'I found in Innisfail the fair,
In Ireland, while in exile there,
Women of worth, both grave and gay men,
Many clerics, and many laymen1.'
James Clarence Mangan.
Mrs. Delany, writing from Dublin in 1731, says: 'As for the generality of people that I meet with here, they are much the same as in England--a mixture of good and bad. All that I have met with behave themselves very decently according to their rank; now and then an oddity breaks out, but never so extraordinary but that I can match it in England. There is a heartiness2 among them that is more like Cornwall than any I have known, and great sociableness3.' This picturesque4 figure in the life of her day gives charming pictures in her memoirs5 of the Irish society of the time, descriptions which are confirmed by contemporary writers. She was the wife of Dr. Delany, Dean of Down, the companion of duchesses and queens, and the friend of Swift. Hannah More, in a poem called 'Sensibility,' published in 1778, gives this quaint6 and stilted7 picture of her:--
'Delany shines, in worth serenely8 bright,
Wisdom's strong ray, and virtue's milder light.
And she who blessed the friend and graced the page of Swift, still lends her lustre9 to our age.
Long, long protract10 thy light, O star benign11,
Whose setting beams with added brightness shine!'
The Irish ladies of Delany's day, who scarcely ever appeared on foot in the streets, were famous for their grace in dancing, it seems, as the men were for their skill in swimming. The hospitality of the upper classes was profuse12, and by no means lacking in brilliancy or in grace. The humorous and satirical poetry found in the fugitive13 literature of the period shows conclusively14 that there were plenty of bright spirits and keen wits at the banquets, routs15, and balls. The curse of absenteeism was little felt in Dublin, where the Parliament secured the presence of most of the aristocracy and of much of the talent of the country, and during the residence of the viceroy there was the influence of the court to contribute to the sparkling character of Dublin society.
How they managed to sparkle when discussing some of the heavy dinner menus of the time I cannot think. Here is one of the Dean of Down's bills of fare:--
Turkeys endove
Boyled leg of mutton
Greens, etc.
Soup
Plum Pudding
Roast loin of veal16
Venison pasty
Partridge
Sweetbreads
Collared Pig
Creamed apple tart17
Crabs18
Fricassee of eggs
Pigeons
No dessert to be had.
Although there is no mention of beverages19 we may be sure that this array of viands20 was not eaten dry, but was washed down with a plentiful21 variety of wines and liquors.
The hosts, either in Dublin or London, who numbered among their dinner guests such Irishmen as Sheridan or Lysaght, Mangan or Lever, Curran or Lover, Father Prout or Dean Swift, had as great a feast of wit and repartee22 as one will be apt soon to hear again; although it must have been Lever or Lover who furnished the cream of Irish humour, and Father Prout and Swift the curds23.
If you are fortunate enough to be bidden to the right houses in Ireland to-day, you will have as much good talk as you are likely to listen to anywhere else in this degenerate24 age, which has mostly forgotten how to converse25 in learning to chat; and any one who goes to the Spring Show at Ball's Bridge, or to the Punchestown or Leopardstown races, or to the Dublin horse show, will have to confess that the Irishwomen can dispute the palm with any nation.
'Light on their feet now they passed me and sped,
Give you me word, give you me word,
Every girl wid a turn o' the head
Just like a bird, just like a bird;
And the lashes26 so thick round their beautiful eyes
Shinin' to tell you it's fair time o' day wid them,
Back in me heart wid a kind of surprise,
I think how the Irish girls has the way wid them!'
Their charm is made up of beautiful eyes and lashes, lustre of hair, poise27 of head, shapeliness of form, vivacity28 and coquetry; and there is a matchless grace in the way they wear the 'whatever,' be it the chiffons of the fashionable dame29, or the shawl of the country colleen, who can draw the two corners of that faded article of apparel shyly over her lips and look out from under it with a pair of luminous30 grey eyes in a manner that is fairly 'disthractin'.'
Yesterday was a red-letter day, for I dined in the evening at Dublin Castle, and Francesca was bidden to the concert in the Throne Room afterwards. It was a brilliant scene when the assembled guests awaited their host and hostess, the shaded lights bringing out the satins and velvets, pearls and diamonds, uniforms, orders, and medals. Suddenly the hum of voices ceased as one of the aides-de-camp who preceded the vice-regal party announced 'their Excellencies.' We made a sort of passage as these dignitaries advanced to shake hands with a few of those they knew best. The Lord Lieutenant31 then gave his arm to the lady of highest rank (alas, it was not I!); her Excellency chose her proper squire32, and we passed through the beautifully decorated rooms to St. Patrick's Hall in a nicely graded procession, magnificence at the head, humility33 at the tail. A string band was discoursing34 sweet music the while, and I fitted to its measures certain well-known lines descriptive of the entrance of the beasts into the ark.
'The animals went in two by two,
The elephant and the kangaroo.'
As my escort was a certain brilliant lord justice, and as the wittiest35 dean in Leinster was my other neighbour, I almost forgot to eat in my pleasure and excitement. I told the dean that we had chosen Scottish ancestors before going to our first great dinner in Edinburgh, feeling that we should be more in sympathy with the festivities and more acceptable to our hostess, but that I had forgotten to provide myself for this occasion, my first function in Dublin; whereupon the good dean promptly36 remembered that there was a Penelope O'Connor, daughter of the King of Connaught. I could not quite give up Tam o' the Cowgate (Thomas Hamilton) or Jenny Geddes of fauld-stule fame, also a Hamilton, but I added the King of Connaught to the list of my chosen forebears with much delight, in spite of the polite protests of the Rev37. Father O'Hogan, who sat opposite, and who remarked that
'Man for his glory
To ancestry38 flies,
But woman's bright story
Is told in her eyes.
While the monarch39 but traces
Through mortal his line,
Beauty born of the Graces
Ranks next to divine.'
I asked the Reverend Father if he were descended40 from Galloping41 O'Hogan, who helped Patrick Sarsfield to spike42 the guns of the Williamites at Limerick.
"By me sowl, ma'am, it's not discinded at all I am; I am one o' the common sort, just," he answered, broadening his brogue to make me smile. A delightful43 man he was, exactly such an one as might have sprung full grown from a Lever novel; one who could talk equally well with his flock about pigs or penances44, purgatory45 or potatoes, and quote Tom Moore and Lover when occasion demanded.
Story after story fell from his genial46 lips, and at last he said apologetically, "One more, and I have done," when a pretty woman, sitting near him, interpolated slyly, "We might say to you, your reverence47, what the old woman said to the eloquent48 priest who finished his sermon with 'One word, and I have done'".
"An' what is that, ma'am?" asked Father O'Hogan.
"'Och! me darlin' pracher, may ye niver be done!'"
We all agreed that we should like to reconstruct the scene for a moment and look at a drawing-room of two hundred years ago, when the Lady Lieutenant after the minuets at eleven o'clock went to her basset table, while her pages attended behind her chair, and when on ball nights the ladies scrambled49 for sweetmeats on the dancing-floor. As to their probable toilets, one could not give purer pleasure than by quoting Mrs. Delany's description of one of them:--
'The Duchess's dress was of white satin embroidered50, the bottom of the petticoat brown hills covered with all sorts of weeds, and every breadth had an old stump51 of a tree, that ran up almost to the top of the petticoat, broken and ragged52, and worked with brown chenille, round which twined nasturtiums, ivy53, honeysuckles, periwinkles, and all sorts of running flowers, which spread and covered the petticoat.... The robings and facings were little green banks covered with all sorts of weeds, and the sleeves and the rest of the gown loose twining branches of the same sort as those on the petticoat. Many of the leaves were finished with gold, and part of the stumps54 of the trees looked like the gilding55 of the sun. I never saw a piece of work so prettily56 fancied.'
She adds a few other details for the instruction of her sister Anne:--
'Heads are variously adorned57; pompons with some accompaniment of feathers, ribbons, or flowers; lappets in all sorts of curli-murlis; long hoods58 are worn close under the chin; the ear-rings go round the neck(!), and tie with bows and ends behind. Night-gowns are worn without hoops59.'
收听单词发音 |
1
laymen
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| 门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员） | |
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heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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sociableness
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| n.sociable（交际的，社交的）的变形 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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stilted
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| adj.虚饰的；夸张的 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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protract
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| v.延长，拖长 | |
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benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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conclusively
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| adv.令人信服地，确凿地 | |
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routs
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| n.打垮，赶跑( rout的名词复数 )；（体育）打败对方v.打垮，赶跑( rout的第三人称单数 )；（体育）打败对方 | |
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veal
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| n.小牛肉 | |
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tart
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| adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇 | |
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crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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beverages
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| n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 ) | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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repartee
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| n.机敏的应答 | |
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curds
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| n.凝乳( curd的名词复数 ) | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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27
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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31
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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discoursing
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| 演说（discourse的现在分词形式） | |
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35
wittiest
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| 机智的，言辞巧妙的，情趣横生的( witty的最高级 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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40
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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41
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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42
spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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44
penances
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| n.（赎罪的）苦行，苦修( penance的名词复数 ) | |
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45
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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46
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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47
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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48
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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49
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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50
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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51
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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52
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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53
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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54
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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55
gilding
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| n.贴金箔，镀金 | |
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56
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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57
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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hoods
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| n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
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59
hoops
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| n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓 | |
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