登陆注册
15292600000008

第8章 Impressions of London(2)

I have tried in vain to find the causes of these peculiar changes of feeling. The ostensible reasons, as given in the newspaper, are so trivial as to be hardly worthy of belief. For example, here is the kind of news that comes out from the City. "The news that a modus vivendi has been signed between the Sultan of Kowfat and the Shriek-ul-Islam has caused a sudden buoyancy in the City. Steel rails which had been depressed all morning reacted immediately while American mules rose up sharply to par." . . . "Monsieur Poincar, speaking at Bordeaux, said that henceforth France must seek to retain by all possible means the ping-pong championship of the world: values in the City collapsed at once." . . . "Despatches from Bombay say that the Shah of Persia yesterday handed a golden slipper to the Grand Vizier Feebli Pasha as a sign that he might go and chase himself: the news was at once followed by a drop in oil, and a rapid attempt to liquidate everything that is fluid . . ."

But these mysteries of the City I do not pretend to explain. I have passed through the place dozens of times and never noticed anything particular in the way of depression or buoyancy, or falling oil, or rising rails. But no doubt it is there.

A little beyond the city and further down the river the visitor finds this district of London terminating in the gloomy and forbidding Tower, the principal penitentiary of the city. Here Queen Victoria was imprisoned for many years.

Excellent gasoline can be had at the American Garage immediately north of the Tower, where motor repairs of all kinds are also carried on.

These, however, are but the superficial pictures of London, gathered by the eye of the tourist. A far deeper meaning is found in the examination of the great historic monuments of the city. The principal ones of these are the Tower of London (just mentioned), the British Museum and Westminster Abbey. No visitor to London should fail to see these. Indeed he ought to feel that his visit to England is wasted unless he has seen them. I speak strongly on the point because I feel strongly on it. To my mind there is something about the grim fascination of the historic Tower, the cloistered quiet of the Museum and the majesty of the ancient Abbey, which will make it the regret of my life that I didn't see any one of the three. I fully meant to: but I failed: and I can only hope that the circumstances of my failure may be helpful to other visitors.

The Tower of London I most certainly intended to inspect. Each day, after the fashion of every tourist, I wrote for myself a little list of things to do and I always put the Tower of London on it.

No doubt the reader knows the kind of little list that I mean. It runs:

1. Go to bank.

2. Buy a shirt.

3. National Picture Gallery.

4. Razor blades.

5. Tower of London.

6. Soap.

This itinerary, I regret to say, was never carried out in full. I was able at times both to go to the bank and buy a shirt in a single morning: at other times I was able to buy razor blades and almost to find the National Picture Gallery. Meantime I was urged on all sides by my London acquaintances not to fail to see the Tower. "There's a grim fascination about the place," they said; "you mustn't miss it."

I am quite certain that in due course of time I should have made my way to the Tower but for the fact that I made a fatal discovery. I

found out that the London people who urged me to go and see the Tower had never seen it themselves. It appears they never go near it. One night at a dinner a man next to me said, "Have you seen the Tower?

You really ought to. There's a grim fascination about it." I looked him in the face. "Have you seen it yourself?" I asked. "Oh, yes," he answered. "I've seen it." "When?" I asked. The man hesitated. "When I

was just a boy," he said, "my father took me there." "How long ago is that?" I enquired. "About forty years ago," he answered;

"I always mean to go again but I don't somehow seem to get the time."

After this I got to understand that when a Londoner says, "Have you seen the Tower of London?" the answer is, "No, and neither have you."

Take the parallel case of the British Museum. Here is a place that is a veritable treasure house. A repository of some of the most priceless historical relics to be found upon the earth. It contains, for instance, the famous Papyrus Manuscript of Thotmes II of the first Egyptian dynasty--a thing known to scholars all over the world as the oldest extant specimen of what can be called writing; indeed one can here see the actual evolution (I am quoting from a work of reference, or at least from my recollection of it) from the ideographic cuneiform to the phonetic syllabic script. Every time I

have read about that manuscript and have happened to be in Orillia (Ontario) or Schenectady (N.Y.) or any such place, I have felt that I

would be willing to take a whole trip to England to have five minutes at the British Museum, just five, to look at that papyrus. Yet as soon as I got to London this changed. The railway stations of London have been so arranged that to get to any train for the north or west, the traveller must pass the British Museum. The first time I went by it in a taxi, I felt quite a thrill. "Inside those walls," I thought to myself, "is the manuscript of Thotmes II." The next time I

actually stopped the taxi. "Is that the British Museum?" I asked the driver, "I think it is something of the sort, sir," he said. I

hesitated. "Drive me," I said, "to where I can buy safety razor blades."

After that I was able to drive past the Museum with the quiet assurance of a Londoner, and to take part in dinner table discussions as to whether the British Museum or the Louvre contains the greater treasures. It is quite easy any way. All you have to do is to remember that The Winged Victory of Samothrace is in the Louvre and the papyrus of Thotmes II (or some such document) is in the Museum.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 人道逆

    人道逆

    茫茫仙道世界,只见仙者,魔者纵横天地;无人见芸芸众生人间炼狱。看一少年引导人道逆袭仙道,吾以人愿换天心。
  • 爱你千世:宝贝抱歉

    爱你千世:宝贝抱歉

    他,中法混血,邪魅腹黑,顶级家族之子她纯正华夏皇族血脉却是孤儿,喜怒无常,背后拥有的是神秘家族第一次相见,彼岸花从中,她一身白衣,他戏称自己看见了天使。作为‘回报’,她当着所有人的面,泼了他一脸的水。第二次相遇,古墓探险,与众人走散,两人霉运不断,状况百出。第三次相遇,古市寻宝,他们争抢不休‘火花’在一次次的碰撞中产生,是谁先爱上谁?
  • 英雄联盟之一影惊魂

    英雄联盟之一影惊魂

    因比赛失利而备受舆论谴责的年轻职业选手kzed被迫主动撕毁与俱乐部的协定,然而那笔巨大的违约金却使他寸步难移。因找不到工作而受到家人的压力与那笔时时催促的违约金使他几乎崩溃。然而就在这个时候一位神秘的女士来到了他的身边。“就算如今的我已经身败名裂,你们的邀请依然没有作废吗?”在那已失去往日光彩的脸上挂着的是带有淡淡嘲讽的莫名笑容。女士的邀请是帮助年轻人重回巅峰还是将他引入一个更深的深渊?(附:手工封面)
  • 错孕小秘书

    错孕小秘书

    她不过是不小心上错了床,他用得着连续数夜向她索欢吗?呜呜,才不要捏,她要逃,逃的远远地,叫他找不着她……却没想到,那数夜的肌肤之亲已经让她有了他的宝宝啦……
  • 何谓懂音乐

    何谓懂音乐

    《何谓懂音乐》所收的文论基本上均与所谓“学理”有关,但行文的方式不是学术性的“论述”,而是随笔式的“漫议”——如杨燕迪教授对音乐审美、音乐理解、音乐创作、音乐表演、音乐价值判断等问题的议论,以及对相关艺术问题甚至音乐学学科问题的思考。本来,这都是些相当“古板”甚至“深奥”的话题,但杨燕迪教授想试试能否用相对轻松的笔调来触及——因为在他的想象中,这些文字的读者是普通爱乐人。思考,以及与思考紧密相关的读书,其实是带有快感的,但在很多时候思考和读书被搞得很无趣。《何谓懂音乐》所收录的文章及相关书评和书序可被看作是杨燕迪教授的某种个人努力——希望在思考和读书过程中保持乐趣。
  • 苗小不渺小

    苗小不渺小

    浮游且可偷生,看善良打败美貌,如小强般活着的苗小绝不渺小。
  • 仙灵之缘

    仙灵之缘

    一个普普通通的农家小子,因为一次生病留下后遗症而被同村孩童排挤,选择了从军。机缘巧合之下竟意外打开了修仙的大门,接触到一个难以想象的精彩天地。且看一个乡间小子,是如何孤身一人从大千世界的最底层一步一步,最终爬上世界的巅峰,震烁苍穹万族!
  • 异能无良妃:腹黑王爷请躺好

    异能无良妃:腹黑王爷请躺好

    她,二十一世纪的金牌异能杀手,一朝穿越成傻子废物,抢掠兵权,扫平天下。未婚夫要退婚?休想!!他,手掌重权的王爷,他发誓,他从未见过这样的女人,一纸退婚书赐予她,她竟铺上十里红妆扬言要娶自己,且看悍妃如何强嫁妖孽腹黑王爷。新婚夜她看着他一脸娇羞道:“天下唯我独攻,夫君躺好便是!”
  • 星迷

    星迷

    千百年来,人类仰望星空、渴望走出生命故土地球,然而,冰冷的宇宙并不是人类理想的家园……深邃的地质层,遥远的年代,圆形的造物,带有智慧生物加工的痕迹,静静的躺在那里。不知道过了多少年,发生了什么事,造物已经深深地埋入地质层之中。这一天,一种直立行走的物种,无意中接近。PS:宇航灾难文,求认同
  • 我的同桌萌萌哒

    我的同桌萌萌哒

    “林城林城,你妈妈是不是因为你是凌晨生的所以给你起名叫林城?”“...叶檬,你妈妈是不是因为很喜欢吃柠檬所以叫你叶檬啊?”“哎呀这都被你发现了,真是不好意思~”“你干嘛不直接叫叶柠檬?”“那你干嘛不直接叫林狗蛋呢~”“……”