la Bastille: Bastille
+... Îl viendra du monde, ce soir. On a allumé la lampe . . et toutes les bougies qu'on a pu; et Covielle, le petit domestique, vient même de disposer ce qu'il faut pour le thé.
‘ Covielle, c'est un voyou du boulevard des Batignolles qui, à quatorze ans, a déjà fait le tour du monde en qualité de mousse et qui, tout récemment, servait de pitre au marchand de poil à gratter de la place Clichy. Son vrai nom ? on le sait peut-être aux Enfants-Trouvés et aux Jeunes- Détenus. Mais Catulle Mendès à un jour recueilli ce gavroche par charité, en a fait son groom, et l'a baptisé Covielle, en souvenir des farces de Molière. Demain, profitant d'une absence de son maitre, il s'enfuira, après avoir vendu la pendule et mis les deux matelas au Mont-de-Piété ; mais aujourd'hui encore, il est fidèle ; il essuie les tasses, fait chauffer l'eau et Coupe en tranches égales le baba ; car on attend des poîtes, des camarades." De Lescure, François Coppée, pp. 45, 46.
Was originally a common name given to a citadel or fortress: the word Was afterwards applied in particular to the old fortress in Paris, the erection of which was begun in 1369. After the other mediaeval fortifications of the city had been destrnyed, it was still presc :ved and used as a prison for persons confined at the arbitrary decree of the king or his ministers. It Was stormed by the populace in the Great Revolution on July 14, 1789, and was soon afterwards demolished, The site is now occupied by a square, in the centre of which is a column, surmounted by a Statue of Liberty. Za Fête Nationale is held on the r4th of July, to commemorate the taking of the Bastille,
corde à boyau : see note, p. 39 1. 12
dix centimes, deux sous : a centime is the hundredth part of a franc, and a sou is 5 centimes, or a halfpenny.
du poil à gratter : see note, D-39 rx
Montmartre is situated to the north of Paris, and on a hill. It possesses old quarries, in which a variety of gypsum, called montmartrite, was found, and from which plaster of Paris is made. St. Denis is said to have been martyred on the
Butte Montmartre. The slopes of the hill next the city have been laid out as a public garden.
Frères : i.e. members of a religious body. The society of the ‘Fières des écoles chrétiennes,’ for instance, possesses schools in every arrondissement of Paris,
voilà is here used elliptically for voilà ce qui est arrivé.
Crimée : sec note, p, 161, r.
me flanquait des calottes: /x ralorte is a ‘skull-cap,'
* 20. rempailleur de chaises : i. e. celui » 24. à sa dix-septième année :
++ 28. les égouts : the sewers are visited
Notes 97 Page LiNe
‘ calotte,' ‘Cardinalship,' etc figurative sense ofa‘tap,':
‘cuffed me.’
39. 6. la place Clichy is in the north Montmartre Cémetery, and at the de Clichy and des Batignolles.
9. rarportäisa Popular expression for à cause de, * 10. Lariboisière : see note, p. 151 &.
‘* IT. poil à gratter : a popular Expression, being the name i YS, etc., in order jokes on one änother, They secret]y scatter i € place where it may ir unfortunate victim, itant. The seeds from the Purpose, Cf. note,
» 12. racleur de corde à boyau, ‘the fiddler, Corde à boyau is ‘cat-gut.’
frottant une corde à boyau.
*; alsc used in the Popular and rap,” ‘ cuff on the head.” Transl,
Of Paris, just South of the junction of the Boulevards
: fiddle-scraper. = Cf. the Expression, p. 38 1. 6, en
Un frotteur or un racleur de XPressions, applied to an
le or other Stringed instrument.
* 15. haut comme Une botte: lit, :
Le very short ; he was about te
as tall as a Wellington boot,’ n Years old at this time.
now destroyed, as it is the intention to remove the prisons Outside the city.
de rempailleur de Chaises.
he had then been seven years in the House of Correction.
le pavé Parisien : i.e, Zs rues de Paris.
“to come upon the Streets.” The boy had
fixed OCCupation : he Was therefore both lit Phorically su e pavé.
Cf. the expression no home and no erally and meta-
as one of the sights of und network about 765 ce for visitors is in the
Paris. The Pipes form an undergro miles in length. The usual entran Place du Châtelet, les nuits de bal, ‘on ball nights.”
IN Various theatres of Paris during the Carnival, and balls
and masquerades take place all the Year round in halls ana Bardens made for the purpose.
Masqued balls are held
RS IDE OM Beat me errant roro eparg arte
gr mi oi mon
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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 resistance.
40. 5. Sainte-Pélagie, a house of detention, containing 650 cells, built before the Revolution 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,' here used ironically for those who had committed small political offences.
‘ 21. Soupe et le bœuf: the regulation prison-’1re, which might be supplemented at the prisoner's own expense.
»» 24. la Carmagnole : a song and dance very popular during the Revolution. 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 Revolution. The refrain was ‘Ah! çaira, 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 Revolution as the only form of address, instead of monsieur, etc., as a sign of the equality of all.
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. Here 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 recognition.
»» 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 here 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 kitchens situated in a very poor Quarter.
ay at chuck-penny.
Jouer au bouchon IS 0 play a game which consists in knocking down with a quoit or other instrument a cork on which are placed pieces of money. ‘Les éternels joueurs de bouchon €n manches de chemise” (De Lescure, François Coppée, p. 18 + and compare id. P. 188).
» 25. barrière, ‘a barrier,' or : Sate.” The Fortific Paris were Constructed in Consequence of a 1840. The Enceinte, or Wall of enclosure, ji The ramparts are Surmounted by à wide rounded by a moat. The approaches to the city are guarded by forts, arrange in a double line. The walls are pierced by sixty-six Sates, called Portes or Barrières, at which taxes are levied on articles brought into the City. Un commis de
barrière is an oct i official. The Barrières are usually surrounded by slums.
il portait la Casquette grasse en arrière, ‘he wore a BTEASY 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
ations of decree issued in
” 29. à la porte de Bobino : this was the name of à then café near the Luxembourg Gardens. ‘La Première d [i.e. the first representation 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, rro.
42. 1. le marché AUX Chevaux: the horse-market js situated South of the Jardin des Plantes, in the angle formed by the junction of the Boulevards de l'Hôpital and St-Marcel,
» 10. Poissy, à town in ‘he department of Seine-et-Oise Versailles), has à S«ation on the Paris-Rouen railway large cattle and sheep market.
» 23. Toulon, a seaport in the department of naval station in France, and the chief
tre and a u Passant
(capital and a
Var, is the second
tt Station Of the Mediter-
Page LINE ranean fleet. There are two inner harbours, called the Old or Mercantile Harbour and the Naval or New Harbour. By the naval port are the bagne or convict-house and the hospital for convicts. Since Coppée wrote this story, convicts have ceased to be sent to the bagne and are taken to Nouméa instead. This change was effected in 1873.
42. 23. le boulet au pied: convicts and deserters are condemned to have a heavy .ball attached to their foot by a chain about 24 yards long, in order to prevent their escape.
…, 25. Trafalgar : the battle of Trafalgar was fought in 1805.
» 29. Vernon, a town of about 8000 inhabitants, in the department of Eure, has a station on the Paris-Rouen railway, and stands on the left bank of the Seine.
», 30. la rivière : i.e. the Seine.
