Part 25

+zuletzt+; ‘to — possession’ = to take possession of the same.

Section 32.

REYNARD CAUGHT.

A fox observed some fowls at roost, and wished to gain access to them by smooth speeches. “I have charming news to tell you,” he said. “The animals have concluded an agreement of universal peace with one another. Come down and celebrate with me this decree.” An old cock, who was well on his guard, looked cautiously all around, and the fox, perceiving (S. 16, N. 4) this, inquired the reason. “I was only observing those two dogs which are coming this way,” replied the cock. Reynard prepared to set off. “What,” cried the cock, “have not the animals concluded an agreement of universal peace?” “Yes,” returned the fox, “but those dogs (S. 5, N. 2) perhaps have not yet heard of it (S. 4, N. 5, B).”—ANONYMOUS.

+Der überlistete Reineke+ (or +Reinhard+).

to observe = to see; at roost, +auf ihrer Stange sitzen+.

to — speeches, +durch glatte Worte ihrer habhaft zu werden+.

charming news = something pleasant. To render ‘you’ use the dat. of the persnl. pron. of the 2nd pers. pl. For the construction see App. § 7.

The words indicating the speaker, =after a quotation=, must be rendered in an =inverted form= (see App. § 13).

to conclude, +ab´schließen+, str. v. tr.; the agreement of universal peace, +der allgemeine Friedensvertrag+; to come down, +herun´terkommen+; supply the adv. +also+ between the verb and the separable particle.

+feiern.+

+Beschluß+, m.

to look all around, +sich nach allen Seiten um´sehen+.

to inquire the reason, +sich nach der Ursache erkundigen+.

=I was observing= = I observed (+beobachten+). =Which are coming= = which come. The English compound forms of the verb with the auxiliary and the present participle, and of the verb ‘to do’ with the infinitive (=I do come= = I come. =I did come= = I came), must be rendered by the corresponding simple forms.

+dieses Weges+.

+sich zum Davonlaufen bereit machen.+

+Wie+.

‘not yet’, here +noch nichts+.

Section 33.

THE MEANS OF CONVEYANCE IN THE TIME OF CHARLES II.

Heavy articles were (S. 2, N. 1) in the time of Charles II generally conveyed from place to place by waggons. The expense of transmitting them was enormous. From London to Birmingham the charge was £7 a ton, and from London to Exeter £12, which is a third more than was afterwards charged on turnpike-roads, and fifteen times more than is now demanded by railway companies. Coal was seen only in districts where it was produced, or to which it could be carried by sea, and was, indeed, always known in the South of England by the name of sea-coal.

+Die Beförderungsmittel zur Zeit Karls des Zweiten.+

objects.

+Lastwagen+, which place after ‘generally’.

‘The — them’, may be briefly rendered by the compound noun ‘Die Transportkosten’. It may here be pointed out that the German language lends itself more easily than any other living language to the formation of =compound expressions=. Many advantages result from this adaptability of the language to express in one single term which, otherwise, would require a number of words; but the greatest of these advantages seems to me to lie in the power it gives us to avoid the too frequent use of the Genitive, a power which, if rightly wielded, will impart great vigour, conciseness, and elegance to the student’s style of writing.

were extraordinary high (+groß+).

+nach+; ‘charge’, here +Fracht+, f.; ‘to be’, here +betragen+; £7, +sieben ~Pfund~ Sterling+.