The Queen conducted the Fairy to her car, the two Kings handed her into it, after which they returned to the Palace, where, charmed with each other's society, they passed their golden days, more happy than they had ever been miserable. They lived millions of years, and the King and Queen presented the world with fairies and beneficent genii, who are at this moment actually occupied in promoting the happiness of the universe.
FOOTNOTES:
[41] See note, page 360.
[42] The "Académie Française," for which Cardinal Richelieu obtained letters patent, January, 1635. The number of members was fixed at forty, and they were called "les immortels."
[43] This opera, founded on the well-known episode in Tasso's Gerusaleme Liberata, and produced at Paris in 1686, is considered the chef-d'œuvre of Quinault.
[44] The necklace must also have preserved the Queen from the tigers, or (according to the Author, page 420) one with so wicked an object for her visit must have fallen their prey.
[45] The crowing of a cock was supposed by the ancients to terrify the lion exceedingly. This idea is alluded to in Mademoiselle D'Aulnoy's story—"The Pigeon and the Dove."
[46] Gris-de-lin, Englished into Gridelin, was an exceedingly fashionable colour, both in France and England, at this period. It is variously described, but appears to have been a reddish grey—"gris tirant sur le rouge"—not unlike lilac.