three hundred more were dangerously
injured.

[Illustration: MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE SCAFFOLD.]

The magnanimity of Marie Antoinette displayed itself soon after her
elevation to the throne, on the death of Louis XV. An officer of the
body-guard, who had given her offence on some former occasion,
expressed his intention of resigning his commission; but the queen
forbade him. "Remain," said she; "forget the past. Far be it from the
queen of France to revenge the injuries of the dauphiness." She
devoted herself to the interests of her people with an assiduity
unparalleled in a sovereign of her age; yet, becoming obnoxious to the
court party, her character was assailed in every shape and quarter;
she was accused of setting on foot conspiracies which never existed,
and of entertaining views which never entered her mind. She was termed
the _Austrian_, and it was openly asserted, as well as privately
insinuated, that her heart was estranged from the country of her
husband, and her mind solely occupied with the interests of her
native land.

In her conduct, there was matter for gentle reproof, but none for
malevolent accusation. A gayety which sometimes degenerated into
levity, a passion for fashionable novelties, and an undisguised
contempt for court formalities, instead of being regarded as the
foibles and imprudences of a young and innocent mind, were construed
into evidences of the existence of loose principles, unbridled
extravagance, and hatred for the nation. She was likewise charged with
pettishness under reproof; and we can readily conceive how a female of
so high a rank, conscious of the purity of her intentions, and
perpetually assailed by reckless cavillers, assumed, in reply to the
unworthy insinuations of her enemies, the tone which her virtue and
her birth appeared to warrant. The affair of the diamond necklace
created an extraordinary sensation. A jeweller at Paris demanded
payment for a necklace so costly that the finances of a queen would
hardly warrant its purchase. The result of an examination was the
proof of the queen's integrity.

On the 6th October, 1789, the mob broke into the palace of Versailles,
murdered some of the bodyguards, and threatened the queen in the most
frightful language. At midnight, she received a letter from a friendly
clergyman, advising her to seek safety in flight, as her life would be
sacrificed early the next morning. She resolved to remain, and
destroyed the warning letter