en l'air : see note, p. 18 1. i

22. est vietix : the Lettres persanes were published in 1721, about five years after the king's death, but this letter is supposed to hâve been written by Usbek some time before. Louis XIV. was born in 1638 and succeeded his father in 1643, his mother, Anne of Austria, being régent. He died on the ist of September 1715, after the longest reign in French history.