266 A TOUa KOUND MY GABDEN. 



pretence is to have discovered them on the shelves of some 

 dealers in images, or upon panels over the chimney of a 

 village inn, or even among a lot of old bottles. You are of 

 the second class." 



" You are welcome to place me in which class you please." 



"Well; but by whom are your best pictures?" 



" Oh ! as to that, I really cannot tell you; I have no memory 

 for names. And, to be frank with you, it is a circumstance 

 I pay no attention to. I should prefer having a fine picture 

 painted by my porter to a daub by Raffaelle. And what is 

 very singular, this opinion, worthy, from its ingenuousness, 

 of being placed in the rank of the maxims and thoughts of 

 M. de la Palesse, would easily pass for an originality or a 

 whimsicality. I seek for nothing in painting but the true 

 and the beautiful." 



"You really excite my curiosity to see the pictures of 

 a man who entertains such ideas. Can't you recollect any 

 of them?" 



" Oh, yes. I could easily describe, at least for the most 

 part, what my pictures represent." 



"Well." 



" Well, I have one above this room ; it is of a vast plain, 

 surrounded on all sides by trees. Upon the verdant grass, 

 dotted with shadow and light by the sun which is setting 

 behind the trees, repose some sheep. The whole has a charm 

 of calmness and repose which yields the greatest pleasure." 



" I am sure that is by Van der Does. Well, that is not 

 worth much." 



"All I know is, that it is very beautiful; and I do not 

 believe that it is by Van der Does." 



" You astonish me." 



" Another is a sunken road, such as in Normandy is called 

 une cav&e. Travellers walk lower than the roots of .trees, whose 

 tops extend over the wall of earth which forms the two sides 

 of the road, thick and long roots like twisted serpents." 



" I should not be surprised if that were a copy ; and my 

 reason for thinking so, a reason which I think good, and not 

 subject to contradiction, is that I possess the original, which 

 is by J. Euysdael." 



" I assure you it is not a copy.'' 



