the want of higher cultivation left room in her mind, was humoured by the
gaieties of the Duchesse de Polignac's assemblies; while her nobler
dispositions were encouraged by the privileges of the favourite's
station. Thus, all her inclinations harmonising with the habits and
position of her friend, Marie Antoinette literally passed the greatest
part of some years in company with the Duchesse de Polignac,--either
amidst the glare and bustle of public recreation, or in the private
apartment of the governess and her children, increasing as much as
possible the kindness of the one for the benefit and comfort of the
others. The attachment of the Duchess to the royal children was returned
by the Queen's affection for the offspring of the Duchess. So much was
Her Majesty interested in favour of the daughter of the Duchess, that,
before that young lady was fifteen years of age, she herself contrived
and accomplished her marriage with the Duc de Guiche, then 'maitre de
ceremonie' to Her Majesty, and whose interests were essentially, promoted
by this alliance.

[The Duc de Guiche, since Duc de Grammont, has proved how much he merited
the distinction he received, in consequence of the attachment between the
Queen and his mother-in-law, by the devotedness with which he followed
the fallen fortunes of the Bourbons till their restoration, since which
he has not been forgotten. The Duchess, his wife, who at her marriage
was beaming with all the beauties of her age, and adorned by art and
nature with every accomplishment, though she came into notice at a time
when the Court had scarcely recovered itself from the debauched morals by
which it had been so long degraded by a De Pompadour and a Du Barry, has
yet preserved her character, by the strictness of her conduct, free from
the censorious criticisms of an epoch in which some of the purest could
not escape unassailed. I saw her at Pyrmont in 1803; and even then,
though the mother of many children, she looked as young and beautiful as