Marie Antoinette declared that "she did not understand what she said; that she had become so completely French that she had forgotten her native language;" and the compliment to their country fairly vanquished them.

They received it with shouts of "Bravo," and with loud clapping of their hands.

They begged the ribbons and flowers of her bonnet.

She took them off with her own hand and distributed them among them; and they divided the spoils with thankful exultation, smiling, waving their hands, and crying out, "Long live Marie Antoinette! Long live our good queen![3]" For a time it seemed as if the fortunes of the king and country were being weighed in an uncertain balance.

One day some circumstances seemed to hold out a prospect of the re-establishment of tranquillity, and of the return of the masses to a better feeling.