ça me connaît : see note, P. 34 L

» 15. sur mon compte, ‘about me.’

», 18. les grosses bottes : je. Les Sergents de ville.

» 28. Cayenne, the Capital of French Guiana, is situated on an island, and is a wretched place with à shallow harbour. Since the Revolution of 1848 Cayenne island has been made a penal settlement.

52. 6. en boutique de, ‘ who kept shop in.' Cf. chambre in Vocab.

Te Pas-de-la-Mule : the name of a street running into the Boulevard Beaumarchais, and alongside the Place des Vosges, a Short distance from the Place de la Bastille, in a north-westerly direction.

» 14. boulevard Beauma;-chais : this boulevard TUDS in a north- Westerly direction from the Place de Ja Bastille, north of the Seine. Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was born in 1732 and died in 1799. Heis chiefiy celebrated as the author of Ze Barbier de Séville and Le Mariage de Figaro.

» 17. fine cuisinière : an elliptical phrase. Z//- était is understood.

de br ee her

te maine ranger

RE EE EEE

Page Live 52. 17. était . . sur sa bouche, ‘studied good living.”

53. 3. poses de sonnettes, ‘hanging of bells.' Transl. ‘hang bells, open doors,' etc.

» 8. couchée : coucher, ‘to put to bed," ‘lay down,’ ‘write down,’ or ‘insert,’ as here. Trans. ‘ I should have mentioned you, inserted your name in my will.’

-» 14 la rue Amelot: à 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 Æistoire 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. 8e fendit : se fendre, ‘to split,’ ‘ crack," is used in a popular Way for ‘io commit an unwonted extravagance.” Transl, ‘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. ÆEspérer is here used figuratively, referring to a fact accomplished, as we Say, e.g., ‘I Æope you have 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 vépres : 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? transl, ‘and who is to stand godmother with me?’ Roman Catholic children need not have more

than one godfather and godmother (as here), or they may have several,

» 14. à bien fait les choses, ‘ has acted handsonnely.

»» 20. haricots: ata christening it is customary to have quantities : of dragées, i.e. sweet almonds covered with sugar, usually of a white colour. These are thrown in handfuls amongst the crowd of onlookers. At a Captême populaire white eans

are often mixed with the dragées for the sake of economy.

Notes 103

Page Line

56. 21. seize à quinze . + : the first of each of these Pairs of numbers represents the emballeur's score ; the second, M. Matous-

saints. They arc intended to show that the latter js steadily losing, 57. 1. après, ‘on. :

* 27. Que ce soit : for que ce ne soit.

58, 29. il faut le dire, ‘one must confess.‘

59. 6, la Ménagère is à bazaar at which all kinds of household requisites may be obtained. It is situated in the Boulevard

Bonne-Nouvelle, which lies to the north-west of the Place de la République,

60. x. expéditionnaire : the verb expédier (Lat. expedire) means Primarily ‘to expedite,' ‘to hasten,' as expédier La besogne ; then ‘to send ‘forward,’ as EXpédier une caisse ; and finally 10 copy," expédier un acte ; hence zne expédition, * expedition," ‘dispatch,' copy." From Expédition is formed ex- Péditionnaire, denoting a Person whose business it is to dispatch goods, ‘a commission-agent,' ‘a copying-clerk.'

* 3: Camarade de pièce : Pièce here is ‘ room.’

un nommé Jean Vidal: ie. #n homme nommé Jean Vidal, ‘a man named Jean Vidal," or ‘one Jean Vidal by name.’ 4 la campagne d'Italie : the Campaign of 1859, under the leadership of Napoleon III. against Austria ; battles of Monte’ ello, Magenta, and Solferino.

* 7. en ronde, en bâtarde, en gothique : different styles of

handwriting, Viz. ‘round hand, Slanting round band, old English.’

» 9. le paraphe, also spelt Parafe, is the ‘flourish' which some people add to their signatures.

» 12. poils: in French Poil (from Lat. Pilus, ‘ single hair) is the Seneral term for ‘ hair’ : Cheveu (from Lat. Capillus, ‘hair of head or face ‘) is reserved for the hair of the human head ; and crin (from Lat. crinis, ‘hair’ generally) is long and thick hair, as Z crin d'un cheval, Les crins d'un lion. Cf. La crinière, ‘ mane.' When Speaking of animals Poil corre- Sponds c'ten to the English ‘ coat of hair,’ and by extension denotes : colour of hair,’ as quel est le Poël de votre cheval É and is also used of the hair of the beards of men; but only Contemptuously of the head for les cheveux or 'la chevelure, 28 Son poil grisonne, il à Le Poil roux, etc.

barbiche, diminutive of Z7 barbe, denotes a beard on the chin, a ‘billy-goat beard.’

» 13. d'ancien ZOUave : the zouaves are French light infantry

serving in Algeria, and Wearing a quasi-Moorish dress and a

rhin seene rh temples

ad mn

ÉrRn se D PIE

104 Contes Choisis Page Line

billy-goat beard. They derive their name from the Zwawa, a tribe of Kabyles in the Algerian province of Constantine, and were formerly partly recruited from natives,

60. 16. Jà-bas: lit. ‘ down there’ : the idea of #as, ‘ down, is now hardly ever felt when this common expression is used : its

meaning is generally vague and tells one that the place spoken of is some distance away.

17. au fond de Grenelle : ‘right in the heart of Grenelle, ' Grenelle was formerly a Village to the west of Paris, with

slaughter-houses and an artesian well. Since 1860 it has formed part of the capital.

20. Croix: the Cross of the Legion of Honour. There are five classes of this order. Soldiers holding the Cross of the sth class receive an annuity of 250 francs. ‘The ribbon of the Cross is of watered scarlet silk. Cf. note, P. 25 1. 18.

appointements, ‘salary." The usual word for the salary of officials is now Z traitement ; les appointements is more and more confined to the salary of commercial men. Les gages and % salaire Correspond to Engl. ‘wages.” Cf. Vocab.