The Faculty of Delight

The Faculty of Delight

Charles Edward Montague (1867-1928)

Among the mind’s powers is one that comes of itself to many children and artists. It need not

be lost, to the end of his days, by any one who has ever had it. This is the power of taking delight

in a thing, or rather in anything, everything, not as a means to some other end, but just because it

is what it is, as the lover dotes on whatever may be the traits of the beloved object. A child in the

full health of his mind will put his hand flat on the summer turf, feel it, and give a little shiver of

private glee at the elastic firmness of the globe. He is not thinking how well it will do for some

game or to feed sheep upon. That would be the way of the wooer whose mind runs on his

mistress’s money. The child’s is sheer affection, the true ecstatic sense of the thing’s inherent

characteristics. No matter what the things may be, no matter what they are good or no good for,

there they are, each with a thrilling unique look and feel of its own, like a face; the iron

astringently cool1 under its paint, the painted wood familiarly warmer, the clod crumbling

enchantingly down in the hands, with its little dry smell of the sun and of hot nettles; each

common thing a personality marked by delicious differences.

The joy of an Adam new to the garden and just looking round is brought by the normal child

to the things that he does as well as those that he sees. To be suffered to do some plain work2 with

the real spade used by mankind can give him a mystical exaltation: to come home with his legs, as

the French say, reentering his body3 from the fatigue of helping the gardener to weed beds sends

him to sleep in the glow of a beatitude4 that is an end in itself…

The right education, if we could find it, would work up this creative faculty of delight into all

its branching possibilities of knowledge, wisdom, and nobility. Of all three it is the beginning,

condition, or raw material.

喜悦的能力

查理爱德华蒙太古

（1867-1928）

在心智的各种能力当中，有一种能力在许多儿童与艺术家是得来自然，而且既曾得之，便终身不应失之。这就是那种对一件事物，乃至对每件事物，件件事物感到喜悦的能力，而所以感到喜悦，并非因为此物是达到某种别的目的的手段，而只是由于它的本身，这正像一个情人觉得他所喜爱的对象真实十全十美那样。一个心智上完全健全的儿童也许会把他的手放在夏天的草地上，摸摸它，觉得坚实的大地也有点弹性，因而内心感到欣喜。他倒没有考虑到这草地对人们玩游戏或用来喂羊会有多大好处。如果是这样，那就是一心只图钱财的那种求婚者的行径了。而这孩子的爱好却是真纯的，是对那件事物内在特征的真正的兴奋之感。不管这些事物是些什么，也不管它们对什么有用或无用，它们却一一具在，各有各的动人的特殊神情与味道，宛如一张面孔那样；油漆下面冰凉的钢铁，温暖可亲的著木料，那在手中一搓就碎得那么迷人的土块，微微含着日晒与荨麻的干燥气味；每件寻常的事物由于种种可爱的差别而各有一副独特性格。

一个初来伊甸正在左顾右盼的亚当的喜悦，正是一个正常儿童在做个什么或看个什么时所感到的喜悦。如果有人肯让他拿上人类使用的真的铲子去做点平凡的劳动，那简直可以给他一种的喜悦心情：当他经过帮助园丁把花池里的杂草除掉的一番疲劳，双脚（按法国人的说法），像缩进身体里边似的走了回来，他将会在一片最高幸福的照耀之下欣然睡去——这本身就是目的！„„

正确的教育，如果这是可寻的话，必将把喜悦这种创造性的能力推而广之到知识、智慧与崇高的一切可能中去。而三者又都将以它为起点、条件或原材料。

【作者简介】本篇出自蒙太古的散文作品Disenchantment (1922)，是记叙他第一次欧战赴法参战期间见闻感受的一本实录，其中许多材料与篇章曾发表于《曼彻斯特卫报》。

蒙太古，英国著名报人、评论家兼作家，是一位文笔极好的散文作者。他家原为爱尔兰人，但他生长于英国，牛津大学毕业。他一生未脱离报界，从二十四岁起至临终前的三年（1890-1925），长期担任《曼彻斯特卫报》的总主笔职务与剧评作者，是该报社社评的主要撰稿人。

蒙太古在近代英国文坛虽非重要作家，但无论论数量和论质量，他在散文这块文苑中都应占一席位。他的文字属于典雅考究一类，句法参差错落，新颖别致，严整凝练之中而富于变化。另外，作为一个报人而无journalese气味，这也是难能可贵的。

【注释】

1 Astringently cool: cool and harsh; bitingly cool.

2 To be suffered to do some plain work: to be allowed, permitted or tolerated to do… 把工作交给孩子们去做，质量上大人当然有时不够放心，故这里用了suffer。

3 with his legs re-entering his body 这是法国人的句子的字面直译。法文可说“Les jambs lui

rentraient dans le corps,”意思是说“疲乏得两腿支持不住。”

4 beatitude: 庄严语，拉丁语与法语来源词汇，意为perfect blessedness 或happiness。