2.The Earl of Warwick,called The King-maker,was the most powerfulnoble in the land.Having lost some of his influence at Court by Edward‘s marriage,he took offence,and resolved to try to drive him from the throne.Assisted by the Duke of Clarence,Edward’s brother,and Margaret,Henry‘s queen,he raised so great an army that Edward was obliged to flee;and Henry was once more taken from prison,and set on the throne.
3.Edward,however,soon came back from Holland,where he had takenbrefuge.He was joined by vast numbers.The two armies met at Barnet,terrible battle was fought,in which Warwick was slain.
and a
4.Henry was again thrown into the Tower;but Margaret was resolved to strike another blow for her royal husband,and met Edward’s forces ata King-maker.-So called because he first made Edward king,and then dethroned him and put Henry inhis place.
b Barnet.-In Hertfordshire;11miles north-west of London.An obelisk marks the site of the battle.
Te wk esbur y.
She wa s
KING EDWARD AND PRINCE EDWARD.
defeated,and she and her son Edward were taken prisoners.The King had them brought before him;and,enra ged at the brave conduct of the young princ e,he cr uel l y struck him in the face with his iron glove.Clarence and Gloucester then stabbed the noble youth to death with their daggers.
5.It is said that,after this,
Gloucester went privately to the Tower,where King Henry was confined,and murdered him in cold blood.
6.Edward died in 1483.He was hard-hearted and cruel,as well as ambitious.His life was made up of little else than bloody deeds and wicked pleasures.Great numbers of gentlemen were put to death for favouring the House of Lancaster;and his brother Clarence was murdered in the Tower by being drowned in a butt of wine.
7.Notes of Progress.-In this reign the art of printing was brought into England from Germany by William Caxton,a silk mercer,who set up a press at Westminster Abbey.Letters were for the first time carried by post between London and Scotland,horsemen being placed at distances of twenty miles apart all along the road.
中文阅读
1.随着爱德华四世继位,约克王朝正式登场。虽然他获得了王位,但局势并没有让他省心。北方大部分国民依然支持亨利,他们还组建了一支军队讨伐爱德华,但在约克郡附近的陶顿被爱德华和沃里克伯爵的军队大败,将士被屠杀殆尽。在另外几场战斗中亨利也同样被打败,最后终于被俘,囚禁在伦敦塔。
2.沃里克伯爵,人称“国王制造者b”,当时可算是全国力量最为强大的贵族。由于爱德华婚姻关系的影响,他在法院中的影响了得到削弱,这让他甚是恼火,于a Tewkesbury.-In Gloucestershire;10miles from Gloucester.“The Bloody Meadow,”where the battle was fought,is south of the town.
b 国王制造者:沃里克伯爵之所以得此称号是因为他首先让爱德华当了国王,然后又将他废黜,让亨利登上王位。
是下定决定要将爱德华赶下国王宝座。在爱德华的哥哥克拉伦斯公爵以及亨利的王后玛格丽特的帮助下,他发动大军讨伐爱德华,让爱德华只得逃之夭夭;亨利于是被从监牢里解救出来,又重新当上了国王。
3.不久爱德华又从避难地荷兰回来了,很多人群起响应加入了他的队伍。1471年,两路大军在巴尼特a相遇,一场大战打响,沃里克伯爵在此役中被杀身亡。
4.亨利又一次被投进伦敦塔的监牢,但玛格丽特又为了她的丈夫发起了战斗,与爱德华的军队在图克斯伯里b大战一场。此战她被打败了,她和她的儿子被俘。国王让人将他们带到他的面前,但血气方刚的年轻王子的不屈言行把他激怒了,他用他的铁手套狠狠扇了王子几个耳光,之后克拉伦斯与格罗斯特公爵上前用匕首刺死了这位年轻的王子。
5.据说在这之后,格罗斯特公爵偷偷跑进伦敦塔,也即囚禁亨利的监牢,将亨利残忍地杀害了。
6.爱德华于1483年驾崩。他为人残酷,有一副硬心肠,也颇具野心。他这一生除了血腥的战斗和干了不少缺德事以外,几乎乏善可陈。很多贤达之士因为支持兰开斯特家族而被他处以死刑;他的哥哥克拉伦斯公爵下场很惨,在伦敦塔被人按进酒桶中活活淹死了。
7.社会文明进步--在这一时期,印刷术从德国传入英格兰。其主导人是一位名叫威廉·卡克斯顿的绸缎商人,他在威斯敏斯特大教堂建立了一个出版社。伦敦和苏格兰之间开始了往来的邮政通信,大路沿途每隔20英里便有骑马的人专门负责信件邮递。
a 巴尼特:位于赫特福德郡,地处伦敦西北11英里,当地有一座方尖塔纪念这一战役。
b 图克斯伯里:位于格罗斯特郡,距离格罗斯特城10英里。这场战斗的发生地“血战草场”就位于其南部。
78
THE BATTLE OF TOWTON
陶顿之战
begetting,producing.bemoaned,mourned for.bereaved,deprived.canopy,covering;awning.conclude,sum up.
contemplate,think;meditate.crowns,pieces of money.delicates,delicacies;nice things.embroidered,decorated.
fell,cruel.foeman,enemy.rued:regretted.ruthful,pitiful.spectacle,sight.
stratagems,devices.swain,country man.unawares,in ignorance.viands,food.
SCENE-Part of the Field of Towton
Alarum.Enter KING HENRY.
K.Hen.Here on this mole-hill will I sit me down.To whom God will,there be the victory!
For Margaret my queen,and Clifford too,Have chid me from the battle;swearing both They prosper best of all when I am thence.Would I were dead!if God‘s good will were so;For what is in this world but grief and woe?
O God!methinks it were a happy life,To be no better than a homely swain;To sit upon a bill,as I do now,To carve out dials quaintly,point by point,Thereby to see the minutes how they run:How many make the hour full complete;How many hours bring about the day;How many days will finish up the year;How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is known,then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock;So many hours must I take my rest;So many hours must I contemplate;So many hours must I sport myself;……So minutes,hours,days,weeks,months,and years,Passed over to the end they were created,Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah,what a life were this!how sweet!how lovely!Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade To shepherds,looking on their silly sheep,Than doth a rich embroidered canopyTo kings,that fear their subjects’treachery?Oh,yes,it doth;a thousand-fold it doth.
And,to conclude,-the shepherd‘s homely curds,His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle,His wonted sleep under a fresh tree’s shade,All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,Is far beyond a prince‘s delicates,His viands sparkling in a golden cup,His body couched in a curious bed,When care,mistrust,and treason wait on him.
Enter a SON that has killed his father,dragging in the dead body.
Son.Ill blows the wind that profits nobody:This man,whom hand to hand I slew in fight,May be possessed with some store of crowns;And I,that haply take them from him now,May yet ere night yield both my life and them To some man else,as this dead man doth me.-Who’s this?-O God!it is my father‘s face,Whom in this conflict I unawares have killed.
O heavy times,begetting such events!