PREFACE

^v. This little book is the outgrowth of an expérience in

,,^ reading some of Daudet's sketches with a class of boys

who had studied French from six to eight months. Of the two collections which they used, one contained no notes and included sketches of so gloomy and morbid a nature as to unfit it for school use ; the other was very small, and neither of them gave any place to one of Daudet's mastercreations, Tartarin de Tarascon, a character unique in French literature.

In preparing the notes I hâve been guided by the difficulties my pupils found in reading Daudet with Gasc's Pocket Dictionary. From this manual, excellent in most respects, are omitted most national appellatives and many words which are spelled nearly or quite like their Ënglish équivalents. While a bright scholar would guess the meaning of nearly ail of thèse, it has seemed best to me to adhère to one rule in regard to ail missing words, and either give the meaning or refer the pupil to the English Dictionary. I hâve meant to be equally thorough with référence to geographical, biographical, historical, and literary allusions, in which Daudet abounds. I hâve thought best also to translate many words and phrases which, though the dictionary in question may give their ordinary meaning, need more than the help of any dictionary to secure a reproduction of their spirit in English ; for a translation which merely produces a literal rendering of an author's words often leaves out that which gives the words any value.