her sense of the general superiority of Choiseul, and so requiting some of
the obligations under which she considered that she lay to him for
arranging her marriage; and she received a deputation from the
re-established Parliament with marked pleasure, and replied to their
address with a graciousness which seemed intended to show that she
sincerely rejoiced at the event which had given cause for it.

It was not till Christmas that the royal family went out of mourning; but,
as soon as it was left off, the court returned to its accustomed gayety--
balls, concerts, and private theatricals occupying the evenings; though
the people remarked with undisguised satisfaction that the expenses of
former years had been greatly retrenched. It was also noticed that many
foreigners of distinction, and especially some English ladies of high
rank, gladly accepted invitations to the balls, which they certainly would
not have done while their presence was likely to bring them into contact
with Madame du Barri. Lady Ailesbury is especially mentioned as having
been received with marked distinction by the queen, and also by the king,
who was careful to show his approval of her entertainments by the share
which he took in them; and, as he paraded the saloons arm-in-arm with her,
to distinguish those whom she noticed, so that, to quote the words of one
of the most lively chroniclers of the day, their example seemed to be fast
bringing conjugal love and fidelity into fashion. She even persuaded him
to depart still further from his usual reserve, so as to appear in costume
at more than one fancy ball; the dress which he chose being that of the
only predecessor of his own house whom he could in any point have desired
to resemble, Henry IV. He had already been indirectly compared to that
monarch, the first Bourbon king, by the ingenious flattery of a print-
*seller. In the long list of sovereigns who had reigned over France in the
five hundred years which had passed by since the warrior-saint of the
Crusades had laid down his life on the sands of Tunis, there had been but