such as1 would have made even Mars himself recoil, if Mars could have beheld such a frown upon the brow 4 of his Venus.

"Dinner has been kept waiting for you this hour, my dear." 5

"I am very sorry for it; but why did you wait, my dear? I am really very sorry I am so late, but " (looking at his watch) "it is only half-past six by me."9 "It is seven by me." 10

They presented their watches to each other, he in an apologetical, she in a reproachful, attitude.11

"I rather think you are too fast,12 my dear," said the gentleman.

"I am very sure you are too slow,13 my dear," said the lady. "My watch never loses a 14 minute in the four and twenty 15 hours,” said he.

1 un regard courroucé qui. 2 fait reculer Mars lui-même. 3 avait jamais pu voir. Notice this difference between the tenses of the two verbs respectively, in French and in English. See the LA FONTAINE, page 38, note 4. 4 visage.

5 Il y a une heure que le diner t'attend (or, Le diner t'attend depuis une heure), mon ami. Mark this difference of construction; the English turn 'dinner has been waiting,' is also used in French, but it would imply that the dinner is no longer waiting at the time the words are spoken. See page 32, note 9.

6 pourquoi as-tu attendu, ma petite?

7 je suis vraiment désolé d'être (page 7, note 7) si en retard. En retard is used instead of tard, when 'late' means behind a fixed time.

8 regardant à; regardant, without the preposition d, would not imply, as it does with that preposition, looking at the dial to see the time.

il n'est que six heures et demie

See

11 Ils se firent voir leurs montres l'un à l'autre, lui d'un air d'excuse, elle, d'un air de reproche (or, clliptically, elle de reproche). page 10, note 3, and notice this use of the reflective pronoun se, together with l'un and l'autre, which use is as frequent with reciprocal verbs as that of two reflective pronouns is with reflective verbs, for the sake of emphasis. (See page 37, note 2).

12 M'est avis (or, J'ai idée) que tu avances (or, que ta montre avance). 13 que c'est toi qui retardes (or, que c'est la tienne qui retarde).

14 Jamais ma montre ne retarde (or, better, ne se dérange) d'une.

-Ne se dérange means 'varies,' and it is to be preferred here to retarde, 'loses,' as the wife who is accused of being too fast, or of gaining, immediately after an swers, to exculpate herself, 'No mine a second."' It should hav been, Nor does mine gain a second.' Evidently this was a negligence of the authoress.

15 vingt-quatre. The larger of

Nor mine a second," said she.

"I have reason to believe I am right,1 my love," said the husband mildly.

"Reason!" 2 exclaimed the wife, astonished. "What reason can you possibly have to believe you are right when I tell you, I am morally certain you are wrong, my love?"

"My only reason for doubting it is 5 that I set my watch by the sun to-day."

"The sun must be wrong, then," 7 cried the lady hastily. "You need not laugh ; for I know what I am saying the variation, the declination, must be allowed for in computing it with the clock. Now 9 you know perfectly well what I mean, though you will not explain it for me, because you are conscious 10 I am in the right.' 'Well, my dear, if you are conscious of it, that is sufficient. We will not dispute any more about such a trifle. Are they bringing up dinner?" 11

"If they know that you are come in; but I am sure I

two numbers always comes first in French, unless one multiplies the other, as, trois cents (100 x 3), quatre-vingts, eighty' (20 × 4), &c. 1 J'ai lieu de croire que je vais bien.-Avoir raison means to be right,' and avoir tort, 'to be wrong,' but not when we speak of time.

2 Lieu de croire !

3 Quel motif imaginable peux-tu. Never couple together, in French, in the same phrase, such ideas as those contained in the words 'can,' and possible,' or 'possibly;' it would be considered, and not without reason, more a pleonasm than elegant emphasis. See page 2, note 1.

4 je suis aussi certaine qu'il est possible de l'être (or, que possible); or, j'ai la certitude morale-je suis certaine, moralement parlant (little used in common conversation); or, lastly, je suis certaine autant qu'on peut l'être je suis on ne peut plus certaine. See page 1, note 5.

5 Le seul motif (or, La seule

raison) que j'aie d'en douter, c'est. Notice this use of the subjunctive after le seul. The pronoun ce. is not strictly necessary here before the verb être, but its use is more conformable to the genius of the French language.

6 j'ai mis (or, j'ai réglé) ma montre sur le soleil (or, sur le cadran solaire). 7 Alors (or, En ce cas) il faut que le soleil t'ait induit à erreur.

8 Il n'y a pas là de quoi rire.

9 la variation, la déclinaison, doit être mise en ligne de compte (or, il faut tenir compte-faire la part de la variation, de la déclinaison) quand on calcule l'heure du soleil en même temps que celle de l'horloge-le temps vrai temps moyen [scient. terms]. 'Now,' Voyons; or, Allons.

le

10 tu sens bien.I am in the right;' see page 1, note 5, and above, note 1, remark.

11 Eh bien, ma petite (or, mon cœur), si tu n'en doutes pas toimême, cela suffit (or, simply, suffit

cannot tell whether they do or not. Pray,1 my dear Mrs. Nettleby," cried the lady, turning to a female friend,2 and still holding her watch in her hand, "What o'clock is it by you? There is nobody in the world hates disputing about trifles so much as I do ; but I own I do love to convince people 5 that I am in the right."

Mrs. Nettleby's watch had stopped : how provoking! 7 Vexed at having no immediate means of convincing people that she was in the right, our heroine consoled herself by proceeding to criminate her husband, not in this particular instance, 10 where he pleaded guilty,11 but upon the general charge of being always too late for dinner, which he strenuously denied.12

There is something 13 in the species of reproach, which advances thus triumphantly from particulars to generals,14 peculiarly offensive 15 to every reasonable and susceptible mind;16 and there is something in the general charge of being always late for dinner which 17 the punctuality of

-or, n'en parlons plus). A quoi bon se disputer pour une pareille vétille? Va-t-on servir le dîner?

1 Oui, si les domestiques te savent rentré; mais je ne sais réellement pas ce qu'il en est. Ditesmoi, de grâce (or, je vous prie); or, simply, Dites-moi.

2 une de ses amies.

3 au.

4 qui (page 1, note 8) ait en horreur autant que moi les disputes sur des riens. Notice the use of the subjunctive (ait) after the impersonal verb there is,' conjugated with a negative.

5 j'aime bien à convaincre les autres.

6 Remember that reflective verbs, in French, are conjugated in their compound tenses with être, and that the participle must then agree in gender and number with the preceding object of the verb.

7 C'était bien contrariant (or, impatientant or, ennuyeux); or, Comme c'était contrariant, &c. ; or,

lastly, Quel ennui!-Quel contretemps!

8'de ne pouvoir trouver tout de suite le moyen.

9 en se mettant à faire le procès d.

10 sur ce cas particulier.

11 s'avouait coupable.

12 See page 7, note 17; and page 19, note 5.

13 With regard to the place of the word 'something,' in the translation, see page 22, note 7.

14 passe ainsi, avec un air de triomphe, du particulier au général. 15 peculiarly,' spécialement; see page 9, note 4; offensive,' blessant, to be followed by pour.

16 'every,' tout, here, which is more general and more absolute than chaque susceptible,' sensi ble, in French in this sense: the French word susceptible, in such a case as this, simply means 'easily offended,' and is more frequently taken in a bad sense. 17 See page 14, note 5.

man's nature cannot easily endure,1 especially if he be hungry. We should humbly advise our female friends 2 to forbear exposing a husband's patience to this trial,3 or at least to temper it with much fondness, or else mischief will infallibly ensue.4-(MISS EDGEWORTH, Modern Griselda.)

HEARERS AND DOERS.5

THE clock has just struck nine. The family are rising from the breakfast-table. A ring at the door-bell! servant enters.

The

"Sir, a young man, Mr. A.'s clerk, has called, and hopes you will not be offended, but he would feel particularly obliged if you could settle his account.10 He called 11 twice last week. He would not trouble you if it were not a case of necessity."

"12

Necessity or no necessity,13 I have not one minute to spare, ,"14 replied the gentleman with a shrug of 15 his shoulders, whilst giving 16 the last pull to his great coat, as

4 ou bien, très-certainement, les choses finiront mal (or, tourneront à mal).

5 Préceptes et Pratique.

6 vient de sonner neuf heures. 7 ayant déjeuné, se lève de table. Nouns collective general, such as armée, peuple, nation, parlement, famille, &c., require that the verb, adjective, pronoun, &c., in connexion with them, should be in the singular, in French.

8 On sonne à la porte; or, un coup de sonnette se fait entendre à la porte.

he was putting it on. "I am going 2 by the next train, so bid him call again." 3

This gentleman was not upon the whole an unfeeling man; but, carried on by the spirit of the times,5 railway speed, he too often did not allow himself time to reflect, ors to put himself in the place of his fellow-man.10 Had he, in this instance, troubled himself to think,11 he would have seen that he had just a few 12 minutes to spare, and would still have been in time for 13 the train :-but even had it been otherwise, his duty was too plain to be mistaken.1 14 A neglected debt had prior claim to the commercial concerns to which he was hastening.15

The clerk turned 16 sorrowfully from the house; he knew that on the 17 payment of that money his employer's continuance in business depended; 18 and consequently his own dismissal was involved in this refusal. Mr. A.'s family was large,19 his receipts were small,20 and in reliance21 on this sum he had promised to meet a heavy bill that day; 22 he was now unable to do so.23 The traveller 24 to whom he owed it was a hasty, harsh-judging man; 25 Mr. A. could expect to find no favour, nor did he.26 Here, then,

4

au fond un homme sans cœur. 5 de l'époque.

6 la rapidité de la vapeur. 7 il ne se donnait pas assez souvent le temps.

8 ni. The conjunction ou would imply that only one of the two facts mentioned is to be denied, whereas ni implies the negation of both. 9 d. 10 ses semblables. 11 'Had he,' see page 29, note 8, page 26, note 11 and page 40, note 6; in this'... &c., en cette circonstance, donné la peine de penser.

,

12 avait au contraire plusieurs. 13 sans crainte de manquer. 14 mais quand même il en aurait été autrement, il n'y avait pas tromper sur ce que la justice prescrit

à se

22 de satisfaire (or, de faire honneur) ce jour-là même à une forte obligation sous forme de billet.

23 il lui devenait alors impossible de tenir sa promesse (or, d'acquitter son engagement).

24 Le commis voyageur (in this sense).

25 un homme d'un caractère vif et jugeant sévèrement les autres. 26 n'avait aucune grâce à attendre