[9] The Marshal Prince de Soubise, whose incapacity and cowardice caused the disgraceful rout of Rosbach, was the head of this family; his sister, Madame Marsan, as governess of the "children of France", had brought up Louis XVI.
[10] "Il [Rohan] a même menacé, si on ne veut pas prendre le bon chemin qui lui indique, que ma fille s'en ressentira."—Marie-Thérèse à Mercy, August 28th, 1774, Arneth, ii., p. 226.
[11] "Ils paraissent si excédés du grand monde et des fêtes, qu'avec d'autres petites difficultés qui se sont élevées, nous avons décidé qu'il n'y aurait rien à Marly."—Marie Antoinette to Mercy; Marie Antoinette, Joseph II., and Leopold II., p. 27.
[12] "No fewer than five actions were fought in 1782, and the spring of 1783, by those unwearied foes. De Suffrein's force was materially the stronger of the two; it consisted of ten sail of the line, one fifty-gun ship, and four frigates; while Sir E. Hughes had but eight sail of the line, a fifty-gun ship, and one frigate," See the author's "History of the British Navy," i., p. 400.
[13] Weber, i., p. 77. For the importance at this time attached to a reception at court, see Châteaubriand, "Mémoires d'Outre-tombe," i., p. 221.
CHAPTER XVIII.
[1] Joseph to Marie Antoinette, date September 9th, 1783.—Marie Antoinette, Joseph II., and Leopold II., p.30, which, to save such a lengthened reference, will hereafter be referred to as "Arneth."
[2] She was again expecting a confinement; but, as had happened between the birth of Madame Royale and that of the dauphin, an accident disappointed her hope, and her third child was not born till 1785.
[3] Date September 29th, 1783, Arneth, p. 35.
[4] Ministre de la maison du roi.