Ce maitre est très-bon envers ses esclaves. Ce capitaine de corsaire est trèscruel envers ses prisonniers. This master is very good to his slaves. This privateer-captain is very cruel to his prisoners. RULE X.-When numbers are followed by a noun and a past participle, in English, the preposition de must be put, in French, between the noun and participle, which agree in gender and number.-Ex AMPLES: seven houses burnt; more than fifty people smothered; and a great many buried under the rubbish. Dans le dernier incendie, il y eut | In the last fire, there were twentyvingt-sept maisons de brûlées, plus de cinquante personnes d'étouffées par les flammes, et un grand nombre d'ensevelies sous les ruines. Cette frégate a eu, dans le combat, | soixante hommes de tués et quatre-vingts de blessés. This frigate, in the engagement, had sixty men killed, and eighty wounded. S. Are there not some difficulties concerning the adjectives, feu, nu, and grand? M. Yes: 1st, the adjective feu, preceded by the article la, is feminine; but when it precedes that article it is masculine.—EXAMPLES: Feu la reine, ou la feue reine, était | The late queen was an accomune femme accomplie. plished woman. Observe, that this adjective has no plural. 2d. The adjective nu, when it precedes a noun, is invariable; but, when it follows, it agrees with it in gender and number.—EXAMPLES: Il lui parla nu-tête, ou la tête nue. Il va nu-pieds, nu-jambes; ou il va les pieds nus, les jambes nues. He spoke to him, or her, bareheaded. He goes bare-footed, bare-legged. 3d. Grande, feminine, sometimes loses its e in pronunciation and in writing, before a few nouns, beginning with a consonant, which is signified by an apostrophe being put over the place where the e should be.-EXAMPLES: Il est entré dans la grand' salle du | He entered the great chamber of palais. Ce n'est pas grand' chose. Il eut grand' peur, et moi aussi. the palace. It is no great matter. This piece of news will grieve him or her, very much. He was very much afraid, and I also. J'avais grand' faim, et lui aussi. La grand' messe dura plus de I was very hungry, and he also. High mass lasted above four I conclude the syntax of the adjective by informing you, that adjectives, used in the place of adverbs, never vary.—EXAMPLES: Cet orateur demeura court, contre son usage. L'aînée de ces demoiselles chante juste, la cadette chante faux. Vous parlez trop vite et trop bas pour moi. This orator stopped short, con trary to his custom. The eldest of these young ladies sings in tune, and the youngest sings out of tune. You speak too fast and too low for me. RULE XI.-In speaking of sovereigns and princes, the cardinal numbers are used in French, instead of the ordinal, as in English, except in alluding to the two first of the dynasty, when the ordinal number must be used.-EXAMPLES: Louis premier, fils de Charle- | Lewis the first, son of Charlemagne, fut surnommé le démagne, was surnamed the bonnaire. meek. Jacques second mourut en France, le quatorze Septembre, mil sept cent un. George trois fut couronné, le James the second died in France on the 14th of September, 1701. George the third was crowned on the 22d of September, 1761. Henry the fourth, king of France, was murdered by Ravaillac. Charles the fifth, king of France, was surnamed the Wise. Observe, that, when speaking of Charles the fifth, emperor of Germany, and Pope Sextus the fifth, we say, Charles-quint, et Sixte-quint, instead of Charles cinq and Sixte cinq. We also make use of the cardinal number, instead of the ordinal, in speaking of all the days of the month, the first excepted.-EXAMPLE: The society will meet on* the first, the second, the seventeenth, and the twenty-first of June. La société s'assemblera le premier, le deux, le dix-sept, et le vingt-un de Juin. VOL. II. * On is never expressed in French. I have now to make a few remarks concerning the numbers. 1st. Unième, first, is used only after vingt, trente, quarante, cinquante, soixante, quatre-vingt, cent, and mille, as is exemplified in the following EXAMPLE: C'est la vingt-unième fois que je | It is the one-and-twentieth time lui écris. that I have written to him. 2d. We may say either vingt-un or vingt et un ; trente-un or trente et un, and so on to quatre-vingt; but it is now customary to suppress the conjunction for the following numbers, and say, for instance, vingt-deux, &c. trente-deux, &c. 3d. Formerly, septante was said for soixante et dix; huitante for quatre-vingt, and nonante for quatre-vingt-dix. Those expressions have been very improperly banished from the language, as they keep up analogy in the formation of numbers, and thereby facilitate the exercise of the memory in numbering them. The first of these is now used only when speaking of the translation of the Bible, by seventy great interpreters: which we call la version des septante. The last is in use in geometry only. 4th. Cent, in the plural, is invariable, when followed by another number.-EXAMPLE: Ils étaient trois cent vingt. They were three hundred and twenty. But, when it is preceded by one number, without being followed by another, it then takes an s, the mark of the plural.—EXAMPLE: Il y en eut trois cents de tués. There were three hundred killed. Vingt, in quatre-vingt, is invariable, when followed by another number.-EXAMPLE: Cette montre me coûte quatre- This watch cost me eighty-six vingt-six guinées. guineas. But, should it be followed by a noun, then it also takes an s.EXAMPLE: La mienne ne me coûte que | Mine cost me only eighty guiquatre-vingts guinées. ; neas. Mille never takes the mark of the plural.-EXAMPLE: Dix mille hommes d'infanterie et | Ten thousand infantry and four quatre mille de cavalerie. thousand cavalry. In marking of dates we only write mil.-EXAMPLE: L'an mil huit cent-quinze sera, à ] jamais, célèbre par le rétablissement de l'auguste dynastie des Bourbons. The year one thousand eight hundred and thirteen will be for ever distinguished for the restoration of the august dynasty of the Bourbons. The ordinal and collective numbers take the mark of the plural.EXAMPLE: Les quatre premières douzaines | The four first dozen of eggs are d'œufs ne valent rien; mais les vingt dernières sont excellentes. good for nothing; but the twenty last are excellent. 5th. Onze does not require the elision of vowels before it, nor to be connected with the final consonant of the preceding word, as it is generally aspirated.-EXAMPLES: De onze enfans qu'ils étaient, il en est mort quatre. De vingt il n'en reste plus que onze. Out of eleven children, four are dead. Out of twenty, eleven only remain. Le onze, du onze, au onze de Septembre. Ils étaient onze.-J'irai le voir | They were eleven.—I shall go and sur les onze heures. voir | see him about eleven o'clock. Une, in the following mode of expression, sur les une heure, about one o'clock, is likewise aspirated like onze. I here conclude the syntax of the numbers. My next care will be to acquaint you with the use of some of the remaining articles or pronouns. S. I find that, in the course of this lesson, you say nothing of the word demi. M. I had forgot it, probably because it is a fractional number; but this does not excuse me, as nothing useful should be omitted. Demi is masculine when it precedes a noun feminine; but feminine, when it comes after a noun of that gender. Thus it is said, une demiheure, half an hour; une heure et demie, an hour and a half. LESSON THE FIFTH. ON THE POSSESSIVE ARTICLES OR PRONOUNS. Master. The French and English languages exhibit, perhaps, no greater opposition or difference in any part of their syntax, than in that of the possessive articles or pronouns, on which, in French, there are some very difficult and intricate rules, totally foreign to the idiom of the English. It will, therefore, be expedient to make these rules the object of your most attentive study. RULE I.-Possessive articles, or pronouns, must be repeated before each noun, according to the gender and number.-EXAMPLES: Do not go out without your umbrella, gloves, and snuff-box. Ne sortez pas sans votre parasol, vos gants, et votre tabatière. Observe, that, though a noun be feminine, should it begin with a vowel or h mute, the possessive article or pronoun masculine singular, mon, ton, son, must be respectively used before it, instead of ma, ta, sa. (See examples, page 129.) RULE II.-Possessive articles or pronouns, which, in English, agree with the possessor, must, in French, agree with the gender of the thing possessed.-EXAMPLES: Ramassez son mouchoir. Connaissez-vous son mari? J'ai dansé avec sa fille. Take up his handkerchief. Take up her handkerchief. I danced with his daughter. RULE III.-In French, the possessive article or pronoun must be used, when we speak to or answer relations, friends, &c.—EXAM RULE IV. When, in English, the possessive articles, or pronouns, its, their, relating to inanimate objects, can be rendered by of it, of them, or thereof, they are always expressed, in French, by the adverb en: otherwise, they are expressed by son, sa, ses, leurs, respectively, as will appear in the following EXAMPLES: |