張榮起

“高郵王父子,棲霞郝夫婦”這樁佳話,盛傳于郝懿行在經學和訓詁學領域名聲大振的晚清。“高郵王父子”指的是經學世家王念孫、王引之父子,“棲霞郝夫婦”指的便是郝懿行和王照圓夫婦。
王照圓,字瑞玉,號婉佺。1763年(乾隆二十八年)出生于福山縣河北村一個書香門第。王照圓之母林氏是棲霞四大望族之一林家的大家閨秀,知書明理,品性溫良。照圓6歲喪父,全靠母親一手教授《孝經》《內則》《毛詩》等書。隨著年齡的增長,她不僅悟性高,而且觸類旁通,博覽群書,出口成章,嶄露頭角。
1788年(乾隆五十三年),王照圓與長他6歲的棲霞才子郝懿行結為伉儷。才女遇才子,其言也不俗。新婚之夜,聽悄悄話的人,聽到的卻是新婚夫婦的吟詩對句、相互唱和。據傳是王照圓說:“千里良緣彩線牽,三冬谷旦結團圓。挑燈最喜親風雅,先說周南第一篇。”郝懿行心領神會,便以《催樁》為題,緊扣周南《關睢》主題,吟出表達戀情的一首詩,這樣一來一往,其趣盎然。從此,他們夫婦佳話連篇,美傳不斷。
新婚不久,郝懿行將所輯先祖郝晉《丸笑齋集》請王照圓校訂。王照圓當仁不讓,訂正了其中的8個字,隨后作記曰:“聊無鸞隨鳳鳴之意,觀者其誚余耶。”郝懿行做學問一向認真癡迷,這對王照圓影響頗深,夫婦之間亦師亦友,相得益彰。
王照圓一面打理丈夫的生活,配合他的著述;一面不斷讀書,搞自己的研究。1788年秋,郝懿行在濟南應試中舉后,作詩向她報喜,她立即和詩以贈,曰:“小試文場久擅名,矮廬一人倍經營。案頭揮筆風添勢,夜半構思月助明。花結錦成人易懶,云飛露白馬登程。如君折得蟾中桂,自爾高山聽鹿鳴。”
丈夫收到妻子的一番鼓勵和鞭策,戒驕戒躁,更有了考中進士的信心。王照圓在母親去世后,寫下了“君親須孝也須忠,女子顯揚男子同。氣吐九霄光日月,裙釵端的是英雄”。并經常以“平生要做校書女,不負烏衣巷里人”自誡。
王照圓尊母遺命,為東漢女史學家班昭《烈女傳注》作補注。歷經20余年,她不僅獨立完成了《烈女傳補注》,還完成了《列仙傳校正》《葩經小記》《夢書》《曬書堂閨中文存》等作品,并幾經周折與丈夫共同研究考證《詩經》,合寫出《詩問》一書。
1799年(嘉慶四年)郝懿行考中進士,司職京城,王照圓隨夫至任所,與當時的學者、名流來往,她的談吐和見解,受到眾人的佩服與敬重。她曾為當朝尚書阮元母子題聯曰:“齊名積古從公定,室有藏書是母留。”聯意啟迪了阮元的盡孝之心,遂改居室“續古齋”為“積古齋”。
有一段時間,郝懿行因病暫停了對《爾雅義疏》的著述,照圓在照顧護理丈夫之余,操筆整理,清抄成冊,促成了《爾雅義疏》一書的最終殺青。郝懿行坦稱在他的著作中,“采照圓說者”甚多,實踐了她“裙釵端的是英雄”的誓言。
郝懿行謝世后,王照圓回歸故里,閉門不出,埋頭整理丈夫的遺書,至89歲壽終。假如沒有王照圓20余年的嘔心瀝血,不輟操勞,就不會有后來由他們的孫子郝聯薇陸續付梓的郝、王夫婦全部著作的彰顯于世了。
The stories of “the father and son of the Wangs in Gaoyou and the husband and wife of the Haos in Qixia” were widely spread in the late Qing Dynasty when Hao Yixing had a great reputation in the fields of Confucian classics and critical interpretation of ancient texts. “The father and son of the Wangs in Gaoyou” referred to Wang Niansun and his son Wang Yinzhi, from a well-known family for study of Confucian classics, and “the husband and wife of the Haos in Qixia” referred to the couple of Hao Yixing and Wang Zhaoyuan.
Wang Zhaoyuan, styled Ruiyu, was also known by her literary name of Wanquan. She was born in 1763 (the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong) in a scholarly family in Hebei Village, Fushan County. Her mother, Mrs. Wang, was a well-educated gentle woman from the Lin Family, one of the four eminent families in Qixia. When Zhaoyuan was six years old, her father died. It was her mother who taught her such books as The Classic of Filial Piety, Family Propriety, and The Mao Commentary . As she grew older, she showed her talent in quick understanding and learning by analogy. She read extensively and soon became a prominent figure.