SECTION I.

[From the time that the Princesse de Lamballe saw the ties between the Queen and her favourite De Polignac drawing closer she became less assiduous in her attendance at Court, being reluctant to importune the friends by her presence at an intimacy which she did not approve.  She could not, however, withhold her accustomed attentions, as the period of Her Majesty’s accouchement approached; and she has thus noted the circumstance of the birth of the Duchesse d’Angouleme, on the 19th of December, 1778.]

“The moment for the accomplishment of the Queen’s darling hope was now at hand:  she was about to become a mother.

“It had been agreed between Her Majesty and myself, that I was to place myself so near the accoucheur, Vermond,

[Brother to the Abbe, whose pride was so great at this honour conferred on his relative, that he never spoke of him without denominating him Monsieur mon frere, d’accoucher de sa Majeste, Vermond.]

as to be the first to distinguish the sex of the new-born infant, and if she should be delivered of a Dauphin to say, in Italian, ’Il figlio e nato.’

“Her Majesty was, however, foiled even in this the most blissful of her desires.  She was delivered of a daughter instead of a Dauphin.

“From the immense crowd that burst into the apartment the instant Vermond said, The Queen is happily delivered, Her Majesty was nearly suffocated.  I had hold of her hand, and as I said ‘La regina e andato’, mistaking ‘andato’ for ‘nato’, between the joy of giving birth to a son and the pressure of the crowd, Her Majesty fainted.  Overcome by the dangerous situation in which I saw my royal mistress, I myself was carried out of the room in a lifeless state.  The situation of Her Majesty was for some time very doubtful, till the people were dragged with violence from about her, that she might have air.  On her recovering, the King was the first person who told her that she was the mother of a very fine Princess.

“‘Well, then,’ said the Queen, ’I am like my mother, for at my birth she also wished for a son instead of a daughter; and you have lost your wager:’  for the King had betted with Maria Theresa that it would be a son.

“The King answered her by repeating the lines Metastasio had written on that occasion.

“’Io perdei:  l’augusta figlia
A pagar, m’a condemnato;
Ma s’e ver the a voi somiglia
Tutto il moudo ha guadagnato.’”

[The Princesse de Lamballe again ceased to be constantly about the Queen.  Her danger was over, she was a mother, and the attentions of disinterested friendship were no longer indispensable.  She herself about this time met with a deep affliction.  She lost both of her own parents; and to her sorrows may, in a great degree, be ascribed her silence upon the events which intervened between the birth of Madame and that of the Dauphin.  She was as assiduous as ever