Rapid method of Neo

Lo 6 novem, 1817, mortir Prinsin Sharlot, sol filin del Prinsregent, ed erederin del koron d’Anglo. La kurta viv sir apene ixa. D’impulsa, kaprica e vementa natur, el sem aspirinda ver frido, e el ni it posedinda. El edukinda inte violenta famil-qerelos, ir sat separat fru da sa malriputa e excentrika matro e porgat al kuro de sa malriputa e egoista patro. Van el sir issep, il decidir ley marli veg kol Prins d’Orango ; el prime yazir ; mo, inamande sodene Prins August de Pruso, el decidir rompi fidanso. Etun no sir la prim amor-aventur, den el price tenir un klandastena korespondo kon un Kapten Hess. Prins August sir ja morganmarlat, mo el no it spir, e il no dicir a el. Dun el duladir lo negosados kol Prins d’Orango, l’aligat sovranos. — sir Junyo, 1814 — arivir Londonye ut celebri sa vinko. Inte zi, nel folgo del Imperer de Rusio, sir lo yun e bel Prins Leopold de Sax-Koburg. II fir plul tentos po atiri l’atenso del Prinsin, mo el, kon sa kor osye, ye dir nil vik. Folgamese lo Prinsregent, — it was June, 1814 — arrived in London to celebrate their victory. Among them, in the suite of the Emperor of Russia, was the young and handsome Prince Leopold of Saxe-Goburg. He made several attempts to attract the notice of the Princess, but she, with her heart elsewhere, paid very little attention. Next month the Prince Regent, discovering that his daughter had secret meetings with Prince Augustus, suddenly appeared upon the scene and, after dismissing her household, sentenced her to a strict seclusion in Windsor Park. “God Almighty grant me patience!” she exclaimed, falling on her knees in an agony of agitation : then she jumped up, ran down the backstairs and out into the street, hailed a passing cab, and drove to her mother’s house in Bayswater. She was discovered, pursued, and at length, yielding to the persuasions of her uncles, the Dukes of York and Sussex, of Brougham, and of the Bishop of Salisbury, she returned to Carlton House at two o’clock in the morning. She was immured at Windsor, but no more was heard of the Prince of Orange. Prince Augustus, too, disappeared. The way was at last open to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.

Lytton Strachey.

REDISCOVERED TREASURES OF PRAGUE CASTLE NOW ON VIEW

From Our Special Correspondent — Prague

The group of paintings at the London embassy of the United Arab Republic that were identified a few weeks ago as the work of Tiepolo, are a reminder of the ease with which even major works of art may be overlooked when they become “part of the scenery”. In an exhibition now being held at Prague Castle there are nearly 50 examples of the same phenomenon, many of them works by some of the greatest artists.

The exhibition has been arranged to acquaint the Czechoslovakian people with the astonishing results of the threeyear historical study of the Prague Castle Gallery that the Institute for the Theory and History of Art, led by Jaromir Neumann, undertook on the instructions of the Restoration Council of the Castle.

There are 74 works on show, many of them major paintings by such masters as Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese, that have not been correctly attributed for several centuries. Some of these paintings were languishing in the darkness of the storerooms of Hraddany Castle, and months of patient study and restoration were needed before their origins could be traced.

Most of the paintings in the present exhibition, however, come into the same category of neglected masterpieces as the Tiepolos in London. Nearly two-thirds of them have, in fact, been hanging for years in the halls, staircases, offices, and galleries of the rambling building that dominates the city, with no more than a cursory glance during the annual inventory.

To the officials who have lived and worked in Hradcany over the years, many of these paintings must have come to seem part of the furniture. Major works by Veronese, Tintoretto, and Rubens, for example, have been hanging modestly on the castle walls, long erroneously described as “From the Studio of Bassano”. „Anonymous Painter of the 17th Century”, and “By an Unknown Aristist”. And, although it reveals others, it is this “mislaid masterpieces” aspect of the Prague Exhibition that most readily captures the imagination.

The story of the Prague Castle collection is long and eventful. It began with the Thirty Years War, when Swedish troops carried off most of the paintings and objects of art that were held in Hradcany. When the war ended in 1648. Ferdinand III set about restoring the collections and at the sale of the Duke of Buckingham’s pictures at Antwerp the same year no fewer than 100 paintings were bought for Prague.

The Hraddany Collection continued to grow during the remaining years of the century until, by the year 1700, the King of Bohemia could boast a vast collection of many hundreds of valuable canvases.

But hardly had the century turned than the first transfers of paintings from Prague to Vienna—the new capital of the Habsburgs—took place.