7 4 depuis ... chantent 'in all the time that they have been singing them to one another.' Chantent is present tense with depuis.
7 5 en changer: cf. note to 1 3.
7 6 n'y touche: cf. note to 2 29.
7 18 les lui faire chanter: 'to make him sing them'; faire chanter à Tartarin, lui faire chanter, = 'to make T. sing,' 'to make him sing --Revenu ... salon: 'early (in life) surfeited with salon successes' Revenu = 'returned,' 'satiated,' 'tired of.'
7 21 cercle: 'club.' The English word "club" is used in French in reference to sporting and political clubs.
7 22 Nîmes: Daudet's birthplace, an ancient city with remarkable Roman remains, eighteen miles west of Tarascon.
7 25 après s'être bien fait prier: 'after having been begged a long time'; cf. je me fais prier, je me suis fait prier. An active infinitive after faire is to be translated passively: faire bâtir une maison = 'to cause (some one) to build a house,' 'to have a house built'; cf. 31 9, 64 27, 77 25, 81 7. Se faire prier = 'to have oneself begged,' se faire comprendre (40 26) = 'to make himself understood.' Se faire expliquer (24 6-7) = 'to have explained to themselves,' faire expliquer une leçon = 'to have a lesson explained.' The same constructions are used with laisser; cf. 29 25, 49 14-15, 60 13.
7 26 dire: 'to say,' 'relate impressively,' 'sing', cf. 24 21 --Robert le Diable: 'Robert the Devil,' a famous opera by Meyerbeer, text by Scribe (1832). The story, widespread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and later, is concerned with the struggle of a pious mother to rescue her son from the devil. She is successful Robert saves Rome from the Saracens and ends his life as a hermit.
7 28 Pour moi: 'as for me,' 'as far as I am concerned'--quand je vivrais cent ans: 'even if I should live for a hundred years', note this meaning of quand with the conditional.
7 29 s'approchant du: note the de used with s'approcher, se rapprocher, 20 25.