November, 1796. Manuel, who had enlisted as volunteer in 1793, served in the Italian campaign and became captain. After the peace

of Campo Formio (1797) he withdrew by reason of wounds, gave up the military career and devoted himself to the study of law.

Line 10: luth, here figuratively, inspiration.

Line 24: glaive; cf. épée.

Line 25: De la tribune on l'arrache. Manuel was expelled from the Chamber of Deputies in 1823, after a speech in reply to Chateaubriand. Cf. note to 1. 20, p. 22.

Page 49, 1. 3: esquif, from the Old High German skif, Modern German schiff, English skiff and ship.· à sec, high and dry.

Line 7: quatre ans, i. e., from 1823 to 1827.

Line 17: Here in this ditch I'll breathe my last.

Page 50, 1.5: hospice, from Latin hospitium (hospitality, or a place where hospitality is given), here asylum; cf. hôpital, 1. 4.

Line 16 maudis; maudire from Latin maledicere (cf. English malediction). Medial is often vocalized, becoming u, in French words like cou (neck) from Latin collum, paume (palm) from Latin palmam, etc.

Line 18: mieux vaut tendre la main, 't were better I should begging go. The omission of the pronoun in such expressions is frequent.

Line 22 de par le roi, i.e., de la part du roi, in the king's name ; this formula was placed at the head of official acts, summonses, etc. Par in this case is not the preposition (Latin per); but de par was formerly de part from Latin de parte. In the twelfth century de part le roi, de part nostre Seigneur, etc., was a regular construction in imitation of the Latin genitive. Cf. Hôtel-Dieu (for Hôtel de Dieu, the principal hospital of a town), a further remnant of the older language. Page 51, 1. 6: que, why, after which ne is used alone.

LE GRILLON. - In the present poem we have, in the words of a recent commentator, "la réunion de ces deux chansonniers, Béranger et le grillon, au coin du même foyer."

Line 13: 'Beside the hearth the embers stirring;' tisonner is to stir or poke listlessly the tisons (fire-brands).

Line 16: chansonne. Chansonner, formed from chanson (Latin cantionem, song), means faire des chansons contre quelqu'un, as Bé

ranger did against the Bourbons. Chanter (1. 15), from Latin cantare, means to celebrate in verse, as Béranger did Napoleon and the Republic.

Page 52, 1. 3: hétéroclite, odd, bizarre.

Line 15: je le veux croire; cf. note to 1. 17, p. 47.

III. LAMARTINE,

Page 54. Alphonse Marie-Louis de Lamartine (1790-1869) was born at Mâcon and died at Paris. He is commonly ranked, with Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset, as one of the three great poets of the century in France. He forms the transition between the classical models of the previous epoch and the new ideas of the Romantic school. His poetry expresses the new spirit while adhering to the old forms. He was essentially a religious poet, and shows a great admiration for nature. His first volume of verse, les Méditations poétiques (now known under the title, Premières Méditations) appeared in 1820. He published les Nouvelles Méditations in 1823, les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses in 1829, and lès Recueillements poétiques in 1839. The first three of these volumes contain his best lyric work. In epic style were Jocelyn (1836), his best long poem, and la Chute d'un ange (1838). In prose Lamartine wrote le Voyage en Orient (1835) and l'Histoire des Girondins (1847), among much more that is comparatively unimportant. He was also eminent as an orator. He was admitted to the French Academy in 1830. The merits of Lamartine's poetry are purity, harmony, tenderness. He is deficient in vigor, tends to vagueness, and shows a spirit of melancholy which is more or less conventional.

LE LAC. The reference is to Lake Bourget in Savoy. The poem is usually ranked as the masterpiece of les Premières Médita tions, and is perhaps the most finished elegy in French literature. It was probably composed in 1817.

Line 6: flots, waters. elle, refers here to a young lady with whom Lamartine was very much in love, and whom he celebrated under the name of Julie or Elvire. They had met at this place the year before. She died in 1818.

Line 10: déchirés, jagged; déchirer, to tear, a word of German origin.

Line 13: t'en souvient-il. The common prose form is t'en souviens-tu. The impersonal use of the verb (il me souvient) corresponds to Latin subvenit mihi, and was common until the sixteenth century. At that time the people began to say je me souviens, and the literary language gradually followed them.

Line 14: onde, here, as often in poetry, equivalent to eau; derived from Latin undam. Onde and flot, in the sense of wave, differ in that the latter is the stronger and more violent.

Page 55, 1. 11: leurs jours, their lives. Jour comes from Latin diurnum, properly an adjective meaning daily, then later the length of time called a day. The Latin substantive dies is preserved in the compound midi (of. English midday).

Line 17 de l'heure fugitive, depends upon jouissons in the next line; jouir (de), to enjoy, from Latin gaudere; the change in initial sound the same as in jambe (leg) from gambam.

Page 56, 1. 8: nous ravissez, rob us of.

Line 13: il, refers to souvenir.

Line 19 l'astre au front d'argent, the star with a silver brow, i. e., the moon.

Line 24 dise, optative subjunctive, to be connected with the preceding que's.

Page 57, 1. 2. The scene of the poem is in a rocky grove near the chateau of Lamartine's uncle in Burgundy.

Line 5: Vénus. The s is pronounced, as in other similar words, e. g., Gil Blas, Arras, Reims. The pronunciation of proper names is somewhat irregular, but in general a final consonant is apt to be sounded.

Line 14: l'astre nocturne, the moon. Astre (Latin astrum) is also applied to the sun, l'astre du jour. Cf. étoile (1. 6), from Latin stellam. Both these words designate the celestial bodies in general, but astre suggests an idea of greater grandeur and magnitude.

Page 59, 1. 4: feux, heat; feu is derived from Latin focum. Latin short (in accented syllable), before a consonant not nasal, usually becomes eu in French; cf. probam > preuve, novum > neuf (new), novem > neuf (nine). Latin o before a nasal usually remains, as homo > on, donum > don.

LE VALLON. The author says in his commentary to this poem:

“Ce vallon est situé dans les montagnes du Dauphiné” (an old province in the southeastern part of France). The valley was near a chateau belonging to one of the poet's friends. The time is 1818 or 1819.

Line 13: vallée. Vallée and vallon (1. 11, 18, etc.) are strictly distinguished as follows: The former denotes a larger, more extended space, the latter is more restricted; vallée is the espace entre deux ou plusieurs montagnes, vallon the espace entre deux coteaux. In the present poem, however, they are used indiscriminately. Vallée is the same word as English valley; vallon is a dim. of val (English vale). Latin vallis is the basis of both words.

Line 15: entremêlée, interwoven; cf. mêlée (fight, affray), borrowed by the English; cf. also English medley.

Page 60, 1. 11: fixer = arrêter.

Line 14: Léthé, in mythology one of the rivers of the lower world, whose waters gave to those drinking them complete oblivion

of the past.

Page 61, 1. 17: ombrage, shade; cf. English umbrage. Cf. also ombre used several times in this poem. Latin umbra is the basis of both words.

Line 19: Pythagore, Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher who flourished about 540-510 B. C., and gave much attention to mathematics and music. His doctrine of the harmony of the spheres considered the universe as one harmonious whole, revolving about a common centre. The intervals between the heavenly bodies were supposed to be determined according to the laws and relations of musical harmony. These bodies in their motion must occasion a sound or note depending upon their distances and velocities, and the whole forms a regular musical scale or harmony. The sound of this music passes unnoticed by us because we are accustomed to it, and have had no opportunity to contrast it with absolute quiet, or else it is so powerful as to exceed our capacities for hearing.

Page 62. A UNE FLEUR. After the appearance of the original edition of les Premières Méditations in 1820, poems of different periods were added. This is one of them.

Line 8: les feuillages. Feuillage (English foliage) means l'ensemble des feuilles, just as plumage means l'ensemble des plumes, and

courage, l'ensemble des sentiments du cœur. The suffix -age enters into the formation of a large number of collective nouns.

Line 13: Neigeait, referring to the orange blossoms.

Line 15: croissais; croître from Latin crescere (cf. English increase); for introduction of t (between s and r) cf. être from *essere (esse). Note use of imperfect in description here, as above, and cf. force of preterit in next stanza.

Page 63, 1. 18: folles, sportive. — mains, tendrils.

Page 64, 1. 11: automne (m is silent, cf. the English word), from Latin autumnum or auctumnum from augere, to increase, so the season of abundance.

Line 16: de duvet se pluche, is covered with a velvety down ; pluche or peluche is the same as English plush.

Line 21: mamelles, sources.

IV. VICTOR HUGO.

Page 66. Victor-Marie Hugo, the greatest French poet of the nineteenth century, was born at Besançon, Feb. 26, 1802. His father had been devoted to the Republic, and became a general under the Empire. His mother belonged to a royalist family. This diversity of political opinions is reflected later in the poet's life and writings. While still very young, he accompanied his father and mother on military campaigns to Italy and Spain. This early influence also made itself felt in his later works. He commenced his poetical career at the age of fifteen by competing for a prize offered by the French Academy. He married, in 1822, Mlle. Adèle Foucher, the companion of his childhood. He was elected a member of the Academy in 1841. In 1851, after the coup d'état of December 2, he was exiled, and lived mostly on the island of Guernsey, until 1870, when, after the battle of Sedan, he reëntered France. He died at Paris, May 22, 1885.

At the age of twenty, Victor Hugo published his first volume of lyric poems, entitled Odes et ballades, followed later by a fresh collection. The lyric work of his earlier life centers in five volumes, which are all of the highest order. These are les Orientales (1829), les Feuilles d'automne (1831), les Chants du crépuscule (1835), les Voix intérieures (1837), and les Rayons et les ombres (1840). Of these les