y on the success of the new opera, and told him that
she had dreamed of the enchanting effect of the trio by Zemira's father
and sisters behind the magic mirror. Gretry, in a transport of joy, took
Marmontel in his arms, "Ah! my friend," cried he, "excellent music may be
made of this."--"And execrable words," coolly observed Marmontel, to whom
her Majesty had not addressed a single compliment.

The most indifferent artists were permitted to have the honour of painting
the Queen. A full-length portrait, representing her in all the pomp of
royalty, was exhibited in the gallery of Versailles. This picture, which
was intended for the Court of Vienna, was executed by a man who does not
deserve even to be named, and disgusted all people of taste. It seemed as
if this art had, in France, retrograded several centuries.

The Queen had not that enlightened judgment, or even that mere taste,
which enables princes to foster and protect great talents. She confessed
frankly that she saw no merit in any portrait beyond the likeness. When
she went to the Louvre, she would run hastily over all the little "genre"
pictures, and come out, as she acknowledged, without having once raised
her eyes to the grand compositions.

There is no good portrait of the Queen, save that by Werthmuller, chief
painter to the King of Sweden, which was sent to Stockholm, and that by
Madame Lebrun, which was saved from the revolutionary fury by the
commissioners for the care of the furniture at Versailles.

[A sketch of very great interest made when the Queen was in the Temple and
discovered many years afterwards there, recently reproduced in the memoirs
of the Marquise de Tourzel (Paris, Plon), is the last authentic portrait
of the unhappy Queen. See also the catalogue of portraits made by Lord
Ronald Gower.]

The composition of the latter picture resembles that of Henriette of
France, the wife of the unfortunate Charles I., painted by Vandyke. Like
Marie Antoinette, she is seated, surrounded by her children, and that
resemblance adds to the melancholy interest raised by this beautiful
production.

While admitting that the Queen gave no direct encouragement to any art but
that of music, I should be wrong to pass over in silence the patronage
conferred by her and the Princes, brothers of the King, on the art of
printing.

[In 1790 the King gave a proof of his particular good-will to the
bookselling trade. A company consisting of the first Paris