TO FEEL that the possessions of an illustrious ancestry2 are about to slide from out your line for ever; that the numerous tenantry, who look up to you with the confiding3 eye that the most liberal parvenu4 cannot attract, will not count you among their lords; that the proud park, filled with the ancient and toppling trees that your fathers planted, will yield neither its glory nor its treasures to your seed, and that the old gallery, whose walls are hung with pictures more cherished than the collections of kings, will not breathe with your long posterity5; all these are feelings sad and trying, and are among those daily pangs6 which moralists have forgotten in their catalogue of miseries7, but which do not the less wear out those heart-strings at which they are so constantly tugging8.
This was the situation of Mr. Dacre. The whole of his large property was entailed9, and descended10 to his nephew, who was a Protestant; and yet, when he looked upon the blooming face of his enchanting11 daughter, he blessed the Providence12 which, after all his visitations, had doomed13 him to be the sire of a thing so lovely. An exile from her country at an early age, the education of May Dacre had been completed in a foreign land; yet the mingling14 bloods of Dacre and of Howard would not in a moment have permitted her to forget The inviolate15 island of the sage16 and free! even if the unceasing and ever-watchful exertions17 of her father had been wanting to make her worthy18 of so illustrious an ancestry.
But this, happily, was not the case; and to aid the development of the infant mind of his young child, to pour forth19 to her, as she grew in years and in reason, all the fruits of his own richly-cultivated intellect, was the solitary20 consolation21 of one over whose conscious head was impending22 the most awful of visitations. May Dacre was gifted with a mind which, even if her tutor had not been her father, would have rendered tuition a delight. Her lively imagination, which early unfolded itself; her dangerous yet interesting vivacity23; the keen delight, the swift enthusiasm, with which she drank in knowledge, and then panted for more; her shrewd acuteness, and her innate24 passion for the excellent and the beautiful, filled her father with rapture25 which he repressed, and made him feel conscious how much there was to check, to guide, and to form, as well as to cherish, to admire, and to applaud.
As she grew up the bright parts of her character shone with increased lustre26; but, in spite of the exertions of her instructor27, some less admirable qualities had not yet disappeared. She was still too often the dupe of her imagination, and though perfectly28 inexperienced, her confidence in her theoretical knowledge of human nature was unbounded. She had an idea that she could penetrate29 the characters of individuals at a first meeting; and the consequence of this fatal axiom was, that she was always the slave of first impressions, and constantly the victim of prejudice. She was ever thinking individuals better or worse than they really were, and she believed it to be out of the power of anyone to deceive her. Constant attendance during many years on a dying and beloved mother, and her deeply religious feelings, had first broken, and then controlled, a spirit which nature had intended to be arrogant30 and haughty31. Her father she adored; and she seemed to devote to him all that consideration which, with more common characters, is generally distributed among their acquaintance. We hint at her faults. How shall we describe her virtues32? Her unbounded generosity34, her dignified35 simplicity36, her graceful37 frankness, her true nobility of thought and feeling, her firmness, her courage and her truth, her kindness to her inferiors, her constant charity, her devotion to her parents, her sympathy with sorrow, her detestation of oppression, her pure unsullied thoughts, her delicate taste, her deep religion. All these combined would have formed a delightful38 character, even if unaccompanied with such brilliant talents and such brilliant beauty. Accustomed from an early age to the converse39 of courts and the forms of the most polished circles, her manner became her blood, her beauty, and her mind. Yet she rather acted in unison40 with the spirit of society than obeyed its minutest decree. She violated etiquette41 with a wilful42 grace which made the outrage43 a precedent44, and she mingled45 with princes without feeling her inferiority. Nature, and art, and fortune were the graces which had combined to form this girl. She was a jewel set in gold, and worn by a king.
Her creed46 had made her, in ancient Christendom, feel less an alien; but when she returned to that native country which she had never forgotten, she found that creed her degradation47. Her indignant spirit clung with renewed ardour to the crushed altars of her faith; and not before those proud shrines48 where cardinals49 officiate, and a thousand acolytes50 fling their censers, had she bowed with half the abandonment of spirit with which she invoked51 the Virgin52 in her oratory53 at Dacre.
The recent death of her mother rendered Mr. Dacre and herself little inclined to enter society; and as they were both desirous of residing on that estate from which they had been so long and so unwillingly54 absent, they had not yet visited London. The greater part of their time had been passed chiefly in communication with those great Catholic families with whom the Dacres were allied55, and to which they belonged. The modern race of the Howards and the Cliffords, the Talbots, the Arundels, and the Jerninghams, were not unworthy of their proud progenitors56. Miss Dacre observed with respect, and assuredly with sympathy, the mild dignity, the noble patience, the proud humility57, the calm hope, the uncompromising courage, with which her father and his friends sustained their oppression and lived as proscribed58 in the realm which they had created. Yet her lively fancy and gay spirit found less to admire in the feelings which influenced these families in their intercourse59 with the world, which induced them to foster but slight intimacies60 out of the pale of the proscribed, and which tinged61 their domestic life with that formal and gloomy colouring which ever accompanies a monotonous62 existence. Her disposition63 told her that all this affected64 non-interference with the business of society might be politic65, but assuredly was not pleasant; her quick sense whispered to her it was unwise, and that it retarded66, not advanced, the great result in which her sanguine67 temper dared often to indulge. Under any circumstances, it did not appear to her to be wisdom to second the efforts of their oppressors for their degradation or their misery68, and to seek no consolation in the amiable69 feelings of their fellow-creatures for the stern rigour of their unsocial government. But, independently of all general principles, Miss Dacre could not but believe that it was the duty of the Catholic gentry70 to mix more with that world which so misconceived their spirit. Proud in her conscious knowledge of their exalted71 virtues, she felt that they had only to be known to be recognised as the worthy leaders of that nation which they had so often saved and never betrayed.
She did not conceal72 her opinions from the circle in which they had grown up. All the young members were her disciples73, and were decidedly of opinion that if the House of Lords would but listen to May Dacre, emancipation74 would be a settled thing. Her logic75 would have destroyed Lord Liverpool’s arguments; her wit extinguished Lord Eldon’s jokes. But the elder members only shed a solemn smile, and blessed May Dacre’s shining eyes and sanguine spirit.
Her greatest supporter was Mrs. Dallington Vere. This lady was a distant relation of Mr. Dacre. At seventeen she, herself a Catholic, had married Mr. Dallington Vere, of Dallington House, a Catholic gentleman of considerable fortune, whose age resembled his wealth. No sooner had this incident taken place than did Mrs. Dallington Vere hurry to London, and soon evinced a most laudable determination to console herself for her husband’s political disabilities. Mrs. Dallington Vere went to Court; and Mrs. Dallington Vere gave suppers after the opera, and concerts which, in number and brilliancy, were only equalled by her balls. The dandies patronised her, and selected her for their Muse76. The Duke of Shropshire betted on her always at écarté; and, to crown the whole affair, she made Mr. Dallington Vere lay claim to a dormant77 peerage. The women were all pique78, the men all patronage79. A Protestant minister was alarmed; and Lord Squib supposed that Mrs. Dallington must be the Scarlet80 Lady of whom they had heard so often.
Season after season she kept up the ball; and although, of course, she no longer made an equal sensation, she was not less brilliant, nor her position less eminent81. She had got into the best set, and was more quiet, like a patriot82 in place. Never was there a gayer lady than Mrs. Dallington Vere, but never a more prudent83 one. Her virtue33 was only equalled by her discretion84; but, as the odds85 were equal, Lord Squib betted on the last. People sometimes indeed did say — they always will — but what is talk? Mere86 breath. And reputation is marble, and iron, and sometimes brass87; and so, you see, talk has no chance. They did say that Sir Lucius Grafton was about to enter into the Romish communion; but then it turned out that it was only to get a divorce from his wife, on the plea that she was a heretic.
The fact was, Mrs. Dallington Vere was a most successful woman, lucky in everything, lucky even in her husband; for he died. He did not only die; he left his whole fortune to his wife. Some said that his relations were going to set aside the will, on the plea that it was written with a crow-quill on pink paper; but this was false; it was only a codicil88.
All eyes were on a very pretty woman, with fifteen thousand a year, and only twenty-three. The Duke of Shropshire wished he were disembarrassed. Such a player of écarté might double her income. Lord Raff advanced, trusting to his beard, and young Amadée de Rouerie mortgaged his dressing-case, and came post from Paris; but in spite of his sky-blue nether89 garments and his Hessians, he followed my Lord’s example, and recrossed the water. It is even said that Lord Squib was sentimental90; but this must have been the malice91 of Charles Annesley.
All, however, failed. The truth is, Mrs. Dallington Vere had nothing to gain by reentering Paradise, which matrimony, of course, is; and so she determined92 to remain mistress of herself. She had gained fashion, and fortune, and rank; she was young, and she was pretty. She thought it might be possible for a discreet93, experienced little lady to lead a very pleasant life without being assisted in her expenses or disturbed in her diversion by a gentleman who called himself her husband, occasionally asked her how she slept in a bed which he did not share, or munificently94 presented her with a necklace purchased with her own money. Discreet Mrs. Dallington Vere!
She had been absent from London during the past season, having taken it also into her head to travel.
She was equally admired and equally plotted for at Rome, at Paris, and at Vienna, as at London; but the bird had not been caught, and, flying away, left many a despairing prince and amorous95 count to muse over their lean visages and meagre incomes.
Dallington House made its fair mistress a neighbour of her relations, the Dacres. No one could be a more fascinating companion than Mrs. Dallington Vere. May Dacre read her character at once, and these ladies became great allies. She was to assist Miss Dacre in her plans for rousing their Catholic friends, as no one was better qualified96 to be her adjutant. Already they had commenced their operations, and balls at Dallington and Dacre, frequent, splendid, and various, had already made the Catholic houses the most eminent in the Riding, and their brilliant mistresses the heroines of all the youth.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ancestry
|
|
| n.祖先，家世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
confiding
|
|
| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
parvenu
|
|
| n.暴发户，新贵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
posterity
|
|
| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
pangs
|
|
| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
entailed
|
|
| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
enchanting
|
|
| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
doomed
|
|
| 命定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
mingling
|
|
| adj.混合的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
inviolate
|
|
| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
sage
|
|
| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
exertions
|
|
| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
consolation
|
|
| n.安慰，慰问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
impending
|
|
| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
vivacity
|
|
| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
innate
|
|
| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
rapture
|
|
| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
lustre
|
|
| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
instructor
|
|
| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
arrogant
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
haughty
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
converse
|
|
| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
unison
|
|
| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
etiquette
|
|
| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
wilful
|
|
| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
precedent
|
|
| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
degradation
|
|
| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
shrines
|
|
| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
cardinals
|
|
| 红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
acolytes
|
|
| n.助手( acolyte的名词复数 )；随从；新手；（天主教）侍祭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
invoked
|
|
| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
oratory
|
|
| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
unwillingly
|
|
| adv.不情愿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
allied
|
|
| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
progenitors
|
|
| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
humility
|
|
| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
proscribed
|
|
| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
intimacies
|
|
| 亲密( intimacy的名词复数 )； 密切； 亲昵的言行； 性行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
tinged
|
|
| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
politic
|
|
| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
retarded
|
|
| a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
sanguine
|
|
| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
gentry
|
|
| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
disciples
|
|
| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
emancipation
|
|
| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
muse
|
|
| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
dormant
|
|
| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
pique
|
|
| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
patronage
|
|
| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
patriot
|
|
| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
prudent
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
discretion
|
|
| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
odds
|
|
| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
codicil
|
|
| n.遗嘱的附录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
nether
|
|
| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
malice
|
|
| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
discreet
|
|
| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
munificently
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
95
amorous
|
|
| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
qualified
|
|
| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |