登陆注册
5406800000318

第318章 SAMUEL JOHNSON(7)

Tyers, scraps of Mr.Murphy, scraps of Mr.Cradock, long prosings of Sir John Hawkins, and connecting observations by Mr.Croker himself, inserted into the midst of Boswell's text.To this practice we most decidedly object.An editor might as well publish Thucydides with extracts from Diodorus interspersed, or incorporate the Lives of Suetonius with the History and Annals of Tacitus.Mr.Croker tells us, indeed, that he has done only what Boswell wished to do, and was prevented from doing by the law of copyright.We doubt this greatly.Boswell has studiously abstained from availing himself of the information given by his rivals, on many occasions on which he might have cited them without subjecting himself to the charge of piracy.Mr.Croker has himself, on one occasion, remarked very justly that Boswell was unwilling to owe any obligation to Hawkins.But, be this as it may, if Boswell had quoted from Sir John and from Mrs.Thrale, he would have been guided by his own taste and judgment in selecting his quotations.On what Boswell quoted he would have commented with perfect freedom; and the borrowed passages, so selected, and accompanied by such comments, would have become original.They would have dovetailed into the work.No hitch, no crease, would have been discernible.The whole would appear one and indivisible.

"Ut per laeve severos Effundat junctura ungues."This is not the case with Mr.Croker's insertions.They are not chosen as Boswell would have chosen them.They are not introduced as Boswell would have introduced them.They differ from the quotations scattered through the original Life of Johnson, as a withered bough stuck in the ground differs from a tree skilfully transplanted with all its life about it.

Not only do these anecdotes disfigure Boswell's book; they are themselves disfigured by being inserted in his book.The charm of Mrs.Thrale's little volume is utterly destroyed.The feminine quickness of observation, the feminine softness of heart, the colloquial incorrectness and vivacity of style, the little amusing airs of a half-learned lady, the delightful garrulity, the "dear Doctor Johnson," the "it was so comical," all disappear in Mr.Croker's quotations.The lady ceases to speak in the first person; and her anecdotes, in the process of transfusion, become as flat as Champagne in decanters, or Herodotus in Beloe's version.Sir John Hawkins, it is true, loses nothing; and for the best of reasons.Sir John Hawkins has nothing to lose.

The course which Mr.Croker ought to have taken is quite clear.

He should have reprinted Boswell's narrative precisely as Boswell wrote it; and in the notes or the appendix he should have placed any anecdote which he might have thought it advisable to quote from other writers.This would have been a much more convenient course for the reader, who has now constantly to keep his eye on the margin in order to see whether he is perusing Boswell, Mrs.

Thrale, Murphy, Hawkins, Tyers, Cradock, or Mr.Croker.We greatly doubt whether even the Tour to the Hebrides ought to have been inserted in the midst of the Life.There is one marked distinction between the two works.Most of the Tour was seen by Johnson in manuscript.It does not appear that he ever saw any part of the Life.

We love, we own, to read the great productions of the human mind as they were written.We have this feeling even about scientific treatises; though we know that the sciences are always in a state of progression, and that the alterations made by a modern editor in an old book on any branch of natural or political philosophy are likely to be improvements.Some errors have been detected by writers of this generation in the speculations of Adam Smith.Ashort cut has been made to much knowledge at which Sir Isaac Newton arrived through arduous and circuitous paths.Yet we still look with peculiar veneration on the Wealth of Nations and on the Principia, and should regret to see either of those great works garbled even by the ablest hands.But in works which owe much of their interest to the character and situation of the writers, the case is infinitely stronger.What man of taste and feeling can endure rifacimenti, harmonies, abridgments, expurgated editions?

Who ever reads a stage-copy of a play when he can procure the original? Who ever cut open Mrs.Siddons's Milton? Who ever got through ten pages of Mr.Gilpin's translation of John Bunyan's Pilgrim into modern English? Who would lose, in the confusion of a Diatessaron, the peculiar charm which belongs to the narrative of the disciple whom Jesus loved? The feeling of a reader who has become intimate with any great original work is that which Adam expressed towards his bride:

"Should God create another Eve, and I

Another rib afford, yet loss of thee Would never from my heart."No substitute, however exquisitely formed, will fill the void left by the original.The second beauty may be equal or superior to the first; but still it is not she.

The reasons which Mr.Croker has given for incorporating passages from Sir John Hawkins and Mrs.Thrale with the narrative of Boswell, would vindicate the adulteration of half the classical works in the language.If Pepys's Diary and Mrs.Hutchinson's Memoirs had been published a hundred years ago, no human being can doubt that Mr.Hume would have made great use of those books in his History of England.But would it, on that account, be judicious in a writer of our own times to publish an edition of Hume's History of England, in which large extracts from Pepys and Mrs.Hutchinson should be incorporated with the original text?

同类推荐
  • 庚子国变记

    庚子国变记

    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。
  • 一髻文殊师利童子陀罗尼念诵仪轨

    一髻文殊师利童子陀罗尼念诵仪轨

    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 Call of the Canyon

    The Call of the Canyon

    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。
  • 灌畦暇语

    灌畦暇语

    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。
  • 康熙侠义传

    康熙侠义传

    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。
热门推荐
  • 霍尔姆林镇的异界炼金师

    霍尔姆林镇的异界炼金师

    帆船时代的海洋,北海海盗统治着上古精灵遗迹,鹰视北海,扼守东西海洋咽喉,富可敌国的北海匪盗们却陷入了两难的境地,千年的盘踞使得精灵遗迹已经难以养活十数万居民,放弃这里又将丧失他们的海上霸主地位,北海霸主霍兰特面临艰难的抉择。来自南方的霍尔姆林特商会之主森或能为他解决部分问题,他对霍兰特手下的奴隶需求十分旺盛,双方已经有了非常密切的合作,并不差钱的霍兰特向商会的主人发出邀请,一艘钢铁巨轮缓缓自南方矮人港口海门缓缓驶出。
  • 欲望之门

    欲望之门

    这是三个女人为了追求梦想而不幸迷失自我的故事。在金钱的诱惑下,在纸醉金迷的花花世界里,她们能否坚持住最初的愿望?她们为了理想、为了梦想,忍辱偷生、委曲求全,最终,她们又能得到什么?本书延续了作者一贯的写作风格,不追求花里胡哨的叙事笔法,不追求光怪陆离的写作技巧,行文以新闻纪实报道、报告文学的笔法白描勾勒。作者摈弃宏大叙事,摈弃偶像崇拜,而追求人性的解构。在这部书里,没有一个人是主角,读者也看不到一个高大全的偶像形象。她们的身上都有着隐秘的过往,内心都有着不为人知的另一面。
  • 她故事:女人一生最应感悟的103种真情

    她故事:女人一生最应感悟的103种真情

    微笑着流泪的爱情、世界上最爱我们的两个人、轻触柔软的心灵、一生相随的友谊、女人心中永远的宝贝、倾听岁月的心声……本书为您讲述真实、感人的“她故事”,探微新女性的精神世界,追索新女性的幸福法则。
  • 佛说四泥犁经

    佛说四泥犁经

    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。
  • 莫鼎神王

    莫鼎神王

    两亿五千年前,神之始祖奥古斯都与噬魂大帝在灵运大陆一战致使第七粒子世界遭受永久覆灭。双帝双双陨落后留下了一个古老而神秘的传言。———若干年后,大陆东北角的一位来自傲雪帝国的年青人踏上了寻找神迹的旅程.......
  • 九州·无尽长门Ⅱ

    九州·无尽长门Ⅱ

    《九州志》重磅作品,续写非典型长门僧安星眠和尸舞冷傲少女雪怀青的传奇经历。地狱的大门已经打开,九州的存灭悬于一线,跨越道道长门,终极谜题即将揭晓!烈焰中走出地狱亡魂,雾中的鬼船勾走人的灵魂,羽人城邦的领主被离奇分身,凶手直指雪怀青的父亲……非典型长门僧安星眠,在前往宁州解救女友雪怀青的过程中,遇到了一系列不可思议的事情,在经历了种种阴谋、陷害、生死挣扎后,发现了自己骇人听闻的身世之谜以及自己身上难以解释的怪病。海上亡歌已经奏响,九州大地即将走向毁灭,安星眠能成功拯救九州大地,并且和雪怀青过上安逸的生活吗?
  • 如果这是宋史4:南渡北望

    如果这是宋史4:南渡北望

    本书中再现的两宋之交这段历史,更像是一部魔幻悬疑大剧,充斥着意料之外、荒诞不经的大逆转,令人时而热血奔涌,时而义愤填膺,却总是欲罢不能。富足、繁华、文明的北宋盛极一时,传至徽宗已是八世,统治集团奢华腐化严重,历经四代革新无果,大厦将倾。六贼的出现是历史的必然,他们主导实施的一连串错误的重大举措,彻底掏空了北宋的国势。与此同时,金国崛起,挥师灭辽,国势正盛,与北宋形成鲜明对比,靖康之变在所难免。尽管有岳飞、韩世忠、吴玠等悍将强兵的血战,有黄天荡、仙人关、朱仙镇等振奋人心的大捷,看似扭转了南宋的劣势,实则不然,这些还不足以撼动南宋统治集团的偏安理念,他们心目中的北伐,目的不是北归,而是北望。
  • 冲动的青春——那年代·那岁月(上)

    冲动的青春——那年代·那岁月(上)

    《冲动的青春:那年代·那岁月》摒弃了以一个人的经历为一条线索的叙述方式,从男女主人公两个角度双线并行,回忆式叙述,力图更广阔地反映社会面。在表现校园生活的同时,也涉及中学生、大学生感兴趣的其他话题。同时,不失思想性,构筑正确的价值取向。
  • 热力学主宰

    热力学主宰

    空手炼钢,徒手打造!这些事对雷诺而言,只是基本操作。除此之外,他还是人形空调,会走路的暖气。他的名号就更多了。统治天空的王者,战无不胜的战神冕下,让黑兽人颤抖的毁灭之主,以及,镇压了虚空魔族的无上主宰。这一切,只源于一本《工程热力学》。————新书《麻瓜别跑》已发布,欢迎各位读者老爷前来品鉴。
  • 青丝梦

    青丝梦

    天空依旧湛蓝,只是那片天空下的人早已不知身处何方。谁说爱要爱得轰轰烈烈,有些爱在心里,在背后也是无所不能的,只是很多人会说不够勇敢,但是能说吗?在那样的情况下谁还会顾及这所谓的儿女私情呢?就连友情都来不及收拾。在这当中究竟谁能够一直如此坚持,一直守着的不敢公开的诺言:相守一生。只是确实我们都不够勇敢,错失了永远的幸福。