41.--1. l'année d'invasion. The reference is to the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. This war was largely brought on
through The instrumentality of Bismarck, who went so far as to falsify
French telegrams; it resulted in the defeat of France and the loss of
the Alsace-Lorraine territory. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, was
overthrown and the present Republic was established.
9. il aimait se lever tard. _Aimer_, except in poetry or unless
used colloquially as in this instance, is usually followed by
the infinitive with à; sometimes it is followed by the simple
infinitive,. in this case it is usually in the conditional or it is
accompanied by certain adverbs (_mieux, autant, bien, assez_, etc.); it
may even be followed by the infinitive with _de_ when the infinitive
gives the cause (_je vous aime d'avoir fait cela_).
46.--21. des petites bêtes. In familiar style, or when the
words form really only one idea, partition is expressed by _de_ and the
article even when an adjective precedes the noun.
47.--16. on aperçut l'ennemi. Apercevoir refers especially
to the sense of sight, _s'apercevoir de_ to a mental process (_il
s'aperçut de son erreur_).
48.--4. cessèrent. Note the plural verb though the
singular subjects are not connected by _et_.
17. mangeaille, _-aille_ is a derogatory suffix; the force of the
various French suffixes, to which little or no attention is paid in the
ordinary French grammars, may be seen in the _Dictionnaire général_,
vol. l, pp. 43 ff. and pp. 48 ff.; also in Ayer, _Grammaire comparée de
la langue française_ (4th edition), pp. 300 ff.
49.--25. mon colonel. The possessive pronoun is used by
French soldiers in addressing superior officers.