pairie, the peerage. Ck)mpare note to page 17, line

22. voilà le diable 1 vous ne faites partie d'aucune catégorie . . . vous n'êtes pas encore de l'Institut, the deuce of U is, you donH &e- Umg to any category; you are not yet a member of the InstituLe. The Institute of France is a national society established in 1795 to promote science, literature, and art, and now constituting a union of the fîve académies. By a law made in 1831, members of the Institute and heads of commercial and manufacturîng establishments pa3âng three thousand francs direct taxes were ehgible to the peerage. The "catégories" were the classes made eUgible to the peerage by the new law.

25. je payerai . . . trois mille francs de contributions directes.

See the preceding note.

28. pour s'abattre sur de bonnes terres, lit., "to fall on good lands." M. Poirier is willing to invest his money in land.

29. Machiavel, MachiaveUi (1469-1527), a Florentine statesman and political writer.

29. Sixte-Quint, Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590). The names of Machiavelli and Sixtus V are syiion3rms for unscrupulous shrewdness.