German composition

Section 180 A Letter From Dr. Henry Danson to Mr. John Forster, on Charles Dickens’s School-Life. — II

I do not think (S. 64, N. 11) he⁠1 came in for any of Mr. Jones’s scourging propensity; in fact, together with myself, he was only a day-pupil, and⁠2 with these there was a wholesome fear of tales being carried home to the parents. His personal appearance at that time⁠3 is vividly brought home to me in the portrait of him taken a few years later by Mr. Lawrence. He resided (S. 116, N. 17) with⁠4 his friends, in a very small house in a street leading out of Seymour Street, north of Mr. Judkin’s chapel.

Depend on it, he was quite a self-made man, and his wonderful knowledge and command (Beherrschung, f.) of the English language must⁠5 have been acquired by long and patient study after leaving his last school.

I have no recollection of the boy you name⁠6. Dickens’s chief⁠7 associates were, I think⁠8, Tobin, Mr. Thomas, Bray, and myself. The first named⁠9 was his chief ally, and his acquaintance with him appears to have continued many⁠10 years afterwards. About that time⁠11 the Penny and Saturday magazines (S. 71, N. 2) were published weekly, and were greedily read by (S. 106, N. 23) us. We kept bees, white mice, and other living things, clandestinely⁠12, in our desks, and the mechanical arts were a good deal cultivated, in⁠13 the shape of coach-building, and making pumps and boats, the motive power of which was the white mice.

I think at that time Dickens took to writing⁠14 small tales, and we had a sort of club for⁠15 lending and circulating them. Dickens was also very strong⁠16 in using a sort of lingo, which made us⁠17 quite unintelligible to bystanders.

Notes

1 = that he had to suffer from the scourging propensity (Prügelmanie, f.) of his teacher, for, like myself, etc.

2 und diesen gegenüber war stets zu befürchten, daß sie bei den Eltern zu Hause aus der Schule plaudern würden.

3 Sein damaliges Aussehen; is vividly brought home to me = is again vividly brought (führen) before my (S. 43, N. 9, A and B) eyes; in — Lawrence (Liter.) = ‘through the some years later by (von) Mr. L. painted picture of him’, which place immediately after the copula (wird) and the dative of the personal pronoun indicating the possessor.

4 bei; in — Street = in a side-street (comp. n. S. 76, N. 22, B [n]), not far from Seymour Street.

5 must — acquired = he must have acquired. To acquire, sich erwerben, insep. comp. str. v. refl.; by, durch; ‘long’, here langjährig; after — school = after his school-time.

6 = I cannot remember (sich einer Sache erinnern) the boy whose name you mention (an´führen).

7 hauptsächlich, adj.

8 Inverted constr.

9 Ersterer; render ‘chief ally’ by a comp. n., and turn ‘chief’ by Haupt.

10 Insert the adv. noch before ‘many’; to continue, fort´dauern.

11 Um diese Zeit.

12 to keep clandestinely, versteckt halten; things = creatures; a — cultivated, eifrig geübt.

13 in — mice = for we made coaches, pumps and boats, which then were set in motion by the white mice.

14 took to writing = began to write.

15 for — them, Liter. = among (unter) the members of which the same (to agree with ‘tales’) circulated (zirkulieren).

16 = great; in — lingo, im Gebrauch einer gewissen kauderwälschen Geheimsprache.

17 made us = was; to bystanders = to the uninitiated, den Uneingeweihten.