caporal : The standard brand of tobacco in France

66.2. la Brie : The district round Meaux, to the east of Paris.

66.3. le bureau de tabac : This is the regular term employed for a tobacconist's shop. The manufacture and sale of tobacco are a Government monopoly, and it is a privilège often obtained by political favour, or at least through the good offices of political friends, to be made ' titulaire ' of a shop.

66.4. dont la titulaire : ' The nominee to which.' The lady was responsible for the shop, but père Volcan managed it ; this is a common arrangement when a * bureau de tabac ' is granted to nécessitons ladies, widows of ofïicers or civil servants.

66.5. préfet: The important officiai who represents the central Government in the ' chef-lieu ' of a ' département.'

66.6. leur blague : Pouch. As a familiar term in conversation

' la blague ' means ' a tall taie,' ' a yarn,' ' a bit of humbug,' or a marked capacity for producing such fictions.

66.7. Solférino : The name of a village in Northern Italy (province of Mantua) and the scène of one of Napoléon III's victories (1859) over the Austrians.

66.8. le Mexique : The unsuccessful French campaign in Mexico lasted from 1862 till 1867.

66.9. batailles sous Paris : The engagements that took place at Le Bourget, Champigny, and many other points before and during the investment of Paris (i 870-1).

67.1. chapeau romain: ' Shovel-hat,' broad-brimmed and flatcrowned.