her presence. I believe her sons had kept this unfortunate wretch out of her sight,1 for fear of the consequences;2 but if it was so, their humane3 precaution only postponed his fate. They dragged forward at her summons a wretch already half dead with terror, in whose agonized features I recognised, to my horror and astonishment, my old acquaintance Morris. He fell prostrate before the female Chief with an effort to clasp her knees, from which she drew back, as if his touch had been pollution, so that all he could do in token of the extremity of his humiliation, was to kiss the hem of her plaid. I never heard entreaties for life poured forth with such agony of spirit. The ecstasy of fear was such 10 that instead of paralysing his tongue, as 11 on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him eloquent; and, with cheeks pale as ashes,12 hands compressed 13 in agony, eyes that seemed to be taking their last look of all mortal objects, he protested, with the deepest 14 oaths, his total ignorance of any design on the person of Rob Roy, whom he swore he loved and honoured as his own soul.15 In the inconsistency of his terror,16 he said he was but the agent of others, and he muttered the name of Rashleigh. prayed but for life-for life he would give all he had in the 17 world: it was but life he asked-life, if it were to be 18 prolonged under tortures and privations: he asked only breath, though it should be drawn in 19 the damps of the lowest caverns of their hills. He 12 'covered with (de) a deadly paleness.' 13 se tordant les mains. 5 pâles et défigurés; and see note 4). page 134, note 13. with as much... as.' 7 He threw himself at the feet of the chief's wife;' see page 145, note 8. 8 les pans (lit., 'the skirts') de son plaid (manteau écossais). 9 avec autant de désespoir. 10 Fear acted on his mind with such strength;' see page 26, comme cela arrive. note 2. 11 15 with (de) all his soul.' The idiomatic expression, aimer quelqu'un comme ses yeux (or, comme la prunelle de ses yeux) would be too familiar for elevated style, like this. 16 Par une inconséquence, suite du désordre de son esprit. 17 au. 18 See page 79, note 2, and page 123, note 5. 19 'he asked,' &c. ; simply trans 1 It is impossible to describe the scorn, the loathing, and contempt, with which the wife of MacGregor regarded this wretched petitioner for the poor boon of existence. "I could have bid ye live," she said, "had life been to you the same weary and wasting burden that it is to me —that it is to every noble and generous mind. But you -wretch! you could creep through the world unaffected by its various disgraces, its ineffable miseries, its constantly accumulating masses of crime and sorrow: you could live and enjoy yourself, while the noble-minded are betrayed. -while nameless and birthless villains tread on the neck of the brave and the long-descended: you could enjoy yourself, like a butcher's dog in the shambles, battening on garbage, while the slaughter of the oldest and best went on around you !5 This enjoyment you shall not live to partake of you shall die, base dog! and that before yon cloud has passed over the sun.' She gave a brief command in Gaelic to her attendants, two of whom seized upon the prostrate suppliant, and hurried him to the brink of a cliff which overhung the flood. He set up the most piercing and dreadful cries that fear ever uttered-I may well term them dreadful, for they haunted my sleep for years afterwards.10 late, were he to breathe no longer (plus) any (de) other air than that of.' 1 'the scorn,' &c. ; simply, l'air de mépris et de dégoût. 2 Je t'accorderais la vie. 3 'to enjoy oneself,' here, se trouver heureux. 4 tandis que des gens sans naissance et sans courage foulent aux pieds des hommes illustrés par leur bravoure et par une longue suite d'aïeux. Put a full stop here. 5 'you could,' &c.; Au milieu du carnage général, tu serais aussi heureux que le chien du boucher, qui lèche le sang des bestiaux qu'on égorge. 6 lâche, chien! 8 7 ce. qui surplombait le lac. 9 Simply, 'I may say,'-'I may,' je puis, which is more quaint than je peux. As fo Turn, 'for during some (quelques) years I often started up out of my sleep (je m'éveillai souvent en sursaut), thinking still I heard them (page 7, note 7).' We had better use here the preterite (je m'éveillai) than the imperfect (page 1, note 6, and page 55, note), although the action was repeated, and this is often done when it is intended to point to each time the action took place, as separate and distinct from the others. By thus striking the mind with the idea of a fact which happened at oncethough repeatedly so-instead of letting it dwell on that secondary consideration, namely, that of a repetition of the fact mentioned, we give to our narration both more vivacity and more rapidity. the murderers, or executioners, call them as you will,1 dragged him along, he recognised me in that moment of horror, and exclaimed, in the last articulate words I ever heard him utter, “O Mr. Osbaldistone, save me!—save me!" I was so much moved by this horrid spectacle, that, although in momentary expectation of sharing his fate, I did attempt to speak in his behalf, but, as might have been expected, my interference was sternly disregarded. The victim was held fast by some, while others, binding a large heavy stone,3 in a plaid, tied it round his neck, and others again eagerly stript him of some part of his dress.4 Half-naked, and thus manacled, they hurled him into the lake, there about twelve feet deep, with a loud halloo of vindictive triumph,—above which, however, his last deathshriek, the yell of mortal agony, was distinctly heard. The heavy burden splashed in the dark-blue waters, and the Highlanders, with their pole-axes and swords, watched an instant, to guard, lest,5 extricating himself from the load to which he was attached, the victim might have struggled to regain the shore. But the knot had been securely bound-the wretched man sunk without effort;6 the waters, which his fall had disturbed, settled calmly over him, and the unit of that life for which he had pleaded so strongly, was for ever withdrawn from the sum of human existence. (SIR WALTER SCOTT, Rob Roy.) gnit à jamais (see page 194, note 18) dans cet abime.-'for ever,' is, in French, à jamais, and pour jamais; the former expression is stronger than the latter : un homme est perdu à jamais" (says very appositely Dr. Dubuc, in his valuable notes to Picciola), "when it is absolutely impossible for him to rise from his abjectness; il est perdu pour jamais, if it is only believed that he will not rise again.” -Picciola, page 8, note. THE WIDOW AND HER SON. THE parents of the deceased had resided in the village from childhood. They had inhabited one of the neatest cottages, and by various rural occupations and the assistance1 of a small garden, had supported themselves creditably, and comfortably, and led a happy and blameless life. They had one son, who had grown up to be the staff and pride of their age." "Oh, sir!" said the good woman, "he was such a comely lad, so sweet-tempered, so kind to every one around him, so dutiful to his parents! It did one's heart good to see him of a1 Sunday, dressed out in his best, so tall, so straight, so cheery, supporting his old mother to church-for she was always fonder of leaning on George's arm than on her goodman's,5 and, poor soul,6 she might well be proud of him, for a finer lad there was not in the country round." Unfortunately, the son was tempted, during a year of scarcity and agricultural hardship, to enter into the service of one of the small craft that plied on a neighbouring river. He had not been long in this employ when he was entrapped by a press-gang and carried off to sea. His parents received tidings of his seizure, but beyond that they could learn nothing. It was the loss of their main prop. The father, who was already infirm, grew heartless 9 and melancholy, and sunk into his 10 grave. The widow, 1 'the produce.' 2 l'appui et l'orgueil de leur vieillesse. The figurative expression bâton de vieillesse is French; but, on account of the common idea called forth by the word bâton, which, in its proper sense, is of so extensive application, meaning, as it does, 'staff,' 'stick,' 'cudgel,' &c., bâton and orgueil would form a somewhat ungracious association of terms. 3 un si digne garçon, si aimable, si doux avec tout le monde, si respectueux. to ;' see page 36, note 11. 4 On éprouvait un plaisir délicieux en le voyant le. 5 celui de son mari. 7 de se louer et de travailler sur un (or, simply, de se mettre aux gages d'un) des petits bâtiments qui desservaient une rivière voisine. 8 pris par la presse (enrôlement forcé, levée de matelots en Angleterre), et entraîné loin de son village pour servir sur mer. See page 1, note 6, and page 38, note 9 languissant, in this sense. 10 to sink,' here, descendre.'his; use the definite article. 3 left alone in her age and feebleness, could no longer support herself, and came upon1 the parish. Still there was a kind feeling toward her throughout the village, and2 a certain respect as being one of the oldest inhabitants. As no one applied for the cottage in which she had passed so many happy days, she was permitted to remain in it, where she lived solitary and almost helpless. The few wants of nature were chiefly supplied from the scanty production of her little garden, which the neighbours would now and then cultivate 5 for her. It was but a few days before the time at which these circumstances were told me, that she was gathering some vegetables for her repast, when she heard the cottage-door which faced the garden suddenly opened. A stranger came out, and seemed to be looking eagerly and wildly around. He was dressed in seaman's clothes, was emaciated and ghastly pale, and bore the air of one broken by sickness and hardships. He saw her, and hastened toward her, but his steps were faint and faltering; he sank on his knees before her, and sobbed like a child. The poor woman gazed upon him with a vacant and wandering eye. "Oh my dear, dear mother! 10 don't you know your son? your poor boy George ?" 11 It was indeed the wreck of her once noble lad; who, shattered by wounds, by sickness, and foreign 12 imprisonment, had at length dragged his wasted limbs homeward, to repose among the scenes of his childhood. sense of a plant,' 'a tree:' végétal is also an adjective, as in le règne (not royaume, there) végétal, 'the vegetable kingdom.' 7 See page 65, note 9. 8 se présenta: il avait l'air effaré (wild) et empressé (eager). 9 and seemed to be worn out.' 10 O my mother, my dear mother.' 11 'your son,' &c.; simply, 'your (ton) poor George.'-' to know,' in the sense of 'to recognise,' is reconnaître, not connaître. 12 'foreign,' à l'étranger, and after the noun. |