[2]. Chambort, a magnificent palace about ten miles west of Paris, constructed by Pierre Napren for Francis I., and decorated by Cousin, Pilon, and others. It was afterwards owned by King Stanislaus, then by the family of Polignac, afterwards by Marshal Berthier. In 1821 it was granted to the Duke of Bordeaux, and is now in the possession of his descendants.
[Page 110.—1]. Blois, chief city of the Department of Loir-et-Cher, on the right bank of the Loire, about 110 miles south-southwest of Paris. Its Counts were of the family of Hugh Capet. During the reign of Charles the Simple, it was in the possession of Thibaut, Count of Chartres. It remained to his descendants till 1491, when it came into the hands of the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis XII., who united it to the possessions of the Crown. Blois then became a favorite resort of the House of Valois; Francis I. and Charles IX. resided there. A fine description of the palace is given in Balzac's Catherine de Medici.
[Page 111.—1]. Que in the sense of pourquoi. (See also [page 126, line 23].)
[Page 112.—1]. Est-ce de vous dont je parle? such is the reading of the edition edited by E. Flammarion, which text has been mostly followed in this edition. A preferable reading is that of the edition of P.A. Moutardier, edited by Étienne and Jay: est-ce vous dont je parle? Compare ce n'est pas moi dont vous parlez ([line 24]), and ce n'est pas vous dont vous parlez ([page 83, line 28]). The reading of the edition of Garnier Frères is: est-ce de vous que je parle?
[Page 113.—1]. S'il n'y alloit que de mon intérêt, "if my interests alone were at stake."
[Page 115.—1]. This tender and praiseworthy resolution of Madame de Clèves furnishes the true explanation of her actions toward the Duke of Nemours after the death of her husband,—a course of conduct which some of Madame de La Fayette's critics find so inexplicable. (See d'Haussonville's Vie de Mme. de La Fayette, p. 190.)
[Page 116.—1]. Plus de devoir, plus de vertu, "no more requirements of duty or virtue."
[Page 119.—1]. Supposant, "under the pretext."
[Page 122.—1]. Notice the use of the future and the conditional in interjectional expression in the sense of the present and past tenses. Translate: "Can it be that a mere fancy prevents you from giving happiness to a man," etc.
[Page 126.—1]. Monsieur de Clèves ne fait encore que d'expirer, "M. de Clèves has just died."