eye, his negligent but gentlemanly demeanour; 1 we picture him in his arm-chair, with his few books round the room, and Plutarch2 on the table.-(HALLAM, Introduction to the Literature of Europe.) THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD AND HIS FAMILY. 6 I WAS ever 3 of opinion that the honest man, who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single, and only talked of population. From this motive, I had scarce taken orders a year before I began to think seriously of matrimony, and chose my wife as she did her wedding-gown-not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well.* To do her justice,10 she was a good-natured, notable woman, ,11 and as for education, there were few country ladies who could show more.12 She could read any English. book without much spelling; 13 but for pickling, preserving,14 and cookery, none could excel her. She prided herself 1 cette aisance de manières, ce laisser-aller dans lequel on reconnaît encore l'homme du monde. 2 entouré de quelques livres favoris, et son Plutarque. 3 Translate, 'I have ever been.' 4 Use the present (as at page 123, note 7).-large;' see page 42, note 19. 5 to do more service,' être plus utile. 6 See page 88, note 14. 7 et se contente de disserter sur la population (or, de parler population;-in the same way we say, without any preposition or article, parler musique, littérature, théâtres, &c. &c.) 8 un an, tout au plus, après avoir pris les ordres, je; or, à peine uvais-je (page 32, note ) pris les ordres depuis un an que je; or, à peine étais-je depuis un an dans les ordres que je; or, again, il y avait à peine un an que j'avais pris que j'étais dans les ordres, lorsque je. 9 non sur le brillant de l'étoffe, mais sur les qualités qui garantissaient le bon user. 10 to do justice to one,' rendre justice à quelqu'un. α 11 elle était d'une excellente nature, et laborieuse; or, elle avait un excellent naturel et de l'activité. 12 Translate, 'show more of it than she.' 13 assez couramment, toute espèce de livre anglais (or, quelque livre anglais que ce fût-see page 47, end of note 4, and page 22, note 9). 14 les conserves au vinaigre (or, simply, here, as the context is plain, les conserves), les confitures. also upon being an excellent contriver in housekeeping: though I could never find2 that we grew richer with all her contrivances. 7 8 However, we loved each other3 tenderly, and our fond ness increased as we grew old. There was, in fact, nothing that could make us angry with 5 the world or each other. 6 We had an elegant house, situate in a fine country, and a good neighbourhood. The year was spent s in moral or rural amusements,9 in visiting our rich neigh bours, and relieving such as were poor. We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adventures were by thell fireside, and all our migrations 12 from the blue bed to the brown.13 10 15 As we lived 14 near the road, we often had the traveller or stranger to visit us, to taste our gooseberry-wine, for which we had great reputation; and I profess,16 with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them 17 find fault with it.18 Our cousins, too, even to the fortieth remove, 19 all remembered their affinity, without any help from 20 the herald's office,21 and came very frequently to 14 Remember that 'to live,' in the sense of' to dwell,' is demeurer, or habiter, not vivre (p. 61, n. 12). 15 Translate, the traveller and the stranger often came (page 19, note 5) to taste.' 16 'to profess,' in this sense, affirmer. 17 I never knew;' translate, 'never I saw.'- 'saw one of them,' en... un seul. 18 y trouver à redire; or, y trouver le mot à dire, 19 degré. Either leave out 'all,' which is not necessary here, or put it after the verb. 20 sans avoir besoin de recourir à. 21 l'Herald's Office. We must keep the English expression here: there is nothing of the kind in France; if, however, we must give a nearly equivalent French expression, we may say,.... à aucun registre (or, à aucune table) généalogique. see us. 6 Some of them did us no great honour by these claims of kindred; as we had the blind, the maimed, and the halt amongst the number.1 However, my wife always insisted that, as they were the same flesh and blood, they should sit with us at the same table ;2 so that, if we had not very rich, we generally had very happy friends about us; for this remark will hold good through life, that1 the poorer the guest,5 the better pleased he ever is with being treated; and as some men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip or the wing of a butterfly, so I was by nature an admirer of happy human faces. However, when any one of our relations was found to be a person of a very bad character,11 a troublesome guest,12 or one we desired to get rid of,13 upon his leaving my house, I ever took care 14 to lend him a riding-coat,15 or a pair of boots, or sometimes a horse of small value,16 and I always had 17 the satisfaction to find that he never 18 came back to return them. By this the house was cleared of such as we did not like; but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor dependent out of doors.19 2 Turn, After all, said my wife, it is same flesh and same blood; and she insisted always to (pour) make them sit (asseoir, without the reflective pronoun se, after faire) at the same table with us (que nous).' 3 Turn, therefore (aussi) we were (see page 32, note 9) habitually surrounded by (de) friends, if not rich, at least (page 126, note 13) happy.' 4 10 un fâcheux. 13 or one,' un hôte.-'we desired'. &c. ; see page 1, notela. -'to get rid,' in a general way, se défaire (literally, to rid oneself). 14 Turn, I had ever care (soin -page 111, note 5), upon his leaving my house (au moment où il nous quittait).' une redingote de voyage; or, simply, une redingote, which, however, more commonly corresponds to a frock coat.' 15 car, et c'est une remarque dont, toute la vie, vous sentirez la justesse. 5 Supply the ellipsis of the verb ('is'); and see page 90, note 3, and page 87, note 15 6 Turn, more (see page 49, note 5) he enjoys seeing himself (jouit de se voir) well treated. 7 restent en extase (or, s'extasient) devant les nuances. ou devant. 8 j'aimais, par instinct (or, par nature), à contempler l'expression 16 de peu de valeur. 17 Translate, have had.' 18 de voir que pas un.-came back;' translate, has come back' (see page 116, note 11). 19 mais la famille de Wakefield n'a jamais passé pour avoir fermé sa porte au voyageur ou au pauvre 7 8 Thus we lived several years in a state of much happiness; not but that we sometimes had 2 those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favours. My orchard was often robbed by schoolboys, and my wife's custards plundered by the cats or the children. The squire 3 would sometimes fall asleep in the most pathetic parts of my sermon, or his lady5 return my wife's civilities at church with a mutilated courtesy." But we soon got over the uneasiness caused by such accidents, and usually in3 three or four days began to wonder how they vexed us.9 My children, the offspring of temperance, as they were educated without softness, so they were at once wellformed and healthy ; 10 11 my sons hardy and active, my daughters beautiful and blooming. 12 Our eldest son was named George, after 13 his uncle, who left us ten thousand pounds. 14 Our second child, a girl, I intended to call after her aunt Grissel; 15 but my wife, who had lately been reading romances, insisted upon her being called Olivia.16 In less than 17 another year, we had another daughter, and now malheureux; or, mais jamais on n'a pu dire que la famille de Wait 2 See page 35, note 20, and page 25, note 11 3 châtelain; or, seigneur de l'endroit. 4to fall asleep,' s'endormir.'in,' here. See page 45, note 4. 5 la châtelaine.-'to return,' in this sense, répondre à. 6 par une révérence un peu écourtée. 7 nous nous consolions bientôt de ces sortes d'accidents; or, nous nous mettions promptement au-dessus du chagrin que nous causaient ces accidents (p. 3, n. 3). 8 in,' here, au bout de. 9 nous nous trouvions tout (page 35, note 4) surpris de nous en être préoccupés see page 18, note & (or, d'avoir pu nous en affectersee page 38, note 5; page 44, note ; and others). 10 Mes enfants devaient, à notre 18 tempérance et à une éducation sans mollesse, une bonne constitution et une bonne santé. 11 Translate, 'my sons were.' 12 fraîches. was 13 s'appela G-, du nom de. We use here the preterite, in preference to the imperfect, as named George' is taken, in the text, rather in the sense of 'we gave him that name,' than in that of such was the name he usually went by.' Yet, in this case, the use of the imperfect may be tolerated. 1+ Translate, 'who had left us.' -pounds; see page 72, note 4. 15 Translate, Our second child was a girl; I intended to give her the name of her aunt, G 16 insista pour le nom d'0-; or, insista pour (or, voulut absolument) qu'elle s'appelât (or, qu'elle eût nom) O—. 17 See page 60, note 6. 18 et, cette fois; or, et, pour le coup. I was determined that Grissel should be her name; but a rich relation taking a fancy1 to stand 2 godmother, the girl was by her directions called Sophia: so that we had two romantic names in the family; but I solemnly protest I had no hand in it.5 Moses was our next,6 and after an interval of twelve years, we had two sons more.7 11 13 It would be fruitless to deny my exultation when I saw my little ones about me; 8 but the vanity and satisfaction of my wife were even greater than mine. When our visitors would say, "Well," upon my word, Mrs. Primrose, you have the finest children in 10 the whole country :""Ay, neighbour," she would answer,12 "they are as Heaven made them-handsome enough, if they be good enough; for handsome is, that handsome does." 14 And then she would bid the girls hold up their heads,15 who, to conceal nothing,16 were certainly very handsome. Mere outside is so very trifling a circumstance with me,17 that I should scarce have remembered to mention it,18 had it not been a general topic of conversation in the country. |