Il passa aux îles, * he went to the West Indies

1. 36. le Non ignara mali. The full quotation is : Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, * not without expérience of suffering myself I know how to succour the unfortunate.' The words are uttered by Dido, Queen of Carthage, in the first book of Virgil's Aeneid. Chateaubriand' s knowledge of the classics was extensive, and he is far from averse to the pleasant weakness of quotation.

Page 8. 1. 2. pers ou glauques, ' dark blue or sea green.'

1. 25. dont, because the expression is à sept ou huit lieues de.

1. 30. Saint-Cyr was the school founded by Mme de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV, for the éducation of the daughters of poor military officers.

1. 34. de Fénelon, de Racine, de madame de Sévigné. Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, author of Télémaque, Les Maximes des Saints, and L'Éducation des Filles was intimately connected with Mme de Maintenon's work at Saint-Cyr. Many of her methods of éducation were inspired by him, and for a time at least she adopted his mystic views of religion. Racine was also an intimate friend of Mme de Maintenon and wrote his two immortal plays, Esther and Athalie, for the amusement of the pupils of Saint-Cyr. For Mme de Sévigné, see note to p. 33, 1. 16.

1. 36. Cyrus. This is a romance, Le Grand Cyrus, written by Mlle de Scudéry (1607-1701).

Page 9. 1. 5. de légère et gaie qu'elle était, ' happy and gay as she had been.' The de hère serves to mark distinction.