Lord Chesterfield

十八世纪英国散文欣赏（一）

记得大学时，学过JOHNSON博士的名篇TO the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield , 近来偶然读到Johnson 朋友James

Boswell(1740-1795)写的有关此篇的相关介绍。

Johnson and Lord Chesterfield

by James Boswell Lord Chesterfield, to whom Johnson had paid the high compliment of addressing to his Lordship the Plan of his Dictionary, had behaved to him in such a manner as to excite his contempt（蔑视）and indignation（愤怒）. The world has been for many years amused with a story confidently told, and as confidently repeated with additional circumstances, that a sudden disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his having been one day kept long in waiting in his Lordship?s ante-chamber, for which the reason assigned was that he had company with him; and that at last, when the door opened, out walked Colley Cibber; and that Johnson was so violently provoked when he went away in a passion and never would return. I remember having mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me he was very intimate with Lord Chesterfield; and holding it as a well-known truth, defended Lord Chesterfield by saying that “Cibber, who had been introduced familiarly by the back-stairs, had probably not been there above ten minutes.” It may seem s trange even to entertain a doubt concerning a story so long and so widely current and thus

implicitly adopted, if not sanctioned, by the authority which I have mentioned; but Johnson himself assured me that there was not the least foundation for it. He told me that there never was any particular incident which produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but that his Lordship?s continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no connection with him. When the Dictionary was upon the eve of publication, Lord Chesterfield, who it is said had flattered himself with expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him, attempted, in a courtly manner, to soothe and insinuate himself with the Sage, conscious, as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which he had treated its learned author; and further attempted to conciliate him by writing two papers in the World, in recommendation of the work; and it must be confessed that they contain some studied compliments, so finely turned that if there had been no previous offence it is probable that Johnson would have been highly delighted. Praise, in general, was pleasing to him; but by praise from a man of rank and elegant accomplishments he was peculiarly gratified….

参考译文：柴爵爷对琼生的编字典的计划不屑一顾，令其身感受辱。关于此事，社会上早有传闻，以讹传讹。琼生某日拜会柴爵爷，在门房久等不见。后来，从里面出来刺伯科。琼君早于其先至，而其确先被接见。心中有怨，愤然离开柴府。终不踏其门庭半步。此事，我记得问过李乔治爵爷，他与柴爵爷颇有交情。他替柴爵爷辩解道：

“刺伯科与柴爵爷宿有来往，当日是从后门入府，且很快离府，约莫半顿茶的功夫。”若非知情人士以告，我等对此事哪生得半点疑心。然琼生对余言道，李某之言不足为信；琼生与柴爵爷从未有过争执；是柴爵爷的怠慢使琼生决意不为门客为其驱使。字典即将付梓之时，据说柴爵爷放言琼生会将此巨作题献于他，想到昔日有负琼生，试图弥补裂痕。并在世界报刊登两篇评论，试图与琼生复好。评论上可见柴爵爷对词典的推崇与褒奖之词。于是乎得出结论，柴爵爷若当初没有凌辱琼生，为何琼生对如此褒奖之词不屑一顾，乃至有后来发表的答复之词呢？

This courtly device failed of its effect. Johnson, who thought that “all was false and hollow,” despised the honeyed words, and was even indignant that Lord Chesterfield should for a moment imagine that he could be the dupe of such an artifice. His expression to me concerning Lord Chesterfield upon this occasion was, “Sir, after making great professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when my dictionary was coming out, he fell a-scribbling in the world about it. Upon which, I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and that I had done with him.”

参考译文：爵爷的计策没有奏效。琼生认为那是假仁假义，不屑其恭维之词。更愤慨其厚颜，妄图分享编撰词典的功劳。琼生对余言道：“君可知，昔时吾曾几番希望得到柴爵爷的支持，可多年来，吾

备受其冷落。现词典即将问世，他竟然屈尊撰文世界报发表评论。为此，吾致信柴爵爷，虽言辞谦逊，但申明本人对其言论与评论无甚特别关注，且与君之恩义早已断绝。”

This is that celebrated letter of which so much has been said, and about which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified. I for many years solicited Johnson to favour me with a copy of it, that so excellent a composition might not be lost to posterity. He delayed from time to time to give it me; till at last in 1781, when we were on a visit at Mr. Dilly?s, at Southhill in Bedfordshire, he was pleased to dictate it to me from memory. He afterwards found among his papers a copy of it, which he had dictated to Mr. Baretti, with its title and corrections in his own handwriting. This he gave to Mr. Langton; adding that if it were to come into print, he wished it to be from that copy. By Mr. Langton?s kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect transcript of what the world has so eagerly desired to see.

参考译文：关于这篇著名的（书信体）答复，谈论已经很多，一直以来被饶有兴趣地关注，可惜，原信一直没有公开。多年来，余一直恳请琼生慨与信的复写本，以流传后世。可他迟迟没有答复。终于在1781年（译者注：信写于1754年2月7日），我们在拜佛郡南山的迪先生家做客时，他才欣然应允，凭着记忆口述信的内容。后来，琼生从他留存的信件中找到原信的复写本。他口授，巴莱缇先生执笔，信的标题和修改出自琼生之手。这个复写本他给了朗唐先生。琼生还

嘱咐，答复信的刊印本以朗唐先生手里的信做底本。蒙朗唐先生慨允提供底本，使我能顺利完成琼生的重托，以飨世人――他们期盼的太久了。

译后记：本文是十八世纪英国散文，个别地方的语法，用法与今有异。这里提供的很大可能是第一个中文译本，故译者诚惶诚恐，深怕以讹传讹。但本人学养有限，错误不可避免。欢迎大家批评指正，共同进步。

感谢我的老师，让我萌发学英语的兴趣。

查斯特菲尔德

查斯特菲尔德勋爵，英国著名政治家、外交家及文学家，曾就读于剑桥大学，并游学欧洲大陆。1726年继承爵位，1728年出使荷兰，任驻荷兰大使，1745年任爱尔兰总督,1746~1748年身兼国务大臣等职位,表现出了杰出的政治才干。他风流倜傥，是英国讲究礼仪的典范，备受当地人民的爱戴。以著作《致儿子的信》文明于世。他与同时代的文学家波普、艾略特、爱迪生、斯威夫特等过往甚密。

有《教子书》(“letters to his son”)传世。名为<一生的忠告>是查斯特菲尔德勋爵写给儿子的家书，其内容说理透彻，辞藻华丽，在英国上流社会广为流传,被誉为是译本"绅士教育的教科书",并成为一本世界名著。

“所有的人都是平凡的，有些人因知道了这一点而成了非凡的人。”就是出自他致儿子的信。

塞缪尔·约翰逊

约翰逊于1747年开始了他最重要的一项工作——《英文字典》（A Dictionary of the English Language）的编撰。这一工作直到1755年才完成。虽然它被广泛的赞誉并且有着巨大的影响，约翰逊并未从中获得很多经济利益。在编撰它的同时，他还写了一系列的双周刊散文称之为《漫步者》。这些散文，大多涉及道德和宗教主题。它一直写到了1752年。虽然当时并不流行，结集出版后却获得了广泛的欢迎。

约翰逊于1758年开始了另一个系列的散文写作——“The Idler”。在两年中，这个系列每周出版在一个周刊上。他们比上一个系列更短。在1759年，约翰逊出版了他的小说“雷塞拉斯”，据说是为了支付她母亲葬礼的费用。同时，他获得了很高的名声，诗人查尔斯丘吉尔评论说：“He for subscribers baits his hook - and takes your cash, but where's the book？”。（他为读者准备需要的他的书，和你的需要的现金，但是哪来的书？）1762年，约翰逊获得了300镑每年的政府津贴。1763年他遇到了他未来的传记作者詹姆斯-博斯韦尔。大约同一时间，他组建

了“俱乐部”。现在，他已经是一个大人物了，并且在1765年被授予都柏林三一学院的名誉博士学位，十年后又获得了牛津的这一学位。

1765年，他认识了议员亨利-塞雷尔夫妇。很快他们成为了好朋友。后来约翰逊与他们一起生活了15年直到亨利于1781年去世。塞雷尔夫人的日记等为博斯韦尔的传记提供了很多素材。

1773年，他与博斯韦尔一起进行了“苏格兰西部群岛的旅行”，两年后他出版了同名游记.(博斯韦尔的于1786年以另一题目出版)

约翰逊的最后一本重要著作是《诗人列传》（Lives of the English Poets）是在伦敦书商的要求下写作的。在每一个人的诗作前，都有一段传记和评论。

约翰逊于1784年去世，安葬于西敏司寺。

他身材高大，但视力和听力都不好且他脸上从小便有伤疤.

约翰逊的名声部分的归于博斯韦尔的《约翰逊传》一书的成功。但是因为他在约翰逊几乎成名后才遇到他，他的书中用了不恰当大的比例来描述约翰逊的最后几年。所以，人们很少知道约翰逊于贫困作斗争的早期生活。

名言

最贫的是无才，最贱的是无志

Style in Samuel Johnson＇s Letter to Lord Chesterfield

Samuel Johnson (1709----1784) is a famous English essayist, literary critic and dictionary compiler. In 1747, when Johnson began his ““Dietionary of the English Language““, Chesterfield had at first indieated that he could be his patron, but when Johnson came to him for conerete help, Chesterfield neglected him to the point of ignoring him. Johnson was insulted and f urious. In 1755, when Johnson…s Dictionary was published and acclaimed after seven years of hard work, Chesterfield openly recommended it, hoping to get some credit for it as Johnson…s patron. Johnson at once wrote his famous letter in a sharp style, openly denying Chesterfield…s patronage, and attacking him outright for his behaviour. The attack, however, was made in a cireumloeutious way.

Letter to Lord Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson

My Lord,

I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your Lordship. To be customed 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 visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre, that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little

encouraged it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholor can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door, during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulites, of which it is useless to complain, and bave brought it at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one simile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a Patron before.

The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.

Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he had reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am different, 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 to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a Patron, which Provindence has enabled me to do for my self.

Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it , if less be possible, with less, for I have been long wakend from that dream of hope, in whichi I once boasted myself with so much exultation, my Lord.

Your Lordship'd most humble,

most obedient servant,

Sam. Johnson.