Excerpt from Louis the Fourteenth, and the Court of France in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 2 of 2 The favour of his new mistress became more assured from day to day; the fascinations of her wit, the gorgeousness of her beauty, and even the exactions of her capricious vanity, all rendered her triumph more complete; and meanwhile La Valliere could no longer conceal even from herself that her days of happiness were at an end. Among her other expensive tastes, the new favourite had a most inordinate passion for jewels. While yet a girl she had delighted in diamonds and precious stones; and the generosity of the king upon this point was so unmeasured that, after her disgrace, she herself declared that she possessed a collection worthy of an Asiatic prince; and that even were she to be deprived of the whole of her fortune save her pearls and diamonds, she could Still command opulence. This taste was shared by Louis XIV., who in his private cabinet had two immense pedestals of rosewood, fitted in the interior with shifting shelves, in which he kept the most precious of the crown jewels, in order that he might examine and admire them at his ease, an occupation in which he took great delight; nor did he ever hear of a gem of price, either in Asia or Europe, without making strenuous efforts to secure the prize. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.