prairial, îrom prairie ^ 'meadow,* = le 12 juin

48-50. Je vis . . . vingt ans, *at daybreak there offered itself to my sight a picture that dazzled my eyes for twenty years.' Lit. * I saw coming in front of me,' as if the lanJ ca.me nea'er. As we say, * the sun rises * or * goes down.'

51. Halte. * Malta was standing erect before me,' Debout^ strong expression, usually used only of persons. Malta, a small island belonging to England in the middle of the narrow straits that separate Sicily from Africa.

à fleur d'eau, Mevel with the water' (idiom.)=atf ras de Veau,

53-55. et sa fourmilière . . . rouges, 'and its swarm of long and slender galleys scudding along upon long red oars, like so many ants.' Fourmilière^ (i)ant-hill; (2) (figuratively) of a crowd, a swarm of things. N,B, toutes minces , lit. *quite thin ' ; tout y adv., varying before a féminine adjective b^nning with a consonant or an h aspirate.

58. que l'on hissait, * that were hoisted.' N,B, this idiomatic way of rendering the English passive.

59. s'abaissait lentement, 'was being slowly lowered.' N,B, this second idiomatic way of rendering the English passive.

60. le Goso. Gozo, the N.W. island, and second in size of the three islands of the Maltese group.

Fort St. Elmo. At the entrance of the harbour of Valetta, the capital of Malta.

60-62. c'était . . . tombait, 'the last cross of the Christian knights was falling. * Malta belonged to the Knights of the Holy Order of Saint John of Malta. They were the last of the many Orders whose object was to fight for the Christian religion and the Church of Rome. Ce, see Appendix I. A. il.

Cb. n.] NOTES. Î43

62. cents. With an s, because multiplied by deux and not folio wed by another numéral. * Fired five hundred times.'

63. seul à l'écart, ' the only one that stood apart from the others.'