[333] The original has et qui a consigné, a meaning which we have still in the English word “consignment.” The explanation of this word is given by the author himself.
[334] An allusion to the three fleurs de lis of the Bourbons.
[335] Litre, in the original, is a kind of mourning hangings, or, rather, a broad velvet band on which the coats of arms of certain nobles were painted, and which was placed around the church, inside as well as outside. The right of using the litre belonged only to noblemen who had founded a church, or to those who had exercised a certain jurisdiction in their domains.
[336] The commentators hint at several magistrates as the originals of the Crispins, and imagine that the Sannions were the family of Leclerc de Lesseville, the descendants of rich tanners, who became ennobled for having lent 20,000 crowns to Henry IV. after the battle of Ivry.
[337] This “other man” was a certain President de Coigneux, who neglected his legal duties to spend all his time in sport.
[338] Laisse-courre in French; formerly courre was used instead of courir, as a sporting term.
[339] A. M. Jérôme de Nouveau, the head of the post-office, is said to have asked his head huntsman a similar question.
[340] Hippolytus, son of Theseus, king of Athens, “a youth who never knew a woman,” thrown from his chariot and killed, is the hero of Racineʼs tragedy Phèdre.
[341] The Ile meant nearly always the Ile Saint-Louis; the Quartier du Temple, formerly the Marais, is even sometimes now called by that name.
[342] The commentators have given the names of several obscure people for those “infatuated men,” and for André as well; but it is surely not a rare thing for men to ruin themselves through vanity.