Letter 070 Isleworth, 5 July 1876 艾勒沃斯 1876年7月5日

Dear Theo, The time may come when I shall look back with a certain melancholy on the "fleshpots of Egypt," connected with other situations - that is, the bigger salaries 薪水 and the higher worldly esteem 尊重 - this I foresee 预见 . There is indeed "plenty of bread" in the houses that I shall enter if I continue along the road which I have taken 在我选择的道路上继续前行, but there is not plenty of money. And yet I see a light in the distance so clearly; if that light disappears now and then, it is generally my own fault. It is very doubtful 不确定的 whether I shall make great progress in this profession, whether the six years spent in the house of Messrs. Goupil and Co. 古比尔公司(凡高曾在那里工作过), - during which time I ought to have prepared myself for this profession - will not always remain an insuperable obstacle 不能克服的障碍 . However, I think I cannot now draw back 退却 in any way, even if a part of me should wish to (later on - at present this is not the case). Lately it has seemed to me that there are no professions in the world other than those of schoolmaster and clergyman 牧师 , with all that lies between these two - such as missionary 传教士, especially a London missionary, etc. I think it must be a peculiar profession to be a London missionary; one has to go around among the labourers 劳工 and the poor to preach 宣讲 the Bible 圣经 , and as soon as one has some experience, talk with them, find foreigners who are looking for work or other persons who are in difficulties and try and help them, etc., etc. Last Sunday, I went to London two or three times to find out if there was a chance of becoming one of them, as I speak a number of languages and have mixed, especially in Paris and London, with people of the lower classes and foreigners. Being a foreigner myself, I thought I might be fit for it and might become increasingly 日益 so. However, one must be at least twenty-four years old, and at all events 无论如何 I shall have to wait another year. Mr. Stokes says that he definitely 明确的 cannot give me any salary because he can get teachers enough for just board and lodging 寄宿 , and that is true. But will it be possible for me to continue this way? I am afraid not; it will be decided soon enough. But, my boy, however this may be, one thing I can repeat: these few months have bound me so strongly to the sphere 领域 that extends from schoolmaster to clergyman, as much by the pleasures connected with those professions as by the thorns 荆棘 which have pricked 刺 me, that I cannot draw back any more. So I have to go on! I can assure 保证 you that some very peculiar difficulties will present themselves right away, and others are looming 迫近 in the distance; one is in quite a different world from that of Messrs. Goupil and Co. When will I get those small engravings, "Christus Consolator" and "Remunerator," which you promised me? Write to me as soon as you can find a moment, but send your letter to Father, as my address will probably change very soon, and he will know it first. Last week, I was at Hampton Court to see the beautiful gardens and long avenues 林荫道 of horse chestnuts 七叶树 and lime trees 欧椴树, in the tops of which a multitude of 多数 crows and rooks 白嘴鸦 have built their nests, and also to see the palace and the paintings. Among other things there are many portraits by Holbein which are very beautiful; two splendid Rembrandts 伦伯朗(the portrait of his wife, and of a rabbi); beautiful Italian portraits by Bellini, Titian 提香 ; a picture by Leonardo da Vinci 达芬奇 ; cartoons by Mantegna; a beautiful picture by S. Ruysdael; a still life of fruit by Cuyp, etc. I wish you had been there with me; it was a pleasure to see pictures again. And involuntarily 偶然的 I thought of the persons who had lived there at Hampton Court, of Charles I and his wife (she is the one who said: "Thank you, Lord, for making me a Queen, but an unhappy Queen") at whose tomb Bossuet spoke from the fullness of his heart. Do you have Bossuet's Oraisons Funèbres? In it you will find that speech (there is a very cheap edition, I think for 50 centimes 生丁 ); and I thought also of Lord and Lady Russell, who must have been there very often, too (Guizot described their lives in L'amour dans le mariage - you must read that when you can lay your hands on it). Enclosed, a feather from one of the rooks there. Write as soon as you can, I long to hear from you, believe me with a handshake, Your loving brother, Vincent

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