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This word must

(f. like all the words in eille) an old woman. be carefully distinguished from veille, f. watching, particularly in the pl.; les fréquentes veilles altérent la santé; health is impaired by frequent watchings at night. It is also the eve or the day which precedes another. La veille de Noël, Christmas eve; je l'avois vu la veille; I had seen him the day before: and from vielle, f. a hand-organ, a hurdy-gurdy. Pronounce viel-ye, veil-ye, and vi-elle. Un vieille jouoit de la vielle la veille de Pâques, an old woman was playing on a hand-organ on Easter eve. sempiternel, elle, adj. living or lasting for ever. It is now obsolete, except in conjunction with une vieille, as here: but only in familiar conversation. Sempiterne, f. and Sempiternelle, f. is the 'French name of "everlasting," a stuff used in England for ladies' shoes.

Marchant, walking, part. act. of marcher, r. n. 1. to walk. There is a difficulty in using the proper French word for the English walking. When the latter means to take an airing on foot, for pleasure, it is, se promener, refl, r. 1.; when it means to move the feet in order to advance, it is marcher ; and when it simply means to go, it is aller. Do not walk so fast when you walk; let us walk home. Ne marchez pas si vite quand vous vous promenez; allons à la maison. Se trainer, refl. r. 1. to drag one's self, to creep along. un appui, m. a support, prop, stay, protection; à hauteur d'appui, breast high; la décrépitude, f. infirm old age. All the words in ude are f. except un prélude, and a considerable number of them are the same in English.

ce squelette ambulant, this walking, moving skeleton. Un squelette, m. a skeleton, is one of the nine exceptions to the 260 French words in ette which are f. ambulant, ante, is a verbal adj. derived from the Latin "ambulare," and means "moving," the opposite of stationary. Hopital ambulant, an army hospital; but in the French revolutionary wars a new word was coined, and an army hospital was called une ambulance, f.

craignant, part. act. of craindre, r. a. 4. to fear. When this verb is followed by que ne, it denotes that we are afraid that a thing which we really do not wish for may happen, as

here: craignant qu'elle ne tombe en défaillance, fearing her falling into a swoon; but when the second negative, pas, is added, it denotes that we wish for the thing which we are afraid will not happen. elle craint que sa mère n'arrive pas aujourd'hui, she is afraid her mother will not come to-day; tomber en défaillance, to faint away, to fall into a swoon; une défaillance, f. a fainting-fit, a swoon, debility.

se hâter, ref. r. 1. to hasten; hâtez vous lentement, on slow; the Latin "festina lente."

demander, r. a. and n. 1. to ask. Demander quelque chose à quelqu'un, to ask something of a person; demander quelqu'un, to ask for a person; on vous demande, there is some one asking for you; on vous demande si vous êtes satisfaite, they ask you, or you are asked, whether you are satisfied.

d'une voix tremblotante, with a quaking voice. Observe that the English " with," cannot always be translated by avec. tremblotant, ante, quaking, a verbal adj. derived from trembloter, r. n. 1. to shake, to quake, to shiver. It is the diminutive of trembler, to tremble.

Elle dine en ville, she is dining out. Diner en ville does not mean to dine in town, but simply to dine from home. Diner par cœur, to dine with Duke Humphreys, to have no dinner.

et delà on la mène à la Comédie, and from thence they take her to the play. See page 85, No. VI.

d'où bien tard elle reviendra, is a poëtical inversion for d'où elle reviendra bien tard, from whence she will return very late; ma bonne, my good woman. Children also call

their nurse, ma bonne.

quand elle rentrera, when she comes home, from rentrer, r. n. 1. to re-enter, to return, to come home. It is conj. with être, à quelle heure êtes vous rentré? At what o'clock did you return home?

Si vouz êtes encore en vie, if you are still alive, if you are then alive.

A Song of GOETHE'S, called the Fisher, is to-day the vehicle of our remarks on the German language.

DER FISCHER.

DAS Wasser rauscht', das Wasser schwoll,
Ein Fischer sasz daran,

Sah nach dem Angel ruhevoll

Kühl his ans Herz hinan.

Und wie er sitzt und wie er lauscht,

Theilt sich die Fluth empor;

Aus dem bewegten Wasser rauscht,
Ein feuchtes Weib hervor.

Sie sang zu ihm, sie sprach zu ihm :
Was lockst du meine Brut

Mit Menschenwitz und Menschenlist
Hinauf in Todesgluth?

Ach! wüsztest du wie's Fischlein ist

So wohlig auf dem Grund,

Du stiegst herunter, wie du bist,
Und würdest erst gesund.

Labt sich die liebe Sonne nicht,
Der Mond sich nicht im Meer?
Kehrt wellenathmend ihr Gesicht
Nicht doppelt schöner her?

Lockt dich der tiefe Himmel nicht,

Das feucht verklärte Blau?

Lockt dich dein eigen Angesicht

Nicht her in ew'gen Thau?

Das Wasser rauscht', das Wasser schwoll,

Netzt' ihm den nackten Fusz;

Sein Herz wuchs ihm so sehnsuchtsvoll,

Wie bei der Liebsten Grusz.

Sie sprach zu ihm, sie sang zu ihm ;

Da war's um ihn geschehn.

Halb zog sie ihn, halb sank er hin,

Und ward nicht mehr gesehn..

THE ANGLER.

THE water rushed, the water swelled, an angler sat near it; cool up to his heart he calmly looked at the angle, and as he sat in soft repose, the rising flood opened, and out of the agitated water rushed up a humid female. She sung to him, she said to him, why doest thou allure my brood up with human skill and human stratagem to this killing heat? Ah! didst thou but know how happy the fish are below, thou wouldst come down as thou art, and only then thou wouldst know happiness. Does not the lovely Sun, does not the Moon, refresh themselves in the sea? Does not their wave-breathing face return more

beautiful? Does not this deep heaven, this humid æthereal blue, attract thee? Does not the reflection of thy own face tempt thee down into the everlasting dew? The water rushed, the water swelled, and wetted his naked foot: his heart felt a longing, as if it had been a greeting from his love. She said to him, she sung to him; and it was all over with him; she half dragged him, he half sunk down, and never was seen any more.

der Fischer, s. m. the fisher, the angler. The verbal names of men carrying on a certain trade or profession, have the same termination in er, in English and German, and are mostly derived from the infinitive of the verb which denotes the occupation. Der Bäcker, the baker; der Brauer, the brewer; der Lehrer, the teacher; der Mahler, the painter, &c.

Das Wasser rauscht,' the water rushed. The apostrophe after the shows that it is not the present of the indicative, but the imperfect, the poët being at liberty to reject the final e, for the sake of the metre: in prose it must be rauschte, from the r. n. v. rauschen, to rush, to gush out with a noise, to rattle. It is conj. with haben, and applies equally to wind and water, and to silks, fig. ein rauschendes Vergnügen, a noisy pleasure. Das Wasser schwoll, the water swelled; schwellen, irr. n. ich schwelle, du schwillst, er schwillt, pl. r. ich schwoll, ich bin geschwollen, to swell, to be puffed up. As an act. v. it is r. and some modern writers make the n. schwillen, and the act. schwellen, just as we say quillen and quellen, sinken and senken, schwimmen and schwemmen, springen and sprengen, trinken and tränken, page 29, No. II. and page 125, No. VIII.

ein Fischer sasz daran, a fisher sat close to it. Sasz, impf. of the irr. n. sitzen, to sit; ich sitze, ich sasz, ich habe gesessen. In conjunction with adverbs, like gut, well; schlecht, übel, badly; schön, well, beautifully, &c. sitzen, alluding to clothes, means "to fit." Das Kleid sitzt nicht gut, the coat does not fit well: and here again the active verb is setzen, agreeably to the preceding remark, to place: setzen sie sich, set yourself down, refl. der Angel, s. pl. die Angeln, m. the fishing-hook, the angle: it is now generally employed as a f. in which case it denotes also the whole angling rod, die Angelruthe.

Kühl bis ans Herz hinan, cool up to his heart. These words connected with the ruhevoll, tranquil, calm, in the preceding lines, are intended to show that the angler was not in a romantic mood, but was wholly taken by surprise when the humid female rising from the deep sung to him.

und wie er sitzt und wie er lauscht, and as he sits, and as he watches. The German Wie is both "how" and "as," the French "comment" and "comme." Wie befinden Sie sich? Recht wohl wie sie sehen, how do you do? very well, as you Comment vous portez vous ? Très bien, comme vous voyez. lauschen, r. n. conj. with haben, to listen, to spy, to be on the watch particularly with a mischievous intention; to be half dozing, to lounge, to recline for repose, as here.

see.

Theilt sich, divides itself, opens, from the r. a. theilen, to divide in parts.

empor, adv. up, upwards. It is generally confined to poëtry. aus dem bewegten Wasser, out of the agitated water. bewegt, part. p. of the r. a. bewegen, to agitate, to move, also morally to affect, to move to compassion. But when it signifies to induce, to have an influence upon the will, it is irr. and makes ich bewog, ich have bewogen. Die Predigt bewegte mich bis zu Thränen, und bewog mich meine Reise aufzuschieben, the sermon moved me even to tears, and induced me to postpone my journey. Feucht, adj. damp, humid.

ein Weib, n. a woman, a female; das Weib, es, e, pl. die Weiber. This word denotes a female companion of man, without any reference to the legality of the connexion, whilst die Frau always denotes the lawful wife. The following epigram hinges upon this difference:

“Dasz Boas seine Magd zu seinem Weib erkohren
Deswegen hält man ihn für keinen Thoren ;

Dich nur, Lykander, hat man ausgelacht

Dieweil du deine Magd zu deiner Frau gemacht."

hervor, adv. forward, from behind, or out of a place.

Was, which is properly the pron. inter. what, is also employed as a conj. instead of warum, why, wherefore, locken, v. to allure, to entice. There is an old saying:

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