"Piacer e popone Vuol la sua stagione." --Italian Proverb.
Mr. Casaubon, as might be expected, spent a great deal of his time at the Grange in these weeks, and the hindrance1 which courtship occasioned to the progress of his great work--the Key to all Mythologies--naturally made him look forward the more eagerly to the happy termination of courtship. But he had deliberately2 incurred3 the hindrance, having made up his mind that it was now time for him to adorn4 his life with the graces of female companionship, to irradiate the gloom which fatigue5 was apt to hang over the intervals6 of studious labor7 with the play of female fancy, and to secure in this, his culminating age, the solace8 of female tendance for his declining years. Hence he determined9 to abandon himself to the stream of feeling, and perhaps was surprised to find what an exceedingly shallow rill it was. As in droughty regions baptism by immersion10 could only be performed symbolically11, Mr. Casaubon found that sprinkling was the utmost approach to a plunge12 which his stream would afford him; and he concluded that the poets had much exaggerated the force of masculine passion. Nevertheless, he observed with pleasure that Miss Brooke showed an ardent13 submissive affection which promised to fulfil his most agreeable previsions of marriage. It had once or twice crossed his mind that possibly there was some deficiency in Dorothea to account for the moderation of his abandonment; but he was unable to discern the deficiency, or to figure to himself a woman who would have pleased him better; so that there was clearly no reason to fall back upon but the exaggerations of human tradition.
"Could I not be preparing myself now to be more useful?" said Dorothea to him, one morning, early in the time of courtship; "could I not learn to read Latin and Greek aloud to you, as Milton's daughters did to their father, without understanding what they read?"
"I fear that would be wearisome to you," said Mr. Casaubon, smiling; "and, indeed, if I remember rightly, the young women you have mentioned regarded that exercise in unknown tongues as a ground for rebellion against the poet."
"Yes; but in the first place they were very naughty girls, else they would have been proud to minister to such a father; and in the second place they might have studied privately14 and taught themselves to understand what they read, and then it would have been interesting. I hope you don't expect me to be naughty and stupid?"
"I expect you to be all that an exquisite15 young lady can be in every possible relation of life. Certainly it might be a great advantage if you were able to copy the Greek character, and to that end it were well to begin with a little reading."
Dorothea seized this as a precious permission. She would not have asked Mr. Casaubon at once to teach her the languages, dreading16 of all things to be tiresome17 instead of helpful; but it was not entirely18 out of devotion to her future husband that she wished to know Latin and Creek19. Those provinces of masculine knowledge seemed to her a standing-ground from which all truth could be seen more truly. As it was, she constantly doubted her own conclusions, because she felt her own ignorance: how could she be confident that one-roomed cottages were not for the glory of God, when men who knew the classics appeared to conciliate indifference20 to the cottages with zeal21 for the glory? Perhaps even Hebrew might be necessary--at least the alphabet and a few roots--in order to arrive at the core of things, and judge soundly on the social duties of the Christian22. And she had not reached that point of renunciation at which she would have been satisfied with having a wise husband: she wished, poor child, to be wise herself. Miss Brooke was certainly very naive23 with all her alleged24 cleverness. Celia, whose mind had never been thought too powerful, saw the emptiness of other people's pretensions25 much more readily. To have in general but little feeling, seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion.
However, Mr. Casaubon consented to listen and teach for an hour together, like a schoolmaster of little boys, or rather like a lover, to whom a mistress's elementary ignorance and difficulties have a touching26 fitness. Few scholars would have disliked teaching the alphabet under such circumstances. But Dorothea herself was a little shocked and discouraged at her own stupidity, and the answers she got to some timid questions about the value of the Greek accents gave her a painful suspicion that here indeed there might be secrets not capable of explanation to a woman's reason.
Mr. Brooke had no doubt on that point, and expressed himself with his usual strength upon it one day that he came into the library while the reading was going forward.
"Well, but now, Casaubon, such deep studies, classics, mathematics, that kind of thing, are too taxing for a woman--too taxing, you know."
"Dorothea is learning to read the characters simply," said Mr. Casaubon, evading27 the question. "She had the very considerate thought of saving my eyes."
"Ah, well, without understanding, you know--that may not be so bad. But there is a lightness about the feminine mind--a touch and go--music, the fine arts, that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point, women should; but in a light way, you know. A woman should be able to sit down and play you or sing you a good old English tune28. That is what I like; though I have heard most things--been at the opera in Vienna: Gluck, Mozart, everything of that sort. But I'm a conservative in music--it's not like ideas, you know. I stick to the good old tunes29."
"Mr. Casaubon is not fond of the piano, and I am very glad he is not," said Dorothea, whose slight regard for domestic music and feminine fine art must be forgiven her, considering the small tinkling30 and smearing31 in which they chiefly consisted at that dark period. She smiled and looked up at her betrothed32 with grateful eyes. If he had always been asking her to play the "Last Rose of Summer," she would have required much resignation. "He says there is only an old harpsichord33 at Lowick, and it is covered with books."
"Ah, there you are behind Celia, my dear. Celia, now, plays very prettily34, and is always ready to play. However, since Casaubon does not like it, you are all right. But it's a pity you should not have little recreations of that sort, Casaubon: the bow always strung--that kind of thing, you know--will not do."
"I never could look on it in the light of a recreation to have my ears teased with measured noises," said Mr. Casaubon. "A tune much iterated has the ridiculous effect of making the words in my mind perform a sort of minuet to keep time--an effect hardly tolerable, I imagine, after boyhood. As to the grander forms of music, worthy35 to accompany solemn celebrations, and even to serve as an educating influence according to the ancient conception, I say nothing, for with these we are not immediately concerned."
"No; but music of that sort I should enjoy," said Dorothea. "When we were coming home from Lausanne my uncle took us to hear the great organ at Freiberg, and it made me sob36."
"That kind of thing is not healthy, my dear," said Mr. Brooke. "Casaubon, she will be in your hands now: you must teach my niece to take things more quietly, eh, Dorothea?"
He ended with a smile, not wishing to hurt his niece, but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon, since she would not hear of Chettam.
"It is wonderful, though," he said to himself as he shuffled37 out of the room--"it is wonderful that she should have liked him. However, the match is good. I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it, let Mrs. Cadwallader say what she will. He is pretty certain to be a bishop38, is Casaubon. That was a very seasonable pamphlet of his on the Catholic Question:--a deanery at least. They owe him a deanery."
And here I must vindicate39 a claim to philosophical40 reflectiveness, by remarking that Mr. Brooke on this occasion little thought of the Radical41 speech which, at a later period, he was led to make on the incomes of the bishops42. What elegant historian would neglect a striking opportunity for pointing out that his heroes did not foresee the history of the world, or even their own actions?--For example, that Henry of Navarre, when a Protestant baby, little thought of being a Catholic monarch43; or that Alfred the Great, when he measured his laborious44 nights with burning candles, had no idea of future gentlemen measuring their idle days with watches. Here is a mine of truth, which, however vigorously it may be worked, is likely to outlast45 our coal.
But of Mr. Brooke I make a further remark perhaps less warranted by precedent--namely, that if he had foreknown his speech, it might not have made any great difference. To think with pleasure of his niece's husband having a large ecclesiastical income was one thing--to make a Liberal speech was another thing; and it is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.
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1
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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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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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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symbolically
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| ad.象征地，象征性地 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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naive
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| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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smearing
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| 污点，拖尾效应 | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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harpsichord
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| n.键琴（钢琴前身） | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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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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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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45
outlast
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| v.较…耐久 | |
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