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WE stated on the outset of our Weekly Instructions, that after having learnt short pieces of poëtry by heart, the student should try to arrange in different little sentences the words and turns of expression treasured up in his memory, and that he thus would be gradually trained to compose and to converse with facility in the language which he studies. We now ask those of our readers who do us the honour to attend to our recommendations, whether they are not actually surprised at the number of familiar ideas which they find themselves already competent to indite and express in a to lerably correct way, and we intreat them steadily to continue this salutary practice. They are sure to have their reward for their labour. To those, however, who do not feel inclined to take so much pains, we would at least recommend to put our English close translations back again into the original idiom from which they are translated, but of course in plain prose, and with a particular regard to our parsing remarks. We are confident that they will be sensibly benefitted by the operation, though not so much as those who apply their mind to original composition.

Our French lesson to-day is a Tale founded upon the wellknown anecdote of Lord Chief Justice HOLT, who on pronouncing sentence of death on a convict, recollected having been at school with him, and enquired after his other schoolfellows. It was written by the younger Fréron.

F

LES AMIS DE COLLEGE.

Certain voleur fut surpris dans l'instant
Qu'il détroussoit à la hâte un passant.
Le guet l'entraine, et du Juge sur l'heure
Force lui fut de gagner la demeure.
Or il avint, par un cas fort plaisant,
Que le Prévôt, tout en l'interrogeant,
Remet en lui son compagnon de classe.
Figurez vous son ébahissement.

Il croit rêver, il le regarde en face;

Oui, c'est lui-méme! Hélas! c'est mon vaurien !
Puisque c'est toi, mon cher Giroux, eh bien !
Lui requiert-il, apprends moi des nouvelles
De nos amis, nos Catons, nos modèles,
Bertrand, Dumont; ils valoient mieux que toi.
Que font sur-tout, Richard, Gautier, La Rue?
Ils promettoient, ils iront loin, je crois.
Hélas, monsieur! dit Giroux, l'ame émue,
Tous sont pendus, excepté vous et moi.

THE SCHOOL-FELLOWS.

A HIGHWAYMAN was taken in the very act of hastily robbing a traveller. The police-officers instantly took him before a Judge, and it happened very oddly that the magistrate, on examining him, recollected him to be a school-fellow of his. You may easily imagine how great was his surprise. He fancied he dreamt. He looked him in the face. Yes, it is he! Alas! It is that good-for-nothing fellow! Since it is you, my dear G., added he, pray give me some account of our friends, our wise lads, our patterns, B- and D—; they were better than you. But above all, what is become of R—, and G—, and L-? They were promising youths; they will get forward in the world, I think. Alas, Sir! replied the robber, with emotion, they have all been hanged except you and me.

Les amis de collège, the friends of grammar-school; the school-fellows. Un collège, m. a grammar-school, a corporation, the college of cardinals. Most words in ège are masc.

certain voleur fut surpris, some robber was taken. Certain, adj. certain, sure: but here it means some, in which sense it is always placed before the substantive. C'est une nouvelle certaine, it is a piece of news that may be depended upon. On m'a dit une certaine nouvelle que je ne crois pas, I have

Voleur, m. a

been told some news which I do not believe. thief, a robber, an extortioner. A highwayman is properly un voleur de grand chemin. There are above 800 words in eur masculine, and only about 90 feminine. The former generally denote the calling, trade, or disposition of men, and are mostly derived from verbs in the participle active; as volant, from voler, to rob, gives voleur; parlant, from parler, to talk, parleur; riant, from rire, to laugh, rieur; disant, from dire, to say, diseur, &c. The words in eur, fem. are either monosyllables, as fleur, flower, sœur, sister, peur, fear, or they express some qualities of persons or things—as ardeur, ardour, pudeur, shame, blancheur, whiteness, rondeur, roundness, rotundity, douceur, sweetness, &c. Among those of the masculine gender, there are only five which have no reference to any trade, calling, or disposition of men, viz. heur, luck, bonheur, good luck, malheur, bad luck, honneur, honour, and dishonneur, dishonour, with one pl. m. des pleurs, tears. Several of the words in eur, masc. may be considered as adjectives, because they have also a feminine, which is either eusse, esse, or when the words end in teur, trice; as voleur, thief, makes voleuse, a female thief; vengeur, an avenger, vengeresse, a female avenger, and acteur, an actor, actrice, an actress. There are, however, a few exceptionsauteur, an author, amateur, an amateur, lover, compositeur, a (musical) composer, and docteur, a doctor, remain the same in the fem. C'est un femme auteur, she is a female writer. Surpris, part. past of surprendre, to surprise, to take by surprise, to take in the very act, derived from the irreg. prendre, to take, which must be learnt in the grammar. But the part. active, surprenant, always signifies "astonishing."

dans l'instant qu'il détroussoit à la hâte un passant, at the very moment when he robbed hastily a passenger. détrousser, r. a. 1. to untuck, to unpin, to unloop a gown, and figuratively, to rob by putting in bodily fear, derived from the ancient manner of dressing in long robes, which were tucked up by means of a girdle, in which travellers carried their money, and whenever this girdle was violently taken from them, the robe or gown was untucked. It is derived from

trousser, r. a. 1. to tuck up. à la hâte, adv. hastily, in a hurry. hate, haste, is feminine. There are about 45 words in âte, one-third of which are masculine.

un passant, m. a passenger, a traveller, one who passes by. In epitaphs it is used for the Latin, "Siste, viator.” Arrête, passant.

The following four lines, written on some cemeteries in France, are not remarkable for their elegance, but they may amuse our readers, and remind them of the words, penser, to think, and passer, to pass, to pass over, to transfer :

Passant! penses-tu pas passer par ce passage,
Où passant j'ai passé ?

Si tu n'y penses pas, passant, tu n'es pas sage,
Car en n'y pensant pas, tu t'y verras passé.

Le guet, m. (pron. ghè) the watch, watchmen, police officers. Le guet vient de passer, the night-patrole is just gone by; crier au guet, to call the watch; faire le guet, avoir l'oreille au guet, avoir l'œil au guet, to be on the watch, on the look out. Le mot du guet is a military term, the watchword; but it is also used for any password. ils se sont donné le mot du guet, they understand each other.

l'entraine, drags him away. entrainer, r. a. 1. to drag away, fig. to seduce, to captivate, from trainer, r. a. 1. to drag.

et du juge sur l'heure force lui fut de gagner la demeure. This is a poëtical inversion; in prose it would be, et force lui fut de gagner snr l'heure la demeure du juge, and he was forced to reach instantly the dwelling of the Judge.

Force, f. strength, violence, constraint, power, fortitude, energy; in the plural, forces, troops, army. Une maison de force, a house of correction; at Paris, it is simply called La Force. On l'a conduite à la Force, he has been taken to the House of Correction. Force lui fut, violence was done to him, he was forced, obliged. But force is also an adv. of quantity, much, many; construed without de, it may be considered as an indeclinable adjective. Il a force amis, force moutons, force livres, he has many friends, many sheep,

many books. à force de, prep. by dint of; de force, adv. by force, by violent means.

sur l'heure, adv. instantly, on the spot; tout à l'heure, immediately; l'heure, f. the hour, the time, hence à cette heure, at this time, this moment. Les heures, the hours, denotes also the Roman Catholic Prayer-book. The following witticism is easily understood. "Quelle est, dit un jour la Duchesse du Maîne à Fontenelle, la difference d'une femme à un Cadran ? (a dial.) L'un, répondit-il, marque les heures, l'autre les fait oublier." All the words in eure are f. except du babeure, butter-milk.

Gagner, r. a. 1. to gain, to win, to earn, means here to reach; nous avons eu de la peine à gagner notre gîte avant la nuit, we had much difficulty in reaching our night quarters before dark. Gagner is one of those verbs which require your utmost attention. Gagner le grand chemin, is to reach the high road, but gagner chemin, to advance, to get on; gagner tems, to be in time, to be beforehand, that a matter may proceed without delay. J'écrirai par le courrier de l'ambassadeur pour gagner tems, I shall write by our ambassador's messenger, to be in time. Gagner du tems, to gain time, to obtain some delay, to procrastinate. Gagner sur quelqu'un, to obtain by entreaties. Mon oncle est l'Exécuteur nommé par ma mere; c'est lui qui a mon argent, mais je ne peux rien gagner sur lui; il me fait mille chicanes pour gagner du tems; my uncle is the executor appointed by my mother; he has my money, but I cannot obtain any thing of him; he makes a thousand cavilling law difficulties, in order to gain time.

la demeure, f. the dwelling, from demeurer, r. n. 1. to dwell. Remember that you never say in French, où vivezvous? where do you live? but, où demeurez-vous?

or, conj. now, is used merely to join two ideas, and to combine the minor with the major of a syllogism. Vous avez ce que vous n'avez point perdu, you have what you have not lost if this be admitted, the person who argues with you might add-or vous n'avez point perdu des cornes, (now) you

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