... To-day about noon came as if it were the world's end: sudden black, and out of the darkness a flash like the opening of Hell's mouth, after the flash a roar like Doomsday and after the roar a lull - and then a wind before which all things bent and broke, and the garden is full of shattered branches, and a big poplar lies across the garden wall. All these signs are because Parnell has gone, not because Smith has gone, whatever the Tories say. Did you ever see Eric's hell ride? Such shattering thunders are the salute the gods make when a brave man goes to them, and I think that was a very brave man. ...