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memories and portraits-第17章

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carry him far into the country with some congenial friend; and now 

keep him dangling about the town from one old book…shop to another; 

and scraping romantic acquaintance with every dog that passed。  His 

talk; compounded of so much sterling sense and so much freakish 

humour; and clothed in language so apt; droll; and emphatic; was a 

perpetual delight to all who knew him before the clouds began to 

settle on his mind。  His use of language was both just and 

picturesque; and when at the beginning of his illness he began to 

feel the ebbing of this power; it was strange and painful to hear 

him reject one word after another as inadequate; and at length 

desist from the search and leave his phrase unfinished rather than 

finish it without propriety。  It was perhaps another Celtic trait 

that his affections and emotions; passionate as these were; and 

liable to passionate ups and downs; found the most eloquent 

expression both in words and gestures。  Love; anger; and 

indignation shone through him and broke forth in imagery; like what 

we read of Southern races。  For all these emotional extremes; and 

in spite of the melancholy ground of his character; he had upon the 

whole a happy life; nor was he less fortunate in his death; which 

at the last came to him unaware。









CHAPTER X。 TALK AND TALKERS





Sir; we had a good talk。 … JOHNSON。



As we must account for every idle word; so we must for every idle 

silence。 … FRANKLIN。





THERE can be no fairer ambition than to excel in talk; to be 

affable; gay; ready; clear and welcome; to have a fact; a thought; 

or an illustration; pat to every subject; and not only to cheer the 

flight of time among our intimates; but bear our part in that great 

international congress; always sitting; where public wrongs are 

first declared; public errors first corrected; and the course of 

public opinion shaped; day by day; a little nearer to the right。  

No measure comes before Parliament but it has been long ago 

prepared by the grand jury of the talkers; no book is written that 

has not been largely composed by their assistance。  Literature in 

many of its branches is no other than the shadow of good talk; but 

the imitation falls far short of the original in life; freedom and 

effect。  There are always two to a talk; giving and taking; 

comparing experience and according conclusions。  Talk is fluid; 

tentative; continually 〃in further search and progress〃; while 

written words remain fixed; become idols even to the writer; found 

wooden dogmatisms; and preserve flies of obvious error in the amber 

of the truth。  Last and chief; while literature; gagged with 

linsey…woolsey; can only deal with a fraction of the life of man; 

talk goes fancy free and may call a spade a spade。  Talk has none 

of the freezing immunities of the pulpit。  It cannot; even if it 

would; become merely aesthetic or merely classical like literature。  

A jest intervenes; the solemn humbug is dissolved in laughter; and 

speech runs forth out of the contemporary groove into the open 

fields of nature; cheery and cheering; like schoolboys out of 

school。  And it is in talk alone that we can learn our period and 

ourselves。  In short; the first duty of a man is to speak; that is 

his chief business in this world; and talk; which is the harmonious 

speech of two or more; is by far the most accessible of pleasures。  

It costs nothing in money; it is all profit; it completes our 

education; founds and fosters our friendships; and can be enjoyed 

at any age and in almost any state of health。



The spice of life is battle; the friendliest relations are still a 

kind of contest; and if we would not forego all that is valuable in 

our lot; we must continually face some other person; eye to eye; 

and wrestle a fall whether in love or enmity。  It is still by force 

of body; or power of character or intellect; that we attain to 

worthy pleasures。  Men and women contend for each other in the 

lists of love; like rival mesmerists; the active and adroit decide 

their challenges in the sports of the body; and the sedentary sit 

down to chess or conversation。  All sluggish and pacific pleasures 

are; to the same degree; solitary and selfish; and every durable 

band between human beings is founded in or heightened by some 

element of competition。  Now; the relation that has the least root 

in matter is undoubtedly that airy one of friendship; and hence; I 

suppose; it is that good talk most commonly arises among friends。  

Talk is; indeed; both the scene and instrument of friendship。  It 

is in talk alone that the friends can measure strength; and enjoy 

that amicable counter…assertion of personality which is the gauge 

of relations and the sport of life。



A good talk is not to be had for the asking。  Humours must first be 

accorded in a kind of overture or prologue; hour; company and 

circumstance be suited; and then; at a fit juncture; the subject; 

the quarry of two heated minds; spring up like a deer out of the 

wood。  Not that the talker has any of the hunter's pride; though he 

has all and more than all his ardour。  The genuine artist follows 

the stream of conversation as an angler follows the windings of a 

brook; not dallying where he fails to 〃kill。〃  He trusts implicitly 

to hazard; and he is rewarded by continual variety; continual 

pleasure; and those changing prospects of the truth that are the 

best of education。  There is nothing in a subject; so called; that 

we should regard it as an idol; or follow it beyond the promptings 

of desire。  Indeed; there are few subjects; and so far as they are 

truly talkable; more than the half of them may be reduced to three: 

that I am I; that you are you; and that there are other people 

dimly understood to be not quite the same as either。  Wherever talk 

may range; it still runs half the time on these eternal lines。  The 

theme being set; each plays on himself as on an instrument; asserts 

and justifies himself; ransacks his brain for instances and 

opinions; and brings them forth new…minted; to his own surprise and 

the admiration of his adversary。  All natural talk is a festival of 

ostentation; and by the laws of the game each accepts and fans the 

vanity of the other。  It is from that reason that we venture to lay 

ourselves so open; that we dare to be so warmly eloquent; and that 

we swell in each other's eyes to such a vast proportion。  For 

talkers; once launched; begin to overflow the limits of their 

ordinary selves; tower up to the height of their secret 

pretensions; and give themselves out for the heroes; brave; pious; 

musical and wise; that in their most shining moments they aspire to 

be。  So they weave for themselves with words and for a while 

inhabit a palace of delights; temple at once and theatre; where 

they fill the round of the world's dignities; and feast with the 

gods; exulting in Kudos。  And when the talk is over; each goes his 

way; still flushed with vanity and admiration; still trailing 

clouds of glory; each declines from the height of his ideal orgie; 

not in a moment; but by slow declension。  I remember; in the 

ENTR'ACTE of an afternoon performance; coming forth into the 

sunshine; in a beautiful green; gardened corner of a romantic city; 

and as I sat and smoked; the music moving in my blood; I seemed to 

sit there and evaporate THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (for it was that I had 

been hearing) with a wonderful sense of life; warmth; well…being 

and pride; and the noises of the city; voices; bells and marching 

feet; fell together in my ears like a symphonious orchestra。  In 

the same way; the excitement of a good talk lives for a long while 

after in the blood; the heart still hot within you; the brain still 

simmering; and the physical earth swimming around you with the 

colours of the sunset。



Natural talk; like ploughing; should turn up a large surface of 

life; rather than dig mines into geological strata。  Masses of 

experience; anecdote; incident; cross…lights; quotation; historical 

instances; the whole flotsam and jetsam of two minds forced in and 

in upon the matter in hand from every point of the compass; and 

from every degree of mental elevation and abasement … these are the 

material with which talk is fortified; the food on which the 

talkers thrive。  Such argument as is proper to the exercise should 

still be brief and seizing。  Talk should proceed by instances; by 

the apposite; not the expository。  It should keep close along the 

lines of humanity; near the bosoms and businesses of men; at the 

level where history; fiction and experience intersect and 

illuminate each other。  I am I; and You are You; with all my heart; 

but conceive how these lean propositions change and brighten when; 

instead of words; the actual you and I sit cheek by jowl; the 

spirit housed in the live body; and the very clothes uttering 

voices to co
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