562 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VI 



bishop is simply the sacristan of an old church in Venice, 

 and certainly the most dignified ecclesiastic I have ever 

 seen.&quot; The musical soirees at Becker s beautiful apart 

 ments were among the delights of my stay both then and 

 during my more recent embassy. 



Very delightfully dwell in my memory, also, some even 

 ings at the palace, when, after the main ceremonies were 

 over, Knaus, Becker, and Auerbach wandered with me 

 through the more distant apartments and galleries, point 

 ing out the beauties and characteristics of various old 

 portraits and pictures. In one long gallery lined witH the 

 portraits of brides who, during the last three centuries, 

 had been brought into the family of Hohenzollern, we 

 lingered long. 



Then began also my friendship with Anton von Werner. 

 He had been present at the proclamation of the Emperor 

 William I in the great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, by 

 express invitation, in order that he might prepare his fa 

 mous painting of that historic scene. I asked him whether 

 the inscription on the shield in the cornice of the Galerie 

 des Glaces, Passage du Rhin, which glorified one of the 

 worst outrages committed by Louis XIV upon Germany, 

 was really in the place where it is represented in his pic 

 ture. He said that it was. It seemed a divine prophecy 

 of retribution. 



The greatest genius in all modern German art Adolf 

 Menzel I came to know under rather curious circum 

 stances. He was a little man, not more than four feet 

 high, with an enormous head, as may be seen by his bust 

 in the Berlin Museum. On being presented to him during 

 an evening at court, I said to him: &quot;Herr Professor, in 

 America I am a teacher of history; and of all works I 

 have ever seen on the history of Frederick the Great, your 

 illustrations of Kugler s history have taught me most.&quot; 

 This was strictly true; for there are no more striking 

 works of genius in their kind than those engravings which 

 throw a flood of light into that wonderful period. At this 

 he invited me to visit his studio, which a few days later I 



