17 9 Maison carrée ('Square House') de Nîmes one of the most beautiful Roman remains in France It was a Roman temple and is very small a mere nothing in comparison with Notre Dame--bijou d'étagère 'cabinet gem' The étagère is used for displaying small articles of value, see "étagère" and "whatnot" in Engl. Dict.
17 10 Notre-Dame the celebrated cathedral in Paris.
17 14 Tout au plus une sous-préfecture 'at the very most a subprefecture' Arles (cf. 29 11) with a population of 29,000, is an example of a subprefecture Both Athens and Sparta were decidedly larger than this, cf. note to 80 13 The French départements (compare our 'States') are divided into arrondissements (compare our 'counties') A prefect (préfet) presides over a département, and a subprefect (sous préfet) over an arrondissement Sous préfecture is synonymous with arrondissement, or, as here, is used for the city in which the subprefect has his offices. An arrondissement is divided into cantons and a canton into communes.
17 chapter heading Atlas: a mountain range in northwestern Africa.
17 25 séculaire: 'lasting for centuries'(Lat sæculum), 'everlasting' not 'secular' See Engl dict.
18 2 devait: 'was to', cf. 26 9, 32 10, 39 26 See note to 2 10.
18 4 était en train de démontrer: 'was in the act of demonstrating'; Transl. simply 'was demonstrating'--amateur 'admirer,' 'lover' The distinction 'amateur,' 'professional,' is French as well as English, but in French the word amateur also means 'lover'--not, however, the lover of a person Tartarin was demonstrating to some 'lovers (of arms)'.