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biographical study of a. w. kinglake-第3部分

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he mingled interest  and horror inspired in him by this extra…ordinary man finds  expression in his 〃Invasion of the Crimea〃 (ii。 157)。  A few; a  very few survivors; still remember his appearance and manners in  the forties。  The eminent husband of a lady; now passed away; who  in her lifetime gave Sunday dinners at which Kinglake was always  present; speaks of him as SENSITIVE; quiet in the presence of noisy  people; of Brookfield and the overpowering Bernal Osborne; liking  their company; but never saying anything worthy of remembrance。  A  popular old statesman; still active in the House of Commons;  recalls meeting him at Palmerston; Lord Harrington's seat; where  was assembled a party in honour of Madame Guiccioli and her second  husband; the Marquis de Boissy; and tells me that he attached  himself to ladies; not to gentlemen; nor ever joined in general  tattle。  Like many other famous men; he passed through a period of  shyness; which yielded to women's tactfulness only。  From the first  they appreciated him; 〃if you were as gentle as your friend  Kinglake;〃 writes Mrs。 Norton reproachfully to Hayward in the  sulks。  Another coaeval of those days calls him handsome … an  epithet I should hardly apply to him later … slight; not tall;  sharp featured; with dark hair well tended; always modishly dressed  after the fashion of the thirties; the fashion of Bulwer's  exquisites; or of H。 K。 Browne's 〃Nicholas Nickleby〃 illustrations;  leaving on all who saw him an impression of great personal  distinction; yet with an air of youthful ABANDON which never quite  left him: 〃He was pale; small; and delicate in appearance;〃 says  Mrs。 Simpson; Nassau Senior's daughter; who knew him to the end of  his life; while Mrs。 Andrew Crosse; his friend in the Crimean  decade; cites his finely chiselled features and intellectual brow;  〃a complexion bloodless with the pallor not of ill…health; but of  an old Greek bust。〃



CHAPTER II … 〃EOTHEN〃



〃EOTHEN〃 appeared in 1844。  Twice; Kinglake tells us; he had  essayed the story of his travels; twice abandoned it under a sense  of strong disinclination to write。  A third attempt was induced by  an entreaty from his friend Eliot Warburton; himself projecting an  Eastern tour; and to Warburton in a characteristic preface the  narrative is addressed。  The book; when finished; went the round of  the London market without finding a publisher。  It was offered to  John Murray; who cited his refusal of it as the great blunder of  his professional life; consoling himself with the thought that his  father had equally lacked foresight thirty years before in  declining the 〃Rejected Addresses〃; he secured the copyright later  on。  It was published in the end by a personal friend; Ollivier; of  Pall Mall; Kinglake paying 50 pounds to cover risk of loss; even  worse terms than were obtained by Warburton two years afterwards  from Colburn; who owned in the fifties to having cleared 6;000  pounds by 〃The Crescent and the Cross。〃  The volume was an octavo  of 418 pages; the curious folding…plate which forms the  frontispiece was drawn and coloured by the author; and was compared  by the critics to a tea…tray。  In front is Moostapha the Tatar; the  two foremost figures in the rear stand for accomplished Mysseri;  whom Kinglake was delighted to recognize long afterwards as a  flourishing hotel keeper in Constantinople; and Steel; the  Yorkshire servant; in his striped pantry jacket; 〃looking out for  gentlemen's seats。〃  Behind are 〃Methley;〃 Lord Pollington; in a  broad…brimmed hat; and the booted leg of Kinglake; who modestly hid  his figure by a tree; but exposed his foot; of which he was very  proud。  Of the other characters; 〃Our Lady of Bitterness〃 was Mrs。  Procter; 〃Carrigaholt〃 was Henry Stuart Burton of Carrigaholt;  County Clare。  Here and there are allusions; obvious at the time;  now needing a scholiast; which have not in any of the reprints been  explained。  In their ride through the Balkans they talked of old  Eton days。  〃We bullied Keate; and scoffed at Larrey Miller and  Okes; we rode along loudly laughing; and talked to the grave  Servian forest as though it were the Brocas clump。〃 (9)  Keate  requires no interpreter; Okes was an Eton tutor; afterwards Provost  of King's。  Larrey or Laurie Miller was an old tailor in Keate's  Lane who used to sit on his open shop…board; facing the street; a  mark for the compliments of passing boys; as frolicsome youngsters  in the days of Addison and Steele; as High School lads in the days  of Walter Scott; were accustomed to 〃smoke the cobler。〃  The Brocas  was a meadow sacred to badger…baiting and cat…hunts。  The badgers  were kept by a certain Jemmy Flowers; who charged sixpence for each  〃draw〃; Puss was turned out of a bag and chased by dogs; her chance  being to reach and climb a group of trees near the river; known as  the 〃Brocas Clump。〃  Of the quotations; 〃a Yorkshireman  hippodamoio〃 (p。 35) is; I am told; an OBITER DICTUM of Sir Francis  Doyle。  〃Striving to attain;〃 etc。 (p。 33); is taken not quite  correctly from Tennyson's 〃Timbuctoo。〃  Our crew were 〃a solemn  company〃 (p。 57) is probably a reminiscence of 〃we were a gallant  company〃 in 〃The Siege of Corinth。〃  For 〃'the own armchair' of our  Lyrist's 'Sweet Lady'〃 Anne'〃 (p。 161) see the poem; 〃My own arm… chair〃 in Barry Cornwall's 〃English Lyrics。〃  〃Proud Marie of  Anjou〃 (p。 96) and 〃single…sin … 〃 (p。  121); are unintelligible; a  friend once asked Kinglake to explain the former; but received for  answer; 〃Oh! that is a private thing。〃  It may; however; have been  a pet name for little Marie de Viry; Procter's niece; and the CHERE  AMIE of his verse; whom Eothen must have met often at his friend's  house。  The St。 Simonians of p。 83 were the disciples of Comte de  St。 Simon; a Parisian reformer in the latter part of the eighteenth  century; who endeavoured to establish a social republic based on  capacity and labour。  Pere Enfantin was his disciple。  The 〃mystic  mother〃 was a female Messiah; expected to become the parent of a  new Saviour。  〃Sir Robert once said a good thing〃 (p。 93); refers  possibly to Sir Robert Peel; not famous for epigram; whose one good  thing is said to have been bestowed upon a friend before Croker's  portrait in the Academy。  〃Wonderful likeness;〃 said the friend;  〃it gives the very quiver of the mouth。〃  〃Yes;〃 said Sir Robert;  〃and the arrow coming out of it。〃  Or it may mean Sir Robert  Inglis; Peel's successor at Oxford; more noted for his genial  kindness and for the perpetual bouquet in his buttonhole at a date  when such ornaments were not worn; than for capacity to conceive  and say good things。  In some mischievous lines describing the  Oxford election where Inglis supplanted Peel; Macaulay wrote


〃And then said all the Doctors sitting in the Divinity School; Not this man; but Sir Robert' … now Sir Robert was a fool。〃


But in the fifth and later editions Kinglake altered it to 〃Sir  John。〃

By a curious oversight in the first two editions (p。 41) JOVE was  made to gaze on Troy from Samothrace; it was rightly altered to  Neptune in the third; and 〃eagle eye of Jove〃 in the following  sentence was replaced by 〃dread Commoter of our globe。〃  The phrase  〃a natural Chiffney…bit〃 (p。 109); I have found unintelligible to… day through lapse of time even to professional equestrians and  stable…keepers。  Samuel Chiffney; a famous rider and trainer; was  born in 1753; and won the Derby on Skyscraper in 1789。  He managed  the Prince of Wales's stud; was the subject of discreditable  insinuations; and was called before the Jockey Club。  Nothing was  proved against him; but in consequence of the FRACAS the Prince  severed his connection with the Club and sold his horses。  Chiffney  invented a bit named after him; a curb with two snaffles; which  gave a stronger bearing on the sides of a horse's mouth。  His rule  in racing was to keep a slack rein and to ride a waiting race; not  calling on his horse till near the end。  His son Samuel; who  followed him; observed the same plan; from its frequent success the  term 〃Chiffney rush〃 became proverbial。  In his ride through the  desert (p。 169) Kinglake speaks of his 〃native bells … the innocent  bells of Marlen; that never before sent forth their music beyond  the Blaygon hills。〃  Marlen bells is the local name for the fine  peal of St。 Mary Magdalen; Taunton。  The Blaygon; more commonly  called the Blagdon Hills; run parallel with the Quantocks; and  between them lies the fertile Vale of Taunton Deane。  〃Damascus;〃  he says; on p。 245; 〃was safer than Oxford〃; and adds a note on Mr。  Everett's degree which requires correction。  It is true that an  attempt was made to NON…PLACET Mr。 Everett's honorary degree in the  Oxford Theatre in 1843 on the ground of his being a Unitarian; not  true that it succeeded。  It was a conspiracy by the young lions of  the Newmania; who had organized a formidable opposition to the  degree; and would have created a painful scene even if defeated。   But the Proctor of that year; Jelf; happened to be the most…hated  official of the century; and the furious groans of undergraduate  displeasure at his presence; continuing unabated for three…quarters  of an hour; compelled Wynter; the Vice…Chancellor; to break up the  Assembly; without recitation of the prizes; but not without  conferring the degrees in dumb show: unconscious Mr。 Everett  smilingly took his place in red gown among the Doctors; the Vice… Chancellor asserting afterwards; what was true in the letter though  not in the spirit; that he did not hear the NON…PLACETS。  So while  Everett was obnoxious to the Puseyites; Jelf was obnoxious to the  undergraduates; the cannonade of the angry youngsters drowned the  odium of the theological malcontents; in the words of Bombastes:


〃Another lion gave another roar; And the first lion thought the last a bore。〃


The popularity of 〃Eothen〃 is a paradox: it fascinates by violating  all the rules which convention assigns to viatic narrative。  It  traverses the most affecting regions of the world; and describes no  one of them: the Troad … and we get only his childish raptures over  Pope's 〃Homer's Iliad〃; Stamboul … and he recounts the murderous  services rendered by the Golden Horn to t
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