The record-union., 1891-11-07

OIL 16et long ana ZU3 Ieet W1Q9 IN the DOQy
of the church. The hight of the nave is
102 feet. while the LOFTY towers rise 225
feet in the air. On the second day let
them study the glorious chapels which
surround the choir and which contain
nearly all the tombs of antiquarian or
artistic interest. On the third let them
labor as far as they can through the mass
of monuments which crowd the transepts
and nerve, which are often mere ceno-
taphs, and which almost always derive
their only interest from those they COM
memorate. These three visits may ena-
ble..visitors to see Westminster Abbey,
but 1t will require many more to know
Twists at all hours of the day, to drink
in the glories of light and shadow of the
one great church of England which re-
tains its beautiful coloring undestroyed
by so-called ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS en-
ployed in learning the way by which the
minister has grown, arch upon arch, and
monument upon monument; and other
visits given to studying the epitaphs on
the tombs and considering the reminis-
cenceS they awaken"
NoTE.-Adapted from ''Walks in Lon
don," by Augustus Hare,
Which OF these descriptions gives one
the best conception of the vastness and
sublimity Of this temple? Is it the one
that tells you that it is Westminster Abb
bey that oppresses you with the over
SIONuGu u d1iScpLS anu lIlG IIldSo vi uL1lll-
teresting tombs and cenotaphs, that states
that the towers are 225 feet high, or is it
the one that leads you through the body
OF the temple IN dream, awakening in
your soul long train of rich associations:
sending your mind back over the centu-
ries by the sudden view of Shakespeare's
form, and then producing the whole
effect OF great distance by making you
look back over the way whence you had
come, to find that the massive portal by
which you had entered q few moments
before, was now but as a pin-point
through which tiny ray OF light could
scarcely push its way?
This form of indirect style applies par
ticularly to descriptions OF the grand
monuments of the world, both artificial
and natural, which seem to laugh to
scorn the ordinary combinations of the
adjectiveS of our English language.
These temples that make the soul of the
small man shrink with a sense of un-
WOrthiness, and the soul of the great man
grow and expand with an overwhelming
sense of sublime uplifting, make the
words great, magnificent, glorious, beau
tiful and pretty, utterly void of signifi-
cance.
Macaulay touches this thought regard
ing indirect description from a slightly
different point of view in his essay on
Milton. He says:
1ne poetry Oh A11lOH differs from I0aC
Of Dante, as the hieroglyphics of Egypt
differed from the picture-writing of
Mexico. The images which Dante en-
ploys speak for themselves; they stand
simply for what they are. Those of Mil
ton have Specification which is often
discernible only to the initiated. Their
value depends less on what they directly
represent than on what they remotely
suggest. However strange, however
grotesque may be the appearance which
Dante undertakes to describe, he never
shrinks from describing it. He gives us
the shape, the color, the sound, the
smell, the taste; he measures the size.
His SMILES are the illustrations of
traveller. Unlike those of other poets,
and especially of Milton, they are intro
duced in plain, business-like manner,
not for the sake of any beauty in the OBJ
jects from which they are drawn; not for
the sake of any ornament which they
may impart to the poem, but simply in
order to make the meaning of the writer
as clear to the reader as it is to himself
The ruins of the precipice which led from
the sixth to the seventh circle of hell
were IKE those of the rock which fell into
the Adige on the south of Trent. The
cataract of Phlegetnon was like that of
Aqua Cheta at the monastery Of st. Bene-
dict. The place where the heretics were
confined in burning tombS reSembled the
vast cemetery of Aries.
Nov let us compare with the exact
details of Dante the dim intimations Of
Milton. We will cite few examples
The English poet has never thought of
taking the measure Of Satan. He gives
us merely vague idea of vast bulk. In
one passage the hend lies stretched out
huge in length, floating many rood,
equal in size to the earth-born enemies
of Jove, or to the sea-monster which the
mariner mistakes for an island. When
he addresses himself to battle against the
guardian angels he stands like Teneriffe
or Atlas; his stature reaches the sky.
Contrast with these descriptions the lines
in which Dante has described the gigantic
specter Of Nimrod. His face seemed to
me as long and as broad as the ball of st.
Peters in Rome; and his other limbs
were in proportion, so that the bank,
which concealed him from the waist
downwards, nevertheless showed so
much of him that three tall Germans
would in vain have attempted to reach
his hair"
The highest art consists in painting the
picture with such feeling and fidelity that
the unwritten name leaps TO the lips of
the world as it looks with brimming
eyes, and strange eXultation upon the
completed work. a description made of
dry facts and figures is like painting
without an atmosphere.
Would you picture q temple? Call be-
fore the readers mind the memory of the
great souls enshrined there; the holy
peace born of the dimness and the hush;
the devotion of one worshiper who Si-
lently prays at the altar; the inspiration
that guided the skilled hands and the
brains of the builders.
Is it a great city? Individualize types
by selecting few characters. Surround
them with their pathos, humor or simple
tenderness that is born of the truth.
Portray one factory girl; and If you
sketch her faithfully she will tell
better story of factory life than can be
CLEANED from any statistical Government
report.
Is it poverty and want? Picture the
starving mother and her desperate efforts
to get food and shelter for her wailing,
hungry brood, ana you will touch the
sympathies of the masses with surer aim
than you could by any combination of
superlatives expressive of general con-
dition of squalor, filth and vice.
Human nature is the same everywhere;
it revels in having its sympathies alter
nately titillated or tortured. 1t likes TO
read of the things it has known in its own
experience. 1t is that quality of style
which has made Oliver Wendell Holmes
and Donald G.. Mitchell so dear to our
hearts. The characters in their books
loved, hated, caioled laughed, cried,
lived and died as we and ours have done.
These authors never caused us a tear by
descriptions of splendors that we never
would or could possess; nor did they
harrow us with bloodcurdling tales of
intrigues and crimes that never touch the
lives of the great American middle class.
Some people have deep admiration for
landscapes into which human figures are
not introduced: all the world bows wor-
shIpfully before a significant group of
human figures set into charming land
scape. If the picture is transcript from
visit the ORIGINAL snnt what glamour Is