Either language can be rendered in the vernacular of the other, without losing its force or even sound; and that is more than can be said for French or Italian.

Shakspeare, for instance, in German, is almost equally as telling and forcible as Shakspeare in English; while, in French--Bah! you should just hear it as _once_ I heard it, and you would laugh! Indeed, if we are strictly logical on the point of the euphony of language, the Italian dialect, which we deem so soft and liquid, sounds quite harsh, I'm told, in comparison with the labial syllables that the Polynesian islanders use in the South Seas." We then relapsed into silence again, Min still leaning over the side of the boat and dipping her fingers in the limpid, silvery water, which sparkled with gem-like coruscations of light as she stirred it to and fro.
At Mortlake she splashed a shower of sprinkling pearls over an irate swan pater-familias, who had hurried out from the alders, to see what business we meant by coming at that time of night so near the domain of Mrs Swan and her cygnet progeny.

We were both much amused at the fierce air with which he advanced, as if to eat us all up; and then, his precipitate retreat, on getting wetted so unceremoniously.

He turned tail at once; and, propelling himself away with vigorous strokes of his webbed sculls, made the water foam from his prow-like curving neck, leaving a broad wake behind him of glistening sheen.
"What a nice day we have had," said Min, presently.

"All has gone off so well, without a hitch.