écrasant, See note to p. 4, h

Page 7.

3. d*y parvenir. The pronominal y stands for the whole sentence, à exterminer les malheureux paysans. Translate *to gain their end.'

10. la mort de Stanislas. The Duchy of Lorraine was established in the tenth century. The dukes were vassals of the Emperors, but in course of time they acquired fiefs held under the French crown. In the sixteenth century, Lorraine was declared a free and independent sovereignty by the Germanie body. Duke Charles III. was dispossessed by Louis XIII. of France, received restitution by the Treaty of the Pyrénées, and was again dispossessed (1670) by Louis XIV. Restitution was made to his grandson Leopold (Treaty of Ryswick, 1697). François Etienne, who Bucceeded, married Maria Theresa of Austria. Previous to his marriage,he acquiesced in a treaty between France and the empire, by which Lorraine was ceded to Stanislas Leczinski, ex-king of Poland, and father-in-law of Louis XV. of France. On the death of Stanislas, the province was to be united to France. Stanislas died 1766, and Lorraine was incorporated with France.

11. la taille was so called because the collector of the tax made use of 'tallies' of wood. An ancient method of keeping accounts was to mark expenditure and receipts by cuts (entailles) on a pièce of wood (' tally ' = taille).

14. les meubles. One of the modem French direct taxes is la con-

tribution mobilière, which is proportioned to the rent or value of a furuished house or apartment.

18. la ferme. This term is équivalent to 'duty,' because the customs duties were farmed out or let to a contracter (fermier des impôts, fermier général), who paid the Government the estiinated produce of the duty, in the expectation that he would actually collect more than he paid the Government. Necker, Finance Minister, 1776-81, substituted provincial assemblies of notables fur the assessment of taxes in place of les fermiers généraux.

20. la gabelle. This tax on sait weighed more heavily on the people than any other. The amount varied in différent districts. Thus in Lorraine and Alsace sait cost, by the addition of the duty, 6 to 18 times the market price ; in inlaud North France, 27 to 31 times the market price. Srnuggling two pounds of sait brought a labourer more money than a day's work.

21. encore si les princes . . . s'ils avaient, etc. Render encore si (lit. *8lill if') by * notwithstanding if,' or *if after ail.' Since the subject8, les princes, etc., stand a long way from their verb, avaient employé being separated from it by the relative clause, they are Bummcd up in s'ils.

22. qui gardaient . . . depuis des siècles. To be exact, when an action or state is spoken of a3 continued out of one time into another, two tenses should be used. English prefers, 'they had been keeping for centuries;' French, *they were keeping since centuries.' The true sensé is, ' they had been and they still were.'

25. droits, redevances, et impositions. Droits (in the plural) means •taxes;' redevance is an aunual 'rent' or * charge,' paid either in money or kind ; imposition is a gênerai term for a * burden,' whether of direct or indirect taxation.

32. Louis de Bohan. Tiiis man acquired infamous notoriety through his attempt to corrupt Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI., by the gift of a magnifioent "diamond necklace." The cardinal was duped by a young woman, who, at the instigation of the queen's enemies, personated the queeu and received the necklaoe and the affair became public

Page 8.

7. une demi-lieue. Remember that demi joined by a hyphen either to a following noun or adjective is invariable. Thus: des femmes demi-mortes. The old French lieue de poste was 2 miles 743 yards (English). The French now measure by the kilomètre (0 621 mile English).

9. au roi de Versatiles. The English idiom requires *at Versailles.'

10. cordeliers. Monks of the order of St. Francis, who wear a rope (corde) for a girdle.

12. la Saint Sylvestre. St. Sylvester's Day, i.e. December 31. The article in the féminine, agreeing with fête understood, is used before the names of Saints' Days. Thus : la Saint-Jean.

13. les baillis. They were appointed by the Crown to administer justice in the name of the lords of manors. For the division of France into bailliages, or districts, administered by a bailli, was substituted, by the National Assembly in 1789, the division into départements administered by a préfet.

— . les sénéchaux. They were Crown offîcers of justice; their court was inferior to that of the baillis. The district over which their authority extended was a sénéchaussée.

— . les gardes-notes. The ancient titlë of notaires, attorneys. Garde, in composition, is a noun standing for gardien, when the compound dénotes a person, and takes the mark of the plural, e.g. des gardes-chasse; it is a verb, and remains invariable, when the compound dénotes a thing, e.g. des garde-manger.

15. épices. In the plural, thia word means • fées,' the right to take which was formerly a privilège of the judges.

26. devenir officier. A noun in the predicate, which describes the subject is adjectival in force, and takes no article in French ; thus: il est, or il est devenu officier. But c'est un officier, hecause the meaning is, 4 this particular man is one among officers.'

28. la permission, etc. Begging, and poverty in gênerai, haa aiways been considered of doubtful legality in the northern countries of Europe. As Edie Ochiltree was a privileged beggar

70 Histoire oVun Paysan.

in Scotland, so tbe French vétérans received the royal privilège of becoming legalized beggars.