[141.]--2. bourgmestre. This title is not applied to French mayors, but to those of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, etc.
[142.]--13. plus d'une demi-lieue. The use of de instead of que, "than," occurs before numerals and is a survival of the Old French construction, which employed de (than) generally after a comparative (cf. the more general use of di in this sense in Italian).
27. grand concerto. Incorrect in Italian, where grande is usually written gran before a word beginning with a consonant (except s followed by another consonant); before a vowel grand' is used (grand'impero, great empire).
29. théologiens... philosophes. A playful reference to the students of Heidelberg University.
[145.]--10. jusque passé minuit. Note that jusque and not jusqu'à is here used; besides a following preposition (jusque sur, etc.), certain following adverbs may have the same construction (jusqu'ici, jusque-là, jusqu'aujourd'hui, etc.).
20. ce disant. A survival of the Old French construction where ce could be used as object without a noun. In modern French ce is usually either an adjective pronoun or it is the impersonal subject of a verb or it is the antecedent of a relative; the other uses have been taken over by ceci and cela. Another similar construction is sur ce, used by sovereigns in closing letters.
[148.]--8. que. To avoid repetition of comme.
[149.]--14. soit. The tendency, although usage varies, is to pronounce the t in this exclamation.
23. comme tu voudras. Note the tense, a polite future, where in English the present would be used; notice also, the tense on p. 148, l. 18.
[153.]--15. et toute la salle de rire. An example of the historical infinitive, which expresses the sudden result of a preceding action and is accompanied by a new subject.