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to turn, and of the first conjugation. Most French verbs are of this conjugation. You have three more in this short Fable, donner, hériter, porter.

As all French grammars must necessarily state the same grammatical principles, it is nearly indifferent what is used. But as they differ in their terms, we think it right to mention that we follow Palairet, which is one of the best and cheapest French grammars.

Un perle qu'il donna, "a pearl which he gave;" qu'il represents the pronoun relative que (which), in the accusative, and il (he) the nominative of the pronoun personal masculine of the third person in the singular. The pronunciation is like the English kil; but the same expression is used for "that he," que being likewise the conjunction "that." Hence, in the tenth line: Je crois qu'il est bon, means," I suppose that it is good." Il here is rendered by "it," because it refers to manuscript, which is neuter in English, whilst it is masculine in French.

Donna, from donner, to give. This verb is easily remembered, as the English word "donation" is derived from it; but it has a variety of meanings in different expressions; for example, La fenêtre de ma chambre donne sur la rue, is, “the window of my room looks into the street."

Au beau premier. The adj. beau, bel, fem. belle, is "handsome, fine, beautiful." But here it is an expletive particle, answering to the English "very." Le beau premier, the very first that offers, the first who is met with.

Lapidaire. Most words of this termination, which sometimes is the same with the English "ary," are of the masculine, as apothicaire, commissaire, dépositaire, dictionnaire, émissaire, janissaire, missionnaire, notaire, salaire, sanctuaire, sécretaire, séminaire, vocabulaire, &c., and some are adj., as militaire, séculaire, sédentaire, solitaire, vulgaire.

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Je la crois fine. La here is the pron. pers. conjunctive her," because it refers to la perle, which is feminine; crois, is the first person singular of the present of the indicat. of the irregular verb croire, to believe, to think, to suppose; but it might also mean grow." The irregular verb croitre, to

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grow, makes likewise Je crois, tu crois, il croit; only in the plural it has nous croissons, we grow, whilst we say nous croyons, we believe.

Dit-il, said he, from dire, to say, to tell. It is an irregular verb, like croire and croitre, and ought to be learnt by heart. Je vous dis, I tell you; vous me dites, you tell me; dites-moi, tell me ; que dites vous ? what do you say? Il me dit, he tells me; on dit, it is said.

Mais le moindre grain de mil. Moindre is the adjective, "the least, smallest," the adverb "the least" is le moins. Grain, and all nouns in ain, are masc. except la main, “the hand." Some of these words end in an in English, as un républicain, un Américain, un Africain, humain.

Mil, "millet," is, like all words in il, masc. Remember le mois d'Avril, the month of April; du fil, thread; du persil, parsley; un gril, a gridiron.

Seroit bien mieux mon affaire (would be much better my business) is an idiomatic expression for "would suit me much better." C'est justement mon affaire, means, that is the very thing for me, that suits me exactly; J'ai votre affaire, I have what you want, I have what suits you. But c'est mon affaire, simply means, that is my concern; Il a eu une affaire, means, he has had a quarrel, which ended in fighting a duel. Affaire is one of the few nouns in aire, which are feminine; the pron. poss. is in the masculine mon, on account of the word beginning with a vowel. ·

Un ignorant, an ignorant man; une ignorante, an ignorant female. The word is pronounced "i-nioran," like the English "o-nion." The t is not hard in the masc., and all words in ant invariably are of the masculine gender. Some of them differ from the English in pronunciation only, as un assistant, combattant, diamant, éléfant, instant, pédant.

Hérita d'un manuscrit. 66 Heriter," to inherit, is a neuter verb, which must be construed with the genitive. Mon père a hérité d'une petite terre en Ecosse, "My father inherited a small estate in Scotland." The t is not hard in manuscrit, nor in any French word ending in it; they all are masculine without exception. Some of them are very like the English; as appétit, crédit, bandit, éd t, profit.

Qu'il porta, from porter, to carry. But it also means to wear; il porte un habit bleu, he wears a blue coat; elle porte, le deuil de sa mère, she is in mourning for her mother.

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Chez son voisin le libraire. Chez is the English at, in reference to the dwelling of an individual. Chez moi, at my house; chez vous, at your house; chez nous, at our house; chez le cordonnier, at the shoemaker's; je viens de chez mon tailleur, I come from my tailor's; son voisin, (with the nasal sound) his neighbour; sa voisine (not nasal) his female neighbour. All words ending in in are masculine, except la fin, the end. You have several of those French nouns in English, as un arlequin, assassin, bulletin, chérubin, cousin, le déclin, du jasmin, le Latin, un magasin, un tambourin.

Le Libraire, the Bookseller.-A Librarian is, in French, un bibliothécaire, from bibliothéque, a private library.

Je crois, dit-il, qu'il est bon. Remember that you do not translate the English," to think," by PENSER, when it means simply to believe. "I think he is at home," is, Je crois qu'il est à la maison. Observe in qu'il est bon, the same as in je la crois fine, the agreement of the adjective with the noun or pronoun to which it refers. This is one of the difficulties which startles beginners, because the English adjective is undeclinable. Le vin est bon. La bière est bonne. Les marrons sont bons. Les poires sont bonnes; whilst in English it is the wine, the beer is, and the chesnuts, the pears are good. Mais le moindre ducaton. Ducaton is the diminutive of ducat, a ducate, a gold coin.

When, by means of the preceding remarks, you completely understand your Fable, copy it carefully on a slip of paper, which you may carry with you wherever you go, and learn it by heart. Repeat it often aloud, when you are alone, for language may be said to get into the head by the ears more than by the eyes. Afterwards, try to arrange a few other words in a similar manner, beginning with short sentences, as, one day a child found a pear, which he gave to the very first beggar;" or, "a bookseller carried a manuscript to the house of his female neighbour." The more you apply your mind to arranging the words which you happen to know

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in different ways, the sooner you will be enabled to speak and to understand what is said to you in French.

We now turn to the German, which, in spite of the prejudices prevailing against it, is not by any means so difficult for an Englishman as the French language. Its guttural sounds are not harsher than the Scotch word, "Loch," in Loch-Lomond. The numeral acht, "eighth,” is the harshest sound in the language; the German construction, however, requires great attention to be paid to the declension of nouns, articles, and pronouns; but the verbs are infinitely more easy than the French. Short pieces of light poëtry, in which the sentences are less involved than in prose writings, will gradually familiarize the learner with these difficulties. We will begin by one of Gellert's Fables. Remember that the v is f, and the w simply v: von is fon—and was, vas; war, var; ei is the English 1, and ie the English EE.

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Was, spricht man, fing er an zu schreien,

Was spricht man in der Stadt von unsern Melodcien?

Was spricht man von der Nachtigall?

Die ganze Stadt lobt ihre Lieder.

Und von der Lerche? rief er wieder.

Die halbe Stadt lobt ihrer Stimme Schall.

Und von der Amsel? fuhr er fort.

Auch diese lobt man hier und dort.

Jch musz dich doch noch etwas fragen,

Was, rief er, spricht man denn von mir ?—

Das, sprach der Staar, das weisz ich nicht zu sagen,

Denn keine Seele redt von dir.

So will ich, fuhr er fort, mich an den Undank rächen,

Und ewig von mir selber sprechen."

THE CUCKOO.

A CUCKOO spoke to a Starling which had fled from the town. What do they say, he began to scream, what do they say in the town of our melodies? What say they of the Nightingale ?-The whole town praise her songs. And of the Lark? he cried again.-Half

the town praise the sound of her voice. And of the Blackbird? he went on. Him too they praise here and there. I must, however, still ask you something. What, he called out, what do they then say of me? That, said the Starling, I cannot tell, for not a soul speaks of you. Then will I, he went on, revenge myself of this ingratitude; and for ever speak of myself.

DER KUCKUCK.-Der is the art. def. sing. masc.; birds whose names do not end in e being of the masculine gender, except die Nachtigall and die Amsel, mentioned in this Fable, and die Drossel, the Thrush, die Wachtel, the quail, and die Elster, the Magpie.

Ein Kuckuck sprach zu einem Staar. Ein is the article indefinite a, for both the masculine and neuter, and also the numeral one. It is therefore safer to remember German words with the art. def. THE, der, masc.; die, fem.; and das, neuter. Sprach, spoke, is the third person sing. of the imperf. of the indicative of the irreg. verb sprechen, to speak, to say; which has gesprochen in the part. past. When it signifies to converse, it is construed with mit, and the dative. Er sprach mit meinem Bruder; he spoke with my brother. Ich spreche mit Ihnen; I speak with you. Zu einem Staar, to a Starling-the dat. masc. with the indef. article.

Der aus der Stadt.-Der here means "which." The German articles definite are also pron. demonstr. and relative, in some cases. Aus der Stadt, out of, from the town: it is the dative sing. fem. on account of the prep. aus: die Stadt, has, in the plural, die Städte.

Entflohen war, "which out of the town fled" was, "which had fled from the town." All pronouns relative, and several conjunctions, throw the verb to the end, and in compound tenses the auxiliary stands last. In a simple sentence, we should say, Er war entflohen, he had fled. Entfliehen is an inseparable compound verb, derived from the irregular verb fliehen, to flee, which makes ich flch in the imperfect, and geflohen in the participle past; but being joined to the inseparable particle, ent, the ge is dropped in the derivative. Like many neuter verbs, it makes its compound tenses with seyn, to be. Ich bin entflohen, I have fled; Er ist aus dem

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