rothal, holding it near her heart.

The marriage finally took place in June, 1634, in the town of Bildt.
The bridal pair then returned to Amsterdam to a happy home life.
Rembrandt had no greater pleasure than in the quiet family circle, and
Saskia had a simple loving nature, entirely devoted to her husband's
happiness. A few years later Rembrandt moved into a fine house in the
Breestraat, which he furnished richly with choice paintings and works
of art.

A succession of portraits shows that the painter continued to paint
his wife with loving pride. He represented her as a Jewish bride, as
Flora, as an Odalisque, a Judith, a Susanna, and a Bathsheba. There is
one painting of the husband and wife together, Saskia perched like a
child on Rembrandt's knee, as he flourishes a wine-glass in the air.
In another picture (an etching) they sit together at a table about the
evening lamp, the wife with her needle-work, the artist with his
engraving. The love between them is the brightest spot in Rembrandt's
history, clouded as it was with many disappointments and troubles. As
a celebrated writer has expressed it, Saskia was "a ray of sunshine in
the perpetual chiaroscuro of his life."

XI

THE SORTIE OF THE CIVIC GUARD, OR THE NIGHT WATCH

The patriotism of the Dutch is seen through the entire history of
"brave little Holland." Early in the sixteenth century every town of
considerable size had a military company composed of the most
prominent citizens. Each company, or guild, had a place of assembly,
or _doelen_, and a drilling-ground. The officers were chosen for a
year, and the highest appointments were those of captain, lieutenant,
and ensign. Upon these civic guards rested the responsibility of
maintaining the order and safety of the town. Sterner duties than
these were theirs when in the late sixteenth century (1573), at the
call of William of Orange, the various guilds formed themselves into
volunteer companies to resist the Spanish. How well they acquitted
themselves is a matter of history, and Spain recognized the republic
in the treaty of 1609. After the war, many of the corporations were
reorganized and continued to be of great importance in the seventeenth
century.

The picture we have here represents the Civic Guard of Amsterdam
during the captaincy of Frans Banning Cocq in 1642. Cocq was a man of
wealth and influence who had purchased the estate of Purmerland in
1618 and had also been granted a patent o