0:05

All

0:07

Hallows by Walter de

0:10

la Mer And

0:19

because time in itself can receive

0:22

no alteration,

0:23

the hallowing must consist in the shape

0:26

or countenance which we put upon the affairs

0:29

that are incident in these days.

0:32

Richard Hooker

0:34

It was about half-past three on an

0:36

August afternoon when I found myself

0:39

for the first time looking down upon

0:41

all hallows, and at glimpse

0:44

of it fatigue and vexation

0:46

passed away.

0:48

I stood at gaze, as

0:50

the old phrase goes, like the two

0:52

children of Israel sent in to spy

0:54

out the promised land.

0:57

How often the imagined transcends

1:00

the real.

1:01

Not so all hallows.

1:04

Having at last reached the end of my journey,

1:06

flies, dust, heat, wind, having

1:09

at last come limping out upon

1:12

the green sea-bluff beneath which

1:14

lay its walls, I confess,

1:17

the actuality excelled

1:19

my feeble dreams of it. What

1:22

most astonished me, perhaps, was

1:24

the sense not so much of its age,

1:27

its austerity, or even its

1:29

solitude,

1:31

but its air of abandonment.

1:33

It lay couched there as if hiding

1:36

in its narrow sea-bay. Not

1:39

a sound was in the air, not a

1:41

jack-door clapped its wings among

1:43

its turrets, no other roof,

1:46

not even a chimney was in sight, only

1:48

the dark blue arch of the sky,

1:51

the narrow snow-line of the ebbing tide,

1:54

and that gaunt coast,

1:56

fading away into the haze of a west

1:59

over which we now stand.

1:59

were already gathering the veils of sunset.

2:03

We had met then at an appropriate hour

2:05

and season,

2:07

and yet I wonder, for

2:10

it was certainly not the beauty of all

2:12

hallows lulled as if into a dream

2:15

in this serenity of air and heavens which

2:17

was to leave the sharpest impression upon me.

2:21

And what kind of first showing would it

2:23

have made, I speculated, if an autumnal

2:26

gale had been shrilling and trumpeting across

2:28

its narrow bay,

2:29

clots of wind-borne spume floating

2:32

among its dusky pinnacles,

2:34

and the roar of the sea echoing

2:36

against its walls.

2:38

Imagine it frozen stark in winter,

2:41

icy hoarfrost edging its every

2:43

boss molding, finial, crocket,

2:46

cusp. Indeed,

2:48

are there not works of man,

2:51

legacies of a half-forgotten past

2:53

scattered across this human world of ours

2:56

from China to Peru,

2:57

which seem to daunt the imagination with

3:00

their incomprehensibility.

3:02

Incomprehensible,

3:04

I mean, in the sense that the passion that inspired

3:06

and conceived them

3:08

is incomprehensible.

3:10

Viewed in the light of the passing day, they

3:12

might be the monuments of a race of demigods.

3:16

And yet, if we could but free

3:18

ourselves from our timidity and follies,

3:21

we might realize

3:23

that even we ourselves have

3:26

an obligation to leave behind us

3:28

similar memorials,

3:30

testaments to the creative and

3:33

faithful genius,

3:34

not so much of the individual

3:37

as of humanity itself. It

3:43

was my own personal fortune to see

3:45

all hallows for the first time in

3:47

the heat of the dog days,

3:49

after a journey which could hardly be justified

3:52

except by its end.

3:54

At this moment of the afternoon, the

3:56

great church almost cheated one into

3:58

the belief that it

3:59

was possessed of a life of its own.

4:02

It lay, as I say, couched in

4:04

its natural hollow, basking

4:06

under the dark dome of the heavens like

4:09

some half-fossilised monster

4:11

that might at any moment stir

4:13

and awaken out of the swoon to

4:15

which the wand of the Enchanter had committed

4:18

it.

4:19

And with every inch of the sun's descending

4:21

journey, it changed its appearance.

4:25

That is the charm of such things. Man

4:28

himself, says the philosopher, is

4:31

the sport of change.

4:32

His life and the life around him are

4:35

but the flotsam

4:36

of a perpetual flux.

4:38

Yet, haunted by ideals, egged

4:41

on by impossibilities, he

4:43

builds his vision of the changeless, and

4:46

time diversifies it with its colours

4:49

and its effects at leisure.

4:52

It was drawing near to harvest now.

4:54

The summer was nearly over.

4:56

The corn would soon be in stoop.

4:59

The season of silence had come.

5:01

Not even the robins had yet begun to

5:03

practice their autumnal lament.

5:06

I should have come earlier. The

5:07

distance was

5:09

of little account, but nine flinty

5:12

hills in seven miles is certainly hard

5:14

commons. To plod the

5:16

occupant of a cloud of dust up

5:18

one steep incline and so see

5:20

another. To plod up that and so

5:23

see a third, to surmount that, and

5:25

half choked, half roasted, to

5:27

see as if in unbelievable

5:30

mirage a fourth,

5:32

and always stone walls.

5:34

Discoloured grass, no flower

5:36

but ragged rag-wort,

5:38

whited fleabane,

5:40

moody nettle, and the exquisite,

5:42

stubborn bindweed with its almond-burdened

5:45

senses, and always

5:47

the glitter and dazzle of the sun. Well,

5:51

the experience grows irksome,

5:54

and then that endless flint erection,

5:56

which some jealous lord of the manor

5:58

had barricaded is virtually

5:59

juris-estate.

6:01

A fly-infested mile of the company

6:04

of that wall was tantamount to making one's

6:06

way into the infernal regions

6:08

with a tantalus for fellow-pilgrim.

6:11

And when a solitary and empty dung-cart

6:13

had lumbered by, lifting the

6:16

dumb dust out of the road in swirling

6:18

clouds into the heat-quivering air,

6:21

I had all but wept aloud.

6:24

No, I shall not easily forget that

6:26

walk.

6:27

Or

6:28

the conclusion of it.

6:30

When footsore, all but deadbeat,

6:32

dust all over me, cheeks, lips,

6:35

eyelids in my hair, dust in drifts

6:37

even beneath my naked body and my clothes,

6:40

I stretched my aching limbs on the

6:43

turf under the straggle of trees

6:45

which crowned the bluff of that last

6:47

hill, still blessedly green

6:49

and verdant,

6:51

and feasted my eyes upon the cathedral

6:53

beneath me. How odd

6:56

memory is in her sorting arrangements!

6:59

How perverse her pigeon-holes! It

7:02

had reminded me of a drizzling evening

7:04

many years ago. I had

7:06

stayed a moment to listen to an old

7:08

Salvation Army officer preaching at

7:10

a street corner. The

7:12

sopped and squalid houses echoed

7:14

with his harangue.

7:15

His penitent's drum resembled the block

7:18

of an executioner. His goatish

7:20

beard wagged at every word he uttered.

7:23

My brothers and sisters, he was saying, the

7:25

very instant our fleshy bodies

7:27

are born they begin to perish. The

7:29

moment the Lord has put them together, time

7:32

begins to take them to pieces again. Now,

7:35

at this very instant, if you listen close,

7:38

you can hear the nibblings and

7:40

fretting of the moth and rust within.

7:43

The worm that never dies.

7:46

It's the same with human causes and

7:48

creeds and institutions. Just

7:50

the same. Oh then, for

7:52

that strand of beauty, where

7:55

all that is mortal shall be shed

7:57

away, and we shall appear in the

7:59

light likeness and verisimilitude

8:02

of what in sober and

8:04

awful truth we are.

8:07

The light striking out of an oil

8:10

and colourment shop at the street corner

8:12

lay across his cheek and beard and

8:14

glassed his eye.

8:16

A soaked circle of humanity in

8:18

which he was gesticulating stood, staring

8:21

and motionless.

8:23

The lassies, the probationers, the

8:25

melancholy idlers.

8:27

I had had enough, I

8:29

went away. But it

8:31

is odd that so utterly inappropriate

8:34

a recollection should have edged back

8:36

into my mind at this moment.

8:39

There was, as I have said, not a living

8:41

soul in sight.

8:42

Only a few sea-birds, oyster-catchers

8:45

maybe, were jangling on the distant

8:47

beach.

8:49

It was now a quarter to four

8:51

by my watch, and the usual

8:53

pensive Lin-lan lone from

8:55

the belfry beneath me would soon

8:58

no doubt be ringing to even song.

9:00

But if at that moment a triple-bob major

9:02

had suddenly clanged its alarm over sea

9:05

and shore, I couldn't have stirred a finger's

9:07

breath. Scanty though the

9:09

shade afforded by the wind-shorn tuft

9:11

of trees under which I lay might be, I

9:14

was ineffably at

9:17

peace.

9:18

No bell, as a matter of fact, loosed its

9:20

tongue that stagnant half-hour.

9:23

Unless then the walls beneath me already

9:25

concealed a few such chance visitors

9:27

as myself, all hallows would be

9:29

empty.

9:30

A cathedral, not only without

9:32

a close, but

9:33

without a congregation.

9:36

Yet another romantic charm.

9:38

The denary and the residences of its

9:40

clergy, my old guide-book, had long

9:43

since informed me, were a full mile

9:45

or more away.

9:46

I determined in due time first

9:49

to make sure of an entry, and then,

9:51

having quenched my thirst, to

9:53

bathe.

9:54

How inhuman any extremity,

9:56

hunger, fatigue, pain, desire, makes

9:59

us poor human.

9:59

heavens. Thirst and drough

10:02

so haunted my mind

10:04

that again and again as I glanced towards

10:06

it, I sucked up in one long

10:08

draught that complete blue sea.

10:11

But meanwhile too, my eyes had

10:13

been steadily exploring and searching

10:15

out this monument of the bygone centuries

10:18

beneath me.

10:20

The headland faced approximately due

10:22

west. The windows of the Lady

10:24

Chapel therefore lay immediately beneath

10:27

me, their fourteenth-century glass

10:29

showing flatly dark amid

10:31

their traceries.

10:33

Above it the shallow, v-shaped,

10:35

leaden-ribbed roof of the chancel

10:38

converged towards the unfinished tower,

10:40

then broke away at right angles, for

10:42

the cathedral was cruciform.

10:45

Walls so ancient and so sparsely

10:48

adorned and decorated could not be

10:50

but inhospitable in effect.

10:53

Their stone was of a bleached bone-grey,

10:55

a grey that none the

10:57

less seemed to be as immaterial as

11:00

flame or incandescent

11:02

ash.

11:04

They were substantial enough, however,

11:06

to cast a marvellously loosened shadow

11:09

of a blue no less vivid but

11:11

paler than that of the sea

11:13

on the shelving sword beneath them.

11:16

And that shadow was steadily shifting as I

11:18

watched. But even if the complete

11:20

edifice had vanished into the void, the

11:23

scene would still have been of an incredible

11:25

loveliness. The

11:27

colours in air and sky on this

11:29

dangerous coast seemed to shed

11:31

a peculiar unreality,

11:34

even on the rocks of its own

11:36

outworks. So,

11:39

from my vantage-place on the hill that

11:41

dominates it,

11:42

I continued for a while to watch all

11:44

Hallows, to spy upon it,

11:47

and no less intently than a sentry

11:49

who, not quite trusting his own

11:52

eyes, has seen a dubious shape

11:54

approaching him in the dusk.

11:56

It may sound absurd, but

11:59

I felt that at any moment I too

12:01

might surprise all Hallows in

12:03

the act of revealing what in very

12:06

truth it looked like,

12:07

and was,

12:09

when no human witness was there to share

12:11

its solitude.

12:13

Those gigantic statues for example

12:16

which flanked the base of the unfinished tower,

12:18

an intense bluish white in

12:21

the sunlight and a bluish purple

12:23

in shadow, images of angels

12:25

and of saints as I had learned of old

12:27

from my guidebook.

12:29

Only six of them at most could be visible

12:31

of course from where I sat, and

12:34

yet I found myself counting them

12:36

again and yet again, as

12:39

if doubting my own arithmetic. For

12:42

my first impression had been that

12:44

seven were in view, though the figure

12:46

furthest from me at the western angle showed

12:49

little more than a jutting fragment of stone

12:51

which might perhaps be only part and

12:53

parcel of the fabric itself.

12:56

But then the lights even of

12:59

day may be deceitful,

13:01

and fantasy plays strange tricks

13:03

with one's eyes. With exercise

13:06

nonetheless the mind is enabled to

13:08

detect minute details which

13:10

the unaided eye is incapable of particularising.

13:13

Given the imagination man himself

13:16

indeed may some day be able to

13:18

distinguish what shapes are walking

13:21

during our own terrestrial midnight

13:23

amid the black shadows of the craters

13:26

in the noonday of the moon. At

13:28

any rate I could trace at

13:30

last threats of carving,

13:32

minute weather marks, crookednesses,

13:35

encrustations, repairings that

13:38

had before passed unnoticed.

13:41

These walls indeed like human

13:44

faces

13:45

were maps and charts of their own

13:47

long past.

13:49

In the midst of this prolonged scrutiny, the

13:52

hypnotic air, the heat, must

13:54

suddenly have overcome me.

13:56

I fell asleep up there in my grove

13:58

scanty shade.

13:59

and remained asleep too long

14:02

enough, as time is measured by the clocks

14:04

of sleep,

14:05

to dream an immense panoramic

14:07

dream.

14:08

On waking I could recall only the

14:10

faintest vestiges of it,

14:12

and found that the hand of my watch had crept

14:14

on but a few minutes in the interval.

14:17

It was eight minutes past four.

14:20

I scrambled up, numbed and inert,

14:22

with that peculiar sense of panic which

14:24

sometimes follows an uneasy sleep.

14:27

What folly to have been frittering time

14:29

away with insight of my goal at an hour

14:32

when no doubt the cathedral would soon be close

14:34

to visitors and abandoned for the night

14:36

to its own secret ruminations!

14:40

I hastened down the steep rounded incline

14:42

of the hill,

14:43

and having skirted under the sunlit expanse

14:46

of the walls, came presently to the

14:48

south door, only to discover

14:50

that my forebodings had been justified,

14:53

and that it was already barred and

14:55

bolted. The

14:56

discovery seemed to increase my fatigue

14:58

fourfold,

15:00

how foolish it is to obey

15:02

meer caprices! What

15:04

a straw is man!

15:07

I glanced up into the beautiful shell of masonry

15:09

above my head,

15:10

shapes and figures in stone it showed

15:12

in plenty,

15:13

symbols of an imagination that had

15:16

flamed and faded,

15:17

leaving this signature for sole witness,

15:20

but not a living bird or butterfly.

15:23

There was but one faint chance left

15:25

of making an entry. Hunted

15:27

now rather than hunter, I hastened

15:30

out again into the full blazing flood of

15:32

sunshine, and once more came

15:34

within sight of the sea, a sea

15:36

so near at last that I could hear

15:39

its enormous sallies and murmurings. Indeed,

15:42

I had not realized until that

15:44

moment how closely the great western

15:46

doors of the cathedral are butted

15:49

on the beach. It

15:51

was as if its hospitality had

15:53

been deliberately designed,

15:55

not for a people to whom the faith of which

15:58

it was the shrine had become a weariness.

16:00

us and a common place, but for

16:02

the solace of pilgrims from over the ocean.

16:05

I could see them tumbling about in

16:07

their cockleboats out of the great hollow ships,

16:10

sails idle, anchors down,

16:12

see them leaping ashore and straggling up

16:15

across the sands to these all-welcoming

16:17

portals, Parthians

16:19

and Medes and Elamites, dwellers

16:22

in Mesopotamia and in the parts

16:24

of Egypt about Cyrene, strangers

16:27

of Rome, Jews and Proselytes,

16:30

we do hear them speak in our own tongue

16:32

the wonderful works of God. And

16:35

so, at last,

16:38

I found my way into all hallows,

16:41

entering by a rounded dwarfish

16:43

side door with zigzag mouldings.

16:45

They're hung for corbel to

16:48

its dripstone, a curious, leering

16:50

face with its forked tongue out

16:53

to give me welcome, and an appropriate

16:55

one, too, for the figure I made. But

16:58

once beneath that prodigious roof-tree I

17:00

forgot myself and everything that was mine.

17:04

The hush, the coolness, the

17:06

unfathomable twilight drifted

17:08

in on my small human consciousness.

17:11

Not even the ocean itself is

17:14

able so completely to receive

17:16

one into its solacing bosom.

17:19

Except for the windows over my head, filtering

17:21

with their stained glass the last

17:24

western radiance of the sun,

17:26

there was but little visible colour in

17:28

those great spaces, and severe

17:30

economy of decoration. The

17:33

stone piers carried their round arches

17:35

with an almost intimidating

17:38

impassivity. By

17:40

deliberate design, too, or by

17:42

some illusion of perspective, the

17:44

whole floor of the building appeared steadily

17:47

to ascend towards the east, where

17:49

a dark wooden, multitudinously figured

17:51

root-screen shut off the choir

17:54

and the high altar from the nave.

17:56

I seemed to have exchanged one

17:59

universal actuary. reality for another, the

18:01

burning world of nature, for

18:03

this oasis of quiet.

18:06

Here the wings of the imagination need

18:08

never rest in their flight out of the wilderness

18:11

into the unknown. Thus

18:13

resting,

18:14

I must again have fallen asleep,

18:16

and so swiftly can even the merest freshet

18:19

of sleep affect the mind,

18:21

that when my eyes opened

18:23

I was completely at a loss.

18:26

Where was I? What demon

18:28

of what romantic chasm had swept

18:30

my poor drowsy body into this

18:33

immense haunt?

18:34

The din and clamour of an horrific

18:37

dream, whose

18:38

fainting rumour was still in my ear,

18:40

became suddenly stilled.

18:43

Then, at one and the same moment,

18:45

a sense of utter dismay at earthly surroundings

18:48

no longer serene and peaceful, but

18:50

grim and forbidding flooded my mind,

18:53

and I became aware that

18:55

I was no longer alone.

18:58

Twenty or thirty paces away, and

19:00

the little to this side of the root screen,

19:03

an old man was standing.

19:06

To judge from the black and purple velvet and

19:08

tassel-tagged gown he wore, he was

19:10

a verger.

19:12

He had not realised, it seemed, that a

19:14

visitor shared his solitude,

19:16

and yet he was listening.

19:19

His head was craned forward and leaned sideways

19:21

on his rusty shoulders. As

19:24

I steadily watched him, he raised his

19:26

eyes, and with a peculiar

19:28

stealthy deliberation scanned the complete

19:31

upper regions of the northern transept.

19:34

Not the faintest rumour of any sound

19:36

that may have attracted his attention reached me

19:38

where I sat.

19:40

Perhaps a wild bird had made its entry

19:42

through a broken pane of glass, and with

19:44

its cry had, at the same moment,

19:46

awakened me

19:48

and caught his attention.

19:50

Or maybe the old man was waiting for

19:52

some fellow occupant to join him from

19:54

above.

19:55

I continued to watch him,

19:58

even at this distance the silvery twinkled.

20:00

twilight, cast by the cholestory

20:02

windows, was sufficient to show me,

20:04

though vaguely his face, the

20:06

high sloping nose, the lean

20:08

cheekbones and protruding chin.

20:11

He continued so long in the same position

20:13

that I at last determined to break

20:16

in on his reverie.

20:18

At sound of my footsteps his head sunk

20:20

cautiously back upon his shoulders, and

20:22

he turned, and then motionlessly

20:25

surveyed me as I drew near.

20:28

He resembled one of those old men whom Rembrandt

20:31

delighted in drawing—the

20:32

knotted hands, the black, drooping

20:35

eyebrows,

20:36

the wide, thin-lipped, ecclesiastical

20:38

mouth, the

20:39

intent cavernous dark eyes

20:41

beneath the heavy folds of their lids.

20:44

Quite as a miller with dust, hot

20:46

and draggled,

20:48

I was hardly the kind of visitor that

20:50

any self-respecting custodian would warmly

20:52

welcome. But he

20:55

greeted me none the less with every

20:57

mark of courtesy. I

20:59

apologized for the lateness of my arrival

21:02

and explained it as best I could. "'Until

21:05

I caught sight of you,' I concluded lamely.

21:08

"'I hadn't ventured very far in. Otherwise

21:11

I may have found myself a prisoner for the night. It

21:13

must be dark in here, when there is no

21:16

moon.' The old man

21:18

smiled, but wryly, "'As

21:21

a matter of fact, sir,' he replied, "'the cathedral

21:23

is closed of visitors at four.

21:26

At such times at ease, when there is no

21:28

afternoon service.' "'Services

21:30

are not as frequent

21:32

as they were, but

21:33

visitors are rare too.

21:36

In winter, in particular, you notice

21:38

the gloom, as you say, sir.

21:40

Not that I ever spend a night in here, though

21:43

I am usually last to leave. There's

21:46

a risk of fire to be thought of, and I think

21:48

I should have detected your presence here, sir.

21:51

One becomes accustomed after

21:54

many years.'" There

21:56

was a usual trace of official pedantry

21:58

in his voice, but it was

21:59

more pleasing than otherwise.

22:02

Nor did he show any wish to be rid of me."

22:05

He continued his survey, although his eye

22:07

was a little absent and his attention

22:09

seemed to be divided. "'I

22:11

thought perhaps I might be able to find a room for the night

22:13

and really explore the cathedral tomorrow

22:16

morning. It has been a tiring

22:18

journey. I come from B.'" "'Ah,

22:21

from B? It is a fatiguing

22:24

journey, sir,' taken on foot. "'I

22:26

used to walk in there to see a sick daughter of

22:28

mine. Carriage parties

22:31

occasionally make their way here, but not

22:33

so much as once. We are too

22:35

far out of the hurly-burly to be much intruded

22:38

on. Not that them who come

22:40

to make their worship here are intruders,

22:42

far from it. But most that

22:44

come are mere sightseers, and

22:47

the fewer of them, I say, in the

22:49

circumstances, the better.' Everything

22:53

in what I had said, or in my appearance,

22:55

seemed to have reassured him. "'Well,

22:58

I cannot claim to be a regular church-goer,'

23:00

I said. "'I am myself a mere

23:03

sightseer, and yet

23:05

even to sit here for a few minutes is

23:07

to be reconciled.' "'Ah,

23:09

reconciled,

23:12

sir,' the old man repeated,

23:15

turning away. "'I can well imagine

23:18

it, after that journey, on such

23:20

a day as this. But to

23:22

live here is another matter.'

23:25

"'I was thinking of that,' I replied,

23:27

in the foolish attempt to retrieve the position.

23:29

It must, as you say, be desolate

23:32

enough in the winter, for two-thirds

23:34

of the year, indeed.

23:36

We have our storm, sir, the bad, with

23:39

the good,' he agreed, and our position

23:41

is especially prolific in

23:44

what they call sea-fog.

23:46

It comes driving in from the sea for days

23:48

and nights together, gale and mist,

23:51

so that you can scarcely see your open

23:53

hand in front of your eyes, even in broad

23:55

daylight, and the noise of

23:57

it, sir, sweeping across overhead

23:59

in the that williness of mist, if you

24:01

take me, is most peculiar.

24:05

It's shocking to a stranger. No,

24:07

sir, we are left pretty much to ourselves

24:09

when the fine weather birds have flown. You'd

24:12

be astonished at the power of the winds here.

24:14

There was a mason, a

24:17

local man, too, not above two

24:19

or three years ago, was blown clean off

24:21

the roof from under the tower, tossed

24:23

up in the air like an empty sack.

24:26

But—and the old man at last

24:28

allowed his eyes to stray upwards to

24:30

the roof again—but there's not much

24:32

doing now, he seemed to be pondering.

24:35

Nothing open. "'I mustn't

24:38

detain you,' I said. But you were saying

24:40

that services are infrequent now. Why

24:42

is that, when one thinks of—"

24:44

But tact restrained me. "'Pray

24:48

you don't think you're keeping me, sir. It's part

24:50

of my duties. But from a remark

24:52

you let fall, I was supposing

24:54

you may have seen something that appeared,

24:57

I understand, not many months

24:59

ago in the newspapers. We

25:02

lost our dean, Dean Pumphrey,

25:04

last November. To all intents

25:06

and purposes, I mean, and his office has not

25:09

yet been filled.

25:10

Between you and me, sir, there's

25:12

a hitch. Though I should wish it

25:14

to go no further. They are greedy monsters,

25:17

those newspapers.

25:19

No respect, no discretion, no

25:22

decency, in my view. And

25:23

they copy each other like cats

25:26

in a chorus. We have

25:28

never wanted to be a notoriety

25:30

here, sir, and not of late, of

25:32

all times. We must face our

25:34

own troubles. You'd be

25:36

astonished how callous the mere

25:39

sightseer can be. And not

25:41

only them from over the water whom our particular

25:44

troubles cannot concern, but far

25:46

worse. Parties as English

25:48

as you or me. They ask

25:51

you questions you wouldn't believe possible

25:53

in a civilized country. Not

25:55

the daycare what becomes of us, not one

25:57

iota, sir. We talk of them

25:59

masterful. asked up inquisitors in olden

26:01

times, but there's many a human

26:03

being in our own world would enjoy seeing

26:06

a fellow creature on the rack

26:07

if he could get the opportunity.

26:10

It's our heartless age, sir.

26:13

This was queerish talk in the circumstances.

26:17

And after all, I myself was of the glorious

26:19

company of the sightseers. I

26:22

held my peace, and the old man,

26:24

as if to make amends, asked me if I would

26:26

care to see any particular part of the

26:28

building. The light is smalling,

26:31

he explained. But still,

26:33

if we keep to the ground level, there'll be a few

26:35

minutes to spare, and we

26:36

shall not be interrupted if we go quietly

26:39

on our way. For

26:41

the moment the reference eluded me.

26:43

I could only thank him for the suggestion, and

26:45

once more beg him not to put himself to any

26:48

inconvenience. I explained,

26:50

too, that though I had no personal acquaintance

26:52

with Dr. Pumphrey, I had read of

26:54

his illness in the newspapers.

26:57

"'Isn't he,' I asked a little

26:59

dubiously, the author of The

27:01

Church and the Folk? If so, he

27:03

must be an exceedingly learned and delightful

27:06

man." "'Aye, sir,'

27:08

the old verger put up a hand towards me.

27:11

"'You may well say it. A saint,

27:13

if ever there was one. But

27:15

it's worse than an illness, sir. It's

27:18

oblivion. And thank God

27:20

the newspapers didn't get hold of more

27:22

than a bare outline." He dropped

27:25

his voice. "'This way, if you

27:27

please.' And he led me off gently

27:29

down the aisle, once more coming to a standstill

27:32

beneath the roof of the tower. "'What

27:34

I mean, sir, is that there's very few

27:36

left in this world who have any place in

27:39

their minds for a sacred confidence.

27:41

No reverence, sir.

27:43

They would as leaf all hallows and

27:46

all it stands for were swept away to-morrow,

27:49

demolished to the dust.

27:51

And that gives me the greatest caution with whom I

27:53

speak.

27:55

But sharing one's troubles is sometimes

27:57

a relief.

27:58

If it weren't so, why do

27:59

I?" those Catholics have their wooden boxes

28:02

all built for the purpose.

28:03

What else, I ask you, is the meaning

28:05

of their fasts and penances.

28:08

You see, sir, I am myself,

28:11

and have been, for upwards of twelve

28:13

years now, the Dean's verger.

28:16

In the sight of no respecter of persons,

28:18

of offices and dignities, that is, I take

28:21

it, I might claim to be even

28:23

an elder brother.

28:24

And our Dean, sir, was a man

28:27

who was all things to all

28:29

men. No pride of place,

28:31

no vauntingness,

28:33

none of your apron and gator, high

28:36

in mightiness whatsoever, sir.

28:38

And then that, and to

28:40

come on us without warning, or

28:43

at least without warning, as could be taken

28:45

as such.

28:47

I followed his eyes into the darkening, stony

28:49

spaces above us,

28:51

a light like tarnished silver

28:53

lay over the soundless vaultings.

28:56

But so, of course, dusk, either

28:59

of evening or daybreak, would affect the

29:01

ancient stones. Nothing moved

29:03

there. You must

29:05

understand, sir, the old man was continuing.

29:09

The procession for divine service proceeds

29:11

from the vestry of a yonder,

29:14

out through those wrought iron gates, and

29:16

so, to the rude screen, and

29:19

into the chancel there.

29:21

Visitors are admitted on showing a card

29:23

or a word to the verger in charge, but

29:26

not otherwise. If you stand

29:28

a pace or two to the right, you will

29:30

catch a glimpse of the altar screen, fourteenth-century

29:34

work, Bishop Robert de Beaufort,

29:36

and a unique example of the age.

29:39

But what I was saying is that when

29:42

we proceed for the services out

29:44

of here, into there, it

29:47

has always been our custom to keep pretty

29:49

close together, more seemingly indecent,

29:52

sir, than straggling in like so many sheep.

29:55

Besides, sir, aren't we at such

29:57

times in the manner of an array? marching

30:00

as to war, if you take me. It's

30:02

a lesson in objects. The third verger

30:05

leading, then the choristers, boys and

30:07

men, though, sadly depleted, then

30:09

the minor cannons, then any other

30:12

dignitaries who may happen to be present, with

30:14

the cannon in residence then, myself,

30:16

sir, followed by the Dean."

30:19

There hadn't been much amiss up to then.

30:22

And

30:22

on that afternoon I can

30:25

vouch, and I've hated it ad nauseam.

30:28

There was not a single stranger out in

30:30

this beyond here, sir, knave or

30:32

transept. Not within my view, that

30:34

is.

30:35

One can't be expected to see through four

30:37

feet of Norman's stone. Well,

30:39

sir, we had gone on our way,

30:42

and I had actually turned about as usual

30:44

to bow Dr. Pumphrey into his stall.

30:47

When I found, to my consternation,

30:50

to my consternation I say,

30:53

he wasn't there. It alarmed

30:55

me, sir. And as you might well

30:58

believe if you knew the full circumstances—not

31:02

that I lost my presence of mind—my

31:04

first duty was to see all things to

31:06

be done in order, and nothing unseemly

31:09

to occur.

31:10

My feelings were another matter.

31:12

The old gentleman had left the vestry with

31:14

us, and that I knew. I had myself

31:17

robed him as usual, and he, in his own

31:19

manner, smiling with his, Well, Jones,

31:21

another day gone, another day gone.

31:24

It was always an anxious gentleman

31:27

for time, sir.

31:29

How we spend it and all. As I

31:31

say then, it was behind

31:33

me when we swept out of the gates.

31:36

I saw him coming on out of the tail of my eye.

31:39

We grow accustomed to it, to see with the whole

31:41

of the eye, I mean, and then, what a vestige,

31:44

and me, well, sir, nonplussed,

31:46

as you may imagine. I gave a look and sign

31:48

at Cannon Ockham, and the service

31:51

proceeded as usual,

31:52

while I hurried back to the vestry thinking

31:54

the poor gentleman must have been taken suddenly

31:57

ill. And yet, sir, I

31:59

was not surprised.

31:59

prize to find the vestry vacant and

32:02

him not there. I

32:03

had been expecting matters

32:05

to come to what you might

32:07

call a head. As

32:10

best I could I held my tongue, and a fortunate

32:12

thing it was that Cannon Ockham was

32:14

then in residence and not Cannon Lee's sugar,

32:17

though perhaps I am not the one to say

32:19

it.

32:20

No, sir, our beloved Dean,

32:23

as pious and unworldly

32:25

a gentleman has ever graced the church,

32:27

was gone for ever. He

32:29

was not to appear in our midst again. He

32:32

had been, and the old man,

32:34

with elevated eyebrows and long,

32:36

lean mouth, nearly whispered the

32:39

words into my ear. He

32:41

had been absconded.

32:45

Ducted, sir. Abducted,

32:47

my moment.

32:49

The old man closed his eyes and with trembling

32:52

lids added, He

32:53

was found, sir, late that

32:55

night, just up there in what they call a

32:57

trophy room,

32:59

sitting in a corner there weeping.

33:01

A child.

33:03

Not a word of what had persuaded him

33:05

to go or misled him there.

33:07

Not a word of sorrow or sadness,

33:10

thank God. He didn't know us,

33:12

sir. Didn't know

33:14

me. Just simple, harmless,

33:18

memory all gone. Simple,

33:20

sir.

33:21

It was foolish to be whispering together like

33:24

this beneath these enormous spaces with

33:26

not so much as a clothes-moth for

33:28

sign of life within view.

33:31

But I even lowered my voice still farther.

33:33

Were there no promontory

33:36

symptoms? Had he been failing

33:38

for long?

33:40

The spectacle of grief in any human face

33:42

is afflicting,

33:43

but in a face as aged and resigned

33:46

as this old man's.

33:47

I turned away in remorse the moment

33:50

the question was out of my lips.

33:52

Emotion is a human solvent and

33:54

a sort of friendliness had sprung up between

33:56

us.

33:57

If you'll just follow me, he whispered.

34:00

There's

34:00

a little place where I make my ablutions

34:02

that might be of service, sir.

34:04

We could converse there in better

34:06

comfort. I am sometimes

34:08

reminded of those words in Ecclesiastes,

34:11

and a bird of the air shall tell

34:13

of the matter.

34:14

There's not much in our poor human affairs,

34:17

sir, that was not known to the writer

34:19

of that book."

34:20

He turned and led the way with surprising

34:23

celerity, gliding along

34:25

in his thin-souled, square-toed,

34:27

clerical springside boots,

34:30

and came to a pause outside a nail-studied

34:32

door.

34:34

He opened it with a huge key,

34:36

and admitted me into a recess under the central

34:38

tower.

34:40

We mounted a spiral stone staircase

34:42

and passed along a corridor hardly

34:44

more than two feet wide, and so

34:46

dark that now and again I thrust out

34:49

my fingertips in search of his black velveted

34:51

gown to make sure of my guide.

34:55

This corridor at length conducted us

34:57

into a little room, whose only illumination

34:59

I gathered was that of the ebbing dusk from

35:02

within the cathedral.

35:04

The old man with trembling, rheumatic

35:06

fingers lit a candle,

35:08

and thrusting its stick into the middle

35:10

of an old oak table pushed open

35:13

yet another thick oaken door.

35:15

"'You'll

35:15

find a basin and a towel in there, sir,

35:18

if you be so kind."

35:20

I entered.

35:21

A print of the crucifixion was tin-tacked

35:24

to the panelled wall,

35:25

and beneath it stood a tin basin and

35:27

a jug on a stand.

35:29

Never was water sweeter.

35:32

I laved my face and hands and drank

35:34

deep,

35:35

my throat like a parched river-course

35:37

after a drought.

35:39

What appeared to be a tarnished censor

35:41

lay in one corner of the room,

35:43

a pair of seven-branched candlesticks

35:46

shared a recess with a mousetrap and

35:48

a book. My eyes

35:50

passed wearily yet gratefully from

35:52

one to another of those mute, discarded

35:55

objects,

35:56

while I stood, drying my hands.

36:00

He turned. The old man was standing

36:02

motionless before the spiked-barred grill

36:04

of the window,

36:05

peering out and down.

36:08

"'You asked me, sir,' he said, turning

36:10

his lank, waxen face into the feeble

36:12

rays of the candle. "'You asked

36:14

me, sir, a question which, if

36:17

I understood you right, was this. Was

36:20

there anything that had occurred previous

36:22

that would explain what I've been telling

36:24

you?' "'Well, sir, it's

36:26

a long story.' And one

36:29

best restricted to them, perhaps, that have

36:31

the good will of things at heart. "'All

36:33

Hallows,' I might say, sir, is my second

36:36

home.

36:36

I've been here boy and man for close

36:39

on fifty-five years. I've

36:41

seen four bishops pass away, and

36:43

have served under no less than five

36:45

several deans.

36:47

Dr. Pumphrey, poor gentleman, being

36:49

the last of the five.'

36:52

"'If such a word could be excused, sir,

36:54

it's no exaggeration to say that

36:57

cannon-leash his sugar is a greenhorn by

36:59

comparison, which may in part

37:01

be why he has never quite hit it off, as

37:03

they say with cannon-okkum,

37:05

or even with Archdeacon Trafford, though

37:07

he's another kind of gentleman altogether, and

37:10

he is at present abroad.

37:12

He had what they call a break-down

37:15

in health, sir.' "'Now, in my

37:17

humble opinion, what was required was

37:19

not only wisdom and knowledge, but

37:21

simple common sense.

37:24

"'In the circumstances I am about to

37:26

mention, it serves no purpose

37:28

for any of us to be talking too much,

37:30

to be forever sitting at a table with shut

37:32

doors and finger on lip, and discussing

37:35

what to most intents and purposes

37:37

would hardly be called evidence at all, sir.

37:40

What is the use of arguing,

37:43

splitting hairs, objectating

37:46

about trifles, when matters are sweeping

37:48

rapidly on from bad to worse? I

37:51

say it with all due respect, and not, I

37:53

hope, thrusting myself into what

37:55

doesn't concern me.' "'Dr.

37:57

Pawnfrey might be with us now

37:59

in his own' and reason if only

38:01

common caution had been observed.

38:04

But now that poor gentleman has gone

38:07

beyond all that, there is no hope

38:09

of action or agreement left, none whatsoever.

38:12

They meet and they meet, and they have

38:14

now one expert, now another,

38:16

down from London,

38:18

and even from the continent.

38:20

And I don't say they aren't knowledgeable

38:22

gentlemen either, nor a pride to

38:24

their profession. But why not

38:26

tell all? Why keep

38:28

back the very secret of what we know?

38:31

That's what I'm asking. And

38:34

what's the answer? Why

38:36

simply that they don't want to

38:38

believe what runs counter to

38:40

their hopes and wishes and credibilities

38:43

and comfort in this world?

38:45

That's why they keep out of sight as long

38:48

as decency permits.

38:50

Cananley Shugarn knows, sir,

38:53

what I know. And how, I

38:55

ask, is he going to get to grips with it at this

38:57

late day if he refuses to acknowledge

39:00

that such things are what every fragment

39:02

of evidence goes to prove that they are?

39:05

It's we, sir, and not

39:07

the rest of the heedless world outside,

39:10

who in the long and the short of it are responsible.

39:13

And what I say is,

39:15

no power or principality here

39:17

or hereunder can take possession of a place

39:20

while those inside have faith enough

39:22

to keep them out.

39:24

But once let that falter,

39:26

the seas are in.

39:29

And when I say no power, sir, I mean with

39:31

all deference,

39:32

even Satan himself.

39:35

The lean, lank face had set at the

39:37

word like a wax mask.

39:40

The black eyes beneath the heavy lids

39:42

were fixed on mine with an acute intensity,

39:45

and no more inscrutable things haunted

39:47

them

39:48

with an unfaltering courage.

39:51

So dense a hush hung about us

39:53

that the very stones of the walls seemed

39:56

to be of silence solidified.

39:58

It is curious. what a refreshment

40:01

of spirit a mere tin basin full

40:03

of water may be.

40:05

I stood, leaning against the edge

40:07

of the table,

40:08

so that the candlelight still rested

40:10

on my companion. "'What

40:12

is wrong here?' I asked

40:14

him boldly. He seemed

40:16

not to have expected so direct an inquiry.

40:19

"'Wrong, sir. Why? If I

40:21

might make so bold,' he replied

40:23

with a one, faraway smile, and

40:26

gently drawing his hand down one of the velvet

40:28

lapels of his gown.

40:30

"'If I might make so bold, sir,

40:32

I take it that you have come as a direct

40:35

answer to prayer,'

40:37

his voice faltered.

40:38

"'I am an old man now, and

40:41

nearly at the end of my tether.

40:43

You must realise, if you please, that

40:45

I can't get any help that I can understand.

40:48

I'm

40:48

not doubting that the gentlemen I've mentioned

40:51

of only the salvation of the cathedral at

40:53

heart.

40:54

The cause, sir, and a grave

40:56

a responsibility yet, but they

40:59

refuse to see how close to the

41:01

edge of things we are,

41:03

and how we are drifting.

41:05

Take mere situation.

41:07

So far as my knowledge tells me, there

41:09

is no sacred edifice in the whole

41:12

kingdom

41:13

of a peace, that is, with all hallows,

41:15

not only in mere size and age, but

41:18

in what I might call sanctity and tradition,

41:20

that is so open—open,

41:22

I mean, sir, to attack of

41:24

this peculiar and terrifying nature—terrifying—terrifying,

41:27

sir,

41:30

though I hold fast to what wits my

41:33

maker has bestowed upon me.

41:35

Where else, may I ask, would you expect

41:37

the powers of darkness to congregate

41:40

in open besiegement than

41:42

in this narrow valley? First,

41:44

the sea out there.

41:46

Are you aware, sir, that ever since living

41:48

remembrance, flood-tide has been gnawing

41:51

and mumbling its way into this bay, to

41:53

the extent of three or four feet per

41:55

annum?

41:56

Forty inches and forty inches

41:58

and forty inches caroding

42:01

on and on. Watch it, sir,

42:04

man and boy as I have these sixty

42:06

years past, and then make a century of

42:08

it,

42:09

not to mention positive leaps and

42:11

bounds. And now think

42:13

a moment of the floods and gales that fall

42:15

upon us autumn and winter through and even

42:17

in spring, when this valley is

42:20

like a paradise to young eyes in

42:22

any place on earth.

42:24

They make the roads from the nearest towns well

42:26

nigh impassable,

42:27

which means that for some months of the year

42:29

we are to all intents and purposes

42:32

clean cut off from the rest of the world

42:35

as the shingles out there are from the mainland.

42:37

Are you aware, sir, I

42:40

continue, that as we stand now

42:42

we are above a mile from traces of the nearest

42:44

human habitation and them merely

42:47

the relics of a burnt-out old farmstead?

42:50

I warrant that if and which God

42:52

forbid you had been shut up

42:54

here during the coming night and it was

42:56

a near thing but that you weren't, I

42:59

warrant you might have shouted yourself dumb

43:01

out of the nearest window if window you could

43:03

reach and not a human

43:05

soul to heed or help you.

43:08

I shifted my hands on the table.

43:11

It was tedious to be asking questions

43:13

that received only such vague and evasive

43:15

replies, and

43:16

it is always a little disconcerting in

43:18

the presence of a stranger to be spoken to

43:20

so close and with such positiveness.

43:23

Well, I smiled, I hope

43:26

I shouldn't have disgraced my nerves to such

43:28

an extreme as that. As

43:29

a small boy one of my particular

43:32

fancies was to spend a night in a pulpit.

43:34

There's a cushion, you know."

43:36

The old man's solemn glance

43:38

never swerved from my eyes.

43:41

"'But

43:41

I take it, sir,' he said, if you had

43:43

ventured to give out a text up there in

43:45

the dark hours your jocular

43:48

young mind would not have been prepared

43:50

for any kind of a congregation."

43:53

"'You mean,' I said a little sharply, "'that

43:55

the place is haunted?'

43:57

The absurd notion flitted across my mind

43:59

of

43:59

some wandering tribe of gypsies,

44:02

chancing on a refuge so ample

44:04

and isolated as this,

44:06

and taking up its quarters in its secret

44:08

parts.

44:09

The old church must be honeycombed with corridors

44:12

and passages and chambers, pretty

44:14

much like the one in which we are now concealed.

44:17

And what does Catholic imply but

44:19

an infinite hospitality within prescribed

44:22

limits?

44:23

But the old man had taken me at my word.

44:25

I mean, sir," he said firmly, shutting

44:28

his eyes, "'that

44:29

there are devilish agencies at work here.'"

44:32

He raised his hand. "'Don't I entreat

44:34

you, dismiss what I am saying as the wanderings

44:36

of a foolish old man?'

44:38

He drew a little nearer. "'I have

44:40

heard them with these ears. I have

44:44

seen them

44:45

with these eyes, though whether they

44:47

have any positive substance, sir, is

44:49

beyond my small knowledge to declare.

44:51

But

44:52

indeed might we expect their substance

44:55

to be.' "'First,

44:56

I take it,' says the book,

44:59

"'to be such as no man can by

45:01

learning define nor by wisdom

45:03

search out.' "'Is

45:05

that so?' "'Then I go

45:07

by the book. And next, what does

45:09

the same word, or very near

45:11

it,' I speak of the apocrypha, say

45:13

of their purpose? "'It

45:15

says, and correct me if I go astray,

45:17

"'Devils

45:18

are creatures made by

45:20

God, and that for

45:22

vengeance.' "'So far,

45:25

so good, sir. We stop

45:27

when we can go no further. Vengeance.

45:31

"'But of their power, of what can they do?

45:33

I can give you

45:36

definite evidences. It would be

45:38

a byword if once the rumor was spread abroad.

45:41

And if it is not so, why, I ask,

45:43

does every expert that comes here

45:46

leave us in haste and in dismay?

45:48

They

45:49

go off with their tails between their

45:51

legs.

45:53

They see, they grope in, but

45:55

they don't believe. They invent

45:57

reasons, and they hasten to us."

46:00

His face shook with the emphasis he

46:03

laid upon the word. "'Why?

46:05

Why? Because the experience

46:07

is beyond their knowledge, sir.'"

46:10

He drew back, breathless, and, as I

46:12

could see,

46:13

profoundly moved.

46:15

"'But surely,' I said, "'every old building

46:17

is bound in time to show symptoms of

46:19

decay.

46:20

Half the cathedral's in England, half its

46:23

churches even, of any age have been restored,

46:26

and in many cases with ghastly results,

46:28

this new grouting and so on. Why,

46:30

only the other day, all I

46:32

mean is, why should you

46:35

suppose mere wear and tear should be

46:37

caused by any other agency than—"

46:40

The old man turned away.

46:43

"'I must apologize,' interrupted

46:45

me, with his inimitable admixture of modesty

46:47

and dignity.

46:49

"'I'm a poor mouth at explanations, sir.

46:52

Decay, stress, strain, settling,

46:54

dissolution. I have heard those

46:56

words bandied from lip to lip like

46:59

a game at cup and ball.

47:01

They fill me with nausea.

47:02

Why?

47:04

I'm speaking not

47:06

of dissolution, sir,

47:08

but of repairs, restorations,

47:11

not decay, strengthening,

47:14

not a corroding loss, an awful

47:16

progress.

47:18

I could show you places, and chiefly

47:20

obscured from direct view and difficult of

47:22

a close examination, sir, where stones

47:25

lately as rotten as pumice and

47:27

as fretted as a sponge have been replaced

47:30

by others fresh quarried, and

47:32

nothing of their kind within twenty

47:34

miles.

47:36

There are spots where massive blocks

47:38

a yard or more square have been

47:40

pushed into place by sheer force.

47:44

All Hallows is safer at this moment

47:46

than it has been for three hundred years.

47:49

They meant well them who came to sea,

47:52

full of talk and fine language,

47:54

and went dumb away.

47:56

I grant you they meant well, I allow that

47:58

they hummed and they hoored."

48:00

They smirked this and they shrugged that.

48:02

But at heart, sir, they were cowed,

48:05

horrified, all at

48:07

a loss. Their very faces

48:09

showed it. But if you ask

48:11

me for what purpose such doings are afoot,

48:15

I have no answer.

48:17

None. But now,

48:19

supposing you yourself, sir, were one

48:22

of them and your reputed stake,

48:24

and you were called in to look at a house which the

48:27

owners of it and them who had it in trust

48:29

were disturbed by its being re-adificated

48:32

and restored by some agency

48:34

unknown to them.

48:36

Supposing that.

48:37

Why? And he rapped with his knuckles

48:39

on the table, being human and not

48:42

one of us. Mightn't you be

48:44

going away too with mouth shut

48:46

because you didn't want to get talked about

48:49

to your disadvantage? And wouldn't

48:51

you at last dismiss the whole

48:54

thing

48:54

as a foolish delusion

48:56

in the belief that living in out-of-the-way

48:59

parts like these cuts a man

49:01

off from the world,

49:02

breeds maggots in the mind? I

49:05

assure you they don't, not even Canon

49:07

Occam himself to the full.

49:09

They don't believe even me.

49:11

And yet when they have their meetings of the chapter,

49:14

they talk and wrangle around and

49:16

round about nothing else.

49:18

I can bear the other without a murmur.

49:20

What God sends, I say! We humans

49:23

deserve. We have laid ourselves

49:26

open to it. But when you buttress

49:28

up blindness and wickedness with downright

49:31

folly—why,

49:32

then, sir?

49:35

I sometimes fear for my own reason.

49:38

He set his shoulders as square as his

49:40

aged frame would permit,

49:42

and with fingers clutching the lapels beneath

49:44

his chin,

49:45

he stood gazing out into the darkness

49:47

through that narrow inward window.

49:50

Ah, sir, he began again.

49:53

I have not spent sixty years

49:55

in this solitary place without paying

49:57

heed to my own small wandering thoughts

49:59

and instincts.

49:59

instincts. Look at your newspapers,

50:02

sir.

50:03

What they call the Great War is over,

50:05

and he'd be a brave man who would take an oath

50:08

before heaven that that was only

50:10

of human designing.

50:12

And yet what do we see around us?

50:14

Nothing but strife and juggleries

50:16

and hatred and contempt and discord

50:18

wherever you look. I'm no

50:21

scholar, sir,

50:22

but so far as my knowledge and experience

50:24

carry me.

50:25

We human beings are living today

50:28

merely from hand to mouth.

50:30

We learn today what ought to have been done yesterday,

50:33

and yet are at a loss to know what's

50:35

to be done tomorrow. And

50:37

the church, sir, God forbid

50:40

I should push my way into what does not concern

50:42

me, and if you had told me half

50:45

an hour gone by that you were a regular churchman.

50:48

I shouldn't be pouring out all this to you

50:50

now.

50:51

It wouldn't be seemly.

50:53

But being not so

50:55

gives me confidence.

50:56

By merely listening you can help me, sir,

50:58

though you can't help us.

51:01

Centuries ago, and in my humble

51:03

judgment rightly, we broke away from

51:06

the parent's stem and rooted ourselves in

51:08

our own soil.

51:09

But right or wrong doesn't that

51:11

of itself I ask you make us all

51:13

the more open to attack from

51:16

him, who

51:17

never wearies in going to and fro

51:19

in the world seeking whom he may devour?

51:23

I'm not wishing you to take sides.

51:25

But a gentleman doesn't scoff.

51:27

You don't find him jeering at what he doesn't rightly

51:30

understand. He

51:31

keeps his own counsel, sir.

51:33

And that's where, as I say, canonly

51:36

sugar sets me doubting.

51:38

He refuses to make allowances, though

51:40

up there in London things may look

51:42

different. He gets his company there,

51:45

and then for him the whole kaleidoscope

51:48

changes,

51:49

if you take me.

51:50

The old man scanned me an instant,

51:52

as if inquiring within himself whether, after

51:55

all, I too might not be

51:57

one of the outcasts.

51:59

Sir," he went on dejectedly,

52:02

"'I

52:02

compare what may be to come. I can,

52:04

if need be, live on through what few

52:07

years may yet remain to me, and keep going,

52:09

as they say.

52:11

But only if I can be assured

52:13

that my own inmost senses

52:15

are not cheating and misleading me.

52:17

Tell me the worst, and you will have done an old

52:20

man a service he can never repay.

52:22

Tell me, on the other hand, that I am merely groping

52:25

along in the network of devilish delusion,

52:27

sir.

52:28

Well, in that case, I hope to be

52:30

with my master, with Dr. Pumphrey,

52:32

as soon as possible.

52:34

We were all children once,

52:36

and now there's nothing worse in this world for

52:38

him to come into in a manner of speaking.'

52:41

Oh, sir,

52:43

I sometimes wonder if what we call

52:46

childhood and growing up isn't a copy

52:48

of the fate of our ancient forefathers.

52:51

In the beginning of time there were fallen

52:53

angels, we are told,

52:55

but even if it weren't in holy

52:58

writ

52:58

we might have learnt it of our own fears

53:01

and misgivings.

53:02

I sometimes find myself looking

53:05

at a young child with little short of awe,

53:07

sir, knowing that within its mind

53:10

is a scene of peace and paradise

53:12

of which we older folk have no notion,

53:15

and which will fade out of it, as

53:18

life weighs on,

53:19

like the mere tabernacling of

53:21

a dream.'

53:23

There was no trace of unction in his speech,

53:25

though the phraseology might suggest it, and

53:27

he smiled at me as if in reassurance.

53:31

You see, sir, if I have any

53:33

true notion of the matter, then I say,

53:35

Heaven is dealing very gently with Dr.

53:38

Pumphrey.

53:39

He has gone back, and I take

53:41

it, his soul is elsewhere and at rest.

53:44

He had come a-pace a-too nearer,

53:46

and the candlelight now casts grotesque

53:48

shadows in the hollows of his brows and cheekbones,

53:51

silvering his long scanty hair.

53:54

The eyes dimming with age were fixed

53:56

on mine, as if incommunicable

53:59

in treaty.

53:59

I always had lost to answer him.

54:02

He dropped his hands to his side. The fact

54:04

is, he looked cautiously about him.

54:07

What I am now being so bold as to

54:09

suggest, though it's a familiar enough experience

54:12

to me, may put you

54:14

in

54:15

actual physical danger.

54:17

But then, duties duty and a deed

54:19

of kindness from a stranger to stranger

54:21

quite another matter. You seem to have

54:24

come, if I may say so,

54:26

in a nick of time. That was all.

54:28

On the other hand, we can leave the building at once

54:31

if you are so minded. In any case,

54:33

we must be gone well before dark sets

54:35

in.

54:36

Even mere human beings are best not disturbed

54:39

at any night-time work they may be after.

54:42

The dark brings recklessness.

54:44

Conscience cannot see as clear in the dark.

54:47

Besides, I once delayed too long myself.

54:50

There's

54:51

not much of day left even now,

54:53

though I see by the almanac there

54:56

should be a slip of moon tonight,

54:58

unless the sky is overclouded.

55:00

All that I am meaning is that all in all,

55:03

so to speak, is the calm, untrammeled

55:05

evidence of the outer senses, sir.

55:08

And there comes a time when,

55:10

well, one hesitates

55:12

to trust one's own. I

55:14

have read somewhere that it is only

55:16

its setting, the shape, the line, the

55:18

fold, the angle of the lid, and so on, that

55:21

gives its finer shades of meaning and

55:23

significance to the human eye.

55:25

Looking into his, even in that

55:27

narrow and melancholy illumination,

55:30

was like pondering over a grey, salt,

55:33

desolate pool, such as sometimes

55:35

neighbors the sea on a flat and dangerous

55:37

coast.

55:39

Perhaps, if I had been a little

55:41

less credulous or best

55:43

exhausted,

55:44

I should by now have begun to doubt

55:46

this old creature's sanity.

55:49

And yet, surely, at even the faintest

55:51

contact with the insane, a sentinel

55:54

in the mind sends up flares and warnings.

55:57

The very landscape changes. There is

55:59

a sense of insecurity.

56:01

If, too, the characters inscribed

56:03

by age and experience on a man's

56:05

face can be evidence of goodness and simplicity,

56:08

then my companion was safe

56:10

enough.

56:11

To trust in his sagacity

56:14

was another matter. But

56:16

then

56:17

there was all Hallows itself

56:19

to take into account.

56:22

That first glimpse from my green headland

56:24

of its lowering yet lovely walls had been strangely

56:26

moving. There are buildings, almost

56:29

as though they were once copies of originals

56:31

now half forgotten in the human mind,

56:33

that have a singular influence on the imagination.

56:36

Even now, in this remote candlelit

56:39

room, immured between its massive

56:41

stones, the vast edifice seemed

56:44

to be gently and furtively fretting

56:46

its impression on my mind.

56:48

I glanced again at the old man.

56:50

He had turned aside, as if to leave

56:52

me, unbiased to my own

56:54

decision. How would a lifetime

56:57

spent between these sombre walls have affected

56:59

me? I wondered. Surely

57:02

it would be an act of mere decency

57:04

to indulge their worn-out hermit. He

57:07

had appealed to me. If I

57:09

were ten times more reluctant to follow

57:11

him, I could hardly refuse.

57:13

Not at any rate without risking a retreat

57:16

as humiliating as that of the architectural

57:18

experts he had referred to with my

57:20

tail between my legs.

57:22

I only wish I could hope to be of any real help.

57:26

He turned about, his expression changed,

57:28

as if at the coming of a light.

57:30

Why, then, sir, let us be gone at once.

57:33

You are with me, sir, that was all I hoped

57:35

and asked.

57:36

And now—there's

57:37

no time to waste—he

57:38

tilted his head to listen

57:40

a moment. With that large, flat,

57:43

shell-like ear of his which age

57:45

alone seems to produce. Matches

57:47

and candles, sir, he had lowered his voice

57:49

to a whisper.

57:51

But as though we mustn't lose

57:53

each other, you and me—I mean,

57:55

not, I think, a naked light—what

57:58

I would suggest, if you have no objection—

57:59

direction,

58:00

is your kindly grasping my gown.

58:04

There's a kind of streamer here, you see,

58:06

as if made for the purpose.

58:08

There will be a good deal of up and downing,

58:11

but I know the building blindfold, and as

58:13

you might say inch by inch, and now

58:15

that the bell-ringers have given up ringing, it

58:18

is more in my charge than ever."

58:20

He stood back and looked at me with folded hands,

58:23

whimsical, childlike smile on

58:25

his aged face.

58:27

I sometimes think to myself, I'm like

58:29

the sentry sir, in that play by William

58:31

Shakespeare. I saw it sir, years ago,

58:34

on my only visit to London when I was

58:36

a boy. If ever there were a

58:38

villain for all his fine talk and all, commend

58:41

me to that ghost. I see him yet.

58:44

Whisper, though it was, a sort of chirrup

58:46

had come into his voice, like that of

58:49

a cricket in a baker's shop.

58:51

I took tight hold of the velveted tag

58:53

of his gown.

58:54

He opened the door, pressed the box of

58:56

safety matches into my hand, himself

58:59

grasped the candlestick,

59:01

and then

59:02

blew out the light.

59:05

We were instantly marooned in an impenetrable

59:08

darkness. Now, sir, if

59:10

you would kindly remove your walking shoes,

59:13

he muttered close in my ear, you

59:15

should proceed with less noise.

59:18

I shan't hurry you, and please to

59:20

tug at the streamer if you need attention.

59:23

In a few minutes the blackness will

59:25

be less intense.

59:27

As I stooped down to loose my shoelaces,

59:30

I heard my heart thumping merrily

59:32

away. It

59:33

had been listening to our conversation, apparently.

59:36

I slung my shoes around my neck, as

59:38

I often had done as a boy when going

59:40

paddling, and we set out

59:43

on our expedition.

59:45

I have endured too often the nightmare

59:48

of being lost and abandoned in the stony

59:50

bowels of some strange and prodigious

59:53

building to take such an adventure likely.

59:56

I clung, I confess, desperately

59:58

tight to my lifeline.

1:00:00

And we groped steadily onward,

1:00:02

my guide ever and again turning

1:00:04

back to mutter warning or encouragement

1:00:07

in my ear.

1:00:08

Now I found myself steadily

1:00:11

ascending,

1:00:12

and then in a while feeling my way

1:00:14

down flights of hollowly worn stone

1:00:16

steps, and a non-brushing along

1:00:18

a gallery or corkscrewing up a

1:00:21

newel staircase so narrow that

1:00:23

my shoulders all but touched the walls on either

1:00:25

side.

1:00:26

In spite of the sepulchral chill in these

1:00:28

bowels of the cathedral, I was soon

1:00:31

suffocatingly hot,

1:00:33

and the effort to see became intolerably

1:00:35

fatiguing.

1:00:37

Once to recover our breath we paused,

1:00:39

obviously to slit, in the thickness of

1:00:41

the masonry, at which to breathe

1:00:43

the tepid sweetness of the outer air.

1:00:46

It was faint with the scent of wild flowers

1:00:49

and cool of the sea.

1:00:51

And presently after, at a barred window

1:00:53

high overhead, I caught a glimpse

1:00:55

of the night's first stars.

1:00:58

We then turned inward once more,

1:01:01

ascending yet another spiral staircase,

1:01:03

and now the intense darkness had thinned

1:01:06

a little,

1:01:06

the groined roof above us becoming faintly

1:01:09

discernible.

1:01:10

A fresher air softly found my cheek,

1:01:13

and then trembling fingers groped

1:01:15

over my breast, and cold and bony

1:01:17

clutched my own.

1:01:20

Dead still here, sir,

1:01:22

if you please.

1:01:25

So close sounded the whispered syllables,

1:01:27

the voice might have been a messenger's within

1:01:29

my own consciousness.

1:01:31

Dead still here, there's

1:01:32

a drop of

1:01:35

some sixty or seventy feet

1:01:37

a few paces on.

1:01:39

I peered out across the abyss, conscious as

1:01:41

it seemed of the huge, super-incumbent

1:01:44

weight of the noble-freted roof,

1:01:46

only a small space now, immediately

1:01:49

above our heads.

1:01:50

As we approached the edge of this stony

1:01:52

precipice, the gloom paled a little,

1:01:55

and I guessed that we must be standing

1:01:57

in some coin of the sudden transept.

1:01:59

for what light the evening skies now

1:02:02

afforded was clearer towards the right.

1:02:05

On the other hand, it seemed the northern

1:02:07

windows opposite us were most of them boarded

1:02:09

up or obscured in some fashion.

1:02:13

Gazing out, I could detect scaffolding

1:02:15

poles like knitting needles,

1:02:17

thrust out from the walls and the balloon-like

1:02:19

spread of canvas above them.

1:02:21

For the moment my ear was haunted by

1:02:24

what appeared to be the droning of an immense

1:02:26

insect,

1:02:27

but this presently ceased.

1:02:29

I fancy it was internal only.

1:02:32

You will understand, sir,

1:02:34

breathe the old man close beside me,

1:02:37

and we still stood grotesquely enough

1:02:39

hand in hand. Scaffolding

1:02:41

over there has been in position a good many

1:02:43

months now. It was put up when the last

1:02:46

gentleman came down from London to inspect the

1:02:48

fabric,

1:02:49

and it's been left there ever since.

1:02:51

Now, sir, though I implore you

1:02:54

to be cautious. I

1:02:57

hardly needed the warning. With

1:02:59

one hand clutching my box of matches, the

1:03:01

fingers of the other interlaced with my companions,

1:03:04

I strained every sense.

1:03:07

And yet, I could detect not the

1:03:09

faintest stir or murmur under

1:03:11

that wide-spreading roof.

1:03:13

Only a hush as profound as that

1:03:15

which must reign in the royal chamber of

1:03:18

the Pyramid of Cheops faintly

1:03:20

swirled

1:03:21

in the labyrinths of my ear.

1:03:24

How long we stayed in this position, I cannot

1:03:26

say, but

1:03:27

minutes sometimes seemed like hours.

1:03:30

And then, without the slightest warning, I

1:03:32

became aware of a peculiar and incessant

1:03:34

vibration.

1:03:36

It is impossible to give a name to it.

1:03:38

It suggested the remote whirring

1:03:40

of an enormous millstone, or that,

1:03:43

though without definite pulsation,

1:03:45

or revolving wings,

1:03:48

or even the spinning of an

1:03:50

immense top.

1:03:52

In spite of his age, my companion apparently

1:03:54

had ears as acute as mine.

1:03:56

He had clutched me tighter a full ten

1:03:58

seconds before I my sense.

1:03:59

self became aware of this disturbance

1:04:02

of the air. He pressed closer.

1:04:05

Do you see that, sir? I

1:04:08

gazed and gazed and saw nothing.

1:04:10

Indeed, even in what I had seemed to hear I

1:04:13

might have been deceived.

1:04:14

Nothing is more treacherous in certain circumstances

1:04:17

except possibly the eye than the

1:04:20

ear.

1:04:20

It magnifies, distorts, and

1:04:22

may even invent.

1:04:24

As instantaneously as I had become

1:04:27

aware of it, the murmur

1:04:29

had ceased.

1:04:30

And then, though I cannot be certain,

1:04:32

it seemed the dingy and voluminous

1:04:34

spread of canvas over there had

1:04:36

perceptibly trembled,

1:04:38

as if a huge cautious hand had

1:04:41

been thrust out to draw it aside.

1:04:43

No time was given to me to make sure the

1:04:46

old man had hastily withdrawn me into

1:04:48

the opening of the wall through which we had

1:04:50

issued.

1:04:51

And we made no pause in our retreat

1:04:54

until we had come again to the narrow slit

1:04:56

of window which I have spoken of,

1:04:59

and could refresh ourselves with a less stagnant

1:05:01

air.

1:05:03

We stood here resting a while.

1:05:06

Well, sir, being

1:05:07

quite at last in the same flat, muffled

1:05:09

tones. Do

1:05:10

you ever pass along here alone?

1:05:13

I whispered. Oh, yes, sir.

1:05:16

I make it a habit to be the last to leave,

1:05:19

and often the first to come.

1:05:21

But I'm usually gone by this hour.

1:05:24

I looked close at the dim face in profile

1:05:26

against that narrow oblong of night.

1:05:29

It's so difficult to be sure of oneself,

1:05:31

I said. Have you actually ever

1:05:34

encountered anything, near at hand, I mean?

1:05:37

I keep a sharp look out, sir. Maybe

1:05:39

they don't think me of enough importance to molest,

1:05:42

the last rat, as they say. But

1:05:45

have you? I might myself have been

1:05:48

communicating with the fantasmal genius

1:05:50

Loki of all hallows, our

1:05:52

muffled voices, this intense caution

1:05:55

and secret listening,

1:05:56

a slight breathlessness, as if

1:05:58

at any instant one's

1:05:59

hearts were ready for flight.

1:06:02

But have you?" "'Well,

1:06:05

yes, sir,' he said. "'And

1:06:08

in this very gallery?'

1:06:10

"'They nearly had me, sir. But by good

1:06:12

fortune there's a recess a little further

1:06:14

on, stored up with some old fragments

1:06:17

of carving from the original building, sixth

1:06:19

century,' so it said,

1:06:21

stone capitals, heads and hands and such like.

1:06:24

I had had my warning, and managed

1:06:27

to leap in there and conceal myself, but

1:06:29

only just in time.

1:06:31

"'Indeed, sir, I confess I was in such

1:06:33

a condition of terror and horror I turned

1:06:35

my back. You mean you

1:06:37

heard but didn't look and something

1:06:41

came?' "'Yes,

1:06:43

sir. I seemed

1:06:46

to be reduced to no bigger than a child,

1:06:48

huddled up there in that corner. There

1:06:52

was a sound like clanging

1:06:54

metal,

1:06:55

but I don't think it was metal.

1:06:58

It drew near at a furious speed, then

1:07:00

passed me, making a filthy gust

1:07:03

of wind. For some instance I

1:07:05

couldn't breathe. The air was gone.

1:07:08

And

1:07:09

no other sound.

1:07:11

No other, sir, except—out

1:07:14

of the distance—a noise

1:07:16

like the sounding of a stupendous kind

1:07:18

of gibberish,

1:07:19

a calling or so it seemed.

1:07:22

No human sound.

1:07:25

The air shook with it. You see, sir, I

1:07:28

myself wasn't of any consequence, I

1:07:30

take it, unless mere obstruction

1:07:32

in the way.

1:07:33

But I have heard it said, somewhere, that

1:07:36

the rarity of these happenings is only because

1:07:38

it's a pain and a torment, and

1:07:40

not any sort of pleasure for such beings, such

1:07:43

apparitions, sir, good or bad, to

1:07:46

visit our outward world.

1:07:48

That's what I've heard said, though

1:07:50

I can go no further.

1:07:53

The time I'm telling you of was

1:07:55

in the early winter, November.

1:07:58

There was a dense sea-fire—'

1:07:59

fog over the valley, I remember.

1:08:03

It eddied through that opening there into

1:08:05

the candlelight like flowing milk.

1:08:08

I never light up now, and if I may

1:08:10

be forgiven the boast, sir, I

1:08:13

seem to have almost forgotten how to be

1:08:15

afraid.

1:08:16

After all, in any walk of life a man

1:08:18

can only do his best,

1:08:20

and if there weren't such opposition and hindrances

1:08:22

in high places I should have nothing to

1:08:24

complain of.

1:08:25

What is anybody's life, sir, come past

1:08:28

the gaiety of youth?

1:08:29

But marking time.

1:08:32

Did you hear anything then, sir? These

1:08:35

gentle, monotonous, mumbling,

1:08:37

seast and we listen together,

1:08:39

but every ancient edifice has voices

1:08:42

and soundings of its own.

1:08:44

There was nothing audible that I could put a name

1:08:47

to,

1:08:47

only what seemed to be a faint,

1:08:50

perpetual stir or whir of

1:08:52

grinding, such as to one's

1:08:55

overstimulated senses, the stabilest

1:08:57

stones set one on top of the other, with

1:09:00

an ever slightly varying weight

1:09:02

and stress might be likely to make

1:09:04

perceptible in a world of matter.

1:09:06

A world which, after all they

1:09:08

say, is itself in unimaginably

1:09:11

rapid rotation

1:09:13

and under the tyranny of time.

1:09:16

No, I hear nothing, I

1:09:18

answered, but please don't think I'm

1:09:20

doubting what you say. Far

1:09:22

from it.

1:09:23

You must remember I am a stranger and that

1:09:25

therefore the influence of the place cannot

1:09:28

be but less apparent to me.

1:09:31

And you have no help in this now?

1:09:33

No, sir, not now.

1:09:35

But even at the best of times we had small company

1:09:38

hereabouts and no money,

1:09:40

not for any substantial outlay I mean,

1:09:42

and not even the boldest suggests making

1:09:45

what's called a public appeal.

1:09:47

It's a strange thing to me, sir, but whenever

1:09:49

the newspapers get hold of anything they turn

1:09:52

it into a byword and a sham.

1:09:54

Yet how can they help themselves?

1:09:56

With no beliefs to guide them and nothing to

1:09:58

stay their mouths except

1:09:59

about what for sheer human decency's

1:10:02

sake they don't talk about.

1:10:04

But then who am I to complain?

1:10:07

And now, sir," he continued with a sigh

1:10:09

of utter weariness, "'if you are sufficiently

1:10:12

rested,

1:10:13

would you perhaps follow me on to the roof?

1:10:15

It's the last visit I make, though

1:10:17

by rights perhaps I should take in what

1:10:19

there is of the tower,

1:10:21

but I'm too old for that now, clambering

1:10:23

and climbing over naked beams,

1:10:25

and the ladders are not so safe as they were.'

1:10:29

We had not far to go.

1:10:30

The old man drew open a squat,

1:10:32

heavily ironed door at the head of a

1:10:35

flight of wooden steps.

1:10:36

It was latched but not bolted,

1:10:38

and admitted us at once to the leaden roof of

1:10:40

the building and to the immense amphitheatre

1:10:43

of evening. The last faint

1:10:45

hues of sunset were fading in the west, and

1:10:48

silver-bright spicers shared with the

1:10:50

tilted crescent of the moon the serene,

1:10:52

lagoon-like expanse of sky above

1:10:54

the sea.

1:10:56

Even at this height the air was audibly

1:10:58

stirred with the low lullaby of the tide.

1:11:01

The staircase

1:11:03

by which we had come out was surmounted by

1:11:05

a large, flat penthouse roof,

1:11:08

about seven feet high.

1:11:10

We edged softly along, then paused

1:11:12

once more, to find ourselves now all

1:11:14

but tête-à-tête with the gigantic

1:11:17

figures that stood sentinel,

1:11:19

at the base of the buttresses to the unfinished

1:11:21

tower.

1:11:22

The tower was so far unfinished, indeed,

1:11:25

as to wear the appearance of the ruinous,

1:11:27

besides which would appear to be scars

1:11:30

and stains as if a fire were

1:11:32

detectable on some of its stones,

1:11:35

reminding me of the legend which years before

1:11:37

I had chanced upon

1:11:39

that this stretch of coast had more

1:11:41

than once been visited centuries ago by

1:11:43

pillaging Norsemen.

1:11:45

The night was unfathomably clear

1:11:47

and still. On our left rose

1:11:49

the conical bluff of the headland crowned

1:11:51

with the solitary grove of trees beneath which

1:11:54

I had taken refuge from the blinding sunshine

1:11:56

that very afternoon.

1:11:59

Its grasses were

1:11:59

now horrid with faintest moonlight.

1:12:02

Far to the right stretched the flat,

1:12:05

cold plain of the Atlantic, that

1:12:07

enormous darkened-looking glass of

1:12:09

space,

1:12:10

only a distant lightship ever and again

1:12:12

stealthily signalling to us with

1:12:15

a lean, phosphoric finger from

1:12:17

its outermost reaches.

1:12:19

The mere sense of that abysm

1:12:22

of space,

1:12:23

its waste powdered with the stars

1:12:25

of the Milky Way,

1:12:27

the mere presence of the stony leviathan

1:12:30

on whose back we two humans now stood,

1:12:33

dwarfed into insignificance

1:12:35

beside these gesturing images of

1:12:37

stone,

1:12:38

were enough of themselves to excite the imagination.

1:12:41

And, whether matter of fact or pure

1:12:43

delusion, this old verger's

1:12:45

insinuations that the cathedral was

1:12:47

now menaced by some inconceivable

1:12:50

danger and assault had set my

1:12:52

nerves on edge. My feet were

1:12:54

numb as the lead they stood upon,

1:12:56

while the tips of my fingers tingled as if

1:12:59

a powerful electric discharge were coursing

1:13:01

through my body.

1:13:03

We moved gently on, the

1:13:04

spare shape of the old man a few

1:13:06

steps ahead,

1:13:07

peering cautiously to right and left of

1:13:09

him as we advanced.

1:13:11

Once, with a hasty gesture, he drew me

1:13:13

back and fixed his eyes for a full minute

1:13:16

on a figure, at

1:13:17

two removes, which were silhouetted

1:13:19

at that moment against the starry emptiness.

1:13:22

A forbidding thing enough, viewed

1:13:24

in his vague luminosity, which seemed

1:13:27

in spite of the unmoving stare that

1:13:29

I fixed on it to be perceptibly stirring

1:13:32

on its wind-worn pedestal.

1:13:34

But now,

1:13:35

all's well,

1:13:37

the man had mutely signaled to me, and

1:13:39

we pushed on,

1:13:41

slowly and cautiously.

1:13:43

Indeed, I had time to notice in passing

1:13:46

that this particular figure held stretched

1:13:48

in its right hand a bent bow

1:13:50

and was crowned with a high-weather war-stone

1:13:53

coronet.

1:13:55

One and all were frigid company.

1:13:58

At last, we complete our circuit

1:14:00

of the tower,

1:14:01

had come back to the place we had set out from,

1:14:04

and stood eyeing one another like two

1:14:06

conspirators in a clear dusk.

1:14:09

Maybe there

1:14:10

was a tinge of incredulity on my

1:14:12

face.

1:14:13

"'No, sir,' murmured the old man, "'I

1:14:15

expected no other.

1:14:16

The night is uncommonly quiet.

1:14:19

I have noticed that before.

1:14:21

They seem to leave us at peace on nights of

1:14:23

quiet. We must turn in again,

1:14:25

begetting home.'

1:14:27

Until that moment I had thought no more of where

1:14:30

I was to sleep or to get food, nor

1:14:32

had even realized how famished with hunger

1:14:34

I was.

1:14:35

Nevertheless, the notion of fumbling down

1:14:37

again out of the open air into

1:14:39

the narrow, inward blackness of the walls

1:14:42

from which we had just issued was singularly

1:14:45

uninviting.

1:14:46

Across these wide, flat stretches

1:14:49

of roof there was at least space for

1:14:51

flight,

1:14:52

and there were recesses for concealment.

1:14:55

To gain a moment's respite I inquired

1:14:57

if I should have much difficulty in getting a bed

1:15:00

in the village,

1:15:01

and, as I had hoped, the old

1:15:03

man himself offered me hospitality.

1:15:06

I thanked him, but still hesitated to

1:15:08

follow,

1:15:09

for at that moment I was trying to discover

1:15:12

what peculiar effect of dusk and darkness

1:15:14

a moment before had deceived me into

1:15:16

the belief that some small animal,

1:15:19

a dog, a spaniel, I should have guessed,

1:15:22

had suddenly and surreptitiously taken

1:15:24

cover behind the stone buttress nearby.

1:15:27

But that apparently had been a mere illusion.

1:15:30

The creature, whatever it might be, was

1:15:32

no barker at any rate.

1:15:35

Nothing stirred now,

1:15:36

and my companion seemed to have noticed nothing

1:15:38

amiss.

1:15:39

"'You were saying,' I pressed him, that when

1:15:42

repairs, restorations of the building

1:15:44

were in contemplation, even the experts

1:15:46

were perplexed by what they discovered.

1:15:49

What did they actually say?

1:15:51

Say, sir?"

1:15:53

Our voices sounded as small and meaningless

1:15:55

up here as those of grasshoppers in a

1:15:57

nunday meadow.

1:15:59

Examine— that balustrade which you're leaning

1:16:01

against at this minute.

1:16:03

Look at that annoying and fretting,

1:16:05

that furrowing above the lead.

1:16:07

All that is almost wear and tear,

1:16:10

constant weathering of the mere elements,

1:16:12

sir, rain and wind, and

1:16:14

snow and frost.

1:16:16

That's honest nature, work,

1:16:18

sir. But now compare it, if

1:16:20

you please, with this St. Mark here. And

1:16:22

remember, sir, these images

1:16:24

were intended to be part and parcel of the

1:16:26

fabric as you might say, centuries

1:16:29

on a castle,

1:16:30

symbols, you understand.

1:16:34

I stooped close under the huge grey creature

1:16:36

of stone until my eyes were scarcely

1:16:39

more than six inches from its pedestal.

1:16:41

And unless the moon deceived me,

1:16:44

I confess I could not find

1:16:46

the slightest trace of fret

1:16:48

or friction. Far from it,

1:16:51

the stone had been grotesquely decorated

1:16:53

in low relief with a gaping crocodile,

1:16:56

a two-headed crocodile, and

1:16:58

the angles, nubs and undulations of

1:17:00

the creature were cut as sharp

1:17:02

as with a knife in cheese. I

1:17:04

drew back.

1:17:06

Now cast your glance upward, sir.

1:17:09

Is that what you would call a saintly

1:17:11

shape and gesture?

1:17:13

What appeared to represent an eagle was

1:17:15

perched on the image's lifted wrist, an

1:17:17

eagle resembling a vulture. The

1:17:20

head beneath it was poised at an angle

1:17:22

of defiance,

1:17:23

its ears abnormally erected on

1:17:25

the skull, the lean right forearm

1:17:28

extended with pointing forefinger

1:17:30

as if in derision.

1:17:33

Its stony gaze was fixed upon the stars,

1:17:36

its whole aspect was hostile, sinister

1:17:39

and intimidating.

1:17:41

I drew aside. The faintest

1:17:43

puff of milkwarm air from over

1:17:45

the sea stirred on my cheek.

1:17:47

Aye, sir, and so with one or two of

1:17:49

the rest of them, the old man commented

1:17:52

as he watched me,

1:17:53

there are other wills than the almighty's.

1:17:57

Add this, the pent-up excitement within me

1:17:59

broke.

1:17:59

bounds, this nebulous, insinuatory

1:18:03

talk. I all but lost my temper. I

1:18:05

can't for the life of me understand what you're saying,"

1:18:07

I exclaimed in a voice that astonished

1:18:10

me with its shrill volume of sound

1:18:12

in that intense lofty quiet.

1:18:15

One doesn't repair in order

1:18:17

to destroy. The

1:18:19

old man met me without flinching.

1:18:22

No, sir. Say you so.

1:18:25

And why not?

1:18:27

Are there not two kinds of change in this

1:18:29

world?

1:18:30

A building up

1:18:31

and a breaking down? To

1:18:33

give strength and endurance for evil

1:18:36

or misguided purposes, would that

1:18:38

power be wasted if such was

1:18:40

your aim?

1:18:41

Why, sir, isn't that true even

1:18:43

of the human mind and heart?

1:18:45

We are here on the outskirts, I grant.

1:18:48

But where would you expect the enemy

1:18:50

to show himself unless in the outer

1:18:53

defences? An institution

1:18:55

may be beyond saving, sir. It may be

1:18:57

being restored for a worse destruction,

1:19:00

and a hundred trumpeting voices would

1:19:02

make no difference when the faith and

1:19:04

life within is tottering to its fall.

1:19:08

Somehow this muddle of metaphors reassured

1:19:10

me. Obviously the old man's wits

1:19:13

had worn a little thin. He was the

1:19:15

victim of an intelligible but monstrous

1:19:18

hallucination.

1:19:20

And yet you are taking it for granted

1:19:22

I expostulated that if what you say

1:19:24

is true a stranger could be of

1:19:26

the slightest help, a visitor,

1:19:28

mind you, who hasn't been inside the doors

1:19:31

of a church except in search of what

1:19:33

is old and obsolete for years.

1:19:36

The old man

1:19:38

laid a trembling hand upon my sleeve,

1:19:40

the folly of it, with my shoes

1:19:42

hanging like ludicrous millstones round

1:19:44

my neck. "'If you please, sir,' he

1:19:47

pleaded, "'have a little patience

1:19:49

with me. I

1:19:50

am preaching at nobody.

1:19:52

I am not even hinting that them outside

1:19:54

the fold, circumstantially speaking,

1:19:56

aren't of the flock.

1:19:58

All in good time, sir.'"

1:19:59

The Almighty's time.

1:20:01

Maybe with all due respect it's from them

1:20:04

within that

1:20:05

we have most to fear.

1:20:06

And indeed, sir, believe an old man.

1:20:09

I could never express the gratitude I

1:20:11

feel.

1:20:12

You have given me the occasion to un-buzzen myself

1:20:15

to make a clean breast as they say.

1:20:17

All Hallows is my earthly home, and,

1:20:20

well there, let us say no more.

1:20:23

You couldn't help me,

1:20:24

except only by your presence here.

1:20:27

God alone knows who can.

1:20:30

At that instant a dull, enormous

1:20:32

rumble reverberated from within the building,

1:20:35

as if a huge boulder or block of stone

1:20:37

had been shifted or dislodged in the

1:20:40

fabric, a peculiar grinding,

1:20:42

nerve-wracking sound,

1:20:44

and for the fraction of a second the flags

1:20:46

on which we stood

1:20:47

seemed to tremble beneath our feet.

1:20:50

The fingers tightened on my arm.

1:20:53

Come, sir, keep close. We

1:20:55

must be gone at once, the quavering old

1:20:57

voice whispered. We have stayed

1:21:00

too long. For we

1:21:02

emerged into the night at last without mishap.

1:21:05

The little western door, above which the

1:21:07

grinning head had welcomed me on my arrival,

1:21:10

admitted us to terra firma again, and

1:21:12

we made our way up a deep

1:21:14

sandy track bordered by clumps

1:21:17

of hemp agrimony and fennel and

1:21:19

hemlock, with viper's buclos

1:21:21

and sea-poppy blooming in the gentle

1:21:23

dusk of night at our feet.

1:21:26

We turned when we reached the summit of this

1:21:28

sandy incline and looked

1:21:30

back.

1:21:32

All hallows vague and enormous

1:21:34

lay beneath us in its hollow,

1:21:36

resembling some natural prehistoric

1:21:38

outcrop of that sea-worn, rock-bound

1:21:41

coast, but strangely human

1:21:44

and saturnine. The air

1:21:47

was mild as milk, a pool

1:21:49

of faintest sweetnesses,

1:21:51

gorse, bracken, heather,

1:21:54

and not a rumour disturbed its calm, except

1:21:56

only the furtive and sturderest

1:21:59

sighings of

1:21:59

the tide.

1:22:01

But far out to sea,

1:22:03

and beneath the horizon the summer lightnings

1:22:06

were now in idle play,

1:22:08

flickering into the sky like the unfolding

1:22:10

of a signal,

1:22:11

planet to planet,

1:22:13

then gone.

1:22:15

That alone, and perhaps too this

1:22:17

feeble moonlight glinting on the ancient

1:22:20

glass, may have accounted for the

1:22:22

faint vitreous glare that seemed

1:22:24

ever and again to glitter across the windows

1:22:27

of the northern transept far beneath us.

1:22:30

And yet how easily deceived

1:22:33

is the imagination.

1:22:35

This old man's talk still echoing

1:22:37

in my ear, I could have vowed

1:22:39

this was no reflection

1:22:41

but the glow

1:22:42

of some light

1:22:44

shining fitfully from within, outwards.

1:22:48

We pause together beside a flowering bush

1:22:51

of fuchsia at the wicket-gate leading into

1:22:53

his small square of country garden.

1:22:56

You forgive me, sir, for mentioning it, but

1:22:58

I make it a rule as far as possible

1:23:00

to leave all my troubles and misgivings outside

1:23:03

when I come home. My daughter is

1:23:05

a widow, and not long in that

1:23:07

sad condition, so I keep as happy a face

1:23:09

as I can on things. And yet, well,

1:23:12

sir, I wonder at times if

1:23:15

a personal sacrifice isn't incumbent

1:23:17

on them that have their object most at heart.

1:23:20

I go out myself very willingly, sir, I can

1:23:22

assure you, if there was any certainty

1:23:25

in my mind that it would serve the cause,

1:23:27

it would be little to me if—he

1:23:30

made no attempt to complete the sentence.

1:23:33

On my way to bed that night the old man

1:23:35

led me in on tiptoe to show me his

1:23:37

grandson.

1:23:39

His daughter watched me intently as I stooped

1:23:41

over the child's cot,

1:23:43

with that bird-like solicitude which

1:23:45

all mothers show in the presence of a stranger.

1:23:47

Her

1:23:48

small son was of that fairness

1:23:51

which almost suggests the unreal.

1:23:53

He had flung back his bedclothes as

1:23:55

if innocence in this world needed

1:23:57

no covering or defence, and

1:23:59

lay at ease,

1:24:01

the dews of sleep on lip and cheek

1:24:03

and forehead. It

1:24:05

was breathing so quietly

1:24:07

that not the least movement of shoulder

1:24:09

or narrow breast was perceptible.

1:24:12

The lovely thing, I muttered, staring

1:24:14

at him.

1:24:15

Where is he now, I wonder?

1:24:17

His mother lifted her face and smiled at

1:24:20

me with a drowsy, ecstatic happiness,

1:24:22

then sighed.

1:24:25

And from out of the distance

1:24:27

there came the first prolonged whisper

1:24:29

of a wind from over the sea.

1:24:32

It was eleven by my watch, the storm

1:24:35

after the long heat of the day seemed to

1:24:37

be drifting inland,

1:24:38

but all hallows, apparently,

1:24:41

had forgotten to wind its clock.

1:25:00

So that was All Hallows

1:25:02

by Walter de la Mer. It's one of his best regarded

1:25:05

supernatural stories. It's quite long.

1:25:07

It just clocks in just under an hour and a half.

1:25:10

I

1:25:10

had some trouble recording it because I'd get lots of

1:25:12

interruptions. The bell was going, the dogs were

1:25:14

fighting,

1:25:17

Sheila came back. So it was a difficult

1:25:20

one to record. And also I found myself, as

1:25:22

I was getting tired, I was tripping over

1:25:24

the ornate sentences.

1:25:26

I mean, de la Mer was a poet,

1:25:28

but

1:25:30

he loves ornate language, isn't

1:25:32

he? And sometimes the sentences were really

1:25:34

hard in the vocabulary and I had to

1:25:36

really struggle. I needed to enunciate.

1:25:39

And as I was getting tired, I was tripping

1:25:41

up, unfathomable,

1:25:44

unfathomable. I found that really hard to say.

1:25:46

Anyway, enough of that. Let me tell

1:25:49

you about Walter de la Mer.

1:25:52

So John,

1:25:54

Walter John de la Mer was an English poet, no, old

1:25:57

French background, obviously novelist

1:25:59

and short story.

1:25:59

writing was born on April 25th 1873 in Kent

1:26:02

in England and died on June 22nd 56 in Twickenham,

1:26:04

London.

1:26:08

Dilemare is best known for his atmospheric lyrical

1:26:10

poetry and his contribution to children's literature.

1:26:14

Dilemare had a somewhat troubled childhood.

1:26:16

His father died when he was only two years old and

1:26:18

his mother remarried causing him to feel alienated

1:26:21

from his stepfather.

1:26:22

Despite these challenges Dilemare found solace

1:26:24

in books

1:26:25

and developed a deep love for literature.

1:26:27

He attended St Paul's Cathedral Choir School

1:26:30

in London and later worked as an employee

1:26:32

at the London office of the Anglo-American Oil

1:26:34

Company. However, his true passion lay

1:26:36

in writing and he published his first collection

1:26:38

of poetry titled Songs of Childhood

1:26:40

in 1902. The book was well received

1:26:43

and established Dilemare as a talented poet.

1:26:46

Throughout his career Dilemare published numerous

1:26:48

volumes of poetry including The Listeners, 1912 you

1:26:51

may have studied at the school, Motley 1918, The

1:26:54

Veil 1921, his poetry

1:26:56

often explored themes of mystery, the supernatural

1:26:58

and the imagination.

1:27:00

Dilemare's use of language and imagery created

1:27:02

a dreamlike and haunting quality in his verses

1:27:05

captivating readers and earning him critical

1:27:07

acclaim. Aside

1:27:08

from his poetry Dilemare also wrote novels

1:27:10

and short stories, his best known work

1:27:12

in prose is Memoirs of a Midget, 1921,

1:27:15

wouldn't be allowed to publish that now, which won the

1:27:17

James Tate Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

1:27:20

His short stories collected in volumes such as

1:27:22

The Riddle and Other Stories 1923 and The Connoisseur and

1:27:25

Other Stories 1926 displayed

1:27:28

his skill in creating eerie and unsettling

1:27:30

tales. We've

1:27:31

only done one of his before, De Profundis

1:27:33

from the Depths. De Profundis clarmavi

1:27:36

from the depths I called out another scriptural

1:27:39

reference.

1:27:39

Dilemare's contribution to children's literary cannot

1:27:42

be overstated, he wrote numerous enchanting

1:27:44

and imaginative works for young readers including

1:27:47

Peacock Pie 1913, a collection

1:27:49

of poetry and Three Muller Mulgars 1910,

1:27:52

a fantasy novel. These works, filled

1:27:54

with whimsy adventure and memorable characters,

1:27:57

have delighted generations

1:27:59

of children. throughout his career. Delamere

1:28:01

received numerous accolades for his work. He was awarded

1:28:04

the Order of the British Empire in 1948

1:28:07

and received the Queen's Medal for Poetry in 1953.

1:28:10

His influence on modern poetry in children's literature

1:28:12

continues to be felt to this day. I wonder if that's still

1:28:14

true.

1:28:16

So we know what he's doing. I want to talk

1:28:18

about this one particularly. So it says,

1:28:20

okay, as a poet, Delamere is often

1:28:22

compared with Thomas Harding and William Blake for

1:28:24

their respective themes of mortality and

1:28:27

visionary illumination. One of his

1:28:30

collections of like a chapbook or

1:28:32

a copybook where he's got a collection of all

1:28:34

sorts of poetry and thoughts and thinking is

1:28:37

Behold This Dreamer, which I absolutely

1:28:39

love. So this story,

1:28:42

All Hallows, came out in I think 1926 and you

1:28:49

read it and you think, what's that about

1:28:51

then? So one thing we can

1:28:53

say is it is very evocative,

1:28:56

the descriptions, the description of the sea,

1:28:58

of the dry trudge,

1:29:01

of being in this cool cathedral, the light

1:29:03

effects. It's very, you know, he's a very visual

1:29:06

and sensual writer,

1:29:08

the cold stone

1:29:10

and he creates this unsettling

1:29:13

atmosphere as well. It is

1:29:15

a ghost story in that we know. So that's one thing.

1:29:17

There are no birds there.

1:29:19

That's a warning thing,

1:29:20

a warning symbol. There's

1:29:23

a lot of symbolism in this.

1:29:25

So

1:29:27

let's think about symbolism.

1:29:29

This use of symbols in our to represent

1:29:31

things. Now, you can talk

1:29:33

about symbols and they're different from

1:29:36

ciphers in that. A

1:29:37

symbol, it's not allegorical,

1:29:40

a symbol is something that cannot

1:29:42

be conveyed otherwise.

1:29:44

All we can do is a symbol points at something

1:29:47

which is outside our comprehension.

1:29:49

And so we have the symbolist poets. I mean, there's loads

1:29:52

of things that Art Nouveau, Austrian symbolism,

1:29:54

Gustav Klimt, Belgian symbolism,

1:29:57

magical realism. So it keeps cropping

1:29:59

up, you know.

1:29:59

surrealism, English symbolism, Aubrey

1:30:02

Beardsley, French symbolism, Gustav Moreau,

1:30:05

and then the pre-Raphaelites used symbolism, early

1:30:08

symbolism, and Germany, Caspar

1:30:10

David Friedrich.

1:30:11

And so, you know, symbolism keeps cropping

1:30:13

up.

1:30:15

It seems to me that Dilemmaire was using

1:30:18

a lot of symbols. So what are they about? What's

1:30:20

all Hallows about? So what we've said is it's a story

1:30:22

of a haunted cathedral. But I think that

1:30:25

I come to the end of it, I've read it before, and I

1:30:27

come to the end of it like, what is that about though?

1:30:31

And as I read it this time, the

1:30:33

first time I read it, I thought, I don't know.

1:30:35

And as I've kind of been looking through

1:30:37

it and reading it again and laboring

1:30:40

with it really, and

1:30:41

I appreciate the language, even though

1:30:44

it's hard to say,

1:30:45

but it seems to me, you

1:30:47

know, listen, first of all, we've got to realize that if

1:30:49

you just look at it, although

1:30:52

Dilemmaire may not be a regular churchgoer,

1:30:54

and he says that for the narrator, and

1:30:57

he comes as an outsider, he's culturally

1:30:59

Christian, deeply culturally Christian.

1:31:02

This building has been a Christian place of

1:31:04

worship since the sixth century. So

1:31:07

it's 1500 years of Christianity in that place.

1:31:11

The language is suffused with Christianity

1:31:15

and Christian knowledge. It's

1:31:17

culturally Christian. But

1:31:20

what I think he's saying is that,

1:31:23

you know, Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra

1:31:26

said God is dead.

1:31:28

Nietzsche's point was we have killed

1:31:30

the central motif of

1:31:33

Western European civilization that has

1:31:36

been, you know, for 2000 years, and

1:31:39

we've killed God. You

1:31:41

may not personally have done that, but you know what I mean? As

1:31:44

Western culture turns away from its

1:31:47

Christian heart,

1:31:49

then, and also, and that's a good or a bad thing, I'm

1:31:51

just saying, it is. I mean, you know, certainly

1:31:54

in Europe,

1:31:56

congregations are diminishing rapidly,

1:31:58

the people who do go a very old age. old churches

1:32:01

are closing churches that have been there for 1500 years, 2000 years.

1:32:03

I mean, Carlisle

1:32:05

Cathedral is still going, was

1:32:08

built in 1130, you

1:32:10

know, and there are older churches than that. And

1:32:12

they are increasingly

1:32:14

not used for Christian worship. So,

1:32:17

you know, Christian God is dead

1:32:19

in Europe.

1:32:20

You may regret that, but

1:32:22

maybe there's a revival. I was looking to

1:32:25

what's his name, Paul Kingsworth, and he's become

1:32:27

an Orthodox Christian. He's just a young guy, an

1:32:29

environmentalist. So there is maybe some kind of revival

1:32:31

going to happen because it has happened in

1:32:33

the past, of course. But

1:32:36

I don't know at the moment whether it is going to revive.

1:32:39

So, and I think what, and this is in 26,

1:32:41

the first wars happened, the second war,

1:32:43

the second world war hasn't happened.

1:32:45

It is obvious with modernism

1:32:48

coming in

1:32:50

that the death of God amongst the

1:32:52

intelligentsia

1:32:53

is being felt. And I

1:32:55

think this is what this is about.

1:32:58

The sea.

1:33:00

There's one guy, done a review, read

1:33:02

some reviews on this, saying this is about global warming.

1:33:04

They'd never even come across global warming then. They

1:33:07

didn't know what it was. So I think that is us

1:33:09

importing our views onto what

1:33:12

de la Mer was saying. And I think de la Mer is saying that

1:33:16

the devil, the adversary is

1:33:18

taking over this Christian building. There's

1:33:20

no congregation. There's just this old man who's

1:33:22

on the edge of death and he is ridiculed.

1:33:25

So the experts come and

1:33:27

it's due to a haunting. It's a spiritual thing that's

1:33:30

happening to the church, but they with their modernist

1:33:32

views run away with their

1:33:35

tales between the LA's because modernism cannot

1:33:38

explain

1:33:39

what's happening in the cathedral because it's a spiritual

1:33:42

thing that's happening. And the old man is

1:33:45

on his last legs and he is

1:33:48

the only one to believe. And he

1:33:50

tells the stranger, he's able to speak to the stranger

1:33:54

because the stranger comes with no presuppositions.

1:33:57

And he can believe that.

1:33:59

believe him and I think at the very end, jumping to the

1:34:02

very end,

1:34:03

very interestingly his daughter's a widow.

1:34:05

I don't know what that's about

1:34:08

but the child, the boy child

1:34:10

is there which heralds a rebirth,

1:34:12

this beautiful boy child

1:34:14

and I suppose the thing at the end the cathedral

1:34:16

had forgotten to wind its clock is that the time

1:34:19

in a sense is immaterial to the cathedral,

1:34:21

it's not as important to us and

1:34:23

remember it starts at the very beginning when he's talking

1:34:25

about the ringing of the bell

1:34:28

of the the hours

1:34:30

so that's something to do with that but

1:34:32

the child seems to me a symbol of

1:34:35

a new beginning, you know we have killed God, the

1:34:38

cathedral is dying, the sea is gobbling

1:34:40

it up,

1:34:41

the sea of course is the unconscious

1:34:43

and it's coming to take it back so

1:34:45

the cathedral is a human edifice and

1:34:48

the sea nature is it's almost like a natural

1:34:50

cycle it's going to take a bit but nature has

1:34:52

given birth again to this boy

1:34:54

and so something will come

1:34:57

and I think that's true, I think we're living in a time of

1:34:59

great turmoil, we've

1:35:01

lost a lot of our traditional things that have

1:35:03

underpinned us, I mean you could argue that potentially

1:35:06

every age has felt that you know the enlightenment

1:35:09

and

1:35:09

every age we just didn't live in it, we don't

1:35:12

live in it so we're not familiar with it but you

1:35:14

could argue that there's always been a crisis

1:35:16

of some kind, we just we seem to be living through

1:35:19

one at the moment, a crisis of our civilization.

1:35:21

I've

1:35:22

recently been thinking about the end of the Roman Empire

1:35:25

and how that believed it was going to go

1:35:27

on forever and then collapsed

1:35:29

and you know I'm not keen on drawing

1:35:32

out parallels on that really but

1:35:35

certainly

1:35:38

this is what this is about I think and of course it's therefore

1:35:40

it makes no, you know the devil

1:35:43

is sneering, the devil is a mechanical

1:35:45

god

1:35:46

and I think when you get people like Tolkien as well,

1:35:49

he very much was of this view that

1:35:51

the modern world is a mechanical view, it is

1:35:54

the spirit of the air that's in it, it's a

1:35:56

quick thinking electrical, there's an electrical

1:35:58

storm on the horizon at the end.

1:36:00

It is the machine age, the

1:36:03

mechanical age, the non-organic age

1:36:05

that's coming that's not

1:36:07

dead. I think one of the, one other

1:36:09

view of modern society is that we are disenchanted,

1:36:12

that the world has become meaningless, like

1:36:15

a vast machine that has no purpose

1:36:17

and just runs by, and it's not

1:36:19

alive and it's no longer in-souled.

1:36:22

I don't think that's what de la Maire

1:36:24

is saying. He's saying that there is a spiritual

1:36:26