THE BOOK OF VERSIONS; ΤΟ OR, Guide to French Translation; WITH NOTES,* ASSIST IN THE CONSTRUCTION; AND TO DISPLAY A Late Professor of the French Language at the Royal Military REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ALTERED. BY A. GOMBERT, Editor of the New Selection of French Dramas, with English Notes &c PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY J. HARKER, No. 4 S. FRONT STREET, Stereotyped by L. Johnson. PREFACE. WHILE numerous reputable publications have appeared, well adapted to aid Students of the French language in translating FRENCH into ENGLISH, there are very few which assist them in the more essential labour of turning ENGLISH into FRENCH. The BOOK OF VERSIONS is an endeavour to supply this deficiency, in common with another, which has often been regretted by teachers, and still more by pupils, namely, the want of a work holding a middle station between common grammatical exercises and free and unaided translation. The step from the direct practical lesson under a rule, to its general and unlimited application, is one of acknowledged difficulty, and yet it is certainly the most unassisted part of the student's progress. The reason is by no means undiscoverable: it is thought to be the more peculiar field of the master; and, as tending at once to a critical acquirement of the spirit and properties of the language, indisputably is so. -The more direct, incessant, and indispensable his aid, however, the more beneficial a work like the present, both to him and to his pupil; not only by assisting to render the hours valuable when they are apart, but in adding to the spirit and profit of those they pass together. Whatever, indeed, puts a student in a way to save himself incessant refer |