Paris, May 26th 1999

Dear Brian,

In yesterday's digest, you wrote :

> (My snuffbox) is in a black case with the lid impressed with a scene
> of three French soldiers getting drunk and three others in the
> background.  The inscription reads "Je suis pris d la j'suis
> poitrinaire au francais invetere le bon vin est assure".  My French
> is naive, to say the least, but perhaps Philippe Rouille can
> translate it for me.

Such scenes are often to be seen on black "composition" case snuff
boxes.  The translation is difficult, the sentences are usually
elliptic, in bad French and probably referring to a long since
forgotten proverb or song.

In this case, it could be translated as :

    I feel dizzy there (NB probably in the chest, due to the alcohol ...)
    I am consumptive
    To the real Frenchman
    Good wine is granted"

And to Englishmen too, since they are in the Common market !

Best regards,

Philippe

Philippe Rouille
(Paris, France)
rouille@cnam.fr
http://www.cnam.fr/museum/musica_mecanica/