The English seem as silent as the Japanese, yet vainer than the inhabitants of Siam. Upon my arrival, I attributed that reserve to modesty, which I now find has its origin in pride. Condescend to address them first, and you are sure of their acquaintance ; stoop to flattery, and you conciliate their friendship and esteem. They bear hunger, cold, fatigue, and all the miseries of life without shrinking ; danger only calls forth their fortitude ; they exult in calamity ; but contempt is what they cannot bear. An Englishman fears contempt more than death ; he often flies to death as a refuge from its pressure, and dies when he fancies the world has ceased to esteem him. Pride seems the source not only of their national vices, but of their national virtues also. An Englishman is taught to love his king as his friend, but to acknowledge no other master than the laws which himself has contributed to enact. He despises those nations who, that one may be free, are all content to be slaves ; who first lift a tyrant into terror, and then shrink under his power as if delegated from Heaven. Liberty is echoed in all their assemblies, and thousands might be found ready to offer up their lives for the sound, though perhaps not one of all the number understands its meaning. The lowest mechanic, however, looks upon it as his duty to be a watchful guardian of his country's freedom, and often uses a language that might seem haughty even in the mouth of the great emperor who traces his ancestry to the moon.

Oliver Goldsmith奥利弗·哥德史密斯( 1730 - 1774)，英国著名剧作家。他出生于一个爱尔兰家庭，毕业于都柏林圣三一学院(Trinity College)后在爱丁堡就读医科。1756年，哥德史密斯定居伦敦，开始其创作事业。 　　哥德史密斯的写作格风格均是以嘻笑怒骂的形式讽刺时弊。他最著名的两出喜剧是《善性之人》(The Good-Natuser Man, 1768)及 《屈身求爱》(She Stoops to Conquer, 1773)，他的戏剧以莎士比亚闹剧式的传统结构，企图重建他所谓的「畅笑」喜剧("laughing" comedy)，致力于打破当时英国舞台盛行的感伤主义，以提高公众的品味。