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lunge without disengaging. One, two. As you were.
Repeat, without losing your footing.'
"Touchez-moi

l'épée de quarte,' simply means to touch or beat
slightly the foil in the position of 'quarte,' that is,
striking from right to left. The words 'une, deux'
are sometimes used technically for the usual feint-to
threaten in 'quarte' or 'tierce,' then disengage rapidly
and lunge; but here they probably merely mark the
parry and the lunge which M. Jourdain is told to
make. In the same way 'redoubler' either means to
repeat the movement, or is used technically in the
sense of thrusting repeatedly.

15. 22. la botte. 'Porter' or 'pousser une botte' is to lunge. In this technical sense botte' comes from the Spanish, and is connected with the obsolete verb 'bouter' = to put or place. Other homonyms are-1. 'Botte,' a bundle (Eng. a bottle of hay); 2. A barrel or butt; 3. A boot (probably from the last on account of the shape).

16.

1. effacé, lit.

erased,' 'wiped out'; i.e. exposing as little surface as possible.

3. Partez de là. Une, deux-'Lunge from there. One, two.' Here again these words are probably only used by the master in order to emphasise the two separate parts of the lunge: one, the arm straightened; two, the whole body moving forwards.

6. Hé? Either an appeal for encouragement or a groan of
exhaustion.

14. en dedans, i.e. 'quarte'; en dehors, 'tierce.'
16. cœur, 'pluck.'

22. nous autres; 'autres' in this idiomatic use is only to
be translated by an emphasis on the pronoun.

23. l'emporte, i.e. l'avantage. The use of the pronoun 'le' in such expressions is a relic of the neuter gender. Cp. 'le prendre sérieusement' (58, 9). For a very different estimate of the value of fencing, see Montaigne, Essais, Bk. II., c. xxvii.

24. les autres sciences inutiles, i.e. all the other sciences, which are useless, such as . . .

26. Tout beau, 'gently.' For this adverbial use of the adjective, derived from the Latin neuter, cp. 'tout doux,' etc.

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16. 26. tireur d'armes. An old-fashioned and slightly contemptuous synonym of 'maître d'armes.'

17.

30. de plaisantes gens... 'Well, you are absurd people to ...'

2. plastron, a padded fencing jacket. Hence, metaphorically applied to persons, 'a butt.'

6. M. le batteur de fer, 'Master Swashbuckler'—a still more contemptuous equivalent for 'maître d'armes.' 'Battu le fer' means to be in the habit of frequenting fencing saloons.

=

9. le... quereller, 'to pick a quarrel with him'-'se quereller' to quarrel. Cp. for this difference between the meaning of the simple and of the reflexive verb, 'marier' and 'se marier, 'plaindre' and 'se plaindre,'

etc.

26. je v. étrillerai... ‘I will give you such a drubbing.' 'Etriller' lit. to groom (currycomb) a horse. Lat. strigilis, a scraper. Rosser is probably also derived from the slang of the stable. Rosse,' a broken

down old horse.

33. apprendre à parler, ‘give him a lesson in manners.'

FOURTH SCENE.

18.

2. tout à propos, 'in the very nick of time.'

7. la préférence, 'the precedence.'

8. venir aux mains, 'to come to blows.' Cp. the Latin phrase, Res venit ad manus atque ad pugnam' (Livy).

10. de la sorte, 'in this way.' Here the article retains its original demonstrative force (Latin ille). Cp. the demonstrative use of der in German, e.g. 'Des Wegs kam er'-He came this way.

11. Sénèque. L. Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher (d. A.D. 65), wrote several works on ethics, and amongst them a treatise De Ira.

17. il-pointing to the music-master.

25. condition, 'rank.'

19. 11. métier misérable

'beggarly trade of swash

buckler, balladmonger, and mountebank.'

'Baladin,

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= a public dancer, then a buffoon or mountebank, should be spelt balladin,' as it comes (through 'ballade,' originally = a song made to dance to) from

the obsolete verb baller' = danser.

19. 13. Allez, phil. de chien, 'Get out, you dog of a philosopher.' Notice the 'de' connecting two words in

apposition. Cp. (26, 18) 'le bourreau de tailleur ... ce chien de tailleur,' etc.

=

14. bélitre de pédant, pedantic blockhead.' The verb
'bélistrer' is used by Ronsard in the sense of 'begging.'
15. cuistre fileffé, 'you arrant bottlewasher.' 'Cuistre'
originally meant a college 'scout' or 'gyp,' and is
probably the same word as the O. Fr.coustre'
'a verger' (Lat. custos). 'Fieffé' is added to insult-
ing epithets with the sense of 'thorough,' 'down-
right.' A 'noble fieffé' was a nobleman in the full
sense of the word, possessing a fief as well as a title.
Hence the metaphor.

16. marauds, 'blackguards.'

22. coquins. Probably a diminutive of 'coquus,' a cook, from which the word 'gueux' is also most probably derived. Such words embody the contempt felt in warlike times for persons connected with kitchen duties. Cp. Tennyson's 'Gareth and Lynette.'

28. Diantre soit de l'âne bâté, a plague o' the packsaddled donkey.' The epithet 'bâté' aggravates the notion of heavy dulness. For the 'de' cp. Shakespere, A plague of all cowards.' 'Diantre' is a euphemism for 'diable.' Cp. 'morbleu,' zounds, etc. 34. Fripons, etc., 'pack of thievish, beggarly, sneaking, swindlers.'

FIFTH SCENE.

20. 4. je n'y saurais que faire, 'It's no concern of mine.' 'Que faire,' an indirect question.

SIXTH SCENE.

8. raccommoder, generally 'to mend ;' here to put straight, adjust.'

3. comme il faut, 'in the right spirit.'

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20. 14. Juvénal. D. Junius Juvenalis, Roman satirist (A.U.C. 795-875.) 'Si natura negat, facit indignatio versum.' 17. j'ai toutes les envies du monde, I am extremely anxious.' The words 'du monde,' added to such

phrases, especially to a superlative, are best rendered by an emphasis.

21. 17. La première est de bien concevoir, etc., 'The first is to apprehend correctly by means of the predicables (i.e. genus, species, difference, property, and accident); the second is to judge correctly by means of the categories (i.e. the "summa genera," or most extensive classes into which things can be distributed : substance, quantity, quality, relation, action, passion or suffering, place, time, position, habit or condition); and the third, to reason correctly by means of the figures.' The words 'Barbara, Celarent,' etc., form part of a useful but unscientific system of artificial words used as a 'memoria technica' in order to remember the nineteen valid moods of the syllogism. Each word contains three vowels, each of which indicates a proposition. In 'Baralipton' the last syllable has merely been added for the sake of scansion. Perhaps this passage is a reminiscence of Montaigne (Book I. xxv.)-'La plus expresse marque de la sagesse c'est une es jouïssance constante: . . . ... C'est Baroko et Baralipton qui rendent leurs supposts ainsi crottez et enfumez; ce n'est pas elle, ils ne la cognoissent que par ouyr dire.'

23. rébarbatifs, 'repulsive'; like a face with a bristly beard (barba).

ne me revient point, 'does not suit me.' For 'revenir,' in this sense of recurring favourably to the mind, of being liked, cp. (47, 2) si le maître v. revient, le valet ne me revient pas moins.'

33. bilieux, 'passionate.'

34. il n'y a morale qui tienne = quelque résistance que la morale puisse opposer. 'I intend to fly into a rage and no ethics will ever stop me.'

...

35. t. m. soûl, 'to my heart's content.' 'Manger son soûl' = to eat one's fill. The word is now generally confined to the sense of drunk (cp. Scotch fu'). It is derived from satullus, diminutive of Latin satur.

I

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22.

(For the loss of the medial 't' cp. rond-rotundus, saluer-salutare.)

3. chante, almost

=

'drivel'; a very contemptuous term. Cp. the use of chansons' = nonsense' ; and in Latin 6 cantilenam eandem canis' (Terence), 'the same old song.'

10. feu volant, 'Will-o'-the-wisp.' More commonly 'feu follet.'

13. tintamarre, 'hubbub,' 'clatter.' Supposed to come from the custom of vinedressers striking (tinter) upon their hoes or spades (marre).

14. brouillamini, higgledy-piggledy,' confusion. Literally = a veterinary's mixture for horses made of Bol (Eng. 'Bolus') d'Arménie, a kind of reddish clay used for medicinal purposes. By a double corruption the word has been assimilated in form with 'brouiller

=

to mix,' confuse.' For similar instances of 'popular etymology' see Max Müller, Lect. on the Science of Language, II. 576, and Trench, English : Past and Present, p. 332; and cp. such words as 'crayfish,' 'court cards,' etc.

23. 27. la moue, 6

as if you were pouting' (making mows).

=

30. que n'ai-je ... 'Que ne' with the indic. 'Why not?' The French 'que' represents the Latin 'quid,' as well as 'quod' or 'quem,' and is equivalent to 'pourquoi, e.g. Que parlez-vous, Lucile, de la lune (La Bruyère).

24. 1. en donnant

tongue.
8, 30.

'by striking with the tip of the For the intransitive use of 'donner' cp.

8. que je v. veux de mal. 'What a grudge I owe you !' Hence, in the idiom 'en vouloir,' the apparently redundant 'en' = 'du mal.'

19. Au reste, generally

=

'besides,' 'in other respects; here expresses transition-'by the bye,' 'to talk of something else.'

25. Cela sera galant, oui? 'That will be the right thing,

won't it?'

25. 2. Non. We should expect 'oui.' Cp. Corn. Menteur,

III. iv.