26. le meme grand christ. Used in administering oaths, the person
who took the oath raised his right hand toward the crucifix.

136.--4. aussi n'avancent-ils. Notice that _aussi_ here
means "tldquo;therefore" and that it causes inversion (this occurs also with _a
peine, encore, peut-etre, ici, la_, etc.).

137.--5. des robes noires, des robes rouges. The former
are worn by the judges in the lower courts, the latter by the judges in
the courts of appeal.

6. president. The French Department of Justice is now constituted
as follows. The Department has at its head a Cabinet Minister (_Ministre
de la Justice_) and it comprises a civil and a criminal jurisdiction. In
each canton is a justice of the peace, in each department a civil court,
and in sixteen important cities a court of appeal. Criminals are tried
in each department in a court of assize, before a jury of citizens and
judges of whom the presiding judge is termed the _president_ and the
assistant judges _conseillers assesseurs_. Above all courts is the Court
of Appeal (_Cour de Cassation_, in the _Palais de Justice_ at Paris);
this court is charged with looking after the strict observance of the
Laws.

138.--24. monsieur le comte. Bismarck was given the higher
title of Prince in 1871.

ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN

Emile Erckmann, Phalsbourg, 1822--Luneville, 1899. Alexandre Chatrian,
Soldatenthal, 1826--Villemombles, 1890

Most of the literary work of these two men was done jointly, hence their
hyphenated signature. Erckmann did most of the writing, Chatrian most of
the editing and adapting for the stage. Their work consisted of short
stories, novels and plays, particularly with scenes laid along the
Franco-German (Alsatian) frontier, where they were both born. Their
stories usually deal with incidents of the French Revolution, the Empire
of Napoleon l and the Franco-Prussian War; they attacked war, and their
stories are generally of a fantastic or idyllic type.

Important works: _Madame Therese_ (1863), _Histoire d'un Conscrit de
1813_ (1864), _L'Ami Fritz_ (1864, their best known novel), _Le Juif
Polonais_ (1869, their best known play, known in English as _The
Bells_), _Les Rantzau_ (1882, a play), and several collections of
_Contes_. The _Montre du Doyen_ is from the _Contes Fantastiques_
(1860).

Edition: Most of their work has been published by Hetzel.

LA MONTRE DU DOYEN

141.--2. bourgmestre. This title is not applied to French
mayors, but to those o