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Chapter ii. — A short description of squire Allworthy, and a fuller account of Miss Bridget Allworthy, his sister.
In that part of the western division of this kingdom which is commonly called Somersetshire, there lately lived, and perhaps lives still, a gentleman whose name was Allworthy, and who might well be called the favourite of both nature and fortune; for both of these seem to have contended which should bless and enrich him most. In this contention, nature may seem to some to have come off victorious, as she bestowed on him many gifts, while fortune had only one gift in her power; but in pouring forth this, she was so very profuse, that others perhaps may think this single endowment to have been more than equivalent to all the various blessings which he enjoyed from nature. From the former of these, he derived an agreeable person, a sound constitution, a solid understanding, and a benevolent heart; by the latter, he was decreed to the inheritance of one of the largest estates in the county.
This gentleman had in his youth married a very worthy and beautiful woman, of whom he had been extremely fond: by her he had three children, all of whom died in their infancy. He had likewise had the misfortune of burying this beloved wife herself, about five years before the time in which this history chuses to set out. This loss, however great, he bore like a man of sense and constancy, though it must be confest he would often talk a little whimsically on this head; for he sometimes said he looked on himself as still married, and considered his wife as only gone a little before him, a journey which he should most certainly, sooner or later, take after her; and that he had not the least doubt of meeting her again in a place where he should never part with her more—sentiments for which his sense was arraigned by one part of his neighbours, his religion by a second, and his sincerity by a third.
He now lived, for the most part, retired in the country, with one sister, for whom he had a very tender affection. This lady was now somewhat past the age of thirty, an aera at which, in the opinion of the malicious, the title of old maid may with no impropriety be assumed. She was of that species of women whom you commend rather for good qualities than beauty, and who are generally called, by their own sex, very good sort of women—as good a sort of woman, madam, as you would wish to know. Indeed, she was so far from regretting want of beauty, that she never mentioned that perfection, if it can be called one, without contempt; and would often thank God she was not as handsome as Miss Such-a-one, whom perhaps beauty had led into errors which she might have otherwise avoided. Miss Bridget Allworthy (for that was the name of this lady) very rightly conceived the charms of person in a woman to be no better than snares for herself, as well as for others; and yet so discreet was she in her conduct, that her prudence was as much on the guard as if she had all the snares to apprehend which were ever laid for her whole sex. Indeed, I have observed, though it may seem unaccountable to the reader, that this guard of prudence, like the trained bands, is always readiest to go on duty where there is the least danger. It often basely and cowardly deserts those paragons for whom the men are all wishing, sighing, dying, and spreading, every net in their power; and constantly attends at the heels of that higher order of women for whom the other sex have a more distant and awful respect, and whom (from despair, I suppose, of success) they never venture to attack.
Reader, I think proper, before we proceed any farther together, to acquaint thee that I intend to digress, through this whole history, as often as I see occasion, of which I am myself a better judge than any pitiful critic whatever; and here I must desire all those critics to mind their own business, and not to intermeddle with affairs or works which no ways concern them; for till they produce the authority by which they are constituted judges, I shall not plead to their jurisdiction. |
第2回——鄉紳萬德全的簡介，以及其妹萬麗姬小姐比較全麵的介紹 在我們這個王國西部有個地方，人們通常稱這個地方為薩默郡。不久之前這裏居住著一位紳士，名叫萬德全，很可能他現在仍居住於此。他或許可以稱得上既是造物之主的寵兒，又是命運之神的最愛，因為這兩者似乎一直在爭鬥不休，看是前者賜他福運最旺，還是後者給他財氣最盛。在這場爭鬥中，造物之主似乎略微占了點上風，因為她賜予了萬德全許多件禮物，而命運之神在她的權力範圍內隻給了他一件。盡管禮物隻有一件，但命運之神卻非常慷慨，以至於其他人很可能會認為單單這件禮物，就已經比他從造物之主那裏享受的所有各種福祉加在一起的總和還要多。萬德全從造物之主那裏獲得了和藹可親的容貌、強健有力的體魄、明察秋毫的頭腦以及樂善好施的心腸。而命運之神注定為他安排的是，他繼承了整個郡幾份最大家業的其中一份。 這位紳士年輕時娶了一位德容兼備的女子為妻，他對她寵愛有加：她為他生了三個孩子，卻都在繈褓中夭折了。同樣在這段個人史開始的五年前，非常不幸的是，他又埋葬了他所至愛的這位妻子。盡管喪妻之痛對他打擊很大，他卻像個深明大義、忠貞不渝的人承受著這一切，不過我們必須承認，他在這個問題上經常有點語無倫次；因為他偶爾會說，他覺得自己並未喪偶，認為他的妻子外出旅行去了，隻是比他先走了一段路，他非常確信遲早有一天他會步她的後塵。他毫不懷疑將來會在某個地方與她重逢，而且永遠不會再和她分開——他對情感的這番言論遭到了左鄰右舍的譴責，一部分人說他神智紊亂，另一部分人罵他信仰不純，還有一部分人怪他心口不一。
萬德全和他的一個妹妹現在大部分時間隱居在鄉下，他對她的關懷溫柔體貼。這位女士現已年過三十，在那些心術不正的人看來，這個年齡段的女人也許可冠以嫁不出去的老姑娘稱號並無不妥之處。她屬於那種與其誇她容貌漂亮，但不如讚她品行端莊的女人，她就是那種被其他女人通常稱為的“淑女”——我說這位太太，就是那種你夢寐以求想要認識的淑女。事實上，她遠不至於為自己的容貌欠佳而感到慚愧，反而一旦提及容貌十全十美（如果容貌有十全十美這一說法的話），她無不嗤之以鼻；她常常感謝上帝，自己沒長得像某某小姐那樣漂亮，正是因為長得漂亮，某某小姐才會誤入歧途，否則她本可以避免這樣的厄運。萬麗姬（這正是這位女郎的姓名）小姐理所當然地認為，一個女人的千嬌百媚對她自己和其他人來說都不過是重重陷阱；萬麗姬行事小心，謹小慎微，嚴加防衛，仿佛她對曾經為全體女性布下的所有陷阱都了如指掌。事實上，我已經注意到，盡管讀者可能覺得不可思議，這個“謹慎”衛兵，如同訓練有素的警備隊，總是最樂意去危險係數最小的地方值班放哨。“謹慎”往往卑鄙懦弱地拋棄那些絕代佳人，而她們卻是男人們為之寤寐思服、夙夜歎息、傾倒獻身、使出渾身解數撒下愛情羅網來追求的對象。“謹慎”時刻服侍在那些品行較高女性的腳後跟，男人們對她們則敬而遠之，（我想可能他們感到追求無望）從未有膽量去攻克她們。
看官，我們一起把這部書往後翻之前，我覺得應該讓諸位知道這一點，在講述這部個人史過程中，隻要情景需要，我就打算插上幾句題外話，我自己比任何可憐又可笑的批評家更有資格成為一名更優秀的評委；在這裏，我最希望說的就是讓所有那些批評家少管閑事，不要插手與自己毫不相幹的事情或工作；因為要等到他們出具正式被委任為評委的權威證明之後，我才會請求他們來做出評判。 |
