Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/61

MARIE ANTOINETTE 243 only fear for you is negligence in your prayers and studies ; and lukewarmness succeeds negligence. Fight against it, for it is more dangerous than a more rep- rehensible, even wicked state ; one can conquer that more easily. Love your family ; be affectionate to them to your aunts as well as to your brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. Suffer no evil-speaking ; you must either silence the persons, or escape it by withdrawing from them. If you value your peace of mind, you must from the start avoid this pitfall, which I greatly fear for you knowing your curiosity. ... " Your mother, " Maria-Theresa." The grand annoyance Marie Antoinette experienced upon her entrance into the French Court, was the necessity of observing a system of etiquette to which she had been unaccustomed, and soon pronounced, with girlish vehemence, in- supportable. Barriere copies a ridiculous anecdote in illustration of this from the manuscript fragments of Madame Campan : " Madame de Noailles " (this was the first lady of honor to the dauphiness) " 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. The queen was receiving I know not whom some persons just presented, I believe ; the lady of honor, the queen's tire-woman, and the ladies of the bed-chamber were behind the queen. I was near the throne with the two women on duty. All was right ; at least, I thought so. Suddenly I perceived the eyes of Madame de Noailles fixed on mine. She made a sign with her head, and then raised her eyebrows to the top of her forehead, lowered them, raised them again, then began to make little signs with her hand. From all this pantomime, I could easily perceive that something was not as it should be ; as I looked about on all sides to find out what it was, the agitation of the countess kept increasing. The queen, who per- ceived all this, looked at me with a smile. I found means to approach her Maj- esty, who said to me in a whisper : ' Let down your lappets, or the countess will expire.' All this bustle arose from two unlucky pins, which fastened up my lap- pets, while the etiquette of costume said ' Lappets hanging down.' " To the Countess de Noailles Marie Antoinette speedily gave the name of Madame 1' Etiquette ; this pleasantry the object of it could pardon, not so the French nation. The avowed dislike to ceremony manifested by the lively little dauphiness, her desire to substitute the simple manners of her native Vienna for the stately formality of Versailles, displeased more than her genuine condescen- sion and affability attracted. Early also in her married life, to beguile the heavy tedium of their evenings, she instituted a variety of childish games which became talked of and condemned ; she liked theatrical representations, and persuaded her two young brothers-in-law, with the princesses, to join her in performing plays, and though they were kept secret for a time, she suffered for her innocent contri-