FIRST COURSE G. Eugene -FasnacM 1V MACMILLAN'S COURSE OF FEENCH COMPOSITION FIRST COURSE PARALLEL FRENCH -ENGLISH EXTRACTS AND PARALLEL ENGLISH -FRENCH SYNTAX G* : EUGfiNE-FASNACHT LATE ASSISTANT MASTER, WESTMINSTER SCHOOL EDITOR OF MACMILLAN'S SERIES OF ' FOREIGN SCHOOL CLASSICS iLontron MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1888 y| 11 rights reserved Printed by R. & R. CI.ARK, Edinburgh* PBEFACE To link the pupil's first attempts at Composition with the Course of his Readings, to make Composition go hand in hand with Translation, and alongside with, instead of after, the systematic study of Syntax such are, briefly told, the characteristic features of this Manual. An attempt has been made to steer a safe middle course between two ex- tremes of method : on the one hand, the rash and reckless course of rushing the tyro into the thick of the fray with no further equipment than some sort of formal word-drill by way of tools, and an unmanageable dictionary, full of snares and pitfalls, for the supply of his materials, a course, it need hardly be said, foredoomed to certain failure and bitter on the other the but disappointment ; hand, safer, withal painfully slow, process of reserving practice in Com- position for that advanced stage when the whole Code of Syntactical Rules will, as is fondly hoped, have been fully mastered, a process fraught with the serious risk of relegating the writing of connected passages to the Greek Kalends : the translating of endless detached sentences, eminently useful though it be, having crowded out the very end it was intended to subserve, and the perplexed pupil having, all the while, never been able to see the forest for the trees. VI PREFACE A cursory glance over the Table of Contents will afford a clear insight into the general plan of the work, so that but few words will be needed to explain by what method I have attempted to put composition within the reach of l comparative beginners : First of all, by way of plunging the novice at once in medias res (but with sufficient appliances to keep him afloat in the new element), a string of easy French stories and descriptions of an altogether familiar character, to be re- written in in a different or tense 2 French person, number, ; Secondly, a Series of French Passages on a great variety of topics, each accompanied by a parallel English passage, more or less closely imitated, on the same subject, to be re-translated into French. The stimulating effects of such a course, involving as it does a reciprocal process of assimi- lation and reproduction, are obvious : the student, fully aware that in the original French passage before him are to be found all the materials, and the right materials too, for the reconstruction of the parallel passage, will have every possible inducement to give closer attention to the language in which the subject of the model extract is clothed; and if habits of intelligent observation can thus be formed, I fail to see why the chief aims of instruction acquisition of knowledge and training of the mind should not be attained as efficiently through practice in French Composition as by 3 means of a Course of Classical Studies ; 1 It is, of course, taken for granted that they have gone through a Course of Accidence and elementary Syntax. 2 As materials for such paraphrases are to be found in every good Reading-book, it has not been deemed necessary to burden this Manual with more passages than the few here given. 3 It need hardly be said that if the study of modern languages is in any degree to become a substitute for Classics, it must necessarily cul- minate ill the power of composition. The comparative ease with which PREFACE vii Thirdly, with a view to putting the pupil's power of self- help to a severer test, a Selection of English Extracts, mostly original, to be turned into French withoutfurtherassistance than occasional references to the Parallel Syntax, in which the radical differences between English and French con- struction are set forth in as striking a contrast as it is within the printer's art to put them. At this stage, but not before, the pupil may fairly be expected to have gained sufficient experience to make an intelligent use of his dictionary. As regards the Parallel Syntax, which forms the theoreti- cal part (intended for reference), it has been my object to bring under the student's notice a bird's-eye view both of the analogies and contrasts in the structure of the two languages : the broad outlines and salient features of each being viewed exclusively from the point at which the student himself is standing his mother tongue. The Eules are quite subsidiary, being merely intended as convenient headings of different groups of examples, carefully classified so as to meet the exigencies of easy reference. And as the numbers in the original text refer to whole sections of the Syntax, rather than to any particular Rules, there is ample scope for the student to exercise his judgment. This grouping of practical examples according to their syntactical analogies seems to me of far higher educational French, thanks to its translucidity, can be construed at sight, has be- trayed many into the delusion that the inverse process is quite as easy a performance. Let those who talk so glibly of the inferiority of modern languages as a means of mental culture try their hands at writing French or German, and they will soon find themselves in the predicament of the young spendthrift called upon to pay his debts : 1 L'argent dans une bourse entre agreablement ! Mais, le terme venu que nous devons le rendre, ' C'est lors que les douleurs commencent a nous prendre ! i. 6. , L'Etourdi, Vlll PREFACE value than scattered footnotes (which at best can only lead to a scrappy knowledge of odds and ends), or references to a Glossary in which the renderings of difficult passages are to be found cut and dried in the arbitrary order of the alphabet involving no further mental effort than that of finding the number corresponding to the page of the text and then embodying the ready-made rendering in the composition. Though, as explained above, the short Eules are chiefly meant for headings, I have not hesitated to trespass on the domain of theoretical Grammar in points of paramount importance which seem to me to be inadequately dealt with in most the use of Grammars Tenses (p. 88), Moods (p. 157), and Verbal Nouns (p. 123), the place of Adjectives (p. 152), the theory of Negations (p. 134), and a few others. A second Part, on the same lines, but dealing chiefly with style and diction, and intended for advanced pupils, is in course of active preparation. MIDSUMMER 1888. CONTENTS FIRST PART: FRENCH PASSAGES FOR RE-WRITING IN A DIFFERENT PERSON, NUMBER OR TENSE. 1. Le chien 2. 3. 4. ; Le chat ; La chevre ; L'homme, roi de la Mer . 1-3 5. Comment Buflbn devint matineux ; 6. Amour de la Patrie . 4-5 7. Aventure de B. de St. Pierre 8. 9. ; Le quaker ; Romulus . 5-6 10. Les du 11. Conseils d'un quatre ages Monde ; vieux chat . .7-8 12. Histoire d'un 12. ancien ecu ; L'etude que je prefere . 9-14 SECOND PART: EASY FRENCH-ENGLISH PARALLEL PASSAGES. 13. Les Pheniciens 16-17 Wolf and Shepherds . 33 14. Arion 28. .... Le Combat avec le Dragon . 34-35 15. 18-19 29. Mile, . Orphee .... de Rigny . 36-37 16. Philemon et Baucis 30. La Pluie ..... 1 7. le Mercure et Bucheron 20-21 31. Hero'isme d'un Paysan . 38-39 18. 32. Phaeton .... Le Fardeau eternel . 40-41 19. Darius et les . 22-23 33. Scythes L'eleye du Magicien . 42-43 20. Cresus et Solon 34. Le Lion, le Loup, et le Renard 44-45 the . The Boy and Nettle 25 Love and Happiness . 45 21. Un jugement de Salomon 24-25 Admiral Blake ... 47 22. L'herbe precieuse . 26-27 35. Aventure d'Androcles . 46-47 DiscTetion 27 36. Alexandre et son Medecin . 50-51 23. Aide-toi, et le Ciel t'aidera 37. Frangois I et le Charbonnier . L' . 24. Avarice punie 28-29 38. Abstinence d' Alexandre. 52-53 25. Le Bonheur . 30-31 39. Un vrai Croyant . 54-55 26. Histoire . d'un Revenant 40. Jugement d'un Cadi . 27. Le Loup et 1'Homme 40a. Le Chou et le Chaudron . 56-57 THIRD PART: ORIGINAL ENGLISH PASSAGES, ETC. 41. Death and the Woodcutter . 58 59. Crime and Retribution . 0,5 42. Riddle ; 43. Puzzle . 60. The Sun and Wind 44. The Thornbush and the Sheep 59 61. The Porcupine and the Snakes 45. The Will-o'-the-Wisp . 62. Magnanimity .... 46. The Vine 63. The honest Vizier . .... - 47. The Torrent and the River . 64. Emperor Trajan and Rabbi . 48. Gods of the Greeks and Romans 60 65. Alexander and Bucephalos . 49. Midas 66. The Sailor and the Monkeys . 50. The Arab and his Mare . 61 67. A Lesson in Grammar . 51. Solar Eclipse .... 68. The Farmer and his Dog 52. There is nothing like Leather 62 69. The Ship at Anchor 53. - Mr. Corporal .... 70. Letters of Recommendation . 54. Hercules and the Waggoner . 63 71. Thermopylae .... 55. The Parrot turned Lunatic . 72. King Alfred and St. Cuthbert 56. The Miser .... 64 73. The Great Armada . 57. A Remedy for Conceit . 74. The Growth of Towns . 58. The Story-teller ... 65 APPENDIX : Conventional forms of French Correspondence .