.... but the loss of him....1 the ass, he said he was assured, loved him.... and upon this told them a long story of a mischance upon their passage over the Pyrenean mountains which had 2 separated them from each other3 three days; during which time1 the ass had sought him as much as he had sought the ass, and that they had scarce either eat or drank till they met.5 "Thou hast one comfort, friend," said I, "at least, in the loss of thy poor beast; I'm sure thou hast been a merciful master to him.... "Alas!" said the mourner, "I thought so, when he was alive; but now that he is dead, I think otherwise. I fear the weight of myself and my afflictions together 7 have been too much for him, they have shortened the poor creature's days, and I fear I have 10 them to answer for."11" Shame on the 12 world!" said I to myself; "did we love each other 13 as this poor soul 14 but loved his ass, 't would be something.”—(STERNE, Sentimental Journey.) THE STARLING. THE mind sits 15 terrified at the 16 objects she has magnified herself and blackened : reduce them to their proper size and hue, she overlooks them.17 ""Tis mon poids joint à celui de mes afflictions. 8 See page 37, note 14. 9they use the singular.'have; see page 79, note 15. 10 See page 7, note 7. 11 à en répondre. 12 au. 13 See p. 38, n. 13, and p. 48, n. 13. 14 homme; and leave out 'but.. 15 reste. 16 à la vue des. 17 il n'y fait plus attention. In speaking of persons, instead of things, we should say, il ne fait plus attention à eux (masc.-or, à elles, femin.; and also à lui, masc. sing., and à elle, fem. sing.), but true," said I, correcting the proposition, "the Bastille is not an evil to be despised;2 but strip it of its towers, fill up the fossé, unbarricade the doors, call it simply a confinement,3 and suppose 't is some tyrant of a distemper, and not of a man which holds you in it, the evil vanishes, and you bear the other half5 without complaint." I was interrupted in the hey-day of this soliloquy. with a voice which I took to be of a child, which complained it could not get out. 9 I looked up and down the passage,10 and seeing neither man, woman, or child,11 I went out without farther attention. In my return back through the passage, I heard the same words repeated twice over; 12 and looking up,13 I saw it was a starling hung 14 in a little cage. I can't get out, I can't get out, said 15 the Starling. I stood looking at 16 the bird; and to every person who came through the passage it ran fluttering to the 17 side toward which they approached it, with the same lamentation of its captivity. . . . I can't get out, said the starling. "God help thee!" said I, "but I'll let thee out,18 cost what it will." 19 So I turned about the cage to get to the not leur (nor lui, sing.). See page 20, note 16. The rule on this point will presently be explained at full length (p. 260, n. 1). 1 Il est vrai; il, instead of ce, here if it' (taken in the sense of the demonstrative pronoun 'that') related to what precedes, instead of depending on the following que (that,'-conjunction, either expressed or understood, in English), we should then translate 'it is true' by c'est vrai. 2 à mépriser. 3 une retraite forcée. 4 la tyrannie. 5 le reste. 6 les boutades. 7 par. 8 Translate, 'took for that.' 9 See page 7, note 7. 10 d'un bout à l'autre du corridor. 11 See page 42, note 7. 12 Translate, 'I heard repeat twice,' &c., and leave out 'over.' 13 levant les yeux (page 27, note 3). 14 Leave this word out. 15 See page 1, note 6, and page 55, note & 16 to stand looking at,' rester à regarder. 17 du. 18 je vais te faire sortir (see page 6, note 13). Whenever the fact mentioned is going to take place immediately, the French prefer using thus the verb aller to employing the future, as is done in English as, in this common phrase, 'Why? If you will listen, I'll tell you (why),' Pourquo? Si vous voulez bien m'écouter, je vuis vous le dire (not je vous le dirai). 19 coûte que coûte. The English student is particularly cautioned against some gross blunders, of door; it was twisted and double-twisted so fast with wire,1 there was no getting it open without pulling 2 the cage to pieces. . . . I took both hands to it.3 The bird flew to the place where I was attempting his deliverance, and thrusting his head through the trellis, pressed his breast against it, as if impatient. "I fear, poor creature!" said I, "I cannot get thee at liberty." 'No," said the starling.... " I can't get out, I can't get out," said the starling. 66 8 7 7 See page 7, note 7. Me 8 said,' here, that is, ejaculated all at once; use the preterite, accordingly, not the imperfect. 9 See page 15, note 2. I vow I never had my affections more tenderly awakened; nor do I remember an incident in my life where 10 the dissipated spirits, to which my reason had been a bubble, were 11 so suddenly called home.12 chanical as 13 the notes were,14 yet so true in tune to Nature syntax and orthography, which are current in England among even well-educated persons, with regard to many French expressions which have been adopted in the English language, and were accepted at first most likely from exceedingly incompetent hands. Thus, coûte qui coûte, instead of coûte que coûte; double entendre, instead of double entente; se battre à l'outrance, instead of se battre à outrance; &c., &c. It is really a very great pity that these mistakes, which are only a small portion of those now current, are so generally in use that they cannot, I am afraid, be easily eradicated. I shall have to notice a few more in the course of this work. 1 elle était entortillée d'un double fil de fer (or, fil d'archal), et si fortement. 2 qu'il n'y avait pas moyen de l'ouvrir sans mettre. 3 Je m'y pris des deux mains. +We sometimes deviate, for the sake of emphasis, from the rule given page 27, note 3. 5 flew;' 'pressed;' see page 1, note, and page 55, note 8 ; also page 31, note 1 See page 29, note 12; and others. But we may here translate, as with impatience.' 6 11 Translate here by the compound of the present subjunctive (see page 35, note 20). 12 rappelés au logis. The word logis is not often used in this sense, except in the common phrase, la folle du logis, used to designate that very freakish faculty-imagination. 13 Translate here by Quelque. que; and see p. 47, end of 1. Quelque, however' or 'whatever,' is spelt in three ways:-1st, before a substantive, in one word, and it agrees with that substantive, as, quelques talents (whatever talents) qu'il ait; 2nd, before an adjective, in one word, but remains invariable, as quelque grands (however great) que soient ses talents-yet, if that adjective should itself be followed by a noun, quelque will agree, as, quelques grands talents qu'il ait; 3rd, before a verb, in two words, the first of which, only, agrees, as, quels que soient ses talents. 14 Sec page 3, notǝ 3. 2 were they chaunted1 that in one moment they overthrew all my systematical reasoning, upon the Bastille, and I heavily walked up stairs,3 unsaying every word I had said in going down them. 66 Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still,5 Slavery!" said I...." still thou art a bitter draught! And though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account 9.... "Tis thou, thrice sweet and gracious Goddess," addressing myself to LIBERTY," whom all, in public or in private, worship, whose taste is grateful, and ever will be so, till Nature herself shall change.10 No tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle, or,11 chymic power turn thy sceptre into iron. With thee to smile upon him 12 as he eats his crust, the swain is happier than the monarch, from whose court 13 thou art exiled. "Gracious 14 Heaven!" cried I, kneeling down upon the last step but one in my ascent,15 “ grant me but 16 health, thou great Bestower of it,17 and give me but is this fair Goddess as my 19 companion, and shower down thy mitres, if it seems good 20 unto thy divine Providence, upon those heads which are aching for them." 21-(Sterne, Sentimental Journey.) 13 de la cour duquel (or, de qui). When there is a preposition between whose' and the noun to which it relates, we must use daquel, de laquelle, desquels, and desquelles, according to the gender 3 l'escalier (singular). See page and number, instead of using dont, 53, note 2. See page 28, note 3. 5 thou wilt; use the future (of vouloir); and leave out 'still' in the first instance. 6 Again here, use the future. 7 des milliers (or, more truly, des millions) d'hommes. 8 Use the verb forcer. 9 tu n'en es pas moins amer pour cela. 10 Remember that jusqu'à ce que frequently governs the subjunctive. 1 Translate by 'no,' repeated. 12 pour lui sourire. which can never be preceded by a preposition; and, if we speak of persons, de qui may be used as well as duquel, &c. 1 miséricordieux. 15 Simply, sur l'avant-dernièrs marche. 16 seulement; which is more emphatic than ne... que. 17 Translate, 'its great,' &c. ne... que; to avoid an unnecessary repetition. 19 Simply, pour. 18 20 si bon semble. FOX. MR. Fox's eloquence was of a kind which to comprehend you must have heard himself.1 When he got fairly into 2 his subject, was heartily warmed with it, he poured forth words and periods of fire that smote you, and deprived you of all power to reflect and rescue yourself, while he went on to seize3 the faculties of the listener, and carry them captive along with him whithersoever he pleased1 to rush. It is ridiculous to doubt that he was a far closer reasoner, a much more argumentative speaker than Demosthenes; as much more so as Demosthenes would perhaps have been than Fox,7 had he lived in our times and had to address an English House 10 of Commons. For it is the kindred mistake of those who fancy that the two were like each,12 to imagine that the Grecian's orations are long chains of ratiocination, like Sir William Grant's arguments, or Euclid's demonstrations. They are close to the point;13 they are full of impressive allusions; they abound in expressions of the adversary's inconsistency;. they are loaded with bitter invective; they never lose 1 Turn, 'Mr. Fox had a kind of eloquence which one cannot comprehend without having heard the orator himself.' 2 Quand il entrait en plein dans. 3 tout en s'emparant de. 4 il lui plaisait (literally, 'it pleased to him'). See p. 1, n. 6, p. 55, n. 8, and p. 31, n. 7. The verb plaire is not used, in French, as above in the text; thus je plais, tu plais, &c., I please,' &c., are only taken in the sense of 'I give pleasure,' 'I am pleasing, or pleasant,' &c., never in that of 'I am pleased,' &c. 5 Remember that douter governs the subjunctive (without ne, when conjugated affirmatively, and with ne when negatively, which is the reverse with craindre, as seen page 37. note 14). 6 Turn, that his reasonings were (subj.) far closer, his speeches much richer in argumentation, than those of.' 7 Turn, he was by as muchor simply, as-(d'autant, or, simply, aussi) superior to Demosthenes in this double respect (sous... rapport) as Demosthenes would perhaps have been (see p. 19, n. 5, and p. 5, n. 14) to Fox.' 8 temps (singular), or jours (plurai). 9 s'adresser à. 10 Chambre. 11 une erreur commune chez (or, particulière à). 12 ces deux orateurs se ressemblent. 13 Elles ne s'écartent (or, ne s'éloignent) jamais de la question; or, Tout y est rigoureusement au fait; or, again, Tout y va droit au buto |