Note 384 — XXXVII. Dec., 1786–June, 1787. MYSTERIOUS HINTS GIVEN TO THE COUNTESS TO EFFECT HER ESCAPE.—SHE RESOLVES ON ATTEMPTING IT.

“Journals and Correspondence of Lord Auckland,” vol. i. p. 420. There are certain discrepancies with respect to the date of the duchess’s visit. Mr. Storer, writing to the Hon. Mr. Eden, on May 11, 1787, says, “the Polignacs have arrived; on Tuesday they went to the opera,” etc. In contradiction to this we have a letter written by Marie-Antoinette, and dated April 11, exactly a month previous, evidently addressed to the duchess while she was in England, and inquiring whether she had found any benefit from the Bath waters. It is possible that a wrong date has been affixed to the last-mentioned letter subsequently to its having been written, for Marie-Antoinette left most of her letters undated. See “Lettres et Documents Inédits de Louis XVI. et Marie-Antoinette,” vol. i.