To James I. and Drummond of Hawthornden she is welcome; both of them are what may be termed tolerable poets, and there the matter ends. Of Burns and his work I have already given my view, but I would say here that while at the present moment his popularity[155] is of the widest and has all the appearances of stability, the circumstance that he wrote in a vernacular7 must ultimately relegate8 him to a position of comparative obscurity. As Scotland gradually extricates9 herself from the sloughs10 of barbarism in which she wallows so joyfully11, she will inevitably12 shed her uncouth13 dialect, and, as soon as that is accomplished14, Burns, excepting as a curiosity, will no longer exist.
For Scott and Carlyle little need be said. Both, I believe, have had their day. Scott, erstwhile the Wizard of the North, is rapidly dropping out of public favour. At the present moment he is what may be styled “a school-prize classic.” Ivanhoe and The Lady of the Lake, once considered to be marvellous performances, are now doled15 out to grubby children for punctual attendance at board schools. In the libraries, public and private, Scott, of course, figures, but the public library statistics go to indicate that he is not being read with avidity, and in private libraries he is felt to be rather a cumberer of space.[156] Talking to a well-known Scotch critic as to the general decay of interest in Scott, I found him to be under no illusion on the point, and he electrified16 me by saying, “Scott—well, of course! But between ourselves, man, I cannot read the d? books.” This is pretty well everybody’s case. To avow17 that you have not read Scott is still, perhaps, to confess to a defect in your reading. All the same, if you are a person of average tendencies, you have not read Scott, neither do you propose to do so.
Thomas Carlyle—“true Thomas” as Dr. Archer pathetically dubs18 him—is another Scotch rocket which has already touched its highest and begun to descend19. Both intellectually and as an artist Carlyle, it is true, was worth a dozen Scotts, but he was a Scotchman, and come as near it as he may, a Scotchman cannot do enduring work. So that Carlyle, in the natural order of things, is, as one might say, dropping down the ladder rung by rung. He has ceased to be a “force.” People have discovered that his so-called[157] gospel is a somewhat cheap and snobbish20 affair. All that is really left of him is The French Revolution, which survives because of a certain vividness of style. For the rest, Carlyle looks like going to pieces. A century hence he will be of no more account than Christopher North is to-day.
As to Stevenson, while the Scotch are disposed to brag21 about him when occasion arises, they have always fought more or less shy of him. He has never been admitted to that cordial intimacy22 of relation which a Scotchman extends alike to Robbie Burns and Dr. R. S. Crockett. As a matter of fact, he wrote too well and with too sincere a regard for the finer elements of literature to be properly understood in Scotland. Further, he took the precaution not to interlard his English with such phrases as “ben the hoose,” “getting a wee doited,” and so forth. He had no use for Scotch idioms, and when he dropped into them he was sorry for it. And he did not stiffen23 his pages with panegyric24 of the Scotch character. In fact,[158] Stevenson tacitly refused to have anything to do with the advertising25 of his countrymen. He had the good sense to perceive that if you are to use the English language as a medium for expression, you might as well use it skilfully26 and decently while you are about it. More than all, he did not boast of having been born in a wynd, or of having pu’d fine gowans wi’ Jeanie, the auld27 sweetie wife’s dochter at Drumkettle.
And an author—a modern author—who is guilty of all these sins of commission and omission28 must not expect perfection from the warm heart of Scotia. Somehow the Scotch seem to be a nation of persons without fathers. Nearly every Scot one meets strikes one as being a first generation man. You know instinctively29, even if he does not tell you, that in his childhood he ran about with untended nose and called his mother “mither.” Even after he has been to “the college,” and made some progress in the business or profession to which he may have devoted30 himself, he clings to his squalid origins and to the[159] manners of his forbears for dear life. He is the barbarian31 who scorns to be tamed. The tradition of Scottish independence demands that he should keep you well posted in the facts as to his humble32 descent and upbringing, and that he should go on speaking as much of his heaven-forsaken dialect as you will let him. To such a person a Scot of the Stevenson type does not appeal. Stevenson, of course, was a Scot, and meet to be bragged33 about as a successful Scot. For all that he was not a “brither Scot.” He took to the English way and the English manner, and the brither Scots as a body had no alternative but to turn a sour face towards him. From the literary point of view, though he accomplished great things, R. L. S. is just another instance of the ultimate ineptitude34 of the Scotchman. He tried and tried and tried. No writer of our time has had nobler ideals. Yet he could not climb after his desire. His books are a procession of worthy35 and even splendid failures. The Scotchness of his blood, do what he might to eradicate36 it, was[160] too much for him. It kept him from attaining37 the highest.
To treat of the new school of Scottish writers in the present chapter is, perhaps, to do them too much honour. At no period in the history of letters has such flagrantly bad writing been offered to the English public as is being at present offered by our Scottish authors. Their works have been boomed into a vogue38 which they do not deserve, and even Scotchmen admit that their so-called transcripts39 from life are as false and as shoddy as such transcripts well could be. Writing on this subject, Mr. R. B. Cunninghame, himself a Scot, says: “If it pleases them (the hoot-awa’-man gang) to represent that half of the population of their native land is imbecile, the fault is theirs. But for the idiots, the precentors, elders of churches, the ‘select men,’ and those landward folk who have been dragged of late into publicity40, I compassionate41 them, knowing their language has been distorted, and they themselves been rendered such abject42 snivellers,[161] that not a hen wife, shepherd, ploughman, or any one who thinks in ‘guid braid Scots’ would recognise himself dressed in the motley which it has been the pride of kailyard writers to bestow43. Neither would I have Englishmen believe that the entire Scotch nation is composed of ministers, elders, and maudlin44 whiskified physicians, nor even of precentors who are employed in Scotland to put the congregation out by starting hymns45 on the wrong note, or in a key impossible for any but themselves to compass.” Mr. Cunninghame ought to know.
The other day I saw in a paper, edited, of course, by a Scotchman, a reference to “many contemporary Scottish men of letters.” I do not hesitate to assert that the number of Scottish men of letters now living can be counted twice on the fingers of one hand. Indeed, with the persons who might be expected to count in such a category, in my mind’s eye, I have difficulty in admitting that any one of them is a man of letters in the strict sense of the phrase. Even Dr.[162] Andrew Lang, who is by far the most competent Scotchman now writing, would probably not care to lay claim to the dignity which the term “men of letters” suggests.
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1
archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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relegate
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| v.使降级，流放，移交，委任 | |
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extricates
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sloughs
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| n.沼泽( slough的名词复数 )；苦难的深渊；难以改变的不良心情；斯劳(Slough)v.使蜕下或脱落( slough的第三人称单数 )；舍弃；除掉；摒弃 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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doled
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| 救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金 | |
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electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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dubs
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| v.给…起绰号( dub的第三人称单数 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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snobbish
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| adj.势利的，谄上欺下的 | |
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brag
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| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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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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bragged
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ineptitude
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| n.不适当；愚笨，愚昧的言行 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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eradicate
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| v.根除，消灭，杜绝 | |
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attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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39
transcripts
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| n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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compassionate
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| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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44
maudlin
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| adj.感情脆弱的，爱哭的 | |
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45
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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