all her
other children.[4]

With the death of the empress we lose the aid of Mercy's correspondence,
which has afforded such invaluable service in the light it has thrown on
the peculiarities of Marie Antoinette's position, and the gradual
development of her character during the earlier years of her residence in
France. We shall again obtain light from the same source of almost greater
importance, when the still more terrible dangers of the Revolution
rendered the queen more dependent than ever on his counsels. But for the
next few years we shall be compelled to content ourselves with scantier
materials than have been furnished by the empress's unceasing interest in
her daughter's welfare, and the embassador's faithful and candid reports.

The death of Maria Teresa naturally closed the court of her daughter
against all gayeties during the spring of 1781. Still, one of the taxes
which princes pay for their grandeur is the force which, at times, they
are compelled to put upon their inclinations, when they dispense with that
retirement which their own feelings would render acceptable; and, after a
few weeks of seclusion, a few guests began to be admitted to the royal
supper-table, among whom, as a very extraordinary favor, were some Swedish
nobles;[5] one of whom, the Count de Stedingk, had established a claim to
the royal favor by serving, with several of his countrymen, as a volunteer
in the Count d'Estaing's fleet in the West Indies. Such service was highly
esteemed by both king and queen, since Louis, though he had been
unwillingly dragged into the war by the ambition of the Count de Vergennes
and the popular enthusiasm, naturally, when once engaged in it, took as
vivid an interest in the prowess of his forces as if he had never been
troubled with any misgivings as to the policy which had set them in
motion; and Marie Antoinette was at all times excited to enthusiasm by any
deed of valor, and, as we have seen, took an especial interest in the
achievements of the navy.

The King of Sweden, the chivalrous Gustavus III., had already made the
acquaintance of Louis and Marie Antoinette in a short visit which he had
paid to France the year after their marriage; and the queen now wrote to
him in warm praise of M. de Stedingk, and all his countrymen who had come
under her notice, while the king rewarded the count's valor and the wounds
which had been incurred in its exhibition by an order of knighthood,[6]
and the more subst