ACT III. SCENE XII

Pagre 61. — I. Monsieur, je n’ai voulu, etc. It is still the custom in France for some relative or friend of the suitor to ask the hand of the girl in marriage.

2. avant que de = avant de., which in the seventeenth century was nsed by second-rate writers only, avant que and avant que de being preferred by the better authors.

Page 62. — i. à se vouloir donner pour, in xvishingto pass one's self offfor.

2. charges, offices. Some offices, especially those attached to the king’s household, gave their occupants a certain rank as “ nobles.”

3. Touchez là. The absurdity lies in the contrast of the action (favorable) with the word (unfavorable). Molière had probably seen the same trick used in a comedy, Les Galants Ridicides (1662), by the actor Chevalier (died before 1673).

4. de la côte de Saint-Louis. Perhaps a paraphrase of de la côte d'Adam. Saint-Louis (Louis IX., 1226-1270) -was the best-known king of the oldest Capetian dynasty.

5 je vous vois venir. I see what y ou are aiming at.