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sartor resartus-第27章

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 choler; as some chimneys consume their own smoke; to keep a whole Satanic School spouting; if it must spout; inaudibly; is a negative yet no slight virtue; nor one of the commonest in these times。

Nevertheless; we will not take upon us to say; that in the strange measure he fell upon; there was not a touch of latent Insanity; whereof indeed the actual condition of these Documents in _Capricornus_ and _Aquarius is_ no bad emblem。  His so unlimited Wanderings; toilsome enough; are without assigned or perhaps assignable aim; internal Unrest seems his sole guidance; he wanders; wanders; as if that curse of the Prophet had fallen on him; and he were 〃made like unto a wheel。〃  Doubtless; too; the chaotic nature of these Paper…bags aggravates our obscurity。  Quite without note of preparation; for example; we come upon the following slip:  〃A peculiar feeling it is that will rise in the Traveller; when turning some hill…range in his desert road; he descries lying far below; embosomed among its groves and green natural bulwarks; and all diminished to a toy…box; the fair Town; where so many souls; as it were seen and yet unseen; are driving their multifarious traffic。  Its white steeple is then truly a starward…pointing finger; the canopy of blue smoke seems like a sort of Lifebreath:  for always; of its own unity; the soul gives unity to whatsoever it looks on with love; thus does the little Dwelling…place of men; in itself a congeries of houses and huts; become for us an individual; almost a person。 But what thousand other thoughts unite thereto; if the place has to ourselves been the arena of joyous or mournful experiences; if perhaps the cradle we were rocked in still stands there; if our Loving ones still dwell there; if our Buried ones there slumber!〃  Does Teufelsdrockh as the wounded eagle is said to make for its own eyrie; and indeed military deserters; and all hunted outcast creatures; turn as if by instinct in the direction of their birthland;fly first; in this extremity; towards his native Entepfuhl; but reflecting that there no help awaits him; take only one wistful look from the distance; and then wend elsewhither?

Little happier seems to be his next flight:  into the wilds of Nature; as if in her mother…bosom he would seek healing。  So at least we incline to interpret the following Notice; separated from the former by some considerable space; wherein; however; is nothing noteworthy:

〃Mountains were not new to him; but rarely are Mountains seen in such combined majesty and grace as here。  The rocks are of that sort called Primitive by the mineralogists; which always arrange themselves in masses of a rugged; gigantic character; which ruggedness; however; is here tempered by a singular airiness of form; and softness of environment:  in a climate favorable to vegetation; the gray cliff; itself covered with lichens; shoots up through a garment of foliage or verdure; and white; bright cottages; tree…shaded; cluster round the everlasting granite。  In fine vicissitude; Beauty alternates with Grandeur:  you ride through stony hollows; along strait passes; traversed by torrents; overhung by high walls of rock; now winding amid broken shaggy chasms; and huge fragments; now suddenly emerging into some emerald valley; where the streamlet collects itself into a Lake; and man has again found a fair dwelling; and it seems as if Peace had established herself in the bosom of Strength。

〃To Peace; however; in this vortex of existence; can the Son of Time not pretend:  still less if some Spectre haunt him from the Past; and the Future is wholly a Stygian Darkness; spectre…bearing。  Reasonably might the Wanderer exclaim to himself:  Are not the gates of this world's happiness inexorably shut against thee; hast thou a hope that is not mad? Nevertheless; one may still murmur audibly; or in the original Greek if that suit thee better:  'Whoso can look on Death will start at no shadows。'

〃From such meditations is the Wanderer's attention called outwards; for now the Valley closes in abruptly; intersected by a huge mountain mass; the stony water…worn ascent of which is not to be accomplished on horseback。 Arrived aloft; he finds himself again lifted into the evening sunset light; and cannot but pause; and gaze round him; some moments there。  An upland irregular expanse of wold; where valleys in complex branchings are suddenly or slowly arranging their descent towards every quarter of the sky。  The mountain…ranges are beneath your feet; and folded together:  only the loftier summits look down here and there as on a second plain; lakes also lie clear and earnest in their solitude。  No trace of man now visible; unless indeed it were he who fashioned that little visible link of Highway; here; as would seem; scaling the inaccessible; to unite Province with Province。  But sunwards; lo you! how it towers sheer up; a world of Mountains; the diadem and centre of the mountain region!  A hundred and a hundred savage peaks; in the last light of Day; all glowing; of gold and amethyst; like giant spirits of the wilderness; there in their silence; in their solitude; even as on the night when Noah's Deluge first dried! Beautiful; nay solemn; was the sudden aspect to our Wanderer。  He gazed over those stupendous masses with wonder; almost with longing desire; never till this hour had he known Nature; that she was One; that she was his Mother and divine。  And as the ruddy glow was fading into clearness in the sky; and the Sun had now departed; a murmur of Eternity and Immensity; of Death and of Life; stole through his soul; and he felt as if Death and Life were one; as if the Earth were not dead; as if the Spirit of the Earth had its throne in that splendor; and his own spirit were therewith holding communion。

〃The spell was broken by a sound of carriage…wheels。  Emerging from the hidden Northward; to sink soon into the hidden Southward; came a gay Barouche…and…four:  it was open; servants and postilions wore wedding favors:  that happy pair; then; had found each other; it was their marriage evening!  Few moments brought them near:  _Du Himmel_!  It was Herr Towgood andBlumine!  With slight unrecognizing salutation they passed me; plunged down amid the neighboring thickets; onwards; to Heaven; and to England; and I; in my friend Richter's words; _I remained alone; behind them; with the Night_。〃

Were it not cruel in these circumstances; here might be the place to insert an observation; gleaned long ago from the great _Clothes…Volume_; where it stands with quite other intent:  〃Some time before Small…pox was extirpated;〃 says the Professor; 〃there came a new malady of the spiritual sort on Europe:  I mean the epidemic; now endemical; of View…hunting。 Poets of old date; being privileged with Senses; had also enjoyed external Nature; but chiefly as we enjoy the crystal cup which holds good or bad liquor for us; that is to say; in silence; or with slight incidental commentary:  never; as I compute; till after the _Sorrows of Werter_; was there man found who would say:  Come let us make a Description!  Having drunk the liquor; come let us eat the glass!  Of which endemic the Jenner is unhappily still to seek。〃  Too true!

We reckon it more important to remark that the Professor's Wanderings; so far as his stoical and cynical envelopment admits us to clear insight; here first take their permanent character; fatuous or not。  That Basilisk…glance of the Barouche…and…four seems to have withered up what little remnant of a purpose may have still lurked in him:  Life has become wholly a dark labyrinth; wherein; through long years; our Friend; flying from spectres; has to stumble about at random; and naturally with more haste than progress。

Foolish were it in us to attempt following him; even from afar; in this extraordinary world…pilgrimage of his; the simplest record of which; were clear record possible; would fill volumes。  Hopeless is the obscurity; unspeakable the confusion。  He glides from country to country; from condition to condition; vanishing and reappearing; no man can calculate how or where。  Through all quarters of the world he wanders; and apparently through all circles of society。  If in any scene; perhaps difficult to fix geographically; he settles for a time; and forms connections; be sure he will snap them abruptly asunder。  Let him sink out of sight as Private Scholar (_Privatsirender_); living by the grace of God in some European capital; you may next find him as Hadjee in the neighborhood of Mecca。  It is an inexplicable Phantasmagoria; capricious; quick…changing; as if our Traveller; instead of limbs and highways; had transported himself by some wishing…carpet; or Fortunatus' Hat。  The whole; too; imparted emblematically; in dim multifarious tokens (as that collection of Street…Advertisements); with only some touch of direct historical notice sparingly interspersed:  little light…islets in the world of haze!  So that; from this point; the Professor is more of an enigma than ever。  In figurative language; we might say he becomes; not indeed a spirit; yet spiritualized; vaporized。  Fact unparalleled in Biography:  The river of his History; which we have traced from its tiniest fountains; and hoped to see flow onward; with increasing current; i
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