elle grimaçait à mon adresse des sourires de com

mande, transi. ' she was putting on for my sake a society

sniile. ' De commande, ' to order. ' ,, 10. de tomber, i.e. de venir â l' im/>rovls/e. ,, 13. couler mon raisiné, ' to strain my jelly.' Raisiné, a

liquid jelly niade principally of grapes, to which are some-

tinies added pears and quinces.

,, 15. caraco, a loose morning-jacket or blouse.

vêtement de combat (lit. ' vestment for the fight,' i.e. Ihe

daily fight, the daily work), ' work-a-day garment.' ,, 17. à mon intention, ' out of regard for me.'

surprise depuis, transi, ' which I became aware of since then. ' ,, 18. deux doigts, ' a small quantity,' 'a quarter of a glass ' (lit.

' the height of two fingers placed horizontally one above the

other ' ).

vin pur, ' neat wine,' i.e. unmixed with water. ,, 19. nationaux, transi. ' indulged in by the people of those régions. '

Nationaux is hère used humorously for provinciatix, and

reminds one that that part of the country was formeriy a

kingdom and formed a people apart.

,, 25. d'un grand élan, ' with a passionate impulse.'

44. 8. se périr : popular for mourir ; an ungrammatical expression,

inasmuch as périr is an intransitive verb. , , 9. tout seulet : the expression is used to accord with pajivre petit ; diminutive used as a term of endearment.

,, 19. comme vous déchiffrez vite, vous, ' how fast you do read.' Déchiffrer^ ' to read at first sight,' especially said of music and manuscripts.

,, 22. Cottin {Sophie Ristaud, dame): an old - fashioned French novel-writer, born at Tonneins in 1773, died at Paris in 1807. Mathilde, her best work, had an immense success, but has long been forgotten.

, , 27. elle en abattait de ces histoires I transi. ' oh ! what yarns she did spin ! ' Emphatic redundancy ; supply tone and gesture to mean tant, qu'on aurait peine à le croire ; see note p. 38, 1. 17.

,, 29. à un sou près, ' to within a half-penny. '

,, 30. que sais-je, ' goodness knows what else ! '

45. 8. lui tout craché, say ' his very self ' ; tout craché is a popular

expression corresponding to English ' to a T ' ; cracher, lit. ' to spit out.' ,. 10. pardi, ' of course,' ' to be sure' ; a popular euphemism for par Dieu, Cf. Piers Ploughman , ' pardy,' Chaucer's ' pardé '

Notes 123

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{Prol. 563), and Spenccr's ' perdie ' {F.Q. vi. 42), which are ail the saine.