But the craving for excitement which was bred and nourished by the continuance of her unnatural position with respect to her husband in some parts of his treatment of her, was threatening to produce a very pernicious effect by leading her to become a gambler.  Some of those ladies whom she admitted to her intimacy were deeply infected with this fatal passion; and one of the most mischievous and intriguing of the whole company, the Princess de Guimenee, introduced a play-table at some of her balls, which she induced Marie Antoinette to attend.  At first the queen took no share in the play; as she had hitherto borne none, or only a formal part, in the gaming which, as we have seen, had long been a recognized feature in court entertainments; but gradually the hope of banishing vexation, if only by the substitution of a heavier care, got dominion over her, and in the autumn of 1776 we find Mercy commenting on her losses at lansquenet and faro, at that time the two most fashionable round games, the stakes at which often rose to a very considerable amount.  Though she continued to indulge in this unhealthy pastime for some time, in Mercy’s opinion she never took any real interest in it.  She practiced it only because she wished to pass the time, and to drive away thought; and because the one accomplishment she wanted was the art of refusing.  She even carried her complaisance so far as to allow professed gaming-table keepers to be brought from Paris to manage a faro-bank in her apartments, where the play was often continued long after midnight.  It was not the least evil of this habit that it unavoidably left the king, who never quit his own apartments in the evening, to pass a great deal of time by himself; but, as if to make up for his coldness in one way, he was most indulgent in every other, and seemed to have made it a rule never to discountenance any thing which could amuse her.  His behavior to her, in Mercy’s eyes, seemed to resemble servility; “it was that of the most attentive courtier,” and was carried so far as to treat with marked distinction persons whose character he was known to disapprove, solely because she regarded them with favor.[10]

In cases such as these the defects in the king’s character contributed very injuriously to aggravate those in hers.  She required control, and he was too young to exercise it.  He had too little liveliness to enter into her amusements; too little penetration to see that, though many of them—­ it may be said all, except the gaming-table—­were innocent if he partook of them, indulgence in them, when he did not share them, could hardly fail to lead to unfriendly comments and misconstruction; though even his presence could hardly have saved his queen’s dignity from some humiliation when wrangles took place, and accusations of cheating were made in her presence.  The gaming-table is a notorious leveler of distinctions, and the worst-behaved of the guests were too frequently the king’s own brothers; they were rude, overbearing,