登陆注册
5406800000415

第415章 SAMUEL JOHNSON(11)

But, though his pen was now idle, his tongue was active.The influence exercised by his conversation, directly upon those with whom he lived, and indirectly on the whole literary world, was altogether without a parallel.His colloquial talents were indeed of the highest order.He had strong sense, quick discernment, wit, humour, immense knowledge of literature and of life, and an infinite store of curious anecdotes.As respected style, he spoke far better than he wrote.Every sentence which dropped from his lips was as correct in structure as the most nicely balanced period of the Rambler.But in his talk there was no pompous triads, and little more than a fair proportion of words in "osity" and "ation".All was simplicity, ease, and vigour.He uttered his short, weighty, and pointed sentences with a power of voice, and a justness and energy of emphasis, of which the effect was rather increased than diminished by the rollings of his huge form, and by the asthmatic gaspings and puffings in which the peals of his eloquence generally ended.

Nor did the laziness which made him unwilling to sit down to his desk prevent him from giving instruction or entertainment orally.

To discuss questions of taste, of learning, casuistry, in language so exact and so forcible that it might have been printed without the alteration of a word, was to him no exertion, but a pleasure.He loved, as he said, to fold his legs and have his talk out.He was ready to bestow the overflowings of his full mind on anybody who would start a subject, on a fellow-passenger in a stage coach, or on the person who sate at the same table with him in an eating-house.But his conversation was nowhere so brilliant and striking as when he was surrounded by a few friends, whose abilities and knowledge enabled them, as he once expressed it, to send him back every ball that he threw.Some of these, in 1764, formed themselves into a club, which gradually became a formidable power in the commonwealth of letters.The verdicts pronounced by this conclave on new books were speedily known over all London, and were sufficient to sell off a whole edition in a day, or to condemn the sheets to the service of the trunk-maker and the pastry-cook.Nor shall we think this strange when we consider what great and various talents and acquirements met in the little fraternity.Goldsmith was the representative of poetry and light literature, Reynolds of the arts, Burke of political eloquence and political philosophy.There, too, were Gibbon, the greatest historian, and Jones, the greatest linguist, of the age.Garrick brought to the meetings his inexhaustible pleasantry, his incomparable mimicry, and his consummate knowledge of stage effect.Among the most constant attendants were two high-born and high-bred gentlemen, closely bound together by friendship, but of widely different characters and habits; Bennet Langton, distinguished by his skill in Greek literature, by the orthodoxy of his opinions, and by the sanctity of his life; and Topham Beauclerk, renowned for his amours, his knowledge of the gay world, his fastidious taste, and his sarcastic wit.To predominate over such a society was not easy.

Yet even over such a society Johnson predominated.Burke might indeed have disputed the supremacy to which others were under the necessity of submitting.But Burke, though not generally a very patient listener, was content to take the second part when Johnson was present; and the club itself, consisting of so many eminent men, is to this day popularly designated as Johnson's Club.

Among the members of this celebrated body was one to whom it has owed the greater part of its celebrity, yet who was regarded with little respect by his brethren, and had not without difficulty obtained a seat among them.This was James Boswell, a young Scotch lawyer, heir to an honourable name and a fair estate.

That he was a coxcomb and a bore, weak, vain, pushing, curious, garrulous, was obvious to all who were acquainted with him.That he could not reason, that he had no wit, no humour, no eloquence, is apparent from his writings.And yet his writings are read beyond the Mississippi, and under the Southern Cross, and are likely to be read as long as the English exists, either as a living or as a dead language.Nature had made him a slave and an idolater.His mind resembles those creepers which the botanists call parasites, and which can subsist only by clinging round the stems and imbibing the juices of stronger plants.He must have fastened himself on somebody.He might have fastened himself on Wilkes, and have become the fiercest patriot in the Bill of Rights Society.He might have fastened himself on Whitfield, and have become the loudest field preacher among the Calvinistic Methodists.In a happy hour he fastened himself on Johnson.The pair might seem ill matched.For Johnson had early been prejudiced against Boswell's country.To a man of Johnson's strong understanding and irritable temper, the silly egotism and adulation of Boswell must have been as teasing as the constant buzz of a fly.Johnson hated to be questioned; and Boswell was eternally catechising him on all kinds of subjects, and sometimes propounded such questions as "What would you do, sir, if you were locked up in a tower with a baby?" Johnson was a water drinker;and Boswell was a wine-bibber, and indeed little better than a habitual sot.It was impossible that there should be perfect harmony between two such companions.Indeed, the great man was sometimes provoked into fits of passion in which he said things which the small man, during a few hours, seriously resented.

Every quarrel, however, was soon made up.During twenty years the disciple continued to worship the master: the master continued to scold the disciple, to sneer at him, and to love him.The two friends ordinarily resided at a great distance from each other.Boswell practised in the Parliament House of Edinburgh, and could pay only occasional visits to London.

同类推荐
  • 慈悲道场忏法

    慈悲道场忏法

    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。
  • 上清高上龟山玄箓

    上清高上龟山玄箓

    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。
  • 元史

    元史

    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。
  • 脉诀考证

    脉诀考证

    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。
  • 北山录

    北山录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 南明死局

    南明死局

    “闯王来了不纳粮”的幻想破灭了,自诩国士无双,如何四处奔走,只为挽救南明危局,在历史的潮水中,如何去挽狂澜于既倒,扶大厦之将倾、、
  • 娘子,你还能再坏点

    娘子,你还能再坏点

    一朝穿越,她成了古代版的灰姑娘,唯一的一次见义勇为,竟然给自己钓来了一个极品金龟婿——皇上的三儿子。只是为嘛大家要用那种如丧考妣的眼神看着她呢?不就是不能人道吗?她马上要守活寡的人都不在乎了,他们又在乎什么?再说了,天下美男那么多,谁说她就一定要守活寡的。----“娘子,为夫这里痛痛。”指指额头上稍微蹭破的一点皮,男人可怜兮兮的看着她,嘴巴撅的老高,都能拴上一头驴。“来来来,呼呼,吹吹就不痛了哦。”将他一把拉过来,某女对着他的额头吹了三口气,没办法,母爱泛滥。--“娘子,他们欺负我。”手指向那一群亲兄热弟,他说的百般委屈。下一刻,就看见某女撸起袖子冲了出去,将最慢的那一个提腿拎了起来,“十三皇子,你是欺负我们三王府没有活人吗?”话音刚落,她直接把他丢出了很远,她才不管他是不是皇上最宠爱的小儿子,谁要是敢欺负她的夫君,杀无赦。--她每天除了吃吃喝喝,就是把保护他当成己任,渐渐地却发现,反倒是自己更加需要他的保护,还有,是哪个王八蛋告诉她,他不能人道吗?那个夜夜让她筋疲力尽的男人分明就是他。--“我不管她是怎么想的,反正总有一天她会是我的女人。”看着她的背影,太子轩辕哲一脸笃定的说道。“我别无所求,只要她能幸福,就算不要这江山,我也心甘情愿。”眼睛一眨不眨的看着她,四皇子轩辕玥喃声说道,敞开的手一点一点的收紧。“她是那样的特别,为了她,我不惜成魔也要护她周全。”看着魔球中她的笑颜,某人一脸邪魅的笑了,眼前被成片的曼珠沙华覆盖。
  • 工作那么好,你为什么选择放弃?(蓝狮子速读系列-职场008)

    工作那么好,你为什么选择放弃?(蓝狮子速读系列-职场008)

    我们在工作中,总会遇到各种各样的瓶颈问题。很多人一旦遇到瓶颈,就想着放弃——我再换一份工作吧!再换一份工作就能解决问题吗?也许,换了工作,同样的问题接踵而至。所以,仔细分析一下你现在的工作,也许,不是工作出了问题,而是你出了问题。那就让我们努力解决它们吧!
  • 致命纠缠:冷帝的冷心猎物

    致命纠缠:冷帝的冷心猎物

    ○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎三年前,意外的情况下遇见他,他的一个眼神,就把我吃的死死的,玩弄过后,一脚踹开——○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎三年后,再次看见他,他那一如往昔猎豹一般的眼神,再次像我射来。他神情愉悦,嘴角边勾起一个恰到好处的弧度,看着疏远、却又沉迷,他轻轻挑起我的下巴,温热的声音从我的耳边撩过,他说:“薛子琪,离开三年,你的外表成熟了,但是你的心、你的身、依旧是那么稚嫩,不谙世事……”我侧开身,躲避他即将要下降的吻,眼眸清明、那里还有一丝痴迷?“韩少,我不是你的猎物,而你,也不是那所谓的X光线!”○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎他就那么的追求着,用尽了我穷极一生的耐力,用尽了他穷极一生的柔情。○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎他手里再次的拥着新人,嘴角勾起一个好看的弧度,温柔的为身边的女人把散开的发丝撩起。他说:“薛子琪,再次得到你,你还是那么的没劲,现在,你是时候退场了!”是时候退场了?我笑……空中的纸张扬起一个诡异的弧度,就像我此时手里攥着的化验单一样,看着永远的那么招人讽刺……我说,韩沐轩,这一次,即使你跪地求我,我也不会回头了,小丑的游戏我已经玩腻了,你,看着也让我恶心了。○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎【本文强调-高层-纠缠-情妇-阴谋-陷害-伤害----】○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎我曾经指着天空,看着漫天的白云,问自己:幸福是什么?爱情又是什么?到最后我才明白,所谓的幸福,所谓的爱情,都是在他给了伤害之后,继续的相溶以沫……别说我傻,也别笑我没骨气,爱情,就如同他一样,是一道根本解不开的数学题,但是这菜,我却吃惯了……○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎飘渺的雨季,永远的是那么湿漉,我的身边,站着一个女人,很漂亮的女人,介于清纯和魅惑之间,微微嘟起的唇,正是韩沐轩说过那种吻起来很够味的女人。细雨打在她的脸上,她眼眸猩红,声音近乎咆哮的对我大喊”你凭什么……你有什么资格待在他的身边,我为他生过孩子,我为他挡过枪,我为他挡过刀!而你,你能为他做什么?你能为他做什么……“本文配乐——张惠妹【真实】——————尚尚读者群,群号:110632659、敲门砖:文中任意人物名字……○●◎○●◎○●◎○●◎推荐好友文文【绝色妖姬】【废後欺君】【倾世冷妃】【弃妃不愁嫁】【霸道总裁学生妻】【逃婚公主个个追】【黑道总裁伪善妻】
  • 我的故事不是传说

    我的故事不是传说

    一所世界上让所有人胆寒的恐惧的,没有任何人可以在活着从哪里走出来?不管你在外面的世界多么的重要人物,也不管一方霸主,就算你是亿万富翁到了哪里也没有用?那是一个有120个国联盟成立监狱?
  • 恋你成瘾

    恋你成瘾

    林执遇上颜习语的那一刻起,就知道这个女人是自己想要的,所以不惜用尽一切手段得到她。颜习语不知道林执究竟看上她哪一点了,她改还不行吗?她想尽一切方法避开他,却还是逃不开他的手掌心。
  • 幽冥怪谈III:致命之旅

    幽冥怪谈III:致命之旅

    二十年前,兰成教授在一次航海旅行中遭遇海难,他和他的同伴被困在一个孤岛中,他们只能依靠吃一种柠檬似的果实和“蜥蜴肉”存活,在所有人都濒临绝望的时候,兰成教授提议每天晚上由一个人讲述他一生中经历过,或者听说过的最古怪离奇的故事,以此来满足一些精神上的需求,然而,这些人在讲完故事之后没过多久便一个个死去,最后只剩下三个人,兰成教授便是其中一个。那么,那次海难真的是一场意外吗?讲完故事的人为何会离奇死去?二十年前究竟有什么不为人知的秘密往事?
  • 洪荒记事

    洪荒记事

    许沟穿越回到了洪荒,发现了一个和仙侠小说不太一样的洪荒,三足金乌是由野鸡变成的。且看他如何在高手如云的洪荒中一步步的成长……
  • 巴什卡小铺(二)

    巴什卡小铺(二)

    1980年10月的一天,我上班来到办公室,按照多年的习惯,坐在写字台后的椅子上,马上打开了收发员早已摆放在案头的报纸,这是一份当天的《哈尔滨日报》。当时的报纸,不像现在有几十版,平日只有四版。人们看报,也不像现在,只浏览一下大标题,而是从头到尾,几乎每一篇文字都会仔细看。那天,四版报面很快看完了,工作还没开始,我就开始看中缝里登的广告。忽然,一则公证处的公告引起了我的注意:兹公告。无国籍俄罗斯人巴什卡·伊万诺芙娜,因病在外侨养老院去世,享年90岁,遗有沙曼街37号房产一处。
  • 影帝大人,快过来

    影帝大人,快过来

    乔慕栖与顾寒琛的狗粮,“时染,我买水军炸了你!”乔慕栖狂敲键盘,不知道在打什么字。旁边的某男微蹙眉,有些不满的看着乔慕栖。他打了个电话,后又向乔慕栖走去。“慕慕,陪我睡觉好不好。”顾寒琛微微嘟起嘴,眨着眼晴朝乔慕栖卖萌。“不要,我在忙事情。”乔慕栖看了眼他,可再看电脑的变化让她有些惊讶。“你说是不是你干…唔…”乔慕栖话还没说完,便被吻住了。“慕慕…乖啊…”于是某男成功的和她睡了觉。