P. L. 232. 22. Le plus occupé de tous les hommes, Richelieu. 243. 6. Dorilas et Handburg, transparent disguises for Varillas and Maimbourg. 23. Cydias, Fontenelle. 245. 21. Fourrures et mortiers, the insignia of Noblesse de Robe. 247. 14. Poêle. This of course, like the German Stube, which doubtless suggested it, means not a stove, but a room with a stove. 261. 27. Compagnie, the Academy. 272. 14. This extract is printed exactly from contemporary editions. It is the last which will be so given. 23. In the French of to-day the contraction Me. is reserved for the official title (Maître) of advocates; here of course it = Madame. 279. 2. Cremille was minister at the time. 302. 1. This admirable epigram, like the preceding, is devoted to the luckless Nivelle de la Chaussée, the great practitioner of Comédie Larmoyante. 314. 5. It is scarcely necessary to give the obvious key to this scene by explaining that Dorante is really in love with Araminte, and that Dubois is in his confidence. 318. 18. Marianne, a poor orphan, has received a present of handsome clothes and resolves to display them in church. 323. 26. The scene passes in Louisiana. Manon is escaping from penal servitude; her lover, the Chevalier des Grieux, who has fol lowed her when she was transported, has fought a duel with a kinsman of the governor because of her. 331. 27. The biographers of Montesquieu do not accept this excellent and admirably told story. According to them the authorities did attempt to frighten Montesquieu, though there was no serious intention of harming him. But this does not matter. 343. 25. One of Restif's chief oddities was his system of spelling and word-connection. It is faithfully represented here. 372. 5. Ces jours, the Wednesdays on which the Mercuriales, from one of which this extract is taken, were pronounced. 376. 7. This adaptation of Sophocles is a capital example of the style noble of the eighteenth century. 378. 14. To appreciate the excellence of this it must be remembered that it was actually written like an ordinary critique on a first night, and that the author was the person at whom the piece was aimed. The principal philosophes are indicated here either by anagrams or transparent descriptions; thus Dortidius P. L. is Diderot; the Prophète de Böhmischbroda refers to a jeu d'esprit of Grimm's, etc. 384. 17. Il is Rivarol himself; the reporter of the words is Chêne dollé. 389. 11. Marcellus was not only a Royalist minister, but noteworthy for a kind of romanticism. 394. 28. Vieux poëte grec. This refers to the last stage of the ancient and modern quarrel, of which a specimen has been given p. 272. 401. 6. Le plus célèbre écrivain, Voltaire. 411. 10. The statue of Condillac, famous in the history of philosophy, is an illustration by which the philosopher strives to push Locke's sensationalism still farther, showing that all ideas can be referred to the simple sense of touch. 427. 21. It has been thought that it might be interesting to compare the prose account (written much later in life) of the real or imaginary circumstances which suggested Le Lac with that poem itself, especially as the extract is an excellent example of the author's prose style. In the original draft of the poem the resemblance was still closer, for it included the following stanzas, struck out in publication : Elle se tut. Nos cœurs, nos yeux se rencontrèrent, Nous ne pûmes parler: nos âmes affaiblies Nos cœurs battaient ensemble, et nos bouches unies 436. 7. A party of French officers have established themselves in some ruins in Spain supposed to be haunted by a certain Inés. 443. 1. Gomor, a Hebrew measure. 453. 18. The subject of this excellent piece of easy criticism is the poem of Parny given above. 455. 22. The four friends have caught Mordaunt (their personal enemy, and identified with the masked executioner of Charles I) in a solitary house where he has been conferring with Cromwell. The latter has just departed, and the friends have surprised Mordaunt. 458. 1. Balzac's chief characteristics are not of style, except in a few of his works, of which the source of the present extract-Séra phita-is by far the best. His faculty of character-analysis could only be shown by extracts of a length altogether beyond the limits of such a book as this. But his absence from a collection of specimens of French literature would be justly remarked upon. 473. 10. Hierro, in Span. 'iron.' This extract, which is as remarkable an example of Gautier's later and easier style as the pre ceding is of his earlier and more ornate, abounds in unBut they are all to be This is noticeable as an instance of Gautier's abstinence from mere argot. 492. 17. Gérard de Nerval was especially given to wandering about the cities and villages of the old metropolitan province, and much of his most charming work is the result of this habit. 501. 1. This singular piece of fantastic allegory is extracted from the verse-preface of Madame Putiphar. The whole is too long for insertion, but even thus reduced the piece shows excellently the faults and the merits of the most eccentric representative of the eccentric side of Romanticism. 508. 22. Main de gloire, a well-known device for discovering hidden treasure, consisting of the hand of a dead man treated according to receipt. 507. 10. Laboissière, an adventurer of the worst class, has endeavoured to swindle Chaudieu and his father-in-law, and to pay dishonourable court both to Madame Chaudieu and her mother. Having obtained possession of a forged bill, Chaudieu checkmates him, and in the first place forces him to disgorge his booty in exchange for the document. 508. 36. Salle, sc. d'armes. Faire mouche, not, as we say,' snuff a candle,' but hit the small black bull's-eye of a pistol gallery target.' 509. 18. The scene has shifted to the house of Chaudieu's father-in-law, and Laboissière has carried out his threat of insult. 512. 11. Jean Bélin = Giovanni Bellini. 17. Noces de Cana, the masterpiece of Paolo Veronese in the Louvre. 32. Palmes vertes, the official badge of Academicians. 514. 11. St. Julian in his youth is immoderately addicted to the chase, and has committed a brutal slaughter of beasts. He is supernaturally punished. 539. 30. Aspidiques; this very unusual word will be found also at p. 27, 1. 4. It is probably a reminiscence of that passage. |