登陆注册
4705400000594

第594章

But we must return to our story. The triumph was complete. The timid and obscure girl found herself on the highest pinnacle of fame. Great men, on whom she had gazed at a distance with humble reverence, addressed her with admiration, tempered by the tenderness due to her sex and age. Burke, Windham, Gibbon, Reynolds, Sheridan, were among her most ardent eulogists.

Cumberland acknowledged her merit, after his fashion, by biting his lips and wriggling in his chair whenever her name was mentioned. But it was at Streatham that she tasted, in the highest perfection, the sweets of flattery, mingled with the sweets of friendship. Mrs. Thrale, then at the height of prosperity and popularity, with gay spirits, quick wit, showy though superficial acquirements, pleasing though not refined manners, a singularly amiable temper, and a loving heart, felt towards Fanny as towards a younger sister. With the Thrales Johnson was domesticated. He was an old friend of Dr. Burney; but he had probably taken little notice of Dr. Burney's daughters, and Fanny, we imagine, had never in her life dared to speak to him, unless to ask whether he wanted a nineteenth or a twentieth cup of tea. He was charmed by her tale, and preferred it to the novels of Fielding, to whom, indeed, he had always been grossly unjust. He did not, indeed, carry his partiality so far as to place Evelina by the side of Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison; yet he said that his little favourite had done enough to have made even Richardson feel uneasy. With Johnson's cordial approbation of the book was mingled a fondness, half gallant half paternal, for the writer; and this fondness his age and character entitled him to show without restraint. He began by putting her hand to his lips. But he soon clasped her in his huge arms, and implored her to be a good girl. She was his pet, his dear love, his dear little Burney, his little character-monger. At one time, he broke forth in praise of the good taste of her caps. At another time he insisted on teaching her Latin. That, with all his coarseness and irritability, he was a man of sterling benevolence, has long been acknowledged. But how gentle and endearing his deportment could be, was not known till the Recollections of Madame D'Arblay were published.

We have mentioned a few of the most eminent of those who paid their homage to the author of Evelina. The crowd of inferior admirers would require a catalogue as long as that in the second book of the Iliad. In that catalogue would be Mrs. Cholmondeley, the sayer of odd things, and Seward, much given to yawning, and Baretti, who slew the man in the Haymarket, and Paoli, talking broken English, and Langton, taller by the head than any other member of the club, and Lady Millar, who kept a vase wherein fools were wont to put bad verses, and Jerningham who wrote verses fit to be put into the vase of Lady Millar, and Dr. Franklin, not, as some have dreamed, the great Pennsylvanian Dr. Franklin, who could not then have paid his respects to Miss Burney without much risk of being hanged, drawn and quartered, but Dr. Franklin the less, Aias Meion outi todos ge dsos Telamonios Aias Alla polu meion.

It would not have been surprising if such success had turned even a strong head, and corrupted even a generous and affectionate nature. But, in the Diary, we can find no trace of any feeling inconsistent with a truly modest and amiable disposition. There is, indeed, abundant proof that Frances enjoyed with an intense, though a troubled joy, the honours which her genius had won; but it is equally clear that her happiness sprang from the happiness of her father, her sister, and her dear Daddy Crisp. While flattered by the great, the opulent, and the learned, while followed along the Steyne at Brighton, and the Pantiles at Tunbridge Wells, by the gaze of admiring crowds, her heart seems to have been still with the little domestic circle in Saint Martin's Street. If she recorded with minute diligence all the compliments, delicate and coarse, which she heard wherever she turned, she recorded them for the eyes of two or three persons who had loved her from infancy, who had loved her in obscurity, and to whom her fame gave the purest and most exquisite delight.

Nothing can be more unjust than to confound these outpourings of a kind heart, sure of perfect sympathy, with the egotism of a bluestocking, who prates to all who come near her about her own novel or her own volume of sonnets.

It was natural that the triumphant issue of Miss Burney's first venture should tempt her to try a second. Evelina, though it had raised her fame, had added nothing to her fortune. Some of her friends urged her to write for the stage. Johnson promised to give her his advice as to the composition. Murphy, who was supposed to understand the temper of the pit as well as any man of his time, undertook to instruct her as to stage effect.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 远山堂剧品

    远山堂剧品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 乱世猎人(3)

    乱世猎人(3)

    他来自山野林间,他是一个普通的猎人,但却有着一位极具传奇性的父亲!他无意名扬天下,他不爱江山只爱美人,但时势却将他造就成一段武林的神话!他无意争霸天下,但他为了拯救天下苍生于水火,而成为乱世中最可怕的战士!他就是——蔡风!北魏末年,一位自幼与兽为伍的少年,凭着武功与智慧崛起于江湖,他虽无志于天下,却被乱世的激流一次次推向生死的边缘,从而也使他深明乱世的真谛——狩猎与被猎。
  • 网游之逆世巅峰

    网游之逆世巅峰

    各大正派豪侠纷纷响应聚集麾下誓与邪教决战到底。心中念苍生剑中有正气莫笑英雄年少身可灭意不绝侠义精神永不消江湖恩怨儿女情长国仇家恨烟起八荒武林大势从何而起又从何而终一切由你决定!
  • 一切美好事物都在路上

    一切美好事物都在路上

    本书是一部睡前故事集,共分“还好,不过等待而已”“再美,终究是别人的故事”“对月当歌忆流年”“不舍放下过去,如何成就自己”四个篇章,28篇关于青春、关于爱情、关于想念、关于人生、关于梦想的温暖故事。作者以第一人称叙述,讲述了亲身参与过的各种各样的人的经历,有的人为梦想而不顾一切,有的人为爱情历尽艰辛。在走过了那些或煎熬、或明媚的路之后,总能从中收获到人生最宝贵的东西,哪怕是教训,哪怕是遗憾,总是能意识到我们要珍惜眼前拥有的幸福。因为,一切美好的事物正在路上。
  • 简·爱

    简·爱

    不可错过的世界爱情经典小说。女主人公简·爱是一个心地纯洁、善于思考的女性,她生活在社会底层,受尽磨难。但她有倔强的性格和勇于追求平等幸福的精神。她的爱情是扎根于相互理解、相互尊重的基础之上的深挚爱情。
  • 巨星从综艺主持人开始

    巨星从综艺主持人开始

    重生回到05年,那一年,快乐大本营还在举办闪亮新主播。那一年,爸爸去哪儿,跑男,极限挑战,亲爱的客栈,明星大侦探,华夏好声音还不知在哪里。洛一明重操旧业,从主持人开始,走向巨星。
  • 感动青少年的100个感恩老师故事

    感动青少年的100个感恩老师故事

    这套感恩书系正是我们需要的心灵“慧眼”,它像一架显微镜,于平凡的生活小故事中让我们发现爱的真谛;它是一块点金石,让我们在普通生活的点滴中发现爱的璀璨光芒;它是一台心灵的热感仪,无论多么细微或深沉的爱和善良,它都可以敏锐地帮助我们感触到。阅读了它,我们就可以从批评中品享到关切;阅读了它,我们就可以从轻轻的埋怨中体味到温暖和幸福;阅读了它,我们就可以在霜雪中眺望到春天的阳光;阅读了它,我们就可以在风雨中意想到彩虹的华美。
  • 日月星辰棺

    日月星辰棺

    我叫刘欣奇,自从在医院遇到不认识的男人将我捡回来之后,发生了让我自己都不可思议的很多事情,真是让我热血澎湃……
  • 梨园传奇:戏曲脸谱故事

    梨园传奇:戏曲脸谱故事

    浙江文艺出版社编著的《梨园传奇——戏曲脸谱故事》为山海经故事丛书中的一册,为我社早期山海经丛书的再版本。内容均以从民间搜集整理的传说故事为主,且各册都有一个核心的人物或主题,内容丰富,风格活泼,保留了很多的民间智慧,体现了民俗风情与历史面貌。《梨园传奇——戏曲脸谱故事》内容围绕海宁潮主题,将从民间搜集整理的传说故事进行整合。
  • 主管不要太老实

    主管不要太老实

    不会用魅力保卫权力 不注重自己的形象,一味地让员工适应自己/95 控制不住自己的“情绪”承受“高处不胜寒”的孤独,公私不分,亲此疏彼,安置心腹,暴眺如雷,不了解情况就对员工横加指责,跟下属“老死不相往来”,主管太老实等于没效率。老实的主管喜欢挑大梁,无论大事小情都要亲自过问。他们事必躬亲、兢兢业业,每天都早来晚走,而他的员工却在悠闲地享受大好时光。主管太老实等于缺手腕。老实人往往把规矩看得高于一切,他们从来都是按常理出牌。规矩对于他们来说就是不可触犯的“天条”。员工在背后不称呼他们“铁面无私”,而是叫他们“老古董”。