mais non ! ' oh no

,, 4. Bayazed : Bayazid, a small town in Turkey in Asia, Southwest of Mount Ararat," was twice occupied by the Russians in 1877.

, . 5. vous n'êtes pas sans avoir . . : cf. il tiest pas que vous ne sachiez, ' you cannot but know."

,, la Ja guerre de Turquie: the people of Herzegovina having taken up arms against the Turks in 1875, and their example having been followed a little later by the Servians and Monténégrins, the représentatives of the great powers of Europe met at Constantinople towards the end of 1876 in order to press reforms upon Turkey. Their recommendations were, however, disregarded, and in April 1877 Russia, who was at once joined by Roumania, issued a warlike manifeste, and bcgan opérations both in Europe and Asia. The Turks offered a stubborn résistance, and the war lasted niuch longer than was first anticipated ; but after the fall of Plevna on the loth of December they suffered reverses on ail sides, and on the 3rd of March 1878 the Treaty of San Stefano was signed. Its provisions were, however, altered by the Treaty of Berlin (July i3th), wliich ceded Roumanian Bessarabia to Russia, erected Bulgaria into a principality, declared the independence of Roumania, Servia, and Monténégro, and empowered Austria to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina.

,, II. l'armée russe du Caucase: with a féminine name of country the use or omission of the article may change the meaning altogether. Contrast —

l'armée de V Italie, ' the Italian army.' V armée d' Italie, ' any army in Italy."

,, 14. de Cosaques : the Cossacks, who inhabit the southern and eastorn parts of Russia, are divided into two cla.sses — the Cossacks of the Don and ihose of Little Russia. Their

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government used to be a sort of dcmocracy, and they elected their own chief or hetinan, but now this title is vested in the heir-apparent to the Kussian throne, and ail other officers are appointed by the crown. The Cossacks pay no taxes, being allowed to perforni instead the duty of soldiers, and Ru.ssia has no better horsemen in her vast army.

30. 16. Érivan : a Russian town, with a citadel and a cannon-

foundry, on the Sanga, north of Mount Ararat.

,, 17. avait tenu bon: tenir ferme is used in the same sensé. For other adjectives taken adverbially cf. parler haut, chanter bas, acheter cher, travailler dur, chanter faux, deviner juste, etc.

, , 28. cela, beaucoup d'autres l'ont fait : notice the use of a redundant personal pronoun whenever the direct object is emphatically placed before the verb.

31. 7. qu'on supposait devoir être, ' which was supposed likely

to be . .'

,, 12. replacer, ' to replace,' i.e. ' to place again,' 'toputback'; remplacer, ' to replace, 'i.e. ' to take the place of. '

,, 18. je Im fis donner un emploi : show how this construction oï faire may sometimes give l'ise to ambiguity.

,, 19. vacant is an adjective ; vaquatit (à), ' attending (to),' is a participle. Cf. provocant and provoquant, différent and différant, fatigant as\d fatiguant, etc.

je vous fais grâce du récit, ' I spare you the account.'

,, 21. nous comptions, i.e. ' \ve were reckoned ' ; say ' we were.'

., 25. du mont Ararat: this famous mountain in Armenia, according to tradition the resting-place of Noah's ark towards the end of the flood, is composed of two high cônes (Great and Little Ararat) connected by a ridge nearly 9000 feet high.

,, 30. Kurdes: the eastern part of Kurdistan forms two Persian provinces, the rest belongs to Turkey ; but the Kurds owe but little allegiance either to the Persians or the Turks. They live in tribes under chiefs of Iheir own choice, as husbandmen and bandits.

,, 31. Arméniens : the Armenians are only too well known on account of the sufferings of ail sorts they bave been so long subjected to by the Turks. They accepted Christianity as early as the second century, but separated from the Greek Church towards the middle of the sixth. The head of their Church, the Catholicus, has his seat in the monastery of Etchmiadzin, not far from Erivan. Russia has acquired a large portion of Armenia at différent times, notably at the end of the war, an épisode of which is hère related.

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32. 14. ce qui nous inquiétait le plus, c'était . . : note this

expletive use of ce before être when the first niember of the sentence begins with ce qui, ce que, but reniember that ce is omitted when the verb être is foUowed by an adjective, a participle or a noun having the force of an adjective : ce que je dis est vrai or est la vérité.

,, 17. à trois cents pas : see note, p. 10 1. 11. „ 20. tous les tonneaux, vases et marmites : notice that the article is not repeated, and cf. the following locutions, in %vhich the nouns aiso refer to persons or things of the same class —

les parents et amis, ' the relatives and friends. '

les officiers, sous -officiers et soldais, 'the officers, non-

commissioned officers and men.' r école des ponts et chaussées, ' the school of civil engineers.' ,, 22. c'était de quoi vivre : see note, p. 11 1. 26. ,, 24. pas mal de monde, 'not afewmen." Mark the omission

of 7ie before the verb in this colloquialism. ,, 26. poste, masc. , 'post,' 'station,' ' employment ' ; /cj/t', fem. , 'post-office,' ' post-house, ' 'mail,' ' post-horses, ' ' post-haste. ' sur les dents, ' knocked up ' (from horses gripping the bit when they are tired). Cf. Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Act iii. se. 3 :

La pauvre Françoise est presque sur les dents. ,, 27. sensibles: see note, p. 7 1. 18.

,, 30. puiser de l'eau au ruisseau: the préposition 'from' is translated by à to dénote the object from which something is taken. Cf. —

le malheureux empruntait à tous ses amis. ôtez ce couteau à cet enfant.

33. r. avertir, ' to warn,' never ' to avert. ' Avertissement, ' warn-

ing ' ; annonce, ' advertisement. ' ,, 4. seau, 'pail,' ' bucket ' ; sceau, ' seal ' ; saut, 'leap.' ,, g. encore était-ce . . : see note, p. 29 1. 18. ,, 10. dont il fallut bien rabattre : cf. il vous faudra en rabattre,

' you will hâve to conie down a peg. '

,, 16. de four : note —

la pièce a fait four, ' the play has failcd.' il fait noir comme dans 7tn four, ' it is pitch dark.' ,, 22. bibliothèque, 'library'; librairie, 'bookseller'sshop,' ' book-

trade ' ; bibliothécaire, ' librarian ' ; libraire, ' bookseller. ' ,, 25. brochure (from brocher, ' to stitch'), 'pamphlet' ; pamphlet, ' satirical pamphlet. '

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