1 cal license for cette lunette de, or à, longue vue, or cette lunette d'approche, that telescope. Lunettes, pl. f. spectacles, eyeglasses. Like several French words in ette it is a diminutive derived from la lune, the moon, those glasses being round. like the moon. In the singular, Lunette is also the merrythought of a fowl, and the hollow part of a water-closet. Mettre dans la lunette, at chess, is to fork two pieces of the adversary so that he must absolutely lose one. Faire peur, to frighten; avoir peur, to be afraid; la peur, f. fear. Remember that you never translate the common English expression, "I am afraid," by je suis effrayé, but by "j'ai peur," or, je crains." Des brimborions, s. m. pl. trifles, things of little value. Sens dessus dessous, adv. topsy-turvy, upside down, in an inverted sense. To spell sans dessus dessous, with an a, as if it was the prep. sans, without, is incorrect. The French have, in the same way, sens devant derrière, adv. the wrong way. Il n'est pas bien honnête, it is not very decorous, very becoming. The negative "it is not," is subjected to the same rules as the affirmative "it is," which we discussed in this and in the preceding Number of The Linguist. Honnête is one of those French adjectives which change their signification, according as they are placed, before or after the subst. Un honnête homme, an honest man; un homme honnête, a civil, polite man honnête being, as here, decorous, becoming. "On est honnête par l'observation des bienséances et des usages, Hence the French expression-Vous êtes bien honnête, you are very polite. : Un pourpoint s. m. a doublet. All the words in oint arę m. without exception. Le pourpoint est un ancien habillement François, qui ne couvroit le corps que depuis le cou jusqu'à la ceinture. Tirer à brule pourpoint, to shoot close; but the modern expression is, à bout portant. Un haut de chausses, s. m. small clothes. Chausses is always a s. f. pl. but here the poët spells it without the final s, to make it rhyme with hausse, even to the eye. C'est la partie du vêtement de l'homme qui le couvre depuis la ceinture jusqu'aux genoux, et qu'on ap.. pelle plus communement culotte. The h, in haut de chausses, is aspirate, and also in the verb hausser, to raise, to elevate; se hausser, to rise. Un trousseau, s. m. a small bundle, the clothes and linen given by her parents to a daughter on her marriage; a bunch, un trousseau de clefs, a bunch of keys. Dont je n'ai point affaire, which I have no need of, for which I have no occasion; which I do not want. Voltaire said of the Marchioness de Chauvelin "Avec tant de beauté, de grace naturelle, Qu'a-t-elle affaire de talens? Mais avec des sons si touchans, Observe the distinction between affaire, page 6, I., and à faire, to do: je n'ai rien à faire, I have nothing to do. But at cards faire is to deal: c'est à vous à faire, (les cartes being understood) it is your turn to deal. Un pot, s. m. a pot, an iron boiler in which the French boil the meat for their soups and broth: mettre pot au feu, to put the boiler on the fire, to prepare dinner; nous n'en mettrons pas plus grand pot au feu, we shall make no addition to our dinner on that account. As a boiled fowl improves a soup, and is considered a good dish in itself, it was the kind and good-natured wish of Henry IV. of France, que les paysans mettent la poule au pot les Dimanches. Raisonner, r. n. 1., to reason, to argue, page 360, XXIII.; raisonner comme un pot, page 147, X., to argue like a fool. On dit d'un inférieur qui se permet des murmures sur les ordres de son supérieur, qu'il raisonne, (he is saucy.) Le rôt, s. m. (the t is not heard,) all the roast meat that is served upon table; le rôti, s. m. an individual piece of meat roasted. On sert le rôt et l'on mange du rôti. But if there be only one piece of roast meat, you may say equally well, on a servi le rôti, the roast meat has been placed on the table. Un grand fracas, a great crash or crack, much ado, much noise and tumult; fracas, s. m. noise. Elle manque à parler Vaugelas, she misses to speak Vaugelas, she does not speak according to Vaugelas; manquer, r. a.1. to miss ; manquer une belle occasion, manquer une per drix; proverbially, je l'ai manquée belle, I have had a narrow escape, I escaped a great danger. As a n. v. manquer also signifies to miss, to fail: les forces lui manquent ; but, le piedlui a manqué, his foot slipped; manquer de, to want; il manque de cœur, he wants courage; also to be near; il a manqué de tom-ber, he has been very near falling; manquer à, to be deficient,. particularly to be deficient in respect, in affectionate regard ; il a manqué à son ami, he offended his friend." As a commercial term, manquer is to fail in business. It is from manquer à, to fail, to neglect, that comes the expression je n'y manquerai pas, I shall not fail; which is used when you are entrusted with compliments, or with a commission. Vaugelas is the name of a celebrated French grammarian; parler Vaugelas is to speak according to the grammar of Vaugelas. Molière had indeed an old female servant to whom he was much attached; her name was La Forêt. Boileau, in his Reflexions Critiques sur Longin, says: "Je me souviens que Molière m'a montré plusieurs fois une vieille servante qu'il avoit chez lui, à qui il lisoit, disoit-il, quelquefois ses Comédies; et il m'assuroit que lorsque des endroits de plaisanterie ne l'a-voient point frappé, il les corrigeoit parcequ'il avoit plusieurs fois éprouvé sur son Théatre que ces endroits n'y réussissoient point. Un jour, Molière, pour éprouver le goût de cette servante, lui lut quelques scenes d'une Comédie qu'il disoit être de lui, mais qui étoit de Brécourt, Comédien. La servante ne prit point le change, (was not taken in, was not. deceived) et après en avoir ouï (heard) quelques mots, elle soutint (she maintained) que son maitre n'avoit pas fait cette pièce." Tympaniser, r. a. 1. to defame, to ridicule, to traduce, to expose. Des billevesées, s. f. pl. idle stuff, idle stories, nonsense. The singular is obsolete ; it signified a ball filled with wind. Et je lui crois, and I fancy to him, I believe, I suppose he has. The expression is more concise and more energetic than je crois qu'il a. Un timbre, s. m. the only word of this termination, a bell without a clapper, which is struck by a hammer; the sound of the human voice, a stamp, the stamp duty, twenty pair of fine skins: une caisse de martres zibélines assorties contient dix timbres,a chest of fine marten's skins contains two hundred pair; also the brains, the head. Ce vin lui a donné dans le timbre, the wine has got into his head; il a le timbre un peu félé, his head is a little cracked, he is a little crack brained; felé, participle past of the r. a. 1. fêler, to crack, to break a thing into chinks. It is also used reflectively; se fêler, to crack, to get cracked; ce vase se félera si vous le mettez sur le feu, that vessel will crack if you put it on the fire. It applies chiefly to crystal and glass, and the crack itself is called une fêlure. Le verre est réellement endommagé, mais la fêlure en est si légère qu'elle ne paroit point, the glass is really damaged, but the crack is so slight that it does not strike the eye. We select for our German lesson Schiller's Address to his Friends, written in 1802. LIEBEN Freunde! Es gab schönʼre Zeiten Doch es ist dahin, es ist verschwunden Freunde! Es giebt glücklichere Zonen War die Kunst uns freundlich doch gewogen Will der Lorbeer hier sich nicht gewöhnen Wohl von gröszerm Leben mag es rauschen An der Themes, auf dem Markt der Welt. Und es herrscht der Erde Gott, das Geld. Aber nicht im trüben Schlamm der Bäche Prächtiger als wir in unserm Norden Gröszres mag sich anderswo begeben Sehn wir doch das Grosze aller Zeiten Alles wiederholt sich nur im Leben, Ewig jung ist nur die Phantasie; Was sich nie und nirgends hat begeben, Ours DEAR FRIENDS!-There have been more glorious times than oursthat is not to be disputed; and a nobler people have once existed. Were even History silent about it, thousand stones dug out of the bosom of the earth, give striking evidence. But they are gone; that highly-favoured race has vanished. We, we are living. are the passing hours, and the living have their claims. Friends! there are, as the far-travelled wanderer tells us, happier regions than the country in which we live indifferently well; but if Nature denies us much, knowledge is friendly smiling upon us, and our hearts are warmed by its lights. Though the laurel does not prosper here, and the myrtle becomes the prey of our winters, yet the cheerful foliage of the vine thrives to crown our brows. There is no doubt more bustle on the busy shores of the Thames, in the market of this earth, where four worlds exchange their treasures. Thou |