ppened).'

_54_ 6 _ni plus ni moins que l'Opera:_ 'just as the Opera does.' The
_Opera_ is the famous Opera House in Paris, where a great masked ball is
given every year.

_54_ 7 _de province:_ 'provincial' All France outside of Paris is
disdainfully designated by Parisians as _la province_. With _province do
not confuse _Provence_ (cf. note to _13 27)--_Peu de monde:_ 'few people.'

_54_ 8 _Bullier ... Casino:_ Parisian dance-halls--_vierges folles:_
'frail sisters.' In the French version of the parable of the Ten Virgins
(Matthew xxv, 1-12) the foolish virgins are called _vierges folles_.

_54_ 9 _chicards:_ 'dandies'--_debardeurs:_ men who unload wood,
'stevedores.' Conventionalized dandy and stevedore costumes were made
popular as early as the thirties by the clever cartoonist Gavarni and were
seen at all masked balls. The reference here is to frequenters of Parisian
masked balls who have found it advisable to leave France (_en deroute_)
and have carried their costumes with them.

_54_ 10 _se lancent:_ 'are launching out,' ='are getting started,' i.e. in
a disreputable life.

_54_ 12 _Le vrai coup d'oeil:_ 'the real spectacle', _coup d'oeil_ =
'glance,' and hence 'view' such as may be taken in all at once.

_54_ 15 _tapis verts:_ the green coverings of the gaming tables--turcos:
'Turcos,' native soldiers of the French army in Algeria.

_54_ 16 _pret:_ 'pay' of non commissioned officers and soldiers, called
_pret_ (cf. _preter_ 'to lend') because advanced to them before it is due.

_54_ 18 _l'argent d'une charrue:_ 'the price of a plow.'

_54_ 20 _trouble:_ adjective.

_54_ 29 _a barbe de Pere eternel:_ _le Pere etetnel_ is, of course, God.
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance did not scruple to represent him in
sculpture and painting. Transl. 'with a long white beard.'

_55_ 7 _la garde qui monte:_ 'the guard coming up.' Note that a French
relative clause is often to be rendered by a present participle in English
e g, _je l'entends qui frappe_ 'I hear him knocking.' Cf. _6_ 10, _64_ 18,
_68_ 9.

_55_ 8 _ces saturnales:_ 'this saturnalia' The Roman festival of Saturn
was a penod of riotous license--_etait venu s'egarer: 'had come straying',
cf. _93_ 19.

_55_ 10 _s'en allait:_ for _allait_, cf. note to _17_ 4.

_55_ 13 _M'sieu:_ indicates by the spelling the usual pronunciation of
_Monsieur_.

_55_ 15 _Apres?_ 'Well, what have you to say?'

_55_ 17 _Je ne demande pas mieux:_ 'I don't ask (anything)