Ses longs mugissemens font trembler le rivage, Dans le temple voisin chacun cherche un asyle. Arrête ses coursiers, saisit ses javelots, Pousse au monstre, et d'un dard lancé d'une main sûre, Il lui fait dans le flanc une large blessure. De rage et de douleur le monstre bondissant Vient aux pieds des chevaux tomber en rugissant, Ils courent, tout son corps n'est bientôt qu'une playe. Leur fougue impétueuse enfin se ralentit. Ils s'arrêtent non loin de ces tombeaux antiques, We had scarcely left the gates of Trezen; he was in his chariot. His afflicted guards ranged around, were silent like him. Lost in thought, he followed the road to Mycenes; his hand let the reins hang loose upon his horses. These beautiful coursers, which formerly were seen obeying his voice with a noble ardour, now hung down their heads with dulness in their eyes, and seemed to accommodate themselves to his mournful reflections. At that instant a terrible scream issuing from the bottom of the waters, disturbed the stillness of the air, and a lamentable voice from the bosom of the earth re-echoed this frightful cry with a long groan. The blood froze in our hearts; the manes of the listening coursers stood at an end. In the meantime arose bubbling on the back of the watery plain, a liquid mountain; the wave drew near, opened, and among floods of foam vomited under our eyes a horrible monster. Its large forehead was armed with threatening horns; its body covered all over with yellow scales. An unsubdued bull, an impetuous dragon, its tail winds itself in tortuous folds; its long roarings shake the shore. Heaven itself beholds the frightful monster with horror; the earth shrinks at its sight; the atmosphere is infected with it; the wave that brought it recedes with fright. Every one takes to flight, and without arming themselves with useless courage, all seek for an asylum in the neighbouring temple. Hippolytus only, the worthy son of a hero, stops his horses, seizes his quiver, shoots at the monster, and with an arrow sent with a dexterous hand, he inflicts a large wound in its side. The monster, leaping with rage and pain, fell roaring at the feet of the horses, rolled on the ground, and opened upon them its inflamed jaw, which covered them with fire, blood, and smoke. Fright now seized and deafened them; they paid no attention either to the reins or to the voice of their master, who exhausted himself in powerless efforts; they reddened their bits with a bloody foam. It is even asserted that in the midst of this dreadful confusion a god has been seen who spurred their dusty sides with goads. Their fright hurried them on over the rocks; the axle creaked and broke. The intrepid Hippolytus beheld his ruined chariot flying about in splinters. He himself fell entangled in the reins. Pardon my grief. This horrible sight will be for me an endless source of tears. I saw, my Lord, your unfortunate son dragged by the very horses which he fed with his own hands. He attempted to call them back, but his voice frightened them; they ran on, and all his body was soon one wound. The plain re-ecoed with our mournful cries. At length the impetuous fury of the horses relented; they stopped not far from those antique tombs which enclose the cold remains of the monarchs his ancestors. 1 hastened to the spot, and his guard followed me. The marks of his generous blood guided our steps; the rocks were dyed with it, and the trickling thorns bore the bloody remnants of his hair. Ses Gardes affligés. Observe that the word Garde is m. whenever it denotes a guardsman, a warder. Hence a Body of Life-guardsman is un Garde du Corps. It is also masc. when it means a keeper, as le Garde des Sceaux, the keepe of the seals; un Garde chasse, a gamekeeper. But when it denotes a body of soldiers, a guard, a watch, it is fem. La Garde Royale, the King's Guards. In the last line but three you have." et sa garde me suit." faire la garde, to keep watch; être de garde, to be on guard; and also to be capable of being kept, speaking of fruit or any thing perishable. Mon Cousin, qui est de garde adjourd'hui, dit que ce fruit est de garde, my cousin who is to-day on guard, assures that this fruit will keep. Pensif, ive, adj. thoughtful, pensive; pensant, adj. thinking. The French have two words for a thought, un penser, masc. and une pensée, fem. The former marks, as it were, the manner of thinking, and paints the operation itself. Hence it has more energy, and is of course more poëtical than la pensée, which is rather the effect of thinking. avec des pensées on est With the former, we pensant; avec des pensers on est pensif. think; with the latter, we are pensive, lost in thought. The following verses will remind you of this distinction : "Pense un peu quels pensers tu pensois en enfance, Et quels pensers depuis très souvent tu pensas; En pensant ces pensers pensif tu penseras Que, sans penser à Dieu, tout est vain ce qu'on pense.” We noticed, page 134, No. IX. the difference between the verbs penser and panser; and we merely add, that the flower called "pansy," or heart's-ease, in English, though likewise called une pensée in French, is not spelt with an a but with an e, the same with pensée, thought. aussi modeste que la violette, la pensée n'en a pas le parfum, mais elle a plus d'éclat. laissoit flotter les rênes, let the reins float. une reine, f. a queen ; une rêne, f. a rein; and une renne, f. a rein-deer, are very much alike in pronunciation. Delille, imitating this line, said of the Laplander : "Le rapide Lapon court, vole, et de ses rennes, Ces superbes coursiers, these beautiful coursers. Although superbe, adj. is also superb, proud, it often denotes beauty, when applied to living creatures. une femme superbe, un superbe cavalier, a handsome horseman. But when Edipus says of himself, in Voltaire's tragedy: j'étois jeune et superbe," he combined with it the idea of pride, and the same idea enters also in its application to horses. Delille, in speaking of this noble animal, says :- "Soit qu'à travers les prés il s'échappe par bonds, Beau d'orgueil et d'amour, il vole à ses amantes." notre sang s'est glacé. se glacer, refl. r. 1, to congeal, to freeze, is more poëtical than se geler, to freeze, to congeal. Both verbs express the same idea as neuter verbs. You may say, l'esprit de vin ne glace jamais, or ne gèle jamais. le crin, m. the long hair on the neck and tail of some animals. It is never applied to the hair of a man's head, but sneeringly. Quelle chevelure! ce ne sont pas des cheveux, c'est du crin. It is mostly used in the pl. as in the verses of Delille which we have just quoted. Prendre au crin, or aux crins, to pull one by the hair; se prendre aux crins, to fight. se brise, breaks itself, opens. The French have three words for breaking: 1. rompre, to break in two: we have it farther on, “l'essieu crie et se rompt," the axle creaks and breaks; 2. casser, to break in pieces that may again be put together in some cases; 3. briser, to break completely, to produce a total dissolution of parts, so that the pieces cannot be again put together. The wave that opens is completely dissolved. indomptable, adj. invincible, untameable. Some modern writers spell this word without the p, but this is incorrect; for the p is even heard in the declamatory style: in common conversation the pronunciation is "indontable." indomptable taureau, dragon impétueux, is one of those phrases absolues which we noticed page 120, No. VIII. la croupe, f. the top of a hill, the buttocks of a horse or mule; hence monter en croupe, to ride on horseback behind another person: but être chatouilleux sur la croupe, to be of an irritable temper, to be easily offended. tout fuit, all flies. We had tout in the sense of every thing, page 39, No. III.; here it means every body. Remember that collective words in French are not construed with the verb in the plural. tout se plaint, tout gémit, all complain, all groan. See page 70, No. V., 83, No. VI., and 167, No. XI. We have below, et sa garde me suit, not me suivent. d'une main sûre, with a hand that is certain of hitting, with a dexterous hand. Sûr, e, adj. safe, certain, sure, infallible, that is to be depended upon. Ami sûr et douce amie Font le charme de la vie. But sur, adj. without the grave accent, is "sour;" and sur, preposition" upon." Je suis sûr qu'il y a du fruit sur la table. Hence a punster said-La rue la plus sure de Paris est la rue de l'Oseille, (Sorrel-street.) la frayeur les emporte, fright hurries them away, carries them off. emporter, page 120, No. VIII. has also the mean.. ing of having the superiority, when it is construed with the pron. le, "it" Shakspeare l'emporte sur tous les tragiques Anglois, Shakspeare is superior to all the English tragic writers. The French also say of any thing that is too bad : cela emporte la pièce; and s'emporter, refl. v. is to fall into a passion. Se laisser emporter à la colère, expresses the same idea. "Notre Curé crie et s'emporte, Il me défend d'aimer Lubin : le mors, (and anciently le mords,) m. the bit of a bridle: the s is not heard. The French say of a horse that is become unmanageable, and runs furiously away, le cheval a pris le mors aux dents. à travers les rochers, across the rocks, over the rocks. You may say either à travers le jardin, à travers la ville, through the garden, through the town; or, au travers du jardin, au |