nous autres, cf. page 28, note i

8. peccantes, peccanty i.e. morbid, inducing disease. It is unnecessary to say that Sganarelle's diagnosis is mère nonsense.

Pagr® 29. — I. Cabricias, etc. The first four words — with the exception of the very rare Latin genitive singular arci — belong to no language. The remainder of the speech — except bonus^ ôûna^ bonum — is a mutilation of the foUowing questions and answers in the iîrst part (Rudimenta ; .oi^ page 3, note 4) of Jean Despautère's famous Latin grammar, Commentarii Grammaiiciy 1 537 : Poeta^ cujus numeri ? — Singularis. — Quare ? — Quia singulariter profe^ur ... — Musa^ cujus generis.^ — Foeminini. — Quare ? — Quia declinatur cum haec: ut nominativo haec musa ... — Deus sanctus, estne oratio bene latina? — Etiam. — Quare? — Quia adjectivum et substantivum concordant in génère, numéro, casu.

2. que n'ai- je étudié ! For que ne = pourquoi ne , . . pas, cf. page 22, note 7.

3. que je n'y entends goutte, that I donU understand a bit of it. Goutte, 'drop\ is now but little used to strengthen ne. Cf. other words similarly used with ne '.pas, *step', /(?/»/',* point *, w/>, *crumb*, etc.

4. armyan . . . nasmus belong to no language. — oublie is not Hebrew, but Latin =: * bed *.

5. veine cave, vena cava, 'hollow vein', one of the large veins that empty into the right auricle of the heart.

6. ventricules de l'omoplate, ventrides of the shoulder-blade, parts of the anatomy that would be hard to locate.

Page 80. — I. Ossabandus, etc. Several of thèse nonsensical words are evidently inspired by the following gibberish in la Sœur (1645), a comedy by Jean Rotrou (1609-50) : ossasando, nequet,poter. Cabrisciam (cf. Cabricias, page 29, note i) also occurs in la Sœur, in which this jargon is called ' Turkish \

2. Voilà justement, etc., That* s exactly whyyour daughter is dumb. This expression has become proverbial. It is often used to conclude a ridiculous argument or explanation. — The following extract f rom i\it Journal de la santé oi Louis XIV will show that the diagnoses of the physicians of Molière *8 day were at times scarcely more to the point than Sganarelle's : " The king is subject to vapors — vapo*^

which proceed from the spleen and the melancholic humor whose livery they wear, in the chagrin they impart and the désire for solitude which they engender. They permeate by the arteries to the heart and to the lungs, where they excite palpitations, disquietudes and dyspnœa; from thence proceeding upwards, they even reach the brain, and there by disturbing the spirits of the optic nerve they set up vertigo and swimming of the head, and coUiding elsewhere with the nervous principle, cause weakness of the limbs", etc. (A. M. Brown, Molière and his Médical Associations^ cited by E. W. Olmsted, Molière's le Malade imaginaire.)

3. Qiie n'ai- je, etc., don^t I wish I hadas glib a longue as his! Lit., * why hâve I not the tongue so well hung " ! Bian = bien.

4. nous ayons changé tout cela. This expression has become proverbial.

Pagre 81. — i. de vous faire . . . saignée amiable, to give you a gentle Utile bleeding. In Molière's time bleeding and purging were considered infallible remédies for every manner of ailment.

2. maladie à venir, illness to corne; future illness. This is not a joke. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries robust health was thought a danger that could be counteracted only by resorting to bleedings and purgings. Cf. Montaigne (1533-92): "Physicians are not contented to hâve the government over sicknesses, but they make health to be sicke, lest a man should at any time escape their authority. Of a constant and perfect health doe they not frame an argument of some future daungerous sicknesse"? (Florio*s Translation.)

Page 82. — I. Voilà qui est fait, Tkat is settled, 2. de poids,///// weigkt^ i.e. légal weight.

Pagre 88. — i . homme à cela = homme (propre) à faire cela, * the sort of man to do that', that sort of a man.

Page 84» — i. qui . . . qui . . . qui . . ., one . . . another . . . another ...

2. j'y perdrai ....... crèvera, . . . elle sera à vous, 77/ stake ail

my medicine on il that the patient will either die or be yours. Cf. y perdre leur latin, page 10, note 2. Crever, *to die* (of animais), should not be used of persons.

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