vely tone to her letter; that, in spite of occasional outbursts of
levity, she had in reality the firmest affection and esteem for Louis; and
that nothing could be more irreproachable than her conduct toward him in
every respect. He added that the people in general did her full justice on
this head; that if her popularity with the Parisians had for a moment
suffered any diminution through the artifices of faction, the cloud had
been blown away; and that she had been recently received at the different
theatres with as fervent a loyalty as had greeted even her first
appearance.

The empress, however, was so uneasy that she induced her son, the Emperor
Joseph, to add his expostulations to hers; and he, who was a prince of
considerable shrewdness, as well as of a high idea of the proprieties of
his rank, wrote her a long letter of remonstrance; imputing with great
truth the failings, which he pointed out with sufficient plainness, to a
facility of disposition which made her indulgent to the manoeuvres of
those whom she admitted to her friendship, but who did not deserve such an
honor. He even spoke of the society which she had gathered round her, as
calculated to prevent him from performing his promise of paying her a
visit; "for what should he do in a court of frivolous intriguers?" And he
concluded by urging her to prevent these false friends from making a tool
of her for the gratification of their own selfishness and rapacity; and to
be solicitous for no friendship or confidence but that of her husband; the
study of whose wishes was to her not only a state duty, but the only one
which would make her permanently happy, and secure to her the lasting
affection of the people.

There was, however, no subject on which Marie Antoinette was so little
amenable to advice as the choice of her friends, and none on which she
more required it. Above all the frequenters of the court, two ladies were
distinguished by her especial favor--the Princess de Lamballe and the
Countess de Polignac. The princess, a daughter of the Prince de Carignan
in Savoy, having been married to the son of the Duc de Penthievre, was
left a widow before she was twenty years of age. She had been originally
recommended to Mario Antoinette in the first year of her residence in
France, partly by her royal birth, and partly by her misfortunes; and the
attachment which the dauphiness at once conceived for her was cemented by
the ardor with which it was returned. In