ed rather as a somewhat vague
epithet to suggest darkness, gloom, cruelty, savagery, or oppressive
power. It never denotes merely a physical quality; in such
expressions as 'leur fauve volee', speaking of the ravens in _La Fin
de Satan_, 'le desert fauve' (_Androcles_), 'son bec fauve', of the
vulture (_Sultan Mourad_), the suggestion of wildness or
ruthlessness predominates. Usually the word is used in a wholly
figurative sense. Thus in _La Fin de Satan_ the fallen archangel,
flying from Jehovah, is 'fauve et hagard', Barabbas stumbling
against the Cross is 'fauve', and of the lunatic in the tombs
it is said: 'fauve il mordait'. In all these cases the meaning is
'wild','savage '. In _Dieu_ we have `Venus, fauve et fatale'
('cruel'), in _L'Ane_ les canons dont les fauves gueulees'
('terrible'), in _L'Annee Terrible_'un hallier fauve ou des sabres
fourmillent' ('wild'), and France is called upon to be 'franchement
fauve et sombre' ('fierce'). In the following passages we have
bolder uses still:

Le progres a parfois l'allure vaste et fauve ('awe-inspiring')
Et le bien bondissant effare ceux qu'il sauve. (_Dieu_.)

If man had been unselfish,

L'ombre immense serait son fauve auxiliaire. (Ibid.)

Of war,

Elle chantait, terrible et tranquille, et sa bouche
Fauve bavait du sang dans le clairon farouche.
(_Changement d'Horizon._)
La fauve volupte de mourir. (_Mangeront-ils?_)

It is applied even to sound. 'Le fauve bruit' is used in _L'Ane_ of
the battles of primeval monsters, and more mystically in _La Vision
d'ou sortit le livre_ of the passing of the Spirit of Fatality.

Also of smell

Que l'homme au ciel s'egare ou qu'il fanatise
Avec la fauve odeur des buchers qu'il attise.
(_Religions et Religion_.)

Nor must the strange well-known line in _La Bouche d'Ombre_ be
forgotten

Le fauve Univers est le forcat de Dieu.

_Fauve_ is always used of what is dark and gloomy, just as
_vermeil_ is always applied to what is bright and pleasant.

_cimier_. See note on LE MARIAGE DE ROLAND.

_melusine_. A heraldic figure, half woman, half serpent, bathing
in a basin. Taken from the name of a fairy, celebrated in the folklore
of Poitou.

_alerion_, a heraldic figure, representing an eagle without beak or
claws.

_le manche d'une guitare_ is the small end.

_bourguignotte_, a small helmet without throat-piece, so called
because it was first used by the Burgundians.

_Diane eblouissait le