The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-04-03

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equally perfect Look this way
| looked. But | hazard the remark that
but partially admired the beauties OF the iig
urc referred TO- thought lady contcmpla
ting a medallion on which was Il MARTA
countenance was, to say the least of it, some
what uninerestirg, and unworthy of West
minister Abbey.
lie replied like IA man designed to anSwe
me. There was a blanduess of authority it
his way of speaking that did not admit OF
contradiction. He delivered an opinion like
one who decided, not like one who opened
an argument.
was glad to have a guide who had view:
of his own Having gone into the Abbey tC
waste my time, thought might now i'm
prove it,
These monuments he continued, ARE bad
| ly arranged. They are heaped together with
out plan, Admirable, some of then, in the
merits OF art they are spoiled by idea or To-
cation. There is 4 want of harmony IN the
whole. What contrast, indeed, between the
exquisite thought, impressed on the glorious
pile, and the paltry attempts at mere human
praise Chiscled on most of these marbles!
| How the past seems to weigh down the pres.
ent! How small we are today compared
with the founders Of this church
! | tanCicd that this seemed learned by heart.
| 1t was very well spoken and II 1t was ms
own it was evident he was man OF educa-
lion. | concluded that the ideas were his
own because they were consistent with his
form But who shall tell whether man is
original in the first five minutes of his &C
quaintance? Certainly the words had that
sort of sound which implied they had been
said once before and might perhaps be said
once again. 1t struck me as accidental that
| | was the recipient of wisdom witch was pre-
pared and sentenced for delivery. And then,
| too there is IA way Of saying good things
which shows that the talktr wishes to elevate
himself much more than to do justice to the
theme; and my friends depreciation OF
Westminster sculpture was obviously the eX.
ultation ol-my friend | replied in u few
words, Just to show that | understood both
himself and the remarks he had made, But
he took up his theme and expanded it.
The uses of the Abbey he declared in rrl-
ation, are simply infantile and imbecile.
Compare that root, these walls this idea, with
tue grasp of The Dean and Chapter, 1t is II
fabric of really great mind chatteled by mere
childrcn's toys
This was sublime, thought it desirable
to say that agreed with him. Not wishing
to provoke more deep thoughts would as.
suagc him by graceful concession.
i see you are a man of ideas he continued
this at least showed ms perception; and
then we wandered all over the Abbey and in
spected the various points.
Tie smiled AT the monument, as we passed
along and made dsrespcctiul observations
| was thinking how to get rid of him. for
the Abbey was cold and the chlliness of the
monuments, with the bombast of my friend
suggested a speedy escape. | think he saw
that had heard about enough, and was on
the point of wishing him Good evening
This quickened his plans
You know the closterss he asked me with
eAgerness-with a tone implied. If yOL
don't | should be extremely delighted to show
them
did not know the clostcrs had never
been in them in my life. | had no wish
whatever TO enter them, least of all on this
chill winters eve, with The thermometer down
below zero. The wind, too was blowing
from the east, and there was nothing outside
to invite one. therefore replied that would
now return home, and made some excuse
about family
He was not TO be refused.
i know all these places BY heart he Oh
jcctcd; i have made them the study of my
life. 1t will not take Us five minutes to walk
around DO Come,'
There is u iacinatiOn IN some men in the
inverse proportion of their gifts of attractive.
ness and merit You may often be unable
to refuse to the disagrceable what, with re.
IuCtancc, you would refuse 10 the pleasing
Nor Is it possible to account for this anomaly,
save on the ground of that secret bcwtch
ment which comes of rank evil to the soul
think Cuullus speaks OF faCinating male
lingua; but there are worse fluctuations inner
ent to some men than those which proceed
from the tongue.
was facinated into saying Yes to my
friend, and accordingly to the colsters we
went.
1t was the very wiching hour Of five, which
in winter time means coming night and
shadows drcar and itu. The Abbey was
growing indistinCt. As we turpel 10 20 m,
friend still poured on me the stream of his
laboriOuS comments.
This motley crowd of incOngruOus mOnu
mcnts cast a weird sepulchra look along
those dcSolatc aises. 1t is difficult To asCcr-
tain whether one Is really in a church or inI
some Pagan mausolcsm for the dead
answered that thought SO.
All he went on, tor men who think this
is IA very Illuminating spot | always feel in.
ciincd, whenever come here, to take Dick
AK and broom and sweep all these monu.I
ments INTO the Thames
bDJttltN W llllN.
What is more vulgar than marble merit.
more unmoanlng than stone in memoriams .
objected again.
i see he rctortcd, with some little con
tempt, you are man of the nineteenth cen.
tury. am not. dctcst the present and live
altogether in thc past
1t struck me that | alss detected the pres
cnt,' and would have been glad To get on into
The future. Connot tel, what it was that pos
scsscd me to accompany this gentleman to
the CloistCrs, save that curious and indetina
bic facinatIon to which haye already allu
dcd. The sirens were tabled To attract poor
mariners by sweet voices 10 inevitable ship
wreck but this man had not Il sweet voice
There is, too, an allHsion in some natural his.
tories to the evil eye of the snake: though
Mr.. Watcrton says this is all nonsense, and
that the eye of the snake cannot move. Yet
this man had not an evil eye There must,
then, be charms of the diabOliC kind which
admit not of featured expression. You are
conscious in such charms of neither pleasure