25.03.2013 Views

THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

CHAPTER XII.<br />

<strong>OLD</strong> WOOD-CARVINGS IN<br />

WIRRAL CHURCHES.<br />

"<br />

It is not less the boast of some styles that<br />

they can bear ornament, than of others<br />

that they can do without it; but we do<br />

not often enough reflect that those very<br />

styles, of so haughty simplicity, owe<br />

part of their to<br />

pleasureableness<br />

contrast,<br />

and would be wearisome if universal.<br />

They are but the rests and<br />

monotones of the art; it is to its far<br />

happier, far higher, exaltation that we<br />

owe these fair fronts of variegated<br />

mosaic, charged with wild fancies and<br />

dark hosts of imagery, thicker and<br />

quainter than ever filled the depth of<br />

niidsummer dream; those vaulted gates,<br />

trellised with close leaves ; those window<br />

labyrinths of twisted tracery and starry<br />

light; those misty masses of multitudinous<br />

pinnacle and diademed tower; the<br />

only witnesses, perhaps, that remain to<br />

us of the faith and fear of nations."<br />

187<br />

Ruskin.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!