Lancashire was not so wonderful a place forty years ago as it is at present, but, compared then with the rest of England, it was infinitely1 more striking. For a youth like Endymion, born and bred in our southern counties, the Berkshire downs varied2 by the bustle3 of Pall–Mall and the Strand—Lancashire, with its teeming4 and toiling5 cities, its colossal6 manufactories and its gigantic chimneys, its roaring engines and its flaming furnaces, its tramroads and its railroads, its coal and its cotton, offered a far greater contrast to the scenes in which he had hitherto lived, than could be furnished by almost any country of the European continent.
Endymion felt it was rather a crisis in his life, and that his future might much depend on the fulfilment of the confidential7 office which had been entrusted8 to him by his chief. He summoned all his energies, concentrated his intelligence on the one subject, and devoted9 to its study and comprehension every moment of his thought and time. After a while, he had made Manchester his head-quarters. It was even then the centre of a network of railways, and gave him an easy command of the contiguous districts.
Endymion had more than once inquired after the Anti–Corn-Law League, but had not as yet been so fortunate as to attend any of their meetings. They were rarer than they afterwards soon became, and the great manufacturers did not encourage them. “I do not like extreme views,” said one of the most eminent10 one day to Endymion. “In my opinion, we should always avoid extremes;” and he paused and looked around, as if he had enunciated11 a heaven-born truth, and for the first time. “I am a Liberal; so we all are here. I supported Lord Grey, and I support Lord Melbourne, and I am, in everything, for a liberal policy. I don’t like extremes. A wise minister should take off the duty on cotton wool. That is what the country really wants, and then everybody would be satisfied. No; I know nothing about this League you ask about, and I do not know any one—that is to say, any one respectable—who does. They came to me to lend my name. ‘No,’ I said, ‘gentlemen; I feel much honoured, but I do not like extremes;’ and they went away. They are making a little more noise now, because they have got a man who has the gift of the gab12, and the people like to go and hear him speak. But as I said to a friend of mine, who seemed half inclined to join them, ‘Well; if I did anything of that sort, I would be led by a Lancashire lad. They have got a foreigner to lead them, a fellow out of Berkshire; an agitator—and only a print-work after all. No; that will never do.’”
Notwithstanding these views, which Endymion found very generally entertained by the new world in which he mixed, he resolved to take the earliest opportunity of attending the meeting of the League, and it soon arrived.
It was an evening meeting, so that workmen—or the operatives, as they were styled in this part of the kingdom—should be able to attend. The assembly took place in a large but temporary building; very well adapted to the human voice, and able to contain even thousands. It was fairly full to-night; and the platform, on which those who took a part in the proceedings13, or who, by their comparatively influential14 presence, it was supposed, might assist the cause, was almost crowded.
“He is going to speak to-night,” said an operative to Endymion. “That is why there is such an attendance.”
Remembering Mr. Wilton’s hint about not asking unnecessary questions which often arrest information, Endymion did not inquire who “he” was; and to promote communication merely observed, “A fine speaker, then, I conclude?”
“Well, he is in a way,” said the operative. “He has not got Hollaballoo’s voice, but he knows what he is talking about. I doubt their getting what they are after; they have not the working classes with them. If they went against truck, it would be something.”
The chairman opened the proceedings; but was coldly received, though he spoke15 sensibly and at some length. He then introduced a gentleman, who was absolutely an alderman, to move a resolution condemnatory16 of the corn laws. The august position of the speaker atoned17 for his halting rhetoric18, and a city which had only just for the first time been invested with municipal privileges was hushed before a man who might in time even become a mayor.
Then the seconder advanced, and there was a general burst of applause.
“There he is,” said the operative to Endymion; “you see they like him. Oh, Job knows how to do it!”
Endymion listened with interest, soon with delight, soon with a feeling of exciting and not unpleasing perplexity, to the orator19; for he was an orator, though then unrecognised, and known only in his district. He was a pale and slender man, with a fine brow and an eye that occasionally flashed with the fire of a creative mind. His voice certainly was not like Hollaballoo’s. It was rather thin, but singularly clear. There was nothing clearer except his meaning. Endymion never heard a case stated with such pellucid20 art; facts marshalled with such vivid simplicity21, and inferences so natural and spontaneous and irresistible22, that they seemed, as it were, borrowed from his audience, though none of that audience had arrived at them before. The meeting was hushed, was rapt in intellectual delight, for they did not give the speaker the enthusiasm of their sympathy. That was not shared, perhaps, by the moiety23 of those who listened to him. When his case was fairly before them, the speaker dealt with his opponents—some in the press, some in parliament—with much power of sarcasm24, but this power was evidently rather repressed than allowed to run riot. What impressed Endymion as the chief quality of this remarkable25 speaker was his persuasiveness26, and he had the air of being too prudent27 to offend even an opponent unnecessarily. His language, though natural and easy, was choice and refined. He was evidently a man who had read, and not a little; and there was no taint28 of vulgarity, scarcely a provincialism, in his pronunciation.
He spoke for rather more than an hour; and frequently during this time, Endymion, notwithstanding his keen interest in what was taking place, was troubled, it might be disturbed, by pictures and memories of the past that he endeavoured in vain to drive away. When the orator concluded, amid cheering much louder than that which had first greeted him, Endymion, in a rather agitated29 voice, whispered to his neighbour, “Tell me—is his name Thornberry?”
“That is your time of day,” said the operative. “Job Thornberry is his name, and I am on his works.”
“And yet you do not agree with him?”
“Well; I go as far as he goes, but he does not go so far as I go; that’s it.”
“I do not see how a man can go much farther,” said Endymion. “Where are his works? I knew your master when he was in the south of England, and I should like to call on him.”
“My employer,” said the operative. “They call themselves masters, but we do not. I will tell you. His works are a mile out of town; but it seems only a step, for there are houses all the way. Job Thornberry & Co.‘s Print-works, Pendleton Road—any one can guide you—and when you get there, you can ask for me, if you like. I am his overlooker, and my name is ENOCH CRAGGS.”
收听单词发音 |
1
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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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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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...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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enunciated
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| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
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gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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condemnatory
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| adj. 非难的，处罚的 | |
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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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rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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pellucid
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| adj.透明的，简单的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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moiety
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| n.一半；部分 | |
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sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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persuasiveness
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| 说服力 | |
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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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taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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