Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-07-11

Il ftl0lCtial- lOO, NOuld
novelist find in the Latin inscription
which surmounts the fireplace in one OF
the ghostliest of the upper rooms: In
this chamber slept Queen Elizabeth,
after the defeat of the Armada by
English arms in $685." 1t is true that
there is still reason to doubt whether
good Queen Bess ever visited knebworth
at all; but this is trifle to all true be
levers in the romantic, who may console
themselves with the assurance that this
| is the chamber in which she would have
slept if she had.
In one of the ante-rooms little fur
ther on is another relic which might
furnish Mr.. Wilkie Collins with the plot
of new ''MOonstOne Just in front
of the window stands miniature throne
curiously carved, all of solid silver 1t
is flanked on either side by Il flight of
steps of the same metal, guarded by a
group of silver figures in Eastern dress,
and is surmounted by a canopy, on
which sits a large bird, holding in its
beak splendid emerald. Such an or
nament might Warren Hastings have
placed in the vestibule Of Dalesford, OF
Give in the hall of his stately house at
ClaremOnt; but its presence here is
equally appropriate, for it is the gift of
one of the HindOO Princes to the man
who lately ruled them in the name of
the Empress of India. Such souvenirs
are precious not merely from their in
trinsic worth but from the associations
entwined with them; and this throne
might fifty be placed beside the tattered
banner in the hall below, Ito bear which
up the fatal hillside of the Alma three
brave men died in succession, as token
that the race which holds knebworth
has proved its mettle OH other fields be-
sides those of literature.
As we turn to depart the western sun,
now fast sinking and gathering clouds,
casts one pale and momentary CLEAN
upon the square, massive gray tower of
the ancient church of Knebworth as it
stands facing the hall. Such back
ground is the fit adjunct to such pic
ture. An old village church in England
Is striking and suggestive object at all
times, but dOubly and trebiy so when
filled with the silent eloquence of a con-
trast like this. On one side all the dig
VI Aftilh, nCttitu- lClionH, lIt
grandeur of an ancient name, the glory
of world wide reputation; on the other
this mute symbol of that power to which
all the might of man is nothing, and of
that grave in which man himself lies as
low as the beasts that perish. Like the
skeleton at the Egyptian banquet, like
the black robe over the throne of Sala-
din, stands this sombre memento annie
the leafless woods opposing its stern
simplicity to the pomp and glitter of the
ancient mansion. Here must all the
paths of life, however diverse, meet at
last. To this goal tend alike the Nor
MIN noble whose banner fioated by Duke
Williams side at Hastings and the hob
nailed clown who hardly known his own
grandfather.
But when the dread shadow has fallen
which makes all men equal, the deeds
that shine brightest through its gloom
are not always those which poets have
sung and nations vaunted. Were all
the exploits of Walter Scott's mighty
genius forgotten to-day, his memory
would still be held sacred in every Anglo
Saxon heart on either side of the Allan
tic as the simple, kindly, true-hearted
man who so warmly held out the right
hand of friendship to young Washington
Irving when the latter was still but
private in the great literary army which
he was one day to command More
precious by far than all the noisy praises
which rewarded Noltaire's long war
against God and man were the unheard
blessings of the poor Swiss peasants
whom he saved from the tax that was
crushing them. The aims houses built
in KnebwOrth village by the late Lord
Lytton's mother are higher tribute to
her memory than even the graceful
monument and touching epitaph raised
to it by her famous son beneath the
shade of his ancestral woods. BY these
things men live when the hollow ap-
plauses of drawing rooms and the lying
eulOgies of critics have returned to con-
genial nothingneSS.