5] Her brother Leopold, at present Grand Duke of Tuscany, afterward
emperor. His wife, Marie Louise, was a daughter of Charles III. of Spain.

[6] They, with several of the princes of the blood and some of the peers,
as already mentioned, had been banished for their opposition to the
abolition of the Parliaments; but now, in the hopes of obtaining the
king's consent to his marriage with Madame de Montessan, a widow of
enormous wealth, the Due d'Orleans made overtures for forgiveness,
accompanying them, however, with a letter so insolent that it might we be
regarded as an aggravation of his original offense. According to Madame du
Deffand (letter to Walpole, December 18th, 1772, vol. ii., p. 283), he was
only prevented from reconciling himself to the king some months before by
his son, the Due de Chartres (afterward the infamous Egalite), whom she
describes as "a young man, very obstinate, and who hopes to play a great
part by putting himself at the head of a faction." The princes, however,
in the view of the shrewd old lady, had made the mistake of greatly
overrating their own importance. "These great princes, since their
protest, have been just citizens of the Rue St. Denis. No one at court
ever perceived their absence, and no one in the city ever noticed their
presence."

[7] Lord Stormont, the English Embassador at Vienna, from which city he
was removed to Paris. In the preceding September Maria Teresa had
complained to him of being "animated against her cabinet, from indignation
at the partition of Poland."

[8] That is, sisters-in-law--the Princesses Clotilde and Elizabeth.

[9] The Hotel-Dieu was the most ancient hospital in Paris. It had already
existed several hundred years when Philip Augustus enlarged it, and gave
it the name of Maison de Dieu. Henry IV. and his successors had further
enlarged it, and enriched it with monuments; and even the revolutionists
respected it, though when they had disowned the existence of God they
changed its name to that of L'Hospice de l'Humanite. It had been almost
destroyed by fire a fortnight before the date of this letter, on the night
of the 29th of December.

[10] St. Anthony's Day was June 14th, and her name of Antoinette was
regarded as placing her under his especial protection.

CHAPTER VII

[1] They have not, however, been preserved.

[2] Mercy to Maria Teresa, June 16th, 1773, Arneth, i., p. 467.

[3] "Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI., et la Famille Royale", p. 2