Non, Monsieur, il n'a pas de velours de soie. 5. Avez-vous de la viande? 6. Oui, Monsieur, j'ai de la viande. 7. Le médecin n'a pas d'argent. 8. Qui a de l'argent? 9. Le marchand n'a pas d'argent, mais il a du drap, du velours, et de la soie. 10. Avez-vous quelque chose? 11. Non, Monsieur, je n'ai rien du tout. 12. Le tailleur a-t-il deux boutons d'argent? 12. Non, Monsieur, il a deux boutons de soie. 14. Qui a votre chien? 15. Le voisin a le chien de mon cousin. 16. N'a-t-il pas votre cheval aussi? 17. Non, Monsieur, il a le cheval de votre ami. 18. Avez-vous l'histoire de France? 19. Non, Madame, je n'ai ni l'histoire de France ni l'histoire d'Angleterre. 20. N'avez-vous ni le livre ni le papier? 21. Non, Mademoiselle, je n'ai ni l'un ni l'autre. 22. Qui a du papier? 23. Le libraire n'a pas de papier. 24. Quelqu'un a-t-il un livre? 25. Personne n'a de livre.
Exercise 8.
1. Has the baker velvet? 2. No, Sir, the baker has no velvet. 3. Who has silk velvet? 4. The hatter has silk velvet and a silk hat. 5. Have you two silver buttons? 6. No, Sir, I have a cloth coat, a silk hat, and a velvet shoe. 7. Has your neighbour a wooden table? 8. Yes, Sir, he has a mahogany table. 9. Has your cousin a history of England? 10. No, Sir, he has a history of France. 11. I have neither the cloth nor the velvet. 12. We have neither the meat nor the coffee. 13. Has any one a book? 14. Your cousin has a book, a velvet coat, and a silk hat. 15. Have you the physician's book? 16. Yes, Madam, I have the physician's book and the lady's gold pen. 17. Has the merchant cloth? 18. The merchant has no cloth, but he has money. 19. Who has your neighbour's dog? 20. Nobody has my neighbour's dog. 21. Has any one my book? 22. No one has your book. 23. Has your cousin's brother anything? 24. No, Sir, he has nothing. 25. Who has your friend's book? 26. Your brother has my cousin's book. 27. Has he the tailor's coat? 28. He has not the tailor's coat. 29. We have neither the cloth nor the silk.
COPY-SLIP, NO. 2.—THE LETTER i.
COPY-SLIP, NO. 3.—THE LETTER u.
COPY-SLIP NO. 4.—THE LETTER t.
LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.—II.
In our last lesson we gave the student an example of the first stroke that should engage his attention in beginning to acquire the art of writing, and explained to him that it was a down-stroke square at the top and brought downwards with an equal pressure of the pen until it narrows at the bottom into a fine hair-line, which is turned upwards towards the right. This down-stroke with a fine up-turn, or "pot-hook," as it is familiarly called, but which we shall term a bottom-turn for the sake of brevity, enters into the composition of no less than nine letters of the alphabet in writing, of which four—namely, i, u, t, l—consist of this stroke only, with certain slight modifications. We mention this to the self-teacher to encourage him to perseverance in the task he has undertaken, for he will see plainly enough, after a little consideration, that when he is able to imitate this bottom-turn correctly, he has not only learnt to make this simple stroke itself, but has actually advanced more than half-way towards writing the four letters we have just named, besides five others that will be pointed out in the course of future lessons.
A brief examination of the copy-slips given in this page will be sufficient to prove the truth of our statement. The letter i, the simplest letter in the alphabet, is merely the elementary bottom-turn shown in Copy-slip No. 1, with a dot or point a little above it in the direction of the slope of the letter, or, in other words, immediately above the letter in a straight line which passes through the centre of the thick down-stroke from top to bottom. The letter u, again, is merely the bottom-turn twice repeated, the fine hair-stroke of the first bottom-turn being joined to the thick down-stroke of the second in a line passing midway between the two horizontal lines within which the letter is written; while the letter t is formed by the bottom turn, commenced at the same distance above the upper of these horizontal lines as that at which the dot is placed above the letter i, and crossed a little above that line by a short horizontal hair-stroke.
It may be as well to say something about the form in which our Copy-slips are placed before our readers. The lines a a, b b, as in Copy-slip No. 4, are the lines between or within which what we may call the body of each letter is written. These lines and the space between them resemble in some measure the staff in music, portions of certain letters being carried above the upper line a a in some cases, or below the lower one b b in others, as ledger notes are carried above or below the staff in musical notation. The line c c, midway between the lines a a, b b, is that in which the letters, or component parts of letters, should be joined together, while the line d d shows the distance above a a at which the letter t should be commenced, or the dot placed above the letter i. The diagonal lines sloping from right to left show the proper inclination of the thick down-strokes of the letters, and act as guide lines to enable beginners to make all their letters of the same slope, and keep the down-strokes parallel to one another. A little trouble taken at starting to keep on the same level the heads, loops, and tails of all letters that extend above or below the lines within which the body of each is written, will go far to ensure neatness and regularity when the learner can write with ease and rapidity, and his handwriting begins to assume a character peculiar to itself.
