You know
the anecdote, Colonel? King Alfred flying from the Danes, took refuge in
a neaterd's 'ut. The rustic's wife told him to bake a cake, and the
fugitive sovering set down to his ignoble task, and forgetting it in the
cares of state, let the cake burn, on which the woman struck him. The
moment chose is when she is lifting her 'and to deliver the blow. The
king receives it with majesty mingled with meekness. In the background
the door of the 'ut is open, letting in the royal officers to announce
the Danes are defeated. The daylight breaks in at the aperture,
signifying the dawning of 'Ope. That story, sir, which I found in my
researches in istry, has since become so popular, sir, that hundreds of
artists have painted it, hundreds! I who discovered the legend, have my
picture--here!'
"'Now, Colonel,' says the showman, 'let me--let me lead you through the
statue gallery. 'Apollo,' you see. The 'Venus Hanadyomene,' the glorious
Venus of the Louvre, which I saw in 1814, Colonel, in its glory--the
'Laocoon'--my friend Gibson's 'Nymth,' you see, is the only figure I
admit among the antiques.
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