hem
had never designed. They were in the most painful want of money. The
agitation of the last two years had rendered the treasury bankrupt. The
paper money, which now composed almost the whole circulation of the
country, was valueless. While, as it was in this paper money (assignats,
as the notes were called, as being professedly secured by assignments on
the royal domains and on the ecclesiastical property which had been
confiscated), that the king's civil list was paid, at the latter end of
each month it was not uncommon for him and the queen to be absolutely
destitute. It was with great reluctance that they accepted loans from
their loyal adherents, because they saw no prospect of being able to repay
them; but had they not availed themselves of this resource, they would at
times have wanted absolute necessaries.[8]

The royal couple still kept their health, the king's apathy being in this
respect as beneficial as the queen's courage: they still rode a great deal
when the weather was favorable; and on one occasion, at the beginning of
1792, the queen, with her sister-in-law and her daughter, went again to
the theatre. The opera was the same which had been performed at the visit
in October; but this time the Jacobins had not been forewarned so as to
pack the house, and Madame du Gazon's duet was received with enthusiasm.
Again, as she sung "Ah, que j'aime ma maitresse!" she bowed to the royal
box, and the audience cheered. As if in reply to one verse, "Il faut les
rendre heureux," "Oui, oui!" with lively unanimity, came from all parts of
the house, and the singers were compelled to repeat the duet four times.
"It is a queer nation this of ours," says the Princess Elizabeth, in
relating the scene to one of her correspondents, "but we must allow that
it has very charming moments.[9]"

A somewhat curious episode to divert their minds from these domestic
anxieties was presented by an embassy from the brave and intriguing Sultan
of Mysore, the celebrated Tippoo Sahib, who sought to engage Louis to lend
him six thousand French troops, with whose aid he trusted to break down
the ascendency which England was rapidly establishing in India. Tippoo
backed his request, in the Oriental fashion, by presents, though not such
as, in the opinion of M. Bertrand, were quite worthy of the giver or of
the receiver. To the king he sent some diamonds, but they were yellow,
ill-cut, and ill-set; and the rest of the offering was composed of a