Here, however, may be the place to state that, in much of our Philosopher’s history, there is something of an almost Hindoo character: nay6 perhaps in that so well-fostered and every way excellent “Passivity” of his, which, with no free development of the antagonist7 Activity, distinguished8 his childhood, we may detect the rudiments9 of much that, in after days, and still in these present days, astonishes the world. For the shallow-sighted, Teufelsdrockh is oftenest a man without Activity of any kind, a No-man; for the deep-sighted, again, a man with Activity almost superabundant, yet so spiritual, close-hidden, enigmatic, that no mortal can foresee its explosions, or even when it has exploded, so much as ascertain11 its significance. A dangerous, difficult temper for the modern European; above all, disadvantageous in the hero of a Biography! Now as heretofore it will behoove12 the Editor of these pages, were it never so unsuccessfully, to do his endeavor.
Among the earliest tools of any complicacy which a man, especially a man of letters, gets to handle, are his Class-books. On this portion of his History, Teufelsdrockh looks down professedly as indifferent. Reading he “cannot remember ever to have learned;” so perhaps had it by nature. He says generally: “Of the insignificant14 portion of my Education, which depended on Schools, there need almost no notice be taken. I learned what others learn; and kept it stored by in a corner of my head, seeing as yet no manner of use in it. My Schoolmaster, a down-bent, broken-hearted, underfoot martyr15, as others of that guild16 are, did little for me, except discover that he could do little: he, good soul, pronounced me a genius, fit for the learned professions; and that I must be sent to the Gymnasium, and one day to the University. Meanwhile, what printed thing soever I could meet with I read. My very copper17 pocket-money I laid out on stall-literature; which, as it accumulated, I with my own hands sewed into volumes. By this means was the young head furnished with a considerable miscellany of things and shadows of things: History in authentic18 fragments lay mingled19 with Fabulous20 chimeras21, wherein also was reality; and the whole not as dead stuff, but as living pabulum, tolerably nutritive for a mind as yet so peptic.”
That the Entepfuhl Schoolmaster judged well, we now know. Indeed, already in the youthful Gneschen, with all his outward stillness, there may have been manifest an inward vivacity22 that promised much; symptoms of a spirit singularly open, thoughtful, almost poetical24. Thus, to say nothing of his Suppers on the Orchard-wall, and other phenomena25 of that earlier period, have many readers of these pages stumbled, in their twelfth year, on such reflections as the following? “It struck me much, as I sat by the Kuhbach, one silent noontide, and watched it flowing, gurgling, to think how this same streamlet had flowed and gurgled, through all changes of weather and of fortune, from beyond the earliest date of History. Yes, probably on the morning when Joshua forded Jordan; even as at the mid-day when Caesar, doubtless with difficulty, swam the Nile, yet kept his Commentaries dry, — this little Kuhbach, assiduous as Tiber, Eurotas or Siloa, was murmuring on across the wilderness27, as yet unnamed, unseen: here, too, as in the Euphrates and the Ganges, is a vein28 or veinlet29 of the grand World-circulation of Waters, which, with its atmospheric30 arteries31, has lasted and lasts simply with the World. Thou fool! Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom; that idle crag thou sittest on is six thousand years of age.” In which little thought, as in a little fountain, may there not lie the beginning of those well-nigh unutterable meditations32 on the grandeur33 and mystery of TIME, and its relation to ETERNITY34, which play such a part in this Philosophy of Clothes?
Over his Gymnasic and Academic years the Professor by no means lingers so lyrical and joyful35 as over his childhood. Green sunny tracts36 there are still; but intersected by bitter rivulets37 of tears, here and there stagnating38 into sour marshes39 of discontent. “With my first view of the Hinterschlag Gymnasium,” writes he, “my evil days began. Well do I still remember the red sunny Whitsuntide morning, when, trotting40 full of hope by the side of Father Andreas, I entered the main street of the place, and saw its steeple-clock (then striking Eight) and Schuldthurm (Jail), and the aproned or disaproned Burghers moving in to breakfast: a little dog, in mad terror, was rushing past; for some human imps41 had tied a tin kettle to its tail; thus did the agonized42 creature, loud-jingling, career through the whole length of the Borough43, and become notable enough. Fit emblem44 of many a Conquering Hero, to whom Fate (wedding Fantasy to Sense, as it often elsewhere does) has malignantly45 appended a tin kettle of Ambition, to chase him on; which the faster he runs, urges him the faster, the more loudly and more foolishly! Fit emblem also of much that awaited myself, in that mischievous46 Den10; as in the World, whereof it was a portion and epitome47!
“Alas, the kind beech-rows of Entepfuhl were hidden in the distance: I was among strangers, harshly, at best indifferently, disposed towards me; the young heart felt, for the first time, quite orphaned48 and alone.” His school-fellows, as is usual, persecuted49 him: “They were Boys,” he says, “mostly rude Boys, and obeyed the impulse of rude Nature, which bids the deer-herd fall upon any stricken hart, the duck-flock put to death any broken-winged brother or sister, and on all hands the strong tyrannize over the weak.” He admits that though “perhaps in an unusual degree morally courageous,” he succeeded ill in battle, and would fain have avoided it; a result, as would appear, owing less to his small personal stature50 (for in passionate51 seasons he was “incredibly nimble”), than to his “virtuous principles:” “if it was disgraceful to be beaten,” says he, “it was only a shade less disgraceful to have so much as fought; thus was I drawn52 two ways at once, and in this important element of school-history, the war-element, had little but sorrow.” On the whole, that same excellent “Passivity,” so notable in Teufelsdrockh’s childhood, is here visibly enough again getting nourishment53. “He wept often; indeed to such a degree that he was nicknamed Der Weinende (the Tearful), which epithet54, till towards his thirteenth year, was indeed not quite unmerited. Only at rare intervals55 did the young soul burst forth56 into fire-eyed rage, and, with a stormfulness (Ungestum) under which the boldest quailed57, assert that he too had Rights of Man, or at least of Mankin.” In all which, who does not discern a fine flower-tree and cinnamon-tree (of genius) nigh choked among pumpkins58, reed-grass and ignoble59 shrubs60; and forced if it would live, to struggle upwards61 only, and not outwards62; into a height quite sickly, and disproportioned to its breadth?
We find, moreover, that his Greek and Latin were “mechanically” taught; Hebrew scarce even mechanically; much else which they called History, Cosmography, Philosophy, and so forth, no better than not at all. So that, except inasmuch as Nature was still busy; and he himself “went about, as was of old his wont63, among the Craftsmen’s workshops, there learning many things;” and farther lighted on some small store of curious reading, in Hans Wachtel the Cooper’s house, where he lodged64, — his time, it would appear, was utterly65 wasted. Which facts the Professor has not yet learned to look upon with any contentment. Indeed, throughout the whole of this Bag Scorpio, where we now are, and often in the following Bag, he shows himself unusually animated66 on the matter of Education, and not without some touch of what we might presume to be anger.
“My Teachers,” says he, “were hide-bound Pedants67, without knowledge of man’s nature, or of boy’s; or of aught save their lexicons68 and quarterly account-books. Innumerable dead Vocables (no dead Language, for they themselves knew no Language) they crammed69 into us, and called it fostering the growth of mind. How can an inanimate, mechanical Gerund-grinder, the like of whom will, in a subsequent century, be manufactured at Nurnberg out of wood and leather, foster the growth of anything; much more of Mind, which grows, not like a vegetable (by having its roots littered with etymological70 compost), but like a spirit, by mysterious contact of Spirit; Thought kindling71 itself at the fire of living Thought? How shall he give kindling, in whose own inward man there is no live coal, but all is burnt out to a dead grammatical cinder72? The Hinterschlag Professors knew syntax enough; and of the human soul thus much: that it had a faculty73 called Memory, and could be acted on through the muscular integument74 by appliance of birch-rods.
“Alas, so is it everywhere, so will it ever be; till the Hod-man is discharged, or reduced to hod-bearing; and an Architect is hired, and on all hands fitly encouraged: till communities and individuals discover, not without surprise, that fashioning the souls of a generation by Knowledge can rank on a level with blowing their bodies to pieces by Gunpowder76; that with Generals and Field-marshals for killing77, there should be world-honored Dignitaries, and were it possible, true God-ordained Priests, for teaching. But as yet, though the Soldier wears openly, and even parades, his butchering-tool, nowhere, far as I have travelled, did the Schoolmaster make show of his instructing-tool: nay, were he to walk abroad with birch girt on thigh78, as if he therefrom expected honor, would there not, among the idler class, perhaps a certain levity79 be excited?”
In the third year of this Gymnasic period, Father Andreas seems to have died: the young Scholar, otherwise so maltreated, saw himself for the first time clad outwardly in sables80, and inwardly in quite inexpressible melancholy81. “The dark bottomless Abyss, that lies under our feet, had yawned open; the pale kingdoms of Death, with all their innumerable silent nations and generations, stood before him; the inexorable word, NEVER! now first showed its meaning. My Mother wept, and her sorrow got vent82; but in my heart there lay a whole lake of tears, pent up in silent desolation. Nevertheless the unworn Spirit is strong; Life is so healthful that it even finds nourishment in Death: these stern experiences, planted down by Memory in my Imagination, rose there to a whole cypress-forest, sad but beautiful; waving, with not unmelodious sighs, in dark luxuriance, in the hottest sunshine, through long years of youth:— as in manhood also it does, and will do; for I have now pitched my tent under a Cypress-tree; the Tomb is now my inexpugnable Fortress83, ever close by the gate of which I look upon the hostile armaments, and pains and penalties of tyrannous Life placidly84 enough, and listen to its loudest threatenings with a still smile. O ye loved ones, that already sleep in the noiseless Bed of Rest, whom in life I could only weep for and never help; and ye, who wide-scattered85 still toil86 lonely in the monster-bearing Desert, dyeing the flinty ground with your blood, — yet a little while, and we shall all meet THERE, and our Mother’s bosom87 will screen us all; and Oppression’s harness, and Sorrow’s fire-whip, and all the Gehenna Bailiffs that patrol and inhabit ever-vexed Time, cannot thenceforth harm us any more!”
Close by which rather beautiful apostrophe, lies a labored88 Character of the deceased Andreas Futteral; of his natural ability, his deserts in life (as Prussian Sergeant); with long historical inquiries89 into the genealogy90 of the Futteral Family, here traced back as far as Henry the Fowler: the whole of which we pass over, not without astonishment91. It only concerns us to add, that now was the time when Mother Gretchen revealed to her foster-son that he was not at all of this kindred; or indeed of any kindred, having come into historical existence in the way already known to us. “Thus was I doubly orphaned,” says he; “bereft not only of Possession, but even of Remembrance. Sorrow and Wonder, here suddenly united, could not but produce abundant fruit. Such a disclosure, in such a season, struck its roots through my whole nature: ever till the years of mature manhood, it mingled with my whole thoughts, was as the stem whereon all my day-dreams and night-dreams grew. A certain poetic23 elevation92, yet also a corresponding civic93 depression, it naturally imparted: I was like no other; in which fixed94 idea, leading sometimes to highest, and oftener to frightfullest results, may there not lie the first spring of tendencies, which in my Life have become remarkable95 enough? As in birth, so in action, speculation96, and social position, my fellows are perhaps not numerous.”
In the Bag Sagittarius, as we at length discover, Teufelsdrockh has become a University man; though how, when, or of what quality, will nowhere disclose itself with the smallest certainty. Few things, in the way of confusion and capricious indistinctness, can now surprise our readers; not even the total want of dates, almost without parallel in a Biographical work. So enigmatic, so chaotic97 we have always found, and must always look to find, these scattered Leaves. In Sagittarius, however, Teufelsdrockh begins to show himself even more than usually Sibylline98: fragments of all sorts: scraps99 of regular Memoir100, College–Exercises, Programs, Professional Testimoniums, Milkscores, torn Billets, sometimes to appearance of an amatory cast; all blown together as if by merest chance, henceforth bewilder the sane102 Historian. To combine any picture of these University, and the subsequent, years; much more, to decipher therein any illustrative primordial103 elements of the Clothes–Philosophy, becomes such a problem as the reader may imagine.
So much we can see; darkly, as through the foliage104 of some wavering thicket105: a youth of no common endowment, who has passed happily through Childhood, less happily yet still vigorously through Boyhood, now at length perfect in “dead vocables,” and set down, as he hopes, by the living Fountain, there to superadd Ideas and Capabilities106. From such Fountain he draws, diligently107, thirstily, yet never or seldom with his whole heart, for the water nowise suits his palate; discouragements, entanglements108, aberrations109 are discoverable or supposable. Nor perhaps are even pecuniary110 distresses111 wanting; for “the good Gretchen, who in spite of advices from not disinterested112 relatives has sent him hither, must after a time withdraw her willing but too feeble hand.” Nevertheless in an atmosphere of Poverty and manifold Chagrin113, the Humor of that young Soul, what character is in him, first decisively reveals itself; and, like strong sunshine in weeping skies, gives out variety of colors, some of which are prismatic. Thus, with the aid of Time and of what Time brings, has the stripling Diogenes Teufelsdrockh waxed into manly114 stature; and into so questionable115 an aspect, that we ask with new eagerness, How he specially13 came by it, and regret anew that there is no more explicit116 answer. Certain of the intelligible117 and partially118 significant fragments, which are few in number, shall be extracted from that Limbo119 of a Paper-bag, and presented with the usual preparation.
As if, in the Bag Scorpio, Teufelsdrockh had not already expectorated his antipedagogic spleen; as if, from the name Sagittarius, he had thought himself called upon to shoot arrows, we here again fall in with such matter as this: “The University where I was educated still stands vivid enough in my remembrance, and I know its name well; which name, however, I, from tenderness to existing interests and persons, shall in nowise divulge120. It is my painful duty to say that, out of England and Spain, ours was the worst of all hitherto discovered Universities. This is indeed a time when right Education is, as nearly as may be, impossible: however, in degrees of wrongness there is no limit: nay, I can conceive a worse system than that of the Nameless itself; as poisoned victual may be worse than absolute hunger.
“It is written, When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch: wherefore, in such circumstances, may it not sometimes be safer, if both leader and led simply — sit still? Had you, anywhere in Crim Tartary, walled in a square enclosure; furnished it with a small, ill-chosen Library; and then turned loose into it eleven hundred Christian121 striplings, to tumble about as they listed, from three to seven years: certain persons, under the title of Professors, being stationed at the gates, to declare aloud that it was a University, and exact considerable admission-fees, — you had, not indeed in mechanical structure, yet in spirit and result, some imperfect resemblance of our High Seminary. I say, imperfect; for if our mechanical structure was quite other, so neither was our result altogether the same: unhappily, we were not in Crim Tartary, but in a corrupt122 European city, full of smoke and sin; moreover, in the middle of a Public, which, without far costlier123 apparatus124 than that of the Square Enclosure, and Declaration aloud, you could not be sure of gulling125.
“Gullible, however, by fit apparatus, all Publics are; and gulled126, with the most surprising profit. Towards anything like a Statistics of Imposture127, indeed, little as yet has been done: with a strange indifference128, our Economists129, nigh buried under Tables for minor130 Branches of Industry, have altogether overlooked the grand all-overtopping Hypocrisy131 Branch; as if our whole arts of Puffery, of Quackery132, Priestcraft, Kingcraft, and the innumerable other crafts and mysteries of that genus, had not ranked in Productive Industry at all! Can any one, for example, so much as say, What moneys, in Literature and Shoeblacking, are realized by actual Instruction and actual jet Polish; what by fictitious-persuasive Proclamation of such; specifying133, in distinct items, the distributions, circulations, disbursements, incomings of said moneys, with the smallest approach to accuracy? But to ask, How far, in all the several infinitely134 complected departments of social business, in government, education, in manual, commercial, intellectual fabrication of every sort, man’s Want is supplied by true Ware135; how far by the mere101 Appearance of true Ware:— in other words, To what extent, by what methods, with what effects, in various times and countries, Deception136 takes the place of wages of Performance: here truly is an Inquiry137 big with results for the future time, but to which hitherto only the vaguest answer can be given. If for the present, in our Europe, we estimate the ratio of Ware to Appearance of Ware so high even as at One to a Hundred (which, considering the Wages of a Pope, Russian Autocrat138, or English Game–Preserver, is probably not far from the mark), — what almost prodigious139 saving may there not be anticipated, as the Statistics of Imposture advances, and so the manufacturing of Shams140 (that of Realities rising into clearer and clearer distinction therefrom) gradually declines, and at length becomes all but wholly unnecessary!
“This for the coming golden ages. What I had to remark, for the present brazen141 one, is, that in several provinces, as in Education, Polity, Religion, where so much is wanted and indispensable, and so little can as yet be furnished, probably Imposture is of sanative, anodyne142 nature, and man’s Gullibility143 not his worst blessing144. Suppose your sinews of war quite broken; I mean your military chest insolvent145, forage146 all but exhausted147; and that the whole army is about to mutiny, disband, and cut your and each other’s throat, — then were it not well could you, as if by miracle, pay them in any sort of fairy-money, feed them on coagulated water, or mere imagination of meat; whereby, till the real supply came up, they might be kept together and quiet? Such perhaps was the aim of Nature, who does nothing without aim, in furnishing her favorite, Man, with this his so omnipotent148 or rather omnipatient Talent of being Gulled.
“How beautifully it works, with a little mechanism149; nay, almost makes mechanism for itself! These Professors in the Nameless lived with ease, with safety, by a mere Reputation, constructed in past times, and then too with no great effort, by quite another class of persons. Which Reputation, like a strong brisk-going undershot wheel, sunk into the general current, bade fair, with only a little annual re-painting on their part, to hold long together, and of its own accord assiduously grind for them. Happy that it was so, for the Millers150! They themselves needed not to work; their attempts at working, at what they called Educating, now when I look back on it, fill me with a certain mute admiration151.
“Besides all this, we boasted ourselves a Rational University; in the highest degree hostile to Mysticism; thus was the young vacant mind furnished with much talk about Progress of the Species, Dark Ages, Prejudice, and the like; so that all were quickly enough blown out into a state of windy argumentativeness; whereby the better sort had soon to end in sick, impotent Scepticism; the worser sort explode (crepiren) in finished Self-conceit, and to all spiritual intents become dead. — But this too is portion of mankind’s lot. If our era is the Era of Unbelief, why murmur26 under it; is there not a better coming, nay come? As in long-drawn systole and long-drawn diastole, must the period of Faith alternate with the period of Denial; must the vernal growth, the summer luxuriance of all Opinions, Spiritual Representations and Creations, be followed by, and again follow, the autumnal decay, the winter dissolution. For man lives in Time, has his whole earthly being, endeavor and destiny shaped for him by Time: only in the transitory Time–Symbol is the ever-motionless Eternity we stand on made manifest. And yet, in such winter-seasons of Denial, it is for the nobler-minded perhaps a comparative misery152 to have been born, and to be awake and work; and for the duller a felicity, if, like hibernating153 animals, safe-lodged in some Salamanca University or Sybaris City, or other superstitious154 or voluptuous155 Castle of Indolence, they can slumber156 through, in stupid dreams, and only awaken157 when the loud-roaring hailstorms have all alone their work, and to our prayers and martyrdoms the new Spring has been vouchsafed158.”
That in the environment, here mysteriously enough shadowed forth, Teufelsdrockh must have felt ill at ease, cannot be doubtful. “The hungry young,” he says, “looked up to their spiritual Nurses; and, for food, were bidden eat the east-wind. What vain jargon159 of controversial Metaphysic, Etymology160, and mechanical Manipulation falsely named Science, was current there, I indeed learned, better perhaps than the most. Among eleven hundred Christian youths, there will not be wanting some eleven eager to learn. By collision with such, a certain warmth, a certain polish was communicated; by instinct and happy accident, I took less to rioting (renommiren), than to thinking and reading, which latter also I was free to do. Nay from the chaos161 of that Library, I succeeded in fishing up more books perhaps than had been known to the very keepers thereof. The foundation of a Literary Life was hereby laid: I learned, on my own strength, to read fluently in almost all cultivated languages, on almost all subjects and sciences; farther, as man is ever the prime object to man, already it was my favorite employment to read character in speculation, and from the Writing to construe162 the Writer. A certain groundplan of Human Nature and Life began to fashion itself in me; wondrous163 enough, now when I look back on it; for my whole Universe, physical and spiritual, was as yet a Machine! However, such a conscious, recognized groundplan, the truest I had, was beginning to be there, and by additional experiments might be corrected and indefinitely extended.”
Thus from poverty does the strong educe75 nobler wealth; thus in the destitution164 of the wild desert does our young Ishmael acquire for himself the highest of all possessions, that of Self-help. Nevertheless a desert this was, waste, and howling with savage165 monsters. Teufelsdrockh gives us long details of his “fever-paroxysms of Doubt;” his Inquiries concerning Miracles, and the Evidences of religious Faith; and how “in the silent night-watches, still darker in his heart than over sky and earth, he has cast himself before the All-seeing, and with audible prayers cried vehemently166 for Light, for deliverance from Death and the Grave. Not till after long years, and unspeakable agonies, did the believing heart surrender; sink into spell-bound sleep, under the nightmare, Unbelief; and, in this hag-ridden dream, mistake God’s fair living world for a pallid167, vacant Hades and extinct Pandemonium168. But through such Purgatory169 pain,” continues he, “it is appointed us to pass; first must the dead Letter of Religion own itself dead, and drop piecemeal170 into dust, if the living Spirit of Religion, freed from this its charnel-house, is to arise on us, new-born of Heaven, and with new healing under its wings.”
To which Purgatory pains, seemingly severe enough, if we add a liberal measure of Earthly distresses, want of practical guidance, want of sympathy, want of money, want of hope; and all this in the fervid171 season of youth, so exaggerated in imagining, so boundless172 in desires, yet here so poor in means, — do we not see a strong incipient spirit oppressed and overloaded173 from without and from within; the fire of genius struggling up among fuel-wood of the greenest, and as yet with more of bitter vapor174 than of clear flame?
From various fragments of Letters and other documentary scraps, it is to be inferred that Teufelsdrockh, isolated175, shy, retiring as he was, had not altogether escaped notice: certain established men are aware of his existence; and, if stretching out no helpful hand, have at least their eyes on him. He appears, though in dreary176 enough humor, to be addressing himself to the Profession of Law; — whereof, indeed, the world has since seen him a public graduate. But omitting these broken, unsatisfactory thrums of Economical relation, let us present rather the following small thread of Moral relation; and therewith, the reader for himself weaving it in at the right place, conclude our dim arras-picture of these University years.
“Here also it was that I formed acquaintance with Herr Towgood, or, as it is perhaps better written, Herr Toughgut; a young person of quality (von Adel), from the interior parts of England. He stood connected, by blood and hospitality, with the Counts von Zahdarm, in this quarter of Germany; to which noble Family I likewise was, by his means, with all friendliness177, brought near. Towgood had a fair talent, unspeakably ill-cultivated; with considerable humor of character: and, bating his total ignorance, for he knew nothing except Boxing and a little Grammar, showed less of that aristocratic impassivity, and silent fury, than for most part belongs to Travellers of his nation. To him I owe my first practical knowledge of the English and their ways; perhaps also something of the partiality with which I have ever since regarded that singular people. Towgood was not without an eye, could he have come at any light. Invited doubtless by the presence of the Zahdarm Family, he had travelled hither, in the almost frantic178 hope of perfecting his studies; he, whose studies had as yet been those of infancy179, hither to a University where so much as the notion of perfection, not to say the effort after it, no longer existed! Often we would condole180 over the hard destiny of the Young in this era: how, after all our toil, we were to be turned out into the world, with beards on our chins indeed, but with few other attributes of manhood; no existing thing that we were trained to Act on, nothing that we could so much as Believe. ‘How has our head on the outside a polished Hat,’ would Towgood exclaim, ‘and in the inside Vacancy181, or a froth of Vocables and Attorney–Logic! At a small cost men are educated to make leather into shoes; but at a great cost, what am I educated to make? By Heaven, Brother! what I have already eaten and worn, as I came thus far, would endow a considerable Hospital of Incurables182.’ — ‘Man, indeed,’ I would answer, ‘has a Digestive Faculty, which must be kept working, were it even partly by stealth. But as for our Miseducation, make not bad worse; waste not the time yet ours, in trampling183 on thistles because they have yielded us no figs184. Frisch zu, Bruder! Here are Books, and we have brains to read them; here is a whole Earth and a whole Heaven, and we have eyes to look on them: Frisch zu!’
“Often also our talk was gay; not without brilliancy, and even fire. We looked out on Life, with its strange scaffolding, where all at once harlequins dance, and men are beheaded and quartered: motley, not unterrific was the aspect; but we looked on it like brave youths. For myself, these were perhaps my most genial185 hours. Towards this young warm-hearted, strong-headed and wrong-headed Herr Towgood I was even near experiencing the now obsolete186 sentiment of Friendship. Yes, foolish Heathen that I was, I felt that, under certain conditions, I could have loved this man, and taken him to my bosom, and been his brother once and always. By degrees, however, I understood the new time, and its wants. If man’s Soul is indeed, as in the Finnish Language, and Utilitarian187 Philosophy, a kind of Stomach, what else is the true meaning of Spiritual union but an Eating together? Thus we, instead of Friends, are Dinner-guests; and here as elsewhere have cast away chimeras.”
So ends, abruptly188 as is usual, and enigmatically, this little incipient romance. What henceforth becomes of the brave Herr Towgood, or Toughgut? He has dived under, in the Autobiographical Chaos, and swims we see not where. Does any reader “in the interior parts of England” know of such a man?
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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17
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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18
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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19
mingled
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| 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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20
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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21
chimeras
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| n.（由几种动物的各部分构成的）假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 )；不可能实现的想法；幻想；妄想 | |
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22
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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23
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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24
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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25
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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26
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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27
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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28
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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29
veinlet
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| n.小静脉，细叶脉 | |
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30
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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31
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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32
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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33
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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34
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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35
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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36
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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37
rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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38
stagnating
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| v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的现在分词 ) | |
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39
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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40
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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41
imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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42
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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43
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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44
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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45
malignantly
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| 怀恶意地； 恶毒地； 有害地； 恶性地 | |
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46
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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47
epitome
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| n.典型，梗概 | |
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48
orphaned
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| [计][修]孤立 | |
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49
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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50
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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51
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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52
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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53
nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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54
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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55
intervals
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|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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56
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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57
quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
pumpkins
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| n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊 | |
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59
ignoble
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| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
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60
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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61
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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62
outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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63
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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64
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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65
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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66
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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67
pedants
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| n.卖弄学问的人，学究，书呆子( pedant的名词复数 ) | |
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68
lexicons
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| n.词典( lexicon的名词复数 )；专门词汇 | |
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69
crammed
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|
| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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70
etymological
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| adj.语源的，根据语源学的 | |
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71
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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72
cinder
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| n.余烬，矿渣 | |
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73
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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74
integument
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| n.皮肤 | |
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75
educe
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| v.引出；演绎 | |
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76
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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77
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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78
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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79
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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80
sables
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| n.紫貂( sable的名词复数 )；紫貂皮；阴暗的；暗夜 | |
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81
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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82
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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83
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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84
placidly
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|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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85
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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86
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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87
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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88
labored
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|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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89
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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90
genealogy
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| n.家系，宗谱 | |
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91
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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92
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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93
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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94
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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95
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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96
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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97
chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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98
sibylline
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| adj.预言的；神巫的 | |
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99
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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100
memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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101
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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102
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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103
primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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104
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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105
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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106
capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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107
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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108
entanglements
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| n.瓜葛( entanglement的名词复数 )；牵连；纠缠；缠住 | |
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109
aberrations
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| n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常 | |
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110
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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111
distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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112
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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113
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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114
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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115
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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116
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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117
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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118
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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119
limbo
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| n.地狱的边缘；监狱 | |
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120
divulge
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| v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布 | |
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121
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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122
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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123
costlier
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| adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的 | |
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124
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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125
gulling
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| v.欺骗某人( gull的现在分词 ) | |
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126
gulled
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| v.欺骗某人( gull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
imposture
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| n.冒名顶替，欺骗 | |
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128
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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129
economists
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| n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 ) | |
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130
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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131
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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132
quackery
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| n.庸医的医术，骗子的行为 | |
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133
specifying
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| v.指定( specify的现在分词 )；详述；提出…的条件；使具有特性 | |
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134
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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135
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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136
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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137
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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138
autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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139
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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140
shams
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| 假象( sham的名词复数 )； 假货； 虚假的行为（或感情、言语等）； 假装…的人 | |
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141
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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142
anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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143
gullibility
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| n.易受骗，易上当，轻信 | |
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144
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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145
insolvent
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| adj.破产的，无偿还能力的 | |
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146
forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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147
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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148
omnipotent
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| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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149
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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millers
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| n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工 | |
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151
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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152
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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153
hibernating
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| （某些动物）冬眠，蛰伏( hibernate的现在分词 ) | |
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154
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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155
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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156
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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157
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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158
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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159
jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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160
etymology
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| n.语源；字源学 | |
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161
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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162
construe
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| v.翻译，解释 | |
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163
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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164
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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165
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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166
vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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167
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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168
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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169
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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170
piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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171
fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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172
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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173
overloaded
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| a.超载的，超负荷的 | |
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174
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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175
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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176
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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177
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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178
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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179
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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180
condole
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| v.同情；慰问 | |
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181
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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182
incurables
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| 无法治愈，不可救药( incurable的名词复数 ) | |
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183
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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184
figs
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| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
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185
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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186
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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187
utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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188
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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