The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the WestRogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
History
The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West
Rogers, W. H. Hamilton (William Henry Hamilton)
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
Our steps finally take us back to Britford church, and a last look at
the cenotaph of the restless, unscrupulous, short-sighted, ill-fated
Buckingham. At the end of the tomb the decaying angels still support
the proud escutcheons of Stafford and Widville, names here, in the
funeral pomp of the grave, linked in the closest and most loving tie
of human relationship, but in the olden life precedent, opposed to
each other with a bitterness that death alone could appease. Time has
now gathered themselves and all their actions into his lap, the
fierceness of their strife is hushed into silence, and all the
suspense and agony that haunted their lives and tracked them to its
last resting-place, is over; and the wayfarer who contemplates their
sadly-incidented story, and seeks to identify the few wrecks left to
perpetuate their memory, as he turns away, mutters to himself the
prayerful entreaty doubtless once inscribed over their dust, "_cujus
anime propicietur Deus, Amen_."
We linger a moment to catch a glance at the remarkable Saxon doorways
still preserved in the nave,--relics coeval with the age when _Old_
Sarum was in its best estate, and centuries before the glorious fane
that adorns its _new_ namesake was born or thought of,--and then
emerge into the pleasant evening sunlight. How delightfully-reviving
the communion with the purity of Nature, after our thoughts have been
saddened by a contemplation of the self-sought miseries of her
children. We saunter quietly along under the fine trees that overhang
our path, loiter awhile to survey an old moated house, and then pass
on by a winding path through mead and lane to Salisbury. Before us is
the bright, busy little city, and above it is upreared the remarkable
feature that has made its reputation world-wide, the glorious spire of
its Cathedral. Higher and still more heavenward, its faultless
proportion rises at every step, until standing within its shadow, our
thoughts are lost in admiration of those men, who, when they had built
an earthly home "to the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,"
reared this shaft of beauty from its midst, in testimony that their
aspirations were not satisfied until they had placed its top-stone as
near His heavenly home as human hands could raise it.
SALISBURY SPIRE.
Eyes of the soul,--turn from thought's busy realm,
And dwell awhile on yon height-piercing spire,
The sight is none that all things overwhelm,
But one that bids us rise to all things higher.
Delved from the earth a rude and shapeless thing,
Rended by force from the deep quarry's breast,--
Behold from such, a pure form upward spring,
In beauty's fairest vesture aptly drest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account