udes were almost threats. He looked like a Jew, but he acted like a
wild Arab; and his manoeuvres would have been a godsend to the comic Dr.
Valentine, if he had witnessed their display. His gray hairs did not
command respect; and what made his rudeness so hard to bear, was the
fact that nothing occurred to call it out. We probably met him at an
unhappy moment.

The Museum is in the old palace of the Spanish governors of the Low
Countries, and long before their day it was the ducal residence of the
Brabants. The building was begun in 1346, and completed in 1502.

The pictures of Europe are one of my great objects of interest, and here
we begin to find them. We have left the London and Paris collections for
examination as we return. From the catalogue, we found there were about
six hundred pictures here, and some statuary. The chief attraction of
this gallery is found in the few early Flemish paintings which it
boasts. I think a Gerard Dow will long be remembered by me. It is an
interior, and the effect of the light in the room is admirable. Many of
the paintings are styled Gothic; that means they were painted previous
to the time of Van Eyck. An interior of the Antwerp Cathedral, by Neefs,
is very fine; and I was much pleased with some large pictures by
Philippe Champagne, some' of whose portraits I have seen in New York.
Here are four pictures by Paul Veronese. No. 285 is the Marriage of
Cana. I think I never saw a picture in which I was so impressed with the
magnificence of the coloring. The table is richly spread, and the light
appears on it, coming down the columns; the rich colors of the fruits
contrasting strongly with the white table and gay dress of one of the
figures. The management of light, by introducing various colors in the
dresses, is wonderful, and the blue sky produces the happiest effect. I
never before understood how much a picture depended on the arrangement
of color. The drapery of this composition struck me greatly; and
although I know little of great paintings, yet I do know what I like,
and this picture, as a whole, seems to me wonderfully fine.

In 1695, when this town was bombarded by the French, fourteen churches
were destroyed, some of which contained the best pictures of Rubens,
Vandyke, and other great painters of that century. I observed here a
good portrait of Henrietta, queen of Charles I., who seems to have been
a favorite with painters. I have seen a score of her faces by Vandyke at