13 27 Provençal: a native of Provence Provence = Latin provincia, 'the province,' comprising that part of Gaul which was first conquered and organized, later Gallia Narbonensis Properly, Provence is today the southeastern part of France, but the terms Provence, Provençal, are frequently used to designate all of southern France (south of the Loire), the Midi--se paie: 'treats himself to', cf. je me paie un bon dîner 'I treat myself to a good dinner'--C'est au plus s'il: 'at the most he,' 'scarcely did he'.
1328 Beaucaire: a city on the Rhone, opposite Tarascon, to which it is joined by a long suspension bridge. cf. note to 18 11.
13 30 diable de pont: cf. note to 1 12.
14 4 C'est que: 'the fact is that'.
14 5 Je sens deux hommes en moi: see Romans vii, Galatians v, 17. One of the distinctive features of the religion of St Paul was its insistence upon an internal conflict between the higher and lower impulses of man. Daudet is probably thinking of the expression of this doctrine in one of Racine's canticles (III) where th words Je trouve deux hommes en moi appear.
14 6 Père d'Église 'Church Father' Paul was an Apostle, not a Church Father. The Church Fathers were the early disseminators and expounders of the Christian faith who continued the work of the apostles--Il l'eût dit vrai = il l'aurait dit vrai. Vrai is used adverbially, 'truly'.
14 10 hidalgo Spanish, 'nobleman', Latin filius de aliquo 'son of somebody '--prétexte de corps 'apology for a body'.
14 11 manquait de prise 'had no hold'.