Down the Valley

I came off this morning on the Marlborough road about two miles， or three， and then turned off， over the downs， in a northwesterly direction， in search of the source of the Avon river， which goes down to Salisbury. I had once been at Netheravon， a village in this valley， but I had often heard this valley described as one of the finest pieces of land in all England; I knew that there were about thirty parish churches， standing in a length of about thirty miles， and in an average width of hardly a mile; and I was resolved to see a little into the reasons that could have induced our fathers to build all these churches， especially if， as the Scotch would have us believe， there were but a mere handful of people in England until of late years.

In steering across the down， I came to a large farm， which a shepherd told me was Milton Hill Farm. This was upon the high land， and before I came to the edge of this Valley of Avon， which was my land of promise， or at least， of great expectation; for I could not imagine that thirty churches had been built for nothing by the side of a brook (for it is no more during the greater part of the way) thirty miles long. The shepherd showed me the way towards Milton; and at the end of about a mile， from the top of a very high part of the down， with a steep slope towards the valley， I first saw this Valley of Avon; and a most beautiful sight it was! Villages， hamlets， large farms， towers， steeples， fields， meadows， orchards， and very fine timber trees， scattered all over the valley. The shape of the thing is this: on each side downs， very lofty and steep in some places， and sloping miles back in other places; but each outside of the valley are downs. From the edge of the downs begin capital arable fields generally of very great dimensions， and， in some places， running a mile or two back into little crossvalleys， formed by hills of downs. After the cornfields come meadows on each side， down to the brook or river. The farmhouses， mansions， villages， and hamlets are generally situated in that part of the arable land which comes nearest the meadows.

Great as my expectations had been， they were more than fulfilled. I delight in this sort of country; and I had frequently seen the vale of the Itchen， that of the Bourn， and also that of the Teste in Hampshire; I had seen the vales amongst the South Downs; but I never before saw anything to please me like this valley of the Avon. I sat upon my horse and looked over Milton and Easton and Pewsey for half an hour， though I had not breakfasted. The hill was very steep. A road， going slanting down it， was still so steep， and washed so very deep by the rains of ages， that I did not attempt to ride down it， and I did not like to lead my horse， the path was so narrow. So seeing a boy with a drove of pigs going out to the stubbles， I beckoned him to come up to me; and he came and led my horse down for me. But now， before I begin to ride down this beautiful vale， let me give， as well as my means will enable me， a plan or map of it， which I have made in this way. A friend has lent me a very old map of Wiltshire describing the spots where all the churches stand， and also all the spots where manor-houses or mansion-houses stood. I laid a piece of very thin paper upon the map， and thus traced the fiver upon my paper， putting figure to represent the spots where churches stand， and putting stars to represent the spots where manor-houses or mansion-houses formerly stood. Endless is the variety in the shape of the high lands which from this valley. Sometimes the slope is very gentle， and the arable lands go back very far. At others， the downs come out into the valley almost like piers into the sea， being very steep in their sides; as well as their ends: indeed they have no back ends， but run into the main high land. There is also great variety in the width of the valley; great variety in the width of the meadows; but the land appears all to be of the very best; and it must be so， for the farmers confess it.

It seemed to me that one way， and that not， perhaps， the least striking， of exposing the folly， the stupidity， the inanity， the presumption， the insufferable emptiness and insolence and barbarity， of those numerous wretches who have now the audacity to propose to transport the people of England， upon the principle of the monster Malthus， who has furnished the unfeeling oligarchs and their toad-eaters with the pretence that man has a natural propensity to breed faster than food can be raised for the increase; it seemed to me that one way of exposing this mixture of madness and of blasphemy was to take a look， now that the harvest is in， at the produce， the mouths， the condition， and the changes that have taken place， in a spot like this， which God has favoured with every good that he has had to bestow upon man.

From the top of the hill I was not a little surprised to see， in every part of the valley that my eye could reach， a due， a large， portion of fields of Swedish turnips， all looking extremely well. I had found the turnips of both sorts by no means bad from Salt Hill to Newbury; but from Newbury through Burghclere， Highclere， Uphusband， and Tangley， I had seen but few. At and about Ludgarshall and Everley I had seen hardly any. But when I came this morning to Milton Hill Farm， I saw a very large field of what appeared to me to be fine Swedish turnips. In the valley， however， I found them much finer， and the fields were very beautiful objects， forming， as their color did， so great a contrast with that of the fallows and the stubbles， which latter are， this year， singularly clean and bright.

Having gotten to the bottom of the hill， I proceeded on to the village of Milton， the church of which is， in the map， represented by the figure 3， I left Easton(2) away at my right， and I did not go up to Watton Rivers(l) where the river Avon rises， and which lies just close to the south， west corner of Marlborough Forest， and at about 5 or 6 miles from the town of Marlborough. Lower down the river， as I thought， there lived a friend， who was a great farmer， and whom I intended to call on. It being my way， however， always to begin malting inquiries soon enough， I asked the pig- driver where this friend lived; and， to my surprise， I found that he lived in the parish of Milton. After tiding up to the church， as being the center of the village， I went on towards the house of my friend， which lay on my road down the valley. I have many， many times witnessed agreeable surprise; but I do not know that I ever in the whole course of my life saw people so much surprised and pleased as this farmer and his family were at seeing me. People often tell you that they are glad to see you; and in general they speak truth. I take pretty good care not to approach any house， with the smallest appearance of a design to eat or drink in it， unless I be quite sure of a cordial reception; but my friend at Fifield (it is in Milton parish) and all his family really seemed to be delighted beyond all expression.

作者簡介：威廉·科貝特(1762—1835)，英國散文作家、記者；出身農(nóng)民家庭，后來辦報(bào)評論時(shí)政，是改革派的竭力支持者，但同時(shí)又眷戀中世紀(jì)的英國社會(huì)，思想頗有些矛盾復(fù)雜，因此被馬克思稱為“大英帝國最保守和最激進(jìn)的人——大英國最純粹的體現(xiàn)者和英國最英勇的青年創(chuàng)始人”。其代表作有《馬背上的游鄉(xiāng)記》，記錄了他行游英國鄉(xiāng)村時(shí)的所見所聞。他的作品思想犀利，文筆樸實(shí)無華，在19世紀(jì)初，浪漫主義美文風(fēng)靡之時(shí)，重新帶給人們18世紀(jì)笛福的樸實(shí)文風(fēng)。

我大清早就出了門，在馬爾博羅公路上走了兩三英里，然后拐向西北，翻過一處高地去尋找阿文河的源頭，這條河流向索爾茲博。我曾經(jīng)在河谷中一個(gè)叫作下阿文的村莊里住過一些日子，然而不止一次聽說，這條河算得上是整個(gè)英國的勝地之一。那谷地不過三十英里長一英里寬，可上面竟然聳立著大約三十座教區(qū)教堂。我決定去探討一番，究竟是什么原因驅(qū)使我們的先人們建造了這么多的教堂，更何況直到最近幾年以前英格蘭的人口還非常少——蘇格蘭人一直力求讓我們相信這一點(diǎn)。

沿著高地走，我來到一座巨大的莊園附近，一位牧人對我說這是米爾頓山莊。莊園建在高地上，距離阿文河還有一些路程。這個(gè)河谷就是我“想抵達(dá)的地方”，或者至少是一個(gè)令人期待的地方，因?yàn)槲覍?shí)在是難以想象為什么人們會(huì)無緣無故地把這三十座教堂建在這么一條三十英里長的小河旁(而這條小河的大部分并沒有什么特色鮮明的地方)。牧人把通向米爾頓村的道路指給了我，差不多走了一英里，我終于從直達(dá)谷地的一個(gè)陡峭的坡上第一次見到了阿文河谷——多么美麗的河谷呀!這里有村落、莊園、塔樓、田野、草地、果園，還有郁郁蔥蔥的樹木。這里的地形是這樣的：河谷的周圍都是高地，有些地方陡峭險(xiǎn)峻，綿延向前數(shù)英里，有的地方坡度比較平緩。在河谷和高地的交匯的地方，是一大片肥沃的田地，有的甚至順著高地向上爬了一二英里遠(yuǎn)。玉米地緊緊地挨著兩邊的草地，向下一直延伸到水邊。在靠近草地的田間里，座落著大部分的農(nóng)屋、農(nóng)院和村屯。

盡管我對這里的田園風(fēng)光本來就抱有很高的期望，卻沒有想到眼前的景色比我所想象的更美妙。以前我曾經(jīng)在漢普郡的伊飲、伯恩以及特斯特等一些地方見過溪谷，包括南高地的溪谷，可是沒有一處像阿文河這樣讓我動(dòng)心。我端騎在馬上，仰望米爾頓、伊斯和佩塞，足足有半個(gè)小時(shí)，居然忘記了自己還沒有吃早餐。我所站的這個(gè)山丘地勢險(xiǎn)峻，一條小徑從旁邊斜出向下，狹窄而陡峭，再加上山雨長年累月地沖洗，更加深凹難走。我既沒有膽量騎馬下山，也不想牽著馬下山。就在這個(gè)時(shí)候，我看見一個(gè)小男孩正趕著豬群向茬子地走去，我于是招手把他叫了過來，讓他幫我把馬牽下去。在繼續(xù)我的山谷尋幽之前，我還是好好介紹一下我給阿文河谷畫的一張草圖或者稱之為地圖。我是這樣畫的：我從朋友那里借來了一張威爾特郡的舊地圖，在上面蓋上一層薄紙，描出河流，用數(shù)字代表教堂，用星號代表莊園和房宅的舊址。把這個(gè)河谷包圍起來的高地可真是姿態(tài)各異。有時(shí)山坡比較平緩，田地順暢地向遠(yuǎn)方延伸；有時(shí)高地陡然陷入河谷，好像是探入海中的碼頭長堤，四面都是峭壁：實(shí)際上并沒有任何背面，而是與整個(gè)高地連接在一起。另外，河谷的寬度和草地的寬度也都有很大的變化。但是無論怎樣看，這里的土地都稱得上是—上等的良田。這一點(diǎn)是無庸置疑的，因?yàn)楫?dāng)?shù)氐霓r(nóng)民就是這樣說的。

如今，有一些莫名其妙的古怪言論是這么說的：即人口的增長速度總是比所需要的食物增長的速度快，基于此理論要求英格蘭向外移民。這些理論不過是那些狂妄而又不學(xué)無術(shù)、無聊卑鄙的人從妖怪馬爾薩斯那里摘文引句，為那些暴君的統(tǒng)治和某些奴顏媚骨者鼓吹的托辭罷了。如果要徹底揭露這些家伙的愚昧蠢笨、稀里糊涂、言行武斷，和讓人難以忍受的淺薄無知、蠻橫驕縱，還有瘋瘋癲癲以及對神靈的褻瀆，最有效的一種方法也許就是趕上收獲時(shí)節(jié)來這個(gè)地方看看———看看這年收成、人丁、狀況和種種變化。上帝對這個(gè)地方真是傾囊恩賜了。

從山頂之巔眺目遠(yuǎn)望，我吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)在河谷之中，大量的瑞典蕪菁長滿了大部分的田地上，觸目皆是。從鹽山到紐伯里，這一路上我都看見很多長勢良好的英國和瑞典蕪菁；但自紐伯里到伯克萊、?？巳R、厄赫斯本與唐格里一帶，卻很少見到這些東西；而到了盧德加什和埃弗里周圍地區(qū)，幾乎見不到蕪菁的蹤跡?？墒俏以缟系竭_(dá)米爾頓山莊時(shí)，卻見到了大片大片郁郁蔥蔥的瑞典蕪菁。然而河谷中的蕪菁長得更好，田野的色彩也變得艷麗多了，真是美不勝收，這景象正好與今年收拾得格外干凈的休耕地和茬子地形成了鮮明的對比。

走到山腳下，我便決定去米爾頓村，在我的地圖上，這個(gè)村里教堂上的代號是3。我把伊斯頓(2)甩在了右后方，我也沒有去尋找阿文河的源頭沃頓河(1)，這條河與馬爾博羅森林的西南角為鄰，離馬爾博羅鎮(zhèn)只有五六英里遠(yuǎn)的距離。我記得有個(gè)大農(nóng)場主朋友就住在阿文河的下游，于是決定前去拜訪。平時(shí)我出門總是喜歡先問路，于是便向這個(gè)小豬倌打探我那個(gè)朋友的住所，讓人驚喜的是他就住在米爾頓教區(qū)里。我策馬來到村子中心的教堂，緊接著就徑直奔向朋友家，他的房子就在通向河谷的路邊上。我曾經(jīng)見過很多很多次驚喜交織的場面，然而在我一生的記憶之中，從來沒有哪一次像農(nóng)場主及其家人見到我這樣驚喜的樣子。人們見面時(shí)通常都說“很高興見到你”；一般來說，這句話是出于真心的。我一向很謹(jǐn)慎，除非有十足的把握能夠受到熱誠的歡迎，否則決不會(huì)輕易登門造訪，以免有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)前去打擾的嫌疑。但是，我的這位住在費(fèi)非爾德(米爾頓教區(qū)內(nèi))的朋友和他的全家對我的到來表示出的驚喜若狂，確實(shí)是用言語所表達(dá)不了的。