Of Diaries and Diarists Touching1 the Heroine
Among the Diaries beginning with the second quarter of our century, there is frequent mention of a lady then becoming famous for her beauty and her wit: ‘an unusual combination,’ in the deliberate syllables3 of one of the writers, who is, however, not disposed to personal irony4 when speaking of her. It is otherwise in his case and a general fling at the sex we may deem pardonable, for doing as little harm to womankind as the stone of an urchin5 cast upon the bosom6 of mother Earth; though men must look some day to have it returned to them, which is a certainty; and indeed full surely will our idle-handed youngster too, in his riper season; be heard complaining of a strange assault of wanton missiles, coming on him he knows not whence; for we are all of us distinctly marked to get back what we give, even from the thing named inanimate nature.
The ‘LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF HENRY WILMERS’ are studded with examples of the dinner-table wit of the time, not always worth quotation8 twice; for smart remarks have their measured distances, many requiring to be a brule pourpoint, or within throw of the pistol, to make it hit; in other words, the majority of them are addressed directly to our muscular system, and they have no effect when we stand beyond the range. On the contrary, they reflect sombrely on the springs of hilarity9 in the generation preceding us; with due reserve of credit, of course, to an animal vivaciousness10 that seems to have wanted so small an incitement11. Our old yeomanry farmers—returning to their beds over ferny commons under bright moonlight from a neighbour’s harvest-home, eased their bubbling breasts with a ready roar not unakin to it. Still the promptness to laugh is an excellent progenitorial12 foundation for the wit to come in a people; and undoubtedly13 the diarial record of an imputed14 piece of wit is witness to the spouting15 of laughter. This should comfort us while we skim the sparkling passages of the ‘Leaves.’ When a nation has acknowledged that it is as yet but in the fisticuff stage of the art of condensing our purest sense to golden sentences, a readier appreciation17 will be extended to the gift: which is to strike not the dazzled eyes, the unanticipating nose, the ribs18, the sides, and stun19 us, twirl us, hoodwink, mystify, tickle20 and twitch21, by dexterities of lingual22 sparring and shuffling23, but to strike roots in the mind, the Hesperides of good things. We shall then set a price on the ‘unusual combination.’ A witty24 woman is a treasure; a witty Beauty is a power. Has she actual beauty, actual wit?—not simply a tidal material beauty that passes current any pretty flippancy26 or staggering pretentiousness27? Grant the combination, she will appear a veritable queen of her period, fit for homage28; at least meriting a disposition29 to believe the best of her, in the teeth of foul30 rumour31; because the well of true wit is truth itself, the gathering32 of the precious drops of right reason, wisdom’s lightning; and no soul possessing and dispensing33 it can justly be a target for the world, however well armed the world confronting her. Our temporary world, that Old Credulity and stone-hurling urchin in one, supposes it possible for a woman to be mentally active up to the point of spiritual clarity and also fleshly vile34; a guide to life and a biter at the fruits of death; both open mind and hypocrite. It has not yet been taught to appreciate a quality certifying35 to sound citizenship36 as authoritatively37 as acres of land in fee simple, or coffers of bonds, shares and stocks, and a more imperishable guarantee. The multitudes of evil reports which it takes for proof, are marshalled against her without question of the nature of the victim, her temptress beauty being a sufficiently39 presumptive delinquent40. It does not pretend to know the whole, or naked body of the facts; it knows enough for its furry41 dubiousness42; and excepting the sentimental43 of men, a rocket-headed horde44, ever at the heels of fair faces for ignition, and up starring away at a hint of tearfulness; excepting further by chance a solid champion man, or some generous woman capable of faith in the pelted45 solitary46 of her sex, our temporary world blows direct East on her shivering person. The scandal is warrant for that; the circumstances of the scandal emphasize the warrant. And how clever she is! Cleverness is an attribute of the selecter missionary47 lieutenants48 of Satan. We pray to be defended from her cleverness: she flashes bits of speech that catch men in their unguarded corner. The wary50 stuff their ears, the stolid51 bid her best sayings rebound52 on her reputation. Nevertheless the world, as Christian53, remembers its professions, and a portion of it joins the burly in morals by extending to her a rough old charitable mercifulness; better than sentimental ointment54, but the heaviest blow she has to bear, to a character swimming for life.
That the lady in question was much quoted, the Diaries and Memoirs55 testify. Hearsay56 as well as hearing was at work to produce the abundance; and it was a novelty in England, where (in company) the men are the pointed57 talkers, and the women conversationally58 fair Circassians. They are, or they know that they should be; it comes to the same. Happily our civilization has not prescribed the veil to them. The mutes have here and there a sketch59 or label attached to their names: they are ‘strikingly handsome’; they are ‘very good-looking’; occasionally they are noted60 as ‘extremely entertaining’: in what manner, is inquired by a curious posterity61, that in so many matters is left unendingly to jump the empty and gaping62 figure of interrogation over its own full stop. Great ladies must they be, at the web of politics, for us to hear them cited discoursing63. Henry Wilmers is not content to quote the beautiful Mrs. Warwick, he attempts a portrait. Mrs. Warwick is ‘quite Grecian.’ She might ‘pose for a statue.’ He presents her in carpenter’s lines, with a dab64 of school-box colours, effective to those whom the Keepsake fashion can stir. She has a straight nose, red lips, raven65 hair, black eyes, rich complexion66, a remarkably67 fine bust68, and she walks well, and has an agreeable voice; likewise ‘delicate extremities69.’ The writer was created for popularity, had he chosen to bring his art into our literary market.
Perry Wilkinson is not so elaborate: he describes her in his ‘Recollections’ as a splendid brune, eclipsing all the blondes coming near her: and ‘what is more, the beautiful creature can talk.’ He wondered, for she was young, new to society. Subsequently he is rather ashamed of his wonderment, and accounts for it by ‘not having known she was Irish.’ She ‘turns out to be Dan Merion’s daughter.’
We may assume that he would have heard if she had any whiff of a brogue. Her sounding of the letter R a trifle scrupulously71 is noticed by Lady Pennon: ‘And last, not least, the lovely Mrs. Warwick, twenty minutes behind the dinner-hour, and r-r-really fearing she was late.’
After alluding72 to the soft influence of her beauty and ingenuousness73 on the vexed74 hostess, the kindly75 old marchioness adds, that it was no wonder she was late, ‘for just before starting from home she had broken loose from her husband for good, and she entered the room absolutely houseless!’ She was not the less ‘astonishingly brilliant.’ Her observations were often ‘so unexpectedly droll77 I laughed till I cried.’ Lady Pennon became in consequence one of the stanch78 supporters of Mrs. Warwick.
Others were not so easily won. Perry Wilkinson holds a balance when it goes beyond a question of her wit and beauty. Henry Wilmers puts the case aside, and takes her as he finds her. His cousin, the clever and cynical79 Dorset Wilmers, whose method of conveying his opinions without stating them was famous, repeats on two occasions when her name appears in his pages, ‘handsome, lively, witty’; and the stressed repetition of calculated brevity while a fiery80 scandal was abroad concerning the lady, implies weighty substance—the reservation of a constable’s truncheon, that could legally have knocked her character down to the pavement. We have not to ask what he judged. But Dorset Wilmers was a political opponent of the eminent81 Peer who yields the second name to the scandal, and politics in his day flushed the conceptions of men. His short references to ‘that Warwick–Dannisburgh affair’ are not verbally malicious82. He gets wind of the terms of Lord Dannisburgh’s will and testament83, noting them without comment. The oddness of the instrument in one respect may have served his turn; we have no grounds for thinking him malignant84. The death of his enemy closes his allusions85 to Mrs. Warwick. He was growing ancient, and gout narrowed the circle he whirled in. Had he known this ‘handsome, lively, witty’ apparition86 as a woman having political and social views of her own, he would not, one fancies, have been so stingless. Our England exposes a sorry figure in his Reminiscences. He struck heavily, round and about him, wherever he moved; he had by nature a tarnishing87 eye that cast discolouration. His unadorned harsh substantive88 statements, excluding the adjectives, give his Memoirs the appearance of a body of facts, attractive to the historic Muse89, which has learnt to esteem90 those brawny91 sturdy giants marching club on shoulder, independent of henchman, in preference to your panoplied92 knights93 with their puffy squires94, once her favourites, and wind-filling to her columns, ultimately found indigestible.
His exhibition of his enemy Lord Dannisburgh, is of the class of noble portraits we see swinging over inn-portals, grossly unlike in likeness96. The possibility of the man’s doing or saying this and that adumbrates97 the improbability: he had something of the character capable of it, too much good sense for the performance. We would think so, and still the shadow is round our thoughts. Lord Dannisburgh was a man of ministerial tact98, official ability, Pagan morality; an excellent general manager, if no genius in statecraft. But he was careless of social opinion, unbuttoned, and a laugher. We know that he could be chivalrous99 toward women, notwithstanding the perplexities he brought on them, and this the Dorset–Diary does not show.
His chronicle is less mischievous100 as regards Mrs. Warwick than the paragraphs of Perry Wilkinson, a gossip presenting an image of perpetual chatter101, like the waxen-faced street advertizements of light and easy dentistry. He has no belief, no disbelief; names the proparty and the con2; recites the case, and discreetly102, over-discreetly; and pictures the trial, tells the list of witnesses, records the verdict: so the case went, and some thought one thing, some another thing: only it is reported for positive that a miniature of the incriminated lady was cleverly smuggled103 over to the jury, and juries sitting upon these eases, ever since their bedazzlement by Phryne, as you know.... And then he relates an anecdote104 of the husband, said to have been not a bad fellow before he married his Diana; and the naming of the Goddess reminds him that the second person in the indictment105 is now everywhere called ‘The elderly shepherd’;—but immediately after the bridal bells this husband became sour and insupportable, and either she had the trick of putting him publicly in the wrong, or he lost all shame in playing the churlish domestic tyrant106. The instances are incredible of a gentleman. Perry Wilkinson gives us two or three; one on the authority of a personal friend who witnessed the scene; at the Warwick whist-table, where the fair Diana would let loose her silvery laugh in the intervals108. She was hardly out of her teens, and should have been dancing instead of fastened to a table. A difference of fifteen years in the ages of the wedded109 pair accounts poorly for the husband’s conduct, however solemn a business the game of whist. We read that he burst out at last, with bitter mimicry110, ‘yang—yang—yang!’ and killed the bright laugh, shot it dead. She had outraged111 the decorum of the square-table only while the cards were making. Perhaps her too-dead ensuing silence, as of one striving to bring back the throbs112 to a slain113 bird in her bosom, allowed the gap between the wedded pair to be visible, for it was dated back to prophecy as soon as the trumpet114 proclaimed it.
But a multiplication115 of similar instances, which can serve no other purpose than that of an apology, is a miserable116 vindication117 of innocence118. The more we have of them the darker the inference. In delicate situations the chatterer is noxious119. Mrs. Warwick had numerous apologists. Those trusting to her perfect rectitude were rarer. The liberty she allowed herself in speech and action must have been trying to her defenders120 in a land like ours; for here, and able to throw its shadow on our giddy upper-circle, the rigour of the game of life, relaxed though it may sometimes appear, would satisfy the staidest whist-player. She did not wish it the reverse, even when claiming a space for laughter: ‘the breath of her soul,’ as she called it, and as it may be felt in the early youth of a lively nature. She, especially, with her multitude of quick perceptions and imaginative avenues, her rapid summaries, her sense of the comic, demanded this aerial freedom.
We have it from Perry Wilkinson that the union of the divergent couple was likened to another union always in a Court of Law. There was a distinction; most analogies will furnish one; and here we see England and Ireland changeing their parts, until later, after the breach121, when the Englishman and Irishwoman resumed a certain resemblance to the yoked122 Islands.
Henry Wilmers, I have said, deals exclusively with the wit and charm of the woman. He treats the scandal as we might do in like manner if her story had not to be told. But these are not reporting columns; very little of it shall trouble them. The position is faced, and that is all. The position is one of the battles incident to women, their hardest. It asks for more than justice from men, for generosity123, our civilization not being yet of the purest. That cry of hounds at her disrobing by Law is instinctive124. She runs, and they give tongue; she is a creature of the chase. Let her escape unmangled, it will pass in the record that she did once publicly run, and some old dogs will persist in thinking her cunninger than the virtuous126, which never put themselves in such positions, but ply25 the distaff at home. Never should reputation of woman trail a scent127! How true! and true also that the women of waxwork128 never do; and that the women of happy marriages do not; nor the women of holy nunneries; nor the women lucky in their arts. It is a test of the civilized130 to see and hear, and add no yapping to the spectacle.
Thousands have reflected on a Diarist’s power to cancel our Burial Service. Not alone the cleric’s good work is upset by him; but the sexton’s as well. He howks the grave, and transforms the quiet worms, busy on a single poor peaceable body, into winged serpents that disorder131 sky and earth with a deadly flight of zig-zags, like military rockets, among the living. And if these are given to cry too much, to have their tender sentiments considered, it cannot be said that History requires the flaying132 of them. A gouty Diarist, a sheer gossip Diarist, may thus, in the bequest133 of a trail of reminiscences, explode our temples (for our very temples have powder in store), our treasuries134, our homesteads, alive with dynamitic stuff; nay135, disconcert our inherited veneration136, dislocate the intimate connexion between the tugged137 flaxen forelock and a title.
No similar blame is incurred138 by Henry Wilmers. No blame whatever, one would say, if he had been less, copious139, or not so subservient140, in recording141 the lady’s utterances142; for though the wit of a woman may be terse143, quite spontaneous, as this lady’s assuredly was here and there, she is apt to spin it out of a museful mind, at her toilette, or by the lonely fire, and sometimes it is imitative; admirers should beware of holding it up to the withering144 glare of print: she herself, quoting an obscure maximmonger, says of these lapidary145 sentences, that they have merely ‘the value of chalk-eggs, which lure146 the thinker to sit,’ and tempt38 the vacuous147 to strain for the like, one might add; besides flattering the world to imagine itself richer than it is in eggs that are golden. Henry Wilmers notes a multitude of them. ‘The talk fell upon our being creatures of habit, and how far it was good: She said:—It is there that we see ourselves crutched148 between love grown old and indifference149 ageing to love.’ Critic ears not present at the conversation catch an echo of maxims150 and aphorisms151 overchannel, notwithstanding a feminine thrill in the irony of ‘ageing to love.’ The quotation ranks rather among the testimonies152 to her charm.
She is fresher when speaking of the war of the sexes. For one sentence out of many, though we find it to be but the clever literary clothing of a common accusation153: ‘Men may have rounded Seraglio Point: they have not yet doubled Cape125 Turk.’
It is war, and on the male side, Ottoman war: her experience reduced her to think so positively154. Her main personal experience was in the social class which is primitively155 venatorial still, canine156 under its polish.
She held a brief for her beloved Ireland. She closes a discussion upon Irish agitation157 by saying rather neatly158: ‘You have taught them it is English as well as common human nature to feel an interest in the dog that has bitten you.’
The dog periodically puts on madness to win attention; we gather then that England, in an angry tremour, tries him with water-gruel to prove him sane159.
Of the Irish priest (and she was not of his retinue), when he was deemed a revolutionary, Henry Wilmers notes her saying: ‘Be in tune160 with him; he is in the key-note for harmony. He is shepherd, doctor, nurse, comforter, anecdotist and fun-maker to his poor flock; and you wonder they see the burning gateway161 of their heaven in him? Conciliate the priest.’
It has been partly done, done late, when the poor flock have found their doctoring and shepherding at other hands: their ‘bulb-food and fiddle162,’ that she petitioned for, to keep them from a complete shaving off their patch of bog163 and scrub soil, without any perception of the tremulous transatlantic magnification of the fiddle, and the splitting discord164 of its latest inspiriting jig165.
And she will not have the consequences of the ‘weariful old Irish duel166 between Honour and Hunger judged by bread and butter juries.’
She had need to be beautiful to be tolerable in days when Englishmen stood more openly for the strong arm to maintain the Union. Her troop of enemies was of her summoning.
Ordinarily her topics were of wider range, and those of a woman who mixed hearing with reading, and observation with her musings. She has no doleful ejaculatory notes, of the kind peculiar167 to women at war, containing one-third of speculative168 substance to two of sentimental—a feminine plea for comprehension and a squire95; and it was probably the reason (as there is no reason to suppose an emotional cause) why she exercised her evident sway over the mind of so plain and straightforward169 an Englishman as Henry Wilmers. She told him that she read rapidly, ‘a great deal at one gulp,’ and thought in flashes—a way with the makers170 of phrases. She wrote, she confessed, laboriously171. The desire to prune172, compress, overcharge, was a torment173 to the nervous woman writing under a sharp necessity for payment. Her songs were shot off on the impulsion; prose was the heavy task. ‘To be pointedly174 rational,’ she said, ‘is a greater difficulty for me than a fine delirium175.’ She did not talk as if it would have been so, he remarks. One is not astonished at her appearing an ‘actress’ to the flat-minded. But the basis of her woman’s nature was pointed flame: In the fulness of her history we perceive nothing histrionic. Capricious or enthusiastic in her youth, she never trifled with feeling; and if she did so with some showy phrases and occasionally proffered176 commonplaces in gilt177, as she was much excited to do, her moods of reflection were direct, always large and honest, universal as well as feminine.
Her saying that ‘A woman in the pillory178 restores the original bark of brotherhood179 to mankind,’ is no more than a cry of personal anguish180. She has golden apples in her apron181. She says of life: ‘When I fail to cherish it in every fibre the fires within are waning,’ and that drives like rain to the roots. She says of the world, generously, if with tapering182 idea: ‘From the point of vision of the angels, this ugly monster, only half out of slime, must appear our one constant hero.’ It can be read maliciously183, but abstain184.
She says of Romance: ‘The young who avoid that region escape the title of Fool at the cost of a celestial185 crown.’ Of Poetry: ‘Those that have souls meet their fellows there.’
But she would have us away with sentimentalism. Sentimental people, in her phrase, ‘fiddle harmonics on the strings186 of sensualism,’ to the delight of a world gaping for marvels187 of musical execution rather than for music. For our world is all but a sensational188 world at present, in maternal189 travail190 of a soberer, a braver, a brighter-eyed. Her reflections are thus to be interpreted, it seems to me. She says, ‘The vices191 of the world’s nobler half in this day are feminine.’ We have to guard against ‘half-conceptions of wisdom, hysterical192 goodness, an impatient charity’—against the elementary state of the altruistic193 virtues194, distinguishable as the sickness and writhings of our egoism to cast its first slough195. Idea is there. The funny part of it is our finding it in books of fiction composed for payment. Manifestly this lady did not ‘chameleon’ her pen from the colour of her audience: she was not of the uniformed rank and file marching to drum and fife as gallant196 interpreters of popular appetite, and going or gone to soundlessness and the icy shades.
Touches inward are not absent: ‘To have the sense of the eternal in life is a short flight for the soul. To have had it, is the soul’s vitality197.’ And also: ‘Palliation of a sin is the hunted creature’s refuge and final temptation. Our battle is ever between spirit and flesh. Spirit must brand the flesh, that it may live.’
You are entreated198 to repress alarm. She was by preference light-handed; and her saying of oratory199, that ‘It is always the more impressive for the spice of temper which renders it untrustworthy,’ is light enough. On Politics she is rhetorical and swings: she wrote to spur a junior politician: ‘It is the first business of men, the school to mediocrity, to the covetously200 ambitious a sty, to the dullard his amphitheatre, arms of Titans to the desperately201 enterprising, Olympus to the genius.’ What a woman thinks of women, is the test of her nature. She saw their existing posture202 clearly, yet believed, as men disincline to do, that they grow. She says, that ‘In their judgements upon women men are females, voices of the present (sexual) dilemma203.’ They desire to have ‘a still woman; who can make a constant society of her pins and needles.’ They create by stoppage a volcano, and are amazed at its eruptiveness. ‘We live alone, and do not much feel it till we are visited.’ Love is presumably the visitor. Of the greater loneliness of women, she says: ‘It is due to the prescribed circumscription204 of their minds, of which they become aware in agitation. Were the walls about them beaten down, they would understand that solitariness205 is a common human fate and the one chance of growth, like space for timber.’ As to the sensations of women after the beating down of the walls, she owns that the multitude of the timorous206 would yearn207 in shivering affright for the old prison-nest, according to the sage16 prognostic of men; but the flying of a valiant208 few would form a vanguard. And we are informed that the beginning of a motive209 life with women must be in the head, equally with men (by no means a truism when she wrote). Also that ‘men do not so much fear to lose the hearts of thoughtful women as their strict attention to their graces.’ The present market is what men are for preserving: an observation of still reverberating210 force. Generally in her character of the feminine combatant there is a turn of phrase, like a dimple near the lips showing her knowledge that she was uttering but a tart76 measure of the truth. She had always too much lambent humour to be the dupe of the passion wherewith, as she says, ‘we lash49 ourselves into the persuasive211 speech distinguishing us from the animals.’
The instances of her drollery212 are rather hinted by the Diarists for the benefit of those who had met her and could inhale213 the atmosphere at a word. Drolleries, humours, reputed witticisms214, are like odours of roast meats, past with the picking of the joint215. Idea is the only vital breath. They have it rarely, or it eludes216 the chronicler. To say of the great erratic217 and forsaken218 Lady A***, after she had accepted the consolations219 of Bacchus, that her name was properly signified in asterisks220 ‘as she was now nightly an Ariadne in heaven through her God,’ sounds to us a roundabout, with wit somewhere and fun nowhere. Sitting at the roast we might have thought differently. Perry Wilkinson is not happier in citing her reply to his compliment on the reviewers’ unanimous eulogy221 of her humour and pathos:—the ‘merry clown and poor pantaloon demanded of us in every work of fiction,’ she says, lamenting222 the writer’s compulsion to go on producing them for applause until it is extremest age that knocks their knees. We are informed by Lady Pennon of ‘the most amusing description of the first impressions of a pretty English simpleton in Paris’; and here is an opportunity for ludicrous contrast of the French and English styles of pushing flatteries—‘piping to the charmed animal,’ as Mrs. Warwick terms it in another place: but Lady Pennon was acquainted with the silly woman of the piece, and found her amusement in the ‘wonderful truth’ of that representation.
Diarists of amusing passages are under an obligation to paint us a realistic revival223 of the time, or we miss the relish224. The odour of the roast, and more, a slice of it is required, unless the humorous thing be preternaturally spirited to walk the earth as one immortal225 among a number less numerous than the mythic Gods. ‘He gives good dinners,’ a candid226 old critic said, when asked how it was that he could praise a certain poet. In an island of chills and fogs, coelum crebris imbribus ac nebulis foedum, the comic and other perceptions are dependent on the stirring of the gastric228 juices. And such a revival by any of us would be impolitic, were it a possible attempt, before our systems shall have been fortified229 by philosophy. Then may it be allowed to the Diarist simply to relate, and we can copy from him.
Then, ah! then, moreover, will the novelist’s Art, now neither blushless infant nor executive man, have attained230 its majority. We can then be veraciously231 historical, honestly transcriptive232. Rose-pink and dirty drab will alike have passed away. Philosophy is the foe227 of both, and their silly cancelling contest, perpetually renewed in a shuffle234 of extremes, as it always is where a phantasm falseness reigns235, will no longer baffle the contemplation of natural flesh, smother236 no longer the soul issuing out of our incessant237 strife238. Philosophy bids us to see that we are not so pretty as rose-pink, not so repulsive239 as dirty drab; and that instead of everlastingly241 shifting those barren aspects, the sight of ourselves is wholesome242, bearable, fructifying243, finally a delight. Do but perceive that we are coming to philosophy, the stride toward it will be a giant’s—a century a day. And imagine the celestial refreshment244 of having a pure decency245 in the place of sham70; real flesh; a soul born active, wind-beaten, but ascending246. Honourable247 will fiction then appear; honourable, a fount of life, an aid to life, quick with our blood. Why, when you behold248 it you love it—and you will not encourage it?—or only when presented by dead hands? Worse than that alternative dirty drab, your recurring249 rose-pink is rebuked250 by hideous251 revelations of the filthy252 foul; for nature will force her way, and if you try to stifle253 her by drowning, she comes up, not the fairest part of her uppermost! Peruse254 your Realists—really your castigators for not having yet embraced Philosophy. As she grows in the flesh when discreetly tended, nature is unimpeachable255, flower-eke, yet not too decoratively256 a flower; you must have her with the stem, the thorns, the roots, and the fat bedding of roses. In this fashion she grew, says historical fiction; thus does she flourish now, would say the modern transcript233, reading the inner as well as exhibiting the outer.
And how may you know that you have reached to Philosophy? You touch her skirts when you share her hatred257 of the sham decent, her derision of sentimentalism. You are one with her when—but I would not have you a thousand years older! Get to her, if in no other way, by the sentimental route:—that very winding258 path, which again and again brings you round to the point of original impetus259, where you have to be unwound for another whirl; your point of original impetus being the grossly material, not at all the spiritual. It is most true that sentimentalism springs from the former, merely and badly aping the latter,—fine flower, or pinnacle260 flame-spire, of sensualism that it is, could it do other? and accompanying the former it traverses tracts261 of desert here and there couching in a garden, catching262 with one hand at fruits, with another at colours; imagining a secret ahead, and goaded263 by an appetite, sustained by sheer gratifications. Fiddle in harmonics as it may, it will have these gratifications at all costs. Should none be discoverable, at once you are at the Cave of Despair, beneath the funereal264 orb265 of Glaucoma, in the thick midst of poniarded, slit-throat, rope-dependant figures, placarded across the bosom Disillusioned266, Infidel, Agnostic, Miserrimus. That is the sentimental route to advancement267. Spirituality does not light it; evanescent dreams: are its oil-lamps, often with wick askant in the socket268.
A thousand years! You may count full many a thousand by this route before you are one with divine Philosophy. Whereas a single flight of brains will reach and embrace her; give you the savour of Truth, the right use of the senses, Reality’s infinite sweetness; for these things are in philosophy; and the fiction which is the summary of actual Life, the within and without of us, is, prose or verse, plodding269 or soaring, philosophy’s elect handmaiden. To such an end let us bend our aim to work, knowing that every form of labour, even this flimsiest, as you esteem it, should minister to growth. If in any branch of us we fail in growth, there is, you are aware, an unfailing aboriginal270 democratic old monster that waits to pull us down; certainly the branch, possibly the tree; and for the welfare of Life we fall. You are acutely conscious of yonder old monster when he is mouthing at you in politics. Be wary of him in the heart; especially be wary of the disrelish of brainstuff. You must feed on something. Matter that is not nourishing to brains can help to constitute nothing but the bodies which are pitched on rubbish heaps. Brainstuff is not lean stuff;—the brainstuff of fiction is internal history, and to suppose it dull is the profoundest of errors; how deep, you will understand when I tell you that it is the very football of the holiday-afternoon imps271 below. They kick it for pastime; they are intelligences perverted272. The comic of it, the adventurous273, the tragic274, they make devilish, to kindle275 their Ogygian hilarity. But—sharply comic, adventurous, instructively tragic, it is in the interwinding with human affairs, to give a flavour of the modern day reviving that of our Poet, between whom and us yawn Time’s most hollow jaws276. Surely we owe a little to Time, to cheer his progress; a little to posterity, and to our country. Dozens of writers will be in at yonder yawning breach, if only perusers will rally to the philosophic277 standard. They are sick of the woodeny puppetry they dispense278, as on a race-course to the roaring frivolous279. Well, if not dozens, half-dozens; gallant pens are alive; one can speak of them in the plural280. I venture to say that they would be satisfied with a dozen for audience, for a commencement. They would perish of inanition, unfed, unapplauded, amenable281 to the laws perchance for an assault on their last remaining pair of ears or heels, to hold them fast. But the example is the thing; sacrifices must be expected. The example might, one hopes, create a taste. A great modern writer, of clearest eye and head, now departed, capable in activity of presenting thoughtful women, thinking men, groaned282 over his puppetry, that he dared not animate7 them, flesh though they were, with the fires of positive brainstuff. He could have done it, and he is of the departed! Had he dared, he would (for he was Titan enough) have raised the Art in dignity on a level with History; to an interest surpassing the narrative283 of public deeds as vividly284 as man’s heart and brain in their union excel his plain lines of action to eruption285. The everlasting240 pantomime, suggested by Mrs. Warwick in her exclamation286 to Perry Wilkinson, is derided287, not unrighteously, by our graver seniors. They name this Art the pasture of idiots, a method for idiotizing the entire population which has taken to reading; and which soon discovers that it can write likewise, that sort of stuff at least. The forecast may be hazarded, that if we do not speedily embrace Philosophy in fiction, the Art is doomed288 to extinction289, under the shining multitude of its professors. They are fast capping the candle. Instead, therefore, of objurgating the timid intrusions of Philosophy, invoke290 her presence, I pray you. History without her is the skeleton map of events: Fiction a picture of figures modelled on no skeleton-anatomy. But each, with Philosophy in aid, blooms, and is humanly shapely. To demand of us truth to nature, excluding Philosophy, is really to bid a pumpkin291 caper292. As much as legs are wanted for the dance, Philosophy is required to make our human nature credible107 and acceptable. Fiction implores293 you to heave a bigger breast and take her in with this heavenly preservative294 helpmate, her inspiration and her essence. You have to teach your imagination of the feminine image you have set up to bend your civilized knees to, that it must temper its fastidiousness, shun295 the grossness of the over-dainty. Or, to speak in the philosophic tongue, you must turn on yourself, resolutely296 track and seize that burrower297, and scrub and cleanse298 him; by which process, during the course of it, you will arrive at the conception of the right heroical woman for you to worship: and if you prove to be of some spiritual stature299, you may reach to an ideal of the heroical feminine type for the worship of mankind, an image as yet in poetic300 outline only, on our upper skies.
‘So well do we know ourselves, that we one and all determine to know a purer,’ says the heroine of my columns. Philosophy in fiction tells, among various other matters, of the perils301 of this intimate acquaintance with a flattering familiar in the ‘purer’—a person who more than ceases to be of else to us after his ideal shall have led up men from their flint and arrowhead caverns302 to intercommunicative daylight. For when the fictitious303 creature has performed that service of helping304 to civilize129 the world, it becomes the most dangerous of delusions305, causing first the individual to despise the mass, and then to join the mass in crushing the individual. Wherewith let us to our story, the froth being out of the bottle.
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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vivaciousness
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| 活泼的性格 | |
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incitement
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| 激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物 | |
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progenitorial
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| adj.祖先的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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stun
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| vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹 | |
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tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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lingual
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| adj.语言的；舌的 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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pretentiousness
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| n.矫饰；炫耀；自负；狂妄 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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certifying
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| （尤指书面）证明( certify的现在分词 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书 | |
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citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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authoritatively
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| 命令式地，有权威地，可信地 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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dubiousness
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| n.dubious（令人怀疑的）的变形 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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50
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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rebound
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| v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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ointment
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| n.药膏，油膏，软膏 | |
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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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hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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conversationally
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| adv.会话地 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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discoursing
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| 演说（discourse的现在分词形式） | |
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dab
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| v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂 | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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ingenuousness
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| n.率直；正直；老实 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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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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droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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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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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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tarnishing
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| （印花）白地沾色 | |
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substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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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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brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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panoplied
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| adj.全套披甲的，装饰漂亮的 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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94
squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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95
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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96
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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97
adumbrates
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| v.约略显示，勾画出…的轮廓( adumbrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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98
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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99
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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100
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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101
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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102
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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103
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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104
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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105
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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106
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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107
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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108
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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109
wedded
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|
| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
mimicry
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| n.（生物）拟态，模仿 | |
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111
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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112
throbs
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| 体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 ) | |
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113
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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114
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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115
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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116
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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117
vindication
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| n.洗冤，证实 | |
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118
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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119
noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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120
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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121
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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122
yoked
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| 结合（yoke的过去式形式） | |
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123
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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124
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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125
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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126
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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127
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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128
waxwork
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| n.蜡像 | |
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129
civilize
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| vt.使文明，使开化 (=civilise) | |
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130
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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131
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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132
flaying
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| v.痛打( flay的现在分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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133
bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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134
treasuries
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| n.（政府的）财政部( treasury的名词复数 )；国库，金库 | |
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135
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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136
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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137
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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138
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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139
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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140
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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141
recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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142
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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143
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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144
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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145
lapidary
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| n.宝石匠；adj.宝石的；简洁优雅的 | |
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146
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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147
vacuous
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| adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的 | |
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148
crutched
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| 用拐杖支持的，有丁字形柄的，有支柱的 | |
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149
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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150
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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151
aphorisms
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| 格言，警句( aphorism的名词复数 ) | |
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152
testimonies
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| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
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153
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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154
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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155
primitively
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| 最初地，自学而成地 | |
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156
canine
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| adj.犬的，犬科的 | |
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157
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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158
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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159
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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160
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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161
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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162
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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163
bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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164
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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165
jig
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| n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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166
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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167
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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168
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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169
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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170
makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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171
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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172
prune
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| n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除 | |
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173
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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174
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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175
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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176
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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177
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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178
pillory
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| n.嘲弄；v.使受公众嘲笑；将…示众 | |
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179
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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180
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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181
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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182
tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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183
maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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184
abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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185
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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186
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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187
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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188
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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189
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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190
travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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191
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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192
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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193
altruistic
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| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
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194
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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195
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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196
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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197
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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198
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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199
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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200
covetously
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| adv.妄想地，贪心地 | |
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201
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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202
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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203
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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204
circumscription
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| n.界限；限界 | |
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205
solitariness
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| n.隐居；单独 | |
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206
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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207
yearn
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| v.想念；怀念；渴望 | |
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208
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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209
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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210
reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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211
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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212
drollery
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| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
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213
inhale
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| v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟) | |
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214
witticisms
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| n.妙语，俏皮话( witticism的名词复数 ) | |
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215
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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216
eludes
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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217
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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218
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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219
consolations
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| n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物） | |
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220
asterisks
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| n.星号，星状物( asterisk的名词复数 )v.加星号于( asterisk的第三人称单数 ) | |
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221
eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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222
lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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223
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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224
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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225
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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226
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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227
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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228
gastric
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| adj.胃的 | |
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229
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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230
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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231
veraciously
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| adv.诚实地 | |
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232
transcriptive
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| adj.誊写的，抄写的，好模仿的 | |
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233
transcript
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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234
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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235
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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236
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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237
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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238
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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239
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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240
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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241
everlastingly
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| 永久地，持久地 | |
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242
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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fructifying
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| v.结果实( fructify的现在分词 )；使结果实，使多产，使土地肥沃 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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245
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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246
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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247
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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248
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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249
recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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250
rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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251
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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252
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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253
stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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peruse
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| v.细读，精读 | |
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255
unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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256
decoratively
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257
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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258
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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259
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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261
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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264
funereal
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| adj.悲哀的；送葬的 | |
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orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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disillusioned
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| a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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270
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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272
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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273
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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275
kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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276
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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277
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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278
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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279
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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280
plural
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| n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的 | |
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281
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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282
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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283
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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284
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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285
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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286
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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287
derided
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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288
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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289
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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290
invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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291
pumpkin
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| n.南瓜 | |
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292
caper
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| v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏 | |
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293
implores
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的第三人称单数 ) | |
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294
preservative
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| n.防腐剂；防腐料；保护料；预防药 | |
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295
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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296
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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297
burrower
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| 借钱人； 借用人，剽窃者 | |
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298
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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299
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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300
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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301
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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302
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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303
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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304
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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305
delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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