登陆注册
4714100000002

第2章

THIS book is the record of a struggle between two temperaments, two consciences and almost two epochs. It ended, as was inevitable, in disruption. Of the two human beings here described, one was born to fly backward, the other could not help being carried forward. There came a time when neither spoke the same language as the other, or encompassed the same hopes, or was fortified by the same desires. But, at least, it is some consolation to the survivor, that neither, to the very last hour, ceased to respect the other, or to regard him with a sad indulgence.

The affection of these two persons was assailed by forces in comparison with which the changes that health or fortune or place introduce are as nothing. It is a mournful satisfaction, but yet a satisfaction, that they were both of them able to obey the law which says that ties of close family relationship must be honoured and sustained. Had it not been so, this story would never have been told.

The struggle began soon, yet of course it did not begin in early infancy. But to familiarize my readers with the conditions of the two persons (which were unusual) and with the outlines of their temperaments (which were, perhaps innately, antagonistic), it is needful to open with some account of all that I can truly and independently recollect, as well as with some statements which are, as will be obvious, due to household tradition.

My parents were poor gentlefolks; not young; solitary, sensitive, and although they did not know it, proud. They both belonged to what is called the Middle Class, and there was this further resemblance between them that they each descended from families which had been more than well-to-do in the eighteenth century, and had gradually sunken in fortune. In both houses there had been a decay of energy which had led to decay in wealth. In the case of my Father's family it had been a slow decline; in that of my Mother's, it had been rapid. My maternal grandfather was born wealthy, and in the opening years of the nineteenth century, immediately after his marriage, he bought a little estate in North Wales, on the slopes of Snowdon. Here he seems to have lived in a pretentious way, keeping a pack of hounds and entertaining on an extravagant scale. He had a wife who encouraged him in this vivid life, and three children, my Mother and her two brothers. His best trait was his devotion to the education of his children, in which he proclaimed himself a disciple of Rousseau. But he can hardly have followed the teaching of 'Emile' very closely, since he employed tutors to teach his daughter, at an extremely early age, the very subjects which Rousseau forbade, such as history, literature and foreign languages.

My Mother was his special favourite, and his vanity did its best to make a bluestocking of her. She read Greek, Latin and even a little Hebrew, and, what was more important, her mind was trained to be self-supporting. But she was diametrically opposed in essential matters to her easy-going, luxurious and self-indulgent parents. Reviewing her life in her thirtieth year, she remarked in some secret notes: 'I cannot recollect the time when I did not love religion.' She used a still more remarkable expression: 'If I must date my conversion from my first wish and trial to be holy, I may go back to infancy; if I am to postpone it till after my last wilful sin, it is scarcely yet begun.' The irregular pleasures of her parents' life were deeply distasteful to her, as such were to many young persons in those days of the wide revival of Conscience, and when my grandfather, by his reckless expenditure, which he never checked till ruin was upon him, was obliged to sell his estate, and live in penury, my Mother was the only member of the family who did not regret the change. For my own part, I believe I should have liked my reprobate maternal grandfather, but his conduct was certainly very vexatious. He died, in his eightieth year, when I was nine months old.

It was a curious coincidence that life had brought both my parents along similar paths to an almost identical position in respect to religious belief. She had started from the Anglican standpoint, he from the Wesleyan, and each, almost without counsel from others, and after varied theological experiments, had come to take up precisely the same attitude towards all divisions of the Protestant Church-- that, namely, of detached and unbiased contemplation. So far as the sects agreed with my Father and my Mother, the sects were walking in the light; wherever they differed from them, they had slipped more or less definitely into a penumbra of their own making, a darkness into which neither of my parents would follow them. Hence, by a process of selection, my Father and my Mother alike had gradually, without violence, found themselves shut outside all Protestant communions, and at last they met only with a few extreme Calvinists like themselves, on terms of what may almost be called negation-- with no priest, no ritual, no festivals, no ornament of any kind, nothing but the Lord's Supper and the exposition of Holy Scripture drawing these austere spirits into any sort of cohesion. They called themselves 'the Brethren', simply; a title enlarged by the world outside into 'Plymouth Brethren'.

同类推荐
  • 仁王护国般若波罗蜜多经

    仁王护国般若波罗蜜多经

    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。
  • 紫阳真人内传

    紫阳真人内传

    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。
  • 佛说大乘菩萨藏正法经

    佛说大乘菩萨藏正法经

    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。
  • 台阳诗话

    台阳诗话

    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。
  • Leaves From Australian Forests

    Leaves From Australian Forests

    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。
热门推荐
  • 古代随身空间

    古代随身空间

    来到古代就被祖父当作了报恩的礼物打包嫁到元家,初来乍到,苏丽言原本想要低调生活,不过刻薄凶狠的祖母,看着面慈心软好相处的婆婆,以及对她心怀不满的公公。 元家生活复杂,小姑又众多,幸亏无意中还得了个随身空间,也算不幸中的大幸,只是还没得意完,苏丽言却发现这随身空间,也不是那么好用的!
  • 君临

    君临

    此刀当碎虚空界,此剑当开造化权!血戮尘寰世无双,傲视三界笑红尘!
  • 古文约选序例

    古文约选序例

    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。
  • 凡天仙土

    凡天仙土

    发配戍边的世子朱长夜,为逃避诛杀,更名朱九,誓诛仇敌,然而,却发现主使背后迷雾重重,非凡人可触及,于是,历尽艰辛,拜入仙门,求道法,诛魁首,不曾想,一个更大的惊天阴谋,一个更加广阔瑰丽的世界缓缓拉开帷幕。
  • 轻松拥有魔鬼身材:女人瘦身计划

    轻松拥有魔鬼身材:女人瘦身计划

    俗话说得好:三分长相,七分打扮;人要衣装,佛要金装。一件风格独特、款式美观的服饰,不仅能为你的身姿增光添彩,还可以有效地遮盖你形体上的缺陷,同时显示你的身分和修养。聪明的女人不仅借助化妆品和服饰装点自己,同时更注重自身的体形和匀称,这正如那些正在减肥的女性,心中只有卡路里再少一点的想法。这是因为纤细、平胸、瘦薄的骨感体型女性,在很长的时间里代表着时尚;因为在T型台上表演的时装模特儿都是这般身材瘦削、曲线不甚分明的形象,使之成为女人们追求的新时尚。这种身材的女性不仅能承受种种生活的负担,而且显得更自信、更独立、更富有女性的魅力,其高雅的气质对周围的人产生影响。
  • 绝地求生之再回荣耀

    绝地求生之再回荣耀

    【绝地新书,求生来袭】(由于部分原因,本书停止更新,请谅解,另外推荐新书剑与魔法《妹理之说》)著名绝地求生大主播、绝地求生世界锦标赛的冠军队伍领导者李御寒的成长经历:在CF决赛上被队友陷害成为“国耻”。但因这款游戏的出现,重新登上比赛的舞台,决心讨回失去的一切。唐纤云傲娇的说:“我就勉为其难的带你赢吧,只是为了队伍,别多想。”方沐释说:“看好你哦,小寒子。”宋薙慕说:“再来一决高下吧!”知名主播赵沈仪说:“小寒今晚几点开播啊?再带姐吃(此处省略一个字)吧”远房表妹小灵儿却拽住他的衣服对众女说:“寒哥哥是我的!你们不许抢!”面对重重困难和人们的误解,他说,只有放下后,才能重新拾起。体谅下学生党~嫌字数不多的观众同学可先收藏在书架等等再看嘛~
  • 重修之逍遥邪神

    重修之逍遥邪神

    【经典长篇】邪者,仙神恐惧,诸魔亦避!他是仙庭有史以来第一个逃脱死亡惩罚的重型犯!元婴被挖,修为被废,他却靠着一对阴阳珠子浴火重生,爬出了不周山!法宝,丹药,甚至仙帝的小女儿都是他的目标!神道,魔道,为了生存他最终走上了邪道!阴阳珠子阶位:阴阳珠子—阴阳玄盘—阴阳八卦阵—六道轮回阵—轮回之心
  • 老巴子传奇

    老巴子传奇

    应该说,秦山娃是我们学校最壮硕的学生,虎背熊腰,毛系发达,一身的蛮力,每逢县里或地区举办运动会,掷铁饼撇标枪,冠军非他莫属,远远领先于他人。他老家原在湖北神农架,家道中变,母亲亡故,被老爹用背篓背到东北,定居在靠山村里,靠面糊糊和豆腐渣喂大。早就有另一种说法,说秦山娃他妈被野人掳走,过了四五年,才大着肚子回来了,于是就生出了秦山娃。神农架当地人都把野人叫做老巴子,我们就给安到他头上。据说谁家的孩子闹觉,先说狼来了,虎来了,吓唬不住,最后才说,老巴子来了!孩子立刻声息泪止,乖乖地团缩在那里,屡试不爽,个个灵验,可见老巴子何等的威名。
  • 危险性学生

    危险性学生

    圣亚当斯高中高三癸班是有名的问题班,即便是校长也拿他们无可奈何。直到他们班上来了一个奇怪的转校生,一切似乎都因他而改变了……
  • 唱片艺术家

    唱片艺术家

    这是白凯风来到上海的第十个年头。他一直相信着,每个人活着都是心灵有所依,而他的坚持一直是音乐二字。郁郁不欢的音乐人白凯风在某一天梦回大四,音乐十年历程犹如过江腹水,在二十一世纪的开头重新演绎。