Word: montespan
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Roaming the Pyrenees in 1922. he arrived at the village of Montespan. ruled for centuries by the Lords of Montespan one of whose ladies achieved fame as the mistress of Louis XIV. Near the ancient castle was a cavern leading into the mountain which the natives assured him was impenetrable after a short distance. Casteret undressed, slipped through a crack not much bigger than his body, waded into a grotto through which an underground stream flowed...
...lavish and alive. The hero, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, might or might not recognize himself in the completely noble explorer here exhibited. He might be embarrassed by his courage, amused by his asceticism, surprised by the glossy perfection of his friends and enemies-Frontenac, Tonty, Mmes. de Montespan and de Maintenon, Joliet, Marquette, de Laval and the rest. But he would appreciate that, romancing apart, a full historical record of his efforts to build a Mississippi kingdom for France was what the author patiently sought, thoroughly contrived...
When Louis came to the throne licentiousness was openly practiced. The King, indeed, set an example to the Court by his amours with the beautiful La Valliére and later with Madame de Montespan. But after the Queen's death and after the King had fallen a victim to the wiles of Madame de Maintenon, the whole Court became devout, and the courtiers remained libertine in Paris and became devout at Versailles. All this Madame's letters show most clearly...
...Montespan" is a three-act drama written about twenty years ago by Romain Rolland, and only recently translated into English by Miss-Helena Van Brugh de Kay, with an introduction by the author for American readers. This introduction is not the least interesting part of the volume. Short as it is, it contains a vigorous, damaging deunuciation of the so-called "classic" ages, with one of which, the reign of Louis XIV, the play itself is concerned. "Epochs of prey", M. Rolland describes them, "a pack of hounds with blind instincts, always straining to escape from the huntsman's leash...
...Montespan", inspired by the famous "Poison Affair", M. Rolland does not pretend to follow exactly the events of history. His object is to create the atmosphere of the decadent court, to develop the characters logically from what is known of them without necessarily adhering to the minor details of fact. Madame de Montespan, for example, is made to take poison and die, in his play; in reality, she survived this episode by twenty-seven years. But no one can read the play and not be convinced that her suicide was the logical, certainly the most artistic ending for her glittering...