5: Ni talons rouges, ni bonnets rouges. To wear red heels was a privilege of aristocracy under the ancien régime, and the bonnet rouge was the liberty cap adopted as a head-dress by the Revolutionists.
6: L'autre Saint Office, the Inquisition.
7: Romancero general, a collection of Spanish ballads, first published under this name in 1604 and 1605. They were taken for the most part, however, from song-books of the previous century, especially a Cancionero general of 1511, and a Cancionero de romances of 1555. But Hugo derived little from the Romancero general except the spirit of chivalry with which his drama is imbued.
8: The absurdly rigid critics of Corneille's day (1606-1684) found fault even with the «Cid» for not being sufficiently classical; Corneille himself called «Don Sanche» une comédie héroïque, and was at great pains to defend it as un poème d'une espèce nouvelle, et qui n'a point d'exemple chez les anciens. «Nicomède» gave him the same misgivings, and Voltaire, the most meticulous of critics, charged it with being trop vulgaire, trop populaire.
9: Bourges. The cathedral of Bourges, a small city in central France, is one of the most sincere and impressive monuments of Gothic architecture. Its massiveness and originality atone easily for the incongruities of its style.
10: PENDANT OPERA INTERRUPTA, Virgil, AEneid, iv. 88.
ACT I.
1: Isabelle la catholique (1451-1504), queen of Castile, and patroness of Columbus. Her marriage with Ferdinand of Aragon (1469) assured the unity of Spain. They are known in history as Los reyes catolicos.
2: le regarde sous le nez, «looks sharply into his face».
3: main-forte, «Help!» Understand prêtez.