Van Wyck Brooks (1886—1963)
本文作者勃魯克斯是美國當代文學批評家，著作很多，最重要的是皇皇五巨冊的《美國文學史》（Makers and Finders: A History of the Writer in America,1800–1915）。勃氏以生動華麗的文字，傳記家的筆法，描寫美國過去的文壇實況和文人言行，使得讀者有身歷其境、面對古人之感。所以有人說他這部文學史讀來和歷史小說一樣地有趣。
本文選自《新英格蘭的盛世》（The Flowering of New England,1815–1865），這一本書在他全部文學史裡按出版年份來說是最早的一本（1936年出版），也是最成功的一本。在《新英格蘭的盛世》這一時期裡，美國文壇名家輩出，如朗費羅、愛默生、霍桑、梭羅等皆是，歷史家普瑞斯各德的成就也許比不上他們這些人，但普氏以半盲之人，全憑苦心毅力，完成他的那部巨著The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella，實在也值得介紹於中國讀者之前。
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，很多種。1837年前幾年間，美國出了好多種歷史研究著作，都是老老實實苦心經營（laborious）之作，有幾種熱情充沛，但是沒有一本是令人歎服（august）的傑作，忽然在那一年，從（out of）那一堆書裡，出現了一本巨著，據美國讀者看來，就像是一件奇跡（wonder of nature）。
● 伊培利亞半島上Aragon國國王Ferdinand於1469年娶Isabella為後，Isabella於1474年復繼位為Castile國的女王，這兩國的聯合奠定了今日西班牙的基礎。十五世紀的西班牙在他們統治（reign）之下，國勢極盛，哥倫布發現新大陸，就是在他們倆贊助下完成的。普氏的巨著，就是以這個時代為題材。
● brilliant performance：精彩之作。這一點小孩子都看得出來，專家學者也從沒有人否認過。
● limitations：限制，缺點。雖然是本巨著，但並非十全十美，缺點很明顯。
● philosophical history：哲學歷史。從哲學觀點來寫的歷史，歷史中包含哲學思想者。
● leading views：主要的觀點。great這裡應作「高明」解。human motives：人類行為的動機。普通歷史家只研究事情本身，有心理學修養的歷史家，還要研究事情後面的動機。但是普氏在這方面並沒有深刻的認識。
● depths upon depths：故事的後面、故事的底下，一層復一層的，深藏著人心的奧秘，但是普氏從來沒有往深處去探測。普氏只對於故事本身發生興趣。
● 這部歷史雖然缺乏深刻的哲理和心理動機的分析。但是我們拿它當作一件藝術品來看或是一部偉大的歷史敘事文來讀，我們不得不承認這是部了不起的著作（magnificent success）。
● grounded是過去分詞，形容narrative，意為「建立」。這部歷史所講的許多事跡，沒有一處是向壁虛構，每一句話都有根據：「每一點都建立於歷史事實之上。」
● Livy（59 B.C.— A.D.17）是羅馬歷史家。Froissart（1337？—1400）是法國歷史家。他們的文章都是有光彩的（glow and colour），普氏的文章也可以和他們的媲美。
● 最後幾句話都是讚揚普氏巨著的優點。他這本書的輪廓明確，就像拉斐爾的勾勒畫稿一樣。cartoon現在普通譯作「卡通」或「漫畫」，這裡解作「勾勒畫稿」，即油畫、壁畫、織錦等動工以前，先在厚紙上用鋼筆所畫的草稿。拉斐爾是文藝復興時期意大利畫家。這部書的「輪廓明確」，說的是它的計劃周密，敘事次序井然，無輕重偏頗之病。
● picturesque detail：如畫的細節。本書的組織完整，各處小節描寫，又生動美麗如畫，使人目不暇接，猶如盛大賽會，化裝遊行（pageantry）一般。calculated=fit，suitable（足以產生某種結果）。to feed the imagination of the country：給美國人民以精神食糧，激發他們的想像力，starved：飢餓的。十九世紀初葉，美國人的精神生活很是貧乏，所能想像的東西很有限。普氏此書，活龍活現地描寫西班牙國勢最盛的一段時期，大多為美國人見所未見，聞所未聞的事情，美國人歡迎這本書，無異是饑民之得美食。as never before：以前所出的書，從來沒有像這本書那樣能滿足美國人者。
● like a battle：本書寫作以前，設計周密審慎，猶如參謀本部計劃一場戰爭一樣。Salem：美國麻州之海港，為當時美國造船業之中心。clipper：快帆船。本書的結構完美，顛撲不破，如Salem快船一般地結實（stoutly built）。按：普氏為Salem地方的人，這個譬喻用得很適當。
● destined原意是「命中注定的」，但通常並不含有「命運」的意義，只是指「將來有某種結果」而已。他這隻船造成以後，將要在未來世世代代（for generations to come）讀者的心靈中航行。enchanted：著迷的；這本書可以使人入迷，使讀者猶如置身於十五世紀的西班牙一般。船在很多人的心靈中航行，就是說很多人要讀它（讀了還要著迷）。
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）：當時有名學者，曾任哈佛大學法文、西班牙文教授，學識淵博，喜獎掖後進。普氏年齡比他輕五歲。
● 第一句說明普氏家世，其父任法官，家裡房子很大。社會人士對他的認識是如此。作者並不直敘普氏的家世與為人，這裡只是描寫當時的人看見普氏的巨著後的驚奇心理：憑這樣一個人也能寫出這樣一部書來嗎？
● partly blind：半盲。jolly parties：熱鬧的社交宴會。
● abandon：隨便（名詞）。說起話來總很高興，想說什麼就說什麼。
● animal spirits：活潑好動的勁兒（此二字為成語）。running over：滔滔不絕地說話。inconsequences：前言不對後語，自己也覺得好笑。running和laughing都是形容主語He，描寫他說話的情形。sally：雋語，俏皮話。
● in more ways：他的眼睛雖有病，但他作樂的方法很多，他的朋友們再也沒有看見像他那樣會多方面尋快樂的人了。his friends had ever seen是定語從句，關係代名詞that（或whom）省掉。in every one of them：in every one of these ways。別人也許也有他這麼多作樂的方法，但是他尋起快樂來，不論任何方式，總比別人還要高興。本句than一字，既照應前面的more，復照應稍後的happier。
● 接著一句描寫他的服飾容貌。作者還不是直接描寫，還是借用當時人的看法。
● One met him的One沒有確指什麼人。gay：色彩鮮艷的。satin：緞子。waistcoat：馬甲，背心。graceful：態度文雅。clear and ruddy complexion：面色清朗紅潤。看他樣子，似乎愈活愈年輕了。
● It was known：大家知道。literary club：文學聯誼會。merry supper：大家一起吃晚飯，談笑歡樂，同時再宣讀各人的論文。
● the review指當時有名的雜誌The North American Review。
● dilettante：以文藝作為消遣之人。in the dilettantish spirit：他舉辦文學聯誼會，發表文章，大家認為他只是搞著玩的，並不是真正用心研究或埋首寫作。
● undertake some serious task：著手干一樣正經的工作。
● respectable：為人所重視。他那時所過的生活，對他自己太沒有好處了。
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：書齋的窗戶。pear-trees：梨樹。寫這部文學史的勃魯克斯，把人家花園裡種的什麼樹都考證出來了，但只是像小說家那樣的隨手拈來，並不在賣弄考據之學。
● outside the household：除了他家裡人以外，只有好友Ticknor知道他在那裡用功寫作，而且已經花了「十年寒窗」的功夫了。（前文那位親戚不知道，所以還要勸他干正經事。）
● harder用以加強hard。他的用功之苦，比之波士頓孳孳為利的商人，也許有過之而無不及。
● everyone是誇大的說法，即「很多人」。大家都去買他的書，作為聖誕禮品送人。買的人所以如此之多，因為作者為人很可愛，平日人緣很好，至於書寫得好不好，大家並不關心。
● cronies：好朋友。此人平日並不讀書（not a reader）。
● while有「雖然」之意。大家都看出來這是一部好書，但是到底好得怎麼樣，那些買書的人沒有人知道。當時有資格評定這部書的優劣者，全世界僅有（scarcely）十二人而已。
● electoral returns：各地選舉的開票結果。這裡並沒有誰在舉行選舉，作者只是借用一個成語，表示各地的好評源源不斷而來。
● a classic：名著，不朽之作。這是個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：本書的成功。conquest of personality：個性之征服。如上文所敘，Prescott個性外向，愛同朋友來往，參加熱鬧的社交宴會。他不像是個潛心著作的史學家。他超越了自己的個性，才能寫出這部不朽名著來。
● a first-rate human being：第一流的人物。exuberant：精力充沛。gallant此字有勇敢、高貴之意，相當於中文的「瀟灑不群」。wilful：任性行事。firm：意志堅定。devoted：對朋友極為忠誠，當然也極有可能獻身於一己的事業。
● the clerkly sort of scholar：在書本世界裡過日子的那種學者。clerkly：像個書獃子或小書記似的，沒有見解，沒有氣魄。普氏絕不是這一類人。painstaking：治學非常小心。可是體力（vigour and sinew）稍差。sinew：筋絡，轉作「體力」。who代表主語the clerkly sort of scholar。它的動詞是ruled。在那時的美國，凡是以體魄勝人（virile）的那一種人，都去從事（adopted：採用）於帶點冒險性（enterprising）的事業了，如經商、航海、從軍等，剩下那些體力不如人的學者，只好在書堆裡稱王（統治了書本的領域）。普氏精力充沛，原是第一類型的人，卻能克服自己的個性，成為一個大史學家。
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.
● 普氏既非讀書型，早晨懶得起床，非得吩咐忠僕Nathan不可，叫他把被子掀掉。
● make bets：賭東道。他的決心（resolution）常常不能付諸實行（carry out），他不得不同他的秘書打賭，規定自己要寫多少頁書，或者幹些別的什麼事情；為了怕輸東道，只好硬著頭皮苦幹了。
● was always making resolutions：常常在下決心，定計劃。never too old to make them：自己從來不覺得老，所以計劃（them代替resolutions）層出不窮。假如自己承認老朽，那麼也許就得過且過，不再下什麼決心了。
● never old enough to keep them：老人自覺歲月所餘無多，心上如有未了之事，總希望在生前把它做掉。這種人可說是old enough to keep their resolutions了。可是普氏並不覺老之將至，也不想償宿債，還宿願。
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?
● 第一句用現在時，表示一般情形。凡頑劣不馴（refractory）之馬，如經名手訓練，常成為最剛健之良駒（charger：戰馬，用以衝鋒陷陣者）。
● formidable will：堅強的意志。他用毅力駕御了自己懶惰的個性。bridled：替馬裝上羈勒。harnessed：替馬裝上馬具，備駕車之用。indolent：習慣性的懶惰，怕吃力，喜悠閒。這裡把他的個性比作一頭馬，所以可以bridled又可以harnessed。
● in the dead of winter：是成語；三九嚴冬。dead作名詞用，解作「死氣沉沉的時候」。萬籟寂靜的深夜，可以譯成at dead of night。to wind himself up：替自己「上發條」；振作精神，準備一天的工作。Jamaica Plain：波士頓附近的地名。這樣一個懶得起床的人，冬晨居然能騎馬到郊外山頭看日出，精神自是不凡。
● which was never total：盲雖盲，但從未完全失明。which代替blindness。As for his blindness：至於他的瞎眼吧……。made an advantage of it：他把短處轉化成為長處；本來不利於自己的缺陷，反而轉變成為對自己有利的優點。
● One might have thought：我們幾乎可以這麼說；虛擬語氣，隱含這麼一個conditional clause，假如我們能夠看見他這麼用功的話。
● a blessing：天賜恩典。
● based on unpublished documents：他這部歷史所根據的是些未經發表的文獻（如書札、日記、手稿之類），這些東西是用兩三種外國文字寫成的。他雙目不靈，一天頂多只能讀上一兩鐘頭的書，每讀十分鐘就要休息，他怎麼能披閱這許多未經整理的原始史料，寫出這麼一部偉大的歷史呢？
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。他是請人把書讀給他聽的，先是請一位朋友和自己的姊妹，以後又找到了一位很能幹（competent）的秘書。of a competent secretary的of連前面的with the aid。
● Blindness had always favoured…：從歷史上看來，目盲非但不足為害，而且大有助於深思冥想的習慣。動詞時態had favoured表示在普氏以前已經如此。
● 接著用兩句問話，這種句子形式雖為問句，事實上答案不言自明，在修辭學上稱為rhetorical question，相當於中文的「反問」。
● Nicolas de Malebranche（1638—1715）：法國哲學家。他總把百葉窗拉下，不讓陽光進屋，免得周圍景物，分了他用功的心（中國也有「十年目不窺園」的佳話）。
● Democritus：紀元前四五世紀間的希臘哲學家。據古人傳說（as the legend said），他故意（deliberately）把眼睛弄瞎，為的要激發自己的思想。
● invention：這裡不是指科學上的發明，而是文學家的想像。創造人物，製作故事。希臘大詩人荷馬據說是個瞎子，密爾頓的《失樂園》等巨著都是在失明以後寫成。許多詩人可以證明：目盲有益於文學創作。
● The blind：瞎子，形容詞作名詞用，相當於the rich表示所有的富人。瞎子都以耐心出名，不會心浮氣粗；他們的驚人的記憶力，尤為世人所樂道。feats：特殊技能，如力能扛鼎，百步穿楊，一目十行等。feats of memory：能記普通人所不能記的東西。
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：盲人用的寫字機器，構造不詳，想必是利用觸覺代替視覺的。ivory stylus：象牙制的尖頭筆。carbon-paper：複寫紙。pressing on：加壓力於其上，即「寫」。took notes：記筆記。manuscripts：文稿。
● large：字跡（hand）很大。round hand：圓形字體，筆劃清楚，不傾不斜，各字母間都分開的。相當於中文的「正楷」，易於辨認，與「行書」（running hand）不同。sometimes：秘書把他的筆記這樣清清楚楚地抄了下來，普氏還只是「有時」能讀得出來而已，其目力之不濟可想而知。
● composing in his memory：用他的記憶來作文。寫下的稿子自己不能讀，如何能修改補正呢？只好把文章都記在腦子裡。to such an extent that：普通人也有會擬「腹稿」的，可是比起普氏來，真是小巫之見大巫。普氏的擬腹稿，能夠做到把好幾十頁書都記在腦筋裡的「程度」。
● 關於「記住」，這兩句裡用了兩個動詞，都值得稱道。一個是carry：把一本書整整三章文章（排印起來要佔七十二頁之多）都「背」在腦筋裡。還有一個字是hold：放在那裡，牢記不忘。hold it的it，指那幾章文章的「整體」。
● turning it over and over：心裡翻來覆去地想它。remodelling every sentence：腹稿未必妥當，句句都在腦筋裡仔細地修改。remodelling所指，不單是更動幾個字而已，硬是把句法都要徹底地改過。
● committing a word to paper：寫一個字在紙上。先是一字不落，想之又想，改之又改，然後再落筆。有一章他的腹稿改了十六次之多。committing有「付託」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：他所下的判斷。convey：表達。西班牙那時盛行「異教裁判」，對於思想罪犯百般凌虐，普氏寫這一段的歷史，對於此種暴行，甚表不滿。「不滿」就是他的判斷，他如何表達他自己的見解呢？他既是一個講究行文措辭的「藝術家」，他並不直言責斥，他用的是藝術家的辦法。在他文章的語調（tone）和風格（style）之中，自有其不可捉摸（subtle）的抑揚頓挫（modulations），他就在這種地方，暗加褒貶。
● 他的見解基於他對人類的同情，所以說在他的判斷的後面（that lay behind the judgments）有他對於人生是非苦樂的敏感之心（sensitivity），而盲人又是特別的敏感。
● men who would never abuse a dog：從不肯虐待貓狗的人。這種人應該是很仁慈的了，可是他們會毫不加思索地（without a thought）踏死小蟲！（crushed後面雖有逗號，但是在語法結構上，它應該連它的賓語insects）。因為貓狗的痛苦，顯而易見，蟲豸的痛苦，非大慈大悲極具同情心者，不能體會。它們身體上的苦楚（bodily agonies）為肉眼所不能見。naked eyes：肉眼，普通人的眼睛。所以有眼睛的人，未必能體貼入微，而盲人可能特別敏感，乃知螻蟻之亦貪生也。
● the careless indifference with which men…crushed…insects：人踏死小蟲的時候，帶一種馬虎滿不在乎的態度。普氏在某一篇文章裡，就討論到（spoke of）這一點，足見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：這些心理上的習慣，即上文所說的記憶，擬腹稿等。acquired：獲得；「養成一種習慣」可說to acquire a habit。with failing sight：目力漸漸喪失。
● to consult the doctors there：請教倫敦巴黎兩地的名醫。（普氏游歐，在他19歲到21歲之間。）Azores：大西洋中島嶼，屬葡萄牙。群島前面，該加冠詞the。普氏的外祖父那時是島上的美國領事。
● 本文文章的特點，是長句子相當多，可是句子雖長，停頓也多，很少有一氣呵成的，讀了幾個字讀者就可以換一口氣，調子緩慢，不慌不忙，有閒散輕鬆之妙。調子既慢，裝飾用的字眼可以隨時插入，句法內容因以豐富，而句法變化亦變幻莫測矣。以第一句為例，when以前的句法是直接了當的，到了when以後，從句的主語he不見出來，反而添了一個comma，comma之後又來as a young man with failing sight這樣一個短語，這六個字緊湊得好，假如初學寫來，寫成when he was young and his sight was failing就顯得笨拙而囉嗦矣。六個字過後，再說他到海外去。去哪裡呢？（語氣一頓）倫敦、巴黎。去幹什麼呢？（語氣又一頓）是去瞧大夫的。
● 這樣寫法在第二句中更為明顯。如surprised後，語氣一頓，接in later years（普氏成名以後）；that Prescott之後，隔了好多字，動詞knew才出現；而knew之前，語氣又要停好幾次；Spain之後一頓，or Mexico後一小頓；or Peru後又一頓。如中間取消一個or，改說Spain, Mexico or Peru句法較直捷乾脆，唯韻味不同矣。總之，文章無定法，調子快有調子快的好處，調子慢有調子慢的好處。本文調子很慢，作者苦心所在，尚望讀者仔細體會。
● 普氏從來沒有去過西班牙，也沒有去過墨西哥和秘魯，（普氏繼Ferdinand and Isabella之後，復完成兩大巨著：Conquest of Mexico與Conquest of Peru），可是他對於那些熱帶國家的風光景色知道得非常清楚，猶如曾經身歷其境一般，所以以後讀者很覺奇怪。他的書裡面到處是南歐和中南美洲風景的描寫，色彩鮮明，生動如畫（glowing：發光的）。
● myrtles：桃金娘，其葉、花與漿果均可作為香料。laurels：月桂。lemons：檸檬，又是一種香味濃郁的樹。box-tree：黃楊樹。mountain vistas：山嶺間的遠景。wildly picturesque：粗獷而入畫（形容vistas）。the Cordilleras：山脈名，在秘魯，the Sierra Nevada是西班牙的山名（美國加利福尼亞州有大山，亦名Sierra Nevada）。
● convent：修道院。深山古寺，幽谷鐘聲，普氏歷史書中，偏多這種描寫，無怪本文第一段中說本書的pageantry of picturesque detail可以滿足美國人飢餓的想像力了。
● A young man：即普氏。他生長在景色單調的波士頓，天空是陰沉沉的時候多，整年受著東風的鞭打（lashed）。這樣一個人假如不在熱帶住過一陣子，得到很生動的印象，是不會有多大的想像力的，更不必說是描寫風光旖旎的西班牙了。June-like months：他在Azores的時候是冬天，可是那裡大約是四季如夏；雖在冬天，氣候仍溫暖如六月。
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。普氏歐游之行，未能將雙目醫好，回國後朋友們幫助他，（rally除「集合」外，更有「支持」之意），讀書給他聽。inseparable：不可分離的，形影不離的（好朋友）。absorbed：（過去分詞，形容Ticknor）專心致志於。Ticknor是哈佛大學西班牙文教授，前文已經說過。
● his lectures：Ticknor在哈佛的講稿。非但念自己的講稿，而且把普氏所愛讀的（his favorite的his恐是代表普氏）古典文學、歷史名著以及英國古代英雄傳奇都連帶念給他聽。
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：為消遣而瀆書，念著玩的。Spanish library：西班牙文的藏書。hunting-ground：打獵的場地。他不斷地借閱Ticknor的藏書。
● He had in mind no scheme=he had no scheme in mind。作者所以先說in mind，後說no scheme者，為的是使for a composition這個形容詞短語可以緊跟著它所形容的名詞scheme。composition所指，不僅是一篇作文，一本書亦可。動詞compose是「寫作」，composition就是「作品」。scheme：計劃。a literary career：文學生涯，以文學為終身事業。既有志寫作，不可不有準備，所以他想先扎好根基：築好（lay）結實的基礎。
● English grammar first：此句為不完全句，前面所省掉的大約是He studied兩字。普氏是哈佛大學畢業生，文學修養本來已經很深，（他的眼睛是在大學裡弄壞的），可是現在先從英文語法學起，好像自己從來沒有進過學校似的，把英文語法從頭研究一遍。這種功夫，無非為他日後寫作作準備。
● style：文章風格。語法只教人文章的規範，真要寫得好，還得精研名家的作品。普氏所精讀的是四家的怍品：
Sir Philip Sidney（1554—1586）：伊利莎白時代作家。其Arcadia以辭藻華麗，想像豐富著稱。Lord Bacon（1561—1626）：他的散文簡潔老辣。Sir Thomas Browne（1605—1682）：十七世紀英國散文家，他在中國不大出名，但英國十九世紀散文家如Lamb等，受他的影響很深。他的文章風格可說是辭富理瞻，音調節奏之美，英國散文作家很少有比得上他的。Milton（1608—1674）：大詩人，但散文也有名，熱情充沛，氣勢雄渾，為十七世紀一大名家。
● Tacitus同Livy一樣，也是羅馬歷史家，出世約比耶穌晚半個世紀。普氏精讀這兩家的作品，為的是求風格高超（elevation），不作庸俗語。其實這兩家的作品，他早已熟讀，可是以前讀的時候，也許只注意事實的記錄，現在是專從文章方面用功，兩種用功方法完全不同，不可混為一談也（this was a different matter）。
● Chateaubriand（1768—1848）：法國作家，是浪漫運動的中堅人物之一。他的歷史著作很能激發懷古的幽情。
● paused：稍歇，不再往前繼續研究別種文字。at home：有如魚得水之樂。
● Gothic script：哥德式字體。英文法文所用的都是羅馬字體，近代德文書亦有用羅馬字體印者，但普氏那時的德文書都用哥德式字體。所謂Goth原是日耳曼一種人種之名，其字體鋒芒畢露而多曲折，沒有羅馬字體那樣易於辨認。equal：力能對付，讀來不吃力。
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）：瑞士歷史家。他的關於意大利文學的著作內容很是詳盡（covered the ground too well），沒有留下多少東西可供後人發揮的了。
● theme：題材。他需要的是一個新穎的題材，可以發人所未發，而且是個大題目，可以大加發揮的。
● its most vital point：最重要的一點。explored：研究。西班牙歷史不算是個冷門（not unknown），可是這一段的歷史卻沒有人寫過。
● Theirs=the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella。momentous：非常重要（的時期）。scattered kingdoms：西班牙本來分幾個小國，現在是統一（brought together）了。Naples：意大利那時小國林立，所謂「城邦政治」是也。Naples是現代意大利的一個城市，在那時是一個小國，法國和西班牙為了爭取該地的統治權，於1494年發生戰爭，西班牙先敗後勝。Inquisition：異教裁判所。那時的西班牙虐待異教徒（包括猶太人和非正統的基督教徒）很是厲害。the Western hemisphere：西半球。哥倫布的探險是由Ferdinand and Isabella贊助成行的。新大陸於1492年發現。
● the present government：普氏當時的西班牙政府。archives：檔案。thrown open：打開。學者可以自由閱覽抄錄。
● They指的是Spanish scholars。學者們整理結果，印行了很多有關十五世紀末葉和十六世紀初葉西班牙歷史的文件，編年史和回憶錄（情形好像近代吾國學者編印明清史檔案一般）。
● decrepit：衰弱的。到了十九世紀，西班牙國勢削弱，殖民地紛紛獨立，海外帝國因以喪失（loss of its foreign empire），備受屈辱（humbled），聲威大落；雖然力圖掃除積弊，奮發自新（lethargy：暮氣），然而國勢仍舊混亂（chaotic），不能培養（foster）創造偉大著作的生氣活力。expression：表達，即文學寫作。
● historiographers：歷史編著家，著重整理編訂，和史學家（historians）有區別。master-mind：第一流的頭腦。assimilate：吸收；它的賓語是documents。for a greater purpose：為了更大的目的；利用這些文獻，寫出一部巨著。come to light：（經學者整理後）重見天日。西班牙既然沒有人動手寫一部融會貫通可讀可誦的歷史書，只好由別國人來越俎代庖了。
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：聽他調遣，任他應用。sure-footed：腳頭站穩；有充分把握。went over：從頭研究一遍。
● all round the subject：一切有關本題的書籍。
● constitutional history：憲法史。
● the continental countries：歐陸各國，以別於英國。his special field：特定的範圍，即Ferdinand和Isabella統治西班牙的那一段時期。
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：費時十年的工作。
● condensing：縮短。abridging：節略。材料太多，書雖寫成，可刪之處尚多，最後費了兩年功夫，大加修削。
● text：書的正文（不連附註或圖片等）。set up in type：排印成書。type是印刷用之活字（鉛字）。caused four copies to be printed：先印四本，並不發賣，專供朋友評閱正誤之用，為的是要精益求精。
● scrawled：潦草地寫；並不是普氏寫得潦草，其奈目力不濟，寫不清楚乎？hungry…for：嗷嗷待哺。the brilliant glow and colour：光華奪目，色彩綺麗的文字。that he gave them是定語從句：他所寫給他們看的。the pageantry和glow and colour是「同位語」。帝王后妃和各處戰事的描寫，無不有聲有色，熱鬧有趣，一幕接著一幕，無異是化裝遊行或盛大賽會。普氏辛辛苦苦寫這部書時，決想不到他這一類的描寫會受到美國人這樣的歡迎。