supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding, with unshrinking firmness, the bitterest blasts of adversity.

9

As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will', when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered boughs; so is it beautifully ordered by Providence, that woman, who is the mere dependant and ornament of man in his happier hours, shall be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart. I was once congratulating a friend, who had around him a blooming family, knit together in the strongest affection.,,I can wish you no better lot," said he, with enthusiasm,,,than to have a wife and children. If you are prosperous, there they are to share your prosperity; if otherwise, there they are to comfort you." And, indeed, I have observed that a married man falling into misfortune is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than a single one; partly because he is more stimulated to exertion by the necessities of the helpless and beloved beings who depend upon him for 10 subsistence; but chiefly because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic endearments, and his self-respect kept alive by finding, that though all abroad is darkness and humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at home, of which he is the monarch. Whereas 11 a single man is apt to run to waste and self-neglect; to fancy himself lonely and abandoned, and his heart to fall 12 to ruin like some deserted mansion, for want of an inhabitant.

13

These observations call to mind a little domestic story1 of which I was once a witness. My intimate friend, Leslie, had married a beautiful and accomplished girl, who had been

7) Zu will vergl. S. 3, Anm. 12.

8) the hardy plant: der mächtige Baum (die Eiche). Plant hier ungewöhnlich und poetisch in diesem Sinne.

9) to bind up, zusammenhalten, verbinden (von Wunden).

10) for bezeichnet den objectiven Grund, die Ursache, welche die Thätigkeit veranlasst;,,welche wegen ihrer Subsistenz von ihm abhängen", oder:,,deren Erhaltung allein auf ihm beruht".

11) Man beachte die relative Anknüpfung mit whereas; deutsch: dagegen.

12) Die von is apt (to be apt geneigt sein, auch durch das Adverb. leicht zu übersetzen) abhängigen Infinitive sind to run, to fancy, wozu a single man Subject ist, und to fall to ruin, wozu his heart Subject ist. 13) Familiengeschichte.

brought up in the midst of fashionable life 14. She had, it is true, no fortune, but that of my friend was ample; and he delighted in the anticipation of indulging her in every elegant pursuit 15, and administering to 16 those delicate tastes and fancies that spread a kind of witchery about the sex17. — „Her life," said he,,,shall be like a fairy tale.“

The very difference in their characters produced an harmonious combination: he was of a romantic and somewhat serious cast; she was all life and gladness. I have often noticed the mute rapture with which he would gaze upon her in company, of which her sprightly powers made her the delight; and how, in the midst of applause, her eye would still turn to him, as if there alone she sought favour and acceptance. When leaning on his arm, her slender form contrasted finely with his tall manly person. The fond confiding air with which she looked up to him, seemed to call forth a flash of triumphant pride and cherishing tenderness, as if he doted on his lovely burthen for 17 its very helplessness. Never did a couple set forward on 18 the flowery path of early and well-suited marriage with a fairer prospect of felicity.

a

19

It was the fate of my friend, however, to have embarked1 his fortune in large speculations; and he had not been married many months, when, by a succession of sudden disasters, it was swept from him, and he found himself reduced almost to penury. For a time he kept his situation to himself, and went about with a haggard countenance, and a breaking heart. His life was but a protracted agony; and what rendered it more insupportable was the necessity of keeping up a smile in the presence of his wife: for he could not bring himself to overwhelm

grosse Welt, vornehme Welt.

14) fashionable life 15) Er freute sich schon im Voraus darauf, sie allen geschmackvollen Beschäftigungen sich hingeben zu lassen.

16) to administer to to contribute; to bring aid or supplies; to add something beitragen zu, befriedigen.

=

17) the sex = the female sex.

17a) vergl. Anm. 10.

18) to set forward on = betreten.

19) Man beachte den Infinitiv des Präteritums to have embarked in Beziehung auf das Imperfect des Hauptsatzes; vergl. Mätzner, Engl. Gr. III, p. 63, b.,,Bei einem Prädicatsverb in den Zeitformen der Vergangenheit liegt, wo es sich um objective Thatsachen handelt, die durch den Infinitiv bezeichnete Thätigkeit, wenn sie an dem Prädicatsverb bemessen wird, im Rücken des dadurch bezeichneten Aktes"; deutsch: es war das Unglück meines Freundes, dass er sein Vermögen in grossen Speculationen angelegt hatte.

her with the news. She saw, however, with the quick eyes of affection, that all was not well with him. She marked his altered looks and stifled sighs, and was not to be deceived by his sickly and vapid attempts at cheerfulness. She tasked all her sprightly powers and tender blandishments to win him back to happiness; but she only drove the arrow deeper into his soul. The more he saw cause to love her, the more torturing was the thought that he was soon to make her wretched. A little while, thought he, and the smile will vanish from that cheek the song will die away from those lips the lustre of those eyes will be quenched with sorrow; and the happy heart, which now beats lightly in that bosom, will be weighed down like mine, by the cares and miseries of the world.

At length he came to me one day, and related his whole situation in a tone of the deepest despair. When I had heard him through, I inquired,,,Does your wife know all this?" At the question he burst into an agony of tears 20o. „For God's sake!" cried he,,,if you have any pity on me, don't mention my wife; it is the thought of her that drives me almost to madness!"

,,And why not?" said I. „She must know it sooner or later: you cannot keep it long from her 21, and the intelligence may break upon 22 her in a more startling manner, than if imparted by yourself; for the accents of those we love soften the harshest tidings. Besides, you are depriving yourself of the comforts of her sympathy; and not merely that, but also endangering the only bond that can keep hearts together an unreserved community of thought and feeling. She will soon perceive that something is secretly preying upon your mind; and true love will not brook reserve: it feels undervalued and outraged, when even the sorrows of those it loves are concealed from it."

23

,,Oh, but, my friend! to think what a blow I am to give to all her future prospects how I am to strike her very soul to the earth, by telling her that her husband is a beggar! that she

20) agony (fr. agonie Todeskampf v. gr. άywvia Wettkampf, Anstrengung, Gefahr, Furcht) of tears, deutsch etwa: krampfhaftes Weinen.

21) to keep from verbergen vor; eigentl. (fern) halten von; vergl. das deutsche,,verhalten", z. B. 1. Thessalon. 4, 13:,,Wir wollen euch nicht verhalten von denen, die da schlafen".

22) to break upon intransitiv, gebräuchlicher to break in upon to enter violently or unexpectedly eindringen auf, hereinbrechen über. 23) when even, vergl. das franz. quand même, dem es nachgebildet zu sein scheint, deutsch: selbst wenn.

is to forego all the elegancies 24 of life all the pleasures of society to shrink with me into indigence and obscurity! To tell her that I have dragged her down from the sphere in which she might have continued to move in constant brightness the light of every eye the admiration of every heart! How can she bear poverty? She has been brought up in all the refinements of opulence how can she bear neglect? She has been the idol of society. Oh, it will break her heart it will break her heart!"

25

I saw his grief was eloquent, and I let it have its flow; for sorrow relieves itself by words. When his paroxysm had subsided, and he had relapsed into moody 26 silence, I resumed the subject gently, and urged him to break 27 his situation at once to his wife. He shook his head mournfully, but positively.

,,But how are you to keep it from her? It is necessary she should know it, that you may take the steps proper to the alteration of your circumstances. You must change your style of living, nay," observing a pang to pass across his countenance,,,don't let that afflict you. I am sure you have never placed your happiness in outward show you have yet friends, warm friends, who will not think the 28 worse of you for being less splendidly lodged; and surely it does not require a palace to be happy with Mary —“

66

29

,,I could be happy with her," cried he, convulsively,,,in a hovel! I could go down with her into poverty and the dust!

I could I could God bless her! God bless her!" cried he, bursting into a transport of grief and tenderness 3o.

30

,,And believe me, my friend," said I, stepping up and grasping him warmly by the hand,,,believe me she can be the same with you. Ay, more: it will be a source of pride and

24) élégancies, etwa: feinere Genüsse.

25) refinements of opulence, etwa: Eleganz des Reichthums.

26) moody mürrisch; wüthend; traurig, niedergeschlagen, düster v. mood (dtsch. Muth) temper of mind, temporary state of the mind in regard to any passion or feeling, humour; sometimes it signifies the particular mood anger, in the same way that passion often signifies anger; and in the derivatives, it generally signifies gloom with anger (Smart).

27) to break to eröffnen, mittheilen.

28) the vor dem Comparativ ist der urspr. ags. Instrumentalis þê, þŷ, goth. pe, mhd. diu, neuhd. desto und entspricht dem latein. eo, tanto. 29) for mit dem Gerund. in Vertretung eines Causalsatzes; deutsch aufzulösen durch einen Causalsatz mit weil.

30) to burst (dtsch. bersten) into ausbrechen in; hier etwa: sich dem Ausbruch des Schmerzes und der Zärtlichkeit überlassend.

triumph to her it will call forth all the latent energies and fervent sympathies of her nature; for she will rejoice to prove that she loves you for yourself. There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. No man knows what the wife of his bosom is no man knows what a ministering angel she is until he has gone with her through the fiery trials 31 of this world."

66

There was something in the earnestness of my manner, and the figurative style of my language, that caught the excited imagination of Leslie. I knew the auditor I had to deal with; and following up the impression I had made, I finished 32 by persuading him to go home and unburden his sad heart to his wife.

I must confess, notwithstanding all I had said, I felt some little solicitude for the result. Who can calculate on the fortitude of one whose whole life has been a round of pleasures? Her gay spirits might revolt at the dark downward path of low humility suddenly pointed out before her, and might cling to the sunny regions in which they had hitherto revelled. Besides, ruin in fashionable life is accompanied by so many galling mortifications, to which in other ranks it is a stranger. In short, I could not meet Leslie the next morning without trepidation. He had made the disclosure.

,,And how did she bear it?"

34

,,Like an angel! It seemed rather to be a relief to her mind, for she threw her arms round my neck, and asked if this was all that had lately made me unhappy. But, poor girl," added he,,,she cannot realize $5 the change we must undergo. She

81) fiery trials

Feuerprobe.

32) Das Verb to finish ist deutsch durch das Adverb endlich zu übersetzen. Der Begriff der Adverbien endlich, vielleicht, zufällig, gern u. a. wird im Englischen häufig durch ein Zeitwort ausgedrückt. I may chance to go there vielleicht gehe ich hin; zufällig: to chance, to happen mit folg. Infinitiv; gern: to like; fortwährend: to keep mit folg. Gerund.; sicherlich: to be sure; vergl. das griech. τυγχάνω, διατελέω etc.

33) to unburden (v. burden, dtsch. Bürde) entlasten; deutsch mit einem ähnlichen Bilde ausschütten; to 34) it viz. ruin; to be a stranger to

nichts wissen von.

= vor.

=

ein Neuling sein in,

85) to realize something etwa die Wirklichkeit von etwas fassen to convert from imaginary or fictitious into actual; to bring into concrete existence; vergl. dazu das folgende in the abstract.