Page images
PDF
EPUB

3

To

came after day,1 and still he kept his place, do what I would;2 till at length I observed that, when a question was asked him, he always fumbled with his fingers at a particular button in the lower part of his waistcoat.5 remove it, therefore, became expedient in my eyes; and in an evil moment it was removed with a knife. Great was my anxiety to know the success of my measure; and it succeeded too well. When the boy was again questioned," his fingers sought again for the button, but it was not to be found. In his distress he looked down for it; it was to be seen no more than be felt. He stood confounded, and I took possession of his place; nor did he ever recover it, or ever, ,10 I believe, suspect who was the author of his wrong. Often, in after-life, has the sight of him smote me as I passed by him ;12 and often have I resolved to make him some reparation; but it ended in good resolutions.13 Though I never renewed my acquaintance with

11

is derived from the game of
draughts (dames): damer un pion
means, properly, 'to crown a
man.' We might also translate
here by et que
de débus
quer; but it would be somewhat
familiar.

1 Les jours se succédaient.

2 quoi que je fisse. Put a full stop here (see page 24, note 19), and do not translate till.'

3 We say faire une question à quelqu'un, to ask one a question ;' accordingly, to translate here correctly, see page 21, note 9, and page 8, note 6; when,' here, toutes les fois que.

6

4 il portait aussitôt les doigts d'un air distrait (or, doigts machinalement) à; or, il jouait aussitôt avec.

5 gilet, not veste. Formerly, 'waistcoat' was called veste, in French; this word, veste, now corresponds to jacket' only. It is to be regretted that the greater part of even modern dictionaries are of no use on these points, as every new edition of them is at best but the old ones reprinted,

14

with all their blunders, antiquated words, &c. &c.

6 A la première question qui fut faite à notre écolier. Here, the passive does not so much matter; it may even be better, to avoid the repetition of on at so short an interval (see above, note 3).

7 mais ils ne le trouvèrent plus; or, simply, mais en vain..

8 il regarda son gilet pour tâcher de l'apercevoir.

9 Efforts inutiles! il ne put pas plus le voir que le sentir. Put a full stop before the word Efforts, (page 24, note 19).

10 Jamais il

; jamais. 11 de ce tort; or, de cette injustice de cette injure, in the widest acceptation of this word.

12

de

j'ai éprouvé, à sa vue, un viƒ regret - repentir serrement cœur, lorsque je passais près de lui; or, je me le suis reproché en voyant passer près de moi mon ancien camarade.

13 mais cela s'est borné à; 'good resolutions' see page 16, note 2, and page 47, note 13.

14 Use, in French, the preterite

him, I often saw

him, for he filled some inferior office 2 in one of the courts of law in 3 Edinburgh. Poor fellow!4 I believe he is dead; he took early to drinking.5 W. SCOTT. (Autobiography.)

ROBINSON CRUSOE IN HIS ISLAND.

6

8

I WAS now in the twenty-third year of my residence in this island; and was so naturalized to the place, and the manner of living, that, could I have but enjoyed the certainty that no savages would come to the place to disturb me, I could have been content to have capitulated for spending the rest of my time there, even to the last moment, till I had laid me down and died 10 like the old

indefinite ('have renewed'), and leave out 'my.'

1 See page 1, note 3, and page 55, note. There is here repetition

of the action.

2 une charge (or, un emploi) subalterne.

3 cours de justice de.

4 Pauvre garçon ! or, Pauvre diable !-familiar.

5 il s'adonna de bonne heure à la boisson.

6 J'en étais d. This word en, placed before certain verbs, such as être, venir, rester, arriver, &c., indicates the last term-whether relatively or absolutely-of a progression; as, en venir à, &c. ('to be at last brought, or reduced, to,' &c.), en rester à, &c. ('to leave off at,' &c.) See page 11, note 5; also the LA FONTAINE, Fable XCIII., page 125, note 7. This en can only be translated into English by the words 'now,' 'at last,' or the like. Yet, here we might say, simply, in French, J'étais alors dans la, &c., just as we say, speaking of age, je suis dans ma vingttroisième année.

7 See page 38, note 3, page 29, note 8, page 26, note 11, and the LA FONTAINE, page 6, note 2, and page 38, note 5.- but,' seulement, here.

8 Translate by, no savage,' with the verb in the singular. Aucun and nul, meaning, as they do, pas un, 'not one,' are not, as a rule, used in the plural, in French. The only cases which form an exception to this rule are, 1st, when aucun and nul are joined with a noun which has no singular (ex. aucunes funérailles); and, 2d, when they are joined with a noun that is taken, in the plural, in another sense than in the singular (ex. aucunes troupes, 'no troops,' See,

no forces,' no soldiers'). for a breach of this rule the LA FONTAINE, page 45, note 3, and look also page 87, note *.

9 We might advantageously cut this sentence shorter, in French, by merely saying, sans la crainte des sauvages.

10 j'aurais été en quelque sorte content d'y (or, j'aurais volontiers consenti ày) passer le reste de mes

4

goat in the cave. I had also arrived to some little diversions and amusements, which made the time pass a great deal more pleasantly with me than it did before :2 as, first, I had taught my Poll, as I noted before, to speak ;3 and he did it so familiarly, and talked so articulately and plain, that it was very pleasant to me; for I believe no bird ever spoke plainer;5 and he lived with me no less than six-and-twenty years: how long 7 he might have lived afterwards, I know not, though I know they have a notion in the Brazils that they live a hundred years. My dog was a very pleasant and loving companion to me for no less than sixteen years of my time, and then died of mere old age. As for my cats, they multiplied, as I have observed, to that degree, that I was obliged to shoot several of them at first, to keep them from devouring me and all I had; but, at length, when the two old ones 10 I brought with me were gone,11 and after

jours (or, de ma vie), jusqu'au moment où je me serais éteint tranquillement.

1

1 je m'étais même ménagé (or, trouvé)-see page 40, note 6-des distractions et des amusements (or, de quoi me distraire-me divertir -et m'amuser-me récréer.)

26 which,' &c., &c. ; simply, ressource qui m'avait manqué autrefois. This sentence of Defoe is one of the many instances of loose writing observable even in the best English authors: for what a superfluity of words is this, 'diversions and amusements which make time pass pleasantly!' Put a full stop after autrefois, and leave out as' in the translation.

[blocks in formation]

full stop after 'plainer,' and leave out and,' which follows.

6than' is always expressed by de before the cardinal numbers un, deux, trois, &c., before la moitié (half), le tiers (third), &c., and before douzaine (dozen), vingtaine (score), dizaine (half-a-score), &c., instead of by que, as in a comparison of objects.-six-andtwenty; see page 38, note 15. 7 combien de temps; or, simply, combien.

8

que ces oiseaux passent au Brésil pour vivre.

9 ils s'étaient tellement multipliés, comme je l'ai déjà dit (or, fait observer), see page 5, note 8 que j'avais été obligé d'en tuer plusieurs à coups de fusil, afin de n'en être pas dévoré avec (or, que de peur qu'ils ne me dévorassent avec, &c., j'avais été. .).-'all I had ;' supply the whole ellipsis, in French.

10 les deux plus vieux; or, les deux premiers.

11

To go,' used absolutely, in the sense of 'to start,' to set out,' is, in French, partir, not aller. See, besides, page 27, note

4

some time continually driving them from me, and letting them have no provision with me,1 they all ran wild into the woods, except two or three favourites, which I kept tame, and whose young, when they had any, I always drowned; and these were part of my family. Besides these, I always kept two or three household kids about me, whom I taught to feed out of 5 my hand; and I had two more 6 parrots, which talked pretty well, and would all call Robin Crusoe, but none like my first; nor, indeed, did I take the pains with any of them that I had done with him. I had also several tame sea-fowls, whose names I knew not, that I caught upon the shore, and cut their wings;10 and the little stakes which I had planted before my castle wall being now grown up to a good thick grove,] these fowls all lived 12 among these low trees, and bred there, which was very agreeable to me ;13 so that, as I said above, I began to be very well contented with the life I led, if I could but have been secured from the dread of the savages.14_DEFOE.

13. But here, 'gone' seems, from the context, to mean 'dead,' and should be rendered accordingly.

1 et que (page 17, note 6) j'eus pendant quelque temps continuelle ment chassé (page 19, note 5) les autres loin de moi (or, simply, et à force de chasser les, &c.), sans leur rien donner à manger.

2 ils s'enfuirent tous dans les bois, et devinrent sauvages.

3 dont j'avais grand soin de noyer les petits (page 35, end of note 14) dès qu'ils venaient au monde. Put a full stop after monde, and leave out 'and these,' &c.

4 En outre, j'avais toujours près
de moi deux ou trois chevreaux
familiers; or, Le reste de ma
maison consistait en deux ou trois
chevreaux.
5 manger dans.

6 et deux autres.
7 See page 45, note 4.

8 et j'avoue-page 14, note 13(or, et il est vrai) que j'avais donné plus de soins à (or, pris plus de soin de) l'éducation de celui-là qu'à -que de celle d'aucun des deux

11

derniers; or, simply, pour lequel aussi j'avais pris beaucoup de peine.

9

je les avais attrapés (page 32, note 4). 10 See page 10, note 10.

11 grown up to,' &c. ; see page 6, note 5.-good thick grove,' bosquet d'une bonne épaisseur.

12 habitaient, in the sense of 'to dwell;' here, however, we might take it as well in the other sense, and translate likewise by vivaient.

13 et y avaient leurs couvées; de cette façon ils contribuaient beaucoup à mon divertissement.

14 Ainsi donc, somme toute (or, en somme), comme je l'ai dit plus haut, je commençais à être fort content de la vie que je menais, à la réserve (or, à l'exception) de la crainte-à la crainte près que m'inspiraient les sauvages (page 6, note 3); or, j'aurais été parfaitement satisfait de la vie. &c., sans la crainte (or, n'eût été la crainte-or, si j'eusse seulement pu m'affranchir; or, me délivrer, "de la crainte) des sauvages.

GULLIVER'S WAY OF LIVING IN THE COUNTRY OF LILLIPUT.

1

Ir may perhaps divert the curious reader, to give some account of my domestics, and 1 my manner of living in this country, during a residence of nine months and thirteen days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being likewise 2 forced by necessity, I had made for myself3 a table and chair convenient enough, out of the largest trees in the royal park. Two hundred sempstresses were em

ployed to make me shirts, and linen for my bed and table,7 all of the strongest and coarsest kind 8 they could get; which, however, they were forced to quilt together in several folds, for the thickest was some degrees 10 finer than lawn. Their linen is usually three inches wide, and three feet make 11 a piece. The sempstresses took my measure as I lay on the ground,12 one standing at my neck, and another at my mid-leg,13 with a strong cord extended, that each held by the end,14 while a third measured the length of the cord with a rule of an inch long.15 Then they measured my right thumb,16 and desired no more; 17 for, by a

1 Peut-être le. (page 32, note 1) gré de lui donner quelques détails sur mon intérieur (or, mon particulier) et sur. See page 49, note 8. It is not necessary to repeat sur, here; only, its repetition points more to each of the two distinct things, which are about to be considered, or related, separately.

8 me saura-t-il

2 Comme j'ai toujours eu des dispositions pour les arts mécaniques, et que (page 17, note 6) j'étais

en outre.

3 je m'étais fait.-'a table and chair; see page 20, note 11.

4 avec le bois.

5 See page 31, note 14.

6 See page 17, note 10.

arec la plus forte toile; see page 1, note 8.

which,' &c., mise en plusieurs doubles et piquée.

10 un peu.

11 Leurs toiles (in this sense,-in another sense, as above, between notes 6 and 7, the word is linge) ont en général trois pouces de lurgeur (or, de large), et la longueur de trois pieds forme. See p. 96, n. 1. 12 lorsque j'étais couché. 13 sur le gras de ma jambe.

14 et tenant chacune par un bout une grosse corde.

15 Simply, d'un pouce.

16 le tour du pouce de ma main droite. We might say, as in English, de mon pouce droit, but we do

7 See page 20, note 11, and page not commonly use this expression. 49, note.

17 et ce fut assez.

« PreviousContinue »