me flanquait des calottes: la calotte is a 'skull-cap

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1 calotte, ' ' cardinalship,' etc. ; also used in the popular and figurative sensé of a ' tap,' ' rap,' ' cuff on the head.' Transi. ' cuffed me. '

39. 6. la place Clichy is in the north of Paris, just south of the Montmartre cemetery, and at the junction of the Boulevards de Clichy and des Batignolles.

, , g. rapport à is a popular expression for à cause de.

,, io. Lariboisière : see note, p. 15 1. 5.

., 11. poil à gratter: a popular expression, being the name given to a certain powder used by schoolboys, etc. , in order to play practical jokes on one another. They secretly scatter some of this powder in a bed or in some place where it may corne in contact with the skin of their unfortunate victim, when it serves as a powerful irritant. The seeds from the hip of the dog-rose are often used for this purpose. Cf. note, Title p. 38.

,, 12. racleur de corde à boyau, ' the fiddler, ' ' fiddle-scraper.' Corde à boyau is ' cat-gut. ' Cf. the expression, p. 38 1. 6, en frottant une corde à boyau. Un frotteur or un racleur de corde à boyau are both contemptuous expressions, applied to an indiffèrent performer on the fiddle or other stringed instrument.

,, 15. haut comme une botte : lit. ' as tall as a Wellington boot,' i. e. very short ; he was about ten years old at this time.

,, 18. Jeunes Détenus: i.e. La Prison des Jeunes Détenus, also called the Central House of Correctional Education. This prison was situated in the Rue de la Roquette, which runs between the Place de la Bastille and the Cimetière du Père Lachaise ; hence it was known as La Petite Roquette. It is now destroyed, as it is the intention to remove the prisons outside the city.

, , 20. rempailleur de Chaises : i. e. celui de rempailleur de chaises.

, , 24. à sa dix-septième année : he had then been seven years in the House of Correction.

le pavé parisien : i.e. les rues de Paris. Cf. the expression ' to corne upon the streets. ' The boy had no home and no fixed occupation ; he was therefore both literally and metaphorically sur le pavé.

M 28. les égouts : the sewers are visited as one of the sights of Paris. The pipes form an underground network about 765 miles in length. The usual entrance for visitors is in the Place du Châtelet.

les nuits de bal, ' on bail nights. ' Masqued balls are held in various théâtres of Paris during the carnival, and balls and masquerades take place ail the year round in halls and gardens made for the purpose.

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39. 29. le passage de l'Opéra : a small narrow lane, leading into

the Boulevard des Italiens, opposite to the site of the Opéra Comique, which was burnt down in 1887.

,, 31. hercules : the name of Hercule is commonly bestowed upon the strong man in a fair. It is a common practice to pay boys or men to allow themselves to be thrown by the strong man, after a certain show of résistance.

40. 5. Sainte-Pélagie, a house of détention, containing 650 cells,

built before the Révolution for persons condemned for misdemeanours to not more than one year's imprisonment, is now used for political offenders. It is situated behind the church of the same name, between the Place Monge and the Jardin des Plantes, south of the Seine.

,, 20. les politiques, 'the politicians,' hère used ironically for those who had committed small political offences.

,, 21. soupe et le bœuf: the régulation prison-fare, which might be supplemented at the prisoner's own expense.

,, 24. la Carmagnole : a song and dance very popular during the Révolution. The original song was military only, but became much fiercer in character in 1793, when it was called ' La Carmagnole des Royalistes. ' The name was afterwards applied contemptuously to a soldier of the revolutionary armies.

,, 25. le Ça ira : this was one of the popular songs which sprang up at the time of the French Révolution. The refrain was 1 Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira ! Les aristocrat' à la lanterne ! ' etc., i.e. hang the aristocrats to the street-lamps.

,, 27. citoyen, ' citizen.' This word was used during the Révolution as the only form of address, instead of monsieur, etc., as a sign of the equality of ail.

41. 6. son temps fait, ' his time up,' or ' when his time was up.'

,, 15. la rue de Jérusalem: in this street is situated the Préfecture de Police, which lies between the Palais de Justice and the Place du Parvis Notre-Dame in the île de la Cité. Hère are kept documents relating to every offence, as well as Personal descriptions of the offenders. The Paris police were the first to use the system of taking impressions in wax of the thumbs of criminals to serve as a means of récognition.

,, 16. ses nom et prénoms : when two nouns stand for the names of persons or things which are intimately connected, the possessive adjective may be used once in the plural instead of being repeated before and agreeing with each noun separately. Hence ses nom et prénoms is hère used instead of son nom et ses prénoms. Cf. ses père et mère.

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41. 21. la Californie : the name given to cheap méat or soup-

kitchens situated in a very poor quarter.

,, 24. bouchon (faire des parties de), ' to play at chuck-penny. ' Jouer au bouchon is to play a game which consists in knocking down with a quoit or other instrument a cork on which are placed pièces of money. ' Les éternels joueurs de bouchon en manches de chemise' (De Lescure, François Coppée, p. 183, and compare id. p. 188).

,, 25. barrière, 'a barrier," or 'gâte.' The Fortifications of Paris were constructed in conséquence of a decree issued in 1840. The Enceinte, or wall of enclosure, is 21 miles long. The ramparts are surmounted by a wide parapet, and surrounded by a moat. The approaches to the city are guarded by forts, arranged in a double line. The walls are pierced by sixty-six gâtes, called Portes or Barrières, at which taxes are levied on articles brought into the city. Un commis de barrière is an octroi officiai. The Barrières are usually surrounded by slums.

il portait la casquette grasse en arrière, ' he wore a greasy cap at the back of his head. '

,, 28. chez Constant : Constant is the name of the owner of a very inferior dancing-saloon in the Quartier de Montparnasse, which is only resorted to by a low class of people. Montparnasse : the name given to a district in Paris to the south-west of the Jardins du Luxembourg. The southern cemetery is called the Cimetière du Montparnasse, and to the north of this cemetery runs the boulevard of the same name.

, , 29. à la porte de Bobino : this was the name of a théâtre and a café near the Luxembourg Gardens. ' La première du Passant [i.e. the first représentation of Coppée's play of that name], je me la rappelle comme si c'était hier. On l'avait annoncée, prônée, escomptée au café de Bobino, voisin des arbres du Luxembourg, où se réunissaient les Parnassiens, où passait Rochefort, où venait de débarquer, avec Pierrot héritier, Paul Arène au bras d'Alphonse Daudet, célèbre déjà par les Lettres de mon Moulin.' — De Lescure, François Coppée, pp. 118, 119.