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diff --git a/14951.txt b/14951.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34dc1de --- /dev/null +++ b/14951.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10028 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wanderer in Holland, by E. V. Lucas + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Wanderer in Holland + +Author: E. V. Lucas + +Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14951] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WANDERER IN HOLLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jeroen Hellingman and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + A Wanderer in Holland + + By + + E.V. Lucas + + With Twenty Illustrations in Colour By + + Herbert Marshall + + And Thirty-Four Illustrations After Old Dutch Masters + + + + + + +Contents + + + + Preface + I Rotterdam + II The Dutch in English Literature + III Dordrecht and Utrecht + IV Delft + V The Hague + VI Scheveningen and Katwyk + VII Leyden + VIII Leyden's Painters, a Fanatic and a Hero + IX Haarlem + X Amsterdam + XI Amsterdam's Pictures + XII Around Amsterdam; South and South-East + XIII Around Amsterdam: North + XIV Alkmaar and Hoorn, The Helder and Enkhuisen + XV Friesland: Stavoren to Leeuwarden + XVI Friesland (continued): Leeuwarden and Neighbourhood + XVII Groningen to Zutphen + XVIII Arnheim to Bergen-op-Zoom + XIX Middelburg + XX Flushing + + + +List of Illustrations + + +In Colour + + + Sunrise on the Maas + Rotterdam + Gouda + The Great Church, Dort + Utrecht + On the Beach, Scheveningen + Leyden + The Turf Market, Haarlem + St. Nicolas Church, Amsterdam + Canal in the Jews' Quarter, Amsterdam + Volendam + Cheese Market, Alkmaar + The Harbour Tower, Hoorn + Market Place, Weigh-house, Hoorn + The Dromedaris Tower, Enkhuisen + Harlingen + Kampen + Arnheim + The Market Place, Nymwegen + Middelburg + +In Monotone + + Girl's Head. Jan Vermeer of Delft (Mauritshuis) + The Store Cupboard. Peter de Hooch (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Portrait of a Youth. Jan van Scorel (Boymans Museum, + Rotterdam) + The Sick Woman. Jan Steen (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Anxious Family. Josef Israels + View of Dort. Albert Cuyp (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Never-Ending Prayer. Nicholas Maes (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + A Lady. Paulus Moreelse (Ryks) + Pilgrims to Jerusalem. Jan van Scorel + (Kunstliefde Museum, Utrecht) + View of Delft. Jan Vermeer (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The School of Anatomy. Rembrandt (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + A Young Woman. Rembrandt (Mauritshuis) + The Steen Family. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Menagerie. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Portrait of G. Bicker, Landrichter of Muiden. Van der Heist + (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Syndics. Rembrandt (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Oyster Feast. Jan Steen (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Young Housekeeper. Gerard Dou (Mauritshuis) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Breakfast. Gabriel Metsu (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Groote Kerk. Johannes Bosboom (Boymans Museum, Rotterdam) + The Painter and His Wife (?). Frans Hals (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Group of Arquebusiers. Frans Hals (Haarlem) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Cat's Dancing Lesson. Jan Steen (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The "Night Watch". Rembrandt (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Reader. Jan Vermeer (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Milking Time. Anton Mauve + Paternal Advice. Gerard Terburg (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Spinner. Nicholas Maes (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Clara Alewijn. Dirck Santvoort (Ryks) + Family Scene. Jan Steen (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Little Princess. Paulus Moreelse (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + The Shepherd and His Flock. Anton Mauve + Helene van der Schalke. Gerard Terburg (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + Elizabeth Bas. Rembrandt (Ryks) + From a Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl + + + + +Preface + +It would be useless to pretend that this book is authoritatively +informing. It is a series of personal impressions of the Dutch country +and the Dutch people, gathered during three visits, together with an +accretion of matter, more or less pertinent, drawn from many sources, +old and new, to which I hope I have given unity. For trustworthy +information upon the more serious side of Dutch life and character I +would recommend Mr. Meldrum's _Holland and the Hollanders_. My thanks +are due to my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Lueden, for saving me from +many errors by reading this work in MS. + +E.V.L. + + + + + +A WANDERER IN HOLLAND + + +Chapter I + +Rotterdam + + To Rotterdam by water--To Rotterdam by rail--Holland's + monotony of scenery--Holland in England--Rotterdam's few + merits--The life of the river--The Rhine--Walt Whitman--Crowded + canals--Barge life--The Dutch high-ways--A perfect holiday--The + canal's influence on the national character--The florin + and the franc--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--The old and the + poor--Holland's health--Funeral customs--The chemists' + shops--Erasmus of Rotterdam--Latinised names--Peter de + Hooch--True aristocracy--The Boymans treasures--Modern + Dutch art--Matthew Maris--The Rotterdam Zoo--The herons--The + stork's mission--The ourang-outang--An eighteenth-century + miser--A successful merchant--The Queen-Mother--Tom Hood + in Rotterdam--Gouda. + +It was once possible to sail all the way to Rotterdam by either of +the two lines of steamships from England--the Great Eastern, _via_ +Harwich, and the Batavier, direct from London. But that is possible +now only by the Batavier, passengers by the better-known Harwich +route being landed now and henceforward at the Hook at five A.M. I am +sorry for this, because after a rough passage it was very pleasant +to glide in the early morning steadily up the Maas and gradually +acquire a sense of Dutch quietude and greyness. No longer, however, +can this be done, as the Batavier boats reach Rotterdam at night; +and one therefore misses the river, with the little villages on its +banks, each with a tiny canal-harbour of its own; the groups of trees +in the early mist; the gulls and herons; and the increasing traffic +as one drew nearer Schiedam and at last reached that forest of masts +which is known as Rotterdam. + +But now that the only road to Rotterdam by daylight is the road +of iron all that is past, and yet there is some compensation, for +short as the journey is one may in its progress ground oneself very +thoroughly in the characteristic scenery of Holland. No one who looks +steadily out of the windows between the Hook and Rotterdam has much +to learn thereafter. Only changing skies and atmospheric effects can +provide him with novelty, for most of Holland is like that. He has the +formula. Nor is it necessarily new to him if he knows England well, +North Holland being merely the Norfolk Broads, the Essex marshlands +about Burnham-on-Crouch, extended. Only in its peculiarity of light +and in its towns has Holland anything that we have not at home. + +England has even its canal life too, if one cared to investigate +it; the Broads are populous with wherries and barges; cheese is +manufactured in England in a score of districts; cows range our +meadows as they range the meadows of the Dutch. We go to Holland to +see the towns, the pictures and the people. We go also because so +many of us are so constituted that we never use our eyes until we +are on foreign soil. It is as though a Cook's ticket performed an +operation for cataract. + +But because one can learn the character of Dutch scenery so quickly--on +a single railway journey--I do not wish to suggest that henceforward it +becomes monotonous and trite. One may learn the character of a friend +very quickly, and yet wish to be in his company continually. Holland +is one of the most delightful countries to move about in: everything +that happens in it is of interest. I have never quite lost the +sense of excitement in crossing a canal in the train and getting a +momentary glimpse of its receding straightness, perhaps broken by a +brown sail. In a country where, between the towns, so little happens, +even the slightest things make a heightened appeal to the observer; +while one's eyes are continually kept bright and one's mind stimulated +by the ever-present freshness and clearness of the land and its air. + +Rotterdam, it should be said at once, is not a pleasant city. It +must be approached as a centre of commerce and maritime industry, +or not at all; if you do not like sailor men and sailor ways, noisy +streets and hurrying people, leave Rotterdam behind, and let the +train carry you to The Hague. It is not even particularly Dutch: it +is cosmopolitan. The Dutch are quieter than this, and cleaner. And +yet Rotterdam is unique--its church of St. Lawrence has a grey and +sombre tower which has no equal in the country; there is a windmill +on the Cool Singel which is essentially Holland; the Boymans Museum +has a few admirable pictures; there is a curiously fascinating stork +in the Zoological Gardens; and the river is a scene of romantic energy +by day and night. I think you must go to Rotterdam, though it be only +for a few hours. + +At Rotterdam we see what the Londoner misses by having a river that +is navigable in the larger sense only below his city. To see shipping +at home we must make our tortuous way to the Pool; Rotterdam has the +Pool in her midst. Great ships pass up and down all day. The Thames, +once its bustling mercantile life is cut short by London Bridge, +dwindles to a stream of pleasure; the Maas becomes the Rhine. + +Walt Whitman is the only writer who has done justice to a great +harbour, and he only by that sheer force of enumeration which in this +connection rather stands for than is poetry. As a matter of fact it +is the reader of such an inventory as we find in "Crossing Brooklyn +Ferry" that is the poet: Whitman is only the machinery. Whitman gives +the suggestion and the reader's own memory or imagination does the +rest. Many of the lines might as easily have been written of Rotterdam +as of Brooklyn:-- + + + The sailors at work in the rigging or out astride the spars, + The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender + serpentine pennants, + The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their + pilot-houses, + The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of + the wheels, + The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sunset, + The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the + frolicsome crests and glistening, + The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the grey walls of + the granite storehouses by the docks, + On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug closely flank'd + on each side by the barges, the hay-boat, the belated lighter, + On the neighbouring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys + burning high and glaringly into the night, + Casting their flicker of black contrasted with wild red and + yellow light over the tops of the houses, and down into the clefts + of streets. + + +There is of course nothing odd in the description of one harbour +fitting another, for harbours have no one nationality but all. Whitman +was not otherwise very strong upon Holland. He writes in "Salut au +Monde" of "the sail and steamships of the world" which in his mind's +eye he beholds as they + + + Wait steam'd up ready to start in the ports of Australia, + Wait at Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Marseilles, Lisbon, Naples, + Hamburg, Bremen, Bordeaux, The Hague, Copenhagen. + + +It is not easy for one of the "sail or steamships of the world" to +wait steamed up at The Hague; because The Hague has no harbour except +for small craft and barges. Shall we assume, with great charity, +that Walt feared that the word Rotterdam might impair his rhythm? + +Not only big shipping: I think one may see barges and canal boats in +greater variety at Rotterdam than anywhere else. One curious thing +to be noticed as they lie at rest in the canals is the absence of +men. A woman is always there; her husband only rarely. The only +visible captain is the fussy, shrewish little dog which, suspicious +of the whole world, patrols the boat from stem to stern, and warns +you that it is against the law even to look at his property. I hope +his bite is not equal to his bark. + +Every barge has its name. What the popular style was seven years +ago, when I was here last, I cannot remember; but to-day it is +"Wilhelmina". English suburban villas have not a greater variety of +fantastic names than the canal craft of Holland; nor, with all our +monopoly of the word "home," does the English suburban villa suggest +more compact cosiness than one catches gleams of through their cabin +windows or down their companions. + +Spring cleaning goes on here, as in the Dutch houses, all the year +round, and the domiciliary part of the vessels is spotless. Every +bulwark has a washing tray that can be fixed or detached in a +moment. "It's a fine day, let us kill something," says the Englishman; +"Here's an odd moment, let us wash something," says the Dutch vrouw. + +In some of the Rotterdam canals the barges are so packed that they +lie touching each other, with their burgees flying all in the same +direction, as the vanes of St. Sepulchre's in Holborn cannot do. How +they ever get disentangled again and proceed on their free way to +their distant homes is a mystery. But in the shipping world incredible +things can happen at night. + +One does not, perhaps, in Rotterdam realise all at once that every drop +of water in these city-bound canals is related to every other drop of +water in the other canals of Holland, however distant. From any one +canal you can reach in time every other. The canal is really much more +the high road of the country than the road itself. The barge is the +Pickford van of Holland. Here we see some of the secret of the Dutch +deliberateness. A country which must wait for its goods until a barge +brings them has every opportunity of acquiring philosophic phlegm. + +After a while one gets accustomed to the ever-present canal and the odd +spectacle (to us) of masts in the streets and sails in the fields. All +the Dutch towns are amphibious, but some are more watery than others. + +The Dutch do not use their wealth of water as we should. They do not +swim in it, they do not race on it, they do not row for pleasure at +all. Water is their servant, never a light-hearted companion. + +I can think of no more reposeful holiday than to step on board one of +these barges wedged together in a Rotterdam canal, and never lifting +a finger to alter the natural course of events--to accelerate or +divert--be earned by it to, say, Harlingen, in Friesland: between the +meadows; under the noses of the great black and white cows; past herons +fishing in the rushes; through little villages with dazzling milk-cans +being scoured on the banks, and the good-wives washing, and saturnine +smokers in black velvet slippers passing the time of day; through +big towns, by rows of sombre houses seen through a delicate screen of +leaves; under low bridges crowded with children; through narrow locks; +ever moving, moving, slowly and surely, sometimes sailing, sometimes +quanting, sometimes being towed, with the wide Dutch sky overhead, +and the plovers crying in it, and the clean west wind driving the +windmills, and everything just as it was in Rembrandt's day and just +as it will be five hundred years hence. + +Holland when all is said is a country of canals. It may have cities +and pictures, windmills and cows, quaint buildings, and quainter +costumes, but it is a country of canals before all. The canals set +the tune. The canals keep it deliberate and wise. + +One can be in Rotterdam, or in whatever town one's travels really +begin, but a very short time without discovering that the Dutch +unit--the florin--is a very unsatisfactory servant. The dearness +of Holland strikes one continually, but it does so with peculiar +force if one has crossed the frontier from Belgium, where the unit +is a franc. It is too much to say that a sovereign in Holland is +worth only twelve shillings: the case is not quite so extreme as +that; but a sovereign in Belgium is, for all practical purposes, +worth twenty-five shillings, and the contrast after reaching Dutch +soil is very striking. One has to recollect that the spidery letter +"f," which in those friendly little restaurants in the Rue Hareng at +Brussels had stood for a franc, now symbolises that far more serious +item the florin; and f. 1.50, which used to be a trifle of one and +threepence, is now half a crown. + +Even in our own country, where we know something about the cost of +things, we are continually conscious of the fallacy embodied in the +statement that a sovereign is equal to twenty shillings. We know that +in theory that is so; but we know also that it is so only as long as +the sovereign remains unchanged. Change it and it is worth next to +nothing--half a sovereign and a little loose silver. But in Holland +the disparity is even more pathetic. To change a sovereign there +strikes one as the most ridiculous business transaction of one's life. + +Certain things in Holland are dear beyond all understanding. At The +Hague, for example, we drank Eau d'Evian, a very popular bottled water +for which in any French restaurant one expects to pay a few pence; +and when the bill arrived this simple fluid cut such a dashing figure +in it that at first I could not recognise it at all. When I put the +matter to the landlord, he explained that the duty made it impossible +for him to charge less than f. 1.50 (or half a crown) a bottle; +but I am told that his excuse was too fanciful. None the less, half +a crown was the charge, and apparently no one objects to pay it. The +Dutch, on pleasure or eating bent, are prepared to pay anything. One +would expect to get a reasonable claret for such a figure; but not +in Holland. Wine is good there, but it is not cheap. Only in one +hotel--and that in the unspoiled north, at Groningen--did I see wine +placed automatically upon the table, as in France. + +Rotterdam must have changed for the worse under modern conditions; +for it is no longer as it was in Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's day. From +Rotterdam in 1716 she sent the Countess of Mar a pretty account of +the city: "All the streets are paved with broad stones, and before +the meanest artificers' doors seats of various coloured marbles, +and so neatly kept that, I will assure you, I walked all over the +town yesterday, _incognita_, in my slippers, without receiving one +spot of dirt; and you may see the Dutch maids washing the pavement of +the street with more application than ours do our bed-chambers. The +town seems so full of people, with such busy faces, all in motion, +that I can hardly fancy that it is not some celebrated fair; but I +see it is every day the same. + +"The shops and warehouses are of a surprising neatness and +magnificence, filled with an incredible quantity of fine merchandise, +and so much cheaper than what we see in England, I have much ado +to persuade myself I am still so near it. Here is neither dirt nor +beggary to be seen. One is not shocked with those loathsome cripples, +so common in London, nor teased with the importunities of idle fellows +and wenches, that choose to be nasty and lazy. The common servants +and the little shopwomen here are more nicely clean than most of our +ladies; and the great variety of neat dresses (every woman dressing +her head after her own fashion) is an additional pleasure in seeing +the town." + +The claims of business have now thrust aside many of the little +refinements described by Lady Mary, her description of which has but +to be transferred to some of the smaller Dutch towns to be however +in the main still accurate. But what she says of the Dutch servants +is true everywhere to this minute. There are none more fresh and +capable; none who carry their lot with more quiet dignity. Not the +least part of the very warm hospitality which is offered in Dutch +houses is played by the friendliness of the servants. + +Every one in Holland seems to have enough; no one too +much. Great wealth there may be among the merchants, but it is not +ostentatious. Holland still seems to have no poor in the extreme sense +of the word, no rags. Doubtless the labourers that one sees are working +at a low rate, but they are probably living comfortably at a lower, +and are not to be pitied except by those who still cherish the illusion +that riches mean happiness. The dirt and poverty that exist in every +English town and village are very uncommon. Nor does one see maimed, +infirm or very old people, except now and then--so rarely as at once +to be reminded of their rarity. + +One is struck, even in Rotterdam, which is a peculiarly strenuous +town, by the ruddy health of the people in the streets. In England, +as one walks about, one sees too often the shadow of Death on this +face and that; but in Holland it is difficult to believe in his power, +the people have so prosperous, so permanent, an air. + +That the Dutch die there is no doubt, for a funeral is an almost +daily object, and the aanspreker is continually hurrying by; but +where are the dead? The cemeteries are minute, and the churches have +no churchyards. Of Death, however, when he comes the nation is very +proud. The mourning customs are severe and enduring. No expense is +spared in spreading the interesting tidings. It is for this purpose +that the aanspreker flourishes in his importance and pomp. Draped +heavily in black, from house to house he moves, wherever the slightest +ties of personal or business acquaintanceship exist, and announces +his news. A lady of Hilversum tells me that she was once formally the +recipient of the message, "Please, ma'am, the baker's compliments, +and he's dead," the time and place of the interment following. I said +draped in black, but the aanspreker is not so monotonous an official as +that. He has his subtleties, his nuances. If the deceased is a child, +he adds a white rosette; if a bachelor or a maid, he intimates the +fact by degrees of trimming. + +The aanspreker was once occasionally assisted by the huilebalk, but I +am afraid his day is over. The huilebalk accompanied the aansprekers +from house to house and wept on the completion of their sad message. He +wore a wide-awake hat with a very large brim and a long-tailed coat. If +properly paid, says my informant, real tears coursed down his cheeks; +in any case his presence was a luxury possible only to the rich. + +The aanspreker is called in also at the other end of life. Assuming +a more jocund air, he trips from house to house announcing little +strangers. + +That the Dutch are a healthy people one might gather also from the +character of their druggists. In this country, even in very remote +towns, one may reveal one's symptoms to a chemist or his assistant +feeling certain that he will know more or less what to prescribe. But +in Holland the chemists are often young women, who preside over shops +in which one cannot repose any confidence. One likes a chemist's shop +at least to look as if it contained reasonable remedies. These do +not. Either our shops contain too many drugs or these too few. The +chemist's sign, a large comic head with its mouth wide open (known +as the gaper), is also subversive of confidence. A chemist's shop is +no place for jokes. In Holland one must in short do as the Dutch do, +and remain well. + +Rotterdam's first claim to consideration, apart from its commercial +importance, is that it gave birth to Erasmus, a bronze statue +of whom stands in the Groote Market, looking down on the stalls +of fruit. Erasmus of Rotterdam--it sounds like a contradiction +in terms. Gherardt Gherardts of Rotterdam is a not dishonourable +cacophany--and that was the reformer's true name; but the fashion +of the time led scholars to adopt a Hellenised, or Latinised, +style. Erasmus Desiderius, his new name, means Beloved and long +desired. Grotius, Barlaeus, Vossius, Arminius, all sacrificed local +colour to smooth syllables. We should be very grateful that the fashion +did not spread also to the painters. What a loss it would be had the +magnificent rugged name of Rembrandt van Rhyn been exchanged for a +smooth emasculated Latinism. + +Rotterdam had another illustrious son whose work as little suggests +his birthplace--the exquisite painter Peter de Hooch. According to the +authorities he modelled his style upon Rembrandt and Fabritius, but the +influence of Rembrandt is concealed from the superficial observer. De +Hooch, whose pictures are very scarce, worked chiefly at Delft and +Haarlem, and it was at Haarlem that he died in 1681. If one were put +to it to find a new standard of aristocracy superior to accidents +of blood or rank one might do worse than demand as the ultimate test +the possession of either a Vermeer of Delft or a Peter de Hooch. + +One only of Peter de Hooch's pictures is reproduced in this book--"The +Store Cupboard". This is partly because there are, I think, better +paintings of his in London than at Amsterdam. At least it seems to +me that his picture in our National Gallery of the waiting maid is +finer than anything by De Hooch in Holland. But in no other work +of his that I know is his simple charm so apparent as in "The Store +Cupboard". This is surely the Christmas supplement carried out to its +highest power--and by its inventor. The thousands of domestic scenes +which have proceeded from this one canvas make the memory reel; and +yet nothing has staled the prototype. It remains a sweet and genuine +and radiant thing. De Hooch had two fetishes--a rich crimson dress +or jacket and an open door. His compatriot Vermeer, whom he sometimes +resembles, was similarly addicted to a note of blue. + +No one has managed direct sunlight so well as De Hooch. The light in +his rooms is the light of day. One can almost understand how Rembrandt +and Gerard Dou got their concentrated effects of illumination; but +how this omnipresent radiance streamed from De Hooch's palette is one +of the mysteries. It is as though he did not paint light but found +light on his canvas and painted everything else in its midst. + +Rotterdam has some excellent pictures in its Boymans Museum; but they +are, I fancy, overlooked by many visitors. It seems no city in which to +see pictures. It is a city for anything rather than art--a mercantile +centre, a hive of bees, a shipping port of intense activity. And +yet perhaps the quietest little Albert Cuyp in Holland is here, "De +Oude Oostpoort te Rotterdam," a small evening scene, without cattle, +suffused in a golden glow. But all the Cuyps, and there are six, +are good--all inhabited by their own light. + +Among the other Boymans treasures which I find I have marked (not +necessarily because they are good--for I am no judge--but because +I liked them) are Ferdinand Bols fine free portrait of Dirck van +der Waeijen, a boy in a yellow coat; Erckhart's "Boaz and Ruth," a +small sombre canvas with a suggestion of Velasquez in it; Hobbema's +"Boomrijk Landschap," one of the few paintings of this artist that +Holland possesses. The English, I might remark, always appreciative +judges of Dutch art, have been particularly assiduous in the pursuit of +Hobbema, with the result that his best work is in our country. Holland +has nothing of his to compare with the "Avenue at Middelharnis," +one of the gems of our National Gallery. And his feathery trees may +be studied at the Wallace Collection in great comfort. + +Other fine landscapes in the Boymans Museum are three by Johan +van Kessel, who was a pupil of Hobbema, one by Jan van der Meer, +one by Koninck, and, by Jacob van Ruisdael, a corafield in the sun +and an Amsterdam canal with white sails upon it. The most notable +head is that by Karel Fabritius; Hendrick Pot's "Het Lokstertje" +is interesting for its large free manner and signs of the influence +of Hals; and Emmanuel de Witte's Amsterdam fishmarket is curiously +modern. But the figure picture which most attracted me was "Portret +van een jongeling," by Jan van Scorel, of whom we shall learn more at +Utrecht. This little portrait, which I reproduce on the opposite page, +is wholly charming and vivid. + +The Boymans Museum contains also modern Dutch paintings. Wherever +modern Dutch paintings are to be seen, I look first for the delicate +art of Matthew Maris, and next for Anton Mauve. Here there is no +Matthew Maris, and but one James Maris. There is one Mauve. The modern +Dutch painter for the most part paints the same picture so often. But +Matthew Maris is full of surprises. If a new picture by any of his +contemporaries stood with its face to the wall one would know what +to expect. From Israels, a fisherman's wife; from Mesdag, a grey +stretch of sea; from Bosboom, a superb church interior; from Mauve, +a peasant with sheep or a peasant with a cow; from Weissenbruch, a +stream and a willow; from Breitner, an Amsterdam street; from James +Maris a masterly scene of boats and wet sky. Usually one would have +guessed aright. But with Matthew Maris is no certainty. It may be a +little dainty girl lying on her side and watching butterflies; it may +be a sombre hillside at Montmartre; it may be a girl cooking; it may +be scaffolding in Amsterdam, or a mere at evening, or a baby's head, +or a village street. He has many moods, and he is always distinguished +and subtle. + +Rotterdam has a zoological garden which, although inferior to ours, +is far better than that at Amsterdam, while it converts The Hague's Zoo +into a travesty. Last spring the lions were in splendid condition. They +are well housed, but fewer distractions are provided for them than +in Regent's Park. I found myself fascinated by the herons, who were +continually soaring out over the neighbouring houses and returning +like darkening clouds. In England, although the heron is a native, we +rarely seem to see him; while to study him is extremely difficult. In +Holland he is ubiquitous: both wild and tame. + +More interesting still was the stork, whose nest is set high on +a pinnacle of the buffalo house. He was building in the leisurely +style of the British working man. He would negligently descend from +the heavens with a stick. This he would lay on the fabric and then +carefully perform his toilet, looking round and down all the time +to see that every one else was busy. Whenever his eye lighted upon +a toddling child or a perambulator it visibly brightened. "My true +work!" he seemed to say; "this nest building is a mere by-path of +industry." After prinking and overlooking, and congratulating himself +thus, for a few minutes, he would stroll off, over the housetops, +for another stick. He was the unquestionable King of the Garden. + +Why are there no heronries in the English public parks? And why is +there no stork? The Dutch have a proverb, "Where the stork abides +no mother dies in childbed". Still more, why are there no storks in +France? The author of _Fecondite_ should have imported them. + +No Zoo, however well managed, can keep an ourang-outang long, and +therefore one should always study that uncomfortably human creature +whenever the opportunity occurs. I had great fortune at Rotterdam, +for I chanced to be in the ourang-outang's house when his keeper +came in. Entering the enclosure, he romped with him in a score of +diverting ways. They embraced each other, fed each other, teased +each other. The humanness of the creature was frightful. Perhaps our +likeness to ourang-outangs (except for our ridiculously short arms, +inadequate lower jaws and lack of hair) made him similarly uneasy. + +Rotterdam, I have read somewhere, was famous at the end of the +eighteenth century for a miser, the richest man in the city. He always +did his own marketing, and once changed his butcher because he weighed +the paper with the meat He bought his milk in farthingsworths, half +of which had to be delivered at his front door and half at the back, +"to gain the little advantage of extra measure". Different travellers +note different things, and William Chambers, the publisher, in his +_Tour in Holland_ in 1839, selected for special notice another type +of Rotterdam resident: "One of the most remarkable men of this [the +merchant] class is Mr. Van Hoboken of Rhoon and Pendrecht, who lives +on one of the havens. This individual began life as a merchant's +porter, and has in process of time attained the highest rank among +the Dutch mercantile aristocracy. He is at present the principal owner +of twenty large ships in the East India trade, each, I was informed, +worth about fourteen thousand pounds, besides a large landed estate, +and much floating wealth of different descriptions. His establishment +is of vast extent, and contains departments for the building of ships +and manufacture of all their necessary equipments. This gentleman, +until lately, was in the habit of giving a splendid fete once a year +to his family and friends, at which was exhibited with modest pride +the porter's truck which he drew at the outset of his career. One +seldom hears of British merchants thus keeping alive the remembrance +of early meanness of circumstances." + +At one of Rotterdam's stations I saw the Queen-Mother, a +smiling, maternal lady in a lavender silk dress, carrying a large +bouquet, and saying pretty things to a deputation drawn up on the +platform. Rotterdam had put out its best bunting, and laid six inches +of sand on its roads, to do honour to this kindly royalty. The band +played the tender national anthem, which is always so unlike what one +expects it to be, as her train steamed away, and then all the grave +bearded gentlemen in uniforms and frock coats who had attended her +drove in their open carriages back to the town. Not even the presence +of the mounted guard made it more formal than a family party. Everybody +seemed on the best of friendly terms of equality with everybody else. + +Tom Hood, who had it in him to be so good a poet, but living in a +country where art and literature do not count, was permitted to coarsen +his delicate genius in the hunt for bread, wrote one of his comic +poems on Rotterdam. In it are many happy touches of description:-- + + + Before me lie dark waters + In broad canals and deep, + Whereon the silver moonbeams + Sleep, restless in their sleep; + A sort of vulgar Venice + Reminds me where I am; + Yes, yes, you are in England, + And I'm at Rotterdam. + + Tall houses with quaint gables, + Where frequent windows shine, + And quays that lead to bridges, + And trees in formal line, + And masts of spicy vessels + From western Surinam, + All tell me you're in England, + But I'm in Rotterdam. + + +With headquarters at Rotterdam one may make certain small journeys +into the neighbourhood--to Dordrecht by river, to Delft by canal, +to Gouda by canal; or one may take longer voyages, even to Cologne if +one wishes. But I do not recommend it as a city to linger in. Better +than Rotterdam's large hotels are, I think, the smaller, humbler +and more Dutch inns of the less commercial towns. This indeed is the +case all over Holland: the plain Dutch inn of the neighbouring small +town is pleasanter than the large hotels of the city; and, as I have +remarked in the chapter on Amsterdam, the distances are so short, +and the trains so numerous, that one suffers no inconvenience from +staying in the smaller places. + +Gouda (pronounced Howda) it is well to visit from Rotterdam, for it +has not enough to repay a sojourn in its midst. It has a Groote Kerk +and a pretty isolated white stadhuis. But Gouda's fame rests on its +stained glass--gigantic representations of myth, history and scripture, +chiefly by the brothers Crabeth. The windows are interesting rather +than beautiful. They lack the richness and mystery which one likes +to find in old stained glass, and the church itself is bare and cold +and unfriendly. Hemmed in by all this coloured glass, so able and +so direct, one sighs for a momentary glimpse of the rose window at +Chartres, or even of the too heavily kaleidoscopic patterns of Brussels +Cathedral. No matter, the Gouda windows in their way are very fine, +and in the sixth, depicting the story of Judith and Holofernes, there +is a very fascinating little Duereresque tower on a rock under siege. + +If one is taking Gouda on the way from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, +the surrounding country should not be neglected from the carriage +windows. Holland is rarely so luxuriant as here, and so peacefully +beautiful. + + + + +Chapter II + +The Dutch in English Literature + + Hard things against the Dutch--Andrew Marvell's satire--The + iniquity of living below sea-level--Historic sarcasms--"Invent + a shovel and be a magistrate"--Heterogeneity--Foot warmers--A + champion of the Hollow Land--_The Dutch Drawn to the + Life_--Dutch suspicion--Sir William Temple's opinion--and Sir + Thomas Overbury's--Dr. Johnson's project--Dutch courtesy--Dutch + discourtesy--National manners--A few phrases--The origin of + "Dutch News"--A vindication of Dutch courage. + +To say hard things of the Dutch was once a recognised literary +pastime. At the time of our war with Holland no poet of any pretensions +refrained from writing at least one anti-Batavian satire, the classical +example of which is Andrew Marvell's "Character of Holland" (following +Samuel Butler's), a pasquinade that contains enough wit and fancy +and contempt to stock a score of the nation's ordinary assailants. It +begins perfectly:-- + + + HOLLAND, that scarce deserves the name of land, + As but th' off-scouring of the British sand, + And so much earth as was contributed + By English pilots when they heav'd the lead, + Or what by the ocean's slow alluvion fell + Of shipwrackt cockle and the muscle-shell: + This indigested vomit of the sea + Fell to the Dutch by just propriety. + Glad then, as miners who have found the ore + They, with mad labour, fish'd the land to shoar + And div'd as desperately for each piece + Of earth, as if't had been of ambergreece; + Collecting anxiously small loads of clay, + Less than what building swallows bear away; + Or than those pills which sordid beetles roul, + Transfusing into them their dunghil soul. + How did they rivet, with gigantick piles, + Thorough the center their new-catched miles; + And to the stake a struggling country bound, + Where barking waves still bait the forced ground; + Building their wat'ry Babel far more high + To reach the sea, than those to scale the sky! + Yet still his claim the injur'd ocean laid, + And oft at leap-frog ore their steeples plaid: + As if on purpose it on land had come + To show them what's their _mare liberum_. + A daily deluge over them does boyl; + The earth and water play at level-coyl. + The fish oft times the burger dispossest, + And sat, not as a meat, but as a guest, + And oft the Tritons and the sea-nymphs saw + Whole sholes of Dutch serv'd up for Cabillau; + Or, as they over the new level rang'd + For pickled herring, pickled _heeren_ chang'd. + Nature, it seem'd, asham'd of her mistake, + Would throw their land away at duck and drake. + + +The poor Dutch were never forgiven for living below the sea-level +and gaining their security by magnificent feats of engineering and +persistence. Why the notion of a reclaimed land should have seemed +so comic I cannot understand, but Marvell certainly justified the joke. + +Later, Napoleon, who liked to sum up a nation in a phrase, accused +Holland of being nothing but a deposit of German mud, thrown there by +the Rhine: while the Duke of Alva remarked genially that the Dutch +were of all peoples those that lived nighest to hell; but Marvell's +sarcasms are the best. Indeed I doubt if the literature of droll +exaggeration has anything to compare with "The Character of Holland". + +The satirist, now thoroughly warmed to his congenial task, continues:-- + + + Therefore Necessity, that first made kings, + Something like government among them brings; + For, as with pygmees, who best kills the crane, + Among the hungry, he that treasures grain, + Among the blind, the one-ey'd blinkard reigns, + So rules among the drowned he that draines: + Not who first sees the rising sun, commands, + But who could first discern the rising lands; + Who best could know to pump an earth so leak, + Him they their Lord, and Country's Father, speak; + To make a bank, was a great plot of State, + Invent a shov'l, and be a magistrate. + + +So much for the conquest of Neptune, which in another nation were a +laudable enough enterprise. Marvell then passes on to the national +religion and the heterogeneity of Amsterdam:-- + + + 'Tis probable Religion, after this, + Came next in order, which they could not miss, + How could the Dutch but be converted, when + Th' Apostles were so many fishermen? + Besides, the waters of themselves did rise, + And, as their land, so them did re-baptize. + Though Herring for their God few voices mist, + And Poor-John to have been th' Evangelist, + Faith, that could never twins conceive before, + Never so fertile, spawn'd upon this shore + More pregnant than their Marg'ret, that laid down + For Hans-in-Kelder of a whole Hans-Town. + Sure when Religion did itself imbark, + And from the East would Westward steer its ark, + It struck, and splitting on this unknown ground, + Each one thence pillag'd the first piece he found: + Hence Amsterdam, Turk-Christian-Pagan-Jew, + Staple of sects, and mint of schisme grew; + That bank of conscience, where not one so strange + Opinion but finds credit, and exchange. + In vain for Catholicks ourselves we bear; + The universal Church is only there. + Nor can civility there want for tillage, + Where wisely for their Court, they chose a village: + How fit a title clothes their governours, + Themselves the hogs, as all their subject bores! + Let it suffice to give their country fame, + That it had one Civilis call'd by name, + Some fifteen hundred and more years ago, + But surely never any that was so. + + +There is something rather splendid in the attitude of a man who can +take a whole nation as his butt and bend every circumstance to his +purpose of ridicule and attack. Our satirists to-day are contented to +pillory individuals or possibly a sect or clique. Marvell's enjoyment +in his own exuberance and ingenuity is so apparent and infectious +that it matters nothing to us whether he was fair or unfair. + +The end is inconclusive, being a happy recollection that he had +omitted any reference to _stoofjes_, the footstools filled with +burning peat which are used to keep the feet warm in church. Such +a custom was of course not less reprehensible than the building of +dykes to keep out the sea. Hence these eight lines, which, however, +would have come better earlier in the poem:-- + + + See but their mermaids, with their tails of fish, + Reeking at church over the chafing-dish! + A vestal turf, enshrin'd in earthen ware, + Fumes through the loopholes of a wooden square; + Each to the temple with these altars tend, + But still does place it at her western end; + While the fat steam of female sacrifice + Fills the priest's nostrils, and puts out his eyes. + + +Not all the poets, however, abused the Dutch. John Hagthorpe, in his +_England's Exchequer_ in 1625 (written before the war: hence, perhaps, +his kindness) thus addressed the "hollow land":-- + + + Fair Holland, had'st thou England's chalky rocks, + To gird thy watery waist; her healthful mounts, + With tender grass to feed thy nibbling flocks: + Her pleasant groves, and crystalline clear founts, + Most happy should'st thou be by just accounts, + That in thine age so fresh a youth do'st feel + Though flesh of oak, and ribs of brass and steel. + + But what hath prudent mother Nature held + From thee--that she might equal shares impart + Unto her other sons--that's not compell'd + To be the guerdons of thy wit and art? + And industry, that brings from every part + Of every thing the fairest and the best, + Like the Arabian bird to build thy nest? + + Like the Arabian bird thy nest to build, + With nimble wings thou flyest for Indian sweets, + And incense which the Sabaan forests yield, + And in thy nest the goods of each pole meets,-- + Which thy foes hope, shall serve thy funeral rites-- + But thou more wise, secur'd by thy deep skill, + Dost build on waves, from fires more safe than hill. + + +To return to the severer critics--in 1664 was published a little book +called _The Dutch Drawn to the Life_, a hostile work not improbably +written with the intention of exciting English animosity to the point +of war. A great deal was made of the success of the Dutch fisheries +and the mismanagement of our own. The nation was criticised in all +its aspects--"well nigh three millions of men, well-proportioned, +great lovers of our English beer". The following passage on the +drinking capacity of the Dutch would have to be modified to-day:-- + + By their Excise, which riseth with their charge, the more money + they pay, the more they receive again, in that insensible but + profitable way: what is exhaled up in clouds, falls back again + in showers: what the souldier receives in pay, he payes in + Drink: their very enemies, though they hate the State, yet love + their liquor, and pay excise: the most idle, slothful, and most + improvident, that selleth his blood for drink, and his flesh for + bread, serves at his own charge, for every pay day he payeth his + sutler, and he the common purse. + +Here are other strokes assisting to the protraiture "to the life" of +this people: "Their habitations are kept handsomer than their bodies, +and their bodies than their soules".--"The Dutch man's building is +not large, but neat; handsome on the outside, on the inside hung +with pictures and tapestry. He that hath not bread to eat hath a +picture."--"They are seldom deceived, for they will trust nobody. They +may always deceive, for you must trust them, as for instance, if you +travel, to ask a bill of Particulars is to purre in a wasp's nest, +you must pay what they ask as sure as if it were the assessment of +a Subsidy." + +But the wittiest and shrewdest of the prose critics of Holland was Owen +Feltham, from whom I quote later. His little book on the Low Countries +is as packed with pointed phrase as a satire by Pope: the first half +of it whimsically destructive, the second half eulogistic. It is +he who charges the Dutch convivial spirits with drinking down the +Evening Starre and drinking up the Morning Starre. + +The old literature tells us also that the Dutch were not +always clean. Indeed, their own painters prove this: Ostade +pre-eminently. There are many allusions in Elizabethan and early Stuart +literature to their dirt and rags. In Earle's _Microcosmography_, +for example, a younger brother's last refuge is said to be the Low +Countries, "where rags and linen are no scandal". But better testimony +comes perhaps from _The English Schole-Master_, a seventeenth-century +Dutch-English manual, from which I quote at some length later in this +book. Here is a specimen scrap of dialogue:-- + + + S. May it please you to give me leave to go out? + M. Whither? + S. Home. + M. How is it that you goe so often home? + S. My mother commanded that I and my brother should come to her + this day. + M. For what cause? + S. That our mayd may beat out our clothes. + M. What is that to say? Are you louzie? + S. Yea, very louzie. + + +Sir William Temple, the patron of Swift, the husband of Dorothy +Osborne, and our ambassador at The Hague--where he talked horticulture, +cured his gout by the remedy known as Moxa, and collected materials +for the leisurely essays and memoirs that were to be written at Moor +Park--knew the Dutch well and wrote of them with much particularity. In +his _Observations upon the United Provinces_ he says this: "Holland +is a country, where the earth is better than the air, and profit more +in request than honour; where there is more sense than wit; more good +nature than good humour, and more wealth than pleasure: where a man +would chuse rather to travel than to live; shall find more things to +observe than desire; and more persons to esteem than to love. But +the same qualities and dispositions do not value a private man and +a state, nor make a conversation agreeable, and a government great: +nor is it unlikely, that some very great King might make but a very +ordinary private gentleman, and some very extraordinary gentleman +might be capable of making but a very mean Prince." + +Among other travellers who have summed up the Dutch in a few +phrases is Sir Thomas Overbury, the author of some witty characters, +including that very charming one of a Happy Milk Maid. In 1609 he +thus generalised upon the Netherlander: "Concerning the people: they +are neither much devout, nor much wicked; given all to drink, and +eminently to no other vice; hard in bargaining, but just; surly and +respectless, as in all democracies; thirsty, industrious, and cleanly; +disheartened upon the least ill-success, and insolent upon good; +inventive in manufactures, and cunning in traffick: and generally, +for matter of action, that natural slowness of theirs, suits better +(by reason of the advisedness and perseverance it brings with it) +than the rashness and changeableness of the French and Florentine +wits; and the equality of spirits, which is among them and Switzers, +renders them so fit for a democracy: which kind of government, nations +of more stable wits, being once come to a consistent greatness, +have seldom long endured." + +Many Englishmen have travelled in Holland and have set down the record +of their experiences, from Thomas Coryate downwards. But the country +has not been inspiring, and Dutch travels are poor reading. Had +Dr. Johnson lived to accompany Boswell on a projected journey we +should be the richer, but I doubt if any very interesting narrative +would have resulted. One of Johnson's contemporaries, Samuel Ireland, +the engraver, and the father of the fraudulent author of _Vortigern_, +wrote _A Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of +France_, in 1789, while a few years later one of Charles Lamb's +early "drunken companions," Fell, wrote _A Tour through the Batavian +Republic_, 1801; and both of these books yield a few experiences +not without interest. Fell's is the duller. I quote from them now +and again throughout this volume, but I might mention here a few of +their more general observations. + +Fell, for example, was embarrassed by the very formal politeness +of the nation. "The custom of bowing in Holland," he writes, "is +extremely troublesome. It is not sufficient, as in England, that a +person slightly moves his hat, but he must take it off his head, +and continue uncovered till the man is past him to whom he pays +the compliment. The ceremony of bowing is more strictly observed +at Leyden and Haarlem, than at Rotterdam or The Hague. In either +of the former cities, a stranger of decent appearance can scarcely +walk in the streets without being obliged every minute to pull off +his hat, to answer some civility of the same kind which he receives; +and these compliments are paid him not only by opulent people, but by +mechanics and labourers, who bow with all the gravity and politeness +of their superiors." + +Such civilities to strangers have become obsolete. So far from +courtesy being the rule of the street, it is now, as I have hinted +in the next chapter, impossible for an English-woman whose clothes +chance to differ in any particular from those of the Dutch to escape +embarrassing notice. Staring is carried to a point where it becomes +almost a blow, and laughter and humorous sallies resound. I am told +that the Boer war to a large extent broke down old habits of politeness +to the English stranger. + +When one thinks of it, the Dutch habit of staring at the visitor until +he almost wishes the sea would roll in and submerge him, argues a +want of confidence in their country, tantamount to a confession of +failure. Had they a little more trust in the attractive qualities +of their land, a little more imagination to realise that in other +eyes its flatness and quaintness might be even alluring, they would +accept and acknowledge the compliment by doing as little as possible +to make their country's admirers uncomfortable. + +"Dutch courage," to which I refer below, is not our only use of Dutch +as a contemptuous adjective. We say "Dutch Gold" for pinchbeck, +"Dutch Myrtle" for a weed. "I shall talk to you like a Dutch +uncle" is another saying, not in this case contemptuous but rather +complimentary--signifying "I'll dress you down to some purpose". One +piece of slang we share with Holland: the reference to the pawnbroker +as an uncle. In Holland the kindly friend at the three brass balls +(which it may not be generally known are the ancient arms of Lombardy, +the Lombards being the first money lenders,) is called Oom Jan or +Uncle John. + +There is still another phrase, "Dutch news," which might be +explained. The term is given by printers to very difficult copy--Dean +Stanley's manuscript, for example, was probably known as Dutch news, +so terrible was his hand,--and also to "pie". The origin is to be +found in the following paragraph from _Notes and Queries_. (The Sir +Richard Phillips concerned was the vegetarian publisher so finely +touched off by Borrow in _Lavengro_.) + +In his youth Sir Richard Phillips edited and published a paper at +Leicester, called the _Herald_. One day an article appeared in it +headed 'Dutch Mail,' and added to it was an announcement that it had +arrived too late for translation, and so had been cut up and printed +in the original. This wondrous article drove half of England crazy, +and for years the best Dutch scholars squabbled and pored over it +without being able to arrive at any idea of what it meant. This famous +'Dutch Mail' was, in reality, merely a column of pie. The story Sir +Richard tells of this particular pie he had a whole hand in is this:-- + +"One evening, before one of our publications, my men and a boy +overturned two or three columns of the paper in type. We had to +get ready in some way for the coaches, which, at four o'clock in the +morning, required four or five hundred papers. After every exertion we +were short nearly a column; but there stood on the galleys a tempting +column of pie. It suddenly struck me that this might be thought +Dutch. I made up the column, overcame the scruples of the foreman, +and so away the country edition went with its philological puzzle, +to worry the honest agricultural reader's head. There was plenty of +time to set up a column of plain English for the local edition." Sir +Richard tells of one man whom he met in Nottingham who for thirty-four +years preserved a copy of the Leicester _Herald_, hoping that some +day the matter would be explained. + +I doubt if any one nation is braver than any other; and the fact that +from Holland we get the contemptuous term "Dutch courage," meaning +the courage which is dependent upon spirits (originally as supplied +to malefactors about to mount the scaffold), is no indication that +the Dutch lack bravery. To one who inquired as to the derivation of +the phrase a poet unknown to me thus replied, somewhen in the reign +of William IV. The retort, I think, was sound:-- + + + Do _you_ ask what is Dutch courage? + Ask the Thames, and ask the fleet, + That, in London's fire and plague years, + With De Ruyter yards could mete: + Ask Prince Robert and d'Estrees, + Ask your Solebay and the Boyne, + Ask the Duke, whose iron valour + With our chivalry did join, + Ask your Wellington, oh ask him, + Of our Prince of Orange bold, + And a tale of nobler spirit + Will to wond'ring ears be told; + And if ever foul invaders + Threaten your King William's throne, + If dark Papacy be running, + Or if Chartists want your own, + Or whatever may betide you, + That needs rid of foreign will, + Only ask of your Dutch neighbours, + And you'll _see_ Dutch courage still. + + + + +Chapter III + +Dordrecht and Utrecht + + By water to Dordrecht--Her four rivers--The milkmaid + and the coat of arms--The Staple of Dort--Overhanging + houses--Albert Cuyp--Nicolas Maes--Ferdinand Bol--Ary + Scheffer--G.H. Breitner--A Dort carver--The Synod of + Dort--"The exquisite rancour of theologians"--_La Tulipe + Noire_--Bernard Mandeville--The exclusive Englishman--The + Castle of Loevenstein--The escape of Grotius--Gorcum's taste + outraged--By rail to Utrecht--A free church--The great storm + of 1674--Utrecht Cathedral--Jan van Scorel--Paul Moreelse--A + too hospitable museum. + +Dordrecht must be approached by water, because then one sees her as +she was seen so often, and painted so often, by her great son Albert +Cuyp, and by countless artists since. + +I steamed from Rotterdam to Dordrecht on a grey windy morning, on a +passenger boat bound ultimately for Nymwegen. We carried a very mixed +cargo. In a cage at the bows was a Friesland mare, while the whole +of the deck at the stern was piled high with motor spirit. Between +came myriad barrels of beer and other merchandise. + +The course to Dordrecht (which it is simpler to call Dort) is up the +Maas for some miles; past shipbuilding yards, at Sylverdyk (where is +a great heronry) and Kinderdyk; past fishermen dropping their nets +for salmon, which they may take only on certain days, to give their +German brethren, higher up the river, a chance; past meadows golden +with marsh marigolds; past every kind of craft, most attractive of +all being the tjalcks with their brown or black sails and green-lined +hulls, not unlike those from Rochester which swim so steadily in the +reaches of the Thames about Greenwich. The journey takes an hour and +a half, the last half-hour being spent in a canal leading south from +the Maas and ultimately joining Dort's confluence of waters. + +It is these rivers that give Dort her peculiar charm. There is a +little cafe on the quay facing the sunset where one may sit and lose +oneself in the eternally interesting movement of the shipping. I +found the town distracting under the incessant clanging of the tram +bell (yet grass grows among the paving-stones between the rails); +but there is no distraction opposite the sunset. On the evening that +I am remembering the sun left a sky of fiery orange barred by clouds +of essential blackness. + +Dort's rivers are the Maas and the Waal, the Linge and the Merwede; +and when in 1549 Philip of Spain visited the city, she flourished +this motto before him:-- + + + Me Mosa, me Vahalis, me Linga Morvaque cingunt + Biternam Batavae virginis ecce fidens. + + +The fidelity, at least to Philip and Spain, disappeared; but the four +rivers still as of old surround Dort with a cincture. + +I must give, in the words of the old writer who tells it, the pretty +legend which explains the origin of the Dort coat of arms: "There is an +admirable history concerning that beautiful and maiden city of Holland +called Dort. The Spaniards had intended an onslaught against it, and +so they had laid thousands of old soldiers in ambush. Not far from it +there did live a rich farmer who did keep many cows in his ground, +to furnish Dort with butter and milk. The milkmaid coming to milk +saw all under the hedges soldiers lying; seemed to take no notice, +but went singing to her cows; and having milked, went as merrily +away. Coming to her master's house, she told what she had seen. The +master wondering at it, took the maid with him and presently came to +Dort, told it to the Burgomaster, who sent a spy immediately, found it +true, and prepared for their safety; sent to the States, who presently +sent soldiers into the city, and gave order that the river should be +let in at such a sluice, to lay the country under water. It was done, +and many Spaniards were drowned and utterly disappointed of their +design, and the town saved. The States, in the memory of the merry +milkmaid's good service to the country, ordered the farmer a large +revenue for ever, to recompense his loss of house, land, and cattle; +caused the coin of the city to have the milkmaid under her cow to +be engraven, which is to be seen upon the Dort dollar, stivers, and +doights to this day; and so she is set upon the water gate of Dort; +and she had, during her life, and her's for ever, an allowance of +fifty pounds per annum. A noble requital for a virtuous action." + +Dort's great day of prosperity is over; but once she was the richest +town in Holland--a result due to the privilege of the Staple. In +other words, she obtained the right to act as intermediary between +the rest of Holland and the outer world in connection with all the +wine, corn, timber and whatever else might be imported by way of +the Rhine. At Dort the cargoes were unloaded. For some centuries she +enjoyed this privilege, and then in 1618 Rotterdam began to resent +it so acutely as to take to arms, and the financial prosperity of +the town, which would be tenable only by the maintenance of a fleet, +steadily crumbled. To-day she is contented enough, but the cellars +of Wyn Straat, once stored with the juices of Rhenish vineyards, +are empty. The Staple is no more. + +Dort is perhaps the most painted of all Dutch towns, and with reason; +for certainly no other town sits with more calm dignity among the +waters, nor has any other town so quaintly medieval a canal as that +which extends from end to end, far below the level of the streets, +crossed by a series of little bridges. Seen from these bridges it is +the nearest thing to Venice in all Holland--nearer than anything in +Amsterdam. One may see it not only from the bridges, but also from +little flights of steps off the main street, and everywhere it is +beautiful: the walls rising from its surface reflected in its depths, +green paint splashed about with perfect effect, bright window boxes, +here and there a woman washing clothes, odd gables above and bridges +in the distance. + +Dordrecht's converging facades, which incline towards each other +like deaf people, are, I am told, the result not of age and sinking +foundations, but of design. When they were built, very many years ago, +the city had a law directing that its roofs should so far project +beyond the perpendicular as to shed their water into the gutter, thus +enabling the passers-by on the pavement to walk unharmed. I cannot +give chapter or verse for this comfortable theory; which of course +preceded the ingenious Jonas Hanway's invention of the umbrella. In a +small and very imperfect degree the enactment anticipates the covered +city of Mr. H.G. Wells's vision. A Dutch friend to whom I put the +point tells me that more probably the preservation of bricks and +mural carvings was intended, the dryness of the wayfarer being quite +secondary or unforeseen. + +Dort's greatest artist was Albert Cuyp, born in 1605. His body +lies in the church of the Augustines in the same city, where he +died in 1691--true to the Dutch painters' quiet gift of living and +dying in their birthplaces. Cuyp has been called the Dutch Claude, +but it is not a good description. He was more human, more simple, +than Claude. The symbol for him is a scene of cows; but he had great +versatility, and painted horses to perfection. I have also seen good +portraits from his busy brush. Faithful to his native town, he painted +many pictures of Dort. We have two in the National Gallery. I have +reproduced opposite page 30 his beautiful quiet view of the town in +the Ryks Museum. Dort has changed but little since then; the schooner +would now be a steamer--that is almost all. The reproduction can +give no adequate suggestion of Cuyp's gift of diffusing golden light, +his most precious possession. + +Another Dort painter, below Albert Cuyp in fame, but often above him, +I think, in interest and power, is Nicolas Maes, born in 1632--a +great year in Dutch art, for it saw the birth also of Vermeer of +Delft and Peter de Hooch. Maes, who studied in Rembrandt's studio, +was perhaps the greatest of all that master's pupils. England, as has +been so often the case, appreciated Maes more wisely than Holland, +with the result that some of his best pictures are here. + +But one must go to the Ryks Museum in Amsterdam to see his finest work +of all--"The Endless Prayer," No. 1501, reproduced on the opposite +page. We have at the National Gallery or the Wallace Collection no +Maes equal to this. His "Card players," however, at the National +Gallery, a free bold canvas, more in the manner of Velasquez than of +his immediate master, is in its way almost as interesting. + +To "The Endless Prayer" one feels that Maes's master, Rembrandt, +could have added nothing. It is even conceivable that he might have +injured it by some touch of asperity. From this picture all Newlyn +seems to have sprung. + +According to Pilkington, Maes gave up his better and more +Rembrandtesque manner on account of the objection of his sitters to +be thus painted. Such are sitters! + +Dordrecht claims also Ferdinand Bol, the pupil and friend of Rembrandt, +and the painter of the Four Regents of the Leprosy Hospital in the +Amsterdam stadhuis. He was born in 1611. For a while his pictures were +considered by connoisseurs to be finer than those of his master. We +are wiser to-day; yet Bol had a fine free way that is occasionally +superb, often united, as in the portrait of Dirck van der Waeijen at +Rotterdam, to a delicate charm for which Rembrandt cared little. His +portrait of an astronomer in our National Gallery is a great work, +and at the Ryks Museum at Amsterdam his "Roelof Meulenaer," No. 543, +should not be missed. Bol's favourite sitter seems to have been +Admiral de Ruyter--if one may judge by the number of his portraits +of that sea ravener which Holland possesses. + +By a perversity of judgment Dort seems to be more proud of Ary Scheffer +than of any of her really great sons. It is Ary Scheffer's statue--not +Albert Cuyp's or Nicolas Maes's--which rises in the centre of the +town; and Ary Scheffer's sentimental and saccharine inventions fill +three rooms in the museum. It is amusing in the midst of this riot +of meek romanticism to remember that Scheffer painted Carlyle. Dort +has no right to be so intoxicated with the excitement of having given +birth to Scheffer, for his father was a German, a mere sojourner in +the Dutch town. + +The old museum of Dort has just been moved to a new building in the +Lindengracht, and in honour of the event a loan exhibition of modern +paintings and drawings was opened last summer. The exhibition gave +peculiar opportunity for studying the work of G. H. Breitner, the +painter of Amsterdam canals. The master of a fine sombre impressionism, +Breitner has made such scenes his own. But he can do also more tender +and subtle things. In this collection was a little oil sketch of a +mere which would not have suffered had it been hung between a Corot +and a Daubigny; and a water-colour drawing of a few cottages and a +river that could not have been strengthened by any hand. + +Another artist of Dort was Jan Terween Aertz, born in 1511, +whose carvings in the choir of the Groote Kerk are among its chief +glories. It is amazing that such spirit and movement can be suggested +in wood. That the very semblance of life can be captured by a painter +is wonderful enough; but there seems to me something more extraordinary +in the successful conquest of the difficulties which confront an artist +of such ambition as this Dort carver. His triumph is even more striking +than that of the sculptor in marble. The sacristan of Dort's Groote +Kerk seems more eager to show a brass screen and a gold christening +bowl than these astounding choir stalls; but tastes always differ. + +By the irony of fate it was Dort--the possessor of Terween's carving +of the Triumph of Charles V. (a pendant to the Triumph of the Church +and the Eucharist)--that, in 1572, only a few years after the carving +was made, held the Congress which virtually decided the fate of Spain +in the Netherlands. Brill had begun the revolution (as we shall see in +our last chapter), Flushing was the first to follow suit, Enkhuisen +then caught the fever; but these were individual efforts: it was the +Congress of Dort that authorised and systematised the revolt. + +The scheme of this book precludes a consecutive account of the great +struggle between Holland and Spain--a struggle equal almost to that +between Holland and her other implacable foe, the sea. I assume in +the reader a sufficient knowledge of history to be able to follow +the course of the contest as it moves backwards and forwards in these +pages--the progress of the narrative being dictated by the sequence +of towns in the itinerary rather than by the sequence of events in +time. The death of William the Silent, for example, has to be set forth +in the chapter on Delft, where the tragedy occurred, and where he lies +buried, long before we reach the description of the siege of Haarlem +and the capture of De Bossu off Hoorn, while for the insurrection of +Brill, which was the first tangible token of Dutch independence, we +have to wait until the last chapter of all. The reader who is endowed +with sufficient history to reconcile these divagations should, I think, +by the time the book is finished, have (with Motley's assistance) +a vivid idea of this great war, so magnificently waged by Holland, +which lowers in the background of almost every Dutch town. + +A later congress at Dort was the famous Synod in 1618-19, in which +a packed house of Gomarians or Contra-Remonstrants, pledged to +carry out the wishes of Maurice, Prince of Orange, the Stadtholder, +affected to subject the doctrines of the Arminians or Remonstrants to +conscientious examination. These doctrines as contained in the five +articles of the Arminians were as follows, in the words of Davies, +the historian of Holland: "First, that God had resolved from the +beginning to elect into eternal life those who through his grace +believed in Jesus Christ, and continued stedfast in the faith; and, +on the contrary, had resolved to leave the obstinate and unbelieving +to eternal damnation; secondly, that Christ had died for the whole +world, and obtained for all remission of sins and reconciliation with +God, of which, nevertheless, the faithful only are made partakers; +thirdly, that man cannot have a saving faith by his own free will, +since while in a state of sin he cannot think or do good, but it is +necessary that the grace of God, through Christ, should regenerate and +renew the understanding and affections; fourthly, that this grace is +the beginning, continuance, and end of salvation, and that all good +works proceed from it, but that it is not irresistible; fifthly, +that although the faithful receive by grace sufficient strength to +resist Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh, yet man can by his own +act fall away from this state of grace." + +After seven months wrangling and bitterness, at a cost of a million +guelders, the Synod came to no conclusion more Christian than that +no punishment was too bad for the holder of such opinions, which +were dangerous to the State and subversive of true religion. The +result was that Holland's Calvinism was intensified; Barneveldt +(who had been in prison all the time) was, as we shall see, beheaded; +Grotius and Hoogenbeets were sentenced to imprisonment for life; and +Episcopius, the Remonstrant leader at the Synod, was, together with +many others, banished. Episcopius heard his sentence with composure, +merely remarking, "God will require of you an account of your conduct +at the great day of His judgment. There you and the whole Synod will +appear. May you never meet with a judge such as the Synod has been +to us." + +Davies has a story of Episcopius which is too good to be omitted. On +banishment he was given his expenses by the States. Among the +dollars given to Episcopius was one, coined apparently in the Duchy of +Brunswick, bearing on the one side the figure of Truth, with the motto, +"Truth overcomes all things"; and on the reverse, "In well-doing fear +no one". Episcopius was so struck with the coincidence that he had +the coin set in gold and carefully preserved. + +It is impossible for any one who has read _La Tulipe Noire_ not to +think of that story when wandering about Dort; but it is a mistake to +read it in the town itself, for the Great Alexandre's fidelity to fact +will not bear the strain. Dumas never wore his historical, botanical, +geographical and ethnographical knowledge more like a flower than +in this brave but breathless story. In Boxtel's envy we may perhaps +believe; in Gryphon's savagery; and in the craft and duplicity of the +Stadtholder; but if ever a French philosopher and a French grisette +masqueraded as a Dutch horticulturist and a Frisian waiting-maid they +are Cornelius van Baerle and his Rosa; and if ever a tulip grew by +magic rather than by the laws of nature it was the tulipe noire. No +matter; there is but one Dumas. According to Flotow the composer, +William III. of Holland told Dumas the story of the black tulip at +his coronation in 1849, remarking that it was time that the novelist +turned his attention to Holland; but two arguments are urged against +this origin, one being that Paul Lacroix--the "Bibliophile Jacob"--is +said, on better authority, to have supplied the germ of the romance, +and the other (which is even better evidence), that had the stimulus +come from a monarch Dumas would hardly have refrained from saying so +(and more) in the preface of the book. + +Cornelius de Witt, whose tragedy is at the threshold of the romance, +was apprehended at Dort, on his bed of sickness, and carried thence +to the Hague, to be imprisoned in the Gevangenpoort, which we shall +visit, and torn to pieces by the populace close by. + +Another literary association. From Dort came the English cynical writer +Bernard Mandeville, born in 1670, author of _The Fable of the Bees_, +that very shrewd and advanced commentary upon national hypocrisies--so +advanced, indeed, that several of the more revolutionary of the +thinkers of the present day, whose ideas are thought peculiarly modern, +have not really got beyond it. After leaving Leyden as a doctor of +medicine, Mandeville settled in England, somewhen at the end of the +seventeenth century, and became well known in the Coffee Houses as +a wit and good fellow. + +We are a curious people when we travel. At Dort I heard a young +Englishman inquiring of the landlord how best to spend his Sunday. "One +can hardly go on one of the river excursions," he remarked; "they +are so mixed." And the landlord, with a lunch at two florins, fifty, +in his mind, which it was desirable that as many persons as possible +should eat and pay for, heartily agreed with him. None the less it +seemed well to join the excursion to Gorinchem; and thence we steamed +on a fine cloudy Sunday, the river whipped grey by a strong cross +wind, and the little ships that beat up and passed us, all aslant. At +Gorinchem (pronounced Gorcum) we changed at once into another steamer, +a sorry tub, as wide as it was short, and steamed to Woudrichem +(called Worcum) hoping to explore the fortress of Loevenstein. But +Loevenstein is enisled and beyond the reach of the casual visitor, +and we had therefore to sit in the upper room of the Bellevue inn, +overlooking the river, and await the tub's deliberate return, while +the tugs and the barges trailed past. Save for modifications brought +about by steam, the scene can be now little different from that in +the days when Hugo Grotius was imprisoned in the castle. + +The philosopher's escape is one of the best things in the history of +wives. Two ameliorations were permitted him by Maurice--the presence +of the Vrouw Grotius and the solace of books. As it happened, this +lenience could not have been less fortunately (or, for Grotius, more +fortunately) framed. Books came continually to the prisoner, which, +when read, were returned in the same chest that conveyed his linen to +the Gorcum wash. At first the guard carefully examined each departing +load; but after a while the form was omitted. Grotius's wife, a woman +of no common order (when asked why she did not sue for her husband's +pardon, she had replied, "I will not do it: if he have deserved it let +them strike off his head"), was quick to notice the negligence of the +guard, and giving out that her husband was bedridden, she concealed +him in the chest, and he was dumped on a tjalck and earned over to +Gorcum. While on his journey he had the shuddering experience of +hearing some one remark that the box was heavy enough to have a man +in it; but it was his only danger. A Gorcum friend extricated him; +and, disguised as a carpenter armed with a footrule, he set forth +on his travels to Antwerp. Once certain that Grotius was safe, his +wife informed the guard, and the hue and cry was raised. But it was +raised in vain. At first there was a suggestion that the lady should +be retained in his stead, but all Holland applauded her deed and she +was permitted to go free. + +The river, as I have said, must be still much the same as in Grotius's +day; while the two towns Gorcum and Worcum cluster about their noble +church towers as of old. Worcum is hardly altered; but Gorcum's railway +and factories have enlarged her borders. She has now twelve thousand +inhabitants, some eleven thousand of whom were in the streets when, +the tub having at length crawled back with us, we walked through them +to the station. + +Odd how one nation's prettiness is another's grotesque. My companion +was wearing one of those comely straw hats trimmed with roses which +we call Early Victorian, and which the hot summer of 1904 brought +into fashion again on account of their peculiar suitability to keep +off the sun. In England we think them becoming; upon certain heads +they are charming. But no head must wear such a hat at Gorcum unless +it would court disaster. The town is gay and spruce, bright as a new +pin; the people are outrageous. I suppose that the hat turned down at +the precise point at which, according to Gorcum's canons of taste, +it should have turned up. Whatever it did was unpardonable, and +we had to be informed of the solecism. We were informed in various +ways; the men whistled, the women sniggered, the girls laughed, the +children shouted and ran beside us. The same hat had been disregarded +by the sweet-mannered friendly Middelburgians; it had raised no smile +at Breda. At Dordrecht, it is true, eyes had been opened wide; at +Bergen-op-Zoom mouths had opened too; but such attention was nothing +compared with Gorcum's pains to make two strangers uncomfortable. + +As it happened, we had philosophy, and the discomfort was very +slight. Indeed, after a while, as we ran the gauntlet to the station, +annoyance gave way to interest. We found ourselves looking ahead for +distant wayfarers who had not yet tasted the rare joy which rippled +like a ship's wake behind us. We waited for the ecstatic moment when +their faces should light with the joke. Sometimes a mother standing +at the door would see us and call to her family to come--and come +quickly, if they would not be disappointed! Women, lurking behind +Holland's blue gauze blinds, would be seen to break away with a hasty +summoning movement. Children down side streets who had just realised +their exceptional fortune would be heard shouting the glad tidings to +their friends. The porter who wheeled our luggage was stopped again +and again to answer questions concerning his fantastic employers. + +In course of time--it is a long way to the station--we grew to feel +a shade of pique if any one passed us and took no notice. To bulk +so hugely in the public eye became a new pleasure. I had not known +before what Britannia must feel like on the summit of the largest of +the cars in a circus procession. + +I am convinced that such costly and equivocal success as the +British arms achieved over the Boers had nothing to do with Gorcum's +feelings. The town's aesthetic ideals were honestly outraged, and it +took the simplest means of making its protest. + +We did not mean to wait at the station; having left our luggage there, +we had intended to explore the town. But there is a limit even to the +passion for notoriety, and we had reached it, passed it. We read and +wrote letters in that waiting-room for nearly three hours. + +At Gorcum was born, in 1637, Jan van der Heyden, a very attractive +painter of street scenes, combining exactitude of detail with rich +colour, who used to get Andreas van der Velde to put in the figures. He +has a view of Cologne in the National Gallery which is exceedingly +pleasing, and a second version in the Wallace Collection. I shall +never forget his birthplace. + +We came into Utrecht in the evening. At Culemberg the country begins +to grow very green and rich: smooth meadows and vast woods as far +as one can see: plovers all the way. The light transfiguring this +scene was exactly the golden light which one sees in Albert Cuyp's +most peaceful landscapes. + +When I was last on this journey the time was spring, and the sliding, +pointed roofs of the ricks were at their lowest, with their four poles +high and naked above them, like scaffolding. But now, in August, +they were all resting on the top pegs, a solid square tower of hay +beneath each; looking in the evening light for all the world as if +every farmer had his private Norman church. + +The note of Utrecht is superior satisfaction. It has discreet verdant +parks, a wonderful campanile, a University, large comfortable houses, +carriages and pairs. Its cathedral is the only church in Holland +(with the exception of the desecrated fane at Veere) for the privilege +of entering which I was not asked to pay. I have an uneasy feeling +that it was an oversight, and that if by any chance this statement +meets an authoritative eye some one may be removed to one of the +penal establishments and steps be taken to collect my debt. But so +it was. And yet it is possible that the free right of entrance is +intentional; since to charge for a building so unpardonably disfigured +would be a hardy action. The Gothic arches have great beauty, but it is +impossible from any point to get more than a broken view on account of +the high painted wooden walls with which the pews have been enclosed. + +The cathedral is only a fragment; the nave fell in, isolating the +bell tower, during a tempest in 1674, and by that time all interest +in churches as beautiful and sacred buildings having died out of +Holland, never to return, no effort was made to restore it. But it +must, before the storm, have been superb, and of a vastness superior +to any in the country. + +I find a very pleasant passage upon Holland's great churches, and +indeed upon its best architecture in general, in an essay on Utrecht +Cathedral by Mr. L.A. Corbeille. "Gothic churches on a grand scale +are as abundant in the Netherlands as they are at home, but to find +one of them drawn or described in any of the otherwise comprehensive +architectural works, which appear from time to time, is the rarest of +experiences. The Hollanders are accused of mere apishness in employing +the Gothic style, and of downright dulness in apprehending its import +and beauty. Yet a man who has found that bit of Rotterdam which beats +Venice; who has seen, from under Delft's lindens on a summer evening, +the image of the Oude Kerk's leaning tower in the still canal, +and has gone to bed, perchance to awake in the moonlight while the +Nieuwe Kerk's many bells are rippling a silver tune over the old +roofs and gables; who has drunk his beer full opposite the stadhuis +at Leyden, and seen Haarlem's huge church across magnificent miles +of gaudy tulips, and watched from a brown-sailed boat on the Zuider +Zee a buoy on the horizon grow into the water-gate of Hoorn; who +knows his Gouda and Bois-le-duc and Alkmaar and Kampen and Utrecht: +this man does not fret over wasted days." + +Mr. Corbeille continues, later: "Looking down a side street of +Rotterdam at the enormous flank of St. Lawrence's, and again at +St. Peter's in Leyden, it seems as if all the bricks in the world +have been built up in one place. Apart from their smaller size, +bricks appear far more numerous in a wall than do blocks of stone, +because they make a stronger contrast with the mortar. In the laborious +articulation of these millions of clay blocks one first finds Egypt; +then quickly remembers how indigenous it all is, and how characteristic +of the untiring Hollander, who rules the waves even more proudly +than the Briton, and has cheated them of the very ground beneath his +feet. And if sermons may be found in bricks as well as stones, one has +a thought while looking at them about Christianity itself. Certainly +there is often pitiful littleness and short-comings in the individual +believer, just as each separate brick of these millions is stained +or worn or fractured; and yet the Christian Church, august and +significant, still towers before men; even as these old blocks of +clay compile vastly and undeniably in an overpowering whole." + +Among a huddle of bad and indifferent pictures in the Kunstliefde +Museum is a series of four long paintings by Jan van Scorel (whom +we met at Rotterdam), representing a band of pilgrims who travelled +from Utrecht to Jerusalem in the sixteenth century. Two of these +pictures are reproduced on the opposite page, the principal figure +in the lower one--in the middle, in white--being Jan van Scorel +himself. The faces are all such as one can believe in; just so, we +feel, did the pilgrims look, and what a thousand pities there was +no Jan van Scorel to accompany Chaucer! These are the best pictures +in Utrecht, which cannot have any great interest in art or it would +not allow that tramway through its bell tower. In the reproduction +the faces necessarily become very small, but they are still full of +character, and one may see the sympathetic hand of a master in all. + +Jan van Scorel was only a settler in Utrecht; the most illustrious +citizen to whom it gave birth was Paulus Moreelse, but the city has, +I think, only one of his pictures, and that not his best. He was +born in 1571, and he died at Utrecht in 1638. His portraits are very +rich: either he had interesting sitters or he imparted interest to +them. Opposite page 40 I have reproduced his portrait of a lady in +the Ryks Museum at Amsterdam, which amongst so many fine pictures one +may perhaps at the outset treat with too little ceremony, but which +undoubtedly will assert itself. It is a picture that, as we say, +grows on one: the Unknown Lady becomes more and more mischievous, +more and more necessary. + +The little Archiepiscopal Museum at Utrecht is as small--or as +large--as a museum should be: one can see it comfortably. It has many +treasures, all ecclesiastical, and seventy different kinds of lace; +but to me it is memorable for the panel portrait of a woman by Jan +van Scorel, a very sweet sedate face, beautifully painted, which one +would like to coax into a less religious mood. + +Utrecht is very proud of a wide avenue of lime trees--a triple avenue, +as one often sees in Holland--called the Maliebaan; but more beautiful +are the semi-circular Oude and Nieuwe Grachts, with their moat-like +canals laving the walls of serene dignified houses, each gained by +its own bridge. + +At the north end of the Maliebaan is the Hoogeland Park, with a +fringe of spacious villas that might be in Kensington; and here is +the Antiquarian Museum, notable among its very miscellaneous riches, +which resemble the bankrupt stock of a curiosity dealer, for the most +elaborate dolls' house in Holland--perhaps in the world. Its date is +1680, and it represents accurately the home of a wealthy aristocratic +doll of that day. Nothing was forgotten by the designer of this +miniature palace; special paintings, very nude, were made for its +salon, and the humblest kitchen utensils are not missing. I thought +the most interesting rooms the office where the Major Domo sits at +his intricate labours, and the store closet. The museum has many +very valuable treasures, but so many poor pictures and articles--all +presents or legacies--that one feels that it must be the rule to +accept whatever is offered, without any scrutiny of the horse's teeth. + + + +Chapter IV + +Delft + + To Delft by canal--House-cleaning by immersion--The New + Church--William the Silent's tomb--His assassin--The story + of the crime--The tomb of Grotius--Dutch justice--The + Old Church--Admiral Tromp--The mission of the broom--The + sexton's pipe--Vermeer of Delft--Lost masterpieces--The wooden + petticoat--Modern Delft pottery and old breweries. + +I travelled to Delft from Rotterdam in a little steam passenger barge, +very long and narrow to fit it for navigating the locks; which, +as it is, it scrapes. We should have started exactly at the hour +were it not that a very small boy on the bank interrupted one of the +crew who was unmooring the boat by asking for a light for his cigar, +and the transaction delayed us a minute. + +It rained dismally, and I sat in the stuffy cabin, either peering at +the country through the window or talking with a young Dutchman, +the only other traveller. At one village a boy was engaged in +house-cleaning by immersing the furniture, piece by piece, bodily +in the canal. Now and then we met a barge in full sail on its way to +Rotterdam, or overtook one being towed towards Delft, the man at the +rope bent double under what looked like an impossible task. + +Little guides to the tombs in both the Old and the New Church of Delft +have been prepared for the convenience of visitors by Dr. G. Morre, and +translations in English have been made by D. Goslings, both gentlemen, +I presume, being local savants. The New Church contains the more +honoured dust, for there repose not only William the Silent, who was +perhaps the greatest of modern patriots and rulers, but also Grotius. + +The tomb of William the Silent is an elaborate erection, of stone and +marble, statuary and ornamentation. Justice and Liberty, Religion and +Valour, represented by female figures, guard the tomb. It seems to me +to lack impressiveness: the man beneath was too fine to need all this +display and talent. More imposing is the simplicity of the monument +to the great scholar near by. Yet remembering the struggle of William +the Silent against Spain and Rome, it is impossible to stand unmoved +before the marble figure of the Prince, lying there for all time with +his dog at his feet--the dog who, after the noble habit of the finest +of such animals, refused food and drink when his master died, and so +faded away rather than owe allegiance and affection to a lesser man. + +There is an eloquent Latin epitaph in gold letters on the tomb; but a +better epitaph is to be found in the last sentence of Motley's great +history, perhaps the most perfect last sentence that any book ever had: +"As long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, +and when he died the little children cried in the streets". + +Opposite the Old Church is the Gymnasium Publicum. Crossing the +court-yard and entering the confronting doorway, one is instantly on +the very spot where William the Silent, whose tomb we have just seen, +met his death on July 10th, 1584. + +The Prince had been living at Delft for a while, in this house, his +purpose partly being to be in the city for the christening of his +son Frederick Henry. To him on July 8th came a special messenger +from the French Court with news of the death of the Duke of Anjou; +the messenger, a _protege_ of the Prince's, according to his own story +being Francis Guion, a mild and pious Protestant, whose father had been +martyred as a Calvinist. How far removed was the truth Motley shall +tell: "Francis Guion, the Calvinist, son of the martyred Calvinist, +was in reality Balthazar Gerard, a fanatical Catholic, whose father +and mother were still living at Villefans in Burgundy. Before reaching +man's estate, he had formed the design of murdering the Prince of +Orange, 'who, so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel +against the Catholic King, and to make every effort to disturb the +repose of the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion'. When but twenty +years of age, he had struck his dagger with all his might into a door, +exclaiming, as he did so, 'Would that the blow had been in the heart +of Orange!'" + +In 1582, however, the news had gone out that Jaureguy had killed the +Prince at Antwerp, and Gerard felt that his mission was at an end. But +when the Prince recovered, his murderous enthusiasm redoubled, and +he offered himself formally and with matter-of-fact precision to the +Prince of Parma as heaven's minister of vengeance. The Prince, who had +long been seeking such an emissary, at first declined the alliance: +he had become too much the prey of soldiers of fortune who represented +themselves to be expert murders but in whom he could put no trust. In +Motley's words: "Many unsatisfactory assassins had presented themselves +from time to time, and Alexander had paid money in hand to various +individuals--Italians, Spaniards, Lorrainers, Scotchmen, Englishmen, +who had generally spent the sums received without attempting the +job. Others were supposed to be still engaged in the enterprise, +and at that moment there were four persons--each unknown to the +others, and of different nations--in the city of Delft, seeking +to compass the death of William the Silent. Shag-eared, military, +hirsute ruffians, ex-captains of free companies and such marauders, +were daily offering their services; there was no lack of them, and they +had done but little. How should Parma, seeing this obscure, undersized, +thin-bearded, runaway clerk before him, expect pith and energy from +_him_? He thought him quite unfit for an enterprise of moment, and +declared as much to his secret councillors and to the King." + +Gerard, however, had supporters, and in time the Prince of Parma came +to take a more favourable view of his qualifications and sincerity, +but his confidence was insufficient to warrant him in advancing any +money for the purpose. The result was that Gerard, whose dominating +idea amounted to mania, proceeded in his own way. His first step +was to ingratiate himself with the Prince of Orange. This he did by +a series of misrepresentations and fraud, and was recommended by the +Prince to the Signeur of Schoneval, who on leaving Delft on a mission +to the Duke of Anjou, added him to his suite. + +The death of the Duke gave Gerard his chance, and he obtained +permission to carry despatches to the Prince of Orange, as we have +seen. The Prince received him in his bedroom, after his wont. Motley +now relates the tragedy: "Here was an opportunity such as he (Gerard) +had never dared to hope for. The arch-enemy to the Church and to +the human race, whose death would confer upon his destroyer wealth +and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in the next, +lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted seven +long years for his blood. + +"Balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer +the questions which the Prince addressed to him concerning the death +of Anjou, but Orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with +the reflections which their deeply important contents suggested, did +not observe the countenance of the humble Calvinistic exile, who had +been recently recommended to his patronage by Villiers. Gerard had, +moreover, made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, +had come unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. He was obliged to +forego his prey most when within his reach, and after communicating +all the information which the Prince required, he was dismissed from +the chamber. + +"It was Sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. Upon +leaving the house he loitered about the courtyard, furtively +examining the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked +him why he was waiting there. Balthazar meekly replied that he +was desirous of attending divine worship in the church opposite, +but added, pointing to his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, +without at least a new pair of shoes and stockings, he was unfit +to join the congregation. Insignificant as ever, the small, pious, +dusty stranger excited no suspicion in the mind of the good-natured +sergeant. He forthwith spoke of the want of Gerard to an officer, +by whom they were communicated to Orange himself, and the Prince +instantly ordered a sum of money to be given him. Thus Balthazar +obtained from William's charity what Parma's thrift had denied--a +fund for carrying out his purpose! + +"Next morning, with the money thus procured he purchased a pair of +pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about +the price because the vendor could not supply a particular kind of +chopped bullets or slugs which he desired. Before the sunset of the +following day that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died +despairing, on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. + +"On Tuesday, the 10th of July, 1584, at about half-past twelve, +the Prince, with his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies +and gentlemen of his family, was going to the dining-room. William +the Silent was dressed upon that day, according to his usual custom, +in very plain fashion. He wore a wide-leaved, loosely shaped hat of +dark felt, with a silken cord round the crown,--such as had been +worn by the Beggars in the early days of the revolt. A high ruff +encircled his neck, from which also depended one of the Beggars' +medals, with the motto, '_Fideles au roy jusqu'a la besace_,' while +a loose surcoat of gray frieze cloth, over a tawny leather doublet, +with wide slashed underclothes completed his costume. [1] + +"Gerard presented himself at the doorway, and demanded a passport. The +Princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, +anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. The Prince +carelessly observed, that 'it was merely a person who came for a +passport,' ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare +one. The Princess, still not relieved, observed in an undertone that +'she had never seen so villanous a countenance'. Orange, however, not +at all impressed with the appearance of Gerard, conducted himself at +table with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster +of Leeuwarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning +the political and religious aspects of Friesland. At two o'clock +the company rose from table. The Prince led the way, intending to +pass to his private apartments above. The dining-room, which was +on the ground-floor, opened into a little square vestibule which +communicated, through an arched passage-way, with the main entrance +into the court-yard. This vestibule was also directly at the foot of +the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six +feet in width. [2] + +"Upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an obscure +arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the +door. Behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side +of the house. The stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large +window, half-way up the flight. The Prince came from the dining-room, +and began leisurely to ascend. He had only reached the second stair, +when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot +or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart." + +When Jaureguy had fired at the Prince two years earlier, the ball +passing through his jaw, the Prince, at he faltered under the shock, +cried, "Do not kill him--I forgive him my death!" But he had no +time to express any such plea for his assailant after Gerard's +cruel shots. "Three balls," says Motley, "entered his body, one of +which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the +wall beyond. The Prince exclaimed in French, as he felt the wound, +'O my God, have mercy upon my soul! O my God, have mercy upon this +poor people!' + +"These were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, +Catherine of Schwartzburgh, immediately afterwards asked him if he +commended his soul to Jesus Christ, he faintly answered, 'Yes'." + +Never has the pistol done worse work. The Prince was only fifty-one; +he was full of vigour; his character had never been stronger, his +wisdom never more mature. Had he lived a few years longer the country +would have been saved years of war and misery. + +One may stand to-day exactly where the Prince stood when he was +shot. The mark of a bullet in the wall is still shown. The dining-room, +from which he had come, now contains a collection of relics of his +great career. + +Let us return to the New Church, past the statue of Grotius in +the great square, in order to look again at that philosopher's +memorial. Grotius, who was born at Delft, was extraordinarily +precocious. He went to Leyden University and studied under Scaliger +when he was eleven; at sixteen he was practising as a lawyer at +The Hague. This is D. Goslings' translation of the inscription on +his tomb:-- + +_Sacred to Hugo Grotius_ + +The Wonder of Europe, the sole astonishment of the learned world, +the splendid work of nature surpassing itself, the summit of genius, +the image of virtue, the ornament raised above mankind, to whom the +defended honour of true religion gave cedars from the top of Lebanon, +whom Mars adorned with laurels and Pallas with olive branches, when +he had published the right of war and peace: whom the Thames and +the Seine regarded as the wonder of the Dutch, and whom the court +of Sweden took in its service: Here lies _Grotius_. Shun this tomb, +ye who do not burn with love of the Muses and your country. + +Grotius can hardly have burned with love of the sense of justice of +his own country, for reasons with which we are familiar. His sentence +of life-long imprisonment, passed by Prince Maurice of Orange, who lies +hard by in the same church, was passed in 1618. His escape in the chest +(like General Monk in _Twenty Years After_) was his last deed on Dutch +soil. Thenceforward he lived in Paris and Sweden, England and Germany, +writing his _De Jure Belli et Pacis_ and other works. He died in 1645, +when Holland claimed him again, as Oxford has claimed Shelley. + +The principal tomb in the Old Church of Delft is that of Admiral Tromp, +the Dutch Nelson. While quite a child he was at sea with his father +off the coast of Guinea when an English cruiser captured the vessel +and made him a cabin boy. Tromp, if he felt any resentment, certainly +lived to pay it back, for he was our victor in thirty-three naval +engagements, the last being the final struggle in the English-Dutch +war, when he defeated Monk off Texel in the summer of 1653, and was +killed by a bullet in his heart. The battle is depicted in bas-relief +on the tomb, but the eye searches the marble in vain for any reminder +of the broom which the admiral is said to have lashed to his masthead +as a sign to the English that it was his habit to sweep their seas. The +story may be a myth, but the Dutch sculptor who omitted to remember +it and believe in it is no friend of mine. + +This is D. Goslings' translation of Tromp's epitaph:-- + +_For an Eternal Memorial_ + +You, who love the Dutch, virtue and true labour, read and mourn. + +The ornament of the Dutch people, the formidable in battle, lies low, +he who never lay down in his life, and taught by his example that a +commander should die standing, he, the love of his fellow-citizens, +the terror of his enemies, the wonder of the ocean. + +_Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp_, a name comprehending more praise than +this stone can contain, a stone truly too narrow for him, for whom +East and West were a school, the sea the occasion of triumph, the +whole world the scene of his glory, he, a certain ruin to pirates, +the successful protector of commerce; useful through his familiarity, +not low; after having ruled the sailors and the soldiers, a rough +sort of people, in a fatherly and efficaciously benignant manner; +after fifty battles in which he was commander or in which he played +a great part; after incredible victories, after the highest honours +though below his merits, he at last in the war against the English, +nearly victor but certainly not beaten, on the 10th of August, 1653, +of the Christian era, at the age of fifty-six years, has ceased to +live and to conquer. + +The fathers of the United Netherlands have erected this memorial in +honour of this highly meritorious hero. + +There lie in Delft's Old Church also Pieter Pieterzoon Hein, +Lieut.-Admiral of Holland; and Elizabeth van Marnix, wife of the +governor of Bergen-op-Zoom, whose epitaph runs thus:-- + +Here am I lying, I _Elizabeth_, born of an illustrious and ancient +family, wife to Morgan, I, daughter of Marnix, a name not unknown +in the world, which, in spite of time, will always remain. There is +virtue enough in having pleased one husband, which his so precious +love testifies. + +The tomb of Antony van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope, is +also to be seen in the church. "As everybody, O Wanderer," the epitaph +concludes, "has respect for old age and wonderful parts, tread this +spot with respect; here grey science lies buried with Leeuwenhoek." + +Each of the little guide-books, which are given to every purchaser +of a ticket to enter the churches, is prefaced by four "Remarks," +of which I quote the third and fourth:-- + +3. Visitors are requested not to bestow gifts on the sexton or his +assistants, as the former would lose his situation, if he accepted; +he is responsible for his assistants. + +4. The sexton or his assistants will treat the visitors with the +greatest politeness. + +I am not certain about the truth of either of these clauses, +particularly the last. Let me explain. + +The sexton of the Old Church hurried me past these tombs with +some impatience. I should naturally have taken my time, but his +attitude of haste made it imperative to do so. Sextons must not be +in a hurry. After a while I found out why he chafed: he wanted to +smoke. He fumbled his pipe and scraped his boots upon the stones. I +studied the monuments with a scrutiny that grew more and more minute +and elaborate; and soon his matches were in his hand. I wanted to tell +him that if I were the only obstacle he might smoke to his heart's +content, but it seemed to be more amusing to watch and wait. My +return to the tomb of the ingenious constructor of the microscope +settled the question. Probably no one had ever spent more than half +a minute on poor Leeuwenhoek before; and when I turned round again +the pipe was alight. The sexton also was a changed man: before, he +had been taciturn, contemptuous; now he was communicative, gay. He +told me that the organist was blind--but none the less a fine player; +he led me briskly to the carved pulpit and pointed out, with some +exaltation, the figure of Satan with his legs bound. The cincture +seemed to give him a sense of security. + +In several ways he made it impossible for me to avoid disregarding +Clause 3 in the little guide-books; but I feel quite sure that he +has not in consequence lost his situation. + +Delft's greatest painter was Johannes Vermeer, known as Vermeer +of Delft, of whom I shall have much to say both at the Hague and +Amsterdam. He was born at Delft in 1632, he died there in 1675; and +of him but little more is known. It has been said that he studied +under Karel Fabritius (also of Delft), but if this is so the term +of pupil-age must have been very brief, for Fabritius did not reach +Delft (from Rembrandt's studio) until 1652, when Vermeer was twenty, +and he was killed in an explosion in 1654. One sees the influence of +Fabritius, if at all, most strongly in the beautiful early picture at +The Hague, in the grave, grand manner, of Diana? but the influence of +Italy is even more noticeable. Fabritius's "Siskin" is hung beneath +the new Girl's Head by Vermeer (opposite page 2 of this book), +but they have nothing in common. To see how Vermeer derived from +Rembrandt via Fabritius one must look at the fine head by Fabritius +in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam, so long attributed to Rembrandt, +but possessing a certain radiance foreign to him. + +How many pictures Vermeer painted between 1653, when he was admitted +to the Delft Guild as a master, and 1675, when he died, cannot now +be said; but it is reasonable to allot to each of those twenty-three +years at least five works. As the known pictures of Vermeer are very +few--fewer than forty, I believe--some great discoveries may be in +store for the diligent, or, more probably, the lucky. + +I have read somewhere--but cannot find the reference again--of a ship +that left Holland for Russia in the seventeenth century, carrying a +number of paintings by the best artists of that day--particularly, +if I remember, Gerard Dou. The vessel foundered and all were lost. It +is possible that Vermeer may have been largely represented. + +Only comparatively lately has fame come to him, his first prophet +being the French critic Thore (who wrote as "W. Burger"), and his +second Mr. Henri Havard, the author of very pleasant books on Holland +from which I shall occasionally quote. Both these enthusiasts wrote +before the picture opposite page 2 was exhibited, or their ecstasies +might have been even more intense. + +In the Senate House at Delft in 1641 John Evelyn the diarist saw "a +mighty vessel of wood, not unlike a butter-churn, which the adventurous +woman that hath two husbands at one time is to wear on her shoulders, +her head peeping out at the top only, and so led about the town, as +a penance". I did not see this; but the punishment was not peculiar +to Delft. At Nymwegen these wooden petticoats were famous too. + +Nor did I visit the porcelain factory, having very little interest in +its modern products. But the old Delft ware no one can admire more than +I do. A history of Delft written by Dirk van Bleyswijck and published +in 1667, tells us that the rise of the porcelain industry followed the +decline of brewing. The author gives with tears a list of scores of +breweries that ceased to exist between 1600 and 1640. All had signs, +among them being:-- + + + The Popinjay. + The Great Bell. + The White Lily. + The Three Herrings. + The Double Battle-axe. + The Three Acorns. + The Black Unicorn. + The Three Lilies. + The Curry-Comb. + The Three Hammers. + The Double Halberd. + + +I would rather have explored any of those breweries than the modern +Delft factory. + +Ireland, by the way, mentions a whimsical sign-board which he saw +somewhere in Holland, but which I regret to say I did not find. "It +was a tree bearing fruit, and the branches filled with little, naked +urchins, seemingly just ripened into life, and crying for succour: +beneath, a woman holds up her apron, looking wistfully at the children, +as if intreating them to jump into her lap. On inquiry, I found it to +be the house of a sworn midwife, with this Dutch inscription prefixed +to her name:-- + + + 'Vang my, ik zal zoet zyn,' + + +that is, 'Catch me, I'll be a sweet boy'. This new mode of procreation, +so truly whimsical, pleased me," Ireland adds, "not a little." + +Let me close this chapter by quoting from an essay by my friend, +Mr. Belloc, a lyrical description of the Old Church's wonderful wealth +of bells: "Thirdly, the very structure of the thing is bells. Here +the bells are more even than the soul of a Christian spire; they are +its body, too, its whole self. An army of them fills up all the space +between the delicate supports and framework of the upper parts. For +I know not how many feet, in order, diminishing in actual size and +in the perspective also of that triumphant elevation, stand ranks +on ranks of bells from the solemn to the wild, from the large to +the small, a hundred, or two hundred or a thousand. There is here +the prodigality of Brabant and Hainaut and the Batavian blood, +a generosity and a productivity in bells without stint, the man +who designed it saying: 'Since we are to have bells, let us have +bells; not measured out, calculated, expensive, and prudent bells, +but careless bells, self-answering multitudinous bells; bells without +fear, bells excessive and bells innumerable; bells worthy of the +ecstacies that are best thrown out and published in the clashing of +bells. For bells are single, like real pleasures, and we will combine +such a great number that they may be like the happy and complex life +of a man. In a word, let us be noble and scatter our bells and reap +a harvest till our town is famous in its bells,' So now all the spire +is more than clothed with them; they are more than stuff or ornament: +they are an outer and yet sensitive armour, all of bells. + +"Nor is the wealth of these bells in their number only, but also in +their use--for they are not reserved in any way, out ring tunes and +add harmonies at every half and a quarter and at all the hours both +by night and by day. Nor must you imagine that there is any obsession +of noise through this; they are far too high and melodious, and (what +is more) too thoroughly a part of all the spirit of Delft to be more +than a perpetual and half-forgotten impression of continual music; +they render its air sacred and fill it with something so akin to +an uplifted silence as to leave one--when one has passed from their +influence--asking what balm that was which soothed all the harshness +of sound about one." + + + +Chapter V + +The Hague + + Dutch precision--Shaping hands--Nature under control--Willow + _v_. Neptune--The lost star--S'Gravenhage--The + Mauritshuis--Rembrandt--The "School of Anatomy"--Jan + Vermeer of Delft--The frontispiece--Other pictures--The + Municipal Museum--Baron Steengracht's collection--The Mesdag + treasures--French romantics at The Hague--The Binnenhof--John + van Olden Barneveldt--Man's cruelty to man--The churches--The + fish market and first taste of Scheveningen--A crowded + street--Holland's reading--The Bosch--The club--The House + in the Wood--Mr. "Secretary" Prior--Old marvels--Howell the + receptive and Coryate the credulous. + +Although often akin to the English, the Dutch character differs from it +very noticeably in the matter of precision. The Englishman has little +precision; the Dutchman has too much. He bends everything to it. He has +at its dictates divided his whole country into parellelograms. Even the +rushes in his swamps are governed by the same law. The carelessness +of nature is offensive to him; he moulds and trains on every hand, +as one may see on the railway journey to The Hague. Trees he endures +only so long as they are obedient and equidistant: he likes them +in avenues or straight lines; if they grow otherwise they must be +pollarded. It is true that he has not touched the Bosch, at The Hague; +but since his hands perforce have been kept off its trees, he has run +scores of formal straight well-gravelled paths beneath their branches. + +This passion for interference grew perhaps from exultation upon +successful dealings with the sea. A man who by his own efforts can +live in security below sea-level, and graze cattle luxuriantly where +sand and pebbles and salt once made a desert, has perhaps the right +to feel that everything in nature would be the better for a little +manipulation. Eyes accustomed to the careless profusion that one may +see even on a short railway journey in England are shocked to find +nature so tractable both in land and water. + +The Dutchman's pruning, however, is not done solely for the +satisfaction of exerting control. These millions of pollarded +willows which one sees from the line have a deeper significance than +might ever be guessed at: it is they that are keeping out Holland's +ancient enemy, the sea. In other words, a great part of the basis of +the strength of the dykes is imparted by interwoven willow boughs, +which are constantly being renewed under the vigilant eyes of the dyke +inspectors. For the rest, the inveterate trimming of trees must be a +comparatively modern custom, for many of the old landscapes depict +careless foliage--Koninck's particularly. And look, for instance, +at that wonderful picture--perhaps the finest landscape in Dutch +art--Rembrandt's etching "The Three Trees". There is nothing in North +Holland to-day as unstudied as that. I doubt if you could now find +three trees of such individuality and courage. + +When I was first at The Hague, seven years ago, I stayed not, as on +my last visit, at the Oude Doelen, which is the most comfortable +hotel in Holland, but at a more retired hostelry. It was spacious +and antiquated, with large empty rooms, and cool passages, and an +air of decay over all. Servants one never saw, nor any waiter proper; +one's every need was carried out by a very small and very enthusiastic +boy. "Is the hroom good, sare?" he asked, as he flung open the door of +the bedroom with a superb flourish. "Is the sham good, sare?" he asked +as he laid a pot of preserve on the table. He was the landlady's son +or grandson, and a better boy never lived, but his part, for all his +spirit and good humour, was a tragic one. For the greatest misfortune +that can come upon an hotel-keeper had crushed this house: Baedeker +had excised their star! + +The landlady moved in the background, a disconsolate figure with +a grievance. She waylaid us as we went out and as we came in. Was +it not a good hotel? Was not the management excellent? Had we +any complaints? And yet--see--once she had a star and now it was +gone. Could we not help to regain it? Here was the secret of the +grandson's splendid zeal. The little fellow was fighting to hitch +the old hotel to a star once more, as Emerson had bidden. + +Alas, it was in vain; for that was seven years ago, and I see that +Baedeker still withholds the distinction. What a variety of misfortune +this little world holds! While some of us are indulging our right +to be unhappy over a thousand trivial matters, such as illness and +disillusion, there are inn-keepers on the Continent who are staggering +and struggling under real blows. + +I wondered if it were better to have had a star and lost it, than +never to have had a star at all. But I did not ask. The old lady's +grief was too poignant, her mind too practical, for such questions. + +S'Gravenhage or Den Haag, or The Hague as we call it, being the seat +of the court, is at once the most civilised and most expensive of the +Dutch cities. But it is not conspicuously Dutch, and is interesting +rather for its pictures and for its score of historic buildings about +the Vyver than for itself. Take away the Vyver and its surrounding +treasures and a not very noteworthy European town would remain. + +And yet to say so hardly does justice to this city, for it has +a character of its own that renders it unique: cosmopolitan and +elegant; catholic in its tastes; indulgent to strangers; aristocratic; +well-spaced and well built; above all things, bland. + +And the Vyver is a jewel set in its midst, beautiful by day and +beautiful by night, with fascinating reflections in it at both times, +and a special gift for the transmission of bells in a country where +bells are really honoured. On its north side is the Vyverberg with +pleasant trees and a row of spacious and perfectly self-composed +white houses, one of which, at the corner, has in its windows the +most exquisite long lace curtains in this country of exquisite long +lace curtains. + +On the south side are the Binnenhof and the Mauritshuis--in the +Mauritshuis being the finest works of the two greatest Dutch painters, +Rembrandt of the Rhine and Vermeer of Delft. It is largely by these +possessions that The Hague holds her place as a city of distinction. + +Rembrandt's "School of Anatomy" and Paul Potter's "Bull" are the +two pictures by which every one knows the Mauritshuis collection; +and it is the bull which maintains the steadier and larger crowd. But +it is not a work that interests me. My pictures in the Mauritshuis +are above all the "School of Anatomy," Vermeer's "View of Delft," +his head of a young girl, and the Jan Steens. We have magnificent +Rembrandts in London; but we have nothing quite on the same plane +of interest or mastery as the "School of Anatomy ". Holland has not +always retained her artists' best, but in the case of Rembrandt and +Hals, Jan Steen and Vermeer, she has made no mistakes. Rembrandt's +"School of Anatomy," his "Night Watch," and his portrait of Elizabeth +Bas are all in Holland. I can remember no landscape in Holland in the +manner of that in our National Gallery in which, in conformity with the +taste of certain picture buyers, he dropped in an inessential Tobias +and Angel; but for the finest examples of his distinction and power +as a painter of men one must go to The Hague and Amsterdam. In the +Mauritshuis are sixteen Rembrandts, including the portrait of himself +in a steel casque, and (one of my favourites) the head of the demure +nun-like and yet merry-hearted Dutch maiden reproduced opposite the +next page, which it is impossible to forget and yet difficult, when +not looking at it, to recall with any distinctness--as is so often +the case with one's friends in real life. + +If any large number of visitors to Holland taken at random were asked +to name the best of Rembrandt's pictures they would probably say the +"Night Watch". But I fancy that a finer quality went to the making +of the "School of Anatomy". I fancy that the "School of Anatomy" +is the greatest work of art produced by northern Europe. + +To Jan Steen and his work we come later, in the chapter on Leyden, +but of Vermeer, whom we saw at Delft, this is one place to speak. Of +the "View of Delft" there is a reproduction opposite page 58, yet +it can convey but little suggestion of its beauty. In the case of +the picture opposite page 2 there is only a loss of colour: a great +part of its beauty is retained; but the "View of Delft" must be +seen in the original before one can speak of it at all. Its appeal +is more intimate than any other old Dutch landscape that I know. I +say old, because modern painters have a few scenes which soothe +one hardly less--two or three of Matthew Maris's, and Mauve's again +and again. But before Maris and Mauve came the Barbizon influence; +whereas Vermeer had no predecessors, he had to find his delicate +path for himself. To explain the charm of the "View of Delft" is +beyond my power; but there it is. Before Rembrandt one stands awed, +in the presence of an ancient giant; before Vermeer one rejoices, +as in the presence of a friend and contemporary. + +The head of a young girl, from the same brush, which was left to the +nation as recently as 1903, is reproduced opposite page 2. To me it +is one of the most beautiful things in Holland. It is, however, in no +sense Dutch: the girl is not Dutch, the painting is Dutch only because +it is the work of a Dutchman. No other Dutch painter could compass +such liquid clarity, such cool surfaces. Indeed, none of the others +seem to have tried: a different ideal was theirs. Apart, however, +from the question of technique, upon which I am not entitled to speak, +the picture has to me human interest beyond description. There is a +winning charm in this simple Eastern face that no words of mine can +express. All that is hard in the Dutch nature dissolves beneath her +reluctant smile. She symbolises the fairest and sweetest things in +the Eleven Provinces. She makes Holland sacred ground. + +Vermeer, although always a superb craftsman, was not always +inspired. In the next room to the "View of Delft" and the girl's +head is his "New Testament Allegory," a picture which I think I +dislike more than any other, so false seems to me its sentiment and +so unattractive its character. Yet the sheer painting of it is little +short of miraculous. + +Among other Dutch pictures in the Mauritshuis which I should like +to mention for their particular charm are Gerard Dou's "Young +Housekeeper," to which we come in the chapter on Leyden's painters; +Ostade's "Proposal," one of the pleasantest pictures which he ever +signed; Ruisdael's "View of Haarlem" and Terburg's portraits. I single +these out. But when I think of the marvels of painting that remain, +of which I have said not a word, I am only too conscious of the +uselessness of such a list. Were this a guide-book I should say more, +mentioning also the work of the other schools, not Dutch, notably +a head of Jane Seymour by Holbein, a Velasquez, and so forth. But I +must not. + +After the Mauritshuis, the Municipal Museum, which also overlooks the +Vyver's placid surface, is a dull place except for the antiquary. In +its old views of the city, which are among its most interesting +possessions, the evolution of the neighbouring Doelen hotel may be +studied by the curious--from its earliest days, when it was a shooting +gallery, to its present state of spaciousness and repute, basking +in its prosperity and cherishing the proud knowledge that Peter the +Great has slept under its hospitable roof, and that it was there that +the Russian delegate resided when, in 1900, the Czar convoked at The +Hague the Peace Conference which he was the first to break. + +In one room of the Municipal Museum are the palette and easel of +Johannes Bosboom, Holland's great painter of churches. His last +unfinished sketch rests on the easel. No collection of modern Dutch +art is complete without a sombre study of Gothic arches by this +great artist. All his work is good, but I saw nothing better than +the water-colour drawing in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam, which +is reproduced opposite page 132. + +At The Hague one may also see, whenever the family is not in +residence, the collection of Baron Steengracht in one of the ample +white mansions on the Vyverberg. Most interesting of the pictures to +me are Jan Steen's family group, which, however, for all its wonderful +drawing, is not in his most interesting manner; a very deft Metsu, +"The Sick Child"; a horse by Albert Cuyp; a characteristic group of +convivial artists by Adrian Brouwer, including Hals, Ostade, Jan Steen +and the painter himself; and--best of all--Terburg's wholly charming +"Toilette," an old woman combing the head of a child. + +Quite recently the Mesdag Museum has been added to the public +exhibitions of The Hague. This is the house of Hendriks Willem Mesdag, +the artist, which, with all its Barbizon treasures, with noble +generosity he has made over to the nation in his lifetime. Mesdag, +who is himself one of the first of living Dutch painters, has been +acquiring pictures for many years, and his collection, by representing +in every example the taste of a single connoisseur, has thus the +additional interest of unity. Mesdag's own paintings are mostly of +the sea--a grey sea with a few fishing boats, very true, very quiet +and simple. How many times he and James Maris painted Scheveningen's +shore probably no one could compute. His best-known work is probably +the poster advertising the Harwich and Hook-of-Holland route, in which +the two ports are joined by a chain crossing a grey sea--best known, +because every one has seen this picture: it is at all the stations; +although few, I imagine, have connected with it the name and fame of +the Dutch artist and patron of the arts. + +In the description of the Ryks collection at Amsterdam I shall say +something about the pleasure of choosing one's own particular picture +from a gallery. It was amusing to indulge the same humour in the Mesdag +Museum: perhaps even more so than at the Ryks, for one is certain +that by no means could Vermeer's little picture of "The Reader,"--the +woman in the blue jacket--for example, be abstracted from those +well-guarded walls, whereas it is just conceivable that one could +select from these crowded little Mesdag rooms something that might +not be missed. I hesitated long between a delicate Matthew Maris, the +very essence of quietude, in which a girl stands by a stove, cooking; +Delacroix's wonderful study of dead horses in the desert; a perfect +Diaz (No. 114), an old woman in a red shawl by a pool in a wood, with +its miracle of lighting; a tender little Daumier, that rare master; +a Segantini drenched in sincerity and pity; and a bridge at evening +(No. 127) by Jules Dupre. All these are small and could be slipped +under the overcoat with the greatest ease! + +Having made up my mind I returned to each and lost all my decision. I +decided again, and again uncertainty conquered. And then I made a +final examination, and chose No. 64--a totally new choice--a little +lovely Corot, depicting a stream, two women, much essential greenness, +and that liquid light of which Corot had the secret. + +But I am not sure that the Diaz (who began by being an old master) +is not the more exquisite picture. + +For the rest, there are other Corots, among them one of his black night +pieces; a little village scene by Troyon; some apples by Courbet, +in the grandest manner surely in which apples ever were painted; a +Monticelli; a scene of hills by Georges Michel which makes one wish +he had painted the Sussex Downs; a beautiful chalk drawing by Millet; +some vast silent Daubignys; a few Mauves; a very interesting early +James Maris in the manner of Peter de Hooch, and a superb later James +Maris--wet sand and a windy sky. + +The flower of the French romantic school is represented here, brought +together by a collector with a sure eye. No visitor to The Hague who +cares anything for painting should miss it; and indeed no visitor +who cares nothing for painting should miss it, for it may lure him +to wiser ways. + +The Binnenhof is a mass of medieval and later buildings extending +along the south side of the Vyver, which was indeed once a part of +its moat. The most attractive view of it is from the north side of the +Vyver, with the long broken line of roof and gable and turret reflected +in the water. The nucleus of the Binnenhof was the castle or palace of +William II., Count of Holland in the thirteenth century--also Emperor +of Germany and father of Florence V., who built the great hall of the +knights (into which, however, one may penetrate only on Thursdays), +and whose tomb we shall see in Alkmaar church. The Stadtholders made +the Binnenhof their headquarters; but the present Royal Palace is half +a mile north-west of it. Other buildings have been added from time to +time, and the trams are now allowed to rush through with their bells +jangling the while. The desecration is not so glaring as at Utrecht, +but it seems thoroughly wrong--as though we were to permit a line to +traverse Dean's Yard at Westminster. A more appropriate sanction is +that extended to one or two dealers in old books and prints who have +their stalls in the Binnenhof's cloisters. + +It was in the Binnenhof that the scaffold stood on which John van +Barneveldt was beheaded in 1619, the almost inevitable result of his +long period of differences with the Stadtholder Maurice, son of William +the Silent. His arrest, as we have seen, followed the Synod of Dort, +Grotius being also removed by force. Barneveldt's imprisonment, +trial and execution resemble Spanish methods of injustice more +closely than one likes to think. I quote Davies' fine account of +the old statesman's last moments: "Leaning on his staff, and with +his servant on the other side to support his steps, grown feeble +with age, Barneveldt walked composedly to the place of execution, +prepared before the great saloon of the court-house. If, as it is not +improbable, at the approach of death in the midst of life and health, +when the intellect is in full vigour, and every nerve, sense and fibre +is strung to the highest pitch of tension, a foretaste of that which +is to come is sometimes given to man, and his over-wrought mind is +enabled to grasp at one single effort the events of his whole past +life--if, at this moment and on this spot, where Barneveldt was now +to suffer a felon's death,--where he had first held out his fostering +hand to the infant republic, and infused into it strength and vigour +to conquer the giant of Europe,--where he had been humbly sued for +peace by the oppressor of his country,--where the ambassadors of the +most powerful sovereigns had vied with each other in soliciting his +favour and support,--where the wise, the eloquent, and the learned, +had bowed in deference to his master-spirit;--if, at this moment, the +memory of all his long and glorious career on earth flashed upon his +mind in fearful contrast to the present reality, with how deep feeling +must he have uttered the exclamation as he ascended the scaffold, +'Oh God! what then is man?' + +"Here he was compelled to suffer the last petty indignity that man +could heap upon him. Aged and infirm as he was, neither stool nor +cushion had been provided to mitigate the sense of bodily weakness as +he performed the last duties of mortal life; and kneeling down on the +bare boards, he was supported by his servant, while the minister, +John Lamotius, delivered a prayer. When prepared for the block, +he turned to the spectators and said, with a loud and firm voice, +'My friends, believe not that I am a traitor. I have lived a good +patriot, and such I die.' He then, with his own hands, drew his cap +over his eyes, and bidding the executioner 'be quick,' bowed his +venerable head to the stroke. + +"The populace, from various feelings, some inspired by hatred, some +by affection, dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, or carried +away morsels of the blood-stained wood and sand; a few were even +found to _sell_ these as relics. The body and head were laid in a +coffin and buried decently, but with little ceremony, at the court +church of the Hague. + +"The States of Holland rendered to his memory that justice which he +had been denied while living, by the words in which they recorded his +death. After stating the time and manner of it, and his long period +of service to his country, the resolution concludes, 'a man of great +activity, diligence, memory, and conduct; yea, remarkable in every +respect. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall; +and may God be merciful to his soul.'" + +A very beautiful story is told of Barneveldt's widow. Her son plotting +to avenge his father and crush the Stadtholder was discovered and +imprisoned. His mother visited Maurice to ask his pardon. "Why," said +he, "how is this--you value your son more than your husband! You did +not ask pardon for him." "No," said Barneveldt's widow; "I did not +ask pardon for my husband, because he was innocent; I ask pardon for +my son, because he is guilty." + +Prince Maurice never recovered from the error--to put for the moment +no worse epithet to it--of the death of Barneveldt. He had killed +his best counsellor; thenceforward his power diminished; and with +every rebuff he who had abandoned his first adviser complained +that God had abandoned him. Davies sums up the case thus: "The +escutcheon of Maurice is bright with the record of many a deed of +glory; the fabric of his country's greatness raised by his father, +strengthened and beautified by himself; her armies created the masters +of military science to the civilized world; her States the centre and +mainspring of its negotiations; her proud foe reduced to sue humbly +at her feet. But there is one dark, deep stain on which the eye of +posterity, unheeding the surrounding radiance, is constantly fixed: +it is the blood of Barneveldt." + +The Binnenhof leads to the Buitenhof, a large open space, the old +gateway to which is the Gevangenpoort prison--scene of another shameful +deed in the history of Holland, the death of John and Cornelius +de Witt. The massacre occurred two hundred and thirty-three years +ago--in 1672. Cornelius de Witt was wrongfully accused of an attempt +to procure the assassination of the Stadtholder, William III. To him, +in his cell in the Gevangenpoort, came, on 22nd August, John de Witt, +late Grand Pensionary, brought hither by a bogus message. + +I quote from Davies, who elsewhere makes it clear that (as Dumas says) +William III was privy to the crime: "His friends, fearful of some +treachery, besought him to pause and inquire into the truth of the +summons before he obeyed it; and his only daughter threw herself +at his feet, and implored him with floods of tears not to risk +unnecessarily a life so precious. But his anxiety for his brother, +with whom he had ever lived on terms of the tenderest affection, +proved stronger than their remonstrances; and setting out on foot, +attended by his servant and two secretaries, he hastened to the +prison. On seeing him, Cornelius de Witt exclaimed in astonishment, +'My brother, what do you here?' 'Did you not then send for me?' he +asked; and receiving an answer in the negative, 'Then,' rejoined he, +'we are lost'. + +"During this time one of the judges sent for Tichelaar, and suggested +to him that he should incite the people not to suffer a villain +who had intended to murder the Prince to go unpunished. True to his +instructions, the miscreant spread among the crowd collected before +the prison doors the report, that the torture inflicted on Cornelius +de Witt was a mere pretence, and that he had only escaped the death +he deserved because the judges favoured his crime. Then, entering the +gaol, he presented himself at the window, and exclaimed to the crowd +below, 'The dog and his brother are going out of prison! Now is your +time; revenge yourselves on these two knaves, and then on thirty more, +their accomplices.' + +"The populace received his address with shouts and cries of 'To arms, +to arms! Treason, treason!' and pressed in a still denser crowd towards +the prison door. The States of Holland, immediately on information of +the tumult, sent three troops of cavalry, in garrison at the Hague, +for the protection of the gaol, and called out to arms six companies +of burgher guards. But in the latter they only added fresh hosts to +the enemies of the unfortunate captives. One company in especial, +called the 'Company of the Blue Flag,' was animated with a spirit of +deadly vengeance against them; its leader, Verhoef, having that morning +loaded his musket with a determination either to kill the De Witts +or perish in the attempt. They pressed forward towards the prison, +but were driven back by the determined appearance of the cavalry, +commanded by the Count de Tilly. + +"So long as these troops remained, it was evident that the fell purpose +of the rioters was impracticable. Accordingly, a report was raised that +a band of peasants and sailors was coming to plunder The Hague; and +two captains of the burgher guards took occasion from thence to demand +of the Council of State, that the soldiers should be drawn off from +their station, in order to protect the houses from pillage. First a +verbal order, and on Tilly's refusing obedience to such, a written one, +was sent, commanding him to divide his troops into four detachments, +and post them upon the bridges leading into the town. 'I shall obey,' +said he, as he perused the mandate; 'but it is the death-warrant of +the brothers.' + +"His anticipations were too soon realized. No sooner had he departed +than the rioters were supplied by some of those mysterious agents who +were actively employed throughout the whole of these transactions, with +wine, brandy, and other incitements to inflame their already maddening +fury. Led on by Verhoef and one Van Bankhem, a sheriff of The Hague, +they assailed the prison door with axes and sledge-hammers, threatening +to kill all the inmates if it were not instantly opened. Terrified, +or corrupted, the gaoler obeyed their behests. On gaining admittance +they rushed to an upper room, where they found their victims, +who had throughout the whole of the tumult maintained the greatest +composure. The bailiff, reduced to a state of extreme debility by the +torture, was reclining on his bed; his brother was seated near him, +reading the Bible. They forced them to rise and follow them 'to the +place,' as they said, 'where criminals were executed'. + +"Having taken a tender leave of each other, they began to descend the +stairs, Cornelius de Witt leaning on his brother for support. They had +not advanced above two or three paces when a heavy blow on the head +from behind precipitated the former to the bottom. He was then dragged +a short distance towards the street, trampled under foot, and beaten +to death. Meanwhile, John de Witt, after receiving a severe wound +on the head with the butt-end of a musket, was brought by Verhoef, +bleeding and bare-headed, before the furious multitude. One Van +Soenen immediately thrust a pike into his face, while another of the +miscreants shot him in the neck, exclaiming as he fell, 'There goes +down the Perpetual Edict'. Raising himself on his knees, the sufferer +lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven in deep and earnest prayer. At +that moment, one Verhagen struck him with his musket. Hundreds followed +his example, and the cruel massacre was completed. + +"Barbarities too dreadful for utterance or contemplation, all that +phrenzied passion or brutal ferocity could suggest, were perpetrated +on the bodies of these noble and virtuous citizens; nor was it till +night put an end to the butchery, that their friends were permitted +to convey their mangled remains to a secret and obscure tomb." + +In the Nieuwe Kerk at The Hague the tomb of the De Witts may be seen +and honoured. + +The Gevangenpoort is well worth a visit. One passes tortuously from +cell to cell--most of them associated with some famous breaker of +the laws of God or man, principally of man. Here you may see a stone +hollowed by the drops of water that plashed from the prisoner's head, +on which they were timed to fall at intervals of a few seconds--a +form of torture imported, I believe, from China, and after some hours +ending inevitably in madness and death. Beside such a refinement +the rack is a mere trifle and the Gevangenpoort's branding irons and +thumb screws become only toys. A block, retaining the cuts made by the +axe after it had crashed through the offending neck, is also shown; +and the names of prisoners written in their blood on the walls may +be traced. The building is a monument in stone of what man can do to +man in the name of justice. + +I referred just now to the Nieuwe Kerk, the resting-place of the +De Witts. There lies also their contemporary, Spinoza, whose home +at Rynsburg we shall pass on our way to Katwyk from Leyden. His +house at The Hague still stands--near his statue. The Groote Kerk +is older; but neither church is particularly interesting. From the +Groote Kerk's tower one may, however, see a vast deal of country +around The Hague--a landscape containing much greenery--and in the +west the architectural monsters of Scheveningen only too visible. We +shall reach Scheveningen in the next chapter, but while at The Hague +it is amusing to visit the fish market in order to have sight of the +good women of that town clustered about the stalls in their peculiar +costume. They are Scheveningen's best. The adjoining stadhuis is a +very interesting example of Dutch architecture. + +The Hague has excellent shops, and one street--the Lange Pooten--more +crowded in the evening, particularly on Sunday evening, than any I +know. Every Dutch town has certain crowded streets in the evening, +because to walk up and down after dinner is the national form of +recreation. There are in the large cities a few theatres and music +halls, and in the smaller, concerts in the summer; but for the most +part the streets and the cafes are the great attraction. Each town has +one street above all others which is frequented in this way. At The +Hague it is the Lange Pooten, running into Spui Straat; at Amsterdam +it is Kalverstraat. + +Dutch shops are not very interesting, and the book-shops in +particular are a disappointment. This is because it is not a reading +people. The newspapers are sound and practical before all things: +business before pleasure is their motto; and native literature is +not fostered. Publishers who bring out new Dutch books usually do +so on the old subscription plan. But the book-shops testify to the +popularity of translations from other nations and also of foreign +books in the original. The latest French and German fiction is always +obtainable. Among translations from the English in 1904 I noticed a +considerable number of copies of the Sherlock Holmes tales and also of +two or three of Miss Corelli's works. These for adults; for boys the +reading _par excellence_ was a serial romance, in weekly or monthly +parts, entitled "De Wilsons en de Ring des Doods of het Spoor van +pen Diamenten". The Wilsons, I gather, have been having a great run +in Holland. A lurid scene in Maiden Lane was on the cover. Another +story which seemed to be popular had the engaging title "Beleaguered +by Jaguars". + +The Hague is very proud of the Bosch--the great wood to the east +of the city, with a few deer and many tall and unpollarded trees, +where one may walk and ride or drive very pleasantly. + +The Bosch has no restaurant within its boundaries. I mention this in +order to save the reader the mortification of being conducted by a +polite but firm waiter back to the gates of the pavilion in which he +may reasonably have supposed he was as much entitled to order tea as +any of the groups enjoying that beverage at the little tables within +the enclosure, whose happiness had indeed led him to enter it. They +are, however, members of a club, to which he has no more right of +entry than any Dutch stranger would have to the Athenaeum. + +The Huis ten Bosch, or House in the Wood, which all good travellers +must explore, is at the extreme eastern end of the Bosch, with pleasure +grounds of its own, including a lake where royal skating parties +are held. This very charming royal residence, now only occasionally +occupied, is well worth seeing for its Chinese and Japanese decorations +alone--apart from historical associations and mural paintings. For +mural paintings unless they are very quiet I must confess to caring +nothing, nor does a bed on which a temporal prince breathed his last, +or his first, move me to any degree of interest; but on the walls of +one room of the House in the Wood is some of the most charming Chinese +embroidery I ever saw, while another is decorated in blue and white +of exquisite delicacy. With these gracious schemes of upholstery I +shall always associate the Huis ten Bosch. + +At Leyden we shall find traces of Oliver Goldsmith: here at The Hague +one may think of Mat. Prior, who was secretary to our Ambassador for +some years and even wrote a copy of spritely verses on the subject. + + + THE SECRETARY. + + Written at The Hague, 1696. + + + With labour assiduous due pleasure I mix, + And in one day atone for the bus'ness of six. + In a little Dutch chaise, on a Saturday night, + On my left hand my Horace, a nymph on my right: + No memoirs to compose, and no post-boy to move, + That on Sunday may hinder the softness of love; + For her, neither visits, nor parties at tea, + Nor the long-winded cant of a dull refugee: + This night and the next shall be hers, shall be mine + To good or ill-fortune the third we resign. + Thus scorning the world, and superior to Fate, + I drive in my car in professional state; + So with Phia thro' Athens Pisistratus rode, + Men thought her Minerva, and him a new god. + But why should I stories of Athens rehearse, + Where people knew love, and were partial to verse, + Since none can with justice my pleasures oppose + In Holland half-drowned in int'rest and prose? + By Greece and past ages what need I be tried + When The Hague and the present are both on my side? + And is it enough for the joys of the day + To think what Anacreon or Sappho would say, + When good Vandergoes and his provident Vrow, + As they gaze on my triumph, do freely allow, + That, search all the province, you'll find no man dar is + So blest as the _Englishen Heer Secretar is_? + + +Let me close this rambling account of The Hague with a passage from +James Howell, in one of his conspicuously elaborate _Familiar Letters_, +written in 1622, describing some of the odd things to be seen at that +day in or about the Dutch city: "We went afterwards to the _Hague_, +where there are hard by, though in several places, two wonderful things +to be seen, the one of _Art_, the other of _Nature_; that of _Art_ is +a Waggon or Ship, or a monster mixt of both like the _Hippocentaure_ +who was half man and half horse; this Engin hath wheels and sails that +will hold above twenty people, and goes with the wind, being drawn +or mov'd by nothing else, and will run, the wind being good, and the +sails hois'd up, above fifteen miles an hour upon the even hard sands: +they say this Invention was found out to entertain _Spinola_ when he +came thither to treat of the last Truce." Upon this wonder, which +I did not see, civilisation has now improved, the wind being but a +captious and untrustworthy servant compared with petrol or steam. None +the less there is still a very rapid wheeled ship at Zandvoort. + +But the record of Howell's other wonder is visible still. He continues: +"That wonder of _Nature_ is a Church-monument, where an Earl and +a Lady are engraven with 365 children about them, which were all +delivered at one birth; they were half male, half female; the two +Basons in which they were Christened hang still in the Church, and the +Bishop's Name who did it; and the story of this Miracle, with the year +and the day of the month mentioned, which is not yet 200 years ago; +and the story is this: That the Countess walking about her door after +dinner, there came a Begger-woman with two Children upon her back to +beg alms, the Countess asking whether those children were her own, +she answer'd, she had them both at one birth, and by one Father, who +was her husband. The Countess would not only not give her any alms, +but reviled her bitterly, saying, it was impossible for one man to +get two children at once. The Begger-woman being thus provok'd with +ill words, and without alms, fell to imprecations, that it should +please God to show His judgment upon her, and that she might bear at +one birth as many children as there be days in the year, which she +did before the same year's end, having never born child before." + +The legend was naturally popular in a land of large families, and it +was certainly credited without any reservation for many years. In +England the rabbit-breeding woman of Dorking had her adherents +too. What the beggar really wished for the Dutch lady was as many +children at one birth as there were days in the year in which the +conversation occurred--namely three, for the encounter was on January +3rd. Or so I have somewhere read. But it is more amusing to believe in +the greater number, especially as a Dutch author has put it on record +that he saw the children with his own eyes. They were of the size +of shrimps, and were baptised either singly or collectively by Guy, +Bishop of Utrecht. All the boys were named John and all the girls +Elizabeth, They died the same day. + +Thomas Coryate of the _Crudities_, who also tells the tale, believed +it implicitly. "This strange history," he says, "will seem incredible +(I suppose) to all readers. But it is so absolutely and undoubtedly +true as nothing in the world more." + +And here, hand in hand with Veritas, we leave The Hague. + + + +Chapter VI + +Scheveningen and Katwyk + + The Dutch heaven--Huyghens' road--Sorgh Vliet's + builder--Jacob Cats--Homely wisdom--President Kruger--A + monstrous resort--Giant snails--The black-headed + mannikins--The etiquette of petticoats--Katwyk--The old + Rhine--Noordwyk--Noordwyk-Binnen. + +Good Dutchmen when they die go to Scheveningen; but my heaven is +elsewhere. To go thither is, however, no calamity, so long as one +chooses the old road. It is being there that so lowers the spirits. The +Oude Scheveningen Weg is perhaps the pleasantest, and certainly the +shadiest, road in Holland: not one avenue but many, straight as a +line in Euclid. On either side is a spreading wood, among the trees +of which, on the left hand, as one leaves The Hague, is Sorgh Vliet, +once the retreat of old Jacob Cats, lately one of the residences of a +royal Duke, and now sold to a building company. The road dates from +1666, its projector being Constantin Huyghens, poet and statesman, +whose statue may be seen at the half-way halting-place. By the time +this is reached the charm of the road is nearly over: thenceforward +it is all villas and Scheveningen. + +But we must pause for a little while at Sorgh Vliet (which has the +same meaning as _Sans Souci_), where two hundred years ago lived +in genial retirement the writer who best represents the shrewd +sagacity of the Dutch character--Jacob Cats, or Vader Cats as he was +affectionately called, the author of the Dutch "Household Bible," +a huge miscellaneous collection of wise saws and modern instances, +humour and satire, upon all the businesses of life. + +Mr. Austin Dobson, who leaves grains of gold on all he touches, has +described in his _Side-Walk Studies_ the huge, illustrated edition +of Cats' Works (Amsterdam, 1655) which is held sacred in all rightly +constituted old-fashioned Dutch households. I have seen it at the +British Museum, and it seems to me to be one of the best picture-books +in the world. + +As Mr. Dobson says, the life of old Holland is reproduced in it. "What +would one not give for such an illustrated copy of Shakespeare! In +these pages of Jacob Cats we have the authentic Holland of the +seventeenth century:--its vanes and spires and steep-roofed houses; +its gardens with their geometric tulip-beds, their formally-clipped +alleys and arches, their shining parallelograms of water. Here are +its old-fashioned interiors, with the deep fire-places and queer +andirons, the huge four-posters, the prim portraits on the wall, the +great brass-clamped coffers and carved _armories_ for the ruffs and +starched collars and stiff farthingales of the women. In one picture +you may see the careful housewife mournfully inspecting a moth-eaten +garment which she has just taken from a chest that Wardour Street +might envy; in another she is energetically cuffing the 'foolish +fat scullion,' who has let the spotted Dalmatian coach-dog overturn +the cauldron at the fire. Here an old crone, with her spectacles on, +is cautiously probing the contents of the said cauldron with a fork; +here the mistress of the house is peeling pears; here the plump and +soft-hearted cheese-wife is entertaining an admirer--outside there +are pictures as vivid. Here are the clumsy leather-topped coach with +its masked occupant and stumbling horses; the towed _trekschuit_, +with its merry freight, sliding swiftly through the low-lying +landscape; the windy mole, stretching seaward, with its blown and +flaring beacon-fire. Here again in the street is the toy-shop with +its open front and store of mimic drums and halberds for the martial +little burghers; here are the fruiteress with her stall of grapes +and melons, the rat-catcher with his string of trophies, the fowler +and his clap-net, the furrier with his stock of skins." + +In 1860 a number of Van der Venne's best pictures were redrawn by John +Leighton to accompany translations of the fables by Richard Pigot. As +a taste of Cats' quality I quote two of the pieces. Why the pictures +should have been redrawn when they might have been reproduced exactly +is beyond my understanding. This is one poem:-- + + + LIKE MELONS, FRIENDS ARE TO BE FOUND IN PLENTY + OF WHICH NOT EVEN ONE IS GOOD IN TWENTY. + + In choosing Friends, it's requisite to use + The self-same care as when we Melons choose: + No one in haste a Melon ever buys, + Nor makes his choice till three or four he tries; + And oft indeed when purchasing this fruit, + Before the buyer can find one to suit, + He's e'en obliged t' examine half a score, + And p'rhaps not find one when his search is o'er. + Be cautious how you choose a friend; + For Friendships that are lightly made, + Have seldom any other end + Than grief to see one's trust betray'd! + + +And here is another:-- + + + SMOKE IS THE FOOD OF LOVERS. + + When Cupid open'd Shop, the Trade he chose + Was just the very one you might suppose. + Love keep a shop?--his trade, Oh! quickly name! + A Dealer in tobacco--Fie for shame! + No less than true, and set aside all joke, + From oldest time he ever dealt in Smoke; + Than Smoke, no other thing he sold, or made; + Smoke all the substance of his stock in trade; + His Capital all Smoke, Smoke all his store, + 'Twas nothing else; but Lovers ask no more-- + And thousands enter daily at his door! + Hence it was ever, and it e'er will be + The trade most suited to his faculty:-- + Fed by the vapours of their heart's desire, + No other food his Votaries require; + For, that they seek--The Favour of the Fair, + Is unsubstantial as the Smoke and air. + + +From these rhymes, with their home-spun philosophy, one might assume +Cats to have been merely a witty peasant. But he was a man of the +highest culture, a great jurist, twice ambassador to England, where +Charles I. laid his sword on his shoulder and bade him rise Sir Jacob, +a traveller and the friend of the best intellects. From an interesting +article on Dutch poetry in an old _Foreign Quarterly Review_ I take +an account of the aphorist: "Vondel had for his contemporary a man, +of whose popularity we can hardly give an idea, unless we say that +to speak Dutch and to have learnt Cats by heart, are almost the same +thing. Old Father Jacob Cats--(we beg to apologize for his unhappy +name--and know not why, like the rest of his countrymen, he did not +euphonize it into some well-sounding epithet, taken from Greece +or Rome--Elouros, for example, or Felisius; Catsius was ventured +upon by his contemporaries, but the honest grey-beard stuck to his +paternities)--was a man of practical wisdom--great experience--much +travel--considerable learning--and wonderful fluency. He had occupied +high offices of state, and retired a patriarch amidst children and +children's children, to that agreeable retreat which we mentioned +as not far from The Hague, where we have often dreamed his sober +and serious--but withal cheerful and happy, spirit, might still +preside. His moralities are sometimes prolix, and sometimes rather +dull. He often sweeps the bloom away from the imaginative anticipations +of youth--and in that does little service. He will have everything +substantial, useful, permanent. He has no other notion of love than +that it is meant to make good husbands and wives, and to produce +painstaking and obedient children. + +"His poetry is rhymed counsel--kind, wise, and good. He calculates +all results, and has no mercy for thoughts, or feelings, or actions, +which leave behind them weariness, regret or misery. His volumes +are a storehouse of prudence and worldly wisdom. For every state +of life he has fit lessons, so nicely dovetailed into rhyme, that +the morality seems made expressly for the language, or the language +for the morality. His thoughts--all running about among the duties +of life--voluntarily move in harmonious numbers, as if to think +and to rhyme were one solitary attribute. For the nurse who wants +a song for her babe--the boy who is tormented by the dread of the +birch--the youth whose beard begins to grow--the lover who desires a +posey for his lady's ring--for the husband--father--grandsire--for +all there is a store--to encourage--to console--and to be grateful +for. The titles of his works are indices to their contents. Among +them are _De Ouderdom_, Old Age; _Buyten Leven_, Out-of-Doors Life; +_Hofgedachten_, Garden Thoughts; _Gedachten op Slapelooze Nachten_, +Thoughts of Sleepless Nights; _Trouwring_, Marriage Ring; _Zelfstrijt_, +Self-struggle, etc. Never was a poet so essentially the poet of the +people. He is always intelligible--always sensible--and, as was well +said of him by Kruijff, + + + Smiling he teaches truth, and sporting wins to virtue." + + +When President Kruger died last year the memoirs of him agreed in +fixing upon the Bible as his only reading. But I am certain he knew +Vader Cats by heart too. If ever a master had a faithful pupil, Vader +Cats had one in Oom Paul. The vivid yet homely metaphors and allegories +in which Oom Paul conveyed so many of his thoughts were drawn from the +same source as the emblems of Vader Cats. Both had the AEsopian gift. + +We have no one English writer with whom to compare Cats; but a +syndicate formed of Fuller and Burton, Cobbett and Quarles might +produce something akin. + +Scheveningen is half squalid town, half monstrous pleasure resort. Upon +its sea ramparts are a series of gigantic buildings, greatest of which +is the Curhaus, where the best music in Holland is to be heard. Its +pier and its promenade are not at the first glimpse unlike Brighton's; +but the vast buildings have no counterpart with us, except perhaps at +Blackpool. What is, however, peculiar to Scheveningen is its expanse of +sand covered with sentry-box wicker chairs. To stand on the pier on a +fine day in the season and look down on these thousands of chairs and +people is to receive an impression of insect-like activity that I think +cannot be equalled. Immovable as they are, the chairs seem to add to +the restlessness of the seething mass. What a visitor from Mars would +make of it is a mystery; but he could hardly fail to connect chair +and occupant. Here, he would say, is surely the abode of giant snails! + +On a windy day the chairs must be of great use; but in heat they +seem to me too vertical and too hard. One must, however, either sit +in them or lie upon sand. There is not a pebble on the whole coast: +indeed there is not a pebble in Holland. Life after lying upon sand +can become to some of us a burden almost too difficult to bear; +but the Dutch holiday-maker does not seem to find it so. As for the +children, they are truly in Paradise. There can be no sand better +to dig in than that of Scheveningen; and they dig in it all day. A +favourite game seems to be to surround the parental sentry-boxes with +a fosse. Every family has its castle, and every castle its moat. + +I have been twice to Scheveningen, and on each occasion I acquired +beneath its glittering magnitude a sense of depression. That leaven +of tenderness which every collection of human beings must have was +harder to find at Scheveningen than anywhere in Holland--everything +was so ordered, so organised, for pleasure, pleasure at any price, +pleasure almost at the point of the bayonet. + +But on the second occasion one little incident saved the day--an +encounter with a strolling bird-fancier who dealt in Black-Headed +Mannikins. Two of these tiny brisk birds, in their Quaker black and +brown, sat upon his cane to attract purchasers. They fluttered to his +finger, perched on his hat, simulated death in the palm of his hand, +and went through other evolutions with the speed of thought and the +bright spontaneous alacrity possible only to a small loyal bird. These, +however, were not for sale: these were decoys; the saleable birds lay, +packed far too close, in little wooden boxes in the man's bag. And +Scheveningen to me means no longer a mile of palaces, no longer a +"hot huddle of humanity" on the sand among myriad sentry-boxes: +its symbol is just two Black-Headed Mannikins. + +From the Curhaus it is better to return to the Hague by electric tram +along the new road. Save for passing a field where the fishwives of +Scheveningen in their blue shawls spread and mend their nets, this +road is dull and suburban; but from it, when the light is failing, +a view of Scheveningen's domes and spires may be gained which, +softened and made mysterious by the gloaming, translates the chief +watering-place of Holland into an Eastern city of romance. + +The fishwives of Scheveningen, I am told, carry the art of petticoat +wearing to a higher point than any of their sisters. The appearance +of the homing fleet in the offing is a signal for as many as thirty +of these garments to be put on as a mark of welcome to a returning +husband. + +Probably no shore anywhere in the world has been so often painted +as that of Scheveningen--ever since the painting of landscape seemed +a worthy pursuit. James Maris' pictures of Scheveningen's wet sand, +grey sea, and huge flat-bottomed ships must run into scores; Mesdag's +too. Perhaps it was the artists that prevailed on the fishermen to wear +crimson knickerbockers--the note of warm colour that the scene demands. + +Here, although it is separated from Scheveningen by some miles of sand, +I should like to say something of Katwyk--which is Leyden's marine +resort. A steam-tram carries people thither many times a day. The +rail, when first I travelled upon it, in April, ran through tulips; +in August, when I was there again, the patches of scarlet and orange +had given way to acres of massive purple-green cabbages which, in +the evening light, were vastly more beautiful. + +At Rynsburg, one of the villages on the way, dwelt in 1650-51 Benedict +Spinoza, the philosopher, and there he wrote his abridgement of the +Meditations of Descartes, his master in philosophy, who had for a +while lived close by at Endegeest. Spinoza, who was born at Amsterdam +in 1632, died in 1677. His house at Rynsburg, which he shared with a +Colleginat (one of a sect of Remonstrants who had their headquarters +there) is now a Spinoza museum; his statue is at The Hague. + +Katwyk-aan-Zee is a compact little pleasure resort with the usual +fantastic childish villas. Its most interesting possession is the +mouth of the Old Rhine, now restricted by a canal and controlled by +locks. There is perhaps no better example of the Dutch power over water +than the contrast between the present narrow canal through which the +river must disembogue and the unprofitable marsh which once spread +here. The locks, which are nearly a hundred years old, were among +the works of the engineer Conrad, whose monument is in Haarlem church. + +From the Old Rhine's mouth to Noordwyk is a lonely but very bracing +walk of three miles along the sand, with the dunes on one's right +hand and the sea on one's left. One may meet perhaps a few shell +gatherers, but no one else. We drove before us all the way a white +company consisting of a score of gulls, twice as many tern, two oyster +catchers and one curlew. They rose and settled, rose and settled, +always some thirty yards away, until Noordwyk was reached, when we +left them behind. Never was a Japanese screen so realised as by these +birds against the pearl grey sea and yellow sand. + +Katwyk is more cheery than Noordwyk; but Noordwyk has a prettier +street--indeed, in its old part there is no prettier street in Holland +in the light of sunset. As Hastings is to Eastbourne, so is Katwyk to +Noordwyk; Scheveningen is Brighton, Yarmouth, and Blackpool in one. A +very pretty lace cap is worn at Noordwyk by villagers and visitors +alike, to hold the hair against the west wind. + +From Noordwyk we walked to Noordwyk-Binnen, the real town, parent +of the seaside resort; and there, at a table at the side of the main +street, by an avenue so leafy as to exclude even glints of the sky, +we sipped something Dutch whose name I could not assimilate, and +waited for the tram for Leyden. It was the greenest tunnel I ever saw. + + + +Chapter VII + +Leyden + + Steam-trams--Holland for the people--Quiet Leyden--The + Meermansburg--Leyden's museums--The call of the + open--Oliver Goldsmith--A view of the Dutch--"Polite + Learning"--"The Traveller"--James Howell--John Evelyn and the + Burgundian Jew--_Colloquia Peripatetica_--St. Peter's and + St. Pancras's--The Kermis--Drinking in Holland--Poffertjes + and Wafelen--America's master. + +We travelled to Leyden from The Hague by the steam-tram, through +cheerful domestic surroundings, past little Englishy cottages and +gardens. It was Sunday morning, and the villagers of Voorburg and +Voorschoten and the other little places _en route_ were idle and gay. + +In England light railways are a rarity; Holland is covered with +a net-work of them. The little trains rush along the roads all +over the country, while the roadside willows rock in their eddying +wake. To stand on the steam-tram footboard is one very good way to +see Holland. In England of course we can never have such conveniences, +England being a free country in which individual rights come first. But +Holland exists for the State, and such an idea as the depreciation or +ruin of property by running a tram line over it has never suggested +itself. It is true that when the new electric tramway between Amsterdam +and Haarlem was projected, the comic papers came to the defence of +outraged Nature; but they did not really mean it, as the aesthetic +minority in England would have meant it. + +The steam-tram journeys are always interesting; and my advice to a +traveller in Holland is to make as much use of them as he can. This +is quite simple as their time-tables are included in the official +Reisgids. I like them at all times; but best perhaps when one has +to wait in the heart of some quiet village for the other tram to +come up. There is something very soothing and attractive in these +sudden cessations of noise and movement in the midst of a totally +strange community. + +Leyden is a paradise of clean, quiet streets--a city of professors, +students and soldiers. It has, I think, the prettiest red roofs in +any considerable Dutch town: not prettier than Veere's, but Veere +is now only a village. Philosophers surely live here: book-worms to +whom yesterday, to-day and to-morrow are one. The sense of commercial +enterprise dies away: whatever they are at Amsterdam, the Dutch at +Leyden cease to be a nation of shopkeepers. + +It was holiday time when I was there last, and the town was +comparatively empty. No songs floated through the windows of the +clubs. In talk with a stranger at one of the cafes, I learned that +the Dutch student works harder in the holidays than in term. In term +he is a social and imbibing creature; but when the vacation comes and +he returns to a home to which most of the allurements which an English +boy would value are wanting, he applies himself to his books. I give +the statement as I heard it. + +One of the pleasantest buildings in Leyden is the Meermansburg--a +spreading almshouse in the Oude Vest, surrounding a square garden +with a massive pump in the midst. A few pictures are shown in the +Governors' room over the entrance, but greater interest attaches +to the little domiciles for the pensioners of the Meerman trust. A +friendly concierge with a wooden leg showed us one of these compact +houses--a sitting-room with a bed-cupboard in one wall, and below it +a little larder, like the cabin of a ship. At the back a tiny range, +and above, a garret. One could be very comfortable in such quarters. + +Leyden has other _hofjes_, as these homes of rest are called, into +one of which, gay with geraniums, I peeped--a little court of clean +cottages seen through the doorway like a Peter de Hooch. + +I did not, I fear, do my duty by Leyden's many museums. The sun shone; +the boats swam continually down the Old Rhine and the New; and the sea +at Katwyk and Noordwyk sent a call across the intervening meadows. Some +day perhaps I shall find myself at Leyden again, when the sky is grey +and the thirst for information is more strongly upon me. Ethnography, +comparative anatomy, physiology--there is nothing that may not be +learned in the Leyden museums; but such learning is not peculiarly +Dutch, nor are the treasures of these museums peculiarly Dutch, and I +felt that I might with a clear conscience leave them to others. Have +we not Bloomsbury? + +I did, however, climb the Burg, which is a circular fortress on a +mound between the two rivers, so cleverly hidden away among houses +that it was long ere I could find it. It is gained through an ancient +courtyard full of horses and carriages--like a scene in Dumas. From +the Burg one ought to have a fine view, but Leyden's roofs are too +near. And in the Natural History Museum I walked through miles of +birds stuffed, and birds articulated, until I felt that I could give +a year's income to be on terms again with a living blackbird--even +one of those that eat our Kentish strawberries at sunrise. + +I did not penetrate to the interior of the University, having none to +guide me, but I was pleased to remember that Oliver Goldsmith had been +a student there not so very long ago. Indeed, as I walked about the +town, I thought much of Goldsmith as he was in 1755, aged twenty-seven, +with all his books to write, wandering through the same streets, +looking upon the same houses and canals, in the interval of acquiring +his mysterious medical degree (ultimately conferred at Louwain). His +ingenious project, it will be remembered--by those whose memories +(like my own) cling to that order of information, to the exclusion +of everything useful and improving--Goldsmith's delightful plan for +subsistence in Holland was to teach the English language to the Dutch, +and in return receive enough money to keep him at the University of +Leyden and enable him to hear the great Professor Albinus. It was +not until he reached Holland that those adorable Irish brains of +his realised that he who teaches English to a Dutchman must first +know Dutch. + +Goldsmith, who spent his life in doing characteristic things--few +men have done more--when once he had determined to go to Holland, +took a passage in a vessel bound for Bordeaux. At Newcastle-on-Tyne, +however, on going ashore to be merry, he was arrested as a Jacobite +and thrown into prison for a fortnight. The result was that the ship +sailed without him. It was just as well for him and for us, for it +sank at the mouth of the Garonne. In 1755, however, he was in Leyden, +although by what route, circuitous or direct, he reached that city +we do not know. + +He lost little time in giving his Uncle Contarine an account of his +impressions of Holland and its people. Here is a portion of a long +letter: "The modern Dutchman is quite a different creature from +him of former times: he in everything imitates a Frenchman, but +in his easy disengaged air, which is the result of keeping polite +company. The Dutchman is vastly ceremonious, and is perhaps exactly +what a Frenchman might have been in the reign of Louis XIV. Such are +the better bred. But the downright Hollander is one of the oddest +figures in nature: upon a head of lank hair he wears a half-cocked +narrow hat laced with black ribbon; no coat, but seven waistcoats, +and nine pairs of breeches; so that his hips reach almost up to his +arm-pits. This well-clothed vegetable is now fit to see company, +or make love. But what a pleasing creature is the object of his +appetite! Why she wears a large fur cap with a deal of Flanders lace: +and for every pair of breeches he carries, she puts on two petticoats. + +"A Dutch lady burns nothing about her phlegmatic admirer but his +tobacco. You must know, sir, every women carries in her hand a +stove with coals in it, which, when she sits, she snugs under her +petticoats; and at this chimney dozing Strephon lights his pipe. I +take it that this continual smoking is what gives the man the ruddy +healthful complexion he generally wears, by draining his superfluous +moisture, while the woman, deprived of this amusement, overflows with +such viscidities as tint the complexion, and give that paleness of +visage which low fenny grounds and moist air conspire to cause. A Dutch +woman and Scotch will bear an opposition. The one is pale and fat, the +other lean and ruddy: the one walks as if she were straddling after +a go-cart, and the other takes too masculine a stride. I shall not +endeavour to deprive either country of its share of beauty; but must +say, that of all objects on this earth, an English farmer's daughter is +most charming. Every woman there is a complete beauty, while the higher +class of women want many of the requisites to make them even tolerable. + +"Their pleasures here are very dull though very various. You may +smoke, you may doze, you may go to the Italian comedy, as good an +amusement as either of the former. This entertainment always brings +in Harlequin, who is generally a magician, and in consequence of his +diabolical art performs a thousand tricks on the rest of the persons +of the drama, who are all fools. I have seen the pit in a roar of +laughter at this humour, when with his sword he touches the glass +from which another was drinking. 'Twas not his face they laughed at, +for that was masked. They must have seen something vastly queer in the +wooden sword, that neither I, nor you, sir, were you there, could see. + +"In winter, when their canals are frozen, every house is forsaken, +and all people are on the ice; sleds drawn by horses, and skating, +are at that time the reigning amusements. They have boats here that +slide on the ice, and are driven by the winds. When they spread all +their sails they go more than a mile and a half a minute, and their +motion is so rapid the eye can scarcely accompany them. Their ordinary +manner of travelling is very cheap and very convenient: they sail +in covered boats drawn by horses; and in these you are sure to meet +people of all nations. Here the Dutch slumber, the French chatter, and +the English play at cards. Any man who likes company may have them to +his taste. For my part I generally detached myself from all society, +and was wholly taken up in observing the face of the country. Nothing +can equal its beauty; wherever I turn my eye, fine houses, elegant +gardens, statues, grottos, vistas, presented themselves; but when +you enter their towns you are charmed beyond description. No misery +is to be seen here; every one is usefully employed. + +"Scotland and this country bear the highest contrast. There hills and +rocks intercept every prospect: here 'tis all a continued plain. There +you might see a well-dressed duchess issuing from a dirty close; +and here a dirty Dutchman inhabiting a palace. The Scotch may be +compared to a tulip planted in dung; but I never see a Dutchman in +his own house but I think of a magnificent Egyptian temple dedicated +to an ox. Physic is by no means here taught so well as in Edinburgh: +and in all Leyden there are but four British students, owing to all +necessaries being so extremely dear and the professors so very lazy +(the chemical professor excepted) that we don't much care to come +hither." + +When the time came to make the "Inquiry into the State of Polite +Learning" Leyden had to suffer. Goldsmith laid about him with no gentle +hand. "Holland, at first view, appears to have some pretensions to +polite learning. It may be regarded as the great emporium, not less +of literature than of every other commodity. Here, though destitute of +what may be properly called a language of their own, all the languages +are understood, cultivated and spoken. All useful inventions in arts, +and new discoveries in science, are published here almost as soon +as at the places which first produced them. Its individuals have the +same faults, however, with the Germans, of making more use of their +memory than their judgment. The chief employment of their literati is +to criticise, or answer, the new performances which appear elsewhere. + +"A dearth of wit in France or England naturally produces a scarcity +in Holland. What Ovid says of Echo may be applied here, + + +----'nec reticere loquenti, +Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit'---- + + +they wait till something new comes out from others; examine its merits +and reject it, or make it reverberate through the rest of Europe. + +"After all, I know not whether they should be allowed any national +character for polite learning. All their taste is derived to them +from neighbouring nations, and that in a language not their own. They +somewhat resemble their brokers, who trade for immense sums without +having any capital." + +Goldsmith did not finish there. His observations on the Continent +served him, with a frugality that he did not otherwise practise, +at least thrice. He used them in the "Inquiry into Polite Learning," +he used them in the story of the Philosophic Vagabond in the _Vicar +of Wakefield_, and still again in "The Traveller". This is the summary +of Holland in that poem:-- + + + To men of other minds my fancy flies, + Embosom'd in the deep where Holland lies. + Methinks her patient sons before me stand, + Where the broad ocean leans against the land, + And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, + Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride. + Onward, methinks, and diligently slow, + The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; + Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar, + Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore. + While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile, + Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile; + The slow canal, the yellow-blossom'd vale, + The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail, + The crowded mart, the cultivated plain, + A new creation rescued from his reign. + + Thus, while around the wave-subjected soil + Impels the native to repeated toil, + Industrious habits in each bosom reign, + And industry begets a love of gain. + Hence all the good from opulence that springs, + With all those ills superfluous treasure brings, + Are here display'd. Their much-lov'd wealth imparts + Convenience, plenty, elegance, and arts: + But view them closer, craft and fraud appear, + Even liberty itself is barter'd here. + At gold's superior charms all freedom flies, + The needy sell it, and the rich man buys; + A land of tyrants, and a den of slaves, + Here wretches seek dishonourable graves, + And calmly bent, to servitude conform, + Dull as their lakes that slumber in the storm. + + +It was with his good Uncle Contarine's money that Goldsmith +travelled to Leyden. The time came to leave, and Oliver was again +without resources. He borrowed a sufficient sum from Dr. Ellis, a +fellow-countryman living there, and prepared for his departure. But on +his way from the doctor's he had to pass a florist's, in whose window +there chanced to be exhibited the very variety of flower which Uncle +Contarine had so often praised and expressed a desire to possess. Given +the man and the moment, what can you expect? Goldsmith, chief among +those blessed natures who never interrupt a generous impulse, plunged +into the florist's house and despatched a costly bundle of bulbs to +Ireland. The next day he left Leyden with a guinea in his pocket, +no clothes but those he stood in, and a flute in his hand. For the +rest you must see the story of the Philosophic Vagabond. + +Evelyn records an amusing experience at Leyden in August, 1641: +"I was brought acquainted with a Burgundian Jew, who had married +an apostate Kentish woman. I asked him divers questions; he told +me, amongst other things, that the World should never end, that our +souls transmigrated, and that even those of the most holy persons did +penance in the bodies of brutes after death, and so he interpreted +the banishment and savage life of Nebuchadnezzar; that all the Jews +should rise again, and be led to Jerusalem; that the Romans only were +the occasion of our Saviour's death, whom he affirmed (as the Turks +do) to be a great prophet, but not the Messiah. He showed me several +books of their devotion, which he had translated into English for the +instruction of his wife; he told me that when the Messiah came, all the +ships, barks, and vessels of Holland should, by the power of certain +strange whirlwinds, be loosed from their anchors, and transported in +a moment to all the desolate ports and havens throughout the world, +wherever the dispersion was, to convey their brethren and tribes to the +Holy City; with other such-like stuff. He was a merry drunken fellow, +but would by no means handle any money (for something I purchased of +him), it being Saturday; but desired me to leave it in the window, +meaning to receive it on Sunday morning." + +In an old book-shop at Leyden I bought from an odd lot of English +books, chiefly minor fiction for travellers, the _Colloquia +Peripatetica_ of John Duncan, LL.D., Professor of Hebrew in the +New College, Edinburgh. "I'm first a Christian, next a Catholic, +then a Calvinist, fourth a Paedo-baptist, and fifth a Presbyterian. I +cannot reverse the order," is one of his emphatic utterances. Here +are others, not unconnected with the country we are travelling in: +"Poor Erasmus truckled all his life for a hat. If he could only have +been made a cardinal! You see the longing for it in his very features, +and can't help regarding him with mingled respect and pity." Of +Thomas a Kempis, the recluse of Deventer: "A fine fellow, but hazy, +and weak betimes. He and his school tend (as some one has well said) +to make humility and humiliation change places." Finally, of the Bible: +"The three best translations of the Bible, in my opinion, are, in order +of merit, the English, the Dutch, and Diodati's Italian version. As +to Luther, he is admirable in rendering the prophets. He says either +just what the prophets _did say_, or that which you see at once they +_might have said_." + +Leyden has two vast churches, St. Peter's and St. Pancras's. Both +are immense and unadorned, I think that St. Pancras's is the lightest +church I was ever in. St. Peter's ought to be filled with memorials of +the town's illustrious sons, but it has few. As I have said elsewhere, +I asked in vain for the grave of Jan Steen, who was buried here. + +It was at Leyden that I saw my first Kermis, or fair, seven years ago, +and ate my first poffertjes and wafelen. Writing as a foreigner, in no +way concerned with the matter, I may express regret that the Kermis +is not what it was in Holland. Possibly were one living in Holland, +one would at once join the anti-Kermis party; but I hope not. In +Amsterdam the anti-Kermis party has succeeded, and though one may +still in that city at certain seasons eat wafelen and poffertjes, +the old glories have departed, just as they have departed from so +many English towns which once broke loose for a few nights every +year. Even Barnet Fair is not what it was. + +Noise seems to be the principal objection. Personally, I never saw +any drunkenness; and there is so little real revelry that one turns +one's back on the naphtha lamps in this town and that, in Leyden and +the Hoorn, Apeldoorn and Middelburg, with the sad conviction that the +times are out of joint, and that Teniers and Ostade and Brouwer, were +they reborn to-day, would probably either have to take to painting +Christmas supplements or earn their living at a reputable trade. It +is not that the Dutch no longer drink, but that they now do it with +more privacy. + +The travelling temples reserved for the honour of poffertjes and +wafelen are the most noticeable features of any Kermis. They are +divided, quite like restaurants, into little cubicles for separate +parties. Flowers and ferns make them gay; the waiters may even wear +evening dress, but this is a refinement which would have annoyed Jan +Steen; on the tables is white American cloth; and curtains of coloured +material and muslin, with bright ribbons, add to the vivacity of the +occasion. To eat poffertjes and wafelen is no light matter: one must +regard it as a ritual. + +Poffertjes come first--these are little round pancakey blobs, twisted +and covered with butter and sugar. Then the wafelen, which are +oblong wafers stamped in a mould and also buttered and sugared. You +eat twenty-four poffertjes and two wafelen: that is, at the first +onset. Afterwards, as many more as you wish. Lager beer is drunk with +them. Some prefer Frambozen lemonade. + +To eat them is a duty; to see them cooked is a joy. I have watched +the cooks almost for hours. The poffertjes are made by hundreds at +once, in a tray indented with little hollows over a fire. The cook +is continually busy in twisting the little dabs of paste into the +hollows and removing those that are ready. The wafelen are baked in +iron moulds (there is one in Jan Steen's "Oyster Feast") laid on +a rack in the fire. The cook has eight moulds in working order at +once. When the eighth is filled from the pail of batter at his side, +the first is done; and so on, ceaselessly, all day and half the night, +like a natural law. + +A woman stands by to spread butter and sugar, and the plate is whisked +away in a moment. The Americans boast of their quick lunches; but I +am convinced that they borrowed celerity in cooking and serving from +some Knickerbocker deviser of poffertjes and wafelen in the early +days of New York. I wonder that Washington Irving omitted to say so. + + + +Chapter VIII + +Leyden's Painters, a Fanatic and a Hero + + Rembrandt of the Rhine--His early life at Leyden--Jan + Steen--Jan van Goyen--Brewer and painter--Pictures for + beer--Jan Steen's grave--His delicacy and charm--His native + refinement--A painter of hands--Jan Steen and Morland--Jan + Steen and Hogarth--The Red Sea--The Flood--Jan of Leyden--The + siege of Muenster--Gigantic madness--Gerard Dou--Godfrey + Schalcken--Frans van Mieris--William van Mieris--Gabriel + Metsu--Beckford's satire--Leyden's poor pictures--The siege + of Leyden--Adrian van der Werf. + +Leyden was the mother of some precious human clay. Among her sons was +the greatest of Dutch painters, Rembrandt van Rijn; the most lovable +of them, Jan Steen; and the most patient of them, Gerard Dou. + +Of Rembrandt's genius it is late in the day to write, nor have I the +power. We have seen certain of his pictures at The Hague; we shall +see others at Amsterdam. I can add nothing to what is said in those +places, but here, in Leyden (which has ten thousand stuffed birds, +and not a single picture by her greatest son), one may dwell upon +his early days and think of him wandering as a boy in the surrounding +country unconsciously absorbing effects of light and shade. + +Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606, probably in +a house at the corner of the Weddesteg, near the Wittepoort, on the +bank of the Rhine. It was the same year that gave England _Macbeth_ +and _King Lear_. His father was a miller, his mother the daughter +of a Leyden baker: it was destined that the son of these simple folk +should be the greatest painter that the north of Europe has produced. + +They did not foresee such a fate, but they seem sufficiently to have +realised that their son had unusual aptitude for him to be sent to +study law at the University. But he meant from the first to paint, +and when he should have been studying text-books he was studying +nature. The old miller, having a wise head, gave way, and Rembrandt +was allowed to enter the studio of Jacob van Swanenburgh. That was +probably in 1622, when he was sixteen; in 1624 he knew so much more +than Swanenburgh had ever dreamed of that he passed on to Amsterdam, +to see what could be learned from Peter Lastman. But Lastman was of +little use, and Rembrandt soon returned to Leyden. + +There he set up his own studio, painting, however, at his father's +house--possibly even in the mill itself--as much as he could; and for +seven years he taught younger men at Leyden his secrets. He remained +at Leyden until 1631, moving then again to Amsterdam and beginning +the greatest period of his life. At Leyden he had painted much and +etched much; perhaps the portrait of himself in a steel gorget, +at The Hague, is his finest Leyden picture. It was not until 1632, +the year in which he married his Saskia, that the first of his most +famous works, "The School of Anatomy," was painted. Yet Leyden may +consider that it was she that showed the way; she may well be proud. + +Rembrandt's later life belongs to Amsterdam; but Leyden had other +illustrious sons who were faithful to her to the end. Chief of these +was Jan Steen. + +Harmens the miller, as we have seen, became the father of a boy named +Rembrandt in 1606; it was twenty years later that Steen the brewer +rejoiced over the birth of a son called Jan. + +Of Jan's childhood we know nothing, but as a young man he was sent +by his father to Utrecht to study under Nicholas Knupfer. Then he +passed on to Adrian van Ostade and probably to Adrian Brouwer, with +both of whom and Frans Hals we saw him carousing, after his wont, in a +picture by Brouwer in Baron Steengracht's house at The Hague. Finally +he became the pupil of Jan van Goyen, painter of the beautiful +"Valkhof at Nymwegen," No. 991 in the Ryks Museum, a picture which +always makes me think of Andrew Marvell's poem on the Bermudas. Like +many another art pupil, Jan Steen married his master's daughter. + +Jan van Goyen, I might add, was another of Leyden's sons. He was born +in 1596 and he died at The Hague in 1666, while London was suffering +under the Plague. + +Jan Steen seems to have intended to make brewing his staff and +painting merely his cane; but good nature and a terrible thirst were +too much for him. From brewing he descended to keeping a tavern, +"in which occupation," to quote Ireland, "he was himself his best +customer". After a while, having exhausted his cellar, he took +seriously to painting in order to renew it, paying for his liquor +with his brush. Thus "for a long time his works were to be found +only in the hands of dealers in wine". Who, after this, shall have +the hardihood to speak evil of the grape? + +Jan is not supposed to have lived at Leyden after his marriage to +Margaretta van Goyen, in 1649, until 1669, when his father died. In +1672 he is known to have taken a tavern at Leyden at the Lange Brug. + +Of the intervening years little is known. He was probably at Haarlem +part of the time and at The Hague part of the time, In 1667 he paid +his rent--only twenty-nine florins--with three pictures "painted well +as he was able". Margaretta died in 1669--a merry large woman we must +suppose her from her appearance in Jan's pictures, and the mother of +four or five children who may often be seen in the same scenes. Jan +married again in 1673 and died in 1697. + +He was buried in St. Peter's Church, Leyden, leaving more than five +hundred pictures to his name. The youth who, in the absence of the +koster, accompanied me through St. Peter's Church, so far from knowing +where Jan Steen was buried, had never even heard his name. (And at +the Western Church in Amsterdam, where Rembrandt is said to have been +buried, his resting-place cannot be pointed out. But never a Dutch +admiral's grave is in doubt.) + +For all his roystering and recklessness, for all his drinking and +excess, Jan Steen's work is essentially delicate. He painted the +sublimated essence of comedy. Teniers, Ostade, Brouwer are coarse and +boorish beside him; Metsu and Mieris genteel. Even when he is painting +low life Jan Steen is distinguished, a gentleman. And now and then +he touches the springs of tears, so exquisite in his sympathetic +understanding. He remains the most lovable painter in Holland, and +the tenderest--in a country where tenderness is not easily found. + +Look, for example, at the two pictures at The Hague which are +reproduced opposite pages 74 and 80. The first represents the Steen +family. The jolly Jan himself is smoking at the table; the old brewer +and the elder Mrs. Steen are in the foreground. I doubt if any picture +exists in which the sense of innocent festivity is better expressed. It +is all perhaps rather a muddle: Mrs. Steen has some hard work before +her if the house is to be restored to a Dutch pitch of cleanliness +and order; but how jolly every one is! Jan himself looks just as we +should expect. + +The triumph of the "Oyster Feast," on the opposite page, seems to me to +be the girl kneeling in the corner. Here is drawing indeed. The charge +brought by the mysterious painter in Balzac's story against Pourbus, +that one was unable to walk behind the figure in his picture, could +never hold with Jan Steen. His every figure stands out surrounded +by atmosphere, and never more so than in the "Oyster Feast". Again, +in the "Cat's Dancing Lesson" (opposite page 158), what drawing there +is in the girl playing the pipe, and what life in the whole scene! + +It is odd that Jan Steen in Holland, and George Morland in England, +both topers, should have had this secret of simple charm so highly +developed: one of nature's curious ironies, very confusing to the +moralist. In the second Hague picture (opposite page 80) Leyden's +genial tosspot has achieved a farther triumph--he has painted one of +the most radiantly delicate figures in all art. One must go to Italy +and seek among the early Madonnas to find anything to set beside the +sweet Wordsworthian character of this little Dutch girl who feeds +the animals. + +It was Jan Steen's way to scamp much of every picture; but in every +picture you will find one figure that could not be excelled. Nothing +probably could be more slovenly, more hideously unpainted, than, for +example, the bed and the guitar-case in the "Sick Woman"--No. 2246 +at the Ryks Museum--opposite page 22. But I doubt if human skill +has ever transcended the painting of the woman's face, or the sheer +drawing of her. Look at her arm and hand--Jan Steen never went wrong +with arms and hands. Look at the hands of the boy playing the pipe in +the picture opposite page 74; look at the woman filling a pipe at the +table. To-day we are accustomed to pictures containing children: they +are as necessary as sunsets to picture buyers: all our figure-painters +lavish their talents upon them; but who had ever troubled to paint +a real peasant child before Jan Steen? It was this rough toper that +showed the way, and no one since has ever excelled him. + +Parallels have been drawn between Jan Steen and Hogarth, and there +are critics who would make Jan a moralist too. But I do not see how +we can compare them. Steen did what Hogarth could not, Hogarth did +what Steen would not. Hogarth is rarely charming, Steen is rarely +otherwise. It is not Hogarth with whom I should associate Jan, but +Burns. He is the Dutch Burns--in colour. + +I wish we had more facts concerning him, for he must have been +a great man and humorist. The story is told of Hogarth that on +being commissioned to paint a scriptural picture of the Red Sea +for a too parsimonious patron who had beaten him down and down, he +rebuked him for his meanness by producing a canvas entirely covered +with red paint. "But what is this?" the patron asked. "The Red +Sea--surely." "Where then are the Israelites?" "They have all crossed +over." "And Pharaoh's hosts?" "They are all drowned." The story is +perhaps an invention; but a somewhat similar joke is credited to Jan +Steen. His commission was the Flood, and his picture when finished +consisted of a sheet of water with a Dutch cheese in the midst +bearing the arms of Leyden. The cheese and the arms, he pointed out, +proved that people had been on the earth; as for Noah and the ark, +they were out of the picture. + +Jan Steen's picture of "A Quaker's Funeral" I have not seen, but +according to Pilkington it is impossible to behold it and refrain from +laughter. The subject does not strike one as being in itself mirthful. + +A century earlier Leyden had produced another Jan, separated from +Jan Steen by a difference wide asunder as the poles. Yet a very +wonderful man in his brief season, standing high among the world's +great madmen. I mean Jan Bockelson, the Anabaptist, known as Jan of +Leyden, who, beginning as pure enthusiast, succumbed, as so many a +leader of women has done, to the intoxication of authority, and became +the slave of grandiose ambition and excesses. Every country has had +its mock Messiahs: they rise periodically in England, not less at +the present day than in the darker ages (hysteria being more powerful +than light); yet the history of none of these spiritual monarchs can +compare with that of the tailor's son of Leyden. + +The story is told in many places, but nowhere with such dramatic +picturesqueness as by Professor Karl Pearson in his _Ethic of +Freethought_. "As the illegitimate son of a tailor in Leyden," +says Professor Pearson--Jan's mother was the maid of his father's +wife--"his early life was probably a harsh and bitter one. Very young +he wandered from home, impressed with the miseries of his class and +with a general feeling of much injustice in the world. Four years he +spent in England seeing the poor driven off the land by the sheep; +then we find him in Flanders, married, but still in vague search of +the Eldorado; again roaming, he visits Lisbon and Luebeck as a sailor, +ever seeking and inquiring. Suddenly a new light bursts upon him in +the teaching of Melchior Hofmann [the Anabaptist]; he fills himself +with dreams of a glorious kingdom on earth, the rule of justice and +of love. Still a little while and the prophet Mathys crosses his path, +and tells him of the New Sion and the extermination of the godless." + +Mathys, or Jan Mathiesen, was a baker of Haarlem, who, constituted an +Anabaptist bishop, was preaching the new gospel through the Netherlands +and gathering recruits to the community of God's saints which had been +established at Muenster. "Full of hope for the future," says Professor +Pearson, "Jan sets out for Muenster to join the saints. Still young, +handsome, imbued with a fiery enthusiasm, actor by nature and even by +choice, he has no small influence on the spread of Anabaptism in that +city. The youth of twenty-three expounds to the followers of Rottmann +the beauties of his ideal kingdom of the good and the true. With +his whole soul he preaches to them the redemption of the oppressed, +the destruction of tyranny, the community of goods, and the rule of +justice and brotherly love. Women and maidens slip away to the secret +gatherings of the youthful enthusiast; the glowing young prophet of +Leyden becomes the centre of interest in Muenster. Dangerous, very +dangerous ground, when the pure of heart are not around him; when +the spirit 'chosen by God' is to proclaim itself free of the flesh. + +"The world has judged Jan harshly, condemned him to endless +execration. It were better to have cursed the generations of +oppression, the flood of persecution, which forced the toiler to +revolt, the Anabaptists to madness. Under other circumstances the +noble enthusiasm, with other surroundings the strong will, of Jan of +Leyden might have left a different mark on the page of history. Dragged +down in this whirlpool of fanaticism, sensuality, and despair, we can +only look upon him as a factor of the historic judgment, a necessary +actor in that tragedy of Muenster, which forms one of the most solemn +chapters of the Greater Bible." + +Gradually Jan rose to be head of the saints, Mathiesen having been +killed, and none other displaying so much strength of purpose +or magnetic enthusiasm. And here his mind gave way. Like so +many absolute rulers before and since, he could not resist the +ecstacies of supremacy. To resume Professor Pearson's narrative: +"The sovereign of Sion--although 'since the flesh is dead, gold to him +is but as dung'--yet thinks fit to appear in all the pomp of earthly +majesty. He appoints a court, of which Knipperdollinch is chancellor, +and wherein there are many officers from chamberlain to cook. He +forms a body-guard, whose members are dressed in silk. Two pages +wait upon the king, one of whom is a _son of his grace the bishop of +Muenster_. The great officers of state are somewhat wondrously attired, +one breech red, the other grey, and on the sleeves of their coats +are embroidered the arms of Sion--the earth-sphere pierced by two +crossed swords, a sign of universal sway and its instruments--while +a golden finger-ring is token of their authority in Sion. The king +himself is magnificently arrayed in gold and purple, and as insignia +of his office, he causes sceptre and spurs of gold to be made. Gold +ducats are melted down to form crowns for the queen and himself; and +lastly a golden globe pierced by two swords and surmounted by a cross +with the words, 'A King of Righteousness o'er all' is borne before +him. The attendants of the Chancellor Knipperdollinch are dressed in +red with the crest, a hand raising aloft the sword of justice. Nay, +even the queen and the fourteen queenlets must have a separate court +and brilliant uniforms. + +"Thrice a week the king goes in glorious array to the market-place +accompanied by his body-guards and officers of state, while behind ride +the fifteen queens. On the market-place stands a magnificent throne +with silken cushions and canopy, whereon the tailor-monarch takes +his seat, and alongside him sits his chief queen. Knipperdollinch +sits at his feet. A page on his left bears the book of the law, +the Old Testament; another on his right an unsheathed sword. The +book denotes that he sits on the throne of David; the sword that +he is the king of the just, who is appointed to exterminate all +unrighteousness. Bannock-Bernt is court-chaplain, and preaches in the +market-place before the king. The sermon over, justice is administered, +often of the most terrible kind; and then in like state the king and +his court return home. On the streets he is greeted with cries of: +'Hail in the name of the Lord. God be praised!'" + +Meanwhile underneath all this riot of splendour and power and +sensuality, the pangs of starvation were beginning to be felt. For +the army of the bishop of Muenster was outside the city and the siege +was very studiously maintained. The privations became more and more +terrible, and more and more terrible the means of allaying them. The +bodies of citizens that had died were eaten; and then men and women +and children were killed in order that they might be eaten too. Under +such conditions, is it any wonder that Muenster became a city of the +mad, mad beyond the sane man's wildest dreams of excess? + +A few of the least demented of Jan's followers at length determined +that the tragedy must cease, and the city was delivered into +the bishop's hands. "What judgment," writes Professor Pearson, +"his grace the bishop thinks fit to pass on the leaders of Sion at +least deserves record. Rottmann has fallen by St. Martin's Church, +fighting sword in hand, but Jan of Leyden and Knipperdollinch are +brought prisoners before this shepherd of the folk. Scoffingly he +asks Jan: 'Art thou a king?' Simple, yet endlessly deep the reply: +'Art thou a bishop?' Both alike false to their callings--as father of +men and shepherd of souls. Yet the one cold, self-seeking sceptic, +the other ignorant, passionate, fanatic idealist. 'Why hast thou +destroyed the town and _my_ folk?' 'Priest, I have not destroyed one +little maid of _thine_. Thou hast again thy town, and I can repay +thee a hundredfold.' The bishop demands with much curiosity how this +miserable captive can possibly repay him. 'I know we must die, and +die terribly, yet before we die, shut us up in an iron cage, and send +us round through the land, charge the curious folk a few pence to see +us, and thou wilt soon gather together all thy heart's desire.' The +jest is grim, but the king of Sion has the advantage of his grace +the bishop. Then follows torture, but there is little to extract, +for the king still holds himself an instrument sent by God--though +it were for the punishment of the world. Sentence is read on these +men--placed in an iron cage they shall be shown round the bishop's +diocese, a terrible warning to his subjects, and then brought back +to Muenster; there with glowing pincers their flesh shall be torn +from the bones, till the death-stroke be given with red-hot dagger +in throat and heart. For the rest let the mangled remains be placed +in iron cages swung from the tower of St. Lambert's Church. + +"On the 26th of January, 1536, Jan Bockelson and Knipperdollinch meet +their fate. A high scaffolding is erected in the market-place, and +before it a lofty throne for his grace the bishop, that he may glut +his vengeance to the full. Let the rest pass in silence. The most +reliable authorities tell us that the Anabaptists remained calm and +firm to the last. 'Art thou a king?' 'Art thou a bishop?' The iron +cages still hang on the church tower at Muenster; placed as a warning, +they have become a show; perhaps some day they will be treasured as +weird mentors of the truth which the world has yet to learn from the +story of the Kingdom of God in Muenster." + +A living German artist of great power, named Joseph Sattler, too +much of whose time has recently been given to designing book-plates, +produced some few years ago an extraordinary illustrated history of the +Anabaptists in Muenster. Many artists have essayed to portray madness, +but I know of no work more terrible than his. + +We have travelled far from Leyden's peaceful studios. It is time to +look at the work of Gerard Dou. Rembrandt we have seen was the son of +a miller, Jan Steen of a brewer; the elder Dou was a glazier. His son +Gerard was born in Leyden in 1613. The father was so far interested +in the boy's gifts that he apprenticed him to an engraver when he +was nine. At the age of eleven he passed to the studio of a painter +on glass, and on St. Valentine's day, 1628, he became a pupil of +Rembrandt. From Rembrandt, however, he seems to have learned only +the charm of contrasts of light and shade. None of the great rugged +strength of the master is to be seen in his minute and patient work, +in which the genius of taking pains is always apparent. "He would +frequently," says Ireland, "paint six or seven days on a hand, and, +still more wonderful, twice the time on the handle of a broom.... The +minuteness of his performance so affected his sight that he wore +spectacles at the age of thirty." + +Gerard Dou's success was not only artistic; it was also +financial. Rembrandt's prices did not compare with those of his pupil, +whose art coming more within the sympathetic range and understanding +of the ordinary man naturally was more sought after than the Titanic +and less comfortable canvasses of the greater craftsman. + +Dou did exceedingly well, one of his patrons even paying him a +yearly honorarium of a thousand florins for the privilege of having +the refusal of each new picture. "The Poulterer's Shop" at our +National Gallery is a perfect example of his fastidious minuteness +and charm. But he painted pictures also with a tenderer brush. I give +on the opposite page a reproduction of the most charming picture by +Gerard Dou that I know--"The Young Housekeeper" at The Hague. This +is a very miracle of painting in every inch, and yet the pains that +have been expended upon the cabbage and the fish are not for a moment +disproportionate: the cabbage and the fish, for all their finish, +remain subordinate and appropriate details. The picture is the picture +of the mother and the children. "The Night School"--No. 795 in the +Ryks Museum at Amsterdam--is, I believe, more generally admired, but +"The Young Housekeeper" is the better. "The Night School" might be +described as the work of a pocket Rembrandt; "The Young Housekeeper" +is the work of an artist of rare individuality and sympathy. At the +Wallace Collection may be seen a hermit by Dou quite in his best +nocturnal manner. + +Gerard Dou died at Leyden, where he had spent nearly all his quiet +life, in 1676. He is buried at St. Peter's, but his grave does not +seem to be known there. + +Dou had many imitators, some of whom studied under him. One of the +chief was Godfried Schalcken of Dort, whose picture of an "Old Woman +Scouring a Pan" may be seen in the National Gallery, while the Wallace +Collection has several examples of his skill. Schalcken seems to +have been a man of great brusquerie, if two stories told by Ireland +of his sojourn in England are true. William III., for example, when +sitting for his picture, with a candle in his hand, was suffered by +Schalcken to burn his fingers. "One is at a loss," says Ireland, "to +determine which was most to blame, the monarch for want of feeling, +or the painter of politeness. The following circumstance, however, +will place the deficiency of the latter beyond controversy. A lady +sitting for her portrait, who was more admired for a beautiful hand +than a handsome face, after the head was finished, asked him if +she should take off her glove, that he might insert the hand in the +picture, to which he replied, he always painted the hands from those +of his valet." The most attractive picture by Schalcken that I have +seen is a girl sewing by candle light, in the Wallace Collection. It +pairs off with the charming little Gerard Dou at the Ryks--No. 796. + +Dou said that the "Prince of his pupils" was Frans van Mieris of +Delft, who combined the manner and predilections of his master with +those of Terburg. He was very popular with collectors, but I do not +experience any great joy in the presence of his work, which, with all +its miraculous deftness, is yet lacking in personal feeling. Mieris, +says Ireland, "was frequently paid a ducat per hour for his works. His +intimacy and friendship for Jan Steen, that excellent painter and +bon vivant, seems to have led him into much inconvenience. After a +night's debauch, quitting Jan Steen, he fell into a common drain; +whence he was extricated by a poor cobbler and his wife, and, treated +by them with much kindness, he repaid the obligation by presenting +them with a small picture, which, by his recommendation, was sold +for a considerable sum." + +The amazingly minute picture of "The Poulterer's Shop" which hangs in +the National Gallery as a pendant to Dou's work with the same title, +is by William van Mieris, the son of Dou's favourite pupil. He also +was born at Leyden, that teeming mother of painters. Frans van Mieris, +his father, died at Leyden in 1681; William died at Leyden in 1747. + +Above the work of Frans van Mieris I would put that of Gabriel Metsu, +another of Dou's pupils, and also a son of Leyden, where he was born +in 1630. Upon Metsu's work Terburg, however, exercised more influence +than did Gerard Dou. "The Music Lesson" and "The Duet" at the National +Gallery are good examples of his pleasant painting. Even better is +his work at the Wallace Collection. He died in 1667 in Amsterdam, +where one of his best pictures "The Breakfast"--No. 1553 at the +Ryks--may be seen. There are many fine examples at the Louvre. He +was always graceful, always charming, with a favourite model--perhaps +his wife--the pleasant plump woman who occurs again and again in his +work. She is in "The Breakfast" (see the opposite page). + +Mention of Gerard Dou and his pupils reminds me of a little-known +satire on art-criticism written by "Vathek" Beckford. _Biographical +Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters_ it is called, among the painters +being Sucrewasser of Vienna, and Watersouchy of Amsterdam. It is +Watersouchy who concerns us, for he was a Dutch figure painter who +carried the art of detail farther than it had been carried before. I +quote a little from Beckford's account of this genius, since it helps +to bring back a day when the one thing most desired by the English +collector was a Dutch picture--still life, boors, cows, ruins, or +domestic interior--no matter what subject or how mechanically painted +so long as it was done minutely enough. + +"Whilst he remained at Amsterdam, young Watersouchy was continually +improving, and arrived to such perfection in copying point lace, +that Mierhop entreated his father to cultivate these talents, and to +place his son under the patronage of Gerard Dow, ever renowned for +the exquisite finish of his pieces. Old Watersouchy stared at the +proposal, and solemnly asked his wife, to whose opinion he always +paid a deference, whether painting was a genteel profession for their +son. Mierhop, who overheard their conversation, smiled disdainfully +at the question, and Madam Watersouchy answered, that she believed it +was one of your liberal arts. In few words, the father was persuaded, +and Gerard Dow, then resident at Leyden, prevailed upon to receive +the son as a disciple. + +"Our young artist had no sooner his foot within his master's apartment, +than he found every object in harmony with his own disposition. The +colours finely ground, and ranged in the neatest boxes, the pencils +so delicate as to be almost imperceptible, the varnish in elegant +phials, the easel just where it ought to be, filled him with agreeable +sensations, and exalted ideas of his master's merit. Gerard Dow on +his side was equally pleased, when he saw him moving about with all +due circumspection, and noticing his little prettinesses at every +step. He therefore began his pupil's initiation with great alacrity, +first teaching him cautiously to open the cabinet door, lest any +particles of dust should be dislodged and fix upon his canvas, and +advising him never to take up his pencil without sitting motionless +a few minutes, till every mote casually floating in the air should +be settled. Such instructions were not thrown away upon Watersouchy: +he treasured them up, and refined, if possible, upon such refinements." + +In course of time Watersouchy gained the patronage of a rich but +frugal banker named Baise-la-Main, who seeing his value, arranged +for the painter to occupy a room in his house, "Nobody," Beckford +continues, "but the master of the house was allowed to enter this +sanctuary. Here our artist remained six weeks in grinding his colours, +composing an admirable varnish, and preparing his canvass, for a +performance he intended as his _chef d'oeuvre._ A fortnight more +passed before he decided upon a subject. At last he determined to +commemorate the opulence of Monsieur Baise-la-Main, by a perspective +of his counting-house. He chose an interesting moment, when heaps of +gold lay glittering on the counter, and citizens of distinction were +soliciting a secure repository for their plate and jewels. A Muscovite +wrapped in fur, and an Italian glistening in brocade, occupied the +foreground. The eye glancing over these figures highly finished, was +directed through the windows of the shop into the area in front of +the cathedral; of which, however, nothing was discovered, except two +sheds before its entrance, where several barbers were represented at +their different occupations. An effect of sunshine upon the counter +discovered every coin that was scattered upon its surface. On these +the painter had bestowed such intense labour, that their very legends +were distinguishable. + +"It would be in vain to attempt conveying, by words, an idea adequate +to this _chef d'oeuvre_, which must have been seen to have been duly +admired. In three months it was far advanced; during which time our +artist employed his leisure hours in practising jigs and minuets on +the violin, and writing the first chapter of Genesis on a watchpaper, +which he adorned with a miniature of Adam and Eve, so exquisitely +finished, that every ligament in their fig-leaves was visible. This +little _jeu d'esprit_ he presented to Madam Merian." + +Leyden's earliest painter was Lucas Jacobz, known as Lucas van Leyden, +who was born in 1494. He painted in oil, in distemper and on glass; +he took his subjects from nature and from scripture; he engraved better +than he painted; and he was the friend of Duerer. Leyden possesses his +triptych, "The Last Judgment," which to me is interesting rather as a +piece of pioneering than as a work apart. After settling for a while at +Middelburg and Antwerp, he returned to Leyden, where he died in 1533. + +In spite of her record as the mother of great painters, Leyden treats +pictures with some indifference. The Municipal Museum has little that +is of value. Of most interest perhaps is the Peter van Veen, opposite +"The Last Judgment," representing a scene in the siege of Leyden by +the Spaniards under Valdez in 1574, which has a companion upstairs +by Van Bree, depicting the Burgomaster's heroic feat of opportunism +in the same period of stress. + +Adrian Van der Werf was this Burgomaster's name (his monument stands +in the Van der Werf park), and nothing but his courage and address +at a critical moment saved the city. Motley tells the story in a +fine passage. "Meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. The +burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being +aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing +full well the thousand obstacles which it had to surmount. They had +guessed its progress by the illumination from the blazing villages; +they had heard its salvos of artillery on its arrival at North Aa; +but since then, all had been dark and mournful again, hope and fear, +in sickening alternation, distracting every breast. They knew that +the wind was unfavourable, and, at the dawn of each day, every eye was +turned wistfully to the vanes of the steeples. So long as the easterly +breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously stood on towers and +house-tops that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. Yet, +while thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving; for even +the misery endured at Harlem had not reached that depth and intensity +of agony to which Leyden was now reduced. Bread, maltcake, horse-flesh, +had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin were +esteemed luxuries. A small number of cows, kept as long as possible, +for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day, +and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support +life among the famishing population. Starving wretches swarmed daily +around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending +for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as +it ran along the pavement; while the hides, chopped and boiled, +were greedily devoured. + +"Women and children, all day long, were seen searching gutters and +dung hills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with the +famishing dogs. The green leaves were stripped from the trees, every +living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could +not avert starvation. The daily mortality was frightful,--infants +starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched +and withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead +children in their arms. + +"In many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a whole family +of corpses, father, mother and children, side by side; for a disorder +called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now +came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. The +pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed +inhabitants fell like grass beneath it scythe. From six thousand +to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet +the people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging +each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more +horrible than pest or famine. [3] + +"The missives from Valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged +could do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into +the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that +the ocean might yet save the victims from his grasp. The inhabitants, +in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, +but they spurned the summons to surrender. Leyden was sublime in +its despair. A few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at +the steadfastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed +at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his +inflexibility. A party of the more faint-hearted even assailed the +heroic Adrian Van der Werf with threats and reproaches as he passed +through the streets. + +"A crowd had gathered around him, as he reached a triangular place +in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets +emptied themselves, and upon one side of which stood the church of +St. Pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by two pointed +turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at its entrance. There stood +the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, +and a tranquil but commanding eye. He waved his broad-leaved felt hat +for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has been almost +literally preserved, 'What would ye, my friends? Why do ye murmur that +we do not break our vows and surrender our city to the Spaniards?--a +fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. I tell you I +have made an oath to hold this city, and may God give me strength to +keep my oath! I can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, +or by the hand of God. My own fate is indifferent to me, not so that +of the city intrusted to my care. I know that we shall starve if +not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonoured +death which is the only alternative. Your menaces move me not; my +life is at your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, +and divide my flesh among you. Take my body to appease your hunger, +but expect no surrender, so long as I remain alive.'" + +Leyden was at last relieved by William of Orange, who from his +sick-bed had arranged for the piercing of the dykes and letting in +enough water to swim his ships and rout the Spaniards. + +Out of tribulation comes good. For their constancy and endurance +in the siege the Prince offered the people of Leyden one of +two benefits--exemption from taxes or the establishment of a +University. They took the University. + + + +Chapter IX + +Haarlem + + Tulip culture--Early speculation--The song of the tulip--Dutch + gardening new and old--A horticultural pilgrimage--The Haarlem + dunes--Gardens without secrets--Zaandvoort--_Through + Noord-Holland_ and its charms--The church of + St. Bavo--Whitewash _v_. Mystery--The true father of the + Reformation--Printing paves the way--The Hout--Laocooen and his + sons--The siege of Haarlem--Dutch fortitude--The real Dutch + courage--The implacable Alva--Broken promises--A tonic for + Philip--The women of Haarlem--A pledge to mothers--The great + organ--Three curious inhabitants--The Teyler Museum--Frans + Hals--A king of abundance--Regent pieces--The secondary + pictures in the Museum--Dirck Hals--Van der Helst--Adrian + Brouwer--Nicolas Berchem--Ruisdael--The lost mastery--Echoes + of the past. + +Haarlem being the capital of the tulip country, the time to visit +it is the spring. To travel from Leyden to Haarlem by rail in April +is to pass through floods of colour, reaching their finest quality +about Hillegom. The beds are too formal, too exactly parallel, to be +beautiful, except as sheets of scarlet or yellow; for careless beauty +one must look to the heaps of blossoms piled up in the corners (later +to be used on the beds as a fertiliser), which are always beautiful, +and doubly so when reflected in a canal. From a balloon, in the +flowering season, the tulip gardens must look like patchwork quilts. + +Tulip Sunday, which represents the height of the season (corresponding +to Chestnut Sunday at Bushey Park) is about the third Sunday in +April. One should be in Holland then. It is no country for hot weather: +it has no shade, the trains become unbearable, and the canals are +very unpleasant. But in spring it is always fresh. + +Tulip cultivation is now a steady humdrum business, very different +from the early days of the fashion for the flower, in the seventeenth +century, when speculators lost their heads over bulbs as thoroughly as +over South-Sea stock in the great Bubble period. Thousands of florins +were given for a single bulb. The bulb, however, did not always change +hands, often serving merely as a gambling basis; it even may not have +existed at all. Among genuine connoisseurs genuine sales would of +course be made, and it is recorded that a "Semper Augustus" bulb was +once bought for 13,000 florins. At last the Government interfered; +gambling was put down; and "Semper Augustus" fell to fifty florins. + +It was to Haarlem, it will be remembered, that the fair Frisian +travelled with Cornelius van Baerle's solitary flower in _La Tulipe +Noire_, and won the prize of 100,000 florins offered for a blossom +of pure nigritude by the Horticultural Society of Haarlem. Hence the +addition of the Tulipa Nigra Rosa Baerleensis to the list of desirable +bulbs. Dumas puts into the mouth of Cornelius a very charming song +of the tulip:-- + + + Nous sommes les filles du feu secret, + Du feu qui circule dans les veines de la terre; + Nous sommes les filles de l'aurore et de la rosee, + Nous sommes les filles de l'air, + Nous sommes les filles de l'eau; + Mais nous sommes avant tout les filles du ciel. + + +The Dutch are now wholly practical. Their reputation as gardeners has +become a commercial one, resting upon the fortunate discovery that the +tulip and the hyacinth thrive in the sandy soil about Haarlem. For +flowers as flowers they seem to me to care little or nothing. Their +cottages have no pretty confusion of blossoms as in our villages. You +never see the cottager at work among his roses; once his necessary +labours are over, he smokes and talks to his neighbours: to grow +flowers for aesthetic reasons were too ornamental, too unproductive +a hobby. AEsthetically the Dutch are dead, or are alive only in the +matter of green paint, which they use with such charming effect on +their houses, their mills and their boats. What is pretty is old--as +indeed is the case in our own country, if we except gardens. Modern +Dutch architecture is without attraction, modern Delft porcelain a +thing to cry over. + +If any one would know how an old formal Dutch garden looked, there is +a model one at the back of the Ryks Museum in Amsterdam. But the art +is no more practised. A few circular beds in the lawn, surrounded +by high wire netting--that is for the most part the modern notion +of gardening. In an interesting report of a visit paid to the +Netherlands and France in 1817 by the secretary of the Caledonia +Horticultural Society and some congenial companions, may be read +excellent descriptions of old Dutch gardening, which even then was +a thing of the past. Here is the account of a typical formal garden, +near Utrecht: "The large divisions of the garden are made by tall and +thick hedges of beech, hornbeam, and oak, variously shaped, having +been tied to frames and thus trained, with the aid of the shears, to +the desired form. The smaller divisions are made by hedges of yew and +box, which in thickness and density resemble walls of brick. Grottoes +and fountains are some of the principal ornaments. The grottoes are +adorned with masses of calcareous stuff, corals and shells, some +of them apparently from the East Indies, others natives of our own +seas. The principal grotto is large, and studded with thousands of +crystals and shells. We were told that its construction was the labour +of twelve years. The fountains are of various devices, and though +old, some of them were still capable of being put in action. Frogs +and lizards placed at the edgings of the walks, and spouting water +to the risk of passengers, were not quite so agreeable; and other +figures were still in worse taste. + +"There is a long berceau walk of beech, with numerous windows or +openings in the leafy side wall, and many statues and busts, chiefly of +Italian marble, some of them of exquisite workmanship. Several large +urns and vases certainly do honour to the sculptor. The subjects of +the bas-relief ornaments are the histories of Saul and David, and of +Esther and Ahasuerus." + +I saw no old Dutch garden in Holland which seemed to me so attractive +as that at Levens in Westmorland. + +It is important at Haarlem to take a drive over the dunes--the billowy, +grassy sand hills which stretch between the city and the sea. If it +is in April one can begin the drive by passing among every variety +of tulip and hyacinth, through air made sweet and heavy by these +flowers. Just outside Haarlem the road passes the tiniest deer park +that ever I saw--with a great house, great trees, a lawn and a handful +of deer all packed as close as they can be. Now and then one sees a +stork's nest high on a pole before a house. + +On leaving the green and luxuriant flat country a climbing pave road +winds in and out among the pines on the edge of the dunes; past little +villas, belonging chiefly to Amsterdam business men, each surrounded by +a naked garden with the merest suggestion of a boundary. For the Dutch +do not like walls or hedges. This level open land having no natural +secrecy, it seems as if its inhabitants had decided there should be +no artificial secrecy either. When they sit in their gardens they +like to be seen. An Englishman's first care when he plans a country +estate is not to be overlooked; a Dutchman would cut down every tree +that intervened between his garden chair and the high road. + +Fun has often been made of the names which the Dutch merchants give +to their country houses, but they seem to me often to be chosen with +more thought than those of similar villas in our country. Here are +a few specimens: Buiten Gedachten (Beyond Expectation), Ons Genoegen +(Our Contentment), Lust en Rust (Pleasure and Rest), Niet Zoo Quaalyk +(Not so Bad), Myn Genegenhied is Voldaan (My Desire is Satisfied), +Mijn Lust en Leven (My Pleasure and Life), Vriendschap en Gezelschap +(Friendship and Sociability), Vreugde bij Vrede (Joy with Peace), Groot +Genoeg (Large Enough), Buiten Zorg (Without Care). These names at any +rate convey sentiments which we may take to express their owners' +true feelings in their owners' own language; and as such I prefer +them to the "Chatsworths" and "Belle-vues," "Cedars" and "Towers," +with which the suburbs of London teem. In a small inland street in +Brighton the other day I noticed a "Wave Crest". + +The dunes extend for miles: an empty wilderness of sand with the +grey North Sea beyond. From the high points one sees inland not only +Haarlem, just below, but the domes and spires of Amsterdam beyond. + +One may return to Haarlem by way of Bloemendaal, a green valley +with shady walks and a good hotel; or extend the drive to Haarlem's +watering-place Zaandvoort, which otherwise can be gained by steam-tram, +and where, says the author of _Through Noord-Holland_, "the billowing +is strong and strengthening". The same author tells us also that +"the ponnies and asses have a separated standing-place, whilst +severe stipulations warrant the bathers for trouble of the animals +and their driver". + +Of this book I ought perhaps to say more, for I am greatly indebted +to it. Most of the larger towns of Holland have guides, and for +the most part they are written in good English, albeit of Dutch +extraction; but _Through Noord-Holland_ is an agreeable exception +in that it covers all the ground between Amsterdam and the Helder, +and is constructed in a peculiar sport of Babel. In Dutch it is I +have no doubt an ordinary guide-book; in English it is something far +more precious. The following extract from the preface to the second +edition ought to be quoted before I borrow further from its pages:-- + +Being completed with the necessary alterations and corrections I +send it into the world for the second time. As it will be published +besides in Dutch also in French and English, the aim of the edition +will surely be favoured, and our poor misappreciated country that +so often is regarded with contempt by our countrymen as well as by +foreigners will soon be an attraction for tourists. For were not it +those large extensive quiet heatheries those rustling green woods and +those quiet low meadows which inspired our great painters to bring +their fascinating landscapes on the cloth? Had not that bloomy sky +and that sunny mysterious light, those soft green meadows with their +multi-coloured flowers, through which the river is streaming as a +silver band, had not all this a quieting influence to the agitated mind +of many of us, did not it give the quiet rest and did not it whisper +to you; here ... here is it good? And for this our country we want +to be a reliable guide by the directions of which we can savely start. + +With Zaandvoort we may associate Dirck van Santvoort who painted the +portrait of the curious girl--No. 2133 at the Ryks Museum--reproduced +opposite page 236. Of the painter very little is known. He belongs +to the great period, flourishing in the middle of the seventeenth +century--and that is all. But he had a very cunning hand and an +interesting mind, as the few pictures to his name attest. In the same +room at the Ryks Museum where the portrait hangs is a large group of +ladies and gentlemen, all wearing some of the lace which he dearly +loved to paint. And in one of the recesses of the Gallery of Honour +is a quaint little lady from his delicate brush--No. 2131--well +worth study. + +Haarlem's great church, which is dedicated to St. Bavo, is one +of the finest in Holland. All that is needed to make it perfect +is an infusion of that warmth and colour which once it possessed +but of which so few traces have been allowed to remain. The Dutch +Protestants, as I remarked at Utrecht, have shown singular efficiency +in denuding religion of its external graces and charm. There is +no church so beautiful but they would reduce it to bleak and arid +cheerlessness. Place even the cathedral of Chartres in a Dutch +market-place, and it would be a whitewashed desert in a week, while +little shops and houses would be built against its sacred walls. There +is hardly a great church in Holland but has some secular domicile +clinging like a barnacle to its sides. + +The attitude of the Dutch to their churches is in fact very much that +of Quakers to their meeting-houses--even to the retention of hats. But +whereas it is reasonable for a Quaker, having made for himself as +plain a rectangular building as he can, to attach no sanctity to it, +there is an incongruity when the same attitude is maintained amid +beautiful Gothic arches. The result is that Dutch churches are more +than chilling. In the simplest English village church one receives +some impression of the friendliness of religion; but in Holland--of +course I speak as a stranger and a foreigner--religion seems to be +a cold if not a repellent thing. + +One result is that on looking back over one's travels through +Holland it is almost impossible to disentangle in the memory one +whitewashed church from another. They have a common monotony of +internal aridity: one distinguishes them, if at all, by some accidental +possession--Gouda, for example, by its stained glass; Haarlem by its +organ, and the swinging ships; Delft by the tomb of William the Silent; +Utrecht by the startling absence of an entrance fee. + +At Haarlem, as it happens, one is peculiarly able to study cause and +effect in this matter of Protestant bleakness, since there stands +before the door of this wonderful church, once a Roman Catholic +temple, drenched, I doubt not, in mystery and colour, a certain +significant statue. + +To Erasmus of Rotterdam is generally given the parentage of the +Reformation. Whatever his motives, Erasmus stands as the forerunner +of Luther. But Erasmus had his forerunner too, the discoverer of +printing. For had not a means of rapidly multiplying and cheapening +books been devised, the people, who were after all the back-bone of +the Reformation, would never have had the opportunity of themselves +reading the Bible--either the Vulgate or Erasmus's New Testament--and +thus seeing for themselves how wide was the gulf fixed between Christ +and the Christians. It was the discovery of this discrepancy which +prepared them to stand by the reformers, and, by supporting them and +urging them on, assist them to victory. + +Stimulated by the desire to be level with Rome for his own early +fetters, and desiring also an antagonist worthy of his satirical +powers, Erasmus (or so I think) hit independently upon the need for +a revised Bible. But Luther to a large extent was the outcome of his +times and of popular feeling. A spokesman was needed, and Luther +stepped forward. The inventor of printing made the way possible; +Erasmus showed the way; Luther took it. + +Now the honour of inventing printing lies between two claimants, +Laurens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem (the original of this statue) and +Gutenburg of Mayence. The Dutch like to think that Coster was the man, +and that his secret was sold to Gutenburg by his servant Faust. Be that +as it may--and the weight of evidence is in favour of Gutenburg--it +is interesting as one stands by the statue of Coster under the shadow +of Haarlem's great church to think that this was perhaps the true +parent of that great upheaval, the true pavior of the way. + +Whatever Coster's claim to priority may be, he certainly was a printer, +and it is only fitting that Haarlem should possess so fine a library +of early books and MSS. as it does. + +Another monument to Coster is to be seen in the Hout, a wood of which +Haarlem is very proud. It has a fine avenue called the Spanjaards +Laan, and is a very pleasant shady place in summer, hardly inferior +to the Bosch at The Hague. "The delightful walks of the Hout," says +the author of _Through Noord-Holland_, "and the caressing song of the +nightingale and other birds, do not only invite the Haarlemmers to it, +but the citizens of the neighbouring towns as well." + +On the border of the wood is a pavilion which holds the collections +of Colonial curiosities. In front of the pavilion (I quote again from +_Through Noord-Holland_, which is invaluable), "stands a casting of +Laskson and his sons to a knot, which has been manufactured in the +last centuries before Christ. The original has been digged up at Rome +in 1500." Shade of Lessing! + +The cannon-ball embedded in the wall of the church, which the sacristan +shows with so much interest, recalls Haarlem's great siege in 1572--a +siege notable in the history of warfare for the courage and endurance +of the townspeople against terrible odds. The story is worth telling +in full, but I have not space and Motley is very accessible. But I +sketch, with his assistance, its salient features. + +The attack began in mid-winter, when Haarlem Mere, a great lake in the +east which has since been drained and poldered, was frozen over. For +some time a dense fog covered it, enabling loads of provisions and +arms to be safely conveyed into the city. + +Don Frederic, the son of the Duke of Alva, who commanded the Spanish, +began with a success that augured well, a force of 4,000 men which +marched from Leyden under De la Marck being completely routed. Among +the captives taken by the Spaniards, says Motley, was "a gallant +officer, Baptist Van Trier, for whom De la Marck in vain offered +two thousand crowns and nineteen Spanish prisoners. The proposition +was refused with contempt. Van Trier was hanged upon the gallows +by one leg until he was dead, in return for which barbarity the +nineteen Spaniards were immediately gibbeted by De la Marck. With +this interchange of cruelties the siege may be said to have opened. + +"Don Frederic had stationed himself in a position opposite to the +gate of the Cross, which was not very strong, but fortified by a +ravelin. Intending to make a very short siege of it, he established +his batteries immediately, and on the 18th, 19th, and 20th December +directed a furious cannonade against the Cross-gate, the St. John's +gate, and the curtain between the two. Six hundred and eighty shots +were discharged on the first, and nearly as many on each of the two +succeeding days. The walls were much shattered, but men, women, +and children worked night and day within the city, repairing the +breaches as fast as made. They brought bags of sand, blocks of stone, +cart-loads of earth from every quarter, and they stripped the churches +of all their statues, which they threw by heaps into the gaps. They +sought thus a more practical advantage from those sculptured saints +than they could have gained by only imploring their interposition +The fact, however, excited horror among the besiegers. Men who were +daily butchering their fellow-beings, and hanging their prisoners in +cold blood, affected to shudder at the enormity of the offence thus +exercised against graven images. + +"After three days' cannonade, the assault was ordered, Don Frederic +only intending a rapid massacre, to crown his achievements at Zutphen +and Naarden. The place, he thought, would fall in a week, and after +another week of sacking, killing, and ravishing, he might sweep on +to 'pastures new' until Holland was overwhelmed. Romero advanced to +the breach, followed by a numerous storming party, but met with a +resistance which astonished the Spaniards. The church bells rang the +alarm throughout the city, and the whole population swarmed to the +walls. The besiegers were encountered not only with sword and musket, +but with every implement which the burghers' hands could find. Heavy +stones, boiling oil, live coals, were hurled upon the heads of the +soldiers; hoops, smeared with pitch and set on fire, were dexterously +thrown upon their necks. Even Spanish courage and Spanish ferocity +were obliged to shrink before the steady determination of a whole +population animated by a single spirit. Romero lost an eye in the +conflict, many officers were killed and wounded, and three or four +hundred soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of +the townsmen lost their lives. The signal of recall was reluctantly +given, and the Spaniards abandoned the assault. + +"Don Frederic was now aware that Haarlem would not fall at his feet +at the first sound of his trumpet. It was obvious that a siege must +precede the massacre. He gave orders, therefore, that the ravelin +should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay, +the place would be in his hands." + +The Prince of Orange then made, from Sassenheim, another attempt to +relieve the town, sending 2,000 men. But a fog falling, they lost +their way and fell into the enemy's hands. "De Koning," says Motley, +"second in command, was among the prisoners. The Spaniards cut off his +head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription: +'This is the head of Captain De Koning, who is on his way with +reinforcements for the good city of Haarlem'. The citizens retorted +with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. They cut off the +heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw +into the Spanish camp. A label upon the barrel contained these words: +'Deliver these ten heads to Duke Alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, +with one additional head for interest'." + +Day after day the attack continued and was repulsed. Meanwhile, +unknown to the Spaniards, the besieged burghers were silently +and swiftly building inside the ravelin a solid half-moon shaped +battlement. On the 31st of December, the last day of 1572, the great +assault was made. "The attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty +sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. The tocsin +bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not apt to be heavy +during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. The +daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its +height. The besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket +and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and +stones. Meantime, after morning prayers in the Spanish camp, the +trumpet for a general assault was sounded. A tremendous onset was made +upon the gate of the Cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. The +Spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack, +expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. As +they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the +new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on +the inner side. The reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded +was revealed. The half moon, whose existence they had not suspected, +rose before them bristling with cannon, A sharp fire was instantly +opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin, +which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion, +carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so +triumphantly. This was the turning point. The retreat was sounded, and +the Spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead +beneath the walls. Thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming +force and led by the most accomplished generals of Spain, signally +and gloriously repelled by the plain burghers of Haarlem." + +Cold and famine now began to assist the Spaniards, and the townsfolk +were reduced to every privation. The Spaniards also suffered and Don +Frederic wished to raise the siege. He suggested this step to his +father, but Alva was made of sterner stuff. He sent from Nymwegen a +grim message: "'Tell Don Frederic,' said Alva, 'that if he be not +decided to continue the siege till the town be taken, I shall no +longer consider him my son, whatever my opinion may formerly have +been. _Should he fall in the siege_, I will myself take the field to +maintain it; and when we have both perished, the Duchess, my wife, +shall come from Spain to do the same.' Such language was unequivocal, +and hostilities were resumed as fiercely as before. The besieged +welcomed them with rapture, and, as usual, made daily the most +desperate sallies. In one outbreak the Haarlemers, under cover of a +thick fog, marched up to the enemy's chief battery, and attempted to +spike the guns before his face. They were all slain at the cannon's +mouth, whither patriotism, not vainglory, had led them, and lay dead +around the battery, with their hammers and spikes in their hands. The +same spirit was daily manifested. As the spring advanced, the kine went +daily out of the gates to their peaceful pasture, notwithstanding all +the turmoil within and around; nor was it possible for the Spaniards +to capture a single one of these creatures, without paying at least +a dozen soldiers as its price. 'These citizens,' wrote Don Frederic, +'do as much as the best soldiers in the world could do.'" + +The whole story is too dreadful to be told; but events proved the +implacable old soldier to be right. Month after month passed, assault +after assault was repulsed by the wretched but indomitable burghers; +but time was all on the side of the enemy. On July 12th, after the +frustration again and again of hopes of relief from the Prince of +Orange, whose plans were doomed to failure on every occasion, the city +surrendered on the promise of complete forgiveness by Don Frederic. + +The Don, however, was only a subordinate; the Duke of Alva had other +views. He quickly arrived on the scene, and as quickly his presence +made itself felt. "The garrison, during the siege, had been reduced +from four thousand to eighteen hundred. Of these the Germans, six +hundred in number, were, by Alva's order, dismissed, on a pledge +to serve no more against the King. All the rest of the garrison +were immediately butchered, with at least as many citizens.... Five +executioners, with their attendants, were kept constantly at work; and +when at last they were exhausted with fatigue, or perhaps sickened with +horror, three hundred wretches were tied two and two, back to back, +and drowned in the Haarlem Lake. At last, after twenty-three hundred +human creatures had been murdered in cold blood, within a city where +so many thousands had previously perished by violent or by lingering +deaths; the blasphemous farce of a pardon was enacted. Fifty-seven +of the most prominent burghers of the place were, however, excepted +from the act of amnesty, and taken into custody as security for the +future good conduct of the other citizens. Of these hostages some were +soon executed, some died in prison, and all would have been eventually +sacrificed, had not the naval defeat of Bossu soon afterwards enabled +the Prince of Orange to rescue the remaining prisoners. Ten thousand +two hundred and fifty-six shots had been discharged against the walk +during the siege. Twelve thousand of the besieging army had died of +wounds or disease during the seven months and two days between the +investment and the surrender. In the earlier part of August, after +the executions had been satisfactorily accomplished, Don Frederic +made his triumphal entry, and the first chapter in the invasion of +Holland was closed. Such was the memorable siege of Haarlem, an event +in which we are called upon to wonder equally at human capacity to +inflict and to endure misery. + +"Philip was lying dangerously ill at the wood of Segovia, when the +happy tidings of the reduction of Haarlem, with its accompanying +butchery, arrived. The account of all this misery, minutely detailed +to him by Alva, acted like magic. The blood of twenty-three hundred +of his fellow-creatures--coldly murdered by his orders, in a single +city--proved for the sanguinary monarch the elixir of life: he drank +and was refreshed. '_The principal medicine which has cured his +Majesty,_' wrote Secretary Cayas from Madrid to Alva, 'is the joy +caused to him by the _good news_ which you have communicated of _the +surrender of Haarlem_.'" + +I know nothing of the women of Haarlem to-day, but in the sixteenth +century they were among the bravest and most efficient in the +world, and it was largely their efforts and example which enabled +the city to hold out so long. Motley describes them as a corps of +three hundred fighting women, "all females of respectable character, +armed with sword, musket, and dagger. Their chief, Kenau Hasselaer, +was a widow of distinguished family, and unblemished reputation, +about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, +participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the +siege, both within and without the walls. When such a spirit animated +the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men +would hardly surrender the place without a struggle." + +Haarlem still preserves the pretty custom of hanging lace by +the doors of houses which the stork is expected to visit or has +just visited. Its origin was the humanity of the Spanish general, +during this great siege, in receiving a deputation of matrons from +the town and promising protection from his soldiery of all women in +childbed. Every house was to go unharmed upon which a piece of lace +signifying a confinement was displayed. This was a promise with which +the Duke of Alva seems not to have interfered. + +The author of _Through Noord-Holland_ thus eloquently describes the +effect of Haarlem's great organ--for long the finest in the world: +"Vibrating rolls the tone through the church-building, followed +by sweet melodies, running through each register of it; now one +hears the sound of trumpets or soft whistling tunes then again piano +music or melancholical hautboy tunes chiming as well is deceivingly +imitated." Free recitals are given on Tuesdays and Thursdays from +one to two. On other days the organist can be persuaded to play for +a fee. Charles Lamb's friend Fell paid a ducat to the organist and +half a crown to the blower, and heard as much as he wanted. He found +the vox humana "the voice of a psalm-singing clerk". Other travellers +have been more fortunate. Ireland tells us that when Handel played +this organ the organist took him either for an angel or a devil. + +Among Haarlem's architectural attractions is the very interesting Meat +Market, hard by the great church, one of the most agreeable pieces +of floridity between the Middelburg stadhuis and the Leeuwarden +chancellerie. There is also the fine Amsterdam Gate, on the road +to Amsterdam. + +In the Teyler Museum, on the Spaarne, is a poor collection of +modern oil paintings, some good modern water colours and a very fine +collection of drawings by the masters, including several Rembrandts. In +this room one may well plan to spend much time. One of the best Israels +that I saw in Holland is a little water-colour interior that is hung +here. I asked one of the attendants if they had anything by Matthew +Maris, but he denied his existence. James he knew, and William; but +there was no Matthew. "But he is your most distinguished artist," +I said. It was great heresy and not to be tolerated. To the ordinary +Dutchman art begins with Rembrandt and ends with Israels. This perhaps +is why Matthew Maris has taken refuge in St. John's Wood. + +And now we come to Haarlem's chief glory--which is not Coster the +printer, and not the church of Bavo the Saint, and not the tulip +gardens, and not the florid and beautiful Meat Market; but the painter +Frans Hals, whose masterpieces hang in the Town Hall. + +I have called Hals the glory of Haarlem, yet he was only an adopted +son, having been born in Antwerp about 1580. But his parents were +true Haarlemers, and Frans was a resident there before he reached +man's estate. + +The painter's first marriage was not happy; he was even publicly +reprimanded for cruelty to his wife. In spite of the birth of his +eldest child just thirty-four weeks earlier than the proprieties +require, his second marriage seems to have been fortunate enough. Some +think that we see Mynheer and Myvrouw Hals in the picture--No. 1084 +in the Ryks Museum--which is reproduced on the opposite page. If this +jovial and roguish pair are really the painter and his wife, they were +a merry couple. Children they had in abundance; seven sons, five of +whom were painters, and three daughters. Abundance indeed was Hals' +special characteristic; you see it in all his work--vigorous, careless +abundance and power. He lived to be eighty-five or so. Mrs. Hals, +after a married life of fifty years, continued to flourish, with the +assistance of some relief from the town, for a considerable period. + +In the Haarlem Museum may be seen a picture of Hals' studio, painted +by Berck Heyde, in 1652, containing portraits of Hals himself, then +about seventy, and several of his old pupils--Wouvermans, Dirck Hals, +his brother, four of his sons, the artist himself and others. Hals +taught also Van der Helst, whose work at times comes nearest to his +own, Verspronk, Terburg and Adrian van Ostade. + +To see the work of Hals at his best it is necessary to visit Holland, +for we have but little here. The "Laughing Cavalier" in the Wallace +Collection is perhaps his best picture in a public gallery in +England. But the Haarlem Museum is a temple dedicated to his fame, +and there you may revel in his lusty powers. + +The room in which his great groups hang is perhaps in effect more +filled with faces than any in the world. Entering the door one is +immediately beneath the bold and laughing scrutiny of a host of genial +masterful arquebusiers, who make merry on the walls for all time. Such +a riot of vivid portraiture never was! Other men have painted single +heads as well or better: but Hals stands alone in his gusto, his +abundance, his surpassing brio. It is a thousand pities that neither +Lamb nor Hazlitt ever made the journey to Haarlem, because only they +among our writers on art could have brought a commensurate gusto to +the praise of his brush. + +I have reproduced one of the groups opposite page 150, but the result +is no more than a memento of the original. It conveys, however, +an impression of the skill in composition by which the group is +made not only a collection of portraits but a picture too. If such +groups there must be, this is the way to paint them. The Dutch in +the seventeenth century had a perfect mania for these commemorative +canvases, and there is not a stadhuis but has one or more. Rembrandt's +"Night Watch" and Hals' Haarlem groups are the greatest; but one +is always surprised by the general level of excellence maintained, +and now and then a lesser man such as Van der Helst climbs very nigh +the rose, as in his "De Schuttersmaaltyd" in the "Night Watch" room +in the Ryks Museum. The Corporation pieces of Jan van Ravesteyn in +the Municipal Museum at The Hague are also exceedingly vivid; while +Jan de Bray's canvases at Haarlem, in direct competition with Hals', +would be very good indeed in the absence of their rivals. + +Among other painters who can be studied here is our Utrecht friend Jan +van Scorel, who has a large "Adam and Eve" in the passage and a famous +"Baptism of Christ"; Jan Verspronk of Haarlem, Hals' pupil, who has a +very quiet and effective portrait (No. 210) and a fine rich group of +the lady managers of an orphanage; and Cornelius Cornellessen, also of +Haarlem, painter of an excellent Corporation Banquet. In the collection +are also a very charming little Terburg (No. 194) and a fascinating +unsigned portrait of William III. as a pale and wistful boy. + +Haarlem was the mother or instructor of many painters. There is Dirck +Hals, the brother of Frans, who was born there at the end of the +sixteenth century, and painted richly coloured scenes of fashionable +convivial life. He died at Haarlem ten years before Frans. A greater +was Bartholomew van der Helst, who was Hals' most assimilative +pupil. He was born at Haarlem about 1612, and is supposed to have +studied also under Nicolas Elias. His finest large work is undoubtedly +the "Banquet" to which I have just referred, but I always associate +him with his portrait of Gerard Bicker, Landrichter of Muiden, that +splendid tun of a man, No. 1140 in the Gallery of Honour at the Ryks +Museum (see opposite page 86). One of his most beautiful paintings +is a portrait of a woman in our National Gallery, on a screen in the +large Netherlands room: a picture which shows the influence of Elias +not a little, as any one can see who recalls Nos. 897 and 899 in the +Ryks Museum--two very beautiful portraits of a man and his wife. + +Haarlem and Oudenarde both claim the birth of Adrian Brouwer, a painter +of Dutch topers. As to his life little is known. Tradition says that +he drank and dissipated his earnings, while his work is evidence that +he knew inn life with some particularity; but his epitaph calls him +"a man of great mind who rejected every splendour of the world and +who despised gain and riches". Brouwer, who was born about 1606, +was put by his mother, a dressmaker at Haarlem, into the studio of +Frans Hals. Hals bullied him, as he bullied his first wife. Escaping +to Amsterdam, Brouwer became a famous painter, his pictures being +acquired, among others, by Rembrandt in his wealthy days, and by +Rubens. He died at Antwerp when only thirty-three. We have nothing +of his in the National Gallery, but he is represented at the Wallace +Collection. + +At Haarlem was born also, in 1620, Nicolas Berchem, painter of charming +scenes of broken arches and columns (which he certainly never saw in +his own country), made human and domestic by the presence of people +and cows, and suffused with gentle light. We have five of his pictures +in the National Gallery. Berchem's real name was Van Haarlem. One +day, however, when he was a pupil in Van Goyen's studio, his father +pursued him for some fault. Van Goyen, who was a kindly creature, +as became the father-in-law of Jan Steen, called out to his other +pupils--"Berg hem" (Hide him!) and the phrase stuck, and became his +best-known name. Nicolas married a termagant, but never allowed her +to impair his cheerful disposition. + +Haarlem was the birthplace also of Jacob van Ruisdael, greatest of +Dutch landscape painters. He was born about 1620. His idea was to +be a doctor, but Nicolas Berchem induced him to try painting, and we +cannot be too thankful for the change. His landscapes have a deep and +grave beauty: the clouds really seem to be floating across the sky; +the water can almost be heard tumbling over the stones. Ruisdael +did not find his typical scenery in his native land: he travelled in +Germany and Italy, and possibly in Norway; but whenever he painted +a strictly Dutch scene he excelled. He died at Haarlem in 1682; and +one of his most exquisite pictures hangs in the Museum. I do not give +any reproductions of Ruisdael because his work loses so much in the +process. At the National Gallery and at the Wallace Collection he is +well represented. + +Walking up and down beneath the laughing confidence of these many +bold faces in the great Hals' room at Haarlem I found myself repeating +Longfellow's lines:-- + + + He has singed the beard of the King of Spain, + And carried away the Dean of Jaen + And sold him in Algiers. + + +Surely the hero, Simon Danz, was something such a man as Hals +painted. How does the ballad run?-- + + + A DUTCH PICTURE. + + + Simon Danz has come home again, + From cruising about with his buccaneers; + He has singed the beard of the King of Spain, + And carried away the Dean of Jaen + And sold him in Algiers. + + In his house by the Maese, with its roof of tiles + And weathercocks flying aloft in air, + There are silver tankards of antique styles, + Plunder of convent and castle, and piles + Of carpets rich and rare. + + In his tulip garden there by the town + Overlooking the sluggish stream, + With his Moorish cap and dressing-gown + The old sea-captain, hale and brown, + Walks in a waking dream. + + A smile in his gray mustachio lurks + Whenever he thinks of the King of Spain. + And the listed tulips look like Turks, + And the silent gardener as he works + Is changed to the Dean of Jaen. + + The windmills on the outermost + Verge of the landscape in the haze, + To him are towers on the Spanish coast, + With whisker'd sentinels at their post, + Though this is the river Maese. + + But when the winter rains begin, + He sits and smokes by the blazing brands, + And old sea-faring men come in, + Goat-bearded, gray, and with double chin, + And rings upon their hands. + + They sit there in the shadow and shine + Of the flickering fire of the winter night, + Figures in colour and design + Like those by Rembrandt of the Rhine, + Half darkness and half light. + + And they talk of their ventures lost or won, + And their talk is ever and ever the same, + While they drink the red wine of Tarragon, + From the cellars of some Spanish Don, + Or convent set on flame. + + Restless at times, with heavy strides + He paces his parlour to and fro; + He is like a ship that at anchor rides, + And swings with the rising and falling tides + And tugs at her anchor-tow. + + Voices mysterious far and near, + Sound of the wind and sound of the sea, + Are calling and whispering in his ear, + "Simon Danz! Why stayest thou here? + Come forth and follow me!" + + So he thinks he shall take to the sea again, + For one more cruise with his buccaneers; + To singe the beard of the King of Spain, + And capture another Dean of Jaen + And sell him in Algiers. + + +One thought leads to another. It is impossible also to remain long +in the great Hals' room of the Museum without meditating a little +upon the difference between these arquebusiers and the Dutch of the +present day. Passing among these people, once so mighty and ambitious, +so great in government and colonisation, in seamanship and painting, +and seeing them now so material and self-centred, so bound within +their own small limits, so careless of literature and art, so intent +upon the profits of the day and the pleasures of next Sunday, one has +a vision of what perhaps may be our own lot. For the Dutch are very +near us in kin, and once were nigh as great as we have been. Are we, +in our day of decadence, to shrivel thus? "There but for the grace +of God goes England"--is that a reasonable utterance? + +One sees the difference concretely as one passes from these many +Corporation and Regent pieces in the galleries of Holland to the +living Dutchmen of the streets. I saw it particularly at Haarlem +on a streaming wet day, after hurrying from the Museum to the +Cafe Brinkmann through some inches of water. At a table opposite, +sipping their coffee, were two men strikingly like two of Frans Hals' +arquebusiers. Yet how unlike. For the air of masterful recklessness had +gone, that good-humoured glint of power in the eye was no more. Hals +had painted conquerors, or at any rate warriors for country; these +coffee drinkers were meditating profit and loss. Where once was +authority is now calculation. + +I quote a little poem by Mr. Van Lennep of Zeist, near Utrecht, +which shows that the Dutch, whatever their present condition, have +not forgotten:-- + + + The shell, when put to child-like ears, + Yet murmurs of its bygone years, + In echoes of the sea; + The Dutch-born youngster likes the sound, + And ponders o'er its mystic ground + And wondrous memory. + + Thus, in Dutch hearts, an echo dwells, + Which, like the ever-mindful shells, + Yet murmurs of the sea: + That sea, of ours in times of yore, + And, when De Ruyter went before, + Our road to victory. + + + + +Chapter X + +Amsterdam + + The Venice of the North--The beauty of gravity--No place for + George Dyer--The Keizersgracht--Kalverstraat and Warmoes + Straat--The Ghetto--Pile-driving--Erasmus's sarcasm--The + new Bourse--Learning the city--Tramway perplexities--The + unnecessary guide--The Royal Palace--The New Church--Stained + glass--The Old Church--The five carpets--Wedding customs--Dutch + wives to-day and in the past--The Begijnenhof--The new + religion and the old--The Burgerweesmeisjes--The Eight + Orange Blossoms--Dutch music halls--A Dutch Hamlet--The fish + market--Rembrandt's grave--A nation of shopkeepers--_Max + Havelaar_--Mr. Drystubble's device--Lothario and Betsy--The + English in Holland and the Dutch in England--Athleticism--A + people on skates--The chaperon's perplexity--Love on the level. + +Amsterdam is notable for two possessions above others: its old +canals and its old pictures. Truly has it been called the Venice +of the North; but very different is its sombre quietude from the +sunny Italian city among the waters. There is a beauty of gaiety +and a beauty of gravity; and Amsterdam in its older parts--on the +Keizersgracht and the Heerengracht--has the beauty of gravity. In +Venice the canal is of course also the street: gondolas and barcas +are continually gliding hither and thither; but in the Keizersgracht +and the Heerengracht the water is little used. One day, however, +I watched a costermonger steering a boat-load of flowers under a +bridge, and no words of mine can describe the loveliness of their +reflection. I remember the incident particularly because flowers are +not much carried in Holland, and it is very pleasant to have this +impression of them--this note of happy gaiety in so dark a setting. + +An unprotected roadway runs on either side of the water, which makes +the houses beside these canals no place for Charles Lamb's friend, +George Dyer, to visit in. Accidents are not numerous, but a company +exists in Amsterdam whose business it is to rescue such odd dippers +as horses and carriages by means of elaborate machinery devised for +the purpose. Only travellers born under a luckier star than I are +privileged to witness such sport. + +In the main Amsterdam is a city of trade, of hurrying business men, +of ceaseless clanging tramcars and crowded streets; but on the +Keizersgracht and the Heerengracht you are always certain to find +the old essential Dutch gravity and peace. No tide moves the sullen +waters of these canals, which are lined with trees that in spring +form before the narrow, dark, discreet houses the most delicate green +tracery imaginable; and in summer screen them altogether. These houses +are for the most part black and brown, with white window frames, +and they rise to a great height, culminating in that curious stepped +gable (with a crane and pulley in it) which is, to many eyes, the +symbol of the city. I know no houses that so keep their secrets. In +every one, I doubt not, is furniture worthy of the exterior: old +paintings of Dutch gentlemen and gentlewomen, a landscape or two, +a girl with a lute and a few tavern scenes; old silver windmills; and +plate upon plate of serene blue Delft. (You may see what I mean in the +Suasso rooms at the Stedelijk Museum.) I have walked and idled in the +Keizersgracht at all times of the day, but have never seen any real +signs of life. Mats have been banged on its doorsteps by clean Dutch +maidservants armed with wicker beaters; milk has been brought in huge +cans of brass and copper shining like the sun; but of its life proper +the gracht has given no sign. Its true life is houseridden, behind +those spotless and very beautiful lace curtains, and there it remains. + +One of the wittiest of the old writers on Holland (of whom I said +something in the second chapter), Owen Feltham the moralist, describes +in his _Brief Character of the Low Countries_ an Amsterdam house of +the middle of the seventeenth century. Thus:-- + +When you are entered the house, the first thing you encounter is a +Looking-glasse. No question but a true Embleme of politick hospitality; +for though it reflect yourself in your own figure, 'tis yet no longer +than while you are there before it. When you are gone once, it flatters +the next commer, without the least remembrance that you ere were there. + +The next are the vessels of the house marshalled about the room like +watchmen. All as neat as if you were in a Citizen's Wife's Cabinet; +for unless it be themselves, they let none of God's creatures lose +any thing of their native beauty. + +Their houses, especially in their Cities, are the best eye-beauties +of their Country. For cost and sight they far exceed our English, +but they want their magnificence. Their lining is yet more rich +than their outside; not in hangings, but pictures, which even the +poorest are there furnisht with. Not a cobler but has his toyes for +ornament. Were the knacks of all their houses set together, there +would not be such another _Bartholmew_-Faire in _Europe_.... + +Their beds are no other than land-cabines, high enough to need a ladder +or stairs. Up once, you are walled in with Wainscot, and that is good +discretion to avoid the trouble of making your will every night; +for once falling out else would break your neck perfectly. But if +you die in it, this comfort you shall leave your friends, that you +dy'd in clean linnen. + +Whatsoever their estates be, their houses must be fair. Therefore from +_Amsterdam_ they have banisht seacoale, lest it soyl their buildings, +of which the statelier sort are sometimes sententious, and in the +front carry some conceit of the Owner. As to give you a taste in these. + + + Christus Adjutor Meus; + Hoc abdicato Perenne Quero; + Hic Medio tuitus Itur. + + +Every door seems studded with Diamonds. The nails and hinges hold a +constant brightnesse, as if rust there was not a quality incident to +Iron. Their houses they keep cleaner than their bodies; their bodies +than their souls. Goe to one, you shall find the Andirons shut up in +net-work. At a second, the Warming-pan muffled in Italian Cutworke. At +a third the Sconce clad in Cambrick. + +The absence of any lively traffic on the canals, as in Venice, has this +compensation, that the surface is left untroubled the more minutely +to mirror the houses and trees, and, at night, the tramcars on the +bridges. The lights of these cars form the most vivid reflections +that I can recollect. But the quiet reproduction of the stately black +facades is the more beautiful thing. An added dignity and repose are +noticeable. I said just now that one desired to learn the secret of +the calm life of these ancient grachts. But the secret of the actual +houses of fact is as nothing compared with the secret of those other +houses, more sombre, more mysterious, more reserved, that one sees in +the water. To penetrate their impressive doors were an achievement, +a distinction, indeed! With such a purpose suicide would lose half +its terrors. + +For the greatest contrast to these black canals, you must seek the +Kalverstraat and Warmoes Straat. Kalverstraat, running south from the +Dam, is by day filled with shoppers and by night with gossipers. No +street in the world can be more consistently busy. Damrak is of course +always a scene of life, but Damrak is a thoroughfare--its population +moving continually either to or from the station. But those who use +the Kalverstraat may be said almost to live in it. To be there is +an end in itself. Warmoes Straat, parallel with Damrak on the other +side of the Bourse, behind the Bible Hotel, is famous for its gigantic +restaurant--the hugest in Europe, I believe--the Krasnapolsky, a palace +of bewildering mirrors, and for concert halls and other accessories +of the gayer life. But this book is no place in which to enlarge upon +the natural history of Warmoes Straat and its southern continuation, +the Nes. + +For the principal cafes, as distinguished from restaurants, you must +seek the Rembrandt's Plein, in the midst of which stands the master's +statue. The pavement of this plein on Sunday evening in summer is +almost impassable for the tables and chairs that spread over it and +the crowds overflowing from Kalverstraat. + +But there is still to be mentioned a district of Amsterdam which +from the evening of Friday until the evening of Saturday is more +populous even than Kalverstraat. This is the Jews' quarter, which +has, I should imagine, more parents and children to the square foot +than any residential region in Europe. I struggled through it at +sundown one fine Saturday--to say I walked through it would be too +misleading--and the impression I gathered of seething vivacity is +still with me. These people surely will inherit the earth. + +Spinoza was a child of this Ghetto: his birthplace at 41 Waterloo +Plein is still shown; and Rembrandt lived at No. 4 Jodenbree Straat +for sixteen years. + +A large number of the Amsterdam Jews are diamond cutters and +polishers. You may see in certain cafes dealers in these stones turning +over priceless little heaps of them with the long little finger-nail +which they preserve as a scoop. + +Amsterdam may be a city builded on the sand; but none the less will it +endure. Indeed the sand saves it; for it is in the sand that the wooden +piles on which every house rests find their footing, squelching through +the black mud to this comparative solidity. Some of the piles are as +long as 52 ft., and watching them being driven in, it is impossible to +believe that stability can ever be attained, every blow of the monkey +accounting for so very many inches. When one watches pile-driving in +England it is difficult to see the effect of each blow; but during +the five or fewer minutes that I spent one day on Damrak observing +the preparation for the foundations of a new house, the pile must have +gone in nearly a foot each time, and it was very near the end of its +journey too. In course of years the black brackish mud petrifies not +only the piles but the wooden girders that are laid upon them. + +Pile-driving on an extensive scale can be a very picturesque +sight. Breitner has painted several pile-driving scenes, one of which +hangs in the Stedelijk Museum at Amsterdam. + +Statistics are always impressive. I have seen somewhere the number +of piles which support the new Bourse and the Central Station; but +I cannot now find them. The Royal Palace stands on 13,659. Erasmus +of Rotterdam made merry quite in the manner of an English humorist +over Amsterdam's wooden foundations. He twitted the inhabitants with +living on the tops of trees, like rooks. But as I lay awake from +daybreak to a civilised hour for two mornings in the Hotel Weimar at +Rotterdam--prevented from sleeping by the pile-driving for the hotel +extension--I thought of the apologue of the pot and the kettle. + +I referred just now to the new Bourse. When I was at Amsterdam in 1897, +the water beside Damrak extended much farther towards the Dam than it +does now. Where now is the new Bourse was then shipping. But the new +Bourse looks stable enough to-day. As to its architectural charms, +opinions differ. My own feeling is that it is not a style that will +wear well. For a permanent public building something more classic is +probably desirable; and at Amsterdam, that city of sombre colouring, +I would have had darker hues than the red and yellow that have been +employed. The site of the old Bourse is now an open space. + +It is stated that the kindly custom of allowing the children of +Amsterdam the run of the Bourse as a playground for a week every year +is some compensation for the suppression of the Kermis, but another +story makes the sanction a perpetual reward for an heroic deed against +the Spaniards performed by a child in 1622. + +My advice to any one visiting Amsterdam is first to study a map of the +city--Baedeker gives a very useful one--and thus to begin with a general +idea of the lie of the land and the water. With this knowledge, and +the assistance of the trams, it should not appear a very bewildering +place. The Dam is its heart: a fact the acquisition of which will +help very sensibly. All roads in Amsterdam lead to the Dam, and all +lead from it. The Dam gives the city its name--Amstel dam, the dam +which stops the river Amstel on its course to the Zuyder Zee. It also +gives English and American visitors opportunities for facetiousness +which I tingle to recall. Every tram sooner or later reaches the Dam: +that is another simplifying piece of information. The course of each +tram may not be very easily acquired, but with a common destination +like this you cannot be carried very far wrong. + +One soon learns that the trams stop only at fixed points, and waits +accordingly. The next lesson, which is not quite so simple, is that +some of these points belong exclusively to trams going one way and +some exclusively to trams going the other. If there is one thing +calculated to reduce a perplexed foreigner in Amsterdam to rage and +despair, it is, after a tiring day among pictures, to hail a half +empty tram at a fixed point, with _Tram-halte_ written on it, and +be treated to a pitying smile from the driver as it rushes by. Upon +such mortifications is education based; for one then looks again more +narrowly at the sign and sees that underneath it is a little arrow +pointing in the opposite direction to which one wished to go. One +then walks on to the next point, at which the arrow will be pointing +homewards, and waits there. Sometimes--O happy moment--a double arrow +is found, facing both ways. + +It is on the Dam that guides will come and pester you. The guide +carries an umbrella and offers to show Amsterdam in such a way as to +save you much money. He is quite useless, and the quickest means of +getting free is to say that you have come to the city for no other +purpose than to pay extravagantly for everything. So stupendous an +idea checks even his importunity for a moment, and while he still +reels you can escape. The guides outside the Ryks Museum who offer to +point out the beauties of the pictures are less persistent. It would +seem as if they were aware of the unsoundness of their case. There +is no need to reply to these at all. + +On the Dam also is the Royal Palace, which once was the stadhuis, +but in 1808 (when Amsterdam was the third city of the French Empire) +was offered to Louis Napoleon for a residence. Queen Wilhelmina +occasionaly stays there, but The Hague holds her true home. The +apartments are florid and not very interesting; but if the ascent of +the tower is permitted one should certainly make it. It is interesting +to have Amsterdam at one's feet. Only thus can its peculiar position +and shape be understood: its old part an almost perfect semicircle, +with canal-arcs within arcs, and its northern shore washed by the Y. + +Also on the Dam is the New Church, which is to be seen more for the +tomb of De Ruyter than for any architectural graces. The old sea dog, +whose dark and determined features confront one in Bol's canvases +again and again in Holland, reposes in full dress on a cannon amid +symbols of his victories. Close by, in the Royal Palace, are some of +the flags which he wrested from the English. Other admirals also lie +there, the Dutch naval commander never having wanted for honour in +his own country. + +The New Church, where the monarchs of Holland are crowned, has a very +large new stained-glass window representing the coronation of Queen +Wilhemina--one of the most satisfying new windows that I know, but +quite lacking in any religious suggestion. That poet who considered +a church the best retreat, because it is good to contemplate God +through stained glass, would have fared badly in Holland. + +The New Church is new only by comparison with the Old. It was built +in 1410, rebuilt in 1452 and 1645. Amsterdam's Old Church, on the +other side of Warmoes Straat, dates from 1300. The visitor to the +New Church is handed a brief historical leaflet in exchange for his +twenty-five cents, and is left to his own devices; but the Old Church +has a koster who takes a pride in showing his lions and who deprecates +gifts of money. An elderly, clean-shaved man with a humorous mouth, +he might be taken for Holland's leading comedian. Instead, he displays +ecclesiastical treasures, of which in 1904 there were fewer than usual, +two of the three fine old windows representing the life of the Virgin +being under repair behind a screen. The tombs and monuments are not +interesting--admirals of the second rank and such small fry. + +It is in the Old Church that most of the weddings of Amsterdam are +celebrated. Thursday is the day, for then the fees are practically +nothing; on other days to be married is an expense. The koster +deplores the modern materialism which leads so many young men to be +satisfied with the civil function; but the little enclosure, like a +small arena, in which the church blesses unions, had to me a hardly +less business-like appearance than a registry office. The comedian +overflows with details. For the covering of the floor, he explains, +there are five distinct carpets, ranging in price from five guelders +to twenty-five for the hire, according to the means or ostentation +of the party. Thursdays are no holiday for the church officials, one +couple being hardly united before the horses of the next are pawing +the paving stones at the door. + +I saw on one Thursday three bridal parties in as many minutes. The +happy bride sat on the back seat of the brougham, immediately before +her being two mirrors in the shape of a heart supporting a bouquet of +white flowers. Contemplating this simple imagery she rattles to the +ecclesiastical arena and the sanctities of the five, ten, fifteen, +twenty or twenty-five guelder carpet. After, a banquet and jokes. + +This is the second banquet, for when the precise preliminaries of a +Dutch engagement are settled a betrothal feast is held. Friends are +bidden to the wedding by the receipt of a box of sweets and a bottle +of wine known as "Bride's tears". For the wedding day itself there is +a particular brand of wine which contains little grains of gold. The +Dutch also have special cake and wine for the celebration of births. + +The position of the Dutch wife is now very much that of the wife +in England; but in Holland's great days she ruled. Something of +her quality is to be seen in the stories of Barneveldt's widow +and Grotius's wife, and the heroism and address of the widow Kenau +Hasselaer during the siege of Haarlem. Davies has an interesting page +or two on this subject: "To be master of his own house is an idea +which seems never to have occurred to the mind of a genuine Dutchman; +nor did he often commence any undertaking, whether public or private, +without first consulting the partner of his cares; and it is even said, +that some of the statesmen most distinguished for their influence in +the affairs of their own country and Europe in general, were accustomed +to receive instructions at home to which they ventured not to go +counter. But the dominion of these lordly dames, all despotic though it +were, was ever exerted for the benefit of those who obeyed. It was the +earnest and undaunted spirit of their women, which encouraged the Dutch +to dare, and their calm fortitude to endure, the toils, privations, and +sufferings of the first years of the war of independence against Spain; +it was their activity and thrift in the management of their private +incomes, that supplied them with the means of defraying an amount +of national expenditure wholly unexampled in history; and to their +influence is to be ascribed above all, the decorum of manners, and the +purity of morals, for which the society of Holland has at all times +been remarkable. But though they preserved their virtue and modesty +uncontaminated amid the general corruption, they were no longer able +to maintain their sway. The habit which the Dutch youth had acquired, +among other foreign customs, of seeking amusement abroad, rendered +them less dependent for happiness on the comforts of a married life; +while, accustomed to the more dazzling allurements of the women of +France and Italy, they were apt to overlook or despise the quiet and +unobtrusive beauties of those of their own country. Whether they did +not better consult their own dignity in emancipating themselves from +this subjection may be a question; but the fact, that the decline of +the republic and of the female sex went hand in hand, is indubitable." + +To return to Amsterdam's sights, the church which I remember with most +pleasure is the English Reformed Church, which many visitors never +succeed in finding at all, but to which I was taken by a Dutch lady who +knew my tastes. You seek the Spui, where the electric trams start for +Haarlem, and enter a very small doorway on the north side. It seems +to lead to a private house, but instead you find yourself in a very +beautiful little enclosure of old and quaint buildings, exquisitely +kept, each with a screen of pollarded chestnuts before it; in the midst +of which is a toy white church with a gay little spire that might have +wandered out of a fairy tale. The enclosure is called The Begijnenhof, +or Court of the Begijnen, a little sisterhood named after St. Begga, +daughter of Pipinus, Duke of Brabant,--a saint who lived at the end +of the seventh century and whose day in the Roman Catholic Calendar +is December 17. + +The church was originally the church of these nuns, but when the old +religion was overthrown in Amsterdam, in 1578, it was taken from them, +although they were allowed--as happily they still are--to retain +possession of the court around it. + +In 1607 the church passed into the possession of a settlement of +Scotch weavers who had been invited to Amsterdam by the merchants, +and who had made it a condition of acceptance that they should have a +conventicle of their own. It is now a resort of English church-going +visitors on Sunday. + +Most of Holland's churches--as of England's--once belonged to Rome, and +it is impossible to forget their ancient ownership; but I remember no +other case where the new religion is practised, as in the Begijnenhof, +in the heart of the enemy's camp. In the very midst of the homes +of the quiet sweet Begijnen sisters are the voices of the usurping +Reformers heard in prayer and praise. + +One little concession, however, was made by the appropriators of +the chapel. Until as recently as 1865 a special part of the building +the original Roman consecration of which had not been nullified was +retained by the sisterhood in which to bury their dead. The ceremony +was very impressive. Twelve of the nuns carried their dead companion +three times round the court before entering the church. But all that is +over, and now they must seek burial elsewhere, without their borders. + +One may leave the Begijnenhof by the other passage into Kalverstraat, +and walking up that busy street towards the Dam, turn down the +St. Lucien Steeg, on the left, to another of Amsterdam's homes of +ancient peace--the municipal orphanage, which was once the Convent +of St. Lucien. The Dutch are exceedingly kind to their poor, and the +orphanages and almshouses (Oudemannen and Oudevrouwen houses as they +are called) are very numerous. The Municipal Orphanage of Amsterdam is +among the most interesting; and it is to this refuge that the girls +and boys belong whom one sees so often in the streets of the city in +curious parti-coloured costume--red and black vertically divided. The +Amsterdamsche burgerweesmeisjes, as the girls are called, make in +procession a very pretty and impressive sight--with their white +tippets and caps above their dresses of black and red. + +This reminds me that one of the most agreeable performances that +I saw in any of the Dutch music halls (which are not good, and +which are rendered very tedious to English people by reason of the +interminable interval called the Pause in the middle of the evening), +was a series of folk songs and dances by eight girls known as the +Orange Blossoms, dressed in different traditional costumes of the +north and south--Friesland, Marken, and Zeeland. They were quite +charming. They sang and danced very prettily, as housewives, as fisher +girls, but particularly as Amsterdamsche burgerweesmeisjes. + +In the music halls both at Amsterdam and Rotterdam I listened to comic +singers inexorably endowed with too many songs apiece; but I saw also +some of those amazing feats of acrobatic skill and exhibitions of clean +strength which alone should cause people to encourage these places +of entertainment, where the standard of excellence in such displays +is now so high. I did not go to the theatre in Holland. My Dutch was +too elementary for that. My predecessor Ireland, however, did so, +and saw an amusing piece of literalness introduced into _Hamlet_. In +the impassioned scene, he tells us, between the prince and his mother, +"when the hero starts at the imagined appearance of his father, his +wig, by means of a concealed spring, jumped from 'the seat of his +distracted brain,' and left poor Hamlet as bare as a Dutch willow +in winter." + +The Oude Kerk has very beautiful bells, but Amsterdam is no place in +which to hear such sweet sounds. The little towns for bells. Near the +church is the New Market, with the very charming old weigh-house with +little extinguisher spires called the St. Anthonysveeg. Here the fish +market is held; and the fish market of a city like Amsterdam should +certainly be visited. The Old Market is on the western side of the +Dam, under the western church. "It is said," remarks the author of +_Through Noord-Holland_, "that Rembrandt has been buried in this +church, though his grave has never been found." + +Napoleon's sarcasm upon the English--that they were a nation of +shopkeepers--never seemed to me very shrewd: but in Holland one +realises that if any nation is to be thus signally stigmatised it +is not the English. As a matter of fact we are very indifferent +shopkeepers. We lack several of the needful qualities: we lack +foresight, the sense of order and organised industry, and the strength +of mind to resist the temptations following upon a great coup. A +nation of shopkeepers would not go back on the shop so completely as +we do. No nation that is essentially snobbish can be accurately summed +up as a nation of shopkeepers. The French for all their distracting +gifts of art and mockery are better shopkeepers than we, largely +because they are more sensibly contented. They take short views and +live each day more fully. But the Dutch are better still; the Dutch +are truly a nation of shopkeepers. [4] + +If one would see the Amsterdam merchant as the satirist sees him, +the _locus classicus_ is Multatuli's famous novel _Max Havelaar_, +where he stands delightfully nude in the person of Mr. Drystubble, +head of the firm of Last and Co., Coffee-brokers, No. 37 Laurier +Canal. _Max Havelaar_ was published in the early sixties to draw +attention to certain scandals in Dutch colonial administration, and it +has lived on, and will live, by reason of a curious blend of vivacity +and intensity. Here is a little piece of Mr. Drystubble's mind:-- + +Business is slack on the Coffee Exchange. The Spring Auction will +make it right again. Don't suppose, however, that we have nothing +to do. At Busselinck and Waterman's trade is slacker still. It is +a strange world this: one gets a deal of experience by frequenting +the Exchange for twenty years. Only fancy that they have tried--I +mean Busselinck and Waterman--to do me out of the custom of Ludwig +Stern. As I do not know whether you are familiar with the Exchange, +I will tell you that Stern is an eminent coffee-merchant in Hamburg, +who always employed Last and Co. Quite accidentally I found that +out--I mean that bungling business of Busselinck and Waterman. They +had offered to reduce the brokerage by one-fourth per cent. They +are low fellows--nothing else. And now look what I have done to stop +them. Any one in my place would perhaps have written to Ludwig Stern, +"that we too would diminish the brokerage, and that we hoped for +consideration on account of the long services of Last and Co." + +I have calculated that our firm, during the last fifty years, +has gained four hundred thousand guilders by Stern. Our connexion +dates from the beginning of the continental system, when we smuggled +Colonial produce and such like things from Heligoland. No, I won't +reduce the brokerage. + +I went to the Polen coffee-house, ordered pen and paper, and wrote:-- + +"That because of the many honoured commissions received from North +Germany, our business transactions had been extended"--(it is +the simple truth)--"and that this necessitated an augmentation of +our staff"--(it is the truth: no more than yesterday evening our +bookkeeper was in the office after eleven o'clock to look for his +spectacles);--"that, above all things, we were in want of respectable, +educated young men to conduct the German correspondence. That, +certainly, there were many young Germans in Amsterdam, who possessed +the requisite qualifications, but that a respectable firm"--(it is +the very truth),--"seeing the frivolity and immorality of young men, +and the daily increasing number of adventurers, and with an eye to +the necessity of making correctness of conduct go hand in hand with +correctness in the execution of orders"--(it is the truth, I observe, +and nothing but the truth),--"that such a firm--I mean Last and Co., +coffee-brokers, 37 Laurier Canal--could not be anxious enough in +engaging new hands." + +All that is the simple truth, reader. Do you know that the young +German who always stood at the Exchange, near the seventeenth pillar, +has eloped with the daughter of Busselinck and Waterman? Our Mary, +like her, will be thirteen years old in September. + +"That I had the honour to hear from Mr. Saffeler"--(Saffeler travels +for Stern)--"that the honoured head of the firm, Ludwig Stern, had +a son, Mr. Ernest Stern, who wished for employment for some time in +a Dutch house. + +"That I, mindful of this"--(here I referred again to the immorality +of _employes_, and also the history of that daughter of Busselinck +and Waterman; it won't do any harm to tell it)--"that I, mindful of +this, wished, with all my heart, to offer Mr. Ernest Stern the German +correspondence of our firm." + +From delicacy I avoided all allusion to honorarium or salary; yet +I said:-- + +"That if Mr. Ernest Stern would like to stay with us, at 37 Laurier +Canal, my wife would care for him as a mother, and have his linen +mended in the house"--(that is the very truth, for Mary sews and +knits very well),--and in conclusion I said, "that we were a religious +family." + +The last sentence may do good, for the Sterns are Lutherans. I posted +that letter. You understand that old Mr. Stern could not very well give +his custom to Busselinck and Waterman, if his son were in our office. + +When _Max Havelaar_ gets to Java the narrative is less satisfactory, +so tangential does it become, but there are enough passages in the +manner of that which I have quoted to keep one happy, and to show how +entertaining a satirist of his own countrymen at home "Multatuli" +(whose real name was Edward Douwes Dekker) might have been had he +been possessed by no grievance. + +The book, which is very well worth reading, belongs to the literature +of humanity and protest. Its author had to suffer much acrimonious +attack, and was probably called a Little Hollander, but the fragment +from an unpublished play which he placed as a motto to his book shows +him to have lacked no satirical power to meet the enemy:-- + +_Officer_.--My Lord, this is the man who murdered Betsy. + +_Judge_.--He must hang for it. How did he do it? + +_Officer_.--He cut up her body in little pieces, and salted them. + +_Judge_.--He is a great criminal. He must hang for it. + +_Lothario_.--My Lord, I did not murder Betsy: I fed and clothed and +cherished her. I can call witnesses who will prove me to be a good man, +and no murderer. + +_Judge_.--You must hang. You blacken your crime by your +self-sufficiency. It ill becomes one who ... is accused of anything +to set up for a good man. + +_Lothario_,--But, my Lord, ... there are witnesses to prove it; +and as I am now accused of murder.... + +_Judge_.--You must hang for it. You cut up Betsy--you salted the +pieces--and you are satisfied with your conduct--three capital +counts--who are you, my good woman? + +_Woman_.--I am Betsy. + +_Lothario_.--Thank God! You see, my Lord, that I did not murder her. + +_Judge_.--Humph!--ay--what!--What about the salting? + +_Betsy_.--No, my Lord, he did not salt me:--on the contrary, he did +many things for me ... he is a worthy man! + +_Lothario_.--You hear, my Lord, she says I am an honest man! + +_Judge_.--Humph!--the third count remains. Officer, remove the +prisoner, he must hang for it; he is guilty of self-conceit. + + +Shopkeeping--to return to Amsterdam--is the Dutch people's life. An +idle rich class they may have, but it does not assert itself. It is +hidden away at The Hague or at Arnheim. In Amsterdam every one is busy +in one trade or another. There is no Pall Mall, no Rotten Row. There +is no Bond Street or Rue de la Paix, for this is a country where +money tries to procure money's worth, a country of essentials. Nor +has Holland a Lord's or an Oval, Epsom Downs or Hurlingham. + +Perhaps the quickest way to visualise the differences of nations +is to imagine them exchanging countries. If the English were to +move to Holland the whole face of the land would immediately be +changed. In summer the flat meadows near the towns, now given up to +cows and plovers, would be dotted with cricketers; in winter with +football-players. Outriggers and canoes, punts and house-boats, would +break out on the canals. In the villages such strange phenomena as +idle gentlemen in knickerbockers and idle ladies with parasols would +suddenly appear. + +To continue the list of changes (but not for too long) the trains +would begin to be late; from the waiting-rooms all free newspapers +would be stolen; churches would be made more comfortable; hundreds +of newspapers would exist where now only a handful are sufficient; +the hour of breakfast would be later; business would begin later; +drunken men would be seen in the streets, dirt in the cottages. + +If the Dutch came to England the converse would happen. The athletic +grounds would become pasture land; the dirt of our slums and the +gentry of our villages would alike vanish; Westminster Abbey would +be whitewashed; and ... But I have said enough. + +It must not be thought that the Dutch play no games. As a matter +of fact they were playing golf, as old pictures tell, before it had +found its way to England at all; and there are now many golf clubs in +Holland. The Dutch are excellent also at lawn tennis; and I saw the +youth of Franeker very busy in a curious variety of rounders. There +are horse-racing meetings and trotting competitions too. But the +nation is not naturally athletic or sporting. It does not even walk +except on business. + +In winter, however, the Dutch are completely transformed. No sooner +does the ice bear than the whole people begin to glide, and swirl, +and live their lives to the poetry of motion. The canals then +become the real streets of Amsterdam. A Dutch lady--a mother and +a grandmother--threw up her hands as she told me about the skating +parties to the Zuyder Zee. The skate, it seems, is as much the enemy +of the chaperon as the bicycle, although its reign is briefer. Upon +this subject I am personally ignorant, but I take that gesture of +alarm as final. + +And yet M. Havard, who had a Frenchman's eye and therefore knew, +says that if Etna in full eruption were taken to Holland, at the end +of the week it would have ceased even to smoke, so destructive to +enthusiasm is the well-disciplined nature of the Dutch woman. + +M. Havard referred rather to the women of the open country than the +dwellers in the town. I can understand the rural coolness, for Holland +is a land without mystery. Everything is plain and bare: a man in a +balloon would know the amours of the whole populace. What chance has +Cupid when there are no groves? But let Holland be afforested and her +daughters would keep Etna burning warmly enough; for I am persuaded +that it is not that they are cold but that the physical development +of the country is against them. + + + +Chapter XI + +Amsterdam's Pictures + + Dutch art in the palmy days--The Renaissance--A miracle--What + Holland did for painting--The "Night Watch"--Rembrandt's + isolation--Captain Franz Banning Cocq--Elizabeth Bas--The + Staalmeesters--If one might choose one picture--Vermeer + of Delft again--Whistler--"Paternal Advice"--Terburg--The + romantic Frenchmen again--The Dutch painter's ideal--The two + Maris--Old Dutch rooms--The Six Collection--"Six's Bridge" + and the wager--The Fodor Museum. + +The superlative excellence of Dutch painting in the seventeenth +century has never been explained, and probably never will be. The +ordinary story is that on settling down to a period of independence and +comparative peace and prosperity after the cessation of the Spanish +war, the Dutch people called for good art, and good art came. But +that is too simple. That a poet, a statesman or a novelist should be +produced in response to a national desire is not inconceivable; for +poets, statesmen and novelists find their material in the air, as we +say, in the ideas of the moment. They are for the most part products +of their time. But the great Dutch painters of the seventeenth century +were expressing no real idea. Nor, even supposing they had done so, +is it to be understood how the demand for them should yield such a +supply of unsurpassed technical power: how a perfectly disciplined +hand should be instantly at the public service. + +That Holland in an expansive mood of satisfaction at her success should +have wished to see groups of her gallant arquebusiers and portraits of +her eminent burghers is not to be wondered at, and we can understand +that respectable painters of such pictures should arise in some force +to supply the need--just as wherever in this country at the present day +there are cricketers and actresses, there also are photographers. That +painters of ordinary merit should be forthcoming is, as I have said, +no wonder: the mystery is that masters of technique whose equal has +never been before or since should have arisen in such numbers; that +in the space of a few years--between say 1590 and 1635--should have +been born in a country never before given to the cultivation of the +arts Rembrandt and Jan Steen, Vermeer and De Hooch, Van der Helst +and Gerard Dou, Fabritius and Maes, Ostade and Van Goyen, Potter and +Ruisdael, Terburg and Cuyp. That is the staggering thing. + +Another curious circumstance is that by 1700 it was practically all +over, and Dutch art had become a convention. The gods had gone. Not +until very recently has Holland had any but half gods since. + +It may of course be urged that Italy had witnessed a somewhat similar +phenomenon. But the spiritual stimulus of the Renaissance among the +naturally artistic southerners cannot, I think, be compared with the +stimulus given by the establishment of prosperity to these cold and +material northerners. The making of great Italian art was a gradual +process: the Dutch masters sprang forth fully armed at the first +word of command. In the preceding generation the Rembrandts had been +millers; the Steens brewers; the Dous glaziers; and so forth. But +the demand for pictures having sounded, their sons were prepared to +be painters of the first magnitude. Why try to explain this amazing +event? Let there rather be miracles. + +I have said that the great Dutch painters expressed no idea; and yet +this is not perfectly true. They expressed no constructive idea, in +the way that a poet or statesman does; but all had this in common, +that they were informed by the desire to represent things--intimate +and local things--as they are. The great Italians had gone to religion +and mythology for their subjects: nearer at hand, in Antwerp, Rubens +was pursuing, according to his lights, the same tradition. The great +Dutchmen were the first painters to bend their genius exclusively +to the honour of their own country, its worthies, its excesses, its +domestic virtues, its trivial dailiness. Hals and Rembrandt lavished +their power on Dutch arquebusiers and governors of hospitals, Dutch +burgomasters and physicians; Ostade and Brouwer saw no indignity in +painting Dutch sots as well as Dutch sots could be painted; De Hooch +introduced miracles of sunlight into Dutch cottages; Maes painted +old Dutch housewives, and Metsu young Dutch housewives, to the life; +Vermeer and Terburg immortalised Dutch ladies at their spinets; Albert +Cuyp toiled to suffuse Dutch meadows and Dutch cows with a golden +glow; Jan Steen glorified the humblest Dutch family scenes; Gerard +Dou spent whole weeks upon the fingers of a common Dutch hand. In +short, art that so long had been at the service only of the Church +and the proud, became suddenly, without losing any of its divinity, +a fireside friend. That is what Holland did for painting. + +It would have been a great enjoyment to me to have made this chapter a +companion to the Ryks Museum: to have said a few words about all the +pictures which I like best. But had I done so the rest of the book +would have had to go, for all my space would have been exhausted. And +therefore, as I cannot say all I want to say, I propose to say very +little, keeping only to the most importunate pictures. Here and there +in this book, particularly in the chapters on Dordrecht, Haarlem, +and Leyden's painters, I have already touched on many of them. + +The particular shining glory of the Ryks Museum is Rembrandt's +"Night Watch," and it is well, I think, to make for that picture +at once. The direct approach is down the Gallery of Honour, where +one has this wonderful canvas before one all the way, as near life +as perhaps any picture ever painted. It is possible at first to be +disappointed: expectation perhaps had been running too high; the +figure of the lieutenant (in the yellow jerkin) may strike one as +a little mean. But do not let this distress you. Settle down on one +of the seats and take Rembrandt easily, "as the leaf upon the tree"; +settle down on another, and from the new point of view take him easily, +"as the grass upon the weir". Look at Van der Helst's fine company of +arquebusiers on one of the side walls; look at Franz Hals' company of +arquebusiers on the other; then look at Rembrandt again. Every minute +his astounding power is winning upon you. Walk again up the Gallery +of Honour and turning quickly at the end, see how much light there is +in the "Night Watch". Advance upon it slowly.... This is certainly +the finest technical triumph of pigment that you have seen. What a +glow and greatness. + +After a while it becomes evident that Rembrandt was the only man +who ought to have painted arquebusiers at all. Van der Heist and +Frans Hals are sinking to the level of gifted amateurs. Why did not +Rembrandt paint all the pictures? you begin to wonder. And yet the +Hals and the Van der Helsts were so good a little while ago. + +Hals and Van der Helst are, however, to recover their own again; for +the "Night Watch," I am told, is to be moved to a building especially +erected for it, where the lighting will be more satisfactory than +connoisseurs now consider it. Perhaps it is as well. It is hard to +be so near the rose; and there are few pictures in the recesses of +the Gallery of Honour which the "Night Watch" does not weaken; some +indeed it makes quite foolish. + +It is not of course really a night watch at all. Captain Franz +Banning Cocq's arquebusiers are leaving their Doelen in broad day; +the centralisation of sunlight from a high window led to the mistake, +and nothing now will ever change the title. + +How little these careless gallant arquebusiers, who paid the +painter-man a hundred florins apiece to be included in the picture, +can have thought of the destiny of the work! Of Captain Franz Banning +Cocq as a soldier we know nothing, but as a sitter he is hardly second +to any in the world. + +But it is not the "Night Watch" that I recall with the greatest +pleasure when I think of the Ryks Rembrandts. It is that wise and +serene old lady in the Van der Poll room--Elizabeth Bas--who sits there +for all time, unsurpassed among portraits. This picture alone is worth +a visit to Holland. I recall also, not with more pleasure than the +"Night Watch," but with little less, the superb group of syndics in the +Staalmeester room. It is this picture--with the "School of Anatomy" +at The Hague--that in particular makes one wish it had been possible +for all the Corporation pieces to have been from Rembrandt's brush. It +is this picture which deprives even Hals of some of his divinity, and +makes Van der Helst a dull dog. If ever a picture of Dutch gentlemen +was painted by a Dutch gentleman it is this. + +Having seen the "Night Watch" again, it is a good plan to study the +Gallery of Honour. To pick out one's favourite picture is here not +difficult: it is No. 1501, "The Endless Prayer," by Nicolas Maes, of +which I have said something in the chapter on Dordrecht, the painter's +birthplace. Its place is very little below that of Elizabeth Bas, +by Maes's master. + +It is always interesting in a fine gallery to ask oneself which single +picture one would choose before all others if such a privilege were +offered. The answer if honest is a sure revelation of temperament, for +one would select of a certainty a picture satisfying one's prevailing +moods rather than a picture of any sensational character. In other +words, the picture would have to be good to live with. To choose from +thousands of masterpieces one only is a very delicate test. + +If the Dutch Government, stimulated to gratitude for the encomiastic +character of the present book, were to offer me my choice of the +Ryks Museum pictures I should not hesitate a moment. I should take +No. 2527--"Woman Reading a Letter" (damaged), by Vermeer of Delft. You +will see a reproduction in black and white on the opposite page; +but how wide a gulf between the picture and the process block. The +jacket, for example, is the most lovely cool blue imaginable. + +This picture, apart from its beauty, is interesting as an illustration +of the innovating courage of Vermeer. Who else at that date would have +placed the woman's head against a map almost its own colour? Many +persons think that such daring began with Whistler. It is, however, +Terburg who most often suggests Whistler. Vermeer had, I think, +a rarer distinction than Terburg. Vermeer would never have painted +such a crowded group (however masterly) as that of Terburg's "Peace of +Munster" in our National Gallery; he could not have brought himself +so to pack humanity. Among all the Dutch masters I find no such +fastidious aristocrat. + +He, Vermeer, has another picture at the Ryks--"De brief" +(No. 2528)--which technically is wonderful; but the whole effect is +artificial and sophisticated, very different from his best transparent +mood. + +Any mortification, by the way, which I might suffer from the knowledge +that No. 2527 can never be mine is allayed by the knowledge, equally +certain, that it can never be any one else's. Money is powerless +here. To the offer of a Rothschild the Government would return as +emphatic a negative as to a request from me. + +The room in which is Vermeer's "Reader" contains also Maes's "Spinning +Woman" (see page 230), two or three Peter de Hoochs and the best Jan +Steen in the Ryks. It is indeed a room to linger in, and to return +to, indefinitely. De Hooch's "Store Room" (No. 1248), of which I +have already spoken, is in one of the little "Cabinet piece" rooms, +which are not too well lighted. Here also one may spend many hours, +and then many hours more. + +The "Peace of Munster" has been called Terburg's masterpiece: +but the girl in his "Paternal Advice," No. 570 at the Ryks, seems +to me a finer achievement. The grace and beauty and truth of her +pose and the miraculous painting of her dress are unrivalled. Yet +judged as a picture it is, I think, dull. The colouring is dingy, +time has not dealt kindly with the background; but the figure of +the girl is perfect. I give a reproduction opposite page 190. It +was this picture, in one of its replicas, that Goethe describes in +his _Elective Affinities_: a description which procured for it the +probably inaccurate title "Parental Advice". + +We have a fine Terburg in our National Gallery--"The Music Lesson"--and +here too is his "Peace of Munster," which certainly was a great feat +of painting, but which does not, I think, reproduce his peculiar +characteristics and charm. These may be found somewhere between "The +Music Lesson" and the portrait next the Vermeer in the smallest of +the three Dutch rooms. Even more ingratiating than "The Music Lesson" +is "The Toilet" at the Wallace Collection. Terburg might be called a +pocket Velasquez--a description of him which will be appreciated at +the Ryks Museum in the presence of his tiny and captivating "Helena +van der Schalcke," No. 573, one of the gems of the Cabinet pieces +(see opposite page 290), and his companion pictures of a man and his +wife, each standing by a piece of red furniture--I think Nos. 574 +and 575. The execution of the woman's muslin collar is among the most +dexterous things in Dutch art. + +From the Ryks Museum it is but a little way (past the model Dutch +garden) to the Stedelijk Museum, where modern painting may be +studied--Israels and Bosboom, Mesdag and James Maris, Breitner and +Jan van Beers, Blommers and Weissenbruch. + +There is also one room dedicated to paintings of the Barbizon school, +and of this I would advise instant search. I rested my eyes here for +an hour. A vast scene of cattle by Troyon (who, such is the poverty +of the Dutch alphabet, comes out monstrously upon the frame as +Troijon); a mysterious valley of trees by Corot; a wave by Courbet; +a mere at evening by Daubigny--these are like cool firm hands upon +one's forehead. + +The statement + + + Nothing graceful, wise, or sainted,-- + That is how the Dutchman painted, + + +is so sweeping as to be untrue. Indeed it is wholly absurd. The truth +simply is that one goes to Dutch art for the celebration of fact +without mystery or magic. In other words, Dutch painting is painting +without poetry; and it is this absence of poetry which makes the +romantic Frenchmen appear to be such exotics when one finds them in +Holland, and why it is so pleasant in Holland now and then to taste +their quality, as one may at the Stedelijk Museum and in the Mesdag +Collection at The Hague. + +We must not forget, however, that under the French influence certain +modern Dutch painters have been quickened to celebrate the fact _with_ +poetry. In a little room adjoining the great French room at the +Stedelijk Museum will be found some perfect things by living or very +recent artists for whom Corot did not work in vain: a mere by James +Maris, with a man in a blue coat sitting in a boat; a marsh under +a white sky by Matthew Maris; a village scene by the same exquisite +craftsman. These three pictures, but especially the last two, are in +their way as notable and beautiful as anything by the great names in +Dutch art. + +On the ground floor of the Stedelijk Museum is the series of rooms +named after the Suasso family which should on no account be missed, but +of which no notice is given by the Museum authorities. These rooms are +furnished exactly as they would have been by the best Dutch families, +their furniture and hangings having been brought from old houses in +the Keizersgracht and the Heerengracht. The kitchen is one of the +prettiest things in Holland--with its shining brass and copper, its +delicate and dainty tiles and its air of cheerful brightness. Some of +the carving in the other rooms is superb; the silver, the china, the +clocks are all of the choicest. The custodian has a childlike interest +in secret drawers and unexpected recesses, which he exhibits with a +gusto not habitual in the Dutch cicerone. For the run of these old +rooms a guelder is asked; one sees the three rooms on the other side +of the entrance hall for twenty-five cents, the church and museum unit +of Holland. But they are uninteresting beside the larger suite. They +consist of an old Dutch apothecary's shop and laboratory; a madhouse +cell; and the bedroom of a Dutch lady who has just presented her lord +with an infant. We see the mother in bed, a doctor at her side, and +in the foreground a nurse holding the baby. Except that the costumes +and accessories are authentic the tableau is in no way superior to +an ordinary waxwork. + +At the beginning of the last chapter I said that the Keizersgracht and +Heerengracht do not divulge their secrets; they present an impassive +and inscrutable front, grave and sombre, often black as night, beyond +which the foreigner may not penetrate. But by the courtesy of the +descendants of Rembrandt's friend Jan Six, in order that pleasure in +their collection of the old masters may be shared, No. 511 Heerengracht +is shown on the presentation of a visiting card at suitable hours. Here +may be seen two more of the rare pictures of Vermeer of Delft--his +famous "Milk Woman" and a Dutch facade in the manner of Peter de Hooch, +with an added touch of grave delicacy and distinction. Peter de Hooch +is himself represented in this little gallery, but the picture is in +bad condition. There is also an interesting and uncharacteristically +dramatic Nicolas Maes called "The Listener". But the pride of the +house is the little group of portraits by Rembrandt. + +It was, by the way, at Burgomaster Six's house at Elsbroek +that Rembrandt's little etching called "Six's Bridge" was +executed. Rembrandt and his friend had just sat down to dinner when +it was discovered that there was no mustard. On a servant being sent +to buy or borrow some, Rembrandt made a bet that he would complete +an etching of the bridge before the man's return. The artist won. + +Another little private collection, which has now become a regular +resort, with fixed hours, is that known as the Fodor Museum, at +No. 609 Keizersgracht; but I do not recommend a visit unless one is +absolutely a glutton for paint. + + + +Chapter XII + +Around Amsterdam: South and South-East + + Dutch railways--Amsterdam as a centre--Town + and country--Milking time--Scotch scenery in + Holland--Hilversum--Laren--Anton Mauve--Buckwheat Sunday--Dress + in Holland--Naarden's hour of agony--The indomitable + Dutch--_Through Noord-Holland_ again--Muiderberg--Muiden's + Castle. + +The Dutch have several things to learn from the English; and there are +certain lessons which we might acquire from them. To them we might +impart the uses of the salt-spoon, and ask in return the secret of +punctuality on the railways. + +The Dutch railways are admirable. The trains come in to the minute and +go out to the minute. The officials are intelligent and polite. The +carriages are good. Every station has its waiting-room, where you +may sit and read, and drink a cup of coffee that is not only hot and +fresh but is recognisably the product of the berry. It is impossible to +travel in the wrong train. It is very difficult not to get out at the +right station. The fares are very reasonable. The stationmasters are +the only visible and tangible members of the Dutch aristocracy. The +disposition of one's luggage is very simple when once it has been +mastered. The time tables are models of clarity. + +The only blot on the system is the detestable double fastening to the +carriage doors, and the curious fancy, prevalent on the Continent, that +a platform is a vanity. It is a perpetual wonder to me that some of the +wider Dutch ever succeed in climbing into their trains at all; and yet +after accomplishing one's own ascent one discovers them seated there +comfortably and numerously enough, showing no signs of the struggle. + +Travellers who find the Dutch tendency to closed windows a trial beyond +endurance may be interested to know that it is law in Holland that if +any passenger wish it the window on the lee side may be open. With the +knowledge of this enactment all difficulty should be over--provided +that one has sufficient strength of purpose (and acquaintance with +the Dutch language) to enforce it. + +All this preamble concerning railways is by way of introduction to +the statement (hinted at in the first chapter) that if the traveller +in Holland likes, he can see a great part of the country by staying at +Amsterdam--making the city his headquarters, and every day journeying +here and there and back again by train or canal. + +A few little neighbouring towns it is practically necessary to visit +from Amsterdam; and for the most part, I take it, Leyden and Haarlem +are made the object of excursions either from Amsterdam or The Hague, +rather than places of sojourn, although both have excellent quiet +inns much more to my taste than anything in the largest city. Indeed I +found Amsterdam's hotels exceedingly unsatisfactory; so much so that +the next time I go, when the electric railway to Haarlem is open, +I am proposing to invert completely the usual process, and, staying +at Haarlem, study Amsterdam from there. + +For the time being, however, we must consider ourselves at Amsterdam, +branching out north or south, east or west, every morning. + +A very interesting excursion may be made to Hilversum, returning by +the steam-tram through Laren, Naarden and Muiden. The rail runs at +first through flat and very verdant meadows, where thousands of cows +that supply Amsterdam with milk are grazing; and one notices again +the suddenness with which the Dutch city ends and the Dutch country +begins. Our English towns have straggling outposts: new houses, +scaffold poles, cottages, allotments, all break the transition from +city to country; the urban gives place to suburban, and suburban to +rural, gradually, every inch being contested. But the Dutch towns--even +the great cities--end suddenly; the country begins suddenly. + +In England for the most part the cow comes to the milker; but in +Holland the milker goes to the cow. His first duty is to bind the +animal's hind legs together, and then he sets his stool at his side +and begins. Anton Mauve has often painted the scene--so often that at +milking time one looks from the carriage windows at a very gallery +of Mauves. I noticed this particularly on an afternoon journey from +Amsterdam to Hilversum, between the city and Weesp, where the meadows +(cricket grounds _manques_) are flat as billiard tables. + +The train later runs between great meres, some day perhaps to be +reclaimed, and then dashes into country that resembles very closely +our Government land about Woking and Bisley--the first sand and firs +that we have seen in Holland. It has an odd and unexpected appearance; +but as a matter of fact hundreds of square miles of Holland in the +south and east have this character; while there are stretches of +Dutch heather in which one can feel in Scotland. + +All about Naarden and Hilversum are sanatoria, country-seats and +pleasure grounds, the softening effect of the pines upon the strong +air of the Zuyder Zee being very beneficial. Many of the heights +have towers or pavilions, some of which move the author of _Through +Noord-Holland_ to ecstasies. As thus, of the Larenberg: "The most +charming is the tower, where one can enjoy a perspective that only +rarely presents itself. We can see here the towers of Nijkerk, +Harderwijk, Utrecht, Amersfoort, Bunschoten, Amsterdam and many +others." And again, of a wood at Heideheuvel: "The perspective beauty +here formed cannot be said in words". + +Hilversum is the Chislehurst of Holland--a discreet and wealthy suburb, +where business men have their villas amid the trees. It is a pleasant +spot, excellent from which to explore. + +The author of _Through Noord-Holland_ thus describes Laren, which +lies a few miles from Hilversum and is reached by tram: "Surrounded by +arable land and hilly heathery it is richly provided with picturesque +spots; country-seats, villas, ordinary houses and farms are following +one another. For those who are searching for rest and calmness is this +village very recommendable." But to say only that is to omit Laren's +principal claim to distinction--its fame as the home of Anton Mauve. + +No great painter of nature probably ever adapted less than Mauve. His +pictures, oils and water-colours alike, are the real thing, very true, +very beautiful, low-toned, always with a touch of wistfulness and +melancholy. He found his subjects everywhere, and justified them by +the sympathy and truth of his exquisite modest art. + +Chiefly he painted peasants and cows. What a spot of red was to Corot, +the blue linen jacket of the Dutch peasant was to his disciple. I +never hear the name of Mauve without instantly seeing a black and +white cow and a boy in a blue jacket amid Holland's evening green. + +At Laren Mauve's fame is kept sweet by a little colony of artists, +who like to draw their inspiration where the great painter drew his. + +North of Laren, on the sea coast, is the fishing village of Huizen, +where the women have a neat but very sedate costume. They wear white +caps with curved sides that add grace to a pretty cheek. Having, +however, the odd fancy that a flat chest is more desirable than a +rounded one, they compress their busts into narrow compass, striving +as far as possible to preserve vertical lines. At the waist a plethora +of petticoats begins, spreading the skirts to inordinate width and +emphasising the meagreness above. + +The sombre attire of the Huizen women is a contrast to most of the +traditional costumes of Holland, which are charming, full of gay +colour and happy design. The art of dress seems otherwise to be dead +in Holland to-day; In the towns the ordinary conventional dress is +dull; and in the country it is without any charm. Holland as a whole, +omitting the costumes, cannot be said to have any more knowledge of +clothes than we have. It is only by the blue linen jackets of the men +in the fields that the situation is saved and the Dutch are proved +our superiors. How cool and grateful to the eyes this blue jacket +can be all admirers of Mauve's pictures know. + +Naarden and Muiden are curiously mediaeval. The steam-tram has been +rushing along for some miles, past beer gardens and villas, when +suddenly it slows to walking pace as we twist in and out over the +bridges of a moat, and creeping through the tunnel of a rampart are +in the narrow streets of a fortified town. Both Naarden and Muiden +are surrounded by moats and fortifications. + +Naarden's crowning hour of agony was in 1572, since it had the +misfortune to stand in the path of Don Frederic on his way from +Zutphen, where not a citizen had been left alive, to Amsterdam. The +story of the surrender of the city to Don Romero under the pledge +that life and property should be respected, and of the dastardly and +fiendish disregard of this pledge by the Spaniards, is the most ghastly +in the whole war. From Motley I take the account of the tragedy:-- + +"On the 22nd of November a company of one hundred troopers was sent to +the city gates to demand its surrender. The small garrison which had +been left by the Prince was not disposed to resist, but the spirit of +the burghers was stouter than their walls. They answered the summons +by a declaration that they had thus far held the city for the King +and the Prince of Orange, and, with God's help, would continue so +to do. As the horsemen departed with this reply, a lunatic, called +Adrian Krankhoeft, mounted the ramparts, and discharged a culverine +among them. No man was injured, but the words of defiance, and the +shot fired by a madman's hand, were destined to be fearfully answered. + +"Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the place, which was at best far +from strong, and ill provided with arms, ammunition, or soldiers, +despatched importunate messages to Sonoy, and to other patriot generals +nearest to them, soliciting reinforcements. Their messengers came +back almost empty-handed. They brought a little powder and a great +many promises, but not a single man-at-arms, not a ducat, not a piece +of artillery. The most influential commanders, moreover, advised an +honourable capitulation, if it were still possible. + +"Thus baffled, the burghers of the little city found their proud +position quite untenable. They accordingly, on the 1st of December, +despatched the burgomaster and a senator to Amersfoort, to make terms, +if possible, with Don Frederic. When these envoys reached the place, +they were refused admission to the general's presence. The army +had already been ordered to move forward to Naarden, and they were +directed to accompany the advance guard, and to expect their reply at +the gates of their own city. This command was sufficently ominous. The +impression which it made upon them was confirmed by the warning voices +of their friends in Amersfoort, who entreated them not to return to +Naarden. The advice was not lost upon one of the two envoys. After +they had advanced a little distance on their journey, the burgomaster, +Laurentszoon, slid privately out of the sledge in which they were +travelling, leaving his cloak behind him. 'Adieu; I think I will not +venture back to Naarden at present,' said he calmly, as he abandoned +his companion to his fate. The other, who could not so easily desert +his children, his wife, and his fellow-citizens in the hour of danger, +went forward as calmly to share in their impending doom. + +"The army reached Bussum, half a league distant from Naarden, in +the evening. Here Don Frederic established his headquarters, and +proceeded to invest the city. Senator Gerrit was then directed to +return to Naarden, and to bring out a more numerous deputation on the +following morning, duly empowered to surrender the place. The envoy +accordingly returned next day, accompanied by Lambert Hortensius, +rector of a Latin academy, together with four other citizens. Before +this deputation had reached Bussum, they were met by Julian Romero, +who informed them that he was commissioned to treat with them on the +part of Don Frederic. He demanded the keys of the city, and gave the +deputation a solemn pledge that the lives and property of all the +inhabitants should be sacredly respected. To attest this assurance, +Don Julian gave his hand three several times to Lambert Hortensius. A +soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners, without exchanging any +written documents, surrendered the keys, and immediately afterwards +accompanied Romero into the city, who was soon followed by five or +six hundred musketeers. + +"To give these guests an hospitable reception, all the housewives +of the city at once set about preparations for a sumptuous feast, +to which the Spaniards did ample justice, while the colonel and his +officers were entertained by Senator Gerrit at his own house. As +soon as this conviviality had come to an end, Romero, accompanied by +his host, walked into the square. The great bell had been meantime +ringing, and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in the Gast +Huis Church, then used as a town hall. In the course of a few minutes +500 had entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting whatever +measures might be offered for their deliberation. Suddenly a priest, +who had been pacing to and fro before the church door, entered the +building and bade them all prepare for death; but the announcement, +the preparation, and the death, were simultaneous. The door was +flung open, and a band of armed Spaniards rushed across the sacred +threshold. They fired a single volley upon the defenceless herd, +and then sprang in upon them with sword and dagger. A yell of despair +arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly they were engaged, +and beheld the ferocious faces of their butchers. The carnage within +that narrow space was compact and rapid. Within a few minutes all +were despatched, and among them Senator Gerrit, from whose table the +Spanish commander had but just risen. The church was then set on fire, +and the dead and dying were consumed to ashes together. + +"Inflamed but not satiated, the Spaniards then rushed into the +streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. The houses were all rifled of +their contents, and men were forced to carry the booty to the camp, +who were then struck dead as their reward. The town was then fired +in every direction, that the skulking citizens might be forced from +their hiding-places. As fast as they came forth they were put to +death by their impatient foes. Some were pierced with rapiers, some +were chopped to pieces with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing +streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, not with wine but +with blood, who tossed them to and fro with their lances, and derived a +wild amusement from their dying agonies. Those who attempted resistance +were crimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to death +in lingering torture. The soldiers becoming more and more insane, as +the foul work went on, opened the veins of some of their victims, and +drank their blood as if it were wine. Some of the burghers were for a +time spared, that they might witness the violation of their wives and, +daughters, and were then butchered in company with these still more +unfortunate victims. Miracles of brutality were accomplished. Neither +church nor hearth was sacred. Men were slain, women outraged at the +altars, in the streets, in their blazing homes. The life of Lambert +Hortensius was spared out of regard to his learning and genius, but he +hardly could thank his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son +dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes. Hardly any man +or woman survived, except by accident. A body of some hundred burghers +made their escape across the snow into the open country. They were, +however, overtaken, stripped stark naked, and hung upon the trees +by the feet, to freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death. Most +of them soon died, but twenty, who happened to be wealthy, succeeded, +after enduring much torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman +persecutors. The principal burgomaster, Heinrich Lambertszoon, was +less fortunate. Known to be affluent, he was tortured by exposing the +soles of his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed. On promise +that his life should be spared he then agreed to pay a heavy ransom; +but hardly had he furnished the stipulated sum when, by express +order of Don Frederic himself, he was hanged in his own doorway, +and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed to the gates of the city. + +"Nearly all the inhabitants of Naarden, soldiers and citizens, were +thus destroyed; and now Don Frederic issued peremptory orders that no +one, on pain of death, should give lodging or food to any fugitive. He +likewise forbade to the dead all that could now be forbidden them--a +grave. Three weeks long did these unburied bodies pollute the streets, +nor could the few wretched women who still cowered within such houses +as had escaped the flames ever move from their lurking-places without +treading upon the festering remains of what had been their husbands, +their fathers, or their brethren. Such was the express command of him +whom the flatterers called the 'most divine genius ever known'. Shortly +afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had +certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze +what was left of the city from the surface of the earth. The work was +faithfully accomplished, and for a long time Naarden ceased to exist." + +The Naarden of to-day sprang from the ruins. Mendoza's comment upon +the siege ran thus: "The sack of Naarden was a chastisement which +must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a +Divine Providence; a punishment for having been the first of the +Holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken +flight to all the neighbouring cities". None the less, "the hearts +of the Hollanders," says Motley, "were rather steeled to resistance +than awed into submission by the fate of Naarden"; as Don Frederic +found when he passed on to besiege Haarlem and later Alkmaar. + +To Muiderburg, between Naarden and Muiden, I have not been, and +therefore with the more readiness quote my indispensable author:-- + +In summer is Muiderberg by its situation at the Zuiderzee a favourite +little spot and very recommendable for nervous people. The number +of those who sought cure and found it here is enormous. It is the +vacation-place by excellence. There is a church with square tower +and organ. About the tower, the spire of which is failing, various +opinions go round how this occured, by war, by shooting or storm. + +The beautiful beech-grove in the center of the village, where a lot +of forest-giants are rising in the sky in severe rows, is a favorite +place, in the middle of which is a hill with fine pond. + +A couple of years ago Geertruida Carelsen wrote in her Berlin letters +that Muiderberg perhaps is the only bathing-place where sea and wood +are united. There are three well-known graveyards. + +Of Muiden's very picturesque moated castle--the ideal castle of +a romance--Peter Cornellissen Hooft, the poet and historian, was +once custodian. It was built in the thirteenth century and restored +by Florence V., who was subsequently incarcerated there. As the +Noord-Holland guide-book sardonically remarks, "He will never have +thought that he built his own prison by it". + + + +Chapter XIII + +Around Amsterdam: North + + To Marken--An _opera-bouffe_ island--Cultivated and + profitable simplicity--Broek-in-Waterland--Cow-damp--The two + doors--Gingerbread and love--Dead cities--Monnickendam--The + overturned camera--Dutch phlegm--Brabant the + quarrelsome--Edam--Holland's great churches--Edam's + roll of honour--A beard of note--A Dutch Daniel + Lambert--A virgin colossus--A ship-owner indeed--The + mermaid--Volendam--Taciturnity and tobacco--Purmerend--The + land of windmills--Zaandam--Green paint at its highest power--A + riverside inn--Peter the Great. + +An excursion which every one will say is indispensable takes one to +Marken (pronounced Marriker); but I have my doubts. The island may +be reached from Amsterdam either by boat, going by way of canal and +returning by sea, or one may take the steam-tram to Monnickendam or +Edam, and then fall into the hands of a Marken mariner. To escape +his invitations to sail thither is a piece of good fortune that few +visitors succeed in achieving. + +Marken in winter wears perhaps a genuine air; in the season of tourists +it has too much the suggestion of _opera bouffe_. The men's costume is +comic beyond reason; the inhabitants are picturesque of set design; +the old women at their doorways are too consciously the owners of +quaint habitations, glimpses of which catch the eye by well-studied +accident. I must confess to being glad to leave: for either one was +intruding upon a simple folk entirely surrounded by water; or the +simple folk, knowing human nature, had made itself up and sent out +its importunate young from strictly mercenary motives. In either +case Marken is no place for a sensitive traveller. The theory that +the Marken people are savages is certainly a wrong one; they have +carried certain of the privileges of civilisation very far and can +take care of themselves with unusual cleverness. Moreover, no savage +would cover his legs with such garments as the men adhere to. + +What is wrong with Marken is that for the most part it subsists +on sight-seers, which is bad; and it too generally suggests that +a stage-manager, employed by a huge Trust, is somewhere in the +background. It cannot be well with a community that encourages its +children to beg of visitors. + +The women, however, look sensible: fine upstanding creatures with a +long curl of yellow hair on each side of their faces. One meets them +now and then in Amsterdam streets, by no means dismayed by the traffic +and bustle. Their head-dresses are striking and gay, and the front +of their bodices is elaborately embroidered, the prevailing colours +being red and pink. Bright hues are also very popular within doors on +this island, perhaps by way of counteracting the external monotony, +the Marken walls being washed with yellow and hung with Delft plates, +while the furniture and hangings all have a cheerful gaiety. + +The island is flat save for the mounds on which its villages are built, +each house standing on poles to allow the frequent inundations of the +winter free way. If one has the time and money it is certainly better +to visit Marken in a fishing-boat than in the steamer--provided that +one can trust oneself to navigators masquerading in such bloomers. + +The steamers from Amsterdam pause for a while at Broek and +Monnickendam. Broek-in-Waterland, to give it its full title, is one +of the quaintest of Dutch villages. But unfortunately Broek also +has become to some extent a professional "sight". Its cleanliness, +however, for which it is famous, is not an artificial effect attained +to impress visitors, but a genuine enough characteristic. The houses +are gained by little bridges which, with various other idiosyncrasies, +help to make Broek a delight to children. If a company of children +were to be allowed to manage a small republic entirely alone, the +whimsical millionaire who fathered the project might do worse than +buy up this village for the experiment. + +In the model dairy farm of Broek, through which visitors file during +the time allowed by the steam-boat's captain, things happen as they +should: the cows' tails are tied to the roof, and all is spick and +span. The author of _Through Noord-Holland_ tells us that among the +dairy's illustrious visitors was an Italian duchess from Livorno +who ordered cheese for herself, for the Princess Borghese and for +the Duke of Ceri. Everything in the farm, he adds, "is glimmering +and glittering". + +One of the phenomena of Broek is thus explained by the same ingenious +author: "By beholding the dark-tinted columns attentively one sees +something dull here and there. In the year 1825, when the great flood +inundated whole Broek, men as well as cattle flied into the church, +which lies so much higher and remained quite free of water. By the +exhalations of the cows, the cow-damp, has the wood been blemished and +made dull at many places, chamois nor polish could help, the dullness +remained." The church has beauties to set against the phenomenon of +cow-damp, and among them a very elaborate carved pulpit in various +preclious woods, and some fine lamps. + +Ireland tells us that the front doors of many of Broek's houses +are opened only twice in their owners' lives--when they marry and +when they die. For the rest the back door must serve. The custom is +not confined to Broek, but is found all over North Holland. These +ceremonial front doors are often very ornate. It was also at Broek +that Ireland picked up his information as to the best means of winning +the Dutch heart. "Laughable as it may seem, a safe expedient to insure +the affections of the lower class of these lasses, is to arm yourself +well with gingerbread. The first question the lover is asked after +knocking at the door, when the parents are supposed to be in bed, +is, 'Have you any gingerbread?' If he replies in the affirmative, he +finds little difficulty in gaining admission. A second visit ensures +his success, and the lady yields." + +I can add a little to this. When a young man thinks of courting he +first speaks to the parents, and if they are willing to encourage +him he is asked to spend the evening with their daughter. They then +discreetly retire to bed and leave the world to him. Under his arm is +a large cake, not necessarily of gingerbread, and this he deposits on +the table, with or without words. If he is acceptable in the girl's +eyes she at once puts some more peat on the fire. He then knows that +all is well with him: the cake is cut, and Romance is king. But if the +fire is not replenished he must gather up his cake and return to his +home. A very favourite Dutch picture represents "The Cutting of the +Cake". I have heard that the Dutch wife takes her husband's left arm; +the Dutch fiancee her lover's right. + +Monnickendam, on the shores of the Zuyder Zee, is now a desolate sleepy +spot; once it was one of the great towns of Holland, at the time when +The Hague was a village. I say Zuyder Zee, but strictly speaking it +is on the Gouwzee, the name of the straits between Monnickendam and +Marken. It is here, in winter, when the ice holds, that a fair is held, +to which come all Amsterdam on skates, to eat poffertjes and wafelen, + +Monnickendam affords our first sight of what are called very +misleadingly the "Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee," meaning merely towns +which once were larger and busier. Monnickendam was sufficiently +important to fit out a fleet against the Spanish in 1573, under +Cornelius Dirckszoon (whose tomb we saw at Delft) and capture Bossu +in the battle of Hoorn. + +To-day Monnickendam suggests nothing so little as a naval +engagement. People live there, it is true, but one sees very few of +them. Only in an old English market town on a hot day--such a town as +Petworth, for example, in Sussex--do you get such desertion and quiet +and imperturbability. Monnickendam has, however, a treasure that few +English towns can boast--its charming little stadhuis tower, one of +the prettiest in Holland, with a happy peal of bells, and mechanical +horses in action once an hour; while the tram line running right down +the main street periodically awakens the populace. + +When last I visited Monnickendam it was by steam-tram; and at a little +half-way station, where it is necessary to wait for another tram, +our engine driver, stoker and guard were elaborately photographed +by an artist who seemed to be there for no other purpose. He placed +his tripod on the platform; grouped the officials; gave them--and +incidentally a score of heads protruding from the carriages--a +sufficient exposure, and was preparing another plate when an +incoming tram dashed up so unexpectedly as to cause him to jump, +and, in jumping, to overturn his tripod and precipitate the camera +under the carriage wheels. Now here was a tragedy worthy of serious +treatment. A Frenchman would have danced with rage; an Englishman +would have wanted to know whose fault it was and have threatened +reprisals. But the Dutchman merely looked a little pained, a little +surprised, and in a minute or two was preparing a friendly group of +the officials of the tram which had caused the accident. I do not put +the incident forward as typical; but certainly one may travel far in +Holland without seeing exhibitions of temper. I mentioned the nation's +equability to the young Dutchman in the canal boat between Rotterdam +and Delft. "Ah!" he said, "you should go to Brabant. They fight enough +there!" I did go to Brabant, but I saw no anger or quarrelsomeness; +yet I suppose he had his reasons. + +The steam-tram to Monnickendam runs on to Edam, whence one may command +both Volegdam and Purmerend. Edam is famous for its cheese, but the +traveller in Holland as a rule reserves for Alkmaar cheese market his +interest in this industry; and we will do the same. Broadly speaking +Edam sends forth the red cheeses, Alkmaar the yellow; but no hard +and fast line can be drawn. Were it not for its cheese market Edam +would be as "dead" as Monnickendam, but cheese saves it. It was once +a power and the water-gate of Amsterdam, at a time when the only way +to the Dutch capital was by the Zuyder Zee and the Y. Edam is at the +mouth of the Y, its name really being Ydam. The size of its Groote +Kerk indicates something of this past importance, for it is immense: +a Gothic building of the fourteenth century, cold and drear enough, +but a little humanised by some coloured glass from Gouda, often in +very bad condition. In the days when this church was built Edam had +twenty-five thousand inhabitants: now there are only five thousand. + +It is difficult to lose the feeling of disproportion between the size +of the Dutch churches and that of the villages and congregations. The +villages are so small, the churches so vast. It is as though the +churches were built to compensate for the absence of hills. From any +one spire in Holland one must be able to see almost all the others. + +The stained glass in Edam's great church has reference rather to +Holland's temporal prosperity than to religion. More interesting is +the room over the southern door, which was used first for a prison, +and later for a school, the library of which still may be seen. Edam +possesses in addition to the immense church of St. Nicholas a little +church of the Virgin, with a spire full of bells, badly out of the +perpendicular. The town has also some interesting old houses, one or +two of great beauty, and many enriched by quaint bas-reliefs. + +The stadhuis is comparatively modern and not externally +attractive. Within, however, Edam does honour to three fantastic +figures who once were to be seen in her streets--Peter Dircksz, +Jan Cornellissen and Trijntje Kever, portraits of whom grace the +town hall. Their claims to fame are certainly genuine, although +unexpected. Peter's idiosyncrasy was a beard which had to be looped +up to prevent it trailing in the mud; Jan, at the age of forty-two, +when the artist set to work upon him, weighed thirty-two stones and +six pounds; while Trijntje was a maiden nine feet tall and otherwise +ample. Peter and Trijntje were, I believe, true children of Edam, +but Jan was a mere import, having conveyed his bulk thither from +Friesland. Like our own Daniel Lambert, he kept an inn. One of +Trijntje's shoes is also preserved--liker to a boat than anything else. + +I have by no means exhausted Edam's roll of honour. Shipowner Osterlen +must be added--a burgher, who, in 1682, when his portrait was painted, +could point (and in the canvas does point, with no uncertain finger,) +to ninety-two ships of which he was the possessor. And a legend of +Edam tells how once in 1403, when the country was inundated by the +sea, some girls taking fresh water to the cows saw and captured +a mermaid. Her (like the lady in Mr. Wells's story) they dressed +and civilised, and taught to sow and spin, but could never make +talk. Possibly it is this mermaid who, caught in a fisherman's net, +is represented in bas-relief (as the fish that pleases all tastes) +on one of the facades of Edam, with accompanying verses which must +not be translated, embodying comments upon the nature of the haul by +various typical and very plain-spoken members of society--a soldier +and a schoolmaster, a monk and a fowler, for example. + +Edam has yet another hero. On the Dam bridge are iron-backed benches +which never grow rusty. "One owes this particularity," says _Through +Noord-Holland_, "to the invention of an Edamer about 1569, who also +took his secret with him into the grave." + +To the little fishing village of Volendain, paradise of quaint +costumes and gay prettinesses, artists invariably resort. Like much +of Monnickendam, and indeed almost all Dutch seaside settlements, the +village is, if not below sea-level, almost invisible from the water, +on account of an obliterating dyke. At the Helder one can consider +the rampart reasonable, but here, where there is no foe but the Zuyder +Zee, it may seem fantastic. If we lived there in winter, however, the +precaution would soon be justified, for the Zuyder Zee can on occasion +roar like a lion. It is odd to reflect that Volendam, Monnickendam and +Marken may become ordinary inland hamlets in the midst of green fields +if the great scheme for draining the Zuyder Zee is carried through. + +If the people and village of Volendam are to be described in a +phrase, they may be called better Markeners in a better Marken. The +decoration of the pointed red-roofed houses is similar; there is the +same prevailing and very ingratiating passion for blue Delft--and +a very beautiful blue too; the clothes of the men and women have a +family resemblance. But Volendam is in every way better--although +its open drain is a sore trial: it is more human, more natural. The +men hold the record for Dutch taciturnity. They also smoke more +persistently and wear larger sabots than I saw anywhere else, +leaving them outside their doors with a religious exactitude that +suggests that the good-wives of Volendam know how to be obeyed. The +women discard the Marken ringlets and richness of embroidery, but in +the matter of petticoats they approach the Scheveningen and Huizen +standards. Their jewellery resolves itself into a coral necklace, +while the men wear silver buttons--both coming down from mother to +daughter, and father to son. + +The fishing fleet of Volendam sails as far as the North Sea, but it +is always in Volendam by Saturday morning. Hence if you would see +the Volendam fishermen in their greatest strength the time to visit +the little town is at the end of the week or on Sunday. + +The day for Purmerend is Tuesday, because then the market is held, +in the castle plein, among mediaeval surroundings. To this market the +neighbourhood seems to send its whole population, by road and water, +in gay cart and comfortable wherry. According to my unfailing informant +in these regions, the Purmerend stadhuis, in order "to aggrandise the +cheese market," was in 1633 "set back a few meters by screwing-force". + +The excursion to Marken and the excursion to Edam and its neighbourhood +take each a day; but between Amsterdam and Zaandam, just off the great +North Canal, steamers ply continually, and one may be there in half +an hour. The journey must be made, because Zaandam is superficially +the gayest town in Holland and the capital of windmill land. In an +hour's drive (obviously no excursion for Don Quixote) one may pass +hundreds. These mills do everything except grind corn. For the most +part the Dutch mills pump: but they also saw wood, and cut tobacco, +and make paper, and indeed perform all the tasks for which in countries +less windy and less leisurely steam or water power is employed. The one +windmill in Holland which always springs to my mind when the subject is +mentioned is, however, not among Zaandam's legions: it is that solitary +and imposing erection which rises from the water in the Coolsingel +in Rotterdam. That is my standard Dutch mill. Another which I always +recall stands outside Bergen-op-Zoom, on the way to Tholen--all white. + +The Dutch mill differs from the English mill in three important +respects: it is painted more gaily (although for England white +paint is certainly best); it has canvas on its sails; and it is +often thatched. Dutch thatching is very smooth and pretty, like an +antelope's skin; and never more so than on the windmills. + +Zaandam lies on either side of the river Zaan, here broad and placid +and north of the dam more like the Thames at Teddington, say, than +any stretch of water in Holland. A single street runs beside the +river for about a mile on both banks, the houses being models of +smiling neatness, picked out with cheerful green paint. At Zaandam +green paint is at its greenest. It is the national pigment; but +nowhere else in Holland have they quite so sure a hand with it. To +the critics who lament that there is no good Dutch painting to-day, +I would say "Go to Zaandam". Not only is Zaandam's green the greenest, +but its red roofs are the reddest, in Holland. A single row of trees +runs down each of its long streets, and on the other side of each +are illimitable fields intersected by ditches which on a cloudless +afternoon might be strips of the bluest ribbon. + +We sat for an hour in the garden of "De Zon," a little inn on the west +bank half-way between the dam and the bridge. The landlady brought us +coffee, and with it letters from other travellers who had liked her +garden and had written to tell her so. These she read and purred over, +as a good landlady is entitled to do, while we watched the barges +float past and disappear as the distant lock opened and swallowed them. + +South of the dam the interest is centred in the hut where for a +while in 1697 Peter the Great lived to see how the Dutchmen built +their ships. The belief that no other motive than the inspection of +this very uninteresting cottage could bring a stranger hither is +a tenet of faith to which the Zaandamer is bound with shackles of +iron. The moment one disembarks the way to Peter's residence begins +to be pointed out. Little boys run before; sturdy men walk beside; +old men (one with a wooden leg) struggle behind. It was later that +the Czar crossed to England and worked in the same way at Deptford; +but no visitor to Deptford to-day is required to see his lodging there. + +The real interest of Zaandam is not its connection with Peter the +Great but the circumstance that it was the birthplace of Anton Mauve, +in 1838. He died at Arnheim in 1888, Neither Zaandam nor Arnheim +honours him. + + + +Chapter XIV + +Alkmaar and Hoorn, The Helder and Enkhuisen + + To Alkmaar by canal--The Cheese Market--The Weigh House + clock--Buyers and sellers--The siege of Alkmaar--To + Hoorn by sea--A Peaceful harbour--Hoorn's explorer + sons--John Haring's bravery--The defeat of De Bossu--Negro + heroes--Hoorn's streets--and museum--Market day--and + Kermis--Nieuwediep--The Helder--The Lighthouse--Hotel + characters--The praise of the porter--Texel--Medemblik--King + Radbod's hesitancy--Enkhuisen--Paul Potter--Sir William Temple + and the old philosopher--The Dromedary. + +If the weather is fine one should certainly go to Alkmaar by canal. The +journey by water, on a steamer, is always interesting and intensely +invigorating. It is only one remove from the open sea, so flat is +the country, so free the air. + +Alkmaar's magnet is its cheese market, which draws little companies of +travellers thither every Friday in the season. To see it rightly one +must reach Alkmaar on the preceding afternoon, to watch the arrival +of the boats from the neighbouring farms, and see them unload their +yellow freight on the market quay. The men who catch the cheeses are +exceedingly adroit--it is the nearest thing to an English game that +is played in Holland. Before they are finally placed in position the +cheeses are liberally greased, until they glow and glitter like orange +fires. All the afternoon the boats come in, with their collections +from the various dairies on the water. By road also come cheeses in +wagons of light polished wood painted blue within; and all the while +the carillon of the beautiful grave Weigh House is ringing out its +little tunes--the wedding march from "Lohengrin" among them--and the +little mechanical horsemen are charging in the tourney to the blast of +the little mechanical trumpeter. At one o'clock they run only a single +course; but at noon the glories of Ashby-de-la-Zouche are enacted. + +By nine o'clock on the Friday morning the market square is covered +with rectangular yellow heaps arranged with Dutch systematic order +and symmetry, many of them protected by tarpaulins, and the square +is filled also with phlegmatic sellers and buyers, smoking, smoking, +unceasingly smoking, and discussing the weather and the cheese, +the cheese and the Government. + +Not till ten may business begin. Instantly the first stroke of ten +sounds the aspect of the place is changed. The Government and the +weather recede; cheese emerges triumphant. Tarpaulins are stripped off; +a new expression settles upon the features both of buyers and sellers; +the dealers begin to move swiftly from one heap to another. They feel +the cheeses, pat them, listen to them, plunge in their scoops and +remove a long pink stick which they roll in their fingers, smell or +taste and then neatly replace. Meanwhile, the seller stands by with an +air part self-satisfaction, part contempt, part pity, part detachment, +as who should say "It matters nothing to me whether this fussy fellow +thinks the cheese good or not, buys it or not; but whether he thinks +it good or bad, or whether he buys, or leaves it, it is still the +best cheese in Alkmaar market, and some one will give me my price". + +The seller gnaws his cigar, the buyer asks him what he asks. The buyer +makes an offer. The seller refuses. The buyer increases it. The seller +either refuses or accepts. In accepting, or drawing near acceptance, +he extends his hand, which the buyer strikes once, and then pausing, +strikes again. Apparently two such movements clench the bargain; +but I must confess to being a bad guide here, for I could find no +absolute rule to follow. The whole process of Alkmaar chaffering +is exceedingly perplexing and elusive. Otherwise the buyer walks +away to other cheeses, the seller by no means unconscious of his +movements. A little later he returns, and then as likely as not his +terms are accepted, unless another has been beforehand with him and +bought the lot. + +Not until half-past ten strikes may the weighing begin. At that hour +the many porters suddenly spring into activity and hasten to the +Weigh House with their loads, which are ticketed off by the master +of the scales. + +The scene is altogether very Dutch and very interesting; and one should +make a point of crossing the canal to get a general view of the market, +with the river craft in the foreground, the bustling dealers behind, +and above all the elaborate tower and facade of the Weigh House. + +Alkmaar otherwise is not of great interest. It has a large light +church, bare and bleak according to custom, with very attractive green +curtains against its whitewash, in which, according to the author +of _Through Noord-Holland_, is a tomb containing "the entrails of +Count Florence the Fifth". Here also is a model of one of De Ruyter's +ships. Alkmaar also possesses a charming Oude Mannen en Oude Vrouwen +Huis (or alms house, as we say) with white walls and a very pretty +tower; quiet, pleasant streets; and on its outskirts a fine wood +called the Alkmaarder Hout. + +In the Museum, which is not too interesting, is a picture of the +siege of Alkmaar, an episode of which the town has every right to +be proud. It was the point of attack by the Duke of Alva and his son +after the conquest of Haarlem--that hollow victory for Spain which was +more costly than many defeats. Philip had issued a decree threatening +the total depopulation of Holland unless its cities submitted to +the charms of his attractive religion. The citizens of Alkmaar were +the first to defy this proclamation. Once again Motley comes to our +aid with his vivid narrative: "The Spaniards advanced, burned the +village of Egmont to the ground as soon as the patriots had left it, +and on the 21st of August Don Frederic, appearing before the walls, +proceeded formally to invest Alkmaar. In a few days this had been so +thoroughly accomplished, that, in Alva's language, 'it was impossible +for a sparrow to enter or go out of the city'. The odds were somewhat +unequal. Sixteen thousand veteran troops constituted the besieging +force. Within the city were a garrison of _eight hundred_ soldiers, +together with _thirteen hundred_ burghers, capable of bearing +arms. The rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, +besides the women and children. Two thousand one hundred able-bodied +men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen +thousand regulars! + +"Nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, +should they succumb. The Duke was vociferous at the ingratitude +with which his _clemency_ had hitherto been requited. He complained +bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; +reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous +mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three +hundred persons at the surrender of Haarlem, besides a few additional +burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of +affection. He promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all +this ingratitude in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreck +upon Alkmaar. Already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which +would soon be let loose within those walls. Such ravings, if invented +by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, +authentically, from his own, they still appear almost too exaggerated +for belief. 'If I take Alkmaar,' he wrote to Philip, 'I am resolved +not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every +throat. Since the example of Harlem has proved of no use, _perhaps +an example of cruelty_ will bring the other cities to their senses,' +He took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation +in Madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning +to heed. Nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea +of pardon and clemency. This had been sufficiently proved by recent +events. It was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness; +but those upon the spot knew better. _Gentleness had produced nothing_, +so far; violence alone could succeed in future. 'Let your Majesty,' he +said, 'be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can +be done with these people. Already have matters reached such a point +that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated +clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge their mistake. They +are of opinion _that not a living soul should be left in Alkmaar, +but that every individual should be put to the sword_.'... + +"Affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. Daily +skirmishes, without decisive result, had taken place outside the +walls. At last, on the 18th of September, after a steady cannonade +of nearly twelve hours, Don Frederic at three in the afternoon, +ordered an assault. Notwithstanding his seven months' experience at +Haarlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry Alkmaar +by storm. The attack took place at once upon the Frisian gate, +and upon the red tower on the opposite side. Two choice regiments, +recently arrived from Lombardy, led the onset, rending the air with +their shouts, and confident of an easy victory. They were sustained +by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. Yet +never, even in the recent history of Haarlem, had an attack been +received by more dauntless breasts. Every living man was on the walls, +The storming parties were assailed with cannon, with musketry, with +pistols. Boiling water, pitch and oil, molten lead, and unslaked lime, +were poured upon them every moment. Hundreds of tarred and burning +hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who +struggled in vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs, +while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot upon the breach, they +were confronted face to face with sword and dagger by the burghers, +who hurled them headlong into the moat below. + +"Thrice was the attack renewed with ever-increasing rage--thrice +repulsed with unflinching fortitude. The storm continued four hours +long. During all that period, not one of the defenders left his post, +till he dropped from it dead or wounded. The women and children, +unscared by the balls flying in every direction, or by the hand-to-hand +conflicts on the ramparts, passed steadily to and fro from the arsenals +to the fortifications, constantly supplying their fathers, husbands, +and brothers with powder and ball. Thus, every human being in the city +that could walk had become a soldier. At last darkness fell upon the +scene. The trumpet of recall was sounded, and the Spaniards, utterly +discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand +dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four +of the garrison lost their lives. Thus was Alkmaar preserved for a +little longer--thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated +by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. Ensign +Solis, who had mounted the breach for an instant, and miraculously +escaped with life, after having been hurled from the battlements, +reported that he had seen 'neither helmet nor harness,' as he looked +down into the city; only some plain-looking people, generally dressed +like fishermen. Yet these plain-looking fishermen had defeated the +veterans of Alva.... + +"The day following the assault, a fresh cannonade was opened upon +the city. Seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was +ordered. It was in vain; neither threats nor entreaties could induce +the Spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach. The place +seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers, +otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could +already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honoured legions of +Spain. It was thought, no doubt, that the Devil, whom they worshipped, +would continue to protect his children. Neither the entreaties nor the +menaces of Don Frederic were of any avail. Several soldiers allowed +themselves to be run through the body by their own officers, rather +than advance to the wails, and the assault was accordingly postponed +to an indefinite period." + +What seemed at first an unfortunate accident turned the scale. A +messenger bearing despatches from the Prince of Orange fell into +Spanish hands and Don Frederic learned that the sea was to be let +in. Motley continues: "The resolution taken by Orange, of which Don +Frederic was thus unintentionally made aware, to flood the country +far and near rather than fail to protect Alkmaar, made a profound +impression upon his mind. It was obvious that he was dealing with +a determined leader, and with desperate men. His attempt to carry +the place by storm had signally failed, and he could not deceive +himself as to the temper and disposition of his troops ever since +that repulse. When it should become known that they were threatened +with submersion in the ocean, in addition to all the other horrors of +war, he had reason to believe that they would retire ignominiously +from that remote and desolate sand hook, where, by remaining, they +could only find a watery grave. These views having been discussed in +a council of officers, the result was reached that sufficient had been +already accomplished for the glory of the Spanish arms. Neither honour +nor loyalty, it was thought, required that sixteen thousand soldiers +should be sacrificed in a contest, not with man, but with the ocean. + +"On the 8th of October, accordingly, the siege, which had lasted +seven weeks, was raised, and Don Frederic rejoined his father in +Amsterdam. Ready to die in the last ditch, and to overwhelm both +themselves and their foes in a common catastrophe, the Hollanders had +at last compelled their haughty enemy to fly from a position which +he had so insolently assumed." + +Every one is agreed that Hoorn should be approached by water, +because it rises from the sea like an enchanted city of the East, +with its spires and its Harbour Tower beautifully unreal. And as the +ship comes nearer there is the additional interest of wondering how +the apparently landlocked harbour is to be entered, a long green bar +seeming to stretch unbrokenly from side to side. At the last minute +the passage is revealed, and one glides into this romantic port. I +put Hoorn next to Middelburg in the matter of charm, but seen from +the sea it is of greater fascination. In many ways Hoorn is more +remarkable as a town, but more of my heart belongs to Middelburg. + +I sat on the coping of the harbour at sundown and watched a merry party +dining in the saloon of a white and exceedingly comfortable-looking +yacht, some thirty or forty yards away. Two neat maids continually +passed from the galley to the saloon, and laughter came over +the water. The yacht was from Arnheim, its owner having all the +appearance of a retired East Indian official. In the distance was +a tiny sailing boat with its sail set to catch what few puffs of +wind were moving. Its only occupant was a man in crimson trousers, +the reflection from which made little splashes of warm colour in the +pearl grey sea. At Hoorn there seems to be a tendency to sail for +pleasure, for as we came away a party of chattering girls glided out +in the care of an elderly man--bound for a cruise in the Zuyder Zee. + +It is conjectured that Hoorn took its name from the mole protecting the +harbour, which might be considered to have the shape of a horn. The +city as she used to be (now dwindled to something less, although +the cheese industry makes her prosperous enough and happy enough) +was called by the poet Vondel the trumpet and capital of the Zuyder +Zee, the blessed Horn. He referred particularly to the days of Tromp, +whose ravaging and victorious navy was composed largely of Hoorn ships. + +Cape Horn, at the foot of South America, is the name-child of the Dutch +port, for the first to discover the passage round that headland and to +give it its style was Willem Schouten, a Hoorn sailor. It was another +Hoorn sailor, Abel Tasman, who discovered Van Diemen's Land (now called +after him) and also New Zealand; and a third, Jan Pieters Coen (whose +statue may be seen at Hoorn) who founded the Dutch dominions in the +East Indies, and thus changed the whole character of his own country, +leading to that orientalising to which I have so often referred. + +A more picturesque hero was John Haring of Hoorn, who performed a +great feat in 1572, when De Sonoy, the Prince of Orange's general, +was fighting De Bossu, the Spanish Admiral, off the Y, just at the +beginning of the siege of Haarlem. An unexpected force of Spaniards +from Amsterdam overwhelmed the few men whom De Sonoy had mustered +for the defence of the Diemerdyk. I quote Motley's account: "Sonoy, +who was on his way to their rescue, was frustrated in his design +by the unexpected faint-heartedness of the volunteers whom he had +enlisted at Edam. Braving a thousand perils, he advanced, almost +unattended, in his little vessel, but only to witness the overthrow +and expulsion of his band. It was too late for him singly to attempt +to rally the retreating troops. They had fought well, but had been +forced to yield before superior numbers, one individual of the little +army having performed prodigies of valour. John Haring, of Hoorn, +had planted himself entirely alone upon the dyke, where it was so +narrow between the Y on the one side and Diemer Lake on the other, +that two men could hardly stand abreast. Here, armed with sword +and shield, he had actually opposed and held in check one thousand +of the enemy, during a period long enough to enable his own men, +if they had been willing, to rally, and effectively to repel the +attack. It was too late, the battle was too far lost to be restored; +but still the brave soldier held the post, till, by his devotion, +he had enabled all those of his compatriots who still remained in +the entrenchments to make good their retreat. He then plunged into +the sea, and, untouched by spear or bullet, effected his escape. Had +he been a Greek or a Roman, a Horatius or a Chabras, his name would +have been famous in history--his statue erected in the market-place; +for the bold Dutchman on his dyke had manifested as much valour in +a sacred cause as the most classic heroes of antiquity." + +Then came the siege of Haarlem, and then the siege of Alkmaar. Hoorn's +turn followed, but Hoorn was gloriously equal to it in the hands of +Admiral Dirckzoon, whose sword is in the Alkmaar museum, and whose +tomb is at Delft. Motley shall tell the story: "On the 11th October, +however, the whole patriot fleet, favored by a strong easterly breeze, +bore down upon the Spanish armada, which, numbering now thirty sail +of all denominations, was lying off and on in the neighbourhood +of Hoorn and Enkhuyzen. After a short and general engagement, +nearly all the Spanish fleet retired with precipitation, closely +pursued by most of the patriot Dutch vessels. Five of the King's +ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. Only +the Admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had +thus basely deserted him. His ship, the 'Inquisition,' for such was +her insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both +the fleets. Most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, +but four vessels of inferior size had attacked the 'Inquisition' at +the commencement of the action. Of these, one had soon been silenced, +while the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides +and prow. The four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe +and savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of +the ships was entirely abandoned. No scientific gunnery, no military +or naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. It +was a life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when Spaniard +and Netherlander met, whether on land or water. Bossu and his men, +armed in bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword +on the deck of the 'Inquisition,' ready to repel all attempts to +board. The Hollander, as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling +oil, and molten lead. Repeatedly they effected their entrance to the +Admiral's ship, and as often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, +or hurled into the sea. + +"The battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without +intermission through the whole night. The vessels, drifting together, +struck on the shoal called the Nek, near Wydeness. In the heat of the +action the occurrence was hardly heeded. In the morning twilight, +John Haring, of Hoorn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers +at bay upon the Diemer dyke, clambered on board the 'Inquisition,' +and hauled her colors down. The gallant but premature achievement cost +him his life. He was shot through the body and died on the deck of the +ship, which was not quite ready to strike her flag. In the course of +the forenoon, however, it became obvious to Bossu that further +resistance was idle. The ships were aground near a hostile coast, +his own fleet was hopelessly dispersed, three-quarters of his crew +were dead or disabled, while the vessels with which he was engaged +were constantly recruited by boats from the shore, which brought fresh +men and ammunition, and removed their killed and wounded. At eleven +o'clock Admiral Bossu surrendered, and with three hundred prisoners +was carried into Holland. Bossu was himself imprisoned at Hoorn, in +which city he was received, on his arrival, with great demonstrations +of popular hatred." + +De Bossu remained in prison for three years. Later he fought for the +States. His goblet is preserved at Hoorn. His collar is at Monnickendam +and his sword at Enkhuisen. + +The room in the Protestant orphanage where De Bossu was imprisoned is +still to be seen; and you may see also at the corner of the Grooteoost +the houses from which the good wives and housekeepers watched the +progress of the battle, and on which a bas-relief representation of +the battle was afterwards placed in commemoration. + +Two more heroes of Hoorn may be seen in effigy on the facade of +the State College, opposite the Weigh House, guarding an English +shield. The shield is placed there, among the others, on account of +a daring feat performed by two negro sailors in De Ruyter's fleet +in the Thames, who ravished from an English ship in distress the +shield at her stern and presented it to Hoorn, their adopted town, +where it is now supported by bronze figures of its captors. + +Hoorn's streets are long and cheerful, with houses graciously bending +forwards, many of them dignified by black paint and yet not made too +grave by it. This black paint blending with the many trees on the +canal sides has the same curious charm as at Amsterdam, although there +the blackness is richer and more absolute. Even the Hoorn warehouses +are things of beauty: one in particular, by the Harbour Tower, with +bright green shutters, is indescribably gay, almost coquettish. Hoorn +also has the most satisfying little houses I saw in Holland--streets +of them. And of all the costumes of Holland I remember most vividly +the dead black dress and lace cap of a woman who suddenly turned a +corner here--as if she had walked straight from a picture by Elias. + +The Harbour Tower is perhaps Hoorn's finest building, its charm +being intensified rather than diminished by the hideous barracks +close by. St. Jan's Gasthuis has a facade of beautiful gravity, and +the gateway of the home for Ouden Vrouwen is perfect. The museum +in the Tribunalshof is the most intimate and human collection of +curiosities which I saw in Holland--not a fossil, not a stuffed bird, +in the building. Among the pictures are the usual groups of soldiers +and burgomasters, and the usual fine determined De Ruyter by Bol. We +were shown Hoorn's treasures by a pleasant girl who allowed no shade +of tedium to cross her smiling courteous face, although the display +of these ancient pictures and implements, ornaments and domestic +articles must have been her daily work for years. In the top room +of all is a curious piece of carved stone on which may be read these +inscriptions:-- + + + This most illustrious Prince, + Henry Lord Darnley, King of Scotland, + Father to our Soveraigne Lord King James. + He died at the age of 21. + + The most excellent Princesse Marie, Queen of Scotland, + Mother of our Soveraigne, Lord King James. + She died 1586, and entombed at West Minster. + + +It would be interesting to know more of this memorial. + +In another room are two carved doors from a house in Hoorn that had +been disfurnished which give one a very vivid idea of the old good +taste of this people and the little palaces of grave art in which +they lived. + +Thursday is Hoorn's market day, and it is important to be there then +if one would see the market carts of North Holland in abundance. We +had particularly good fortune since our Thursday was not only market +day but the Kermis too. I noticed that the principal attraction of +the fair, for boys, was the stalls (unknown at the Kermis both at +Middelburg and Leyden) on which a variety of flat cake was chopped +with a hatchet. The chopper, who I understand is entitled only to +what he can sever with one blow, often fails to get any. + +Nieuwediep and The Helder, at the extreme north of Holland, are one, +and interesting only to those to whom naval works are interesting. For +they are the Portsmouth and Woolwich of the country. My memories of +these twin towns are not too agreeable, for when I was there in 1897 +the voyage from Amsterdam by the North Holland canal had chilled me +through and through, and in 1904 it rained without ceasing. Nieuwediep +is all shipping and sailors, cadet schools and hospitals. The Helder +is a dull town, with the least attractive architecture I had seen, +cowering beneath a huge dyke but for which, one is assured, it would +lie at the bottom of the North Sea. Under rain it is a drearier town +than any I know; and ordinarily it is bleak and windy, saved only +by its kites, which are flown from the dyke and sail over the sea at +immense heights. Every boy has a kite--one more link between Holland +and China. + +I climbed the lighthouse at The Helder just before the lamp was lit. It +was an impressive ceremony. The captain and his men stood all ready, +the captain watching the sun as it sunk on the horizon. At the instant +it disappeared he gave the word, and at one stride came the light. I +chanced at the moment to be standing between the lantern and the sea, +and I was asked to move with an earnestness of entreaty in which the +safety of a whole navy seemed to be involved. The light may be seen +forty-eight miles away. It is fine to think of all the eyes within +that extent of sea, invisible to us, caught almost simultaneously by +this point of flame. + +I did not stay at Nieuwediep but at The Helder. Thirty years ago, +however, one could have done nothing so inartistic, for then, +according to M. Havard, the Hotel Ten Burg at Nieuwediep had for +its landlord a poet, and for its head waiter a baritone, and to stay +elsewhere would have been a crime. Here is M. Havard's description +of these virtuosi: "No one ever sees the landlord the first day he +arrives at the hotel. M.B.R. de Breuk is not accessible to ordinary +mortals. He lives up among the clouds, and when he condescends to come +down to earth he shuts himself up in his own room, where he indulges +in pleasant intercourse with the Muses. + +"I have no objection to confessing that, although I am a brother in +the art, and have stayed several times at his hotel, I have never +once been allowed to catch a glimpse of his features. The head-waiter, +happily, is just the contrary. It is he who manages the hotel, receives +travellers, and arranges for their well-being. He is a handsome +fellow, with a fresh complexion, heavy moustache, and one lock of hair +artificially arranged on his forehead. He is perfectly conscious of +his own good looks, and wears rings on both his hands. Nature has +endowed him with a sonorous baritone voice, the notes of which, +whether sharp or melodious, he is careful in expressing, because +he is charmed with his art, and has an idea that it is fearfully +egotistical to conceal such treasures. One note especially he never +fails to utter distinctly, and that is the last--the note of payment. + +"Sometimes he allows himself to become so absorbed in his art that he +forgets the presence in the hotel of tired travellers, and disturbs +their slumbers by loud roulades and cadences; or perhaps he is asked to +fetch a bottle of beer, he stops on the way to the cellar to perfect +the harmony of a scale, and does not return till the patience of the +customer is exhausted. But who would have the heart to complain of such +small grievances when the love of song is stronger than any other?" + +I had no such fortune in Holland. No hotel proprietor rhymed for me, +no waiter sang. My chief friends were rather the hotel porters, +of whom I recall in particular two--the paternal colossus at the +Amstel in Amsterdam, who might have sat for the Creator to an old +master--urbane, efficient, a storehouse of good counsel; and the plump +and wide cynic into whose capable and kindly hands one falls at the +Oude Doelen at The Hague, that shrewd and humorous reader of men and +Americans. I see yet his expression of pity, not wholly (yet perhaps +sufficiently) softened to polite interest, when consulted as to the +best way in which to visit Alkmaar to see the cheese market. That +any one staying at The Hague--and more, at the Oude Doelen--should +wish to see traffic in cheese at a provincial town still strikes his +wise head as tragic, although it happens every week. I honour him +for it and for the exquisite tact with which he retains his opinion +and allows you to have yours. + +A poet landlord and an operatic head waiter, what are they when all +is said beside a friendly hotel porter? He is the _Deus ex machina_ +indeed. The praises of the hotel porter have yet to be sung. O +Switzerland! the poet might begin (not, probably, a landlord poet) O +Switzerland--I give but a bald paraphrase of the spirited original--O +Switzerland, thou land of peaks and cow bells, of wild strawberries +and nonconformist conventions, of grasshoppers and climbing dons, +thou hast strange limitations! Thou canst produce no painter, thou +possessest no navy; but thou makest the finest hotel porters in the +world. Erect, fair-haired, blue-eyed, tactful and informing, they +are the true friends of the homeless!--And so on for many strophes. + +To Texel I did not cross, although it is hard for any one who has +read _The Riddle of the Sands_ to refrain. Had we been there in the +nesting season I might have wandered in search of the sea birds' +and the plovers' eggs, just for old sake's sake, as I have in the +island of Coll, but we were too late, and The Helder had depressed +us. It was off the Island of Texel on 31st July, 1653, that Admiral +Tromp was killed during his engagement with the English under Monk. + +Medemblik, situated on the point of a spur of land between The Helder +and Enkhuisen, was once the residence of Radbod and the Kings of +Frisia. It is now nothing. One good story at any rate may be recalled +there. When Radbod, King of the Frisians, was driven out of Western +Frisia in 689 by Pepin of Heristal, Duke and Prince of the Franks +(father of Charles Martel and great grandfather of Charlemagne, who +completed the conquest of Frisia), the defeated king was considered +a convert to Christianity, and the preparations for his baptism were +made on a grand scale. Never a whole-hearted convert, Radbod, even as +one foot was in the water, had a visitation of doubt. Where, he made +bold to ask, were the noble kings his ancestors, who had not, like +himself, been offered this inestimable privilege of baptism--in heaven +or in hell? The officiating Bishop replied that they were doubtless +in hell. "Then," said Radbod, withdrawing his foot, "I think it would +be better did I join them there, rather than go alone to Paradise." + +Enkhuisen, where one embarks for Friesland, is a Dead City of the +Zuyder Zee, with more signs of dissolution than most of them. Once she +had a population of sixty thousand; that number must now be divided +by ten. + +"Above all things," says M. Havard, the discoverer of Dead Cities, +"avoid a promenade in this deserted town with an inhabitant familiar +with its history, otherwise you will constantly hear the refrain; +'Here was formerly the richest quarter of commerce; there, where +the houses are falling into total ruin, was the quarter of our +aristocracy,' But more painful still, when we have arrived at what +appears the very end of the town, the very last house, we see at a +distance a gate of the city. A hundred years ago the houses joined +this gate. It took us a walk of twenty minutes across the meadows +to arrive at this deserted spot." I did not explore the town, and +therefore I cannot speak with any authority of its possessions; +but I saw enough to realise what a past it must have had. + +At Enkhuisen was born Paul Potter, who painted the famous picture +of the bull in the Mauritshuis at The Hague. The year 1625 saw his +birth; and it was only twenty-nine years later that he died. While +admiring Potter's technical powers, I can imagine few nervous trials +more exacting than having to live with his bull intimately in one's +room. This only serves to show how temperamental a matter is art +criticism, for on each occasion that I have been to the Mauritshuis the +bull has had a ring of mute or throbbing worshippers, while Vermeer's +"View of Delft" was without a devotee. I have seen, however, little +scenes of cattle by Potter which were attractive as well as masterly. + +Sir William Temple, in his _Observations upon the United Provinces_ +gives a very human page to this old town: "Among the many and various +hospitals, that are in every man's curiosity and talk that travels +their country, I was affected with none more than that of the aged +seamen at Enchuysen, which is contrived, finished, and ordered, +as if it were done with a kind intention of some well-natured man, +that those, who had passed their whole lives in the hardships and +incommodities of the sea, should find a retreat stored with all +the eases and conveniences that old age is capable of feeling and +enjoying. And here I met with the only rich man that ever I saw in +my life: for one of these old seamen entertaining me a good while +with the plain stories of his fifty years' voyages and adventures, +while I was viewing their hospital, and the church adjoining, I gave +him, at parting, a piece of their coin about the value of a crown: +he took it smiling, and offered it me again; but, when I refused +it, he asked me, What he should do with money? for all, that ever +they wanted, was provided for them at their house. I left him to +overcome his modesty as he could; but a servant, coming after me, +saw him give it to a little girl that opened the church door, as she +passed by him: which made me reflect upon the fantastic calculation +of riches and poverty that is current in the world, by which a man, +that wants a million, is a Prince; he, that wants but a groat, is a +beggar; and this a poor man, that wanted nothing at all." + +Hoorn's Harbour Tower, as I have said, has a charm beyond description; +but Enkhuisen's--known as the Dromedary--is unwieldly and plain. It +has, however, this advantage over Hoorn's, its bells are very +beautiful. One sees the Dromedary for some miles on the voyage to +Stavoren and Friesland. + + + +Chapter XV + +Friesland: Stavoren to Leeuwarden + + Enkhuisen to Stavoren--Draining the Zuyder + Zee--The widow and the sandbank--Frisian births and + courtships--Hindeloopen--Quaint rooms and houses--A + pious pun--Biers for all trades--Sneek--Barge life--Two + giants--Bolsward--The cow--A digression on the weed. + +The traveller from Amsterdam enters Free Frisia at Stavoren, once +the home of kings and now a mere haven. A little steamer carries +the passengers from Enkhuisen, while the cattle trucks and vans of +merchandise cross the Zuyder Zee in a huge railway raft. The steamer +takes an hour or a little longer--time enough to have lunch on deck if +it is fine, and watch Enkhuisen fading into nothingness and Stavoren +rising from the sea. + +Before the thirteenth century the Zuyder Zee consisted only of +Lake Flevo, south of Stavoren and Enkhuisen, so that our passage +then would have been made on land. But in 1282 came a great tempest +which drove the German ocean over the north-west shores of Holland, +insulating Texel and pouring over the low land between Holland and +Friesland. The scheme now in contemplation to drain the Zuyder Zee +proposes a dam from Enkhuisen to Piaam, thus reclaiming some 1,350,000 +acres for meadow land. Since what man has done man can do, there is +little doubt but that the Dutch will carry through this great project. + +Concerning Stavoren there is now but one thing to say, and no writer +on Holland has had the temerity to avoid saying it. That thing is the +story of the widow and the sandbank. It seems that at Stavoren in its +palmy days was a wealthy widow shipowner, who once gave instructions +to one of her captains, bound for a foreign port, that he should +bring back the most valuable and precious thing to be found there, +in exchange for the outward cargo. The widow expected I know not +what--ivory, perhaps, or peacocks, or chrysoprase--and when the +captain brought only grain, she was so incensed that, though the poor +of Stavoren implored her to give it them, she bade him forthwith throw +it overboard. This he did, and the corn being cursed there sprang up +on that spot a sandbank which gradually ruined the harbour and the +town. The bank is called The Widow's Corn to this day. + +It was near Stavoren that M. Havard engaged in a pleasant and improving +conversation with a lock-keeper who had fought with France, and from +him learned some curious things about Friesland customs. I quote +a little: "When a wife has given birth to a boy and added a son to +Friesland, all her female friends come to see her and drink in her room +the _brandewyn_, which is handed round in a special cup or goblet. Each +woman brings with her a large tart, all of which are laid out in the +room--sometimes they number as many as thirty. The more there are +and the finer the cakes the better, because that proves the number of +friends. A few days later the new-born Frieslander is taken to church, +all the girls from twelve years old accompanying the child and carrying +it each in turn. As soon as they reach the church the child is handed +to the father, who presents it for baptism. Not a girl in the place +would renounce her right to take part in the little procession, +for it is a subject of boasting when she marries to be able to say, +'I have accompanied this and that child to its baptism'. Besides, +it is supposed to ensure happiness, and that she in her turn will +have a goodly number of little ones. + +"'Well and how about betrothals?' 'Ah! ha! that's another thing. The +girl chooses the lad. You know the old proverb, 'There are only +two things a girl chooses herself--her potatoes and her lover'. You +can well imagine how such things begin. They see each other at the +_kermis_, or in the street, or fields. Then one fine day the lad +feels his heart beating louder than usual. In the evening he puts on +his best coat, and goes up to the house where the girl lives. + +"The father and mother give him a welcome, which the girls smile at, +and nudge each other. No one refers to the reason for his visit, though +of course it is well known why he is there. At last, when bedtime +comes, the children retire--even the father and mother go to their +room--and the girl is left alone at the fireside with the young man. + +"They speak of this and that, and everything, but not a word of love +is uttered. If the girl lets the fire go down, it is a sign she does +not care for the lad, and won't have him for a husband. If, on the +contrary, she heaps fuel on the fire, he knows that she loves him +and means to accept him for her affianced husband. In the first case, +all the poor lad has to do is to open the door and retire, and never +put his foot in the house again. But, in the other, he knows it is +all right, and from that day forward he is treated as if he belonged +to the family.' + +"'And how long does the engagement last?' + +"'Oh, about as long as everywhere else--two, three years, more or less, +and that is the happiest time of their lives. The lad takes his girl +about everywhere; they go to the _kermis_, skate, and amuse themselves, +and no one troubles or inquires about them. Even the girl's parents +allow her to go about with her lover without asking any questions.'" + +A Dutch proverb says, "Take a Brabant sheep, a Guelderland ox, +a Flemish capon and a Frisian cow". The taking of the Frisian cow +certainly presents few difficulties, for the surface of Friesland +is speckled thickly with that gentle animal--ample in size and black +and white in hue. The only creatures that one sees from the carriage +windows on the railway journey are cows in the fields and plovers above +them. Now and then a man in his blue linen coat, now and then a heron; +but cows always and plovers always. Never a bullock. The meadows of +Holland are a female republic. Perkin Middlewick (in _Our Boys_) +had made so much money out of pork that whenever he met a pig he +was tempted to raise his hat; the Dutch, especially of North Holland +and Friesland, should do equal homage to their friend the cow. Edam +acknowledges the obligation in her municipal escutcheon. + +Stavoren may be dull and unalluring, but not so Hindeloopen, +the third station on the railway to Leeuwarden, where we shall +stay. At Hindeloopen the journey should be broken for two or three +hours. Should, nay must. Hindeloopen (which means stag hunt) has been +called the Museum of Holland. All that is most picturesque in Dutch +furniture and costume comes from this little town--or professes to do +so, for the manufacture of spurious Hindeloopen cradles and stoofjes, +chairs and cupboards, is probably a recognised industry. + +In the museum at Leeuwarden are two rooms arranged and furnished +exactly in the genuine Hindeloopen manner, and they are exceedingly +charming and gay. The smaller of the two has the ordinary blue and +white Dutch tiles, with scriptural or other subjects, around the +walls to the height of six feet; above them are pure white tiles, to +the ceiling, with an occasional delicate blue pattern. The floor is +of red and brown tiles. All the furniture is painted very gaily upon +a cream or white background--with a gaiety that has a touch of the +Orient in it. The bed is hidden behind painted woodwork in the wall, +like a berth, and is gained by a little flight of movable steps, +also radiant. I never saw so happy a room. On the wall is a cabinet +of curios and silver ornaments. + +The larger room is similiar but more costly. On the wall are fine +Delft plates, and seated at the table are wax Hindeloopeners: a man +with a clay pipe and tobacco box, wearing a long flowered waistcoat, +a crossed white neckcloth and black coat and hat--not unlike a Quaker +in festival attire; and his neat and very picturesque women folk +are around him. In the cradle, enshrined in ornamentations, is a +Hindeloopen baby. More old silver and shining brass here and there, +and the same resolute cheerfulness of colouring everywhere. Some of +the houses in which such rooms were found still stand at Hindeloopen. + +The Dutch once liked puns, and perhaps still do so. Again and again +in their old inscriptions one finds experiments in the punning art, +On the church of Hindeloopen, for example, are these lines:-- + + + Des heeren woord + Met aandacht hoort + Komt daartoe met hoopen + Als hinden loopen. + + +The poet must have had a drop of Salvationist blood in his veins, +for only in General Booth's splendid followers do we look for such +spirited invitations. The verses call upon worshippers to run together +like deer to hear the word of God. + +Within the great church, among other interesting things, are a large +number of biers. These also are decorated according to the pretty +Hindeloopen usage, one for the dead of each trade. Order even in +death. The Hindeloopen baker who has breathed his last must be carried +to the grave on the bakers' bier, or the proprieties will wince. + +After Hindeloopen the first town of importance on the way to Leeuwarden +is Sneek; and Sneek is not important. But Sneek has a water-gate of +quaint symmetrical charm, with two little spires--the least little +bit like the infant child of the Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem. In common +with so many Frisian towns Sneek has suffered from flood. A disastrous +inundation overwhelmed her on the evening of All Saints' Day in 1825, +when the dykes were broken and the water rushed in to the height +of five feet. Such must be great times of triumph for the floating +population, who, like the sailor in the old ballad of the sea, may +well pity the unfortunate and insecure dwellers in houses. What the +number of Friesland's floating population is I do not know; but it +must be very large. Many barges and tjalcks are both the birthplace +and deathplace of their owners, who know no other home. The cabins +are not less intimately cared for and decorated than the sitting-rooms +of Volendam and Marken. + +We saw at Edam certain odd characters formed in Nature's wayward +moods. Sneek also possessed a giant named Lange Jacob, who was eight +feet tall and the husband of Korte Jannetje (Little Jenny), who was +just half that height. People came from great distances to see this +couple. And at Sneek, in the church of St. Martin, is buried a giant +of more renown and prowess--Peter van Heemstra, or "Lange Pier" as he +was called from his inches, a sea ravener of notable ferocity, whose +two-handed sword is preserved at Leeuwarden--although, as M. Havard +says, what useful purpose a two-handed sword can serve to an admiral +on a small ship baffles reflection. + +Bolsward, Sneek's neighbour, is another amphibious town, with a very +charming stadhuis in red and white, crowned by an Oriental bell +tower completely out of keeping with the modern Frisian who hears +its voice. This constant occurrence of Oriental freakishness in +the architecture of Dutch towns, in contrast with Dutch occidental +four-square simplicity and plainness of character, is an effect to +which one never quite grows accustomed. + +Bolsward's church, which is paved with tomb-stones, among them +some very rich ones in high relief--too high for the comfort of the +desecrating foot--has a fine carved pulpit, some oak stalls of great +antiquity and an imposing bell tower. + +It is claimed that the Frisians were the first Europeans to smoke +pipes. Whether or not that is the case, the Dutch are now the greatest +smokers. Recent statistics show that whereas the annual consumption of +tobacco by every inhabitant of Great Britain and Ireland is 1.34 lb., +and of Germany 3 lb., that of the Dutch is 7 lb. Putting the smoking +population at 30 per cent. of the total--allowing thus for women, +children and non-smokers--this means that every Dutch smoker consumes +about eight ounces of tobacco a week, or a little more than an ounce +a day. + +I excepted women and children, but that is wrong. The boys smoke +too--sometimes pipes, oftenest cigars. At a music hall at The Hague I +watched a contest in generosity between two friends in a family party +as to which should supply a small boy in sailor suit, evidently the +son of the host, with a cigar. Both won. + +Fell, writing in 1801, says that the Dutch, although smoke dried, were +not then smoking so much as they had done twenty years before. The +Dutchmen, he says, "of the lower classes of society, and not a few in +the higher walks of life, carry in their pockets the whole apparatus +which is necessary for smoking:--a box of enormous size, which +frequently contains half a pound of tobacco; a pipe of clay or ivory, +according to the fancy or wealth of the possessor; if the latter, +instruments to clean it; a pricker to remove obstructions from the tube +of the pipe; a cover of brass wire for the bowl, to prevent the ashes +or sparks of the tobacco from flying out; and sometimes a tinderbox, +or bottle of phosphorus, to procure fire, in case none is at hand. + +"The excuse of the Dutch for their lavish attachment to tobacco, in +the most offensive form in which it can be exhibited, is, that the +smoke of this transatlantic weed preserves them from many disorders +to which they are liable from the moisture of the atmosphere of their +country, and enables them to bear cold and wet without inconvenience." + +Fell supports this curious theory by relating that when, soaked by a +storm, he arrived at an inn at Overschie, the landlord offered him +a pipe of tobacco to prevent any bad consequences. Fell, however, +having none of his friend Charles Lamb's affection for the friendly +traitress, declined it with asperity. + +Ireland has an ingenious theory to account for the addiction of the +Dutch to tobacco. It is, he says, the succedaneum to purify the +unwholesome exhalations of the canals. "A Dutchman's taciturnity +forbids his complaining; so that all his waking hours are silently +employed in casting forth the filthy puff of the weed, to dispel the +more filthy stench of the canal." + +Ireland's view was probably an invention; but this I know, that the +Dutch cigar and the Dutch atmosphere are singularly well adapted to +each other. I brought home a box of a brand which was agreeable in +Holland, and they were unendurable in the sweet air of Kent. + +The cigar is the national medium for consuming tobacco, cigarettes +being practically unknown, and pipes rare in the streets. My experience +of the Dutch cigar is that it is a very harmless luxury and a very +persuasive one. After a little while it becomes second nature to +drop into a tobacconist's and slip a dozen cigars into one's pocket, +at a cost of a few pence; and the cigars being there, it is another +case of second nature to smoke them practically continuously. Of these +cigars, which range in price from one or two cents to a few pence each, +there are hundreds if not thousands of varieties. + +The number of tobacconists in Holland must be very great, and the +trade is probably strong enough to resist effectually the impost on +the weed which was recently threatened by a daring Minister, if ever +it is attempted. The pretty French custom of giving tobacco licences +to the widows of soldiers is not adopted here; indeed I do not see +that it could be, for the army is only 100,000 strong. In times of +stress it might perhaps be advisable to send the tobacconists out to +fight, and keep the soldiers to mind as many of their shops as could +be managed, shutting up the rest. + + + +Chapter XVI + +Leeuwarden and Neighbourhood + + An agricultural centre--A city of prosperity and health--The + fair Frisians--Metal head-dresses--Silver work--The + Chancellerie--A paradise of blue china--Jumping poles--The + sea swallow--A Sunday excursion--Dogs for England--The + idle busybodies--The stork--A critical village--The green + crop--The dyke--A linguist--Harlingen--A Dutch picture + collector--Franeker--The Planetarium--Dokkum's bad + reputation--A discursive guide-book--Bigamy punished--A + husband-tamer--Boxum's record--Sjuck's short way--The heroic + Bauck--A load of exorcists--Poor Lysse. + +In an hour or two the train brings us to Leeuwarden, between flat +green meadows unrelieved save for the frequent isolated homesteads, +in which farm house, dairy, barn, cow stalls and stable are all under +one great roof that starts almost from the ground. On the Essex flats +the homesteads have barns and sheltering trees to keep them company: +here it is one house and a mere hedge of saplings or none at all. For +the rest--cows and plovers, plovers and cows. + +Friesland's capital, Leeuwarden, might be described as an English +market town, such as Horsham in Sussex, scoured and carried out to its +highest power, rather than a small city. The cattle trade of Friesland +has here its headquarters, and a farmer needing agricultural implements +must fare to Leeuwarden to buy them. The Frisian farmer certainly does +need them, for it is his habit to take three crops of short hay off +his meadows, rather than one crop of long hay in the English manner. + +Not only cattle but also horses are sold in Leeuwarden market. The +Frisian horse is a noble animal, truly the friend of man; and +the Frisians are fond of horses and indulge both in racing and in +trotting--or "hardraverij" as they pleasantly call it. I made a close +friend of a Frisian mare on the steamer from Rotterdam to Dort. At +Dort I had to leave her, for she was bound for Nymwegen. A most +charming creature. + +Leeuwarden is large and prosperous and healthy. What one misses in it +is any sense of intimate cosiness. One seems to be nearer the elements, +farther from the ingratiating works of man, than hitherto in any Dutch +town. The strong air, the openness of land, the 180 degrees of sky, the +northern sharpness, all are far removed from the solace of the chimney +corner. It is a Spartan people, preferring hard health to overcoats; +and the streets and houses reflect this temperament. They are clean and +strong and bare--no huddling or niggling architecture. Everything also +is bright, the effect largely of paint, but there must be something +very antiseptic in this Frisian atmosphere. + +The young women of Leeuwarden--the fair Frisians--are tall and strong +and fresh looking; not exactly beautiful but very pleasant. "There +go good wives and good mothers," one says. Their Amazonian air is +accentuated by the casque of gold or silver which fits tightly over +their heads and gleams through its lace covering: perhaps the most +curious head-dress in this country of elaborate head-dresses, and never +so curious as when, on Sundays, an ordinary black bonnet, bristling +with feathers and jet, is mounted on the top of it. That, however, +is a refinement practised only by the middle-aged and elderly women: +the young women wear either the casque or a hat, never both. If one +climbs the Oldehof and looks down on the city on a sunny day--as I +did--the glint of a metal casque continually catches the eye. These +head-dresses are of some value, and are handed on from mother to +daughter for generations. No Dutch woman is ever too poor to lay by +a little jewellery; and many a domestic servant carries, I am told, +twenty pounds worth of goldsmith's work upon her. + +Once Leeuwarden was famous for its goldsmiths and silversmiths, +but the interest in precious metal work is not what it was. Many of +the little silver ornaments--the windmills, and houses, and wagons, +and boats--which once decorated Dutch sitting-rooms as a matter of +course, and are now prized by collectors, were made in Leeuwarden. + +The city's architectural jewel is the Chancellerie, a very ornate +but quite successful building dating from the sixteenth century: +first the residence of the Chancellors, recently a prison, and now +the Record Office of Friesland. Not until the Middelburg stadhuis +shall we see anything more cheerfully gay and decorative. The little +Weigh House is in its own way very charming. But for gravity one must +go to the Oldehof, a sombre tower on the ramparts of the city. Once +the sea washed its very walls. + +To the ordinary traveller the most interesting things in the Leeuwarden +museum, which is opposite the Chancellerie, are the Hindeloopen rooms +which I have described in the last chapter; but to the antiquary it +offers great entertainment. Among ancient relics which the spade +has revealed are some very early Frisian tobacco pipes. Among the +pictures, for the most part very poor, is a dashing Carolus Duran +and a very beautiful little Daubigny. + +Affiliated to the museum is one of the best collections of Delft +china in Holland--a wonderful banquet of blue. This alone makes it +necessary to visit Leeuwarden. + +All about Leeuwarden the boys have jumping poles for the ditches, +and you may see dozens at a time, after school, leaping backwards and +forwards over the streams, like frogs. Children abound in Friesland: +the towns are filled with boys and girls; but one sees few babies. In +Holland the very old and the very young are alike invisible. + +One of the first things that I noticed at Leeuwarden was the presence +of a new bird. Hitherto I had seen only the familiar birds that we +know at home, except for a stork here and there and more herons than +one catches sight of in England save in the neighbourhood of one of +our infrequent heronries. But at Leeuwarden you find, sweeping and +plaining over the canals, the beautiful tern, otherwise known as the +sea swallow, white and powerful and delicately graceful, and possessed +of a double portion of the melancholy of birds of the sea. Of the +bittern, which is said to boom continually over the Friesland meres, +I caught no glimpse and heard no sound. + +From Leeuwarden I rode one Sunday morning by the steam-tram to +St. Jacobie Parochie, a little village in the extreme north-west, +where I proposed to take a walk upon the great dyke. It was a chilly +morning, and I was glad to be inside the compartment as we rattled +along the road. The only other occupant was a young minister in a +white tie, puffing comfortably at his cigar, which in the manner of +so many Dutchmen he seemed to eat as he smoked. For a while we were +raced--and for a few yards beaten--by two jolly boys in a barrow +drawn by a pair of gallant dogs who foamed past us _ventre a terre_ +with six inches of flapping tongue. + +The introduction into England of dogs as beasts of draught would +I suppose never be tolerated. A score of humanitarian societies +would spring into being to prevent it: possibly with some reason, +for one has little faith in the considerateness of the average +English costermonger or barrow-pusher. And yet the dog-workers of +the Netherlands seem to be cheerful beasts, wearing their yoke very +easily. I have never seen one, either in Holland or Belgium, obviously +distressed or badly treated. Why the English dog should so often be a +complete idler, and his brother across the sea the useful ally of man, +is an ethnological problem: the reason lying not with the animals but +with the nations. The Flemish and Dutch people are essentially humble +and industrious, without ambitions beyond their station. The English +are a dissatisfied folk who seldom look upon their present position as +permanent. The English dog is idle because his master, always hoping +for the miracle that shall make him idle too, does not really set his +hand to the day's work and make others join him; the Netherlandish +dog is busy because his master does not believe in sloth, and having +no illusions as to his future, knows that only upon a strenuous youth +and middle age can a comfortable old age be built. Countries that have +not two nations--the idle and rich and the poor and busy--as we have, +are, I think, greatly to be envied. Life is so much more genuine there. + +England indeed has three nations: the workers, the idle rich who +live only for themselves, and the idle rich or well-to-do who live +also for others--in other words the busybodies. The third nation +is the real enemy, for an altruist who has time on his hands can +do enormous mischief between breakfast and lunch. It is this class +that would at once make it impossible for a strong dog to help in +drawing a poor man's barrow. The opportunity would be irresistible +to them. The resolutions they would pass! The votes of thanks to the +lieutenant-colonels in the chair! + +It was on this little journey to St. Jacobie Parochie that I saw +my first stork. Storks' nests there had been in plenty, but all were +empty. But at Wier, close to St. Jacobie Parochie, was a nest on a pole +beside the road, and on this nest was a stork. The Dutch, I think, +have no more endearing trait than their kindness to this bird. Once +at any rate their solicitude was grotesque, although serviceable, for +Ireland tells of a young stork with a broken leg for which a wooden +leg was substituted. Upon this jury limb the bird lived happily for +thirty years. + +The stork alone among Dutch birds is sacred, but he is not alone in +feeling secure. The fowler is no longer a common object of the country, +as he seems to have been in Albert Cuyp's day, when he returned in +the golden evening laden with game--for Jan Weenix to paint. + +St. Jacobie Parochie on a fine Sunday morning is no place for a +sensitive man. The whole of the male population of the village had +assembled by the church--not, I fancy, with any intention of entering +it--and every eye among them probed me like a corkscrew. It is an +out of the world spot, to which it is possible no foreigner ever +before penetrated, and since their country was a show to me I had no +right to object to serve as a show to them. But such scrutiny is not +comfortable. I hastened to the sea. + +One reaches the sea by a path across the fields to an inner dyke with a +high road upon it, and then by another footpath, or paths, beside green +ditches, to the ultimate dyke which holds Neptune in check. As I walked +I was continually conscious of heavy splashes just ahead of me, which +for a while I put down to water-rats. But chancing to stand still I +was presently aware of the proximity of a huge green frog, the largest +I have ever seen, who sat, solid as a paper weight, close beside me, +with one eye glittering upon me and the other upon the security of +the water, into which he jumped at a movement of my hand. Walking +then more warily I saw that the banks on either side were populous +with these monsters; and sometimes it needed only a flourish of the +handkerchief to send a dozen simultaneously into the ditch. I am glad +we have not such frogs at home. A little frog is an adorable creature, +but a frog half-way to realising his bovine ambition is a monster. + +The sea dyke is many feet high. Its lowest visible stratum is of +black stones, beneath the sea-level; then a stratum of large red +bricks; then turf. The willow branches are invisible, within. The +land hereabout is undoubtedly some distance below sea-level, but it +is impossible either here or anywhere in Holland to believe in the +old and venerable story of the dyke plugged by an heroic thumb to +the exclusion of the ocean and the safety of the nation. + +As I lay on the bank in the sun, listening to a thousand larks, +with all Friesland on one hand and the pearl grey sea on the other, +a passer-by stopped and asked me a question which I failed to +understand. My reply conveyed my nationality to him. "Ah," he said, +"Eenglish. Do it well with you?" I said that it did excellently +well. He walked on until he met half a dozen other men, some hundred +yards away, when I saw him pointing to me and telling them of the +long conversation he had been enjoying with me in my own difficult +tongue. It was quite clear from their interest that the others were +conscious of the honour of having a real linguist among them. + +Another day I went to Harlingen. I had intended to reach the town by +steam-tram, but the time table was deceptive and the engine stopped +permanently at a station two or three miles away. Fortunately, however, +a curtained brake was passing, and into this I sprang, joining +two women and a dominie, and together we ambled very deliberately +into the quiet seaport. Harlingen is a double harbour--inland and +maritime. Barges from all parts of Friesland lie there, transferring +their goods a few yards to the ocean-going ships bound for England +and the world, although Friesland does not now export her produce +as once she did. Thirty years ago much of our butter and beef and +poultry sailed from Harlingen. + +The town lies in the savour of the sea. Masts rise above the houses, +ship-chandlers' shops send forth the agreeable scent of tar and +cordage, sailors and stevedores lounge against posts as only those +that follow the sea can do. I had some beef and bread, in the Dutch +midday manner, in the upper room of an inn overlooking the harbour, +while two shipping-clerks played a dreary game of billiards. Beyond the +dyke lay the empty grey sea, with Texel or Vlieland a faint dark line +on the horizon. Nothing in the town suggested the twentieth century, +or indeed any century. Time was not. + +I wish that Mr. Bos had been living, that I might have called upon +him and seen his pictures, as M. Havard did. But he is no more, and +I found no one to tell me of the fate of his collection. Possibly it +is still to be seen: certainly other visitors to Harlingen should be +more energetic than I was, and make sure. Here is M. Havard's account +of Mr. Bos and an evening at his house: "Mr. Bos started in life as +a farm-boy--then became an assistant in a shop. Instead of spending +his money at the beer-houses he purchased books. He educated himself, +and being provident, steady, industrious, he soon collected sufficient +capital to start in business on his own account, which he did as a +small cheesemonger; but in time his business prospered, and to such +an extent that one day he awoke to find himself one of the greatest +and richest merchants of Harlingen. + +"Many under these circumstances would have considered rest was not +undeserved; but Mr. Bos thought otherwise. He became passionately fond +of the arts. Instead of purchasing stock he bought pictures, then +the books necessary to understand them, and what with picking up an +engraving here and a painting there he soon became possessed of a most +interesting collection, and of an artistic knowledge sufficient for all +purposes. But to appreciate the virtue (the term is not too strong) of +this aimable man, one should know the difficulties he had to surmount +before gaining his position. It is no joke when one lives in a town +like Harlingen to act differently from other people. Tongues are as +well hung there as in any small French town. Instead of encouraging +this brave collector, they laughed at and ridiculed him. His taste +for the arts was regarded as a mania. In fact, he was looked upon as a +madman, and even to this day, notwithstanding his successful career, +he is looked upon as no better than a lunatic. Happily a taste for +art gives one joys that makes the remarks of fools and idiots pass +like water off a duck's back. + +"When we called on Mr. Bos he was absent; but as soon as Madame +Bos was made acquainted with our names we received a most cordial +reception. She is, however, a most charming woman, combining +both amiability and affability, with a venerable appearance; and, +notwithstanding her immense fortune and gold plate, still wears the +large Frison cap of the good old times. She was anxious to do the +honours of the collection in person, and immediately sent for her son, +so that we might receive every information. + +"Mr. Bos returned home the same evening, and at once came on board, +and would not leave until we had promised to spend the evening at +his house, which we did in the Frison fashion--that is to say, that +whilst examining the pictures we were compelled to devour sundry +plates of _soeskrahelingen_, a kind of pastry eaten with cheese; +also to empty several bottles of old wine. + +"A slight incident that occurred shortly before our departure touched +me greatly. 'You think, sir,' said Mr. Bos, 'that because I do not +understand French, I have not read the books you have written on our +National Arts. Pray undeceive yourself, for here is a translation of +it,' The old gentleman then placed before me a complete manuscript +translation of the work, which he had had made specially for himself." + +The special lion of Franeker, which I visited on my way back from +Harlingen, is the Planetarium of Eisa Eisinga, a mathematician and +wool-comber, who constructed it alone in his back parlour between 1774 +and 1781. Interest in planetaria is, I should say, an acquired taste; +but there can be no doubt as to the industry and ingenuity of this +inventor. The wonders of the celestial law are unfolded by a very +tired young woman, whose attitude to the solar system is probably +similar to that of Miss Jellyby to Africa. After her lecture one +stumbles upstairs to see the clock-work which controls the spheres, +and is then free once more. + +Franeker is proud also of her tombstones in the great church, but +it is, I fancy, Eisa Eisinga whom she most admires. She was once +the seat of an honourable University, which Napoleon suppressed in +1811. Her learning gone, she remains a very pleasant and clean little +town. By some happy arrangement all the painting seems to be done at +once--so different from London, where a fresh facade only serves to +emphasise a dingy one. But although the quality of the paint can be +commended, the painters of Franeker are undoubtedly allowed too much +liberty. They should not have been permitted to spread their colour +on the statues of the stadhuis. + +The principal street has an avenue of elm trees down its midst, +in the place where a canal would be expected; but canals traverse +the town too. Upon the deck of a peat barge I watched a small grave +child taking steady and unsmiling exercise on a rocking horse. + +I did not go to Dokkum, which lies at the extreme north of +Friesland. Mr. Doughty, the author of an interesting book of Dutch +travel, called _Friesland Meres_--he was the first that ever burst +into these silent canals in a Norfolk wherry--gives Dokkum a very +bad character, and so do other travellers. It seems indeed always to +have been an unruly and inhospitable town. As long ago as 853 it was +resisting the entry of strangers. The strangers were Saint Boniface +and his companion, whom Dokkum straightway massacred. King Pepin +was furious and sent an army on a punitive mission; while Heaven +supplemented Pepin's efforts by permanently stigmatising the people +of the town, all the men thenceforward being marked by a white tuft +of hair and all the women by a bald patch. + +At Leeuwarden is a patriotic society known as the "Vereenigung tot +bevordering van vreemdelingenverkeer," whose ambition, as their +title suggests, is to draw strangers to the town; and as part of +their campaign they have issued a little guide to Leeuwarden and its +environs, in English. It is an excellent book. The preface begins +thus:-- + +The travelling-season, which causes thousands of people to leave +their homes and hearths, has come round again. Throughout Europe silk +strings are being prepared to catch human birds of passage with. Is +Frisia--Old Frisia--to lag behind? Impossible! Natural condition +as well as population and history give to our province a right to +claim a little attention and to be a hostess. We beg to refer to +the words of a Frenchman, M. Malte-Brun (quoted by one of the best +Frisian authors), the English translation of which words runs as +follows: "Eighteen centuries saw the river Rhine change its course, +and the Ocean swallow its shores, but the Frisian nation has remained +unchanged, and from an historical point of view deserves being taken +an interest in by the descendants of the Franks as well as of the +Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians." + +It is not often to a Frenchman that the author of this guide has to +go for his purple patches. He is capable of producing them himself, +and there seems also always to be a Frisian poet who has said the +right thing. Thus (of Leeuwarden): "It is surrounded by splendid +fertile meadows, to all of which, though especially to those lying +near the roads to Marssum and Stiens, may be applied the words of +the Frisian poet Dr. E. Halbertsma:-- + + + 'Sjen nou dat lan, hwer jy op geane, + Dat ophelle is ut gulle se; + Hwer binne brusender lansdouwen, + Oerspriede mei sok hearlik fe?' + + ('Behold the soil you are walking on, + The soil, snatched from the waves; + Where are more luxurious meadows, + Where do you find such cattle?') + + +The farmer, living in the midst of this fine natural scenery, is to +be envied indeed: if the struggle for life does not weigh too heavily +upon him, his must be a life happier than that of thousands of other +people. Living and working with his own family and servants attached +to him, he made the right choice when he chose to breed his cattle +and improve his grounds to the best of his power. The parlour-windows +look out on the fields: the gay sight they grant has its effect on the +mood of those inside. The peasant sees and feels the beauty of life, +and it makes him thankful, and gives him courage to struggle and to +work on, where necessity requires it." + +I gather from the account of Leeuwarden that the justices of that +city once knew a crime when they saw one--none quicklier. In 1536, +for example, they punished Jan Koekebakken in a twinkling for the +dastardly offence of marrying a married woman. This was his sentence:-- + +We command that the said Jan Koekebakken, prisoner, be conducted +by the executioner from the Chancery to Brol-bridge, and that he be +put into the pillory there. He shall remain standing there for two +hours with a spindle under each arm, and with the letter in which he +pledged faith to the said Aucke Sijbrant hanging from his neck. He +shall remain for ever within the town of Leeuwarden, under penalty +of death if he should leave it. + +Done and pronounced at Leeuwarden April 29th, 1536. + +But the best part of the guide-book is its rapid notes on the villages +around Leeuwarden, to so many of which are curious legends attached. At +Marssum, close at hand, was born the English painter of Roman life, +Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Here also was born the ingenious Eisa +Eisinga, who constructed the Franeker planetarium in the intervals +of wool-combing. At Menaldum lived Mrs. Van Camstra van Haarsma, +a husband-tamer and eccentric, of whom a poet wrote:-- + + + She breaks pipe and glass and mug, + When he speaks as suits a man; + And instead of being cross, + He is gentler than a lamb. + When in fury glow her eyes, + He keeps silent ... isn't he wise? + + +When not hen-pecking her husband this powerful lady was rearing wild +animals or corresponding with the Princess Caroline. + +At Boxum, was fought, on 17th January, 1586, hard by the church, +the battle of Boxum, between the Spaniards and the Frisians. The +Frisians were defeated, and many of them massacred in the church; +but their effort was very brave, and "He also has been to Boxum" +is to this day a phrase applied to lads of courage. Another saying, +given to loud speakers, is "He has the voice of the Vicar of Boxum," +whose tones in the pulpit were so dulcet as to frighten the birds +from the roof, and, I hope, sinners to repentance. + +At Jelsum is buried Balthazar Becker, the antagonist of superstition +and author of _The Enchanted World_. Near by was Martena Castle, +where Alderman Sjuck van Burmania once kept a crowd of assailants +at bay by standing over a barrel of gunpowder with a lighted brand +while he offered them the choice of the explosion or a feast. Hence +the excellent proverb, "You must either fight or drink, said Sjuck". + +At Berlikum was the castle of Bauck Poppema, a Frisian lady cast in +an iron mould, who during her husband's absence in 1496 defended the +stronghold against assailants from Groningen. Less successful than +Sjuck, after repelling them thrice she was overpowered and thrown into +prison. While there she produced twins, thus proving herself a woman +no less than a warrior. "When the people of Holland glorify Kenau," +says the proverb, "the Frisians praise their Bauck." Kenau we have met: +the heroic widow of Haarlem who during the siege led a band of three +hundred women and repelled the enemy on the walls again and again. + +Near Roodkerk is a lake called the Boompoel, into which a coach +and four containing six inside passengers, all of them professional +exorcists, disappeared and was never seen again. The exorcists had come +to relieve the village of the ghost of a miser, and we must presume had +failed to quiet him. Near Bergum, at Buitenrust farm, is the scene of +another tragedy by drowning, for there died Juffer Lysse. This maiden, +disregarding too long her father's dying injunction to build a chapel, +was naturally overturned in her carriage and drowned. Ever since +has the wood been haunted, while the bind-weed, a haunting flower, +is in these parts known as the Juffer Lysse blom. + +From these scraps of old lore--all taken from the little Leeuwarden +guide--it will be seen that Friesland is rich in romantic traditions +and well worthy the attention of any maker of sagas. + + + +Chapter XVII + +Groningen to Zutphen + + Fresh tea--Dutch meals--The Doelens--Groningen--Roman + Catholic priests--The boys' penance--Luther and + Erasmus--The peat country--Folk lore--Terburg--Thomas a + Kempis--Zwolle--The wild girl--Kampen--A hall of justice + indeed--An ideal holiday-place--The wiseacres--Urk--Sir Philip + Sidney--Zutphen--The scripture class--The wax works--Dutch + public morality. + +I remember the Doelen at Groningen for several reasons, all of them +thoroughly material. (Holland is, however, a material country.) First +I would put the very sensible custom of providing every guest who +has ordered tea for breakfast with a little tea caddy. At the foot +of the table is a boiling urn from which one fills one's teapot, +and is thus assured of tea that is fresh. So simple and reasonable a +habit ought to be the rule rather than the exception: but never have +I found it elsewhere. This surely is civilisation, I said. + +The Doelen was also the only inn in Holland where an inclusive bottle +of claret was placed before me on the table; and it was the only inn +where I had the opportunity of eating ptarmigan with stewed apricots--a +very happy alliance. + +Good however as was the Groningen dinner, it was a Sunday dinner at the +Leeuwarden Doelen which remains in my memory. This also is a friendly +unspoiled northern inn, where the bill of fare is arranged with a +nice thought to the requirements of the Free Frisian. I kept no note +of the meal, but I recollect the occurrence at one stage of plovers' +eggs (which the Dutch eat hot, dropping them into cold water for an +instant to ensure the easy removal of the shell), and at another, +some time later, of duckling with prunes. + +The popularity of the name Doelen as a Dutch sign might have a word +of explanation. Doelen means target, or shooting saloon; and shooting +at the mark was a very common and useful recreation with the Dutch +in the sixteenth century. At first the shooting clubs met only to +shoot--as in the case of the arquebusiers in Rembrandt's "Night Watch," +who are painted leaving their Doelen; later they became more social +and the accessories of sociability were added; and after a while +the accessories of sociability crowded out the shooting altogether, +and nothing but an inn with the name Doelen remained of what began +as a rifle gallery. + +At Groningen, which is a large prosperous town, and the birthplace +both of Joseph Israels and H.W. Mesdag, cheese and dairy produce are +left behind. We are now in the grain country. Groningen is larger +than Leeuwarden--it has nearly seventy thousand inhabitants--and its +evening light seemed to me even more beautifully liquid. I sat for a +long time in a cafe overlooking the great square, feeding a very greedy +and impertinent terrier, and alternately watching an endless game of +billiards and the changing hue of the sky as day turned to night and +the clean white stars came out. In Holland one can sit very long in +cafes: I had dined and left a table of forty Dutchmen just settling +down to their wine, at six o'clock, with the whole evening before me. + +Groningen takes very good care of itself. It has trams, excellent +shops and buildings, a crowded inland harbour, and a spreading park +where once were its fortifications. The mounds in this park were the +first hills I had seen since Laren. The church in the market square is +immense, with a high tower of bells that kept me awake, but had none of +the soothing charm of Long John at Middelburg, whose praises it will +soon be my privilege to sound. The only rich thing in the whitewashed +vastnesses of the church is the organ, built more than four hundred +years ago by Rudolph Agricola of this province. I did not hear it. + +At Groningen Roman Catholic priests become noticeable--so different +in their stylish coats, square hats and canes, from the blue-chinned +kindly slovens that one meets in the Latin countries. (In the train +near Nymwegen, however, where the priests wear beavers, I travelled +with a humorous old voluptuary who took snuff at every station and was +as threadbare as one likes a priest to be.) Looking into the new Roman +Catholic church at Groningen I found a little company of restless boys, +all eyes, from whom at regular intervals were detached a reluctant +and perfunctory couple to do the Stations of the Cross. I came as +something like a godsend to those that remained, who had no one to +supervise them; and feeling it as a mission I stayed resolutely +in the church long after I was tired of it, writing a little and +examining the pictures by Hendriex, a modern painter too much after +the manner of the Christmas supplement--studied the while by this +band of scrutinising penitents. I hope I was as interesting and +beguiling as I tried to be. And all the time, exactly opposite the +Roman Catholic church, was reposing in the library of the University +no less a treasure than the New Testament of Erasmus, with marginal +notes by Martin Luther. There it lay, that afternoon, within call, +while the weary boys pattered from one Station of the Cross to another, +little recking the part played by their country in sapping the power +of the faith they themselves were fostering, and knowing nothing of +the ironical contiguity of Luther's comments. + +By leaving Groningen very early in the morning I gained another proof +of the impossibility of rising before the Dutch. In England one can +easily be the first down in any hotel--save for a sleepy boots or +waiter. Not so in Holland. It was so early that I am able to say +nothing of the country between Groningen and Meppel, the capital of +the peat trade, save that it was peaty: heather and fir trees, shallow +lakes and men cutting peat, as far as eye could reach on either side. + +Here in the peat country I might quote a very pretty Dutch proverb: +"There is no fuel more entertaining than wet wood and frozen peat: +the wood sings and the peat listens". The Dutch have no lack of folk +lore, but the casual visitor has not the opportunity of collecting very +much. When there is too much salt in the dish they say that the cook is +in love. When a three-cornered piece of peat is observed in the fire, +a visitor is coming. When bread has large holes in it, the baker is +said to have pursued his wife through the loaf. When a wedding morning +is rainy, it is because the bride has forgotten to feed the cat. + +I tarried awhile at Zwolle on the Yssel (a branch of the Rhine), +because at Zwolle was born in 1617 Gerard Terburg, one of the greatest +of Dutch painters, of whom I have spoken in the chapter on Amsterdam's +pictures. Of his life we know very little; but he travelled to Spain +(where he was knighted and where he learned not a little of use in +his art), and also certainly to France, and possibly to England. At +Haarlem, where he lived for a while, he worked in Frans Hals' studio, +and then he settled down at Deventer, a few miles south of Zwolle, +married, and became in time Burgomaster of the town. He died at +Deventer in 1681. Zwolle has none of his pictures, and does not +appear to value his memory. Nor does Deventer. How Terburg looked +as Burgomaster of Deventer is seen in his portrait of himself +in the Mauritshuis at The Hague. It was not often that the great +Dutch painters rose to civic eminence. Rembrandt became a bankrupt, +Frans Hals was on the rates, Jan Steen drank all his earnings. Of all +Terburg's great contemporaries Gerard Dou seems to have had most sense +of prosperity and position; but his interests were wholly in his art. + +Terburg is not the only famous name at Zwolle. It was at the monastery +on the Agneteberg, three miles away, that the author of _The Imitation +of Christ_ lived for more than sixty years and wrote his deathless +book. + +I roamed through Zwolle's streets for some time. It is a bright town, +with a more European air than many in Holland, agreeable drives and +gardens, where (as at Groningen) were once fortifications, and a very +fine old gateway called the Saxenpoort, with four towers and five +spires and very pretty window shutters in white and blue. The Groote +Kerk is of unusual interest. It is five hundred years old and famous +for its very elaborate pulpit--a little cathedral in itself--and an +organ. Zwolle also has an ancient church which retains its original +religion--the church of Notre Dame, with a crucifix curiously protected +by iron bars. I looked into the stadhuis to see a Gothic council room; +and smoked meditatively among the stalls of a little flower market, +wondering why some of the costumes of Holland are so charming and +others so unpleasing. A few dear old women in lace caps were present, +but there were also younger women who had made their pretty heads +ugly with their decorations. + +At Zwolle M. Havard was disappointed to find no wax figure of the +famous wild girl found in the Cranenburg Forest in 1718. She roamed +its recesses almost naked for some time, eluding all capture, but was +at last taken with nets and conveyed to Zwolle. As she could not be +understood, an account of her was circulated widely, and at length +a woman in Antwerp who had lost a daughter in 1702 heard of her, +and on reaching Zwolle immediately recognised her as her child. The +magistrates, accepting the story, handed the girl to her affectionate +parent, who at once set about exhibiting her throughout the country +at a great profit. The story illustrates either the credulity of +magistrates or the practical character of some varieties of maternal +love. + +Kampen, nearer the mouth of the Yssel, close to Zwolle, is +exceedingly well worth visiting. The two towns are very different: +Zwolle is patrician, Kampen plebeian; Zwolle suggests wealth and +light-heartedness; at Kampen there is a large fishing population and no +one seems to be wealthy. Indeed, being without municipal rates, it is, +I am told, a refuge of the needy. Any old town that is on a river, and +that river a mouth of the Rhine, is good enough for me; but when it is +also a treasure house of mediaeval architecture one's cup is full. And +Kampen has many treasures: beautiful fourteenth-century gateways, +narrow quaint streets, a cheerful isolated campanile, a fine church, +and the greater portion of an odd but wholly delightful stadhuis in +red brick and white stone, with a gay little crooked bell-tower and +statues of great men and great qualities on its facade. + +For one possession alone, among many, the stadhuis must be visited--its +halls of justice, veritable paradises of old oak, with a very wonderful +fireplace. The halls are really one, divided by a screen; in one half, +the council room, sat the judges, in the other the advocates, and, +I suppose, the public. The advocates addressed the screen, on the +other side of which sat Fate, in the persons of the municipal fathers, +enthroned in oak seats of unsurpassed gravity and dignity, amid all +the sombre insignia of their office. The chimney-piece is an imposing +monument of abstract Justice--no more elaborate one can exist. Solomon +is there, directing the distribution of the baby; Faith and Truth, Law, +Religion and Charity are there also. Never can a tribunal have had a +more appropriate setting than at Kampen. The Rennes judiciaries should +have sat there, to lend further ironical point to their decision. + +The stadhuis has other possessions interesting to anti-quaries: +valuable documents, gold and silver work, the metal and leather squirts +through which boiling oil was projected at the enemies of the town; +while an iron cage for criminals, similar, I imagine, to that in +which Jan of Leyden was exhibited, hangs outside. + +Travellers visit Kampen pre-eminently to see the stadhuis chimney-piece +and oak, but the whole town is a museum. I wish now that I had arranged +to be longer there; but unaware of Kampen's charms I allowed but a +short time both for Zwolle and itself. On my next visit to Holland +Kampen shall be my headquarters for some days. Amid the restfulness +of mediaevalism, the friendliness of the fishing folk and the breezes +of the Zuyder Zee, one should do well. A boat from Amsterdam to Kampen +sails every morning. + +Despite its Judgment Hall and its other merits Kampen is the Dutch +Gotham. Any foolishly naive speech or action is attributed to +Kampen's wise men. In one story the fathers of the town place the +municipal sundial under cover to protect it from the rays of the +sun. In another they meet together to deliberate on the failure of +the water pipes and fire engines during a fire, and pass a rule that +"on the evening preceding a fire" all hydrants and engines must be +overhauled. M. Havard gives also the following instance of Kampen +sagacity. A public functionary was explaining the financial state of +the town. He asserted that one of the principal profits arose from +the tolls exacted on the entrance of goods into the town. "Each +gate," said the ingenious advocate, "has brought in ten million +florins this year; that is to say, with seven gates we have gained +seventy million florins. This is a most important fact. I therefore +propose that the council double the number of gates, and in this way +we shall in future considerably augment our funds." The Irishman who, +when asked to buy a stove that would save half his fuel, replied that +he would have two and save it all, was of the same school of logic. + +From Kampen the island of Urk may be visited: but I have not been +there. In 1787, I have read somewhere, the inhabitants of Urk decided +to form a club in which to practise military exercises and the use of +arms. When the club was formed it had but one member. Hence a Dutch +saying--"It is the Urk club". + +Nor did I stay at Deventer, but hastened on to Zutphen with my thoughts +straying all the time to the grey walls of Penshurst castle in Kent +and its long galleries filled with memories of Sir Philip Sidney--the +gentle knight who was a boy there, and who died at Arnheim of a +wound which he received in the siege of Zutphen three and a quarter +centuries ago. + +At Naarden we have seen how terrible was the destroying power of the +Spaniards. It was at Zutphen that they had first given rein to their +lust for blood. When Zutphen was taken by Don Frederic in 1572, at the +beginning of the war, Motley tells us that "Alva sent orders to his son +to leave _not a single man alive in the city_, and to burn every house +to the ground. The Duke's command was almost literally obeyed. Don +Frederic entered Zutphen, and without a moment's warning put the whole +garrison to the sword. The citizens next fell a defenceless prey; some +being stabbed in the streets, some hanged on the trees which decorated +the city, some stripped stark naked, and turned out into the fields +to freeze to death in the wintry night. As the work of death became +too fatiguing for the butchers, five hundred innocent burghers were +tied two and two, back to back, and drowned like dogs in the river +Yssel. A few stragglers who had contrived to elude pursuit at first, +were afterwards taken from their hiding-places, and hung upon the +_gallows by the feet_, some of which victims suffered four days and +nights of agony before death came to their relief." + +On the day that I was in Zutphen it was the quietest town I had +found in all Holland--not excepting Monnickendam between the arrival +of the steam-trams. The clean bright streets were empty and still: +another massacre almost might just have occurred. I had Zutphen to +myself. I could not even find the koster to show me the church; +and it was in trying door after door as I walked round it that I +came upon the only sign of life in the place. For one handle at last +yielding I found myself instantly in a small chapel filled with many +young women engaged in a scripture class. The sudden irruption of an +embarrassed and I imagine somewhat grotesque foreigner seems to have +been exactly what every member of this little congregation was most +desiring, and I never heard a merrier or more spontaneous burst of +laughter. I stood not upon the order of my going. + +The church is vast and very quiet and restful, with a large plain +window of green glass that increases its cool freshness; while +the young leaves of a chestnut close to another window add to this +effect. The koster coming at last, I was shown the ancient chained +library in the chapter house, and he enlarged upon the beauties of a +metal font. Wandering out again into this city of silence I found in +the square by the church an exhibition of wax works which was to be +opened at four o'clock. Making a note to return to it at that hour, +I sought the river, where the timber is floated down from the German +forests, and lost myself among peat barges and other craft, and walked +some miles in and about Zutphen, and a little way down a trickling +stream whence the view of the city is very beautiful; and by-and-by +found myself by the church and the wax works again, in a town that +since my absence had quite filled with bustling people--four o'clock +having struck and the Princess of the Day Dream having (I suppose) +been kissed. The change was astonishing. + +Wax works always make me uncomfortable, and these were no exception; +but the good folk of Zutphen found them absorbing. The murderers stood +alone, staring with that fixity which only a wax assassin can compass; +but for the most part the figures were arranged in groups with dramatic +intent. Here was a confessional; there a farewell between lovers; +here a wounded Boer meeting his death at the bayonet of an English +dastard; there a Queen Eleanor sucking poison from her husband's +arm. A series of illuminated scenes of rapine and disaster might be +studied through magnifying glasses. The presence of a wax bust of +Zola was due, I imagine, less to his illustrious career than to the +untoward circumstances of his death. The usual Sleeping Beauty heaved +her breast punctually in the centre of the tent. + +In one point only did the exhibition differ from the wax works of +the French and Italian fairs--it was undeviatingly decent. There +were no jokes, and no physiological models. But the Dutch, I should +conjecture, are not morbid. They have their coarse fun, laugh, +and get back to business again. Judged by that new short-cut to +a nation's moral tone, the picture postcard, the Dutch are quite +sound. There is a shop in the high-spirited Nes Straat at Amsterdam +where a certain pictorial ebullience has play, but I saw none other +of the countless be-postcarded windows in all Holland that should +cause a serious blush on any cheek; while the Nes Straat specimens +were fundamentally sound, Rabelaisian rather than Armand-Sylvestrian, +not vicious but merely vulgar. + + + +Chapter XVIII + +Arnheim to Bergen-op-Zoom + + Arnheim the Joyous--A wood walk--Tesselschade Visscher + and the Chambers of Rhetoric--Epigrams--Poet friends--The + nightingale--An Arnheim adventure--Ten years at one book--Dutch + and Latin--Dutch and French--A French story--Dutch + and English--_The English Schole-Master_--Master + and scholar--A nervous catechism--Avoiding the + birch--A riot of courtesy--A bill of lading--Dutch + proverbs--The Rhine and its mouths--Nymwegen--Lady + Mary Wortley Montagu again--Painted shutters--The + Valkhof--Hertogenbosch--Brothers at Bommel--The hero of + Breda--Two beautiful tombs--Bergen-op-Zoom--Messrs. Grimston + and Red-head--Tholen--The Dutch feminine countenance. + +At Arnheim we come to a totally new Holland. The Maliebaan and the +park at Utrecht, with their spacious residences, had prepared us a +little for Arnheim's wooded retirement; but not completely. Rotterdam +is given to shipping; The Hague makes laws and fashions; Leyden +and Utrecht teach; Amsterdam makes money. It is at Arnheim that the +retired merchant and the returned colonist set up their home. It is +the richest residential city in the country. Arnheim the Joyous was +its old name. Arnheim the Comfortable it might now be styled. + +It is the least Dutch of Dutch towns: the Rhine brings a bosky beauty +to it, German in character and untamed by Dutch restraining hands. The +Dutch Switzerland the country hereabout is called. Arnheim recalls +Richmond too, for it has a Richmond Hill--a terrace-road above a +shaggy precipice overlooking the river. + +I walked in the early morning to Klarenbeck, up and down in a vast +wood, and at a point of vantage called the Steenen Tafel looked down +on the Rhine valley. Nothing could be less like the Holland of the +earlier days of my wanderings--nothing, that is, that was around me, +but with the farther bank of the river the flatness instantly begins +and continues as far as one can see in the north. + +It was a very beautiful morning in May, and as I rested now and +then among the resinous pines I was conscious of being traitorous to +England in wandering here at all. No one ought to be out of England +in April and May. At one point I met a squirrel--just such a nimble +short-tempered squirrel as those which scold and hide in the top +branches of the fir trees near my own home in Kent--and my sense of +guilt increased; but when, on my way back, in a garden near Arnheim +I heard a nightingale, the treachery was complete. + +And this reminds me that the best poem of the most charming figure in +Dutch literature--Tesselschade Visscher--is about the nightingale. The +story of this poetess and her friends belongs more properly to +Amsterdam, or to Alkmaar, but it may as well be told here while the +Arnheim nightingale--the only nightingale that I heard in Holland--is +plaining and exulting. + +Tesselschade was the daughter of the poet and rhetorician Roemer +Visscher. She was born on 25th March, 1594, and earned her curious name +from the circumstance that on the same day her father was wrecked off +Texel. In honour of his rescue he named his daughter Tesselschade, +or Texel wreck, thereby, I think, eternally impairing his right to +be considered a true poet. As a matter of fact he was rather an +epigrammatist than a poet, his ambition being to be known as the +Dutch Martial. Here is a taste of his Martial manner:-- + + + Jan sorrows--sorrows far too much: 'tis true + A sad affliction hath distressed his life;-- + Mourns he that death hath ta'en his children two? + O no! he mourns that death hath left his wife. + + +I have said that Visscher was a rhetorician. The word perhaps needs +a little explanation, for it means more than would appear. In those +days rhetoric was a living cult in the Netherlands: Dutchmen and +Flemings played at rhetoric with some of the enthusiasm that we keep +for cricket and sport. Every town of any importance had its Chamber +of Rhetoric. "These Chambers," says Longfellow in his _Poets and +Poetry of Europe_, "were to Holland, in the fifteenth century, what +the Guilds of the Meistersingers were to Germany, and were numerous +throughout the Netherlands. Brussels could boast of five; Antwerp +of four; Louvain of three; and Ghent, Bruges, Malines, Middelburg, +Gouda, Haarlem, and Amsterdam of at least one. Each Chamber had its +coat of arms and its standard, and the directors bore the title +of Princes and Deans. At times they gave public representations +of poetic dialogues and stage-plays, called _Spelen van Sinne_, +or Moralities. Like the Meistersingers, they gave singular titles +to their songs and metres. A verse was called a _Regel_; a strophe, +a _Clause_; and a burden or refrain, a _Stockregel_. If a half-verse +closed as a strophe, it was a _Steert_, or tail. _Tafel-spelen_, +and _Spelen van Sinne_, were the titles of the dramatic exhibitions; +and the rhymed invitation to these was called a _Charte_, or _Uitroep_ +(outcry). _Ketendichten_ (chain-poems) are short poems in which the +last word of each line rhymes with the first of the line following; +_Scaekberd_ (checkerbourd), a poem of sixty-four lines, so rhymed, +that in every direction it forms a strophe of eight lines; and +_Dobbel-steert_ (double-tail), a poem in which a double rhyme closes +each line. [5] + +"The example of Flanders was speedily followed by Zeeland and +Holland. In 1430, there was a Chamber at Middelburg; in 1433, at +Vlaardingen; in 1434, at Nieuwkerk; and in 1437, at Gouda. Even +insignificant Dutch villages had their Chambers. Among others, one +was founded in the Lier, in the year 1480. In the remaining provinces +they met with less encouragement. They existed, however, at Utrecht, +Amersfoort, Leeuwarden, and Hasselt. The purity of the language +was completely undermined by the rhyming self-called Rhetoricians, +and their abandoned courses brought poetry itself into disrepute. All +distinction of genders was nearly abandoned; the original abundance of +words ran waste; and that which was left became completely overwhelmed +by a torrent of barbarous terms." + +Wagenaer, in his "Description of Amsterdam," gives a copy of a +painter's bill for work done for a rhetorician's performance at +the play-house in the town of Alkmaar, of which the following is +a translation:-- + + + "Imprimis, made for the Clerks a Hell; + Item, the Pavilion of Satan; + Item, two pairs of Devil's-breeches; + Item, a Shield for the Christian Knight; + Item, have painted the Devils whenever they played; + Item, some Arrows and other small matters. + Sum total; worth in all xii. guilders. + + "Jaques Mol. + + "Paid, October viii., 95 [1495]." + + +Among the Dutch pictures at the Louvre is an anonymous work +representing the Committee of a Chamber of Rhetoric. + +Roemer Visscher, the father of the poetess, was a leading rhetorician +at Amsterdam, and the president of the Eglantine Chamber of the +Brother's Blossoming in Love (as he and his fellow-rhetoricians +called themselves). None the less, he was a sensible and clever man, +and he brought up his three daughters very wisely. He did not make +them blue stockings, but saw that they acquired comely and useful +arts and crafts, and he rendered them unique by teaching them to +swim in the canal that ran through his garden. He also was enabled +to ensure for them the company of the best poetical intellects of +the time--Vondel and Brederoo, Spiegel, Hooft and Huyghens. + +Of these the greatest was Joost van den Vondel, a neighbour of +Visscher's in Amsterdam, the author of "Lucifer," a poem from which +it has been suggested that Milton borrowed. Like Izaak Walton Vondel +combined haberdashery with literature. Spiegel was a wealthy patron +of the arts, and a president, with Visscher, of the Eglantine Chamber +with the painfully sentimental name. Constantin Huyghens wrote light +verse with intricate metres, and an occasional epigram. Here is one:-- + +_On Peter's Poetry_. + + + When Peter condescends to write, + His verse deserves to see the _light_. + If any further you inquire, + I mean--the candle or the fire. + + +Also a practical statesman, it was to Huyghens that Holland owes the +beautiful old road from The Hague to Scheveningen in which Jacob Cats +built his house. + +Among these friends Anna and Tesselschade grew into cultured +women of quick and sympathetic intellect. Both wrote poetry, but +Tesselschade's is superior to her sister's. Among Anna's early work +were some additions to a new edition of her father's _Zinne-Poppen_, +one of her poems running thus in the translation by Mr, Edmund Gosse +in the very pleasant essay on Tesselschade in his _Studies in the +Literature of Northern Europe_:-- + + + A wife that sings and pipes all day, + And never puts her lute away, + No service to her hand finds she; + Fie, fie! for this is vanity! + + But is it not a heavenly sight + To see a woman take delight + With song or string her husband dear, + When daily work is done, to cheer? + + Misuse may turn the sweetest sweet + To loathsome wormwood, I repeat; + Yea, wholesome medicine, full of grace, + May prove a poison--out of place. + + They who on thoughts eternal rest, + With earthly pleasures may be blest; + Since they know well these shadows gay, + Like wind and smoke, will pass away. + + +Tesselschade, who was much loved by her poet friends, disappointed +them all by marrying a dull sailor of Alkmaar named Albert +Krombalgh. Settling down at Alkmaar, she continued her intercourse +with her old companions, and some new ones, by letter. Among her new +friends were Barlaeus, or Van Baerle, the first Latinist of the day, +and Jacob Cats. When her married life was cut short some few years +later, Barlaeus proposed to the young widow; but it was in vain, +as she informed him by quoting from Cats these lines:-- + + + When a valved shell of ocean + Breaks one side or loses one, + Though you seek with all devotion + You can ne'er the loss atone, + Never make again the edges + Bite together, tooth for tooth, + And, just so, old love alleges + Nought is like the heart's first troth. + + +These are Tesselschade's lines upon the nightingale in Mr. Gosse's +happy translation:-- + + + THE WILD SONGSTER. + + + Praise thou the nightingale, + Who with her joyous tale + Doth make thy heart rejoice, + Whether a singing plume she be, or viewless winged voice; + + Whose warblings, sweet and clear, + Ravish the listening ear + With joy, as upward float + The throbbing liquid trills of her enchanted throat; + + Whose accents pure and ripe + Sound like an organ pipe, + That holdeth divers songs, + And with one tongue alone sings like a score of tongues. + + The rise and fall again + In clear and lovely strain + Of her sweet voice and shrill, + Outclamours with its songs the singing springing rill. + + A creature whose great praise + Her rarity displays, + Seeing she only lives + A month in all the year to which her song she gives. + + But this thing sets the crown + Upon her high renown, + That such a little bird as she + Can harbour such a strength of clamorous harmony. + + +Arnheim presents after dinner the usual scene of contented +movement. The people throng the principal streets, and every one seems +happy and placid. The great concert hall, Musis Sacrum, had not yet +begun its season when I was there, and the only spectacle which the +town could muster was an exhibition of strength by two oversized boys, +which I avoided. + +At Arnheim, I should relate, an odd thing happened to my +companion. When she was there last, in 1894, she had need to obtain +linseed for a poultice, and visited a chemist for the purpose. He +was an old man, and she found him sitting in the window studying his +English grammar. How long his study had lasted I have no notion, but he +knew less of our tongue than she of his, and to get the linseed was no +easy matter. Ten years passed and recollection of the Arnheim chemist +had clean evaporated; but chancing to look up as we walked through the +town, the sight of the old chemist seated in his shop-window poring +over a book brought the whole incident back to her. We stepped to the +window and stole a glance at the volume: it was an English Grammar. He +had been studying it ever since the night of the linseed poultice. + +It was, we felt, an object-lesson to us, who during the same interval +had taken advantage of every opportunity of neglecting the Dutch +tongue. + +That tongue, however, is not attractive. Even those who have spoken +it to most purpose do not always admire it. I find that Kasper van +Baerle wrote: "What then do we Netherlanders speak? Words from a +foreign tongue: we are but a collected crowd, of feline origin, +driven by a strange fatality to these mouths of the Rhine. Why, +since the mighty descendants of Romulus here pitched their tents, +choose we not rather the holy language of the Romans!" + +We may consider Dutch a harsh tongue, and prefer that all foreigners +should learn English; but our dislike of Dutch is as nothing compared +with Dutch dislike of French as expressed in some verses by Bilderdyk +when the tyranny of Napoleon threatened them:-- + + + Begone, thou bastard-tongue! so base--so broken-- + By human jackals and hyenas spoken; + Formed of a race of infidels, and fit + To laugh at truth--and scepticise in wit; + What stammering, snivelling sounds, which scarcely dare, + Bravely through nasal channel meet the ear-- + Yet helped by apes' grimaces--and the devil, + Have ruled the world, and ruled the world for evil! + + +But French is now the second language that is taught in Dutch +schools. German comes first and English third. + +The Dutch language often resembles English very closely; sometimes +so closely as to be ridiculous. For example, to an English traveller +who has been manoeuvring in vain for some time in the effort to get +at the value of an article, it comes as a shock comparable only to +being run over by a donkey cart to discover that the Dutch for "What +is the price?" is "Wat is de prijs?" + +The best old Dutch phrase-book is _The English Schole-Master_, the +copy of which that lies before me was printed at Amsterdam by John +Houman in the year 1658. I have already quoted a short passage from +it, in Chapter II. This is the full title:-- + + + The English Schole-Master; + or + Certaine rules and helpes, whereby + the natives of the Netherlandes, may + bee, in a short time, taught to + read, understand, and speake + the English tongue. + By the helpe whereof the English also + may be better instructed in the knowledge + of the Dutch tongue, than by any vocabulars, + or other Dutch and English + books, which hitherto they have + had, for that purpose. + + +There is internal evidence that the book was the work of a Dutchman +rather than an Englishman; for the Dutch is better than the English. I +quote (omitting the Dutch) part of one of the long dialogues between +a master and scholar of which the manual is largely composed. Much +of its interest lies in the continual imminence of the rod and the +skill of the child in saving the situation:-- + +M. In the meane time let me aske you one thing more. Have you not in +to-day at the holy sermon? + +S. I was there. + +M. Who are your witnesses? + +S. Many of the schoole-fellowes who saw me can witnes it. + +M. But some must be produced. + +S. I shall produce them when you commaund it. + +M. Who did preach? + +S. Master N. + +M. At what time began he? + +S. At seven a clock. + +M. Whence did he take his text? + +S. Out of the epistle of Paul to the Romanes. + +M. In what chapter? + +S. In the eighth. + +M. Hitherto you have answered well: let us now see what follows. Have +you remembred anything? + +S. Nothing that I can repeat. + +M. Nothing at al? Bethink (your self) a little, and take heed that +you bee not disturbed, but bee of good courage. + +S. Truly master I can remember nothing. + +M. What, not one word? + +S. None at all. + +M. I am ready to strike you: what profit have you then gotten? + +S. I know not, otherwise than that perhaps I have in the mean time +abstained from evill. + +M. That is some what indeed, if it could but so be that you have kept +your self wholy from evill. + +S. I have abstained so much as I was able. + +M. Graunt that it bee so, yet you have not pleased God, seeing it is +written, depart from evill and doe good, but tell mee (I pray thee) +for what cause principally did you goe thither? + +S. That I might learne something. + +M. Why have you not done so? + +S. I could not. + +M. Could you not, knave? yea you would not, or truly you have not +addicted your self to it. + +S. I am compelled to confesse it. + +M. What compelleth you? + +S. My Conscience, which accuseth me before God. + +M. You say well: oh that it were from the heart. + +S. Truly I speak it from myne heart. + +M. It may bee so: but goe to, what was the cause that you have +remembred nothing? + +S. My negligence: for I attended not diligently. + +M. What did you then? + +S. Sometimes I slept. + +M. So you used to doe: but what did you the rest of the time? + +S. I thought on a thousand fooleries, as children are wont to doe. + +M. Are you so very a child, that you ought not to be attentive to +heare the word of God? + +S. If I had bin attentive, I should have profitted something. + +M. What have you then meritted? + +S. Stripes. + +M. You have truly meritted them, and that very many. + +S. I ingenuously confess it. + +M. But in word only I think. + +S. Yea truly from myne heart. + +M. Possibly, but in the meane time prepare to receive stripes. + +S. O master forgive it, I beseech you, I confes I have sinned, but +not of malice. + +M. But such an evill negligence comes very neare wickedness (malice). + +S. Truly I strive not against that: but nevertheles I implore your +clemencie through Jesus Christ. + +M. What will you then doe, if I shall forgive you? + +S. I will doe my dutie henceforth, as I hope. + +M. You should have added thereto, by God's helpe: but you care little +for that. + +S. Yea master, by God's help, I will hereafter doe my duty. + +M. Goe to, I pardon you the fault for your teares: and I forgive it +you on this condition, that you bee myndful of your promise. + +S. I thank you most Courteous master. + +M. You shall bee in very great favour with mee, if you remember +your promise. + +S. The most good and great God graunt that I may. + +M. That is my desire, that hee would graunt it. + +Here is another dialogue. Whether the riot of courtesy displayed in +it was typical of either England or Holland at that time I cannot say; +but in neither country are we now so solicitous:-- + +_Salutations at meeting and parting._ + +Clemens. David. + +C. God save you David. + +D. And you also Clemens. + +C. God save you heartily. + +D. And you also, as heartily. + +C. How do you? + +D. I am well I thank God; at your service: and you Clemens, how is +it with you? well? + +C. I am also in health: how doth your father and mother? + +D. They are in good health praised be God. + +C. How goes it with you my good friend? + +D. It goeth well with mee, goes it but so well with you. + +C. I wish you good health. + +D. I wish the same to you also. + +C. I salute you. + +D. And I you also. + +C. Are you well? are you in good health? + +D. I am well, indeed I am in good health, I am healthful, and in +prosperity. + +C. That is good. That is well. That is pleasing to me. That maketh +mee glad. I love to hear that. I beseech you to take care of your +health. Preserve your health. + +D. I can tarry no longer now. I am in haste to be gone. I must go. I +have need of my time. I cannot abide standing here. Fare you well +God be with you. God keep you still. I wish your health may continue. + +C. And you also my loving friend, God protect you. God guide you. God +bee with you. May it please you in my behalf, heartily to salute your +wife and children. + +D. I will do your message. But I pray, commend mee also to your father +and mother. + +At the end of the book are some forms, in Dutch and English, of +mercantile letters, among them a specimen bill of lading of which I +quote a portion as an example of the gracious way in which business +was done in old and simpler days:-- + +I, J.P. of Amsterdam, master under God of my ship called the Saint +Peter at this present lying ready in the river of Amsterdam to saile +with the first goode winde which God shall give toward London, where +my right unlading shal be, acknowledge and confes that I have receaved +under the hatches of my foresaid ship of you S.J., merchaunt, to wit: +four pipes of oile, two chests of linnen, sixteen buts of currents, +one bale of canvase, five bals of pepper, thirteen rings of brasse +wyer, fiftie bars of iron, al dry and wel conditioned, marked with +this marke standing before, all which I promise to deliver (if God +give me a prosperous voyage with my said ship) at London aforesaid, +to the worshipful Mr. A.J. to his factour or assignes, paying for +the freight of the foresaid goods 20 fs. by the tun. + +Quaintness and humour are not confined to the ancient phrase-books. An +English-Dutch conversational manual from which the languages are still +learned has a specimen "dialogue" in a coach, which is opened by the +gentleman remarking genially and politely to his fellow-passenger, +a lady, "Madame, shall we arrange our legs". + +It occurs to me that very little Dutch has found its way into these +pages. Let me therefore give the first stanza of the national song, +"Voor Vaderland en Vorst":-- + + + Wien Neerlandsch bloed in de aderen vloeit, + Van vreemde smetten vrij, + Wiens hart voor land en Koning gloeit, + Verhef den sang als wij: + Hij stel met ons, vereend van zin, + Met onbeklemde borst, + Het godgevallig feestlied in + Voor Vaderland en Vorst. + + +These are brave words. A very pedestrian translation runs thus:-- + + + Who Ne'erland's blood feel nobly flow, + From foreign tainture free, + Whose hearts for king and country glow, + Come, raise the song as we: + With breasts serene, and spirits gay, + In holy union sing + The soul-inspiring festal lay, + For Fatherland and King. + + +And now a specimen of really mellifluous Dutch. "How +would you like," is the timely question of a daily paper +this morning, as I finish this chapter, "to be hit by a +'snellpaardelooszoondeerspoorwegpitroolrijtung?' That is what would +happen to you if you were run down by a motor-car in Holland. The name +comes from 'snell,' rapid; 'paardeloos,' horseless; 'zoondeerspoorweg,' +without rails; 'pitroolrijtung,' driven by petroleum. Only a Dutchman +can pronounce it." + +Let me spice this chapter by selecting from the pages of proverbs in +Dutch and English a few which seem to me most excellent. No nation +has bad proverbs; the Dutch have some very good ones. + +Many cows, much trouble. + +Even hares pull a lion by the beard when he is old. + +Men can bear all things, except good days. + +The best pilots are ashore. + +Velvet and silk are strange herbs: they blow the fire out of the +kitchen. + +It is easy to make a good fire of another's turf. + +It is good cutting large girths of another man's leather. + +High trees give more shadow than fruit. + +An old hunter delighteth to hear of hunting. + +It hath soon rained enough in a wet pool. + +God giveth the fowls meat, but they must fly for it. + +An idle person is the devil's pillow. + +No hen so witty but she layeth one egg lost in the nettles. + +It happeneth sometimes that a good seaman falls overboard. + +He is wise that is always wise. + +When every one sweeps before his own house, then are the streets clean. + +It is profitable for a man to end his life, before he die. + +Before thou trust a friend eat a peck of salt with him. + +It's bad catching hares with drums. + +The pastor and sexton seldom agree. + +No crown cureth headache. + +There is nothing that sooner dryeth up than a tear. + +Land purchase and good marriage happen not every day. + +When old dogs bark it is time to look out. + +Of early breakfast and late marriage men get not lightly the headache. + +Ride on, but look about. + +Nothing in haste, but to catch fleas. + +To return to Arnheim: of the Groote Kerk I remember only the very +delicate colouring of the ceiling, and the monument of Charles van +Egmont, Duke of Guelders. I had grown tired of architecture: it seemed +goodlier to watch the shipping on the river, which at Arnheim may be +called the Rhine without hesitation. All the traffic to Cologne must +pass the town. Hitherto one had had qualms about the use of the word, +having seen the Rhine under various aliases in so many places. The +Maas at Rotterdam is a mouth of the Rhine; but before it can become +the Rhine proper it becomes the Lek, What is called the true mouth of +the Rhine is at Katwyk. At Dordrecht again is another of the Rhine's +mouths, the Waal, which runs into the old Maas and then into the +sea. The Yssel, still another mouth of the Rhine, which I saw at +Kampen on its way into the Zuyder Zee, breaks away from the parent +river just below Arnheim. As a matter of fact all Holland is on the +Rhine, but the word must be used with care. + +If one would study Dutch romantic scenery I think Nymwegen on the whole +a better town to stay in than Arnheim. It is simpler in itself, richer +in historic associations, and the country in the immediate east is +very well worth exploring--hill and valley and pine woods, with quaint +villages here and there; and, for the comfortable, a favourite hotel +at Berg en Daal from which great stretches of the Rhine may be seen. + +To see Nymwegen itself to greater advantage, with its massed houses +and towers presenting a solid front, one must go over the iron bridge +to Lent and then look back across the river. At all times the old +town wears from this point of view an interesting and romantic air, +but never so much as at evening. + +Some versions of "Lohengrin" set the story at Nymwegen; but the +Lohengrin monument is at Kleef, a few miles above the confluence of +the Rhine and the Waal, the river on which Nymwegen stands. + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was at Nymwegen in 1716, drew an odd +comparison between that town and the English town of Nottingham. If +Edinburgh is the modern Athens there is no reason why Nottingham +should not be the English Nymwegen. Lady Mary writes to her friend +Sarah Chiswell: "If you were with me in this town, you would be ready +to expect to receive visits from your Nottingham friends. No two +places were ever more resembling; one has but to give the Maese the +name of the Trent, and there is no distinguishing the prospects--the +houses, like those of Nottingham, built one above another, and are +intermixed in the same manner with trees and gardens. The tower they +call Julius Caesar's has the same situation with Nottingham Castle; +and I cannot help fancying I see from it the Trent-field, Adboulton, +&c., places so well known to us. 'Tis true, the fortifications make +a considerable difference...." + +Nymwegen reminded me of nothing but itself. It is in reality two towns: +a spacious residential town near the station, with green squares, +and statues, and modern houses (one of them so modern as to be +employing a vacuum cleaner, which throbbed and panted in the garden +as I passed); and the old mediaeval Nymwegen, gathered about one of +the most charming market places in all Holland--a scene for comic +opera. The Dutch way of chequering the shutters in blue and yellow +(as at Middelburg) or in red and black, or red and white, is here +practised to perfection. The very beautiful weigh-house has red and +black shutters; the gateway which leads to the church has them too. + +Never have I seen a church so hemmed in by surrounding buildings. The +little houses beset it as the pigmies beset Antaeus. After some +difficulty I found my way in, and wandered for a while among its white +immensities. It is practically a church within a church, the region +of services being isolated in the midst, in the unlovely Dutch way, +within hideous wooden walls. It is very well worth while to climb the +tower and see the great waterways of this country beneath you. The +prospect is mingled wood and polder: to the east and south-east, +shaggy hills; to the west, the moors of Brabant; to the north, +Arnheim's dark heights. + +Nymwegen has many lions, chief of which perhaps is the Valkhof, +in the grounds above the river--the remains of a palace of the +Carlovingians. It is of immense age, being at once the oldest building +in Holland and the richest in historic memories. For here lived +Charlemagne and Charles the Bald, Charles the Bold and Maximilian +of Austria. The palace might still be standing were it not for the +destructiveness of the French at the end of the eighteenth century. A +picture by Jan van Goyen in the stadhuis gives an idea of the Valkhof +in his day, before vandalism had set in. + +As some evidence of the town's pride in her association with these +great names the curfew, which is tolled every evening at eight o'clock, +but which I did not hear, is called Charlemagne's Prayer. The facade +of the stadhuis is further evidence, for it carries the statues of +some of the ancient monarchs who made Nymwegen their home. + +Within the stadhuis is another of the beautiful justice halls which +Holland possesses in such profusion, the most interesting of which +we saw at Kampen. Kampen's oak seats are not, however, more beautiful +than those of Nymwegen; and Kampen has no such clock as stands here, +distilling information, tick by tick, of days, and years, and sun, +and moon, and stars. The stadhuis has also treasures of tapestry +and Spanish leather, and a museum containing a very fine collection +of antiquities, including one of the famous wooden petticoats of +Nymwegen--a painted barrel worn as a penance by peccant dames. + +From Nymwegen the train took me to Hertzogenbosch, or Bois le Duc, +the capital of Brabant. It is from Brabant, we were told by a proverb +which I quoted in my first chapter on Friesland, that one should +take a sheep. Great flocks of sheep may be seen on the Brabant moors, +exactly as in Mauve's pictures. They are kept not for food, for the +Dutch dislike mutton, but for wool. + +Bois le Duc has the richest example of mediaeval architecture in +Holland--the cathedral of St. John, a wonderful fantasy in stone, +rich not only without, but, contrary to all Dutch precedent, within +too; for we are at last again among a people who for the most part +retain the religion of Rome. The glass of the cathedral is poor, +but there is a delicate green pattern on the vaulting which is very +charming. The koster is proudest of the pulpit, and of a figure of +the Virgin "which is carried in procession through the town every +evening between July 7th and 16th". + +But I was not interested so much in particular things as in the +cathedral as a whole. To be in the midst of this grey Gothic +environment was what I desired, and after a little difficulty I +induced the koster to leave me to wander alone. It was the first +church in Holland with the old authentic thrill. + +Bois le Duc (as it is more simple to call it) is a gay town with +perhaps the most spirited market place in the country. The stalls have +each an awning, as in the south of Europe, and the women's heads are +garlanded with flowers. I like this method of decoration as little +as any, but it carries with it a pleasant sense of festivity. + +From Bois le Duc one may go due north to Utrecht and Amsterdam, passing +on the way Bommel, with its tall and impressive tower rising from its +midst. Or one may keep to the western route and reach Walcheren. That +is my present course, and Bommel may be left with a curious story +of the Spaniards in 1599. "Two brothers who had never seen, and had +always been inquiring for, each other, met at last by chance at the +siege, where they served in two different companies. The elder, who +was called Hernando Diaz, having heard the other mentioned by the name +of Encisso, which was his mother's surname, and which he had taken +through affection, a thing common in Spain, put several questions to +him concerning a number of family particulars, and knew at last by +the exactness of his answers that he was the brother he had been so +long seeking after; upon which both proceeding to a close embrace, +a cannon ball struck off both their heads, without separating their +bodies, which fell clinging together." + +Helvoet, on the way to Tilburg, is the scene of an old but honourable +story. Ireland tells us that George the Second, being detained by +contrary winds on his return from Hanover, reposed at Helvoet until the +sea should subside. While there he one day stopped a pretty Dutch girl +to ask her what she had in her basket. "Eggs, mynheer." "And what is the +price?" "A ducat a piece, mynheer." "Are eggs so scarce then in +Holland?" "No. mynheer, but kings are." + +At Tilburg I did not tarry, but rode on to Breda (which is pronounced +with all the accent on the second syllable) and which is famous +for a castle (now a military school) and a tomb. The castle, a very +beautiful building, was built by Count Henry of Nassau. On becoming in +due course the property of William the Silent, it was confiscated by +the Duke of Alva. How it was won back again is a story worth telling. + +The great achievement belonged to a simple boatman named +Adrian. Whether or not he had read or heard of the Trojan horse is not +known, but his scheme was not wholly different. Briefly he recommended +Prince Maurice to conceal soldiers in his peat boat, under the peats, +to be conveyed as peat into the Spanish garrison. The plan was approved +and Captain Heranguiere was placed in charge of it. + +The boat was laden and Adrian poled it into the fortress; and all +was going well until the coldness of the night set the soldiers +coughing. All were affected, but chiefly Lieutenant Hells, who, vainly +attempting to be silent, at last implored his comrades to kill him +lest he ruin the enterprise. Adrian, however, prevented this grim +necessity by pumping very hard and thus covering the sound. + +It had been arranged that the Prince should be outside the city at +a certain hour. Just before the time Heranguiere and his men sprang +out of their hiding, killed the garrison, opened the gates, and the +castle was won again, Heranguiere was rewarded by being made governor +of Breda; Adrian was pensioned, and the boat was taken from its native +elements and exalted into an honoured position in the castle. When, +however, the Spanish general Spinola recaptured Breda, one of his +first duties was to burn this worthy vessel. + +The jewel of Breda, which is a spreading fortified town, is the +tomb of Count Engelbert I. of Nassau, in one of the chapels of the +great church. The count and his lady, both sculptured in alabaster, +lie side by side beneath a canopy of black marble, which is borne +by four warriors also of alabaster. On the canopy are the arms and +accoutrements of the dead Count. The tomb, which was the work of +Vincenz of Bologna in the sixteenth century, is wholly satisfying in +its dignity, austerity and grace. + +To the font in Breda cathedral William III. attached the privilege +of London citizenship. Any child christened there could claim the +rights of a Londoner, the origin of the sanction being the presence of +English soldiers at Breda and their wish that their children should +be English too. Whether or not the Dutch guards who were helping the +English at the end of the seventeenth century had a similar privilege +in London I do not know. + +Late one Saturday evening I watched in a milk shop at Breda a +conscientious Dutch woman at work. She had just finished scrubbing the +floor and polishing the brass, and was now engaged in laying little +paths of paper in case any chance customer should come in over night +and soil the boards before Sunday. I thought as I stood there how +impossible it would be for an English woman tired with the week to sit +up like this to clean a shop against the next day. Sir William Temple +has a pleasant story illustrating at once the inherent passion for +cleanliness in the Dutch women and also their old masterfulness. It +tells how a magistrate, paying an afternoon call, was received at the +door by a stout North Holland lass who, lest he should soil the floor, +took him bodily in her arms and carried him to a chair; sat him in it; +removed his boots; put a pair of slippers on his feet; and then led +him to her mistress's presence. + +Bergen-op-Zoom has its place in history; but it is a dull town in +fact. Nor has it beautiful streets, with the exception of that which +leads to the old Gevangenpoort with its little painted towers. I +must confess that I did not like Bergen-op-Zoom. It seemed to me +curiously inhospitable and critical; which was of course a wrong +attitude to take up towards a countryman of Grimston and Redhead; Who +are Grimston and Redhead? I seem to hear the reader asking. Grimston +and Redhead were two members of the English garrison when the Prince +of Parma besieged Bergen-op-Zoom in 1588, and it was their cunning +which saved the town. Falling intentionally into the Prince's hands +they affected to inform him of the vulnerability of the defences, +and outlined a scheme by which his capture of a decisive position +was practically certain. Having been entrusted with the conduct of +the attack, they led his men, by preconcerted design, into an ambush, +with the result that the siege was raised. + +All being fair in love and war one should, I suppose, be at the feet +of these brave fellows; but I have no enthusiasm for that kind of +thing. At the same time there is no doubt that the Dutch ought to, +and therefore I am the more distressed by Bergen-op-Zoom's rudeness +to our foreign garb. + +Bergen had seen battle before the siege, for when it was held by the +Spanish, at the beginning of the war, a naval engagement was held off +it in the Scheldt, between the Spanish fleet and the Beggars of the +Sea, whom we are about to meet. The victory was to the Beggars. Later, +in 1747, Bergen was besieged again, this time by the French and much +more fiercely than by the Spaniards. + +From Bergen-op-Zoom we went to Tholen, passing the whitest of windmills +on the way. Tholen is an odd little ancient town gained by a tramway +and a ferry. Head-dresses here, as at Bois le Duc, are very much +over-decorated with false flowers; but in a little shop in one of the +narrow and deserted streets we found some very pretty lace. We found, +also on the edge of the town, a very merry windmill; and we had lunch +at an inn window which commanded the harnessing of the many market +carts, into every one of which climbed a stolid farmer and a wife +brimming with gossip. + +In the returning steam-tram from Tholen to Bergen-op-Zoom was a +Dutch maiden. So typical was she that she might have been a composite +portrait of all Dutch girls of eighteen--smooth fair features, a very +clear complexion, prim clothes. A friend getting in too, she talked; +or rather he talked, and she listened, and agreed or dissented very +quietly, and I had the pleasure of watching how admirably adapted +is the Dutch feminine countenance for the display of the nuances +of emotion, the enregistering of every thought. Expression after +expression flitted across her face and mouth like the alternate shadow +and sun in the Weald on a breezy April day. A French woman's many +vivacious and eloquent expressions seem to come from within; but the +Dutch present a placid sensitised surface on which their companions' +conversation records the most delicate tracery. This girl's little +reluctant smiles were very charming, and we were at Bergen-op-Zoom +again before I knew it. + + + +Chapter XIX + +Middelburg + + The friendly Zeelanders--A Spanish heritage--Deceptive Dutch + towns--The Abbey Hotel--The Abbey of St. Nicholas--Middelburg's + art--Sentimental songs--The great Tacius--The siege of + Middelburg--A round-faced city--When disfigurement is + beauty--Green paint--Long John--Music in the night--Foolish + Betsy--The Stadhuis--An Admiral and stuffed birds--The law + of the paving-stones--Veere--The prey of the sea--A mammoth + church--Maximilian's cup. + +With Middelburg I have associated, for charm, Hoorn; but Middelburg +stands first. It is serener, happier, more human; while the nature of +the Zeelander is to the stranger so much more ingratiating than that +of the North Hollander. The Zeelander--and particularly the Walcheren +islander--has the eccentricity to view the stranger as a natural +object rather than a phenomenon. Flushing being avowedly cosmopolitan +does not count, but at Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland, you may, +although the only foreigner there, walk about in the oddest clothes +and receive no embarrassing attentions. + +It is not that the good people of Walcheren are quicker to see +where their worldly advantage lies. They are not schemers or +financiers. The reason resides in a native politeness, a heritage, +some have conjectured, from their Spanish forefathers. One sees hints +of Spanish blood also in the exceptional flexibility and good carriage +of the Walcheren women. Whatever the cause of Zeeland's friendliness, +there it is; and in Middelburg the foreigner wanders at ease, almost +as comfortable and self-possessed as if he were in France. + +And it is the pleasantest town to wander in, and an astonishingly +large one. A surprising expansiveness, when one begins to explore them, +is an idiosyncrasy of Dutch towns. From the railway, seeing a church +spire and a few roofs, one had expected only a village; and behold +street runs into street until one's legs ache. This is peculiarly +the case with Gorinchem, which is almost invisible from the line; +and it is the case with Middelburg, and Hoorn, and many other towns +that I do not recall at this moment. + +My advice to travellers in Walcheren is to stay at Middelburg rather +than at Flushing (they are very nigh each other) and to stay, moreover, +at the Hotel of the Abbey. It is not the best hotel in Holland as +regards appointment and cuisine; but it is certainly one of the +pleasantest in character, and I found none other in so fascinating +a situation. For it occupies one side of the quiet square enclosed +by the walls of the Abbey of St. Nicholas (or Abdij, as the Dutch +oddly call it), and you look from your windows through a grove of +trees to the delicate spires and long low facade of this ancient +House of God, which is now given over to the Governor of Zeeland, +to the library of the Province, and to the Provincial Council, who +meet in fifteenth century chambers and transact their business on +_nouveau art_ furniture. + +What the Abbey must have been before it was destroyed by fire we can +only guess; but one thing we know, and that is that among its treasures +were paintings by the great Mabuse (Jan Gossaert), who once roystered +through Middelburg's quiet streets. Another artist of Middelburg was +Adrian van der Venne, who made the quaint drawings for Jacob Cats' +symbols, of which we have seen something in an earlier chapter. But +the city has never been a home of the arts. Beyond a little tapestry, +some of which may be seen in the stadhuis, and some at the Abbey, +it made nothing beautiful. From earliest times the Middelburgers were +merchants--wool merchants and wine merchants principally, but always +tradespeople and always prosperous and contented. + +A tentoonstelling (or exhibition) of copper work was in progress when +I was there last summer; but it was not interesting, and I had better +have taken the advice of the Music Hall manager, in whose grounds +it was held, and have saved my money. His attitude to _repousse_ +work was wholly pessimistic, part prejudice against the craft +of the metal-worker in itself, but more resentment that florins +should be diverted into such a channel away from comic singers and +acrobats. Seated at one of the garden tables we discussed Dutch taste +in varieties. + +The sentimental song, he told me, is a drug in Holland. Anything +rather than that. No matter how pretty the girl may be, she must +not sing a sentimental song. But if I wished to witness the only +way in which a sentimental song would "go down," I must visit his +performance that evening--reserved seats one, fifty,--and hear the +great Tacius. He drew from his pocket a handbill which was at that +moment being scattered broadcast over Middelburg. It bore the name +of this marvel, this solver of the sentimental riddle, and beneath +it three interrogation marks. The manager winked. "That," he said, +"will excite interest." + +We went that evening and heard Tacius--a portly gentleman in a ball +dress and a yellow wig, who after squeaking five-sixths of a love song +in a timid falsetto which might pass for a woman's voice, roared out +the balance like a bull. He brought down the house. + +Like most other Dutch towns Middelburg had its period of siege. But +there was this difference, that Middelburg was held by the Spanish and +besieged by the Dutch, whereas the custom was for the besiegers to be +Spanish and the besieged Dutch. Middelburg suffered every privation +common to invested cities, even to the trite consumption of rats +and dogs, cats and mice, Just as destruction seemed inevitable--for +the Spanish commander Mondragon swore to fire it and perish with it +rather than submit--a compromise was arranged, and he surrendered +without dishonour, the terms of the capitulation (which, however, +Spain would not allow him to carry out) being another illustration +of the wisdom and humanity of William the Silent. + +Middelburg has never known a day's suffering since her siege. A +local proverb says, "Goed rond, goed Zeeuwsch"--very round, very +Zeelandish--and an old writer--so M. Havard tells us--describes +Middelburg as a "round faced city". If by round we mean not only +circular but also plump and comfortable, we have Middelburg and its +sons and daughters very happily hit off. Structurally the town is +round: the streets curve, the Abbey curves; seen from a balloon or +the summit of the church tower, the plan of the city would reveal +itself a circle. And there is a roundness also in the people. They +smile roundly, they laugh roundly, they live roundly. + +The women and girls of Middelburg are more comely and winsome than any +in Holland. Their lace caps are like driven snow, their cheeks shine +like apples. But their way with their arms I cannot commend. The sleeve +of their bodices ends far above the elbow, and is made so tight that +the naked arm below expands on attaining its liberty, and by constant +and intentional friction takes the hue of the tomato. What, however, +is to our eyes only a suggestion of inflammation, is to the Zeelander a +beauty. While our impulse is to recommend cold cream, the young bloods +of Middelburg (I must suppose) are holding their beating hearts. These +are the differences of nations--beyond anything dreamed of in Babel. + +The principal work of these ruddy-armed and wide-hipped damsels seems +to be to carry green pails on a blue yoke--and their perfect fitness +in Middelburg's cheerful and serene streets is another instance of +the Dutch cleverness in the use of green paint. These people paint +their houses every year--not in conformity with any written law, +but upon a universal feeling that that is what should be done. To +this very pretty habit is largely due the air of fresh gaiety that +their towns possess. Middelburg is of the gayest. Greenest of all, +as I have said, is perhaps Zaandam. Sometimes they paint too freely, +even the trunks of trees and good honest statuary coming under the +brush. But for the most part they paint well. + +It is not alone the cloistral Gothic seclusion in which the Abbey hotel +reposes that commends it to the wise: there is the further allurement +of Long John. Long John, or De Lange Jan, is the soaring tower of the +Abbey church, now the Nieuwe Kerk. So long have his nearly 300 feet +dominated Middelburg--he was first built in the thirteenth century, +and rebuilt in the sixteenth--that he has become more than a structure +of bricks and copper: a thinking entity, a tutelary spirit at once +the pride and the protector of the town. His voice is heard more often +than any belfry beneath whose shadow I have lain. Holland, as we have +seen, is a land of bells and carillons; nowhere in the world are the +feet of Time so dogged; but Long John is the most faithful sleuth of +all. He is almost ahead of his quarry. He seems to know no law; he +set out, I believe, with a commission entitling him to ring his one +and forty bells every seven and a half minutes, or eight times in the +hour; but long since he must have torn up that warranty, for he is +now his own master, breaking out into little sighs of melancholy or +wistful music whenever the mood takes him. I have never heard such +profoundly plaintive airs as his--very beautiful, very grave, very +deliberate. One cannot say more for persistent chimes than this--that +at the Abbey hotel it is no misfortune to wake in the night. + +Long John has a companion in Foolish Betsy. Foolish Betsy is the +stadhuis clock, so called (Gekke Betje) from her refusal to keep time +with the giant: another instance of the power which John exerts over +the town, even to the wounding of chivalry. The Nieuwe Kerk would +be nothing without its tower--it is one of the barest and least +interesting churches in a country which has reduced to the finest +point the art of denuding religion of mystery--but the stadhuis +would still be wonderful even without its Betsy, There is nothing +else like it in Holland, nothing anywhere quite so charming in its +shameless happy floridity. I cannot describe it: the building is too +complicated, too ornate; I can only say that it is wholly captivating +and thoroughly out of keeping with the Dutch genius--Spanish influence +again apparent. Beneath the eaves are four and twenty statues of the +Counts of Holland and Zeeland, and the roof is like a mass-meeting +of dormer windows. + +In addition to the stadhuis museum, which is dedicated to the history +of Middelburg and Zeeland, the town has also a municipal museum, too +largely given over to shells and stuffed birds, but containing also +such human relics as the wheel on which Admiral de Ruyter as a boy +helped his father to make rope, and also the first microscope and +the first telescope, both the work of Zacharias Jansen, a Zeeland +mathematician. More interesting perhaps are the rooms in the old +Zeeland manner, corresponding to the Hindeloopen rooms which we +have seen at Leeuwarden, but lacking their cheerful richness of +ornamentation. It is certainly a museum that should be visited, +albeit the stuffed birds weigh heavily on the brow. + +After all, Middelburg's best museum is itself. Its streets and +houses are a never-ending pleasure. Something gladdens the eye at +every turn--a blue and yellow shutter, a red and black shutter, +a turret, a daring gable, a knot of country people, a fat Zeeland +baby, a milk-can rivalling the sun, an old woman's lace cap, a young +woman's merry mouth. Only in two respects is the town unsatisfactory, +and both are connected with its streets. The liberty given to each +householder to erect an iron fence across the pavement at each limit +of his property makes it necessary to walk in the road, and the _pave_ +of the road is so rough as to cause no slight suffering to any one in +thin boots. M. Havard has an amusing passage on this topic, in which +he says that the ancient fifteenth-century punishment for marital +infidelity, a sin forbidden by the municipal laws no less than by +Heaven, was the supply by the offending man of a certain number of +paving stones. After such an explanation, the genial Frenchman adds, +we must not complain:-- + + + Nos peres ont peches, nos peres ne sont plus, + Et c'est nous qui portons la peine de leurs crimes. + + +The island of Walcheren is quickly learned. From Middelburg one +can drive in a day to the chief points of interest--Westcapelle and +Domburg, Veere and Arnemuiden. Of these Veere is the jewel--Veere, +once Middelburg's dreaded rival, and in its possession of a clear +sea-way and harbour her superior, but now forlorn. For in the +seventeenth century Holland's ancient enemy overflowed its barriers, +and the greater part of Veere was blotted out in a night. What remains +is a mere symbol of the past; but there is enough to loiter in with +perfect content, for Veere is unique. Certainly no little town is so +good to approach--with the friendliness of its red roofs before one +all the way, the unearthly hugeness of its church and the magic of +its stadhuis tower against the blue. + +The church, which is visible from all parts of the island, is immense, +in itself an indication of what a city Veere must have been. It +rises like a mammoth from the flat. Only the east end is now used for +services; the vast remainder, white and naked, is given up to bats +and the handful of workmen that the slender restoration funds make it +possible to employ. For there is some idea of Veere's church being one +day again in perfect repair; but that day will not be in our time. The +ravages of the sea only emptied it: the sea does not desecrate. It +was Napoleon who disgraced the church by converting it into barracks. + +Other relics of Veere's past are the tower at the harbour mouth (its +fellow-tower is beneath the sea) and the beautifully grave Scotch house +on the quay, once the centre of the Scottish wool trade of these parts. + +The stadhuis also remains, a dainty distinguished structure which might +be the infant daughter of the stadhuis at Middelburg. Its spire has a +slender aerial grace; on its facade are statues of the Lords of Veere +and their Ladies, Within is a little museum of antiquities, one of +whose most interesting possessions is the entry in the Veere register, +under the date July 2nd, 1608, of the marriage of Hugo Grotius with +Maria Reygersbergh of Veere, whom we have seen at Loevenstein assisting +in her husband's escape from prison. The museum is in the charge of a +blond custodian, a descendant of sea kings, whose pride in the golden +goblet which Maximilian of Burgundy, Veere's first Marquis, gave to +the town in 1551, is almost paternal. He displays it as though it +were a sacred relic, and narrates the story of Veere's indignation +when a millionaire attempted to buy it, so feelingly as to fortify +and complete one's suspicions that money after all is but dross and +the love of it the root of evil. + + + +Chapter XX + +Flushing + + Middelburg once more--The Flushing baths--Shrimps and + chivalry--A Dutch boy--Charles V. at Souburg--Flushing + and the Spanish yoke--Philip and William the Silent--The + capture of Brill--A far-reaching drunken impulse--Flushing's + independence--Admiral de Ruyter--England's Revenge--The + Middelburg kermis--The aristocracy of avoirdupois--The end. + +It is wiser I think to stay at Middelburg and visit Flushing from +there than to stay at Flushing. One may go by train or tram. In +hot weather the steam-tram is the better way, for then one can go +direct to the baths and bathe in the stillest arm of the sea that +I know. Here I bathed on the hottest day of last year, 1904, among +merry albeit considerable water nymphs and vivacious men. These I +found afterwards should have dwelt in the water for ever, for they +emerged, dried and dressed, from the machines, something less than +ordinary Batavians. I perhaps carried disillusionment also. + +For safe bathing the Flushing baths could not well be excelled, but +I never knew shore so sandy. To rid one's self of sand is almost an +impossibility. With each step it over-tops one's boots. + +Returning to Middelburg from Flushing one evening, in the steam-tram, +we found ourselves in a compartment filled with happy country +people, most of them making for the kermis, then in full swing in +the Middelburg market place. A pedlar of shrimps stood by the door +retailing little pennyworths, and nothing would do but the countryman +opposite me must buy some for his sweetheart. When he had bought them +he was for emptying them in her lap, but I tendered the wrapper of my +book just in time: an act of civility which brought out all his native +friendliness. He offered us shrimps, one by one, first peeling them +with kindly fingers of extraordinary blackness, and we ate enough to +satisfy him that we meant well: and then just as we reached Middelburg, +he gave me a cigar and walked all the way to the Abbey with me, +watching me smoke it. It was an ordeal; but I hope, for the honour +of England, that I carried it through successfully and convinced him +that an Englishman knows what to do with courtesy when he finds it. + +In the same tram and on the very next seat to us was the pleasantest +little boy that I think I ever saw: a perfect miniature Dutchman, +with wide black trousers terminating in a point, pearl buttons, +a tight black coat, a black hat, and golden neck links after the +Zeeland habit. He was perhaps four, plump and red and merry, and his +mother, who nursed his baby sister, was immensely proud of him. Some +one pressed a twopenny bit into his hand as he left the car, and I +watched him telling the great news to half a dozen of the women who +were waiting by the side of the road, while his face shone like the +setting sun. + +They got off at Souburg, the little village between Flushing and +Middelburg where Charles V. was living in 1556, after his abdication, +before he sailed for his last home. It is odd to have two such +associations with Souburg--the weary emperor putting off the purple, +and the little Dutch boer bursting jollily through black velvet. + +Flushing played a great part in the great war. It was from Flushing +that Charles V. sailed in 1556; from Flushing that Philip II. sailed in +1559; neither to return. It was Flushing that heard Philip's farewell +to William of Orange, which in the light of after events may be called +the declaration of war that was to release the Netherlands from the +tyranny of Spain and Rome. "As Philip was proceeding on board the ship +which was to bear him for ever from the Netherlands, his eyes lighted +upon the Prince. His displeasure could no longer be restrained. With +angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly reproached him for having +thwarted all his plans by means of his secret intrigues. William +replied with humility that everything which had taken place had been +done through the regular and natural movements of the states. Upon +this the King, boiling with rage, seized the Prince by the wrist, +and, shaking it violently, exclaimed in Spanish, 'No los estados, +ma vos, vos, vos!'--Not the estates, but you, you, you!--repeating +thrice the word 'vos,' which is as disrespectful and uncourteous in +Spain as 'toi' in French." + +That was 26th August, 1559. Philip's fleet consisted of ninety ships, +victualled, among other articles, with fifteen thousand capons, and +laden with such spoil as tapestry and silks, much of which had to +be thrown overboard in a storm to lighten the labouring vessels. It +seemed at one time as if the fleet must founder, but Philip reached +Spain in safety, and hastened to celebrate his escape, and emphasise +his policy of a universal religion, by an extensive _auto da fe_. + +Flushing did not actually begin the war, in 1572, after the capture +of Brill at the mouth of the Maas, by the Water Beggars under De la +Marck, but it was the first town to respond to that invitation of +revolt against Alva and Spain. The foundations of the Dutch Republic +may have been laid at Brill, but it was the moral support of Flushing +that established them. + +The date of the capture of Brill was April 1st, and Alva, who was then +at Brussels, suffered tortures from the Belgian wits. The word Brill, +by a happy chance, signifies spectacles, and a couplet was sung to +the effect that + + + On April Fool's Day + Duke Alva's spectacles were stolen away; + + +while, says Motley, a caricature was circulated depicting Alva's +spectacles being removed from his nose by De la Marck, while the Duke +uttered his habitual comment "'Tis nothing. 'Tis nothing." + +What, however, began as little more than the desperate deed of some +hungry pirates, to satisfy their immediate needs, was soon turned +into a very far-reaching "something," by the action of Flushing, +whose burghers, under the Seigneur de Herpt, on hearing the news of +the rebellion of Brill, drove the Spanish garrison from the town. A +number of Spanish ships chancing to arrive on the same day, bringing +reinforcements, were just in time to find the town in arms. Had they +landed, the whole revolt might have been quelled, but a drunken loafer +of the town, in return for a pot of beer, offered to fire a gun at the +fleet from the ramparts. He was allowed to do so, and without a word +the fleet fell into a panic and sailed away. The day was won. It might +almost be said that that shot--that pot of beer--secured the freedom +of the Netherlands. Let this be remembered when John Barleycorn is +before his many judges. + +A little later Brill sent help, and Flushing's independence was +secure. Motley describes this band of assistants in a picturesque +passage:-- + +"The expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. Every man in +the little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered +churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or +the more sombre cowls and robes of Capuchin friars. So sped the early +standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the +fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had +been consumed. So swept that resolute but fantastic band along the +placid estuaries of Zeeland, waking the stagnant waters with their +wild beggar songs and cries of vengeance. + +"That vengeance found soon a distinguished object. Pacheco, the +chief engineer of Alva, who had accompanied the Duke in his march +from Italy, who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the +architect of the Antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste +to Flushing to complete the fortress whose construction had been +so long delayed. Too late for his work, too soon for his safety, +the ill-fated engineer had arrived almost at the same moment with +Treslong and his crew. He had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of +all which had transpired, expecting to be treated with the respect +due to the chief commandant of the place, and to an officer high in +the confidence of the Governor-general. He found himself surrounded by +an indignant and threatening mob. The unfortunate Italian understood +not a word of the opprobrious language addressed to him, but he easily +comprehended that the authority of the Duke was overthrown. + +"Observing De Ryk, a distinguished partisan officer and privateersman +of Amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and generosity was known +to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring from his finger +kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. By this dumb-show +he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for the +treatment due to a gentleman. De Ryk understood the appeal, and would +willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was +powerless to do so. He arrested him, that he might be protected from +the fury of the rabble; but Treslong, who now commanded in Flushing, +was especially incensed against the founder of the Antwerp citadel, +and felt a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the +body of his destroyer's favourite. + +"Pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very day of his +arrival. Having been brought forth from his prison, he begged +hard but not abjectly for his life. He offered a heavy ransom, but +his enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. It was, however, +difficult to find an executioner. The city hangman was absent, and the +prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had +assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of Alva's +administration. Even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town gaol, +refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. It +should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth +to a hangman. When told, however, that the intended victim was a +Spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, +on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him +with the deed. + +"Arrived at the foot of the gallows, Pacheco complained bitterly of +the disgraceful death designed for him. He protested loudly that he +came of a house as noble as that of Egmont or Hoorn, and was entitled +to as honourable an execution as theirs had been. 'The sword! the +sword!' he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who +guarded him. His language was not understood, but the name of Egmont +and Hoorn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while +his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had +happened to possess himself of Pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and +who now paraded himself with it at the gallows foot. 'Never fear for +your sword, Senor,' cried this ruffian; 'your sword is safe enough, +and in good hands. Up the ladder with you, Senor; you have no further +use for your sword.' Pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. He +mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two +other Spanish officers. + +"So perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most +distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and +accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. But +while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few +Netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon +of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be +forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation, +example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly +rebuked and, to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit +by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they +had espoused." + +Flushing's hero is De Ruyter, whose rope-walk wheel we saw at +Middelburg, and whose truculent lineaments have so often frowned at +us from the walls of picture gallery and stadhuis throughout the +country--almost without exception from the hand of Ferdinand Bol, +or a copyist. + +Scratch a sea-dog and you find a pirate; De Ruyter, who stands in stone +for all time by Flushing harbour, lacking the warranty of war would +have been a Paul Jones beyond eulogy. You can see it in his strong +brows, his determined mouth, his every line. It is only two hundred +and thirty-seven years, only seven generations, since he was in the +Thames with his fleet, and London was panic-stricken. No enemy has +been there since. The English had their revenge in 1809, when they +bombarded Flushing and reduced it to only a semblance of what it had +been. Among the beautiful buildings which our cannon balls destroyed +was the ancient stadhuis. Hence it is that Flushing's stadhuis to-day +is a mere recent upstart. + +Flushing does little to amuse its visitors after the sun has left the +sea; and we were very glad of the excuse offered by the Middelburg +kermis to return to our inland city each afternoon. The Middelburg +kermis is a particularly merry one. The stalls and roundabouts fill +the market square before the stadhuis, packed so closely that the +revolving horses nearly carry the poffertje restaurants round with +them. The Dutch roundabouts, by the way, still, like the English, +retain horses: they have not, like the French, as I noticed at three +fairs in and about Paris last autumn, taken to pigs and rabbits. + +I examined the Middelburg kermis very thoroughly. Few though the +exhibits were, they included two fat women. Their booths stood on +opposite sides of the square, all the fun of the fair between them. In +the west was Mile. Jeanne; in the east the Princess Sexiena. Jeanne +was French, Sexiena came from the Fatherland. Both, though rivals, +used the same poster: a picture of a lady, enormous, decolletee, +highly-coloured, stepping into a fiacre, to the cocher's intense +alarm. Before one inspected the rival giantesses this community of +advertisement had seemed to be a mistake; after, its absurdity was only +too apparent, for although the Princess was colossal, Mile. Jeanae +was more so. Mile. Jeanne should therefore have employed an artist +to make an independent allurement. + +Both also displayed outside the booths a pair of corsets, but here, +I fancy, the advantage was with Mlle. Jeanne, although such were the +distractions of the square that it was difficult to keep relative +sizes in mind as one crossed it. + +We visited the Princess first and found her large enough. She gasped on +a dais--it was the hottest week of the year. She was happy, she said, +except in such warmth. She was not married: Princes had sighed for +her in vain. She rode a bicycle, she assured us, and enjoyment in the +incredulity of her hearers was evidently one of her pleasures. Her +manager listened impatiently, for our conversation interrupted his +routine; he then took his oath that she was not padded, and bade her +exhibit her leg. She did so, and it was like the mast of a ship. + +I dropped five cents into her plate and passed on to Mlle. Jeanne. The +Princess had been large enough; Mlle. Jeanne was larger. She wore +her panoply of flesh less like a flower than did her rival. Her +expression was less placid; she panted distressfully as she fanned +her bulk. But in conversation she relaxed. She too was happy, except +in such heat. She neither rode a bicycle nor walked--save two or +three steps. As her name indicated, she too was unmarried, although, +her manager interjected, few wives could make a better omelette. But +men are cowards, and such fortresses very formidable. + +As we talked, the manager, who had entered the booth as blase an +entrepreneur as the Continent holds, showed signs of animation. In +time he grew almost enthusiastic and patted Mlle.'s arms with pride. He +assisted her to exhibit her leg quite as though its glories were also +his. The Princess's leg had been like the mast of a ship; this was +like the trunk of a Burnham beech. + +And here, at Flushing, we leave the country. I should have liked to +have steamed down the Scheldt to Antwerp on one of the ships that +continually pass, if only to be once more among the friendly francs +with their noticeable purchasing power, and to saunter again through +the Plantin Museum among the ghosts of old printers, and to stand for +a while in the Museum before Van Eyck's delicious drawing of Saint +Barbara. But it must not be. This is not a Belgian book, but a Dutch +book; and here it ends. + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] The whole dress worn by the Prince on this tragical occasion is +still to be seen at The Hague in the National Museum.--_Motley_. + +[2] The house now called the Prinsen Hof (but used as a barrack) +still presents nearly the same appearance as it did in 1584.--_Motley_. + +[3] Mendoza's estimate of the entire population as numbering only +fourteen thousand before the siege is evidently erroneous. It was +probably nearer fifty thousand.--_Motley_. + +[4] Since writing the above passage I am reminded by a correspondent +that Louis XIV. described the Dutch as a nation of shopkeepers and +Napoleon merely borrowed and adapted the phrase. + +[5] "With the Rederijkern," Longfellow adds, "Hood's amusing 'Nocturnal +Sketch' would have been a Driedobbelsteert, or a poem with three +tails;-- + + + Even is come; and from the dark park, hark, + The signal of the setting sun, one gun! + And six is sounding from the chime, prime time + To go and see the Drury-Lane Dane slain. + Anon Night comes, and with her wings brings things + Such as with his poetic tongue Young sung." + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wanderer in Holland, by E. V. 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