The necessities of poetical justice have obliged me to an
anachronism in the punishment of Madame de Montespan. In
reality, if longer deferred, it was yet more strikingly retributive
that it appears in the play. Betraying a friend, by a friend
she was betrayed; the nun was avenged by the devotee; and
what Montespan was to La Vallière, Maintenon was to Montespan.
I should also add that the concentration and climax of
interest required on the stage has obliged me to introduce
Louis in the last scene. In my first outline of the Plot, and
more in accordance with strict historical data, it was in the
hotel of Madame de la Vallière (when she announced her intention
of taking the veil) that the King acted that part, and
uttered those sentiments which I have ascribed to him in the
convent of the Carmelites.
