I. serpentins, ' waved lines
,, tire-bouchons, ' lines in corkscrew shape.' ,, ,, arabesques : this style of ornamentation, in favour among the Arabians, excluded ail animal forms, and consisted of painted or inlaid delineations of imaginary intertwined foliage, plants, stalks, and geometrical figures. ,, 26. au fond: distinguish between : aufondWX&ssxX., ' in reality he knovvs it ' ; il le sait à fond, ' lie knows it thoroughly. ' Cf.—
{i) fond (m.) ['L.a.\.. fundns), 'bottom,' ' remotest part,' 'substance,' etc., e.g. entrer dans le fond d'une question, ' to enter into the merits of a question.' {2.)fonds{i.m.){'L2A.fundus), 'ground,' 'land,' ' funds,
' cash, ' ' stock. ' des biens-fonds, ' land and houses. ' je ne suis pas en fonds, ' I am short of cash, placer son argent à fonds perdu, ' to purchase a life annuity.'
22. 6. biens nationaux : i.e. ' the lands and properties which werc
confiscated by the Révolution and sold for the benefit of the
nation.' 8. le Beaujolais used to form a kind of littie province by itself,
north of the old province of Lyonnais.
, 11. chevalier de barricades: see notes, p. 10, 1. 11; p. 17,
1. 23. ,, 17. l'arbre de la liberté : the ' tree of liberty ' was a tree or a
pôle crowncd with a cap of Liberty and docorated with
ribbons, flags, and ail kinds of dcvices of a republican
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character. The idea of the ' tree of liberty ' originated with the Americans during the war of Independence. It was adopted by the Jacobins in Paris in 1790, and by the Itahans in 1848. Cf. ' Instead of the great tree that used to shelter the quiet Httle Dutch inn of yore, theie was now reared a tall naked pôle, with something on the top that looked hke a red nightcap, and from it was fluttering a flag on which there was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes . . ' (Washington Irving, Rip Van Witikle).
22. 18. la Marseillaise : the grand song of the French Révolution,
coniposed by Rouget de Lisle (1760-1835), an artillery officer in garrison at Strasburg. It is called ' Marseillaise ' on account of its having been sung, in July 1792, by the Marseilles volunteers on their march to Paris. The Parisians, delighted with the song, called it at first L'hymne des Marseillais.
,, la Parisienne : a celebrated song (called the Marseillaise of 1830), the words of which were written by Casimir Delavigne.
Paris n'a plus qu'un cri de gloire :
En avant ! marchons
Contre leurs canons,
A travers le feu des bataillons,
Courons à la victoire !
,, 19. charivaris: cham'ari (m.) means discordant music, hooting, whistling, etc., made with the intention of annoying or insulting somebody, i.e. ' tin-kettle music,' 'mock sérénades,' 'uproar, ' 'row. ' Le Charivari is a French comic paper ; hence the second title oi Punch, 'The London Charivari."
,, 28. Louis, les animant du feu de son courage.
Se plaint de sa grandeur qui l'attache au rivage.
BoiLEAU, Le passage du Rhin , Ep. iv. 11. 113, 114. One of the épisodes of the canipaigii against the Dutch, in 1672, was the crossing of the Rhine by the French undiT the heavy fire of the eneniy. Louis XIV. witnessed the opération, but did not cross the river. Roileau, in flattery, attributes this to the fact that the king's life was too precious to be e.xposed to danger. Hère Féli.x ironically compares Monsieur de Montespard's attempt to save his dignity to Louis XIV.'s conduct at the crossing of the Rhine.
23. I. gentillâtre, 'lordling,' ' would - be gentleman ' ; the ending
âtre in adjectives marks a diminutive. Cf. bleuàXre, rougeàtre, grisdlre, l'IaiichîxXre, noirâlre, 'h\ueish,' 'reàdish,' ' greyisA,' ' w'bitish,' ' h\ackish.' Also, as hère, it is used in a contemptuous sensé
6. le passage des Panoramas : an arcade on the Boulevard Montmartre, in Paris.
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23. 7. la rue de la Paix : one of the finest and most central streets
in Paris.
,, 15. Bains-Chinois: baths foraierly existing in Paris.
,, 19. Œdipe : a tragedy by Pierre Corneille (1606-84), the author of Le Cid, Horace, Ciniia, Polyeucte, Le Maiteur, etc. It bas for its subject the story of the Greek Oedipus.
, , 27. à cela près, ' except that. '
24. II. Saint-Cyr : in the department of Seine et Oise, a great
military collège, the French 'Sandhurst.'
,, l'École polytechnique: the French 'VVoolwich.' It prépares for the génie (engineers) and the artillery, and also trains civil and mining engineers.
,, 22. le donquichottisme, ' Quixotism ' ; i.e. ' behaviour or conduct such as Don Quixote's ' ; hence ' romantic and absurd notions.'
, , n'est pas mon fait : cf. —
Je veii.x qu'on me distingue, et, pour le trancher net, L'ami du genre humain n'est point du tout mon fait.
MoLiÈKE, Le Alisanthrofc-i Acte i. Scène i.
,, 26. est assez bien : see note p. 11, 1. 15.
,, 31. pincer de la guitare : jouer de, ' to play ' (an instrument), Jouer du pia>io. Jouer du violon.
Jouer is, however, followed by à vvhen referring to a game, e.g. Jouer aux cartes, Jouer aux échecs.
25. 7. il se rompt des lances pour : the impersonal form fol-
lowed by the subject [des lances) is often used in French, and imparts liveliness to the style. Cf. rompre une lance avec quclqu' un, ' to enter the lists vvith a person. '
,, 16. décousue: lit. 'unsewn,' ' unstitched ' ; hence 'incohérent.'
26. 5. des eaux : i.e. des villes d'eaux. ,, 18. partie : cf. —
( I ) />ari ({.), ' share, ' ' portion. '
(2) partie (f. ), 'part' (as hère) ; also 'game,' e.g. une partie de cartes, and ' party ' in the sensé of une partie de chasse, une partie de plaisir, une partie de rivière.
{2) parti (m. ), ' step,' ' décision,' ' resolution,' also ' party,' or 'faction,' e.g. un parti politique ou religieux, 'a political or religions party,' and ' a match,' e.g. ce Jeune homme sera un excellent parti pour votre fille.
27. f'. la thèse de Pic de la Mirandole : Pic de la Miramlole
(1463-94) was culebrated for his knowledge. lùidowcd with a prodigious memory, he was a master of several languages, and well versed in philosophy and law. In his thesis, published in 1496 under the title of Conclusiones
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philosophicae, cabalisticae , et theologlcae, or De omni re scibili, he brought out 900 'propositions,' which he offered to discuss with any one who might feel ready to accept the challenge.
27. 13. il se ruinait en frais : strictly speaking, frais (s. m. p.)
{\^A\.. fractuni) means 'expenses,' 'cost. ' Hère lit. ' he ruined himself in e.xpenses (of conversation) ' ; hence ' he e.xhausted his conversational resources. ' Cf. — tous frais faits, ' clear of ail expenses.' vous en serez pot/r vos frais, ' you will lose your time and
money. ' des faux-frais, ' incidental expenses. '
faire tes frais d'unie conversation, ' to keep up the conversation. '
,, 14. mettent tout leur esprit à l'avant-garde : lit. 'put ail their wit into their advanced guard,' that is, 'use it ail up on the first occasion. '
,, 23. Deveria (1805-66), Decamps (1803-60), Roqueplan (1803-55) : three famous French painters.
,, 28. peut-être fut-il . . : notice the inversion of the subjcct in sentences beginning with à peine, encore, du moins, au moins, peut-être, when the subject is a personal pronoun. When the subject is a noun, the inversion, with an additional pronoun, foUows the subject, e. g. peut-être votre ami viendra-t-W demain.
28. 5. la fleur des pois : this expression is used of persons who
are distinguishcd by their refinement of grâce and manncr, and by their external appearance in gênerai. It might be translated by 'the brightest llower, ' in order to keep the play upon the word fleur which immediately follows.
.. 12. par contenance, ' to keep himself in countenance. "
,, 31. Diderot (1713-84): a grcat French philosopher who, aniongst other works, wrote l' Encyclopédie in collaboration with D'Alenibert. His great object was the diffusion of Hght and knowledge, and, generally speaking, he advocated in his writings independence of thought and action.
29. I. Voltaire (1694-1778) : François Arouet, bettcr known undcr
the pseudonym of Voltaire, the great French philosopher and writer so celebrated for the vcrsatiHty of his genius. His chief Works are the tragédies of Œdipe, Zaïre, Mérope, an epic poem, La Henriade, the Histoire de Charles XII, Histoire du Siècle de Lo?iis XIV, and the Dictiofuiaire Philosophique. From the vcry beginning of his life to the end of it. Voltaire distinguishcd himself by his scepticism and uncom[)romising attacks on endors and préjudices of ail
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kinds, religious intolérance, and political corruption. As early as 1717 he was imprisoned for a year in the Bastille as a punishment for writing some satirical poetry. In 1726 he was exiled from France, and resided for three years (1726-29) in England, where he studied thoroughly the English language and literature. In 1744 he gained the faveur of Louis XV. , who appointed him his historiographer, and was elected a member of the French Academy in 1746. Later on, in 1750, he went to Prussia at the invitation of Frederick the Great, who overwhelmed him with distinctions, but soon quarrelled with him. After twenty years spent in retirement at his château at Ferney (near the Swiss frontier), he returned to Paris in 1778, where he died at the âge of eighty-four.
