ove she inspired, and which she felt in her own heart. The court had
become exacting, the nation hostile. The instrument of the intrigues of
the court on the heart of the king, she had at first favoured and then
opposed all reforms which prevented or delayed the crises that arose.
Her policy was but infatuation; her system but the perpetual abandonment
of herself to every partisan who promised her the king's safety. The
Comte D'Artois, a youthful prince, chivalrous in etiquette, had much
influence with her. He relied greatly on the noblesse; made frequent
references to his sword. He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war
of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with
levity. The queen, intoxicated with the adulation of those around her,
urged the king to recall the next day what he had conceded on the
previous evening. Her hand was felt in all the transactions of the
government: her apartments were the focus of a perpetual conspiracy
against the government; the nation detected it, and ultimately detested
her.

Her name became for the people the phantom of all counter-revolution. We
are apt to calumniate what we fear. She was depicted under the features
of a Messalina. The most infamous pamphlets were in circulation; the
most scandalous anecdotes were credited. She may be accused of
tenderness, but never of depravity. Lovely, young, and adored, if her
heart did not remain insensible, her innermost feelings, innocent
perhaps, never gave just ground for open scandal. History has its
modesty, and we will not violate it.

XIV.

On the days of the 5th and 6th of October the queen perceived (too late)
the enmity of the people; her heart must have been full of vengeance.
Emigration commenced, and she viewed it favourably. All her friends were
at Coblentz; she was believed to be in close connection with them, and
this belief was true. Stories of an Austrian committee were busily
spread amongst the people. The queen was accused of conspiring for the
destruction of the nation, who at every moment demanded her head. A
people in revolt must have some one to hate, and they handed over to her
the queen. Her name was the theme of their songs of rage. One woman was
the enemy of a whole nation, and her pride disdained to undeceive them.
She inclosed herself in her resentment and her terror. Imprisoned in the
palace of the Tuileries, she could not put her head out of window
without provoking an outrage an