《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第九章·如此相似的人何以更割裂》第3节
I go even further, and assert that this caste had become far more exclusive than it was when the word was first invented, and that in France a change had taken place in the direction opposed to that which had occurred in England. Though the nobility and the middle class in France had become far more alike, they were at the same time more isolated from each other--two things which are so essentially distinct that the former, instead of extenuating the latter, may frequently aggravate it. During the Middle Ages, and whilst the feudal system was still in force, all those who held land under a lord (and who were properly called vassals, in feudal law) were constantly associated with the lord, though many of them were not noble, in the government of the Seignory; indeed this was the principal condition of their tenures. Not only were they bound to follow the lord to war, but they were bound, in virtue of their holdings, to spend a certain part of the year at his court, that is in helping him to administer justice, and to govern the inhabitants. The lord’s court was the mainspring of the feudal system of government; it played a part in all the ancient laws of Europe, and very distinct vestiges of it may still be found in many parts of Germany. The learned feudalist, Edmé de Fréminville, who, thirty years before the French Revolution, thought fit to write a thick volume on feudal rights and on the renovation of manor rolls, informs us that he had seen in ‘the titles of a number of manors, that the vassals were obliged to appear every fortnight at the lord’s court, and that being there assembled they judged conjointly with the lord and his ordinary judge, the assizes and differences which had arisen between the inhabitants.’ He adds, that he had found ‘there were sometimes eighty, one hundred and fifty, and even as many as two hundred vassals in one lordship, a great number of whom were roturiers.’ I have quoted this, not as a proof, for a thousand others might be adduced, but as an example of the manner in which at the beginning, and for long afterwards, the rural classes were united with the nobility, and mingled with them daily in the conduct of affairs. That which the lord’s court did for the small rural proprietors, the Provincial Estates, and subsequently the States-General, effected for the citizens of the towns.
注释摘要
托克维尔在此提出的是一个极具穿透力的论断：法国贵族等级不仅没有随着时间流逝而变得开放，反而比中世纪封建制度刚刚成形时更加封闭。他把这个判断与英国进行对照，指出法国走向了与英国完全相反的方向。在英国，等级制经历了从封闭的种姓到向平民开放的贵族统治的蜕变；而在法国，贵族虽然在生活方式、教育、财富上与资产阶级日益趋同，却更加顽固地把自己锁在出身的壁垒之内。表面上…