s? Madame Comtesse
Diane! Who was it, in like manner, that opposed all the Queen's
arguments against the political conduct of France and Spain, relative to
the war with England, in favour of the American Independence? The
Comtesse Diane! Not for the love of that rising nation, or for the sacred
cause of liberty; but from a taste for notoriety, a spirit of envy and
jealousy, an apprehension lest the personal charms of the Queen might rob
her of a part of those affections, which she herself exclusively hoped to
alienate from that abortion, the Comtesse d'Artois, in whose service she
is Maid of Honour, and handmaid to the Count. My dear Princess, these
are facts proved. Beaumarchais has delineated them all. Why, then,
refuse to see me? Why withdraw her former confidence from the Comte
d'Artois, when she lives in the society which promulgates antimonarchical
principles? These are sad evidences of Her Majesty's inconsistency. She
might as well see the Duc d'Orleans'

"Here my feelings overwhelmed me. I could contain myself no longer. The
tears gushed from my eyes.

"'Oh, Prince!' exclaimed I, in a bitter agony of grief--'Oh, Prince!
touch not that fatal string. For how many years has he not caused these
briny tears of mine to flow from my burning eyes! The scalding drops
have nearly parched up the spring of life!'"

SECTION IV.

"The dismissal of M. Necker irritated the people beyond description. They
looked upon themselves as insulted in their favourite. Mob succeeded
mob, each more mischievous and daring than the former. The Duc d'Orleans
continued busy in his work of secret destruction. In one of the popular
risings, a sabre struck his bust, and its head fell, severed from its
body. Many of the rioters (for the ignorant are always superstitious)
shrunk back at this omen of evil to their idol. His real friends
endeavoured to deduce a salutary warning to him from the circumstance. I
was by when the Duc de Penthievre told him, in the presence of his
daughter, that he might look upon this accident as prophetic of the fate
of his own head, as well as the ruin of his family, if he persisted. He
made no answer, but left the room.

"On the 14th of July, and two or three days preceding, the commotions
took a definite object. The destruction of the Bastille was the point
proposed, and it was achieved. Arms were obtained from the old
pensioners at the Hotel des Invalides. Fifty thousand livres wer