The noise and the sex of the infant, with which the Queen was made
acquainted by a signal previously agreed on, as it is said, with the
Princesse do Lamballe, or some error of the accoucheur, brought on
symptoms which threatened fatal consequences; the accoucheur exclaimed,
"Give her air--warm water--she must be bled in the foot!" The windows
were stopped up; the King opened them with a strength which his affection
for the Queen gave him at the moment. They were of great height, and
pasted over with strips of paper all round. The basin of hot water not
being brought quickly enough, the accoucheur desired the chief surgeon to
use his lancet without waiting for it. He did so; the blood streamed out
freely, and the Queen opened her eyes. The Princesse de Lamballe was
carried through the crowd in a state of insensibility. The valets de
chambre and pages dragged out by the collar such inconsiderate persons as
would not leave the room. This cruel custom was abolished afterwards. The
Princes of the family, the Princes of the blood, the chancellor, and the
ministers are surely sufficient to attest the legitimacy of an hereditary
prince. The Queen was snatched from the very jaws of death; she was not
conscious of having been bled, and on being replaced in bed asked why she
had a linen bandage upon her foot.

The delight which succeeded the moment of fear was equally lively and
sincere. We were all embracing each other, and shedding tears of joy. The
Comte d'Esterhazy and the Prince de Poix, to whom I was the first to
announce that the Queen was restored to life, embraced me in the midst of
the cabinet of nobles. We little imagined, in our happiness at her escape
from death, for how much more terrible a fate our beloved Princess was
reserved.

NOTE. The two following specimens of the Emperor Joseph's correspondence