范·W. 布鲁克斯(Van W. Brooks)
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 every day. 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 dilettantism 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.
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.
It was a conquest of personality. Prescott was a first-rate human being, exuberant , gallant , willful , firm, devoted, far removed from the clerkly sort of scholar, painstaking but wanting in vigour and sinew...
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.
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.
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 America longed for. When it was published, the book was a universal triumph.
- inconsequence [ɪnˈkɒnsɪkwəns] n. 不重要
- sally [ˈsælɪ] n. 俏皮话，妙语
- dilettantism [ˌdɪləˈtæntɪzəm] n. 业余的艺术爱好，浅涉文艺
- exuberant [ɪɡˈzjuːbərənt] a. 精力旺盛的
- gallant [ˈɡælənt] a. 英勇的，雄伟的
- willful [ˈwɪlfl] a. 任性的，固执的
- refractory [rɪˈfræktərɪ] a. 难驾驭的
- mettlesome [ˈmetlsəm] a. 勇敢的
- indolent [ˈɪndələnt] a. 懒惰的，无痛的
- abridge [əˈbrɪdʒ] vt. 缩减，节略
- pageantry [ˈpædʒəntrɪ] n. 庆典，壮观
威廉·希科林·普雷斯科特是蒂克纳的年轻朋友，普雷斯科特法官仪表堂堂、风趣幽默的儿子住在贝德福德大街宽敞的房子里，俯瞰着一个美丽的花园。这就是威廉·希科林·普雷斯科特的著作。普雷斯科特的著作？谁会相信？他近乎盲人，特别热衷于快活的聚会。他谈起话来滔滔不绝，神采飞扬，口若悬河，畅怀大笑，自嘲话语的前后矛盾，还时不时说些新笑话或机敏的俏皮话。尽管他的眼睛有缺陷，但他能以很多方式使自己快乐，而且每种方式他都能自得其乐，比他的朋友们见到的任何人都更快乐。人们在大街上遇见他，会看到他身穿鲜艳的蓝缎子背心，高高的个头，英俊潇洒，一头浅棕色的头发，面色红润白皙。他似乎日显年轻。人们知道，二十年来，他和一群朋友一直在进行一个文学俱乐部的活动，一边快乐地吃着晚餐，一边读着论文。他在报纸上发表过几篇论文，但大家都认为他是随便写写的，并没有真正作深入研究。在他的书问世前不久，他的一个亲戚在街上遇到了他，敦促他做些认真的工作，那对他会非常好，会比过这种毫无效益的生活更体面。
每天夜晚，淡淡的灯光透过他书房的窗子，洒在花园中的梨树上。但是只有乔治·蒂克纳——他是个外人——知道，至少有十年了，普雷斯科特一直刻苦努力着，也许比任何波士顿商人更为辛苦。如果每个人都买这本书当作圣诞礼物，那只能是因为作者具有巨大的吸引力。他的一位密友——不是一位读者——在那本书出版的当天黎明前就起床了，为的是要买第一本，然而，虽然每个人一看就知道那是本好书，但没有人知道它好在哪里，世界上知道的人不到十二个。
这是一种对个性的征服。普雷斯科特是人中之杰，他生气勃勃，勇敢坚定，有毅力，有奉献精神，远远没有神职学者的那种习气，刻苦努力，但缺乏精力和体力……
他不喜欢早起，只得让他的仆人——忠诚的内森——揭去他的被子。他不喜欢工作，只好和秘书打赌，他会写完多少页，完成某件决心要做的事。他总是在下着决心，年纪再大也是这样，但年纪再大也从不遵守。
桀骜不驯的马造就最优秀的骑士。普雷斯科特有着惊人的意志，牢牢掌控着自己的野性。在隆冬时节，每天早晨，为使自己兴奋起来迎接一天的工作，他就跨上马，骑到牙买加平原，在某个小山上看日出。
这本书是十年磨一剑，做了三年半的研究，才动笔写了开首第一句，花了三个月时间写出了第一段，花了七个月时间写了最后一段，又花了两年进行精简压缩。他把文本排了版，印出了四份，让朋友们修改评论。当普雷斯科特呕心沥血、奋笔疾书写那些章节的时候，从没想到他的同胞们是怎样渴望着早日读到他的书，感受到他带给他们的辉煌绚烂——国王们、王后们和诸多战役再现的盛大场面。这是美国所渴望的浪漫作品，一经出版，便大获全胜，受到普遍赞赏。
范·W. 布鲁克斯(1886—1963)，美国文学批评家、传记作家，出生于新泽西州。著作很多，从第一部《清教徒的酒》(The Wine of the Puritans ，1909)到死后发表的《自传》(An Autobiography ，1965)，中间的著作还有：《美国快成年》(America's Coming-of-Age ，1915)，《马克·吐温的严峻考验》(The Ordeal of Mark Twain ，1920)，《爱默生及其他》(Emerson and Others ，1927)。有关美国文学史的著作有：《创作者与发现者：美国作家史1800—1915》(Maker and Finders: a History of the Writer in America , 1800—1915，1936—1952)，《美国作家》(The Writer in America ，1953)，《作家笔记》(A Writer's Notebook ，1958)，《凤凰的日子》(Days of Phoenix ，1957)等。