The only one which can be considered satisfactory is that of which a copy is prefixed to these Volumes. It is from a steel engraving1 by Frank Croll, taken at Edinburgh from a daguerreotype2 by Howie in 1850.
De Quincey’s own opinion of it is expressed to me in the amusing letter which was published in The Instructor3 (New Series, vol. vi. p. 145).
TO THE EDITOR OF THE INSTRUCTOR.
September 21, 1850.
My Dear Sir,—I am much obliged to you for communicating to us (that is, to my daughters and myself) the engraved4 portrait, enlarged from the daguerreotype original. The engraver5, at least, seems to have done his part ably. As to one of the earlier artists concerned, viz. the sun of July, I suppose it is not allowable to complain of him, else my daughters are inclined to upbraid6 him with having made the mouth too long. But, of old, it was held audacity7 to suspect the sun’s veracity:—‘Solem quis dicere falsum audeat!’ And I remember that, half a century ago, the Sun newspaper, in London, used to fight under sanction of that motto. But it was at length discovered by the learned, that Sun junior, viz. the newspaper, did sometimes indulge in fibbing. The ancient prejudice about the solar truth broke down, therefore, in that instance; and who knows but Sun senior may be detected, now that our optical glasses are so much improved, in similar practices? in which case he may have only been ‘keeping his hand in’ when operating upon that one feature of the mouth. The rest of the portrait, we all agree, does credit to his talents, showing that he is still wide-awake, and not at all the superannuated8 old artist that some speculators in philosophy had dreamed of his becoming.
As an accompaniment to this portrait, your wish is that I should furnish a few brief chronological9 memoranda10 of my own life. That would be hard for me to do, and when done, might not be very interesting for others to read. Nothing makes such dreary11 and monotonous12 reading as the old hackneyed roll-call, chronologically13 arrayed, of inevitable14 facts in a man’s life. One is so certain of the man’s having been born, and also of his having died, that it is dismal15 to lie under the necessity of reading it. That the man began by being a boy—that he went to school—and that, by intense application to his studies, ‘which he took to be his portion in this life,’ he rose to distinction as a robber of orchards16, seems so probable, upon the whole, that I am willing to accept it as a postulate17. That he married—that, in fulness of time, he was hanged, or (being a humble18, unambitious man) that he was content with deserving it—these little circumstances are so naturally to be looked for, as sown broadcast up and down the great fields of biography, that any one life becomes, in this respect, but the echo of thousands. Chronologic successions of events and dates, such as these, which, belonging to the race, illustrate19 nothing in the individual, are as wearisome as they are useless.
A better plan will be—to detach some single chapter from the experiences of childhood, which is likely to offer, at least, this kind of value—either that it will record some of the deep impressions under which my childish sensibilities expanded, and the ideas which at that time brooded continually over my mind, or else will expose the traits of character that slumbered20 in those around me. This plan will have the advantage of not being liable to the suspicion of vanity or egotism; for, I beg the reader to understand distinctly, that I do not offer this sketch21 as deriving22 any part of what interest it may have from myself, as the person concerned in it. If the particular experience selected is really interesting, in virtue23 of its own circumstances, then it matters not to whom it happened. Suppose that a man should record a perilous24 journey, it will be no fair inference that he records it as a journey performed by himself. Most sincerely he may be able to say, that he records it not for that relation to himself, but in spite of that relation. The incidents, being absolutely independent, in their power to amuse, of all personal reference, must be equally interesting [he will say] whether they occurred to A or to B. That is my case. Let the reader abstract from me as a person that by accident, or in some partial sense, may have been previously25 known to himself. Let him read the sketch as belonging to one who wishes to be profoundly anonymous26. I offer it not as owing anything to its connection with a particular individual, but as likely to be amusing separately for itself; and if I make any mistake in that, it is not a mistake of vanity exaggerating the consequence of what relates to my own childhood, but a simple mistake of the judgment27 as to the power of amusement that may attach to a particular succession of reminiscences.
Excuse the imperfect development which in some places of the sketch may have been given to my meaning. I suffer from a most afflicting28 derangement29 of the nervous system, which at times makes it difficult for me to write at all, and always makes me impatient, in a degree not easily understood, of recasting what may seem insufficiently30, or even incoherently, expressed.—Believe me, ever yours,
Thomas de Quincey.
This letter was a preface to ‘A Sketch from Childhood,’ of which the first and second parts appeared in that Volume.
After this came a blank of six months—a whole Volume containing nothing. In Volume VIII. (January, 1852), ‘A Sketch from Childhood’ was resumed with the following whimsical apology. It then ran for five months consecutively:—
(January, 1852.)
I understand that several readers of my Sketch from Childhood have lodged31 complaints against me for not having pursued it to what they can regard as a satisfactory close. Some may have done this in a gentle tone, as against an irreclaimable procrastinator32, amiably33 inclined, perhaps, to penitence34, though constitutionally incapable35 of amendment36; but others more clamorously, as against one faithless to his engagements, and deliberately37 a defaulter. Themselves they regard in the light of creditors38, and me as a slippery debtor39, who, having been permitted to pay his debts by instalments—three, suppose, or four:—has paid two, and then absconded40 in order to evade41 the rest. Certainly to this extent I go along with them myself, that, in all cases of a tale or story moving through the regular stages of a plot, the writer, by the act of publishing the introductory parts, pledges himself to unweave the whole tissue to the last. The knot that he has tied, though it should prove a very Gordian knot, he is bound to untie42. And, if he fails to do so, I doubt whether a reader has not a right of action against him for having wantonly irritated a curiosity that was never meant to be gratified—for having trifled with his feelings—and, possibly, for having distressed43 and perplexed44 his moral sense; as, for instance, by entangling45 the hero and heroine (two young people that can be thoroughly46 recommended for virtue) in an Irish bog47 of misfortunes, and there leaving them to their fate—the gentleman up to his shoulders, and the poor lady, therefore, in all probability up to her lips. But, in a case like the present, where the whole is offered as a sketch, an action would not lie. A sketch, by its very name, is understood to be a fragmentary thing: it is a torso, which may want the head, or the feet, or the arms, and still remain a marketable piece of sculpture. In buying a horse, you may look into his mouth, but not in buying a torso: for, if all his teeth have been gone for ten centuries, which would certainly operate in the way of discount upon the price of a horse, very possibly the loss would be urged as a good ground for an extra premium48 upon the torso. Besides, it is hard to see how any proper end could be devised for a paper of this nature, reciting a few incidents, sad and gay, from the records of a half-forgotten childhood, unless by putting the child to death; for which dénouement, unhappily, there was no solid historical foundation.
Right or wrong, however, my accusers are entitled to my gratitude49; since in the very fact of their anger is involved a compliment. By proclaiming their indignation against the procrastinating50 or absconding51 sketcher52, they proclaim their interest in the sketch; and, therefore, if any fierce Peter Peebles should hang upon my skirts, haling me back to work, and denouncing me to the world as a fugitive53 from my public duties, I shall not feel myself called upon to contradict him. As often as he nails me with the charge of being a skulker54 from work in meditatione fugæ, I shall turn round and nail him with the charge of harbouring an intense admiration55 for me, and putting a most hyperbolical value upon my services; or else why should he give himself so much trouble, after so many months are gone by, in pursuing and recapturing me? On this principle, I shall proceed with others who may have joined the cry of the accusers, obediently submitting to their pleasure, doing my best, therefore, to supply a conclusion which in my own eyes had not seemed absolutely required, and content to bear the utmost severity of their censure56 as applied57 to myself, the workman, in consideration of the approbation58 which that censure carries with it by implication to the work itself.
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1
engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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daguerreotype
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| n.银板照相 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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engraver
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| n.雕刻师，雕工 | |
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upbraid
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| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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superannuated
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| adj.老朽的，退休的；v.因落后于时代而废除，勒令退学 | |
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9
chronological
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| adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的 | |
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memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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chronologically
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| ad. 按年代的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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postulate
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| n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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afflicting
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| 痛苦的 | |
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derangement
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| n.精神错乱 | |
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insufficiently
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| adv.不够地，不能胜任地 | |
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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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procrastinator
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| n. 拖延者, 拖拉者, 因循者 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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40
absconded
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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42
untie
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| vt.解开，松开；解放 | |
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43
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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45
entangling
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| 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的现在分词 ) | |
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46
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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47
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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48
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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49
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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50
procrastinating
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| 拖延，耽搁( procrastinate的现在分词 )； 拖拉 | |
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51
absconding
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的现在分词 ) | |
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52
sketcher
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| n.画略图者，作素描者，舞台布景设计者 | |
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53
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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54
skulker
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| n.偷偷隐躲起来的人，偷懒的人 | |
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55
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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56
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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