Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Traits In The Life Of The Late Unfortunate Queen Of France.
^ he sun that ushered m the morning of her birth , shone with nnrivalied nnihancy and splendour , but his rays were soon interceptor-, ana obscured b y portentous clouds , and he has at length set m blood { ° M ^ ANTOINETTA J OSEPH J of Lorraine , Archduchess of Austria , was born Nov . 2 , 1755 . the 16 th
On of May , 1770 , she was married to the Dauphin of * ranee , who on the death of his grandfather succeeded to the throne and reigned for several years by the" name of Louis XVI ' Wlien the young Dauphiness arrived in France , she was but in ser 1 mh year . Tne fame of her beauty had gone before her , and let- appearance at Versailles justified all the formed
expectations of those cnarms that had irradiated the Court of Vienna . It is thus that one of our most elegant writers describes his sensations , on recollecting the person and accomplishments of this princess : r
^ it is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of r ranee , then the Dauphiness , at Versailles ; and surely neveT lighted on this orb , which she hardly seemed to touch , a more delightful vision , i saw herjust above the horizon , decorating and cheerinothe elevated sphere . she just began to move in—glitterino- like the roormng-star , full of life , and splendor , and joy . Oh ! what a revolution « and what heart must
. a I have , to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall ! Little .-did I dream that , when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic , distant , respectful love , that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom ; little did I dream tnat ! snoulci nave lived to see such disasters fallen her in
upon a nation or gallant men , in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers . . ihougnt ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards co avenge even a look that threatened her with insult . —But the are or chivalry is gone . That of sophisters , ( Economists , and calculators , has succeeded ; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever . 2-jever , never more , shall we behold that generous loyalty to ianicand that submission
- sex , proud , that dignified obedience , tnat subordination of the heart , which kept alive , even in servitude Jtseif the spirit of an exalted freedom . The unbought grace of hie , the cheap defence of nations , the nurse of manly sentiment and feroic entej pnze is gone !• It is gone , that sensibility of principle , thai cuastity of honour , which felt a stain like a wound , which inspires courage whilst it mitigated ferocity , which enobled whatever it touched , and under which vice itself lost half its-evil , by losing all its grossness . " °
v One of tne nrst acts of the Queen , after her elevation to the tnronc , was ^ the forming and completing a treaty of alliance between ine lamily from whence she sprung , and that with which she was NOW connected , f his alliance was deemed as prejudicial to France , as it was advantageous to the House of Austria , and is said to have been the hrst action of her life that gave disgust to her new subjects ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Traits In The Life Of The Late Unfortunate Queen Of France.
^ he sun that ushered m the morning of her birth , shone with nnrivalied nnihancy and splendour , but his rays were soon interceptor-, ana obscured b y portentous clouds , and he has at length set m blood { ° M ^ ANTOINETTA J OSEPH J of Lorraine , Archduchess of Austria , was born Nov . 2 , 1755 . the 16 th
On of May , 1770 , she was married to the Dauphin of * ranee , who on the death of his grandfather succeeded to the throne and reigned for several years by the" name of Louis XVI ' Wlien the young Dauphiness arrived in France , she was but in ser 1 mh year . Tne fame of her beauty had gone before her , and let- appearance at Versailles justified all the formed
expectations of those cnarms that had irradiated the Court of Vienna . It is thus that one of our most elegant writers describes his sensations , on recollecting the person and accomplishments of this princess : r
^ it is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of r ranee , then the Dauphiness , at Versailles ; and surely neveT lighted on this orb , which she hardly seemed to touch , a more delightful vision , i saw herjust above the horizon , decorating and cheerinothe elevated sphere . she just began to move in—glitterino- like the roormng-star , full of life , and splendor , and joy . Oh ! what a revolution « and what heart must
. a I have , to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall ! Little .-did I dream that , when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic , distant , respectful love , that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom ; little did I dream tnat ! snoulci nave lived to see such disasters fallen her in
upon a nation or gallant men , in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers . . ihougnt ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards co avenge even a look that threatened her with insult . —But the are or chivalry is gone . That of sophisters , ( Economists , and calculators , has succeeded ; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever . 2-jever , never more , shall we behold that generous loyalty to ianicand that submission
- sex , proud , that dignified obedience , tnat subordination of the heart , which kept alive , even in servitude Jtseif the spirit of an exalted freedom . The unbought grace of hie , the cheap defence of nations , the nurse of manly sentiment and feroic entej pnze is gone !• It is gone , that sensibility of principle , thai cuastity of honour , which felt a stain like a wound , which inspires courage whilst it mitigated ferocity , which enobled whatever it touched , and under which vice itself lost half its-evil , by losing all its grossness . " °
v One of tne nrst acts of the Queen , after her elevation to the tnronc , was ^ the forming and completing a treaty of alliance between ine lamily from whence she sprung , and that with which she was NOW connected , f his alliance was deemed as prejudicial to France , as it was advantageous to the House of Austria , and is said to have been the hrst action of her life that gave disgust to her new subjects ,