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双语·聪明的消遣:毛姆谈英国文学 艾米莉·勃朗特与《呼啸山庄》 1

所属教程:译林版·聪明的消遣:毛姆谈英国文学

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2022年05月19日

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Emily Bront and Wuthering Heights 1

Hugh Prunty, a young peasant-farmer in County Down, in 1776 married Elinor McClory; and on St. Patrick's Day in the following year, the eldest of his ten children was born and given the name of Ireland's patron saint. It looks as though he could neither read nor write, for he seems to have been uncertain how his name was spelt. In the baptismal register it is given as Brunty and Bruntee. The small-holding he farmed was insufficient to provide for his large family, and he worked in a lime-kiln and, when things were slack, as a labourer on the estate of one of the neighbouring gentry. It may be supposed that Patrick, his eldest son, did odd jobs about his father's bit of land till he was old enough to earn a wage. Then he became a hand-loom weaver. But he was a clever lad, and ambitious; and, somehow or other, by the time he was sixteen he had got enough education to become a teacher at a village school near his birthplace. Two years later he got a similar job at the parish school at Drumballyroney, and held it for eight years. There are two accounts of what happened then: one states that Methodist ministers, impressed by his ability and expecting him to train himself for the Ministry, subscribed a few pounds which, added to the little he had saved, enabled him to go to Cambridge; another states that he left the parish school to become a tutor in a clergyman's family, and it was with his help that he entered St. John's College. He was then twenty-five, old to enter a university, a tall, very strong young man, handsome and vain of his good looks. He subsisted on a scholarship, two exhibitions and what he was able to earn by coaching. He took his B.A. at the age of twenty-nine, and was ordained in the Church of England. If the Methodist ministers really helped him to go to Cambridge, they must have felt that they had made a bad investment.

It was while he was at Cambridge that Patrick Branty, as his surname is spelt in the list of admissions, changed it to Bronte, but it was not till later that he adopted the di?resis, and signed himself Patrick Bront?. He was appointed to a curacy at Withersfield in Essex and there fell in love with a Miss Mary Burder. She was eighteen and, though not rich, well off. They became engaged. For some reason that has remained obscure, Mr. Bront? jilted her, and it has been supposed that, having a good opinion of his advantages, he thought that by waiting he could do better for himself. Mary Burder was bitterly hurt. It may be that the handsome curate's behaviour caused a good deal of acid comment in the parish, for he left Withersfield and took a curacy at Wellington in Shropshire and, after a few months, another at Hartshead in Yorkshire. There he met a plain little woman of thirty called Maria Branwell. She had fifty pounds a year of her own and belonged to a respectable middle-class family; Patrick Bront? was thirty-five and perhaps thought that by then, notwithstanding his good looks and agreeable brogue, this was about as well as he could expect to do for himself. He proposed, was accepted and in 1812 the couple were married. While still at Hartshead Mrs. Bront? had two children, and they were named Maria and Elizabeth. Then Mr. Bront? was appointed to still another curacy, this time near Bradford, and here Mrs. Bront? had four more children. They were named Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne. A year before his marriage, Mr. Bront? had published at his own expense a volume of verse entitled Cottage Poems, and a year after that another, The Rural Minstrel. While living near Bradford he wrote a novel, called The Cottage in the Wood. People who have read these productions say that they are devoid of merit. In 1820 Mr. Bront? was appointed to the“perpetual curacy”of Haworth, a Yorkshire village, and there he remained, his ambitions, one may suppose, satisfied, till his death. He never went back to Ireland to see the parents, brothers and sisters he had left there, but as long as she lived he sent his mother twenty pounds a year.

In 1821, after nine years of marriage, Maria Bront? died of cancer. The widower persuaded his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Branwell, to leave Penzance, where she lived, to come and look after his six children; but he wanted to marry again, and after a decent interval he wrote to Mrs. Burder, mother of the girl he had treated so ill fourteen years before, to enquire whether she was still single. After some weeks he received a reply and forthwith wrote to Mary herself. The letter is smug, self-complacent, unctuous and, considering the facts, in execrable taste. He had the impudence to say that his ancient love was rekindled and that he had a longing desire to see her. It was in effect a proposal of marriage. Her reply was stinging, but, undeterred, he wrote again. With amazing tactlessness he told her: “You may think and write as you please, but I have not the least doubt that if you had been mine you would have been happier than you now are, or can be as one in single life.”(The italics are his.) Having failed with Mary Burder, he turned his thoughts in another direction. It does not seem to have occurred to him that a widower of forty-five, with six young children, was no great catch. He made an offer to Miss Elizabeth Frith, whom he had known when he was a curate near Bradford, but she also refused him; upon which he seems to have given it up as a bad job. It was, at all events, something to be thankful for that Elizabeth Branwell was there to look after the house and take care of the children.

Haworth Parsonage was a small brownstone house on the brow of the steep hill down which the village straggled. There was a tiny strip of garden in front of it and behind, and, on either side, the graveyard. Biographers of the Bront?s have thought this depressing, and to a doctor it might have been, but a clergyman may well have thought it an edifying and even consoling sight; anyhow, this particular clergyman's family must have grown so accustomed to it that in all probability they noticed it as little as the fisherman at Capri notices the view of Vesuvius or of Ischia in the setting sun. There was a parlour, a study for Mr. Bront?, a kitchen and a storeroom on the ground floor, and four bedrooms and a lobby on the floor above. There were no carpets, except in the parlour and the study, and no curtains to the windows because Mr. Bront? had the greatest dread of fire. The floors and the stairs were of stone, cold and damp in winter, and Miss Branwell, for fear of catching cold, always went about the house in pattens. A narrow pathway led from the house to the moor. With the idea, perhaps barely conscious, of making the story of the Bront?s more poignant, it has been customary for authors to write as though it were always bleak, bitter cold and dreary at Haworth. But of course, even in winter there were days of blue sky and brilliant sunshine, when the frosty air was invigorating, and meadows, moor and woods were painted in the tender colours of pastel. On such a day I went to Haworth. The countryside was bathed in a haze of silver-grey so that the distance, its outlines dim, was mysterious. The leafless trees had the elegance of trees in a wintry scene in a Japanese print, and the hawthorn hedges by the roadside glistened white with hoar frost. Emily's poems and Wuthering Heights tell you how thrilling the spring was on the moor, and how rich in beauty and how sensuous in summer.

Mr. Bront? walked long and far on the moor. In his old age he boasted that he had been able to walk forty miles a day. He was a man who shunned company—somewhat of a change, for as a curate he had been a social creature, fond of parties and flirtations; and, with the exception of the neighbouring parsons who sometimes came down the hills to drink a dish of tea, he saw no one but the church-wardens and his parishioners. If these sent for him he went to see them, and if they asked a service he was glad to do it, but he and his family“kept themselves very close.”He, the son of a poverty-stricken Irish peasant, would not let his children associate with the village children, and they were driven to sit in the cold little lobby on the first floor, which was their study, reading or whispering low in order not to disturb their father, who, when annoyed or displeased, maintained a sullen silence. He gave them their lessons in the morning, and Miss Branwell taught them sewing and housework.

Even before his wife's death, Mr. Bront? had taken to having his meals in his study by himself, and this habit he retained for the rest of his life. The reason given for this is that he suffered from indigestion. Emily wrote in a diary: “We are going to have for dinner boiled beef, turnips, potatoes and apple pudding.”And in 1846 Charlotte wrote from Manchester: “Papa requires nothing you know but plain beef and mutton, tea and bread and butter.”This does not seem a very good régime for someone who suffers from chronic dyspepsia. I am inclined to think that if Mr. Bront? took his meals by himself, it was because he did not much care for the company of his children and was irritable when they interrupted him. At eight o’clock at night he read family prayers, and at nine locked and barred the front door. As he passed the room in which his children were sitting, he told them not to sit up late and, halfway up the stairs, stopped to wind the clock.

Mrs. Gaskell knew Mr. Bront? for several years, and the conclusion she came to was that he was selfish, irascible and domineering; and Mary Taylor, one of Charlotte's intimate friends, wrote to another of her friends, Ellen Nussey: “I can never think without gloomy anger of Charlotte's sacrifices to the selfish old man.”Of late, attempts have been made to whitewash him. But no whitewashing can get over the letters he wrote to Mary Burder. They are published in full in Clement Shorter's The Bront?s and their Circle. Nor can whitewashing get over his behaviour when his curate, Mr. Nicholls, proposed to Charlotte. I will come to that later. Mrs. Gaskell writes as follows: “Mrs. Bront?'s nurse told me that one day when the children had been on the moors, and rain had come on, she thought they would be wet, and accordingly she rummaged out some coloured boots which had been given them by a friend. These little pairs she ranged round the kitchen fire to warm; but when the children came back, the boots were nowhere to be found; only a very strong odour of burnt leather was perceived. Mr. Bront? had come in and seen them; they were too gay and luxurious for his children; so he had put them into the fire. He spared nothing that offended his antique simplicity. Long before this, someone had given Mrs. Bront? a silk gown; either the make, the colour, or the material was not according to his notions of consistent propriety, and Mrs. Bront? in consequence had never worn it. But, for all that, she kept it treasured up in her drawers, which were generally locked. One day, however, while in the kitchen, she remembered that she had left the key in her drawer, and hearing Mr. Bront? upstairs, she augured some ill of her dress, and, running up in haste, she found it cut into shreds.”The story is circumstantial, but it is hard to see why the nurse should have invented it.“Once he got the hearthrug, and stuffing it up the grate, deliberately set it on fire, and remained in the room in spite of the stench, until it had smouldered and shrivelled away into uselessness. Another time he took some chairs, and sawed away at the backs till they were reduced to the condition of stools.”It is only fair to add that Mr. Bront? declared that these stories were untrue. But no one had doubted that he had a violent temper, nor that he was stern and peremptory. I have asked myself whether these unamiable traits of Mr. Bront?'s may not be ascribed to his disappointment with life. Like many another man of humble origins who has had a galling struggle to raise himself above the class in which he was born and to get an education, he may well have had an exaggerated opinion of his abilities. We know that he was vain of his good looks. His literary efforts had met with no success. It would not be strange if it embittered him to realize that the only reward he had got for his long tussle with adversity was a perpetual curacy in the wilds of Yorkshire.

The hardships and loneliness of life at the parsonage have been made too much of. The talented sisters seem to have been quite satisfied with it; and indeed, if they ever stopped to consider their father's origin, they may well have thought themselves far from unlucky. They were neither better nor worse off than hundreds of parsons’ daughters all over England, whose lives were as isolated and whose means as limited. The Bront?s had neighbours, clergymen within walking distance, gentry, mill-owners and manufacturers in a small way, with whom they might have consorted; and if they lived secluded lives it was by choice. They were not rich, but neither were they poor. Mr. Bront?'s benefice provided him with a house and two hundred pounds a year, his wife had fifty pounds a year which, on her death, he presumably inherited, and Elizabeth Branwell, when she came to live at Haworth, brought her fifty pounds a year with her. The household thus had three hundred pounds a year to dispose of, which at that time was worth at least twelve hundred pounds now. Many a clergyman to-day, even with income-tax as it is, would look upon such a sum as riches. Many a clergyman's wife to-day would be thankful to have one maid: the Bront?s generally had two, and whenever there was pressure of work, girls were brought in from the village to help.

In 1824 Mr. Bront? took his four elder daughters to a school at Cowan Bridge. It had been recently established to give an education to the daughters of poor clergymen. The place was unhealthy, the food bad and the administration incompetent. The two elder girls died, and Charlotte and Emily, whose health was affected, were, fortunately for themselves, after a like while, removed. Such schooling as they got, from then on, seems to have been given them by their aunt. Mr. Bront? thought more of his son than of the three girls and, indeed, Branwell was looked upon as the clever one of the family. Mr. Bront? would not send him to school, but undertook his education himself. The boy had a precocious talent, and his manners were engaging. His friend, F. H. Grundy, thus describes him: “He was insignificantly small—one of his life's trials. He had a mass of red hair, which he wore brushed high off his forehead—to help his height, I fancy—a great, bumpy, intellectual forehead, nearly half the size of the whole facial contour; small ferrety eyes, deep sunk and still further hidden by the never removed spectacles, prominent nose, but weak lower features. He had a downcast look, which never varied, save for a rapid momentary glance at long intervals. Small and thin of person, he was the reverse of attractive at first sight.”He had parts, and his sisters admired him and expected him to do great things. He was a brilliant, eager talker, and from some Irish ancestor, for his father was a morose, silent man, he had inherited a gift for social intercourse and an agreeable loquacity. When a traveller, putting up for the night at the Black Bull, seemed lonely, the landlord would ask him: “Do you want someone to help you with your bottle, sir? If so, I’ll send up for Patrick.”Branwell was always glad to be of service. I should add that when years later, Charlotte Bront? then being famous, the landlord was asked about this, he denied that he had ever done anything of the kind: “Branwell, ”he said, “never needed to be sent for.”You are still shown at Haworth the room at the Black Bull, with its windsor chairs, in which Branwell tippled with his friends.

When Charlotte was just under sixteen, she went to school once more, this time at Roe Head, and was happy there; but after a year she came home again to teach her two younger sisters. Though the family, as I have pointed out, were not so poor as has been made out, the girls had nothing to look forward to. Mr. Bront?'s stipend would naturally cease at his death, and Miss Branwell was leaving the little money she had to her amusing nephew; they decided, therefore, that the only way they could earn a living was by training themselves to be governesses or school-mistresses. At that time there was no other calling open to women who looked upon themselves as ladies. Branwell, by now, was eighteen and a decision had to be made on what trade or profession he was to adopt. He had some facility for drawing, as his sisters had too, and he was eager to become a painter. It was settled that he should go to London and study at the Royal Academy. He went, but nothing came of the project, and after a while, which he spent in sightseeing and presumably having as good a time as he could, he returned to Haworth. He tried writing, but with no success; then he persuaded his father to set him up in a studio in Bradford where he might earn a living by painting portraits of the local people; but this failed too, and Mr. Bront? called him home. Then he became tutor to a Mr. Postlethwaite at Barrow-in-Furness. He seems to have done well enough there, but, for reasons unknown, after six months Mr. Bront? brought him back to Haworth. Presently, a job was found for him as clerk-in-charge at the station of Sowerby Bridge on the Leeds and Manchester Railway, and later at Luddenden Foot. He was bored and lonely, he drank too much, and eventually was discharged for gross neglect of his duties. Meanwhile, in 1835, Charlotte had returned to Roe Head as a teacher, and taken Emily with her as a pupil. But Emily became so desperately homesick that she fell ill, and had to be sent home. Anne, who was of a calmer, more submissive temper, took her place. Charlotte held her job for three years, at the end of which, her health failing, she too went home.

She was twenty-two. Branwell was not only a source of worry, but a source of expense; and Charlotte, as soon as she was well enough, felt herself obliged to take a situation as a nursery governess. It was not work she liked. Neither she nor her sisters liked children, any more than their father did.“Ifind it so hard to repel the rude familiarity of children, ”she wrote to Ellen Nussey. She hated to be in a dependent position, and was continually on the lookout for affronts. She was not an easy person to get on with, and so far as one can judge from her letters, seems to have expected to be asked to do as a favour what her employers quite naturally thought they could demand as a right. She left after three months and returned to the parsonage, but some two years later took another situation with a Mr. and Mrs. White at Rawdon, near Bradford. Charlotte did not think them refined.“Well can I believe that Mrs. W. has been an exciseman's daughter, and I am convinced also that Mr. W.'s extraction is very low.”She was, however, fairly happy in this place, but, as she wrote to the same intimate friend: “No one but myself can tell how hard a governess's life is to me—for no one but myself is aware how utterly averse my whole mind and nature are for the employment.”She had long been toying with the idea of keeping a school of her own, with her two sisters, and now she took it up again; the Whites, who seem to have been very kind, decent people, encouraged her, but suggested that before she could hope to be successful she must acquire certain qualifications. Though she could read French, she could not speak it, and knew no German, so she decided that she must go abroad to learn languages. Miss Branwell was persuaded to advance money for the cost of this; and then Charlotte and Emily, with Mr. Bront? to look after them on the journey, set out for Brussels. The two girls, Charlotte being then twenty-six, Emily twenty-two, became pupils at the Pensionnat Héger. After ten months they were recalled to England by the illness of Miss Branwell. She died, and having disinherited Branwell, owing to his bad behaviour, left the little she had to her nieces. It was enough for them to carry out the plan they had so long discussed of having a school of their own; but since their father was old and his sight failing, they made up their minds to set it up at the parsonage. Charlotte did not think she was sufficiently equipped, and so accepted Monsieur Héger's offer to go back to Brussels and teach English at his school. She spent a year there and on her return to Haworth the three sisters issued prospectuses, and Charlotte wrote to her friends asking them to recommend the school they intended to start. How they expected to house pupils in the parsonage which had only four bedrooms, all of which they occupied themselves, has never been explained, and as no pupils came it certainly never will be.

艾米莉·勃朗特与《呼啸山庄》 1

一七七六年,北爱尔兰唐郡的一个年轻农民修·普朗蒂娶妻埃莉诺·麦克劳埃。次年的圣帕特里克节(1),他们十个孩子中的长子出生了,取名帕特里克,与爱尔兰的守护神同名。修·普朗蒂似乎既不会读也不会写,因为他连自己的名字怎么拼都不确定。施洗记录中,他的名字被写成了Brunty和Bruntee(2)。他耕种的那一小片土地根本不够他养活他那个大家庭,因此他会去石灰窑打工,年景不好时,还会去邻近的一个地主家打短工。可以猜测,修的大儿子帕特里克就在父亲的土地上干些杂活,直到长大能挣工钱的时候,他就当了一个手摇纺织机的织工。可是他聪明、有野心,不管怎么说吧,到十六岁时,他就已经受到了足够的教育,当起了教师,在他出生地附近的一间乡村学校教书。两年后他在庄柏立洛尼的教区学校找到了一份类似的工作,干了八年。关于当年的事有两种说法:一说是卫理公会(3)的牧师们很欣赏他的能力,希望他能深造当牧师,于是捐了些钱,再加上他之前攒的钱,足够他上剑桥学习了。另一说是他离开教区学校后,去了一个牧师家当家教。正是在这位牧师的帮助下,他进了剑桥大学的圣约翰学院。他那时二十五岁,上大学有点老了。他高大健壮,长得不错,他对自己的相貌也很得意。他靠一份助学金、两份奖学金,还有他做家教获得的报酬维持生活。二十九岁那年,他拿到了学士学位,在英国国教会领了圣职。如果真是卫理公会的牧师们帮他上了剑桥大学的话,他们一定后悔这次投资投错了。

正是在剑桥读书期间,他又把自己的姓氏从入学登记簿上的勃兰特(Branty)改成了勃朗特(Bronte),但是当时他还没有用分音符,即字母e上的那两个点。他被任命为埃塞克斯郡的威泽斯菲尔德地区的副牧师,并在那里爱上了一位玛丽·博德小姐。这位小姐年方十八,家境虽不富有,却也算宽裕。他们订了婚,但是不知为何,勃朗特甩了她,据推测大概是因为他对自己的长处感觉良好,认为再等等的话他还能给自己找个更好的对象。玛丽·博德极受伤害。此举大概在教区里给这位英俊的副牧师引来很多风言风语,因为他离开了威泽斯菲尔德,去了什罗普郡的威灵顿当副牧师,几个月后又去了约克郡的哈茨海德任职。他在此地遇到了一个个子小小、相貌平凡的三十岁女子,名叫玛丽亚·布兰威尔。她每年有五十镑的收入,来自一个体面的中产家庭。帕特里克·勃朗特此时已经三十五了,哪怕长得再帅,说话还带点好听的爱尔兰口音,也找不着更好的伴侣了。于是他求了婚并被接受,在一八一二年结了婚。还在哈茨海德时,勃朗特夫妇就生了两个女儿,玛丽亚和伊丽莎白。后来勃朗特被任命到另一个地方当副牧师,这个地方在布拉德福德附近,他们在这儿又生了四个孩子:夏洛特、帕特里克·布兰威尔、艾米莉和安妮。结婚前一年,勃朗特自费出版了一本诗集,名为《农舍诗歌》,一年后他又出了第二本诗集,名为《乡村吟游诗人》。住在布拉德福德附近时,他还写了本小说,叫《林中小屋》。读过这些作品的人说它们毫无长处。一八二〇年,勃朗特被任命为约克郡一个名叫哈沃斯的村子的“永久副牧师”,他一直在这里做副牧师直到去世,他的野心大概得到了满足。他从未回过爱尔兰去看他留在那里的父母弟妹,但他每年会给母亲寄二十镑,直到母亲去世。

一八二一年,结婚九年后,玛丽亚·勃朗特死了,死于癌症。成了鳏夫的副牧师说服了姨姐伊丽莎白·布兰威尔离开她所居住的彭赞斯来哈沃斯照顾他的六个孩子。但他还想再婚,于是在等待了一段得体的时间后,他写信去问博德太太,也就是十四年前他曾恶劣对待过的那个女孩的母亲,问玛丽·博德是否还单身。几星期后,他收到了回信,之后立刻就写信给玛丽本人。考虑到当时的境况,他的信写得自鸣得意、自以为是、油腔滑调、品味很坏。他居然厚颜无耻地说他的旧爱又一次被激发了,他非常渴望见到她。这信实际等于求婚。她的回信很刺人,但他没有被吓倒,又写了封信。他的不知分寸真是令人吃惊,他说:“随便你怎么想,怎么写,但我毫不怀疑,如果你是我的妻子,你会比现在更幸福,或者比你单身生活更幸福。”(下划线部分为他的原文强调的部分。)在玛丽·博德那儿失败后,他把心思转到了另一处,又向一位伊丽莎白·福里斯小姐求婚,他在布拉德福德附近当副牧师时认识了她,但她也拒绝了。他似乎没想过一个四十五岁、带着六个小孩的鳏夫实在不是什么值得婚配的对象。现在,他好像认识到了这是个白费力气的事,于是放弃了再婚的想法。不管怎样,有伊丽莎白·布兰威尔给他管家和照顾孩子,他已经很该感恩了。

哈沃斯的牧师住所是幢褐色的石头小房子,坐落于陡峭的山崖上,山下就是布局零散的哈沃斯村。牧师住所的房前屋后都有一小片花园,两侧则是墓地。勃朗特姐妹的传记作家们都认为这种环境太压抑。对医生来说那种环境可能确实压抑,但对牧师来说,却有可能觉得身处其中能让人陶冶情操,甚至安慰人心。无论如何,这位牧师的家人一定已经逐渐习惯了这番景象,他们很可能已经不再注意了,就像意大利南方卡普里岛的渔夫很少会注意落日余晖里的维苏威火山或伊斯基亚岛一样。房子的一楼有个客厅,有间勃朗特先生的书房,还有一间厨房和一间储藏室,二楼则有四个卧室和一个厅。除客厅和书房外,全屋都没铺地毯,窗户上也不挂窗帘,因为勃朗特先生最怕着火。地板和楼梯都是石头的,一到冬天格外冰冷潮湿。布兰威尔姨妈因为怕感冒,总是穿着套鞋在屋里走动。还有条小路从房子通向荒野。为使勃朗特姐妹的故事更具悲伤的色彩,作家们总爱把哈沃斯写成永远荒凉、苦寒和沉闷的样子,尽管这种想法大概是无意识的。但是即使是在冬天,哈沃斯也有不少天空湛蓝、阳光灿烂的日子。在这样的日子里,冰冷的空气令人精神振奋,草地、荒野和树林都染上了一层柔和的色彩。我就是在这样的一天去了哈沃斯。那天的乡村笼罩在一层银灰色的薄雾中,轮廓模糊,远远看去无比神秘。掉光了叶子的树木有一种日本版画里的那种树木在冬日里的优雅姿态,路边的山楂树丛挂着白霜,闪着银光。艾米莉·勃朗特的诗和《呼啸山庄》会告诉你沼泽上的春天多么令人激动,它的美多么丰富,它的夏天又是多么迷人。

勃朗特先生爱在荒野上长时间地散步,而且走得很远。晚年时勃朗特先生夸口说他一天能走四十英里。他是个躲避人群的人——换换口味也好,因为作为副牧师,他是个社会动物,爱聚会,爱调情。附近的牧师们有时会下山来和他喝杯茶,此外他除了教会执事和教区居民外,什么人都不见。如果这些人来请他,他会去见他们。如果他们要他去主持宗教仪式,他也会欣然从命。但是他和家人“关系非常紧密”。他自己虽然是个贫穷的爱尔兰农民的儿子,却不让自己的孩子和村里的孩子们接触。孩子们全被他赶到二楼寒冷的小厅里,那是他们的书房。他们在那里阅读,小声说话,生怕打扰了父亲,因为父亲被打扰或不高兴的时候,会一直阴沉着脸保持沉默。上午他教他们功课,布兰威尔姨妈则教女孩们针线活和家务。

即使是在妻子生前,勃朗特先生也习惯在书房里单独用餐,这个习惯他保持了一生。他给出的理由是他消化不良。艾米莉在日记中写道:“晚饭我们将要吃煮牛肉、萝卜、土豆和苹果布丁。”一八四六年夏洛特从曼彻斯特写信说:“爸爸不要求别的,你知道,他就只吃清淡的牛肉和羊肉、茶、面包和黄油。”对于一个长期消化不良的人来说,这似乎不是个好的养生之法。我倾向于认为,假如勃朗特先生单独用餐,那是因为他不喜欢子女的陪伴,如果孩子们打扰到了他,他会很生气。每晚八点钟他会读家庭祈祷词,九点钟闩门上锁。经过孩子们在那儿坐着的房间时,他会嘱咐他们不要太晚睡。上到楼梯一半的拐角处时,他会停下来给钟上发条。

盖斯凯尔夫人认识勃朗特先生几年,得出的结论是他是个自私、易怒、专横的人。而作为夏洛特好友之一的玛丽·泰勒也给她的另一个朋友艾伦·纽西写信说:“我一想起夏洛特为那个自私的老头所做的牺牲就不由得又生气又沮丧。”最近有人想要洗白他,可是再怎么洗白都无法粉饰他给玛丽·博德写的那些信中表现出的厚颜无耻,它们已经全文发表在了克莱门特·肖特的《勃朗特一家及其圈子》的书中了。而且,再怎么洗白也不能让人忘了他对他的助理牧师尼克斯向夏洛特求婚时的态度。我稍后还会再谈到此事。盖斯凯尔夫人写道:“勃朗特太太的保姆告诉我,有一天孩子们都去荒野了,天开始下雨,她怕他们会淋湿,就把朋友给孩子们的彩色靴子找出来,一双双围在厨房的火炉边烘烤一下。可是等孩子们回来后,却发现靴子不见了,只能闻到很强烈的皮子烧焦的气味。原来勃朗特先生进来看见这些鞋,认为它们太花哨奢侈,不适合他的孩子,就都给烧了。任何冒犯他古老的简朴概念的东西他都不放过。很久以前,还有人送给过勃朗特太太一条丝绸裙子,不管是颜色、样式还是材质都不符合他对得体的看法,于是勃朗特太太一次都没穿过。尽管如此,她把裙子放在抽屉里珍藏,而抽屉一般都是上锁的。但是,有一天她在厨房,突然想起她把钥匙落在抽屉上了,同时听到勃朗特先生在楼上,她预感到裙子要出事,就连忙跑上楼,结果发现裙子已经被剪成了碎片。”这故事虽是一面之词,可是保姆没理由编故事。“有一次,他把壁炉前的地毯塞到炉子里,故意放在火上,并且一直待在屋里,哪怕味道很臭也不怕,直到地毯闷烧到彻底不能用为止。还有一次,他拿了几把椅子,硬是用锯子把椅背锯掉,直到最后把椅子弄成了凳子。”还必须加一句才公平,勃朗特先生自己说这些故事都是假的。但是没人怀疑他脾气暴烈,严厉专横。我曾经自问,勃朗特先生这些不可爱的性格是否源于他对生活的失望。正如其他很多出身卑微的人一样,他为了提升自己,脱离自己所在的阶层,接受教育,不得不痛苦挣扎,但他很可能高估了自己的能力。我们知道他对自己的相貌相当得意。他在文学上的努力没有获得成功。他这样常年与逆境搏斗的唯一报偿无非是在约克郡的荒野地区永远当个副牧师。如果这事使他怨恨,那也没什么好奇怪的。

在牧师的那所宅子里,生活的艰苦与孤独被过分夸大了,因为才华横溢的几姐妹似乎对这种生活相当满意。确实,如果她们停下来想想自己父亲的出身,可能会觉得自己非常走运。比起全英国好几百名牧师的女儿,她们的处境既不更好也不更坏,因为那些牧师之女的生活也像她们一样与世隔绝,财产也像她们一样有限。勃朗特家是有邻居的,包括步行距离之内的牧师、乡绅、磨坊主、小业主,她们可能跟他们有过交往。如果她们过着隔绝的生活,那是她们有意为之。她们不富裕,但也不贫穷。勃朗特先生的圣禄给他提供了一个住所和一笔一年两百镑的收入,他妻子一年有五十镑,妻子死后他应该继承了这笔钱。伊丽莎白·布兰威尔来此居住时,也把她那一年五十镑的收入带来了。因此家里一年能支配的钱有三百镑,至少等于今天的一千两百镑。如今的很多牧师,哪怕要交所得税,也会把一年一千两百镑看成很大一笔钱。如今很多牧师的妻子要是有一个女仆都会谢天谢地,而勃朗特家平常就有两个女仆,活儿多的时候还会从村里临时招女孩们来帮忙。

一八二四年,勃朗特先生把四个大一点的女儿送到了考恩桥的一家学校。学校是刚建的,为的是给穷牧师的女儿提供教育。这个地方很不健康,食物很差,管理也很糟。两个大女孩死了,夏洛特和艾米莉的健康也受到了影响。但是幸运的是,一段时间后她们被转移走了。从此,她们的教育似乎就都由姨妈负责给予了。勃朗特先生对他独生子的关心多过对三个女儿的关心。确实,儿子被认为是家里最聪明的那个。勃朗特先生不肯送他去学校,他要亲自教。这个儿子早慧,举止也很吸引人。他的朋友F.H.格兰蒂这样描述他:“他个子太矮,这是他人生的一大考验。他有一头浓密的红发,留着背头,梳得很高,我想是为了增加身高吧。他额头很大,很突出,几乎占了整个脸轮廓的一半,显得很聪明。小眼睛像雪貂一样深陷,眼镜从来不摘,把眼睛隐藏得更深了,鼻子很突出,但是脸的下半部分乏善可陈。他有一种沮丧的神情,从来没有变过,除了在很长时间的间隔后抬眼快速瞥一下。他身材瘦小单薄,第一眼看上去实在不起眼。”他有才华,他的姐妹们都期待他做出一番事业来。他父亲是个阴郁沉默的人,而他则是个有才华、热情健谈的人,他一定是从某个爱尔兰祖先那里继承了社交的天赋和令人愉快的健谈的脾性。如果一个旅行者夜宿黑牛旅店,看来有些孤独,店主会问:“你想有个人陪你喝酒吗,先生?我可以叫帕特里克来。”布兰威尔也总是很愿意帮忙。我应该加一句,多年后夏洛特已经成名,店主被问到此事,不承认他曾这么做过。他说:“布兰威尔永远不用让人叫。”今天你去哈沃斯,还会被指点看黑牛旅店的那个房间,那些温莎式的靠椅,布兰威尔当年就是坐在这样的椅子里和朋友们痛饮烈酒的。

夏洛特不满十六岁时,又一次进了学校,这次去的是罗海德,而且过得很愉快。但是一年后她就回了家,为的是教两个妹妹。虽然正如我已经指出的那样,她们家不像一般以为的那么穷,但是女儿们也没什么指望。勃朗特一死,他的薪俸自然就没了,布兰威尔姨妈会把自己那点钱留给她那个有趣的外甥。于是姐妹几个觉得她们唯一能挣钱养活自己的办法就是训练自己当家庭教师或学校教师,这是当时对那些自视为淑女的女人开放的唯一职业。布兰威尔那时也有十八了,他必须决定自己到底要从事何种职业或是经营何种商业。就像他的姐妹们都能画一样,他也有点画画的才能,他于是想当画家。事情决定了,他要去伦敦的皇家艺术学院学画。他去了,但是什么也没学成。他只是观光,一定也还趁机玩乐了一番,这样过了一段时间后,他又回到了哈沃斯。他尝试过写作,但是没成功。之后他说服他父亲给他在布拉德福德开了一间画室,想给当地人画像挣钱,但是这次也失败了,勃朗特先生把他叫回了家。再后来,他去给巴罗因弗内斯一位名叫波索斯韦特的先生当家庭教师。他似乎在那儿干得不错,但是六个月后,勃朗特先生又把他叫回了家,原因未明。很快,家里给他在利兹和曼彻斯特那趟线上的索尔比桥火车站找了个管理员的工作,他后来又去了莱顿顿脚站当管理员。他感到寂寞无聊,于是狂喝滥饮,终于因为严重的玩忽职守被开除回了家。同时,一八三五年,夏洛特回到罗海德当老师,并把艾米莉带去当学生。但是艾米莉太想家,想得都生了病,又被送了回来。性情更为安静顺从的安妮取代了她的位置。夏洛特在这个职位上干了三年,三年后,她的健康变差,她也回到了家中。

夏洛特二十二岁了。布兰威尔不但让家人发愁,还花了家里好多钱。夏洛特一旦健康好转,立刻就觉得她有义务去找一个保姆兼家庭教师的职位。这不是她喜欢的工作。她和她妹妹都不喜欢小孩,就像她们的父亲不喜欢小孩那样。“我发现想要挡住孩子那种粗鲁的亲密太难了。”她在信中告诉艾伦·纽西。她很不喜欢寄人篱下,时时留心有没有人冒犯她,她不是个容易相处的人。从她的信中可以判断,她的雇主认为自然该她做的事,她却认为不在她分内,须得求她,她才会做。三个月后她离开了,回到了牧师住所,可是两年后她又在布拉德福德附近的罗登给怀特夫妇家做了家庭教师。夏洛特认为他们没有良好的教养。“我能相信吗?W太太是个收税官的女儿,我还肯定W先生的出身也很低。”但她在这个职位上干得挺高兴,不过正如她给自己那位密友艾伦·纽西的信中说的那样:“除了我自己,没人知道家庭教师的生活对我来说多么艰难,因为只有我自己知道,我整个的头脑和天性是多么彻底地厌恶这个职业。”一直以来她都有过想和两个妹妹开一间自己的学校的念头,现在她又打起了这个主意。怀特夫妇鼓励了她,他们似乎是对善良体面的人,但是他们建议她应该先取得一定的资质,这样才能成功。她能读法语,但是不会说,也不懂德语,于是她决定出国学语言。布兰威尔姨妈答应垫付这笔费用,于是勃朗特先生亲自送夏洛特和艾米莉去了布鲁塞尔,以便路上照顾她们。两个女孩——夏洛特二十六岁,艾米莉二十二岁——成了埃热寄宿学校的学生。十个月后,她们被召回了英国,因为布兰威尔姨妈病重。姨妈死了,因为外甥的行为太恶劣,她剥夺了他的继承权,把所有那点钱都留给了外甥女。这笔钱足够她们实现长久以来谈论的办学的想法,但是她们的父亲老了,视力不行了,于是她们决定就在牧师居所办这个学校。夏洛特认为她还没有完全准备好,就接受了埃热先生的邀请,又回到布鲁塞尔埃热先生的学校教英语。她在布鲁塞尔待了一年,之后再次回到哈沃斯。再然后,三姐妹发了入学简介,夏洛特还写信给朋友,请朋友们代为推荐她们即将开办的这所学校。她们从没解释过如何能在牧师住所里给学生提供住宿,因为这里只有四间卧室,而她们自己就都占满了。不过既然一个学生都没招来,这事也就不用解释了。

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