ls about it, putting forth no claim, having
no beauty, nor desirableness, pride, nor grace; yet neither asking for
pity; not, as ruins are, useless and piteous, feebly or fondly
garrulous of better days; but, useful still, going through its own
daily work,--as some old fisherman, beaten grey by storm, yet drawing
his daily nets: so it stands, with no complaint about its past youth,
in blanched and meagre massiveness and serviceableness, gathering
human souls together underneath it; the sound of its bells for prayer
still rolling through its rents; and the grey peak of it seen far
across the sea, principal of the three that rise above the waste of
surfy sand and hillocked shore,--the lighthouse for life, and the
belfry for labour, and this--for patience and praise.

I cannot tell the half of the strange pleasures and thoughts that come
about me at the sight of that old tower; for, in some sort, it is the
epitome of all that makes the continent of Europe interesting, as
opposed to new countries; and, above all, it completely expresses that
agedness in the midst of active life which binds the old and the new
into harmony. We in England have our new streets, our new inn, our
green shaven lawn, and our piece of ruin emergent from it--a mere
_specimen_ of the Middle Ages put on a bit of velvet carpet, to be
shown; and which, but for its size, might as well be on a museum shelf
at once, under cover;--but, on the Continent, the links are unbroken
between the past and present; and, in such use as they can serve for,
the grey-headed wrecks are suffered to stay with men; while, in
unbroken line, the generations of spared buildings are seen
succeeding, each in its place. And thus, in its largeness, in its
permitted evidence of slow decline, in its poverty, in its absence of
all pretence, of all show and care for outside aspect, that Calais
tower has an infinite of symbolism in it, all the more striking
because usually seen in contrast with English scenes expressive of
feelings the exact reverse of these.[13]

[13] My friend won't write out the reverse! Our book is to be all jelly,
and no powder, it seems. Well, I'm very thankful she likes the
jelly,--at any rate, it makes me sure that _it_ is well made.

SECTION III.

ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY.

21. It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the
sky. It is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the
sake of pleasing man--more for the sole