tinued festivities.--Moliere.--Cost of
Versailles.--Lenotre.--Mansard.--Large sum squandered.--Magnificent
room at Versailles.--Ill feeling toward La Valliere.--Anne of Austria
becomes more ill.--Illness of Maria Theresa.--The king sick.--Abode of
Madame Henrietta.--Sufferings of the queen-mother.--Death of Philip
IV. of Spain.--Increasing ambition of Louis XIV.--Festivities at St.
Cloud.--Dying scene.--Death of the queen-mother.--Funeral
ceremonies.--The Abbey of St. Denis.--Duchess of Vaujours.--Madame de
Montespan.--Daily developments.--Duke de Mazarin--his cynicism.--He
is silenced by the king.--Sale of Dunkirk.--Inconsistencies in
the character of Louis.--Treachery of Montespan.--Sorrows of
Louise.--Letters of the Marquis de Montespan.--Alarm of the
marchioness.--Cowardice of the Pope.--Sorrow of the marquis.--Vexation
of Louis.--Petty jealousies.--Employments of the king.--Remarks of
Louis upon court etiquette.--They are unanswerable.--Conquest of
Holland determined on.--Henrietta embassadress to England.--Louise
Renee.--The bribe.--Constant bickerings.--Alliance between France
and England.--Festivities thereon.--Maria Theresa.--Vivacity of
Henrietta.--Henrietta poisoned.--Intense suffering.--Arrival of the
king.--Death scene of Henrietta.--Suspicion of Louis.--Development of
facts.--Statements of M. Pernon.--Testimony of M. Pernon.--Return of
Chevalier de Lorraine.--Marriage of Monsieur.--Portrait of Charlotte
Elizabeth.--Her power of sarcasm.--Sharp reproof of Madame de Fienne.

The festivities to which we have alluded in the last chapter, the
expenses of which were sufficient almost to exhaust the revenues of a
kingdom, lasted seven days. The prizes awarded to the victors in the
lists were very costly and magnificent. The renowned dramatist Moliere
accompanied the court on this occasion, to contribute to its amusement
by the exhibition of his mirth-moving farces on the stage.

It was during these scenes that Louis XIV. selected Versailles as the
site of the stupendous pile of buildings which was to eclipse all
other palaces that had ever been reared on this globe. This
magnificent structure, alike the monument of munificence in its
appointments, and of infamy in the distress it imposed upon the
overtaxed people, eventually swallowed up the sum of one hundred and
sixty-six million of francs--thirty-three million dollars. It is to be
remembered that at that day money was far more valuable, and far more
diffic