SCENE I

Page 54 line 19 — En plein jour : In broad daylight. Notice. — Être en pleine mer, to be out at sea ; En plein air, in the open air ; En plein midi, at high noon ; En pleine nuit, in the dead of night.

54 20 — De grâce : I beseech thee.

54 21 — Et vous viens en ce lieu ... : The construction

in prose should be, et viens vous dire un dernier adieu .

55 12 — Au besoin : When most needed ; in the time of

péril.

55 16 — J’ai toujours même cœur ; mais je n’ai point de

bras : It is not my courage, but my arm that fails.

55 21 — A me défendre mal : We should say in prose, en

me défendant mal . The turn Corneille uses is quicker and more agreeable to the ear, for it avoids en and ant .

55 24 — Il s’agit de mon seul intérêt : My interest alone is

at stake (the question touches me alone).

55 28 — En repousser les coups, les coups de la main d'un

autre. En seems to refer to la vôtre (la main de Chimène), but it is only the effect of bad construction. Notice. — In writing in prose

the relative should be placed so that no doubt whatever may arise as to which is the antécédent.

55 32 — Mon estomac ouvert : My breast unprotected.

We would not now use the word sein.

56 5 — Qu’ainsi que de ta vie il y va de ta gloire : That

no less than your life your honour is at stake.

That with thy life thy glory too départs.

56 12 — Faire si peu de compte : Set so little value

upon it.

56 13 — Sans rendre combat : Without résistance (without

giving fight) you will suffer yourself to be defeated, overpowered.

56 17 — S’il ne faut m’offenser : Unless it be to offend me.

56 37 — Dessous les deux : Under the heavens. In the

first half of the seventeenth century dessous ,

io6

the adverb, was frequently used for sous , the préposition. Notice. — N ow dessous \s distinctly an adverb, and sous a préposition.

Page 56 line 27 — Auprès de : In comparison with. Notice. — Your house is nothing beside his, votre maison n’est rien auprès de la sienne ; Nothing near, à beau coup près.

56 37 — S’il l’en eût refusée, and in p. 10, 1. 10, en être

refusé, was quite correct in the seventeenth century. It lias now become obsolète, at least in prose. Instead of refuser quelqu’un de quelque chose, we say now, refuser quelque chose à quelqu’un.

57 2 — Il a quitté le jour : He departed this life. Jour>

lit. day, daylight ; hence in the singular juury and more often in the plural jours , has the meaning of life .

57 7-Cet honneur — i.e ., that none but I could hâve given y ou satisfaction (for the death of your father, no one being able to take my life, which I give y ou myself as an atonement).

57 19 — Ce mot lâché : These words which dropped from

my mouth (this tongue-slip) make me blush with shame.

57 22 — Et tout ce que l’Espagne a nourri de vaillants :

And ail the heroes that Spain has fostered.

57 26 — Pour en venir à bout, c’est trop peu que de vous 1

To succeed, it is not enough of you.