character-第56节
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
neglected; it should ever be held in mind that there is something
far higher and nobler to be aimed atgreater than pleasure;
greater than art; greater than wealth; greater than power; greater
than intellect; greater than geniusand that is; purity and
excellence of character。 Without a solid sterling basis of
individual goodness; all the grace; elegance; and art in the world
would fail to save or to elevate a people。
NOTES
(1) Locke thought it of greater importance that an educator of youth
should be well…bred and well…tempered; than that he should be
either a thorough classicist or man of science。 Writing to Lord
Peterborough on his son's education; Locke said: 〃Your Lordship
would have your son's tutor a thorough scholar; and I think it not
much matter whether he be any scholar or no: if he but understand
Latin well; and have a general scheme of the sciences; I think
that enough。 But I would have him WELL…BRED and WELL…TEMPERED。〃
(2) Mrs。 Hutchinson's 'Memoir of the Life of Lieut。…Colonel
Hutchinson;' p。 32。
(3) 'Letters and Essays;' p。 59。
(4) 'Lettres d'un Voyageur。'
(5) Sir Henry Taylor's 'Statesman;' p。 59。
(6) Introduction to the 'Principal Speeches and Addresses of His Royal
Highness the Prince Consort;' 1862。
(7) 〃When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes;
I all alone beween my outcast state;
And troubled deaf heaven with my bootless cries;
And look upon myself and curse my fate;
WISHING ME LIKE TO ONE MORE RICH IN HOPE;
Featured like him; like him with friends possessed;
Desiring this man's art; and that man's scope;
With what I most enjoy; contented least;
Yet in these thoughts; MYSELF ALMOST DESPISING;
Haply I think on thee;〃 &c。SONNET XXIX。
〃So I; MADE LAME by sorrow's dearest spite;〃 &c。SONNET XXXVI
(8) 〃And strength; by LIMPING sway disabled;〃 &c。SONNET LXVI。
〃Speak of MY LAMENESS; and I straight will halt。〃SONNET LXXXIX。
(9) 〃Alas! 'tis true; I have gone here and there;
And MADE MYSELF A MOTLEY TO THE VIEW;
Gored mine own thoughts; sold cheap what is most dear;
Made old offences of affections new;〃 &c。SONNET CX。
〃Oh; for my sake do you with fortune chide!
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds;
That did not better for my life provide;
THAN PUBLIC MEANS; WHICH PUBLIC MANNERS BREED;
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand;
And almost thence my nature is subdued;
To what it works in like the dyer's hand;〃 &c。SONNET CXI。
(10) 〃In our two loves there is but one respect;
Though in our loves a separable spite;
Which though it alter not loves sole effect;
Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight;
I may not evermore acknowledge thee;
Lest MY BEWAILED GUILT SHOULD DO THEE SHAME。〃SONNET XXXVI。
(11) It is related of Garrick; that when subpoenaed on Baretti's trial;
and required to give his evidence before the courtthough he had
been accustomed for thirty years to act with the greatest self…
possession in the presence of thousandshe became so perplexed
and confused; that he was actually sent from the witness…box by
the judge; as a man from whom no evidence could be obtained。
(12)Mrs。 Mathews' 'Life and Correspondence of Charles Mathews;' (Ed。
1860) p。 232。
(13) Archbishop Whately's 'Commonplace Book。'
(14) Emerson is said to have had Nathaniel Hawthorne in his mind when
writing the following passage in his 'Society and Solitude:'
〃The most agreeable compliment you could pay him was; to imply
that you had not observed him in a house or a street where you had
met him。 Whilst he suffered at being seen where he was; he
consoled himself with the delicious thought of the inconceivable
number of places where he was not。 All he wished of his tailor
was to provide that sober mean of colour and cut which would never
detain the eye for a moment。。。。 He had a remorse; running to
despair; of his social GAUCHERIES; and walked miles and miles to
get the twitchings out of his face; and the starts and shrugs out
of his arms and shoulders。 'God may forgive sins;' he said; 'but
awkwardness has no forgiveness in heaven or earth。'〃
(15) In a series of clever articles in the REVUE DES DEUX MONDES;
entitled; 'Six mille Lieues a toute Vapeur;' giving a description
of his travels in North America; Maurice Sand keenly observed the
comparatively anti…social proclivities of the American compared
with the Frenchman。 The one; he says; is inspired by the spirit
of individuality; the other by the spirit of society。 In America
he sees the individual absorbing society; as in France he sees
society absorbing the individual。 〃Ce peuple Anglo…Saxon;〃 he
says; 〃qui trouvait devant lui la terre; l'instrument de travail;
sinon inepuisable; du mons inepuise; s'est mis a l'exploiter sous
l'inspiration de l'egoisme; et nous autres Francais; nous n'avons
rien su en faire; parceque NOUS NE POUVONS RIEN DANS
L'ISOLEMENT。。。。 L'Americain supporte la solitude avec un
stoicisme admirable; mais effrayant; il ne l'aime pas; il ne songe
qu'a la detruire。。。。 Le Francais est tout autre。 Il aime son
parent; son ami; son compagnon; et jusqu'a son voisin d'omnibus ou
de theatre; si sa figure lui est sympathetique。 Pourquoi? Parce
qu'il le regarde et cherche son ame; parce qu'il vit dans son
semblable autant qu'en lui…meme。 Quand il est longtemps seul; il
deperit; et quand il est toujours seul; it meurt。〃
All this is perfectly true; and it explains why the comparatively
unsociable Germans; English; and Americans; are spreading over the
earth; while the intensely sociable Frenchmen; unable to enjoy
life without each other's society; prefer to stay at home; and
France fails to extend itself beyond France。
(16) The Irish have; in many respects; the same strong social instincts
as the French。 In the United States they cluster naturally in the
towns; where they have their 〃Irish Quarters;〃 as in England。
They are even more Irish there than at home; and can no more
forget that they are Irishmen than the French can that they are
Frenchmen。 〃I deliberately assert;〃 says Mr。 Maguire; in his
recent work on 'The Irish in America;' 〃that it is not within the
power of language to describe adequately; much less to exaggerate;
the evils consequent on the unhappy tendency of the Irish to
congregate in the large towns of America。〃 It is this intense
socialism of the Irish that keeps them in a comparatively hand…to…
mouth condition in all the States of the Union。
(17) 'The Statesman;' p。 35。
(18) Nathaniel Hawthorne; in his 'First Impressions of France and
Italy;' says his opinion of the uncleanly character of the modern
Romans is so unfavourable that he hardly knows how to express it
〃But the fact is that through the Forum; and everywhere out of the
commonest foot…track and roadway; you must look well to your
steps。。。。 Perhaps there is something in the minds of the people
of these countries that enables them to dissever small ugliness
from great sublimity and beauty。 They spit upon the glorious
pavement of St。 Peter's; and wherever else they like; they place
paltry…looking wooden confessionals beneath its sublime arches;
and ornament them with cheap little coloured prints of the
Crucifixion; they hang tin hearts; and other tinsel and trumpery;
at the gorgeous shrines of the saints; in chapels that are
encrusted with gems; or marbles almost as precious; they put
pasteboard statues of saints beneath the dome of the Pantheon;
in short; they let the sublime and the ridiculous come close
together; and are not in the least troubled by the proximity。〃
(19) Edwin Chadwick's 'Address to the Economic Science and Statistic
Section;' British Association (Meeting; 1862)。
CHAPTER XCOMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS。
〃Books; we know;
Are a substantial world; both pure and good;
Round which; with tendrils strong as flesh and blood;
Our pastime and our happiness can grow。〃 WORDSWORTH。
〃Not only in the common speech of men; but in all art toowhich
is or should be the concentrated and conserved essence of what men
can speak and showBiography is almost the one thing needful〃
CARLYLE。
〃I read all biographies with intense interest。 Even a man without
a heart; like Cavendish; I think about; and read about; and dream
about; and picture to myself in all possible ways; till he grows
into a living being beside me; and I put my feet into his shoes;
and become for the time Cavendish; and think as he thought; and do
as he did。〃GEORGE WILSON。
〃My thoughts are with the dead; with them
I live in long…past years;
Their virtues love; their faults condemn;