Volume VI Part 19 (1/2)

It was then May, and she was not to go to Valentia till September, so we shall hear what the letter contained later on

I often saw the king's gentleentleman in the service of the Princess of the Asturias, and one of the princess's bed-chamber woood deal of the old etiquette, and the tone of her Court had lost the air of sole to see the King of Spain always dining at eleven o'clock, like the Parisian cordwainers in the seventeenth century His meal always consisted of the sa back in the evening thoroughly fatigued

The king was ugly, but everything is relative, he was handsoly

This brother never went anywhere without a picture of the Virgin, which Mengs had painted for hiure was depicted as seated on the grass with legs crossed after the Eastern fashi+on, and uncovered up to the knees It was, in reality, a voluptuous painting; and the prince mistook for devotion that which was really a sinful passion, for it was i to have the original within one's arhted to find himself in love with the mother of the Saviour In this he was a true Spaniard; they only love pictures of this kind, and interpret the passions they excite in the most favourable sense

At Madrid I had, seen a picture of the Madonna with the child at her breast It was the altarpiece of a chapel in the Calle St Jeronimo The place was filled all day by the devout, who caure was only interesting by reason of her iven at this chapel were so numerous, that in the hundred and fifty years, since the picture had been placed there, the clergy had been able to purchase numerous lailt, and even of gold The dooras always blocked by carriages, and a sentinel was placed there to keep order aoing in to pray to the Virgin, and to contemplate those 'beata ubera, quae lactaverunt aeterni patris filiue

When I returned to Madrid I wanted to pay a visit to the Abbe Pico, and told my coachman to take another way so as to avoid the crush in front of the chapel

”It is not so frequented now, senor,” said he, ”I can easily get by it”

He went on his way, and I found the entrance to the chapel deserted

As I was getting out of the carriage I asked e, and he replied,--

”Oh, senor!more wicked every day”

This reason did not satisfy me, and when I had taken ent and venerable old man, I asked him why the chapel in question had lost its reputation

He burst out laughing, and replied,--

”Excuse me, I really cannot tell you Go and see for yourself; your curiosity will soon be satisfied”

As soon as I left him I went to the chapel, and the state of the picture told in had disappeared under a kerchief which some profane brush had dared to paint over it The beautiful picture was spoilt; the ic and fascination had disappeared Even the teat had been painted out; the Child held on to nothing, and the head of the Virgin no longer appeared natural

This disaster had taken place at the end of the Carnival of 1768 The old chaplain died, and the Vandal who succeeded hi to be a scandalous one, and robbed it of all its charht as a fool, but as a Christian and a Spaniard he was certainly in the wrong, and he was probably soon convinced of the s of the faithful

My interest in the study of human nature made me call on this priest, whom I expected to find a stupid oldold, the priest was an active, clever-looking man of thirty, who iinable I refused, as was er, and indeed the Spaniards offer visitors chocolate so frequently at all hours, that if one accepted it all one would be choked

I lost no ti that as a lover of paintings I had been grieved at finding the nificent Madonna spoilt

”Very likely,” he replied, ”but it was exactly the physical beauty of the picture that rendered it in my eyes unfit to represent one whose aspect should purify and purge the senses, instead of exciting them

Let all the pictures in the world be destroyed, if they be found to have caused the commission of one mortal sin”