Somewhere,
far out in the immense desert whose sands so often gave him rest
in life, or by the shores of that river which was the scene of so
much of his labour, his ashes now add their wind-swept atoms to
the mighty waste of the Soudan. But if England, still true to the
long line of her martyrs to duty, keep his memory precious in her
heart--making of him no false idol or brazen image of glory, but
holding him as he was, the mirror and measure of true
knighthood--then better than in effigy or epitaph will his life be
written, and his nameless tomb become a citadel to his nation."
The statue of Gordon stands in noble reverie in Trafalgar Square, at the
centre of the Empire for whose honour he died.
In St. Paul's Cathedral he lies in effigy, and engraven upon the
cenotaph can be seen the most splendid epitaph in the world.
His true greatness has been recorded by Sir William Butler in
resounding and glorious English; and his last great act of stainless
nobility has received a deathless tribute.
Your loving old,
G.P.
32
MY DEAR ANTONY,
I have now come down, at last, to a great writer of English prose who is
still with us.
Lord Morley at the present day is, I think, universally recognised as the
greatest living man of letters in the British Empire; he has crowned a
long record of distinguished literary achievement with his _Life of
Gladstone_, which has taken its place among the noblest biographies of
the world, where it is destined to remain into the far future acclaimed
as a masterpiece.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150