Pinnacle

“ Geo. Washington, Babe Ruth and John L. Sullivan is others who might be mentioned as guys that clumb to the pinnacle but if you asked any of them to spell pinnacle they would probably bust you in the jaw. ”

“ And who can say that the fame of one is greater than the other's!
Their pinnacles are twin, I venture to believe—of just an equal height and width and thickness, like their bodies in this life; but unlike their frail bodies in one respect: no taller pinnacles are to be seen, methinks, in all the garden of the deathless dead painters of our time, and none more built to last! ”

“ Here in the artist's pencil is a monument to those heroes greater than pinnacles of marble, of beaten brass and carven stone; a monument that has travelled over the world, has spoken to posterity more clearly, more convincingly, and more rememberingly than ever written or word-of-mouth speech could do. ”

“ If the reader likes to ask any Gothic architect with whom he may happen 170 to be acquainted, to substitute a lump of lead for his pinnacles, he will see by the expression of his face how far he considers the pinnacles decorative members. ”

“ It is not worth while to give an extended analysis of its redundant details which, with its vast chimneys adorned with free-standing orders, niches, panelled surfaces, and pinnacles; its dormers with overlaid orders of pilasters, pediments, scrolls, and endless filigree ornaments; and its great lantern with inverted consoles on entablatures forming flying-buttresses (where there is nothing to be buttressed) , make up a bewildering complex without structural meaning or artistic merit. ”

“ What evil has smitten the pinnace, meeting or overtaking her? Did ruin to our friends couch within our own dreadful shadow? Was our shadow the shadow of death? I looked over the bow for an answer, and, behold! the pinnace was dismantled; the revel and the revellers were found no more; the glory of the vintage was dust; and the forests with their beauty were left without a witness upon the seas. ”

“ Slowly the pinnace nears us, gaily she hails us, and silently she disappears beneath the shadow of our mighty bows. But then, as at some signal from heaven, the music, and the carols, and the sweet echoing of girlish laughter,―all are hushed. What evil has smitten the pinnace, meeting or overtaking her? ”

“ While others, fired with more ambitious views, Invoke the Epic, or the Tragic Muse, And, throned in Glory's temple, shine sublime, Proud of their laurel-wreaths that fear not Time, Thy Genius fondly stoops to softer themes, The landscape's beauties—flowers, and groves, and streams, And round his brows in modest triumph wears A simple garden-wreath, but ever green, as theirs. ”

“ I had figured in court and camp—had passed through perilous adventures—had stood, sword in hand, as the champion of noble demoiselles—had footed the walls of besieged towns, and had participated in a great victory, the tidings of which set bells ringing and bonfires blazing all over England.
What wonder if, in such circumstances, my young heart swelled with pride, and if I already saw myself, in imagination, with the crest, and plume, and golden spurs of knighthood, leading bands of fighting men to battle, and rushing on to victory in the name of God and St. George? ”

“ The artist, whose skill resembled that of the Creator, had depicted him seated on his throne of ivory inlaid with gold, and in his turban blazed that great jewel known as the Sea of Splendour, but these did not for one moment detain the eye, for he was himself the jewel of Kings, young, noble, dark of hair and eyes, with amorous lips, proud yet gentle, and a throat like the column that upholds the world, and limbs shaped for height and strength and speed. ”

“ And the clinking went on, growing louder and louder, the clinking of gold, which has a particularly 313 musical sound, penetrating, crystalline as the golden bells of Exodus, tinkling in the twilight of the temple on the priest’s raiment. The clinking, clinking, that lingers in the brain long after, drawing the players to it night after night; an intoxicating murmur, singing the desires that dominate the world; the jingling that makes all men kin! ”

“ The stronghold of the race, with the palace, the sacred courts of justice, and all the rare works of art—the gardens of unrivaled splendor—all that was their own of majesty, strength, and beauty, became the trophies of another. ”

“ The field of glory lies open before thee, hence, though blood were to flow around thee on both sides, though arrows and darts were to stick in thee, rise, lion of God, shake thy mane, and thunder so that from that thunder the marrow will melt in the bones of the pagan, and crescents and horse-tails will fall, like a pine wood in front of a tempest. ”

“ Thus shall we avenge the death of our ancestors. And at the summit of our tower we will place an image of our god with a sword in his hand, and he shall fight for us. Thus shall we obtain a great name, and reign over the universe. ”

“ Mark the pageant of the Centuries.
The Eleventh Century enters from the right through the inner scene across which is now drawn a veil, so that the figures behind are seen, but not too distinctly, yet so that they shall be clearly discerned. Passing out of the inner scene to the right, they enter again on the left and cross the outer stage. There is stately music, varying to the passing of each, and ending in a march of triumph at the close. The Eleventh Century beckons, and there follows to her beckoning her meinie, to wit:
William the Conqueror. ”

“ We saw last Sunday that we were like men who had just watched a great sunset, that we were standing, as it were, in the beautiful and tender after-glow, which so often follows a beautiful sunset, and we set ourselves to try and gather up and meditate upon some of the great qualities in the character of her whom we have lost, as some explanation, of the influence which made her reign so great. ”

“ Conquered the trickling of their babbling tongues; the coy
Back glances, and the mobile breasts of subtle grace;
Conquered the Woman Beautiful, the fatal charm
Of her hot breast, the music of her babbling tongue;
Conquered the gate of Hell, into the gate the young
Man passes, with the heavy trophy at his arm,
The holy Javelin that pierced the Heart of God.
He heals the dying king, he sits upon the throne,
King, and high priest of that great gift, the living Blood.
In robe of gold the youth adores the glorious Sign
Of the green goblet, worships the mysterious Wine. ”

“ Never before has it attained such a high level of excellence, and if, for that reason, we miss those grand and lonely peaks that represent the supreme glory of the past, we can at least cheer ourselves by the comfortable reflection that we are each a glorious little peak. ”

“ See now the symbol of the crowning and the prophecy that comes with it. In the dance of the children have ye heard a truth, from the lips of the children shall ye bear wisdom. Great was the Past, and greater shall be the Future as long as ye be true to the lesson of the Past. Like unto a poet whose words are yet to be, whose music is still to make, the Child Century stands upon the threshold of time. Mark now the symbol of the crowning, and as we, your masquers pass like shadows into the night, so do we leave with you the aftermath of our mumming, a sweet rede of the unity of the race. ”

“ Then I wake and all things I remember and a youth of the Kings I see— —The child of the Wood-abider, the seed of a conquered King, The sword that the Gods have fashioned, the fate that men shall sing:— Ah might the world run backward to the days of the Dwarfs of old, When I hewed out the pillars of crystal, and smoothed the walls of gold! ”

“ In each man’s heart a secret temple stands
For rites idolatrous of praise and prayer;
And dusky idols through the incensed air,
On single thrones, or grouped in curious bands,
Gaze at the lamp which swings in memory’s hands,—
Some richly carved, with face of beauty rare,
Some with brute heads and bosoms foul and bare,
Yet crowned with gold and gems from distant lands. ”

“ We fight till death for Old England's crown,
Till Harold, or We, with our crowns, go down,
Sword in hand, by the Grace of God!
By the Grace of God!
By the splendor of God! We come! We come!
To fight to the death for Old England's crown,
To reign by God's grace or in gore go down.
By the splendor of God! We come! We come! ”

“ Whilst other men endeavoured to reach the Temple of Fame, by making art equal nature in her most captivating forms, this Prince struck out a new road, by producing such monsters as nature, however perverted, could never have brought forth. ”

“ Arches of triumph, long o'erthrown,
And all once glorious earthly things,
At length are thine alone.
Oh! many a temple, once sublime,
Beneath the blue, Italian sky,
Hath nought of beauty left by time,
Save thy wild tapestry:
And, rear'd midst crags and clouds, ’tis thine
To wave where banners wav'd of yore ”

“ At best the crown is only brass, the shining silver merely tin, and in nine theatres out of every ten the regal ermine but a paltry rabbit-skin.
Glitter dazzles the eye. Nevertheless behind it beat good hearts and true; while hard work, patient endurance, and courage mark the path of the successful player. ”

“ Upon these imperishable monuments, which have outlived, in all the beauty and freshness of early youth, the sculptured trophy, the triumphal arch, the pompous and elaborate inscription, and the many costly and gorgeous works of art that were erected to commemorate the conqueror's achievements, may be read the meaning, though sententious legend, which, assisted by appropriate designs, tells its story plainly and effectively. ”

“ Is not the world perpetually oscillating between the two great works of producing and of devouring? The king of the creation, man, stands at the summit, as the crown and the final object of all these multiform guests. ”

“ Like the pillars of ancient Egypt and Babylon where great monarchs carved their names, battles, victories, marvelous achievements, and chiseled their pedigree and dynasty, so God takes this time-honored, battle-scarred, self-sacrificing pilgrim at this stage and makes him an illustrious pillar in the temple of God, and writes in his favor his victories and exploits, his overcoming [Pg 118] life. He is to go no more out. As some are sealed for eternal damnation in this life, so he is sealed for eternal glory. ”

“ We are here to join our songs with angels round the throne, and with those pure and mighty beings who, in some central sanctuary of the universe, cry for ever, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” ”

“ For him the forest gloom is but the high road to the castle of the enchanted princess; the sternest tourney is more than recompensed by the smiles of his queen of beauty; the burning summer day, the drear winter night, but aids to fortune and accessories to boundless wealth. ”

“ The empire of Night, with its queen, the empire of the Sun, these mysteries, these initiations, this Wisdom, Love, these ordeals, and with it all this typically world-wise ethic, excellent in the breadth of its applicability—all this when combined with the depth, the bewitching loveliness and soul of the music expands and floods our imagination, and warms the heart. ”

“ In the very centre of the wondrous city the gods fashioned a golden hall for themselves, and in it there was a shining throne for each one. They had many games and sports, in which they vied with each other in strength and skill. ”

“ We feel that the actors contemplated death only as the distributor of imperishable glory,—that imagination had coloured everything around them with its rainbow tints,—that by anticipation they enjoyed the panegyric which would be pronounced over them in the hearing of all they loved,—the monument which would be raised over their ashes,—the deathless reward which would be bestowed on their patriotism and valour in the historic page. ”

“ When its temples and its trophies shall have mouldered into dust,—when the glories of its name shall be but the legend of tradition, and the light of its achievements live only in song, philosophy will revive again in the sky of her Franklin, and glory rekindle at the urn of her Washington. ”

“ O ye heavens! whose azure arches rise immensely high, and stretch immeasurably wide—grand amphitheatre of nature, throne of the Eternal God, bow to hear the prayer of a poor, wretched, bewildered, way-wanderer to eternity. ”

“ It is a great truth, if we make the saying good, that from the same wood are formed the statues of idols and the rafters of the gallows, kings' thrones and cobblers’ stalls; and another strange thing is, that from the same rags is made the paper on which the wisdom of sages is recorded, and the crown which is placed on the head of a fool,—a thing that would puzzle the cleverest astrologer in the world. ”

“ Why should the monument be so much more enduring than the fame which it is designed to perpetuate,—a stone to a bone? “Here lies,”—“Here lies”;—why do they not sometimes write, There rises? Is it a monument to the body only that is intended? “Having reached the term of his natural life”;—would it not be truer to say, Having reached the term of his unnatural life? The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth. ”

“ And with that Prince again, striding his snow-white steed,
To her deliverance through the gold wood we speed;
On through the wood of flame to the Dark Tower,
Where like a light she gleams high in her bower. ”

“ If the magic of the moonlight could summon from the graves of forgotten centuries and many lands the countless myriads that have battled on this wide, far-reaching floor, and array them in the thousand strange Costumes of their hundred nationalities, and send the vast host sweeping down the plain, splendid with plumes and banners and glittering lances, I could stay here an age to see the phantom pageant. ”

“ Every precious stone is thine adornment, and all the working of thy finished comeliness is of gold, in the delights of the Paradise of our God. Thou hast been appointed prince and captain to receive the souls of the elect, and to lead them into the Paradise of rejoicing. ”

“ I refer to the series of progressive pictures carved on the friezes of many ancient Oriental and Grecian temples, portraying successive episodes in the life of some god, hero, king, or prophet. The central figure is ever the same, however attitude, action, mood, and environment may vary, to suit the stage of his story represented in each scene. No smoke of battle, strangeness of garb, or storm of emotion can so obscure or distort the familiar lineaments that they are not recognizable, though they take contour and expression from circumstances, those variations in the theme of life. ”