Alexis: Tarantini.
As men who leave their homes for public games,
We leave our native element of darkness
For life's brief light. And who has most of mirth,
And wine, and love, may, like a satisfied guest,
In the meantime Mr. Falconer, after staying somewhat longer than usual at home, had returned to the Grange. He found much the same party as he had left: but he observed, or imagined, that Lord Curryfin was much more than previously2 in favour with Miss Gryll; that she paid him more marked attention, and watched his conduct to Miss Niphet with something more than curiosity.
Amongst the winter evenings' amusements were two forms of quadrille: the old-fashioned game of cards, and the more recently fashionable dance. On these occasions it was of course a carpet-dance. Now, dancing had never been in Mr. Falconer's line, and though modern dancing, especially in quadrilles, is little more than walking, still in that 'little more' there is ample room for grace and elegance4 of motion.
Herein Lord Curryfin outshone all the other young men in the circle. He endeavoured to be as indiscriminating as possible in inviting5 partners: but it was plain to curious observation, especially if a spice of jealousy6 mingled7 with the curiosity, that his favourite partner was Miss Niphet. When they occasionally danced a polka, the reverend doctor's mythological8 theory came out in full force. It seemed as if Nature had preordained that they should be inseparable, and the interior conviction of both, that so it ought to be, gave them an accordance of movement that seemed to emanate9 from the innermost mind. Sometimes, too, they danced the Minuet de la Cour.
Having once done it, they had been often unanimously requested to repeat it. In this they had no competitors. Miss Gryll confined herself to quadrilles, and Mr. Falconer did not even propose to walk through one with her. When dancing brought into Miss Niphet's cheeks the blush-rose bloom, which had more than once before so charmed Lord Curryfin, it required little penetration10 to see, through his external decorum, the passionate11 admiration12 with which he regarded her. Mr. Falconer remarked it, and, looking round to Miss Gryll, thought he saw the trace of a tear in her eye. It was a questionable13 glistening14: jealousy construed15 it into a tear. But why should it be there? Was her mind turning to Lord Curryfin? and the more readily because of a newly-perceived obstacle? Had mortified16 vanity any share in it? No: this was beneath Morgana. Then why was it there? Was it anything like regret that, in respect of the young lord, she too had lost her opportunity? Was he himself blameless in the matter? He had been on the point of declaration, and she had been apparently17 on the point of acceptance: and instead of following up his advantage, he had been absent longer than usual. This was ill; but in the midst of the contending forces which severally acted on him, how could he make it well? So he sate18 still, tormenting19 himself.
In the meantime, Mr. Gryll had got up at a card-table, in the outer, which was the smaller drawing-room, a quadrille party of his own, consisting of himself, Miss Ilex, the Reverend Dr. Opimian, and Mr. MacBorrowdale.
Mr. Gryll. This is the only game of cards that ever pleased me. Once it was the great evening charm of the whole nation. Now, when cards are played at all, it has given place to whist, which, in my younger days, was considered a dry, solemn, studious game, played in moody20 silence, only interrupted by an occasional outbreak of dogmatism and ill-humour. Quadrille is not so absorbing but that we may talk and laugh over it, and yet is quite as interesting as anything of the kind has need to be.
Miss Ilex. I delight in quadrille. I am old enough to remember when, in mixed society in the country, it was played every evening by some of the party. But Chaque âge a ses plaisirs, son esprit, et ses mours.{1} It is one of the evils of growing old that we do not easily habituate ourselves to changes of custom. The old, who sit still while the young dance and sing, may be permitted to regret the once always accessible cards, which, in their own young days, delighted the old of that generation: and not the old only.
The Rev3. Dr. Opimian. There are many causes for the diminished attraction of cards in evening society. Late dinners leave little evening. The old time for cards was the interval21 between tea and supper. Now there is no such interval, except here and there in out-of-the-way places, where, perhaps, quadrille and supper may still flourish, as in the days of Queen Anne. Nothing was more common in country towns and villages, half-a-century ago, than parties meeting in succession at each other's houses for tea, supper, and quadrille. How popular this game had been, you may judge from Gay's ballad23, which represents all classes as absorbed in quadrille.{2} Then the facility of locomotion24 dissipates, annihilates25 neighbourhood.
1 Boileau.
2 For example:
When patients lie in piteous case,
In comes the apothecary26,
Non debes Quadrilare.'
The patient dies without a pill:
For why? The doctor's at quadrille.
Should France and Spain again grow loud,
The Muscovite grow louder,
Would want both ball and powder;
Must want both sword and gun to kill;
For why? The general's at quadrille.
People are not now the fixtures30 they used to be in their respective localities, finding their amusements within their own limited circle. Half the inhabitants of a country place are here to-day and gone to-morrow. Even of those who are more what they call settled, the greater portion is less, probably, at home than whisking about the world. Then, again, where cards are played at all, whist is more consentaneous to modern solemnity: there is more wiseacre-ism about it: in the same manner that this other sort of quadrille, in which people walk to and from one another with faces of exemplary gravity, has taken the place of the old-fashioned country-dance. 'The merry dance, I dearly love' would never suggest the idea of a quadrille, any more than 'merry England' would call up any image not drawn31 from ancient ballads32 and the old English drama.
Mr. Gryll. Well, doctor, I intend to have a ball at Christmas, in which all modes of dancing shall have fair play, but country-dances shall have their full share.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. I rejoice in the prospect33. I shall be glad to see the young dancing as if they were young.
Miss Ilex. The variety of the game called tredrille—the Ombre of Pope's Rape34 of the Lock—is a pleasant game for three. Pope had many opportunities of seeing it played, yet he has not described it correctly; and I do not know that this has been observed.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. Indeed, I never observed it. I shall be glad to know how it is so.
Miss Ilex. Quadrille is played with forty cards: tredrille usually with thirty: sometimes, as in Pope's Ombre, with twenty-seven. In forty cards, the number of trumps35 is eleven in the black suits, twelve in the red:{1} in thirty, nine in all suits alike.{2} In twenty-seven, they cannot be more than nine in one suit, and eight in the other three. In Pope's Ombre spades are trumps, and the number is eleven: the number which they would be if the cards were forty. If you follow his description carefully, you will find it to be so.
1 Nine cards in the black, and ten in the red suits, in
Basto, which are trumps in all suits.
2 Seven cards in each of the four suits in addition to
Spadille and Basto.
Mr. MacBorrowdale. Why, then, we can only say, as a great philosopher said on another occasion: The description is sufficient 'to impose on the degree of attention with which poetry is read.'
Miss Ilex. It is a pity it should be so. Truth to Nature is essential to poetry. Few may perceive an inaccuracy: but to those who do, it causes a great diminution36, if not a total destruction, of pleasure in perusal37. Shakespeare never makes a flower blossom out of season. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey are true to Nature in this and in all other respects: even in their wildest imaginings.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. Yet here is a combination by one of our greatest poets, of flowers that never blossom in the same season—
The tufted crow-toe and pale jessamine,
The white pink, and the pansie freakt with jet,
The glowing violet,
The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine,
And every flower that sad embroidery41 wears:
Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,
To deck the lauréat hearse where Lycid lies.
Miss Ilex. Very beautiful, if not true to English seasons: but Milton might have thought himself justified43 in making this combination in Arcadia. Generally, he is strictly44 accurate, to a degree that is in itself a beauty. For instance, in his address to the nightingale—
Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among,
I woo to hear thy even-song,
And missing thee, I walk unseen,
On the dry smooth-shaven green.
The song of the nightingale ceases about the time that the grass is mown.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. The old Greek poetry is always true to Nature, and will bear any degree of critical analysis. I must say I take no pleasure in poetry that will not.
Mr. MacBorrowdale. No poet is truer to Nature than Burns, and no one less so than Moore. His imagery is almost always false. Here is a highly-applauded stanza45, and very taking at first sight—
The night-dew of heaven, though in silence it weeps,
Shall brighten with verdure the sod where he sleeps;
And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,
Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.
But it will not bear analysis. The dew is the cause of the verdure: but the tear is not the cause of the memory: the memory is the cause of the tear.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. There are inaccuracies more offensive to me than even false imagery. Here is one, in a song which I have often heard with displeasure. A young man goes up a mountain, and as he goes higher and higher, he repeats Excelsior: but excelsior is only taller in the comparison of things on a common basis, not higher, as a detached object in the air. Jack46's bean-stalk was excelsior the higher it grew: but Jack himself was no more celsus at the top than he had been at the bottom.
Mr. MacBorrowdale. I am afraid, doctor, if you look for profound knowledge in popular poetry, you will often be disappointed.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. I do not look for profound knowledge. But I do expect that poets should understand what they talk of. Burns was not a scholar, but he was always master of his subject. All the scholarship of the world would not have produced Tarn47 o' Shanter: but in the whole of that poem there is not a false image nor a misused48 word. What do you suppose these lines represent?
I turning saw, throned on a flowery rise,
A queen, with swarthy cheeks and bold black eyes,
Brow-bound with burning gold.
Mr. MacBorrowdale. I should take it to be a description of the Queen of Bambo.
The Rev. Dr, Opimian, Yet thus one of our most popular poets describes Cleopatra: and one of our most popular artists has illustrated50 the description by a portrait of a hideous51 grinning Æthiop. Moore led the way to this perversion52 by demonstrating that the Ægyptian women must have been beautiful, because they were 'the countrywomen of Cleopatra.' {1} 'Here we have a sort of counter-demonstration, that Cleopatra must have been a fright because she was the countrywoman of the Ægyptians. But Cleopatra was a Greek, the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, and a lady of Pontus. The Ptolemies were Greeks, and whoever will look at their genealogy53, their coins, and their medals, will see how carefully they kept their pure Greek blood uncontaminated by African intermixture. Think of this description and this picture applied54 to one who Dio says —and all antiquity55 confirms him—was 'the most superlatively beautiful of women, splendid to see, and delightful56 to hear.'{2} For she was eminently57 accomplished58: she spoke59 many languages with grace and facility. Her mind was as wonderful as her personal beauty. There is not a shadow of intellectual expression in that horrible portrait.
1 De Pauw, the great depreciator of everything Ægyptian,
has, on the authority of a passage in Aelian, presumed to
complete and unredeemed ugliness.—Moore's Epicurean,
fifth note.
2 (Greek phrase)—Dio,.vlii. 34.
The conversation at the quadrille-table was carried on with occasional pauses, and intermingled with the technicalities of the game.
Miss Gryll continued to alternate between joining in the quadrille-dances and resuming her seat by the side of the room, where she was the object of great attention from some young gentlemen, who were glad to find her unattended by either Lord Curryfin or Mr. Falconer. Mr. Falconer continued to sit as if he had been fixed61 to his seat, like Theseus. The more he reflected on his conduct, in disappearing at that critical point of time and staying away so long, the more he felt that he had been guilty of an unjustifiable, and perhaps unpardonable offence. He noticed with extreme discomposure the swarm62 of moths63, as he called them to himself, who were fluttering in the light of her beauty: he would gladly have put them to flight; and this being out of the question, he would have been contented to take his place among them; but he dared not try the experiment.
Nevertheless, he would have been graciously received. The young lady was not cherishing any feeling of resentment64 against him. She understood, and made generous allowance for, his divided feelings. But his irresolution65, if he were left to himself, was likely to be of long duration: and she meditated66 within herself the means of forcing him to a conclusion one way or the other.
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1
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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3
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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4
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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5
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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6
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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7
mingled
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| 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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8
mythological
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| adj.神话的 | |
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9
emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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10
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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11
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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12
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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13
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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14
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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15
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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16
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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17
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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18
sate
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| v.使充分满足 | |
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19
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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20
moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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21
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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22
aces
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| abbr.adjustable convertible-rate equity security (units) 可调节的股本证券兑换率；aircraft ejection seat 飞机弹射座椅；automatic control evaluation simulator 自动控制评估模拟器n.擅长…的人( ace的名词复数 )；精于…的人；（ 网球 ）（对手接不到发球的）发球得分；爱司球 | |
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23
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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24
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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25
annihilates
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| n.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的名词复数 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的第三人称单数 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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26
apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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27
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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28
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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29
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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30
fixtures
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| （房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动 | |
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31
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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32
ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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33
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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34
rape
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| n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸 | |
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35
trumps
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| abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造 | |
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36
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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37
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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38
primrose
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| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
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39
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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40
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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41
embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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42
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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43
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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44
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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45
stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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46
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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47
tarn
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| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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48
misused
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| v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用 | |
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49
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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50
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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52
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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53
genealogy
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| n.家系，宗谱 | |
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54
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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55
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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56
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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57
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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58
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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59
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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60
stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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61
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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62
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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63
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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64
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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65
irresolution
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| n.不决断，优柔寡断，犹豫不定 | |
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66
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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