登陆注册
15451300000007

第7章 CHAPTER IV(1)

In a year or two more came Waterloo and the European peace. Then Mr George Pontifex went abroad more than once. I remember seeing at Battersby in after years the diary which he kept on the first of these occasions. It is a characteristic document. I felt as I read it that the author before starting had made up his mind to admire only what he thought it would be creditable in him to admire, to look at nature and art only through the spectacles that had been handed down to him by generation after generation of prigs and impostors. The first glimpse of Mont Blanc threw Mr Pontifex into a conventional ecstasy. "My feelings I cannot express. I gasped, yet hardly dared to breathe, as I viewed for the first time the monarch of the mountains. I seemed to fancy the genius seated on his stupendous throne far above his aspiring brethren and in his solitary might defying the universe. I was so overcome by my feelings that I was almost bereft of my faculties, and would not for worlds have spoken after my first exclamation till I found some relief in a gush of tears. With pain I tore myself from contemplating for the first time 'at distance dimly seen' (though I felt as if I had sent my soul and eyes after it), this sublime spectacle." After a nearer view of the Alps from above Geneva he walked nine out of the twelve miles of the descent: "My mind and heart were too full to sit still, and I found some relief by exhausting my feelings through exercise." In the course of time he reached Chamonix and went on a Sunday to the Montanvert to see the Mer de Glace. There he wrote the following verses for the visitors' book, which he considered, so he says, "suitable to the day and scene":-Lord, while these wonders of thy hand I see, My soul in holy reverence bends to thee.

These awful solitudes, this dread repose, Yon pyramid sublime of spotless snows, These spiry pinnacles, those smiling plains, This sea where one eternal winter reigns, These are thy works, and while on them I gaze I hear a silent tongue that speaks thy praise.

Some poets always begin to get groggy about the knees after running for seven or eight lines. Mr Pontifex's last couplet gave him a lot of trouble, and nearly every word has been erased and rewritten once at least. In the visitors' book at the Montanvert, however, he must have been obliged to commit himself definitely to one reading or another. Taking the verses all round, I should say that Mr Pontifex was right in considering them suitable to the day; I don't like being too hard even on the Mer de Glace, so will give no opinion as to whether they are suitable to the scene also.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 说话说到位

    说话说到位

    说话很难,难就难在说话太容易。这并不矛盾。薛维的话可以张嘴就来,骂人的话可以脱口而出,吹牛也用不着上税,实在自己一个人寂寞还可能自言自语。但在这人声鼎沸的世界里,让人们挑着听你的声音就不太容易了,再让人为你的话而鼓掌喝彩更是难上加难。有时候使尽全力去喊未必让人震惊,一声叹息却让人心潮澎湃;洋洋洒洒的长篇大论常有鼾声相伴、平平淡淡的只言片语指不定就能换来掌声雷动。看来说话确是一门学问。
  • minecraft:暗黑崛起

    minecraft:暗黑崛起

    延续上百年的海尤曼帝国,表面上的浮华并不能掩盖即将衰落的现实。曾经覆灭边缘,如今蠢蠢欲动。一切,都将改变......
  • 快穿之女配们的心愿

    快穿之女配们的心愿

    宁岑只是一个普普通通的人。某一天,她遇见了一个系统,系统淡定地告诉她,她己经死亡了,若是想要活下来,就需要帮助女配来完成心愿。宁岑同意了。于是,宁岑开始了她的穿越之旅。
  • 战神联盟,圣之六芒星

    战神联盟,圣之六芒星

    圣之六芒星,和她的命运相织,上古世纪的战争,和阻止接下来的轮回,命运交替,光的守护,鲜血祭奠,和你一起守护。
  • 小仙子苜蓿

    小仙子苜蓿

    一个名叫苜蓿的女孩,通过空梦扇和杏樱鞋穿梭于各大书籍之中,俗话说,不作不死,她居然真的被留在书本里,出不来了?
  • 强势魔妃被扑倒

    强势魔妃被扑倒

    她是异世来的魔,穿越成天王朝的废材丑颜嫡小姐,强势归来,智斗蛇蝎心肠的姨娘,表里不一的庶姐,渣男,成了世人眼里的绝世妖妃,惹谁都不能惹的魔女,当她遇上他,说:你长得太漂亮了,比我还漂亮,我不要你,他说:那我去毁颜了,以后你就没这么漂亮的人带出去拉风了他是世人眼里天王朝的残废噬血王爷,有着世人不知的绝世美颜,他负尽天下,只为她红颜一笑,用尽温柔只宠她一人,他说,只要你喜欢的,我会赔上全世界去找,她答:我喜欢那边那个美男,还有这个,他说:全世界的男人,你只能有我一个,她说:惹上我就要有背负罪孽的觉悟,背叛我就要有下地狱的准备,只因我是个魔,他答:为你我早成了魔,我们刚好配一对,只为你。
  • 得罪狼的兔子

    得罪狼的兔子

    阳光下,一个孩子吹出了无数的肥皂泡。它们有的大,有的小,似乎每一个吹出时都向上飞,向上飞。然而,不一会儿,它们开始了不同的变化:有的迅速地向上,透着太阳,闪闪地发出七色的光彩,映着美丽的世界;而有的,则开始偷偷地往下沉落。
  • 兽皇,你的皇妃要出逃

    兽皇,你的皇妃要出逃

    白梓宸,黑道之子,高智商低情商的代表,脾气暴躁,性格…傲娇?是一条不折不扣的人鱼。夏郁,白梓宸的哥哥,性格冷漠,却唯独对他好。在夏郁心中隐藏着一个秘密,他…
  • 我为食狂

    我为食狂

    一个手艺极为高超的小伙子,他制作的美食保证了我生命的延续。某重度厌食症患者。看他做菜简直就是一种享受,并且味道绝佳,他天生就是做美食家的奇才!国家美食协会会长。从餐厅环境到食物的美妙,任何描述在一盘菜面前都显得苍白无力,他的餐厅即使开在山巅,也值得人们修一条缆道去品尝。米其林美食评审员。
  • 南门奇谈录

    南门奇谈录

    在黑暗中,有一道亮光闪过,村庄里的五个孩子心脏莫名其妙的消失,到底是什么情况!时空破碎?鬼怪侵染?这一切都在南门奇谈录中录入。我们生活在同一个世界,却对世界有着不同的看法,对这个世界有个不同的理解,对这个世界有不同的责任。而我的责任就是在相同的世界中用不同的手段,干着想象之外的事。