[569] Some of the commentators pretend that the “courtier of a ripe old age” was the Marshal Nicolas de Villeroy, the former governor of Louis XIV., who died in 1685, and whose son, the Duke, is mentioned on page 54, note 3, and on page 204, note 1.
[570] It is said that by Philip our author intended to portray the Marquis de Sablé, a son of the finance minister Servien, who was the proprietor of Meudon, sold it to Louvois (see the chapter “Of the Court,” page [204], note 423), and seems to have been chiefly known by his love for eating and drinking, his eccentricities and his debauchery.
[571] Louis Roger Danse, a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, and a noted gourmand, is supposed to have sat for Gnathon, as well as for the stout Canon Evrard in Boileauʼs Lutrin.
[572] The Count dʼOlonne, a well-known lover of good cheer, who died in 1690, is said to have been limned as Clito; others think it was another gourmet, M. de Bruslard, Count de Broussain, who lived until 1693.
[573] See page [179], note 376.
[574] The potages, in La Bruyèreʼs time, different from what is now understood by them, seem to have been a sort of stew.
[575] These were either entremets or side-dishes not larger than could be contained in a plate or assiette.
[576] Trivial in French. See page [136], note 265.
[577] See page [181], note 381.
[578] This asking for an injunction was called sʼopposer au sceau, literally “to oppose oneʼs self to the seal.”