toison d'or. The insignia of an order of knighthood

founded in 1430 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgnndy, on the occasion of his marriage with the Infanta Isabelle of Portugal.

276. dague de Tolôde. Toledo is a city in the center of Spain, which has long been famous for its finely tempered steel blades.

279. Maxlmlllen, empereur d'Allemagne, MaximiUm /., who reigned from 1408 until 1519,. the year in which the scene of this play is laid.

288. de ce soir. The preposition de, which should be omitted in the translation here, is used in a few similar expressions of time with the meaning of in or at, as for example, de bonne heurt, de fu>9 jours, de ma vie, du vivant de ce roi.

287. mais pourquoi tarder tant, lut why Tiave you delayed so longf This is an elliptical expression.

292. Figudre, is a fortified town in northeastern Spain, near the French frontier.

297. Un duc de Saxe, Frederick the Wise, who was Duke of Saxony from 1486-1525. The crown was first offered to him, but he declined, believing the best interests of the empire demanded the election of Charles V.

298. François premier (1494-1547). This King reigned from 1515, and was noted for the splendor of his court and his interest in the progress of the Benaissance. Charles V. was his great rival in a struggle for European supremacy, and there was much fighting between France and Spain during his reign.

'800, SOI. Alx-la-Chapelle, now a Prussian city in the Bhine province, of 100,000 inhabitants ; then the crowning place of the German emperors. Spire, Speyer, the capital of the Rhine Pala-^ tinatet in Bavaria. Francfort on the river Main, in the western part of Germany, a city possessing 180,000 inhabitants to-day.