PAQUE, F.

Notre Seigneur a célébré la pâque Our Lord cebrated the passover avec ses disciples. with his disciples.

But, when signifying the Easter of the Christians, and spelt with an s, it is masculine, and admits of no article.-EXAMPLE:

PAQUES, M.

Quand pâques sera venu, je régle- | When Easter comes, I will settle rai mon compte avec vous. my account with you.

When páques is used in the plural, it becomes feminine.-EXAMPLE:

PAQUES, F.

Cette vieille dévote ne fait point | This old devotee does not perform de bonnes pâques. her Easter duty conscientiously.

Pourpre is masculine, when it signifies that which is dyed in the colour of red, tinctured with blue, and feminine when it signifies the dye itself, or is used in a figurative sense.-EXAMPLES:

Cette étoffe est d'un beau pourpre. | That stuff is of a fine purple colour La pourpre de Tyr était la plus The Tyrian purple was in higher estimée de toutes. estimation than any other.

Qui naquit dans la pourpre en est rarement digne.

VOLTAIRE.

Trompette is feminine when it means an instrument of martial music, and masculine when it means he that sounds it.—EXAMPLES:

Vague is masculine when it signifies an indefinite or unconfined space, and feminine when it signifies a swell of water raised above the even surface.-EXAMPLES:

Le vague de l'air ou des airs.
Il fait de grandes vagucs.

The airy way, the airy plains.
The billows run high.

Les vents sont déchaînés sur les vagues émues.

VOLTAIRE.

Voile, a sail, is feminine; and voile, a veil, blind, cover, &c. is masculine.-EXAMPLES:

Des voiles latines,ou triangulaires. | Lateen sails.

Les femmes en Orient ne sortent The Oriental women never appear point qu'elles ne soient cou- abroad without having their vertes d'un voile. faces covered with a veil.

Si vous voulez partir, la voile est préparée.

RACINE.

L'air mugit, le jour fuit, une épaisse vapeur,
Couvre d'un voile affreux les vagues en fureur.

CRÉBILLON.

Pleurs, tears, is always masculine.-EXAMPLES:

PLEURS, M.

Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer.
Voilà les premiers pleurs qui coulent de mes yeux.
Cesse tes pleurs, Alzire, ils outragent ton père.

There are some nouns, which, under the same inflection and gender, designate two sexes; such are, auteur, docteur, écrivain, garant, témoin, médecin, orateur, peintre, soldat, poéte, &c.-EXAMPLES:

La fameuse madame D'Eon était The famous madame D'Eon was

un brave soldat.

Cette femme est un témoin irrécusable dans cette affaire.

a brave soldier.

This woman is an unobjectionable witness in this business.

I will conclude by making some remarks on the manner of forming the plural of compound nouns.

1st. When a noun is composed of a substantive and an adjective, both take the termination of the plural.—EXAMPLES:

PLURAL.

SINGULAR.

Un arc-boutant.
Un bout-rimé.

Des arcs-boutans.

Des bouts-rimés.

2d. When compound nouns are formed with a preposition, or a verb and a noun, the noun alone can be made plural.-EXAMPLES:

3d. When a word is formed by uniting two nouns by means of a preposition, the first of the two nouns alone takes the inflection of the plural.-EXAMPLES:

SINGULAR.

Un arc-en-ciel.
Un chef-d'œuvre.

Un cul-de-lampe.

Un coq-à-l'âne.

PLURAL.

Des arcs-en-ciel.
Des chefs-d'œuvre.
Des culs-de-lampe,

Des coqs-à-l'âne.

Nouns, borrowed from foreign idioms, without being Gallicised, are written alike in the plural and singular; thus, we say, in French,

The words factum, debet, and placet, are an exception; for, to these, the French Academy adds an s in the plural.

Proper names, used in a figurative sense, admit of the plural final. - EXAMPLES:

Les Racines et les Voltaires sont | The Racines and the Voltaires are des hommes rares.

rare men.

Les Lockes et les Montesquieus | The Lockes and the Montesquieus ont été les vrais législateurs du have been the truc legislators monde. of mankind.

Proper names of persons, serving only to distinguish men by their names, though applied to several, do not assume the plural.EXAMPLES:

Les deux Corneille se sont distin- | The two Corneilles have distingués dans la république des le- guished themselves in the republic of letters.

ttres.

Les trois Bernard ont été chantés | The three Bernards have been

par Voltaire.

sung by Voltaire.

LESSON THE FOURTH.

OF THE ADJECTIVE AND NUMBERS.

Master. The adjective must always, as we have already shown, agree with the noun in gender and number.-Having in the first part of this volume acquainted you with what relates to the gender and number of adjectives, I will now proceed to point out some difficulties in the French language, relative to the place which the adjectives, in some particular instances, ought to occupy, either before or after the

noun.

RULE I. Several kinds of adjectives, in French, are always placed after their noun: 1st. Adjectives formed of the present or past participles of the verbs.-EXAMPLES: C'est un ouvrage divertissant. Vous lui donnez là une preuve convaincante d'amitié. Le medecin m'a dit que c'était un homme mort.

Une belle pensée embrouillée est un diamant couvert de boue.

It is an entertaining work.
You give him indeed a convincing
proof of friendship.

The physician told me he was a
dead man.

A fine thought, when perplexed, is like a diamond covered with mud.

There are but a few exceptions in which adjectives formed of the participles present can be put before the noun.-EXAMPLES:

Le plus décidant personnage n'est pas toujours le mieux instruit. La campagne offre mille riantes images.

The most dogmatizing character

is not always the best informed. The country affords a thousand delightful objects.

2dly. Adjectives which denote figure, colour, taste, sound, or relate to the sense of feeling.- EXAMPLES:

Il me faut une table ronde.
J'ai acheté une tabatière carrée.
Je préfère le vin blanc au vin
rouge.

Il porte des bas noirs avec un ha-
bit vert.

Le médecin lui a ordonné de boire une décoction d'herbes amères, et de manger des fruits aigres. Au dernier concert, il joua sur un violon sonore; et elle enchanta tout le monde par sa voix harmonieuse.

I want a round table.
snuff-box.
I bought a square
I prefer white wine to red.

He wears black stockings with a
green coat.
The physician has ordered him to
drink a decoction of bitter
herbs, and to eat sour fruits.
At the last concert, he played on a

sonorous violin; and she charm-
ed every one by her harmonious
voice.

La nuit passée, j'ai couché sur un | Last night, I slept on a hard bed. lit dur.

A dîné on nous servit une volaille tendre et des œufs mollets. Nous passâmes par plusieurs che

mins raboteux.

At dinner, they served us up a
tender fowl and soft eggs.
We passed through several rough

roads.

3dly. Those relating to matter or spirit, or which express any kind of operation or action.

4thly. Those expressing a quality relative to the nature or species of a thing.-EXAMPLES:

5thly. Adjectives ending in esque, ic, ique, il, ul, ier.—EXAMPLES:

Scarron excellait dans le style bur- |
lesque.
Tous ceux qui voyagent en Suisse,
en admirent les vues pitto-
resques.

Le bien public est préférable à
l'intérêt particulier.

Ce souverain a l'esprit pacifique. On lui a fait présent d'un carrosse magnifique.

Cet homme a la conversation puérile et la conduite incivile. Je ne crois pas que cette femme soit crédule.

Scarron excelled in the burlesque style.

All who travel in Switzerland admire its romantic landscapes.

Public good is to be preferred to

private interest.

That sovereign has a pacific mind. He or she has been presented with a splendid coach.

This man is childish in conversa

tion and boorish in his conduct. I do not believe that she is a credulous woman.