[271] This letter has been lost or destroyed.
[272] Louvois to Saint-Mars, March 2, 1676.
[273] The letter from Saint-Mars (March 23, 1680) giving an account of the communications between the dungeons has never been found, any more than that telling of the flight of Lauzun.
[274] Louvois to Saint-Mars, November 28, 1679.
[275] Leopold von Ranke, Histoire de France.
[276] Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson.
[277] Two years after this warning Louis XIV. gave at Versailles, in honour of Mme. de Montespan, a fête for which special buildings were created. The ballroom, only used one night, was marble and porphyry; the rest in accordance.
[278] A loss of more than 100,000 crowns was not rare at the gaming table of the King. March 6, 1670, Mme. de Montespan lost 400,000 pistoles in one night; at eight in the morning she regained 500,000. The pistole is worth about ten francs. In 1682, three years after her disgrace, she lost at one time 700,000 crowns which she did not regain. The King paid her debts.
[279] Letter of Mme. de Châtrier, attached to the House of Condé; De La Vallière à Montespan, by Jean Lemoine and André Lichtenberger.
[280] Letter from Colbert to the Intendant de Rochefort (April 16, 1678).