MARIE ANTOINETTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1936, Page 10

MARIE ANTOINETTE

HER WASTED LIFE. Her life was like a day flooded with r.uh'rhine through the whole forenoon, overcast with clouds in the afternoon and closing in earthquake and disaster, says a writer on Marie Antoinette in the Melbourne ‘‘Age.” Poor child! She never had a fair chance, tier mother, Maria Theresa, Empress of* Austria, planned her daughter’s cAreer after the fashion of the times, and it was a bad fashion. She ambitiously determined to make her daughter Queen of Ki'ance! The marriage of Marie Antoinette to the ihiiijfhin of Krance'v?as essentially a political affair. Europe was governed by a system'of alliances, and one of them was a union of France.and Austria, in the hope of holding in check 100 designs of Russia,add Khglahd. “J have br.ough: her iip'ttith this design,” wrote Maria Theresa. Born on November 2, 1855, her childhood was spent happily in the palace and, gardens of Schonbrunn. Short of Stature, she was graceful, t.cndc.’, and unquestionably, beautiful, or as the poet pittf> it, ‘‘dowered with the fatal gift.” Even when pouting site was fascinating. Blue eyes, luxuriant hair of a pale blonde hue, complexion as delicate as alabaster, and an inimitable grace of movement, she excelled all lifer contemporaries, And wbn the eitcoiiiiums of coirrticis, ypets, and artists. Unhappily in her girlhodd, she was disinclined to study, and at thirteen cbiild write neither Fren’ch nor ’Gerihah correctiy, and in linisic was very backward, though fHh’ck had been her teacher, ytili'erttitio’js people fouii’d sinister portents hi her birtliddy being on the sahie day as the Lisbon earthquake, in curidiis fact thaf' tile decoration of her rooiii at Kehl inciudetl the adventiiife;.-. of Jason and Mtniba, and in the I'-aiiic a't the marriage in Paris, when kdVttul hundreds lost their lives at . til'd great. display df fireworks. The i 1 intents w'crc' not all boiled.

A DULL HUSBAND. Tiie Dauphin was sixteen, and his bride w;is fifteen; she was vivacious, and he was -a dull, decorous, and heavy husband, easily bored, almost tof/gue-tled, Ah‘d with as niiich warmth •as an iceberg. Louis XV.; grandfather of the Dauphin, a friendly old gentleman, and much more genial Ilian the j’outH who was to be his successor, had three daughters said to be tedious and spiteful, and made bitter by their father’s attatliinent to Madame Dubarry. This lady was at one time an entirely disreputable person, and prior to the death of the old king tiie uncrowned Queen of Fi’ance, and' dispenser of the roya„l favour. Here then was (he stage s 'dfi whic|i Marie Antoinette appeared. She was a fbl'ojgneV, wffc'tb the heir to the ihroiie. ihe first lady in the land. The three maiden ladies, aunts to tiie Dauphin." resolved to take their revenge upon Dubarry through Marie Antoinette. They used their iiifluehtie in such a way as to 4 involve her in a fierce struggle. She had been brought up in a cohTt that had been regarded as strictly moral, and when she knew the situation at Versailles she wrote about it to her mother, and took every opportunity to snub' Dubarry, and, if pbssiblb, drive her froth the court. Maria Theresa sent a message through Mercy, her ambassador, that the duty of the Dauphiness was to

show civility to a,ll members of the King’s circle. She refused, and the King'intervened. Mercy pointed out to her that such an attitude might cause a breach of the happy relations between the Habsburgs and the hciirbohs. She capitulated, but Dubarry tried to win her to a closer ‘Tiendship through her known craze for costly trinkets. Greatly daring, Dufearry got the King to promise to buy the Dauphiness a coveted pair of diamond earrings at a value of 700,000 livres. The Dauphiness gave Du-bari-y the cut direct, and never spoke id her again. On May 10, 1774, the

old King died, and the Dauphiness, on becoming Queen of France, promptly 'lanif.h'ed Dubarry, who nineteen years ate'r, like Hie Queen herself, endeu her career at the guillotine. A new world opened up to Marie Antoinette. Her main characteristic was a passion for personal independence. With a husband as cold-blood-ed as a fish, as Stefan Zwerg says in his very frank biography, and a mother over the border hundreds of miles away, she could grant full scope to all her caprices. Though aware

of the greatness of her position, she felt nothing of its responsibilities. Her mother wrote urging her to intel est herself in serious matters, not to incur heavy expenditure and to devote herself to makijig their people happy.

The advice «as excellent, and the neglect of it led to ruin. Critics- describe Marie Antoinette as narcissisms, the refl'rence being to the fabled Narcissus, Tvho. on seeing his face

reflected in a fountain, fell in love with himself. Marie Antoinette’s great f,ailing in her early years was that the was too deeply in love with her-

self, by no means an uncommon ailment. She loved to display herself in movement, could not bear to listen, to read, to sit, and think. At frittering away her time she was an adept. Her nearly twenty'yeabs oh the throne saw her circling in an orbit around lier own ego. She had nd definite worthy aini in life except to gad about in search of amusement, to live on tiie surface of things, to avoid diligently everything that called for toil. She could not. bear books or State documents and hated writing letters. Lover of admiration as the bfest dressed and most attractive woman at court, and also as a coquette irresisjtible, she spent her days and nights at playing with life. While her heavy loutish husband was sound asleep at home, site would be at the gambling table, or at the bill, and, as hermother said, surrounding herself ‘•with all that is worst and youngest in Paris.” Once when the king went down to her favourite private residence, the Triam . , she secretly put the clock on an hour so that she might I get sooner to Paris with her gay com- j panions. When he went obediently j so as to be in bod at 10 o’clock, her l elegant associates laughed uproarious-' ly. Popularity, flattery, applause worked on her like a charm. Fieri love of dress and gambling and pre-j cious stones, her generosity to fav-' ourites. and her passion for masked balls were symptoms of a disease which led to her downfall. I UNPOPULARITY. She became unpopular. Fewer ladies and gentlemen came to her receptions. Her appearance at the theatre or in the street cea'sbd to elicit the familiar “Vive la Reihe!” Conspiracies arose. Most of the nobility and half of the Bourgeoise tverb bn edge, and pamphlets appeared find grew

more venomous in their lampoons. Turgot and Necker did their best to restore the finances of the country, and she opposed their proposals. The miseries of France were popularly ascribed to her extravagances, and she was dubbed “Madame Deficit” and "Madame Veto.” In the face of opposition, she became bitter and obstinate, and was known as “The Aus- ■ tian.” She- did not read the signs of the times, abbot red all idea of reform, and took to plots on her own account. Mirabeau in vain urged her to accept his plans of a constitutional monarchy.

Events developed rapidly. She and the king and her children attempted to flee, but were intercepted at Varennfef; and brought back as prisoners. The revolution gathered strength. The cry “Long live the King” was changed into “Long Live the people.” The Tuilleries were stormed, and the monarchy was done with. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793, and afte? 1 imprisonment and unspeak-c.l-'e tortures of mind she followed him to the guillotine on October 16. She was accused of communicating

with foreign enemies of the republic, of conspiring against France, of squandering public moneys, and of most serious immoralities. The people were poverty-stricken, bread was scarce. During the reign of Louis

XVI the sum. of 1,250,000,000 had been borrowed; men worked for a few sous a day, ami palaces were bought and sold for ten or twenty millions, while jewels worth a million were lightly

given as presents. In face of all this Marie Antoinette asked: “What harm have I done to the people?” She began reforms too late, and came to a sad and untimely end, for she was scarcely thirty-eight years of age. Heroic at the last, her exit shed lustre on her career, its only lustre. The French Revolution was being prepared by generations of feudal iyi.ihts, but the guillotine was erected on a foundation laid in tiie palace pi.' Schonbrunn. Marie Antoinette Icvcd herself not wisely but with the loin that never has a rival. It is a gnat tragedy to bo alone in one's happiness. It remains ours only while W(_. share it with others. When we monopolise it the shadow of the guillotine is across the path.