ACT I
P*g* 5. — Stage-directions. — 1« Temps, one of the best known of the Paris evening papers, of serious and aemi-official character. It is the sort of paper to which Mme Fon tenais would naturatly subscribe. Hervieu himself, very methodical in ' his habits, regularly "knocked off " his day's work when U Temps was brought to his study. (In earlier éditions: 11» journal.)
s. ces messieurs. In the expressions ces messieurs, (es dames, oiselles, ces frequently loses much of its démonstrative d is practically équivalent to les.
Mode. French papers are regularly delivered not by but by mail; hence the w
ion publique. "Teaching gîven or super- .ie state; government riepaitmcnt that directs affaire , to teaching." (Larousse.)
r>age 7. — 19-20. Vous . . . veuve. The firat manuscript version read; "Et quand ma fille est rentrée dans cette demeure, c'était une veuve." Commenting on this and similai changes in the manuscript, Binet says: "M. Hervieu's stylistic corrections indicate progiess from the simple to the complet, from the commonplace to the original, from the indiffèrent to the deeply felt." (Lac. cit., page 12s.)
Page 8. — 2. pour; colloquial for de, the usual préposition af ter r
- 9. mère. Pire and mire are frequently used in 1 without the possessive, whether in direct address it not. (Cf. page 28, line 14.)
Page 10. — Stage-directions. Jupe demi-courte. In 1900,
ch skirts were worn only by young girls, not yet "out."
Page 12. — 3. Je ne sais que vous dire. In this contraction — not to be confused with ne. . .que meaning "only" — ne is a complète négative and que means what."
Page 14. — 12. dot It is customary for a French girl to hâve a dowry, serving both to safeguard her own dignity and financial independence in marriage, and to help tide over the financial difficultés of early married life. The bad side of the dowry, the side usually emphasized in American comments, is that it may tempt fortune-hunters.
22. ses père et mère. A common expression for son père et sa mire or ses parents. For this use of a plural before two singular nouns, cf. les écurie et remise, page 34, line 3, where probably one building serving the two purposes is indicated.
Page 16. — 18. dans Athènes. Dans may be used i [■■
of à before Dames of cities when it is desired to indicate . position inside of citv * r walls, and not merely j
.location.
NOTES IOI
ag. Platon, Plato, the great Greek philosopher (419-347 B.C.). The référence is to his Laws, 770 B: ymûràt rt «ai in-pi^on-oi iaX&a.s, taBirtit KafirâSa riv B'w TapafiMret fiXXoti t£ ftXXwp,
"begetting and rearing children, passing on life to their successors, like a torch."
19. Lucrèce, Lucre ti us, the fatnous Latin philosopher and poet (M-e. 53 B.C.). The référence is to his De rerum naturo, II, IL 78-79:
"Inque brevi spatio mutant ur ssecla animantutn Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt."
"In the course of a few years the générations of men are changed, and like runners they hand on the torch of life." •
Page 16. — 10. incendie de Troie. According to tradition, the Greeks, after a siège of ten years, effected an entrance into Troy by artifice, and set fire to the city. Aeneas carried his aged father Anchises on his shoulders from the fiâmes to safety. (Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, II, IL 705 2.)
13. Sombreuil. According to a dubious tradition, perpetuated in literature and in art, Mlle de Sombreuil temporarily saved the life of her father, a prisoner, from the fury of the Paria mob during the September massacres of 1792, by drinking a glass of blood at the dictation of the rioters.
23. vraiment sublimes? Hervieu very frequently uses a question-mark where we should expect an exclamation-point. (Cf. "Parla-mai donc du cri de ses entrailles?" page 18, line 1.)
Page 17. — î-3. "Honore... terre." "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." (Exodtis xx, la.)
Page 38. — 10. bien peu coquette; the reading of ail éditions. The sensé seems to demand rather: bien un peu coquette or bien coquette.
Page 34. — 6. première a blesser. A comma after première •»■ jn ail éditions, but is obviously unnecessary.
Page 26. — 15. la loi. Hcrvicu was familîar with the law, having been through the Law School. In some of his bestknown plays, e.g., La loi de l'homme, the plot hinges on légal questions.
Page 27. — 7-8. l'énergie et la dignité du travail. La course du flambeau, unlike most of Hervieu's plays, inculcatea the energy and the dignity of wori." Didier woris feveriahly for success, and, when unmerited disaster overtakes him, he is unwilling to live on his wife's income. (Cf. page 91, lînes 8-9.)
Page 28. — 12-13. Stangy sort. In regard to this scène
and the following ones of the act, Doumic says: "Various reproaches hâve been made M. Paul Hervieu at this point. The reproach has been brought against him that the reasons for which Sabine refuses to marry Stangy do not seem very strong; that Stangy's décision is singularly abrupt, even for an American, and that finally there must hâve been some way to overtake him at the station. Thèse reproaches are not well-founded. In the same degree that one should be severe in regard to everything that impairs the true représentation of sentiments, one should make allowances to an author for the necessities imposée] upon him by the conciseness of the drama." (Revue des deux mondes, \$ mai, 1901, page 440.)
Page 29. — 18-19. du mauvais goût; by rule should be de mauvais goût, but this rule is frequently violated in conversation.
33. votre consentement In France, men under twenty-five and women under twenty-one could not marry without the consent of tbeir parents.
Page SI. — 3. 1610; an important date in French history. In this year died Henri IV, the great king who had brought peace to France, rent by many years of civil war at the time of his accession. By a strange inconsistency, he was about to plunge France into an indefensible foreign war, when he was assassina ted.
28-29. Il conviendra pour ta fille de mieux s'y p que pour toi; the reading of ail éditions. The sensé •
clearly to demand: II conviendra de mieux s'y prendre pour ta j&e que pour toi.
32. régime dotal. A formai contract, disposing of the property of the future husband and wife, is a régular feature of marriage in France. Under the régime dotai, the bride 's dowry can not be alienated even by mutual consent.
Page 33. — 5-7. Ouï . . . juste. The idea of this bitter speech is eipressed in comie form by M. Poirier in Le gendre de M. Poirier, by Augier, Act IV, se. 4: "Tous les enfants sont des ingrats, mon pauvre père avait raison."
29-30. Marie Jeanne mariée. Critics hâve pointed out that Marie- Jeanne 's marriage would remove the only obstacle to Sabine 's marrying Stangy. Sabine 's opposition hère is inconsistent with her attitude in se. xv; this inconsistency is the one weak spot in the logic of the plot.
