5. étonnant, here and often in the seventeenth century = effrayant, "frightful," "terrible”—not "astonishing," "surprising," etc., as in modern French. The stronger meanings are more nearly related in sense to the supposed popular Latin form extonare, “to thunder forth," from which étonner is derived.

6. commença de. After commencer, the tendency in modern French is to use the preposition à before an infinitive.

7. faire éclater, here to show, manifest; éclater = paraître or voir, here.

8. fortune, station, 1ank.

sense.

9. domestique, here household-officer, steward. Any person attached to a great house (Latin domus) was called domestique and therefore the word was not necessarily equivalent to servant in our There were many domestiques (often noblemen) who lived on a footing of equality with the members of the family — they were properly guests whose presence honored the household of a great lord; in other cases they served in the capacity of secretary or steward. For Valère's office cf. page 76, line 15.

10. me justifier. In modern French justifier quelque chose auprès de (to, in the eyes of) or aux yeux de quelqu'un is used instead of justifier quelque chose à quelqu'un, as above.

Page 6.

1. De tout... prétends. The Grands Ecrivains edition paraphrases as follows: "De tout ce que vous avez dit, il n'y a que mon amour par quoi je prétends, etc.”

2. en = de lui.

3. en, i.e. des nouvelles.

4. comme in the sense of comment.

5. donner dans, to take up, to fall in with.

...

6. encenser applaudir. In modern French the prepositions de, à and en are usually repeated before every noun, pronoun or infinitive governed by them.

Page 7.

time.

I. jouer, to deceive and make a fool of at the same a beau être, may be ever so.

2. toujours. The exceptional position of the adverb between the subject and the verb is evidently intended for emphasis.

3. impertinent, here foolish, silly.

4. assaisonne en, more generally assaisonner de.

5. faire un métier, "to carry on a business or trade;" fig., to

play a part.

6. que ne, why not. - A question of appeal. Tâcher à, now usually de before an infinitive. Molière uses both tâcher de and tacher à. Cf. page 27, line 7 and page 114, line 12.

7. s'avisât. The use of the imperfect subjunctive is regular here, since in sense it represents a conditional.

8. et = car. Cf. page 31, 7; 32, 18; 45, 15; 49, 18; 55,6; 92,15; 132, 14.

=

=

9. d'accommoder les deux confidences ensemble. Confidence is now obsolete in the sense of confiance as used here. (Confidence communication d'un secret; confiance disposition à se fier à quelq'un). - Valère means to say that it is difficult to be the confidant of both father and son or to gain the full confidence of both. 10. agissez auprès de votre frère, plead (or try your utmost) with your brother.

11. amitié, here affection. — Jeter, now rather mettre.

13. Je... confidence. Because Élise fears the reproaches of

her brother Cléante.

ACT I. SCENE 2.

Page 8.-1. ouïr; we should now say écouter.

2. Bien. Under stress of emotion bien is used rather than beaucoup.

3. avant que d'aller. Molière uses avant que, avant que de and avant de before an infinitive. Modern French prefers avant de.

"Avant que nous lier, il faut nous mieux connaître." Misanthrope, I, 2. "Je les conjure de tout mon coeur de ne point condamner les choses avant que de les voir." Préface de Tartuffe.

4. voeux, affection, love.

5. en . . . croire. The enhay be explained as referring vaguely to the subject under consideration.

Page 9. — 1. fâcheux, terrible, dangerous.

2. me point faire. When a negative infinitive governs a conjunctive personal pronoun, the particles pas or point may stand

between the pronoun and the infinitive. Generally however the pronoun immediately precedes the infinitive.

3. du moins = au moins. Cf. page 24, line 5. Modern French prefers au moins in the sense of "not under," "not less than" before words denoting number of quantity, as au moins mille écus.

Page 10.‚—1. me dites. The second of two positive imperatives connected by et, ou or mais was generally preceded by the pronoun depending upon it.

2. donner, to inspire.

3. que je la vis. In modern French où, in the sense of "when," has largely replaced the adverbial pronoun que; although expressions like au temps que, dans le temps que, au moment que continue to be used.

4. bonne femme de mère, here, old or aged mother.— Bonne femme, vieille femme, répond à bonhomme, vieillard; ils sont employés l'un et l'autre sans aucune arrière-pensée trop familière ou dédaigneuse. (Livet, Lexique).

5. un... charmant. In the seventeenth century we frequently find that a superlative follows and modifies a noun preceded by the indefinite article.

6. en, now dans.

7. toute engageante. In present usage tout is invariable here. - But cf. Clédat, Grammaire Raisonnée de la Langue Française, page 161.

8. J'en vois, en = · d'elle. — Lavigne refers en to qualités or vertus understood. The former explanation seems preferable on account of the sentence immediately preceding.

9. aimez; modern French would generally prefer the subjunctive. 10. accommodé. In the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this word was used in the sense of riche, aisé.

11. discrète conduite, “judicious" or "careful way of living (management)."

Page 11. - I. ce... fortune. The sentence is made emphatic by this order of words in which ce is the grammatical subject and que introduces the logical subject. — Ce peut être, it would be. Relever la fortune, to better the lot, to improve the condition. 2. déplaisir, here sorrow, vexation.

3. faire éclater. Cf. note to page 5, line 7.

4. sécheresse, lit. "dryness;" here, manque d'argent, embarrassment, "scantiness." In this sense the word is obsolete.

5. s'engager = s'endetter.

Molière fre

6. avoir moyen for avoir le moyen or les moyens. quently omits the definite article where it would now be required. 7. pour m'aider = pour que vous m'aidiez.

8. et qu'il ... s'oppose, and if our father is opposed. — Que is often used to avoid the repetition of sz.-Falloir has here the uncommon meaning of "to happen."

Cf. "Et s'il faut, par hasard, qu'un ami vous trahisse." Le Misanthrope I, 1 9. là, used here for emphasis; omit in translation.

ACT I. SCENE 3

Page 12. — 1. Hors d'ici... moi, etc. This scene is a combination of the Aulularia1 I, I and IV, 4.— tout à l'heure, obsolete in the sense of aussitôt, tout de suite, “immediately," "at once."

2. on, instead of tu, a very offensive mode of address.

3. maître juré filou, you arch-thief, arrant thief. A master of a guild or corporation of artisans was one who had the right of practicing his trade on his own account. The maîtres jurés (lit., "sworn masters") or simply jurés formed a council, called jurande, which governed the corporation. From the idea of first, foremost, greatest (in rank or skill) contained in maître juré we readily get the figured meaning of this and similar expressions as maître juré poète, etc.

4. sauf correction (also sous correction), under correction. La Flèche wants to excuse himself for using the word Diable. 5. vieillard... corps. Cf. Aulularıa, line 642.

6. Tu murmures . . . Idents. Cf. Aulularia, line 52.

7. Pourquoi... raisons. Cf. Aulularia, lines 44, 45

Page 13. - I. à demander, for de demander. In modern French, c'est à toi à demander, would mean “it is your turn to ask,” whereas Molière means “it is for you, it becomes you,” etc.

2. que... assomme. Que in the sense of afin que, pour que, requires the subjunctive.

The Aulularia, by Plautus. Edition Gætz & Scholl, Leipzig, 1893.

3. va-t-en. Molière often uses s'en aller followed by an infinitive, where modern French generally prefers aller.

Cf. "Le jour s'en va para'tre." École des Femmes, V, 1.

"Et je m'en vais être homme à la barbe des gens." Femmes Savantes, 11, 9. 4. faites sentinelle, etc. Cf. Aulularıa, lines 72, 73.

Page 14.-1. Ne... mouchards, I wonder if this fellow is not one of those spies, or this must be one of those spies. Ne voilà pas denotes surprise; mes expresses contempt; de depends upon some word understood as un.

2. Je tremble, etc., and Je vois bien, etc., page 20, line 12. Cf. Les Esprits, II, 3.

3. Je te baillerai de ce raisonnement-ci. Bailler, obsolete for donner; de ce raisonnement-ci, "this kind of an argument;" de, cf. page 14, note 1.

4. Ne m'emportes-tu rien, etc. Cf. Aulularia, line 640 ff. 5. ça is used in familiar style for ici.

Page 15.-1. Stage-directions: "Harpagon, montrant les hauts-de-chausses de La Flèche." (Edition of 1734.)

2. hauts-de-chausses, breeches (at that time very wide and reaching from the waist to the knees). — The stage-direction preceding this line refers to the lower part of the hauts-de-chausses.

Commentators differ as to the
Some translate "for wearing

3. je voudrais . . . quelqu'un. interpretation of en in this sentence. them," others "for inventing them." There is even a third interpretation, viz. "that a pair of them (en, i.e. breeches) had been hanged," where quelqu'un is made to refer to hauts-de-chausses. Considering Harpagon's state of mind, everything seems possible. Does he not imagine that La Flèche has more than two hands?

Page 16. 1. que vous fouillez. The sense seems to be improved by taking fouillez = fouilliez, i.e. “that you may search." The following liquid I's in the subjunctive was formerly often omitted in print. (Desfeuilles.)

2. avaricieux-"avare marque mieux la passion permanente de l'avarice, et avaricieux marque seulement cette passion se manifestant par des actes isolés, mais caractéristiques." (Bourguignon et Bergerol, Dict. des Synonymes.)

3. Et qui... ladres. La Flèche, in order to avoid mentioning names, answers as if Harpagon's question had been et que.