DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

| ( i ) | an assembly of twenty persons, each one would | fancy that he or she was an object of special favour. At a time when domestic virtue was almost unknown the king and queen gave a bright example of conjugal devotion, which was enhanced with the lapse of years. In judging Marie An- toinette, we must bear in mind that she was the true product of her age. She was a royal princess of the eighteenth century, imbued with a thorough consciousness of her birth and position, and _be- lieving that the fortunes and welfare of France were inseparably bound up with those of the sovereign. Moreover, we must take into account that she was thoroughly German in her disposition, and never quite understood the temper of her French subjects and courtiers. Simple in the midst of the greatest luxury, she preferred a cottage to a palace, and unconventional intercourse with her favourites to the ponderous ceremonies of the court. But her nature, though generous, affectionate, and true, was deficient in seriousness. Her favourites she mistook for friends. Her conversation lacked concentration, and she was unable to dwell on any serious subject, or to develop any great idea or principle. Instead of heeding her advisers and masters, she plunged recklessly into the frivolities of court life ; instead of perfecting her education, she read novels; in-