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190 trace the progress of the change—seemingly so strange and sudden—which sent the youthful beauty from the court to the cloister, "recall one sorrow or one disappointment in my earlier life. I had good health, a gay temper, and was surrounded by indulgence and affection,—from my father, of whom I was the darling plaything, to my nurse, whose principal object in existence was myself.

"The court was at its very gayest, when, on our return from England, my age allowed me to participate in the festivities which were the order of the day. The sombre austerity of the late King had disappeared with himself—the dissensions, whose echoes have pierced even these walls, had not then commenced. There was some truth in the flattery which said, that the queen ruled all France with a smile. But the pleasantest time of our fife leaves the lightest impression; or, perhaps, one deep feeling has absorbed all memory, as it has destroyed all hope. I am astonished to think how little I remember of all the light fancies and vanities which made the delight of my first two years at court.

"Perhaps you have heard that there was once some purpose of marriage between the Duc de Joyeuse and myself; it is of that which I have to tell. Even in your brief experience of society, you must have discovered that its success has its