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Show C7 mongthe I lpTABLES LA VALLIERE T A VALLIERE. favorite of Louis XIV and one of the greatest beauties beau-ties of the French court, is sn often pictured as an adventuress and a de- t liberate coquette, that few know her real character. . : Her name was Louise Francois de I La Valliere. She was born August 6, j 1(544. Her unit her brought her to Pni is when s-he was sixtem. after she had been fairly well educated and i brought up with t lie royal princesses as a child. A kinswoman got her the appointment of maid of honor to Ilen- rietta. who was Louis' sister-in-law. There was some scandal about these ' two, and, as a blind, Louis XIV was I told to pay marked attentions to some , t other woman ince a princess must i never have a hit of gossip whispered , about her. La Valliere then was a i 1 pure-minded, religious girl, willing to ; serve her mistress by involving her own good name. Louis, at tirst f ireed i to pay her attention, soon developed a I real love for her, and she, too. fell 1 j very much in love with him. All through the time of her connection i with him, she refused to tell what she ,; knew about the Princess Henrietta and her love affairs. J La Valliere had many enemies and one of them Momespan finally took : Louis away from her. A little later, ! she was allowed to enter the Carmel- I Ite convent, where she spent the rest of her life, and we can imagine her en- ! tlrely satisfied that her' life of turmoil and intrigue was at an end and the peace of the convent hers until death. For, the court life of Louis XIV was artificial and hectic, and poor La Val- j Here, like many other women of her , dny, was a victim of the times, rather j than an example of them. j ( George Matthew Adams.) |
