[4] They were pears 'de bon chrétien.' 'Choke-pears' renders rather weakly the poires d'angoisse of Mr. Thibaudier.
[5] Compare 'Tartuffe,' act ii. scene iii.
[6] The Martial who did not write verses, sold perfumery, and was valet-de-chambre to the king's brother. Martial, the Roman epigrammatist, lived in the first century after Christ.