24. =l’Académie des Sciences=: one of the five academies of the Institut de France. These five “academies” or associations of savants include the Académie Française, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, the Académie des Sciences, the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. =9=, 11. =l’on vous a souvent donné, à vous autres abbés de boudoir=: ‘favors have often been granted to you boudoir abbés.’ Notice the idiomatic use of _autres_, which is not to be translated. 12. =dussiez-vous crier à l’ingratitude=: ‘even if you must complain of my ingratitude.’ 28. =C’est jouer de malheur=: ‘You are unlucky.’ SCÈNE II =10=, 15. =le cardinal de Fleury=: André-Hercule (1653-1743). In 1726 he succeeded the duc de Bourbon as prime minister of France. 22. =Voltaire.= The comment ascribed to Voltaire is, of course, sarcastic, as is the remark of the princess, “moi aussi.” 24. =je le crois de bonne foi=: ‘I believe he is sincere.’ =11=, 12. =poudre dite de succession=: ‘so-called inheritance powder.’ The practice of poisoning spread from Italy to France. During the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV there were numerous cases of poisoning among the French nobles. The name “inheritance powder” was applied to poison used to remove a person in order to gain possession of his inheritance. 13. =le grand roi=: Louis XIV. 14. =chevalier d’Effiat=: Antoine de Ruze, marquis d’Effiat (1638-1719). He was an equerry of Monsieur, brother of Louis XIV, and later held the same position under the Regent. He was accused of being one of the murderers of Madame, Henrietta of England. Louis XIV is said to have had proof of his guilt but to have permitted his escape. 22. =rien qu’une pincée de cette poudre.= Compare the symptoms produced by this poison, which is now available to the princess, with the account of the death of Adrienne (Act V, Scenes II-V.) =13=, 20. =Allez toujours=: ‘Continue, however.’ =14=, 13. =mon oncle le cardinal.= See note to p. 10, l. 15. 22. =quoique je ne partage pas votre enthousiasme.= From the beginning of the play, the princess is not favorably inclined toward Adrienne, but prefers her rival, Mlle Du Clos, in spite of the latter’s intimacy with the prince. 25. =un engouement!...= ‘an infatuation! all the aristocratic circles vie with one another in entertaining Mlle Lecouvreur.’ =15=, 16. =ses ajustements=: ‘her articles of dress.’ 20. =Monsieur de Bourbon=: the duc de Bourbon (1692-1740). He was succeeded as prime minister of France, in 1726, by Cardinal Fleury. =16=, 1. =Monsieur d’Argental=: a lifelong friend of Mlle Lecouvreur. True to her memory and to their mutual friendship, he composed for her, in 1786, fifty-six years after her death, an epitaph in verse which was inscribed on a marble tablet still preserved at Paris. The first four lines of this are given in the Introduction of the present volume. 5. =ce prétendu bon mot=: ‘that supposed witticism.’