Madame de Montespan was haughty, passionate, "with hair dressed in a thousand ringlets, a majestic beauty to show off to the ambassadors: "she openly paraded the favor she was in, accepting and angling for the graces the king was pleased to do her and hers, having the superintendence of the household of the queen whom she insulted without disguise, to the extent of wounding the king himself.

"Pray consider that she is your mistress," he said one day to his favorite.

The scandal was great; Bossuet attempted the task of stopping it.

It was the time of the Jubilee: neither the king nor Madame de Montespan had lost all religious feeling; the wrath of God and the refusal of the sacraments had terrors for them still.

Madame de Montespan left the court after some stormy scenes; the king set out for Flanders.