g upon him that patience would surely in time procure him all that he
asked; and, in her honest earnestness for the welfare of the nation, wept
when he withdrew without having yielded to her solicitations. It was late
in the evening and dark when he took his leave, and afterward, when he was
told that he had drawn tears from her eyes by his refusal, he said that,
had he seen them, he should have submitted to a wish so enforced, even at
the sacrifice of his own comfort and reputation.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Queen expects to be confined again.--Increasing Unpopularity of the
King's Brothers.--Birth of the Dauphin.--Festivities.--Deputations from
the Different Trades.--Songs of the Dames de la Halle.--Ball given by the
Body-guard.--Unwavering Fidelity of the Regiment.--The Queen offers up her
Thanksgiving at Notre Dame.--Banquet at the Hotel de Ville.--Rejoicing in
Paris.

How irreparable his loss was, was shown by the rapid succession of finance
ministers who, in the course of the next seven years, successively held
the office of comptroller-general. All were equally incompetent, and under
their administration, sometimes merely incapable, sometimes combining
recklessness and corruption with incapacity, the treasury again became
exhausted, the resources of the nation dwindled away, and the distress of
all but the wealthiest classes became more and more insupportable. But for
a time the attention of Marie Antoinette was drawn off from political
embarrassments by the event which alone seemed wanting to complete her
personal happiness, and to place her position and popularity on an
impregnable foundation.

In the spring she discovered that she was again about to become a mother.
The whole nation expected the result with an intense anxiety. The king's
brothers were daily becoming more and more deservedly unpopular. The Count
d'Artois, who as the father of a son, occupied more of the general
attention than his elder brother, seemed to take pains to parade his
contempt for the commercial class, and still more for the lower orders,
and his disapproval of every proposal which had for its object to
conciliate the traders or to relieve the sufferings of the poor; while the
Count de Provence openly established a mistress, the Countess de Balbi, at
the Luxembourg Palace, his residence in the capital, where she presided
over the receptions which he took upon himself to hold, to the exclusion
of his lawful princess. The Countess