It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

Bilo je to najbolje vrijeme, bilo je to najgore vrijeme, bilo je to doba mudrosti, bilo je doba gluposti, bilo je doba vjere, bilo je doba nevjere, bilo je vrijeme svjetla, bilo je vrijeme tame, bilo je proljeće nade, bilo je zima očaja.

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Imali smo sve pred sobom, nismo imali ništa pred sobom, svi smo išli ravno u nebo, svi smo išli ravno u drugu stranu – ukratko, to razdoblje bilo je toliko slično sadašnjem razdoblju da su neki od najglasnijih autoriteta insistirali na tome da se ono dočeka, u dobru ili u zlu, samo u najvišem stupnju usporedbe.

There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France.

Na engleskom prijestolju bio je kralj s velikom čeljusti i kraljica s osrednjim licem; na francuskom prijestolju bio je kralj s velikom čeljusti i kraljica s lijepim licem.

In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.

U obje zemlje lordima državnih zaliha kruha i riba bilo je jasno kao kristal da su stvari općenito jednom zauvijek uređene.

It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.

Bila je to godina naše Gospodinje 1775.

Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this.

Duhovna otkrivenja dana su Engleskoj u to povlašteno razdoblje, kao i u ovo.

Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster.

Gospođa Southcott nedavno je proslavila svoj 25. blažen rođendan, o kojem je prorokovao časnik iz Life Guardsa najavivši da se donose mjere za uništenje Londona i Westminstera.

Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs.

Čak je i duh iz Cock Lanea umro tek prije dvanaest godina, nakon što je izdao svoje poruke, baš kao što su duhovi ove prošle godine (neobično nedostatak originalnosti) izdali svoje.

Mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race than any communications yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood.

Posljednje vijesti u svjetovnom poredku događaja nedavno su došle do engleske krune i naroda od kongresa britanskih podanika u Americi, koje je, kako je čudno, bile važnije za ljudsku rasu od bilo kojih komunikacija primljenih preko bilo kojeg duha iz Cock Lanea .

France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled with exceeding smoothness down hill, making paper money and spending it.

Francuska, manje favorizirana u cjelini u duhovnim pitanjima od svoje sestre s štitom i tridentom, kotrljala se iznimno glatko nizbrdo, tiskajući novčanice i trošeći ih.

Under the guidance of her Christian pastors, she entertained herself, besides, with such humane achievements as sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in the rain to do honour to a dirty procession of monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards.

Pod vodstvom svojih kršćanskih pastora zabavljala se, osim toga, i humanim postignućima kao što je osuđivanje mladića na odrezanje ruku, izvlačenje jezika pincima i spaljivanje živog tijela jer nije kleknuo u kiši kako bi počastio prljavu procesiju redovnika koja je prolazila približno pedeset ili šezdeset metara udaljeno od njega.

It is likely enough that, rooted in the woods of France and Norway, there were growing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, already marked by the Woodman, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards, to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it, terrible in history.

Vjerojatno su u to vrijeme, usađeni u šumama Francuske i Norveške, bili stabla koja su, kad je taj patrijarh ubijen, već označena od strane Djevojke-sreće da će se sjeći u daske i stvoriti određeni pokretni okvir s vrećom i nožem u njemu, užasan u povijesti.

It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather that very day, rude carts, bespattered with rustic mire, snuffed about by pigs, and roosted in by poultry, which the Farmer, Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils of the Revolution.

Vjerojatno su u grubim sjenicama nekih poljoprivrednika u teškim zemljama u blizini Pariza, tog dana bili zaštićeni od vremena grubim kolima, prekrivenim rustikalnom blatom, kojima su šećali svinje i gnijezdili se peradi, a koja je Smrt, farmer, već odredila za svoje revolucionarne kolima.

But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous.

Ali taj Djevojka i taj Farmer, iako neprekidno rade, rade tiho, i nitko ih nije čuo kako hodaju u potpuno utajenom stilu: a da se iko sumnja da su budni, to bi bilo ateističko i izdajno.

In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify much national boasting.

U Engleskoj nije bilo dovoljno reda i zaštite da bi opravdalo puno nacionalnog hvalisavanja.

Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers’ warehouses for security;

Osmatrali su se oružani razbojnici i pljačkari cesta, a to se događalo u glavnom gradu svake noći; obiteljima se javno savjetovalo da ne izlaze iz grada ako ne odnesu svoje namještaje u skladišta tapecera radi sigurnosti;

the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his character of “the Captain,” gallantly shot him through the head and rode away;

razbojnik u mraku bio je trgovac u svjetlu, a kad ga je prepoznao i izazvao kolega trgovac, kojeg je zaustavio u svojoj ulozi „kapetana”, hrabro mu je pucao u glavu i odjao.

the mail was waylaid by seven robbers, and the guard shot three dead, and then got shot dead himself by the other four, “in consequence of the failure of his ammunition:” after which the mail was robbed in peace;

Pošta je zaustavljena od strane sedam razbojnika, a čuvar je ubio tri i zatim bio ubijen od strane ostalih četvero „zbog neuspjeha s municijom:” nakon čega je pošta mirno opljačkana;

that magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue;

ta sjajna moć, gradonačelnik Londona, bio je prisiljen stajati i predati svoje bogatstvo na Turnham Greenu od strane jednog razbojnika, koji je opljačkao tog uglednog pojedinca na očima cijele njegove pratnje.

prisoners in London gaols fought battles with their turnkeys, and the majesty of the law fired blunderbusses in among them, loaded with rounds of shot and ball;

Zatvorenici u londonskim zatvorima vodili su bitke sa svojim čuvarima, a sudac je pucao u njih iz blunderbussa napunjenog metkama i kuglama.

thieves snipped off diamond crosses from the necks of noble lords at Court drawing-rooms; musketeers went into St. Giles’s, to search for contraband goods, and the mob fired on the musketeers, and the musketeers fired on the mob, and nobody thought any of these occurrences much out of the common way.

Lopovi su odrezali dijamantne križeve s vratova plemićima u dvorskim salonima; mušketiri su ušli u St. Giles' kako bi pretražili krijumčarenu robu, a mob je pucao u mušketire, a mušketiri su pucili u mob, a nitko nije smatralo da je iko od tih događaja bio neobičan.

In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition;

I usred toga, vješalica, uvijek zaposlena i uvijek više štetna nego korisna, bila je u stalnoj potražbi.

now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; to-day, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer’s boy of sixpence.

Sada je vješalao dugi niz različitih kriminalaca; sada je vješao provalnika u subotu, koji je uhićen u utorak; sada je spalio ljude u Newgateu desetak puta, a sada je spalio pamflete na vratima Westminster Halla; danas je oduzeo život okrutnom ubojici, a sutra nesretnom kradecu, koji je opljačkao farmerovog sina od šestipenija.

All these things, and a thousand like them, came to pass in and close upon the dear old year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.

Sve ove stvari i još tisuće sličnih dogodile su se u i blizu prošle stare godine 1775.

Environed by them, while the Woodman and the Farmer worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws, and those other two of the plain and the fair faces, trod with stir enough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand.

Okruženi njima, dok su drvosječa i farmeri radili neprimijećeni, dva velika grlo i dva druga s običnim i lijepim licima hodala su dovoljno živahno i nosila svoja božanska prava s velikom samopouzdanost.

Thus did the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five conduct their Greatnesses, and myriads of small creatures—the creatures of this chronicle among the rest—along the roads that lay before them.

Tako je godina 1775 vodila svoje Veličine i mnoge male biće – bića ove kronike među ostalima – duž putova koji su im se predstavili.