fiKSSOXS IN FKKXCH. 



smart blow from an inflated bladder containing u few pebble* 

 ur ilri'-il POOH, lout they should break thoir heads against posts, 

 or tumble DMT pn-ciinc-cM tin- author is nupposed to bare in- 

 tended an allusion t<> Sir Isaac Newton, whose absence of mind 

 was almost a prodigy. Swift told one of his relatives that Sir 

 Isaac was the worst companion in the world, and that, if you 

 oaked him a question, " he would revolve it in a circle in hi* 

 brain, round, and round, and round, before he could produce an 

 answer." Yet posterity has not reckoned Newton among the 

 geniuses of Laputa. 



The most venomous and biting satire in the travels of Guiiivi-r 

 is that contain^! in the fourth and last part, which defloribeH 

 " a voyage totho country of the Hnuyhnhmns." The creature** 

 bearing that extraordinary and almost unpronounceable name 

 are a racu of horsos endowed with reason and with the use of 

 flpoeoh, in subjection to whom are a race of degenerate human 

 bfin.^s called Yahoos, addicted to habitual and excessive vice, 

 and therefore ranking far below the wise and virtuous quadru- 

 peds. The sarcasm on human nature is terrible especially 

 where the writer gives you to understand that, after all, his 

 horrible and disgusting Yahoos are not quite so bad as ordinary 

 human beings. But the invective is overcharged, and produces 

 a t'lM-ling of impatience, not so much with the subjects of the 

 satire as with the satirist. Swift contemplated men and women 

 through the medium of a distempered mind, which, while it 

 bronght out all their vices in powerful relief, entirely obscured 

 the divine thread of goodness which runs through the dark 

 mass of mortality. Nevertheless, the truth of his picture, as a 

 partial and incomplete presentment, is not to be denied ; and 

 tho genius of the work is equally beyond question. Lucian and 

 K&belais may have furnished Swift with some general hints as 

 to the management of such fictions ; but the individual con- 

 ceptions were all his own, and nothing can surpass the wealth 

 of fancy, the ingenuity of invention, the prodigality of illustra- 

 tive detail, and the dramatic air of truthfulness, which charac- 

 terise the whole. One great fault of the work is the excessive 

 coarseness with which it is often disfigured a coarseness ex- 

 ceeding even that which was generally sanctioned in the first 

 half of the eighteenth century. Swift appears to have taken a 

 morbid pleasure in degrading human nature to the most ignoble 

 and repulsive levels. That, in the main, he had a moral inten- 

 tion, can hardly be denied ; but the methods by which he worked 

 out that intention were often of a most questionable kind. 



LESSONS IN FRENCH. XLI. 



SECTION XCI. IDIOMS RELATING TO ETRE. 



1. The verb 6tre enters into a great many idioms besides 

 those which we have already mentioned: 6tre en retard, to 

 be late, to tarry ; 6tre en e"tat, a meme de, to be able to ; etre en 

 peine de, to be uneasy about ; fitre en vie, to be alive, to live ; 

 etre en chemin pour, to be on the way to; 6tre au fait, au 

 courant de, to be familiar with ; 6tre a la veille de, to be on the 

 eve of; etre de trop, to be unnecessary, to be in the way ; 6tre 

 bien avec, to be on yood terms u-ith; 6tre brouille" avec, to be 

 on bad terms with ; etre aux prises avec, to be in open rupture, 

 quarrel, or battle with; dtre d'avis, to be oj opinion, &c. 



2. Etre, as already said [Sect. 47, 5], is used in the sense of 

 appartenir, to belong. It is also employed in tho sense of to 

 behove, to become. In the latter sense, it takes generally the 

 preposition de before another verb : 



Est-ce a vons de lui fnire des re- Dow it become you to cast (mate) 



proohes ? reproaches upon him? 



C'est a vous u parler. It is your turn to speak. 



3. Y 6tre is often used for to be at home, to be in : 

 Votre pore y est-il ? I your father at home T 



MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES. 



Ne sommes-nous pas de trop ici ? 

 Nous ue sommes pas bieu avec DOS 



parents. 

 Nous sommes au courant de tout 



cela. 

 Jo uuia a uu'-uio de satisfaire a sa 



demande. 

 Nous sommes brouilk'a. 



Are we not in the way here f 



We are not on good terms trith our 



relation*. 

 We are familiar with all that. 



I am able to satisfy his demand. 



We are not on yood term*, ic are at 

 variance. 



Ma mar e*t a la Teille <U M 



marier. 

 Nous aommea d'aris qua TOU 



ailliez lui faire da excuse*. 

 C n'eat paa a lui de noua re- 



prooher notre bonW. 

 A qui Mt-oe a lire ? 

 C'est a ma aceur a lire oe matin. 



Cette maiaon est a lui et a moi. 

 Elle eat a moi, elle Mt a lui. 

 Cea aouliera ue aont paa a nous. 

 I la appartiennent a notre frere. 

 lla lui appartieunent. 

 Monsieur* u'y eat paa. 

 Madame y eat. 



My tutUr it on tkt eve of ker mar- 



riage. 

 It it our opinion tkat you tkould 90 



and opoteyitt to kirn. 

 /( do* not become Mm to rtyroaek 



ut vritk ourktndnttt. 

 Whou turn a it to read f 

 It U my litter 1 , turn to read Uu 



morning . 



That ttautt if Mt and mint. 

 It u mine, it it kit. 

 Thttt ehoee art not our*. 

 They belong to our bruthtr. 

 They belong to him. 

 The gentUman it not at home. 

 The lady it in. 



EXERCISE 177. 



Achet-er, 1. to buy. Grarure, f. engraving. Part-ir, 2. ir. to ttart, 



Arriv-er, 1. to arrive. Hote, m. hot. et out. 



Correspondunt, corre- Libraire, m. bookteUer. Proprieiain, m. land- 



pondent. Mois, m. month. lord. 



Cruiiid-re, 4. ir. to fear. Montre, f . watch. Pun-ir, 2. to punitk. 



D-evoir, 3. to owe, be Mart, p. p. from Veille, f. eve, day It- 

 obliged, mourir, to die. fore. 



Embarqu-er, (a'), 1. ref. 

 to embark. 



1. Y a-t-il longtemps qne vous etea bronilles? 2. II y a 

 plus d'un mois qne je suis brouillu avec lui. 3. Votre ami est- 

 il encore en vie ? 4. Non, Monsieur, U y a dix ana qu'il eat 

 mort. 5. Votre correspondant est-il en chemin pour Paris ? 

 6. Je crois qu'il doit etre arrive. 7. Ce jeune homme n'est-il 

 pas en retard P 8. Oni, Monsieur ; 11 ne vient jamais a tempi-. 

 9. Cos gravures sont-elles a vous on a votre libraire ? 10. 

 Elles sont a moi; je viens de les ucheter. 11. Ne craignez- 

 vous pas d'etre de trop ici ? 12. Nous sommes trop bien avec 

 uotre h6te pour craindre cela. 13. A qui est-oe a aller chercher 

 les livres ? 14. C'est a moi a les aller chercher. 15. Est-oe u 

 VOUB de lo punir, qnand il le merite ? 16. (Test a moi de le 

 punir, car jo lui tiens lieu de pere. 17. Ces maisons n'appar- 

 tiennent-elles pas a notre proprictaire ? 18. Elles ne lui appar- 

 tiennent-pas. 19. Elles sont a notre correspondant. liO. A 

 qui sont ces lettres ? 21. Elles ne sont point a moi, elles soot 

 a ma cotisine. 22. Cette montre est a lui. 23. N'etes-von* 

 point a la veille de partir ponr Londres ? 24. Nous sommes a 

 la veille de nous embarquer pour Cadix. 25. II y a longtemps 

 qne nous sommes aux prises. 



EXERCISE 178. 



1. Are yon able to pay him ? 2. I am not able to pay him : 

 I have not received my money. 3. Are you on good terms 

 with your bookseller ? 4. I am not on good terms with him. 

 5. I am on bad terms with him. G. How long have yon been 

 on bad terms with him ? 7. It is more than a month. 8. Arc 

 yon not able to satisfy my friend's demand ? 9. I am able to 

 satisfy it (d'y satisfaire). 10. Are you on yonr way to Naples ? 

 11. No, Sir; I am on my way to Rome. 12. Is not your phy- 

 sician on tho eve of starting for Montpellier ? 13. He ia on the 

 eve of starting for Paris. 14. Am I in the way here ? 15. No, 

 Sir ; you are not in the way. 16. Whose turn is it to speak 

 17. It is my turn to apeak and to read. 18. la it my place 

 (d moi) to make apologies to him ? 19. It ia your brother's 

 place to apologise to him. 20. Does it become you to punish 

 that child P 21. It behoves me to punish him. 22. Do yon 

 hold the place of a father towards him ? 23. I hold the place 

 of a father towards him. 24. Is that coat yours P 25. No, Sir, 

 it is not mine ; it ia my brother's. 26. Have you broken 

 openly with him ? 27. We have been quarrelling two months. 

 28. Is not that large house yours ? 29. No, Sir, it ia not mine ; 

 it is my sister's. 90. Does it become your brother to reproach 

 him with his kindness P 31. It doea not become him to do it. 

 32. Whose turn is it to go and fetch the books ? 33. It ia my 

 place to go and fetch them. 34. Is the gentleman in 

 No, Sir, the gentleman ia not in ; but the lady (of the house) 



* Monsieur, Madame, not followed by a name, are generally 

 understood to mean the master and mistress of the house, the beads of 

 the family ; they are so used especially by, and when speaking to, ser- 

 vants. 



