Le nez en l'air. — His head raised

11. Ça marche? — Ail is going well? Faisait-elle, just below, means said sne. The verb faire is often thus used to avoid a too fréquent répétition of dire; hence fit-il, said he, fit-elle, said she.

12. Pierrailles. — Literally pebbles, small stones, is hère used in the sensé of stony ground.

13. La bonne santé passe encore avant les quatre règles. — Good health is worth still more than the four rules.

14. Nous étions déjà . . . et ses pleurs. — We still heard her loud cries and sobs, even when we were far off down the street, running.

15. Les pâturages au fond a perte de vue. — Pastures exteuding back as far as the eye can reach.

16. Il a fait son tour de France. — He has înade bis tour of France. An allusion to the ancient customs of apprentices who travelled for a certain time before they finally settled as masters in their trade.

17. Madame Balais et moi . . . de causer. — Madame Balais and I hâve business together, and must talk it over.

18. Mêle-toi de ce qid te regarde. — Attend to your own affairs, mind your own business.

19. Tu te mêles d'ajuster. — You are trying your hand at shooting. Ajuster, in carpentery, corresponds exactly to the English word to shoot, to plane straight or fit by planing, — a workman's term. " Two pièces of wood that are shot ; that is, planed or pared with a chisel." — Webster' s Dict.

20. L'autre. — See XXXII., 23. In the same line tu n'as pas encore deux clefs dans le dos refers to the keys which are the heraldic marks of the high dignity of Chamberlain.

21. Et traitait mon ouvrage de savate. — And called my work a bungling job. Traiter, followed by an injurious term, means to call; as, traiter quelqu'un de coquin, to call one a rogue. Savate is, literally, an old shoe ; saveter, to cobble, to botch, and savetier, a cobbler, an awkward workman.

22. Est-ce qu'une pièce de cinq francs ne t'irait pas, pour faire le garçon. — Wouldu't a five franc pièce suit you, to spend in having a good time. Faire le garçon is, literally, to act like a young man, independently.

23. Puisque nous sommes en train . . . tout à fait bien. — Since we're in for expense, the thing might as well be done in the very best style. Faire de la dépense means to spend a great deal of money.

24. D'en avoir reçu. — Of getting well thrashed. En stands for some word meaning blows, a beating. A few lines further on, tu as reçu ton compte, means you hâve got what you deserve.

1. Les Djinns. — The name given by the Arabs to evil spirits or démons. An excellent translation of this poem into verse may be found in Longfellow's " Poets and Poetry of Europe," on page 496.

2. Brame. — It moans. Bramer is a hunting term applied to the cry of deer, and corresponds to the English word to bell.

3. Qui porte un éclair au flanc. — Which bears a thunderbolt concealed within it. Flanc, in poetic language, means womb, bosom, depths.

4. Mon front chauve. — My gray head ; literally, bald forehead.

1 . Certain penchant musard. — A certain disposition to idle time away . Musard is applied to a person who is in the habit of musing ; hence, by

extension, to a loiterer, idler, trifller ; as, c'est un vrai musard, he is a downright dawdler.

2. Le logement fait peu. — The kind of dwelling makes little différence.

3. L'homme fournit sa carrière. — Man is engaged in doing his life-work. Carrière is a race ground, and, by extension, any space to be gone over. One meaning of fournir is to finish out, to complète. Fournir la carrière is a technical term in horsemanship, meaning to run over the entire racecourse ; hence, it is figuratively used in the sensé of accomplishing an undertaking, or finishing some pièce of work. In the next fine, tout à l'heure encore means even a short time before. See XXXV., 4.

4. Le temple de Saint-Pierre. — Temple is the word usually applied in French to a Protestant church. This story is an extract from La Bibliothèque de mon Oncle, one of Tôpffer's Nouvelles Genevoises. The scène is laid in Geneva, and the lake mentioned below is Lake Léman.

5. Et d'où devait sortir . . . s'y fut prêtée. — And whence there might hâve come a poet, if my nature had had the slightest bent in that direction.