[L. 97.] Malesherbes, Turgot. These Ministers retired in 1776, but Malesherbes resumed office, only for a few months, in 1787.
[L. 105.] armer d'injustes plaintes. Cf. note to p. 4, l. 100.
[Ll. 107.] impie. Offending honour, considered as a religion. Cf. p. 110, l. 54.
[Ll. 131, 132.] le libre encens d'une lyre au coeur chaste. An incoherent metaphor.
II. TERRE, TERRE CHÉRIE....
[L. 3.] Romans, a town in the department of Drôme where the States General of Dauphiné were held in 1788 as a prelude to the Revolution.
III. LE RAT DE VILLE ET LE RAT DES CHAMPS.
Translated from Horace, Sat. II. vi. 80. Compare the much freer imitation or rather adaptation of Pope, p. 444 of Globe edition.
[L. 10.] une dent dédaigneuse. Horace's 'Dente superbo.'
[L. 16.] ici près, a feature of colloquialism very much in place. In the same way does Molière use 'ici dessous, L'Êt., I. iv., 'ici dedans,' Pré. vii., 'ici autour,' D. Juan, III. ii.