Hi, All!

One chapter in the book I read now started like this:

I was born in the year 18xx to a large fortune, endowed besides with
excellent parts, inclined by nature to industry, fond of the respect of
the wise and good among my fellow men, and thus, as might have been
supposed, with every guarantee of an honourouble and distinguished future.


"endowed besides with excellent parts" -- what does it mean?

Bye, All!
Alexander Koryagin
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Hi, Ardith Hinton!
I read your message from 12.06.2022 23:00

ak>> I was born in the year 18xx to a large fortune,
ak>> endowed besides with excellent parts, inclined
ak>> by nature to industry, fond of the respect of
ak>> the wise and good among my fellow men, and thus,
ak>> as might have been supposed, with every guarantee
ak>> of an honourouble and distinguished future.
ak>> "endowed besides with excellent parts" -- what does
ak>> it mean?
AH> In bygone days, an adult male with numerous talents
AH> &/or abilities was often described as "a man of many
AH> parts". The expression is no longer in common use but may
AH> still be found in some dictionaries. As to "endowed
AH> with"... while this individual's family could afford to pay for the
AH> best education available at the time, he feels he was born with
what we
AH> might call a "gift" or a "knack" for a variety of pursuits.
AH> I guess if he was "inclined to industry" he did his homework too.
AH> :-)

BTW, it was a book by Kaplan International, for learners. ;) The main
feature of the novel it contains an abundance of new words. It is a
method of teaching. A book from Kaplan is small and contains a very
intrigue story. A pupil must gather all his industry to read it to the
end. ;-)

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
fido.english_tutor,local.cc.ak 2022
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Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 24.06.2022 00:15

A pupil must gather all his industry to read it to the
end. ;-)

Hmm. I gather you figured out "industry" although
there are umpteen definitions for this word in the average desk dictionary. I can see from your excerpt that the author could have
used words like "industrious", "diligence", and "enthusiasm" but chose
not to. Shorter words aren't necessarily easier to interpret than
longer ones if they're used in unfamiliar ways. The Victorians often
used a lot of description & took their time setting the scene.
Once you get into stories like this, however, there's usually plenty of action.... :-)

As for "industry" as "diligence" I've learnt it from a fairy-tale "Beauty and the Beast". :)
-----Beginning of the citation-----
The good merchant was of quite a different opinion; he knew very well
that Beauty outshone her sisters, in her person as well as her mind, and admired her humility and industry, but above all her humility and
patience; for her sisters not only left her all the work of the house to
do, but insulted her every moment.
----- The end of the citation -----

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2022

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