CHAPTER III.
Feelings in Germany and France on the Subject of the Marriage .-- Letter of Maria Teresa to the Dauphin--Characters of the Different Members of the Royal Family .-- Difficulties which beset Marie Antoinette .-- Maria Teresa's Letter of Advice .-- The Comte de Mercy is sent as Embassador to France to act as the Adviser of the Dauphiness .-- The Princesse de Lorraine at the State Ball .-- A Great Disaster takes place at the Fire-works in Paris.
-- The Peasant at Fontainebleau .-- Marie Antoinette pleases the King .-- Description of her Personal Appearance .-- Mercy's Report of the Impression she made on her First Arrival.
The marriage which was thus accomplished was regarded with unmodified pleasure by the family of the bride, and with almost equal satisfaction by the French king.

In spite of the public rejoicings in both countries with which it was accompanied, it can not be said to have been equally acceptable to the majority of the people of either nation.

There was still a strong anti-French party at Vienna,[1] and (a circumstance of far greater influence on the fortunes of the young couple) there was a strong anti-Austrian party in France, which was not without its supporters even in the king's palace.

That the marriage should have been so earnestly desired at the imperial court is a strange instance of the extent to which political motives overpowered every other consideration in the mind of the great Empress-queen, for she was not ignorant of the real character of the French court, of the degree in which it was divided by factions, of the base and unworthy intrigues which were its sole business, and of the sagacity and address which were requisite for any one who would steer his way with safety and honor through its complicated mazes.
Judgment and prudence were not the qualities most naturally to be expected in a young princess not yet fifteen years old.

The best prospect which Marie Antoinette had of surmounting the numerous and varied difficulties which beset her lay in the affection which she speedily conceived for her husband, and in the sincerity, we can hardly say warmth, with which he returned her love.