in their luxurious style of living and in lavish expenditure.  “The finest silks that Lyons could weave, the most beautiful laces that Alencon could produce, the most gorgeous equipages, the most expensive furniture, inlaid and carved, the tapestry of Beauvais and the porcelain of Sevres—­all were in the greatest demand.”  Necker was replaced by incompetent ministers, the treasury was depleted, and the poor became more and more restless and threatening.  Once more, and with increased vehemence, was heard the cry:  A bas l’Autrichienne!

During the American war of the Revolution, Marie Antoinette was always favorable to the Colonial cause, protecting La Fayette and encouraging all volunteers of the nobility, who embarked for America in great numbers.  She presented Washington with a full-length portrait of herself, loudly and publicly proclaiming her sympathy for things American.  She assured Rochambeau of her good will, and procured for La Fayette a high command in the corps d’armee which was to be sent to America.  When Necker and other ministers were negotiating for peace, from 1781 to 1785, she persisted in asserting that American independence should be acknowledged; and when it was declared, she rejoiced as at no political event in her own country.

Her political adventures were few; in fact, she disliked politics and desired to keep aloof from the intrigues of the ministers.  She may have been instrumental in the downfall of Necker—­at least, she secured the appointment, as minister of finance, of the worthless Calonne, who, it will be remembered, brought about the ruin of France in a short period.  In time, however, the queen recognized his worthlessness and would have nothing to do with him, thus making in him another implacable enemy.

Events were fast diminishing the popularity of the queen.  When, after the long-disputed question of presenting the Marriage of Figaro, she herself undertook to play in The Barber of Seville in her theatre at the Trianon, she overstepped the bounds of propriety.  Then followed the affair of the diamond necklace, in which the worst, most cunning, and most notorious rogues abused the name of the queen.  That was the great adventure of the eighteenth century.  Boehmer, the court jeweler, had, in a number of years, procured a collection of stones for an incomparable necklace.  This was intended for Mme. du Barry, but Boehmer offered it to the queen, who refused to purchase it, and he considered himself ruined.  It may be well to add that the queen had previously purchased a pair of diamond earrings which had been ordered by Louis XV. for his mistress; for those ornaments she paid almost half her annual pin money, amounting to nine hundred thousand francs.  The jeweler, therefore, had good reason to hope that she would relieve him of the necklace.