une fille noble doit avoir [= être crue sur] sa

parole comme un gentilhomme, a noble maiden's Word is as trustwortliy as a uobleman's.

8. sous peine de ridicule, to escape ridicule [lit. under penalty of (being) ridiculous]. Translate : 'Le ridicule consiste à choquer la mode ou l'opinion, communément on les confond assez avec la raison ' (Duclos). ' Le ridicule déshonore plus que le déshonneur' (La Rochefoucauld).

35. mille écus de dot pour y entrer, a thousand crowns [value at (lie timc about £150] to pay for my admission there. Dot is chiefly said of a dowry (marriage portion), but entering a couvent being as indissoluble a contract as marriage itself, many of the ternis referring to the latter are applied to the former ; the alliance ( = wedding-ring) even is placed in both cases on the lady's finger when she pronounces lier unalterable vows.