But there can be no mistake about Murillo,--
not that I am worthy to admire him yet, however.
Seeing the many pictures of Holy Families, and the Virgin and Child,
which have been painted for churches and convents, the idea occurs, that
it was in this way that the poor monks and nuns gratified, as far as they
could, their natural longing for earthly happiness. It was not Mary and
her heavenly Child that they really beheld, or wished for; but an earthly
mother rejoicing over her baby, and displaying it probably to the world
as an object worthy to be admired by kings,--as Mary does, in the
Adoration of the Magi. Every mother, I suppose, feels as if her first
child deserved everybody's worship.
I left the Exhibition at three o'clock, and went to Manchester, where I
sought out Mr. C S------- in his little office. He greeted me warmly,
and at five we took the omnibus for his house, about four miles from
town. He seems to be on pleasant terms with his neighbors, for almost
everybody that got into the omnibus exchanged kindly greetings with him,
and indeed his kindly, simple, genial nature comes out so evidently that
it would be difficult not to like him. His house stands, with others, in
a green park,--a small, pretty, semi-detached suburban residence of
brick, with a lawn and garden round it. In close vicinity, there is a
deep clough or dell, as shaggy and wild as a poet could wish, and with a
little stream running through it, as much as five miles long.
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