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27 July 1883 — Cassel | |
Friday. 27th [July 1883]. After 9 o’cl breakfast we went off in search of the Bellevue picture gallery. We had not been there long when a gentleman came up & introduced himself as Morelli’s friend Herr Habich an amateur of the fine arts. He offered to show us round the gallery & was most kind. We were delighted with the collection wh tho small contains some splendid things– A splendid Rubens—full-length portrait of a man in a Turk’s dress is most striking– Some wonderful portraits of Franz Hals & several astounding Rembrandts—especially Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph. We saw there also the pictures which belong to M. Habich himself & which he has lent to the gallery for 10 years. A fine Liberale wh he bought last year in London very cheap. At 12 we returned to our hotel & at 1 went to table d’hôte. We had a very good dinner & in the old fashioned manner the landlord served first the soup & then took his place at the end of the table & dined with us. One rarely sees that done now. At 2.30 M. Habich called for us in a carriage & took us to Wilhelms höhe a splendid park on a hill near Cassel with woods & lawns & very extensive. There was a splendid view from the Hercules on the top of the Hill. We went on to a mock feudal castle which was built by the electors & contains a little old furniture– We then stopped outside the Palace where Napoleon III was kept prisoner after Sedan. M. Habich told us that while the Emperor was there a cordon was drawn across on each side of the house to prevent people passing in front of it. He says that Napoleon would watch from his window till he saw a little crowd collected on each side. He would then go down to the garden & walk to each end & bow politely, take his hat off & then return to the house & wait till those people had gone & others had come when he would repeat the same thing. His vanity & love of notice wd not keep him hid away. He even drove once or twice to Cassel but was at last advised not to do so for fear of being insulted. We drove to M. Habich’s own house & saw Madame & he showed us some of his old drawings. We were glad to see them especially his Raphael. On most of his drawings he has “apprové par Morelli in whom he has implicit faith. At 6 we took leave & walked back to our hotel. Supper, cribbage, bed. Yesterday at supper Henry was accosted by an old Englishman who said his name was Dubree– He is a retired stock broker & had married a rich Miss Williams. He was staying here with his wife & 3 daughters for some time. | |
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