SCENE II

5 2 — De ma part : From me. Notice. — De quelle

part venez- vous? who sent you? Faites-lui bien des amitiés de ma part, give him my kind regards.

5 4 —Paresse : Delay. Usually, idleness, from Lat.

pigritia.

5 5 — Madame : My lady. Dame, Lat. domina , was at

first a title given to thewifeof a lord, aknight, a nobleman, in opposition to that of demoiselle, Lat. dominicella , which was given to married women of the middle class. Madame is now Mistress. In tragédies unmarried ladies are addressed as Madame.

5 9 — Traits : Shaft. From Lat: tractus. The god of

love is represented with a bow and arrows.

NOTES

Page 5 Une 10— De ma main : From me.

Whose thralled heart*s my pift.

-W. F. Nokes.

5 12— Ainsi de ces amants ayant formé les chaînes : So

that having wrought the fetters that bind these lovers. Ainsi, Old Fr. ensi, insi, from Lat. in and sic. Chaîne, Lat. catena .

S 16 — Les comble d’allégresse : Fills them with joy.

Combler from Lat. cumulare. Cf. cumuler, accumuler, to accumulate. Allégresse, alacrity, from allègre, Lat. alacris .

5 19— Alors que : When, now that. Alors is composed of

à, the préposition, P, the article, and ors for ores (the nominative), from Lat. horam ; alors que is literally at the hour (time) that. Ital. allora .

5 20— Trop avant: Too far. See the Etymological

Vocabulary intliis book.

5 21 — A la tenir secrète : By keeping it secret. This use

of à with the infinitive corresponds to that of en , with the participle présent “ en la tenant,” and to the Lat. gerund in do ; it is more graceful and élégant, and is very frequently found in Corneille.

5 25 — Cavalier : Nobleman, gentleman. The custom of

calling nearly everybody Cavalier is, like the word itself, cavalière , an Italian importation of the sixteenth century. The French word is chevalier y formed from cheval; Lat. caballus ; so that since the sixteenth century we hâve in the language two forms : chevalier, knight, and cavalier a rider, a partner, a dancer, a knight at chess ; this word is not so extensively used now as in Corneille’s time in the sense of noble gentleman.

6 5— -Si je sors du respect : If I make bold to.

6 5 — Flamme : Love, passion ; very often used in that

sense in Corneille.

6 6 — A ce point s’oublier que ... : So far forget her

rank as to love ...

6 IG — Il m’en souvient si bien : I remember it so well.

The verb here is impersonal and reflexive ; this is an expression thoroughly French — Lat. mihi subvenit. The more familiar phrase, “Je m’en souviens,” is not in accordance with the etymology of souvenir, sub venir e.

Page 6 line 10 — Épandre, like répandre , to shed. Epandre, Old Fr. es peindre, Lat. expandere% indicates care and order in the action, and is not so familiar as répandre, to shed, spread, spill, pour out.

6 13 — Produire des flammes: To beget love. See p. 6,

6 16 — S’engage here means Is at stake. Notice. — S’en-

gager à, to pledge oneself to ; from en and gage , a pledge ; gages , wages.

6 23— Et j’allumai leurs feux pour éteindre les miens:

And I kindled their love to extinguish mine.

6 24 — Mon âme gênée : My tortured soûl. Gêne in

Corneille’s time was still a very energetic expression. In accordance with its etymology, Gehenna, a valley on the south of Jérusalem, where certain idolatrous Jews had sacrificed their children to Moloch ; thence afterwards held in abomination (Calmet). Into this valley carcases of animais and malefactors were thrown, and the sewers of the city were emptied, while perpétuai Ares were kept up to consume the noxious matter and prevent pestilential effluvia (Brande).

. . . . and made his grove

The pleasant valley of Hinnon, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call’d, the type of Hell.

— Milton, “ Paradise Lost."

Old Fr. thirteenth century, gehine, mettre à la gehine, same as mettre à la question, to torture. Gêne means nowaday annoyance, want ; Etre dans la gêne, to be in straitened circumstances ; Sa présence nous gênait, his presence made us feel uncomfortable ; Il est gênant, he is annoying.

6 28 — Faute de nourriture : For want, lack of fuel.

6 32 — Cependant : Meanwhile. This word is mostly

used now as a conjunction, meaning however, nevertheless, but. Cependant , from ce, for celay and pendant , part. pr. of pendre , Lat. pendere , to suspend. Cf. Engl, pending.

33 — Jusques à ... : Till. Jusques or jusque, the former used only before vowels, the latter used in any case, provided an apostrophe takes the place of the e before vowels. In the dialect of Picardy dusque, from Lat, de and usque .

NOTES

t>ag8 6/i«/33 — M’est aimable: Is dear to me. Bossuet and Fénelon use also “ aimable à ” in this almost obsolète sense. Now cela est aimable à vous means this is very kind of you. Aimable, from Lat. amabilis. Notice that the French word amiable , which is found in the expression à V amiable , by private contract, by an amicable arrangement, cornes from Lat. amicabilis , Amical, friendly, from Lat. amicalis.

7 4 — Est embrasé : Burns with love. Embraser, to set

on fire. Notice. — Embrasure, embrasure ; originally a term of fortification, a narrow window in a parapet, tlirough which to lay a cannon, or fire a gun ; properly a window whence one sets tue to a gun.

5 — Et souhaite : And also line 8, ne s’achève pas, for et le souhaite, s’il ne s’achève pas ; though tolerated in verse, this ellipsis of the pronoun would not be permitted in prose.

7 7 — Ma gloire et mon amour ont pour moi tant d’appas :

I so fondly cherish both my honour and my

love.

Glory and love are both such mighty spells.

-W. F. Nokes.

7 II — Tantôt : Just now. Notice. — Je vous verrai

tantôt : I shall see you by and by (in the course of the day). A tantôt is used instead ol au revoir, when persons expect to meet again very soon ; depuis tantôt six mois : some six months since ; tantôt repeated, expresses alternative ; tantôt l’un tantôt l’autre, sometimes one sometimes the other ; in several parts of France tantôt is used as a substantive, le tantôt, the afternoon. Etym., tant and tôt, like bientôt.

7 12 — Si doux et si cuisant : So sweet and yet so cruel,

cuisant, smarting, burning, from cuire, Lat. coquere,

7 15 — Esprits flottans ï Wavering senses, restless

thoughts, irresolute mind. Flotter, from flot, Lat. fluctus. Cf fluctuate, fluctuating, fluctuation.

ÿ 20 — Far vos commandements : In obedience to your

command.

Page 7 line 22 — Dedans : In the seventeenth century it was perfectly correct to use as a préposition dedans , • which is now only used as an adveib of place. The préposition is dans .

7 23 — Déplaisir, grief ; numerous examples taken from

Corneille show that this word had in his time a much stronger meaning than is now given to it. It meant great sorrow, grief, affliction ; it is another instance of the sense of a word being weakened by frequent use. See gêne, page 6, line 24.

7 24 — Remettre mon visage un peu plus à loisir : To

hâve a little more time to recover my countenance <to compose myself). Loisir (an infinitive nsed for a s. m.) = to hâve permission not to work, from Lat. licere ,