. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. uddenlytransformed the soberpopulace, their wild yells,their frantic sarabands,into which inoffensivespectators were whirledrelentlessly, if they hap-pened to cross the pathof the excited habitues of thetheatres comportedthemselves in much thesame fashion. Decentfolks were scared awayby the character of theaudience, and its be-haviour, especially whenthe piece happened tobe one of Brederoosfarces. A motley crewof men, women, and children took possession of the pit, where they made assignations,drank, smoked, shouted, and very often exch
. Rembrandt : his life, his work, and his time. uddenlytransformed the soberpopulace, their wild yells,their frantic sarabands,into which inoffensivespectators were whirledrelentlessly, if they hap-pened to cross the pathof the excited habitues of thetheatres comportedthemselves in much thesame fashion. Decentfolks were scared awayby the character of theaudience, and its be-haviour, especially whenthe piece happened tobe one of Brederoosfarces. A motley crewof men, women, and children took possession of the pit, where they made assignations,drank, smoked, shouted, and very often exchanged any projectilesthat lay ready to hand. At family gatherings, people whosenormal habits were sober and temperate became, for the nonce,eaters and drinkers of Pantagruelian capacity. The number ofjomts consumed and bottles emptied at a wedding feast wasappalling. Hooft, who condemned such excesses as bestial anddegrading, likened Amsterdam to the island of Circe, where menwere chano-ed into swine. In primitive times, the annual feasts held. STUDY OF AN OLD MAN. (King of Saxonys Collection.) 70 REMBRANDT at the meetings of the military and artistic guilds were frugal inthe extreme, consisting chiefly of a few herrings, and tankardsof beer that passed from hand to hand. But such humble merry-makings gradually developed into banquets of inordinate der Heists large canvases instruct us as to the capacityof drinking-horns drained by the civic guards, and the dimen-sions of the casks they broached. Small wonder that after suchpotations the eyes of his honest sitters should sparkle, and theircheeks glow I It was towards the close of such a feast, whenheads were getting hot, that the aged Vondel, dreading the in-evitable uproar, whispered to his neighbour Flinck: Govert, Ilove not strife, disputes, and libations. Wilt thou remain ? I mustbe gone. ^ But such occasions were clearly exceptional, and the manifestsincerity of the Dutch painters has furnished less damaging rec
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1903
