8 26 dire d'un ... air: 'to say with an ... air'--Je viens de: venir de faire quelque chose = 'to have just done somethmg.' In this passage the expression has both the figurative and the literal meaning: 'I come (have come) from the Bézuquets', where I have just sung.'
9 3 diable d'homme: cf. note to 1 12.
9 4 prendre: 'to captivate.'
9 7 lapin: lit. 'rabbit'; familiarly, as here, 'a game one.'--s'y connaissait en lapins: se connaître à or en = 'to be an expert in.' Y in this passage is redundant: it replaces à + eux (cf. note to 2 29), which is repeated in en lapins, cf. 10 30, and the redundant en (note to 8 19).
9 14 cheval de trompette: 'trumpeter's horse,' 'war-horse.' Trompette = 'trumpet,' 'trumpeter.'
9 16 gros sous: 'ten-centime pieces,' 'two-cent pieces. A five-centime piece (one cent) is called un petit sou.
9 17 lord Seymour: Henry Seymour (1805-1859), an eccentric, extravagant English lord who spent most of his life in Paris. He was well known to the Parisian populace.
9 18 Roi des halles tarasconnaises: 'King of the Tarascon Market-Place.' François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort (1616-1669), fearless, presumptuous, coarse, was the idol of the rabble, by whom he was surnamed Roi des Halles (the great market of Paris).