grand’peine. Grand’ here, as in grand’mère, grand’route

represents the Old French form grant, which was feminine as well as masculine. The apostrophe is due to the wrong idea that the form is shortened from the later feminine form grande.

21. Triana, a workingmen’s suburb of Seville. Borrow’s The Zincali, p. 199: “ The faubourg of Triana, in Seville, has from time immemorial been noted as a favorite residence of the Gitânos [= Gipsies]; and here, at the present day, they are to be found in greater numbers than in any town in Spain.” Cf. also The Bible in Spain, p. 216-7, where Borrow recalls that Triana probably gets its name from the Emperor Trajan, born in or near it.

22. tu n’as donc pas assez d’un balai ? can’t you get along with a broom (i.e., since you are a witch and ride one) ?

27. avec son âne. Criminals in Spain were placed on an ass when they were to be flogged through the streets or led to the place of execution.

31. peindre un damier. “ Pintar un javeque, peindre un chebec. Les chebecs espagnols ont, pour la plupart, leur bande peinte à carreaux rouges et blancs.” {Author’ s Note.) According to the Spanish Academy, however, jabeque in pintar un jabeque

NOTES 145

means ‘ a face wound made with a knife ’ and has nothing to do with jabeque, a ‘xebec, sort of ship.’

Page 30. — 1. le bout des cigares, the ends ... ; bout is singular because French considers the fact that each cigar has but one end.

3. Ma sœur. The possessive adjective is used in French and not in English in addressing relatives (as here) and in addressing superior officers (cf. line 21, below). In the latter case Englishspeaking soldiers usually say ‘ sir.’

21. Mon officier, notice the flattery involved in calling a corporal an officer.

32. Faites-en boire à une femme une pincée râpée dans un verre de vin blanc, elle ne résiste plus. Have your lady-love drink a hit of it ground in a glass of white wine, and she will no longer say no. The imperative here replaces the ?/-clause of a conditional sentence.

Page 31. — 19. du pays, i.e. basque.

31. barratcea. In Basque baratze means ‘ garden ’ and baratzea ‘ the garden ’; Mérimée’s spelling and grammar are both inaccurate.