CONFABULATEUR FRANCAIS,

BEING

A PLEASING SELECTION OF

ANECDOTES, STORIES,

AND

EXTRACTS FROM CLASSIC WRITERS,

IN PROSE AND VERSE,

WITH AN EXPLANATION OF IDIOMATICAL PHRASES
AND A VOCABULARY,

FORMING A SERIES OF

ENTERTAINING READINGS,

FOR SCHOOLS AND PRIVATE TUITION.

AUTHOR

OF

BY

M. MARIOT DE BEAUVOISIN,

66

FRENCH

AN ORIGINAL SYSTEM FOR TEACHING
"HOW TO READ AND TRANSLATE FRENCH"-EDITOR
TELEMAQUE;" ARRANGED ON A new plan, wITH COL-
LATERAL AND INTERLINEAR TRANSLATIONS, &c.

66

OF

LONDON:

C. H. LAW, (SCHOOL LIBRARY,) 131, FLEET STREET,

LATE SOUTER AND LAW.

1848:

PREFACE.

THIS collection has been compiled chiefly with the view of forming a small manual, calculated to assist in the attainment of the object so much desired by students of the French language, viz.-the facility of speaking. Of the various plans devised to promote this object, none, probably, have been found more successful than the practice of making the text - when thoroughly understood by the pupil- a subject for conversation; but entire works or simple extracts are either too long or too unconnected to create sufficient interest in the mind of beginners, and generally too remote from the every-day occurences of life to afford easy and pleasing subjects for "confab."

It was this consideration which induced the editor to compile the present series of Anecdotes and Stories, and he trusts that the selection of the pieces, from which he has been careful to exclude everything that might be deemed objectionable, will be found conducive to the practical object in view, and meet with a favourable reception.

King William-street, City.

May, 1848.

The words in the text, the final letters of which are in italics, also the words or phrases within brackets, are those which form the subject of the Vocabulary.

Notwithstanding the care bestowed on the correcting of proofs, a few typographical errors have crept into the second part of the book; they will be found corrected in the Vocabulary.

PREMIÈRE PARTIE.

CHOIX

D'ANECDOTES ANCIENNES, MODERNES

ET CONTEMPORAINES,

TIRÉ

DE L'ENCYCLOPÉDIANA ET DES MEILLEURS RECUEILS DE CE GENRE PUBLIES JUSQU'A CE JOUR,

PENSÉES, MAXIMES, SAILLIES, BONS MOTS, ÉPIGRAMMES, ETC.

L'abbé Velly écrivit un jour à Voltaire pour savoir en quel endroit il avait puisé une anecdote curieuse, mais hasardée. "Qu'importe, lui répondit Voltaire, que l'anecdote soit vraie ou fausse? Quand on écrit pour amuser le public, faut-il être si scrupuleux à n'écrire que la vérité."