet augmented, until at length they were brought to a climax by the announcement to the hapless captives that, in the words of Monsieur Tierre, quote, The unfortunate monarch was thus about to appear before the National Convention and to undergo an examination concerning all the acts of his reign. This intelligence had reached Cleary by the secret means of correspondence

Starting point is 14:02:37 which he had secured outside the prison, and it was with trembling that he imported it to the disconsolate family. Not daring to tell the case, king himself, he had communicated it to Madame Elizabeth, and had moreover informed her that during the trial the commune had determined to separate Louis Cés from his family. He agreed with the princess upon a method of correspondence during this separation. This method consisted in a handkerchief which Cleri, who was to remain with the king, was to transmit to the princesses, if Louis Cés should be ill. This was all that the unfortunate prisoners could calculate upon

Starting point is 14:03:14 communicating to one another. The king was apprised by his sister of his speedily required appearance, and of the separation which they were to undergo during the trial. He received the tidings with perfect resignation, and prepared to encounter with firmness that painful scene. The commune had given directions that early in the morning of the 11th all the administrative bodies should meet, that all the sections should be under arms, that the guard of all the public places, chest, depots, etc., should be. be augmented by 200 men for each post, that numerous reserves should be stationed at different points with a strong artillery, and that an escort of picked men should accompany the carriage.

Starting point is 14:03:56 Accordingly, on the morning of the 11th of December, the General announced to the capital this novel and melancholy scene. Numerous troops surrounded the temple, and the din of arms and the tramp of horses reached the prisoners who affected ignorance of the cause of all this bustle. At nine in the morning, the family repaired as usual to the king's apartment to breakfast. The municipal officers, more vigilant than ever, prevented by their presence any outpouring of affection. The family was at length separated. In vain the king desired that his son should be left with him for a few moments. In spite of his entreaties, the young prince was taken away, and he remained alone for about two hours.

Starting point is 14:04:39 The mayor of Paris and the procureur of the commune, then arrived, and communicated to him, the decree of the convention summoning him to its bar by the name of Louis Capet. Capet, replied the prince, was the name of one of my ancestors, but it is not mine. He then rose and entered the carriage of the mayor which was waiting for him. 600-picked men surrounded the vehicle. It was preceded by three pieces of cannon and followed by three more. A numerous body of cavalry formed the advance and the advance and the vehicle. the rear guard. A great concourse of people surveyed in silence this sad cavalcade, and suffered

Starting point is 14:05:18 this rigor as it had long submitted to that of the old government. There were some shouts, but very few. The prince was not moved by them, and calmly conversed upon the objects that presented themselves on the way. Having arrived at the Fayon, he was placed in a room to await the orders of the assembly. End quote. The cruel circumstance of the deprivation of his son is thus related by Cleary, on whose simple narrations we place the highest confidence. Quote, continued, At eleven o'clock, when the king was hearing the Dophin read, two municipal officers walked in and told his majesty that they were to come to carry the young

Starting point is 14:05:58 Louis to his mother. The king desired to know why he was taken away. The commissioners replied that they were executing the orders of the council of the commune. The king tenderly embraced his son and charged me to conduct him. on my return i assured his majesty that i had delivered the prince to the queen which appeared a little to relieve his mind his majesty afterwards for some minutes walked about his room in much agitation then sat down in an arm-chair at the head of the bed the door stood ajar but the officer did not like to go in wishing as he told me to avoid questions but half an hour passing thus in dead silence he became uneasy at not hearing the king move and went softly in he found him leaning with his head upon his hand apparently in deep thought the king upon being disturbed said what do you want with me i was afraid answered the officer that you were unwell i am obliged to you replied the king replied the king in an accent replete with anguish. But the manner in which they have taken my son from me cuts me to the

Starting point is 14:07:02 heart. The municipal officer withdrew without saying a word." End quote. From this time forth, with a barbarity inconceivable in these human fiends and days of merciless and more than devilish crime, the wretched Louis was refused all access to his miserable family. The use of a razor was denied him, so that he suffered actual pain from the irritation of his face, until on the eve of his execution, he was permitted to shave in the presence of a municipal. He was permitted, it is true, the aid of counsel and the use of pens and paper, but what availed either when his sentence was predetermined, and his death warrant almost signed before he was brought to the bar.

Starting point is 14:07:46 He named Tronchet and Target as his advocates, but the latter dastardly refused the perilous but honorable office. but the vacancy occasioned by his baseness was nobly failed by the venerable Malzalb, who volunteered to act in his defense for which most honorable action he suffered in after-days with nearly his whole family by the same fatal instrument from which he vainly strove to preserve his king. On December 11th he was first brought before the assembly. During above a month, the strife of life and death continued,

Starting point is 14:08:18 and on the 15th of January 1793, the voting-convents. commenced on these three questions. First, is Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against liberty and of attempts against the general safety of the state? Two, shall the definitive judgment on Louis be referred to the primary assemblies? Three, what punishment shall be inflicted on Louis? On all these points, judgment was pronounced adverse to the king. The Girondin, basely sacrificing their opinions which were in favor of Louis to their personal fears. It is consolatory to know

Starting point is 14:08:56 that they all shortly followed him down the one dark road which must be trod by the monarch and the slave, by the victim and his assassin, and that too, by the same bloody death. And it is almost painful to consider that by the courage and dignity they showed in

Starting point is 14:09:12 their last hours. They have in some sort, redeemed in popular opinion, their cowardice and guilt, in yielding to the bloodthirsty faction. who in after days reeked on them the same vengeance which they now voted against their guiltless king. A majority of fifty-three pronounced for the death of this weak man but blameless king. The Duke of Oliant, his nearer kinsman, and father to the late king of the French, among the number. All efforts to obtain a reconsideration, a reference or delay were fruitless.

Starting point is 14:09:43 The majority were bent on death, and the executive council was charged with the melancholy commission of carrying the same. sentence into execution. All the ministers were assembled in the hall where they met, and they were struck with consternation. Garat, as Minister of Justice, had the most painful of all tasks imposed upon him, that of acquainting Louis Sees with the decrees of the convention. He repaired to the temple, accompanied by Saint-Air, by a deputation of the commune and at the criminal tribunal, and by the secretary of the executive council. Louis-says had been four days expecting his defenders and applying in vain to see them. On the 20th of January, at two in the afternoon, he was still awaiting them, when all at once

Starting point is 14:10:29 he heard the sound of a numerous party. He stepped forward, and perceived the envoys of the executive council. 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. Gruevel, secretary of the executive council, read them to him. The first declared Louis Say's guilty of treason against the general safety of the state. The second condemned him to death.

Starting point is 14:11:00 The third rejected any appeal to the people, and the fourth and last, ordered his execution in 24 hours. Louis looked calmly around upon all those who were about him, took the paper from the hand of Gruvel, put it in his pocket, 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. The king gave him at the same time the address of the ecclesiastic, whose assistance he wished to have in his last moments. Louis Cés went back into his room with great composure, ordered his dinner, and ate as usual. There were no knives on the table, and his attendance refused to let him have any.

Starting point is 14:11:51 Do they think me so weak, he exclaimed, as to lay violent hands on myself? I am innocent, and I am not afraid to die. He was obliged to dispense with a knife. On finishing his repast, he returned to his apartment, and calmly awaited the answer to his letter. The convention refused the delay, but granted all the other demands which he had made. Garin sent for Edgeworth the Firmont, the ecclesiastic whom Louiss had chosen, and took him in his own carriage to the temple. He arrived there at six o'clock and went to the great tower, accompanied by Sant'er. He informed the king that the convention allowed him to have a minister and to see his family alone,

Starting point is 14:12:34 but that it rejected the application for delay. Gerard added that Monsieur Edgworth had arrived and that he was in the council room and should be introduced. He then retired, more astonished and more touched than ever by the calm magnanimity of the prince. End quote. In the whole history of the world, there is perhaps no sadder scene than the meeting of Louis with his family, from whom he had been so barbarously and so unnecessarily separated during the dreadful crisis of his fate, separated solely, as it would appear, for the hideous purpose of depriving him of any consolation, and rendering his last hours as miserable as they could be rendered.

Starting point is 14:13:14 That meeting was but preparatory to an immediate and eternal separation. A single day's delay had been refused him, and on the evening of the very day on which his sentence was announced to him, the eve of his last earthly morrow, the following scene occurred, which shook even the hearts of the stern and savage functionaries who beheld it. Again we quote from Cleary. Quote,

Starting point is 14:13:38 At eight o'clock, the king came out of his closet and desired the municipal officers to conduct him to his family. They replied, that could not be, but his family should be brought down if he desired it. Be it so, said his majesty, and accordingly at half-past eight, the door opened and his wife and children made their appearance. They all threw themselves into the arms of the king. A melancholy silence prevailed for some minutes, only broken by sighs and sobs. The queen made an inclination towards his majesty's chamber. No, said the king, we must go into this room. I can only see you there.

Starting point is 14:14:17 They went in, and I shut the glass door. The king sat down. The queen was on his left hand, Madame Elizabeth on his right, Madame Royal, nearly opposite, and the young prince stood between his legs. All were leaning on the king and often pressed him to their arms. This scene of sorrow lasted an hour, and three-quarters during which it was impossible to hear anything it could however be seen that after every sentence uttered by the king the agitation of the queen and princesses increased lasted some minutes and then the king began to speak again

Starting point is 14:14:54 it was plain from their gestures that they received from himself the first intelligence of his condemnation at a quarter past ten the king rose first they all followed i opened the door the queen held the king by his right arm their majesties gave each a hand to the dauphin madame royale on the king's left had her arms round his body and behind her madame elizabeth on the same side had taken his arm they advanced some steps towards the entry door breaking out into the most agonizing lamentations i assure you said the king that i will see you again to-morrow morning at eight o'clock you promise said they all together yes i promise why not at seven o'clock asked the queen well yes at seven replied the king farewell he pronounced farewell in so impressive a manner that their sobs were renewed and madame royale faded at the feet of the king round whom she had clung his majesty willing to put an end to this agonizing scene once more embraced them all most tenderly and had the resolution to tear himself from their arms farewell farewell said he and went into his chamber the queen princesses and dauphé returned to their own apartments and though both the doors were shut their screams and lamentations were heard for some time on the stairs the king went back to his confessor in the turret closet on the following morning pursues cleri on hearing five o'clock strike i began to light the fire the noise i made awoke the king who drawing his curtains asked if it had struck five.

Starting point is 14:16:40 I said it had by several clocks, but not yet by that in the apartment. Having finished with the fire, I went to his bedside. I have slept soundly, said his majesty, and I stood in need of it. Yesterday was a trying day to me. Where is Monsieur Edgeworth?

Starting point is 14:16:58 I answered on my bed. And where were you all night? On this chair? I am sorry for it, said the king. and gave me his hand at the same time tenderly pressing mine. I then dressed his majesty who, as soon as he was dressed, bade me to go and call Monsieur Edgeworth, whom I found already risen, and he immediately attended the king to the turret.

Starting point is 14:17:22 Meanwhile, I placed a chest of drawers in the middle of the chambers and arranged it in the form of an altar for saying Mass. The necessary articles of dress had been brought at two o'clock in the morning. The priest's garments I carried into my chamber, and when everything was ready I went and informed his majesty. He had a book in his hand which he opened, and finding the place of the Mass gave it to me. He then took another book for himself.

Starting point is 14:17:48 The priest, meanwhile, was dressing. Before the altar I had placed an armchair for his majesty with a large cushion on the ground. The cushion he desired me to take away, and went himself to his closet for a smaller one made of hair, which he commonly used at his prayers. When the priest came in, the municipal officer retired into the ante-chamber, and I shut one-fold of the door. The mass began at six o'clock.

Starting point is 14:18:15 There was profound silence during the awful ceremony. The king all the time on his knees heard mass with the most devout attention, and received the communion. After the service he withdrew to his closet, and the priest went into my chamber to put off his official attire. 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.

Starting point is 14:18:48 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 all the troops in paris had been under arms from five o'clock in the morning the beat of drums the sound of trumpets the clash of arms the trampling of horses the removal of cannon which were incessantly carried from one place to another all resounded in the tower at half-past eight o'clock the noise increased The doors were thrown open with great clatter, and Saint-Air, accompanied by seven or eight municipal officers, entered at the head of ten soldiers, and drew them up in two lines. At this movement, the king came out of his closet and said to Saint-Air,

Starting point is 14:19:51 You are come for me? Yes, was the answer. Wait a moment, said his majesty, and went into his closet, whence he instantly returned, followed by his confessor. I was standing behind the king near the first. fireplace. He turned round to me, and I offered him his great-coat. I shall not want it, said he. Give me only my hat. I presented it to him, and his hand met mine, which he pressed for the last time. His Majesty then looked at Saint-Air and said, Lead on. These were the last words he spoke in his apartments.

Starting point is 14:20:28 End quote. On quitting the tower, says the Abbe Edgeworth, the king crossed the first court, formerly the garden on foot. He turned back once or twice towards the tower, as if to bid adieu to all most dear to him on earth. And by his gestures, it was plain that he was trying to collect all his strength and firmness. At the entrance of the second court a carriage waited. Two gendarmes held the door. At the king's approach, one of these men entered first and placed himself in front. His majesty followed, and placed me by his side at the back of the carriage. The other gendarme, jumped in last and shut the door. The procession lasted almost two hours.

Starting point is 14:21:12 The streets were lined with citizens all armed, and the carriage was surrounded by a body of troops formed of the most desperate people of Paris. As soon as the king perceived that the carriage stopped, he turned and whispered to me, We have arrived if I mistake not. My silence answered that we had. On quitting the vehicle, three guards surrounded his majesty,

Starting point is 14:21:35 and would have taken off his clothes but he repulsed them with haughtiness he undressed himself untied his neck-cloth opened his shirt and arranged it himself the path leading to the scaffold was extremely rough and difficult to pass the king was obliged to lean on my arm and from the slowness with which he proceeded i feared for a moment that his courage might fail but what was my astonishment when arrived at the last step i felt that he suddenly let go my arm and i saw him cross with a firm foot the breadth of the whole scaffold silence by his look alone fifteen or twenty drums that were placed opposite to him and in a loud voice heard him pronounced distinctly these memorable words i die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge i pardon those who have occasioned my death and i pray to god that the blood which you are now going to shed may never be visited on france he was proceeding when a man on horseback in the national uniformed waved his sword and ordered the drums to beat many voices were at the same time heard encouraging the executioners who immediately seized the king with violence and dragged him under the axe of the the guillotine, which with one stroke severed his head from his body." It was on Monday the 21st of January, 1793. He was aged 38 years, four months, and 28 days.

Starting point is 14:23:05 Of the sorrows of the royal family during that fatal day, the Duchess of Anjolm gives the following brief statement, Whose heart will not sympathize with the griefs of these noble mourners, three out of the four of whom were soon to follow to the tomb, the adored and faithful husband, the beloved brother, the pious and devoted father. Quote, On the morning of this terrible day, the princesses rose at six o'clock. The night before, the queen had scarcely strength enough to put her son to bed.

Starting point is 14:23:35 She threw herself, dressed as she was, upon her own bed, where she was heard shivering with cold and grief all night long. At a quarter past six, the door opened. The princesses believed they were sent for to see the king, but it was only the officers looking for a prayer book for his mass. They did not, however, abandon the hope of seeing him till the shouts of joy of the unprincipled populace announced to them that all was over. End quote.

Starting point is 14:24:03 It has been said that as the axe fell, the Abbey Edgeworth took leave of the king in the following memorable words. Son of Saint-Louis ascend to heaven. But on being questioned in after days, he declared himself unconscious of anything that passed relevant. to himself at that awful moment. Allison informs us that after this legalized murder of a good king and pious man,

Starting point is 14:24:25 whose only faults were an amiable weakness, and an over-regard for the lives of a wicked and ungrateful people. One person actually tasted the blood with a brutal exclamation that it was shockingly bitter, and the hair and pieces of the dress were sold by the attendants. No strong emotion was evinced at the moment.

Starting point is 14:24:46 The place was like a fair. But a few days after, Paris, and those who had voted for the death of the monarch, began to feel serious and uneasy at what they had done. The body of Louis was immediately after the execution removed into the ancient cemetery of the Madeline. Large quantities of quick-lime were thrown into the grave, which occasioned so rapid a decomposition that when his remains were sought after in 1815, it was with great difficulty that any part could be recovered. over the spot where he was interred napoleon commenced the splendid temple of glory after the battle of yenna and the superb edifice was completed by the bourbon and now forms the church of the medleine the most beautiful of the many beautiful structures in paris

Starting point is 14:25:31 louis was executed on the same ground with the queen the princess elizabeth and so many other noble victims of the revolution perished where robespierre and danton afterward 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 a blood-red granite which was brought from Thebes in Upper Egypt in 1833 by the French government. End quote. Thus ends the first act of the horrid tragedy never we trust to be be repeated the second of which was the slaughter of all the prisoners save one and the denouement the terrible retribution wrought on the guilty nation during the devastating wars of that child of the revolution napoleon the emperor in the course of which three millions of native frenchmen fattened the plains of foreign countries by their gore and the final subjugation of france and occupation of the regicidal capital by the descendants of the saxon the goth the vandal and the hun whom the grand nation held ever in such contemptuous loathing

Starting point is 14:26:46 verily a great lesson to guilty nations that their retribution is in this world and that in the words of the old tragedian crime begets crime and of guilt guilt is for ever the avenger of continuation. Volume 2, final chapter, of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. From the death of Louis says to the emancipation of Madame Royal.

Starting point is 14:27:25 After the decapitation of the 16th Louis, some weary months elapsed, during which the condition of the hapless survivors of that most unfortunate of kings, gradually but continually deteriorated. They were stripped one by one of every resource that might tend to cheer or alleviate the sad monotony of confinement, and they were now to endure the last extremities to which the fury of their persecutors

Starting point is 14:27:47 could subject them. The only comfort still left to them was that of living together, and that was speedily taken from them. A part of the enormities which they endured are thus described by one whose known partiality for the revolution and tenderness towards the motives and memories of its worst monsters, such as Robespierre, Pétcion and Foucéeux, are too well known to require comment, and who, in consequence, deserves implicit confidence when he feels compelled to state anything against them. Of course, we allude to the celebrated author of the history of the French Revolution and the history of the consulate and empire. That wretch Ebert, the deputy of Chomette, and editor of the disgusting paper of Per Duchen,

Starting point is 14:28:30 a writer of the party of which Vincent, Ronsein, Verl and Leclair were the leaders. Ebert 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 Sincolet 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 element for breakfast and to soup or broth,

Starting point is 14:29:04 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 wax, pewter instead of silver plate, and delftware 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's servants, and a woman-servants, and a woman's servant to attend to the linen. As soon as this resolution was passed, Ebert had repaired to the temple,

Starting point is 14:29:41 and inhumanly taken away from the unfortunate prisoners, even the most trifling articles to which they attached a high value. E. T. Louis, which Madame Elizabeth had in reserve, and which she had received from Madame de L'ambal, were also taken away. No one is more dangerous, more cruel, than the man without acquirements, without education, clothed with the recent authority,

Starting point is 14:30:02 if above all he possesses a base nature if like ebert who was a 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 ebert 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 sancolot 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 him a little exercise.

Starting point is 14:31:07 This wretch Simon, to whom was entrusted the care of the miserable child, who, born to so high promise, so speedily fell to so sad reality, is described in these words by Clerie, and no person can doubt that it was for his brutal quality alone, and the certainty that he would exercise them to the utmost for the torture of his captives, that he was indebted for his situation as jailer and tutor to the infant hitherto so sedulously nurtured. Quote, a man named Simon, a shoemaker and municipal officer, was one of the six commissioners appointed to inspect the works and the expenses of the temple. This man, whenever he appeared in

Starting point is 14:31:46 the presence of the royal family, always treated them with the vilest insolence, and would free frequently say to me so near the king as to be heard by him. "'Cleri? Ask Capet if he wants anything, that I mayn't have the trouble of coming up twice.' End quote. On the third of July, however, even the last wretched consolation of suffering in common was thought too great a boon by the wretches who composed the National Convention of France, for those who had committed no offense toward God or against man, unless it be a crime, as assuredly it seems a misfortune, to be born to elevated station.

Starting point is 14:32:21 a decree was passed on that day that the young dauphin or king should be torn from the arms of his mother when marie antoinette struggled against the efforts of the officers who would literally have forced him violently from her embrace until threatened by those fiends for men they cannot be called that they would kill both him and her daughter before her eyes when she released him not to see him on earth any more in an agony of tenderness and grief so touching that even her iron jailers melted and according to their own confession wept they wept at sufferings which they themselves had enhanced if they had not actually created and which they still persisted in enhancing to the utmost of their ability so strangely inconsistent is french if we should not rather say human nature with the child for the present we have done choosing rather to present the sad tale of the Queen's last days in an unbroken thread, than to interrupt them in order to treat of other matters, which can in another place be more fitly treated. For one month longer she was suffered to remain with her sister-in-law Madame Elizabeth and her daughter, Madame Royal. But on the 2nd of August, she was separated from these also, and consigned to the common prison of the conciergerie, as the subject of her trial or summary

Starting point is 14:33:37 condemnation was already in contemplation. She was then, as we learn from Dubrosa, lodged in a room called the council chamber, which was considered as the most unwholesome apartment in the conciergerie, on account of its dampness,

Starting point is 14:33:50 and the bad smells by which it was continually affected. Under pretense 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,

Starting point is 14:34:05 whose name was Barracin, was a robber and murderer by profession. Such was the choice, an 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,

Starting point is 14:34:32 stockings with holes, which she was forced to mend every day, and she was entirely destitute of shoes. The only furniture in this miserable cell was a straw bed covered by a ragged mattress and an old worn-out coverlet, and the various necessaries and decencies of life were denied to the woman, in which light at least, if not as the princess, she was entitled to them. But what were all bodily sufferings to the mental tortures which she must have endured? She, the fairest and most favorite princess of the proudest and most ancient house of Europe, that great house of Habsburg, which had for so many centuries filled the imperial throne of the West, who had exchanged those maiden honours only to become the bride of the most powerful king of Europe.

Starting point is 14:35:18 Yet, mental sufferings and bodily affliction served only to bring forth the native dignity and firmness of her virtue. If she had failed somewhat of the highest standard while seated on the pinnacle of human splendor and magnificence, she soared even above it from the squalor and obscenity of her foul prison-house. if not in all things equal to prosperity, she proved herself superior to the direst adversity. Her serene dignity, her proud self-possession,

Starting point is 14:35:46 her majestic mildness awed those whom it could not move. Yet let it be recorded that it did move Robespierre, for so deep need has that monstrous plot on the escutcheon of humanity of one redeeming trait that it must be recorded of him

Starting point is 14:36:01 that he did strive to avert the trial tantamount to the condemnation of the queen. His resistance was, however, of no avail. He was overpowered by a huge majority, and the trial of the Queen was decided. On the 14th of October, accordingly, she was led before the Revolutionary Tribunal. At first, the Queen,

Starting point is 14:36:22 consulting her own sense of dignity, had resolved on her trial to make no other reply to the question of her judges then, "'Assassinate me, as you have already assassinated my husband.' Afterwards, she determined to follow the example of the king, exert herself in her defense, and leave her judges without any excuse

Starting point is 14:36:40 or pretext for putting her to death. The revolutionary tribunal had determined to sacrifice the queen, but still even they felt it necessary, as Thierre states, to produce witnesses. Le Quintre, deputy of Versailles, who had seen what had passed on the 5th and 6th of October, Ebert, who had frequently visited the temple, various clerks in the ministerial offices, and several domestic servants of the old court were summoned. Admiral D'Estein, formerly commandant of the Guard of Versailles, Manuel, the ex-procureureur of the commune,

Starting point is 14:37:16 L'Hour d'Upen, ministered at war in 1789, the venerable Baye, who it was said had been with Lafayette, an accomplice in the journey to Varenne. Lastly, Valazet, one of the Géronendé, 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 lifeguards testified their attachment. Others had seen her vexed and dejected while being conducted to Paris or brought back from Varenne.

Starting point is 14:37:47 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 Duke de Quigny say in 1788 that the emperor had already received 200 millions from France to make war upon the Turks. The cynical Ebert being brought before the unfortunate queen

Starting point is 14:38:14 dared at length to prefer the charges rung from the young prince. He said that Charles Capet had given Simon an account of the journey to Varenne and mentioned Lafayette and Bailliers 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 ibert 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 rumors which had been whispered for twenty years by a malicious court had given the people a most unfavorable opinion of the morals of the queen that audience however though holy jacobin was disgusted at the accusations of

Starting point is 14:39:07 He nevertheless persisted in supporting them. The unhappy mother made no reply. Urged anew 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 destain whose enemy she had been would not say anything to inculpate her and spoke only of the courage which she had shown on the fifth and sixth of october and of the noble resolution which she had expressed to die beside her husband rather than fly

Starting point is 14:39:52 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 had so often predicted to the court the calamities which its prudence 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 Varenne 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 the whole of the evidence there appeared but two serious facts attested by Latour dupin and Valazis who deposed to them because they could not help it.

Starting point is 14:40:46 Latour du Pen declared that Marie Antoinette had applied to him for an accurate statement of the armies while he was minister at war. Valazis, 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 24, being charged with his colleagues to examine the papers found at the House of Septuille, treasurer of the civil list,

Starting point is 14:41:11 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 unfavorable construction

Starting point is 14:41:27 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

Starting point is 14:41:54 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 rumors and most trivial circumstances were eagerly caught as proofs. mary antoinette frequently repeated with presence of mind and firmness that there was no precise fact against her that besides though the wife of louis says she was not answerable for any of the acts of his reign fouquier nevertheless declared her to be sufficiently convicted chavoux la guard 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 intolerable composure the night preceding her execution and on the morning of the following day the 16th of October she was conducted amiss a great concourse of the populace to the fatal spot where ten months before louisees had perished quote by

Starting point is 14:42:52 alison at four o'clock in the morning of the day of her execution the queen wrote a letter to the princess elizabeth to you my sister said she i address myself for the last time i have been condemned not to an ignominious death. It is so only to the guilty, but to rejoin your brother. I weep only for my children. I hope that one day when they have regained their rank, they may be reunited to you and feel the blessing of your tender care. May my son never forget the last words of his father, which I now repeat from myself. Never attempt to revenge our death. I die true to the Catholic religion. deprived of all spiritual consolation, I can only seek for pardon from heaven.

Starting point is 14:43:40 I ask forgiveness of all who know me. I pray for forgiveness to all my enemies. End quote. She listened with calmness to the exhortations of the ecclesiastic who accompanied her, and to 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

Starting point is 14:44:10 up with courage to the executioner. The infamous wretch exhibited her head to the people, as he was accustomed to do when he had sacrificed an illustrious victim. Quote by la Cretel, 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 a case. occasionally tinged with a vivid color 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 tumble with her arms tied behind her,

Starting point is 14:44:47 she was taken by 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. End quote. The Jacobin were overjoyed. "'Let these tidings be carried to Austria,' said they. "'The Romans sold the ground occupied by Hannibal. We strike off the heads that are dearest to the sovereigns who have invaded our territory.'

Starting point is 14:45:17 "'It is a little remarkable, or perhaps we should say not a little remarkable, that all the Gerondin who signed and sealed their own just condemnation by their signing and sealing the unjust condemnation of Louis briefly followed her to the same scaffold.' we know not wherefore carlyle who so detests all human weakness defends and shrieks as he would term it over the weakness and gaiotining of the murderers verneau valet and their confederates while he has no shriek for their murdered victims it was not until the twenty-second of april following that after the gherontes after danton himself and others of the mountain had been decapitated some weeping some bellowing all blaspheming by the hands of the impass of sanson the king's surviving sister madame elizabeth was sent to death her trial says carlyle was like the rest for plots for plots she was among the kindliest most innocent of women there sat with her amid four-and-twenty others a once timorous marchioness de courageous now expressing towards her the liveliest loyalty at the foot of the scaffold elizabeth with tears in her eyes thanked this marchioness said she was grieved she could not reward her ah madame would your royal highness deign to embrace me my wishes were complete write willingly madame de crusole and with all my heart

Starting point is 14:46:47 thus they at the foot of the scaffold the royal family are now reduced to two a girl and a little boy this boy once named dauphin was taken from his mother while she yet lived and given to one simon by trade a corduainer on service then about the temple to bring him up in the principal of Sancullotism. From Carlisle we will quote no farther, for in this very passage which he begins so nobly and pathetically, before the end he degenerates into his usual pentagruelistic cynicism and grins and sneers like a hyena over the corpse of fallen royalty. What right has he to pretend to the title of philosopher, who puissant to destroy is powerless to build up? Who the habitual admirer of strong vice, and derider of innocent weakness,

Starting point is 14:47:37 has no plan or counsel for giving the power to innocence or depriving strength of its vice two very brief extracts one from the memoirs of the duchess d'angulem one from the pages of the english alison sums up this brief and sad tale the young prince was taken to that part of the tower which louise had previously occupied and the manner in which simon educated him may be judged by the statement of his sister afterwards the duchess d'angulem in her interesting history of the confinement of the royal family she says we sometimes received intelligence of my brother through the municipal officers but even that did not last long we heard him every day singing in company with simon the song of la carmagnol the Marseillaise hymn and a thousand other horrible compositions of the sort. Simone dressed him in a red cap and a Carmagnol, a small tight jacket, and made him sing at the window so as to be heard by the guard, and taught him to utter the most dreadful blasphemies and curses against God, his family, and the aristocrats. Simon gave him the coarsest food to eat and made him by force drink a quantity of wine which he naturally detested.

Starting point is 14:48:51 the night of Termin d'Or came too late to save the infant King of France, Louis Dissette. His jailer Simon was indeed beheaded, and a less cruel tyrant substituted in his place. But the temper of the times would not at first admit of any decided measures of indulgence in favor of the heir to the throne. The barbarous treatment he had experienced from Simon had alienated his reason, but not extinguished his feelings of gratitude. on one occasion that inhuman wretch had seized him by the hair and threatened to dash his head against the wall. The surgeon Nolene interfered to prevent him, and the child next day presented him with two pairs which had been given him for his supper the preceding evening, lamenting at the same time that he had no other means of testifying his gratitude. Simons and Ebert had put him to the torture to extract from him an avowal of crimes connected with his mother which he was too young to understand.

Starting point is 14:49:48 After that cruel day, he almost always preserved silence, lest his words should prove fatal to some of his relations. This resolution and the closeness of his confinement soon preyed upon his health. In February 1795, he was seized with a fever and visited by three members of the Committee of Public Safety. They found him seated at a little table making castles of cards. They addressed to him the words of kindness but could not obtain any answer. In May the state of his health became so alarming that the celebrated surgeon de Soap was directed by the convention to visit him.

Starting point is 14:50:26 His generous attentions assuaged the sufferings of the child's latter days but could not prolong his life. He died of a tumor in the knee as it was said, arising from a scrofueless affection, but in reality from the miseries he endured in his confinement, the horrible nature of his food, and the filth amid which he was intentionally forced to live by his tormentor. enters. After his death, the sufferings of his sister gradually diminished. She was detained in prison indeed, but was treated with some sort of humanity and decorum, not as a wild beast, but as a woman, if not a princess. It was at length agreed with Austria that she should be released from captivity and placed in the hands of that power, on condition of the release by her of the deputies placed in her hands by Dumorier, as also Lafayette and his associates. She was released from

Starting point is 14:51:17 the temple on the 19th of December 1795. The minister of the interior himself went to fetch her and conducted her with the greatest respect to his own hotel whence she set out accompanied by persons of her own selection. An ample provision was made for her journey

Starting point is 14:51:33 and she was thus conveyed to the frontiers. She afterwards married her cousin the Duke D'Angoulem, and obtained by her conduct at Bordeaux in 1815 the highest praise for her courage. Napoleon is said to have observed with regard to her that she was the only man in the family by the death of the child tophine otherwise louis the seventeenth the crown hereditary of france devolved on the head of the count of provence who became on the restoration in eighteen fifteen king louis of france

Starting point is 14:52:06 on his death without heirs male he was succeeded by his brother chaldis who lost his throne in the three days of july eighteen thirty he subsequently died in exile, and the hereditary crown de Jure now rests, though probably it never will do so de facto, on the head of his son, the Duke de Bordeaux, titularly, Henri Cain, of France. Thus ends this awful history of crime and sorrow. A lesson both to sovereigns and to nations. Would sovereigns or nations either ever give ear to the teachings of history? But of a verity the course of human events as they occur age after age, so similar to as almost to seem the same, go far to show the truth of the old Romans saying that, Whom God willeth to destroy, he first demented.

Starting point is 14:52:57 End of Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campon. Thank you for listening.

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