SYNTAX OF THE PREPOSITION.

EXERCISE CI.

PAGE 182.-1. By trying to gain too much he lost all. 2. It is by reading good authors that one forms one's taste and style. 3. We must eat to live, and not live to eat. 4. The merit of virtue is to be virtuous in the midst of the wicked. 5. These apartments are to let. 6. We shall go to Paris next week, and thence to Switzerland. 7. They have been in the country these three months. 8. She was ill for more than a year. 9. We spend the winter in Paris and the summer in Scotland. 10. Whence do you come? I come from the consul's. Where are you going? I am going home. 11. I shall go and see you on Saturday, if it is fine. 12. The earth multiplies her gifts according to the number and the wants of her children. 13. Bayard was surnamed the Knight without fear and without reproach.

SYNTAX OF THE CONJUNCTION.

EXERCISE CIII.

PAGE 184.—1. John, run and take this letter to the post-office. 2. Let us go and play in the garden while waiting for dinner. 3. I believe you are right; but I do not think he is wrong. 4. What avails your having talents, if you do not cultivate them, and if you do not employ them properly? 5. The look of Neptune is awful when he raises his trident and threatens the swelling waves. 6. Speak louder that we may hear you. 7. Could I have slighted you, that you do not speak to me any more? 8. Why do you not take more recreation? 9. How many wonders in a small insect! 10. How happy you are to have such good parents!

VERSIONS OR FREE EXERCISES

TO BE TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH.

one.

I. THE CRAB AND HER MOTHER.

'Why do you walk so crookedly,1 child?' said an old crab to a young 'Walk straight!' 'Mother,' said the young crab, 'show me the way, will you? and when I see (fut.) you taking a straight course,2 I will try and follow.'

Example is better than precept.

1 Ainsi de travers. 2 Cheminer droit.

II. A GOOD EXCUSE.

A lazy young fellow being asked what made him lie in bed1 so long? 'I am busied,' says he, 'in hearing counsel every morning. Industry advises me to get up; Sloth to lie still; and so they give me twenty reasons pro and con.2 It is my part3 to hear what is said on both sides, and by the time the cause is over, the dinner is ready.'

1 Restir au lit. 2 Pour et contre. 3 C'est à moi.

III. A GENEROUS PROPOSAL.

A young man introduced himself1 to a rich and avaricious merchant.2 'Sir,' said he to him, 'I can make you gain fifty thousand francs!' Pray walks into my office, speak! explain yourself!' 'I know that you have a daughter to whom you intend to give a hundred thousand francs for her dowry. I, who am speaking to you, will take her with fifty thousand; you will therefore be benefited" fifty thousand francs.'

1 Se présenter.

2 Négociant means an extensive merchant; marchand, a dealer. 3 Donnez-vous la peine de passer. 4 Bureau. 5 Say, To whom you destine. 6 Indicative present. 7 Say, There is therefore for you a profit of.

IV. THE BOY AND THE NETTLE.

A boy playing in the fields was stung by a nettle. He ran home to his mother, and told her that he had but touched1 the nasty weed and it had stung him. 'It was precisely because you just touched it, my boy,' said the mother, that it stung you. The next time you meddle with2 a nettle, grasp it tightly, and it will not hurt you.'

Do vigorously what you do at all.

1 Il n'avait fait que toucher. 2 Vous aurez affaire à.

V. A LADY FOND OF SQUINTING.

' Well, Sir,' exclaimed a lady, the vehement and impassioned partisan of Mr. Wilkes, in the day of his glory, and during the broad blaze of his patriotism; 'well, Sir, and will you dare deny that Mr. Wilkes is a great man, and an eloquent man?' Oh, by no means, Madam! I have not a doubt respecting Mr. Wilkes's talents.' 'Well, but, Sir, and is he not a fine man, too, and a handsome man?' 'Why, Madam, he squints, doesn't he?' 'Squints! yes, to be sure he does, Sir, but not a bit more than a gentleman and a man of sense ought to squint !'-COLERIDGE. 1 N'est-ce pas vrai. 2 Mais pas plus qu'il ne convient à un gentilhomme et à un homme de bon sens de loucher.

1

VI. NOT AT HOME.

Scipio Nasica, having gone to Ennius to speak to him, and calling him from the street,1 a slave answered him that his master was not at home. But Scipio heard clearly that Ennius himself told the slave to answer that he was gone out. A little while after, Ennius went to Scipio, and also called him from the street; Scipio answered him with a loud voice2 that he was not at home. 'How!' added Ennius, 'do I not know your voice?' 'You are very unpolite,' replied Scipio; 'the other day, I believed on the faith of your slave that you were not at home, and to-day you will not believe me myself!'

1 D'en bas. 2 A haute voix. 3 Preterite indefinite.

VII. THE CONTEST OF ART.

Zeuxis entered into a contest of art with Parrhasius.

The former

painted grapes so truly,1 that birds came and pecked at them. The latter delineated a curtain so exactly, that Zeuxis coming in, said, 'Take away the curtain that we may see this piece." .' And finding his error, said, 'Parrhasius, thou hast conquered: I only deceived birds, thou an artist. '3

Zeuxis painted a boy carrying grapes; the birds came again and pecked. Some applauding, Zeuxis flew to the picture in a passion, saying, 'My boy must be very ill painted!'

1 Tellement au naturel. 2 Tableau. 8 Say, Thou hast deceived an artist.

VIII. THE CROW AND THE PITCHER.

A crow ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a pitcher which he saw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so low, that with all his endeavours he was unable to reach it. Thereupon he attempted to break the pitcher, then to overturn it; but his strength

was not sufficient to do either.1 At last, seeing some small pebbles at hand, he dropped a great many of them into the pitcher, one by one, and so raised the water to the brim, and quenched his thirst. Skill and patience will succeed where force fails. mother of invention.

Necessity is the

1 Mais il n'avait pas assez de force pour cela. 2 Près de là.

IX. WHAT IS RICE?

The Rice plant is a species of grass growing very much like1 our own oats. When ripe, each grain is enclosed in a yellow husk, and hung in fine clusters on very thin stalks. It grows best in very moist soil, and low lands which are flooded at particular seasons are on that account preferred for its cultivation. Before it is used for food, the husk is removed by rubbing the grain between flat stones and blowing the broken husks away. Machines are also used for the same purpose. In our own country rice serves us for puddings, and for thickening soup, and is both cheap and wholesome.

1 A peu près de la même manière que. 2 A l'état de maturité.

X. MILDNESS.

Sir Isaac Newton had a favourite little dog, which he called Diamond; and being one day called out of his study into the next room, Diamond was left behind. When Sir Isaac returned, having been absent but1 a few minutes, he had the mortification to find that Diamond, having thrown down a lighted candle among some papers, the nearly finished labour of many years was in flames, and almost consumed to ashes. This loss, as Sir Isaac Newton was then very far advanced in years,2 was irretrievable; yet, without once striking the dog, he only rebuked him with this exclamation: 'Oh, Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done.'

1 Après une absence de, etc. 2 D'un âge très-avancé.

XI. THE NUT: A FABLE.

Two boys were once playing1 under a tree, when a nut fell from it near them. One of them picked it up. The other boy said: 'It is my nut, for I saw it fall.' 'No, it is mine,' said the other, 'for I picked it up.' Just then a bigger boy came along, and he said, 'What are you disputing about?' The little boys told him. 'Give it to me,' said he, and I will decide your quarrel for you.' So he cracked the nut, and gave one-half of the shell to one boy, saying: 'This is for you, because you saw the nut fall.' He then gave the other half-shell to the second boy,

saying, 'This is yours, because you picked up the nut.' Then, putting the kernel into his own mouth, he said, ‘And this is for my trouble in cracking it.'

1 Etaient un jour à jouer. 2 Au même instant survint un garçon plus âgé, qui

leur dit.

XII. THE TWO OXFORD STUDENTS.

Leopold. John, go to Mr. Marcus's room, and ask him to lend me Livingstone's Travels in Africa.

John. Mr. Marcus, my master sends me to beg you will lend him Livingstone's Travels.

1

Marcus. Tell Mr. Leopold that I make it a rule never to lend my books, but if he will take the trouble to come to my room, he can read Livingstone's Travels as long as he likes.

Three months after.

Marcus. Thomas, go and ask Mr. Leopold to lend me his bellows to blow my fire. You will never be able to light it without them, I am quite sure.

Thomas. Mr. Leopold, your friend Mr. Marcus has sent me to beg the loan of your bellows to blow his fire.

Leopold. I am very sorry. Give my compliments to Mr. Marcus, and tell him I make it a rule never to lend my bellows; but if he will give himself the trouble of coming into my room, he is welcome to blow my fire as long as he likes.

1 Je me suis fait une règle de nc jamais préter mes livres. 2 Libre à lui de me souffler le feu.

XIII. COFFEE.

Coffee is an evergreen shrub indigenous to the table-lands1 of Ethiopia. Its berries contain the coffee of commerce, called coffee-beans. The finest quality of coffee is produced in Arabia; but the largest quantities are exported from Brazil and Java.

Elevated situations are best suited for the growth of coffee. The trees are raised from slips, which are allowed four or five years to grow before the berries are gathered. They attain the height of eight or ten feet, and continue to bear fruit for from thirty to fifty years. They resemble a handsome laurel, and bear a profusion of clusters of fragrant white flowers, succeeded by brilliant red berries, sweet and pulpy, which ripen to a purple colour, each containing two coffee seeds or stones.

Coffee was used in England some years before tea was introduced.

1 Originaire des plateaux. 2 Et continuent de porter des fruits pendant un espace de trente à cinquante ans.