[Footnote 9: #avec humeur#, _out of temper, irritated_.] #Page 3.# [Footnote 10: #Talleyrand# (1754-1838), a politician whose skill in unprincipled intrigue made him a power under every form of government, from the States-General that inaugurated the First Revolution until his death. Many epigrams like this testify to his cynicism, which anticipated remarkably the modern _blague_, as we find it, for instance, in "Le Gendre de monsieur Poirier."] ACT I. SCENE 2 [Footnote 11: See preceding note and, for historical details, any biographical dictionary.] [Footnote 12: The use of the imperfect subjunctive is far more restricted in French conversation than our school grammars would imply. Persons of little education hardly use it at all, and persons of refined culture avoid its ill-sounding forms; while even such classical authors as Voltaire sometimes substitute the present for it. Cp. my note to "Le Gendre de monsieur Poirier," p.29, note 2.] ACT I. SCENE 3. #Page 13.# [Footnote 13: #se donner de l'importance#, _put on airs_. She affects to attribute Charles's manner to the democratic tendencies of the age.] [Footnote 14: #tout à l'heure#, _by and by_, but also "just now."] [Footnote 15: #courrier#, _mail_, here.] #Page 5.# [Footnote 16: #coup de tête#, _piece of rashness_.] [Footnote 17: #Mon dieu#. Wherever _Dieu_ carries any suggestion of deity, it will be printed with a capital. Where, as here, it corresponds to "Dear me," "Oh dear," and the like, I have thought it more reverent to print with _d_.] #Page 6.# [Footnote 18: #de qui tenir#, a parent _from whom to inherit it_.] [Footnote 19: See p. 2, note 4.] [Footnote 20: #manqué chavirer# (_capsize_), for the more usual _manqué de chavirer_.] [Footnote 21: #fête#, not "birthday" as with us, but _baptismal day_, or day of her patron saint.] [Footnote 22: #vous ira#, _will become you_.] #Page 7.# [Footnote 23: #vous#, _on you_. A colloquial use.] [Footnote 24: #à vous toute seule#, i.e., without the rejuvenating effect of my company. For the feminine ending of the adverb _toute_ see any grammar.] [Footnote 25: _I have no skill in that_. Ingenuously.] [Footnote 26: _One really cannot be more considerate_, #pas# is emphatic.] #Page 8.# [Footnote 27: #petite marquise!# _you little aristocrat!_] [Footnote 28: #s'il est gai#, _isn't he light-hearted?_ or, _how light-hearted he is!_] [Footnote 29: #Cimarosa# (1740-1801), Italian composer, noted for the graceful charm of his vocal music, especially in light opera.] #Page 9.# [Footnote 30: #bien né#, _of noble birth_, of aristocratic breeding.] [Footnote 31: #bien de sa personne#, _pleasing in his appearance._] [Footnote 32: #bonne compagnie#, _good breeding_, good society.] [Footnote 33: #me mettent hors de moi#, _exasperate me_.] [Footnote 34: #nous déconsidère#, _is humiliating_ or _derogatory to us_.] ACT I. SCENE 4. #Page 10.#