to release from their responsibly the German nobles whose duties were now
terminated had been duly signed, the doors were thrown open, and Marie
Antoinette passed into the French division, as a French princess, to
receive the homage of a splendid train of French courtiers, who were
waiting in loyal eagerness to offer their first salutations to their new
mistress. Yet, as if at every period of her life she was to be beset with
omens, the celebrated German writer, Goethe, who was at that time pursuing
his studies at Strasburg, perceived one which he regarded as of most
inauspicious significance in the tapestry which decorated the walls of the
chief saloon. It represented the history of Jason and Medea. On one side
was portrayed the king's bride in the agonies of death; on the other, the
royal father was bewailing his murdered children. Above them both, Medea
was fleeing away in a car drawn by fire-breathing dragons, and driven by
the Furies; and the youthful poet could not avoid reflecting that a record
of the most miserable union that even the ancient mythology had recorded
was a singularly inappropriate and ill-omened ornament for nuptial
festivities.[4]

A bridge reached from the island to the left bank of the river; and, on
quitting the pavilion, the archduchess found the carriages, which had been
built for her in Paris, ready to receive her, that she might make her
state entry into Strasburg. They were marvels of the coach-maker's art.
The prime minister himself had furnished the designs, and they had
attracted the curiosity of the fashionable world in Paris throughout the
winter. One was covered with crimson velvet, having pictures, emblematical
of the four seasons, embroidered in gold on the principal panels; on the
other the velvet was blue, and the elements took the place of the seasons;
while the roof of each was surmounted by nosegays of flowers, carved in
gold, enameled in appropriate colors, and wrought with such exquisite
delicacy that every movement of the carriage, or even the lightest breeze,