ier to the favor of Louis XV. He cancelled the
resolution of the Parliament, and showed such countenance to the culprit
that d'Aiguillon, who was both ambitious and covetous, conceived the idea
of supplanting Choiseul in the Government. As one of Choiseul's principal
measures had been the negotiation of the dauphin's marriage, Marie
Antoinette was known to regard him with a good-will which was founded on
gratitude. But, unfortunately, her feelings on this point were not shared
by her husband; for Choiseul had had notorious differences with his
father, the late dauphin, and, though it was perfectly certain that that
prince had died of natural disease, people had been found to whisper in
his son's ear suspicions that he had been poisoned, and that the minister
to whom he was unfriendly had been concerned in his death.

The two plots, therefore, to overthrow the minister and to weaken the
influence of the dauphiness, went hand-in-hand, and, as might have been
expected from the character of the patroness of both, no means were too
vile or wicked for the intriguers who had set them on foot. Madame du
Barri was, indeed, seriously alarmed for the maintenance of her own
ascendency. The king took such undisguised pleasure in his new
granddaughter's company, that some of the most experienced courtiers began
to anticipate that she would soon gain entire influence over him[6]. The
mistress began, therefore, to disparage her personal charms, never
speaking of her to Louis ("France," as she generally called him), except
as "the little blowsy,[7]" while her ally, De la Vauguyon, endeavored to
further her views by exerting the influence which he mistakenly flattered
himself that he still retained over the dauphin, to surround her with his
own creatures. He tried to procure the dismissal of the Abbe de Vermond,
who, having been, as we have seen, the tutor of Marie Antoinette at
Vienna, still remained attached to her person as her reader; and whose
complete knowledge of all the ways of the court, joined to a thorough
honesty and devoted fidelity to her best interests, rendered his services
most valuable to his mistress in her new sphere. He sought to recommend a
creature of his own as her confessor; to obtain for his own daughter the
appointment of one of her chief ladies; and, with a wickedness peculiar to
the French court, he even endeavored to imitate the vile arts by which the
Duc de Richelieu had deprived Marie Leczinska of the affect