and perfumed hair of the courtiers of Versailles.  The novelty charmed the lively imagination of French ladies.  Elegant fetes were given to the man who was said to unite in himself the renown of a great, natural philosopher with “those patriotic virtues which had made him embrace the noble part of Apostle of Liberty.”  Madame Campan records that she assisted at one of these fetes, where the most beautiful among three hundred ladies was designated to place a crown of laurel upon the white head of the American philosopher, and two kisses upon the cheeks of the old man.  Even in the palace, at the exposition of the Sevres porcelain, the medallion of Franklin, with the legend, “Eripuit coelo”, etc., was sold directly under the eyes of the King.  Madame Campan adds, however, that the King avoided expressing himself on this enthusiasm, which, she says, “without doubt, his sound sense made him blame.”  But an incident, called “a pleasantry,” which has remained quite unknown, goes beyond speech in the way of explaining the secret sentiments of Louis XVI.  The Comtesse Diane de Polignac, devoted to Marie Antoinette, shared warmly the “infatuation” with regard to Franklin.  The King observed it.  But here the story shall be told in the language of the eminent lady who records it:—­“Il fit faire a la manufacture de Sevres un vase de nuit, an fond duquel etait place le medaillon avec la legende si fort en vogue, et l’envoya en present d’etrennes a la Comtesse Diane."[42] Such was the exceptional treatment of Franklin, and of the inscription in his honor which was so much in vogue.  Giving to this incident its natural interpretation, it is impossible to resist the conclusion, that the French people, and not the King, sanctioned American Independence.

The conduct of the Queen on this special occasion is not recorded; although we are told by the same communicative chronicler who had been Her Majesty’s companion, that she did not hesitate to express herself more openly than the King on the part which France took in favor of the independence of the American Colonies, to which she was constantly opposed.  A letter from Mario Antoinette, addressed to Madame de Polignac, under the date of April 9th, 1787, declares unavailing regret, saying,—­“The time of illusions is past, and to-day we pay dear on account of our infatuation and enthusiasm for the American War."[43] It is evident that Marie Antoinette, like her brother Joseph, thought that her “business was to be a Royalist.”

But the name of Franklin triumphed in France.  So long as he continued to reside there he was received with honor, and when, after the achievement of Independence, and the final fulfilment of all that was declared in the verse of Turgot, he undertook to return home, the Queen—­who had looked with so little favor upon the cause which he so grandly represented—­sent a litter to receive his sick body and carry him gently to the sea.  As the great Revolution began to show