THE POPULAE EDUCATOB. 



by endeavouring to determine the latitudes and longitudes of 

 places by observations on the heavenly bodies. He constructed 

 a catalogue of the fixed stars, and taught the projection of the 

 sphere on a plane surface. Agatharchides, president of the 

 Alexandrian Library, who flourished rather before Hipparchus, 

 wrote a treatise on the navigation and commerce of the Red 

 Sea, and an account of Egypt and Ethiopia. He was the first 

 who gave a correct description of the Abyssinians ; he mentions 

 the gold mines wrought by the ancient kings of Egypt on the 

 coast of the Red Sea, the process of working them, and the 

 sufferings of the miners. He speaks, also, of the tools of copper 

 found in these mines, supposed to have been used by the native 

 Egyptians before the conquest of that country by the Persians. 

 The voyages of Eudoxus of Cyzicus added new information to 

 what was already gained respecting the East. He visited Egypt 

 \n the reign of Ptolemy Physcon, about 130 B.C.; and besides 

 making two voyages to India, he afterwards accomplished the 

 circumnavigation of the African continent. Strabo, who gives 

 an account of his voyages and discoveries, attempts repeatedly to 

 throw discredit on the truth of his statements ; but they have 

 been confirmed by those of later times. 



LESSONS IN FRENCH. III. 



SECTION I. FEENCH PRONUNCIATION (continued). 

 III. NAME AND SOUND OF THE VOWELS. 



32. A, a. Name, ah; sound, like the letter a in the English 

 word mark. 



Pronounce this English word mark aloud several times, with 

 strict reference to the sound of the French letter a, until you 

 are sure of having its correct sound. 



The sound thus obtained always belongs to the French letter 

 a in the alphabet; that is, whenever the French alphabet is 

 repeated, always give the first letter the sound of a in the English 

 word mark, that is, ah. 



But the French a does not always and invariably have this 

 sound whenever and wherever it is used in a French word. 



Its sound depends upon its position in a word, and upon the 

 accent under which it is placed, either by itself, as constituting 

 a single word, or within a word of one or more syllables. 



The letter a has, then, another sound, which we illustrate by 

 the sound of the letter a in the English word fat. Pronounce 

 this English word fat aloud several times, with strict reference 

 to the sound of the French letter a, until you are sure of having 

 its correct sound. 



The French letter a has, therefore, two distinct sounds, viz. : 



A short sound, as in the English word fat. 



A long sound, as in the English word mark. 



In these lessons, the English letter a will be used to illustrate 

 the short sound of the French vowel a ; and ah will be used to 

 illustrate the long sound of the French vowel a. 



A has the short sound represented by a in the English word 

 fat, when it is a word by itself, and generally when it begins or 

 ends a French word. There are exceptions to this rule; but 

 they will be readily noticed by the reader in the spelling by 

 means of English letters, designed to illustrate the pronunciation 

 of a given French word. 



A has the long sound represented by a in the English word 

 mark, when it is pronounced as the first letter of the French 

 alphabet, and also when under the circumflex accent, which 'will 

 be illustrated hereafter. 



Exercise yourself upon the short sound of the French vowel 

 o, in the following examples. Pronounce every French word in 

 the following table aloud, and, when possible, always study your 

 French lessons aloud : 



FRENCH. PROW. ENGLISH. 

 Caresse Ka-ress Endearment. 

 Dame Da-m Married woman. 

 Masque Mas-k Mask. 



The above examples are introduced to illustrate the short 

 sound of the French vowel a. In the first word (abaca), be 

 careful not to pronounce it ay-bay-kay, but give each a in each 

 syllable the sound of a in the English word fat. In the next 

 word, do not say ay-lahrm ; remember to give the sound of a in 

 the English word fat. Trill the r in the last syllable of the word 

 a-larm. It will be perceived the final e of this word (a-larme) is 

 not sounded. 



FRENCH. PRON. ENGLISH. 



Abaca A-ba-ka Manilla Hemp. 



Alarnie A-larm Alarm. 



Bel Bal Bal. 



This vowel is sometimes under a grave accent, thus & la, 

 voila ; but its sound is not materially affected thereby. 



33. A, a. Under the circumflex accent, this vowel has the 

 long sound represented by a in the English word ma^k, and is 

 named ah. It has, besides, a little more than the Suund just 

 spoken of, for the sound must be prolonged, and to do this con- 

 veniently, the mouth must be opened a little wider than in utter- 

 ing its short sound, represented by a in the English word fat. 



Be careful, however, not to pronounce A & like the sound of 

 the English word awe, but giye it the sound of ah prolonged, in 

 the following examples, namely :-r; 



. PRON. ENGLISH. 



Kah-pr 1 Caper. 



Grah-s Favour. 



Mah-1 Male. 



Mah-s Stafce (in betting) . 



Pah-1 Pale. 



34. E, 6. Name, ay; sound, like the letters ay in the 

 English word day. 



Pronounce aloud the word day until you have a distinct idea 

 of the single sound of the combination of the letters ay ; and 

 then pronounce the word without the d, namely : 



day, ay, 



and thus you have the sound of the vowel e, which deserves the 

 greatest attention, because of its importance in the French lan- 

 guage. It is used more than any other letter, namely: in five 

 different ways, and hence it has five different names, namely : 



e silent, e mute or unaccented, e acute, e grave, I circumflex. 



35. E, 6, SILENT. When final, and unaccented in words of 

 more than one syllable, e is silent, as in the following words : 



PRON. ENGLISH. 



Do-mea-teek Do7nestic. 



Par-sazh Passage. 



Po-see-bV Possible. 



Spok-ta-kl' Sight. 



Ter-reebl' Awful. 



Vay-ri-tabT Genuine. 

 In the following words the e is silent : 



Celui pronounced Suh-lwee. 



Cela Suh-lah. 



Prierai Pree-ray. 



Again, in the following words, the e in the middle of each 

 word is silent : 



Autrement, Entreyoir, Paiement, etc. 



In the word contenance both e's are silent ; ordinarily, the e 

 before a and o is silent, as in Jean and Georges. 



SECTION VI. IDIOMATIC USES OF "AVOIR." 



1. The verb avoir is used idiomatically in French, with the 

 words quelque chose, chaud, froid, faim, honte, peur, raison, 

 tort, soif, sommeil. 



J'ai quelque chose, Something is the matter with me. 



II a chaud, He is warm. 



Elle a faim, She is hungry. 



Nous avons honte, We are ashamed. 



Vous avez peur, You are afraid. 



Us ont tort, They are wrong. 



Avez-vous raison ? Are you right? 



J'ai sommeil, I am sleepy. 



2. A noun, whether taken in a general or in a particular sense, 

 is in French commonly preceded by the article le in its different 

 forms [ 77 (1) (2)]. 



Le pain est ndcessaire, Bread is necessary. 



II a le pain, He has the bread. 



3. A noun, preceded by the article le, retains that article after 

 ni, nor, neither; but a noun taken in a partitive sense (Sect. IV. 

 1), takes after ni neither article nor preposition. 



Je n'ai ni 1'arbre ni le jardin, I have neither the tree nor the garden. 



Nous n'avons ni arbre ni jardin, We have neither tree nor garden. 



4. A noun, taken in a partitive sense, and preceded by an 

 adjective, takes merely the preposition de [ 78 (3)]. 



5. The following adjectives generally precede the noun : 



Beau, hand- 

 some. 

 Bon, good. 

 Brave- worthy. 



Cher, dear. 

 Grand, great, 



large. 

 Groe, large. 



Jeune, young. 

 Joli, pretty. 

 Mauvais, bad. 



Meilleur. better. 



Petit, small. 

 Vieux, old. 

 Vikin, ugly. 



