Point d'eau dans les chaleurs, en hiver point de grain ; Et puis le grand air est mal sain A ce que dit Mademoiselle. On change de climat du soir au lendemain, Samedi l'on bruloit et Dimanche l'on gèle Qu'on soit plus mal ici que là? Mais vous restez muet, répondez donc, mon maître. Sois heureux, puisque tu peux l'être, Dans la prison qui t'a vu naître ; Moi, j'ai connu la liberté. THE TWO CHAFFINCHES. A LITTLE Chaffinch, born and bred in his cage, was consoling one of his fellow prisoners of another age who had been caught, and recently quartered under the same grating. Father, I pity you, said the young bird but I do not see why you should lament so much; do you feel any want here? have we not millet and water given us, and sugar in the morning, and cake in the evening? We are beloved by the daughter of the house; her little attentions show it; try to love her in return: we suffer less when we love. I know that she wishes nothing so much than to alleviate your sufferings; she speaks to you, you must talk to her. Fear is the worst of pains. Every young female has besides such a sweet warbling, that she might be mistaken for one of us; and she is like a sister to whom one may communicate any thing. She takes care to instruct me, and thanks to her instructions, you cannot imagine how well informed I am, though I never travelled. As soon as I felt my wings flap upon my sides, I longed to fly to those woods which you say are so beautiful, and which procure an agreeable umbrage to thousands of birds to which I suppose I am related. I confessed my longing to my second mother, who answered with tears in her eyes: What! my poor little friend, would you act in the air the part of a Knight errant? I feel in me, replied I, something noble, which stamps me a Chaffinch above the common. I wish to try my fortune, and abandon myself to fate; I long to see the native country of the Chaffinches my ancestors. It is delightful to behold the cradle of those from whom we descend. Poor little friend, said my kind friend again, alas! you are going into a hostile country, to meet with death. You ought to be better informed about woods, there is no peace in them. The strongest rules there, and the weakest is always in the wrong. Consider what a Chaffinch has to hope for in the dominions of the strongest. Her tears and her arguments overcame my ..... resolution, and I vowed to die in a cage. Indeed, life is but half enjoyed in the woods; its web there is never completed, and the tribe of Chaffinches, unused to fence, every moment meets with a new enemy. If towards midnight you happen to sleep under the foliage, beware of the owl and of the weazel; at sunrise comes the bird-catcher; if you escape the snares which he lays for you, a huntsman tries his skill upon you, and should you escape him, you encounter the vulture . . . . . You have always to fly; life is, indeed, too dear at that price. But the danger to which you are exposed is little compared to the misery which you endure; sometimes thirsty, sometimes hungry: without water in hot seasons; without grain in winter: and then the open air is very unwholesome, as my young Miss says; the climate varies from one day to the other; on Saturday you were burning with heat, and on the Sunday you shiver with cold . . . . Tell me whether I am wrongly informed; and do you think, after all, that we are worse off here than in the woods? But you continue silent; pray, answer me, Sir. Friend, said the captive, still more depressed, be happy, since you can be happy, in the prison in which you were born. As for me, I have known what liberty is. "born." Né natif de sa cage, born and bred in his cage, is a popudar expression, which can be tolerated only in light pöetry, as it really is a pleonasm in French, both words signifying exactly the same thing, To speak correctly, you ought to say either je suis né à Berlin; or, je suis natif de Berlin. Both words are adj, né, née; natif, native. Beaumarchais also begins one of his songs: "Je suis né natif de Tarare," &c. When coupled with any metal, natif means ready formed, as, or natif, argent natif. Du mieux qu'il pouvoit. Page 246, No. XVI. Un grillage, s. m. a grating, lattice-work. We have already observed, page 39, No. III., that the words in age are m. with very few exceptions. We now add, that several of them denote aggregation, as in assemblage, a collection; cordage, a collection of ropes; herbage, a collection of herbs and greens; rouage, wheelwork, &c.; and others denote being placed in the particular circumstances marked by the noun to which the termination age is tacked: esclavage, slavery; veuvage, widowhood; voisinage, neighbourhood, &c. Je vous plains, page 245, No. XVI. Quelquechose denotes both something and anything, as here, the distinction between any and some being unknown to the French language. Another singularity is, that though the subst. chose is f. quelquechose is always construed with the particle de, and the adj. in the m.: you have below, je sens en moi quelquechose de grand, I feel in me something great, something noble. Cet homme a dans le caractère quelquechose de bon, there is some goodness in that man's disposition. Quelquechose in this sense, is a sort of neutral expression, which is always affirmative, like the English "something;" it never can be construed with a negation. Instead of n'avez vous pas quelquechose de bon à nous donner? you must say, n'avez vous rien de bon à nous donner? In what he calls the formidable list of indeterminate pronouns, § 99 of his French grammar, Mr. Cobbett omits quelque, tel, and chaque, which deservedly rank among the most important, They are of frequent occurrence, and have a very extensive meaning. Their construction, besides, is by no means easy, and if Mr. C. pretends to excuse his omission by considering them as mere adjectives, we reply in his own words-" it signifies not much how we class them, so that we learn the use of them." Quelque, as a pronoun, is some, denoting in the singular, a little, or an indeterminate person or object, as, j'ai encore quelque argent, I have a little money left. Quelque fripon l'aura fait, some rogue must have done it. Qui est-ce qui est heureux? asked d'Alembert once, and his reply was, quelque malheureux, some low fellow. In the plural, quelques denotes a few, an indeterminate number, as quelques livres, some books; quelques femmes en deuil, a few females in mourning. When quelque denotes whatever, whatsoever, though ever, or ever so much, it generally is followed by a noun, with which it must agree, as before, in number and gender. Quelque mérite qu'il ail, whatever be his merit, though he be ever so deserving, though he have ever so much merit. Quelques richesses qu'il possède, whatever may be his wealth, though he be ever so rich, whatever riches he may have; but when quelque is immediately followed by a verb, it retains the same signification, only that it is then used in two distinct words, quel, que; and the first word quel, alone agrees with the noun employed in the sentence, as, quel que soit votre dessein, whatever may be your intention. Quelle que soit votre puissance, said Racine to Louis XIV. elle a besoin du secours de votre bonté, whatever be your power, though your power be ever so great, it wants the assistance of your goodness. Gresset says, "Quels que soyent les humains, il faut vivre avec eux; Whatever men may be, we must live with them; a man who is hard to please is always unhappy. Quelles que puissent être vos volontés, je m'y conformerai, whatever may be your wishes I shall be regulated by them. When quelque is an adverb, it means, however, or howsoever, and is, of course, indeclinable. It then generally is followed by an adj. after which it requires the conj. que with the verb in the subj. as, quelque préoccupé qu'il soit, however prejudiced he may be; quelque fâchée qu'elle paroisse, however angry she may look; quelque riches qu'ils puissent être, howsoever rich they may be. La fille du logis, the daughter of the house; le logis, m. dwelling, home, house, lodging. On m'attend au logis, I am expected at home. Small inns in France generally have this inscription over the door: Bon logis à pied et à cheval, to denote that travellers may be accommodated with beds and stabling; but to denote that an individual has lost his senses or is become an idiot, the French use a singular expression, which is rather vulgar, il n'y a plus personne au logis. Un Corps de logis, the principal part of a house, a suite of rooms. In the French army, un Maréchal des logis is a quarter-master. Observe that logis is never used for lodgings in a private house; these are called, logement, corps de logis, appartemens. Furnished lodgings are, appartemens garnis, logement garni;-chambre garnie, when there is but one room. Les petit soins, little attentions, trifling services rendered to ladies. Les soins du ménage, househould cares, domestic cares. Page 117, No. VIII. Elle ne désire rien tant qu'adoucir, she wishes nothing so much than to alleviate. Désirer, r. a. 1. to wish, to desire. Remember that this French verb never means the English desire, in the sense of requesting. My mother desires her compliments, is in French, Maman me prie, or Maman me charge de vous faire ses complimens. The verb désirer may be construed either with or without the particle de after it. Je désire beaucoup de vous voir, or je désire beaucoup vous voir ce soir, as here. But the former is most usual in conversation. Il y a quelquechose à désirer dans cet ouvrage, means, there is something wanting in that work, something that onecould have wished to find in it. Grace à ses leçons, thanks to her instructions. La grace, s. f. is one of those words of various meanings with which the French language abounds: it denotes grace, virtue, favour, kindness, gracefulness, gift, pardon, beauty, charm, thanks. In the pl. the graces, les trois Graces. Voltaire wrote to the Cardinal Quirini : C'est à vous d'instruire et de plaire, Et la grace de Jésus Christ, Chez vous brille en plus d'un écrit Avec les trois Grâces d'Homère. Faire grace, to excuse, to pardon. You will now understand the following anecdote :- "Un homme étant tombé du haut d'une échelle (from the top of a ladder) en bas, sans se faire de mal, quelqu'un lui dit: Dieu vous a fait une belle grace, (a great favour.) Comment ? dit-il, il m'a fait une belle grace! Il ne m'a pas fait grace d'unéchelon, (he has not excused a single step.) Faire le métier de chevalier errant, to act the part of a knight-errant. Métier, m. is properly a trade, handicraft; a frame, a loom. All the words in ier are m. without exception. There are 560 of them, most of which characterise men by their profession, conduct, propensities, or disposition; as, un Aiguillier, a needle-maker; un Amidonier, a starchmaker; un Armurier, a gun-smith; un Braconnier, a poacher; un Chansonnier, a writer of songs, &c. Others |