T. Names of the lower classes among servants. The idea
is carried out by the reference to the visit to the cellar and the flat
candlestick. Compare: "Ne semble-t-il pas qu'il faille tant de ceremonies
pour parler a madame? On parle bien a Perrette" (_Marianne_, 2e partie).
_Perrette_, from the well-known fable of La Fontaine, _Perrette et le pot at
lait_, has come down to us as the personification of the dreamer, the builder
of air-castles. _Margot_, a diminutive of Marguerite, is a common term for
the chatterbox.

[134] FAUTES D'ORTHOGRAPHE, 'Misapprehensions as to real rank.' The ordinary
meaning of the expression, used figuratively, is _fautes de conduite_.

[135] NE VOILA-T-IL PAS! An exclamation of surprise. It might here be
translated, 'Just listen to that.' It is more correctly expressed by _ne
voila pas_, the barbarism resulting from the consideration of _voila_ as a
verb and the introduction of the euphonic _t_ and the _il_ of impersonal
verbs (Littre, "voila," 10 deg.),

[136] MA MIE. A curious example of deformation. Originally feminine nouns
beginning with a vowel took the feminine _ma_ before them, the vowel of _ma_
being elided. Thus, _m'amie_; but later the word was modified to its present
form.

[137] QU'ON NE LES APPELLE. _Que_ in the sense of _sans que_ requires the
negative particle _ne_. It is less frequently used to-day than in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. _Sans qu'on les appelle_ might replace
this expression.

[138] PUISQUE LE DIABLE LE VEUT. An uncomplimentary variant of the proverb.
"Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut."

[139] JE VOUS TROUVE ADMIRABLE, 'I think it is very surprising on your part.'

[140] GATE L'ESPRIT SUR SON COMPTE, 'Prejudiced you against him.'

[141] ON N'EN A QUE FAIRE, 'We have no need of them.'

[142] EN QUOI DONC. The _en_ here must refer to _comme elle tourne les
choses_, in Silvia's last remark.

[143] TOUJOURS, 'Still.'

[144] ME NOIRCIR L'IMAGINATION, 'Soil my thoughts.' Marivaux has very
consistently preserved the character of the high-born lady that Silvia is, in
the remarks he puts into her mouth. It is impossible for her to forget her
real rank, or to forget her usual way of considering menials as of an
inferior race.

[145] OBJET. Usually, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, denotes a
woman loved. Occasionally Corneille, like Marivaux here, employs it to denote
a man loved. This, however, is infrequent.

[146] A MOI. There is an