Being now interdicted from teaching these interesting truths, Galileo, like his predecessor, Copernicus, proceeded to bring together and arrange his proofs relative to the motion of the earth, and the knowledge he had acquired regarding the heavenly bodies, and publish them to the world. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to enumerate the many formidable obstacles he had to contend against, ere he succeeded in publishing this elaborate work, in which he was engaged for sixteen years; but, in spite of them all, it appeared before the eyes of the world in 1632. If the teaching of Galileo was offensive to the bigoted supporters of error, not less so was his book; and it could scarcely be much otherwise expected, considering the character of those with whom he had to deal. His opponents persuaded the pope that a part of the work was written for the purpose of turning him to ridicule; and notwithstanding influential attempts made to prevent it, he was summoned to answer before the Inquisition for what he had dared to broach, and his work condemned by that arbitrary court. His book was now prohibited from being either published or perused, and himself condemned to prison as long as the Inquisition thought proper; and among other acts of intolerant persecution, he was compelled, on his knees, to declare to the following effect:-"I abjure, curse, and detest the error and heresy of the motion of the earth, and promise never more to assert, verbally or in writing, that the sun is the centre of the system, or that the earth is not the centre of the universe, or that it is moveable." Upon rising after doing so, he is said to have remarked to one beside him, "It moves still." We cannot regard this transaction but as one of the most barbarous which history records against humanity. It has been supposed, and not without foundation, that Galileo was put to the rack before he consented to abjure what he knew to be true. He was ever afterwards kept in confinement by the Inquisition, by whom he was allowed small liberties indeed; but in his solitude he composed a work entitled "Dialogues on Motion," which he thought was of such a nature as would cause no offence to his enemies. It was printed some years afterwards by a Dutchman; for such were the terrors of the Inquisition, that none in Italy were found daring enough to attempt it. At length, weighed down by old age and accumulated afflictions, Galileo ended his days; but his name will be handed down to latest generations as one far above the men of his age, and as one who made some of the most important contributions to science under the sternest difficulties.

In contemplating such a character, we are at first sight led to regret that, instead of living in an uncongenial, bigoted age, he had not rather flourished in the nineteenth century, when his merits would have been appreciated, and himself honoured as one deserving admiration. New truths, however, must needs be

introduced by some one, and those who do so will generally find that, like the Tuscan philosopher, they will have their enemies, who, from certain motives or prejudices, will do their utmost to baffle them. The place, therefore, assigned to Galileo by the omnipotent Ruler of the universe was an important one. Had he or some similar individual not occupied such a place at such a time, for aught we know, the world would have been behind in many things, even at the present day, to a degree of which we can form no adequate conception. How easy was it to sail to America after it was discovered by Columbus! and how comparatively easy is it to follow out and make additions to the various sciences, when their first principles are discovered and clearly laid down. It is the ease with which information is now acquired, compared with former times, which is one great cause of the superior intelligence and advancement of the nineteenth century.

Perth.

J. W.

CHARACTER OF RALEIGH.-With all these higher elements of character Raleigh joined a violent ambition, a stern pride, and an unbounded passion for renown. These latter passions, fostered by the circumstances amid which he was thrown, soon overmastered his religious and poetical impulses, and drove him from that calm haven of rest which his fancy dwelt upon so fondly in moments of reflection, to take part in the most active and least scrupulous movements of the time. He became a soldier, fearless, cruel, and unsparing; a courtier, intriguing, dark, revengeful; a buccaneer, who pursued his prey with as little remorse of conscience as a Kid or a Morgan; and it is easy to imagine that amid the storms of violent passion which so incessantly agitated his breast, his life could never have been happy, and that he must often have recurred with a bitter pang to the sense of what it might have been had he lived true to the purer and better part of his nature.

JUSTICE.-We ought always to deal justly, not only to those who are just to us, but likewise with those who endeavour to injure us. And this, too, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice. So we ought likewise to have friendship; that is to say, humanity and good will, for all who are of the same nature with us.-Hierocles.

HEALTH.-O blessed health! thou art above all gold and treasure; 'tis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its powers to receive instruction, and to relish virtue. He that has thee has little more to wish for; and he that is so wretched as to want thee, wants everything with thee.-Sterne.

BENEFITS.-He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one, should never remember it.-Charron.

Self-Educator.

LESSONS ON FRENCH.

BY W. J. CHAMPION, A.B.

PART II. THE INFLEXIONS.

(Continued from page 179.)

By inflexions we mean the changes which words undergo to express number, gender, case, mood, tense, person, &c.

It is evident that without an exact knowledge of the inflexions of a language no one can speak it correctly.

There are two ways of learning them. One is the method now so extensively employed, of giving a short rule for each inflexion, and then endeavouring to impress it on the memory by a large number of examples and exercises. This suits those who, like children, have plenty of time and little application.

The other method is indeed less amusing, but far more certain; more laborious, but more satisfactory and for these reasons we shall adopt it. It is, to learn the inflexions at once, THOROUGHLY; so as to know them perfectly, The student is then qualified to use a dictionary, and he will be able, with very little difficulty, to translate any author that may be put into his hands.

We recommend the student to write out on a card a portion of the inflexions (say those of the pronouns), to be carried with him and learned in those brief intervals of time which he can devote to nothing else; and so on, till he has learned the whole. The short delectus following each paragraph should be first translated, and then learnt, so that the English is immediately suggested by the corresponding French, and vice versâ.

The best dictionary is that of Spiers. Marin de la Voye's contains all the forms of all the irregular verbs, and is a very convenient book for use. Wilson's is merely a reprint of Chambaud. But any dictionary will serve the purpose of acquiring a competent acquaintance with the language.

For the sake of brevity, it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the ordinary definitions of the grammatical terms: if this should not be the case, he should get the Abridgement of Murray's English Grammar, which will, at small cost, afford him all he needs.

The French language has nine parts of speech, which are the same in nature as the English. They are divided into the INFLECTED and UNInflected. The inflected are the substantive or noun, the article, the adjective, the pronoun, and the verb.

The uninflected are the adverb, the conjunction, the preposition, and the interjection.

1.-THE SUBSTANTIVE.

The substantive has only one inflexion, namely, the change necessary to express the difference in number.

In French, as in English, there are two numbers, the singular and the plural.

The plural is commonly formed from the singular by adding s, as le roi, the king; les rois, the kings.

But, 1. When the singular ends in au or eu, the plural is formed by adding x, as gâteau, cake, gâteaux ; jeu, game, jeux. Except landau, landau, landaus. 2. When the singular ends in al, the plural is formed by changing this termination into aux; as cheval, horse, chevaux.

Aval, endorsement of a bill; bal, ball; cal, callosity; cantal, cheese of Auvergne; carnaval, carnival; chacal, jackal; nopal, the tree on which the cochineal insect lives; régal, feast; and, according to the Académie, bocal, a short-necked bottle, or mouthpiece of an instrument; and local, habitation, form their plurals by adding s.

3. Substantives of more than one syllable, whose singular ends in nt, may drop the t in the plural; so, instrument makes either instruments or instrumens; diamant, diamond, diamants or diamans. The Académie preserves the t; common usage omits it. In monosyllables, however, the t must always be preserved; as dent, tooth, dents; pont, bridge, ponts; gant, glove, gants.

4. Substantives ending in s, x, or z, are alike in both numbers; as le fils, the son; les fils, the sons; la noix, the nut; les noix, the nuts; le nez, the nose; les nez, the noses; le gaz, the gas; les gaz, the gases.

5. A substantive compounded of an adjective and a substantive has both the parts altered; so, monsieur, sir, messieurs; gentilhomme, gentleman, gentilshommes.

6. When a substantive is formed of two substantives connected by a preposition, as arc-en-ciel (arch in heaven), rainbow; chef-d'œuvre (chief of work), masterpiece; only the former takes the sign of the plural, thus, arcs-en-ciel, chefs-d'œuvre. When both the parts of a compound word are indeclinable, or when, one of them being a verb, the other is already in the plural, both numbers are often alike; as, une essuie-plume, a pen-wiper, des essuie-plume; un bec-figues, a fig-pecker (bird), des bec-figues; un appui-main, a hand-rest, makes des appui-main; un essuie-main (a hand-wiper), a towel, makes des essuie-mains.

7. Of the few substantives that end in ou, the following take x: bijou, jewel; caillou, pebble; chou, cabbage; genou, knee; joujou, toy; and pou, an insect (pulex). The rest take s. Hibou, owl, has both forms; but x is preferable.

8. Of substantives that end in ail, the following change il into ux. Bail, lease; corail, coral; émail, enamel; soupirail, airhole; vantail, folding-door. All others are regular.

9. Ciel, heaven, sky, makes cieux and ciels; cieux in its proper and natural sense of heavens; as les cieux annoncent la gloire de Dieu, the heavens declare the glory of God; pareil au cèdre il cachait dans les cieux son front audacieux, like a cedar he hid in the skies his audacious forehead. But in the senses-1, the roof of a stone quarry; 2, the testers of a bed; 3, climate, atmosphere; 4, the sky in a picture-ciels is to be used; as, en termes de mineurs, on désigne sous le nom de ciels les premières couches de terre, in the language of miners, the uppermost strata of earth are designated ciels; la forme des ciels de lit change tous les six mois, the shape of bed-testers alters every six months; l'Italie est sous un des plus beaux ciels de l'Europe, Italy is under one of the most beautiful skies of Europe; ce peintre fait bien les ciels, this painter does his skies well. Aïeul makes aïeux in its general sense

of ancestors, and aïeuls in the strict sense of grandfather; as, mieux vaut être grand par soi que par ses aïeux, it is worth more to be great through one's self than through one's ancestors; ses deux aïeuls assistaient a son mariage, her two grandfathers were present at her marriage. Eil, eye, in its common uses, makes yeux in the plural; as, le bandeau de l'erreur aveugle tous les yeux, the veil of error blinds all eyes; il y a un proverbe espagnol qui dit qu'il faut choisir du fromage sans yeux, du pain qui ait des yeux, et du vin qui saute aux yeux, there is a Spanish proverb, which says, one ought to choose cheese without eyes (solid, without holes), bread which has eyes (light, well mixed), and wine which leaps to the eyes (clear, bright). But when it is used by way of analogy, and expresses some sort of similarity between the object to which it is applied and that of which it recalls the idea, then, to prevent ambiguity, the plural is œils; as, les pierres appelées ails de poisson, the stones called fishes' eyes; les ails de serpent sont des agates onyx, serpents' eyes are onyx agates.

Travail, work, makes its plural travaux in its ordinary meaning; but in the senses, 1, of ministerial audiences with the monarch, or reports of a secretary of state, and, 2, of a farrier's brake, it takes travails; as, ce ministre a eu plusieurs travails cette semaine avec le roi, this minister has this week had several audiences with the king; cet étalon a rompu deux travails, that horse has broken two brakes.

In French, as in English, there are some substantives that are used only in the singular, others only in the plural number. They are not many, nor of sufficient importance to deserve mentioning.

GENDERS OF NOUNS.

The great difficulty connected with French nouns is the gender. In French, all things that exist are either masculine or feminine: that is, in speaking of a table, for instance, French people say, "she is round;" or of a hat, "he is new;" and so of everything else. Now, as far as genders are found in English, the English will guide us in the French; but the difficulty is to know when to use he or she in reference to what we call neuter substantives. Scarcely anything but practice and the dictionary can make us always right, but the following rules will be useful.

GENERAL RULES.

1. The names of the days, months, seasons, and winds: of colours, minerals, and letters: of trees and shrubs; except épine, thorn; ronce, bramble: compound words, as un parapluie, an umbrella; un tire-botte, a bootjack; un chèvre-feuille, a honeysuckle; except après-midi, afternoon, and the names of months compounded with mi, signifying middle; as la mi-Avril, the middle of April: adjectives, adverbs, and verbs used as substantives, as le bon, the good; les biens, the property, goods; le manger, eating; le boire, drinking; les si et les pourquoi, the ifs and the whys:-are MASCULINE.

2. The following terminations are masculine:

(1) a, as un opéra, an opera.

(2) é not preceded by t, as un pré, a meadow.

(3) i, as un cri, a shriek: except la loi, the law; la foi, the faith; la fourmi, the ant; and la merci, mercy.

(4) o, as le cacao, cocoa.

(5) u, as un chapeau, a hat; un chou, a cabbage: except eau, water; glu, birdlime; la peau, the skin; la tribu, the tribe; la vertu,

virtue.