3. C'est du noir, prenez-y garde. It is gloomy, take care. Y here means about it; the verb being prendre garde à, this construction is used. 4. Méchantes gens. Wicked people. For the anomalous use of the feminine adjective with gens, see Grammar, p. 207, § 6

5. Et en veulent surtout aux Français. And are particularly set against the French. En vouloir à is a violent ellipsis for vouloir du mal à quelqu'un de quelque chose, to wish harm to some one for, or on account of, something (an injury, &c.); de quelque chose being represented by en, while du mal is now entirely omitted, though in XXIII., 23, we see that this was not always the case in Molière's time. En vouloir à may be translated, according to the context, to be vexed or angry with, to find fault with, to have a grudge or spite against, to have evil designs upon, &c. 6. Cela serait long.. Would take a long time. 7. Suffit qu'il nous haïssent à mort. mortally, or with deadly hatred.

Suffice it to say that they hate us

8. On passe fort mal son temps. One has a very hard time of it. 9. Tant qu'il fit jour.- As long as it was light. See Grammar, p. 147,

§ 3.

10. Mais comment faire?— But what could we do? For this use of the infinitive, see Grammar, p. 339, § 4.

11. Ne se fit pas prier. Required no urging, or didn't wait to be asked twice; literally, did not cause himself to be begged.

12. Nous voilà mangeunt et buvant, lui du moins. So we began to eat and drink, at least he did. This use of voilà has already occurred, XIII., note 7.

13. Il était de la famille. He made himself quite at home.

14. Que j'aurais dû prévoir. — Which I ought to have foreseen. The English verb ought, being defective, has no form corresponding to the past part. dû. This deficiency gives rise to various constructions which may all be reduced to a single one in French, devoir forming a compound tense by means of its past part. dû and the auxiliary avoir, like any other com plete verb. The same is the case with pouvoir and vouloir: nous aurions dû dire, we should have said; vous avez dû voir, you must have seen; il aurait pu parler, he could have spoken; j'aurais voulu être là, I wish I had been there.

15. Imaginez un peu!-Just imagine!

16. Il fit le riche. He played the rich man; that is, put on the airs, assumed the tone, of a rich man. Faire un personnage is to play a part, on the stage, or in real life; hence, by extension, to pretend to be, to act as if one were this or that.

17. Priant fort qu'on en eût grand soin, qu'on la mit. - Begging them earnestly to take great care of it, to put it.

18. Une soupente élevée de sept à huit pieds. - A loft raised seven or eight feet; literally, between seven and eight feet. Sept ou huit would be good French, but would mean either just seven or just eight. Thus seven or eight persons, sept ou huit personnes; but seventy or eighty persons, de soixante-dix à quatre-vingt personnes.

19. Dieu!

Goodness! See XXIV., 10.

20. En quelle peine je me trouvais, imaginez-le si vous pouvez. - Imagine if you can what was my distress.

21. Masquant aver ses doigts le trop de lumière. - Shading with her hand the excess of light.

22. Venu. Having come. See Grammar, p. 370, § 3.

23. Je vous crois assez de pénétration. — I think you have sufficient peae

tration.

XXXI.

1. J'ai touche le faîte. — Since I have reached the summit. Compare the use of faite alone, in the following example from Sainte-Beuve: Son adresse et son étoile le portèrent tout d'un coup au faîte, his skill and good luck raised him all at once to the top of the ladder.

2. Plus de goguettes.

No more merriment.

3. Je promène ma dignité.-I give my dignity an airing. For this use of promener, see XIX., 3.

4. Pur bon ton. So as to be fashionable.

5. Au poids de l'or . . . la faculté. — At an extravagant price I an treated, Í alone maintain or support the doctors. Faculté, when used alone, always refers to the medical faculty.

XXXII.

1. Qu'elles aient réussi à se mettre d'accord.

coming to an agreement. For this use of the subjunctive, see Grammar, p. 334, § 14.

2. J'ai eu beau me retourner de tous côtés.

Till they have succeeded in

In vain I turned in every

direction. For explanation of avoir beau, see XXVIII., 7.

3. Enfin, à bout de patience. — At last, my patience exhausted.

4. Dès leur réveil. As soon as they awoke.

5. Les uns sont allés se perdre Some have disappeared from sight. Aller is here used, as it was in III., 6, somewhat redundantly, as we have already seen is often the case with venir. See XXVI., 3.

6. Occupe depuis quelques jours. — Has occupied for the last few days. For this use of the present, see Grammar, p. 313, § 4.

7. Pour être plus matinal . . . un fort brave homme. Because he is an earlier riser than suits my laziness, is none the less a very worthy man. For the use of ne before conviendrait, see Granımar, p. 293, § 14. Brave, standing before the noun it qualifies, means worthy, not brave. See Grammar, p. 83, § 7.

8. Sort de chez le tourneur. - Comes from the turner's shop.

9. Maudire qui.· 10. Pour compenser natured feeling. transport."

11. Chez lui.

12. Je veux

neighborly call.

To curse one who.

...

de tout à l'heure. To atone for my recent illMouvement, when referring to the soul, means impulse,

In his room.

visite de voisinage. — I want to be the first to pay him a

13. Aussi j'avais mis une sourdine à ma chanterelle. So I had put a check upon my singing. Sourdine, in musical instruments, is something that checks the sound. Chanterelle is, literally, the first or treble string. This word occurs in several proverbial expressions; as, je vous ferai baisser la hanterelle, I'll make you lower your tone.

15. J'aime pas. - Properly je n'aime pas. Ne and il are often incorrectly omitted by careless speakers. Il is thus omitted before faut near the end ot the paragraph.

16. Quand on mange du même air. When people breathe the same air Popular and unusual.

17. On n'est pas fait pour se tourner le dos. backs upon each other.

18. Sans vous commander. If you please.

They ought not to turn their

19. Ai-je fait observer.—I observed. To observe, in French, is faire ebserver (to cause to be observed), as to remark is faire remarquer (to cause to be remarked).

20. Pendant tout le tremblement. - During the whole war. Tremblement is thus very familiarly used in the sense of fuss, mess, ado. In the next line, comme qui dirait, meaning, as one might say, is also quite familiar. 21. Un ancien des maréchaux. - A veteran of Fontenoy, fixed up in my style, but a knowing one who could have taught marshals a thing or two. Remontrer à quelqu'un sa faute, son devoir, is to point out to any one his fault, his duty; hence, en remontrer is to teach another, to give bim instructions of any kind, but especially on matters belonging to his profession, trade, or province.

22. Les gens de rien n'arrivaient pas à la vapeur. — Common people did not rise at railroad speed.

23. L'autre. A common expression used to designate Napoleon I. It originated, under the Bourbons, among those who did not wish to call him the usurper, and scarcely dared to call him the emperor.

24. Mais fallait le voir.· -But you ought to have seen him. For the omission of il, see note 15.

25. Croix de Saint-Louis. -The decoration of the chivalric order of Saint Louis, established by Louis XIV., in 1693, in favor of officers who distinguished themselves either in the army or navy. The national assembly abolished the orders of chivalry by the constitution of 1791, preserving only the cross of Saint Louis as a military decoration, but the convention suppressed it, and replaced the ancient distinctions by the arms of honor; and in 1802, Bonaparte, then first consul, instituted the present civil and military decoration of the Legion of Honor.-CHERUEL, Dict. des Institutions de la France.

26. Que je lui réponds. —I reply. Other examples of the same construction occur in this piece. In the next sentence we find one: qu'il reprend, continues he; and about a page further on there are two: que je repris, I answered; and qu'il acheva, he added. Que is here a mere expletive, unless it be accounted for by some such phrase as was the thing. This use of que should not be imitated.

me.

27. Ça me fit quelque chose. — That moved me, produced an effect upon 28. Que je partais. That I was about to start. Partir and arriver are thus idiomatically used: je pars, I am on the point of starting; je partais, I was on the point of starting, &c. ; j'arrive, I have just come; j'arrivais, I had just come, &c.

29. Sans emphase. — With simplicity. Littré defines emphase as an exaggeration in expression, tone, voice, or gesture. Hence parler avec emphase is to speak in an unnatural, bombastic manner; while parler avec force is to speak emphatically, with energy.

30. Désintéressement d'amour-propre. - Self-forgetfulness.

31. Chez laquelle. - Where. Chez is used by extension in the sense of among, in; as, Une coutume reçue chez les anciens, a custom practised among the ancients; Vous serez fameux chez la postérité, you will be famous with posterity.-CORN. Chez elle toutes les grâces sont réunies, all the graces are to be found in her; ce n'est pas une habitude chez moi de le faire, I am not in the habit of doing so.

32. Sort à l'instant de. — Has just left. 33. Un peu fortes en couleur.

- Rather highly colored.

24. Une noblesse qui obligeait. — A kind of nobility which imposed obligations. An allusion to the common saying, noblesse oblige, rank has its duties. Although the imperfect is used in English, the present tense would naturally be expected here in French.

35. Prenait le dessus.·

Got the upper hand.

36. Se débrouiller. Take care of themselves; literally, disentangle themselves (from the difficulty in which they are).

37. Il me prenait bien . d'éreinter l'hôte. I must confess, I felt a longing to beat the owner soundly. Bien is here used as in XXV., 22, to emphasize the verb. Démangeaison is, literally, an itching, from the verb démanger Ereinter is, literally, to break the back, from rein, the reins, the loins. Ereinté is familiarly used in the sense of tired out physically; as, je suis éreinte, I am tired to death, I am used up.

38. Il ne s'agissait pas seulement. It was not sufficient. For the explanation of the verb s'agir, see XXVII., 19.

39. Qui m'ont mangé le bras. That destroyed my arm. 40. C'est simple comme bonjour. —It's a very simple thing. 41. Une fois en mesure de réemboîter le pas.·

As soon as I was able to

march again. Emboîter le pas means to lock up in marching.

42. Pour avoir . . . à mon aise. I was none the more at my ease on account of having a leg the less to nourish. Compare with note 7.

43. Que je l'avais tire de la bagarre.—That I had got him out of the fray. Bagarre is thus familiarly used, as in se tirer de la bagarre, to get out of a scrape.

44. Place au feu et à la chandelle. A comfortable home. This is an old military term, used to express the right to enjoy certain privileges, at a halting-place.

45. Pas mal de fermes. A good many, a good lot. of farms. Pas mal is also used idiomatically in the sense of pretty well.

46. Restait à savoir. It remained to be seen. The omission of il before the impersonal verb rester has already been noticed, XXVII., 11.

47. Il s'agit de se conduire. You must behave. See XXVII., 19. 48. Prendre ses invalides. S.- - Find a pleasant retreat. Invalides is thus used to denote an honorable retreat, a recompense which crowns long 3ervices. This use of the word is derived from l'Hôtel des Invalides at Paris where old and disabled soldiers are cared for.

A

49. Encore quelques charges à fond. A few more hearty charges. fond means fully, thoroughly, to the bottom. Charger à fond, faire une charge à fond, is used in speaking of a troop which attacks another with impetuosity. In the same sentence poignet, literally the wrist, is figuratively used for strength.

50. Ça me soutenait le moral. That kept my courage up. Le mora. (masc.) is the mind, the spiritual faculties as opposed to the physical. It

must not be confounded with la morale (fem.), morality. This explains the exact force of the military words demoralize and demoralization, which are derived from le moral, not from la morale.

51. Et nous envoya une mitraille de cailloux. - And sent us a volley of pebbles. Mitraille was, anciently, all kinds of pieces of broken metal. It now means grape-shot.

52. Un peu.—I should think so! Un peu is used, in very familiar language, as a disdainful affirmation, and corresponds to the interjectional use of the English rather.

3. Ruinés à la Bourse. - Ruined by speculation. La bourse, literally the purse, is the name given in France to the Exchange, and, by extension, to the speculations carried on there.

54. Un professeur d'humanités. —A college professor, or, more exactly, a professor in a French college or lycée who teaches the high branches of Greek and Latin literature. The classes engaged in this study are called classes des lettres, and rank above the classes de grammaire, and below the so-called classe de philosophie, which is the last year in a French college. For a somewhat similar use of humanities in English, see Webster's Dictionary.

55. Tout ça le prix Montyon.-These people could not have competed for the Montyon prize. Ca, a contraction of cela, is often familiarly used when speaking of persons, sometimes contemptuously, but not always. The Montyon prize, known as le prix de vertu, is one of the four annual prizes of ten thousand francs each, instituted by Montyon en faveur d'un Francais pauvre qui aura fait dans l'année l'action la plus

vertueuse."

56. Pour cause de réforme. Because I was disabled. Compare the military expression être en réforme, to be invalided, and il vient d'obtenir son congé de réforme, he has just obtained an honorable discharge from the army as being incapable of serving. Notice that réformer, to pension off, to put upon half pay, has the acute accent, while reformer, to reform, has

none.

57. Voilà deux mois que. It is now two months since. Voilà here takes the place of il y a.

58. Encore avait-elle.· Grammar, p. 256, § 5.

-And besides it had. For the position of elle, see

59. Une occupation bourgeoise.— See XXIII., 1.

ХХХІІІ.

1. La première affaire à laquelle il avait assisté.—The first engagement at which he was present. This particular phrase might possibly be translated in which he took part, since a secondary meaning of assister is to assist, to help; but its primary and common signification is to be present at, to attend. Assist, used in this sense, is a gallicism found in Prescott and other English writers.

2. Croix. This word, when thus used alone, generally refers to the Cross of the Legion of Honor, unless something in the context indicates the contrary. See XXXII., 25.

3. Se détacha en noir sur le disque éclatant.. Stood out, a black mass, against the bright disk. Se détacher, in painting, means to stand out in