Mars 18 14, a month before Napoleon's abdication

1. 46. Vingt plumets ennemis, the plumes of twenty armies which were going to escort the Bourbons back to their throne.

1. 48. Vive Henri quatre. A song popular in the eighteenth century, beginning : —

' Vive Henri quatre !

Vive ce roi vaillant !

Ce diable à quatre A le triple talent De boire et de battre Et d'être un vert-galant.'

Gabrielle, a royalist song on Gabrielle d'Estrées (1571- 1599), the beautiful and famous mistress of Henri IV.

1. 56. Il chante comme au chœur, ' He sings as at mass.' Literally, as if he were in the choir, with the priests, ' chantres ' or choristers, and ' enfants de chœur.'

Les Bohémiens. (Page 98.)

This song may be compared with Les Gueux, written about fifteen years earlier. Little is known about the origin of the ' Bohémiens ' (called gipsies in England, Zigeuner in Germany, gitanos in Spain, and who call themselves Pharaohs). The first bands that appeared in France in 1427 had come from Bohemia. They probably migrated originally from India ; they are tall and dark, extremely musical, speak a language

NOTES. PAGES 96-IOI 235

quite different from any of those of Europe, and have always been noted and feared for their marauding propensities.