Я не биограф доктору Томасу Арнольду - импозантному рыжеволосому (?) мужчине, прославленному Хьюзом в романе о "Томе Брауне" в качестве директора английской частной школы Регби, - но не могу не поделиться издевательскими, и не очень, сентенциями об этом человеке. Выдержки избирались на мой пристрастный вкус, определенно склонный к фэндомному восприятию сей необычной личности)
Великий педагог
[Lytton Strachey, 1918]
(Бессмысленные комментарии на русском и в квадратных скобках принадлежат сугубо мне)
It is true that, as a schoolboy, a certain pompousness in the style of his letters home suggested to the more clear-sighted among his relatives the possibility that young Thomas might grow up into a prig; but, after all, what else could be expected from a child who, at the age of three, had been presented by his father, as a reward for proficiency in his studies, with the twenty-four volumes of Smollett's History of England? [как поднимал ребенок сей блистательный презент? xD]
***
One other difficulty, and one only, we hear of, at this period of his life. His dislike of early rising [лентяй!] amounted, we are told, "almost to a constitutional infirmity." This weakness too he overcame, yet not quite so successfully as his doubts upon the doctrine of the Trinity. For in after life the Doctor would often declare "that early rising continued to be a daily effort to him, and that in this instance he never found the truth of the usual rule, that all things are made easy by custom."
***
Such was the man who, at the age of thirty-three, became headmaster of Rugby. His outward appearance was the index of his inward character: everything about him denoted energy, earnestness, and the best intentions. His legs, perhaps, were shorter than they should have been [Стрейчи - определенно олдскульный Куган]; but the sturdy athletic frame, especially when it was swathed (as it usually was) in the flowing robes of a Doctor of Divinity [ах, как понимает эту прелесть женская часть аудитории...], was full of an imposing vigour; and his head, set decisively upon the collar, stock, and bands of ecclesiastical tradition, clearly belonged to a person of eminence. The thick, dark clusters of his hair [темные?..], his bushy eyebrows and curling whiskers, his straight nose and bulky chin, his firm and upward-curving lower lip-all these revealed a temperament of ardour and determination. His eyes were bright and large [крупные глаза в мужчине - определенно наше все]; they were also obviously honest. And yet-why was it?-was it in the lines of the mouth or the frown on the forehead?-it was hard to say, but it was unmistakable-there was a slightly puzzled look upon the face of Dr. Arnold [семь своих детей и 300 ученических - недостаточно весомый повод? xD].
***
The growing utilitarianism of the age viewed with impatience a course of instruction which excluded every branch of knowledge except classical philology... [почему? это же замечательно! xD]
***
...so the Rugby schoolboy walked in a holy dread of some sudden manifestation of the sweeping gown, the majestic tone, the piercing glance, of Dr. Arnold. Among the lower forms of the school his appearances were rare and transitory, and upon these young children "the chief impression," we are told, "was of extreme fear." [эпическое полотно! xD]
***
It was no wonder that Carlyle, after a visit to Rugby, should have characterised Dr. Arnold as a man of "unhasting, unresting diligence." Mrs. Arnold, too, no doubt agreed with Carlyle. During the first eight years of their married life, she bore him six children; and four more were to follow. [даже десять? xDD]
***
The longer holidays were spent in Westmoreland, where, rambling with his offspring among the mountains, gathering wild flowers, and pointing out the beauties of Nature, Dr. Arnold enjoyed, as he himself would often say, "an almost awful happiness." [определенно сложно сопротивляться обаянию мужчины, увлеченного сбором цветов xDD]
***
Taking very little interest in works of art, he was occasionally moved by the beauty of natural objects; but his principal pre-occupation remained with the moral aspects of things. [таковы все моралисты!] From this point of view, he found much to reprehend in the conduct of his own countrymen. "I fear," he wrote, "that our countrymen who live abroad are not in the best possible moral state, however much they may do in science or literature." [континентальные манеры были не для доктора! xD]
***
The lake of Como moved him more profoundly. As he gazed upon the overwhelming beauty around him, he thought of "moral evil"... [на что ни глянь - все возбуждает необходмость мыслить о морали!]
***
О печальном His father had died suddenly at the age of fifty-three from angina pectoris; and he himself was haunted by forebodings of an early death. (...) On the title-page of his MS. volume of sermons he was always careful to write the date of its commencement, leaving a blank for that of its completion. One of his children asked him the meaning of this. "It is one of the most solemn things I do," he replied, "to write the beginning of that sentence, and think that I may perhaps not live to finish it."
***
Left alone, he turned to his Diary.
The day after to-morrow [he wrote] is my birthday, if I am permitted to live to see it-my forty-seventh birthday since my birth. How large a portion of my life on earth is already passed! And then-what is to follow this life? How visibly my outward work seems contracting and softening away into the gentler employments of old age. In one sense, how nearly can I now say, "Vixi." And I thank God that, as far as ambition is concerned, it is, I trust, fully mortified; I have no desire other than to step back from my present place in the world, and not to rise to a higher. Still there are works which, with God's permission, I would do before the night cometh.
(...)
Early next morning he awoke with a sharp pain in his chest. The pain increasing, a physician was sent for... When the physician arrived, he perceived at once the gravity of the case: it was an attack of angina pectoris. He began to prepare some laudanum, while Mrs. Arnold went out to fetch the children. All at once, as the medical man was bending over his glasses, there was a rattle from the bed; a convulsive struggle followed; and, when the unhappy woman, with the children, and all the servants, rushed into the room, Dr. Arnold had passed from his perplexities for ever.
Великий педагог
[Lytton Strachey, 1918]
(Бессмысленные комментарии на русском и в квадратных скобках принадлежат сугубо мне)
It is true that, as a schoolboy, a certain pompousness in the style of his letters home suggested to the more clear-sighted among his relatives the possibility that young Thomas might grow up into a prig; but, after all, what else could be expected from a child who, at the age of three, had been presented by his father, as a reward for proficiency in his studies, with the twenty-four volumes of Smollett's History of England? [как поднимал ребенок сей блистательный презент? xD]
***
One other difficulty, and one only, we hear of, at this period of his life. His dislike of early rising [лентяй!] amounted, we are told, "almost to a constitutional infirmity." This weakness too he overcame, yet not quite so successfully as his doubts upon the doctrine of the Trinity. For in after life the Doctor would often declare "that early rising continued to be a daily effort to him, and that in this instance he never found the truth of the usual rule, that all things are made easy by custom."
***
Such was the man who, at the age of thirty-three, became headmaster of Rugby. His outward appearance was the index of his inward character: everything about him denoted energy, earnestness, and the best intentions. His legs, perhaps, were shorter than they should have been [Стрейчи - определенно олдскульный Куган]; but the sturdy athletic frame, especially when it was swathed (as it usually was) in the flowing robes of a Doctor of Divinity [ах, как понимает эту прелесть женская часть аудитории...], was full of an imposing vigour; and his head, set decisively upon the collar, stock, and bands of ecclesiastical tradition, clearly belonged to a person of eminence. The thick, dark clusters of his hair [темные?..], his bushy eyebrows and curling whiskers, his straight nose and bulky chin, his firm and upward-curving lower lip-all these revealed a temperament of ardour and determination. His eyes were bright and large [крупные глаза в мужчине - определенно наше все]; they were also obviously honest. And yet-why was it?-was it in the lines of the mouth or the frown on the forehead?-it was hard to say, but it was unmistakable-there was a slightly puzzled look upon the face of Dr. Arnold [семь своих детей и 300 ученических - недостаточно весомый повод? xD].
***
The growing utilitarianism of the age viewed with impatience a course of instruction which excluded every branch of knowledge except classical philology... [почему? это же замечательно! xD]
***
...so the Rugby schoolboy walked in a holy dread of some sudden manifestation of the sweeping gown, the majestic tone, the piercing glance, of Dr. Arnold. Among the lower forms of the school his appearances were rare and transitory, and upon these young children "the chief impression," we are told, "was of extreme fear." [эпическое полотно! xD]
***
It was no wonder that Carlyle, after a visit to Rugby, should have characterised Dr. Arnold as a man of "unhasting, unresting diligence." Mrs. Arnold, too, no doubt agreed with Carlyle. During the first eight years of their married life, she bore him six children; and four more were to follow. [даже десять? xDD]
***
The longer holidays were spent in Westmoreland, where, rambling with his offspring among the mountains, gathering wild flowers, and pointing out the beauties of Nature, Dr. Arnold enjoyed, as he himself would often say, "an almost awful happiness." [определенно сложно сопротивляться обаянию мужчины, увлеченного сбором цветов xDD]
***
Taking very little interest in works of art, he was occasionally moved by the beauty of natural objects; but his principal pre-occupation remained with the moral aspects of things. [таковы все моралисты!] From this point of view, he found much to reprehend in the conduct of his own countrymen. "I fear," he wrote, "that our countrymen who live abroad are not in the best possible moral state, however much they may do in science or literature." [континентальные манеры были не для доктора! xD]
***
The lake of Como moved him more profoundly. As he gazed upon the overwhelming beauty around him, he thought of "moral evil"... [на что ни глянь - все возбуждает необходмость мыслить о морали!]
***
О печальном His father had died suddenly at the age of fifty-three from angina pectoris; and he himself was haunted by forebodings of an early death. (...) On the title-page of his MS. volume of sermons he was always careful to write the date of its commencement, leaving a blank for that of its completion. One of his children asked him the meaning of this. "It is one of the most solemn things I do," he replied, "to write the beginning of that sentence, and think that I may perhaps not live to finish it."
***
Left alone, he turned to his Diary.
The day after to-morrow [he wrote] is my birthday, if I am permitted to live to see it-my forty-seventh birthday since my birth. How large a portion of my life on earth is already passed! And then-what is to follow this life? How visibly my outward work seems contracting and softening away into the gentler employments of old age. In one sense, how nearly can I now say, "Vixi." And I thank God that, as far as ambition is concerned, it is, I trust, fully mortified; I have no desire other than to step back from my present place in the world, and not to rise to a higher. Still there are works which, with God's permission, I would do before the night cometh.
(...)
Early next morning he awoke with a sharp pain in his chest. The pain increasing, a physician was sent for... When the physician arrived, he perceived at once the gravity of the case: it was an attack of angina pectoris. He began to prepare some laudanum, while Mrs. Arnold went out to fetch the children. All at once, as the medical man was bending over his glasses, there was a rattle from the bed; a convulsive struggle followed; and, when the unhappy woman, with the children, and all the servants, rushed into the room, Dr. Arnold had passed from his perplexities for ever.