第 43 节
作者:吹嘻      更新:2021-11-05 20:37      字数:9322
  Stanton;〃come and view a purchase I have made。〃  Stanton absently
  alighted; and followed him across a small paved court; the other
  person followed。  〃In troth; Cousin;〃 said Stanton; 〃your choice
  appears not to have been discreetly made; your house has somewhat
  of a gloomy aspect。〃〃Hold you content; Cousin;〃 replied the
  other; 〃I shall take order that you like it better; when you have
  been some time a dweller therein。〃  Some attendants of a mean
  appearance; and with most suspicious visages; awaited them on their
  entrance; and they ascended a narrow staircase; which led to a room
  meanly furnished。  〃Wait here;〃 said the kinsman; to the man who
  accompanied them; 〃till I go for company to divertise my cousin in
  his loneliness。〃  They were left alone。  Stanton took no notice of
  his companion; but as usual seized the first book near him; and
  began to read。  It was a volume in manuscript;they were then much
  more common than now。
  The first lines struck him as indicating insanity in the writer。
  It was a wild proposal (written apparently after the great fire of
  London) to rebuild it with stone; and attempting to prove; on a
  calculation wild; false; and yet sometimes plausible; that this
  could be done out of the colossal fragments of Stonehenge; which
  the writer proposed to remove for that purpose。  Subjoined were
  several grotesque drawings of engines designed to remove those
  massive blocks; and in a corner of the page was a note;〃I would
  have drawn these more accurately; but was not allowed a KNIFE to
  mend my pen。〃
  The next was entitled; 〃A modest proposal for the spreading of
  Christianity in foreign parts; whereby it is hoped its
  entertainment will become general all over the world。〃This modest
  proposal was; to convert the Turkish ambassadors (who had been in
  London a few years before); by offering them their choice of being
  strangled on the spot; or becoming Christians。  Of course the
  writer reckoned on their embracing the easier alternative; but even
  this was to be clogged with a heavy condition;namely; that they
  must be bound before a magistrate to convert twenty Mussulmans a
  day; on their return to Turkey。  The rest of the pamphlet was
  reasoned very much in the conclusive style of Captain Bobadil;
  these twenty will convert twenty more apiece; and these two hundred
  converts; converting their due number in the same time; all Turkey
  would be converted before the Grand Signior knew where he was。
  Then comes the coup d'eclat;one fine morning; every minaret in
  Constantinople was to ring out with bells; instead of the cry of
  the Muezzins; and the Imaum; coming out to see what was the matter;
  was to be encountered by the Archbishop of Canterbury; in
  pontificalibus; performing Cathedral service in the church of St。
  Sophia; which was to finish the business。  Here an objection
  appeared to arise; which the ingenuity of the writer had
  anticipated。〃It may be redargued;〃 saith he; 〃by those who have
  more spleen than brain; that forasmuch as the Archbishop preacheth
  in English; he will not thereby much edify the Turkish folk; who do
  altogether hold in a vain gabble of their own。〃  But this (to use
  his own language) he 〃evites;〃 by judiciously observing; that where
  service was performed in an unknown tongue; the devotion of the
  people was always observed to be much increased thereby; as; for
  instance; in the church of Rome;that St。 Augustine; with his
  monks; advanced to meet King Ethelbert singing litanies (in a
  language his majesty could not possibly have understood); and
  converted him and his whole court on the spot;that the sybilline
  books。 。 。 。
  。        。        。        。        。
  Cum multis aliis。
  Between the pages were cut most exquisitely in paper the likenesses
  of some of these Turkish ambassadors; the hair of the beards; in
  particular; was feathered with a delicacy of touch that seemed the
  work of fairy fingers;but the pages ended with a complaint of the
  operator; that his scissors had been taken from him。  However; he
  consoled himself and the reader with the assurance; that he would
  that night catch a moonbeam as it entered through the grating; and;
  when he had whetted it on the iron knobs of his door; would do
  wonders with it。  In the next page was found a melancholy proof of
  powerful but prostrated intellect。  It contained some insane lines;
  ascribed to Lee the dramatic poet; commencing;
  〃O that my lungs could bleat like buttered pease;〃 &c。
  There is no proof whatever that these miserable lines were really
  written by Lee; except that the measure is the fashionable quatrain
  of the period。  It is singular that Stanton read on without
  suspicion of his own danger; quite absorbed in the album of a
  madhouse; without ever reflecting on the place where he was; and
  which such compositions too manifestly designated。
  It was after a long interval that he looked round; and perceived
  that his companion was gone。  Bells were unusual then。  He
  proceeded to the door;it was fastened。  He called aloud;his
  voice was echoed in a moment by many others; but in tones so wild
  and discordant; that he desisted in involuntary terror。  As the day
  advanced; and no one approached; he tried the window; and then
  perceived for the first time it was grated。  It looked out on the
  narrow flagged yard; in which no human being was; and if there had;
  from such a being no human feeling could have been extracted。
  Sickening with unspeakable horror; he sunk rather than sat down
  beside the miserable window; and 〃wished for day。〃
  。        。        。        。        。
  At midnight he started from a doze; half a swoon; half a sleep;
  which probably the hardness of his seat; and of the deal table on
  which he leaned; had not contributed to prolong。
  He was in complete darkness; the horror of his situation struck him
  at once; and for a moment he was indeed almost qualified for an
  inmate of that dreadful mansion。  He felt his way to the door;
  shook it with desperate strength; and uttered the most frightful
  cries; mixed with expostulations and commands。  His cries were in a
  moment echoed by a hundred voices。  In maniacs there is a peculiar
  malignity; accompanied by an extraordinary acuteness of some of the
  senses; particularly in distinguishing the voice of a stranger。
  The cries that he heard on every side seemed like a wild and
  infernal yell of joy; that their mansion of misery had obtained
  another tenant。
  He paused; exhausted;a quick and thundering step was heard in the
  passage。  The door was opened; and a man of savage appearance stood
  at the entrance;two more were seen indistinctly in the passage。
  〃Release me; villain!〃〃Stop; my fine fellow; what's all this
  noise for?〃  〃Where am I?〃  〃Where you ought to be。〃  〃Will you
  dare to detain me?〃〃Yes; and a little more than that;〃 answered
  the ruffian; applying a loaded horsewhip to his back and shoulders;
  till the patient soon fell to the ground convulsed with rage and
  pain。  〃Now you see you are where you ought to be;〃 repeated the
  ruffian; brandishing the horsewhip over him; 〃and now take the
  advice of a friend; and make no more noise。  The lads are ready for
  you with the darbies; and they'll clink them on in the crack of
  this whip; unless you prefer another touch of it first。〃  They then
  were advancing into the room as he spoke; with fetters in their
  hands (strait waistcoats being then little known or used); and
  showed; by their frightful countenances and gestures; no
  unwillingness to apply them。  Their harsh rattle on the stone
  pavement made Stanton's blood run cold; the effect; however; was
  useful。  He had the presence of mind to acknowledge his (supposed)
  miserable condition; to supplicate the forbearance of the ruthless
  keeper; and promise complete submission to his orders。  This
  pacified the ruffian; and he retired。
  Stanton collected all his resolution to encounter the horrible
  night; he saw all that was before him; and summoned himself to meet
  it。  After much agitated deliberation; he conceived it best to
  continue the same appearance of submission and tranquillity; hoping
  that thus he might in time either propitiate the wretches in whose
  hands he was; or; by his apparent inoffensiveness; procure such
  opportunities of indulgence; as might perhaps ultimately facilitate
  his escape。  He therefore determined to conduct himself with the
  utmost tranquillity; and never to let his voice be heard in the
  house; and he laid down several other resolutions with a degree of
  prudence which he already shuddered to think might be the cunning
  of incipient madness; or the beginning result of the horrid habits
  of the place。
  These resolutions were put to desperate trial that very night。
  Just next to Stanton's apartment were lodged two most uncongenial
  neighbors。  One of them was a puritanical weaver; who had been
  driven mad by a single sermon from the celebra