SCÈNE I

17. la Sainte-Claire, i,e. ber birthday, or rather her Saint’s day, for among Roman Catholics the Saint' s day (i.e. name’s day) is more generally kept than the Birthday,

21. une pierre dans mon jardin, that’s forme. This is an allusion to the well-known proverb: jeter des pierres dans le jardin de quelqu'un, to make Personal allusions, to attack a person indirectly.

24. un séjour d'élection, a most pleasant abode. M. Moulinet is evidently trying bis hand at punning — though in a very mild way— in using here this word élection (i,e, the place which he would elect to live in, or the district where he hopes to be elected).

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y. je Vai assez piochée^ I worked at it hard enough ; lit. piocher J to dig, to delve.

13. je tombe des nues, moi, I am perfectly amazed, I am. Lit. I drop from the clouds. Porter quelqu'un aux nues, to praise a person up to the skies. N. B. Nue, nuée, nuage, ail mean ‘cloud.* But, nue is used with spécial reference to its élévation above the earth; nuée ( = ‘ cloudful,’ as its terraination ée implies), with spécial reference to the mass of moisture contained ; thus, especially of clouds ready to break : la nuée se résout en pluie (Voltaire) ; nuage (its verbal termination implying action), with spécial reference to what the cloud does, to its concealing, obscuring power : en Suède, la lumière de la lune n'est obscurcie par aucun nuage (Voltaire).