[220] D’OU VIENT ME DITES-VOUS CELA?  ‘Why do you tell me that?’ A strange wording for D’ou vient que vous me dites cela?  D’ou vient, as used by Marivaux, is generally synonymous with pourquoi.

[221] VOILA OU GIT LE LIEVRE, ‘That’s where the secret lies.’  A well-known proverbial expression, worded also, “C’est la que git le lievre.”

[222] A TIRER, ‘To be allowed for.’

[223] GLOIRE, ‘Rank,’ ‘show.’

[224] J’ENTRE EN CONFUSION DE MA MISERE, ’To whom I have been ashamed to reveal my lowly station.’

[225] PARDI.  See note 15.

[226] FAUTES D’ORTHOGRAPHE.  See note 134.

[227] N’APPRETONS POINT A RIRE, ’Let us give them no occasion to laugh at us.’ Appreter a rire, Littre, 8 deg., also Dict. de l’Acad., 1878.

[228] HABIT D’ORDONNANCE, ‘Livery.’  Until 1666 the regiments in the French army wore the livery of the colonel commanding.  After that date they wore the king’s livery or uniform, though some regiments, more highly favored, wore the actual colors of the royal livery; the uniform was in fact nothing but a mark that the wearers belonged to the sovereign.  Harlequin has played upon this fact in a preceding scene, when he has called himself “un soldat d’antichambre.”

[229] CELA NE LAISSE PAS D’ETRE.  See note 109.

[230] TANT Y A QUE, ‘However that may be,’ or ’Nevertheless, the truth is that.’

[231] LA VOILA BIEN MALADE, ‘She is pining with love for me.’

[232] PAR LA VENTREBLEU, Ventrebleu, written also ventrebieu, is a euphemism for ventre (de) Dieu.  A familiar interjection; admitted by the Academy, 1878.  For the la, compare a similar corruption of palsambleu (par le sang [de] Dieu) into par LA sambleu, and corbleu (corps [de] Dieu) into par LA corbleu.

[233] CASAQUE.  Harlequin’s loose upper garment or jacket.

[234] SOUQUENILLE.  A long outer garment of coarse cloth, worn especially by grooms in the care of their horses.

[235] UN AMOUR DE MA FACON, ‘A passion inspired by me.’

[236] SUJET A LA CASSE, ‘Apt to be thwarted.’ Casse—­literally ‘breakage.’

[237] FRIPERIE, ‘Old clothes.’  Used colloquially; as in English, ‘duds.’

[238] POUSSER MA POINTE, ‘Carry out my purpose.’

[239] LA MIENNE.  Refers to friperie.

[240] NOUS L’AVONS DANS NOTRE MANCHE.  “Avoir une personne dans sa manche, En disposer a son gre” (Dictionnaire de l’Academie francaise).  The expression, no doubt, is derived from the custom of using the full sleeves as a receptacle for all manner of objects to be carried about by the wearer at a time when pockets were not worn.  It is still in vogue in certain cases—­ military officers, for instance, carry their handkerchiefs in their left sleeve.  Theophile Gautier, in his Voyage en Italie, speaks of giving to a couple of monks “quelques zwantzigs pour dire des messes a notre intention.  Les bons peres prirent l’argent, le glisserent dans le pli de leur manche.”