To stoop from glory?
Act i. 5.
Louis degraded this ethereal spirit into a “soiled dove,” and when she fled to a convent to quiet remorse, he fetched her out and took her to Versailles. Wholly unable to appreciate such love as that of La Vallière, he discarded her for Mde. de Montespan, and bade La Vallière marry some one. She obeyed the selfish monarch in word, by taking the veil of a Carmelite nun.—Lord Lytton, The Duchess de la Vallière (1836).
Louis XIV. and his Coach. It was Lord Stair and not the duke of Chesterfield whom the Grand Monarque commended for his tact in entering the royal carriage before his majesty, when politely bidden by him so to do.
Louis XVIII., nicknamed Des-huî-tres, because he was a great feeder, like all the Bourbons, and especially fond of oysters. Of course the pun is on dixhuit (18).
As in the case of Louis IX.(q.v.), the sum of the figures which designate the birth-date of Louis XVIII. give his titular number. Thus, he was born in 1755, which added together equal 18.
Louis Philippe, of France. It is somewhat curious that the year of his birth, or the year of the queen’s birth, or the year of his flight, added to the year of his coronation, will give the year 1848, the date of his abdication. He was born 1773, his queen was born 1782, his flight was in 1809; whence we get:
| 1830 | 1830 | 1830 | year of coronation. | |||||
| 1 |  | 1 | | 1 | | |||
| 7 | birth. | 7 | queen’s | 8 | flight. | |||
| 7 | 8 | birth. | 0 | |||||
| 3 | 2 | 9 | ||||||
| 1848 | 1848 | 1848 | year of abdication. |
(See Napoleon III. for a somewhat similar[similar] coincidence).
Louisa, daughter of Don Jerome, of Seville, in love with Don Antonio. Her father insists on her marrying Isaac Mendoza, a Portuguese Jew, and, as she refuses to obey him, he determines to lock her up in her chamber. In his blind rage, he makes a great mistake, for he locks up the duenna, and turns his daughter out of doors. Isaac arrives, is introduced to the locked-up lady, elopes with her, and marries her. Louisa takes refuge in St. Catherine’s Convent, and writes to her father for his consent to her marriage with the man of her choice. As Don Jerome takes it for granted she means Isaac, the Jew, he gives his consent freely. At breakfast-time it is discovered by the old man that Isaac has married the duenna, and Louisa, Don Antonio; but Don Jerome is well pleased and fully satisfied.—Sheridan, The Duenna (1775).