Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

Roundabout Papersever see such a gross, shaggy, mangy, roaring brute?Look at him eating lumps of raw meat—positively bleeding,and raw and tough—till, faugh! it turns one’s stomachto see him—O the coarse wretch! Yes, but he is alion. Rubens has lifted his great hand, and the mark hehas made has endured for two centuries, and we stillcontinue wondering at him, and admiring him. What astrength in that arm! What splendor of will hidden behindthat tawny beard, and those honest eyes! Sharpenyour pen, my good critic, shoot a feather into him; hithim, and make him wince. Yes, you may hit him fair,and make him bleed, too; but, for all that, he is a lion—a mighty, conquering, generous, rampageous LeoBelgicus—monarch of his wood. And he is not dead yet,and I will not kick at him.SIR ANTONY.—In that “Pieta” of Van Dyck, in the Museum,have you ever looked at the yellow-robed angel,with the black scarf thrown over her wings and robe?What a charming figure of grief and beauty! What apretty compassion it inspires! It soothes and pleasesme like a sweet rhythmic chant. See how delicately theyellow robe contrasts with the blue sky behind, and thescarf binds the two! If Rubens lacked grace, Van Dyckabounded in it. What a consummate elegance! What aperfect cavalier! No wonder the fine ladies in Englandadmired Sir Antony. Look at—Here the clock strikes three, and the three gendarmeswho keep the Musee cry out, “Allons! Sortons! Il esttrois heures! Allez! Sortez!” and they skip out of thegallery as happy as boys running from school. And wemust go too, for though many stay behind—many Britonswith Murray’s Handbooks in their handsome hands—they have paid a franc for entrance-fee, you see; andwe knew nothing about the franc for entrance untilthose gendarmes with sheathed sabres had driven usout of this Paradise.But it was good to go and drive on the great quays,and see the ships unlading, and by the citadel, andwonder howabouts and whereabouts it was so strong.We expect a citadel to look like Gibraltar orEhrenbreitstein at least. But in this one there is noth-180