n which she was developing; on her wit and readiness in
repartee; on her originality, as well as facility of expression; and on
her perfect possession of the royal art of speaking to a whole company
with such notice of each member of it, that each thought himself the
person to whom her remarks were principally addressed. She possessed
another accomplishment, also, of great value to princes--a tenacious
recollection of faces and names. And she had made herself acquainted with
the history of all the chief nobles, so as to be able to make graceful
allusions to facts in their family annals of which they were proud, and,
what was perhaps even more important, to avoid unpleasant or dangerous
topics. The king himself was not insensible to the increase of attraction
which her charms, both of person and manner, conferred on the royal
palace. He was perfectly satisfied with the civility of her behavior to
Madame du Barri, who admitted that she had nothing to complain of. And
the only point in which even Mercy, the most critical of judges, saw any
room for alteration in her conduct was a certain remissness in bestowing
her notice on men of real eminence, and on foreign visitors if they were
not of the very highest rank; the remark as to the latter class being
perhaps dictated by a somewhat excessive natural susceptibility, and by a
laudable desire that any Germans who returned from France to their own
country should sing her praises in her native land.

Perhaps one of the strongest proofs of the regard in which, at this time,
she was held by all parties in the court is found in the circumstance that
the Count de Provence himself very soon found it impossible to continue
his countenance to the intrigues against her which he had previously
favored. He preferred ingratiating himself and the countess with her.
Marie Antoinette was always placable, and from the first had been eager,
as the head of the family, to place her sister-in-law at her ease; so that
when the count evinced his desire to stand on a friendly footing with her,
she showed every disposition to meet his wishes, and the spring and summer
of 1772 exhibited to the courtiers, who were little accustomed to such
scenes, a happy example of an intimate family union. Marie Antoinette had
always been fond of music, and, as we have seen before, ever since her
arrival in France, had devoted fixed hours to her music-master. And now,
on almost every evening which was not otherwise pre