Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/568

 428 General History of Europe hunting and of pottering about in a workshop, where he spent his happiest hours. He was a well-meaning young man, with none of his grandfather's vices. He tried now and then to attend to the disagreeable busi- ness of govern- ment, and would gladly have made his people happy if that had not required more en- ergy than he pos- sessed. He had little of the inter- est in public affairs that we found in Frederick the Great or Gather ine II; he was never tempted to rise as they had at five o'clock in the morning in or- der to read State papers. 744. Marie An- toinette. His wife was the beautiful Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa. The mar- riage had been arranged in 1770 with a view of maintaining the alliance which had been concluded between France and Austria in 1756 ( 659). The queen was only nineteen years old when she came to the throne, light-hearted and eager for pleasure. She dis- liked the formal etiquette of the court at Versailles and shocked people by her thoughtless pranks. She loved intrigue and did not A. LETTER OF MARIE ANTOINETTE From a letter written July 12, 1770, to her mother, Maria Theresa. The immaturity of the handwriting, the mistakes in spelling, and general carelessness show what an undeveloped girl she was when she came to the gay court of Versailles