内容摘要 THE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM (1799)-Extracted from a Family Paper ADDRESS these lines-written in India-to my relatives inEngland. My object is to explain the motive which has induced meto refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin, JohnHerncastle. The reserve which I have hitherto maintainedin this matter has been misinterpreted by members of myfamily whose good opinion I cannot consent to forfeit. Irequest them to suspend their decision until they have readmy narrative. And I declare, on my word of honour, thatwhat I am now about to write is, strictly and literally, thetruth. The private difference between my cousin and me tookits rise in a great public event in which we were bothconcerned-the storming of Seringapatam, under GeneralBaird, on the 4th of May, 1799. In order that the circumstances may be clearly understood,I must revert for a moment to the period before the assault,and to the stories current in our camp of the treasure injewels and gold stored up in the Palace of Seringapatam. Ⅱ One of the wildest of these stories related to a YellowDiamond-a famous gem in the native annals of India. The earliest known traditions describe the stone as havingbeen set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god whotypifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partlyfrom a superstition which represented it as feeling the On the twenty-ninth of the month, Miss Rachel and Mr.Franklin hit on a new method of working their way togetherthrough the time which might otherwise have hung heavyon their hands. There are reasons for taking particular noticehere of the occupation that amused them. You will find it hasa bearing on something that is still to come. Gentlefolks in general have a very awkward rock aheadin life-the rock ahead of their own idleness. Their livesbeing, for the most part, passed in looking about them forsomething to do, it is curious to see-especially when theirtastes are of what is called the intellectual sort-how oftenthey drift blindfold into some nasty pursuit. Nine timesout of ten they take to torturing something, or to spoilingsomething-and they firmly believe they are improvingtheir minds, when the plain truth is, they are only makinga mess in the house. I have seen them (ladies, I am sorr} tosay, as well as gentlemen) go out, day after day, for example,with empty pill-boxes, and catch newts, and beetles, andspiders, and frogs, and come home and stick pins throughthe miserable wretches, or cut them up, without a pang ofremorse, into little pieces. You see my young master, or myyoung mistress, poring over one of their spiders insideswith a magnifying-glass; or you meet one of their frogswalking downstairs without his head-and when youwonder what this cruel nastiness means, you are told that itmeans a taste in my young master or my young mistress fornatural history. Sometimes, again, you see them occupiedfor hours together in spoiling a pretty flower with pointedinstruments, out of a stupid curiosity to know what theflower is made of. Is its colour any prettier, or its scent anysweeter, when you DO know? But there! The poor soulsmust get through the time, you see-they must get throughthe time. You dabbled in nasty mud, and made pies, whenyou were a child; and you dabble in nasty science, anddissect spiders, and spoil flowers, when you grow up. Inthe one case and in the other, the secret of it is, that youhave got nothing to think of in your poor empty head, andnothing to do with your poor idle hands. And so it ends inyour spoiling canvas with paints, and making a smell inthe house; or in keeping tadpoles in a glass box full of dirtywater, and turrung everybody s stomach in the house; or inchipping off bits of stone here, there, and everywhere, anddropping grit into all the victuals in the house; or in stainingyour fingers in the pursuit of photography, and doing justicewithout mercy on everybody s face in the house. It often fallsheavy enough, no doubt, on people who are really obligedto get their living, to be forced to work for the clothes thatcover them, the roof that shelters them, and the food thatkeeps them going. But compare the hardest day s work youever did with the idleness that splits flowers and pokes itsway into spiders stomachs, and thank your stars that yourhead has got something it MUST think of, and your handssomething that they must do. ……
以下为对购买帮助不大的评价