power. We have seen certain of his pictures at The Hague; we shall
see others at Amsterdam. I can add nothing to what is said in those
places, but here, in Leyden (which has ten thousand stuffed birds,
and not a single picture by her greatest son), one may dwell upon
his early days and think of him wandering as a boy in the surrounding
country unconsciously absorbing effects of light and shade.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606, probably in
a house at the corner of the Weddesteg, near the Wittepoort, on the
bank of the Rhine. It was the same year that gave England _Macbeth_
and _King Lear_. His father was a miller, his mother the daughter
of a Leyden baker: it was destined that the son of these simple folk
should be the greatest painter that the north of Europe has produced.

They did not foresee such a fate, but they seem sufficiently to have
realised that their son had unusual aptitude for him to be sent to
study law at the University. But he meant from the first to paint,
and when he should have been studying text-books he was studying
nature. The old miller, having a wise head, gave way, and Rembrandt
was allowed to enter the studio of Jacob van Swanenburgh. That was
probably in 1622, when he was sixteen; in 1624 he knew so much more
than Swanenburgh had ever dreamed of that he passed on to Amsterdam,
to see what could be learned from Peter Lastman. But Lastman was of
little use, and Rembrandt soon returned to Leyden.

There he set up his own studio, painting, however, at his father's
house--possibly even in the mill itself--as much as he could; and for
seven years he taught younger men at Leyden his secrets. He remained
at Leyden until 1631, moving then again to Amsterdam and beginning
the greatest period of his life. At Leyden he had painted much and