400 French and Engtijh Terms. — Bioti's Epitaph on Adonis. [Dec.], 



I have feen Ailer a gorge decowverie 

 tianflated ' to go with the throat bsre,* 

 inftead of the bofom, which lift (though 

 gorge is literally « throat') i» nevcrthelefs 

 ti-.e fenfe < f tlie phr.iie ; for I believe the 

 (infteft Puiitan never dlcovered any thing 

 indecent in a woman's (hovving her throat ; 

 yet my fair countrywomen ieem to hive 

 taken a hint from this blunder to cover up 

 the latter fo carefully, while the other is fo 

 frequently difplayed. This niiftake re- 

 minds nis of a French tranflator of 

 Englifh Plays, who rails " Love's laft 

 Shift" — La derniere Ckemife de f Amour, 

 I am, Sir, &c. A. L. M. 

 November 8, 1805. 



thing as • to pnt to theTword,' ' pajjer au 

 fl de I'epce,'''' w hen viSlors, mad with con- 

 qucft, tnter a devoted town. The word 

 is ufed figuiatively, as we do ' murder,' 

 for thin,?;s notoii( iifiy ill-done, or fpoiled 

 in the miking : a Frrnchman will fay that 

 the taylor who fjjollt his coat mafficied it, 

 worle than miirdered, mutilated, mangled it. 

 Tiiere are certainly a great numbtr of 

 words whicli, having the fame derivation, 

 and aimort the lame o. Myography, in 

 French and in Englifli, are very liable ;o 

 be miftaken. I have Ibmetimes ihr ught of 

 making a lift of them, for the ufe of be- 

 ginneis and tranftato;s who have not the 

 habit of converfat'on, which alone can ftt 

 them right. I fhall ment\pn a few that 

 happen to occur to me. 



When the late unfortunate Louis was 

 reduced to afk f.ivours of his mean and 

 barbarous tyrants, the tranflators that I 

 have I'een uniformly Englifh Je demande, 

 •I demand,' whereas it means ' I afk,' or 

 • I rtquelt.' 



The ttvmf.gure, underftood in Englifli 

 oF the perfon, in French means the face. 



The words indujlrie and ' indultry' 

 liave not at all the fame fenfe ; the 

 French woid means a quality of the mind ; 

 that activity of the body which we cdl in- 

 duftry has no exaft fubftantive that I 

 know of: an induftrious man is called Un 

 homme lahorieux \ — (lie is very in.;uftrious, 

 Elle ejl bisH laborieufe : their indultry ra- 

 ther meaiii ' ingenuity,' ' contriv.inc? ;' as, 

 Un chivalier d'indiifrief 'one who lives 

 »pon his wits, 



Extra'Vagance, fpelt exaflly the fame 

 in b^th languages, is by no means the 

 fame word : it is never applied by the 

 French to fquandering or expenfivenefs, 

 though St is to other imprudences. — 

 S>aelle extravagance ! « What abfur- 

 dity r « What, madnefs !'-^Ao«j- e.xtra- 

 'vagues, I ' You rave !' 



The *ord intrigue is not fo confine.i in 

 its fenfe ai in Englifli ; a peribn perfeftly 

 chaite may be intrigui.g in their fenfe of 

 the vvord. If he c.in make his way in the 

 world, and extricMte hi.ni!plf from difficul- 

 ties, he is faid to be intriguing, without 

 incurring the flightcft l>lame. 



Large means ' «ide,' and largeur 



• widtn," and 1 ot bignt fs, like our ' large.' 



Braiie often means ' good,' but gaLlan. 



try never means ' courage,' as it often 



does in Eng ilh. 



Cara3ere, which we are fo apt to En- 

 glilh ' charafter,' means temper and dilpo- 

 £tion, and not reputation. 



To th's Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIK, 



IN a ftfeffion from the minor Greek po- 

 ets, publiflied in 1799, and called 

 " The Wrtath," I tianflated Bion's 

 btautiful Epitr<ph 'n Adonis. In turning 

 the word xt;aiaro>iS, in the 4th verfe, I 

 clad the widuw'd Venus in weeds, when, 

 inftead of black, I have fince had reafon to 

 think that I might with propriety have 

 fuffered her to mourn the dead Adonis in 

 a blue or azure robe. Kvais!!?, a xicti/oi, 

 may be interpreted caruleits, although it 

 cmmonly fignifies niger, as Kvanri in 

 Meleager, and ellewhere. Since, then, it 

 might have been tianflated ' a blue or 

 azure robe,' this is the reafon why it 

 (huuld perhaps have been fo tianflated : -. 



The colour ufed for mourning varies in 

 different countries. Under the word hy- 

 dad, in Mcninfki, is the following note.— 

 " The Perfian hillorians fay that the firft 

 mourning was introduced by Darius, the 

 Mede, about fix hundred years before 

 Chtift, upon the death of his fan, the fa- 

 ther of Cyrus, and a change of dreP* to 

 blue was ordered by proclamation 

 throughout the Pcrfian empire." 



It is nothing to the purpofe ; but I 

 may add, that this continued till the death 

 of a foa of All, when it was laid afide for 

 black by the Mahometans, who celebrate 

 a feftivaj on the anniverfary of his death, 

 on ihe loth of the firll month Mobarram 

 of the Hsgira, be!:;inning at the vernal 

 equinox. The immediate defcendants of 

 All wear green by way of diftinflion, 

 which made the Ruffians at Ifmael all take 

 that colour to iofult the foe. 



Edward DuBois. 



Temple, 



