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2 Vous sentez, you see. trouble. Porter, drive.

Trouble, as usual, cannot mean

3 En, now rather à. -- bien has a suggestive force, something like: Surely you could manage to give her, etc. Tr.: Couldn't you just ... ! 4 prendre garde que with the indicative to bear in mind that; followed by ne and the subjunctive, beware lest.

5 After apparence (=likelihood), supply qu'elle se doute de rien ! 6 le, i. e. the matter. Cf. Je vous le donne en dix = I give you ten guesses.

Page 51.

self lying." Page 52.

I Je me voyais mentir, "I [fancied I] could see my

I vous en détacher, give up that [hope].

2 donner son compte, lit. settle his account (previous to dismissal): send him about his business.

Page 53. I vous imiter, because Bartholo had, at the end of the preceding act, pretended to comply with her wishes and to refrain from looking at her letter. - réparant, atoning.

Page 54. 1 l'être, existence.

Page 55.

I Petite reprise, tr.: third verse.

2 bien, lit. a good thing possessed; here we may translate moment.

Page 56. I la gêne, difficulties, crosses. great weakening of meaning.

From Gehenna, by

2 vas, less used in polite speech than vais, is here in keeping with Bartholo's character, as in some respects, an old fogey. - Toupille, also a word not in refined usage, from toupie, a top.

Page 57. I ritournelle, the symphony played by the accompanying instruments before the voice part begins.

2 dansant des genoux, lit., dancing with his knees: supply bent, 3 cadrer â, to fit, lit., to be a suitable frame to.

4 Tircis, the "young swain" of Lat. eclogues or idyls.

5 Les plus beaux, etc., a modification of the proverb La nuit "It is all the same in the dark," or "A nod

tous les chats sont gris,

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Page 58. Il n'est pas, etc., a proverb,

but once a year."

=

"Christmas comes

2 ils refers to the people included under toute ma maison.
3 Que direz-vous à, etc., What have you got to say to.
4 Before à supply" enough."

5 y entendre, put up with it, lit.: listen to it.

6 In y voir they is purely idiomatic and not to be translated.

Page 59.

I Que je le trouve! Just let me find it... ! n'est pas lit. people are not .. I never heard of.. 2 Qu'est qu'il a ...? What fault do you find with it?

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Page 60. I Soutenir and supporter are synonyms with this difference, that the first is to uphold or keep up something high, and the latter to bear up [under] a burden. The wit of the retort must be reproduced as far as possible. Use support and endure, or live up to it and live it down.

2 le, untraceable to any particular substantive, has the force of a tone. 3 Je m'en rapporte â, I appeal to... Figaro cleverly recalls the Count, who is too much engrossed with Rosine, to the situation.

4 poursuiviez le même objet. There is a double meaning here.

Page 61. I tantôt refers to a few hours ahead or back, according to the context. Tout à l'heure does the same, but denotes a

shorter lapse of time.

2 l'entreprise, the contract.-Protections, influential friends, patronage, interest.

3 Monsieur passe-t-il... Note the formal address in the third person, now that Figaro is about to resume his barber's office. Will you please to walk into your own room, sir.

4 qui for qu'est-ce qui, as on P. 9, 1. 21, and perhaps P. 25, 1. 16. 5 de votre façon, “at your hands," lit. of your making. 6 la manquer belle, unlike l'échapper belle to have a narrow escape, always means "to miss a grand opportunity." Note that the past participle is invariable in spite of the feminine belle (which proves that stands for la), because the substantive to which refers is no longer traceable.

Page 62. cabinet, dressing-room.

2 il y ferait bon, a figurative expression taken from temperature and weather, as is always the case where this idiomatic il fait occurs. 3 le plus fort est fait, the worst is over.

4 aura laissé tomber, the future past of suggested explanation, must have dropped. — Nécessaire, dressing-case.

Page 63. I accrocher, with a double meaning here.

2 prend, the present with the idea of duty: you should mind, etc.

Page 63. The arrival of Bazile at this juncture affords Beaumarchais scope for the full display of his ingenuity. To extricate the Count in spite of Bazile's appearance required consummate art. Our author is equal to the task, and nowhere better than in the masterly conduct of this difficult scene does his great constructive skill appear.

Page 64. le bien rétabli, on the analogy of le bienvenu.

2 méchante, fig.=mean, poor, etc. Tr.: just for one shave. Cf. faire la barbe, above P. 9, 1. 17.—Chienne de pratique, lit. a dog of a customer [this]!

3 encore, here anyhow.

4 Le Comte ingeniously takes advantage of the lesson Bartholo suggested that he should give Rosine, to make the old man believe that this lesson alone causes Bazile's astonishment. From this point, Bartholo is as anxious as the rest that Bazile should not speak, lest he should betray the fact that he knew nothing of the lesson: which would be contrary to Bartholo's statements to Rosine. Thus they all wish to silence Bazile, and consequently to get rid of him, as the surest way to silence him. Figaro tries to choke him off by main force; the Count tries to take him in by appearing to have an understanding with Bartholo; Rosine attempts mere entreaty, and Bartholo sincerely appeals to him not to spoil what has just been contrived by himself.

Page 65. 1 apparemment, in the now rare sense of evidently. 2 escogriffe, properly a big, lubberly fellow, is used here because Bazile, refusing to understand and to do as he is bid, shows himself clumsy and awkward, as such fellows are wont to be.

3 Qui diable, etc., has become a proverb. He feels that some one is being tricked, but as they all seem to be with one accord pressing for the same thing, he cannot tell who is being victimized.

4 homme de loi with whom the count had said (P. 49, 1. 31) that Bazile was drawing up the marriage papers.

5 où vous êtes, this is a very clever twist given to the real question.

Page 66. I il sent etc. cannot be translated literally.

2 se gagne, is infectious.

Page 67.

Le grand air l'aura saisi. He must have caught a chill. For the tense, see N. 4, P. 62.

2 Ce que c'est que de nous, proverbial, lit. what [frail] things we are! This de is on the mistaken analogy of the de properly introducing an infinitive in the place here occupied by nous, e. g., ce que c'est que de savoir!

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Now then!"-Vous décidez-vous [à vous faire

4 on vous passerait, lit. it might be allowed that you should. -y regarder, cf. y voir, N. 6, P. 58.

5 votre lettre. This is the second time (see P. 63) that the Count tries to carry out his intention, expressed P. 49, 1. 17, of informing Rosine of the use to which he has put her letter. His failure to do so enables Bartholo to take advantage of that letter (Act IV., Sc. 3) for the purpose of calumniating the Count.

Page 68.

noun.

I m'ose outrager. Note the position of the pro

ACT IV.

Page 70. I For que, see N., P. 32, l. 15.

2 apparence, see N., P. 50, l. 25.

3 [d'être] d accord.

4 à garder. The proverb is properly ce qui est bon à prendre est bon à rendre, of which the English equivalents are Exchange is no robbery, Tit for tat, and also One good turn deserves another.

5 vous arrêtez-vous, figuratively, of course. The nouns arrêt and arrêté, are, by the same figure, used for an official order, decree, etc.

Page 71. I [Je suis] votre valet, a formula of leave-taking, used in mock politeness for the purpose of dismissing a distasteful proposal.

2 que moi je meure, in strict grammar requires plutôt before que, as above, P. 26, 1. 2. Note the pronoun repeated for emphasis, and similarly the position of pas, at the end of the sentence, also for greater emphasis.

3 il y va de, an excellent idiom for is at stake, lit.: there goes, in it, a matter of.

4 aussi, is not used here in its customary sense at the beginning of a clause = accordingly (See P. 26, 1. 11.), but in an older sense, more closely allied with its etymology (Lat. aliud sic), in this wise, thus. 5 en venir. Cf. en passer par, P. 31,1. 26, Note.

Note

6 Tenez has two meanings: 1. Take this; 2. Look here. that tiens has, in addition to these, a third: Why! or Hallo! i. e., it is an exclamation addressed to oneself. The plural form tenez cannot be used in this last sense, as a man would not address himself in the plural of courtesy.

Page 72. The construction should be, n'ont-ils pas fait Figaro estropier tout mon monde, but infinitives following faire and also other verbs (such as laisser, etc.), are taken closely with these verbs as compound expressions. The rest of the sentence is then framed to suit the meaning of the compound expression rather than the verbal construction.

2 de with a negative before a word denoting a period of time, means throughout.

3 fait, here case.

4 Par, the idiomatic preposition used with words denoting the weather.

Page 73. strength left Note.

I Je n'en puis plus, lit.: I can do no more, I have no
I am overcome. For the idiomatic en, cf. P. 31, l. 26,

Bartholo invents a most plausible reason for

2 pour écarter, etc. the otherwise suspicious return of the letter into his hands.

Page 74. I désirer has ceased to be followed by de.

2 Tu, and no longer vous, because Bartholo sees she is relenting towards him.

3 main-forte, transl. the police.-1' is of course Almaviva.

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