Consistency1? — I never changed my mind,
Which is, and always was, to live at ease.
IT was only in the time of the summer fairs that the market-place had ever looked more animated2 than it did under that autumn mid-day sun. There were plenty of blue cockades and streamers, faces at all the windows, and a crushing buzzing crowd, urging each other backwards3 and forwards round the small hustings4 in front of the Ram5 Inn, which showed its more plebeian6 sign at right angles with the venerable Marquis of Granby. Sometimes there were scornful shouts, sometimes a rolling cascade7 of cheers, sometimes the shriek8 of a penny whistle; but above all these fitful and feeble sounds, the fine old church-tower, which looked down from above the trees on the other side of the narrow stream, sent vibrating, at every quarter, the sonorous9 tones of its great bell, the Good Queen Bess.
Two carriages, with blue ribbons on the hamess, were conspicuous10 near the hustings. One was Jermyn’s, filled with the brilliantly-attired daughters, accompanied by Esther, whose quieter dress helped to mark her out for attention as the most striking of the group. The other was Harold Transsome’s; but in this there was no lady — only the olive-skinned Dominic, whose acute yet mild face was brightened by the occupation of amusing little Harry11 and rescuing from his tyrannies a King Charles puppy, with big eyes, much after the pattern of the boy’s.
This Trebian crowd did not count for much in the political force of the nation, but it was not the less determined12 as to lending or not lending its ears. No man was permitted to speak from the platform except Harold and his uncle Lingon, though, in the interval13 of expectation, several Liberals had come forward. Among these ill-advised persons the one whose attempt met the most emphatic14 resistance was Rufus Lyon. This might have been taken for resentment15 at the unreasonableness16 of the cloth, that, not content with pulpits, from whence to tyrannise over the ears of men, wishes to have the larger share of the platforms; but it was not so, for Mr Lingon was heard with much cheering, and would have been welcomed again.
The rector of Little Treby had been a favourite in the neighbourhood since the beginning of the century. A clergy-man thoroughly17 unclerical in his habits had a piquancy18 about him which made him a sort of practical joke. He had always been called Jack19 Lingon, or Parson Jack — sometimes, in older and less serious days, even ‘Cock-fighting Jack’. He swore a little when the point of a joke seemed to demand it, and was fond of wearing a coloured bandana tied loosely over his cravat20, together with large brown leather leggings; he spoke21 in a pithy22 familiar way that people could understand, and had none of that frigid23 mincingness called dignity, which some have thought a peculiar24 clerical disease. In fact, he was ‘a character’ — something cheerful to think of, not entirely25 out of connection with Sunday and sermons. And it seemed in keeping that he should have turned sharp round in politics, his opinions being only part of the excellent joke called Parson Jack. When his red eagle face and white hair were seen on the platform, the Dissenters26 hardly cheered this questionable27 Radical28; but to make amends29, all the Tory farmers gave him a friendly ‘hurray’. ‘Let’s hear what old Jack will say for himself,’ was the predominant feeling among them; ‘he’ll have something funny to say, I’ll bet a penny.’
It was only Lawyer Labron’s young clerks and their hangers-on who were sufficiently30 dead to Trebian traditions to assail31 the parson with various sharp-edged interjections, such as broken shells, and cries of ‘Cock-a-doodle-doo’.
‘Come now, my lads,’ he began, in his full, pompous32, yet jovial33 tones, thrusting his hands into the stuffed-out pockets of his greatcoat, ‘I’ll tell you what; I’m a parson, you know; I ought to return good for evil. So here are some good nuts for you to crack in return for your shells.’
There was a roar of laughter and cheering as he threw handfuls of nuts and filberts among the crowd.
‘Come, now, you’ll say I used to be a Tory; and some of you, whose faces I know as well as I know the head of my own crab-stick, will say that’s why I’m a good fellow. But now I’ll tell you something else. It’s for that very reason — that I used to be a Tory, and am a good fellow — that I go along with my nephew here, who is a thoroughgoing Liberal. For will anybody here come forward and say, “A good fellow has no need to tack34 about and change his road?” No, there’s not one of you such a Tom-noddy. What’s good for one time is bad for another. If anybody contradicts that, ask him to eat pickled pork when he’s thirsty, and to bathe in the Lapp there when the spikes35 of ice are shooting. And that’s the eason why the men who are the best Liberals now are the very men who used to be the best Tories. There isn’t a nastier horse than your horse that’ll jib and back and turn round when there is but one road for him to go, and that’s the road before him.
‘And my nephew here — he comes of a Tory breed, you know — I’ll answer for the Lingons. In the old Tory times there was never a pup belonging to a Lingon but would howl if a Whig came near him. The Lingon blood is good, rich old Tory blood — like good rich milk — and that’s why, when the right time comes, it throws up a Liberal cream. The best sort of Tory turns to the best sort of Radical. There’s plenty of Radical scum — I say, beware of the scum, and look out for the cream. And here’s my nephew — some of the cream, if there is any: none of your Whigs, none of your painted water that looks as if it ran, and it’s standing36 still all the while; none of your spinning-jenny fellows. A gentleman; but up to all sorts of business. I’m no fool myself; I’m forced to wink37 a good deal, for fear of seeing too much, for a neighbourly man must let himself be cheated a little. But though I’ve never been out of my own country, I know less about it than my nephew does. You may tell what he is, and only look at him. There’s one sort of fellow sees nothing but the end of his own nose, and another sort that sees nothing but the hinder side of the moon; but my nephew Harold is of another sort; he sees everything that’s at hitting distance, and he’s not one to miss his mark. A good-looking man in his prime! Not a greenhorn; not a shrivelled old fellow, who’ll come to speak to you and find he’s left his teeth at home by mistake. Harold Transome will do you credit; if anybody says the Radicals38 are a set of sneaks39, Brummagem halfpennies, scamps who want to play pitch and toss with the property of the country, you can say, “Look at the member for North Loamshire! “ And mind what you’ll hear him say; he’ll go in for making everything right — Poor-laws and charities and church — he wants to reform ’em all. Perhaps you’ll say, “There’s that Parson Lingon talking about church reform — why, he belongs to the church himself — he wants reforming too.” Well, well, wait a bit, and you’ll hear by-and-by that old Parson Lingon is reformed — shoots no more cracks his joke no more, has drunk his last bottle: the dogs the old pointers, will be sorry; but you’ll hear that the parson at Little Treby is a new man. That’s what church reform is sure to come to before long. So now here are some more nuts for you, lads, and I leave you to listen to your candidate. Here he is — give him a good hurray; wave your hats, and I’ll begin. Hurray!
Harold had not been quite confident beforehand as to the good effect of his uncle’s introduction; but he was soon reassured40. There was no acrid41 partisanship42 among the oldfashioned Tories who mustered43 strong about the Marquis of Granby, and Parson Jack had put them in a good humour. Harold’s only interruption came from his own party. The oratorical44 clerk at the factory, acting45 as the tribune of the dissenting46 interest, and feeling bound to put questions, might have been troublesome; but his voice being unpleasantly sharp, while Harold’s was full and penetrating47, the questioning was cried down. Harold’s speech ‘did’: it was not of the glib-nonsensical sort, not ponderous48, not hesitating — which is as much as to say, that it was remarkable49 among British speeches. Read in print the next day, perhaps it would be neither pregnant nor conclusive50, which is saying no more than that its excellence51 was not of an abnormal kind, but such as is usually found in the best efforts of eloquent52 candidates. Accordingly the applause drowned the opposition53, and content predominated.
But, perhaps, the moment of most diffusive54 pleasure from public speaking is that in which the speech ceases and the audience can turn to commenting on it. The one speech, sometimes uttered under great responsibility as to missiles and other consequences, has given a text to twenty speakers who are under no responsibility. Even in the days of duelling a man was not challenged for being a bore, nor does this quality apparently55 hinder him from being much invited to dinner, which is the great index of social responsibility in a less barbarous age.
Certainly the crowd in the market-place seemed to experience this culminating enjoyment56 when the speaking on the platform in front of the Ram had ceased, and there were no less than three orators57 holding forth58 from the elevation59 of chance vehicles, not at all to the prejudice of the talking among those who were on a level with their neighbours. There was little ill-humour among the listeners, for Queen Bess was striking the last quarter before two, and a savoury smell from the inn kitchens inspired them with an agreeable consciousness that the speakers were helping60 to trifle away the brief time before dinner.
Two or three of Harold’s committee had lingered talking to each other on the platform, instead of re-entering; and Jermyn, after coming out to speak to one of them, had tunred to the corner near which the carriages were standing, that he might tell the Transomes’ coachman to drive round to the side door, and signal to his own coachman to follow. But a dialogue which was going on below induced him to pause, and, instead of giving the order, to assume the air of a careless gazer. Christian61, whom the attorney had already observed looking out of a window at the Marquis of Granby, was talking to Dominic. The meeting appeared to be one of new recognition, for Christian was saying —
‘You’ve not got grey as I have, Mr Lenoni; you’re not a day older for the sixteen years. But no wonder you didn’t know me; I’m bleached62 like a dried bone.’
‘Not so. It is true I was confused a meenute — I could put your face nowhere; but after that, Naples came behind it, and I said, Mr Creestian. And so you reside at the Manor63, and I am at Transome Court.’
‘Ah I it’s a thousand pities you’re not on our side, else we might have dined together at the Marquis,’ said Christian. ‘Eh, could you manage it?’ he added, languidly, knowing there was no chance of a yes.
‘No — much obliged — couldn’t leave the leetle boy. Ahi I Arry, Arry, pinch not poor Moro.’
While Dominic was answering, Christian had stared about him, as his manner was when he was being spoken to, and had had his eyes arrested by Esther, who was leaning forward to look at Mr Harold Transome’s extraordinary little gipsy of a son. But happening to meet Christian’s stare, she felt annoyed, drew back, and turned away her head, colouring.
‘Who are those ladies?’ said Christian, in a low tone, to Dominic, as if he had been startled into a sudden wish for this information.
‘They are Meester Jermyn’s daughters,’ said Dominic, who knew nothing either of the lawyer’s family or of Esther.
Christian looked puzzled a moment or two, and was silent.
‘O, well — au revoir,’ he said, kissing the tips of his fingers, as the coachman, having had Jermyn’s order, began to urge on the horses.
‘Does he see some likeness64 in the girl?’ thought Jermyn, as he turned away. ‘I wish I hadn’t invited her to come in the carriage, as it happens.’
收听单词发音 |
1
consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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hustings
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| n.竞选活动 | |
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ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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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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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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unreasonableness
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| 无理性； 横逆 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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18
piquancy
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| n.辛辣，辣味，痛快 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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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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pithy
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| adj.(讲话或文章)简练的 | |
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23
frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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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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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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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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questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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35
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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radicals
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| n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数 | |
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39
sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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40
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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42
Partisanship
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| n. 党派性, 党派偏见 | |
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43
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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44
oratorical
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| adj.演说的，雄辩的 | |
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45
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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46
dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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47
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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48
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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49
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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50
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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51
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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52
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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53
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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54
diffusive
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| adj.散布性的，扩及的，普及的 | |
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55
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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56
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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57
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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58
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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59
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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60
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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61
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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62
bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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63
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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64
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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