28. Il se flattait de monter ainsi la montagne. He fancied he could thus climb the mountain. 29. Le jour baisse. - Daylight is fading, or it is growing dark. 30. Ajoupa. A kind of hut supported upon stakes hastily and roughly covered with branches, leaves, straw, or rushes. 31. Avaient mis en sang. - Had made bleed. 32. Se chausser. — To put on shoes, or shoes and stockings. Se chausser is a general word, which means to clothe the feet and legs with boots, shoes, socks, or stockings. 33. El se mit en marche. -And started, or set off. Se mettre en marche is nearly synonymous with se mettre en route, which occurs towards the end of this piece. 34. Doucement. - Slowly. 35. Le sentier frayé. — The beaten path. Fraye is, literally, rubbed, worn. 36. Paul fit asseoir Virginie, et . . . hors de lui. — Paul found a seat for Virginia, and began running hither and thither, quite beside himself. Se mettre à is to put one's self to, to set to work, to begin. Se prendre à is used in a similar way, and may also be translated to begin. Thus we have on the next page, et elle se prit à verser des larmes; literally, and she betook herself to shedding tears. 37. Mais les seuls échos. But the echoes only. For the unusual position of seul, see Grammar, p. 83, § 6. 38. A plusieurs reprises. — Again and again, or over and over; literally, at several resumptions; that is, several times separated by distinctly marked intervals. 39. Qu'éprouvent maintenant nos mères. — Which our mothers now endure. 40. Elle se prit à. - She began. For this use of se prendre à, see note 36 of this piece. 41. Qui vient le soir tuer des cerfs à l'affût. — Who comes in the evening to kill deer, by lying in ambush for them. The preposition is omitted before le soir. See Grammar, p. 304, § 3. -- 42. Serions-nous si près d'arriver? Can it be possible we are so near home? See XIX., note 20. 43. Revenir de. - Recover from, get over. In the expression, je n'en reviens pas, the en must stand for some such words as de mon étonnement, de ma surprise, de mon émotion, de mon effroi. It may sometimes be translated, is it possible? how can that be? 44. Domingue. Domingo; the slave of Virginia's mother. Domingo is a Spanish name, meaning Sunday. 45. Repris ses sens.— Recovered his composure. 46. Que vos mères ont d'inquietude! comme elles ont été étonnées ! — How uneasy your mothers are! how astonished they were! 47. N'a su nous dire. — Could not tell us. Savoir is often used instead of pouvoir before an infinitive. See Grammar, p. 191, § 62, Rem. For the omission of pas, see p. 291, § 6. 48. J'allais, je venais autour de l'habitation. — I went back and forth about the plantation. 49. A quêter sur vos pas. 50. Calebasse. liquids. To search for you by following in your track. Calabash, a dried and hollow gourd used to contain 51. Où est le temps. This construction is common in expressions of regret, and may perhaps in this case be rendered by some such exclama tion as, Oh for the time! 52. Se fit voir.- Showed itself, or appeared. 53. Aux cris. - Amid the cries. 54. Au-devant d'eux. To meet them. XXVI. 1. Qui se plaît.- Who loves to dwell or to be. 2. De l'escabeau . . . s'empare.-There the poor takes possession of the empty stool by the hearth. 3. C'est là qu'un jour je vins m'asseoir. — It is there that one day I seated myself. Here we might possibly translate the word vins, I came and sat down, though it would be rather awkward. But venir is often used in French where the verb to come would seem redundant in English, as in note 4 of XXXVII., le plomb tous deux vint les atteindre, the shot struck them both. 6. Mais qu'en avril... la dédommage.-But may the nightingale in April sing and make amends to her. La refers to fermière. The idea is, to make amends to her for the poorness of this little song. XXVII. 1. Les pourboires sur le Rhin.. The pourboires upon the Rhine. Pourboire, literally "to drink," is used to designate the gratuity commonly given to servants, &c., in addition to the regular charge. In English this is sometimes called drink-money, but in translating the French word may be used. Pourboire corresponds to the German Trinkgeld, and to the Italian buonamano. 2. Naturels. - Natives. 3. Charabia.- A popular term, meaning the patois of the inhabitants of Auvergne, and, by extension, any other speech which is not understood. 4. On débâche; un grand drôle prend sur la voiture. The tilt is turned back; a tall rascal takes from on the carriage, &c. 5. L'hôte surgit et entame. — -The keeper or host suddenly appears and begins. Surgir is to spring up, to start up, to arise. Entamer, literally, to make the first cut into (a loaf, &c.), also means, when speaking of a negotiation, an affair, a discourse, a story, a conversation, &c., to enter upon, to begin. 6. Vous tournez alentour. — You stroll around it. 7. Toujours remorqué par.· - Stil! in the wake of, still towed along by. 8. La grille du chœur. The screen of the choir. Choeur here means choir in the sense that word has in architecture; viz., that part of a church separated from the nave by a railing or screen, and appropriated for the use of the clergy. - 9. Splendidement harnache. - Gorgeously tricked out, or rigged up. Har nacher, literally to harness a horse, means, when used familiarly and figu ratively, to dress in a ridiculous manner, in colors which do nct harmonize 10. Votre cicerone empanache et galonné cicerone. Your beplumed and belaced 11. Reste le sacristain. There remains the sacristain, or the sacristain is left. Il is often understood before this impersonal verb. 12. Judas. A small opening made in a floor or ceiling in order to see what passes below; thus called because the one who looks through this peep-hole looks, so to speak, in a treacherous manner. 13. Baragouiner tout à son aise. - Stammer ahead in peace. Baragouiner is derived from the Bas-breton bara, bread, and gwin, wine; words which the French often heard in the mouth of the Bretons, and of which they made use, in the compound baragouin, to designate an unintelligible language. The verb baragouiner means to murder a language in pronouncing it, to alter its sounds so as to make them difficult to understand. Baragouiner un discours is to pronounce it unintelligibly. 14. Croupe. - Hip-roof. This term is applied, in architecture, to the rounded part of the roof which surmounts the apsis of a church. 15. C'est pour la fabrique. — It is for the church fund. Fabrique means all that belongs to a parish church: the funds, income, silverware, ornaments, &c. It is also used in the sense of church wardens. 16. Vous vous gardez bien de demander. - You take very great care not to ask. Se garder de is, literally, to guard one's self from; hence to be careful not to. 17. Carte à payer. - Bill. Carte alone, as well as note and addition, are used to denote a restaurant bill. Mémoire, facture, are used for other bills. 18. Copeaux et balayures. — Mere rubbish; literally, chips and sweepings. 19. Qu'il s'agit de désenfler le plus vite possible. — Which should be emptied as soon as possible. Desenfler means, literally, to reduce the swelling of. Desenfler un ballon is to let the gas out of, to empty, a balloon. Agir is, literally, to act. S'agir is used only in the impersonal form, and governs de: as, l'affaire dont il s'agit, the thing in question; de quoi s'agit-il? what is the matter? what is going on? Il s'agit de votre vie, your life is at stake. Analogous to the German es handelt sich, and to the Latin agitur, in such phrases as: non nunc pecunia sed illud agitur quomodo, &c. TERENCE. 20. Chacun s'y acharne de son côté.- Each, in his own way, strives with all his might, or employs every effort, to accomplish this. For this figurative use of acharner, see XXXVI., 21. 1. Il en est une. XXVIII. There is one. It is a peculiarity of Xavier de Maistre to use il est where most prose-writers would employ il y a. But in poetry, il est is generally used instead of il y a. 2. Le long des maisons d'un village. — Along a village street. 3. Craignant.-Present part. of craindre, p. 175, § 15. 4. Isba. Al A Russian peasant's house, usually composed of a single room, a good portion of which is taken up by an enormous stove. though isba corresponds pretty nearly to thatched cottage, it does not, however, imply an idea of poverty. — Author's note. 5. Lui firent peu d'accueil. — Gave her but little welcome. 6. On ne se met pas en route. People do not set out. 7. La jeune fille avait beau protester que c'était la tour son avoir.-In vain the young girl protested that this was all she had; literally, all her hav ing. Littré in his "Dict. de la Langue Française" thus explains the locution avoir beau, to do uselessly. "Avoir beau means avoir beau champ, beau temps, belle occasion; avoir beau faire is properly to have every thing favorable for doing a thing. That is its ancient and natural sense. But by an irony easy to understand avoir beau has assumed the sense of avoir le champ libre (to have the field or stage clear), to be allowed to do whatever you please and yet to accomplish nothing. Vous avez beau dire is, primitively, it is well for you to say; then you can say, you are at liberty to say, but that will do no good." In a similar way we may explain the use of fine and pretty in such English expressions as: it is fine for you to talk so; that is a pretty thing for you to say. 8. De s'aller coucher. The natural position of se would be before coucher; but when an infinitive is governed by another verb, the pronoun referring to this infinitive may be placed before either verb. It is, however, more conformable to general custom to place it before the verb that governs it. 9. Avant de monter sur le poêle où elle devait passer la nuit.— Before climbing upon the stove where she was to pass the night. For this idiomatic future see Grammar, p. 203. The Russian stoves, made of earthen ware, are very large; and the peasants in that country, having no bed, sleep dressed, either upon the benches which are ranged all round the inside of their cottage, or upon the stove, which is the most spacious, and at the same time the warmest place. -Author's note. 10. Assignation. -- Generally, assignment, an order to pay from a certain fund the sum assigned; but its use here is different. The author tells us in a note that "gold and silver coin being very rare in Russia, people generally use only copper coin (kopecks) and assignation, which are bills of 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 roubles." 13. Peignait. -Imperfect of peindre, p. 175, § 14. 14. Visiteuse. - Searcher, inspector. Visiteur is never used in the sense of the English visitor; but custom-house officers, whose duty it is to search for contraband articles, are called visiteurs. 15. L'emportant sur.-Getting the better of. 16. De lur trouver. To find in her. De is the preposition preceding the infinitive trouver, of which lui, referring to la vieille, is the indirect object. 17. Chtchi.-Russian soup made of sour cabbage and salted meat. Kvasse, in the same sentence, is a kind of small beer made of rye meal. Author's note. 18. Ne sachant trop. Scarcely knowing. Trop is here used in a sense akin to its ancient, its primitive signification of very, much; as in the phrase, pas trop mal, not very badly. 19. Fait quelques verstes. — -Gone a few rods. Verste is, literally, a verst This use of faire has already been explained, XXV., 12. XXIX. 1. Le fendeur à la vonne hache. —The woodman with the good axe. Fendeur is, literally, a cleaver, a splitter. For this use of à, see XXV. 10. A few lines below, à is used in the same way: un chien bâtard à poil frisé, a mongrel dog with curly hair. 2. Si ce n'est au museau qu'il avait couleur de feu. - Except on the muzzle, which was dame color. 3. Que les pauvres gens eurent si grand'peine à vivre. When it was so hard for poor people to keep alive. For the apostrophe in grand peine, see XXX V., 7. 4. Tant que venu.- - Until the grand master of the wolf-hounds is come. Louvetier is a wolf-hunter, the head of a wolf-hunting train, or a person who keeps such a train. 5. Ils ont assez de quoi marcher. They have space enough. De quoi, followed by an infinitive, signifies what is capable of, or, as here, what is necessary for, the action expressed by the verb: une telle imposture a de quor me surprendre, such an imposture is surprising to me (capable of surprising me); nous avons de quoi vivre, we have enough (what is necessary) to live upon; donnez-moi de quoi écrire, give me writing materials. Il a de quoi is a popular expression for he has means, he is well off, in easy circumstances. De quoi is also used substantively; as, j'ai consommé mon petit de quoi, I have used up my scanty means. 6. Qui ne demande qu'à trotter. —Who likes nothing better than to run about. 7. Mon Dieu, qu'il est attardé! — Dear me, how late he is! See XXIV., 10. 8. Va jusque devers la butte pour savoir si. Go as far as the hill and see whether. Devers is here used instead of vers in the sense of towards, in the direction of. Littré says, although this word is antiquated, it is so well authorized that it may still be freely employed. 9. Mordienne, pardienne. - These are countrified forms of the oaths mordieu and pardieu, but are used as mere interjections by those who have not the least idea of their meaning. 10. Tu as pris par un autre chemin. - You took or came by another road. 11. Il avait beau crier. — In vain he cried. See XXVIII., 7. 12. Elle s'était jetée devant.· She had rushed forward. 13. Renversa le loup roide mort. — -Stretched the wolf stark dead on his back. 14. Courtil.-A little garden adjoining a peasant's house. 15. Qui n'allit mangit.- Who went but once to the wood and whom the wolf ate. Allit and mangit are provincial forms for alla and mangea. In the same sentence le chien à Brisquet is a popular form for le chien de Brisquet. XXX. 1. Calabre.. Calabria, the most southern province of what was for merly the kingdom of Naples. 2. Car il m'en arrive des unes et des autres. For I meet with both; literally, for both happen to me. |