better,'
'that's exactly what I should like to know.'

_55_ 25 _algarade:_ a word borrowed from the Spanish, the root being
Arabic. It was originally a military expression meaning a raid, but now is
used more or less jocularly for a wordy attack. Transl. 'dispute.'

_55_ 26 _Me voila bien avance:_ 'I'm much farther along,' 'I'm much the
wiser' (sarcastically).

_55_ 28 _ca:_ = _cela_, 'that,' 'the thing Gregory du Montenegro,'
contemptuous when used of persons, cf. _69_ 32.

_55_ 30 _preince:_ Tartarin's Southern pronunciation of _prince_.

_56_ 1 _Allons!_ 'well!' cf. note to _36_ 18--_Partagez-vous ...
question:_ the officer in disgust bids the prince and Tartarin to divide
between them the twenty francs that are missing and let the matter drop.

_56_ 2 _qu'il n'en soit plus question:_ 'let's have no more talk about
it', cf. note to _4 23_.

_56_ 6 _j'en fais mon affaire:_ 'I'll attend to this.'

_56_ 12 _Barbarin:_ when this work first appeared in serial form Tartarin
was called "Barbarin." The name was changed when Daudet discovered that a
family named Barbarin was living at Tarascon. See Introduction. The word
_tartarin_ means the sacred or Arabian baboon.

_56_ 13 _souffla:_ 'prompted.' _Souffler_, 'to blow,' 'to breathe,' in
theatrical parlance means 'to prompt.' _Le souffleur_ is 'the prompter.'

_56_ 14 _Entre ... mort:_ 'between us now it's a compact for life and
death!'

_56_ 17 _Vous pensez:_ cf. note to _4_ 6.

_56_ 21 _terrasses:_ cf. note to _64_ 2.

_56_ 22 _salade russe:_ 'Russian salad,' a heavy fish and vegetable salad.

_56_ 25 _frise au petit fer:_ 'with fineiy curled hair.' _Friser au fer_ =
'to curl with an iron.'

_56_ 26 _rase a la pierre ponce:_ 'very closely shaven.' Pumice stone has
from ancient times been used by the effeminate for smoothing the skin.

_56_ 27 _lui donnait un faux air de:_ 'made him look like', lit 'gave him
a false air of.'

_56_ 28 _Mazarin:_ Giulio Mazarini (1602-1661), an Italian who became
cardinal, and prime minister under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, talked French
with an Italian accent. He wore the mustache and slight beard usual at
that period.

_56_ 29 _les langues latines:_ pompously for _la langue latine_--_a tout
propos:_ 'apropos of everything,' 'at every opportunity'--_Tacite:_
'Tacitus' (54-140 A.D.), the famous latin historian.

_56_ 30 _Horace_ (64-8 B.C.) the Latin lyric poet--_Commentaires:_ the
histories of the wars of Julius Caesar