I.

--1. =Sac à procès=, lawyer's bag or satchel.

--2. The =livre= was the standard of value in France until 1795, when it was replaced by the =franc= of nearly equal value.

--3. =The Duke of Choiseul= (1719-1785), a celebrated French statesman, was prime minister under Louis XV.

--4. =suite=, perseverance.

--5. =la guerre d'Amérique=. The war between the English and French for the possession of North America (1752-1760) is referred to.

--6. =prêteur sur gages=, pawn-broker.

--7. His thoughts and passions were mild like the light of the moon.

--8. =Sisyphe=, Sisyphus, a well-known character in mythology.

--9. =Je m'en doutais=, I suspected it.

--10. Voltaire in "Discours en vers sur l'homme."

--11. =on peut s'en trouver bien tant que=, one may fare well enough as long as, etc.

--12. =termes de basoche=, legal phraseology. La basoche was, an association of lawyers' clerks.

--13. =Se dérangerait-il=, Could he be behaving badly?

--14. The "Trappists" were a religious order whose rules prescribed perpetual silence except in case of necessity.

--15 =la Visitation=, a celebrated convent in the southern part of Paris.