JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745)
【简介】
乔纳森·斯威夫特，作家、散文家。出生于都柏林，遗腹子。1689年爱尔兰革命期间回到英国，投靠远亲威廉·坦普尔爵士门下，成为这位退休外交家、散文家的私人秘书。1704年发表讽刺雄文《书战》和《一只澡盆的故事》，前者厚古薄今，机锋四溢；后者全面攻击宗教腐败和虚假学问。斯威夫特是英国古典主义的杰出代表。讽刺和幽默相得益彰，构成其文章的鲜明特色。除政论文章外，关于爱尔兰问题也写过不少小册子，其中《一个小小的建议》已被公认为英国散文的经典名篇。传世作为寓言小说《格利佛游记》。历来主张简洁的风格，"适当的字眼放在适当的地方"是其行文的标准。
【原文】
A Treatise on Good Manners and Good Breeding
Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse .
Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy is the best bred in the company .
As the best law is founded upon reason , so are the best manners . And as some lawyers have introduced unreasonable things nto common law , so likewise many teachers have intro - duced absurd things into common good manners .
One principal point of this art is to suit our behaviour to the three several degrees of men ; our superiors , our equals , and those below us .
For instance , to press either of the two former to eat or drink is a breach of manners ; but a farmer or a tradesman must be thus treated , or else it will be difficult to persuade them that they are welcome .
Pride , ill nature , and want of sense , are the three great sources of ill manners ; without some one of these defects , no man will behave himself ill for want of experience ; or of what , in the language of fools , is called knowing the world .
I defy any one to assign an incident wherein reason will not direct us what we are to say or do in company , if we are not misled by pride or ill nature .
Therefore I insist that good sense is the principal founda - tion of good manners ; but because the former is a gift which very few among mankind are possessed of , therefore all the civ - ilized nations of the world have agreed upon fixing some rules for common behaviour , best suited to their general customs , or fancies , as a kind of artificial good sense , to supply the defects of reason . Without which the gentlemanly part of dunces would be perpetually at cuffs , as they seldom fail when they happen to be drunk , or engaged in squabbles about women or play . And , God be thanked , there hardly happens a duel in a year , which may not be imputed to one of those three motives . Upon which
.17account , I should be exceedingly sorry to find the legislature make any new laws against the practice of duelling ; because the methods are easy and many for a wise man to avoid a quarrel with honour , or engage in it with innocence . And I can discov - er no political evil in suffering bullies , sharpers , and rakes , to rid the world of each other by a method of their own ; where the law hath not been able to find an expedient .
As the common forms of good manners were intended for regulating the conduct of those who have weak understandings ; so they have been corrupted by the persons for whose use they were contrived . For these people have fallen into a needless and endless way of multiplying ceremonies , which have been ex - tremely troublesome to those who practise them , and insup - portable to everybody else : insomuch that wise men are often more uneasy at the over civility of these refiners , than they could possibly be in the conversations of peasants or mechanics .
The impertinencies of this ceremonial behaviour are nowhere better seen than at those tables where ladies preside , who value themselves upon account of their good breeding ; where a man must reckon upon passing an hour without doing any one thing he has a mind to ; unless he will be so hardy to break through all the settled decorum of the family . She deter - mines what he loves best , and how much he shall eat ; and if the master of the house happens to be of the same disposition , he proceeds in the same tyrannical manner to prescribe in the drinking part : at the same time , you are under the necessity of answering a thousand apologies for your entertainment . And although a good deal of this humour is pretty well worn off among many people of the best fashion , yet too much of it still remains , especially in the country ; where an honest gentleman assured me , that having been kept four days , against his will , at a friend ' s house , with all the circumstances of hiding his boots , locking up the stable , and other countrivances of the like nature , he could not remember , from the moment he came into the house to the moment he left it , any one thing , wherein his inclination was not directly contradicted ; as if the whole family had entered into a combination to torment him .
But , besides all this , it would be endless to recount the many foolish and ridiculous accidents I have observed among these unfortunate proselytes to ceremony . I have seen a duchess fairly knocked down , by the precipitancy of an officious cox - comb running to save her the trouble of opening a door . I re - member , upon a birthday at court , a great lady was utterly desperate by a dish of sauce let fall by a page directly upon her head - dress and brocade , while she gave a sudden turn to her el - bow upon some point of ceremony with the person who sat next her . Monsieur Buys , the Dutch envoy , whose politics and manners were much of a size , brought a son with him , about thirteen years old , to a great table at court . The boy and his fa - ther , whatever they put on their plates , they first offered round in order , to every person in the company ; so that we could not get a minute ' s quiet during the whole dinner . At last their two plates happened to encounter , and with so much vio - lence , that , being china , they broke in twenty pieces , and stained half the company with wet sweetmeats and cream .
There is a pedantry in manners , as in all arts and sciences ; and sometimes in trades . Pedantry is properly the overrating any kind of knowledge we pretend to . And if that kind of
①似指荷兰政治家波罗斯·伯于斯（1531-1594）的后代。
knowledge be a trifle in itself , the pedantry is the greater . For which reason I look upon fiddlers , dancing - masters , heralds , masters of the ceremony , etc . to be greater pedants than Lip - sius , or the elder Scaliger . With these kind of pedants , the court , while I knew it , was always plentifully stocked ; I mean from the gentleman usher ( at least ) inclusive , downward to the gentleman porter ; who are , generally speaking , the most in - significant race of people that this island can afford , and with the smallest tincture of good manners , which is the only trade they profess . For being wholly illiterate , and conversing chiefly with each other , they reduce the whole system of breeding within the forms and circles of their several offices ; and as they are below the notice of ministers , they live and die in court un - der all revolutions , with great obsequiousness to those who are in any degree of favour or credit , and with rudeness or inso - lence to everybody else . Whence I have long concluded , that good manners are not a plant of the court growth : for if they were , those people who have understandings directly of a level for such acquirements , and who have served such long appren - ticeships to nothing else , would certainly have picked them up . For as to the great officers , who attend the prince ' s person or councils , or preside in his family , they are a transient body , who have no better a title to good manners than their neigh - bours , nor will probably have recourse to gentlemen ushers for instruction . So that I know little to be learnt at court upon this head , except in the material circumstance of dress ; wherein the authority of the maids of honour must indeed be allowed to be almost equal to that of a favourite actress .
①贾斯特斯·利普修斯（1547-1608)，尼德兰人文主义者，古典学者。
②朱利叶斯·凯撒·斯卡利杰（1484-1558)，意大利著名古典学者。
I remember a passage my Lord Bolingbroke told me , that going to receive Prince Eugene of Savoy at his landing , in order to conduct him immediately to the Queen , the Prince said , he was much concerned that he could not see her Majesty that night ; for Monsieur Hoffman ( who was then by ) had assured his Highness that he could not be admitted into her presence with a tied - up periwig ; that his equipage was not arrived ; and that he had endeavoured in vain to borrow a long one among all his valets and pages . My lord turned the matter into a jest , and brought the Prince to her Majesty ; for which he was highly censured by the whole tribe of gentlemen ushers ; among whom Monsieur Hoffman , an old dull resident of the Emperor ' s , had picked up this material point of ceremony ; and which , I be - lieve , was the best lesson he had learned in five - and - twenty years ' residence .
I make a difference between good manners and good breed - ing ; although , in order to vary my expression , I am sometimes forced to confound them . By the first , I only understand th art of remembering and applying certain settled forms of general behaviour . But good breeding is of a much larger extent ; for besides an uncommon degree of literature sufficient to q ° gentleman for reading a play , or a political pamphlet , in a great compass of knowledge ; no less than that of da fighting , gaming , making the circle of Italy , riding the , horse , and speaking French ; not to mention some other se ondary , or subaltern accomplishments , which are more easi1 acquired . So that the difference between good breeding good manners lies in this , that the former cannot be attained to by the best understandings , without study and labour ; whereas a tolerable degree of reason will instruct us in every part of good manners , without other assistance .
①亨利·博林布鲁克（1678-1751)，英国政治家，学问渊博有文才。
I can think of nothing more useful upon this subject , than to point out some particulars , wherein the very essentials of good manners are concerned , the neglect or perverting of which doth very much disturb the good commerce of the world , by in - troducing a traffic of mutual uneasiness in most companies .
First , a necessary part of good manners , is a punctual ob - servance of time at our own dwellings , or those of others , or at third places ; whether upon matter of civility , business , or di - version ; which rule , though it be a plain dictate of common reason , yet the greatest minister I ever knew was the greatest trespasser against it ; by which all his business doubled upon him , and placed him in a continual arrear . Upon which I often used to rally him , as deficient in point of good manners . I have known more than one ambassador , and secretary of state with a very moderate portion of intellectuals , execute their offices with good success and applause , by the mere force of exactness and regularity . If you duly observe time for the service of another , it doubles the obligation ; if upon your own account , it would be manifest folly , as well as ingratitude , to neglect it . If both are concerned , to make your equal or inferior attend on you , to his own disadvantage , is pride and injustice .
Ignorance of forms cannot properly be styled ill manners ; because forms are subject to frequent changes ; and consequent ly , being not founded upon reason , are beneath a wise man ' s regard . Besides , they vary in every country ; and after a short period of timethat man who travels , must needs be at first a stranger to them in every cour through which he passes : and perhaps at his return , as much bered or forgotten than faces or names . stranger in his own : and after all , they are easier to be remembered of forgotten than aces or names.
Indeed , among the many impertinencies that superficial young men bring with them from abroad , this bigotry of forms is one of the principal , and more prominent than the rest : who look upon them not only as if they were matters capable of ad . mitting of choice , but even as points of importance ; and are therefore zealous on all occasions to introduce and propagate the new forms and fashions they have brought back with them . So that , usually speaking , the worst bred person in the company is a young traveller just returned from abroad .
【译文】
关于良好礼仪与良好教养的论述
良好的礼仪就是一种让我们与交谈对象相处融洽的艺术。
在社交场合中，谁能让他人感到最不拘束，谁就是最有教养的人。
正如最完善的法律是建立在理性之上的，最优秀的礼仪也是如此。而且，正如一些律师将不合理的东西引入了普通法律体系，许多教师也将荒谬的东西引入了普遍的优良礼仪之中。
这一门学问的一个主要要点在于，我们的行为要符合三种不同层次的人群：我们的上级、我们的同级以及我们之下的人群。
例如，强迫前者中的任何一方进食或饮水都是不礼貌的；但农民或商人必须得到这样的对待，否则就很难让他们明白自己是受欢迎的。
傲慢、不良的品性以及缺乏理智，是不良礼仪的三大根源；若没有其中任何一种缺陷，没有人会因缺乏经验或愚人所谓的“世故”而行为不当。
我敢向任何人保证，如果不受傲慢或不良品性的误导，任何人在社交场合中都能凭借理性知道该说什么、做什么。
因此，我坚信良好的理智是良好礼仪的主要基础。但因为这种天赋是人类中极少数人才具备的，所以世界上所有的文明国家都一致制定了某些共同的行为准则，这些准则最适合他们的普遍习俗或偏好，就像一种人为的理性判断，以弥补理性思维的不足。没有这些准则，那些看似聪明实则愚蠢的人们就会不断地发生争执，因为当他们喝醉、或是因女人或游戏而发生争执时，这种情况几乎总是会发生。感谢上帝，一年中几乎不会出现一场决斗不能归因于这三种原因中的任何一种的情况。就此而言.17 我深感遗憾的是，如果立法机构制定任何新的法律来禁止决斗这种行为，那将是极不妥当的。因为对于明智之人而言，要避免因争执而失去名誉，或者在争执中保持正直，其实有很多简便的方法可循。而且我找不到任何政治上的弊端在于允许恶霸、骗子和浪荡子通过他们自己的方式相互清除彼此的威胁，因为法律在这方面未能找到有效的解决办法。
正如良好的礼仪形式原本是为那些理解力薄弱者的行为规范而设计的；但它们却因被那些设计它们的人所利用而变得败坏。因为这些人陷入了不必要的、永无止境的繁文缛节之中，这些繁文缛节给那些践行它们的人带来了极大的不便，对其他人来说也是难以承受的：以至于明智之人往往对这些行家过分的礼貌感到更加不安，这种不安的程度甚至超过了与农民或工匠的交谈所带来的不安。
这种礼仪行为的无礼之处在那些由女士主持的宴会上表现得最为明显，这些女士以自己良好的教养为荣。在这种情况下，一个人必须做好在没有做任何自己想做的事的情况下度过一小时的准备；除非他敢于打破整个家庭已形成的常规秩序。她会确定他最喜欢的东西是什么，以及他应该吃多少；如果房子的主人也具有同样的性格，他就会以同样的专横方式在饮酒方面做出规定：与此同时，你必须为自己的招待活动道歉上千次。尽管这种幽默在许多最讲究礼仪的人当中已经相当普遍，但仍有太多这种幽默留存下来，尤其是在乡村地区；一位诚实的绅士向我保证，他曾被迫违背自己的意愿在朋友家待了四天，期间还采取了种种诸如藏起靴子、锁上马厩之类的类似措施，但他从进入房子到离开房子的这段时间里，已经记不起有任何一件事是他的意愿与实际情况相违背的；仿佛整个家庭都结成了一个团伙来折磨他。
但除此之外，若要详述我所目睹的这些不幸的信徒们在仪式中所犯下的种种愚蠢和荒唐的错误，那恐怕是永无止境的。我曾见过一位公爵被一位过于热心的梳子因急于替她开门而撞倒在地。我还记得在一次宫廷的生日宴上，一位贵妇因一名侍从不慎将一盘酱汁直接洒在她的头饰和锦缎上而惊慌失措——与此同时，她还因某种仪式上的原因突然改变了与身旁之人的姿势。荷兰使节布伊斯先生带着一个约十三岁的儿子来到宫廷的一张大餐桌上。父子俩无论把什么放在盘子里，都会先依次分给在场的每一个人；因此，在整个用餐过程中，我们根本无法获得片刻的安静。最后，他们的两个盘子碰到了一起，由于是瓷器，碰撞得如此猛烈，以至于它们碎成了二十块，还把一半的宾客弄湿弄脏了，沾上了甜食和奶油。在礼仪方面，就如同在所有艺术和科学领域一样，存在着一种矫揉造作的作风。而且在某些情况下，在交易中也是如此。教条主义指的是对我们所自诩拥有的任何知识的过度评价。而如果这样的话的话……
①似指荷兰政治家波罗斯·伯于斯（1531-1594）的后代。
知识本身或许微不足道，但其背后的教条主义却更为严重。因此，我认为小提琴手、舞蹈大师、传令官、礼仪主管等等，要比利希苏斯或年长的斯卡利格这类学者更具教条主义倾向。正因为如此，在我所了解的那个宫廷里，这类教条主义者总是占据着重要位置；从礼仪官（至少包括他）开始，一直到礼仪侍者，这些人通常都是这个岛国所能提供的最无足轻重的一群人，他们身上几乎没有良好的礼仪素养，而这也是他们唯一的“职业”——那就是尽可能地表现得谦卑顺从。由于他们完全不识字，且主要与彼此交流，所以整个教养体系都被局限在各自职位的规范和圈子之中。由于他们不为大臣们所关注，所以在宫廷中，无论发生何种变革，他们都会在其中生存并直至死亡，对那些处于某种显赫地位或有声誉的人毕恭毕敬，而对其他人则粗鲁无礼。我早就得出这样的结论：良好的礼仪并非是宫廷式的产物。因为倘若如此，那些具备相应素养、且长期致力于此类修养的人，即便没有其他方面的成就，也必定会习得这些礼仪。至于那些随侍在君主身边或参与其决策的高官，或是在其家族中担任要职的人员，他们不过是临时凑合的角色，与普通民众相比，他们没有更优越的理由去具备良好的礼仪，而且他们也不太可能向绅士侍从寻求指导。所以，就这方面而言，我在宫廷中所能学到的东西并不多，除了着装方面的细节，而在这方面，宫中的女侍应当被认可几乎与宠臣的女演员具有同等的权威地位。
我记得博林布鲁克大人曾给我讲过一段故事：有一次，他去迎接萨瓦公爵埃贡王子登岸，以便立即带他去见女王。王子说，他很遗憾当晚无法见到女王，因为当时在场的莫里斯·霍夫曼（此人当时也在场）曾向他保证，若他戴着束起的假发帽，是无法进入女王的宫殿的；他的马车还未抵达；而且他试图向所有贴身侍从和侍童借一条长马车篷布，但都未能如愿。博林布鲁克大人把这件事当作一个笑话讲了出来，并把王子带到了女王面前；为此，他受到了全体侍卫长们的严厉指责；其中，莫里斯·霍夫曼这位老资格的皇帝侍从，正是从皇帝那里学到了这一礼仪细节的；而我认为，这大概是他在这二十五年的侍奉生涯中学到的最好的一课。我将良好的礼仪和良好的教养区分开来；尽管为了丰富我的表达，有时我不得不将它们混为一谈。就前者而言，我所理解的只是记住并运用某些固定的、普遍适用的行为模式。但良好的教养所涵盖的范围要广泛得多；因为除了具备足以使一个人成为绅士所需的非凡的文学素养（比如能够阅读戏剧或政治小册子），还需要具备相当广博的知识；不仅如此，还必须精通格斗、游戏、游览意大利各地、骑马以及讲法语；更不用说一些其他次要或辅助性的才能了，这些才能更容易习得。所以，良好教养与良好举止之间的区别在于：前者若没有学习和努力是无法达到的；而具备一定的理性就能让我们在良好举止的各个方面都能有所掌握，无需其他辅助。①亨利·博林布鲁克（1678-1751)，英国政治家，学问渊博有文才。
对于这个问题，我想不出比指出一些与良好礼仪密切相关的具体事项更有用的了。这些事项涉及良好礼仪的核心原则，而对这些原则的忽视或违背会极大地扰乱世界的正常交往，因为它会在大多数团体中引入一种相互的不安状态，从而引发各种不必要的纷争。
首先，良好的礼仪的一个必要部分是，在我们自己的住所、他人的住所或第三方场所，无论是出于礼貌、事务还是聚会的目的，都要严格遵守时间。这条规则，尽管它是普通理性所明确规定的，但我所见过的最杰出的管理者却总是最严重地违反它；因此，他的所有事务都因此而加倍繁重，使他一直处于滞后的状态。为此，我常常嘲笑他缺乏良好的礼仪。我曾见过不止一位具有适度才智的使节和国务秘书，凭借精确和规律性的力量出色地完成了他们的工作，并因此获得了成功和赞誉。如果你为他人的事务按时行事，那么这种遵守时间的行为会增加你的责任；如果单从个人角度出发，忽视这些礼仪显然是愚蠢且不感恩的表现。而如果双方都考虑到这一点，让地位高于或低于自己的人来侍奉自己，而这对后者而言却是不利的，那就是傲慢和不公正的行为。
对礼仪的无知不能被称作不礼貌，因为礼仪会经常发生变化；因此，由于它们并非基于理性，所以不值得智者重视。此外，它们在每个国家都有所不同；在旅行者经过的每一个地方，一开始他必然会对这些礼仪一无所知：也许在他归来时，这些礼仪对他来说就像面孔或名字一样模糊或遗忘。对他自己而言，这个“陌生人”身份是不变的：而最终，它们更容易被记住或遗忘，而不是记住或忘记人名或数字。
事实上，在那些肤浅的年轻人从国外带来的诸多无礼行为中，这种对礼仪的固执偏执是其中最主要且更为突出的一种：他们不仅认为礼仪似乎是能够进行选择的事项，甚至将其视为重要的因素；因此，他们每逢机会都会极力推广自己带来的新事物和新风尚。所以，通常来说，这个旅店里最糟糕的客人就是刚刚从国外归来的新手旅者了。
