第 19 节
作者:竹水冷      更新:2021-02-20 05:39      字数:9322
  is the final dedicatory stanza。  It is the gracious fooling of a  philosopher who understood his company。  〃There are folks;〃 says  Mr。 Counsellor Pleydell; 〃before whom a man should take care how he  plays the fool; because they have either too much malice or too  little wit。〃  Kinglake knew his associates; and was not ashamed  DESIPERE IN LOCO; to frolic in their presence。
  One point there was on which he never touched himself or suffered  others to interrogate him; his conception of and attitude towards  the Unseen。  He wore his religion as Sir William Gull wore the fur  of his coat; INSIDE。  Outwardly he died as he had lived; a Stoic;  that on the most personal and sacred of all topics he should  consult the Silences was in keeping with his idiosyncrasy。  Another  famous man; questioned as to his religious creed; made answer that  he believed what all wise men believe。  And what do all wise men  believe?  〃That all wise men keep to themselves?〃
  Footnotes:
  (1) When 〃Heartsease〃 first appeared; Percy Fotheringham was  believed to be a portrait; but the accomplished authoress in a  letter written not long before her death told me that the character  was wholly imaginary。
  (2) Pedigrees are perplexing unless tabulated; so here is  Kinglake's genealogical tree。
  KINGLAKES OF SALTMOOR。      WOODFORDES OF                             CASTLE CARY。           |                       |    +…+          |    |                 WILLIAM=MARY WOODFORDE。 ROBERT                      |    |                    ++ ++        |                    | |              |        |                    | SERJEANT    REV。 W。C。    A。W。 KING…    DR。 HAMILTON JOHN KING…  KINGLAKE     LAKE          KINGLAKE。 LAKE。                    (〃Eothen。〃)
  (3) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 33。  Reading 〃Timbuctoo〃 to…day one is amazed it  should have gained the prize。  Two short passages adumbrate the  coming Tennyson; the rest is mystic nonsense。  〃What do you think  of Tennyson's prize poem?〃 writes Charles Wordsworth to his brother  Christopher。  〃Had it been sent up at Oxford; the author would have  had a better chance of spending a few months at a lunatic asylum  than of obtaining the Prize。〃  A current Cambridge story at the  time explained the selection。  There were three examiners; the  Vice…Chancellor; a man of arbitrary temper; with whom his juniors  hesitated to disagree; a classical professor unversed in English  Literature; a mathematical professor indifferent to all literature。   The letter G was to signify approval; the letter B to brand it with  rejection。  Tennyson's manuscript came from the Vice…Chancellor  scored all over with G's。  The classical professor failed to see  its merit; but bowed to the Vice…Chancellor; and added his G。  The  mathematical professor could not admire; but since both his  colleagues ordained it; good it must be; and his G made the award  unanimous。  The three met soon after; and the Vice…Chancellor; in  his blatant way; attacked the other two for admiring a trashy poem。   〃Why;〃 they remonstrated; 〃you covered it with G's yourself。〃   〃G's;〃 said he; 〃they were Q's for queries; I could not understand  a line of it。〃
  (4) 〃Enoch Arden;〃 p。 34。
  (5) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 169。  Reprint by Bell and Sons; 1898。
  (6) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 17。
  (7) His deferential regard for army rank was like that of Johnson  for bishops。  Great was his indignation when the 〃grotesque  Salvation Army;〃 as he called it; adopted military nomenclature。   〃I would let those ragamuffins call themselves saints; angels;  prophets; cherubim; Olympian gods and goddesses if they like; but  their pretension in taking the rank of officers in the army is to  me beyond measure repulsive。〃
  (8) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 190 in first edition。  It was struck out in the  fourth edition。
  (9) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 18。  Reprint by Bell and Sons; 1898。
  (10) He is very fond of this word; it occurs eleven times。
  (11) 〃Quarterly Review;〃 December; 1844。
  (12) 〃Eothen;〃 p。 46。
  (13) Poitier's 〃Vaudeville。〃
  (14) One characteristic anecdote he omits。  Two French officers  were attached to our headquarters; and the staff were partly  embarrassed and partly amused by Lord Raglan's inveterate habit;  due to old Peninsular associations; of calling the enemy 〃the  French〃 in the presence of our foreign guests。
  (15) Some of us can recall the lines in which Sir G。 Trevelyan  commemorated 〃The Owl's〃 nocturnal flights:
  〃When at sunset; chill and dark; Sunset thins the swarming park; Bearing home his social gleaning … Jests and riddles fraught with meaning; Scandals; anecdotes; reports; … Seeks The Owl a maze of courts Which; with aspect towards the west; Fringe the street of Sainted James; Where a warm; secluded nest As his sole domain he claims; From his wing a feather draws; Shapes for use a dainty nib; Pens his parody or squib; Combs his down and trims his claws; And repairs where windows bright Flood the sleepless Square with light。〃
  (16) Greville; vii。 223; quotes from a letter written after  Inkerman to the Prince Consort by Colonel Steele; saying 〃that he  had no idea how great a mind Raglan really had; but that he now saw  it; for in the midst of distresses and difficulties of every kind  in which the army was involved; he was perfectly serene and  undisturbed。〃
  (17) 〃Go quietly〃 might have been his motto: even on horseback he  seemed never to be in a hurry。  Airey used to come in from their  rides round the outposts shuddering with cold; and complaining that  the Chief would never move his horse out of a walk。  〃I daresay;〃  said Carlyle; 〃Lord Raglan will rise quite quietly at the last  trump; and remain entirely composed during the whole day; and show  the most perfect civility to both parties。〃
  (18) The first death! out of how many he nowhere reckons: he  shrinks from estimates of carnage; and we thank him for it。  But an  accomplished naturalist tells me that the vulture; a bird unknown  in the Crimea before hostilities began; swarmed there after the  Alma fight; and remained till the war was over; disappearing  meanwhile from the whole North African littoral。
  (19) 〃D…n your eyes!〃 he said once; in a moment of irritation; to  his ATTACHE; Mr。 Hay。  〃D…n your Excellency's eyes!〃 was the  answer; delivered with deep respect but with sufficient emphasis。   Dismissed on the spot; the candid ATTACHE went in great anger to  pack up; but was followed after a time by Lady Canning; habitual  peacemaker in the household; who besought him if not to apologize  at least to bid his Chief good…bye。  After much persuasion he  consented。  〃Hardly had he entered the room when Sir Stratford had  him by the hand。  'My dear Hay; this will never do; what a devil of  a temper you have!'  The two were firmer friends than ever after  this〃 (LANE POOLE'S LIFE OF LORD STRATFORD; chapter xiii。)。
  (20) The story of an old quarrel between Sir Stratford Canning and  the then Grand Duke Nicholas at St。 Petersburg in 1825 is disproved  by Canning's own statement。  The two met once only in their lives;  at a purely formal reception at Paris in 1814。
  (21) LA FEMME was a 〃Miss〃 or 〃Mrs。〃 Howard。  She followed Louis  Napoleon to France in 1848; and lived openly with him as his  mistress。  In the once famous 〃Letters of an Englishman〃 we are  told how shortly after the December massacre the ELITE of English  visitors in Paris were not ashamed to dine at her house in the  President's company: and in 1860; Mrs。 Simpson; in France with her  father; Nassau Senior; found her; decorated with the title of  Madame de Beauregard; inhabiting La Celle; near Versailles; once  the abode of Madame de Pompadour; 〃with the national flag flying  over it; to the great scandal of the neighbourhood。〃
  (22) Bachaumont's criticism of Latour。  Lady Dilke's 〃French  Painters;〃 p。 165。
  (23) Here is one of the stanzas:
  〃L'Autriche … dit…on … et la Russie Se brouillent pour la Turquie。 Des aujourd'hui il n'en est plus question。 En invitant une femme charmante; Le Turc … et je l'en complimente … Est devenu pour nous un trait d'union。〃
  (24) 〃Blackwood's Magazine;〃 December; 1895; p。 802。
  (25)  I inserted this quotation before reading the 〃Etchingham  Letters。〃  Sir Richard would wish me to erase it as hackneyed; but  it applies to Kinglake's talk as accurately as to Virgil's writing;  and I refuse to be defrauded of it。
  (26) This delightful phrase is Lady Gregory's。  One would wish;  like Lord Houghton; though suppressing his presumptuous rider; to  have been its author。
  (27) Of course Kinglake was not alone in this opinion。  It was  voiced in a delightful JEU D'ESPRIT; now forgotten; which it is  worth while to reproduce:
  〃THE BERLIN CONGRESS。
  〃The following Latin poem; from the pen of the well…known German  poet; Gustave Schwetschke; was distributed by Prince Bismarck's  special request amongst the Plenipotentiaries immediately after the  last sitting on Saturday:
  〃'GAUDEAMUS CONGRESSIBILE。 〃'Gaudeamus igitur Socii congressus; Post dolores bellicosos; Post labores gloriosos; Nobis fit decessus。
  〃'Ubi sunt; qui ante nos Quondam consedere; Viennenses; Parisienses Tot per annos; tot per menses? Frustra decidere。
  〃'Mundus heu! vult decipi; Sed non decipiatur; Non plus ultra inter gentes Litigant