treasure for your pleasure: marie antoinette

I know that I have never before experienced such enthusiasm. I was totally amazed to find myself in tears and to see everyone else in the same state…. the king seemed truly moved by this beautiful moment… Our king attired with all the brilliance of royalty, on the true throne, was a sight that was so impressive it is difficult to describe.

In the understandable grief that overwhelms me, which I share with all of the realm, I nevertheless have duties I must fulfill. I am the king and this one word covers a great many obligations, but I am only twenty years old. I do not think that I have acquired all the knowledge necessary for my position.

I cannot tell you how heartened and pleased I am about everything I hear about you; the whole world is ecstatic. They are right, too: a King of twenty and a Queen of nineteen, all their actions are full of humanity, generosity, prudence and wisdom. … in a word my heart is overjoyed, and I pray God to preserve you for the good of your people, for the world, for your family, and for your old Mama…

The hands of Divinity Louis, sends you the crown The scepter, the sword, the law gives to you But it is your virtues and your kindness Which assures you the throne in our hearts

–verse written in honor of the coronation of Louis XVI, 1775

On June 8th, 1795, Louis Charles de France, the second son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, died while imprisoned in the Paris Temple. Louis Charles had been kept separated from his family for two years and suffered from ill health which was exacerbated by periods of severe neglect and abuse.

In the context of the original work, it’s not used in a serious or moralistic context. Its usage is casual and the context is… well, very Rousseau.

It’s part of a section where Rousseau is talking airily about his ‘adventures,’ in particular a period of time in which he’s stealing bottle upon bottle of wine from his (in his own description) generous employers (he was hired as a tutor) and he just, y’know, has to have bread with wine, he can’t fathom drinking all this stolen wine without bread. As one does.

But he’s a gentleman and he can’t fathom the idea of someone like himself being so lowly as to go into a simple bread shop personally to buy a loaf of bread. Unfortunately, he can’t send the employer’s servants, either, or even his own lackeys, because they’ll find out he’s stealing wine! What is he to do!

So he recalls the ‘advice of a great princess’ told about the people having no bread (”Then let them eat brioche”) and lightning strikes! It’s not too beneath him to go personally into a high-end shop to get brioche, and he can have that with his stolen wine. But even then he writes about how he would walk by many different storefronts and only go inside if there was one person working and only if that person had a “good countenance.”

Because when you’re buying expensive brioche to go with your stolen wine so that you don’t have to be seen entering a bread shop, it’s good form to be choosy about who you’re buying said brioche from.

Marie Antoinette running, weeping, into the comtesse de Noailles' arms? From an apocryphal memoir written decades later.

"Do so much good to the French that they can say I sent them to an angel"? From the English translation of Joseph Weber's memoirs, an anecdote with no source. I still haven't found it in the original French edition, granted, I am still searching on this one. At best, from something that the "Weber" memoir (at least partially if not wholly written by someone who wasn't Joseph Weber) admits is an anecdote.

Mops being a dog taken from Marie Antoinette at the border? Antonia Fraser's bizarre made-up story.

Etc etc

This also why I found Charles-Éloi Vial's biography disappointing. After promising to "go back to the archives," and lots of articles/press indicating he was going to discover the 'real Marie Antoinette' by going back to the actual sources....

[Louis XVI] spoke to his august consort in an infinitely cordial and tender manner, saying among other things that he loved her with all his heart and that he could swear to her he had never had the least feeling or sentiment for any woman, but for her alone.

… kissing Mme la Dauphine, he said to her, “But do you love me?”

[She] answered, “Yes, you cannot doubt it, I love you sincerely and respect you even more.”

The young prince seemed very moved by these words; he caressed Mme la Dauphine most tenderly…