[58] LA COMÉDIE. TheComédie-Française, orThéâtre-Français, then, as now, the leading theatre in Paris.
[59] DÈS QUATRE HEURES. The performance did not begin before five o'clock, in the eighteenth century,
[60] DANS L'HIVER. The modern form isen hiver.
[61] JURANT PAR CI PAR LÀ, 'Swearing every now and then.'
[62] AUX TUILERIES. The Cours-la-Reine, in the Champs-Elysées, the Tuileries gardens, and the Palais-Royal, with its covered galleries and its garden, were the fashionable resorts of promenaders in the eighteenth century.
[63] CE QU'IL. Theceis superfluous.
[64] PERCER =S'apercevoir.
[65] JE ME REMETS =J'y suis.
[66] OUI-DA. SeeLe Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 21.
[67] COMME PASSANT, forcomme en passant. Compareles Fausses Confidences, note 26.
[68] C'EST AUTANT DE PRIS. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 54.
[69] QU'EST-IL =Pourquoi est-il?
[70] PARDI. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 15.
[71] IL LES FAIT COMME IL LES A. Untranslatable, save by an équivalent. It is a pun on Dubois' remark: "making eyes at her."
[72] PRENEZ TOUJOURS, 'Take note of them nevertheless."
[73] LE. The text of 1758 printsle;cewould carry out the sense even better. Seele Legs, note 38.
[74] APPAREMMENT, 'Evidently.' This adverb may be used with or without the conjunctionqueto introduce a verb.
[75] D'OÙ VIENT. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 220.
[76] UNE GUENON, 'a fool.'
[77] QUI SE FASSE =Qu'il y ait.
[78] LES PETITES-MAISONS. The old Maladrerie de Saint-Germain, which in 1554 became the Hôpital Saint-Germain, later known as les Petites-Maisons, on account of the great number of cells into which it was divided. It was used to house infirm old men and women, who received a small weekly dole, lunatics, and patients suffering from loathsome diseases. The name became synonymous with either a mad-house or a hospital for certain diseases: it was changed in 1801 to les Petits-Ménages, the insane having then been transferred, the men to Bicêtre, the women to La Salpêtrière.
[79] BIEN VENANTS, 'Paid regularly.' Marivaux, like the authors of the preceding century, consideredbien venantsas an adjective, and hence declinable: butlivreis feminine, and we should expect here the formbien venantes. The Academy has declared the expression indeclinable. Compare: "Je le voyais avec vingt-huit mille livres de rente bien venantes" (Mme. de Sévigné, Dec. 28, 1689).
[80] APPAREMMENT. Seeles Fausses Confidences, note 74.
[81] PARDI. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 15.
[82] VOUS N'AVEZ POINT DE GRÉ À ME SAVOIR. A well-known idiom, better expressed to-day:Vous n'avez point à me savoir gré.
[83] D'AVEC. A shortened form for some such phrase asd'une conversation avec. D'avecis generally to be translated 'from,' 'in contradiction to.'
[84] A QUEL HOMME EN VEUT-IL? 'For what man is he looking?' Comparele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 68.
[85] A VOUS.Auprès de vouswould be the modern expression.
[86] LE FAISANT SORTIR. Note the peculiar use ofle, which nowadays would be replaced by the noun to which it refers—le garçon.
[87] DONT. Betterque. SeeLe Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 175.
[88] DESSUS. Forlà-dessus.
[89] SANS DIFFICULTÉ. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 154.
[90] DE NE VOUS PAS AIMER.De ne pas vous aimeris the more natural order in modern French.
[91] IL N'A QUE FAIRE DE, 'He has no need to.' Comparele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note, 141.
[92] C'EST UN PORTRAIT DE FEMME. The construction of the sentence is peculiar and incomplete. It requires the introduction, beforec'est un portrait, of the wordsc'est que. In modern French the awkwardness of this form would be obviated. In the second clausequewould have to be prefixed toc'est ici.
[93] QUAND.Puisqueis also found in incomplete expressions of this kind. The thought might be completed as follows:Mais, quand(orpuisque)je vous dis, etc., vous devriez me croire.
[94] ENTENDU, used here in the sense ofcompris.
[95] HUPPÉES, 'Fancy,' 'smartly dressed.' It often means 'smart.' Compare; "Combien en as-tu vu, je dis des plus huppées." (Racine,Les Plaideurs, J, 4); "Bien huppé qui pourra m'attraper sur ce point!" (Molière,École des femmes, 1, I).
[96] JE N'EN RABATS RIEN, 'I retract nothing.' That is to say, 'I insist that it is the Count.'
[97] PLAISANT, 'Ridiculous.'
[98] COMME DE CELA. With some gesture of contempt. Seele Legs, note 108.
[99] LUI. Forle. The verbdéfiergoverns to-day the accusative and not the dative.
[100] QU'IL. Later editions printqui, which is the correct form. The thought may be expressed more simply by the phraseJe l'avais vu le contempler.
[101] CE QUI EST DE SÛR =Ce qu'il y a de sûr.
[102] LE SUJET =La raison.
[103] DE BONNE MAIN, 'By a reliable person.' (Littré, "main," 17º.)
[104] CONSENS… DE. The verbconsentirtakes eitherdeorà, before a following infinitive, although in modern French the latter is the more common.
[105] TOUS PROCÈS. Later editions printtout procès, which is the more natural modern form. The plural, in the sense of 'each' or 'every' is, however, sometimes found without the article. Compare: "L'auteur des dialogues a dit que les belles sont de tous pays, et moi je dis que les sottises sont de tous les siècles " (Fontenelle,Jugement de Pluton).
[106] AVOIR PRISE … AVEC, 'To have a dispute with.' PRISE, 'Quarrel,' 'dispute' (Littré, 6°, also Dict. de l'Acad., 1878).
[107] TOUS. Later editions printtout, which is the modern form. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is was not customary to consider the adverbialtoutas necessarily invariable.
[108] MOUVEMENT. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 162.
[109] DONT. _Que is preferable. SeeLe Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 175.
[110] SAVOIS. A not uncommon use of the imperfect indicative in the sense of the conditional.
[111] JE N'AUROIS QUE FAIRE DE. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 68. Comparele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 141, andle Legs, note 85.
[112] A TOI. The English idiom is 'of you.'
[113] AU MOINS, 'Nevertheless.'
[114] CAPABLE. Most editions printincapable, beginning the sentence withs'il, and punctuating with a comma afterincapable. The sense is better carried out with such a rendering.
[115] Des biais =Des moyens détournés.
[116] L'EN DÉDIRE =Le démentir.
[117] COMME S'EN ALLANT. Seeles Fausses Confidences, note 26.
[118] A CE QU'IL EST NÉ =A sa naissance.
[119] C'EST DE DORANTE, forIl est de Dorante: 'It has been painted by Dorante.'
[120] M'EN FAIRE ACCROIRE, 'To impose upon me.'
[121] AVANT QUE DE. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 93.
[122] This speech of Dorante's and Araminte's answer seem to have inspired Augier and Sandeau in the scene between Bertrand and Hélène, inMlle. de la Seiglière, Act III, sc. 7.
[123] QUE MON AMOUR N'EN AUGMENTE. SeeLe jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 137.
[124] JE L'AI PEINTE. Thepeinterefers to and agrees withlain Dorante's preceding speech.
[125] AVANT QUE DE. SeeLe jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 117.
[126] RUE DU FIGUIER. A very ancient and historic street in Paris, situated not far from the Lycée Charlemagne, and making a triangle with the rue Charlemagne and the rue Fauconnier. Even before the year 1300 it bore this name, from a fine fig-tree which stood at its juncture with the rue Fauconnier, and which was standing as late as 1605. The most important edifice of the street is the Hôtel de Sens, built in the sixteenth century by the Archbishop Tristan de Salazar. It was for a time the residence of Marguerite, first wife of Henry IV.
[127] JE LUI RECOMMANDERAI. Later editions printje le lui recommanderai. Attention has already been called to Marivaux's custom of omitting the direct object pronoun in similar constructions. Comparele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 210, andle Legs, note 29.
[128] MOUVEMENTS. SeeLe jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 162.
[129] LUI. See note 99.
[130] FATIGUE, 'Importune' (Littré, 4°).' Compare: "Ainsi donc mes bontés vous fatiguent peut-être" (Racine,Bérénice, II, 4).
[131] AMUSER. SeeLe jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 41.
[132] EN FAIT DE DISCRÉTION, JE MÉRITERAIS D'ÊTRE FEMME.Discrétionmeans here 'the ability to keep a secret' (Littré, 5°). Compare;
"Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret:Le porter loin est difficile aux dames;Et je sais même sur ce faitBon nombre d'hommes qui sont femmes.'(La Fontaine,Fables, viii, 6.)
[133] LE DIABLE N'Y PERD RIEN, is said of a person who restrains his feelings with difficulty, or only temporarily (Littré, "diable." 2°). The whole phrase might here be translated by: 'She cannot conceal the matter, nor will I.'
[134] ENTENDS. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 247.
[135] OUI-DA. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 21.
[136] DEMEURE. The incorrect use of this verb by Harlequin adds to the comic of the piece. For correct French one might substitutese trouve.
[137] LA RUE DU FIGUIER. See note 126.
[138] SAIS.Savoiras used here means 'to know about the street,' 'to know that it exists,' 'to know where it may be found';connaîtrewould mean 'to be acquainted with it.'
[139] RENDRA =Remettra.
[140] RENDREZ. Some of the later editions printrendez.
[141] QUE JE N'AIE VU, 'Until I have seen.' The negative particleneis required in a phrase introduced byque, when this conjunction stands in the place ofavant que.
[142] PRÉSOMPTIONS. 'Presumptions' or 'reasonable suppositions.' Compare: "Ce ne sont pas là des convictions entières; mais ce sont les présomptions les plus fortes" (Voltaire,Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations, chap. 166).
[143] DE VOTRE FAÇON, 'Of your choosing.'
[144] TOUT. Later editions printtout le monde, which is evidently the sense in which this word is used.
[145] ROGUE, 'Arrogant.' In the edition of 1758 the word is printedroque, which has led some editors into the error of correcting torauque(hoarse).
[146] NOUS N'AVONS QUE FAIRE ENSEMBLE, 'We have no dealings together.'
[147] NON QUE JE SACHE.Non, pas que je sacheis the more complete modern expression.
[148] A CAUSE QUE.Parce queis more modern. Littré favors the retention ofà cause que, since it is used by good authors, and, in certain cases, is preferable toparce que.
[149] AMPLIFIE, 'Exaggerates.'
[150] HORS D'OEUVRE =Hors de propos. Generally used to-day as a substantive, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often used adverbially as here. Compare: "Dans leCid, toutes celles (the scenes) de l'infante sont détachées, et paraissent hors d'oeuvre" (Corneille,Horace, Examen).
[151] ENFANCE. For the more modern wordenfantillage, although the Dict. de l'Acad., 1878, retains the word in this sense. Compare: "Ils ne font que des enfances" (Mme. de Sévigné, Jan. 26, 1689). "On passait encore les enfances à Mme. la duchesse de Bourgogne par la grâce qu'elle y mettait" (St. Simon. 294, 6). "Ce sont des bêtises ou des enfances dont il n'y a que de bonnes gens qui soient capables" (Marianne, 2e partie.) Seele Legs, note 29.
[152] TOUT À L'HEURE. In the sense oftout de suitethe expression is to-day obsolete, and is not admitted by the Dict. de l'Acad., 1878. Seele Legs, note 76.
[153] À CAUSE QUE. See note 147.
[154] ENTEND. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 247.
[155] APPAREMMENT, 'Manifestly,' 'Of course.' In this sense the word has become obsolete, and is not admitted by the Dict. de l'Acad., 1878.
[156] VOUS N'Y SONGEZ PAS. Seele Legs, note 58,le Legs, note 102.
[157] DÉLIVRÉE. The edition of 1758 printsdélivrées, which will be accounted for by the speaker's including madame Argante in his mind. The singular is, however, preferable.
[158] EUS. The edition of 1758 prints the past participleeu, without making it agree with the preceding object pronoun. Seele Legs, note 56.
[159] NOUS DIS. For the position of the object pronoun see note 18.
[160] EUES. The edition of 1738 printseu. For similar carelessness in Marivaux's use of the past participle comparele Legs, note 56, and note 158.
[161] AFFRONTÉ, 'Deceived' (Littré, 2°, also the Dict. de l'Acad., 1878).
[162] FERMIER, 'Farmer,' 'One holding a farm by lease.'
[163] ENTENDS. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 247.
[164] A CAUSE QUE. See note 147.
[165] OUF! MA GLOIRE M'ACCABLE; ET JE MÉRITEROIS BIEN D'APPELER CETTE FEMME-LÀ MA BRU. This expression, seeming too violent to the spectators of to-day, was suppressed by the Comédie-Française, March 5, 1881. The play ends with the words of Araminte. See Larroumet, p. 227, note 1.
[166] PARDI. Seele Jeu de l'amour et du hasard, note 15.