Je n'ai que faire de, / don^t need

4. Cicéron dit, etc. Another of Sganarelle*s misquotations. The proverb, which has nothing to do with Cicero, is : Entre l^arbre et Vécorce il ne faut point mettre le doigt, * You must not thrust your finger between the tree and the bark *. i.e. never interfère in a family quarrel.

p. «-11] NOTES 49

Fag^e 9. — i. quelque mine que je fasse, whatever face I put on,

2. Parguienne! A corruption oi par Dieu, Translate: By gum! Lucas speaks a peasant dialect of the environs of Paris. — j'avons. This coupling of a verb in the first person plural with a pronoun in the ûrst person singular is still common among peasants. In the sixteenth century eveii court circles sanctioned j^avons^ je dirons^ etc. — une guèble de = un diable de y a deuce of a.

3. Horace, ... a bonne part . . . personne, Among her suitors^ Horace , . . /tas a good chance to win her; lit., * has (a) good share in the claims \ etc.

Pagre 10. - I. s'est-il boutée . . . tête . . .? has he taksn info his head , , ,? Bouter^ archaic, == mettre,

2. y avont . . . pardu . . . latin =^ ont . . . perdu , , , latin ^ i.e. ail their learning is of no avail; are ail at their wit^s end; are ail at sea, Molière evidently uses this common idiom because the ilociors of his day sonictimcs interlarded their consultations with Latin or Latinized jargon.

3. me reviennent au cœur, lie heavy on my stomach, to carry out the idea expressed later in digérer. In several modem expressions câ^Mr = ' stomach \ — ne . . . saurais = présent indicative oi pouvoir,

4. Serait-<:e. The conditional denoting probabillty, conjecture, or possibility in questions and exclamations is used freely throughout this text. It should be translatcd by *can' or *could\ *may * or ' might', as the case demands.

5. où. Molière is fond of using oit to avoid lequel, laquelle, etc., preceded by a préposition.