HOLLAND'S INFLUENCE 
 
 ON 
 
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 AND LITERATURE 
 
 BY 
 
 T. de VRIES, J. D. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 C. GRENTZEBACH 
 1916 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1916 
 
 BY 
 C. GRKNTZEBACH 
 
 HAMMOND PRESS 
 W. B. CONKEY COMPA 
 CHICAGO 
 
PREFACE , 
 
 IN the following pages an endeavor is made to 
 contribute to the knowledge of English language 
 and literature by telling the part which Holland played 
 in their development during several centuries. This 
 contribution to English language and literature I make 
 with especial delight, since the English language is 
 that of the American people, and consequently the 
 literature, written in that language, is of the greatest 
 educational importance to the United States. In doing 
 this, I have tried to reconcile my allegiance and faith- 
 fulness to the "stars and stripes" with my imperishable 
 love for the country of my ancestors. My endeavor 
 has been to portray so much of Dutch national life 
 and activity as has been useful and is still useful for 
 our present American life. The life of every American 
 citizen is rooted in the life of one or the other Euro- 
 pean nation and there is none living that does not feel 
 some hidden love in the bottom of his heart for that 
 country from which either he himself or his ancestors 
 came. He that would deny it would give a poor com- 
 pliment to his own character, education and feelings. 
 We are always standing between the future and the 
 past; and the love for our ancestors, for the country 
 of their activities, for the places where they are 
 resting after their labors, is as natural as our love for 
 our children and grandchildren. So the problem of 
 the twofold sympathy must present itself more or less 
 to every American, and the way I have tried to solve 
 it, as I hope to the honor of both my old country and 
 
6 . PREFACE 
 
 our new world, may possibly give a hint to those who 
 apparently were not able to find the right equilibrium 
 in their love as divided between the country of their 
 ancestors and that of their offspring in the future. 
 Those who are too much attached to the old country 
 will never become really faithful to the new, and will 
 themselves remain strangers in this country. Those 
 that boast of their indifference about the land of their 
 ancestors are depriving their own character of one of 
 the noblest and most charming qualities: love and 
 honor for their ancestors. The solution is in finding, 
 honoring and remembering the best of what the old 
 country has produced in civilization, in learning, in art 
 and literature, in heroism and martyrdom, and in 
 offering that as a contribution to the national life of 
 the new world, giving honor to the past and blessing 
 to the future. Not in preferring the old world to the 
 new, but in making the best results of European life 
 useful for the American nation, in combining what is 
 beautiful and useful in both of them, lies the solution 
 that alone can satisfy our noblest feelings in this ten- 
 der question. That is what, as far as Holland's in- 
 fluence on English and American language and litera- 
 ture is concerned, I have tried to do. 
 
 It is only an endeavor, and as such I hope that it 
 may find appreciation. 
 
 Finally, I may not omit here the expression of my 
 cordial thanks to Dr. W. Lichtenstein, librarian of 
 Northwestern University, for the kindness and help- 
 fulness with which he and his staff have assisted me 
 in getting the books which I needed, and for the 
 special freedom which he has given me in the use of 
 the library. 
 
 T. DE VRIES. 
 
 Evanston, 111., May, 1916. 
 
CONTENTS , 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE 5 
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 PART I HOLLAND'S INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOP- 
 MENT OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I The English language and comparative 
 philology 23 
 
 II The great results of comparative philology.. 25 
 
 III Holland's share in the starting of compara- 
 tive philology 27 
 
 IV The Dutch school of Lambert ten Kate and 
 Balthazar Huydecoper 42 
 
 V Holland's share in the revival of mediaeval 
 literature during the nineteenth century, as a 
 natural consequence of the study of com- 
 parative philology 45 
 
 VI Results of the study of comparative philology 
 and of mediaeval literature, for the study of 
 English language and literature 51 
 
 PART II HOLLAND'S INFLUENCE ON THE ENGLISH 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 VII The close relationship between the Dutch and 
 
 the English languages 55 
 
 VIII Why the influence of England on Dutch 
 language and literature is only of recent 
 date, while that of Holland on English lan- 
 guage and literature began much earlier and 
 continued during several centuries 61 
 
 IX The influence exerted on the English lan- 
 guage is entirely different from that on Eng- 
 lish literature 69 
 
 1 
 
8 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 X How it happened that Holland exerted an 
 influence on the English language 73 
 
 XI What influence Holland exerted on the 
 
 English language 97 
 
 PART III THE INFLUENCE OF HOLLAND ON 
 ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 XII On Caedmon 143 
 
 XIII On the stories of King Arthur and the 
 French romances in England 145 
 
 XIV On William Caxton and the first book print- 
 ing in England 149 
 
 XV On Prognostications or prophetic almanacs.. 153 
 
 XVI Thomas a Kempis 155 
 
 XVII "Elckerlic" and "Everyman" 160 
 
 XVIII Desiderius Erasmus 164 
 
 XIX The first English book on America is a 
 
 translation from the Dutch 173 
 
 XX Dutch legends in England 176 
 
 XXI Jestbooks and anecdotes. Fool literature. 
 
 Howleglass. Ulenspiegel 178 
 
 XXII Hadrianus Junius 182 
 
 XXIII The first complete English bible printed at 
 Antwerp (1527-1535) as a missionary work 
 of the Dutch. Miles Coverdale in the serv- 
 ice of Jacob van Meteren 187 
 
 XXIV The emblem-books. Van der Noot. Eras- 
 mus. Hadrianus Junius. Whitney. Plantijn. 
 Jacob Cats 191 
 
 XXV George Gascoigne. His abode in the Neth- 
 erlands and his works. His Glasse of Gov- 
 ernment and the Latin school dramas in 
 Holland. Macropedius and Gnapheus 198 
 
 XXVI Thomas Churchyard 213 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXVII Sir John Van der Noot and Edmund Spenser, 
 (a) Van der Noot's theatre, (b) Its author. 
 
 (c) Spenser's connection with the Theatre. 
 
 (d) Spenser and Van der Noot 224 
 
 XXVIII The "Bee Hive of the Romish Church" by 
 
 Marnix of St. Aldegonde 249 
 
 XXIX Descriptions of voyages. Lucas Jansz. Wag- 
 henser. Bernhard Langhenes. Jan Huyghen 
 van Linschoten. Willem Cornells Schouten. 
 Gerrit de Veer 253 
 
 XXX Religious Literature. Brownists, Separatists 
 or Independents. Baptists. Congregation- 
 alists. Quakers. Methodists. Presbyterians. 261 
 
 XXXI Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Jacobus 
 Struyck. The morality-plays in the Nether- 
 lands 275 
 
 XXXII Philip Sidney 278 
 
 XXXIII Tracts relating to execution of John of 
 Oldenbarnevelt in 1619. The tragedy of Sir 
 John of Oldenbarnevelt. A play called The 
 Jeweller of Amsterdam 282 
 
 XXXIV John Milton. His life und his Paradise Lost. 
 Milton and Grotius. Milton and Vondel. 
 Milton and Junius. Milton and Salmasius. 
 Milton and Alexander Morus. Bibliography. 
 Hugo Grotius and John Selden. Selden and 
 Graswinckel 288 
 
 XXXV The time of the Anglo-Dutch wars. John 
 Dryden. Andrew Marvell and Edmund 
 Waller 303 
 
 XXXVI Holland's influence during the time of Will- 
 iam III, King of England, and Stadtholder 
 of Holland. Daniel Defoe. Matthew Prior. 
 Gilbert Burnet and John Locke 321 
 
10 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 XXXVII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Holland's decline in the eighteenth century. 
 Fielding. Smollett. Goldsmith. Southey and 
 Henry Taylor under the influence of Bil- 
 derdyk 347 
 
 XXXVIII Holland's glory of the past remains inspiring. 
 Motley. Macaulay. Walter Scott. Wash- 
 ington Irving and Paulding. Longfellow. 
 Charles Reade and Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 Caroline Atwater Mason. Inspiration from 
 Dutch art. Walter Cranston Larnet's novel : 
 "Rembrandt, a romance of Holland." Eng- 
 lish translations of Dutch novels. French 
 and German novels inspired by Dutch history 
 and translated into English. George Ebers. 
 
 Alexander Dumas 374 
 
 1 INDEX OF NAMES 393 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Portrait of Franciscus Junius by Anton van Dyck 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus by Albrecht Durer 168 
 
 Portrait of Hadrianus Junius 182 
 
 Portrait of Jacob Cats by P. Dubordieu 192 
 
 Portrait of Jonkheer Jan van der Noot 236 
 
 Title page of the "Bee-hive" with portrait of Marnix of 
 
 St. Aldegonde 250 
 
 Portrait of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten 254 
 
 Portrait of Jacobus Arminius 264 
 
 Portrait of Dirk Volkertz Coornhert by H. Golzius... 270 
 
 Portrait of Joost van den Vondel by Joachim Sandrard. 292 
 
 Portrait of Hugo Grotius by M. Mierevelt 296 
 
 Portrait of Willem Bilderdyk by Hodges 360 
 
 11 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 AT first sight the subject treated in this little book 
 must look strange to most American readers, 
 who are educated in the innocent belief that dikes and 
 windmills, some pictures of Rembrandt and some 
 poor fisher people of Marken and Volendam are all 
 that is worth knowing about Holland. And if, during 
 their college years, they follow the advice of some 
 professor and read some book of Motley, then, of 
 course, they feel themselves thoroughly well-posted 
 on Holland ; the only thing to be done then is to make 
 a trip to Europe, taking four days for Holland, one to 
 see the Hague, one for Amsterdam, one for the isle of 
 Marken, and one for Haarlem and Leyden. The pur- 
 chase of a pair of wooden shoes and some postal cards 
 sets the crown on their investigations, and after their 
 return to America these "experts on Holland" feel in- 
 clined to give "a lecture with lantern slides," or to 
 write a "nice book" on "picturesque Holland." Such 
 has been for the last half century the method of 
 English landlords and of London parvenus; why 
 should not Americans follow in their footsteps, since 
 Washington Irving taught them never to think of 
 Holland and of the Dutch people but with a smile? 
 
 Why not ? Let me give the answer : Because on 
 the pages of American history are written the names 
 of Motley and Douglas Campbell, of Ruth Putnam 
 and of Griffis ; because the wonderful chorus of their 
 different voices has made us listen to another song 
 about Holland, sublime like the ideals which the 
 
 13 
 
14 ' INTRODUCTION 
 
 i'iigrim fathers brought with them from Leyden, pure 
 and simple like the life of the first settlers on Man- 
 hattan, sacred and full of charm like the voice of 
 William Penn's mother when educating her son in 
 the city on the Meuse. The world's history and 
 Holland played some part in it when its statesmen, as 
 in the case of William the Silent and William the 
 Third, held in their hands the balance of power of 
 Europe, and the fate of Protestantism, and in deadly 
 struggle a faithful nation stood by them to conquer 
 freedom of conscience for all generations to come 
 the world's history contains a great many jokes, just 
 as a picture of Rembrandt contains a great deal of 
 vain darkness, and just as God's world-plan in Milton's 
 Paradise Lost contains a good many devils, but the 
 world's history is not a joke. Is there anything more 
 sublime, more grand for the contemplation of the 
 human soul, than the proceedings of the world's 
 history; that panorama of the leading nations in 
 which generation after generation roll to their graves, 
 leaving their deeds to the admiration of the grateful, 
 and to the mockery of the ungrateful ; that tremendous 
 progress of the human race in grandeur inferior only 
 to the Almighty Hand of the Unseen One, whose 
 providential leadership is worshipped by all Creation, 
 whose praise is sung by every creature? In that 
 greatest of all proceedings, outside of which disap- 
 pears even the very idea of time, every one of the 
 leading nations has its own period to play its part, 
 and to make its history grand for a while, and nobody 
 can change the fact that the great period of Holland 
 precedes that of England, and nothing is more natural 
 than that the political and commercial history of Hol- 
 land, its industry, its art and literature, its whole 
 standard of civilization was destined to be a great 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 school of learning for its successor on the British 
 Isles. And however scornfully a successor in power 
 and leadership may look down upon the defeated and 
 declining predecessor, there has been exerted an in- 
 fluence far reaching and covering nearly every part of 
 life, in industry, in commerce, in social and domestic 
 life, in literature and in art, and that influence has 
 found its most natural reflection in the literature of 
 the rising nation which is going to succeed its declin- 
 ing rival. 
 
 To give an outline of this influence of Holland on 
 English literature and language is the endeavor made 
 in the following pages. Only an outline, as there could 
 be made no claim whatever of completeness, since 
 researches on the influence of Holland are, as yet, 
 still in their first period; but an outline that gives at 
 least an idea of the point in view. 
 
 The endeavor is to contribute to the knowledge and 
 history of English language and literature ; an en- 
 deavor attractive and interesting because the English 
 language is the language of our American country, 
 and consequently English literature will be of the 
 greatest importance in the education of our own chil- 
 dren and grandchildren. This last fact I mention with 
 delight, considering it as one of the greatest blessings 
 which God's Providence has given to the American 
 people, because in literature England unquestionably 
 stands first among all the nations of the earth. 
 
 The subject treated in this little volume was sug- 
 gested to me several times during the two years I was 
 lecturing on Dutch History, Art, and Literature in 
 the University of Chicago. When I talked to one of 
 my colleagues about the question "Spencer- Van der 
 Noot" to another about "Vondel-Milton" and to a 
 third about "Elckerlick-Everyman," repeatedly the 
 
16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 suggestion was made that I give an outline of all the 
 topics in English Literature in which the influence of 
 Holland was traceable, and I could hardly deny that 
 the subject really lay in my way. Besides that, in 
 fact, I gave the students at the beginning of every 
 course an outline of this subject amongst the reasons 
 why an American should study Dutch History, Art 
 and Literature. It may interest students of the present 
 subject to know how far it comes into contact as a 
 special study with the more general field of historical 
 information about Holland: to know the reasons why 
 Americans should be interested in it. I give them 
 here as I found them in my note-book : 
 
 1. Because the glorious history of the Dutch 
 Republic is a part of the World's history. From 
 the year 1500 till the year 1700 the headquarters 
 of the World's history are to be found in the 
 Netherlands. See in the English language the 
 works of J. Ellis Barker, J. A. Froude, Macau- 
 lay, Griffis, Alexander Young and others. 
 
 2. Because the Dutch laid the foundations 
 of four of the great central colonies in America, 
 viz., New York, New Jersey, Delaware and 
 Pennsylvania. See the works of Broadhead, 
 O'Calleghan and Griffis. 
 
 3. Because Holland exerted a remarkable 
 influence on the first English, French and Ger- 
 man settlers in America during the seventeenth 
 century. See Douglas Campbell's work: "The 
 Puritans" ; and my lecture on the subject in 
 "Dutch History, Art and Literature for Ameri- 
 cans." 
 
 4. Because the Dutch Republic in its beau- 
 tiful history is the only mighty Republic in 
 modern times of which we can study the rise, the 
 glory, the decline, the downfall and the revival 
 as a constitutional monarchy; a history full of 
 lessons for the Republic of the United States. 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 See especially J. Ellis Barker's "The Rise and 
 Decline of the Dutch Republic." 
 
 5. Because the history of the Netherlands 
 bears such a remarkable resemblance to the his- 
 tory of the United States that a comparison is 
 most interesting. See the works of John Adams, 
 and my lecture on this subject in "Dutch His- 
 tory, Art and Literature for Americans." 
 
 6. Because Holland was the cradle of modern 
 Democracy. The rise of the Flemish cities 
 Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and later Leyden, 
 Dordrecht, Amsterdam, etc., have been the start- 
 ing points in the great struggle against mediaeval 
 feudalism and hierarchy, in behalf of all modern 
 Democracy, of which the headquarters now are 
 in the United States. See the works of Gui- 
 ciardini, Motley, Thorold Rogers, etc. 
 
 7. Because the Dutch settlers from the first 
 beginning of the American commonwealth have 
 been, and their descendants are still today, an 
 important element of the American people. They 
 are spread over all the States to the number of 
 several millions, and their character and 
 influence and traditions can be known only by 
 studying Dutch history. See Henry van Dyke, 
 "The Spirit of America," Douglas Campbell, 
 "The Puritans," etc. 
 
 8. Because hardly any branch of science or 
 knowledge in its history can be well understood 
 without studying the history of Holland. For 
 instance: In divinity, Gomarus, Arminius, Mac- 
 covius, Gysbert Voet, Rivet, Maresius ; in philos- 
 ophy, Spinoza ; in law, Hugo Grotius, Johannes 
 Voet, Paul Voet, Salmasius; in philology, Eras- 
 mus, Junius Lipsius, Vossius, etc. ; in botany, 
 Linnaeus ; in medicine, Boerhaave, etc., etc. See 
 any book giving the history of one or the other 
 of these branches of learning. 
 
 9. Because nobody can study Dutch art with- 
 out some knowledge of Dutch history and of 
 the character of the Dutch nation. The schools 
 of Rubens and Rembrandt are most closely con- 
 
18 INTRODUCTION 
 
 nected with prevailing ideas and circumstances 
 in the Netherlands. 
 
 10. Because nobody can understand Dutch 
 literature without studying Dutch history. And 
 yet, everybody for instance, knows Vondel's 
 Lucifer, and ought to know the national litera- 
 ture to which it belongs. The Japanese profes- 
 sor Kanura called the Lucifer one of the most 
 splendid products of the human mind. Such a 
 piece of work stands not alone. The highest 
 mountains are not to be found on the prairies, but 
 always in the midst of many other mountains. 
 A nation for centuries prominent in history for 
 learning and civilization must have a literature 
 which no scholar, who has self-respect, can 
 neglect. See L. C. Van Noppen, Vondel's Luci- 
 fer, translated into English, and the works on 
 universal literature, also the works on Dutch 
 literature, by Jonckbloet, Ten Brink, Te Winkel, 
 Kalff and thousands of monographs. 
 
 11. Because Dutch politics cannot be under- 
 stood without a knowledge of Dutch history, and 
 yet the policy of William the Silent and William 
 III (1650-1702) contains beautiful principles for 
 the guidance of a republic, just as the policy of 
 Oldenbarnevelt, John de Witt and the Olichargs, 
 was and is destructive and ruinous to any repub- 
 lic. See on the policy of William the Silent: 
 Harrison, Ruth Putnam, Motley ; on that of 
 William III : Macaulay ; on that of Oldenbarne- 
 velt, De Witt, and the Olichargs : Ellis Barker. 
 
 Twice all Protestantism was maintained and 
 saved from being crushed, at first under the 
 leadership of William the Silent against the 
 Roman Catholic world-empire of Spain, and sec- 
 ondly under the leadership of William III against 
 the world-empire of France under Louis XIV. 
 These two great Princes of Orange had only one 
 fault, viz., they were not ambitious enough to 
 make a strong central government into a per- 
 manent one by changing the constitution. On the 
 contrary, the policy of Barnevelt and DeWitt by 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 their antagonism against the House of Orange, 
 by their neglect of army and navy, by their 
 weakening and nearly dissolving the union and 
 the central national government, by their appeal 
 to foreign powers to sustain their party-policy, 
 laid the foundations for the decjine and downfall 
 of the country, just as happened in so many 
 republics of ancient times. These are indeed 
 great lessons for every republic including the 
 United States. 
 
 12. Because the real spirit of America is so 
 much like, and so rooted in, the spirit of the 
 Dutch Republic. See Henry van Dyke, Miinster- 
 berg, and Butler. 
 
 13. Because Holland was the cradle of the 
 Reformation, which inspired the beginnings of 
 modern Democracy. Equality before God, the 
 priesthood of all believers, and personal respon- 
 sibility towards God, became the fundamental 
 ideas of modern Democracy, in sharp contrast 
 with the Democracy of the later French Revolu- 
 tion with its "Ni Dieu ni Maitre." The Ameri- 
 can Democracy was from the beginning rooted 
 in the ideas, not of the French Revolution, but 
 in those of the Reformation, and remained so in 
 the time of John Adams, notwithstanding the 
 influence of Jefferson and Paine. 
 
 14. Because Holland even till our present 
 time has occupied a central position among 
 European nations and is still important for the 
 high standing of its universities and for its 
 colonial power. The Peace Palace is at the 
 Hague. The world's school for international 
 law will be there, where its founder, Hugo 
 Grotius, lived. In gaining Nobel prizes the 
 Dutch nation ranks first. The Dutch colonies 
 cover an area nearly half as large as the United 
 States, with nearly forty millions of inhabitants. 
 If ranked according to the amount of imports 
 from them into the United States, Holland with 
 its colonies is always the third or the fourth 
 nation : England is first, Germany second, and 
 either France or Holland is third or fourth. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION 
 
 15. Because there has always been a close 
 sympathy between Holland and America. The 
 Pilgrims came from Holland. Most of the first 
 French and German settlers found a refuge in 
 Holland, before they came to America. Four of 
 the colonies were founded by Holland. The 
 victory of the American colonies over France, 
 ending in the conquest of Quebec in 1750, was 
 a consequence of the struggle of Prince William 
 III of Orange against Louis XIV. During the 
 war of Independence John Adams found sym- 
 pathy and money in Holland, and at least three 
 medals were at that time made in the Nether- 
 lands, showing the sympathy of Holland for the 
 sister republic of the United States. 
 
 1 6. Because many American institutions of 
 State and church and school, in their historical 
 development, are rooted in Dutch institutions. 
 See Douglass Campbell's "The Puritans," Ruth 
 Putnam's lecture on "The Influence of Holland 
 on America." 
 
 17. Because Holland has exerted an impor- 
 tant influence on the English language and Eng- 
 lish literature. See W. W. Skeat's Principles of 
 Etymology, Vol. I, and his Dictionary of English 
 Etymology. For the influence of Holland on 
 English literature there are many monographs 
 for instance, on the influence of Van der Noot 
 on Edmund Spenser, or that of Hugo Grotius 
 and Vondel on Milton, but a general outline of 
 the whole field has not yet been made. 
 
 Every scholar in history and literature sees at a 
 glance that each one of these seventeen arguments 
 could, without much trouble, be worked out in a 
 volume. That I have begun with the last point is 
 because it is the most inquired about, and the least 
 known. 
 
 Finally, a few remarks about the division of the 
 present volume. 
 
INTRODUCTION 21 
 
 According to the title one might expect that it 
 should be divided in two parts : ( I ) The influence of 
 Holland on English language, and (2) on English 
 literature. And yet, in order that the whole field of 
 the subject might really be covered by this research, a 
 third part had to be added, or rather, prefixed before 
 the two others. 
 
 For not only on the English language and English 
 literature, but even on the development of the whole 
 field of comparative philology, by which we know 
 today so much more than in earlier times about all 
 the elements of the English language and about its 
 relation to other languages, Holland had an influence 
 which can hardly be overestimated. 
 
 This development of comparative philology is 
 therefore so closely connected with our knowledge of 
 the English language and at the same time has been so 
 much under the influence of Holland, that it seems 
 reasonable to treat Holland's influence on the develop- 
 ment of comparative philology, first of all even before 
 treating its influence on English language and 
 literature. 
 
 The task to be performed in the following pages 
 is therefore naturally divided into three parts : 
 I. Holland's influence on the development of com- 
 parative philology. 
 
 II. Holland's influence on the English language. 
 III. Holland's influence on English literature. 
 
PART I 
 
 Holland's Influence on the Development 
 of Comparative Philology 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPARATIVE 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 More than any other the English language is a" 
 mixture of many languages 1 . Consequently there is 
 no language for which a knowledge of the develop- 
 ment of comparative philology is so important. Every- 
 body who knows what is meant by the term compara- 
 tive philology must see this immediately. Comparative 
 philology, as the first part of this term indicates, is the 
 study which emphasizes the comparison of different 
 languages, makes a research for their relationship, 
 tries to find out what they have in common and in 
 which points they differ, along which lines and accord- 
 ing to which laws these languages changed their 
 words, their grammar, and their syntax; how under 
 the influence of climate, soil, way of living, and other 
 circumstances from dialects they became languages; 
 how in their roots, in their sound system, in their 
 etymology, in their grammar and syntax they can be 
 traced so as to discover their relationship and their 
 
 1 "Certainly no language was ever composed of sucrf numerous and 
 such diverse elements." Walter W. Skeat. Principles of English 
 Etymology, First Series, Second edition, Oxford, 1892, p. 3. 
 
 23 
 
24 LANGUAGE AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 
 differences, and consequently how every one of them 
 has to be looked at in its historical development. A 
 more beautiful way to get a thorough knowledge of a 
 language than along these lines certainly never could 
 be chosen. For every language this comparative, this 
 genealogical, this historical, this etymological method 
 is exceedingly interesting. But especially for the Eng- 
 lish language, the study of which brings the philologist 
 into a veritable labyrinth of so many different parts of 
 numerous languages, that a thorough knowledge of 
 the whole mixture in all its constituent elements can 
 hardly be considered possible without those historical, 
 genealogical and etymological studies, which we call 
 comparative philology. 
 
 England, which was first inhabited by the -Celts 
 with their own language, and then conquered by the 
 Romans, who during four centuries employed there 
 their soldier's Latin, was after that time conquered by 
 the Saxons, Jutes and Angles who brought their own 
 languages or dialects. Later on England was con- 
 quered by the Danes, and finally by the Normans under 
 William the Conqueror. These latter were Northmen 
 who had acquired the language of France. England 
 under the subsequent and abiding influences of all 
 these conquests, and in later time by its own prevail- 
 ing trade in permanent contact with many nations 
 of Europe, and of the whole world, finally developed 
 a language in which so many different elements had 
 secured a permanent place, that for the full and thor- 
 ough knowledge of the present English language the 
 study of comparative philology must be of more im- 
 portance than for any other language in the world, be- 
 cause no other language contains such a variety of 
 different Clements. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE GREAT RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 
 The study of comparative philology is especially 
 important for the English language, because wonder- 
 ful and surprising results have been obtained in this 
 field. It is by this study that nowadays we know that 
 all the European languages together with some Asiatic, 
 languages form one great family, commonly called the 
 Indo-Germanic, Indo-European, or Aryan group, and 
 that all the languages of this whole group may be sup- 
 posed to have sprung from one original language, 
 which probably first divided itself into three different 
 dialects or branches : 
 
 1. The Asiatic, consisting in later times of the 
 Sanskrit (in India), the Zend (in old Persia) and the 
 Armenian (in old Armenia). 
 
 2. The Southern European branch, which in the 
 course of history was divided into Greek, Celtic and 
 Latin which last was the parent of Italian, Spanish 
 and French. 
 
 3. The Northern European branch, containing the 
 Germanic group and the Slavo-Lettic languages. 
 
 The Slavo-Lettic is that group of languages which 
 includes in its south-eastern branches the Russian, 
 Bulgarian, Servian, Croatian and Slavonian, and in its 
 western branch the Czechish or Bohemian and Polish, 
 and further the Lettic which includes Lithuanian and 
 Lettish. 
 
 The Germanic group, later appears in two groups, 
 viz., the eastern with the Scandinavian and the Gothic, 
 
 25 
 
26 RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 
 and the western including High German (the present 
 German), and Low German including English, Dutch 
 and Frisian. 
 
 Since the study of comparative philology has dis- 
 covered this genealogical coherency of all the Euro- 
 pean languages with some of the Asiatic, a most beau- 
 tiful field for the study of every one of these languages 
 has been opened for research. Every language can be 
 traced in its own particular growth. The lines along 
 which it changed and deviated from the original can 
 be indicated by comparison with other languages of 
 the same family. A new light has shone on the study 
 of the etymology, grammar, and syntax of every 
 language, and even on the entire history of the nations 
 and the civilization of Europe. Since that time every 
 piece of ancient and mediaeval literature, no matter in 
 what language it was written, has become a source for 
 the study of languages and of history in general. 
 
 That this progress of comparative philology was 
 important especially for the knowledge of the English 
 language with its so many different elements, is evi- 
 dent enough, and beautiful results show this. Every- 
 body who knows, for instance, the works of W. W. 
 Skeat, 1 and especially his Etymological Dictionary of 
 the English Language, must admire the researches, by 
 which nearly every word is traced in its history, and 
 by which is determined to which of the different ele- 
 ments of the present English language it originally be- 
 longed. And the comparative grammars, constructed 
 since the first great endeavor of Bopp 2 give such an 
 insight into the structure of several languages as never 
 could have been gained before. 
 
 1 W. W. Skeat, Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 
 Fourth edition. Other works of Skeat are for instance his Principles 
 of English Etymology, 2 vols., and The Science of Etymology. 
 
 2 F. Bopp, A Comparative Grammar of the Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, 
 Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German and Scandinavian Languages. 
 Translated by E. B. Eastwick, Fourth edition. London, 1885. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
 COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 
 That such a movement as the development of com- 
 parative philology did not reach its present impor- 
 tance in one moment, or even in a few years, every- 
 body can easily understand. Extremely difficult for 
 every movement of this kind is its beginning", when it 
 has to go along quite new lines. As long as it remains 
 groping in the dark, as long as nobody knows in which 
 direction to go, there is no advance and no progress. 
 But as soon as a presumption arises that a solution is 
 to be found in a certain direction, then the most won- 
 derful success in advancing to the solution becomes a 
 mere affair of labor and time. Now the great event 
 in the starting of a more serious study of languages 
 by comparative philology no doubt was the discovery 
 and the study of what was left of the Gothic language, 
 that "guiding star of the Germanic languages" as 
 Bopp 1 calls it. For of all the Germanic languages, 
 including English and Dutch, the Gothic is according 
 to Bopp "the mother tongue in her oldest and most 
 perfect form," that language "so perfect in its gram- 
 mar." 2 I should rather call it, however, the oldest 
 sister than the mother. What the Gothic is for the 
 Germanic languages, that the old Asiatic language of 
 India, the Sanskrit is for all the Indo-Germanic lan- 
 guages together, viz., the oldest and best preserved of 
 all, "the groundwork and connecting bond of the 
 
 1 F. Bopp, Comparative Grammar, Preface, p. XV. 
 
 2 Ibidem, p. VII. 
 
 27 
 
28 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 comparison." 1 "The close relationship between the 
 Classical (Greek and Latin) and the Germanic lan- 
 guages has, with the exception of mere comparative 
 lists of words, copious indeed, but destitute of princi- 
 ple and critical judgment, remained, down to the 
 period of the appearance of the Asiatic intermediary 
 (the Sanskrit), almost entirely unobserved, although 
 the acquaintance with the Gothic dates now from a 
 century and a half," 2 and that language (viz., the 
 Gothic) is so perfect in its grammar, and so clear in 
 its affinities, that, had "it been earlier submitted to a 
 rigorous and systematic process of comparison and 
 anatomical investigation, the pervading relation of 
 itself, and with it, of the entire Germanic stock, to 
 the Greek and Roman, would necessarily have long 
 since been unveiled, tracked through all its variations, 
 and by this time been understood and recognized by 
 every philologist." 3 So it is clear that in the study of 
 the Gothic and the Sanskrit lay the key for the 
 progress of comparative philology, and for every more 
 serious study of any one of the Indo-Germanic lan- 
 guages. This key lay in Sanskrit because it was the 
 best preserved, the oldest and most fundamental of all 
 Indo-Germanic languages, and in Gothic because it 
 was, if not the mother tongue in the peculiar sense of 
 the word, at least the oldest and best preserved sister 
 language of the Western European family. 
 
 Centuries after centuries passed away during which 
 the whole civilized world of Europe did not know any- 
 thing about either Gothic or Sanskrit. 
 
 ilbid., p. III. 
 
 2 This is now nearly two centuries and a half. 
 
 3 F. Bopp, Comparative Grammar, I, Preface, p. VI. The study 
 of Sanskrit in modern European philology dates from the founda- 
 tion of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, in 1784. Skeat, Principles of 
 English Etymology, p. too. Skeat calls both the Sanskrit and the 
 Gothic, sister languages of all the other Indo-European, and not 
 mother languages, as at the start of comparative philology often <vas 
 done. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 29 
 
 That there should come a time, when the scholars 
 of Europe would make themselves acquainted with 
 the enormous Sanskrit literature and language, was 
 unavoidable. A language with a literature more ex- 
 pensive than the whole classic literature of Greece and 
 Rome together, could not in our modern time, re- 
 main a secret to the scholars of the modern civilized 
 world. 
 
 But with Gothic the case was otherwise. In the 
 greatest possible contrast to Sanskrit literature, which 
 is probably the most voluminous in the world, the 
 existing literature of Gothic is probably the smallest 
 of any civilized nation on the globe. All there is left 
 of the Gothic language is, besides a few short frag- 
 ments, a Gothic translation of the bible by Bishop 
 Ulfilas or Vulphilas, which comprises not the whole 
 bible but only the greatest part of the New Testament, 
 and some chapters of the Old Testament. And even 
 these parts of the Gothic bible are not incorrupt. More 
 than half of what is left of this Gothic bible of Ulfilas 
 is contained in a single manuscript, which is called 
 the silver-codex, or codex argenteus, because it is 
 written for the greater part in silver letters on parch- 
 ment. 
 
 Now it is to Holland that the world owes the 
 early appreciation, the preservation during many cen- 
 turies, and at last the publishing more than one and 
 a half century earlier than any other part of this 
 small literature was published of this most precious 
 codex, containing the treasures of the Gothic lan- 
 guage. 1 By the Dutchman Ludger, the monastery of 
 Werden was founded at the time of Charlemagne, the 
 monastery whither the silver-codex was brought from 
 
 1 "Niederlander haben das Verdienst zuerst auf die ReSte des 
 Gothischen hingewiesen zu haben." Hermann Paul, Grundriss der 
 Germanischen Philologie, I, p. 16. 
 
30 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 Italy probably by Ludger himself. After having been 
 preserved there for many centuries, it was again by a 
 Dutchman that it was discovered, who was the first to 
 call attention to the Gothic language. 
 
 It was a Dutchman by the name of De Busbeck 
 who in the years 1554-1564 found the only place on 
 earth where still lived some remnant of the Gothic 
 people, viz., in a remote corner of the Crimea in 
 Southern Russia, and from these he collected some 
 specimens of the old Gothic language. 
 
 Later it was again a Dutchman, Isaac Vossius, 
 who brought the silver-codex from the library of 
 Queen Christina of Sweden to the Netherlands to 
 make it the subject of research for the best scholars 
 of his time, and again another Dutchman, Franciscus 
 Junius, who studied, and then published the silver- 
 codex, and devoted part of his life to studying the 
 Gothic language and to beginning the more serious 
 movement of comparative philology. 
 
 After Junius, in the eighteenth century, it was the 
 Dutch school of Ten Kate and Huydecoper, who, a 
 hundred years before the brothers Grimm, carried on 
 researches in Gothic and in comparative philology 
 and who consequently began the study of mediaeval 
 literature. 
 
 And even after the great work of the German 
 school of the brothers Grimm, when, in consequence 
 of all these researches, the attention of all Europe was 
 called to mediaeval literature because of its significance 
 for the further progress of the movement, it was again 
 the Dutch school of philologists, which produced, 
 among others, a Dr. Jonckbloet, whose elaborate work 
 on mediaeval literature is still in our days one of the 
 best books of reference. . 
 
 It is not difficult to explain these statements a 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 31 
 
 little more elaborately, as every part of them, al- 
 though scattered in many books, has been told many 
 times before, and all there is to do is to bring them 
 together under their common source, that is under the 
 auspices of the Dutch nation. 
 
 Ulfilas or Vulfula (310-380 A. D.) the author of 
 the Gothic version of the bible was bishop of the 
 East-Goths, living at that time in what was called 
 Moesia, being the * present Bulgaria and Servia. In 
 the turmoil of the enormous migrations in Europe 
 shortly after the death of Ulfilas, the Goths were 
 driven from Moesia, and the West-Goths were spread 
 over Italy, Spain and part of France, but they soon 
 lost their own language by adopting that of their new 
 fatherland. By the West-Goths the Gothic transla- 
 tion of the bible was brought to Italy, and it is in that 
 country that the most precious part of it, the silver- 
 codex and some minor fragments were preserved. 
 From Italy the silver-codex was brought to the mon- 
 astery of Werden on the Rhur, about ten miles north 
 of Cologne, near the borderline of Germany and the 
 Netherlands, and there it was preserved till the six- 
 teenth century. The question is, who brought the 
 precious manuscript from Italy to the monastery at 
 Werden? Felix Dahn 1 supposes that one of the 
 Merovingian kings of France, who often brought 
 treasures from their conquests to monasteries of the 
 Frankish empire, might have carried this Gothic codex 
 to Northern shores. This is a possibility but not the 
 most probable one, or rather it is not a possibility at 
 all. A Frankish king would not have brought it to 
 Werden, a pure Frisian and Saxonian institution, but 
 rather to one of the monasteries in the center of the 
 
 1 Felix Dahn, Urgeschichte der Germanischen und Romanischen 
 Volker, I, 423. 
 
32 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 Prankish empire. Moreover it is impossible that a 
 Merovingian king could have brought a codex to the 
 monastery of Werden, which did not yet exist in the 
 time of the Merovingian kings. "Some people," says 
 Massmann," 1 "have thought of Ludger, the famous 
 founder of the Werden monastery, who lived for 
 three years and a half in Italy." And this supposition 
 looks much more probable indeed. Ludger was a 
 man of great learning and ability. He was the son of 
 a Frisian noble family. His grandfather Wurfing 
 lived near Dokkum in Friesland and was closely con- 
 nected with the court of King Radboud. Afraid of 
 the treacherous and heathen king Radboud, Wurfing 
 fled to the court of the Prankish prince Grimoald, who 
 had married Theosinde, the daughter of Radboud. 
 There, at the court of Grimoald was born Theadgrin 
 the father of Ludger, and this Theadgrin settled later 
 with his family at Zuylen near Utrecht, where in the 
 year 744 Ludger was born. Ludger' s abilities were 
 great from his earliest boyhood, and his education was 
 splendid. 2 After he had finished his courses in the 
 trivium and the quadrivium at the episcopal school at 
 Utrecht, and had learned his Greek and his Latin, he 
 studied four years at York under the famous Alcuin, 
 the intimate friend of Charlemagne. Ludger studied 
 till his thirty-first year and then resolved to devote his 
 life to missionary work among the Frisians and 
 Saxons. He worked at first at Deventer, afterwards 
 
 1 H. F. Massman,- Ulfilas. F,inleitung, p. L/VI. The same opinion 
 in W. de Hoog, Studien, etc., I, 14. 
 
 2 On the life of Ludg-er see: i. Alfridi vita Ludgeri. 2. Paris 
 disquisitio de Ludgero, Frisionum Saxonumquc Apostolo. Amstelodami 
 T 8S9. 3. Uffingi monachi carmen de s. Ludgero. 4. Augustin Kusing. 
 Der Heilige Ludger. Munster, 1878. 5. The best work is Dr. L. Th. 
 W. Pingsmann. Der Heilige Ludgerus. Apostel der Friesen und 
 Sachsen. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1879. Ludger was one of the most 
 typical Dutchmen that can be thought of. A Frisian by birth, educated 
 among the Franks, and living his whole further life among the Saxons, 
 he imbibed from his youth until his death the spirit of the three tribes 
 which formed the three great elements of the later Dutch nation. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 33 
 
 in the Northern part of the Netherlands, especially the 
 province of Groningen, later among the Saxons all 
 along the borderline between the Netherlands and 
 Germany, from the North to the South, became the 
 first bishop of Munster, and founded at last his famous 
 institution, the monastery of Werden on the Rhur, an 
 important center of learning for maintaining and con- 
 tinuing his great work of civilization. He fully de- 
 serves the title of apostle of the Frisians, and of the 
 Saxons. Ludger was a man of great learning, and 
 he must have known thoroughly the Anglo-Saxon, 
 the old Saxon, the Frisian, the Greek and the Latin 
 languages. Not without reason one oi his biographers 
 brings his name in contact with the authorship of the 
 great Saxon Christian epos the Heliand. 1 Either by 
 himself or by one of his pupils, under his inspiration 
 and suggestion, the Heliand may have been written. 
 That this man, who stayed for three years and a half 
 in Italy should have brought from Italy some manu- 
 scripts and books to his beloved new monastery at 
 Werden is not improbable, and when in later years in 
 that monastery is found a manuscript which at the 
 time of Ludger was some centuries old, then the pre- 
 sumption certainly is not quite without foundation that 
 it was probably Ludger who brought it from Ifaly. 
 Anyhow the monastery of Werden was a thoroughly 
 Dutch institution, and its founder was one of the most 
 learned men of his age, and was a Dutchman by birth 
 and by education. It was in his monastery whither it 
 was probably brought by his personal action, that the 
 
 \ "Dieses so hoch gefeierte Werk ist auf sachsischen Boden in 
 sachsischer Mundart und urn die Zeit des hi. Ludgerus geschaffen 
 worden. War es die liebliche Frucht des von den heiligen Apostel der 
 Sachsen ausgestreuten Samen? oder steht es in noch inniger Beziehung 
 zum hi. Ludgerus? Schmeller, der Treffliche Herausgeber des Heliand, 
 nimmt kein Anstand dem Heiliger selber oder doch seinen Schiillern 
 in Werden oder Munster einen bedeutenden Antheil an der Abfassung 
 desselben zuzuschreiben." Pingsmann. Der heilige Ludger, p. 170. 
 
34 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 famous Gothic silver-codex was preserved and it was 
 discovered there in the sixteenth century. 1 
 
 The first discovery of the Gothic codex in the last 
 years of the sixteenth century, and the later more 
 serious study of it, ending in its being published in 
 the year 1665 at Dordrecht, was almost entirely the 
 work of Dutch scholars. Several of them before the 
 year 1600 speak of Gothic, and show that they know 
 the existence of the silver-codex at Werden. 2 The 
 only book that deserves to be mentioned here is that 
 of the Dutchman Bonaventura Volcanius, who was 
 born at Bruges, and was later rector at Antwerp, and 
 finally professor in the University of Leyden. It is 
 entitled : On the literature and language of the Goths. 
 It is written in Latin and published at Leyden in the 
 year 1597. 
 
 It was at about the time of the publishing of this 
 little book that the silver-codex was carried from 
 Werden to Prague, 3 whence in the year 1648, just 
 before the peace of Westphalia, it was transported by 
 the Swedish army to Stockholm, and presented to the 
 Swedish queen Christina. 4 In the same remarkable 
 year, 1648, the Dutch scholar Isaac Vossius (1618- 
 1689), son of the well known Gerardus Vossius 
 (15^7-1649), came to Sweden to be the tutor of the 
 young queen Christina in the Greek language. Now 
 Isaac Vossius was a man who loved old books and 
 manuscripts ; he had travelled all over Europe, and at 
 
 1 When some years ago I visited Werden in order to see what was 
 left of the great work of Ludger, I found that the old buildings of the 
 monastery are still there, but are now used for a prison. The situation 
 of the monastery dominating the beautiful natural scenery along the 
 Rhur is wonderful. A statue on the bridge connecting the two sides of 
 the Rhur attracted my attention. It was not a statue of Ludger but of 
 the modern general Von Moltke, whose birthplace was Werden. Sic 
 transit gloria mundi! 
 
 2 Massmann. Ulfilas. Einleitung, p. LJI. 
 
 3 Ibid, p. UH. 
 
 4 Massmann. Ulfilas. Einleitung, p. 1,111. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 35 
 
 the time of his death in 1689 he left such a remarkable 
 collection of books and manuscripts that Leyden 
 University bought it for the sum of thirty thousand 
 guilders, at that time an enormous price. Isaac Vos- 
 sius stayed at Stockholm from 1648 till 1654 and when 
 he came back to the Netherlands he brought with him 
 the silver-codex of the Gothic language. 
 
 In no country could this codex at that time have 
 met with a better reception than in the Netherlands. 
 "The Netherlands," says Herman. Paul, "became in 
 the second half of the sixteenth century, since the 
 founding of the University of Leyden, the central 
 fosterplace of sciences, and especially of philology, for 
 all Europe." 1 
 
 It seems that the silver-codex did not become the 
 property of Isaac Vossius, but that the great liberality 
 and friendship of the queen Christina, allowed him to 
 borrow it for as long as he liked. This is probable 
 because after ten years, during which time it remained 
 at the home of Vossius and Junius, who lived together, 
 it was returned to the chancellor of Sweden, Count de 
 la Gardie, and probably by his order was given to the 
 University library at Upsala, where it has been kept 
 till the present time. 
 
 In nearly every book in which is given a story of 
 the codex it is said that Count de la Gardie "presented" 
 it to the library of Upsala, and this gives the impres- 
 sion that at that time the codex was his personal prop- 
 erty, and consequently also had been the personal 
 property of Vossius and Junius. If that had been 
 the case Junius and Vossius certainly never would 
 have given or sold it to de la Gardie, and there would 
 have been no special reason for Junius to dedicate the 
 volume, in which he published the codex, to de la 
 
 i Hermann Paul. Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie. I, p. 15. 
 
36 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 Gardie. But if, on the contrary, as I suppose, Count 
 de la Gardie as chancellor of the Swedish govern- 
 ment, with great liberality, left the codex in the hands 
 of Dutch scholars for not less than ten years, then 
 there was a real reason for Junius to dedicate the 
 volume, in which at last the codex was published, to 
 Count de la Gardie. Even in that case the statement 
 the de la Gardie "presented" it to the Upsala library 
 may be maintained, but in the sense, that he did it in 
 his quality as chancellor, and in the name of the 
 Government. 
 
 Now Isaac Vossius himself, although he had 
 studied many languages, and for instance had made 
 a special study of Arabic, seems to have realized that 
 he was not the right man to study the language of the 
 silver-codex. But he had an uncle by the name of 
 Franciscus Junius, with whom, after his return from 
 Sweden, he lived at the same house, and in him he 
 found a man who, because he had for several years 
 been absorbed in the study of those languages which 
 stood the nearest to the Gothic, was exactly qualified 
 for this task. So Isaac Vossius entrusted the silver- 
 codex to the hands of Franciscus Junius. And this 
 famous son of a famous father made the precious 
 manuscript a subject of a research, for the results of 
 which all philologists in the world in all times to come 
 will give him credit, and by which he opened a new 
 era in the comparative study of languages. 
 
 Junius' father, whose name was also Franciscus 
 Junius, a nobleman by birth, by intellect, by scholar- 
 ship and by virtue, as the historian Brandt describes 
 him, was born in 1545 at Bourges in France, studied 
 theology at Geneva during the last years of John Cal- 
 vin's life, and went from there as a young Reformed 
 preacher to Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 37 
 
 After having endured many dangers from persecution, 
 he fled with William of Orange and with thousands 
 of other Protestants to Germany in the year 1567, 
 when the duke of Alva came to the Netherlands. 
 There he stayed in several places, was for a while a 
 preacher to William the Silent, was professor at Hei- 
 delberg and finally came back to the Netherlands in 
 the year 1592, to be professor at Ley den University 
 for the last ten years of his life, till he died in the 
 year 1602. He had been married four times, and all 
 his four wives were Dutch women. 
 
 His son, who in later years became so famous for 
 his study of the Gothic and other languages, was a 
 child of only three years when his father became pro- 
 fessor at Leyden. He was born in the year 1589 at 
 Heidelberg, where his father had married a Dutch 
 woman from Antwerp, Johanne 1' Hermite, his third 
 wife. So the young Franciscus from his earliest 
 childhood was educated as a Dutch boy among the 
 brave citizens of Leyden, who had suffered so much 
 during the famous siege and among whom also Rem- 
 brandt (1609-1669) found such an inspiring educa- 
 tion. Only thirteen years of age when his father died, 
 he came under the guardianship of his brother-in-law, 
 his senior by twelve years, and rector of the Latin 
 school at Dordrecht. There he took his first courses 
 in languages, and later he went to the University of 
 Leyden to study theology so that in the year 1618 we 
 find him a young minister in the Reformed church at 
 Hilligersberg near Rotterdam. So we see that Junius 
 by his university examinations really was not labelled 
 as a philologist but as a theologian. But in the world's 
 history the question is not how a real scholar is 
 labelled by the school courses in his youth, but rather 
 what he proves to be able to do. And so in later years 
 
38 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 by his splendid work in the field of philology, Junius 
 was graduated as a real doctor of philology, not by 
 any school examination, but by the more important 
 examination which posterity confers upon every man 
 after it can be recognized what he has done in behalf 
 of the human race. The course of events in the con- 
 temporaneous history of a nation sometimes has such 
 an influence on the life of a man as to lead him along 
 other lines than those which at first he seemed des- 
 tined to follow. So it was with Junius. In the year 
 1619 in consequence of the resolutions taken at the 
 synod of Dordrecht, Junius for being a Remonstrant 
 was dismissed from his office as a minister. He left 
 the Netherlands and went at first to France, but soon 
 afterwards to England, where he spent many years in 
 the service of Arundel, duke of Norfolk, later in the 
 service of the noble family De Vere at Oxford as the 
 tutor of the young count Albericus de Vere, whom 
 during the years 16421646 he accompanied to the 
 Netherlands, where he lived most of the time at the 
 Hague. About this period of his life, probably from 
 the year 1646 until 1648 Junius went for two years to 
 Freisland to study the Frisic language. After the 
 death of his brother-in-law, Gerardus Vossius, who 
 had been his guardian, he went to Amsterdam and 
 stayed there with his sister, the widow of Gerardus 
 Vossius. After the year 1655, when Isaac Vossius 
 came back from Sweden, bringing with him the Gothic 
 silver-codex, Junius with his sister and her son Isaac 
 Vossius settled at the Hague, where they remained 
 together for several years till Junius and Vossius both 
 went to England, Vossius in the year 1670 to live 
 there till he died at London in 1689, and Junius in 
 1675 to live there till he died at the home of Vossius 
 at Windsor in the year 1677. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 39 
 
 During his earlier years in England Junius had 
 made a thorough study of the Anglo-Saxon and Eng- 
 lish language and literature, and one of the results was 
 his publication of the Paraphrase of Csedmon printed 
 at Amsterdam in 1655. Besides this he had made 
 transcripts of many old English manuscripts. 1 As a 
 result of his study of the Frisic language he published 
 four works: i. Leges Frisionum to which he added 
 a Frisic poem of four pages entitled : Hoe dae Friesen 
 Roem wonner ; 2. Liber legum et consuetudinum frisi- 
 carum, frisice; 3. Leges Frisionum antique edita per 
 Sibrand Siccama; and 4. Dictionarium Frisic o-Latinum 
 to which he added : Carmina Frisica cum notis Junii 
 ex chartis laceris. 
 
 From all this we may draw the conclusion that 
 Junius knew thoroughly the English, the Anglo-Saxon, 
 the Frisic and the Dutch languages and that he was 
 well acquainted with German, French, Latin, Greek 
 and Hebrew, as being a theologian from Leyden Uni- 
 versity, and it certainly was a fortunate event in the 
 history of philology that to the able hands of this man 
 came the main codex of the Gothic language. I fear 
 no contradiction when I say that in all Europe hardly 
 could have been found a man to whom the silver-codex 
 could better have been entrusted than to Franciscus 
 Junius. 
 
 After this survey of Junius' life we return to those 
 ten years from 1655 to 1665 during which Junius 
 studied the Gothic language from the silver-codex, 
 living together with his sister, the widow of Gerardus 
 Vossius and her son Isaac Vossius. How interesting 
 it is to see those two great Dutch scholars, Isaac 
 Vossius and his uncle Junius, living for some years 
 
 1 See Logeman. Junius' transcripts of old English Texts, in the 
 Academy of 1890; quoted by De Hoog. Studies, etc., I, p. 10. 
 
40 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 
 
 together a quiet life, devoted to their much beloved 
 literary and linguistic researches in the rustic town 
 of the Hague of that time with its beautiful environs ; 
 to see these two European scholars, who were during 
 so many years before, nearly all the time abroad, 
 either in France with Hugo Grotius, or in England in 
 the company of British lords, or in Sweden at the 
 court of Queen Christina, studying and making their 
 researches in all libraries, leading with only a few 
 others the development of European learning, to see 
 those two remarkable men living together in quiet 
 devotion enjoying the company and the delightful con- 
 versation of each other, both in their daily life under 
 the maternal care of the widow, who was the older 
 sister of one, and the mother of the other. Here 
 they met with one of the great problems in the history 
 of philology, the study and the investigation of the 
 contents of that famous Gothic manuscript that re- 
 quired for several years the industrious toil of the 
 man who more than anyone was qualified for this 
 work. During ten years Junius occupied himself with 
 this great and difficult task, and at the end of those 
 ten years he gave to the world and to all posterity the 
 results of his labor by publishing in the year 1665 at 
 Dordrecht the four gospels contained in the Gothic 
 codex, together with an Anglo-Saxon version 1 of the 
 same part of the bible. To this comparative edition 
 of the four gospels in Anglo-Saxon and in Gothic, he 
 added a little dictionary, or glossarium, as a first step 
 for the further study of the new field. That Junius 
 in this great effort did not immediately bring the new 
 field of learning to its highest development, and that 
 he made some mistakes, is no wonder indeed. The 
 
 1 This Anglo-Saxon version had been published before, viz., in the 
 year 1571 by John Fox. De Hoog. Studies, I, p. 14. Junius however 
 made a revised edition. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE STARTING 41 
 
 best philologist of our days may look at Junius as our 
 present engineers look at the inventor of the first 
 steam engine. But like the work of Watts, so Junius' 
 work was an event in history, and it began a great 
 movement. A movement not the least in England, 
 where Junius had lived for so many years, where he 
 had given so much care to the old Anglo-Saxon lan- 
 guage of the country and where he personally had 
 gained such fame in the literary world. Scholars of 
 good ability followed in the footsteps of Junius, and 
 soon George Hickes, 1 although a theologian by pro- 
 fession like Junius himself, studied successfully the 
 Anglo-Saxon and the Gothic languages, and after him, 
 during the eighteenth century Edward Lye wrote his 
 famous Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon and the Gothic 
 languages, published after the death of the author in 
 the year 1772. It was also Lye who ameliorated the 
 Etymologicum Anglicanum, which Junius had left to 
 the Bodleian library, and which was published after 
 the death of Lye, viz., in the year 1773 ; a work which 
 Samuel Johnson used for the latest editions of his 
 Dictionary of the English Language. 2 
 
 1 Hickes published at least two important works: i. Institutiones 
 grammaticae Anglo-Saxonica et Moeso-Gothiccr, 1669. 2. Linguarum 
 veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus, 1705. See De Hoog, Studies, 
 I, 16. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 17. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DUTCH SCHOOL OF LAMBERT TEN KATE AND 
 BALTHAZAR HUYDECOPER 
 
 In Holland not less than in England, after the 
 example of Junius, a school of scholars arose, who 
 studied the languages in their historical development 
 and in comparison with each other. Arnold Moonen 
 (1664-1711), William Sewel (1654-1720), Lambert 
 ten Kate (1674-1731) and Balthazar Huydecoper 
 (1695-1778) were the most prominent men of this 
 school. 1 
 
 Arnold Moonen and William Sewel studied espe- 
 cially the grammar of the Dutch and the English lan- 
 guages ; Lambert ten Kate studied the relationship be- 
 tween the Gothic, the Dutch, the Anglo-Saxon, the 
 German and the Icelandic languages ; and Balthazar 
 Huydecoper devoted a great part of his life to the 
 study of mediaeval literature, which came to the fore- 
 ground as a natural consequence of the study and the 
 importance of Gothic, and consequently of all the 
 literary remains of past centuries. 
 
 Moonen published his Dutch grammar in the year 
 1706, which remained the textbook during a great part 
 of the eighteenth century; Sewel, whose grandfather 
 Jan Willem Sewel was born in the Netherlands and 
 married a Dutch woman Judith Tinspenning, kept up 
 his traditional love for the English language his 
 
 1 Herman Paul. Grundriss der Germanischen Philologic. 2 vols., 
 I. P- 35- W. J. A. Jonckbloet. Geschiedenis der Ned. Letterkunde. V, 
 566. Jan te Winkel. De Ontwikkelingsgag der Ned, Letterkunde, III, 
 354-362. Van der Aa. Biographisch Woordenboek on the names of 
 these authors. 
 
 42 
 
THE DUTCH SCHOOL 43 
 
 grandfather came with the Brownists from England 
 about the year 1600 the mother tongue of his ances- 
 tors, and studied, besides English and Dutch, several 
 other languages: French, Latin and Greek. He 
 published in 1712 a Dutch grammar, in 1740 a com- 
 pendious guide for the Low Dutch language, in 1727 
 his famous dictionary of the English and Dutch lan- 
 guages, and in 1718 an ameliorated edition of the 
 Flemish grammar of La Grace. 
 
 But the master of this school was no doubt Lam- 
 bert ten Kate. He was a man of great abilities and of 
 fine taste. He studied not only philosophy, literature 
 and languages, but he was as well a great lover of art, 
 and collected a beautiful library of books about art 
 and literature. His favorite study was, however, com- 
 parative philology. In the year 1710 he published a 
 book on the relationship of the Dutch and the Gothic 
 languages. But his best work was his Introduction to 
 the higher knowledge of the Dutch language, 2 vols., 
 Amst. 1723, in which he compared the Dutch with the 
 Gothic, the Frankish, the German, the Anglo-Saxon 
 and the Icelandic. After his death he left several un- 
 published writings, now in the University library at 
 Amsterdam, among which is a work in two volumes 
 on the sound system. 1 Herman Paul says that Ten 
 Kate followed in the footsteps of Junius and Hickes. 
 but that in his historical researches into languages he 
 excelled them by far, and that among all the scholars 
 of the older school Ten Kate came the nearest to the 
 point of view of Jacob Grimm. 2 For etymology, says 
 Paul, Ten Kate was the first in Europe who had a real 
 scientific foundation for his researches. 3 
 
 1 See Van de Aa. Biographic Dictionary under the name Ten 
 Kate. 
 
 2 Herman Paul. Grundriss I, 35. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. % 36. 
 
44 THE DUTCH SCHOOL 
 
 And last but not least, Balthazar Huydecoper was 
 the man who saw even at the early period in which 
 he lived the importance of all mediaeval literature, as 
 a consequence of the historical method of studying 
 languages which had grown up since Junius. To that 
 historical research of languages he devoted himself 
 almost entirely. He published Vondel's translation 
 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, with manifold linguistic 
 notes in 1730. But his best work was his edition of 
 Melis Stoke's Rhyme chronicle of Holland, with many 
 historical, archaeological and linguistic notes, in three 
 volumes, 1772. This was the first edition of a medi- 
 aeval Dutch work with critical notes. "By these two 
 works," says Dr. Jonckbloet, "Huydecoper has estab- 
 lished an unperishable monument of his merit." 4 
 
 
 
 4 W. J. A. Jonckbloet. History of Dutch Literature, II, 309. 
 
CHAPTER V ; 
 
 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL OF MEDIEVAL 
 LITERATURE DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 
 AS THE NATURAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE STUDY OF 
 COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY. 
 
 The great movement for comparative philology, 
 started by Junius and continued by the school of Ten 
 Kate and Huydecoper, did not remain without in- 
 fluence on the important results in the field, obtained 
 by the famous school of the brothers Jacob and Wil- 
 helm Grimm during the first half of the nineteenth 
 century. The relationship of all the Germanic lan- 
 guages was now brought under the dominion of as- 
 sured rules ; the laws were discovered according to 
 which the vowels and the consonants had been chang- 
 ing in the different languages, since in the course of 
 history they departed from the original, and went 
 their own way from dialects to separate languages. 
 The study of comparative philology became more 
 scientific and more systematic than ever before, and 
 the interest in the literature of mediaeval time became 
 greater than ever, because the comparison of the 
 modern with the mediaeval languages was the most 
 beautiful field for the application and further affirma- 
 tion of the newly discovered laws of etymology, and 
 for the thorough knowledge of nearly every one of our 
 modern languages. Huydecoper saw this consequence, 
 and he published the mediaeval Chronicle of Melis 
 Stoke; the German school followed his example with 
 
 45 
 
46 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL 
 
 many publications of the kind ; and a new Dutch move- 
 ment during the nineteenth century brought to light 
 an abundance of mediaeval literature to which at first 
 in our days full attention has begun to be paid. 
 
 At the same time this study of mediaeval literature 
 showed more than anything before how central and 
 important was the position of the Netherlands, even 
 in the earliest centuries of the middle ages. 
 
 As far as Germany and its early mediaeval litera- 
 ture is concerned, these studies showed that the great 
 hero of the "Nibelungenlied, so often called the Iliad 
 of the Germans, was Siegfried, a Dutch prince from 
 Santen in the Southern Netherlands, although it may 
 be quite true as Dr. Jonckbloet says that the essential 
 part of the story is probably much older than the set- 
 tlement of the Franks in this country. 1 
 
 The same study of mediaeval literature shows that 
 the princess Kudrun of the Kudrun-story, that Odyssey 
 of Germany, was probably as Dr. Jonckbloet proves, 
 although others may try to deny it, a Dutch princess 
 from the neighborhood of Antwerp ; that her lover 
 Herwig was a prince from the Dutch province of 
 Zealand, that Moorland is Holland, and that in no 
 way can a clearer explanation be given of the story 
 than by this supposition, as many names in the story 
 show. The scenery of Lohengrin, the famous story 
 of Wagner's grand opera, was near Antwerp, on the 
 bank of the Scheldt ; Elsa was princess of Brabant 
 and the horrible Ortrud was a daughter of the 
 Frisian king Radboud. The same studies show that 
 the author of the Heliand, the great Christian epos of 
 Germany, probably was, according to the best scholars, 
 either the Dutch missionary Ludger or one of his 
 pupils who wrote at his suggestion. From these 
 
 1 W. J. A. Jonckbloet. History of Dutch Literature, I, 19. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL 47 
 
 studies we know that the Dutch nobleman Henric van 
 Veldekc, who was born and educated in the province 
 of Limburg in the Netherlands was the founder and 
 the leading star of German lyric poetry, whom the 
 great German poets of the thirteenth century were 
 anxious to follow. 
 
 As far as France is concerned with its many 
 mediaeval romances of chivalry, grouping around the 
 Prankish kings, the study of mediaeval literature 
 brought to light that the scenery of many of those 
 romances is to be found in the Southern Netherlands, 
 and that several of the authors of these romances even 
 lived in the Southern Netherlands. The houses of the 
 old Prankish kings were most closely connected with 
 this country. Peppin of Herstal came from Herstal, 
 a place in the Southern Netherlands. Charlemagne 
 had one of his residences at Nimwegen. The beauti- 
 ful "Ludwigs lied" sings the victory of Ludwig the 
 third in 1881 near Sancourt in the Southern Nether- 
 lands gained over the Northmen, and was probably 
 written by Huebald from the monastery of St. Amand 
 near Valenchijn in the Southern Netherlands. In 
 several of those French romances we find true descrip- 
 tions of nature and life as they were in the Southern 
 Netherlands ; so in the romance of de Raoul de Cam- 
 brai ; so in that of Renaud of Montalban ; in that of 
 Ogier of Ardennes, in the romances of De Garin de 
 Loharain as Dr. Te Winkel shows abundantly, 1 while 
 the romance of Auberi de Bourgoing describes a fight 
 between the Flemings and the Frisians. 2 Some of the 
 best authors of those French romances lived in the 
 Southern Netherlands. So for instance Chretien de 
 Troyes lived for a time at the court of Flanders. 3 
 
 1 Dr. J. te Winkel, Jacob ran Maerlaht, p. 7. 
 
 2 Prof. G. Kalff, History of Dutch Literature, I, p. 95. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 85. 
 
48 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL 
 
 Adam de la Halle and Jean Boclel lived at Atrecht. 1 
 Of some other French romances there are quite inde- 
 pendent conceptions in mediaeval Dutch, as for instance 
 the Dutch version of Karel and Elegast, while the 
 Dutch version of the Aiol has more than four hundred 
 lines not to be found in the French original; the 
 Dutch version of the famous animal epos Reinard is 
 generally recognized as a quite independent concep- 
 tion, and on account of this beautiful conception, as 
 the best animal epos in the world, while in the romance 
 of the Swan, the main idea is that the dukes of 
 Brabant were of a miraculous, heavenly descent. 2 
 
 The literature of England during the three first 
 centuries, after the Norman conquest in 1066, was 
 nearly the same as that of France. From the conquest 
 in 1066 till the recognition of the remodelled English 
 language with its many French elements in the law 
 courts in 1362, and in the schools in 1386, the 
 predominant language in England was French ; the 
 romances, even those on old Celtic subjects, as the 
 Arthur romances, were written and read in the French 
 language, and composed for a considerable part in the 
 Southern Netherlands, as for instance the first French 
 Arthur romance, Le conte del GraaL, was written by 
 Chretien de Troyes, who was living at the Flemish 
 court about the year 1175. 
 
 Of such a kind were the connections of the Neth- 
 erlands with the early mediaeval literature of Germany, 
 France and England. 
 
 Was it remarkable that Dutch scholars of the 
 nineteenth century felt themselves attracted to the 
 study of mediaeval literature, with which their own 
 country was so closely connected, and the study of 
 
 ilbid.' 
 
 2 Jonckbloet, I, 21. 
 
HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL 49 
 
 which was to such a large extent prepared for by 
 their own compatriots from the time of Junius till 
 their own? 
 
 The great work of Junius, and of the school of 
 Ten Kate and Huydecoper, kept alive the movement 
 in the Netherlands all the time. Soon after the pub- 
 lishing of Melis Stoke's Rhyme chronicle by Huyde- 
 coper in 1772, the works of Jacob van Maerlant, the 
 great master of mediaeval Dutch language and litera- 
 ture, attracted the attention of the best scholars. Now 
 everybody can easily understand why the publishing 
 of Maerlant's works was not completed in one year, 
 or even in a few years, as they contain not less than 
 one hundred and twenty-eight thousand lines, a quan- 
 tity of which one hardly gets an idea by comparison 
 for instance with Milton's Paradise Lost, which cer- 
 tainly is a long poem but nevertheless contains not 
 more than- eleven thousand lines. Only twelve years 
 after Huydecoper published Melis Stoke's Rhyme 
 chronicle, the first volume of Maerlant's Spieghel His- 
 toricel, his great work on the world's history, was 
 printed in the year 1784 by the care of Dr. J. A. 
 Clignett. 1 Since that year 1784, when the first work 
 of Maerlant was printed, the studies on Maerlant, 
 the printing of his works, the discovery and collection 
 of all his manuscripts was in progress for more than a 
 century, till in the year 1891 the last volume was pub- 
 lished, and his complete works were put at the dis- 
 posal of every student of mediaeval literature. Of the 
 Spieghel Historical, in the meantime, a second and 
 beautiful edition was published during the years 1857- 
 1863 by the care of Prof. M. de Vries and his oldest 
 pupil E. Verwijs. A great number of Dutch scholars 
 had cooperated during these hundred years, not only 
 
 1 J. te Winkel, Jacob van Maerlant, p. 518. 
 4 
 
50 HOLLAND'S SHARE IN THE REVIVAL 
 
 in publishing the works of Maerlant, but in studying 
 the history of mediaeval literature in connection with 
 the comparative philology. Willem Bilderdijk (1756- 
 1831), the great Dutch poet and scnolar, Dr. J. H. 
 Halbertsma, Dr. Hendrik van Wijn, the father of the 
 History of Dutch literature, W. C. Ackersdijk, A. C. 
 W. Staring, M. Siegenbeek, C. J. Meyer, L. Ph. van 
 den Bergh and J. Clarisse, assisted by some German 
 philologists as Hoffman von Fallersleben, F. J. Monen, 
 E. Kansler and L. Tross, followed in the footsteps of 
 Huydencoper and Clignett in close connection with, 
 and profiting by, the beautiful results of the school of 
 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. 1 To describe the services 
 rendered by all these men would make this chapter 
 too elaborate, but the work of at least one man may be 
 especially mentioned here, viz., that of Dr. J. A. Jonck- 
 bloet. His work on the history of Dutch literature 
 assures him forever of a prominent place among 
 Dutch philologists, but it was his famous work on the 
 History of Mediaeval Literature that especially gave 
 him an European fame, and made his name immortal 
 for all students of mediaeval literature. This history 
 is still considered one of the great works of reference 
 on the subject. 2 
 
 1 J. te Winkel, Jacob ran Maerlant, p. 498-526. 
 
 2 W. J. A. Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Middelnederlandsche Dicht- 
 kunst, 1854. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 AND OF MEDIEVAL LITERATURE FOR THE STUDY 
 OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 
 
 After having mentioned the importance of the study 
 of comparative philology especially for a knowledge 
 of the English language (i), the general results of 
 comparative philology (2), and the share which Hol- 
 land had in its inception (3), in its further develop- 
 ment (4), and consequently in the study of mediaeval 
 literature the only thing still to be done in this short 
 review is to mention in a few words (5), the results 
 of the study of comparative philology and of mediaeval 
 literature for the knowledge of English language and 
 literature. 
 
 Whoever studies even the works of W. W. Skeat 
 alone, and especially his Etymological Dictionary of 
 the English Language, may notice the importance of 
 these results in a very short time. With the utmost 
 care, the origin of every word has now been traced 
 as far as possible ; all the different parts of the great 
 mixture, which is called the English language, have 
 been isolated, every point of the English grammar has 
 been investigated, the whole history and all the changes 
 of this language have been discovered. The results 
 are marvelous indeed, more than for any other lan- 
 guage because no other language is such a 
 mixture of different elements. Not less are the 
 results for the knowledge of English literature. 
 
 51 
 
52 RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 
 
 Scholars of several nations when once they had 
 been attracted and absorbed by the wonderful charms 
 of comparative philology, studied not only their 
 own national literature, and language, but they found 
 interesting sources for research in the literature of all 
 those languages of which the mutual relationship was 
 discovered. This was a consequence of the idea itself 
 of comparative philology, which meant to compare the 
 different languages as found in the literature of many 
 nations. So for instance a man like Franciscus Junius 
 published not only the Gothic, but at the same time the 
 Anglo-Saxon, version of the Gospels, and his tran- 
 scripts of many Anglo-Saxon manuscripts have been 
 the subject of a special essay by Dr. Logeman. Not 
 less was Junius' work in publishing Caedmon's Para- 
 phrase, an immediate consequence of his researches in 
 the field of comparative philology. From these few 
 examples one sees how this science influences the 
 development of the study of English language and 
 literature. Only the development of comparative phi- 
 lology has made it possible to study the influence of 
 one nation on the language and the literature of an- 
 other, as that of Holland on the English language and 
 literature, to distinguish the different elements of a 
 language, which, like the English has been mixed 
 during many centuries with elements from many dif- 
 ferent sources ; to trace the origin and genesis of every 
 piece of literature and the influences that have inspired 
 their respective authors. It is in this whole movement 
 in which, as I showed, Holland had such a remarkable 
 share, that from the time of Junius till our present 
 day the numerous monographs, essays, pamphlets and 
 articles in periodicals have been published, which now 
 taken together furnish the material for a general 
 glance over the whole field and for finding out, for 
 
RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY 53 
 
 instance, what influence England exerted on the litera- 
 ture and language of other nations, as well as that 
 which other nations exerted on the English language 
 and literature. It is by collecting this scattered mate- 
 rial that I will try to recapitulate the results of men 
 like Skeat and De Hoog, and in continuing the epoch- 
 making work of such men, to bring to the attention 
 of the English-speaking people the influence of Hol- 
 land on English language and literature as set forth 
 in a concise form in the following pages. 
 
PART II 
 
 Holland's Influence on the English 
 Language 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND 
 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGES 
 
 According to the genealogy of the Indo-Germanic 
 languages as given in our sketch in the second chap- 
 ter of the first Part, the Dutch and the English 
 languages are seen to be most closely related to each 
 other. They are as closely related to each other as 
 two sisters in the genealogy of a large family and 
 more closely related than even Dutch and modern 
 German. "Although the pronunciation may differ 
 very much," says De Hoog, "there is a greater simi- 
 larity in words between the English and the Dutch 
 even than between the Dutch and the German." 1 The 
 vulgar idea that the Dutch language is pretty nearly 
 the same as the German, and that English and Dutch 
 differ much more than German and Dutch, is good 
 enough for those people who know these languages 
 only by conversation but it cannot find favor with 
 better informed philologists. The philologist knows 
 that in the early middle ages Dutch and English were 
 
 1 W. de Hoog, Studien, First edition, I, p. 63; Second edition, 
 I P- 1 53- This author does not hesitate to make the statement that "we 
 may freely say that of all the foreign languages none has so much 
 similarity with the Dutch as the English," I, 154. 
 
 55 
 
56 THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP 
 
 much more alike than at present ; that therein lies the 
 reason why missionaries from the British isles could 
 make themselves understood very easily among the 
 tribes of the Low Countries; that even the language 
 of Chaucer still shows a surprising similarity to the 
 Dutch, and that still in the year 1600 a man like the 
 great historian Van Meteren, during the glorious time 
 of the Netherlands, when England was far behind in 
 civilization, could call the English language "only a 
 broken Dutch." 1 
 
 The reason, however, why this close relationship 
 between the English and the Dutch is not observed at 
 first sight, is not only the difference in pronunciation, 
 but the difference in the way in which the words in 
 both languages are written. 
 
 But the main difference between Dutch and Eng- 
 lish is in the arrangement of words, and in the use of 
 prepositions and conjunctions. 2 
 
 And last but not least, since the predominance of 
 the French language in England during more than 
 three hundred years, from 1066 till 1400, the English 
 has been mixed with such an overwhelming element 
 of French words, and French expressions, that this 
 makes the similarity of the original and pure English, 
 to the Dutch still more obscure to the common reader. 
 
 Nevertheless, to be convinced of the close relation- 
 ship, says de Hoog, 3 it may suffice 'to look through any 
 dictionary to find a list of words like this: 
 
 Eng. anchor, Dutch anker; cf. ankle, enkel; apple, 
 appel ; ash, asch ; beacon, baken ; bean, boon ; bear, 
 beer; beard, baard; beast, beest; bed, bed; beech, 
 
 1 Van Meteren, Historic, I, 489. 
 
 2 De Hoog, Second edition, I, 175. 
 
 3 Ibid, First edition, I, 63. In his second edition the author gives 
 this list only till the word ewe, supposing that everybody easily can make 
 a similar list. This is certainly true, but most readers will not do it and 
 yet will find an interest in looking through his list.. 
 
THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP 57 
 
 beuk; begin, beginnen; bell, bel; bind, binden; bitter, 
 bitter; bleat, blaten; blind, blind; block, blok; blood, 
 bloed ; blossom, bloesem ; blue, blauw ; bosom, boezem ; 
 bottom, bodem ; break, breken ; bread, brood ; breast, 
 borst ; breed, broeden ; bride, bruid ; bridge, grug ; 
 bridle, breidel ; bring, brengen ; broad, breed ; breadth, 
 breedte; brother, breeder; brown, bruin; buckwheat, 
 boekweit ; busy, bezig ; butter, boter ; to clatter, 
 klateren; clay, klei; clear, klaar; clock, klok; dance, 
 dansen ; daughter, dochter ; dead, dood ; deaf, doof ; 
 dear, duur; dearth, duurte; deed, daad; deep, diep; 
 devil, duivel; dike, dijk; door, deur; dough, deeg; 
 dove, duif; dream, droomen; drench, drenken; drink, 
 drinken; earnest, ernstig; ear, oor; earth, aarde; eat, 
 eten; east, oost; elm, olm; etch, etsen; evil, euvel; 
 ewe, ooi ; give, geven ; glass, glas ; grave, graf ; great, 
 groot; greet, groeten; green, groen; guess, gissen; 
 guest, gast; hail, hagel; hair, haar; hammer, hamer; 
 haste, haast ; haven, haven ; heap, hoop ; hear, hooren ; 
 heart, hart; hedge, hegge; heed, hoede; heel, hiel; 
 hell, hel; helm, helm; help, helpen; herring, haring; 
 hide, huid ; hind, hinde ; hire, huren ; honey, honig ; 
 hope, hoop; hot, heet; house, huis; howl, huilen; 
 hunger, honger ; kiss, kussen ; knead, kneden ; knee, 
 knie ; kneel, knielen ; ladder, ladder ; lade, laden ; lamb, 
 lam ; lamp, lamp ; land, land ; lane, laan ; last, leest ; 
 late, laat ; lead, leiden ; lead, lood ; leak, lekken ; light, 
 licht ; lisp, lispelen ; little, luttel ; live, leven ; liver, 
 lever ; loan, leen ; long, lang ; length, lengte ; loose, los ; 
 make, maken ; market, markt ; mew, meeuw ; might, 
 macht ; mildew, meeldauw ; mill, molen ; monk, 
 monnik ; mouse, muis ; mustard, mosterd ; nail, nagel ; 
 naked, naakt ; name, naam ; neck, neck ; need, nood ; 
 needle, naald; nettle, netel; night, nacht; nightingale, 
 nachtegaal ; north, noord ; oven, oven ; oak, eik ; open, 
 open ; oyster, oester ; plank, plank ; plant, plant ; 
 plaster, pleister ; plough, ploeg ; prince, prins ; quarter, 
 kwartier; radish, radijs; raven, raaf ; reckon, rekenen ; 
 reed, riet; rich, rijk; ring, ring; rose, roos; sand, 
 zand ; saw, zaag ; singe, sengen ; sink, zinken ; sister, 
 zuster ; sit, zitten ; sketch, schets ; slave, slaaf ; sluice, 
 sluis ; smear, smeren ; smith, smid ; snow, sneeuw ; 
 
58 THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP 
 
 soap, zeep; sole, zool; son, zoon; soul, ziel; soup, 
 soep ; sour, zuur ; south, zuid ; spade, spade ; spare, 
 sparen, spear, speer; speed, spoed; split, splijten; 
 spring 1 , springen ; spread, spreiden ; sprout, spruiten ; 
 staff, staf; star, ster; starve, sterven; state, staat; 
 still, stil ; stink, stinken ; stone, steen ; storm, storm ; 
 strand, strand ; straw, stroo ; stream, stroom ; street, 
 straat ; strive, streven ; study, studie ; swallow, zwaluw ; 
 swarm, zwenn; swear, zweren; sweat, zweten; swell, 
 zwellen ; swim, zwemmen ; swine, zwijn ; table, tafel ; 
 tame, tarn ; tea, thee ; thank, bedanken ; thing, ding ; 
 token, teeken ; tongue, tong ; tread, treden ; tumble, 
 tuimelen ; wade, waden ; wain, wagen ; warm, warm ; 
 wash, wasschen ; water, water ; wax, wassen ; wealth, 
 weelde; weapon, wapen; weasel, wezel; weather, 
 weder; weave, weven; week, week; weigh, wegen; 
 weigh, gewicht ; welcome, welkom ; what, wat ; wild, 
 wild; will, wil; willow, wilg; woe, wee; wolf, wolf; 
 wonder, wonder ; work, work ; world, wereld ; worm, 
 worm ; wring, wringen. 
 
 Not only the resemblance of a great number of 
 words, but a comparison of the English and Dutch 
 grammars and of both with the Gothic, shows that the 
 whole structure and foundation of English and Dutch 
 are the same. The regularity with which differences 
 in vowels and consonants occur between English and 
 Dutch words, shows their original similarity, while 
 the different way in which they are written today finds 
 its cause in a difference of pronunciation. So great 
 is this regularity that long since a great number of 
 rules have been discovered according to which these 
 differences in vowels and consonants have been 
 brought about. Is a verb strong in its conjugation in 
 Dutch, it is also strong in English ; is it weak in 
 Dutch, it is also weak in English. And for the phi- 
 lologist, who is able to separate all the foreign ele- 
 ments, and to discover the original language of the 
 Saxons who crossed the Channel, later called Anglo- 
 
THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP 59 
 
 Saxons, and the language of the Saxons who remained 
 on the Continent and mixed with other Low Germanic 
 tribes like the Frisians and the Franks, and formed 
 the Dutch nation for the philologist who studies both 
 languages in their growth through so many centuries, 
 English and Dutch appear clearly to be two sisters in 
 the great family of the Indo-Germanic languages. 
 To explain this more elaborately would lead us too 
 far away from the main idea of this work, and it may 
 suffice for more particulars to refer to such books as 
 those of W. Skeat and W. de Hoog. 
 
 But another question which really belongs here is 
 this: How can two languages which in their origin 
 are like two sisters of one family, have exerted so 
 much influence one on the other as to furnish each 
 other with many words, and with words, which really 
 are not foreign words to both, but belong indeed to 
 one of them and are borrowed by the other? How 
 could the English people borrow words from the 
 Dutch; words which are really Dutch and not bor- 
 rowed by the Dutch themselves from French or 
 German or from any other language, if we presume 
 that both the English and the Dutch nations sprang 
 from tribes which spoke the same dialects or lan- 
 guages? This question is answered in the best way 
 when we hold for a moment to the comparison of 
 the two sisters. If, in one and the same family, there 
 are two sisters who have received a very different 
 education, then, although they speak the same lan- 
 guage, the one, who developed more rapidly and got 
 a broader knowledge of many things, will at last 
 have a much larger and richer vocabulary than the 
 other who secured only a poor education and a very 
 limited knowledge. In the same way it was possible 
 that the Dutch, who during several centuries had a: 
 
60 THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP 
 
 regular, a never interrupted, and splendid develop- 
 ment, in accordance with it acquired a large vocab- 
 ulary, while the English during the same time only 
 followed from afar. On the contrary, when during 
 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the English 
 nation developed enormously, while the Dutch was 
 declining, it is very probable that during this time the 
 English will gain the supremacy, will develop a rich 
 vocabulary, while the Dutch become the people that 
 follow and borrow names and new words for new 
 things which were introduced from England. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHY THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLAND ON DUTCH LAN- 
 GUAGE AND LITERATURE is OF RECENT DATE, 
 WHILE THAT OF HOLLAND ON ENGLISH LAN- 
 GUAGE AND LITERATURE OCCURRED MUCH EARLIER 
 AND DURING SEVERAL CENTURIES. 
 
 Although not included necessarily in the plan of 
 this little volume, yet a few words about the influence 
 of England on Holland, and its language and litera- 
 ture, may find here a place, since some one who reads 
 these pages may ask the question: Was not the in- 
 fluence of Holland on England a mutual one, and did 
 not England exert as much influence on Holland 
 as the latter did on the former ? This question may be 
 not a necessary one, it is nevertheless so closely con- 
 nected with our subject that a few words of explana- 
 tion may not be superfluous. It is interesting, any- 
 how, in connection with our subject to keep in mind at 
 least a general outline of the whole relation through 
 history between the two countries. Now this is in the 
 main dominated by three circumstances: 
 
 1. The course of general civilization from east to 
 west ; 
 
 2. The peculiar development of civilization in 
 England which was interrupted by several conquests ; 
 and 
 
 3. The regular development of the Netherlands as 
 a world-center of civilization some centuries earlier 
 than the development of England as a world-empire. 
 
 61 
 
62 HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 
 
 In the explanation and interpretation of these three 
 observations we find the history of the relations be- 
 tween Holland and England. 
 
 I. Civilization took its course from East to West. 
 It is generally accepted that in Asia is to be found 
 the cradle of the human race. From Asia came the 
 tribes which spread over Europe. From the eastern 
 empires of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Persia and Pales- 
 tine, civilization came to the shores of Europe. At 
 first Greece, later the Roman empire, became the cen- 
 ter of civilization in Europe, and from Greece and 
 Rome it spread over the western countries of Europe 
 under the leadership of the mediaeval Christian church. 
 So Christian civilization soon reached the shores of 
 the Atlantic, came to the Netherlands, and crossed the 
 Channel to the British Isles, after the way had been 
 prepared by the armies of heathen Rome. Holland 
 was part of the European Continent, was most closely 
 in contact with the rest of Europe, and became speedily 
 the center of trade between the Baltic and the Medi- 
 terranean, between the heart of Germany and Eng- 
 land. But England had a more isolated position, was 
 not so closely connected with all Europe, and had not 
 that central position which was the privilege of Hol- 
 land. So the Netherlands and especially the Southern 
 Provinces soon became a center of trade and industry, 
 of art and literature and of all civilization, while the 
 development of civilization in England remained far 
 behind. 
 
 II. To this course, taken by the history of civiliza- 
 tion, must be added the circumstance that the develop- 
 ment of civilization in England had been interrupted 
 several times by the most awful conquests, accom- 
 panied by wholesale devastations of every previous 
 civilization. England has been conquered, first by the 
 
HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 63 
 
 Ramans, then by the Angles and Saxons, later by the 
 Danes, after that time by William the Conqueror with 
 his Normans, and especially the last conquest, and in 
 connection with it the dreadful wars with France, 
 followed by the war of the Roses, have exerted an in- 
 fluence on the civilization in England, which finally 
 left that country during the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 century in a condition far behind the civilization of 
 some other parts of Europe, especially of the southern 
 Netherlands. All these conquests, most of them de- 
 pressing and influencing the whole people for a long 
 time, and accompanied as they were by murder and 
 devastation, by robbery and oppression, .have together 
 brought a rough, as well as a dramatic element, into 
 English national life, a life which was full of tragic 
 stories, noble fights and criminal performances. This 
 may to a certain extent explain the early development 
 of English literature, and especially of the drama, at 
 a time when the general standard of civilization was 
 still very low. In the dramas of Shakespeare we see 
 the results of the whole history of England till that 
 time; a true mirror of all its great events, all its 
 energy, all its crimes, all its activity, all its sufferings, 
 as well as of all its display of brute power and rough- 
 ness. This peculiarly rough, but powerful, individ- 
 ualism, full of energy and activity was able to produce 
 exceptions like Shakespeare, Marlowe and Spenser, in 
 a time when the general standard of English national 
 life was very low indeed. This is surprising, and to 
 be explained only by the conquests of the island and the 
 nearly perpetual oppression of a large part of the Eng- 
 lish people. Even at the present time, notwithstand- 
 ing all the world-power and wealth of England, it has 
 as its "poet laureate" no better man than Robert 
 Bridges; as its history of English literature no better 
 
64 HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 
 
 work than that of the Frenchman Taine; as its best 
 painter no better man than Alma Tadema, a Dutch- 
 man by birth and education ; while in winning Nobel 
 prizes it remains far behind the Netherlands of today ; 
 and in preserving mediaeval feudalism even in its 
 institutions of learning, it is more conservative than 
 almost any other country in the world. Yet in our 
 time the general standard of national life in no other 
 country is as high as in England. When in our days 
 we look at the splendor and the wealth of the British 
 empire, with its overwhelming position, and compare 
 with it the modest position of the kingdom of Holland, 
 we are inclined to believe that such may have been 
 always the situation and we hardly imagine how en- 
 tirely different it was some centuries ago. But as far 
 as we are not blinded by the present situation, and 
 ask just for the 'truth of history, we learn that some 
 centuries ago, not England, but the Netherlands were 
 far ahead in general civilization, and in national stand- 
 ard of life, and we find the cause of the backwardness 
 of English national life in the many conquests, and 
 nearly perpetual oppression of the people in English 
 History. 
 
 III. On the contrary the national life in the 
 Netherlands since the crusades developed very fast and 
 regularly. Modern democracy arose in the cities of 
 Flanders sooner, and more splendidly, than in any 
 other country in the world. Charles V (1500-1558) 
 himself born at Bruges in the same Southern Nether- 
 lands, where once, at Herstal, stood the cradle of 
 the great Carolingians Charles V, the Emperor of 
 Germany, the King of Spain, the Lord of the Nether- 
 lands, on whose empire the sun did not set, the man 
 of the world-empire of his time, got two-fifths of all 
 his income from the Netherlands, where learning and 
 
HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 65 
 
 civilization had their headquarters, where luxury and 
 wealth was accumulated by trade and industry. And 
 at the same time England under the Tudors was so 
 far behind in national civilization, that we are aston- 
 ished when reading what the best historians tell us 
 about it. At the time when Elizabeth (i 55^-1603 ), 
 "the good queen Beth," came to the throne, England's 
 trade was little, and its industry did not amount to 
 anything; the best citizens were put to death, or fled 
 from the country to escape the persecutions of Bloody 
 Mary ; most of the land belonged to the lords of the 
 castles, and nearly. all the revenues of the country had 
 to come from the wool it produced, as being in the 
 main a pastoral land, so that the "woolsac" is even 
 today taken for the symbol of the origin of England's 
 wealth. 
 
 At this time, when in the Netherlands, according 
 to the Italian historian Guiciardini, everybody knew 
 how to write, and to read, in England many even of 
 the Peers of the land could neither write nor read. 
 
 At a time when in the Netherlands, in one city 
 (Antwerp), five hundred marble palaces of the wealthy 
 merchants were destroyed by one conquest, and the 
 ladies dressed like princesses, so that the French queen 
 one time in the year 1301 at a banquet at Brughes 
 exclaimed: "I thought that I was the only queen 
 here, but I see that all ladies are queens," 1 at that 
 time and even two centuries later the houses of the 
 upper classes in England were described by Erasmus 
 (otherwise full of admiration for the English people) 
 in these words: "The floors are commonly of clay, 
 strewed with rushes, which are only lifted at long 
 
 1 Groen van Prinsterer, Textbook of Dutch History, p. 17. 
 Incredible, says Groen, was the welfare of the Flemish cities Ghent, 
 Ypres and Brughes. Ghent alone had 80,000 citizens able to go to 
 war. This was in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
66 HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 
 
 intervals, and under which lies unmolested, an ancient 
 collection of beer, grease, bones, spittle and every 
 nameless abomination. 1 In Skikton Castle, belonging 
 to the earl of Cumberland, and built in the year 1572, 
 as one of the most splendid castles of Northern Eng- 
 land according to Hallam "none of the chambers had 
 chairs, window glass or carpets." 2 Even Queen Eliza- 
 beth did not know the use of the fork and ate her meat 
 with her fingers ; her perpetual habit of swearing like 
 a common soldier everybody knows; and historians 
 like Froude and Hallam tell us that the standard of 
 morality at that time in England was not higher than 
 the standard of elegance in English homes, and in the 
 English way of living. No wonder that a good many 
 of the English soldiers, who at that time came to the 
 Netherlands, were looked at like "half naked bar- 
 barians," worse than even the Spaniards in roughness 
 and cruelty. 
 
 The Dutch skilled laborers and farmers, who set- 
 tled in England's eastern and south-eastern districts, 
 found there easily a living, while on the contrary the 
 Pilgrim fathers at Leyden could hardly make a living, 
 because their standard of education and skill was lower 
 than that of their Dutch competitors. 
 
 The simple historical truth is, that at that period 
 the undeveloped energy of the English people was 
 still waiting for the time of its glorious unfolding, 
 and that, notwithstanding the exceptional examples of 
 Spenser, Shakespeare and some other individuals, the 
 general standard of English civilization was very low, 
 while at the same time that of the Netherlands was 
 ahead of all Europe. 
 
 1 Marcus Dods, Erasmus and other Essays, p. 13. Other descriptions 
 of English houses in Douglas Campbell, The Puritans, I, 326, v. v. and 
 the authors quoted there. 
 
 2 Hallam, Middle Ages, quoted by Campbell, I, 327. 
 
HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 67 
 
 The glorious time for England, as a whole, came 
 in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. That of 
 the Netherlands was in the fourteenth, fifteenth, six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries. It is not in the 
 least in favor of the Netherlands, neither a disgrace 
 to England, but merely a chronological fact, that the 
 development of civilization, of wealth, and power in 
 the Netherlands came some centuries earlier than in 
 England. But the consequence of this historical fact 
 is, that during the centuries of higher civilization, 
 Holland exerted permanently its influence on England, 
 on English language and literature; and, on the con- 
 trary, that the time in which England exerted some 
 considerable influence on Holland is to be sought 
 especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 
 and in our present time. 
 
 Nearly all the words of English origin in the 
 Dutch language are of very recent date, and never in 
 history have so many English books been translated 
 into Dutch as in our present time. On the contrary 
 nearly all the words of Dutch origin in the English 
 language are from earlier ages, and the influence of 
 Holland exerted on English literature dates from those 
 centuries when Holland was in its glorious days, and 
 when civilization in the Netherlands was at a higher 
 development and more general than in any other 
 country in the world. And while at present Holland 
 cannot be said to have any influence whatever on 
 England in general, including English language and 
 literature except in South Africa it is a matter of 
 fact that every year English words are creeping into 
 the Dutch language, and that English literature exerts 
 an influence on Dutch literature which nobody can 
 deny. 
 
 All history proves that whenever two countries, by 
 
68 HOLLAND AND ENGLAND 
 
 their natural situation, have permanent and frequent 
 intercourse with each other, either one or the other 
 will exert a more dominant and prevailing influence, 
 and which one shall dominate depends at any time 
 upon the question in which of the two countries 
 civilization, power and wealth are more prominent. 
 
 The predominance of the Netherlands we find as 
 far back as the time in which William the Conqueror 
 brought Flemish soldiers, and Flemish weavers, to 
 England, and married a Flemish princess, but is to be 
 found especially from the fourteenth till the eighteenth 
 centuries, while that of England begins in the eight- 
 eenth century and has been working in its full power 
 through the whole nineteenth century till our present 
 time. 
 
 Yet England's influence on Holland never could 
 be so very important, for the simple reason that France 
 as well as Germany are in more close contact with 
 Holland than England. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE INFLUENCE EXERTED ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THAT ON ENGLISH 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 However closely and even inseparably language 
 and literature may be connected, yet they are not 
 identical, and the influence which Holland exerted on 
 the English language is entirely different from that 
 on English literature. The Flemish weavers and 
 soldiers, brought to England by William the Con- 
 queror, the thousands of skilled laborers and farmers, 
 who settled in the eastern districts of England during 
 several centuries, and the great mass of refugees who 
 fled to England during the sixteenth century, all 
 lived among the English people, mixed with the Eng- 
 lish population, taught different things to the inhabi- 
 tants of England, and used for those things their own 
 Flemish names. They introduced Flemish words into 
 England ; those words were added to the English 
 vocabulary, and in that way all those people exerted 
 some influence on the English language, but this in- 
 fluence did not touch English literature. 
 
 On the contrary when scholars like Erasmus and 
 FrancisCus Junius, Vossius and Van der Noot came to 
 England, they spoke from the beginning the English 
 language, or they spoke Latin. They did not intro- 
 duce Flemish words into the English language, but 
 by their writings, by their conversation and corre- 
 spondence they brought hew ideas, new suggestions 
 
 69 
 
70 INFLUENCE EXERTED IS DIFFERENT 
 
 for the literary men, for the scholars and poets ; they 
 exerted an influence on English literature. And even 
 without coming themselves to England, when the 
 works of scholars and poets in the Netherlands are 
 spread over England, and read by men of education 
 and learning, then the influence of these scholars and 
 poets on English language is nothing, but on English 
 literature it may be considerable. 
 
 English soldiers and refugees came to the Nether- 
 lands by the thousand; they saw there things, and 
 learned there industries which they did not know 
 before ; they heard the names for all those new things, 
 and for every part of them, in the Dutch language ; 
 they grew familiar with these Dutch words and terms, 
 and coming back to England, they continued to use 
 these Dutch terms as they learned them in Holland. 
 Their influence is only on the English ^language, not on 
 English literature. 
 
 But when hundreds of students from England and 
 Scotland come to Leyden University to study there 
 all kinds of sciences, and some of them in later time 
 write books in England, then we see the influence of 
 what they studied in Holland, and in their writings we 
 shall find something of the influence which Holland 
 exerted on English literature. 
 
 The common citizens, the unlearned people, the 
 men of industry, trade and agriculture, these are the 
 people that are making and changing the language. 
 
 So a language is changing all the time. "Growth 
 and change," says Whitney, "make the life of language, 
 as they are everywhere else the inseparable accom- 
 paniment of life. A language is living when it is the 
 instrument of thought of a whole people, the wonted 
 means of expression of all their feelings, experiences, 
 opinions, reasonings; when the connection between it 
 
INFLUENCE EXERTED IS DIFFERENT 71 
 
 and their mental activity is so close that the one reflects 
 the other, and that the two grow together, the in- 
 strument ever adapting itself to the uses which it is 
 to subserve." 1 
 
 But the scholars and poets, the learned men of 
 high education, the philosophers, the statesmen and 
 the clergymen, the people who propagate and practice 
 their ideas in state, in church and in society these are 
 the men who are making the literature. Now when 
 the things that happen in Holland in any department 
 of life are important, and interesting enough to at- 
 tract the attention and the interest of English people, 
 and to influence their writings, then we can say that 
 Holland has an influence on English literature, which 
 is the result of this interest. 
 
 When a nation is ahead in industry and trade, in 
 navigation and agriculture, in a word, in all those 
 things which touch immediately the life and the daily 
 work of the common people, then it is very likely that 
 words and terms in connection with all these things 
 will be introduced into the language of that other 
 nation, which has to learn and to follow. 
 
 But when a nation is ahead in religious and polit- 
 ical ideas and movements, in sciences and in art, or 
 in social movements, then it is very likely that philos- 
 ophers and statesmen, clergymen and poets, in a 
 word all those people who make the literature of a 
 nation, will feel the influence of the leading nation, 
 and in such cases we observe the influence of one 
 nation on the literature of the other. 
 
 Now in the case of Holland and England every 
 historian knows that during centuries Holland was 
 far ahead of England in industry and in trade, in 
 
 1 William Dwight Whitney, Language and the Study of Language, 
 p. 32- 
 
72 INFLUENCE EXERTED IS DIFFERENT 
 
 navigation and in agriculture, as well as in political, 
 religious and social ideas and movements, in sciences 
 and in art. Consequently, before having made any 
 further researches, we may suppose that during those 
 centuries Holland has exerted some influence on the 
 English language, as well as on English literature, an 
 influence which the following pages may show more 
 clearly. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 How IT HAPPENED THAT HOLLAND 'EXERTED INFLU- 
 ENCE ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 
 The first man, and till the present time, at least 
 in England and America, the only man who has 
 made any elaborate investigation of this question, is 
 the Rev. W. W. Skeat. In his "brief notes," in the 
 introductory part of his Etymological Dictionary he 
 says: "The introduction into English of Dutch 
 words is somewhat important yet seems to have re- 
 ceived but little attention. I am convinced that the 
 influence of Dutch upon English has been much 
 underrated, and a closer attention to this question 
 might throw some light even upon English history. I 
 think I may take the credit of being the first to point 
 this out with sufficient distinctness. History tells us 
 that our relations with the Netherlands have often 
 been rather close. We read of Flemish mercenary 
 soldiers being employed by the Normans, and of 
 Flemish settlements in Wales, "where," says old 
 Babyan (I know not with what truth), "they re- 
 mayned a longe whyle, but after, they sprad all Eng- 
 lande over." We may recall the alliance between 
 Edward III, and the free towns of Flanders ; and the 
 importation, by Edward, of Flemish weavers. The 
 wool used by the cloth-workers of the Low Countries 
 grew on the backs of English sheep ; and other close 
 relations between us and our nearly related neigh- 
 bors grew out of the brewing-trade, the invention of 
 
 73 
 
74 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 printing, and the reformation of religion. Caxton 
 spent thirty years in Flanders (where the first Eng- 
 lish book was printed), and translated the Low Ger- 
 man version of Reynard the Fox. Tyndale settled 
 at Antwerp to print his New Testament, and was 
 strangled at Vilvorde. But there was a still closer 
 contact in the time of Elizabeth. Very instructive is 
 Gascoigne's poem on the Fruits of War, where he 
 describes his experience in Holland, and everyone 
 knows that Zutphen saw the death of the beloved 
 Sir Philip Sidney. As to the introduction of cant 
 words from Holland, see Beaumont and Fletcher's 
 play entitled "The Beggar's Bush." After Antwerp 
 had been captured by the Duke of Parma, "a third 
 of the merchants and manufacturers of the ruined 
 city," says Mr. Green, "are said to have found a 
 refuge on the banks of the Thames." All this can- 
 not but have affected our language and it ought to 
 be accepted as tolerably certain that during the four- 
 teenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, particularly 
 the last, several Dutch words were introduced into 
 England, and it would be curious to inquire whether, 
 during the same period, several English words did 
 not in like manner find currency in the Netherlands." 
 I wonder why Dr. Skeat did not mention, even in 
 this brief outline, the influence of the persecutions for 
 religious reasons, by which for instance under 
 Charles V and Philip II thousands of Dutchmen fled 
 to England, and under Bloody Mary, as well as 
 under the Stuarts, at many times, thousands of Eng- 
 lish people found a refuge in the Netherlands. The 
 armies, often, of several thousands of English sol- 
 diers, who were stationed for many years in the 
 Netherlands during Elizabeth and later as well, must 
 have felt the influence of Dutch, but on scattered 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 75 
 
 refugees all over the Netherlands we may expect a 
 far greater influence. During the reign of Elizabeth 
 we meet in the Netherlands not only Leicester and 
 Sir Philip Sidney with thousands of English soldiers, 
 but noblemen as well, like Sir John Norris, and Sir 
 Francis Vere, and Lord Willoughby, as well as Sir 
 Roger Williams, who in the year -1587 was one of 
 the defenders of Sluys in Zealand, and many others, 
 among whom were some of bad repute, as for 
 instance Sir William Stanley, the betrayer of Deven- 
 ter, and Rowland York, who betrayed the fortress 
 of Zutphen. The two sons of Charles I, with a great 
 number of their adherents, found refuge in the 
 Netherlands, and the story of Argyle and Monmouth 
 shows how many English refugees in later time dur- 
 ing the persecutions of Charles II and James II lived 
 in the Low Countries, just as the Pilgrim fathers 
 lived there at an earlier time during the years 
 1609-1620. 
 
 Not only did many thousands of English people 
 live in Holland either as soldiers or as refugees, and 
 become acquainted there with many Dutch words and 
 expressions, but, on the other hand, thousands of 
 Hollanders had lived in the eastern districts of Eng- 
 land for centuries, while in the time of Elizabeth, 
 during the reign of the Duke of Alva, the popula- 
 tion of some cities in the eastern parts of England 
 was more than half Dutch. 
 
 The question of how far Holland exerted influ- 
 ence on England has been made a subject of special 
 research by Douglas Campbell in his work, The Puri- 
 tans, and the material brought together in his book 
 certainly has spread more light, but the subject seems 
 far from being exhausted. And yet in these re- 
 searches we find more and more the way along which 
 
76 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 many Dutch words have come into the English 
 language. 
 
 W. W. Skeat has treated this question a little more 
 elaborately than in his dictionary, in his work, "Prin- 
 ciples of English Etymology," Vol. I, Chapter XXIV, 
 where he gives the following explanation: 
 
 "When we consider that it has long been an ad- 
 mitted fact, that numerous English words were 
 directly borrowed from Scandinavian, being brought 
 over from Denmark in the tenth and eleventh cen- 
 turies, it seems strange that so little is said in our 
 grammars about the borrowing of English words 
 from the Old Dutch and Old Friesic. Morris, in his 
 Historical Outlines of English Accidence, gives a 
 meagre list of thirteen words borrowed from Dutch, 
 none of them being of any great antiquity in English. 
 Koch, in his Grammatik, Hi. 150, gives a list of about 
 forty words which he supposes to be of "Nieder- 
 deutsch" origin. Such a treatment of the subject is 
 surely inadequate. It remains for me to show that 
 this element is of considerable importance, and should 
 not be so lightly passed over, as if the matter were 
 of little account. 
 
 "The first question is, at what period are we to date 
 the borrowing of English words from the Nether- 
 lands? The right answer is, that the dates are vari- 
 ous, and the occasions may have been many. It is 
 concede'd that several sea-terms are really Dutch. 
 Dr. Morris instances boom, cruise, sloop, yacht (Du. 
 boom, kruizen, jagt, older spelling jacht) ; as well 
 as the word schooner.. But the last instance is incor- 
 rect; the original name was scooner* and originated 
 in America, but was afterwards turned into schooner 
 
 1 From prqv. E. scoon, to glide over water. See the story as told in 
 Webster's Dictionary; a story which I once doubted, but find to be true; 
 see Whitney, Study of Language, 1868, p. 38. Schooner has no sense 
 in Dutch, and is known to be borrowed from us. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 77 
 
 because such was the Dutch spelling of the word 
 after they had borrozved it from us! It is just one 
 more instance of drawing a false induction from cor- 
 rect premises. Because should and would are spelt 
 with /, could is spelt so too; and because sloop and 
 yacht are Dutch, schooner is supposed to be the same. 
 But we may, I think, safely add to the list the nautical 
 terms ahoy, aloof, avast, belay, 1 caboose, hoist hold 
 (of a ship), hoy, hull, lash (to bind spars together), 
 lighter (a barge), marline, moor (to fasten a boat), 
 orlop _(a kind of ship's deck), pink (fishing-boat), 
 reef (of a sail), reef (a rock), reeve, rover (sea- 
 robber), to sheer off, skipper, smack (fishing-boat), 
 splice, strand (of a rope), swab, yawl; which, with 
 the four already mentioned, give more than thirty 
 Dutch words in nautical affairs alone. Even pilot 
 is nothing but Old Dutch, disguised in a French 
 spelling. 2 
 
 "But there is another set of words of Dutch origin, 
 of a different kind, which must also be considered. 
 It is from the Netherlands that some at least of the 
 cant terms current in the time of Elizabeth were bor- 
 rowed, though a very few may be of Gipsy origin, 
 and may thus be traced to the East. When Fletcher 
 the dramatist wrote his play of the Beggar's Bush 
 in 1622, it is remarkable that he laid the scenes in 
 Ghent and in the neighborhood of Bruges, and makes 
 Gerrard, who is disguised as the King of the Beg- 
 gars, and understands a cant dialect, the father of a 
 rich merchant of the latter town. It is clear whence 
 Fletcher obtained the cant words which he introduces 
 into his dialogue so copiously. They are much the 
 
 1 In some senses, all obsolete, belay is a native English term. As 
 a nautical term, it first appears in The Complaint of Scotland, ed. Mur- 
 ray, ch. vi, p. 41 (1549). 
 
 2 See the note on this difficult word in the Supplement to my Dic- 
 tionary. W. W. Skeat. 
 
78 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 same set as may be found in Awdeley's Fraternitye 
 of Vagabondes, first printed in 1561, and in Harman's 
 Caveat for Vagabondes, printed in 1567; see Furni- 
 vall's edition of these books for the Early English 
 Text Society, which contains a Glossary, and an ad- 
 ditional list of words at p. xxii. Harrison, in his 
 Description of England, bk. ii. c. 10 (ed. 1587), says 
 that the trade of the vagabonds, or roving Gypsies, 
 had begun some sixty years previously, and that their 
 number was said to exceed ten thousand. I suppose 
 they reached England by way of Holland, and 
 picked up some Dutch by the way; though it will be 
 found that the main portion of the cant language is 
 nothing but depraved and debased English, coined by 
 using words in odd senses, and with slight changes, 
 as when, e. g., food is called belly cheer, or night is 
 called darkmans. The following are some of the old 
 cant terms which I should explain from Dutch. 
 Bufe, a dog ;* from Du. baffen, to bark. Bung, a 
 purse; Friesic pung, a purse. Kinchin, a child (Har- 
 man, p. 76) ; Du. kindekin, an infant (Hexham). 
 Pad, a road, as in high pad, high road; Du. pad, a 
 path, hence the sb. padder, a robber on the road, now 
 called a footpad, and pad-nag, a road-horse now 
 shortened to pad. Prad, a horse ; Du. paard, a horse ; 
 Slates, sheets; Du. slet, a rag, clout. Hexham, in 
 his Old Dutch Dictionary (1658), records a verb 
 facken; "to catch or to gripe ;" which suggests a plausi- 
 ble origin for the cant word fake, to steal. It is to 
 be remarked that some of the cant terms seem to 
 be borrowed from parts of the continent still more 
 remote than Holland ; for f ambles, hands, is plainly 
 Danish, from the Dan. famle, to handle; whilst nase, 
 drunk, is precisely the High G. nass, used literally 
 
 1 The modern slang word for dog is buffer (Hotten). 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 79 
 
 in the sense of "wet," but figuratively in the sense 
 of "drunk;" the Low G. form being nat. 
 
 "There was a rather close contact between English 
 and Dutch in the days of Elizabeth, due to the war 
 against Spain. After Antwerp had been conquered 
 by the Duke of Parma, "a third of the merchants and 
 manufacturers of the ruined city," says Mr. Green, 
 "are said to have found a refuge on the banks of 
 the Thames." We should particularly note such a 
 poem as that entitled the Fruits of War, by George 
 Gascoigne, where he describes his experiences in 
 Holland. He and other English volunteers picked 
 up Dutch words, and brought them home. Thus, in 
 st. 136 of that poem, he says that he "equyppt a 
 Hoye;" where hoy, a boat (Du. hey} is a word still 
 in use. In st. 40, he uses the adj. frolicke to express 
 cheerful or merry which is borrowed from Du. 
 vrolijk spelt vrolick by Hexham ; Ben Jonson who 
 also had served in Holland spells it froelich, as if it 
 was hardly naturalised, in The Case is Altered, Act i, 
 sc. i. In his Voyage to Holland, Gascoigne quotes 
 several Dutch sentences, which be explains by means 
 of notes. He also introduces the word pynke, which 
 he explains by "a small bote;" this is mod. E. pink 
 (Du. pink). 
 
 In Ben Jonson's well-known play, "Every Man 
 in His Humour," we may find several Dutch words. 
 Thus he has guilder as the name of a coin, Act Hi, 
 sc. i ; this is a sort of E. translation of Du. gulden, 
 literally golden, also the name of a coin ; Hexham 
 gives: (c een Gulden, or Carolus gulden, a Gilder, or 
 a Charles Gilder; een Philippus gulden, a Philips 
 Gilder." Again, he has lance-knights, foot-soldiers, 
 in Act ii, sc. 4 [or 2] ; this is merely the Du. lans- 
 knecht, which has also been taken into French (and 
 
80 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 even into English) in the form lansquenet. In Act 
 iii, sc. i, he has the sb. leagure, and the derivative 
 beleag'ring; we still use beleaguer, from the Du. 
 belegeren, to besiege, the Du. sb. being leger, a camp. 
 In Act ii, sc. i, he has quacksalvers, mountebanks, 
 from Du. kvvakzalver; the word is still common in the 
 abbreviated form quack as applied to a physician. 
 
 ''There are several Dutch words in Shakespeare, 
 who quotes one word as Dutch when he says 'lustig, 
 as the Dutchman says ;' All's Well, ii., 3, 47 ; where 
 lustig means 'in excellent spirits.' The list of Dutch 
 words in Shakespeare is a much longer one than 
 might be expected. I give it here, referring to my 
 Dictionary for the etymologies. It runs thus: boor, 
 brabble, burgomaster, buskin (ed), canakin, 1 cope, v., 
 copes-mate, 2 crants (Du. krans or G. Krans), deck 
 (of a ship), deck, v., doit, foist, fop, frolic, fumble, 
 geek, a fool (Du. gek), gilder, a coin, glib, adj., glib, 
 v. (M. Du. gelubben, to castrate), groat, heyday or 
 hoy day, used as an interjection, hogshead, hoise, not 
 hoist, hold (of a ship), Holland, hoy, hull (of a ship), 
 jeer, jerkin, leaguer f a camp (Du. leger), link, a 
 torch, linstock, loiter, lop, manakin, minikin, min.v, 5 
 mop, mope, rant, ravel, rover, ruffle, sloven (ly), 
 snaffle, snap, snip, snuff, v. to sniff; sprat, sutler, 
 swabber, snitch, toy, trick, uproar, waggon* 
 wainscot. Many of these terms are nautical, such 
 as deck, hoise, hold, hoy, hull, rover (sea-pirate), 
 sprat, swabber; others are just such words as might 
 easily be picked up by roving English volunteer 
 
 1 "Ben kanneken, A small Canne"; Hexham. Skeat. 
 
 2 "From Du. koopen, to barter, and M. Du. maet, a mate (Hexham) 
 But mate is also E., though hardly so in this compound." Skeat. 
 
 3 "This difficult word has been at last explained by me, in the Phil. 
 Soc. Trans., 1886. It is merely the Friesic (and Bremen) minsk, 
 variant of Du. incnsch, a man, or (when neuter) a wench." Skeat. 
 
 4 "Waggon was re-introduced into England from abroad, long after 
 the A. S. imaegn had passed into E. wain." Skeat. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 81 
 
 soldiers, viz. boor, burgomaster, buskin, doit, fop, 
 frolic, geek, gilder, heyday, hogshead, jerkin, leaguer, 
 link, linstock, loiter, lop, manakin, minx, snaffle, 
 sutler, sivitch, trick, uproar, waggon; indeed, in the 
 case of some of these, as doit, gilder, jerkin, leaguer, 
 link, linstock, snaffle, sutler, trick, waggon, the con- 
 nection with military affairs is sufficiently obvious. 
 
 "For other words of (presumably) Dutch origin, 
 see the list in my Etym. Die., 2nd ed. 1884, p. 750; 
 or my Concise Etym. Diet., p. 607." 
 
 "In' the case of the majority of these words, the 
 certainty of their being borrowed from the Low 
 Countries is verified by their non-occurrence in Mid- 
 dle English. They nearly all belong to what I have 
 called the modern period, viz., the period after 1500, 
 when the introduction of new words from abroad ex- 
 cites no surprise. A more difficult and perhaps more 
 important question remains, viz., as to the possible 
 introduction of Dutch or Low German words into 
 Middle English. We are here met by the difficulty 
 that Old Dutch and Middle English had a strong 
 resemblance, which may easily mislead an inquirer. 
 Thus Mr. Blades, in his Life of Ca.rton, 1882, p. 2, 
 speaks of "the good wife of Kent, who knew what 
 the Flemish word eyren meant, but understood not 
 the English word eggs" But the whole point of the 
 story depends upon the fact that the word for "eggs" 
 was egg-is in Northern and Midland English, but 
 eyren in the Southern dialect ; in fact, ciren occurs 
 in the Ancren Riwle, p. 66, and is formed by adding 
 the Southern en to the form eyr-e, resulting regu- 
 larly from the A. S. pi. aegru. Mr. Blades tells us 
 we must "bear in mind that the inhabitants of the 
 Weald had a strong admixture of Flemish blood in 
 their best families, and that cloth was their chief, 
 
82 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 and probably only manufacture." All this may be 
 true, but the particular anecdote which is quoted to 
 prove it does, in effect, prove nothing of the kind. 
 It proves, rather, that the language of the Saxons 
 who came to England did not originally differ from 
 the language of those of their fellows whom they left 
 behind; and the points we have to determine are 
 rather, to what extent had the differentiation between 
 these two tongues proceeded at any given date, and 
 what evidence have we of the actual borrowing of 
 Dutch, Friesic, or Low German words at various 
 periods? A convenient period for consideration is 
 that which extends over the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, when there were especially close com- 
 mercial relations between the English and Flemish. 
 The Libell of English Policye, written in 1436, speaks 
 of the "commoditees of Flaundres" at some length, 
 and reminds the Flemings that their great manufac- 
 ture of cloth was dependent upon England, as it was 
 nearly all made of English wool, to which Spanish 
 wool was inferior. The writer adds that merchandise 
 from Prussia, and even from Spain, reached England 
 by way of Flanders, which was indeed "but a staple 1 
 to other lands." We might expect such Flemish or 
 Dutch words as occur in Middle English to apply to 
 various implements used in such trades as weaving 
 and brewing, and in mechanical arts, but it is very 
 difficult to investigate these matters, since the Eng- 
 lish were already well supplied with necessary words. 
 Still, I think the word spool is a clear instance of 
 a borrowed word. It occurs, spelt spole, in the 
 Promptorium Parvulorum, about 1440, and in another 
 Vocabulary of the fifteenth century; and answers to 
 
 1 "The very word staple is certainly L,ow German, slightly dis- 
 guised by a French spelling." Skeat. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 83 
 
 M. Du. spoele, Du. spoel, Low G. spole. The native 
 E. word is reel (A. S. hreol). 
 
 "Other low words which I regard as having been 
 borrowed from various forms of Low German rather 
 than as forming part of the stock of native English 
 are the following: botch, to patch; bounce, boy, 
 brake (for flax), bulk (in the obsolete sense of trunk 
 of the body), cough, curl, duck, v., to dive; fop, girl, 
 groat, hawker, huckster, kails (a game), knurr or 
 knur, a knot in wood, wooden ball ; lack, s. and v. ; 
 lash, to bind together ; loll, loon, luck, m&xer, mud, 
 muddle, nag, a horse ; nick, notch, orts, pamper, 
 patch, plash, a pool; rabbit (f), rabble, scoff, scold, 
 shock, a pile of sheaves; shudder, skew, slabber, 
 slender, slight, slot, a bolt; spool, sprout, tub, tuck, 
 v., tug, unto. All these words are, I believe, found 
 in the Middle English period, but not earlier ; and 
 in some cases the fact of the borrowing is certain. 
 Thus groat is Low G. groot, the E. form being 
 great; mazer is a bowl made of the spotted wood of 
 the maple, the M. H. G. word for "spot" being 
 maze; 1 tub, Low G. tubbe, may have been brought 
 in by the brewing trade, together with vat (Du. vat) ; 
 hawker and hukster are certainly not native words; 
 kails is a Dutch game, from the Du. kegel, a cone, 
 a sort of ninepins. Some of these words appear in 
 Friesic, and it is possible that they belonged to the 
 word-stock of the Friesians who came over with the 
 Saxons, but this will always be, in the absence of 
 evidence, a very difficult point. 
 
 "The E. Friesic Dictionary by Koolman gives 
 some help; I note the following: Bummsen, to 
 bounce, from bumms, the noise of a heavy fall; boy, 
 
 1 "Koolman utterly misses the etymology; he seems to have trusted 
 to Jamieson's Dictionary for English, as he mentions no other authority." 
 Skeat. 
 
84 HO W IT HAPPENED 
 
 a boy, nearly obsolete in Friesic; brake, a flax-brake; 
 knchen, to cough (the A. S. word is hwostan) ; krul, 
 a curl, krullen, to curl ; duken, to duck, bend down ; 
 fop pen, to befool (the M. E. foppe being used to 
 mean a foolish person, see my Supplement) ; grote, 
 grot, a groat ; hdker, a hawker ; kegel, a kail ; knure, 
 a bump; lak, a defect; lasken, to lash together; 16m, 
 tired, slow, whence M. E. lowmish, slow, stupid, and 
 E. loon or lown (for *loivm) ; liik, luck, miidde, mud; 
 muddelen, to muddle ; or/, ort, remnant ; plas, plasse, 
 a plash, pool; rabbcln, rappeln, to chatter, rappalje, 
 a rabble, schelden, to scold; schiiddern, to shudder; 
 .slabbern, slubbern, to slabber or slubber; slicht, 
 smooth, also slight ; slot, a lock ; spole, spol, a spool ; 
 sprute, a -sprout, bud, spruten, to sprout; tubbe, a 
 tub. The difficult word touch-wood is easily ex- 
 plained when we find that the" M. E. form was tache, 
 tinder, or inflammable stuff, answering to E. Friesic 
 takke, a twig, takje, a little twig. 
 
 "Richthofen's O. Friesic Dictionary also gives 
 some help; we should especially notice the following: 
 dekka, to thatch; fro, glad (cf. E. fro-lic) ; grata, a 
 groat ; Ink, luck ; minska, a man, for mcnska, which 
 is short for manniska (cf. E. minx} ; pad, a path (cf. 
 E. foot-pad) ; skelda, to scold ; skof, a scoff ; slot, a 
 lock; snavel, mouth (cf. E. snaffle} ; spruta, to sprout; 
 ond-, iind-, on-, a prefix, the same as E. un-, into 
 un-to. 
 
 "There is a glossary to Heyne's Kleiner e altnieder- 
 deutsche Dcnkm'dlcr, which gives several hints ; I 
 note particularly the words be-scoffon, to scoff at ; 
 scok, a shock of corn ; slot, a lock ; tint, unto. The 
 Bremen Worterbuch also throws much light upon 
 Low German forms ; for example, it gives biinsen, to 
 bounce, from the inter j. bums, signifying the noise 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 85 
 
 of a fall, showing that the n in this word is due to 
 putting n for m before a following s. 
 
 "A most useful Dictionary of Old Low German 
 has lately appeared, by K. Schiller and A. Liibben. 
 As a specimen of the information to be derived from 
 it, I quote the following: 'Basse, botze, boitze, Art 
 grobes Schuhwerk ;' which explains^ E. botch, to 
 patch. The authors add the following curious 
 passage: 'Nullus allutariorum ponet soleas sub cal- 
 seis, quae botzc dicuntiir.' Again, they remark that 
 gor, a girl (whence E. girl) is much used in dialectal 
 speech, though it seems scarce in books. I also find 
 hoken, to hawk about, and hokcbokcn, to carry on 
 the back, which makes me think that my guess as 
 to huckaback, viz., that it originally meant 'pedlars' 
 ware,' may be right. Other useful entries are: 
 knerreholt, thin oaken boards (evidently wood with 
 knurrs or knots in it) ; lucke, luck; mascle, measles, 
 spots; maser, maple; 'enen maser en kop' ; a maple 
 cup, a mazer ; muddle, mud ; ort, ort ; placke, a patch ; 
 plasken, to plash or plunge into water ; plump, inter- 
 jection, used of the noise made by King Log when 
 he falls into the water ; plunder, booty, plunder- 
 waare, household stuff, especially bits of clothing ; 
 rabbat, a rabble, mob; schock, a shock, or heap of 
 corn, Schockcn, to put into shocks ; schudden, to 
 shake, shudder; slampampen, to live daintily (cf. E. 
 pamper) ; sprot, a sprat, etc. It is somewhat sur- 
 prising to find in this -work the phrase ut unde ut, 
 which is precisely our out and out. We want all 
 the light that is obtainable to guide us in this matter. 
 
 "After all, some of the above words may be 
 found in A. S. glosses, or may occur in unpublished 
 texts. The word dog seemed to me to be borrowed, 
 the E. word being hound; in fact, we find Du. dog, M. 
 
86 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 Du. dogge, Swed. dogg, Dan. dogge, Low G. dogge. 
 But in the A. S. glosses to Prudentius, we find : 'canum, 
 docgena;' showing that the A. S. form was docga. 
 I have supposed the word split to be Scandian; but 
 the occurrence in O. Friesic of the original strong 
 verb split-a renders it probable that split may, after 
 all, be of A. S. or Mercian origin. The word mane 
 is not in the A. S. dictionaries, so that I believed it 
 to be a borrowed word from Scandinavian. But the 
 publication (in 1885) of Mr. Sweet's Oldest English 
 Texts shows that the A. S. form was manu, which 
 occurs in the very old Erfurt Glossary. We must 
 also bear in mind that the Northumbrian and Mercian 
 of the oldest period have almost entirely perished." 
 
 So far the results of W. W. Skeat. 
 
 In Modern Philology for July, 1908, W. H. Car- 
 penter, Professor in Columbia University, New York, 
 published an interesting article entitled: Dutch Con- 
 tributions to the Vocabulary of English in America. 
 Dr. Carpenter gives first an outline of the history of 
 the Dutch settlement on Manhattan, Long Island, 
 along the Hudson River, in the Mohawk Valley and 
 wherever they were found; he tells that notwith- 
 standing the short period of the Dutch government 
 in New York, and the overwhelming influx of Eng- 
 lish immigrants into New York City since the Eng- 
 lish occupation in 1664, yet the Dutch language was 
 maintained in many of the smaller settlements, and 
 to some extent even in New York City, where "down 
 to 1764 the Dutch language was still used exclu- 
 sively in the service of the Dutch Reformed church, 
 although Dutch had not been taught for a century in 
 the schools. In Flatbush, on Long Island, Petrus 
 van Steenburgh, who was appointed schoolmaster in 
 1762, was the first who taught English in the school 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 87 
 
 that had been established more than a century before 
 (1659). He gave instruction nevertheless in both 
 languages. His successor in 1773, Anthony Welp by 
 name, was the last teacher who was required to teach 
 Dutch." 1 
 
 Under the constant influence of English, this 
 American colonial Dutch, like the Dutch of the Boers 
 in Africa, was of course more and more perverted. 
 Yet many words of the Dutch settlers passed into the 
 English language and the American-English "dic- 
 tionaries have considerable lists of words that are 
 derived directly from borrowings from the Dutch 
 language in America." 2 
 
 Dr. Carpenter gives a list of seventy-six of these 
 words, as follows: 
 
 boss, n. master, patron (Du. baas). 
 
 clove, n., cleft, ravine, pass (Du. kloof}. 
 
 cold'-slaiv , cole'-slaiu, n., sliced cabbage served as a 
 salad (Du. kool, cabbage, slaa salade, salad). 
 
 cook'y, cook'ey, cook'ie, n., a small sweet cake (Du. 
 koekje). 
 
 cruller, n., a fried sweet cake (Du. krullen, to curl). 
 
 dom'ine, dom'inie, n., a clergyman (Du. domine, a 
 Protestant clergyman). 
 
 dope, n., a thick liquid (Du. doop, sauce, gravy). 
 
 dorp, n., village (Du. dorp). 
 
 kill, n., a creek, stream, channel (Du. kuil). 
 
 kill' -fish', kil'li-fisti, kil'ly-fish', kil'lie, n., a fish, espe- 
 cially Fundulus heteroclitus (Du. kil fish'). The 
 Dutch word was doubtless likvisch. 
 
 1 W. H. Carpenter, "Dutch Contributions," etc., in Modern Philology, 
 July, 1908, p. 58. 
 
 2 Carpenter, p. 59. 
 
88 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 o'ly-kock' , oly-coek', better o'ly-cook' , pronounced also 
 
 ol'ly-cook' , n., a sweet cake fried in fat, a dough- 
 nut (Du. olie, oil, kock, cake). 
 patroon , n., proprietor of a manor- (Du. patroon, 
 
 patron, master). 
 Fink'stcr, Pin.rtcr, Ping'stcr, n., Whitsuntide ; now 
 
 only in Pinksterbloom, Pinksterflower, the wild 
 
 azalea (Du. Pinkster. Du. Pinksterbloem is the 
 
 peony). 
 Santa Clans, Klaus, n., Saint Nicholas (Du. Sant 
 
 Klaas dim. of Kikolaas). 
 scow, n., a flat-bottomed boat (Du. schouw). 
 scup, n. vb., a swing; to swing (Du. schop, schoppen). 
 slaiv, n., cabbage salad (Du. slaa salade). 
 speck, spec, n., pork, fat (Du. spck, bacon, fat, lard). 
 
 The statement in the STANDARD that "the form 
 speck is due partly to G. speck and partly to D. spck" 
 is undoubtedly correct. 
 
 spook, n. vb., a ghost, to haunt (Du. spook). 
 Stoop, n., entrance platform at door of a house, porch 
 
 (Du. stoep). 
 vly, fly, vley, vlei, vlaic, n., a swamp, marsh, shallow 
 
 pond (Du. valid, valley), 
 waffle, n., a batter cake (Du. wafel). 
 
 The following words are contained in the two dic- 
 tionaries, but with no suggestion of a Dutch origin : 
 blick'ie, blick'cy, n., a tin pail (Du. blikje (dim.), 
 
 metal basin, bowl). CENTURY (N. J.), but with 
 
 no suggestion of origin ; STANDARD, Penn, D. 
 
 bleck, G. blcch. 
 
 The ending -ie, -ey shows indubitably that the 
 word has come from the Dutch diminutive. 
 
 Tin blickcy also occurs, with an obliteration of 
 the real sense of blickey. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 89 
 
 bush, n., a wood, grove, thicket, as in "sugar-bush," 
 "Flatbush" (Du. bosch, same meaning). 
 Neither the CENTURY nor the STANDARD suggests 
 a connection of the word in this meaning with Dutch. 
 The usage is not English ; and in the many instances 
 in which the word occurs alone, e. g., "to take to the 
 bush," or as part of a compound- in America and 
 Africa, e. g., "bushman," "bushranger," "bush- 
 whacker," and the like, it has undoubtedly come in 
 through Dutch influence, exerted at one time or 
 another, upon the vocabulary. STANDARD: bosch, 
 (S. Afr.) with its true signification, but does not 
 connect it with the above word. Both the phonetic 
 form of the original and the presence of bush in the 
 English vocabulary have made the thorough incor- 
 poration of the word possible. 
 
 dob'bcr, n., a fish-line float (Du. dobber, same mean- 
 ing). STANDARD: (Local, U. S.), but no sugges- 
 tion of Dutch origin. Not in CENTURY. 
 dumb, adj., stupid, dull (Du. dom, same meaning). 
 CENTURY: (Local, U. S. In Pa. this use is partly 
 due to the G. dumm). STANDARD: (Local, U. S.) 
 Compare G. dumm. 
 
 The word in this sense has come in from both 
 Dutch and German, according to locality, since it is 
 used in territory where there is no thought of Ger- 
 man influence, and again, where there could have 
 been no Dutch influence exerted. 
 file, vb., to scrub, mop, scour (Diu feilen, same mean- 
 ing). STANDARD: (Local, U. S.) Vb. not in 
 CENTURY. 
 
 file, n., mop (Du. fcil (?), same meaning). CEN- 
 TURY: In some parts of U. S., a cloth used in 
 cleaning or wiping the floor. Also filecloth. Not 
 in STANDARD. 
 
90 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 pit, n., the hard kernel of certain fruits (Du. pit, 
 kernel, pith). CENTURY: Variety of pip, by con- 
 fusion with pit (U. S.). STANDARD: (U. S.) 
 Variety of pip. . 
 
 slaw bank, n., a folding bed (Du. slaap, sleepbank, 
 bench; compound Dutch word in same meaning). 
 STANDARD, no etymology suggested. Not in CEN- 
 TURY. 
 
 snoop, vb., to pry into. Hudson and Mohawk val- 
 leys, to eat stealthily (Du. snoepen, to enjoy 
 stealthily, to eat in secret). CENTURY: (Proba- 
 bly a variety of snook, M. E. snoken, to lurk, pry 
 about). STANDARD: (For snook L. G. snoken, 
 search). 
 
 snoop' y, adj., sly, stealthy (Du. snoepig, same mean- 
 ing). STANDARD. Not in CENTURY. 
 All of these words, it may confidently be asserted, 
 owe their presence in the vocabulary to Dutch influ- 
 ence. 
 
 In the following words the Dutch origin is cor- 
 rectly assumed by one or the other of the two diction- 
 aries, but not by both: 
 
 hook, n., point of land, cape (Du. hoek, same mean- 
 ing, e. g., Hoek van Holland). This sense of the 
 word is Dutch and not English. STANDARD has 
 correctly (D. hoek). CENTURY suggests no con- 
 nection with Dutch. 
 
 hoop'le, n., a child's hoop for trundling (Du. hoepel 
 (dim) hoop). CENTURY: (Dim. of hoop, after 
 D. hoepel). STANDARD suggests no connection 
 with Dutch. 
 
 Paas, n., Easter (Du. Paasch, same meaning). CEN- 
 TURY has correctly (D. paasch). STANDARD: 
 (Local, U. S.), but with no suggestion of Dutch 
 origin. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 91 
 
 The word also occurs in : Paas-day, Easter ; Paas- 
 flower, the yellow daffodil. 
 
 wink'le-hawk, n., an angular rent in cloth (Du. 
 winkelhaak, a rent, tear). CENTURY has correctly 
 (D. winkelhaak). STANDARD: (Local, U. S.), 
 but with no suggestion of Dutch origin. 
 Also occurs as wink'le-hole. , 
 "In the following words the correct Dutch origin 
 is suggested by both dictionaries, but is not definitely 
 assumed by either : 
 
 bock'ey, n., a dish made from a gourd (Du. bakje, 
 (dim.), bowl, basin). CENTURY: Probably D. 
 bakje, dim. of bak. STANDARD: (Prov., U. S.), 
 but with no assumption of Dutch origin. 
 tike, fyke, n., a bow-net (Du. fuik, a hoop-net). CEN- 
 TURY: fyke (Perhaps D. fuik, bow-net). STAND- 
 ARD: Hke (Local, U. S.) (Perhaps D. log.) 
 Both dictionaries, in not taking account of the 
 inflected form, have failed to reconcile "logy" defi- 
 nitely with Dutch log. 
 
 "The following words are not found in the dic- 
 tionaries at all. It is quite likely that many of them 
 are in use only in restricted localities. Some of 
 them, however, are widely distributed and are per- 
 fectly vital parts of the common vocabulary. It 
 should undoubtedly be possible to add still further to 
 this list, which, as has been said, is only tentative. 
 The new words in their usual orthography are as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 afease', afeese', adj. vide fease. 
 
 aw're-griet'chies, n. pi., maize coarsely ground (Du. 
 aar, ear of corn; grutjes (dim.), grits). Hudson 
 valley. 
 
 bedrooft', bedrowft', bedruft' , adj., miserable, de- 
 spondent (contempt), sad, sorrowful, gloomy 
 (Du. bedroefd, same meaning). Hudson valley. 
 
92 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 binnacle, binnakill, bcn'nakill, n., the smaller chan- 
 nel of a river running back from the main stream 
 (Du. binneri, within, kil, channel). 
 
 Kil acquires in America, where it very frequently 
 occurs in place-names and as a common appellative, 
 a meaning which it apparently never had at home, 
 viz., brook, stream, river; but it also is used in its 
 original signification, as in Arthur Kill, i. e., achter 
 kil, back channel. Widely used. John Burroughs, 
 "Pepacton"; "binocle, a still, miry place at the head 
 of a big eddy ;" vide also communication to the 
 Evening Post, February 22, 1901, by Edward Fitch. 
 blawk ' cr, n., a flat bedroom candlestick (Du. blaaker, 
 
 blakcr, same meaning). Hudson valley. 
 blum'mie, blummey, n., flower, blossom (Du. 
 
 bloempje (dim.), same meaning). Mohawk val- 
 ley. 
 blum'niachic, n., flower, blossom (Du. bloemetje 
 
 (dim.), same meaning). Mohawk valley. 
 boond'er, v., to brush away, drive away (Du. 
 
 boenderen, to scrub, brush). Hudson valley. 
 clip, adj., stony (Du. klip, rock, cliff). STANDARD 
 
 DICTIONARY: klip (S. Afr.), a rock or stone, cliff, 
 
 mountain. Hudson valley. 
 coss, n., wardrobe, chest of drawers (Du. kas, chest; 
 
 kast, cupboard, closet). Hudson valley. 
 door slag, n., colander, strainer (Du. door slag, same 
 
 meaning). Schenectady Co. 
 
 fease, feese, adj., disgusting (Du. vies, nauseous, dis- 
 gusting). To be fease of a thing or person: e. g., 
 
 I am fease of him, he disgusts me ; I am fease of 
 
 it, etc., which coincides with the Dutch usage. 
 
 Widely distributed. 
 
 Occurs also as afease. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 93 
 
 geheist' ', p. p. as adj., overreached, e. g., "he's 
 gehesit," he has overreached himself (Du. 
 gehuisd, housed, lodged, domiciled). Hudson val- 
 ley. 
 
 grill 'y, adj., chill, raw, e. g., u to-day is so grilly that I 
 shall not go out" (Du. grillig, same meaning). 
 Hudson valley. 
 
 herk'ies, hcrk'cys, n. pi., haunches, e. g., "squat down 
 on your herkies" (Du. hurk: op de hurken zitten, 
 to squat; hnrkjes (dim.).) Schenectady Co. 
 
 hock'ies, hock' ens, n. pi., soused pigsbones, i. e., the 
 joints- above the pochies, q. v. (Du. hakjes (dim.) 
 pasterns, hocks). Hudson valley. 
 
 kip, n., a word used in calling chickens, e. g., "come 
 kip, kip!" (Du. kip. hen, fowl.) Schnectady Co. 
 
 konkcpot' ' , n., gossip, huzzy, scold, e. .g., bedrufter 
 konkepot, a miserable scold (Du. honhelpot, same 
 meaning). Hudson valley. 
 
 lop' pic, lap'pcy, n., small mat made of rags (Du. 
 lapje (dim.), rag, shred, remnant). Hudson val- 
 ley. 
 
 nwl'lykite', n., foolishness (Du. malligheid, softness, 
 mildness, weakness). Hudson valley. 
 
 mont, n., basket (Du. mand, same meaning). Hud- 
 son valley. Schenectady Co. 
 
 niskeery, adj., curious, inquisitive (Du, nicuivsgicrig, 
 same meaning) . Hudson valley. 
 
 off'doch, n., inclosed stoop (Du. afdak, shed, pent- 
 house). Schenectady Co. 
 
 plock, v., to settle down (Du. plakken, to remain sit- 
 ting, to stay long). Hudson valley. 
 
 poch'ies, poch'eys, n. pi., soused pigsknuckles, i. e., the 
 joints above the toes (Du. pootjes (dim.) feet). 
 Hudson valley. 
 
94 HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 poos' ly, adv., tolerably, indifferently well (Du. 
 passelijk, same meaning). Hudson valley. 
 
 prat'chie, prat'chey, n., talk, gossip (Du. praatje 
 (dim.), same meaning). Hudson valley. 
 
 proyt'el, v., to boil softly, to chatter, to prattle (Du. 
 preutelen, to boil, to grumble). Hudson valley. 
 
 proyt'ler, n., pratter (Du. preutelaar, grumbler). 
 Hudson valley. 
 
 pummel-ap'pelye, n., the berry of the wintergreen 
 (Gaultheria procumbens), (Du. pommel, plant 
 appeltje (dim.), apple). Hudson valley. 
 
 slob, n., bib (Du. slobbe, same meaning). Hudson 
 valley. 
 
 stuck, n., swallow, draught (Du. slock, same mean- 
 ing). Schenectady Co. 
 
 spree, n., a homewoven bed-quilt, usually blue and 
 white (Du. sprei, counterpane, coverlet). Hudson 
 valley. 
 
 stone '-razvp'ie, -rawp'y, storiy-rawp'ie, n., a stony 
 field (stone + Du. raapje (dim.) (turnip) field; cf. 
 raapland, raapakker, raapier). 
 STONE ARABIA, Montgomery Co., is apparently 
 
 this word, although the connection does not seem to 
 
 have been noticed. The Dutch word was doubtless 
 
 steenraapje. 
 
 unnozel, adj., silly, simple (Du. onnoozel, same mean- 
 ing). Hudson valley. 
 
 Wurst, wust, n., sausage (Du. worst, same meaning). 
 Schenectady Co. and Hudson valley. Widely dis- 
 tributed. 
 The word in U. S. is due partly to Dutch worst 
 
 and German zvurst." 
 
 So far Dr. Carpenter. 
 
 The conclusion from all the material till this time 
 brought together by Skeat, Carpenter, Douglas 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 95 
 
 Campbell, Thorold Rogers and many historians is 
 this : From the time of William the Conqueror in the 
 eleventh century, when Flemish soldiers and Flemish 
 weavers were brought over to England, till the time 
 of Prince William III of Orange, who brought about 
 the glorious revolution of 1688 to protect and confirm 
 forever the rights of the English people, Holland has 
 been all. the time in close contact with England. Dur- 
 ing these more, than six hundred years the people of 
 the Low Countries have exerted an influence on the 
 English people in general civilization, in learning, in 
 trade, in industry, in agriculture, in art, in literature, 
 and in nearly every part of human life. In a word, 
 the world power of Holland was previous to that of 
 England: Holland was ahead in nearly everything; 
 England's time of glory and of world power suc- 
 ceeded that of Holland, and so it can be easily under- 
 stood why many Dutch words and terms became part 
 of the English language. 
 
 For the same reasons we can understand that in 
 the nineteenth century, when Holland had for a long 
 time lost its glorious position, while England was 
 developing into a world empire, the influence of Eng- 
 land on Holland became more important, and not the 
 least on Dutch language and literature. 
 
 The position of Holland in the world's history, 
 especially from the year 1200 till the year 1700, is 
 indeed sufficient to explain everything. A position in 
 the history of Europe and of all the world which 
 Thorold Rogers describes in this way: "The debt of 
 modern Europe to Holland is by no means limited 
 to the lessons which it taught as to the true purposes 
 of civil government. It taught Europe nearly every- 
 thing else. It instructed communities in progressive 
 and rational agriculture. It was the pioneer in navi- 
 
9G HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
 gation and in discovery ; and, according to the lights 
 of the age, was the founder of intelligent commerce. 
 It produced the greatest jurists of the seventeenth 
 century. It was preeminent in the arts of peace. The 
 presses of Holland put forth more books than all the 
 rest of Europe did. It had the most learned scholars. 
 The languages of the East were first given to the 
 world by Dutchmen. It was foremost in physical re- 
 search, in rational medicine. It instructed statesmen 
 in finance, traders in banking and credit, philosophers 
 in speculative sciences. For a long time that little 
 storm-vexed nook of North-western Europe was the 
 university, of the civilized world, the centre of Euro- 
 pean trade, the admiration, the envy, the example of 
 nations." 1 
 
 In the researches of W. W. Skeat this general 
 position of Holland in the world's history is referred 
 to, but is far from being fully recognized. And while 
 this eminent scholar, as stated above, does not realize 
 the influence of the religious persecutions in Holland 
 as well as in England, on the other side he over- 
 estimates the influence of the gypsies. The English 
 refugees came into close contact with the Dutch peo- 
 ple ; so did the English soldiers serving in Dutch 
 armies, and the Dutch refugees in England, as well 
 as the Dutch traders and settlers in England's eastern 
 districts, had permanent contact with the English peo- 
 ple. But the gypsies never and nowhere came into 
 close and intimate contact with the nations in whose 
 country they lived for a short time; their life was a 
 separate one, and their influence in bringing Dutch 
 words to England can easily be overestimated. 
 
 1 James E. Thorold Rogers, Holland. In the Historv of Nations, 
 Preface. Thorold Rogers is a well known English scholar "and professor 
 in the University of Oxford. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE INFLUENCE WHICH HOLLAND HAS EXERTED ON 
 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
 
 Foreign elements never had any considerable in- 
 fluence either on the grammar or on the syntax, but 
 their effect was mostly confined to the introduction 
 of a small or a large number of words. Even the 
 influence of the French language of the Norman con- 
 querors, which was the official language in England 
 during more than three hundred years, has not 
 changed very much the grammar or the syntax of 
 English. 
 
 But the influx of French words was enormous. 
 So, if Holland has exerted some influence on the 
 English language, that influence is not likely to be 
 found in the introduction of alterations in English 
 grammar or syntax but is to be sought in the vocab- 
 ulary of the English language. 
 
 More recently than the researches of Skeat and 
 Carpenter, a Dutch scholar, W. de Hoog, has pub- 
 lished a remarkable list of words, in alphabetic order, 
 which have been introduced into the English language 
 by the Dutch. De Hoog does not take the English 
 language as it is in any one period of history, but as 
 it is to be found in all English literature. Conse- 
 quently some of these words, which were at one time 
 used by the best authors, are in our time hardly un- 
 derstood even by scholars. But nevertheless they 
 occur in works belonging to English literature and 
 
 7 97 
 
98 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 therefore Mr. de Hoog was perfectly right to include 
 them in his list. 
 
 I give the list of words as Mr. de Hoog published 
 it, with this difference only, that I have translated 
 his explanations from Dutch into English. About 
 some words there may arise doubts, but such doubts 
 are always found in etymological studies, and it lies 
 in the very nature of this field of study to give in 
 many cases room for some difference of opinion. 
 Anyhow I give this list as it is: viz., as constructed 
 by the scholarly hand of Mr. de Hoog, and as the 
 best list existing at this moment. The purpose of 
 this little volume is not to specialize in etymology, 
 but to call the attention of American scholars to one 
 more argument showing that there is an interesting 
 field for research in Dutch History, Art, Literature 
 and Language, a broad and beautiful field which up 
 to this time has been almost totally neglected, even 
 in the greatest Universities of America. The vast 
 progress of etymology in our days gives abundant 
 hope that within a few years a better list may be 
 published by some scholar who may begin his re- 
 searches with the results of Skeat, Carpenter and 
 de Hoog. This list contains 448 words : 
 aam f other Eng. forms ame, aivm, aume. D. aam. 
 Ger. ahm } ohm. L. Lat. ama. A measure of 
 liquids, particularly of wine, containing about 40 
 gallons. The measure varied in different cities 
 (Antwerp, Dordrecht, etc.). 
 
 aardvark earth pig. An edentate mammal in South 
 Africa, feeding on ants. The name originated with 
 the Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope who 
 thought the animal resembled a pig. 
 aardwolf, a South African carnivorous quadruped, liv- 
 ing in holes in the ground. Named by the Dutch 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 99 
 
 settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, who thought it 
 resembled a wolf. 
 
 after dele <lis-advantage. cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. achterdeel. 
 
 afterfeet hind leg. cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 M. D. afterste voet. 
 
 ahoy. Interjection, cf. Ship ahoy! 'A naval expres- 
 sion used to hail ships. "A" intensifies the mean- 
 ing. From D. hui! cf. H. G. hui. 
 
 aloof on a distance, cf. to hold aloof, to stand aloof, 
 a on cf. afoot, asleep, abed; on loof, D. te loef, 
 te locve ivaart, te loevert, te loever against the 
 wind. cf. Eng. to luff, to loof. 
 
 am el corn an inferior variety of wheat. From D. 
 amelkoren, a kind of wheat ; the meaning of the 
 word is unground grain, cf. Lat. amylum. 
 
 anker a liquid measure of 8 to 10 gallons. Formerly 
 used in England. Fr. ancre. M. Lat. ancheriam 
 (ia), a small Carrel. A measure of wine and fish. 
 D. anker. The English spelling also shows its 
 Dutch origin. The ultimate origin of this word is 
 uncertain. 
 
 Armenian an adherent of the doctrine of Arminius. 
 From D. Arminiaan. Arminius rejected the doc- 
 trine of predestination. Arminius is the Latin 
 name for Harmensen. 
 
 arquebus a kind of gun. From Fr. arquebus e, taken 
 from the original D. haakbus. haak-hook. These 
 guns had a hook under the barrel. M. D. haec- 
 busse. cf. Eng. hackbut, bus, bowse, harquebus. 
 
 avast stop ! cf. avast heaving. A naval expression 
 from D. hou vast! It is found, for example, in 
 "Poor Jack", a sailor's song by Charles Dibdin 
 (1745-1814): 
 
100 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 Avast ! nor don't think me a milksop so soft, 
 
 To be taken for trifles aback ; 
 For they say there's a Providence sits up aloft, 
 To keep watch for the life of poor Jack! 
 
 back, beck, bawke a large shallow vessel, a vat, a 
 tub, bucket, a vessel used in brewing. From D. 
 bak. 
 
 balked became angry, cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. balch past tense of belgen to swell. 
 Cf. D. verbolgen, blaasbalg. 
 
 balk en to signify to fishing-boats the direction taken 
 by the shoals of herrings, as seen from a height. 
 From D. balken. A. S. bealcian. Eng. to belch. 
 
 to bale (bail) to empty water out of a ship by means 
 of bails (or buckets). It is found in Hackluyt's 
 Voyages "Having freed our ship thereof (of 
 water) with baling." As a substantive it is sel- 
 dom (but already in 1466) found in Eng. Cf. 
 The bail of a canoe made of a human skull (Capt. 
 Cook, 1772). In D. balie, in Belgium also bale, 
 baal. Not found in M. D., and perhaps taken from 
 the Fr. substantive bailie tub. The Eng. word 
 "to bale" is probably taken from the D. baalien, 
 though the resemblance is closer in spelling than 
 in pronunciation. In D. it is often found. Cf. 
 Toen vielen zy met alle macht aan het baalien. 
 (Brandt. De Ruyter 487). Wy sat en aan den 
 bak . . . een groote balie met snert. (Marine- 
 Schetsen by Werumeus Buning). Cf. baliemand. 
 The derivation is as yet uncertain. 
 
 ballast a load of sand, stone, iron, etc., to steady a 
 ship. Dan. ballast, baglast; Sw. barlast. In Eng. 
 not much used, seldom figuratively. "It is charity 
 must ballast (steady) the heart" (Hammond). In 
 Eng. and D. used only since the I5th century. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 101 
 
 For example, in Hackluyt's Voyages and in Char- 
 ters of Amsterdam Ai544. The oldest form is 
 "barlast" in older Swedish and Danish. Accord- 
 ing to Kluge and Murray, barlast bare last 
 bloote last, a load (-last) which has no value itself, 
 as distinguished from the real load. According 
 to others bal(e) means useless. Cf. D. baldadig. 
 In D. ballast sand, stones, iron, etc., which is 
 laid in the ship to give the necessary stability, so 
 that, even without other load, the ship will not be 
 in danger of capsizing. The figurative meaning 
 in D. proves that it has been in use formerly, and 
 that the meaning of "strength" had been lost al- 
 ready to make place for that of "nuisance." Cf. 
 Zet's zverelds ballast aan een sy (De Dekker). 
 Probably it will be proved ultimately that the word 
 is not a compound but a derivative. Cf. Eng. to 
 ballast, ballastage, ballaster. 
 
 bay baize. Introduced into Eng. in the i6th cen- 
 tury. From D. baai, and this from O. Fr. bale. 
 
 to bedrive to commit, to do. 1481 Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. bedriven, to act, to do. 
 
 to bedivynge to restrain. Cf. 14^80 Caxton's Ovid. 
 From M. D. bedztringen to necessitate, to domi- 
 nate. 
 
 beer mole, pier. From D. beer dam. 
 
 belay to fasten a rope by wrapping it round and 
 round a couple of pins. As a nautical term it 
 first appears in the Complaint of Scotland, 1549. 
 It is probably derived from the D. beleggen. M. 
 D. beleggen. beleggen to fasten ropes to some- 
 thing, fig. to fasten, cf. D. geld beleggen. An 
 Eng. verb to belay, M. D. beleggen, with the mean- 
 ing of to besiege is found already in Gower and 
 Spenser. 
 
102 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 to beleaguer to besiege. It appears not to have been 
 used till 1590. Sir J. Smythe, Weapons. From 
 D. belegeren (from the substantive leger 
 (arniy) to encamp around a city in order to 
 conquer it. Cf. Sw. bclagra to besiege. Eng. 
 leaguer. 
 
 to berisp to censure. Cf. 1481 Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. berispen to scold, to reproach. 
 
 biltong strips of meat dried in the sun. South Afri- 
 can. Also called bultong. From D. bil + tong. 
 It looks much like an ox-tongue. 
 
 bias J. B. Van Helmont's term for a supposed influ- 
 ence of the stars, producing changes of weather. 
 From D. bias. 
 
 bluff downright rude, frank. In Eng. used for the 
 first time in 1627. Cf. a bluff point or bluff a 
 steep bank of rocks (1790 Cook's voyages). Bluff 
 King Hall; a bluff shore (Falconer). A bluff 
 sea-captain (W. Scott). Perhaps the same as the 
 D. blaf flat wide, given by Kiliaan 1599; D. 
 blaffer a clamorous proud person. 
 
 blunderbus a short gun with a large bore; blunder 
 derived from D. "donder" (-blunder) because of 
 the firing at random of this weapon. From D. 
 donderbus. 
 
 boil a hard tumour, a swelling. Cf. (1481 Caxton, 
 Reynard) two grcte bales. From M. D. bide, D. 
 buil, cf. Eng. beal, M. E. bele, from O. Norw. 
 beyla. 
 
 bomespar a spar of the larger kind. From D. 
 boomspar. boom a beam, a pole, barrier, cf. 
 Howell, Letters, 1650, p. 215. A naval expres- 
 sion. From D. boom. Cf. Eng. jibboom. 
 
 boor, boer a peasant, a tiller of the soil. Cf. boor- 
 ish; the Boors the Dutch speaking settlers of 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 103 
 
 South Africa. Already in " Beaumont en Fletch- 
 er's Beggars' Bush," 1622. Derived from D. boer 
 with dialectic oe instead of ii buurtgenoot. Boer 
 is etymologically the same as buur. Cf. Eng. 
 neighbour. 
 
 border an edge. M. Eng. bordure. From Fr. 
 bordure, which is derived from O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 boord. 
 
 boussyng, bonssinc a polecat. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 Reynard. From M. D. bonsinc, bonsem, boesinc. 
 D. bunsing. 
 
 bosch bosh Bosch butter artificial butter manufac- 
 tured at 's Hertogenbosch or den Bosch in Hol- 
 land: butterine. From D. Bosch, 's Hertogen- 
 bosch. 
 
 boss leading man, master, chief. Frequently used 
 in America. Cf. Eng. to boss it. From D. baas. 
 
 boss, bass a plasterer's tray, a hod. From M. D. 
 bosse, busse, bus, pot., cf. Eng. box. 
 
 to botch to patch. Already in Wycliff, 1382 (( eche 
 feble thingus thei bacchyn" (repaired). From O. 
 L. G. botze, cf. D. botsen intens. of boeten. M. 
 D. boeten (-to repair), cf. D. netten boeten, ketel- 
 boeter. 
 
 bottomry a mortgage on a ship. From D. bodetnery 
 lit. to lend money on the bottom of a ship to 
 lend money on a ship or its cargo, especially in a 
 foreign harbor, when the ship has been damaged 
 and needs repair. 
 
 to bounce to knock, to jump up quickly. M. Eng. 
 bunsen, bounsen (to strike suddenly). From O. 
 L. G. bunsen. Perhaps it is an onomatopoetic. 
 D. bonzen. 
 
 bouse, boose, bouse, booze to drink deeply. M. Eng. 
 bousen. Cf. Spenser, A bouzing can a drinking 
 
104 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 vessel. Slang; boozy drunk, intoxicated. From 
 D. "buizen". M. D. busen. D. "buis" (intoxi- 
 cated). The D. buizen is derived from O. Fr. 
 buse, cf. M. D. buse cup, vase and finally small 
 ship. Cf. D. haringbuiSj Eng. buss. 
 
 bowery a farm. From D. bouwerij. 
 
 bowse a harquebus. Cf. Eng. arquebus. 
 
 boy a youngster. M. Eng. boy, boi. From O. L. 
 G., Fries, boy. Cf. D. boef. M. D. boef young 
 man, knave. Cf. stalboef. 
 
 to brabble to quarrel. Cf. brabble, a brabbler. From 
 D. brabbelen onomatopoeia. In Marieken of 
 Nymegen brabbelinghe is found with the mean- 
 ing; nonsense. Cf. The Story of Mary of Nim- 
 wegen, 1510. Cf. D. Roemer Visser's Brabbel- 
 ing. 
 
 brack, brackish somewhat salt, briny, said of water. 
 North's Plutarch, p. 471. In Gawain Douglas we 
 find D. brak brackish. Cf. M. D. brae. From 
 D. brak. The derivation uncertain. 
 
 brake a bush, thicket. M. Eng. brake. From O. L. 
 G. Fries, brake, cf. D. braakland. 
 
 brake a machine for breaking hemp; a contrivance 
 for confining refractory horses; a name for vari- 
 ous mechanical contrivances. M. Eng. brake. Cf. 
 M. D. brake, a contrivance to fasten horses. From 
 O. L. G., cf. D. braak. 
 
 brandy an ardent spirit. From brande-wine, brandy- 
 wine. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Beggars Bush 
 1622. From D. brandewyn, brandwijn, distilled 
 wine. 
 
 branskate to put a place to ransom, or subject to 
 a payment, in order to avoid pillage or destruc- 
 tion. From D. brandschatten. 
 
 brantcorn blight, smut. From D. brandkoren. Name 
 of disease of grain, caused by a kind of fungus. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 105 
 
 brasscm a kind of fish. A dark-olive colored river 
 fish. D. brasem. Cf. Eng. bream. 
 
 brick a lump of baked clay. M. Eng. brique. From 
 Fr. brique, which is derived from O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 breken. 
 
 to br older to adorn with needlework. M. Eng. 
 broder. From Fr. broder, which is derived from 
 O. L. G., cf. D. boord. 
 
 brokes customs. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 D. bruke gebrink (use, custom). 
 
 bruges, brudges name of a city in Flanders. Cf. 
 bruges, satin. From D. Brugge. 
 
 bruin bear. In the M. D. poem and the prose work 
 "Van den Vos Reinaerde" the bear is called 
 "bruin" brown because of its color. In William 
 Caxton's Translation "Reynard the Fox," 1481, 
 the word is spelled bruine, brunne, bruyn. 
 
 bulk the trunk of the body, heap, cargo. Cf. Shake- 
 speare. From O. L. G. bulcke, cf. Kiliaen. 
 
 bully brother, darling, fine fellow, protector of a 
 prostitute, ruffian. From M. D. bo el brother, 
 darling. 
 
 bumkin a vessel. Cf. 1697 Dampier Voyages. From 
 M. D. bomekyn a small vessel. 
 
 bumkin luff-bloc. A naval term. From D. bumkin, 
 boomkin, boomke. 
 
 bumpkin, Perhaps the same word as bumkin, 
 boomke, a piece of wood ; metaphorically a block- 
 head or bumkin, bommekyn. Cf. a country bum- 
 kin, Dryden's Juvenal Satires. 
 
 bunting-crow the hooded crow. From D. bonte-kraai, 
 also thinking of bunting. 
 
 buoy a floating piece of wood fastened down. Prop- 
 erly a barrel fastened by a buoy. From D. boei, 
 which is derived from Lat. boia or less probably 
 from O. Fr. boye. 
 
106 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 burgher a European male, no matter where resi- 
 dent, who is in the possession of the franchise 
 and liable to all public duties. First found in the 
 1 6th century. Cf. burgher ship. D. burger. 
 
 burgher master. Burgomaster a chief magistrate of a 
 town. Cf . Hackhiyt -Voyages. From D. burge- 
 meester; burg town. Cf. Eng. borough; Canter- 
 bury; boroughmaster. 
 
 bus a harquebus. Cf. arquebus. 
 
 Buschbome boxwood, box. From M. D. busboom, 
 bosboom, boksboom. 
 
 bush a metal box. From D. bus case. Cf. Eng. 
 box. 
 
 bushbuck a small species of African antelope. From 
 D. bosch-bok. 
 
 bushman, Bosjesman a tribe of aborigines near the 
 Cape of Good Flope. From D. Bosch jesman. 
 
 buskin a kind of legging. In Spenser, Shakespeare, 
 Milton and also earlier. From D. borsekin 
 leather bag. According to some people cognate 
 with D. broos boot. Cf. Dees wil liefst met 
 Thalie en lage broosjes u'andelen. Die stapt met 
 Melpomeen op hooge laarsen voort. (Smits.) 
 Others say that buskin is derived from Fr. 
 bousequin, a secondary form of brodcquin, brois- 
 sequin buskin. 
 
 butterham a slice of bread and butter. From D. 
 boterham. 
 
 by slabbed befouled. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. beslabben to make dirty. Cf. D. 
 slabbetje. 
 
 caboose the cook's cabin on board ship. Sometimes 
 spelt camboose. Dan. kabys. N. G. kabuse. Fr. 
 cambuse. From D. kombius } kabuis. Used first 
 in Eng. in the midst of the i8th century, as a 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 107 
 
 maritime term. Probably derived from the Celt. 
 
 cab. Cf. Fr. cabane, Eng. cabin, 
 cambric kind of fine white linen. In 1530 the form: 
 
 cameryk, later, camariek, cambric. From the 
 
 name Cambray Kameryk. Cf. Kamerdoek. 
 cant edge, corner, to cant to x incline. M. Eng. 
 
 cante. 1603 Ben Jonson: in a cant. From D. 
 
 kant. Cf. D. kantelen. D. kant is derived from 
 
 Fr. Cant. Cf. Lat. cantus, and canthus. 
 canty Northern dialects: cheerful, active. Cf. John 
 
 Anderson, my Jo, John 
 
 We clamb the hill thegither; 
 
 And monie a canty day, John, 
 We've had wi' ane anither. 
 
 (BURNS) 
 
 From D. Kantig sharp, prepared, ready, nice, 
 fine. Cf. D. kant. 
 
 cardcl a hogshead used in the Dutch whaling trade. 
 Cf. Eng. quardecl. From D. kardeel, quardcel a 
 fourth of a barrel. 
 
 cartoiv a kind of cannon, a quartercannon, which 
 threw a ball of a quarter of a hundred-weight. 
 From D. Kartonw a kind of cannon. 
 
 catkin an inflorescence consisting of rows of flow- 
 ers. From D. katteken, katje (of willows, etc.). 
 
 to cave in to fall in. Used when men are digging, 
 and a portion of a wall falls in. Lincolnshire dia- 
 lect. To cave to calve in. Cf. half-penny and 
 the pronunciation of this word. From Flemish 
 inkalven. Fries, kalven to produce a calf. The 
 word was introduced into England by English 
 navvies. 
 
 cavie a hen-coop, a house for fowls. From D. kavie, 
 kerne. 
 
108 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 choice a selection. M. Eng. chois, choys, which 
 took the place of M. Eng. klre, cure. From O. 
 Fr. chois, which is derived from O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 kiezen, keuze. 
 
 to chuck to strike gently, to toss. From Fr. choquer, 
 which is derived from O. L. G. Cf. D. schokken. 
 
 a clamp a clasp. To clamp to fasten tightly, to 
 heap up. M. Eng. clamp. Cf. Bible, Exod. Ch. 
 36. From D. klamp hook. Klamp is a second- 
 ary form of klam. Cf. D. klemmen. Clamp (dia- 
 lectic) a heap of stones, bricks, peat. This 
 meaning only since 1596. From D. klamp. In 
 Flemish people still talk about a "klamp" stones. 
 M. D. hoy te setten in dampen hay in stacks. 
 This "clamp'' is perhaps the same word, and also 
 cognate with D. klemmen. 
 
 clinker hardened brick of pale colour made in Hol- 
 land; a hard brick. Cf. 1641, Evelyn Diary. 
 From D. klinker, klinkaard, klinkerd a stone 
 which gives a sound (-D. klinkt). 
 
 elope a blow, a knock. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. clop a blow. Cf. kloppen. Flemish 
 klop geven; den godsklop geven. 
 
 to closh to bowl ; a kind of game. From M. D. 
 closse, clos, ball. Cf. D. klos; klosbeitel. 
 
 clove a rocky cleft. From M. D. clove. D. kloof. 
 
 clump wooden sole, wooden shoe. From D. klomp. 
 
 to clunter, a clunter to run together ; a lump. Mostly 
 dial. Cheshire and Yorkshire. From D. klonter, 
 klont. 
 
 cluse a monastic cell.' Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 
 From M. D. cluse kluis. 
 cockle a furnace of a hop kiln; a stove. From M. 
 
 D. kakele, D. kachel. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 109 
 
 to cope to buy. M. Eng. copen, cf. 1430, Lydgate, 
 
 London Lickpenny Master, "What will you copen 
 
 or buy?" This word was introduced into Eng. 
 
 by Flemish or Dutch merchants. M. D. copen, D. 
 
 koopen. Cf. Eng. to chop; cheap, 
 coper, cooper a vessel fitted out to supply ardent 
 
 spirits to the fishers in the North Sea. From D. 
 
 kooper. 
 corver a kind of Dutch herring-boat. Cf. Eng. 
 
 corued herrings. From M. D. corver. Cf. D. corf 
 
 harinck. 
 to cough to make a violent effort of the lungs. Cf. 
 
 1340 Gawain and the Green Knight. From O. L. 
 
 G. Fries, kuchen, cf. D. kuchen. 
 coy a place for entrapping ducks or other wild-fowl. 
 
 Cf. coy-duck, cf. 1621 Burton Anatomy. From 
 
 D. kovi, cf. Eng. decoy. 
 coyte a kind of beer. From M. D. coyte, kuyte-bier 
 
 without hops. It was brewed at Brugge, Delft 
 
 and Gouda. 
 cracknel a kind of biscuit of hollowed shape. Found 
 
 in 1440 already, dial, Sussex, crackling. From 
 
 Fr. craqitelin, which is derived from D. krakeling. 
 
 Cf. D. kraken. 
 crants a garland, wreath, a virgin crants. Cf. 
 
 Shakespeare. From D. krants, krans. M. D. 
 
 crans (of flowers) ; the symbol of virginity, cf. 
 
 Kiliaen krants. The D. krans is derived from the 
 
 H. G. krans. Cf. Fr. chapeau de neurs. 
 crap madder. From D. krap, meekrap. 
 crap the gallows. From D. krap hook. 
 cratch a manger, a rack or crib. M. Eng. cracche, 
 
 crecche. Cf. 1225 Ancren Rule; 1350 Will. 
 
 Palerne; dialectic critch. From Fr. creche (Pro- 
 vence crepcha) which is derived from O. L. G. 
 
 Cf. D. krib. 
 
110 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 to cratch to scratch, cf. 1362 Langland. From M. 
 D. cratsen, D. krassen. 
 
 cremp to restrain, to contract. Only known in M. 
 Eng. 1250, Owl and Nightingale. From M. D. 
 cremp en to make, to contract. Cf. D. krimpen. 
 
 cresset a vessel of iron, made to hold grease or oil, 
 or an iron basket to hold pitched rope, to be burnt 
 for light ; usually mounted on a pole. Cf . cresset- 
 light, cf. 1393 Gower, Confessio. From O. Fr. 
 craicet, cresset. Fr. crosset, creuset, formed from 
 croiseul, which is derived from D. kruysel, a lan- 
 tern. Cf. kiliaen, kruysel kroes cup, vessel. M. 
 D. croese. Cf. D. smeltkroes, cf. Eng. crucible. 
 
 crewel, crule worsted yarn. Already found in 1494. 
 Cf. crewel-work. Nowadays also called "Berlin 
 wool." From D. krul. Though the sound of the 
 D. "u" was different, the pronunciation could 
 change, as soon as the word was written with one 
 "1" (-krule), instead of with two. 
 
 to crimp to cause to contract and become firm by 
 cutting. From D. krimpen. 
 
 to cruise to traverse the sea. Cf. 1651, G. Carteret, 
 Nicholas Papers, "Van Trump is with his fleete 
 crusinge about Silly." Cf. a cruiser. From D. 
 kruisen. Kruis from Fr. crois, which is derived 
 from Lat. crucem. 
 
 to curl to twist into ringlets. Cf. M. Eng. to kurl; 
 to croul; crulle curly. Cf. Chaucer's Prologue. 
 In Washington Irving's Sketchbook, Legend of 
 Sleepy Hollow, is found cruller a cake made of 
 dough, containing eggs, butter, sugar, etc. D. 
 krulkock. From O. L. G. Fries, krul. Cf. D. 
 krul. 
 
 to daker, daiker to waver, stagger, to shake to and 
 fro. First found in the I7th century. From M. 
 D. dakeren (-to stagger). 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 111 
 
 damp, domp an exhalation. Cf. 1480, Caxton. From 
 M. D. damp, domp. A "domp" more intense than 
 a "damp." 
 
 dapper pretty, spruce, neat, active. Cf. 1529 Skel- 
 ton, "As dapper as any crowe" ; Spenser, 1579, 
 The Shepherds' Calendar, "Dapper ditties". Oc- 
 tober i, 13. Cf. Eng. dapperisrn, dapperling, dap- 
 perly, dapperness. From M. D. dapper quick, 
 strong. The present meaning of brave did not 
 exist in the M. D., but to express that quality 
 vrome, bout, or coene was used. Cf. Goth, gada- 
 ben, to fit, to be proper. Gadobs proper. Cf. 
 D. deftig. 
 
 das a badger, rockbadger of the Cape. Cf. 1481 
 Caxton, Reynard. From M. D. das. 
 
 damv a South African species of zebra. From 
 South African D. dauw. 
 
 deal a thin plank of timber. M. Eng. dele. First 
 found in 1402. From D. deel plank. 
 
 to deck to cover, adorn. First found in the begin- 
 ning of the i6th century. From D. dekken, for 
 the A. S. form is theccan. 
 
 deck a ship's deck; a covering. From D. dek. Cf. 
 two-decker, three-decker. With the meaning of 
 second or third deck, the word is found in Eng. 
 earlier than in D. 
 
 decoy a pond or pool out of which run narrow arms 
 covered with network into which wild ducks or 
 other fowl may be allured and then caught. 1642 
 Evelyn's Diary: "We arrived at Dort, passed by 
 the decoys, where they catch innumerable quan- 
 tities of fowls." Cf. coy; to decoy. From D. de 
 kooi, a shorter form of de eendekooi (ducks' 
 cage). 
 
112 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 deese dial. East-Sussex a place where herrings 
 are dried. Cf. to deese to dry herrings. Cf. 
 deesing-room, kipper-house. Cf. 1682, Collins 
 Salt and Fishery. From M. D. deise drying kiln, 
 oast. Cf. Deeste, ast. 
 
 Delf, Delft a kind of earthen ware. Made ready 
 in 1310 at Delft. 
 
 dell a deep hole, dale, vale. M. Eng. delle. From 
 D. delle valley. Cf. D. dal, Eng. dale. Derived 
 very early. 
 
 dell a young girl, a wench. Cf. 1567 Harman, 
 Caveat. From D. del, M. D. delle, dille. Cf. D. 
 dillen to chatter. D. dille chatterer. 
 
 derrick a hangman, the gallows. From D. Dirk, the 
 first name of a notorious hangman at Tyburn, 
 about 1600. 
 
 deutziaz. genus of shrubs, natives of China and 
 Japan, cultivated for the beauty of their white 
 flowers. Called in 1701 after J. Deutz of Amster- 
 dam. 
 
 to dewitt to kill by mob or violence, to lynch. This 
 verb was used frequently and is still to be found. 
 Cf. 1689, Modest Enquiry, "It is a wonder the 
 English nation have not in their fury de-witted 
 some of those men." From the D. names Johan 
 and Cornelius de Witt, statesmen and opponents 
 of William III. Murdered by the people in 1672. 
 
 dikegrave a Dutch officer whose function it is to 
 take charge of the dikes or sea-walls; an English 
 officer (in Lincolnshire) who has charge of the 
 drains and sea-banks. From D. dykgraaf. 
 
 dobber the float of an angler's fishing-line. From 
 D. dobber. 
 
 dock a basin for ships. Cf. to dock. First found 
 in the beginning of the i6th century. From D. 
 dok. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 113 
 
 dock the enclosure in a criminal court in which the 
 
 prisoner is placed at his trial. From D. dok 
 
 cage. Cf. Kiliaen. 
 dodkin, doydekin an early name for the doit, a small 
 
 Dutch coin. Found in Eng. already in 1415. From 
 
 D. duit+kyn. Cf-. Eng. doit. 
 dogger a vessel for herring- and cod-fisheries. Al- 
 
 ready doger is found in (1491) The Paston Let- 
 
 ters. M. D. dogge, dogger, ten dogge varen. 
 
 Dogger-trawl, net, a vessel fishing by means of 
 
 trawl-nets. The doggerbank was the meeting- 
 
 place for the doggers. Probably from D. dogger. 
 Doit a small Dutch coin. Cf. Shakespeare's Tem- 
 
 pest, 2nd Act. From D. duit, a small copper coin. 
 
 M. D. doyt, duit. 
 dois a crash. Cf. 1535, Stewart, "With sic ane dois 
 
 togidder that tha draif." From M. D. dosen. (Cf. 
 
 gedossen. ) 
 
 dollar a silver coin of varying value. From D. 
 daler, daalder, which is derived from H. G. thaler 
 Joachin's Thaler, coin of silver from Joachims- 
 thai in Bohemia, where the coins were made in 
 
 to domineer to play the master. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 
 From O. D. 1573 in Plantyn, domineer en to be 
 
 noisy, which is derived from O. Fr. dominer. Cf. 
 
 Lat. dominus. 
 dop the cocoon of an insect; a small copper cup 
 
 with a handle, into which a diamond is cemented 
 
 to be held while being cut or polished. From D. 
 
 dop. 
 dope any thick liquid used as an article of food, or 
 
 as a lubricant. From D. doop. Cf. doopen. Eng. 
 
 to dip. 
 
114 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 doppcr a Dutch Baptist or Anabaptist. From U. 
 
 dooper. Cf. D. wederdoopers. 
 dornick, darne a kind of cloth named after the town 
 
 Doornik in Belgium, and originally manufactured 
 
 there. Already found in 1489. 
 dorp a Dutch village. Cf. 1503. Stanyhurst Aeneis. 
 
 From D. dorp. 
 
 doxy a disreputable sweetheart. Cf. 1530 Hicks- 
 corner, Shakespeare. From O. L. G. Cf. O. 
 
 Fries, dok doll. Cf. Eng. duck; M. D. docken- 
 
 spel. 
 dredge an iron frame with a net, bag; a drag-net 
 
 for taking oysters ; a dredger for clearing the beds 
 
 of rivers. From O. Fr. drege, a fishing-net, and 
 
 this from D. dreg. Cf. Eng. dredger, dragnet; D. 
 
 dregge, dregnet. M. D. dregge hook, dredging- 
 
 net. In Murray "A New Eng. Dictionary" it is 
 
 declared to be a pure Eng. word. 
 to drill to pierce, to train soldiers. Cf. Ben Jonson 
 
 alludes to it in his "Underwoods," 1637: 
 "He that but saw thy curious Captain's drill 
 "Would think no more of Vlushing or the Brill." 
 
 From D. drill en, for the A. S. form is thirlan. 
 
 Eng. thrill. Cf. D. drilboor drill (borer). 
 drossart a steward, a high bailiff. Cf. 1678, London 
 
 Gazette, "The drossarts of the country of Waes." 
 
 From D. drossaard, drost-governor. 
 drug a medical ingredient. M. Eng. drogge, drugge 
 
 herb. Cf. Fr. droquiste, Eng. druggist. From 
 
 O. Fr. drogue, which is derived from D. droog. 
 
 D. drogen dried herbs. Cf. Eng. drogery a 
 
 drying place ; droger a boat to dry herring. Cf . 
 
 Fr. droguer. 
 drugget a coarse woolen cloth, to make rugs of. 
 
 From O. F. droguet. Cf. Fr. drogue, which is 
 
 derived from D. droog. Cf. Eng. drug. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 115 
 
 drumbler a fast vessel, also a piratical ship of war. 
 Cf. 1598 Hackluyt, Voyages. From D. drom- 
 melaar, drommeler a kind of vessel. Cf. O. Fr. 
 dromon, Eng. dromond. 
 
 duck, ducks light canvas, trousers of this material. 
 A maritime term of later times. From D. doek. 
 H. G. tuch. 
 
 duffel a kind of coarse woolen cloth. Also called: 
 shag of trucking cloth, cf. And let it be a duffil 
 gray. Wordsworth. Alice Fell. From D. duffel 
 a kind of cloth named after the village Duffel, 
 between Mechelen and Lier. Cf. D. duff else he 
 jas. 
 
 duiker a small South African antelope. So called 
 from its habit of plunging through the bushes 
 when pursued. From D. duiker. 
 
 dwile (Norfolk dialect) a coarse towel or napkin, a 
 mop. From D. dzwel. M. D. divale, dzvele. Cf. 
 Eng. towel. 
 
 easel a support, a wooden frame for pictures while 
 being painted. From D. esel. 
 
 ees food, bait. M. Eng. es, A. S. aes. From M. D. 
 aes food. D. aas. 
 
 eland a South African antelope. From D. eland, 
 which is derived from Slav. 
 
 elger an eelspear. Cf. Eng. algere. From M. D. 
 clger. D. aalgeer a large spear to catch eel. D. 
 aalgecr, consists of aal (-eel) and geer. Geer is 
 an old name for D. speer (-spear). Cf. A. S. gar. 
 M. D. gheer. 
 
 elzevir a book printed by one of the Elzeviers ; the 
 style of type used by those printers. Cf. Elzevir 
 type. From D. Elzevir name of a family of 
 printers at Amsterdam, The Hague, Leyden and 
 Utrecht 1592-1680, famous because of their edi- 
 tions of the classics. 
 
116 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 Erasmian pertaining to, or after the manner of 
 Erasmus. A follower of Erasmus. From D. 
 Erasmus, the famous Humanist 1466-1536. 
 
 erf (in South Africa) A garden plot. From D. 
 erf. 
 
 excise a duty or tax. Cf. 1596 Spenser's State of 
 Ireland. From M. D. e.rcys. Cf. 1406 Assay- 
 books of the town of Leyden. Also M. D. accys 
 and this from O. Fr. accens, cf. Fr. accise, D. 
 cyns, Lat. census. 
 
 faldore a trap-door, a falldoor. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 Reynard. From M. D. valdoer falldoor. 
 
 farrow a cow that is not with calf. From M. D. 
 verwekoe, varwekoe, a cow that does not calve any 
 more. 
 
 filibuster a pirate, freebooter. From Sp. filibustero, 
 which is the Spanish pronunciation of the Eng. 
 word freebooter, and this is derived from D. 
 vrybuiter, cf. Eng. frecboater, flyboat. 
 
 to filter to strain liquors. From O. Fr. filtrer, and 
 this from Lat. filtrum and this from O. L. G. cf. 
 D. filtreeren, vilt. 
 
 to fineer to collect money. Cf. Goldsmith, Essays. 
 From M. D. finieren, fyneren to collect money. 
 
 fimble the male plant of hemp ; finable hemp. From 
 M. D. fimele, a kind of hemp. Originally an ad- 
 jective meaning female. Fr. femelle. Eng. female. 
 
 firkin the fourth part of a barrel. M. Eng. ferdekyn 
 1423. From D. vierdevat cf. verrel. Perhaps fir 
 four and kin, diminutive cf. D. kilderkin. 
 
 fitchet, fitchew a polecat. A form derived from O. 
 Fr. fissel, plural (fissiaul.v), later fissan. From 
 older D. fisse, visse a polecat. Cf. Killaen. Cf. 
 D. vies, veest. Eng. foist. 
 
 flake a pool, marsh. Cf. Linschoten, Voyages. From 
 D. vlak. Cf. Kiliaen. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 117 
 
 nanders D. Vlaanderen. Used as an adjective. Cf. 
 Flanders brick, tile, flax, lace. 
 
 flandrican, Flanderkin. From Flanderenkin an in- 
 habitant of Flanders; Flemish. 
 
 fleming a native or inhabitant of Flanders ; a Flem- 
 ing vessel. 1430 Lydgate. From M. D. Vlaming. 
 
 flemish of or belonging to Flanders ; the Flemish 
 language. From M. D. Vlaemisch. D. Vlaamsch, 
 Cf. Eng. a Flemish ell, rider, a Flemish account. 
 Cf. a Flemish stitch, point, fake, coil, bond, brick. 
 
 to flemish to coil or lay up a rope in a Flemish coil ; 
 of a hound to make a quivering movement with 
 the tail and body. 1857. Ch. Kingsley, Two 
 Years Ago, 18 ch. 1832 Marryat. From M. D. 
 vlaemisch, D. vlaamsch. 
 
 ftittermousc a bat. 1547. Boorde. Brev. Health. 
 We also find it a few times in Ben Jonson. From 
 D. vledermuis. Cf. D. ftadderen, and M. D. 
 Hederen. 
 
 to flounder to flounce about. Cf. Beaumont and 
 Fletcher. Nasalied form from L. L. G. Cf. D. 
 flodderen. 
 
 flushing a kind of rough woolen cloth, so called 
 from the place Flushing. 1835 Marryat. P. Sim- 
 ple. D. Vlissingen. 
 
 flushinger a Flushing vessel or sailor. From D. 
 Vlissingen. 
 
 flyboat one of the small boats used on the Vlie, after- 
 wards applied in ridicule to the vessels used 
 against the Spaniards by the Sea-Beggars 1572; 
 a fast sailing ship, a flat-bottomed boat. From D. 
 vlieboot. 
 
 fogger a man who feeds and attends to cattle. Berk- 
 shire dialect. From D. fokker. 
 
118 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 fob a pocket for a watch. Cf. Butler's Hudibras. 
 Cf. D. fob to cheat. From O. L. G. Cf. Bre- 
 men Worterbuch fuppe. 
 
 fop a coxcomb, dandy. Cf. foppery, fopling. Fre- 
 quently found in Shakespeare. M. Eng. foppe. 
 From D. foppen to deceive. Cf. D. foppert, fop- 
 pery. Perhaps a Fries, word. 
 
 to formake to make over again, to repair. Cf. 1483. 
 Caxton, Vocal. From D. vermaken. 
 
 to for sling to swallow down. Cf. 1481. Caxton, 
 Reynard, where the past participle "verslongen" 
 is found, which is derived from M. D. "verlon- 
 den." 
 
 to forslinger to beat, to belabour. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 Reynard. From M. D. verslingcren. 
 
 forzvything reproach. Cf. Caxton, Reynard. From 
 M. D. verwyt. 
 
 to f other to cover a sail with oakum; to stop a leak. 
 Maritime term, first used in the i8th century. 
 From D. voederen, voeren. 
 
 foy a parting entertainment, cup of liquor, etc., 
 given by or to one setting out on a journey; a 
 feast. From M. D. foye. This M. D. word is de- 
 rived from the Fr. voie, voye. Lat. via. Cf. Fr. 
 voyage. Cf. D. fooi. The Eng. word fee has 
 nothing to do with the D. fooi; it is one in origin 
 with D. vee. 
 
 freebooter a rover, pirate. Cf. Sidney State Papers, 
 "The freebutters of Flushenge." From D. 
 vrybuiter. Etymology of the people. From Fr. 
 ftibustier, a derivation from Span, fiibote, derived 
 from D. vlieboot. Cf. Eng. Hyboat. 
 
 fraught freight, hire of a vessel for the transport 
 of goods. Cf. 1483 Caxton, Golden Legends. 
 From D. vracht. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 119 
 
 frokin a Dutch woman, a child. Cf. 1603 Dekker. 
 
 From D. vronwken. 
 frolic sportive, gay,- merry. Cf . frolicsome, to frolic. 
 
 Cf. Gascoigne "Fruites of Warre." A frolicke 
 
 favour. From D.'iroolyk. M. D. vrs. H. G. 
 
 frohlich, froh. 
 frow a woman, a Dutch woman. Cr. 1477. Paston, 
 
 Letters. From D. vronw. 
 to jumble to grope about. Cf. Sir Th. More, False 
 
 fumbling heretikes. Fumble fummle. From D. 
 
 fommelen. Cf. Swed. famla, to grope. 
 funk, fonk spark. Cf. 1330. R. Brunne. From 
 
 M. D. vonke.- D. vonk. Origin uncertain. 
 funk cowering fear, a state of terror (slang). From 
 
 D. fonck. Cf. Kiliaen, and Lye in Junius Ety- 
 
 mologicum. 
 furlough leave of absence. From D. verlof, vorlof. 
 
 M. D. orlof. Cf. H. G. erlauben. In Sw. forlof, 
 
 which word has about the same pronunciation as 
 
 the Eng. 
 
 gas an aeriform fluid. Cf. gaseous, gasometer. 
 From D. gas, an artificial word. Name given by 
 the Brussels chemist, J. B. van Helmont, about 
 1640, to the aeriform fluids, to which he first 
 directed attention. The name was made by him 
 and was taken by other languages. The Greek 
 word chaos was in his mind. Cf. Van Helmont, 
 Ortus Medicinae 1640. 
 
 go/He a steel lever for bending the crossbow ; a spur 
 for fighting cocks. Cf. 1497. Naval accidents. 
 From D. gaffcl a two-pronged fork, used for 
 various purposes. 
 
 gay lor a dealer in earthenware. From D. gleycr, 
 gleier, potter. 
 
120 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 garboard the first range of planks laid upon a ship's 
 bottom. Cf. 1606 Captain Smith. From D. gaar- 
 boord, gaderboord. 
 
 garnel a species of shrimp. From D. garnaal. 
 
 geek a fool, one who is derided, an expression of 
 scorn. Cf. to ,geck to mock. Cf. 1500 Dunbar. 
 From O. L. G. geek, D. gek. 
 
 geitje a venomous African lizard. South African 
 D. geitje. 
 
 gemsbok a South African antelope. South African. 
 From D. gemsbok, Cf. D. springbok, steinbok. 
 
 geneva a spirit distilled from grain, and flavoured 
 with the juice of juniper berries. From D. gen- 
 ever, j en ever. Cf. Eng. gin. 
 
 gherkin a small cucumber.- Cf. 1661 Pepys Diary. 
 From D. agurk, augurk, agurkje and this derived 
 from Slav. The "h" is put into the Eng. word, 
 while the "a" is apocopated. The ending (k)in is 
 diminutive. 
 
 gimp silk or cotton twist with a cord or wire run- 
 ning through it ; a fishing line. Cf . 1664. J. Wil- 
 son. From D. gimp, passement. 
 
 to glim to shine, to gleam. Cf. 1481 Caxton, 
 Reynard. "His eyen glymmed as a fyre." D. 
 glimmen. 
 
 golf the name of a game. Already known in Eng- 
 land in 1457. Probably from D. kolf. M. D. 
 colve. Cf. D. kolfbaan. Kolven a game played 
 with cudgels (-kolven) and balls. 
 
 Gomarist a follower of Francis Gomar 1563-1641, 
 who zealously defended Orthodox Calvinism in 
 opposition to the doctrines of Arminius. From 
 D. Franciscus Gomarus, Professor at Leyden, who 
 defended the doctrine of predestination against 
 Arminius. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 121 
 
 graft, graft a trench, a ditch, a canal. Cf. 1641 
 Evelyn Diary. From D. graft, gracht. 
 
 grate the backbone of a fish. Cf. 1481. Caxton, 
 Reynard. From M. D. graet. 
 
 great-father grand-father. Cf. 1484, Caxton, Aesop. 
 And the mule answered: my grete father was a 
 horse. From D. grotvader. 
 
 to grim to be angry, to look fierce. Cf. 1481. Cax- 
 ton, Reynard. From M. D. grimmen. 
 
 gripe the piece of timber terminating the keel at 
 the forward extremity. Cf. 1599. Hakluyt's Voy- 
 ages. Maritime term. From D. greep. 
 
 groat a coin worth 4 pence. M. Eng. grote 1351. 
 From O. L. G. grote. 1351. From O. L. G. 
 grote, a coin of Bremen. Cf. D. groot, of vary- 
 ing value. M. D. groot, grote. Originally the 
 adj. groot (-large), used as substantive with the 
 meaning thick, a thick (groote) coin. Cf. Eng. 
 groatsworth. 
 
 groll a foolish person. Cf. Bastwick Litany, 1637. 
 Cf. Eng. grollery, grollish. From D. .grol fool- 
 ish prattle. Cf. D. grollenmaker. Origin uncer- 
 tain. Perhaps grol has been the name of some 
 doctor or magician, but see: Verdam, Murray, 
 Vocabulary of the D. Language, Franck. 
 
 groop gutter in a stable, ditch, groove. Northamp- 
 tonshire dialect. From M. D. groep gutter. Cf. 
 Eng. grip. 
 
 groove a furrow, channel cut in wood, iron or stone. 
 Already in 1400. Cf. Alexander. In fig. mean- 
 ing humdrum way, cf. to groove; to engroone 
 upon (Tennyson). From D. groef, M. D. groeve 
 groove in a side of a board. The making of 
 these "groven" is called "ploegen" Cf. D. 
 ploegschaaf, groef schaaf ; cf. graven. 
 
122 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 groundsop sediment, dregs. Cf. 1440, 1530- 
 Grounde soppe in lycoure. From D. grondsop. 
 
 to growl impersonal verb. It groivls me I have 
 a feeling of terror or horror. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 Reynard the Fox. From M. D. growelen; mi 
 gruwelt seer. Cf. D. gruwen. 
 
 growing-iron a tool in the form of nippers formerly 
 used by glaziers in cutting glass. From D. 
 gruisyzer. Cf. Eng. grozier. 
 
 gruel liquid food. M. Eng. gruel, and this from 
 O. L. G. Cf. D. grut, gort. 
 
 gruff coarse, rough, surly. Already found in 1533. 
 From M. D. grof. D. grof heavy, clumsy. Ori- 
 gin uncertain. 
 
 grundy groundling. Cf. 1570. Foxe. He was a 
 short grundy and of little stature. From D. 
 grontly, grundje small fish. 
 
 grysbok a small grey South African antelope. From 
 D. grysbok (South African). 
 
 guelder-ros, gueldres-rosc a species of Viburnum, 
 bearing large white ball-shaped flowers. So 
 named from some resemblance of the flower to a 
 white rose. Gueldres is the Fr. spelling of the 
 name of the province Gelderland. D. Gildcrsche 
 roos (Opulus). This flower is found wild in 
 Holland. 
 
 guile deceit. M. Eng. gile, gyle. From O. Fr. 
 guile and this from O. L. G. Cf. Eng. wile. 
 Origin uncertain. 
 
 guilder a Dutch coin. Cf. 1483, Caxton, Dialogues. 
 A changed form of D. gulden. 
 
 to gybe to swing from one side of the vessel to the 
 other ; to cause to swing ; to alter its course. 
 From D. gypen. Cf. D. met een gyp with a 
 swing. The "gyp" is not used any more. The 
 gaff takes its place. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 123 
 
 gyle wort in process of fermentation. Cf. Eng. 
 gyle-fat; gylc-kcr. From D. gyl, geil yeast (in 
 the brewery). Cf. gylen. Origin uncertain. 
 
 hackbut a kind of gun. Cf. Eng. hackbus, harque- 
 bus, bowse, bus, arquebus. From Fr. haquebute, 
 from D. haakbus, so called after the hook at the 
 end of the barrel. M. D. haecbusse small 
 cannon. 
 
 hamlet a small village. M. Eng. hamelet. From 
 O. Fr. hamel et. Fr. hamcau, and this from O. 
 L. G. Cf. D. heem, heim, Eng. home. 
 
 hank spike wooden bar, used as a lever, chiefly on 
 board ship. From D. handspaak. 
 
 hans-in-k elder an unborn child. Cf. 1635, Brome, 
 Sparagus Garden, "Come here's a health to the 
 hans in kelder." Is frequently found in Eng. of 
 the 1 7th century. From D. Hansje in de kelder. 
 Kelder, kildelap. Cf. de Dortsche Kit. Goth. 
 kilthei. 
 
 harstrang, horestrong hog's fennel. Cf. 1562. 
 Turner, Herbal. "Peucedanum is named in Dutch 
 Har strang. Cf. M. D. harn urine. H. G. harn. 
 
 hartebeest a kind of antelope. South African, 
 from D. hert+beest. 
 
 to haivk to carry about for sale. Formed from the 
 Eng. substantive hawker. Cf. Eng. hazt'ker. 
 
 hawker a kind of pedlar who travels about selling 
 goods with a horse and cart. From O. L. G. 
 hoker. Cf. D. heuker, hukker. Eng. huckster. 
 
 hayc a shark. Cf. Purchas. 1614. Cf. Eng. hay- 
 fish. From D. haai. 
 
 heemradcn burghers appointed by the government 
 to act as assessors in the district courts of Justice. 
 South African from D. heemraad. 
 
124 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 herring-buss a two or three masted vessel used in 
 the herring-fishery. From D. haringbuis. Cf. 
 Eng. bouse. 
 
 hobby a small species of falcon. From O. Fr. hob. 
 Cf. O. Fr. hober to move and therefore so called 
 after its movements. From O. L. G. Cf. D. hob- 
 belen. 
 
 hogen mogen, hogan mogan D. hoogmogendhedem, 
 the High and Mighty, the Dutch, strong, mighty, 
 a coward. Was frequently used in the I7th 
 century. 
 
 hoiden, hoyden a romping girl. Cf. 1593. Nashe. 
 With older writers in Eng. mostly in the mean- 
 ing: uncivilized boor. From M. D. heyden, 
 heiden, man who lives on the heath (D. heide). 
 
 to hoist, to hoise to heave, to raise tackle. Cf. 
 Shakespeare. From D. hyschen, hyssen. Already 
 derived early. 
 
 Holland Dutch linen from the name of the country 
 Holland. Cf. A shert of feyn Holland. Cov- 
 entry Mysteries, 1502. A pece (of) Holland or 
 any other lynnen cloth. Arnold's Chronicle. Cf. 
 a brown Holland. Cf. Eng. a Hollander. 
 
 Hollands gin made in Holland. Cf. British Hol- 
 lands gin distilled in England. 
 
 holliglass a corruption of howleglass, owliglasse, 
 owl glass a buffoor. From D. Uilenspiegel. 
 Uillenspiegel, which work was translated into 
 Eng. about 1550. 
 
 holster a leathern case for a pistol. A word of later 
 times. From D. holster. Origin uncertain. 
 
 hop or hoppe a plant introduced from the Nether- 
 lands into England about 1500 and used in brew- 
 ing. Cf. hopvine, hopgarden. From D. hop. 
 Origin uncertain. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 125 
 
 hope a troop. Only in the phrase "forlorn hope." 
 Cf. 1572. Gascoigne. Also in Sir Fr. Vere. The 
 battle of Nieuport. From D. een verloren hoop 
 a troop soldiers. Cf. Kiliaen. 
 
 Hottentot one of the aborigines who formerly in- 
 habited the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutchmen 
 gave this name first to those natives because of 
 their singular language which made people think 
 that they were stammering. Cf. Hot en tot. Cf. 
 Dapper. Beschryvingh der Afrikaanrehe Gewes- 
 ten, 1670. 
 
 hoy a kind of sloop. Cf. 1495. Paston Letters. 
 An hoy of Dorderyght. Gascoigne, Fruits of 
 War. M. D. hoede, hode, hoei, heude. Flem. 
 huy yacht, freight-ship. Origin unknown. 
 
 hoy interjection, stop ! When one ship hails 
 another, the words are : What ship, hoy? stop 
 and tell the name of your ship. A maritime term. 
 From D. huy! an interjection. Cf. ahoy. 
 
 hoarding, hoard a fence inclosing a house while 
 builders are at work. From O. Fr. hourde, and 
 this from D. horde, M. D. gorde. 
 
 huckster a pedler, a retailer, hawker, venter, kramer. 
 Cf. hawker, to huck, hucker, huckle. Can be 
 found already in 1205 in Ormulum under the 
 form: huccster. From M. D. hoeker retailer of 
 groceries. D. dial heuker, hukker grocer. Cf. 
 hukken, huiken somebody who is bent down 
 under his burden or cognated with "hoek" in 
 the meaning of store. Origin uncertain. 
 
 hull the body of a ship. Cf. Minot Political Poems, 
 "The gudes that thai robbed in holl gan thai it 
 hide." To hull floating around of a ship with 
 lowered sails. Cf. Eng. hold. From D. hoi, het 
 hoi (hold) of a ship. Eng. hull shell. Cf. M. 
 D. hulle covering. 
 
126 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 to hustle, to hutstle to toss, to push about, to jostle 
 in a crowd. From D. hutselen, frequently of to 
 hotsen. Cf. Eng. hustle-cap. M. D. hutssecru- 
 ysen. 
 
 hunk the goal, home in a game. From D. honk. 
 Cf. D. van honk gaan; honken to be on the rest- 
 ing-place in playing at tag. Fries, honck-home. 
 
 Huyghcnianoi or pertaining to Christian Huygens, 
 a Dutch mathematician and astronomer, 1629- 
 1695. 
 
 to inspan to yoke oxen, horses in a team to a 
 vehicle. From South African inspan. D. inspan- 
 ncn. Cf. to outspan. 
 
 isinglass a glutinous substance made from a fish. 
 Probably used as gelatine, . and hence the cor- 
 ruption of the word by thinking of ice and the 
 glassy appearance. From D. huizenblas, M. D. 
 huusblase, H. G. hauscnblas, and, according to 
 some dictionaries, also hnisblad, stcurblaas. M. 
 D. hunt a kind of sturgeon. Glue made of the 
 sturgeon's bladder. 
 
 jagger a sailing vessel which followed a fishing fleet 
 in order to bring the fish from the busses. From 
 D. haringjager. 
 
 jangle to sound discordantly, to quarrel. M. Eng. 
 janglen. From O. Fr. j angler, and this from O. 
 L. G. Cf. M. D. jangelen, D. jengelen, janken. 
 
 kails, keils, kayles nine-pins. Cf. M. Eng. kayles; 
 Ben Jonson, Chloridia. From M. D. kegel, keyl. 
 Cf. keylbaan. D. kegel. 
 
 kakkerlak a cockroach, an albino. From D. kak- 
 kerlak a beetle, a white native of Java. 
 
 to keek to peep, glance. From D. kyken. M. D. 
 kiken. 
 
 keel a flat bottomed vessel, a lighter. From M. D. 
 kiel a large seaship. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 127 
 
 to keelhaul to haul a person under the keel of a ship. 
 From D. kielhalen, which was abolished in 1853. 
 
 kcest sap, marrow, viguor. From D. keest mar- 
 row, the best part. 
 
 kelder the womb. Cf. Hans-in-kelder. 
 
 kelson, keelson a line of timber placed along the 
 floortimbers of a ship. From M. D. colszvyn. D. 
 kolzwyn, kolsem, a thick beam which is put on the 
 inside along the keel to make it stronger. 
 
 kermis a fair or carnival. Cf. Harrison 1577. 
 From D. kermis. 
 
 kilderkin liquid measure of 18 gallon. From M. D. 
 kindekyn, kinnekyn. Already found in Eng. in 
 1390. Cf. Eng. a kilderkyn of ale. In Dry den : 
 a kilderken of wit. The word is derived from 
 Lat. quinbale one-fifth of the measure unit, a 
 derivation from Lat. quinque. Cf. Firkin. 
 
 kink a twist in a rope. First used in Eng. in the 
 1 7th century. Cf. D. konkel. M. D. conk el t een 
 kink in den kabel. From D. kink twist, from 
 the same root as "konkel." Cf. D. konkelen. 
 
 kit a vessel of various kinds, a milk-pail, tub, out- 
 fit de "heele rommel." Cf. 1375. Barbour 
 Bruce. M. D. kitte, kit pitcher. Cf. D. kit, 
 drinking-vessel, cup. M. D. cete, barn, shed. Cf. 
 kot, keet, soutkeet. 
 
 klipspringer a small antelope. From South African, 
 D. klipspringer. 
 
 kloof a deep narrow valley; a ravine. South Afri- 
 can. D. kloof. 
 
 knapsack a provision-bag, case for necessaries used 
 by travellers, or soldiers. Cf. Eng. snapsack. Cf. 
 Drayton, The Barons' War, 1603. And each one 
 fills his knapsack or his scrip. From D. knapzak, 
 satchel, bag ; D. knappen to eat. Cf. D. knab- 
 belen. 
 
128 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 knicker a marble. From D. knikker. 
 
 knorhan a South African bustard. From D. knor- 
 haan. 
 
 knuckle the projecting joint of the ringers. M. Eng. 
 knokel. From M. D. cnoke, cnokel. 
 
 knure, knur a swelling, a knot in wood. M. Eng. 
 knorre. From O. L. G. Fries, knure. Cf. D. 
 knor brush. M. D. cnorre. Cf. D. knoest, 
 knorf. 
 
 koff clumsy sailing-vessel with two masts. From 
 D. kof. 
 
 kopje, koppie a small hill. South African. From 
 D. kopje. 
 
 kraal a village of Hottentots, or other central Afri- 
 can natives. From D. kraal. 
 
 krantz a summit, a wall of rocks. From D. krans 
 kroon (kruin) crown. 
 
 kreng the carcass of a whale from which the blub- 
 ber has been removed. From D. kreng, and this 
 from O. Fr. caroigne. Cf. Lat. caro flesh. 
 
 lack want, \ failure. M. Eng. lac, lace en. Cf . Eng. 
 to lack. From O. L. G. Fries, lak. Cf. D. lak, 
 laster. Cf. lak en (denominative). 
 
 lager an enclosure for protective purposes, such as 
 a circular wall of stone, or a number of wagons 
 lashed together. South African. From D. lager. 
 Cf. leger. 
 
 lake fine linen. Cf. Chaucer's Sir Thopas. From 
 M. D. lak en, D. lak en. 
 
 lampas, hampers a kind of glassy crape. From M. 
 D. tampers a transparent material. Is found in 
 M. Eng. already in 1390 in the form of lawmpas. 
 Origin uncertain. 
 
 lampoon a personal satire. From Fr. lampon 
 drinking-song. Fr. lamper to sing, and this 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 129 
 
 from O. L. G. Cf. Fr. tapper to lick up and 
 
 also Fr. tampons let us drink, which interjection 
 
 is frequently found in drinking songs. 
 landdrost a stipendary magistrate, who administers 
 
 justice and receives the revenue of a district. 
 
 South African. From D. landdrost. 
 landgood a landed estate. From D. tandgoed. 
 landgrave a count of a province. Cf. landgravine. 
 
 From D. landgraaf. 
 
 landloper a vagabond. From D. landlooper. 
 landscape the aspect of a country. Cf. A landscape 
 
 painter, landscape gardening. The former spell- 
 ing in Eng. was landskip. It was derived from 
 
 the D. in the I7th century. From D. landschap. 
 lash a thin flexible part of a whip, a stripe. M. Eng. 
 
 lasshe. Cf. Chaucer. From O. L. G. laske. Cf. 
 
 Eng. to lash, 
 to lash to fasten firmly together. Maritime term. 
 
 From D. lasch strip, piece. Cf. D. lasschen, 
 
 inlasschen. Origin uncertain. 
 to laveer to beat to windward. Cf. 1595 Linschoten, 
 
 translated by W. Philips. From D. laveer en. M. 
 
 D. lover en. Cf. Fr. louvoyer, D. loef. 
 layman a lay-figure. From D. leeman, ledeman 
 
 ledepop (pop-doll), or doll with movable arms, 
 
 legs, etc., for painters. 
 lay-figure layman. Formed by analogy of the work : 
 
 layman. 
 leaguer a camp. Cf. Shakespeare. From D. leger. 
 
 Cf. to beleaguer, 
 leak a hole or fissure in a vessel. A maritime term, 
 
 first found in Eng. in 1407. From D. lek. 
 ledger a book in which a summary of accounts is 
 
 preserved, formerly called a ledgerbook. From 
 
130 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 D. legger (ligger), a book which is always lying 
 ready. 
 
 lighter a boat for unloading ships. Cf. lighterman. 
 From D. lichter. 
 
 link a torch. Corruption of lint. From D. lont. 
 Cf. Eng. linstock. 
 
 linstock, lintstock a stick to hold a lighted match. 
 From D. lontstok. Cf. Eng. link. 
 
 litmus a kind of dye. Cf. litmose blew. From D. 
 lakmoes. M. D. lekmoes reddish blue dye. Ori^- 
 gin uncertain. 
 
 to loiter to delay, to linger. M. Eng. loitren. Cf. 
 lout clown. Perhaps : to stoop like a lout. Cf . 
 Spenser: he humbly loited. The idea probably 
 has been to bow humbly like a lout, to steal, to 
 delay. From D. leuteren. M. D. loteren to stag- 
 ger, to go to and fro. Cf. M. D. lutsen. The later 
 meaning of delay, linger, is not found in M. D. 
 Leuteren is a frequent of a not yet found verb, 
 lot en. A. S. lutan to bow. 
 
 to loll to lounge about lazily. M. Eng. lollen. From 
 O. L. G. Cf. D. lollen to hum, to sing, to talk, 
 to trifle, to be lazy. Cf. lollepot fire-pot around 
 which people loll. Cf. Eng. to lull; lollard. 
 
 lollard a name given to the followers of Wyclif. 
 From M. D. lollaerd brother of mercy, so called 
 after their quiet singing and praying, called by 
 the people in Holland lolbroeder, lollaard. Many 
 of them were free-thinkers and therefore lollard 
 got the meaning of free-thinker, heretic. Cf. D. 
 lollen. Eng. to lull. 
 
 loon, lowna. base fellow. Cf. Shakespeare. From 
 O. L. G. Fries. Ion. Cf. D. loen lout, stupid, 
 slow. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 131 
 
 to lop to cut branches off trees. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 Already derived early. From D. lubben; past 
 participle, gelubt to cut, to make powerless. 
 
 luck fortune, chance. From O. L. G. Fries, luck. 
 Cf. D. geluk. 
 
 to luff, to loof to turn a ship towards the wind. M. 
 D. loeveren, loveren, loeveeren. The Eng. verb 
 is perhaps derived from M. Eng. lof a piece of 
 wood, an oar. H. G. laffe. In Kiliaen loeve 
 rowing-pin. In the i6th century it was derived 
 from the D. and taken into Eng. again. The 
 origin is still uncertain. Cf. luff-tackle; aloof. 
 
 mangle a roller for smoothing linen. Cf. Eng. to 
 mangle. From D. mangel. M. D. mange, and 
 this from Lat. manganum. 
 
 manikan, manakin a little man, a dwarf. Cf . 
 Shakespeare. From D. manneken, mannetje. 
 
 margrave a marquis, a lord of the marches. Cf. 
 "The Maregrave of Bruges," in the translation 
 of Sir Th. More's Utopia, 1551. From D. mark- 
 graaf. Cf. Eng. margravine. 
 
 marish a marsh. D. moeras. From O. Fr. maress, 
 marez, and this from O. L. G. 
 
 marline -a small cord used for binding large ropes, 
 to protect them. Cf. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: 
 "Some the galled ropes with dauby marling bind." 
 From D. marly n, marling, a compound with the 
 root of D. marren to fasten. Cf. Eng. to mar. 
 Goth, mar z Jan. 
 
 mazer a drinking-bowl. M. Eng. maser. Cf. D. 
 maser. Kiliaen. Cf. Eng. maple, measles. From 
 O. L. G. 
 
 measles contagious fever accompanied by small red 
 spots on the skin. M. Eng. maseles. From D. 
 mazelen, mazel, a diminutive of maas spot. 
 
132 WHAT INFLUENCE .HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 mercatte an ape. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 M. D. mercatte, a sort of ape. 
 
 minikin a little darling. Cf. Shakespeare. From 
 D. minnekyn, friend, loved. Cf. D. myne eerste 
 liefde. Fr. amour. 
 
 minx a pert, a wanton woman, or a pet dog. Cf. 
 Shakespeare. A corruption from Fries, minske. 
 Cf. D. minneken, my dearest. 
 
 mite a very small portion, a small coin. Cf. Lang- 
 land and Shakespeare. From M. D. mite trifle, 
 small coin. Cf. D. myt, M. D. mite. Cf. myt 
 insect. 
 
 mob a woman's nightcap. Cf. mobcap. From D- 
 mopmuts nightcap. 
 
 to moor to fasten a ship by cable and anchor. Cf. 
 mooring, marline. From D. meren to fasten. 
 Lat. mora delay. Cf. D. meertouw, meering, 
 meerpaal. Perhaps moerscreiv, a contraction of 
 moeder. Cf. vastmoeren, has had some influence 
 in deriving the Eng. word from the D. 
 
 mop a grimace, to grimace. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 From D. mop grimace. Cf. Eng. to mope. 
 
 to mope to be dull or dispirited. Cf. mopish. Cf. 
 Eng. mop. From D. mop, moppen. Cf. D. mop- 
 peren. 
 
 morass a swamp, bog. From D. moeras. The M. 
 D. marasch, M. Eng. mar els, Eng. marish are 
 taken from the Fr. marais. The younger forms 
 of the Germanic languages D. maeras, H. G. 
 morast, originated by thinking of maer. The Eng. 
 morass is probably derived from D. moeras. 
 
 mow a grimace (Cf. Shakespeare). From Fr. 
 moue, and this from M. D. mouwe a thick lip. 
 
 mud mire. M. Eng! mud. From O. L. G. mudder. 
 Cf. D. modder. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 133 
 
 to muddle to confuse. A frequentative of Eng. 
 
 mud; to confuse. From O. L. G. Fries, muddelen. 
 
 Cf. Eng. to mud. 
 muffle to cover up warmly. From O. Fr. mofle, 
 
 moufle, and this from O. L. G. Cf. D. mof, moffel. 
 mummer a masker, a buffoon. From O. Fr. mom- 
 
 meur, and this from D. mommer, mom. Cf. D. 
 
 vermommen, mommelen. Cf. Eng. mummery, D. 
 
 mommery. 
 to mump to mumble, to whine, to sulk, to beg. Cf. 
 
 a mumper beggar. Cf. Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 
 Pedro. From D. mompelen, mommelen to growl, 
 
 to hum. This is a frequentative of mommen, sich 
 
 vermommen, to speak within one's teeth, to make 
 
 oneself irrecognisable. Cf. mom-mask. Cf. Eng. 
 
 mumps, 
 mumps a swelling of the glands of the neck. The 
 
 disease renders speaking and eating difficult and 
 
 gives the patient the appearance of being sulky. 
 
 Derived from Mump. In D. they call it bof. Cf. 
 
 Eng. mump, 
 mute to dung, used of birds. From O. Fr. mutir, 
 
 esmeltir, and this from O. L. G. Cf. D. smelten. 
 nag a small horse. M. Eng. nagge. From O. L. G. 
 
 Cf. D. negghe in Kiliaen. Cf. Eng. to neigh, 
 nick a small notch. From O. L. G. Cf. Eng. to 
 
 notch, 
 notch, nock an indentation. M. Eng. nokke. Cf. 
 
 to notch. From O. L. G. Cf. D. nocke notch 
 
 in an arrow to put it on the string. Kiliaen. Cf. 
 
 Eng. nick, 
 to ogle to look at sideways, to glance at. A verb 
 
 found since the latter part of the I7th century. 
 
 From D. oogelen. Tho the frequentative oogelen, 
 
 from oogen, is not found in D., it may have 
 
134 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 existed formerly. (The use of it by Beets is an 
 
 independent case.) It is found in Meyer's 
 
 Woordenschat, oogeler. 
 
 oom uncle. South African. From D. oom. 
 orlop a deck of a ship. Maritime term. From D. 
 
 overlap e overloop. 
 ort, orts leaving, morsel left at a meal. From O. 
 
 L. G. Fries, ort. Cf. D. orte, oorte leaving. 
 to outspan to unharness ; Cf . een ontspan a place 
 
 in the field where one unharnesses. Cf. to ins pan. 
 
 South African. From D. nitspannen. 
 owlglass Cf. Holliglass. 
 pad a thief on the high road. Cf. footpad, padnag. 
 
 Cf. Massinger. A new way to pay old debts. 
 
 From D. pad road, path. 
 to pamper to glut. From O. L. G. slamp-ampen. 
 
 Cf. D. pampelen, slamp-ampen. 
 patch a paltry fellow. Cf. Shakespeare. From O. 
 
 L. G. Cf. Eng. patch. The meaning was a clown, 
 
 so called after his patched or motley coat. 
 patch a piece sewn on a garment. Cf. to patch. M. 
 
 Eng. pacche. Cf. to stretch and D. strekken. A 
 
 syncopized form of D. plak. 
 paw the foot of a beast of prey. From O. Fr. poe, 
 
 and this from O. L. G. Cf. D. poot. 
 to peer to pry. M. Eng. piren. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 
 From O. L. G. piren. 
 pink a kind of boat, a fishing-boat. From D. pink 
 
 fishing boat. The origin is uncertain. 
 pitchyarda. signal, a flag. A kind of commando- 
 flag, used as signal to get on board. From D. 
 
 pitsjaar, derived from Malay bitjara counsel. 
 
 First used as the signal of an admiral's ship, when 
 
 the admiral wanted to hold a council. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 135 
 
 placard a bill stuck up as an advertisement. From 
 Fr. placard, Cf. plaqner, and this from D. plakken. 
 
 plash a puddle. M. Eng. plasche. From O. L. G. 
 Fries, plasse. Cf. D. plas. 
 
 plump full, round, fleshy. M. Eng. plomp rude, 
 clownish. Cf. Caxton, Reynard the Fox. From 
 D. plomp rude, clownish. M/ D. plomp shape- 
 less, blunt. 
 
 to pry to peer, gaze. M. Eng. pry en. The same 
 word, through metathesis, as to peer. Cf. Eng. 
 to peer. 
 
 quacksalver a quack who puffs up his salves or oint- 
 ments. From D. kwakzalver. Cf. kwaken, 
 kwakken. 
 
 quail a migratory bird. M. Eng. quaille. From O. 
 Fr. quaille. From Lat. quaquila, and this from 
 L. G. Cf. D. kwakkel, kivartel, wachtel. 
 
 queer strange, odd. From O. L. G. queer, quere. 
 
 quyteskylle to acquit of. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. quiteschelden. D. kwytschelden. Cf. 
 Eng. to scold. 
 
 rabbit a small quadruped. From D. robbe. The 
 Eng. word is cony. Cf. dial. Fr. robette, rabotte. 
 
 rabble a noisy crowd, mob. M. Eng. rablen to 
 speak confusedly. From O. L. G. Fries, rabbeln. 
 Cf. D. rabbelen. 
 
 rail a bar of timber, of iron. From O. L. G. Cf. 
 D. regel, richel. 
 
 to rant to use violent language. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 From M. D. rant en to speak, to rage. Origin 
 uncertain. 
 
 to ravel to untwist, to unweave. Cf. to unravel, 
 Cf. Shakespeare. From D. rafelen. Already de- 
 rived early. Origin unknown. 
 
136 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 reef a portion of a sail that can be drawn close to- 
 gether. Cf. In Surrey: ryft. From D. reef 
 
 a small portion of a sail. Cognated with rib. 
 reef a ridge of rocks. From D. rib, of the verb 
 
 ryven, and therefore: a split mass of rocks. 
 rider a Dutch coin, worth about 24 shillings. From 
 
 D. ryder gold coin, worth about $5.80. 
 to reeve to pass the end of a rope through a hole 
 
 or ring. A maritime term. From D. reven to 
 
 fasten the sails. Cf. Eng. reef, 
 riv-dollar the name of a coin. Cf. Evelyn's Diary, 
 
 1641. From D. rykdaalder. Cf. Eng. dollar, 
 rover a pirate, a wanderer. M. Eng. rover, rovare. 
 
 Cf. to rove to wander. From D. roover, rooven. 
 
 Cf. Eng. to bereave, 
 to ruffle to be noisy, a ruffle. From D. roffelen 
 
 frequentative of r off en to carry something 
 
 through by force. 
 rummer a sort of drinking glass. Cf. Dryden. 
 
 From D. roemer. 
 to rutsele dial, to slide. From D. rut sen, rutselen 
 
 to slide. Cf. Van den Vos Reinaerde. 
 scalp the skin of the head. M. Eng. scalp. From 
 
 O. L. G. Cf. D. schelp. 
 scoff a taunt. M. Eng. scof. From O. L. G. Fries. 
 
 skoff. D. schoppen. Cf. Eng. to scoff, 
 to scold to rail at. From O. L. G. Fries, schelden. 
 
 Cf. D. schold, schelden. 
 scorbutic pertaining to or afflicted with scurvy. 
 
 From Lat. scorbutus, and this from L. G. schor- 
 
 bock. Cf. D. scheurbuik. 
 selvage, selvedge a border of cloth. From D. 
 
 selvegge, D. zelfkant. M. D. egge sharp edge. 
 
 Eng. edge. In Groningen people still call zelf- 
 kant, zclfegge. So called to distinguish it from 
 
 the real border. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 137 
 
 to sheer to deviate from one's course. A naval ex- 
 pression. From D. scheren, wegscheren. Cf. D. 
 scheerje weg. Cf. Eng. sheer off. 
 
 shock a pile of sheaves of corn. From O. L. G. 
 schock. . Cf. D. schok sixty. 
 
 shock a violent shake. M. -Eiig. schokken. From 
 D. schok, schokken. Cf. Fr. choquer. 
 
 to shudder to tremble with fear of horror. From 
 O. L. G. Fries, schuddern. Cf. D. schuddcn. 
 
 skate, scatc a frame of wood or iron with a steel 
 ridge, beneath it, for sliding on ice. The singu- 
 lar ought to be skates. People thought the "s" 
 was the ending of the plural. Cf. Eng. pea, 
 cherry. From D. schaats. Origin uncertain. 
 
 sketch a rough draught, an outline. Cf. Dryden. 
 From D. schets, and this from Italian schizzo. 
 
 skew oblique, wry. Cf. M. Eng. skewen to turn 
 aside. From O. L G. Cf. D. schnzv. Cf. Eng. 
 skezvbald, askeiv. 
 
 skipper the master of a ship. From D. schipper. 
 
 to slabber to slaver. From O. L. G. Fries, slabbern. 
 Cf. D. slabben, slobberen. 
 
 slender thin, feeble. From O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 verslinden. 
 
 to slepe to drag. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 M. D. slepen. D. sleepcn. 
 
 slim weak, slender, thin, slight, cunning. Only 
 found lately. Especially in the Lincolnshire 
 dialect. From D. slim. Cf. D. slimme wegen, een 
 slim geval. M. D. stem. Origin unknown. 
 
 sloop a one-masted ship. From D. sloap. Origin 
 unknown. 
 
 slot a broad, wooden bar, bolt of a door. From O. 
 L; G. Fries, slot. Cf. D. slot. 
 
138 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 sloven a careless, lazy person. M. Eng. sloveyn. 
 Cf. Coventry Mysteries. From D. slof slow. Cf. 
 D., sluipen. 
 
 smack a fishing-boat. From D., smak a vessel 
 which is used for fishing or coasting-trade in the 
 North Sea. Origin unknown. 
 
 smous dial. Suffolk a Jew. From D. smous, and 
 this from Jewish German : Mausche, i. e., Moses. 
 
 snaffle a bridle with a piece confining the nose and 
 with a slender mouth-piece. Cf. Sir Th. More's 
 Works. From D. snavel, sneb. Cf. D. snappen. 
 
 to snap to bite suddenly, to snatch up. Cf. Shakes- 
 peare. Cf. snappish, snap-dragon; to snap to 
 break suddenly, to seize. From D. snappen. Cf. 
 D. snavel. 
 
 to snip to cut off with shears or scissors. Cf. 
 Shakespeare. Cf. snip-snap. From D. snippen, 
 snipperen. Cf. snavel and snappen, and there- 
 fore: to pick to pieces with the bill. 
 
 snot mucus from the nose. M. Eng. snotte. From 
 O. L. G. Cf. D. snot, snniten. 
 
 snow a ship, a kind of brig. Cf. Falconer. From 
 D. snauw a ship with two masts; ship with a 
 bill. Cf. D. sncfvel. 
 
 to snuff to draw in air violently through the nose, to 
 smell. From D. snuff en, snuiven, snuffelen. 
 
 spa a place with a spring of mineral water. After 
 the name of the place, Spa, near Liege, Belgium. 
 
 spellicans a game played with thin slips of wood. 
 From D. spelleken, speldeken wooden pin. 
 
 spinde a pantry, or larder, dial. From D. spinde 
 pantry. 
 
 to splice to join two rope-ends by interweaving. 
 Naval expression. From D. split sen, splitten, in- 
 tensive of D. splyten to split. 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 139 
 
 spool, M. Eng. spole. A reel for winding yarn on. 
 
 Introduced into England by Flemish weavers. 
 
 From D. spoel. Cf. Fries, spole. 
 spoor a trail. From D. spoor, of a wild beast. 
 to sprout to shoot out germs. M. Eng. spruten. 
 
 From O. L. G., cf. O. Fries, sprute, D. spruit, 
 stadtholder Lord Lieutenant, title' of the Princes of 
 
 Orange. From D. stadhouder. 
 spynde a pantry. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 
 M. D. spynde spinde pantry. Cf. Lat. spenda; 
 
 expendere, Eng. to spend. D. spandeeren, spys. 
 
 Cf. spinde. 
 staple a chief commodity. From Fr. estaple and 
 
 this from L. G. stapel. Cf. D. stapel. 
 to stay to remain, to wait. Cf. Eng. staid calm, 
 
 serious. From O. Fr. estayer to assist, to help, 
 
 and this from D. staai, stade assistance, leisure, 
 
 opportunity. Cf. te stade komen. 
 to stipple to engrave by means of dots. From D. 
 
 stippelen, frequentative of stippen. 
 stiver a Dutch penny. From D. stuiver. 
 stoker one who tends the fire. Cf. to stoke. From 
 
 D. stoker. Cf. steken. 
 stout bold, strong. M. Eng. stout. From O. Fr. 
 
 estout and this from O. L. G. Cf. M. D. stout, 
 strand a string of a rope. With a paragogic "d". 
 
 From D. streen. M. D. strene. Cf. D. striem. 
 stripe streak, a blow with a whip. From D. stryp, 
 
 streep. 
 to strive to struggle, to contend. Originally a weak 
 
 verb in the Eng. M. Eng. striven. From O. F. 
 
 estriver and this from D. sir even to try, to con- 
 tend. 
 stitf dust. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From M. 
 
 D. stof. 
 
140 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 sturgeon a. large fish. From Fr. esturgeon, 
 
 etourgeon and this from D. steiir. M. D. store, 
 supper a meal at the close of the day. M. Eng. 
 
 soper, super. From O. Fr. soper, super and this 
 
 from O. L. G. Cf. D. suipen. M. D. sup en. 
 sutler one who sells provisions in camp. Cf. 
 
 Shakespeare. From D. zoetelaar soedelen; cf. 
 
 zieden, koken, therefore: eating-house-keeper. 
 swab to clean the deck. Cf. Shakespeare. Cf. D. 
 
 swabber. Eng. swab from D. sivabberen, fre- 
 
 qentative of zwabben. 
 switch a small flexible twig. Cf. Shakespeare. From 
 
 D. sivik a twig. Cf. D. swikken. 
 taffcrel, taffrail the upperpart of the stern of a ship. 
 
 From D. tafereel tafeleel and this from D. tafel, 
 
 which is derived from Lat. tabula, 
 tallow fat of animals melted. M. Eng. talgh. From 
 
 O. L. G. Cf. D. talk, 
 tampion kind of plug. From Fr. tampon and this 
 
 from L. G. Cf. D. tap. 
 tang a strong taste. From D. tanger strong, 
 
 biting. Cf. D. tenger, taai. Origin uncertain. 
 tattoo spelled in 1627 taptoo the beat of drum re- 
 calling soldiers to their quarters. From D. taptoe 
 
 doe den tap toe. 
 to tiff to deck, dress out. From O. Fr. tiffer and 
 
 this from O. L. G. Cf. D. tippen. Cf. D. het 
 
 haar tippen. 
 to toot to blow a horn. From O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 
 toeten. 
 touch-wood wood for taking fire from a spark; 
 
 touch is a corruption of M. Eng. tache, tach. From 
 
 L. G. Cf. D. tak. Therefore the meaning really 
 
 is: tak (-branch) or stokhout (stick-wood). 
 
WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 141 
 
 toy a plaything. Cf. Shakespeare. Cf. to toy to 
 trifle, dally. From D. tuig, cf. speelting. Cf. 
 tie gen, to draw. 
 
 to trek to go to another place. South African. Cf. 
 trekboer. From D. trekken. 
 
 trick a stratagem, fraud, parcel x of cards won at 
 once, lineament. Cf. Shakespeare. Cf. to trick 
 to dress out, to adorn, to blazon. From D. trek, 
 in many meanings. 
 
 trigger tricker a catch, which, when pulled, lets 
 fall the hammer "or cock of a gun. From D. 
 trekker. 
 
 trinket, trinquet the highest sail of a ship. From 
 Fr. trinquet; this from Sp. trinquete and this from 
 D. strikken with loss of the "s". 
 
 tub a small cask. M. Eng. tubbe, cf. Chaucer. In- 
 troduced into England by Flemish brewers. From 
 D. tobbe, M. D. tubbe, cf. Fries, tubbe. 
 
 to tuck to draw close together. From O. L. G. Cf. 
 D. tokken to draw, to attract. 
 
 to tug to pull, to drag. From O. L. G. Cf. D. 
 tokken, tiegen. 
 
 twill woven stuff with an appearance of diagonal 
 lines in textile fabrics. From D. twillen. 
 
 ungheluch unhappiness. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. 
 From M. D. ongheluck. D. ongeluk. 
 
 unto to, M. Eng. unto. It consists of und+to. Und 
 from O. L. G. Cf. O. Fries, und. Goth. und. 
 Cf. until 
 
 uproar a tumult, disturbance. Cf. Shakespeare. 
 From D. oproer. 
 
 veldt field. South African. From D. veld. 
 
 volksraad the People's council; an elected legisla- 
 tive body. South African. From D. volksraad. 
 
 vrouw woman. South African. From D. vrouw. 
 
142 WHAT INFLUENCE HOLLAND EXERTED 
 
 vysevase a folly, a whim. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 
 Reynard. From M. D. vysevase. Cf. D. fazelen, 
 
 vazen, feziken. 
 wafer a thin small cake. M. Eng. ivafre. From O. 
 
 Fr. waufre, gaufre and this from O. L. G. Cf. 
 
 D. wafel, weven. 
 
 wagon, waggon a wain, vehicle for goods. Cf. Spen- 
 ser. The Eng. form of this word is wain, A. S. 
 
 waegn. From D. wag en. 
 wainscot panelled boards on the walls of rooms, cf. 
 
 Shakespeare. From D. ivagenschot wandeschot; 
 
 wagen by folk etymology from Fries, weeg-wall; 
 
 A. S. wah wooden wall. 
 walnut a foreign nut. The first syllable is the name 
 
 Waal Cf. Wales, Cornwall. 
 wapper cudgel. Cf. 1481, Caxton, Reynard. From 
 
 M. D. wappere cudgel. 
 water-gueux a name first given in contempt to the 
 
 Protestant nobles and afterwards adopted by va- 
 rious bodies of Dutch in the wars with Spain. 
 
 From D. watergeus. 
 wentele to twist, to turn round. Cf. 1481, Caxton, 
 
 Reynard. From M. D. zuentelen to turn. 
 wig periwig a peruke. From D. peruyk and this 
 
 from Fr. perrigue. Cf. D. pruik. 
 wreck destruction, ruin, cf. shipwreck. Already in 
 
 the 1 3th century. M. Eng. zvreck. From D. 
 
 wrak damaged, a damaged ship. Cf. D. getuigen 
 
 wraken. 
 yacht a swift pleasure boat. Cf. Evelyn's Diary 
 
 1661. From D. jacht, jachtship, fast ship. Cf. 
 
 D. jag en. 
 yawl a small boat. From D. jol small vessel. 
 
PART III 
 
 The Influence of the Netherlands on 
 English Literature 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 ON CEDMON 
 
 The name of Csedmon is one of the most promi- 
 nent in the history of early English literature. 
 Everybody knows the beautiful poems of old 
 Christian England on "the beginning of created 
 things" in paraphrases on Genesis (Chap. I-XX1I) 
 extending to the story of the sacrifice of Isaac by 
 Abraham, on Exodus (Chap. II-XV), on Daniel, 
 and the three minor poems, the first one dealing with 
 the Fall of the Angels, the second one with Christ's 
 Harrowing of Hell, and the third one with Christ's 
 Temptation. "No one would today seriously main- 
 tain even that these poems are all by one author ; it 
 is more likely that more than one writer has had a 
 hand in each." 1 One interpolated part, in the second 
 version of the Fall of the Angels in the paraphrases 
 on Genesis, has been brought into connection with the 
 author of the Heliand. 2 And as the Heliand was 
 probably written under the immediate suggestion of 
 Ludger, 3 the great Dutch missionary among the Sax- 
 ons along the borderline of Holland and Germany, 
 
 1 The Cambridge History of English Literature, I, 50. 
 
 2 Sievers, Der Heliand und die Angelsachsische genesis. 
 
 3 On Ludger see the first chapters. 
 
 143 
 
144 ON C^EDMON 
 
 we may see in the poems of Caedmon "a fruitful ex- 
 change of literary ideas" between England, the 
 Netherlands, and the western part of Germany during 
 the first half of the ninth century. 
 
 But there is another interesting point, viz., the 
 question how these poems of Csedmon, as they are 
 generally called, became first a subject of study, how 
 they were published, and became at last a subject of 
 discussion in every textbook of English Literature. 
 This has been as a whole the work of the well-known 
 Dutch scholar, Franciscus Junius. 1 During his so- 
 journ in England, Junius collected transcripts of many 
 old English manuscripts, and in the year 1649 he got 
 from Archbishop Ussher a copy of the manuscript 
 containing the poems, which Junius, in consequence of 
 the description given by Bede of a certain poet 
 Grdmon and his poems, called the poems of Cced- 
 mon, and under that name published them in the 
 year 1655 at Amsterdam, 2 so that these famous poems 
 were first studied by a Dutchman, and were first 
 printed in Holland. 
 
 1 On Junius, see our first chapters. 
 
 2 "Diese Veroffentlichung war bahnbrechend fur die Entschliessung 
 der Angelsachsischen Poesie, da mit Ausnahme eines unbedeutenden 
 Stiickes bis dahin nur prosaische Denkmahler herausgegeben waren." 
 Herman Paul. Grundriss, I, 35. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ON THE STORIES OF KING ARTHUR,, AND THE FRENCH 
 ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY IN ENGLAND 
 
 The stories of King Arthur were written orig- 
 inally, as far as we know, in Latin by Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth about the year 1140. From Latin, this 
 collection of Welsh and English legends was trans- 
 lated into French verse by a Frenchman called Wace. 
 And from the French they were translated into 
 English by the well-known Layamon in his Brut. Now 
 the French language was the official language in 
 England from the time of the Norman Conquest in 
 the year 1066, till the year 1362, when English was 
 made the language of the law courts, and the year 
 1386 when English displaced French in the schools. 
 During three hundred years (from 1066 till 1362), 
 the French language was the language of the upper 
 classes in England the language of those classes who 
 read books and studied literature. During those three 
 centuries it was the French romances of chivalry, 
 telling the stories of King Arthur, and his round 
 table, of Charlemagne, of Alexander the Great, and 
 the story of the siege of Troy, which formed the 
 reading and the main literature of the higher edu- 
 cated classes in England. Now, in composing these 
 French romances of chivalry, including many of the 
 Arthurian legends, the Southern Netherlands had a 
 good share. Not only did many of the stories orig- 
 inate in the Netherlands, where the cradle of the 
 Carolingians was to be found at Herstal, and where 
 10 145 
 
146 ON THE STORIES OF KING ARTHUR 
 
 Charlemagne had his residence at Ninwegen, but 
 some of the best poets who told these romances lived 
 there. Chretien de Troyes, one of the most famous of 
 these poets, lived for some, years at the court of the 
 Count of Flanders; he died about the year 1175; and 
 he wrote at least five Arthur romances, entitled Erec 
 and Enide, Cliges, Le Chevalier de la Charette 
 (Lancelot), le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), and le 
 conte du Saint-Graal (Perceval). 1 Other poets, as 
 Adam de la Halle and Jehan Bodel, lived at Atrecht 
 in the Southern Netherlands. The setting of many of 
 these romances is in the Netherlands, and no doubt 
 the civilization and the conditions of the Low Coun- 
 tries have been a prevailing influence for the poets 
 who lived there. 2 
 
 How far the works of Jacob van Maerlant (1235- 
 1300) had influence in England is not yet decided. 
 We know that there was all the time a close and fre- 
 quent intercourse between the Netherlands and 
 England. We know that Maerlant, whose poems, now 
 all printed, cover not less than 226,000 lines, criticized 
 the corruption of the clergy, and the oppression of 
 the poor under the feudal system, long before Wil- 
 liam Langland in 1362 did the same in England, by 
 writing his "Vision Concerning Piers, the Plough- 
 man" ; we know that Maerlant translated the Bible, 
 in rhymed verse, into the Dutch vernacular long before 
 Wicliff translated the Bible into English in 1380. But 
 how far this reformatory and democratic movement 
 in the Netherlands was the cause of the same move- 
 ment in England more than half a century later, re- 
 mains for historical and literary research to discover. 
 
 1 W. J. A. Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde, 
 I, 117- 
 
 2 For further information see the quoted works of Jonckbloet and 
 Kalff. 
 
ON THE STORIES OF KING ARTHUR 147 
 
 The same we must say about any probable influ- 
 ence of the literary movement in the Southern " 
 Netherlands on Chaucer. We know that Chaucer was 
 well acquainted with France and. Italy; that he was 
 not at all a stranger on the continent ; that very prob- 
 ably he may have visited Flanders, and have come in 
 contact with the literary circles in 'the Netherlands; 
 but here also is a field still to be explored and about 
 which we can only conjecture, not decide. We know 
 that Chaucer was closely connected with the court of 
 Edward III, and even that he bore arms in Edward 
 Ill's expedition into France, while Edward was very 
 familiar with the Flemish cities, and with the Count 
 of Holland, who brought him to the throne, and whose 
 daughter, Philippa, he married ; we know that he 
 made a treaty with them, and tried to persuade his 
 Flemish supporters to accept his son, the Black 
 Prince, as their sovereign. But historical and literary 
 researches in this field have hardly been begun, and 
 we can only infer from the well-known general 
 conditions and relations that some considerable influ- 
 ence may have been exerted. 
 
 During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
 when modern democracy arose in the free cities of the 
 Southern Netherlands, where at that time wealth and 
 luxury was being accumulated, when the religious 
 movement of the Reformation took the leadership of 
 this democracy, there was a development of literary 
 life in the Netherlands of which one hardly gets an 
 adequate idea. The literary societies, called Chambres 
 de Rhetorique, were so numerous, and so flourishing, 
 in every one of the Flemish gities, and the miracle 
 plays and morality plays those precursors of our 
 modern drama were written in such numbers that 
 their influence on the whole people, and on the lit- 
 
148 ON THE STORIES OF KING ARTHUR 
 
 erature of other nations, especially of England, must 
 have been much larger than as yet is generally known. 
 We know, for instance, that one poet, by the name of 
 Thomas de Kasteleyne, wrote more than one hundred 
 plays, and that the land- jewels, where sometimes more 
 than thirty guilds of Rhetoric met in competition, were 
 great attractions at that time, when, according to all 
 historians; England was very far behind in civiliza- 
 tion, in industry, in trade, in art and in literature. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 ON WILLIAM CAXTON 
 
 William Caxton is the famous name connected 
 with the introduction of the printing press into Eng- 
 land. Caxton printed more than one hundred books. 
 "A greater benefactor, indeed, to the intellectual im- 
 provement of his country it would be difficult to men- 
 tion than him, who introduced the art of printing." 
 His four hundredth anniversary was celebrated in 
 England on the i8th of November, 1877, that date 
 having been adopted as marking the introduction of 
 printing into England, because, according to the 
 unique colophon of a copy of the "Dictes and Sayinges 
 of the Philosophers" this work was published on the 
 1 5th of November, 1477, while the date of the earliest 
 publications of Caxton is unknown. "For many years 
 an old building, which tumbled down in 1846, was 
 pointed out as Caxton's house, but it was proved to 
 be no older than the time of Charles the Second. 
 This did not prevent parts of the woodwork being 
 made into walking-sticks and snuff-boxes, and pre- 
 sented to various patrons of literature as genuine 
 relics of our famous printer." 1 
 
 Born in "Kent in the Weeld," a place about the 
 situation of which topographers do not agree, and at 
 a date (perhaps 1420) unknown till this day, Wil- 
 liam Caxton was educated to be a- merchant. In the 
 year 1438 he was entered apprentice to Robert Large, 
 
 1 F. C. Price, Facsimiles with a Memoir of our first Printer. London, 
 1877. Printed only in 125 copies. 
 
 149 
 
150 ON WILLIAM CAXTON 
 
 who, in the next year, became Lord Mayor of Lon- 
 don, and died in 1441. One year after the death of 
 his master, Caxton went abroad and lived at Bruges, 
 the Burgundian Capital in the Southern Netherlands, 
 and he stayed there for the following thirty-five years, 
 with the exception of some short visits to London, 
 Cologne and perhaps some other places. As a youth 
 of twenty years, Caxton came to the Netherlands; 
 as a man of fifty-five he went back to England, to 
 spend there the remaining fourteen years of his life, 
 so that for more than half of his life he lived in the 
 Netherlands. In 1463 Caxton became what they 
 called at that time ' 'governor of the English nation" 
 at Bruges, which post he retained till the year 1469; 
 but about this time some reverse of fortune appar- 
 ently befell him, by which he was obliged to leave 
 Bruges for a while. But in the year 1467 Count 
 Charles the Bold had married Margaret, the sister of 
 the English King, Edward IV, and now we know that 
 Caxton "received some appointment in the court of 
 the English wife of Charles at Bruges, and became 
 a favorite with the noble lady." 1 Before the Princess 
 Margaret came to the Netherlands, Caxton, having 
 no great charge or occupation, had commenced for 
 his amusement the translation of "Le recueil des His- 
 toires de Troye" by Raoul le Fevre, from French into 
 English, but, discouraged, he had abandoned the task. 
 This he told one time to Margaret and she, as he 
 himself tells it, not only encouraged but commanded 
 him to continue and finish the work. Caxton obeyed 
 and the translation was finished in 1471. The work 
 was printed at Bruges by Caxton, and Colard Man- 
 sion, a copyist and calligrapher, who about that time 
 had started a printing office. After this first book, 
 another one was printed, viz., "The game and the 
 
 1 Price, Facsimiles and Memoir 
 
ON WILLIAM CAXTON 151 
 
 playe of chesse moralysed," and soon after that time 
 Caxton took leave of the land of his adoption, where 
 he had lived for thirty-five years, and arrived at Lon- 
 don, "laden with a freight more precious than the 
 most opulent merchant adventurer ever dreame3 of, 
 to endow his country with that inestimable blessing, 
 the printing press." 1 
 
 "Towards the end of the year 1476 or in the. be- 
 ginning of 1477 we find Caxton in occupation at 
 Westminster, his press erected in the Almonry. At 
 the time Caxton started in England his whole stock 
 of type consisted of two fonts, or sets of types, a 
 church or text type, and a secretary type. These 
 fonts he purchased in the Low Countries and brought 
 them with him." 2 From that time Caxton began the 
 printing of a series of at least one hundred works, 
 which continued till his death in the year 1491. 
 
 As a young apprentice of a merchant's office, Cax- 
 ton went to the Netherlands, and after thirty-five years 
 he came back to England as a man, acquainted with 
 book-printing, with the literature, the language, with 
 the whole civilization of a city like Bruges, the cap- 
 ital of the Burgundian Counts, the most brilliant and 
 most luxurious, the most wealthy, and highly civilized 
 center of European civilization, at that time. The 
 fruits of his thirty-five years of abode in the Nether- 
 lands we see in what he performed during the re- 
 maining fourteen years of work in his native country. 
 As translator and as printer he blessed his people 
 with the literature, and the civilization, he had ob- 
 served, and made himself acquainted with, in the 
 Netherlands. To the Dutch language he was so ac- 
 customed that he used many Dutch words (of which 
 
 1 Ibid. 
 
 2 Price, Facsimiles and Memoir. 
 
152 ON WILLIAM CAXTON 
 
 De Hoog gives a list of ftvcnty nine examples) as if 
 they were pure English. The famous animal-epos of 
 Reinard the Fox he translated, not from the original 
 French, but from the Dutch version, which is "much 
 superior to the original and admittedly the finest ver- 
 sion of the Reynard story." 1 
 
 pcan 
 
 1 Herbert J. C. Grierson, in vol. VIII, p. 5, of the Periods of Euro- 
 Literature, by Prof. Saintsbury, New York, 1906. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 ON PROGNOSTICATIONS OR PROPHETIC ALMANACS 
 
 During the last part of the fifteenth, and the whole 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the literature of 
 Prognostications or prophetic almanacs was quite 
 prominent and popular. They form one of the super- 
 stitious extravagances and abuses which accompanied 
 the great religious movement of the Reformation, but 
 which had their origin more in the revival of the 
 heathen traditions of ancient history, which was fos- 
 tered by the humanistic movement of the Renaissance. 
 Martin Luther brought these astronomic predictions 
 to ridicule in his "Table-talk"; King Henry III of 
 France prohibited, in 1579, the making of political 
 predictions in almanacs ; in England satires were writ- 
 ten against them, for instance, one in 1544 entitled 
 "A Mery Prognostication" written in ridicule of those 
 false prognostications against which Henry the 
 Eighth considered it necessary or advisable to level 
 a proclamation. Another satire of the same kind from 
 the year 1623 has been republished by James O. Halli- 
 well, London, 1860. The first almanac printed in 
 England is from the year 1497, being the Calender 
 of Shepardis. But before this time, and also in later 
 years, they were introduced in England from the 
 continent, and especially from the Netherlands. In 
 the year 1491, Caspar Laet, physician at Antwerp, 
 published a prognostication written in Latin, and ded- 
 icated to William Schevez, archbishop of St. Andrews. 
 In the year 1515 the same Caspar Laet published a 
 
 153 
 
154 ON PROGNOSTICATIONS 
 
 "Prognostication for the year 1516" with this addi- 
 tion : "this prognostication of Master Jasper Laet of 
 Borchloon, doctour of astrologie, of the year 1516, is 
 translated into English by Nicholas Longwater." Sev- 
 eral years later, in 1534, a prognostication of the same 
 Flemish author was published in English as "Prog- 
 nostication by Caspar Late of Antwerpe, calked (cal- 
 culated) upon the meridyan of the same citie for the 
 year of our Lorde God." 1 
 
 Although this popular literature of the Prognosti- 
 cations is not of such great importance, it shows 
 again, like the story of Caxton, that at that time the 
 civilization and the literature of The Netherlands 
 exerted its influence on England. 
 
 1 W. de Hoog, Studien, II, 26. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 ON THOMAS A KEMPIS 
 
 Quite different from that of the Dutch Prognosti- 
 cations, was the influence of Thomas a Kempis on 
 the spirit of the English people, and, consequently, 
 on the expression of that spirit in English literature. 
 The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis, has a 
 world-wide fame, and its influence can hardly be over- 
 estimated. "In 1828 M. Languinais reckoned the 
 editions and translations of the "Imitation," a book 
 which Johnson said the world had opened its arms 
 to receive, at more than two thousand. He saw in 
 the library of the Vatican, translations in the Catalan, 
 Castilian, Flemish, Portuguese, Dutch, Bohemian, 
 Polish, Greek, English, Hungarian, Illyrian, Japanese, 
 Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Persian, and 
 other languages ; so that the words of Samuel John- 
 son, cited in the preface, "that the book had been 
 reprinted as many times as there were months since 
 its first production," are not exaggerated, if we con- 
 sider the many versions which have been printed of 
 this singular book." 1 The original Latin edition was 
 spread over all Europe since the time of its first ap- 
 pearance in the year 1471. English editions followed 
 soon, within a few years after the printing press was 
 introduced into England. We find at least the fol- 
 lowing English editions: 
 
 i. Mayrtes, William, the Imitation or the 
 following of Christ. London, W. de Worde 
 
 1 English edition of Samson Low, Son and Marston. London, 1865, 
 Preface, XXIII. 
 
 155 
 
156 THOMAS A KEMPIS 
 
 and Rich. Pinson in 4, without date, probably 
 about the end of the I5th century. Reprinted 
 by Rich. Pinson, London, 1503. 
 
 2. Atkinson, the Imitation, etc., Lon. W. de 
 Worde and Pinson, 1504. This translation was 
 made at the express command of the mother of 
 Henry VII. 
 
 3. Hake, Edward, of Gray's Inn. The Imi- 
 tation, or following of Christ, and the contend- 
 ing- of worldly vanities, at first written by 
 Thomas Kempise, a Dutchman, amended and 
 polished by Sebastien Castalio, an Italian, and 
 Englished by Edward Hake, London. 1567, re- 
 printed 1568. 
 
 4. Rogers, Thomas. The Imitation or fol- 
 lowing of Christ, 1584. This contains only the 
 first three books. In 1592 Rogers published the 
 fourth, under the title of "Soliloquium Animae." 
 "The Sole Talke of Soule ; or a Spiritual and 
 Heauenlie Dialogue between the Soule of Man 
 and God." Reprinted 1596. 
 
 5. Page, William. The Imitation or fol- 
 lowing of Christ, London, 1597. 
 
 6. Milburne, Luke. The Imitation or fol- 
 lowing of Christ, translation in verse, 1697. 
 
 7. Stanhope, Dean. The Christian's Pat- 
 tern, or a treatise on the Imitation of Christ, 
 6th edition, in 1708. The text is herein much 
 mutilated. 
 
 8. Payne, John. The Imitation of Christ, 
 1763, in 8vo. Dove reproduced this in his 
 Classics. Payne was a government clerk and 
 afterwards a bookseller. Dibdin has used this 
 translation. 
 
 9. Challoner, The Rev. The Imitation or 
 following of Christ. A very faithful transla- 
 tion, often reprinted. 
 
 10. Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Of the Im- 
 itation of Jesus Christ, translated from the 
 Latin original, ascribed to Thomas a Kempis, 
 with an introduction and notes. William Pick- 
 ering, London, printed by William Nicol at the 
 Shakespeare Press, 1828. 
 
THOMAS A KEMPIS 157 
 
 During the nineteenth century many more Eng- 
 lish editions were published, and even at the present 
 time, in nearly every book store, in America as well 
 as in England, an English version of the Imitation is 
 in stock. 
 
 Not without reason one may ask: What was the 
 attraction of this wonderful book? What was its in- 
 fluence? What was the spiritual and literary move- 
 ment, and who was the author that produced this 
 marvel in the history of human literature, and blessed 
 with it the Christian world of the I5th century? Let 
 me answer these questions with a few words. 
 
 Its attraction is in the wonderful piety and hon- 
 esty, the simplicity and naivete with which the author 
 speaks to the very heart of the reader. The author's 
 faith is so thoroughly that of a Christian "pure and 
 simple," his love of God is so intense, his admiration 
 of the love and mercy of God is so fresh, and ever 
 present, that it not only attracts but overpowers, at 
 least for a moment, every reader in whose soul is left 
 the slightest idea of religion. 
 
 Its influence was, and is, in making a revival of 
 religion in the heart of the reader ; in laying the 
 sound foundation of every real reformation ; in inter- 
 preting the word of the Lord : "Come unto me all ye 
 that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest" (Matthew XI: 28) ; in bringing back the rest- 
 less human soul face to face with its heavenly Father, 
 and with the Christ Consolator. The immense con- 
 sequences of the influence of the Imitation on the re- 
 ligious movement of the I5th and the i6th centuries 
 can hardly be overestimated. Without talking about 
 the outward form and government of the Church, it 
 lays full stress on inner, personal piety and devotion. 
 If the outward form of Church government proves 
 
158 THOMAS A KEMPIS 
 
 to be an obstacle to that inward piety, the nations 
 soon will change that outward Church. In that way 
 Thomas a Kempis became one of the great precursors 
 of Luther, Calvin and Knox. 
 
 The spiritual and literary movement, in the midst 
 of which the author lived from his twelfth year till 
 his death, was that of the "brethren of common life" 
 in the Netherlands during the I5th century. Gerard 
 Groot of Deventer, and Florentius Radewyn, are the 
 founders of this Brotherhood of Common Life. From 
 the Southern Netherlands, from Johannes Ruysbroek 
 at Groenendaal, near Brussels, this revival, this re- 
 formation of inner Christian life came to the northern 
 Provinces. Two years after the death of Gerard 
 Groot, in the year 1386, the monastery of Agneten- 
 berg, near Windeshiem, four miles to the southeast 
 of Zwolle, was founded by this Brotherhood, and it 
 was in this monastery that Thomas a Kempis spent 
 the greater part of his life and there he wrote his 
 Imitation of Christ. The Congregation of Common 
 Life, founded by Gerard Groot and Florentius 
 Radewyn, became a famous center of learning and 
 education in the midst of the corruption of the late 
 mediaeval time. "Strange and troubled were those 
 times, and fraught with scandal and confusion. Hu- 
 man ambition and the curses of wealth and worldli- 
 ness had eaten their way, so far as God permitted, 
 in the very fold of Christ. Prosperity had done its 
 worst. What persecution had failed to do, luxury 
 bade fair to accomplish. To a considerable extent 
 the morals of the people and even of the clergy, from 
 the highest to the lowest, were deeply corrupted, and 
 the church appeared in urgent danger." 1 In such a 
 time, the thoughts that filled the minds of Gerard 
 
 1 F. R. Cruise, Thomas a Kempis, London, 1887, p. 33. 
 
THOMAS A KEMPIS 159 
 
 Groot and Florentius Radewyn, wh,en they inaugu- 
 rated the Congregation of Common Life, were as fol- 
 lows: "In the first place, it was designed that its 
 members should endeavor, from their hearts, to return 
 to the life of the early Christians; to such a life as 
 the Apostles led when following our Lord Jesus 
 Christ on earth, and which they and their companions 
 carried out after His ascent into heaven. All were 
 to live in common, to work for the general good, to 
 hold their worldly possessions in community, and to 
 spend their leisure hours in prayer and works of 
 charity." 1 
 
 In this community, Thomas a Kempis entered as 
 a boy of twelve years, and stayed there till he died at 
 the age of ninety-one. He was born at Kempen, near 
 Cologne in Germany, not far from the borderline be- 
 tween the Netherlands and Germany, and in one of 
 those provinces where was spoken the same low Ger- 
 man dialect which was the language of the Dutch 
 Provinces along the border of Germany. So he was 
 by his birth what we should call in America "Penn- 
 sylvania Dutch." But in his twelfth year, he left 
 Germany, and stayed the remaining seventy-eight 
 years in the Netherlands, and as far as his education, 
 the spirit of his works, and of his life is concerned, 
 he was a son of the Brethren of Common Life in the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 1 Ibid, p. 64. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 ELCKERLYC AND EVERYMAN 
 
 In the numerous morality-plays of the I4th and 
 1 5th centuries, the rising democracy celebrates one of 
 its great triumphs. Delivering themselves from the 
 bondage of the feu'dal system, and growing more civ- 
 ilized and better educated every day, notwithstanding 
 the hierarchic system of the church, the free citizens 
 of the powerful cities, especially in Flanders, self- 
 supporting, self-reliant and self-directing as they 
 were, began to develop their own literature and their 
 own art. Producing their own wealth, proud of their 
 own privileges, strengthening their own power in 
 their guilds, and in their cities, these children of the 
 rising democracy poured out their wonderfully fresh, 
 youthful energy in every department o'f human life. 
 Instead of the mystery-plays and the miracle-plays of 
 the mediaeval church, the free citizens asked for their 
 morality-plays, not to exclude their religious life but 
 to include their social life in the sphere of their lit- 
 erary education. "From a performance within the 
 church building it went on into the church yard or 
 the adjoining close or street, and so into the town at 
 large. The clerics still kept a hand in its purvey- 
 ance; but the rise of the town guilds gave it a new 
 character, a new relation to the current life, and a 
 larger equipment. The friendly rivalry between the 
 guilds and the craftsmen's pride in not being outdone 
 by other crafts, helped to stimulate the town-play till 
 
 160 
 
"ELCKERLYC" AND "EVERYMAN' 9 161 
 
 at length the elaborate cycle was formed that began 
 with sunrise on a June morning and lasted until the 
 torch-bearers were called out at dark to stand at the 
 foot of the pageant." 1 
 
 Enormous is the number of morality-plays pro- 
 duced during those first centuries of the rising democ- 
 racy, at the dawn of modern history, and one of the 
 most famous among them is that of "Everyman," or, 
 as the original Dutch play is called, "Elckerlyc." The 
 full title is, "Den Spieghel der Salichhelt van Elck- 
 erlyc" (The mirror of salvation for every man). 
 This great and simple tragic masterpiece is called 
 "the noblest interlude of death, the religious imagina- 
 tion of the middle ages has given to the stage." 2 
 Maintaining the idea that moral and religious life are 
 inseparably connected, this play shows from the be- 
 ginning to the end its grand tendency and its sub- 
 lime character, as we read on the title page of the 
 English translation, "Here beginneth a treatise how 
 the High Father of Heaven sendeth Death to sum- 
 mon every creature to come and give account of their 
 lives in this world, and is in manner of a moral play." 
 
 The original Dutch play was probably written by 
 a monk, Pieter Dorland (1454-1507) at Diest, about 
 the year 1485, and for the first time printed about 
 the year 1495. In a competition between the guilds 
 of rhetoric at Antwerp in the year 1500, Elckerlyc 
 got the first prize. In 1536 it was translated into 
 Latin as "Homulus," and soon afterwards a German 
 bookprinter at Cologne published a German version 
 to which was given a Lutheran tendency. 3 Within 
 a very short time after its first appearance it was 
 
 1 Ernest Rhys, Poetry and the Drama, in Everyman's Library, In- 
 troduction, p. XIV. 
 
 2 Ibid, XV. 
 
 3 W. de Hoog, Studien, II, 22. 
 
 11 
 
162 "ELCKERLYC" AND "EVERYMAN" 
 
 translated into English, and this became the reason 
 why among the philologists in the nineteenth century, 
 who studied the history of this play, the question 
 arose whether the Dutch or the English version was 
 the original. For several years it was a very spirited 
 controversy between the philologists in the Nether- 
 lands. Prof. Moltzer and later De Raef, Prof. Loge- 
 man, Pollard and Kalfr", maintained from the begin- 
 ning the priority of the Dutch play. But other men 
 of good fame, as Prof. Cozyn, Van Helten, Te Winkel 
 and De Hoog defended the priority of the English 
 version. At present the question can be considered 
 as decided. The elaborate researches of Prof. Loge- 
 man 1 of Ghent and the last studies on this subject 
 of Prof. J. M. Monly 2 and Prof. Francis A. Wood, 3 
 at the University of Chicago, have left no room for 
 any further doubt about the priority of the Dutch 
 play. According to Prof. Manly, the arguments of 
 Prof. Logeman in 1902 were "enough, indeed, in my 
 opinion, to settle the question of priority definitely 
 and finally," but "unfortunately, as it seems to me, 
 Professor Logeman, in his attempt at an entirely ob- 
 jective treatment, has buried his decisive arguments 
 under a mass of interesting, but indecisive and some- 
 times erroneous discussions ; and this is the reason 
 why his pamphlet was not recognized as containing 
 the final words on the subject." Although decided 
 by Prof. Logeman in 1902, the researches of Prof. 
 Wood on this question are entirely independent of 
 those of Logeman, for "the main evidence here pre- 
 sented is of a different character" from that of Prof. 
 Logeman, and the conclusion of Prof. Wood is as 
 
 1 H. Logeman, Elckerlyc, Everyman, De vraag naar de Prioriteit, 
 opnieuw onderzocht. Gand., 1902. 
 
 2 In Modern Philology, October, 1910. 
 
 3 In Modern Philology, October, 1910. 
 
"ELGKERLYC" AND "EVERYMAN" 163 
 
 follows: "In conclusion it may be said that, though 
 Everyman in one or two instances may have improved 
 on the original, Elckerlyc, as a whole, is artistically 
 superior. With the exception of a very few passages 
 where the text is evidently corrupt, Elckerlyc is writ- 
 ten in fairly good language and meter. It is theolog- 
 ically correct and remarkably consistent and logical. 
 It must have been the product of a trained mind. On 
 the other hand, Everyman is faulty in language and 
 meter, wrong in theology, inapt in its biblical allu- 
 sions, full of inconsistencies, and betrays on every 
 page the hand of an unskilled workman who was not 
 even capable of making a good translation." 
 
 At this conclusion we are not surprised. If two 
 plays so much alike in subject and contents, in Eng- 
 lish and in Dutch, were written during the rQth cen- 
 tury, we should presume the Dutch to be probably 
 a translation from the English, or at least we should 
 not be surprised if this was proved to be the fact. 
 But at the end of the I5th century we feel inclined 
 in such cases to presume the priority of the Dutch, 
 in accordance with the general conditions of those 
 countries during that period of the world's history. 
 Exceptions to this general rule, of course, are pos- 
 sible, and do exist; but in this case we have only an- 
 other example of Holland's influence on English lit- 
 erature at the end of the I5th century, just the same 
 as in the case of Caxton. Not a Dutch Caxton 
 learned book printing in England, but an English- 
 man Caxton learned book printing in the Netherlands 
 to introduce it into England. In the same way, an 
 Englishman, although hardly able to do this work, 
 translated the famous masterpiece of Pieter Dorland 
 to introduce it into England. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 ON DESIDERIUS ERASMUS, 1467-1536 
 
 If there is any son of the Dutch nation whose 
 name is familiar to the English people, and whose 
 works have been read during four centuries by every- 
 body in the highest circles of English society, it is 
 Desiderius Erasmus. Not only because he had his 
 pupils among the sons of the English aristocracy, not 
 only because he was the intimate friend of Thomas 
 Moore, but because of his Christian humanism, his 
 high erudition and marvelous learning, his fine humor 
 and criticism, attacking every kind of corruption and 
 yet avoiding martyrdom, the entertaining style of his 
 letters and books this altogether has given to Eras- 
 mus that popularity among the higher classes of Eng- 
 lish society, which even after four hundred years has 
 never ceased to accompany his familiar name. The 
 young English nobleman, Lord Mount joy, knew what 
 he did, when, in the year 1497, he invited Erasmus, 
 his tutor in Paris, to England, in order to bless his 
 friends and his country with the wonderful learning 
 and with the entertaining conversation of this broad- 
 minded scholar, whose amiable humor and universal 
 criticism, perhaps in no country was needed and ap- 
 preciated as much as in England at the end of the 
 1 5th century. 
 
 The influence of Erasmus was a European one. 
 His life was an international life : his works were 
 printed and read in nearly every country, and his 
 
 164 
 
DESIDERWS ERASMUS 165 
 
 name was known even in the remotest corners of 
 Christianity. And yet, his relation to England is a 
 peculiar one, neither to be exaggerated nor to be un- 
 derestimated. 
 
 Born at Rotterdam in the year 1467, he was edu- 
 cated in the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands 
 till the twenty-seventh year of his life. Then there 
 follow twenty years (1494-1519) in which we find 
 him in France, in the Southern Netherlands (the only 
 country where he had for years his own house at 
 Louvain), in England, and in Italy. And finally the 
 third period of his life (1519-1536) in which he set- 
 tled at Basel as editor in connection with the Froben- 
 press till the death of his friend Froben, after which 
 he retired to Freiburg in Breisgau, to stay there for 
 seven years. In 1535 he returned to Basel, where he 
 died the next year. 
 
 It was during the second period of his life (1497- 
 1519) that he visited England, according to one of 
 his biographers, Drummond, 1 four times ; according 
 to Nichols, 2 the editor of a part of his letters, six 
 times. According to his correspondence, as published 
 by Nichols, Erasmus was in England, first, from May, 
 1499, to January, 1500 (six months) ; second, from 
 April, 1505, to June, 1506 (fourteen months) ; third, 
 from July, 1509, to July, 1514 (five years) ; fourth, 
 from March, 1515, to June, 1515 (three months) ; 
 fifth, in August, 1516; sixth, in April, 1517; alto- 
 gether nearly seven years, which was a tenth part of 
 his whole life. 
 
 His personal influence with the most learned men 
 of all Europe is evident from his letters published as 
 
 1 R. B. Drummond, Erasmus. His Life and Character. 2 vols. 
 London, 1873. 
 
 2 Francis Morgan Nichols, The Epistles of Erasmus, from his earliest 
 letters to his fifty-first year. English translations, 2 vols. London, 1904. 
 
1G6 DESIDERIVS ERASMUS 
 
 Vols. IV and V of the edition of Erasmus' works in 
 ten volumes in 1703 at Ley den, a part of which now 
 have been translated and published by Nichols in two 
 volumes. In the personal influence of Erasmus, Eng- 
 land had a good share, since his most intimate friend 
 was Thomas More (1478-1535) whom he himself 
 called "a friend dearer to me than all besides." It 
 was Thomas More who advised Erasmus to write his 
 "Praise of Folly," and it is said that Erasmus wrote 
 this famous book from his note-book in one week 
 at the house of More. To stay in the home of More, 
 in the midst of this delightful family, where the old- 
 est daughter, Margaret they called her "Mek" 
 was, for instance, so well educated that she knew the 
 Greek and the Latin languages very well, must have 
 been for Erasmus very pleasant and interesting. Some 
 of the best information about Thomas More we have 
 from Erasmus. He tells us that More published his 
 "Utopia" to point out the circumstances which dimin- 
 ish the happiness of states in general, but the British 
 he chiefly had in view, the constitution of which he 
 knows and understands thoroughly. The second book 
 had been written some time during his leisure he 
 afterwards, as occasion served, wrote the first off- 
 hand. Hence there is some inequality of style." 1 
 Erasmus himself took 'care of the printing of More's 
 Utopia. The close connection of Erasmus with More, 
 with Colet, with the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, and with many other prominent men in Eng- 
 land, have made his life most interesting for the 
 study of English history. His longest abode in Eng- 
 land, 1509-1514, was at the time when Henry VIII 
 
 1 See Retrospective Review, Vol. V, 1822, p. 257, article on the 
 Letters of Erasmus. In the edition of 1703 this quotation is to be found 
 in an elaborate letter of Erasmus to Ulrich von Hutten on Thomas 
 More, dated, Antwerp, July 23, 1519. Vol. Ill, p. 472-477. 
 
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS 167 
 
 came to the throne, and began to act as a pro- 
 tector of sciences and arts. How little could Erasmus 
 imagine at that time that twenty-five years later, in 
 1535, the message would reach him that his dearest 
 friend, More, was put to death by the same monarch, 
 and his head exposed on London bridge. Erasmus' 
 personal influence on More, who was eleven years his 
 junior, and on all the learned men in England with 
 whom he came in contact, can hardly be overesti- 
 mated. He was to them a living dictionary for all 
 kinds of civilization and learning which existed in 
 the 'great centers of the European continent, a civili- 
 zation which at that time was in many respects ahead 
 of that in England. From his letters we know how 
 he gave advice about nearly everything. He even 
 gave them advice how to get rid of their manifold 
 diseases, such as the plague, by cleaning their houses 
 and building them in a more sanitary way. This ad- 
 vice, given to the physician of Cardinal Wolsey, is 
 for us the more remarkable because he describes in it 
 the condition of the houses in which the upper classes 
 in England lived at that time, and the more trust- 
 worthy because he wrote this to a man who knew 
 all about it. 1 The editor of the Retrospective Review, 
 in Vol. V, 1822, p. 250, gives a translation of this 
 letter, and probably because he did not like this de- 
 scription of the English houses translated it incor- 
 rectly. Erasmus tells among other things that the 
 floors of the houses generally were of clay and covered 
 with rushes, which were so seldom renewed that the 
 covering sometimes remained twenty years, conceal- 
 
 1 This letter is to be found in Tom., Ill, p. 1815, as Epistola 432 of 
 the Appendix, Ed., Leyden, 1703. This edition of Erasmus' works is in 
 ip volumes, of which vols. Ill and IV contain the correspondence 
 giving at first 1298 letters from and to Erasmus, and furthermore an 
 Appendix containing 517 letters. At the end we find a careful index of 
 names and one of subjects. 
 
168 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS 
 
 ing beneath a mass of all descriptions of filth and 
 other abominations not fit to mention. In translating 
 this part, the poor zealot of English patriotism ren- 
 ders in this way: "The streets are generally cov- 
 ered," etc., which, of course, gives no sense at all in 
 this connection. 1 If used in such a way, even the best 
 sources for the truth of history lose their value. In 
 connection with this description, and advice of Eras- 
 mus, F. M. Nichols, in his translation of a part of 
 Erasmus' letters says: "And the accounts published 
 in the abstracts of state papers show with how little 
 comfort the highest personages were compelled to be 
 content within royal palaces. A pallet for my lord 
 marquis' bed and rushes for my lord's chamber are 
 supplemented with an ounce of clover to make per- 
 fume to overcome the evil odors. We may imagine 
 how my lord's numerous gentlemen and servants were 
 lodged." 2 
 
 Quite another advice than that to clean the houses, 
 and to build them in a more sanitary way, was that 
 which Erasmus gave to his friend, Faustus Andreli- 
 nus, poet laureate, who lived in France for his health, 
 and whom Erasmus advised to come to England for 
 a reason which we hardly should expect from a man 
 who remained a bachelor for all his life. At that 
 time Erasmus himself was only thirty-two years of 
 age, and he himself was for the first time in England. 
 Invited by his pupil, Lord Mount joy, it seems that he 
 had a very good time, and so he wrote to his friend : 
 "If you knew well the advantages of Britain, truly 
 you would hasten hither with wings to your feet, and 
 
 1 Erasmus wrote literally this: "Turn sola fere strata sunt argilla, 
 turn scirpis palustribus, qui subinde sic renovantur, ut fundamentum 
 maneat aliquoties annos viginti, sub se fovens sputa, vomitus, mictum 
 canum et huminum, projectam cervisiam, et piscium reliquias, aliasque 
 sordes non nominanda." Appendix Epistola, 432, p. 1815. Opera, Tomus, 
 III, ed. 1703. Leyden. 
 
 2 F. M. Nichols, Epistles of Erasmus, II, p. 44. 
 
AVAGO- ERASMJ-ROTERODA 
 
 AM AR ALBERTO DVREROAD j 
 VIVA AY- EFFiGiEAVDELINlATA-1 
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 
 Kopergravure naar en dooi Albert Diirer 
 
DESIDERWS ERASMUS 169 
 
 if your gout would not permit, you would wish you 
 possessed the art of Daedalus. For just to touch on 
 one thing out of many, here there are lasses with 
 heavenly faces, kind, obliging; and you would far 
 prefer them to all your muses. There is, besides, a 
 practice never to be sufficiently commended. If you 
 go to any place, you are received with a kiss by all; 
 if you depart on a journey you are dismissed with a 
 kiss; you return, kisses are exchanged; they come to 
 visit you, a kiss the first thing; they leave you, you 
 kiss them all round ; do they meet you anywhere ? 
 kisses in abundance lastly, wherever you move, 
 there is nothing but kisses. And if you, Faustus, had 
 but once tasted them, how soft they are, how fra- 
 grant, on my honour you would wish not to reside 
 here for ten years only, but to take up your abode in 
 England for life." 1 Hundreds are the subjects treated 
 in the letters of Erasmus showing the abundance of 
 his knowledge, and the most interesting way he uses 
 it. It is a delight just to look through the beautiful 
 index of subjects in the edition of 1703 of Erasmus' 
 works and the man who made that index must have 
 known more about Erasmus than most of his biogra- 
 phers. From his correspondence we may deduce the 
 character of his conversation, and it is clear that his 
 personal influence, by his letters as well as by his 
 conversation, must have been remarkable. 
 
 Not less than his personal influence was that of 
 his writings. This is evident to everybody who looks 
 at the many editions of his most famous books, as the 
 Adages, the Praise of Folly and the Colloquies. In 
 the bibliography of Erasmus, called Bibliotheca Eras- 
 miana, published in seven volumes by the University 
 of Ghent, there are mentioned 258 editions of the 
 
 1 Epistola, 65. p. 55. Opera Tom., Ill, Ed. 1703. The translation of 
 this letter is in Retrospective Revieiv, vol. V, p. 251. 
 
170 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS 
 
 Adages and of parts of it, 247 editions of the Praise 
 of Folly and 483 editions of the Colloquies and of 
 parts of it. Many of these editions are, of course, in 
 the original Latin, in which Erasmus wrote them, 
 and in which they were spread all over Europe. But 
 translations soon followed, and the 247 editions of 
 the Praise of Folly are divided as follows : Latin 99, 
 French 55, Dutch 32, English 22, German 21, Italian 
 14, Spanish i, Swedish I, Danish i, Hungarian i. 
 The first Latin edition is of the year 1511 at Paris; 
 the first English of 1549; the first Dutch of 1560; the 
 first German of 1520, and the first French of 1520. 
 
 The first edition of the Adages is of the year 
 1500 at Paris; the first English translation of 1539 
 at London; the first German of 1539; the first Dutch 
 of 1556. The first edition contained only 400 
 proverbs, some of the later editions more than 4,000. 
 
 The first edition of the Colloquies is of the year 
 1518 at Basel, but the translations of this work fol- 
 lowed much later; the first of the 61 French editions 
 is of the year 1720; the first of the 16 Dutch ones of 
 1610; the first of the 38 German ones of 1683; the 
 first of the 48 English ones of 1671 ; two Greek 
 editions were of the years 1566 and 1567 at Ant- 
 werp; one in Russian and Dutch of the year 1716; 
 the first of the seven Italian editions is of 1545; the 
 first of the seven Spanish ones of 1529 at Sevilla. 
 
 These lists of editions tell more than volumes 
 about Erasmus' influence. 
 
 And even some of the much less known works of 
 Erasmus, as for instance his Apophthegmata, or as 
 they are called in English the "Apophtegmes, that 
 is to saie prompte, quicke, wittie and sentencious 
 saiynges of certain emperours, kynges, capitaines, phi- 
 losophers" have been published in a great number of 
 
DESIDERWS ERASMUS 171 
 
 editions. The bibliography of Erasmus, referred to 
 above, mentions 98 editions of the Apophtegmes; 68 
 in Latin, of which the first is in the year 1531 ; 4 in 
 English, of which the first is in 1542; 22 in French, 
 of which the first is in 1539; one in Italian, in 1546; 
 two in Spanish, both in 1549; and one in Dutch in the 
 year 1672. 
 
 To investigate the reasons why these works were 
 translated so many years earlier in one country than 
 in another would take too long a time for the present 
 purpose. It is also a difficult question why so many 
 more editions appeared in one country than in an- 
 other. In the investigation of these questions there 
 is still room, for some doctoral theses. In Holland, 
 for instance, they did not need translations because 
 the majority of the readers of Erasmus' works pre- 
 ferred the Latin original. 
 
 His influence on England, and consequently on the 
 English literature by his conversation and his corre- 
 spondence, as well as by his works, has been a three- 
 fold one : First, in bringing the best educated circles 
 in England more closely into contact with the civili- 
 zation of the continent; secondly, by fostering the 
 study of the Roman and Greek literature with all its 
 treasures of human knowledge and wisdom of life ; 
 and in the third place, by his criticism, in humor and 
 in satire, of the corruption, the ignorance and the 
 stupidity of the kings and nobles, clergymen and 
 monks of his time. 
 
 This influence forms an antithesis to that of 
 Thomas a Kempis, and the mystic movement of which 
 he was the representative, because Erasmus, although 
 a pious and true Christian, laid more stress on higher 
 intellectual education than on quiet devotion. 
 
 And, finally, his influence was quite another than 
 
172 DESIDERWS ERASMUS 
 
 that of Luther, Calvin and Knox, because he looked 
 at the corruption and the depravity of his time with 
 another eye than the great Reformers. The Reform- 
 ers looked at corruption as did the prophets and 
 Apostles from the guilty side of sin and depravity; 
 it aroused their indignation ; they preached conver- 
 sion, and humiliation before God ; and their theme 
 was the duty of all creatures to glorify God. Erasmus 
 looked at corruption and depravity from the side 
 of its stupidity, its helplessness, its natural conse- 
 quences, and it aroused his humor and his satire ; his 
 preaching was against the foolishness of sin ; and his 
 aim was more at morality than at religion ; more at 
 a humanistic reform than at a religious reformation. 
 His eye was more on the innumerable relations be- 
 tween man and man in human society, than on the 
 depths of the human heart, facing his relation to 
 Almighty God. 
 
 How far he introduced his manifold knowledge of 
 Greece and Rome, his humor and his satire into Eng- 
 lish literature, we can only presume or conjecture in 
 a general way, and the investigation of this question 
 we must leave to monographs on the subject, for 
 which there is abundant room. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE FIRST ENGLISH BOOK ON AMERICA A TRANSLA- 
 TION FROM THE DUTCH 
 
 More than one printer at Antwerp in the begin- 
 ning of the i6th century published English books, 
 and found a market in England, where book printing 
 still was in the period of its first beginning. We 
 know, for instance, that Gerard Leeu, who first had a 
 printing office at Gonda, later came to Antwerp and 
 printed some English books, and that the well-known 
 printer, Jan van Doesburgh, at Antwerp, printed 
 "The fifteen Tokens" in 1505; "A Gest of Robin 
 Hode" in 1515; "The life of Virgilius" in 1520, and 
 "The Story of Mary van Nymwegen" in 1520. 
 
 One of the pupils of this Jan van Doesburgh was 
 Laurent Andrewe, who, after having', like Caxton, 
 learned book printing in the Netherlands, settled in 
 the year 1527 at London. During his abode in the 
 Netherlands he had learned the Dutch language, and 
 so he was able to translate some books from the 
 Dutch into the English, translations which he then 
 printed and published. So he published, as a transla- 
 tion from the Dutch, a little book entitled : "The Val- 
 uation of Gold and Silver," and another entitled: 
 "The Art and Craft to know well to die." But the 
 best known of all these translations is that of the 
 Dutch book: "Die Reise van Lissabone," published in 
 1508, which he translated in 1520 and published with 
 
 173 
 
174 FIRST ENGLISH BOOK ON AMERICA 
 
 the title : "Of the New Landes." This was the first 
 English book on America. 1 
 
 This simple fact would be, of course, more curi- 
 ous than important, if it stood alone. But it does not 
 stand alone. It is just one of the single stones which 
 together form a building. A good architect does not 
 fix his eyes on only one stone at a time, afterwards 
 on another, and then on a third and a fourth, but his 
 mind takes them all together, connected and well- 
 placed, so as to form a building in which every one 
 of them has its proper place. So everybody who is 
 not blinded by ignorance and prejudice against the 
 Netherlands, and who honestly seeks the truth of his- 
 tory in order to have, in this case, the right idea of 
 Holland's influence on English language and Litera- 
 ture, will do as the good architect does. He takes 
 all the facts together and in connection with each 
 other, and then he is able to see what he was looking 
 for. He sees something which touches the world's 
 history, taking, as a rule, its course from East to 
 West, and so from the Netherlands to England, 
 especially in those centuries, in which from 1400 till 
 1700, we can say that the headquarters of the World's 
 History are in the Low Countries. And once arrived 
 at that point of view, he understands the story of the 
 traveller who took with him from a foreign country 
 one single stone of an old building, famous in history. 
 To him that one stone spoke more than volumes. The 
 case is same with the one single fact that the first Eng- 
 lish book on America was a translation from the Dutch. 
 How was that possible? There must be something 
 behind that isolated fact. Yes, there is behind that 
 fact the earlier development, and the superior civili- 
 
 De Hoog, Studien, II, 34. 
 
FIRST ENGLISH BOOK ON AMERICA 175 
 
 zation in the Netherlands during the I5th and i6th 
 centuries. A part of the world's history, and a very 
 interesting part, the beginning of modern history and 
 of nearly all the good ideas of our modern times, is 
 behind this simple fact. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 DUTCH LEGENDS IN ENGLAND 
 
 Although in the middle ages legends were very 
 numerous in the Netherlands, yet in the last part of 
 the middle ages and in the beginning of modern his- 
 tory, the time in which Holland played its great part 
 in the world's history, legends lost their general in- 
 terest. The mass of the people did not look at 
 legends from their literary side, but turned away from 
 them as from popish superstitions. The great prob- 
 lems of reform in church, in state and in society got 
 hold of the heart and of the intellect. The struggle 
 for liberty from feudal oppression and from ecclesias- 
 tical persecution, in which so many thousands sac- 
 rificed their lives, made them lose sympathy for the 
 legendary stories of the mediaeval church and only 
 in those parts of the country where Catholicism re- 
 mained intact and undisputed did legends retain their 
 popularity. 
 
 Yet, with the "popish superstitions" the funda- 
 mental dogmas of Christianity were not abandoned, 
 but rather restored to their full power. The sturdy 
 men and women of the sixteenth century believed in 
 the fall of man, in the perverseness of human nature, 
 in the reality of the devil, and in a world of evil spir- 
 its who influenced human affairs, in regeneration and 
 conversion by confession of sin, and in reconciliation 
 with their heavenly Father by the sufferings and 
 death of Christ. Yet the imagination of the people 
 
 176 
 
DUTCH LEGENDS IN ENGLAND 177 
 
 produced some new legends of a peculiar character, 
 although these few legends originated in the Roman 
 Catholic parts of the country, and showed some 
 Catholic ideas. We have at least one, which was 
 printed in several editions, of which that of 1608 was 
 entitled: "Een schoone Historic ende een zeer won- 
 derlyke ende waerachtige geschiedenis van Marike 
 van Nimwegen, hoe zy meer dan seven jaren met den 
 Duyvel woonde en leefde" (A beautiful story and 
 very miraculous and true narrative of Mary of Nim- 
 wegen; how she lived with the Devil for more than 
 seven years). 
 
 As early as the year 1520, after one of the first 
 Dutch editions, an English translation of this legend 
 was printed by Jan van Doesburgh at Antwerp. 
 
 The heroine of this story is Mary, the niece of a 
 priest, who once sent her to Nimwegen to shop. Sur- 
 prised by the approach of evening, she tried to stay 
 over night with her aunt. But this termagant woman 
 refused to let her stay, and chased her out of her 
 house. In the middle of the night Mary was seduced 
 by the Devil Moenen (Daemon), who promised to 
 teach her the seven arts. With him she travelled to 
 Bois la Due and Antwerp and lived for seven years 
 a life of vice. Finally she repented, and tried to flee 
 from the Devil, but he grasped her, took her with 
 him high in the air, and threw her down on the earth, 
 but the holy Virgin saved her life. She was received 
 by her uncle, the priest, and died after many deeds 
 of repentance in a monastery at Mastricht. 1 
 
 It is quite possible that more such stories writ- 
 ten in the Netherlands, might have been translated 
 into English, and so have become part of English lit- 
 erature. Further investigation might reve'al new re- 
 lationships. 
 
 i W. de Hoog, Studien, II, 34. 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 JEST BOOKS AND ANECDOTES (FOOL-LITERATURE) 
 HOWLEGLASS (ULENSPIEGEL) 
 
 Jest books and anecdotes have played a remark- 
 able part in the literature of the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries. In his "Studies on the literary rela- 
 tions between England and Germany," Charles H. 
 Herford has a very interesting chapter on the sub- 
 ject. In this chapter he shows how the stimulus for 
 this "fool-literature" of jests and anecdotes came from 
 the Italian Renaissance; how from Italy this move- 
 ment went to Germany, from Germany to the Nether- 
 lands, and how the most famous jest books were 
 translated from the Dutch into French as well as 
 into English, and finally how in England and Scot- 
 land this kind of book was looked at. 
 
 The humanistic movement of the Renaissance 
 opened not only the stores of all the wit and humor, 
 the satires, the jests and the anecdotes of the Greek 
 and Roman literature, but was as well the stimulus 
 for literary men in western Europe to enrich their 
 literature with the stories that lived among the peo- 
 ple and with the jokes and anecdotes that were retold 
 from generation to generation. 
 
 During the late mediaeval time certain typical fig- 
 ures, often a priest or a monk, became the protagonists 
 of these anecdotes. In the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries, when democracy arose, when free 
 cities grew rapidly in population and in wealth, and 
 
 178 
 
JEST BOOKS AND ANECDOTES 179 
 
 when all kind's of industry were rising, it was espe- 
 cially the class distinction which became the inex- 
 haustible source of jests and anecdotes. A school 
 teacher, a village preacher, a tailor, an innkeeper, a 
 shoemaker or a blacksmith, a peasant, a miller or a 
 barber, were alternately made the butts of popular 
 wit, while the hero of many stories of that kind was 
 often one or the other popular citizen who had got 
 some reputation for wit amongst his fellow citizens. 
 Among those personalities, around whose names have 
 been collected a large number of jokes and anecdotes, 
 written down in special books by which they got an 
 immortality of their own, there are in Germany, for 
 instance, Amis, the Kalemberger, Rausch, Markoff 
 and Ulenspiegel, especially the last. 
 
 "Amis is the German counterpart of the Abbot 
 of Canterbury ; the Kalemberger is the facetious parish 
 priest, who outwits his parishioners, makes game of 
 his bishop, and extracts unintended bounties from his 
 patron ; Rausch, the young novice in the convent, who 
 lays traps for the friar and the cook; Markhoff, the 
 foul but witty boor, who paralyzes the wisdom of 
 Solomon with keen rejoinders, and his modesty with 
 the tricks of an unclean animal ; Ulenspiegcl, the 
 knavish peasant who retaliates on the haughty citi- 
 zens with strokes in which the literature of the 
 "Swank" probably reaches its acme of fatuous inso- 
 lence. In these homely, yet vivid figures, and par- 
 ticularly in Ulenspiegel, the best known and the most 
 purely national of all, the low life of the later Middle 
 Ages in Germany lives before us; we hurry to and 
 fro between tavern and workshop, highway and mar- 
 ket-place, stable and scullery. Every line of Ulen- 
 spiegel vividly records the essential qualities of the 
 society which made a hero of him ; its gross appe- 
 
180 JEST BOOKS AND ANECDOTES 
 
 tites, its intellectual insensibility, its phlegmatic good 
 humour, its boisterous delight in all forms of physical 
 energy and physical prowess, its inexhaustible inter- 
 est in the daily events of the bodily life, and the 
 stoutness of nerve which permitted it to find up- 
 roarous enjoyment in mere foulness of stench. The 
 whole interest of Ulenspiegel for us is social, not lit- 
 erary ; all his jests together would scarcely yield a 
 grain of Attic salt; we could not read the book but 
 for the light which it throws upon a society which 
 could and did." 1 
 
 "The first extant versions of Ulenspiegel, says 
 Herford, take us to Strassburg, where in 1515 the 
 earliest known editions, and in 1519 that till recently 
 regarded as such and attributed to Murner, were pub- 
 lished. From Strassburg it passed to Angsburg 
 (ed. 1540) and Erfurt (ed. 1532-38) and Northwards 
 to Cologne (Servais Kruffter's undated edition), 
 thence to Antwerp (undated ed. 1520-30) and from 
 Antwerp to Paris and London." 2 
 
 "The Antwerp edition a canto containing about 
 one-half the stories of the original was the basis of 
 the French version of 1532 and its successors, and of 
 the English version, printed probably between 1548 
 and 1560 by William Copland." 3 This English ver- 
 sion, translated from the Dutch, was entitled ''Howie- 
 glass Here beginneth a merye jest of a man called 
 Howleglass, and of many marvelous thinges and jestes 
 that he did in his lyffe." 
 
 It was therefore not the German but the Dutch 
 Ulenspiegel which was introduced into England, and 
 this Dutch version differed very much from the Ger- 
 
 1 Charles H. Herford, Studies in the literary relations of England 
 and Germany, Cambridge, 1886. 
 
 2 Ibid, 285. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
JEST BOOKS AND ANECDOTES 181 
 
 man, as far as many things were left out and one new 
 chapter brought in, viz., "How Howleglass answered 
 the man who asked him about the way." 1 ' Besides 
 this, the English version contained a chapter with 
 verses entitled "How Howleglass came to a scholar 
 to make verses with hym to the use of reason." 2 
 
 Neither in England nor in Scotland did the Ulen- 
 spiegel, under his new name of Howleglass, find sym- 
 pathy among the strong religious people of the 
 Protestants of that time. But at least in England, 
 under the reign of the not very religious Queen Eliz- 
 abeth, and under the merry-making Stuarts, existed 
 all the time a strong party, which was humanistic 
 rather than religious, in the eyes of which Howleglass 
 found more favor, so that, as Herford says, he "gravi- 
 tated at once to the class of native jesters," lost all 
 foreign associations, and became an inseparable mem- 
 ber of the Brotherhood of Scogins and Skeletons, 
 Robin Goodfellows and Robin Hoods, and his history 
 took its place in the library of Captain Cox, etc. 3 On 
 the contrary, in Scotland the name of Howleglass 
 "became a taunt, if not an insult, and was intruded 
 into the most acrid region of the polemical vocabu- 
 lary." 4 The land of John Knox seemed not to be the 
 best country for Howleglass. 
 
 1 In Dutch, Hoe UlcnspiegJiel an-worde eenen man die nae den week 
 vraghcde." Herford, p. 286. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid, 288. 
 
 4 Ibid, 287. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 HADRIANUS JUNIUS, 1511-1575 
 
 "Next to Erasmus, the most learned man in 
 Europe," that is what the well known philologist, 
 Lipsius of Leyden, said about Hadrianus Junius. 
 Another, viz., Lucas Fruterius, called him "seterni 
 felix successor Erasmi" (the happy successor of the 
 immortal Erasmus), and several others made a com- 
 parison between Junius and the great scholar of Rot- 
 terdam. Andj indeed, there is some reason for com- 
 paring these two great humanists of European fame. 
 They had in common (i) the same devotion to the 
 revival of Greek and Roman literature, (2) the same 
 attitude towards the religious movement of their time 
 in keeping themselves outside of the terrible struggle, 
 and (3) the same international life and international 
 significance in their work. 
 
 We know that Erasmus spent about seven years 
 in England. Junius as well strangely enough lived 
 about seven years in England, and dedicated some of 
 his works successively to King Edward VI, Queen 
 "Bloody Mary" and Queen Elizabeth. Was Erasmus 
 invited to England by one of his pupils, the young 
 Lord Mount joy, Junius was invited to Britain by 
 Bonerus, the Bishop of London. To Erasmus were 
 offered lucrative positions by several European 
 sovereigns and Prelates ; Junius was tutor to the son 
 of King Frederic II of Denmark; the University of 
 Rostock offered him a professorship, and the King 
 of Poland, as well as the King of Hungary, offered 
 him lucrative positions. Erasmus published numerous 
 
 182 
 
['{!i$WOTpfp'i!i,, 
 _.__.__ studio, fr 
 nuttc , fnrrzUs readita 
 
HADRIANUS JUNIUS 183 
 
 works to foster the revival of classic literature; 
 Junius' list of publications, among which we find a 
 great number of Greek and Latin authors, amounts 
 to the number of forty-two. A young man of twenty- 
 five years at the time when Erasmus died, the fame 
 of this great compatriot must have been a stimulus 
 for Junius to follow in his steps.' And although 
 Junius studied philosophy and medicine at the uni- 
 versity, and later, in order to make a living, always 
 practiced as a physician, yet he devoted the greater 
 part of his life to the study of languages and litera- 
 ture; all his books are on philological subjects; and 
 his European fame is that of a philologist. It often 
 happens in history that a man, after the short years 
 of his life in the University gets his degree in one 
 branch of knowledge, and later produces his best 
 works in another branch. The great philologist, 
 Franciscus Junius, the father of comparative philology 
 (not a relative of Hadrianus Junius), took his degree 
 in theology, and in our own time the Rev. W. W. 
 Skeat, although a clergyman, gave us the great ety- 
 mological dictionary of the English language. For the 
 real scholar it means little how he is labelled at the end 
 of his short college life. What distinguished Eras- 
 mus from Junius was ( i ) that none of the writings of 
 Junius, because of the special character of his work, 
 became as popular as the Praise of Folly and the 
 Colloquies, (2) that in Erasmus we find a decidedly 
 Christian humanism, while in Junius the humanist 
 stands so much in the foreground that the Christian 
 nearly disappears altogether. 
 
 Hadrianus Junius, whose original Dutch name was 
 Adriaen de Jongh, was born in the year 1511 at Hoorn, 
 one of the old cities on the Zuyder Sea, studied at 
 the Latin school at Haarlem, and later at the Uni- 
 
184 HADRIANUS JUNWS 
 
 versity of Louvain. At Lotivain he studied philoso- 
 phy and medicine, and after two years he went to 
 Germany and later to Italy, where in the year 1540, 
 at Bologna, he got the degree of Doctor of Philoso- 
 phy and Doctor of Medicine. From Italy he went to 
 Paris to take the courses of some famous professors 
 in medicine. 
 
 About the year 1543 the exact date is unknown 
 the Bishop of London, Edmund Bonner, invited him 
 to cross the Channel and to live in England. Soon 
 afterwards Junius became the family physician of the 
 Duke of Norfolk at Kenninghall, near Norwich, and 
 at the same time the tutor of the Duke's son. In 
 1547, however, his protector fell into disgrace with 
 King Henry VIII, and was beheaded, and Junius lost 
 not only his office but also the property, including 
 books and manuscripts, which he had with him. After 
 this disaster, he became the physician of a noble lady, 
 and we know that at that time he was much esteemed 
 both as a physician and as a scholar, for he received 
 several calls. To the new King, Edward VI (1557- 
 1553), he dedicated his Lexicon Grccco-Latinum, and 
 this lexicon was one of Junius' most important works, 
 which made his name immortal in the field of lexicog- 
 raphy. He added more than six thousand words to 
 the best Greek dictionary existing at that time. What 
 that meant for the study and the fostering of Greek 
 literature everybody can easily understand. But now 
 his heart was longing for his native country, and after 
 an abode of more than six years in England, he went 
 back to Holland, probably in the year 1550. Four 
 years later we find him again in England, under the 
 reign of Bloody Mary (1553-1558), and after this 
 queen married Philip II of Spain, Junius wrote a 
 poem entitled "Philip pels sive EpithalaniiuM in 
 
HADRIANUS JUNIUS 185 
 
 Philip pi ct Mar iff nnptias, which was printed at Lon- 
 don in 1554, and dedicated to Queen Mary and Philip. 
 Several years later in the year 1568, Junius was in 
 England for the third time, now dedicating one of 
 his works, entitled Eunapius Sardianus, printed at 
 Antwerp, to Queen Elizabeth (1550-1603). 
 
 The rest of his life Junius spent in the Nether- 
 lands, first as physician and as rector of the Latin 
 school at Haarlem, later as historiographer of the 
 States of Holland. In this capacity he wrote his 
 "Batavia," or a history of Holland and its cities. In 
 this book he gives his well-known narrative of the 
 invention of book printing by Koster at Haarlem, a 
 narrative which since that time has been one of the 
 arguments in favor of Koster and against Gutenberg 
 of Maintz as the inventor of printing. 
 
 During the siege of Haarlem in 1573, Junius was 
 present, but he fled in time to Delft to assist Prince 
 William, the Silent, as physician. Nearly all his 
 books and manuscripts, however, were destroyed by 
 the Spaniards after the surrender of Haarlem. 
 
 The next year, 1574, after the conquest of Mid- 
 delburg by the sea-beggars of the Prince, Junius, on 
 the recommendation of the Prince, was made physi- 
 cian of that city, but the next year, 1575, he died, and 
 was buried in the great church, where a monument 
 indicates the place of his grave. 
 
 A biography of Junius was written by P. Schel- 
 tema "Diatribe in Hadriani Junii vitam, ingeninm, 
 familiam, merita liter aria. Amsterdam, 1836. One 
 of the best articles on Junius is that of A. G. Hoff- 
 man in Ersch und Gruber. A list of the works of 
 Junius is given in the Dutch Biographical Dictionary 
 of Van der Aa, containing not less than forty-two 
 titles, all written in Latin. A great number of his 
 
186 HADRIANUS JUNIUS 
 
 works are editions and commentaries of Greek and 
 Latin authors, among whom we find Seneca, Homer, 
 Juvenalis, Horatius, Virgilius, Martialis, Plautus and 
 Plinius. Very few of his works, except the "Batavia" 
 and the "Emblemata," were translated into Dutch. 
 The Emblems were translated also into French. One 
 of his most important works in the field of Lexicog- 
 raphy was his ^Nomenclator omnium rerum propria 
 nomina variis linguis explicata indicans." Antwerp, 
 1567. This work was often reprinted, and -in 1585, 
 in London, was published an English edition, with the 
 title "The Nomenclator or Remembrancer of Adrianus 
 Junius, Physician, divided in two tomes, containing 
 proper names and apt termes for all things under their 
 convenient titles, which within a few leaves do follow. 
 Written by the said Adr. Jun., in Latine, Greeke, 
 French and other foreign tongues, and now in Eng- 
 lish by John Higins with a full supplie of all such 
 words as the last enlarged edition afforded." 1 
 
 As a poet, he is known for several poems in Latin, 
 brought together long after his death in one volume, 
 as "Poematum liber primus," in 1598. 
 
 Continuing the work of Erasmus, he published 
 "Adagiorum ab Erasmo omissorum centuries octo cum 
 dimidia," Basel 1558; reprinted in 1598. 
 
 His influence in introducing the riches of Greek 
 and Roman literature into the national literature of 
 several countries, and in fostering the study of Greek 
 and Latin, has been appreciated by the best philologists 
 from his time till the present day. And not the least 
 part of that influence he exerted in England, where 
 during seven years the circles of the higher class at 
 London and at Norwich enjoyed the privilege of his 
 personal acquaintance and conversation. 
 
 1 The "Nomenclator" has been reprinted at least in ten editions: 
 in 1557. 1567, 1576, 1596 at Antwerp, in 1590 at Frankfort, in 1606 at 
 Paris, also a French translation in 1606, in 1611 and 1619 at Geneve, in 
 1671 at Bois le due, in 1585 at London. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLE PRINTED AT 
 ANTWERP, 1527-1535, AS A MISSIONARY WORK OF 
 THE DUTCH. MILES COVERDALE IN THE SERVICE 
 OF JACOB VAN METEREN. 
 
 The church of the Middle Ages did not give the 
 bible into the hands of every man. The rhymed-bible 
 of Jacob van Maerlant in the Dutch language, and 
 hundred years later the bible of Wicliff in English, 
 began a new movement, and the written copies of 
 these translations came into many hands, but into the 
 reach of the great mass of people the bible came first 
 after the invention of printing, when it was translated 
 and printed in English, Dutch, French, German and 
 other languages. Since that time the printed bible in 
 the vernacular of the people has had an influence on 
 the language and the literature of every Protestant 
 nation, which hardly can be overestimated. The 
 language, the expressions, the stories, the style of the 
 bible became part of the life and the thought of the 
 people, and got a place in the very heart of the 
 nations. The bible became an important element in 
 the development of language and the literature. 
 Therefore, the translation and printing of the bible 
 has been in the history of every nation an event of 
 importance to its language and its literature. 
 
 In the Netherlands, the first complete bible in the 
 Dutch language was that of Liesveld, printed at Ant- 
 
 187 
 
188 FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLE 
 
 werp in the year 1526. Luther's bible in the German 
 language was completed and printed at first in 1534. 
 And the first English bible, commonly called the bible 
 of Coverdale, was translated and printed during the 
 years 1527-1535, and consequently published in 1535. 
 
 It was in the Netherlands that this first bible in the 
 English language was translated, printed and given 
 to the English nation. A wealthy merchant at Ant- 
 werp called Jacob van Meteren, the father of the 
 famous historian Immanuel van Meteren, came often 
 to London, and, being a zealous and pious Protestant, 
 wished to do something for the Kingdom of Christ 
 among the English people. Therefore, he took into 
 his service a learned Englishman by the name of Miles 
 Coverdale, who, at that time, happened to be at Ant- 
 werp, in order that Coverdale should translate the 
 bible into English. Van Meteren did not ask a. trans- 
 lation from the original Hebrew and Greek languages 
 of the Old and New Testament, for which work cer- 
 tainly Coverdale would not have been the right man, 
 but the originals from which he had to translate, and 
 which he could use, were the Dutch version, and the 
 Latin, called the Vulgate, and, furthermore, Jacob 
 van Meteren paid all the expenses for having the 
 whole work printed. His purpose in this expensive 
 work was a missionary one, as he says "tot groote 
 bevordering van het Rycke Christi in Engelandt" (to 
 the great fostering of the Kingdom of Christ in 
 England). 
 
 Before the publishing of this "bible of Coverdale," 
 several parts of the bible had been printed, for 
 instance, in "The Golden Legend" of Caxton, and 
 some other parts, as the Pentateuch, and even the 
 New Testament of Tyndale, were printed in Germany, 
 
FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLE 189 
 
 But as a complete English bible, this work of Van 
 Meteren, and Coverdale was the first. About this 
 story of Van Meteren we read in the Encyclopaedia 
 Brittannica, "Mr. Henry Stevens has pointed out that 
 in a biographical notice of Immanuel van Meteren, ap- 
 pended to his history of Belgium by Simon Ruytinck, 
 the latter states that Jacob van Meteren, the father of 
 Immanuel, had manifested great zeal in producing at 
 Antwerp a translation of the bible into English "for 
 the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in Eng- 
 land, and for this purpose he employed a certain 
 learned scholar named Miles Coverdale." As Van 
 Meteren had been taught the art of printing in his 
 youth, it seems very probable that he exercised his 
 zeal in the matter by undertaking the cost of printing 
 the work as well as that of remunerating the trans- 
 lator. The woodcuts in Coverdale's bible, but not 
 the type, have been traced back to James Nicolson, 
 printer in St. Thomas' hospital in 1535, and Mr. 
 Stevens connects him with the book and with Van 
 Meteren in the following manner : "The London 
 book binders and stationers, finding the market filled 
 with foreign books, especially Testaments, made com- 
 plaint in 1533-34, and petitioned for relief; in conse- 
 quence of which a statute was passed compelling for- 
 eigners to sell their editions entire to some London 
 stationer, in sheets, so that the binders might not 
 suffer. This new law was to come into operation 
 about the beginning of 1535. In consequence of this 
 law, Jacob van Meteren, as his bible approached com- 
 pletion, was obliged to come to London to sell the 
 edition. We have reason to believe that he sold it 
 to James Nicolson of Southwark, who not only bought 
 the entire edition, but the woodcuts, and probably 
 the punches and type; but, if the latter, they were 
 
190 FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLE 
 
 doubtless lost in transmission as they have never 
 turned up in any shape since. All the copies of the 
 Coverdale bible in the original condition, as far as 
 we know, have appeared in English binding, thus con- 
 firming this law of 1534. (Caxton Celebration Catal, 
 p. 88-89). I* ^ now evident that Coverdale refers 
 partly, at least to Jacob van Meteren when he says in 
 his dedication : "Trusting in His infinite goodness that 
 He would bring my simple and rude labour herein to 
 good effect, therefore, as the Holy Ghost moved other 
 men, to do the cost hereof, so was I boldened in God 
 to labour in the same." "The discovery of Ruytinck's 
 statement seems to show conclusively that Coverdale 
 completed "his translation, after Wolsey's fall, at the 
 cost of Van Meteren, and at Antwerp instead of Cam- 
 bridge." "The first of all printed English bibles is 
 a small folio volume measuring n^4 by 8 inches, and 
 bears the title: "Biblia, The Bible, that is, the Holy 
 Scripture -of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully 
 and truly translated out of Douche (Dutch) and 
 Latyn into Englyshe MDXXXV," with the texts 2. 
 Thes. iii-i, Col. iii-i6, Josh, i-8 underneath. The 
 colophon is: Prynted in the yeare of our Lord 
 MDXXXV, and fynished the fourth daye of October." 
 The title page was, however, for some reason can- 
 celled immediately, and only one perfect copy of it is 
 known. The new title page with the same date, 1535, 
 merely says: "faythfully translated into Englyshe," 
 omitting the words "and truly" and "out of Douche 
 and Latyn." Encycl. Britt. in voce: English Bible. 
 The English publisher thought it unnecessary to 
 mention so exactly that this bible was translated from 
 the Dutch and the Latin, nor did he give a single 
 word to the real story of the translation. Appar- 
 ently he looked at the matter from the point of view 
 of a business man. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE EMBLEM BOOKS, VAN DER NOOT, ERASMUS, 
 HADRIANUS JUNIUS, WHITNEY, PLANTYN, JACOB 
 CATS. 
 
 The word "emblem," in Latin, "emblema," is from 
 the Greek verb, "emballein," to lay or throw in, and 
 so emblem means the representation of some idea, 
 thought or story; for instance, a crown is called the 
 emblem of royalty, the balance is the emblem of jus- 
 tice, a scepter the emblem of power. 
 
 Books containing nothing else but a number of 
 those emblems, illustrations, wood cuts or copper- 
 plates, with mottos at the head and an explanatory 
 poem underneath, became very popular in the six- 
 teenth century, and this is easily understood. The 
 Rennaissance brought the wisdom for life which was 
 found in the riches of Greek and Roman Literature, 
 not in a systematic and philosophical form the time 
 for a modern philosophy had not yet come, and the 
 philosophical system of the Reformation was too much 
 different from, and opposed to that of the classic 
 humanism but in the didactic form of adages, 
 proverbs, "dictes and sayings," or, however, they may 
 have been called. Caxton's first book, printed in Eng- 
 land, was the "dictes and sayinges;" Erasmus' 
 Adages, in the first edition containing only 800, grew 
 in the later editions to the number of 4,000; Hadri- 
 amus Junius, in his volume of Adages added to them 
 several hundreds not yet found in Erasmus. 
 
 As soon as the art of printing was advanced far 
 enough to reproduce illustrations ; painters and en- 
 
 191 
 
192 THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 
 
 gravers, pupils of the schools of Marc Antonio, 
 Albrecht Durer, Lucas van Leyden, found a new field 
 for their art in producing pictures with which the 
 printers might illustrate proverbs and adages; poets 
 then wrote their explanations in verses, and so the 
 emblems were born. What case-books are for the law 
 student today, the emblem-books were for general 
 education, and especially for the development of wis- 
 dom in life, during the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries. The luxurious editions of the best 
 authors, illustrated with the best pictures, and to be 
 found in the family library of all wealthy people are 
 today what the emblem books were during the first 
 centuries of modern history. And those whose re- 
 fined taste and spiritual aristocracy disliked the vul- 
 garity of the Howleglass (Ulenspiegel) literature, 
 found their full satisfaction in the luxury of emblem 
 books. The preyailing life system of the nations in 
 Europe was still that of the Christian Church, and 
 this system was soon explained more clearly, more 
 logically, and more elaborately by the Reformers than 
 ever before. For the foundations of this system as 
 a whole all the reviving literature of Greece and Rome 
 was of little or no value. But for the common wisdom 
 of daily human life, the heathen literature of Rome 
 and Greece produced a richness of scattered and sep- 
 arate proverbs and devices, adages and practical les- 
 sons, parables and stories, which the great mass of 
 the rising democracy enj../~d immensely. Even 
 Theodore Beza, the intimate frend and successor of 
 Calvin, saw this blessing which there was in the wis- 
 dom of the old classic world raid published his 'Tor- 
 traits and Emblems" in accordance with what people 
 needed and enjoyed along that line for their social 
 life. Soon the emblem-literature got an illustrious 
 
.VAN H. M.HEERN STATE!* VAN HOLLANT CVRAT.VAH LEYDS ACAJD. 
 
 id. ivaj, en u m&k-' v (M)af tck namadj ' 
 
 K bin, is 'wvwtr- tvtr, ^tfwf G^fF^wt^ 
 
 Excvorr 
 
 JACOB CATS. 
 Kopergravure dootl Michael Natalis naar P. Dubordieu. 
 
THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 193 
 
 name all over Europe. "With Andreas Alciatus," 
 says Green, 1 "in 1522, we may date the rise of the em- 
 blem-literature and its popularity ; with Paolo, Giovio, 
 Bocchius and Sambucus, its continuance ; with Jacob 
 Cats, its glory, that still shines and has lately been 
 renewed." 2 
 
 In England this emblem-literature was not less 
 popular than in the other parts of Europe, and, here 
 we find again the influence of Holland on English 
 literature. The first emblem-book in English was the 
 "Theatre of voluptuous worldlings," of Jan van Der 
 Noot, the Dutch nobleman, whose influence will be 
 treated more elaborately in connection with Spenser. 
 It seems that Henry Green, in his beautiful work on 
 Geffrey Whitney's "Choice of Emblemes," did not 
 know Van der Noot at all, probably because the ques- 
 tion Spenser- Van der Noot at that time was not yet 
 as prominent as in our present time. But other Eng- 
 lish authors, as for instance, Charles H. Herford, in 
 his Studies on the literary relations between Germany 
 and England (p. 369), recognizes as a mere matter of 
 fact that Van der Noot gave to England the first Eng- 
 lish emblem-book. 3 It was printed at London in the 
 year 1569. 
 
 One of the most famous English emblem-books, 
 however, is that of Geffrey Whitney, entitled "A 
 Choice of Emblemes" "and other devices for the moste 
 parte gathered out of sundrie writers Englished and 
 Moralized and divers newly devised," "Imprinted at 
 Leyden in the house of Christopher Plantyn, by 
 Francis Raphelengius, 1586." 
 
 This remarkable book, one of the most artistic 
 
 1 Henry Green, Whitney's Choice of Emblemes. A facsimile reprint 
 with explanations. London. Covell Reeve & Co., 1860. 
 
 2 Green alludes here to the English editions of Emblems of Cats, 
 in 1862. 
 
 3 Green, Whitney, p. 268. August Vermeulen, Leven en Werken 
 van Jonkheer Jan van der Noot. Antwerp, 1899, P- 47. 
 
 13 
 
194 THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 
 
 examples of book printing during the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, combining its 248 wood cuts with the same num- 
 ber of devices and poems, has been reprinted in fac- 
 simile and provided with elaborate introductions and 
 explanations, by Henry Green, London, Lovell Reeve 
 & Co., 1866. 
 
 Little is known about the author of this splendid 
 work, as it lies before us in the beautiful edition of 
 Mr. Green, an edition which makes the name of 
 Mr. Green immortal in the history of literature. 
 But what we, after the researches of Mr. Green, know 
 about Geffrey Whitney, brings him and his work into 
 immediate contact with the Netherlands. 
 
 The work is dedicated to "the right honorable my 
 singular good Lord and Maister Robert Earle of 
 Leicester, etc., Lorde Lieutenant and Captaine Gen- 
 eral of her Majesties forces in the lowe countries." 
 It is "imprinted at Leyden in the house of Christo- 
 pher Plantyn, by Francis Raphelengius, 1585." The 
 press of Plantyn, at Leyden, was at that time one of 
 the most famous in the world, first at Antwerp, later 
 at Leyden. The "French historian, De Thou, on a 
 journey to Flanders and Holland, in 1576, visited the 
 workshops of Plantyn and saw twenty-seven presses 
 in action, although, as he remarks, this famous printer 
 was embarrassed in his affairs ; but carrying out his 
 well known motto, Labor et Constantia (work and 
 steadiness), he re-established his fortunes. The cata- 
 logue of Plantyn's publications compiled by M. M. A. 
 de Backer and Ch. Buelens gives the titles of 1030 
 works which had their origin from his types and 
 presses." 1 From the time when Christopher Plantyn 
 commenced his business at Antwerp, in 1555, until his 
 death at Leyden, in 1589, there issued from his press 
 
 1 Green, Whitney, p. 268. 
 
THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 195 
 
 nearly thirty editions of the chief emblem-books of 
 the day, all executed with the utmost care, some pos- 
 sessing great beauty of execution and one or two 
 equal, if not superior, to any similar work of that 
 age. In considerable part it is due to the coopera- 
 tion of Christopher Plantyn and his son-in-law, Fran- 
 cis Raphelengius, that the poems of Geffrey Whitney 
 have been preserved in so splendid form. Of the 248 
 wood-cuts in Whitney's work, at least 225 were used 
 before by Plantyn in the emblem-books of Andreas 
 Alciatus the founder of the emblem-literature 
 Claude Paradin, John Sambucus, Hadrianus Junius 
 and Gabriel Faerni, all emblem-books published by 
 Plantyn before Whitney's "Choice of Emblemes' and 
 only twenty-three is the number of the "divers newly 
 devised." 1 Among the five sources of Whitney's work, 
 just mentioned, we see the name of Hadrianus Junius, 
 the famous Dutch humanist, whose emblem-book was 
 eight times reprinted by Plantyn, a book from which 
 Whitney derived twenty emblems. Some of the inti- 
 mate friends of Whitney are the Englishmen, Philip 
 Sydney and Edmund Spenser, as well as some of the 
 most learned Dutchmen. "A fast friend of Whitney, 
 Jan Douza, the elder, was the first who presided over 
 the newly- founded University at Leyden; another 
 friend, Bonaventura Vulcanius, was the Greek Pro- 
 fessor at the same time ; and Justus Lipsius for thir- 
 teen years, until 1590, filled the chair of history. 
 Raphelengius, too, by whom the "Choice of Em- 
 blemes" was imprinted, had taught Greek in Cam- 
 bridge when Whitney was a student, or shortly before, 
 and thus we have all the elements of the acquaintance 
 and friendship between our poet and several of the 
 eminent men by whom Leyden was adorned. 2 
 
 1 Ibid, p. 266. 
 
 2 Green, Ibid, Introduction, p. 1,1V. 
 
196 THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 
 
 Jan Douza, Bonaventura Vulcanius, and Peter Col- 
 vins of Bruges, wrote poems on the Emblems of 
 Whitney. So we find in Whitney's life and in his 
 work one of the best links between the most learned 
 and literary men of England, and of the Netherlands, 
 during the last half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 If Van der Noot gave to England its first English 
 emblem-book, Whitney's Choice of Emblemes, prob- 
 ably one of the most beautiful in English Literature, 
 was written under the suggestions of his Dutch 
 friends and printed at the press of Plantyn. 1 
 
 Half a century later, another English Emblem- 
 book was published, mentioned by Green, 2 as Hey- 
 wood's Pleasant Dialogue, etc., extracted from Jacob 
 Catsius, 1637. Now Jacob Cats (1577-1660) was the 
 well-known and most popular poet of the Nether- 
 lands, about whose life and work there are articles 
 or chapters in any book on the history of Dutch Lit- 
 erature. During more than 150 years the poetical 
 works of 'Father Cats" were found in every Dutch 
 home, providing the Dutch families with that abun- 
 dance of wisdom of life for which this prince of didac- 
 tic poetry has an immortal fame. "Britain," says 
 Green, "can advance no early claims to originality in 
 the production of emblem-books, and scarcely im- 
 proved the works of this kind, which she touched upon 
 and translated, yet she took no inconsiderable interest 
 in emblem-literature; and during the century, begin- 
 ning with Whitney and ending with Arwaker if we 
 except Jacob Cats, who died in 1660 in his eighty- 
 third year, and who to this day is spoken of famil- 
 iarly yet affectionately in Holland as "Vader Cats" 
 
 1 About the life and works of Whitney see more elaborate treatment 
 in Green's edition of the Choice of Emblemes. 
 
 2 Green, Ibid, Introduction, p. XXII. 
 
THE EMBLEM-BOOKS 197 
 
 our country may be said to have marched at least with 
 equal steps by the side of other European nations." 1 
 As far as Jacob Cats is concerned, Green says: "A 
 splendid tribute to his excellence has lately been sup- 
 plied by the publication of 'Moral Emblems from 
 Jacob Cats and Robert Farlie," London, 1862. "The 
 beautiful illustrations by John Leighton and the trans- 
 lation by the editor Richart Pigot, are contributions 
 in all respects worthy of emblem-art and deserve the 
 admiration of all lovers of the old proverbial philos- 
 ophy and literature." 2 During the eighteenth century 
 the Emblems of "father Cats" were so well known in 
 England that the famous painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 in his youth took delight in studying them. In the 
 Encyclopaedia Brittanica, article on Jacob Cats, we 
 read: "His book of Emblems was a great favorite 
 with Sir Joshua Reynolds in his childhood, being often 
 styled The Household Bible." Those emblems cer- 
 tainly must have inspired the young Reynolds with 
 love for pictures representing fine ideas and lessons, 
 and nobody knows how much they may have contrib- 
 uted to the wonderful inspiration which in later time 
 made a great painter out of the emblem-studying boy. 
 One more emblem-book, printed in the Netherlands 
 and later translated into English, is mentioned by 
 Green viz., Hugo Hermann's Pia desideria, Gemitus, 
 Vota, animae poenitentiae, etc. (Pious aspirations, 
 Groans, Vows, and Sighs of a penitent soul, etc.), 
 published at Antwerp in 1628 with wood cuts ; and 
 again in 1632 with Bolswert's beautiful copperplates. 
 It was Englished by Edmund Arwaker, M.A., in 1686, 
 and illustrated with forty-seven copperplates; but the 
 omissions and alterations of the original, render it 
 scarcely deserving the name of a translation. 3 
 
 1 Green, Introduction, p. XXII. 
 
 2 Ibid., XXIII. 
 
 3 Green, Introduction, XXII. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 GEORGE GASCOIGNE His ABODE IN THE NETHERLANDS 
 AND His WORKS His "GLASSE OF GOVERNMENT" 
 AND THE LATIN SCHOOL-DRAMAS IN HOLLAND 
 MACROPEDIUS GNAPHAEUS. 
 
 It was during the winter of the years 1573-1574 
 that a tall English gentleman, whom his English 
 friends called "long George," lived in the little Dutch 
 city of Delft. The citizens of Delft called him "de 
 groene hopman" (the green captain), and for this 
 reason, in later time he alluded to himself as "the 
 green knight." 1 Prince William the Silent, at that 
 time had his residence at Delft, and the green captain 
 came especially thither to see the Prince, who received 
 him very kindly, although the citizens of Delft did 
 not trust the adventurous and strange Englishman, 
 who had received a letter from the camp of the enemy 
 at the Hague, written by a lady, with whom he appar- 
 ently stood in pretty intimate connection. But the 
 captain explained the matter to the satisfaction of the 
 Prince, and everything was all right. 
 
 That "green captain" was George Gascoigne, the 
 poet-soldier, a pioneer of Elizabethan literature, an im- 
 mediate precursor of Philip Sydney, Edmund Spenser 
 and Shakespeare, the later author of the first famous 
 English satire, "The Steelglass," of the beautiful ele- 
 gie, "The Complaint of Philomele" and of all those 
 
 1 See "The Fruite of Fetters with the Complaint of the greene 
 Knight," etc. 
 
 198 
 
GEORGE GASCO1GNE 199 
 
 wonderful stories and love songs nowadays connected 
 with his name. 
 
 The reason why we find him at Delft as "the green 
 captain" is to be found partly in his unlucky educa- 
 tion, in his independent character, in his geniality, with 
 such an amount of self-reliance as seduced him to im- 
 prudence and dissipation, with the consequence that 
 his life seemed to be destined to become a failure, and 
 his great capacities likely not to be recognized, and 
 partly in the fame of the wealthy Netherlands with 
 their attractiveness for foreign Protestants who de- 
 sired to assist in the struggle for toleration and free- 
 dom of thought. 
 
 "He was born probably about 1535 of a good 
 Bedfordshire family and educated at Trinity College, 
 Cambridge" ; he left the University without a degree, 
 entered Gray's Inn one of the well-known Law 
 Schools at London in 1555, and represented the 
 county of Bedford in Parliament, 1557-1559. "His 
 youthful extravagances led to debt, disgrace and dis- 
 inheritance by his father, Sir John Gascoigne." 1 "In 
 the midst of his youth, he tells us, he determined to 
 abandone all vaine delightes and to return unto Greye's 
 Inne, there to undertake againe the studdie of the com- 
 mon Lawe." And after having paid his fines and per- 
 formed what was asked from him he was accepted. 
 "He took a further step towards reform by marrying 
 a rich widow, whose children by her first marriage 
 brought a suit in 1568 for the protection of their inter- 
 ests. The action seems to have been amicably settled, 
 and he remained on good terms with his stepson, Nich- 
 olas Breton, who was himself a poet of some note. But 
 it is to be feared that as a man of middle age Gascoigne 
 returned to the evil course of his youth, if we are to 
 
 1 The Cambridge History of English Literature, III, 228. 
 
200 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 accept the evidence of his autobiographical poem, Dan 
 Barthelemew of Bathe." 1 In 1572 he was prevented 
 from taking his seat in Parliament in consequence of a 
 petition in which he was charged with all kinds of 
 crooked things. The obvious intention of the petition 
 was to prevent Gascoigne from pleading privilege 
 against his creditors, and securing immunity from 
 arrest." 2 About that time, at least in the same year, 
 1572, Gascoigne made up his mind to leave his father- 
 land. In trouble, disappointed, not recognized ; like 
 Lord Byron two centuries later, he resolved to go 
 abroad, and, like a Childe Harolde of the sixteenth 
 century, he became enamored of two ideals, viz., of 
 love and of liberty. As Byron poured out his soul 
 in songs of love, and fought for the liberty of Greece, 
 so Gascoigne describes himself as "professing armes 
 in the defence of God's truth" in the Netherlands, and 
 there at the same time a stream of glowing love-songs 
 flowed from his pen, which alone were sufficient to 
 assure immortality to his name. 
 
 Before he went to the Netherlands, he had writ- 
 ten only his translations, "Supposes" and "Jocasta" 
 and perhaps because at that time he seemed to live 
 in the literature of the dramas his "Glasse of Gov- 
 ernment," of which the source lay before him in the 
 Acolastus of Gnapheus, accessible in an English trans- 
 lation dating from the year 1540. But during his 
 abode in the Netherlands and after that during the 
 few last years of his life he died on the 7th of Octo- 
 ber, 1577 the multitude of poems on different sub- 
 jects flowed from his pen, which now lie before us in 
 his complete works. 
 
 From the very first day of his departure, the iQth 
 
 1 Ibid., 229. 
 
 2 Ibid., 230. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 201 
 
 of March, 1573, from Gravesend to Den Briel, his 
 impressions were deep and interesting, as he describes 
 them in his "Voyage into Hollande." For a poet, 
 and a genius, who had lived all his life in the highest 
 circles in England, with the people of the Court, and 
 with those of the best literary circles of his time, and 
 who was not at all acquainted with the terrible con- 
 dition of the poor, desperate Protestant people in 
 those days of the Duke of Alva, it was indeed a 
 doubtful experiment to go to the Netherlands in order 
 to join the desperate sea-beggars, robbed of every- 
 thing, maddened by the cruelties of the Spaniards, 
 accustomed to the roughness of their deadly warfare, 
 and we are not at all surprised to find that from the 
 first day on which he endured the dangers of the sea, 
 till the last day on which he, in September, 1574, came 
 back after having been for the last four months a 
 prisoner of the Spaniards, this warfare and the life 
 among those warriors was a disappointment to 
 Gascoigne. 
 
 On the other hand, when he came into personal 
 contact with the Prince of Orange and his friends, he 
 found a kindness, an idealism, a life of devotion and 
 sacrifice to the best ideals, which gave satisfaction 
 and consolation to the deepest longings of his soul, 
 and we are not surprised to find in the midst of his 
 often bitter "Fruits of war" a poem which he began 
 at Delft with lines like these : 
 
 "Where good Guyllam of Nassau badde me be 
 There needed I none other guyde but he." 1 
 
 Or in another place : 
 
 "O noble Prince, there are too fewe like thee ! 
 If virtue wake, she watcheth in thy will, 
 If justice live, then surely thou art hee, 
 
 1 The Fruits of War, Hansen, 99. 
 
202 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 If grace do growe, it groweth with thee still. 
 O worthy Prince, would God I had the skill 
 To write thy worth that men thereby might see 
 How much they erre that speake amisse of thee. 
 
 "The simple Sottes do coumpt thee simple, too, 
 Whose like for witte our age hath seldome bredde, 
 The rayling roges mistrust thou darest not do, 
 As Hector did for whom the Grecians fledde, 
 Although thou yet werte never scene to dredde. 
 The slandrous tongues do say thou drinkest to much 
 When God he knowes thy custome is not such. 
 
 "But why do I in worthlesse verse devise 
 To write his prayse that doth excell so far? 
 He heard our greeves himself in gracious wise" etc. 
 
 "I could not leave that Prince in such distresse 
 Which cared for me, and yet the cause much less." 1 
 
 These lines increase our knowledge both of the Prince 
 and of Gascoigne. Such were the impressions that 
 Gascoigne took with him to the court of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, about the Prince who was the leader of strug- 
 gling Protestantism in Europe. From the time Gas- 
 coigne arrived at Den Briel in March, 1573, till the 
 next winter, when we find him at Delft, he had served 
 as a captain of the Sea-Beggars under Admiral Boisot. 
 According to his own narrative in "The Fruits of 
 War" 2 he fought against the Spaniards in Zealand, 
 defending Aardenburgh, "in the trench before Ter- 
 goes," 3 at the conquest of Fort Rammekens, 4 then 
 "our camp removed to Streine" (Stryen) and at last at 
 the siege of Middelburg, the capital of Zealand, which 
 surrendered Feb. 19, 1574. But during the siege of 
 
 1 Fruits of War, Stanza 99, 118-121. 
 
 2 Stanzas 95-114. 
 
 3 See J. Wagenaar Historie, VI, p. 366 and 437. This was in 
 June. 
 
 4 Wagenaar VI, 439. This was in August, under Admiral Boisot. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 203 
 
 Middelburg, which lasted for nearly two years, 
 Gascoigne went to Delft, 1 with the intention of going 
 back to England, after having visited the Prince. But 
 William of Orange made such an 'impression on 
 Gascoigne, treated him so kindly, and gave him such 
 new inspiration to fight for the cause of liberty and 
 of Protestantism, that, after having "dwelt in Delft 
 a winter's tyde," 2 Gascoigne returned to Zealand to 
 fight on the side of the Sea-Beggars. The Prince 
 himself came at that time to Zealand "to hunger Mid- 
 delburg or make it yield," and Gascoigne once for 
 three days fought along with the Sea-Beggars before 
 Flushing, while every day the Prince from the pier 
 looked at the fight. And when Mondragon, the Span- 
 ish commander, at Middelburg, at last (on February 
 19, 1574) surrendered, Gascoigne was in the city be- 
 fore Mondragon left: 
 
 "And when Mountdragon might no more endure 
 He came to talk and rendred all at last, 
 With whom I was within the Citie sure, 
 Before he went, and on his promisse past, 
 So trust I had to thinke his fayth was fast. 
 I dinde, and supt, and laye within the towne 
 A daye before he was from thence ybowne." 3 
 
 The Prince of Orange gave to Gascoigne "three 
 hundred guilders good above my pay," and "bad me 
 bide till his abilitie might better gwerdon my fidelitie." 
 Gascoigne needed very badly those three hundred 
 guilders, and was much pleased, "much the more be- 
 cause they came uncraved, though not unneeded" and 
 "thereby my credite still was saved." 4 The Prince of 
 Orange, himself from his youth accustomed to high 
 
 1 Stanza, 112, Fruits of War. 
 
 2 Stanza, 131. 
 
 3 Stanza, 140. 
 
 4 Stanza, 142, Fruits of War. 
 
204 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 expenses and luxury of life, understood perfectly the 
 condition of Gascoigne, and had seen soon enough 
 that Gascoigne was not a common soldier, but a 
 highly civilized, social, courteous and literary man of 
 attractive geniality. And when at last "a English 
 newe relief came over sea," of which Edward Chester 
 was the chief, then the Prince, with the consent of 
 Chester, made Gascoigne "to take a band in charge," 
 and soon afterwards, when the Spaniards for a sec- 
 ond time started to besiege Leyden this was the 
 famous siege we find Gascoigne with his band near 
 Leyden in the "new begun fort Valkenburg." 1 But 
 the Spaniards pressed upon them so badly that they 
 fled towards the walls of Leyden, where Gascoigne 
 with his band arrived in the evening. The citizens of 
 Leyden, however, afraid of treason on the part of the 
 English troops, did not open their gates and so the 
 English were forced to surrender to the Spaniards. 
 Wagenaar tells us, what Gascoigne himself does not 
 mention, that thirty of those English troops refused 
 to surrender and that those thirty were allowed to 
 enter the city of Leyden. 2 Anyhow, Gascoigne was 
 made prisoner and after having been for four months 
 as prisoner with the Spaniards, was sent back to 
 England in September, 1574. 
 
 So his endeavor to make a success as a soldier 
 became a failure from start to finish, and we read his 
 disappointment in his "Voyage into Holland" as well 
 as in his "Fruits of War." The only brilliant point 
 in this whole affair is Gascoigne's attractiveness as a 
 gentleman, his amiable sociability and courtesie, his 
 noble character, which attracted not only the Prince 
 of Orange but the Spanish officers as well. In Mid- 
 delburg with Mondragon, and during the four months 
 
 1 Stanza 146, J. Wagenaar, VI, 483. 
 
 2 Wagenaar VI, 484. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 205 
 
 he was a prisoner, the Spanish officers treated him 
 very kindly. And during his abode at Delft, when he 
 got a letter from the Hague, at that time the residence 
 of the Spanish general Valdez, this Spanish general 
 was as courteous to him as was the Prince of Orange. 
 Gascoigne had a lady friend living at the Hague, who 
 wrote him a letter to Delft, for the bearer of which 
 Valdez readily gave a passport. And in return the 
 Prince gave him a passport to visit that lady at the 
 Hague. Who that lady friend was we do not know. 
 We know that Valdez himself also had a lady friend 
 at the Hague by the name of Magdalena Moons, 1 who 
 was nothing more than his mistress. But whether she 
 knew the lady friend of Gascoigne, or whether this 
 had any connection with the courtesy of Valdez 
 towards Gascoigne, we do not know. Whether that 
 lady friend at the Hague was the subject of his hun- 
 dredfold outpouring of love and devotion, in so many 
 of his beautiful songs, we cannot decide. 
 
 Once more, after his return to* England, we find 
 Gascoigne in the Netherlands, viz., in the year 1576, 
 at Antwerp. On the 8th of October he left Paris, 
 and arrived at Antwerp on the 22nd of that month. 
 There he stayed for two weeks, and then returned to 
 England. But in those two weeks one of the most 
 dreadful events in the history of that city happened 
 an event known as the "Spoil of Antwerp" by the 
 Spaniards. And to Gascoigne we owe the narrative 
 of that dreadful event, as from an eye witness. 2 If 
 we knew nothing about the author of "The Spoil of 
 Antwerp" except what he tells about his discussions 
 
 1 See R. Fruin, Verspreide Geschniften, VIII, 380-397. 
 
 2 On the authorship of this narrative see Edward Arber, An Eng- 
 lish Garner, VIII, 141, where we find a reprint of it^ with the docu- 
 ments showing Gascoigne to be the author. The objection made in 
 the Cambridge History of English Literature, III, 235, that this nar- 
 rative was at first printed anonymously, does not amount to much 
 since the same happened with the Hundred Sundry Flowers. 
 
206 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 with the Spanish officers, we should immediately rec- 
 ognize Gascoigne as he appeared at Middelburg, at 
 Delft, and as a prisoner in the Spanish camp. 1 
 
 That all his misfortunes, his experiences, his ad- 
 ventures in the Netherlands made a deep impression 
 on Gascoigne is easily understood, and may be felt 
 through all the poems that were written after his first 
 arrival at Den Briel. 
 
 In the Netherlands also he learned the French 
 language, as he tells us himself in his address to 
 Queen Elizabeth before his "Tale of Hemetes," using 
 the expression, "such frenche as I borrowed in Hol- 
 land." 
 
 From Erasmus he borrowed the device of his 
 Fruits of War, which is : Bellum duke inexpertis. 
 
 But there is one work of Gascoigne which brings 
 us still more directly into contact not only with Hol- 
 land but immediately with Dutch literature, viz., his 
 "Glasse of Government." A short explanation may 
 make this clear, * and is interesting enough, since 
 Gascoigne deserves a special attention for his place in 
 English Literature, as far as the development of the 
 English drama is concerned. He was "the first to 
 present in English dress a characteristic Italian com- 
 edy of intrigue" in his "Supposes" and in the "Bug- 
 bears," and he is the first who used the vernacular 
 prose throughout a "prodigal son drama" in his 
 "Glasse of Government." 2 
 
 At that time there was a twofold movement one, 
 that of the Renaissance, more aristocratic, prevailing 
 among the higher classes, favored by the Roman Cath- 
 olic clergy, and bringing about a revival of Roman 
 
 1 "In 1602," says Arber, "an anonymously written play, based 
 on the narrative, was published in London, under the title, "Alarum 
 for London, or the Siege of Antwerp." An English Garner, VIII, 167. 
 
 2 Cambridge History of English Literature, V, p. 128. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 207 
 
 and Greek literature; and another one, that of the 
 Reformation, more democratic, moving the masses of 
 the rising democracy, religious in its character, bring- 
 ing learning and education to the people with a de- 
 cided tendency towards moral and religious reform. 
 
 The artistocratic humanists of the Renaissance de- 
 spised the vernacular, and used as much as possible 
 the Latin language. The religious democrats of the 
 awakened masses preferred the vernacular, as the only 
 language fit for the education of the people. This 
 twofold movement produced a twofold literature 
 one in Latin, and the other in the vernacular. Both 
 showed a prevailing preference for dramatic poetry: 
 the Renaissance producing a great number of Latin 
 dramas, written for the most part by the heads of the 
 Latin schools for the use of their students ; the Democ- 
 racy, with its numerous guilds or chambers of 
 Rhetoric, producing an innumerable number of 
 morality plays, destined to be shown in the streets, and 
 on the market places of the cities, especially in the 
 "land-jewels," the great festivities for the masses dur- 
 ing the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 Now, there was no country where both the Re- 
 naissance and the Reformation became as strong as in 
 the Netherlands. The community of the Brethren of 
 Common Life, founded by Gerard Grote at Deventer, 
 produced not only men like Wessel Gansfort, Ru- 
 dolphus Agricola and Erasmus, as so many leaders 
 of the Renaissance, but as well a Thomas a Kempis, 
 who, with his Imitation of Christ, laid the mystic 
 foundation of the Reformation in the awakening of 
 personal religious devotion. In this beautiful com- 
 munity, with its pupils soon spread all over the Neth- 
 erlands, we see both the movements of Renaissance and 
 Reformation still united in perfect harmony, and we 
 
208 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 hardly know which to admire more in these broad 
 minded and plainly living men, their classic learning 
 or their religious devotion. But the rapid develop- 
 ment of democracy on one hand, and the conservatism 
 of the Roman Catholic church on the other, brought 
 about an antithesis between aristocracy and democ- 
 racy, and made it soon impossible to keep those two 
 movements of Renaissance and Reformation together. 
 The poets of the Latin school dramas were quite dif- 
 ferent from the authors of the popular morality-plays, 
 although both were more numerous in the Low Coun- 
 tries than anywhere else. In every city were found 
 the Guilds of Rhetoric, producing their morality- 
 plays in the Dutch vernacular; as well as Latin 
 schools, where the Latin plays of Terentius, Seneca 
 and Plautus soon proved to be too few in number as 
 well as too heathen and immoral in their tendency. 
 Consequently, new Latin dramas, in their literary form 
 as polite as Terentius and Seneca, but in their sub- 
 jects and tendency more Christian, were asked for. 
 Biblical themes, as that of the Prodigal son, so often 
 treated in the popular plays, were now taken up by 
 the principals of the Latin schools for their new Latin 
 dramas, and the tendency arose to give to the students 
 a Christianized Terentius. Very numerous are the 
 poets of those Latin school dramas in the Nether- 
 lands. 1 Two of the most prominent among them 
 were Guilielmus Gnapheus and Georgius Macrope- 
 dius, and these two men bring us into immediate con- 
 tact with Gascoigne as the author of "The Glasse of 
 Government." 
 
 Georgius Macropedius, whose Dutch name was 
 Georg van Langveldt, was born in the year 1475 in 
 
 1 See J. te Winkel, De ontu'ikkelingsgang der Nederlandschi 
 letterkunde, I, p. 274-278, and G. Kalff, Geschiedenis der Neder- 
 landsche letterkunde, III, p. 94-107. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 209 
 
 the neighborhood of the castle Langveldt, at the little 
 village of Gemert, near Bois le due. He got his edu- 
 cation among the Brethren of Common Life, and his 
 portrait shows him in their plain dress of the monas- 
 teries of that time. Probably he studied at the Uni- 
 versity of Louvain, and after that he became the prin- 
 cipal of the school of the Brethren of Common Life 
 at Bois le due. Later we find him as rector or prin- 
 cipal of the Latin school at Utrecht, where he stayed 
 from 1535 till 1554. At last he returned to Bois le 
 due for his health, and there he died in July, 1558. 
 He left us twelve Latin dramas, published during his 
 lifetime, in 1553, in one volume, viz., Asotus, Lazarus, 
 Joseph, Jesus Scholasticus, Adamus, Hypomene, 
 Hecastus, Rebelles, Aluta, Petriscus, Andrisca and 
 Bassarus. 1 In the "Rebelles" he especially treats the 
 theme of the Prodigal Son, in the same way that later 
 Gascoigne did in his Glasse of Government. 
 
 Guilielmus Gnapheus, whose Dutch name was 
 Willem de Voider, was born in the year 1493, at the 
 Hague, and was therefore sometimes called Hagien- 
 sis. Later he translated his name into Greek and into 
 Latin, and called himself Gnapheus, or sometimes 
 Fullonius. Probably educated by the Brethren of 
 Common Life, he got his B. A. at the University of 
 Cologne, and after that he settled as a teacher at the 
 Hague. But pretty soon he came under the sus- 
 picion of being a Lutheran, and was put into the 
 prison of the Inquisition at Delft immediately after 
 the Inquisition was introduced in the Netherlands. 
 He was, however, set free by the influence of the 
 States of Holland. After having been imprisoned 
 again in 1525 as being the author of a pamphlet 
 
 1 See Lateinische Literatur denkmaler des XV und XVI Jahr- 
 hunderts no 13. Georgius Macropedius' Rebelles und Aluta heraus- 
 gegeben von Johannes Bolte, Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1897. 
 
 14 
 
210 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 against monastic life, he fled in 1528 from persecu- 
 tion, at first to Elbing in Germany, where, in 1535, he 
 became rector of the Latin school. In 1541 we find 
 him at Konigsberg as counsel of the Duke Albrecht, 
 and as rector of the newly founded University. The 
 Lutherans, however, accused him of being a Calvin- 
 ist, and therefore he went to Embden in East Fries- 
 land, in the year 1547, where he, on the recommenda- 
 tion of the Reformer Johannes a Lasco, became the 
 secretary of the Countess Anna, and the tutor of her 
 children. He died on the 2Qth of September, 1568, at 
 Norden in East Friesland. He wrote several Latin 
 plays, as Triumphus Eloquentiae, Morosophus, and 
 Hypocrisis. But the most important one by far is his 
 Acolastus, written for the students of the Latin school 
 at the Hague, in which he treated the same subject, 
 and in the same way as later Gascoigne in his Glasse 
 of Government.^ 
 
 The Acolastus of Gnapheus is considered as the 
 source of Gascoigne's Glasse of Government. Prob- 
 ably the Rebelles of Macropedius may have been a 
 second source. And then there is still a third Latin 
 drama on the same theme, written by a man called 
 Stymmelius, a play which Gascoigne might have 
 known, and which is entitled "Studentes," but this is 
 "a direct imitation of the Acolastus" 2 of Gnapheus, 
 and is much inferior not only to Acolastus but to 
 Rebelles. 5 
 
 The Acolastus of Grapheus won a European fame. 
 Bolte mentions forty-eight editions, which appeared 
 in the centers of learning in Europe before the year 
 
 1 See Lateinische Litteratur denkmaler des XV \md XVI Jahr- 
 hunderts. Guilielmus Gnaphens, Acolastus. Herausgegeben von Johan- 
 nes Bolte, Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1891. 
 
 2 Charles H. Herford. Studies in the literary relations of England 
 and Germany in the sixteenth century. Cambridge, 1886, p. 155. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 156. 
 
GEORGE GASCOIGNE 211 
 
 1587, the first edition being that at Antwerp in the 
 year 1529. It was translated into French, German 
 and English. The English edition is from the year 
 1540 by a school teacher at London called Johannes 
 Palsgrave, and is dedicated to King Henry VIII, so 
 that it is nearly impossible that Gascoigne should not 
 have known the work, even if he never had been in 
 the Netherlands. The question whether Gascoigne 
 wrote his Glasse of Government in 1565, 'before he 
 came to the Netherlands, or in 1575, after he returned 
 to England, is therefore of very little importance. 
 
 Herford, in his Studies, makes an elaborate com- 
 parison between Gascoigne's Glasse of Government 
 and the Acolastus of Gnapheus, with Macropedius' 
 Rebelles and the Studentes of Stymmelius, showing 
 that in all the main points, the subject is treated in 
 the same way, so that every thought of their being 
 independent of each other is excluded 1 "Distinct 
 copy," says Herford, "is Gascoigne's Glasse of Gov- 
 ernment not; it is written throughout with a differ- 
 ent bias ; it is the work of a Calvinist, not of a Cath- 
 olic or of a Lutheran ; it is in the vernacular, not in 
 Latin ; in prose, not in verse. For all that, however, 
 it assuredly belongs to the same dramatic cycle; it is 
 the attempt, that is, to connect Terentian situations 
 with a Christian moral in a picture of school life." 2 
 
 The interesting part about Gascoigne is that in his 
 broadminded conception the two lines of Renaissance 
 and Reformation seem to meet each other, and to 
 unite as in the works of the great Reformers, avoid- 
 ing the one sidedness of the Humanists in their ex- 
 clusive admiration of classical form, as well as that 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 162-164. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 160. A review of the contents of the Acolastus, as well 
 as of Gascoigne's Glasse of Government, is given by Herford and in 
 the Cambridge History of English Literature, V. 127. 
 
212 GEORGE GASCOIGNE 
 
 of the Protestant people, where they, in their zeal for 
 religious reform, neglected too much the value of lit- 
 erary beauty. 
 
 Besides the works of Gascoigne we find the influ- 
 ence of the Latin dramas in different works of Eng- 
 lish literature. "A reminiscence of the Acolastus of 
 Gnapheus," says Herford, "is doubtless also to be 
 found in 5\ Nicholson's Acolastus, His After-wit, 
 where Eubulus, the ancient friend and good counsel- 
 lor, corresponds to the Prodigal's father of the same 
 name in Gnapheus; while Acolastus himself is dis- 
 tinctly assimilated to the Prodigal." 1 
 
 Finally, Johannes Bolte, in his edition of Macro- 
 pedius' Rebelles and Aluta, mentions one of the bal- 
 lads of the Scottish priest, Alexander Geldes (1737- 
 1802), to be found in R. Chambers, The Scottish 
 Songs, II, 316, and in A. Whitelaw, The Book of 
 Scottish Songs, p. 76, as showing the most close con- 
 nection with the Aluta of Macropedius. 2 
 
 1 Herford, p. 159, note. 
 
 2 J. Bolte, Macropedius Rebelles und Aluta, Einleitung, p. XXIII. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THOMAS CHURCHYARD (1520-1604) THE "NESTOR 
 OF ELIZABETHAN HEROES" AS A SOLDIER AND POET 
 IN THE NETHERLANDS. 
 
 Thomas Churchyard (1520-1604), although not a 
 genius as powerful as Gascoigne, and not to be com- 
 pared with Spenser and Shakespeare, yet "honestly 
 is ranked by a competent judge among the great poets 
 of his age; among such poets, as have not often been 
 equalled and will not soon be surpassed ;" a poet "who 
 may run abreast with any of that age writing in the 
 beginning of Elizabeth's reign." 1 "For his period a 
 smooth and accomplished versifier, who had taken to 
 heart the lessons taught by Wyatt and Surrey, and 
 who did his share of work of restoring form and order 
 to English poetry." 2 Both in his life and in his works 
 he stands in close contact with the Netherlands. 
 
 His life is divided into three periods: The first 
 period is from his birth in 1520, at Shrewsbury, till the 
 year 1542, when he left his native country to serve 
 as a soldier on the Continent. About this period we 
 know that he studied at Oxford; that, at the age of 
 17, he "besought his father to let him depart from 
 home, to seek his hap amidst the many competitions 
 of life ;" that he went to court, wasted his money, and 
 found service with Henry Howard, the Earl of Sur- 
 rey, during the four years from 1537 to 1541. The 
 Earl of Surrey, the same nobleman in whose home 
 Hadrianus Junius lived as a tutor during some years 
 just after Churchyard left, is always remembered by 
 Churchyard with gratefulness and praise. 
 
 1 George Chalmers, Churchyard's Chips concerning Scotland, with 
 historical notes, and a life of the author, London, 1817. This little . 
 book, although under so modest a title, gives by far the best biography / 
 of Churchyard ever published till our present day. 
 
 2 Cambridge History of English Literature, III, p. 205. 
 
 213 
 
214 THOMAS CHURCHYARD 
 
 The second period (1542-1572) contains the thirty 
 years in which Churchyard served as a soldier in the 
 Netherlands, in Ireland and in Scotland, writing at the 
 same time a great number of his works in verse and in 
 prose. This period, from his twenty-second till his 
 fifty-second year, is the deciding one of his life and has 
 made him forever the poet-soldier in English literature. 
 The third period (1572-1604) of Churchyard's 
 life, contains the thirty years of life's decline, during 
 which he often "assisted in amusing the queen" Eliz- 
 abeth by his poems, and out of all the richness of his 
 experiences produced a great number of poems and 
 prose works, reflecting all the knowledge and the wis- 
 dom, all the thrilling stories, dangers and braveries 
 of his eventful life. 
 
 During the second period of his life, we find 
 Churchyard in the Netherlands successively in seven 
 different campaigns: 
 
 (i) In the years 1542-1544 he fought in the army 
 of the Emperor, Charles V, who, in alliance with the 
 King of England, Henry VIII, made war against 
 Francis I of France. After the peace of Crespy, in 
 1544, Churchyard returned to England, 
 "Aweary of those wasting woes, 
 
 Awhile he left the war, 
 And for desire to learn the tongues 
 
 He travelled very far, 
 And had of every language part 
 When homeward did he draw, 
 And could rehearsal make full well 
 Of that abroad he saw." 
 
 But this was only the first campaign, and the oppor- 
 tunity to see many things and to make rehearsal was 
 to be offered to him still many times. 
 
 .(2) In the years I55 2 - T 555, after Churchyard had 
 wooed the widow Browning, who gave him a plain 
 
THOMAS CHURCHYARD 215 
 
 refusal, he again "found solace in war, with its perils, 
 its varieties and its pleasures." He served again in 
 the army of Charles V against Francis I during three 
 years. It was during this war that Churchyard 
 "sailed down the pleasant flood of .Rhine" and served 
 in Flanders, the richest of all the countries under the 
 dominion of the Emperor. From the Netherlands and 
 especially from Flanders, Charles V got two-fifths of 
 all his income. But soon it became the scene of mur- 
 der and devastation, of which Churchyard was 
 destined to be an eye-witness. 
 
 (3) During the years 1557-1559, in the beginning 
 of the reign of Philip II over Spain and over the 
 Netherlands, Churchyard was again at the wars when 
 Queen Mary of England (1553-1558), whom Philip 
 had married, made war against France. During that 
 campaign Calais was taken by the French army under 
 Guise in 1558, and after the conquest of Calais, imme- 
 diately the city of Guisnes was besieged. Churchyard 
 was one of the defenders, and- he was an intermediary 
 in offering the surrender of this city. 
 
 (4) In the year 1566, during the outbreak of 
 image-breaking in Antwerp, Churchyard was there, 
 being an eye-witness of that tremendous tumult. 
 There he offered his services to the Prince of Orange ; 
 the Prince 
 
 "Bad me do well, and shed no guiltless blood; 
 And save from spoil poor people and their good." 
 
 B'eing in the service of the Prince, and probably agree- 
 ing with his policy, we can understand what Church- 
 yard says, that in the eyes of the tumultuous popula- 
 tion he was too moderate. "The Prince retired from 
 this scene of tumult. The insurgents, amounting to 
 30,000, placed Churchyard at their head ; the nobles 
 having fled, he saved the religious houses and the 
 
216 THOMAS CHURCHYARD 
 
 town from cruel sword and fire. But such a multi- 
 tude he could not manage long, and he was obliged 
 to abscond, and to make his escape in priest's attire, 
 but not with shaven crown. He found his way 
 through many hazards, into Sealand, followed by the 
 marshall, but, getting into a ship, at the Sluis, not- 
 withstanding that officer's searches, he arrived safe in 
 England, at the end of I566." 1 
 
 (5) In the years 1567-1568. The troubles at- Ant- 
 werp had not at all deterred Churchyard. On the 
 contrary it seems that his first contact with the Prince 
 of Orange had inspired him to devote himself to the 
 sacred cause of liberty. In the very first campaign of 
 the Prince of Orange, in the war of independence, 
 Churchyard was with the Prince. Chalmers tells the 
 story as follows: "At the beginning of 1567, the 
 Prince of Orange, encouraged by the princes of Ger- 
 many, began to collect troops at his own domain of 
 Dillenburgh, about ten leagues from Cologne. 
 Thither was Churchyard sent, by the Earl of Oxford, 
 lord high chamberlain of England, as an agent, no 
 doubt, to see, and to report, what passed at the com- 
 mencement of a war, which was attended by mem- 
 orable consequences. He was obliged to go by the 
 way of Paris, where he was kindly assisted by lord 
 Norris, the English ambassador. Churchyard arrived 
 at Dillenburgh in time to see the meeting of that great 
 assembly of warriors who were to contest with .so 
 great a general as the duke of Alva, for the inde- 
 pendence of the Law Countries. Churchyard served 
 under Count de la March as cornet-bearer to 250 
 light horsemen, during the first campaign of this sig- 
 nal war. The Prince of Orange mustered his army 
 of 22,000 foot and 13,000 horse, beyond the Rhine at 
 Anderwike. The Prince marched forward toward 
 
 1 Chalmers, p. 20. 
 
THOMAS CHURCHYARD 217 
 
 Aix, Sentre and Tongre; but, when he approached 
 to Flanders, he was everywhere "bearded" by the 
 Duke of Alva, with 30,000 shot and 4,000 horsemen. 
 The Prince had thus a hard antagonist to contend 
 with, for the prize of skill, experience and circum- 
 spection. These two great commanders avoided a 
 general action ; knowing how much they risked and 
 might lose. After many sharp encounters, the Prince, 
 perceiving that he could make no impression upon 
 such a general as Alva, drew off his army from Flan- 
 ders into France, near Guise and St. Quinten; and 
 afterwards marched into winter quarters about Stras- 
 bourgh. It was on this march that Churchyard took 
 his leave and departed for England. From the ac- 
 count which he afterwards published of the late cam- 
 paign, we may easily suppose what report he made to 
 the lord great chamberlain, his employer." 
 
 "Churchyard now felt for the Flemings ; wished 
 success to the Prince of Orange; and entertained a 
 strong desire to see the event of the subsequent cam- 
 paign of 1568. Whether he was again sent by the 
 lord great chamberlain, he does not say, though it 
 may be inferred from subsequent events that he was ; 
 but he is studious to tell what risks he ran and dan- 
 gers he endured in traveling through France to the 
 Rhine during an age of warfare and demoralization. 
 After escaping many hazards he at length joined the 
 Prince of Orange at his house of Dillenbourgh. By 
 the Prince's people, Churchyard was now made wel- 
 come with many a mad carouse. At the opening of 
 the campaign, 1568, towards Flanders they marched; 
 but for want of monjey the Prince's army lay for some 
 months near the Rhine and at some distance from 
 such an enemy. Whatever may have been given out, 
 the Prince was too penetrating not to perceive the 
 
218 THOMAS CHURCHYARD 
 
 superiority of his opponent in great talents, in a dis- 
 ciplined army and the compactness of his force. Mean- 
 time, the governor of the Netherlands published an 
 act of tolerance for the Protestants, which enfeebled 
 the Prince's arms. Owing to all those causes the cam- 
 paign of 1568 passed away, in demonstration rather 
 than in efforts. Churchyard found in his privations 
 that his own share of sufferings was not the severest 
 of the patriot soldiers. When the Prince of Orange 
 retired from Flanders and passed into France, our ad- 
 venturer asked his permission to visit his native soil. 
 The Prince assented but warned him that the French 
 by some artifice would arrest his journey. The duke 
 of Alva commanded every Englishman to be detained 
 as so many pledges for the Spanish treasure that had 
 been stopped in England. We may thus see that 
 Churchyard ran a double risk of being detained either 
 in Flanders or in France. Riding along the limits of 
 the two countries, and pointing to the nearest port, 
 he was betrayed by a peasant into the hands of ban- 
 ditti, who robbed him of his horse and his equipments, 
 and from whom he escaped by a sort of miracle. These 
 disasters happened near St. Quinten. And he was 
 now reduced to the necessity of trudging on foot 
 sixty miles through an unfriendly people; while he 
 was hardly treated by the captain of Peronne as he 
 pressed forward to Abbeville. He at length found a 
 vessel which was bound to Guernsey, where he was 
 well received by Captain Leighton, the governor. Yet, 
 in this hospitable isle he remained not longer than his 
 refreshment required. And he arrived at last, after 
 so many disasters, on his native soil at the beginning 
 of 1569, a year of disturbance and rebellion/' 1 
 
 (6) During the years 1569-1570 we find Church- 
 
 1 Chalmers, p. 20-24. 
 
THOMAS CHURCHYARD 219 
 
 yard fighting among the Sea-Beggars, those desperate 
 heroes who had lost everything, who had seen their 
 fathers and their mothers, their brothers and sisters, 
 murdered by the Inquisition or by the Spanish sol- 
 diers, and who, in their utmost despair, at last fought 
 their battle to the knife and gained the first victories 
 in the great struggle. Their victories really began 
 with the capture of Den Briel on the first of April, 
 1572. Before that date they tried several times to 
 conquer one or the other city, but in vain. And dur- 
 ing that first time of misfortune Churchyard was with 
 them. With several other English stipendaries under 
 their captain Morgan, we find him at the siege of Ter 
 Goes, in 1569, but without success. The siege was 
 raised by the persevering fortitude of the Spanish sol- 
 diers, with the loss of 200 English and French troops 
 who were either slain or taken. After" performing 1 
 great service sundry times during half a year, Church- 
 yard was wounded and taken prisoner. This hap- 
 pened in 1570. Churchyard seems to have been now 
 recognized as the soldier who had mingled in the late 
 tumult at Antwerp ; who had then only escaped death 
 for his misdeeds to return again and again into a dis- 
 tracted country ; he was now imprisoned as a spy ; 
 and was even condemned to lose his head by martial 
 law. The day which was appointed for his execution 
 had even arrived, "when a noble dame his respite 
 craved and spoke for him so fair that the marshal of 
 the camp listened to her speech ; and he was pardoned 
 and again allowed to return home with money in his 
 purse." 1 
 
 (7) Two years later, in 1572, once more we find 
 Churchyard fighting with the sons of liberty in the 
 Netherlands, viz., as one of the defenders of the city 
 of Zutphen, which city in the beginning of 1572 had 
 
 1 Chalmers, p. 27. 
 
220 THOMAS CHURCHYARD 
 
 chosen the side of the Prince, and was now be- 
 leaguered by the Spaniards. "Neither the experiences 
 nor the hair-breadth escapes of Churchyard could re- 
 strain him from mingling in the hostilities of the 
 Netherlands, while Protestantism continued to be per- 
 secuted. He again seems to Iiave joined with the 
 English volunteers, who defended Zutphen for the 
 States, which was taken, however, by the son of Alva 
 in November, I572." 1 At Zutphen, near the spot 
 where Philip Sydney, several years later, lost his life 
 fighting against the same enemy, it was that for the 
 last time Churchyard drew his sword for the great 
 cause of liberty. Now he "hung up his corslet like 
 the soldier tired of war's alarm." 2 
 
 Four years later, in 1576, we find Churchyard 
 again, and, as far as we know, for the last time in 
 the Netherlands. "The Netherlands," says Chalmers, 
 "had been so much the adventurous scenes of Church- 
 yard's younger life, that he could not, in his latter 
 days, refrain from visiting those celebrated countries, 
 for commerce, for wars, for policy. He certainly went 
 to Brussels in the autumn of 1576, but whether he 
 was sent thither by some great man or went in obedi- 
 ence of -his own desire to contemplate the passing 
 scene, appears not. At Brussels he saw a meeting of 
 many ambassadors to concert a pacification for those 
 wretched countries. He saw the rejoicing for their 
 peace restored. He perhaps remained long enough 
 to witness the breach of that treaty by the habitual 
 treachery of don John, the bastard of Austria." 3 
 
 Such were the connections of Thomas Churchyard 
 with the Netherlands during the thirty best years of 
 his life. Was it possible that a man who, in his many 
 works in verse and in prose, wrote down nearly every 
 
 1 Chalmers, p. 27. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Chalmers, p. 31 
 
THOMAS CHURCHYARD 221 
 
 story, every feature, every experience of his life, 
 should not have felt as a poet the influence of such 
 immensely interesting campaigns, and events, of 
 which he had been an eye-witness, as for instance, the 
 image-breaking at Antwerp in 1566, the first cam- 
 paign of William of Orange in 1567 and 1568, the 
 first endeavors of the Sea-Beggars in 1569, the de- 
 fense of Zutphen in 1572, and at last the festivities 
 with Don Juan at Brussels in 1576? No, that was 
 impossible. On the contrary, several of his works are 
 just the result of his experiences in the Netherlands, 
 as even their titles may show, and many a poem prob- 
 ably has been inspired by what Churchyard saw dur- 
 ing those adventurous years. 
 
 The following works of Churchyard are the imme- 
 diate result of his experiences in the Netherlands: 
 
 (1) A lamentable and pitifull Description of the 
 wofull Warres in Flaunders, since the foure last years 
 of the Emperor Charles the fifth his raigne. With a 
 briefe rehearsall of many things done since that sea- 
 son, untill this present yeare and death of Don John. 
 Written by Thomas Churchyard Gentleman. Im- 
 printed at London by Ralph Newberrie, Anno 1578. 
 
 This work was dedicated to Sir Francis Walsing- 
 ham, and in his dedication, the author informs us that 
 this brief discourse on the troubles and afflictions of 
 Flanders was not gathered out of other men's gar- 
 dens, but derived entirely from his own knowledge 
 and experience." See Thomas Corser. Collectanea 
 Anglo-Poetica. Part IV, p. 364-366. 
 
 (2) Churchyard's Choise. London, 1579. 
 
 The contents of this work, as given by Chalmers, 
 p. 56, are in ten parts, of which No. I is entitled, A 
 general Rehearsell of Warres in the Netherlands, in 
 Scotland, in Ireland and at Sea, which comprehends 
 
222 THOMAS CHURCHYARD 
 
 one half of the volume; and No. 4 entitled, "A small 
 Rehearsell of some special Services in Flaunders of 
 late part whereof were in the tyme of Don Jhon's 
 government and the rest beying doen in the present 
 service of the Prince of Parma, now governour of 
 Flaunders." 
 
 (3) A true Report of a dangerous Service at- 
 tempted and brought to pass by Englishmen, Scots- 
 men, and Walloons for the taking of Machlin in Flan- 
 ders. Dedicated to Lord Norrice, London, 1580. 
 
 (4) The right pleasant and variable tragical His- 
 tory of Fortunatus : first penned in the Dutch tongue, 
 hence abstracted and now first of all published in Eng- 
 lish by T. C. London, 1682 "but certainly printed be- 
 fore 1600" says Chalmers, p. 59, quoting Ritson's 
 Bibl., 169. 
 
 W. C. Hazlitt, in his Hand-Book, also gives this 
 as the work of Churchyard, without mentioning that 
 it was translated from the Dutch. 
 
 Charles H. Herford, in his Studies in the literary 
 relations between England and Germany, tells some- 
 thing about the history of Fortunatus as a story spread 
 over several countries of Europe, but does not men- 
 tion Churchyard's translation from the Dutch. If 
 Herford had known this work, it might have changed 
 some of his ideas about the way the story of Fortu- 
 natus came into English literature. Herford, p. 203- 
 219 and 405. 
 
 (5) "A true Discourse historical of the succeed- 
 ing Governors in the Netherlands and the Civil Wars 
 there begun in the yeare 1565 with the memorable 
 services of our Honourable English Generals, Cap- 
 taines and Souldiers, especially under Sir John Nor- 
 rice Knight there performed from the yeare 1577 until 
 the yeare 1589, and afterwards in Portugale, France, 
 
THOMAS CHURCHYARD 223 
 
 Britaine and Ireland until the year 1598. Translated 
 and collected by T. C. Esquire and Ric: Ro. out of 
 the Reverend E. M. of Antwerp his fifteen books 
 Historiae Belgicae and other collections added, alto- 
 gether manifesting all martiall actions meete for every 
 good subject to reade, for defence of Prince and 
 Country. London, 1602." 
 
 The main source for this work of Churchyard, the 
 Reverend E. M., of Antwerp, is the well-known Dutch 
 historian, Emmanuel van Meteren, in Latin, Emman- 
 uel Meteranus. See Corser's Collectanea IV, 385-390, 
 where the author gives an extensive review of this 
 interesting work of Churchyard. 
 
 Churchyard himself mentions still another book, 
 "in which was the whole service of my L. of Lester 
 mentioned, that he and his train did in Flanders." 
 See Chalmers, p. 64. 
 
 How many poems and stones told in the numer- 
 ous works of Churchyard may be the result of all his 
 experiences in the Netherlands, would be very inter- 
 esting to know, and here is an almost unexplored field, 
 left for the research of some scholar, for instance, for 
 a doctoral thesis. How many tales Churchyard may 
 have told at the court of Queen Elizabeth, and in the 
 literary circles, tales brought from the Netherlands, 
 and by his agency introduced into the center of liter- 
 ary England, we can hardly imagine. 1 
 
 1 In connection with Gascoigne and Churchyard, I may add here a 
 few words about the well-known playwright, Ben Jonson (1573-1637). 
 From the way De Hoog writes about Jonson one would get the idea that 
 he was as much influenced by the Netherlands as Gascoigne and Church- 
 yard. But so far as I haye found out, the influence of Holland on Jonson 
 is not to be compared with that on Gascoigne and Churchyard. Jonson 
 in his youth served for a short time as a soldier in the Netherlands, and 
 as W. Gifford says in his Biographical Memoir (Works of Jonson, ed. 
 1875, Vol. I, p. XXX), this happened in the year 1591 at Ostend, which 
 city was held by an English garrison. It seems that he fought there a 
 duel with good success for him, but otherwise he "brought little from 
 Flanders but the reputation of a brave man, a smattering of Dutch and 
 an empty purse." Any influence of this short abode in the Netherlands on 
 his writings seems not yet to have been discovered. Nevertheless, the 
 possibility remains that some day something may be discovered which may 
 be worthy to be mentioned in this connection. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 SIR JAN VAN DER NOOT AND EDMUND SPENSER 
 
 (1) THE THEATRE OF WORLDLINGS 
 
 (2) ITS AUTHOR 
 
 (3) SPENSER'S CONNECTION WITH IT 
 
 (4) SPENSER AND VAN DER NOOT 
 
 i. The Theater of Worldlings. 
 
 In the year 1569 there appeared at London a book 
 entitled, "A Theatre wherein be represented as well 
 the miseries and calamities that follow the voluptuous 
 Worldlings, as also the greate joyes and pleasures 
 which the faithfull do enjoy. An argument both prof- 
 itable and delectable to all that sincerely love the word 
 of God. Devised by John van der Noodt." 1 "Scene 
 and allowed according to the order appointed. Im- 
 printed at London by Henry Bynnerman. Anno 
 Domini 1569. Cum Privilegio." This book is dedi- 
 cated to Queen Elizabeth and the dedication is dated 
 May 25, 1569. 
 
 The contents are divided into two parts, the first 
 and smaller part being twenty-one verses of about 
 twelve lines each, and the second part containing an 
 elaborate explanation of 107 pages about what is said 
 in the verses. 
 
 The verses are called "either visions or epigrams, 
 or sonnets or emblems, as you like it" ; the first six of 
 them are translated from the Italian poet, Petrarch ; 
 the next eleven from the French poet, De Bellay ; and 
 the last four from the original Dutch verses of the 
 
 1 A copy of this book is in the British Museum. 
 
 224 
 
SIR JOHN FAN DER NOOT 225 
 
 author himself. Twenty of these twenty-one verses 
 are illustrated with woodcuts, and this makes the book 
 look like an emblem book as this first part really is. 
 
 The verses from Petrarch, and De Bellay are in- 
 tended, everyone of them, to give an example of the 
 world's vanity. 
 
 In those from Petrarch, the following subjects are 
 treated : 
 
 (i) a fair hinde suddenly attacked and killed 
 by two "egre dogs" ; 
 
 (2) a beautiful tall ship, freighted with riche 
 treasures, in one moment lost and 
 drowned by striking a rock ; 
 
 (3) a "fresh and lusty lawrell tree" struck by a 
 sudden flash of heaven's fire ; 
 
 (4) a spring of water being on a certain mo- 
 ment devoured by the gaping earth ; 
 
 (5) a fine bird, a Phoenix, who "himself smote 
 with his beake," as in disdain, so that he 
 died; 
 
 (6) a fair lady suddenly caught by the heele by 
 a stinging serpent. 
 
 In those from De Bellay we find the following ex- 
 amples of the world's vanity : 
 
 (i) a ghost appearing to the poet on the great 
 river's bank "that runnes by Rome," 
 telling him about the vanity of Rome 
 and "what under this great temple is 
 contained" ; 
 
 (2) a building, a frame on a hill suddenly de- 
 stroyed by an earthquake; 
 
 (3) a magnificent monument of an emperor 
 destroyed by a sudden "tempest from 
 heaven with flash striking down the no- 
 ble monument" ; 
 
 (4) a "triumphal arke," but "let me no more 
 see faire things under heaven, since I 
 saw so fair a thing as this with sudden 
 falling broken all to dust" ; 
 
 15 
 
226 SIR JOHN FAN DER NOOT 
 
 (5) a fair Dodonian tree upon seven hills, 
 when barbarous villaines outraged the 
 honor of these noble bowes ; 
 
 (6) a bird that dares behold the sun, when 
 suddenly he tumbles down from the air, 
 "in lompe of fire" ; 
 
 (7) a. hideous body, big and strong, the Tro- 
 jan hero, founding Rome, in his right 
 hand the tree of peace, in his left the 
 conquering palme ; then suddenly the 
 palm and olive fell; 
 
 (8) a wailing nimphe, tuning her plaint to fall- 
 ing rivers sound at Rome, that always 
 again produces so many Neroes and 
 Caligulas to rule this croked shore" ; 
 
 (9) a kindled flame of precious ceder tree, 
 with balmlike oder perfuming the air, 
 when suddenly "dropping of a golden 
 shower gan quench the glystering flame 
 and of sulphur now did breathe cor- 
 rupted smell" ; 
 
 (10) a fresh spring and hundred nymphes, who 
 sat by side "when from the hills a naked 
 rout of faunes with hideous cry assem- 
 bled on the place and with their feet 
 unclean the water fouled, threw down 
 the seats and drove the nymphes to 
 flight"; 
 
 (n) the great Typhaeus' sister, raising a 
 trophee over all the world and hundred 
 vanquished kings at her feet, but the 
 heavens war against her" ; "I saw her 
 stricken fall with clap of thunder." 
 
 After all these examples of the world's vanity, 
 interesting in their variety, beautifully described, but 
 monotonous in representing the same idea, follow the 
 four poems of the author himself. They form the 
 central part of the book, they show us that all the 
 previous examples of the world's vanity serve only 
 as an introduction to the solution of the great prob- 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 227 
 
 lem which the poet has in his mind. They give the 
 solution of the great problem of that time ; they con- 
 tain the life system of the persecuted Protestants of 
 Europe ; they touch the very heart of the thousands 
 of refugees, who fled from persecution ; who saw their 
 relatives burned at the stake ; who lost everything 
 except life, and who felt the world's vanity to the 
 extreme. 
 
 It was at the time when the Duke of Alva was 
 murdering his thousands in the Netherlands, when 
 Lutherans in Germany, Huguenots in France, Puri- 
 tans in England, during several years had suffered 
 the severest persecution, and all Protestantism was 
 in danger of being annihilated by the Roman Catholic 
 world power, and when no Protestant was safe with 
 his life. At that horrible time in the world's history, 
 Protestants were horror-stricken by' the terrible action 
 of Roman Catholicism ; they saw in Rome, the Beast 
 of the Apocalypse, the Anti-Christ, and in the Roman 
 Catholic Church the "woman" sitting on the Beast," 
 whose delight was the blood of the martyrs. Their 
 prayer was day and night to God in Heaven for 
 relief, and the solution of their great problem was in 
 the future triumph of Christ; their consolation was 
 in looking upward to the Holy City, the new Jeru- 
 salem, where there shall be no vanity of this world, 
 no more persecution of the saints; where dwells their 
 Lord and their God, and where "all their tears He 
 shall wipe clean away." To these ideas, to this very 
 life-system of the persecuted Protestants, the author, 
 who himself was one of them, gave expression in his 
 Theatre. After all the examples of Petrarch, and 
 De Bellay, showing the world's vanity, he proceeds 
 to print his four poems (i) on the Anti-Christ, the 
 Beast of the Apocalypse; (2) on the Roman Catholic 
 
228 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 Church, the woman sitting on the Beast; (3) on the 
 triumph of the Christ, the faithful man sitting on a 
 white horse ; and (4) on the Holy City, the New Jeru- 
 salem in Heaven. Because they form the very pith 
 of the book, I give them here in full: 
 
 "I saw an ugly beast come from the sea, 
 That seven heads, ten crounes, ten homes did bear, 
 Having thereon the vile blaspheming name. 
 The cmell leopard she resembled much: 
 Feete of a beare, a lions throte she had. 
 The mightie Dragon gave to hir his power. 
 One of hir heads yet there I did espie, 
 Still freshly bleeding of a grievous wounde. 
 One cride aloude. 'What one is like (quod he) 
 This honoured Dragon, or may him withstande? 
 And then came from the sea a savage beast, 
 With Dragons speche, and shewde his force by fire, 
 With wondrous signes to make all wights adore 
 The beast, in setting of hir image up. 
 
 II 
 
 "I saw a woman sitting on a beast 
 Before mine eyes, of orenge colour hew: 
 Horrour and dreadful! name of blasphemie 
 Filde hir with pride. And seven heads I saw; 
 Ten homes also the stately beast did beare. 
 She seemde with glorie of the scarlet faire, 
 And with fine perle and golde puft up in heart. 
 The wine of hooredome in a cup she bare. 
 The name of mysterie writ in hir face; 
 The bloud of martyrs dere were hir delite. 
 Host fierce and fell this woman seemde to me. 
 An angell then descending downe from Heaven 
 Whh thondring voice cride out aloude, and sayd, 
 *Now for a truth great Babylon is fallen/ 
 
 ra 
 
 "Then might I see upon a white horse set 
 The faithfull man with flaming countenaunce ; 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 229 
 
 His head did shine with crounes set therupon ; 
 The Worde of God made him a noble name. 
 His precious robe I saw embrued with bloud. 
 Then saw I from the heaven on horses white, 
 A puissant armie come the selfe same way. 
 Then cried a shining angell, as me thought, 
 That birdes from aire descending downe on earth 
 Should warre upon the kings, and eate their flesh. 
 Then did I see the beast and kings also 
 Joinyng their force to slea the faithfull man. 
 But this fierce hatefull beast and all hir traine 
 Is pitilesse throwne downe in pit of fire. 
 
 IV 
 
 "I saw new Earth, new Heaven, sayde Saint John. 
 And loe! the sea (quod he) is now no more. 
 The holy citie of the Lorde from hye 
 Descendeth, garnisht as a loved spouse. 
 A voice then sayde, 'Beholde the bright abode 
 Of God and men. For he shall be their God, 
 And all their teares he shall wipe cleane away.' 
 Hir brightnesses greater was than can be founde. 
 Square was this citie, and twelve gates it had. 
 Eche gate was of an orient perfect pearle, 
 The houses golde, the pavement precious stone. 
 A lively streame, more cleere than christall is, 
 Ranne through the mid, sprong from triumphant seat. 
 There growes lifes fruite unto the Churches good. 1 
 
 In reading these verses, after having read those 
 from Petrarch and De Bellay, we see the whole con- 
 ception of the book. In these verses we meet with 
 the author, and with the very pith and the heart of 
 the book. In all the examples of the world's vanity, 
 taken from Petrarch and De Bellay, the persecuted 
 Protestants read only their own misery and bereaved 
 condition, which, in themselves should have depressed 
 
 1 A reprint of all the verses of the Theatre is in the Cambridge 
 edition of Spenser's works, p. 765-767. A reprint of all these verses 
 in the original Dutch is in Albert Verwey Gedichten van Jonker Jan 
 van der Noot. Amsterdam, 1895. 
 
230 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 and disheartened them to death. But that was not 
 the idea of the author. He, one of their leading 
 spirits, their poet and their genius, says to his 
 brethren and sisters : This world's vanity, which we 
 endure, is everywhere, and is no exception in this 
 world; but our hope and our consolation is some- 
 where else. Our enemy, the Anti-Christ, and the 
 Church of Rome, which is under the leadership of 
 Anti-Christ in persecuting the martyrs, shall fall down 
 as the great Babylon ; our Lord and Saviour, Christ, 
 shall be triumphant, and our future is the eternal life 
 in the Holy City of God. 
 
 In these four verses the author gives with mas- 
 terly treatment the four chapters of the life-system 
 of the persecuted Protestants of his time, and the 
 real expression of what lived in the hearts of thou- 
 sands of refugees in England, in Germany, in France 
 and in the Netherlands. The elaborate prose part 
 that follows in the second part of the book, and covers 
 107 pages, is nothing but a broad explanation of this 
 great scheme. 
 
 Knowing the contents of this book, we do not 
 wonder that it appeared within a few years, succes- 
 sively, in Dutch, in French, in English and in 
 German. 
 
 The original edition was in Dutch, published in 
 1568 at Antwerp; 1 then he translated his work in 
 French during the same year; the next year, 1569, ap- 
 peared his English edition printed at London ; and two 
 years later, in 1571, it appeared in German, printed 
 at Cologne. 
 
 This book is one of the most striking answers 
 
 1 A copy of the original Dutch edition is in the Koninklyke 
 bibliotheek at Brussels and another one in the Kon. Bibl. at the Hague. 
 All the editions are mentioned by Aug. Vermeulen Leven en werken 
 van Jonker Jan van der Noot, Antwerp, 1899. 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 231 
 
 given from the Protestant side of that time to the 
 dreadful persecutions instigated by the Roman 
 Catholic world power, and one of the best expressions 
 of what lived in the hearts of thousands of perse- 
 cuted people in the different countries of western 
 Europe. 
 
 It is not for this reason only that this book may 
 be called a remarkable one, but for its literary value, 
 and for its illustrations as well. 
 
 The best authors on the history of the Dutch liter- 
 ature agree at least in this point, that this and other 
 works of Van der Noot belong to those books, which 
 started a new epoch in national literature, and pre- 
 pared the way for the work of Hooft and Vondel. 1 
 
 The English version of this book, especially as 
 regards the first part, containing the verses, is more 
 and more considered to be an event in the history of 
 English literature, as far as the development of the 
 sonnet and of blank verse is concerned. 
 
 Speaking about the verses contained in this book, 
 Alexander B. Grosart, the editor of the famous edi- 
 tion of Edmund Spenser's works, says: "But this is 
 more than a curiosity of Literature. It is a central 
 fact in the story of our national Literature, and 
 specifically in the story of the origin and the progress 
 of the blank verse which was predestined soon to grow 
 so mighty and marvelous an instrument in the hands 
 of Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare, and onward 
 of Milton, Cowper and Wordsworth." 2 
 
 Finally, as regards its illustrations this book, as 
 everybody acknowledges, has the honor of being the 
 first emblem book printed in the English language. 
 
 1 Albert Verwey, Kedichten van Jonker Jan ban der Noot, 
 Amsterdam, 1905, p. 1-6; G. Kalff, Gcschiedenis der Nederlandsche 
 Letterkunde, III, 356; J. de Winkel, De antwilkkelingsgang der 
 Nederlandsche Letterkunde, I, 298; Aug. Vermeulen, Lcven en werken 
 van Jonker Jan van der Noot, Antwerp, 1899, p. 114-140. 
 
 2 Alexander B. Grosart, Complete Works of Spenser, I. 25. 
 
232 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 2. Its author. 
 
 The author of this book was Sir John van der 
 Noot 1 (1539-1595), a nobleman of the Southern 
 Netherlands, born at Brecht, near Antwerp. The 
 ancestors of Van der Noot were, during several cen- 
 turies, held in great esteem in Brabant, and often en- 
 joyed the highest offices in the state. Our poet, whose 
 real name was Jan Baptista van der Noot, had the 
 advantage of a high education. He knew how to 
 write Latin, was well acquainted with Italian and 
 Spanish, while in the French language he expressed 
 himself nearly as well as in Flemish, his mother 
 tongue. After the death of his father, in 1558, he 
 settled at Antwerp, and after he became of age, we 
 find him among the magistrates of Antwerp. Some 
 years later, Van der Noot was celebrated at Antwerp 
 as a great poet, and even was made poet laureate, 
 which was in Flanders very exceptional A great 
 admirer of the Italian and French humanistic poetry, 
 especially of Petrarch and Marot, Du Bellay and 
 Ronsard, he had much esteem for poetry, "which gives 
 immortality," and he was well conscious of his own 
 literary abilities, as well as of his noble birth, and 
 his high standing. During the tumultuous days of 
 1566, when the long fostered spirit of the Reforma- 
 tion inspired the mass of the people more and more 
 with antipathy against the Roman Catholic Church, 
 and at last broke out in the image-breaking, Van der 
 Noot appears as one of the leaders of the Calvinistic 
 people, trying to get hold of the government of the 
 city. But soon, when the Duke of Alva was on his 
 way to the Netherlands, Van der Noot was among 
 the hundred thousand people who fled from the coun- 
 
 iTAll we know about the life of Van der Noot is brought together 
 by August Vermeulen in his "Het leven en de werken van Jonker 
 Jan van der Noot, Antwerpen, 1899." 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 233 
 
 try, and so, in the year 1569, we find him at London, 
 as one of the thousands of Dutch refugees in that city. 
 Here he stayed for more than two years at least 
 (March, 1567, until May 25, 1569, the date of the 
 dedication of his English version of the Theatre to 
 Queen Elizabeth). At what time he really left Lon- 
 don we do not know, but in 1571 w'e find him in Ger- 
 many, and during the next year, 1572, the remarkable 
 year of the St. Bartholemew, the year of the first 
 triumph of the sea-beggars, those first invincible sons 
 of liberty, Van der Noot published his German trans- 
 lation of the Theatre, printed at Cologne. But this 
 German translation was no more the same Theatre 
 that was written in Dutch, translated into French 
 and English and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. The 
 sharpest expressions against the Roman Catholic 
 Church were changed and softened. Van der Noot, 
 after having left London, and probably after having 
 been disappointed in a social way, had gone to live in 
 Germany, and had there become acquainted with quite 
 another kind of people, for instance, with the great 
 Dutch humanist, Coornhert, who later proved able 
 enough to convert the young Arminius from Calvinism 
 to Humanism. Under such influences, Van der Noot 
 was converted, probably first from Calvinism, and 
 finally from Humanism to Roman Catholicism, and 
 his German Theatre is the best proof of this conver- 
 sion. The manifold discussions about principles and 
 dogmas among the Calvinists, and the often one-sided 
 predominance amongst them of intellectualism, and 
 logical ideas, with their unavoidable consequences, ac- 
 companied but too often with a lack of kindred feel- 
 ing, seem to have been unbearable for Van der Noot, 
 a poet of tender feeling, more than of intellectual 
 strength. On the social side not independent, and 
 
234 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 probably pretty badly supported; on the literary and 
 artistic side not so much appreciated as he deserved, 
 he did not more feel himself at home among those 
 stubborn Calvinists, who submitted every part of 
 human life to the iron consequences of their infallible 
 dogmas, and who, at that time, had not made enough 
 progress in the finer side of life to pay full attention 
 to the value of poetry and of art. Like Hugo Grotius, 
 like Rousseau, like Robespierre, Van der Noot was 
 of a soft and tender nature, easily aroused to sym- 
 pathy, as well as to antipathy, using with literary 
 ability the power of his pen like a flash of lightning, 
 and consequently easily misunderstood by posterity, 
 which often does not take the trouble to analyse, and 
 fully to understand, and is but too often satisfied by 
 simply looking at men and events from their outward 
 side. His return to the Roman Catholic Church does 
 not show him in the sublime splendor of a martyr, 
 but for us at least his return is as easily understood 
 as that of his famous English contemporary, Ben 
 Jonson, or as that of his great compatriot, Vondel. 
 The true explanation of Van der Noot's return to the 
 Roman Catholic Church, and of other facts of his 
 life, as, for instance, the real story of the English 
 translation of the verses in his Theatre, have not yet 
 been fully discovered, but it is certainly going too 
 far to say that Van der Noot "never hesitated to make 
 the biggest lies," 1 and I fully agree with Dr. Kalff 
 when he says that a "Sufficient answer to these ques- 
 tions as yet cannot be given." 2 
 
 However this may be, Van der Noot lived in Ger- 
 many for several years. In 1576 he published there 
 "Das Buch Extrasis," but in 1578 we find him in 
 
 lAug Vermeulen, p. 30. Literally Vermeulen says "Nooit heeft 
 hy gevreesd over alle waarheid heente spnngen. 
 
 2 G. Kalff, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Lctterkunde, III, 34 1- 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 235 
 
 Paris, and a short time afterwards he returned to his 
 native city, after having traveled for eleven years in 
 England, Germany and France. Recommended by 
 the Arch-Duke, Matthias of Austria, who hoped for 
 a while to be governor of the Netherlands, Van der 
 Noot returned to Antwerp as a Catholic, and, as far 
 as we know, lived there till his death in 1595. 
 
 His poetical works are (i) "Het Bosken" (1567), 
 containing several little poems ; this work has been 
 reprinted many times ; (2) The Theatre, in Dutch 
 (1568), in French (1568), in English (1569), in Ger- 
 man (1571); (3) The Olympias (Antwerp, 1579), 
 an allegorical-epic poem in twelve books, after the 
 model of the great French and Italian poets of the 
 Rennaisance. Of this work, Aug. Vermeulen men- 
 tions several editions ; in German it was translated 
 under the title, "Das Buch Extasis ;" (4) Lofsang 
 van Brabant (Song in Praise of Brabant), 1580. 
 
 In the history of Dutch literature, Van der Noot's 
 place is that of the best known precursor of the great 
 literature of Hooft and Vondel, as "the only one from 
 an age in which we till this time did not find one 
 single poet of any importance j" 1 as the poet who has 
 been intermediate between the poets of the French 
 Renaissance, and the Dutch poets of the seventeenth 
 century; as "the Pleiade-poet of the Netherlands," 
 without whom there would have been no Hooft and 
 even no Vondel, at least not so complete and not with 
 so much authority in the language of the jambus," 2 
 or as "one of those who prepared the way for the 
 Renaissance" in the Netherlands. 3 
 
 For the history of English literature, his influence 
 
 1 Albert Verwey, Gedichtcn van Jonker Van der Noot. Preface, 
 p. i. 
 
 2 Verwey, p. V. 
 SKalff, III, 386. 
 
236 SIR JOHN FAN DER NOOT 
 
 is confined to that of the Theatre, especially to the 
 verses in that book, and secondly to the personal influ- 
 ence he may have exerted on Edmund Spenser. The 
 question of the translation of the poems of Van der 
 Noot's Theatre into English, and the connection of 
 Van der Noot with Spenser is, however, so important 
 that it for a moment requires our special attention. 
 3. Spenser's connection with ff the Theatre/' 
 In the year 1591, Edmund Spenser, among the 
 poems of his Complaints, reprinted the verses which 
 in 1569 had appeared in the Theatre of Van der 
 Noot. By revising, and partly rewriting them, 
 Spenser places these verses so decidedly under his 
 own name, and authority, that nobody can doubt 
 Spenser's authorship of these English translations of 
 Van der Noot's verses, unless for very serious reasons, 
 since Spenser's character is not of such kind as to 
 make it easy for us to assume him guilty of so bold 
 a lie, involving a literary theft of the very worst kind 
 that can be thought of. That Spenser himself super- 
 vised the reprint of these verses in 1591 is absolutely 
 certain, since he gives therein an entirely new version 
 of those of Du Bellay, and makes several little cor- 
 rections in those of Petrarch. 1 
 
 On the other hand, Van der Noot, in his Theatre 
 in 1569, does not mention Spenser with one word, but, 
 on the contrary, says only that he translated those 
 verses from the original Dutch edition of the Theatre. 
 Consequently, any honest treatment of the question 
 has to start with an endeavor to reconcile all the other 
 facts with the statement of Spenser and with that of 
 Van der Noot, and if possible to reconcile these state- 
 
 1 Rev. Henry John Todd, in his "Works of Spenser," Vol. VII, 
 3 2 S"33 2 > gives both the editions of 1569 and of 1591, comparing 
 them one with the other and showing the differences. Also in the 
 Cambridge edition of Spenser's works by Dr. E. E. N. Dodge both 
 versions are reprinted, p. 764-767. 
 
Jonkheer Jan van der Noot. 
 
 Kopergravure, voorkomende in Cort Begryp der XII Boeken 
 Olympiados (1579). 
 
SIR JOHN FAN DER NOOT 237 
 
 ments. Neither the short solution of the Westminster 
 Review, 1 boldly accusing Van der Noot of being a 
 pharisee, who did not acknowledge the production of 
 another author, nor that of De Hoog 2 supposing 
 simply that the edition of the Complaints in 1591 was 
 published without Spenser's knowing it, nor that of 
 the Cambridge History of English Literature* in mak- 
 ing a haughty and empty statement, as if there was 
 no question at all, and as if even the name of Van 
 der Noot might be entirely left out in treating 
 Spenser's earliest work, can satisfy anybody who is 
 acquainted with the difficulties in this remarkable 
 question. Recognizing the fact that scholars of repu- 
 tation who have made this question the subject of 
 their especial research, differ so much, that, for 
 instance, Grosart says: "Looking closely into the 
 Petrarch series, it will be felt that their style is de- 
 cisively that of Spenser in his early manner Charac- 
 ter and cadence are pre-eminently Spenserian here and 
 throughout," while, on the contrary, Koeppler says : 
 "Die Gedichte des 'Theatre' von 1569 zeigen keine 
 Spur der so augenfalligen Farbung der Spenserschen 
 Sprache," and a third one, August Vermeulen, after 
 his researches, comes to this conclusion: "Whether 
 Van der Noot has known Spenser at all, remains an 
 open question/' 4 we have to admit that here is an inter- 
 esting question, the solution of which has been sought 
 by scholars in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in Eng- 
 land, in Germany and in America. 
 
 The first and most important question is : how to 
 reconcile the authorship claimed by Spenser in 1591 
 with the statement of Van der Noot in 1569 that he 
 
 1 Alexander B. Grosart, Complete Works of Spenser, I, 22. 
 
 2 De Hoog, Studien II, 48. 
 
 3 Cambridge History of English Literature, III, 241 and 285. 
 
 4 August Vermeulen, p. 58 and 59. 
 
238 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 translated the verses himself. Now we can prove that 
 when Van der Noot says that he translated those 
 verses from the Dutch, this is anyhow not quite true, 
 and that, to save the honor of Van der Noot, we have 
 to take these words in any possible sense in which 
 the author of the book at that moment might have 
 used them. The comparison of the English transla- 
 tion with the Dutch and the French versions shows 
 clearly that they are translated more from the French 
 than from the Dutch. 1 If this be a fact, which nobody 
 can deny, we have to find out what else Van der Noot 
 as an honest man can have meant by the words 
 "translated from the Dutch." This is indeed not as 
 difficult as it looks. Van der Noot had published his 
 "Theatre" first of all in Dutch, his own mother 
 tongue. So he considered his "Theatre" as a Dutch 
 work. All the other editions, the French, the English 
 and the German, he considered and he wished other 
 people to consider them as versions of his Dutch 
 work. That, in his sovereign power over his own 
 work, he, as the author, followed for his English ver- 
 sion more the French than the Dutch, did not take 
 away the fact that the original of his book was the 
 Dutch edition. In that sense he certainly could main- 
 tain that the English version was a translation from 
 the Dutch, notwithstanding the fact that in making 
 this English translation another, viz., a French trans- 
 lation, had rendered so considerable a service. Fur- 
 thermore, that he, for his English version, used the 
 assistance of Spenser, at that time a poor young stu- 
 dent, hardly seventeen years old, whom he probably 
 paid one penny for each line, just as Rubens used the 
 assistance of his pupils for some details of hundreds 
 of his pictures which were sold under his name, could 
 
 1 Ibid, 54 and 55. 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 239 
 
 not be such an important fact for the author, who was 
 the master of the whole work. The young assistant 
 "was in no way a principal in the main undertaking 
 when the volume came out, therefore, it nowhere gave 
 his name. He had done his work, and received his 
 pay there was no need to acknowledge his services." 1 
 At that moment Van der Noot coufd not imagine that 
 the name of his young assistant would one day become 
 famous, and that those translations would play an 
 important part in English literature. As a principal 
 he did what, all over the world, principals do with 
 their young assistants, and with their work. By get- 
 ting his pay, and no further recognition at that 
 moment, Spenser got just what every young man gets, 
 when the master honors him by asking his assistance. 
 Just as an architect says, with our full consent: "I 
 built that house," even where he personally did not 
 touch one single stone, so Van der Noot could say: 
 "I made this English version of my original Dutch 
 work." Van der Noot was here the architect ; he was 
 the author of the work which he wrote in Dutch, and 
 the work of translating was of course considered as 
 an insignificant task, for which he might have em- 
 ployed any other unknown person, as well as the 
 young Spenser. Of his original Dutch work, the 
 sovereign author made his different versions with as 
 many alterations as he thought necessary, and with 
 the assistance of such persons as he chose. Looking 
 at the matter from that point of view, he could hon- 
 estly maintain that he translated his original work into 
 French, English and German, just as we ourselves 
 speak about the French, English and German versions 
 of Van der Noot's Theatre. 
 
 Interpreting Van der Noot's statement, from . his 
 
 1 R. E. N. Dpdge, Cambridge edition of Spenser's Works, p. 765. 
 
240 SIR JOHN FAN DER NOOT 
 
 point of view as chief author of the work, we can 
 perfectly reconcile the claim of Spenser that he really 
 translated these verses although in an absolutely 
 strict sense of the word this cannot be maintained 
 either, but has to be taken with some explanation of 
 common sense. The fact that Spenser in this trans- 
 lation of 1569, who, as a boy of seventeen years, sup- 
 posed that he did the work alone, shows a better 
 knowledge of the French language than when twenty 
 years later in 1591, as a learned man of thirty-eight, 
 he, at least in three places, shows that he failed to 
 understand the French text of the Ruins of Rome 
 by Du Bellay, which he at that time translated, 1 this 
 fact shows clearly that Van der Noot, who understood 
 perfectly his French, probably explained to the young 
 Spenser the meaning of the French, and the Dutch 
 texts, and that consequently the translation was not 
 entirely an independent work by the young Spenser. 
 Nevertheless, the masterly expression of the thought 
 in English verses was Spenser's work and the devel- 
 opment of the English Literature has made this part 
 of the work for us the most important part. The ex- 
 planations given by Van der Noot to his assistant- 
 translator, the young Spenser, for the right under- 
 standing of the Dutch and the French texts, may have 
 been felt too deeply by the honest Spenser for him to 
 have felt like claiming immediately a full right to call 
 these verses his own, and this, as well as the fact that 
 the translating was done in the service of Van der 
 Noot, may have been the reason for the vague expres- 
 sion, "formerly translated," added to the title of the 
 verses when Spenser republished them in 1591. At 
 that time, the name of Van der Noot, an apostate 
 from Protestantism, had lost a great part of its fame 
 
 1 See Vermeulen, p. 58. 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 241 
 
 among the Reformed people, and the author of the 
 Shepherd's Calendar and The Faerie Queene might 
 not think it desirable to mention publicly his connec- 
 tion with Van der Noot. On the other hand, as soon 
 as it was no longer the fact of their being translations 
 but the masterly character of the English verses that 
 had become important, Spenser could with full right 
 claim them as his own work. The fact that the prin- 
 cipal, Dr. Mulcaster, of the Merchant Taylor's school, 
 from which the young Spenser had just graduated 
 when he met Van der Noot, is said by Warton to have 
 given special attention to the teaching of the English 
 language, 1 seems to be in full accordance with this 
 view of the question, as it implies that Spenser did 
 not give the customary amount of attention to French 
 and other foreign languages. It can hardly mean that 
 no attention was paid to foreign languages, including 
 French, without some knowledge of which the young 
 Spenser could not have done the work at all. 
 
 In so far everything can reasonably be explained 
 if we presume that Spenser really is the translator, 
 while on the other hand, when we for a moment 
 assume that Spenser was not the translator, we are 
 immediately coerced to the absurd conclusion that the 
 author of Shepherd's Calendar (1579), and of the 
 Faerie Queene (1590) chose to publish under his 
 name a few verses, which had been printed twenty 
 years before, in which verses he had no part at all, 
 and that with the chance at any moment of being 
 blamed for so shameless a literary theft by Van der 
 Noot himself, who was still living, or by the real trans- 
 lator, if such an one was alive, or had any living 
 friends. 
 
 An additional argument in favor of Spenser's 
 
 1 Grosart's Works of Spenser, I. 18. 
 16 
 
242 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 authorship of these verses is that of Grosart, 1 viz., 
 that probably Van der Noot did not master well 
 enough the English language to make these verses. 
 This argument, although perhaps of some value, has 
 been exaggerated very much by Grosart, who goes 
 so far as to suppose that even in prose Van der Noot 
 could not express his thoughts in English. This 
 indeed looks very improbable. A man of noble birth, 
 of high education, and of remarkable capacity, who 
 knew not only his French perfectly, but even his 
 Italian very well, one of the magistrates in the cos- 
 mopolitan metropolis of Antwerp, at that time a city 
 where thousands of English people lived, and where 
 the opportunity of learning English was very great, 
 such a man probably spoke and wrote the English 
 language sufficiently to express his thoughts in a 
 language which was at that time so near to Dutch, 
 and so easy for a Dutchman to learn, that the his- 
 torian, Van Meteren, about the year 1600 calls Eng- 
 lish "only a broken Dutch." And that Van der Noot 
 for this reason should have to be considered as not 
 having written himself even the pamphlet entitled 
 "Governance and preservation of them that fear the 
 Playe," and that there should be no evidence what- 
 ever to show that Van der Noot commanded enough 
 of English to write it idiomatically, when living at 
 London for at least two years and a half, and having 
 all sorts of correctors around him, seems to me an 
 unnecessary exaggeration, for which there is "no evi- 
 dence whatever." 
 
 The real reason why Van der Noot, in making his 
 English version of the Theatre, put as much of the 
 work as possible upon other persons in his service, 
 and caused even the prose part to be translated by 
 
 1 Grosart, p. 19. 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 243 
 
 another man, seems to me to lie in the character and 
 position of Van der Noot as a nobleman, an aristocrat, 
 a high spirited poet of the Rennaissance, a former 
 magistrate at Antwerp, who had formed the custom 
 of commanding others, and of having everything done 
 as much as possible by other people in his service. 
 
 Another interesting question in connection with 
 Spenser's authorship of these translations, is the prob- 
 lem that lies before us in the four "visions" or verses 
 taken from the Apocalypse of St. John. Spenser 
 claims the authorship of the verses translated from 
 Petrarch, and of those from Du Bellay, but he neither 
 reprints nor says a word about the four beautiful and 
 most important verses from the Apocalypse, which, 
 as we saw, form the very pith and kernel of the whole 
 "Theatre." These verses are in their original Dutch, 
 the only original poems of Van der Noot in this col- 
 lection, and in their English version they are as beau- 
 tiful in literary form as any of the others. Did Van 
 der Noot himself translate these four verses? But 
 then it would become very probable that he translated 
 the others as well. Or did Spenser translate also 
 these verses ? But then the question arises : Why 
 did Spenser not reprint these four verses with the 
 others in his Complaints? There is great reason to 
 think that Spenser translated them and that Van der 
 Noot did not, and it is not difficult to see why Spenser 
 did not reprint these verses in his volume of "Com- 
 plaints." It is very improbable that Van der Noot 
 should have had another man in his service for the 
 translation of only these four verses, and conse- 
 quently all the evidence for Spenser's authorship of the 
 other verses, operate also as evidence for his author- 
 ship of these four. Besides this, it seems to me, from 
 inner evidence, impossible to consider Van der Noot 
 
244 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 himself as the translator. Some expressions and 
 thoughts which are found in the Dutch original are 
 left out in the English version, expressions which 
 Van der Noot himself at that time never would have 
 left out. In the second of the four verses, a special 
 verse against the Roman Catholic Church, "the woman 
 sitting on the Beast," which Van der Noot thus 
 expresses in the Dutch original, is altered in the 
 English : 
 
 "Wt den hemel hoorde ick een ander steemme buyghen 
 "Segghende, gaat wt heur op dat ghy heurder plagen 
 "Niet deelachtig en wort, myn volck, myn goet behagen." 
 
 The expression "gaat wt heur" (go out of her), that 
 is the advice from heaven to leave the Roman Catholic 
 Church, is not to be found in the English version, but 
 is at that moment such a prevailing idea of Van der 
 Noot that he himself when translating these lines 
 never would have left out this main idea, unless we 
 suppose that he accommodated his language to- cir- 
 cumstances and conditions in England, just as in later 
 time he did in Germany, which is a possibility. In the 
 same verse, Van der Noot speaks about "the blood 
 of the saints, the good witnesses of Jesus" ("Van der 
 heylighen bloet, Jesus goede ghetuyghen"), while in 
 the English version we read about "The blood of 
 martyrs dere." The warmer and more sympathetic 
 expression "martyrs dere" looks, indeed, quite Spen- 
 serian, while "the good witnesses" of Van der Noot, 
 looks more like that of the Humanist. It is only a 
 little difference, but one in which speaks the heart of 
 the author, as well as that of the translator in a typi- 
 cal and characteristic way. 
 
 Finally, the question why Spenser, although he 
 translated them, did not claim them, and did not re- 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 245 
 
 print them in his Complaints with the others, is not 
 difficult to answer. These four "visions" are not 
 complaints. These verses on Anti-Christ, on the 
 Woman sitting on the Beast, on Christ, and on the 
 Holy City, were perfectly in their place in Van der 
 Noot's Theatre, "an argument both profitable and de- 
 lectable to all that sincerely love the word of God," 
 as the title tells us, but they were not at all in their 
 place in the Complaints. So we can perfectly under- 
 stand that Spenser, perhaps to keep faith with his 
 publisher, left them out, as not belonging to the kind 
 of poems which he intended to publish in his Com- 
 plaints, 
 
 That Spenser, in the edition of his Complaints, 
 did not mention at all the name of Van der Noot, and 
 his "Theatre," may find its reason in the fact that Van 
 der Noot had returned to the Roman Catholic Church, 
 and, therefore, as an apostate from Protestantism, had 
 fallen into disgrace among the Protestants. This m&y 
 have been the reason, as well, why Spenser never 
 claimed the translations of the four verses of the 
 Apocalypse, because he never could claim them, with- 
 out telling that they were translated from Van der 
 Noot, and since Spenser as a Calvinist could not wish 
 his name to be connected any more with that of the 
 Catholic, Van der Noot, he left them unmentioned. 
 
 4. Van der Noot and Spenser 
 
 The last question which asks our attention is: 
 What was the relation between Spenser and Van der 
 Noot? And: Has Van der Noot exerted any influ- 
 ence on Spenser, and through Spenser on English liter- 
 ature? I know that this question has to be decided 
 in the main by logical inference rather more than by 
 direct facts. But there is some value in logical rea- 
 soning. At least once in a while, logical inferences 
 
246 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 do mean something, when applied to creatures pre- 
 tending to be reasonable beings. For the present 
 purpose I give consideration to the following seven 
 points : 
 
 (1) The verses of Van der Noot's English edition 
 of his Theatre are the earliest known verses of Spen- 
 ser. 
 
 (2) If Van der Noot's Theatre was successful, 
 expressing the deepest thoughts of thousands of per- 
 secuted Protestants in several countries of Western 
 Europe, and at the same time making some precious 
 contributions to literature, then this success was at 
 the same time a success for the young Spenser, and 
 an encouragement to him to develop his abilities as 
 a poet, which hardly can be overestimated. 
 
 (3) The ideas of the Theatre, as Van der Noot laid 
 them before the young Spenser, and explained them 
 to him, these great ideas of the world's vanity, of the 
 struggle and sufferings of Christians, and of their 
 final triumph, and their eternal happiness, have re- 
 mained with Spenser ; they have formed the center of 
 his life-system, and are to be found in all his later 
 works. 
 
 (4) In Van der Noot the young Spenser found 
 just the leading spirit he needed for the development 
 of his genius a man who combined the high literary 
 taste of the Rennaissance, with the religious struggle 
 of the Reformation, a beautiful combination, which in 
 Spenser's later works came to such a mighty develop- 
 ment. Neither a pure humanist, dwelling one-sidedly 
 on the literature of Greece and Rome, nor a simple 
 Reformed preacher, forgetting in his religious zeal 
 the value of literary beauty, but both combined in one 
 human consciousness, the deep religious ideas of the 
 Reformation, and the finest humanistic taste for art 
 
SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 247 
 
 and literature, that was what the developing genius 
 of Spenser needed, and that was what he must have 
 admired in the author of the Theatre. The young 
 Spenser, says Grosart and he studied Spenser was 
 "quickened and fired by Van der Noot." 1 
 
 (5) Twenty years after the publication of the 
 Theatre, Spenser still cherished these first poems so 
 much that he added to them several more of the same 
 kind, under the title of the "World's Vanity" 
 in his Complaints, although at. that time it must have 
 been with feelings of sorrow that Spenser recalled his 
 early acquaintance with the Dutch nobleman, of such 
 high education and learning, now long since returned 
 to the Catholic Church, the man in whose service he 
 had gained his first success as a poet and his first 
 great encouragement in the field of poetry. 
 
 (6) During these twenty years, Spenser wrote his 
 Shepherd's Calendar-, with the Eclogue for Septem- 
 ber, in which we find the dialogue between Diggon 
 Davie and Hobbinol. This Diggon Davie is, accord- 
 ing to Kirk's Glasse, "the very friend of the author 
 and this friend had been long in foreign countries." 2 
 Grosart recognizes in this very friend Spenser's early 
 patron-friend, Van der Noot. 3 The whole diologue of 
 Diggon Davie and Hobbinol, says Grosart, is "a pas- 
 sionate indictment of Popery, exactly reflecting the 
 Theatre." 4 And after having found Van der Noot's 
 person, as well as Van der Noot's ideas, in Spenser's 
 Shepherd's Calendar, Grosart says, "One thinks the 
 more of Spenser, that he thus warmly celebrated his 
 early patron-friend." 5 
 
 1 Grosart, Spenser's Works, I. p. 25. 
 
 2 Grosart, p. 27. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
 4 Ibid. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 28. 
 
248 SIR JOHN VAN DER NOOT 
 
 (7) After the example of Van der Noot as he 
 appeared in 1569, as a Protestant refugee, a noble- 
 man, a learned humanist, the author of the Theatre, 
 Spenser's genius has developed through all his later 
 life as we see in his works. When Van der Noot 
 and Spenser met together, Van der Noot was at the 
 highest point of his fame, and of his ability, while 
 Spenser was just at that age which is so apt for great 
 impressions, which often is so decisive for life, and 
 therefore we may ask: Has there been anybody, of 
 whom we have knowledge that probably had a more 
 important and a more deciding influence on Spenser 
 than Van der Noot? And is not the spirit of the 
 Theatre hauntingly present in the works of Spenser? 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE "BEE HIVE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH," BY MAR- 
 NIX OF ST. ALDEGONDE 
 
 With the exception of Erasmus' Praise of Folly, 
 there is probably no other book written in the six- 
 teenth century which found so many readers among 
 the Protestants, as the biting satire of Marnix of St. 
 Aldegonde, published under the title of "The Bee- 
 hive." 
 
 The author of this book, Philip of Marnix, Lord 
 of St. Aldegonde, commonly called "Marnix" or "St. 
 Aldegonde," or Marnix of St. Aldegonde, was born 
 at Brussels in the year 1538, studied at the University 
 of Lotivain, and at Geneva under Calvin and Beza. 
 After having returned to the Netherlands, he be- 
 came one of the leaders in the revolt against Spain, 
 and by his writings one of the best defenders of 
 Protestantism. He defended the image-breaking of 
 1566, and fled from the country when, in 1567, the 
 duke of Alva came to the Netherlands. All his pos- 
 sessions were confiscated, and he himself was con- 
 demned to death. During five years, from 1567 until 
 1572, he lived in exile, most of the time in Germany, 
 and it was during this time that he wrote his "Wil- 
 helmus van Nassauwe," the most beautiful national 
 hymn of the Dutch people, and his famous satire 
 against the Roman Catholic Church entitled, "De 
 Byencorf der H. Romische Kercke" (The Beehive 
 of the H. Roman Catholic Church). After his return 
 to the Netherlands he appears as one of the most 
 
 249 
 
250 "BEE HIVE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH" 
 
 intimate friends of the Prince of Orange, who often 
 employed him for diplomatic missions and at last 
 made him, in 1583, first burgomaster or governor of 
 Antwerp. But when, during the year 1585, he had 
 been forced to surrender the city to the Spaniards, 
 he retired to his country place at Sauburg in Zealand, 
 and after that time devoted himself entirely to his 
 studies. During the last years of his life, when he 
 was appointed by the States General to prepare a 
 new translation of the Bible, he moved to Leyden,' 
 where he died in 1598, after having finished only a 
 small part of this work. "He was a poet of much 
 vigor and imagination, a prose writer whose style was 
 surpassed by that of none of his contemporaries, a 
 diplomatist in whose tact and delicacy William of 
 Orange reposed in the most difficult and important 
 negotiations, an orator whose discourses on many 
 great public occasions attracted the attention of Eur- 
 ope, a soldier whose bravery was to be attested on 
 many a well-fought field, a theologian so skillful in 
 the polemics of divinity that he was more than a 
 match for a bench of bishops upon their own ground, 
 and a scholar so accomplished that besides speaking 
 and writing the classical and several modern lan- 
 guages with facility he had also translated for popular 
 use the Psalms of David into vernacular verse, and 
 at a very late period of his life was requested by the 
 States-General of the republic to translate all the 
 Scriptures, a work the fulfillment of which was pre- 
 vented by his death." "His device, Repos ailleurs, 
 finely typified the restless, agitated and laborious life 
 to which he was destined." 1 
 
 ij. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, Vol. I, Part II, 
 Chapter VI. The best monographs on the life and works of St. 
 Aldegonde are those of Edgar Quinet, Th. Juste, Alberdinck Thym, 
 J. van der Have, and especially ' G. Tjalma. The wprks of St. Alde- 
 gonde are published in seven volumes with introduction by E. Quinet 
 at Brussels, 1857-1860. His religious and ecclesiastic writings in 
 Dutch were collected and republished in four vols., with introduction 
 by J. J. Torenenbergen, The Hague, 1878. 
 
"BEE HIVE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH" 251 
 
 His great satire, "The Beehive," was an answer 
 to a letter published by Gentian Hervet, Bishop of 
 Bois le Due, in which letter an endeavor was 
 made to convince the Protestants of their error 
 in leaving the Roman Catholic Church. In the form 
 of a commentary to that letter St. Aldegonde sub- 
 mits all the peculiar dogmas, and the whole policy 
 of the Roman Catholic Church, to the most subtle 
 criticism, taking himself the appearance of a de- 
 fender, and in that way producing a biting satire, 
 in which he compared the Roman Catholic Church 
 to a bee hive, and the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, 
 monks, and priests to the different kinds of bees 
 every kind with its own sundry qualities. Some of 
 these bees, he says (alluding to cardinals and bishops) 
 live in the neighborhood of their king and "how much 
 the nearer they approach to the king so much the 
 thicker and rounder they commonly grow." Others 
 live a more solitary life, and these bees, therefore, 
 "are called with the Greek word Monachi." Another 
 kind are horseflies, wasps and hornets (the common 
 priests) with this difference, that they do not settle 
 themselves on horses, but on sheep (the people of 
 their congregation), on which they, "for fear of being 
 entangled in the fleece, first bite away the wool, after 
 that their skinne, and lastly do suckle their blood, 
 to which they are wonderfully adjected." 
 
 As the subject of this book touched the great 
 struggle between Protestantism and Roman Catholic- 
 ism, and as the literary form of it was very attrac- 
 tive, and its author one of the most learned men 
 of his age, we do not wonder that everywhere the 
 Protestants were anxious to read this book, the fame 
 of which soon spread over all Western Europe. 
 
 After the first three editions in Dutch, in 1569, 
 
252 "BEE HIVE OF THE ROMISH CHURCH" 
 
 1572 and 1674, a German translation followed in 1576, 
 and an English version in 1578. The title of the first 
 English edition is : "Bee Hive of the Romish Church, 
 a Worke of all Good Catholiks too be read, and most 
 necessary to be understoode, wherein both the Cath- 
 olike religion is substantially confirmed, and the here- 
 tikes finely fetcht over the coales. Translated from 
 Dutch by George Gilpin the Elder." 
 
 After this first English edition there followed at 
 least three later ones, viz., in 1580, 1623 and 1636. 
 One of the year 1598 is declared by Van Torenen- 
 bergen to be probably the same as that of 1578, the 
 year 1598 being a printer's error in the catalogue of 
 Alfred Russell Smith, at London, for 1578. 
 
 In Dutch this book has appeared since it was first 
 published in at least twenty-eight editions, and in Ger- 
 man in at least fourteen. 
 
 For the Huguenots in France, St. Aldegonde 
 wrote his elaborate work, "Tableu des differens de la 
 Religion," treating to a large extent the same sub- 
 ject, in which the author, after the example of Rabe- 
 lais, uses as skillfully the weapon of satire. Never- 
 theless, some authors maintain that the Bee Haw also 
 was translated into French. 1 
 
 That St. Aldegonde, by this work, advanced the 
 cause of Protestantism, not only on the Continent 
 but as well on the British Isles, is without doubt, and 
 also that the work had its influence on the develop- 
 ment of satire in every language into which it was 
 translated. And the four English editions show 
 clearly enough that the Beehive of St. Aldegonde was 
 a popular book among English people. 
 
 1 Edgar Quinet, Oeuvres de Th. de Marnix, Vol. IV, p. 347, where 
 he quotes the work of Prins. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES. LUCAS JANSS WAGHEN- 
 AER, BERNARD LANGHENES, JAN HUYGHEN VAN 
 LINSCHOTEN, WILLIAM CORNELIS SCHOUTEN, GER- 
 RIT DE VEER, HENDRIK TOLLENS. 
 
 Descriptions of voyages have formed for centuries 
 in the most natural way a typical part of the litera- 
 ture read by the English. A nation destined to "rule 
 the waves," a nation whose country is surrounded by 
 the sea, learned through all generations to enjoy voy- 
 ages ; a nation, whose sons looked from their earliest 
 youth to the sea for their future success in life, must 
 enjoy and favor every kind of story relating to the 
 bravery and the success, the dangers and the trag- 
 edies, the heroism and the sufferings, of those who 
 sailed with their ships to the remotest corners of the 
 globe, and coming home brought with them trophies 
 of their trade or their robberies, as well as thrilling 
 stories of their wonderful experiences. 
 
 From the "Voiage and Trevaile" (13001372) until- 
 the time that the last of the one hundred and twenty 
 volumes of the Hakluyt Society was published, Eng- 
 lish literature is full of "voyages and travels," which 
 give abundant proof of this typical characteristic of 
 the English nation. Among these descriptions of 
 voyages are some translations from the Dutch, which 
 have played a very important and interesting part, not 
 only as a much cherished amusement for the reading 
 classes in England but as an incentive to the develop- 
 
 253 
 
254 DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 
 
 ment of English maritime power. Within the short 
 but deciding period, from the year 1590 until 1620, we 
 find the following books, and perhaps others, trans- 
 lated from the Dutch: 
 
 (1) Lucas Janss Waghenaer (1550-1600), Mari- 
 ners Mirrour. This book is mentioned by P. A. Tiele 
 in his introduction to The Voyage of John Huyghen 
 Linschoten, p. XXVII, as a translation of Waghen- 
 aer's Spiegel der Seevaert, published by C. Plantyn, 
 Leyden, 1584. 
 
 (2) Bernard Langhenes The description of a 
 voyage made by certain Ships of Holland into the 
 East Indies who set forth on the 2nd of April, 1595, 
 and returned on the I4th of August, 1597. Printed 
 by John Woolfe, 1598. 
 
 "In his dedication to this work, of which the origi- 
 nal was written by Bernard Langhenes, Phillip an- 
 nounces a translation of Linschoten's voyages." 1 This 
 work was translated by William Phillip. 
 
 (3) John Huyghen van Linschoten, his discours 
 of voyages into ye Easte and West Indies. Devided 
 into foure books. Printed at London by John Woolfe 
 (1598) ; on the title pages of the second, third and 
 fourth books of which work the initials W. P. (Will- 
 iam Phillip) are given as those of the translator. 
 
 "In the advertisement to the reader in this work 
 (copies of which have sold as high as ten pounds, 
 fifteen shillings) it is stated that the Booke being 
 commended by Maister Richard Hakluyt, a man that 
 laboureth greatly to advance our English name and 
 nation, the printer thought good to cause the same 
 to be translated into the English tongue." 2 Reprinted 
 by the Hakluyt Society in two volumes, London, 1885, 
 with introduction of P. A. Thiele. 
 
 1 Charles T. Beke, in his introduction to the work of Gerrit de 
 Veer, p. CXXXIX. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
Eoum nobi$ heic dat LynfcottM Orbcm.), 
 Lynfcotunu, arfifai jculpta tabclU manu. 
 
DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 255 
 
 (4) Gerrit de Veer A true description of three 
 voyages by the North-East towards Cathay and 
 China, undertaken by the Dutch in the years 1594, 
 1595 and 1596, published at Amsterdam in the year 
 1598, and in 1609 translated into English by William 
 Phillip. 
 
 This book is reprinted in 1853 'for the Hakluyt. 
 Society and edited by Charles T. Beke. 
 
 (5) William Cornelison Schouten. The Relation 
 of a wonderfull Voyage made by William Cornelison 
 Schouten of Home, Shewing how South from the 
 Straights of Magellan in Terra del Fuego, he found 
 and discovered a newe passage through the great 
 South Sea, and that way seyled round about the 
 World Describing what Islands, Countries, People 
 and strange Adventures he found in his saicle Pass- 
 age. London, imprinted by T. D. for Nathaneel New- 
 berry, 1619. "This English edition," says Beke, is 
 exceedingly rare." 1 
 
 Of these five books, those of Van Linschoten, De 
 Veer and Schouten are by far the most important. 
 
 That of Langhenes I have found mentioned only 
 by Beke in his introduction to that of De Veer ; that 
 of Lucas Jan Waghenaer is mentioned, in the Dutch 
 edition, by Van der Aa's Dutch Biography under the 
 name of Waghenaer. 
 
 That of William Cornelis Schouten, however, who 
 died in 1625, I have found in not less than twenty- 
 five editions, of which seventeen are in Dutch, five 
 in French, one in Latin, one in German and one in 
 English. The importance of this work lies in what 
 is mentioned in the title about the discovery of "a 
 newe passage through the great South Sea." 
 
 Far more important is that of De Veer, relat- 
 
 1 Charles T. Beke in his introduction to the work of De Veer, 
 p. c., XXXIX. 
 
256 DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 
 
 ing the three voyages by Dutch ships in 1594, 1595 
 and 1 596, which were trying to find a new passage to 
 China and India through the North-East, around the 
 Northern coast of Russia. Especially the thrilling 
 narrative of the third one of these voyages, in which 
 William Barends was the commander, and in which 
 this daring mariner, with his little company, was 
 forced to stay a whole winter on Nova Sembla, has 
 gained a world-wide fame. The struggle of these 
 stubborn and daring explorers, against the intense 
 cold of an arctic winter, against the attacks of polar 
 bears and against other difficulties, is so interesting, 
 and is described with such a naive simplicity, that it 
 is retold in hundreds of books, and forever belongs 
 to the most interesting literature of the kind in the 
 world. Gerrit de Veer, himself one of the little com- 
 pany of Barends, describes the first of the three voy- 
 ages, as published in the English edition of the Hak- 
 luyt Society, in thirty-eight pages, the second voyage 
 in thirty pages, while all the rest of the book, covering 
 two hundred and forty-two pages, is devoted to the 
 third voyage. The building of a cabin, the accident 
 that befel two of the company who were devoured 
 by a bear, the sickness and death of Barends himself, 
 the return in open boats from Nova Sembla to Kola 
 on the White sea, a distance of about six hundred 
 miles, are some of the most interesting parts of the 
 story. More than two hundred years after this voy- 
 age, the Dutch poet, Hendrik Tollens (1780-1856) 
 made the story a subject of one of his poems ("De 
 overwintering op Nova Sembla"), and this poem, too, 
 is translated into English in 1860 by "Anglo-Saxon" 
 and entitled: "The Hollanders in Nova-Sembla An 
 Arctic poem." 
 
 There exist at least . three Dutch editions of the 
 
DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 257 
 
 work of De Veer, in 1598, 1605 an d 1619; one in 
 Latin in 1598, four editions in French in 1598, 1599, 
 1600 and 1609; and one in English. Several abridg- 
 ments of the work are published in German, one in 
 Latin, and one in English, in the third volume of 
 Purchas' collection. Short abstracts of the work have 
 been published in Dutch, Latin, German, French and 
 English, and all these editions are mentioned in -the 
 introduction to the English edition as published by 
 the Hakluyt Society in 1853. 
 
 But the most important of all, is the book of Van 
 Linschoten. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten was born 
 at Haarlem, probably in the year 1560. His portrait 
 has: "Anno 1595 act 32," and this should indicate 
 as the year of his birth 1563. But all the stories of 
 his life tell that in the year 1576 he went to Spain 
 as a boy of sixteen years, which brings the year of 
 his birth back to 1560. And, as it is much more prob- 
 able that he left home at sixteen than at thirteen, I 
 rather believe that he was born in 1560. Probably 
 about the year 1573, before or after the siege and con- 
 quest of Haarlem by the Spaniards, his parents moved 
 to Enkhuizen, one of the first cities which fell into 
 the hands of the Sea-Beggars, and was held for the 
 Prince of Orange. Enkhuizen, to day one of the dead 
 cities on the Zuider Zee, was at that time one of the 
 best sea ports of the Netherlands and one of the cen- 
 ters of Dutch trade and fishery. "We learn from 
 John that two brothers of his some years previous to 
 the year 1576 had gone to Spain and established 
 themselves probably in business at Seville. In spite 
 of the war between the two nations, commercial rela- 
 tions were still maintained, and could not well be 
 abandoned by either side, as the Dutch market was 
 then indispensable to the prosperity of the Indian 
 
 17 
 
258 DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 
 
 trade of Spain and Portugal." 1 As a boy of sixteen 
 years, in 1576, he left the home of his parents to 
 join his brothers in Spain, and he did not return to 
 Enkhuizen before the year 1592, "after an absence 
 of thirteen years." 2 If he really left home in 1576, 
 and returned in 1592, his absence must 'have been 
 not thirteen but sixteen years. But, however this 
 may be, he stayed for six or seven years in Spain, 
 and in Portugal in the house of a merchant at Lis- 
 bon ; went in 1 583 to India in the suite of Vincente 
 de Fonseca, the newly appointed Archbishop of Goa, 
 where the young Van Linschoten stayed for five 
 years. During the years he spent in Spain and Portu- 
 gal and in India, he studied not only the Spanish and 
 Portuguese languages, but especially all the maps and 
 books of the Spaniards and Portuguese about the 
 route to India, and the countries of the far East, 
 which at that time, were, in great part, entirely un- 
 known to the Dutch and the English. And after he 
 had returned to Enkhuizen in 1592, where he found 
 that his father had died long ago, but his mother, 
 brother and sister were in good health, he began to 
 compile all his notes and maps for a book, to which 
 he gave the title of "Intinerario," and in which he 
 set forth the precious information which he had 
 gained in his voyages. This beok put an end to the 
 monopoly which the Spaniards and Portuguese en- 
 joyed of the trade with East India, and became the 
 cause of the establishing of the Dutch, and of the 
 English, East-Indian-Companies. This "Itinerario," 
 the great work of Van Linschoten, is divided into 
 three parts. The first part, being the Itinerario prop- 
 er, is that which in 1885 was reprinted by the Hakluyt 
 
 1 P. A. Thiele, Introduction to "The Voyage of John Huyghen 
 van Linschoten to the Bast Indies. Ed. Hakluyt Society, 1885, p. 
 XXIII. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. XXIX. 
 
DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 259 
 
 Society in two volumes. For this part the author 
 received the assistance of Bernard ten Broeke, whose 
 name, after the manner of the time, was Latinized 
 into Paludanus. The second part, containing "a col- 
 lection of the routes to India, the Eastern seas and the 
 American coasts, was translated from the manu- 
 scripts of Spanish and Portuguese pilots; and is, in 
 particular, full of details on the routes beyond Ma- 
 lacca, in the Malay Archipelago and on the Chinese 
 coasts. It is by this compilation that Linschoten ren- 
 dered his countrymen the most direct benefit/' 1 "The 
 third part consists of a short description of the east- 
 ern and western coasts of Africa, with a more ample 
 description of America." 2 The maps of the Itinerario 
 were declared to be from "the most correct charts 
 that the Portuguese pilots nowadays make use of." 
 "From a careful comparison of some parts," says 
 Thiele, "with the earlier printed maps, I can affirm 
 that this claim is no vain boast, but .the simple truth." 3 
 The second part, as being most needed by the 
 Dutch and English, was printed first of all in 1595, 
 and immediately used on voyages to India, before the 
 whole work of Van Linschoten was published in 1596. 
 After having so far finished his work that it was 
 ready for the press, Van Linschoten himself took part 
 in the two first voyages around the North-East, de- 
 scribed in the work of Gerrit de Veer, as mentioned 
 above, but when he had come back from that second 
 voyage, he took no further active part in maritime 
 expeditions, although his interest in them remained 
 unabated. 4 The flourishing seaport of Enkhuizen 
 where he found such congenial friends as Paludanus, 
 
 IP. A. Thiele, p. XXX. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. XXXI. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
 4 P. A. Thiele, p. XXXVII. 
 
260 DESCRIPTIONS OF VOYAGES 
 
 and Lucas Jansz Waghenaer, attracted him so much 
 that he settled there, and was appointed treasurer of 
 the town. In 1606 we find his name among the mem- 
 bers of the committee for the establishing of a West- 
 India-Company. He died on the 8th of February, 
 1611, at the age of fifty-one years. 
 
 His "Itinerario" was in some respects a revela- 
 tion. "After its publication, every one learned that 
 the colonial empire of the Portuguese was rotten, and 
 that an energetic rival would have every chance of 
 supplanting them. Its importance met with speedy 
 and extensive recognition. English and German 
 translations were published in 1598; two Latin trans- 
 lations (one at Frankfort and one at Amsterdam) 
 in 1599; a French translation in 1610. The latter as 
 well as the original Dutch was more than once re- 
 printed. For long the book was constantly quoted 
 as an authority." 1 
 
 i Ibid., XL. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. BROWNISTS, SEPARATISTS OR 
 INDEPENDENTS, BAPTISTS, CONGREGATIONALISTS, 
 QUAKERS, PRESBYTERIANS, METHODISTS. 
 
 The influence of religious ideas and movements on 
 the literature of a nation can hardly be overestimated, 
 and yet is often treated with very moderate attention. 
 In Dante's Divine Comoedia we should not have a 
 Purgatory if Dante had not been a Roman Catholic; 
 Voltaire never would have written his many satires, 
 full of literary beauty, if he had not been an eight- 
 eenth century Rationalist and Deist ; Milton's Para- 
 dise Lost and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress are in- 
 separably connected with the ideas of the Indepen- 
 dents, and with the religious struggle of the different 
 Protestant denominations in England during the sev- 
 enteenth century. That great religious struggle of 
 the Reformation, as far as the whole people took part, 
 in it, developed in England much later than in Ger- 
 many, France, and the Netherlands. In the latter 
 countries it happened during- the sixteenth century, 
 while at that time in England the great event 
 was only the establishing of the Anglican Church. 
 But the real Reformation, among and by the 
 masses of the English people,' the real struggle 
 for Presbyterianism, for Congregationalism, for the 
 Baptist views, took place in the seventeenth century, 
 against the Party of the Stuarts. That strug- 
 gle, although preparing its way since the last 
 
 261 
 
262 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 part of the sixteenth century, found its historical 
 zenith in the time of Cromwell, and got at last its final 
 decision in the glorious Revolution of 1688 under 
 William III of Orange. Before the deciding period 
 of the real Reformation in England arrived, during a 
 great part of the sixteenth, and the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, the continual influence of Pro- 
 testant ideas introduced from the Continent, and espe- 
 cially from the Netherlands, was working among the 
 masses of the English people, preparing the way for 
 the different religious denominations, which were des- 
 tined to play such an important part in later English 
 history, and to find their adequate reflection in Eng- 
 lish literature. During the persecutions under 
 Charles V, beginning immediately after the edict of 
 Worms in 1521, with the introduction of the inquisi- 
 tion in the Netherlands, thousands fled from that 
 country, and a great part of them, most of whom 
 were Anabaptists, took refuge in England. At the 
 time of the arrival of the Duke of Alva in the Nether- 
 lands in 1567, probably one hundred thousand people 
 fled from the country, half of them crossing the chan- 
 nel to find safety in England. They all settled at 
 London, and in the eastern districts of England, 
 where, during centuries, for economic reasons, Dutch 
 settlements had existed. These thousands of Pro- 
 testant refugees were for a great part Anabaptists, 
 preaching rejection of infant baptism, separation 
 from the established church, priesthood of all believ- 
 ers, the formation of churches by "a company of 
 Christians or believers who, by a willing covenant 
 made with their God, are tinder the government of 
 God and Christ and keep His laws in one holy com- 
 munion," as Robert Browne defines it. Now refu- 
 gees, who sacrifice everything for the principles they 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 263 
 
 confess, are always the most zealous and most suc- 
 cessful propagandists, because they show with their 
 lives the sincerity of their preaching. And the mass 
 of the English people was ripe for these numer- 
 ous and sincere missionaries of Dutch Protestantism. 
 The University of Cambridge, which is nearer to 
 these eastern districts in England, -happened to be the 
 most progressive one, and among its graduates we 
 soon find learned men, who adopted the Continental 
 Protestant ideas of the refugees, and who became 
 natural leaders of the new movement in England. 
 Robert Browne was the first prominent man of the 
 kind, and after him the first converted English people 
 were called either Broimists, or, because they preached 
 separation from the established church, Separatists, 
 or, as they propagated the independency of the 
 churches from the state, they were also called Inde- 
 pendents. Among those people who were variously 
 called Brownists, or Separatists, or Independents, as 
 soon as they became more numerous, churches were 
 formed, to which they themselves gave the names either 
 of Baptists, where they laid stress on the rejection of 
 infant baptism, or of Congregationalists, where the 
 equality of the members, and the priesthood of all 
 believers was put in the foreground. It is here that 
 we find the first beginning of the denominations of 
 Baptists and Congregationalists, today so numerous 
 in England and America. 
 
 Later we find the rise of the Quakers under 
 George Fox, and William Penn, and still later that 
 of the Methodists, under Wesley and Whitefield, 
 while at the same time the Presbyterians became pow- 
 erful all over England and Scotland. Finally in the 
 eighteenth century we see in England the rise of 
 Rationalism and Deism, and after that time the de- 
 velopment of Pantheism. 
 
264 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 It is interesting to trace the influence of the Neth- 
 erlands on the rise and development of every one of 
 these religious movements. To begin with the Brown- 
 ists, those first, Separatists or Independents, as they 
 were called, we know that Robert Browne, after be- 
 ing graduated from Cambridge, began to preach, and 
 that "the vehemence of his character gained him a 
 reputation with the people," and "being a fiery, hot- 
 headed young man, he went about the countries in- 
 veighing against the discipline and ceremonies of the 
 Church, and exhorting the people by no means to 
 comply with them." 1 We know that he became the 
 founder of those first Separatist Churches, which 
 were called Brownists, or Barrowists. In the year 
 1592 the Brownists were estimated by Walter Ral- 
 eigh to number twenty thousand 2 and they were soon 
 divided into those who called themselves Congrega- 
 tionalists, and others who called themselves Baptists. 
 And about this same Robert Browne, the founder of 
 the Separatists or Independents, and more especially 
 of the C on gre Rationalists and Baptists, we read that 
 after he left Cambridge University, he lived "for 
 about a year among some Dutch emigrants in the 
 diocese of Norfolk," 3 and that he, persecuted by the 
 bishops, "retired with several friends to Zealand, at 
 Middelburg." "In that then cradle of liberty, they 
 constituted themselves into a church ;" and the press 
 being unrestrained in the Netherlands, the pastor pub- 
 lished his doctrine in a book entitled : "A book which 
 showeth the life and Manners of all true Christians ; 
 and how unlike they are unto Turks and Papists and 
 Heathen folk. 4 Also the Points and Parts of all Di- 
 
 1 Daniel Neal. The History of the Puritans. Vol. I, p. 149- 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 198. 
 
 3 Benjamin Hanbury. Historical memorials relating to the Inde- 
 pendents or Congregationalists. Vol. I, p. 19. 
 
 4 Ibid, p. 19. This book of Robert Browne was printed at Mid- 
 delburg by Richard Painter in the year 1582. 
 
lACOBUS AnMINITJS. OVDE \\rATERJE TfATUS Jtt.iSft 
 
 Obiit Lueduni Batavorum . Vixit Anno* 4^ . 
 
 tSt fictdf ,Ji ^oct* manuf , (<tLani<p latorcf %.oo 'fhfu/cJi aeirufF, ~bf WyfAeff , en- Gtlterinejrt- 
 
 Orbif martenf. JtliraaJa. , Gftn Vffft{itrj ssyn ran '"dtt'a&njA , ft- verktfHheyt-, 
 
 Cernitf tvrrffrtm errorif, pietaiis tlmerem*, ^Zoa xie ifabeett^etn. bit yrjr yon fi*yn / 
 
 .tfj^num vUrtt .frmtmum . tt'ie 't~ Vmrns yelf^e torinl van ^4rm\ 
 
 lacobvus Arminixts tintien. Oude\vater j^eboren. A* ijoo 
 te Leyden overlederi out z_ynde ^.q laren , 
 -----'-- ^ * - -,igb K^rfinur. 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 265 
 
 vinity, that is, of the revealed Will and Word of God, 
 are declared by their several Definitions and Divi- 
 sions, in order as followeth, etc." An outline of this 
 fundamental book for all the further development of 
 Congregationalism and Baptism is given by Han- 
 bury. 1 
 
 So we see that from the very first starting point 
 Robert Browne adopted the ideas of the Dutch Ana- 
 baptist refugees in England, and developed his ideas 
 in founding the English Separatist Church at Middel- 
 burg, where they were protected by the special' order 
 of William the Silent, and where Browne found an 
 opportunity to develop his ideas, to write his books, 
 and have them printed, whence they were spread over 
 England. In England every endeavor to establish a 
 Separatist congregation was prevented, but in the 
 Netherlands, at Middelburg, Separatists found refuge 
 and protection as early as the year 1581. In her deal- 
 ings with the origins of the powerful denominations 
 of Congregationalists and Baptists, Queen Elizabeth 
 did not show serself the so-often-praised "Good Queen 
 Beth," but a bloody, persecuting sovereign, a woman 
 careless about religion, who swore like a soldier every 
 day, 2 while her separatist subjects sighed in prison or 
 were put to death. 3 It was during the last twenty 
 years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that many of 
 the Separatists (Brownists, Independents) fled to the 
 Netherlands, while after the death of Elizabeth, under 
 James I, many more followed their example. Amster- 
 dam became, after Middelburg, the place of refuge, 
 and soon the greatest center of the English Separa- 
 tists, and after 1609 Leyden also gave hospitality to a 
 
 1 Hanbury. I, p. 20-22. 
 
 2 The expression "By God's son" was always on her lips. 
 
 3 Neal, I, 201. The two ministers, Greenwood and Penry, are 
 well known among those first martyrs of English Independentism. 
 
266 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 number of them, who formed a congregation under 
 the well-known leaders John Robinson and William 
 Brewster. This congregation at Leyden was that of 
 the Pilgrims, a part of whom in the year 1620 crossed 
 the ocean on the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth 
 rock. 1 Although the ideas of all these English Sepa- 
 ratists did not differ very much; and approached 
 those of the Anabaptists, as they were recognized 
 and taught by Memo Simons (1492-1559), their emi- 
 nent leader; yet some of them laid more stress upon 
 a congregational form of church government; others 
 put in the foreground the rejection of infant baptism, 
 and other questions; and so it happened that, under 
 their different ministers, they laid the foundations for 
 different denominations. The churches at MIDDEL- 
 BURG and LEYDEN are to be considered as THE FIRST 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES, while at AMSTERDAM in 
 the year 1611 a number of the ENGLISH SEPARATISTS 
 CALLED THEMSELVES BAPTISTS. But as soon as it was 
 safe to return to England, these people crossed the 
 Channel again, and in the year 1611 THE FIRST BAP- 
 TIST CHURCH WENT FROM AMSTERDAM TO ENGLAND, 
 while in 1616 the First Congregational Church was 
 established in the British Isles. 
 
 The movement of the Friends, or, as they soon 
 were called, the QUAKERS began several years later, 
 but was no less under the influence of Holland than 
 were the first Congregationalists and Baptists. The 
 two great founders of Quakerism were George Fox 
 and William Penn. 
 
 1 The history of the Pilgrims has been too often told to be 
 repeated here, even in an outline. See W. E. Griffith. The Pilgrims 
 in their three homes, Boston and New York,- 1898; and Alexander 
 Mackenal, Homes and Haunts of the Pilgrim Fathers, London, 1899. 
 The works of Neal, Henry Dexter, Samuel Hopkins, Bartlett, Douglas 
 Campbell, and many others on Puritanism, Independentism and Con- 
 gregationalism are at hand in every library. See also the articles in 
 the Encyclopaedia Brittanica on Independents, etc. 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 267 
 
 Speaking of George Fox, the English founder of 
 the sect, Barclay, the best authority upon the sub- 
 ject, himself a member of the Society, says, in a dis- 
 cussion of the doctrines of the Menonites: "So 
 closely do these views correspond with those of 
 George Fox, that we are compelled to view him 
 viz., Menno Simons as the unconscious exponent 
 of the doctrine, practice, and discipline of the 
 ancient and strict party of the Dutch Mennonites, at 
 a period when, under the pressure of the times, some 
 deviation took place among the General Baptists from 
 their original principles." 1 It is an interesting fact 
 in this connection that Sewel's History of the Quakers, 
 the pioneer book upon this subject, was written in 
 Dutch. Sewel was born at Amsterdam in 1654, and 
 in his family we have the pedigree of the Quakers. 
 His grandfather was an English Brownist, or Sepa- 
 ratist. His father became a Baptist, and so continued 
 until 1657, when he joined the Quakers." 2 . 
 
 To this interesting fact, mentioned by Campbell, we 
 may add another equally as interesting one ; viz., that 
 an English translation of several works of Menno 
 Simons was published in the year 1863 by Elias Barr 
 and Co., at Lancaster in Pennsylvania, the State of 
 the Quakers, and all the works of Menno Simons were 
 translated into English and published in 1871 at Elk- 
 hart, Indiana, a state in which many Quakers from 
 Pennsylvania have settled. 
 
 "Thus it is," says Campbell, "that the Quakers of 
 England trace their descent back through the English 
 Separatists to the Mennonites of Holland. But for 
 those of America there is even a closer connection. 
 William Penn's mother was a Dutch woman, and a 
 
 1 Barcay's Inner Life, p. 77, quoted by Douglas Campbell. The 
 Puritans, II, 207. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
268 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 very notable one, the daughter of John Jasper of Rot- 
 terdam, ''Dutch Peg," according to Pepy's, the charm- 
 ing gossip, had more wit than her English husband, 
 who, at the time of their marriage, was a captain in 
 the navy, soon to become an admiral. 1 Her son, the 
 founder of Pennsylvania, was, like Roger Williams, a 
 thorough Dutch scholar. He had travelled extensively 
 in Holland, and preached to the Quakers of that conn- 
 try in their native tongue." 2 
 
 The indebtedness of the METHODISTS, as adherents 
 of that great movement in America which numbers 
 more than forty-six thousand churches, are called, to 
 the Netherlands, is not less important, and is recognized 
 in almost every book on the history of Methodism. 
 With the exception of the Welsh branch, the Method- 
 ists from the time of Wesley have adopted the Armin- 
 ian doctrine, and from the start found all the sources 
 for their fundamental ideas ready in the elaborate 
 works of the Dutch Arminians. Holland was the 
 home of Arminians x and of the great struggle be- 
 tween Arminianism and Calvinism which culminated 
 in the first period in the famous Synod of Dordrecht 
 in the years 1618 and 1619. 
 
 "That little country," says Curtiss in his book on 
 Arminianism in History, "on the northwest coast of 
 Europe, which had been rescued from the sea by the 
 hard and persistent labor of the people, was the early 
 home of two great classes of thought, founded upon 
 a solid basis Puritanism and Arminianism." The 
 great classic authors of Arminianism and consequently 
 of Methodism, men like Jacobus Arminius, Simon 
 Episcopius, Hugo Grotius, and many others, are to 
 be found in the Netherlands, and their lives and works 
 
 1 Pepy's Diary, II. 160, quoted by Campbell. The Puritans, II, 207. 
 - Life of William Penn, by Jauney, Dixon, etc., quoted by 
 Campbell, II, 208. 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 269 
 
 are inseparably connected with the history of Hol- 
 land. After the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618 and 1619, 
 the Arminian ministers had to leave the country, so 
 that they became missionaries of Arminianism, but 
 this banishment, or persecution, as we may call it, al- 
 though in a milder sense than the word persecution 
 had in those days, did not last very long, and was 
 not more severe than what the Arminian magistrates 
 in cities like Schoonhoven, Utrecht, Rotterdam and 
 other places had attempted before the Synod of Dord- 
 recht. The political head and leader of the Armin- 
 ians had even tried in 1617 with his "Sharp resolve/' 
 to raise troops for the Province of Holland against 
 the States General, and so really to break the union 
 of the state in a period when that union was more 
 necessary, than it was for the United States at the 
 time of the civil war. We must therefore not be sur- 
 prised, when immediately after the Synod of Dordt, 
 which was a triumph of the Calvinists over the Ar- 
 minians, at least for a short time, some measures were 
 taken against the Arminians. Very soon the Remon- 
 strant ministers were admitted again to the country, 
 and in 1634 a Remonstrant's College was opened at 
 Amsterdam, which college became a great nursery for 
 Arminian theology, where several of the best Armin- 
 ian scholars laid the foundations for the great Armin- 
 ian movement, which later developed in England and 
 America. There in Amsterdam we find the promi- 
 nent Arminian professors and scholars, Simon Episco- 
 pius, Stephanus Curcellseus, Arnold Poelenburg, Philip 
 Limborch, John Le Clerc, Adrian van Cattenburgh, 
 and John James Wettstein. 
 
 In most books on the history of Arminianism, little 
 stress is laid on the name of one man who, however, 
 played a very important part in the movement, the 
 
270 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 man who really converted and strengthened Jacobus 
 Arminius, at a time when Arminius himself was 
 sceptical and hesitant about which direction to take, on 
 those questions which later on divided the Calvinists 
 from the Arminians. This man was Dirk Volkerts 
 Coornhert, who, therefore, deserves the title of spirit- 
 ual father of Arminianism. Coornhert was a great 
 scholar and a man of great literary and philosophical 
 ability, who, in the most troublesome time of the great 
 struggle for liberty, took a place of honor. Born at 
 Amsterdam in 1522, he studied several languages, 
 French, Spanish, Greek and Latin ; was personally ac- 
 quainted with William the Silent, who in 1567 invited 
 him to his castle Dillenburg, to advise him about the 
 situation in the Netherlands; he suffered exile and 
 even imprisonment from the Spaniards, while his wife 
 horror-stricken, died of the plague; held about the 
 same broadminded ideas of toleration even towards 
 Roman Catholics in Protestant cities, which were held 
 by the Prince of Orange ; and as far as Arminianism 
 is concerned, had several disputes, and even public 
 debates, with Calvanistic ministers, amongst others 
 with Professor Saravia of the Leyden University, long 
 before Arminius appeared on the stage of history. 
 And when Arminius, at that time still estimated as a 
 good Calvinist, and a great scholar, was appointed 
 to try to convert Coornhert, it happened that the old 
 well-trained scholar and philosopher, was a too power- 
 ful match for the young Arminius, who, instead of 
 converting Coornhert, was himself converted to the 
 principles of Coornhert. This spiritual father of Ar- 
 minius, and of Arminianism, died at Gonda in the 
 year 1590. In the Dutch national biography of Van 
 der Aa is given a list of forty-four books and pamph- 
 lets, political, theological, and literary, written by 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 271 
 
 Coornhert, too many to be repeated here. Since the 
 days of Coornhert and Arminius, the line of Arminian 
 scholars has never been interrupted, and since Wesley 
 started his movement in England, and Methodism 
 spread all over England and America, the Arminian 
 scholars have always found and will always find, in 
 the Netherlands, not only the cradle of Arminianism, 
 but also the great classics of Arminianism, to whose 
 scholarly investigations they have to go back, to find 
 out that nowadays there is not much that is new under 
 the sun. 
 
 In his book on Arminianism in History, George L. 
 Curtiss, on p. 70, makes a statement that has a strange 
 sound to those who are acquainted with Dutch his- 
 tory, and especially with the struggle between Cal- 
 vinism and Arminianism. He says: "The Calvinists 
 demanded the support of the State and that there 
 should not be toleration of other sentiments; the Ar- 
 minians demanded that there should be perfect tolera- 
 tion, and that the State should not decide the one or 
 the other as being true." This statement is not true 
 to history. The author himself knows it, and shows 
 that he knows better, when he writes on page 154; 
 "The Arminians, while denying predestination, pro- 
 claimed a practical theory which was more important 
 to the people than any gone before in the struggle to 
 found a republic. They claimed that in religious mat- 
 ters the State was supreme, that it should appoint the 
 ministers, and that it alone should have the regula- 
 tion of Church discipline and dogma." The truth is 
 that all parties and all denominations at that time, 
 Roman Catholics, Calvinists and Arminians were in- 
 tolerant, that none of them believed in equal freedom 
 for every denomination, and that they all claimed the 
 power of the State to give their own denomination the 
 
272 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 predominant place and to suppress every other opin- 
 ion. Only very few men were far enough ahead of 
 their time to declare themselves in favor of real tolera- 
 tion. William the Silent, the father of his country, 
 and Coornhert, the father of Arminianism, are two 
 examples of men who stood for toleration in a very 
 early period of the great struggle, and they were great 
 exceptions. The fact is that as far as the practical 
 application of the principle of toleration is concerned, 
 there was not a state in the world during the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, where a greater freedom 
 and toleration was given to every denomination than 
 the Reformed State of the Netherlands ; consequently 
 the refugees from all countries fled to the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 And another surprising fact is, that, even till in 
 our present time, the principle of intolerance has been 
 maintained in Art. 36 of the Confession of the Dutch 
 Reformed Church, and even in the Confession of the 
 free reformed, or Separatist-churches in Holland, 
 notwithstanding the gravamina of the most promi- 
 nent theologians against that article, a fact very inter- 
 esting from a psychological .point of view. At a time 
 when the fundamental ideas of Arminianism, and 
 consequently of Methodism, were still in their first 
 period of growth, there was a fully-developed set of 
 principles, inspiring the life of hundreds of churches 
 in France, in Holland, in England, and in Scotland. 
 These principles, first systematically explained in the 
 Institutes of John Calvin, were then adopted by the 
 Huguenots in France, by the Reformed in the Nether- 
 lands, and by THE PRESBYTERIANS in England and 
 Scotland. These principles were called CALVINISM 
 after the great leader of the movement, John Calvin, 
 just as Arminianism later on was so named after Ar- 
 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 273 
 
 minius. And this movement too had its greatest 
 stronghold for a long time in the Netherlands. At 
 a time when the Huguenots in France, and the Puri- 
 tans, later the Presbyterians in England and Scotland, 
 were subject to the severest persecutions, the Re- 
 formed Churches in the Netherlands were flourishing. 
 Refugees from France and from England fled to the 
 hospitable shores of the United Provinces, and found 
 there the full development and practice of the same 
 principles, which the persecuting powers in France 
 and in England were trying to extirpate. In that 
 Calvinism was, according to the best historians, 1 the 
 strength of the resistance of Holland, in its struggle 
 against Spain. The famous National Synod of Dordt 
 in 1618 and 1619 was Calvinistic through and 
 through, and at the same time the only real ecumenic 
 counsel of the Protestant churches ever held, as it in- 
 cluded delegates from churches of all the nations 
 where Calvinistic Protestantism had got any foot- 
 hold, except the French churches, whose seats in the 
 Synod remained empty, because the French king did 
 not allow them to be represented. That Synod was 
 the forerunner, and the foundation of the great West- 
 minster Assembly held twenty years later. Tt was 
 not only by this Synod of Dordt, and by Dutch influ- 
 ence on refugees, but especially by the great number 
 of scholars and professors in the Dutch Universities 
 that Holland took a leading part in the development 
 of Presbyterianism. The Universities of Leyden, 
 founded in 1574, Utrecht, founded in 1636, Groningen, 
 founded in 1614, and Franeker, founded in 1624, were 
 the strongholds of Calvinism ; and many students 
 from England came to the Netherlands, especially to 
 
 1 On this point all the best historians of Holland, as Groen van 
 Prinsterer and Robert Fruin, Bakhuizen van den Brink and Blok, 
 a^ree. 
 
 18 
 
274 RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 
 
 Leyden, to follow the courses, and to imbibe the re- 
 publican and Calvinistic spirit prevailing in "the Low 
 Countries/' Books by Dutch professors were com- 
 monly written in Latin, the international language of 
 the scholars of that time, so that the Dutch language 
 presented no obstacle at all. By the agency of Eng- 
 lish ministers, among whom were many good schol- 
 ars, Dutch Calvinism and closely connected with it, 
 Dutch republicanism, and democracy, entered into the 
 English churches, into the life and the spirit of the 
 English people, and were reflected in English litera- 
 ture. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET. JACOBUS STRUYCK. 
 THE MORALITY PLAYS IN THE NETHERLANDS 
 
 In Modern Philology of July, 1906, Mr. Harold 
 de Wolf Fuller published an extensive article on Ro- 
 meo and Juliet, on the first page of which he says : 
 "At the present time, the only recognized sources of 
 Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are Arthur Brooke's 
 long poem, Romeus and Juliet published in 1562, and 
 William Painter's novel, contained in his Palace of 
 Pleasures, 1 566-67, both of these works being based 
 directly on a French novel by Boaistuau, written in 
 1559. Painter's story is merely a close prose trans- 
 lation, whereas the poem shows a much freer handling 
 of its original ; of the two productions, it was chiefly 
 from the poem that Shakespeare drew his material. 
 But in addition to these two sources, there seems to 
 have existed once in England a pre-Shakespearian 
 play on this subject. Brief mention of it is made in 
 the address to the reader which Brooke prefixed to 
 his poem. He says : "Though I saw the same argu- 
 ment lately set forth on stage with more commenda- 
 tion than I can look for (being there much better set 
 forth than I have or can do) yet the same matter 
 penned as it is, may serve the like good effect." Un- 
 fortunately, this play seems to have been short-lived 
 in England, for no other explicit reference to it has 
 been found, and, so far as we are aware, it is no 
 longer extant. The important part, therefore, which 
 
 275 
 
276 SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET 
 
 it may have played in the history of the drama, and 
 the influence which it may have exerted on Shakes- 
 peare have remained hitherto matters of profitless 
 speculation. "But though this play in its original form 
 be irrevocably lost, we shall find, I think, that it has 
 been fairly well preserved in a foreign application ; 
 namely, in the Romeo en Juliette, a Dutch play in 
 Alexandrine couplets by Jocob Struys, written about 
 I630." 1 
 
 Mr. De Wolf Fuller tells us nothing more about 
 Jacob Struys, and indeed not much is known about 
 him ; only that he was a playwright in the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century, and wrote the following 
 plays: Alb onus and Rosamunde, Amsterdam, 1631; 
 Rape of Proserpina, with the wedding of Pluto, Am- 
 sterdam, 1634; Styrus and Ariane, Amsterdam, 1642; 
 Romeo and Juliette, Amsterdam, 1634; and Het Am- 
 deramsch Juffertje (The young lady of Amsterdam), 
 1633. All these plays are written in Dutch. 2 
 
 The Romeo and Juliette was written not only 
 "about 1630," as De Wolf Fuller says, but more ac- 
 curately in 1634, and was played on the stage at 
 Christmas of the same year at Amsterdam. 
 
 In his extensive article, Mr. De Wolf Fuller has 
 succeeded in showing us, that according to Arthur 
 Brooke's statement, there must have been a play on 
 the subject Romeo and Juliet, and that probably this 
 play has been preserved in the later application of the 
 theme by Jacob Struys. 
 
 But Arthur Brooke does not tell us where he saw 
 it on the stage ; whether in England, or in Flanders, 
 wh'ere during the time before Shakespeare morality 
 plays were very popular. He does not tell us whether 
 the play, as he saw it, was in English or in Dutch. 
 
 1 Modern Philology, July, 1906, p. i. 
 
 2 Van der Aa. Biographical Woordenboek, in voce Jacob Struys. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET 277 
 
 And it is a possibility that the original was written in 
 Dutch, as in the case of "Elckerlyck and Everyman." 
 The enormous number of plays written in Flanders, 
 and in Holland during the fifteenth century, the bril- 
 liant "land jewels" in the cities^ of the Netherlands, 
 where sometimes more than thirty "chambers of rhet- 
 oric" went into competition ; th'e great number of 
 playwrights, one of whom, by the name of Mathys de 
 Casteleyne, wrote more than a hundred plays, and in 
 general the whole civilization in which especially the 
 Southern Netherlands were far ahead of England, 
 make us feel as if we, looking for the sources of 
 Shakespearian plays, might find some material to help 
 us among the mass of plays produced in the Low 
 Countries. 
 
 The able article of De Wolf Fuller has brought us 
 as far as Jacob Struys; he has brought us to the 
 Netherlands, and we have to wait for somebody, who 
 as in the case of Elckerlyck and Everyman, can trace 
 the story further back and perhaps bring us to more 
 discoveries of the same kind. 
 
 In the fifteenth, and at the beginning of the six- 
 teenth century, general probability is in favor of a 
 source in the Southern Netherlands, on account of the 
 great superiority of civilization there at that time. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 PHILIP SIDNEY 
 
 Hardly any place in the Netherlands is more in- 
 teresting, more tragic, and more sacred to travelers, 
 who are acquainted with English literature, than the 
 spot on the heath near Zutphen, where on the chilly 
 and misty morning of September 22, 1586, Sir Philip 
 Sidney was fatally wounded, while fighting beside the 
 Dutch sons of liberty, against the soldiers of the Span- 
 ish tyrant. Splendid is Sir Philip Sidney's name in 
 English literature, everla'sting is the admiration of the 
 civilized world for the author of the Defense of Poe- 
 try and of Arcadia, but more than that is the wonder- 
 ful halo that surrounds his name by reason of his 
 lovely, and beautiful character, and the noble spirit 
 with which without fear he stood for the best cause 
 in literature, as well as on the battlefield. It was that 
 last cause, the deadly struggle for liberty, that for- 
 ever connected the name of Sidney with that of the 
 Netherlands. Eight years before his death, Sidney 
 was sent by his Queen to the Prince of Orange at 
 Delft to compliment him on the birth of his son, and 
 during that visit the Prince received such a noble im- 
 pression of him, that later on he sent the English em- 
 bassador Fulke Granville to Queen Elizabeth to report 
 to her his opinion "that her Majesty had one of the 
 ripest and greatest counsellors of estate in Sir Philip 
 Sidney that at this day lived in Europe ; to the trial 
 of which he was pleased to leave his own credit en- 
 
 278 
 
PHILIP SIDNEY 279 
 
 gaged until her Majesty might please to employ this 
 gentleman either amongst her friends or enemies." 1 . 
 At the time Sidney traveled through Germany and 
 France, he enjoyed the company of Hubert Languet, 
 for a time the private secretary of the Prince of Or- 
 ange, and most probably the author of the famous 
 "Vindiciae contra Tyrannos," and perhaps even the 
 author of the "Apology" of the Prince against Philip 
 the Second. When, during the last year of his life 
 Sidney was governor of Flushing, he had under his 
 command the young Roger Williams, about whom he 
 writes to his uncle Leicester, at that time Governor 
 of the Netherlands : "Roger Williams beseechest your 
 Excellency to pass him his sergeant-ma jorship gen- 
 eral, with such allowance as shall seem good unto you. 
 Of all nations they do desire him ; he is fain to be 
 at charge at Berghen. Your Excellency shall take 
 care of few men that more bravely deserve it, as I 
 hope he will." 2 . 
 
 One of his songs, which was probably written 
 during his abode in the Netherlands, bears the in- 
 scription : Song "To the tune of Wilhelmus van Nas- 
 sauc," the Dutch national hymn written by Marnix 
 van Sint Aldegonde, who at that time was at Middel- 
 burg under the protection of Sydney, and whom he 
 mentions in his letters to Leicester. Sidney knew what 
 it meant to stand at the side of William the Silent, 
 and td fight for the cause of liberty after that great 
 prince had been murdered. He was himself in Paris 
 during the horrible night of St. Bartholomew, on Au- 
 gust 24, 1572; his own eyes had seen the massacre 
 of the Huguenots. Nobody was more true to his 
 queen, nobody more frank with her, and from nobody 
 
 1 J. A. Symonds, Life of Sidney, p. 41. 
 
 2 William Gray, The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Philip Sidney, 
 p. 376. 
 
280 PHILIP SIDNEY 
 
 else would Queen Elizabeth have accepted such frank- 
 ness; so that in the most critical moments, as for in- 
 stance when the queen had almost accepted the hand 
 of the Duke of Anjou, Sidney's advice was more 
 courageous and more influential, than that of any one 
 else. He had a personal acquaintance with almost all 
 the leaders of Protestant Europe; he saw the deadly 
 struggle in all its immensity ; in his breast, as in that 
 of William the Silent, beat the very heart of Protest- 
 antism, and when he fell in battle, it was a loss, not 
 only for England, and for the Netherlands, but for 
 the cause of Protestantism as a whole. He died at 
 the moment when more than ever before he was unit- 
 ing his own life and fate with that of the Dutch peo- 
 ple, in their heroic struggle for freedom and tolera- 
 tion. 
 
 The people in the Netherlands had great confidence 
 in Philip Sidney and after his death they begged to be 
 allowed to keep his body, and promised to erect a royal 
 monument to his memory, "Yea, though the same 
 should cost half a ton of gold in the building." But 
 this petition was rejected. His body was brought 
 over to England in a ship, called occasionally the 
 Black Prince, and buried with pomp in St. Paul's 
 cathedral. And the whole nation went into mourn- 
 ing, and for many months it was counted a sin for 
 any gentleman of quality to appear at Court, or in 
 the City, in any light or gaudy apparel. 1 
 
 "Sidney's death sent a thrill through Europe. Lei- 
 cester, who truly loved him, wrote in words of pas- 
 sionate grief to Walsingham ; Elizabeth declared that 
 she had lost her mainstay in the struggle with Spain ; 
 Duplessis-Mornay bewailed his loss not for England 
 only, but for all Christendom" 2 and the common peo- 
 
 1 J. A. Symonds, Sir Philip Sidney, p. 174 and 175. 
 2 Idem., p. 173. 
 
PHILIP SIDNEY 281 
 
 pie remembered his love and kindness towards them, 
 by his last words to one of his dying soldiers on the 
 battlefield, when he himself, deadly wounded, called 
 for drink, but seeing the soldier, gave the bottle to 
 him with the everlasting words : "Thy necessity is 
 greater than mine" 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 TRACTS RELATING THE EXECUTION OF JOHN OF OLD- 
 ENBARNEVELT IN 1619. THE TRAGEDY OF SlR 
 JOHN VAN OLDEN BARNEVELT, A PLAY CALLED 
 THE JEWELLER OF AMSTERDAM. 
 
 During the centuries in which the Netherlands 
 played their greatest part in the world's history, all 
 the nations of Europe took interest in what happened 
 in Holland. In many cases pamphlets were written 
 in English, in French, and in German, and sent abroad 
 to spread the news of what happened in Holland 
 among the people in England, France, and Germany. 
 From these pamphlets the narratives often entered into 
 literary circles, where they were taken up as subjects 
 for all kinds of literary productions. So it happened 
 in the year 1619; at a time, when according to R. 
 Boyle "Englishmen took more interest in Holland 
 than in any other country in Europe." 1 In May of 
 that year, one of the most tragic events in the history 
 of the Dutch Republic took place. The old, and in 
 many respects eminent, statesman John of Olden- 
 barnevelt, accused and convicted of high treason, was 
 beheaded at the Hague, after a splendid and hardly 
 ever equalled career as Pensionary of the States of 
 Holland. Everybody knows the story, at least so far 
 as the great merit of the Pensionary, and the fact of 
 his execution is concerned, and therefore it would be 
 out of place to tell it here again at length. Interesting 
 
 1A. H. Sullen, A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II, p. 434. 
 in an Appendix written by R. Boyle. 
 
 282 
 
JOHN OF OLDENBARNEVELT EXECUTED 283 
 
 for our present purpose is the fact, that, immediately 
 after the execution three different pamphlets in the 
 English language were written and spread abroad in 
 England : 
 
 1. Barnavelt's Apologie, or Holland's Hysteria, 
 with marginal castigations by Robert Houlderus, Min- 
 ister of the Word of God. I6I8. 1 ' 
 
 2. Newes out of Holland Concerning Barnavelt 
 and his fellow-prisoners, their conspirary against their 
 Native Country with the enemies thereof The Ora- 
 tion and Propositions made in their behalf unto the 
 General States of the United Provinces at the Hague 
 by the Ambassadours of the French King, etc. 1619. 
 
 3. The Arraignment of John van Olden Barnevelt, 
 late Advocate of Holland and West Friesland. Con- 
 taining the articles alleged against him and the rea- 
 sons of his execution 1619. 
 
 Probably in the main by these pamphlets, the story 
 of Oldenbarnevelt made an impression in England, 
 with the result that within three months after the 
 execution of Oldenbarnevelt a tragedy was written 
 and played in London by the King's company acting 
 at Blackfriars, under the title : "The tragedy of Sir 
 John of Olden Barnavelt." This play was, so far as 
 we know, never printed during the I7th century, and 
 was later entirely forgotten, until, in the year 1851, 
 the British Museum purchased the original manu- 
 script, "a folio of thirty-one leaves, written in a small 
 clear hand," from the Earl of Denbigh. At the Brit- 
 ish Museum Mr. A. H. Bullen found it, and published 
 it in Vol. II of his collection of Old English Plays, 
 IV Vols. London, 1883. The edition is printed only 
 in one hundred and fifty copies "on Dutch Hand-made 
 
 1 A. H. Bullen, 1. e., p. 205. If the year 1618, as Bullen gives 
 it, is right, then of course this pamphlet cannot yet describe the execu- 
 tion, but only the great struggle that preceded it. 
 
284 JOHN OF OLDENBARNEVELT EXECUTED 
 
 paper," so that even now, after it has been published, 
 the play would be pretty rare, were it not that the 
 great Dutch historian, Robert Fruin, has reprinted it 
 in the original English language, with an introduction 
 in Dutch : Gravenhage. Martinus Nyhoff, 1884. Both 
 Bullen and Fruin, as well as other competent judges 
 in England and in Holland, are enthusiastic in valuing 
 this tragedy as a masterpiece of dramatic literature. 
 "It is curious," says Bullen, "that it should have been 
 left to the present editor to call attention to a piece 
 of such extraordinary interest ; for I have no hesita- 
 tion in predicting that Barnavelt's Tragedy, for its 
 splendid command of fiery dramatic rhetoric, will 
 rank among the masterpieces of English dramatic 
 literature." 1 Another English author and scholar in 
 dramatic poetry, F. G. Fleay, calls it a "magnificent 
 play," while Robert Boyle, not less competent in this 
 field of literature, says : "This play, the most valuable 
 Christmas present English scholars have for half a 
 century received, appears indubitably to belong to the 
 Massinger and Fletcher series. Even a cursory glance 
 will convince the reader that it is one of the greatest 
 treasures of our dramatic literature. That such a gem 
 should lie in manuscript for over two hundred years, 
 should be catalogued in our first library, should be 
 accessible to the eye of the prying scholar, and yet 
 never even be noticed till now, affords a disagreeable 
 but convincing proof of the want of interest in our 
 early literature displayed even by those whose studies 
 in this field would seem to point them out for the 
 work of rescuing these literary treasures from a fate 
 as bad as that which befell those plays which perished 
 at the hands of Warburton's accursed menial." 2 Swin- 
 
 1 A. H. Bullen. Introduction. 
 
 2 Ed. A. H. Bullen, p. 434. It is interesting that in this play 
 the Netherlands are called "the United States," p. 306. 
 
JOHN OF OLDENBARNEVELT EXECUTED 285 
 
 burne calls it : "so noble a poem, this newly unearthed 
 treasure." Fruin, the Dutch historian and editor of 
 the play, after having made some critical remarks, 
 says that the tragedy Palaniedes, treating the same 
 historical theme, written by Vondel, the prince of 
 Dutch poets, may not be compared with it, and that 
 it is not a shame for Vondel to be' beaten by such a 
 competitor." 1 Fruin was also the man who solved the 
 question of the date at which the play was written. 
 This question had been solved by Bullen only so far 
 as to prove that it was written between May, 1619, 
 the date of the execution of Oldenbarnevelt, and the 
 year 1622, the year in which George Buc, who signed 
 it in a marginal note with his initials, resigned as 
 "master of the' revels." But Fruin fixed the date of 
 the play much more exactly from two unpublished 
 letters written by Thomas Locke from London to 
 the English ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, at the 
 Hague. The first letter is dated August 14, 1619, 
 and therein it is said : "The players here were bring- 
 ing "of Barnavelt" upon the stage and had bestowed 
 a great deal of money to prepare all things for the 
 purpose, but at th' instant were prohibited by my 
 Lo of London." The second letter was dated 
 August 27th, in which it is said : "Our players have 
 found the means to goe through with the play of 
 Barnevelt, and it had many spectators and received 
 applause." Consequently the play must have been 
 written between May, 1619, the date of Oldenbarne- 
 
 1 R. Fruin, Verspreide geschriften, Vol. IX, p. 122. On p. 125 
 Fruin gives six Dutch words used in the play by the English author, 
 viz.: schellain (Dutch schelm), the bree (brui), lustique (lustig), 
 kremis (kermis), doyt (duit), and vroa (vrouw). In the main the 
 play is true to history in so far as it lays full stress on the point 
 that Oldenbarnevelt tried to break the union of the state (p. 226, 
 286 and 291) at a time when the other party certainly might claim: 
 "The union must be preserved." It is more true to history than 
 Motley's book, Life and Death of Oldenbarnerelt. See Grqen van 
 Prinsterer, Maurice et Barnevelt, the best book on this question. 
 
286 JOHN OF OLDENBARNEVELT EXECUTED 
 
 velt's execution, and August 14, 1619, the time when 
 the players were ready to bring it on the stage. But 
 even that time of three months, in which the play 
 must have been written, was shortened by the 
 researches of Fruin. He found two places in the play 
 where the dismissing of the son of Oldenbarnevelt 
 as governor of the city of Bergen op Zoom is spoken 
 about. 1 This fact is mentioned by the Ambassador 
 Carleton in a letter to London dated July I4th. The 
 letter says that the dismission took place "last week," 
 which is in accordance with the resolutions of the 
 States General of July 5, 9, n and 17. Consequently 
 the tragedy must have been written after July I4th, 
 the first date at which the dismissal of Barnevelt's 
 son could be known in England, and before August 
 I4th, the date on which the players were ready to 
 bring it on the stage, so that not more than one month 
 was taken for the writing of the play just approxi- 
 mately the time, says Fruin, which in those days was 
 allowed for the writing of a play. 2 
 
 Another question is, who was the author of this 
 play? 
 
 Both Bullen and Boyle come to the conclusion 
 that Fletcher and Massinger together were the 
 authors. Their arguments founded on long quotations 
 are too extensive to be given here. . But Boyle in 
 one place gives this summary of the evidence, which 
 may suffice: "But, it may be asked, what proof have 
 we that it was a production of Massinger and 
 Fletcher? As for the latter, there can be no doubt. 
 His double endings are sufficient proof. As for the 
 Massinger part, there is first the probability of his 
 being Fletcher's partner, as the play belongs to a 
 
 1 Ed. Bullen, p. 249. Here the son of Oldenbarnevelt says: "My 
 government of Berghen is disposed of." See also p. 277, where 
 Oldenbarnevelt says: "Where's my son William? His government is 
 gon too." 
 
 2 Fruin Verspreide Geschriften, IX, p. 113. 
 
JOHN OF OLDENBARNEVELT EXECUTED 287 
 
 period when we know they were working together; 
 secondly, the metrical style could belong to nobody 
 else; thirdly, according to his well-known manner, he 
 has allusions to and repetitions of expressions in his 
 other plays." 
 
 Finally in connection with this tragedy of Olden- 
 barnevelt, I must mention with a few words another 
 play written at about the same time, and for which 
 the subject also was obtained from the Dutch. At 
 the end of his introduction to the Tragedy of Olden- 
 barnevclt, the editor Bullen writes "The following 
 note, for which I am indebted to Mr. Fleay, will be 
 read with interest: It is noticeable that a play called 
 the Jeweller of Amsterdam or the Hague, by John 
 Fletcher, Nathaniel Field and Phillip Massinger, was 
 entered on the Stationer's Books, 8th April, 1654, but 
 not printed. " This play must have been written 
 between 1617 and 1619, while Field was connected 
 with the King's company, and undoubtedly referred 
 to the murder of John van Wely, the Jeweller of 
 Amsterdam, by John of Paris, the confidential groom 
 of Prince Maurice, in 1619." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 JOHN MILTON. His LIFE AND PARADISE LOST. 
 MILTON AND GROTIUS. MILTON AND VONDEL. 
 MILTON AND JUNIUS, MILTON AND SALMASIUS. 
 MILTON AND ALEXANDER MORUS. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 HUGO GROTIUS AND JOHN SELDEN. SELDEN AND 
 GRASWINCKEL. 
 
 For the questions to be considered in this chap- 
 ter a short outline of the most important dates in 
 Milton's life may be useful. Milton's life is com- 
 monly divided for the convenience of the students 
 into three periods: his education, followed by his 
 life at his father's home at Hortqn, and his travel 
 to France and Italy (1608-1639); his public life in 
 the service of the great cause of the struggle against 
 the Stuarts, before and during the Commonwealth 
 (1640-1660) ; and his retirement after the great 
 struggle and under the restoration of the Stuarts 
 (1660-1674). 
 
 From his earliest youth until 1632, the year in 
 which he received his master's degree at Christ's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, Milton had a splendid education and 
 was a very serious student, having very early a strong 
 consciousness of the important task of his life. 
 Although he expected to become a minister of the 
 church, Milton, after he left the University, devoted 
 himself rather to the writing of poems and to scholar- 
 ship, and consequently he stayed with his father at 
 Horton, not far from Windsor Castle, until in 1638 
 
 288 
 
JOHN MILTON 289 
 
 he started on his journey to Italy. On his way to 
 Italy he stopped at Paris, where he made the 
 acquaintance of Hugo Grotius, at that time in more 
 than one respect the most famous scholar, poet, law- 
 yer, and theologian in Europe. From that time on, 
 new subjects and new ideals influenced his mind and 
 his program of life, while in England the most critical 
 period of a civil war began. 
 
 Therefore, with Milton's return to England in 
 1639 commences the second period of his life. It is 
 the period of the civil war, and of the Commonwealth. 
 Feeling to the bottom of his heart the far reaching 
 importance of the mortal struggle in which the whole 
 nation was involved, and in which freedom of con- 
 science was at stake, Milton sided with Cromwell and 
 the other leaders of Democracy from start to finish. 
 During that struggle, to which he gave all the assist- 
 ance he could, and which pressed upon his mind with 
 all its bewildering grandeur, and its overwhelming 
 power of earnestness, his poetic feelings grasped for 
 subjects adequate to, and in harmony with what was 
 going on, subjects which he found in the sublime 
 problems of "the ways of God with men," and in the 
 tremendous ideas of the fall of the angels and of man, 
 which make up the majestic pictures of Paradise Lost. 
 No trace of this subject can be found in the first period 
 of his life, although his poems written during that 
 period, give us ample information of what were sub- 
 jects in his mind. After his return from Italy in 
 1639, authentic proofs in his own handwriting exist 
 to show, that these sublime questions had engrossed 
 his mind, and that they never left him, until, in the 
 years from 1658 until 1663, he composed the magnifi- 
 cent work which lies now before us in Paradise Lost. 
 And as if the natural depth and seriousness of his life, 
 
 19 
 
290 JOHN MILTON 
 
 the religious strictness of his education and the terri- 
 ble struggle in which his people became involved, 
 were by themselves not enough to uplift his soul to 
 the serene sublimity of this subject, he was after the 
 year 1652 afflicted with total blindness, by which still 
 more if possible his entire mind was directed to the 
 unseen spiritual world. 
 
 After the great conceptions of Paradise Lost had 
 taken their final form and shape, and while Milton 
 was engaged in dictating them, in 1660 occurred the 
 Restoration, and from that time, begins the third 
 period of Milton's life. From 1660, until his death 
 in 1674, he lived in retirement, writing his Paradise 
 Regained, as a triumphant consequence of his Para- 
 dise Lost, and many other poems and prose works, 
 amongst which .the Samson Ag.onistes, "a subject 
 peculiarly appropriate to the last sad years of the old 
 Independent," came the "nearest to the level of his 
 great epic." 
 
 After this brief outline, which may recall the cir- 
 cumstances under which Paradise Lost was written 
 and its place in the great poet's life, we come now to 
 the great question, what were the sources accessible 
 to Milton for this grand epic, and to which of them 
 was he most indebted? 
 
 That Milton's work rested only on what he read 
 in his bible, and consequently that he did not even 
 know what had been written about the subject before 
 him, and during his lifetime, as Dr. J. J. Moolhuizen 
 puts the case, is certainly the most improbable possi- 
 bility that ever could be supposed. A scholar like 
 Milton, "a man of epic genius, great artist and origi- 
 nator that he is before anything else, is also inescapa- 
 bly predisposed to be a collector and conserver of the 
 
JOHN MILTON 291 
 
 perishing riches of the past." 1 No scholar in the 
 world, of any account, would do such a thing, as Dr. 
 Moolhuizen thinks Milton did. Indeed we may be 
 sure, before anything else be said, that Milton had 
 taken due notice of everything written about his great 
 subject, which he could in any possible way obtain. 
 We may be just as sure that every great idea, which 
 he found in any work, and which he could make use 
 of in his gigantic composition, really was used. It is 
 derogatory to the high standard of Milton's scholar- 
 ship, even to doubt about this. 
 
 Three works there are, which in this connection, 
 deserve to be taken into special consideration: ist, 
 The Adamus E.rul by Hugo Grotius, published in 
 1600; 2nd, The Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel, pub- 
 lished in 1653, and, 3rd, The "Paraphrasis" of Qed- 
 mon, published by Franciscus Junius in 1655. That 
 these three works were the most important sources, 
 which were at Milton's disposal, is just as sure as 
 that every one of these books was published by a 
 man of Dutch nationality. 
 MILTON AND HUGO GROTIUS. 
 
 In the year 1638, on his way to Italy,' Milton at 
 Paris made the acquaintance of Hugo Grotius. This 
 means that a young English poet of thirty years of 
 age, as Milton was at that time, enjoyed the oppor- 
 tunity of getting into contact with a man twenty-five 
 years his senior ; a man famous throughout all Europe 
 as a scholar, lawyer, poet, theologian and historian, 
 some of whose works were in the library of every 
 
 1 Carey Herbert Conley, Milton's indebtedness to his contem- 
 poraries in "Paradise Lost." Typewritten master's thesis in the 
 University of Chicago, 1910, p. 9. A copy of this eminent disserta- 
 tion, which deserves to be printed, is in the library of the University 
 of Chicago. It is a work of 233 pages (8^xn), divided as follows: 
 Introduction, 1-13; Fletcher's Locustae and Appolyontis, 14-38; 
 Grotius' Adamus Exul, 35-85; Caedmon's Genesis, 87-112; Vondel's 
 Lucifer, 116-185; Vondel's Adam in Ballingschap, 186-204; Conclu- 
 sion, 206-230; Bibliography, 232-233. 
 
292 JOHN MILTON 
 
 University; whom, years before Princes like Louis 
 XIII and Gustaphus Adolphus had admired and hon- 
 ored; whose work De jure belli ac pads, alone, had 
 established his everlasting fame, and whose book De 
 veritate Religionis Christianas had been translated in 
 many languages, even into the Arabic and the 
 Chinese ; a Dutch scholar who was at that time ambas- 
 sador for Queen Christina of Sweden at the Court 
 of France ; besides that a man of a very gentle and 
 amiable character. That Milton must have highly 
 appreciated this meeting with Grotius, does not admit 
 of doubt. It must have brought Milton, into more 
 close contact also with the works of Grotius. At least 
 when we see that among the themes for projected 
 poems in the manuscripts of Milton, which are now 
 in the Library of Trinity College, and which date 
 about 1640-1642, there are four which relate to the 
 theme of Paradise. Lost, and one called Christus 
 Patiens, we cannot help thinking of Hugo Grotius, 
 whose A damns Exul and Christus Patiens, as two 
 Tragoediae Sacrae, were published in one volume in 
 1603, in 1608 at Leyden antf in 1610 and 1618 at 
 Paris. 
 
 Before Milton's personal acquaintance with Hugo 
 Grotius, he might have read these tragedies of 
 Grotius, and he might have seen, the plays of Phineas 
 Fletcher, published in 1627, while Milton was a stu- 
 dent ; he might have known Joshua Sylvester's trans- 
 lation of Du Bartas' Divine Weeks, but the fact is 
 that Milton up to 1640 had written many poems, and 
 had been pondering over many beautiful subjects, but 
 had not written a single verse that reminds us of the 
 sublime theme of these works. On the other hand, 
 immediately after he met Hugo Grotius, the theme 
 appears in his common-place book, and, as if to 
 
v 
 
JOHN MILTON 293 
 
 remind us of Grotius, he inserts also the title Christus 
 Fattens. For this reason it seems probable that, what- 
 ever else Milton may have read or known about the 
 theme of Paradise Lost, he got from Hugo Grotius 
 the deciding inspiration for the great theme, for the 
 development of which the following years in Milton's 
 life became so exceedingly favorable. 
 
 In England the idea that Milton got his first 
 inspiration for Paradise Lost from Grotius, has been 
 held from a very early date, for in the Life of Milton 
 in the English Plutarch, published in 1762, the author 
 says on p. 124: "Mr. Lauder, in his Essay on Milton's 
 Life and Imitation of the Moderns, has insinuated 
 that Milton's first hint of Paradise Lost was taken 
 from a tragedy of the celebrated Grotius, called 
 A damns Exul, and that Milton has not thought it 
 beneath him to transplant some of that author's beau- 
 ties into his noble work, as well as some other flowers 
 culled from the gardens of inferior geniuses ; but by 
 an elegance of art, and force of nature peculiar to him, 
 he has drawn the admiration of the world upon pas- 
 sages, which, in their original authors, stood neglected 
 and undistinguished." 1 
 
 As for the comparison of passages in Grotius' 
 Adamus Exul, and Milton's Paradise Lost, to find 
 the indebtedness of Milton to Grotius as far as the 
 contents of the poem goes, I refer to the dissertation 
 of Conley because he follows the only method I can 
 agree with, when he says: "We shall moreover dis- 
 card a method often pursued in the study of this and 
 other like problems that of rather promiscuously 
 ransacking one or more poems for single lines or 
 passages that are similar to an equal number of lines 
 or words in the poem which is being considered. 
 
 1 The work of Mr. Lauder was published at London in 1750. 
 
294 JOHN MILTON 
 
 Many results, often of value only to the curious have 
 been produced in this way, but we prefer to consider 
 here only such likenesses as exhibit fundamental 
 parallelisms of plot, matter and imagery in passages 
 of some length." 1 
 
 Conley devotes not less than fifty pages to a com- 
 parison of Adamns E.rul and Paradise Lost, and at 
 the end, in a summary, he makes, among others, the 
 conclusion that "we can safely say that the outlines 
 of Adamus Exul and Paradise Lost are the same," 
 and "that the relationship in most of the cases" (as 
 quoted in great number) "are fairly evident." "We 
 have now come to the end of this long set of interest- 
 ing correspondences between Paradise Lost and 
 Adamus Exul, which, we find, has extended from the 
 very beginning of each poem almost to the end." 2 
 
 MILTON AND VONDEL. 
 
 Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) is considered 
 the greatest poet of the Netherlands, and his drama 
 Lucifer, is, of his thirty-two plays, the masterpiece. 
 His particular beauty, in which he can hardly be said 
 to be excelled by any poet in the world, lies in the 
 lyrical songs, which, after the manner of Greek 
 tragedy, he introduces into his plays. Although until 
 the year 1640 he belonged to the more humanistic 
 circle of literary men, he was of a deeply religious 
 character, and being strongly opposed to the Calvin- 
 istic party, he at last took refuge in the Roman 
 Catholic Church in the year 1640. His tragedy, 
 Gysbrecht van Amstel, having for its subject an 
 episode of the early history of Amsterdam, is played 
 every year on Christmas in the great theatre of that 
 city. Lack of sufficient action, too many monologues 
 
 1 Conley, Dissertation, p. 2. 
 
 2 Conley, p. 84. 
 
JOHN MILTON 295 
 
 and narratives, are the faults of Vondel's plays, and 
 because of these faults they never attained to world- 
 fame by being often brought on the stage, either^ in 
 Holland or in foreign countries. 
 
 Among his plays are, besides the Lucifer, the 
 Adam in Ballings chap on the same theme as Grotius' 
 Adamus Exul; and his Samson Agonistes. Vondel 
 was a strong royalist, and wrote a drama Maria Stuart 
 of Gemartelde Majestcit (Tortured Majesty). Dur- 
 ing the civil war he wrote satires in favor of Charles 
 I, and against Cromwell. 
 
 Milton probably never got personally acquainted 
 with Vondel, but there were many ways for Milton to 
 know about Vondel's writings. Vondel was a great 
 friend of Hugo Grotius, whom Milton met at Paris, 
 and was well acquainted with Franciscus Junius, who 
 lived in England for many years, and above all, as 
 Conley remarks: "Vondel's efforts as a royalist 
 pamphleteer, both as regards Dutch and English poli- 
 tics, if nothing else, would have brought him and his 
 play to Milton's notice." 1 
 
 The question of Milton's indebtedness to Vondel 
 in his Samson Agonistes, and especially in his Para- 
 dise Lost, is a very interesting one, and a considerable 
 number of monographs have been published on the 
 subject, a list of which has been made up by Conley, 
 and is given at the end of this chapter. Edmund- 
 son may have gone too far in a few respects in assert- 
 ing Milton's indebtedness; on the other hand Dr. 
 Moolhuizen undoubtedly goes to the other extreme 
 by denying every relationship between Vondel and 
 Milton. The last and the best monograph on the sub- 
 ject seems to me indeed tlie dissertation of Conley, 
 both for his right method and his thorough researches. 
 
 1 Conley, p. 1 16. 
 
296 JOHN MILTON 
 
 In a really scrutinizing comparison of all the parallel 
 places in Paradise Lost and Lucifer, which fills not 
 less than seventy pages of his dissertation, Conley 
 comes to the following conclusions : "Indeed, though 
 Lucifer certainly did not furnish the initial impulse 
 for the composition of Paradise Lost, it probably 
 exerted the dominant influence upon Milton's mind 
 while he was giving his poem its final form." And: 
 "we have been enabled, we think, to show that in a 
 large number of cases Milton greatly elaborated sug- 
 gestions which he obtained from Lucifer, and in still 
 others he probably expressed his disagreement with 
 Vondel." 1 
 
 As for Vondel's Adam in Ballingschap (Adam in 
 exile), and its influence on Milton, Conley says: "The 
 certainty of Vondel's intimate knowledge of A damns 
 Exul (of Grotius) is confirmed by the discovery that 
 Vondel had previously made a Dutch translation of 
 Adamus Exul. These facts throw light upon our 
 problem in this way : Milton, as we have discovered, 
 had with Adamus Exul as a basis, in his early writing 
 formed the plan of the whole epic, and since Vondel 
 had formed his plan upon the same, when Adam in 
 Ballingschap came into his hands, he found VondeFs 
 plot without change, enough like his own to furnish 
 excellent material for elaboration." 2 
 MILTON AND JUNIUS. 
 
 Franciscus Junius 3 was the man who furnished 
 Milton with that source for his Paradise Lost, which 
 is called the Paraphrase of Genesis by Csedmon. 
 Junius studied this "Paraphrase," and after having 
 learned its old Anglo-Saxon language, published it in 
 1655 at Amsterdam, just* in time for Milton to use it 
 as one of his sources. 
 
 1 Conley, p. 185 and 186. 
 
 2 Conley, p. 188. 
 
 3 See about Junius our first chapter. 
 
JOHN MILTON 297 
 
 "At first," says Conley, "it seems rather hard to 
 connect Milton with this poem, for very probably he 
 knew no Anglo-Saxon, at least, very little, but Junius 
 was in England from 1620 to 1651, employed as the 
 librarian of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, an 
 estate famous for its antiquities, and situated fifty- 
 five miles southwest of London. 'During his life at 
 Arundel, Junius made several trips to Oxford, and 
 doubtless passed through London many times. And 
 it is believed that through conversations with Junius, 
 and by examining his manuscript for the sake of the 
 illuminations, Milton became thoroughly acquainted 
 with the contents of the poem." 
 
 It would be hard to find anyone except Junius who 
 could have given such full information about the con- 
 tents of the Csedmon Paraphrase, at that period, as 
 Milton needed to be useful for his purpose. 
 
 It was especially for the "visual images" as "the 
 imagery of this poem surpasses anything tradition 
 may have possessed, and approaches Milton's bril- 
 liant conceptions." 1 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE "MILTON AND VONDEL" 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 Conley, Gary Herbert. Milton's indebtedness to 
 his contemporaries in "Paradise Lost." A master's 
 thesis for the University of Chicago, 1910. Only in 
 typewritten copies in the Harper Library. As I think 
 this is the best treatise on the subject, I give here as 
 further bibliography, the books and articles enumer- 
 ated by Conley. 
 
 BARHAM, F. The Adamus Exul of Grotius; Sherwood, Gil- 
 bert and Piper, London, 1839. 
 
 GURTEEN, S. H. The Epic of the Fall of Man; G. P. Put- 
 nam's Sons, New York and London, 1896. 
 
 1 Conley, p. 112. 
 
298 JOHN MILTON 
 
 KUIPER, DR. E. T. Joost van den Vondel, Adam in Balling- 
 schap; W. J. Thieme en Cie, Zutphen, 1906. 
 
 MOODY, W. V. The Complete Poetical Works of John Mil- 
 ton; Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New 
 York, 1899. 
 
 CARUS, P. History of the Devil; Open Court Publishing 
 Company, Chicago and London, 1906. 
 
 CONWAY, M. D. Demonology and Devil Lore ; 2 Volumes, 
 New York, 1879. 
 
 DOUGLAS, N. Another Source for Paradise Lost; Atlantic 
 Monthly, November, 1908. 
 
 DUFLOU, G. D. Milton's Indebtedness to Vondel; Academy 
 47-379- 
 
 DUNSTER, C. Considerations on Milton's early reading and 
 the prima stanina of his "Pardise Lost" etc., in a letter to 
 William Falconer, etc. ; J. Nichols, London, 1800. 
 
 EDMUNDSON, G. Milton and Vondel; a curiosity of Litera- 
 ture; Truebner and Company, London, 1865. 
 
 GOSSE, E., and EDMUNDSON, G. Milton and Vondel; Acad- 
 emy 28: 265, 293, 342. 
 
 LAUDER, W. An Essay on Milton's Imitation of the Moderns 
 in his Paradise Lost; J. Payne and J. Bouquet, London, 
 1750. 
 
 MAC!LRAITH, J. R. Milton and Vondel; Academy 28-308. 
 
 MOOLHUIZEN, J. J. Vondel's Lucifer en Milton's Verloren 
 Paradys; Dissertation, Gravenhage, 1895. 
 
 MUELLER, A. Milton's Abhaengigkeit von Vondel; Disserta- 
 tion, Berlin, 1891. 
 
 WESTWOOD, J. C. Milton and Caedmon; Academy 35-10. 
 
 WOODHULL, M. The Epic of Paradise Lost; G. P. Putnam's 
 Sons, New York and London, 1907. 
 Milton and Vondel; Nation 42-264. 
 Milton and Vondel; Atheneum '85, 2-599. 
 
 MILTON AND SALMASIUS. 
 
 At a time when Cromwell with his Ironsides was 
 fighting the battle of Marston-Moor, and Milton was 
 defending the cause of English Democracy w r ith his 
 arguments, there was at the University of Leyden a 
 
JOHN MILTON 299 
 
 professor by the name of Claude Salmasius, or 
 Saumaise as he was called in France, from where 
 he came. Born in 1588 at Semur-en-Auxois, in Bur- 
 gundy, Salmasius had a very brilliant career in almost 
 every department of learning, and scholarship. He 
 studied law for three years under the famous Gode- 
 froy at Heidelberg, but afterwards preferred the study 
 of languages and literature. His fame as a scholar 
 of the very first rank ran through all Europe. The 
 Universities of Padua and Bologna offered him a pro- 
 fessorship, and England tried to win him, until in 
 1623 he accepted the call of Ley den in order to take 
 the place of Scaliger. After that Louis XIII of 
 France made him Counsel of State; Henry of Bour- 
 bon, Governor of Burgundy, made all efforts to recall 
 him to France ; the queen Christina of Sweden invited 
 him to her court ; the Cardinal de Richelieu offered 
 him a great amount of money in case he would leave 
 Holland; Prince Maurits asked him to write a book 
 on Roman military training, and Prince Frederick 
 Henry once, when Salmasius had to make a journey 
 to France, ordered a ship to be put at his disposal, 
 and a part of the Dutch fleet to accompany him to 
 one of the seaports of France. Never before was a 
 scholar given so much honor. To all this Salmasius 
 responded by writing an almost incredible number of 
 books on all kinds of subjects, as well as pamphlets 
 on the prominent questions of the day. Being a 
 royalist, he wrote, shortly after the execution of 
 Charles I, a booklet entitled "Defensio Regia pro 
 Carolo I," dedicated to the king's oldest son Charles, 
 whom he called the heir and legitimate successor of 
 his father as King of England. 
 
 This book appeared in October or November, 
 1649. On January 8, 1650, it was ordered by the 
 
300 JOHN MILTON 
 
 English Council of State "that Mr. Milton do pre- 
 pare something in answer to the book of Salmasius, 
 and when he has done it bring it to the Council." 
 Milton undertook this task and wrote his book "Pro- 
 Populo Anglicano Defensio." Salmasius at the height 
 of his European fame, living near to the court of 
 Prince William II, who had married Princess Mary, 
 the daughter of the beheaded king, and the sister of 
 the 'Princes Charles and James, who had found refuge 
 at The Hague, wrote in a very dignified, quiet, some- 
 what pedantic style, hardly imagining that anybody 
 in the world could surpass him. But Milton was in 
 quite another disposition. His indignation rose to 
 heaven. "His scorn of the presumptuous intermed- 
 dler, who had dared to libel the people of England, is 
 ten thousand times more real than Salmasius' official 
 indignation at the execution of Charles. His con- 
 tempt for Salmasius' pedantry is quite genuine; and 
 he revels in ecstacies of savage glee, when taunting 
 the apologist of tyranny with his own notorious sub- 
 jection to a tyrannical wife. But the reveler in Milton 
 is too far ahead of the reasoner." 1 
 
 "There is no comparison between the invective of 
 Milton and of Salmasius ; not so much from Milton's 
 superiority as a controversialist, though this is very 
 evident, as because he writes under the inspiration 
 of a true passion." 
 
 Of course both Salmasius and Milton were able 
 to adduce strong arguments in favor of the side 
 which they were defending, and the question which 
 wrote best depends largely upon what point of view 
 the critic adopts. Those who look at the controversy 
 from a purely literary point of view, will certainly 
 give the palm of victory to Milton. 
 
 1 Richard Garnett, Life of John Milton, p. 112. 
 
JOHN MILTON 301 
 
 MILTON AND ALEXANDER MORUS. 
 
 Among the pamphlets that were published in 
 answer to Milton's Defense of the English people, 
 there was one that was deemed worthy of an answer. 
 It was entitled "Clamor regii sanguinis ad coelum 
 adversus paricidas Anglicanos," and was published 
 at The Hague in 1652, without mentioning the author. 
 Milton was informed that Alexander Morus, a pro- 
 fessor in the Athenaeum at Amsterdam, was the author, 
 and wrote his Defensio secunda against Morus, who 
 was an accomplice, only in so far as he seems to have 
 brought the pamphlet to the printer, and may be sup- 
 posed to have agreed with it perfectly. Milton's 
 Defensio secunda, published in 1654, is especially inter- 
 esting, because in answering the personal attacks 
 made upon him, he gave a fairly complete account of 
 his own youth. At the same time Milton had obtained 
 such intimate information about the life and the faults 
 of Morus, and with this knowledge attacked him so 
 fiercely, that the curators of the Athenaeum took 
 official notice of it, and he became involved in a good 
 deal of trouble, from which he tried to extricate him- 
 self in a pamphlet entitled, "Alexandri Mori fides 
 publica." The real author, however, was not Morus, 
 but Peter Du Moulin (son of the well-known French- 
 man of the same name) ex-rector of Wheldrake in 
 Yorkshire. 
 
 The only merit in these controversies, whether 
 with Salmasius or with Morus, is that they gave 
 sufficient offense to Milton to make him produce his 
 double defense of the English Democracy. 
 
 HUGO GROTIUS AND JOHN SELDEN. 
 
 In this connection the controversy between Hugo 
 Grotius and John Selden may be mentioned in a few 
 words, as occurring at the same time between an Eng- 
 
302 JOHN MILTON 
 
 lish and a Dutch scholar. It is the famous contro- 
 versy between the Mare Liberum of Hugo Grotius 
 and the Mare Clausum of John Selden. 
 
 John Selden (1584-1654) was one of the greatest 
 scholars, one of the best defenders of the people's 
 liberties, one of the most able members of Parliament, 
 that ever lived in England. Some of the authors who 
 write about him, will tell us that he was not in favor 
 of Democracy, but they do not understand that a man 
 may be of the highest aristocratic spirit, and be living 
 exclusively with men of high learning, and high stand- 
 ing, and yet be one of the best defenders of the rights 
 of the people. 
 
 But in the controversy with Grotius, Selden made 
 the great mistake of his life. He declared in his Mare 
 Clausum, that "the sea as much as the land is the sub- 
 ject of private property," and more especially that 
 England owned that property to a considerable ex- 
 tent, while Grotius defended the freedom of the open 
 sea. 
 
 With Grotius the Mare Liberum was originally 
 only a chapter in his great work De jure Praedae 
 Commcntarius, which formed the fundamental con- 
 ception of his later work, De jure belli ac pads, which 
 is considered now all over the world as the founda- 
 tion of international law, and which gave to the name 
 of Hugo Grotius an imperishable fame. 1 Selden's 
 book was only a single study in that field, written at 
 the command of James I and Charles I ; King Charles 
 was very much pleased with it, and although this is 
 no great compliment for Selden, it was no reason for 
 another Dutch juris consult of fame, Graswinckiel, 
 to accuse Selden of writing the book to get out of 
 prison. Selden gave a due answer to Graswinckel in 
 his Vindiciae, a short time before he died, in 1654. 
 
 l Cf. R. Fruin, Verspreide Geschriften, III, 367-445. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 THE TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS. JOHN 
 DRYDEN, ANDREW MARVELL AND EDMUND 
 WALLER 
 
 The seventeenth century was the most glorious 
 time for the Dutch Republic. The Dutch flag was 
 on all seas, Dutch colonies were found in every corner 
 of the globe ; the riches accumulated in the cities of 
 Holland was for those times beyond all imagination ; 
 art and literature flourished under the protection of 
 wealthy business men, and names like those of Rem- 
 brandt and Van Dyck, Vondel and Cats were being 
 added to the list of world-famous men ; admirals like 
 Tromp and DeRuyter maintained the respect which 
 was due to the sturdy Republic; generals, like the 
 Princes of Orange, made their armies a training- 
 school for the best soldiers in Europe. The Northern 
 Provinces, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
 with their wealthy cities like Amsterdam and Rot- 
 terdam, were worthy successors of the cities of the 
 Southern Netherlands in the sixteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries and even excelled them by far. In a city 
 like Brughes, it happened in the year 1301, that the 
 queen of France, sitting at a dinner party, made the 
 remark, "I thought that I alone was the queen here, 
 but I see that all the ladies here are queens." But in 
 Amsterdam it happened that a foreign prince while 
 taking dinner with the magistrates, asked one of his 
 neighbors at the table if there were any nobles there, 
 
 303 
 
304 TIME OF THE ANGLO -DUTCH WARS 
 
 and received as an answer, "We are all princes here." 
 Holland "had reached the height of power, prosperity 
 and glory. The Batavian territory, conquered from 
 the waves, and defended against them by human art, 
 was in extent little superior to the principality of 
 Wales. But all that narrow space was a busy and 
 populous hive, in which new wealth was every day 
 created, and in which vast masses of old wealth were 
 hoarded. The aspect of Holland, the rich cultivation, 
 the innumerable canals, the ever whirling mills, the 
 endless fleets of barges, the numerous clusters of 
 great towns, the ports bristling with thousands of 
 masts, the large and stately mansions, the trim villas, 
 the richly furnished apartments, the picture galleries, 
 the summer-houses, the tulip-beds, produced on Eng- 
 lish travelers in that age an effect similar to the effect, 
 which the first sight of England now produces on 
 a Norwegian or a Canadian." 1 That foreigners who 
 travelled in Holland during the seventeenth century 
 were profoundly impressed by its tremendous wealth 
 and power is evident from contemporary English 
 writers such as Evelyn in his Diary (published Lon- 
 don, 1818), and William Temple, and from an anony- 
 mous pamphlet, published in 1664, entitled, "The 
 Dutch Drawn to the Life," 2 and another work, A Late 
 Voyage to Holland, which was published in 1691. 3 
 
 But this glorious position of Holland, leading the 
 nations of Europe in civilization, in trade, in industry, 
 in art, and last, but not least, in politics, was not 
 destined to endure. England's trade and power were 
 now growing very fast, and because Cromwell made 
 up his mind either to unite the Dutch Republic with 
 the English Commonwealth, or to conquer the Dutch 
 
 1 Macaulay, History of England, Vol. I, p. 188. 
 
 2 A copy of this pamphlet is in the University Library at Leyden. 
 
 3 Harleian miscellany, Vol. II. 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 305 
 
 on the sea, and because the Dutch could not accept 
 the former alternative, there was left for Holland only 
 one choice, viz., a struggle against England for the 
 empire of the waves. Cromwell's navigation acts 
 gave the first, but at the same time, the fatal stroke 
 to Holland's supremacy on the sea. 1 Since that time 
 England grew in power very fast and Holland de- 
 clined. Only once more, and that in confederation 
 with England, did Holland lead the politics of the 
 world. It was under William the Third, Prince of 
 Orange, stadholder of Holland and King of England, 
 when Louis XIV of France threatened all Protes- 
 tantism with complete extirpation, and this great 
 Prince, a statesman and general of such ability that 
 the world's history knows only a few like him, at the 
 head of Holland and England, frustrated all the plans 
 of the French King, delivered England from the 
 tyranny of the Stuarts, and dominated all the factions 
 that weakened the United Netherlands. 
 
 The Dutch-English wars were begun for no other 
 reason "but that the Hollanders exceeded us in com- 
 merce and industries, and in all things but envy" as 
 Evelyn wrote on June 2, 1672. This constant envy, 
 and the wars brought about a bad feeling between 
 the two nations, which is easily perceived, and is 
 apparent in the literature -of both nations during the 
 period. Patriotism received an evil development and 
 was exaggerated to the limit, and in such cases some 
 literary men are always found who are eager to please 
 public opinion. 
 
 There was, indeed, an opportunity for a man like 
 
 1 Like John Dryden, writing poems for his daily bread, said in 
 his stanzas on Oliver Cromwell: 
 
 "He (viz. Cromwell) made us freemen of the continent 
 Whom nature did like captives treat before; 
 To nobler preys the English lion sent, 
 And taught him first in Belgian walks to roar." 
 
 20 
 
806 TIME OP THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 John Dryden (1631-1700), a man "who made writing 
 a trade." "He was quick to feel what the public 
 wanted and he showed no scruples in adapting his 
 wares to the popular demand." 1 Dryden's ability was 
 great, indeed, and from the death of Milton in 1674, 
 till his own in 1700, he reigned undisputed; and sat 
 on his throne in Will's Coffeehouse, as "glorious 
 John," surrounded by several of the minor poets, and 
 writers of his time; but at the same time the moral 
 danger of the influence of his character, or rather of 
 his lack of character, has been felt ever since, and is 
 warned against by every author to the present day. In 
 the days of Cromwell, he praised the Lord Protector ; 
 after the restoration, he celebrated the return of the 
 Stuarts, and when the Catholic James II ascended the 
 throne, Dryden wrote his Hind and Panther, glorify- 
 ing the Church of Rome. No wonder that this man, 
 as he felt that the envy and competition between the 
 English and the Dutch nations was growing, inspired 
 himself with a hatred against the Dutch, that knew 
 no limit. His tragedy, Amboyna, gives the proof. 
 The full title is: Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the 
 Dutch to the English Merchants, a Tragedy, 1672. 
 His subject is the story of some Englishmen on the 
 Dutch isle of Amboyna in East India, who were 
 accused of conspiring to overpower the Dutch gov- 
 ernment of the isle, were arrested, convicted and exe- 
 cuted. The story as related in Dutch and English 
 .books seems to be different and the truth is difficult 
 to find out; but there is no difference of opinion as 
 to this tragedy of Dryden. According to the authors 
 of the best edition of Dryden's works, Sir Walter 
 Scott and George Saintsbury, "the play is beneath 
 criticism" and, says Scott, "I can hardly hesitate to 
 
 1 Henry Pancoast and P. van Dyke Shelly, English Literature, 
 p. 227. 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 307 
 
 term it the worst production Dryden ever wrote," and 
 Saintsbury adds: "The play is the one production of 
 Dryden which is utterly worthless except as a curi- 
 osity." 1 Dryden wrote it "with the avowed intention 
 of exasperating the nation against the Dutch." 2 at a 
 time when the Lord Chancellor of England, Shaftes- 
 bury, stated that "the States of Holland were Eng- 
 land's eternal enemies, both by interest and by inclina- 
 tion." 3 The play was acted and printed in 1673. Both 
 the language spoken by the Lord Chancellor, and the 
 play of Dryden, show with what apprehension at that 
 time a war with Holland was regarded. Such lan- 
 guage is not inspired by strength, but by fear and 
 despair. It shows how strong Holland still was at 
 that time, and the war, that followed these utterances, 
 lasted from 1672 until 1674, when Holland had to 
 fight at the same time against England, France, 
 Munster and Cologne. And the result for England 
 was doubtful. From 1672, to February, 1674, not 
 less than twenty-seven hundred and three English 
 ships were taken by the Dutch, and after two years' 
 experience England was ready to make peace. The 
 time for the annihilation of Holland as one of the 
 great powers on sea had not yet come. 
 
 Besides his Amboyna, Dryden in 1665 wrote a 
 poem on the victory of the Duke of York over the 
 Dutch. June 3, 1665, during the war of 1665-1667, 
 with Holland. Much better than his Amboyna is 
 Dryden's poem entitled, Annus Mirabilis, the year of 
 Wonders, 1666. This is generally considered as one 
 of Dryden's best works. The versification is brilliant, 
 indeed, and from an enthusiastic English patriotic 
 point of view, one can understand that even the con- 
 
 1 The works of John Dryden, Vol. V, p. 3. 
 
 2 Idem., p. 2. 
 
 3 Idem., p. 2. 
 
308 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 tents are wonderful, when the poet sings the praise 
 of the English in the Anglo-Dutch war of that time. 
 When describing the four days' battle of June, 1666, 
 his enthusiasm nearly makes a glorious victory out 
 of a decided defeat, from which the remnant of the 
 English fleet was saved only by a heavy fog. And 
 as for the inspiration of the poet, it was the same as 
 the reason why England declared war, viz., a jealousy 
 of the commerce, and a greedy desire to grasp the 
 riches of the Dutch commercial vessels. His enthusi- 
 astic praise of simple brute force, without any higher 
 ideal of righteousness shows this. He begins with 
 these stanzas: 
 
 In thriving arts long time had Holland grown, 
 Crouching at home and cruel when abroad ; 
 
 Scarce leaving us the means to take our own; 
 Our king they courted and our merchants awed. 
 
 Trade, which like blood should circularly flow, 
 Stopped in their channels, found its freedom lost; 
 
 Thither the wealth of all the world did go, 
 And seemed but shipwrecked on so base a coast. 
 
 For them alone the heavens had kindly heat 
 In eastern quarries ripening precious dew; 
 
 For them the Idumaean balm did sweat, 
 And in hot Ceylon spicy forest grew. 
 
 The sun but seemed the labourer of their year; 
 
 Each waning moon supplied her watery store, 
 To swell those tides, which from the Line did bear 
 
 Their brim-full vessels to the Belgian shore. 
 
 Thus mighty in her ships, stood Carthage long, 
 And swept the richess of the world from far ; 
 
 Yet stooped to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong; 
 And this may proof our second Punic war. 
 
 What peace can be, where both to one pretend? 
 
 (But they more diligent, and we more strong) 
 Or if a peace, it soon must have an end; 
 
 For they would grow too powerful, were it long. 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 309 
 
 Such language as this reminds one of the fallen 
 angels in Paradise Lost or in Vondel's Lucifer, telling 
 each other about the happiness and luxury of Adam 
 and Eve in Paradise, at a time when they, over- 
 whelmed by jealousy, were stirring each other up to a 
 revolt against Heaven. 
 
 Dryden used sometimes to visit Milton, but Milton 
 "thought him no poet but a good rhimest," 1 and 
 Milton knew what poetry was. 
 
 Another English poet, inspired by English patri- 
 otism against the Dutch, was Andrew Marvel! (1621- 
 1678), an intimate friend of Milton, an adherent of 
 Cromwell, and for sometime member of Parliament 
 for Hull. Marvell was not a vile hireling of every 
 dominant party like Dryden, for x after the restoration 
 of the Stuarts, the government was once advised "to 
 crush the pestilent wit, the servant of Cromwell and 
 the friend of Milton." He visited Holland more than 
 once and in 1653 he wrote a satire upon Holland 
 entitled: The character of Holland. It is a satire 
 of 192 lines, and contains several really humorous 
 parts. The small size of the country, its low level, 
 which is in part below that of the sea, the work of 
 draining, the herring-fishery, and many things in Hol- 
 land, seen with the superficial view of an English 
 member of Parliament, furnish him abundant material 
 for his wit. 
 
 He begins by looking at Holland from his Eng- 
 lish patriotic point of view, and says : 
 
 "Holland, that scarce deserves the name of land, 
 As but the off-scouring of the British sand." 
 
 The city of Amsterdam he describes as follows : 
 
 Sure when religion did itself embark 
 
 And from, the east would westward steer its ark, 
 
 1 English Plutarch, Life of Milton, p. 142. 
 
310 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 It struck, and splitting on this unknown ground 
 Each one thence pillaged the first piece he found; 
 Hence Amsterdam, Turk Christian Pagan Jew ; 
 Staple of sects and mint of schism grew; 
 The bank of conscience, where not one so strange 
 Opinion but finds credit, and exchange. 
 
 The old custom which Dutch women in the vil- 
 lages had of taking with them, when going to church 
 in wintertime, a footstool heated by glowing pieces of 
 peat or "turf," he described as follows: 
 
 See but the mermaids with their tails of fish 
 Reeking at church over the chafing-dish ! 
 A vestal turf, enshrined in earthern ware, 
 Fumes through the loopholes of a wooden square; 
 Each to the temple with these altars bend. 
 
 He shows himself even acquainted with the works 
 of Hugo Grotius, and brings his book entitled Mare 
 Liberum or "the free sea" into his satire in this way: 
 
 Yet still his claim the injured ocean laid 
 And oft at leap-frog o'er their steeples played, 
 As if on purpose it on land had come 
 To show them what's their mare liberum. 
 
 Yet after all he cannot deny that Holland in the year 
 1653 amounted to something, for he called it "the 
 Hydra of the seven provinces." But he is not afraid, 
 for there is England, the young Hercules that will 
 beat the Dutch. 
 
 And now the Hydra of seven provinces 
 Is strangled by our infant Hercules. 
 
 England is further compared with Rome, and Hol- 
 land is the Carthago delenda: 
 
 Or, what is left, their Carthago overcome 
 Would render fain unto our better Rome. 
 
 Another much longer poem, containing 900 lines, 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH- WARS 311 
 
 is a satire directed against Holland and is entitled: 
 The last instructions to a painter about the Dutch 
 Wars, 1667. From the picture which the painter is 
 supposed to make of our lady State, it is apparent that 
 the Dutch war of 1665-1667 has made a painfully 
 sore impression on our poet. The Dutch admiral, De 
 Ruyter, had just taken as his trophy the Royal 
 Charles, the English flagship, while the English 
 Parliament and Lords, horror-stricken, listened to the 
 music of the Dutch guns on the Thames. Now our 
 poet is in sack-cloth and ashes! Just listen how he 
 complains over that day of Chattam ; the sublime 
 style of the book Job is hardly good enough : 
 
 Black day, accursed ! on thee let no man hail 
 
 Out of the port, or dare to hoist a sail, 
 
 Or row a boat in thy unlucky hour! 
 
 Thee, the year's monster, let thy dam devour 
 
 And constant Time, to keep his course yet right, 
 
 Fill up thy space with a redoubled night. 
 
 His heart really breaks, when he thinks of that flag- 
 ship, the Royal Charles: 
 
 That sacred keel that had, as he, restored 
 Its exiled sovereign on its happy board 
 That pleasure boat of war, in whose dear side 
 . Secure, so oft he had this foe defied 
 Now a cheap spoil, and the mean victor's slave 
 Taught the Dutch colours from its top to wave ; 
 Of former glories the reproachful thought, 
 With present shame compared, his mind distraught. 
 
 They would rather have seen it burnt, I think he is 
 right ! than to see it taken as a trophy to Holland : 
 
 But most they for their darling Charles complain 
 And were it burned, yet less would be their pain. 
 To see that fatal pledge of sea-command, 
 
312 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 Now in the ravisher De Ruyter's hand, 
 
 The Thames roared, swooning Medway turned her tide, 
 
 And were they mortal, both for grief had died. 
 
 But enough to see the influence of Holland on Andrew 
 Marvell. Holland made the deepest and the most 
 different impressions on him; it made him laugh, so 
 that his sides were sore, and on the other hand it made 
 him cry like a baby, so that the tears rolled down 
 his cheeks ; him, Andrew Marvell, Englishman, M. P. 
 Another poet, who deserves to be mentioned here, 
 is Edmund Waller (1606-1678), whose lovely poems 
 cannot but make a charming impression on the reader, 
 whose conduct in life was controlled by personal 
 friendship, and by noble principles, not always without 
 conflict between the two leading elements ; to whom 
 we can forgive his personal friendship both for Stuart 
 Kings and for Cromwell, because he ever tried to stand 
 for liberty and the rights of property, for freedom 
 and toleration. "No poetical reputation," says Drury, 1 
 "has suffered such vicissitudes as that of Edmund 
 Waller ; described in the inscription upon his tomb as 
 'inter poetas sui temporis facile princeps,' it was still 
 possible, in 1766, to introduce him to the readers of 
 the Biographia Brittannica as "The most celebrated 
 Lyric poet that ever England produced," and when, 
 in 1772, Percival Stockdale wrote his Life in which he 
 declared that "his zvorks gave a new era to Eng- 
 lish poetry," his performance was considered of 
 such merit, that he was on the point of re- 
 ceiving that commission to write "The lives of 
 the Poets," which was afterwards entrusted to John- 
 son.' His position as member of Parliament dur- 
 ing many years, and from his early youth, his wealth, 
 
 1 The Poems of Edmund Waller, edited by G. Thorn, Vol. I, Introd. 
 p. 69. 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 313 
 
 and that of his wife, which gave him the name of 
 being probably the richest pdet in English literature, 
 have added lustre to his refined spirit, and to the 
 charming elegance of his poetry. 
 
 Waller wrote several poems inspired by Dutch sub- 
 jects, the first of which was that to Anton Van Dyck, 
 a Dutch painter, who lived in England during ten years 
 (1630-1640), and whom everybody knows from his 
 lovely portraits of the children of Charles I. The 
 poem is apparently written by Waller after having 
 admired a lady's portrait painted by Van Dyck, and 
 reads as follows : 
 
 To VAN DYCK 
 
 Rare Artisan whose pencil moves 
 
 Not our delights alone, but loves ! 
 
 From thy shop of beaut)' we 
 
 Slaves return, that entered free. 
 
 The heedless lover does not know 
 
 Whose eyes they are that wound him so; 
 
 But, confounded with thy art, 
 
 Inquires her name that has his heart. 
 
 Another, who did long refrain, 
 
 Feels his old wound bleed again 
 
 With dear remembrance of that face, 
 
 Where now he reads new hopes of grace : 
 
 Nor scorn nor cruelty does find, 
 
 But gladly suffers a false wind 
 
 To blow the ashes of despair 
 
 From the reviving brand of care. 
 
 Fool ! that forgets her stubborn look 
 
 This softness from thy finger took. 
 
 Strange! that thy hand should not inspire 
 
 The beauty only, but the fire; 
 
 Not the form alone, and grace, 
 
 But act and power of the face. 
 
 Mayst thou yet thyself as well, 
 
 As all the world besides, excel! 
 
 So you the unfeigned truth rehearse 
 
314 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 (That I may make it live in verse) 
 Why thou couldst not at one assay 
 That face to aftertimes convey, 
 Which this admires. Was it thy wit 
 To make her oft before thee sit? 
 Confess, and we'll forgive thee this ; 
 For who would not repeat that bliss? 
 And frequent sight of such a dame 
 Buy with the hazard of his fame? 
 Yet who can tax thy blameless skill, 
 Though thy good hand had failed still, 
 When nature's self so often errs? 
 She for this many thousand years 
 Seems to have practiced with much care, 
 To frame the race of women fair; 
 Yet never could a perfect birth 
 Produce before to grace the earth, 
 Which waxed old ere it could see 
 Her that amazed thy art and thee. 
 But now 'tis done, O let me know 
 Where those immortal colors grow, 
 That could this deathless piece compose ! 
 In lilies? or the fading rose? 
 No; for this theft thou hast climbed higher 
 Than did Prometheus for his fire. 
 
 Another poem in which he mentions Holland is : 
 A panegyric to my Lord Protector, Of the present 
 greatness, and joint interest of his Highness, and this 
 nation. Here speaks the English patriot at the time 
 in which the great struggle between Holland and Eng- 
 land for the supremacy of the sea began. Addressing 
 the Lord Protector the poet says: 
 
 Holland, to gain your friendship, is content 
 To be our outguard on the continent; 
 She from her fellow-provinces would go, 
 Rather than hazard to have you her foe. 
 
 Several years later, after the restoration, in the 
 year 1665, Waller wrote a poem entitled : Instruction 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 315 
 
 to a painter. For the dr ailing of the posture and the 
 progress of his Majesty's forces at sea, under the 
 command of his Highness-Royal; together ivith the 
 battle and victory obtained over the Dutch, June 3, 
 1665. 
 
 In this poem he describes the battle in which the 
 Dutch admiral Wassenear-Obdam, with his flagship, 
 was blown up, after which the Dutch fleet retired to 
 the coast of Holland. He calls the Hollanders : 
 
 Those greedy mariners, out of whose way 
 Diffusive Nature could no region lay, 
 At home, preserved from rocks and tempests, lie, 
 Compelled, like others, in their beds to die. 
 Their single towns, the Iberian armies pressed ; 
 We all their provinces at once invest; 
 And, in one month, ruin their traffic more 
 Than that long war could in an age before. 
 
 Yet, the poet cannot deny that the Dutch still had 
 some soldiers and some ships : 
 
 Meanwhile, like bees, when stormy winter's gone, 
 
 The Dutch (as if the sea were all their own) 
 
 Desert their ports, and, falling in their way, 
 
 Our hamburg merchants are become their prey. 
 
 Thus flourish they, before the approaching fight; 
 
 As dying tapers give a blazing light 
 
 To check their pride, our fleet, half-victualled goes ; 
 
 Enough to serve us till we reach our foes; 
 
 Who now appear so numerous and bold, 
 
 The action worthy of our arms we hold. 
 
 A greater force than that which here we find, 
 
 Ne'er pressed the ocean, nor employed the wind. 
 
 The death of Van Wassenear-Obdam is described as 
 follows : 
 
 Against him first Obdam his squadron leads 
 Proud of his late success against the Swedes; 
 Made by that action, and his high command, 
 
316 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 Worthy to perish by a prince's hand. 
 
 The tall Batavian in a vast ship rides, 
 
 Bearing an army in her hollow sides; 
 
 Yet, not inclined the English ship to board, 
 
 More on her guns relies, than on his sword; 
 
 From whence a fatal volley we received ; 
 
 It missed the Duke, but his great heart is grieved; 
 
 Three worthy persons from his side it tore, 
 
 And dyed his garment with their scattered gore. 
 
 Happy ! to whom this glorious death arrives, 
 
 More to be valued than a thousand lives! 
 
 On such a theatre as this to die, 
 
 For such a cause, and such a witness by! 
 
 Who would not thus a sacrifice be made, 
 
 To have his blood on such an altar laid? 
 
 The rest about him struck with horror stood 
 
 To see their leader covered o'er with blood. 
 
 So trembled Jacob, when he thought the stains 
 
 Of his son's coat had issued from his veins. 
 
 He feels no wound but in his troubled thought, 
 
 Before, for honor, now, revenge he sought; 
 
 His friends in pieces torn, (the bitter news 
 
 Not brought by Fame) with his own eyes he views. 
 
 His mind at once reflecting on their youth, 
 
 Their worth, their love, their valour, and their truth, 
 
 The joys of court, their mothers, and their wifes, 
 
 To follow him, abandoned, and their lives! 
 
 He storms and shoots, but fiying bullets now, 
 
 To execute his rage, appear too slow ; 
 
 They miss, or sweep but common souls away; 
 
 For such a loss Obdam his life must pay. 
 
 Encouraging his men, he gives the word, 
 
 With fierce intent that hated ship to board, 
 
 And make the guilty Dutch, with his own arm, 
 
 Wait on his friends, while yet their blood is warm. 
 
 His winged vessel like an eagle shows, 
 
 When through the clouds to truss a swan she goes ; 
 
 The Belgian ship unmoved, like some huge rock 
 
 Inhabiting the sea, expects the shock. 
 
 From both the fleets men's eyes are bent this way, 
 
 Neglecting all the business of the day, 
 
 Bullets their flight, and guns their noise suspend; 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 317 
 
 The silent ocean does the event attend, 
 Which leader shall the doubtful victory bless, 
 And give an earnest of the war's success; 
 When Heaven itself, for England to declare 
 Turns ship, and men, and tackle, into air. 
 
 Shortly before the marriage of Prince William of 
 Orange, the future king of England, with Mary, the 
 daughter of the Duke of York, who later became 
 King James II, Waller wrote two poems, one Of the 
 Lady Mary, and another To the Prince of Orange in 
 1677. Both are gems of poetry, and interesting 
 enough to be given here in full. 
 
 OF THE LADY MARY 
 
 As once the lion honey gave 
 
 Out of the strong such sweetness came ; 
 
 A royal hero, no less brave, 
 
 Produced this sweet, this lovely dame. 
 
 To her the prince, that did oppose 
 
 Such mighty armies in the field, 
 And Holland from prevailing foes , 
 
 Could so well free, himself does yield. 
 
 No Belgia's fleet (his high command) 
 Which triumphs where the sun does rise, 
 
 Nor all the force he leads by land, 
 
 Could guard him from her conquering eyes. 
 
 Orange, with youth, experience has; 
 
 In action young, in council old ; 
 Orange is, what Augustus was, 
 
 Brave, wary, provident, and bold. 
 
 On that fair tree which bears his name, 
 
 Blossoms and fruit at once are found; 
 In him we all admire the same, 
 
 His flowery youth with wisdom crowned ! 
 
318 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 Empire and freedom reconciled 
 
 In Holland are by great Nassau ; 
 Like those he sprung from, just and mild, 
 
 To willing people he gives law. 
 
 Thrice happy pair! so near allied 
 
 In royal blood, and virtue too! 
 Now Love has you together tied, 
 
 May none this triple knot undo ! 
 
 The church shall be the happy place 
 
 Where streams, which from the same source run, 
 Though divers lands awhile they grace, 
 
 Unite again, and are made one. 
 
 A thousand thanks the nation owes 
 
 To him that does protect us all; 
 For while he thus his niece bestows, 
 
 About our isle he builds a wall; 
 
 A wall ! like that which Athens had, 
 
 By the oracle's advice, of wood; 
 Had theirs been such as Charles has made, 
 
 That mighty state till now had stood. 
 
 To THE PRINCE OF ORANGE IN 1677 
 
 Welcome, great Prince, unto this land, 
 Skilled in the arts of war and peace, 
 
 Your birth does call you to command, 
 Your nature does incline to peace. 
 
 When Holland, by her foes oppressed 
 No longer could sustain their weight; 
 
 To a native prince they thought it best 
 To recommend their dying state. 
 
 Your very name did France expel; 
 
 Those conquered towns which lately cost 
 So little blood, unto you fell 
 
 With the same ease they once were lost 
 
TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 319 
 
 Twas not your force did them defeat; 
 
 They neither felt your sword nor fire; 
 But seemed willing to retreat, 
 
 And to your greatness did conspire. 
 
 Nor have you since ungrateful been, 
 
 When at Seneff you did expose, 
 And at Mount Cassel, your own men 
 
 Whereby you might secure your foes. 
 
 Let Maestricht's siege enlarge your name, 
 
 And your retreat at Charleroy; 
 Warriors by flying may gain fame 
 
 And Parthian-like their foes destroy. 
 
 I 
 Thus Fabius gained repute of old, 
 
 When Roman glory gasping lay; 
 In council slow, in action cold, 
 
 His country saved, running away. 
 
 What better method could you take? 
 
 When you by beauty's charm must move. 
 And must at once a progress make, 
 
 I' th' stratagems of war and love. 
 
 He that a princess' heart would gain, 
 
 Must learn submissively to yield ; 
 The stubborn ne'er their ends obtain ; 
 
 The vanquished masters are o' the field. 
 
 Go on, brave Prince, with like success, 
 
 Still to increase your hoped renown, 
 Till to your conduct and adress, 
 
 Not to your birth, you owe a crown 
 
 Proud Alva with the power of Spain 
 
 Could not the noble Dutch enslave; 
 And wiser Parma strove in vain 
 
 For to reduce a race so brave. 
 
 They now those very armies pay, 
 By which they were forced to yield to you; 
 
320 TIME OF THE ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 
 
 Their ancient birthright they betray, 
 By their own votes you them subdue. 
 
 Who can then liberty maintain 
 
 When by such arts it is withstood? 
 
 Freedom to princes is a chain 
 
 To all that spring from royal blood. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 HOLLAND'S INFLUENCE DURING THE TIME OF WILL- 
 IAM III, KING OF ENGLAND AND STADHOLDER OF 
 HOLLAND. DANIEL DE FOE, MATTHEW PRIOR, 
 BURNET AND LOCKE. 
 
 The time of the glorious English revolution in 
 1688, was different from that of the Anglo-Dutch 
 wars, during Cromwell's Republic, and after the restor- 
 ation of the Stuarts. Enmity and hatred between 
 Holland and England gave place to a confederation 
 between the two nations against one foe, Louis XIV 
 of France, who threatened all Protestantism in Eng- 
 land as well as in Holland, with extirpation. Pro- 
 testantism in its last and great struggle for freedo,^ 
 and existence, found in Prince William III a leader, 
 both in politics and on the battlefield, able enough to 
 match the French intrigues as well as the French 
 armies. Married to the noble Mary, daughter of 
 James II, a princess, whose lovely character and great 
 devotion to her husband, and to the cause of Protes- 
 tantism enabled her to give him the best assistance 
 that anybody could imagine, William was called to a 
 great task, which he notwithstanding all difficulties, 
 in Holland as well as in England, performed in the 
 most splendid way. 
 
 The feelings in England towards Holland were 
 now better than during the period of the Anglo-Dutch 
 wars, yet, there remained many malcontents, some 
 of whom were the zealous adherents of Catholicism, 
 
 21 321 
 
322 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 and of the Stuarts, while others exaggerated Eng- 
 lish patriotism against the Dutch, whom they tried 
 to discredit in the eyes of the English people by call- 
 ing them "foreigners." As late as the year 1701 a 
 pamphlet entitled "The Foreigners/' was written by 
 one Mr. Tutchin, in which, says De Foe, "the author 
 fell personally upon the king himself, and then upon 
 the Dutch nation. And after having reproached his 
 Majesty with crimes, that his worst enemies could not 
 think of without horror, he sums up all in the odious 
 name of Foreigner." "This," says De Foe, "filled me 
 with a kind of rage against the book, and gave birth 
 to a trifle, which I never could hope should have met 
 with so general an acceptance as it did." This "trifle," 
 was the famous satire entitled "The Trueborn Eng- 
 lishman" by Daniel De Foe, 1701, a poem of more 
 than six hundred lines, in which the author of Robin- 
 son Crusoe displayed such splendid polemical ability 
 that this poem has maintained itself till the present 
 day as one of the classics of English literature. "Pos- 
 sibly," says the author in the Preface, "somebody may 
 take me for a Dutchman, in which they are mistaken, 
 but I am one that would be glad to see Englishmen 
 behave themselves better to strangers, and to govern- 
 ors also, that one might not be reproached in foreign 
 countries for belonging to a nation that wants man- 
 ners. I assure you, gentlemen, strangers use us bet- 
 ter abroad, and we can give no reason but our ill 
 nature for the contrary here. Methinks an English- 
 man, who is so proud of being called a good fellow, 
 should be civil. And it cannot be denied but we are, 
 in many cases and particularly to strangers, the most 
 churlish people alive. As to vices, who can dispute 
 our intemperance, while an honest drunken fellow 
 is a character in a man's praise ! All our reformations 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 323 
 
 are banters, and will be so till our magistrates and 
 gentry reform themselves, by way of example; then, 
 and not till then, they may be expected to punish 
 others without blushing." "As to our ingratitude" 
 (viz. towards William III in bringing about the 
 Glorious Revolution) "I desire to he understood of 
 that particular people who, pretending to be Protes- 
 tants, have all along endeavored to reduce the liber- 
 ties and religion of this nation into the hands of King 
 James and his Popish powers, together with such who 
 enjoy the peace and protection of the present govern- 
 ment, and yet abuse and affront the king who pro- 
 cured it, and openly profess their uneasiness under 
 him these, by whatsoever names or titles they are 
 dignified or distinguished, are the people aimed at ; 
 nor do I disown but that it is so much the temper 
 of an Englishman to abuse his benefactor, that I could 
 be glad to see it rectified." 
 
 So he did not write as a Dutchman, but as him- 
 self a true Englishman, trying to rectify some wrong 
 ideas among his own people. 
 
 As to the main argument, against which he wrote, 
 viz.: that William. Ill was a foreigner, and that there- 
 fore he was to be rejected, the author explains in his 
 Explanatory Preface: "True-born, in the sense of 
 being not mixed up with foreign blood, hardly exist in 
 England and may be could be found only among the 
 Welsh, the Irish or the Scots. The whole English 
 nation is a mix-up of Romans, Danes, Saxons and 
 Normans, Welsh and Scots. "From hence I only in- 
 fer that an Englishman, of all men, ought not to de- 
 spise foreigners, as such ; and I think the inference is 
 just, since what they are today, we were yesterday, 
 and tomorrow they will be like us." 
 
 "But when I see the town full of lampoons and 
 
324 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 invectives against Dutchmen, only because they are 
 foreigners, and the king reproached and insulted by 
 insolent pedants, and ballad-making poets, for employ- 
 ing foreigners, and for being a foreigner himself, I 
 confess myself moved by it to remind our nation of 
 their own origin, thereby to let them see what a ban- 
 ter is put upon ourselves by it; since, speaking of 
 Englishmen ab origine, we are really all foreigners 
 ourselves." 
 
 "I could go on to prove it is also impolitic in us 
 to discourage foreigners; since it is easy to make it 
 appear that the multitude of foreign nations who have 
 taken sanctuary here, have been the greatest additions 
 to the wealth and strength of the nation ; the essen- 
 tial whereof is the number of its inhabitants nor 
 would this nation ever have arrived to the degree of 
 wealth and glory it now boasts of, if the addition of 
 foreign nations, both as to manufactures and arms, 
 had not been helpful to it. This is so plain, that he 
 who is ignorant of it, is too dull to be talked with." 
 
 "The Satire therefore I must allow to be just, till 
 I am otherwise convinced ; because nothing can be 
 more ridiculous than to hear our people boast of that 
 antiquity, which if it had been true, would have left 
 us in so much worse condition than we are now ; 
 whereas we ought rather to boast among our neigh- 
 bours that we are part of themselves, of the same 
 origin as they, but bettered by our climate, and, like 
 our language and manufactures, derived from them, 
 and improved by us to a perfection greater than they 
 can pretend to." 
 
 "This we might have valued ourselves upon with-- 
 out vanity ; but to disown our descent from them, 
 talking big of our ancient families, and long originals, 
 and stand at a distance from foreigners, like the en- 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 325 
 
 thnsiast in religion, with a 'stand off. I am more 
 holy than thou,' this is a thing so ridiculous in a 
 nation derived from foreigners, as we are, that I could 
 not but attack them as I have done." 
 
 Thus far I quote from the author in his Explana- 
 tory Preface. This poem which is published in pamph- 
 let form was enormously successful. 
 
 About four years after its first appearance, the 
 author tells us that he himself had published nine 
 editions, besides which it had been printed twelve 
 times by others without his concurrence. Of the 
 cheap editions no less than 80,000 were disposed of, 
 in the streets of London. 1 
 
 Finally to give some specimen of what the poem 
 really is, since it is too long to reprint in full, I quote 
 a few passages:" 
 
 How FOREIGNERS CAME TO ENGLAND 
 
 The Romans first with Julius Csesar came 
 Including all the nations of that name 
 Gauls, Greek and Lombards and by computation 
 Auxiliaries or slaves of ev'ry nation. 
 With Hengist, Saxons; Danes with Sweno came, 
 In search of plunder, not in search of fame. 
 Scots, Picts and Irish from the Hibernian shore; 
 And conq'ring William brought the Normans o'er. 
 All these their barb'rous offspring left behind, 
 The dregs of armies, they of all mankind; 
 Blended with Britons, who before were here, 
 Of whom the W'elsh ha' blest the character. 
 From these amphibious, ill-born mob began 
 That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman. 
 
 THE ENGLISH NOBILITY 
 The great invading Norman let us know 
 What conquerors in aftertimes might do. 
 To every muskateer he brought to town 
 He gave the lands which never were his own ; 
 
 i The Works of Daniel Defoe, Edinburgh, William P. Nimmo, 
 P- 591- 
 
326 " DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 When first the English crown he did obtain 
 
 He did not send his Dutchmen home again. 1 
 
 No reassumptions in his reign were known, 
 
 Davenant might there ha' let his book alone. 
 
 No parliament his army could disband ; 
 
 He raised no money, for he paid in land. 
 
 He gave his legions their eternal station 
 
 And made them all freeholders of the nation. 
 
 He canton'd out the country to his men, 
 
 And every soldier was a denizen 
 
 The rascals thus enriched he called them Lords, 
 
 To please their upstart pride with new-made words 
 
 And here begins the ancient pedigree 
 
 That so exalts our poor nobility. 
 
 'Tis that from some French trooper they derive, 
 
 Who with the Norman bastard did arrive ; 
 
 The trophies of the families appear; 
 
 Some show the sword, the bow, and some the spear, 
 
 Which their great ancestor, forsooth, did wear.- 
 
 These in the herald's register remain, 
 
 Their noble mean extraction to explain; 
 
 Yet who the hero was, no man can tell, 
 
 Whether a drummer or a colonel; 
 
 The silent record blushes to reveal 
 
 Their undescended dark original. 
 
 THE MEN THAT DESPISE THE DUTCH 
 
 These are the heroes that despise the Dutch 
 And rail at new-come foreigners so much; 
 Forgetting that themselves are all derived 
 From the most scoundrel race that ever lived; 
 A horrid crowd of rambling thieves and drtmes, 
 Who ransack'd kingdoms and dispeopled towns. 
 The Pict and painted Briton, treach'rous Scot, 
 By hunger, theft and rapine, higher brought; 
 Norwegian pirates, bucaneering Danes, 
 Whose red-haired offspring everywhere remains ; 
 Who, joined with Norman French, compound the breed 
 From whence your true-born Englishmen proceed. 
 
 1 Here Defoe probably alludes to the Dutch weavers, whom 
 William the Conqueror brought over to England as instructors for 
 his people. William himself married a Dutch princess. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 327 
 INGRATITUDE OF ENGLAND TOWARDS THE DUTCH 
 
 If e'er this nation be distressed again 
 To whomsoever they cry, they'll cry in vain; 
 To heaven they cannot have the face to look 
 Or, if they should, it would but heaven provoke ; 
 To hope for help from man, would be too much, 
 Mankind would always tell 'em of the Dutch: 
 How they came here our freedom to maintain, 
 Were paid, and cursed, and hurried home again; 
 How by their aid we first dissolved our fears, 
 And then our helpers damn'd for foreigners 
 'Tis not our English temper to do better, 
 For Englishmen think ev'ry one their debtor. 
 
 WHY KING WILLIAM MADE SOME FOREIGNERS His 
 INTIMATE FRIENDS 
 
 We blame the king, that he relies too much 
 
 On strangers, Germans, Huguenots and Dutch, 
 
 And seldom does his great affairs of state 
 
 To English counsellors communicate. 
 
 The fact might very well be answered thus: 
 
 He had so often been betrayed by us, 
 
 He must have been a madman to rely 
 
 On English gentlemen's fidelity; 
 
 For, laying other arguments aside, 
 
 This thought might mortify our English pride, 
 
 That foreigners have faithfully obeyed him, 
 
 And none but Englishmen have ever betrayed him; 
 
 They have our ships and merchants bought and sold, 
 
 And bartered English blood for foreign gold; 
 
 First to the French they sold our Turkey fleet, 
 
 And injured Talmarsh next at Cameret; 
 
 The king himself is sheltered from their snares, 
 
 Not by his merits, but the crown he wears; 
 
 Experience tells us 'tis the English way 
 
 Their benefactors always to betray. 
 
328 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 THE CONCLUSION 
 
 Then let us boast of ancestors no more, 
 
 Or deeds of heroes done in days of yore, 
 
 In latent records of the ages past, 
 
 Behind the rear of time, in long oblivion placed ; 
 
 For if our virtues must in lines descend 
 
 The merit with the families would end 
 
 And intermixtures would most fatal grow. 
 
 For vice would be hereditary too ; 
 
 The tainted blood would of necessity 
 
 Involuntary wickedness convey. 
 
 Vice, like ill-nature, for an age or two, 
 
 May seem a generation to pursue ; 
 
 But virtue seldom does regard the breed : 
 
 Fools do the wise, and wise the fools succeed. 
 
 What is 't to us what ancestors we had ? 
 
 If good, what better? or what worse, if bad? 
 
 Examples are for imitation set, 
 
 Yet all men follow virtue with regret. 
 
 Could but our ancestors retrieve their fate, 
 
 And see their offspring thus degenerate ; 
 
 How we contend for birth and names unknown, 
 
 And build on their past actions, not our own ; 
 
 They'd cancel records, and their tombs deface, 
 
 And openly disown the vile degenerate race ; 
 
 For fame of families is all a cheat, 
 
 It's personal virtue only makes us great. 
 
 Everybody who reads these fragments, which do 
 not amount together to a third part of the poem, must 
 recognize that there is a naive power, combined with a 
 charming reality, in the language of Defoe, which 
 made him dreadful for his enemies, and a not-to-be- 
 neglected help for his friends. During several years 
 Defoe used his great abilities as publicist in serving 
 the party of the glorious revolution, which was also 
 the party of all Protestants, both in England and in 
 Holland. In the midst of the great spiritual struggle 
 between all kinds of factions, conflicting opinions, con- 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 329 
 
 spiracies, secret and confessed hatred, noble tenden- 
 cies and selfish aspirations, Defoe on his own personal 
 responsibility, without power or protection back 
 of him, fought like a lonely lion for the great cause, 
 and consequently the better part of the English 
 nation, the common citizens admired and loved him. 
 Defoe takes suo jure not only an honorable place in 
 English literature, but also a more honorable one in 
 that important and most critical period of the world's 
 history, and in the history of Protestantism, which is 
 called the Glorious Revolution of 1688. 
 
 Defoe was a born writer, and his influence was a 
 considerable one with the masses of the English peo- 
 ple, and of course, made him many enemies among the 
 Roman Catholics and the secret adherents of the 
 Stuarts. For his True Born Englishman he was 
 amply rewarded. "How this poem was the occa- 
 sion," he says in later time, "of my being known to 
 his Majesty, how I was afterwards received by him, 
 how employed abroad, and how, above my capacity of 
 deserving, rewarded, is no part of the present case, 
 and is only mentioned here as I take all occasions 
 to do, for expressing the honour I ever preserved for 
 the immortal and glorious memory of that greatest 
 and best of all princes and whom it was my honour 
 and advantage to call master as well as sovereign, 
 whose goodness to me I never forgot and whose 
 memory I never patiently heard abused and never can 
 do so ; and who, had he lived, would never have suf- 
 fered me to be treated as I have been in this world." 1 
 After the death of King William, Defoe continued to 
 defend liberty and toleration for many years, but 
 missing his noble protector and persecuted in every 
 way that was possible by his many and powerful 
 
 1 Appeal to honour and justice, quoted. Works of Defoe, p. 4. 
 
330 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 enemies, he died in 1731, a poor man. Satisfied with, 
 and totally absorbed in, the sovereignty over his own 
 field as a writer, 1 as an author of polemics, and as 
 a poet; inspired to the bottom of his soul by the 
 highest principles of Protestantism and Democracy; 
 a staunch defender of liberty and toleration and one- 
 sidedly attached to this great task of his life, like 
 most geniuses in history, he could not succeed in any 
 other business, and with pity we see that after the 
 death of King William, a protector to shield his do- 
 mestic life, and to guarantee to this great man even 
 a decent living was lacking. At the time when Will- 
 iam and Mary came to the throne in 1688, Defoe, born 
 in 1 66 1, was still a youth, but was nevertheless at- 
 tached already with his whole heart to the great cause, 
 and in all his life he never alludes to King William 
 but in language of deep gratitude and intense attach- 
 ment. Scarcely had the king breathed his last, when 
 his enemies vented their hatred in the most indecent 
 manner, by malignant speeches, toasts and lampoons. 
 This roused Defoe's indignation, and urged him again 
 to dip his pen into bitter ink, and produce : The Mock- 
 Mourners, by way of elegy on King William, 1702. 
 In a few weeks it passed through five large editions. 
 Defoe was a man with a character a splendid, mag- 
 nificent character. The transition from John Dryden 
 to Daniel Defoe, is that from darkness to the light ; 
 from the hireling to the sovereignty of a man with 
 sacred principles; from a spiritual prostitute to the 
 martyr of a holy cause ; from a devilish dividedness 
 against himself", dissolving itself in sarcastic mockery 
 with every cause, to the serene heavenly steadfastness 
 of a man fighting for principles which were dear to 
 him, to his people, to his sovereign and to all Protes- 
 
 1 Defoe wrote upwards of 250 distinct productions. Ijfe of 
 Defoe, p. 4, in The Works of Defoe. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 331 
 
 tantism. Dryden followed the example of the man 
 who betrayed his Master, after having eaten his 
 bread, and after he saw that suffering for his Master's 
 sake were coming; and he did this not once but re- 
 peatedly ; he did it, as far as we know even with some 
 remorse though with a brazen forehead confessing 
 himself shamelessly, "O gracious God ! how far have 
 we profaned thy heavenly gift of poetry," which words 
 remind us, without willing it, of those other words : 
 "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent 
 blood." Defoe followed in the footsteps of the Apos- 
 tles and Prophets, in the footsteps of his Master and 
 in those of all the heroes and martyrs of Christendom, 
 sacrificing all his cares and abilities, to the higher 
 ideals of life, suffering scorn and disdain, persecu- 
 tion and poverty, standing for the honor and name 
 of his protector, not only so long as he enjoyed his 
 favor, but during half a lifetime, after the death of 
 his king had made all protection impossible. It is not 
 till in our time that the researches of William Lee x 
 have brought to light how important a part Defoe 
 played in bringing forth and maintaining the blessing 
 results of the Glorious Revolution. A star of such 
 brilliancy could not escape attracting again and again, 
 the attention of the astronomer until its real value 
 and greatness should be fixed forever. 
 
 Quite another character from Defoe, was Matthew 
 Prior. More a poet than a hero, he served King 
 William III during the whole time of his reign, was 
 for several years attached to the English Embassy at 
 the Hague, and during the deliberations followed by 
 the treaty of peace at Ryswyck, 1697, he was secretary 
 to the Embassy. At the Hague he wrote his witty 
 English Ballad on the taking of Namur in 1695, a 
 
 1 William L,ee, Life and newly discovered writings of Daniel 
 Defoe, 3 Vols. London, J. Camden Hotten, 1869. 
 
332 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 parody of Boileau's Ode on the capture of Namur by 
 the French three years before. In 1698 he was sent to 
 Paris as secretary to the English Embassy. In one of 
 his letters to Lord Halifax he tells how he saw the 
 exiled English King James II at the court of the 
 French King : "I faced old James and all his court the 
 other day at St. Cloud. Vive Guillaume. You never 
 saw such a strange figure as the old bully is, lean, 
 worn, and ri veiled, not unlike Neale the projector. The 
 queen looks melancholy, but otherwise well enough: 
 their equipages are all very ragged and contempt- 
 able." 1 But after the death of King William, when 
 the influence of the Tories was in the ascendant, Prior 
 joined their ranks and later became a close friend of 
 Lord Bolingbroke. During his early days in the poli- 
 tical business at the Hague he tells us, "he had enough 
 to do in studying French and Dutch."* Prior was not 
 a man after the heart, either of Defoe or of Burnet. 
 To please those ironsides of King William a stronger 
 and more heroic character was required than that of 
 Prior. His devotion to the cause of King William 
 and Queen Mary was nevertheless an honest one, as 
 the spirit of his poems abundantly show. Some of 
 these poems are really beautiful, and full of tender 
 feelings and noble thoughts. By his diplomatic career 
 he had the best opportunity to learn the policy of 
 William III, an opportunity, such as was given to very 
 few. Prior was secretary to Lord Dursley, but that 
 nobleman's gout gave the young man many oppor- 
 tunities for personal communication with his sover- 
 eign. His readiness and address caused William to 
 give him the half-serious nickname of "Secretaire du 
 Roy" and his appointment of "Gentleman to the King's 
 
 1 Life of Prior, by Reginald Brinsley Johnson, in Frior's Works, 
 London, 1892, p. 26. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 333 
 
 Bedchamber." 1 And his verses bear witness of the 
 intimate information, which he by his position had 
 daily opportunity to acquire. 
 
 In his famous "Carmen Seculare for the year 
 1700" he wrote about William III, Prince of Orange, 
 for instance these lines: 
 
 Whither wouldst thou further look? 
 
 Read William's acts, and close the ample book; 
 
 Peruse the wonders of his dawning life: 
 
 How, like Alcides, he began; 
 
 With infant patience calm'd seditious strife, * 
 
 And quell'd the snakes which round his cradle ran. 
 
 Describe his youth, attentive to alarms, 
 
 By dangers form'd, and perfected in arms ; 
 
 When conq'ring, mild; when conquer'd, not disgrac'd ; 
 
 By wrongs not lessen'd, nor by triumphs rais'd : 
 
 Superior to the blind events 
 
 Of little human accidents; 
 
 And constant to his first decree, 
 
 To curb the proud, to set the injur'd free; 
 
 To bow the haughty neck, and raise the suppliant knee. 
 
 His opening years to riper manhood bring ; 
 And see the hero perfect in the king: 
 Imperious arms by manly reasons sway'd, 
 And power supreme by free' consent obey'd ; 
 With how much haste his mercy meets his foes : 
 And how unbounded his forgiveness flows ; 
 With what desire he makes his subjects bless'd, 
 His favours granted ere his throne adress'd : 
 What trophies o'er our captiv'd hearts he rears, 
 By arts of peace more potent, than by wars : 
 How over himself as o'er the world, he reigns, 
 His morals strengthening what his law ordains. 
 
 Through all his thread of life already spun, 
 
 Becoming grace and proper action run : 
 
 The piece by Virtue's equal hand is wrought, 
 
 Works of Prior, Biography, p. XXIII. 
 
334 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 Mixt with no crime, and shaded with no fault; 
 
 No footsteps of the victor's rage 
 
 Left in the camp where William did engage: 
 
 No tincture of the monarch's pride 
 
 Upon the royal purple spied ; 
 
 His fame, like gold, the more 'tis tried, 
 
 The more shall its intrinsic worth proclaim ; 
 
 Shall pass the combat of the searching flame, 
 
 And triumph o'er the vanquish'd heat, 
 
 For ever coming out the same, 
 
 And losing nor its lustre nor its weight. 
 
 This is just as true to history, as it is beautifully 
 told and reminds us of those other lines, intended to 
 describe King William's character : 
 
 When certain to o'ercome, inclined to save, 
 Tardy to vengeance and with mercy brave 
 
 or those others : 
 
 Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate, 
 Swift without violence, without terror great. 
 
 That Prior understood something of William's 
 great task, the following lines may show : 
 
 Europe freed, and France repelled, 
 
 The hero from the height beheld ; 
 
 He spoke the word, that war and rage should cease; 
 
 He bid the Maas and Rhine in safety flow; 
 
 And dictated a lasting peace 
 
 To the rejoicing world below; 
 
 To rescued states, and vindicated crowns, 
 
 His equal hand prescribed their ancient bounds ; 
 
 Ordained whom every province should obey; 
 
 How far each monarch should extend his sway; 
 
 Taught them how clemency made power revered ; 
 
 And that the prince beloved was truly feared. 
 
 Firm by his side unspotted Honour stood, 
 
 Pleased to confess him not so great as good; 
 
 His head with brighter beams fair Virtue decked 
 
 Than those which all his numerous crowns reflect; 
 
 Established freedom clapped her joyful wings ; 
 
 Proclaimed the first of men, and best of kings. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 335 
 
 In the phrase "unspotted Honour/' the poet alludes 
 to Queen Mary, who was William's wife, and here 
 too, indeed, he does not tell anything more than the 
 simple truth, although far less than the whole truth. 
 Whatever thousand-fold crimes may have been com- 
 mitted by the Stuarts, and whatever horrible characters 
 the House of Stuart may have produced, there is at 
 least one glorious spot in its bloody and scandalous 
 history, and that glorious spot is Queen Mary. Who- 
 ever has read the secret diary and the letters of Mary, 
 in which she from day to day expressed her sorrows 
 and her joy, her unmatched love for her William, her 
 devotedness to him, her clear understanding of his 
 great task, her piety and at the same time her womanly 
 strength to assist her husband, whoever has looked 
 through those precious pages full of the most tender 
 affections, must confess that neither Holland nor Eng- 
 land ever saw a princess at the side of a sovereign, 
 with a character superior, or even equal to that of 
 Queen Mary. Prior did not know these sacred pages, 
 because they did not become accessible to the public 
 until more than 150 years later, but Prior knew the 
 Prince and the Queen personally, and his personal 
 impression gives a testimony not differing from the 
 truth as discovered in her secret papers. In his Ode, 
 presented to the King on his Majesty's arrival in Hol- 
 land after the death of the Queen, 1695, the poet 
 sings : 
 
 For her the wise and great shall mourn; 
 When late records her deeds repeat; 
 Ages to come, and men unborn 
 Shall bless her name and sigh her fate. 
 
 Fair Albion shall, with faithful trust, 
 Her holy Queen's sad reliques guard; 
 
336 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 Till Heaven awakes the precious dust, 
 And gives the saint her full reward. 
 
 And in another place in the same Ode, he writes: 
 
 She was instructed to command, 
 Great king, by long obeying thee ; 
 Her sceptre, guided by thy hand 
 Preserved the isles, and ruled the sea. 
 
 As William married Mary when she was only six- 
 teen years of age, while he was twenty-six, and took 
 her out of her English life to Holland, the develop- 
 ment of Mary's beautiful character is certainly no 
 little credit for the Prince. To this probably the poet 
 alludes when he says-: 
 
 From Mary's glory, Angels trace 
 The beauty of her partner's soul. 
 
 But not only do the names of King William and 
 Queen Mary connect the name of Prior with Holland. 
 During his years of abode; in Holland, Prior studied 
 the Dutch language, and made himself acquainted with 
 Dutch literature, as, for instance, he shows in one 
 poem, entitled: 
 
 A PASSAGE IN THE MORIAE ENCOMIUM OF ERASMUS 
 IMITATED 
 
 In awful pomp, and melancholy state 
 See settled Reason on the judgment seat; 
 Around her crowd Distrust and Doubt and Fear, 
 And thoughtful Foresight, and tormenting Care : 
 Far from the throne, the trembling Pleasures stand 
 Chained up, or exiled by her stern command 
 Wretched her subject, gloomy sits the queen; 
 Till happy Chance reverts the cruel scene : 
 And apish Folly with her wild resort 
 Of wit and jest desturbs the solemn court. 
 
 See the fantastic minstrelsy advance 
 To breathe the song, and animate the dance. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 337 
 
 Blest the usurper ! happy the surprise ! 
 
 Her mimic postures catch our eager eyes; 
 
 Her jingling bells affect our captive ear; 
 
 And in the sights we see, and sounds we hear, 
 
 Against our judgment she our sense employs; 
 
 The laws 'of troubled Reason she destroys ; 
 
 And in their place rejoices to indite 
 
 Wild schemes of mirth, and plans of loose delight. 
 
 Still another little poem of Prior reminds us of 
 Dutch influence, it is as follows : 
 
 A DUTCH PROVERB 
 
 Fire, water, woman, are man's ruin ; 
 
 Says wise professor Van der Bruin. 
 
 By flames a house I hired was lost 
 
 Last year, and I must pay the cost. 
 
 This spring the rains overflowed my ground ; 
 
 And my best Flanders mare was drowned. 
 
 A slave I am to Clara's eyes; 
 
 The gipsy knows her power and flies. 
 
 Fire, water, woman, are my ruin; 
 
 And great thy wisdom Van der Bruin. 
 
 How well Prior understood the character of his 
 great master, King William, and how well he repre- 
 sented him, he showed for instance at Paris, where 
 he was for a time a secretary to the Earl of Port- 
 land, the English ambassador. "While. he was in that 
 kingdom, one of the officers of the French king's 
 household, showing him the royal apartments and 
 curiosities at Versailles, especially the paintings of Le 
 Brun, wherein the victories of Louis XIV were glori- 
 fied, asked him whether King William's actions were 
 to be seen in his palace ; 'No sir,' replied Mr. Prior ; 
 'the monuments of my 'master's actions are to be seen 
 everywhere, but in his own house.' " l 
 
 Another famous English author, whose name is 
 
 1 British Plutarch, Life of Prior, p. 31. 
 22 
 
338 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 closely connected with Holland, who lived several 
 years in the Netherlands, learned there the practice 
 of toleration, married a Dutch lady, and even became 
 a naturalized Dutch citizen, was the well known chap- 
 lain of William and Mary at the Hague, the clergy- 
 man and historian, scholar and polemic, Gilbert Bur- 
 net. Born in Edinburgh in 1643, Burnet got his edu- 
 cation in Scotland, and after having finished his 
 studies for the ministry at Glasgow, went to England, 
 stayed for six months in Oxford and Cambridge, and 
 then took a voyage to Holland and France in 1674. 
 "At Amsterdam by the help of a Jewish Rabbi, he 
 perfected himself in the Hebrew language, and like- 
 wise became acquainted with the leading men of the 
 different persuasions tolerated in that country ; as Cal- 
 vinists, Arminians, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Brownists, 
 Papists and Unitarians, amongst each of which, he 
 used frequently to declare, he met with men of such 
 unfeigned piety and virtue, that he became fixed in a 
 strong principle of universal charity, and an invinci- 
 ble abhorrence of all severities on account of religious 
 dissensions." 1 The practice of toleration, as he saw 
 it in Holland, and nowhere else at that time, was for 
 Burnet a new light shining in the darkness of perse- 
 cution and narrow-mindedness. It changed the whole 
 system of his thoughts. As a man thoroughly con- 
 verted to the principles of toleration, Burnet returned 
 from Holland to England, the England of the Stuarts. 
 After that time he could not help trying to bring over 
 from Holland a tolerant spirit into the minds and the 
 hearts of his own nation. He looked now from an- 
 other angle upon the tyranny of every predominant 
 party, and the persecution of every party in minority. 
 Conflict and trouble was unavoidable, as a great part 
 
 1 The British Plutarch, Life of Burnet, p. 50. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 339 
 
 of his compatriots did not see things as he had seen 
 them in the Netherlands. Soon after he was ap- 
 pointed professor of divinity at the University of 
 Glasgow the Royalists took offense at his opinions, 
 and brought accusations against him, by which he saw 
 himself forced to quit his position and to move, first 
 to London, where also after some years it became in- 
 tolerable for him, until, with the accession of King 
 James II to the throne, he obtained leave to go out 
 of the kingdom in 1685. Burnet then visited Paris, 
 went through Italy, and stayed at Rome for a while, 
 but his intention was to settle down in the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 "In 1688, he came to Ubrecht, with an intention 
 to settle in some of the Seven Provinces. There he 
 received an invitation from the Prince and Princess 
 of Orange, to whom their party in England had recom- 
 mended him, to come to The Hague ; which he ac- 
 cepted. He was soon made acquainted with the sec- 
 ret of their counsels and advised the fitting out of a 
 fleet in Holland sufficient to support their designs and 
 encourage their friends. This and the account of his 
 travels in which he endeavored to blend popery and 
 tyranny together and represent them as inseparable, 
 with some papers, reflecting on the proceedings of 
 England, that came out in single sheets and were dis- 
 persed in several parts of England, most of which Mr. 
 Burnet owns himself the author of, alarmed King 
 James, and were the occasion of his writing twice 
 against him to the Princess of. Orange ; and insisting, 
 by his ambassador, on his being forbid the court; 
 which, after much importunity, was done, though he 
 continued to be trusted and employed as before, the 
 Dutch ministers consulting him daily. But that which 
 gave, he tells us, the crisis to the king's anger, was 
 
340 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 the news of Burnet's being married to a considerable 
 fortune at The Hague." 
 
 "To put an end to his frequent conferences with 
 the ministers, a prosecution for high treason was set 
 on foot against him both in England and in Scotland ; 
 but Burnet receiving the news thereof before it came 
 to the States, he avoided the storm, by petitioning for 
 and obtaining without any difficulty, a bill of natural- 
 ization in order to accomplish his intended marriage 
 with Mary Scot, a Dutch lady of considerable for- 
 tune, who, with the advantage of birth, had those of 
 a fine person and understanding." 
 
 "After his marriage with this lady, being legally 
 under the protection of Holland, he undertook, in a 
 letter to the Earl of Middleton, to answer all the mat- 
 ters laid to his charge and added, that, being now 
 naturalized in Holland, his allegiance was during his 
 stay in these parts, transferred from his Majesty to 
 the States-General ; and in another letter, that if, upon 
 non-appearance a sentence should be passed upon him, 
 he might, to justify himself, be forced to give an ac- 
 count of the share he had in affairs, in which he might 
 be led to mention what he was afraid would not please 
 his Majesty. 
 
 "These expressions gave such offense to the Eng- 
 lish court that, dropping the former prosecution, they 
 proceeded against him as guilty of high treason, and 
 a sentence of outlawry was passed upon him and there- 
 upon the king first demanded him to be delivered up 
 and afterwards insisted on his being banished the 
 Seven Provinces; which the States refused, alleging, 
 that he was become their subject; and if the king had' 
 anything to lay to Dr. Burnet's charge, justice should 
 be done in their court. 
 
 "This put an end to all farther applications to the 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 341 
 
 States; and Dr. Burnet, secured from any danger, 
 went on in assisting and forwarding the important 
 affair of the revolution. 
 
 "He wrote also several pamphlets in support of the 
 Prince of Orange's designs and assisted in drawing 
 up his Declaration and when the Prince undertook 
 the expedition to England, Dr. Burnet accompanied 
 him as his chaplain." 
 
 "After his landing at Exeter he proposed and drew 
 up the association and was of no small service on sev- 
 eral occasions by a seasonable display of pulpit-elo- 
 quence, to animate the Prince's followers and gain 
 over others to his interest. 
 
 "Nor did his services pass unrewarded ; for King 
 William had not been many days on the throne be- 
 fore Dr. Burnet was advanced to the seat of Bishop 
 of Salisbury, in the place of Seth Ward who died ; 
 Dr. Burnet being consecrated May 31, 1689. He dis- 
 tinguished himself in the House of Lords by declaring 
 for moderate measures with regard to the clergy, who 
 scrupled to take the oaths and for a toleration of the 
 dissenters." 1 
 
 Besides many pamphlets, Burnet wrote two great 
 works, the History of my own time and The History 
 of the Reformation which are standard works among 
 the literature of English history, and in all his pamph- 
 lets and works we feel the same spirit of freedom and 
 toleration, for which he, at so early a time in his 
 life, received an inspiration in the Netherlands. 
 
 Another man, belonging to the same cycle of bril- 
 liant stars that shine around the two grand figures of 
 William and Mary, and who was inspired by the 
 spirit of the glorious Republic of the Low Countries, 
 was John Locke, who after having lived in Holland 
 
 1 The British Plutarch, Life of Burnet, p. 55-58. 
 
342 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 for years, came back to England with the Revolution 
 of 1688. His main task lay in the field of Philosophy, 
 the results of his researches may in some respects be 
 doubtful, but his love for liberty and toleration, as 
 well as the brilliance of his genius are unquestionable, 
 while his personal character, and even his piety, have 
 aroused the admiration and love of all who have be- 
 longed to the intimate circle of his relatives and 
 friends. John Locke was born at Wrington in Som- 
 ersetshire in the year 1632 ; was very carefully edu- 
 cated under the severe leadership of his father ; 
 studied physics and philosophy at Oxford ; was for 
 many years under the protection of Lord Ashley, Earl 
 of Shaftesbury, and being of a weak physical consti- 
 tution, he went in 1675 to Montpellier in France to 
 restore his health. 
 
 From Montpellier he went to Paris where he met 
 Mr. Guenelon a celebrated physician from Amster- 
 dam, "who held anatomical conferences there with 
 great reputation/' and when in 1682 his protector 
 Shaftesbury, prosecuted by the Stuart government for 
 high treason, escaped and fled to Holland, John Locke 
 followed him thither." 1 "He had not been a year in 
 Holland, when he was accused at the English court of 
 having written certain tracts against the government ; 
 and though another person was afterwards discovered 
 to be the author, yet being observed to join in com- 
 pany with several English malcontents at The Hague, 
 this conduct was communicated to our resident there, 
 to the Earl of Sunderland, then Secretary of State, 
 who accompanied the king therewith, and his Majesty 
 ordered the proper methods to be taken for expelling 
 him from the College," Locke being a member of 
 Christ Church College at Oxford. Since that time it 
 
 1 British Plutarch, Life of Locke, p. 144. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 343 
 
 was dangerous for Locke to return to England. "In 
 May, 1685, after accession of James II to the throne, 
 the English envoy at The Hague demanded him to 
 be delivered up by the States-General, upon suspicion 
 of having been concerned in the Duke of Monmouth's 
 invasion. This obliged him to lie concealed nearly 
 for twelve months, till it became sufficiently known 
 that he had no hand in that enterprise. During this 
 privacy, which, by the assistance of some friends, 
 was rendered very secure from any danger of a dis- 
 covery, he composed his first letter upon Toleration, 
 which being translated from the Latin original into 
 English and Dutch was printed in London." 1 
 
 "Towards the latter end of 1686 he appeared again 
 in public, and, in the following year he formed a 
 weekly assembly at Amsterdam, with Messieurs Lim- 
 borch and LeClerc, who were joined by some others 
 in the view of holding conferences, upon subjects of 
 learning. These two divines were among our author's 
 first friends in Holland and he held a correspondence 
 with both of them till the day of his death; not long 
 after which there came out several letters that had 
 passed between him and the former, whereby it ap- 
 pears, that Mr. Limborch was very serviceable to our 
 author as well with respect to some improvements in 
 his Essay on Human Understanding as to his Reason- 
 ableness of Christianity and on the other hand these 
 favors were repaid by Mr. Locke in procuring him 
 Archbishop Tillotson's assistance in his History of the 
 Inquisition which was afterwards dedicated by that 
 author of his grace. As to Mr. LeClerc, the dedica- 
 tion of his Ontologia to our author shows the pro- 
 found esteem he had for him. 2 
 
 1 Idem., p. 149- 
 
 2 British Plutarch, Life of Locke, p. 153- 
 
344 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 In 1689 Locke returned to England in the fleet 
 which conveyed the Princess of Orange to her con- 
 sort. 
 
 King William recognized and appreciated Locke, 
 as one of the powerful defenders of toleration, and 
 "left it to his choice, whether he would be envoy at the 
 court of the emperor, that of elector of Brandenburgh, 
 or any other, where he thought the air most suitable 
 to him" as he was suffering from asthma and the king 
 himself knew what that meant. "But he waived all 
 these on account of the ill state of his health, which 
 disposed him gladly to accept another offer that was 
 made him by Sir Francis Masnam and his lady, of an 
 apartment in their country-seat at Gates in Essex. 
 This situation proved in all respects so agreeable to 
 him, that he spent a great part of the remainder of 
 his life at it. Locke died at that same hospitable home 
 in 1704, while Mrs. Masman was reading- to him out 
 of the Psalms, which he asked her to do during the 
 last hour of his life." 1 
 
 From the facts, mentioned above, we see that 
 Locke spent no less than six years in Holland ; that 
 he lived there mostly in the circle of the Arminians 
 the Arminian professors, Limborgh and LeClerc being 
 his intimate friends. In the Netherlands he found 
 refuge, friendship and scholarly learning. There he 
 wrote his treatise on Toleration; there he continued 
 the researches laid down in his Essay on Human Un- 
 derstanding; there he wrote the substance of his later 
 published Thoughts concerning Education; and he 
 published his Two Treatises of Civil Government in 
 defense of the Revolution of 1688 in England shortly 
 after he left Holland. The influence which Holland 
 with its republican institutions, with its freedom, with 
 
 1 British Plutarch, Life of Locke, p. 174. 
 
DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 345 
 
 its many scholars and famous universities, with its 
 generally high standard of education, had on the 
 development of so subtle and tender genius as Locke 
 was, can hardly be over-estimated. 
 
 At the time when William of Orange came to 
 England to deliver the English people from oppres- 
 sion and persecution, and to save all Protestantism 
 from being annihilated, he had with him a splendid 
 army; an army in which served the flower of the 
 Huguenot nobility, of German and English refugees 
 and Dutch soldiers trained in the struggle for liberty, 
 an army of men, whose slaughtered relatives and dev- 
 astated properties, called them to the long desired 
 opportunity of facing their persecutors on equal terms, 
 and who found their happy day in Ireland on the 
 banks of the Boyne. But there was still another army 
 with William and Mary ; an army equipped with more 
 decisive weapons than sword and musket ; an army of 
 unlimited spiritual strength, whose victory was to be 
 won in the very heart and soul of the English na- 
 tion, and that should defeat its enemies far beyond 
 the borders of the British Isles; an army in whose 
 ranks a Burnet served, whose thundering voice from 
 the pulpit sounded through Great Britain from the 
 Channel to the Highlands of Scotland; an army in 
 which a John Locke fought with his two-edged sword 
 of logic, human understanding, lifting up the standard 
 of toleration, and smashing the arguments of pious 
 tyranny in such a way that further discussion could be 
 met with a smile ; an army in which Daniel Defoe, 
 with never-matched satire scourged the folly and cor- 
 ruption of the tyrants, pointing out to the nation 
 that, while at the Stuart's court under cover of pre- 
 tended "divine right" the most frivolous debauchery 
 of every kind was raging, at the same time the masses 
 
346 DURING THE TIME OF WILLIAM III 
 
 of the most honest citizens all over the country were 
 crying from the depth of their misery to Heaven, be- 
 cause they saw their dearest ones either murdered on 
 the scaffold or sighing in the darkness of the dun- 
 geon; an army in the midst of which the lyric voice 
 was heard of a man like Prior, who saw, and there- 
 fore praised in his songs, the virtues and piety, the 
 modesty and the God-given strength of both William 
 and Mary in leading the nation to safety and liberty ; 
 an army not of foreigners, but of the best English 
 patriots, trained however in the school of freedom 
 and toleration at the other side of the Channel. Here 
 we observe the influence of Holland on all the most 
 edifying parts of English literature. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 HOLLAND'S DECLINE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 FIELDING, SMOLLETT, GOLDSMITH, SOUTHEY AND 
 HENRY TAYLOR 
 
 Like Greece, like Palestine, like Rome and like 
 every nation that has contributed to the development 
 of the world's history, Holland had its rise, its glory 
 and its decline. The rise of the Netherlands goes as 
 far back as the origin of the Flemish cities, and the 
 development of democracy which began with the cru- 
 sades. The glorious period is for the Southern Neth- 
 erlands that from 1300 until the last half of the six- 
 teenth century when the Spanish armies began their 
 devastation, and for the Northern provinces, the pres- 
 ent Netherlands, from the eighty-years war, until, 
 after the period of William III, the stadholder of Hol- 
 land and the King of England. During the eighteenth 
 century we see the decline, and with the French revo- 
 lution, the downfall, of the great Republic. It seems 
 to be a fact with every leading nation in the world's 
 history, that each nation has a certain time of over- 
 abundant energy, a triumphant spirit of enthusiasm 
 that brings it to the highest development of hu- 
 man society in its epoch, but that after this period 
 of nearly super-human endeavor, there comes a period 
 of apparent exhaustion, of inertia, like that of old age 
 in human life and it has never happened in history that 
 any one of those nations, in which the energy of the 
 human race has for a certain period attained its high- 
 
 347 
 
348 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 est expression, has in a later period end for a second 
 time regained that leadership. Holland in the eight- 
 eenth century was in her time of decline, approach- 
 ing to her downfall, with a future certainty of some 
 revival in the nineteenth century but never destined to 
 regain the leading position which it had held for cen- 
 turies up to the death of that greatest of all the Princes 
 of Orange, William III, King of England. On the 
 contrary England in the eighteenth century was grow- 
 ing very fast. The eighteenth century marks for Eng- 
 land the accession of the British empire to world 
 power; it is the age of Samuel Johnson, the age of 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds of Hogarth and of Gainsbor- 
 ough, ending in triumphs even over the short but des- 
 perate empire of Napoleon. The Nelson-monument 
 on Trafalgar Square in the center of London indi- 
 cates the very place where for the time being the cen- 
 tre of the world's trade and industry was to be found. 
 Greece was once the leader of the world in art and 
 literature, but the great task of Greece once having 
 been performed the time of Pericles never will come 
 back; the Roman empire of "divus Augustus,"' that 
 gave to the world its system of civil law, passed away, 
 never to return ; the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, 
 which christianized and educated Western Europe, 
 and left an everlasting blessing, is only an event in 
 the history of many centuries ago; the French empire 
 of "le Roy Soleil"is no more, its vanity only being 
 reflected in the ever-changing fashion of to day ; Hol- 
 land spent its 'best blood and its greatest energy in 
 securing freedom and toleration for the civilized world, 
 but after having performed this grand task, it may 
 hold a respectable position among the nations of Eur- 
 ope, but the time of its glory, the time of William 
 the Silent and Maurice, of Frederick Henry and Will- 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 349 
 
 iam III, of Rembrandt and Vondel, of Tromp and De 
 Ruyter, will never come back; England at the height 
 of its world empire and Germany as its rival may 
 continue for a while, but old Europe as a wtwle, de- 
 vouring itself by the most horrible war in history, 
 sees already coming the time, if it has not come yet, in 
 which America will lead the world'; the overwhelming 
 energy of the New World, the American spirit of to- 
 day, absorbing elements from all the nations of the 
 earth, reuniting the human race in her national life 
 after a dissecting process of many centuries in the old 
 world, presents today an incomparable aspect of 
 leadership, such as only our modern development has 
 been able to produce. Such is the unchangeable logic 
 of history, and as sure as the sun rises in the East 
 and walks through heaven until she sets in the West, 
 so sure is the course of the World's history from its 
 beginning in the Eastern empires of Babylon and 
 Egypt, taking its course through the European conti- 
 nent from Greece to the British Isles, until its light 
 is seen on Manhattan and Plymouth Rock, and its 
 full glory comes over a tremendous new continent, 
 brightening the valleys of the Alleghenies and the 
 Rocky Mountains and developing a world-empire be- 
 tween the Atlantic and the Pacific ; an empire not of 
 fighting monarchs always greedy to conquer by brute 
 force, but an empire of the most advanced civiliza- 
 tion which the world has ever seen. 
 
 Such being the case, we cannot be surprised by 
 the fact that since the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century, England exerted more influence on Holland 
 than Holland on England, and more especially that 
 the latter influence has been very limited indeed. 
 
 Of course the spirit of decline was not felt in 
 equal proportion in every department of national life. 
 
350 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 There was no longer in Holland any more, any such 
 righting and dominating, triumphant spirit either in 
 the army or in the navy ; great generals and admirals 
 were lacking; most Dutch families, grown wealthy by 
 trade and industry were now resting on their victories 
 in beautiful houses along the canals of Amsterdam 
 and along the rivers in the country. But the univer- 
 sities (especially that of Leyden), with their beautiful 
 libraries and laboratories maintained pretty well their 
 old fame, and remained among the best centers -of 
 learning and scholarship in the world. So it happened 
 that even during the eighteenth century hundreds of 
 English and specially of Scotch students, came to 
 Leyden to follow for some years special courses at 
 the University. Amongst these English students at the 
 University of Leyden we find at least two men who 
 became prominent in English literature. Henry Field- 
 ing and Oliver Goldsmith, and at least two others, 
 Smollett and S out hey, who show in their works im- 
 pressions obtained directly from Holland. Henry 
 Fielding (1707-1754), one of England's first novel- 
 ists, well known for his Tom Jones, "the boisterous, 
 easy-going, masculine Henry Fielding," the greatest 
 contrast with the "sentimentalist, water-drinker and 
 vegetarian Richardson," the satirist in literature, as 
 Hogarth was in art, after having studied at Eton 
 College, was sent to the University of Leyden to fin- 
 ish his education. "When most of his companions," 
 says his biographer Leslie Stephen in the first volume 
 of his works, "went to Oxford or Cambridge, Field- 
 ing for some reason was sent to Leyden. He lost no 
 time, we are assured, in placing himself under the 
 celebrated Vitriarius, then professor of civil law, and 
 was assiduous in attending lectures and taking notes. 
 The selection of Leyden seems rather curious, as one 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 351 
 
 would fancy that the celebrated Vitriarius had little 
 authority in Westminster." When writing this, Mr. 
 Stephen probably did not know much about Vitriarius 
 and the condition of law studies at that time. In those 
 days it was .the study of the natural law, "jus nat- 
 urae" which was considered as the highest and most 
 promising part of the study of law/ Whoever wished 
 to be a good scholar in the field of law, had to study 
 the "jus naturae." And it was just that study, which 
 professor Vitriarius had made a specialty of. When, 
 in the year 1720, Vitriarius, who was at that time 
 professor at Utrecht, accepted the call from JLeyden, 
 he opened his courses with an oration "de Juris na- 
 turae necessitate et utilitate," a very vital question in 
 the study of law during the eighteenth century, and 
 it looks very doubtful whether a man like Vitriarius, 
 who was so well up to date for his time, enjoyed little 
 authority in Westminster Hall." That Mr. Stephen 
 gives not a single reason for his statement is there- 
 fore no surprise. 
 
 "Scotch students of law frequently resorted to 
 Leyden, for example the immortal Boswell, a gen- 
 eration later; and medical students, like Goldsmith 
 and Akenside might go there to attend lectures, or to 
 obtain a degree." John Wilkes, too, was sent to Ley- 
 den some twenty years afterwards, because his par- 
 ents were dissenters, and wished to protect him (as 
 they certainly did) from the contamination of English 
 orthodoxy. In Fielding's case, it seems probable, that 
 pecuniary considerations were already coming into 
 play; and it appears that as funds became scarce, he 
 speedily returned to London with that famous allow- 
 ance of 200 pounds a year, which "anybody might pay 
 who would." About the only reference to his Dutch 
 experiences which I have noticed in Fielding's works 
 
352 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 is a comparison in the Journey from this World to the 
 Next. An offensive smell as he approaches the city 
 of diseases, "very much resembled the savour which 
 travellers in summer perceive as they approach to that 
 beautiful village of the Hague, arising from those 
 delicious canals, which, as they consist of standing 
 water, do at that time -emit odours greatly agreeable 
 to a Dutch taste, 1 but not so pleasant to any other. 
 Those perfumes, with the assistance of a fair wind, 
 begin to affect persons of quick olfactory nerves at 
 a league's distance, and increase gradually as you ap- 
 proach." The comparison may possibly recall Dante, 
 but it does not throw much light upon Fielding's 
 academical career. He refers also, in the essay on the 
 Increase of Robbers, to the rarity and solemnity of 
 capital punishment in Holland. 2 Fielding studied 
 at Leyden during the years 1726-1728. That all these 
 English students at the University of Leyden, as a 
 rule, profited more from their life among the Dutch 
 people, in the circles of the University, than from 
 the courses of the professors, given either in Dutch 
 or in Latin, can surprise nobody. For students with 
 literary abilities like Fielding, Goldsmith, Boswell, 
 Smollett and others, nothing could be more educative 
 than to observe the customs and habits 'of a foreign 
 people, in their greater and smaller towns, in the 
 peculiarities of their homes, their dresses, their morals, 
 their religion, their art, and the way they made a 
 living. It made them heed the differences in many 
 respects from what they saw at home ; it opened their 
 eyes to the peculiarity of all common things in life, 
 because they learned that all these things could be 
 different and in reality were different among other 
 
 1 Here speaks apparently the silly scorn of that innocent pride 
 by which so many an English patriot has brought himself to ridicule. 
 
 2 Stephens, Biography of Fielding, Vol. I, p. VII and VIII. 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 353 
 
 nations, and it revealed to them the interest of describ- 
 ing the minutest details of life in their novels and 
 poems, in their plays and narratives. 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), who studied at 
 Leyden during the years 1754 and 1755, shows the 
 same experience. Hardly anything in his works 
 reminds us of his following the courses of the pro- 
 fessors, and on the contrary with keen observation 
 he looks at thousands of things, which he saw every- 
 where around him, and which made him make an 
 antithesis between what he saw at home, and what 
 he saw among the Dutch people. In a letter to his 
 uncle, Contarine, written from Leyden, "he touches 
 humorously on the contrast between the Dutch about 
 him and the Scotch he has just left; describes the 
 phlegmatic pleasures of the country, the ice-boats, and 
 the delights of canal travelling." "They sail in cov- 
 ered boats drawn by horses," he says; "and in these 
 you are sure to meet people of all nations." There 
 the Dutch slumber, the French chatter, and the Eng- 
 lish play at cards. Any man who likes company may 
 have it to his taste. "For my part, I generally de- 
 tached 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 pre- 
 sented themselves ; but when you enter their towns 
 you are charmed beyond description. No misery is 
 to be seen here ; every one is usefully employed." 1 
 After these quotations Mr. Dobson makes the just 
 remark Already, it is plain, he was insensibly storing 
 up material for the subsequent "Traveller," 2 and we 
 may add He was training himself in seeing things, 
 while he could not help seeing them, because they 
 
 1 Austin Dobson, Life of Oliver Goldsmith, p. 35 and 36. 
 
 2 Idem., p. 35. 
 
 23 
 
354 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 were so different from what his eyes were accus- 
 tomed to see and so, as he saw things, he created the 
 possibility of describing them. On the contrary, so 
 far as his life in the University is concerned, his 
 biographer says "Little is known in the way of fact, 
 as to his residence at Leyden. Gaubius, the professor 
 in chemistry, is indeed mentioned in one of his works ; 
 but it would be too much to conclude an intimacy from 
 a chance reference. From the account of a fellow- 
 countryman, Dr. Ellis, then a student like himself, 
 he was, as always, frequently pressed for money, often 
 supporting himself by teaching his native language, 
 and then, in the hope of recruiting his finances, 
 resorting to the gambling-table. On one occasion, 
 according to this informant, he had a successful run, 
 butj disregarding the advice of his friend to hold his 
 hand, he lost his gains almost immediately. By and 
 by the old restless longing to see foreign countries, 
 probably dating from the days when he was a pupil 
 under Thomas Byrne, came back with redoubled force. 
 The recent death of the Danish savant and play- 
 wright, Baren de Holberg, who in his youth had made 
 the tour of Europe on foot, probably suggested the 
 way; and equipped with a small loan from Dr. Ellis 
 he determined to leave Leyden. Unhappily, in passing 
 a florist's, he saw some rare bulbs, which he straight- 
 way transmitted to his Uncle Contarine. His imme- 
 diate resources being thus disposed of, he quitted Ley- 
 den in February, 1755, with only one clean shirt and 
 no money in his pocket." 1 
 
 What Goldsmith later in his poem The Traveller 
 wrote about Holland is this : 
 
 To men of other minds 2 my fancy flies, 
 Embosomed in the deep, where Holland lies. 
 Methinks her patient sons before me stand 
 
 1 Dobson, Life of Oliver Goldsmith, p. 36. 
 
 2 He turns from France to Holland. 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 355 
 
 Where the broad ocean leans against the land 
 And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, 
 Lift the tall rampire, 1 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-blossomed vale , 
 The willow-tufted bank, the gliding 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 the love of gain. 
 Hence all the good from opulence that springs, 
 With all those ills superfluous treasure brings, 
 Are here displayed. Their much-loved wealth imparts 
 Convenience, plenty, elegance, and arts ; 
 But view them closer, craft and fraud appear; 
 Even liberty itself is bartered 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. 
 
 Heavens ! how unlike their Belgic sires of old ! 
 Rough, poor, content, ungovernably bold, 
 War in each breast, and freedom on each brow; 
 How much unlike the sons of Britian now! 
 
 These verses show clearly the master mind of Gold- 
 smith in keen observation. His eyes were open for 
 the glory of the Dutch Republic in the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries and his admiration is unre- 
 stricted. But at the same time he saw the decline of 
 
 i "Rampire, the wall of a dyke or canal." ICd. of Goldsmith's 
 works. 
 
356 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 Holland, and how England was now what the Nether- 
 lands were before. No historian could describe it 
 better than we see it reflected in the mirror of the 
 poet's mind, and expressed in these inspired lines. In 
 reading them, we feel a contact with the author of 
 The Deserted Village, and The Vicar of Wakefield. 
 How different are the impressions which another 
 English author of the same period, viz., Smollett, wrote 
 down from a trip through the Netherlands in the 
 eighteenth century! Tobias George Smollett (1720 
 1771) is considered to be one of the four great Eng- 
 lish novelists of the mid-eighteenth century, the other 
 three being Richardson, Fielding and Sterne. In one 
 of his best novels, Peregrine Pickle, considered by his 
 biographers to be, for a great part, autobiography, his 
 hero makes a trip through the Netherlands. As Pere- 
 grine Pickle was published in 1751, and Smollett was 
 travelling in France during the year before, it is very 
 probable that he came back from France through Bel- 
 gium and Holland. In that case, he stayed in Holland 
 only for a very short time, and while writing his novel 
 his impressions must have been lively and written 
 down during, or immediately after the trip. And this 
 is just what we find in Peregrine Pickle's trip through 
 Holland. He comes from France, travels through 
 Belgium, and in Chapters 64 and 65 he describes how 
 he arrived at Rotterdam, went from that place to the 
 Hague, Amsterdam and Leyden and returned to Rot- 
 terdam, whence he went back to England. This 
 description is remarkable in more than one respect ; 
 remarkable for what he sees in Holland, and still more 
 remarkable for what he passes by without ever 
 noticing; remarkable for the kind of people that he 
 comes in contact with, and the places of entertainment 
 he chooses during his short visit. To begin with, in 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 357 
 
 Rotterdam he puts up, not in a real Dutch hotel but 
 "in an English house of entertainment," the company 
 which he is introduced to consists in the main of Eng- 
 lishmen "to the number of twenty or thirty, English- 
 men of all ranks and degrees, from the merchant to 
 the perriwigmakers prentice." From Rotterdam he 
 goes to the Hague "in the Treckskuyt" The very 
 evening of the day of his arrival, if we believe him, 
 he went to the reception of the Prince and Princess 
 "without any introduction." Next day he saw the 
 Foundery, the Stadhouse, the Spinhuys, Vauxhall and 
 Count Bentinck's gardens, but tells nothing about all 
 these except the names, and the fact that he saw 
 them. On the contrary, when in the evening he goes 
 to what he calls "the French comedy," he tells us 
 about some dirty and silly pieces, which were repre- 
 sented, and which show the character of the place 
 he went to, and his refined taste in telling all about 
 it in shameless realistic style. From the Hague to 
 Amsterdam he goes in a post-waggon, with an intro- 
 duction to an English merchant. The theatre and the 
 night-houses are the things he goes there to see. 
 About the latter he tells us that they were called 
 "Spuyl, or music-houses, which, by the connivance of 
 the magistrates, are maintained for the recreation of 
 those who might attempt the chastity of creditable 
 women if they were not provided with such conveni- 
 ences. To one of those night-houses did our traveller 
 repair under the conduct of the English merchant." 
 There he "made up to a sprightly French girl who sat 
 in seeming expectation of a customer," and danced 
 with her to the music of "a scurvy organ" until a 
 sailor came in to put up a fight with him about the 
 girl, hardly escaping the chance of being killed. From 
 Amsterdam to Haerlem he goes again with the 
 
358 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 "skuyt." At Haerlem he only takes dinner and then 
 departs for Leyden, "where they met with some Eng- 
 lish students who treated them with great hospitality." 
 All he tells about that hospitality is that his friend 
 had a heav/ dispute. "After they had visited the 
 Physic Garden, the University, the Anatomic Hall and 
 every other thing that was recommended to .their 
 view, they returned to Rotterdam and held a consulta- 
 tion upon the method of transporting themselves to 
 England." As far as Leyden is concerned, he speaks 
 not another word about anything exqept the dispute 
 in the circle of his own friends. When I read these 
 experiences on a trip through Holland of Peregrine 
 Pickle, alias Tobias Smollett, it reminds me of a little 
 joke I had one time with one of my English friends 
 in the Primrose Club at London. Sitting around a 
 comfortable English fireplace, and talking about Hol- 
 land, one of my younger friends, trying to tease me, 
 said to me, "Do you really wear wooden shoes when 
 you live in Holland?'' I said, "Why, don't you know 
 what the Dutch people make those wooden shoes for ?" 
 He said, "No, I don't." "Well," I said to him, "they 
 make those wooden shoes for all the young English- 
 men of good standing who visit Holland, and do noth- 
 ing there but just walk in the mud." Smollett cer- 
 tainly was one of them, according to his own narra- 
 tive. Last summer, being in Brussels for a few days, 
 just before the war started, I observed unwillingly 
 a couple of the same kind of young English gentle- 
 men. I had been looking through picture galleries, 
 and through a large bookstore of antique and modern 
 books for a whole day. A young, clever and well-edu- 
 cated antiquarian had been kind enough to accompany 
 me, and help me to buy some things I liked, and conse- 
 quently I invited him for dinner to my hotel. After 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE ' 359 
 
 dinner we were sitting in front of the Grand Hotel, 
 smoking our cigars and drinking our demi-tasse. Our 
 conversation was in French, simply because my friend 
 spoke neither Dutch nor English. After a while two 
 young Englishmen, well-dressed, took seats just in 
 back of us, and hearing some of our French talk, they 
 apparently concluded that nobody understood their 
 English, and began to talk very frankly to each other 
 about their experiences of the night before. "If I 
 had thought," said one of them, "that you cared so 
 much for that girl, I might just as well have taken 
 the other one." "Why," said the other one, "let us 
 forget all about it; this is a pleasure trip, let us have 
 another drink." Just in the style of Smollett ! They, 
 too, needed some wooden shoes. And yet, this muddy 
 realistic style of Smollett has been able to start a 
 whole school of realistic novels, and in our own time 
 some of the most famous novelists go much deeper 
 even through the mud than Smollett did. There must 
 be some attractive side, some idealism in the very 
 realistic style, and there is there is a kind of straight- 
 ness, a heroism, a defiance of all hypocrisy, heroic 
 especially when carried through with a brazen face 
 and without any shame whatever. Not to be a hypo- 
 crite, to love the truth, to stand like a man, knowing 
 and willing what he is doing, whatever it may be, 
 this has some charming attraction, and finds always a 
 beautiful black background in the despicable hypocrisy 
 to be found to some degree everywhere. It takes the 
 form of a war against a world of lies, in an endeavor 
 to be truthful and straight. But its weak side is 
 apparent. Smollett shows it in describing his trip 
 through Holland. He sees nothing but mud, he walks 
 always in it, his eyes are hardly for a moment on 
 anything else. Compared with a vile hireling of pub- 
 
300 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 lie opinion like Dryden, Smollett is a man, a charac- 
 ter, confessing that he is walking in the mud and 
 standing for it without shame or repentance, and with 
 a stubborn heroic smile, a forerunner of Dickens and 
 even of Byron, although this sublime name might be 
 abused in this connection. But the result, at least in 
 this case, for Smollett and for what we might expect 
 from a description of a journey through the Nether- 
 lands, is very poor indeed. How different from what 
 Goldsmith in his short poem gives ! How different 
 also from the impressions which Southey got during 
 his visit in Holland ! 
 
 Robert Southey (1774-1843), well known as a 
 poet, and famous for his Life of Nelson and his Life 
 of Wesley, spent several weeks in the Netherlands 
 during the year 1825, and he gives his impressions 
 from that trip in several of his letters written from 
 Holland. 1 To Henry Taylor he wrote on March 28, 
 1825 : "I want to see Holland, which is a place of 
 man's making, country as well as towns. I want 
 monastic books, which it is hopeless to look for in 
 England, and which there is every probability of find- 
 ing at Brussels, Antwerp, or Leyden. In the course 
 of three or four weeks, going sometimes by 
 trekschuits and sometimes upon wheels, we might see 
 the principal places of the Dutch Netherlands, visit 
 the spot where Sir Philip Sidney fell, talk of the 
 Dousas and Scaliger at Leyden, and obtain such a 
 general notion of the land as would enable us better 
 to understand the history of the Low Country wars." 
 
 On May 2, 1825, he wrote to the same man : "You 
 do not expect enough from Holland. It is a mar- 
 vellous country in itself, in its history, and in the 
 
 1 John Dennis, Robert Southey The story of his life written 
 in his letters. London and New York, 1894, p. 326, v. v. 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 361 
 
 men and works which it has produced. The very 
 existence of the country is at once a natural and a 
 moral phenomenon. Mounteneer as I am, I expect 
 to feel more in Holland than in Switzerland. Instead 
 of climbing mountains, we shall have to ascend 
 church-towers. The panorama from that at Harlem 
 is said to be one of the most impressive in the world. 
 Evening is the time for seeing it to the most advan : 
 tage. 
 
 "I have not yet forgotten the interest which Wat- 
 son's Histories of Philip II and III excited in me 
 when a school-boy. They are books which I have 
 never looked in since ; but I have read largely con- 
 cerning the Dutch war against the Spanjards, on both 
 sides, and there is no part of Europe which could be 
 so interesting to me as historical ground. Perhaps 
 my persuits may have made me more alive than most 
 men to associations of this kind ; but I would go far 
 to see the scene of any event which has made my 
 heart throb with a generous emotion, or the grave 
 of any one whom I desire to meet in another state 
 of existence." 
 
 "To Holland," says Dennis, "Southey went accord- 
 ingly, and at Leyden he was laid up with a bad foot 
 and for three weeks was hospitably entertained by 
 the poet Bilderdyk and his poet wife, who, as we have 
 seen, had translated Roderick."^ William Bilderdyk 
 (1756-1831) was one of the greatest poets, scholars, 
 historians, Holland ever produced ; the four greatest 
 men in Dutch literature are Jacob van Maerland 
 (1235-1295), Joost van den Vondel (1587-1678), 
 Jacob Cats (1577-1660), and Willem Bilderdyk. 
 During the French Revolution, Bilderdyk was ban- 
 ished from his own country, and lived for some time 
 
 l Dennis, Robert Southey, p. 328. 
 
862 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 in England, where he got acquainted with Southey. 
 Nowhere could Southey have found a man better 
 acquainted with Holland and its history, and in the 
 letters of Southey one can feel on almost every page 
 the influence of Bilderdyk. The most popular edi- 
 tion of Bilderdyk's poetical works is that in fifteen 
 volumes, with an addition of three volumes of verses 
 written by Mrs. Bilderdyk. Besides that, he wrote 
 a History of the Netherlands, published after his 
 death, in thirteen volumes. 
 
 Being at Leyden with Mr. and Mrs. Bilderdyk, 
 Southey wrote to his wife on June 30, 1825 : "You 
 will now expect to hear something of the establish- 
 ment into which I have been thus unluckily shall I 
 say, or luckily? introduced. The house is a good 
 one, in a cheerful street, with a row of trees and a 
 canal in front large, and with everything good and 
 comfortable about it. The only child, Lodewyk 
 Willem, is at home, Mr. Bilderdyk being as little fond 
 of schools as I am. The boy has a peculiar and to 
 me an interesting countenance. He is evidently of a 
 weak constitution ; his dress neat but formal, and 
 his behaviour towards me amusing from his extreme 
 politeness, and the evident pleasure with which he 
 receives any attempt on my part to address him, or 
 any notice that I take of him at table. A young 
 vrouw waits at table. I wish you could see her, for 
 she is a much odder figure than Maria Rosa ("a 
 Portuguese servant," says Dennis) appeared on her 
 first introduction, only not so cheerful a one. Her 
 dress is black and white, perfectly neat .and not more 
 graceful than a Beguine's. The cap, which is very 
 little, and has a small front not projecting farther 
 than the green shade which I wear sometimes for my 
 eyes, comes down to the roots of her hair, which is 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 363 
 
 all combed back on the forehead ; and she is as white 
 and wan in complexion as her cap ; slender and not 
 ill-made ; and were it not for this utter paleness, she 
 would be rather handsome. Another vrouw, who 
 appears more rarely, is not in such plain dress, but 
 is quite as odd in her way. Nothing can be more 
 amusing than Mr. Bilderdyk's conversation. Dr. Bell 
 is not more full of life, spirits and enthusiasm ; I am 
 reminded of him every minute. He seems delighted 
 to have a guest who can understand, and will listen 
 to him; and he is not a little pleased at discerning 
 how many points of resemblance there are between 
 us. For he is as laborious as I have been ; has written 
 upon as many subjects; is just as much abused by 
 the Liberals in his country as I am in mine, and does 
 contempt them as heartily and as merrily as I do. I 
 am growing intimate with Mrs. Bilderdyk, about 
 whom her husband,- in the overflowing of his spirits, 
 tells me everything. He is very fond of her, and very 
 proud of her, as well he may be, and on her part she 
 is as proud of him." 
 
 Again Southey writes to his wife from Leyden, 
 July 7, 1825: "This is our manner of life: At eight 
 in the morning Lodewyck knocks at my door. My 
 movements in dressing are as regular as clock work, 
 and when I enter the adjoining room breakfast is 
 ready on a sofa-table, which is placed for my con- 
 venience close to the sofa. There I take my place, 
 seated on one cushion, and with my leg raised on 
 another. The sofa is covered with black plush. The 
 family take coffee, but I have a jug of boiled milk. 
 Two sorts of cheese are on the table, one of which is 
 very strong, and highly flavored with cummin and 
 cloves; this is called Leyden cheese, and is eaten at 
 breakfast laid in thin slices on bread and butter. The 
 
,'J64 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 bread is soft, in rolls, which have rather skin than 
 crust; the butter very rich, but so soft that it is 
 brought in a pot to table, like potted meat. Before 
 we begin Mr. B. takes off a little gray cap, and a 
 silent grace is said, not longer than it ought to be ; 
 when it is over, he generally takes his wife's hand. 
 They sit side by side opposite me; Lodewyck at the 
 end of the table. About ten o'clock Mr. Dousa comes 
 and dresses my foot, which is swathed in one of my 
 silk handkerchiefs. I bind a second round the bottom 
 of the pantalon, and if the weather be cold, I put on 
 a third; so that the leg has not merely a decent but 
 rather a splendid appearance. After breakfast and 
 tea, Mrs. B. washes up the china herself at the table. 
 Part of the morning Mr. B. sits with me. During 
 the rest I read Dutch, or, as at present, retire into 
 my bedroom and write. Henry Taylor calls in the 
 morning, and is always pressed to dine, which he does 
 twice or thrice in the week. We dine at half past 
 two or three, and the dinners, to my great pleasure, 
 are altogether Dutch. You know I am a valiant eater, 
 and having retained my appetite as well as my spirits 
 during this confinement, I eat everything which is put 
 before me. The dinner lasts very long strawberries 
 and cherries always follow. After coffee, they leave 
 me to an hour's nap. Tea follows. Supper at half 
 past nine, when Mr. B. takes milk, and I a little cold 
 meat with pickles, or the gravy of the meat preserved 
 in a form like jelly, and at half past ten I go to bed. 
 My host's conversation is amusing beyond anything 
 I ever heard. I cannot hope to describe it so as to 
 make you conceive it. The matter is always so inter- 
 esting, that it would alone suffice to keep one's atten- 
 tion on the alert; his manner is beyond expression 
 animated, and his language the most extraordinary 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 365 
 
 that can be imagined. Even my French cannot be 
 half so odd. It is English pronounced like Dutch 
 and with such a mixture of other languages, that it 
 is an even chance whether the next word that comes 
 be French, Latin or Dutch, or one of either tongues 
 shaped into an English form. Sometimes the oddest 
 imaginable expressions occur. Wheri he would say : 
 "I was pleased," he says : "I was very pleasant ;" and 
 instead of saying that a poor woman was wounded, 
 with whom he was overturned in a stage-coach in 
 England, he said she was severely blessed. Withal, 
 whatever he says is so full of information, vivacity, 
 and character, and there is such a thorough good 
 nature, kindness and frankness about him, that I never 
 felt myself more interested in any man's company. 
 The profits of literature here are miserably small. In 
 that respect I am in relation to them what Sir Walter 
 Scott is in relation to me. I can never sufficiently 
 show my sense of the kindness which I am experi- 
 encing here. Think what a difference it is to be con- 
 fined in a hotel, with all the discomforts, or to be in 
 such a family as this, who show by every word and 
 every action that they are truly pleased in having me 
 under their roof." 
 
 On the 1 6th of July, Southey wrote from Amster- 
 dam a letter to his daughter, Miss Katherine Southey, 
 at his home at Keswick, in which he says : 
 
 "Thursday I settled my business as to booksellers 
 Oh, joy! when that chest of glorious folios shall arrive 
 at Keswick the pleasure of unpacking, of arranging 
 them on the new shelves that must be provided, and 
 the whole year's repast after supper which they will 
 afford !" 
 
 "Yesterday our kind friends (Mr. and Mrs. Bil- 
 derdyk) accompanied us a little way in the trekschuit 
 
366 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 on our departure, and we parted with much regret on 
 both sides. If Mr. Bilderdyk can muster spirits for 
 the undertaking, they will come and pass a summer 
 with me, which of all things in the world would give 
 me most pleasure, for never did I meet with more 
 true kindness than they have shown me, or with two 
 persons who have in so many essential respects so 
 entirely pleased me. Lodewyk, too, is a very engag- 
 ing boy, and attached himself greatly to me; he is 
 the only survivor of eight children, whom Mr. Bilder- 
 dyk has had by his present wife, and of seven by the 
 first ! I can truly say that, unpleasant as the circum- 
 stance was which brought me under their roof, no 
 part of my life ever seemed to pass away more rapidly 
 or more pleasantly." 
 
 So far I quote from the letters of Southey. 
 
 I suppose these quotations to be sufficient to prove 
 how much Southey was under the influence of Bilder- 
 dyk. And that meant something, as everybody who 
 knows Bilderdyk can easily understand. Bilderdyk 
 was the greatest Dutch scholar, poet and historian 
 of his time, and Southey was not the only man, indeed, 
 that came under the irresistible charm of his intimate 
 friendship, and unmatched conversation. A consid- 
 erable circle of the very highest class of students in 
 the University of Leyden, and among them Groen 
 van Prinsterer, who was destined to be the archivist 
 of the House of Orange, and the greatest historian 
 Holland ever had, and who became the leader of the 
 old Orange-party, which revived under his leader- 
 ship, flocked to the hospitable home of Bilderdyk for 
 years to listen to his private lectures on Dutch his- 
 tory, and to enjoy his conversation. Southey uses 
 strong language when he says that "nothing can be 
 more amusing than Bilderdyk's conversation," that 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 367 
 
 "his conversation is amusing beyond anything I ever 
 heard," and "I never felt myself more interested in 
 any man's company," but we are not surprised at it 
 at all. Southey was not the only one who spoke that 
 way about Bilderdyk. Southey's sympathy for the 
 Dutch poet, Jacob Cats (1577-1660), an author much 
 beloved by Bilderdyk, is without question due to Bil- 
 derdyk. On February 18, 1825, Southey in a letter 
 to Grosvenor Belford says : "Do you remember my 
 buying a Dutch grammar in the "cool May" of 1799, 
 and how we were amused at Brinton w r ith the Dutch 
 grammarian who pities himself and loved his good 
 and rich brother ? That grammar 1 is in use now ; and 
 Cuthbert and I have begun upon Jacob Cats ; who 
 in spite of his name, and of the ill-looking and not- 
 much-better-sounding language in which he wrote, I 
 verily believe to have been the most useful poet that 
 any country ever produced. In Bilderdyk's youth, 
 Jacob Cats was to be found in every respectable house 
 throughout Holland, lying beside the hall Bible. One 
 of his longer poems, which describes the course of 
 female life, and female duties, from childhood to the 
 grave, was in such estimation, that an ornamented 
 edition of it was printed solely for bridal presents. 
 He is, in the best sense of the word, a domestic poet ; 
 intelligible to the humblest of his readers, while the 
 dexterity and felicity of his diction make him the 
 admiration of those who are but able to appreciate the 
 merits of his style. And for useful practical morals, 
 maxims for every-day life, lessons that find their way 
 through the understanding to the heart, and fix them- 
 selves there, I know of no poet who can be compared 
 to him. Mi Cats inter omnes. Cedite Romani Scrip- 
 tores, cedite Graii !" 
 
 1 As early as the year 1700 there were written Dutch grammars 
 in English, for instance one by Sewel, a copy of which is in my 
 library. 
 
368 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 To these words of Southey we may add that Jacob 
 Cats was not at all unknown in England ; Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, the famous English painter, in his early 
 youth was delighted in looking at the beautiful en- 
 gravings in the works of "Father Cats" which may 
 have been the first inspiration for the great artist to 
 devote his life to painting. 
 
 But there was still another Englishman of good 
 literary ability, who came largely under the influence 
 of Holland, who lived at Leyden with Southey and 
 even came in close contact with Bilderdyk. It was 
 Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886), the author of "Philip 
 van Artevelde," for many years an officer of the Eng- 
 lish government in the Colonial Department, a friend 
 of Wordsworth and Southey, to whose circle in litera- 
 ture he belongs. In 1823 he made the acquaintance 
 of Southey, which soon afterwards ripened into a 
 warm friendship, and in the year 1825 we find the 
 two friends together in the Netherlands, more espe- 
 cially at Leyden and at the home of Willem Bilder- 
 dyk. Southey, in his letter of July 7, 1825, written 
 at Mr. Bilderdyk's home, to Mrs. Southey, says: 
 "Henry Taylor calls in the morning, and is always 
 pressed to dine, which he does twice or thrice a 
 week." During the next year, 1826, "Southey paid 
 another short visit to Holland, accompanied by his 
 friends, Henry Taylor and Mr. Rickman." 1 
 
 Probably from Bilderdyk, and through Bilderdyk 
 from Southey, he got the inspiration for Dutch his- 
 tory, and more especially for his great theme of 
 Philip van Artevelde, as Bilderdyk was the greatest 
 Dutch historian of his. time, and a man of great 
 attraction in, his conversation, as we learn from 
 Southey's letters, quoted above. Six years, from 
 
 l Dennis. Robert Southey, p. 341. 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 369 
 
 1828-1834, Henry Taylor is said to have spent in pre- 
 paring his great play, in two parts, of Philip van 
 Artevelde. Taylor wrote four more plays, Corn- 
 menus, Edwin the Fair, A Sicilian Summer, and St. 
 Clement's Eve, but it is the two-fold play of Philip 
 van Artevelde that gave Taylor a permanent place 
 in English literature. It certainly was a great theme, 
 that attracted Taylor the more because he saw in the 
 life of his hero the ideas and feelings, and last, not 
 least, the intimate experiences of his own life. The 
 names of Jacob van Artevelde, who was murdered 
 in 1345, and that of his son Philip, who was killed 
 in battle in 1382, stand for a whole epoch in the his- 
 tory and development of Democracy, and are for their 
 own time the representatives of the same great move- 
 ment in history, at the head of which we find a 
 William the Silent in the Netherlands, a Johannes 
 Althusius at Embden in East-Triesland, a Wycliff and 
 a Cromwell in England, a George Washington and 
 Abraham Lincoln in America. A great movement, in 
 its character social as well as religious and political, 
 a gigantic struggle of the masses of the people against 
 feudalism and aristocracy, in church, in state, and in 
 society ; a movement for equality of opportunity, be- 
 ginning with the crusades, in which many of the 
 nobles were killed, and the free men of the villages 
 (villanei, or villains) got an opportunity to leave their 
 poor homes around the castles of the nobles, to find 
 refuge in the rapidly rising cities ; growing more and 
 more strong in the cities, and the leagues of the cities 
 in Flanders and in the Hansa; developing still more 
 under the inspiring religious revival of the Reforma- 
 tion, when the Northern Netherlands got the leader- 
 ship; leading the way in England to the Common- 
 wealth of Cromwell, until at last it found its final 
 
370 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 triumph in the great American Democracy of Wash- 
 ington and Lincoln. This great movement of Democ- 
 racy had its headquarters during the fourteenth cen- 
 tury in the cities of Flanders, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres 
 and in other cities of the Southern Netherlands, and 
 it is during that period that we find the names of the 
 Van Arteveldes written in large characters on the 
 pages of the World's History. It was in the first 
 part of the hundred years' war between England and 
 France (1337-1454). Both the king of France and 
 the king of England tried to get the powerful alliance 
 of Flanders. The count of Flanders was the vassal 
 of the king of France, and chose in the main the side 
 of that country, but the cities of Flanders, suffering 
 under the feudal tyranny of the count and his nobles, 
 found in Edward III (1327-1377), king of England, 
 their ally, for the double reason that they got the wool 
 for their looms from England, in which country they 
 found a great market for their trade, and that they 
 were fighting for their liberties against the Count and 
 his suzerain, the king of France. It was the organ- 
 izing power of Jacob van Artevelde, who first united 
 the guilds of his city Ghent, then brought about a 
 union of the cities of Flanders, and finally made that 
 famous alliance in the name of nearly all Flanders 
 with Edward the Third in the year 1339, an alliance 
 which soon afterwards was joined by the Count of 
 Holland. It was the first great accomplishment of 
 Democracy in modern times. Battles were fought, 
 victories gained, and Artevelde himself after a few 
 years was murdered in 1345 but his great work is 
 a milestone in the history of Democracy forever. 
 
 Forty years later, his son, Philip van Artevelde, 
 appears in the midst of the continuous struggle on the 
 stage of the world's history. Born about the year 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 371 
 
 1340, Philip was only a boy of five years when his 
 father was murdered, and although little is known 
 about it, it seems that the intimate friendship of King 
 Edward III gave a safe refuge to the rest of the fam- 
 ily in England for some time. Probably in England 
 Philip came under the influence of the Lollards, as 
 the followers of John Wicliff were called, at least he 
 is said to have lived for a long time the ascetic life of 
 the Lollards; 1 until the time came in 1380 that the 
 Democracy in Flanders, in a time of utmost distress, 
 looked for another energetic leader in its struggle 
 against the Count and his nobility. With Philip van 
 Artevelde as their leader, the city of Ghent rose to 
 arms, and in a few days stormed the residence of the 
 Count, the city of Bruges, at the same time the centre 
 of the nobles. The Count Louis de Male hardly 
 escaped with his life, and a great number of the nobles 
 and aristocrats were slain in a furious battle. The 
 Count fled to France to ask for help from the King 
 of that country, and Artevelde, in the footsteps of 
 his father, tried to make an alliance with England. 
 This catastrophe in Flanders was felt through all 
 western Europe, and at the same time we find the 
 uprisings of democracy in the "Jacquerie." at Paris, 
 at Amiens, at Rouen and other places in France, as 
 well as the Wat Tyler insurrection in England. 2 But 
 while the French King came to the rescue of his 
 Count, the English King stayed behind, and in 1382 
 Van Artevelde and his citizens were .defeated in the 
 terrible battle of Roozebeke, in which 26,000 Flamings 
 were killed, and the corpse of Van Artevelde remained 
 upon the battlefield. 
 
 1 H. Firenne, Histoire de Belguique, II, p. 208. 
 
 2 "L,es Gantois fomenterent les insurrections frangaises de Ferrier- 
 Mars 1382" and "ceux de Gant etaient alles de ceux de Rouen." 
 Pirenne, p. 211. 
 
372 HOLLAND'S DECLINE 
 
 This is the short, heroic and tragic story of the 
 leadership of Philip van Artevelde, which inspired 
 Henry Taylor, and which he worked out in detail, 
 interwoven with a characteristic love story, in his 
 tragedy in two parts called Philip van Artevelde. 
 
 Writing about this two-fold play, Aubrey de Vere 
 says: 
 
 "Mr. Taylor's poetry is pre-eminently that of 
 action, as Lord Byron's is that of passion; or rather, 
 it includes action as well as passion, thus correspond- 
 ing with Milton's definition of tragic poetry as "high 
 actions and high passions best describing." It is this 
 peculiarity which has made him succeed in drama 
 which most of our modern poets have attempted, but 
 almost all unsuccessfully." 1 In his autobiography, 
 Taylor tells us: "Miss Bremer, the Swedish novelist, 
 told me that it (viz., the Philip van Artevelde} had 
 been translated into Swedish and brought on the stage 
 with great success at Stockholm." 2 
 
 Philip van Artevelde was the most successful thing 
 in Taylors life. 
 
 "The sale was rapid and as the edition had num- 
 bered only 500 copies, another had to be put in prep- 
 aration without delay. Lansdowne House and Hol- 
 land House, then the great receiving houses of Lon- 
 don society, opened their gates wide. In that society 
 I found that I was going by the name of my hero ; 
 and one lady, more fashionable than well-informed, 
 sent me an invitation addressed to "Philip van Arte- 
 velde, Esq." 3 
 
 Concerning the way in which Taylor received his 
 first suggestion to choose this subject, he tells us: "In- 
 the spring of 1828, I was meditating another drama; 
 
 1 Aubrey de Vere, Essays chiefly on poetry, p. 267. 
 
 2 Henry Taylor, Autobiography, Vol. II, p. 32. 
 
 3 Autobiography, I, p. 196. 
 
HOLLAND'S DECLINE 373 
 
 and Southey, after dissuading me from founding one 
 upon the story of Patkul, suggested that of Philip 
 van Artevelde, which I at once adopted." 1 And 
 Southey undoubtedly got his inspiration on this sub- 
 ject from Bilderdyk, who was most enthusiastic about 
 the earlier history of the Netherlands. 
 
 1 Autobiography, I, p. 109. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST REMAINS INSPIRING. 
 MOTLEY, MACAULAY, WALTER SCOTT, WASH- 
 INGTON IRVING, AND PAULDING, EONGFELLOW, 
 CHARLES READE AND ROBERT Louis STEVENSON. 
 ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF DUTCH WORKS. 
 INSPIRATION FROM DUTCH ART. WALTER CRANS- 
 TON LARNET'S NOVEL REMBRANDT. 
 
 After a period of decline like that of the eight- 
 eenth century, the downfall of the Dutch Republic 
 during the French Revolution followed rapidly. 
 When the whirlwind of revolutionary enthusiasm 
 swept over the nations of Western Europe, it could 
 not be expected that a nation whose strength was 
 neither in the vastness of its area, nor in the many 
 millions of its inhabitants, should remain intact. And 
 when that terrible storm had passed by, and the battle 
 of Waterloo was fought, Holland reappeared among 
 independent nations, but to start a new history ; a his- 
 tory entirely different from that of the great Dutch 
 Republic ; a history more in accordance with the 
 natural limits of the country and the number of its 
 inhabitants. Nevertheless, by its central location 
 between England, France and Germany, Holland, 
 although one of the minor states, will always remain 
 a remarkable spot on the globe, and as long as the 
 balance of the great powers leaves to her the posses- 
 sions of her vast colonies, it will count as one of the 
 commercial nations of greater importance. Holland 
 
 374 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 375 
 
 came into the position in which Greece has been for 
 centuries, and into which Italy at last has come, and 
 a comparison with Greece and Italy illustrates the 
 present situation of Holland. When a traveler visits 
 Greece, he may enjoy the life and the pleasures of the 
 present Greek people, but his main purpose is to see 
 the places where the warriors of Homer lived, where 
 Apelles. and Phidias displayed their art, where Plato 
 and Aristoteles were teaching. Whoever goes to 
 Italy may admire the Italian art of later centuries, 
 may enjoy the beauty of the Italian climate, but before 
 everything else, his thoughts are on ancient Rome, 
 on the empire of the Caesars, his longings are to see 
 the sacred places where the first Christians were 
 persecuted and murdered, in the Catacombs and in 
 the Coliseum, to stand on the forum Romanum, to 
 walk through the palace of the Palatine, to look down 
 from the Tarpeian rock, to ride along the via Appia, 
 to stand quietly in many places and recall all the great- 
 ness and glory that was one time and now is no more. 
 And here in the comparison with Italy we find the 
 hope for Holland's present condition and its future. 
 Italy never again has played the part of a world- 
 empire, never has regained its glorious days of ancient 
 Rome, but Italy, after having been reduced to more 
 natural and fitting conditions, and after its great task 
 in history has passed long ago, has nevertheless devel- 
 oped a wonderful splendor in art and in literature, 
 in science and in every other respect. So, when any- 
 body visits Holland, if he is not an "innocent abroad," 
 he will look first for Holland's glory of the past, he 
 may see first the many places, sacred in history, 
 remarkable as any places on the face of the earth; 
 places connected with tragedies, more tragic than 
 any history ever saw ; places of martyrdom and 
 
376 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 heroism for the liberties now enjoyed in the most 
 remote countries, and we can only pity those poor 
 tourists whose entire interest consists in seeing the 
 wooden shoes of some poor fisher people, because they 
 do not see that they themselves in a spiritual sense 
 are just as poor as those people begging at the side of 
 the sea. But besides all those glorious remainders of 
 the past, in sacred places and in art, there is still a 
 modern civilization in Holland, a national energy, 
 which is illustrated by the fact that, in proportion, 
 the scholars and scientists of Holland in our days get 
 more Nobel prizes than those of any country in the 
 world, and that the modern school of Dutch art, the 
 school of Josef Israels and Maris, Mesdag and Mauve 
 can stand comparison with any school in the world. 
 
 Only in the field of language and literature we 
 must not expect much from Holland, because there 
 competition is on too unequal terms. Art and science 
 speak in a world-language, but literature is largely 
 confined to a certain language. The Dutch language 
 is spoken only by comparatively a few, while, for 
 instance, English is the language of the English 
 Empire, and of the United States. Consequently a 
 literary work written in Dutch becomes important for 
 the world at large only in translation, while in the 
 original it is limited to that comparatively very small 
 part of the civilized world where the Dutch language 
 is spoken. 
 
 But what will remain inspiring for the whole 
 world, and for the literary artists of all nations, is the 
 grand history of the Dutch republic, with its deeds 
 of great heroism and martyrdom, of stubborn stead- 
 fastness in standing for freedom and independence, 
 deeds written in the language of the human heart, as 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 377 
 
 well as in the books of the world's history. Names 
 like those of Motley and Macaulay may prove at once 
 how far this is true; two men whose volumes take 
 their place of honor in the literature of England and 
 America, and whose inspiration holds immediate con- 
 tact with the history of Holland. f As Southey and 
 Henry Taylor came into personal contact with Bilder- 
 dyk, so Motley and Macaulay, half a century later, 
 made the acquaintance of the great pupil of Bilder- 
 dyk, the archivist of the House of Orange and great 
 historian, G. Groen van Prinsterer. 
 
 John Lothrop Motley (1814-1877), born at Dor- 
 chester, Massachusetts, after having finished his 
 studies at Harvard, and after having made a trip 
 through Europe, became, in 1841, secretary of the 
 Ambassador of the United States at St. Petersburg; 
 lived in the United States from 1842-1851 ; from 1851 
 until 1856 at Berlin, Dresden and Brussels ; was 
 Ambassador at Vienna 1861-1868, and after 1870 at 
 London, until he died in England, in Kingston Russel 
 House, near Dorchester (Dorsetshire), in 1877. Mot- 
 ley began his literary career in 1839 by writing a 
 novel, Morton's Hope, and ten years later he pub- 
 lished another novel called Merry Mount. After that 
 he gave himself, as much as his diplomatic career 
 allowed him time for it, entirely to historical 
 researches*, and it was the history of the Netherlands 
 that became the great source of inspiration of his life. 
 In 1856 Motley published his Rise of the Dutch Re- 
 public, in three volumes; after that he wrote the His- 
 tory of the United Netherlands, in four volumes 1860- 
 1868; and finally in 1874 his Life and Death of John 
 of Barnevelt, in two volumes. The first of these 
 works brought the name of Motley at once into fame 
 all over the world, and not without reason. It is 
 
378 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 splendid in every respect. The second work, his His- 
 tory of the Netherlands, is not as trustworthy and 
 contains many mistakes. His last work, the Life and 
 Death of Olden Barnevelt, is another masterpiece of 
 literary merit, but, as a work of history, it is a com- 
 plete failure, because on the main question he goes 
 absolutely wrong. The best historians of the most 
 different parties, like the liberal Robert Fruin, and the 
 conservative Groen van Prinsterer, agree in this point 
 against Motley. I am sorry that, according to these 
 historians, we have to go still further. Motley was 
 not only wrong, but he was so much prejudiced that 
 he took no notice of the very best documents which 
 were put at his disposal from the archives of the 
 House of Orange. The main idea of Motley, in the 
 great question between Prince Maurits and Olden 
 Barnevelt, was, that Prince Maurits was ambitious, 
 that he tried to get the sovereignty instead of being 
 Stadholder, that Olden Barnevelt refused in that point 
 his assistance, and that therefore the Prince hated 
 Olden Barnevelt. This presumption, once accepted, 
 dominated the whole work of Motley, and he could 
 not change this idea, he could not admit that he was 
 wrong, without changing his whole work, and its per- 
 vading spirit from start to finish. Groen van 
 Prinsterer published, in the meantime, the secret cor- 
 respondence between Prince Maurits and his cousin, 
 Willem Lodewyk, Stadholder of Friesland, who stood 
 side by side with the Prince against Olden Barnevelt. 
 In those letters, during the most critical years of the 
 conflict, Prince Maurits writes his intimate thoughts 
 and feelings to a cousin, whom he perfectly trusts, and 
 who stands with him. Those secret letters have to 
 decide the question of Maurits' intentions, and they 
 do. But they decided against Motley, and Motley 
 knew it before his book was published, but he refused 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 379 
 
 to change the whole work, and stuck to his story. 
 How to explain prejudices like these? How Motley 
 got the prejudices can easily be explained, but why 
 he stuck to them nobody can explain without touch- 
 ing the character of Motley as an honest and sincere 
 historian. Motley was a Unitarian, and had a strong 
 feeling of antipathy against the Calvinistic party, of 
 which Prince Maurits was the head. Motley, when 
 he lived at the Hague for some time in a house on the 
 Kneuterdyk, was a great friend of Queen Sophia, at 
 that time living separately from her royal husband, 
 King William III, whom she hated and despised. A 
 life-size portrait of Motley is still hanging in the 
 Palace in the woods near the Hague, where Queen 
 Sophia lived. No princess ever did so much harm 
 to the House of Orange as she did. She was better 
 suited to be the editor of a magazine or the teacher 
 of a high school than to be the wife of a king like 
 William III. This wrong conception of her life's 
 task was so terrible in its consequences that really the 
 whole royal family was destroyed, and not before the 
 queen died, and another and better Princess, viz., 
 Queen Emma, came in her place, was the sensitive 
 character of William III, by her soft and wise hand, 
 led in the right way. That Motley, starting with a 
 prejudiced mind, and favored with the friendship of 
 a queen, who hated the House of Orange, and whose 
 literary abilities were acknowledged, but who neg- 
 lected the great task of her life, hardly could change 
 his mind, is easily understood. And yet that he, 
 knowing better, as an honest man, preserved and gave 
 his book to the world as he did, looks psychologically 
 like the fall of an angel." After the publishing of 
 Motley's book, Groen van Prinsterer told Motley per- 
 sonally that he was obliged to write against him, and 
 
380 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 he published his "Maurice et Barncvclt," a book of 
 about 600 pages, written in French in order that the 
 whole world should be able to read it. In the family 
 archives of Mr. Groen van Prinsterer, now in the 
 State-Archives at the Hague, are only six letters of 
 Motley written to Groen, and only three copies of let- 
 ters written by Groen to Motley. I take here, finally, 
 the opportunity of publishing two letters of Motley, 
 which came into my possession by purchase at the 
 Antiquariat of Van Stockum at the Hague. They 
 may be valuable for the biographer of Motley, and 
 once printed they cannot be lost any more to historical 
 research. 
 
 The paper of the first letter is stamped 31 Hert- 
 ford street, May Fair, and dated "13 July, '60." 
 
 Dear Sir: Since sending my letter of yes- 
 terday, I have cut the leaves of the last portion 
 of the Olden Barneveld papers received. I find 
 that the instructions to Leicester sent by me to 
 Mr. van Deventer, have already been printed by 
 you. It is unnecessary therefore to trouble that 
 gentleman or yourself with any more questions. 
 
 I remain 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. L. MOTLEY. 
 
 P. S. Pray do not forget the missing pages, 
 128-145. 
 
 The other letter is written at the Hague to Pro- 
 fessor P. G. Frederiks: 
 
 6 neuterdyk, The Hague, 8 April, '72. 
 
 Dear Sir: Pray accept my best thanks for 
 your kind letter of 4th inst., together with the 
 "Feestnummer" of the "Zutphensche Courant," 
 which I have read with much interest. I have 
 a very agreeable remembrance of my visit to 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 381 
 
 Zutphen fourteen years ago and of the interest- 
 ing and instructive conversation of the gentle- 
 man, Mr. Tadema, who was so good as to show 
 me all that was interesting there. 1 I read with 
 interest what you tell me of the papers in the 
 Wynhuistoren. I thank you sincerely for your 
 friendly intentions in my behalf as well as for 
 the indulgent manner in which you are pleased 
 to speak of my labors to illustrate the history 
 of your noble country and of the honor recently 
 done me by the time-honored University of 
 Ley den. 
 
 I am, dear sir, 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 J. L. MOTLEY. 
 Professor 
 P. G. Frederiks. 
 
 Macaulay, as well as Motley, was personally 
 acquainted with the Dutch historian, Groen van 
 Prinsterer, and without any painful difference of opin- 
 ion such as overshadowed the friendship of Groen and 
 Motley. 
 
 Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), 
 born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire ; died at Holly 
 Lodge, Campden Hill, and was given a resting place 
 in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Among 
 the tombs of Johnson and Garrick, Handel and 
 Goldsmith, and at the feet of the statue of Addison, 
 lies the tombstone of the man who spent the best part 
 of his life in writing the story of William III, Prince 
 of Orange and King of England, in a monumental 
 work that bears the name of History of England. 
 Four of the five volumes are devoted to the time of 
 William and Mary, and the great hero of the work, 
 the hero of Macaulay's life was the illustrious Prince 
 of Orange. Several times Macaulay travelled on the 
 
 1 Motley alludes here of course to the place where Philip Sidney 
 lost his life. 
 
382 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 European Continent, and at least in 1844 ne made 
 a journey through Holland, but I have not been able 
 to find out how far he visited the Netherlands during 
 his later trips. That he was well acquainted with 
 Groen van Prinsterer is apparent from the thirty-one 
 letters of Macaulay, which are in the family-archives 
 of Groen, now in the State-Archives at the Hague, 
 and that he knew the Dutch language may be proved 
 by the following letter, the original of which is in my 
 possession. 
 
 London, August 14, 1855. 
 Sir I beg you to accept my thanks for the 
 volumes which you have had the kindness to 
 send me. The history of your province is pecu- 
 liarly interesting to an Englishman. For you 
 and we are, as the resemblance of our language 
 proves, very near akin. I promise myself great 
 pleasure and profit from the perusal of your 
 work. But I am sorry to say that it will be a 
 matter of time for, though I read Dutch, I read 
 it with difficulty, and I find the style of your 
 modern writers very different from that of your 
 diplomatists of the seventeenth century, with 
 whose dispatches I am better acquainted than 
 with any other part of your literature. 
 
 With repeated thanks for the honor which 
 you have done me, I beg you to believe me, 
 Sir, 
 
 Your most faithful servant, 
 
 T. B. MACAULAY. 
 
 An admiration for the great hero of his history 
 Macaulay seems to have gained t at a very early time 
 of his life, when during the years 1818-1824 he was 
 a student at Trinity College, Cambridge. During the 
 year 1821, the same year in which the great Dutch 
 historian, Groen van Prinsterer, got his double doc- 
 tor's degree in law and in philosophy at Leyden, a 
 certain Mr. Greaves of Fulbourn had provided a 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 383 
 
 reward of ten pounds for the junior bachelor of 
 Trinity College, who wrote the best essay on "the 
 conduct and character of William the Third." 
 
 "It is more than probable," says Trevelyan, the 
 biographer of Macaulay, "that to this old Cambridge- 
 shire Whig was due the first idea of that "History" 
 in whose pages William of Orange stands as the cen- 
 tral figure." 
 
 The essay by which the student Macaulay won the 
 prize is still in existence, and it is interesting how, 
 at that time, he already outlines the characters of the 
 two great antagonists, Louis XIV and William III. 
 Mr. Trevelyan gives us two passages. He thus 
 describes William's life-long enemy and rival, whose 
 name he already spells after his own fashion : "Lewis 
 was not a great general. He was not a great legis- 
 lator. But he was, in one sense of the word, a great 
 king. He was a perfect master of all the mysteries 
 of the science of royalty of all the arts which at 
 once extend power and conciliate popularity which 
 most advantageously display the merits, or most dex- 
 terously conceal the deficiencies of a sovereign. He 
 was surrounded by great men, by victorious com- 
 manders, by sagacious statesmen. Yet, while he 
 availed himself to the utmost of their services, he 
 never incurred any danger from their rivalry. He 
 was a talisman which extorted the obedience of the 
 proudest and mightiest spirits. The haughty and 
 turbulent warriors whose contests had agitated France 
 during his minority yielded to the irresistible spell, 
 and, like the gigantic slaves of the ring and lamp of 
 Aladdin, labored to decorate and aggrandize a master 
 whom they could have crushed. With incomparable 
 address he appropriated to himself the glory of cam- 
 paigns which had been planned and counsels which 
 
384 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 had been suggested by others. The arms of Turenne 
 were the terror of Europe. The policy of Colbert 
 was the strength of France. But in their foreign 
 successes and their internal prosperity the people saw 
 only the greatness and wisdom of Lewis." 
 
 His favored hero, William III, the young 
 Macaulay, describes as follows: "To have been a 
 sovereign, yet the champion of liberty ; a revolution- 
 ary leader, yet the supporter of social order, is the 
 peculiar glory of William. He knew where to pause. 
 He outraged no national prejudice. He abolished no 
 ancient form. He altered no venerable name. He 
 saw that the existing institutions possessed the great- 
 est capabilities of excellence, and that stronger 
 sanctions and clearer definitions were alone required 
 to make the practice of the British constitution as 
 admirable as the theory. Thus he imparted to innova- 
 tion the dignity and stability of antiquity. He trans- 
 ferred to a happier order of things the associations 
 which had attached the people to their former Gov- 
 ernment. As the Roman warrior, before he assaulted 
 Veii, invoked its guardian gods to leave the walls, 
 and to accept the worship and patronize the cause of 
 the besiegers, this great prince, in attacking a system 
 of oppression, summoned to his aid the venerable 
 principles and deeply-seated feelings to which that 
 system was indebted for protection." 
 
 This admiration that had inspired the student, 
 remained with him during his whole life ; the grand, 
 inspired style of this essay, developed into the most 
 splendid art of history-writing, and the first success 
 of the youth was a prophecy of the glory with which 
 the whole world was going to crown his head. Since 
 Macaulay's bones went to their resting place in West- 
 minster Abbey, his name and the name of William 
 III of Orange are forever connected. 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 385 
 
 The influence of Holland on Walter Scott (1771- 
 1832) attracted at first my attention when I read the 
 footnote on Page 244 of Charles H. Herford's 
 Studies in the literary relations of England and Ger- 
 many in the sixteenth century, where the author says : 
 "The chapter on Diversoria in Erasmus' Colloquia, 
 a chapter from which Scott drew 'nearly every detail 
 of the tavern described in Anne of Geicrstein!' I 
 found that the chapter in Anne of Geierstein men- 
 tioned by Mr. Herford is Chapter Nineteen, and after 
 comparing it with the chapter of "Erasmus' Colloquia 
 entitled Diversoria, I saw that Mr. Herford was right. 
 Walter Scott mentions his source only in so far as in 
 the beginning of that chapter he says: "The social 
 spirit peculiar to the French nation had already intro- 
 duced into the inns of that country the gay and cheer- 
 ful character of welcome upon which Erasmus, at a 
 later period, dwells with strong emphasis, as a con- 
 trast to the saturnine and sullen reception which 
 strangers were apt to meet with in a German cara 1 
 vansera." In reading this statement at the beginning, 
 the reader certainly could not expect that every de- 
 tail of the chapter is taken from Erasmus, and Wal- 
 ter Scott certainly is not far from putting a literary 
 description of value over his own name for which the 
 honor belongs entirely to Erasmus, which, accord- 
 ing to Erasmus himself, is one of the greatest crimes 
 a literary man can commit. In this respect the moral 
 standard of honesty in the days of Erasmus seems to 
 be considerably higher than in the days of Walter 
 Scott, and in our own. 
 
 In another novel of Walter Scott, entitled Quen- 
 tin Durward, the descriptions of conditions in the fif- 
 teenth century are drawn from the history of the 
 'Southern Netherlands, the city of Liege being one 
 
386 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 of the central places of this romance. But Walter 
 Scott was not the right man to describe the rise of 
 Democracy ; his enthusiasm is aroused by the chivalry 
 of the feudal knights, and the freedom and the rights 
 of . the masses of the citizens does not inspire him 
 any more than did Erasmus' standard of honesty in 
 respecting the rights of literary men concerning the 
 production of their own genius. 
 
 In this respect Walter Scott perfectly harmonizes 
 with his intimate friend Washington Irving (1783- 
 1859), the author of the History of New York by 
 Diedrich Knickerbocker and the Sketchbook. In both 
 these books Irving writes about the first Dutch set- 
 tlers of New York State. His style is splendid and 
 his continuous humor attractive, but his stories 
 are too often accepted at least in part in many books 
 on American history as truthful to history . For this 
 reason, it was quite natural that the Dutch people 
 took offense at Irving's ridicule of their ancestors. 
 The greatest humor of this story is, however, that in 
 the very pages of his Sketchbook, and in the most 
 famous of his stories ; viz., the story of Rip Van Win- 
 kle, in which he brings to ridicule the Dutch people, 
 he was purloining the whole attractive tale from a 
 son of that same Dutch nation ; viz., from Erasmus. 1 
 Washington Irving was a great friend of Walter 
 Scott, and it certainly is not accidental that both these 
 authors purloined from the same Dutch author, Eras- 
 mus. Probably through Scott, Washington Irving 
 
 1 Two- years ago I published eight lectures given in the Uni- 
 versity of Chicago in a volume entitled: Dutch history, art and lit- 
 erature for Americans. The subjects of these lectures are: (i) Influ- 
 ence of Holland on America; (2) Dutch and American History A 
 Comparison; (3) William the Silent; (4) Philip II; (5) Rembrandt; 
 (6)The Rise of Amsterdam; (7) Jacob Steendam, the first poet of 
 America, and (8) Washington Irving and the Dutch people of New 
 York. It was in this last lecture with an appendix in six parts that 
 I treated elaborately the question of the Rip Van Winkle story. 
 These lectures are to be found in the libraries of almost all the 
 great universities in America. 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 387 
 
 got acquainted with the Colloquies, the Praise of Folly 
 and the letters of Erasmus, those inexhaustible sources 
 of humor, and of such detailed collected descrip- 
 tions as are found in the works of the two friends 
 Scott and Irving. Both had in their character some- 
 thing of that same poor imitation of English aristoc- 
 racy that made them laugh at the Dutch people, 
 even of the seventeenth century, and that prevented 
 them from the honesty of mentioning the source of 
 some of their best descriptions, giving themselves the 
 literary honor, that belonged to the Dutchman from 
 whom they purloined. 
 
 Closely connected with Washington Irving was 
 James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860), who tried his 
 literary abilities on two Dutch subjects one entitled 
 The Dutchman's fireside, published in 1841, and the 
 other The book of Saint Nicholaes, a series of stories 
 of the old Dutch settlers, published in 1837. Pauld- 
 ing's inclinations, so far as the Dutch people is con- 
 cerned, are better than those of his friend Washing- 
 ton Irving; only his capacities are much poorer, and 
 not to be compared with those of Irving. As Vol. 44 
 of the Standard Literature Series, the Dutchman's 
 Fireside takes a decent place among America's 
 popular literature, a place which it fully deserves. 
 
 A better inspiration from Dutch history we find in 
 the poem of Longfellow (1807-1882), who, in his 
 Belfry of Bruges, sings the splendor and glory of the 
 grand history of Flanders: 
 
 "Then most musical and solemn, bringing back the 
 
 olden times 
 With their strange, unearthly changes, rang the 
 
 melancholy chimes." 
 
388 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 Like the psalms from some old cloister, when the 
 nuns sing in the choir ; 
 
 And the great bell tolled among them, like the chant- 
 ing of a friar 
 
 I beheld the pageants splendid, that adorned those 
 days of old; 
 
 Stately dames, like queens attended, knights who bore 
 the Fleece of Gold ; 
 
 Lombard and Venetian merchants with deep laden 
 argosies 
 
 Ministers from twenty nations ; more than royal 
 pomp and ease"." 
 
 In these few lines taken from the poem, we taste 
 the author of the Psalm of Life and the Footsteps of 
 Angels, of the Songs of Hiawatha and the Courtship 
 of Miles Standish. 
 
 In another poem, entitled "A Dutch Picture," the 
 poet describes Simon Danz, one of those Dutch sea- 
 captains who fought the Spaniards on all seas, and 
 who now having come home for a while, sits at his 
 fireplace, smokes his pipe and makes plans for a new 
 campaign when the winter is over. 
 
 Charles Reade (1814-1884) wrote several novels, 
 but the only one that made his name famous in liter- 
 ature and is known by everybody is "The Cloister and 
 the Hearth" published in 1861, in which the author 
 describes the story of the parents of Desiderins Eras- 
 mus. 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), the great 
 Scotch novelist, in his David Balfour takes Holland 
 as the scene for a great part of his story, and the 
 trip which David and Catriona make from Hellevoet- 
 slius to Rotterdam and then to Delft, the Hague and 
 Leyden, is certainly unique among all the trips made 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 389 
 
 by foreigners in the Netherlands, and as unique as the 
 circumstances under which David studies law from 
 the textbook of Heinneccius at Leyden. 
 
 Caroline At water Mason in her well known novel 
 A Lily of France gives us a beautiful description of 
 Charlotte Bourbon, the third wife of Prince William 
 the Silent, and makes us familiar with an interesting 
 period in the life of the great Prince of Orange. This 
 novel by a talented American authoress, has been 
 translated from English into Dutch by Miss Henrietta. 
 Kuyper, and belongs now, even in Holland, to popu- 
 lar literature. 
 LITERARY INSPIRATION FROM DUTCH ART 
 
 In our modern life art takes a considerable place. 
 Love and admiration for things beautiful is so closely 
 connected, and affiliated with praise and worship in 
 religion, that wherever religion is losing ground, it 
 is art that conies to the rescue, to lead the affections 
 and feelings back from materialistic tendencies to the 
 admiration of the sublime and beautiful. The works 
 of Rembrandt are like sermons preached in the lan- 
 guage of art, addressing directly our deepest con- 
 sciousness and our feelings, uplifting our souls to 
 things sublime and unseen ; the pictures of Jan Steen 
 and Gerard Dou' tell us in a glance, as much as a 
 chapter of Erasmus' Colloquies or Praise of Folly 
 can do in an hour ; the masterpieces of Joseph Israels, 
 as his Alone in the World, his Along the Churchyard, 
 and others, are full of tragic poetry, and the lyric 
 songs presented by the best of our modern landscape- 
 painters are impressive and charming beyond descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Books about Dutch art published during the last 
 fifty years in the English language are so numerous 
 that they would fill a little library by themselves. Re- 
 
390 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 productions of the masterworks are seen in almost 
 every home. Many of the descriptions in books about 
 art are of high literary value. 
 
 That this predominance of art in our modern life 
 should give inspiration to poets and novelists is there- 
 fore easily understood. 
 
 The novel of Walter Cranston Larned, entitled 
 Rembrandt, A Romance of Holland, New York, 1898, 
 may serve as an example of the movement. Besides 
 giving the inspiration for these contributions to Eng- 
 lish literature during the nineteenth century, many 
 works of Dutch authors have been translated into 
 English during this period. 
 
 One Dutch author, /. M. W '. Schwartz, wrote his 
 novels directly in English under the pseudonym of 
 Maarten Maartens, well known in England and Amer- 
 ica. He wrote : The Morning of a Love, and other 
 poems, 1885; Julian, a Tragedy, 1886; A Sheaf of 
 Sonnets, 1888; The Son of Joost' Avelnigh; An Old 
 Maid's Love; and, God's Fool. 1 
 
 Mr. De Hoog gives the following list of authors 
 of whom works have been translated from the Dutch : 
 
 JACOB VAN LENNEP, De pleegroon (The adopted son) and 
 
 De Roos van Dekema (The Rose Dekama or the Frisian 
 
 Heiress) 1847. 
 VAN KOETSVELD, De pastorie van Mastland (The manse of 
 
 Mastland, London, 1860). 
 MRS. BOSBOOM TOUSSAINT, Het Huis Lauernesse, and Majoor 
 
 Frans. 
 
 VOSMAER, Amazone. 
 MULTATULI, Max Havelaar. 
 HENDRIK CONSIENCE, Most all of his works, as : The curse 
 
 of the Village; The happiness of being rich; The Miser; 
 
 Ricketicketak ; The war of Peasants ; The Lion of 
 
 Flanders; Count Hugo of Craenhove ; Wooden Clara; 
 
 and others. 
 
 1 Cf, De Hoog, Studien. 
 
HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 391 
 
 PERELAER, Baboe Delima (Baboe Delima or the opium fiend) 
 
 1886. 
 WALLIS, Vorstengnnst (Royal Favour) ; and In dagen van 
 
 stryd (In trouMed times). 
 SCHIMMEL, Kapitein van de Lyfgarde (The Lifeguardsman) 
 
 1896. 
 
 Louis COUPERUS, Elene Vere; and Majesteit, 1894. 
 JOHN H. BEEN, De Geschiedenis van een Hollandschenjongen 
 
 (The History of a Dutch Boy). 
 FREDERIK VAN EEDEN, Van de Koele meren des doods (Deeps 
 
 of Deliverance) 1902. 
 JOHANNA VAN WOUDE, Oudhollandsch Binnenhuisje (A Dutch 
 
 Household) 1902. 
 
 J. L. TEN KATE, De Schepping (The Creation) 1888. 
 H. TOLLENS, De overwintering op Nova Zembla (The Hol- 
 landers in Nova Zembla, An arctic poem 1860 and another 
 
 in 1888. 
 VONDEL, Lucifer, Translated by Van Noppen, New York. 
 
 Of course, these translations of Dutch books and 
 the possible influence they may have on English litera- 
 ture, can be easily overestimated, because at present 
 nearly everything that is written in the whole world 
 and that amounts to anything, is translated into Eng- 
 lish. The whole classic literature of Greece and Rome, 
 the literature of France and Germany, lie before us in 
 English translations, and the few translations from 
 the Dutch are like a glass of water in the ocean of 
 English translations from foreign authors. 
 
 I agree with De Hoog 1 when he says that even 
 the best authors of Dutch literature, like "Vondel, 
 Bilderdyk, Cats, TollSns, Da Costa, van Lennep and 
 Beets do not belong to the world-literature,' 1 only I 
 would make some exceptions ; e. g., for Vondel's Lu- 
 cifer. Even some novels of the best authors in Ger- 
 many and in France have been inspired by great events 
 or by great characters in the history of Holland, and 
 
 1 De Hoog, Studien, II, p. 239. 
 
392 HOLLAND'S GLORY OF THE PAST 
 
 have been translated from the German and from the 
 French into English. Some of these novels are 
 among the most popular books in America. As an 
 example from Germany, I think of George Ebers and 
 his novel The Burgomaster's Wife, for which 
 inspiration is taken from the history of the siege of 
 Ley don in 1574 and the life of burgomaster Adriaen 
 van der Werff. 
 
 As an example from France, I may take Alexan- 
 der Dumas' novel The Black Tulip, read in nearly 
 every family in America, the hero of which is Cor- 
 nelius van Baerle, the friend of Cornelius and John 
 De Witt. This book gives us a glance at the charac- 
 ter of Prins William the Third. 
 
 Yet, the influence of Holland on English litera- 
 ture is not to be looked for in our present age but in 
 the everlasting glory of the past. 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Ackersdyk, W. C, 50. 
 
 Adams, John, 16, 19, 20. 
 
 Alcuin, 33. 
 
 Agricola, Rudolph, 207. 
 
 Akenside, 351. 
 
 Alciatus, Andreas, 193, 195. 
 
 Alfridus, 32. 
 
 Althusius, Johannes, 369. 
 
 Alva, Duke of, 75, 201, 216. 
 
 Andrelinus, Faustus, 168. 
 
 Andrewe, Laurent, 173. 
 
 Angles, S., 23, 63. 
 
 An j on, Duke of, 280. 
 
 Appelles, 375. 
 
 Arber, Edward, 205. 
 
 Aristoteles, 375. 
 
 Arminius, Jacob, 233, 268, 
 
 270. 
 
 Arthur, King, 145. 
 Arundel, Count, 38. 
 Ashley, Lord, earl of 
 
 Shalftesbury, 342. 
 Atkinson, 156. 
 Awdeley, 78. 
 
 Backhuizen van den Brink, 
 
 273- 
 
 Baptists, 261. 
 Barclay, 267. 
 Barends, William, 256. 
 Barham, F, 297. 
 Barker, Ellis, 16. 
 Bartlett, 266. 
 Beaumont, 74. 
 Bede, 144. 
 Been, John H., 391. 
 Beke, Charles F., 255. 
 Belford, Grosvenor, 367. 
 Belte, Johannes, 209. 
 Beza, Theodorus, 193. 
 Bilderdijk, William, 50, 361. 
 
 Blades, 81. 
 
 Blok, P., 273. 
 
 Bodel, Johan, 145. 
 
 Boerhaave, H., 17. 
 
 Boisot, Admiral, 202. 
 
 Bonerus, Edmund, 182. 
 
 Boaistuau, 275. 
 
 Bopp, F., 27. 
 
 Bosboom, Toussaint, Mrs., 
 
 391. 
 
 Boswell, 351. 
 Boyle, R., 282. 
 Brandt, G., 36. 
 Bremer, Miss, 372. 
 Brewster, William 266. 
 Bridges, Robert, 63. 
 Broadhead, 16. 
 Brooke, Arthur, 274. 
 Browne, Robert, 265. 
 Brownists, 261. 
 Buelens, Ch., 195. 
 Bullen, A. H., 282. 
 Bunyan, 261. 
 Burner, Gilbert, 338. 
 Butler, 19. 
 
 Bynnerman, Henry, 224. 
 Byrne, Thomas, 354. 
 Byron, Lord, 200. 
 
 Caedmon, 39, 52, 143. 
 Calvin, John, 158, 172, 272. 
 Campbell, Douglas, T3, 20, 75, 
 
 266. 
 
 Carleton, Sir Dudley, 285. 
 Carpenter, W. H., 86. 
 Carus, P., 297. 
 Cats, Jacob, 191, 367. 
 Caxton, William, 149. 
 Celts, 23. 
 
 Challoner, Rev., 157. 
 Chalmers, George, 213. 
 Charlemagne, 29, 145, 348. 
 
 393 
 
394 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Charles the Bold, 150. 
 .Charles the Fifth, Emperor, 
 
 64, 74, 214. 
 Charles the First, King, 75, 
 
 300. 
 
 Charles the Second, King, 75. 
 Chaucer, 147. 
 Chretien de Troyes, 145. 
 Christina, Queen, 34. 
 Churchyard, Thomas, 213. 
 Clarisse, J., 50. 
 Clignett, J. A., 50. 
 Colbert, 384. 
 Congregationalists, 261. 
 Conley, C. H., 297. 
 Conscience, Hendrik, 391. 
 Conway, M. D., 297. 
 Coornhert, D. V., 233, 270. 
 Copland, William, 180. 
 Couperus, Louis, 391. 
 Coverdale, Miles, 187. 
 Cowper, 231. 
 Cromwell, 296, 304, 369. 
 Crusoe, Robinson, 322. 
 Curcellseus, Stephanus, 270. 
 Curtiss, George L., 271. 
 
 Dahn, Felix, 31. 
 
 Danes, 23, 63. 
 
 Dante, 261. 
 
 Davie, Diggon, 247. 
 
 De Backer, M. M. A., 195. 
 
 De Bellay, 225. 
 
 De Busbeck, 30. 
 
 De Casteleyne, Matthys, 277. 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, 321. 
 
 De Fonseca, Vincente, 258. 
 
 De Hoog, 55, 98. 
 
 De la Gardie, 35. 
 
 De la Halle, Adam, 145. 
 
 Denbigh, Earl of, 283. 
 
 Dennis, John, 360. 
 
 De Ruyter, Admiral, 311. 
 
 De Veer, Gerrit 253. 
 
 De Vere, Aubrey, 372. 
 
 De Vries, M., 49. 
 
 De Witt, Johan, 18. 
 
 Dexter, Henry, 266. 
 
 Dibdin, Thomas Frognell, 
 
 157- 
 
 Dobson, Austin, 354. 
 Dorland Pieter, 161. 
 
 Douglas, N., 297. 
 Douza, Janus, 196. 
 Dow, Gerard, 389. 
 Drummond, R. B., 165. 
 Drury, G. Thorn. 312. 
 Dryden, John, 303, 305, 306. 
 Du Bartas, 292. 
 Duflcn, G. D., 297. 
 Dumas, Alexander, 392. 
 Dunster, C., 297. 
 Duplessis, Mornay, 280. 
 Durer, Albrecht, 192. 
 Dursley, Lord, 332. 
 Du Thou, 194. 
 
 Ebers, George, 392. . 
 Edmundson, C~., 295. 
 Edward III, King, 73, 370. 
 Elckerlick, Everyman, 160. 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 65. 66, 280. 
 Episcopius, Simon, 269. 
 Erasmus, Desiderius, 164, 
 
 183, 385- 
 
 Ersch und Grube, 185. 
 Evelyn, 305. 
 
 Farlie Robert, 197. 
 Faerni, Gabriel, 195. 
 Field, Nathanael, 284. 
 Fielding, Henry, 350. 
 Fleay, 284. 
 
 Fletcher, John, 74, 77, 284. 
 Fletcher, Phineas, 292. 
 Foltaire, 261. 
 Fox, George, 266. 
 Francis I, King, 215. 
 Frederik, Henry, Prince, 299. 
 Frederiks, P. G., 380. 
 Froben, 165. 
 Fruin, Robert, 284, 378. 
 Froude, J. A., 16, 66. 
 Fuller, Harold de Wolf, 275. 
 
 Gansford, Wessel, 206. 
 
 Garnett, Richard, 300. 
 
 Gascoigne, George, 79, 198. 
 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, 145. 
 
 Gilpin, George, 252. 
 
 Gipsies, 78. 
 
 Gnapheus, Guilielmus, 208. 
 
 Godefroy, J. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 350, 353- 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 395 
 
 Goose, E., 298. 
 
 Gothis, 31. 
 
 Granville, Fulke, 278. 
 
 Graswinckel, 288. 
 
 Gray, William, 279. 
 
 Green, He,nry, 194. 
 
 Greenwood, 265. 
 
 Grierson, Herbert J. C., 152. 
 
 Griffith William Elliot, 13, 
 
 266. 
 Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, 
 
 30- 
 Groen van Prinsterer, 6=;, 378, 
 
 38o. 
 
 Grosart, Alexander, 231, 237. 
 Grote, Gerard, 158. 
 Grotius, Hugo, 234, 289. 
 Guiciardini, 65. 
 Gurteen, S. H., 297. 
 Gustavus Adolphus, 292. 
 
 Hake, Edward, 156. 
 Hakluyt Society, 254. 
 Halbertsma, J. H., 50. 
 Hallam, 66. 
 Halliwel, James O. 
 Hanbury, Benjamin, 264. 
 Hansa, 369. 
 Harrison, 78. 
 Heiand, 33, 46, 143. 
 Henry the Eighth, King, 166, 
 
 184. 
 Her ford, Charles H., 178, 
 
 222. 
 
 Heyne, 84. 
 Hickes, George, 41. 
 Hoffman von Fallersleben, 
 
 50. 
 
 Holberg, Baron de, 354. 
 Homer, 375. 
 Hooft, P. C. 
 Hopkins, Samuel, 266. 
 Houlderus, Robert, 283. 
 Howleglass, 178. 
 Huebald, 47. 
 Huydecoper, 30, 42. 
 
 Independents, 261. 
 Irving, Washington, 386. 
 Israels, Joseph, 389. 
 
 Jacquerie, 371. 
 Jasper, John, 268. 
 
 Jefferson, 19. 
 
 John, of Austria, 220. 
 
 Johnson, Reginald Brinsley, 
 
 332- 
 
 Johnson, Ben, 79, 223, 234. 
 Johnson, Samuel, 41, 348. 
 Jonckbloet, 30. 
 Junius, Franciscus, 36-41, 69, 
 
 288. 
 
 Junius, Hadrianns, 182, 191. 
 Judith Tinspenning, 42. 
 Juste, Th., 250. 
 Jutes, 24. 
 
 Kalff, 18, 231, 234. 
 
 Kanzler, 50. 
 
 Kanura, 18. 
 
 Kempis, Thomas a, 155, 171. 
 
 Knox, 172. 
 
 Koch, 76. 
 
 Koeppler, 237. 
 
 Koolman, 83. 
 
 Koster, L. J., 185. 
 
 Kudrun, 46. 
 
 Kuiper, E. T., 298. 
 
 Kuyper, Henriette, 389. 
 
 Laet, Caspar, 153. 
 Langhenes, Bernhard, 254. 
 Langland, William, 146. 
 Languet, Hubert, 279. 
 Larned, Walter Cranston, 
 
 390- 
 
 Lasco, Johannes a, 210. 
 Lander, W., 293. 
 Le Brun, 337. 
 Le Clerk, John, 343. 
 Lee, William, 331. 
 Leicester, Robert, Earl of, 
 
 195, 280. 
 
 Leighton, John, 197. 
 Lichtenstein, W., 12. 
 Limborgh, Philips, 269, 343. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 369. 
 Linneaus, 17. 
 Lipsius, 17, 182. 
 Locke, John, 321, 341. 
 Locke, Thomas, 285. 
 Logeman, H., 162. 
 Lohengrin, 46. 
 Longfellow, 387. 
 Longwater, Nicholas, 154. 
 
396 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Louis XIV, 20, 305. 
 Louis XIII, 285. 
 Liibben, A., 85. 
 Ludger, 29, 143. 
 Luther, M., 153, 172. 
 Lye, Edward, 41. 
 
 Maarten, Maartens, 390. 
 
 Macaulay, 381. 
 
 Maccovius, 17. 
 
 Mac Ilbraith, J. R., 298. 
 
 Mackenal, Alexander, 266. 
 
 Macropedius, Georgius, 208. 
 
 Mandeville, 254. 
 
 Manly, J. W., 162. 
 
 Mansion, Colard, 150. 
 
 Maresius, 17. 
 
 Margaret, sister of Edward 
 IV. 
 
 Maris, brothers, 376. 
 
 Marlowe, Christopher, 63. 
 
 Marnix of St. Aldegonde, 
 249- 
 
 Marot, Clement, 232. 
 
 Marvell, Andrew, 309. 
 
 Mary, daughter of Charles I, 
 300. 
 
 Mary, Daughter of James II, 
 321. 
 
 Mary, Bloody, 65. 
 
 Mary van Nimwegen, 177. 
 
 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scot- 
 land, 295. 
 
 Masnam, Sir Francis, 344. 
 
 Mason, Caroline Atwater, 
 389- 
 
 Massmann, H. F., 32. 
 
 Massinger, Philip, 284, 287. 
 
 Mauritz, Prince, 285. 
 
 Mauve, 376. 
 
 Mayrtes, William, 155. 
 
 Mesdag, H. W., 376. 
 
 Meyer, C. J., 50. 
 
 Methodists, 261. 
 
 Middleton, Earl of, 340. 
 
 Milburne, Luke, 156. 
 
 Milton, John, 288. 
 
 Mondragon, 204. 
 
 Moonen, Arnold, 42. 
 
 Monen, F. J., 50. 
 
 Moody, W. V., 298. 
 
 Moolhuizen, J. J., 290, 298. 
 
 Moons, Magdalena, 205. 
 More, Thomas, 166. 
 Morus, Alexander, 288. 
 Motley, John Lothrop, 377. 
 Mountjoy, Lord, 164. 
 .Mueller, A., 298. 
 'Mulcaster, 241. 
 Multatuli, 390. 
 
 Neal, Daniel, 264. 
 Nichols, Francis Morgan, 
 
 165, 168. 
 
 Nicholsen, James, 189. 
 Nicholson, S., 212. 
 Nimmo, Will : am P., 325. 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 184. 
 Normans, 24, 63. 
 Norris, W., 75. 
 
 O'Callaghan, 16. 
 Oldenbarnevelt, 282. 
 Oxford, Earl of, 216. 
 
 Page, William, 156. 
 Paine, Thomas, 19. 
 Painter, Richard, 264. 
 Painter, William, 275. 
 Paludanus, 259. 
 Paradin, Claude, 195. 
 Parma, Duke of, 79. 
 Paul, Herman, 29. 
 Paulding, James Kirke, 387. 
 Payne, John, 157. 
 Penn, William, 14, 263. 
 Penry, 265. 
 
 Peppin, of Herstal, 47. 
 Pepys, 268. 
 Perelaer, 391. 
 Petrarche, 224. 
 Phidias, 375. 
 Philippa, Queen, 147. 
 Philip II, King, 74. 
 Philip, William, 254. 
 Pigot, Richard, 197. 
 Pilgrims, 66. 
 
 Pingsman, L. Th. W., 32. 
 Pirenne, H., 371. 
 Plantyn, 191. 
 Plato, 375. 
 Plautus, 208. 
 
 Plutarch, English, 293, 309, 
 337, 338. 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 397 
 
 Poelenburg, Arnold, 269. 
 Presbyterians, 261. 
 Price, F. C., 149. 
 Prior, Matthew, 321, 331. 
 Putnam, Ruth, 13, 20. 
 
 Quakers, 261. 
 Quinet, Edgar, 250. 
 
 Radbond, King, 32, 46. 
 Radewyn, Florentius, 158. 
 Raphelen-gius, Francis, 195. 
 Reade, Charles, 388. 
 Reinard the Fox, 48. 
 Rembrandt 389. 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 197, 
 
 348. 
 
 Rhys, Ernest, 161. 
 Richelieu, 288. 
 Richthoven, 84. 
 Rickman, 368. 
 Rivet, Andreas, 17. 
 Robespierre, 234. 
 Robinson, John, 266. 
 Rogers, Thomas, 156. 
 Rogers, J. Thorold, 17, 95. 
 Romans, 63. 
 Rousseau, J. J., 234. 
 Rubens, P. P., 17, 238. 
 Ruysbroeck, Johannes, 158. 
 Ruytinck, Simon, 189. 
 
 Salmasius, 288. 
 Sambucus, John, 195. 
 Saxon, 24, 63, 82. 
 Scheltema, P., 185. 
 Schevez, William, 153. 
 Schiller, K., 85. 
 Schimmel, 391. 
 Schmeller, 32. 
 Schouten, William Cornell's, 
 
 253- 
 
 Scot, Mary, 340. 
 Scott, Walter, 385. 
 Selden, John, 288. 
 Seneca, 186. 
 Separatists, 261. 
 Sewel, William, 42, 267. 
 Shaftesbury, 307, 342. 
 Shakespeare, 63, 80, 275. 
 Sidney, Philip, 278. 
 Siegenbeek M., 50. 
 
 Siegfried, 46. 
 Simons, Menno, 266, 267. 
 Sievers, 143. 
 
 Skeat, W T alter, 20, 73, 76. 
 Smollett, Tobias George, 356. 
 Sophia, Queen, 379. 
 Southey, Robert, 360. 
 Spenser, Edmund, 63, 224. 
 Spinoza, '17. ~ 
 Stanhope, Dean, 157. 
 Stanley, Sir William, 75. 
 Staring, A. C. W., 50. 
 Steen, Jan, 389. 
 Stephen, Leslie, 350. 
 Stevens, Henry, 189. 
 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 
 
 388. 
 
 Stockdale, Percival, 312. 
 Struys, Jacob, 276. 
 Stuart, 261. 
 
 Sunderland, Earl of, 342. 
 Surrey, Earl of, 213. 
 Swinburne, 284. 
 Symonds, J. A., 279. 
 
 Tadema, Alma, 64. 
 
 Taine, 64. 
 
 Taylor, Henry, 368, 372. 
 
 Temple, William, 304. 
 
 Ten Brink, Jan, 18. 
 
 Ten Kate, J. J. L., 391. 
 
 Ten Kate, Lambert, 30, 42. 
 
 Terentius, 208. 
 
 Theosinda, 31. 
 
 Te Winkel, 18, 42. 
 
 Thym, Alberdink, 250. 
 
 Tiele, P. A., 254. 
 
 Tjalma, G., 250. 
 
 Todd, Henry John, 236. 
 
 Tollens, Hendrik, 253, 391. 
 
 Trevelyan, 383. 
 
 Tross, L., 50. 
 
 Turenne, 384. 
 
 Tyler, Watt, 371. 
 
 Tyndale, 74, 189." 
 
 Ulphilas, 31. 
 Ussher, 144. 
 
 Valdez, 205. 
 
 Van Artevelde, Jacob, 370. 
 
 Van Artevelde, Philip, 371. 
 
398 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Van Cattenburg, Adriaan, 
 
 269. 
 
 Van den Berg, S.Ph., 50. 
 Van der Aa, 42, 185. 
 Van der Have, J., 250. 
 Van der Noot, jonkheer Jan, 
 
 69, 19.1, 224. 
 
 Van Doesburgh, Jan, 173. 
 Van Dyk, Anton, 313. 
 Van Dyke, Henry, 17. 
 Van Eeden, Fred, 391. 
 Van Hutten, U., 166. 
 Van Koetsveld, 390. 
 Van Lennep, Jacob, 390. 
 Van Linschoten, Jan Huy- 
 
 ghen, 253. 
 
 Van Leyden, Lucas, 192. 
 Van Maerlant, Jacob, 49, 146. 
 Van Meteren, E., 56, 223. 
 Van Meteren, Jacob, 187. 
 Van Noppen, L. C, 18. 
 Van Toorenenbergen, J. J., 
 
 250. 
 
 Van Veldeke, Henric, 47. 
 Van Wassenaer, Abdam, 
 
 315. 
 
 Van Wely, John, 287. 
 Van Woude, Johanna, 391. 
 Van Wijn, H., 50. 
 Vere, Francis, 75. 
 Vermenlen, Aug., 230. 
 Verwey, Albert, 231. 
 Vitriarius, 351. 
 Voet, Johannes, 17. 
 Voet, Paul, 17. 
 Voetius, Gysbertus, 17. 
 Volcanius, Bonaventura, 34, 
 
 196. 
 Vondel, Joost van den, 234, 
 
 285, 288. 
 
 Von Moltke, 34. " 
 Vosmaer, 390. 
 
 Vossius, Gerardus, 34. 
 Vossius, Isaac, 30, 34. 
 
 Wagenaar, Jan, 202. 
 Waghenaer Lucas Jansz, 
 
 253- 
 
 Waller, Edmund, 312. 
 
 Wallis, 391. 
 
 Walsingham, Francis, 221. 
 
 Ward, Seth, 341. 
 
 Washington, George, 369. 
 
 Watson, 361. 
 
 Wesley, 263. 
 
 Westwood, J. C., 298. 
 
 Wettstein, J. J., 269. 
 
 Whitney, Goffrey, 193. 
 
 Whitney, William Dwight, 
 7L 
 
 Wickliff, 146, 369. 
 
 Wilkes, John, 351. 
 
 William, the Conquerer, 24, 
 68, 69. 
 
 William the Silent, 14, 185, 
 198. 
 
 William II, Prince, 300. 
 
 William III, Stadhoder of 
 
 William III, Stadholder of 
 Holland, King of Eng- 
 land, 14, 305. 
 
 William III, King of Hol- 
 land, 379. 
 
 Williams, Roger, 75, 279. 
 
 Willoughby, Lord, 75. 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 167. 
 
 Wood, Francis A., 162. 
 
 Woodhull, M., 298. 
 
 W r ordsworth, 368. 
 
 Wurfing, 32. 
 
 Wyatt, 213. 
 
 York, Rowland, 75. 
 York, Duke of, 307. 
 Young, A., 16. 
 
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