so well!... I have again and again
done sketches and many other things in the service of different
persons, and for the most part of my work I have received nothing at
all."

After Corpus Christi Day, Duerer sent off several bales of his
acquisitions to Nuremberg, by the wagoner Cunz Mez. He and his wife
then went to Mechlin; "and the painters and sculptors entertained me
at my inn, and showed me great honor; and I went to Popenreuther's
house, the cannon-founder, and found many wonderful things there. I
have also seen the Lady Margaret [the Archduchess and Regent], and
carried the portrait of the Emperor, which I intended to present to
her; but she took such a displeasure therein, I brought it away with
me again. And on the Friday she showed me all her beautiful things,
and amongst them I saw forty small pictures in oil, pure and good: I
have never seen finer miniatures. And then I saw other good things of
Johann's [Van Eyck] and Jacob Walch's. I begged my Lady to give me
Meister Jacob's little book, but she said she had promised it to her
painter."

Duerer seems to have been treated with scant courtesy by the
Archduchess, and soon returned to Antwerp. Here he was entertained
by the eminent Lucas van Leyden, for whom he made a portrait, and
received one of himself in return. The stately Nuremberger and the
diminutive artist of Leyden were much astonished at each other's
personal appearance, but had a warm mutual respect and esteem. Duerer
next struck up a warm friendship with certain of the Augustine monks,
and dined often at their cloister. In addition to the _bric-a-brac_
which he still continued to collect, he now began to buy precious
stones, in which he was badly swindled by a Frenchman, and dolefully
wrote, "I am a fool at a bargain."

He was now about to return home, and naturally found it necessary,
after having bought such a museum of oddities and curiosities, to
borrow enough money to take him to Nuremberg. His friend Alexander
Imhoff lent him 100 gold florins, receiving Duerer's note in return. In
some bitterness of spirit he wrote: "In all my transactions in the
Netherlands, with people both of high and low degree, and in all my
doings, expenses, sales, and other trafficking, I have always had the
disadvantage; and particularly the Lady Margaret, for all I have given
her and done for her, has given me nothing in return."

On the eve of Duerer's departure, the King of Denmark, Christian II.,
came to An