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Crab. Nay, egad it's true;1 I back him at a rebus or a charade 2 against the best rhymer in the kingdom.3 Has your ladyship heard the epigram 5 he wrote last week on Lady Frizzle's feather catching fire? -Do, Benjamin, repeat it, or the charade you made last night extempore at Mrs. Drowzie's conversazione.10 Come now; 11 your first is the name of a fish, your second a great naval commander, and—

Sir Ben. Uncle, now-pr'ythee-14

13

9

12

Crub. I'faith,15 ma'am, 'twould surprise you to hear how ready he is at all these sort of things.16

Lady Sneer. I wonder, Sir Benjamin, you never publish any thing.

Sir Ben. To say truth,17 ma'am, 'tis very vulgar to print; 18 and, as my little productions are mostly satires. and lampoons on particular people, 19 I find they circulate more by giving copies in confidence to the friends of the parties. 20 However, I have some love elegies, which,

corresponding to 'am I not,' 'art thou not,' is he (she, or it) not,' 'are we (you, or they) not,' or 'do I not,' &c. &c., whatever may have been mentioned in the foregoing part of the proposition.

1 Pardieu (famil.), rien de plus vrai. Put a full stop here (page 24, note 19).

2 En fait de (lit. 'in point of') rébus et de charades, je parierais pour lui.

3 See page 31, note 14. 4 Milady connaît-elle. 5 See page 1, note 8.

6 he wrote;' use the indefinite preterite 'he has written,' the time at which the fact took place not being precisely stated, and not being far distant, and see, besides, page 32, note 4.—last week' la semaine dernière; la dernière semaine is French, too, but it means 'the last week' (of the month, or year, or &c.).

7 à propos des plumes de lady Frisure, qui avaient pris feu?

8 Benjamin, récitez-nous cela,

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when favoured with this lady's smiles, I mean to give the public. [Pointing to MARIA. Crab. [To MARIA.] 'Fore heaven,2 ma'am, they'll immortalize you!-you will be handed down to posterity,3 like Petrarch's Laura, or Waller's Sacharissa.

Sir Ben. [To MARIA.] Yes, madam, I think you will like them, when you shall see them on a beautiful quarto page,5 where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin. 'Fore Gad, they will be the most elegant things of their kind! 6

Crab. But, ladies, that's true-[To MRS. CANDOUR]— have you heard 7 the news?

Mrs. Can. What, Sir, do you mean the report of— Crab. No, ma'am, that's not it.-Miss Nicely is going to be married to her own footman.

Mrs. Can. Impossible! 9

Crab. Ask 10 Sir Benjamin.

Sir Ben. Tis very true, ma'am: every thing is fixed, and the wedding liveries bespoke.11

Crab. Yes-and they do say there were pressing reasons for it.12

-Copy,' of a printed book or pamphlet, or of an engraving, &c., from a common type, is, in French, exemplaire; in the above sense, copie is the word used.

1 See page 29, note 9. 2 Par le ciel (familiar). 3 to be handed down to posterity,' passer (or, aller) à la postérité.

4 la Laure de Pétrarque.

5 imprimées en grand in-quarto (abbreviated, in-4); or, dans le format (size of a book') d'un magnifique in-quarto; or, again, figurer dans un magnifique in-quarto. 6 quand vous suivrez des yeux le gentil ruisseau du texte, qui serpentera agréablement entre les prairies d'une marge blanche; or, où un joli ruisseau de texte courra à travers l'étendue d'une double et vaste marge; or, better, où le texte serpentera entre deux vastes marges,

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Lady Sneer. Why, I have heard something of this before.1

Mrs. Can. It can't be, believe such a story of so prudent a lady as Miss Nicely. ma'am, that's the very reason 3 She has always been so cautious and so reserved, that every body was sure there was some reason for it at bottom.

and I wonder any one should

Sir Ben. O Lud !2 'twas believed at once.

Mrs. Can. Why, to be sure, a tale of scandal is as fatal to the credit of a prudent lady of her stamp as a fever is generally to those of the strongest constitutions. But there is a sort of puny sickly reputation, that is always ailing, yet will outlive the robuster characters 5 of a hundred prudes.

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Sir Ben. True, madam, there are valetudinarians in 7 reputation as well as constitution, who, being conscious of their weak part,9 avoid the 10 least breath of air, and supply their want of stamina by care and circumspection.11 Mrs. Can. Well, but this may be all a mistake.12 You know, Sir Benjamin, very trifling circumstances often give rise to the most injurious tales.

Crab. That they do, I'll be sworn, ma'am.13 O Lud! Mr. Surface, pray is it true 14 that your uncle, Sir Oliver, is coming home? 15

1 En effet, j'en ai entendu parler (or, j'en avais déjà entendu quelque chose).

2 Oh! mon Dieu (familiar, but much used). We might also say, El mais.

3 c'est justement pour cela; or, voilà justement pourquoi.

4 Ce qu'il y a de certain, c'est qu'un propos médisant.

5 Mais il est (or, il y a) des (or, de ces) réputations chétives et malingres (or, simply, maladives) qui sont toujours souffrantes, et qui cependant survivent (see page 45, note 4) à la robuste renommée (or, et qui cependant vont bien plus loin que celles).

6 C'est vrai.

7 de.

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10 jusqu'au (lit., 'even to the"). 11 et suppléent à force de soins et de précautions à la santé qui leur manque. See page 56, note 9.

12 Oui, mais ce bruit peut n'avoir pas le moindre fondement.

13 C'est vrai, madame, sur ma parole; or, C'est d'honneur vrai, madame. This familiar expression, d'honneur, is elliptical for foi d'homme d'honneur; sometimes we suppress elliptically only the word foi, and say d'homme d'honneur.

i est-il vrai, dites-moi.

15 soit en route pour revenir en Angleterre?-We use soit (subjunctive), and not est (indicative), because the first part of the propo

Jos. Surf. Not that I know of, indeed, Sir.1

Crab. He has been in the East Indies a long time. You can scarcely remember him, I believe? Sad comfort, whenever he returns,2 to hear how your brother has gone on ! 3

Jos. Surf. Charles has been imprudent, Sir, to be sure; but I hope no busy people have already prejudiced 4 Sir Oliver against him. He may reform.

Sir Ben. To be sure he may: for my part, I never believed him to be so utterly void of principle as people say; and, though he has lost all his friends, I am told nobody is better spoken of by the Jews."

Crab. That's true, egad, nephew. If the Old Jewry was a ward, I believe Charles would be an alderman : no man

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2 A son retour, ce sera fort triste pour lui.

3 votre frère (formally, we say, monsieur votre frère, as well as madame votre mère, &c. &c.) s'est conduit (see page 40, note 6).

4 j'espère toutefois qu'aucun rapporteur officieux n'a encore prévenu (or, qu'il ne s'est point trouvé de méchant-or, de malveillant-empressé à prévenir).

5 Il le peut, sans aucun doute.

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1

on m'assure que personne n'est en meilleure réputation (or, en meilleure odeur) auprès des (or, chez les) juifs; or, du moins ne parle-t-on de lui (or, n'en parle-t-on)-see page 32, note qu'avec honneur chez les juifs. This construction, 'to be spoken of,' is not allowed in French. As to the pronoun en, it is more commonly used when speaking of animals and things than of persons: in the latter case we rather make use of de lui, d'elle, d'eux, d'elles. Voltaire has still more deviated from the rule,

8

laid down by grammarians, on this subject, and used en for de moi; but this breach of grammar is so contrary to custom, that it should not be imitated.

7 un quartier (un des quartiers de la cité de Londres); or, better, une section (or circonscription) municipale.

8 There are no aldermen in France the nearest to them are the conseillers municipaux, and 'ward' corresponds to arrondissement in Paris; formerly we had the quartiniers (for towns), and the échevins (for communes). Some dictionaries (that unfortunately sell largely), bearing a late date, though they are only reprints of old ones with all their blunders and antiquated words, give us the latter obsolete words instead of the former, which are the only ones in current use now. Translate here simply by serait alderman; and remember that the indefinite article ('a' or 'an'), which is used in English (as here), is not used in French, before nouns which express the titles, professions, trade, country, or any other attribute of the substantive antecedent. We might however say here, more accurately, perhaps, en serait l'alderman.

more popular there, 'fore Gad! I hear1 he pays as many annuities as the Irish 2 tontine; and that, whenever he is sick, they have 3 prayers for the recovery of his health in all the synagogues.

Sir Ben. Yet no man lives in greater splendour. They tell me, when he entertains his friends he will sit down to dinner with a dozen of his own securities; 6 have a score of tradesmen waiting in the antechamber, and an officer 8 behind every guest's chair.

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Jos. Surf. This may be entertainment to you, gentlemen, but you pay very little regard to the feelings 10 of a brother.

Mar. [Aside.] Their malice is intolerable !-[Aloud.] Lady Sneerwell, I must wish you a good morning; I'm not very

well.1 11 [Exit. Mrs. Can. O dear! she changes colour very much.12 Lady Sneer. Do, Mrs. Candour, follow her: 13 she may want your assistance.

Mrs. Can. That I will, with all my soul,14 maʼam. Poor dear girl, who knows what her situation may be !

[Exit.

Lady Sneer. 'Twas nothing but that she could not bear to hear Charles reflected on, 15 notwithstanding their

difference.

1j'ai entendu dire (see page 1, plus y tenir (or, Je n'y puis plus note 5).

3 on fait.

2 d'Irlande. 4 Et cependant personne ne mène un train de vie plus splendide. 5 Jamais il ne donne diner, dit-on, sans avoir à sa table.

6 de ses répondants.

7 une vingtaine de créanciers (in this sense creditors'); leave out 'have,' already used just above, in French, and also 'waiting,' which is not necessary to the sense.

8 officier de justice, i. e., huissier, (and recors in this sense-bailiff" (and follower). pour.

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10 mais vous ménagez bien peu (or, mais vous avez bien peu d'égard pour) la sensibilité.

11 (A part.) Je ne peux (or puis)

Je

tenir); or, literally, Leur méchan-
ceté est intolérable!-(Haut.)
vous demanderai la permission de
vous quitter, milady (it is considered
more familiar than civil, in France,
to address people by their name;
and as to bonjour 'good morning
-or, je vous souhaite le bonjour, it
is also familiar); je ne me sens pas
bien.

12 O mon Dieu! avez-vous comme elle a changé de couleur?

vu

13 'do,' here, je vous en prie, and at the end of the sentence; or, better, Veuillez la suivre, mistress (English) - - or madame (French) Candeur.

14

4 Simply, De tout mon cœur. 15 See above, note 6, page 76.

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