登陆注册
5406800000334

第334章 MADAME D'ARBLAY(4)

So strong was the impression made on the mind of Frances by the society which she was in the habit of seeing and hearing, that she began to write little fictitious narratives as soon as she could use her pen with case, which, as we have said, was not very early.Her sisters were amused by her stories: but Dr.Burney knew nothing of their existence; and in another quarter her literary propensities met with serious discouragement.When she was fifteen, her father took a second wife.The new Mrs.Burney soon found out that her stepdaughter was fond of scribbling, and delivered several good-natured lectures on the subject.The advice no doubt was well meant, and might have been given by the most judicious friend; for at that time, from causes to which we may hereafter advert, nothing could be more disadvantageous to a young lady than to be known as a novel-writer.Frances yielded, relinquished her favourite pursuit, and made a bonfire of all her manuscripts.[There is some difficulty here as to the chronology.

"This sacrifice," says the editor of the Diary, "was made in the young authoress's fifteenth year." This could not be; for the sacrifice was the effect, according to the editor's own showing, of the remonstrances of the second Mrs.Burney; and Frances was in her sixteenth year when her father's second marriage took place.]

She now hemmed and stitched from breakfast to dinner with scrupulous regularity.But the dinners of that time were early;and the afternoon was her own.Though she had given up novel-writing, she was still fond of using her pen.She began to keep a diary, and she corresponded largely with a person who seems to have had the chief share in the formation of her mind.This was Samuel Crisp, an old friend of her father.His name, well known, near a century ago, in the most splendid circles of London, has long been forgotten.His history is, however, so interesting and instructive, that it tempts us to venture on a digression.

Long before Frances Burney was born, Mr.Crisp had made his entrance into the world, with every advantage.He was well connected and well educated.His face and figure were conspicuously handsome; his manners were polished; his fortune was easy; his character was without stain; he lived in the best society; he had read much; he talked well; his taste in literature, music, painting, architecture, sculpture, was held in high esteem.Nothing that the world can give seemed to be wanting to his happiness and respectability, except that he should understand the limits of his powers, and should not throw away distinctions which were within his reach in the pursuit of distinctions which were unattainable.

"It is an uncontrolled truth," says Swift," that no man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them." Every day brings with it fresh illustrations of this weighty saying; but the best commentary that we remember is the history of Samuel Crisp.Men like him have their proper place, and it is a most important one, in the Commonwealth of Letters.It is by the judgment of such men that the rank of authors is finally determined.It is neither to the multitude, nor to the few who are gifted with great creative genius, that we are to look for sound critical decisions.The multitude, unacquainted with the best models, are captivated by whatever stuns and dazzles them.They deserted Mrs.Siddons to run after Master Betty; and they now prefer, we have no doubt, Jack Sheppard to Von Artevelde.A man of great original genius, on the other hand, a man who has attained to mastery in some high walk of art, is by no means to be implicitly trusted as a judge of the performances of others.The erroneous decisions pronounced by such men are without number.It is commonly supposed that jealousy makes them unjust.But a more creditable explanation may easily be found.The very excellence of a work shows that some of the faculties of the author have been developed at the expense of the rest; for it is not given to the human intellect to expand itself widely in all directions at once, and to be at the same time gigantic and well proportioned.Whoever becomes pre-eminent in any art, in any style of art, generally does so by devoting himself with intense and exclusive enthusiasm to the pursuit of one kind of excellence.His perception of other kinds of excellence is therefore too often impaired.Out of his own department he praises and blames at random, and is far less to be trusted than the mere connoisseur, who produces nothing, and whose business is only to judge and enjoy.One painter is distinguished by his exquisite finishing.He toils day after day to bring the veins of a cabbage leaf, the folds of a lace veil, the wrinkles of an old woman's face, nearer and nearer to perfection.In the time which he employs on a square foot of canvas, a master of a different order covers the walls of a palace with gods burying giants under mountains, or makes the cupola of a church alive with seraphim and martyrs.The more fervent the passion of each of these artists for his art, the higher the merit of each in his own line, the more unlikely it is that they will justly appreciate each other.Many persons who never handled a pencil probably do far more justice to Michael Angelo than would have been done by Gerard Douw, and far more justice to Gerard Douw than would have been done by Michael Angelo.

It is the same with literature.Thousands, who have no spark of the genius of Dryden or Wordsworth, do to Dryden the justice which has never been done by Wordsworth, and to Wordsworth the justice which, we suspect, would never have been done by Dryden.Gray, Johnson, Richardson, Fielding, are all highly esteemed by the great body of intelligent and well informed men.But Gray could see no merit in Rasselas; and Johnson could see no merit in the Bard.Fielding thought Richardson a solemn prig; and Richardson perpetually expressed contempt and disgust for Fielding's lowness.

同类推荐
  • 旧闻证误

    旧闻证误

    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。
  • 道德真经注

    道德真经注

    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。
  • TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

    TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

    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。
  • 潜室扎记

    潜室扎记

    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。
  • 太上老君中经珠宫玉历

    太上老君中经珠宫玉历

    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
  • The Fifth String

    The Fifth String

    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。
  • 道家妙语话人生

    道家妙语话人生

    道家学派对中国政治、经济、思想、文化、艺术等诸方面的重大影响都是不可低估的。在漫长的历史岁月中,它作为中国人的处世修身之学,与儒家思想分庭抗礼而又相互补充,共同构成了中华民族文化精神的基本内核,它产生了老子、庄子两位世界级的大思想家,它的思想丰富了人类文明的精神宝库。《道家妙语话人生》在编选原文的基础上,主要选用了道家的、一些经典名著中的“妙语”,例如老子的《道德经》,庄子的《华南经》、《列子》、《淮南子》,以及道教兴盛时期的一些著名代表人物,如阮籍、嵇康、陶渊明等人的经典“妙语”,在正文中,对“妙语”进行了阐释,用浅显的语言铺陈“妙语”的精髓,让读者更加容易理解“妙语”的真正含义。
  • 摩尼光佛教法仪

    摩尼光佛教法仪

    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。
  • 不会用刀的魔法师都不是好厨子

    不会用刀的魔法师都不是好厨子

    身为一个魔法师,本来是不需要会使用刀的,但如果这个魔法师偏偏喜欢上了做饭,非要当一个厨子呢?
  • 在动漫世界挑选战士

    在动漫世界挑选战士

    宇智波鼬看着眼前一双双万花筒,流下冷汗。黑崎一护看着黑崎游子手中的弓箭,表示理解不能。
  • 与星同眠

    与星同眠

    十九岁的安可离开大河乡,成为了南安大学的一名大一新生。在这里,她认识了优等生庄严、小太妹韩小依、校花秦若涵等人,然而有一个人却始终像谜团一样存在安可的脑海里,那就是她童年时的玩伴许卓乔。昔日亲密无间的儿时玩伴重逢在南安大学,为何却一夜陌生,再相遇却是见面不相识。心怀疑虑的安可能从许卓乔冰冷的目光里找到答案吗?在遭遇母亲离家,父亲坐牢等一系列变故的安可,在她翻天覆地的十九岁里,始终有一个人在默默地守候着她。是温柔似水温暖如阳的庄严,还是沉寂似海飘渺如雾的许卓乔?命运的大手紧紧扼住了安可的咽喉,韩小依的决绝、秦若涵的执着,又将她推向了怎样的境地……
  • 星槎胜览

    星槎胜览

    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。
  • 古代的舒心日子

    古代的舒心日子

    芷晴是一个普通的从农村出去的现代女孩,父母早亡爷爷去世让她失去了生活目标。瑾娘是个没有什么追求,内心有些怯弱的古代农家女孩,对于自己的人生从来没有自己的意见。两个完全不同的灵魂因为一颗神秘的水滴结合在一起,新的家人环境新的性格,她将会走向新的人生。一个男人突然出现在她的生命中,在这个女人毫无地位的世界里她是否能过上自己的想要的生活,命运无法改变的时候,她是否能让生活更加的多彩。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 昼夜之远

    昼夜之远

    孤僻少女庄柔在人声鼎沸的咖啡厅中喝下自己花钱买的毒药,被一双熟悉的手救下,抬头惊觉那是已阔别了五年的爱恨纠葛。冷静睿智的心理医生梁以铮,因着对往事的愧疚而将她留在自己的医院中,想通过治疗还她快乐与光明。接踵而至的爱情,四面楚歌。五年前,他毁了她的家庭,逼死她的朋友。五年后,他为她放弃事业,与家人反目。当他历尽艰辛,终于迎来救赎,她却病入膏肓,濒临死亡。背负着那战火缭绕的过往,王子与公主能否找回他们曾经美好的玫瑰园?这一曲以生死为节奏的恋歌,在东方明珠脚下萦绕,生辉。
  • 都市绝品仙医

    都市绝品仙医

    无敌仙帝转世重生,附身华夏医学院学生,身手不凡,医术惊天。前世的无敌战帝、医道至尊,身陷世俗红尘,面对无穷诱惑,是会迷失自我,还是会坚守道心?是会沮丧颓废,彻底沉沦,还是会强势崛起,逆转乾坤?待我重修为仙帝,敢叫万界鬼神泣!书友群:720727108