si hasardeuses qu'elles fussent, hazardous as they

were.

26. AragO. Dominique-François Arago (1786-1853), one of the most illustrions of the scientific men of France of the 19th century. He was " Perpétuai Secretary of the Academy of Mathematical Sciences," " Director of the Observatory," etc. etc. He made many valuable discoveries in science, and, with ail his rare attainments, he was even more renowned for his ability, as a lecturer, to popularize the results of his profound investigations. 33. tiendraient dans une bouteille, could be contained in a bottle.

55. — 10. elle avait du bon, she had something good abouther.

28. monsieur le vidame. A vidante (Lat., vice dominus), one who, in the Middle Ages, represented the bishop in temporal matters and commanded his troops. The title disappeared with the French Révolution. It is sometimes used since that time, as hère, contemptuously, to characterize one who is antiquated or behind the times. " Old fossil " would just express it, if that term were authorized by the dictionaries.

56. — 13. la caque sent toujours le hareng, what is bred in the bone vriU never corne oui oftheflesh. Lit., l the cask smells always of the herring.' 30. du côté du Panthéon, in the neighborhood of the Panthéon. The Panthéon was begun in 1764, under Louis XV., and was finished just before the Kevolution. Originally intended for a church, the Constituent Assembly voted that it should be used as a great mausoleum for the distinguished dead of France, another Westminster Abbey, and the following inscription was placed upon the front : Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante. It is in the Latin Quarter, quite near the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, and is one of the most interesting monuments in Paris. No traveller

178 KOTËS.

Page. Une.

will fail to see in its crypt the tomb of Victor Hugo, with its simple and touching inscription.

57.— 7. sans que mon cœur ne se serrât douloureusement, without my heart being pain/ully oppressed. 10. le vieillard de l'Écriture, the old man of (he Scriptures. The aged Simeon, whose story is told in Luke ii. 25-35. It had been revealed to him that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Jews. When Jésus is brought by his parents to the temple, Simeon takes the child in his arms and exclaims: " Now lettest thou thy servant départ, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace." This scène is the subject of several pictures, which are often distinguished by the title, " Nunc dimittis ;" i. e., the words of Simeon in the Vulgate (Latin Bible) :

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, etc.

With thèse words we finally take leave of our good old friend Sylvestre Bonnard at the close of the volume. The French expression in this passage, rappelez à vous, etc., is not exactly that of the Bible.

29. Levallois-Perret, a commune of France a few miles north of Paris. Its best known city is Saint-Denis, the ancient burial-place of the French kings.

58.— 7. dans un pensionnat des Ternes, in a boarding-school. of Ternes : i. e., a quarter of Paris adjoining Neuilly. 8. nous prîmes jour, we appointed a day.

59. — 10. je pensai rester, I came near stopping. A fréquent use of penser. Lit., ' I thought to remain.' 18. à-beo-que- veux-tu, a meaningless expression imitating the sound of the sparrow's note; about equal to, • what do you wish to eat ?' Lit., * for the bill.' 29. le moyen? how could you do Ut Lit., 'the means?* This simple abbreviation is of very fréquent occurrence.

60. — 1. J'admirais depuis assess longtemps, / had been admiringfor quite a long time. For this translation of the imperfect admirais, see Less. 61, ni. 2, Note. 2. les sourcils en broussailles, the bushy eyebrows.

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Page. Iiné.

60.— 8. les saintes de la Légende dorée, the saints of the Golden Legend. The Legenda aurea, or Golden Legend, was written in the thirteenth century by a Dominican friar. He called his book simply " Legends of the Saints ;" the epithet ' Golden ' was added by his admirers. This work, which is a great storehouse of legendary stories of saints and their doings which were current in the Middle Ages, was translated into English in the fifteenth century by William Caxton.

Longfellow has clothed the legend in English verse. Of ithesays (Poetical Works, III., 203) : "I hâve called this poem the Golden Legend, becanse the story upon which itis founded seeras to me to surpass ail other legends in beauty and significance. It exhibits, amid the corruptions of the Middle Ages, the virtue of disinterestedness and self-sacrifice, and the power of Faith, Hope, and Charity, snflBcient for ail the exigencies of life and death."

9. Mais en toute autre occasion, etc., but in aU other respects Mlle, P. wovld not hâve reminded me, Ithink, o/the virgins dear to the thought of the mysties. This is a référence to the women saints of the Golden Legend, just mentioned, and to the authors and reworkers of the legends. Her walk was the only thing that reminded h ira of the saints of the Légende dorée, for as to her face it seemed commonplace, and her pèlerine reminded him of some priestly garment.