que de distractions. See note to p

30. passer par Rillé. Cf.: // esi j'^ss'- par ici ('this way '). Il est allé par là ('that way'). Fax où ('which way ') s'est-il sauvé ? — and similar sentences.

3. grandes bandes. In the Middie Ages, soldiers very seldom received either pay, provisions, or amniunition, and they had to "beg, borrow, or steal" — most frequently the latter. When victorious, they plundered the enemy ; otherwise, they plundered the peasants. Some had formed themselves into regular bands, and organized a whole system of pillage. They were called by varions names, such as houspilleurs, écorcheurs, etc.

20. auxquels on ne peut se faire entendre. Auxquels is a dative of the agent ='by which,' and entendre bas the meaning of comprendre, 'to understand.'

21. ils ravalent. Rivers usually hâve their source in a moiintain, and therefore flow down-hill. Hence the two adverbs, en aval, ' dovvn stream ' (Lat. ad vallem), and en amont, * up stream ' (Lat. ad montem). The former bas given the verb avaler, lit. ' to take down into the valley,' 'to lower' (and also, by extension, 'to swallow').

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5. deux cités séparées. This distinction bas been preserved to the présent day. The quartier de la rive gauche, or ' left-bank district,' is also called quartier des écoles, or quartier latin.

81. bedeaux, chantres, etc. The articles bave been ouiitted to make the narrative more vivid.

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12. manu-christi. A sort of confectionery, mentioned in several medifeval chronicles. What it exactly was bas never been acciirately ascertained.

14. le roi boit. Traces of this cérémonial are still found in a quaint old ciistom. In almost every French family, on the evening of the jour des rois (the English " Twelfth Night"), a cake containing a bean is eaten at the dinner-table. The person who happens to hâve taken the pièce with the bean is proclaimed king, and when he raises bis glass ail the others cry : Le roi boit ! Vive le roi !

17. le service de la bouche, ' the officers of the king's kitchens.' In the same way, the wine kept for the royal table was called viji de la bouche.

19. maître queux, 'the chief cook' (called in modem French le chef).

potagers, those who were entrusted with the préparation of the soups or potages. In modem French the word potager means ' kitchen-garden.'

22. galopins (from galoper, ' to gallop '), scullions v/ho were sent on errands whenevcr anything was wanted in the kitchen.

26. à quoi bon ? for à quoi est-il bon ? ' what is the good of ?'