STRANGE EVENT IN THE LIFE OF SCHALKEN THE PAINTER.

Being a Seventh Extract from the Legacy of the late
Francis Purcell, P. P. of Drumcoolagh.

You will no doubt be surprised,
my dear friend, at the subject of
the following narrative. What
had I to do with Schalken, or Schalken
with me? He had returned to his native
land, and was probably dead and buried,
before I was born; I never visited Holland
nor spoke with a native of that country.
So much I believe you already know. I
must, then, give you my authority, and
state to you frankly the ground upon
which rests the credibility of the strange
story which I am, about to lay before
you.

I was acquainted, in my early days,
with a Captain Vandael, whose father had
served King William in the Low Countries,
and also in my own unhappy land during
the Irish campaigns. I know not how it
happened that I liked this man's society,