the good folks at Language Log
Yes, after I'd read that I went looking for it's origin. Thought I'd share the fruits of my labor such that they were.
You got a more literal translation of faisoit de la terre le foussé?
Not totally sure, perhaps belMarduk can translate: something like "trying to make a ditch out of earth". I found it used another time by Balzac in one of his Contes drolatiques:
Or, force de faire esternuer ses escuz, tousser sa braguette, saigner les poinçons, resgualer les linottes coëffées et faire de la terre le foussé, se vit excommunié des gens de bien, n'ayant pour amis que les saccageurs de pays et les lombards. .
(Now by making his crowns sweat and his goods scarce, draining his land, and a bleeding his hogsheads, and regaling frail beauties, he found himself excommunicated from decent society, and had for his friends only the plunderers of towns and the Lombardians.)
