the first is done; and so on, ceaselessly, all day and half the night,
like a natural law.

A woman stands by to spread butter and sugar, and the plate is whisked
away in a moment. The Americans boast of their quick lunches; but I
am convinced that they borrowed celerity in cooking and serving from
some Knickerbocker deviser of poffertjes and wafelen in the early
days of New York. I wonder that Washington Irving omitted to say so.



Chapter VIII

Leyden's Painters, a Fanatic and a Hero

Rembrandt of the Rhine--His early life at Leyden--Jan
Steen--Jan van Goyen--Brewer and painter--Pictures for
beer--Jan Steen's grave--His delicacy and charm--His native
refinement--A painter of hands--Jan Steen and Morland--Jan
Steen and Hogarth--The Red Sea--The Flood--Jan of Leyden--The
siege of Münster--Gigantic madness--Gerard Dou--Godfrey
Schalcken--Frans van Mieris--William van Mieris--Gabriel
Metsu--Beckford's satire--Leyden's poor pictures--The siege
of Leyden--Adrian van der Werf.

Leyden was the mother of some precious human clay. Among her sons was
the greatest of Dutch painters, Rembrandt van Rijn; the most lovable
of them, Jan Steen; and the most patient of them, Gerard Dou.

Of Rembrandt's genius it is late in the day to write, nor have I the