登陆注册
14830600000050

第50章 CHAPTER XIV. A GOSSIP ON A NOVEL OF DUMAS'S(3)

Yes; in spite of Miss Yonge, who introduced me to the name of d'Artagnan only to dissuade me from a nearer knowledge of the man, I have to add morality. There is no quite good book without a good morality; but the world is wide, and so are morals. Out of two people who have dipped into Sir Richard Burton's THOUSAND AND ONENIGHTS, one shall have been offended by the animal details; another to whom these were harmless, perhaps even pleasing, shall yet have been shocked in his turn by the rascality and cruelty of all the characters. Of two readers, again, one shall have been pained by the morality of a religious memoir, one by that of the VICOMTE DEBRAGELONNE. And the point is that neither need be wrong. We shall always shock each other both in life and art; we cannot get the sun into our pictures, nor the abstract right (if there be such a thing) into our books; enough if, in the one, there glimmer some hint of the great light that blinds us from heaven; enough if, in the other, there shine, even upon foul details, a spirit of magnanimity. I would scarce send to the VICOMTE a reader who was in quest of what we may call puritan morality. The ventripotent mulatto, the great cater, worker, earner and waster, the man of much and witty laughter, the man of the great heart and alas! of the doubtful honesty, is a figure not yet clearly set before the world; he still awaits a sober and yet genial portrait; but with whatever art that may be touched, and whatever indulgence, it will not be the portrait of a precision. Dumas was certainly not thinking of himself, but of Planchet, when he put into the mouth of d'Artagnan's old servant this excellent profession: "MONSIEUR, J'ETAIS UNE DE CES BONNES PATES D'HOMMES QUE DIEU A FAIT POURS'ANIMER PENDANT UN CERTAIN TEMPS ET POUR TROUVER BONNES TOUTESCHOSES QUI ACCOMPAGNENT LEUR SEJOUR SUR LA TERRE." He was thinking, as I say, of Planchet, to whom the words are aptly fitted; but they were fitted also to Planchet's creator; and perhaps this struck him as he wrote, for observe what follows:

"D'ARTAGNAN S'ASSIT ALORS PRES DE LA FENETRE, ET, CETTE PHILOSOPHIEDE PLANCHET LUI AYANT PARU SOLIDE, IL Y REVA." In a man who finds all things good, you will scarce expect much zeal for negative virtues: the active alone will have a charm for him; abstinence, however wise, however kind, will always seem to such a judge entirely mean and partly impious. So with Dumas. Chastity is not near his heart; nor yet, to his own sore cost, that virtue of frugality which is the armour of the artist. Now, in the VICOMTE, he had much to do with the contest of Fouquet and Colbert.

Historic justice should be all upon the side of Colbert, of official honesty, and fiscal competence.

And Dumas knew it well: three times at least he shows his knowledge; once it is but flashed upon us and received with the laughter of Fouquet himself, in the jesting controversy in the gardens of Saint Mande; once it is touched on by Aramis in the forest of Senart; in the end, it is set before us clearly in one dignified speech of the triumphant Colbert. But in Fouquet, the waster, the lover of good cheer and wit and art, the swift transactor of much business, "L'HOMME DE BRUIT, L'HOMME DE PLAISIR, L'HOMME QUI N'EST QUE PARCEQUE LES AUTRES SONT," Dumas saw something of himself and drew the figure the more tenderly. It is to me even touching to see how he insists on Fouquet's honour; not seeing, you might think, that unflawed honour is impossible to spendthrifts; but rather, perhaps, in the light of his own life, seeing it too well, and clinging the more to what was left. Honour can survive a wound; it can live and thrive without a member. The man rebounds from his disgrace; he begins fresh foundations on the ruins of the old; and when his sword is broken, he will do valiantly with his dagger. So it is with Fouquet in the book; so it was with Dumas on the battlefield of life.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 绝世风华小郡主

    绝世风华小郡主

    楚若初,一个生来注定不安稳的姑娘,无论前世今生,无论在二十一世纪的国公馆,还是作为云羽大陆某个流云山下来的小郡主,她从没想过做个米虫,她自诩可是很有志气的国家未来的栋梁。自从来了都城,卷风云,斗深宅,玩经商,没事勾搭勾搭花美男。好不快活。然而命运悄然而至,属于楚若初的风采才刚刚开始..
  • 不要质疑我的保镖室友

    不要质疑我的保镖室友

    当在错的路上爱上对的人,你会选择进还是退?同是女生,她却阴差阳错地成为了她的保镖,爱情悄然而至,选择波涛汹涌的爱情还是涓涓细流的人生,这永远是别人不能为你做的选择题。并非一见钟情,只因抵挡不住细心日久生情。大学的生活从来不缺乏笑料,也不缺少“第三者”。
  • 传奇黑戒

    传奇黑戒

    一个偏远村子里走出来的少年,高考全省并列第二,去大学的路上,邂逅同为第二的县长女儿,救下被拐卖的苗疆少女。随着桃花运的扩大,秦小天有些力不从心了,于是,一个神秘的黑戒出来了。
  • 网游之御龙剑神

    网游之御龙剑神

    曾经的天王,遭兄弟背叛,黯然离开网游。四年之后,叶风王者归来,手持上古神剑,怀拥绝世美女,御神龙,破苍穹,登临巅峰!
  • 彼岸花前的“零”落

    彼岸花前的“零”落

    被抛弃的零雪在初中遇见她的好姐妹勤果,在大学时期因为一次偶然,零雪遇见了四个富家子弟,在一系列的事情发展下,零雪最深处的记忆被挖掘,那是零雪在孤儿院的生活,而所有的起点也是从这里开始......零雪也在一步步的改变,变得更强。
  • The Lure of the Dim Trails

    The Lure of the Dim Trails

    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。
  • 无间传说

    无间传说

    天有三十三重,地狱有十八层,人间有一界。远古之前,三界本为一界,又名无间界,亿万年前,三界破碎,亿年过去,岌岌可危。人间之中,天选之人出世,六子意外之中获得道德经的认可,功法,医修,武技三大传承改变了六子的人生。为了寻找死去的恋人,他苦苦修炼,恋人找到了,却忘记了他,同时最终,却卷入另外一个漩涡......
  • 花谢月如初之皇后万岁

    花谢月如初之皇后万岁

    一场蓄意的谋杀,令她意外穿越。什么?!代价进宫?!好吧,算我倒霉,嫁就嫁吧,但那个爱找茬的皇上是怎么一回事儿啊?阴谋诡计什么的,其实我很害怕的好不好。不死之身?神仙的补偿?难道我是主角上身?RP太好?但是,我不要补偿,让我回家好不?怎么这个世界就我一个是单纯的傻子吗?!任你们唬弄,任你们欺骗吗?!为什么只把我一个人蒙在鼓里……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 愿你们遇到小白

    愿你们遇到小白

    每个人的世界里都会遇到一个类似小白的女孩,也许你和小白已经在一起,也许你的小白在等你!我不是作家,只是过着自己的生活并记录自己的生活——东不拉昊
  • 默自尘渊

    默自尘渊

    =============================================================================================