These preliminary confessions1, or introductory narrative2 of the youthful adventures which laid the foundation of the writer’s habit of opium3-eating in after-life, it has been judged proper to premise4, for three several reasons:
1. As forestalling5 that question, and giving it a satisfactory answer, which else would painfully obtrude7 itself in the course of the Opium Confessions—“How came any reasonable being to subject himself to such a yoke8 of misery9; voluntarily to incur10 a captivity11 so servile, and knowingly to fetter12 himself with such a sevenfold chain?”—a question which, if not somewhere plausibly13 resolved, could hardly fail, by the indignation which it would be apt to raise as against an act of wanton folly14, to interfere15 with that degree of sympathy which is necessary in any case to an author’s purposes.
2. As furnishing a key to some parts of that tremendous scenery which afterwards peopled the dreams of the Opium-eater.
3. As creating some previous interest of a personal sort in the confessing subject, apart from the matter of the confessions, which cannot fail to render the confessions themselves more interesting. If a man “whose talk is of oxen” should become an opium-eater, the probability is that (if he is not too dull to dream at all) he will dream about oxen; whereas, in the case before him, the reader will find that the Opium-eater boasteth himself to be a philosopher; and accordingly, that the phantasmagoria of his dreams (waking or sleeping, day-dreams or night-dreams) is suitable to one who in that character
Humani nihil a se alienum putat.
For amongst the conditions which he deems indispensable to the sustaining of any claim to the title of philosopher is not merely the possession of a superb intellect in its analytic16 functions (in which part of the pretensions18, however, England can for some generations show but few claimants; at least, he is not aware of any known candidate for this honour who can be styled emphatically a subtle thinker, with the exception of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and in a narrower department of thought with the recent illustrious exception {2} of David Ricardo) but also on such a constitution of the moral faculties19 as shall give him an inner eye and power of intuition for the vision and the mysteries of our human nature: that constitution of faculties, in short, which (amongst all the generations of men that from the beginning of time have deployed20 into life, as it were, upon this planet) our English poets have possessed21 in the highest degree, and Scottish professors {3} in the lowest.
I have often been asked how I first came to be a regular opium-eater, and have suffered, very unjustly, in the opinion of my acquaintance from being reputed to have brought upon myself all the sufferings which I shall have to record, by a long course of indulgence in this practice purely22 for the sake of creating an artificial state of pleasurable excitement. This, however, is a misrepresentation of my case. True it is that for nearly ten years I did occasionally take opium for the sake of the exquisite23 pleasure it gave me; but so long as I took it with this view I was effectually protected from all material bad consequences by the necessity of interposing long intervals24 between the several acts of indulgence, in order to renew the pleasurable sensations. It was not for the purpose of creating pleasure, but of mitigating25 pain in the severest degree, that I first began to use opium as an article of daily diet. In the twenty-eighth year of my age a most painful affection of the stomach, which I had first experienced about ten years before, attacked me in great strength. This affection had originally been caused by extremities26 of hunger, suffered in my boyish days. During the season of hope and redundant27 happiness which succeeded (that is, from eighteen to twenty-four) it had slumbered29; for the three following years it had revived at intervals; and now, under unfavourable circumstances, from depression of spirits, it attacked me with a violence that yielded to no remedies but opium. As the youthful sufferings which first produced this derangement31 of the stomach were interesting in themselves, and in the circumstances that attended them, I shall here briefly32 retrace33 them.
My father died when I was about seven years old, and left me to the care of four guardians35. I was sent to various schools, great and small; and was very early distinguished36 for my classical attainments37, especially for my knowledge of Greek. At thirteen I wrote Greek with ease; and at fifteen my command of that language was so great that I not only composed Greek verses in lyric39 metres, but could converse40 in Greek fluently and without embarrassment41—an accomplishment42 which I have not since met with in any scholar of my times, and which in my case was owing to the practice of daily reading off the newspapers into the best Greek I could furnish extempore; for the necessity of ransacking43 my memory and invention for all sorts and combinations of periphrastic expressions as equivalents for modern ideas, images, relations of things, &c., gave me a compass of diction which would never have been called out by a dull translation of moral essays, &c. “That boy,” said one of my masters, pointing the attention of a stranger to me, “that boy could harangue44 an Athenian mob better than you and I could address an English one.” He who honoured me with this eulogy45 was a scholar, “and a ripe and a good one,” and of all my tutors was the only one whom I loved or reverenced46. Unfortunately for me (and, as I afterwards learned, to this worthy48 man’s great indignation), I was transferred to the care, first of a blockhead, who was in a perpetual panic lest I should expose his ignorance; and finally to that of a respectable scholar at the head of a great school on an ancient foundation. This man had been appointed to his situation by --- College, Oxford50, and was a sound, well-built scholar, but (like most men whom I have known from that college) coarse, clumsy, and inelegant. A miserable51 contrast he presented, in my eyes, to the Etonian brilliancy of my favourite master; and beside, he could not disguise from my hourly notice the poverty and meagreness of his understanding. It is a bad thing for a boy to be and to know himself far beyond his tutors, whether in knowledge or in power of mind. This was the case, so far as regarded knowledge at least, not with myself only, for the two boys, who jointly53 with myself composed the first form, were better Grecians than the head-master, though not more elegant scholars, nor at all more accustomed to sacrifice to the Graces. When I first entered I remember that we read Sophocles; and it was a constant matter of triumph to us, the learned triumvirate of the first form, to see our “Archididascalus” (as he loved to be called) conning54 our lessons before we went up, and laying a regular train, with lexicon55 and grammar, for blowing up and blasting (as it were) any difficulties he found in the choruses; whilst we never condescended56 to open our books until the moment of going up, and were generally employed in writing epigrams upon his wig58 or some such important matter. My two class-fellows were poor, and dependent for their future prospects59 at the university on the recommendation of the head-master; but I, who had a small patrimonial61 property, the income of which was sufficient to support me at college, wished to be sent thither62 immediately. I made earnest representations on the subject to my guardians, but all to no purpose. One, who was more reasonable and had more knowledge of the world than the rest, lived at a distance; two of the other three resigned all their authority into the hands of the fourth; and this fourth, with whom I had to negotiate, was a worthy man in his way, but haughty64, obstinate65, and intolerant of all opposition66 to his will. After a certain number of letters and personal interviews, I found that I had nothing to hope for, not even a compromise of the matter, from my guardian34. Unconditional submission67 was what he demanded, and I prepared myself, therefore, for other measures. Summer was now coming on with hasty steps, and my seventeenth birthday was fast approaching, after which day I had sworn within myself that I would no longer be numbered amongst schoolboys. Money being what I chiefly wanted, I wrote to a woman of high rank, who, though young herself, had known me from a child, and had latterly treated me with great distinction, requesting that she would “lend” me five guineas. For upwards68 of a week no answer came, and I was beginning to despond, when at length a servant put into my hands a double letter with a coronet on the seal. The letter was kind and obliging. The fair writer was on the sea-coast, and in that way the delay had arisen; she enclosed double of what I had asked, and good-naturedly hinted that if I should never repay her, it would not absolutely ruin her. Now, then, I was prepared for my scheme. Ten guineas, added to about two which I had remaining from my pocket-money, seemed to me sufficient for an indefinite length of time; and at that happy age, if no definite boundary can be assigned to one’s power, the spirit of hope and pleasure makes it virtually infinite.
It is a just remark of Dr. Johnson’s (and, what cannot often be said of his remarks, it is a very feeling one), that we never do anything consciously for the last time (of things, that is, which we have long been in the habit of doing) without sadness of heart. This truth I felt deeply when I came to leave ---, a place which I did not love, and where I had not been happy. On the evening before I left --- for ever, I grieved when the ancient and lofty schoolroom resounded69 with the evening service, performed for the last time in my hearing; and at night, when the muster-roll of names was called over, and mine (as usual) was called first, I stepped forward, and passing the head-master, who was standing52 by, I bowed to him, and looked earnestly in his face, thinking to myself, “He is old and infirm, and in this world I shall not see him again.” I was right; I never did see him again, nor ever shall. He looked at me complacently70, smiled good-naturedly, returned my salutation (or rather my valediction), and we parted (though he knew it not) for ever. I could not reverence47 him intellectually, but he had been uniformly kind to me, and had allowed me many indulgences; and I grieved at the thought of the mortification71 I should inflict72 upon him.
The morning came which was to launch me into the world, and from which my whole succeeding life has in many important points taken its colouring. I lodged73 in the head-master’s house, and had been allowed from my first entrance the indulgence of a private room, which I used both as a sleeping-room and as a study. At half after three I rose, and gazed with deep emotion at the ancient towers of ---, “drest in earliest light,” and beginning to crimson74 with the radiant lustre75 of a cloudless July morning. I was firm and immovable in my purpose; but yet agitated76 by anticipation77 of uncertain danger and troubles; and if I could have foreseen the hurricane and perfect hail-storm of affliction which soon fell upon me, well might I have been agitated. To this agitation78 the deep peace of the morning presented an affecting contrast, and in some degree a medicine. The silence was more profound than that of midnight; and to me the silence of a summer morning is more touching79 than all other silence, because, the light being broad and strong as that of noonday at other seasons of the year, it seems to differ from perfect day chiefly because man is not yet abroad; and thus the peace of nature and of the innocent creatures of God seems to be secure and deep only so long as the presence of man and his restless and unquiet spirit are not there to trouble its sanctity. I dressed myself, took my hat and gloves, and lingered a little in the room. For the last year and a half this room had been my “pensive citadel”: here I had read and studied through all the hours of night, and though true it was that for the latter part of this time I, who was framed for love and gentle affections, had lost my gaiety and happiness during the strife80 and fever of contention81 with my guardian, yet, on the other hand, as a boy so passionately82 fond of books, and dedicated84 to intellectual pursuits, I could not fail to have enjoyed many happy hours in the midst of general dejection. I wept as I looked round on the chair, hearth85, writing-table, and other familiar objects, knowing too certainly that I looked upon them for the last time. Whilst I write this it is eighteen years ago, and yet at this moment I see distinctly, as if it were yesterday, the lineaments and expression of the object on which I fixed86 my parting gaze. It was a picture of the lovely ---, which hung over the mantelpiece, the eyes and mouth of which were so beautiful, and the whole countenance87 so radiant with benignity88 and divine tranquillity89, that I had a thousand times laid down my pen or my book to gather consolation90 from it, as a devotee from his patron saint. Whilst I was yet gazing upon it the deep tones of --- clock proclaimed that it was four o’clock. I went up to the picture, kissed it, and then gently walked out and closed the door for ever!
* * * * *
So blended and intertwisted in this life are occasions of laughter and of tears, that I cannot yet recall without smiling an incident which occurred at that time, and which had nearly put a stop to the immediate63 execution of my plan. I had a trunk of immense weight, for, besides my clothes, it contained nearly all my library. The difficulty was to get this removed to a carrier’s: my room was at an a?rial elevation91 in the house, and (what was worse) the staircase which communicated with this angle of the building was accessible only by a gallery, which passed the head-master’s chamber92 door. I was a favourite with all the servants, and knowing that any of them would screen me and act confidentially94, I communicated my embarrassment to a groom95 of the head-master’s. The groom swore he would do anything I wished, and when the time arrived went upstairs to bring the trunk down. This I feared was beyond the strength of any one man; however, the groom was a man
Of Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear
and had a back as spacious98 as Salisbury Plain. Accordingly he persisted in bringing down the trunk alone, whilst I stood waiting at the foot of the last flight in anxiety for the event. For some time I heard him descending99 with slow and firm steps; but unfortunately, from his trepidation100, as he drew near the dangerous quarter, within a few steps of the gallery, his foot slipped, and the mighty101 burden falling from his shoulders, gained such increase of impetus102 at each step of the descent, that on reaching the bottom it trundled, or rather leaped, right across, with the noise of twenty devils, against the very bedroom door of the Archididascalus. My first thought was that all was lost, and that my only chance for executing a retreat was to sacrifice my baggage. However, on reflection I determined104 to abide105 the issue. The groom was in the utmost alarm, both on his own account and on mine, but, in spite of this, so irresistibly106 had the sense of the ludicrous in this unhappy contretemps taken possession of his fancy, that he sang out a long, loud, and canorous peal107 of laughter, that might have wakened the Seven Sleepers108. At the sound of this resonant109 merriment, within the very ears of insulted authority, I could not myself forbear joining in it; subdued112 to this, not so much by the unhappy étourderie of the trunk, as by the effect it had upon the groom. We both expected, as a matter of course, that Dr. --- would sally, out of his room, for in general, if but a mouse stirred, he sprang out like a mastiff from his kennel113. Strange to say, however, on this occasion, when the noise of laughter had ceased, no sound, or rustling114 even, was to be heard in the bedroom. Dr. --- had a painful complaint, which, sometimes keeping him awake, made his sleep perhaps, when it did come, the deeper. Gathering courage from the silence, the groom hoisted115 his burden again, and accomplished116 the remainder of his descent without accident. I waited until I saw the trunk placed on a wheelbarrow and on its road to the carrier’s; then, “with Providence117 my guide,” I set off on foot, carrying a small parcel with some articles of dress under my arm; a favourite English poet in one pocket, and a small 12mo volume, containing about nine plays of Euripides, in the other.
It had been my intention originally to proceed to Westmoreland, both from the love I bore to that country and on other personal accounts. Accident, however, gave a different direction to my wanderings, and I bent118 my steps towards North Wales.
After wandering about for some time in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Carnarvonshire, I took lodgings119 in a small neat house in B---. Here I might have stayed with great comfort for many weeks, for provisions were cheap at B---, from the scarcity120 of other markets for the surplus produce of a wide agricultural district. An accident, however, in which perhaps no offence was designed, drove me out to wander again. I know not whether my reader may have remarked, but I have often remarked, that the proudest class of people in England (or at any rate the class whose pride is most apparent) are the families of bishops121. Noblemen and their children carry about with them, in their very titles, a sufficient notification of their rank. Nay123, their very names (and this applies also to the children of many untitled houses) are often, to the English ear, adequate exponents124 of high birth or descent. Sackville, Manners, Fitzroy, Paulet, Cavendish, and scores of others, tell their own tale. Such persons, therefore, find everywhere a due sense of their claims already established, except among those who are ignorant of the world by virtue125 of their own obscurity: “Not to know them, argues one’s self unknown.” Their manners take a suitable tone and colouring, and for once they find it necessary to impress a sense of their consequence upon others, they meet with a thousand occasions for moderating and tempering this sense by acts of courteous126 condescension127. With the families of bishops it is otherwise: with them, it is all uphill work to make known their pretensions; for the proportion of the episcopal bench taken from noble families is not at any time very large, and the succession to these dignities is so rapid that the public ear seldom has time to become familiar with them, unless where they are connected with some literary reputation. Hence it is that the children of bishops carry about with them an austere128 and repulsive129 air, indicative of claims not generally acknowledged, a sort of noli me tangere manner, nervously130 apprehensive131 of too familiar approach, and shrinking with the sensitiveness of a gouty man from all contact with the οι πολλοι. Doubtless, a powerful understanding, or unusual goodness of nature, will preserve a man from such weakness, but in general the truth of my representation will be acknowledged; pride, if not of deeper root in such families, appears at least more upon the surface of their manners. This spirit of manners naturally communicates itself to their domestics and other dependants132. Now, my landlady133 had been a lady’s maid or a nurse in the family of the Bishop122 of ---, and had but lately married away and “settled” (as such people express it) for life. In a little town like B---, merely to have lived in the bishop’s family conferred some distinction; and my good landlady had rather more than her share of the pride I have noticed on that score. What “my lord” said and what “my lord” did, how useful he was in Parliament and how indispensable at Oxford, formed the daily burden of her talk. All this I bore very well, for I was too good-natured to laugh in anybody’s face, and I could make an ample allowance for the garrulity134 of an old servant. Of necessity, however, I must have appeared in her eyes very inadequately135 impressed with the bishop’s importance, and, perhaps to punish me for my indifference136, or possibly by accident, she one day repeated to me a conversation in which I was indirectly137 a party concerned. She had been to the palace to pay her respects to the family, and, dinner being over, was summoned into the dining-room. In giving an account of her household economy she happened to mention that she had let her apartments. Thereupon the good bishop (it seemed) had taken occasion to caution her as to her selection of inmates139, “for,” said he, “you must recollect140, Betty, that this place is in the high road to the Head; so that multitudes of Irish swindlers running away from their debts into England, and of English swindlers running away from their debts to the Isle141 of Man, are likely to take this place in their route.” This advice certainly was not without reasonable grounds, but rather fitted to be stored up for Mrs. Betty’s private meditations142 than specially38 reported to me. What followed, however, was somewhat worse. “Oh, my lord,” answered my landlady (according to her own representation of the matter), “I really don’t think this young gentleman is a swindler, because ---” “You don’t think me a swindler?” said I, interrupting her, in a tumult143 of indignation: “for the future I shall spare you the trouble of thinking about it.” And without delay I prepared for my departure. Some concessions144 the good woman seemed disposed to make; but a harsh and contemptuous expression, which I fear that I applied146 to the learned dignitary himself, roused her indignation in turn, and reconciliation147 then became impossible. I was indeed greatly irritated at the bishop’s having suggested any grounds of suspicion, however remotely, against a person whom he had never seen; and I thought of letting him know my mind in Greek, which, at the same time that it would furnish some presumption148 that I was no swindler, would also (I hoped) compel the bishop to reply in the same language; in which case I doubted not to make it appear that if I was not so rich as his lordship, I was a far better Grecian. Calmer thoughts, however, drove this boyish design out of my mind; for I considered that the bishop was in the right to counsel an old servant; that he could not have designed that his advice should be reported to me; and that the same coarseness of mind which had led Mrs. Betty to repeat the advice at all, might have coloured it in a way more agreeable to her own style of thinking than to the actual expressions of the worthy bishop.
I left the lodgings the very same hour, and this turned out a very unfortunate occurrence for me, because, living henceforward at inns, I was drained of my money very rapidly. In a fortnight I was reduced to short allowance; that is, I could allow myself only one meal a day. From the keen appetite produced by constant exercise and mountain air, acting149 on a youthful stomach, I soon began to suffer greatly on this slender regimen, for the single meal which I could venture to order was coffee or tea. Even this, however, was at length withdrawn150; and afterwards, so long as I remained in Wales, I subsisted152 either on blackberries, hips154, haws, &c., or on the casual hospitalities which I now and then received in return for such little services as I had an opportunity of rendering155. Sometimes I wrote letters of business for cottagers who happened to have relatives in Liverpool or in London; more often I wrote love-letters to their sweethearts for young women who had lived as servants at Shrewsbury or other towns on the English border. On all such occasions I gave great satisfaction to my humble156 friends, and was generally treated with hospitality; and once in particular, near the village of Llan-y-styndw (or some such name), in a sequestered157 part of Merionethshire, I was entertained for upwards of three days by a family of young people with an affectionate and fraternal kindness that left an impression upon my heart not yet impaired158. The family consisted at that time of four sisters and three brothers, all grown up, and all remarkable159 for elegance160 and delicacy161 of manners. So much beauty, and so much native good breeding and refinement162, I do not remember to have seen before or since in any cottage, except once or twice in Westmoreland and Devonshire. They spoke163 English, an accomplishment not often met with in so many members of one family, especially in villages remote from the high road. Here I wrote, on my first introduction, a letter about prize-money, for one of the brothers, who had served on board an English man-of-war; and, more privately164, two love-letters for two of the sisters. They were both interesting-looking girls, and one of uncommon165 loveliness. In the midst of their confusion and blushes, whilst dictating166, or rather giving me general instructions, it did not require any great penetration167 to discover that what they wished was that their letters should be as kind as was consistent with proper maidenly168 pride. I contrived169 so to temper my expressions as to reconcile the gratification of both feelings; and they were as much pleased with the way in which I had expressed their thoughts as (in their simplicity) they were astonished at my having so readily discovered them. The reception one meets with from the women of a family generally determines the tenor170 of one’s whole entertainment. In this case I had discharged my confidential93 duties as secretary so much to the general satisfaction, perhaps also amusing them with my conversation, that I was pressed to stay with a cordiality which I had little inclination171 to resist. I slept with the brothers, the only unoccupied bed standing in the apartment of the young women; but in all other points they treated me with a respect not usually paid to purses as light as mine—as if my scholarship were sufficient evidence that I was of “gentle blood.” Thus I lived with them for three days and great part of a fourth; and, from the undiminished kindness which they continued to show me, I believe I might have stayed with them up to this time, if their power had corresponded with their wishes. On the last morning, however, I perceived upon their countenances172, as they sate173 at breakfast, the expression of some unpleasant communication which was at hand; and soon after, one of the brothers explained to me that their parents had gone, the day before my arrival, to an annual meeting of Methodists, held at Carnarvon, and were that day expected to return; “and if they should not be so civil as they ought to be,” he begged, on the part of all the young people, that I would not take it amiss. The parents returned with churlish faces, and “Dym Sassenach” (no English) in answer to all my addresses. I saw how matters stood; and so, taking an affectionate leave of my kind and interesting young hosts, I went my way; for, though they spoke warmly to their parents in my behalf, and often excused the manner of the old people by saying it was “only their way,” yet I easily understood that my talent for writing love-letters would do as little to recommend me with two grave sexagenarian Welsh Methodists as my Greek sapphics or alcaics; and what had been hospitality when offered to me with the gracious courtesy of my young friends, would become charity when connected with the harsh demeanour of these old people. Certainly, Mr. Shelley is right in his notions about old age: unless powerfully counteracted174 by all sorts of opposite agencies, it is a miserable corrupter175 and blighter to the genial176 charities of the human heart.
Soon after this I contrived, by means which I must omit for want of room, to transfer myself to London. And now began the latter and fiercer stage of my long sufferings; without using a disproportionate expression I might say, of my agony. For I now suffered, for upwards of sixteen weeks, the physical anguish177 of hunger in. I various degrees of intensity178, but as bitter perhaps as ever any human being can have suffered who has survived it would not needlessly harass179 my reader’s feelings by a detail of all that I endured; for extremities such as these, under any circumstances of heaviest misconduct or guilt180, cannot be contemplated181, even in description, without a rueful pity that is painful to the natural goodness of the human heart. Let it suffice, at least on this occasion, to say that a few fragments of bread from the breakfast-table of one individual (who supposed me to be ill, but did not know of my being in utter want), and these at uncertain intervals, constituted my whole support. During the former part of my sufferings (that is, generally in Wales, and always for the first two months in London) I was houseless, and very seldom slept under a roof. To this constant exposure to the open air I ascribe it mainly that I did not sink under my torments182. Latterly, however, when colder and more inclement183 weather came on, and when, from the length of my sufferings, I had begun to sink into a more languishing184 condition, it was no doubt fortunate for me that the same person to whose breakfast-table I had access, allowed me to sleep in a large unoccupied house of which he was tenant185. Unoccupied I call it, for there was no household or establishment in it; nor any furniture, indeed, except a table and a few chairs. But I found, on taking possession of my new quarters, that the house already contained one single inmate138, a poor friendless child, apparently186 ten years old; but she seemed hunger-bitten, and sufferings of that sort often make children look older than they are. From this forlorn child I learned that she had slept and lived there alone for some time before I came; and great joy the poor creature expressed when she found that I was in future to be her companion through the hours of darkness. The house was large, and, from the want of furniture, the noise of the rats made a prodigious187 echoing on the spacious staircase and hall; and amidst the real fleshly ills of cold and, I fear, hunger, the forsaken188 child had found leisure to suffer still more (it appeared) from the self-created one of ghosts. I promised her protection against all ghosts whatsoever190, but alas191! I could offer her no other assistance. We lay upon the floor, with a bundle of cursed law papers for a pillow, but with no other covering than a sort of large horseman’s cloak; afterwards, however, we discovered in a garret an old sofa-cover, a small piece of rug, and some fragments of other articles, which added a little to our warmth. The poor child crept close to me for warmth, and for security against her ghostly enemies. When I was not more than usually ill I took her into my arms, so that in general she was tolerably warm, and often slept when I could not, for during the last two months of my sufferings I slept much in daytime, and was apt to fall into transient dosings at all hours. But my sleep distressed192 me more than my watching, for beside the tumultuousness of my dreams (which were only not so awful as those which I shall have to describe hereafter as produced by opium), my sleep was never more than what is called dog-sleep; so that I could hear myself moaning, and was often, as it seemed to me, awakened194 suddenly by my own voice; and about this time a hideous196 sensation began to haunt me as soon as I fell into a slumber28, which has since returned upon me at different periods of my life—viz., a sort of twitching197 (I know not where, but apparently about the region of the stomach) which compelled me violently to throw out my feet for the sake of relieving it. This sensation coming on as soon as I began to sleep, and the effort to relieve it constantly awaking me, at length I slept only from exhaustion198; and from increasing weakness (as I said before) I was constantly falling asleep and constantly awaking. Meantime, the master of the house sometimes came in upon us suddenly, and very early; sometimes not till ten o’clock, sometimes not at all. He was in constant fear of bailiffs. Improving on the plan of Cromwell, every night he slept in a different quarter of London; and I observed that he never failed to examine through a private window the appearance of those who knocked at the door before he would allow it to be opened. He breaksfasted alone; indeed, his tea equipage would hardly have admitted of his hazarding an invitation to a second person, any more than the quantity of esculent matériel, which for the most part was little more than a roll or a few biscuits which he had bought on his road from the place where he had slept. Or, if he had asked a party—as I once learnedly and facetiously199 observed to him—the several members of it must have stood in the relation to each other (not sate in any relation whatever) of succession, as the metaphysicians have it, and not of a coexistence; in the relation of the parts of time, and not of the parts of space. During his breakfast I generally contrived a reason for lounging in, and, with an air of as much indifference as I could assume, took up such fragments as he had left; sometimes, indeed, there were none at all. In doing this I committed no robbery except upon the man himself, who was thus obliged (I believe) now and then to send out at noon for an extra biscuit; for as to the poor child, she was never admitted into his study (if I may give that name to his chief depository of parchments, law writings, &c.); that room was to her the Bluebeard room of the house, being regularly locked on his departure to dinner, about six o’clock, which usually was his final departure for the night. Whether this child were an illegitimate daughter of Mr. ---, or only a servant, I could not ascertain200; she did not herself know; but certainly she was treated altogether as a menial servant. No sooner did Mr. --- make his appearance than she went below stairs, brushed his shoes, coat, &c.; and, except when she was summoned to run an errand, she never emerged from the dismal201 Tartarus of the kitchen, &c., to the upper air until my welcome knock at night called up her little trembling footsteps to the front door. Of her life during the daytime, however, I knew little but what I gathered from her own account at night, for as soon as the hours of business commenced I saw that my absence would be acceptable, and in general, therefore, I went off and sate in the parks or elsewhere until nightfall.
But who and what, meantime, was the master of the house himself? Reader, he was one of those anomalous202 practitioners203 in lower departments of the law who—what shall I say?—who on prudential reasons, or from necessity, deny themselves all indulgence in the luxury of too delicate a conscience, (a periphrasis which might be abridged204 considerably205, but that I leave to the reader’s taste): in many walks of life a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance206 than a wife or a carriage; and just as people talk of “laying down” their carriages, so I suppose my friend Mr. --- had “laid down” his conscience for a time, meaning, doubtless, to resume it as soon as he could afford it. The inner economy of such a man’s daily life would present a most strange picture, if I could allow myself to amuse the reader at his expense. Even with my limited opportunities for observing what went on, I saw many scenes of London intrigues208 and complex chicanery209, “cycle and epicycle, orb111 in orb,” at which I sometimes smile to this day, and at which I smiled then, in spite of my misery. My situation, however, at that time gave me little experience in my own person of any qualities in Mr. ---’s character but such as did him honour; and of his whole strange composition I must forget everything but that towards me he was obliging, and to the extent of his power, generous.
That power was not, indeed, very extensive; however, in common with the rats, I sate rent free; and as Dr. Johnson has recorded that he never but once in his life had as much wall-fruit as he could eat, so let me be grateful that on that single occasion I had as large a choice of apartments in a London mansion210 as I could possibly desire. Except the Bluebeard room, which the poor child believed to be haunted, all others, from the attics211 to the cellars, were at our service; “the world was all before us,” and we pitched our tent for the night in any spot we chose. This house I have already described as a large one; it stands in a conspicuous212 situation and in a well-known part of London. Many of my readers will have passed it, I doubt not, within a few hours of reading this. For myself, I never fail to visit it when business draws me to London; about ten o’clock this very night, August 15, 1821—being my birthday—I turned aside from my evening walk down Oxford Street, purposely to take a glance at it; it is now occupied by a respectable family, and by the lights in the front drawing-room I observed a domestic party assembled, perhaps at tea, and apparently cheerful and gay. Marvellous contrast, in my eyes, to the darkness, cold, silence, and desolation of that same house eighteen years ago, when its nightly occupants were one famishing scholar and a neglected child. Her, by-the-bye, in after-years I vainly endeavoured to trace. Apart from her situation, she was not what would be called an interesting child; she was neither pretty, nor quick in understanding, nor remarkably213 pleasing in manners. But, thank God! even in those years I needed not the embellishments of novel accessories to conciliate my affections: plain human nature, in its humblest and most homely214 apparel, was enough for me, and I loved the child because she was my partner in wretchedness. If she is now living she is probably a mother, with children of her own; but, as I have said, I could never trace her.
This I regret; but another person there was at that time whom I have since sought to trace with far deeper earnestness, and with far deeper sorrow at my failure. This person was a young woman, and one of that unhappy class who subsist153 upon the wages of prostitution. I feel no shame, nor have any reason to feel it, in avowing215 that I was then on familiar and friendly terms with many women in that unfortunate condition. The reader needs neither smile at this avowal216 nor frown; for, not to remind my classical readers of the old Latin proverb, “Sine cerere,” &c., it may well be supposed that in the existing state of my purse my connection with such women could not have been an impure217 one. But the truth is, that at no time of my life have I been a person to hold myself polluted by the touch or approach of any creature that wore a human shape; on the contrary, from my very earliest youth it has been my pride to converse familiarly, more Socratio, with all human beings, man, woman, and child, that chance might fling in my way; a practice which is friendly to the knowledge of human nature, to good feelings, and to that frankness of address which becomes a man who would be thought a philosopher. For a philosopher should not see with the eyes of the poor limitary creature calling himself a man of the world, and filled with narrow and self-regarding prejudices of birth and education, but should look upon himself as a catholic creature, and as standing in equal relation to high and low, to educated and uneducated, to the guilty and the innocent. Being myself at that time of necessity a peripatetic218, or a walker of the streets, I naturally fell in more frequently with those female peripatetics who are technically219 called street-walkers. Many of these women had occasionally taken my part against watchmen who wished to drive me off the steps of houses where I was sitting. But one amongst them, the one on whose account I have at all introduced this subject—yet no! let me not class the, oh! noble-minded Ann—with that order of women. Let me find, if it be possible, some gentler name to designate the condition of her to whose bounty220 and compassion221, ministering to my necessities when all the world had forsaken me, I owe it that I am at this time alive. For many weeks I had walked at nights with this poor friendless girl up and down Oxford Street, or had rested with her on steps and under the shelter of porticoes222. She could not be so old as myself; she told me, indeed, that she had not completed her sixteenth year. By such questions as my interest about her prompted I had gradually drawn151 forth223 her simple history. Hers was a case of ordinary occurrence (as I have since had reason to think), and one in which, if London beneficence had better adapted its arrangements to meet it, the power of the law might oftener be interposed to protect and to avenge224. But the stream of London charity flows in a channel which, though deep and mighty, is yet noiseless and underground; not obvious or readily accessible to poor houseless wanderers; and it cannot be denied that the outside air and framework of London society is harsh, cruel, and repulsive. In any case, however, I saw that part of her injuries might easily have been redressed225, and I urged her often and earnestly to lay her complaint before a magistrate226. Friendless as she was, I assured her that she would meet with immediate attention, and that English justice, which was no respecter of persons, would speedily and amply avenge her on the brutal227 ruffian who had plundered228 her little property. She promised me often that she would, but she delayed taking the steps I pointed49 out from time to time, for she was timid and dejected to a degree which showed how deeply sorrow had taken hold of her young heart; and perhaps she thought justly that the most upright judge and the most righteous tribunals could do nothing to repair her heaviest wrongs. Something, however, would perhaps have been done, for it had been settled between us at length, but unhappily on the very last time but one that I was ever to see her, that in a day or two we should go together before a magistrate, and that I should speak on her behalf. This little service it was destined229, however, that I should never realise. Meantime, that which she rendered to me, and which was greater than I could ever have repaid her, was this:—One night, when we were pacing slowly along Oxford Street, and after a day when I had felt more than usually ill and faint, I requested her to turn off with me into Soho Square. Thither we went, and we sat down on the steps of a house, which to this hour I never pass without a pang230 of grief and an inner act of homage231 to the spirit of that unhappy girl, in memory of the noble action which she there performed. Suddenly, as we sate, I grew much worse. I had been leaning my head against her bosom232, and all at once I sank from her arms and fell backwards233 on the steps. From the sensations I then had, I felt an inner conviction of the liveliest kind, that without some powerful and reviving stimulus234 I should either have died on the spot, or should at least have sunk to a point of exhaustion from which all re?scent103 under my friendless circumstances would soon have become hopeless. Then it was, at this crisis of my fate, that my poor orphan235 companion, who had herself met with little but injuries in this world, stretched out a saving hand to me. Uttering a cry of terror, but without a moment’s delay, she ran off into Oxford Street, and in less time than could be imagined returned to me with a glass of port wine and spices, that acted upon my empty stomach, which at that time would have rejected all solid food, with an instantaneous power of restoration; and for this glass the generous girl without a murmur236 paid out of her humble purse at a time—be it remembered!—when she had scarcely wherewithal to purchase the bare necessaries of life, and when she could have no reason to expect that I should ever be able to reimburse237 her.
Oh, youthful benefactress! how often in succeeding years, standing in solitary238 places, and thinking of thee with grief of heart and perfect love—how often have I wished that, as in ancient times, the curse of a father was believed to have a supernatural power, and to pursue its object with a fatal necessity of self-fulfilment; even so the benediction239 of a heart oppressed with gratitude240 might have a like prerogative241, might have power given to it from above to chase, to haunt, to waylay242, to overtake, to pursue thee into the central darkness of a London brothel, or (if it were possible) into the darkness of the grave, there to awaken195 thee with an authentic243 message of peace and forgiveness, and of final reconciliation!
I do not often weep: for not only do my thoughts on subjects connected with the chief interests of man daily, nay hourly, descend57 a thousand fathoms244 “too deep for tears;” not only does the sternness of my habits of thought present an antagonism245 to the feelings which prompt tears—wanting of necessity to those who, being protected usually by their levity246 from any tendency to meditative247 sorrow, would by that same levity be made incapable248 of resisting it on any casual access of such feelings; but also, I believe that all minds which have contemplated such objects as deeply as I have done, must, for their own protection from utter despondency, have early encouraged and cherished some tranquillising belief as to the future balances and the hieroglyphic249 meanings of human sufferings. On these accounts I am cheerful to this hour, and, as I have said, I do not often weep. Yet some feelings, though not deeper or more passionate83, are more tender than others; and often, when I walk at this time in Oxford Street by dreamy lamplight, and hear those airs played on a barrel-organ which years ago solaced250 me and my dear companion (as I must always call her), I shed tears, and muse207 with myself at the mysterious dispensation which so suddenly and so critically separated us for ever. How it happened the reader will understand from what remains251 of this introductory narration252.
Soon after the period of the last incident I have recorded I met in Albemarle Street a gentleman of his late Majesty’s household. This gentleman had received hospitalities on different occasions from my family, and he challenged me upon the strength of my family likeness253. I did not attempt any disguise; I answered his questions ingenuously255, and, on his pledging his word of honour that he would not betray me to my guardians, I gave him an address to my friend the attorney’s. The next day I received from him a ￡10 bank-note. The letter enclosing it was delivered with other letters of business to the attorney, but though his look and manner informed me that he suspected its contents, he gave it up to me honourably256 and without demur257.
This present, from the particular service to which it was applied, leads me naturally to speak of the purpose which had allured258 me up to London, and which I had been (to use a forensic259 word) soliciting260 from the first day of my arrival in London to that of my final departure.
In so mighty a world as London it will surprise my readers that I should not have found some means of starving off the last extremities, of penury261; and it will strike them that two resources at least must have been open to me—viz., either to seek assistance from the friends of my family, or to turn my youthful talents and attainments into some channel of pecuniary262 emolument263. As to the first course, I may observe generally, that what I dreaded264 beyond all other evils was the chance of being reclaimed265 by my guardians; not doubting that whatever power the law gave them would have been enforced against me to the utmost—that is, to the extremity266 of forcibly restoring me to the school which I had quitted, a restoration which, as it would in my eyes have been a dishonour267, even if submitted to voluntarily, could not fail, when extorted268 from me in contempt and defiance269 of my own wishes and efforts, to have been a humiliation270 worse to me than death, and which would indeed have terminated in death. I was therefore shy enough of applying for assistance even in those quarters where I was sure of receiving it, at the risk of furnishing my guardians with any clue of recovering me. But as to London in particular, though doubtless my father had in his lifetime had many friends there, yet (as ten years had passed since his death) I remembered few of them even by name; and never having seen London before, except once for a few hours, I knew not the address of even those few. To this mode of gaining help, therefore, in part the difficulty, but much more the paramount271 fear which I have mentioned, habitually272 indisposed me. In regard to the other mode, I now feel half inclined to join my reader in wondering that I should have overlooked it. As a corrector of Greek proofs (if in no other way) I might doubtless have gained enough for my slender wants. Such an office as this I could have discharged with an exemplary and punctual accuracy that would soon have gained me the confidence of my employers. But it must not be forgotten that, even for such an office as this, it was necessary that I should first of all have an introduction to some respectable publisher, and this I had no means of obtaining. To say the truth, however, it had never once occurred to me to think of literary labours as a source of profit. No mode sufficiently273 speedy of obtaining money had ever occurred to me but that of borrowing it on the strength of my future claims and expectations. This mode I sought by every avenue to compass; and amongst other persons I applied to a Jew named D--- {4}
To this Jew, and to other advertising274 money-lenders (some of whom were, I believe, also Jews), I had introduced myself with an account of my expectations; which account, on examining my father’s will at Doctors’ Commons, they had ascertained275 to be correct. The person there mentioned as the second son of --- was found to have all the claims (or more than all) that I had stated; but one question still remained, which the faces of the Jews pretty significantly suggested—was I that person? This doubt had never occurred to me as a possible one; I had rather feared, whenever my Jewish friends scrutinised me keenly, that I might be too well known to be that person, and that some scheme might be passing in their minds for entrapping276 me and selling me to my guardians. It was strange to me to find my own self materialiter considered (so I expressed it, for I doated on logical accuracy of distinctions), accused, or at least suspected, of counterfeiting277 my own self formaliter considered. However, to satisfy their scruples278, I took the only course in my power. Whilst I was in Wales I had received various letters from young friends these I produced, for I carried them constantly in my pocket, being, indeed, by this time almost the only relics279 of my personal encumbrances280 (excepting the clothes I wore) which I had not in one way or other disposed of. Most of these letters were from the Earl of ---, who was at that time my chief (or rather only) confidential friend. These letters were dated from Eton. I had also some from the Marquis of ---, his father, who, though absorbed in agricultural pursuits, yet having been an Etonian himself, and as good a scholar as a nobleman needs to be, still retained an affection for classical studies and for youthful scholars. He had accordingly, from the time that I was fifteen, corresponded with me; sometimes upon the great improvements which he had made or was meditating281 in the counties of M--- and Sl--- since I had been there, sometimes upon the merits of a Latin poet, and at other times suggesting subjects to me on which he wished me to write verses.
On reading the letters, one of my Jewish friends agreed to furnish me with two or three hundred pounds on my personal security, provided I could persuade the young Earl --- who was, by the way, not older than myself—to guarantee the payment on our coming of age; the Jew’s final object being, as I now suppose, not the trifling282 profit he could expect to make by me, but the prospect60 of establishing a connection with my noble friend, whose immense expectations were well known to him. In pursuance of this proposal on the part of the Jew, about eight or nine days after I had received the ￡10, I prepared to go down to Eton. Nearly ￡3 of the money I had given to my money-lending friend, on his alleging283 that the stamps must be bought, in order that the writings might be preparing whilst I was away from London. I thought in my heart that he was lying; but I did not wish to give him any excuse for charging his own delays upon me. A smaller sum I had given to my friend the attorney (who was connected with the money-lenders as their lawyer), to which, indeed, he was entitled for his unfurnished lodgings. About fifteen shillings I had employed in re-establishing (though in a very humble way) my dress. Of the remainder I gave one quarter to Ann, meaning on my return to have divided with her whatever might remain. These arrangements made, soon after six o’clock on a dark winter evening I set off, accompanied by Ann, towards Piccadilly; for it was my intention to go down as far as Salthill on the Bath or Bristol mail. Our course lay through a part of the town which has now all disappeared, so that I can no longer retrace its ancient boundaries—Swallow Street, I think it was called. Having time enough before us, however, we bore away to the left until we came into Golden Square; there, near the corner of Sherrard Street, we sat down, not wishing to part in the tumult and blaze of Piccadilly. I had told her of my plans some time before, and I now assured her again that she should share in my good fortune, if I met with any, and that I would never forsake189 her as soon as I had power to protect her. This I fully6 intended, as much from inclination as from a sense of duty; for setting aside gratitude, which in any case must have made me her debtor284 for life, I loved her as affectionately as if she had been my sister; and at this moment with sevenfold tenderness, from pity at witnessing her extreme dejection. I had apparently most reason for dejection, because I was leaving the saviour285 of my life; yet I, considering the shock my health had received, was cheerful and full of hope. She, on the contrary, who was parting with one who had had little means of serving her, except by kindness and brotherly treatment, was overcome by sorrow; so that, when I kissed her at our final farewell, she put her arms about my neck and wept without speaking a word. I hoped to return in a week at farthest, and I agreed with her that on the fifth night from that, and every night afterwards, she would wait for me at six o’clock near the bottom of Great Titchfield Street, which had been our customary haven286, as it were, of rendezvous287, to prevent our missing each other in the great Mediterranean288 of Oxford Street. This and other measures of precaution I took; one only I forgot. She had either never told me, or (as a matter of no great interest) I had forgotten her surname. It is a general practice, indeed, with girls of humble rank in her unhappy condition, not (as novel-reading women of higher pretensions) to style themselves Miss Douglas, Miss Montague, &c., but simply by their Christian289 names—Mary, Jane, Frances, &c. Her surname, as the surest means of tracing her hereafter, I ought now to have inquired; but the truth is, having no reason to think that our meeting could, in consequence of a short interruption, be more difficult or uncertain than it had been for so many weeks, I had scarcely for a moment adverted290 to it as necessary, or placed it amongst my memoranda291 against this parting interview; and my final anxieties being spent in comforting her with hopes, and in pressing upon her the necessity of getting some medicines for a violent cough and hoarseness292 with which she was troubled, I wholly forgot it until it was too late to recall her.
It was past eight o’clock when I reached the Gloucester Coffee-house, and the Bristol mail being on the point of going off, I mounted on the outside. The fine fluent motion {5} of this mail soon laid me asleep: it is somewhat remarkable that the first easy or refreshing293 sleep which I had enjoyed for some months, was on the outside of a mail-coach—a bed which at this day I find rather an uneasy one. Connected with this sleep was a little incident which served, as hundreds of others did at that time, to convince me how easily a man who has never been in any great distress193 may pass through life without knowing, in his own person at least, anything of the possible goodness of the human heart—or, as I must add with a sigh, of its possible vileness294. So thick a curtain of manners is drawn over the features and expression of men’s natures, that to the ordinary observer the two extremities, and the infinite field of varieties which lie between them, are all confounded; the vast and multitudinous compass of their several harmonies reduced to the meagre outline of differences expressed in the gamut295 or alphabet of elementary sounds. The case was this: for the first four or five miles from London I annoyed my fellow-passenger on the roof by occasionally falling against him when the coach gave a lurch296 to his: side; and indeed, if the road had been less smooth and level than it is, I should have fallen off from weakness. Of this annoyance297 he complained heavily, as perhaps, in the same circumstances, most people would; he expressed his complaint, however, more morosely298 than the occasion seemed to warrant, and if I had parted with him at that moment I should have thought of him (if I had considered it worth while to think of him at all) as a surly and almost brutal fellow. However, I was conscious that I had given him some cause for complaint, and therefore I apologized to him, and assured him I would do what I could to avoid falling asleep for the future; and at the same time, in as few words as possible, I explained to him that I was ill and in a weak state from long suffering, and that I could not afford at that time to take an inside place. This man’s manner changed, upon hearing this explanation, in an instant; and when I next woke for a minute from the noise and lights of Hounslow (for in spite of my wishes and efforts I had fallen asleep again within two minutes from the time I had spoken to him) I found that he had put his arm round me to protect me from falling off, and for the rest of my journey he behaved to me with the gentleness of a woman, so that at length I almost lay in his arms; and this was the more kind, as he could not have known that I was not going the whole way to Bath or Bristol. Unfortunately, indeed, I did go rather farther than I intended, for so genial and so refreshing was my sleep, that the next time after leaving Hounslow that I fully awoke was upon the sudden pulling up of the mail (possibly at a post-office), and on inquiry299 I found that we had reached Maidenhead—six or seven miles, I think, ahead of Salthill. Here I alighted, and for the half-minute that the mail stopped I was entreated300 by my friendly companion (who, from the transient glimpse I had had of him in Piccadilly, seemed to me to be a gentleman’s butler, or person of that rank) to go to bed without delay. This I promised, though with no intention of doing so; and in fact I immediately set forward, or rather backward, on foot. It must then have been nearly midnight, but so slowly did I creep along that I heard a clock in a cottage strike four before I turned down the lane from Slough301 to Eton. The air and the sleep had both refreshed me; but I was weary nevertheless. I remember a thought (obvious enough, and which has been prettily302 expressed by a Roman poet) which gave me some consolation at that moment under my poverty. There had been some time before a murder committed on or near Hounslow Heath. I think I cannot be mistaken when I say that the name of the murdered person was Steele, and that he was the owner of a lavender plantation303 in that neighbourhood. Every step of my progress was bringing me nearer to the Heath, and it naturally occurred to me that I and the accused murderer, if he were that night abroad, might at every instant be unconsciously approaching each other through the darkness; in which case, said I—supposing I, instead of being (as indeed I am) little better than an outcast—
Lord of my learning, and no land beside—
were, like my friend Lord ---, heir by general repute to ￡70,000 per annum, what a panic should I be under at this moment about my throat! Indeed, it was not likely that Lord --- should ever be in my situation. But nevertheless, the spirit of the remark remains true—that vast power and possessions make a man shamefully304 afraid of dying; and I am convinced that many of the most intrepid305 adventurers, who, by fortunately being poor, enjoy the full use of their natural courage, would, if at the very instant of going into action news were brought to them that they had unexpectedly succeeded to an estate in England of ￡50,000 a-year, feel their dislike to bullets considerably sharpened, {6} and their efforts at perfect equanimity306 and self-possession proportionably difficult. So true it is, in the language of a wise man whose own experience had made him acquainted with both fortunes, that riches are better fitted
I dally309 with my subject because, to myself, the remembrance of these times is profoundly interesting. But my reader shall not have any further cause to complain, for I now hasten to its close. In the road between Slough and Eton I fell asleep, and just as the morning began to dawn I was awakened by the voice of a man standing over me and surveying me. I know not what he was: he was an ill-looking fellow, but not therefore of necessity an ill-meaning fellow; or, if he were, I suppose he thought that no person sleeping out-of-doors in winter could be worth robbing. In which conclusion, however, as it regarded myself, I beg to assure him, if he should be among my readers, that he was mistaken. After a slight remark he passed on; and I was not sorry at his disturbance310, as it enabled me to pass through Eton before people were generally up. The night had been heavy and lowering, but towards the morning it had changed to a slight frost, and the ground and the trees were now covered with rime110. I slipped through Eton unobserved; washed myself, and as far as possible adjusted my dress, at a little public-house in Windsor; and about eight o’clock went down towards Pote’s. On my road I met some junior boys, of whom I made inquiries311. An Etonian is always a gentleman; and, in spite of my shabby habiliments, they answered me civilly. My friend Lord --- was gone to the University of ---. “Ibi omnis effusus labor312!” I had, however, other friends at Eton; but it is not to all that wear that name in prosperity that a man is willing to present himself in distress. On recollecting313 myself, however, I asked for the Earl of D---, to whom (though my acquaintance with him was not so intimate as with some others) I should not have shrunk from presenting myself under any circumstances. He was still at Eton, though I believe on the wing for Cambridge. I called, was received kindly314, and asked to breakfast.
Here let me stop for a moment to check my reader from any erroneous conclusions. Because I have had occasion incidentally to speak of various patrician315 friends, it must not be supposed that I have myself any pretension17 to rank and high blood. I thank God that I have not. I am the son of a plain English merchant, esteemed316 during his life for his great integrity, and strongly attached to literary pursuits (indeed, he was himself, anonymously317, an author). If he had lived it was expected that he would have been very rich; but dying prematurely318, he left no more than about ￡30,000 amongst seven different claimants. My mother I may mention with honour, as still more highly gifted; for though unpretending to the name and honours of a literary woman, I shall presume to call her (what many literary women are not) an intellectual woman; and I believe that if ever her letters should be collected and published, they would be thought generally to exhibit as much strong and masculine sense, delivered in as pure “mother English,” racy and fresh with idiomatic319 graces, as any in our language—hardly excepting those of Lady M. W. Montague. These are my honours of descent, I have no other; and I have thanked God sincerely that I have not, because, in my judgment320, a station which raises a man too eminently321 above the level of his fellow-creatures is not the most favourable30 to moral or to intellectual qualities.
Lord D--- placed before me a most magnificent breakfast. It was really so; but in my eyes it seemed trebly magnificent, from being the first regular meal, the first “good man’s table,” that I had sate down to for months. Strange to say, however, I could scarce eat anything. On the day when I first received my ￡10 bank-note I had gone to a baker’s shop and bought a couple of rolls; this very shop I had two months or six weeks before surveyed with an eagerness of desire which it was almost humiliating to me to recollect. I remembered the story about Otway, and feared that there might be danger in eating too rapidly. But I had no need for alarm; my appetite was quite sunk, and I became sick before I had eaten half of what I had bought. This effect from eating what approached to a meal I continued to feel for weeks; or, when I did not experience any nausea322, part of what I ate was rejected, sometimes with acidity323, sometimes immediately and without any acidity. On the present occasion, at Lord D-’s table, I found myself not at all better than usual, and in the midst of luxuries I had no appetite. I had, however, unfortunately, at all times a craving324 for wine; I explained my situation, therefore, to Lord D---, and gave him a short account of my late sufferings, at which he expressed great compassion, and called for wine. This gave me a momentary325 relief and pleasure; and on all occasions when I had an opportunity I never failed to drink wine, which I worshipped then as I have since worshipped opium. I am convinced, however, that this indulgence in wine contributed to strengthen my malady326, for the tone of my stomach was apparently quite sunk, and by a better regimen it might sooner, and perhaps effectually, have been revived. I hope that it was not from this love of wine that I lingered in the neighbourhood of my Eton friends; I persuaded myself then that it was from reluctance327 to ask of Lord D---, on whom I was conscious I had not sufficient claims, the particular service in quest of which I had come down to Eton. I was, however unwilling328 to lose my journey, and—I asked it. Lord D---, whose good nature was unbounded, and which, in regard to myself, had been measured rather by his compassion perhaps for my condition, and his knowledge of my intimacy329 with some of his relatives, than by an over-rigorous inquiry into the extent of my own direct claims, faltered330, nevertheless, at this request. He acknowledged that he did not like to have any dealings with money-lenders, and feared lest such a transaction might come to the ears of his connexions. Moreover, he doubted whether his signature, whose expectations were so much more bounded than those of ---, would avail with my unchristian friends. However, he did not wish, as it seemed, to mortify331 me by an absolute refusal; for after a little consideration he promised, under certain conditions which he pointed out, to give his security. Lord D--- was at this time not eighteen years of age; but I have often doubted, on recollecting since the good sense and prudence332 which on this occasion he mingled333 with so much urbanity of manner (an urbanity which in him wore the grace of youthful sincerity), whether any statesman—the oldest and the most accomplished in diplomacy—could have acquitted334 himself better under the same circumstances. Most people, indeed, cannot be addressed on such a business without surveying you with looks as austere and unpropitious as those of a Saracen’s head.
Recomforted by this promise, which was not quite equal to the best but far above the worst that I had pictured to myself as possible, I returned in a Windsor coach to London three days after I had quitted it. And now I come to the end of my story. The Jews did not approve of Lord D---’s terms; whether they would in the end have acceded335 to them, and were only seeking time for making due inquiries, I know not; but many delays were made, time passed on, the small fragment of my bank-note had just melted away, and before any conclusion could have been put to the business I must have relapsed into my former state of wretchedness. Suddenly, however, at this crisis, an opening was made, almost by accident, for reconciliation with my friends; I quitted London in haste for a remote part of England; after some time I proceeded to the university, and it was not until many months had passed away that I had it in my power again to revisit the ground which had become so interesting to me, and to this day remains so, as the chief scene of my youthful sufferings.
Meantime, what had become of poor Ann? For her I have reserved my concluding words. According to our agreement, I sought her daily, and waited for her every night, so long as I stayed in London, at the corner of Titchfield Street. I inquired for her of every one who was likely to know her, and during the last hours of my stay in London I put into activity every means of tracing her that my knowledge of London suggested and the limited extent of my power made possible. The street where she had lodged I knew, but not the house; and I remembered at last some account which she had given me of ill-treatment from her landlord, which made it probable that she had quitted those lodgings before we parted. She had few acquaintances; most people, besides, thought that the earnestness of my inquiries arose from motives336 which moved their laughter or their slight regard; and others, thinking I was in chase of a girl who had robbed me of some trifles, were naturally and excusably indisposed to give me any clue to her, if indeed they had any to give. Finally as my despairing resource, on the day I left London I put into the hands of the only person who (I was sure) must know Ann by sight, from having been in company with us once or twice, an address to ---, in ---shire, at that time the residence of my family. But to this hour I have never heard a syllable337 about her. This, amongst such troubles as most men meet with in this life, has been my heaviest affliction. If she lived, doubtless we must have been some time in search of each other, at the very same moment, through the mighty labyrinths338 of London; perhaps even within a few feet of each other—a barrier no wider than a London street often amounting in the end to a separation for eternity339! During some years I hoped that she did live; and I suppose that, in the literal and unrhetorical use of the word myriad340, I may say that on my different visits to London I have looked into many, many myriads341 of female faces, in the hope of meeting her. I should know her again amongst a thousand, if I saw her for a moment; for though not handsome, she had a sweet expression of countenance and a peculiar342 and graceful343 carriage of the head. I sought her, I have said, in hope. So it was for years; but now I should fear to see her; and her cough, which grieved me when I parted with her, is now my consolation. I now wish to see her no longer; but think of her, more gladly, as one long since laid in the grave—in the grave, I would hope, of a Magdalen; taken away, before injuries and cruelty had blotted344 out and transfigured her ingenuous254 nature, or the brutalities of ruffians had completed the ruin they had begun.
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1
confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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premise
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| n.前提；v.提论，预述 | |
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forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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obtrude
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| v.闯入；侵入；打扰 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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fetter
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| n./vt.脚镣，束缚 | |
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plausibly
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| 似真地 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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analytic
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| adj.分析的，用分析方法的 | |
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pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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20
deployed
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| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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mitigating
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| v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的现在分词 ) | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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redundant
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| adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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derangement
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| n.精神错乱 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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retrace
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| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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lyric
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| n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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43
ransacking
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的现在分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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45
eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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46
reverenced
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| v.尊敬，崇敬( reverence的过去式和过去分词 )；敬礼 | |
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47
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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48
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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50
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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51
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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52
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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53
jointly
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| ad.联合地，共同地 | |
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54
conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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55
lexicon
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| n.字典，专门词汇 | |
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56
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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57
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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58
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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59
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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patrimonial
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| adj.祖传的 | |
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62
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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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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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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65
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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66
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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67
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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68
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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69
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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71
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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72
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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73
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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74
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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75
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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78
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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80
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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81
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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82
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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83
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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84
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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85
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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86
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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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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92
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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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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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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96
mightiest
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| adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的 | |
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97
monarchies
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| n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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100
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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101
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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102
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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103
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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104
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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105
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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106
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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107
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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108
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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109
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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110
rime
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| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
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111
orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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112
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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113
kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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114
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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115
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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117
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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118
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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119
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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120
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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121
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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122
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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123
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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124
exponents
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| n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手 | |
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125
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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126
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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127
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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128
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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129
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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130
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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131
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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132
dependants
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| 受赡养者，受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 ) | |
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133
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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134
garrulity
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| n.饶舌，多嘴 | |
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135
inadequately
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| ad.不够地；不够好地 | |
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136
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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137
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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138
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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139
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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140
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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141
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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142
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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143
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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144
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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145
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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146
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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147
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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148
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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149
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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150
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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151
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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152
subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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153
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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154
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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155
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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156
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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157
sequestered
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|
| adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押 | |
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158
impaired
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|
| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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159
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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160
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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161
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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162
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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163
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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164
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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165
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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166
dictating
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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167
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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168
maidenly
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| adj. 像处女的, 谨慎的, 稳静的 | |
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169
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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170
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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171
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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172
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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173
sate
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| v.使充分满足 | |
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174
counteracted
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的过去式 ) | |
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175
corrupter
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| 堕落的，道德败坏的； 贪污的，腐败的； 腐烂的； （文献等）错误百出的 | |
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176
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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177
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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178
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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179
harass
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| vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰 | |
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180
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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181
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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182
torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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183
inclement
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| adj.严酷的，严厉的，恶劣的 | |
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184
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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185
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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186
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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187
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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188
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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189
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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190
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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191
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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192
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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193
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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194
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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195
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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196
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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197
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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198
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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199
facetiously
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| adv.爱开玩笑地；滑稽地，爱开玩笑地 | |
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200
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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201
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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202
anomalous
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| adj.反常的；不规则的 | |
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203
practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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204
abridged
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| 削减的，删节的 | |
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205
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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206
encumbrance
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| n.妨碍物，累赘 | |
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207
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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208
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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209
chicanery
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| n.欺诈，欺骗 | |
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210
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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211
attics
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| n. 阁楼 | |
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212
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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213
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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214
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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215
avowing
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的现在分词 ) | |
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216
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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217
impure
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| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
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218
peripatetic
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| adj.漫游的，逍遥派的，巡回的 | |
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219
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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220
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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221
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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222
porticoes
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| n.柱廊，（有圆柱的）门廊( portico的名词复数 ) | |
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223
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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224
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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225
redressed
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| v.改正( redress的过去式和过去分词 )；重加权衡；恢复平衡 | |
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226
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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227
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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228
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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229
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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230
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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231
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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232
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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233
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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234
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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235
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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236
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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237
reimburse
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| v.补偿，付还 | |
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238
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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239
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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240
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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241
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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242
waylay
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| v.埋伏，伏击 | |
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243
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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244
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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245
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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246
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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247
meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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248
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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249
hieroglyphic
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| n.象形文字 | |
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250
solaced
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的过去分词 ) | |
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251
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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252
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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253
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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254
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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255
ingenuously
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| adv.率直地，正直地 | |
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256
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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257
demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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258
allured
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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259
forensic
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| adj.法庭的，雄辩的 | |
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260
soliciting
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| v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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261
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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262
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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263
emolument
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| n.报酬，薪水 | |
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264
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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265
reclaimed
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| adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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266
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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267
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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268
extorted
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| v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解 | |
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269
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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270
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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271
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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272
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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273
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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274
advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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275
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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276
entrapping
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| v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的现在分词 ) | |
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277
counterfeiting
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| n.伪造v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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278
scruples
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|
| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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279
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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280
encumbrances
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| n.负担( encumbrance的名词复数 )；累赘；妨碍；阻碍 | |
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281
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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282
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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283
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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284
debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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285
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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286
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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287
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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288
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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289
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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290
adverted
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| 引起注意（advert的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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291
memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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292
hoarseness
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| n.嘶哑， 刺耳 | |
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293
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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294
vileness
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| n.讨厌，卑劣 | |
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295
gamut
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| n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识 | |
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296
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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297
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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298
morosely
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| adv.愁眉苦脸地，忧郁地 | |
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299
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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300
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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301
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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302
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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303
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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304
shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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305
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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306
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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307
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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308
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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309
dally
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| v.荒废(时日)，调情 | |
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310
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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311
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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312
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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313
recollecting
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| v.记起，想起( recollect的现在分词 ) | |
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314
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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315
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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316
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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317
anonymously
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| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
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318
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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319
idiomatic
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| adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的 | |
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320
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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321
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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322
nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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323
acidity
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| n.酸度，酸性 | |
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324
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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325
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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326
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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327
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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328
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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329
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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330
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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331
mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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332
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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333
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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334
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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335
acceded
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| v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
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336
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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337
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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338
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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339
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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340
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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341
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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342
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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343
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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344
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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