Scène II

7 — Comme nous en étions convenus : As we agreed. N otice. — That agrées with M^hat you said, cela convient à ce que vous disiez ; That situation would have suited him, cet emploi lui aurait convenu ; It becomes everyone to be modest, il convient à tout le monde d'être modeste ; It is oftener expédient (or advisable) to be silent than to speak, il convient plus souvent de se taire que de parler.

13 — Belle-mère : Stepmother ; conveys also the meaning of marâtre, hard-hearted mother. The Old French marastre (Low Lat. matrasta, diminutive of mater) had not an offensive signification,

19 — Avant l'âge: Before time. Notice. — Old âge, vieillesse ; infancy, bas âge ; childhood, jeune âge ; early âge, âge tendre ; manhood, âge viril ; middle-aged, entre deux âges. Age,

etym. Latin œtatictim, derived from œtatem. {See Brachet's Etym. Dict.)

'j line 20 — Anéanties: Completely niined, reduced to nothing. Etym. Néant, Lat. ne or nec^ and e?iSf entis^ being. Notice. — Adoucir, to make sweet; alourdir, to make heavy ; appauvrir, to make poor ; accourcir, to make short; &c. It may be established as arule that verbs formed with adjectives belongto the second conjugation, in zr, while those formed with nouns belong to the first, in er. Ex. : tas, tasser ; jardin, jardiner; table, attabler ; front, affronter, &c.

3 2— George IL, King of England, 1727 — 1760, was forty-four years of âge at the time of his accession. Remarkable events : — 1740; Accession of Maria Theresa to the Austrian dominions. The English support her against Frederick the Great of Prussia. 1743 ; Battle of Dettingen. 1745 ; Quadruple alliance between England, Holland, Austria, and Saxony against France. Battle of Fontenoy. 1746 ; Battle of Cullo- • den. Defeat of the Pretender, Charles Edward of Scotland. 1748 ; Treaty of Aixla-Chapelle. 1756; Commencement of the Seven Years' War. 1760 ; Canada conquered. Death of George IL

8 4— Louis XV. King of France, 1715— 1774> was under the regency of Philippe, Duke of Orléans, until 1723. Remarkable events :—l 741 ; Commencement of the war for the succession of Austria. 1745; Battle of Fontenoy. 174^; Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 1756— 17^3 ; The Seven Years' War, Loss of the French colonies. Acquisition of Lorraine (1766), and Corsica (1768). Destruction of the power of the Magistracy by the abolition of their Parliaments (i77i)- jC ' '

8 17— Comte: A count. Etym. Lat. comitem,'CÉlÊ^' panion. Notice.— Comté, county, which is now masculine, was formerly féminine ; hence La Franche-Comté, a province in the east of France. Comp. conU, taie, count, and compte, account, verbal nouns derived from conter and compter, both from Lat. computare^ to compute, to count. The correctness of this Etym. is proved by the fact that It. coniare, and S p. contar, mean both to count and recount ; so aîso Germ. erzàhleny to relate, is derived from zakletty to count.

NOTES

Tage 8 line 36 — Pouvoir ... : Which gives M. a power that she will at once use against you. Pouvoir takes no article in this case, because it is a noun in apposition to *Mes prérogatives delà royauté." 9 I — La prévenir : To be beforehand with her.

Notice. — Prévenir les besoins, Us désirs, to anticipate wants, desires ; Prévenir un mal, to prevent an evil ; Etre prévenu en faveur de quelqu'un, to be prepossessed, prejudiced in favour of anyone ; Prévenir une personne d'une chose, to apprise any person of anything ; Je vous avais prévenu, I had forewarned you.