ltar. I was much struck at the ingenious contrivance.
If, gentle reader, you are in the least acquainted with the noble art
of painting, you will once know, without further explanation, the use
of the net, the shadow of which Berthold was sketching. Berthold was
about to paint a projecting altar on the niche, and that he might make
a large copy of the small drawing with due correctness, he was obliged
to put a net, in the usual manner, over both the sketch and the surface
on which the sketch was to be completed. In this instance he had to
paint not on a flat surface but on a semicircular one; and the
correspondence of the squares which the curved lines of the net formed
on the concave surface, with the straight ones of the sketch, together
with accuracy in the architectural proportions which were to be brought
forward in perspective, could not be otherwise obtained than by that
simple and ingenious contrivance. I was cautious enough not to step
before the taper, lest I might betray myself by my shadow, but I stood
near enough to his side to observe the painter closely. He appeared to
me quite another man. Perhaps it was the effect of the taper, but his
face had a good colour, his eyes sparkled with internal satisfaction,
and when he had completed the lines he placed himself before the
screen, with his hands resting on his sides, and looking at his work,
whistled a merry tune. He now turned round, and tore down the net.
Suddenly he was struck by my figure, and cried aloud:

"Halloah! halloah! is that you, Christian?"

I went up to him, explained how I had been attracted into the church,
and praising the ingenious contrivance of the net, gave him to
understand that I was but a connoisseur and practiser of the noble art
of painting. Without making me any further answer, Berthold said:

"Christian is neither more nor less than a sluggard. He was to have
kept with me faithfully through the whole night, and now he is
certainly snoring somewhere! I must get on with my work, for probably
it will be bad to paint here on the screen to-morrow--and yet I can do
nothing by myself."

I offered my assistance, upon which he laughed aloud, laid hold of both
my shoulders, and cried:

"That is a capital joke! What will Christian say, when he finds
to-morrow that he is an ass, and that I have done without him? So,
come hither, stranger, help me to build a little."

He lit several tapers, we ran through the church, pulled