Produced by David Starner, Pierre Lacaze and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.
Lake Forest University
This edition is intended for beginners in high-schools as well ascolleges. Since every instructor has his own views and methods in thematter of making the reading yield grammatical instruction, no remarkson grammar, or references to grammars, have been attempted. In orderto accustom the student to the use of a dictionary, to obviate thenecessity of his looking in two places for information, and to savespace, the linguistic matter which usually comprises the bulk of noteshas been included in the vocabulary, and the remaining material of thenotes has been placed at the bottom of the page.
The inclusion of "Le Coup de pistolet, traduit de Pouchkine" as oneof the "Quatre Contes de Prosper Mérimée" needs no apology, sinceMérimée's version of the story is so individualized, that it has fromall points of view the value of an original production.
Thanks are due Mr. Stephen H. Bush, of the Department of French in the
University of Iowa, for aid in the reading of the proof-sheets.
F.C.L.v.S.
May 1, 1902.
Prosper Mérimée was born in Paris, on the 28th of September, 1803, anddied at Cannes, on the 23d of September, 1870. His grandfather on hisfather's side was a lawyer, his father a professor at the École desBeaux-Arts. His mother, a grand daughter of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont,the author of "The Beauty and the Beast" and other juvenile stories,was a painter of merit, like his father, and had a natural gift fornarration.
Mérimée's early home and school training emphasized and developedthree characteristics of his nature, the first of which had to do withhis feelings, the second with his mind, and the third with his will.
When he was five years old, it happened that he was sent away from hismother's studio as a punishment for some misbehavior. Once outside, hebegan to beg pardon in tones of genuine repentance. His mother did notanswer. Finally, he opened the door and dragged himself on hisknees towards her, supplicating so pathetically that she burstout—laughing. Then, suddenly, he arose and in an altered tone criedout: "Well, if you make fun of me, I shall never beg pardon again!"Afterwards at school, at the Collège Henri IV, he was teased and madefun of by his fellows on account of his timidity, awkwardness and theeffeminate elegance of his dress. This sort of experience, aidedby his natural temperament, gradually led to the concealment of hisfeelings. Though his voluminous correspondence, published after hisdeath, reveals a sensitive nature, his habitual attitude towards theemotions ultimately became one of indifference and even cynicism.
He fared better in the education of his mental faculties. His parents'home was a calm retreat where thought, judgment and refinement hadtheir abode, and the noise of mob and cannon and politics scarcelypenetrated. It was an artists' home, frequented by artists, English aswell as French. Here was leisure and disposition to consider the valueof an idea. And here was laid the foundation of that varie