A sweet thing is a song; and though the Hebrew captives hung their harps3 on the willows4, that they could not sing the melodies of Palestine before the haughty5 beards of the Babylonians; yet, to themselves, those melodies of other times and a distant land were as sweet as the June dew on Hermon.
And poor Harry was as the Hebrews. He, too, had been carried away captive, though his chief captor and foe6 was himself; and he, too, many a night, was called upon to sing for those who through the day had insulted and derided7 him.
His voice was just the voice to proceed from a small, silken person like his; it was gentle and liquid, and meandered8 and tinkled9 through the words of a song, like a musical brook10 that winds and wantons by pied and pansied margins11.
"I can't sing to-night"—sadly said Harry to the Dutchman, who with his watchmates requested him to while away the middle watch with his melody—"I can't sing to-night. But, Wellingborough," he whispered,—and I stooped my ear,— "come you with me under the lee of the long-boat, and there I'll hum you an air."
It was The Banks of the Blue Moselle.
Poor, poor Harry! and a thousand times friendless and forlorn! To be singing that thing, which was only meant to be warbled by falling fountains in gardens, or in elegant alcoves12 in drawing-rooms,—to be singing it here—here, as I live, under the tarry lee of our long-boat.
But he sang, and sang, as I watched the waves, and peopled them all with sprites, and cried "chassez!" "hands across!" to the multitudinous quadrilles, all danced on the moonlit, musical floor.
But though it went so hard with my friend to sing his songs to this ruffian crew, whom he hated, even in his dreams, till the foam13 flew from his mouth while he slept; yet at last I prevailed upon him to master his feelings, and make them subservient14 to his interests. For so delighted, even with the rudest minstrelsy, are sailors, that I well knew Harry possessed15 a spell over them, which, for the time at least, they could not resist; and it might induce them to treat with more deference16 the being who was capable of yielding them such delight. Carlo's organ they did not so much care for; but the voice of my Bury blade was an accordion17 in their ears.
So one night, on the windlass, he sat and sang; and from the ribald jests so common to sailors, the men slid into silence at every verse. Hushed, and more hushed they grew, till at last Harry sat among them like Orpheus among the charmed leopards18 and tigers. Harmless now the fangs19 with which they were wont20 to tear my zebra, and backward curled in velvet21 paws; and fixed22 their once glaring eyes in fascinated and fascinating brilliancy. Ay, still and hissingly all, for a time, they relinquished23 their prey24.
Now, during the voyage, the treatment of the crew threw Harry more and more upon myself for companionship; and few can keep constant company with another, without revealing some, at least, of their secrets; for all of us yearn25 for sympathy, even if we do not for love; and to be intellectually alone is a thing only tolerable to genius, whose cherisher and inspirer is solitude26.
But though my friend became more communicative concerning his past career than ever he had been before, yet he did not make plain many things in his hitherto but partly divulged27 history, which I was very curious to know; and especially he never made the remotest allusion28 to aught connected with our trip to London; while the oath of secrecy29 by which he had bound me held my curiosity on that point a captive. However, as it was, Harry made many very interesting disclosures; and if he did not gratify me more in that respect, he atoned30 for it in a measure, by dwelling31 upon the future, and the prospects32, such as they were, which the future held out to him.
He confessed that he had no money but a few shillings left from the expenses of our return from London; that only by selling some more of his clothing, could he pay for his first week's board in New York; and that he was altogether without any regular profession or business, upon which, by his own exertions33, he could securely rely for support. And yet, he told me that he was determined34 never again to return to England; and that somewhere in America he must work out his temporal felicity.
"I have forgotten England," he said, "and never more mean to think of it; so tell me, Wellingborough, what am I to do in America?"
It was a puzzling question, and full of grief to me, who, young though I was, had been well rubbed, curried35, and ground down to fine powder in the hopper of an evil fortune, and who therefore could sympathize with one in similar circumstances. For though we may look grave and behave kindly36 and considerately to a friend in calamity37; yet, if we have never actually experienced something like the woe38 that weighs him down, we can not with the best grace proffer39 our sympathy. And perhaps there is no true sympathy but between equals; and it may be, that we should distrust that man's sincerity40, who stoops to condole41 with us.
So Harry and I, two friendless wanderers, beguiled42 many a long watch by talking over our common affairs. But inefficient43, as a benefactor44, as I certainly was; still, being an American, and returning to my home; even as he was a stranger, and hurrying from his; therefore, I stood toward him in the attitude of the prospective45 doer of the honors of my country; I accounted him the nation's guest. Hence, I esteemed46 it more befitting, that I should rather talk with him, than he with me: that his prospects and plans should engage our attention, in preference to my own.
Now, seeing that Harry was so brave a songster, and could sing such bewitching airs: I suggested whether his musical talents could not be turned to account. The thought struck him most favorably—"Gad, my boy, you have hit it, you have," and then he went on to mention, that in some places in England, it was customary for two or three young men of highly respectable families, of undoubted antiquity47, but unfortunately in lamentably48 decayed circumstances, and thread-bare coats—it was customary for two or three young gentlemen, so situated49, to obtain their livelihood50 by their voices: coining their silvery songs into silvery shillings.
They wandered from door to door, and rang the bell—Are the ladies and gentlemen in? Seeing them at least gentlemanly looking, if not sumptuously51 appareled, the servant generally admitted them at once; and when the people entered to greet them, their spokesman would rise with a gentle bow, and a smile, and say, We come, ladies and gentlemen, to sing you a song: we are singers, at your service. And so, without waiting reply, forth52 they burst into song; and having most mellifluous53 voices, enchanted54 and transported all auditors55; so much so, that at the conclusion of the entertainment, they very seldom failed to be well recompensed, and departed with an invitation to return again, and make the occupants of that dwelling once more delighted and happy.
"Could not something of this kind now, be done in New York?" said Harry, "or are there no parlors56 with ladies in them, there?" he anxiously added.
Again I assured him, as I had often done before, that New York was a civilized57 and enlightened town; with a large population, fine streets, fine houses, nay58, plenty of omnibuses; and that for the most part, he would almost think himself in England; so similar to England, in essentials, was this outlandish America that haunted him.
I could not but be struck—and had I not been, from my birth, as it were, a cosmopolite—I had been amazed at his skepticism with regard to the civilization of my native land. A greater patriot59 than myself might have resented his insinuations. He seemed to think that we Yankees lived in wigwams, and wore bear-skins. After all, Harry was a spice of a Cockney, and had shut up his Christendom in London.
Having then assured him, that I could see no reason, why he should not play the troubadour in New York, as well as elsewhere; he suddenly popped upon me the question, whether I would not join him in the enterprise; as it would be quite out of the question to go alone on such a business.
Said I, "My dear Bury, I have no more voice for a ditty, than a dumb man has for an oration60. Sing? Such Macadamized lungs have I, that I think myself well off, that I can talk; let alone nightingaling."
So that plan was quashed; and by-and-by Harry began to give up the idea of singing himself into a livelihood.
"No, I won't sing for my mutton," said he—"what would Lady Georgiana say?"
"If I could see her ladyship once, I might tell you, Harry," returned I, who did not exactly doubt him, but felt ill at ease for my bosom61 friend's conscience, when he alluded62 to his various noble and right honorable friends and relations.
"But surely, Bury, my friend, you must write a clerkly hand, among your other accomplishments63; and that at least, will be sure to help you."
"I do write a hand," he gladly rejoined—"there, look at the implement64!—do you not think, that such a hand as that might dot an i, or cross a t, with a touching65 grace and tenderness?"
Indeed, but it did betoken66 a most excellent penmanship. It was small; and the fingers were long and thin; the knuckles67 softly rounded; the nails hemispherical at the base; and the smooth palm furnishing few characters for an Egyptian fortune-teller to read. It was not as the sturdy farmer's hand of Cincinnatus, who followed the plough and guided the state; but it was as the perfumed hand of Petronius Arbiter68, that elegant young buck69 of a Roman, who once cut great Seneca dead in the forum70.
His hand alone, would have entitled my Bury blade to the suffrages71 of that Eastern potentate72, who complimented Lord Byron upon his feline73 fingers, declaring that they furnished indubitable evidence of his noble birth. And so it did: for Lord Byron was as all the rest of us—the son of a man. And so are the dainty-handed, and wee-footed half-cast paupers74 in Lima; who, if their hands and feet were entitled to consideration, would constitute the oligarchy75 of all Peru.
Folly76 and foolishness! to think that a gentleman is known by his finger-nails, like Nebuchadnezzar, when his grew long in the pasture: or that the badge of nobility is to be found in the smallness of the foot, when even a fish has no foot at all!
Dandies! amputate yourselves, if you will; but know, and be assured, oh, democrats77, that, like a pyramid, a great man stands on a broad base. It is only the brittle78 porcelain79 pagoda80, that tottles on a toe.
But though Harry's hand was lady-like looking, and had once been white as the queen's cambric handkerchief, and free from a stain as the reputation of Diana; yet, his late pulling and hauling of halyards and clew-lines, and his occasional dabbling81 in tar-pots and slush-shoes, had somewhat subtracted from its original daintiness.
Often he ruefully eyed it.
Oh! hand! thought Harry, ah, hand! what have you come to? Is it seemly, that you should be polluted with pitch, when you once handed countesses to their coaches? Is this the hand I kissed to the divine Georgiana? with which I pledged Lady Blessington, and ratified82 my bond to Lord Lovely? This the hand that Georgiana clasped to her bosom, when she vowed83 she was mine?—Out of sight, recreant84 and apostate85!—deep down—disappear in this foul86 monkey-jacket pocket where I thrust you!
After many long conversations, it was at last pretty well decided87, that upon our arrival at New York, some means should be taken among my few friends there, to get Harry a place in a mercantile house, where he might flourish his pen, and gently exercise his delicate digits88, by traversing some soft foolscap; in the same way that slim, pallid89 ladies are gently drawn90 through a park for an airing.
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1
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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harps
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| abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 ) | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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meandered
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| （指溪流、河流等）蜿蜒而流( meander的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tinkled
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| （使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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margins
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| 边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数 | |
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alcoves
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| n.凹室( alcove的名词复数 )；（花园）凉亭；僻静处；壁龛 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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accordion
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| n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的 | |
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leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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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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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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relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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yearn
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| v.想念；怀念；渴望 | |
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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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divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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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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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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curried
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| adj.加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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condole
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| v.同情；慰问 | |
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beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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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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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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51
sumptuously
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| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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mellifluous
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| adj.（音乐等）柔美流畅的 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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parlors
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| 客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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betoken
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| v.预示 | |
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knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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arbiter
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| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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suffrages
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| （政治性选举的）选举权，投票权( suffrage的名词复数 ) | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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pagoda
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| n.宝塔（尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔），（印度教或佛教的）塔式庙宇 | |
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dabbling
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| v.涉猎( dabble的现在分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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ratified
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| v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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84
recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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85
apostate
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| n.背叛者，变节者 | |
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86
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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87
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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88
digits
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| n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾 | |
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89
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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90
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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