第 101 节
作者:这就是结局      更新:2021-02-20 15:59      字数:9320
  of Dumas; Henriot; drunk with blood and alcohol; reels within;
  and chucks his gory sabre on the floor。  〃All is lost!〃
  〃Wretch! thy cowardice hath destroyed us!〃 yelled the fierce
  Coffinhal; as he hurled the coward from the window。
  Calm as despair stands the stern St。 Just; the palsied Couthon
  crawls; grovelling; beneath table; a shot;an explosion!
  Robespierre would destroy himself!  The trembling hand has
  mangled; and failed to kill!  The clock of the Hotel de Ville
  strikes the third hour。  Through the battered door; along the
  gloomy passages; into the Death…hall; burst the crowd。  Mangled;
  livid; blood…stained; speechless but not unconscious; sits
  haughty yet; in his seat erect; the Master…Murderer!  Around him
  they throng; they hoot;they execrate; their faces gleaming in
  the tossing torches!  HE; and not the starry Magian; the REAL
  Sorcerer!  And round HIS last hours gather the Fiends he raised!
  They drag him forth!  Open thy gates; inexorable prison!  The
  Conciergerie receives its prey!  Never a word again on earth
  spoke Maximilien Robespierre!  Pour forth thy thousands; and tens
  of thousands; emancipated Paris!  To the Place de la Revolution
  rolls the tumbril of the King of Terror;St。 Just; Dumas;
  Couthon; his companions to the grave!  A womana childless
  woman; with hoary hairsprings to his side; 〃Thy death makes me
  drunk with joy!〃  He opened his bloodshot eyes;〃Descend to hell
  with the curses of wives and mothers!〃
  The headsmen wrench the rag from the shattered jaw; a shriek; and
  the crowd laugh; and the axe descends amidst the shout of the
  countless thousands; and blackness rushes on thy soul; Maximilien
  Robespierre!  So ended the Reign of Terror。
  。。。
  Daylight in the prison。  From cell to cell they hurry with the
  news;crowd upon crowd; the joyous captives mingled with the
  very jailers; who; for fear; would fain seem joyous too; they
  stream through the dens and alleys of the grim house they will
  shortly leave。  They burst into a cell; forgotten since the
  previous morning。  They found there a young female; sitting upon
  her wretched bed; her arms crossed upon her bosom; her face
  raised upward; the eyes unclosed; and a smile of more than
  serenityof blissupon her lips。  Even in the riot of their
  joy; they drew back in astonishment and awe。  Never had they seen
  life so beautiful; and as they crept nearer; and with noiseless
  feet; they saw that the lips breathed not; that the repose was of
  marble; that the beauty and the ecstasy were of death。  They
  gathered round in silence; and lo! at her feet there was a young
  infant; who; wakened by their tread; looked at them steadfastly;
  and with its rosy fingers played with its dead mother's robe。  An
  orphan there in a dungeon vault!
  〃Poor one!〃 said a female (herself a parent); 〃and they say the
  father fell yesterday; and now the mother!  Alone in the world;
  what can be its fate?〃
  The infant smiled fearlessly on the crowd; as the woman spoke
  thus。  And the old priest; who stood amongst them; said gently;
  〃Woman; see! the orphan smiles!  THE FATHERLESS ARE THE CARE OF
  GOD!〃
  …
  NOTE。
  The curiosity which Zanoni has excited among those who think it
  worth while to dive into the subtler meanings they believe it
  intended to convey; may excuse me in adding a few words; not in
  explanation of its mysteries; but upon the principles which
  permit them。  Zanoni is not; as some have supposed; an allegory;
  but beneath the narrative it relates; TYPICAL meanings are
  concealed。  It is to be regarded in two characters; distinct yet
  harmonious;1st; that of the simple and objective fiction; in
  which (once granting the license of the author to select a
  subject which is; or appears to be; preternatural) the reader
  judges the writer by the usual canons;namely; by the
  consistency of his characters under such admitted circumstances;
  the interest of his story; and the coherence of his plot; of the
  work regarded in this view; it is not my intention to say
  anything; whether in exposition of the design; or in defence of
  the execution。  No typical meanings (which; in plain terms are
  but moral suggestions; more or less numerous; more or less
  subtle) can afford just excuse to a writer of fiction; for the
  errors he should avoid in the most ordinary novel。  We have no
  right to expect the most ingenious reader to search for the inner
  meaning; if the obvious course of the narrative be tedious and
  displeasing。  It is; on the contrary; in proportion as we are
  satisfied with the objective sense of a work of imagination; that
  we are inclined to search into its depths for the more secret
  intentions of the author。  Were we not so divinely charmed with
  〃Faust;〃 and 〃Hamlet;〃 and 〃Prometheus;〃 so ardently carried on
  by the interest of the story told to the common understanding; we
  should trouble ourselves little with the types in each which all
  of us can detect;none of us can elucidate; none elucidate; for
  the essence of type is mystery。  We behold the figure; we cannot
  lift the veil。  The author himself is not called upon to explain
  what he designed。  An allegory is a personation of distinct and
  definite things;virtues or qualities;and the key can be given
  easily; but a writer who conveys typical meanings; may express
  them in myriads。  He cannot disentangle all the hues which
  commingle into the light he seeks to cast upon truth; and
  therefore the great masters of this enchanted soil;Fairyland of
  Fairyland; Poetry imbedded beneath Poetry;wisely leave to each
  mind to guess at such truths as best please or instruct it。  To
  have asked Goethe to explain the 〃Faust〃 would have entailed as
  complex and puzzling an answer as to have asked Mephistopheles to
  explain what is beneath the earth we tread on。  The stores
  beneath may differ for every passenger; each step may require a
  new description; and what is treasure to the geologist may be
  rubbish to the miner。  Six worlds may lie under a sod; but to the
  common eye they are but six layers of stone。
  Art in itself; if not necessarily typical; is essentially a
  suggester of something subtler than that which it embodies to the
  sense。  What Pliny tells us of a great painter of old; is true of
  most great painters; 〃their works express something beyond the
  works;〃〃more felt than understood。〃  This belongs to the
  concentration of intellect which high art demands; and which; of
  all the arts; sculpture best illustrates。  Take Thorwaldsen's
  Statue of Mercury;it is but a single figure; yet it tells to
  those conversant with mythology a whole legend。  The god has
  removed the pipe from his lips; because he has already lulled to
  sleep the Argus; whom you do not see。  He is pressing his heel
  against his sword; because the moment is come when he may slay
  his victim。  Apply the principle of this noble concentration of
  art to the moral writer:  he; too; gives to your eye but a single
  figure; yet each attitude; each expression; may refer to events
  and truths you must have the learning to remember; the acuteness
  to penetrate; or the imagination to conjecture。  But to a
  classical judge of sculpture; would not the exquisite pleasure of
  discovering the all not told in Thorwaldsen's masterpiece be
  destroyed if the artist had engraved in detail his meaning at the
  base of the statue?  Is it not the same with the typical sense
  which the artist in words conveys?  The pleasure of divining art
  in each is the noble exercise of all by whom art is worthily
  regarded。
  We of the humbler race not unreasonably shelter ourselves under
  the authority of the masters; on whom the world's judgment is
  pronounced; and great names are cited; not with the arrogance of
  equals; but with the humility of inferiors。
  The author of Zanoni gives; then; no key to mysteries; be they
  trivial or important; which may be found in the secret chambers
  by those who lift the tapestry from the wall; but out of the many
  solutions of the main enigmaif enigma; indeed; there bewhich
  have been sent to him; he ventures to select the one which he
  subjoins; from the ingenuity and thought which it displays; and
  from respect for the distinguished writer (one of the most
  eminent our time has produced) who deemed him worthy of an honour
  he is proud to display。  He leaves it to the reader to agree
  with; or dissent from the explanation。  〃A hundred men;〃 says the
  old Platonist; 〃may read the book by the help of the same lamp;
  yet all may differ on the text; for the lamp only lights the
  characters;the mind must divine the meaning。〃  The object of a
  parable is not that of a problem; it does not seek to convince;
  but to suggest。  It takes the thought below the surface of the
  understanding to the deeper intelligence which the world rarely
  tasks。  It is not sunlight on the water; it is a hymn chanted to
  the nymph who hearkens and awakes below。
  。。。
  〃ZANONI EXPLAINED。
  BY。〃