第 7 节
作者:
这就是结局 更新:2023-05-17 13:23 字数:9322
is; no doubt; distinguished by omnivorous learning; and utmost patience and fairness: at the same time; in its results and delineations; it is much more likely to interest the Compilers of some _Library_ of General; Entertaining; Useful; or even Useless Knowledge than the miscellaneous readers of these pages。 Was it this Part of the Book which Heuschrecke had in view; when he recommended us to that joint…stock vehicle of publication; 〃at present the glory of British Literature〃? If so; the Library Editors are welcome to dig in it for their own behoof。
To the First Chapter; which turns on Paradise and Fig…leaves; and leads us into interminable disquisitions of a mythological; metaphorical; cabalistico…sartorial and quite antediluvian cast; we shall content ourselves with giving an unconcerned approval。 Still less have we to do with 〃Lilis; Adam's first wife; whom; according to the Talmudists; he had before Eve; and who bore him; in that wedlock; the whole progeny of aerial; aquatic; and terrestrial Devils;〃very needlessly; we think。 On this portion of the Work; with its profound glances into the _Adam…Kadmon_; or Primeval Element; here strangely brought into relation with the _Nifl_ and _Muspel_ (Darkness and Light) of the antique North; it may be enough to say; that its correctness of deduction; and depth of Talmudic and Rabbinical lore have filled perhaps not the worst Hebraist in Britain with something like astonishment。
But; quitting this twilight region; Teufelsdrockh hastens from the Tower of Babel; to follow the dispersion of Mankind over the whole habitable and habilable globe。 Walking by the light of Oriental; Pelasgic; Scandinavian; Egyptian; Otaheitean; Ancient and Modern researches of every conceivable kind; he strives to give us in compressed shape (as the Nurnbergers give an _Orbis Pictus_) an _Orbis Vestitus_; or view of the costumes of all mankind; in all countries; in all times。 It is here that to the Antiquarian; to the Historian; we can triumphantly say: Fall to! Here is learning: an irregular Treasury; if you will; but inexhaustible as the Hoard of King Nibelung; which twelve wagons in twelve days; at the rate of three journeys a day; could not carry off。 Sheepskin cloaks and wampum belts; phylacteries; stoles; albs; chlamydes; togas; Chinese silks; Afghaun shawls; trunk…hose; leather breeches; Celtic hilibegs (though breeches; as the name _Gallia Braccata_ indicates; are the more ancient); Hussar cloaks; Vandyke tippets; ruffs; fardingales; are brought vividly before us;even the Kilmarnock nightcap is not forgotten。 For most part; too; we must admit that the Learning; heterogeneous as it is; and tumbled down quite pell…mell; is true concentrated and purified Learning; the drossy parts smelted out and thrown aside。
Philosophical reflections intervene; and sometimes touching pictures of human life。 Of this sort the following has surprised us。 The first purpose of Clothes; as our Professor imagines; was not warmth or decency; but ornament。 〃Miserable indeed;〃 says he; 〃was the condition of the Aboriginal Savage; glaring fiercely from under his fleece of hair; which with the beard reached down to his loins; and hung round him like a matted cloak; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick natural fell。 He loitered in the sunny glades of the forest; living on wild…fruits; or; as the ancient Caledonian; squatted himself in morasses; lurking for his bestial or human prey; without implements; without arms; save the ball of heavy Flint; to which; that his sole possession and defence might not be lost; he had attached a long cord of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as well as hurling it with deadly unerring skill。 Nevertheless; the pains of Hunger and Revenge once satisfied; his next care was not Comfort but Decoration (_Putz_)。 Warmth he found in the toils of the chase; or amid dried leaves; in his hollow tree; in his bark shed; or natural grotto: but for Decoration he must have Clothes。 Nay; among wild people; we find tattooing and painting even prior to Clothes。 The first spiritual want of a barbarous man is Decoration; as indeed we still see among the barbarous classes in civilized countries。
〃Reader; the heaven…inspired melodious Singer; loftiest Serene Highness; nay thy own amber…locked; snow…and…rosebloom Maiden; worthy to glide sylph…like almost on air; whom thou lovest; worshippest as a divine Presence; which; indeed; symbolically taken; she is;has descended; like thyself; from that same hair…mantled; flint…hurling Aboriginal Anthropophagus! Out of the eater cometh forth meat; out of the strong cometh forth sweetness。 What changes are wrought; not by Time; yet in Time! For not Mankind only; but all that Mankind does or beholds; is in continual growth; re…genesis and self…perfecting vitality。 Cast forth thy Act; thy Word; into the ever…living; ever…working Universe: it is a seed…grain that cannot die; unnoticed to…day (says one); it will be found flourishing as a Banyan…grove (perhaps; alas; as a Hemlock…forest!) after a thousand years。
〃He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of _Movable Types_ was disbanding hired Armies; and cashiering most Kings and Senates; and creating a whole new Democratic world: he had invented the Art of Printing。 The first ground handful of Nitre; Sulphur; and Charcoal drove Monk Schwartz's pestle through the ceiling: what will the last do? Achieve the final undisputed prostration of Force under Thought; of Animal courage under Spiritual。 A simple invention it was in the old…world Grazier;sick of lugging his slow Ox about the country till he got it bartered for corn or oil;to take a piece of Leather; and thereon scratch or stamp the mere Figure of an Ox (or _Pecus_); put it in his pocket; and call it _Pecunia_; Money。 Yet hereby did Barter grow Sale; the Leather Money is now Golden and Paper; and all miracles have been out…miracled: for there are Rothschilds and English National Debts; and whoso has sixpence is sovereign (to the length of sixpence) over all men; commands cooks to feed him; philosophers to teach him; kings to mount guard over him;to the length of sixpence。Clothes too; which began in foolishest love of Ornament; what have they not become! Increased Security and pleasurable Heat soon followed: but what of these? Shame; divine Shame (_Schaam_; Modesty); as yet a stranger to the Anthropophagous bosom; arose there mysteriously under Clothes; a mystic grove…encircled shrine for the Holy in man。 Clothes gave us individuality; distinctions; social polity; Clothes have made Men of us; they are threatening to make Clothes…screens of us。
〃But; on the whole;〃 continues our eloquent Professor; 〃Man is a Tool…using Animal (_Handthierendes Thier_)。 Weak in himself; and of small stature; he stands on a basis; at most for the flattest…soled; of some half…square foot; insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs; lest the very wind supplant him。 Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a crushing load for him; the steer of the meadow tosses him aloft; like a waste rag。 Nevertheless he can use Tools; can devise Tools: with these the granite mountain melts into light dust before him; he kneads glowing iron; as if it were soft paste; seas are his smooth highway; winds and fire his unwearying steeds。 Nowhere do you find him without Tools; without Tools he is nothing; with Tools he is all。〃
Here may we not; for a moment; interrupt the stream of Oratory with a remark; that this Definition of the Tool…using Animal appears to us; of all that Animal…sort; considerably the precisest and best? Man is called a Laughing Animal: but do not the apes also laugh; or attempt to do it; and is the manliest man the greatest and oftenest laugher? Teufelsdrockh himself; as we said; laughed only once。 Still less do we make of that other French Definition of the Cooking Animal; which; indeed; for rigorous scientific purposes; is as good as useless。 Can a Tartar be said to cook; when he only readies his steak by riding on it? Again; what Cookery does the Greenlander use; beyond stowing up his whale…blubber; as a marmot; in the like case; might do? Or how would Monsieur Ude prosper among those Orinoco Indians who; according to Humboldt; lodge in crow…nests; on the branches of trees; and; for half the year; have no victuals but pipe…clay; the whole country being under water? But; on the other hand; show us the human being; of any period or climate; without his Tools: those very Caledonians; as we saw; had their Flint…ball; and Thong to it; such as no brute has or can have。
〃Man is a Tool…using Animal;〃 concludes Teufelsdrockh; in his abrupt way; 〃of which truth Clothes are but one example: and surely if we consider the interval between the first wooden Dibble fashioned by man; and those Liverpool Steam…carriages; or the British House of Commons; we shall note what progress he has made。 He digs up certain black stones from the bosom of the earth; and says to them; _Transport me and this luggage at the rate of file…and…thirty miles an hour_; and they do it: he collects; apparently by lot; six hundred and fifty…eight miscellaneous individuals; and says to them; _Make this nation toil for us; bleed for us; hunger and; sorrow and sin f