Page:The Etchings of Charles Meryon.djvu/26

 La Rue des Mauvais Garçons (plate 10), which formed the cul-de-lampe or tail-piece of the first livraison of "Eaux-Fortes sur Paris," has always impressed modern observers as one of the most powerful and impressive of the etchings, fraught with mystery, enigmatic, suggestive of long past tragedies. "Quel mortel habitait," are the verses etched on the building, "En ce gîte si sombre? Qui donc là se cachait Dans la nuit et dans l'ombre?" Was it Virtue, in silent poverty; was it Crime? No answer to the riddle is attempted. The street exists no longer.

La Tour de l'Horloge (plate 11) was drawn and etched in 1852 while alterations were in progress which materially altered the appearance of Le Châtelet. This plate has always struck me as being a very straightforward and masterly portrait of a building, but without so much personal expression as Meryon generally contrived to impart to his other etchings. An edition of 600 copies of Delteil's sixth state was published in L'Artiste in 1858, and it was only after this large edition had been struck off that Meryon made a rather important change in the plate, which appears in the last two states, by making rays of light issue, somewhat unaccountably, from the windows between the high square tower and the first of the round ones. Tourelle de la rue de la Tixéranderie (plate 12), also etched in 1852, was drawn just before its demolition. The etching gives a very beautiful effect of sunlight on a most picturesque old house, with the lower part of its turret wreathed in the foliage of a creeper; but the mediæval knight in helm and plumes, who rides along the street, and the nude woman standing in the doorway (in the first state) are curious additions to the scene. The latter figure was retouched in the final state. Saint-Etienne-du-Mont (plate 13), also etched in 1852, is similar in style, as in dimensions, to the last subject. It gives, again, a beautiful effect of sunlight, and the architectural details of the church are shown with an exquisite clearness. The little figures are lively and interesting, but in the state here reproduced a blemish may be noticed; the raised