|
THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, A FOUNDLING.
BOOK I. — CONTAINING AS MUCH OF THE BIRTH OF THE FOUNDLING AS IS NECESSARY OR PROPER TO ACQUAINT THE READER WITH IN THE BEGINNING OF THIS HISTORY.
Chapter i. — The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast.
An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. In the former case, it is well known that the entertainer provides what fare he pleases; and though this should be very indifferent, and utterly disagreeable to the taste of his company, they must not find any fault; nay, on the contrary, good breeding forces them outwardly to approve and to commend whatever is set before them. Now the contrary of this happens to the master of an ordinary. Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates, however nice and whimsical these may prove; and if everything is not agreeable to their taste, will challenge a right to censure, to abuse, and to d—n their dinner without control.
To prevent, therefore, giving offence to their customers by any such disappointment, it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.
As we do not disdain to borrow wit or wisdom from any man who is capable of lending us either, we have condescended to take a hint from these honest victuallers, and shall prefix not only a general bill of fare to our whole entertainment, but shall likewise give the reader particular bills to every course which is to be served up in this and the ensuing volumes.
The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended, because I have named but one article. The tortoise—as the alderman of Bristol, well learned in eating, knows by much experience—besides the delicious calipash and calipee, contains many different kinds of food; nor can the learned reader be ignorant, that in human nature, though here collected under one general name, is such prodigious variety, that a cook will have sooner gone through all the several species of animal and vegetable food in the world, than an author will be able to exhaust so extensive a subject.
An objection may perhaps be apprehended from the more delicate, that this dish is too common and vulgar; for what else is the subject of all the romances, novels, plays, and poems, with which the stalls abound? Many exquisite viands might be rejected by the epicure, if it was a sufficient cause for his contemning of them as common and vulgar, that something was to be found in the most paltry alleys under the same name. In reality, true nature is as difficult to be met with in authors, as the Bayonne ham, or Bologna sausage, is to be found in the shops.
But the whole, to continue the same metaphor, consists in the cookery of the author; for, as Mr Pope tells us—
“True wit is nature to advantage drest; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest.”
The same animal which hath the honour to have some part of his flesh eaten at the table of a duke, may perhaps be degraded in another part, and some of his limbs gibbeted, as it were, in the vilest stall in town. Where, then, lies the difference between the food of the nobleman and the porter, if both are at dinner on the same ox or calf, but in the seasoning, the dressing, the garnishing, and the setting forth? Hence the one provokes and incites the most languid appetite, and the other turns and palls that which is the sharpest and keenest.
In like manner, the excellence of the mental entertainment consists less in the subject than in the author's skill in well dressing it up. How pleased, therefore, will the reader be to find that we have, in the following work, adhered closely to one of the highest principles of the best cook which the present age, or perhaps that of Heliogabalus, hath produced. This great man, as is well known to all lovers of polite eating, begins at first by setting plain things before his hungry guests, rising afterwards by degrees as their stomachs may be supposed to decrease, to the very quintessence of sauce and spices. In like manner, we shall represent human nature at first to the keen appetite of our reader, in that more plain and simple manner in which it is found in the country, and shall hereafter hash and ragoo it with all the high French and Italian seasoning of affectation and vice which courts and cities afford. By these means, we doubt not but our reader may be rendered desirous to read on for ever, as the great person just above-mentioned is supposed to have made some persons eat.
Having premised thus much, we will now detain those who like our bill of fare no longer from their diet, and shall proceed directly to serve up the first course of our history for their entertainment. |
汤姆●琼斯—一个弃儿的个人史
第1卷——在这部个人史的开头，让读者熟悉一下弃儿的身世，这很有必要，或者说这样更合乎情理，所以此卷尽可能多地把这方面的内容涵盖进去。
第1章——卷首语，也可以说是筵席菜单
作家不该自诩为举办私人宴会或者搭棚舍饭的君子善人，而应该把自己看成是餐馆老板，只要有人肯花钱来吃饭，他都应该欢迎接待。众所周知，前者可以随心所欲提供饭菜，尽管饭菜质量不怎么样，并且完全不合食客口味，但食客却不得挑肥拣瘦；不仅如此，而且恰恰相反，食客因为受过良好教养的缘故，对于摆在自己面前的饭菜，表面还得被迫装出一副认可赞许的神情。而作为餐馆老板，情形则完全相反。那些花钱来吃饭的人，口味刁钻刻薄也好，稀奇古怪也罢，他们都会坚持要餐馆提供的饭菜一定要满足他们的不同口味；但凡有一道菜不合口味，他们则有权公开刁难、破口大骂，甚至口无遮拦地甩出几句脏话。
因此，为了防止由于此类扫兴之事而得罪食客的情况发生，诚实良善的餐馆老板通常会提供一份菜单，这样食客一走进餐馆，不管是谁，都可以仔细浏览一番。食客熟悉了餐馆可以提供的饭菜内容，便可决定是留下并大快朵颐，还是离开此处，去找下一家能够更好满足他们口味的餐馆。
无论是谁，只要身上有些机智或者才智可以供我们借鉴，我们都愿意向他讨教，而不会在他面前趾高气昂。因此我们屈尊俯就向这些老实忠厚的餐馆老板取取经，我们不但为整个筵席开出一份总菜单，同时也将在此卷以及后面的各卷中，每上一道菜，同样为读者开出各种特定的菜单。
我们在此所提供的饭菜无非是“人性”。尽管聪明睿智的读者口位很奢华，但我并不会因为只列出了一道菜，而担心各位会大惊小怪、无端指摘或者怒容满面。布里斯托尔市参议员在饮食方面可谓学识渊博，他根据自己丰富的阅历，深知就甲鱼这道菜而言，除了鳖背和鳖腹的肉质味美可口之外，甲鱼身上还有许多不同部位的肉可供食用；博学多才的读者并不是不知道，就人性而言，尽管都归结到一个通用名称之下，但这个题目的种类多得惊人。作家还没来得及写尽这一如此广泛的题目，厨师就早已把世上的所有荤素菜式都已经做了一遍。
口味更高雅的人士也许会提出反对意见，他们认为这道菜太家常、上不了台面；且看坊间充斥的所有传奇、小说、戏剧和诗歌，林林总总，除了人性，还能有什么其他主题呢？如果美食家在穷街陋巷中碰到以同样字眼命名的这样一道菜，他有充分理由将其贬低为家常、不上台面的话，那么许多佳肴美馔也许会被美食家抛弃掉，而不为世人所知。实际上，真正的人性在作家的作品中很难看到，正如在商店里想要找到巴约纳火腿或博洛尼亚香肠一样困难。 但继续使用同样比喻的话，作家的厨艺就是整道菜的灵魂所在；因为正如蒲伯先生告诉我们的那样—— 真才一妆点，造物更光鲜。 屡屡可意会，从未被言传。
同一动物身体某些部位的肉可以荣登王公大臣的餐桌，而另一部位的肉也许会被降格，在市廛最肮脏的肉摊上，动物的几条腿被倒挂起来，就像挂在绞刑架上展示给世人一样。达官贵人和贩夫走卒吃的是同一头公牛或者同一头小牛身上的肉，除了调味、烹饪、配菜和装盘以外，他们所吃的食物又有何区别呢？所以这桌菜可以挑起并刺激最不振的食欲，而那桌菜则会令本来最有食欲的客人觉得寡淡无味，恶心倒胃。
同样的道理，精神筵席的美味可口更多取决于作家烹饪的技艺，食材则居于次要地位。在接下来的这部著作中，我们严格遵守当代或者自赫立欧嘎巴勒斯时代以来最卓越的一位名厨所定的一条最高原则。读者要是看出了这一点，心里甭提会有多么高兴！喜欢文明用餐的人们都非常清楚，这位名厨刚开始会为饥肠辘辘的食客摆放一些家常菜，随着食客胃口缩小，他会逐步增加最精致的酱料和调味品。同样的道理，我们首先推出更为朴素单纯的人性，来满足读者的强烈胃口，这种人性在乡下可以找到。然后配上矫揉造作和累累罪恶，所有这些法式和意式的高级佐料，一起剁碎炖煮，这些佐料的费用只有宫廷以及城市可以负担得起。我们毫不怀疑这些方法也许会令读者手不释卷，将此书一直读下去，正如上述的那位名厨那样，让一些食客对他所提供的食物百吃不厌。
闲言少絮，喜欢这张筵席菜单的顾客，我们就不再吊你们的胃口了，接下来直接献上我们这部个人史的第一道菜，请各位品尝。 |
