查尔斯·兰姆/Charles Lamb

查尔斯·兰姆（1775—1834），英国最杰出的小品文作家、散文家。兰姆十分赞赏浪漫主义思潮中人性主义的主张，并以此创作了充满温情和调侃的个性化散文。同时，兰姆也热爱城市生活，善于用敏锐独特的眼光捕捉市井生活中变幻的都市风情。其后期创作的《伊里亚随笔》，情趣丰富，表述精妙，堪称兰姆散文创作的最高成就。《古瓷器》是其中的名篇之一。本文节选自《古瓷器》的前半部分。

I have an almost feminine partiality for old china.When I go to see any great house,I inquire for the china closet,and next for the pictur e gallery.I cannot defend the order of preference,but by saying that w e have all some taste or other,of too ancient a date to admit of our re membering distinctly that it was an acquired one.I can call to mind the first play,and the first exhibition,that I was taken to;but I am not conscious of a time when china jars and saucers were introduced into my imagination.

I had no repugnance then--why should I now have?--to those little,l awless,azure-tinctured grotesques,that under the notion of men and wom en float about,uncircumscribed by any element,in that world before per spective--a china teacup.

I like to see my old friends--whom distance cannot diminish--figurin g up in the air (so they appear to our optics ),yet on terra firma stil l--for so we must in courtesy interpret that speck of deeper blue,which the decorous artist,to prevent absurdity,had made to spring up beneath their sandals.

I love the men with women's faces,and the women,if possible,with still more womanish expressions.

Here is a young and courtly mandarin,handing tea to a lady from a s alver--two miles off.See how distance seems to set off respect!And her e the same lady,or another--for likeness is identity on teacups--is ste pping into a little fairy boat,moored on the hither side of this calm g arden river,with a dainty mincing foot,which in a right angle of incid ence(as angles go in our world) must infallibly land her in the midst of a flowery mead--furlong off on the other side of the same strange stream!

Farther on--if far or near can be predicated of their world--see hor ses,trees,pagodas,dancing the hays.

Here--a cow and rabbit couchant,and coextensive--so objects show,s een through the lucid atmosphere of fine Cathay.

I was pointing out to my cousin last evening,over our Hyson (which we are old-fashioned enough to drink unmixed still of an afternoon),som e of these speciosa miracula upon a set of extraordinary old blue china(a recent purchase) which we were now for the first time using;and coul d not help remarking how favorable circumstances had been to us of late years that we could afford to please the eye sometimes with trifles of t his sort--when a passing sentiment seemed to overshade the brows of my c ompanion.I am quick at detecting these summer clouds in Bridget.

"I wish the good old times would come again," she said,"when we wer e not quite so rich.I do not mean that I want to be poor;but there was a middle state"--so she was pleased to ramble on--"in which I am sure w e were a great deal happier.A purchase is but a purchase,now that you have money enough and to spare.Formerly it used to be a triumph.When w e coveted a cheap luxury (and,O!How much ado I had to get you to conse nt in those times!)--we were used to have a debate two or three days bef ore,and to weigh the for and against,and think what we might spare it out of,and what saving we could hit upon,that should be an equivalent.A thing was worth buying then,when we felt the money that we paid for i t.

"Do you remember the brown suit,which you made to hang upon you,ti ll all your friends cried shame upon you,it grew so threadbare--and all because of that folio Beaumont and Fletcher,which you dragged home late at night from Barker's in Covent Garden?Do you remember how we eyed it for weeks before we could make up our minds to the purchase,and had not come to a determination till it was near ten o'clock of the Saturday ni ght,when you set off from lslington,fearing you should be too late--an d when the old bookseller with some grumbling opened his shop,and by th e twinkling taper(for he was setting bedwards)lighted out the relic from his dusty treasures--and when you lugged it home,wishing it were twice as cumbersome--and when you presented it to me--and when we were explori ng the perfectness of it (collating,you called it)--and while I was rep airing some of these loose leaves with paste,which your impatience woul d not suffer to be left till daybreak--was there no pleasure in being a poor man?Or can those neat black clothes which you wear now,and are so careful to keep brushed,since we have become rich and finical,give you half the honest vanity with which you flaunted it about in that overworn suit--your old corbeau--for four or five weeks longer than you should ha ve done,to pacify your conscience for the mighty sum of fifteen--or six teen shillings was it?--a great affair we thought it then--which you had lavished on the old folio.Now you can afford to buy any book that pleas es you,but I do not see that you ever bring me home any nice old purcha ses now.

"When you came home with twenty apologies for laying out a less numb er of shillings upon that print after Leonardo,which we christened the'Lady Blanch';when you look at the purchase,and thought of the money--and thought of the money,and looked again at the picture--was there no pleasure in being a poor man?Now,you have nothing to do but to walk in to Colnaghi's,and buy a wilderness of Leonardos.Yet do you?

"Then,do you remember our pleasant walks to Enfield,and Potter's Bar,and Waltham,when we had a holiday--holidays,and all other fun,ar e gone now we are rich--and the little hand-basket in which I used to de posit our day's fare of savory cold lamb and salad--and how you would p ry about at noontide for some decent house,where we might go in and pro duce our store--only paying for the ale that you must call for--and spec ulate upon the looks of the landlady,and whether she was likely to allo w us a tablecloth--and wish for such another honest hostess as Izaak Wal ton has described many a one on the pleasant blanks of the Lea,when he went a-fishing--anti sometimes they would prove obliging enough,and som etimes they would look grudgingly upon us--but we had cheerful looks sti ll for one another,and would eat our plain food savorily,scarcely grud ging Piscator his Trout Hall?Now--when we go out a day's pleasuring,w hich is seldom,moreover,we ride part of the way--and go into a fine in n,and order the best of dinners,never debating the expense--which,aft er all,never has half the relish of those chance country snaps,when we were at the mercy of uncertain usage and a precarious welcome.

"You are too proud to see a play anywhere now but in the pit.Do you remember where it was we used to sit,when we saw the Battle of Hexham,and the Surrender of Calais,and Bannister and Mrs.Bland in the Childre n in the Wood--when we squeezed out our shillings apiece to sit three or four times in a season in the one-shilling gallery--where you felt all t he time that you ought not to have brought me--and more strongly I felt obligation to you for having brought me--and the pleasure was the better for a little shame--and when the curtain drew up,what cared we for our place in the house,or what mattered it where we were sitting,when our thoughts were with Rosalind in Arden,or with Viola at the Court of Ilyr ia.You used to say that the gallery was the best place of all for enjoy ing a play socially--that the relish of such exhibitions must be in prop ortion to the infrequency of going--that the company we met there,not b eing in general readers of plays,were obliged to attend the more,and d id attend,to what was going on,on the stage--because a word lost would have been a chasm,which it was impossible for them to fill up.With suc h reflections we consoled our pride then--and I appeal to you whether,a s a woman,I met generally with less attention and accommodation than I have done since in more expensive situations in the house?The getting i n indeed,and the crowding up those inconvenient staircases was bad enou gh--but there was still a law of civility to woman recognized to quite a s great an extent as we ever found in the other passages--and how a litt le difficulty overcome heightened the snug seat and the play,afterwards!Now we can only pay our money and walk in.You cannot see,you say,in the galleries now.I am sure we saw,and heard too,well enough then--bu t sight,and all,I think,is gone with our poverty."

我对古瓷器的偏爱甚至有些女性化。每次去大户人家造访，我都要求先看看瓷器架，然后才是走廊。我改变不了这个欣赏的先后顺序，只能说人人都有这样或那样的偏好，由于年代久远不可能记得哪些是后天形成的。我还记得跟人看的第一出戏、第一次展览，但真不记得这些瓷坛瓷碟是何时进入我的思索空间的。

那些怪异的天蓝色的小巧形体没有规律可以琢磨，我当时就不曾反感，现在又怎么会反感呢？在常人眼中，他们在那个没有透视的世界——一个瓷茶上飘浮不定，不受任何局限。

我喜欢看老朋友们——距离不能缩小他们——浮现在半空（正如我的眼睛所看到的），但又踏在坚实的土地上——我们不得不礼貌地解释那个深蓝色的点，为了看上去不那么荒诞不凉，造诣深厚的艺术家，在他们拖鞋底下点了那个蓝点。

我喜欢长相女性化的男人和女人味十足的女人。

这位年轻的中国官员彬彬有礼，正用托盘向一位夫人献茶——他们之间的距离是两英里。距离就是这样衍生崇敬的！就是这一位女士——或者另外一位——因为在茶上的相似就是相同——正要走进一条小巧的小船中，而小船正停在这条平静的花园小河的这一边。她轻轻地挪动着小巧的步子，如果估计正确（像我们生活中一样的话），绝对会踏上这片鲜花遍布的草地，草地就在200米以外的一条同样奇特的河的对岸。

远处——如果他们也有远近的话——可以看见马、树、塔等正跳着圆圈舞。

这儿，一头奶牛、一只兔子俯首地上，同样大——画面显示如此。画中的中国晴空万里。

我们刚买了一套与众不同的蓝色古瓷器，昨天晚上，我和姐姐首次用它喝茶。（我们都很怀旧，可以喝着不掺杂任何其他东西的茶，静静地坐一下午。）我把上面的一些奇观指给她看，禁不住说，这些年我们过得多幸福呀，竟然可以买到如此好的东西一饱眼福。这时，我同伴的眉头掠过一丝伤感的阴影。我善于觉察布里奇特心中的愁云。

她说：“我多希望过去的好时光可以重现。那时我们不富有。我不是说想成为穷人，但那是一种中间状态，”她喜欢随口漫谈，“我相信我们会比现在更快乐。现在因为你有钱去花，买东西就是买东西，这要在从前可是件乐事。我们相中了一件便宜的奢侈品时（哦！那时我要赢得你的同意多难啊！）常常要讨论好几天，左思又想，看可以省出什么钱来，存多少才能够那个数，我觉得当时买的每件物品都物有所值。”

“你还记得那件棕外套吗？你经常穿它以至于线头都露出来了！朋友都觉得穿它太丢面子了！这都要归咎于波蒙特和弗莱彻的对开剧作集。那是一个深夜，你把它从科文特加登剧院的巴克书店淘了回来。记得当时我们犹豫良久，直到星期六晚上十点才决定买。从伊斯灵顿出发时，你担心太晚了。所幸的是书店老板虽然嘟囔着不乐意，但是仍借着摇曳的烛火（他准备睡觉了）从尘封的宝藏中将这件遗物画了出来。而你回到家后，仍希望这本书能比现在重上一倍。你把它拿给我看，我们一起检查它的完整性（你称之为校对）。然后我用糨糊粘补疏松了的书页。这时你已经迫不及待了，无法等到天亮。你能说穷人就没有快乐吗？说说你现在穿的这件整洁的黑礼服吧，自从我们变得富有之后，就很精心地收拾它。你多穿了四五个星期，安抚一下不安的心情——因为这件衣服花了15或16先令的巨款（那时我们觉得这是个大数目，你都用来买那本旧书了）。但是它带给你多少快乐和满意？有你那件旧衣服（你的老乌鸦）一半多吗？现在你能随心所欲地买你喜欢的书，但是你再也没给我带回一本好的旧书来。”

“因为买了不到15先令的莱昂纳多仿造品——就是我们称为布朗奇夫人的那幅画，你至少说了20个对不起！当你看着画，想着花的钱——想着花的钱，再看那幅画时——你觉得穷人没有生活的乐趣吗？而如今，你只需走进科尔拉吉画店，就可以买到莱氏的荒凉，对吧？”

“然后，还记得吗，我们安步当车去恩菲尔德、波特斯巴和沃尔瑟姆旅行时是多么开心快乐？当然现在我们有钱了，可以出去度假之类的，但兴致全没了——记得那只小提篮，我用它来装薄荷冷羊肉和沙拉——记得你如何打听到一家还算不错的餐馆，好让我们进去摆出自带的食物——只需花点钱买你非要不可的麦芽酒——体会老板娘的神色，看她是否会铺上桌布——我们真心期望她是个朴实厚道的老板娘，就像艾萨克·沃尔顿所描绘的那样，他在风景宜人的丽河两岸钓鱼时遇到过很多这样的老板娘，——有时她们会很慷慨热情，但有时又很冷——不过我们仍很快乐，吃着我们的家常便饭，很少渴望皮斯卡托的鳟鱼厅。现在我们开心玩一天的机会太少了，即使出游大多也是以车代步——进好的酒店，点最好的菜，不计价钱——但味道却比不上偶尔在乡下吃的农家饭，在乡下我们不知道人家会拿什么招待我们，也不知道我们受不受欢迎。”

“你现在太自傲了，只愿坐在正厅后排看戏。记得看《赫克瑟姆之战》、《征服加来》和斑尼斯特与布兰德夫人主演的《丛林中的孩子们》时，我们都坐哪里吗？那时候，我们必须尽量节约每个先令，才能一季度在一先令走廊座上看三四出戏——你一直觉得不该带我去——我一直因此而感激你——在羞愧的同时乐趣更大——开幕了，我们介意坐在哪里吗？或者说坐在哪里重要吗？我们的思绪早已随罗莎琳德飞到阿登，随薇奥拉飞进伊利里亚法院。你过去常说顶层楼座是社会一员欣赏戏剧的最佳之处——还说这种表演次数越少越好——我们在剧院里见到的观众，一般不看剧本，所以看戏时都全神贯注，而且的确很专注——漏掉一个字都是无法弥补的空缺。那时我们就靠这种想法来安慰自己——作为女性，我想问一下，是不是在剧院有了昂贵的座位，我就可以得到更多的礼遇？事实并非如此。虽然以前进门走楼梯时，秩序相当差，但是女士优先的惯例保持良好，——克服一点小麻烦后，再坐下来舒适地看戏，其中的乐趣无穷！现在我们只需付钱往里走。你说如今在顶层楼座看不清演出了。但我肯定那时我们看得清晰也听得明白，并且感觉很好——但那时的一切都已随贫穷消逝了。”