The Englishman was highly
delighted with this picture, and began to gesticulate, as if dandling a
baby, and to make a chirruping sound. It was to him merely a
representation of a mother fondling her infant. He then said, "If I
could have my choice of the pictures and statues in the Tribune, I would
take this picture, and that one yonder" (it was a good enough
Enthronement of the Virgin by Andrea del Sarto) "and the Dancing Faun,
and let the rest go." A delightful man; I love that wholesome coarseness
of mind and heart, which no education nor opportunity can polish out of
the genuine Englishman; a coarseness without vulgarity. When a Yankee is
coarse, he is pretty sure to be vulgar too.
The two critics seemed to be considering whether it were practicable to
go from the Uffizi to the Pitti gallery; but "it confuses one," remarked
the little man, "to see more than one gallery in a day." (I should think
so,--the Pitti Palace tumbling into his small receptacle on the top of
the Uffizi.
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