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1、【英文读物】Memoirs of Doctor BurneyADVERTISEMENT.It was the intention of the Biographer of Doctor Burney, to have printed the Doctors Correspondence, in a fourth volume, at the same time with the Memoir; but upon examining the collection, there appears such a dearth of the Doctors own Letters, of which h
2、e very rarely kept copies, that it seems to be expedient to postpone their publication, till it can be rendered more complete; to which end, the Biographer ventures earnestly to entreat, that all who possess any original Letters of Doctor Burney, whether addressed to themselves, or retained by inher
3、itance, will have the goodnesswhere there seems no objection to their meeting the public eyeto forward them to Mr. Moxon, who will carefully transmit them to the Biographer, by whom they will afterwards be restored to their owners, with the most grateful acknowledgments.PREFACE, OR APOLOGY.The inten
4、tions, or, rather, the directions of Dr. Burney that his Memoirs should be published; and the expectation of his family and friends that they should pass through the hands of his present Editor and Memorialist, have made the task of arranging the ensuing collations with her own personal recollection
5、s, appear to her a sacred duty from the year 1814.1But the grief at his loss, which at first incapacitated her from such an effort, was soon afterwards followed by change of place, change of circumstancesalmost of existencewith multiplied casualties that, eventually, separated her from all her manus
6、cript materials. And these she only recovered viwhen under the pressure of a new affliction that took from her all power, or even thought, for their investigation. During many years, therefore, they have been laid aside, though never forgotten.But if Time, as so often we lament, will not stand still
7、 upon happiness, it would be graceless not to acknowledge, with gratitude to Providence, that neither is it positively stationary upon sorrow: for though there are calamities which it cannot obliterate, and wounds which Religion alone can heal, Time yet seems endowed with a secret principle for prod
8、ucing a mental calm, through which life imperceptibly glides back to its customary operations; however powerless Time itselfearthly Time!must still remain for restoring lost felicity.Now, therefore,most unexpectedly,that she finds herself sufficiently recovered from successive indispositions and aff
9、lictions to attempt the acquittal of a debt which has long hung heavily upon her mind, she ventures to re-open her manuscript stores, and to resume, though in trembling, her long-forsaken pen.viiThat the life of so eminent a man should not pass away without some authenticated record, will be pretty
10、generally thought; and the circumstances which render her its recorder, grow out of the very nature of things: she possesses all his papers and documents; and, from her earliest youth to his latest decline, not a human being was more confidentially entrusted than herself with the occurrences, the se
11、ntiments, and the feelings of his past and passing days.Although, as biography, from time immemorial, has claimed the privilege of being more discursive than history, the Memorialist may seek to diversify the plain recital of facts by such occasional anecdotes as have been hoarded from childhood in
12、her memory; still, and most scrupulously, not an opinion will be given as Dr. Burneys, either of persons or things, that was not literally his own: and fact will as essentially be the basis of every article, as if its object were still lent to earth, and now listening to this exposition of his posth
13、umous memoirs with her own recollections.viiiNevertheless, though nothing is related that does not belong to Dr. Burney and his history, the accounts are not always rigidly confined to his presence, where scenes, or traits, still strong in the remembrance of the Editor, or still before her eyes in e
14、arly letters or diaries, invite to any characteristic details of celebrated personages.Not slight, however, is the embarrassment that struggles with the pleasure of these mingled reminiscences, from their appearance of personal obtrusion: yet, when it is seen that they are never brought forward but
15、to introduce some incident or speech, that must else remain untold of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Burke, Mrs. Delany, Mrs. Thrale, Mr. Brucenay, Napoleonand some other high-standing names, of recent date to the aged, yet of still living curiosity to the youthful readerthese apparent egotisms may be something m
16、ore,perhapsthan pardoned.Where the life has been as private as that of Dr. Burney, its history must necessarily be simple, and can have little further call upon the attention of the world, than that which may belong to a wish ixof tracing the progress of a nearly abandoned Child, from a small villag
17、e of Shropshire, to a Man allowed throughout Europe to have risen to the head of his profession; and thence, setting his profession aside, to have been elevated to an intellectual rank in society, as a Man of Letters“Though not First, in the very first line”with most of the eminent men of his day,Dr
18、. Johnson and Mr. Burke, soaring above any contemporary mark, always, like Senior Wranglers, excepted.And to this height, to which, by means and resources all his own, he arose, the Genius that impelled him to Fame, the Integrity that established his character, and the Amiability that magnetized all
19、 hearts,in the phrase of Dr. Johnsonto go forth to meet him, were the only materials with which he worked his way.INTRODUCTION.COPIED FROM A MANUSCRIPT MEMOIR IN THE DOCTORSOWN HAND-WRITING.If the life of a humble individual, on whom neither splendid appointments, important transactions, nor atrocio
20、us crimes have called the attention of the public, can afford amusement to the friends he leaves behind, without being offered either as a model to follow, or a precipice to shun, the intention of the writer of these Memoirs will be fully accomplished. But there is no member of society who, by dilig
21、ence, talents, or conduct, leaves his name and his race a little better than those from which he sprung, who is totally without some claim to attention on the means by which such advantages were achieved.My life, though it has been frequently a tissue of toil, sickness, and sorrow, has yet been, upo
22、n the xiwhole, so much more pleasant and prosperous than I had a title to expect, or than many others with higher claims have enjoyed, that its incidents, when related, may, perhaps, help to put mediocrity in good-humour, and to repress the pride and overrated worth and expectations of indolence.Per
23、haps few have been better enabled to describe, from an actual survey, the manners and customs of the age in which he lived than myself; ascending from those of the most humble cottagers, and lowest mechanics, to the first nobility, and most elevated personages, with whom circumstances, situation, an
24、d accident, at different periods of my life, have rendered me familiar. Oppressed and laborious husbandmen; insolent and illiberal yeomanry; overgrown farmers; generous and hospitable merchants; men of business and men of pleasure; men of letters; men of science; artists; sportsmen and country squir
25、es; dissipated and extravagant voluptuaries; gamesters; ambassadors; statesmen; and even sovereign princes, I have had opportunities of examining in almost every point of view: all these it is my intention to display in their respective situations; and to delineate their virtues, vices, and apparent
26、 degrees of happiness and misery.xiiA book of this kind, though it may mortify and offend a few persons of the present age, may be read with avidity at the distance of some centuries, by antiquaries and lovers of anecdotes; though it will have lost the poignancy of personality.My grandfather, James
27、Macburney, who, by letters which I have seen of his writing, and circumstances concerning him which I remember to have heard from my father and mother, was a gentleman of a considerable patrimony at Great Hanwood, a village in Shropshire, had received a very good education; but, from what cause does
28、 not appear, in the latter years of his life, was appointed land steward to the Earl of Ashburnham. He had a house in Privy Garden, Whitehall. In the year 1727, he walked as esquire to one of the knights, at the coronation of King George the Second.My father, James, born likewise at Hanwood, was wel
29、l educated also, both in school learning and accomplishments. He was a day scholar at Westminster School, under the celebrated Dr. Busby, while my grandfather resided at Whitehall. xiiiI remember his telling a story of the severe chastisement he received from that terrific disciplinarian, Dr. Busby,
30、 for playing truant after school hours, instead of returning home. My grandfather, who had frequently admonished him not to loiter in the street, lest he should make improper and mischievous acquaintance, finding no attention was paid to his injunctions, gave him a letter addressed to the Reverend D
31、r. Busby; which he did not fail to deliver, with ignorant cheerfulness, on his entrance into the school. The Doctor, when he had perused it, called my father to him, and, in a very mild, and seemingly good-humoured voice, said, “Burney, can you read writing?” “Yes, Sir,” answered my father, with gre
32、at courage and flippancy. “Then read this letter aloud,” says the Doctor; when my father, with an audible voice, began: “Sir, My son, the bearer of this letter, having long disregarded my admonitions against stopping to play with idle boys in his way home from school” Here my fathers voice faltered.
33、 “Go on,” says his master; “you read very well.” “I am sorry to be under the necessity of entreating you totototo cor” Here he threw down the letter, and fell on his knees, crying out: “Indeed, Sir, Ill never do so again!Pray forgive me!” “O, you read perfectly well,” the xivDoctor again tells him,
34、“pray finish the Letter:” And making him pronounce aloud the words, “correct him;” complied with my grandfathers request in a very liberal manner.Whether my father was intended for any particular profession, I know not, but, during his youth, besides his school learning, he acquired several talents
35、and accomplishments, which, in the course of his life, he was obliged professionally to turn to account. He danced remarkably well; performed well on the violin, and was a portrait painter of no mean talents.Notwithstanding the Mac which was prefixed to my grandfathers name, and which my father reta
36、ined for some time, I never could find at what period any of my ancestors lived in Scotland or in Ireland, from one of which it must have been derived. My father and grandfather were both born in Shropshire, and never even visited either of those countries.Early in his life, my father lost the favou
37、r of his sire, by eloping from home, to marry a young actress of Goodmans-fields theatre, by whom he had a very large family. My grandfathers affection was completely alienated by this marriage; xvjoined to disapproving his sons conduct in other respects. To the usual obduracy of old age, he afterwa
38、rds added a far more than similar indiscretion himself, by marrying a female domestic, to whom, and to a son, the consequence of that marriage, he bequeathed all his possessions, which were very considerable. Joseph, this son, was not more prudent than my father; for he contrived, early in life, to
39、dissipate his patrimony; and he subsisted for many years in Norfolk, by teaching to dance. I visited him in 1756, in a tour I made to Yarmouth. He lived then at Ormsby, a beautiful village near that town, with an amiable wife, and a large family of beautiful children, in an elegant villa, with a con
40、siderable garden; and he appeared, at that time, in perfectly restored and easy circumstances.N. B.The fragment whence this is taken here stops.This Introduction, which is copied literally from the hand-writing of Dr. Burney, was both begun and dropped, as appears by a marginal note, in the year xvi
41、1782; but, from what cause is unknown, was neither continued, nor resumed, save by occasional memorandums, till the year 1807, when the Doctor had reached the age of eighty-one, and was under the dejecting apprehension of a paralytic seizure. From that time, nevertheless, he composed sundry manuscri
42、pt volumes, of various sizes, containing the history of his life, from his cradle nearly to his grave.Out of the minute amplitude of this vast mass of matter, it has seemed the duty of his Editor and Memorialist, to collect all that seemed to offer any interest for the general reader; but to commit
43、nothing to the public eye that there is reason to believe the author himself would have withheld from it at an earlier period; or would have obliterated, even at a much later, had he revised his writings after the recovery of his health and spirits.MEMOIRS OF DOCTOR BURNEY.Charles Burney was born at
44、 Shrewsbury, on the twelfth of April, 1726.He was issue of a second marriage, of a very different colour with respect to discretion, or to prejudice, from that with the account of which he has opened his own narration. The poor actress was no more; but neither her hardly judged, though enthusiastica
45、lly admired profession, nor her numerous offspring, nor the alienation she had unhappily caused in the family, proved obstacles to the subsequent union of her survivor with Miss * * * who in those days, though young and pretty, was called Mrs. Ann Cooper, a Shropshire young lady, of bright parts and
46、 great personal beauty; as well Pg 2as an inheritress of a fortune which, for the times, was by no means inconsiderable. The parchments of the marriage settlement upon this occasion are still remaining amongst the few family records that Dr. Burney preserved.Whether attracted by her beauty, her spri
47、ghtliness, or her portion; or by the aggregate influence of those three mighty magnetizers of the passions of man, is not known; but Wycherley, the famous poet, fine gentleman, and Wit of the reign of Charles the Second, had been so enamoured with Mrs. Ann Cooper in her earliest youth, which flouris
48、hed in his latest decadency, that he sought her for his bride.The romance, however, of his adoration, did not extend to breaking his heart; for though he expired within a few months after her rejection, it was not from wearing the willow: another fair one, yet younger, proved less cruel, and changed
49、 it to a wreath of myrtle. But the fates were adverse to his tender propensities, and he outlived his fair fortune and his nuptials only a fortnight.A few years after this second marriage, Mr. Burney senior, finally, and with tolerable success, fixed himself to the profession of portrait-painting; and, quitting Shrewsbury, established himself in the Pg 3city of Chester; where, to his reputation in the deli