e and natural pleasures, and whispering in their secret cabals
that her very dress was a proof that she still clung as resolutely as ever
to her Austrian preferences; that she discarded her silk gowns because
they were the work of French manufacturers, while they were her brother's
Flemish subjects who supplied her with muslins.

But, far beyond her plantations and her flowers, her child was to her a
source of unceasing delight. She could be carried by her side about the
garden a great part of the day. For, as in her anticipations and
preparations she had told her mother long before, French parents kept
their children as much as possible in the open air,[8] a fashion which
fully accorded with her own notions of what was best calculated to give an
infant health and strength. And before the babe was five months old,[9]
she flattered herself that it already distinguished her from its nurses.
That nothing might be wanting to her comfort, peace was re-established
between Austria and Prussia; and if at this time the war with England did
make her in some degree uneasy, she yet felt a sanguine anticipation of
triumph for the French arms, in the event of a battle between the hostile
fleets; a result of which, when the antagonists did come within sight of
each other, it appeared that the French and Spanish admirals felt far less
confident. Her anxieties and hopes are vividly set forth in a letter
which, in the course of the summer, she wrote to her mother, which is also
singularly interesting from its self-examination, and from the substantial
proof it supplies of the correctness of those anticipations which were
based on the salutary effect which her novel position as a mother might be
expected to have upon her character.

"Versailles, August 16th.

"My Dearest Mother,--I can not find language to express to my dear mamma
my thanks for her two letters, and for the kindness with which she
expresses her willingness to exert herself to the utmost to procure us
peace.[10] It is true that that would be a great happiness, and my heart
desires it more than any thing in the world; but, unhappily, I do not see
any appearance of it at present. Every thing depends on the moment. Our
fleets, the French and Spanish, being now united, we have a considerable
superiority.[11]

"They are now in the Channel; and I can not without great agitation
reflect that at any instant the whole fate of the war may be decided. I am
also terrified at the app