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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part23_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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worth of cheese for supper; so that they have meat and clothes at



all events. I employ them in removing earth, serving masons or

bricklayers, or in any common labouring work on which they can be



employed; during which time, of course, I have them strictly

watched."



Much more pleasant was his first sight of Mrs. Jordan at the

Shrewsbury theatre, where he seems to have been worked up to a



pitch of rapturous enjoyment. She played for six nights there at

the race time, during which there were various other'



entertainments. On the second day there was what was called an

Infirmary Meeting, or an assemblage of the principal county



gentlemen in the infirmary, at which, as county surveyor, Telford

was present. They proceeded thence to church to hear a sermon



preached for the occasion; after which there was a dinner, followed

by a concert. He attended all. The sermon was preached in the new



pulpit, which had just been finished after his design, in the

Gothic style; and he confidentially informed his Langholm



correspondent that he believed the pulpit secured greater

admiration than the sermon, With the concert he was completely



disappointed, and he then became convinced that he had no ear for

music. Other people seemed very much pleased; but for the life of



him he could make nothing of it. The only difference that he

recognised between one tune and another was that there was a



difference in the noise. "It was all very fine," he said, "I have

no doubt; but I would not give a song of Jock Stewart *[10] for the



whole of them. The melody of sound is thrown away upon me. One

look, one word of Mrs. Jordan, has more effect upon me than all the



fiddlers in England. Yet I sat down and tried to be as attentive as

any mortal could be. I endeavoured, if possible, to get up an



interest in what was going on; but it was all of no use. I felt no

emotion whatever, excepting only a strong inclination to go to



sleep. It must be a defect; but it is a fact, and I cannot help it.

I suppose my ignorance of the subject, and the want of musical



experience in my youth, may be the cause of it."*[11] Telford's

mother was still living in her old cottage at The Crooks. Since he



had parted from her, he had written many printed letters to keep

her informed of his progress; and he never wrote to any of his



friends in the dale without including some message or other to his

mother. Like a good and dutiful son, he had taken care out of his



means to provide for her comfort in her declining years. "She has

been a good mother to me," he said, "and I will try and be a good



son to her." In a letter written from Shrewsbury about this time,

enclosing a ten pound note, seven pounds of which were to be given



to his mother, he said, "I have from time to time written William

Jackson [his cousin] and told him to furnish her with whatever she



wants to make her comfortable; but there may be many little things

she may wish to have, and yet not like to ask him for. You will



therefore agree with me that it is right she should have a little

cash to dispose of in her own way.... I am not rich yet; but it



will ease my mind to set my mother above the fear of want. That has

always been my first object; and next to that, to be the somebody



which you have always encouraged me to believe I might aspire to

become. Perhaps after all there may be something in it!" *[12]



He now seems to have occupied much of his leisure hours in

miscellaneous reading. Among the numerous books which he read, he



expressed the highest admiration for Sheridan's 'Life of Swift.'

But his Langholm friend, who was a great politician, having invited



his attention to politics, Telford's reading gradually extended in

that direction. Indeed the exciting events of the French



Revolution then tended to make all men more or less politicians.

The capture of the Bastille by the people of Paris in 1789 passed



like an electric thrill through Europe. Then followed the

Declaration of Rights; after which, in the course of six months,



all the institutions which had before existed in France were swept

away, and the reign of justice was fairly inaugurated upon earth!



In the spring of 1791 the first part of Paine's 'Rights of Man'

appeared, and Telford, like many others, read it, and was at once






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