fallen to it in France.  There have been commons all over Europe, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, in England, as well as in France.  Not only have there been commons everywhere, but the commons in France are not those which, qua commons, under that name and in the middle ages, have played the greatest part and held the highest place in history.  The Italian commons begot glorious republics.  The German commons became free towns, sovereign towns, which have their own special history, and exercised throughout the general history of Germany a great deal of influence.  The commons of England allied themselves with a portion of the English feudal aristocracy, formed with it the preponderating house in the British government, and thus played, full early, a powerful part in the history of their country.  The French commons, under that name and in their season of special activity, were certainly far from rising to that importance in politics and that rank in history.  And yet it is in France that the people of the commons, the burgessdom, became most completely, most powerfully developed, and ended by acquiring, in the general social body, the most decided preponderance.  There have been commons throughout the whole of Europe; there has been in truth no third estate victorious save in France; it is in the French Revolution of 1789, assuredly the greatest, that the French third estate reached its ultimatum, and France is the only country where, in an excess of burgesspride, a man of great mind could say:  ’What is the third estate?  Every thing.’”

So much excitement in men’s minds, and so much commotion amongst the masses, reasonably disquieted prudent folks.  In spite of its natural frivolity, the court was at bottom sad and anxious.  The time had passed for the sweet life at the manor-house of Trianon, for rustic amusements and the charity of youth and romance.  Marie Antoinette felt it deeply and bitterly; in the preceding year, at the moment when M. de Calonne was disputing with the Assembly of notables, she wrote to the Duchess of Polignac who had gone to take the waters in England:  “Where you are you can at least enjoy the pleasure of not hearing affairs talked about.  Though in the country of upper and lower houses, of oppositions and motions, you can shut your ears and let the talk glide; but here there is a deafening noise, notwithstanding all I can do; those words opposition and motion are as firmly established here as in the Parliament of England, with this difference, that, when you go over to the opposition in London, you commence by relinquishing the king’s graces, whereas here many oppose all the wise and beneficent views of the most virtuous of masters and keep his benefits all the same; that perhaps is more clever, but it is not so noble.  The time of illusions is over, and we are having some cruel experiences.  Happily all the means are still in the king’s hands, and he will arrest all the mischief which the imprudent want to make.”