ut of doors than that of the Inspector Goupil.

A year after the nomination of Madame de Lamballe to the post of
superintendent of the Queen's household, balls and quadrilles gave rise to
the intimacy of her Majesty with the Comtesse Jules de Polignac. This
lady really interested Marie Antoinette. She was not rich, and generally
lived upon her estate at Claye. The Queen was astonished at not having
seen her at Court earlier. The confession that her want of fortune had
even prevented her appearance at the celebration of the marriages of the
Princes added to the interest which she had inspired.

The Queen was full of consideration, and took delight in counteracting the
injustice of fortune. The Countess was induced to come to Court by her
husband's sister, Madame Diane de Polignac, who had been appointed lady of
honour to the Comtesse d'Artois. The Comtesse Jules was really fond of a
tranquil life; the impression she made at Court affected her but little;
she felt only the attachment manifested for her by the Queen. I had
occasion to see her from the commencement of her favour at Court; she
often passed whole hours with me, while waiting for the Queen. She
conversed with me freely and ingenuously about the honour, and at the same
time the danger, she saw in the kindness of which she was the object. The
Queen sought for the sweets of friendship; but can this gratification, so
rare in any rank, exist between a Queen and a subject, when they are
surrounded, moreover, by snares laid by the artifice of courtiers? This
pardonable error was fatal to the happiness of Marie Antoinette.

The retiring character of the Comtesse Jules, afterwards Duchesse de
Polignac, cannot be spoken of too favourably; but if her heart was
incapable of forming ambitious projects, her family and friends in her
fortune beheld their own, and endeavoured to secure the favour of the
Queen.

[The Comtesse, afterwards Duchesse de Polignac, nee Polastron, Married the
Comte (in 1780 the Duc) Jules de Polignac, the father of the Prince de
Polignac of Napoleon's and of Charles X.'s time. She emigrated in 1789,
and died in Vienna in 1793.]

The Comtesse de Diane, sister of M. de Polignac, and the Baron de Besenval
and M. de Vaudreuil, particular friends of the Polignac family, made use
of means, the success of which was infallible. One of my friends (Comte
de Moustier), who was in their secret, came to tell me that Madame de
Polignac was about to