Page 3.--"Red Cheshire." The Dutch cheese so-called is "roux." Braun
suggests that the adjective should be translated "red-haired."
Page 6.--"Those that we address with 'Sir.'" The cheese sold under the
name of "Monsieur Fromage."
Page 13, _seq_.--Max Elskamp's poetry is considered somewhat obscure,
and students may find the following equations of help: la Vierge = la
femme pure; Jesus = l'enfance delicieuse; un dimanche solaire = une joie
eclatante; un dimanche de coeur de bois = une joie egoiste; un soldat
= brutalite; un juif = un marchand; un oiseau = la vie sous la forme du
verbe; une fleur = la vie sous la forme de la senteur.
Page 13.--"Of Evening." Sunday is life, the week-days are death; the
poet is the Sunday, therefore, since the week is about to begin again,
he _must_ die. The third stanza means that the Truelove will never again
weep for the fair days of betrothal or marriage which the old family
ring she wears remind her of.
Page 18.--"Full of cripples." By night, because then the regulations
forbidding begging are more easily set at defiance.
Page 19, line 6.--An allusion to the painting by Seghers, which
represents the Virgin Mary with lilies, dahlias, and even snowdrops.
Page 23.--"Here the azure cherubs blow." An allusion to the painting by
Fouquet in the Museum at Antwerp.
Page 47.--In Huysmans' novel, _A Rebours_, liqueurs are compared with
musical instruments: curacao corresponds to the clarinet; kuemmel to the
nasal oboe; kirsch to the fierce blast of a trumpet, etc.
Page 100.--Song vii. "Et c'est l'esclavage, n'est-ce pas? auquel
s'astreint tout etre qui se devoue." Beaunier.
Page 107.--"The running water" is the image of the human soul,
constantly changing, "en devenir dans le devenir." And yet there is in
it a continued, though mobile unity, a permanent _rhythm_. It
objectifies itself in space, but only exists in time, and Mockel sees
its vital sign in those _aspirations_ which guide it towards itself,
which bear it on to its fate. The unity of the mobile river, whose waves
to-morrow will no longer be those they are to-day, is the continuous
current that bears it, as though it aspired to the infinity of oceans.
Page 110.--The Goblet is woman, who, whether she inspires genius or
sells her body, exists, for us, less by herself than by us; she is what
we make her, like this goblet whose colours vary according to what one
pours into it.
Page 111.--The Chandelier symbolizes the permanent drama enacted by Art,
placed as it is between the frivolous world,--which tramples the rose of
love under foot,--an the immortal splendour of Nature, which makes it
feel its own feebleness.
Page 113.--The Angel is the legend of genius.
Page 116.--The Man with the lyre is the poet, who is less and less
understood as he strikes the graver chords of his lyre.
Page 122.--The Eternal Bride is the Aspiration towards which we strive.
strive.