Bataille de dames

Corneille (1606-1684) was the first of the great French classical dramatists, and in the opinion of many the greatest French tragic poet.

Ah! çà, By the way. Cp. p. 16, note 56.

inqualifiable, unspeakable.—sanglante, outrageous. Both adjectives are too strong to accord with the rest of the scene.

Attend to your duties and go.

The year indicated is 1799, when the Vendéeans had been excited by English emissaries to a revolt from their temporary submission to General Hoche in 1795. But this does not agree with the statement of p. 47.

procureur, prosecuting officer, who combined the functions of the modern procureur and the juge d'instruction,—functions that have nothing corresponding to them in English justice or in American procedure.

à ma barbe, "under my nose," "before my very eyes."

Moreau (1763-1813), "the greatest general of the French republic after Napoleon and Hoche," after winning the great victory of Hohenlinden, December, 1800, intrigued against Napoleon, and was forced to leave France in 1804. He continued his scheming while in exile, and in 1813, while serving in the Russian army, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Dresden. But before leaving France he, or more probably his ambitious wife, had gathered all the elements of discontent with the self-seeking of Napoleon into a cabal called the club Moreau, of which these fugitive compagnons may be supposed to be members, for the club was relentlessly suppressed by Napoleon.

98 (quatre-vingt-dix-huit). 1804 (mil huit cent quatre). These are not the dates indicated, p. 46, or p. 47. 1804 is not douze ans après (p. 47) either 1798 or 1799. Then, too, '98 was a comparatively quiet year in Vendée. On the other hand the countess would have been, as she says (p. 46), then fourteen if she was thirty-three (p. 7) in 1817.

mansarde, attic or garret. Properly a sort of gambrel-roof introduced into France by the architect Mansard (d. 1666).

défiance, mistrust.

Prenez des forces, recruit your strength.

Où veut-il en venir, What is he "driving at?"

surcroît de gages, in addition to your wages.

Le voici, He's caught, i.e., he has yielded to the temptation of Montrichard's bribe.

de l'argent gagné. There is a double entente here. Montrichard understands "money as good as earned," because Henri feels sure of success. Henri means that the audience shall understand him to say "money already earned," because he has already shown the outlaw to Montrichard.

Et d'un, There's one.

personnage muet, man who doesn't count. Technically one who appears on the stage but does not speak.

cour prévôtale, provost court, or "court martial," "a criminal tribunal temporarily established, and judging without appeal" (Littré).

bord, party, side, or way of thinking. See also dictionary.

notre classe. This is a delightful touch. Montrichard, having been republican and bonapartist, now chooses to regard himself as one of the original aristocracy.

signalement, description issued by the police for the identification of fugitives from justice.

avait le temps. This bears out the regret of Léonie, p. 2.

romanesque, romantic. Note that while at the date of this play, 1851, romanticism was no longer the fashion for men in Paris, it was still thought attractive in young girls, especially among the landed aristocracy. See my edition of "Le Gendre de monsieur Poirier," p. 46, note 3.

pour acquit de conscience, to ease my conscience.

placards, cupboards with a suggestion of hiding-chambers, such as were built in the thick walls and enormous chimneys (cheminées) of many ancient houses both on the Continent and in England.

garçons de ferme, farm-hands.—hommes de peine, laborers, here perhaps the stable-boys and grooms.

That is, friends whose lives depend on his life.

The humor is the same here as p. 50.

une malheureuse ... courage, a poor, faithless coward.

brigadier, sergeant, commanding from four to six gendarmes or mounted police. See p.31, note 89.

trop, quite, here.

fossés, moat, for this was an ancient ancestral castle.

Par exemple, However, here.

donne sur, fronts on, looks out on.

bouquet de bois, clump of trees, here.

galonné, trimmed with gold lace.

Quand je, Didn't I.

là, equivalent to preoccupied with.

châteaux en Espagne, castles in Spain, i.e., air castles, foolish fancies.

j'ai failli me jeter, I almost threw myself. Literally, "I just missed throwing myself."

les jours, the life. Common in exalted and classical styles.

Du tout, Not at all.

guides, reins.

poussé, i.e., into what a self-contradictory position my double nature has forced me. Cp. pp. 17, 18.

ouvrage, fancy work.

donnerez pas le change, put off the scent. A hunting term.

m'en garderais bien, i.e., take good care not to, pretending that his search amuses her because it will certainly fail.

Ah! çà, Really now. Mockingly.

en bourgeois, in citizen's dress. Similarly, en domestique, p.70.

Dieu, etc., Goodness, how afraid I am that I shall be afraid.

à moi, in my service.

en réponds, answer for him, i.e., guarantee his innocence.

grand dieu, great heavens, do you call that wit and tact! Do you suppose, etc.

vous payer de, repay you for. Note the difference between this and vous payer tout, "pay you all."

courrier, despatch, here. Cp. p.4.

passe avant, takes precedence of. The term is from aristocratic etiquette.

j'y pense, it just occurs to me.

prérogatives, consideration. For instance, one might choose to be shot rather than guillotined, to look death in the face with unbandaged eyes, and to give the command to fire, all matters regarded as questions of honor by soldiers sentenced to death.

sans bruit, unostentatiously, but de Grignon takes it literally. The rest of this scene recalls not unsuccessfully Molière's sans dot in "l'Avare," Act I., Scene 5.

de gaieté de coeur, frivolously or wantonly, here.

réellement is meant to hint a pity that foreshadows the dawn of the love suggested in p. 93.

tant y a-t-il que, any way this much is certain that.

j'ai ce qu'il me faut. The phrase has a touch of irony that is not in de Grignon's character.

feu de file, volley fire.

je le voudrais bien, I wish it had been, it would have been so comical. This was of course practically a confession.

vingt-cinq louis. See p. 72.

il is masculine; wherever he may be found.

je le pense, I really think so. He is surprised at the change in his character that his magnanimity has produced in him; a psychological touch as delicate as it is true.

en sentinelle, play the sentinel.

lui en veux, are hurt with him for it. For the ordinary use, cp. p. 20, and p. 85.

promesse, alluding to p.74.

de grâce, for mercy's sake.

Note that to the very end Léonie does not suspect either her aunt's love or her self-sacrifice.

jupes. Fortunately for the possibility of this concealment, neither the skirts of 1817, nor those of 1851, were like those of recent years.

Amnesty to political offenders was the settled policy of Louis XVIII. from the first, though he was often thwarted by his advisers.

y avons donné, have fallen into it, i.e., the trap.

vous avez beau dire, it is vain for you to protest.

chemin faisant, on the way.

Ne parlons pas de cela. This is as far as she can becomingly go; and yet so far she must go. We should be disappointed if de Grignon's devotion were left without hope of reward, and yet the wound must be healed before the new love can declare itself.

les as et les rois, the leading honors at cards. There is a double play on these words in what follows. First, the countess gently reproaches Henri for failing in the traditional loyalty of his family to the restored royal family; then, secondly, she alludes to the rivalry of herself and Léonie as a strife of queens (bataille de dames), to whom Henri is the roi who can make a "marriage" (technical term at cards) with either he will.