《四季随笔》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中对隐士赖克罗夫特醉心于书籍、自然景色与回忆过去生活的描述，其实是吉辛的自述，作者以此来抒发自己的情感，因而本书是一部富有自传色彩的小品文集。
吉辛穷困的一生，对文学名著的爱好与追求，以及对大自然恬静生活的向往，在书中均有充分的反映。本书分为春、夏、秋、冬四个部分，文笔优美，行文流畅，是英国文学中小品文的珍品之一。
以下是由网友分享的《四季随笔》节选 - 夏 13的内容，让我们一起来感受吉辛的四季吧!
In this high summertide, I remember with a strange feeling that there are people who, of their free choice, spend day and night in cities, who throng to the gabble of drawing-rooms, make festival in public eatinghouses, sweat in the glare of the theatre. They call it life; they call it enjoyment. Why, so it is, for them; they are so made. The folly is mine, to wonder that they fulfill their destiny.
在这盛夏时节，我想起那些自愿选择在城市生活的人们，心下感觉有些奇怪。他们蜂拥到喧嚷的交际场所，到公共餐馆大肆庆祝，在剧院炫目的灯光下大汗淋漓。他们称之为生活，他们称之为享受。为什么他们会有这样的想法，也许是天生如此。而我如果置疑他们是否实现了生命的价值，那就愚蠢了。
But with what deep and quiet thanksgiving do I remind myself that never shall I mingle with that well-millinered and tailored herd! Happily, I never saw much of them. Certain occasions I recall when a supposed necessity took me into their dismal precincts; a sick buzzing in the brain, a languor as of exhausted limbs, comes upon me with the memory. The relief with which I stepped out into the street again, when all was over! Dear to me then was poverty, which for the moment seemed to make me a free man. Dear to me was the labour at my desk, which, by comparison, enabled me to respect myself.
一想到再不用和那些衣冠楚楚的人打交道，我心里便生出一种多么深沉宁静的感恩之情！幸好这种人我见的从来不多。记得有几次，因为不得已我来到他们沉闷的街区。回想起当时的情形，我的脑袋嗡嗡作响，感到眩晕，无精打采，四肢乏力。当我再次步上大街离开时，浑身顿感解脱！当时，连贫穷都让我珍视，它似乎能使我成为一个自由人。书桌边的笔耕也让我热爱，相比之下，它能让我尊重自己。
Never again shall I shake hands with man or woman who is not in truth my friend. Never again shall I go to see acquaintances with whom I have no acquaintance. All men my brothers? Nay, thank Heaven, that they are not! I will do harm, if I can help it, to no one; I will wish good to all; but I will make no pretence of personal kindliness where, in the nature of things, it cannot be felt. I have grimaced a smile and pattered unmeaning words to many a person whom I despised or from whom in heart I shrank; I did so because I had not courage to do otherwise. For a man conscious of such weakness, the best is to live apart from the world. Brave Samuel Johnson12! One such truth-teller is worth all the moralists and preachers who ever laboured to humanise mankind. Had HE withdrawn into solitude, it would have been a national loss. Every one of his blunt, fearless words had more value than a whole evangel on the lips of a timidly good man. It is thus that the commonalty, however well clad, should be treated. So seldom does the fool or the ruffian in broadcloth hear his just designation; so seldom is the man found who has a right to address him by it. By the bandying of insults we profit nothing; there can be no useful rebuke which is exposed to a tuquoque. But, as the world is, an honest and wise man should have a rough tongue. Let him speak and spare not!
那些并非我真正朋友的男男女女，我再不会和他们握手了。我也不会再和陌生人结交了。世人皆我兄弟？不，老天保佑，他们不是！如果能自我克制，我不会伤害任何人，我会祝福所有人，但是如果心无好感，我也不会伪装亲切友善了。有许多让我鄙视或打心眼里排斥的人，我曾经挤出笑容，随口应酬他们，因为我没有勇气采取别的方式。对于一个意识到自己这方面缺陷的人，最好的方法是离群索居。塞缪尔·约翰逊真是勇气可嘉！这样一个敢说真话的人，抵得上所有致力于教化人类的道德家和布道家。如果他选择遁世，那真是整个国家的损失。他嘴里任何一个犀利无畏的词汇，都比一个怯懦善良之人念诵的整部福音书有价值。对待民众就应该这样直言不讳，不论他们衣着多么考究。华衣美服的愚人和恶棍很少听到他们应得的称呼，也很难找到一个有权如此称呼他们的人。恶语相向对我们没任何益处，如果对方回上一句“你也是”，那你的任何指责便失去了意义。但是，在这个世界上，一个诚实睿智的人应该有一张尖刻的嘴。请让他畅所欲言，毫不留情吧！
