第 5 节
作者:竹水冷      更新:2021-02-20 05:39      字数:9321
  ed with public school  freemasonry。  Scarcely in the acquired insight of all the  intervening years could those who enjoyed it then more keenly  appreciate it to…day。  Transcendent gift of genius! to gladden  equally with selfsame words the reluctant inexperience of boyhood  and the fastidious judgment of maturity。  Delightful self… accountant reverence of author…craft! which wields full knowledge  of a shaddock…tainted world; yet presents no licence to the  prurient lad; reveals no trail to the suspicious moralist。
  CHAPTER III … LITERARY AND PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
  KINGLAKE returned from Algiers in 1844 to find himself famous both  in the literary and social world; for his book had gone through  three editions and was the universal theme。  Lockhart opened to him  the 〃Quarterly。〃  〃Who is Eothen?〃 wrote Macvey Napier; editor of  the 〃Edinburgh;〃 to Hayward: 〃I know he is a lawyer and highly  respectable; but I should like to know a little more of his  personal history: he is very clever but very peculiar。〃  Thackeray;  later on; expresses affectionate gratitude for his presence at the  〃Lectures on English Humourists〃:… 〃it goes to a man's heart to  find amongst his friends such men as Kinglake and Venables;  Higgins; Rawlinson; Carlyle; Ashburton and Hallam; Milman;  Macaulay; Wilberforce; looking on kindly。〃  He dines out in all  directions; himself giving dinners at Long's Hotel。  〃Did you ever  meet Kinglake at my rooms?〃 writes Monckton Milnes to MacCarthy:  〃he has had immense success。  I now rather wish I had written his  book; WHICH I COULD HAVE DONE … AT LEAST NEARLY。〃  We are reminded  of Charles Lamb … 〃here's Wordsworth says he could have written  Hamlet; IF HE HAD HAD A MIND。〃  〃A delightful Voltairean volume;〃  Milnes elsewhere calls it。
  〃Eothen〃 was reviewed in the 〃Quarterly〃 by Eliot Warburton。   〃Other books;〃 he says; 〃contain facts and statistics about the  East; this book gives the East itself in vital actual reality。  Its  style is conversational; or the soliloquy rather of a man  convincing and amusing himself as he proceeds; without reverence  for others' faith; or lenity towards others' prejudices。  It is a  real book; not a sham; it equals Anastasius; rivals 'Vathek;' its  terseness; vigour; bold imagery; recall the grand style of Fuller  and of South; to which the author adds a spirit; freshness;  delicacy; all his own。〃  Kinglake; in turn; reviewed 〃The Crescent  and the Cross〃 in an article called 〃The French Lake。〃  From a  cordial notice of the book he passes to a history of French  ambition in the Levant。  It was Bonaparte's fixed idea to become an  Oriental conqueror … a second Alexander: Egypt in his grasp; he  would pass on to India。  He sought alliance against the English  with Tippoo Saib; and spent whole days stretched upon maps of Asia。   He was baffled; first at Aboukir; then at Acre; but the partition  of Turkey at Tilsit showed that he had not abandoned his design。   To have refrained from seizing Egypt after his withdrawal was a  political blunder on the part of England。
  By far the most charming of Kinglake's articles was a paper on the  〃Rights of Women;〃 in the 〃Quarterly Review〃 of December; 1844。   Grouping together Monckton Milnes's 〃Palm Leaves;〃 Mrs。 Poole's  〃Sketch of Egyptian Harems;〃 Mrs。 Ellis's 〃Women and Wives of  England;〃 he produced a playful; lightly touched; yet sincerely  constructed sketch of woman's characteristics; seductions;  attainments; the extent and secret of her fascination and her  deeper influence; her defects; foibles; misconceptions。  He was  greatly vexed to learn that his criticism of 〃Palm Leaves〃 was  considered hostile; and begged Warburton to explain。  His praise;  he said; had been looked upon as irony; his bantering taken to  express bitterness。  Warburton added his own conviction that the  notice was tributary to Milnes's fame; and Milnes accepted the  explanation。  But the chief interest of this paper lies in the  beautiful passage which ends it。  〃The world must go on its own  way; for all that we can say against it。  Beauty; though it beams  over the organization of a doll; will have its hour of empire; the  most torpid heiress will easily get herself married; but the wife  whose sweet nature can kindle worthy delights is she that brings to  her hearth a joyous; hopeful; ardent spirit; and that subtle power  whose sources we can hardly trace; but which yet so irradiates a  home that all who come near are filled and inspired by a deep sense  of womanly presence。  We best learn the unsuspected might of a  being like this when we try the weight of that sadness which hangs  like lead upon the room; the gallery; the stairs; where once her  footstep sounded; and now is heard no more。  It is not less the  energy than the grace and gentleness of this character that works  the enchantment。  Books can instruct; and books can exalt and  purify; beauty of face and beauty of form will come with bright  pictures and statues; and for the government of a household hired  menials will suffice; but fondness and hate; daring hopes; lively  fears; the lust of glory and the scorn of base deeds; sweet  charity; faithfulness; pride; and; chief over all; the impetuous  will; lending might and power to feeling:… these are the rib of the  man; and from these; deep veiled in the mystery of her very  loveliness; his true companion sprang。  A being thus ardent will  often go wrong in her strenuous course; will often alarm; sometimes  provoke; will now and then work mischief and even perhaps grievous  harm; but she will be our own Eve after all; the sweet…speaking  tempter whom heaven created to be the joy and the trouble of this  pleasing anxious existence; to shame us away from the hiding…places  of a slothful neutrality; and lead us abroad in the world; men  militant here on earth; enduring quiet; content with strife; and  looking for peace hereafter。〃  (11) Beautiful words indeed! how  came the author of a tribute so caressingly appreciative; so  eloquently sincere; to remain himself outside the gates of  Paradise? how could the pen which in the Crimean chapter on the  Holy Shrines traced so exquisitely the delicate fancifulness of  purest sexual love; perpetrate that elaborate sneer over the  bachelor obsequies of Carrigaholt … 〃the lowly grave; that is the  end of man's romantic hopes; has closed over all his rich fancies  and all his high aspirations: he is utterly married。〃 (12)
  〃Gai; gai; mariez vous; Mettez vous dans la misere! Gai; gai; mariez vous; Mettez vous la corde au cou!〃 (13)
  There is generally a good reason for prolonged celibacy; a reason  which the bachelor as generally does not betray: Kinglake remained  single; by his own account; because he had observed that women  always prefer other men to their own husbands。  Yet; although  unmarried; perhaps because unmarried; he heartily admired many  clever women; formed with them sedate but genuine friendships; the  L'AMOUR SANS AILES; sometimes called 〃Platonic〃 by persons who have  not read Plato; found in their illogical clear…sightedness; in  their 'Greek word which cannot be reproduced'; to use the master's  own untranslatable phrase; a titillating stimulus which he missed  in men。  He thought that the Church should ordain priestesses as  well as priests; the former to be the Egerias of men; as the latter  are the Pontiffs of women。  And Lady Gregory tells us; that when  attacked by gout; he wished for the solace of a lady doctor; and  wrote to one asking if gout were beyond her scope。  She answered:  〃Dear Sir; … Gout is not beyond my scope; but men are。〃
  In 1854 he accompanied Lord Raglan to the Crimea。  〃I had heard;〃  writes John Kenyon; 〃of Kinglake's chivalrous goings on。  We were  saying yesterday that though he might write a book; he was among  the last men to go that he might write a book。  He is wild about  matters military; if so calm a man is ever wild。〃  He had hoped to  go in an official position as non…combatant; but this was refused  by the authorities。  His friend; Lord Raglan; whose acquaintance he  had made while hunting with the Duke of Beaufort's hounds; took him  as his private guest。  Arrested for a time at Malta by an attack of  fever; he joined our army before hostilities began; rode with Lord  Raglan's staff at the Alma fight; likening the novel sensation to  the excitement of fox…hunting; and accompanied the chief in his  visit of tenderness to the wounded when the fight was over。   Throughout the campaign the two were much together; as we shall  notice more fully later on。  There are often slight but  unmistakable signs of Kinglake's presence as spectator and auditor  of Lord Raglan's deeds and words; (14) his affection and reverence  for the great general animate the whole; in outward composure and  latent strength the two men resembled each other closely。  The book  is; in fact; a history of Lord Raglan's share in the campaign;  begun in 1856 at the request of Lady Raglan; the narrative ends  when the 〃Caradoc〃 with the general's body on board steams out of  the bay; 〃Farewell〃 flying at her masthead; the Russian batteries;  with generous recognition; ceasing to fire till the ship was out of  sight。  〃Lord Raglan is dead;〃 said Kinglake as vol。 viii。 was