toutes fumantes. See note to p

13. Basselin (Olivier), born at Vire (Normandy), in the fifteenth century, has composed a number of drinking songs called " vaux de Vire,'' because they wei-e sung in the ^ val (valley) of Vire.' Our modem word raudeville is a corruption of the above.

21. suivre plutôt on doit. The inversion is used for the sake of rhyme, to bring doit at the end of the Une. Inversion is extremely common in verse.

22. où l'on boit. Country inns in France bave still for their sign a liranch of pine hung above tbe door. Tbe V whicb précèdes the pronoun is an article. In old Frencb on was net a pronoun, but a noun, spelt Vom, 'the man ' (Lat. homo).