Scène V

Page\22. ... Il lui prend la lettre des mains : He takes the letter from lier hands. Notice the usage of the objective personal pronoun in this phrase and the foUowing : — II me prend envie de lui écrire, I have a great mind to write to him. L'idée leur a pris d'aller à la campagne, the idea of going in the country came into their head (they took it into their head to . . .)

122 line 26 — Ne vous troublez pas ainsi : Do not look so dis-

concerted. Notice. — Do net trouble yourself, ne vous dérangez pas ; do not take the trouble, ^ ne prenez pas la peine.

123 22— Eprise : Enamoured, in love with. Cf. I was

quite taken with them, ils m'ont beaucoup plu.

123 24 — En butte aux traits de : Exposed to the shafts of.

Butte : A butt, rising ground, knoll. Old Fr. bute^ féminine form of biit^ aim, mark, from buter^ to strike, in Old Fr. Butte and but had the same primitive meaning, as is seen in the phrase être en butte à— servir de but à. Le buty the butt, being usually placed on a rising knoll, the word presently came to be used for the knoll itself. There are in Paris two hills called La Butte Montmartre and La Butte ' Chaumont.

124 22— Roulement funèbre : Funeral roll of the drums. 124 25— Il marche au supplice : He is marched to the

place of exécution. Supplice, Lat. supplicium^ properly an offering, a prayer, from siipplicare^ supplier, to supplicate ; corporal punishment was so called because when a Roman citizen was going to be put to death the rex sacrorum consecrated the culprit to the gods by the means of a prayer and a sacrifice in order to absolve the Roman people of the conséquences of bloodshed.

124 27 — Déraison: Infatuation.

125 19 — Qu'ai-je à ménager maintenant? : Wherefore

should I keep any measures now ? (what should stop me now ?)