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A Rogue's Life-Part1_WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1899)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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constantly, and getting money by all this enjoyment, instead of

spending it--what a life for me, if I had been the son of a



haberdasher and the grandson of a groom's widow!

While my father was uncertain what to do with me, a new



profession was suggested by a friend, which I shall repent not

having been allowed to adopt, to the last day of my life. This



friend was an eccentric old gentleman of large property, much

respected in our family. One day, my father, in my presence,



asked his advice about the best manner of starting me in life,

with due credit to my connections and sufficient advantage to



myself.

"Listen to my experience," said our eccentric friend, "and, if



you are a wise man, you will make up your mind as soon as you

have heard me. I have three sons. I brought my eldest son up to



the Church; he is said to be getting on admirably, and he costs

me three hundred a year. I brought my second son up to the Bar;



he is said to be getting on admirably, and he costs me four

hundred a year. I brought my third son up to _Quadrilles_--he has



married an heiress, and he costs me nothing."

Ah, me! if that worthy sage's advice had only been followed--if I



had been brought up to Quadrilles!--if I had only been cast loose

on the ballrooms of London, to qualify under Hymen, for a golden



degree! Oh! you young ladies with money, I was five feet ten in

my stockings; I was great at small-talk and dancing; I had glossy



whiskers, curling locks, and a rich voice! Ye girls with golden

guineas, ye nymphs with crisp bank-notes, mourn over the husband



you have lost among you--over the Rogue who has broken the laws

which, as the partner of a landed or fund-holding woman, he might



have helped to make on the benches of the British Parliament! Oh!

ye hearths and homes sung about in so many songs--written about



in so many books--shouted about in so many speeches, with

accompaniment of so much loud cheering: what a settler on the



hearth-rug; what a possessor of property; what a bringer-up of a

family, was snatched away from you, when the son of Dr. Softly



was lost to the profession of Quadrilles!

It ended in my resigning myself to the misfortune of being a



doctor.

If I was a very good boy and took pains, and carefully mixed in



the best society, I might hope in the course of years to succeed

to my father's brougham, fashionably-situated house, and clumsy



and expensivefootman. There was a prospect for a lad of spirit,

with the blood of the early Malkinshaws (who were Rogues of great



capacity and distinction in the feudal times) coursing

adventurous through every vein! I look back on my career, and



when I remember the patience with which I accepted a medical

destiny, I appear to myself in the light of a hero. Nay, I even



went beyond the passivevirtue of accepting my destiny--I

actually studied, I made the acquaintance of the skeleton, I was



on friendly terms with the muscularsystem, and the mysteries of

Physiology dropped in on me in the kindest manner whenever they



had an evening to spare.

Even this was not the worst of it. I disliked the abstruse



studies of my new profession; but I absolutely hated the diurnal

slavery of qualifying myself, in a social point of view, for



future success in it. My fond medical parent insisted on

introducing me to his whole connection. I went round visiting in



the neat brougham--with a stethoscope and medicalreview in the

front-pocket, with Doctor Softly by my side, keeping his face



well in view at the window--to canvass for patients, in the

character of my father's hopefulsuccessor. Never have I been so



ill at ease in prison, as I was in that carriage. I have felt

more at home in the dock (such is the natural depravity and



perversity of my disposition) than ever I felt in the

drawing-rooms of my father's distinguished patrons and






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