1. “To err is human.” 2. Potatoes were not grown in France at that time. La Siecle insists that the error is theirs, and that Dumas meant “tomatoes.” 3. In the five-volume edition, Volume 3 ends here. 4. “In your house.” 5. This alternate translation of the verse in this chapter:
“Oh! you who sadly are wandering alone, Come, come, and laugh with us.”
—is closer to the original meaning. 6. Marie de Mancini was a former love of the king's. He had to abandon her for the political advantages which the marriage to the Spanish Infanta, Maria Theresa, afforded. See The Vicomte de Bragelonne,
7. “[A sun] not eclipsed by many suns.” Louis's device was the sun. 8. In the three-volume edition, Volume 2, entitled Louise de la Valliere, ends here. 9. “To what heights may he not aspire?” Fouquet's motto. 10. “A creature rare on earth.” 11. “With an eye always to the climax.”
