their feet."

A few days after the scenes of presentation at Fontainebleau, the
royal pair made their triumphal entry into Paris. In those days of
feudal oppression and ignorance, the masses looked up to kings and
queens with a degree of superstitious reverence which, in our
enlightened land, seems almost inconceivable. Louis XIV. was a
heartless, selfish, pleasure-loving young man of twenty-one, who had
never in his life done any thing to merit the especial esteem of any
one. Maria Theresa was an amiable and pretty girl, who never dreamed
that she had any other function than to indulge in luxuries at the
expense of others. Millions were to be impoverished that she and her
husband might pass through life reveling in luxury and charioted in
splendor. One can not contemplate such a state of things without being
agitated by the conflicting emotions of pity for such folly and
indignation for such outrages. Louis and Maria Theresa were received
by the populace of Paris with as much reverence and enthusiasm as if
they had been angels descending from heaven, fraught with every
blessing.

Scarcely had the morning dawned ere the whole city was in commotion.
The streets were thronged with countless thousands in the most
brilliant gala dresses. Triumphal arches spanned the thoroughfares
through which the royal procession was to pass. Garlands of flowers
and hangings of brilliantly colored tapestry concealed the fronts of
the houses from view. The pavements were strewn with flowers and
sweet-scented herbs, over which the wheels of the carriages and the
hoofs of the horses would pass without noise. At the barrier a
gorgeous throne was erected. Here the young queen was seated in royal
state, to receive the homage of the several distinguished officers of
the city and of the realm. At the close of these ceremonies, which
were rendered as imposing as civil and ecclesiastical pomp could
create, the apparently interminable procession of carriages, and
horsemen, and footmen, with the most dazzling adornments of
caparisons, and uniforms, and banners, with resounding music, and
shouts of acclaim which seemed to rend the skies, commenced its
entrance into the city.

An antique car had been constructed, of massive and picturesque
proportions, emblazoned with gold. Upon this car the young queen was
seated. She was, in reality, very beautiful, but in this hour of
triumph, with flushed cheek and sparkling eye, robed in the richest
attire,