prétendu, intended (bridegroom
Page 36. — I. au hasard* A play on the word à, which means at in one case, to in the other.
p. 37-45] NOTES I37
Pa^fc 37. — I. cabinet noir, dark close t
2. Pourquoi . . . veuille. Notice that vouloir is used in two différent idiomatic meanings in this sentence.
3. confident de tragédie, the conventional companion of the hero or heroine in French classical tragedy.
Page 38. — I. imbroglio, an Italian word used of the plot of a taie or drama.
2. Almaviya. In Beaumarchais' Barbier de Séville, the Count Almaviva, while making love to Rosine in disguise, calls himself Lindor. In 1836, Musset says, in a letter, that he has seen this play acted a hundred times.
Page 41. — I. à son corps défendant, in spite of herself, 2. Taigle d'Eschyle sa tortue. It is said that an eagle, mistaking the bald head of ^Eschylus for a stone, dropped a tortoise on it in order to break the shell, thus fulfiUing an oracle that the poet would die by a blow from heaven.
Page 42. — I. capucinades, cérémonies, lit., acts performed by a Capuchin friar. Frequently used of tiresome sermons.
2. The mention of Pope (1688-1744) is appropriate on account of bis Râpe of the Lock, Boileau (1636-1711), best known as a critic, wrote Le Lutrin, which " is not a burlesque which dégrades a noble thème, but, like Pope's far more admirable Râpe of the Lock, a heroi-comic poem humorously exalting humble matter of the day." (Dowden, French Literature, p. 188.)
Page 43. — I. Psyché was loved by Cupid, who, fearing the wrath of Venus, used to visit her at night, and never allowed her to see him. Once, impelled by curiosity, she lighted a lamp, and, as she bent over him, a drop of oil fell on bis shoulder and awakened him; whereupon he left her in anger. Elsbeth compares herself to Psyché because she wishes to see Fantasio's face without awakening him.
Page 45^ — i- écu, a former coin worth three francs. Today the expression mille écus is sometimes used for 3000 francs, while écu is also used for the five-franc pièce of silver. The
138 NOTES [P. 4fr«2
Word, meaning shield, was applied to coins because they had an escutcheon on one side.
Page 46. — I. cierges, candies used in church. The meaning is that she will not need to marry the prince, and that the army, fighting for her sake, can conquer Mantua. " N'est-ce pas tout à la fois chevaleresque, viril et charmant, et si Fantasio est, comme on l'a dit, le portrait fidèle du poète, pourquoi donc avoir si souvent reproché à celui-ci de manquer de virilité?" (A. Soubies, Une Première par jour, Paris, 1888, page 261.)
Page 47. — I. messer, borrowed from Italian messere, which, like Fr. messire, comes from Lat. meus senior; while seigneur, sieur, Ital. signore, corne from the ace. seniorem. Thèse titles were f irst given to nobles, then to priests, lawyers, etc. The title maître is now used chiefly of lawyers.
