main-forte, helpl The verb prêtez is to be supplied

4. dudgne, from the Spanish duefia, an elderly lady holding a position between that of governess and that of 'companion, and placed in charge of the younger ladies in a Spanish or Portuguese family.

5. ilanoée au vieux duo. Papal sanction was necessary for such a marriage.

6. Pastralla, a town situated 80 miles southeast of Guadalaxara, near the Tagus.

8. sans barbe. Notwithstanding this description, the modern actors who play the part— Mounet-Sully and Lambert flls— both represent Hernani as wearing a beard. See portrait of Mounet- SuUy as Hernani.

lO. à la barbe, under the very nose,

15. son vieux futur. Used as nouns, /utor means an intended husband, and future, an intended wife.

20. choisir de cette bourse ou bien de cette lame. This line which is plainly elliptical, might be expanded to, cTidsir de ces deux cTvoses, ou la bourse, ou la lame, for cTioisir is commonly a transitive verb. The use of de before each of the alternatives is a grammatical confusioD, induced by the thought of the omitted phrase.

24. qui te sert de monture might be freely translated, upon wTdch you ride, the whole expression being one way of calling the old woman a witch.

25. est-oe pas. Here and in severid other instances throughout the play, the negative particle ne is omitted for metrical reasons.

36. avant qu'il ne frappe. JTe is merely an expletive here and should not be translated. Other expressions of time besides avant

que, requiring the same construction are il ya , . . g^, and depuis que.

43-62. In these lines there is an expression of the lyric strain which has already been referred to in the Introduction, and which is characteristic of all Hugo's work.