had to pay for the infamies which
had stained the crown during the last three centuries, that the people had
learned to think that nothing was too bad to say and to believe of their
kings; and Marie Antoinette seemed as yet a fairer mark than usual for
slanderous attack, because her position was weaker than that of a King.[3]
It depended on the life of her husband and of a single son, who was
already beginning to show signs of weakness of constitution. It was
therefore with exceeding satisfaction that in the autumn of 1784 her
friends learned that she was again about to become a mother. They prayed
with inexpressible anxiety that the expected child should prove a son; and
on the 27th of March, 1785, their prayers were granted. A son was born,
whom his delighted father at once took in his arms, calling him "his
little Norman," and, saying "that the name alone would bring him
happiness," created Duke of Normandy. No prophecy was ever so sadly
falsified; no king's son had ever so miserable a lot; but no forebodings
of evil as yet disturbed his parents. Their delight was fully shared by
the body of the people; for the cabals against the queen were as yet
confined to the immediate precincts of the court, and had not descended to
infect the middle classes. It was with difficulty when, after her
confinement, she paid her visit to Paris to return thanks at Notre Dame
and St. Genevieve, that the citizens could he prevented from unharnessing
her horses and dragging her coach in triumph through the streets.[4] And
their exultation was fully shared by the better-intentioned class of
courtiers, and by all Marie Antoinette's real friends, who felt assured
that the birth of this second son had given her the security which had
hitherto been wanting to her position.

Meanwhile, she was again led to interest herself greatly in foreign
politics, though in truth she hardly regarded any thing in which her
brother's empire was interested as foreign, so deep was her conviction
that the interests of France and Austria were identical and inseparable,
and so unwearied were her endeavors to make her husband's ministers see
all questions that concerned her brother's dominions with her eyes.
Throughout the latter part of 1784, and the earlier months of 1785,
Joseph, who was always restless in his ambition, was full of schemes of
aggrandizement which he desired to carry out through the favor and
co-operation of France. At one moment he projected obta