查尔斯·兰姆(Charles Lamb)
Children love to listen to stories about their elders, when they were children; to stretch their imagination to the conception of a traditionary great-uncle, or grandma, whom they never saw. It was in this spirit that my little ones crept about me the other evening to hear about their great-grandmother Field, who lived in a great house in Norfolk(a hundred times bigger than that in which they and papa lived) which had been the scene — so at least it was generally believed in that part of the country — of the tragic incidents which they had lately become familiar with from the ballad of the Children in the Wood . Certain it is that the whole story of the children and their cruel uncle was to be seen fairly carved out in wood upon the chimney-piece of the great hall, the whole story down to the Robin Redbreasts ; till a foolish rich person pulled it down to set up a marble one of modern invention in its stead, with no story upon it. Here Alice put out one of her dear mother's looks, too tender to be called upbraiding. Then I went on to say, how religious and how good their great-grandmother Field was, how beloved and respected by everybody, though she was not indeed the mistress of this great house, but had only the charge of it (and yet in some respects she might be said to be the mistress of it too) committed to her by the owner, who preferred living in a newer and more fashionable mansion which he had purchased somewhere in the adjoining county; but still she lived in it in a manner as if it had been her own, and kept up the dignity of the great house in a sort while she lived, which afterward came to decay and was nearly pulled down, and all its old ornaments stripped and carried away to the owner's other house, where they were set up, and looked as awkward as if some one were to carry away the old tombs they had seen lately at the Abbey, and stick them up in Lady C.'s tawdry gilt drawing-room. Here John smiled, as much as to say,“that would be foolish indeed.”And then I told how, when she came to die, her funeral was attended by a concourse of all the poor, and some of the gentry too, of the neighborhood for miles round to show their respect for her memory, because she had been such a good and religious woman; so good indeed that she knew all the Psaltery by heart, ay, and a great part of the Testament besides. Here little Alice spread her hands....
- reverie [ˈrevərɪ] n. 幻想，白日梦
creep about 凑在一起，围在一起
Robin Redbreasts 红腹知更鸟
tawdry gilt 华丽而俗气的
儿童爱听长辈们童年时的那些故事，并展开他们的想象力，设想着从未见过的、传说中的高祖父或高祖母的音容笑貌。正是带着这种兴致，我的小家伙们在前两天的一个傍晚围在我的周围，听我讲他们曾祖母菲尔德的故事。曾祖母住的大宅院在诺福克（比孩子们和他们爸爸现在住的大一百倍），这个地方也是最近童谣《森林中的孩子》中悲剧事件发生的场景，至少那里乡间的人这么普遍认为。有关孩子们和残酷叔叔的故事肯定用木头雕刻在大厅的壁炉台上，就在红腹知更鸟鸟巢下面。可惜的是，一个愚蠢的有钱人用现代大理石构建代替了它，没有故事在上面了。说到这里，艾莉丝露出了一丝慈母的面容，太温柔了，很难说是一种责备。我接着说，他们的曾祖母菲尔德是多么虔诚，多么善良啊，多么为人们所敬爱和尊敬啊，虽然她不真的是大宅院的女主人，但是她受主人之托掌管它（在某种程度上她也可以说是大宅院的女主人）。那个主人在附近的郡里购置了一处更新更时髦的宅邸，喜欢住在那里；不过她也还住在这里面，好像大宅院是自己的。在她有生之年，多少维持着大宅院的尊严。后来大宅院毁坏了，几乎倒塌了，所有古老的装饰品都摘除了，挪到了主人别的房舍，又在那里把装饰品安置好，看上去十分难看，就好像有人想搬走他们最近在西敏寺看到的古老坟墓，把这些坟墓放置在C女士那俗丽镶金的客厅里。听到这里，约翰笑了笑，等于是在说，“那真是蠢透了。”然后，我告诉他们，当她去世的时候，有一大群人参加了她的葬礼，包括邻近地区数英里之内所有的穷人，也有一些绅士贵族，表达对她的怀念，因为她曾经是一个非常善良而虔诚的女人；她是这样好，能够完整背诵所有的诗篇，还能背诵旧约的大部分。说到这儿，小艾莉丝摊开了双手……
查尔斯·兰姆(1775—1834)，英国散文家，笔名伊利亚(Elia)。在慈善机构就读，与柯勒律治(后来成诗人)同学。她跟患有精神病的姐姐相依为命。写了很有影响的《儿童诗文集》(Poetry for Children ，1808)，《莎士比亚戏剧故事集》(Tales from Shakespeare ，1807)。最重要的代表作是《伊利亚随笔集》(Essays of Elia ,1823)及续集。散文文笔幽默、讽刺，感情哀婉，手法独特，描写细腻逼真。