tournoyant. See above, I

1. 39. Le conclave de Venise, March 14, 1800, about eight months after the death of Pius VI., his predecessor. Conclave is the regular word for a meeting of the Cardinals for the election of a new Pope. Its first application is to the room (Latin conclave) where they meet. Pius VII., as Bishop of Imola, had expressed approval of French democratic principles. Hence possibly un met que j'ai dit sur vous, p. 12 (1).

1. 40. m'a. ..l'air; m' is in the dative as in me semble, E.B. 144, Obs. 1.

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1. 1. ma campagne d' Italie, i.e. the campaign decided by the battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800. The campaign did not begin till May 1800, some time after the conclave of Venice.

1. 4. faute de pouvoir, E.B. 271. Notice how French often avoids a subordinate clause by the use of the infinitive.

1. 15. f ajoute une grande foi. Ajouter foi à is 'to repose faith in,' 'to believe in,' E.B. 11 and App. iv.

1. 16. vitalité means, like the same word in English, ' tenacity of life,' power of surviving attacks and disasters.

1. 17. Voltaire (1694 — 1778) is famous as a dramatist (Mérope, Zaïre, &c. ), historian {Louis XIV., Charles XII.), epic poet (la Henriade), philosopher (Dictionnaire philosophique), and tale-writer (Zadig, Candide). He introduced to his countrymen the discoveries of Newton and the reasoning of Locke, and did his utmost to bring into France the freedom of thought which had impressed him in England. He was one of the three great writers (Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot), who paved the way for the French Revolution. His treatment of religion has been almost universally condemned ; the vehemence with which he attacked every form of injustice and intolerance has been no less warmly recognized.

un peu entantes, 'made some impression on.' The proper meaning of entamer is to make the first incision, take the first piece, e.g. from a loaf or apiece of cloth. Notice the use of bien, 'it must be confessed.'

1. 18. un vieil orator ien défroqué. The Oratory was founded in the 1 6th century by the famous Filippo Neri, and was intended to provide for a common religious life without all the restrictions of the monastic system. Cardinal Newman, it is well known, resided in an English house of the Oratory. The person alluded to I cannot discover.

1. 22. j'ai beau chercher, better turned by a subordinate clause, 'however much I puzzle over it.'

1. 25. les Tuileries. The two palaces at Paris were the Tuileries and the Louvre ; they were joined by a mass of buildings erected by Napoleon III. The Tuileries was burnt down by the Communists in 187F.

1. 26. chambre de Monte-Cavallo refers to the Quirinal Palace (now the residence of the king of Italy) ; the state-rooms overlook the Piazza di Monte Cavallo (now Quirinale). Its old name was taken from two colossal statues ' the Horse-tamers. '

9o LA CAXXE DE JOXC.

1. 29. meilleur enfant, see p. 12, 1. 37, 'more amiable,' 'less exacting. '

1. 33. conciles. The 'Councils' are those assemblies of the dignitaries of the Catholic Church the authority of which is generally recognized. Twenty such are considered oecumenical (i.e. from the whole world, olKovnivr)), the first being the Council of Nicaea (Nicene Creed) 325, and the last two that of Trent, beginning in 1545, and of the Vatican 1869, 70.

Constantin (274 — 337), famous as the first Christian Emperor, and the founder of Constantinople, which he made the new capital of the Roman Empire. It was he who convened the Council of Nicaea.

L 34. Charlemagne (742 — 814), crowned Emperor of the Romans Soc, the first sovereign who controlled the greater part of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire of the West. He only partially accomplished his object of uniting all the Germanic tribes under a single head. He held a Council at Frankfort, which, however, was not oecumenical. The conception of the double headship of the world is brought out in the famous soliloquy of Charles V. in the tomb of Charlemagne in Victor Hugo's Herna)ii, Act IV. Sc. 2,

" Ah ! c'est un beau spectacle à ravir la pensée Que l'Europe ainsi faite et comme il l'a laissée, Un édifice, avec deux hommes au sommet, Deux chefs élus auxquels tout roi né se soumet."

1. 36. Je suis venu avec Vépée, "I came not to send peace upon earth, but a sword."

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1. 6. Commediante. Compare with this and p. 24, 1. 18, the following from M. Taine: "...pour imprimer de lui une grande idée dans le personnage qu'il a besoin d'éblouir, Pie VII. ou l'empereur Alexandre; en ce cas, le ton courant de sa conversation est la familiarité caressante, expansive, aimable: il est alors en scène, et en scène il paraît jouer tous les rôles, la tragédie, la comédie, avec la même verve, tour à tour fulminant, insinuant, et même bonhomme." The same idea is suggested by the name given him by M. de Pradt, 'Jupiter Scapin.'

1. 16. me firent mal, 'felt uncomfortable,' just as one sometimes feels when a thunderstorm is coming on. Notice the imperfect il me semblait contrasted with the past définîtes, E.B. 172.

1. 21. à vous fain tons pleurer, as in English, the phrase is used to qualify comédies as an adjective would.

1. 22. vous n'y êtes pas, 'you are mistaken,' or as we say familiarly 'you are out of it.'

1. 23. puisse, because it depends on a hypothetical sentence, E.B.