In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught1 but substantiated2 facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable3 surmise4, which might tell eloquently5 upon his cause--such an advocate, would he not be blame-worthy?
It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning6 them for their functions is gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be a caster of state. How they use the salt, precisely--who knows? Certain I am, however, that a king's head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery7? Much might be ruminated8 here, concerning the essential dignity of this regal process, because in common life we esteem9 but meanly and contemptibly10 a fellow who anoints his hair, and palpably smells of that anointing. In truth, a mature man who uses hairoil, unless medicinally, that man has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general rule, he can't amount to much in his totality.
But the only thing to be considered here is this--what kind of oil is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar oil, nor castor oil, nor bear's oil, nor train oil, nor cod-liver oil. What then can it possibly be, but the sperm11 oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils?
Think of that, ye loyal Britons! we whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!
1 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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2 substantiated | |
v.用事实支持(某主张、说法等),证明,证实( substantiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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4 surmise | |
v./n.猜想,推测 | |
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5 eloquently | |
adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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6 seasoning | |
n.调味;调味料;增添趣味之物 | |
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7 machinery | |
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构 | |
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8 ruminated | |
v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 );反复考虑;反刍;倒嚼 | |
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9 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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10 contemptibly | |
adv.卑鄙地,下贱地 | |
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11 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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