Cf. Bérén<e«, act II, se

260*61. O'eit, je crois . . • doit en être orue, in respect to this mrt I helieoe our nation Tms a rigM to speak totth authorUy, 260. Expériences, ecvperiments, 272. Qui, etc., h^ v)7u> possesses both^ as you do!

ZAIBE

Aocordingr to the mies of the French classical théâtre the f does not change throughout the pièce, and the stage is never empty. The action is supposed to take place during the seventh crusade, about 1248, under Louis IX., called Saint Louis, and occupies onlj a part of one day. We haye hère a case of very strict application of the three unities : of action, of time, and of place, as formulated by Boileau and practised before him. The scène is in the seraglio, the palace of the sultan. The common idea of a seraglio is that it is the building set apart for the sultan's wives, but this is a mistake, the name for that locality being liarem,

Ldne 4. Ténébreux, sereinB. Cf. Racine's Esther^ act I, se. 7: Et fait de8 jours seret/ns de mes jours les plus sombresj and Athalie, act I, se. 1: En des jours ténébreux a changé ces "beaux jours.

5. La palz . . . TOB charmes, the peae« of your heart groujs toUh your charmsy i.e. as your beauty revives (as ezpressed in the following Une) the peoce of your heoH Inereases.

S. Français. In the édition of 1786 the poet introduced the spelling of a4 for oi whenever, as in adjectives like Français^ AnglaiSf etc., or in the verb, the pronunciation required it. This changée was subsequently universally adopted, but for a long time people still wrote les Anglois, j'amois, i*aimoi8, etc.

lO. This and the foUowing Unes show the polished style of the eighteenth century, which in its extrême development took the name of ^^préciostté.'*^ Les précieuse» ruled the salons of the seventeenth and partly also of the eighteenth century. WhUe doing much to refine speech and manners, they not rarely erred on the other side, falling into affectation and ridicule.

18. Sage has often the meaning of virtuous^ or at least it answers to this term in English, when applied to a young woman. This appears in the foUowing Une.

lO. 8oudaii=8ultan. Le Soudan is also the name of a i>art of central Africa, the Soudan.

17. Oéne, oppresses, The verb gêner had formerly the force of *Hormenting." It is now used to dénote any inconvenience of slight importance, of a dress that is too tight, of a person that bores us, etc.

18. Solyme, from the Latin HierosolymassJerusaiem, used for poetic effect.