ACT I

1. Morbihan —A maritime department in the western port of France, formin^ about one-fifth of the aiicient provinces of Bretagne. The chef 'lieu, or capital, is Vannes, mentioned a fewspeeches below. About one half of the Morbihan is occupied hy vast heaths. Bretagne, or Brittany, is proverbialiy the most conservative part of France. Nowhere are the people more averse to modem improvements of ail kinds, and in no other province has the ancient nobility maintained itself so niuch aloof from the political and social changes of the nineteenth centurv. The countess dowager of Lesneven in this play, is the embodiment of the dislike which the decayed noble Breton familles entertain for ail that Ls uew, and of the contempt in which they hold ail that is connected witb trade or manufactures {industrie).

2. C^en est donc fait! — It is settled then; or, It is ail over. Embourbé dans l'industrie. — Deep in the mire of business.

3. Drainage. — A neologism which calls forth the indignation of the countess, whose speech may be translated, "Drainage! what's that new Word again ? must upstarts thrust themselves everywhere, even into the dictionary ? "

New technical words borrowed from the English are becoming more ard more common everj' day in France. They relate generally to the use'id arts. Viennet, in his Epitre à Boileau^ thus sums up a few : —

Le railway, le tunnel, le ballast, le tender, Express, trucks, et wagons ; une bouche française. Semble broyer du verre ou mâcher de la braise.

There is also at présent a fashionable Parisian Anglomania, a few samp't j of which occur in this play, which strives to use English words, but

applies them in a way that brings to mind the famous combination, Ilu itnf de mouton.

4. Cent actions hors part. — A hundred shares over ard above.

5. J'ai beau parer. — For ail I may adorn: see Note 11 to " La Maison de Penarvan."

6. Le Magasin des Demoiselles. — An îîlustrated penodical now in its twenty-fifth year. The countess, in her answer, inverts the words, and says * Leave it to the demoiselles de magasin'^ (shop-girls).

7 Vous faits la sévère, — You put on a severe look ; or, Yor. assume a iftevere tone.