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小说: heroes and hero worship 字数: 每页4000字

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ral_ there!〃  They went; and put him there; they and France at large。  Chief…consulship; Emperorship; victory over Europe;till the poor Lieutenant of _La Fere_; not unnaturally; might seem to himself the greatest of all men that had been in the world for some ages。

But at this point; I think; the fatal charlatan…element got the upper hand。 He apostatized from his old faith in Facts; took to believing in Semblances; strove to connect himself with Austrian Dynasties; Popedoms; with the old false Feudalities which he once saw clearly to be false;considered that _he_ would found 〃his Dynasty〃 and so forth; that the enormous French Revolution meant only that!  The man was 〃given up to strong delusion; that he should believe a lie;〃 a fearful but most sure thing。  He did not know true from false now when he looked at them;the fearfulest penalty a man pays for yielding to untruth of heart。  _Self_ and false ambition had now become his god:  self…deception once yielded to; _all_ other deceptions follow naturally more and more。  What a paltry patchwork of theatrical paper…mantles; tinsel and mummery; had this man wrapt his own great reality in; thinking to make it more real thereby!  His hollow _Pope's…Concordat_; pretending to be a re…establishment of Catholicism; felt by himself to be the method of extirpating it; 〃_la vaccine de la religion_:〃  his ceremonial Coronations; consecrations by the old Italian Chimera in Notre…Dame;〃wanting nothing to complete the pomp of it;〃 as Augereau said; 〃nothing but the half…million of men who had died to put an end to all that〃!  Cromwell's Inauguration was by the Sword and Bible; what we must call a genuinely _true_ one。  Sword and Bible were borne before him; without any chimera:  were not these the _real_ emblems of Puritanism; its true decoration and insignia?  It had used them both in a very real manner; and pretended to stand by them now!  But this poor Napoleon mistook:  he believed too much in the _Dupability_ of men; saw no fact deeper in man than Hunger and this!  He was mistaken。  Like a man that should build upon cloud; his house and he fall down in confused wreck; and depart out of the world。

Alas; in all of us this charlatan…element exists; and _might_ be developed; were the temptation strong enough。  〃Lead us not into temptation〃!  But it is fatal; I say; that it _be_ developed。  The thing into which it enters as a cognizable ingredient is doomed to be altogether transitory; and; however huge it may _look_; is in itself small。  Napoleon's working; accordingly; what was it with all the noise it made?  A flash as of gunpowder wide…spread; a blazing…up as of dry heath。  For an hour the whole Universe seems wrapt in smoke and flame; but only for an hour。  It goes out:  the Universe with its old mountains and streams; its stars above and kind soil beneath; is still there。

The Duke of Weimar told his friends always; To be of courage; this Napoleonism was _unjust_; a falsehood; and could not last。  It is true doctrine。  The heavier this Napoleon trampled on the world; holding it tyrannously down; the fiercer would the world's recoil against him be; one day。  Injustice pays itself with frightful compound…interest。  I am not sure but he had better have lost his best park of artillery; or had his best regiment drowned in the sea; than shot that poor German Bookseller; Palm!  It was a palpable tyrannous murderous injustice; which no man; let him paint an inch thick; could make out to be other。  It burnt deep into the hearts of men; it and the like of it; suppressed fire flashed in the eyes of men; as they thought of it;waiting their day!  Which day _came_: Germany rose round him。What Napoleon _did_ will in the long…run amount to what he did justly; what Nature with her laws will sanction。  To what of reality was in him; to that and nothing more。  The rest was all smoke and waste。  _La carriere ouverte aux talens_:  that great true Message; which has yet to articulate and fulfil itself everywhere; he left in a most inarticulate state。  He was a great _ebauche_; a rude…draught never completed; as indeed what great man is other?  Left in _too_ rude a state; alas!

His notions of the world; as he expresses them there at St。 Helena; are almost tragical to consider。  He seems to feel the most unaffected surprise that it has all gone so; that he is flung out on the rock here; and the World is still moving on its axis。  France is great; and all…great:  and at bottom; he is France。  England itself; he says; is by Nature only an appendage of France; 〃another Isle of Oleron to France。〃  So it was by _Nature_; by Napoleon…Nature; and yet look how in factHERE AM I!  He cannot understand it:  inconceivable that the reality has not corresponded to his program of it; that France was not all…great; that he was not France。  〃Strong delusion;〃 that he should believe the thing to be which _is_ not!  The compact; clear…seeing; decisive Italian nature of him; strong; genuine; which he once had; has enveloped itself; half…dissolved itself; in a turbid atmosphere of French fanfaronade。  The world was not disposed to be trodden down underfoot; to be bound into masses; and built together; as _he_ liked; for a pedestal to France and him:  the world had quite other purposes in view!  Napoleon's astonishment is extreme。  But alas; what help now?  He had gone that way of his; and Nature also had gone her way。  Having once parted with Reality; he tumbles helpless in Vacuity; no rescue for him。  He had to sink there; mournfully as man seldom did; and break his great heart; and die;this poor Napoleon:  a great implement too soon wasted; till it was useless:  our last Great Man!

Our last; in a double sense。  For here finally these wide roamings of ours through so many times and places; in search and study of Heroes; are to terminate。  I am sorry for it:  there was pleasure for me in this business; if also much pain。  It is a great subject; and a most grave and wide one; this which; not to be too grave about it; I have named _Hero…worship_。  It enters deeply; as I think; into the secret of Mankind's ways and vitalest interests in this world; and is well worth explaining at present。  With six months; instead of six days; we might have done better。  I promised to break ground on it; I know not whether I have even managed to do that。  I have had to tear it up in the rudest manner in order to get into it at all。 Often enough; with these abrupt utterances thrown out isolated; unexplained; has your tolerance been put to the trial。  Tolerance; patient candor; all…hoping favor and kindness; which I will not speak of at present。  The accomplished and distinguished; the beautiful; the wise; something of what is best in England; have listened patiently to my rude words。  With many feelings; I heartily thank you all; and say; Good be with you all!





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