Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

MAELZEL'S AUTOMATON.

55

taken off the spit (1), and was about to be served to some gentlemen. Arne took a fiddle string from his pocket, cut it into small pieces and strewed it over the meat, so that it had the appearance of being covered with maggots. When it was served, the gentlemen scolded the waiter for daring to offer them such meat, and ordered him to take it away. Arne expected this, and requested the waiter (2) to serve it to him, telling him that he would endeavour to make a dinner of it. After having eaten heartily, he told the trick he had played; made himself known, and had a hearty laugh at the expense of the hungry gentlemen.

MAELZEL'S AUTOMATON.

"From

In the Journal des Modes for 1809, is the following description of this extraordinary work of art.a tent Mr. Maelzel led out (3) a fine manly-looking (4) martial figure, in the uniform of a trumpeter of the Austrian dragoons, with his trumpet up to his mouth. The figure being pressed on the shoulder, played not only the Austrian cavalry march, and the different signals for the manœuvres of the army, but also a march and an allegro by Weigl, which was accompanied by the whole orchestra.

After this the dress of the figure was completely chan.

(1) The spit, la broche.

(2) Waiter, garçon dans les cafés, auberges, etc. (3) To lead out, tirer, faire sortir.

(4) Manly-looking, qui a l'air mâle.

ged into that of a French trumpeter of the guard; it then began to play the French cavalry march, also the signals of the French cavalry manœuvres. This might have appeared very astonishing in 1809, but the march. of intellect has been so rapid, that the drivers of our Omnibus now do the same with their feet.

JUSTICE.

A merchant in the East being upon the point of setting out (1) on a journey, intrusted to a dervise whom he thought his friend, a purse of gold. Being fully convinced of his probity, he did not require a written acknowledgment for the deposit. On his return, he applied to him for his money, but the perfidious dervise denied having received any. The exasperated merchant complained to the cadi of Bagdad, who, seeing that the want of witnesses and written documents would render a decision extremely difficult, ordered the merchant to attend again (2) on the morrow, and immediately sent for the unfaithful dervise.

The cadi received him with civility, and after some conversation said: 66 An affair of consequence obliges me to leave the country for some time; I have a very considerable sum of gold that I dare not carry with me: I would not make choice of you for a depositary, if I knew in this city another man more honest. Do

(1) To set out, partir.

(2) To attend again, revenir.

[blocks in formation]

not speak of the affair, and I will send you the money to-morrow night.

[ocr errors]

The dervise, overjoyed, assured the cadi of inviolable fidelity and returned home, no doubt, fully determined to violate it. The merchant did not fail to attend the cadi next day, who said, as soon as he saw him: "Go to your dervise, and if he refuses to restore the charge left with him, threaten him that you will complain to me. He instantly obeyed, and the dervise hearing the name of the cadi, whose confidence he had so much interest to preserve, immediately delivered him the trust (1). The merchant returned to the cadi, informed him of the result, and expressed his acknowledgment for the favour. During this, the dervise waited impatiently for the performance (2) of the promise made him; and alarmed at hearing no news of it, he hurried to the cadi; but what was his astonishment, when he heard himself reproached by the judge for his breach of faith (3)! He retired in great confusion and despair, for having been the dupe of his own credulity.

INTREPIDITY.

Michael Cervantes was in the early part of his life for some time a slave in Algiers, and there he concerted a plan to free (4) himself and thirteen fellow-sufferers (5).

(1) The trust, le dépôt.

(2) Performance, exécution.

(5) Breach of faith, manque de confiance, de foi. (4) To free,

délivrer.

(5) Fellow-sufferers, compagnons d'infortune.

One of them treacherously betrayed the design, and they were all conveyed to the dey of Algiers, who promised them their lives on condition that they discovered the contriver (1) of the plot. "I was that person, "' exclaimed the intrepid Cervantes; " save my companions and let me perish. "The dey, struck with his noble confession, spared his life, allowed him to be ransomed, and permitted him to depart home.

FEMALE HEROISM.

to church with his family They had not been long the door an old man appaFeeling for (3) his situation,

A gamekeeper (2) residing in a solitary house near Wilheim, had one day gone except a daughter aged 16. gone when there appeared at rently half dead with cold. she let him in and went into the kitchen to prepare him some soup.

Through a window which communicated with the room in which she had left him, she perceived he had dropped the beard he wore when he entered that he now appeared a robust man, and that he was pacing (4) the chamber with a poniard in his hand. Finding no mode of escape, she armed herself with a chopper in one hand and the boiling soup in the other; and entering the room where he was, she first threw the soup in his

(1) The contriver, l'inventeur.
(2) Gamekeeper, garde-chasse.
(3) Feeling for, touché par:
(4) Pacing, parcourant.

PRESENCE OF MIND.

59 face and then struck him a blow with the hatchet on his neck, which brought him to the ground senseless. At this moment, a fresh knock (1) at the door, occasioned her to look out of an upper (2) window, when she saw a strange hunter, who demanded admittance, and, on her refusal, threatened to break open (3) the door; she immediately got her father's gun, and as he was proceeding to put his threat into execution, she shot him through the right shoulder, on which he made his way back into the forest. Half an hour after, a third person came, and asked after an old man who must have passed that way. She said she knew nothing of him. After menacing her if she did not immediately admit him, he also proceeded to break open the door, when she shot him dead on the spot. The incitements to her courage being now at an end, her spirits began to sink (4), and she fired (5) and screamed from the windows until some persons were attracted to the house, but nothing could induce her to open the door until the return of the family from church.

PRESENCE OF MIND.

When the opera-house at Stockholm was on fire, the life of the King who was present, was saved by the pre

(1) A fresh knock, un autre coup.
(2) Upper, en haut, supérieur.
(5) To break open, enfoncer.
(4) To sink, tomber, s'évanouir.

(5) To fire, tirer avec une arme à feu.

« ElőzőTovább »