El
inicio de La vuelta al mundo en ochenta
días, la novela de Julio Verne…
Mr. Phileas Fogg
lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which
Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform
Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical
personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of
the world. People said that he resembled Byron—at least that his head was
Byronic; but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand
years without growing old.
Certainly an
Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was a Londoner. He was
never seen on 'Change, nor at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the
"City"; no ships ever came into London docks of which he was the
owner; he had no public employment; he had never been entered at any of the
Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn; nor had
his voice ever resounded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the
Queen's Bench, or the Ecclesiastical Courts. He certainly was not a
manufacturer; nor was he a merchant or a gentleman farmer. His name was strange
to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in
the clever
deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisan's
Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences. He belonged, in fact, to
none of the numerous societies which swarm in the English capital, from the
Harmonic to that of the Entomologists, founded mainly for the purpose of
abolishing pernicious insects.
The way in which
he got admission to this exclusive club was simple enough.
He was
recommended by the Barings, with
whom he had an open credit. His cheques were regularly paid at sight from his
account current, which was always flush.
Was Phileas Fogg
rich? Undoubtedly. But those who knew him best could not imagine how he had
made his fortune, and Mr. Fogg was the last person to whom to apply for the
information. He was not lavish, nor, on the contrary, avaricious; for, whenever
he knew that money was needed for a noble, useful, or benevolent purpose, he
supplied it quietly and sometimes anonymously. He was, in short, the least
communicative of men. He talked very little, and seemed all the more mysterious
for his taciturn manner. His daily habits were quite open to observation; but
whatever he did was so exactly the same thing that he had always done before,
that the wits of the curious were fairly puzzled.
Had he
travelled? It was likely, for no one seemed to know the world more familiarly;
there was no spot so secluded that he did not appear to have an intimate
acquaintance with it. He often corrected, with a few clear words, the thousand
conjectures advanced by members of the club as to lost and unheard-of
travellers, pointing out the true probabilities, and seeming as if gifted with
a sort of second sight, so often did events justify his predictions. He must
have travelled everywhere, at least in the spirit.
It was at least
certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from London for many years.
Those who were honoured by a better acquaintance with him than the rest,
declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen him anywhere else. His
sole pastimes were reading the papers and playing whist. He often won at this game, which, as a silent one,
harmonised with his nature; but his winnings never went into his purse, being
reserved as a fund for his charities. Mr. Fogg played, not to win, but for the
sake of playing. The game was in his eyes a contest, a struggle with a
difficulty, yet a motionless, unwearying struggle, congenial to his tastes.
Phileas Fogg was
not known to have either wife or children, which may happen to the most honest
people; either relatives or near friends, which is certainly more unusual. He
lived alone in his house in Saville Row, whither none penetrated. A single
domestic sufficed to serve him… (Paragraphs in easier English, Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne)
Vocabulario reemplazado
Sage
Vocabulario
Barings: fue un banco basado en Londres, y el
segundo más viejo de los bancos mercantes. Fue fundado en 1762 y poseído por la
familia Baring.
Whist: juego de naipes
El libro
Around
the World in Eighty Days es la novela de aventuras del
francés Julio Verne. Fue
publicada en 1873.
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Jean Passepartout
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De
la web
Around the World
in Eighty Days. English version. The Project Gutenberg
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