Quatre contes de Prosper Mérimée
Mérimée, Prosper, 1803-1870
French
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QUATRE CONTES
DE
PROSPER MÉRIMÉE
EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES,
AND VOCABULARY
BY
F.C.L. VAN STEENDEREN, PH.D.
Lake Forest University
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PREFACE
This edition is intended for beginners in high-schools as well as
colleges. Since every instructor has his own views and methods in the
matter of making the reading yield grammatical instruction, no remarks
on grammar, or references to grammars, have been attempted. In order
to accustom the student to the use of a dictionary, to obviate the
necessity of his looking in two places for information, and to save
space, the linguistic matter which usually comprises the bulk of notes
has been included in the vocabulary, and the remaining material of the
notes has been placed at the bottom of the page.
The inclusion of "Le Coup de pistolet, traduit de Pouchkine" as one
of the "Quatre Contes de Prosper Mérimée" needs no apology, since
Mérimée's version of the story is so individualized, that it has from
all 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.
IOWA CITY, IA.
May 1, 1902.
INTRODUCTION
Prosper Mérimée was born in Paris, on the 28th of September, 1803, and
died at Cannes, on the 23d of September, 1870. His grandfather on his
father's side was a lawyer, his father a professor at the _École des
Beaux-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 for
narration.
Mérimée's early home and school training emphasized and developed
three characteristics of his nature, the first of which had to do with
his 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 his
mother's studio as a punishment for some misbehavior. Once outside, he
began to beg pardon in tones of genuine repentance. His mother did not
answer. Finally, he opened the door and dragged himself on his
knees towards her, supplicating so pathetically that she burst
out--laughing. Then, suddenly, he arose and in an altered tone cried
out: "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 made
fun of by his fellows on account of his timidity, awkwardness and the
effeminate elegance of his dress. This sort of experience, aided
by his natural temperament, gradually led to the concealment of his
feelings. Though his voluminous correspondence, published after his
death, reveals a sensitive nature, his habitual attitude towards the
emotions 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 had
their abode, and the noise of mob and cannon and politics scarcely
penetrated. It was an artists' home, frequented by artists, English as
well as French. Here was leisure and disposition to consider the value
of an idea. And here was laid the foundation of that varied education
of which he gives evidence in the many-sidedness of his interests and
of his literary activity.
But although this quiet life in the society of artists and scholars,
quite shut in from the world of politics, was conducive to the
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