Now what could have induced Scott to write novels tending to make people Papists and Jacobites, and in love with arbitrary power? Did he think that Christianity was a gaudy1 mummery? He did not, he could not, for he had read the Bible; yet was he fond of gaudy mummeries, fond of talking about them. Did he believe that the Stuarts were a good family, and fit to govern a country like Britain? He knew that they were a vicious, worthless crew, and that Britain was a degraded country as long as they swayed the sceptre; but for those facts he cared nothing, they governed in a way which he liked, for he had an abstract love of despotism, and an abhorrence2 of everything savouring of freedom and the rights of man in general. His favourite political picture was a joking, profligate3, careless king, nominally4 absolute; the heads of great houses paying court to, but in reality governing, that king, whilst revelling5 with him on the plunder6 of a nation, and a set of crouching7, grovelling8 vassals10 (the literal meaning of vassal9 is a wretch), who, after allowing themselves to be horsewhipped, would take a bone if flung to them, and be grateful; so that in love with mummery, though he knew what Christianity was, no wonder he admired such a Church as that of Rome, and that which Laud11 set up; and by nature formed to be the holder12 of the candle to ancient worm-eaten and profligate families, no wonder that all his sympathies were with the Stuarts and their dissipated, insolent13 party, and all his hatred14 directed against those who endeavoured to check them in their proceedings15, and to raise the generality of mankind something above a state of vassalage16 that is wretchedness. Those who were born great, were, if he could have had his will, always to remain great, however worthless their characters. Those who were born low, were always to remain so, however great their talents; though if that rule were carried out, where would he have been himself?
In the book which he called the ‘History of Napoleon Bonaparte,’ in which he plays the sycophant17 to all the legitimate18 crowned heads in Europe, whatever their crimes, vices19, or miserable20 imbecilities, he, in his abhorrence of everything low which by its own vigour21 makes itself illustrious, calls Murat of the sabre the son of a pastry-cook, of a Marseilleise pastry-cook. It is a pity that people who give themselves hoity-toity airs — and the Scotch22 in general are wonderfully addicted23 to giving themselves hoity-toity airs, and checking people better than themselves with their birth 199 and their country — it is a great pity that such people do not look at home — son of a pastry-cook, of a Marseilleise pastry-cook! Well, and what was Scott himself? Why, son of a pettifogger, of an Edinburgh pettifogger. ‘Oh, but Scott was descended24 from the old cow-stealers of Buccleuch, and therefore —’ Descended from old cow-stealers, was he? Well, had he had nothing to boast of beyond such a pedigree, he would have lived and died the son of a pettifogger and been forgotten, and deservedly so; but he possessed25 talents, and by his talents rose like Murat, and like him will be remembered for his talents alone, and deservedly so. ‘Yes, but Murat was still the son of a pastry-cook, and though he was certainly good at the sabre, and cut his way to a throne, still —’ Lord! what fools there are in the world; but as no one can be thought anything of in this world without a pedigree, the writer will now give a pedigree for Murat, of a very different character from the cow-stealing one of Scott, but such a one as the proudest he might not disdain26 to claim. Scott was descended from the old cow-stealers of Buccleuch — was he? Good! and Murat was descended from the old Moors27 of Spain, from the Abencerages (sons of the saddle) of Granada. The name Murat is Arabic, and is the same as Murad (Le Desire, or the wished-for one). Scott, in his genteel life of Bonaparte, says that ‘when Murat was in Egypt the similarity between the name of the celebrated28 Mameluke Mourad and that of Bonaparte’s Meilleur Sabreur was remarked, and became the subject of jest amongst the comrades of the gallant29 Frenchman.’ But the writer of the novel of Bonaparte did not know that the names were one and the same. Now, which was the best pedigree, that of the son of the pastry-cook, or that of the son of the pettifogger? Which was the best blood? Let us observe the workings of the two bloods. He who had the blood of the ‘sons of the saddle’ in him became the wonderful cavalier of the most wonderful host that ever went forth30 to conquest, won for himself a crown, and died the death of a soldier, leaving behind him a son, only inferior to himself in strength, in prowess, and in horsemanship. The descendant of the cow-stealer became a poet, a novel writer, the panegyrist of great folks and genteel people; became insolvent31 because, though an author, he deemed it ungenteel to be mixed up with the business part of authorship; died paralytic32 and broken-hearted because he could no longer give entertainments to great folks; leaving behind him, amongst other children, who were never heard of, a son, who, through his father’s interest, had become lieutenant-colonel in a genteel cavalry33 regiment34. A son who was ashamed of his father because his father was an author — a son who — paugh! — why ask which was the best blood?
So, owing to his rage for gentility, Scott must needs become the apologist of the Stuarts and their party; but God made this man pay dearly for taking the part of the wicked against the good; for lauding35 up to the skies miscreants36 and robbers, and calumniating37 the noble spirits of Britain, the salt of England, and his own country. As God had driven the Stuarts from their throne, and their followers38 from their estates, making them vagabonds and beggars on the face of the earth, taking from them all they cared for, so did that same God, who knows perfectly39 well how and where to strike, deprive the apologist of that wretched crew of all that rendered life pleasant in his eyes, the lack of which paralyzed him in body and mind, rendered him pitiable to others, loathsome40 to himself — so much so that he once said, ‘Where is the beggar who would change place with me, notwithstanding all my fame?’ Ah! God knows perfectly well how to strike. He permitted him to retain all his literary fame to the very last — his literary fame for which he cared nothing; but what became of the sweetnesses of life, his fine house, his grand company, and his entertainments? The grand house ceased to be his; he was only permitted to live in it on sufferance, and whatever grandeur41 it might still retain to soon became as desolate42 a looking house as any misanthrope43 could wish to see. Where were the grand entertainments and the grand company? There are no grand entertainments where there is no money; no lords and ladies where there are no entertainments — and there lay the poor lodger44 in the desolate house, groaning45 on a bed no longer his, smitten46 by the hand of God in the part where he was most vulnerable. Of what use telling such a man to take comfort, for he had written the ‘Minstrel’ and ‘Rob Roy’— telling him to think of his literary fame? Literary fame, indeed! he wanted back his lost gentility:
???‘Retain my altar,
I care nothing for it — but oh! touch not my beard.’
PORNY’S War of the Gods.
He dies, his children die too, and then comes the crowning judgment47 of God on what remained of his race, and the house which he had built. He was not a Papist himself, nor did he wish anyone belonging to him to be Popish, for he had read enough of the Bible to know that no one can be saved through Popery, yet had he a sneaking48 affection for it, and would at all times, in an underhand manner, give it a good word both in writing and discourse49, because it was a gaudy kind of worship, and ignorance and vassalage prevailed so long as it flourished; but he certainly did not wish any of his people to become Papists, nor the house which he had built to become a Popish house, though the very name he gave it savoured of Popery. But Popery becomes fashionable through his novels and poems — the only one that remains50 of his race, a female grandchild, marries a person who, following the fashion, becomes a Papist, and makes her a Papist too. Money abounds51 with the husband who buys the house, and then the house becomes the rankest Popish house in Britain. A superstitious52 person might almost imagine that one of the old Scottish Covenanters, whilst the grand house was being built from the profits resulting from the sale of writings favouring Popery and persecution53, and calumniatory of Scotland’s saints and martyrs54, had risen from the grave, and banned Scott, his race, and his house, by reading a certain psalm55.
In saying what he has said about Scott the author has not been influenced by any feeling of malice56 or ill-will, but simply by a regard for truth, and a desire to point out to his countrymen the harm which has resulted from the perusal57 of his works; he is not one of those who would depreciate58 the talents of Scott, he admires his talents, both as a prose writer and a poet. As a poet especially he admires him, and believes him to have been by far the greatest, with perhaps the exception of Mickiewicz, who only wrote for unfortunate Poland, that Europe has given birth to during the last hundred years. As a prose writer he admires him less, it is true, but his admiration59 for him in that capacity is very high, and he only laments60 that he prostituted his talents to the cause of the Stuarts and gentility. What book of fiction of the present century can you read twice, with the exception of ‘Waverley’ and ‘Rob Roy?’ There is ‘Pelham,’ it is true, which the writer of these lines has seen a Jewess reading in the steppe of Debreczin, and which a young Prussian Baron61, a great traveller, whom he met at Constantinople in ‘44, told him he always carried in his valise. And in conclusion he will say, in order to show the opinion which he entertains of the power of Scott as a writer, that he did for the spectre of the wretched Pretender what all the kings of Europe could not do for his body — placed it on the throne of these realms, and for Popery what Popes and Cardinals62 strove in vain to do for three centuries — brought back its mummeries and nonsense into the temples of the British Isles63.
Scott during his lifetime had a crowd of imitators, who, whether they wrote history so called, poetry so called, or novels — nobody would call a book a novel if he could call it anything else — wrote Charlie o’er the water nonsense, and now that he has been dead a quarter of a century, there are others daily springing up who are striving to imitate Scott in his Charlie o’er the water nonsense — for nonsense it is, even when flowing from his pen. They, too, must write Jacobite histories, Jacobite songs, and Jacobite novels, and much the same figure as the scoundrel menials in the comedy cut when personating their masters, and retailing64 their masters’ conversation do they cut as Walter Scotts. In their histories, they too talk about the Prince and Glenfinnan, and the pibroch; and in their songs about ‘Claverse’ and ‘Bonny Dundee.’ But though they may be Scots, they are not Walter Scotts. But it is perhaps chiefly in the novel that you see the veritable hog65 in armour66; the time of the novel is of course the ‘15 or ‘45; the hero a Jacobite, and connected with one or other of the enterprises of those periods; and the author, to show how unprejudiced he is, and what original views he takes of subjects, must needs speak up for Popery, whenever he has occasion to mention it; though, with all his originality67, when he brings his hero and the vagabonds with which he is concerned before a barricadoed house, belonging to the Whigs, he can make them get into it by no other method than that which Scott makes his rioters employ to get into the Tolbooth, burning down the door.
To express the more than utter foolishness of this latter Charlie o’er the water nonsense, whether in rhyme or prose, there is but one word, and that word a Scotch word. Scotch, the sorriest of jargons68, compared with which even Roth Welsch is dignified70 and expressive71, has yet one word to express what would be inexpressible by any word or combination of words in any language, or in any other jargon69 in the world; and very properly; for as the nonsense is properly Scotch, so should the word be Scotch which expresses it; that word is ‘fushionless,’ pronounced fooshionless; and when the writer has called the nonsense fooshionless — and he does call it fooshionless — he has nothing more to say, but leaves the nonsense to its fate.
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1
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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2
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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3
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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4
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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5
revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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6
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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7
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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8
grovelling
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| adj.卑下的，奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 )；趴 | |
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9
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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11
laud
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| n.颂歌；v.赞美 | |
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12
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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13
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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14
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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15
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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vassalage
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| n.家臣身份，隶属 | |
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sycophant
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| n.马屁精 | |
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18
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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19
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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21
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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22
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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23
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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25
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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26
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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27
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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29
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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30
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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insolvent
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| adj.破产的，无偿还能力的 | |
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32
paralytic
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| adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人 | |
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33
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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35
lauding
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的现在分词 ) | |
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miscreants
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| n.恶棍，歹徒( miscreant的名词复数 ) | |
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calumniating
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| v.诽谤，中伤( calumniate的现在分词 ) | |
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38
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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39
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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40
loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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41
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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42
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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43
misanthrope
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| n.恨人类的人；厌世者 | |
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44
lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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45
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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46
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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47
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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48
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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49
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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50
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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51
abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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53
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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54
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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55
psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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56
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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57
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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58
depreciate
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| v.降价，贬值，折旧 | |
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59
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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60
laments
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| n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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61
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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62
cardinals
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| 红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数 | |
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63
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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retailing
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| n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词) | |
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65
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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66
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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67
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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68
jargons
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| n.行话，黑话，隐语( jargon的名词复数 ) | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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70
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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