We were brought up together; there was not quite a year difference in our ages. I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute. Harmony was the soul of our companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsisted1 in our characters drew us nearer together. Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition2; but, with all my ardour, I was capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten3 with the thirst for knowledge. She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic4 and wondrous5 scenes which surrounded our Swiss home — the sublime6 shapes of the mountains, the changes of the seasons, tempest and calm, the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence7 of our Alpine8 summers — she found ample scope for admiration9 and delight. While my companion contemplated10 with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin11 to rapture12, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember.
On the birth of a second son, my junior by seven years, my parents gave up entirely13 their wandering life and fixed14 themselves in their native country. We possessed15 a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city. We resided principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion16. It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently18 to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them. Henry Clerval was the son of a merchant of Geneva. He was a boy of singular talent and fancy. He loved enterprise, hardship, and even danger for its own sake. He was deeply read in books of chivalry19 and romance. He composed heroic songs and began to write many a tale of enchantment20 and knightly21 adventure. He tried to make us act plays and to enter into masquerades, in which the characters were drawn22 from the heroes of Roncesvalles, of the Round Table of King Arthur, and the chivalrous23 train who shed their blood to redeem24 the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels.
No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants25 to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled26 with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude27 assisted the development of filial love.
My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement28; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries29 were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.
Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues30 of heroes, and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the gallant31 and adventurous32 benefactors33 of our species. The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial34 eyes, were ever there to bless and animate35 us. She was the living spirit of love to soften36 and attract; I might have become sullen37 in my study, through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to subdue38 me to a semblance39 of her own gentleness. And Clerval — could aught ill entrench40 on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet he might not have been so perfectly41 humane42, so thoughtful in his generosity43, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring ambition.
I feel exquisite44 pleasure in dwelling45 on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted46 my mind and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and narrow reflections upon self. Besides, in drawing the picture of my early days, I also record those events which led, by insensible steps, to my after tale of misery47, for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled my destiny I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble48 and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling49 as it proceeded, it became the torrent50 which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration51, to state those facts which led to my predilection52 for that science. When I was thirteen years of age we all went on a party of pleasure to the baths near Thonon; the inclemency53 of the weather obliged us to remain a day confined to the inn. In this house I chanced to find a volume of the works of Cornelius Agrippa. I opened it with apathy54; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm. A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book and said, “Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash.”
If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers than the ancient, because the powers of the latter were chimerical55, while those of the former were real and practical, under such circumstances I should certainty have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented56 my imagination, warmed as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin. But the cursory57 glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity. When I returned home my first care was to procure58 the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been imbued59 with a fervent17 longing60 to penetrate61 the secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from my studies discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed62 that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of natural philosophy with whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy’s apprehensions63 as tyros64 engaged in the same pursuit.
The untaught peasant beheld65 the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little more. He had partially66 unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal67 lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He might dissect68, anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly69 unknown to him. I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel70 of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined.
But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated71 deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred72, and I became their disciple73. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir74 of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish75 disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death! Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity76 in my instructors77. And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling78, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory79 theories and floundering desperately80 in a very slough81 of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent82 imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired83 to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful84 loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump85. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.
Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe86, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality87 the overthrow88 of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny89 as a deformed90 and abortive91 creation, and entertained the greatest disdain92 for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy93 of my consideration.
Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous94 change of inclination95 and will was the immediate96 suggestion of the guardian97 angel of my life — the last effort made by the spirit of preservation98 to avert99 the storm that was even then hanging in the stars and ready to envelop100 me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillity101 and gladness of soul which followed the relinquishing102 of my ancient and latterly tormenting103 studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution104, happiness with their disregard.
It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual. Destiny was too potent105, and her immutable106 laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.
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subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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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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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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knightly
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| adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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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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benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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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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soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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entrench
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| v.使根深蒂固；n.壕沟；防御设施 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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ignoble
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| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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52
predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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inclemency
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| n.险恶，严酷 | |
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apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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56
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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tyros
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| n.初学者，新手，生手( tyro的名词复数 ) | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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dissect
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| v.分割；解剖 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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82
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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85
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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86
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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fatality
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| n.不幸，灾祸，天命 | |
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88
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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89
progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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92
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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envelop
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| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
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101
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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102
relinquishing
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的现在分词 )； 放弃 | |
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103
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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104
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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