THE EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR THE Taylorian Scholarship and Exhibition, in French, MICHAELMAS TERM, 1877. EXAMINERS pro hac vice: EDWARD ARMITAGE, M. A., Magdalen College. AND GUSTAVE MASSON, B. A. UNIV. GALLIC. EXAMINER ex officio; F. MAX MÜLLER, M. A. Fellow of All Souls' College, Professor of Comparative Philology. Oxford: Such was my own first interview with Dr. Parr; such its issue. And now let me explain my drift in thus detailing its circumstances. Some people will say, the drift was doubtless to exhibit Dr. Parr in a disadvantageous light-as a petty gossiper, and a man of mean personal appearance. No, by no means. Far from it. I, that write this paper, have myself a mean personal appearance; and I love men of mean appearance. Having one spur more than other men to seek distinction in those paths where nature has not obstructed them, they have one additional chance (and a great one) for giving an extended development to their intellectual powers. Many a man has risen to eminence under the powerful reaction of his mind, in fierce counter-agency (sometimes even more nobly, in grand benignant indifference) to the scorn of the unworthy, daily evoked by his personal defects, who with a handsome person would have sunk into the luxury of a careless life under the tranquillising smiles of continual admiration. Dr. Parr, therefore, lost nothing in my esteem by showing a meanish exterior. Yet even this was worth mentioning, and had a value in reference to my present purpose. I like Dr. Parr: I may say, even, that I love him, for some noble qualities of heart that really did belong to him, and were continually breaking out in the midst of his singular infirmities. But this, or a far nobler moral character than Dr. Parr's, can offer no excuse for giving a false elevation to his intellectual pretensions, and raising him to a level which he will be found incapable of keeping when the props of partial friendship are withdrawn. My object is to value Dr. Parr's claims, and to assign his true station both in literature and in those other walks of life upon which he has come forward as a public man. DE QUINCEY. 2. Prouvez l'antériorité philologique de la langue d'Oc et de la langue d'Oil sur l'Espagnol et l'Italien. 3. Dressez un tableau résumé des éléments étymologiques de la langue française, indiquant la proportion des mots d'origine Celtique, Teutonique, Latine, Grecque et Orientale. 4. Exposer en détail les règles pour la formation des mots composés en Français comparée au Latin. Donner des exemples. 5. Traduire en Français les idiotismes suivants : 'Your friend is very odd, I cannot make him out.' 'We shall get on very well together.' You must put up with these conditions, hard though they be.' 'I always put up at the village inn.' 'I shall abide by my bargain.' II. FRIDAY, NOV. 9, 2 P.M.-5 P.M. French Essay. 1. Décrivez la révolution littéraire entreprise par l'école de Ronsard. 2. L'influence de la cour sur la littérature sous Louis XIV. 3. L'influence de l'histoire politique sur le développement de la langue française. III. SATURDAY, Nov. 10, 9 A.M.-1 P.M. Histoire de la Littérature Française. 1. M. Francis Wey accuse Charles d'Orléans d'avoir été le pédagogue des Précieuses; appréciez la justesse de cette qualification. Tracez un parallèle entre Charles d'Orléans et Villon son contemporain. 2. Discutez les diverses hypothèses mises en avant au sujet de l'auteur de 'la Farce de Pathelin;' fixez d'une manière approximative la date de la pièce, et notez les principaux emprunts qu'y a faits Rabelais. 3. Quels motifs déterminèrent Philippe de Commines à abandonner le service du Duc de Bourgogne pour celui du Roi de France? Expliquez la cause de sa disgrâce après la mort de Louis XI, et énumérez brièvement ses vues sur la politique et l'administration. 4. Prouvez que La Rochfoucauld est le moraliste de la Fronde; décrivez la tendance de ses 'Maximes' et jugez les aux points de vue philosophique et littéraire. |