co\xv {de r^crdation), 'yard,' ' playground

3. à la main, ' in his hand. ' Note the use of the definite article

instead of the possessive adjective. Notice also —

en venir aux mains, ' to conie to blows. '

dans la main, ' in (within) one's hand.'

en main, ' in hand.'

avoir le cœur sur la main, ' to be straightforward,' ' openhearted. * insolite d'aspect, ' queer in appearance,' ' odd to look at.' ,, 4. Bovary {Madame), a novel by Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert was lx)rn at Rouen in 1821, and died at Croisset, near Rouen, in 1880. He was the son and brother of distinguished médical practitioners. Sainte-Beuve bas said of hini : ' He handlcs the pen as others the scalpel.' No appréciation of his talent can be more terse, more just. He was thirty-six years old when his first work appeared, and few w^riters hâve begun so late or reaped so rapidly so much famé. The appearance oi Madame Bovary ( 1857) was a literary event, and the book has reniained the highest expression of realism in literature. About the same time was published La Tentation de Saint-Anioijie. After a journey to Tunis and the ruins of Carthage he wrote Salammbô (1862), a taie of ancient Carthage and its civilisation at the time of the Mercenary War, in which he shovved himself a marvellous word-painter as well as a patient searcher. In 1869 app>eared IJ Éducation Sentimentale, in which may be fouiid ail the qualities that distinguished his previous works, but which, however, did not obtain so great a success. He

io6 Petites Ames

Page LiNE

also wrote Trois Contes (1877) and Bouvard et Pécuchet

1. 4. celle-là, ' the former, ' i. e. that of Justin Ségol. ,, 8. lui, c'était ; note the pleonastic use of c^.

un brun, ' a dark-haired, dark-eyed, swarthy-complexioned youngster. '

,, 9. il en paraissait quinze, i.e. il paraissait en avoir quinze. de forte encolure, 'thick-set,' lit. ' with thick, powerful neck (and shoulders).'

,, 10. à fleur d'épaviles (lit. ' on a level with the shoulders '), ' set upon a short, thick neck.' Fleur, from 'L^i. Jlorctn, is hère used figuratively for the 'top part,' ' highest level,' thence 'surface,' the fiower of plants rising generally to, or above, the level of the leaves. The Lat. Jlos was used in the same way for 'top,' 'crown,' ' superficial ornament'; and the further fact that the same figurative expression is to be found in Italian and Spanish precludes any idea of dérivation from the Teutonic Jloor. Note the verbs effleurer, ' to eut the flowers off,' also 'just to touch the surface' (to take off the bloom), ' to skim ' ; fleurer (old), affleurer, ' to put on the same level with ' ; cf. also défleurir, déflorer.

,, n. en brosse (lit. 'brush-wise'), ' short-cropped and standing on end ' (like the bristles of a Lrush).

,, 12. noircie au grand soleil, ' bronzed by (exposure to) the bright, hot sun.' Cf. au grand air, ' in the open air ' ; laver à grande eau, ' to thoroughly wash ' ; au grand jour, ' in full, broad daylight.'

,, 14. un sauvageon (lit. 'a wilding,' 'a plant grown without culture,' 'a wild, free stock'), 'a crude son of nature,' 'a rough diamond.'

,, 15. nous sauta aux yeux, ' at once caught our attention. ' Note the use of the definite article in conjunction with a personal pronoun to express possession, when speaking of parts of the body or faculties of the mind. Cf. note to p. 1,1.3.

,, 17. ses pantalons débordés par, ' his trousers overlapped," 'left in the rear by.' Pantalon is generally used in the singular.