miet for amie

L 1671. Puisaye. Joseph, Comte de Puisaye, was an officer who took the Girondin side in the civil war. He was commander of the National Guard at Évreux. On the defeat of the Girondins he served the French royalisx party, and died in England, 1827.

L 1672. Évreux^ the chief town of the department of Eure, on the Iton, some 68 miles west of Paris.

1.1676. les modérés y the former * Feuillants* or partisans of a limited monarchy. The term Modérâtes has often been used for a Conservative party.

L 1677. brigands de vingt-deux / * those rascals of Twenty-two ! * or * those scoundrelly Twenty-two.* As in English, the genitive is used to connect words in apposition, e.g. * that fool of a fellow.* See Eve, § 139 «. The Twenty-two were the Girondin deputies whose arrest was demanded on the 3ist of May and carried out on the 2nd of June.

L 1678. Nous n^en serions pas là^ * we should not now be in such a plight * ; literally, * we should not be at that point (là) of it (en),'' i.e. of circumstances,

L 1680. Danton les a sauvés. It was owing to Danton that, though the Committee of Twelve which had been appointed at the instance of the Girondins to repress disorder was abolished, the Girondins themselves were spared on May 31 st.

C*est la faute à Danton, * that*s Danton*s fault.* Note the dative of possession after être, and see Eve, § 148.

L 1681. C^est notre faute à nous, *it*s our own fault.* Hère the dative is used to strengthen the possessive adjective.

L 1688. p<mr que Von nous conduise. Que is foUowed sometimes by ouy sometiines by ton. In this case qu^on nous conduise would read badly, owing to the répétition of the same sound. See £ve, § 106.

L 1686. r^if«B, *harkyou!'

1.1688. bonnement^ 'like simpletons.* The word, like ^^/t^mf»^, bas a shade of contempt, and implies foolish good-nature.

L 1689. ^est de quoi Von s'occupe le moins^ ' that's the last thing they think of.*

1. 1690. oà Von cherche un succès de tribune^ 'out of which they try to make an oratorical success.'

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L 1696. .SirV See note on 1. 1328.

1. 1698. cUors qu^on se fusille^ *when the shots are flying.*

Pagb 81.

L 1604. à quoi nous sert de nous être battus? *what hâve we got by fighting?*

L 1609.. eux, The disjunctive pronoun used for emphasis. See Eve, § 46 a.

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L 1617. ôter la subsistance aux pauirres citoyens, Oter and other verbs of taking away, take a dative of the person.

1. 1619. on V accapare^ *they forestall it.* The scarcity and dearness of corn were always ascribed to malevolent accapareurs or forestallers by Revolutionary speakers, who did not see how much of the dearth was caused by the disorder which they themselves fomented.

L 1620. Tuons-lesl nous aurons La farine et le reste au prix que nous voudrons. This is a réminiscence of Shakespeare, Coriolanus^ Act I. Scène L *Let us kill him, and we'll hâve corn at our own price.* Ponsard has taken one or two more hints from Shakespeare's mobs in this scène.

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1. 1628. setiers^ an old measure used for grain, derived from the Latin sextarius, It was the twelfth part of the muid, and contained about 156 litres.

L 1629. nos ci-devant, When titles of nobility were abolished^

l66 CHARLOTTE CORDAY.

thdr former possessors were called by their family name, with the addition of the words *fonnerly So and So,* for identification. Thus Mirabeau was officially le citoyen Riquetti^ d-devant de Mirabeau^ (though he always kept his title). Charlotte*s father was styled cidevant d^Armatts, Thus the nobles were known as ies ci-devant.

1. 1681. ce que dit Marat, Ponsard has extracted thèse passages from several numbers of Marat's paper, mostly those of June, i793<

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1, 1643. les agioteurs, The over-issue of paper-money (assignats) and the uncertainty of its value, led to gambling in paper for the sake of profiting by the changes in the agio or premium on exchange, and the agioteurs were those who carried on this spéculation.

Perhaps 'stockjobbers' or 'speculators* would best translate the word.

marchands de luxe^ literally *sellers of luxuries'; we may translate perhaps 'fashionable tradesmen.*

1. 1644. robinSf a nickname for the lawyers, or members of the old noblesse de la robe, Many lawyers acquired nobility through belonging to the Parlements.

L 1648. engeance, *brood.* It is generally used as a term of contempt and hatred. The word comes from enger, which is of uncertain dérivation, and is used in two sensés, to plant, produce, and to annoy. In the second sensé it may come from Latin enecare,

qui puisse rendre, The subjunctive follows/if ne vois que, as it does // ny a que, See Eve, § 252.

1. 1660. C est la bonne manière, 'that's the riglft' style !'

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