As I saw the shopkeepers walk by in their black frock-coats and their black hats, I thought of the old line in nursery annals: "The merchants of London, they wear scarlet1."
The streets were all so unromantic, dreary2. Nothing could be done for them, I thought—nothing. And then my thoughts were interrupted by barking dogs. Every dog in the street seemed to be barking—every kind of dog, not only the little ones but the big ones too. They were all facing East towards the way I was coming by. Then I turned round to look and had this vision, in Piccadilly, on the opposite side to the houses just after you pass the cab-rank.
Tall bent3 men were coming down the street arrayed in marvelous cloaks. All were sallow of skin and swarthy of hair, and most of them wore strange beards. They were coming slowly, and they walked with staves, and their hands were out for alms.
All the beggars had come to town.
I would have given them a gold doubloon engraven with the towers of Castile, but I had no such coin. They did not seem the people to who it were fitting to offer the same coin as one tendered for the use of a taxicab (O marvelous, ill-made word, surely the pass-word somewhere of some evil order). Some of them wore purple cloaks with wide green borders, and the border of green was a narrow strip with some, and some wore cloaks of old and faded red, and some wore violet cloaks, and none wore black. And they begged gracefully4, as gods might beg for souls.
I stood by a lamp-post, and they came up to it, and one addressed it, calling the lamp-post brother, and said, "O lamp-post, our brother of the dark, are there many wrecks5 by thee in the tides of night? Sleep not, brother, sleep not. There were many wrecks an it were not for thee."
It was strange: I had not thought of the majesty6 of the street lamp and his long watching over drifting men. But he was not beneath the notice of these cloaked strangers.
And then one murmured to the street: "Art thou weary, street? Yet a little longer they shall go up and down, and keep thee clad with tar7 and wooden bricks. Be patient, street. In a while the earthquake cometh."
"Who are you?" people said. "And where do you come from?"
"Who may tell what we are," they answered, "or whence we come?"
And one turned towards the smoke-stained houses, saying, "Blessed be the houses, because men dream therein."
Then I perceived, what I had never thought, that all these staring houses were not alike, but different one from another, because they held different dreams.
And another turned to a tree that stood by the Green Park railings, saying, "Take comfort, tree, for the fields shall come again."
And all the while the ugly smoke went upwards8, the smoke that has stifled9 Romance and blackened the birds. This, I thought, they can neither praise nor bless. And when they saw it they raised their hands towards it, towards the thousand chimneys, saying, "Behold10 the smoke. The old coal-forests that have lain so long in the dark, and so long still, are dancing now and going back to the sun. Forget not Earth, O our brother, and we wish thee joy of the sun."
It had rained, and a cheerless stream dropped down a dirty gutter11. It had come from heaps of refuse, foul12 and forgotten; it had gathered upon its way things that were derelict, and went to somber13 drains unknown to man or the sun. It was this sullen14 stream as much as all other causes that had made me say in my heart that the town was vile15, that Beauty was dead in it, and Romance fled.
Even this thing they blessed. And one that wore a purple cloak with broad green border, said, "Brother, be hopeful yet, for thou shalt surely come at last to the delectable16 Sea, and meet the heaving, huge, and travelled ships, and rejoice by isles17 that know the golden sun." Even thus they blessed the gutter, and I felt no whim18 to mock.
And the people that went by, in their black unseemly coats and their misshapen, monstrous19, shiny hats, the beggars also blessed. And one of them said to one of these dark citizens: "O twin of Night himself, with thy specks20 of white at wrist and neck like to Night's scattered21 stars. How fearfully thou dost veil with black thy hid, unguessed desires. They are deep thoughts in thee that they will not frolic with colour, that they say 'No' to purple, and to lovely green 'Begone.' Thou hast wild fancies that they must needs be tamed with black, and terrible imaginings that they must be hidden thus. Has thy soul dreams of the angels, and of the walls of faëry that thou hast guarded it so utterly22, lest it dazzle astonished eyes? Even so God hid the diamond deep down in miles of clay.
"Behold thou art very secret.
"Be wonderful. Be full of mystery."
Silently the man in the black frock-coat passed on. And I came to understand when the purple beggar had spoken, that the dark citizen had trafficked perhaps with Ind, that in his heart were strange and dumb ambitions; that his dumbness was founded by solemn rite25 on the roots of ancient tradition; that it might be overcome one day by a cheer in the street or by some one singing a song, and that when this shopman spoke24 there might come clefts26 in the world and people peering over at the abyss.
Then turning towards Green Park, where as yet Spring was not, the beggars stretched out their hands, and looking at the frozen grass and the yet unbudding trees they, chanting all together, prophesied27 daffodils.
A motor omnibus came down the street, nearly running over some of the dogs that were barking ferociously28 still. It was sounding its horn noisily.
And the vision went then.
In a letter from a friend whom I have never seen, one of those that read my books, this line was quoted—"But he, he never came to Carcassonne." I do not know the origin of the line, but I made this tale about it.
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1
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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2
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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3
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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4
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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5
wrecks
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| n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉 | |
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6
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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7
tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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8
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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9
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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10
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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11
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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12
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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13
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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14
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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15
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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16
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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17
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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18
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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19
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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20
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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21
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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22
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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23
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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24
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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25
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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26
clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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27
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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