炉边琐谈

张中行老先生的《月旦集》里有一篇写温源宁,说三十年代初温源宁在北大西方语言文学系英文组当主任,每周教两小时普通英文课,张老去旁听了一年。他说温源宁总是穿整洁而考究的西服,年岁不大,态度严肃,显得成熟老练,确是英国化了的gentleman,永远讲英语,语调顿挫而典雅,不止带上层味,也带古典味。他留学英国,英文造诣人人佩服;徐志摩说温先生的英文是吸烟的时候学来的。听说温源宁脾气有点怪,夫人是个华侨阔小姐,有汽车,他却从来不坐,遇到风雨天气,夫人让,他总是说谢谢,还是坐自己的人力车到学校去。温源宁有一部着作叫Imperfect Understanding,一九三五年上海出版,写十七位知名人物:吴宓、胡适、徐志摩、周作人、梁遇春、王文显、朱兆莘、顾维钧、丁文江、辜鸿铭、吴赉熙、杨丙辰、周廷旭、陈通伯、梁宗岱、盛成、程锡庚,一人一篇。英国那一代文人似乎也都喜欢写这种忆人念事的书,A L Rowse有Glimpses of the Great;Isaiah Berlin有Personal Impressions;Harold Nicolson有Some People。我没有读过温源宁那本书,张老说文章风格确是出於英国散文大家的传统,简练典重,严肃中隐含着幽默感,充满智慧和见识,每篇内容深沉而写法轻松。温源宁后来去了台湾,有几年出使希腊。

五四运动之后,中国文人学者不少都放过洋留过学,谙外文的不在少数,真正精通而又有外文着述的似乎不太多。最近杭州的朋友罗俞君给我寄来钱锺书先生一九四六到一九四八年间在英文杂志《书林季刊》(Philobiblon)发表的几篇英文书评,我细细拜读,好好享受了钱先生精緻漂亮的英文,满怀虔敬之情。随便举一篇钱先生评Kenneth Scott Latourette一九四六年出版的The Chinese: Their History and Culture,整篇长文详细品评那本着作,引经据典,举重若轻,最后一段结语更是典型的钱氏笔调:“It would be invidious to mention names, but anyone who has made a close study of contemporary China will see that my picture is nearer to the fact than Professor Latourette\'s。 Augustin Thierry rediculed the German conception of history as a perpetual war of ideas, and revived Prudentius\'s word psychomachia to designate it。 But psychomachia or war of ideas is becoming a grim reality in China as in the world at large。 What makes it so damnable is that it does not spend its force and fury in mere controversies。 Words lead to blows and an inky affair becomes a bloody one。 Whether blood is thicker than ink, I do not know; it is certainly nastier。”

温源宁说胡适具有风流绅士的种种魅力,“有一搭没一搭说些鬼话”是他的本领,交际场上的夫人小姐最欣赏,看似区区小节,实则必不可少。胡先生这种说“鬼话”的魅力也许得自美国文化的薰陶;钱先生笔下“鬼话”的气韵,却是伦敦古屋里的炉边焙出来的。