[Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette<br> Queen Of France by Madame Campan]@TWC D-Link book
Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette
Queen Of France

CHAPTER IV
15/18

She was the only woman who wept upon the scaffold and implored for mercy.

Her beauty and tears made an impression on the populace, and the execution was hurried to a conclusion .-- MADAME CAMPAN.] Everybody expected the recall of M.de Choiseul; the regret occasioned by his absence among the numerous friends whom he had left at Court, the attachment of the young Princess who was indebted to him for her elevation to the throne of France, and all concurring circumstances, seemed to foretell his return; the Queen earnestly entreated it of the King, but she met with an insurmountable and unforeseen obstacle.

The King, it is said, had imbibed the strongest prejudices against that minister, from secret memoranda penned by his father, and which had been committed to the care of the Duc de La Vauguyon, with an injunction to place them in his hands as soon as he should be old enough to study the art of reigning.

It was by these memoranda that the esteem which he had conceived for the Marechal du Muy was inspired, and we may add that Madame Adelaide, who at this early period powerfully influenced the decisions of the young monarch, confirmed the impressions they had made.
The Queen conversed with M.Campan on the regret she felt at having been unable to procure the recall of M.de Choiseul, and disclosed the cause of it to him.

The Abbe de Vermond, who, down to the time of the death of Louis XV., had been on terms of the strictest friendship with M.Campan, called upon him on the second day after the arrival of the Court at Choisy, and, assuming a serious air, said, "Monsieur, the Queen was indiscreet enough yesterday to speak to you of a minister to whom she must of course be attached, and whom his friends ardently desire to have near her; you are aware that we must give up all expectation of seeing the Duke at Court; you know the reasons why; but you do not know that the young Queen, having mentioned the conversation in question to me, it was my duty, both as her preceptor and her friend, to remonstrate severely with her on her indiscretion in communicating to you those particulars of which you are in possession.


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