Chapter 155: The Significance of the New Invention
Chapter 154 The Meaning of the New Invention
The young man named ‘William’ frowned when he heard Arthur recite the poem and asked, “Why haven’t I heard this poem before? Which Cambridge scholar’s work is it?”
Arthur pretended to be surprised and asked back, “You actually don’t know such a famous verse? It was composed by a Cambridge poet surnamed Xu.”
Elder also chimed in, “That’s right, as a literature lover, you wouldn’t have even heard of this poem, right? Just now you guys even said that you had won the Cambridge’s Gold Medal for Poetry, is the Cambridge’s Gold Medal only at this level of knowledge reserve?”
William was stumped by the two of them and instantly made a little less confident, “Is …… it?”
And another young man named ‘Alfred’ rushed up to round off the conversation, he apologized to Arthur and Elder, “Gentlemen, although it’s true that I’ve never heard of this poem. But judging from the content, the author of this poem does possess a very high level of Romantic lyric poetry writing.”
William heard that even his companion complimented the poem, which completely lost his heart.
After all, although Alfred was very young, he was not only the winner of their Cambridge University’s Gold Medal for Poetry, but even possessed a certain level of fame in the entire field of poetry writing in Great Britain.
If Alfred even recognized it, then the poem was not to say how good it was, but at least it was certainly not that bad.
But he was still unwilling to admit defeat so easily, the arrogance of a young man still supported him to straighten his back and spoke, “I admit that this poem is not bad, but compared to Alfred’s Timbuktu, it still has a long way to go.”
“The Timbuktu?” Elder couldn’t help but frown once he heard the name, although he usually seemed out of tune, apart from reading tabloid stories, he did occasionally pay attention to what was going on in literary circles.
Elder opened his mouth and asked, “Are you that Alfred Tennyson from Cambridge?”
Tennyson nodded shyly, “Have you read my poems?”
Elder bristled, “By accident.”
“Accidentally seen it?” The young man named William was furious when he heard this, “Sir, what do you mean by that?”
Elder shrugged his shoulders and said with a beaten face, “Nothing, I just think that as far as literature is concerned, everyone has their own opinion. I think that the writing of Timbuktu is indeed okay, but it’s just okay. In a sense, I think he’s not even as good as this one just now in terms of emotion …… uh …… Arthur, what was the name of that poem?”
Arthur glanced at the boy, he didn’t want to answer, but in an instant he realized that Elder had been scowling at him.
Looking at him, he had to compete with these two Cambridge youngsters today.
Arthur sighed, “That poem is called Farewell to Cambridge.”
“Yes, that’s right, ‘Farewell to Cambridge’! From the standpoint of a serious and earnest literary critic, I don’t think ‘Timbuktu’ is as good as ‘Farewell to Cambridge’!”
William was directly angered by Elder’s provocative tone, and he pressed his fire and asked, “Literary critic? I don’t know your honorable name, what are your works in the field of literature ah?”
Elder heard this, “My name is Elder Carter, a professional critic who does not care to create works.”
William got all pissed off and laughed at his answer, “Kid, so you haven’t written anything and yet you’re here questioning the level of Alfred’s poetry?”
Elder took advantage of the situation and asked back, “So what about you? And which one are you, and what have you written in the field of literature?”
“Me?” William was still furious, but when Elder asked this, his cheeks instantly reddened, and after holding his tongue for half a day this is when he spoke, “My name is William Thackeray, I’m just a hobbyist in literature, and I’ve also written a few things, but, but not very well known only ……”
When Elder heard this, it was as if he had seized some good opportunity to win, and he sneered profusely, “So you’re likewise a nobody? Since you feel that one must have status and work before one can comment on poetry, isn’t your opinion equally insignificant?”
Hearing this, William Thackeray wanted to retort, but didn’t know how to say it back.
In his anger, his fists became more and more tightly clenched, and then, only a bang could be heard, Thackeray actually directly pushed open the door of the store with one hand, grabbed the door and ran out without looking back.
Seeing this, Tennyson hurriedly apologized to Arthur and Elder: “Sorry, gentlemen, my friend’s family situation is a bit complicated, so his personality is a bit radical. You guys don’t mind, he’s usually really a very good person.”
After he spoke, he didn’t care about picking out any musical instruments for his speech, but rushed out after him, “William! Wait for me!”
Seeing this, Elder couldn’t help but hum in triumph, “See, this is a Cambridge education.”
But he waited for a long time without waiting for Arthur’s response, and he looked back, only to realize that Arthur was looking at the duo’s distant back with his chin cupped.
Elder pestled Arthur and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Arthur pursed his lips as he glanced at his friend and spoke, “Elder, I want to congratulate you.” “Congratulate me?” Elder grinned, “It’s no big deal, I just beat a guy from Cambridge.”
“No, I’m not talking about congratulations in that sense.”
Arthur spoke up, “Offending Alexandre Dumas of France was enough to make your name in history, and now there’s William Thackeray of Britain. I simply don’t know how many world-famous books your name will appear in the distant future. Maybe you’ll become the template for villains all over the world.
Oh yes, I almost forgot, there’s Charles, maybe you’ll have to be placed with the monkey illustrations in his books in the future. First the monkey, then to you.”
Elder sniffed with disbelief, “Arthur, you like to scare me with things like that every day. You said that the bald Charles would be a big shot in the future, and then you said that the one with the hat would be in the future as well. Now even these two Cambridge graduated guys, you also give such a high evaluation. Isn’t it true that as long as it’s a person, if he meets you, he’ll be a big shot in the future?”
“No, how could it be?” Arthur smiled slightly as he patted Elder’s shoulder, “Elder, isn’t this still you?”
“Ch!” Elder rolled his eyes, “Aren’t I the template for villains all over the world that you’re talking about? How could I be a nobody?”
“Fair enough.” Arthur nodded, “Alexander has already made you up in his draft, and Mr. Thackeray certainly isn’t going to let you off the hook just yet.”
“Huh? Alexander made me up?” Elder sniffed crossly, “No wonder he hasn’t been showing me his manuscript! It’s not like I’ve done anything to him, and I’ve been taking him around London for the past few days! And then he turns around and does this to me?”
Arthur asked, “Are you sure you really didn’t do anything to him?”
Elder heard this and sheepishly returned, “To come back to it, maybe ……maybe ……probably ……I did say something to upset him …… But it’s not like I meant to.”
“What did you say?”
Elder spoke up, “He said he couldn’t figure out why so many Englishmen preferred to crowd this island, whether they could have been a little better off by emigrating to France or the United States of America. I said I agreed with him and that it would be good for the world. For every time someone emigrates from Britain to France or America, it raises the average intelligence of all three countries a little.”
No sooner had Elder said this than a low, suppressed laugh was heard from under the counter of the store.
Arthur couldn’t help but put up a finger between his lips when he heard this sound, “Shhh, lighten your step.”
Arthur lightly walked around to the counter and slightly bent down, his face with a smile just met Charles Wheatstone’s face that smiled harder than it cried.
Wheatstone’s lips were trembling, he was carrying a black suitcase in his arms, and by the look of him, if Arthur had come one step later, he might never have found the fellow again.
Arthur took off his hat and extended his hand to him, smiling in greeting, “Mr. Wheatstone, long time no see.”
Wheatstone trembled and shook Arthur’s hand, “Mr. Black …… Hastings, can you …… you really not let me go?”
“Spare you? No, what foolishness are you talking about? I just wish to gain your friendship and incidentally help you with your new invention.”
Wheatstone sighed as he peeked forward, but before he could burrow his way out of the counter, he heard a faint sound from the case he held in his arms, a burst of lightning thunder, followed by the voice of a man so familiar as to be somewhat unfamiliar.
“We are not a mob or an accomplice, we are just a group of former cobblers, blacksmiths, carpenters, horsemen, thatchers, fitters, builders, bakers, and unemployed laborers and landless peasants …… Today we are going to put down a group of workers who have started a demonstration ……”
Hearing this voice, Wheatstone rushed to raise his hands high in fear, and he stammered out, “Mr. Hastings, you …… will listen to my explanation, I really didn’t mean to record this. Yesterday I just got this thing and I was going to send it to your mansion, but when I was passing by Wellington Arch there …… you …… if you don t like it, I will destroy this thing now.”
Arthur looked at Wheatstone’s contrite expression and was silent for a moment, then smiled and tapped the traveling case with his knuckles, “The timbre may be a little worse for the time being, and there are parts that don’t sound quite as clear as they should. But then, Mr. Wheatstone, I’d like to congratulate you on a remarkable new invention you’ve come up with.”
Wheatstone was stunned by what he said, he asked, “You …… don’t care about recording this?”
“Care, of course I do. But what about ……”
“But?” Wheatstone was shocked, “Then I’ll smash it now!”
But just as he was about to swing his fist and smash the box, he realized that his arm was being squeezed tightly by Arthur.
Wheatstone was puzzled, “You?”
Arthur laughed and lifted him from under the cabinet, patting the dust off of him, “There’s no need to smash it, in case you didn’t understand, perhaps recording it was part of the point of inventing it.”
(End of chapter)