But here and there, Mr. Hampole became less obvious, and perhaps more really profitable. For example, there is a passage—it has already been quoted, I think, by some modern author—which seems curious enough.
Has it ever been your fortune, courteous18 reader [Mr. Hampole inquired] to rise in the earliest dawning of a summer day, ere yet the radiant beams of the sun have done more than touch with light the domes20 and spires21 of the great city?...If this has been your lot, have you not observed that magic powers have apparently22 been at work? The accustomed scene has lost its familiar appearance. The houses which you have passed daily, it may be for years, as you have issued forth23 on your business or on your pleasure, now seem as if you beheld24 them for the first time. They have suffered a mysterious change, into something rich and strange. Though they may have been designed with no extraordinary exertion25 of the art of architecture...yet you have been ready to admit that they now “stand in glory, shine like stars, apparelled in a light serene26.” They have become magical habitations, supernal27 dwellings28, more desirable to the eye than the fabled29 pleasure dome19 of the Eastern potentate30, or the bejewelled hall built by the Genie31 for Aladdin in the Arabian tale.
A good deal in this vein32; and then, when one expected the obvious warning against putting trust in appearances, both transitory and delusory, there came a very odd passage:
Some have declared that it lies within our own choice to gaze continually upon a world of equal or even greater wonder and beauty. It is said by these that the experiments of the alchemists of the Dark Ages...are, in fact, related, not to the transmutation’ of metals, but to the transmutation of the entire Universe...This method, or art, or science, or whatever we choose to call it (supposing it to exist, or to have ever existed), is simply concerned to restore the delights of the primal33 Paradise; to enable men, if they will, to inhabit a world of joy and splendour. It is perhaps possible that there is such an experiment, and that there are some who have made it.
The reader was referred to a note—one of several—at the end of the volume, and Arnold, already a good deal interested by this unexpected vein in the Reverend Thomas, looked it up. And thus it ran:
I am aware that these speculations34 may strike the reader as both singular and (I may, perhaps, add) chimerical35; and, indeed, I may have been somewhat rash and ill-advised in committing them to the printed page. If I have done wrong, I hope for pardon; and, indeed, I am far from advising anyone who may read these lines to engage in the doubtful and difficult experiment which they adumbrate36. Still; we are bidden to be seekers of the truth: veritas contra mundum.
I am strengthened in my belief that there is at least some foundation for the strange theories at which I have hinted, by an experience that befell me in the early days of my ministry37. Soon after the termination of my first curacy, and after I had been admitted to Priest’s Orders, I spent some months in London, living with relations in Kensington. A college friend of mine, whom I will call the Reverend Mr. S——, was, I was aware, a curate in a suburb of the north of London, S.N. I wrote to him, and afterwards called at his lodgings38 at his invitation. I found S—— in a state of some perturbation. He was threatened, it seemed, with an affection of the lungs and his medical adviser39 was insistent40 that he should leave London for awhile, and spend the four months of the winter in the more genial41 climate of Devonshire. Unless this were done, the doctor declared, the consequences to my friend’s health might be of a very serious kind. S—— was very willing to act on this advice, and indeed, anxious to do so; but, on the other hand, he did not wish to resign his curacy, in which, as he said, he was both happy and, he trusted, useful. On hearing this, I at once proffered42 my services, telling him that if his Vicar approved, I should be happy to do his duty till the end of the ensuing March; or even later, if the physicians considered a longer stay in the south would be advisable. S—— was overjoyed. He took me at once to see the Vicar; the fitting inquiries43 were made, and I entered on my temporary duties in the course of a fortnight.
It was during this brief ministry in the environs of London, that I became acquainted with a very singular person, whom I shall call Glanville. He was a regular attendant at our services, and, in the course of my duty, I called on him, and expressed my gratification at his evident attachment44 to the Liturgy45 of the Church of England. He replied with due politeness, asked me to sit down and partake with him of the soothing46 cup, and we soon found ourselves engaged in conversation. I discovered early in our association that he was conversant47 with the reveries of the German Theosophist, Behmen, and the later works of his English disciple48, William Law; and it was clear to me that he looked on these labyrinths49 of mystical theology with a friendly eye. He was a middle-aged50 man, spare of habit, and of a dark complexion51; and his face was illuminated52 in a very impressive manner, as he discussed the speculations which had evidently occupied his thoughts for many years. Based as these theories were on the doctrines54 (if we may call them by that name) of Law and Behmen, they struck me as of an extremely fantastic, I would even say fabulous55, nature, but I confess that I listened with a considerable degree of interest, while making it evident that as a Minister of the Church of England I was far from giving my free assent56 to the propositions that were placed before me. They were not, it is true, manifestly and certainly opposed to orthodox belief, but they were assuredly strange, and as such to be received with salutary caution. As an example of the ideas which beset a mind which was ingenious, and I may say, devout57, I may mention that Mr. Glanville often dwelt on a consequence, not generally acknowledged, of the Fall of Man. “When man yielded,” he would say, “to the mysterious temptation intimated by the figurative language of Holy Writ58, the universe, originally fluid and the servant of his spirit, became solid, and crashed down upon him overwhelming him beneath its weight and its dead mass.” I requested him to furnish me with more light on this remarkable59 belief; and I found that in his opinion that which we now regard as stubborn matter was, primally60, to use his singular phraseology, the Heavenly Chaos61, a soft and ductile62 substance, which could be moulded by the imagination of uncorrupted man into whatever forms he chose it to assume. “Strange as it may seem,” he added, “the wild inventions (as we consider them) of the Arabian Tales give us some notion of the powers of the homo protoplastus. The prosperous city becomes a lake, the carpet transports us in an instant of time, or rather without time, from one end of the earth to another, the palace rises at a word from nothingness. Magic, we call all this, while we deride63 the possibility of any such feats64; but this magic of the East is but a confused and fragmentary recollection of operations which were of the first nature of man, and of the fiat66 which was then entrusted67 to him.”
I listened to this and other similar expositions of Mr. Glanville’s extraordinary beliefs with some interest, as I have remarked. I could not but feel that such opinions were in many respects more in accordance with the doctrine53 I had undertaken to expound68 than much of the teaching of the philosophers of the day, who seemed to exalt69 rationalism at the expense of Reason, as that divine faculty70 was exhibited by Coleridge. Still, when I assented71, I made it clear to Glanville that my assent was qualified72 by my firm adherence73 to the principles which I had solemnly professed74 at my ordination75.
The months went by in the peaceful performance of the pastoral duties of my office. Early in March, I received a letter from my friend Mr. S——, who informed me that he had greatly benefited by the air of Torquay, and that his medical adviser had assured him that he need no longer hesitate to resume his duties in London. Consequently, S—— proposed to return at once, and, after warmly expressed thanks for my extreme kindness, as he called it, he announced his wish to perform his part in the Church services on the following Sunday. Accordingly, I paid my final visits to those of the parishioners with whom I had more particularly associated, reserving my call on Mr. Glanville for the last day of my residence at S.N. He was sorry, I think, to hear of my impending76 departure, and told me that he would always recollect65 our conversational77 exchanges with much pleasure.
“I, too, am leaving S.N.,” he added. “Early next week I sail for the East, where my stay may be prolonged for a considerable period.”
After mutual78 expressions of polite regret, I rose from my chair, and was about to make my farewells, when I observed that Glanville was gazing at me with a fixed79 and singular regard.
“One moment,” he said, beckoning80 me to the window, where he was standing81. “I want to show you the view. I don’t think you have seen it.”
The suggestion struck me as peculiar82, to say the least of it. I was, of course, familiar with the street in which Glanville resided, as with most of the S.N. streets; and he on his side must have been well aware that no prospect83 that his window might command could show me anything that I had not seen many times during my four months’ stay in the parish. In addition to this, the streets of our London suburbs do not often offer a spectacle to engage the amateur of landscape and the picturesque84. I was hesitating, hardly knowing whether to comply with Glanville’s request, or to treat it as a piece of pleasantry, when it struck me that it was possible that his first-floor window might afford a distant view of St. Paul’s Cathedral; I accordingly stepped to his side, and waited for him to indicate the scene which he, presumably, wished me to admire.
His features still wore the odd expression which I have already remarked.
“Now,” said he, “look out and tell me what you see.”
Still bewildered, I looked through the window, and saw exactly that which I had expected to see: a row or terrace of neatly85 designed residences, separated from the highway by a parterre or miniature park, adorned86 with trees and shrubs87. A road, passing to the right of the terrace, gave a view of streets and crescents of more recent construction, and of some degree of elegance88. Still, in the whole of the familiar spectacle I saw nothing to warrant any particular attention; and, in a more or less jocular manner, I said as much to Glanville.
By way of reply, he touched me lightly with his finger-tips on the shoulder, and said:
“Look again.”
I did so. For a moment, my heart stood still, and I gasped89 for breath. Before me, in place of the familiar structures, there was disclosed a panorama90 of unearthly, of astounding91 beauty. In deep dells, bowered92 by overhanging trees, there bloomed flowers such as only dreams can show; such deep purples that yet seemed to glow like precious stones with a hidden but ever-present radiance, roses whose hues93 outshone any that are to be seen in our gardens, tall lilies alive with light, and blossoms that were as beaten gold. I saw well-shaded walks that went down to green hollows bordered with thyme; and here and there the grassy94 eminence95 above, and the bubbling well below, were crowned with architecture of fantastic and unaccustomed beauty, which seemed to speak of fairyland itself. I might almost say that my soul was ravished by the spectacle displayed before me. I was possessed96 by a degree of rapture97 and delight such as I had never experienced. A sense of beatitude pervaded98 my whole being; my bliss99 was such as cannot be expressed by words. I uttered an inarticulate cry of joy and wonder. And then, under the influence of a swift revulsion of terror, which even now I cannot explain, I turned and rushed from the room and from the house, without one word of comment or farewell to the extraordinary man who had done—I knew not what.
In great perturbation and confusion of mind, I made my way into the street. Needless to say, no trace of the phantasmagoria that had been displayed before me remained. The familiar street had resumed its usual aspect, the terrace stood as I had always seen it, and the newer buildings beyond, where I had seen oh! what dells of delight, what blossoms of glory, stood as before in their neat, though unostentatious order. Where I had seen valleys embowered in green leafage, waving gently in the sunshine and the summer breeze, there were now boughs100 bare and black, scarce showing so much as a single bud. As I have mentioned, the season was early in March, and a black frost which had set in ten days or a fortnight before still constrained101 the earth and its vegetation.
I walked hurriedly away to my lodgings, which were some distance from the abode102 of Glanville. I was sincerely glad to think that I was leaving the neighbourhood on the following day. I may say that up to the present moment I have never revisited S.N.
Some months later I encountered my friend Mr. S——, and under cover of asking about the affairs of the parish in which he still ministered, I inquired after Glanville, with whom (I said) I had made acquaintance. It seemed he had fulfilled his intention of leaving the neighbourhood within a few days of my own departure. He had not confided103 his destination or his plans for the future to anyone in the parish.
“My acquaintance with him,” said S——, “was of the slightest, and I do not think that he made any friends in the locality, though he had resided in S.N. for more than five years.”
It is now some fifteen years since this most strange experience befell me; and during that period I have heard nothing of Glanville. Whether he is still alive in the distant Orient, or whether he is dead, I am completely ignorant.
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1
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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supernal
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| adj.天堂的，天上的；崇高的 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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genie
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| n.妖怪，神怪 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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adumbrate
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| vt.画轮廓，预示 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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liturgy
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| n.礼拜仪式 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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labyrinths
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| 迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 )； （文字，建筑）错综复杂的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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53
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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primally
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| adj.第一的，最初的；原始的；首位的，主要的；根本的 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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ductile
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| adj.易延展的，柔软的 | |
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deride
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| v.嘲弄，愚弄 | |
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64
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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fiat
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| n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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expound
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| v.详述；解释；阐述 | |
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exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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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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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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ordination
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| n.授任圣职 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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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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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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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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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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87
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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89
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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bowered
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| adj.凉亭的，有树荫的 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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100
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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102
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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