The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-28

EmHent in Versailles vaudeville cir c!es were. the sisters de Nesle-five, count 'em all girls. Four of them Namped the King of France, Looie the Quince, as No. XV was sometimes called, The fifth, as she cast ambi- tious eyes toward Louis, was tactfuhIy warned by her husband:
 Keep away from that ornery king, or I'll chop your head off''
 Don't worry, dearie,n she replied 1T never tFied to be cute like my four little sisters" Etkt
 Only one of the four, the Duchess de Chateauronx, ever gained full credit for having latched onto the royal af- IectionS. But the other three-Madama de Mailly. Madame de vintimille and Madame de Lauraquals-joined with sher in Sgiddy rotation as the gui1- flng genluses of the "petits soupers'' the king used to give in his apart mentsaat Versailles.
 The ancestral motto of the de Nesls family, which had always been en- s;raved under the knocker of the door, was "Hogne qui vouldra'--"Knock who Will.' The sisters lived bravely up to the family slogan, debonairly observ- ing that every knock was a boost.
 KING TRAINED TO HATE WOMEN
 It all started with the machinations Of Andrew Hercules de Fleury bishop
 
 come tutor to the boy who was later tc become Louis KY. Since he had am 2itions to run the throne and the kingdom himself, Fleury began prac- ticing early on Louis with a view to making him, woman hater, the bishop ,foreseeing that some vamp might :n- fluence Louis when he became king. The boy was permitted to have only boy playmates, and when he had reached the age of discretion--15. is this case-Fleury began casting about to find him a wife.
 From a list of 100 marriageable sprincesses the bishop found forty-four impossible. Of the seventeen remain ing Fleury eventually decided upon Maria Leczinska daughter of ex-King Stanislas of Poland. The biship sent her an invitation to become the wife of the King of France at the same time presenting her with a 99 per cent silk rousseau which was to be all hers if she would accept. Marie said yes with out pause for reflection
 Louis, cast ruthlessly into the sea of matrimony, struggled along as best he icculd. and at length admitted to him self that he was bored. Madame de Mailly, the first of the de Nesle sisters. was Dame du Palais to the queen. and lit was she who convinced the king be- yond doubt that he ought to be enter tained. Louis introduced as sort of diyer>ton series of midnight suppers. After retiring formally to his regal dCrmitory and kissing the bishop and the queen and all the rocks goodnight, the king would slip out to another wing of the palace where jolly SUD- per was going on. He kept this up for Sinonths before the willy Bishop F'leury caught on
 "And this is what I get for teaching tLat boy to be a woman hater" sighed the bishop. "Ain't boys the limit?" KING WEETS MORE OF FAMILY
 Madame de Milly made the mistake of introducing her sister, Felicite de Nesle, now Madame de Vintimille, ts enc of the kings petits soupers, and the second of the Knock who wiil' girls came into the ascendancy The king liked her better than the first.
 Are there any more at home like ycu-all?r he chuckled.
 Yep. Three more" winked Felicite. "But I'm the cutest of them all"
 At this juncture the aged Bishon Fleury died and the Due de Richelieu who had been engineering a few nifty sub plots came to the fore as a first 1 class schemer. To suit his convenience | is was imperative that the king have | another best lady friend who would 1 co operate with Richelieu Madame | dc Vintmille had died but Madame de | Mailly was still the reigning vamp }, i the court. Cautiously enough. it was | still another of the de Nesle sisters, | Marie Anne de Mally -Nesle, Duchess l de Chatreauroux whom Richelieu st. lected as his ambassador d'amour.
 You'll have to can de Milly Louis" |