Bruges. A city of Belgium near Ostend
28. Liège. City of Belgium near the German frontier. 4Scene of a World's Fair in 1905.
10, 2. noblesse parlementaire. Nobility acquired by service in Parliament. Cf. "Noblesse de robe."
10. fête de Gayant. Gayant is a Flemish or Walloon form of the French géant. This Gayant or giant is a legendary personage who is the object of an annual festival in the town 6f Douai. It is a survival from the late Middle Ages. In a procession appears a giant of wicker work, eight yards high, fantastically dressed, and provided with a helmet, spear and shîeld. He is accompanied by his wife, Marie Cageton, and by his children, Jacquot, Fillon and Binbin.
[Page 10, 26. Geneviève, patron saint of Paris. Page 16, 11. Artevelde (Jacques d'), brewer and alderman of Ghent, leader of a Flemish revolt agaînst France; perished in a riot 1345. 26. Titien. Italian painter, first of the colorists (1477-1576). 27. Parchons. A tribunal formerly having charge of cases concerning the inheritance of children of a former marrîage.]
18, 4. Quand' même = "even if."
19, 23. Elle tenait beaucoup de = "She greatly resembled." 21, s. moi = "self."
23, 18. Gall (Francis Joseph). German physician, inventor of phrenology (1726-1821).
25, II. Le génie, etc. This sentence is an excellent commentary on Balzac's own life.
26, 4. Lavater [the "r" is sounded] (jean Gaspard). Protestant philosopher, poet and theologian/ born at Zurich in Switzerland, inventor of the art of judging the character by the features (1741- 1801).
20. Swedenborg (Emanuel). Swedish philosopher, founder o£ the New Jérusalem Church, or sect of Swedenborgians. According to his own statements, he he^d direct intercourse with the spirit world (1688-1772).
28, 29. Madame d'Egmont. Not identified as any actual person. The name was probably suggested to Balzac by Mme Sophie- Jeanne d'Egmont, who died in 1773. — Hom. There was a Swedish statesman and poet of this name who spent much time in Paris, but in 1783 he was only twenty years old. — Ârenberg (Auguste d'). A friend of Mirabeau, the great orator of the French Révolution, born at Brussels (1753-1834).
29, I. Helvétius V*t" Uke "s" and final "s" sounded] (Claude Adrien) . French philosopher and scholar (1715-1771).
12. Lavoisier (Antoine Laurent). Famous French chemist, one of the creators of modem chemistry, which he foimded on a law unknown imtil then, that of the conservation of matter. He was one of the commission appointed to establish the metric System (1743-
30, 13. Le pigeon de la Fontaine. See Fables, Book IX, "Les
deux Pigeons."
26. Anvers [regular in pronunciation; that is, the final "s" not pronounced; the Belgian French, however, pronounce this "s"]. A large dty in the northern part of Belgium, 300,000 inhabitants, home of the painters Rubens and Van Dyck.
81, 22. contrefaite = "disfigured."
26. The sentence commencing in this Une might almost be taken as the motif of Emile Augier*s exquisite play, Philiherte (1853).
86, 29. Murillo and Vélasquez. Well-known Spanish painters.
40, 6. Jeanne de Naples. Queen of Naples, four times married (1326-1382).
7. Diane de Poitiers. Favorite of Kîng Henry II of France (1499-1566). — mademoiselle de la VaUière. See page 8, Une 20.
8. madame de Pompadour. Favorite of Louis XV. Her extravagances cost France forty milUon francs (17 21-1764).
20. Henry Vin. King of England, six times married (1491-1547). 43, 14. ducats. A coin worth. 10 or 12 francs. Its value varied in differe^t countries.
44, II. Rubens, Ruysdaéli etc. Thèse are ail famous Dutch painters.
45, I. Orchies. A small town near Douai.
7. Code civiL One of the eîght collections making up the complète System of French law.
47, 16. Pépita. Spanish dîminutive of Joséphine — "Josîe." 61, 19. Pierre philosophale. A touchstone sought for by chemîsts mitil modem times. By it they hoped to be able to turn baser metals into gold.
68, 7. charge = "practice."
67, 3. For this "désir scientifique" see page 28, Une 16: "Pourquoi ne se combineraient-Us pas dans \m temps donné?" 64, 3. piles de Volta. See note to page 72, Une 2.
69, 19. tarasques. This was a sort of monstrous animal carried in processions on certain church festivals in-cities of southern France, especiaUy in Tarascon, whence its name. It was mentioned by Hugo in his préface to Cromwell, Une 491, and by Daudet in the second chapter of his inimitable Tarlarin de Tarascon.
72, 2. A Ust of famous scientists. For Lavoisier, see page 29, Une 12. — Galvani, an ItaUan, discoverer of what he beUeved to be animal electridty, which Volta later showed to be electridty generated by the contact of metals (173 7-1 798). — Volta was also an ItaUan scientist known for his invention of the Voltaic pUe, a battery cornposed of dises of copper and zinc coupléd in séries of twos, and separated by pads of cloth soaked in weak add.
25. Graindorge. An old-fashioned sort of doth made from Unen of a cheap quaUty.
78, 8. Revers. The fold at the top of a boot of a différent color from the rest of the upper.
81, 8. Bernard PaUssy. The creator of French ceramics, celébrated for his beautiful vases of clay ornamented with carved flowers. He was arrested as a Huguenot, and probably died in the BastiUe, 1589 or 1590.
9. Weegvood. Probably meant for Wedgewood (josiah), Eng- Ush ceramist of the eighteenth century. He invented a sort of cream-colored pottery that made him famous.
82, 10. Tournai. A town of Belgium near LiUe in France.
16. Sèvres. The famous porcelain factory near Paris. 83, 36. poudre à perlimpinpin - '^quack powder," supposed to possess magie qualities.
87, 6. une tulipe gueule-de-dragon. The term '' gueule '' is appliéd to the corolla of some plants, which is united at the base and then divides into two parts like jaws.
11. florin. A coin varying in différent countries of Eiu'ope from 40 to 50 cents in value.
88, 24. ** Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop." '^ You cannot change a person's nature."
95, 24. See Isaiah, 6, 6-7.
96, 18. Linné (Charles de). A Swedish naturalist who classîfied plants and animais (1707-1778).
97, 4. Ternaire » a whole composed of three unities.
100, II. Pythagoras. A Greek philosopher and mathematician of the sixth century b.c.
19. Stahl (Georg Ernst). German physician, creator of animism, a scheme of explaining the vital as well as intellectual phenomena by the soid. — Bêcher (johann Joachim). Eminent German chemist (1635-1682). — Paracelse. Swiss alchemist and physician (1493-1541^. — Agrippa (Corneille^. Alchemist and philosopher, born at Cologne, court historian to Charles V (1486-
26. je me serais colleté = **I should hâve contended against."
101, 20. Prometheus. In Greek mythology the son of the Titan Japet and brother of Atlas. He stole fire from heaven and gave it to mortals.
108, 3.^ Ne nous préfère pas la chimie! » "Do not prefer chemistry to us!"
111, 27. Dunkerque. French port on the North Sea near the Belgian frontier.
112, 4. mettre en jeu = "to involve," "to expose."
7. Ostend. Famous Belgian port and watering place on the North Sea near Calais. — coqs de bruyère =- "black grouse."
