as he was repeating his text, according to the mode of preachers, he happened to cast his eyes on MARIA-ANTOINETTA: he instantaneously forgot his speech, stammered, and stopped. The Archduchess immediately offered to accept the nosegay he had in his hand. Affected with her goodness the Priest addressed her thus: "Madam, do not be surprized at my want "of recollection: Solomon himself at sight of you, would have "forgotten his fair Egyptian, lost the thread of his speech, "and addressed to you, with much more justice, the words, "pulchra es et formosa."

Wherever the Princess made any stay, she gained the hearts of every body, by her extreme mildness, affability, and beneficence. All who saw her went home enchanted with her, blessing her, and congratulating themselves that she would one day be their Queen.

Some Professors and their pupils, from towns beyond Compiégne, waited upon her, and paid their compliments in latin; and great was the astonishment of those little Ciceros, when the Princess answered them in the same language, with inconceivable fluency.

The Court was at Compiègne, and the Duke de Choiseul went to meet her at some leagues distance from that place: a favour to which he was well entitled. The Princess received him as a friend whose counsels might be of use to her, and supply her want of experience.

Louis XV, who had gone to Compiegne on purpose, went out with a great retinue to meet the Princess in the forest. As soon as she saw the King, she alighted from her carriage, and ran and threw herself at his feet. Louis, greatly affected, raised and embraced her affectionately. The beauty of her person, and the frankness of her manners, were admired by the whole Court. Louis XV, naturally very polite, and who could observe the rules of propriety, took upon himself to present the young Princess to her intended husband. The

Dauphin advancing with a lively air, seized one of her hands, and kissed it with rapture. The admiration with which he gazed at her from time to time made her cast down her eyes, while a lovely blush overspread her cheeks.

When she retired at night the ladies who attended her to her chamber told her, that she had charmed every body, but particularly the Dauphin. "I am regarded here with too much "indulgence," replied MARIA-ANTOINETTA; "my heart is " contracting debts which it will never be able to pay, but I "hope I shall at least have credit for my desire to do it."

The day after her arrival at Compiegne, she set out with the whole Court for Versailles. At St. Denis she requested to see Madame Louise*. This homage paid to virtue and true piety, gained the merited respect and praise of every worthy mind.

The carriages now proceeded towards Versailles, and all the inhabitants of Paris and the neighbouring towns crowded the road between St. Denis and the Porte-Maillot: the coaches formed a double row, and the people applauded with intoxication. The horses that drew the Princess were obliged to walk; the people pressed about her carriage to look at her and look again. She was made to observe what rapture her arrival excited. In her reply, she insinuated that she had imagined all these plaudits were intended for the King. "The French," said she, “do not see their King often enough : they cannot treat ❝me more kindly than by convincing me that they love him "whom I have already habituated myself to consider as my "new father."

The Court supped at the palace of La Muette, where by the King's favour Madame du Barry had the honour of sitting at the same table with the Princess, who, too young to form a judgment of the situation of that favourite at Court, was sen

The Aunt of Louis XVI.

sible that it was her own part to respect the will of the King. She did not appear the least embarrassed, was polite, and even when asked her opinion of the Countess du Barry, condescended to answer that she thought her charming. The expression was noticed and repeated; it was the eulogium of the beauty of Louis's mistress, but it was also the only one she merited, and the whole Court applauded the justness of the reply.

From La Muette the King went to Versailles, and on the next day, the 16th of May 1770, MARIA-ANTOINETTA OF LORRAINE, being dressed in her bridal clothes, was led in triumph to the Palace Chapel, where at the foot of the altar she received the nuptial benediction, and was united to the young Prince, who was to be the successor of Louis XV.

At three o'clock in the afternoon the sky was covered with clouds; Versailles was overflowed by torrents of rain, violent claps of thunder rent the air, and the crowd of people whom curiosity had collected in the gardens were obliged to retire. The evening was gloomy throughout the town, the fire-works were not played off, and no effect could be produced by the illuminations.

A magnificent supper was served at the Palace, and never had the Court of Versailles been more brilliant. Curiosity, the desire of appearing, the wish of obtaining a look, had drawn together an immense crowd of the Nobility, who appeared in all the splendour that rank and opulence could bestow. The Dauphiness having observed in the number of those presented to her many Noblemen whom she had seen at the Court of Vienna, said to the Princess de Chimai: "I had heard that "nothing was equal to the magnificence of the Court of Ver"sailles, but never was told that it was the point of union of all "those we are, or should wish to be, acquainted with." It was by amiable remarks, and always well-timed, that MARIAANTOINETTA enraptured the hearts of the French.

The favourable and distinguished reception she gave the Duke de Choiseul having been noticed, she pleasantly said to Madame de Noailles: "My mother has talked to us so much "about the Coachman of Europe*; that I thought myself "bound to treat him as a friend of my family's."

When the Marquis du Châtelet was introduced to her, the Countess of Périgord observed, that he had the honour of being allied to the House of Lorraine. "My brother," said she delicately, "assured me that his family trace the con"nexion for upwards of 600 years. Still there is more merit "in being a good servant of the King's, than in being my "relation."

Page 24, line 27, after-she was united.

Amidst the Court the Dauphin and Dauphiness led an exemplary life, living for each other. When by themselves, they planned the good they would do, and thought of the unfortu nate. They often left the Palace together, and rambled through the adjacent country, liberally distributed alms themselves, visited the cottages of the poor, consoled the distressed, and bestowed their bounty with a nobleness, and a generosity worthy their birth and rank.

Inhabitants of the environs of Versailles, Meudon, La Muette, St. Cloud, Trianon, St. Cyr! ye have seen the Dauphin's consort, the object of admiration and of love, steal into the asylums of the poor, and with her own hands assist to comfort the sick. But for her how many families in the lowest state of want would have been reduced to despair! Ye who

The appellation given to Mr. de Choiseul by Catherine II. of Russia, as she ascribed to him the honour of directing all the Cabinets of Europe.

for many years were witnesses of her beneficence; ye who perhaps are indebted to her generosity for a happy existence, join your homage to ours: speak again of her virtues, of her bounty; justice and gratitude call upon you.

The Dauphin's character was a mixture of mildness and severity. Of pure morals, regular in his conduct, and free from those great passions which are ever dangerous, he already gave an earnest of what he was in time to be, a good father, a good husband, a good King. He delighted to do whatever the Dauphiness wished, and took pleasure in going to the places where she had made people happy: he liked to hear her good actions spoken of; he enquired into the particulars of them, and blessed Heaven for giving him a wife after his own heart, mild, generous, beneficent.

One day, as she was walking in the neighbourhood of Ver- . sailles, she saw an old woman with five beautiful children about her, whom she was caressing in the tenderest manner. She was too old to be their mother, and her poverty rendered her caresses interesting. The Dauphiness went up and spoke to her, and heard in the accents of truth that the children were orphans, that she supplied the place of a mother to them, and that she endeavoured by her labour to provide them with sustenance. "Your example is so excellent," said MARIAANTOINETTA, "that I cannot but be eager to follow it, and "I shall take the care of you and your adopted family upon "myself." On her return to Versailles, she related what she had done in her walk to the King and the Dauphin; her humanity was applauded, and her promise realized; the old woman was taken care of, and the children placed out at board, till they could be provided for. MARIA-ANTOINETTA often told the story of her good old woman, and said with admirable grace: “Would to Heaven, all my walks had the same end!—it would be real happiness to go in quest of the unfortunate."