exigeait. What is the subject
Page 117. — 27. à gratter, scratchy.
Page 118. — -11-12. scepticisme ... scientifique. It is the first duty of a scholar to admit when he does not know a thing.
23~32. Je charme . . . j’endors, a splendid hymn to imagination.
HISTOIRE DES TROIS CHEV.\LIERS
In the Middle Ages, the Virgin was the object of widespread and intense devotion. Countless miracles were attributed to her intervention, many of which were presented in the miracle plays. The present story relates the legend of the miraculous origin of the statue of the Virgin in the church at Liesse, near Laon, long frequented by crowds of pilgrims. The time is during the P'irst Crusade.
Page 120. — I. Foulques (V le Jeune), elected King of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1129; reigned to 1144.
2-3. Césarée de Philippes, Caesarea Philippi, ninety-five miles
NOTES 173
north of Jerusalem. The identification with ancient Dan is not certain. It was captured by the Crusaders in 1130.
4. royaume. The “Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem,” founded after the capture of the city by the Crusaders under Godefroy de Bouillon in 1099, led a precarious existence till 1187.
6-7. royaume de David . . . Bersabée. See Samuel, Book I, iü, 10. The expression “from Dan to Beersheba” has come to signify any long distance.
9. Saint-Jean de Jérusalem, Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (the “Hospitalers”). At first preponderatingly a nursing order, it became increasingly military in character, as a result of renewed activity on the part of the Saracen enemy.
lo-ii. Baudouin Baldwin, brother of Godefroy, King of Jerusalem, 1100-1118.
17. croix du pèlerin. Crusaders wore a cloth cross on their breast.
23. Ascalon, a well-fortified city on the coast, was long a military center of the Saracens in their war against the Crusaders.
24. calife d’Egypte. The caliph was the spiritual and civil head of a Mohammedan state. The caliph of Egypt at this time was Hafiz, a weak ruler.
Page 121. — 9. au Caire. Le Caire, Cairo, capital of Egypt. The name is a corruption of the Arabic phrase signifying “The Victorious.”
26. Mahom, Mahomet (569-632), the “Prophet,” looked on by his followers as the mouthpiece of God, was the founder of a religion. He was so far from being an “idol” that Mohammedanism strictly forbade the representation of any living being in stone or wood, and assigned one of the lowest pits of hell to idolaters.
Page 122. — 4. mécréants. The English derivative “miscreant” has assumed a different meaning.
14. Damas, Damascus, chief town in Syria, perhaps the oldest inhabited city in the world, famous in the Middle Ages for its fine swords.
NOTES
29-32. docteurs arabes . . . astronomie. The Arabie conquerors of Spain brought with them philosophy, mostly Aristotelianism, and science. “Intelligent knowledge was perhaps more widely diffused in Mahommedan Spain than in any other part of Europe at that day [961-976]. The mosques of the city [Cordova] were filled with crowds who listened to lectures on science and literature, law and religion.” {Encyclopaedia Britannica, article Arabic Philosophy.)
Page 123. — 28-31. “ Si vous . . . sagesse.” See Luke, .\.\i,
Page 124. — 8. reine des cieux. The words “Regina Cœli” {Queen of Heaven) begin the Eastertide anthem of the I’irgin, which dates at least back to the twelfth century.
23. paradis terrestre, the Garden of Eden, by tradition generally located in Babylonia. One Arabic author speaks of the Nile as a “river of Paradise.” — eaux, i.e., hautes eaux, flood.
Page 126. — ■ 9. la faute d’Ève. See Genesis, iii.
10. celle . . . Ave. The Virgin, whom the angel Gabriel greeted. See Luke, i, 28. — peu. Distinguish carefully peu and un peu as modifiers of adjectives and adverbs.
Page 127. — 19. Laon (the 0 is sHent), an ancient city of Picardy. The cathedral was burned in 1112. The present fine Gothic church of Notre-Dame dates from the i2th-i4th centuries.
LES CONTES DE MAMAN
These stories, which illustrate delightfully .-Anatole France’s love of children and keen analysis of child psychology, will rouse in students memories of their own childhood.
L’École
Page 129. — ■ 17. Genseigne, an obvious pun on j’enseigne. 22-23. On dirait ... science. Anatole France, strongly in-
NOTES
dividualistic, disapproved of method and of restraint. (See note on page lo, lines 11-14.) He tells us: “The little that I have learned, I have learned alone.”
Page 130. — -2 2. Arche de Noé. As a child, Anatole France had a toy Noah’s Ark to which he very often refers.
26-27. Corbeau . . . Poule. The reference is to the fables of La Fontaine (1621-1695), many of which French children learn by heart. La Fontaine was one of the great writers of the seventeenth century, the classic period, and the greatest of all fable- writers.
Page 131. — 2-3. il . . . s’aimer, there is nothing like loving one another.
Marie
20. connu. In modern French, savoir is more often used before a clause than connaître.
Page 132. — ■ 31. II ne faut pas. See note on page 13, line 32.
Page 133. — 2. aurait-elle, even if she had. For a slightly different form of this construction, see page 46, line 18, and note.
Les Fautes des Grands
16. rivières ... routes. Communication by river and canal is highly developed in France.
