NOTES.

ACT I., SCENE I.

L. 5. du regret-de: from regret for having.'

L. 6. où, for the relative pronoun: to which,' as fre quently. feux is frequent in this sense.

L. 9. entraîner, note infinitive idiom: 'I feel myself drawn to it.'

L. 11. ne fussent pas: 'were not'-as they are. The tense of the subjunctive corresponds to the condition implied in the negative.

L. 12. à vous dire vrai-idiomatic, as in English: 'to tell you true'—succès has here its earlier sense of issue'. ' result.'

L. 22. amour, feminine, as frequently in earlier writers and in poetry.

L. 31. différents is predicative: 'to be different.' ce n'est would be more regularly ce ne sont.

L. 34. me-des crimes-crimes for me-that is: charges against me.'

L. 37. les sensibles coups—sensibles is here used in transferred sense, as causing pain-' keenly felt.' Valère speaks like a true lover. Note his passionate assassinez, and the emphatic position of his adjectives.

L. 40. Qu'avec facilité-how with facility: 'with what facility' how easily.'

L. 44. en depends on douter.

after.

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Note its position, as here

L. 45. retranche: confine-to the apprehensions'-i. e., will feel no apprehensions beyond this-an unusual use of retrancher. on is here other people'-' the world.'

L. 49. des yeux-dont, expresses manner, as voir d'un bon ail, etc.

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L. 50. de quoi avoir raison: enough to justify me '—in, aux, in sense of dans les.

etc.

L. 55. commença de, etc.: 'which first offered us the expression is unusual.

L. 58. me fites éclater: 'showed me'-' lavished upon me.' The same expression recurs.

L. 63. déguisée is to be construed predicatively with tient. In these lines the situation is artfully indicated.

L. 66. c'en est assez: it is enough'—en, idiomatic, as frequently. See l. 142, Note.

L. 71. ce n'est que seul: 'It is only by my love alone’— Valère here shows the pardonable pleonasm of a lover.

L. 74. trop de soin, etc., is explained in the following lines, again more fully indicating the situation.

L. 83. j'en attends-i.e., de mes parents; in the next line, en refers to des nouvelles.

L. 89. et les adroites, etc., connects with comme, etc., preceding, as also the following clauses, all objective to vous voyez.-qu'il m'a fallu, etc., which I have had to employ.'

L. 97. se parer-de:

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to make a show of,'' affect.' donner dans, idiom : to chime in with,' as we say give in to. L. 100. On n'a que faire, idiom: one need not.' de trop charger: of laying on too thick '—the expression being purposely inelegant.

L. 101. a beau être visible: 'may be ever so manifest.' L. 104. qu'on ne fasse avaler: that we cannot get swallowed.' en louanges strengthens the expression-as if inall over with—praises. The morality is questionable—but Valère is a lover.

L. 111. que ne tâchez-vous: 'why don't you try’—ne is here usual without pas, in the so-called rhetorical question. L. 112. s'avisát; tense as in fussent, l. 11: 'in case she should,' etc.

L. 119. jeter dans: to bring him into '- over to.'

The foregoing scene is admirable. In its vivacity and keen satire, its mingled tenderness and delicacy, and its skilful introduction to the action, even Molière is here at his best. The sympathies of the reader are already fully enlisted.

SCENE II.

L. 126. m'ouvrir à vous d'un secret: to disclose to you a secret.' The construction-now inadmissible-was formerly frequent in similar forms, as in Le Cid, ôtez-moi d'un doute, etc. See 1. 1184.

L. 133. avant que d'aller is an old form. Present usage requires avant de with infinitive; avant que with subjunctive. The two are here combined, by a grammatical pleo The form is frequent in the older writers.

nasm.

L. 137. le jour, as frequently in sense of 'life.' conduite: 'guidance.'

L. 142. qu'il en faut: that we ought rather to trust,' etc. en, as in many idioms, expresses a general reference to the subject-matter, which can hardly be translated.

L. 149. de ne me point, for de ne point me, as frequently— see 1. 154, etc.

L. 159. appréhende is here 'dread.' This is capital, after what has just passed, unknown to Cléante, and the reply of Élise is admirable. Excellent, too, is Cléante's protestation that he will hear no remonstrance!

L. 166. me dites, for dites-moi, as often after a preceding imperative.

L. 170. donner à: 'inspire-in.'

L. 174. de mère-as we say : 'a good woman of a mother.' L. 178. Elle se prend· aux choses: 'she goes about everything she does,' etc.

L. 188. accommodées-comfortable: not very well off'is familiar. The following seems awkward. The sense is -Hardly can their discreet conduct make the little property which they may have, meet all their wants.

L. 191. que de relever: que is here pleonastic, as above,

1. 133.

L. 195. je sois : 'I should be,' the mood determined by sense of déplaisir.

L. 205. servira-more regularly servira-t-il: 'Of what use will it be.'

L. 207. le bel age, etc.: 'the right age to enjoy it.' que is here où.

=

L. 208. je m'engage: go into debt.'

L. 212. pour m'aider, for pour que vous m'aidiez, as we may also say, familiarly: ‘to speak to you to aid me.'

L. 219. et qu'il faille, the usual subjunctive with que, connecting with foregoing condition:‘and if,' etc.

L. 220. là is here emphatic; as we say 'then and there.'

SCENE III.

L. 230. détale, literally expresses the removal of goods which have been displayed (étaler): pack yourself off." on, as frequently for you.

L. 231. maître-juré-the master or chief officer, sworn, in a guild, etc.-here used adjectively-' you arch-thief.' gibier de potence: 'gallows-bird.'

L.. 234. sauf correction-subject to correction—is ironical, for certain;' au corps, for dans le corps 'inside of

i.e:

him.'

L. 238. à toi-in you-' a pretty thing for you.' à is really local in meaning; as below, 1. 246, with the infin. à observer, in, or at observing. Translate simply, 'observing’—different from pour observer.

L. 239. que-ne: 'lest,' as after verbs of fearing, etc.

L. 241. Tu m'as fait, etc., is without logical connection: 'What you have done to me is, that I want you to

leave.'

L. 252. Comment diantre, etc.: How the deuce do you suppose it is possible for anybody to rob you?'-is the sense. diantre euphemism for diable.

L. 256. ce que bon, etc., familiar; impersonal idiom.

L. 257. ne voilà pas, etc., are you not one of, etc., voilà, treated as verb. prennent garde à: 'keep watch

on.'

L. 261. homme à faire, etc., idiom, as in English: ‘a man to circulate the report.'

L. 270. baillerai-par les oreilles: 'I'll pay you for— on your ears'-'with a box on the ear.' bailler is a legal

term.

L. 278. les autres. This absurdity is borrowed from Plautus, where the miser, in a similar scene, says, ostende etiam tertiam (manum).

L. 283. le bas des hauts-de-chausses is the lower part, or legs, of the knee breeches of that day, now cut very large. Molière often ridicules the prevailing fashions in dress.

L. 286. en-on account of them-i.e., ' for wearing them.' L. 292. fouilliez, subjunctive: 'to search'-‘that you may search.'

L. 295. La peste soit-' Plague upon.'-' plague take.' L. 309. de ce qu'il faut-' of what I ought to'—that is: " about my own business.'

L. 313. à mon bonnet—that is: 'to myself.' parler à la barrette means, to give a blow on the head; barrette is the ornamented bar on the front of the cap-especially the cardinal's cap.

L. 320. Qui se sent, etc., expresses, very coarsely: 'Whom the cap fits, let him wear it ;' or, in higher phrase, 'let the galled jade wince.'

L. 326. sans te fouiller, more regularly, sans que je te fouille: ' without my searching you.' See 1.212. This ab

surd appeal is taken from Plautus, whose miser says, in the same circumstances, Jam scutari mitto, redde huc-Now I stop searching; give it here.

L. 334. sur ta conscience, etc., is very rich, after what has passed.

SCENE IV.

L. 335. Pendard de valet-scoundrel of a valet,' as above, 174. So in Latin scelus viri, monstrum mulieris, etc. We may render chien de boiteux, ‘limping dog.' The expression has reference to Béjart, the actor in M.'s company for whom this part was written, who was lame. Similar references occur elsewhere, in M.'s plays, to the personal characteristics of the members of his company-as to himself in this play, Act II., Scene VI.

L. 344. une franche amorce: a mere bait.'

SCENE V.

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L. 364. Si fait, familiar and emphatic: Yes, you did.' Si is different from oui, in that it not only affirms, but implies contradiction to a real or assumed statement or denial. See 1. 531.

L. 367. C'est que: 'The fact is'' that I was talking to myself,' etc.

L. 371. feignions à : hesitated to '-now obsolete. L. 379. prendre-de travers: derstood.'

'take

wrong '-' misun

L. 387. misérable: that the times are hard!

L. 402. cousu-as we say 'lined with money.' Note repetition of me, in different positions. See Note, 1. 683.

L. 405. équipage here means dress, as the context shows. L. 407. Voilà points to the suit C. is now wearing: 'There is what,' etc.

L. 409. de quoi, etc.: ' enough to make a good outfit.' See 1. 50. The term constitution is still used in legal

phrase.

L. 411. donnez-dans: 'affect the marquis.' See note,

1. 97,

above.

L. 416. que vous portez-which you wear, i.e., which your dress indicates.'

L. 421. à honnête intérêt. What H. regards as honest interest' will be seen a few lines below, and will appear more fully hereafter.

L. 426. rubans-aiguillettes—were then worn to excess. aiguillettes were ornamental tags, used for fastening clothes. L. 429. de son crú: of one's own growth' (croître).

L. 433. au denier douze-to the denier (interest) twelve (principal)—that is, only at 8 per cent.-nearly double the legal interest (then 5 per cent.). The denier was an old French coin, worth of a sou.