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Android Studio Arctic Fox
Essentials
Java Edition
Android Studio Arctic Fox Essentials – Java Edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-951442-36-1
© 2021 Neil Smyth / Payload Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
is book is provided for personal use only. Unauthorized use, reproduction
and/or distribution strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.
e content of this book is provided for informational purposes only.
Neither the publisher nor the author o ers any warranties or representation,
express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of information contained in
this book, nor do they accept any liability for any loss or damage arising
from any errors or omissions.
is book contains trademarked terms that are used solely for editorial
purposes and to the bene t of the respective trademark owner. e terms
used within this book are not intended as infringement of any trademarks.
Rev: 1.0
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Downloading the Code Samples
1.2 Feedback
1.3 Errata
2. Setting up an Android Studio Development Environment
2.1 System Requirements
2.2 Downloading the Android Studio Package
2.3 Installing Android Studio
2.3.1 Installation on Windows
2.3.2 Installation on macOS
2.3.3 Installation on Linux
2.4 e Android Studio Setup Wizard
2.5 Installing Additional Android SDK Packages
2.6 Making the Android SDK Tools Command-line Accessible
2.6.1 Windows 8.1
2.6.2 Windows 10
2.6.3 Linux
2.6.4 macOS
2.7 Android Studio Memory Management
2.8 Updating Android Studio and the SDK
2.9 Summary
3. Creating an Example Android App in Android Studio
3.1 About the Project
3.2 Creating a New Android Project
3.3 Creating an Activity
3.4 De ning the Project and SDK Settings
3.5 Modifying the Example Application
3.6 Modifying the User Interface
3.7 Reviewing the Layout and Resource Files
3.8 Adding Interaction
3.9 Summary
4. Creating an Android Virtual Device (AVD) in Android Studio
4.1 About Android Virtual Devices
4.2 Creating a New AVD
4.3 Starting the Emulator
4.4 Running the Application in the AVD
4.5 Running on Multiple Devices
4.6 Stopping a Running Application
4.7 Supporting Dark eme
4.8 Running the Emulator in a Tool Window
4.9 AVD Command-line Creation
4.10 Android Virtual Device Con guration Files
4.11 Moving and Renaming an Android Virtual Device
4.12 Summary
5. Using and Con guring the Android Studio AVD Emulator
5.1 e Emulator Environment
5.2 e Emulator Toolbar Options
5.3 Working in Zoom Mode
5.4 Resizing the Emulator Window
5.5 Extended Control Options
5.5.1 Location
5.5.2 Displays
5.5.3 Cellular
5.5.4 Battery
5.5.5 Camera
5.5.6 Phone
5.5.7 Directional Pad
5.5.8 Microphone
5.5.9 Fingerprint
5.5.10 Virtual Sensors
5.5.11 Snapshots
5.5.12 Record and Playback
5.5.13 Google Play
5.5.14 Settings
5.5.15 Help
5.6 Working with Snapshots
5.7 Con guring Fingerprint Emulation
5.8 e Emulator in Tool Window Mode
5.9 Summary
6. A Tour of the Android Studio User Interface
6.1 e Welcome Screen
6.2 e Main Window
6.3 e Tool Windows
6.4 Android Studio Keyboard Shortcuts
6.5 Switcher and Recent Files Navigation
6.6 Changing the Android Studio eme
6.7 Summary
7. Testing Android Studio Apps on a Physical Android Device
7.1 An Overview of the Android Debug Bridge (ADB)
7.2 Enabling ADB on Android-based Devices
7.2.1 macOS ADB Con guration
7.2.2 Windows ADB Con guration
7.2.3 Linux adb Con guration
7.3 Testing the adb Connection
7.4 Summary
8. e Basics of the Android Studio Code Editor
8.1 e Android Studio Editor
8.2 Splitting the Editor Window
8.3 Code Completion
8.4 Statement Completion
8.5 Parameter Information
8.6 Parameter Name Hints
8.7 Code Generation
8.8 Code Folding
8.9 Quick Documentation Lookup
8.10 Code Reformatting
8.11 Finding Sample Code
8.12 Live Templates
8.13 Summary
9. An Overview of the Android Architecture
9.1 e Android So ware Stack
9.2 e Linux Kernel
9.3 Android Runtime – ART
9.4 Android Libraries
9.4.1 C/C++ Libraries
9.5 Application Framework
9.6 Applications
9.7 Summary
10. e Anatomy of an Android Application
10.1 Android Activities
10.2 Android Fragments
10.3 Android Intents
10.4 Broadcast Intents
10.5 Broadcast Receivers
10.6 Android Services
10.7 Content Providers
10.8 e Application Manifest
10.9 Application Resources
10.10 Application Context
10.11 Summary
11. An Overview of Android View Binding
11.1 Find View by Id
11.2 View Binding
11.3 Converting the AndroidSample project
11.4 Enabling View Binding
11.5 Using View Binding
11.6 Choosing an Option
11.7 View Binding in the Book Examples
11.8 Migrating a Project to View Binding
11.9 Summary
12. Understanding Android Application and Activity Lifecycles
12.1 Android Applications and Resource Management
12.2 Android Process States
12.2.1 Foreground Process
12.2.2 Visible Process
12.2.3 Service Process
12.2.4 Background Process
12.2.5 Empty Process
12.3 Inter-Process Dependencies
12.4 e Activity Lifecycle
12.5 e Activity Stack
12.6 Activity States
12.7 Con guration Changes
12.8 Handling State Change
12.9 Summary
13. Handling Android Activity State Changes
13.1 New vs. Old Lifecycle Techniques
13.2 e Activity and Fragment Classes
13.3 Dynamic State vs. Persistent State
13.4 e Android Lifecycle Methods
13.5 Lifetimes
13.6 Foldable Devices and Multi-Resume
13.7 Disabling Con guration Change Restarts
13.8 Lifecycle Method Limitations
13.9 Summary
14. Android Activity State Changes by Example
14.1 Creating the State Change Example Project
14.2 Designing the User Interface
14.3 Overriding the Activity Lifecycle Methods
14.4 Filtering the Logcat Panel
14.5 Running the Application
14.6 Experimenting with the Activity
14.7 Summary
15. Saving and Restoring the State of an Android Activity
15.1 Saving Dynamic State
15.2 Default Saving of User Interface State
15.3 e Bundle Class
15.4 Saving the State
15.5 Restoring the State
15.6 Testing the Application
15.7 Summary
16. Understanding Android Views, View Groups and Layouts
16.1 Designing for Di erent Android Devices
16.2 Views and View Groups
16.3 Android Layout Managers
16.4 e View Hierarchy
16.5 Creating User Interfaces
16.6 Summary
17. A Guide to the Android Studio Layout Editor Tool
17.1 Basic vs. Empty Activity Templates
17.2 e Android Studio Layout Editor
17.3 Design Mode
17.4 e Palette
17.5 Design Mode and Layout Views
17.6 Night Mode
17.7 Code Mode
17.8 Split Mode
17.9 Setting Attributes
17.10 Transforms
17.11 Tools Visibility Toggles
17.12 Converting Views
17.13 Displaying Sample Data
17.14 Creating a Custom Device De nition
17.15 Changing the Current Device
17.16 Layout Validation (Multi Preview)
17.17 Summary
18. A Guide to the Android ConstraintLayout
18.1 How ConstraintLayout Works
18.1.1 Constraints
18.1.2 Margins
18.1.3 Opposing Constraints
18.1.4 Constraint Bias
18.1.5 Chains
18.1.6 Chain Styles
18.2 Baseline Alignment
18.3 Con guring Widget Dimensions
18.4 Guideline Helper
18.5 Group Helper
18.6 Barrier Helper
18.7 Flow Helper
18.8 Ratios
18.9 ConstraintLayout Advantages
18.10 ConstraintLayout Availability
18.11 Summary
19. A Guide to Using ConstraintLayout in Android Studio
19.1 Design and Layout Views
19.2 Autoconnect Mode
19.3 Inference Mode
19.4 Manipulating Constraints Manually
19.5 Adding Constraints in the Inspector
19.6 Viewing Constraints in the Attributes Window
19.7 Deleting Constraints
19.8 Adjusting Constraint Bias
19.9 Understanding ConstraintLayout Margins
19.10 e Importance of Opposing Constraints and Bias
19.11 Con guring Widget Dimensions
19.12 Design Time Tools Positioning
19.13 Adding Guidelines
19.14 Adding Barriers
19.15 Adding a Group
19.16 Working with the Flow Helper
19.17 Widget Group Alignment and Distribution
19.18 Converting other Layouts to ConstraintLayout
19.19 Summary
20. Working with ConstraintLayout Chains and Ratios in Android
Studio
20.1 Creating a Chain
20.2 Changing the Chain Style
20.3 Spread Inside Chain Style
20.4 Packed Chain Style
20.5 Packed Chain Style with Bias
20.6 Weighted Chain
20.7 Working with Ratios
20.8 Summary
21. An Android Studio Layout Editor ConstraintLayout Tutorial
21.1 An Android Studio Layout Editor Tool Example
21.2 Creating a New Activity
21.3 Preparing the Layout Editor Environment
21.4 Adding the Widgets to the User Interface
21.5 Adding the Constraints
21.6 Testing the Layout
21.7 Using the Layout Inspector
21.8 Summary
22. Manual XML Layout Design in Android Studio
22.1 Manually Creating an XML Layout
22.2 Manual XML vs. Visual Layout Design
22.3 Summary
23. Managing Constraints using Constraint Sets
23.1 Java Code vs. XML Layout Files
23.2 Creating Views
23.3 View Attributes
23.4 Constraint Sets
23.4.1 Establishing Connections
23.4.2 Applying Constraints to a Layout
23.4.3 Parent Constraint Connections
23.4.4 Sizing Constraints
23.4.5 Constraint Bias
23.4.6 Alignment Constraints
23.4.7 Copying and Applying Constraint Sets
23.4.8 ConstraintLayout Chains
23.4.9 Guidelines
23.4.10 Removing Constraints
23.4.11 Scaling
23.4.12 Rotation
23.5 Summary
24. An Android ConstraintSet Tutorial
24.1 Creating the Example Project in Android Studio
24.2 Adding Views to an Activity
24.3 Setting View Attributes
24.4 Creating View IDs
24.5 Con guring the Constraint Set
24.6 Adding the EditText View
24.7 Converting Density Independent Pixels (dp) to Pixels (px)
24.8 Summary
25. A Guide to using Apply Changes in Android Studio
25.1 Introducing Apply Changes
25.2 Understanding Apply Changes Options
25.3 Using Apply Changes
25.4 Con guring Apply Changes Fallback Settings
25.5 An Apply Changes Tutorial
25.6 Using Apply Code Changes
25.7 Using Apply Changes and Restart Activity
25.8 Using Run App
25.9 Summary
26. An Overview and Example of Android Event Handling
26.1 Understanding Android Events
26.2 Using the android:onClick Resource
26.3 Event Listeners and Callback Methods
26.4 An Event Handling Example
26.5 Designing the User Interface
26.6 e Event Listener and Callback Method
26.7 Consuming Events
26.8 Summary
27. Android Touch and Multi-touch Event Handling
27.1 Intercepting Touch Events
27.2 e MotionEvent Object
27.3 Understanding Touch Actions
27.4 Handling Multiple Touches
27.5 An Example Multi-Touch Application
27.6 Designing the Activity User Interface
27.7 Implementing the Touch Event Listener
27.8 Running the Example Application
27.9 Summary
28. Detecting Common Gestures Using the Android Gesture Detector
Class
28.1 Implementing Common Gesture Detection
28.2 Creating an Example Gesture Detection Project
28.3 Implementing the Listener Class
28.4 Creating the GestureDetectorCompat Instance
28.5 Implementing the onTouchEvent() Method
28.6 Testing the Application
28.7 Summary
29. Implementing Custom Gesture and Pinch Recognition on Android
29.1 e Android Gesture Builder Application
29.2 e GestureOverlayView Class
29.3 Detecting Gestures
29.4 Identifying Speci c Gestures
29.5 Installing and Running the Gesture Builder Application
29.6 Creating a Gestures File
29.7 Creating the Example Project
29.8 Extracting the Gestures File from the SD Card
29.9 Adding the Gestures File to the Project
29.10 Designing the User Interface
29.11 Loading the Gestures File
29.12 Registering the Event Listener
29.13 Implementing the onGesturePerformed Method
29.14 Testing the Application
29.15 Con guring the GestureOverlayView
29.16 Intercepting Gestures
29.17 Detecting Pinch Gestures
29.18 A Pinch Gesture Example Project
29.19 Summary
30. An Introduction to Android Fragments
30.1 What is a Fragment?
30.2 Creating a Fragment
30.3 Adding a Fragment to an Activity using the Layout XML File
30.4 Adding and Managing Fragments in Code
30.5 Handling Fragment Events
30.6 Implementing Fragment Communication
30.7 Summary
31. Using Fragments in Android Studio - An Example
31.1 About the Example Fragment Application
31.2 Creating the Example Project
31.3 Creating the First Fragment Layout
31.4 Migrating a Fragment to View Binding
31.5 Adding the Second Fragment
31.6 Adding the Fragments to the Activity
31.7 Making the Toolbar Fragment Talk to the Activity
31.8 Making the Activity Talk to the Text Fragment
31.9 Testing the Application
31.10 Summary
32. Modern Android App Architecture with Jetpack
32.1 What is Android Jetpack?
32.2 e “Old” Architecture
32.3 Modern Android Architecture
32.4 e ViewModel Component
32.5 e LiveData Component
32.6 ViewModel Saved State
32.7 LiveData and Data Binding
32.8 Android Lifecycles
32.9 Repository Modules
32.10 Summary
33. An Android Jetpack ViewModel Tutorial
33.1 About the Project
33.2 Creating the ViewModel Example Project
33.3 Reviewing the Project
33.3.1 e Main Activity
33.3.2 e Content Fragment
33.3.3 e ViewModel
33.4 Designing the Fragment Layout
33.5 Implementing the View Model
33.6 Associating the Fragment with the View Model
33.7 Modifying the Fragment
33.8 Accessing the ViewModel Data
33.9 Testing the Project
33.10 Summary
34. An Android Jetpack LiveData Tutorial
34.1 LiveData - A Recap
34.2 Adding LiveData to the ViewModel
34.3 Implementing the Observer
34.4 Summary
35. An Overview of Android Jetpack Data Binding
35.1 An Overview of Data Binding
35.2 e Key Components of Data Binding
35.2.1 e Project Build Con guration
35.2.2 e Data Binding Layout File
35.2.3 e Layout File Data Element
35.2.4 e Binding Classes
35.2.5 Data Binding Variable Con guration
35.2.6 Binding Expressions (One-Way)
35.2.7 Binding Expressions (Two-Way)
35.2.8 Event and Listener Bindings
35.3 Summary
36. An Android Jetpack Data Binding Tutorial
36.1 Removing the Redundant Code
36.2 Enabling Data Binding
36.3 Adding the Layout Element
36.4 Adding the Data Element to Layout File
36.5 Working with the Binding Class
36.6 Assigning the ViewModel Instance to the Data Binding Variable
36.7 Adding Binding Expressions
36.8 Adding the Conversion Method
36.9 Adding a Listener Binding
36.10 Testing the App
36.11 Summary
37. An Android ViewModel Saved State Tutorial
37.1 Understanding ViewModel State Saving
37.2 Implementing ViewModel State Saving
37.3 Saving and Restoring State
37.4 Adding Saved State Support to the ViewModelDemo Project
37.5 Summary
38. Working with Android Lifecycle-Aware Components
38.1 Lifecycle Awareness
38.2 Lifecycle Owners
38.3 Lifecycle Observers
38.4 Lifecycle States and Events
38.5 Summary
39. An Android Jetpack Lifecycle Awareness Tutorial
39.1 Creating the Example Lifecycle Project
39.2 Creating a Lifecycle Observer
39.3 Adding the Observer
39.4 Testing the Observer
39.5 Creating a Lifecycle Owner
39.6 Testing the Custom Lifecycle Owner
39.7 Summary
40. An Overview of the Navigation Architecture Component
40.1 Understanding Navigation
40.2 Declaring a Navigation Host
40.3 e Navigation Graph
40.4 Accessing the Navigation Controller
40.5 Triggering a Navigation Action
40.6 Passing Arguments
40.7 Summary
41. An Android Jetpack Navigation Component Tutorial
41.1 Creating the NavigationDemo Project
41.2 Adding Navigation to the Build Con guration
41.3 Creating the Navigation Graph Resource File
41.4 Declaring a Navigation Host
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XV
THE DAUPHINESS MARIE JOSÈPHE OF SAXONY
M
arie Leczinska was not less happy in her son than in her
daughters. The bad examples of the court had not spoiled the
upright and honest nature of the Dauphin. As is said by Baron de
Gleichen in his Memoirs, the piety of the young prince was
enlightened, and his policy foresaw the dangers of irreligion. As son
and father, as brother and husband, he never ceased to display the
qualities of a good and virtuous heart. He had deeply mourned his
first wife, that sympathetic Spanish Infanta, who died in 1746, when
hardly twenty years old. Reasons of State demanded that, in spite of
his great sorrow, he should promptly contract a second marriage.
Louis XV. selected for his son a princess of the house of Saxony,
after Austria and Prussia the most powerful of the Empire. He
intended thus to consolidate his German alliances. Marshal Saxe,
natural son of Augustus II., King of Saxony, Elector of Poland, and of
the beautiful Countess Aurora of Königsmark, was the principal
agent of the negotiation which was to form a pact of union between
his new country and his old one. A learned Saxon diplomatist, now in
the service of Austria, Count Vitzthum, published some years ago an
excellent work, based on unpublished documents and letters in the
archives of Dresden, on the Marshal and the princess who espoused
the Dauphin.
Marie Josèphe of Saxony, daughter of Augustus III., was at this
time fifteen years old. She was an agreeable young person, with
large blue eyes that were at once keen and gentle. Her countenance
was intelligent, her character excellent, her education complete.
Marshal Saxe wrote to his brother, Augustus III.: “Sire, what shall I
say to you? I find this affair advantageous at all points for your
family, and I shall descend without regret to the empire of the
shades after I have seen it terminated; I shall have accomplished my
career. I have enjoyed the delights of this world; glory has covered
me with its benefits; nothing more remained to me but to be useful
to you, and all my destiny will have been fulfilled in a most
satisfactory manner.”
Marshal Saxe wrote to the wife of Augustus III., mother of the
future Dauphiness:—
“Madame, the Most Christian King sent me word yesterday, that
he had requested Your Majesty for the hand of the Princess Marie
Josèphe for Monseigneur the Dauphin. I flatter myself that this
proposition will not displease either the Princess or Your Majesty, for,
in truth, Monseigneur the Dauphin is a very good match, and I
should like to live long enough to see our divine Princess Queen of
France. I think that would suit her very well. She has always been
my inclination, and it is long since I destined her for the crown of
France, which is a fine enough morsel, and the Prince who will some
day wear it is fine also. The Princess Josèphe will have no reason to
be bored while she is waiting for it. The kingly father-in-law is
charming; he loves his children, and from the caresses he gave the
late Dauphiness, I infer those which our Princess will have to
endure. This is word for word what the King wrote me in a letter I
received yesterday, written by his own hand from one end to the
other. ‘You will not be vexed with this marriage, my dear Marshal?
Let your Princess be sure that it depends on her alone to make our
happiness and the felicity of my people.’”
In the same letter the Marshal gave some very sensible and
prudent counsels: “I will say another word to the Princess. To
succeed here, neither hauteur nor familiarity is required; hauteur,
however, pertaining to dignity, she can more easily incline to that
side. The women of the court all have minds like diamonds, and are
wicked withal. No one will fail in respect towards her, but they will
try to entangle her in their continual quarrels, and at these she must
do nothing but laugh and amuse herself. This is what the King does;
and if anything displeases her, she must address herself directly to
the King: he will advise and conduct her very well. This confidence
will please him. He is the only person at court with whom she should
have no reserve. She should regard him as her refuge, her father,
and tell him everything, good or bad, just as it happens, without
disguising anything. With everybody else, reserve. If she does that,
he will adore her.”
The formal demand in marriage was made at Dresden, January 7,
1747, by two ambassadors, one extraordinary, the Duke de
Richelieu, the other ordinary, the Marquis des Issart. Richelieu wrote
to the Count de Loss, apropos of the future Dauphiness: “I find her
really charming; nevertheless, she is not a beauty, but she has all
the graces imaginable; a large nose, thick, fresh lips, the brightest
and most intelligent eyes in the world, and, in fine, I assure that if
there were any such at the Opera, they would soon be put up at
auction. I do not say too much to you, but I do not say so much to
others.”
Marie Josèphe of Saxony left Dresden, January 14, 1747. She saw
her betrothed for the first time between Nangis and Corbeil. The
nuptial benediction was given to the pair in the chapel of Versailles,
February 8, 1747. Four days afterward, Marshal Saxe wrote to
Augustus III.: “Sire, I shall have no difficulty in saying agreeable
things to Your Majesty about Madame the Dauphiness, and renown
will serve as my guaranty. No one could succeed better than this
Princess; she is adored by everybody, and the Queen loves her as if
she were her own child; the King is enchanted with her, and M. the
Dauphin loves her passionately. She has steered her way through all
this with all imaginable address; I could not but admire her. At
fifteen, according to what they say, there is no such thing as
childhood in this society; and, in truth, she has astonished me. Your
Majesty could hardly believe with what nobility, what presence of
mind, Madame the Dauphiness has conducted herself. M. the
Dauphin seems a schoolboy beside her.”
The married pair were installed on the ground floor, in the south
wing of the central portion of the palace, under the Queen’s
apartments. (The Dauphin’s bedroom, where the Regent died, is
now the third hall of the Marshals, No. 46 of M. Eudore Soulié’s
Notice du Musée. That of the Dauphiness is now the second hall of
the Marshals, No. 41 of the Notice.) It was in the latter chamber
that, according to usage, the ceremonial of the putting to bed took
place. In the letter we are about to quote, Marshal Saxe gives his
brother an account of this strange custom:—
“Certainly,” he says, “there are moments which call for all the
assurance of a person formed to sustain his part with dignity. Among
others there is one, that of the bed, whose curtains are opened
when the husband and wife have been put into the nuptial bed,
which is terrible, because the whole court is in the room; and the
King told me to remain near Madame the Dauphiness in order to
reassure her. She endured this with a tranquillity which astonished
me. The Dauphin drew the coverings over his face; but my Princess
never stopped talking to me with a charming ease, paying no more
attention to the people of the court than if there had been no one in
the chamber. On approaching her, I said the King had ordered me to
do so to keep her in countenance, and that all this would only last a
moment. She told me I gave her pleasure; and I did not leave her
until her women had closed the curtains, and the crowd had gone
away. They departed with a sort of sadness, for it looked like a
sacrifice, and she has continued to interest everybody in her. Your
Majesty will laugh, perhaps, at what I have just said; but the
blessing of the bed, the priests, the candles, the brilliant pomp, the
beauty and youth of the Princess, in fine, the desire one has that
she may be happy,—all these things taken together provoke more
thought than laughter.”
This etiquette which weighed upon royal families was a heavy
burden, an excessive fatigue. For two days the Dauphiness had
eaten nothing. “Her great fatigue is the cause of this,” the Marshal
wrote again to Augustus III.; “and I have told the King that if she
could not have some rest she would fall ill. Indeed, I don’t know
how she can avoid it. I am completely knocked up with following her.
It is so hot in all the apartments, what with the quantity of people
and the candles in the evening, that it is enough to kill one. And
besides that, her clothes are so heavy that I don’t know how she has
been able to carry them. What is still more fatiguing are all these
endless presentations; and she wishes to remember all the names,
which is a terrible task to a mind incessantly occupied, moreover, in
trying to please and show attentions. The other day the King made
me take up her skirt which lay on a sofa. It weighed, at least, sixty
pounds; not one of our cuirasses weighs as much. I don’t know how
the Princess could have remained on her feet eight or nine hours
with that enormous weight.”
Marie Josèphe knew how to make herself esteemed and loved. A
courtier, who admired the graces and virtues of this good and
beautiful Dauphiness, said: “Nobody ought to take a wife anywhere
but in Saxony; and rather than dispense with a Saxon wife, when
there are no more, I will make one out of porcelain.” Marie Leczinska
forgot the quarrels that had existed between the house of Saxony
and her father for the throne of Poland. She became tenderly
attached to her daughter-in-law, and showed her an almost maternal
love.
The Dauphiness was delivered, September 13, 1751, of a son,
who bore the title of Duke of Burgundy, and who died when nine
years old, after long and horrible sufferings which he endured, a
precocious Christian, with admirable courage. The Marquis de
Pompignan wrote a biography of the little prince. Some years later,
another child, likewise fated to undergo tortures, learned to read in
this book: it was that most innocent of victims, the future Louis XVII.
“How did my little uncle manage to have already so much knowledge
and goodness?” cried the compassionate child.
The Duke of Berry was born August 23, 1754; the Count of
Provence, November 17, 1755; the Count of Artois, November 9,
1757. These three princes were to be called Louis XVI., Louis XVIII.,
and Charles X.,—three names which on their first appearance affect
the imagination with a nameless trouble, and transport it into an
unprecedented world of revolutions and catastrophes.
Marie Josèphe of Saxony had eight children, five only of whom
survived her; the three sons, who were all to reign, and two
daughters, Madame Clotilde, who was Queen of Sardinia, and
another whose mere name evokes the memory of the purest virtues,
the profoundest piety, the most sublime sacrifices, the most heroic
courage in sufferings, in prisons, on the scaffold: Madame Elisabeth.
The Dauphiness was a perfect wife and mother. Her goodness,
sweetness, and charity rendered her at once lovable and worthy of
veneration.... One finds consolation for the scandals of the court in
contemplating a united household, a Christian household which set
an example to France. Unhappily death was soon to break up this
virtuous and holy life. The Dauphin, at the age of thirty-six, fell ill in
November, 1765.
Had we not good reason to say, at the beginning of this study,
that epochs in appearance most scandalous and corrupt contain, like
every other, treasures of edification? The admirable death of the son
of Louis XV. is a proof of this verity. The agony of the Dauphin was
about to commence.
“Thanks be to God,” he said to his confessor, the Jesuit Callet, as
soon as he saw him enter, “I have never been dazzled by the
splendor of the throne to which I was summoned by my birth; I saw
it only from the side of formidable duties by which it is accompanied,
and the perils that surround it; I would desire to have a better soul,
but I hope in the infinite mercy.” Then, turning towards his sisters
and his wife, the good Prince exclaimed: “I cannot tell you how glad
I am to be the first to go; I shall be sorry to leave you, but I am well
pleased not to remain behind you.” The next day, November 13, the
Archbishop of Rheims came to bring the sacraments. Louis XV. was
kneeling at the threshold of the chamber, while the Duke of Orleans
and the Prince of Condé approached the bed to hold the communion
cloth. After the Mass the Dauphin said: “God has made me taste at
this moment so sweet a consolation that I have never known one
like it.” And as the Queen was speaking of his recovery: “Ah,
mamma!” he exclaimed with vivacity, “keep that hope for yourself,
for my part I do not desire it at all.”
The Prince, who had one day said, while looking at Paris from the
terrace of the Château of Bellevue: “I am thinking of the delight that
ought to be experienced by a sovereign in causing the happiness of
so many people;” this truly exemplary Prince was taken, December
20, 1765, from the affection of a people, who honored his virtues
and his sincere devotion. Nine days afterward, the Dauphiness wrote
to her brother, Prince Xavier of Saxony: “The good God has willed
that I should survive him for whom I would have given a thousand
lives; I hope He will grant me the grace to employ the rest of my
pilgrimage in preparing, by sincere penitence, to rejoin his soul in
heaven, where I doubt not he is asking the same grace for me.”
Marie Leczinska mourned bitterly for her son, who had always
been so good, so tender, and respectful to her. The pious Queen was
to undergo new trials. She surrounded her aged father with the most
touching attentions, and though far away, busied herself with him as
though she were by his side. He was at Nancy, and she had just sent
him a wadded dressing-gown for the coming winter. It caught fire
while Stanislas was sleeping in his armchair; always amiable and
affectionate, he attempted to tranquillize his daughter by a note in
which he wrote pleasantly: “What consoles me, daughter, is that I
burn for you.” This was the last letter Marie Leczinska was to receive
from a father whom she cherished. King Stanislas breathed his last
February 24, 1766. His death brought about, according to treaty
stipulations, the definitive reunion of the duchies of Lorraine and Bar
to France. As the Countess d’Armaillé has said, this was Queen
Marie’s last gift to the land of her adoption.
Afflictions succeeded each other with deplorable rapidity. Marie
Josèphe of Saxony died fifteen months after her husband, March 12,
1767, recommending her family to Marie Leczinska, who regretted
her as much as if she had been her daughter. The Queen bowed to
the decrees of Providence. Her soul remained strong, but her body
was crushed by sorrow. “Give me back my children,” she said, “and
you will cure me.”
XVI
THE DEATH OF MARIE LECZINSKA
A
t the close of that last dialogue where, in the harbor of Ostia,
under a starry sky, overlooking the limpid waves, she aspired to
that life eternal which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor the
heart of man attained, Saint Monica said to her son: “My child,
nothing any longer attaches me to earth. What should I do here?
Why am I still here? I have realized all my hopes in this world. One
thing there was for which I desired to sojourn awhile in this life,—it
was to see thee a Christian before I died. God has given me that joy
in over-measure, since I see thee despising all earthly felicity in
order to serve Him. What have I to do here any longer?”
What Saint Monica said in the harbor of Ostia, Marie Leczinska
could say in the palace of Versailles. She had inspired her children
with Christian sentiments. Two of her daughters and her son had
expired in the peace of the Lord. The four remaining daughters
thought and lived like saints. Her task was accomplished. She
thought of nothing now but dying.
The convent of the Carmelites of Compiègne had become her
chosen refuge. It was there that, fleeing from grandeurs which had
never dazzled her, she humbled herself, annihilated herself before
the King of Kings, before Him who strengthens and consoles. This
Queen to whom her son had said one day: “Do you know, mamma,
you will end by quarrelling with Saint Teresa? Why do you want to
be more fervent here than the most fervent Carmelites, and make
still longer prayers than theirs?” This Queen, who would willingly
have exchanged the royal mantle for a serge habit, had for her
oratory a cell in no respect different from that of the nuns. She said
she wanted to learn how to die to the world and to herself.
Madame de Campan, who knew the four last daughters of Louis
XV. so well, thus describes the salutary influence which the Queen
exercised over their destiny: “Mesdames had in their august mother,
Marie Leczinska, the noblest model of all the pious and social
virtues; by her eminent qualities and her modest dignity, this
princess veiled the wrongs with which, but too unfortunately, one
was authorized to reproach the King; and so long as she lived, she
guarded for the court of Louis XV. that dignified and imposing aspect
which alone maintains the respect due to power. The princesses, her
daughters, were worthy of her; and if some few vile creatures tried
to launch the shafts of calumny against them, they fell at once,
repelled by the high idea people entertained of the loftiness of their
sentiments and the purity of their conduct.”
The woman who had been able to preserve a remnant of decency
in a corrupt society, and had thus saved the remnants of royal
prestige, was surrounded by unmixed veneration. At this epoch, as
at all others, one encountered types of honor and virtue, patriarchal
and truly Christian existences, interiors which were sanctuaries. It
will not do to judge the eighteenth century by the court and certain
salons. Worthy people were still numerous, especially among the
provincial nobility, the middle classes, and the people. In spite of
Voltaire’s attacks, in spite of the building of that Tower of Babel
called the Encyclopedia, Christianity continued to be what it had
been for so many centuries: the soul of France. The attempts of the
philosophers to create a morality independent of religion failed
miserably, and all good minds recognized that the Voltairian school
was leading the nation into ruin.
The life of Marie Leczinska may be called the symbol of the
religious and virtuous element. In the face of adultery, the pious
sovereign had maintained the sacred rights of the family; in spite of
his irregularities, Louis XV. would never have dared, like Louis XIV.,
to legitimate the children of his debaucheries and declare them
eligible to the throne of France. The scandal was in the boudoir of
the favorites, the edification by the hearth fire of the Queen.
As greatly as Madame de Pompadour was hated and despised, so
greatly was Marie Leczinska loved and respected. Her arrival was a
festival, her departure caused general sadness. “Is it not admirable,”
she wrote, “that I cannot leave Compiègne without seeing
everybody crying? Sometimes I ask myself what I have done to all
these people whom I do not know, to be so loved by them. They
remember all my wishes.” She gave away all she had, according to
her lady of honor, the Maréchale de Mouchy, and when nothing was
left, she sold her jewels. One year when the high price of bread had
caused more than common distress, she pawned her precious stones
and wore false ones. Her charity was as inexhaustible as her
kindness. She had the virtues of a woman of the middle classes, the
manners of a great lady, the dignity of a queen. The resignation with
which she endured her sorrows inspired in every one a sympathy
blended with respectful compassion. Public opinion paid her
homage, envy and slander were silent in her presence. Even the
philosophers honored her.
In a changing epoch, when all minds and hearts were in disorder,
she preserved three qualities which are rare in courts,—honesty,
tact, and good sense. There was nothing gloomy or morose about
her virtue. Her sweet, agreeable devotion recalled that of Saint
Francis de Sales, the most lovable of all the saints. She had the gift
of making herself beloved by a word, a smile. As has been remarked
by the Countess d’Armaillé, there was hardly a salon in France
toward the close of the last century, in which one could not meet
some old lady always ready to tell about her presentation at
Versailles, and to become affected in reciting the compliments which
the good Queen Marie had paid her on that memorable evening.
Affable by nature and principle, indulgent by instinct and reasoned
conviction, Marie Leczinska was distinguished among all the women
of the court by a quality which is a force and a charm, a quality still
more necessary to sovereigns than to private persons,—
benevolence.
When she fell ill, the emotion was general. Every Frenchman
entertained for her the sentiments of a brother or a sister. The
people besieged the doors of the château of Versailles to get tidings
of her. Sometimes Louis XV. gave these himself. The churches of
Paris and the provinces were crowded with people praying for the
good Queen.
The final moment was drawing near. The four daughters of Marie
Leczinska spent the last nights at their mother’s bedside with a
devotion which made them resemble Sisters of Charity. At the
moment when the death struggle was about to begin, Louis XV.
kneeled beside his wife’s bed, and said to her, weeping: “Here are
our daughters whom I present to you.” A Christian, the mother
understood what these words implied; and raising her eyes to
heaven, she gave her children her last blessing.
It is an hour of torture and anguish, a doleful hour, an hour heart-
rending above all, when one loses a cherished mother. The grief
borders on stupor. One feels one’s self the sport of a bad dream.
One cannot grow accustomed to so horrible a thought. Those holy,
venerable hands will never again be laid in blessing on your head!
Those lips whence issued counsels so wise, words so affectionate,
are closed forever! That heart, so warm, so loving, is cold; it beats
no more. Again you call to your mother; you call, and for the first
time, alas! she does not answer you. Then, all she has done for you,
your childhood, your youth, your whole life, rises up before you.
Long years of devotion, of sacrifices and tenderness, are
concentrated in a single minute. The heart, invaded by memories as
by a rising tide, overflows, and you burst into sobs. Oh! woe to him
who at this fatal moment believes that all ends here below! Woe to
him who has not the conviction that the dead woman is in heaven,
that she is watching over her children; that they can still love and
implore her; that she will always be their strength, their consoler,
their good angel! But happy in the midst of tears, happy amid the
most cruel trials, the Christians who then recall the prayer of Saint
Louis, lamenting his mother, Blanche of Castile: “I return thee
thanks, O my God! Thou hadst lent me a good, an incomparable,
mother; but I know well she was not mine! Now, Lord, thou hast
withdrawn her to thyself.... Thus has thy Providence determined. It
is true that I cherished her beyond all creatures in the world....
Nevertheless, since thou hast thus ordained, may thine adorable will
be done! My God! may thy holy name be blessed forever!”
Marie Leczinska died in angelic tranquillity. She was still trying to
say her rosary, when death interrupted on earth the prayer which
the holy woman was about to resume in heaven. These beautiful
words of Massillon were realized for the pious Queen: “The soul of
the just, during the days of their mortal life, dare not gaze fixedly
upon the profundity of God’s judgments; they work out their
salvation with fear and trembling, they shudder at the bare thought
of that terrible future where the just themselves will hardly be
saved, if they are judged without mercy; but on the bed of death,
ah! the God of peace, who manifests Himself, calms their agitations;
their fears cease of a sudden and are changed into a sweet hope,
their dying eyes pierce the cloud of mortality which still environs
them, and see that immortal country after which they have sighed
so long, and where they have always dwelt in spirit.” Oh! you who
have seen a saintly mother die, you who have in your hearts a regret
and an expectation, do not forget!
It was the 24th of June, 1768, when Marie Leczinska yielded her
last breath. The very day before she had entered her sixty-eighth
year. Her reign had lasted forty-three years, and during that long
period she had caused no tears to flow but those of joy and
gratitude. Her women, her servants, her poor, collected the least
scraps of her clothing to preserve as relics. Her mortal remains,
exposed for eight days on a bed of state, was the object of a real
cult on the part of the people. The Archbishop of Troyes preached
her funeral sermon. “Pontiff of the living God,” said he, addressing
himself to the Archbishop of Paris, “fear not to offer above her tomb
an incense which may one day be offered above her altars.”
Compare this life and death with those of the Marquise de
Pompadour, if you wish to know what vice is, and what is virtue.
Marie Leczinska is the last queen who has ended her days upon
the throne of France. The women, who for now a century have worn
the royal or imperial crown in our unhappy and inconstant land, have
all been the innocent victims of the Revolution and the caprices of
fate. One perished an august martyr on the scaffold; another died at
the moment of the invasion, her heart broken by the afflictions of
her vanquished country. A third faded away almost forgotten in the
little duchy given her in exchange for the finest empire of the world.
A fourth died holily in a foreign land, regretting perhaps that she had
been Queen; and there is one who, at this very moment, is sadly
rewarded for her charity and courage, her virtue and her patriotism.
To-day, above all, might a Bossuet say before Versailles abandoned
or the Tuileries in ruins: Et nunc, reges intelligite! Erudimini, que
judicatis terram! And now, O Kings, comprehend! Be instructed, O ye
who judge the earth!
INDEX
D’Alembert, 215.
Damiens, wounds Louis XV., 180–182.
D’Argenson, quoted, 44, 105, 106, 218;
his attitude towards Madame de Pompadour, 183;
possesses confidence of Louis XV., 186;
misled as to the feelings of the King towards Madame de
Pompadour, 186;
proposes that meetings of the ministers be held in the
Dauphin’s apartments, 187;
dismissed from service, 188;
his words on women in politics, 194;
a true prophet, 218, 219.
Dauphin, the, 109, 110;
marries, 110, 186, 187;
surrounded by the people, 220;
his delight at visit of his sister Elisabeth, 248;
his character, 258;
marries Marie Josèphe of Saxony, 261–263;
falls ill, 265;
his last hours and death, 266, 267.
Dauphiness, the, 220;
see Marie Josèphe.
Deffand, Madame du, 36, 37;
her sketch of Marie Leczinska, 237, 238.
Desmarets, Père, 181, 186.
Devin du Village, Le, performed at Bellevue, 146.
Diderot, his words concerning Madame de Pompadour, 232.
Duclos, quoted, 215.
Gresset, 139.