Village books

This was all very well once in a way, but
not the sort of thing to be repeated indefinitely.
On Thursdays, instead of going to the Museum, he often took a day
off, going into the country sketching or walking, and on Sundays,
whatever the weather, he nearly always went into the country
walking; his map of the district for thirty miles round London is
covered all over with red lines showing where he had been. He
sometimes went out of town from Saturday to Monday, and for over
twenty years spent Christmas at Boulogne-sur-Mer.
There is a Sacro Monte at Varallo-Sesia with many chapels, each
containing life-sized statues and frescoes illustrating the life of
Christ. Butler had visited this sanctuary repeatedly, and was a
great favourite with the townspeople, who knew that he was studying
the statues and frescoes in the chapels, and who remembered that in
the preface to Alps and Sanctuaries he had declared his intention of
writing about them. In August, 1887, the Varallesi brought matters
to a head by giving him a civic dinner on the Mountain.


Pages:
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68