It was a name that touched Tancred, as it has all the youth of England, significant of a career that would rescue public life from that strange union of lax principles and contracted sympathies which now form the special and degrading features of British politics. It was borne by one whose boyhood we have painted amid the fields and schools of Eton, and the springtime of whose earliest youth we traced by the sedgy waters of the Cam. We left him on the threshold of public life; and, in four years, Lord Henry had created that reputation which now made him a source of hope and solace13 to millions of his countrymen. But they were four years of labour which outweighed14 the usual exertions15 of public men in double that space. His regular attendance in the House of Commons alone had given him as much Parliamentary experience as fell to the lot of many of those who had been first returned in 1837, and had been, therefore, twice as long in the House. He was not only a vigilant17 member of public and private committees, but had succeeded in appointing and conducting several on topics which he esteemed18 of high importance. Add to this, that he took an habitual19 part in debate, and was a frequent and effective public writer; and we are furnished with an additional testimony20, if that indeed were wanting, that there is no incentive21 to exertion16 like the passion for a noble renown22. Nor should it be forgotten, that, in all he accomplished23, he had but one final purpose, and that the highest. The debate, the committee, the article in the Journal or the Review, the public meeting, the private research, these were all means to advance that which he had proposed as the object of his public life, namely, to elevate the condition of the people.
Although there was no public man whose powers had more rapidly ripened24, still it was interesting to observe that their maturity25 had been faithful to the healthy sympathies of his earlier years. The boy, whom we have traced intent upon the revival26 of the pastimes of the people, had expanded into the statesman, who, in a profound and comprehensive investigation27 of the elements of public wealth, had shown that a jaded28 population is not a source of national prosperity. What had been a picturesque29 emotion had now become a statistical30 argument. The material system that proposes the supply of constant toil31 to a people as the perfection of polity, had received a staggering blow from the exertions of a young patrician32, who announced his belief that labour had its rights as well as its duties. What was excellent about Lord Henry was, that he was not a mere33 philanthropist, satisfied to rouse public attention to a great social evil, or instantly to suggest for it some crude remedy.
A scholar and a man of the world, learned in history and not inexperienced in human nature, he was sensible that we must look to the constituent34 principles of society for the causes and the cures of great national disorders35. He therefore went deeply into the question, nor shrank from investigating how far those disorders were produced by the operation or the desuetude36 of ancient institutions, and how far it might be necessary to call new influences into political existence for their remedy. Richly informed, still studious, fond of labour and indefatigable37, of a gentle disposition38 though of an ardent39 mind, calm yet energetic, very open to conviction, but possessing an inflexibility40 amounting even to obstinacy41 when his course was once taken, a ready and improving speaker, an apt and attractive writer, affable and sincere, and with the undesigning faculty42 of making friends, Lord Henry seemed to possess all the qualities of a popular leader, if we add to them the golden ones: high lineage, an engaging appearance, youth, and a temperament43 in which the reason had not been developed to the prejudice of the heart.
‘And when do you start for the Holy Land?’ said Lord Henry to Tancred, in a tone and with a countenance44 which proved his sympathy.
‘I have clutched my staff, but the caravan45 lingers.’
‘I envy you!’
‘Why do you not go?’
Lord Henry slightly shrugged46 his shoulders, and said, ‘It is too late. I have begun my work and I cannot leave it.’
‘If a Parliamentary career could save this country,’ said Tancred, ‘I am sure you would be a public benefactor47. I have observed what you and Mr. Con-ingsby and some of your friends have done and said, with great interest. But Parliament seems to me to be the very place which a man of action should avoid. A Parliamentary career, that old superstition48 of the eighteenth century, was important when there were no other sources of power and fame. An aristocracy at the head of a people whom they had plundered49 of their means of education, required some cultivated tribunal whose sympathy might stimulate50 their intelligence and satisfy their vanity. Parliament was never so great as when they debated with closed doors. The public opinion, of which they never dreamed, has superseded51 the rhetorical club of our great-grandfathers. They know this well enough, and try to maintain their unnecessary position by affecting the character of men of business, but amateur men of business are very costly52 conveniences. In this age it is not Parliament that does the real work. It does not govern Ireland, for example. If the manufacturers want to change a tariff53, they form a commercial league, and they effect their purpose. It is the same with the abolition54 of slavery, and all our great revolutions. Parliament has become as really insignificant55 as for two centuries it has kept the monarch56. O’Connell has taken a good share of its power; Cobden has taken another; and I am inclined to believe,’ said Tancred, ‘though I care little about it, that, if our order had any spirit or prescience, they would put themselves at the head of the people, and take the rest.’
‘Coningsby dines here today,’ said Sidonia, who, unobserved, had watched Tancred as he spoke57, with a searching glance.
‘Notwithstanding what you say,’ said Lord Henry, smiling, ‘I wish I could induce you to remain and help us. You would be a great ally.’
‘I go to a land,’ said Tancred, ‘that has never been blessed by that fatal drollery58 called a representative government, though Omniscience59 once deigned60 to trace out the polity which should rule it.’
At this moment the servant announced Lord and Lady Marney.
Political sympathy had created a close intimacy61 between Lord Marney and Coningsby. They were necessary to each other. They were both men entirely62 devoted63 to public affairs, and sitting in different Houses, both young, and both masters of fortunes of the first class, they were indicated as individuals who hereafter might take a lead, and, far from clashing, would cooperate with each other. Through Coningsby the Marneys had become acquainted with Sidonia, who liked them both, particularly Sybil. Although received by society with open arms, especially by the high nobility, who affected64 to look upon Sybil quite as one of themselves, Lady Marney, notwithstanding the homage65 that everywhere awaited her, had already shown a disposition to retire as much as possible within the precinct of a chosen circle.
This was her second season, and Sybil ventured to think that she had made, in the general gaieties of her first, a sufficient oblation66 to the genius of fashion, and the immediate67 requirements of her social position. Her life was faithful to its first impulse. Devoted to the improvement of the condition of the people, she was the moving spring of the charitable development of this great city. Her house, without any pedantic68 effort, had become the focus of a refined society, who, though obliged to show themselves for the moment in the great carnival69, wear their masks, blow their trumpets70, and pelt71 the multitude with sugarplums, were glad to find a place where they could at all times divest72 themselves of their mummery, and return to their accustomed garb73 of propriety74 and good taste.
Sybil, too, felt alone in the world. Without a relation, without an acquaintance of early and other days, she clung to her husband with a devotion which was peculiar75 as well as profound. Egremont was to her more than a husband and a lover; he was her only friend; it seemed to Sybil that he could be her only friend. The disposition of Lord Marney was not opposed to the habits of his wife. Men, when they are married, often shrink from the glare and bustle76 of those social multitudes which are entered by bachelors with the excitement of knights-errant in a fairy wilderness77, because they are supposed to be rife78 with adventures, and, perhaps, fruitful of a heroine. The adventure sometimes turns out to be a catastrophe79, and the heroine a copy instead of an original; but let that pass.
Lord Marney liked to be surrounded by those who sympathised with his pursuit; and his pursuit was politics, and politics on a great scale. The commonplace career of official distinction was at his command. A great peer, with abilities and ambition, a good speaker, supposed to be a Conservative, he might soon have found his way into the cabinet, and, like the rest, have assisted in registering the decrees of one too powerful individual. But Lord Marney had been taught to think at a period of life when he little dreamed of the responsibility which fortune had in store for him.
The change in his position had not altered the conclusions at which he had previously80 arrived. He held that the state of England, notwithstanding the superficies of a material prosperity, was one of impending81 doom82, unless it were timely arrested by those who were in high places. A man of fine mind rather than of brilliant talents, Lord Marney found, in the more vivid and impassioned intelligence of Coningsby, the directing sympathy which he required. Tadpole83 looked upon his lordship as little short of insane. ‘Do you see that man?’ he would say as Lord Marney rode by. ‘He might be Privy84 Seal, and he throws it all away for the nonsense of Young England!’
Mrs. Coningsby entered the room almost on the footsteps of the Marneys.
‘I am in despair about Harry85,’ she said, as she gave a finger to Sidonia, ‘but he told me not to wait for him later than eight. I suppose he is kept at the House. Do you know anything of him, Lord Henry?’
‘You may make yourself quite easy about him,’ said Lord Henry. ‘He promised Vavasour to support a motion which he has today, and perhaps speak on it. I ought to be there too, but Charles Buller told me there would certainly be no division and so I ventured to pair off with him.’
‘He will come with Vavasour,’ said Sidonia, ‘who makes up our party. They will be here before we have seated ourselves.’
The gentlemen had exchanged the usual inquiry86, whether there was anything new today, without waiting for the answer. Sidonia introduced Tancred and Lord Marney.
‘And what have you been doing today?’ said Edith to Sybil, by whose side she had seated herself. ‘Lady Bardolf did nothing last night but gronder me, because you never go to her parties. In vain I said that you looked upon her as the most odious87 of her sex, and her balls the pest of society. She was not in the least satisfied. And how is Gerard?’
‘Why, we really have been very uneasy about him,’ said Lady Marney, ‘but the last bulletin,’ she added, with a smile, ‘announces a tooth.’
‘Next year you must give him a pony88, and let him ride with my Harry; I mean my little Harry, Harry of Monmouth I call him; he is so like a portrait Mr. Coningsby has of his grandfather, the same debauched look.’
‘Your dinner is served, sir!’
Sidonia offered his hand to Lady Marney; Edith was attended by Tancred. A door at the end of the room opened into a marble corridor, which led to the dining-room, decorated in the same style as the library. It was a suite89 of apartments which Sidonia used for an intimate circle like the present.
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1
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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coved
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| v.小海湾( cove的过去分词 )；家伙 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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7
umbrageous
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| adj.多荫的 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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urn
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| n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮 | |
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daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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outweighed
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| v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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16
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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29
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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33
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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constituent
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| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
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disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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desuetude
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| n.废止，不用 | |
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indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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inflexibility
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| n.不屈性，顽固，不变性；不可弯曲；非挠性；刚性 | |
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41
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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42
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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44
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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45
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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46
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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47
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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48
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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49
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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51
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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52
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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53
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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54
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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55
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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56
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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57
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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58
drollery
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| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
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59
omniscience
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| n.全知，全知者，上帝 | |
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60
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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62
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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66
oblation
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| n.圣餐式；祭品 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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pedantic
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| adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的 | |
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69
carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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70
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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71
pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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77
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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79
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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80
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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83
tadpole
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| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
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84
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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85
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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86
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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