nous sommes bien revenus s\ir leur compte, ' we hâve
altered our opinion of them a good deal.'
64. I. les gens : what is the peculiarity of ^6«j ? How can it bc
accounted for ?
, , 10. Plevna : a town of great strategical importance, in Bulgaria,
famous for the stubborn résistance it offered to the Russians.
The gallant Turkish garrison was commanded by Osman
Nubia Pasha.
,, II. cauchemar: from OF. enticher, ' to press ' (Lat. calcare)
and inar (sanie as English marc in nighttnare), ' démon." dure : account for the présent tense.
,, 23. comparer mon esprit à ces champs de bataille . . comparer à is to express a likeness between two persons or things, comparer avec is to seek their différences as well as their resemblance.
65. I. sensible, hère 'tangible,' ' that affects the sensés." ,, 2. mes nerfs : the/is not sounded in the plural.
,, 10. des phrases creuses, ' empty words."
,, 15. si cela . . : notice the use of cela to translate ' it ' referring to
a previous statement : cela me semble impossible, ' it seems
impossible to me. "
mieux vaudrait prévenir . . : see notes, p. 8 1. 26, and P- 43 1- 15- ,, 16. auquel j'assiste : cf. les assistants, ' the bystanders. ' ,, 24. dernièrement, 'lately'; ett dernier lieu, 'lastly. " ,, 26. passé un certain degré : \\o\i\d passé agr^t if the foUowing
noun was féminine or plural?
,, 28. si minime soit-elle : cf. —
si mininie quelle soit, quelque 7?iinime qu' elle soit.
66. I. le premier mouvement, 'the fîrst impulse.' Cf. Talley-
rand's famous saying : Défiez-votis du premier mouvement,
c'est le bon.
,, 3. lui prétendait . . : lui instead of il, to emphasise the
oppesition.
,, 13. le seul qui fût . . : give in full the rule for this use of the
subjunctivc.
„ 16. niaiserie : the dérivation of niais is rather interesting. It
cornes from Low Latin nidacem (from nidus, ' ncst '), and
originally meant ' taken in the nest. '
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66. 16. lot (in a lottery), ' prize. ' Cf. le gros lot, ' the first or highest
prize. '
67. 6. des dernières affaires: cf. l'affait-e fut fort chaude, ' tho
engagement was a very warm one. '
,, 9. avec un zèle ponctuel : note the use of the indefinite article with a préposition and an abstract noun qualified by an adjective.
,, 10. dans la matinée : never dans le matin. Cf. da7is la soirée, or le soir, never dans le soir.
,, 21. Schopenhauer, the famous exponent of pessimism, was born at Danzig in 1788 and died in 1860. His principal works are T/ie World as Will and Idea [Die Welt aïs Wille und Vorstellufig, 1819), The two Fundametital Prollems of Ethics (Die beiden Gri/nd-Prolileme der Ethik, 1841), and Parerga 7i7td Paralipomena (1851).
68. 10. je vous attendais là ! ' that 's just what I was expecting ! ' ,, 13. mon Dieu ! hère simply ' well. '
,, 22. tout simplement : ^z^^ is expletive. Cf. tout bonnement. ,, 27. quel qu'il soit : distinguish between quel qzie, quelque . . que and qtioi que.
,, 30. essayer du vieil idéal : note this intransitive use of essayer witli de, meaning ' to make a trial of. '
69. I. des bonnes gens : bear in mind that gens is always mascu-
line when followed by de and a noun, as gens de bien, gens
d'i'pée, getis de robe.
et de même : for et il en est de même. ,, 13. peu ou prou, 'more or less ' (lit. ' little or much'). Prou,
now obsolète except in the above familiar expression, cornes
from Lat. probe.
,, 2g. tenez: see note, p. 8 1. 12. ,, 30. percevoir, not apercevoir, as a philosophical term.
70. 3. la seule vertu, ' the mère virtue ' ; also ' the only virtue ' ;
la vertu seule, ' virtue alone. '
,, 4. traitera ce médecin de charlatan : see note, p. 53 1. 28.
,, 15. tout autre espoir : note —
toute autre chose, ' any other thing. ' tout autre chose, ' quite another thing.'
,, 18. que nous eussions : account for mood and tense.
,, 19. la Belle du conte de fées : i.e. La Belle au bois do7-mant. This fairy taie is to be found in a little volume, Contes de ma mère lOie, published by Charles Perrault in 1697. The author, a member of the French Academy, though he owes
ii8 Cœurs russes
Page LTNF,
his popularity to thèse taies, is also well known as the originator of the famous dispute on the respective merits of the Ancients and Modems. Having placed the seventeenth century above ail other âges in a poem entitled Le Siècle de Louis le Grand, which he read to the Academy in 1687, and being ridiculed by Racine for doing so, he undertook to justify his opinion and wrote for that purpose his Parallèle des Anciens et des Modernes.
70. 20. d'aucuns, 'some. ' The dérivation of aucun (Lat. aliquis
un us) shows that originally its meaning was always affirmative.
,, 27. force promesses : see note, p. 3 1. 29.
71. I. l'automne suivant : atitomne has the two genders, though
generally masculine like the other seasons.
, , 6. qui aboyât : account for mood and tense.
,, 7. à grand'peine : see note, p. 16 1. 20.
, , 8. sa bonne humeur : note —
avec humeur, ' peevishiy. '
avoir de I humeur, ' to be out of temper. '
,, II. Pompéi : overwhelmed by an éruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, this ancient city remained buried and forgotten until 1748, when statues were discovered by peasants sinking a well. Subséquent excavations brought to light many interesting objects of antiquity, private houses and public buildings, among which the temples of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, the Panthéon and the Curia.
,, 12. Herculanum : the site of Herculaneum, buried by the same éruption as Pompeii, was also found by chance in 1713, and the excavations undertaken some years after brought about similar results.
,, 14. le mot propre, 'the proper word'; les propres mots, 'the very words. '
,, 15. mœurs : sound the s sharply.
,, 19. ainsi de . . : for /'/ en est ainsi </^ . . ; cf. p. 11 1. 6.
, , 26. à peu de variantes près : cf —
à peu d' exceptions près, ' with few exceptions. '
à peu de chose près, 'about," 'nearly,' ' within a trifle.'
,, 28. l'an dernier : see notes, p. i I. i and p. 10 I. 9.
72. i. arpents: say 'acres.' The old 'arpent,' no longer in use
since the introduction of the metrical System, contained 100 square perches.
,, 4. eldorado : properly the country aV)Ounding in gold that Orelhina, the lieutenant of Pizarro, affirmed he had discovered in South America, ncai' the Oriuoco.
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