pretended to assert; and they grew the bolder because the king's next
brother was about to be married to a Savoyard princess, of whose favor De
la Vauguyon flattered himself that he was already assured. Under these
circumstances Marie Antoinette behaved with consummate prudence, as far at
least as her enemies were concerned. She despised the efforts made to
lower her in the general estimation so completely that she seemed wholly
unconscious of them. She did not even allow herself to be provoked into
treating the authors of the calumnies with additional coldness; but gave
no handle to any of them to complain of her, so that the critical and
anxious eyes of Mercy himself found nothing to wish altered in her conduct
toward them.[14] And throughout the winter she pursued the even tenor of
her way, making herself chiefly remarkable by almost countless acts of
charity, which she dispensed with such judgment as showed that they
proceeded, not from a heedless disregard of money, but from a thoughtful
and vigilant kindness, which did not think the feelings any more than the
necessities of the poor beneath her notice.

Circumstances to which she contributed only indirectly enhanced her
popularity and weakened the effects of the mistress's hostility.
Versailles had not been so gay for many winters, and the votaries of mere
amusement, always a strong party at every court, rejoiced at the addition
to the royal family to whom the gayety was owing. Louis roused himself to
gratify the young princess, who enlivened his place with the first
respectable pleasures which it or he had known for years. When he saw that
she liked dramatic performances, he opened the private theatre of the
palace twice a week. Because she was fond of dancing, he encouraged her to
have a weekly ball in her own apartments, at which she herself was the
principal attraction, not solely by the elegance of her every movement,
but still more by the graciousness with which she received and treated her
guests, having a kind smile and an affable word for all, apparently