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第47节

queen victoria-第47节

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s; Madam。〃 Nor did he limit himself to highly…spiced insinuations。 Writing with all the authority of his office; he advised the Queen that she had the constitutional right to dismiss a Ministry which was supported by a large majority in the House of Commons; he even urged her to do so; if; in her opinion; 〃your Majesty's Government have from wilfulness; or even from weakness; deceived your Majesty。〃 To the horror of Mr。 Gladstone; he not only kept the Queen informed as to the general course of business in the Cabinet; but revealed to her the part taken in its discussions by individual members of it。 Lord Derby; the son of the late Prime Minister and Disraeli's Foreign Secretary; viewed these developments with grave mistrust。 〃Is there not;〃 he ventured to write to his Chief; 〃just a risk of encouraging her in too large ideas of her personal power; and too great indifference to what the public expects? I only ask; it is for you to judge。〃

As for Victoria; she accepted everythingcompliments; flatteries; Elizabethan prerogativeswithout a single qualm。 After the long gloom of her bereavement; after the chill of the Gladstonian discipline; she expanded to the rays of Disraeli's devotion like a flower in the sun。 The change in her situation was indeed miraculous。 No longer was she obliged to puzzle for hours over the complicated details of business; for now she had only to ask Mr。 Disraeli for an explanation; and he would give it her in the most concise; in the most amusing; way。 No longer was she worried by alarming novelties; no longer was she put out at finding herself treated; by a reverential gentleman in high collars; as if she were some embodied precedent; with a recondite knowledge of Greek。 And her deliverer was surely the most fascinating of men。 The strain of charlatanism; which had unconsciously captivated her in Napoleon III; exercised the same enchanting effect in the case of Disraeli。 Like a dram…drinker; whose ordinary life is passed in dull sobriety; her unsophisticated intelligence gulped down his rococo allurements with peculiar zest。 She became intoxicated; entranced。 Believing all that he told her of herself; she completely regained the self…confidence which had been slipping away from her throughout the dark period that followed Albert's death。 She swelled with a new elation; while he; conjuring up before her wonderful Oriental visions; dazzled her eyes with an imperial grandeur of which she had only dimly dreamed。 Under the compelling influence; her very demeanour altered。 Her short; stout figure; with its folds of black velvet; its muslin streamers; its heavy pearls at the heavy neck; assumed an almost menacing air。 In her countenance; from which the charm of youth had long since vanished; and which had not yet been softened by age; the traces of grief; of disappointment; and of displeasure were still visible; but they were overlaid by looks of arrogance and sharp lines of peremptory hauteur。 Only; when Mr。 Disraeli appeared; the expression changed in an instant; and the forbidding visage became charged with smiles。 For him she would do anything。 Yielding to his encouragements; she began to emerge from her seclusion; she appeared in London in semi…state; at hospitals and concerts; she opened Parliament; she reviewed troops and distributed medals at Aldershot。 But such public signs of favour were trivial in comparison with her private attentions。 During his flours of audience; she could hardly restrain her excitement and delight。 〃I can only describe my reception;〃 he wrote to a friend on one occasion; 〃by telling you that I really thought she was going to embrace me。 She was wreathed with smiles; and; as she tattled; glided about the room like a bird。〃 In his absence; she talked of him perpetually; and there was a note of unusual vehemence in her solicitude for his health。 〃John Manners;〃 Disraeli told Lady Bradford; 〃who has just come from Osborne; says that the Faery only talked of one subject; and that was her Primo。 According to him; it was her gracious opinion that the Government should make my health a Cabinet question。 Dear John seemed quite surprised at what she said; but you are used to these ebullitions。〃 She often sent him presents; an illustrated album arrived for him regularly from Windsor on Christmas Day。 But her most valued gifts were the bunches of spring flowers which; gathered by herself and her ladies in the woods at Osborne; marked in an especial manner the warmth and tenderness of her sentiments。 Among these it was; he declared; the primroses that he loved the best。 They were; he said; 〃the ambassadors of Spring; the gems and jewels of Nature。〃 He liked them; he assured her; 〃so much better for their being wild; they seem an offering from the Fauns and Dryads of Osborne。〃 〃They show;〃 he told her; 〃that your Majesty's sceptre has touched the enchanted Isle。〃 He sat at dinner with heaped…up bowls of them on every side; and told his guests that 〃they were all sent to me this morning by the Queen from Osborne; as she knows it is my favorite flower。〃

As time went on; and as it became clearer and clearer that the Faery's thraldom was complete; his protestations grew steadily more highlycoloured and more unabashed。 At last he ventured to import into his blandishments a strain of adoration that was almost avowedly romantic。 In phrases of baroque convolution; he conveyed the message of his heart。 The pressure of business; he wrote; had 〃so absorbed and exhausted him; that towards the hour of post he has not had clearness of mind; and vigour of pen; adequate to convey his thoughts and facts to the most loved and illustrious being; who deigns to consider them。〃 She sent him some primroses; and he replied that he could 〃truly say they are 'more precious than rubies;' coming; as they do; and at such a moment; from a Sovereign whom he adores。〃 She sent him snowdrops; and his sentiment overflowed into poetry。 〃Yesterday eve;〃 he wrote; 〃there appeared; in Whitehall Gardens; a delicate…looking case; with a royal superscription; which; when he opened; he thought; at first; that your Majesty had graciously bestowed upon him the stars of your Majesty's principal orders。 And; indeed; he was so impressed with this graceful illusion; that; having a banquet; where there were many stars and ribbons; he could not resist the temptation; by placing some snowdrops on his heart; of showing that; he; too; was decorated by a gracious Sovereign。

Then; in the middle of the night; it occurred to him; that it might all be an enchantment; and that; perhaps; it was a Faery gift and came from another monarch: Queen Titania; gathering flowers; with her Court; in a soft and sea…girt isle; and sending magic blossoms; which; they say; turn the heads of those who receive them。

A Faery gift! Did he smile as he wrote the words? Perhaps; and yet it would be rash to conclude that his perfervid declarations were altogether without sincerity。 Actor and spectator both; the two characters were so intimately blended together in that odd composition that they formed an inseparable unity; and it was impossible to say that one of them was less genuine than the other。 With one element; he could coldly appraise the Faery's intellectual capacity; note with some surprise that she could be on occasion 〃most interesting and amusing;〃 and then continue his use of the trowel with an ironical solemnity; while; with the other; he could be overwhelmed by the immemorial panoply of royalty; and; thrilling with the sense of his own strange elevation; dream himself into a gorgeous phantasy of crowns and powers and chivalric love。 When he told Victoria that 〃during a somewhat romantic and imaginative life; nothing has ever occurred to him so interesting as this confidential correspondence with one so exalted and so inspiring;〃 was he not in earnest after all? When he wrote to a lady about the Court; 〃I love the Queenperhaps the only person in this world left to me that I do love;〃 was he not creating for himself an enchanted palace out of the Arabian Nights; full of melancholy and spangles; in which he actually believed? Victoria's state of mind was far more simple; untroubled by imaginative yearnings; she never lost herself in that nebulous region of the spirit where feeling and fancy grow confused。 Her emotions; with all their intensity and all their exaggeration; retained the plain prosaic texture of everyday life。 And it was fitting that her expression of them should be equally commonplace。 She was; she told her Prime Minister; at the end of an official letter; 〃yours aff'ly V。 R。 and I。〃 In such a phrase the deep reality of her feeling is instantly manifest。 The Faery's feet were on the solid earth; it was the ruse cynic who was in the air。

He had taught her; however; a lesson; which she had learnt with alarming rapidity。 A second Gloriana; did he call her? Very well; then; she would show that she deserved the compliment。 Disquieting symptoms followed fast。 In May; 1874; the Tsar; whose daughter had just been married to Victoria's second son; the Duke of Edinburgh; was in London; and; by an unfortunate error; it had been arranged that his departure should not take place until two days after the date on which his royal hostess had previously decided

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