R. Nisbet Bain
R. Nisbet (Robert Nisbet) Bain translation
NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
Copyright 1899 by Doubleday & McClure Co.
PREFACE.
This noble novel, now translated into English for the first time, was written nearly fifty years ago. On its first appearance, Hungarian critics of every school at once hailed it as a masterpiece. It has maintained its popularity ever since; and now, despite the manifold mutations of literary fashion, in Hungary as elsewhere, has reached the unassailable position of a national classic.
It is no light task to attempt to transplant a classic like "Egy Magyar Nábob." National tastes differ infinitely, and then there is the formidable initial difficulty of contending with a strange and baffling non-aryan language. Only those few hardy linguists who have learnt, in the sweat of their brows, to read a meaning into that miracle of agglutinative ingenuity, an Hungarian sentence, will be able to appreciate the immense labour of rendering some four hundred pages of a Magyar masterpiece of peculiarly idiomatic difficulty into fairly readable English. But my profound admiration for the illustrious Hungarian romancer, and my intimate conviction that, of all continental novelists, he is most likely to appeal to healthy English taste, which has ever preferred the humorous and romantic story to the Tendenz-Roman, or novel with a purpose, have encouraged me to persevere to the end of my formidable task.
I may add, in conclusion, that I have taken the liberty to cut out a good third of the original work, and this I have done advisedly, having always been very strongly of opinion that the technique of the original tale suffered from an excess of episode. This embarras de richesse would naturally be still more noticeable in a translation, and I am particularly anxious that "A Hungarian Nabob" should attract at first sight. Let this, therefore, be my apology to Dr. Jókai and, as I trust, my claim upon his forgiveness.
R. NISBET BAIN. August, 1898.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I An Oddity, 18229
II A Bargain for the Skin of a Living Man41
III The Whitsun King58
IV A Family Curse89
V The Tempter in Church116
VI Paid in Full132
VII The Nabob's Birthday153
VIII An Unexpected Change186
IX The Hunter in the Snare203
X Poor Lady!242
XI The Female Friend260
XII The House-warming268
XIII The Hunt274
XIV Martyrdom287
XV The Spy294
XVI Light Without and Night Within301
XVII A Dangerous Experiment315
XVIII Unpleasant Discoveries327
XIX Zoltán Kárpáthy332
XX Secret Visitors337
XXI The Last Will and Testament344
XXII Leave-taking356