LESSON 104

COLLOQUIAL POWERS OF FRANKLIN

富兰克林的话语感染力

William Wirt, 1772-1834, an American lawyer and author, was born at Bladensburg, Maryland. Left an orphan at an early age, he was placed in care of his uncle. He improved his opportunities for education so well that he became a private tutor at fifteen. In 1792 he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law in Virginia; he removed to Richmond in 1799. From 1817 to 1829 he was Attorney-general of the United States. His last years were spent in Baltimore. Mr. Wirt was the author of several books; his “Letters of a British Spy,” published in 1803, and “Life of Patrick Henry,” published in 1817, are the best known of his writings.

Never have I known such a fireside companion. Great as he was both as a statesman and philosopher, he never shone in a light more winning than when he was seen in a domestic circle. It was once my good fortune to pass two or three weeks with him, at the house of a private gentleman, in the back part of Pennsylvania, and we were confined to the house during the whole of that time by the unintermitting constancy and depth of the snows. But confinement never could be felt where Franklin was an inmate. His cheerfulness and his colloquial powers spread around him a perpetual spring.

When I speak, however, of his colloquial powers, I do not mean to awaken any notion analogous to that which Boswell has given us of Johnson. The conversation of the latter continually reminds one of the “pomp and circumstance of glorious war.” It was, indeed, a perpetual contest for victory, or an arbitrary or despotic exaction of homage to his superior talents. It was strong, acute, prompt, splendid, and vociferous; as loud, stormy, and sublime as those winds which he represents as shaking the Hebrides, and rocking the old castle which frowned on the dark-rolling sea beneath.

But one gets tired of storms, however sublime they may be, and longs for the more orderly current of nature. Of Franklin, no one ever became tired. There was no ambition of eloquence, no effort to shine in anything which came from him. There was nothing which made any demand upon either your allegiance or your admiration. His manner was as unaffected as infancy. It was nature’s self. He talked like an old patriarch; and his plainness and simplicity put you at once at your ease, and gave you the full and free possession and use of your faculties. His thoughts were of a character to shine by their own light, without any adventitious aid. They only required a medium of vision like his pure and simple style, to exhibit to the highest advantage their native radiance and beauty.

His cheerfulness was unremitting. It seemed to be as much the effect of a systematic and salutary exercise of the mind, as of its superior organization. His wit was of the first order. It did not show itself merely in occasional coruscations; but, without any effort or force on his part, it shed a constant stream of the purest light over the whole of his discourse. Whether in the company of commons or nobles, he was always the same plain man; always most perfectly at his ease, with his faculties in full play, and the full orbit of his genius forever clear and unclouded.

And then, the stores of his mind were inexhaustible. He had commenced life with an attention so vigilant that nothing had escaped his observation; and a judgment so solid that every incident was turned to advantage. His youth had not been wasted in idleness, nor overcast by intemperance. He had been, all his life, a close and deep reader, as well as thinker; and by the force of his own powers, had wrought up the raw materials which he had gathered from books, with such exquisite skill and felicity, that he has added a hundred fold to their original value, and justly made them his own.

【中文阅读】

我从未见过像他这样可以在炉边推诚置腹的朋友。作为政治家和哲学家他都堪称伟大。他在国内时从来没有获得如此高的推崇。我有幸在一位故交位于宾夕法尼亚后方的家中，与他盘桓过两三个星期。在那段时间里由于大雪皑皑，我们被困在那里，中途没有因为任何事情打扰而稍有中断。但是，大雪的耽搁并没有影响我将富兰克林引为知己。他的乐天达观和话语感染力让人有永远如沐春风之感。

然而，当我提到他的话语感染力时，我并非有意唤醒读者诸君对博斯维尔评价约翰生的类似联想。后者的谈话一直提醒我们“华丽战争的壮观和情境”。确实，这是为胜利而进行的永无休止的竞争，或者是对他超卓才能表示崇敬的一种主观和独断的苛求。这种谈话是强烈的、尖锐的、迅速的，壮丽的和大喊大叫的；像能动摇赫布里底群岛和将古老的城堡夷为平地的狂风暴雨那样声势浩大和令人赞叹。

但是，尽管令人赞叹，人们还是厌烦了狂风暴雨，更渴望的是被普遍接受的天性的流露。对富兰克林，没有谁曾厌烦过。他的话语里没有流露出展开雄辩的抱负，没有对自己说的任何话进行粉饰的企图，也没有强求得到你的拥护或赞赏。他的举止仪态像婴儿一样不受外界的影响，这就是天性的流露。他说话时就像一位年长的家长，话语的平易和简洁令你马上就感到非常舒服，给你完全和自由的自主权，你可以充分运用自己的表达能力。他的思想有一种闪耀自身光辉的特质，不必借助于任何外来的东西。像他话语纯粹和简朴的风格一样，这些思想只需要视觉这个媒介，展现出这些思想天然的光辉和美的最高层次的有利因素。

他的乐天达观能传达给每个人，仿佛思维系统性和有益的练习发挥出的效果，这种效果同其高级组织形式一样大。他的风趣堪称优雅的典范，这种风趣并非仅仅偶尔才焕发出光彩，而是不需任何刻意的努力或勉强为之的信手拈来。在他整个谈话过程中，始终闪耀着纯粹的智慧光芒。不论在普通场合还是高雅的场合，他的平易近人始终如一，始终表现得非常自在，调动所有的能力以期表达充分，他的天赋才能始终以清晰和平静的方式充分体现出来。

还有，他的思想是取之不竭的。他以一种专心的态度开始谈话，他非常警觉，以至于没有什么能逃过他的观察；他的判断如此可靠，以至于每一件事情都会转向有利的结果。他的青春没有被懒惰虚掷，也从没有因为放纵自己而心生悔恨。终其一生，他一直手不释卷，一直是个思考者；凭借自己的天赋所激发出的能量，运用精致的技巧和恰当的分寸，他将从书中搜集到的原料加工和锻造成成熟的思想，使这些原料最初的价值增加百倍，变成他自己的东西。