[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 ellipsis at the end of Silvia’s remark, which, completed, would read:  Il n’y aurait pas grande perte a cela.  Dorante’s reply, which is not strictly grammatical, even in the use of the time, would certainly nowadays be constructed differently, e.g., Non plus que si je m’en allais aussi, moi.

[147] NE SONT BONNES QU’EN PASSANT, ’Can only be indulged in once in a while.’

[148] JE NE SUIS PAS FAITE POUR ME RASSURER TOUJOURS, ’I do not feel that I could always be sure of...’

[149] CELA NE RESSEMBLEROIT PLUS A RIEN.  The sense is:  “My attitude towards you would be so extraordinary that it might become compromising” (Larroumet).

[150] IL N’EN SEROIT NI PLUS NI MOINS = Cela ne changerait rien.’  It would make no difference.’

[151] J’AMUSERAI, ‘Shall I flatter with vain hopes?’ Compare:  “Il veut que je l’amuse, et ne veut rien de plus” (Corneille, Sertorius, II, 3).  “Car vous lui promettez tous les huit jours de l’epouser dans la semaine, et il y a pres d’un an que vous l’amusez” (Dancourt, Le Chevalier a la Mode, I, 7).

[152] JE T’EN ASSURE.  The en here is unconnected with any other part of the sentence.  In modern construction it would not be used.

[153] TE RENDRE SENSIBLE.  An expression very frequently, indeed generally, used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for me faire aimer de toi.  A reminiscence of the days and modes of thought of the precieuses and the whole tribe of writers of novels after the manner of l’Astree.

[154] SANS DIFFICULTE, ‘Undoubtedly.’

[155] IL NE MANQUOIT PLUS QUE CETTE FACON-LA, ‘This is the finishing stroke.’

[156] DANS LE RESPECT.  The modern form is par le respect.

[157] POUR DANS.  An awkward expression.  The pour might better have been omitted.  Later editions give simply dans.