LINE

21. savoir; infin. used as a noun. Cp. 'avoir,' 1. 23, and see lxvii. 12. 22. fait instr., 'have not had me educated.' See vi. 1.

24. gros mess., 'substantial folk,' 'persons of importance.'

l'ont fait a. If instead of 'à lire' it was 'la lecture,' what change would there be in the construction? See xii. 15.

27. desserrer, to 'let fly'; lit. to loosen.

28. coup = 'coup de pied.'

haut le pied. This phrase might be taken in two ways-(1) 'with vigour,' i.e. lifting the foot; (2) and off he goes.' This last is the more probable meaning.

29. mal en point, 'in sore plight.' The opposite is 'en bon point,' 'in good condition.'

30. nous; dative.

31. esprit. Remember that 'esprit' hardly ever means 'spirit.' 33. tout inconnu, 'every stranger.' It cannot mean 'all that is unknown.'

'de' after 'se méfie.'

XLIX.-LE LOUP DEVENU BERGER.

2. aux brebis, 'in the sheep.'

3. s'aider

lit. 'to help himself with the foxes' skin,' i.e. 'to call in the aid of craft,' to call cunning to his aid.'

4. faire. See xxix. 21.

5. en, 'like,' 'as.' Cp. 1. 32, and see xlvi. 11.

hoqueton, smock'; an old-fashioned word, originally used of a soldier's tunic, then of a loose smock or 'blouse' of any kind. 7. cornemuse, a kind of 'bagpipe,' with two wooden tubes.

11. faite, 'made up.'

13. G. le sycophante, 'the sham Willy,' opposed to 'le vrai G.,' 1. 14. Sycophante' originally meant an 'informer,' and so 'a sneak,' 'a humbug.'

་

14. herbette; a poetical diminutive of 'herbe.'

15. profondément. A number of adjectives in forming adverbs take an acute accent on the 'e' of the fem., e.g., communément, obscurément, etc.

16. musette

touch.

cornemuse. The bagpipe being asleep is a quaint

17. Notice that after the collective phrase 'la plupart' the verb is put in the plural. Generally in French the verb agrees with the grammatical number of the subject.

18. laissa faire, 'let them be,' left them alone'; lit. 'allowed them to do' what they were doing, i.e. sleeping.

K

23. ne put. With what other verbs is 'pas' habitually omitted? 25. découvrit, 'revealed,' not so much 'discovered' as 'uncovered.' mystère, 'secret'; a common use in the seventeenth century.

28. esclandre, 'hubbub.' Cp. xxxiv. 18.

29. empêché, 'hampered;' not quite the modern meaning of 'prevented.'

31. prendre, 'to be caught.'

32. agisse; imperative, 3d sing.-'let him . . .'

33. le plus cert., 'the safest plan.'

L.-LE GLAND ET LA CITROUILLE.

"Natural Theology.'

2. aller. Repeat 'sans' before 'aller.' Take 'le' with 'parcourant' (for this position of the pronoun see Gram. Introd. Î. vi.) The present participle with 'aller' expresses continuity of actionto go a-wandering over it.' Cp. 'je me vas désaltérant,' xxxvii. 13, and xviii. 11.

3. treuve; an archaic form for 'trouve.'

6. à quoi. We say 'to think, or dream of' a thing.

8. pendue. Why feminine?

9. que voilà, 'yonder.' By what is the accusative 'que' governed? 10. l'affaire, 'the thing,' i.e. the right thing.' Cp. such phrases as 'j'ai votre affaire,' 'I have just the thing for you.'

12. C'est dommage. After such an impersonal phrase we should expect the subjunctive, but the indicative lays stress on the fact.

13. au conseil, 'into the plan' or 'counsels.'

Celui, etc., i.e. Providence.

curé, vicar,' or 'rector,' not 'curate.' The French for 'curate is 'vicaire.' We have confused the words.

14. en.

When 'en' is used in this way with a comparative transl., e.g., the better for it.'

17. je contemple. il s. à G.

Notice the change of construction. The subject of course remains the same. There is a touch of humour in the more pompous phrase, 'il semble à Garo,' instead of 'il me semble.'

19. quiproquo, 'a blunder,' the mistake of taking one thing for another. Not the same as the phrase 'quid pro quo,' which means a fair equivalent.'

6

23. pâtit; an old-fashioned word = souffre.

28. s'il fût t. 'Il' is neuter; the real subject is 'une masse,' etc.

LINE

Notice the auxiliary. Name some other verbs which take 'être' besides reflexive verbs.

29. que is merely used here to avoid repeating 'si.' Notice that when used in this particular way it takes the subjunctive, although 'si' does not necessarily do so.

32. de, 'for.'

LI.--LE CHEVAL S'ÉTANT VOULU VENGER DU CERF.

1. de tout temps = toujours.

pour, 'for the service of . . .'

ne sont nés. The omission of 'pas' here would now be quite irregular.

2. lorsque . i.e. in the golden age of innocence.

3. aux f., i.e. dans les forêts.

habitait should be 'habitaient' after several subjects, taken collectively.

'nowadays'; lit. 'in the age in which we are'

où = 'dans lequel'; a frequent use.

7. chaise. Properly a 'travelling carriage' (chaise de poste).

carrosse implies pomp and luxury, used of a state-coach.

8. aussi. We should not now use 'aussi' with a negative. 10. eut différend, 'quarrelled.' For the absence of article cp. xlvii. 10. 13. l'homme, 'man.' In French the article is employed with a word used thus in a general sense.

14. lui . . . le dos = son dos.

16. que

y.

ne.

See xiii. 5.

Take the two together and translate 'until. 'there,' i.e. 'in the encounter.' Transl. 'lost his life."

17. cela fait; absolute case; 'when that was done.' Cp. xiv. 13. 18. je suis à v., 'I am yours to command.' A polite formula. 20. non pas cela, 'Nay, not so !' an emphatic negative.

il f. meilleur, 'it is more comfortable'; lit. 'it makes better. 21. quel .. i.e. la manière dont vous pouvez être utile.

27. il n'était p. t., 'it was too late'; lit. 'it was no longer time.'

28. toute b. Cp. xlviii. 5.

32. que l'acheter. 'when we purchase it at the cost of' (de). For the construction 'ce. que' with inf. cp. v. 12.

33. sans qui. This would now be bad grammar, as 'qui' with a preposition is only used in reference to persons; it would be sans lequel.'

LINE

LII.-LE LIÈVRE ET LES GRENOUILLES.

1. gîte, the same meaning as 'fort,' xxxi. 11.

2. que faire; interrogative infinitive, 'what is one to do?' que l'on ne. 'Ne' is not to be translated. Cp. its uses after 'craindre,' etc.

3. se plongeait. Translate by passive.

morceau. Cp. xliii. 9. What mood is 'profite'?

8. pur, i.e. free from worry of some kind.

divers, 'of one kind or another.'

17. douteux, 'anxious,' 'timid'; an obsolete use.

18. un rien, 'a mere nothing,' a trifle.

22. devers = vers; an old-fashioned expression.

The word now

23. il s'en alla p. We should now simply say 'il alla passer.'

24. de sauter; the historic or narrative infinitive. Cp. xx. 13.

26. j'en fais f.; lit. 'I make (others) do as much as some ('on') make me do,' i.e. I make others run away, just as much as some make me.

28. au camp = dans le camp.

31. foudre. In this figurative sense 'foudre' is masculine. In its ordinary meaning it is feminine.

33. qui ne trouve, 'who cannot find,' i.e. but that he can find (cp. Latin constr. with quin). In what mood is 'trouve'?

LIII.-LE HÉRON,

'He that will not when he may...'

2. au long bec. Cp. xxxv. 7.

emmanché . . ., 'at the end of a long neck'; lit. 'having a long

neck for a handle.'

4. onde is a poetic word.

8. ne... que. See iii. 3. 9. d'attendre, 'if he waited.' 10. que, 'until' = jusqu'à ce que.

LINE

11. de régime, 'by rule,' 'by system.'

à ses heures, 'at his hours,' i.e. 'at fixed hours.'

15. mieux, 'something better.'

17. le rat du bon H. He is referring to the 'town rat' dining with the 'country rat' in Horace's version of that fable (Satires, II. vi. 80, etc.), and particularly to line 86, where the country rat tries to tempt his guest, . . . cupiens varia fastidia cena Vincere tangentis male singula dente superbo.'

18. des tanches, i.e. 'manger des tanches,' 'to think of my eating tench.'

que je fasse; an indignant exclamation-'the idea that I

should...'

20. la t. rebutée; the absolute case. commonly used of persons.

Cp. lv. 21.

'Rebuté' is more

21. c'est bien là, sarcastic; 'as if that were. 'a nice dinner. . .'

Cp. xlv. 21.

22. j'ouvrirais, am I to open ?' lit. 'should I open?' These broken, 'elliptic' phrases express anger and indignation.

aux d. ne pl., 'the gods forbid !' lit. 'may it not please the gods.' Cp. the opposite phrase, 'plût aux Dieux.'

29. For the sentiment cp. fable iii. 1.

30. gardez-v. de. Cp. xiv. 5.

31. v. compte, 'what you want,' 'what suits you'; lit. 'your account.' Cp. 'votre affaire.'

32. y, 'in that way,'

33. un autre conte; alluding to the succeeding fable (not given in this selection), in which a young lady treats her suitors as the heron does the fish.

1. rien ne

LIV.-LE LIÈVRE ET LA TORTUE.

6 Festina lente."

., 'running is no use,' i.e. 'speed is no good.' For the construction cp. ce n'est pas tout de boire, il faut sortir d'ici,' xlii. 9.

4. êtes-v. sage, 'are you in your senses?'

7. ellébore, a plant, supposed among the ancients to cure madness.

8. encore 'still,' i.e. 'I stick to my bet.'

9. fut fait. Notice pron. 'il' omitted-not unusual in rapid, conversational style.

11. quoi, i.e. what the stakes were.

l'affaire, 'our business,' the question.