Homer, Beuk I. HOMER-BEUK 1. To enter into the spirit of the following passage, which describes the feelings of Achilles at the loss of his beautiful captive, our readers should remember that, before he came to Troy, that Prince had been offered the choice of a long, peaceful, undistinguished life, or a short career of glory: he preferred the latter :-his grief, therefore, is to be attributed, not so much to the loss of Briseis, as to the bitter reflection that he was defrauded of his due, to obtain which, he had sacrificed his tranquillity and his life. 349. Sair, sair, Achilles grat, whan she was gane, 360. As he sat, mournfu', on the shore alane: Nocht met his view, altho' his vacant e'e Glowr'd ower the waters o' the stormy sea. He raised his arms, an' thus, as drapp't the tear His goddess mither, by her father's throne The tale of his injuries follows, and is concluded with an urgent request, that Thetis would go to Olympus, and supplicate Jupiter to redress them. The language of the request finely coincides with the savage character of Achilles, and illustrates what the annals of history confirm, that the haughtiest of tyrants, though inaccessible to every * Thetis, daughter of Nereus, a sea-deity. Homer, Beuk I-Lines. other motive, will submit to the most abject and degrading humiliation, to serve their own ambition or gratify their own revenge. 407. "Oh! grasp his knees:-lie prostrate on the grun', Her tears gush'd out in floods as Thetis said: Had rowed awa' in peace, an' far frae strife! LINES In yon "joy-giving bower" when each flower is in blossom, It is this-it is this. But when the fond fair one and I are made one, How altered the tone of the wife, from the maiden Discord and dislike cloud felicity's sun, And with fresh cause for disputing each morning comes ladenWhen we've quarrels and broils, for contentment and mirth, When discord has banished our conjugal bliss, Oh! if Pandemonia's found upon earth, It is this-it is this. GLASGOW, 26th Nov. 1818. G. Extracts from the Treatise of M. Dufief. Extracts from New Publications. EXTRACTS FROM THE TREATISE OF M. DUFIEF. A short time after the publication of this work, I was requested to give a few lessons in French to a number of young ladies who had. learned that language grammatically for several years, and had been declared by their respective teachers, (some of whom were men of real talent), to be complete French scholars, as they appeared to know all the rules of grammar, having gone several times through Perrin's or Chambaud's, as well as through books of Exercises, and having read many good authors and even poets, whom they could construe to their satisfaction. In undertaking the tuition of such persons, I was sensible that I had an unpleasent task to fulfil,-that of bringing their acquisitions to a rigorous test, thereby disappointing the expectations of their parents and hurting their own feelings; though certainly it was not their fault that they had no knowledge of the genius of the French language, and that, of course, they were totally disqualified from speaking or writing it correctly. To convince them of these painful truths I made them undergo an examination, which was simply this:-I gave them to translate, by word of mouth, several phrases of my first volume, which I read just as they occurred. They were unsuccessful in every instance where the genius of the French differed from that of the English; and the geniuses of the two languages are in almost perpetual opposition to each other, as the comparison of the phrases will evince. Their translation was a gibberish, which a Frenchman, well acquainted with the English language, might understand though not always without some difficulty, but which would certainly have puzzled a native of France not thus qualified to be their interpreter. I proceeded next to their French translations from English authors. The reader will naturally suppose that these could not have been more cc>^rect than their speaking; for he who walks upon crutches, or limps, cannot dance in a graceful manner. When a person begins to learn a language, the operations of the mind are carried on through the medium of the native phrases, which (as we may daily observe) imparting more or less of the native idiom to the foreign phrases of his own composition, must contravene correctness. In short, he speaks, not the language he is studying, but a bad translation of his own. One great benefit of this work is, that it precludes, in a great degree the necessity of going to France, in order to acquire the language} for it places the learner nearly in the same situation as if he were to learn French by an intercourse with the natives. I will even assert Extracts from the Treatise of M. Dufief. (paradoxical as it may appear), on the firm ground of experience, that it would be better for an Englishman to learn French in his own country, under the direction of a good teacher, by my method, than to learn the language in France without it. The reason is obvious, with the assistance of a tolerable memory, he may, in the short period of four months, acquire all the phrases contained in my first volume; and these will be found to comprise a much greater supply of words, and modes of expression, than he could have acquired in treble that time in France, where he must have depended on occasional circumstances only, for the acquisition of almost every word. Another benefit will result to him, that he will improve not only by the ear, but also by the eye, and thus greatly heighten his enjoyment in reading French authors, and guard his orthography from unpardonable blunders; a circumstance which points out the advantage of making use of this work, even among those who speak only French. The present system is equally admirable in its adaption to self-tuition The two volumes comprise every particular relating to the French language; and, when we consider that they afford memory,-the faculty of the mind most actively engaged in learning languages-with an adequate supply to work upon, it will be evident that they can, with out farther aid, impart the language upon which they treat. My system is also exquisitely formed for private tuition. Of this I can adduce an illustrious example. The amiable and accomplished Lady of the late General Moreau, on arriving at Philadelphia, whither she followed her husband in exile in 1805, evinced an anxious. desire of acquiring the language of the nation where her misfortunes. and persecuted merit experienced those kind attentions which, in some degree, effaced the galling recollection of the past. A gentleman presented her with a copy of "Nature Displayed.' Madame Moreau, who speaks the Italian and Spanish with the facility of a native, and her own language with the most critical micety, was struck with the extreme simplicity of the method. She At Morrisville (Pennsylvania), a short time after, she began her course of instruction herself, with no other assistance than oral infor >ation, derived from a young French lady, who, having come to America when a child, had acquired the purity of the English accent. At the end of three months, extraordinary as it may appear to those who, not having exercised their memory, are unaquainted with the great power of that faculty of the mind, she knew perfectly by heart all the phrases of my first volume, and the necessary English verbs. then visited her female friends in Philadelphia, with whom she could already converse and enjoy their society. I was desired to assist her in the reading of English authors. I suspended, with pleasure, my literary pursuits to accomplish it. Prose writers we read, for two weeks; they became too easy; and who can be surprised at this, when told, that the phrases embraces all the turns used in prose, and all the necessary words? To complete a knowledge of the language, we had recourse to the poets. Extract from Fearon's Sketches. Goldsmith's Poems were read with delight; then, Thomson's Seasons. As a preparation to Shakespeare's tragedies, we read several of the most celebrated among the more modern ones. At length, we began Hamlet. Whatever might have been found obscure, was explained by the commentators upon the English bard. His other tragedies offered roses with very fow thorns; for the sagacity of the fair learner soon entered so well into the spirit of the immortal author, that recourse was seldom had to the commentators. Thus was a very copious and difficult language acquired in the course of less than six months: a striking instance of the degree of elevation to which genius, supported by the rapid wings of analysis, may reach. This brilliant example will point out to the wealthy the propriety of causing this system to be employed in the private education of their offspring. A man of abilities might do for an individual exclusively what he might accomplish, with the same ease, for thousands; that is to say, he might direct the whole power of this method to their general improvement. Nay, I am confident, that even a greater advantage than that of learning languages would accrue from a plan thus deduced from the analysis of the human mind. I am confident that it is capable of invigorating the feeble understanding, and of proving splendidly, how far education can repair the neglect of nature towards the intellectual faculties of man. It is the most economical of all methods, because it not only saves time, the most precious of all wealth, but it likewise, in a surprising degree, saves money. The saving of time is evident, because we have already shewn that the French, or any other language, taught on this system, may be acquired in a tenth part of the time,-invaluable time, which is irrevocably lost in the usual tiresome drudgery of schools. FROM FEARON'S SKETCHES. Two Englishmen and an American were travelling in a stage from Boston. The former indulged their patrio:ism by abusing every thing American. The butter was not so good as the English-nor the beef nor the mutton-nor the peaches-nor the laws-nor the peoplenor the climate-nor the country. Their fellow-traveller was displeased, but he remained silent. At length there came on a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning. He then burst forth boiling with rage" There confound you, I guess that that thunder and light uing is as good as any you have in England.” |