Owen Felltham

Of Travel（Excerpt）

It was a frequent saying of Alexander, that he had discovered more by his eyes than other kings could comprehend in their thoughts. In this, he referred to travel. There is no map like the view of a country. Experience is the best informer; and one journey will show us more than any description can. Some would not have a man move out of his own country; and Claudian mentions it as a happiness, for ones birth, life, and burial, to have been all in one parish. But surely, travel is of service to man. He has lived as if locked up in a larger chest, who has never seen any but his own land. One who is learned, honest, and who has travelled, is the best compound of man, and can correct the vices of one country with the virtues of another. Italy, England, France, and Spain, are as the court of the world; Germany, Denmark, and China, are as the city; and he who has not seen the best of these, is a little lame in knowledge.

Yet I think it not fit, that every man should travel. It makes a wise man better; but a fool worse, for he attends to nothing but the public sights, the exotic manners, the aperies; and the vices of the country he visits. A travelling fool is the shame of all nations: he shames his own, by his conduct abroad: he shames others, by bringing home nothing but their follies. A man, to improve himself by travel, ought to observe and comment on what he sees, noting as well the bad, to avoid it, as the good, to make use of it—and without registering these things by the pen, they will pass away without profiting him. One can hardly conceive how much the committing of a thought to paper, fixes it in the mind. He who does this, can, when he pleases, go over his journey again in his closet.

It were an excellent thing in a state, to have always a select number of youth, of the nobility and gentry, to send abroad at years of some maturity, for education. Their parents could not better dispose of them, than in thus dedicating them to the commonwealth; nor could they themselves be in a fairer way of preferment; and there is no question but they might prove highly serviceable to the state, on their return home, well versed in the world and foreign languages, and well read in men; which, for policy and negotiation, is much better than any booklearning, though never so deep and extensive.

Being abroad, the best is to converse with the best, and not to choose by the eye, but by fame. For politics, instruction is to be had, at the court; for traffic, among merchants; for religious rites, among the clergy; for government, among the lawyers; and as for the country itself and rural knowledge, the boors and peasantry can best help you. Curiosities ought not to be neglected, especially antiquities; for these shew us the ingenuity of past ages, and include in them both example and precept. By comparing these with modern inventions, we may see how the world improves in knowledge.

But above all, search out men of distingiushed and superior merit. There is no monument like a living worthy man. We shall be sure to find something in him, to kindle our faculties and enlarge our minds, and rouse us to a generous emulation of his virtues. Parts of extraordinary note cannot so lie hid, but they will shine forth through the tongue and behaviour, to the admiration and advantage of beholders; but, unless a man has judgment to direct him, he will, at his return, find all his labour lost. Some men, by travel, change in nothing: and some again, change too much. Indeed the moral outside, wheresoever we be, may seem best, when something fitted to the nation we are in: but wherever I should go or stay, I would ever keep to my God and friends, unchangeably. Howsoever he returns, he makes an ill voyage, who changes his faith with his tongue and garments. ?

亞歷山大大帝常說(shuō)，他用眼睛所發(fā)現(xiàn)的比其他國(guó)王用思考所領(lǐng)悟的更為豐富。他在這里所指的是旅行。一個(gè)國(guó)家的景致是任何地圖都無(wú)法捕捉的。只有親身游歷，才能獲得最透徹的了解。讀再多的描述也比不上行一段路的見(jiàn)聞。有些人反對(duì)離開(kāi)故鄉(xiāng)；古羅馬詩(shī)人克勞地安提出，能夠生老病死于同一個(gè)教區(qū)是一種幸福。但是旅行絕對(duì)對(duì)人有好處。如果一個(gè)人從來(lái)沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)自己故鄉(xiāng)之外的土地，他的人生就像是被鎖進(jìn)了一只大箱子。那些有學(xué)問(wèn)、有誠(chéng)信、有遠(yuǎn)游經(jīng)歷的人是人類中的精英，他們懂得用某一國(guó)家的美德來(lái)糾正另一個(gè)國(guó)家的缺陷。意大利、英格蘭、法國(guó)和西班牙就像是世界的庭院；德國(guó)、丹麥和中國(guó)就像是城市；那些沒(méi)有領(lǐng)略過(guò)其中勝景的人，只能說(shuō)見(jiàn)識(shí)有限。

但我認(rèn)為并不是所有的人都適合旅行。旅行讓聰明人更聰明，卻讓傻瓜更愚蠢，因?yàn)樯倒鲜裁匆沧⒁獠坏?，只看到了大眾景觀、奇風(fēng)異俗、愚昧行徑；以及所參觀的國(guó)家的種種缺點(diǎn)。一個(gè)旅行的傻瓜是所有國(guó)家的恥辱：他讓自己的國(guó)家蒙羞，在國(guó)外的時(shí)候，行為舉止失當(dāng)；他令別的國(guó)家蒙羞，只染了一身惡習(xí)回到故鄉(xiāng)。如果人們想通過(guò)旅行改善自己，應(yīng)該對(duì)所看到的一切進(jìn)行觀察和評(píng)價(jià)，既注意到應(yīng)該避免的缺點(diǎn)，同時(shí)也注意到可以利用的優(yōu)點(diǎn)——如果不用筆把這些記錄下來(lái)，走馬看花，不會(huì)有任何收獲。把想法落在紙上，大腦就會(huì)把它牢牢地記住。大多數(shù)人認(rèn)識(shí)不到這樣做的好處。誰(shuí)能做到這一點(diǎn)，誰(shuí)就能隨心所欲地在小書(shū)房里重溫走過(guò)的旅程。

如果能夠不斷從貴族士紳中精選年輕人，派他們?cè)诒容^成熟的年紀(jì)出國(guó)接受教育，這對(duì)國(guó)家而言是件好事。讓年輕人以這樣的方式獻(xiàn)身國(guó)家，這是父母能夠做出的最好安排；也是年輕人最佳的晉升途徑。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這些人在回國(guó)以后，能夠更好地報(bào)效祖國(guó)，因?yàn)樗麄兞私馐澜?，精通外語(yǔ)，洞曉人情世故。這些素質(zhì)在制訂政策以及進(jìn)行談判的時(shí)候，比書(shū)本知識(shí)更實(shí)用，雖然它沒(méi)有書(shū)本知識(shí)那么深邃廣博。

到了國(guó)外，交談的最佳對(duì)象應(yīng)該是最優(yōu)秀的人。選人不要憑眼睛，要考察對(duì)方的聲譽(yù)。學(xué)政治要到宮廷去接受訓(xùn)導(dǎo)；學(xué)做生意要在商人之間；學(xué)宗教要去找神職人員；學(xué)政府管理要去找律師；想了解這個(gè)國(guó)家，了解農(nóng)村，村夫野漢是你最好的幫手。別忘了還有寶物珍玩，尤其是那些古董；它們向我們展示了舊時(shí)代的創(chuàng)造力，它們自身既是范本，也是準(zhǔn)則。通過(guò)古董和現(xiàn)代發(fā)明之間的比較，我們能夠看到世界知識(shí)發(fā)展的進(jìn)程。

不過(guò)最重要的是要懂得如何識(shí)別那些品格不凡的人。有血有肉的圣賢是真正的典范。我們一定能夠從他們身上發(fā)現(xiàn)某種特質(zhì)，激發(fā)我們的能力，擴(kuò)展我們的視野，讓我們?cè)敢饨吡ο蛩麄兊拿赖驴待R。卓越的品行是無(wú)法被徹底埋沒(méi)的，它們會(huì)在言語(yǔ)與行為中閃光，使看到的人心生敬仰，并且從中受益；不過(guò)旅行者需要有足夠的判斷能力做指導(dǎo)，否則當(dāng)他回國(guó)的時(shí)候，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)一切都是徒勞。經(jīng)過(guò)旅行，有些人一成不變：有些人則面目全非。無(wú)論身在何處，外在的行為準(zhǔn)則能夠入鄉(xiāng)隨俗，這似乎是上上策：但無(wú)論是走還是留，我們需要信奉上帝，忠誠(chéng)朋友，矢志不渝。人們無(wú)論以什么方式回歸故鄉(xiāng)，如果改變的不僅是鄉(xiāng)音和衣著，也改變了信仰，這注定是一次失敗的旅行。?