El Capitán Veneno. Pedro Antonio de Alarcón

1

la vecina corte, or la villa y corte, means 'Madrid'.

2

con vivas instancias, with hearty urging. Cf. the kindred sense in "instant (urgent) in prayer".

3

1848: Isabel II being queen. She was dethroned in 1868.

4

la República : it was twenty-five years later that Spain became a republic, and then relapsed in one year.

5

Ataulfo, Visigoth king; with Alaric, he overran Italy; died assassinated 415 A.D.

6

Pelayo, called "first king of the Spaniards". Died about 737.

7

Trastamara became king as Henry II. Died 1379.

8

Isabel II: 1830-1904; queen at three; niece of Don Carlos, who always opposed her.

9

Narváez: 1800-1868; general and statesman of great energy.

10

acontecimientos, happenings. Let the student note the ending -imiento, so common with -er and -ir verb stems.

11

vivían: the student must learn to recognize the subject far after the verb, constantly in this text, and commonly.

12

piadosas: any adjective may precede its noun in a complimentary way.

13

éranse que se eran, there were so there were: children's style; que, in such clauses as this, is frequently to be ignored in translation, or else is to be rendered by and. The verb ser rarely takes a reflexive.

14

salido en todo a su padre, had turned out to look like her father: salirse a, in the sense of parecerse a, to look like.

15

doméstica, servant: this poor girl is abused throughout the story.

16

hasta cierto punto, to a certain extent: not used here seriously, but rather trivially. The author often drops into a coterie style.

17

con faldas, with skirts on: facetious. Cf. hígado con pies y sombrero, 'a liver with feet and hat'. Niña de la Bola, p. 126. Such often in Alarcón.

18

Facilísimo: Felicísimo in the 10th edition.

19

dejara de, should fail to: preposition echoes the prefix.

20

prendarse de, be taken with: a common construction.

21

luego que fijase en ella la atención, as soon as he observed her; literally, as soon as he fixed his attention on her. Cf. parar atención en, parar mientes en.

22

Preste Juan, Prester John: anglicized form of the name of a medieval king in Asia, whom missionaries reported as converted. About the name grew up fanciful and extravagant stories.

23

hasta que, till that [we form an opinion]: note the que for the preposition to lean on; so, following note.

24

de que, of [the fact] that: the preposition needs que.

25

Dijérase, It might be said: Alarcón very often puts the pronoun as an enclitic, at the end of the verb.

26

pagada, paid, satisfied, then self-satisfied. Cf. pagarse de meras

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