Chapter 2

What is to be done? The king is thunderstruck, hesitates for a moment, and then, urged by the queen, instantly leaves the room. The queen follows her husband with her (S. 43, N. 9, A) eyes from the palace window. She sees him on horseback reviewing the National Guards. She has no fear, neither has he. What more? He returns, accompanied by the man whom, yesterday, to satisfy public clamour, he created Prime Minister. Has the Minister power to save his master? You (S. 92, N. 5) observe at a glance that he is far more anxious to save himself. He craves permission to resign. Permission is granted, when (S. 4, N. 2) a volley is (S. 4, N. 4) heard close to their ears. What does it mean? This man will tell you who now enters. The King has a pen in his hand, with which he is about (S. 6, N. 4) to appoint his new Prime Minister. “Sign not,” shouts the last comer, a man of the press, with the face of a student, and the spirit of a soldier. “Sign rather your own abdication.” The situation is fine. The pen drops from the King’s fingers; the speaker takes it up, and quietly replaces it in the Monarch’s hand (see S. 43, N. 9).

+wie vom Donner gerührt.+

Here place the verb ‘leaves’.

=The Past (Perfect) Participle is often used elliptically to denote an existing state or condition=; as—

Urged by his father, he instantly left the room.

+Von seinem Vater gedrängt, verließ er eiligst das Zimmer.+

Construe this period by beginning with the adverbial clause ‘from the palace window’, +~von~ den Fenstern des Palastes ~aus~+. The verb must then follow immediately. To denote a starting point with respect to place, the English preposition ‘=from=’ is generally translated by +=von=+ followed by the prepositional adverb +=aus=+, or by +aus ... hinaus+ when the verb indicates a motion from one place to another. In relation to time we use +=von ... an=+, which often corresponds to the English ‘=beginning with=’, or to ‘=from=’ followed by ‘=forwards=’; as—

Beginning with to-morrow (From to-morrow forwards) you must take a walk every day.

+~Von morgen an~ müssen Sie jeden Tag spazieren gehen.+

+folgen+ requires the dative.

see S. 78, N. 14.

+zu Pferde.+

+mustern.+

the National Guards, +die Nationalgarde+.

neither has he = and he also not.

+Was giebt’s weiter?+

by the man, +von einem Manne+.

‘whom — Minister’, construe ‘whom he only (+erst+) yesterday appointed Prime Minister, to satisfy (+genügen+, with the dat.) the impetuous (+ungestüm+) demands of the people’. To appoint, to create, +ernennen+. =Verbs denoting choosing and appointing=, as =+ernennen+, +machen+, and +erwählen+=, to choose, to elect, require in German an Accusative followed by the prep. +=zu=+ with the dative, =when in English they govern two Accusatives in the active voice=; as—

The King appointed Prince Bismarck Prime Minister.

+Der König ~ernannte~ den Fürsten Bismarck ~zum~ Premierminister.+

S. 27, N. 4 will show the construction in connection with the passive voice.

at a glance, +augenblicklich+.

that — anxious, +daß es ihm viel mehr darum zu thun ist+.

to crave permission to resign, +um Erlaubnis bitten, sein Amt nie´derlegen zu dürfen+.

Use the def. art. with this noun, and supply the dat. of the pers. pron. er after the auxiliary; the verb is in the passive voice.

+Musketensalve+, f.

close to their ears = in the immediate neighbourhood.

‘This — enters’ may be briefly rendered: +Der soeben Eintretende wird es uns zu erkennen geben.+

+unterschrei´ben+, insep. comp. str. v., which use in the 3rd pers. pl. of the Imperative mood. As a mark of respect, the word ‘+Sire+’ may be inserted after this clause.

the — comer, +der Hereingetretene+.

+ein Journalist.+

‘face’, here = impudence or boldness.

spirit = courage.

+lieber.+

fine = critical.

to drop from, +entfallen+, with the dat.

Form a noun of the present participle of the verb +sprechen+. The noun +Sprecher+ applies, as a rule, to the Speaker in the English House of Commons. The Speaker in the Imperial German Reichstag is styled +Präsident+.

=In German, when the subject stands before the verb, the adverb must never precede the latter or, in compound forms, the copula (auxiliary verb).= Comp. App. § 9.

+wieder geben.+

Section 103.

THE DRAMA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848.