Déchiquetait— ^?i% cutting away at

Coquille— W\\t, basket-hilt.

L'arme au hras—^\iih musket at a support.

Pour en revenir à nos moutons — To return to our subject. The expression revenir à ses moidons owes its origin to a scène in an old French farce, L'Avocat Pathelin, in which a draper Guillaume is accusing his shepherd Agnelet of killing and

KOTES. 205

stealing his sheep. The draper bas also been robbed of some cloth by Pathelin, tlie coiinsel of Agnelet. Reco.gnizirig the lawyer in court he ridiculously mixes np the cloth and the sheep in his statement, ^vherenpon the judge cries out to him, "Sus, revenons à ces moutons: qu'en fut-il V — " Corne now, lefs return to those sheep : how was it about them ?'' The farce of Patheïln or Patfdin having become very popular, the admonition of the judge became, with varions changes, a common proverbial expression.

&ur les quatre chemins — On the road. Par Je chemin is also used in the same sensé. Quatre is often familiarly used to express a small indeterminate number, as trente-six is for a larger one.

17. Les habits blancs — The white coats, that is, the Austrians.

18. Nous autres. — Antres is added merely to emphasize the vous. The sentence might be rendered : We don't hang, we dou't.

Ce n'est pas trop bête — That's pretty shrewd. By a figure of speech much more common in French than in Ènglish, a négative expression is often used to convey a positive idea : thus. 79a5 mal generally means pretty well ; i?«5 mauvais^ pretty good,

19. A la bonne heure — Very well ail right. This expression merely expresses satisfaction. In thenext line, je ne demande 2?as mieux que means, Ail I want is to.

Réparation cF honneur. — This expression in the mouth of the officer is équivalent to " I beg your pardon." Faire réparation dlwnneur means to cease to impute something, to confess that one bas blamed wrongly.

Les fêtes de la Concorde. — Allusion to the fêtes on the Champ-de-Mars on the 14th of July, the anniversary of the taking of the Ba.stille.

20. Droits de F homme. — Allusion to the preamble of the revolutionary constitutions, headed "Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen.''

Avale-moi ça — Swallow that, will you ? This idiomatic use of moi is analogous to what some Latin grammarians hâve called dativus commodi et incommodi. It is not uncommon in older English. There are many examples in Shakespeare, as in Othello, I., 1. 49, " Whip me such honest knaves."

21. Des vitres sautèrent — Panes of glass were shattered. Obtempérer. — This is specially a law term, meaning to com-

ply with. The speech of the sergeant is made purposely pompous.

Pain d'épice — Gingerbread.

22. En sautoir sur V épaule — Slung over the shoulder. Sautoir meant primitively tiiat part of the harness, corresponding to the stirrup. by means of which the knight could leap (sauter) on his horse. From the shape of tliis. some^vhat like an

206 ÏTOTES.

X closed at the bottom, it came to mean Saint Ardre w's cross, then, crosswise and simply, slung from the shoulder.

23. La hranclie de sajnn—Knmn or drinking place is often indicated in the coim.try simply by a green twig or bush.

Kaiserlick—YoY Kaiserlich, that is, Imperialist. Assignats— T\\Q paper currency of the Kevolution.

24. Tout chacun— Exery one. The tout is redundant, thongh it is found in French of r.n carlier period. This speech of the drum-major is made purposely pompons. Civique and civisme were words much used and abnsed dnring the revolutionary period : civism meant deA-otion to the established goyernment; the serment civique was the required oath of acceptance of the new order of things.

Il venait d'en échapper d'une belle — He had just had a narrow escape of it. The expression in common use is réchapper Mie ; this, as well as miany other phrases in which belle is used idiomatically, is taken 'from the game of tennis, the word lalle being understood.

25. Frappant de la semelle — Stamping. or striking their feet together.

26. Brouette — Hand-cart ; this word now generally means wheelbarrow.