"Dr. Gore12 talked unworthily of his reputation when he spoke13 of the older Universities as playgrounds for the rich and idle. In the first place, the rich men there are not idle. Some of the rich men are, and so are some of the poor men. On the whole, the sons of noble and wealthy families keep up the best traditions of academic life."
So far this seems all very nice. It is a part of the universal principle on which Englishmen have acted in recent years. As you will not try to make the best people the most powerful people, persuade yourselves that the most powerful people are the best people. Mad Frenchmen and Irishmen try to realise the ideal. To you belongs the nobler (and much easier) task of idealising the real. First give your Universities entirely14 into the power of the rich; then let the rich start traditions; and then congratulate yourselves on the fact that the sons of the rich keep up these traditions. All that is quite simple and jolly. But then this critic, who crushes Dr. Gore from the high throne of the Outlook, goes on in a way that is really perplexing. "It is distinctly advantageous," he says, "that rich and poor—i. e., young men with a smooth path in life before them, and those who have to hew15 out a road for themselves—should be brought into association. Each class learns a great deal from the other. On the one side, social conceit16 and exclusiveness give way to the free spirit of competition amongst all classes; on the other side, angularities and prejudices are rubbed away." Even this I might have swallowed. But the paragraph concludes with this extraordinary sentence: "We get the net result in such careers as those of Lord Milner, Lord Curzon, and Mr. Asquith."
Those three names lay my intellect prostrate17. The rest of the argument I understand quite well. The social exclusiveness of aristocrats19 at Oxford and Cambridge gives way before the free spirit of competition amongst all classes. That is to say, there is at Oxford so hot and keen a struggle, consisting of coal-heavers, London clerks, gypsies, navvies, drapers' assistants, grocers' assistants—in short, all the classes that make up the bulk of England—there is such a fierce competition at Oxford among all these people that in its presence aristocratic exclusiveness gives way. That is all quite clear. I am not quite sure about the facts, but I quite understand the argument. But then, having been called upon to contemplate20 this bracing21 picture of a boisterous22 turmoil23 of all the classes of England, I am suddenly asked to accept as example of it, Lord Milner, Lord Curzon, and the present Chancellor24 of the Exchequer25. What part do these gentlemen play in the mental process? Is Lord Curzon one of the rugged26 and ragged27 poor men whose angularities have been rubbed away? Or is he one of those whom Oxford immediately deprived of all kind of social exclusiveness? His Oxford reputation does not seem to bear out either account of him. To regard Lord Milner as a typical product of Oxford would surely be unfair. It would be to deprive the educational tradition of Germany of one of its most typical products. English aristocrats have their faults, but they are not at all like Lord Milner. What Mr. Asquith was meant to prove, whether he was a rich man who lost his exclusiveness, or a poor man who lost his angles, I am utterly28 unable to conceive.
There is, however, one mild but very evident truth that might perhaps be mentioned. And it is this: that none of those three excellent persons is, or ever has been, a poor man in the sense that that word is understood by the overwhelming majority of the English nation. There are no poor men at Oxford in the sense that the majority of men in the street are poor. The very fact that the writer in the Outlook can talk about such people as poor shows that he does not understand what the modern problem is. His kind of poor man rather reminds me of the Earl in the ballad29 by that great English satirist30, Sir W.S. Gilbert, whose angles (very acute angles) had, I fear, never been rubbed down by an old English University. The reader will remember that when the Periwinkle-girl was adored by two Dukes, the poet added—
"A third adorer had the girl,
A man of lowly station;
A miserable31 grovelling32 Earl
Besought33 her approbation34."
Perhaps, indeed, some allusion35 to our University system, and to the universal clash in it of all the classes of the community, may be found in the verse a little farther on, which says—
"He'd had, it happily befell,
A decent education;
His views would have befitted well
A far superior station."
Possibly there was as simple a chasm36 between Lord Curzon and Lord Milner. But I am afraid that the chasm will become almost imperceptible, a microscopic37 crack, if we compare it with the chasm that separates either or both of them from the people of this country.
Of course the truth is exactly as the Bishop of Birmingham put it. I am sure that he did not put it in any unkindly or contemptuous spirit towards those old English seats of learning, which whether they are or are not seats of learning, are, at any rate, old and English, and those are two very good things to be. The Old English University is a playground for the governing class. That does not prove that it is a bad thing; it might prove that it was a very good thing. Certainly if there is a governing class, let there be a playground for the governing class. I would much rather be ruled by men who know how to play than by men who do not know how to play. Granted that we are to be governed by a rich section of the community, it is certainly very important that that section should be kept tolerably genial38 and jolly. If the sensitive man on the Outlook does not like the phrase, "Playground of the rich," I can suggest a phrase that describes such a place as Oxford perhaps with more precision. It is a place for humanising those who might otherwise be tyrants39, or even experts.
To pretend that the aristocrat18 meets all classes at Oxford is too ludicrous to be worth discussion. But it may be true that he meets more different kinds of men than he would meet under a strictly40 aristocratic regime of private tutors and small schools. It all comes back to the fact that the English, if they were resolved to have an aristocracy, were at least resolved to have a good-natured aristocracy. And it is due to them to say that almost alone among the peoples of the world, they have succeeded in getting one. One could almost tolerate the thing, if it were not for the praise of it. One might endure Oxford, but not the Outlook.
When the poor man at Oxford loses his angles (which means, I suppose, his independence), he may perhaps, even if his poverty is of that highly relative type possible at Oxford, gain a certain amount of worldly advantage from the surrender of those angles. I must confess, however, that I can imagine nothing nastier than to lose one's angles. It seems to me that a desire to retain some angles about one's person is a desire common to all those human beings who do not set their ultimate hopes upon looking like Humpty-Dumpty. Our angles are simply our shapes. I cannot imagine any phrase more full of the subtle and exquisite41 vileness42 which is poisoning and weakening our country than such a phrase as this, about the desirability of rubbing down the angularities of poor men. Reduced to permanent and practical human speech, it means nothing whatever except the corrupting43 of that first human sense of justice which is the critic of all human institutions.
It is not in any such spirit of facile and reckless reassurance44 that we should approach the really difficult problem of the delicate virtues45 and the deep dangers of our two historic seats of learning. A good son does not easily admit that his sick mother is dying; but neither does a good son cheerily assert that she is "all right." There are many good arguments for leaving the two historic Universities exactly as they are. There are many good arguments for smashing them or altering them entirely. But in either case the plain truth told by the Bishop of Birmingham remains46. If these Universities were destroyed, they would not be destroyed as Universities. If they are preserved, they will not be preserved as Universities. They will be preserved strictly and literally47 as playgrounds; places valued for their hours of leisure more than for their hours of work. I do not say that this is unreasonable48; as a matter of private temperament49 I find it attractive. It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play; it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. To be at last in such secure innocence50 that one can juggle51 with the universe and the stars, to be so good that one can treat everything as a joke—that may be, perhaps, the real end and final holiday of human souls. When we are really holy we may regard the Universe as a lark52; so perhaps it is not essentially53 wrong to regard the University as a lark. But the plain and present fact is that our upper classes do regard the University as a lark, and do not regard it as a University. It also happens very often that through some oversight54 they neglect to provide themselves with that extreme degree of holiness which I have postulated55 as a necessary preliminary to such indulgence in the higher frivolity56.
Humanity, always dreaming of a happy race, free, fantastic, and at ease, has sometimes pictured them in some mystical island, sometimes in some celestial57 city, sometimes as fairies, gods, or citizens of Atlantis. But one method in which it has often indulged is to picture them as aristocrats, as a special human class that could actually be seen hunting in the woods or driving about the streets. And this never was (as some silly Germans say) a worship of pride and scorn; mankind never really admired pride; mankind never had any thing but a scorn for scorn. It was a worship of the spectacle of happiness; especially of the spectacle of youth. This is what the old Universities in their noblest aspect really are; and this is why there is always something to be said for keeping them as they are. Aristocracy is not a tyranny; it is not even merely a spell. It is a vision. It is a deliberate indulgence in a certain picture of pleasure painted for the purpose; every Duchess is (in an innocent sense) painted, like Gainsborough's "Duchess of Devonshire." She is only beautiful because, at the back of all, the English people wanted her to be beautiful. In the same way, the lads at Oxford and Cambridge are only larking58 because England, in the depths of its solemn soul, really wishes them to lark. All this is very human and pardonable, and would be even harmless if there were no such things in the world as danger and honour and intellectual responsibility. But if aristocracy is a vision, it is perhaps the most unpractical of all visions. It is not a working way of doing things to put all your happiest people on a lighted platform and stare only at them. It is not a working way of managing education to be entirely content with the mere6 fact that you have (to a degree unexampled in the world) given the luckiest boys the jolliest time. It would be easy enough, like the writer in the Outlook, to enjoy the pleasures and deny the perils59. Oh what a happy place England would be to live in if only one did not love it!
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1
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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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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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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plutocratic
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| adj.富豪的，有钱的 | |
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bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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9
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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radicalism
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| n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义 | |
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sublimity
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| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
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12
gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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13
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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14
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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15
hew
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| v.砍；伐；削 | |
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16
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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17
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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18
aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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19
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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20
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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21
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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22
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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23
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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24
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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25
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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26
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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27
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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28
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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29
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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30
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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31
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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32
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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33
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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34
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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35
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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36
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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37
microscopic
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| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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39
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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40
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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41
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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42
vileness
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| n.讨厌，卑劣 | |
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43
corrupting
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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44
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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45
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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46
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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47
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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48
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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49
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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50
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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51
juggle
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| v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招 | |
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52
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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53
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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54
oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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55
postulated
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| v.假定，假设( postulate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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57
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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58
larking
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| v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的现在分词 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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59
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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