Note 9 — LETTER III.

As we should say in english, “a lost thing.” The french expression is more commonly used, and is infinitely stronger in its meaning. It is adopted on all occasions of misfortune; such as to deplore the death of a friend, or the loss of a “spectacle.” A general was lately killed in a duel. A fair parisian of high fashion, to whom he was much attached, on hearing of the accident, exclaimed, with an accent of deep despair, “Que je suis à plaindre! il devoit m’avoir amenée au bal de l’opéra demain. Voilà une affaire bien manquée.” (How am I to be pitied! he was to have taken me to the ball at the opera to-morrow. Here is a lost thing, or a party completely deranged.)