New-York tribune., 1894-01-07
THE COURT OF LOUIS XT.
MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE COUNTESS
DU BARRY.
LAST YEARS OF LOUIS Ky. BY 1mbert De saint
Amand Translated by Elizabeth Gilbert Mar
tin With portraits PIP. vi. 22o. Charles Serb
ner's Sons.

LAST YEARS OF LOUIS Ky. BY Imbert de Saint
Amand. Translated BY Elizabeth Gilbert Mar
tin With portraits. PIP. vi. go Charles Serb
ner's Sons.
While Louis XIV went from bad to worse as
he approached the day Of his wretched and ND
eous death, there came a figure into his later
years that Frightened II it could not purify, the
prosaic foulness Of the court. This figure was. OF
course not that of the Countess Du Barry. She
served to dispel at times the WEAKNESS OF the
King. but her presence and her history only put
climax on the scandals Of the reign. Her pred
ccessors in the favor Of the King had been aris-
tocratic or ambitious. She was merely good
natured She had the instincts misdirected OF a
woman of the people and her first thought
was always not Of governing. but of being gov
erned She seems never TO have taken herself
seriously as a woman Of title. On the contrary.
she was inclined to measure all things in her
life with the King by standards already familiar
to her When she quarrelled with Choiseul the
Kings Minister. who had been the friend OF
Nine. de Pompadour. and was TO be looked upon
as benefactor by Marie Antoinette. she would
gladly have made peace in the ready fashion
of her working days with a bow and kind
word. And when she saw that the Minister was
unyelding she put her wishes before the King
in very domestic phrase She told him how she
had discharged her cook. and added: Il have
got rid OF my Choiseul; when are you going TO
get rid Of yours?" Such were the saes with
which she amused monarch whose only hope
in life was to escape for little while each day
from being bored NJ de Saint-Amand Is evi-
IDENTIFY rather partial to her as contrasted with
Nine de Pompadour. If she did no good. she did,
in his opinion. far less harm than her scheming
predecessor who was eager for the activity and
cio Tbn ht her
ambition. did France irreparable injury. She
was loyal only TO herself The other meant no
harm. She cared not who appointed Ministers
and generals, and aside from her relations with
the King she had a feeling Of loyalty which
survived him. NJ. de Sant-Amand remarks
upon the courage with which she protected in
her house the wounded bodyguards in 1888
When Marie Antoinete thanked her she re-
sponded by Offering everything she had to the
Queen. "All that / possess" she wrote. came
to me from the royal family; have too much
gratitude ever to forget It," This was her mes
sage to a woman against whom. In the days Of
her power, she had felt some bitterness
woman who could not see Du Barry without
moral resentment.
1t was Marie Antoinettc herself whose ap-
pearance changed somewhat the aspect Of the
court. To his own daughters the King was
tremendously Indifferent. But the beautiful
wife Of his grandson was one Of the few Great
ures on earth for whom he could cherish pure
affection. Had 1t not been for n little unsteadi-
ness and lack Of constancy in her own treat
ment Of the King. Marie Antonette as Dauphin-
ess might have welded greater influence than
she did. She was not merely the pet Of the old
monarch, she was the idol Of the court and the
nation Everywhere she was looked upon as
first In grace and beauty. when. at the begin
ming Of the second act Of Clicks Iphigenia
the chorus exclaims. Sing. let us celebrate our
Queen" the public turns toward the Dauphin-
ess and salutes her enthusiastically, as II her
reign had already begun She did indeed suffer
from the malicious intrigucs Of the court before
she became Queen; but. compared with her la
sorrows her life as Dauphincss was unclolded
One Of her most serious troubles was that Of
evading the Countess Du Barry. Her refusal to
grant anything beyond the most ambiguous cour-
tesy to the old Kings mistress was the only
point on which she steadily resisted the will OF
her Empress mother.
Nothing could be more significant, as NJ de
Saint-Amand sets II forth. than the contrast be-
tween these two famous women In the presence