Descriptions of such a work as this must necessarily be imperfect, yet they are of value.  The top of the Trunk is arched; the arch is a perfect half-circle, in the Roman style of architecture, for in the then rapid decadence of Greek art, the rising influence of Rome was already beginning to be felt in the art of the Republic.  The Trunk is bound or bordered with leather all around where the lid joins the main body.  Many critics consider this leather too cold in tone; but I consider this its highest merit, since it was evidently made so to emphasize by contrast the impassioned fervor of the hasp.  The highlights in this part of the work are cleverly managed, the motif is admirably subordinated to the ground tints, and the technique is very fine.  The brass nail-heads are in the purest style of the early Renaissance.  The strokes, here, are very firm and bold—­every nail-head is a portrait.  The handle on the end of the Trunk has evidently been retouched—­I think, with a piece of chalk —­but one can still see the inspiration of the Old Master in the tranquil, almost too tranquil, hang of it.  The hair of this Trunk is real hair—­so to speak—­white in patched, brown in patches.  The details are finely worked out; the repose proper to hair in a recumbent and inactive attitude is charmingly expressed.  There is a feeling about this part of the work which lifts it to the highest altitudes of art; the sense of sordid realism vanishes away—­one recognizes that there is soul here.

View this Trunk as you will, it is a gem, it is a marvel, it is a miracle.  Some of the effects are very daring, approaching even to the boldest flights of the rococo, the sirocco, and the Byzantine schools—­yet the master’s hand never falters—­it moves on, calm, majestic, confident—­and, with that art which conceals art, it finally casts over the Tout ensemble, by mysterious methods of its own, a subtle something which refines, subdues, etherealizes the arid components and endures them with the deep charm and gracious witchery of poesy.

Among the art-treasures of Europe there are pictures which approach the Hair Trunk—­there are two which may be said to equal it, possibly—­but there is none that surpasses it.  So perfect is the Hair Trunk that it moves even persons who ordinarily have no feeling for art.  When an Erie baggagemaster saw it two years ago, he could hardly keep from checking it; and once when a customs inspector was brought into its presence, he gazed upon it in silent rapture for some moments, then slowly and unconsciously placed one hand behind him with the palm uppermost, and got out his chalk with the other.  These facts speak for themselves.

CHAPTER XLIX [Hanged with a Golden Rope]