L'un trouvait le dedans, pour ne lui point mentir, L'autre blâmait la face, et tous étaient d'avis Telle qu'elle est, dit il, elle pût être pleine! Le bon Socrate avait raison De trouver pour ceux-là trop grande sa maison. Rien n'est plus rare que la chose. LA FONTAINE. L'AVEUGLE ET SON CHIEN. A blind old soldier, with his dog, is wandering through the villages and hamlets, begging for his bread. He addresses himself in this poem to his faithful companion, who, regardless of fire and shot, had formerly followed him to the field of battle, and was at his side to lick his wounds, whilst his comrades were trampling him under the feet of their horses. The old man, after praising the disinterestedness of his friend and guide, contrasts his attachment with that of his other friends, who had flattered him in prosperity but had forsaken him in adversity; and expresses a hope that he will never be enticed away from his side by the allurements of a richer home, but prefer his liberty with him, who is more a friend than a master. 1 La nuit descend, 1 le laboureur tranquille, Là, sur un lit aux maux inaccessible, 1 Lorsque le sort de fleurs parait ma tête, 1 4 Tu m'as suivi sur les champs de bataille, Si des grandeurs on te fait la peinture, 7 Ce qui t'attend dans un brillant palais. 1 When fortune decorated me with her garlands. 2 but when I was a prey to misfortune. 3 those are our only dainties. 4 support. 5 the destructive cannon. 6 treacherous companions. 7 that a gilded chain does not relieve it of its weight. Moi, je suis plus ton ami que ton maître; Il faut aimer, telle est la loi suprême, DEBRAUX. LUSIGNAN A SA FILLE. In the final struggle of the Christians in the Holy Land, Lusignan, the last of their kings, saw two of his children massacred before his eyes, and two others, a son and a daughter, become the slaves of the Mahomedans. The unfortunate prince himself was made a prisoner, and shut up in a dungeon in Jerusalem. After enduring for twenty years the horrors of captivity, he was set at liberty through the intercession of a young slave of the Mahomedan ruler, and that slave he discovered to be his own daughter. But his joy at the recovery of his child was not of long duration, as he found she had been brought up in the Mahomedan faith: whereupon, in the agony of his grief, he expresses himself in these words MON Dieu! j'ai combattu soixante ans pour ta gloire ; 1 Gloomy dungeon. Je suis bien malheureux.... C'est ton père, c'est moi, C'est ma seule prison qui t'a ravi ta foi. 1 Ma fille, tendre object de mes dernières peines, Songe au moins, songe au sang qui coule dans tes veines! Par la main des brigands à qui tu t'es donnée! 5 Tu n'y peux faire un pas, sans y trouver ton Dieu; Et tu n'y peux rester sans renier 6 ton père, Ton honneur qui te parle, et ton Dieu qui t'éclaire... Je te vois dans mes bras et pleurer et frémir; 1 Robbed thee of thy Christian faith. 2 cruel hands. 3 extended. crated. 5 crimes. 6 denying. 4 dese Sur ton front pâlissant Dieu met le repentir : VOLTAIRE. LA CHUTE DES FEUILLES. The author of this piece is attacked by consumption, and has a presentiment that he cannot survive the autumn. The fall of the leaf forcibly reminds him of his approaching end, and as he wanders through the woods and fields, he gives expression to his feelings in the following lines, and bids a touching farewell to those scenes of nature which, till now, had afforded him so much delight. 1 Strewed the ground. 2 in the spring of life. 3 mourning (doleful appear |