unconscious comedians-第1节
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Unconscious Comedians
by Honore de Balzac
Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
DEDICATION
To Monsieur le Comte Jules de Castellane。
UNCONSCIOUS COMEDIANS
Leon de Lora; our celebrated landscape painter; belongs to one of the
noblest families of the Roussillon (Spanish originally) which;
although distinguished for the antiquity of its race; has been doomed
for a century to the proverbial poverty of hidalgos。 Coming;
light…footed; to Paris from the department of the Eastern Pyrenees;
with the sum of eleven francs in his pocket for all viaticum; he had
in some degree forgotten the miseries and privations of his childhood
and his family amid the other privations and miseries which are never
lacking to 〃rapins;〃 whose whole fortune consists of intrepid
vocation。 Later; the cares of fame and those of success were other
causes of forgetfulness。
If you have followed the capricious and meandering course of these
studies; perhaps you will remember Mistigris; Schinner's pupil; one of
the heroes of 〃A Start in Life〃 (Scenes from Private Life); and his
brief apparitions in other Scenes。 In 1845; this landscape painter;
emulator of the Hobbemas; Ruysdaels; and Lorraines; resembles no more
the shabby; frisky rapin whom we then knew。 Now an illustrious man; he
owns a charming house in the rue de Berlin; not far from the hotel de
Brambourg; where his friend Brideau lives; and quite close to the
house of Schinner; his early master。 He is a member of the Institute
and an officer of the Legion of honor; he is thirty…six years old; has
an income of twenty thousand francs from the Funds; his pictures sell
for their weight in gold; and (what seems to him more extraordinary
than the invitations he receives occasionally to court balls) his name
and fame; mentioned so often for the last sixteen years by the press
of Europe; has at last penetrated to the valley of the Eastern
Pyrenees; where vegetate three veritable Loras: his father; his eldest
brother; and an old paternal aunt; Mademoiselle Urraca y Lora。
In the maternal line the painter has no relation left except a cousin;
the nephew of his mother; residing in a small manufacturing town in
the department。 This cousin was the first to bethink himself of Leon。
But it was not until 1840 that Leon de Lora received a letter from
Monsieur Sylvestre Palafox…Castal…Gazonal (called simply Gazonal) to
which he replied that he was assuredly himself;that is to say; the
son of the late Leonie Gazonal; wife of Comte Fernand Didas y Lora。
During the summer of 1841 cousin Sylvestre Gazonal went to inform the
illustrious unknown family of Lora that their little Leon had not gone
to the Rio de la Plata; as they supposed; but was now one of the
greatest geniuses of the French school of painting; a fact the family
did not believe。 The eldest son; Don Juan de Lora assured his cousin
Gazonal that he was certainly the dupe of some Parisian wag。
Now the said Gazonal was intending to go to Paris to prosecute a
lawsuit which the prefect of the Eastern Pyrenees had arbitrarily
removed from the usual jurisdiction; transferring it to that of the
Council of State。 The worthy provincial determined to investigate this
act; and to ask his Parisian cousin the reason of such high…handed
measures。 It thus happened that Monsieur Gazonal came to Paris; took
shabby lodgings in the rue Croix…des…Petits…Champs; and was amazed to
see the palace of his cousin in the rue de Berlin。 Being told that the
painter was then travelling in Italy; he renounced; for the time
being; the intention of asking his advice; and doubted if he should
ever find his maternal relationship acknowledged by so great a man。
During the years 1843 and 1844 Gazonal attended to his lawsuit。 This
suit concerned a question as to the current and level of a stream of
water and the necessity of removing a dam; in which dispute the
administration; instigated by the abutters on the river banks; had
meddled。 The removal of the dam threatened the existence of Gazonal's
manufactory。 In 1845; Gazonal considered his cause as wholly lost; the
secretary of the Master of Petitions; charged with the duty of drawing
up the report; had confided to him that the said report would
assuredly be against him; and his own lawyer confirmed the statement。
Gazonal; though commander of the National Guard in his own town and
one of the most capable manufacturers of the department; found himself
of so little account in Paris; and he was; moreover; so frightened by
the costs of living and the dearness of even the most trifling things;
that he kept himself; all this time; secluded in his shabby lodgings。
The Southerner; deprived of his sun; execrated Paris; which he called
a manufactory of rheumatism。 As he added up the costs of his suit and
his living; he vowed within himself to poison the prefect on his
return; or to minotaurize him。 In his moments of deepest sadness he
killed the prefect outright; in gayer mood he contented himself with
minotaurizing him。
One morning as he ate his breakfast and cursed his fate; he picked up
a newspaper savagely。 The following lines; ending an article; struck
Gazonal as if the mysterious voice which speaks to gamblers before
they win had sounded in his ear: 〃Our celebrated landscape painter;
Leon de Lora; lately returned from Italy; will exhibit several
pictures at the Salon; thus the exhibition promises; as we see; to be
most brilliant。〃 With the suddenness of action that distinguishes the
sons of the sunny South; Gazonal sprang from his lodgings to the
street; from the street to a street…cab; and drove to the rue de
Berlin to find his cousin。
Leon de Lora sent word by a servant to his cousin Gazonal that he
invited him to breakfast the next day at the Cafe de Paris; but he was
now engaged in a matter which did not allow him to receive his cousin
at the present moment。 Gazonal; like a true Southerner; recounted all
his troubles to the valet。
The next day at ten o'clock; Gazonal; much too well…dressed for the
occasion (he had put on his bottle…blue coat with brass buttons; a
frilled shirt; a white waistcoat and yellow gloves); awaited his
amphitryon a full hour; stamping his feet on the boulevard; after
hearing from the master of the cafe that 〃these gentlemen〃 breakfasted
habitually between eleven and twelve o'clock。
〃Between eleven and half…past;〃 he said when he related his adventures
to his cronies in the provinces; 〃two Parisians dressed in simple
frock…coats; looking like NOTHING AT ALL; called out when they saw me
on the boulevard; 'There's our Gazonal!'〃
The speaker was Bixiou; with whom Leon de Lora had armed himself to
〃bring out〃 his provincial cousin; in other words; to make him pose。
〃'Don't be vexed; cousin; I'm at your service!' cried out that little
Leon; taking me in his arms;〃 related Gazonal on his return home。 〃The
breakfast was splendid。 I thought I was going blind when I saw the
number of bits of gold it took to pay that bill。 Those fellows must
earn their weight in gold; for I saw my cousin give the waiter THIRTY
SOUSthe price of a whole day's work!〃
During this monstrous breakfastadvisedly so called in view of six
dozen Osten oysters; six cutlets a la Soubise; a chicken a la Marengo;
lobster mayonnaise; green peas; a mushroom pasty; washed down with
three bottles of Bordeaux; three bottles of Champagne; plus coffee and
liqueurs; to say nothing of relishesGazonal was magnificent in his
diatribes against Paris。 The worthy manufacturer complained of the
length of the four…pound bread…loaves; the height of the houses; the
indifference of the passengers in the streets to one another; the
cold; the rain; the cost of hackney…coaches; all of which and much
else he bemoaned in so witty a manner that the two artists took a
mighty fancy to cousin Gazonal; and made him relate his lawsuit from
beginning to end。
〃My lawsuit;〃 he said in his Southern accent and rolling his r's; 〃is
a very simple thing; they want my manufactory。 I've employed here in
Paris a dolt of a lawyer; to whom I give twenty francs every time he
opens an eye; and he is always asleep。 He's a slug; who drives in his
coach; while I go afoot and he splashes me。 I see now I ought to have
had a carriage! On the other hand; that Council of State are a pack of
do…nothings; who leave their duties to little scamps every one of whom
is bought up by our prefect。 That's my lawsuit! They want my
manufactory! Well; they'll get it! and they must manage the best they
can with my workmen; a hundred of 'em; who'll make them sing another
tune before they've done with them。〃
〃Two years。 Ha! that meddling prefect! he shall pay dear for this;
I'll have his life if I have to give mine on the scaffold〃
〃Which state councillor presides over your section?〃
〃A former newspaper man;doesn't pay ten