modestly, 'I can please him best myself.'' I am sure,' said I, his honour will not like the toast the worse for being 2 toasted by an old soldier.' The youth took hold of my hand, and instantly burst into tears.” "Poor youth!" said my uncle Toby; "he has been bred up from an infant in the army, and the name of a soldier, Trim, sounded in his ears like the name of a friend; I wish I had him here." 5 6 "I never, in the longest march," said the corporal, “had so great a mind to my dinner, as I had to cry with him for company: what could be the matter with me, an please your honour?"-" Nothing in the world, Trim," said my uncle Toby, blowing his nose, "but that thou art a good-natured fellow."8 "When I gave him the toast," continued the corporal, “I thought it was proper to tell him I was captain Shandy's servant, and that your honour (though a stranger) was extremely concerned for his father; and that if there was anything in your house or cellar..."—“ And thou might'st have added, my purse too," said my uncle Toby. "He was heartily welcome to it. He made a very low bow, which was meant 10 to your honour, but no answer; for his heart was full. He went up stairs11 with the toast. 'I warrant you, my dear,' said I, as I opened the kitchen door, 'your father will be well again.' Mr. Yorick's curate 12 was smoking a pipe by the kitchen fire, but said not a word good or bad to comfort the youth. I thought it was 1 que je saurai mieux la faire à son goût. 2 for having been.' 4 il a été élevé à l'armée depuis le bas âge. 5 See page 185, note 7. 6 de.a mind to my dinner,' envie de diner. 7 Qu'est-ce que je pouvais avoir. 8 to blow one's nose,' se moucher.but that,' &c., seulement tu es un brave garçon. The adjec tive brave is one of those whose signification changes according as they precede or follow the noun: wrong," added the corporal." I think so too," said my uncle Toby. 3 "When the lieutenant had taken1 his glass of sack and toast, he felt himself a little revived, and sent down 2 into the kitchen, to let me know, that in about ten minutes he should be glad if I would step up stairs. 'I believe,' said the landlord, he is going to say his prayers; for there was a book laid upon the chair by his bedside; and, as I shut the door, I saw his son take up a cushion.' 66 6 6 8 "I thought,' said the curate, 'that you gentlemen 6 of the army, Mr. Trim, never said your prayers at all.'— 'I heard the poor gentleman say his prayers last night,' said the landlady, 'very devoutly, and with my own ears, or I could not have believed it.'-' Are you sure of it?' replied the curate.—' A soldier, an please your reverence,' said I, prays as often (of his own accord) as a parson; and when he is fighting for his king, and for his own life, and for his honour too, he has the most reason to pray to God of any in the whole world." — " "Twas well said of thee, Trim," said my uncle Toby.-"But when a soldier,' said I, an please your reverence, has been standing for twelve hours together 10 in the trenches, up to his knees in cold water, or engaged,' said I, for months together,11 in long and dangerous marches; harassed, perhaps, in his rear 12 today; harassing others to-morrow; detached here, countermanded there; resting this night out upon his 13 arms, beat up in his 14 shirt the next; benumbed in his joints, perhaps 6 1 a eu pris (lit., has had taken'). 3 to make.' 7 Repeat vous (elegant and forcible). 8 n'en déplaise à; or, sous le bon plaisir de. 9 que qui que ce soit au monde. 10 to be standing,' here, rester sur pied.-'together,' de suite. 11whole months.' 12 sur ses derrières. 13 passant cette nuit dehors sous les. 14 surpris en.-'beat up;' were not surpris a more suitable expression here, the literal rendering -as literal, at least, as the French language allows, consistently with clearness-would have been, éveillé par le bruit du tumbour qui l'appelle. See page 6, note 5. without straw in his tent to kneel on, he must say his prayers how and when he can, I believe,' said I- for I was piqued," quoth the corporal, "for the reputation of the army—' I believe, an 't please your reverence,' said I, ‘that when a soldier gets time to pray, he prays as heartily as a parson, though not with all his fuss 1 and hypocrisy.' "Thou shouldst not have said that,2 Trim," said my uncle Toby; "for God only knows who is a hypocrite, and who is not. At the great and general review of us all, 3 corporal, at the day of judgment (and not till then), it will be seen who has done their duties in this world, and who has not;5 and we shall all be advanced, Trim, accordingly."- "I hope we shall," "6 said Trim.- "It is in the Scripture," said my uncle Toby," and I will show it thee to-morrow. In the meantime we may depend upon it, Trim, for our comfort," said my uncle Toby, " that God Almighty is so good and just a Governor of the world," that if we have but done our duties in it,1o it will never be inquired into, whether we have done them in a red coat or a black one.' "11" I hope not," 12 said the corporal.— "But go on, Trim," said my uncle Toby, “with thy story." 10 "When I went up," continued the corporal, "into the lieutenant's room, which 13 I did not do till the expiration of the ten minutes, he was lying in his bed with his head raised 14 upon his hand, with his elbow upon the pillow, and a clean white 15 cambric handkerchief beside it.16 The youth was just stooping down to take up the cushion, upon which I suppose he had been kneeling; the book was laid upon the bed; and as he rose, in taking up the cushion with one hand, he reached out his other to take it 17 away at the 1 quoiqu'il ne fasse pas autant d'embarras. 2 Use devoir, and see page 38, note 3, and also the rendering at page 44, note 2, 3 A notre grande revue générale à tous. 4 his duty.' 5 has not done it.' 6 'I hope it.' 7 ce qui doit nous rassurer, Trim. 8 is that; see page 50, note 8. 9 Simply, a master.' 10 in it,' ici-bas. 11 Repeat 'coat,' and see page 20, note 11. 12 not,' que non. 13 See page 7, note 17. 14 appuyée. 15 Simply, blanc. 16 Simply, à côté. 17the book.' same time. lieutenant. Let it remain1 there, my dear,' said the 7 "He did not offer to speak to me,2 till I had walked up close to his bedside: 'If you are Captain Shandy's servant,' said he, you must present my thanks to your master, with my little boy's thanks along with them, for his courtesy to3 me; if he was of Leven's,' 4 said the lieutenant... I told him your honour was. 'Then,' said he,' I served 5 three campaigns with him in Flanders, and remember him; but 'tis most likely, as I had not the honour of any acquaintance with him, that he knows nothing of me. You will tell him, however, that the person his good-nature has laid under obligation to him, is one Lefevre, a lieutenant in Angus's; but he knows me not,' said he, a second time, musing: 'possibly he may 9 my story,' added he; 'pray tell the captain I was the ensign at Breda, whose wife was most 10 unfortunately killed with a musket shot, as she lay in my arms in my tent.' 11'I remember the story, an please your honour,' said I, 'very well.'-'Do you so?' 12 said he, wiping his eyes with his handkerchief, 'then well may I.'13 In saying this, he drew a little ring out of his bosom, which 14 seemed tied with a black riband about his neck, and kissed it twice. Here,15 Billy,' said he. The boy flew across the room to the bedside, and falling down upon his knee, took the ring in his hand, and kissed it too, then kissed 16 his father, and sat down upon the bed and wept." "I wish," said my uncle Toby, with a deep sigh, "I wish, Trim, I was asleep." · "Your honour,” replied the corporal, ❝is too much con 1 'Leave it.' 2 Il n'a pas ouvert la bouche. 5 I have made.' 6 Flanders,' Flandre (see page 16, note 10).-' and remember;' see page 30, note 15. 7 à qui (page 108, note 1) son bon cœur a fait contracter des obligations.'is one,' est un nommé. 8 dans le corps d'A-; and leave out 'a.' 9 peut-être bien connaît-il (page 32, note 1). 10 Turn, 'I am that ensign who, at Breda, has had his wife so.' 11 Turn, killed in his arms. . ..., as she lay in his tent.' 12 Vraiment? 13 then I may well remember it also.' 14 See page 14, note 5. cerned; shall I pour your honour out a glass of sack to your pipe?"1" Do, Trim,” said my uncle Toby. "I remember," said my uncle Toby, sighing again, "the story of the ensign and his wife, with a circumstance his modesty omitted; and particularly well that he, as well as she, upon some account or other (I forget what), was universally pitied by the whole regiment. But finish the story thou art upon. .”2_" "Tis finished already," said the corporal; "for I could stay no longer; so wished his honour a good night. Young Lefevre rose from off the bed, and saw me to the bottom of the stairs; and as we went down together, told me they had come from Ireland, and were on their route to join the regiment in Flanders. But alas!" said the corporal," the lieutenant's last day's march is over."-" Then what is to become of his poor boy?" cried my uncle Toby. 3 It was to my uncle Toby's eternal honour-though I tell it only for the sake of those who, when cooped in betwixt a natural and positive law,9 know not, for their souls, which way in the world to turn themselves 10-that notwithstanding11 my uncle Toby was warmly engaged at that time in carrying on the siege of Dendermond, parallel with the 12 allies, who pressed their son so vigorously that they scarce allowed him time to get his dinner-that is neverthe 1 'to your pipe,' pour boire en fumant sa (page 177, note 2) pipe. -Do,' Verse. 2 Simply, 'thy story.' 3 de dessus. As a rule, adverbs take no regimen after them; yet some of them, such as dessus, dessous, dedans, &c., are used instead of the prepositions corresponding to them (sur, sous, dans, &c.), whenever a preposition precedes (as de does here). The same exception to the rule takes place. when these adverbs are used in opposition to each other; as, il y a des livres dessus et dessous la table. 5 et m'a reconduit jusqu'au. 6 rally, what will his poor boy be 7 though,' &c.; simply, but only.' See page 29, note 9. 9 a natural law and a positive law;' the English construction would, in French, convey the meaning of a law which is at once natural and positive: after all, even in English, this construction (with 'a' only once), though not unfrequent, is, in itself, irregular.. 10 Simply, ne savent plus de quel côté se tourner. 11that notwithstanding;' simply, quoique. 12 parallèlement aux. |