ther of these fairies must have slept while distributing their
gifts and so lost a turn or two in casting in the good or ill upon the
babe, so happy are some lives, so sorrowful are others. At Rubens'
cradle the evil fairy must well nigh have forgotten his task, for the
babe grew up one of the most fortunate of men.

In order to understand as we should any great man, we must always
study his country and his time. No man can be great enough not to be
like the nation that produced him, or the time when he came into the
world. For these reasons we love to study a man's time and country,
and, indeed, find it quite necessary if we would understand him
aright.

It is impossible to think of Rubens without associating him with
Flanders and with Antwerp, his home city. Here, then, is just a little
about the history of this most interesting country: One of the richest
possessions of Spain in the sixteenth century was known as the
Netherlands. When the doctrines of Luther began to spread many of the
Netherlanders accepted them. Philip II., the terrible and gloomy king
of Spain, seized this opportunity to persecute them cruelly. Many of
them resisted, and then Philip sent his unscrupulous agent, the Duke
of Alva, to make the people submit. This he partially accomplished by
the greatest cruelty. The northern provinces, which we know as
Holland, declared their independence. The southern, of which Flanders
was the most flourishing province, longed so for peace and the
prosperity that accompanies it, that they submitted to Spain. The
people then grew rich as weavers, merchants and traders. Splendid
cities like Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp became the seats of commerce and
their artists and workmen of all sorts were known throughout Europe
for their thrift and the excellence of their workmanship. We recall
how Raphael's cartoons were sent to Flanders to be copied in tapestry
the finest in the world.

[Illustration: RUBENS' MOTHER _Rubens_]

Of all the cities dear to Flemish hearts Antwerp was, perhaps, the
most beautiful and the most prosperous. It was situated on the river
Scheldt about twenty miles from the sea. In the time of its greatness
one might count almost at any time twenty-five hundred ships and boats
riding at anchor in front of the city, and within her walls, two
hundred thousand people lived in plenty. There were marble palaces,
beautiful churches, a magnificent town hall (Hotel de Ville); and the
houses of the hum