ne rompait qu'à regret: as a fencing term, rompre =' to

draw back.'

,, 24. plût à Dieu . . : cf. à Dieu ne plaise! ' God forbid ! '

,, 29. j'ai brûlé mes vaisseaux: here 'I have bound myself irrevocably. ' The référence is to Cortès, who on landing in Mexico set fire to his vessels, that the malcontents in his army might not force him to return.

55. 20. comme chien et chat : the article is often omitted in pro-

verbial expressions.

56. 13. fille de ses œuvres : cf. il est fils de ses œuvres, 'he is a

self-made man. '

,, 16. le livre d'or: an officiai register in v^hich, in the Itahan republics of the Middle Ages, the names of the patricians v^^ere written in golden letters. The most famous, that of Venice, dated from 1297, and was destroyed exactly five centuries after, during the war of 1797.

,, 24. qui vous permît : account for the mood.

57. 8. qui riait dans sa barbe, ' who was laughing in his sleeve.'

Rire sous cape is also used in the same sensé. , , 22. va pour l'amour ! ' hurrah for love ! '

,, 26. d'un roi: Charles VII. (1403-61), whom Agnes Sorel persuaded to take up arms against the English.

58. 7. quelle famille ne s'empresserait . . : notice the omission

oipas after qui, que, quel, used exclamatively at the beginning of a question. When the sentence is purely interrogative, pas must be used.

,, 16. il fit quelques pas : cf. —

faire prisonnier, * to take prisoner. '

faire une promenade, ' to take a walk. '

faire un inventaire, ' to take an inventory,' etc.

Notes 183

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