How was it, meanwhile, with Duhobret, while this exciting scene was going on?  He was hardly master of his senses.  He rubbed his eyes repeatedly, and murmured to himself, “After such a dream, my misery will seem more cruel!” When the contest ceased, he rose up bewildered, and went about asking first one, then another, the price of the picture just sold.  It seemed that his apprehension could not at once be enlarged to so vast a conception.

The possessor was proceeding homeward, when a decrepit, lame, and humpbacked invalid, tottering along by the aid of a stick, presented himself before him.  He threw him a piece of money, and waved his hand as dispensing with his thanks.  “May it please your honor,” said the supposed beggar, “I am the painter of that picture!” and again he rubbed his eyes.

The tall mall was Count Dunkelsback, one of the richest noblemen in Germany.  He stopped, took out his pocketbook, took out a leaf, and wrote on it a few lines.  “Take it, friend,” said he; “it is a check for your money.  Adieu.”

Duhobret finally persuaded himself that it was not a dream.  He became the master of a castle, sold it, and resolved to live luxuriously for the rest of his life, and to cultivate painting as a pastime.  But, alas, for the vanity of human expectation!  He had borne privation and toil; prosperity was too much for him, as was proved soon after, when an indigestion carried him off.  His picture remained long in the cabinet of Count Dunkelsback, and afterward passed into the possession of the King of Bavaria.

Notes.—­Albert Durer (b. 1471, d. 1528) lived at Nuremburg, Germany.  He was eminent as a painter, and as an engraver on copper and wood.  He was one of the first artists who studied anatomy and perspective.  His influence on art is clearly felt even at the present day.

Newburg, or Neuburg, is on the Danube, fifty miles south of Nuremburg.  Bergen Abbey was north of the village.

X. PICTURES OF MEMORY. (88)

Alice Cary, 1820-1871, was born near Cincinnati.  One of her ancestors was among the “Pilgrim Fathers,” and the first instructor of Latin at Plymouth, Mass.  Miss Cary commenced her literary career at her western home, and, in 1849, published a volume of poems, the joint work of her younger sister, Phoebe, and herself.  In 1850, she moved to New York.  Two of her sisters joined her there, and they supported themselves by their literary labor.  Their home became a noted resort for their literary and artistic friends.  Miss Cary was the author of eleven volumes, besides many articles contributed to periodicals.  Her poetry is marked with great sweetness and pathos.  Some of her prose works are much admired, especially her “Clovernook Children.” ###