les finesses, the subtleties

1. 16. Eugène IV., pope from 1431 to 1447, was a Venetian bybirth, and a nephew of pope Gregory XII. The council of Basle deposed him.

1. 30. l'ébranlement, the agitation, the convulsion, frora brailler (etym.?).

1. 32. des égards, for the kindness; égards — déféretice pleine d'attentions. It is the substantive of the obsolète verb esgarder, to watch over, to provide.

P. 12, 1. 19. apostasie les souvenirs. The verb rt/iJj/aj-zVr is generally used intransitively, thus : "Il leur a fallu apostasier de la foi de ceux qui

les avaient consacrés." {Bossttet.) The now obsolète verb apostater (from apostat) was formerly used in the same sensé: ^'■apostater de la foi et religion Chrétienne." (^Statuts synodaux de Vévêque de St Malo, 1618.)

1. 31. plusieitrs Grecs illustres. Ail thèse savants played a more or less conspicuous part in the Renaissance movement. Argyropoui.o (yoannes) taught Greek to the sons and nephews of Cosmo de Medici. George of Trebizond {1396 — 1486), the adversaryofGemistusPletho.

1. 35. LoRENZO DE Medici, surnamed the Alaguificent (1448 — 1492), succeeded his father Peter in 1469. Famous for his éloquence, his leaming, and his generosity. Was the patron and protector of ail the artists and littérateurs of his day.

1. 36. Théodore Gaza (1400 — 1478), founded an academy at Ferrara, was called to Rome in 1455 by Pope Nicholas V., and attached himself to Cardinal Bessarion. Androxicus Callistus, died 1478. Taught Greek in Paris. Michael Apostolius. His works hâve never been published.

P. 13, 1. 3. Stamboul, the Turkish name ol Constantinople, is merely the corruption of the phrase et's rr\v irôXii'.

1. 6. la crosse ponti/ïcale, the pontifical crosier (O. F, crocé), from the mediseval L. cnuia, which meant originally a cross-shaped crutch.

1. 13. fAlcoran, better le Koran, al being the Arabie article. Koran means literally " the reading " [par excellence).

1. 22. Veillez et soyez purs. On the connection between purity and wisdom, see Plato's Èut/iyphron, and also the Enneads of Plotinus, III. 6 ; particularly the notes in M. Bouillet's French transi, vol. 11. 543 and foll.

1. 29. Empedocles, a philosopher who flourished B. c. 444. It is said that, willing to hide his death, and to pass for a god, he threw himself into the crater oi Etna, but he probably fell a victim to his passion for science, whilst watching an éruption.

1. 38. PoMPOXius L.ïTUS (jl'ulius) (1425 — 1497), concealed his real name, being the natural son of one of the members of the .San Severino family, was accused of conspiring against Pope Paul IL, and cast into prison. He however gained the favour of tlie two following Pontiffs, and was appointed to one of the chairs in the Roman collège. Composed several works on the history and antiquities of Rome. On this distinguished but singular writer see the article in the Biographie Universelle.

P. 14, 1. 15. îine admirable idée de notre maître Platon...^'' Au fond, les dieux de Platon sont des causes intermédiaires entre Dieu et le monde. " ( Janet. )

1. 23. Quand Platon alla visiter..." Oï any e^QCt produced on his (Plato's) System by the pretended Egyptian wisdom, as is assumed by Plessing and others, no traces are to be found." (Professor Brandis, in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, s.v. Plato.)

P. 16, 1. 14. qui connaissait Dante. Dante Alighieri {1265 — 1321), the greatest of ail Italian poets. His famé chiefly rests on the Divina Commedia, which is one of the sublimest works the genius of man ever produced.

1. 25. leflatnbeau sacré: " et quasi cursores vitaï lampada tradunt."

{Liicn'fiiis, II. 78.) A simile borrowed from the game called Xafiirad-riipopia (torch-bearing), in which a lighted torch wascanied from one point to another by a chain of runners, each of whom formed a successive link.

!• 37- fouiller, to dig, fi-om the L. fodiculare, fréquent, of fodicare. Tier. fouille (verbal substantive).

1. 38. CosMO DE Medici (1839 — 14^4) succeeded liis fatherin 1464, and exercised an absolute power in Florence till his death. Ile improved the commerce of the republic over which he presided, protected arts and letters, and founded an academy.

1- 39- à grands frais, a.\. ^. gxeTit. cost. Frais (O. F. singular /}-«?'/) is from the L. 'L.frediiiit, a fine paid for having broken the public peace. {Da.n.frede, Germ. fricde.) T)ç.x. défrayer.

P. 17, l. 8. // ne s'agit pas pour vous, the question is not for you.