coldness with which, in some respects, he still treated his beautiful
wife. But Joseph was forced to postpone his visit, and the fulfillment of
the empress's anticipations was also postponed for some years.

However, Marie Antoinette never allowed disappointments to dwell in her
mind longer than she could help. She rather strove to dispel the
recollection of them by such amusements as were within her reach. She
learned to drive, and found great diversion in being her own charioteer
through the glades of the forest. She began to make further inroads in the
court etiquette, giving balls in which she broke through the custom which
prescribed that special places should be marked out for the royal family,
and directed that the princes and princesses should sit with the rest of
the company during the intervals between the dances; an arrangement which
enabled her to talk to every one, and which gained her general good-will
from the graciousness of her manner. She did not greatly trouble herself
at the jealousy of her popularity openly displayed by her aunts and her
sister-in-law, who could not bear to hear her called "La bellissima.[6]"
Nor was her influence weakened when, in November, a fresh princess, the
sister of Madame de Provence, arrived from Italy, to be married to the
Comte d'Artois, for the bride was even less attractive than her sister.
According to Mercy, she was pale and thin, had a long nose and a wide
mouth, danced badly, and was very awkward in manner. So that Louis
himself, though usually very punctilious in his courtesies to those in her
position, could not forbear showing how little he admired her.

An incident occurred on the evening of the marriage which is worth
remarking, from the change which subsequently took place in the taste of
the dauphiness, who a few years afterward provoked unfavorable comments by
the ardor with which she surrendered herself to the excitement of the
gaming-table. As a matter of course, a grand party was invited to the