Section 102. The Drama of the French Revolution of 1848. II

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.