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The Man in the Iron Mask, a novel by Alexandre Dumas |
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_ 1. "He is patient because he is eternal." is how the Latin translates. It is from St. Augustine. This motto was sometimes applied to the Papacy, but not to the Jesuits. 2. In the five-volume edition, Volume 4 ends here. 3. It is possible that the preceding conversation is an obscure allegorical allusion to the Fronde, or perhaps an intimation that the Duc was the father of Mordaunt, from Twenty Years After, but a definite interpretation still eludes modern scholars. 4. The dictates of such a service would require Raoul to spend the rest of his life outside of France, hence Athos's and Grimaud's extreme reactions. 5. Dumas here, and later in the chapter, uses the name Roncherat. Roncherolles is the actual name of the man. 6. In some editions, "in spite of Milady" reads "in spite of malady". 7. "Pie" in this case refers to magpies, the prey for the falcons. 8. Anne of Austria did not die until 1666, and Dumas sets the current year as 1665. 9. Madame de Montespan would oust Louise from the king's affections by 1667. 10. De Guiche would not return to court until 1671. 11. Madame did die of poison in 1670, shortly after returning from the mission described later. The Chevalier de Lorraine had actually been ordered out of France in 1662. 12. This particular campaign did not actually occur until 1673. 13. Jean-Paul Oliva was the actual general of the Jesuits from 1664-1681. 14. In earlier editions, the last line reads, "Of the four valiant men whose history we have related, there now no longer remained but one single body; God had resumed the souls." Dumas made the revision in later editions. -THE END- |