hennissent. Pronounce hannissent

18. mes pauvres père et mère. The definite article and the possessive adjective should not be nsed in the plural to agrée with two nouns in the singuJar, or with two nouns of différent nurabers. For the sake of conveniencc, this rule is transgressed by familiar and officiai language, e.g. vos nom et prénom, les président et juges.

22. vermoulue = moulu par les vers; lit *milled,' t.e. pulverized by ' worrns.' worm-eaten.

25. courageuse. This adjective often means *patiently industrious.' Translate similarly, e.g., il travaille avec courage.

29. je pleure. A Frenchman is not ashamed to let it be seen when he is pleased or grieved.

31. nous tirer jusqu'au dernier liard. Nous is dative, governed by a verb of 'taking;' the object is to be found in the sensé of jusqu'au, etc., for *up to the last* is the same as 'the very last.' Cf. c'est une carte, où se trouvent indiqués jusqu'aux plus petits chemin .

32. liard. Before the year 1795 accounts were kept in livres, worth 20 sous, or 240 deniers. The liard was a copper coin, naïued

from its inventer, and worth three deniers. The livre correspond ed to the franc. There were formerly two kinds, Tournois and Parisis, each of 20 sous; but the sou Parisis was worth 1£ of a sou 'Tournois. Accounts are now kept in francs and centimes : one franc is worth 100 centimes. Of the old terms only sou remains in common use. A pièce of five centimes is called a sou. Thus a five-franc pièce is sometimes called une pièce de cent sous, aud,e.g., a market woman will say c'est deux sous ( = ld. English), not c'est dix centimes.

Page 11.

1. n'y font rien. Lit. *do nothing to if Render by * make no différence to it.'

2. dire. Exelamatory infinitive; lit. 'to sayl' translate 'to think!'

— . fils du peuple. See note to p. 3, 1. 2.

3. des Gros- Jacques, des Gros- Jean. Proper names in French hâve no plural; the article shows it. 'Big James' is a village nickname. Jacques, in French, corresponds to 'Hodge' in England. Of. * rester Gros- Jean comme devant 1' — La Fontaine, La Laitière et le Pot au lait.

6. Canailles. This word, from Latin canis, lit. * doggery,' is the highest expression of contempt The use of a collective noun in the plural is colloquial, for properly the singular means, not 'a vile wretch,' but * a heap of villainy.' Michel argues that three Uriah Heeps make three' heaps of villainy.' Cf. other collectives in -aille, e.g. valetaille, volaille (poultry).

7. me tombe entre les mains. In speaking of parts of the body, French uses the dative of the personal pronoun, where English uses a possessive adjective. With entre les mains, cf. je me mets entre vos mains. In both cases there is a metaphor. Distinguish ako the use of à and of dans with main. Thus la main dans la main, 'hand in hand,' one haud is actually contained in the other; but chapeau à la main, mettre l'épée à la main, because the hat or sword are simply held by the hand. Cf. son enfant à la main, p. 31, 1. 20, lit. * bis child in his hand,' i.e. * holding her by the hand.'

9. pourquoi donc te fâcher ? If the question had been put for information, the text would hâve been pourquoi donc est-ce que tu te fâches 1 The infinitive, before which one may supply in thought veux-tu, shows tkat the question is a polite form of remonstrance.

11. le gagne-pain. Since gagne is verbal, meaning ce qui fait gagner, it cannot take the mark of the plural. To make pain plural would be senseless. Therefore the plural will be des gagnepain. See note to p. 8, 1. 13.

14. nous en avons fusillé". Although en is really the object of the verb, it is not grainmatically considered as an accusative case. Therefore the past parti ciple fusillé is not put in the plural, as it should be when its object précèdes it and is plural.

15. qui valaient mieux. Render by *were worth more.' Cf. les effets valent mieux que les paroles; U vaut mieux rester que de sortir.

16. Condé. The "great" Condé* (1621-1686) won the victory of Eocroy in 1643. The French Révolution began in 1789. A descendant of the great Condé commanded the émigrés, or French refugee nobility, on the Rhine. The name is now extinct.

20. de ces mauvaises gazettes. The préposition de is hère partitive, * some.' Render by * of this sort.'

23. il en entre. French is fond of impersonal construction* English avoids them.