On the occasion of Louis XIV.'s marriage with Marie Therèse, the celebrated expression _Il n'y plus de Pyrenées_ was illustrated by a ballet, in which a French nymph and a Spanish nymph sang a duet while half the dancers were dressed in the French and half in the Spanish costume.
Like other illustrious stars, Louis XIV. took his farewell of the stage more than once before he finally left it. His Histrionic Majesty was in the habit both of singing and dancing in the court ballets, and took great pleasure in reciting such graceful compliments to himself as the following:--
"Plus brilliant et mieux fait que tous les dieux ensemble La terre ni le ciel n'ont rien qui me ressemble." (_Thétis et Pélée._--Benserade. 1654),
"Il n'est rien de si grand dans toute la nature Selon l'âme et le coeur au point où je me vois; De la terre et de moi qui prendra la mesure Trouvera que la terre est moins grande que moi." (_L'Impatience._--Benserade. 1661).
On the 15th February, 1669, Louis XIV. sustained his favourite character of the Sun, in _Flora_, the eighteenth ballet in which he had played a part--and the next day solemnly announced that his dancing days were over, and that he would exhibit himself no more. The king had not only given his royal word, but for nine months had kept it, when Racine produced his _Britannicus_, in which the following lines are spoken by "Narcisse" in reference to Nero's performances in the amphitheatre.
Pour toute ambition pour vertu singulière Il excelle à conduire un char dans la carrière; A disputer des prix indignes des ses mains, A se donner lui-même en spectacle aux Romains, A venir prodiguer sa voix sur un théâtre A réciter des chants qu'il veut qu'on idolâtre; Tandis que des soldats, de moments en moments, Vont arracher pour lui des applaudissements.
The above lines have often been quoted as an example of virtuous audacity on the part of Racine, who, however, did not write them until the monarch who at one time did not hesitate to "_se donner lui même en spectacle_, &c.," had confessed his fault and vowed never to repeat it; so that instead of a lofty rebuke, the verses were in fact an indirect compliment neatly and skilfully conveyed. So far from profiting by Racine's condemnation of Nero's frivolity and shamelessness, and retiring conscience-stricken from the stage (of which he had already taken a theatrical farewell) Louis XIV. reappeared the year afterwards, in _Les amants magnifiques_, a _Comédie-ballet_, composed by Molière and himself, in which the king figured and was applauded as author, ballet-master, dancer, mime, singer, and performer on the flute and guitar. He had taken lessons on the latter instrument from the celebrated Francisco Corbetta, who afterwards made a great sensation in England at the Court of Charles II.