en province, i.e. out of Paris, 'in the country

9. le duc de Lauzun {1633-1723), for some time the favourite of Louis XIV., who made him a marshal of France. Being in London in 1688, he was asked by James IL to take the Queen of England and the Prince of Wales across the Channel.

,, avait pensé épouser, 'was on the point of marrying.' Penser^ in this sensé, never takes a préposition before the infinitive. Cf. La Fontaine : —

Ce chien, voyant sa proie en l'eau représentée, La quitta pour l'image et pensa se noyer.

, , , , la petite-fille de Henri IV. : Mlle, de Montpensier, known by the name of Mademoiselle. Her father was Gaston d'Orléans, Louis XIII. 's brother. She wanted to marry Lauzun, but the king, who at first consented, finally withclrew his consent. The announcement of the intended marriage forms the subject of one of Mme. de Sévigné's bestknown letters.

,, 13. Toreille basse, ' crestfallen.'

,, 15. Maître: the title given to la wyeï s and notariés.

,, 16. les espiég-leries : espiègle is a word of historical origin, from the German novel Eulenspiegel, a French translation of which was published in the sixteenth century with the title of Histoire joyeuse de Tiel Ulespiègle, which soon became Histoire de r Espiègle.

17. la basoche: the corporation of lawyers' clerks in the Middle Ages.

, , 20. la raillerie : cf. entendre raillerie, ' to know how to take a joke ' ; entendre la raillerie, ' to know how to joke. '

,, 26. j'ai loué : in this sensé comes from Lat. locare ; louer (' to praise') is derived from Lat. laudare.

,, 29. la Sèvre : there are two rivers of this name — the Sèvre Nantaise, which flows into the Loire at Nantes ; and the Sèvre Niortaise, which flows into the Atlantic. The first is evidently meant here.

10. 4. vous occupez . ., je me suis occupé : this répétition is a blemish very rare in Sandeau, who was particularly careful of his style.

10. qui a fait de vous un des aig-les . . : notice the construction, and cf. J'en fais mon affaire, ' l'U make it my business.'

Page LINE

10. 12. qui fût digne: give in full the rule for this use of the sub-

junctive.