登陆注册
5220400000027

第27章

MYSELF.And wha kens,Davie,how great you may be,even without hanging?Are ye not in the high road of preferment?Are ye not a bauld drummer already?Wha kens how high ye may rise?perhaps to be general,or drum-major.

DAVID HAGGART.I hae nae wish to be drum-major;it were nae great things to be like the doited carle,Else-than-gude,as they call him;and,troth,he has nae his name for naething.But I should have nae objection to be a general,and to fight the French and Americans,and win myself a name and a fame like Willie Wallace,and do brave deeds,such as I have been reading about in his story book.

MYSELF.Ye are a fule,Davie;the story book is full of lies.

Wallace,indeed!the wuddie rebel!I have heard my father say that the Duke of Cumberland was worth twenty of Willie Wallace.

DAVID HAGGART.Ye had better sae naething agin Willie Wallace,Geordie,for,if ye do,De'il hae me,if I dinna tumble ye doon the craig.

Fine materials in that lad for a hero,you will say.Yes,indeed,for a hero,or for what he afterwards became.In other times,and under other circumstances,he might have made what is generally termed a great man,a patriot,or a conqueror.As it was,the very qualities which might then have pushed him on to fortune and renown were the cause of his ruin.The war over,he fell into evil courses;for his wild heart and ambitious spirit could not brook the sober and quiet pursuits of honest industry.

'Can an Arabian steed submit to be a vile drudge?'I cries the fatalist.Nonsense!A man is not an irrational creature,but a reasoning being,and has something within him beyond mere brutal instinct.The greatest victory which a man can achieve is over himself,by which is meant those unruly passions which are not convenient to the time and place.David did not do this;he gave the reins to his wild heart,instead of curbing it,and became a robber,and,alas!alas!he shed blood-under peculiar circumstances,it is true,and without MALICE PREPENSE-and for that blood he eventually died,and justly;for it was that of the warden of a prison from which he was escaping,and whom he slew with one blow of his stalwart arm.

Tamerlane and Haggart!Haggart and Tamerlane!Both these men were robbers,and of low birth,yet one perished on an ignoble scaffold,and the other died emperor of the world.Is this justice?The ends of the two men were widely dissimilar-yet what is the intrinsic difference between them?Very great indeed;the one acted according to his lights and his country,not so the other.

Tamerlane was a heathen,and acted according to his lights;he was a robber where all around were robbers,but he became the avenger of God-God's scourge on unjust kings,on the cruel Bajazet,who had plucked out his own brothers'eyes;he became to a certain extent the purifier of the East,its regenerator;his equal never was before,nor has it since been seen.Here the wild heart was profitably employed,the wild strength,the teeming brain.Onward,Lame one!Onward,Tamur-lank!Haggart ....

But peace to thee,poor David!why should a mortal worm be sitting in judgment over thee?The Mighty and Just One has already judged thee,and perhaps above thou hast received pardon for thy crimes,which could not be pardoned here below;and now that thy feverish existence has closed,and thy once active form become inanimate dust,thy very memory all but forgotten,I will say a few words about thee,a few words soon also to be forgotten.Thou wast the most extraordinary robber that ever lived within the belt of Britain;Scotland rang with thy exploits,and England,too,north of the Humber;strange deeds also didst thou achieve when,fleeing from justice,thou didst find thyself in the Sister Isle;busy wast thou there in town and on curragh,at fair and race-course,and also in the solitary place.Ireland thought thee her child,for who spoke her brogue better than thyself?-she felt proud of thee,and said,'Sure,O'Hanlon is come again.'What might not have been thy fate in the far west in America,whither thou hadst turned thine eye,saying,'I will go there,and become an honest man!'

But thou wast not to go there,David-the blood which thou hadst shed in Scotland was to be required of thee;the avenger was at hand,the avenger of blood.Seized,manacled,brought back to thy native land,condemned to die,thou wast left in thy narrow cell,and told to make the most of thy time,for it was short:and there,in thy narrow cell,and thy time so short,thou didst put the crowning stone to thy strange deeds,by that strange history of thyself,penned by thy own hand in the robber tongue.Thou mightest have been better employed,David!-but the ruling passion was strong with thee,even in the jaws of death.Thou mightest have been better employed!-but peace be with thee,I repeat,and the Almighty's grace and pardon.

同类推荐
  • 禹贡

    禹贡

    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。
  • 洞玄灵宝斋说光烛戒罚灯祝愿仪

    洞玄灵宝斋说光烛戒罚灯祝愿仪

    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。
  • Where Angels Fear to Tread

    Where Angels Fear to Tread

    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。
  • 明英宗宝训

    明英宗宝训

    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。
  • 无上大乘要诀妙经

    无上大乘要诀妙经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 人类昂首奔赴太空的119个伟大瞬间

    人类昂首奔赴太空的119个伟大瞬间

    航天、太空探索、星际旅行,到处闪耀着人类的智慧。《人类昂首奔赴太空的119个伟大瞬间》图文并茂地描述了人类太空探索的各个里程碑事件,展示了人类强大的想象力和创造力,更赞扬了正确的人生观、价值观和世界观。尽管航天具有极大的风险和失败,但失败乃成功之母,失败也是一种伟大。
  • 重现杀机

    重现杀机

    自从他的妻子死后,詹姆斯·邦德受到了强烈的刺激,变得异常颓废,虽然身为特工人员,却没有个特工的样子。他自己和同事正处于危险的境地。M不愿失去这么好的朋友,因此最后决定送他去日本,完成一个几乎不可能完成的任务。但是当他到达日本之后,却被带到了一个神秘的住处,那里被称作死亡城堡。在那里,他遇到了一个年迈的敌人。所有的征兆都预示着邦德这次在劫难逃……
  • 话江湖之唯我独尊

    话江湖之唯我独尊

    这是一个武侠世界,在这里有丐帮的掌出降龙,佛门的金刚伏魔,移花的玉女痴情,以及神秘的逍遥御风……是谁在谈笑之间,伏尸百里,是谁让各大门派纷纷变色,连番退让,是谁引起的武林大乱,又是谁掀起了一场血雨腥风……人在江湖身不由己,你不服我尽管来战!因为我叫毕行,所以我言出必行!
  • 梦与世界之律

    梦与世界之律

    一本尘封的远古卷轴,揭开了一段梦幻的人生之旅。不存在的理想乡与现实的残酷悲壮,支撑着梦幻大陆的神秘彼方。这个世界究竟是什么样的,我想去带你一起探索!
  • 钟情丽集

    钟情丽集

    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。
  • 东方商人地图

    东方商人地图

    本书介绍了东方国家,如中国商人、犹太商人、阿拉伯商人、印度商人、韩国商人、日本商人等的经营理念和方法。
  • 如果天国也曾悲伤

    如果天国也曾悲伤

    她的爱情里,有两个男生。帅气得如漫画美少年的原澈野,灿烂得如耀眼阳光的许翼!从天国归来的澈野,对她一次次的伤害。他要她痛!却不料,她的坚定逐渐融化了他心底痛苦的秘密……失明后远走美国归来的许翼,即使深爱,却一再对她疏远,甘心成全她和自己的对手。到底是什么样的秘密让原澈野性情大变?又是什么样的秘密,阻挡了许翼追求她的脚步?当真相一层层剥开,她终于明白了,即使是美好的天国,也有着无法诉说的悲伤……
  • 刘东(棒棰岛·“金苹果”文艺丛书)

    刘东(棒棰岛·“金苹果”文艺丛书)

    本卷为刘东卷,刘东是我市著名儿童文学作家,至今已发表各种体裁作品四百余万字。著有长篇小说《镜宫》等十部,小说集《轰然作响的记忆》等六部。担任多部大型动画片及影视剧的编剧。作品曾获得第六届全国优秀儿童文学奖等数十项国家及省市级奖励,多次被收录于各种重要文集中,并被翻译介绍到日本等国。其作品关照青少年的内心、成长、生活,无论内容、题材还是文字都有自己的独特创造性。
  • 如何创办足疗店

    如何创办足疗店

    《金阳光新农村丛书》围绕农民朋友十分关心的具体话题,分“新农民技术能手”“新农业产业拓展”和“新农村和谐社会”三个系列,分批出版。“新农民技术能手”系列除了传授实用的农业技术,还介绍了如何闯市场、如何经营;“新农业产业拓展”系列介绍了现代农业的新趋势、新模式;“新农村和谐社会”系列包括农村政策宣讲、常见病防治、乡村文化室建立,还对农民进城务工的一些知识作了介绍。全书新颖实用,简明易懂。
  • 最强BOSS吞噬者

    最强BOSS吞噬者

    陈沐,因患有严重的创伤后应激障碍,高中毕业后便一直足不出户,在不足15平米的小房间内蜗居了整整六年。后来为了治病,也为了给远在天堂的父母一个答复,他终于鼓起勇气买了一个《神迹》的游戏头盔,准备通过玩游戏的方式来改善病情。谁料想,他竟成了全游戏中唯一携带【七宗罪·暴食·超凡吞噬】天赋的终极反派......