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THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, A FOUNDLING.
BOOK I. — CONTAINING AS MUCH OF THE BIRTH OF THE FOUNDLING AS IS NECESSARY OR PROPER TO ACQUAINT THE READER WITH IN THE BEGINNING OF THIS HISTORY.
Chapter i. — The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast.
An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. In the former case, it is well known that the entertainer provides what fare he pleases; and though this should be very indifferent, and utterly disagreeable to the taste of his company, they must not find any fault; nay, on the contrary, good breeding forces them outwardly to approve and to commend whatever is set before them. Now the contrary of this happens to the master of an ordinary. Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates, however nice and whimsical these may prove; and if everything is not agreeable to their taste, will challenge a right to censure, to abuse, and to d—n their dinner without control.
To prevent, therefore, giving offence to their customers by any such disappointment, it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.
As we do not disdain to borrow wit or wisdom from any man who is capable of lending us either, we have condescended to take a hint from these honest victuallers, and shall prefix not only a general bill of fare to our whole entertainment, but shall likewise give the reader particular bills to every course which is to be served up in this and the ensuing volumes.
The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended, because I have named but one article. The tortoise—as the alderman of Bristol, well learned in eating, knows by much experience—besides the delicious calipash and calipee, contains many different kinds of food; nor can the learned reader be ignorant, that in human nature, though here collected under one general name, is such prodigious variety, that a cook will have sooner gone through all the several species of animal and vegetable food in the world, than an author will be able to exhaust so extensive a subject.
An objection may perhaps be apprehended from the more delicate, that this dish is too common and vulgar; for what else is the subject of all the romances, novels, plays, and poems, with which the stalls abound? Many exquisite viands might be rejected by the epicure, if it was a sufficient cause for his contemning of them as common and vulgar, that something was to be found in the most paltry alleys under the same name. In reality, true nature is as difficult to be met with in authors, as the Bayonne ham, or Bologna sausage, is to be found in the shops.
But the whole, to continue the same metaphor, consists in the cookery of the author; for, as Mr Pope tells us—
“True wit is nature to advantage drest; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest.”
The same animal which hath the honour to have some part of his flesh eaten at the table of a duke, may perhaps be degraded in another part, and some of his limbs gibbeted, as it were, in the vilest stall in town. Where, then, lies the difference between the food of the nobleman and the porter, if both are at dinner on the same ox or calf, but in the seasoning, the dressing, the garnishing, and the setting forth? Hence the one provokes and incites the most languid appetite, and the other turns and palls that which is the sharpest and keenest.
In like manner, the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author's skill in well dressing it up. How pleased, therefore, will the reader be to find that we have, in the following work, adhered closely to one of the highest principles of the best cook which the present age, or perhaps that of Heliogabalus, hath produced. This great man, as is well known to all lovers of polite eating, begins at first by setting plain things before his hungry guests, rising afterwards by degrees as their stomachs may be supposed to decrease, to the very quintessence of sauce and spices. In like manner, we shall represent human nature at first to the keen appetite of our reader, in that more plain and simple manner in which it is found in the country, and shall hereafter hash and ragoo it with all the high French and Italian seasoning of affectation and vice which courts and cities afford. By these means, we doubt not but our reader may be rendered desirous to read on for ever, as the great person just above-mentioned is supposed to have made some persons eat.
Having premised thus much, we will now detain those who like our bill of fare no longer from their diet, and shall proceed directly to serve up the first course of our history for their entertainment. |
湯姆●瓊斯—一個棄兒的個人史
第1卷——在這部個人史的開頭，讓讀者熟悉一下棄兒的身世，這很有必要，或者說這樣更合乎情理，所以此卷盡可能多地把這方麵的內容涵蓋進去。
第1章——卷首語，也可以說是筵席菜單
作家不該自詡為舉辦私人宴會或者搭棚舍飯的君子善人，而應該把自己看成是餐館老板，隻要有人肯花錢來吃飯，他都應該歡迎接待。眾所周知，前者可以隨心所欲提供飯菜，盡管飯菜質量不怎麽樣，並且完全不合食客口味，但食客卻不得挑肥揀瘦；不僅如此，而且恰恰相反，食客因為受過良好教養的緣故，對於擺在自己麵前的飯菜，表麵還得被迫裝出一副認可讚許的神情。而作為餐館老板，情形則完全相反。那些花錢來吃飯的人，口味刁鑽刻薄也好，稀奇古怪也罷，他們都會堅持要餐館提供的飯菜一定要滿足他們的不同口味；但凡有一道菜不合口味，他們則有權公開刁難、破口大罵，甚至口無遮攔地甩出幾句髒話。
因此，為了防止由於此類掃興之事而得罪食客的情況發生，誠實良善的餐館老板通常會提供一份菜單，這樣食客一走進餐館，不管是誰，都可以仔細瀏覽一番。食客熟悉了餐館可以提供的飯菜內容，便可決定是留下並大快朵頤，還是離開此處，去找下一家能夠更好滿足他們口味的餐館。
無論是誰，隻要身上有些機智或者才智可以供我們借鑒，我們都願意向他討教，而不會在他麵前趾高氣昂。因此我們屈尊俯就向這些老實忠厚的餐館老板取取經，我們不但為整個筵席開出一份總菜單，同時也將在此卷以及後麵的各卷中，每上一道菜，同樣為讀者開出各種特定的菜單。
我們在此所提供的飯菜無非是“人性”。盡管聰明睿智的讀者口位很奢華，但我並不會因為隻列出了一道菜，而擔心各位會大驚小怪、無端指摘或者怒容滿麵。布裏斯托爾市參議員在飲食方麵可謂學識淵博，他根據自己豐富的閱曆，深知就甲魚這道菜而言，除了鱉背和鱉腹的肉質味美可口之外，甲魚身上還有許多不同部位的肉可供食用；博學多才的讀者並不是不知道，就人性而言，盡管都歸結到一個通用名稱之下，但這個題目的種類多得驚人。作家還沒來得及寫盡這一如此廣泛的題目，廚師就早已把世上的所有葷素菜式都已經做了一遍。
口味更高雅的人士也許會提出反對意見，他們認為這道菜太家常、上不了台麵；且看坊間充斥的所有傳奇、小說、戲劇和詩歌，林林總總，除了人性，還能有什麽其他主題呢？如果美食家在窮街陋巷中碰到以同樣字眼命名的這樣一道菜，他有充分理由將其貶低為家常、不上台麵的話，那麽許多佳肴美饌也許會被美食家拋棄掉，而不為世人所知。實際上，真正的人性在作家的作品中很難看到，正如在商店裏想要找到巴約納火腿或博洛尼亞香腸一樣困難。 但繼續使用同樣比喻的話，作家的廚藝就是整道菜的靈魂所在；因為正如蒲伯先生告訴我們的那樣—— 真才一妝點，造物更光鮮。 屢屢可意會，從未被言傳。
同一動物身體某些部位的肉可以榮登王公大臣的餐桌，而另一部位的肉也許會被降格，在市廛最肮髒的肉攤上，動物的幾條腿被倒掛起來，就像掛在絞刑架上展示給世人一樣。達官貴人和販夫走卒吃的是同一頭公牛或者同一頭小牛身上的肉，除了調味、烹飪、配菜和裝盤以外，他們所吃的食物又有何區別呢？所以這桌菜可以挑起並刺激最不振的食欲，而那桌菜則會令本來最有食欲的客人覺得寡淡無味，惡心倒胃。
同樣的道理，精神筵席的美味可口更多取決於作家烹飪的技藝，食材則居於次要地位。在接下來的這部著作中，我們嚴格遵守當代或者自赫立歐嘎巴勒斯時代以來最卓越的一位名廚所定的一條最高原則。讀者要是看出了這一點，心裏甭提會有多麽高興！喜歡文明用餐的人們都非常清楚，這位名廚剛開始會為饑腸轆轆的食客擺放一些家常菜，隨著食客胃口縮小，他會逐步增加最精致的醬料和調味品。同樣的道理，我們首先推出更為樸素單純的人性，來滿足讀者的強烈胃口，這種人性在鄉下可以找到。然後配上矯揉造作和累累罪惡，所有這些法式和意式的高級佐料，一起剁碎燉煮，這些佐料的費用隻有宮廷以及城市可以負擔得起。我們毫不懷疑這些方法也許會令讀者手不釋卷，將此書一直讀下去，正如上述的那位名廚那樣，讓一些食客對他所提供的食物百吃不厭。
閑言少絮，喜歡這張筵席菜單的顧客，我們就不再吊你們的胃口了，接下來直接獻上我們這部個人史的第一道菜，請各位品嚐。 |
