Sir Ben. The young lady's penchant is obvious. Crab. But, Benjamin, you must not give up the pursuit for that: follow her, and put her into good humour. Repeat her some of your own verses. Come, I'll assist you. Sir Ben. Mr. Surface, I did not mean to hurt you; but depend on't 1 your brother is utterly undone.2 Crab. O Lud, ay! undone as ever man was-can't raise3 a guinea! Sir Ben. And everything sold, I'm told, that was moveable.4 7 Crab. I have seen one that was at his house.5 Not a thing left but some empty bottles that were overlooked, and the family pictures, which I believe are framed in the wainscots. Sir Ben. And I'm very sorry also to hear some bad stories against him.8 [Going.9 Crab. Oh! he has done many mean things, that's certain. Sir Ben. But, however, as he's 10 your brother Crab. We'll tell you more another opportunity.11 [Going. [Exeunt CRABTREE and SIR BENJAMIN. Lady Sneer. Ha! ha! 'tis very hard for them to leave a subject they have not quite run down.12 Jos. Surf. And I believe the abuse was no more acceptable to your ladyship than 13 Maria. Lady Sneer. I doubt her affections are farther engaged 1 See page 13, note 7. 2 est un homme perdu; or, better, est complètement ruiné. Hélas oui! (or, Parbleu!) perdu sans ressources (or, aussi ruiné qu'on peut l'être). Il ne pourrait emprunter (or, trouver à emprunter). 4 Et on prétend que tous ses effets mobiliers sont vendus. 5 chez lui (chez means 'at-in, or to the house of'). 6 Il n'y reste absolument rien. 7 auxquelles on n'a pas fait attention. See page 11, note 8. 8 En outre, j'ai été fâché d'entendre tenir sur son compte des propos peu flatteurs; or, En outre, il court sur son compte certains (or, de certains) bruits qui me font beaucoup de peine. 9 Il va pour sortir. 10 See above, page 72, note 13. 11 Nous vous conterons tout cela une autre fois. 12 il est cruel pour eux (or, il leur en coûte) de n'avoir pas (or, de ne pas avoir) épuisé sujet (or, coulé le sujet à fond). 13 Et je crois que (page 1, note 5) leurs propos médisants n'ont pas dû vous affecter moins, milady, qu'ils ont (page 29, note 22) affligé. than we imagine.1 But the family are 2 to be here this evening, so you may as well dine where you are,3 and we shall have an opportunity of observing farther: in the meantime, I'll go and plot mischief, and you shall study sentiment.5 [Exeunt. BYRON TO THOS. MOORE. [A familiar Letter.] August 12, 1814. 7 I was not alone, nor will be while I can help it.6 Newstead is not yet decided. Claughton is to make a grand effort by Saturday week to complete,-if not, he must give up twenty-five thousand pounds and the estate, with expenses,10 &c. &c. If I resume the Abbacy,11 you shall have due notice, and a cell set apart for your reception,12 with a pious welcome. Rogers I have not seen, 13 but Larry and Jacky came out a few days ago.14 Of their effect I know nothing.15 4 There is something very amusing in your being an Edinburgh Reviewer. You know, I suppose, that Thurlow is none of the placidest, and may possibly enact 2 some tragedy on being told that he is only a fool.3 If, now, Jeffrey were to be 5 slain on account of an article of yours, there would be a fine conclusion. For my part, as Mrs. Winifred Jenkins says, he has done the handsome thing by me,' particularly in his last number; so, he is the best of men 10 and the ablest of critics, and I won't 6 9 écrits) auront produit (or, ont pu 66 86 understood as it ought to be, I dans l'idée que vous êtes, vous, 2 et il pourrait bien exécuter (or, jouer). When we pass from affirmation to negation, and vice versa, a pronoun is necessary before the second verb, although the noun or pronoun which is the subject of both verbs has been expressed before the first. 3 en s'entendant dire qu'il n'est qu'un imbécile (or, sot); or, en s'entendant (or, se voyant) traiter de pur imbécile. See page 68, note 2. 4 Or, si. 5 allait être. 6 Translate as if the English were 'one of your articles.' The construction in the text is not French; thus we say, un de mes amis, a friend of mine;' sometimes, also, familiarly, un mien ami, or, cousin, &c. See the LA FONTAINE, page 52, note 2. 7 dénoûment (or, dénouement), masc.; or, catastrophe,-fem. ; in this sense. See page 6, note 3. 9 il en a bien usé avec moi. A critique on Lord Thurlow's poems had recently appeared in the Edinburgh Review. have him killed1-though I dare say many wish he were, for being so good-humoured.2 Before I left 3 Hastings I got in a passion with an inkbottle, which I flung out of the window one night with a vengeance; 4-and what then? Why,5 next morning I was horrified by seeing that it had struck, and split upon, the petticoat of Euterpe's graven image in the garden, and grimed her as if it were on purpose.8 Only think of my distress,-and 10 the epigrams that might be engendered on the Muse and her misadventure.12 6 11 I had an adventure almost as ridiculous, at some private theatricals near Cambridge-though of a different description-since I saw you last.13 I quarrelled with a man in the dark for asking me 14 who I was (insolently enough to be sure),15 and followed him into the green-room (a stable) 16 in a rage,17 amongst a set 18 of people I never saw before.19 He turned out to be a low comedian,20 engaged to act with the amateurs, and to be a civil-spoken man enough,21 when 1 et je ne veux pas qu'on le tue; 'have one killed,' or, &c. is not a French construction. 2 contrairement, sans doute, à bon nombre de gens, qui le voudraient bien (or, qui ne demanderaient pas mieux), vu l'excellence de son caractère (ironically). 3 See page 7, note 7. 4 je me mis un soir en colère contre une bouteille d'encre, que je jetat (or, lançai) violemment par la fenêtre. 5 Et puis?.... Voilà donc que (or, simply, Eh bien,). 6 frappé (or, donné) en se brisant he found out that nothing very pleasant was to be got1 by rudeness. But you would have been amused with the 2 row, and the dialogue, and the dress-or rather the undress of the party, where I had introduced myself in a devil of a hurry, and the astonishment that ensued. I had gone out of the theatre, for coolness, into the garden;-there I had tumbled over some dogs, and, coming away from them in very ill humour, encountered the man in a worse, ,10 which 11 produced all this confusion. 6 Well-and why don't you launch?' Now is your time.12 The people 13 are tolerably tired with me, and not very much enamoured with Wordsworth, who has just spawned a quarto 14 of metaphysical blank verse,15 which is nevertheless only a part of a poem. Let me hear from and of you and 16 my godson. If a daughter, the name will do 18 quite as well. 17 homme au parler assez civil (or, poli-honnête). 1 du moment (or, dès) qu'il vit (or, s'aperçut) qu'il n'y avait pas grand chose à gagner. 2 Mais vous eussiez (or, auriez) bien ri, et du.-eussiez; another form of the conditional of avoir, peculiar to that verb, as je fusse, &c., is to that of être. J'eusse, &c., is frequently used instead of j'aurais, &c. This form, which belongs exclusively to the two auxiliary verbs, is also elegantly made use of instead of the imperfect tense of the indicative, either with si ('if'), or in elliptical phrases wherein that conjunction is suppressed. See p. 26, note 11, and p. 29, note 8. 3 et de l'habillement ou plutôt du deshabillé-. Ever, &c.19 7 j'étais tombé en me heurtant contre. 8 et, en m'en (see page 76, note 6) éloignant. 9 See page 30, note 15. 10 de plus mauvaise humeur encore. 11 See page 7, note 17. We might very well, however, and more elegantly, translate here, which produced,' simply by d'où. 12 Ah çà, mais pourquoi ne vous lancez-vous donc pas ? C'est maintenant pour vous le bon moment. 13 Le public. See page 41, note7. 14 lequel (which is somewhat more pointed than qui) vient d'engendrer un (or, d'accoucher d'un) in-quarto. The verb frayer, which is the proper word for 'to spawn,' would not do here. 15 Plural, in French. 16 Ecrivez-moi pour me donner de vos nouvelles et de celles de. 17 See page 29, note 9. 18 ira. 19 Croyez-moi bien toujours, &c. |