Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/175

MAEIE ANTOINETTE 163 in perfect harmony, and to whom she bore four children. Louis XVI. humored and hon- ored her, while she, without deep feelings of love, never ceased to respect him. According to the best authorities, she led a virtuous life in the midst of vicious associations. But the haughty spirit of her race, which asserted itself occasionally despite her general urbanity, could not always be reconciled with her fondness for familiar intercourse and her desire to please. Shortly after she became queen she conceived a warm friendship for the princess de Lamballe, and insisted upon restoring for her benefit the office of superintendent of the queen's house- hold. This entailed additional expense, and gave offence to her former ladies in waiting, who resigned, while other ladies of the court declined to serve under the princess. At the 'same time she was on bad terms with her brother-in-law the count of Provence (after- ward Louis XVIIL), the prince de Conde, and the duke of Orleans, and she made bitter ene- mies of many of the women of easy, virtue who had flourished under Louis XV., and whom she discarded. Yet while setting such examples, she was forbearing toward the fail- ings of some of her own favorites; and this .want of consistency strengthened her enemies, who made every effort to injure her in public estimation. In this they succeeded, especially after the sensation produced by the affair of the necklace (1785), in which Marie Antoinette was scandalously implicated by the woman Lamotte and the cardinal de Rohan, and for which the two latter were imprisoned. (See LAMOXTE-VALOIS.) Nothing could be proved against Marie Antoinette, who exerted herself to alleviate the condition of the prisoner La- motte, whose husband, and she herself after- ward, overwhelmed the queen with defama- tions. This affair became a convenient weapon in the hands of the queen's enemies. Her famous parties at the Trianon were described as orgies, and her fondness for private the- atricals and for unceremonial balls and amuse- ments became pretexts for atrocious calumnies. At the same time she was denounced as hos- tile to France, and as solely laboring in the interest of Austria. Ever since the birth of the first dauphin (1781) she had been charged, and not without some reason, with mixing her- self up too much with politics. But at length she was accused of being the cause of all the national and financial troubles ; of having pro- cured vast sums for her brother, the emperor Joseph II. ; of having helped the Polignac family to grow rich at the expense of the state ; and of warmly supporting the administration of the unpopular Calonne, who gratified all her caprices, and whose influence became para- mount after the death of Vergennes (1787). Marie Antoinette was often admonished by her brother Joseph, as she hadl>een by her mother, who were especially alarmed at her loss of prestige consequent upon her over-familiar in- tercourse with the Polignacs and other friends. Many sarcastic songs were circulated in Paris, in which she was held up to ridicule and op- probrium. Her opposition to the assembling of the notables for the consideration of the financial situation confirmed the popular pre- judices against her, and she was nicknamed Madame Deficit. The aid afforded to the American colonies, of which she was an en- thusiastic advocate, had been an additional source of financial embarrassment. In fact, she wrote to one of her friends, April 9, 1787: "Dearly enough do we pay to-day for our rejoicing and enthusiasm over the Amer- ican war." Calonne was removed at her in- stigation, and replaced by Lomenie de Bri- enne, archbishop of Toulouse, a prelate fond of theatricals and puerilities, and an especial favorite of the queen. She joined him in a strenuous opposition to Necker's suggestion of a convocation of the states general, which was taken up by Lafayette and by public opinion as the only alternative to revolution. But, frightened at the tumults in Paris and other places, she at last prevailed upon the prime minister to issue a decree (Aug. 8, 1788) for the meeting of the states general in May, 1789. The king continued to lead his placid life, while the queen controlled affairs of state. Loni6nie. de Brienne having lost her ' confi- dence, she placed Necker at the head of the cabinet. But the outbreak of the political storm which was gathering round the mon- archy was accelerated by her want of earnest- ness and sincerity in the proposed creation of a third estate, which she regarded as a death- blow to the nobility and as a menace to the throne. At the opening of the states general, May 5, 1789, she was received in a manner which deeply offended her pride ; and so low had she already sunk in public estimation that the habitual expression of sympathy on occa- sions of bereavement in the royal family were withheld by that body on the death of her first- born son, the dauphin, June 4, 1789. During the subsequent political developments the count de la Marck in vain appealed to her to come to an understanding with Mirabeau, to which she replied that her husband would probably never become so miserable as to be obliged to resort to such an expedient; but at a later period, when she in her turn in vain attempted to conciliate Mirabeau, she exclaimed that it was her destiny to make mischief. Appalled at the signs of the times, and at the detestation in which she was held by the populace, she led an uneasy life at the Trianon till Oct. 5, 1789, when that palace was invaded by the mob, from whose violence she only escaped by her own intrepidity. While she fully recognized the peril of the situation, the king consented to accompany the populace to Paris, a step which she regarded as fatal, and she very re- luctantly went with him and their children. Feeling that her unpopularity aggravated the difficulties of her husband's position, she now strove to remain in the background, but still