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第19节

crome yellow(克罗姆·耶娄)-第19节

小说: crome yellow(克罗姆·耶娄) 字数: 每页4000字

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Jabal dwelt in tents and Jubal struck the lyre; Flesh grown corrupt brought 

forth a monstrous birth And obscene giants trod the shrinking earth; Till 

God; impatient of their sinful brood; Gave rein to wrath and drown'd them 

in the Flood。 Teeming again; repeopled Tellus bore The lubber Hero and 

the   Man   of   War;   Huge   towers   of   Brawn;   topp'd   with   an   empty   Skull; 

Witlessly   bold;   heroically   dull。   Long   ages   pass'd   and   Man   grown   more 

refin'd;   Slighter   in   muscle   but   of   vaster   Mind;   Smiled   at   his   grandsire's 

broadsword; bow and bill; And learn'd to wield the Pencil and the Quill。 

The glowing canvas and the written page Immortaliz'd his name from age 

to age; His name emblazon'd on Fame's temple wall; For Art grew great as 

Humankind grew small。 Thus man's long progress step by step we trace; 

The   Giant dies;  the   hero   takes   his   place; The   Giant   vile; the   dull   heroic 

Block: At one we shudder and at one we mock。 Man last appears。                          In him 

the   Soul's   pure   flame   Burns   brightlier   in   a   not   inord'nate   frame。   Of   old 

when   Heroes   fought   and   Giants   swarmed;   Men   were   huge   mounds   of 

matter   scarce   inform'd;   Wearied   by  leavening   so   vast   a   mass; The   spirit 

slept and all the mind was crass。 The smaller carcase of these later days Is 

soon inform'd; the Soul unwearied plays And like a Pharos darts   abroad 

her    mental     rays。   But   can   we    think    that  Providence       will   stay   Man's 



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footsteps   here   upon   the   upward   way?   Mankind   in   understanding   and   in 

grace Advanc'd   so   far   beyond   the   Giants'   race?   Hence   impious   thought! 

Still led   by GOD'S  own Hand;  Mankind proceeds   towards the  Promised 

Land。   A  time   will   come   (prophetic;   I   descry   Remoter   dawns   along   the 

gloomy sky); When happy  mortals of a Golden Age Will backward turn 

the dark historic page; And in our vaunted race of Men behold A form as 

gross; a Mind as dead and cold; As we in Giants see; in warriors of old。 A 

time   will   come;   wherein   the   soul   shall   be   From   all   superfluous   matter 

wholly free; When the light body; agile as a fawn's; Shall sport with grace 

along   the   velvet   lawns。   Nature's   most   delicate   and   final   birth;   Mankind 

perfected   shall   possess   the   earth。   But   ah;   not   yet!   For   still   the   Giants' 

race;   Huge;   though   diminish'd;   tramps   the   Earth's   fair   face;   Gross   and 

repulsive;   yet   perversely  proud;   Men   of   their   imperfections   boast   aloud。 

Vain of their bulk; of all they still retain Of giant ugliness absurdly vain; 

At    all  that's  small    they   point   their  stupid    scorn   And;    monsters;     think 

themselves divinely born。 Sad is the Fate of those; ah; sad indeed; The rare 

precursors of the nobler breed! Who come man's golden glory to foretell; 

But pointing Heav'nwards live themselves in Hell。' 

     〃As     soon    as   he    came     into   the   estate;   Sir   Hercules      set   about 

remodelling   his   household。         For   though   by   no   means   ashamed   of   his 

deformityindeed;   if       we    may   judge    from   the    poem   quoted      above;    he 

regarded himself as being in many ways superior to the ordinary race of 

manhe found the presence of full…grown men and women embarrassing。 

Realising; too; that he must abandon all ambitions in the great world; he 

determined to retire absolutely from it and to create; as it were; at Crome a 

private world of his own; in which all should be proportionable to himself。 

Accordingly; he discharged all the old servants of the house and replaced 

them   gradually;   as   he   was   able   to   find   suitable   successors;   by   others   of 

dwarfish   stature。      In   the   course   of   a   few   years   he   had   assembled   about 

himself a numerous household; no member of which was above four feet 

high and the smallest among them scarcely two feet and six inches。                         His 

father's dogs; such as setters; mastiffs; greyhounds; and a pack of beagles; 

he    sold   or  gave    away    as  too   large   and   too   boisterous     for  his  house; 

replacing   them   by   pugs   and   King   Charles   spaniels   and   whatever   other 



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breeds of dog were the smallest。             His father's stable was also sold。          For 

his own use; whether riding or driving; he had six black Shetland ponies; 

with four very choice piebald animals of New Forest breed。 

     〃Having thus settled his household entirely to his own satisfaction; it 

only   remained   for   him   to   find   some   suitable   companion   with   whom   to 

share   his   paradise。    Sir   Hercules   had   a   susceptible   heart;   and   had   more 

than once; between the ages of sixteen and twenty; felt what it was to love。 

But here his deformity had been a source of the most bitter humiliation; 

for; having once dared to declare himself to a young lady of his choice; he 

had been received with laughter。             On his persisting; she had picked him 

up and shaken him like an importunate child; telling him to run away and 

plague her no more。           The story soon got aboutindeed; the young lady 

herself   used   to   tell   it   as   a   particularly   pleasant   anecdoteand   the   taunts 

and   mockery   it   occasioned   were   a   source   of   the   most   acute   distress   to 

Hercules。      From    the   poems     written    at  this  period    we    gather   that   he 

meditated taking his own life。           In course of time; however; he lived down 

this   humiliation;   but   never   again;   though   he   often   fell   in   love;   and   that 

very passionately; did he dare to make any advances to those in whom he 

was interested。       After coming to the estate and finding that he was in a 

position to create his own world as he desired it; he saw that; if he was to 

have   a   wifewhich   he   very   much   desired;   being   of   an   affectionate   and; 

indeed;     amorous      temperhe     must    choose     her   as  he   had    chosen    his 

servantsfrom among the race of dwarfs。               But to find a suitable wife was; 

he found; a matter of some difficulty; for he would marry none who was 

not distinguished by beauty and gentle birth。                The dwarfish daughter of 

Lord Bemboro he refused on the ground that besides being a pigmy she 

was   hunchbacked;   while   another   young   lady;   an   orphan   belonging   to   a 

very good family in Hampshire; was rejected by him because her face; like 

that   of   so   many   dwarfs;   was   wizened   and   repulsive。      Finally;   when   he 

was   almost   despairing   of   success;   he   heard   from   a   reliable   source   that 

Count Titimalo;   a Venetian   nobleman;  possessed   a  daughter  of   exquisite 

beauty     and   great   accomplishments;        who    was    by   three   feet  in  height。 

Setting out at once for Venice; he went immediately on his arrival to pay 

his   respects   to   the   count;   whom   he   found   living   with   his   wife   and   five 



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children   in   a   very   mean   apartment   in   one   of   the   poorer   quarters   of   the 

town。     Indeed; the count was so far reduced in his circumstances that he 

was even then negotiating (so it was rumoured) with a travelling company 

of    clowns    and    acrobats;    who    had    had   the   misfortune      to  lose   their 

performing dwarf; for the sale of his diminutive daughter Filomena。                       Sir 

Hercules arrived in time to save her from this untoward fate; for he was so 

much   charmed   by   Filomena's   grace   and   beauty;   that   at   the   end   of   three 

days'    courtship     he  made     her   a  formal    offer   of  marriage;     which    was 

accepted by her no less joyfully than by her father; who perceived in an 

English     son…in…law     a  rich   and   unfailing    source    of  revenue。     After    an 

unostentatious marriage; at which the English ambassador acted as one of 

the   witnesses;   Sir   Hercules   and   his   bride   returned   by   sea   to   England; 

where they settled down; as it proved; to a life of uneventful happiness。 

     〃Crome   and   its   household       of   dwarfs   delighted   Filomena;   who   felt 

herself now for the first time to be a free woman living among her equals 

in a friendly world。        She

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