to this _chef d'oeuvre_, which must have been seen to have been duly
admired. In three months it was far advanced; during which time our
artist employed his leisure hours in practising jigs and minuets on
the violin, and writing the first chapter of Genesis on a watchpaper,
which he adorned with a miniature of Adam and Eve, so exquisitely
finished, that every ligament in their fig-leaves was visible. This
little _jeu d'esprit_ he presented to Madam Merian."

Leyden's earliest painter was Lucas Jacobz, known as Lucas van Leyden,
who was born in 1494. He painted in oil, in distemper and on glass;
he took his subjects from nature and from scripture; he engraved better
than he painted; and he was the friend of Dürer. Leyden possesses his
triptych, "The Last Judgment," which to me is interesting rather as a
piece of pioneering than as a work apart. After settling for a while at
Middelburg and Antwerp, he returned to Leyden, where he died in 1533.

In spite of her record as the mother of great painters, Leyden treats
pictures with some indifference. The Municipal Museum has little that
is of value. Of most interest perhaps is the Peter van Veen, opposite
"The Last Judgment," representing a scene in the siege of Leyden by
the Spaniards under Valdez in 1574, which has a companion upstairs
by Van Bree, depicting the Burgomaster's heroic feat of opportunism
in the same period of stress.

Adrian Van der Werf was this Burgomaster's name (his monument stands
in the Van der Werf park), and nothing but his courage and address
at a critical moment saved the city. Motley tells the story in a
fine passage. "Meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. The
burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being
aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing