塞繆爾約翰遜的書(shū)信

1、Samuel Johnsons letter to Lord ChesterfieldTo The Right Honorable The Earl Of Chesterfield7th February, 1755.My Lord,I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of The World, thattwo papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, werewritten by your lordship. To be so distinguished

2、is an honor which,being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not wellhow to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship,I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of youraddress, and could not fo

3、rbear to wish that I might boast myself Levainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;that I might obtain that regard forwhich I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so littleencouraged, that neither pride normodesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressedyour Lordship in pub

4、lic, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which aretired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could;and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever solittle.Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in youroutward rooms, or was repulsed from your d

5、oor; during which time I havebeen pushing on my work through difficulties, of whichand have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, withoutone act of it is useless to complain,assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favor. Suchtreatment I did not expect, for I never had a pa

6、tron before.The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and foundhim a native of the rocks. Is not a patrons my lord, one who looks withunconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he hasreached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have beenpleased to

7、 take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but ithas been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it: till I amsolitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. Ihope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where nobenefit has been, which recei

8、ved, or to be unwilling that the public should considerme as owing that to a patronprovidence has enabled me to do for myself.Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to anyfavorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I shouldconclude it, if less be possible, with less

9、; for I have been longwakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with somuch exultation,My Lord,Your lordships most humble,most obedient servant,SAM. JOHNSON. 致齊斯特菲伯爵書(shū)伯爵大人鈞鑒:日前，乘世界日?qǐng)?bào)業(yè)主告知，該報(bào)所刊對(duì)拙著字典贊譽(yù)交加之兩篇文章，實(shí)出于閣下之手筆。閣下對(duì)本人如此揄?yè)P(yáng)，誠(chéng)三生有幸。本人素乏偉人提攜獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，驟得恩寵，惶恐萬(wàn)分，不知該如何承受，如何致謝，始得其當(dāng)也 。昔日，本人嘗稍

10、受鼓勵(lì)，即趨階請(qǐng)益。閣下言辭華美迷人，一介凡夫如我，何能免俗，禁不住陶醉神馳而沾沾自喜，大興非獨(dú)霸文壇而不罷休之豪情曾幾何時(shí)，閣下之言，雖猶在耳，閣下對(duì)我之垂顧，卻已煙消云散，使我無(wú)論如何自欺，亦無(wú)法開(kāi)釋于懷。自問(wèn)當(dāng)初本人對(duì)閣下之尊敬忠誠(chéng)，殷勤取悅，比諸任何煮字療饑的文人，絕不遜色，我已竭其所能，使盡渾身解數(shù)，仍然無(wú)法獲得閣下垂青，是可忍，孰不可忍也 。憶及當(dāng)初本人或枯候閣下于玄關(guān)，或見(jiàn)擯于大門(mén)之外，時(shí)光無(wú)情，忽焉巳七載有余;當(dāng)是時(shí)也，本人無(wú)一日不孜孜矻矻，夙夜匪懈，努力工作而無(wú)一字一句埋怨;如今大功告成，字典行將出版，亦無(wú)人助一臂之力，致一安慰之詞，或?qū)ξ椅⑿κ净?，以資鼓勵(lì)。世所謂“恩主”(

11、Patron)者，與本人一向無(wú)緣，今后亦不敢有此奢望。維吉爾詩(shī)中之牧羊童子，最后雖有幸結(jié)識(shí)愛(ài)神(Love)，但早已奄奄一息，僵臥于野，為時(shí)已晚矣閣下，世之所謂恩主者，豈見(jiàn)溺不救，任其浮沉，不加理睬，及其登岸，又伸以援手，示以關(guān)切者之流耶,閣下對(duì)本人挖空心思之捧場(chǎng)文章，如果早來(lái)一步，不知使我將物和感激涕零;然而，時(shí)過(guò)境遷，一切均成明日黃花，本人現(xiàn)已無(wú)心強(qiáng)顏歡笑，自我陶醉;當(dāng)我孤獨(dú)一人，呼天既不應(yīng)，呼地亦無(wú)聞，現(xiàn)我功成名就，又何勞他人錦上添花，代為吹噓。此乃出自肺腑之言，并非一時(shí)意氣之爭(zhēng)，尚希仁人君子不至于誤解本人乃忘恩負(fù)義之徒，因我既無(wú)恩可忘，更無(wú)義可負(fù)也。本人工作已近完成階段。以往既未蒙任何文

12、壇先進(jìn)，袞袞諸公，提攜獎(jiǎng)掖，如今亦不會(huì)因此而傷心欲絕，肝腸寸斷。對(duì)于一切事后溢美之詞，最好能省即省，能免則免。對(duì)于曩昔信以為真，全心以赴的千秋大夢(mèng)，本人已夢(mèng)醒多時(shí)此頌約翰遜 再拜辜正坤先生白話(huà)體譯文伯爵大人:近日從世界報(bào)館主得知，該報(bào)刊載了兩篇文章，對(duì)拙編詞典頗多舉薦濫美之詞，這些文章?lián)ぞ鲎蚤w下您的手筆。承蒙您如此的推崇，本應(yīng)是一種榮耀，只可惜在下自來(lái)無(wú)緣得到王公大人的青睞，所以真不知道該如何來(lái)領(lǐng)受這份榮耀，也不知道該用些什么言辭來(lái)聊表謝意。回想當(dāng)年，也不知哪來(lái)的勇氣，我竟第一次拜訪了大人閣下。我像所有的人一樣，深為大人的言談豐采所傾倒，不禁玄想他年能口出大言“吾乃天下征服者之征服者也。”

13、雖知此殊榮是舉世學(xué)人所欲得，仍希望有朝一日能僥幸獲取。然而我很快發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的趨走逢迎根本沒(méi)有得到鼓勵(lì)。不管是出于自尊也好，自矜也好，我反正無(wú)法再周旋下去。我本是一個(gè)與世無(wú)爭(zhēng)、不善逢迎的書(shū)生，但那時(shí)我也曾用盡平生所學(xué)的阿諛?lè)畛械难赞o，當(dāng)眾贊能做的一切我都做了。如果一個(gè)人在這方面付出的一切努力(不管是多么微不美過(guò)閣下。足道)受到完全的忽視，他是絕不會(huì)感到舒服的。大人閣下，從我第一次候立于貴府門(mén)下，或者說(shuō)被您拒于門(mén)外時(shí)算起，已經(jīng) 7年過(guò)去。7 年多來(lái)，我一直苦苦地?fù)纬种业木幾ぷ?。這些苦楚，現(xiàn)在再來(lái)傾訴，已經(jīng)沒(méi)有用處。所幸我的勞作而今終于快要出版，在這之前我沒(méi)有獲得過(guò)一個(gè)贊助的行為，一句鼓勵(lì)的話(huà)語(yǔ)，一抹稱(chēng)許的微笑。我固然不曾指望這樣的禮遇，因?yàn)槲覐奈从羞^(guò)一位贊助人。維吉爾筆下的牧童最后終于和愛(ài)神相識(shí)，這才發(fā)現(xiàn)所謂愛(ài)神只不過(guò)是巖穴土人而已。大人閣下，有的人眼見(jiàn)落水者在水中拼命掙扎而無(wú)動(dòng)于衷，等他安全抵岸之后，卻才多余地伸出所謂援手，莫非這就叫贊助人么,大人而今忽有雅興來(lái)關(guān)照在下的勞作，這原本是一樁美意，只可惜太遲了一點(diǎn)。遲到我已經(jīng)意懶心灰，再無(wú)法快樂(lè)地消受;遲到我已經(jīng)是孤身一人，無(wú)從與家人分享;遲到我已經(jīng)名聞海內(nèi)，再不需閣下附麗張揚(yáng)。我既然本來(lái)就沒(méi)有得到過(guò)實(shí)惠，自然母需懷感恩之心;既然是