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The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table-Part20_Oliver Wendell Holmes(1809-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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idea given to the world at about the time when I had just joined

the class in which Master Thomas Moore was then a somewhat advanced



scholar.

I, therefore, in full possession of my native honesty, but knowing



the liability of all men to be elected to public office, and for

that reason feeling uncertain how soon I may be in danger of losing



it, do herebyrenounce all claim to being considered the FIRST

person who gave utterance to a certain simile or comparison



referred to in the accompanying documents, and relating to the

pupil of the eye on the one part and the mind of the bigot on the



other. I herebyrelinquish all glory and profit, and especially

all claims to letters from autograph collectors, founded upon my



supposed property in the above comparison, - knowing well, that,

according to the laws of literature, they who speak first hold the



fee of the thing said. I do also agree that all Editors of

Cyclopedias and Biographical Dictionaries, all Publishers of



Reviews and Papers, and all Critics writingtherein, shall be at

liberty to retract or qualify any opinion predicated on the



supposition that I was the sole and undisputed author of the above

comparison. But, inasmuch as I do affirm that the comparison



aforesaid was uttered by me in the firm belief that it was new and

wholly my own, and as I have good reason to think that I had never



seen or heard it when first expressed by me, and as it is well

known that different persons may independently utter the same idea,



- as is evinced by that familiar line from Donatus, -

"Pereant illi qui ante nos nostra dixerunt," -



now, therefore, I do request by this instrument that all well-

disposed persons will abstain from asserting or implying that I am



open to any accusationwhatsoevertouching the said comparison,

and, if they have so asserted or implied, that they will have the



manliness forthwith to retract the same assertion or insinuation.

I think few persons have a greater disgust for plagiarism than



myself. If I had even suspected that the idea in question was

borrowed, I should have disclaimed originality, or mentioned the



coincidence, as I once did in a case where I had happened to hit on

an idea of Swift's. - But what shall I do about these verses I was



going to read you? I am afraid that half mankind would accuse me

of stealing their thoughts, if I printed them. I am convinced that



several of you, especially if you are getting a little on in life,

will recognize some of these sentiments as having passed through



your consciousness at some time. I can't help it, - it is too late

now. The verses are written, and you must have them. Listen,



then, and you shall hear

WHAT WE ALL THINK.



THAT age was older once than now,

In spite of locks untimely shed,



Or silvered on the youthful brow;

That babes make love and children wed.



That sunshine had a heavenly glow,

Which faded with those "good old days,"



When winters came with deeper snow,

And autumns with a softer haze.



That - mother, sister, wife, or child -

The "best of women" each has known.



Were schoolboys ever half so wild?

How young the grandpapas have grown,



That BUT FOR THIS our souls were free,

And BUT FOR THAT our lives were blest;



That in some season yet to be

Our cares will leave us time to rest.



Whene'er we groan with ache or pain,

Some common ailment of the race, -



Though doctors think the matter plain, -




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