“Shall Courtesy be done only to the rich, and only by the rich? In Good-breeding, which differs, if at all, from High-breeding, only as it gracefully8 remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists on its own rights, I discern no special connection with wealth or birth: but rather that it lies in human nature itself, and is due from all men towards all men. Of a truth, were your Schoolmaster at his post, and worth anything when there, this, with so much else, would be reformed. Nay, each man were then also his neighbor’s schoolmaster; till at length a rude-visaged, unmannered Peasant could no more be met with, than a Peasant unacquainted with botanical Physiology10, or who felt not that the clod he broke was created in Heaven.
“For whether thou bear a sceptre or a sledge-hammer, art not thou ALIVE; is not this thy brother ALIVE? ‘There is but one temple in the world,’ says Novalis, ‘and that temple is the Body of Man. Nothing is holier than this high Form. Bending before men is a reverence12 done to this Revelation in the Flesh. We touch Heaven, when we lay our hands on a human Body.’
“On which ground, I would fain carry it farther than most do; and whereas the English Johnson only bowed to every Clergyman, or man with a shovel-hat, I would bow to every Man with any sort of hat, or with no hat whatever. Is not he a Temple, then; the visible Manifestation13 and Impersonation of the Divinity? And yet, alas14, such indiscriminate bowing serves not. For there is a Devil dwells in man, as well as a Divinity; and too often the bow is but pocketed by the former. It would go to the pocket of Vanity (which is your clearest phasis of the Devil, in these times); therefore must we withhold15 it.
“The gladder am I, on the other hand, to do reverence to those Shells and outer Husks of the Body, wherein no devilish passion any longer lodges16, but only the pure emblem17 and effigies18 of Man: I mean, to Empty, or even to Cast Clothes. Nay, is it not to Clothes that most men do reverence: to the fine frogged broadcloth, nowise to the ‘straddling animal with bandy legs’ which it holds, and makes a Dignitary of? Who ever saw any Lord my-lorded in tattered19 blanket fastened with wooden skewer20? Nevertheless, I say, there is in such worship a shade of hypocrisy21, a practical deception22: for how often does the Body appropriate what was meant for the Cloth only! Whoso would avoid falsehood, which is the essence of all Sin, will perhaps see good to take a different course. That reverence which cannot act without obstruction23 and perversion24 when the Clothes are full, may have free course when they are empty. Even as, for Hindoo Worshippers, the Pagoda25 is not less sacred than the God; so do I too worship the hollow cloth Garment with equal fervor26, as when it contained the Man: nay, with more, for I now fear no deception, of myself or of others.
“Did not King Toomtabard, or, in other words, John Baliol, reign27 long over Scotland; the man John Baliol being quite gone, and only the ‘Toom Tabard’ (Empty Gown) remaining? What still dignity dwells in a suit of Cast Clothes! How meekly28 it bears its honors! No haughty29 looks, no scornful gesture: silent and serene30, it fronts the world; neither demanding worship, nor afraid to miss it. The Hat still carries the physiognomy of its Head: but the vanity and the stupidity, and goose-speech which was the sign of these two, are gone. The Coat-arm is stretched out, but not to strike; the Breeches, in modest simplicity31, depend at ease, and now at last have a graceful9 flow; the Waistcoat hides no evil passion, no riotous32 desire; hunger or thirst now dwells not in it. Thus all is purged33 from the grossness of sense, from the carking cares and foul34 vices36 of the World; and rides there, on its Clothes-horse; as, on a Pegasus, might some skyey Messenger, or purified Apparition37, visiting our low Earth.
“Often, while I sojourned in that monstrous39 tuberosity of Civilized40 Life, the Capital of England; and meditated41, and questioned Destiny, under that ink-sea of vapor, black, thick, and multifarious as Spartan42 broth11; and was one lone43 soul amid those grinding millions; — often have I turned into their Old–Clothes Market to worship. With awe-struck heart I walk through that Monmouth Street, with its empty Suits, as through a Sanhedrim of stainless44 Ghosts. Silent are they, but expressive45 in their silence: the past witnesses and instruments of Woe46 and Joy, of Passions, Virtues47, Crimes, and all the fathomless48 tumult49 of Good and Evil in ‘the Prison men call Life.’ Friends! trust not the heart of that man for whom Old Clothes are not venerable. Watch, too, with reverence, that bearded Jewish High-priest, who with hoarse50 voice, like some Angel of Doom51, summons them from the four winds! On his head, like the Pope, he has three Hats, — a real triple tiara; on either hand are the similitude of wings, whereon the summoned Garments come to alight; and ever, as he slowly cleaves52 the air, sounds forth53 his deep fateful note, as if through a trumpet54 he were proclaiming: ‘Ghosts of Life, come to Judgment55!’ Reck not, ye fluttering Ghosts: he will purify you in his Purgatory56, with fire and with water; and, one day, new-created ye shall reappear. Oh, let him in whom the flame of Devotion is ready to go out, who has never worshipped, and knows not what to worship, pace and repace, with austerest thought, the pavement of Monmouth Street, and say whether his heart and his eyes still continue dry. If Field Lane, with its long fluttering rows of yellow handkerchiefs, be a Dionysius’ Ear, where, in stifled57 jarring hubbub58, we hear the Indictment59 which Poverty and Vice35 bring against lazy Wealth, that it has left them there cast out and trodden under foot of Want, Darkness and the Devil, — then is Monmouth Street a Mirza’s Hill, where, in motley vision, the whole Pageant60 of Existence passes awfully61 before us; with its wail62 and jubilee63, mad loves and mad hatreds64, church-bells and gallows-ropes, farce-tragedy, beast-godhood, — the Bedlam65 of Creation!”
To most men, as it does to ourselves, all this will seem overcharged. We too have walked through Monmouth Street; but with little feeling of “Devotion:” probably in part because the contemplative process is so fatally broken in upon by the brood of money-changers who nestle in that Church, and importune66 the worshipper with merely secular67 proposals. Whereas Teufelsdrockh, might be in that happy middle state, which leaves to the Clothes-broker no hope either of sale or of purchase, and so be allowed to linger there without molestation68. — Something we would have given to see the little philosophical70 figure, with its steeple-hat and loose flowing skirts, and eyes in a fine frenzy71, “pacing and repacing in austerest thought” that foolish Street; which to him was a true Delphic avenue, and supernatural Whispering-gallery, where the “Ghosts of Life” rounded strange secrets in his ear. O thou philosophic69 Teufelsdrockh, that listenest while others only gabble, and with thy quick tympanum hearest the grass grow!
At the same time, is it not strange that, in Paper-bag Documents destined72 for an English work, there exists nothing like an authentic73 diary of this his sojourn38 in London; and of his Meditations74 among the Clothes-shops only the obscurest emblematic75 shadows? Neither, in conversation (for, indeed, he was not a man to pester76 you with his Travels), have we heard him more than allude77 to the subject.
For the rest, however, it cannot be uninteresting that we here find how early the significance of Clothes had dawned on the now so distinguished78 Clothes–Professor. Might we but fancy it to have been even in Monmouth Street, at the bottom of our own English “ink-sea,” that this remarkable79 Volume first took being, and shot forth its salient point in his soul, — as in Chaos80 did the Egg of Eros, one day to be hatched into a Universe!
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1 penetrated | |
adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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2 vagaries | |
n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 );异想天开;异常行为;难以预测的情况 | |
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3 aurora | |
n.极光 | |
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4 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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5 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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6 vapor | |
n.蒸汽,雾气 | |
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7 crucible | |
n.坩锅,严酷的考验 | |
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8 gracefully | |
ad.大大方方地;优美地 | |
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9 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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10 physiology | |
n.生理学,生理机能 | |
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11 broth | |
n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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12 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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13 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
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14 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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15 withhold | |
v.拒绝,不给;使停止,阻挡 | |
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16 lodges | |
v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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17 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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18 effigies | |
n.(人的)雕像,模拟像,肖像( effigy的名词复数 ) | |
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19 tattered | |
adj.破旧的,衣衫破的 | |
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20 skewer | |
n.(烤肉用的)串肉杆;v.用杆串好 | |
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21 hypocrisy | |
n.伪善,虚伪 | |
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22 deception | |
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计 | |
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23 obstruction | |
n.阻塞,堵塞;障碍物 | |
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24 perversion | |
n.曲解;堕落;反常 | |
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25 pagoda | |
n.宝塔(尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔),(印度教或佛教的)塔式庙宇 | |
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26 fervor | |
n.热诚;热心;炽热 | |
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27 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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28 meekly | |
adv.温顺地,逆来顺受地 | |
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29 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
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30 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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31 simplicity | |
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32 riotous | |
adj.骚乱的;狂欢的 | |
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33 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
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34 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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35 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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36 vices | |
缺陷( vice的名词复数 ); 恶习; 不道德行为; 台钳 | |
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37 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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38 sojourn | |
v./n.旅居,寄居;逗留 | |
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39 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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40 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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41 meditated | |
深思,沉思,冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 ); 内心策划,考虑 | |
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42 spartan | |
adj.简朴的,刻苦的;n.斯巴达;斯巴达式的人 | |
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43 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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44 stainless | |
adj.无瑕疵的,不锈的 | |
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45 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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46 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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47 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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48 fathomless | |
a.深不可测的 | |
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49 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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50 hoarse | |
adj.嘶哑的,沙哑的 | |
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51 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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52 cleaves | |
v.劈开,剁开,割开( cleave的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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54 trumpet | |
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘 | |
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55 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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56 purgatory | |
n.炼狱;苦难;adj.净化的,清洗的 | |
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57 stifled | |
(使)窒息, (使)窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 ); 镇压,遏制; 堵 | |
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58 hubbub | |
n.嘈杂;骚乱 | |
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59 indictment | |
n.起诉;诉状 | |
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60 pageant | |
n.壮观的游行;露天历史剧 | |
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61 awfully | |
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地 | |
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62 wail | |
vt./vi.大声哀号,恸哭;呼啸,尖啸 | |
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63 jubilee | |
n.周年纪念;欢乐 | |
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64 hatreds | |
n.仇恨,憎恶( hatred的名词复数 );厌恶的事 | |
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65 bedlam | |
n.混乱,骚乱;疯人院 | |
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66 importune | |
v.强求;不断请求 | |
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67 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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68 molestation | |
n.骚扰,干扰,调戏;折磨 | |
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69 philosophic | |
adj.哲学的,贤明的 | |
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70 philosophical | |
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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71 frenzy | |
n.疯狂,狂热,极度的激动 | |
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72 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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73 authentic | |
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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74 meditations | |
默想( meditation的名词复数 ); 默念; 沉思; 冥想 | |
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75 emblematic | |
adj.象征的,可当标志的;象征性 | |
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76 pester | |
v.纠缠,强求 | |
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77 allude | |
v.提及,暗指 | |
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78 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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79 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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80 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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