英国散文选读(24页).doc

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1、-第 1 页英国散文选读英国散文选读-第 2 页1 OF STUDIESFrancis BaconStudies serve for delight,for ornament,and for ability.Their chief use for delight,is in privateness and retiring;for ornament,is in discourse;and for ability,is in the judgment and disposition of business;for expert and execute,andperhaps judge of pa

2、rticulars,one by one;but the general counsels,and the plots andmarshalling of affairs,come best form those that are learned.To spend too much time in studies is sloth;to use them too much for ornament,isaffectation;to make judgment wholly by their rules,is the humour of a scholar.They perfect nature

3、,and are perfected by experience:for natural abilities are like naturalplants,that need proyning(pruning)by study;and studies themselves do give forthdirections too much at large,except they be bounded in by experience.Crafty men contemn studies,simple men admire them,and wise men use them;for theyt

4、each not their own use;but that is a wisdom without them,and above them,won byobservation.Read not to contradict and confute;nor to believe and take for granted;nor to find talkand discourse;but to weigh and consider.Some books are to be tasted,others to be swallowed,and some few to be chewed anddig

5、ested;that is,some books are to be read only in parts;others to be read,but notcuriously;and some few to be read wholly,and with diligence and attention.Some books also may be read by deputy,and extracts made of them by others;but thatwould be only in the less important arguments,and the meaner sort

6、 of books;else distilledbooks are,like common distilled waters,flashy things.Reading maketh a full man;conference a ready man;and writing an exact man.Andtherefore,if a man write little,he had need have a great memory;if he confer little,he hadneed have a present wit;and if he read little,he had nee

7、d have much cunning,to seem toknow that he doth not.Histories make men wise;poets witty;the mathematics subtile;natural philosophy deep;moral grave;logic and rhetoric able to contend.Abeunt studia in morse.Nay there is no stand or impediment in the wit,but may be wrought out by fit studies:likeas di

8、seases of the body may have appropriate exercises.Bowling is good for the stone andreins;shooting for the lungs and breast;gentle walking for the stomach;riding for thehead;and the like.So if a mans wit be wandering,let him study the mathematics;for in demonstrations,ifhis wit be called away never s

9、o little,he must begin again.If his wit be not apt todistinguish or find differences,let him study the schoolmen;for they are Cumini sectors.If he be not apt to beat over matters,and to call up one thing to prove and illustrateanother,let him study the lawyers cases.So every defect of the mind may h

10、ave a specialreceipt.2 Sunday in the CountrySunday in the CountryJoseph Addison-第 3 页I am always well pleased with a country Sunday,and think,if keeping holy the seventhday were only a human institution,it would be the best method that could have beenthought of for the polishing and civilizing of ma

11、nkind.It is certain the country peoplewould soon degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians,were there not suchfrequent returns of a stated time,in which the whole village meet together with their bestfaces,and in their cleanliest subjects,to converse with one another upon differentsubjects,he

12、ar their duties explained to them,and join together in adoration of theSupreme Being.Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week,not only as it refreshes intheir minds the notions of religion,but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing in theirmost agreeable forms,and exerting all such qualities

13、as are apt to give them a figure inthe eye of the village.A country fellow distinguishes himself as much in the churchyard,as a citizen does upon the change,the whole parish-politics being generally discussed inthat place either after sermon or before the bell rings.My friend Sir Roger,being a goodc

14、hurchman,has beautified the inside of his church with several texts of his own choosing.He has likewise given a handsome pulpit-cloth,and railed in the communion table at hisown expense.He has often told me,that at his coming to his estate he found hisparishioners very irregular,and that in order to

15、 make them kneel and join in theresponses,he gave every one of them a hassock and a common-prayer book;and at thesame time employed an itinerant singing2 master,who goes about the country for thatpurpose,to instruct them rightly in the tunes of the Psalms;upon which they now verymuch value themselve

16、s,and indeed outdo most of the country churches that I have everheard.As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation,he keeps them in very goodorder and will suffer nobody to sleep in it beside himself;for if by chance he has beensurprised into a short nap at sermon,upon recovering out of it he

17、stands up and looksabout him,and if he sees anybody else nodding,either wakes them himself or sends hisservants to them.Several other of the old knight s particularities break out upon theseoccasions.Sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singing Psalms half aminute after the rest of th

18、e congregation have done with it;sometimes,when he ispleased with the matter of his devotion,he pronounces Amen three or four times to thesame prayer;and sometimes stands up when everybody else is upon their knees,to countthe congregation,or see if any of his tenants are missing.I was yesterday very

19、 muchsurprised to hear my old friend,in the midst of the service,calling out to one JohnMatthews to mind what he was about and not disturb the congregation.This JohnMatthews it seems is remarkable for being an idle fellow,and at that time was kickinghis heels for his diversion.This authority of the

20、knight,though exerted in that oddmanner which accompanies him in all the circumstances of life,has a very good effectupon the parish,who are not polite enough to see anything ridiculous in his behaviour;besides that the general good sense and worthiness of his character make his friendsobserve these

21、 little singularities as foils that rather set off than blemish his goodqualities.As soon as the sermon is finished,nobody presumes to stir till Sir Roger is goneout of the church.The knight walks down from his seat in the chancel between a doublerow of his tenants,that stand bowing to him on each s

22、ide,and every now and 3then inquires how such a one s wife,or mother,or son,or father do,whom he dose not seeat church;which is understood as secret reprimand to the person that is absent.The-第 4 页chaplain has often told me that,upon a catechizing day,when Sir Roger has been pleasedwith a boy that a

23、nswers well,he has ordered a Bible to be given to him next day for hisencouragement;and sometimes accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother.SirRoger has likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk s place,and that he mayencourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect in the churc

24、h service,haspromised upon the death of the present incumbent,who is 4 very old,to bestow itaccording to merit.The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his chaplain,and theirmutual concurrence in doing good,is the more remarkable because the very next village isfamous for the differences and con

25、tentions that arise between the parson and the squire,who live in a perpetual state of war.The parson is always preaching at the squire;andthe squire,to be revenged on the parson,never comes to church.The squire has made allhis tenants atheists and tithe-stealers;while the parson instructs them ever

26、y Sunday inthe dignity of his order,and insinuates to them,in almost every sermon,that he is abetter man than his patron.In short,matters have come to such an extremity,that thesquire has not said his prayers either in public or private this half year;and the parsonthreatens him,if he does not mend

27、his manners,to pray for him in the face of the wholecongregation.Feuds of this nature,though too frequent in the country,are very fatal tothe ordinary people,who are so used to be dazzled with riches,that they pay as muchdeference to the understanding of a man of an estate,as of a man of learning;an

28、d are veryhardly brought to regard any truth,how important so ever it may be,that is preached tothem,when they know there are several men of five hundred a year who do not believe it.3 Letter to Lord ChesterfieldFebruary 7th,1755My Lord，I have been lately informed,by the proprietor of the Word,that

29、two papers,in whichmy dictionary is recommended to the publick were written by your Lordship.To be sodistinguished,is an honour,which being very little accustomed to favours from the great,I know not well how to receive,or in what terms to acknowledge.When,upon some slight encouragement,I first visi

30、ted your Lordship,I was overpowered,like the rest of mankind,by the enchantment of you address,and could not forbear to wishthat I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur di la terre.That I might obtain thatregard for which I saw the world contending;but I found my attendance so littleencourage

31、d,that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it.When I hadonce addressed your Lordship in publick I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which aretired and uncourtly scholar can possess.I had done all that I could;and no man is wellpleased to have his all neglected,be it ever so lit

32、ter.Seven years,my Lord,have now past,since I waited in your oout ward rooms,or wasrepulsed from your door,through difficulties,of which it is useless to complain,andwithout one act of assistance,one word of encouragement,or one smile of favour.Suchtreatment I did not expect,for I never had a Patron

33、 before.The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love,and found him a native of therocks.Is not a Patron,my Lord,one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life on the-第 5 页water,and,when he has reached ground,encumbers him with help?The notice which youhave been pleased to take

34、 of my labors,had it been early,had been kind;but it has beendelayed till I am indifferent,and cannot enjoy it;till I am solitary,and cannot impart it;till I am known,and do not want it.I hope it is no very cynical asperity,not confessobligations where no benefit has been receied or to be unwilling

35、that the Publick shouldconsider me as owing that to a Patron,which Provi-dence has enabled me to do for myself.Having carride on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning,Ishall not be disappointed though I shoud conclude it,less be possible,with less,for I havebeen ling

36、 wakened from that dream of hope,in which I once boasted myself with so muchexultation,my Lord.Your Lordships most humble,Most obedient servant,Sam.Johnson.4 On National Prejudicesby Oliver GoldsmithAs I am one of that sauntering tribe of mortals,who spend the greatest part of their timein taverns,c

37、offee houses,and other places of public resort,I have thereby an opportunityof observing an infinite variety of characters,which,to a person of a contemplative turn,isa much higher entertainment than a view of all the curiosities of art or nature.In one ofthese,my late rambles,I accidentally fell in

38、to the company of half a dozen gentlemen,whowere engaged in a warm dispute about some political affair;the decision of which,as theywere equally divided in their sentiments,they thought proper to refer to me,whichnaturally drew me in for a share of the conversation.Amongst a multiplicity of other to

39、pics,we took occasion to talk of a different characters ofthe several nations of Europe;when one of the gentlemen,cocking his hat,and assumingsuch an air of importance as if he had possessed all the merit of the English nation in hisown person,declared that the Dutch were a parcel of avaricious wret

40、ches;the French a setof flattering sycophants;that the Germans were drunken sots,and beastly gluttons;andthe Spaniards proud,haughty,and surly tyrants;but that in bravery,generosity,clemency,and in every other virtue,the English excelled all the world.This very learned and judicious remark was recei

41、ved with a general smile of approbationby all the company-all,I mean,but your humble servant;who,endeavoring to keep mygravity as well as I could,I reclined my head upon my arm,continued for some times in aposture of affected thoughtfulness,as if I had been musing on something else,and did notseem t

42、o attend to the subject of conversation;hoping by these means to avoid thedisagreeable necessity of explaining myself,and thereby depriving the gentlemen of hisimaginary happiness.But my pseudo-patriot had no mind to let me escape so easily.Not satisfied that hisopinion should pass without contradic

43、tion,he was determined to have it ratified by thesuffrage of every one in the company;for which purpose addressing himself to me with anair of inexpressible confidence,he asked me if I was not in the same way of thinking.As Iam never forward in giving my opinion,especially when I have reason to beli

44、eve that itwill not be agreeable;so,when I am obliged to give it,I always hold it for a maxim to-第 6 页speak my real sentiments.I therefore told him that,for my own part,I should not haveventured to talk in such a peremptory strain,unless I had made the tour of Europe,andexamined the manners of these

45、 several nations with great care and accuracy:that,perhaps,a more impartial judge would not scruple to affirm that the Dutch were morefrugal and industrious,the French more temperate and polite,the Germans more hardyand patient of labour and fatigue,and the Spaniards more staid and sedate,than theEn

46、glish;who,though undoubtedly brave and generous,were at the same time rash,headstrong,and impetuous;too apt to be elated with prosperity,and to despond inadversity.I could easily perceive that all of the company began to regard me with a jealous eyebefore I had finished my answer,which I had no soon

47、er done,than the patriotic gentlemanobserved,with a contemptuous sneer,that he was greatly surprised how some peoplecould have the conscience to live in a country which they did not love,and to enjoy theprotection of a government,to which in their hearts they were inveterate enemies.Finding that by

48、this modest declaration of my sentiments,I had forfeited the good opinionof my companions,and given them occasion to call my political principles in question,andwell knowing that it was in vain to argue with men who were so very full of themselves,Ithrew down my reckoning and retired to my own lodgi

49、ngs,reflecting on the absurd andridiculous nature of national prejudice and prepossession.Among all the famous sayings of antiquity,there is none that does greater honour to theauthor,or affords greater pleasure to the reader(at least if he be a person of a generousand benevolent heart)than that the

50、 philosopher,who,being asked what countryman hewas,replied that he was a citizen of the world.How few there are to be found in moderntimes who can say the same,or whose conduct is consistent with such a profession!We arenow become so much Englishmen,Frenchmen,Dutchmen,Spaniards,or Germans,thatwe are