vouloit. Old spelling of voulait
125. — 7. estoit. Old spelling of était. In the text Michelet's spelling has been preserved. He is not, however, consistent in his retention of old forms; compare, for example, the use of serais, voudrais, seraient and avait, in the speech beginning p. 124, 1. 28.
Subtitle. Procès et Mort de la Pucelle. For intervening events see introductory note to p. 93.
25, 26. sauroit. Old spelling of saurait.
126. — 29. que je n'ai. This use of ne after a comparative in French arose from a confusion between two constructions. For example: I am more afraid of saying something that displeases than I am of replying to you, I am not so afraid of replying to you as I am of saying something that displeases; then the modern construction, / am more afraid of saying something that displeases than I am not of replying to you (Littré, however, considers the ne as merely expletive). In this connection it may be well to note the edict of the Minister of Public Instruction (dated February 26, 1901), which allows the omission of this expletive tie occurring after verbs or expressions of fearing, denying, doubting and preventing, after comparatives and after à moins que. Neither this omission nor the other reforms advocated in the edict have so far come into general use.
130. — 13. vos père et mère. Note the use of the plural vos instead of a repetition of votre.
23. Etait-il bien d'avoir attaqué Paris, etc. It was on this occasion that Jeanne was captured by the Burgundians (see introductory note to p. 93). In line 31 she refers to the manner in which the Burgundians turned her over to the English.
133. — 12. ce que j'ai fait ou à faire, ce que j'ai is to be supplied before à faire.
135. — 21. vouloient — 23. vouloient — 25. étoit — 26. offroient. Examples of the old spelling of the imperfect.
136. — II. J'aime mieux mourir. The proper use of prepositions with verbs followed by the infinitive is a complicated question, and considerable experience with the language is necessary before any accuracy is reached. Aimer is usually followed by à, but aimer in the conditional, aimer mieux or autant, or aimer with certain other adverbs {ne, bien, assez, etc.), takes no preposition before the following infinitive; this verb may even be followed by de when the following infinitive gives the cause {je vous aime d'avoir fait cela).
138. — 23. S'il en est ainsi. En is frequently used with être to give the idea of to be at such a point, to be no more advanced than. The grammarian Vaugelas (seventeenth century) condemned en as pleonastic in such phrases as: il en est des hommes, but, as il est des hommes might mean it y a des hommes, en has survived in this construction, notwithstanding the pleonasm, and frequently occurs in other similar gallicisms (compare Littré, 2 en).
139. — 29. Monseigneur l'archevêque. Cauchon, the presiding judge of the trial, wished to become archbishop of Rouen.
141. — 9. sembloit — 11. devoit. Further examples of the old imperfect.
18. il eut beau faire. Littré explains this idiom as follows: ^^ Avoir beau, c'est toujours avoir beau champ, beau temps, belle occasion; avoir beau faire, c'est proprement avoir tout favorable pour faire. Voilà le sens ancien et naturel. Par une ironie facile à comprendre, avoir beau
3o6 NOTES
a pris le sens d'avoir le champ libre, de pouvoir faire ee qu'on voudra, et, par suite, de se perdre en vains efforts. ^^
142. ^-27. Faites-la taire. When the infinitive depending on faire is reflexive, the object of faire is retained, but the reflexive object is usually omitted.
144. — 24. Ne vous inquiétez. The omission of pas is archaic, see note to p. 90, 1. 4.
145. — 29. disappointment et mortification. The French word désappointement in the English sense was admitted in the Academy Dictionary only in 1835, '^^ its meaning of destitution it goes back to Old French. So mortification in the sense of decay or the ascetic mortification of the flesh is much older than its meaning of suffering from one's vanity. The Dictionnaire general (Hatzfeld-Darmesteter-Thomas) quotes Madame de Sévigné (seventeenth century) as using it in the latter sense.
150. — 31. allez . . .te. Note the mixture of a plural verb and a singular pronoun.
