3 lestement, cavalierly. — Note the anacoluthon mener, as though the sentence began with il faudrait.

4 vos jambes, etc., a little more wine in the legs.

Page 16. I Note Quel, and not qui.

to mingle with.

2 se mêler de implies meddling; se mêler à = 3 v'là, familiar and slipshod for voilà, denoting Figaro's excite

ment.

Page 18. I en refers to plaisirs in the preceding line. Properly du plaisir is required here instead of the plural.

2 celui-ci, i. e. couplet understood.

3 esprit, of course not spirit, but what a former generation would have called pretty wit. Translate: How clever!

Page 19. I C'en est fait and, more correctly, c'est fait are often followed by de and a substantive: It is all over with ... Lat. actum est de...

2 vous. Note the sudden and very effective plural address for dignity. The Count, however, cannot sustain it long: his need of Figaro's services is too great.

3 crainte, often used with the preceding de omitted. Not so, however, with de peur, which never omits de.

4 mon art, i. e. that of the barber and medical assistant in one. See above, P.14, ll. 7-10.- fourvoyer, rarely used as here without a reflexive pronoun.

Page 20. 1 vitrage en plomb, lead casements. trois palettes en l'air. The pallet was a small measure used in bleeding. Figaro is describing the signs and inscriptions outside his shop. Cf. our pawnbrokers' three balls en l'air.

ACT II.

Page 21. Argus, a fabled prince of the royal house of Argos, had a hundred eyes, fifty of which were always open.

2 à point nommé, lit.: at the appointed, and consequently right time. We should put it the other way: just at the wrong time.

3 ne devine, without pas, because the construction only is negative, not the sense: he does guess her every intention.

4 toujours has three uses: 1. always; 2. still; 3. anyhow, nevertheless.

5 bonhomme, always familiar and generally somewhat contemptuous: the fellow.

Page 22. 1 Espérance, here promise.

2 bien is here used as a predicate, parallel with plein and d'une figure, etc., above. Cf. such expressions as Ce jeune homme est très bien, etc. Translate: nice.

3 vous appartient, by kinship, as Figaro has stated above.

Page 23. mignonne, as a substantive, dear, darling. — furtif, prompt to come and go, like a thief (Lat. fur). Here the word suggests smallness and quick motion, hence tripping or dainty.

2 persuader is rarely used with the accusative of the thing advocated, although frequently with the acc. of the person persuaded. But je l'ai persuadé is never followed by a complement, and therefore means I have convinced him. I persuaded him to come would take the dative of the person: Je lui ai persuadé de venir.

3 quand on . . . de la peur. Who fears to suffer, suffers from fear.

Page 24. I nous is repeated by Figaro, because by the word Rosine betrays the fact that she is already identifying her own interests with those of Lindor.

2 Tudieu, a shortening for Par la vertu Dieu (where Dieu is the old form for the oblique case, dispensing with the preposition de, as in Hôtel-Dieu), is a rare and consequently strong exclamation. from aller.

3 This que requires ce n'est to be understood before it.

Allure,

4 After feu follet, supply pourrait se laisser éteindre de la sorte. Figaro replies to the idea and not to the words. Aye, if his were a mere flitting flame, some will-o'-the wisp.

5 nous. Figaro identifies himself with his client.

6 De is here the usual preposition attendant on the French infinitive, like the English to. Translate by the part. pres.

7 qui n'y ai que voir, lit.: who have not what to see in the matter, i. e., who have no interests to watch, who am totally unconcerned, in the matter. Cf. Je n'ai que faire de..=, I have no use for, I do not

want...

Page 25. I Soyez tranquille, not to be confused with restes tranquille. Note that the // are sounded in this word, as always when there is no i after the / or // in the Lat. word from which the French one is derived.

2 tambour, the round, drum-shaped frame on which embroidery is worked.

3 tour de main, also tournemain, lit. the time it takes to turn your wrist.

4 After il n'y a pas, etc., understand qui n'ait été écloppée. — Jusqu'à often down to.

5 The place d'armes, or military parade ground, would be large and open, and easy of access. The usual simile is now: on entre ici comme dans un moulin.

Page 26. I de is slightly irregular, since the second clause is parallel with the first, and m'exposer is governed, like craindre, by j'aime mieux, which takes no de. It is due to plutôt understood before que: plutôt que de m'exposer.

2 a plaisir, gratuitously, lit. for the mere pleasure of it.

3 que sais-je ? is rather or anything, than the more literal how can I tell? Similarly, le premier venu, a passer-by.

4 scener, i. e, to fasten permanently to the wall, so that it [the screen] cannot be opened.

5 inquiétude, here=jalousie.

6 honnêtes, civil.

7 souffler, literally to blow, gets its familiar sense of to spirit away ¡rom the conjurer's practice of blowing on an object, or touching it with his wand, when causing it to vanish.

Page 27. I a principes, sneeringly for high-principled.

2 Juifs, merely an opprobrious epithet here.

3 L'Eveillé appears in a state that contrasts humorously with his Beaumarchais knew better than to undervalue simple comic effects on the stage.

name.

Page 28. douloir, from Lat. dolere, now obsolete, although still to be found in the speech or peasants, like many other expressions that have died out of the written language. Cf. the proverb: Ce qu'il ne voit au cœur ne deult. Similarly faut bien, purposely slipshod for il faut bien.

2 garçon, i. e., l'Eveillé. Ordonnance, since Bartholo is a

doctor.

3 dans would be more correctly en, but the servants are made to speak incorrectly on purpose.

Page 29. I pour, literally for the purpose of. Translate and

mean.

2 pardi, the peasant form of parbleu, itself a euphemism for par Dieu.

3 faquin, a word of Italian origin, generally used as an offensive epithet for servants.

4 service, work. - Train, row.

5 de bien, respectable.

6 sans bourse délier, a proverbial expression, whence the inversion and omitted possessive.

Page 30. I cela me regarde. Translate: he is after us; literally: that is my business.

2 particulier, a private citizen, a commoner, i. e., not a nobleman. 3 A la bonne heure, Now that is something like! always of approval. Literally [This has come] at the right time, I am glad of it. - Further on, the Lat. concedo has the same force.

4 â dire d'experts, i. e., with the aid of experts at calumny like himself, the gens mentioned below. Here perhaps we might translate with might and main, or right and left.

5 prêts de, very generally used, until the present century, for près de. Properly prêt, ready, takes à.

6 D'abord, etc. This brilliant passage comes in the more naturally as Bazile is a teacher of music.

7 Telle, very frequently used as an indefinite adjective or pronoun. Cf. Monsieur un tel, Mr. So-and-So; also Tel qui rit vendredi, dimanche pleurera, and many other proverbs.

8 en is here more elegant, because less common, than dans. Bazile is a pedant in his way. For the same reason ne sais, uncommon for je ne sais, below.

Page 31.

I il va le diable, literally it goes a deuce of a pace.

2 grâce au ciel, skillfully reminds the spectator that Bazile is describing that for which he is devoutly thankful.

3 à qui tient-il? Whom am I waiting for? — Cela tient à....... means that is because of, literally: that holds on to, depends upon, is caused by. Cf. Qu'à cela ne tienne (P. 40, l. 1), which means Never mind about that, or That is all right! literally : let it not stick at that.

4 dissonances, discords, another musical metaphor. In the theory of music, every discord must be introduced by, préparé, and resolved into, sauvé, concords, or chords that are satisfying to the ear in themselves. 5 en makes passer figurative. Cf. si vous m'en croyez, if you will be guided by me, where the generalizing force of en results in a weakening of the meaning of the verb.

Page 32.

I serviteur. A formula of leave-taking. 2 état, position.- Consistance, substance.

3 que, idiomatic conjunction,= and, often to be omitted in translation: A Bazile's slander none would heed.

2 je vais parier, etc.

As has been pointed out (Introduction § iii), the excellence of this comedy resides in the acuteness with which Bartholo sees through the devices of his enemies, who have all the harder a task to outwit him.

3 en... une seule. The feminine noun understood is not traceable. The same is the case with not a few idioms in French, e. g. l'échapper belle to have a narrow escape, vous me la baillez belle: well, I do like that! (ironical), and familiarly, en voilà une bonne ! with much the same meaning.

4 plaisant, almost always humorous. good joke for you to...

Translate: It would be a

Page 34.

After moi, supply je ne vous en ferai point du tout

convenir, and after encre, supply le fera.

2 chiffonnant, literally busying myself with odds and ends of sewing.

3 cahier, the same word as our quire of paper, is used for any small book of sheets of writing paper.

4 After imbécile, supply que je suis !

5 About la petite Figaro we are told nothing more.

slight imperfection in the construction of the play.

6 Cet homme, etc. Jealousy is an instinct with the man.

This is a