Part 20 (2/2)

10. qu'il n'y avait encore de fait que les quatre premiers vers, 'that the first four lines only were done so far.'

17. jamais il n'en put venir a bout, 'he could never get through.' _En_ is used here as the object, _ce reste_, to which it refers, precedes the verb for the sake of emphasis. Note _n'en put_, somewhat archaic for _ne put en..._

18. que voulez-vous? 'there is no help for it!' See note, p. 5 l. 12.

21. le poete eut beau faire: see note, p. 15 l. 18.

Page 21.

1. parbleu! 'of course!' See note, p. 15 l. 31.

3. si le lecteur le veut bien, 'if the reader has an objection.'

Note _lecteur, lectrice_, 'reader'; _lecture_, 'reading'; _conference_, 'lecture'; _conferencier_, 'lecturer.'

4. est en train de: cf. _etre en train de travailler_, 'to be busy working.'

5. enjambee: the suffix _-ee_ denotes _quant.i.ty_; e.g.

p. 36 l. 5, _poignee_, 'handful'; p. 47 l. 2, _nuee_, 'thick cloud,' 'swarm.'

12. la meme chanson, 'the same old tune.'

13. misere, 'poverty,' 'want,' _not_ misery'; _les miseres_, 'hards.h.i.+ps'; une misere, 'a trifle.'

les affaires qui ne vont pas, 'business not prospering.'

en r.e.t.a.r.d, 'in arrears,' 'to be paid up.'

15. l'argenterie au mont-de-piete, 'the p.a.w.ning of the family plate.'

Monts-de-piete, 'p.a.w.nshops,' were founded out of piety to enable people in straitened circ.u.mstances to escape the exorbitant usury of the Jews, and borrow money at a reasonable rate of interest.

The most ancient of these was established at Perugia, 1477, and situated on a _mountain_; hence its name. The name and system were introduced into France, where these inst.i.tutions were put under Government control. Had such benevolent establishments only been introduced into England under the same conditions thousands of people might have been saved from utter ruin.

19. huissier, 'bailiff,' lit, one who keeps the _huis_ or 'door.'

23. achevait sa philosophie, 'was finis.h.i.+ng his course of philosophy,' i.e. was completing his school education.

The order of the forms in a French school, beginning with the lowest, is _neuvieme, huitieme, septieme, sixieme, cinquieme, quatrieme, troisieme, seconde, premiere, philosophie_.

29. Eyssette pere, 'Eyssette senior' so _Eyssette fils_ (p. 24 l. 21), 'Eyssette junior.'

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20. un parti a prendre, 'one decision to come to.' Note _prendre son parti_, 'to make up one's mind'; _epouser un bon parti_, 'to make a good match'; _tirer parti de_, 'to turn to account.' Distinguish carefully from _la part_, 'share,' and _la partie_, 'part,' 'portion,' 'game,' etc.

22. de notre cote, 'for ourselves.' Cf. note, p. 7 l. 13.

28. jusqu'a nouvel ordre, 'until matters improve.'

31. comme commis-voyageur a la societe vinicole, 'as a commercial traveller for the wine-growers' society.'

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