Some trifling1 excitement prevailed upon the very brink2 and margin3 of the land of liberty; for an alderman had been elected the day before; and Party Feeling naturally running rather high on such an exciting occasion, the friends of the disappointed candidate had found it necessary to assert the great principles of Purity of Election and Freedom of opinion by breaking a few legs and arms, and furthermore pursuing one obnoxious5 gentleman through the streets with the design of hitting his nose. These good-humoured little outbursts of the popular fancy were not in themselves sufficiently6 remarkable7 to create any great stir, after the lapse8 of a whole night; but they found fresh life and notoriety in the breath of the newsboys, who not only proclaimed them with shrill9 yells in all the highways and byways of the town, upon the wharves10 and among the shipping11, but on the deck and down in the cabins of the steamboat; which, before she touched the shore, was boarded and overrun by a legion of those young citizens.
‘Here’s this morning’s New York Sewer12!’ cried one. ‘Here’s this morning’s New York Stabber! Here’s the New York Family Spy! Here’s the New York Private Listener! Here’s the New York Peeper! Here’s the New York Plunderer13! Here’s the New York Keyhole Reporter! Here’s the New York Rowdy Journal! Here’s all the New York papers! Here’s full particulars of the patriotic14 locofoco movement yesterday, in which the whigs was so chawed up; and the last Alabama gouging16 case; and the interesting Arkansas dooel with Bowie knives; and all the Political, Commercial, and Fashionable News. Here they are! Here they are! Here’s the papers, here’s the papers!’
‘Here’s the Sewer!’ cried another. ‘Here’s the New York Sewer! Here’s some of the twelfth thousand of to-day’s Sewer, with the best accounts of the markets, and all the shipping news, and four whole columns of country correspondence, and a full account of the Ball at Mrs White’s last night, where all the beauty and fashion of New York was assembled; with the Sewer’s own particulars of the private lives of all the ladies that was there! Here’s the Sewer! Here’s some of the twelfth thousand of the New York Sewer! Here’s the Sewer’s exposure of the Wall Street Gang, and the Sewer’s exposure of the Washington Gang, and the Sewer’s exclusive account of a flagrant act of dishonesty committed by the Secretary of State when he was eight years old; now communicated, at a great expense, by his own nurse. Here’s the Sewer! Here’s the New York Sewer, in its twelfth thousand, with a whole column of New Yorkers to be shown up, and all their names printed! Here’s the Sewer’s article upon the Judge that tried him, day afore yesterday, for libel, and the Sewer’s tribute to the independent Jury that didn’t convict him, and the Sewer’s account of what they might have expected if they had! Here’s the Sewer, here’s the Sewer! Here’s the wide-awake Sewer; always on the lookout17; the leading Journal of the United States, now in its twelfth thousand, and still a-printing off:—Here’s the New York Sewer!’
‘It is in such enlightened means,’ said a voice almost in Martin’s ear, ‘that the bubbling passions of my country find a vent18.’
Martin turned involuntarily, and saw, standing19 close at his side, a sallow gentleman, with sunken cheeks, black hair, small twinkling eyes, and a singular expression hovering20 about that region of his face, which was not a frown, nor a leer, and yet might have been mistaken at the first glance for either. Indeed it would have been difficult, on a much closer acquaintance, to describe it in any more satisfactory terms than as a mixed expression of vulgar cunning and conceit21. This gentleman wore a rather broad-brimmed hat for the greater wisdom of his appearance; and had his arms folded for the greater impressiveness of his attitude. He was somewhat shabbily dressed in a blue surtout reaching nearly to his ankles, short loose trousers of the same colour, and a faded buff waistcoat, through which a discoloured shirt-frill struggled to force itself into notice, as asserting an equality of civil rights with the other portions of his dress, and maintaining a declaration of Independence on its own account. His feet, which were of unusually large proportions, were leisurely22 crossed before him as he half leaned against, half sat upon, the steamboat’s bulwark23; and his thick cane24, shod with a mighty25 ferule at one end and armed with a great metal knob at the other, depended from a line-and-tassel on his wrist. Thus attired27, and thus composed into an aspect of great profundity28, the gentleman twitched29 up the right-hand corner of his mouth and his right eye simultaneously30, and said, once more:
‘It is in such enlightened means that the bubbling passions of my country find a vent.’
As he looked at Martin, and nobody else was by, Martin inclined his head, and said:
‘To the Palladium of rational Liberty at home, sir, and the dread32 of Foreign oppression abroad,’ returned the gentleman, as he pointed4 with his cane to an uncommonly34 dirty newsboy with one eye. ‘To the Envy of the world, sir, and the leaders of Human Civilization. Let me ask you sir,’ he added, bringing the ferule of his stick heavily upon the deck with the air of a man who must not be equivocated35 with, ‘how do you like my Country?’
‘I am hardly prepared to answer that question yet,’ said Martin ‘seeing that I have not been ashore36.’
‘Well, I should expect you were not prepared, sir,’ said the gentleman, ‘to behold37 such signs of National Prosperity as those?’
He pointed to the vessels38 lying at the wharves; and then gave a vague flourish with his stick, as if he would include the air and water, generally, in this remark.
‘Really,’ said Martin, ‘I don’t know. Yes. I think I was.’
The gentleman glanced at him with a knowing look, and said he liked his policy. It was natural, he said, and it pleased him as a philosopher to observe the prejudices of human nature.
‘You have brought, I see, sir,’ he said, turning round towards Martin, and resting his chin on the top of his stick, ‘the usual amount of misery39 and poverty and ignorance and crime, to be located in the bosom40 of the great Republic. Well, sir! let ‘em come on in shiploads from the old country. When vessels are about to founder41, the rats are said to leave ‘em. There is considerable of truth, I find, in that remark.’
‘The old ship will keep afloat a year or two longer yet, perhaps,’ said Martin with a smile, partly occasioned by what the gentleman said, and partly by his manner of saying it, which was odd enough for he emphasised all the small words and syllables42 in his discourse43, and left the others to take care of themselves; as if he thought the larger parts of speech could be trusted alone, but the little ones required to be constantly looked after.
‘Hope is said by the poet, sir,’ observed the gentleman, ‘to be the nurse of young Desire.’
Martin signified that he had heard of the cardinal44 virtue45 in question serving occasionally in that domestic capacity.
‘She will not rear her infant in the present instance, sir, you’ll find,’ observed the gentleman.
‘Time will show,’ said Martin.
The gentleman nodded his head gravely; and said, ‘What is your name, sir?’
Martin told him.
‘How old are you, sir?’
Martin told him.
‘What is your profession, sir?’
Martin told him that also.
‘What is your destination, sir?’ inquired the gentleman.
‘Really,’ said Martin laughing, ‘I can’t satisfy you in that particular, for I don’t know it myself.’
‘Yes?’ said the gentleman.
‘No,’ said Martin.
The gentleman adjusted his cane under his left arm, and took a more deliberate and complete survey of Martin than he had yet had leisure to make. When he had completed his inspection46, he put out his right hand, shook Martin’s hand, and said:
‘My name is Colonel Diver, sir. I am the Editor of the New York Rowdy Journal.’
Martin received the communication with that degree of respect which an announcement so distinguished47 appeared to demand.
‘The New York Rowdy Journal, sir,’ resumed the colonel, ‘is, as I expect you know, the organ of our aristocracy in this city.’
‘Oh! there is an aristocracy here, then?’ said Martin. ‘Of what is it composed?’
‘Of intelligence, sir,’ replied the colonel; ‘of intelligence and virtue. And of their necessary consequence in this republic—dollars, sir.’
Martin was very glad to hear this, feeling well assured that if intelligence and virtue led, as a matter of course, to the acquisition of dollars, he would speedily become a great capitalist. He was about to express the gratification such news afforded him, when he was interrupted by the captain of the ship, who came up at the moment to shake hands with the colonel; and who, seeing a well-dressed stranger on the deck (for Martin had thrown aside his cloak), shook hands with him also. This was an unspeakable relief to Martin, who, in spite of the acknowledged supremacy48 of Intelligence and virtue in that happy country, would have been deeply mortified49 to appear before Colonel Diver in the poor character of a steerage passenger.
‘Well cap’en!’ said the colonel.
‘Well colonel,’ cried the captain. ‘You’re looking most uncommon33 bright, sir. I can hardly realise its being you, and that’s a fact.’
‘A good passage, cap’en?’ inquired the colonel, taking him aside,
‘Well now! It was a pretty spanking50 run, sir,’ said, or rather sung, the captain, who was a genuine New Englander; ‘considerin’ the weather.’
‘Yes?’ said the colonel.
‘Well! It was, sir,’ said the captain. ‘I’ve just now sent a boy up to your office with the passenger-list, colonel.’
‘You haven’t got another boy to spare, p’raps, cap’en?’ said the colonel, in a tone almost amounting to severity.
‘I guess there air a dozen if you want ‘em, colonel,’ said the captain.
‘One moderate big ‘un could convey a dozen champagne51, perhaps,’ observed the colonel, musing52, ‘to my office. You said a spanking run, I think?’
‘Well, so I did,’ was the reply.
‘It’s very nigh, you know,’ observed the colonel. ‘I’m glad it was a spanking run, cap’en. Don’t mind about quarts if you’re short of ‘em. The boy can as well bring four-and-twenty pints53, and travel twice as once.—A first-rate spanker, cap’en, was it? Yes?’
‘A most e—tarnal spanker,’ said the skipper.
‘I admire at your good fortun, cap’en. You might loan me a corkscrew at the same time, and half-a-dozen glasses if you liked. However bad the elements combine against my country’s noble packet-ship, the Screw, sir,’ said the colonel, turning to Martin, and drawing a flourish on the surface of the deck with his cane, ‘her passage either way is almost certain to eventuate a spanker!’
The captain, who had the Sewer below at that moment, lunching expensively in one cabin, while the amiable54 Stabber was drinking himself into a state of blind madness in another, took a cordial leave of his friend the colonel, and hurried away to dispatch the champagne; well knowing (as it afterwards appeared) that if he failed to conciliate the editor of the Rowdy Journal, that potentate55 would denounce him and his ship in large capitals before he was a day older; and would probably assault the memory of his mother also, who had not been dead more than twenty years. The colonel being again left alone with Martin, checked him as he was moving away, and offered in consideration of his being an Englishman, to show him the town and to introduce him, if such were his desire, to a genteel boarding-house. But before they entered on these proceedings57 (he said), he would beseech58 the honour of his company at the office of the Rowdy Journal, to partake of a bottle of champagne of his own importation.
All this was so extremely kind and hospitable59, that Martin, though it was quite early in the morning, readily acquiesced60. So, instructing Mark, who was deeply engaged with his friend and her three children, that when he had done assisting them, and had cleared the baggage, he was to wait for further orders at the Rowdy Journal Office, Martin accompanied his new friend on shore.
They made their way as they best could through the melancholy61 crowd of emigrants62 upon the wharf63, who, grouped about their beds and boxes, with the bare ground below them and the bare sky above, might have fallen from another planet, for anything they knew of the country; and walked for some short distance along a busy street, bounded on one side by the quays64 and shipping; and on the other by a long row of staring red-brick storehouses and offices, ornamented65 with more black boards and white letters, and more white boards and black letters, than Martin had ever seen before, in fifty times the space. Presently they turned up a narrow street, and presently into other narrow streets, until at last they stopped before a house whereon was painted in great characters, ‘Rowdy Journal.’
The colonel, who had walked the whole way with one hand in his breast, his head occasionally wagging from side to side, and his hat thrown back upon his ears, like a man who was oppressed to inconvenience by a sense of his own greatness, led the way up a dark and dirty flight of stairs into a room of similar character, all littered and bestrewn with odds67 and ends of newspapers and other crumpled68 fragments, both in proof and manuscript. Behind a mangy old writing-table in this apartment sat a figure with a stump69 of a pen in its mouth and a great pair of scissors in its right hand, clipping and slicing at a file of Rowdy Journals; and it was such a laughable figure that Martin had some difficulty in preserving his gravity, though conscious of the close observation of Colonel Diver.
The individual who sat clipping and slicing as aforesaid at the Rowdy Journals, was a small young gentleman of very juvenile70 appearance, and unwholesomely pale in the face; partly, perhaps, from intense thought, but partly, there is no doubt, from the excessive use of tobacco, which he was at that moment chewing vigorously. He wore his shirt-collar turned down over a black ribbon; and his lank71 hair, a fragile crop, was not only smoothed and parted back from his brow, that none of the Poetry of his aspect might be lost, but had, here and there, been grubbed up by the roots; which accounted for his loftiest developments being somewhat pimply72. He had that order of nose on which the envy of mankind has bestowed73 the appellation74 ‘snub,’ and it was very much turned up at the end, as with a lofty scorn. Upon the upper lip of this young gentleman were tokens of a sandy down; so very, very smooth and scant75, that, though encouraged to the utmost, it looked more like a recent trace of gingerbread than the fair promise of a moustache; and this conjecture76, his apparently77 tender age went far to strengthen. He was intent upon his work. Every time he snapped the great pair of scissors, he made a corresponding motion with his jaws78, which gave him a very terrible appearance.
Martin was not long in determining within himself that this must be Colonel Diver’s son; the hope of the family, and future mainspring of the Rowdy Journal. Indeed he had begun to say that he presumed this was the colonel’s little boy, and that it was very pleasant to see him playing at Editor in all the guilelessness of childhood, when the colonel proudly interposed and said:
‘My War Correspondent, sir—Mr Jefferson Brick!’
Martin could not help starting at this unexpected announcement, and the consciousness of the irretrievable mistake he had nearly made.
Mr Brick seemed pleased with the sensation he produced upon the stranger, and shook hands with him, with an air of patronage79 designed to reassure80 him, and to let him blow that there was no occasion to be frightened, for he (Brick) wouldn’t hurt him.
‘You have heard of Jefferson Brick, I see, sir,’ quoth the colonel, with a smile. ‘England has heard of Jefferson Brick. Europe has heard of Jefferson Brick. Let me see. When did you leave England, sir?’
‘Five weeks ago,’ said Martin.
‘Five weeks ago,’ repeated the colonel, thoughtfully; as he took his seat upon the table, and swung his legs. ‘Now let me ask you, sir which of Mr Brick’s articles had become at that time the most obnoxious to the British Parliament and the Court of Saint James’s?’
‘Upon my word,’ said Martin, ‘I—’
‘I have reason to know, sir,’ interrupted the colonel, ‘that the aristocratic circles of your country quail81 before the name of Jefferson Brick. I should like to be informed, sir, from your lips, which of his sentiments has struck the deadliest blow—’
‘At the hundred heads of the Hydra82 of Corruption83 now grovelling84 in the dust beneath the lance of Reason, and spouting85 up to the universal arch above us, its sanguinary gore,’ said Mr Brick, putting on a little blue cloth cap with a glazed86 front, and quoting his last article.
‘The libation of freedom, Brick’—hinted the colonel.
‘—Must sometimes be quaffed87 in blood, colonel,’ cried Brick. And when he said ‘blood,’ he gave the great pair of scissors a sharp snap, as if they said blood too, and were quite of his opinion.
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This done, they both looked at Martin, pausing for a reply.
‘Upon my life,’ said Martin, who had by this time quite recovered his usual coolness, ‘I can’t give you any satisfactory information about it; for the truth is that I—’
‘Stop!’ cried the colonel, glancing sternly at his war correspondent and giving his head one shake after every sentence. ‘That you never heard of Jefferson Brick, sir. That you never read Jefferson Brick, sir. That you never saw the Rowdy Journal, sir. That you never knew, sir, of its mighty influence upon the cabinets of Europe. Yes?’
‘That’s what I was about to observe, certainly,’ said Martin.
‘Keep cool, Jefferson,’ said the colonel gravely. ‘Don’t bust88! oh you Europeans! After that, let’s have a glass of wine!’ So saying, he got down from the table, and produced, from a basket outside the door, a bottle of champagne, and three glasses.
‘Mr Jefferson Brick, sir,’ said the colonel, filling Martin’s glass and his own, and pushing the bottle to that gentleman, ‘will give us a sentiment.’ ‘Well, sir!’ cried the war correspondent, ‘Since you have concluded to call upon me, I will respond. I will give you, sir, The Rowdy Journal and its brethren; the well of Truth, whose waters are black from being composed of printers’ ink, but are quite clear enough for my country to behold the shadow of her Destiny reflected in.’
‘Hear, hear!’ cried the colonel, with great complacency. ‘There are flowery components89, sir, in the language of my friend?’
‘Very much so, indeed,’ said Martin.
‘There is to-day’s Rowdy, sir,’ observed the colonel, handing him a paper. ‘You’ll find Jefferson Brick at his usual post in the van of human civilization and moral purity.’
The colonel was by this time seated on the table again. Mr Brick also took up a position on that same piece of furniture; and they fell to drinking pretty hard. They often looked at Martin as he read the paper, and then at each other. When he laid it down, which was not until they had finished a second bottle, the colonel asked him what he thought of it.
‘Why, it’s horribly personal,’ said Martin.
The colonel seemed much flattered by this remark; and said he hoped it was.
‘We are independent here, sir,’ said Mr Jefferson Brick. ‘We do as we like.’
‘If I may judge from this specimen,’ returned Martin, ‘there must be a few thousands here, rather the reverse of independent, who do as they don’t like.’
‘Well! They yield to the popular mind of the Popular Instructor90, sir,’ said the colonel. ‘They rile up, sometimes; but in general we have a hold upon our citizens, both in public and in private life, which is as much one of the ennobling institutions of our happy country as—’
‘As nigger slavery itself,’ suggested Mr Brick.
‘En—tirely so,’ remarked the colonel.
‘Pray,’ said Martin, after some hesitation91, ‘may I venture to ask, with reference to a case I observe in this paper of yours, whether the Popular Instructor often deals in—I am at a loss to express it without giving you offence—in forgery92? In forged letters, for instance,’ he pursued, for the colonel was perfectly93 calm and quite at his ease, ‘solemnly purporting94 to have been written at recent periods by living men?’
‘Well, sir!’ replied the colonel. ‘It does, now and then.’
‘And the popular instructed—what do they do?’ asked Martin.
‘Buy ‘em:’ said the colonel.
‘Buy ‘em by hundreds of thousands,’ resumed the colonel. ‘We are a smart people here, and can appreciate smartness.’
‘Is smartness American for forgery?’ asked Martin.
‘Well!’ said the colonel, ‘I expect it’s American for a good many things that you call by other names. But you can’t help yourself in Europe. We can.’
‘And do, sometimes,’ thought Martin. ‘You help yourselves with very little ceremony, too!’
‘At all events, whatever name we choose to employ,’ said the colonel, stooping down to roll the third empty bottle into a corner after the other two, ‘I suppose the art of forgery was not invented here sir?’
‘I suppose not,’ replied Martin.
‘Nor any other kind of smartness I reckon?’
‘Invented! No, I presume not.’
‘Well!’ said the colonel; ‘then we got it all from the old country, and the old country’s to blame for it, and not the new ‘un. There’s an end of that. Now, if Mr Jefferson Brick and you will be so good as to clear, I’ll come out last, and lock the door.’
Rightly interpreting this as the signal for their departure, Martin walked downstairs after the war correspondent, who preceded him with great majesty96. The colonel following, they left the Rowdy Journal Office and walked forth97 into the streets; Martin feeling doubtful whether he ought to kick the colonel for having presumed to speak to him, or whether it came within the bounds of possibility that he and his establishment could be among the boasted usages of that regenerated98 land.
It was clear that Colonel Diver, in the security of his strong position, and in his perfect understanding of the public sentiment, cared very little what Martin or anybody else thought about him. His high-spiced wares99 were made to sell, and they sold; and his thousands of readers could as rationally charge their delight in filth100 upon him, as a glutton101 can shift upon his cook the responsibility of his beastly excess. Nothing would have delighted the colonel more than to be told that no such man as he could walk in high success the streets of any other country in the world; for that would only have been a logical assurance to him of the correct adaptation of his labours to the prevailing102 taste, and of his being strictly103 and peculiarly a national feature of America.
They walked a mile or more along a handsome street which the colonel said was called Broadway, and which Mr Jefferson Brick said ‘whipped the universe.’ Turning, at length, into one of the numerous streets which branched from this main thoroughfare, they stopped before a rather mean-looking house with jalousie blinds to every window; a flight of steps before the green street-door; a shining white ornament66 on the rails on either side like a petrified105 pineapple, polished; a little oblong plate of the same material over the knocker whereon the name of ‘Pawkins’ was engraved106; and four accidental pigs looking down the area.
The colonel knocked at this house with the air of a man who lived there; and an Irish girl popped her head out of one of the top windows to see who it was. Pending107 her journey downstairs, the pigs were joined by two or three friends from the next street, in company with whom they lay down sociably108 in the gutter109.
‘Is the major indoors?’ inquired the colonel, as he entered.
‘Is it the master, sir?’ returned the girl, with a hesitation which seemed to imply that they were rather flush of majors in that establishment.
‘The master!’ said Colonel Diver, stopping short and looking round at his war correspondent.
‘Oh! The depressing institutions of that British empire, colonel!’ said Jefferson Brick. ‘Master!’
‘What’s the matter with the word?’ asked Martin.
‘I should hope it was never heard in our country, sir; that’s all,’ said Jefferson Brick; ‘except when it is used by some degraded Help, as new to the blessings110 of our form of government, as this Help is. There are no masters here.’
‘All “owners,” are they?’ said Martin.
Mr Jefferson Brick followed in the Rowdy Journal’s footsteps without returning any answer. Martin took the same course, thinking as he went, that perhaps the free and independent citizens, who in their moral elevation111, owned the colonel for their master, might render better homage112 to the goddess, Liberty, in nightly dreams upon the oven of a Russian Serf.
The colonel led the way into a room at the back of the house upon the ground-floor, light, and of fair dimensions, but exquisitely113 uncomfortable; having nothing in it but the four cold white walls and ceiling, a mean carpet, a dreary114 waste of dining-table reaching from end to end, and a bewildering collection of cane-bottomed chairs. In the further region of this banqueting-hall was a stove, garnished115 on either side with a great brass116 spittoon, and shaped in itself like three little iron barrels set up on end in a fender, and joined together on the principle of the Siamese Twins. Before it, swinging himself in a rocking-chair, lounged a large gentleman with his hat on, who amused himself by spitting alternately into the spittoon on the right hand of the stove, and the spittoon on the left, and then working his way back again in the same order. A negro lad in a soiled white jacket was busily engaged in placing on the table two long rows of knives and forks, relieved at intervals117 by jugs119 of water; and as he travelled down one side of this festive120 board, he straightened with his dirty hands the dirtier cloth, which was all askew121, and had not been removed since breakfast. The atmosphere of this room was rendered intensely hot and stifling122 by the stove; but being further flavoured by a sickly gush123 of soup from the kitchen, and by such remote suggestions of tobacco as lingered within the brazen124 receptacles already mentioned, it became, to a stranger’s senses, almost insupportable.
The gentleman in the rocking-chair having his back towards them, and being much engaged in his intellectual pastime, was not aware of their approach until the colonel, walking up to the stove, contributed his mite125 towards the support of the left-hand spittoon, just as the major—for it was the major—bore down upon it. Major Pawkins then reserved his fire, and looking upward, said, with a peculiar104 air of quiet weariness, like a man who had been up all night—an air which Martin had already observed both in the colonel and Mr Jefferson Brick—
‘Well, colonel!’
‘Here is a gentleman from England, major,’ the colonel replied, ‘who has concluded to locate himself here if the amount of compensation suits him.’
‘I am glad to see you, sir,’ observed the major, shaking hands with Martin, and not moving a muscle of his face. ‘You are pretty bright, I hope?’
‘Never better,’ said Martin.
‘You are never likely to be,’ returned the major. ‘You will see the sun shine here.’
‘I think I remember to have seen it shine at home sometimes,’ said Martin, smiling.
‘I think not,’ replied the major. He said so with a stoical indifference126 certainly, but still in a tone of firmness which admitted of no further dispute on that point. When he had thus settled the question, he put his hat a little on one side for the greater convenience of scratching his head, and saluted127 Mr Jefferson Brick with a lazy nod.
Major Pawkins (a gentleman of Pennsylvanian origin) was distinguished by a very large skull128, and a great mass of yellow forehead; in deference129 to which commodities it was currently held in bar-rooms and other such places of resort that the major was a man of huge sagacity. He was further to be known by a heavy eye and a dull slow manner; and for being a man of that kind who—mentally speaking—requires a deal of room to turn himself in. But, in trading on his stock of wisdom, he invariably proceeded on the principle of putting all the goods he had (and more) into his window; and that went a great way with his constituency of admirers. It went a great way, perhaps, with Mr Jefferson Brick, who took occasion to whisper in Martin’s ear:
‘One of the most remarkable men in our country, sir!’
It must not be supposed, however, that the perpetual exhibition in the market-place of all his stock-in-trade for sale or hire, was the major’s sole claim to a very large share of sympathy and support. He was a great politician; and the one article of his creed130, in reference to all public obligations involving the good faith and integrity of his country, was, ‘run a moist pen slick through everything, and start fresh.’ This made him a patriot15. In commercial affairs he was a bold speculator. In plainer words he had a most distinguished genius for swindling, and could start a bank, or negotiate a loan, or form a land-jobbing company (entailing ruin, pestilence131, and death, on hundreds of families), with any gifted creature in the union. This made him an admirable man of business. He could hang about a bar-room, discussing the affairs of the nation, for twelve hours together; and in that time could hold forth with more intolerable dulness, chew more tobacco, smoke more tobacco, drink more rum-toddy, mint-julep, gin-sling, and cocktail132, than any private gentleman of his acquaintance. This made him an orator133 and a man of the people. In a word, the major was a rising character, and a popular character, and was in a fair way to be sent by the popular party to the State House of New York, if not in the end to Washington itself. But as a man’s private prosperity does not always keep pace with his patriotic devotion to public affairs; and as fraudulent transactions have their downs as well as ups, the major was occasionally under a cloud. Hence, just now Mrs Pawkins kept a boarding-house, and Major Pawkins rather ‘loafed’ his time away than otherwise.
‘You have come to visit our country, sir, at a season of great commercial depression,’ said the major.
‘At an alarming crisis,’ said the colonel.
‘At a period of unprecedented134 stagnation,’ said Mr Jefferson Brick.
‘I am sorry to hear that,’ returned Martin. ‘It’s not likely to last, I hope?’
Martin knew nothing about America, or he would have known perfectly well that if its individual citizens, to a man, are to be believed, it always is depressed135, and always is stagnated136, and always is at an alarming crisis, and never was otherwise; though as a body they are ready to make oath upon the Evangelists at any hour of the day or night, that it is the most thriving and prosperous of all countries on the habitable globe.
‘It’s not likely to last, I hope?’ said Martin.
‘Well!’ returned the major, ‘I expect we shall get along somehow, and come right in the end.’
‘We are a young lion,’ said Mr Jefferson Brick.
‘We have revivifying and vigorous principles within ourselves,’ observed the major. ‘Shall we drink a bitter afore dinner, colonel?’
The colonel assenting138 to this proposal with great alacrity139, Major Pawkins proposed an adjournment140 to a neighbouring bar-room, which, as he observed, was ‘only in the next block.’ He then referred Martin to Mrs Pawkins for all particulars connected with the rate of board and lodging141, and informed him that he would have the pleasure of seeing that lady at dinner, which would soon be ready, as the dinner hour was two o’clock, and it only wanted a quarter now. This reminded him that if the bitter were to be taken at all, there was no time to lose; so he walked off without more ado, and left them to follow if they thought proper.
When the major rose from his rocking-chair before the stove, and so disturbed the hot air and balmy whiff of soup which fanned their brows, the odour of stale tobacco became so decidedly prevalent as to leave no doubt of its proceeding56 mainly from that gentleman’s attire26. Indeed, as Martin walked behind him to the bar-room, he could not help thinking that the great square major, in his listlessness and langour, looked very much like a stale weed himself; such as might be hoed out of the public garden, with great advantage to the decent growth of that preserve, and tossed on some congenial dunghill.
They encountered more weeds in the bar-room, some of whom (being thirsty souls as well as dirty) were pretty stale in one sense, and pretty fresh in another. Among them was a gentleman who, as Martin gathered from the conversation that took place over the bitter, started that afternoon for the Far West on a six months’ business tour, and who, as his outfit142 and equipment for this journey, had just such another shiny hat and just such another little pale valise as had composed the luggage of the gentleman who came from England in the Screw.
They were walking back very leisurely; Martin arm-in-arm with Mr Jefferson Brick, and the major and the colonel side-by-side before them; when, as they came within a house or two of the major’s residence, they heard a bell ringing violently. The instant this sound struck upon their ears, the colonel and the major darted143 off, dashed up the steps and in at the street-door (which stood ajar) like lunatics; while Mr Jefferson Brick, detaching his arm from Martin’s, made a precipitate144 dive in the same direction, and vanished also.
But there was no smoke to be seen, nor any flame, nor was there any smell of fire. As Martin faltered146 on the pavement, three more gentlemen, with horror and agitation147 depicted148 in their faces, came plunging149 wildly round the street corner; jostled each other on the steps; struggled for an instant; and rushed into the house, a confused heap of arms and legs. Unable to bear it any longer, Martin followed. Even in his rapid progress he was run down, thrust aside, and passed, by two more gentlemen, stark150 mad, as it appeared, with fierce excitement.
‘Where is it?’ cried Martin, breathlessly, to a negro whom he encountered in the passage.
‘In a eatin room, sa. Kernell, sa, him kep a seat ‘side himself, sa.’
‘A seat!’ cried Martin.
‘For a dinnar, sa.’
Martin started at him for a moment, and burst into a hearty151 laugh; to which the negro, out of his natural good humour and desire to please, so heartily152 responded, that his teeth shone like a gleam of light. ‘You’re the pleasantest fellow I have seen yet,’ said Martin clapping him on the back, ‘and give me a better appetite than bitters.’
With this sentiment he walked into the dining-room and slipped into a chair next the colonel, which that gentleman (by this time nearly through his dinner) had turned down in reserve for him, with its back against the table.
It was a numerous company—eighteen or twenty perhaps. Of these some five or six were ladies, who sat wedged together in a little phalanx by themselves. All the knives and forks were working away at a rate that was quite alarming; very few words were spoken; and everybody seemed to eat his utmost in self-defence, as if a famine were expected to set in before breakfast time to-morrow morning, and it had become high time to assert the first law of nature. The poultry153, which may perhaps be considered to have formed the staple154 of the entertainment—for there was a turkey at the top, a pair of ducks at the bottom, and two fowls155 in the middle—disappeared as rapidly as if every bird had had the use of its wings, and had flown in desperation down a human throat. The oysters156, stewed157 and pickled, leaped from their capacious reservoirs, and slid by scores into the mouths of the assembly. The sharpest pickles158 vanished, whole cucumbers at once, like sugar-plums, and no man winked159 his eye. Great heaps of indigestible matter melted away as ice before the sun. It was a solemn and an awful thing to see. Dyspeptic individuals bolted their food in wedges; feeding, not themselves, but broods of nightmares, who were continually standing at livery within them. Spare men, with lank and rigid160 cheeks, came out unsatisfied from the destruction of heavy dishes, and glared with watchful161 eyes upon the pastry162. What Mrs Pawkins felt each day at dinner-time is hidden from all human knowledge. But she had one comfort. It was very soon over.
When the colonel had finished his dinner, which event took place while Martin, who had sent his plate for some turkey, was waiting to begin, he asked him what he thought of the boarders, who were from all parts of the union, and whether he would like to know any particulars concerning them.
‘Pray,’ said Martin, ‘who is that sickly little girl opposite, with the tight round eyes? I don’t see anybody here, who looks like her mother, or who seems to have charge of her.’
‘Do you mean the matron in blue, sir?’ asked the colonel, with emphasis. ‘That is Mrs Jefferson Brick, sir.’
‘No, no,’ said Martin, ‘I mean the little girl, like a doll; directly opposite.’
‘Well, sir!’ cried the colonel. ‘that is Mrs Jefferson Brick.’
Martin glanced at the colonel’s face, but he was quite serious.
‘Bless my soul! I suppose there will be a young Brick then, one of these days?’ said Martin.
‘There are two young Bricks already, sir,’ returned the colonel.
The matron looked so uncommonly like a child herself, that Martin could not help saying as much. ‘Yes, sir,’ returned the colonel, ‘but some institutions develop human natur; others re—tard it.’
‘Jefferson Brick,’ he observed after a short silence, in commendation of his correspondent, ‘is one of the most remarkable men in our country, sir!’
This had passed almost in a whisper, for the distinguished gentleman alluded163 to sat on Martin’s other hand.
‘Pray, Mr Brick,’ said Martin, turning to him, and asking a question more for conversation’s sake than from any feeling of interest in its subject, ‘who is that;’ he was going to say ‘young’ but thought it prudent164 to eschew165 the word—‘that very short gentleman yonder, with the red nose?’
‘That is Pro—fessor Mullit, sir,’ replied Jefferson.
‘May I ask what he is professor of?’ asked Martin.
‘Of education, sir,’ said Jefferson Brick.
‘A sort of schoolmaster, possibly?’ Martin ventured to observe.
‘He is a man of fine moral elements, sir, and not commonly endowed,’ said the war correspondent. ‘He felt it necessary, at the last election for President, to repudiate166 and denounce his father, who voted on the wrong interest. He has since written some powerful pamphlets, under the signature of “Suturb,” or Brutus reversed. He is one of the most remarkable men in our country, sir.’
‘There seem to be plenty of ‘em,’ thought Martin, ‘at any rate.’
Pursuing his inquiries167 Martin found that there were no fewer than four majors present, two colonels, one general, and a captain, so that he could not help thinking how strongly officered the American militia168 must be; and wondering very much whether the officers commanded each other; or if they did not, where on earth the privates came from. There seemed to be no man there without a title; for those who had not attained169 to military honours were either doctors, professors, or reverends. Three very hard and disagreeable gentlemen were on missions from neighbouring States; one on monetary170 affairs, one on political, one on sectarian. Among the ladies, there were Mrs Pawkins, who was very straight, bony, and silent; and a wiry-faced old damsel, who held strong sentiments touching171 the rights of women, and had diffused172 the same in lectures; but the rest were strangely devoid173 of individual traits of character, insomuch that any one of them might have changed minds with the other, and nobody would have found it out. These, by the way, were the only members of the party who did not appear to be among the most remarkable people in the country.
Several of the gentlemen got up, one by one, and walked off as they swallowed their last morsel174; pausing generally by the stove for a minute or so to refresh themselves at the brass spittoons. A few sedentary characters, however, remained at table full a quarter of an hour, and did not rise until the ladies rose, when all stood up.
‘Where are they going?’ asked Martin, in the ear of Mr Jefferson Brick.
‘To their bedrooms, sir.’
‘Is there no dessert, or other interval118 of conversation?’ asked Martin, who was disposed to enjoy himself after his long voyage.
‘We are a busy people here, sir, and have no time for that,’ was the reply.
So the ladies passed out in single file; Mr Jefferson Brick and such other married gentlemen as were left, acknowledging the departure of their other halves by a nod; and there was an end of them. Martin thought this an uncomfortable custom, but he kept his opinion to himself for the present, being anxious to hear, and inform himself by, the conversation of the busy gentlemen, who now lounged about the stove as if a great weight had been taken off their minds by the withdrawal175 of the other sex; and who made a plentiful176 use of the spittoons and their toothpicks.
It was rather barren of interest, to say the truth; and the greater part of it may be summed up in one word. Dollars. All their cares, hopes, joys, affections, virtues177, and associations, seemed to be melted down into dollars. Whatever the chance contributions that fell into the slow cauldron of their talk, they made the gruel178 thick and slab179 with dollars. Men were weighed by their dollars, measures gauged180 by their dollars; life was auctioneered, appraised181, put up, and knocked down for its dollars. The next respectable thing to dollars was any venture having their attainment182 for its end. The more of that worthless ballast, honour and fair-dealing, which any man cast overboard from the ship of his Good Name and Good Intent, the more ample stowage-room he had for dollars. Make commerce one huge lie and mighty theft. Deface the banner of the nation for an idle rag; pollute it star by star; and cut out stripe by stripe as from the arm of a degraded soldier. Do anything for dollars! What is a flag to them!
One who rides at all hazards of limb and life in the chase of a fox, will prefer to ride recklessly at most times. So it was with these gentlemen. He was the greatest patriot, in their eyes, who brawled183 the loudest, and who cared the least for decency184. He was their champion who, in the brutal185 fury of his own pursuit, could cast no stigma186 upon them for the hot knavery187 of theirs. Thus, Martin learned in the five minutes’ straggling talk about the stove, that to carry pistols into legislative188 assemblies, and swords in sticks, and other such peaceful toys; to seize opponents by the throat, as dogs or rats might do; to bluster189, bully190, and overbear by personal assailment; were glowing deeds. Not thrusts and stabs at Freedom, striking far deeper into her House of Life than any sultan’s scimitar could reach; but rare incense191 on her altars, having a grateful scent192 in patriotic nostrils193, and curling upward to the seventh heaven of Fame.
Once or twice, when there was a pause, Martin asked such questions as naturally occurred to him, being a stranger, about the national poets, the theatre, literature, and the arts. But the information which these gentlemen were in a condition to give him on such topics, did not extend beyond the effusions of such master-spirits of the time as Colonel Diver, Mr Jefferson Brick, and others; renowned194, as it appeared, for excellence195 in the achievement of a peculiar style of broadside essay called ‘a screamer.’
‘We are a busy people, sir,’ said one of the captains, who was from the West, ‘and have no time for reading mere196 notions. We don’t mind ‘em if they come to us in newspapers along with almighty197 strong stuff of another sort, but darn your books.’
Here the general, who appeared to grow quite faint at the bare thought of reading anything which was neither mercantile nor political, and was not in a newspaper, inquired ‘if any gentleman would drink some?’ Most of the company, considering this a very choice and seasonable idea, lounged out, one by one, to the bar-room in the next block. Thence they probably went to their stores and counting-houses; thence to the bar-room again, to talk once more of dollars, and enlarge their minds with the perusal198 and discussion of screamers; and thence each man to snore in the bosom of his own family.
‘Which would seem,’ said Martin, pursuing the current of his own thoughts, ‘to be the principal recreation they enjoy in common.’ With that, he fell a-musing again on dollars, demagogues, and bar-rooms; debating within himself whether busy people of this class were really as busy as they claimed to be, or only had an inaptitude for social and domestic pleasure.
It was a difficult question to solve; and the mere fact of its being strongly presented to his mind by all that he had seen and heard, was not encouraging. He sat down at the deserted199 board, and becoming more and more despondent200, as he thought of all the uncertainties201 and difficulties of his precarious202 situation, sighed heavily.
Now, there had been at the dinner-table a middle-aged203 man with a dark eye and a sunburnt face, who had attracted Martin’s attention by having something very engaging and honest in the expression of his features; but of whom he could learn nothing from either of his neighbours, who seemed to consider him quite beneath their notice. He had taken no part in the conversation round the stove, nor had he gone forth with the rest; and now, when he heard Martin sigh for the third or fourth time, he interposed with some casual remark, as if he desired, without obtruding204 himself upon a stranger’s notice, to engage him in cheerful conversation if he could. His motive205 was so obvious, and yet so delicately expressed, that Martin felt really grateful to him, and showed him so in the manner of his reply.
‘I will not ask you,’ said this gentleman with a smile, as he rose and moved towards him, ‘how you like my country, for I can quite anticipate your feeling on that point. But, as I am an American, and consequently bound to begin with a question, I’ll ask you how you like the colonel?’
‘You are so very frank,’ returned Martin, ‘that I have no hesitation in saying I don’t like him at all. Though I must add that I am beholden to him for his civility in bringing me here—and arranging for my stay, on pretty reasonable terms, by the way,’ he added, remembering that the colonel had whispered him to that effect, before going out.
‘Not much beholden,’ said the stranger drily. ‘The colonel occasionally boards packet-ships, I have heard, to glean206 the latest information for his journal; and he occasionally brings strangers to board here, I believe, with a view to the little percentage which attaches to those good offices; and which the hostess deducts207 from his weekly bill. I don’t offend you, I hope?’ he added, seeing that Martin reddened.
‘My dear sir,’ returned Martin, as they shook hands, ‘how is that possible! to tell you the truth, I—am—’
‘Yes?’ said the gentleman, sitting down beside him.
‘I am rather at a loss, since I must speak plainly,’ said Martin, getting the better of his hesitation, ‘to know how this colonel escapes being beaten.’
‘Well! He has been beaten once or twice,’ remarked the gentleman quietly. ‘He is one of a class of men, in whom our own Franklin, so long ago as ten years before the close of the last century, foresaw our danger and disgrace. Perhaps you don’t know that Franklin, in very severe terms, published his opinion that those who were slandered209 by such fellows as this colonel, having no sufficient remedy in the administration of this country’s laws or in the decent and right-minded feeling of its people, were justified210 in retorting on such public nuisances by means of a stout211 cudgel?’
‘I was not aware of that,’ said Martin, ‘but I am very glad to know it, and I think it worthy212 of his memory; especially’—here he hesitated again.
‘Go on,’ said the other, smiling as if he knew what stuck in Martin’s throat.
‘Especially,’ pursued Martin, ‘as I can already understand that it may have required great courage, even in his time, to write freely on any question which was not a party one in this very free country.’
‘Some courage, no doubt,’ returned his new friend. ‘Do you think it would require any to do so, now?’
‘Indeed I think it would; and not a little,’ said Martin.
‘You are right. So very right, that I believe no satirist213 could breathe this air. If another Juvenal or Swift could rise up among us to-morrow, he would be hunted down. If you have any knowledge of our literature, and can give me the name of any man, American born and bred, who has anatomized our follies214 as a people, and not as this or that party; and who has escaped the foulest215 and most brutal slander208, the most inveterate216 hatred217 and intolerant pursuit; it will be a strange name in my ears, believe me. In some cases I could name to you, where a native writer has ventured on the most harmless and good-humoured illustrations of our vices218 or defects, it has been found necessary to announce, that in a second edition the passage has been expunged219, or altered, or explained away, or patched into praise.’
‘And how has this been brought about?’ asked Martin, in dismay.
‘Think of what you have seen and heard to-day, beginning with the colonel,’ said his friend, ‘and ask yourself. How they came about, is another question. Heaven forbid that they should be samples of the intelligence and virtue of America, but they come uppermost, and in great numbers, and too often represent it. Will you walk?’
There was a cordial candour in his manner, and an engaging confidence that it would not be abused; a manly220 bearing on his own part, and a simple reliance on the manly faith of a stranger; which Martin had never seen before. He linked his arm readily in that of the American gentleman, and they walked out together.
It was perhaps to men like this, his new companion, that a traveller of honoured name, who trod those shores now nearly forty years ago, and woke upon that soil, as many have done since, to blots221 and stains upon its high pretensions222, which in the brightness of his distant dreams were lost to view, appealed in these words—
‘Oh, but for such, Columbia’s days were done;
Rank without ripeness, quickened without sun,
Crude at the surface, rotten at the core,
Her fruits would fall before her spring were o’er!’
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1
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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plunderer
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| 掠夺者 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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gouging
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| n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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profundity
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| n.渊博；深奥，深刻 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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equivocated
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| v.使用模棱两可的话隐瞒真相( equivocate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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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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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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spanking
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| adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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62
emigrants
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| n.（从本国移往他国的）移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
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63
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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64
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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65
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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67
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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68
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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69
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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70
juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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71
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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72
pimply
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| adj.肿泡的；有疙瘩的；多粉刺的；有丘疹的 | |
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73
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
appellation
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| n.名称，称呼 | |
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75
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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76
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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77
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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78
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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79
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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80
reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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81
quail
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| n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖 | |
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82
hydra
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| n.水螅；难于根除的祸患 | |
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83
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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84
grovelling
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| adj.卑下的，奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 )；趴 | |
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85
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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86
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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87
quaffed
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|
| v.痛饮( quaff的过去式和过去分词 )；畅饮；大口大口将…喝干；一饮而尽 | |
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88
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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89
components
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| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
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90
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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91
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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92
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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93
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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94
purporting
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| v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的现在分词 ) | |
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95
copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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96
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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97
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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98
regenerated
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| v.新生，再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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100
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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101
glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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102
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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103
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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104
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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105
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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106
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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107
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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108
sociably
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| adv.成群地 | |
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109
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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110
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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111
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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112
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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113
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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114
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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115
garnished
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| v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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117
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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118
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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119
jugs
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| （有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 ) | |
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120
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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121
askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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122
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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123
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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124
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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125
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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126
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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127
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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128
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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129
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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130
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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131
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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132
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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133
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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134
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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135
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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136
stagnated
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| v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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138
assenting
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| 同意，赞成( assent的现在分词 ) | |
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139
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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140
adjournment
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| 休会； 延期； 休会期； 休庭期 | |
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141
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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142
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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143
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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144
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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145
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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146
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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147
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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148
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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149
plunging
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|
| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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150
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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151
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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152
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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153
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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154
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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155
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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156
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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157
stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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158
pickles
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| n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 )；处于困境；遇到麻烦；菜酱 | |
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159
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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160
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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161
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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162
pastry
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| n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点 | |
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163
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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164
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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165
eschew
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| v.避开，戒绝 | |
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166
repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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167
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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168
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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169
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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170
monetary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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171
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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172
diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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173
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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174
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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175
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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176
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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177
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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178
gruel
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| n.稀饭，粥 | |
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179
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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180
gauged
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| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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181
appraised
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| v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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182
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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183
brawled
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| 打架，争吵( brawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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184
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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185
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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186
stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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187
knavery
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| n.恶行，欺诈的行为 | |
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188
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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189
bluster
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| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
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190
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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191
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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192
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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193
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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194
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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195
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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196
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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197
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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198
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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199
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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200
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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201
uncertainties
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| 无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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202
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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203
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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204
obtruding
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| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的现在分词 ) | |
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205
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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206
glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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207
deducts
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的第三人称单数 ) | |
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208
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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209
slandered
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| 造谣中伤( slander的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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210
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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212
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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213
satirist
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| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
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214
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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215
foulest
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| adj.恶劣的( foul的最高级 )；邪恶的；难闻的；下流的 | |
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216
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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217
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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218
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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219
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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220
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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221
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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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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