Van Wyck Brooks (1886—1963)
本文作者勃鲁克斯是美国当代文学批评家，著作很多，最重要的是皇皇五巨册的《美国文学史》（Makers and Finders: A History of the Writer in America,1800–1915）。勃氏以生动华丽的文字，传记家的笔法，描写美国过去的文坛实况和文人言行，使得读者有身历其境、面对古人之感。所以有人说他这部文学史读来和历史小说一样地有趣。
本文选自《新英格兰的盛世》（The Flowering of New England,1815–1865），这一本书在他全部文学史里按出版年份来说是最早的一本（1936年出版），也是最成功的一本。在《新英格兰的盛世》这一时期里，美国文坛名家辈出，如朗费罗、爱默生、霍桑、梭罗等皆是，历史家普瑞斯各德的成就也许比不上他们这些人，但普氏以半盲之人，全凭苦心毅力，完成他的那部巨著The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella，实在也值得介绍于中国读者之前。
Suddenly, in l837, out of the throng of historical studies, honest and laborious, some of them fervent, none of them august, a great work appeared, like a wonder of nature, as it seemed to American readers, —The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was a brilliant performance, as any child could see and no scholar was ever to deny. Its limitations were obvious enough. It was not a philosophical history. The author had no great leading views, nor any profound feeling for human motives. There were depths upon depths behind and beneath the story that he had never plumbed. But, as a work of art, a great historical narrative, grounded at every point in historical fact, and with all the glow and colour of Livy and Froissart, it was a magnificent success. Its outlines were as firm as those of a cartoon of Raphael, and its pageantry of picturesque detail was calculated to feed as never before the starved imagination of the country. The book had been planned like a battle and built as stoutly as a Salem clipper, destined to sail through many enchanted minds for generations to come.
● throng：大量，很多种。1837年前几年间，美国出了好多种历史研究著作，都是老老实实苦心经营（laborious）之作，有几种热情充沛，但是没有一本是令人叹服（august）的杰作，忽然在那一年，从（out of）那一堆书里，出现了一本巨著，据美国读者看来，就像是一件奇迹（wonder of nature）。
● 伊培利亚半岛上Aragon国国王Ferdinand于1469年娶Isabella为后，Isabella于1474年复继位为Castile国的女王，这两国的联合奠定了今日西班牙的基础。十五世纪的西班牙在他们统治（reign）之下，国势极盛，哥伦布发现新大陆，就是在他们俩赞助下完成的。普氏的巨著，就是以这个时代为题材。
● brilliant performance：精彩之作。这一点小孩子都看得出来，专家学者也从没有人否认过。
● limitations：限制，缺点。虽然是本巨著，但并非十全十美，缺点很明显。
● philosophical history：哲学历史。从哲学观点来写的历史，历史中包含哲学思想者。
● leading views：主要的观点。great这里应作“高明”解。human motives：人类行为的动机。普通历史家只研究事情本身，有心理学修养的历史家，还要研究事情后面的动机。但是普氏在这方面并没有深刻的认识。
● depths upon depths：故事的后面、故事的底下，一层复一层的，深藏着人心的奥秘，但是普氏从来没有往深处去探测。普氏只对于故事本身发生兴趣。
● 这部历史虽然缺乏深刻的哲理和心理动机的分析。但是我们拿它当作一件艺术品来看或是一部伟大的历史叙事文来读，我们不得不承认这是部了不起的著作（magnificent success）。
● grounded是过去分词，形容narrative，意为“建立”。这部历史所讲的许多事迹，没有一处是向壁虚构，每一句话都有根据：“每一点都建立于历史事实之上。”
● Livy（59 B.C.— A.D.17）是罗马历史家。Froissart（1337？—1400）是法国历史家。他们的文章都是有光彩的（glow and colour），普氏的文章也可以和他们的媲美。
● 最后几句话都是赞扬普氏巨著的优点。他这本书的轮廓明确，就像拉斐尔的勾勒画稿一样。cartoon现在普通译作“卡通”或“漫画”，这里解作“勾勒画稿”，即油画、壁画、织锦等动工以前，先在厚纸上用钢笔所画的草稿。拉斐尔是文艺复兴时期意大利画家。这部书的“轮廓明确”，说的是它的计划周密，叙事次序井然，无轻重偏颇之病。
● picturesque detail：如画的细节。本书的组织完整，各处小节描写，又生动美丽如画，使人目不暇接，犹如盛大赛会，化装游行（pageantry）一般。calculated=fit，suitable（足以产生某种结果）。to feed the imagination of the country：给美国人民以精神食粮，激发他们的想象力，starved：饥饿的。十九世纪初叶，美国人的精神生活很是贫乏，所能想象的东西很有限。普氏此书，活龙活现地描写西班牙国势最盛的一段时期，大多为美国人见所未见，闻所未闻的事情，美国人欢迎这本书，无异是饥民之得美食。as never before：以前所出的书，从来没有像这本书那样能满足美国人者。
● like a battle：本书写作以前，设计周密审慎，犹如参谋本部计划一场战争一样。Salem：美国麻州之海港，为当时美国造船业之中心。clipper：快帆船。本书的结构完美，颠扑不破，如Salem快船一般地结实（stoutly built）。按：普氏为Salem地方的人，这个譬喻用得很适当。
● destined原意是“命中注定的”，但通常并不含有“命运”的意义，只是指“将来有某种结果”而已。他这只船造成以后，将要在未来世世代代（for generations to come）读者的心灵中航行。enchanted：着迷的；这本书可以使人入迷，使读者犹如置身于十五世纪的西班牙一般。船在很多人的心灵中航行，就是说很多人要读它（读了还要着迷）。
It was the work of William Hickling Prescott, Ticknor's young friend, the charming, amusing son of Judge Prescott, who lived in his ample house in Bedford Street, overlooking a beautiful garden. Prescott?—who could believe it? He was partly blind, and he had an extravagant love of jolly parties. He talked with a joyous abandon, running over with animal spirits, laughing at his own inconsequences, with always some new joke or witty sally. He could be happy in more ways, in spite of his defective eyes, and happier in every one of them, than anyone else his friends had ever seen. One met him in the street, with his gay blue satin waistcoat, tall, graceful, with light brown hair and a clear and ruddy complexion. He seemed to look younger everyday. It was known that, for twenty years, he and a group of his friends had carried on a literary club, reading their papers over a merry supper. He had printed a few essays in the review. But this was in a dilettantish spirit, everyone supposed. One of his relatives, meeting him on the street, not long before his book appeared, urged him to undertake some serious task. It would be so good for him. It would be more respectable than leading this unprofitable life.
● George Ticknor（1791—1871）：当时有名学者，曾任哈佛大学法文、西班牙文教授，学识渊博，喜奖掖后进。普氏年龄比他轻五岁。
● 第一句说明普氏家世，其父任法官，家里房子很大。社会人士对他的认识是如此。作者并不直叙普氏的家世与为人，这里只是描写当时的人看见普氏的巨著后的惊奇心理：凭这样一个人也能写出这样一部书来吗？
● partly blind：半盲。jolly parties：热闹的社交宴会。
● abandon：随便（名词）。说起话来总很高兴，想说什么就说什么。
● animal spirits：活泼好动的劲儿（此二字为成语）。running over：滔滔不绝地说话。inconsequences：前言不对后语，自己也觉得好笑。running和laughing都是形容主语He，描写他说话的情形。sally：隽语，俏皮话。
● in more ways：他的眼睛虽有病，但他作乐的方法很多，他的朋友们再也没有看见像他那样会多方面寻快乐的人了。his friends had ever seen是定语从句，关系代名词that（或whom）省掉。in every one of them：in every one of these ways。别人也许也有他这么多作乐的方法，但是他寻起快乐来，不论任何方式，总比别人还要高兴。本句than一字，既照应前面的more，复照应稍后的happier。
● 接着一句描写他的服饰容貌。作者还不是直接描写，还是借用当时人的看法。
● One met him的One没有确指什么人。gay：色彩鲜艳的。satin：缎子。waistcoat：马甲，背心。graceful：态度文雅。clear and ruddy complexion：面色清朗红润。看他样子，似乎愈活愈年轻了。
● It was known：大家知道。literary club：文学联谊会。merry supper：大家一起吃晚饭，谈笑欢乐，同时再宣读各人的论文。
● the review指当时有名的杂志The North American Review。
● dilettante：以文艺作为消遣之人。in the dilettantish spirit：他举办文学联谊会，发表文章，大家认为他只是搞着玩的，并不是真正用心研究或埋首写作。
● undertake some serious task：着手干一样正经的工作。
● respectable：为人所重视。他那时所过的生活，对他自己太没有好处了。
Every evening the light from his study window glimmered through the pear-trees in the garden. But only George Ticknor, outside the household, knew that, for at least ten years, Prescott had been hard at work, harder, perhaps, than any Boston merchant. And, if everyone bought this book for a Christmas present, it was only because the author was so attractive. One of his cronies, who was not a reader, rose before dawn, on the day it was published, to buy the first copy; but, while everyone saw at once that it was good, no one was aware how good it was. There were scarcely twelve men living who were able to know. Within a year or two, the electoral returns came rolling in, from England, France and Spain. The book had been born a classic.
● study window：书斋的窗户。pear-trees：梨树。写这部文学史的勃鲁克斯，把人家花园里种的什么树都考证出来了，但只是像小说家那样的随手拈来，并不在卖弄考据之学。
● outside the household：除了他家里人以外，只有好友Ticknor知道他在那里用功写作，而且已经花了“十年寒窗”的功夫了。（前文那位亲戚不知道，所以还要劝他干正经事。）
● harder用以加强hard。他的用功之苦，比之波士顿孳孳为利的商人，也许有过之而无不及。
● everyone是夸大的说法，即“很多人”。大家都去买他的书，作为圣诞礼品送人。买的人所以如此之多，因为作者为人很可爱，平日人缘很好，至于书写得好不好，大家并不关心。
● cronies：好朋友。此人平日并不读书（not a reader）。
● while有“虽然”之意。大家都看出来这是一部好书，但是到底好得怎么样，那些买书的人没有人知道。当时有资格评定这部书的优劣者，全世界仅有（scarcely）十二人而已。
● electoral returns：各地选举的开票结果。这里并没有谁在举行选举，作者只是借用一个成语，表示各地的好评源源不断而来。
● a classic：名著，不朽之作。这是个subjective complement：一出版就成了名著。
It was a conquest of personality. Prescott was a first-rate human being, exuberant, gallant, wilful, firm, devoted, far removed from the clerkly sort of scholar, painstaking but wanting in vigour and sinew, who, in a world in which the most virile types adopted careers of enterprising action, ruled over the sphere of books.
● It：本书的成功。conquest of personality：个性之征服。如上文所叙，Prescott个性外向，爱同朋友来往，参加热闹的社交宴会。他不像是个潜心著作的史学家。他超越了自己的个性，才能写出这部不朽名著来。
● a first-rate human being：第一流的人物。exuberant：精力充沛。gallant此字有勇敢、高贵之意，相当于中文的“潇洒不群”。wilful：任性行事。firm：意志坚定。devoted：对朋友极为忠诚，当然也极有可能献身于一己的事业。
● the clerkly sort of scholar：在书本世界里过日子的那种学者。clerkly：像个书呆子或小书记似的，没有见解，没有气魄。普氏绝不是这一类人。painstaking：治学非常小心。可是体力（vigour and sinew）稍差。sinew：筋络，转作“体力”。who代表主语the clerkly sort of scholar。它的动词是ruled。在那时的美国，凡是以体魄胜人（virile）的那一种人，都去从事（adopted：采用）于带点冒险性（enterprising）的事业了，如经商、航海、从军等，剩下那些体力不如人的学者，只好在书堆里称王（统治了书本的领域）。普氏精力充沛，原是第一类型的人，却能克服自己的个性，成为一个大史学家。
He did not like to get up in the morning and had to instruct his servant, the faithful Nathan, to pull away his bed-clothes. He did not like to work. He had to make bets with his secretary that he would write a certain number of pages or carry out some other resolution. He was always making resolutions, never too old to make them; and he was never old enough to keep them.
● 普氏既非读书型，早晨懒得起床，非得吩咐忠仆Nathan不可，叫他把被子掀掉。
● make bets：赌东道。他的决心（resolution）常常不能付诸实行（carry out），他不得不同他的秘书打赌，规定自己要写多少页书，或者干些别的什么事情；为了怕输东道，只好硬着头皮苦干了。
● was always making resolutions：常常在下决心，定计划。never too old to make them：自己从来不觉得老，所以计划（them代替resolutions）层出不穷。假如自己承认老朽，那么也许就得过且过，不再下什么决心了。
● never old enough to keep them：老人自觉岁月所余无多，心上如有未了之事，总希望在生前把它做掉。这种人可说是old enough to keep their resolutions了。可是普氏并不觉老之将至，也不想偿宿债，还宿愿。
The refractory horse makes the most mettlesome charger. Prescott had a formidable will, and he had bridled and harnessed his indolent nature. Every morning, in the dead of winter, to wind himself up for the day, he mounted his horse and rode to Jamaica Plain, to see the sun rise from a certain hill. As for his blindness, which was never total, he made an advantage of it. One might have thought that blindness was a blessing. He could not read for more than ten minutes,—an hour or two a day at the best of times. And how could a blind man write a history, based on unpublished documents, in two or three foreign languages?
● 第一句用现在时，表示一般情形。凡顽劣不驯（refractory）之马，如经名手训练，常成为最刚健之良驹（charger：战马，用以冲锋陷阵者）。
● formidable will：坚强的意志。他用毅力驾御了自己懒惰的个性。bridled：替马装上羁勒。harnessed：替马装上马具，备驾车之用。indolent：习惯性的懒惰，怕吃力，喜悠闲。这里把他的个性比作一头马，所以可以bridled又可以harnessed。
● in the dead of winter：是成语；三九严冬。dead作名词用，解作“死气沉沉的时候”。万籁寂静的深夜，可以译成at dead of night。to wind himself up：替自己“上发条”；振作精神，准备一天的工作。Jamaica Plain：波士顿附近的地名。这样一个懒得起床的人，冬晨居然能骑马到郊外山头看日出，精神自是不凡。
● which was never total：盲虽盲，但从未完全失明。which代替blindness。As for his blindness：至于他的瞎眼吧……。made an advantage of it：他把短处转化成为长处；本来不利于自己的缺陷，反而转变成为对自己有利的优点。
● One might have thought：我们几乎可以这么说；虚拟语气，隐含这么一个conditional clause，假如我们能够看见他这么用功的话。
● a blessing：天赐恩典。
● based on unpublished documents：他这部历史所根据的是些未经发表的文献（如书札、日记、手稿之类），这些东西是用两三种外国文字写成的。他双目不灵，一天顶多只能读上一两钟头的书，每读十分钟就要休息，他怎么能披阅这许多未经整理的原始史料，写出这么一部伟大的历史呢？
He made his ears do the work of his eyes, with the aid of a friend and a sister and later of a competent secretary. Blindness had always favoured contemplative habits. Had not Malebranche closed his shutters in order to drive the sunlight out? Had not Democritus, as the legend said, blinded himself deliberately to stimulate his thinking? Blindness was good for invention, as many poets proved, from Homer to Milton. The blind were famous for their patience, especially for their feats of memory.
● 他用耳代目——使耳朵做眼睛的工作。他是请人把书读给他听的，先是请一位朋友和自己的姊妹，以后又找到了一位很能干（competent）的秘书。of a competent secretary的of连前面的with the aid。
● Blindness had always favoured…：从历史上看来，目盲非但不足为害，而且大有助于深思冥想的习惯。动词时态had favoured表示在普氏以前已经如此。
● 接着用两句问话，这种句子形式虽为问句，事实上答案不言自明，在修辞学上称为rhetorical question，相当于中文的“反问”。
● Nicolas de Malebranche（1638—1715）：法国哲学家。他总把百叶窗拉下，不让阳光进屋，免得周围景物，分了他用功的心（中国也有“十年目不窥园”的佳话）。
● Democritus：纪元前四五世纪间的希腊哲学家。据古人传说（as the legend said），他故意（deliberately）把眼睛弄瞎，为的要激发自己的思想。
● invention：这里不是指科学上的发明，而是文学家的想象。创造人物，制作故事。希腊大诗人荷马据说是个瞎子，密尔顿的《失乐园》等巨著都是在失明以后写成。许多诗人可以证明：目盲有益于文学创作。
● The blind：瞎子，形容词作名词用，相当于the rich表示所有的富人。瞎子都以耐心出名，不会心浮气粗；他们的惊人的记忆力，尤为世人所乐道。feats：特殊技能，如力能扛鼎，百步穿杨，一目十行等。feats of memory：能记普通人所不能记的东西。
Prescott taught himself to use a noctograph, by means of which, with the aid of an ivory stylus, pressing on a sheet of carbon-paper, he took his notes and wrote his manuscripts. The secretary copied the notes in a large, round hand, which Prescott was sometimes able to read. Meanwhile, he had learned to memorize, composing in his memory to such an extent that he could often carry in his mind as many as three chapters of one of his books, seventy-two pages of printed text. He could hold it there for several days, turning it over and over, remodelling every sentence. One chapter he thus remodelled sixteen times, before committing a word to paper.
● noctograph：盲人用的写字机器，构造不详，想必是利用触觉代替视觉的。ivory stylus：象牙制的尖头笔。carbon-paper：复写纸。pressing on：加压力于其上，即“写”。took notes：记笔记。manuscripts：文稿。
● large：字迹（hand）很大。round hand：圆形字体，笔划清楚，不倾不斜，各字母间都分开的。相当于中文的“正楷”，易于辨认，与“行书”（running hand）不同。sometimes：秘书把他的笔记这样清清楚楚地抄了下来，普氏还只是“有时”能读得出来而已，其目力之不济可想而知。
● composing in his memory：用他的记忆来作文。写下的稿子自己不能读，如何能修改补正呢？只好把文章都记在脑子里。to such an extent that：普通人也有会拟“腹稿”的，可是比起普氏来，真是小巫之见大巫。普氏的拟腹稿，能够做到把好几十页书都记在脑筋里的“程度”。
● 关于“记住”，这两句里用了两个动词，都值得称道。一个是carry：把一本书整整三章文章（排印起来要占七十二页之多）都“背”在脑筋里。还有一个字是hold：放在那里，牢记不忘。hold it的it，指那几章文章的“整体”。
● turning it over and over：心里翻来覆去地想它。remodelling every sentence：腹稿未必妥当，句句都在脑筋里仔细地修改。remodelling所指，不单是更动几个字而已，硬是把句法都要彻底地改过。
● committing a word to paper：写一个字在纸上。先是一字不落，想之又想，改之又改，然后再落笔。有一章他的腹稿改了十六次之多。committing有“付托”之意。
His blindness had another effect. It increased the sensitivity that lay behind the judgments he conveyed—as an artist ought to convey them—by subtle modulations of tone and style. He spoke of the careless indifference with which men who would never abuse a dog crushed, without a thought, insects whose bodily agonies were imperceptible to the naked eye.
● effect：效果。
● the judgements he conveyed：他所下的判断。convey：表达。西班牙那时盛行“异教裁判”，对于思想罪犯百般凌虐，普氏写这一段的历史，对于此种暴行，甚表不满。“不满”就是他的判断，他如何表达他自己的见解呢？他既是一个讲究行文措辞的“艺术家”，他并不直言责斥，他用的是艺术家的办法。在他文章的语调（tone）和风格（style）之中，自有其不可捉摸（subtle）的抑扬顿挫（modulations），他就在这种地方，暗加褒贬。
● 他的见解基于他对人类的同情，所以说在他的判断的后面（that lay behind the judgments）有他对于人生是非苦乐的敏感之心（sensitivity），而盲人又是特别的敏感。
● men who would never abuse a dog：从不肯虐待猫狗的人。这种人应该是很仁慈的了，可是他们会毫不加思索地（without a thought）踏死小虫！（crushed后面虽有逗号，但是在语法结构上，它应该连它的宾语insects）。因为猫狗的痛苦，显而易见，虫豸的痛苦，非大慈大悲极具同情心者，不能体会。它们身体上的苦楚（bodily agonies）为肉眼所不能见。naked eyes：肉眼，普通人的眼睛。所以有眼睛的人，未必能体贴入微，而盲人可能特别敏感，乃知蝼蚁之亦贪生也。
● the careless indifference with which men…crushed…insects：人踏死小虫的时候，带一种马虎满不在乎的态度。普氏在某一篇文章里，就讨论到（spoke of）这一点，足见盲目反而增加了他的敏感。
He had first acquired these mental habits when, as a young man with failing sight, he had been sent abroad, to London and Paris, to consult the doctors there, and had spent a quiet winter in the Azores. People were surprised, in later years, that Prescott, who had never visited Spain, or Mexico or Peru, knew so much about these tropical scenes and was able to fill his books with such glowing pictures,—Spanish gardens, myrtles, laurels, lemons, the box-tree and the rose, mountain vistas, wildly picturesque, the Cordilleras and the Sierra Nevada, with convent-bells ringing in the valleys. A young man who had grown up in Boston, under cloudy skies, lashed by the east wind, would have had little imagination if he had not received vivid impressions during these June-like months in the Azores.
● these mental habits：这些心理上的习惯，即上文所说的记忆，拟腹稿等。acquired：获得；“养成一种习惯”可说to acquire a habit。with failing sight：目力渐渐丧失。
● to consult the doctors there：请教伦敦巴黎两地的名医。（普氏游欧，在他19岁到21岁之间。）Azores：大西洋中岛屿，属葡萄牙。群岛前面，该加冠词the。普氏的外祖父那时是岛上的美国领事。
● 本文文章的特点，是长句子相当多，可是句子虽长，停顿也多，很少有一气呵成的，读了几个字读者就可以换一口气，调子缓慢，不慌不忙，有闲散轻松之妙。调子既慢，装饰用的字眼可以随时插入，句法内容因以丰富，而句法变化亦变幻莫测矣。以第一句为例，when以前的句法是直接了当的，到了when以后，从句的主语he不见出来，反而添了一个comma，comma之后又来as a young man with failing sight这样一个短语，这六个字紧凑得好，假如初学写来，写成when he was young and his sight was failing就显得笨拙而啰嗦矣。六个字过后，再说他到海外去。去哪里呢？（语气一顿）伦敦、巴黎。去干什么呢？（语气又一顿）是去瞧大夫的。
● 这样写法在第二句中更为明显。如surprised后，语气一顿，接in later years（普氏成名以后）；that Prescott之后，隔了好多字，动词knew才出现；而knew之前，语气又要停好几次；Spain之后一顿，or Mexico后一小顿；or Peru后又一顿。如中间取消一个or，改说Spain, Mexico or Peru句法较直捷干脆，唯韵味不同矣。总之，文章无定法，调子快有调子快的好处，调子慢有调子慢的好处。本文调子很慢，作者苦心所在，尚望读者仔细体会。
● 普氏从来没有去过西班牙，也没有去过墨西哥和秘鲁，（普氏继Ferdinand and Isabella之后，复完成两大巨著：Conquest of Mexico与Conquest of Peru），可是他对于那些热带国家的风光景色知道得非常清楚，犹如曾经身历其境一般，所以以后读者很觉奇怪。他的书里面到处是南欧和中南美洲风景的描写，色彩鲜明，生动如画（glowing：发光的）。
● myrtles：桃金娘，其叶、花与浆果均可作为香料。laurels：月桂。lemons：柠檬，又是一种香味浓郁的树。box-tree：黄杨树。mountain vistas：山岭间的远景。wildly picturesque：粗犷而入画（形容vistas）。the Cordilleras：山脉名，在秘鲁，the Sierra Nevada是西班牙的山名（美国加利福尼亚州有大山，亦名Sierra Nevada）。
● convent：修道院。深山古寺，幽谷钟声，普氏历史书中，偏多这种描写，无怪本文第一段中说本书的pageantry of picturesque detail可以满足美国人饥饿的想象力了。
● A young man：即普氏。他生长在景色单调的波士顿，天空是阴沉沉的时候多，整年受着东风的鞭打（lashed）。这样一个人假如不在热带住过一阵子，得到很生动的印象，是不会有多大的想象力的，更不必说是描写风光旖旎的西班牙了。June-like months：他在Azores的时候是冬天，可是那里大约是四季如夏；虽在冬天，气候仍温暖如六月。
After his taste of the Azores, he returned to Boston. His friends rallied about him in his blindness and read to him aloud, six or eight hours at a time, especially the inseparable Ticknor, absorbed in the study of Spanish literature, on which he was lecturing at Harvard. Ticknor, to amuse him, read his lectures to him, three or four afternoons every week, along with his favorite classics and historical works and the old English romances.
● rallied about him：集合在他的四周。普氏欧游之行，未能将双目医好，回国后朋友们帮助他，（rally除“集合”外，更有“支持”之意），读书给他听。inseparable：不可分离的，形影不离的（好朋友）。absorbed：（过去分词，形容Ticknor）专心致志于。Ticknor是哈佛大学西班牙文教授，前文已经说过。
● his lectures：Ticknor在哈佛的讲稿。非但念自己的讲稿，而且把普氏所爱读的（his favorite的his恐是代表普氏）古典文学、历史名著以及英国古代英雄传奇都连带念给他听。
Prescott was reading for pleasure, with Ticknor's Spanish library as his hunting-ground. He had in mind no scheme for a composition, but he was planning a literary career, for which he proposed to lay a firm foundation. English grammar first, as if he had never gone to school or college. For style, Sidney, Bacon, Browne and Milton. One hour a day for the Latin classics, Tacitus and Livy for elevation: he knew them by heart already, but this was a different matter. A year devoted to French, from Froissart to Chateaubriand. A year for Italian, another year for Spanish. There he paused, there he felt at home, too much at home to carry on with German. His eyes were not equal to the Gothic script.
● reading for pleasure：为消遣而渎书，念着玩的。Spanish library：西班牙文的藏书。hunting-ground：打猎的场地。他不断地借阅Ticknor的藏书。
● He had in mind no scheme=he had no scheme in mind。作者所以先说in mind，后说no scheme者，为的是使for a composition这个形容词短语可以紧跟着它所形容的名词scheme。composition所指，不仅是一篇作文，一本书亦可。动词compose是“写作”，composition就是“作品”。scheme：计划。a literary career：文学生涯，以文学为终身事业。既有志写作，不可不有准备，所以他想先扎好根基：筑好（lay）结实的基础。
● English grammar first：此句为不完全句，前面所省掉的大约是He studied两字。普氏是哈佛大学毕业生，文学修养本来已经很深，（他的眼睛是在大学里弄坏的），可是现在先从英文语法学起，好像自己从来没有进过学校似的，把英文语法从头研究一遍。这种功夫，无非为他日后写作作准备。
● style：文章风格。语法只教人文章的规范，真要写得好，还得精研名家的作品。普氏所精读的是四家的怍品：
Sir Philip Sidney（1554—1586）：伊利莎白时代作家。其Arcadia以辞藻华丽，想象丰富著称。Lord Bacon（1561—1626）：他的散文简洁老辣。Sir Thomas Browne（1605—1682）：十七世纪英国散文家，他在中国不大出名，但英国十九世纪散文家如Lamb等，受他的影响很深。他的文章风格可说是辞富理瞻，音调节奏之美，英国散文作家很少有比得上他的。Milton（1608—1674）：大诗人，但散文也有名，热情充沛，气势雄浑，为十七世纪一大名家。
● Tacitus同Livy一样，也是罗马历史家，出世约比耶稣晚半个世纪。普氏精读这两家的作品，为的是求风格高超（elevation），不作庸俗语。其实这两家的作品，他早已熟读，可是以前读的时候，也许只注意事实的记录，现在是专从文章方面用功，两种用功方法完全不同，不可混为一谈也（this was a different matter）。
● Chateaubriand（1768—1848）：法国作家，是浪漫运动的中坚人物之一。他的历史著作很能激发怀古的幽情。
● paused：稍歇，不再往前继续研究别种文字。at home：有如鱼得水之乐。
● Gothic script：哥德式字体。英文法文所用的都是罗马字体，近代德文书亦有用罗马字体印者，但普氏那时的德文书都用哥德式字体。所谓Goth原是日耳曼一种人种之名，其字体锋芒毕露而多曲折，没有罗马字体那样易于辨认。equal：力能对付，读来不吃力。
For a while, he thought of writing a history of Italian literature. But, no, an Italian subject would not be new: Sismondi had covered the ground too well. He wished for a theme that was new as well as great. Spanish history, if it was not unknown, had not been explored at its most vital point, the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Theirs was the momentous reign during which the scattered kingdoms were brought together, the age of the conquest of Naples, the founding of the Spanish Inquisition, the opening of the Western hemisphere. Thanks to the present government of Spain, the archives had been thrown open to Spanish scholars. They were busily publishing documents, chronicles, memoirs. But the decrepit kingdom, humbled by the loss of its foreign empire, rising from its ancient lethargy, was yet in too chaotic a state to foster any vigour of expression. Spain with all its historiographers, had not produced a master-mind who could assimilate for a greater purpose all these documents that had come to light.
● Sismondi（1773—1842）：瑞士历史家。他的关于意大利文学的著作内容很是详尽（covered the ground too well），没有留下多少东西可供后人发挥的了。
● theme：题材。他需要的是一个新颖的题材，可以发人所未发，而且是个大题目，可以大加发挥的。
● its most vital point：最重要的一点。explored：研究。西班牙历史不算是个冷门（not unknown），可是这一段的历史却没有人写过。
● Theirs=the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella。momentous：非常重要（的时期）。scattered kingdoms：西班牙本来分几个小国，现在是统一（brought together）了。Naples：意大利那时小国林立，所谓“城邦政治”是也。Naples是现代意大利的一个城市，在那时是一个小国，法国和西班牙为了争取该地的统治权，于1494年发生战争，西班牙先败后胜。Inquisition：异教裁判所。那时的西班牙虐待异教徒（包括犹太人和非正统的基督教徒）很是厉害。the Western hemisphere：西半球。哥伦布的探险是由Ferdinand and Isabella赞助成行的。新大陆于1492年发现。
● the present government：普氏当时的西班牙政府。archives：档案。thrown open：打开。学者可以自由阅览抄录。
● They指的是Spanish scholars。学者们整理结果，印行了很多有关十五世纪末叶和十六世纪初叶西班牙历史的文件，编年史和回忆录（情形好像近代吾国学者编印明清史档案一般）。
● decrepit：衰弱的。到了十九世纪，西班牙国势削弱，殖民地纷纷独立，海外帝国因以丧失（loss of its foreign empire），备受屈辱（humbled），声威大落；虽然力图扫除积弊，奋发自新（lethargy：暮气），然而国势仍旧混乱（chaotic），不能培养（foster）创造伟大著作的生气活力。expression：表达，即文学写作。
● historiographers：历史编著家，着重整理编订，和史学家（historians）有区别。master-mind：第一流的头脑。assimilate：吸收；它的宾语是documents。for a greater purpose：为了更大的目的；利用这些文献，写出一部巨著。come to light：（经学者整理后）重见天日。西班牙既然没有人动手写一部融会贯通可读可诵的历史书，只好由别国人来越俎代庖了。
The great theme was at Prescott's disposal. In order to feel sure-footed in the language, he went over his Spanish grammar again. Then he began to read all round the subject. Beginning with the general laws of nations, the constitutional history of England, the histories of the continental countries, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, the general history of Spain, before he settled on his special field.
● at Prescott's disposal：听他调遣，任他应用。sure-footed：脚头站稳；有充分把握。went over：从头研究一遍。
● all round the subject：一切有关本题的书籍。
● constitutional history：宪法史。
● the continental countries：欧陆各国，以别于英国。his special field：特定的范围，即Ferdinand和Isabella统治西班牙的那一段时期。
The book was a ten-year task: three and a half years of study before he wrote the opening sentence, three months for chapter one, seven months for the final chapter, two years for condensing and abridging. He had the text set up in type and caused four copies to be printed, for his friends to correct and criticize. Prescott, as he painfully scrawled his chapters, never guessed how hungry his countrymen were for the brilliant glow and colour that he gave them, the pageantry of kings and queens and battles. This was the romance that American longed for. When it was published, the book was a universal triumph.
● ten-year task：费时十年的工作。
● condensing：缩短。abridging：节略。材料太多，书虽写成，可删之处尚多，最后费了两年功夫，大加修削。
● text：书的正文（不连附注或图片等）。set up in type：排印成书。type是印刷用之活字（铅字）。caused four copies to be printed：先印四本，并不发卖，专供朋友评阅正误之用，为的是要精益求精。
● scrawled：潦草地写；并不是普氏写得潦草，其奈目力不济，写不清楚乎？hungry…for：嗷嗷待哺。the brilliant glow and colour：光华夺目，色彩绮丽的文字。that he gave them是定语从句：他所写给他们看的。the pageantry和glow and colour是“同位语”。帝王后妃和各处战事的描写，无不有声有色，热闹有趣，一幕接着一幕，无异是化装游行或盛大赛会。普氏辛辛苦苦写这部书时，决想不到他这一类的描写会受到美国人这样的欢迎。