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memories and portraits-第3章

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mind and body; more active; fonder of eating; endowed with a lesser 

and a less romantic sense of life and of the future; and more 

immersed in present circumstances。  And certainly; for one thing; 

English boys are younger for their age。  Sabbath observance makes a 

series of grim; and perhaps serviceable; pauses in the tenor of 

Scotch boyhood … days of great stillness and solitude for the 

rebellious mind; when in the dearth of books and play; and in the 

intervals of studying the Shorter Catechism; the intellect and 

senses prey upon and test each other。  The typical English Sunday; 

with the huge midday dinner and the plethoric afternoon; leads 

perhaps to different results。  About the very cradle of the Scot 

there goes a hum of metaphysical divinity; and the whole of two 

divergent systems is summed up; not merely speciously; in the two 

first questions of the rival catechisms; the English tritely 

inquiring; 〃What is your name?〃 the Scottish striking at the very 

roots of life with; 〃What is the chief end of man?〃 and answering 

nobly; if obscurely; 〃To glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever。〃  I 

do not wish to make an idol of the Shorter Catechism; but the fact 

of such a question being asked opens to us Scotch a great field of 

speculation; and the fact that it is asked of all of us; from the 

peer to the ploughboy; binds us more nearly together。  No 

Englishman of Byron's age; character; and history would have had 

patience for long theological discussions on the way to fight for 

Greece; but the daft Gordon blood and the Aberdonian school…days 

kept their influence to the end。  We have spoken of the material 

conditions; nor need much more be said of these: of the land lying 

everywhere more exposed; of the wind always louder and bleaker; of 

the black; roaring winters; of the gloom of high…lying; old stone 

cities; imminent on the windy seaboard; compared with the level 

streets; the warm colouring of the brick; the domestic quaintness 

of the architecture; among which English children begin to grow up 

and come to themselves in life。  As the stage of the University 

approaches; the contrast becomes more express。  The English lad 

goes to Oxford or Cambridge; there; in an ideal world of gardens; 

to lead a semi…scenic life; costumed; disciplined and drilled by 

proctors。  Nor is this to be regarded merely as a stage of 

education; it is a piece of privilege besides; and a step that 

separates him further from the bulk of his compatriots。  At an 

earlier age the Scottish lad begins his greatly different 

experience of crowded class…rooms; of a gaunt quadrangle; of a bell 

hourly booming over the traffic of the city to recall him from the 

public…house where he has been lunching; or the streets where he 

has been wandering fancy…free。  His college life has little of 

restraint; and nothing of necessary gentility。  He will find no 

quiet clique of the exclusive; studious and cultured; no rotten 

borough of the arts。  All classes rub shoulders on the greasy 

benches。  The raffish young gentleman in gloves must measure his 

scholarship with the plain; clownish laddie from the parish school。  

They separate; at the session's end; one to smoke cigars about a 

watering…place; the other to resume the labours of the field beside 

his peasant family。  The first muster of a college class in 

Scotland is a scene of curious and painful interest; so many lads; 

fresh from the heather; hang round the stove in cloddish 

embarrassment; ruffled by the presence of their smarter comrades; 

and afraid of the sound of their own rustic voices。  It was in 

these early days; I think; that Professor Blackie won the affection 

of his pupils; putting these uncouth; umbrageous students at their 

ease with ready human geniality。  Thus; at least; we have a healthy 

democratic atmosphere to breathe in while at work; even when there 

is no cordiality there is always a juxtaposition of the different 

classes; and in the competition of study the intellectual power of 

each is plainly demonstrated to the other。  Our tasks ended; we of 

the North go forth as freemen into the humming; lamplit city。  At 

five o'clock you may see the last of us hiving from the college 

gates; in the glare of the shop windows; under the green glimmer of 

the winter sunset。  The frost tingles in our blood; no proctor lies 

in wait to intercept us; till the bell sounds again; we are the 

masters of the world; and some portion of our lives is always 

Saturday; LA TREVE DE DIEU。



Nor must we omit the sense of the nature of his country and his 

country's history gradually growing in the child's mind from story 

and from observation。  A Scottish child hears much of shipwreck; 

outlying iron skerries; pitiless breakers; and great sea…lights; 

much of heathery mountains; wild clans; and hunted Covenanters。  

Breaths come to him in song of the distant Cheviots and the ring of 

foraying hoofs。  He glories in his hard…fisted forefathers; of the 

iron girdle and the handful of oat…meal; who rode so swiftly and 

lived so sparely on their raids。  Poverty; ill…luck; enterprise; 

and constant resolution are the fibres of the legend of his 

country's history。  The heroes and kings of Scotland have been 

tragically fated; the most marking incidents in Scottish history … 

Flodden; Darien; or the Forty…five were still either failures or 

defeats; and the fall of Wallace and the repeated reverses of the 

Bruce combine with the very smallness of the country to teach 

rather a moral than a material criterion for life。  Britain is 

altogether small; the mere taproot of her extended empire: 

Scotland; again; which alone the Scottish boy adopts in his 

imagination; is but a little part of that; and avowedly cold; 

sterile and unpopulous。  It is not so for nothing。  I once seemed 

to have perceived in an American boy a greater readiness of 

sympathy for lands that are great; and rich; and growing; like his 

own。  It proved to be quite otherwise: a mere dumb piece of boyish 

romance; that I had lacked penetration to divine。  But the error 

serves the purpose of my argument; for I am sure; at least; that 

the heart of young Scotland will be always touched more nearly by 

paucity of number and Spartan poverty of life。



So we may argue; and yet the difference is not explained。  That 

Shorter Catechism which I took as being so typical of Scotland; was 

yet composed in the city of Westminster。  The division of races is 

more sharply marked within the borders of Scotland itself than 

between the countries。  Galloway and Buchan; Lothian and Lochaber; 

are like foreign parts; yet you may choose a man from any of them; 

and; ten to one; he shall prove to have the headmark of a Scot。  A 

century and a half ago the Highlander wore a different costume; 

spoke a different language; worshipped in another church; held 

different morals; and obeyed a different social constitution from 

his fellow…countrymen either of the south or north。  Even the 

English; it is recorded; did not loathe the Highlander and the 

Highland costume as they were loathed by the remainder of the 

Scotch。  Yet the Highlander felt himself a Scot。  He would 

willingly raid into the Scotch lowlands; but his courage failed him 

at the border; and he regarded England as a perilous; unhomely 

land。  When the Black Watch; after years of foreign service; 

returned to Scotland; veterans leaped out and kissed the earth at 

Port Patrick。  They had been in Ireland; stationed among men of 

their own race and language; where they were well liked and treated 

with affection; but it was the soil of Galloway that they kissed at 

the extreme end of the hostile lowlands; among a people who did not 

understand their speech; and who had hated; harried; and hanged 

them since the dawn of history。  Last; and perhaps most curious; 

the sons of chieftains were often educated on the continent of 

Europe。  They

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