I was most unjustly accused, for I can with truth affirm,
that the comte de la Marmora, ambassador from Piedmont to Paris,
neither by word nor deed made any attempt to interest me in his
success. The king was the first person who informed me of the
contemplated marriage, and my only fault (if it could be called
one) was having approved of the match.
More than one intrigue was set on foot within the chateau to
separate the princes. Many were the attempts to sow the seeds
of dissension between the dauphin and the comte d'Artois, as
well as to embroil the dauphin with
. The first
attempt proved abortive, but the faction against
succeeded so far as to excite a lasting jealousy and mistrust
in the mind of Marie Antoinette. This princess was far from
contemplating the marriage of the comte d'Artois with any feelings
of pleasure, and when her new sister-in-law became a mother, she
bewailed her own misfortune in being without children with all
the feelings of a young and affectionate heart. Heaven did not,
however, always deny her the boon she so ardently desired.
You will, readily believe that the same anxiety prevailed upon
the occasion of this approaching marriage as had existed at the
unions of the dauphin and the comte de Provence, to obtain the
various posts and places the ambition of different persons led
them to desire in the establishment of the newly married pair.
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