The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of FranceYonge, Charles Duke
History
The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
Yonge, Charles Duke
Marie Antoinette, Queen, consort of Louis XVI, King of France, 1755-1793
So vast and disorderly was the procession that it was nine o'clock at
night before it reached Paris. Bailly again met the royal carriage at the
barrier, and, re-assuming the tone of coarse insult which he had adopted
on the king's previous visit, had the effrontery to describe the day so
full of horror to every one, and of humiliation and agony to those whom he
was addressing, as a glorious day. It was at such moments as these that
Louis's impassibility assumed the character of dignity. He disdained to
notice the mayor's insolence, and briefly answered that it was always with
pleasure and with confidence that he found himself among the inhabitants
of his good city of Paris. He proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville, where the
council of civic magistrates was sitting; and where the president
addressed him in language which afforded a marked contrast to that of the
mayor, calling him "an adored father who had come to visit the place where
he could meet with the greatest number of his children." And it seemed as
if Bailly himself had become in some degree ashamed of his insolence; for
now, when Louis desired him, in reply to the president's address, to
repeat the answer which he had made to him at the barrier, he merely said
that the king had come with pleasure among the Parisians. "The king, sir,"
interrupted the queen, "added, 'and with confidence.'" "Gentlemen," said
Bailly, "you hear her majesty's words. You are happier in doing so than if
I myself had uttered them." The whole company burst into one rapturous
cheer, and at their request the king and queen showed themselves for a few
minutes at the windows, beneath which, late as the hour was, a vast
multitude was still collected, which received them with vociferous cheers.
And then the royal family, quitting the Hotel, drove to the Tuileries,
where their attendants had been hastily making such preparations as a few
hours allowed for their reception.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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