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Northanger Abbey-Part17_Jane Austen(1775-1817)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me.

The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences,



in every page; the men all so good for nothing,

and hardly any women at all--it is very tiresome:



and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull,

for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches



that are put into the heroes' mouths, their thoughts

and designs--the chief of all this must be invention,



and invention is what delights me in other books."

"Historians, you think," said Miss Tilney, "are not



happy in their flights of fancy. They display imagination

without raising interest. I am fond of history--and am



very well contented to take the false with the true.

In the principal facts they have sources of intelligence



in former histories and records, which may be as much

depended on, I conclude, as anything that does not actually



pass under one's own observation; and as for the little

embellishments you speak of, they are embellishments,



and I like them as such. If a speech be well drawn up,

I read it with pleasure, by whomsoever it may be made--and



probably with much greater, if the production of Mr. Hume

or Mr. Robertson, than if the genuine words of Caractacus,



Agricola, or Alfred the Great."

"You are fond of history! And so are Mr. Allen and



my father; and I have two brothers who do not dislike it.

So many instances within my small circle of friends is



remarkable! At this rate, I shall not pity the writers

of history any longer. If people like to read their books,



it is all very well, but to be at so much trouble in filling

great volumes, which, as I used to think, nobody would



willingly ever look into, to be labouring only for the torment

of little boys and girls, always struck me as a hard fate;



and though I know it is all very right and necessary,

I have often wondered at the person's courage that could



sit down on purpose to do it."

"That little boys and girls should be tormented,"



said Henry, "is what no one at all acquainted with human

nature in a civilized state can deny; but in behalf



of our most distinguished historians, I must observe

that they might well be offended at being supposed to



have no higher aim, and that by their method and style,

they are perfectly well qualified to torment readers



of the most advanced reason and mature time of life.

I use the verb 'to torment,' as I observed to be your



own method, instead of 'to instruct,' supposing them to be

now admitted as synonymous."



"You think me foolish to call instruction a torment,

but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor



little children first learning their letters and then

learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they



they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired

my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit



of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would

allow that 'to torment' and 'to instruct' might sometimes



be used as synonymous words."

"Very probably. But historians are not accountable



for the difficulty of learning to read; and even you yourself,

who do not altogether seem particularly friendly to



very severe, very intenseapplication, may perhaps be

brought to acknowledge that it is very well worth-while



to be tormented for two or three years of one's life,

for the sake of being able to read all the rest of it.



Consider--if reading had not been taught, Mrs. Radcliffe

would have written in vain--or perhaps might not have



written at all."

Catherine assented--and a very warm panegyric



from her on that lady's merits closed the subject.

The Tilneys were soon engaged in another on which she



had nothing to say. They were viewing the country with

the eyes of persons accustomed to drawing, and decided on



its capability of being formed into pictures, with all the

eagerness of real taste. Here Catherine was quite lost.



She knew nothing of drawing--nothing of taste: and she

listened to them with an attention which brought her



little profit, for they talked in phrases which conveyed

scarcely any idea to her. The little which she could






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