George W. Joy, General Gordon’s Last Stand, 1893
"DURING the year 1883 a solitary English gentleman
was to be seen, wandering, with a thick book under his arm, in the
neighbourhood of Jerusalem. His unassuming figure, short and
slight, with its half-gliding, half-tripping motion,
gave him a boyish aspect, which contrasted, oddly,
but not unpleasantly, with the touch of grey on his hair and whiskers. There
was the same contrast—enigmatic and attractive—between the sunburnt
brick-red complexion—the hue of the seasoned traveller—and the large
blue eyes, with their look of almost childish sincerity. To the
friendly inquirer, he would explain, in a row, soft, and very distinct voice,
that he was engaged in elucidating four questions—the site of
the Crucifixion, the line of division
between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, the identification
of Gideon, and the position of the Garden of Eden. He was also, he
would add, most anxious to discover the spot where the
Ark first touched ground, after the subsidence of the
Flood: he believed, indeed, that he had solved that problem, as
a reference to some passages in the book which he was
carrying would show.
This singular person was General Gordon, and
his book was the Holy Bible.
From Punch: Cartoon of Gen. Charles Gordon greeting
reinforcements at Khartoum in 1885.
Published before the news of General Gordon’s death was known.
In such complete retirement from the world and
the ways of men, it might have seemed that a life of inordinate
activity had found at last a longed-for, final peacefulness.
For month after month, for an entire year, the General lingered by
the banks of the Jordan. But then the enchantment was suddenly
broken. Once more adventure claimed him; he
plunged into the whirl of high affairs; his fate was mingled
with the frenzies of Empire and the doom of peoples.
And it was not in peace and rest, but in ruin and horror,
that he reached his end."
Charles George Gordon as tidu (提督), i.e., Chief commander of Jiangsu province of the “Ever Victorious Army”
in Jiansu province, China, wearing the imperial yellow jacket.
NOTE: Lytton Strachey’s seductive
introduction to The End Of General Gordon
from Eminent Victorians stirs up buried memories. For obscure reasons,
it reminds me of seeing John Milius’s romantic North African fantasyThe Wind
And The Lion several times with Caroline in New York more than it recalls Basil
Dearden’s earlier, drearier Khartoum,
which actually tells the story of Gordon’s demise. It also summons “borrowed”
memories gleaned from professors and former classmates -- their pre-Gulf
War Iraq archeology accounts of spiritual questing for relics
and signs, drinking and loathing arak, wanting more.
This
isn’t disciplined
thinking or lucid dreaming. I’m not sure any of it is
real, but
it is fine, warming and revivifying to
be stirred up like this for a change, not just angry. I suppose it’s possible
the power outage this week affected my mind.
I mean, how is it possible that Bob
Costas still
appears on television, unstoppably talking? I must be mad.
_Major-General_Charles_George_Gordon_greeting_reinforcements_at_Khartoum_in_1885-_TIMEA.jpg)
