DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

in his circle—he might have made a good constitu- tional sovereign, but he always was and always would have been a weak and irresolute ruler. Unable to give the word of command at the right moment, he always faltered before taking an important de- cision, and, when he took it, it was always too late; indeed, these two words may serve as the motto for his reign. Every measure of reform he consented to, every liberty he granted, came too late to be of service. Though the king was absolute, hallowed by the traditions of a dynasty extending back 800 years, and the arbiter of the destinies of his subjects, his personality was eclipsed by that of his consort. The character of Marie Antoinette has long suffered from the aspersions cast upon it during the Revo- lution ; and it is only now, when the passions of that epoch have been assuaged by time, that we have been enabled to thresh out the truth from the mass of records of the period. Her subjects, always tending to extremes, and swayed by the sentiment of the moment, worshipped her at first ; then suddenly veered round, overwhelmed her with insults, and defiled her with calumnies. She arrived from Vienna in the most dissolute court in Europe, a mere child of fifteen, and became queen at nineteen. Advisers and tutors were given her, it is true, but their efforts were wasted