1. Which Baulks at an Estranging1 Sea
Here, then, let us end the lovers' comedy, after a good precedent2, with supper as the denouement3. Chacun ira souper: la comédie ne peut pas mieux finir.
For epilogue, Cynthia Allonby was duly married to Edward Musgrave, and he made her a fair husband, as husbands go. That was the upshot of Pevensey's death and Marlowe's murder: as indeed, it was the outcome of all the earlier-recorded heart-burnings and endeavors and spoiled dreams. Through generation by generation, traversing just three centuries, I have explained to you, my dear Mrs. Grundy, how divers4 weddings came about: and each marriage appears, upon the whole, to have resulted satisfactorily. Dame5 Melicent and Dame Adelaide, not Florian, touched the root of the matter as they talked together at Storisende: and the trio's descendants could probe no deeper.
But now we reach the annals of the house of Musgrave: and further adventuring is blocked by R. V. Musgrave's monumental work The Musgraves of Matocton. The critical may differ as to the plausibility6 of the family tradition (ably defended by Colonel Musgrave, pp. 33-41) that Mistress Cynthia Musgrave was the dark lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets7, and that this poet, also, in the end, absolved8 her of intentional9 malice10. There is none, at any event, but may find in this genealogical classic a full record of the highly improbable happenings which led to the emigration of Captain Edward Musgrave, and later of Cynthia Musgrave, to the Colony of Virginia; and none but must admire Colonel Musgrave's painstaking12 and accurate tracing of the American Musgraves who descended13 from this couple, down to the eve of the twentieth century.
It would be supererogatory, therefore, for me to tell you of the various Musgrave marriages, and to re-dish such data as is readily accessible on the reference shelves of the nearest public library, as well as in the archives of the Colonial Dames14, of the Society of the Cincinnati, and of the Sons and Daughters of various wars. It suffices that from the marriage of Edward Musgrave and Cynthia Allonby sprang this well-known American family, prolific15 of brave gentlemen and gracious ladies who in due course, and in new lands, achieved their allotted16 portion of laughter and anguish17 and compromise, very much as their European fathers and mothers had done aforetime.
So I desist to follow the line of love across the Atlantic; and, for the while at least, make an end of these chronicles. My pen flags, my ink runs low, and (since Florian wedded18 twice) the Dizain of Marriages is completed.
I have bound up my gleanings from the fields of old years into a modest sheaf; and if it be so fortunate as to please you, my dear Mrs. Grundy,—if it so come about that your ladyship be moved in time to desire another sheaf such as this,—why, assuredly, my surprise will be untempered with obduracy20. The legends of Allonby have been but lightly touched upon: and apart from the Aventures d'Adhelmar, Nicolas de Caen is thus far represented in English only by the Roi Atnaury (which, to be sure, is Nicolas' masterpiece) and the mutilated Dizain des Reines and the fragmentary Roman de Lusignan.
But since you, madam, are not Schahriah, to give respite21 for the sake of an unnarrated tale, I must now without further peroration22 make an end. Through the monstrous23 tapestry24 I have traced out for you the windings25 of a single thread, and I entreat26 you, dear lady, to accept it with assurances of my most distinguished27 regard.
And if the offering be no great gift, this lack of greatness, believe me, is due to the errors and limitations of the transcriber28 alone.
For they loved greatly, these men and women of the past, in that rapt hour wherein Nature tricked them to noble ends, and lured29 them to skyey heights of adoration30 and sacrifice. At bottom they were, perhaps, no more heroical than you or I. Indeed, neither Florian nor Adhelmar was at strict pains to act as common-sense dictated31, and Falstaff is scarcely describable as immaculate: Villon thieved, Kit32 Marlowe left a wake of emptied bottles, and Will Sommers was notoriously a fool; Matthiette was vain, and Adelais self-seeking, and the tenth Marquis of Falmouth, if you press me, rather a stupid and pompous33 ass11: and yet to each in turn it was granted to love greatly, to know at least one hour of magnanimity when each was young in the world's annually34 recaptured youth.
And if that hour did not ever have its sequel in precisely35 the anticipated life-long rapture36, nor always in a wedding with the person preferred, yet since at any rate it resulted in a marriage that turned out well enough, in a world wherein people have to consider expediency37, one may rationally assert that each of these romances ended happily. Besides, there had been the hour.
Ah, yes, this love is an illusion, if you will. Wise men have protested that vehemently38 enough in all conscience. But there are two ends to every stickler39 for his opinion here. Whether you see, in this fleet hour's abandonment to love, the man's spark of divinity flaring40 in momentary41 splendor42,—a tragic43 candle, with divinity guttering44 and half-choked among the drossier particles, and with momentary splendor lighting45 man's similitude to Him in Whose likeness46 man was created,—or whether you, more modernly, detect as prompting this surrender coarse-fibred Nature, in the Prince of Lycia's role (with all mankind her Troiluses to be cajoled into perpetuation47 of mankind), you have, in either event, conceded that to live unbefooled by love is at best a shuffling48 and debt-dodging business, and you have granted this unreasoned, transitory surrender to be the most high and, indeed, the one requisite49 action which living affords.
Beyond that is silence. If you succeed in proving love a species of madness, you have but demonstrated that there is something more profoundly pivotal than sanity50, and for the sanest51 logician52 this is a disastrous53 gambit: whereas if, in well-nigh obsolete54 fashion, you confess the universe to be a weightier matter than the contents of your skull55, and your wits a somewhat slender instrument wherewith to plumb56 infinity,—why, then you will recall that it is written God is love, and this recollection, too, is conducive57 to a fine taciturnity.
The End
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1
estranging
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v.使疏远(尤指家庭成员之间)( estrange的现在分词 ) | |
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2
precedent
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n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的 | |
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3
denouement
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n.结尾,结局 | |
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4
divers
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adj.不同的;种种的 | |
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5
dame
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n.女士 | |
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6
plausibility
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n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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7
sonnets
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n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) | |
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8
absolved
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宣告…无罪,赦免…的罪行,宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 ); 不受责难,免除责任 [义务] ,开脱(罪责) | |
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9
intentional
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adj.故意的,有意(识)的 | |
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10
malice
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n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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11
ass
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n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人 | |
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12
painstaking
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adj.苦干的;艰苦的,费力的,刻苦的 | |
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13
descended
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a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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14
dames
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n.(在英国)夫人(一种封号),夫人(爵士妻子的称号)( dame的名词复数 );女人 | |
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15
prolific
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adj.丰富的,大量的;多产的,富有创造力的 | |
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16
allotted
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分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
anguish
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n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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18
wedded
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adj.正式结婚的;渴望…的,执著于…的v.嫁,娶,(与…)结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
defers
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v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的第三人称单数 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
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20
obduracy
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n.冷酷无情,顽固,执拗 | |
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21
respite
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n.休息,中止,暂缓 | |
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22
peroration
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n.(演说等之)结论 | |
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23
monstrous
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adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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24
tapestry
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n.挂毯,丰富多采的画面 | |
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25
windings
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(道路、河流等)蜿蜒的,弯曲的( winding的名词复数 ); 缠绕( wind的现在分词 ); 卷绕; 转动(把手) | |
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26
entreat
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v.恳求,恳请 | |
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27
distinguished
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adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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28
transcriber
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抄写者 | |
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29
lured
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吸引,引诱(lure的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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30
adoration
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n.爱慕,崇拜 | |
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31
dictated
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v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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32
kit
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n.用具包,成套工具;随身携带物 | |
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33
pompous
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adj.傲慢的,自大的;夸大的;豪华的 | |
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34
annually
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adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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35
precisely
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adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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36
rapture
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n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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37
expediency
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n.适宜;方便;合算;利己 | |
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38
vehemently
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adv. 热烈地 | |
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stickler
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n.坚持细节之人 | |
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40
flaring
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a.火焰摇曳的,过份艳丽的 | |
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41
momentary
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adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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42
splendor
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n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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43
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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44
guttering
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n.用于建排水系统的材料;沟状切除术;开沟 | |
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45
lighting
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n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
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46
likeness
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n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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47
perpetuation
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n.永存,不朽 | |
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48
shuffling
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adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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49
requisite
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adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
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50
sanity
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n.心智健全,神智正常,判断正确 | |
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51
sanest
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adj.心智健全的( sane的最高级 );神志正常的;明智的;稳健的 | |
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52
logician
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n.逻辑学家 | |
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53
disastrous
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adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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54
obsolete
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adj.已废弃的,过时的 | |
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55
skull
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n.头骨;颅骨 | |
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56
plumb
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adv.精确地,完全地;v.了解意义,测水深 | |
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57
conducive
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adj.有益的,有助的 | |
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