登陆注册
5391900000031

第31章 THE SENTIMENTAL SCOT(1)

Of all the great nations of Christendom,the Scotch are by far the most romantic.I have just enough Scotch experience and just enough Scotch blood to know this in the only way in which a thing can really be known;that is,when the outer world and the inner world are at one.I know it is always said that the Scotch are practical,prosaic,and puritan;that they have an eye to business.I like that phrase "an eye"to business.

Polyphemus had an eye for business;it was in the middle of his forehead.

It served him admirably for the only two duties which are demanded in a modern financier and captain of industry:the two duties of counting sheep and of eating men.But when that one eye was put out he was done for.But the Scotch are not one-eyed practical men,though their best friends must admit that they are occasionally business-like.They are,quite fundamentally,romantic and sentimental,and this is proved by the very economic argument that is used to prove their harshness and hunger for the material.The mass of Scots have accepted the industrial civilisation,with its factory chimneys and its famine prices,with its steam and smoke and steel--and strikes.The mass of the Irish have not accepted it.The mass of the Irish have clung to agriculture with claws of iron;and have succeeded in keeping it.That is because the Irish,though far inferior to the Scotch in art and literature,are hugely superior to them in practical politics.You do need to be very romantic to accept the industrial civilisation.It does really require all the old Gaelic glamour to make men think that Glasgow is a grand place.Yet the miracle is achieved;and while I was in Glasgow I shared the illusion.

I have never had the faintest illusion about Leeds or Birmingham.The industrial dream suited the Scots.Here was a really romantic vista,suited to a romantic people;a vision of higher and higher chimneys taking hold upon the heavens,of fiercer and fiercer fires in which adamant could evaporate like dew.Here were taller and taller engines that began already to shriek and gesticulate like giants.Here were thunderbolts of communication which already flashed to and fro like thoughts.It was unreasonable to expect the rapt,dreamy,romantic Scot to stand still in such a whirl of wizardry to ask whether he,the ordinary Scot,would be any the richer.

He,the ordinary Scot,is very much the poorer.Glasgow is not a rich city.It is a particularly poor city ruled by a few particularly rich men.It is not,perhaps,quite so poor a city as Liverpool,London,Manchester,Birmingham,or Bolton.It is vastly poorer than Rome,Rouen,Munich,or Cologne.A certain civic vitality notable in Glasgow may,perhaps,be due to the fact that the high poetic patriotism of the Scots has there been reinforced by the cutting common sense and independence of the Irish.In any case,I think there can be no doubt of the main historical fact.The Scotch were tempted by the enormous but unequal opportunities of industrialism,because the Scotch are romantic.The Irish refused those enormous and unequal opportunities,because the Irish are clear-sighted.They would not need very clear sight by this time to see that in England and Scotland the temptation has been a betrayal.The industrial system has failed.

同类推荐
  • 竹庵草录

    竹庵草录

    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。
  • 元经

    元经

    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。
  • The Collection of Antiquities

    The Collection of Antiquities

    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。
  • 净土指归集

    净土指归集

    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。
  • Indian Boyhood

    Indian Boyhood

    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
  • 圣箭堂述古

    圣箭堂述古

    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。
  • 撒了谎的尸体

    撒了谎的尸体

    7月15日星期日11:30AML市通往郊外的高速公路即使是夏天的正午,通往市外的高速两旁也丝毫没有炎热的气息,只有四面八方的蝉鸣提示着现在还是盛夏。身为L市公安机关刑事科的法医,周末加班就意味着发生了什么恶性事件,殷琴坐在开向市外的警车上,心里也在翻腾。毕竟,L市一直很平静,差不多一年半载才会在假日出勤一次。殷琴透过车窗观察着路况。高速护栏外,不间断的稀疏树林会让人产生强烈的既视感。偶尔透入的蝉鸣也让殷琴觉得焦躁。在仿佛无休止重复的道路上,远处突然出现了一片明晃晃的警戒带。
  • 末世之轮回之始

    末世之轮回之始

    末法时代的终点还是到来了,轮回中的诸人一一被唤醒。世界能否如预言一样重启呢?随他们一起,经历末世;随他们一起,从轮回中苏醒,为自己找一份希望。
  • 宇宙的秘密

    宇宙的秘密

    宇宙是怎样产生的?宇宙有多大?宇宙的中心在哪里?茫茫宇宙中是否存在着人类以外的智慧生命?人们对宇宙奥秘揭示得越多,人们就越发现宇宙的神秘与深不可测。无论浩瀚的宇宙多么壮阔,我们会渐渐了解它的奥秘,而不是迷失在它的广袤莫测之中。我们还必须回到地球——那在宇宙中渺小如一粒微尘,却又得天独厚的行星,以及它周围的世界——太阳系。了解人类的摇篮——地球,以及人类的家乡——太阳系,是我们最迫切的需要,也是我们探索宇宙奥秘,揭开宇宙神秘面纱的开始。
  • 进程毁灭者

    进程毁灭者

    一切都在进程之中毁灭,没有人能够抵达毁灭的终点。
  • 相牛经

    相牛经

    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。
  • 腹黑帝君:将女不好惹

    腹黑帝君:将女不好惹

    "皇座上,男人袍子微敞,“叶儿,给我锤锤腿捏捏肩。”萧叶一脸不爽的跪在地上给他捶腿,恨不得一拳砸在他的脑袋上,不过是在桃花林里误把他抢回家当相公,一时冲动误终生。“宁长安,你不是说这辈子只爱我一个吗?一转眼就左拥右抱,不打得你满脸桃花开,你就不知道花儿为什么这样红。”暴力女将军遭遇腹黑美男皇帝,这日子要怎么过?"
  • 世界最具启迪性的名言格言(1)

    世界最具启迪性的名言格言(1)

    我的课外第一本书——震撼心灵阅读之旅经典文库,《阅读文库》编委会编。通过各种形式的故事和语言,讲述我们在成长中需要的知识。
  • 杀手也穿越系列之媚者无情

    杀手也穿越系列之媚者无情

    【本情节纯属虚构,请勿模仿】她伸出指点江山的手,往山坡下那些呻吟惨呼的人一指,冷声说道:“这个就是他们的命,因为他们跟错了主子!”他皱了皱眉头,轻笑出声:“那你呢?是否跟对了主人?”她回眸傲然一笑:“我从来都没有主人,唯一能主宰我命运的,只有我,只有我自己这双手!”她是世界顶级的杀手,一朝穿越,进入异时空的杀手界,而他,却是她的杀人生涯的终极任务,杀或不杀?
  • 穿越之冷王的逃妃

    穿越之冷王的逃妃

    现代美女常果儿,因一场车祸,成为一缕幽魂,穿越到古代。他是景亥国的花心王爷,性格冷傲,嗜血是他的乐趣,妻妾成群。他以为,自己不会爱上任何人,但只因那一个舞,却让他沦陷……他是景亥国的太子,性格温和。却也沦陷在那俏皮可爱又不失豪爽,给人惊喜连连不断的人儿的石榴裙下……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】