"The king let anybody who pleased embrace him," says the Abbe de Croisy; "he gave everybody his hand to kiss.

Spinola, in the warmth of his zeal, bit his finger; the king began to exclaim.
'Sir,' interrupted the other, 'I ask your Majesty's pardon; but, if I hadn't bitten you, you would not have noticed me.' The lower orders seemed beside themselves, they made bonfires of everything.

The porters and the Swiss burned the poles of the chairs, and even the floorings and wainscots intended for the great gallery.

Bontemps, in wrath, ran and told the king, who burst out laughing and said, 'Let them be; we will have other floorings.'" The least clear-sighted were beginning to discern the modest beams of a rising sun.

Madame de Montespan, who had a taste for intellectual things, had not long since recommended Racine and Boileau to the king to write a history of his reign.