The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Vienna, 1755. Guillotined 1793. Aged 38.] The unfortunate daughter of Francis I., Emperor of Germany, and the illustrious Maria Theresa of Austria. In 1770, before she was sixteen, married to Louis the Dauphin, who in 1774 became King of France, under the title of Louis XVI. At the breaking out of the French Revolution, every public disaster was laid to her charge by the maddened people, and after the execution of her husband, she was herself condemned to death. On her way to the scaffold, she was for two hours reviled by a ferocious mob; but resignation and sweetness of demeanour only could be traced on her countenance. Her hair had been turned silvery white by her many troubles, and a settled melancholy was stamped on her beautiful features. After her execution, her body was immediately consumed with quick lime. The murder of this unhappy lady was the most crimson spot in all the bloody time of the French Revolution. She was of a playful, happy, cheerful disposition, devoted to her family, benevolent to all. Her purity is beyond question, her heroism perfect. In mixing in public concerns, which she did not understand, she betrayed imprudence. In despising etiquette she laid herself open to the worst criticisms of her ungenerous foes; but her character shines unsullied after cruel persecution, horrible imprisonment, and ignominious death. [From the marble in the Louvre by Lecomte.]