of dancing
peasant-girls, processions, rural festivals--all this class of subjects
he could transfer to paper with a sure, ready hand, whenever he chanced
to meet with them. Every drawing, even though it were a mere sketch,
had life and motion. At the same time his mind was by no means closed
to the higher in art; on the contrary, he penetrated more than any
modern painter into the strange import of the paintings by all masters.
In his sketch-book he had copied in outline the frescoes of an old
convent-church in Rome, before the walls were pulled down. They
represented the martyrdom of St. Catharine, and one could not see any
thing more beautiful, more happily conceived than those outlines, which
made a very peculiar impression upon Berthold. He saw flashes through
the gloomy desert that surrounded him, and the result was, that he
became capable of appreciating the cheerful mind of Florentin, and
that, as the latter when representing the charms, especially brought
forward the human principle, he also took this principle as the ground
on which he must stand, not to float away into boundless space. While
Florentin was hastily sketching some group that he met, Berthold took
the opportunity of looking into his book, and tried to imitate the
lovely figure of Catharine, in which he was tolerably successful,
although, as at Rome, he failed in giving his figures the animation of
the original. He complained of this to Florentin, whom he looked upon
as far his superior in true artistical genius, and at the same time
told him all that the Maltese had spoken about art. 'The Maltese is
right, dear brother Berthold,' said Florentin, 'and I rank the genuine
landscape quite as high as the deeply significant sacred histories, as
depicted by the old masters. Nay, I maintain that one ought first to
strengthen oneself by the representation of that organic nature which
is nearest to us, that we may be able to find light for her darker
regions. I advise you, Berthold, to practise yourself in sketching
figures, and in arranging your thoughts in them. Perhaps by this means
you will gain additional light.' Berthold acted according to the
suggestion of his friend, and it seemed to him, as if the dark clouds
which spread over his life, were passing away.

"'I endeavoured to represent that, which seemed no more than a mere
obscure feeling in my innermost soul, by hieroglyphic characters, as I
had done in my dream; but the hieroglyphics