（三月廿七日）
月前在旧书摊上得一书，为英国厄克登勋爵（Lord Acton 1834—1902）寄格兰斯顿之女媚利之书（媚利后嫁为朱鲁〔Drew〕夫人）。厄氏为十九世纪英国第一博学名宿，尤长于史学。后为康桥大学史学院长，今康桥所出之《康桥近世史》，即其所计划者也。
厄氏有“蠹鱼”之名，以其博学而不著书也。其所欲著之《自由史》终身不能成，朱鲁夫人戏以“将来之圣母”称之。（“圣母”者，耶稣之母，古画家如拉飞尔皆喜用以为画题。英文豪詹姆斯〔Henry James，本美国人〕有名著小说曰《将来之圣母》，记一画家得一美人，将用以为“圣母”之法本，瞻视之二十年不敢下笔，而美人已老，画师之工力亦消亡，遂掷笔而死）
然吾读此诸函，论英国时政极详，极多中肯之言。虽在异域，如亲在议会。其关心时政之切，其见事之明，皆足一洗其“蠹鱼”之谤矣。
人言格兰斯顿影响人最大，独厄氏能影响格氏耳，其人可想。
此诸书皆作于五六年之间（1879—1885），而多至八万言（尚多删节去者）。其所论大抵皆论学，论文，论政之言也。此亦可见西国男女交际之一端，故记之。
书中多可采之语，如云：
The great object in trying to understand history, political, religious, literary or scientific, is to get behind men and to grasp ideas. Ideas have a radiation and development, an ancestry and posterity of their own, in which men play the part of godfathers and godmothers more than that of legitimate parents….Those elements of society must needs react upon the state; that is, try to get political power and use it to qualify the Democracy of the constitution (in France). And the state power must needs try to react on society, to protect itself against the hostile elements. This is a law of Nature, and the vividness and force with which we trace the motion of history depends on the degree to which we look beyond persons and fix our gaze on things…. This is my quarrel with Seeley ("The Expansion of England"). He discerns no Whiggism but only Whigs…. (p. 99—100)
〔中译〕
努力了解历史、政治、宗教和科学的最大目的在于彻底地了解人以及掌握人的思想。思想有其辐射和发展，有它的先祖，也有它的后裔，人在其中扮演了教父和教母的角色，而远非一般意义上的双亲……那些社会的要素必须反作用于国家，也就是力图取得政治的权力并运用它来证明民主宪法的合法地位（在法国）。而国家权力必须力图反作用于社会，以保护其自身免受敌对因素的攻击，这是自然的法则。我们用以追溯历史发展的勃勃生气和力量，有赖于我们超出个人着眼于事物的程度。……这就是我与塞利（“英格兰的扩张”）的争论之处。他只认识辉格党人，却并不了解辉格党党义。（99—100页）
又如其论邓耐生（Tennyson，大诗人）曰：
His (Tennyson's) want of reality, his habit of walking on the clouds, the airiness of his metaphysics, the definiteness of his knowledge, his neglect of transitions, the looseness of his political reasoning—all this made up an alarmingcheval de frise… (p.114)
〔中译〕
他（邓耐生）的现实感的缺乏，他的天马行空的习惯，他的形而上学的空想，他的知识的局限，他对变迁的视而不见，他对政治思考的不严密——所有这些一起构成了吓人的铁蒺藜。（114页）
此论实甚切当。
…All understanding of history depends on ones understanding the forces that make it, of which religious forces are the most active and the most definite. (P. 279)
〔中译〕
所有对于历史的理解依托于对于推动历史的诸力量的了解，这其中最能动的、最确定的便是宗教的力量。（279页）
I think that faith implies sincerity, that it is a gift that does not dwell in dishonest minds. To be sincere a man must battle with the causes of error that beset every mind. He must pour constant streams of electric light into the deep recesses where prejudice dwells, and passion, hasty judgments, and wilful blindness deem themselves unseen. He must continually grub up the stumps planted by all manners of unrevised influence. (p. 279—280)
〔中译〕
我认为信仰就意味着诚实。这种天赋的特性不会寓居不诚实的心灵之中。一个诚实的人必须与困扰心灵的错误的根源作斗争。他必须不断将电光照射进偏见藏匿的幽深之处。激情、仓促的判断和固执的视而不见必将蒙蔽一切。他必须不断地根除那些由各种各样未经周密的思考的思想影响造成的残余。（279—280页）
读此节可想见其人。