This narrative1 is supposed to commence immediately after the installation of Dr. Proudie. I will not describe the ceremony, as I do not precisely2 understand its nature. I am ignorant whether a bishop3 be chaired like a member of Parliament, or carried in a gilt4 coach like a lord mayor, or sworn like a justice of peace, or introduced like a peer to the upper house, or led between two brethren like a knight5 of the garter; but I do know that everything was properly done that nothing fit or becoming to a young bishop was omitted on the occasion.
Dr. Proudie was not the man to allow anything to be omitted that might be becoming to his new dignity. He understood well the value of forms and knew that the due observance of rank could not be maintained unless the exterior6 trappings belonging to it were held in proper esteem7. He was a man born to move in high circles; at least so he thought himself, and circumstances had certainly sustained him in this view. He was the nephew of an Irish baron8 by his mother’s side, and his wife was the niece of a Scotch9 earl. He had for years held some clerical office appertaining to courtly matters, which had enabled him to live in London and to entrust10 his parish to his curate. He had been preacher to the royal beefeaters, curator of theological manuscripts in the Ecclesiastical Courts, chaplain to the Queen’s yeomanry guard, and almoner to his Royal Highness the Prince of Rappe-Blankenberg.
His residence in the metropolis11, rendered necessary by duties thus entrusted12 to him, his high connexions, and the peculiar13 talents and nature of the man recommended him to persons in power, and Dr. Proudie became known as a useful and rising clergyman.
Some few years since, even within the memory of many who are not yet willing to call themselves old, a liberal clergyman was a person not frequently to be met. Sydney Smith was such and was looked on as little better than an infidel; a few others also might be named, but they were rarae aves and were regarded with doubt and distrust by their brethren. No man was so surely a Tory as a country rector — nowhere were the powers that be so cherished as at Oxford15.
When, however, Dr. Whately was made an archbishop, and Dr. Hampden some years afterwards regius professor, many wise divines saw that a change was taking place in men’s minds and that more liberal ideas would henceforward be suitable to the priests as well as to the laity16. Clergymen began to be heard of who had ceased to anathematize papists on the one hand, or vilify17 dissenters18 on the other. It appeared clear that High Church principles, as they are called, were no longer to be surest claims to promotion19 with at any rate one section of statesmen, and Dr. Proudie was one among those who early in life adapted himself to the views held by the Whigs on most theological and religious subjects. He bore with the idolatry of Rome, tolerated even the infidelity of Socianianism, and was hand and glove with the Presbyterian Synods of Scotland and Ulster.
Such a man at such a time was found to be useful, and Dr. Proudie’s name began to appear in the newspapers. He was made one of a commission who went over to Ireland to arrange matters preparative to the working of the national board; be became honorary secretary to another commission nominated to inquire into the revenues of cathedral chapters; he had had something to do with both the regium donum and the Maynooth grant.
It must not on this account be taken as proved that Dr. Proudie was a man of great mental powers, or even of much capacity for business, for such qualities had not been required in him. In the arrangement of those church reforms with which he was connected, the ideas and original conception of the work to be done were generally furnished by the liberal statesmen of the day, and the labour of the details was borne by officials of a lower rank. It was, however, thought expedient21 that the name of some clergyman should appear in such matters, and as Dr. Proudie had become known as a tolerating divine, great use of this sort was made of his name. If he did not do much active good, he never did any harm; he was amenable22 to those who were really in authority and, at the sittings of the various boards to which he belonged, maintained a kind of dignity which had its value.
He was certainly possessed23 of sufficient tact24 to answer the purpose for which he was required without making himself troublesome, but it must not therefore be surmised25 that he doubted his own power, or failed to believe that be could himself take a high part in high affairs when his own turn came. He was biding26 his time and patiently looking forward to the days when he himself would sit authoritative27 at some board, and talk and direct, and rule the roost, while lesser28 stars sat round and obeyed, as he had so well accustomed himself to do.
His reward and his time had now come. He was selected for the vacant bishopric and, on the next vacancy29 which might occur in any diocese, would take his place in the House of Lords, prepared to give not a silent vote in all matters concerning the weal of the church establishment. Toleration was to be the basis on which he was to fight his battles, and in the honest courage of his heart he thought no evil would come to him in encountering even such foes30 as his brethren of Exeter and Oxford.
Dr. Proudie was an ambitious man, and before he was well consecrated31 Bishop of Barchester he had begun to look up to archiepiscopal splendour, and the glories of Lambeth, or at any rate of Bishopsthorpe. He was comparatively young, and had, as he fondly flattered himself, been selected as possessing such gifts, natural and acquired, as must be sure to recommend him to a yet higher notice, now that a higher sphere was opened to him. Dr. Proudie was, therefore, quite prepared to take a conspicuous33 part in all theological affairs appertaining to these realms, and having such views, by no means intended to bury himself at Barchester as his predecessor34 had done. No! London should still be his ground: a comfortable mansion35 in a provincial36 city might be well enough for the dead months of the year. Indeed, Dr. Proudie had always felt it necessary to his position to retire from London when other great and fashionable people did so; but London should still be his fixed37 residence, and it was in London that he resolved to exercise that hospitality so peculiarly recommended to all bishops32 by St. Paul. How otherwise could he keep himself before the world? How else give to the government, in matters theological, the full benefit of his weight and talents?
This resolution was no doubt a salutary one as regarded the world at large, but was not likely to make him popular either with the clergy14 or people of Barchester. Dr. Grantly had always lived there — in truth, it was hard for a bishop to be popular after Dr. Grantly. His income had averaged ￡9,000 a year; his successor was to be rigidly38 limited to ￡5,000. He had but one child on whom to spend his money; Dr. Proudie had seven or eight. He had been a man of few personal expenses, and they had been confined to the tastes of a moderate gentleman, but Dr. Proudie had to maintain a position in fashionable society and had that to do with comparatively small means. Dr. Grantly had certainly kept his carriage as became a bishop, but his carriage, horses, and coachman, though they did very well for Barchester, would have been almost ridiculous at Westminster. Mrs. Proudie determined39 that her husband’s equipage should not shame her, and things on which Mrs. Proudie resolved were generally accomplished40.
From all this it was likely to result that Dr. Proudie would not spend much money at Barchester, whereas his predecessor had dealt with the tradesmen of the city in a manner very much to their satisfaction. The Grantlys, father and son, had spent their money like gentlemen, but it soon became whispered in Barchester that Dr. Proudie was not unacquainted with those prudent41 devices by which the utmost show of wealth is produced from limited means.
In person Dr. Proudie is a good-looking man, spruce and dapper and very tidy. He is somewhat below middle height, being about five feet four, but he makes up for the inches which he wants by the dignity with which he carries those which he has. It is no fault of his own if he has not a commanding eye, for he studies hard to assume it. His features are well formed, though perhaps the sharpness of his nose may give to his face in the eyes of some people an air of insignificance42. If so, it is greatly redeemed43 by his mouth and chin, of which he is justly proud.
Dr. Proudie may well be said to have been a fortunate man, for he was not born to wealth, and he is now Bishop of Barchester; nevertheless, he has his cares. He has a large family, of whom the three eldest44 are daughters, now all grown up and fit for fashionable life, and he has a wife. It is not my intention to breathe a word against the character of Mrs. Proudie, but still I cannot think that with all her virtues45 she adds much to her husband’s happiness. The truth is that in matters domestic she rules supreme46 over her titular47 lord, and rules with a rod of iron. Nor is this all. Things domestic Dr. Proudie might have abandoned to her, if not voluntarily, yet willingly. But Mrs. Proudie is not satisfied with such home dominion48, and stretches her power over all his movements, and will not even abstain49 from things spiritual. In fact, the bishop is hen-pecked.
The archdeacon’s wife, in her happy home at Plumstead, knows how to assume the full privileges of her rank and express her own mind in becoming tone and place. But Mrs. Grantly’s sway, if sway she has, is easy and beneficent. She never shames her husband; before the world she is a pattern of obedience50; her voice is never loud, nor her looks sharp: doubtless she values power, and has not unsuccessfully striven to acquire it; but she knows what should be the limits of a woman’s rule.
Not so Mrs. Proudie. This lady is habitually51 authoritative to all, but to her poor husband she is despotic. Successful as has been his career in the eyes of the world, it would seem that in the eyes of his wife he is never right. All hope of defending himself has long passed from him; indeed he rarely even attempts self-justification, and is aware that submission52 produces the nearest approach to peace which his own house can ever attain53.
Mrs. Proudie has not been able to sit at the boards and committees to which her husband has been called by the State, nor, as he often reflects, can she make her voice heard in the House of Lords. It may be that she will refuse to him permission to attend to this branch of a bishop’s duties; it may be that she will insist on his close attendance to his own closet. He has never whispered a word on the subject to living ears, but he has already made his fixed resolve. Should such attempt be made he will rebel. Dogs have turned against their masters, and even Neapolitans against their rulers, when oppression has been too severe. And Dr. Proudie feels within himself that if the cord be drawn54 too tight, he also can muster55 courage and resist
The state of vassalage56 in which our bishop has been kept by his wife has not tended to exalt57 his character in the eyes of his daughters, who assume in addressing their father too much of that authority which is not properly belonging, at any rate, to them. They are, on the whole, fine engaging young ladies. They are tall and robust58 like their mother, whose high cheek-bones, and — we may say auburn hair they all inherit. They think somewhat too much of their grand-uncles, who have not hitherto returned the compliment by thinking much of them. But now that their father is a bishop, it is probable that family ties will be drawn closer. Considering their connexion with the church, they entertain but few prejudices against the pleasures of the world, and have certainly not distressed59 their parents, as too many English girls have lately done, by any enthusiastic wish to devote themselves to the seclusion60 of a Protestant nunnery. Dr. Proudie’s sons are still at school.
One other marked peculiarity61 in the character of the bishop’s wife must be mentioned. Though not averse62 to the society and manners of the world, she is in her own way a religious woman, and the form in which this tendency shows itself in her is by a strict observance of Sabbatarian rule. Dissipation and low dresses during the week are, under her control, atoned63 for by three services, an evening sermon read by herself, and a perfect abstinence from any cheering employment on the Sunday. Unfortunately for those under her roof to whom the dissipation and low dresses are not extended, her servants namely and her husband, the compensating64 strictness of the Sabbath includes all. Woe65 betide the recreant66 housemaid who is found to have been listening to the honey of a sweetheart in the Regent’s park instead of the soul-stirring evening discourse67 of Mr. Slope. Not only is she sent adrift, but she is so sent with a character which leaves her little hope of a decent place. Woe betide the six-foot hero who escorts Mrs. Proudie to her pew in red plush breeches if he slips away to the neighbouring beer-shop instead of falling into the back seat appropriated to his use. Mrs. Proudie has the eyes of Argus for such offenders68. Occasional drunkenness in the week may be overlooked, for six feet on low wages are hardly to be procured69 if the morals are always kept at a high pitch, but not even for grandeur70 or economy will Mrs. Proudie forgive a desecration71 of the Sabbath.
In such matters Mrs. Proudie allows herself to be often guided by that eloquent72 preacher, the Rev20. Mr. Slope, and as Dr. Proudie is guided by his wife, it necessarily follows that the eminent73 man we have named has obtained a good deal of control over Dr. Proudie in matters concerning religion. Mr. Slope’s only preferment has hitherto been that of reader and preacher in a London district church, and on the consecration74 of his friend the new bishop, he readily gave this up to undertake the onerous75 but congenial duties of domestic chaplain to his lordship.
Mr. Slope, however, on his first introduction must not be brought before the public at the tail of a chapter.
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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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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entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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laity
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| n.俗人；门外汉 | |
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vilify
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| v.诽谤，中伤 | |
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dissenters
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| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
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promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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biding
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| v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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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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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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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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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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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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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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titular
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| adj.名义上的，有名无实的；n.只有名义（或头衔）的人 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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vassalage
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| n.家臣身份，隶属 | |
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exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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compensating
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| 补偿，补助，修正 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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desecration
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| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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consecration
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| n.供献，奉献，献祭仪式 | |
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onerous
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| adj.繁重的 | |
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