序二
序二
张岱
木华作《海赋》，思路偶涩，或教之曰：“尔何不于海之上下四旁言之？”华因言其上下四旁，而《海赋》遂成。盖华之赋海，海之景物已尽，特缺其上下四旁已耳，则是海为主，而上下四旁其辅也。若田叔禾（禾，原作“和”，据《明史•田汝成传》改）之作《西湖志》，志都城，志大内，志市井里坊，志人物流寓，志士女游观，无所不志，而西湖之景物反多遗漏，则是借名西湖，而实与西湖无与。故碑记诗文，自苏、白以后，记如袁石公之灵巧、张钟山之遒劲、李长蘅之淡远，诗如王弇州之华赡、徐文长之奇崛、王季重之隽颖，无一字入志焉，得谓之志乎？张陶庵盘礴西湖四十馀年，水尾山头，无处不到；湖中典故，真有世居西湖之人所不能识者，而陶庵识之独详；湖中景物，真有日在西湖而不能道者，而陶庵道之独悉。今乃山川改革，陵谷变迁，无怪其惊惶骇怖，乃思梦中寻往也。虽然，西园雅集，得米海岳一叙，而人物园亭俨然未散；建章宫阙，得张茂先一语，而千门万户仿佛犹存。有《梦寻》一书，而使旧日之西湖于纸上活现，则张陶庵之有功于西湖，断不在米海岳、张茂先之下哉。
潞溪白岳王雨谦撰
Preface II
张岱
When Mu Hua was composing his Rhapsody on the Sea his thought ran dry, and someone advised him: "Why not speak of what lies above the sea, below it, and on its four sides?" Hua accordingly spoke of what lay above, below and on the four sides, and the Rhapsody was finished. In Hua's rhapsody the sights of the sea itself had already been exhausted; only its surroundings were wanting. The sea was master there, and the four sides were its support. But when Tian Shuhe [the character he is printed as 和; emended to 禾 on the authority of the biography of Tian Rucheng in the History of the Ming] made his Gazetteer of West Lake, he recorded the capital, recorded the palace precincts, recorded the markets and wards, recorded residents and sojourners, recorded the outings of gentlemen and ladies — there was nothing he did not record; and yet the scenes of West Lake were themselves largely left out. This is to borrow the name of West Lake while having, in fact, nothing to do with West Lake. Thus of the stele inscriptions, records, poems and prose written since Su and Bai — records with the deftness of Yuan Shigong, the sinew of Zhang Zhongshan, the quiet distance of Li Changheng; poems with the opulence of Wang Yanzhou, the craggy strangeness of Xu Wenchang, the keen wit of Wang Jizhong — not one word entered the gazetteer. Can such a thing be called a gazetteer? Zhang Tao'an has ranged over West Lake for more than forty years, and from the water's end to the hilltops there is nowhere he has not been. Of the lore of the lake there is much that people whose families have lived at West Lake for generations cannot identify, and Tao'an alone identifies it in detail; of the scenes of the lake there is much that men who are at West Lake daily cannot describe, and Tao'an alone describes it entire. Now that mountain and river have been made over and hill and valley have changed places, no wonder he is alarmed and dismayed and thinks to seek the past in dream. Yet the Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, having one account from Mi Haiyue, keeps its company and its garden pavilions gravely undispersed; and the halls of the Jianzhang Palace, having one word from Zhang Maoxian, keep their thousand gates and ten thousand doors seemingly standing still. With this one book, Dream Recollections, the West Lake of former days lives again upon paper — and in this Zhang Tao'an's service to West Lake stands in no way below that of Mi Haiyue or Zhang Maoxian.
Composed by Wang Yuqian of Luxi and Baiyue