!' cries Richelieu, who had just recognized the carriage and the
livery of the favorite; 'she will enter if you give the order.' Just
then, Mme. du Barry enters behind the Comtesse de Bearn, bedecked with
the hundred thousand francs' worth of diamonds the king had sent her,
coifed in that superb headdress whose long scaffolding had almost made
her miss the hour of presentation, dressed in one of those triumphant
robes which the women of the eighteenth century called 'robes of
combat,' armed in that toilette in which the eyes of a blind woman
(Mme. du Deffand) see the destiny of Europe and the fate of ministers;
and it is an apparition so beaming, so dazzling, that, in the first
moments of surprise, the greatest enemies of the favorite cannot
escape the charm of the woman, and renounce calumniating her beauty."

According to reports, her beauty must have been of the ideal type of
the time. All the portraits and images that Mme. du Barry has left
of herself, in marble, engraving, or on canvas, show a _mignonne_
perfection of body and face. Her hair was long, silky, of an ashen
blonde, and was dressed like the hair of a child; her brows and lashes
were brown, her nose small and finely cut. "It was a complexion which
the century compared to a roseleaf fallen into milk. It was a
neck which was like the neck of an antique statue...." In her were
victorious youth, life, and a sort of the divinity of a Hebe; about
her hovered that charm of intoxication, which made Voltaire cry out
before one of her portraits: _L'original etait fait pour les dieux!_
[The original was made for the gods!]

In her lofty position, Mme. du Barry sought to overcome the objections
of the titled class, to quell jealousies and petty quarrels; she did
not usurp any power and always endeavored not to trouble or embarrass
anyone. After some time, she succeeded in winning the favor of some of
the ladies, and, when her influence was fairly well established, she
began to plan the overthrow of her enemy, De Choiseul, minister of
Louis XV. She became the favorite of artists and musicians, and
all Europe began to talk and write about this woman whom art had
immortalized on canvas and who was then controlling the destinies of
France. She succeeded, under the apprenticeship of her lover, the
Duc d'Aiguillon, who was the outspoken enemy of De Choiseul, in
accomplishing the fall of the minister and the fortune of her friend.
This success required but a short time fo