LE COUP DE PISTOLET
8.--19. je ne sais quel. Note the omission of pas in this phrase which stands for quelque; note also the omission of pas after savait in the next sentence (see also note to p. 201, 1. 13).
9.--18. personne... n'eût fait. The imperfect and the pluperfect subjunctive sometimes occur in conditional sentences contrary to fact, but only in literary style.
22. lui demandait-on s'il s'était battu, il répondait... que oui. Si is avoided in the first clause by means of inversion, otherwise two successive clauses introduced by si would occur; que is used before oui because oui substitutes a clause (il s'était battu); notice that no elision occurs before oui.
31. tous. When tous is used without a following noun, s is Pronounced.
12.--14. celui-là. The meaning here is "still another" or "a third."
25. précipitamment. This is not an exception to the rule that -ment is added to the feminine form of the adjective to form the adverb; adjectives having only two terminations in Latin, that is, those that had the same form for the masculine and feminine (grandis, etc.) had the same form for both the masculine and feminine in Old French; précipitant is both masculine and feminine in Old French and becomes with the addition of -ment précipitamment by assimilation (see also note to p.87, l. 17).
13.--4. il la fit partager à toute la compagnie. Compagnie is the direct object of fit.
14.--1. R... Mérimée uses both this form of abbreviation and the form which occurs on p. 1, l .9 (cf. also p. 17, l. 26). 16.--7. de n'avoir pas. Pas is usually placed before the infinitive.
18.--12. dépit... des pires. Mérimée tries to reproduce a Russian pun by means of a play on these words. He gives the following note: «Il y a, dans le russe un jeu de mots impossible à traduire: sdelatsa pianitseiou s'goria, t. c. samym gorkim pia nitseiou.»
20.--24. il y a bien quatre ans que je n'ai touché. Note that while pas is omitted in this phrase it is used below (p. 21, l. 27) in voilà cinq ans que je n'en ai pas eu; compare also: il y a cinq ans que je me mariai (p. 22, l. 18), where there is no negative idea.
21.--10. prendre son verre d'eau-de-vie avant la soupe. Mérimée gives the following note: «C'est l'usage en Russie de prendre de l'eau-de-vie un peu avant le diner.»
22.--6. serait-ce vous. The conditional here expresses uncertainty; it should be rendered in English by "could" not by "would."
24.--14. reviens-nous. Note the use of the indirect object (instead of à nous) with a verb of motion.
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Miromesnil (Seine-Supérieure), 1850-Paris, 1893
De Maupassant was a godson and disciple of Flaubert, thus his name is closely connected with the Naturalistic School, which goes back to Madame Bovary, Flaubert's masterpiece. The leading writers of this school are: Flaubert, the de Goncourt brothers, Daudet (only in portions of his work), Zola and Maupassant. Maupassant is known as a writer of short stories and as a novelist. His work is at times pessimistic and morbid, in this respect he represents the worst side of the Naturalists; he had, however, a remarkable power of observation and the "saving gift of irony," and was a master of style, the chief characteristics of which are strength and simplicity. In the artistic composition of the short story he is probably unsurpassed. Important works: Des Vers (1880), Une Vie (1883), Bel Ami (1885), Mont Oriol (1881), Pierre et Jean (1888), Fort comme la Mort (1889), and especially several collections of Contes.
Edition: Havard, 9 vols.; Ollendorff, 8 vols.
LA MAIN
27.--20. qu'entourent partout de hautes montagnes. Note the inversion in the relative clause.
28. ce terrible préjugé corse. Compare Mérimée's Colomba.
28.--10. on prétendit que c'était. Prétendre, "to maintain," has the construction of a verb of saying, prétendre, "to require" or "to insist on," takes the subjunctive.
29.--6. qui fumait. Note the relative clause where in English the participle would be used.
11. cette pays, cette rivage. Illustrations of the frequent mistakes in gender made by the English.
17. j'avé ...bôcoup. Illustrations of the errors made by the English in pronouncing French vowels; avais is pronounced avè and eau in beaucoup should not be drawled; this latter remark applies generally to French vowels. Nô (l. 24) represents the failure to nasalize; c'été (for c'était, l. 24) illustrates the error mentioned in regard to avais; une drap japonaise (p. 30, l. 2), wrong gender; ma (p. 30, l. 17) for mon; c'été, vené, avé (11. 17, 18), illustrate mistakes already mentioned; arraché la peau, that is, la peau avait été arrachée; une caillou coupante, wrong gender; aoh, represents the English tendency to diphthongize simple vowels; très bonne pour moi, cette = c'est une très bonne chose pour moi; je été (l. 30) for j'étais or j'ai été.
UNE VENDETTA
37.--13. revenir, retourner. These words are not synonymous.
39.--5. pour la lui entrer dedans. Entrer is here transitive; it is used intransitively in the preceding paragraph.
26. dès qu'elle apercevait. The imperfect is used to express the repetition of the action; this and the following paragraphs offer good material for a study of the use of tenses.
L'AVENTURE DE WALTER SCHNAFFS
41.--1. l'année d'invasion. The reference is to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. This war was largely brought on through The instrumentality of Bismarck, who went so far as to falsify French telegrams; it resulted in the defeat of France and the loss of the Alsace-Lorraine territory. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, was overthrown and the present Republic was established.
9. il aimait se lever tard. Aimer, except in poetry or unless used colloquially as in this instance, is usually followed by the infinitive with à; sometimes it is followed by the simple infinitive,. in this case it is usually in the conditional or it is accompanied by certain adverbs (mieux, autant, bien, assez, etc.); it may even be followed by the infinitive with de when the infinitive gives the cause (je vous aime d'avoir fait cela).
46.--21. des petites bêtes. In familiar style, or when the words form really only one idea, partition is expressed by de and the article even when an adjective precedes the noun.
47.--16. on aperçut l'ennemi. Apercevoir refers especially to the sense of sight, s'apercevoir de to a mental process (il s'aperçut de son erreur).
48.--4. cessèrent. Note the plural verb though the singular subjects are not connected by et.
17. mangeaille, -aille is a derogatory suffix; the force of the various French suffixes, to which little or no attention is paid in the ordinary French grammars, may be seen in the Dictionnaire général, vol. l, pp. 43 ff. and pp. 48 ff.; also in Ayer, Grammaire comparée de la langue française (4th edition), pp. 300 ff.
49.--25. mon colonel. The possessive pronoun is used by French soldiers in addressing superior officers.
TOMBOUCTOU
63.--12. bonjou. The letter r is as difficult for Tombouctou as it is for the negroes in the Southern States. Tombouctou's language is like the Pidgin-English used in the Orient, he pays no attention to syntax, but puts his verbs in the first conjugation and in the> infinitive, that is, he knows only one form of the verb (aimé, cherché; reconné, etc.); the mistakes will be easily seen (Bézi, p. 53, l. 18, is for Bézières; Empéeu, p. 54, l. 7, is for Empereur; gives and capules, p. 57, l. 11, are for grives and crapules; povisions, p. 58, l. 3, for provisions, etc.); gadé, pésonne = garder, personne (p. 60, l. 5); pati, p. 60, l. 21, is for parti, one verb which he does not put in the first conjugation; moi fait mangé colonel, that is, he was the colonel's cook; Algéie, for Algérie.
EN MER
64.--13. faut couper. Popular omission of the subject pronoun.
19. coupe pas. An example of the popular omission of ne.--je vas, for je vais; the first person is formed on analogy with the second and third (vas, va).
66.--13. iau. Dialectic for eau.
19. drait. Dialectic (Norman) for droit; this peculiarity may be seen in Canadian French, which is partly Norman in origin; the Latin i and ë became in Old French ei, this sound developed in Modern French into oi, but the Norman dialect retained the Old French sound (represented here by ai).
23. aiguë. Note the diaeresis, which indicates that u is pronounced in this word.
67.--3. à c't'-heure. For à cette heure, a popular phrase for maintenant; this also illustrates the popular tendency to slur over syllables and to omit completely the pronunciation of mute e.
11. j'pourrions t'y point. For ne pourrais-je point? The uneducated often use the first person plural with je; t'y (sometimes written ti and il) represents the interrogative particle also used by the uneducated, it arose by analogy with the sound of the final syllable in such phrases as est-il?, sont-ils?
68.--17. il était regardant à son bien. Compare the English construction: "he was looking after his property"; this use of the French present participle is incorrect.
LES PRISONNIERS
70.--21. tous, boulangers, épiciers, etc. The French are fond of ridiculing these classes of tradespeople, particularly the épiciers, the notaires and the pharmaciens; such soldiers would be far from the martial type.
72.--5. sept~huit. For sept ou huit; v'là, for voilà, illustrates the popular tendency to slur over syllables.
13. oufrez. For ouvrez; the Germans in speaking a foreign language confuse voiced and unvoiced consonants, that is, b, d, g, j, v, become p, t, c, ch, f, and vice versa; these errors will be easily detected (ché = j'ai; manché = mangé, etc.).
73.--6. Un brave homme. Compare un homme brave; adjectives having secondary meanings precede their nouns when they have the figurative meaning and follow when the literal meaning occurs.
7. fous nous ferez à mancher. That is, vous nous ferez manger or vous nous donnerez à manger.
74.--6. c'est les loups. Popular for ce sont les loups. 12. ché. For je.
77.--11. entre eux. Note that there is no elision with entre except in compound verbs (entr'ouvrir, etc.).
32. qué qui font. For qu'est-ce qu'ils font (il and ils are often pronounced i even by the well educated).
78.--14. pi is for puis, t'as, for tu as; the other errors have already been noted.
80.--25. Potdevin. Note de Maupassant's choice of names (cf. Maloison, etc.).
83.--21. médaille militaire. See note to p. 195, l. 24.
LE BAPTÊME
85.--3. les femmes, c'est jamais prêt. A further example of the popular omission of ne and of the use of a singular verb instead of the agreement of the verb with the real subject.
5. qui avait appelé le premier. Le premier is in apposition to qui.
7. all' viendront point. All' represents the vulgar pronunciation of elles with the tendency to omit completely the mute e; the omission of ne has already been noted.
27. sage-femme. Compare femme sage, and notice the importance of the correct position of the adjective.
86.--29. le sel symbolique. Used in the Catholic christening ceremony.
87.--10. m'sieu. A further example of the slurring over of syllables by the uneducated (qu' for que, m' for me, vot' for votre, Etc.).
12. dans les estomacs. That is, dans l'estomac, the plural may be by analogy with les entrailles.
17. grand'mères. Etymologically the apostrophe is an error. The adjective grand had no distinct feminine form in Latin (grandem) nor in Old French (grant), consequently no e has been omitted; the feminine form of Modern French (grande) is due to analogy with feminine adjectives where e represents a Latin a (bonne, from bona, etc.), the form grand' is merely a preservation of the Old French form; cf. grand'rue, main street, grand merci, I thank you kindly (where the apostrophe is not written), also such adverbs as prudemment, précipitamment, etc. (see also note to p. 12, l. 25).
TOINE
90.--2. Toine-ma-Fine. A further illustration of de Maupassant's choice of proper names. 24. bé, pé. Bé is for boire, pé for Père, illustrating the dialectic omission of r and the Norman pronunciation of oi (see note to p. 66, l. 19).
91.--7. arrondissement. See note to p. 176, l. 15. 32. qu'al'est. For parce qu'elle est (see note to p. 85, l. 7).
92.--1. i for il (see note to p. 77, l. 32).
29. c'qu'arrivera. For ce qui arrivera, notice the incorrect use of que as subject (no elision would occur with qui).
93.--4. la mé. The article may be used in familiar or disrespectful address (for la mère).
94.--23. té. For toi (see note to p. 66, l. 19); compare also mé for moi (l. 25); c'est-il, incorrect for est-ce que (see also note top. 67, l. 11).
95.--1. pu. For plus.
6. guètez. For guettez; in the same sentence both y and i represent il (see note to p. 77, l. 32).
96.--16. li. For lui.
23. a. For elle (see note to p. 85, l. 7).
28. pourqué. For pourquoi; pisque (l. 29) for puisque.
97.--6. qué que tu veux. For qu'est-ce que tu veux.
32. quasiment t'une lourdeur. t' here shows that a liaison has been made. The question of liaison is difficult for a foreigner, some book on pronunciation (such as Geddes, French Pronunciation, Oxford Press) should be consulted.
98.--1. on entendit entrer. Notice that the indefinite subject of the infinitive is omitted.
18. un lapin qui bat du tambour. An allusion to the drumming of rabbits.
23. il dut couver, il dut renoncer. The past definite of certain verbs expresses accomplishment, "he had to do it and he did it"; devait would not express the accomplishment of the action.
100.--31. qué. For quel.
101.--3. combien qu'i en a. For combien qu'il y en a, that is, combien y a-t-il?
5. cette famille nouvelle. When nouveau is placed after the noun, it means "recently appeared," not "other"; nouveau should also be distinguished from neuf, which means "unused" and follows its noun.
11. son enveloppe. The use of son before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel arose by analogy with bon: bon ami, bonne amie, therefore son ami, son amie.
LE PÈRE MILON
103.--4. la guerre de 1870. See note to p. 41, l. 1.
105.--14. tretous. A dialectic survival of an Old French form (in Old French trestot, trestout, etc., are at times used for tout, etc.; the word is derived from très and tout).
28. qu'il était. The uneducated are fond of introducing que in phrases where it is unnecessary. Other dialectic peculiarities in this paragraph which have not been noted are: pu de chinquante for plus de cinquante, the Picard dialect resembles the Italian in the pronunciation of the soft c, on the other hand the French ch is pronounced in the Picard dialect as hard c (k), vache becoming vaque; itou is another instance of a dialectic survival of an Old French word (in Old French itel, "such, similarly, also," occurred, formed on analogy with icel=celui; itel and tel, icel and cel were used without difference of meaning, i is a relic of the Latin ecce originally added to the word for the sake of emphasis); li is for lui. The following errors in syntax occur in this passage: The first sentence should read, Je revenais un soir, alors qu'il était peut-être dix heures, le lendemain après que vous étiez venus (or arrivés) ici. After the phrase, Je me dis, read, Autant de fois qu'ils me prendront vingt écus, autant de fois je leur revaudrai ça. De sorte or a similar phrase should be supplied before qu'il n'entendit, also before qu'il n'a pas seulement dit.
109.--2. pu, pus. Both stand for plus, the spelling of the latter form represents the frequent pronunciation of s in plus when it stands before a pause.
8. l'Empereur premier. For Napoléon Premier.
16. où que. Que is superfluous; after chez mé (l. 17), insert de sorte or de telle façon.
27. le vieux. See note to p. 93, l. 4.
32. toute coupée. In this construction tout does not take the feminine form if the following adjective begins with a vowel (tout ancienne, etc.).
ALPHONSE DAUDET
Nîmes, 1840--Paris, 1897
Daudet has given the impressions and the experiences of his early life in the two volumes with which he established his reputation: Le Petit Chose and Lettres de Mon Moulin; in the former he describes the struggles of his boyhood, and in the latter the customs and legends of his native Provence. The books which he published later are of a different character, marked by the influence of the Naturalistic School, but unlike the other members of this school, he was endowed with a spontaneous, sympathetic nature, which enabled him to feel what he described. Thus while de Maupassant describes with the greatest art what he observes, Daudet sympathetically describes what he observes and feels. He had too much originality ever to come completely under the influence of the Naturalists. His short stories usually deal with some incident of the Franco-Prussian War (Le Siège de Berlin, La Dernière Classe, La Vision du Juge de Colmar, etc.) or with life in the Midi (Lettres de Mon Moulin). Le Curé de Cucugnan and Le Sous-Préfet aux Champs are taken from Lettres de Mon Moulin (1869), the remaining three stories of the collection are taken from Contes du Lundi (1873). His best novels are given in the following list; in these he has often been compared with Dickens and Thackeray.
Important works (besides the collections of short stories mentioned): Les Amoureuses (verse, 1858), Le Petit Chose (1868), Aventures Prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon (1872), L'Arlésienne (drama, 1872), Fromont Jeune et Risler Aîné (1874), Jack (1876), Le Nabab (1877), Les Rois en Exil (1879), Numa Roumestan (1881), L'Évangéliste (1883), Sapho (1884), Tartarin sur les Alpes (1885), La Défense de Tarascon (1887), L'Immortel (1888), Port Tarascon (1890).
Edition: Flammarion, 13 vols. (illustrated); Charpentier, Dentu, Hetzel and Lemerre have each published portions of his work.
LE CURÉ DE CUCUGNAN
This story is an almost literal translation of Lou Curat de Cucugnan, a Provençal story by Roumanille, published by him under the pseudonym of Lou Cascarelet in the Armana prouvençau (Provençal Almanac) in 1867 (Daudet was in Provence during this year). This Almanac was first published in the year 1855, a little after the foundation of the Félibrige (May 21, 1854). The Félibrige was a brotherhood of modern Provençal poets, its purpose was to revive Provençal as a literary language; the word Félibrige is of unknown origin, it comes from an obscure word found by Mistral in a Provençal text; the members of the brotherhood, which later became a great literary society, were called félibres; the brotherhood was originated by Roumanille, who was followed by a more celebrated poet, Mistral, and five other poets, Aubanel, Brunet, Camille Raybaud, Mathieu and Félix Gras. In regard to the Armana prouvençau, the following quotation from an article by Mistral in Les Annales politiques et littéraires, May 13, 1906, will give an idea of the type of this Almanac: «Et sans parler ici des innombrables poésies qui s'y sont publiées, sans parler de ses Chroniques, où est continue, peut-on dire, l'histoire du Félibrige, la quantité de contes, de légendes, de sornettes, de facéties et de gaudrioles, tous recueillis dans le terroir, qui s'y sont ramassés, font de cette entreprise une collection unique. Toute la tradition, toute la raillerie, tout l'esprit de notre race se trouvent serrés là-dedans.» The dialects of France fall into two great classes: the Langue d'oïl, in the north, and the Langue d'oc, in the south (oïl is the old> northern form for oui, oc the southern form). The difference really dates from Roman colonization, which occurred on the Mediterranean some seventy-five years before Caesar conquered northern Gaul (59--5l B.C.). Provençal is one of the principal dialects of the southern group; during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries (prior to the Albigensian crusade) it was, at least in lyric poetry, the most important literary language of France. Because of political and literary superiority, the language of Paris, or of the Île-de-France, became the general literary language of France. The dialects, however, still live on, and Provençal has, as described above, been somewhat revived as a literary language by the efforts of Mistral and the other poets of the Félibrige. Many scholars regard the characteristics of the territory embraced by the modern departments of Loire, Rhône, Isère, Ain, Savoie, the old province of Franche-Comté and a part of Switzerland as sufficient to form a third group of dialects known as Franco-Provençal. The dividing line between the Langue d'oc and the Langue d'oïl passes approximately from the mouth of the Gironde to the Alps by way of Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble.
111.--1. à la Chandeleur. The article in such constructions is usually explained as equal to la fête de; it should be noticed, however, that in Old French a substantive frequently occurred in the oblique without a preceding de, the construction being equal to the Latin genitive, no preposition having been used (the phrase is thus literally: "on that of Candlemas").
2. en Avignon. En is not now used with cities except in ironical imitation of Provençal style (see Brunot, Précis de grammaire historique de la langue française, sec. 496, 2) or as a poetic and archaic survival of the usage of the seventeenth century, un joyeux petit livre. The Armana prouvençau.
112.--3. quel bon vent. The verb is to be supplied (quel bon vent vous amène?).
4. le grand livre et la clef. Cf. Matthew xvi, 19 and Revelation xx, 12.
11. disons-nous. Here = vous dites.
27. faites que je puisse. Faire in the imperative is followed by the subjunctive, elsewhere by the indicative (c'est ce qui fait que cela va mal), but notice that faites attention takes the indicative (faites attention qu'il est là).
114.--19. je n'ai pas entendu chanter le coq. See Matthew xvi, 34 ff.
116.--9. en l'air. En is never used before les; it is rarely used before the singular definite article, when it is so used the article is usually elided. In those cases where en is not used, dans takes its place; en was more frequently used in former times, it is now largely limited to fixed phrases. The following distinctions should also be observed: je ferai cet ouvrage en deux jours (two days will be required), je ferai cet ouvrage dans deux jours (after two days have elapsed).
117.--7. rang par rang... quand on danse. As in the dance called the farandole, where a number of people join bands and dance in a long line.
16. le meunier. The French have always ridiculed the millers; cf. the proverb: il n'y a rien de plus hardi que la chemise d'un meunier, parce qu'elle prend, tous les matins, un fripon au collier; also, il s'est fait d'évêque meunier, said when one bas fallen from a good position to a poorer one.
118.--4. le. This pronoun does not refer to histoire, but to all that has been told. This paragraph has not been added by Daudet, but occurs in the Provençal version.
LE SOUS-PRÉFET AUX CHAMPS
121.--26. de plus belle. See note to p. 4, l. 7.
LE PAPE EST MORT
123.--1. une grande ville de province. Daudet was born at Nîmes, his father was a wealthy manufacturer of silk handkerchiefs, the father lost his money and moved to Lyons when Alphonse was nine years old, it was here that the boy went to school and it is this city that is described in the story.
2. très-encombrée. The hyphen is now omitted after très.
125.--32. j'avais beau revenir. Littré explains this idiom as follows: «Avoir beau, c'est toujours avoir beau champ, beau temps, belle occasion; avoir beau faire, c'est proprement avoir tout favorable pour faire. Voilà le sens ancien et naturel. Par une ironie facile à comprendre, avoir beau a pris le sens d'avoir le champ libre, de pouvoir faire ce qu'on voudra, et, par suite, de se perdre en vains efforts.»
127.--13. Pie VII. Pius VII was imprisoned by Napoleon (l'empereur, l. 16) at Fontainebleau from 1812 to 1814; the words comediante... tragediante were used by Napoleon to the Pope and by the Pope to Napoleon.
UN RÉVEILLON DANS LE MARAIS
130.--23. vieux, vieux. The .repetition of an adjective for emphasis is much more common in Italian than in French.
132.>--3. une Diane... avec un croissant au front. A conventional manner of representing the goddess.
4. triolets. In versification this name (triolet) is given to a poem of eight lines, of which the first is repeated after the third, and both the first and second after the sixth, it is a development of the Old French rondeau; in music, as it is here used, the name is given to a group of three notes which, in a measure of 3/4 time, produces the effect of 6/8 time.
LA VISION DU JUGE DE COLMAR
134.--1. l'empereur Guillaume. William I, King of Prussia in 1861 and Emperor of Germany from 1871 to 1888; it was during his reign that the Franco-Prussian War occurred.
17. restez assis. In France the judges hold office for life (magistrature assise), while prosecuting attorneys, etc., may be removed from office by the Minister of Justice (magistrature debout); there is thus a double meaning in restez assis "remain seated" or "remain a judge (for life)"; on condition, of course, that Dollinger renounce his allegiance to France and take the oath of allegiance to Germany.
26. le même grand christ. Used in administering oaths, the person who took the oath raised his right hand toward the crucifix.
136.--4. aussi n'avancent-ils. Notice that aussi here means "therefore" and that it causes inversion (this occurs also with à peine, encore, peut-être, ici, là, etc.).
137.--5. des robes noires, des robes rouges. The former are worn by the judges in the lower courts, the latter by the judges in the courts of appeal.
6. président. The French Department of Justice is now constituted as follows. The Department has at its head a Cabinet Minister (Ministre de la Justice) and it comprises a civil and a criminal jurisdiction. In each canton is a justice of the peace, in each department a civil court, and in sixteen important cities a court of appeal. Criminals are tried in each department in a court of assize, before a jury of citizens and judges of whom the presiding judge is termed the président and the assistant judges conseillers assesseurs. Above all courts is the Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation, in the Palais de Justice at Paris); this court is charged with looking after the strict observance of the Laws.
138.--24. monsieur le comte. Bismarck was given the higher title of Prince in 1871.
ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN
Émile Erckmann, Phalsbourg, 1822--Lunéville, 1899.
Alexandre Chatrian, Soldatenthal, 1826--Villemombles, 1890
Most of the literary work of these two men was done jointly, hence their hyphenated signature. Erckmann did most of the writing, Chatrian most of the editing and adapting for the stage. Their work consisted of short stories, novels and plays, particularly with scenes laid along the Franco-German (Alsatian) frontier, where they were both born. Their stories usually deal with incidents of the French Revolution, the Empire of Napoleon l and the Franco-Prussian War; they attacked war, and their stories are generally of a fantastic or idyllic type.
Important works: Madame Thérèse (1863), Histoire d'un Conscrit de 1813 (1864), L'Ami Fritz (1864, their best known novel), Le Juif Polonais (1869, their best known play, known in English as The Bells), Les Rantzau (1882, a play), and several collections of Contes. The Montre du Doyen is from the Contes Fantastiques (1860).
Edition: Most of their work has been published by Hetzel.
LA MONTRE DU DOYEN
141.--2. bourgmestre. This title is not applied to French mayors, but to those of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, etc.
142.--13. plus d'une demi-lieue. The use of de instead of que, "than," occurs before numerals and is a survival of the Old French construction, which employed de (than) generally after a comparative (cf. the more general use of di in this sense in Italian).
27. grand concerto. Incorrect in Italian, where grande is usually written gran before a word beginning with a consonant (except s followed by another consonant); before a vowel grand' is used (grand'impero, great empire).
29. théologiens... philosophes. A playful reference to the students of Heidelberg University.
145.--10. jusque passé minuit. Note that jusque and not jusqu'à is here used; besides a following preposition (jusque sur, etc.), certain following adverbs may have the same construction (jusqu'ici, jusque-là, jusqu'aujourd'hui, etc.).
20. ce disant. A survival of the Old French construction where ce could be used as object without a noun. In modern French ce is usually either an adjective pronoun or it is the impersonal subject of a verb or it is the antecedent of a relative; the other uses have been taken over by ceci and cela. Another similar construction is sur ce, used by sovereigns in closing letters.
148.--8. que. To avoid repetition of comme.
149.--14. soit. The tendency, although usage varies, is to pronounce the t in this exclamation.
23. comme tu voudras. Note the tense, a polite future, where in English the present would be used; notice also, the tense on p. 148, l. 18.
153.--15. et toute la salle de rire. An example of the historical infinitive, which expresses the sudden result of a preceding action and is accompanied by a new subject.
28. plus qu'un. Notice the difference between this phrase and plus d'une (p. 142, l. 13).
161.--29. pas un d'entre eux. Note the insertion of entre; when spoken, un d'eux would not be clear; note also that entre suffers no elision (see note to p. 77, l. 11).
164.--14. après boire. An example of the present infinitive used after après (cf. il est parti après avoir bu un verre d'eau).
167.--6. à peine eus-je allumé. Note that à peine causes inversion and that it is used with the past anterior (see notes to p. 136, l. 4 and p. 3, l. 25).
168.--29. et que mon histoire vous ait intéressé. When que is used to avoid the repetition of si, the subjunctive is employed.