Rufest, riefst du doch für mich ihn nicht. Wie du weisst, verschenkt'ich meinen Blessen; Schreckliche Geschichten mir erzählte, Und mich küssend, und mich streichend quälte : Werde, guter Heinrich, drum nicht böse Sieh dies alles, was ich ohne kalten Schauer kaum einmal recht denken kann, Musst'ich thun, dich länger zu behalten; Darum fasse dich, und sey ein Mann ! Wolltest du nicht oft von mir sonst wissen Was man Weisheit nenne? Höre mich! Wenn es seyn muss, selbst auch das zu missen Was man liebt und schätzet, wie ich dich? Hast du nicht bei mir gelernt, so lerne Wenigstens dies Eine noch von mir. Der du dich für mich des Schlafes gerne, O du müssest, wär er noch so selten At length I must, however, declare, what I cannot keep any longer. Faithful Henry! Of the good days you had, the last is approaching. You daily see my boys grow up, and the number of their demands, but not my rents, increase. You have brushed my clothes bare, and my hat, you know it, is cracking. Yet, though you often went for the tailor, you did not call him for me: but when I am standing in my old coat near the apple-tree, and the boys come up riding on a stick, the leather-string of my papers serving as a bridle, and their mother's garter as a whip-ah! that goes to the heart! All the rich clothes which the Germans send for from Paris are nothing to it! You know I gave away my pony, and yet I was much attached to it: but for the oats that it used to eat, I bought many a painted horse for my little Frederick, took my ramblings in the fields on foot, and was delighted with being lame, provided in the evening Frederick came galloping to meet me, knew the horses of all countries, told the names of all species of dogs, related frightful stories of the tigers of Africa, and then with kisses and caresses, teased me to relate something in my turn. Therefore, be not angry, my good Henry, that I must part with you; I, who never enjoy Fortune's favours, and seldom obtain a cold embrace, am I to assist poor peasants in future with my advice at the weight of gold, and coldly to pity their case when no plump turkey speaks in their behalf? Am I to bargain, haggle, and quarrel, with my tailor for some trowsers for the boys until he abates a shilling, which is, perhaps, his sole profit? Will you wake me before the sun rises, or put a fresh candle in my candlestick, when there is no more light seen at any of my neighbours, that I may hatch for every Leipzic fair a book, which is no longer known in the succeeding fair? See, all this, which I can hardly think of without shuddering, I should be obliged to do to keep you any longer; therefore, take courage, and be a man! You often wanted to know of me what wisdom is. Hark! it is, in case of need, to know how to do even without that which one values and loves as I do you. If you have learnt nothing with me, remember, at least, this one lesson. O then will contentment infallibly follow you on every step! Come only up to me to-morrow morning, and see whether I shall not dress myself from head to foot quicker than you, without grumbling at the little trouble. You, who so readily gave up your sleep for me, though ever so sweet to you, and carried the lantern before me through the high snow with so much pleasure, when I went almost every night to see her who now happily is mine, and crossed with you in the dark, through rivers and woods, in hot and cold weather, you soon must, were they ever so rare, meet with a master, who henceforth will be your friend, as I was, and reward you for that, for which, alas! I can only thank you. 930. Endlich muss ich doch es einmal sagen, at length I must however say it for once, viz. at length I must however declare. The einmal " once, for once," is an expletive, the weight and importance of which are readily felt by an Englishman, as it insinuates the idea, "to have done with it;" but it would be impossible to explain it to a Frenchman: une fois does not recal the idea of une bonne fois pour toutes. Verschweigen, irr. insep. act. comp. verb, (which follows the irregularities of the neuter verb Schweigen, to be silent, sec. 683, with haben,) to keep back what one knows; not to divulge; to be silent on a subject. The insep. particle ver, here, serves only to convert the neuter schweigen into an active verb. We say, er kann nichts verschweigen, he can keep nothing secret; er kann nicht schweigen, he cannot be silent, he cannot hold his tongue. Verhehlen is to conceal, to prevent a thing being known from interested motives. Lessing says, "Ich sage, aufrichtig, (I say, with sincerity,) nicht weil Sie es mir, verhehlen würden, wenn er nicht damit zufrieden wäre, sondern weil sie mir vielleicht verschweigen dürften, wie sehr er damit zufrieden ist." The adj. verschweigen is discreet. Naht der letzt' heran, contr. for der letzte heran, the last is approaching. Herannahen, sep. neut. comp. verb, to approach, to draw near; made of heran, and nahen, to approach, which is seldom used. We may say die Zeit nahet, the time draws near; but we generally use die Zeit nahet heran, the time is approaching. Both verbs are conjugated with seyn. 931. Kahl, adj. and adv. bare, thread-bare, as here; naked, bald, barren, empty, idle, frivolous, poor, sorry, paltry, cold, meagre, flat, stale, jejune, pitiful, stingy. The connexion in which it stands points out its meaning. Dennoch, conj. yet, however, differs from doch, by referring with more certainty, less vaguely, to an antecedent proposition, whether it be understood or expressed, and which seems in opposition to it; as here, wie so oft du auch den Schneider rufest, though you call the tailor ever so often; dennoch, yet, riefst du doch für mich ihn nicht, you did, however, not call him for me; the doch, which is added, is a mere expletive which strengthens the idea. Dennoch has a greater energy than doch, and is less familiar. The latter often answers the English though, in the familiar, and perhaps incorrect expression: "I'll do it, though,” viz. in spite of your dissuading it. 932. An dem Renettenbaum, by or near the apple-tree. Die Renette, sub. fem. or, der Renetapfel, sub. masc. a kind of apple of the pippin species. We call the golden pippin, die Englische Renette, and we have die graue Renette, and die Königs renelle. They are very fine apples. The name is derived from the French rainette, sub. fem. which is an excellent species of apples thus called from the small red or grey spots with which they are marked, like the green frog, called in French une raine, and in the diminutive, une rainette. 933. Meinen Aktenriemen statt den Zaum, my leather string for my papers instead of a bridle. Der Riemen, sub. masc. a strap, a leather string or thong. Akten or Acten, from the Latin Acta, pl. are the papers belonging to any legal proceedings, depositions, &c. and Aktenriemen, the strap which holds them together when they are carried from the lawyer's house to the court. Hence the archives or rolls, the places where public acts and judicial papers are deposited, is das Acten behältniss. Statt is properly the preposition anstatt, instead of, which governs the genitive, as in the next line, statt der Peitsche, instead of the whip. The poet here uses it as a conjunction, and construes it with the accusative, which is a poetical license. 934. Das geht durch's Mark! cont. for durch das Mark, that goes through the marrow; viz. that goes to the heart. Das Mark, sub. neut. marrow. We figuratively say of any thing that affects us very much, that comes home to our feelings, das geht, or dringt durch Mark und Bein, that penetrates through marrow and bones; that finds its way to the heart; makes a very painful impression. 935. Sind dagegen Quark, are nothing against it; compared with it. Dagegen, adv. there against; in comparison with it. Ich habe nichts dagegen, I have nothing to say against it. When it is a conjunction, it means but; on the contrary; in opposition to this. Er ist zwar mein Feind, dagegen aber habe ich dich zum Freunde ; he is my enemy. it is true; but in opposition to this, I have a friend in you. Der Quark, sub. masc. the curd or curds of milk; quagmire; a thing of no value, as here. 936. Meinen Blessen, my horse with a white spot in the forehead. We call Blässe, sub. fem. any pale or white spot in the forehead and legs of animals, and particularly of horses, and Blässe, sub. masc. (not Blesse, as here, since the word comes from blass, adj. pale) any horse that has such a mark or spot. We now recapitulate the most essential remarks which we have offered on the German language and in the same order, with the view to supply any important omission. 937.-1. With respect to Articles; the distinct inflexions of both articles definite and indefinite are highly favourable to inversions, and enable us to construe any simple sentence in which the words are employed in the nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative, and are of the masculine gender, in five different ways: "The king gave the hat of the young prince to the valet." 1. Der König gab dem Kammerdiener den Hut des jungen Fürsten. 2. Den Hut des jungen Fürsten gab der König dem Kammerdiener. 3. Dem Kammerdiener gab der König den Hut des jungen Fürsten. 4. Der König gab den Hut des jungen Fürsten dem Kammerdiener. 5. Den Hut des jungen Fürsten gab dem Kammerdiener der König. And the case is the same with the indefinite article ein, which is also the English numeral one, in the masculine. "A rich man gave a dollar to a beggar." 1. Ein Reicher gab einem Bettler einen Thaler. 2. Einen Thaler gab ein Reicher einem Bettler. 3. Einem Bettler gab ein Reicher einen Thaler. 4. Ein Reicher gab einen Thaler einem Bettler. 5. Einen Thaler gab einem Bettler ein Reicher. In the feminine and neu |
