Le temps seul assure des hommages et des partisans au génie. The reason of this mode of construction is, that, if the shortest were not placed first, it would be separated from the verb by a complement expressed by many words, which would weaken the connection between the verb and the shortest complement :-But, should the complements be of equal length, the direct complement comes first. Il faut prêcher la diligence aux paresseux et la modération aux emportés. Le roi ne confie pas le commandement de ses armées à des hommes qui sont sans religion. LESSON THE NINETEENTH. ON THE PARTICIPLE PREsent. RULE I. The participle present is always indeclinable; that is to it ends invariably in ant, whether relating to a noun of the masculine or feminine gender, or to a noun singular or plural.-EXAM say, PLES: Les hommes alliant le courage à | Men, uniting courage to prudence, la prudence sont rares et les femmes joignant les grâces de leur sexe aux vertus et aux talens du nôtre sont encore plus rares, are rare and women, joining the graces of their own sex to the virtues and talents of ours, are still more rare. Et c'est là que fuyant l'orgueil du diadême, RULE II.-When the participle present, by qualifying an object, completes a verb at the same time, it is generally preceded by en, which answers in English to by, in, or while. The participle present is a complement to the verb, whenever it expresses a means, circumstance, or the mode of the action expressed by the verb.—EXAMPLES: Nous avons obtenu la paix en fe- | We have obtained peace by maksant de grands sacrifices. ing great sacrifices. On acquiert plus de gloire en dé-¡ A man acquires more glory by de fendant qu'en accusant ses con- Il mourut en déjeunant. fending than by accusing his fellow-citizens. He died while eating his breakfast. One day Diogenes said, while he dined with his friends: O my friends! there is no longer any friendship. Des trompeuses grandeurs le sage se console: Le peuple ailé des bois, s'essayant dans les airs, Il dompte, en se jouant, ce taureau menaçant, Pauvre Didon! où t'a réduite De tes maris le triste sort? L'un, en mourant, cause ta fuite; L'autre, en fuyant, cause ta mort. There are many cases in which the participle qualifying and completing all at once, is not preceded by the preposition en; as in the following phrase: Comment voulez-vous que, n'étu- | How can you expect, without studiant pas, on devienne savant? dying, to become learned. Etudiant both qualifies and completes: it is as if there were, Comment voulez-vous que, lorsqu'on n'étudie pas, on devienne savant? NOTE, in general, that whenever, without en, the sense would be equivocal or ambiguous, this word must be expressed. RULE III.-When a participle present is employed, solely to qualify a substantive, and not to complete a verb, it ought not to be preceded by the preposition en; and it accomplishes this, when it can be rendered by qui, and the indicative of the verb; which construction is generally preferable to the participle present, especially if the participle present have a reference to a noun acted upon by the preposition d.-EXAMPLES: J'ai vu votre frère courant, ou qui | I saw your brother running at full courait, à toutes jambes. speed. Apercevez-vous les matelots ra. mant, ou qui rament, vers la côte? C'est une femme aimant, ou qui aime, son mari. Do you perceive the sailors rowing towards the coast? She is a woman that loves her husband. In the first place, courant merely qualifies the noun frère, and does not at the same time complete the verb j'ai vu; because we may say, j'ai vu votre frère qui courait à toutes jambes. By placing en, therefore, before courant, the sense of the phrase would be changed. The participle would qualify the pronoun je, and would complete, at the same time, the verb, j'ai vu―j'ai vu votre frère en courant à toutes jambes; that is to say, j'ai vu votre frère, lorsque. je courais à toutes jambes. As you might be apt to impose gender or number on the participle present, as beginners often do, owing to many adjectives ending in ant*, such as charmant, obligeant, souffrant, &c. which assume gender or number, as the nouns to which they are subject require it, it is necessary for me to establish the material difference which exists between the real participle present and the adjective in ant.-The former is a verb, because either it has a complement or it expresses a circumstance of time; and the latter has no complement, at least direct, and expresses no circumstance of time. It is true, that these adjectives were formerly participles present, and were then liable to gender or number, as may be noticed in some law terms; such as les gens tenans notre cour; la rendante compte; but, as the French language has since acquired a fixed character, by which the participle present is rendered invariable, we must conform to it. In a word, to distinguish the participle present from the adjective, which has the same termination, it suffices to know, that the verb être connects itself well with the adjective ending in ant, but cannot, by any means, with the participle present. Je suis prévenant. We may say Tu es charmant. Il est séduisant. Je suis lisant. We cannot say, Tu es vendant. Il est servant. Almost every grammarian admits, besides the participle present, of a gerund, which is in reality only the participle present preceded by the preposition en. This denomination appearing to us, Of all the participles in ant, only those of the neuter or stationary verbs may vary. Thus we may say, Une humeur répugnante à la mienne—une étoffe approchante de la vôtre. But this rule is far from being general, as one could not say, des filles travaillantes à la terre; des personnes arrivantes de campagne. We might find, in some of our best poets, instances of participles present, both of active and stationary verbs, made variable; but this licence has not been fully sanctioned by usage. after mature consideration, quite superfluous, we have not adopted it. I conclude this account of the participle present by observ ing, that ayant and étant very seldom admit before them the preposition en. LESSON THE TWENTIETH. ON THE DECLINABILITY OR INDECLINABILITY OF THE PAST PARTICIPLE. Master. The question, when the past participle of a verb is declinable, or when it is indeclinable, involves many difficulties; as even the first-rate grammarians appear divided among themselves on some of its points, while they have all supported their opinions by very ingenious reasons. Our opinion, on this subject, will, I think, be found conformable to reason, and our principles adequate to the solution of the difficulties alluded to. If I do not always impart my motives for adopting one opinion and rejecting another, it is merely owing to the long process of reasoning necessary to support my doctrine; as I could not presume to adopt an opinion, different from that of Vaugelas, Regnier, Condillac, Wailly, &c. without assigning rea sons at full length for it. Besides, upon the whole, I consider, that however interesting these discussions may be to a critic, or a philologist, or a professed grammarian, they are by no means so to the learner, who cannot discover in them sufficient utility to compensate the loss of time he might have so much better employed, and the difficulty he experiences in the investigation of the subject. To proceed, at the same time, with a certain degree of regularity and simplicity, I will consider the past participle conjugated, 1st, with être, 2d, with avoir, 3d, with the reflective verb. 1st. Of the participle past, conjugated with ́étre. RULE I. The past participle conjugated with être always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the verb.—EXAMPLES; Le crime est détesté; mais la vertu | Vice is detested; but virtue is not always loved. She was, in her youth, endowed with enchanting beauty. Les hommes vertueux sont estimés | Virtuous men are esteemed even même des méchans. by the wicked. Les femmes vertueuses sont respec- Virtuous women are respected by tées de tout le monde. every body. O toi, qui vois la honte où je suis descendue, Ton iriomphe est parfait, tes traits ont tous porté. RULE II.-Whep été, joined to one of the tenses of avoir, is followed by another participle, the latter is declinable.—EXAMPLES: | This actress has been applauded by the pit and boxes. Cette actrice a été applaudie du parterre et des loges. Nous avons été trahis par ceuxmême à qui nous avions été recommandés. We have been betrayed even by those to whom we had been recommended. M. As the declinability or indeclinability of the past participle, in the examples that will now follow, depends upon its being preceded by its direct complement, or upon its preceding its indirect complement, I give you a list of the complements direct, and another of the complements indirect, which always precede the past participle. The complements direct are fifteen in number. 2d. Of the past participle, conjugated with avoir. RULE I. The past participle is indeclinable, when it precedes its direct complement.-EXAMPLES. |