Of Professor Teufelsdrockh, it seems impossible to take leave without a mingled10 feeling of astonishment11, gratitude12, and disapproval13. Who will not regret that talents, which might have profited in the higher walks of Philosophy, or in Art itself, have been so much devoted14 to a rummaging15 among lumber-rooms; nay16 too often to a scraping in kennels17, where lost rings and diamond-necklaces are nowise the sole conquests? Regret is unavoidable; yet censure18 were loss of time. To cure him of his mad humors British Criticism would essay in vain: enough for her if she can, by vigilance, prevent the spreading of such among ourselves. What a result, should this piebald, entangled19, hyper-metaphorical style of writing, not to say of thinking, become general among our Literary men! As it might so easily do. Thus has not the Editor himself, working over Teufelsdrockh’s German, lost much of his own English purity? Even as the smaller whirlpool is sucked into the larger, and made to whirl along with it, so has the lesser20 mind, in this instance, been forced to become portion of the greater, and, like it, see all things figuratively: which habit time and assiduous effort will be needed to eradicate21.
Nevertheless, wayward as our Professor shows himself, is there any reader that can part with him in declared enmity? Let us confess, there is that in the wild, much-suffering, much-inflicting man, which almost attaches us. His attitude, we will hope and believe, is that of a man who had said to Cant6, Begone; and to Dilettantism22, Here thou canst not be; and to Truth, Be thou in place of all to me: a man who had manfully defied the “Time–Prince,” or Devil, to his face; nay perhaps, Hannibal-like, was mysteriously consecrated23 from birth to that warfare24, and now stood minded to wage the same, by all weapons, in all places, at all times. In such a cause, any soldier, were he but a Polack Scythe-man, shall be welcome.
Still the question returns on us: How could a man occasionally of keen insight, not without keen sense of propriety25, who had real Thoughts to communicate, resolve to emit them in a shape bordering so closely on the absurd? Which question he were wiser than the present Editor who should satisfactorily answer. Our conjecture26 has sometimes been, that perhaps Necessity as well as Choice was concerned in it. Seems it not conceivable that, in a Life like our Professor’s, where so much bountifully given by Nature had in Practice failed and misgone, Literature also would never rightly prosper27: that striving with his characteristic vehemence28 to paint this and the other Picture, and ever without success, he at last desperately29 dashes his sponge, full of all colors, against the canvas, to try whether it will paint Foam30? With all his stillness, there were perhaps in Teufelsdrockh desperation enough for this.
A second conjecture we hazard with even less warranty31. It is, that Teufelsdrockh, is not without some touch of the universal feeling, a wish to proselytize32. How often already have we paused, uncertain whether the basis of this so enigmatic nature were really Stoicism and Despair, or Love and Hope only seared into the figure of these! Remarkable33, moreover, is this saying of his: “How were Friendship possible? In mutual34 devotedness35 to the Good and True: otherwise impossible; except as Armed Neutrality, or hollow Commercial League. A man, be the Heavens ever praised, is sufficient for himself; yet were ten men, united in Love, capable of being and of doing what ten thousand singly would fail in. Infinite is the help man can yield to man.” And now in conjunction therewith consider this other: “It is the Night of the World, and still long till it be Day: we wander amid the glimmer36 of smoking ruins, and the Sun and the Stars of Heaven are as if blotted37 out for a season; and two immeasurable Phantoms38, HYPOCRISY39 and ATHEISM40, with the Ghoul, SENSUALITY, stalk abroad over the Earth, and call it theirs: well at ease are the Sleepers41 for whom Existence is a shallow Dream.”
But what of the awe-struck Wakeful who find it a Reality? Should not these unite; since even an authentic42 Spectre is not visible to Two? — In which case were this Enormous Clothes–Volume properly an enormous Pitch-pan, which our Teufelsdrockh in his lone43 watch-tower had kindled44, that it might flame far and wide through the Night, and many a disconsolately45 wandering spirit be guided thither46 to a Brother’s bosom47! — We say as before, with all his malign48 Indifference49, who knows what mad Hopes this man may harbor?
Meanwhile there is one fact to be stated here, which harmonizes ill with such conjecture; and, indeed, were Teufelsdrockh made like other men, might as good as altogether subvert50 it. Namely, that while the Beacon-fire blazed its brightest, the Watchman had quitted it; that no pilgrim could now ask him: Watchman, what of the Night? Professor Teufelsdrockh, be it known, is no longer visibly present at Weissnichtwo, but again to all appearance lost in space! Some time ago, the Hofrath Heuschrecke was pleased to favor us with another copious51 Epistle; wherein much is said about the “Population–Institute;” much repeated in praise of the Paper-bag Documents, the hieroglyphic52 nature of which our Hofrath still seems not to have surmised53; and, lastly, the strangest occurrence communicated, to us for the first time, in the following paragraph:—
“Ew. Wohlgeboren will have seen from the Public Prints, with what affectionate and hitherto fruitless solicitude54 Weissnichtwo regards the disappearance55 of her Sage56. Might but the united voice of Germany prevail on him to return; nay could we but so much as elucidate57 for ourselves by what mystery he went away! But, alas58, old Lieschen experiences or affects the profoundest deafness, the profoundest ignorance: in the Wahngasse all lies swept, silent, sealed up; the Privy59 Council itself can hitherto elicit60 no answer.
“It had been remarked that while the agitating61 news of those Parisian Three Days flew from mouth to month, and dinned62 every ear in Weissnichtwo, Herr Teufelsdrockh was not known, at the Gans or elsewhere, to have spoken, for a whole week, any syllable63 except once these three: Es geht an (It is beginning). Shortly after, as Ew. Wohlgeboren knows, was the public tranquillity64 here, as in Berlin, threatened by a Sedition65 of the Tailors. Nor did there want Evil-wishers, or perhaps mere66 desperate Alarmists, who asserted that the closing Chapter of the Clothes–Volume was to blame. In this appalling67 crisis, the serenity68 of our Philosopher was indescribable: nay, perhaps through one humble69 individual, something thereof might pass into the Rath (Council) itself, and so contribute to the country’s deliverance. The Tailors are now entirely70 pacificated. —
“To neither of these two incidents can I attribute our loss: yet still comes there the shadow of a suspicion out of Paris and its Politics. For example, when the Saint–Simonian Society transmitted its Propositions hither, and the whole Gans was one vast cackle of laughter, lamentation71 and astonishment, our Sage sat mute; and at the end of the third evening said merely: ‘Here also are men who have discovered, not without amazement72, that Man is still Man; of which high, long-forgotten Truth you already see them make a false application.’ Since then, as has been ascertained73 by examination of the Post–Director, there passed at least one Letter with its Answer between the Messieurs Bazard–Enfantin and our Professor himself; of what tenor74 can now only be conjectured75. On the fifth night following, he was seen for the last time!
“Has this invaluable76 man, so obnoxious77 to most of the hostile Sects78 that convulse our Era, been spirited away by certain of their emissaries; or did he go forth79 voluntarily to their head-quarters to confer with them, and confront them? Reason we have, at least of a negative sort, to believe the Lost still living; our widowed heart also whispers that ere long he will himself give a sign. Otherwise, indeed, his archives must, one day, be opened by Authority; where much, perhaps the Palingenesie itself, is thought to be reposited.”
Thus far the Hofrath; who vanishes, as is his wont80, too like an Ignis Fatuus, leaving the dark still darker.
So that Teufelsdrockh’s public History were not done, then, or reduced to an even, unromantic tenor; nay, perhaps the better part thereof were only beginning? We stand in a region of conjectures81, where substance has melted into shadow, and one cannot be distinguished82 from the other. May Time, which solves or suppresses all problems, throw glad light on this also! Our own private conjecture, now amounting almost to certainty, is that, safe-moored in some stillest obscurity, not to lie always still, Teufelsdrockh, is actually in London!
Here, however, can the present Editor, with an ambrosial83 joy as of over-weariness falling into sleep, lay down his pen. Well does he know, if human testimony84 be worth aught, that to innumerable British readers likewise, this is a satisfying consummation; that innumerable British readers consider him, during these current months, but as an uneasy interruption to their ways of thought and digestion85; and indicate so much, not without a certain irritancy and even spoken invective86. For which, as for other mercies, ought not he to thank the Upper Powers? To one and all of you, O irritated readers, he, with outstretched arms and open heart, will wave a kind farewell. Thou too, miraculous87 Entity88, who namest thyself YORKE and OLIVER, and with thy vivacities and genialities, with thy all too Irish mirth and madness, and odor of palled89 punch, makest such strange work, farewell; long as thou canst, fare-well! Have we not, in the course of Eternity90, travelled some months of our Life-journey in partial sight of one another; have we not existed together, though in a state of quarrel?
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1 amorphous | |
adj.无定形的 | |
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2 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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3 morsel | |
n.一口,一点点 | |
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4 nourishment | |
n.食物,营养品;营养情况 | |
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5 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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6 cant | |
n.斜穿,黑话,猛扔 | |
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7 ration | |
n.定量(pl.)给养,口粮;vt.定量供应 | |
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8 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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9 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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10 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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11 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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12 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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13 disapproval | |
n.反对,不赞成 | |
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14 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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15 rummaging | |
翻找,搜寻( rummage的现在分词 ); 海关检查 | |
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16 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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17 kennels | |
n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处,养狗场;狗窝( kennel的名词复数 );养狗场 | |
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18 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
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19 entangled | |
adj.卷入的;陷入的;被缠住的;缠在一起的v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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21 eradicate | |
v.根除,消灭,杜绝 | |
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22 dilettantism | |
n.业余的艺术爱好,浅涉文艺,浅薄涉猎 | |
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23 consecrated | |
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
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24 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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25 propriety | |
n.正当行为;正当;适当 | |
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26 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
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27 prosper | |
v.成功,兴隆,昌盛;使成功,使昌隆,繁荣 | |
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28 vehemence | |
n.热切;激烈;愤怒 | |
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29 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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30 foam | |
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31 warranty | |
n.担保书,证书,保单 | |
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32 proselytize | |
v.改变宗教 | |
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33 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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34 mutual | |
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35 devotedness | |
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36 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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37 blotted | |
涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 ); (用吸墨纸)吸干 | |
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38 phantoms | |
n.鬼怪,幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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39 hypocrisy | |
n.伪善,虚伪 | |
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40 atheism | |
n.无神论,不信神 | |
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41 sleepers | |
n.卧铺(通常以复数形式出现);卧车( sleeper的名词复数 );轨枕;睡觉(呈某种状态)的人;小耳环 | |
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42 authentic | |
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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43 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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44 kindled | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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45 disconsolately | |
adv.悲伤地,愁闷地;哭丧着脸 | |
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46 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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47 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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48 malign | |
adj.有害的;恶性的;恶意的;v.诽谤,诬蔑 | |
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49 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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50 subvert | |
v.推翻;暗中破坏;搅乱 | |
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51 copious | |
adj.丰富的,大量的 | |
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52 hieroglyphic | |
n.象形文字 | |
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53 surmised | |
v.臆测,推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 );揣测;猜想 | |
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54 solicitude | |
n.焦虑 | |
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55 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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56 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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57 elucidate | |
v.阐明,说明 | |
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58 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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59 privy | |
adj.私用的;隐密的 | |
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60 elicit | |
v.引出,抽出,引起 | |
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61 agitating | |
搅动( agitate的现在分词 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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62 dinned | |
vt.喧闹(din的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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63 syllable | |
n.音节;vt.分音节 | |
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64 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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65 sedition | |
n.煽动叛乱 | |
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66 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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67 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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68 serenity | |
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
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69 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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70 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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71 lamentation | |
n.悲叹,哀悼 | |
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72 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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73 ascertained | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74 tenor | |
n.男高音(歌手),次中音(乐器),要旨,大意 | |
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75 conjectured | |
推测,猜测,猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76 invaluable | |
adj.无价的,非常宝贵的,极为贵重的 | |
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77 obnoxious | |
adj.极恼人的,讨人厌的,可憎的 | |
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78 sects | |
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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79 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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80 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
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81 conjectures | |
推测,猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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82 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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83 ambrosial | |
adj.美味的 | |
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84 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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85 digestion | |
n.消化,吸收 | |
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86 invective | |
n.痛骂,恶意抨击 | |
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87 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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88 entity | |
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物 | |
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89 palled | |
v.(因过多或过久而)生厌,感到乏味,厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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