Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/538

524 These attractions of person were seconded by an ingenuous and affable manner, her charms were those of naiveté. The king was enchanted with her, and his flattering reception hindered her from perceiving the little emotion her husband shewed. He had been taught by the duke de la Vauguyon to have a very low opinion of won en, and esteemed marriage only a duty owing to his rank. Many years are said to have passed before she inspired him with that tender and pure attachment, which afterwards ended but with his life. The nuptials were brilliant in the highest degree; but she was fatigued with the ceremonials and restraints of the French court. Madame Dubarry and her friends found that, directed by Choiseul, Antoinette would soon have all the power in her own hands; and, after many attempts, persuaded the king to banish that minister, who left Paris accompanied by many of the nobility. Had the dauphiness been older, she might have made use of her favour with Louis to have shewn him the snare in which his favourites were bringing him; but she was a child, whom her enemies amused by a thousand little arts, to prevent her taking any part in the affair.

Louis XV. died 1774, of the small-pox, which made him abandoned by all his family, but his daughters, who were affectionate children to a tender parent. They all fell sick of the same disorder, but recovered. Though given up to gaiety and dissipation, the credit of the young queen had daily gained ground with her husband. She wished to create a new situation for Madame de Lamballe at court, which the king did not disapprove; but M. Turgot, the minister, opposed it strongly on account of the pension.—The queen, astonished to prove this opposition, complained, and the minister was dismissed to make room for Neckar, who was