It was Prior who wrote the history of the soul under the title of “Alma,” and it is the most natural which has hitherto been composed on an existence so much felt, and so little known. The soul, according to “Alma,” resides at first, in the extremities3; in the feet and hands of children, and from thence gradually ascends4 to the centre of the body at the age of puberty. Its next step is to the heart, in which it engenders5 sentiments of love and heroism6; thence it mounts to the head at a mature age, where it reasons as well as it is able; and in old age it is not known what becomes of it; it is the sap of an aged7 tree which evaporates, and is not renewed again. This work is probably too long, for all pleasantry should be short; and it might even be as well were the serious short also.
Prior made a small poem on the battle of Hochst?dt. It is not equal to his “Alma”; there is, however, one good apostrophe to Boileau, who is called a satirical flatterer for taking so much pains to sing that Louis did not pass the Rhine. Our plenipotentiary finished by paraphrasing8, in fifteen hundred verses, the words attributed to Solomon, that “all is vanity.” Fifteen thousand verses might be written on this subject; but woe9 to him who says all which can be said upon it!
At length Queen Anne dying, the ministry10 changed, and the peace adjusted by Prior being altogether unpopular, he had nothing to depend upon except an edition of his works; which were subscribed11 for by his party: after which he died like a philosopher, which is the usual mode of dying of all respectable Englishmen.
Hudibras.
There is an English poem which it is very difficult to make foreigners understand, entitled “Hudibras.” It is a very humorous work, although the subject is the civil war of the time of Cromwell. A struggle which cost so much blood and so many tears, originated a poem which obliges the most serious reader to smile. An example of this contrast is found in our “Satire12 of Menippus.” Certainly the Romans would not have made a burlesque13 poem on the wars of Pompey and C?sar, or the proscription14 of Antony and Octavius. How then is it that the frightful15 evils of the League in France, and of the wars between the king and parliament in England, have proved sources of pleasantry? because at bottom there is something ridiculous hid beneath these fatal quarrels. The citizens of Paris, at the head of the faction16 of Sixteen, mingled17 impertinence with the miseries18 of faction. The intrigues19 of women, of the legates and of the monks20, presented a comic aspect, notwithstanding the calamities21 which they produced. The theological disputes and enthusiasm of the Puritans in England, were also very open to raillery; and this fund of the ridiculous, well managed, might pleasantly enough aid in dispersing22 the tragical23 horrors which abound24 on the surface. If the bull Unigenitus caused the shedding of blood, the little poem “Philotanus” was no less suitable to the subject; and it is only to be complained of for not being so gay, so pleasant, and so various as it might have been; and for not fulfilling in the course of the work the promise held out by its commencement.
The poem of “Hudibras” of which I speak, seems to be a composition of the satire of “Menippus” and of “Don Quixote.” It surpasses them in the advantage of verse and also in wit; the former indeed does not come near it; being a very middling production; but notwithstanding his wit, the author of “Hudibras” is much beneath “Don Quixote.” Taste, vivacity25, the art of narrating26 and of introducing adventures, with the faculty27 of never being tedious, go farther than wit; and moreover, “Don Quixote” is read by all nations, and “Hudibras” by the English alone.
Butler, the author of this extraordinary poem, was contemporary with Milton, and enjoyed infinitely28 more temporary popularity than the latter, because his work was humorous, and that of Milton melancholy29. Butler turned the enemies of King Charles II. into ridicule30, and all the recompense he received was the frequent quotation31 of his verses by that monarch32. The combats of the knight33 Hudibras were much better known than the battles between the good and bad angels in “Paradise Lost”; but the court of England treated Butler no better than the celestial34 court treated Milton; both the one and the other died in want, or very near it.
A man whose imagination was impregnated with a tenth part of the comic spirit, good or bad, which pervades35 this work, could not but be very pleasant; but he must take care how he translates “Hudibras.” It is difficult to make foreign readers laugh at pleasantries which are almost forgotten by the nation which has produced them. Dante is little read in Europe, because we are ignorant of so much of his allusion36; and it is the same with “Hudibras.” The greater part of the humor of this poem being expended37 on the theology and theologians of its own time, a commentary is eternally necessary. Pleasantry requiring explanation ceases to be pleasantry; and a commentator38 on bon mots is seldom capable of conveying them.
Of Dean Swift.
How is it that in France so little is understood of the works of the ingenious Doctor Swift, who is called the Rabelais of England? He has the honor, like the latter, of being a churchman and an universal joker; but Rabelais was not above his age, and Swift is much above Rabelais.
Our curate of Meudon, in his extravagant39 and unintelligible40 book, has exhibited extreme gayety and equally great impertinence. He has lavished41 at once erudition, coarseness and ennui42. A good story of two pages is purchased by a volume of absurdities43. There are only some persons of an eccentric taste who pique44 themselves upon understanding and valuing the whole of this work. The rest of the nation laugh at the humor of Rabelais, and despise the work; regarding him only as the first of buffoons45. We regret that a man who possessed46 so much wit, should have made so miserable47 a use of it. He is a drunken philosopher, who wrote only in the moments of his intoxication48.
Dr. Swift is Rabelais sober, and living in good company. He has not indeed the gayety of the former, but he has all the finesse49, sense, discrimination, which is wanted by our curate of Meudon. His verse is in a singular taste, and almost inimitable. He exhibits a fine vein50 of humor, both in prose and in verse; but in order to understand it, it is necessary to visit his country.
In this country, which appears so extraordinary to other parts of Europe, it has excited little surprise that Doctor Swift, dean of a cathedral, should make merry in his “Tale of a Tub” with Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism; his own defence is that he has not meddled51 with Christianity. He pretends to respect the parent, while he scourges53 the children. Certain fastidious persons are of opinion that his lashes54 are so long they have even reached the father.
This famous “Tale of a Tub” is the ancient story of the three invisible rings which a father bequeathed to his three children. These three rings were the Jewish, the Christian52, and the Mahometan religions. It is still more an imitation of the history of Mero and Enégu by Fontenelle. Mero is the anagram of Rome; Enégu of Geneva, and they are two sisters who aspire55 to the succession of the kingdom of their father. Mero reigns56 the first, and Fontenelle represents her as a sorceress, who plays tricks with bread and effects conjuration with dead bodies. This is precisely57 the Lord Peter of Swift, who presents a piece of bread to his two brothers, and says to them, “Here is some excellent Burgundy, my friends; this partridge is of a delicious flavor.” Lord Peter in Swift performs the same part with the Mero of Fontenelle.
Thus almost all is imitation. The idea of the “Persian Letters” was taken from that of the “Turkish Spy.” Boyardo imitated Pulci; Ariosto, Boyardo; the most original wits borrow from one another. Cervantes makes a madman of his Don Quixote, but is Orlando anything else? It would be difficult to decide by which of the two knight-errantry is more ridiculed58, the grotesque59 portraiture60 of Cervantes, or the fertile imagination of Ariosto. Metastasia has borrowed the greater part of his operas from our French tragedies; and many English authors have copied us and said nothing about it. It is with books as with the fires in our grates; everybody borrows a light from his neighbor to kindle61 his own, which in its turn is communicated to others, and each partakes of all.
点击收听单词发音
1 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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2 tavern | |
n.小旅馆,客栈;小酒店 | |
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3 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
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4 ascends | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
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5 engenders | |
v.产生(某形势或状况),造成,引起( engender的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6 heroism | |
n.大无畏精神,英勇 | |
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7 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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8 paraphrasing | |
v.释义,意译( paraphrase的现在分词 ) | |
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9 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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10 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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11 subscribed | |
v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 );签署,题词;订阅;同意 | |
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12 satire | |
n.讽刺,讽刺文学,讽刺作品 | |
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13 burlesque | |
v.嘲弄,戏仿;n.嘲弄,取笑,滑稽模仿 | |
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14 proscription | |
n.禁止,剥夺权利 | |
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15 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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16 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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17 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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18 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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19 intrigues | |
n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 );神秘气氛;引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 );激起…的好奇心 | |
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20 monks | |
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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21 calamities | |
n.灾祸,灾难( calamity的名词复数 );不幸之事 | |
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22 dispersing | |
adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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23 tragical | |
adj. 悲剧的, 悲剧性的 | |
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24 abound | |
vi.大量存在;(in,with)充满,富于 | |
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25 vivacity | |
n.快活,活泼,精神充沛 | |
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26 narrating | |
v.故事( narrate的现在分词 ) | |
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27 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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28 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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29 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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30 ridicule | |
v.讥讽,挖苦;n.嘲弄 | |
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31 quotation | |
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情 | |
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32 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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33 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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34 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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35 pervades | |
v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
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37 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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38 commentator | |
n.注释者,解说者;实况广播评论员 | |
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39 extravagant | |
adj.奢侈的;过分的;(言行等)放肆的 | |
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40 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
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41 lavished | |
v.过分给予,滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 ennui | |
n.怠倦,无聊 | |
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43 absurdities | |
n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 );荒谬;谬论;荒谬的行为 | |
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44 pique | |
v.伤害…的自尊心,使生气 n.不满,生气 | |
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45 buffoons | |
n.愚蠢的人( buffoon的名词复数 );傻瓜;逗乐小丑;滑稽的人 | |
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46 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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47 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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48 intoxication | |
n.wild excitement;drunkenness;poisoning | |
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49 finesse | |
n.精密技巧,灵巧,手腕 | |
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50 vein | |
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络 | |
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51 meddled | |
v.干涉,干预(他人事务)( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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53 scourges | |
带来灾难的人或东西,祸害( scourge的名词复数 ); 鞭子 | |
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54 lashes | |
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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55 aspire | |
vi.(to,after)渴望,追求,有志于 | |
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56 reigns | |
n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 );君主统治时期;任期;当政期 | |
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57 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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58 ridiculed | |
v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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60 portraiture | |
n.肖像画法 | |
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61 kindle | |
v.点燃,着火 | |
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