en voilà assez, ' that's enough

vous autres, autres followiiig a personal pronoun has an enipliatic meaning. Translate accordingly, for instance, ' you fellows. '

27. heureusement que, au elliptical construction. Que dépends on an inipersonal verb which must be supplied ; ' It was fortunate that ... .' It will be better to use an adverb and omit que.

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3. Vous m'en répondez. What is the distinction between répondre à and répondre de ? Translate Répondez lui, and Vous me répondez de lui.

28. payer sa rançon. This refers to what was known as les aides féodales (feudal helps). The vassals and serfs were bound to help the lord (by contributions in money) to make his eldest sou a knight, and to marry his eldest daughter. They were also obliged to euable him to go to Palestine as a crusader, and to ransom him if taken prisoner in war.

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10. tiers-état, and Une 12, communes. When a serf had succeeded in saving a certain sum of money, he could buy his enfranchisement and become a freedman or ' bourgeois.' Soon ail the ' bourgeois ' in a certain town began to associate and club together ; and finally, after many struggles extending over two centuries, thèse communities bought or otherwise obtained the right of self-government.

This tendency to municipal organization was particularly encouraged by King Louis VI., who, in the year 1105, in order to weaken the power of the lords, his vassals, granted within

their possessions a very large number of communal charters. Since tlien new communes were created year by year ail through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and their influence became such that when, in 1302, the ' States General' were for the first time called by King Philippe IV., they were allowed to send their représentatives. Thèse went by the name of Tiers-Etat, or third estate, the two other estâtes being members of the nobility and of the clergy. The power of the Tiers-Etat kept on slowly but surely increasing, until in 1789 they shook off the yoke of nobles and king alike, and began the French Révolution.

22. Bien que ... fût. In French, as in Latin, concessive clauses generally govern a subjunctive. Ex. :

Qiiutn dlves sis, non es beâtiis, 1 < \iii i • i

/ • '„ -, >s, l Althougii you are rich

(Quoique vous soyez riche, vous n êtes j- 7 . t Vi '

vas heureux. J ^ PI y-

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5. n'étaient . . . que. This very fréquent elliptical construction is sometimes misunderstood : of course, another word must be supplied. Ex. : Il n'y a {personne) que lui à la maison, ' There is no one but he at home ' ; Il n'a (pas plus) que vingt ans, ' He is not more than tweuty.'