43. d'applaudir; narrative infin., 'began to applaud.' Cp. lii. 24, etc. 45. du tigre, after 'offenses.'

48. au dire; à = 'according to,' 'to judge by what every one said. For the infin. used as a noun cp. lxvii. 12.

49. souvenance = 'souvenir'; an old-fashioned word.

50. en un pré after 'passant.'

53. tondis, I cropped.' 'Tondre' is generally used of 'shearing' or 'clipping' sheep.

54. en, 'to do so.'

parler net, 'to tell the truth,' 'to speak plainly.' 'Net' is used adverbially.

55. crier haro, 'to raise the hue and cry.' 'Haro' is an old Norman legal term.

56. quelque p. clerc, 'a bit of a scholar, 'somewhat of a scholar.' 'Clerc,' which is old-fashioned, in this sense means originally a clergyman (clericus). Cp. English clerk in holy orders.' The adverb 'où' in this

58. d'où = de qui, 'the source of all . . .'
sense is unusual, applied to a person.
equivalent to 'dans lequel,' etc., referring to things.

60. manger, inf. of exclamation. Cp. liv. 34.

61. que, 'but,' 'except.'

It is generally used as

62. bien here emphasises; they let him see it clearly,' 'and so they soon showed him.'

64. jugem. de cour. Not referring to 'law courts,' but to the court of the king.

LXX.-L'ALOUETTE ET SES PETITS, AVEC LE MAITRE D'UN CHAMP, 'To thine own self be true.'

1. s'attendre à, 'to rely upon,' 'to look to.'

2. m. en crédit is 'to give authority' to a thing.

5. en herbe, 'in the blade'; lit. 'in grass,' i.e. when green and unripe. 'Manger son blé en herbe' is said of a prodigal who wastes his inheritance before he comes into it.

7. que, 'when.' Cp. le jour que, etc.

12. amour. For the gender of this word see xlvi. 14.

13. à toute force = 'par toutes sortes de moyens,' 'she resolved once

for all,' she thoroughly determined.'

LINE

16. du mieux qu'il put, as best he could.'

17. mûrs, i.e. étant mûrs, ‘as the corn was ripe.'

nitée; an old-fashioned word

=

nichée.

19. pr. l'essor, 'to take wing,' ' to fly off.' The word is derived from the Latin prepos. ex and aura = the wind. (Cp. the Engl.

'soar.')

22. faire sent. = être en sentinelle, 'to be on the watch,' 'on the look-out.'

24. avecque avec. Cp. xxxvi. 14.

27. eut quitté. What tense is this, and when is it used?

35. fît v. Subjunctive because 'dit' implies a command and not a

mere statement.

39. cependant, 'meanwhile.'

de quoi, 'something' to eat.

40. eux repus; absolute case, 'when they were . . .' Cp. xiv. 13, etc. 42. à l'essor, 'being on the wing.'

45. ont grand t., are very wrong.'

et tort, i.e. et (celui là a) tort, qui

47. parents, relations; not used of 'parents' only.

48. de la m. ch., i.e. 'to do the same thing.'

50. à cette h. = maintenant.

59. famille; used in a general sense, not of the family only, but of the whole household, servants, etc.

60. prenions. Why subj.?

61. le plus c., 'the shortest way.'

62. qu. n. pourrons, 'when we can'; lit. 'when we shall be able.' Notice that the French, quite logically, use the future where we use the present, when the principal verb is in the future.

63. dès lors, lit. lors:

=

at the time, when ; dès lors' is equivalent to 'aussitôt que.'

su de. Cp. lvi. 35.

64. ce coup = 'cette fois.'

= as early as; 'dès

66. voletants se c. Both these are present participles and not verbal adjectives, and should not take an S. Cp. 1xi. 19. 'Culebutants' should have no 'e,' but the line would be one syllable short if the word were correctly spelt.

67. sans tromp. Cp. lxv. 14.

LINE

LXXI.-LES DEUX PIGEONS.

'There's no place like home.'

8. non pas; an emphatic negative.

que, with 'changent,' imper., 'let . . .'

10. courage here = 'determination.'

12. les zéphyrs, i.e. the warm weather. Cp. la bise, xxvi. 4.

13. tout à l'h. here = 'a moment ago.'

malheur. An ancient superstition. Cp. xxxiii. 23, and Virgil, Ecl. i. 18-Sæpe sinistra cava prædixit ab ilice cornix.'

14. que, except,' 'anything but.'

18. cœur, 'heart,' i.e. 'resolution.'

23. de p. en p. For 'en' cp. lxv. 27.

26. aussi should be 'non plus.' See xl. 27.

28. telle chose. Cp. viii. 8.

31. voilà que; a colloquial phrase, and behold, ́ ́ and lo and behold.' 33. tel enc. que, after all of such a kind that,' i.e. 'giving so poor a shelter that.'

35. l'air dev. s.; absolute case.

36. du mieux... Cp. lxx. 16.

38. pigeon, i.e. a decoy.

lui donne, ‘gives him,' 'inspires him with.'

39. d'un lacs; genitive dependent on 'appâts.' Notice that 'appât has two plurals-(1) baits, decoy (as here), and (2) appas, 'charms'; a metaphorical use.

43. quelque pl., 'a feather or two.'

y, i.e. 'in the struggle.'

44. à la s. cr. Cp. xxxv. 7.

47. forçat, 'convict'; so called because condemned aux travaux forcés (hard labour).

lier; a technical form of falconry, used when the falcon 'seizes' its prey in its talons.

52. pour ce coup. Cp. lxx. 64.

54. un frip. d'enf., 'a scamp of a boy.' Cp. lxv. 34.

'Fripon,' lit.

= a thief, a pilferer. Children were one of La Fontaine's pet

aversions.

55. du coup. See xliii. 18.

LINE

58. tirant le p., i.e. 'dragging one foot after the other.' 'Tirer le pied' is often used of persons drawing the foot back when saluting-a bow and a scrape.

61. que bien, que mal, i.e. en partie bien, en partie mal; an old phrase modern tant bien que mal,' 'as best he could.'

=

69. tenez-v. lieu . . . lit. 'hold to one another place of all,' i.e. ‘be all in all to one another.' 'Vous' is dative.

VOCABULARY.