Endnotes

  1. The French word huissier means a sheriff’s officer, or a person whose business it is to serve writs, processes, and legal documents generally. The word “process-server” must not be understood in its colloquial English sense, for in France this business is sometimes a lucrative one. —⁠Translator ↩

  2. Coules, bons vins; femmes, deignez sourire. ↩

  3. Toujours lui! lui partout! ou brulante ou glacée, L’image de l’Arnoux. ↩

  4. Ah! j’ai l’y ri, j’ai l’y ri. Dans ce gueusard de Paris! ↩

  5. About £1,350. —⁠Translator ↩

  6. Mondor was a celebrated Italian charlatan, who, in the seventeenth century, settled in Paris and made a large fortune. —⁠Translator ↩

  7. “Elle reparaîtra, la terrible Assemblée,
    Dont, après quarante ans, votre tête est troublée,
    Colosse qui sans peur marche d’un pas puissant.”

    ↩

  8. This probably refers to the English astronomer of that name. —⁠Translator ↩

  9. The “Porcherons” was the name given to an old quarter of Paris famous for its taverns, situated between the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre and the Rue de Saint-Lazare. —⁠Translator ↩

  10. Henry IV. —⁠Translator ↩

  11. This pun of Hussonnet turns on the double sense of the word “Castille,” which not only means a place in Spain, but also an altercation. —⁠Translator ↩

  12. The word “Orléans” means light woollen cloth, and possibly Cisy’s pun might be rendered: “Oh! no cloth pudding, please.” —⁠Translator ↩

  13. The Blazer. ↩

  14. Voleur means, at the same time, a “hunter” and a “thief.” This is the foundation for Cisy’s little joke. —⁠Translator ↩

  15. Coq de bruyère means a heath-cock or grouse; hence the play on the name of La Bruyère, whose Caractères is a well-known work. —⁠Translator ↩

  16. In 1828, a certain La Fougère brought out a work entitled L’Art de n’être jamais tué ni blessé en Duel sans avons pris aucune leçon d’armes et lors même qu’on aurait affaire au premier Tireur de l’Univers. —⁠Translator ↩

  17. This refers to a charge of corruption made in 1843 against a general who was a member of the Ministry. —⁠Translator ↩

  18. Rouget means a gurnet. —⁠Translator ↩

  19. This is another political allusion. Flocon was a well-known member of the Ministry of the day. —⁠Translator ↩

  20. The “Overall.” The word marlotte means a loose wrapper worn by ladies in the sixteenth century. —⁠Translator ↩

  21. The word also means “grease-pots.” —⁠Translator ↩

  22. A marriage may take place in France under the régime de communauté, by which the husband has the enjoyment and the right of disposing of the property both of himself and his wife; the régime dotal, by which he can only dispose of the income; and the régime de séparation de biens, by which husband and wife enjoy and exercise control over their respective estates separately. —⁠Translator ↩

  23. The reader will excuse this barbarism on account of its convenience. Pot-de-vin means a gratuity or something paid to a person who has not earned it. —⁠Translator ↩

  24. This disease, consisting of ulceration of the tongue and palate, is also called aphthae. —⁠Translator ↩