A paraphrase of number 52 of La Rochefoucauld's Maximes
Page 64. — I. Renaud de Montauban, Roger, legendary heroes in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and elsewhere. — Olivier, the f riend of Roland. — Tancrède, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, hero in Tvcsi&o^s Jérusalem Delivered.
Page 65* — i. Champagne, wine is of course understood.
Page 66. — i. Thersite, the cowardly braggart of the Iliad. 2. Le Brun, Charles (1619-1690), distinguished French painter.
Page 67.— I. cabinet. " Rendez- vous à Paris de quelques honnêtes gens pour la conversation." (Author's note.)
2. F * * *, Fontainebleau, a royal résidence, as V * * • is Versailles
p. 67-72] NOTES I39
— The rue Saint-Denis was particularly occupied by small shopkeepers.
Du Souverain ou de la République The Word république has hère its Latin meaning of " state," quite fréquent in the sizteenth and seventeenth centuries; see above, page 55, note 2.
Page 68. — i. Ce qu'il y a de plus raisonnable, etc. ; this idea had been advanced by Montaigne, is found in Bossuet, and will be repeated by Montesquieu.
2. enseignes, a référence to the unsuccessful attempt made in 1669, by the chief of police, to do away with projecting signs in the streets of Paris.
Pagre 69. — i. Soyecour (pron. Saucour), Adolphe de Belleforière, chevalier de Soyecour, mortally wounded at Fleurus (1690), where his brother had been instantly killed (see Une 3). La Bruyère was a friend of the family, and in his sizth édition (1691), had inserted ** on Ta toujours vue . . . mais ordinaire! " into this paragraph.
Pagre 70. — i, 2. Dijon . . . Corbie, in 151 3 Dijon barely escaped capture at the hands of the Swiss. — Corbie was taken by the Spaniards in 1636.
3. le bas de saye, the saye was a thick cloak wom by Roman soldiers ; the âas de $aye was the lower part of the saye^ a kind of skirt reaching to the knees. It was an accessory of the costume of actors of tragedy.
4. les brodequins, lace-boots wom in comedy. The cothumus was the boot of tragedy.
Page 71. — I. régner I This portrait of Louis XIV appeared in the fîrst édition of Les Caractères, Later, in the fourth édition, ' La Bruyère added a eulogy of the monarch's attention to the détails of govemment and his support of public order and justice (no. 24 of this chapter). Other and shorter captions were printed in the seventh édition. — While there is undoubtedly some excess in La Bruyère's praise of the king, the gênerai features of his portrait may be accepted as true.
Page 72. — i. connaît »= r^r^yffffâEi/, discems. 2. reculement, extension^ pushing back.
3* an calte faux, protestantism, which was forbidden when Louis revoked the £dict of Nantes in 1685.
4. usages cruels et impies, duelling, forbidden by Louis XIV.
5. lois . . . coutumes, not less than six codes of laws had been compiled between 1667 and 1685.
6. libertés, in 1682 the liberty of the Gallican (French) Church had been formally asserted.
De l'Homme
The main thème of this chapter is self-interest, the actuating motive of man, but many foibles are also satirized in its pages.
Pagre 76. — i. lelerés = élevés.
Page 77. — i. vaâqvLe =^ uni/orme.
Pagre 79. — i. un même fond, of the carriage.
Pagre 81. — I. l'esprit du jeu, see " Des Biens de Fortune," no. 74 (pages 47-48), and "De la Mode," no. 7 (pages 102-103).
Pagre 88. — I. fait son propre = /a//'"^/'^'^-
Page 84. — I. x€iiss^y set off.flanked,
2. les assiettes, side dishes, less in quantity than the " entremets," being contained in one plate.
Page 85. — i. L'on yoit certains animaux farouches, etc., a terrible picture of the peasantry of France at the height of Louis XIV's glory.
Page 86. — i. philosophie. " L'on ne peut plus entendre que celle qui est dépendante de la religion chrétienne." (Author's note.)
Pagre 87. — i. automate, etc., an allusion to Descartes' theory that animais are merely machines, without consciousness of their movements.
