I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished1 of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public situations with honour and reputation. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable2 attention to public business. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the affairs of his country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a husband and the father of a family.
As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate3 his character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition4 and could not bear to live in poverty and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly5 been distinguished for his rank and magnificence. Having paid his debts, therefore, in the most honourable6 manner, he retreated with his daughter to the town of Lucerne, where he lived unknown and in wretchedness. My father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship and was deeply grieved by his retreat in these unfortunate circumstances. He bitterly deplored7 the false pride which led his friend to a conduct so little worthy8 of the affection that united them. He lost no time in endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading him to begin the world again through his credit and assistance. Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal9 himself, and it was ten months before my father discovered his abode10. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened to the house, which was situated11 in a mean street near the Reuss. But when he entered, misery12 and despair alone welcomed him. Beaufort had saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck13 of his fortunes, but it was sufficient to provide him with sustenance14 for some months, and in the meantime he hoped to procure15 some respectable employment in a merchant’s house. The interval16 was, consequently, spent in inaction; his grief only became more deep and rankling17 when he had leisure for reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind that at the end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable18 of any exertion19.
His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw with despair that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that there was no other prospect20 of support. But Caroline Beaufort possessed21 a mind of an uncommon22 mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured23 plain work; she plaited straw and by various means contrived24 to earn a pittance25 scarcely sufficient to support life.
Several months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time was more entirely26 occupied in attending him; her means of subsistence decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan27 and a beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort’s coffin28 weeping bitterly, when my father entered the chamber29. He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend he conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a relation. Two years after this event Caroline became his wife.
There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted30 affection. There was a sense of justice in my father’s upright mind which rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love strongly. Perhaps during former years he had suffered from the late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set a greater value on tried worth. There was a show of gratitude31 and worship in his attachment32 to my mother, differing wholly from the doting33 fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence34 for her virtues35 and a desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace to his behaviour to her. Everything was made to yield to her wishes and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind and to surround her with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent36 mind. Her health, and even the tranquillity37 of her hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During the two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had gradually relinquished38 all his public functions; and immediately after their union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change of scene and interest attendant on a tour through that land of wonders, as a restorative for her weakened frame.
From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their eldest39 child, was born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles40. I remained for several years their only child. Much as they were attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow41 them upon me. My mother’s tender caresses42 and my father’s smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol43, and something better — their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed44 on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me. With this deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life, added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated45 both, it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self-control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment46 to me. For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much desired to have a daughter, but I continued their single offspring. When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of Como. Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity, a passion — remembering what she had suffered, and how she had been relieved — for her to act in her turn the guardian47 angel to the afflicted48. During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate49, while the number of half-clothed children gathered about it spoke50 of penury51 in its worst shape. One day, when my father had gone by himself to Milan, my mother, accompanied by me, visited this abode. She found a peasant and his wife, hard working, bent52 down by care and labour, distributing a scanty53 meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was one which attracted my mother far above all the rest. She appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy54 little vagrants55; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive56 of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold57 her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial58 stamp in all her features. The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed59 eyes of wonder and admiration60 on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had been placed with these good people to nurse: they were better off then. They had not been long married, and their eldest child was but just born. The father of their charge was one of those Italians nursed in the memory of the antique glory of Italy — one among the schiavi ognor frementi, who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country. He became the victim of its weakness. Whether he had died or still lingered in the dungeons61 of Austria was not known. His property was confiscated62; his child became an orphan and a beggar. She continued with her foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles. When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa63 a child fairer than pictured cherub64 — a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter65 than the chamois of the hills. The apparition66 was soon explained. With his permission my mother prevailed on her rustic67 guardians68 to yield their charge to her. They were fond of the sweet orphan. Her presence had seemed a blessing69 to them, but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want when Providence70 afforded her such powerful protection. They consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate71 of my parents’ house — my more than sister — the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures.
Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passionate72 and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight. On the evening previous to her being brought to my home, my mother had said playfully, “I have a pretty present for my Victor — tomorrow he shall have it.” And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally73 and looked upon Elizabeth as mine — mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own. We called each other familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no expression could body forth74 the kind of relation in which she stood to me — my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.
1 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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2 indefatigable | |
adj.不知疲倦的,不屈不挠的 | |
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3 illustrate | |
v.举例说明,阐明;图解,加插图 | |
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4 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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5 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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6 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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7 deplored | |
v.悲叹,痛惜,强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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9 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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10 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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11 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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12 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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13 wreck | |
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
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14 sustenance | |
n.食物,粮食;生活资料;生计 | |
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15 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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16 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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17 rankling | |
v.(使)痛苦不已,(使)怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 ) | |
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18 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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19 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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20 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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21 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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22 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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23 procured | |
v.(努力)取得, (设法)获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 );拉皮条 | |
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24 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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25 pittance | |
n.微薄的薪水,少量 | |
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26 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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27 orphan | |
n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
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28 coffin | |
n.棺材,灵柩 | |
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29 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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30 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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31 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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32 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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33 doting | |
adj.溺爱的,宠爱的 | |
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34 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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35 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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36 benevolent | |
adj.仁慈的,乐善好施的 | |
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37 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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38 relinquished | |
交出,让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 ); 放弃 | |
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39 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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40 rambles | |
(无目的地)漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 ); (喻)漫谈; 扯淡; 长篇大论 | |
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41 bestow | |
v.把…赠与,把…授予;花费 | |
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42 caresses | |
爱抚,抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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43 idol | |
n.偶像,红人,宠儿 | |
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44 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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46 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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47 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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48 afflicted | |
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 disconsolate | |
adj.忧郁的,不快的 | |
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50 spoke | |
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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51 penury | |
n.贫穷,拮据 | |
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52 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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53 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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54 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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55 vagrants | |
流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 ); 无业游民; 乞丐; 无赖 | |
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56 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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57 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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58 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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59 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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60 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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61 dungeons | |
n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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62 confiscated | |
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 villa | |
n.别墅,城郊小屋 | |
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64 cherub | |
n.小天使,胖娃娃 | |
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65 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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66 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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67 rustic | |
adj.乡村的,有乡村特色的;n.乡下人,乡巴佬 | |
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68 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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69 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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70 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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71 inmate | |
n.被收容者;(房屋等的)居住人;住院人 | |
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72 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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73 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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74 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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