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Fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 38. 6d.

LE PETIT COMPAGNON,

A FRENCH PHRASE-BOOK FOR LITTLE CHILDREN.

With numerous Woodcuts.

BY

FERDINAND E. A. GASC.

LONDON:

BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.
1862.

New Edition, fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 2s. 6d.

THE

SECOND FRENCH

BEING A

BOOK:

GRAMMAR AND EXERCISE BOOK,

ON A NEW AND PRACTICAL PLAN, EXHIBITING THE CHIEF
PECULIARITIES OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, AS
COMPARED WITH THE ENGLISH,

AND INTENDED AS

J Sequel to the "First French Book."

BY

FERDINAND E. A. GASC, M.A.

Author of "Le Petit Compagnon," "The First French Book," "French Fables for Beginners,' Practical Guide to Modern French Conversation," "Histoires Amusantes et Instructives," "Materials for French Prose Composition," &c.

LONDON:

BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.

"The

"It is a sufficient commendation to say of M. Gaso's Second French Book, that it is a fitting sequel to his 'First French Book,' which it resembles in general plan and arrangement. The lessons for translation both ways are well adapted to illustrate and impress upon the memory the grammatical principles, which are stated with great accuracy and clearness."-Athenæum.

PREFACE.

WHEN I composed this comparatively small volume of very much condensed matter, I had, constantly lying on my table, for reference, no fewer than thirteen of the best French Grammars and Exercise Books, written expressly for English learners. These I carefully consulted and compared on every point, while using my own knowledge and discrimination with a view to improve upon all of them, and to produce an original as well as a better work. I believe I have fully succeeded in this, or I should not have determined on publishing it.

The general plan and arrangement of my First French Book have been adopted in the present publication, and the two volumes form a complete course of French Grammar and Exercises.

Masters and Tutors may procure a Key to the Exercises of the First and Second French Books by direct application to the Publishers. Price 3s. 6d.

New Edition, fcap. 8vo. cloth, price 2s. 6d.

HISTOIRES AMUSANTES ET INSTRUCTIVES:

A SELECTION OF MODERN STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE,

From the French of H. de Balzac, Charles Nodier, Jules Janin, Frédéric Soulié, Madame Guizot, P. L. Courier, La Comtesse de Ségur, Madame Louise Colet, Émile Souvestre, Émile de La Bédollière, Léon Guérin, P. J. Stahl, Michel Masson, Alphonse Karr, &c. With copious renderings, in foot-notes, of idiomatic difficulties, by

FERDINAND E. A. GASC, M.A.

Author of "Le Petit Compagnon," "The First French Book," "French Fables for Beginners,” “Select
French Poetry for the Young," "The Second French Book," "The Practical Guide to Modern
French Conversation,'
," "Materials for French Prose Composition," &c.

LONDON:

BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.

"This is an excellent elementary French reading-book. The pieces are well adapted to interest and instruct in the best French of the present day; the notes also are very superior to those generally given in similar works, and supply genuine English for the numerous idiomatic French expressions that occur."-Athenæum.

PREFACE.

MOST of the elementary French reading-books now in use, not to say all of them, are composed, either of mere scraps, which, if they begin to excite any interest, from their incompleteness leave it unsatisfied; or of stories complete in themselves, indeed, but taken from very old and inferior authors, such as Madame de Genlis, Berquin, Bouilly, &c.-often from writers without any repute or merit whatever. In either case, the object of the educator of youth is obviously frustrated. I may add that, in many of these books, the English of the notes is even worse than the French text which they are intended to explain, and of which they are too frequently gross mistranslations.

I

In pursuance of the plan upon which my former educational works are based, I have here collected and annotated, for young people in this country, a number of easy and short, but complete stories, from some of the best modern French authors. The pupil will thus be enabled to become acquainted in the right way, that is, by means of literary compositions having a beginning and an end, with the Janguage now used by the well-educated classes in France.

FRENCH FABLES FOR BEGINNERS,
IN PROSE;

WITH A KEY, OR INDEX OF ALL THE WORDS, AT THE END OF THE BOOK.

BY

FERDINAND E. A. GASC.

This work is fast superseding the old Fable-books, first published a hundred years ago, and hitherto used in English schools.

LONDON: BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.

"M. Gasc, whose books of instruction in French have been well received, and are used in some of our best public schools, has drawn up a collection of French Fables for Beginners, written in a purer and more modern style than other works of this class."-Athenæum.

PREFACE.

The chief object of the present work, as well as of all my former ones, is to supply the English student with more genuine and modern French than can be found in a quantity of school-books, written by unliterary (not to say illiterate) people, and extensively used hitherto in England.

The want of a suitable Fable-book for beginners in the French language has long been felt by persons of education and taste.-Perrin's Fables are, for the most part, silly, and they are all very badly written, in an antiquated, awkward, and even vulgar style. Bellenger's are nothing more than the beautiful poetry of La Fontaine put into wretched prose. Chambaud's alone, if they do not exhibit any literary skill, are at least sensible and tolerably correct; but the style is heavy, lifeless, and obsolete.

Such are my reasons-or, if you like, such is my plea-for stepping in here again, and adding the present volume to the somewhat long list of this kind of publications. Yet, long as it may be, the public always have it in their power to apply the wholesome system of retrenchment in these matters; and they may safely let the old books mentioned above go the way of all things: nobody will lose by it, intellectually speaking, quite the reverse.

The subjects of these Fables are taken from Æsop, La Fontaine, and Florian; but they are treated, upon the whole, in my own style.

PARIS, January, 1861.

SPECIMEN OF M. GASC'S FABLES, AS COMPARED WITH

CHAMBAUD'S AND PERRIN'S.

LE LIÈVRE ET LA TORTUE.

From PERRIN's Fables.

UN lièvre courant dans les bois, trouva dans son chemin une tortue qui semblait à peine se remuer, (les tortues sont naturellement lentes); elle portai:1 sa maison sur son dos. Quelle drôle de figure! dit Trottevite, en s'arrêtant; Commère, vous n'avez pas dessein d'aller loin aujourd'hui: il vous faut une heure pour faire un pas.¶ Pauvre créature! je vous plains d'être obligée de porter partout un fardeau si pesant. Je vous remercie, lui dit la tortue; mais malgré ma lenteur et mon fardeau,3 je parie que j'arriverai plus tôt que vous à quelque place que vous voudrez nommer. - Plus tôt que moi! vous radotez. - - Non, vous dis-je, je ne radote pas; parions. J'y consens... Les deux parieurs partent. Le lièvre est bientôt près de la place dont ils étaient convenus; mais il méprise une victoire si aisée: il se retourne, et voit la tortue qui avance lentement. Je suis bien fou, dit-il, de me servir de ma vitesse; mon antagoniste 4 n'a qu'à avancer, pendant que je m'amuserai à brouter: je la devancerai, quand il me plaira. Trottevite s'arrête, broute, et ensuite s'endort dans son gîte. Cependant dame tortue avança et arriva à la place, avant que le lièvre fût éveillé.

La nonchalance et la présomption gâtent souvent les bonnes affaires; il n'est pas temps de dormir, quand on a quelque chose de conséquence à terminer; et il ne sert de rien d'avoir des talens, si l'on n'en fait pas un bon usage.

1 I should like to know when a tortoise does not do so.-G.

2 Idle talk.-G.

3 Diffuse: already said before.-G.

4 Ten to one that such words as this are not to be found in the vocabulary of a hare.-G.

From CHAMBAUD'S Fables.

UN lièvre considérant une tortue qui rampait avec peine, se mit à se moquer d'elle, et de sa lenteur. Que tu es pesante! lui dit-il. Que tu marches lentement! Malgré tout cela, dit la tortue, je parie que je te vaincrai à la course. Et quoique tu te vantes tant de ta légèreté, gageons que j'arriverai plus tôt que toi1 à tel endroit. Plus tôt que moi! dit le lièvre, tu radotes; tu es folle sûrement. Folle ou non, reprit-elle, je te parie ce que tu voudras. Voilà qui est fait; ils partent. Le lièvre en un moment laissa la tortue bien loin de lui; et ne la voyant plus, il se reposa, s'amusa à brouter, et s'endormit pour reprendre un peu ses forces; car, disait-il, je la rattraperai quand il me plaira. La tortue marcha toujours sans s'arrêter; et quand le lièvre se réveilla, elle était si près du bout de la carrière, que quoiqu'il courût de toute sa force, elle y arriva avant lui, et gagna la gageure.

Un ennemi qui se croit invincible, et qui néglige de prendre des précautions, est vaincu par un autre moins redoutable que lui, mais qui sait se servir habilement de tous ses avantages.2

1 Pretty near the same idea again, in different words.-G.

2 Moving slowly is no advantage for gaining a race.-G.

From M. GASC's Fables.

UN lièvre raillait une tortue sur sa lenteur. "Vous oubliez, dit-elle, que je porte partout ma lourde maison sur mon dos. Eh bien, tenez, malgré cela, et tout bon coureur que vous êtes, je parie que j'atteindrai avant vous ce poteau que vous voyez là-bas. Avant moi! ah, par exemple, ce serait du nouveau. Je ne plaisante pas, voulez-vous essayer? - Soit: j'y consens pour vous faire plaisir." Ils conviennent de partir tout de suite. La tortue, sans attendre un instant, se met en route tout doucement, de son pas régulier et ordinaire. Notre lièvre, au contraire, dédaignant une victoire si aisée, croit qu'il y va de son honneur de partir tard. Il se met à brouter, s'amuse, se repose, et cependant la tortue avance toujours. A la fin, quand il vit qu'elle touchait presque au but, il partit comme un trait mais il n'était plus temps: dame tortue arriva la première.

...

Ce n'est pas le tout que de courir, il faut partir de bonne heure et ne pas s'arrêter en chemin. Il arrive bien souvent que les esprits brillants, mais légers, sont devancés dans la vie par des esprits pesants, mais réguliers et infatigables.

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