Berceuses = qui bercent, Soothing

S. Couvre-feu, The curfew was originally the signal to cover over the firesand retire for the night, a custom said to hâve originated in England under William theConqueror (llthcentury) asai)olice measure, but found to hâve existed there before his time. This mediaeval usage of toUing the curfew bell bas desoended to présent times in a number of small towns and villages of France, as in Brittany and Lorraine. But the stern paternalism of the original purpose bas long been lost. In some cases it is the signal — given usually by the church-bell at nine o'clock (winter) or ten (summer) — for the closing of the public drînking places; elsewhere, it is a time honored reminder to the bon bourgeois — and others — who happen to be away f rom their firesides and bedsides that it is high time to repair thereto. This picturesque usage was much more prévalent before the Révolution (1789) than now. Various considérations, of ten of economy in the local budget, tend to suppress the custom as useless in the places where it is still observed. 8. Juvigny-en-Barrois, The éditer is not acquainted with any place of this name and deems it fictitious. But the circumstantial évidence of site and appearance causes him to believe it is a fancif ul name of the author's to disguise Bar-le-Duc as the scène of our story. The latter is an old and important

288 XJB JCABUaB DE GÉRABD <

Pife. Uae.

provincial town of France, of some 20,000 inhabitants, situated in N. £. France on the river Omain. This is a tributary of the upper Marne — which in tuni is a tributary of the Seine— leaving the Marne near Vitry-le-François and winding its way eastward through Lorraine amid a hilly country. The town was the chief city of the former Duchy of Bar, an ancient division of Lorraine from which it takes its name ; it is now the capital of the Département of the Meuse, in the southem part of which it lies, surrounded by a very picturesque country, Bar-le-Duc is divided into a ville haute and vUU basse, as is the one in our tezt. Besides, the latter is clearly ref erred to in our story as a préfecture (i. e.. Chef -lieu de Département), a circumstance tending f urther to support the theory of its identity with Bar-le-Duc.

It was hère, at Bar-le-Duc, that the author spent some years of his boyhood, and hence he would be ezpected to f eel close ties of aoquaintance with the neighborhood described in our story, and affectionate remembrance for its associations.

7. 13. Louis XIV. King of France, 1643-1715, noted for his pride and ambition, the splendor of his court and his gênerons patronage of literature. The brilliancy of the first half of his reign was converted by long and costly wars into a gloomy and depressing close.

14. Lorraine, Relating to Lorraine (Gterman, Lothringen), a border territory between France and Oermany, dating from the ninth century, and âuctuating greatly in estent during the course of its history, Af ter having been many times overrun by France, particularly during the campaigns of Louis XrV. (Cf. exp.: ce grand démanteleur de nos forteresses) , it was defînitely annexed in 1766. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, a part of German Lorraine was ceded to Germany.

KOTBS 239

Page. Line.

The chîef cîty of French LoRaine is Kancj {CL p. 18, 1. 25).