apartments, carrying a large basket of flowers, which she held in her two
beautiful arms, without gloves, as a mark of respect, the Queen loudly
declared her admiration of her beauty; and seemed as if she wished to
defend the King's choice, by praising her various charms in detail, in a
manner that would have been as suitable to a production of the fine arts
as to a living being. After applauding the complexion, eyes, and fine
arms of the favourite, with that haughty condescension which renders
approbation more offensive than flattering, the Queen at length requested
her to sing, in the attitude in which she stood, being desirous of hearing
the voice and musical talent by which the King's Court had been charmed in
the performances of the private apartments, and thus combining the
gratification of the ears with that of the eyes. The Marquise, who still
held her enormous basket, was perfectly sensible of something offensive in
this request, and tried to excuse herself from singing. The Queen at last
commanded her; she then exerted her fine voice in the solo of Armida--'At
length he is in my power.' The change in her Majesty's countenance was so
obvious that the ladies present at this scene had the greatest difficulty
to keep theirs.

"The Queen was affable and modest; but the more she was thankful in her
heart to Heaven for having placed her on the first throne in Europe, the
more unwilling she was to be reminded of her elevation. This sentiment
induced her to insist on the observation of all the forms of respect due
to royal birth; whereas in other princes the consciousness of that birth
often induces them to disdain the ceremonies of etiquette, and to prefer
habits of ease and simplicity. There was a striking contrast in this
respect between Maria Leczinska and Marie Antoinette, as has been justly
and generally observed. The latter unfortunate Queen, perhaps, carried
her disregard of everything belonging to the strict forms of etiquette too
far. One day, when the Marechale de Mouchy was teasing her with questions