61.

6. éclat, 'publicity,' 'scandal.'

'Avoir

9. J'ai beau, 'all my resistance is of no avail.'
beau' is an elliptic phrase; such a word as champ'
must be supplied. It then means to have 'a fair field,'
a good opportunity, but to fail. Cp. the English
idiom, 'It is all very fine your talking' (vouz avez
beau parler).

10. fatiguez, 'you wear out.' To conquer by constant
importunity. So fatigare in Latin.

13. ont traîné, 'have brought in their train.'

14. cadeaux. The distinction between 'cadeaux' and 'présents' is now lost.

16, v. gagnez; either-1. 'You win over' (cp. gagner un homme to bribe a man), or 2. 'You overcome, you

conquer.'

20. v. y devriez

être, 'you ought to have reached

that point already,' i.e. marriage.

22. à quoi tient-il... What is there to prevent?' Cp. the idiom-'Il ne tient qu'à vous

upon you.'

30. ne conclut rien

it only depends

= to

'forms no necessary precedent for every one else.' 'Tous les autres,' i.e. hommes' or 'maris. With a person for subject 'conclure' come to a conclusion; with a thing for subject it means to prove, to form a precedent. Cp. Cette impuissance ne conclut autre chose que la faiblesse de notre raison.'-Pascal.

2. sans v. déplaire-parenthetic. If you will excuse my saying so.'

3. que v. ne v.... incommodiez, 'without inconvenience to yourself. For 'que. . . ne' with the subj. see 4, 17. Notice the awkward effect produced by the repetition of 'que' six times in the sentence.

9. ne faites point tant valoir, 'do not make so much of Cp. se faire valoir': to make the most of

oneself.

=

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NINETEENTH SCENE.

61. 18. la troisième, i.c. révérence. See Act II. i. (the end). 19. sait son monde, 'knows the ways of society.' The force of the possessive seems to be that the subject has been mastered, made one's own.

62.

20. Madame ... Cp. with this clumsy attempt at eloquence Harpagon's speech to Marianne (Av. III. ix.)--' Et je maintiens et garantis que vous êtes un astre, mais un astre, le plus bel astre qui soit dans le pays des astres.'

26. mon bien, 'my good fortune.'

m'eût... Notice that 'que,' employed to avoid re-
peating 'si,' is followed by the subjunctive, though
the latter governs the indicative.

30. homme d'esprit, 'a man of culture '-of brains.
un bon bourgeois, 'a worthy tradesman.'

8. Galant homme tout à fait, 'the cream of fashion.'
17. Gardez-v.-en bien! 'Take good care that you don't.'
18. vilain à v., 'That would be bad form on your part.'
'à vous,' a kind of possessive dative.

19. galant homme, here-'gentleman.'

20. qui lui eussiez fait; subjunctive by a kind of attraction. We should expect 'qui lui aviez fait.'

29. grâces. Notice the play upon the word.

=

Here it

=

thanks;' in 1. 32 = 'favour,' 'kindness;' in l. 34 ='grace,' 'graciousness.'

32. C'est bien de la grâce

'He is very gracious

towards me.' M. J. Madame, it is you who are grace itself.'

ACT IV.-FIRST SCENE.

65. 4. de v. faire, 'when he does.'

7. ordonné, 'arranged.'

9. incongruités de bonne chère, 'sins against good feeding, and blunders against good taste.' Cp.

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'brutalité de sens commun'-Mal. Im. III. iii. 'Chère' comes from the Greek κápa, the Latin cara (sixth century). The filiation of meanings is interestinghead, face, welcome, entertainment.

65. 13. toutes les pièces, 'every dish,' 'every item.' 14. donnerait. Notice the conditional in the subordinate clause, where modern use would prefer the indicative. For this symmetry of tenses, common in the seventeenth century, cp. 'Je reviendrai voir sur le soir en quel état elle sera.'-Méd. M. Lui, II. iv.

tomber d'accord de . . ., ' acknowledge.'

15. bons morceaux, 'tit-bits.'

de v. parler, i.e. il ne manquerait pas de v. parler. The 'de' which begins the remaining clauses is governed by 'parler.'

16. pain de rive à biseau doré. 'Pain de rive' is a loaf baked on the edge of the oven, so as not to come into contact with the other loaves, hence the slanting edges ('biseau' here 'baisure' or 'kissing crust') have a delicate golden crust all round.

=

18. à sève veloutée, with a mellow body'; lit. 'with a velvety sap.'

armé d'un vert

'with a certain tart flavour, which is not too prominent.' (Verdeur, ce qu'il y a de rude dans le vin nouveau.-Littré.)

20. veau de rivière, 'Normandy veal.' The cattle reared in the meadows near the river Seine, in Normandy, were famous for their flavour.

22. relevées

'made more tasty by a wonderful

66 gamey " flavour.'

=

23. opéra anything difficult, and thence 'a master-
piece.' Cp. 'mon opéra (the ordinary meaning) fait,
il s'agit d'en tirer parti; c'était un opéra bien plus
difficile.'-J. J. Rousseau, quoted by Littré, s. v.
'Bouillon
soupe à bouillon perlé, pearl broth.'
perlé' is thus explained by Littré:— Bouillon blanchi
d'un lait d'amandes broyées avec de bon jus de mouton
qu'on a mis sur le potage.'

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65. 24. soutenue, 'supported'; cantonné, 'flanked.' Notice the heraldic terms 'soutenue,' 'cantonné,' 'couronné.'

'Une croix cantonnée de quatre étoiles' is a cross with a star at each corner.

25. oignons blancs, bleached onions,' -a dish famous among 'gourmets.'

66. 6. V. êtes bien dégoûté, 'You are very hard to please.' 'Dégoûté' is used of a person who has lost his taste for something, or never possessed any. A still commoner phrase, vous n'êtés pas dégoûté (an ironical litotes) prétendre à une chose qui est fort difficile à avoir.

=

16. prêtons silence, 'let us lend our ears.'

19. Un petit doigt, 'a drop,' 'a thimbleful.'
finger's breadth.'

25. Qu'en mouillant . . .,

Lit. a

i.e. En mouillant v. bouche,

que d'attraits il en reçoit.'

28. à longs traits, 'in deep draughts.' 'Traire,' now only used of milking, was originally used where 'tirer' is now employed. Hence the phrase is analogous to the Latin ducere haustum.

67. 3. Profitons de la vie, 'let us enjoy life.'

5. l'onde noire, i.e. the river Styx.

6. nos amours; in apposition to 'vin.'

15. à... boire 'en buvant.'

17. Sus, sus; 'Come, sirrah!' 'Sus' here is a hortatory
interjection, like the Latin age, agedum, derived from
'susum' (sursum). Cp. German 'wohlauf.'

18. tant que, until' (with the subjunctive). This use of the word lasted till the middle of the eighteenth century.

23. galant-'galant' in English-the usual meaning for the word in modern French (except in the phrase 'galant homme'). Cp. 5, 12.

68. 5. je le quitte, 'I give him up.'

10. ravit. In the first case 'ravir' — 'to charm,' delight; in the second case = 'to carry off,' to win (Latin rapere).

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SECOND SCENE.

68. 15. monsieur mon mari, 'my worthy husband'-ironical

politeness.

17. là-bas, i.e. in another part of the house. Mme. Jour-
dain had probably seen Covielle's preparation for the
ballet and installation of M. Jourdain as Mamamouchi,
and taken it for a fresh freak of her husband.

18. à faire noces, 'like a wedding feast.' The phrase has
taken its place in modern slang.
to go 'on the spree'; 'noceur'

19. festiner = 'offrir un festin.'

=

Faire la noce' is débauché.

21. envoyer promener-a contemptuous phrase-' to send to the right about,' 'to pack off.'

25. régale, the original spelling. The root 'gal' is found in 'galant.'

26. seulement, here pleonastic.

27. regarder à (intransitive) = 'prendre garde à,' 'faire attention à.'

69. 2. prendre, 'to use.'

8. Je n'ai que faire de... 'I have no need of spectacles.' An indirect question, the infinitive being interrogative; cp. Latin, Quid faciam ? Non habeo quid faciam.

13. grand'dame.

ni beau, etc.

See note on 57, 17.

'It is neither decent nor honourable of you.' Cp. 'vilain à vous' (62, 18).

16. Allez, an angry and impatient exclamation-'Why, Dorante, you are jesting' . . . O. English, ‘Go to !'

17. sottes visions . . . 'the stupid fancies of this madwoman. 'Extravagant' (extra-vagari), of wandering mentally.

THIRD SCENE.

For the position of the pro

24. V. me venez faire

noun cp. 2, 9.

28. Je ne sais . . . 'I don't know what prevents me from '