était . . sur sa bouche, ' studied good living

53. 3. poses de sonnettes, ' hanging of bells. ' Transi. ' hang

bells, open doors,' etc.

,, 8. couchée : coucher, 'to put to bed,' 'lay down,' 'write down,' or ' insert,' as hère. Transi. ' I should hâve mentioned you, inserted your name in my will.'

,, 14. la rue Amelot : a narrow street, running parallel with the Boulevard Beaumarchais. Amelot de la Houssaye died at Paris in 1706 ; he was a diplomat and publicist, and author of the Histoire de Guillaume de Nassau, etc.

,, 19. Sens : a city in the department of Yonne, about 60 miles to the south-east of Paris, on the Paris-Lyon road. It has a famous church, nearly as large as Notre-Dame de Paris, and remains of Roman walls.

,, 25. se fendit : se fendre, ' to split,' ' crack,' is used in a popular way for ' to commit an unwonted extravagance. ' Transi. ' bestowed upon her, in a fit of unwonted generosity.'

54. 8. j'espère : espérer que, used affirmatively, is followed by the

future or conditional ; used negatively or interrogatively, by the subjunctive. Espérer is hère used figuratively, referring to a fact accomplished, as we say, e.g. , 'I hope you hâve been sufficiently long in coming. ' This use of the word is always slightly satirical.

,, 24. faïence: nouns used as adjectives to express colour are invariable. See Vocabulary also.

,, 31. ce sera l'affaire de, ' it will be a question of, ' ' it will cost. '

55. 6. quel jour, la cérémonie ? an elliptical phrase, ' which day

will the ceremony take place ? ' 8. entre messe et vêpres : High Mass is usually begun at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning, and vespers at 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

,, 9. Saint-Paul : this church is situated in the Rue St-Antoine, not far from the Place de la Bastille. It was erected in the seventeenth century.

,, 10. et ma commère ? transi, 'and who is to stand godmother with me ? ' Roman Catholic children need not hâve more than one godfather and godmother (as hère), or they may hâve several.

,, 14. a bien fait les choses, ' has acted handsomely.'

,, 20. haricots : at a christening it is customary to hâve quantities of dragées, i.e. sweet almonds covered with sugar, usually of a white colour. Thèse are thrown in handfuls amongst the crowd of onlookers. At a baptême populaire white beans are often mixed with the dragées for the sake of economy.

Notes 103

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56. 21. seize à quinze . . : the first of each of thèse pairs ofnumbers

represents the emballeurs score ; the second, M. Matoussaint's. They are intended to show that the latter is steadily losing.