V

THE 'MARVELLOUS BOY' OF ALSACE

I

It is especially at Strasburg that travellers are reminded of another
"marvellous boy," who, if he did not "perish in his pride," certainly
shortened his days by overreaching ambition and the brooding bitterness
waiting upon shattered hopes.

Gustave Dore was born and reared under the shadow of Strasburg
Cathedral. The majestic spire, a world in itself, became indeed a world
to this imaginative prodigy. He may be said to have learned the minster
of minsters by heart, as before him Victor Hugo had familiarized himself
with Notre Dame. The unbreeched artist of four summers never tired of
scrutinizing the statues, monsters, gargoyles and other outer
ornamentations, while the story of the pious architect Erwin and of his
inspirer, Sabine, was equally dear. Never did genius more clearly
exhibit the influence of early environment. True child of Alsace, he
revelled in local folklore and legend. The eerie and the fantastic had
the same fascination for him as sacred story, and the lives of the
saints, gnomes, elves, werewolves and sorcerers bewitched no less than
martyrs, miracle-workers and angels.

His play-hours would be spent within the precincts of the cathedral,
whilst the long winter evenings were beguiled with fairy-tales and
fables, his mother and nurse reading or reciting these, their little
listener being always busy with pen or pencil. Something much more than
mere precocity is shown in these almost infantine sketches. Exorbitant