chapter i

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2. Languedoc: an old province of the south of France, so called from the name given to the language of its inhabitants, who used the word _oc_ as an affirmative, and were said to speak the _langue d’oc_ as distinguished from the dialect spoken north of the Loire, which expressed the affirmative by _oïl_ and was called the _langue d’oïl_.

5. Carmélites: nuns of the order of Mount Carmel. Their congregation was introduced into France in 1452.

13. aussi: note the inversion. In sentences beginning with _aussi,_ ‘therefore,’ ‘so’; _à peine_, ‘hardly’; _peut-être_, ‘perhaps’; _toujours,_ ‘still’; _au moins_, ‘at least’; _encore_, ‘yet,’ ‘even then,’ and a few more, the _interrogative_ form of the verb is used.

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7. Marseille, ‘Marseilles,’ Note the difference in spelling. So also _Lyon_ (p. 9 l. 8.)

qui lui emportait plus de quarante mile francs, ‘who robbed him of more than 40,000 francs.’ Why not _plus que_?

13. la grève des ourdisseuses, ‘the strike of the warping-women.’ _La grève_, originally=‘the strand,’ ‘beach.’ _La Place de Grève_, situated on the banks of the Seine, was the Tyburn of ancient Paris. It was also in olden times the rendezvous for the unemployed, hence the meaning ‘strike.’ Cf. _se mettre en grève, faire grève, les grévistes_.

16. la Révolution: i.e. the Revolution of February 24, 1848, which caused Louis-Philippe, ‘king of the French,’ to abdicate and a republic to be proclaimed.

17. coup de grâce, ‘the finishing stroke.’ Learn the following:— p. 3 l. 23, _tout à coup_, ‘suddenly.’ p. 5 l. 19, _pour le coup_, ‘this time.’ p. 21 l. 19, _le coup de sonnette_, ‘the ring at the bell.’ p. 72 l. 20, _un coup de tête_, ‘a rash act.’ p. 75 l. 18, _à coup sûr_, ‘to be sure,’ ‘certainly.’ p. 96 l. 22, _un coup de théâtre_, ‘a clap-trap, transformation scene.’ p. 100 l. 12, _un coup d’épée_, ‘a sword-thrust.’

18. à partir de, ‘from,’ ‘beginning from.’

ne battit plus que d’une aile, ‘was on its last legs,’ i.e. like a bird that is wounded and can fly with only one wing.

20. un métier bas, ‘one loom put aside.’

21. table d’impression, ‘printing-block.’

24. du second: sc. _étage_.

25. condamnée, ‘shut up.’ Pronounce _condané_.

27. agonisa, ‘was on the verge of ruin.’

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13. assister à l’agonie: note _assister à qc._, ‘to be present at something’; _assister qn._, to help some one.’ The original meaning of _assister_=‘to stand by,’ ‘to be present’; then ‘to stand by a person,’ i.e. ‘to assist him.’ _Les assistants,_ ‘those present,’ or ‘the bystanders.’

16. à ma guise, ‘to my heart’s content.’

22. par exemple, ‘however.’ The meaning of this expression varies according to the context. It can mean ‘however,’ ‘indeed,’ ‘well now,’ ‘to be sure,’ ‘bless me,’ etc.

24-29. c’était dans l’habitude . . à tout ce qui l’entourait, ‘his was usually a fiery, violent, immoderate nature, given to shouting, breaking and storming. In reality, he was an excellent man; quick, however, with his hands, loud in his speech, and prompted by an imperious desire to make all those around him tremble.’

31. à qui s’en prendre, ‘on whom to lay the blame.’ Note the expletive use of _en_ and cf.— _en vouloir à qn._, ‘to have a grudge against some one.’ _en venir aux mains_, ‘to come to blows.’ _il en est de même de . ._, ‘it is the same with . .’

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1. mistral: a dry cutting NW. wind which blows across the south coast of France. It is especially prevalent in the Rhone valley.

6. n’étaient pas en odeur de sainteté, ‘were not looked upon with much favour.’

19. à voix basse, ‘in a whisper’; but _à haute voix_, ‘in a loud voice.’

23. mon grand frère l’abbé, ‘my big brother the clergyman,’ i.e. Henri Daudet, professor at the College of the Assumption at Nîmes. He died at the early age of twenty-four. The term _abbé_ originally meant the Superior of an abbey, then was extended to any ecclesiastic.

31. un singulier enfant que mon frère Jacques: i.e. _mon frère Jacques était un singulier enfant._ Note the _que_ of emphatic inversion. It is a very common type of construction. Cf. p. 73 l. 3, _la jolie ville que ce Paris!_ p. 100 l. 22, _un singulier type d’homme que cet oncle Baptiste!_

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2. les yeux rouges et la joue ruisselante: note the absence of a preposition corresponding to the English ‘with.’ It is a very characteristic French idiom.

12. que veux-tu, mon ami? ‘how can we help it, my dear?’ lit. ‘what would you have (him do)?’

16. qu’avait cet étrange garçon: inversion frequently occurs in relative clauses, especially when the subject is longer than the verb.

18. désolation, ‘distress’; désolé, ‘grieved,’ ‘disconsolate,’ _not_ ‘desolate.’

19. c’est pour le coup . . à son aise, ‘this was a grand opportunity for him to sob to his heart’s content.’

31. une douzaine d’années: the suffix _-aine_ added to numerals generally implies an approximate number; _une quinzaine_, ‘about fifteen.’

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5. mon fidèle Vendredi: Robinson Crusoe’s servant and companion.

12. je le jouais, ‘I acted it.’

21. tenait son emploi, ‘played his part.’

24. toujours est-il que, ‘anyhow.’ Cf. note, p. 1 l. 13.

28. j’en avais quelquefois le cœur bouleversé, ‘my courage was sometimes shaken.’

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1. gros mots d’enfants de la rue, ‘coarse expressions of the street arabs.’

3. en pleine table, ‘before the whole table.’ Cf.— p. 25 l. 11, _en pleine montagne_, ‘right on the hill side, ‘in the heart of the mountains.’ p. 64 l. 20, _en pleine révolte_, ‘in open mutiny.’ p. 65 l. 30, _en pleine étude_, ‘before the whole class.’ So also— _en plein air_, ‘in the open air.’ _en pleine rue_, ‘in the middle of the street.’ _en plein hiver_, ‘in the depths of winter.’

11. ukase: a Russian term for an ‘edict’ or imperial order.

13. loge, ‘porter’s lodge.’

du côté de, ‘somewhere about,’ ‘in the direction of.’ Note this use of _de_ of motion ‘towards,’ and cf. _de mon côté_ (p. 8. l. 12), _du côté de sa chère fabrique_ (p. 10 l. 6), etc. Don’t confuse with _à côté de_; see note, p. 11 l. 3.

26. se dégoûta de, ‘became tired of.’

28. au fond de, ‘in the remotest parts of.’ Note _il sait l’anglais a fond_, ‘he knows English thoroughly.’

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10. de bonne heure, ‘early’; _à la bonne heure_, ‘all right,’ ‘well done,’ ‘capital!’ Like _par exemple_ (see note, p. 3 l. 22), the latter derives its meaning from the context or tone in which it is said. Note _sur l’heure_ (p. 78 l. 8), ‘immediately,’ ‘at once’; _tout à l’heure_, ‘a moment ago,’ ‘presently.’

14. juste Dieu! ‘good gracious!’ ‘gracious me!’ So also _grand Dieu_ (l. 29). These and similar exclamations, e.g. _mon Dieu!—ah! mon Dieu!—mon Dieu, oui!_ must _not_ be translated literally. There is no idea of profanity attached to them.

16. à plat ventre, ‘flat on my face.’

19. c’est égal, ‘all the same.’

30. il n’en fut rien, ‘nothing of the kind happened.’

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1. dès qu’ils furent partis, je courus: after _après que, aussitôt que, dès que, à peine, quand, lorsque_, the _Past Anterior_, not the _Pluperfect_, must be used when the principal verb is in the preterite. In other words, the auxiliary of the compound verb must be in the same tense as the verb in the principal sentence.

22. il avait pris les devants, ‘he had gone on in front.’

26. Beaucaire: a fine town on the right bank of the Rhone. It is connected with Tarascon by a splendid suspension-bridge, and is famous for its fair held annually in July, and frequented by many thousands of people. Daudet gives a graphic account of it in _Numa Roumestan_.

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2. Un parapluie: note the gender; nouns ending in _e_ mute preceded by a vowel are usually feminine. Other exceptions are _génie, incendie, lycée, musée_.

3. tout de même, ‘all the same.’

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