“How near to good is what is fair!
Which we no sooner see,
But with the lines and outward air
Our senses taken be.
Again yourselves compose,
And now put all the aptness on
Of Figure, that Proportion
Or Color can disclose;
That if those silent arts were lost,
Design and Picture, they might boast
From you a newer ground,
Instructed by the heightening sense
In their true motions found.”
Ben Jonson
ESSAY IV Manners
Half the world, it is said, knows not how the other half live. Our Exploring Expedition saw the Feejee islanders getting their dinner off human bones; and they are said to eat their own wives and children. The husbandry of the modern inhabitants of Gournou (west of old Thebes) is philosophical2 to a fault. To set up their housekeeping, nothing is requisite3 but two or three earthern pots, a stone to grind meal, and a mat which is the bed. The house, namely, a tomb, is ready without rent or taxes. No rain can pass through the roof, and there is no door, for there is no want of one, as there is nothing to lose. If the house do not please them, they walk out and enter another, as there are several hundreds at their command. “It is somewhat singular,” adds Belzoni, to whom we owe this account, “to talk of happiness among people who live in sepulchres, among the corpses4 and rags of an ancient nation which they know nothing of.” In the deserts of Borgoo, the rock-Tibboos still dwell in caves, like cliff-swallows, and the language of these negroes is compared by their neighbors to the shrieking6 of bats, and to the whistling of birds. Again, the Bornoos have no proper names; individuals are called after their height, thickness, or other accidental quality, and have nicknames merely. But the salt, the dates, the ivory, and the gold, for which these horrible regions are visited, find their way into countries, where the purchaser and consumer can hardly be ranked in one race with these cannibals and man-stealers; countries where man serves himself with metals, wood, stone, glass, gum, cotton, silk, and wool; honors himself with architecture; writes laws, and contrives7 to execute his will through the hands of many nations; and, especially, establishes a select society, running through all the countries of intelligent men, a self-constituted aristocracy, or fraternity of the best, which, without written law or exact usage of any kind, perpetuates8 itself, colonizes9 every new-planted island, and adopts and makes its own whatever personal beauty or extraordinary native endowment anywhere appears.
What fact more conspicuous10 in modern history, than the creation of the gentleman? Chivalry11 is that, and loyalty12 is that, and, in English literature, half the drama, and all the novels, from Sir Philip Sidney to Sir Walter Scott, paint this figure. The word gentleman, which, like the word Christian13, must hereafter characterize the present and the few preceding centuries, by the importance attached to it, is a homage14 to personal and incommunicable properties. Frivolous15 and fantastic additions have got associated with the name, but the steady interest of mankind in it must be attributed to the valuable properties which it designates. An element which unites all the most forcible persons of every country; makes them intelligible16 and agreeable to each other, and is somewhat so precise, that it is at once felt if an individual lack the masonic sign, cannot be any casual product, but must be an average result of the character and faculties17 universally found in men. It seems a certain permanent average; as the atmosphere is a permanent composition, whilst so many gases are combined only to be decompounded. Comme il faut, is the Frenchman’s description of good society, as we must be. It is a spontaneous fruit of talents and feelings of precisely18 that class who have most vigor19, who take the lead in the world of this hour, and, though far from pure, far from constituting the gladdest and highest tone of human feeling, is as good as the whole society permits it to be. It is made of the spirit, more than of the talent of men, and is a compound result, into which every great force enters as an ingredient, namely, virtue20, wit, beauty, wealth, and power.
There is something equivocal in all the words in use to express the excellence21 of manners and social cultivation22, because the quantities are fluxional, and the last effect is assumed by the senses as the cause. The word gentleman has not any correlative abstract to express the quality. Gentility is mean, and gentilesse is obsolete23. But we must keep alive in the vernacular24, the distinction between fashion, a word of narrow and often sinister25 meaning, and the heroic character which the gentleman imports. The usual words, however, must be respected: they will be found to contain the root of the matter. The point of distinction in all this class of names, as courtesy, chivalry, fashion, and the like, is, that the flower and fruit, not the grain of the tree, are contemplated26. It is beauty which is the aim this time, and not worth. The result is now in question, although our words intimate well enough the popular feeling, that the appearance supposes a substance. The gentleman is a man of truth, lord of his own actions, and expressing that lordship in his behavior, not in any manner dependent and servile either on persons, or opinions, or possessions. Beyond this fact of truth and real force, the word denotes good-nature or benevolence27: manhood first, and then gentleness. The popular notion certainly adds a condition of ease and fortune; but that is a natural result of personal force and love, that they should possess and dispense29 the goods of the world. In times of violence, every eminent30 person must fall in with many opportunities to approve his stoutness31 and worth; therefore every man’s name that emerged at all from the mass in the feudal32 ages, rattles33 in our ear like a flourish of trumpets34. But personal force never goes out of fashion. That is still paramount35 today, and, in the moving crowd of good society, the men of valor36 and reality are known, and rise to their natural place. The competition is transferred from war to politics and trade, but the personal force appears readily enough in these new arenas37.
Power first, or no leading class. In politics and in trade, bruisers and pirates are of better promise than talkers and clerks. God knows that all sorts of gentlemen knock at the door; but whenever used in strictness, and with any emphasis, the name will be found to point at original energy. It describes a man standing38 in his own right, and working after untaught methods. In a good lord, there must first be a good animal, at least to the extent of yielding the incomparable advantage of animal spirits. The ruling class must have more, but they must have these, giving in every company the sense of power, which makes things easy to be done which daunt39 the wise. The society of the energetic class, in their friendly and festive40 meetings, is full of courage, and of attempts, which intimidate41 the pale scholar. The courage which girls exhibit is like a battle of Lundy’s Lane, or a sea-fight. The intellect relies on memory to make some supplies to face these extemporaneous42 squadrons. But memory is a base mendicant43 with basket and badge, in the presence of these sudden masters. The rulers of society must be up to the work of the world, and equal to their versatile44 office: men of the right Caesarian pattern, who have great range of affinity45. I am far from believing the timid maxim46 of Lord Falkland, (”that for ceremony there must go two to it; since a bold fellow will go through the cunningest forms,”) and am of opinion that the gentleman is the bold fellow whose forms are not to be broken through; and only that plenteous nature is rightful master, which is the complement47 of whatever person it converses48 with. My gentleman gives the law where he is; he will outpray saints in chapel49, outgeneral veterans in the field, and outshine all courtesy in the hall. He is good company for pirates, and good with academicians; so that it is useless to fortify50 yourself against him; he has the private entrance to all minds, and I could as easily exclude myself, as him. The famous gentlemen of Asia and Europe have been of this strong type: Saladin, Sapor, the Cid, Julius Caesar, Scipio, Alexander, Pericles, and the lordliest personages. They sat very carelessly in their chairs, and were too excellent themselves, to value any condition at a high rate.
A plentiful51 fortune is reckoned necessary, in the popular judgment52, to the completion of this man of the world: and it is a material deputy which walks through the dance which the first has led. Money is not essential, but this wide affinity is, which transcends53 the habits of clique54 and caste, and makes itself felt by men of all classes. If the aristocrat55 is only valid56 in fashionable circles, and not with truckmen, he will never be a leader in fashion; and if the man of the people cannot speak on equal terms with the gentleman, so that the gentleman shall perceive that he is already really of his own order, he is not to be feared. Diogenes, Socrates, and Epaminondas, are gentlemen of the best blood, who have chosen the condition of poverty, when that of wealth was equally open to them. I use these old names, but the men I speak of are my contemporaries. Fortune will not supply to every generation one of these well-appointed knights57, but every collection of men furnishes some example of the class: and the politics of this country, and the trade of every town, are controlled by these hardy58 and irresponsible doers, who have invention to take the lead, and a broad sympathy which puts them in fellowship with crowds, and makes their action popular.
The manners of this class are observed and caught with devotion by men of taste. The association of these masters with each other, and with men intelligent of their merits, is mutually agreeable and stimulating60. The good forms, the happiest expressions of each, are repeated and adopted. By swift consent, everything superfluous61 is dropped, everything graceful62 is renewed. Fine manners show themselves formidable to the uncultivated man. They are a subtler science of defence to parry and intimidate; but once matched by the skill of the other party, they drop the point of the sword, — points and fences disappear, and the youth finds himself in a more transparent63 atmosphere, wherein life is a less troublesome game, and not a misunderstanding rises between the players. Manners aim to facilitate life, to get rid of impediments, and bring the man pure to energize64. They aid our dealing65 and conversation, as a railway aids travelling, by getting rid of all avoidable obstructions66 of the road, and leaving nothing to be conquered but pure space. These forms very soon become fixed67, and a fine sense of propriety68 is cultivated with the more heed69, that it becomes a badge of social and civil distinctions. Thus grows up Fashion, an equivocal semblance70, the most puissant71, the most fantastic and frivolous, the most feared and followed, and which morals and violence assault in vain.
There exists a strict relation between the class of power, and the exclusive and polished circles. The last are always filled or filling from the first. The strong men usually give some allowance even to the petulances of fashion, for that affinity they find in it. Napoleon, child of the revolution, destroyer of the old noblesse, never ceased to court the Faubourg St. Germain: doubtless with the feeling, that fashion is a homage to men of his stamp. Fashion, though in a strange way, represents all manly72 virtue. It is virtue gone to seed: it is a kind of posthumous73 honor. It does not often caress74 the great, but the children of the great: it is a hall of the Past. It usually sets its face against the great of this hour. Great men are not commonly in its halls: they are absent in the field: they are working, not triumphing. Fashion is made up of their children; of those, who, through the value and virtue of somebody, have acquired lustre75 to their name, marks of distinction, means of cultivation and generosity76, and, in their physical organization, a certain health and excellence, which secures to them, if not the highest power to work, yet high power to enjoy. The class of power, the working heroes, the Cortez, the Nelson, the Napoleon, see that this is the festivity and permanent celebration of such as they; that fashion is funded talent; is Mexico, Marengo, and Trafalgar beaten out thin; that the brilliant names of fashion run back to just such busy names as their own, fifty or sixty years ago. They are the sowers, their sons shall be the reapers77, and their sons, in the ordinary course of things, must yield the possession of the harvest to new competitors with keener eyes and stronger frames. The city is recruited from the country. In the year 1805, it is said, every legitimate78 monarch79 in Europe was imbecile. The city would have died out, rotted, and exploded, long ago, but that it was reinforced from the fields. It is only country which came to town day before yesterday, that is city and court today.
Aristocracy and fashion are certain inevitable80 results. These mutual59 selections are indestructible. If they provoke anger in the least favored class, and the excluded majority revenge themselves on the excluding minority, by the strong hand, and kill them, at once a new class finds itself at the top, as certainly as cream rises in a bowl of milk: and if the people should destroy class after class, until two men only were left, one of these would be the leader, and would be involuntarily served and copied by the other. You may keep this minority out of sight and out of mind, but it is tenacious82 of life, and is one of the estates of the realm. I am the more struck with this tenacity83, when I see its work. It respects the administration of such unimportant matters, that we should not look for any durability84 in its rule. We sometimes meet men under some strong moral influence, as, a patriotic85, a literary, a religious movement, and feel that the moral sentiment rules man and nature. We think all other distinctions and ties will be slight and fugitive86, this of caste or fashion, for example; yet come from year to year, and see how permanent that is, in this Boston or New York life of man, where, too, it has not the least countenance87 from the law of the land. Not in Egypt or in India a firmer or more impassable line. Here are associations whose ties go over, and under, and through it, a meeting of merchants, a military corps5, a college-class, a fire-club, a professional association, a political, a religious convention; — the persons seem to draw inseparably near; yet, that assembly once dispersed88, its members will not in the year meet again. Each returns to his degree in the scale of good society, porcelain89 remains90 porcelain, and earthen earthen. The objects of fashion may be frivolous, or fashion may be objectless, but the nature of this union and selection can be neither frivolous nor accidental. Each man’s rank in that perfect graduation depends on some symmetry in his structure, or some agreement in his structure to the symmetry of society. Its doors unbar instantaneously to a natural claim of their own kind. A natural gentleman finds his way in, and will keep the oldest patrician91 out, who has lost his intrinsic rank. Fashion understands itself; good-breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily fraternize with those of every other. The chiefs of savage92 tribes have distinguished93 themselves in London and Paris, by the purity of their tournure.
To say what good of fashion we can, — it rests on reality, and hates nothing so much as pretenders; — to exclude and mystify pretenders, and send them into everlasting94 ‘Coventry,’ is its delight. We contemn95, in turn, every other gift of men of the world; but the habit even in little and the least matters, of not appealing to any but our own sense of propriety, constitutes the foundation of all chivalry. There is almost no kind of self-reliance, so it be sane96 and proportioned, which fashion does not occasionally adopt, and give it the freedom of its saloons. A sainted soul is always elegant, and, if it will, passes unchallenged into the most guarded ring. But so will Jock the teamster pass, in some crisis that brings him thither97, and find favor, as long as his head is not giddy with the new circumstance, and the iron shoes do not wish to dance in waltzes and cotillons. For there is nothing settled in manners, but the laws of behavior yield to the energy of the individual. The maiden98 at her first ball, the country-man at a city dinner, believes that there is a ritual according to which every act and compliment must be performed, or the failing party must be cast out of this presence. Later, they learn that good sense and character make their own forms every moment, and speak or abstain100, take wine or refuse it, stay or go, sit in a chair or sprawl101 with children on the floor, or stand on their head, or what else soever, in a new and aboriginal102 way: and that strong will is always in fashion, let who will be unfashionable. All that fashion demands is composure, and self-content. A circle of men perfectly103 well-bred would be a company of sensible persons, in which every man’s native manners and character appeared. If the fashionist have not this quality, he is nothing. We are such lovers of self-reliance, that we excuse in a man many sins, if he will show us a complete satisfaction in his position, which asks no leave to be, of mine, or any man’s good opinion. But any deference104 to some eminent man or woman of the world, forfeits105 all privilege of nobility. He is an underling: I have nothing to do with him; I will speak with his master. A man should not go where he cannot carry his whole sphere or society with him, — not bodily, the whole circle of his friends, but atmospherically106. He should preserve in a new company the same attitude of mind and reality of relation, which his daily associates draw him to, else he is shorn of his best beams, and will be an orphan107 in the merriest club. “If you could see Vich Ian Vohr with his tail on!——” But Vich Ian Vohr must always carry his belongings108 in some fashion, if not added as honor, then severed109 as disgrace.
There will always be in society certain persons who are mercuries of its approbation110, and whose glance will at any time determine for the curious their standing in the world. These are the chamberlains of the lesser112 gods. Accept their coldness as an omen99 of grace with the loftier deities113, and allow them all their privilege. They are clear in their office, nor could they be thus formidable, without their own merits. But do not measure the importance of this class by their pretension114, or imagine that a fop can be the dispenser of honor and shame. They pass also at their just rate; for how can they otherwise, in circles which exist as a sort of herald’s office for the sifting115 of character?
As the first thing man requires of man, is reality, so, that appears in all the forms of society. We pointedly116, and by name, introduce the parties to each other. Know you before all heaven and earth, that this is Andrew, and this is Gregory; — they look each other in the eye; they grasp each other’s hand, to identify and signalize each other. It is a great satisfaction. A gentleman never dodges117: his eyes look straight forward, and he assures the other party, first of all, that he has been met. For what is it that we seek, in so many visits and hospitalities? Is it your draperies, pictures, and decorations? Or, do we not insatiably ask, Was a man in the house? I may easily go into a great household where there is much substance, excellent provision for comfort, luxury, and taste, and yet not encounter there any Amphitryon, who shall subordinate these appendages118. I may go into a cottage, and find a farmer who feels that he is the man I have come to see, and fronts me accordingly. It was therefore a very natural point of old feudal etiquette119, that a gentleman who received a visit, though it were of his sovereign, should not leave his roof, but should wait his arrival at the door of his house. No house, though it were the Thuilleries, or the Escurial, is good for anything without a master. And yet we are not often gratified by this hospitality. Every body we know surrounds himself with a fine house, fine books, conservatory120, gardens, equipage, and all manner of toys, as screens to interpose between himself and his guest. Does it not seem as if man was of a very sly, elusive122 nature, and dreaded123 nothing so much as a full rencontre front to front with his fellow? It were unmerciful, I know, quite to abolish the use of these screens, which are of eminent convenience, whether the guest is too great, or too little. We call together many friends who keep each other in play, or, by luxuries and ornaments124 we amuse the young people, and guard our retirement125. Or if, perchance, a searching realist comes to our gate, before whose eye we have no care to stand, then again we run to our curtain, and hide ourselves as Adam at the voice of the Lord God in the garden. Cardinal126 Caprara, the Pope’s legate at Paris, defended himself from the glances of Napoleon, by an immense pair of green spectacles. Napoleon remarked them, and speedily managed to rally them off: and yet Napoleon, in his turn, was not great enough with eight hundred thousand troops at his back, to face a pair of freeborn eyes, but fenced himself with etiquette, and within triple barriers of reserve: and, as all the world knows from Madame de Stael, was wont127, when he found himself observed, to discharge his face of all expression. But emperors and rich men are by no means the most skilful128 masters of good manners. No rentroll nor army-list can dignify129 skulking130 and dissimulation131: and the first point of courtesy must always be truth, as really all the forms of good-breeding point that way.
I have just been reading, in Mr. Hazlitt’s translation, Montaigne’s account of his journey into Italy, and am struck with nothing more agreeably than the self-respecting fashions of the time. His arrival in each place, the arrival of a gentleman of France, is an event of some consequence. Wherever he goes, he pays a visit to whatever prince or gentleman of note resides upon his road, as a duty to himself and to civilization. When he leaves any house in which he has lodged132 for a few weeks, he causes his arms to be painted and hung up as a perpetual sign to the house, as was the custom of gentlemen.
The complement of this graceful self-respect, and that of all the points of good breeding I most require and insist upon, is deference. I like that every chair should be a throne, and hold a king. I prefer a tendency to stateliness, to an excess of fellowship. Let the incommunicable objects of nature and the metaphysical isolation133 of man teach us independence. Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity134 and self-poise. We should meet each morning, as from foreign countries, and spending the day together, should depart at night, as into foreign countries. In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate135. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion. This is myrrh and rosemary to keep the other sweet. Lovers should guard their strangeness. If they forgive too much, all slides into confusion and meanness. It is easy to push this deference to a Chinese etiquette; but coolness and absence of heat and haste indicate fine qualities. A gentleman makes no noise: a lady is serene136. Proportionate is our disgust at those invaders137 who fill a studious house with blast and running, to secure some paltry138 convenience. Not less I dislike a low sympathy of each with his neighbor’s needs. Must we have a good understanding with one another’s palates? as foolish people who have lived long together, know when each wants salt or sugar. I pray my companion, if he wishes for bread, to ask me for bread, and if he wishes for sassafras or arsenic139, to ask me for them, and not to hold out his plate, as if I knew already. Every natural function can be dignified140 by deliberation and privacy. Let us leave hurry to slaves. The compliments and ceremonies of our breeding should signify, however remotely, the recollection of the grandeur141 of our destiny.
The flower of courtesy does not very well bide142 handling, but if we dare to open another leaf, and explore what parts go to its conformation, we shall find also an intellectual quality. To the leaders of men, the brain as well as the flesh and the heart must furnish a proportion. Defect in manners is usually the defect of fine perceptions. Men are too coarsely made for the delicacy143 of beautiful carriage and customs. It is not quite sufficient to good-breeding, a union of kindness and independence. We imperatively144 require a perception of, and a homage to beauty in our companions. Other virtues145 are in request in the field and workyard, but a certain degree of taste is not to be spared in those we sit with. I could better eat with one who did not respect the truth or the laws, than with a sloven146 and unpresentable person. Moral qualities rule the world, but at short distances, the senses are despotic. The same discrimination of fit and fair runs out, if with less rigor147, into all parts of life. The average spirit of the energetic class is good sense, acting148 under certain limitations and to certain ends. It entertains every natural gift. Social in its nature, it respects everything which tends to unite men. It delights in measure. The love of beauty is mainly the love of measure or proportion. The person who screams, or uses the superlative degree, or converses with heat, puts whole drawing-rooms to flight. If you wish to be loved, love measure. You must have genius, or a prodigious149 usefulness, if you will hide the want of measure. This perception comes in to polish and perfect the parts of the social instrument. Society will pardon much to genius and special gifts, but, being in its nature a convention, it loves what is conventional, or what belongs to coming together. That makes the good and bad of manners, namely, what helps or hinders fellowship. For, fashion is not good sense absolute, but relative; not good sense private, but good sense entertaining company. It hates corners and sharp points of character, hates quarrelsome, egotistical, solitary150, and gloomy people; hates whatever can interfere151 with total blending of parties; whilst it values all peculiarities152 as in the highest degree refreshing153, which can consist with good fellowship. And besides the general infusion154 of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendor155 of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society as the costliest156 addition to its rule and its credit.
The dry light must shine in to adorn157 our festival, but it must be tempered and shaded, or that will also offend. Accuracy is essential to beauty, and quick perceptions to politeness, but not too quick perceptions. One may be too punctual and too precise. He must leave the omniscience158 of business at the door, when he comes into the palace of beauty. Society loves creole natures, and sleepy, languishing159 manners, so that they cover sense, grace, and good-will; the air of drowsy160 strength, which disarms161 criticism; perhaps, because such a person seems to reserve himself for the best of the game, and not spend himself on surfaces; an ignoring eye, which does not see the annoyances162, shifts, and inconveniences, that cloud the brow and smother163 the voice of the sensitive.
Therefore, besides personal force and so much perception as constitutes unerring taste, society demands in its patrician class, another element already intimated, which it significantly terms good-nature, expressing all degrees of generosity, from the lowest willingness and faculty164 to oblige, up to the heights of magnanimity and love. Insight we must have, or we shall run against one another, and miss the way to our food; but intellect is selfish and barren. The secret of success in society, is a certain heartiness165 and sympathy. A man who is not happy in the company, cannot find any word in his memory that will fit the occasion. All his information is a little impertinent. A man who is happy there, finds in every turn of the conversation equally lucky occasions for the introduction of that which he has to say. The favorites of society, and what it calls whole souls, are able men, and of more spirit than wit, who have no uncomfortable egotism, but who exactly fill the hour and the company, contented166 and contenting, at a marriage or a funeral, a ball or a jury, a water-party or a shooting-match. England, which is rich in gentlemen, furnished, in the beginning of the present century, a good model of that genius which the world loves, in Mr. Fox, who added to his great abilities the most social disposition167, and real love of men. Parliamentary history has few better passages than the debate, in which Burke and Fox separated in the House of Commons; when Fox urged on his old friend the claims of old friendship with such tenderness, that the house was moved to tears. Another anecdote169 is so close to my matter, that I must hazard the story. A tradesman who had long dunned him for a note of three hundred guineas, found him one day counting gold, and demanded payment: “No,” said Fox, “I owe this money to Sheridan: it is a debt of honor: if an accident should happen to me, he has nothing to show.” “Then,” said the creditor170, “I change my debt into a debt of honor,” and tore the note in pieces. Fox thanked the man for his confidence, and paid him, saying, “his debt was of older standing, and Sheridan must wait.” Lover of liberty, friend of the Hindoo, friend of the African slave, he possessed172 a great personal popularity; and Napoleon said of him on the occasion of his visit to Paris, in 1805, “Mr. Fox will always hold the first place in an assembly at the Thuilleries.”
We may easily seem ridiculous in our eulogy173 of courtesy, whenever we insist on benevolence as its foundation. The painted phantasm Fashion rises to cast a species of derision on what we say. But I will neither be driven from some allowance to Fashion as a symbolic174 institution, nor from the belief that love is the basis of courtesy. We must obtain that, if we can; but by all means we must affirm this. Life owes much of its spirit to these sharp contrasts. Fashion which affects to be honor, is often, in all men’s experience, only a ballroom-code. Yet, so long as it is the highest circle, in the imagination of the best heads on the planet, there is something necessary and excellent in it; for it is not to be supposed that men have agreed to be the dupes of anything preposterous175; and the respect which these mysteries inspire in the most rude and sylvan176 characters, and the curiosity with which details of high life are read, betray the universality of the love of cultivated manners. I know that a comic disparity would be felt, if we should enter the acknowledged ‘first circles,’ and apply these terrific standards of justice, beauty, and benefit, to the individuals actually found there. Monarchs177 and heroes, sages168 and lovers, these gallants are not. Fashion has many classes and many rules of probation111 and admission; and not the best alone. There is not only the right of conquest, which genius pretends, — the individual, demonstrating his natural aristocracy best of the best; — but less claims will pass for the time; for Fashion loves lions, and points, like Circe, to her horned company. This gentleman is this afternoon arrived from Denmark; and that is my Lord Ride, who came yesterday from Bagdat; here is Captain Friese, from Cape178 Turnagain; and Captain Symmes, from the interior of the earth; and Monsieur Jovaire, who came down this morning in a balloon; Mr. Hobnail, the reformer; and Reverend Jul Bat, who has converted the whole torrid zone in his Sunday school; and Signor Torre del Greco, who extinguished Vesuvius by pouring into it the Bay of Naples; Spahi, the Persian ambassador; and Tul Wil Shan, the exiled nabob of Nepaul, whose saddle is the new moon. — But these are monsters of one day, and tomorrow will be dismissed to their holes and dens121; for, in these rooms, every chair is waited for. The artist, the scholar, and, in general, the clerisy, wins its way up into these places, and gets represented here, somewhat on this footing of conquest. Another mode is to pass through all the degrees, spending a year and a day in St. Michael’s Square, being steeped in Cologne water, and perfumed, and dined, and introduced, and properly grounded in all the biography, and politics, and anecdotes179 of the boudoirs.
Yet these fineries may have grace and wit. Let there be grotesque180 sculpture about the gates and offices of temples. Let the creed181 and commandments even have the saucy182 homage of parody183. The forms of politeness universally express benevolence in superlative degrees. What if they are in the mouths of selfish men, and used as means of selfishness? What if the false gentleman almost bows the true out of the world? What if the false gentleman contrives so to address his companion, as civilly to exclude all others from his discourse184, and also to make them feel excluded? Real service will not lose its nobleness. All generosity is not merely French and sentimental185; nor is it to be concealed186, that living blood and a passion of kindness does at last distinguish God’s gentleman from Fashion’s. The epitaph of Sir Jenkin Grout is not wholly unintelligible187 to the present age. “Here lies Sir Jenkin Grout, who loved his friend, and persuaded his enemy: what his mouth ate, his hand paid for: what his servants robbed, he restored: if a woman gave him pleasure, he supported her in pain: he never forgot his children: and whoso touched his finger, drew after it his whole body.” Even the line of heroes is not utterly188 extinct. There is still ever some admirable person in plain clothes, standing on the wharf189, who jumps in to rescue a drowning man; there is still some absurd inventor of charities; some guide and comforter of runaway190 slaves; some friend of Poland; some Philhellene; some fanatic191 who plants shade-trees for the second and third generation, and orchards192 when he is grown old; some well-concealed piety193; some just man happy in an ill-fame; some youth ashamed of the favors of fortune, and impatiently casting them on other shoulders. And these are the centres of society, on which it returns for fresh impulses. These are the creators of Fashion, which is an attempt to organize beauty of behavior. The beautiful and the generous are, in the theory, the doctors and apostles of this church: Scipio, and the Cid, and Sir Philip Sidney, and Washington, and every pure and valiant194 heart, who worshipped Beauty by word and by deed. The persons who constitute the natural aristocracy, are not found in the actual aristocracy, or, only on its edge; as the chemical energy of the spectrum195 is found to be greatest just outside of the spectrum. Yet that is the infirmity of the seneschals, who do not know their sovereign, when he appears. The theory of society supposes the existence and sovereignty of these. It divines afar off their coming. It says with the elder gods, —
“As Heaven and Earth are fairer far
Than Chaos196 and blank Darkness, though once chiefs;
And as we show beyond that Heaven and Earth,
In form and shape compact and beautiful;
So, on our heels a fresh perfection treads;
A power, more strong in beauty, born of us,
And fated to excel us, as we pass
In glory that old Darkness:
— for, ’t is the eternal law,
That first in beauty shall be first in might.”
Therefore, within the ethnical circle of good society, there is a narrower and higher circle, concentration of its light, and flower of courtesy, to which there is always a tacit appeal of pride and reference, as to its inner and imperial court, the parliament of love and chivalry. And this is constituted of those persons in whom heroic dispositions197 are native, with the love of beauty, the delight in society, and the power to embellish198 the passing day. If the individuals who compose the purest circles of aristocracy in Europe, the guarded blood of centuries, should pass in review, in such manner as that we could, at leisure, and critically inspect their behavior, we might find no gentleman, and no lady; for, although excellent specimens199 of courtesy and high-breeding would gratify us in the assemblage, in the particulars, we should detect offence. Because, elegance200 comes of no breeding, but of birth. There must be romance of character, or the most fastidious exclusion201 of impertinencies will not avail. It must be genius which takes that direction: it must be not courteous202, but courtesy. High behavior is as rare in fiction, as it is in fact. Scott is praised for the fidelity203 with which he painted the demeanor204 and conversation of the superior classes. Certainly, kings and queens, nobles and great ladies, had some right to complain of the absurdity205 that had been put in their mouths, before the days of Waverley; but neither does Scott’s dialogue bear criticism. His lords brave each other in smart epigramatic speeches, but the dialogue is in costume, and does not please on the second reading: it is not warm with life. In Shakspeare alone, the speakers do not strut206 and bridle207, the dialogue is easily great, and he adds to so many titles that of being the best-bred man in England, and in Christendom. Once or twice in a lifetime we are permitted to enjoy the charm of noble manners, in the presence of a man or woman who have no bar in their nature, but whose character emanates208 freely in their word and gesture. A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form: it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts. A man is but a little thing in the midst of the objects of nature, yet, by the moral quality radiating from his countenance, he may abolish all considerations of magnitude, and in his manners equal the majesty209 of the world. I have seen an individual, whose manners, though wholly within the conventions of elegant society, were never learned there, but were original and commanding, and held out protection and prosperity; one who did not need the aid of a court-suit, but carried the holiday in his eye; who exhilarated the fancy by flinging wide the doors of new modes of existence; who shook off the captivity210 of etiquette, with happy, spirited bearing, good-natured and free as Robin211 Hood28; yet with the port of an emperor, — if need be, calm, serious, and fit to stand the gaze of millions.
The open air and the fields, the street and public chambers212, are the places where Man executes his will; let him yield or divide the sceptre at the door of the house. Woman, with her instinct of behavior, instantly detects in man a love of trifles, any coldness or imbecility, or, in short, any want of that large, flowing, and magnanimous deportment, which is indispensable as an exterior213 in the hall. Our American institutions have been friendly to her, and at this moment, I esteem214 it a chief felicity of this country, that it excels in women. A certain awkward consciousness of inferiority in the men, may give rise to the new chivalry in behalf of Woman’s Rights. Certainly, let her be as much better placed in the laws and in social forms, as the most zealous215 reformer can ask, but I confide171 so entirely216 in her inspiring and musical nature, that I believe only herself can show us how she shall be served. The wonderful generosity of her sentiments raises her at times into heroical and godlike regions, and verifies the pictures of Minerva, Juno, or Polymnia; and, by the firmness with which she treads her upward path, she convinces the coarsest calculators that another road exists, than that which their feet know. But besides those who make good in our imagination the place of muses217 and of Delphic Sibyls, are there not women who fill our vase with wine and roses to the brim, so that the wine runs over and fills the house with perfume; who inspire us with courtesy; who unloose our tongues, and we speak; who anoint our eyes, and we see? We say things we never thought to have said; for once, our walls of habitual218 reserve vanished, and left us at large; we were children playing with children in a wide field of flowers. Steep us, we cried, in these influences, for days, for weeks, and we shall be sunny poets, and will write out in many-colored words the romance that you are. Was it Hafiz or Firdousi that said of his Persian Lilla, She was an elemental force, and astonished me by her amount of life, when I saw her day after day radiating, every instant, redundant219 joy and grace on all around her. She was a solvent220 powerful to reconcile all heterogeneous221 persons into one society: like air or water, an element of such a great range of affinities222, that it combines readily with a thousand substances. Where she is present, all others will be more than they are wont. She was a unit and whole, so that whatsoever223 she did, became her. She had too much sympathy and desire to please, than that you could say, her manners were marked with dignity, yet no princess could surpass her clear and erect224 demeanor on each occasion. She did not study the Persian grammar, nor the books of the seven poets, but all the poems of the seven seemed to be written upon her. For, though the bias225 of her nature was not to thought, but to sympathy, yet was she so perfect in her own nature, as to meet intellectual persons by the fulness of her heart, warming them by her sentiments; believing, as she did, that by dealing nobly with all, all would show themselves noble.
I know that this Byzantine pile of chivalry or Fashion, which seems so fair and picturesque226 to those who look at the contemporary facts for science or for entertainment, is not equally pleasant to all spectators. The constitution of our society makes it a giant’s castle to the ambitious youth who have not found their names enrolled227 in its Golden Book, and whom it has excluded from its coveted228 honors and privileges. They have yet to learn that its seeming grandeur is shadowy and relative: it is great by their allowance: its proudest gates will fly open at the approach of their courage and virtue. For the present distress229, however, of those who are predisposed to suffer from the tyrannies of this caprice, there are easy remedies. To remove your residence a couple of miles, or at most four, will commonly relieve the most extreme susceptibility. For, the advantages which fashion values, are plants which thrive in very confined localities, in a few streets, namely. Out of this precinct, they go for nothing; are of no use in the farm, in the forest, in the market, in war, in the nuptial230 society, in the literary or scientific circle, at sea, in friendship, in the heaven of thought or virtue.
But we have lingered long enough in these painted courts. The worth of the thing signified must vindicate231 our taste for the emblem232. Everything that is called fashion and courtesy humbles233 itself before the cause and fountain of honor, creator of titles and dignities, namely, the heart of love. This is the royal blood, this the fire, which, in all countries and contingencies234, will work after its kind, and conquer and expand all that approaches it. This gives new meanings to every fact. This impoverishes235 the rich, suffering no grandeur but its own. What is rich? Are you rich enough to help anybody? to succor236 the unfashionable and the eccentric? rich enough to make the Canadian in his wagon237, the itinerant238 with his consul’s paper which commends him “To the charitable,” the swarthy Italian with his few broken words of English, the lame239 pauper240 hunted by overseers from town to town, even the poor insane or besotted wreck241 of man or woman, feel the noble exception of your presence and your house, from the general bleakness242 and stoniness243; to make such feel that they were greeted with a voice which made them both remember and hope? What is vulgar, but to refuse the claim on acute and conclusive244 reasons? What is gentle, but to allow it, and give their heart and yours one holiday from the national caution? Without the rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar. The king of Schiraz could not afford to be so bountiful as the poor Osman who dwelt at his gate. Osman had a humanity so broad and deep, that although his speech was so bold and free with the Koran, as to disgust all the dervishes, yet was there never a poor outcast, eccentric, or insane man, some fool who had cut off his beard, or who had been mutilated under a vow245, or had a pet madness in his brain, but fled at once to him, — that great heart lay there so sunny and hospitable246 in the centre of the country, — that it seemed as if the instinct of all sufferers drew them to his side. And the madness which he harbored, he did not share. Is not this to be rich? this only to be rightly rich?
But I shall hear without pain, that I play the courtier very ill, and talk of that which I do not well understand. It is easy to see, that what is called by distinction society and fashion, has good laws as well as bad, has much that is necessary, and much that is absurd. Too good for banning, and too bad for blessing247, it reminds us of a tradition of the pagan mythology248, in any attempt to settle its character. ‘I overheard Jove, one day,’ said Silenus, ‘talking of destroying the earth; he said, it had failed; they were all rogues249 and vixens, who went from bad to worse, as fast as the days succeeded each other. Minerva said, she hoped not; they were only ridiculous little creatures, with this odd circumstance, that they had a blur250, or indeterminate aspect, seen far or seen near; if you called them bad, they would appear so; if you called them good, they would appear so; and there was no one person or action among them, which would not puzzle her owl81, much more all Olympus, to know whether it was fundamentally bad or good.’
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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perpetuates
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| n.使永存，使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 )；使永久化，使持久化，使持续 | |
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colonizes
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| 开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的名词复数 ) | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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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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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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stoutness
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| 坚固，刚毅 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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arenas
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| 表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场 | |
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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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daunt
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| vt.使胆怯，使气馁 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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intimidate
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| vt.恐吓，威胁 | |
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extemporaneous
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| adj.即席的，一时的 | |
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mendicant
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| n.乞丐；adj.行乞的 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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converses
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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transcends
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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clique
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| n.朋党派系，小集团 | |
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aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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energize
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| vt.给予(某人或某物)精力、能量 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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puissant
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| adj.强有力的 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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posthumous
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| adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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durability
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| n.经久性，耐用性 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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91
patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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92
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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93
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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94
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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95
contemn
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| v.蔑视 | |
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96
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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97
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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98
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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99
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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100
abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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101
sprawl
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| vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延 | |
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102
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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103
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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104
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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105
forfeits
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| 罚物游戏 | |
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106
atmospherically
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| adv.由大气压所致地，气压所致地，气压上 | |
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107
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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108
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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109
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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110
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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111
probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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112
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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113
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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114
pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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115
sifting
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|
| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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116
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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117
dodges
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|
| n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避 | |
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118
appendages
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|
| n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 )；依附的人；附属器官；附属肢体（如臂、腿、尾等） | |
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119
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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120
conservatory
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| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
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121
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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122
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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123
dreaded
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|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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124
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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125
retirement
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|
| n.退休，退职 | |
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126
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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127
wont
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|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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128
skilful
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|
| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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129
dignify
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| vt.使有尊严；使崇高；给增光 | |
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130
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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131
dissimulation
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|
| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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132
lodged
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|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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133
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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134
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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135
inviolate
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|
| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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136
serene
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|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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137
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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138
paltry
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|
| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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139
arsenic
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| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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140
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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141
grandeur
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|
| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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142
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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143
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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144
imperatively
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|
| adv.命令式地 | |
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145
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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146
sloven
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| adj.不修边幅的 | |
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147
rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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148
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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149
prodigious
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|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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150
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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151
interfere
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|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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152
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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153
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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154
infusion
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| n.灌输 | |
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155
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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156
costliest
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|
| adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的 | |
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157
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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158
omniscience
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| n.全知，全知者，上帝 | |
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159
languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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160
drowsy
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|
| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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161
disarms
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| v.裁军( disarm的第三人称单数 )；使息怒 | |
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162
annoyances
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| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
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163
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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164
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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165
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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166
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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167
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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168
sages
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| n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料） | |
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169
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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170
creditor
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| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
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171
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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172
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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173
eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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174
symbolic
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|
| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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175
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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176
sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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177
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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178
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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179
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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180
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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181
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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182
saucy
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|
| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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183
parody
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|
| n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文 | |
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184
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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185
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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186
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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187
unintelligible
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|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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188
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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189
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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190
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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191
fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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192
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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193
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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194
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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195
spectrum
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| n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列 | |
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196
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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197
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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198
embellish
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| v.装饰，布置；给…添加细节，润饰 | |
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199
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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200
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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201
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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202
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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203
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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204
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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205
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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206
strut
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| v.肿胀，鼓起；大摇大摆地走；炫耀；支撑；撑开；n.高视阔步；支柱，撑杆 | |
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207
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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208
emanates
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的第三人称单数 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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209
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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210
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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211
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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212
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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213
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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214
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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215
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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216
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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217
muses
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的第三人称单数 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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218
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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219
redundant
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| adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的 | |
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solvent
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| n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的 | |
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221
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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affinities
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| n.密切关系( affinity的名词复数 )；亲近；（生性）喜爱；类同 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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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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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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228
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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229
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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nuptial
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| adj.婚姻的，婚礼的 | |
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231
vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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232
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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233
humbles
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| v.使谦恭( humble的第三人称单数 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气 | |
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234
contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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impoverishes
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| v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的第三人称单数 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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236
succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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237
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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itinerant
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| adj.巡回的；流动的 | |
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239
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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241
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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242
bleakness
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| adj. 萧瑟的, 严寒的, 阴郁的 | |
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243
stoniness
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| 冷漠，一文不名 | |
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244
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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245
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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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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247
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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248
mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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249
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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