rangée, sobered down

8. Orléans. The duc d' Orléans, a kinsman of the king, tumed against him and helped organize the Révolution, which soon after very justly eut off his head. He was the father of King Louis- Philippe.

Page 72» — i. Pompadoor, a favorite of the late King Louis

2. Fanblas. Les amours du chevalier de FaubîaSy a vicious eighteenth-century novel.

3. Rétif, Restif de la Bretonne (i 734-1 806), prolific but coarse writer. Marie- Antoinette was no worse than other people : everybody read Faublas and Restif in those days.

4. V. V. = voiry the infinitive being often used in French as a modified imperative.

5. Saint-Simon, author of memoirs throwing much light on the reign of Louis XIV.

6. Figaro, Le Mariage de Figaro^ famous play by Beaumarchais (i 732-1 799). The satirical character of Figaro was a symptom of the coming révolution.