position to amass. "Mille 6cus," cried Mirabeau, "A la famille
d'Assas pour avoir sauv6 l'etat; un million a la famille Polignac
pour l'avoir perdu!"

The ostensible object of the duches,'s visit to England was to
drink the Bath Waters, but there are good grounds for believing
that her real purpose was to make an arrangement with M. de la
Motte for the suppression of some scurrilous Memoirs which it was
rumoured his wife had written, and in which, among other things,
Marie Antoinette was accused of being the principal culprit in
the notorious Diamond Necldace fraud. M. de la Motte states in
his autobiography that he met the Duchess Jules and her
Sister-in-law, the Countess Diane, at the Duchess of Devonshire's
(the beautiful Georgiana), at the request of the latter, when
certain overtures were made to him, and trustworthy authorities
assert that a large sum of money was afterwards paid to the De la
Mottes, to suppress the Memoirs which were however eventually
published. When the French Revolution broke out the Polignacs
were among the first to emigrate. The duchess died at Vienna in
December, 1793, a few months after Marie Antoinette had perished
on the scaffold.-ED.

(235) Mrs. Schwellenberg had returned to Windsor the day
before.-ED.

(236) The storm had been gathering round Hastings ever since his
return to England in June, 1785, within a week of which Burke had
given notice in the House of Commons of a motion affecting the
conduct of the late Governor-General in India. His impeachment
was voted in May, 1787, and preparations for his trial were now