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PICTUEESQUE HOLLAND 
 
LONDON : PUIXTKI) BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODR AND CO., NKW-STIIERT SQUARR 
 
 AND PAULIAMBKT STHKKT 
 
PICTURESQUE HOLLAND 
 
 A JOURNEY IN THE PROVINCES OF FRIESLAND, 
 
 GRONJNGEN, DRENTHE, OVERYSSEL, 
 
 GUELDERS AND LIMBOURG 
 
 BY 
 
 HENEY IIAYAED 
 
 AUTHOn OF -A VISIT TO THK DEAD CflTIES OF THE ZUYDEU ZKE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 10 ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD AND A MAP OF THE NETHERLANDS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 
 
 ^ublis^trs ht ^ririnarg to ptr Pajestg tht ^wmx 
 
 1876 
 
 A II riijh ts reserved 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A word of explanation — A geographical annexation — Ethnological 
 
 discussion— Preparations ..... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The departure — ^Aurora' — Love of the old-fashioned — Sneek 
 
 goes forth to the wars — Great men and little women . 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Bolsward — A genealogical diificulty — St. Martin — The ' Stadhuis ' 
 
 and its riches ....... 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sneek Lake — Joure — The peat hogs of Schoterland — Heerenveen 
 
 and the ' Oranjewoud ' ..... 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Leeuwarden — Its prisons — An improvised play — The Ohancellerie 
 — The chateau of Oammingha — History of the Saint Eelko 
 Liaukama ....... 45 
 
 mosi22i 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 The ' Scliier-Stins ' — The wood of the murder — Dockum — The 
 
 mii*aculous spring — The ' Harmonie ' . . .66 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 North Friesland — Schiermonnikoog — A hot reception — A model 
 Biu^omaster— Saint Willibrord and the Downs— Awkward 
 beds ........ GO 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Zoiitkamp — Grijpskerk — Groningen — Military and commercial 
 history — The chm*ches — Architecture — Two heavy law 
 actions — Riperda — The Academy — The Deaf and Dumb 
 Institute ....... 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Midwolde tomb — Delfzijl and Farmsum — Appingedam-- 
 
 The Ilarddraverij — Female barge towers . . ,105 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Wiuschoten — The monument of Ileiligerlee — Xieuwe Beei-ta— 
 
 The ' Beklemming ' — The 'Boerderijen' — A model school . 121 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Di-entlie — The country and the peasants — The * Ilunnebedden ' — 
 Zuidlaren and Tijnaarloo — Assen and its ethnological 
 museum— The history of a chignon . . . .130 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Steenwijk — A heroic siege — Meppel — The penitentiary colony of 
 
 Veenhuizen . . . . . . . IS-l 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 The villages of Drcnthe, Rolde, Eext, Gieten, Borger, and Exlo 
 — A rural printing-office — Lost ! — The pastor of Zweelo — 
 Koevorden . . . . . . .100 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The old Salian country — Deventer — Its military history — 
 Edward Stanley and Colonel Taxis — Saint Lievin and the 
 Bergkerk — A painting by Terhurg — The 'Donat' of the 
 Athenaeum and the ' Reynardus Vulpes ' — Kijkindepot . 188 
 
 - CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Apeldoorn — The Loo — An abdication — Zutphen — Pillage — 
 Hollandsche Tuin — A letter from Louvois —Archives — The 
 museum — Saint Walburgus and Notre Dame . . 213 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 Nederlandsch Mettray — Hengelo — Euschede conflagration^ Al ^ 
 melo — Oldenzaal — Saint Plechelme — The Hunnebed of 
 Oldenzaal 238 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Doesburg — Dcetinchem — The Kruisberg — The Koloniaal INIilitair 
 invalidenhuis — Dutch Switzerland — Rosendaal — Zon sbeek 
 andBiljoen ....... 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Amhem — ' Vir Bonus ' — The Arnhemse fabrique — Saint Eusebius 
 and Saint Walburgus — The Devil's House — Carnival of 
 1525 — Pleasures and amusements — * Gelre ! Gelre! ' — The 
 Rhine and the Waal . . . . . .275 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Nymegen — The Valckh of Charlemagne's Chapel — Insurrections — 
 Town hall and museum — The peace of Nymegen — The 
 Houtenrokken — Saint Stephen — * Sic vos non vobis ' . 296 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Grave — Duke Arnold — The defence of Grave by Ohamilly — 
 Carnot's maxim — The Church of Saint Elizabeth — The 
 charnel house ....... 324 
 
 a 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Mookerheide — Venlo— Saint Martin — Vanitas vanitatiim — 
 
 An ambitious inscription— The celebrated sons of Venlo . 340 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Roermond — Flemish Catholicism — Small chapels — A work of 
 ingenuity and patience — The Munster — Saint Christopher — 
 Patriotic poetry — Introduction of the pipe . . - . 363 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Maestricht — Ancient souvenirs — The outskirts of Wijck — 
 Histoiy of a chapel-master — The Gate of Hell — Notre Dame 
 — Saint Servais —The Chapel of Charlemagne — The fair of 
 relics — The Treasury and the archives — Purgatory — The 
 mii-aculous stone ...... 370 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Maestricht (conclusion) — The Town Hall — The Library — The 
 
 promenades — Pietersherg and the Bohemians . . . 399 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Conclusion ....... 411 
 
ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 Deventeh 
 
 The Watek-ga'ie of Skeek 
 The Town Hall of Bolsward 
 Leeuwakden (the Ohancelleeie) 
 The Collecthuis at Groningen . 
 The Hunnebedden op Tijnaarloo . 
 The Church op Koevorden 
 ZuTPHEN (Banks of the Berkel) 
 Nymegen (the Great Market-place) 
 Maestricht (Ancient Kamparts) 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 to face page 16 
 
 30 
 
 46 
 
 89 
 
 147 
 
 183 
 
 219 
 
 319 
 
 371 
 
 Map of the Netherlands to face page 1 
 
PICTUEESQUE HOLLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A WORD OF EXPLANATION— A GEOGRAPHICAL ANNEXATION 
 
 ETHNOLOGICAL DISCUSSION — PREPARATIONS. 
 
 HE time is not far removed, when to cross 
 the frontiers of France was sufficient in 
 the eyes of the public of that country, to 
 constitute a hardy explorer. Thirty years ago the 
 excursions of Theophile Gautier in Spain, of Paul 
 de Musset in Italy, and of Victor Hugo on the banks 
 of the Ehine, attained the proportions of voyages 
 of discovery. Sterne's ' Sentimental Journey ' was 
 exhumed, and Topffer's ' Zigzags ' again found 
 admiring readers. 
 
 Since that time a revolutionary change has taken 
 place. Steam, in traversing the ocean and covering 
 continents with a network of iron roads, has 
 diminished and nearly dissolved distances ; and, the 
 telegraph, in revealing each evening the course of the 
 events of the day in the four corners of the world, has 
 
 B 
 
MODERN TRAVEL. 
 
 brought the ends of the earth together. So true is 
 this, that nothing short of a voyage round the world, 
 or the discovery of some new kingdom, excites public 
 interest and arrests public attention. 
 
 There is no exaggeration in this. Travels, which 
 of old would have been accounted fantastic, seem 
 now-a-days to be natural and commonplace. 
 
 Yesterday Australia, Java, Jeddo, and San Fran- 
 cisco were unveiled by the Count de Beauvoir. 
 
 It was Indo-China that we ran through with the 
 lamented Francis Gamier, China that we visited 
 with Messieurs Cernuschi and Duret, or the two 
 continents that we traversed in the genial society 
 of Count Gabriac. 
 
 To-day the Marquis of Compi^gne takes us for 
 a walk across the deserts of Equatorial Africa. 
 To-morrow Stanley, or our valiant countrymen 
 De Brazza and Marche, will relate their daring 
 explorations of an unknown continent, if they chance 
 to return to tell what they saw in such dreaiy, 
 deadly solitudes. 
 
 In these circumstances it needs great audacity 
 or very special reasons to venture again to talk of 
 a quiet, commonplace, loyal, and hospitable country 
 distant twelve hours from Paris, where cruel car- 
 nivora and highway robbers are conspicuous by their 
 absence. 
 
 Although it is easy to defend the proposition that 
 the nearest countries are neither the best known 
 nor the easiest to make acquaintance with, I must 
 
GERMAN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 conscientiously avow that my audacity would have 
 failed me if I had not strong reasons first to under- 
 take and then to relate the travels which I now 
 publish. I feel bound to account to my readers for 
 the motives which are at once, the explanation and 
 apology of my book. 
 
 When I prepared the second edition of my jour- 
 neyings to the Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee, I had 
 the curiosity to hunt up all that had been published 
 in Germany regarding the countries of which I had 
 revived the history. 
 
 Among these books was one entitled ' Leitfaden 
 fiir den Unterricht in der Geographic.' I glanced 
 over it at first with little interest, but my indifference 
 was short-lived. 
 
 On two occasions this little book made mention 
 of the kingdom of the Low Countries, and each time 
 the Netherlands were swallowed up in Germany. 
 
 The first mention was when speaking of the 
 States of Central Europe (p. 90). The Netherlands 
 were classed under the head of ' Germany ' (' Deutsch- 
 land'), in a numerous and comely company, how- 
 ever — to wit, Denmark, Belgium, Luxemburg, Swit- 
 zerland, and the Grand Duchy of Lichtenstein. The 
 second occasion (p. 173) placed it again in the same 
 category, but under a more specific designation — 
 'Deutsche Aussenlander ' (Trans-Germania, or Out- 
 lying Germany), and this time the author gives his 
 reasons for it. 
 
 * The six states above mentioned are regarded 
 
 B 2 
 
ECCENTRIC ANNEXATION, 
 
 as an appendage of Germany, (a) firstly, because 
 they are in a great measure situated within the 
 natural limits of Germany; and {b) secondly, because, 
 with trifling exceptions, they belonged to the ancient 
 German Empire; and in part because, until 1866, they 
 were included in the Germanic Confederation.' Thus 
 it will be seen, that this is a particularly cool geo- 
 graphical and historical annexation of six foreign 
 countries. 
 
 I had scarcely recovered from the profound 
 astonishment caused by this strange discovery, when 
 the course of my studies brought me into contact 
 with a learned German, who had come into the 
 country to pursue certain investigations. 
 
 I thought myself the more entitled to call his 
 attention to these scholastic eccentricities, because 
 the book in question was not one of those common- 
 place publications, of which the exact meaning of 
 the words used is of no importance. Written by 
 Dr. Daniel, a learned professor of Halle, it has been 
 revised and edited by Dr. KirchhofF, professor ot 
 geography in the same university, and it has now run 
 to a seventh edition, which is exhausted annually. 
 
 * Such errors,* I observed to my interlocutor, * are 
 a real danger. When thirty millions of square heads 
 have admitted such things as truths from their cradles, 
 it is difficult to convince them afterwards that they 
 have been mistaken. You ought to hold it a point 
 of honour to correct such dangerous and absurd 
 
 errors.* 
 
LOOSE LOGIC. 
 
 ' I see nothing absurd or erroneous in it,' said 
 my savant. ' Denmark, Switzerland, the Low Coun- 
 tries, and the other States which you have men- 
 tioned, are the natural completion of the Empire 
 of Germany. Their manners, their language, their 
 history, and their traditions all bind them to ancient 
 Germany.' 
 
 ' It is no business of mine,' said I, ^ to answer for 
 the other States. I know nothing of the Grand 
 Duchy of Lichtenstein, and I have but a tourist's 
 acquaintance with Switzerland, Luxemburg, and 
 Denmark. I have only dwelt casually in Belgium; 
 but the Netherlands are quite another matter. I 
 have spent five years on this hospitable soil, and I 
 can certify, for I am thoroughly aware — ' 
 
 ' Well, you know them ill. You have only seen 
 the centre of the country, the sole part which has an 
 autochthonous character. If you had traversed and 
 studied the eastern provinces with the care you have 
 bestowed upon those of the west, if you had dwelt, 
 even for a few days, in the part bordering on Hanover 
 and Westphalia, you would have seen the disappear- 
 ance of diiFerences, and the blending of the shades 
 of diversity.' 
 
 ' You will never persuade me,' I replied, ^ that 
 these provinces have an overweening affection for 
 you. Your own writers, too, frankly avow the con- 
 trary. Heinrich von Treitschke complains somewhat 
 bitterly of the Lowland antipathy, and your novelist 
 Gutzkow loudly cries '' Treason." 
 
6 THE INFALLIBLE CHANCELLOR. 
 
 ' I agree to that. But we have other proofs of the 
 community of origin. You know our patriotic song 
 •or saying, " Where is the country of Germany? As 
 far as the German tongue is heard." ' 
 
 ' It would be a strange misapprehension to con- 
 found the language of Yondel, and Hooft, and Bilder- 
 dyk, and Da Costa with that of Goethe and Schiller. 
 But even admitting your theory you would have to 
 eliminate from your States North Slesvig, where 
 nothing but Danish is spoken ; Lorraine, which has 
 never spoken German ; and Alsace, where it was little 
 known. Still further you would have to exclude, on 
 the authority even of your infallible Chancellor,^ all 
 countries annexed for more than a century. You see 
 that your song is discordant. What more have you ? ' 
 
 ' Religion. . . . The two countries are Protestant.' 
 
 ' Yes ; but you are Lutherans, and the Dutch are 
 Calvinists — a wide difference, unless you reckon the 
 third of the nation which has remained Catholic ; but 
 this, I think, would be a false calculation.' 
 
 ' In short, we have community of origin, similarity 
 of race, the same blood, the same ethnical character- 
 istics.' 
 
 ' ' It is above all necessary that the study of the German language 
 ahould be made on a wider and surer basis, not only in the province of 
 I'osen, but even in Upper Silesia and in Western Prussia ' (Speech of 
 Prince Bismarck in the Chamber of Peers, March 6, 1872). That was a 
 sufficient recognition of the fact that German was scarcely used in the 
 different provinces. On February ]o of the same year the same Minister 
 said, in tlie Chamber of Deputies, ' The evangelical Pole, who will per- 
 liaps acknowledge a German as a minister of his faith, will never forget 
 his nationality so far as to favour, from confessional zeal, the study of 
 the German language.' It is difficult to be more explicit. 
 
MY COMRADE. 
 
 ' This,' I rejoined, * would have to be proved, but 
 you surely must know that M. Quatrefages declares 
 '^ all political arrangements founded on ethnology to 
 be absurd," and that Prof. Yirchow assents to this 
 view. Moreover, it seems to me to be difficult 
 enough to make a Dutchman avow himself to be a 
 mof.^ 
 
 * All I can tell you,' replied my impatient inter- 
 locutor, ' is that our learned men do not write care- 
 lessly, and that men like Daniel and Kirchhoff are 
 never mistaken.* 
 
 There our confab ended ; but, from that moment 
 I made up my mind to traverse those frontier pro- 
 vinces, to explore them thoroughly, to ransack their 
 traditions, and to learn their history at the fountain- 
 head. 
 
 However easy this journey to the threatened 
 frontiers appeared, it was in reality hedged round 
 with all sorts of difficulties, and I needed above all 
 a devoted companion, willing to dawdle with me in 
 the tangled web of old parchments and the dusty 
 monuments, which, among archaeologists bring people 
 who have passed away, to life again. Friendship fur- 
 nished the companion. Baron de Constant-Rebecque 
 offered to share my studies and my peregrinations. 
 He was just the comrade I desired. A gentleman 
 grafted on an artist, a cultivated, energetic, robust 
 
 ^ May not this be the origin of our English muff ? It is a term without 
 definite meaning, but is an expression of contempt, by which, in certain 
 parts of Holland; the German people are designated. — Translator's Note. 
 
BON VOYAGE. 
 
 individual, whose never-failing good humour charmed 
 away all fatigue. . 
 
 Our next need was to secure a sympathetic re- 
 ception. It was absolutely necessary to visit libraries, 
 ransack old archives, and find our way into fortresses. 
 To accomplish this I applied to the highest authority 
 in the country. M. Heemskerk, Minister of the In- 
 terior and President of the Council, received me with 
 a refined courtesy, which demands my warmest ac- 
 knowledgments. By his kind intervention, I ob- 
 tained from his colleagues in the War Office and 
 Department of Justice, all the introductions necessary. 
 
 ' You are undertaking an unusual journey,' said 
 the Minister when I took leave of him, ' in the course 
 of which you will meet with difficulties ; but I will 
 take care to snfooth your way for you as much as 
 possible, in recommending you warmly to the 
 governors of the provinces you are about to visit.' 
 
 And relying with good reason upon this kindly 
 promise, we set out on June the 22 nd, 1875. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE * AURORA ' LOVE OF THE OLD-FASHIONED — SNEEK GOES 
 
 FORTH TO THE WARS — GREAT MEN AND LITTLE WOMEN. 
 
 E left Amsterdam on a Monday, and em- 
 barked in the ' Harbinger ' steamboat, 
 which was to carry us to our destination 
 the same evening. It was one of those lovely June 
 mornings with a marvellously cloudless sky. A fresh 
 breeze blew over the whole expanse, and a pearl-grey 
 mist hugging the horizon, gave promise of a hot day. 
 It was not without a certain emotion that we saw 
 our boat shake herself, pass the river Y, and clear 
 the sluices of Schellingwonde. We found ourselves 
 once more in the midst of the Zuyder Zee, which we 
 had so thoroughly explored two years before. This 
 immense gulf greeted us, as a friend whom we met 
 again. We passed the same banks and picturesque 
 islands, traversing in a day as much as had taken a 
 month to run throu2:h, leadino^ us almost to fear that 
 we should not again experience the pleasurable feel- 
 ings which had left so charming a memory behind. 
 
 Marken, with its grassy slopes and wooden houses, 
 Enkhuizen and its Jmmp, Hindelopen and Stavoren, 
 
10 HARLINGEN. 
 
 were they still in the land of the living ? How sur- 
 prising it would have been to have seen those dying 
 cities regain a touch of youth — a little animation 
 and fresh charms ! And at the same time what fears 
 of not seeing them all ! Alas ! if our apprehensions 
 were groundless, so were our hopes. In the distance 
 we saw those royal cities file past one by one, asleep 
 on the shore of the grand gulf. As we saw them 
 two years since so were they now — silent, impassive, 
 awaiting in funereal solemnity, for old Time to com- 
 plete his customary work. 
 
 That evening, at the appointed hour, we reached 
 Harlingen. The little Friesland city had not changed 
 its aspect. The harbour alone differed, the great 
 basin at which they were working during our former 
 visit, having been completed. A crowd assembled to 
 witness the arrival of the steamboat. They greeted 
 us cheerily, the porters took possession of our lug- 
 gage, and we directed our steps to the hotel, the 
 * Heerenlogement.' 
 
 At daybreak the next morning we set out again. 
 We traversed the still sleeping town to embark on 
 board the Sneek boat, and here was the real com- 
 mencement of our journey. We were, in the first 
 instance, about to traverse Friesland, to travel south- 
 ward to visit Sneek and Bolsward, and then turning 
 our steps to the north-west, to touch at Leeuwarden 
 in the north-east, then reach Dockum, cross the sea, 
 and thus land at Schiermonnikooor. 
 
 The little screw-steamer in which we had taken 
 
PARADISE OF COWS. 11 
 
 our passage was appropriately named the ' Aurora/ 
 At six in the morning we set out, and after skirting 
 the ramparts of the city, we boldly entered the 
 Leeuwardervaart. 
 
 This is a long and tedious canal, bordered by 
 those never-ending meadows which constitute the 
 wealth of Friesland. Everywhere around us, to the 
 boundary of our horizon, it was impossible to detect 
 an undulation in the land. Grassy plains stretching 
 their blue outlines on the grey morning sky, dark 
 steeples, a few red roofs, an occasional hamlet, a large 
 village, a small town with its gables and chimneys, 
 formed the sky-line of the landscape. Nearer at hand 
 those immense plains were dotted with cattle, with 
 here and there a cottage, or one of those rich, sub- 
 stantial farm-houses, where everything indicated order 
 and plenty. 
 
 This country is called the ' Paradise of Cows,' 
 and never was name better bestowed. White and 
 black, resplendent with health, buried up to their 
 middle in this clean and rich herbage, the female 
 inhabitants of those vast pasturages appeared to be 
 surrounded by perfect happiness. From morn to eve, 
 and from eve to morn, they enjoyed their quiet occu- 
 pation. With sleepy eyes silently grazing, they selected 
 their tufts, and gathered full-tongued their delicious 
 repasts. Their dreams could not realise greater 
 fortune, for they slept and ruminated. 
 
 Then there were brick-kilns, with their immense 
 black roofs and strange balconies, and lime furnaces, 
 
12 PASSIIiG PANORAMA. 
 
 with rounded, white, dome-shaped cupolas resembling 
 mosques. 
 
 On the right were seen the spires of Hitsum, on 
 the left those of Franeker, with its shady ramparts, 
 and the country was enlivened by the belfries of Tjum, 
 Win sum, and Spannum. The villages followed with 
 their tidy houses and their yellow and blue blinds, 
 where their thrifty housewives, in golden casques, 
 thronged the thresholds, and exhibited their bright, 
 great, copper jugs glistening in the sun. 
 
 Along the whole route we passed boats, and were 
 saluted by the boatmen. They all wore red shirts, 
 short blue and white breeches gripped at the knee, 
 with thick, brown, woollen stockings. Their ruddy 
 countenances, hair of infantine fairness, earrings, and 
 bright, joyous smiles complete the picture. Behind 
 them, peeping out of the open hatchways, were 
 usually visible four or five curious heads struggling 
 to see the steamboat pass, with staring eyes and 
 mouths agape. Even to return their greeting caused 
 joyful peals O'f laughter, which reverberated within 
 the sides of the boats. 
 
 Above our heads flew the storks, traversing the 
 canal with great beating of wings; also the wulpen^ 
 and flights of lapwings. Right and left the sea- 
 gulls were our faithful companions, uttering plaintive 
 cries, skimming the undulations caused by the boat, 
 and constantly diving beneath the foam, to bring up 
 little fishes hi their long, slender beaks. 
 
 But Sneek appears in the distance, protected by 
 
SNEEK. 13 
 
 a rampart of verdure. Another turn ahead, the boat 
 stops, and there we are. 
 
 Nothing is more charming than the approaches of 
 these little Friesland towns. Old fortifications have 
 made way for shady walks. Behind is left the green 
 country, redolent of the sweet smell of new-mown 
 hay. In front stretch lines of houses, shining and 
 pretty, with white wood-work and spotless windows. 
 The good folks flock to the doors to see us pass, the 
 gossips whisper, and the playing children raise their 
 heads — all uniting in a greeting compounded of friend- 
 liness and curiosity. 
 
 Sneek, more than any other place, presents this 
 aspect of hospitality and kindness. The principal 
 streets are reached by a line of inns, and are them- 
 selves winding, not too broad, and exquisitely clean. 
 They are bordered by low houses, which would seem 
 to be in a Dutch town, were it not for the names 
 ending in a over most of the doors. These first 
 streets lead by a turning into the Grand Place, which 
 is an elongated parallelogram of no great extent, and 
 which can never be particularly lively, since two great 
 girls were lying down lazily removing the grass 
 between the stones with the points of their knives. 
 Here, nevertheless, are the chief public buildings — the 
 public ' Poids ' or weigh-house, a large, ugly, com- 
 monplace shed; and the High Court, a very simple 
 building of fair proportions, surmounted by an appro- 
 priate device. 
 
 The Town Hall, near at hand, is more than a 
 
14 ITS TOWN HALL. 
 
 century older, and was finished in 1736. Its style 
 is not particularly chaste, but the fagade is curious, 
 eccentric, and almost extravagant. In it the contor- 
 tions of the rococo of the eighteenth century, are mixed 
 up with the fluted wood carvings of Louis XIY. It 
 is a two-storied building, with a raised courtyard, 
 reached by a flight of steps. The roof is surmounted 
 by an open belfry, and has corbels supported by the 
 strangest brackets imaginable — children turned topsy- 
 turvy, and grotesquely contortioned — while the flight 
 of steps, surcharged with wood carvings, distinctive 
 decorations, and vases, carries proudly the arms of 
 the city. These arms are on a plate above the gate, 
 in a tangle of ornaments, of palms and of foliage, 
 overhanging a small stone lantern, gilded and painted 
 red, which is the bright spot of this strange frontage. 
 
 In all this there is nothing very imposing or 
 masterly. The old Town Hall, of which a drawing 
 has been preserved by Blaeu, had a more severe and 
 appropriate exterior. It was a large, noble structure, 
 with three gables, crowned by two battlemented 
 towers. Alongside of it was an old castle, the Grui- 
 tersma Stins^ with projecting galleries, giving it the 
 repulsive look of the fortifications of olden times. It 
 had an imposing appearance, but when the rococo 
 fever prevailed, the ancient structures were removed, 
 and the existing coquettish Stadhuis was built. 
 
 The destructive effects of this fever did not stop 
 there. It transformed to the taste of that time an 
 old gate of the town, which now has the strangest 
 
THE ' HOOGENDSTER-PIJP: 15 
 
 possible appearance. Picture to yourself two fine, 
 brick-built, octagonal towers, with alternate ridges of 
 stone, each crowned by an enormous pointed roof, 
 loopholed for musketry, and with a decidedly war- 
 like aspect. 
 
 To unite these fine towers is a heavy masonry 
 foundation divided by two large openings, one over 
 the other. These are surmounted by a gable, orna- 
 mented with three huge windows, bordered with 
 carved foliage, over which is ^ balustraded belfry — 
 all in the purest Louis XV. style. 
 
 Never has so singular a juxtaposition produced so 
 strange an effect. At a distance the amalgam has a 
 Chinese and Japanese look, and removes one some 
 five thousand leagues from Sneek and Friesland. 
 
 This singularly restored gate rejoices in the 
 name of Hoogendster-pijp^ which means a water gate, 
 because it surmounted the canal, of which it com- 
 manded the access. The lower part was large enough 
 to allow boats to pass through, and the bridge over 
 this bay is one of the highest points of the town, one 
 of the rare spots never reached by inundation. The 
 floods nevertheless often flowed along the streets of 
 this pretty little Friesland town. In 1750, and in 
 1825 in particular, they caused great and irreparable 
 destruction. 
 
 Of the tendency of this last disaster, as threatening 
 the destruction of the whole of Friesland, mention 
 has been made in my former work on the Zuyder Zee. 
 
 The waters had covered the country for several 
 
16 FEARFUL FLOODS. 
 
 days, when the neighbouring peasants, driven from 
 their farms and villages, encamped with their cattle 
 on the quays and streets, and sought an asylum from 
 the generous little town. 
 
 In this way passed All Saints' Bay, when in the 
 evening, in spite of wind and rain, an attempt was 
 made to light fires. Suddenly a terrible grinding 
 noise was heard — the dikes of Sneek had burst, and 
 in a few moments there were five feet of water in the 
 town. The open spaces, streets, and quays all dis- 
 appeared under this sudden flood. Wild with fear, 
 the cattle burst their bonds, and the disorder was at 
 its height. Carried away by the torrents which rushed 
 in every direction, men, women, children, and cattle 
 were cast into the canal and pitilessly drowned. 
 For several hours the groans and cries of the victims 
 mingled with the howling of the hurricane. Then 
 there was silence, icy and terrible, for inexorable 
 Death had closed for ever, the lips frozen by fear and 
 cold. 
 
 Notwithstanding, several peasants found refuge on 
 the bridge of the Old Gate, where, on this shaky 
 shelter, they passed a fearful night, trying in vain 
 to rescue some of the victims carried away by the 
 current. 
 
 At daybreak a sad sight was unfolded. The 
 carcases of cattle and their human companions, carried 
 along by the current, were engulfed under their feet, 
 to continue their cadaveric career far away. The 
 green fields, covered by the floods, looked like float- 
 
FIRE AND WATER. 17 
 
 ing cemeteries. Suddenly on the horizon, in the 
 grey dawn, appeared a pale blue form, from which 
 shrill and strange cries proceeded. As the phantom 
 approached, the cries became more piercing, when a 
 daring fisher hooked a cradle, in which were an infant 
 and a cat. The cat, by its cries of terror, had at- 
 tracted attention. The dear little cherub was asleep. 
 Who was he ? Whence came he ? He was considered 
 an orphan — which doubtless he was — was adopted by 
 the city, and grew into a good citizen. 
 
 And the cat ? 
 
 The cat ! The writers of the sixteenth century 
 took no note of cats, and so we know nothing more 
 about it. 
 
 If floods were unfriendly to our little Friesland 
 friend, fire was nearly as inexorable, for on a hundred 
 occasions it carried its destruction across her streets 
 and along her canals. The two most memorable 
 visitations, were those of 1294 and 1456. In the first 
 of these disastrous years the whole town was de- 
 stroyed, with the exception of two houses almost 
 miraculously preserved. In 1456 twenty-six houses 
 perished in a single day from this destroying curse. 
 Happily, these melancholy dates are now far removed, 
 and Sneek has had time t,o heal her wounds. To see 
 her to-day, smart and coquettish, with her shady 
 canals and her dainty places, no one could realise the 
 trials she has undergone. 
 
 Here and there good old houses with arabesqued 
 gables or attics, alternate with wooden habitations, 
 
 C 
 
18 ' WHITHER AWAY?' 
 
 all, whether ancient or modern, being scrupulously 
 clean and sedulously cared for. Add to this several 
 good shops, particularly jewellers ' and pastry-cooks', ^ 
 and Sneek's pretension to be the capital of Friesland 
 is easily explained, for the ambitious little town is not 
 afraid of disputing with big Leeu warden for the pro- 
 vincial sceptre — a quarrel of old standing. In the 
 fifteenth century, when the turbulent towns of Fries- 
 land were skirmishing for the general emancipation 
 of the province, each of them essayed to subdue the 
 other; they waged internecine war with varying 
 fortune, and Sneek in 1486 possessed the honour, if 
 it be one, of vanquishing her rival. Their citizens 
 were already marching to the siege of the distant 
 capital, having fraternised with Franeker, when they 
 fell in with two ladies, and then occurred one of those 
 gallant adventures that occasionally cropped up in 
 the Italian partisan campaigns. ' Whither are you 
 bound?' enquired the two charmers. 'To the war,' 
 responded our citizen heroes — ' to the war of brave 
 soldiers.' In the words of the old Venetian ballad — 
 
 * My gentle lord, whither away ? ' 
 ^ To the war I go, my pretty maid, 
 With soldiers brave to share the fray.' 
 
 ' And with whom are we at war ? ' ' With Leeuwar- 
 den, to abate her pride.' Bnt our fair travellers were 
 honest maidens of Leeu warden, and so they entreated 
 
 ^ All the small Dutch and Friesland towns possessed good jewellers' 
 shops and pastrycooks, especially those surrounded by rich and fertile 
 country. Like most other towns, Sneek has a cake of its own called 
 drabbelkoeken. 
 
SNEEK AND LEEUWARDEN, 19 
 
 with such tender prayers that all hearts were softened, 
 the Sneekers halted, and after holding counsel, sent 
 the gentle wayfarers with an ultimatum to their rival. 
 It proved a fruitless mission, for the town was taken 
 and sacked, and many of the most notable citizens 
 were carried prisoners to Sneek. And it was thus 
 in the fifteenth century, that Sneek fought for her 
 supremacy. 
 
 But, to sustain her pretensions to a leading posi- 
 tion, our little town is neither very ancient nor par- 
 ticularly well peopled. Her first appearance in the 
 history of the province was in 1268, and in 1294, at 
 the time of the great fire, her houses were all of 
 wood, and she had scarcely a surrounding wall. Her 
 population, which now numbers 8,000 or 9,000 souls, 
 was probably never much in excess of the latter 
 figure. Her industries, confined to a few textile 
 factories, mills, and timber-yards, did not justify her 
 lofty pretensions. The surrounding meadows are 
 beautiful and productive, but so are those of Leeu- 
 warden, and at the time of the war above referred to 
 Sneek was actually inferior to her rival in those re- 
 spects — for her chief wealth consisted in eels, which 
 abounded in the vicinity, while that of Leeuwarden 
 was made up of the fat of the land, the produce of 
 her meadows and rich kine. The name of eel-mer- 
 chants {schieringers) was applied to the Sneekers in 
 the time of Blaeu, who mentioned that the eel-fishery 
 was the chief source of their wealth. 
 
 But pride of pedigree, courage, and audacity 
 
 c2 
 
20 LANOE PIER. 
 
 justified such pretensions in those days. Mention 
 was made just now of the condottieri^ and there is, in 
 truth, much analogy between the contests of the small 
 Italian Republics and those which caused bloodshed 
 in the Friesland cities, and between the chiefs en- 
 gaged in those little adventurous exploits, which 
 scarcely attained the dignity of war. 
 
 The Church of St. Martin at Sneek contains the 
 remains of one of the most renowned of these par- 
 tisans — Peter van Heemstra, born no one knows 
 exactly when or where — a bold chieftain on sea and 
 land; feared everywhere — who breathed his last at 
 Sneek on the 18th of October, 1520. This fiery 
 fighter had some of the quaint characteristics of his 
 time. He was nicknamed ' Lange Pier ' (' Long Stone '), 
 from his great height, and under this nom de guerre 
 (the epithet is appropriate) he became renowned in 
 Holland, Friesland, and Guelderland. 
 
 Lange Pier was not the only giant reared in 
 Sneek, which boasted, with a better title than that 
 of receiving the last breath of the big admiral, of 
 having given the first breath to ' Grand Jakob,' who 
 was authorised to add the name of his native town to 
 his title of ' Lange Jakob,' to distinguish him from 
 all other Jakobs, past, present, and to come. 
 
 Lange Jakob was over eight feet high, and stout 
 in proportion ; and, to verify the ancient adage that 
 married couples should be well matched, the giant 
 married a dwarf of scarcely forty-eight inches. She 
 was known as ^ Korte Jannitje ' ('Little Jenny '). This 
 
LITTLE JENNY. 21 
 
 pretty couple at the beginning of the last century 
 were a source of endless fun to the good people of 
 Sneek. They were invited everywhere, and even 
 artists made capital out of them. A great engraver 
 printed the giant's portrait, and a poet illustrated it with 
 a couple of versicles, which may be thus interpreted : 
 ' I am great externally,' said Lange Jakob, ' and 
 have an equally capacious interior. I can lick the 
 whole world in eating and drinking.' ' And I,' said 
 his little spouse, ' am Little Jenny. If a woman is 
 a plague abroad, and a pest at home, I am the 
 smallest plague you can find.' Thus it will be seen 
 that courtesy and gallantry had decreased in Sneek 
 since the time when the two ^ honest damsels ' had 
 softened all hearts with their tears and prayers. 
 
 The great Church of St. Martin, where Lange 
 Pier and Lange Jakob lie together, is a vast struc- 
 ture dating from the second half of the fifteenth 
 century, repaired in 1503, nearly reconstructed in 
 1682, and so transmuted as not to merit much atten- 
 tion. Besides, something may be said about it when 
 we speak of the church of Bolsward, built on the 
 same plan, and probably by the same architect. 
 
 Of late years another church, equally large and 
 in good style, has been erected. It belongs to the 
 semi- Byzantine, semi- Gothic fashion, which M. de 
 Cuypers, a contemporary architect, has introduced 
 into Holland. Its grand outlines are exhibited in the 
 midst of the centennial trees ornamenting the old 
 ramparts. 
 
22 SNEEK-ING AFFECTION. 
 
 These ancient bastions are now a charming pro- 
 menade, fashioned like an English garden, and form 
 one of the most agreeable features of Sneek. Not 
 that the inhabitants are destitute of others, for the 
 love of Sneek is engraven on the heart of every good 
 Dutchman, and the Frieslanders cherish it still more. 
 
 A young magistrate, who received us as an old 
 friend, detailed to us with affectionate emotion the 
 tranquil charms and thousand hidden beauties dis- 
 coverable on more intimate acquaintance with these 
 kindly little towns. ^ Although not born here, I 
 hope yet to pass long years in Sneek, where I have 
 always been happy and contented.' Reflecting on 
 this a little later on, I perceived that my friend was 
 treated with well-merited distinction everywhere; 
 had an agreeable house, a good cellar, a charming 
 wife, and fine children. 
 
 With such adjuncts could not one be happy 
 anywhere ? 
 
CHAPTER III, 
 
 BOLSWARD — A GENEALOGICAL DIFFICULTY ST. MARTIN — THE ^STADHUIS 
 
 AND ITS RiCHES. 
 
 |HE distance from Sneek to Bolsward is 
 three miles, or, to speak more correctly, 
 about an hour's walk, for it is tjie habit in 
 Friesland to count distance by walking-time, and not 
 by miles. 
 
 The road to Bolsward is charming — shady, delight- 
 fully winding, and running through green meadows 
 dotted here and there with pretty little cottages. 
 One passes the villages of Ijsbrechtum and Nijland, 
 and enters Bolsward through a grand, fine old 
 avenue, though it is as well to mention that the little 
 city loses its imposing appearance the moment the 
 ancient ramparts are traversed. One is much more 
 inclined to believe oneself in the centre of a large vil- 
 lage than in the middle of a very ancient and formerly 
 a very powerful town. And yet it ranks amongst the 
 oldest towns in Friesland, and its origin dates so far 
 back that it is difficult to know when it was founded. 
 In fact, no three of its genealogists agree on the 
 same point. The old chronicler Andreas Kempius, 
 whose opinion is endorsed by Occo van Scharl, a 
 
24 WHICH IS IT ? 
 
 scholar of the sixteenth century, says that the town 
 was founded about the year 713 by Princess Bolswina, 
 a daughter of Radbod. On the other hand, Blaeu 
 and Schotanus assert that it derives its name from 
 the old Frison word hodel (signifying depth, and 
 applicable to the canals surrounding the town), from 
 which came Bodelsward, and, in course of time, 
 Bolsward. But Ubbo Emmius affirms that this 
 much- disputed name took its origin from one Bolone 
 or Bodelone, who, according to a somewhat vague 
 tradition, was the founder of the town, if not the 
 lord of the whole province. 
 
 Hence, there is no certainty on the point, and 
 no one would be unreasonable enough to expect a 
 foreigner, like myself, to know better than the people 
 of the country. 
 
 The inhabitants themselves appeared to me to be 
 very doubtful about the exact origin of the name 
 of their town. The money coined at Bolsward in the 
 eleventh century bears the name of Bodtiswe or 
 Bodtiswer; a will relative to the Convent of the Freres- 
 Mineurs speaks of it as ' fratrum minorum conventus 
 Boldiswerdiensis] ' a chart in 1423 writes Bodelswert', 
 the seal of the Commune for the year 1496 bears 
 the inscription ' Sekretum civitatis Bodelswardia ; ' 
 and the great seal for the year 1640, that of 'Magnum 
 sigillum Bolswerdianmn^' from which date the name 
 is written indifferently Bolswerdt^ Bolswerd, or Bols- 
 ward^ and I think we will adhere to the last named. 
 
 However difficult the etymology of Bolsward may 
 
A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. 25 
 
 be, there is one fact about the town which is indis- 
 putable — its ancient power and wealth. We referred 
 just now to the coinage of the eleventh century. 
 Bolsward was one of the four Friesland towns which, 
 under the reign of Bruno III., Count of Brunswick, 
 Stavoren, and Westergo, and that of the Emperor 
 Henry III., received the privilege of coining money 
 between the years 1039 and 1047. The other three 
 were Dockum, Leeuwarden, and Stavoren. Bolsward 
 had also the honour of becoming, at the same time 
 with Stavoren, one of the Hanseatic towns, an honour 
 all the more remarkable because no other Frison city 
 enjoyed the same privilege. Added to which Bols- 
 ward was not situated, like Stavoren, on the borders 
 of the Zuyder Zee, but a good mile and a half farther 
 inland, and could only be reached by means of a long 
 canal, which traversed the Koudemeer and wound 
 its way in a circuitous route to the gates of the 
 little city: hence the privilege was a very special 
 distinction. 
 
 The old commercial activity has long since dis- 
 appeared, and the only proofs of its ancient splen- 
 dour consist of two or three old monuments, and 
 they even, are not, relatively speaking, of such very 
 ancient date. Two churches of Gothic architecture 
 and a neat-looking town-hall are about all Bolsward 
 has to offer in the way of interest or curiosity. 
 
 The oldest of these two churches, called now the 
 ' little church,' was built, according to Van der Aa, 
 in 1270, and according to Blaeu in 1281. It is 
 
26 ST. MARTIN'S CHURCB. 
 
 constructed of huge bricks, which rain and sunshine 
 have turned into a glorious colour. It was formerly 
 dependent on a convent of Franciscans, destroyed 
 about the date of the Eeformation. 
 
 The large church is still more modern, dating 
 from the middle of the fifteenth century. It was 
 begun in 1446 and finished in 1463, and dedicated to 
 St. Martin, Bishop of Tours. Similar to the other 
 churches of Friesland and the province of Groningen, 
 it is built entirely of brick, without ornament of any 
 description, and has a heavy, massive appearance, in 
 consequence of the materials used for its construc- 
 tion. It is supported by four enormous columns, the 
 capitals of which are formed of very simple mould- 
 ings supporting the headings of the vaults. Above 
 the arches one perceives large mullioned niches, which 
 have the same effect as windows hidden behind brick- 
 work. At the top of each of these false openings 
 there is a small aperture through which a dim, faint 
 light penetrates and casts its rays on the nave below. 
 The nave has no transept, and the choir, which has 
 no circumference, terminates in a semi-decagon. The 
 same simplicity and massiveness regulate the ex- 
 terior. The tower topping the church has a heavy 
 form and appearance, and finishes, like all the Frison 
 steeples, in a tiled roof, that does not add to the 
 elegance of the building. On the whole, although 
 the dimensions of the structure are immense, the 
 architecture is poor, and has very many faults that no 
 one should tolerate in a Gothic monument. 
 
 However, one is forced into believing that this 
 
ITS INTERIOR. 27 
 
 church, such as it is, must have pleased the Frisons 
 of the sixteenth century, for we are told that when 
 the inhabitants of Sneek and Dockum resolved to 
 build two temples worthy of St. Martin of Tours, 
 they found no better model to copy, than the Church 
 of St. Martin of Bolsward. 
 
 Poor from an architectural point of view, St. 
 Martin is not much better off in regard to its interior 
 decoration. There is some tolerably good carving 
 about the choir, and two or three rows of stalls of 
 the same date as the construction — that is to say, about 
 the end of the fifteenth century. Although the work 
 was somewhat hastily executed, the style in general is 
 good — some few of the scenes sculptured on the divi- 
 sions being really worthy of note. But, alas ! it is all 
 in such a terrible state of dilapidation, that it has not 
 even a picturesque look. Below this carving there are 
 several tombstones sculptured in demi-relief in blue 
 granite, of a very grand character. I will describe one 
 referring to an old burgomaster of the town, M. de 
 Heerma, who died in 1611, and lies by the side of his 
 wife, the 'honestissima matrona Sithia de Cammingha.' 
 These two people are represented as lying in a very 
 natural position, their feet resting against their arms, 
 supported by cherubim, while above their heads is 
 the following inscription, not very exact as to rule, 
 but very energetic in expression : — 
 
 QUI VOS ESTIS NOS FUIMUS, QUI NOS SUMUS 
 VOS ERIS. 
 
 Both figures are draped in the most sumptuous 
 
28 OLD TOMBSTONES. 
 
 toilettes — he with his long beard, his collar, and his 
 cuirass; she with her plaited frill, Medici head-dress, 
 and a long embroidered corsage and farthingale. 
 
 Many of these beautiful tombstones are knocking 
 about the church, half destroyed by neglect, time, 
 and by the shameful manner they are trampled on by 
 the worshippers. It would take a dozen pages to 
 enumerate and describe them all ; but two others 
 must be mentioned, because, from an artistic point 
 of view, they are of special importance. The first 
 refers to the Binkes family, and has an elegant bas- 
 relief, representing Christ healing the sick; the 
 other belongs to the Monsma family, and is of grace- 
 ful form in the Italian style, and contains several 
 niches holding emblematic figures, somewhat similar 
 to those designed by Goltzius. 
 
 These remarkable Avorks of art evince the fact 
 that several sculptors of considerable merit must have 
 existed at that period in the town. It would be an 
 interesting study too to find out their names and 
 histories and what attracted them to Bolsward ; if they 
 were Huguenots expelled from France or the Spanish 
 Low Countries, or if they were the same sculptors 
 who were employed on the decoration of the Town 
 Hall, being erected about that same date (1614). 
 In any case, the archaeologists of the country would 
 have an interesting problem to solve if they cared to 
 trace their origin. While inspecting all the ancient 
 tombstones, covered with portraits, inscriptions, arms, 
 and even allegorical compositions, we came across a 
 
GIJSBERT lAPIKS. 29 
 
 mausoleum of more modern date, but nevertheless 
 worthy of our attention. It belonged to Gijsbert 
 lapiks, the last of the Frison poets, according to 
 date. 
 
 Like many another of his compatriots, like the 
 great Yondel himself, lapiks had to wait a long time 
 before his countrymen signalised their appreciation, 
 of the glory of his merits, by raising a monument to 
 his honour. Indeed, it was not till the year 1823 — 
 more than half a century after the death of the author 
 of ' Friesche Rymelerye ' — that his country honoured 
 itself, by honouring the memory of one of its greatest 
 sons. 
 
 But perhaps it is as well to mention, in justifi- 
 cation of this neglect, that the poet was guilty of a 
 great crime in their eyes — the crime of being poor. 
 In a country where money is thought much of, a fault 
 of this grave nature is rarely condoned. What would 
 become of the prestige of wealth if a statue were 
 raised to the memory of a poor author? Now if 
 Yondel, according to a strange remark of one in 
 authority, was an 'ingenious stocking merchant,' 
 lapiks was not of much more importance. In his 
 native town he was only a poor schoolmaster. Cer- 
 tainly a fine profession for a public statue ! But we 
 will leave the dead in peace, and turning to the living, 
 give a look at the building where marriages 
 are celebrated and births registered. But before 
 arriving at this Town Hall we will take a peep to 
 our left, on our road from the church, and examine 
 
30 OLD AND NEW MIRACLES. 
 
 the place where formerly existed a chapel, called the 
 Chapel of the Miracles of Our Lady. Inside this 
 building a little statue of the Virgin used to stand, 
 which had the virtue, so it is said, of curing sickness 
 and infirmity, by a touch. When the Eeformation 
 took place, the Virgin miraculously disappeared, and 
 somewhat later on the chapel itself But the miracles 
 did not cease, but instead of the Virgin, it was men 
 who undertook to perform them — railroads, electric 
 telegraphs, photography, and other marvels of modern 
 science, that the pious of olden time would have re- 
 garded as diabolical discoveries. A couple of centu- 
 ries ago presentiments of the revolution these new 
 things would accomplish, began to make themselves 
 felt. 
 
 But here we are at the Town Hall. It is a fine 
 building, brightly coloured, built in alternate brick 
 and stone, and has a goodly aspect. It is two stories 
 high in front, and has a huge black roof, surmounted 
 by a curious-looking bell-tower of a mixture of 
 rococo and Japanese style. A sort of fore-building, 
 the stories of which do not join on to the front, is 
 divided into two unequal parts, which adds consi- 
 derably to the odd appearance of the building. A 
 pinnacle, studded all over with projections and juttings, 
 surmounts this fore-building, in front of which is a 
 flight of steps, with a double balustrade supporting 
 two lions holding in their paws the arms of the 
 town — a golden eagle with two sable heads. 
 This flight of steps leads to the public entrance, 
 
:hk town hall of bolsward. 
 
THE TOWN HALL. 31 
 
 which is framed in by fluted columns and caryatides 
 so excessively ornamented as to be heavy in appear- 
 ance. A statue of Justice stands in a niche above 
 the entrance, and several allegorical figures, placed 
 above to the right and left, complete the decoration 
 of this very curious fa9ade, which is at once the most 
 irregular and the most pleasing I ever saw. 
 
 Unfortunately, the interior of this Town Hall is 
 very disappointing. There is only one chamber worth 
 mentioning at all. It is an immense whitewashed 
 room, with the ceiling ornamented with large brown 
 beams, the monumental fire-place supported by 
 caryatides in blackened stone, and the doors framed 
 in by a portico of sculptured wood, the whole topped 
 by pyramids and pinnacles. The corbels supporting 
 the beams of the ceiling are very cleverly carved, re- 
 presenting a series of allegorical designs. 
 
 The only furniture in the room consists of the 
 large traditional table, covered with a green cloth, 
 on which are placed several pewter inkstands, and a 
 number of high-backed armchairs. A long white 
 pipe filled with tobacco, and ready for use, lies by 
 the side of each place. It would not do for me to 
 affirm that each of these pipes awaits a councillor, 
 because I once made a similar remark in reference to 
 the Town Hall at Leeuwarden, and I got into trouble 
 through it. It appears that the magistracy of the 
 Frison capital are not addicted to smoking a pipe — in 
 fact, only a cigar. Those whom I saw smoking 
 pipes were simple zetters, whose business it was to 
 
32 INCOMPLETE ARCHIVES. 
 
 adjust imposts on patents. I was informed of this in 
 such a peremptory fashion when I returned to Leeu- 
 warden that I was not likely to expose myself to a 
 similar rebuff again. Besides the high-backed chairs, 
 table inkstands, and pipes, there are several old 
 pictures of mediocre quality in this room, and a large 
 press containing the archives of the old city. These 
 archives, arranged in order by M. Eekhof, are sadly 
 incomplete. The most important only date from the 
 sixteenth century, a date singularly modern in pro- 
 portion to the antiquity of the town. After glancing 
 over the chief charts, a few letters from the Duke of 
 Alba, certain privileges granted by Charles Quint, 
 and a few other documents of value, and looking at 
 the large pewter pots kept in remembrance of the 
 banquets of olden times, we took our leave of the 
 guardian of these municipal riches. 
 
 And as we had seen all that Bolsward contained 
 worth looking at, there was nothing else for us to do 
 but to return to Sneek, if we wished to continue our 
 journey towards the south-east. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SNEEK LAKE — JOURE THE PEAT BOGS OF SCHOTERLAND — 
 
 HEERENVEEN AND THE ^ ORANJEWOUD.' 
 
 UR intention on leaving Sneek was to cross 
 the great lake known to the Frieslanders 
 as Lake Sneek (Sneekermeer)^ to proceed 
 past the Goingarijp marshes, and thus reach the 
 large village of Joure ; thence on foot to Heerenveen, 
 to visit that celebrated retreat called the Oranjewoud ; 
 and, lastly, make direct for Leeuwarden, thus covering 
 the entire eastern portion of the province. 
 
 We went on board early in the morning. Our 
 little vessel, in company with the usual gulls and sea 
 magpies, sailed in the direction of the Sneehermeer^ 
 and, after following for fully half an hour the various 
 bends of a broad canal, we suddenly came into the 
 middle of this great lake — an immense extent of 
 water, the limits of which were scarcely visible. 
 
 That which gives to these inland seas of Friesland 
 an appearance almost unique, is the uniform flatness 
 of the shores, also the nature of the soil which con- 
 stitutes the bottom. This, in fact, formed by inex- 
 haustible peat-bogs, gives to the water a dark violet 
 
 D 
 
34 VIEW FROM SNEEK LAKE. 
 
 colour, just like that of copying-ink, the smallest ray 
 of sun on the ripples, producing a golden tint, posi- 
 tively magical. Near land, this curious shade becomes 
 more intense ; in contrast with the tender green of the 
 fields and the reed beds, it becomes almost black. 
 
 As soon, however, as you leave the shore, the 
 land, being so low, becomes almost imperceptible. One 
 would imagine it a green cloak eternally floating on 
 the face of the deep dark waters, without fixity or 
 solidity. The clumps of trees perceptible in the 
 distance, the houses which lose themselves in the 
 grey mist, the church steeples, with their varnished 
 tiles shining in the morning fog, seem to rise up from 
 the water and to float on its surface. Even those 
 extensive plains covered with reeds, always moving 
 and bending to the softest breeze, only add to the 
 fantastical appearance of the watery shores. Pliny's 
 astonishment is easily understood when seeing, for 
 the first time, these curious landscapes, and his com- 
 paring their inhabitants to eternal navigators, ' navi- 
 gantibus similes.' 
 
 To obtain an idea of this singular spectacle, 
 imagine an endless plain everlastingly inundated, on 
 which floats, in all directions, a large fleet of round, 
 bulging, flat-bottomed vessels, employed in distri- 
 buting to the four corners of this aquatic district, 
 the produce of the earth and man's industry. Were 
 only one of those large craft on the horizon, it might 
 well be taken for Noah's Ark, and one could imagine 
 to oneself the Deluge, when the dove left never to 
 
THE BOEIERS. 35 
 
 return. But there are too many of them ; besides, 
 they are too gay with their large, red-brick or saffron- 
 coloured sails, reflecting on the violet-coloured waters, 
 and the silver background of the sky, to create any 
 but pleasant and happy thoughts. 
 
 Amongst these heavy and massive craft some are 
 noticeable by their more finely-cut bows, carefully 
 varnished, delicately carved, and glaringly coloured 
 and gilded on the poop. Their masts bend to the 
 wind, and the dark red sails appear manufactured of 
 delicate, fine material. They look like so many gen- 
 tlemen lost amongst navvies. These elegant vessels 
 are known as ' hoeiers' They are the yachts of these in- 
 land seas, and the necessary equipment of the wealthy 
 families of Friesland. They are provisioned with 
 every delicacy, especially French wines, and friends 
 often form a party from four to six, and go cruising 
 about the country. It frequently happens they are 
 not alone. Three or four hoeiers start together, with 
 noisy, happy crews. Cruising well together, a con- 
 stant exchange of visits, dinner parties, &c., is kept 
 up during five or six days, when visits are made at 
 the chateaux of mutual friends, thus keeping the ball 
 of gaiety continually rolling, and laying in a rich 
 store of amusing anecdotes for winter evenings. 
 
 After Sneek Lake we cross the ' Goingarijpster- 
 poelenJ Here the water is darker still, the reed- 
 beds are closer together, and the wind, which nothing 
 stops, raises a host of little waves around us. Then 
 suddenly the wind drops, the water resumes its 
 
 d2 
 
86 ENTRANCE TO JOURE. 
 
 natural colour ; we have entered a wide canal bor- 
 dered with rustic dwellings. The large thatched 
 roofs succeed one another, almost touching the ground. 
 Behind the window-panes appear beautiful blue 
 blinds, and artistically attached to the outside walls, 
 a regular arsenal of copper buckets, shining like gold. 
 These proclaim the labours of the farm and the 
 wonderful cleanliness of the establishment. 
 
 Sometimes, before one of these country dwellings, 
 will be seen a tjalk loaded with pottery, tissues, or 
 groceries. It is the merchant in his boat calling on 
 his clients. For in this strange country it is not the 
 buyer who has to inconvenience himself by going 
 shopping — the shop comes to him, bringing with its 
 modest stock, the outside news and the scandal of 
 the neighbouring village. The houses now become 
 more numerous — the sound of hammers is heard 
 — and we find ourselves amongst a swarm of boats, 
 large trees, and overhanging houses. It is Joure. 
 "We have reached our destination. 
 
 Nothing can be more lively and picturesque than 
 the entrance to this important village. On the right 
 stands a strongly -built chateau^ with high windows 
 and an elegant veranda. It is an ancient building, 
 at the same time rich, roomy, and simple. It is sur- 
 rounded by a large, finely timbered park. We knew 
 that the proprietor of this lovely retreat had a fine 
 collection of pictures, so we hastened to pay our 
 respects to him first. The owner was from home; 
 we were nevertheless admitted, and allowed to visit 
 
THE VILLAGE OF JOURE. 37 
 
 the gallery. It is not a bad collection, comprising 
 about forty pictures, most of which are remarkable, 
 and some very good. No great names, but a selec- 
 tion from those small Dutch masters, who are in 
 their right place, in Dutch houses. If I remember 
 rightly, there were ' Fetes Galantes,' by Dirk Hals; 
 ' Swans and Ducks,' by Hondecoeter; ' Village Music,' 
 by Miense Molenaer; 'The Interior of an Inn,' by 
 Teniers; 'An Effect of Snow,' by Avercamp. To 
 these masters we, at any rate, attributed these fine, 
 fresh-looking works ; but, being hung rather high, 
 we had, owing to the absence of the owner, to content 
 ourselves with a summary inspection. 
 
 Our curiosity satisfied, and thanks tendered, we 
 next visited Joure. It is a large village, consisting 
 of one interminable street, wide in proportion, on 
 either side of which, are houses having the pretension 
 to belong to the middle classes. A few side alleys, 
 turning off to the left, lead down to a narrow canal, 
 crossed by a drawbridge, and bordered by cottages, 
 with pretty gardens, and shaded by trees, where large 
 boats seem to be entangled between the almost touch- 
 ing banks. Houses, trees, and boats, with their 
 various colours, form a most pretty picture. 
 
 Seated all along the quay, with dangling legs and 
 attentive eyes, is a band of boys enjoying the plea- 
 sures of fishing. Their tackle is not very compli- 
 cated — the stem of a tree, a piece of twine, and a 
 bent pin, being the extent of their stock — but some- 
 how they manage to land a few victims. 
 
38 BILLIARD TABLES OF JOUUE. 
 
 Certainly these Friesland fish must be very self- 
 sacrificing. I firmly believe them to be veritable 
 philosophers, caring nothing for life, and that it does 
 not matter to them if they are swallowed by pike, 
 struck by gulls, gobbled up by storks, or fished up 
 by man. The latter death seems to me to be pre- 
 ferable, as by this means they do get the chance of a 
 breakfast ofi" the hook. 
 
 The canal led us back to the large street, and the 
 large street to the inn, and then we required a guide 
 to take us to Heerenveen. ' I have noticed,' wTote 
 somewhere M. de Gabriac,^ Hhat in all foreign 
 ports, such as Pernambuco, Bahia, Callao, Beyreuth, 
 &c., one finds an inn, bereft of all comforts, but fur- 
 nished with a billiard table.' As much may be said 
 of the Friesland inns and taverns. I never remem- 
 ber seeing one without the triumphant notice, ^ BiL- 
 LARD RoijAL.' Why royal? I cannot tell, and nothing 
 justifies the proud title. 
 
 It was to the happy possessor of one of these 
 royal tables that we spoke. A stout man with a red 
 nose, and a corporation too large for his waistcoat — 
 in fact, everything to invite confidence. He at once 
 procured us a little dried-up old man, but a good 
 walker, and after agreeing as to terms, we buckled 
 on our knapsacks and started for Heerenveen. 
 
 There is no better means of knowins; and seeing^ 
 a country than to tramp it. What w^ith having to 
 ask one's way, and ascertain the best road, &c., one 
 
 1 The Count de Gabriac, his humorous ' Travels Round the World.' 
 
ROAD TO HEERENVEEN. ^39 
 
 learns more in a few hours, than would be possible 
 in as many months, in travelling either by coach or 
 boat. Your forced companion — i.e. guide — soon be- 
 comes an acquaintance. All inequality of rank ceases 
 for the time being; he forgets his reserve, and soon 
 initiates you into the petty sorrows of his life and 
 the history of his neighbours. Although the Fries- 
 lander is far from communicative, he obeys the common 
 law of nature, and a good walk soon loosens his 
 tongue. 
 
 We had, therefore, no reason to be dissatisfied 
 with our resolution, more especially as the road to 
 Heerenveen is very good, being large, well kept, 
 and almost free from dust. Like all Friesland roads, 
 it is bordered with immense meadows, which would 
 be somewhat monotonous but for a clump of trees 
 here and there, a modest-looking farm, or a small, 
 pretty village lending animation to the scene. Some- 
 times, on either side, are large marshes, worked for 
 their valuable peat, mountains of which can be seen 
 drying in the fields. Men loading carts and vessels, 
 indicate that we are approaching the ' Schoterland^^ one 
 of the districts most famed for peat. In these bogs 
 the manufacture is carried on somewhat curiously. 
 The peat is fished up with a species of dredge, called 
 heugel^ fastened to the end of a long pole. The 
 peasant in his boat floats over the marsh, dips in his 
 dredge, and empties the contents into the craft, where 
 he leaves it to drain. He then carries it to land, 
 and after the fashion of three centuries ago, he 
 
40 PEAT BOGS OF SCHOTERLAND. 
 
 treads it with his feet, then spreads it out to a thick- 
 ness of about two feet, which he divides into small 
 cubes of equal size, and then carefully dries it. The 
 marshes thus worked are comprised in the of&cial 
 statistics under the name 'low' peat bogs, and are 
 not subject to any regulation. 
 
 Besides this kind of peat bog the official classifi- 
 cation includes two others — the ' high ' peat deposits 
 (hooge veenen) and the loolders of peat {veen- 
 polders). The first are so called because the layers 
 are above water. The working is therefore easier 
 and less costly. It is but necessary to clear the sur- 
 face, and the material is at hand. This is divided 
 into numberless cubes, and then dried. Labour 
 easily and cheaply performed. But the peat, thus 
 easily obtained and manufactured, is of poor quality. 
 Being neither crushed nor pressed, it is less dense 
 than the kinds that undergo the double operation. 
 Moreover, it contains a certain quantity of fibre and 
 sand, which depreciate its use and value. -^ 
 
 The peat polders are rich prairies, situated 
 below the level of the sea, containing a stratum of 
 peat more or less thick. To work this necessitates 
 
 * It is on account of its easy extraction and defective quality that its 
 market price is so low, and the labour so badly remunerated. As in the 
 high peat deposits the price of labour per ton varies from 10 to 40 cents, 
 and by the day from 1 florin to 1 florin 5 cents, in the peat polders it reaches 
 30 to 65 cents per ton, and 1 florin 20 cents to 2 florins 60 cents by the day. 
 
 In the lower peat works the price is still higher, being at the rate of 44 
 to 75 cents per ton, and 2 florins 75 cents by the day — figures which are 
 considered high for the country. It must be remembered that the cent 
 is the hundredth part of the florin, equal to 2 francs 10 centimes French 
 money, or 1«. 9|d English money. 
 
THE 'POLDERS.' 41 
 
 the destruction of the green plains, which are thus 
 converted into ponds or small lakes — if not unpro- 
 ductive, very nearly so. Hence it can be understood, 
 why the Government reserves to itself the supervision 
 and the regulation of these particular bogs. Public 
 interest would give way to the private greed of the 
 landowners, who, but for the aforesaid supervision, 
 would soon convert one of the most beautiful pro- 
 vinces of the Netherlands, into an inextricable 
 marsh. 
 
 No one, therefore, can work a polder without 
 authority, and the payment of certain dues — the 
 amount of which is placed to the credit of a fund, 
 to be used by the Government for irrigation, and the 
 drying up of worked -out polders^ by which means 
 fresh ones are constituted. 
 
 The total production of peat throughout the 
 Netherlands is very large. In Friesland alone it 
 amounts to five and a half millions of tons, and em- 
 ploys seven thousand workmen. Strangely enough, 
 all the men are mostly natives of the country, whereas 
 the reapers and many of the agricultural labourers 
 are imported from Germany. 
 
 Naturally the polders furnish the largest quan- 
 tities, and employ the most labour. They emplo}^, 
 in fact, four thousand five hundred hands, and an- 
 nually produce three and a half millions of tons. 
 Next come the ' high ' peat bogs, employing twelve 
 hundred men, and producing fifteen hundred thou- 
 sand tons. Lastly, the ' low ' peat bogs, whilst em- 
 
42 HEERENVEEN. 
 
 ploying ribout one thousand labourers, only produce 
 about half a million tons. Thus, it will be seen that 
 the extraction of peat is one of the chief industries of 
 Friesland, besides being the oldest in this curious 
 land. As far back as antiquity takes us, the natives 
 have used it for fuel. When the Romans entered 
 the country, the use of it was generally known ; 
 and Pliny shows us the inhabitants ' burning the 
 earth ' to cook their victuals. ' Terra cibos rigentia 
 septentrione viscera urunt^ 
 
 It is from the peat bogs that the pretty little city 
 of Heerenveen, which we are about to reach, takes 
 its name. It means ' The Lords' Peat Deposits.' The 
 name was really much longer, being ' De Heerencom- 
 pagnon^sveenen ('The Lords' Peat Bog Company'). 
 Whether it was a limited company and paid a dividend 
 history does not state. It was, however, formed in 
 1551, by M. Pieter van Dekema, knight and coun- 
 sellor at the Court of Friesland, and had for its 
 objects the opening up and working of the peat bogs 
 in the neighbourhood. It was this company who 
 raised the first houses on the present site, which were 
 soon followed by a host of others for workmen and 
 tradesmen. But Heerenveen never attained its full 
 development until the Princess Albertine, daughter of 
 Frederic Henry, and widow of William Frederic of 
 Nassau, Stadtholder of Friesland, took up her residence 
 in the neighbourhood and built the ' Oranjewoud,' 
 
 This amiable princess had taken a great dislike 
 to Leeuwarden in consequence of the death of her 
 
THE ' ORANJEWOUD.' 43 
 
 husband, who was accidentally killed. Whilst visit- 
 ing his armoury and examining a pistol the weapon 
 exploded, smashed his jaw, and the wound proved 
 fatal. 
 
 The unfortunate Albertina Agnes, in order to 
 avoid a spot so pregnant with sorrow to herself, 
 determined to retire into absolute solitude. She went 
 to Heerenveen ; the site pleased her and she built 
 a country-house close by, and began the magnificent 
 plantations which afterwards gave to the residence 
 the name of Orange Wood (Oranjewoud), which it 
 has retained ever since. Her son, Henri Casimir, 
 often visited her there, and later on he, in his turn, 
 dwelt in this magnificent retreat, and greatly im- 
 proved it. His successors, Jean Guillaume Frison 
 and Guillaume Charles Henri, made it a sort of little 
 Versailles. It was then that Heerenveen became the 
 rendezvous of the Friesland aristocracy. Roads 
 were made and old ones newly surveyed, houses 
 built, avenues traced, parks and gardens planted; 
 and the wretched peat bog, thus transformed, took 
 the surname of ' Friesche Haagje,' which means a 
 little Friesland hedge, in allusion to the Hague, the 
 residence of the Stadtholders of Holland. 
 
 To this day the ' Oranjewoud ' remains celebrated ; 
 standing as it does in the midst of endless bogs and 
 marshes, it appears like an Eden in a desert. Its 
 magnificent avenues of fine trees remind one of 
 those at Versailles ; besides, the number of canals 
 around shaded with verdure, give it a stamp of 
 princely grandeur. 
 
44 FATE OF THE ' OKANJEWOUD.' 
 
 This magnificent estate, however, is no longer the 
 privileged residence of the family of Orange. At 
 the beginning of the present century it was con- 
 fiscated by the Batavian Republic, and in 1812 was 
 portioned ofi^ and turned into private dwellings. 
 But the new owners have respected the fine trees, 
 and the ' Oranjewoud ' forms an aristocratic com- 
 munity, the smallest houses of which are elegant 
 villas, and the cottages small chateaux. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LEEUWARDEN — ITS PRISONS — AN IMPROVISED PLAY — THE CHANCELLERIE 
 
 THE CHATEAU OF CAMMINGHA HISTORY OF THE SAINT EELKO 
 
 LIAUKAMA. 
 
 N leaving Heerenveen we started direct for 
 Leeuwarden, where we purposed staying 
 but a few days. Our intention was not 
 to explore this large and noble town again — I having 
 done so two years ago, and fully described it in 
 my other work, ^ The Dead Cities of the Zuyder 
 Zee ' — but only to pay our respects to the governor 
 of the province, and to visit the penal establishments 
 of the Friesland capital, which are very celebrated, 
 and which we were unable to see before, for want of 
 necessary introductions. 
 
 Baron van Panhuys, commissary to the King, 
 gave us a most affable reception, placed himself 
 entirely at our disposal, and offered us letters of 
 introduction to the burgomasters of the different 
 towns through which we might pass ; and I am all 
 the more anxious to thank him again through 
 the medium of these pages, as it was due to his 
 courtesy that we were enabled to visit the lordly 
 mansion of Cammingha, access to which, is most 
 
46 LEEUWAKDEN PRISON. 
 
 difficult, as well as to cross the sea on a Sunday to 
 reach Schiermonnikoog. 
 
 For the prisons we had a golden key, in the 
 shape of a letter from the Minister of Justice, an 
 enviable favour not always to be obtained. If, 
 therefore, the sound of iron-barred gates turning on 
 their hinges, the drawing of bolts and rattling of 
 keys, are not disagreeable to my readers, I will take 
 advantage of my passport to visit the inside. 
 
 There are two penitentiary establishments in 
 Leeuwarden, one situated in that delicious palace 
 known as the Chancellerie ; the other is a fine newly- 
 built prison, both elegant and strong in appearance. 
 The architect seems to have done his best to make 
 it so ornamental that, instead of calling up dismal 
 thoughts, it goes far to add to the embellishment of 
 the town, and when finished will be a model of its 
 kind. 
 
 The interior of this fine building justifies the 
 excellent impression formed outside. It is com- 
 pletely built of stone, bricks, and iron, consequently 
 fire-proof; staircases, halls, and workshops are built 
 with mathematical precision, and in such manner as 
 to permit of constant surveillance, so necessary in 
 such places. Throughout, the yards are large and 
 spacious, the rooms whitewashed from top to 
 bottom and well ventilated, the inner and outer 
 walls even bearing witness to the proverbial Dutch 
 cleanliness. 
 
 The steps and passages are equally clean ; you 
 
ITS DORMITORIES. 47 
 
 would look in vain for a soiled spot or grain of dust. 
 I doubt whether a cracked or tarnished pane of glass 
 could be found. Everything is washed, brushed, 
 and waxed with a care we might well envy in our 
 own homes. 
 
 The dormitories are also carefully looked to — 
 scrubbed every day, and well ventilated. There is 
 none of that close smell so noticeable in barracks 
 and prisons. Their aspect, however, is sufficiently 
 curious to be worthy of description. Each consists 
 of a large whitewashed, asphalt-floored room, in the 
 centre of which is an immense iron-trellised cage, 
 armed on the inside with spikes. This cage is 
 divided into above one hundred cells, each separated 
 by sheet- iron walls ; each has its bed, with the 
 absolute accessories — viz. a thin mattress, an apology 
 for a pillow, a pair of coarse sheets, and two cover- 
 lets. Each night the prisoners are locked in these 
 narrow cells, and thus repose perfectly isolated from 
 each other. 
 
 All round the dormitory run iron water-pipes, 
 with taps fixed at intervals, at which the convicts 
 are supposed to perform their ablutions. Water, 
 I may add, is general throughout the place, and is 
 to be met with on each story. Baths, which the 
 prisoners are compelled to make use of at certain 
 times, are on the ground floor. This must have 
 been a novelty to many of them, as they are re- 
 cruited, as a rule, from the agricultural classes, who, 
 if I am rightly informed, shun the limpid liquid. 
 
48 PRISON FARE. 
 
 We were able to see most of these wretched 
 persons either in the workshops or taking their 
 mechanical ' constitutional ' in the yards. Many of 
 them are deformed, and the majority have a repulsive 
 appearance, which in a great measure, maybe, is 
 due to the prison garb, their shaved faces, and 
 closely -cut hair. 
 
 Although the prison can contain 575 prisoners, 
 there were only 412 at the time of our visit. These 
 unfortunate beings have three meals per diem. In the 
 morning, luke-warm milk and water and a piece of 
 dry bread ; at midday, a soup composed of vege- 
 tables ; in the evening, coffee and brown bread. 
 Sometimes they are allowed a small quantity of 
 meat, but more often bacon ; but, as a rule, it is 
 vegetables and barley which form the basis of this 
 primitive cookery. It is but a poor diet, especially 
 as the bread is black, damp, and thick, and reminds 
 one of that eaten during the siege of Paris. 
 
 The prisoners, however, can improve upon this 
 food by the money they earn. They have, in fact, 
 a small interest in their work, four-sixths of which 
 is at their disposal, the balance being very properly 
 capitalised and handed to them on their dismissal. 
 
 The work is varied according to their ability. 
 They do a little of all kinds ; either they carry on 
 their own particular trade or, if they have none, 
 are taught one. One finds in Leeu warden prison 
 wooden shoe makers, tailors, carpenters, and boot- 
 makers, but chiefly mat-makers and weavers. 
 
AN IMPROVISED PLAY. 49 
 
 As far as possible the labour is turned to naval, 
 military, or prison purposes. Each particular branch 
 of manufacture occupies one or more workshops, 
 under the supervision of a chief, and the inspection 
 of several subordinates. Everything is conducted 
 with military discipline, which allows neither of 
 ill-will nor question. The dungeons, a kind of sub- 
 terraneous cells, are for the unruly, and irons for the 
 mutinous. The punishment is severe, but then it is 
 not often had recourse to. 
 
 During working hours silence is imperative, and 
 yet the prisoners manage easily enough to carry on 
 a conversation between them which is difficult to 
 be detected by the warders. This has been proved 
 time after time. On one occasion these miserable 
 creatures undertook to perform a play, and, without 
 its being known, completed all the dresses and other 
 accessories, even to the bell that was to announce 
 the rise of the curtain. 
 
 There was a king in the piece, whose crown 
 (and what king has not a crown?) had been made 
 out of gilt cardboard, ornamented with precious 
 stones in the shape of bits of broken looking-glass ; 
 all this without its ever being known where they 
 procured the cardboard and the glass. Unfortu- 
 nately, so much ingenuity did not reap its reward. 
 At the last moment all was found out, the stupe- 
 faction of the authorities only being equalled by the 
 disappointment of the performers. 
 
 But this is nothing compared to some of the acts 
 
 E 
 
50 THE CHANCELLERIE. 
 
 of insubordination. As I said before, they are of 
 rare occurrence — as rare as attempts to escape, of 
 which latter only one has succeeded, since the prison 
 existed. 
 
 One day six of the prisoners broke through the 
 roof, and escaped by sliding down a wall and 
 swimming the moat surrounding the prison. All 
 but one were recaptured the following day, and he 
 was drowned while crossing the moat. 
 
 To complete our description we have only to 
 mention the school, the master of which has anything 
 but a sinecure. The convicts generally are totally 
 uneducated, and their dormant intelligence rebels 
 against being wakened. Some, better taught, assist 
 the master, but the proportion of ignorance is too 
 great not to leave room for grave consideration as 
 to this want of education being conducive to crime. 
 I should be sorry to assert that compulsory education 
 (which all well-meaning Dutchmen are anxious to 
 see carried out) would prevent crimes, and reform 
 evil-disposed persons ; but I think it would materially 
 diminish the number of those who are led away to 
 do wrong on the spur of the moment. 
 
 As we said at first, Leeuwarden contains another 
 prison, viz. the Chancellerie, which is a far less im- 
 portant establishment than the one we have described. 
 It is, as its name implies, an old provincial building 
 turned into a prison. As such, the interior presents 
 nothing interesting. At the time of our visit it con- 
 tained but sixty-six prisoners, mostly thieves con- 
 
THE CHATEAU OF CAMMINGHA. 51 
 
 demned to short sentences, besides eleven women, 
 nearly all of whom were hardened beggars whom the 
 law tried to correct by imprisonment. 
 
 Here we miss that strict military discipline ob- 
 servable in the other establishment. The prisoners 
 toil in the large rooms without supervision. The beds, 
 narrow frames, with the coverlets rolled up at the 
 head, have none of that hard, severe appearance we 
 saw elsewhere. The rules are not strict, but then 
 the prisoners have not that dull, wretched appearance 
 visible in the others. 
 
 What chiefly took us to the Chancellerie was the 
 hope of finding in the interior traces of its ancient 
 architecture, but we were disappointed. The stair- 
 case, however, formed an exception, and was certainly 
 remarkable, as also a dozen charmingly sculptured 
 consoles supporting the pillars of the infirmary, and 
 the room of the military prisoners. 
 
 I have already remarked that, thanks to the cour- 
 tesy of Baron van Panhuys, we had the good fortune 
 to visit the Castle of Wiardastate, belonging to M. 
 Cammingha. It is very certain that without his kind 
 introduction this pleasure would have been denied 
 US; The Chateau of Cammingha is not one of those 
 places the doors of which are open to all visitors. 
 It is an enclosed castle and difficult of access except 
 to the friends of the owner, who asserts that a 
 gentleman is master in his own house. Hence, he only 
 receives those friends, he has long known and likes. 
 All titles fall to the ground at his threshold, and 
 
 E 2 
 
52 A FIGHT ABOUT BEER. 
 
 recently a most august personage was unable to 
 make him depart from what he considers his right. 
 
 Is it not a curious proof of the independence of 
 character and liberty so dear to the Frieslander that 
 a private gentleman should refuse a king the inspec- 
 tion of his mansion ? Hence the Chateau of Cam- 
 mingha is a sort of torture of Tantalus to the lovers 
 of antiquities. This curiosity is quite excusable from 
 the fact that both family and castle are the most 
 ancient in the country. As far back as the ninth 
 century the annals of that date refer to the Yilla of 
 Cammingha. A chart, contemporary with the death 
 of Charlemagne (814), mentions the property as 
 belonging to a gentleman named Gerulf. In 1481 
 the house of Cammingha underwent a regular siege. 
 This is how it occurred. That year the brewers 
 had obtained a charter by which it was agreed 
 that no beer but theirs should be drunk in the town. 
 One market day, however, the peasants introduced 
 Haarlem beer, and began drinking it in the public 
 places. The brewers tried to prevent it, and the re- 
 sult was a free fight. But as the poor villagers had 
 all the townspeople against them, they had to take 
 refuge in the house of Pierre de Cammingha, who 
 afforded them protection. Since then historians have 
 often mentioned this hospitable dwelling, without 
 however, clearly determining its importance or its 
 whereabouts. 
 
 It was rebuilt at various periods, and the house 
 we now see only dates back to the fifteenth century, 
 
INTERIOR OF CAMMINGHA. 53 
 
 probably not so far. It is, however, none the less an 
 architectural curiosity, as there are probably but two 
 or three similar castles in the country. For during 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the parties who 
 divided the land made a regular sacrifice of these 
 feudal castles. First came the ' grease merchants,' 
 then the ' eel merchants,' who pillaged the manors of 
 their noble enemies. In less than fifteen years they 
 burnt and generally destroyed the Castle of Wilko 
 Eingia, that of G. luusma, and those of Wibo Jaricx, 
 Igo Galama, Thierry Yalta, and ten others of equal 
 importance. Then came the Guelders with Lange 
 Pier and their enemies the Saxons, followed by the 
 Spaniards under Gaspar de Robles, and then finally 
 the Reformation. What escaped the former became 
 a prey to the latter, and in the end nothing was left. 
 
 These castles were in reality not very strong, 
 being merely useful as a refuge in a moment of 
 danger, but quite unable to withstand anything like 
 a regular siege. The one we have in view is a large, 
 fine building constructed in brick and stone, with an 
 immense roof surmounted by a belfry, and with ten 
 oblong windows in front, so narrow as to look like 
 gigantic loopholes. 
 
 The interior is composed of several fine apart- 
 ments, each furnished in the olden style, and having 
 the haughty appearance of those of the Dutch Renais- 
 sance. Two especially are comparatively intact, one 
 completely covered in Cordova leather, the other with 
 Flemish tapestry, tables, chairs, &c., being in keeping 
 
54 EELKO LIAUKAMA. 
 
 with the fashion of the period. The castle contains 
 besides a theatre and chapel. The latter has a fine 
 collection of relics, &c., preserved from the wholesale 
 destruction of the Keforrcers, and amongst several 
 good pictures one of the venerable Eelko Liaukama. 
 
 This Eelko is a saintly personage of the country, 
 whose history is but little known beyond the limits 
 of Friesland. In his lifetime he was a monk of the 
 Order of ' Premontore/ whose dissolute ways he pur- 
 posed reforming. To carry out this task he under- 
 took to visit the different convents and monasteries 
 throughout the kingdom, and by the example of his 
 spotless life to carry conviction with his counsel. 
 But the very first he stopped at, his brethren, who 
 little relished this fresh innovation in their daily pur- 
 suits, took the opportunity of making the reverend 
 gentleman tipsy. The poor man, feeling very sick, 
 began to give unmistakable signs of being about to 
 scatter on -the floor what he had imbibed from his 
 glass. Instead of depositing, amidst general laughter, 
 what all expected, nothing but roses dropped from 
 his mouth. The cry of miracle went forth, but that 
 was insufficient to convert these perverted Gentiles. 
 Some time afterwards poor Eelko Liaukama was 
 found near a wall with his skull fractured. He was 
 thus ffot rid of to avoid further remonstrance on his 
 part. 
 
 This veracious story was told us in front of the 
 portrait of the pious and energetic reformer by M. 
 
HISTORICAL PORTRAITS. 55 
 
 Dirks, a distinguished archasologist who accompanied 
 us during our visit. 
 
 This picture of Eelko is not the only one of note 
 in M. Cammingha's mansion. Besides a magnificent 
 collection of his ancestors, this gentleman possesses 
 several historical portraits which it is needless to 
 mention here, as they have been fully described else- 
 where by a friend of the family.^ 
 
 The castle containing all these beautiful things is 
 surrounded by a lovely garden, itself surrounded 
 by a moat. A small bridge effects communication 
 with the outer world. At the entrance is a fine 
 ornamental porch, fixed in massive walls perforated 
 with loopholes. All this goes far to increase the 
 feudal appearance of the place. 
 
 M. Cammingha did personally the honours of the 
 place, and conducted us to the edge of the moat, 
 where we took leave of our host, terrible to the out- 
 side world, but at home a really charming man. 
 
 * ' Het slot Wiardate met de Schilderyen oudheden enz/ door G. A. Six. 
 Utrecht, 1869. 
 
.--^• 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE * SCHIER-STINS ' THE WOOD OF THE MURDER DOCKUM THE 
 
 MIRACULOUS SPRING — THE ' HARMONIE.' 
 
 ROM Leeuwarden we proceeded to Veen- 
 wouden, a pretty village buried in trees. 
 That which attracted us to this part of 
 the country was another ancient castle, called ' Schier- 
 Stins.'i 
 
 This mansion belongs to my personal friend M. van 
 Heemstra,who, although absent, had doubtless advised 
 his steward of our intended visit, for we received a 
 hearty welcome. To tell the truth, Schier-Stins is 
 less of a feudal castle than a fragment of one, for of 
 the original edifice nothing remains but the tower, a 
 kind of square belfry, the walls of which are thick 
 enough to attest its former strength* 
 
 During the past century a new modern wing has 
 been added to this grand relic, doubtless very com- 
 fortable and convenient, but somewhat of an eyesore 
 
 ' The -word stins in Prison signifies * stone,' and was the old name 
 for castles built of this material, because all other buildings were con- 
 structed of wood. Although houses generally are now built with brick, 
 the word stins has not lost its signification. 
 
SCHIER-STINS. 57 
 
 when contrasted with the grandeur of the fine old 
 ruin, and very out of place by the side of the tower, 
 which is full of old curiosities most interesting to 
 those making researches in the country. 
 
 The old belfry is divided into three stories. The 
 ground floor, with its arched ceiling giving it the 
 appearance of a chapel, contains the heaviest objects. 
 We noticed, amongst others, figures of monks sup- 
 porting a bench, copper lanthorns curiously embossed, 
 arms, banners, and one of those large stone coffins in 
 which the inhabitants of Oostergoo placed their dead 
 to protect them from the wolves. It is of sandstone, 
 roughly hewn, and of a size which proves the gigantic 
 stature of the ancient Frieslanders. 
 
 The upper stories contain objects more or less 
 curious and valuable — furniture, books, glass, cloth, 
 and arms, amongst the latter an old sword said to 
 have belonged to Albert of Saxony, but which, I 
 strongly suspect, is only that of an executioner of the 
 seventeenth century, as its simplicity of manufacture 
 and the German inscription on the blade, prove the 
 impossibility of its princely antecedents. 
 
 Our inspection finished, we had to return to 
 Dockum before evening ; and although the paint-box 
 was not very heavy, we enquired for some one to 
 carry it and show us our road. A lad was brought 
 to us in a long coat, smoking a cigar as large as his 
 head. We at once saw he was not the kind of person 
 we wanted, as it seemed more than probable that we 
 should not only have to relieve him of his burden, but 
 
58 MURMERWOUDE. 
 
 also carry him on our shoulders. He, however, after 
 weighing the box and taking a few whiffs at his cigar, 
 consented to accompany us. We therefore started ; 
 but what we foresaw soon happened, at least partly, 
 for we had scarcely accomplished a quarter of the 
 journey when we were obliged to take the box from 
 the poor boy, who was done up. Luckily we were 
 not obliged to carry him — only to drag him as far as 
 Murmerwoude (otherwise known as the ' Wood of the 
 Murder'). 
 
 Murmerwoude is a pretty hamlet, about half an 
 hour's walk from Dockum, and although standing on 
 either side of the road, and of pleasant appearance, 
 yet it cannot but recall gloomy recollections. For 
 on the 5th of June, 853, St. Boniface and his fifty- 
 two followers were mercilessly massacred by the 
 inhabitants. They had come from the southern 
 provinces to reform the unbelievers, but found those 
 of Dockum mere barbarians, who, instead of listening 
 to their exhortations, fell upon and murdered them. 
 Such a crime could not be left unpunished. At the 
 news of the martyrdom of St. Boniface, King Pepin 
 sent an army across the Lauwer and took Dockum, 
 killed those he could catch, and burnt the village, those 
 that escaped having to remain in exile. These, how- 
 ever, it would appear, could not escape the vengeance of 
 God. They were condemned thenceforth to carry a 
 stigma on their persons : the men were born with 
 a tuft of white hair on the head, which has repro- 
 duced itself from generation to generation ; and the 
 
DOCKUM. 59 
 
 women have a bald patch on the head, which is a 
 cause of laughter throughout the country. To speak 
 of a Friesche-haalkop (a bald head of Friesland) is to 
 designate a girl of Dockum. 
 
 On the spot where the murders took place Pepin's 
 soldiers raised a hermitage ; later on it became a 
 chapel of wood, then one of brick. It still exists, 
 although three-parts reconstructed. Since then Pro- 
 testantism has made over its walls to whitewashers^ 
 and broken its windows. The pulpit alone is curious; 
 it is sculptured and coloured, but the work is any- 
 thing but delicate. 
 
 After resting a short time in the little church- 
 yard which surrounds the chapel, we continued our 
 journey. Soon afterwards we sighted the town of 
 Dockum, built on a slight eminence in the midst of 
 trees, and overlooking the neighbouring country. 
 This accidental position gives to the place quite a 
 coquettish appearance, which is borne out by its un- 
 dulating streets, slanting squares, vast canal — which 
 divides it into two unequal portions — clean and large 
 quays, and pretty houses ; all conducing to make it a 
 most charming little town, which, notwithstanding 
 its uncommon antiquity, does not seek to vie with, or 
 ape, the air or manners of larger cities. 
 
 It is, however, one of the oldest in Friesland, its 
 origin being traced as far back as the year 240. 
 That year Prince Urbo built on its chief site a 
 castle, which he called Dockenburg. As usual in 
 those days, the vassals by degrees came and grouped 
 
60 DOCKUM PRODUCE. 
 
 themselves round their lord. In 700 the houses 
 were already sufficiently numerous to be entitled to 
 be called a large village. In 739 Gondebald fortified 
 it and surrounded it with a wall ; we, however, know 
 how in 853 it was taken by King Pepin's army. 
 It was not very long however before it righted 
 itself, for in the eleventh century we find it figuring 
 as one of the four cities of Friesland having the 
 right to coin money. 
 
 Its comparative strength and commerce did not 
 protect it against its enemies. The factions that 
 divided the country, came and besieged it in turn. 
 In 1308, 1399, and 1414 it was taken by assault 
 and partly burnt. Again in 1498, the Friday before 
 Easter, the Saxons also took, pillaged, and burnt it. 
 Then came the Guelders, Dutch, Spaniards, and 
 finally the Reformation. Each conqueror left traces 
 of his passage in the shape of ruins. At length came 
 peace; Dockum healed its wounds, recouped its losses, 
 and is now flourishing. With a good inland harbour 
 well filled with ships, a few breweries, potteries, work- 
 shops, and a gin distillery, but chiefly on account of 
 its agricultural produce and its flax, it has become 
 one of the principal European markets. 
 
 A wide canal of two leagues in extent, called 
 Dochumer Die,p^ places the town in communication 
 with the gulf known as Lauwers-Zee. It is by this 
 route that the export of textile goods to England, 
 France, and Germany is made, in all of which countries 
 the large Dockum firms have agents. 
 
BOCKUM TOWN HALL. 61 
 
 Close to the harbour is the Town Hall, large, 
 but on the exterior, of insignificant appearance. 
 Built in the seventeenth it has been almost entirely 
 rebuilt during the last century. In the interior two 
 fine rooms of the former period have been retained, 
 viz. the council room and antechamber, which are 
 the most curious specimens that can be seen of the 
 architecture of the time of Louis XY. applied to 
 municipal purposes. . 
 
 The anteroom, entirely covered with Cordova 
 leather, has a fine chimney-piece. As to the council 
 room, it is wainscotted with curiously carved wood, 
 representing scenes of that pastoral period. The 
 mantel- piece and door panels are likewise embellished, 
 whilst four allegorical figures, of municipal life of 
 Dockum, ornament the wall facing the windows. 
 That which, however, stamps this handsome room is 
 the fine old furniture. ^ Many times,' said M. van 
 Vries, the amiable burgomaster, whilst doing us the 
 honours of his municipal residence, 'many times 
 have I been ofibred heavy sums for these tables and 
 chairs, but I have always declined, for I should look 
 on a sale of the kind as a profanation.^ 
 
 We complimented the worthy man on such senti- 
 ments, whilst regretting that so many others in his 
 position had shown themselves wanting in that re- 
 spect. 
 
 Unfortunately, all the monuments of Dockum 
 have not been so religiously respected. St. Martin's 
 Church, the oldest, is a proof ; for, although not very 
 
62 ST. MARTCN'S CHURCH. 
 
 ancient, the large church of Dockum was deserving 
 of better treatment. Formerly it possessed some 
 famous and valuable relics.^ Besides the bones of 
 St. Boniface and some other saints, it possessed the 
 gold chalice and 'missal' entirely written by the 
 hand of the pious bishop, with which he was 
 wont to celebrate mass, and which were exhibited 
 every seven years to the people, as also the pastoral 
 rod of the glorious martyr, a relic doubly precious, as 
 it was to its presence amongst them that the inhabi- 
 tants of Dockum were indebted for the salubrious 
 state of their town. 
 
 Close to it — in fact, about five minutes south-west 
 of the Woudpoort — there is a spring rising in the 
 middle of a field, forming a large pond of clear water, 
 running thence in a stream to the canal. This water 
 is the best in the country, and on being analysed 
 during the last epidemic of cholera it was proved to 
 be of the purest kind. To its use is attributed the 
 small number of victims to the different epidemics 
 which have raged in Dockum at various times, and 
 the ancient chroniclers aver that it had the reputa- 
 tion of curing fevers, preventing hydrophobia, and 
 restoring health to the infirm. 
 
 Ask any child of the country the origin of this 
 famous spring, and he or she will tell you that St. 
 
 * In 1667 its wealth had already disappeared. Hegenitus mentions 
 it in his * Itin^raire,' in referring to Cornelius, from whom he took the 
 description. He adds : * Ego tamen quia nullum ex illis vidi ; nihil 
 etiam de re vetusta ac incerta heic adfirmare ausim.' 
 
THE MIRAGULOUS SPRING. 63 
 
 Boniface riding near the spot, and his horse becoming 
 thirsty, he stretched forth his hand, and the animal 
 struck the ground with its hoof, and immediately 
 water sprang forth. This is the common legend. 
 That of historians is more impressionable. It is not 
 a horse that thirsted — it was the people ; no longer 
 an unconscious beast striking the earth, but a priest, 
 a man of God, who desires to quench the thirst of his 
 faithful flock. ' Wonderful and merciful spring, always 
 full when the country was laid waste with drought. 
 God, your Architect, through the saintly martyr 
 striking the ground with his pastoral staff, made you 
 rise in this miraculous manner.' 
 
 It is in these terms that C. Kempius, a serious 
 historian, expresses himself on the subject. He is 
 the author of one of the best works that the sixteenth 
 century gave to Friesland. He was born at Dockum, 
 therefore well acquainted with all that related to his 
 well-loved city, of which he never speaks without 
 emotion. (The title of the chapter in which Kempius 
 refers to his ' beloved country ' shows sufficiently the 
 affection the old Frieslander bore to Dockum : ' Hie 
 jam de situ civitatis Doccomanse aliquid dicere amor 
 dulcissimae patri^ meae me cogit.') It is him, there- 
 fore, and his version that we should believe. 
 
 The fountain still runs, but the rod has disap- 
 peared, as also a church erected by the invocation of 
 the saintly man, as also the cloister that surrounded 
 it and bore the name of St. Boniface. All passeth away 
 in this world, but the gratitude of nations does so 
 
64 THE ORNAMENTED SPRING. 
 
 even sooner. However, during many years the name 
 of the saint shone like a halo, and afforded his masters, 
 the lords or aristocracy, numerous privileges. More- 
 over, the cloister we mentioned was indebted to him 
 for its immense wealth. Its spiritual power extended 
 to the islands of the North Sea. There now remains 
 nothing of it except a few dependencies, out of which 
 an orphanage has been made. The other buildings 
 have disappeared, and nothing but a large, barren, 
 deserted space, called Kerkhof] now remains to show 
 what were once the avenues and garden of the cloister. 
 But let us leave this deserted spot, and the sad 
 memories it recalls, and turn to another spring close 
 by, which will give a different current to our thoughts. 
 It is surmounted by a beautiful vase of white marble 
 of the Medicis form, the base covered by foliage and 
 ornaments interlaced. What is it ? where does it 
 come from — this antiquated vase, with its suggestive 
 love scenes inscribed at the foot of it ? It would be 
 interesting to discover its origin ; yet no one seems 
 to know it, and cares less. Yet it is one of the two 
 8Gsthetical curiosities of the town, the other being the 
 little entrance-gate to the Asylum for Old Men. It 
 stands between two rustic pillars, surmounted by a 
 portico bearing a coloured coat of arms. The house 
 of which this is the entrance is cold, cheerless, and 
 falling into decay. The yard into which it leads is 
 equally so : moss and rank grass grow in the crevices 
 between the slabs, and cover the walls. Add to that 
 poorly-clad old men, a few shreds of linen hanging 
 
THE 'HARMONIE: 65 
 
 on a line, an old woman washing the steps, and you 
 have before you a complete picture of aged poverty 
 without family ties, without means, without support 
 of any kind, having to ask of public charity the 
 care of providing the bread for their declining years. 
 
 But let us go to the ' Harmonic,' for the burgo- 
 master waits us there. The ' Harmonic ' is the town 
 club, where people smoke, drink, play, and talk. In 
 the summer time it is a pleasant garden resort ; in 
 winter it is used as a concert-room and occasional 
 theatre. Thorbecke's bust ornaments the white- 
 washed walls, showing plainly the political feelings of 
 the country. Wine flows into large glasses, and the 
 evening is pleasantly spent. Even a Frenchman might 
 find something there to remind him of his far-off 
 country. 
 
 ^ Yes, sir,' remarked a dignified-looking magistrate 
 with a long white beard — ' yes, sir, last year I spent 
 a fortnight in Paris, and you may believe me when I 
 tell you that it is a town well worth visiting !' 
 
 I need scarcely mention that I was quite of his 
 opinion. 
 
 F 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NORTH FRIESLAND — SCHIERMONNIKOOG — A HOT RECEPTION — A MODEL 
 
 BURGOMASTER SAINT WILLIBRORD AND THE DOWNS AWKWARD 
 
 BEDS. 
 
 E were anxious to visit the island of Schier- 
 monnikoog on a Sunday. We had been 
 told of the picturesque costumes and other 
 usages; this was enough to rouse our curiosity. 
 Unfortunately, the Saturday evening on which we 
 purposed starting we were told it was too late, the 
 communications between terra jirma and the island 
 being few and far between — being, in fact, but a 
 small sailing-boat running once a day from Oostma- 
 horn to Schiermonnikoog and back, carrying the 
 mails and a few passengers. This means of convey- 
 ance is even interrupted on the Sunday, the owner^s 
 respect of the Sabbath being greater than his cupidity. 
 To cross, as we proposed, on this Saturday was out 
 of the question, as it would take us at least two hours 
 to reach Oostmahorn alone, when the boat would have 
 long since left. 
 
 The excellent burgomaster of Dockum, who gave 
 us this somewhat tardy information, seeing how great 
 
THE BEAUTY OF NORTH FRIESLAND. 67 
 
 was our disappointment, took a heroic resolution. 
 ' Sometimes,' said he, ' in urgent cases the vessel 
 comes over on the Sunday. 1 am now going to 
 telegraph my colleague at Schiermonnikoog that two 
 strangers are here, recommended by the Minister of 
 the Interior, and are anxious to cross to the island. 
 I will beg him to despatch the boat, and possibly he 
 may be in a position to do so.' 
 
 Thanking the ingenious magistrate, we left, and 
 the next morning started in good time, wondering 
 whether we should cross the Friesche Gat that day. 
 
 Cornelius Kemp, as an ardent lover of his country, 
 worshipping it as Montaigne did Paris, even to its 
 alleys, describes the free portion of Friesland that 
 stretches from Dockum to the sea as the most lovely, 
 the most fertile, and the most populated country in the 
 world: ' pulchermna. papulosa^ et totius mundi fertilis- 
 simaJ Although this eulogium is somewhat hyper- 
 bolic, yet we must admit it to be partly justified. 
 Certainly if riches constitute the beauty of a country, 
 then there are few countries that can vie with North 
 Friesland. Everywhere one meets with fields covered 
 with golden harvest, colza, flax, and oats ; immense 
 luxuriant meadows, stocked with glossy-coated cows 
 and magnificent black horses ; and, further, in the 
 midst of this abundance, wealthy farms, surrounded 
 by orchards, the trees of which bend beneath the 
 weight of their still green fruit. On the horizon can 
 be seen the pointed spires of ten churches, indicating 
 as many villages, and the wide twisting road stretches 
 
 F 2 
 
68 OUR ARRIVAL AT OOSTMAHORN. 
 
 like a gigantic serpent through this carpet of verdure. 
 All along the road can be seen peasants, dressed in 
 black, with large Bibles under their arms and long 
 pipes in their mouths, gravely walking along, whilst 
 their female companions, with their head-plates 
 glistening in the sun, chatter by their side. 
 
 This road, without tree or shade of any kind, 
 seemed to us interminable. At length, after two 
 hours' fast w^alking, meanw^hile cursing the curves in 
 the road and passing through Metslawier, Morra, and 
 Anjum, we reached our point of embarkation in a 
 profuse perspiration and covered with dust. 
 
 We scarcely thought of either studying or in- 
 specting Oostmahorn, which is but a hamlet of little 
 or no importance, but hastened to the quay to see if 
 the boat had arrived, as it would have been anything 
 butr pleasant to spend our Sunday in this comparative 
 desert with the promised land in sight. Our hopes, 
 however, were not deceived, for the craft w^as w^aiting ; 
 but those of the owner certainly were, for on the 
 strength of the telegram he evidently expected to 
 have the carrying of persons of distinction, our sun- 
 burnt faces and dusty attire going far to damp his 
 expectations. As it was, however, there could be no 
 mistake ; he had come to carry us across, so he took 
 us on board. The journey was somewhat long, for 
 as there was no wind it took us three hours to cover 
 the two leagues that separated us from Schiermonni- 
 koog. 
 
 As we neared the land our attention was attracted 
 
SCHIEIIMONNIKOOG. 69 
 
 by the extensive breakwater that protects the central 
 portion of the shore of the island. This appeared 
 crowded with people ; many men, more women, and 
 more children than adults. They appeared to be 
 waiting for something or somebody. As, however, 
 we neared the shore, most of the grown-up persons 
 seemed to retire, and the number of children to in- 
 crease. This somewhat surprised us, but we were 
 still more surprised before we had finished. Arrived 
 within about 400 yards of the shore, the boat stopped, 
 when several small boats put out and made towards 
 us, followed by a peasant's cart with two horses, 
 which without hesitation took to the water. It was 
 in this vehicle that we had to complete our journey 
 and reach the land. When one goes to Venice one 
 gets out of the train into a boat, which to a newcomer 
 is somewhat surprising. At Schiermonnikoog it is 
 the contrary. You get out of the vessel into a cart, 
 which goes rumbling and stumbling through the 
 different holes in the sand, threatening to swamp us 
 or for us to be carried out to sea by the waves, but 
 usually arriving safely to shore, the boats confining 
 themselves to acting as convoy and giving passengers 
 a hearty welcome. 
 
 This reception was very gratifying to us, but it 
 was nothing compared to the one we received on reach- 
 ing the parade. We could doubt no longer that the 
 200 or 300 children and people assembled, were there 
 to see us, and us only. The cheers, laughter, and 
 jokes were unceasing ; but they, like the owner of 
 
70 OUR RECEPTION ON THE ISLAND. 
 
 the craft, were evidently disappointed in our appear- 
 ance, and would have wished us more majestic and 
 better dressed. As for myself, I felt so keenly their 
 being undeceived, that I would have given much for 
 a general's cocked hat and uniform. 
 
 At the entrance of the village we perceived massed 
 together the whole female population of the place. 
 Doubtless from modesty or delicacy they had retired 
 from the pier, but their curiosity was none the less 
 lively, for they inspected us with a closeness approach- 
 ing to rudeness. Happily a good angel in the shape 
 of one of the authorities was watching over us, for a 
 stentorian voice called out : ' Now that you have had 
 a good stare at them, perhaps you will let them pass, 
 and leave them alone.' The speaker was the Govern- 
 ment gamekeeper ; the words were followed by a 
 graceful sign with his stick as an invitation to dis- 
 perse, which was at once compiled with. Thus we 
 were enabled to gain our quarters at the inn. 
 
 Our first visit was to the burgomaster, as we 
 wished to thank the worthy magistrate for his 
 kindness in sending for us. We therefore traced 
 our steps to his residence, the prettiest in the island, 
 and found him in the midst of a charming family, 
 who appeared to do their utmost to welcome us. 
 This cordiality never ceased during the whole of 
 our stay, and I may add it is a well-known character- 
 istic of the burgomaster of Schiermonnikoog. 
 
 Never was magistrate more in his proper place. 
 M. van der Worm is an old sea wolf, one of those 
 
THE SAILOR POPULATION, 71 
 
 charming wolves with a courteous word and kind 
 smile on the lip — one who would never injure the 
 Florian flock. Originally captain of a vessel, he has 
 not changed his profession, he has only exchanged 
 from his ship, for Schiermonnikoog is after all but an 
 enormous raft of shells and sand, wrecked on the 
 Friesland coast. Its population are all sailors. This 
 tiny spot of earth, lost in the North Sea — deriving 
 its name^ from its compressed form — fits and sends 
 out to sea no less than seventy ' long-voyaged ' ships. 
 All the year round, the male population of the island 
 live on the vessels, and of the 500 men it contains 
 there are seldom more than thirty residing in the 
 place. All the others are away either in the tropics, 
 Pacific, or Mediterranean Sea — everywhere, in fact, 
 except at home. Imagine, therefore, the peace of mind 
 of these good people, having at their head a man 
 initiated in all the secrets and dangers inseparable 
 from such long journeys, and the terrible conse- 
 quences they may entail. M. van der Worm 
 
 ^ * Oog,' means eye, wHcli is the shape of the island. Schiermon- 
 nikoog means the Monk's Eye of the sect of ^ Schieringers.' The 
 island in fact was originally inhabited by monks, who placed it under 
 cultivation. The convent was under tbe jurisdiction of Dockum, and 
 when the Chapel was raised by the Bishop of Utrecht to the rank of 
 Church he left it in the dependency of the Monastery of St. Boniface at 
 Dockum. 
 
 * Previous to that period Count Albert van Beijeren had, by a Charter, 
 the tenor of which has been retained by E. Verwijs in his work called ' De 
 Oorlogen van Hertog Albrecht van Beijeren met de Friesen,' given to 
 Herman Howenpe an island called Moenkelangenoe, situated near the 
 Lauwers (7tb December 1400). But in 1440, according to M. W. W. 
 Buma, in his work entitled ' Schiermonnihoog de Lauwers de Scholbaeg, 
 the island had returned into the hands of Philip of Burgundy. 
 
72 THE BURGOMASTER OF SCHIERMONNIKOOG. 
 
 appears born to his judicial functions, for he is a 
 sailor by taste, and a burgomaster by his ancestors. 
 He is, in fact, the last descendant of van der Werf, 
 the gallant and immortal defender of the town of 
 Leyden. 
 
 The burgomaster of Schiermonnikoog retains, as 
 a precious treasure, the gold medal that shone on the 
 breast of his glorious ancestor, as commemorative of 
 this memorable siege. He showed it to us. It bears 
 the date of 1574, and the device, ' Godt belooede 
 Leyden' (God protects Leyden). He keeps it in a 
 casket, but he has also retained in his heart the 
 virtues of his illustrious ancestor. Ten times, in 
 fact, this intrepid mayor has not hesitated to resume 
 his profession of sailor, and to start off with others 
 to the rescue of vessels wrecked or ashore on the 
 sand banks surrounding the island, casualties which 
 occur on an average three times each year. 
 
 In 1863, in less than a month, five vessels were 
 wrecked on these fatal banks ; amongst them was one 
 of the English navy. That night, notwithstanding 
 the most fearful gale — ' amidst a sky of sobs and a sea 
 of tears ' — the lifeboat was launched, and succeeded, 
 after innumerable dangers, in rescuing the crew. As 
 a reward for his gallantry, Her Britannic Majesty 
 made to the sailor mayor a present of a magnificent 
 chronometer. At the same time these good acts 
 brought him a still greater reward, in the veneration 
 and love of those he ruled. 
 
 He is, at once their ready counsellor and friend ; 
 
INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND. 73 
 
 in fact, a sort of venerated master, and each time he 
 walks through the village all come out to salute him. 
 His island is a little realm, over which he reigns 
 paternally. We went over it with him. It is less a 
 large village than a double street, lined with pretty, 
 simple, modest, clean, well-kept cottages, each fronted 
 by a small garden. Trees, lately planted, have only 
 to grow, to form a pretty and shady park. 
 
 The rest of the island is composed chiefly of large 
 meadows, somewhat sun-burnt, and a few fields, culti- 
 vated by the farmers of the owner, for Shiermon- 
 nikoog belongs solely to a wealthy inhabitant of the 
 Hague. Beyond these fields, and protecting them on 
 three sides, rise sand-hills, forming an immovable 
 rampart to the waves. 
 
 Such is this Eldorado, the remembrance of which 
 follows those brave sailors beyond the tropics ; who, 
 born there, wish to die there. This is the paradise, 
 full of childish recollections, which they have forsaken 
 to see the world, and which they dream of returning 
 to some day. 
 
 To look at it in its entirety it is necessary to mount 
 one of the lighthouses. From there one can see not 
 only the whole island, but also the grey or green 
 girdle of sea that surrounds it, and, to the south, the 
 coast of Friesland, swarming with pleasant church 
 spires. To the right, in the distance, appear large 
 yellow spots, which seem to float on the surface of 
 the waters : one of them is Ameland, the other the 
 island of Eottum, like two sentinels watching the 
 
74 THE LEGEND OF THE SAND HILLS. 
 
 fatherland. Then before one is the calm open sea ; 
 not a wave disturbing its horizon, which after under- 
 going a process of various colours as the day 
 advances, seems to blend itself with the sky. 
 
 The immensity that surrounds one on all sides is 
 a moving spectacle to behold. At this height the 
 island appears isolated from the rest of the world, 
 and the cottages below appear sunk in the ground, so 
 narrow and small do they look. The sand-hills have 
 the appearance of a small chain of mountains of un- 
 even, parched, and dried~up summits, with not a tree 
 or blade of grass to vary their monotony. You 
 know their legend : like that of the Dockum spring, 
 they are the result of a pastoral rod. 
 
 The rod was that of a saintly man named Willi- 
 brord, the first apostle of the new faith in this rude 
 country. The waters were continually encroaching, 
 and spreading havoc and desolation around. Saint 
 Willibrord took his staff and drew a line along the 
 shore, when, following his steps, up rose the moun- 
 tains of sand, against which beat continually the 
 waters of the ocean, but stopped in their wild career, 
 by this immovable barrier, as if the Almighty had 
 spoken, saying, ' Thus far shall ye go, and no further.' 
 This is the legend : science tells us differently. But 
 this is not the time for explanations. Since we are 
 on the subject of science, let us visit the Schiermon- 
 nikoog school which will be more quickly disposed of 
 than the origin of the sand-hills. 
 
 This school is also very clean, well kept, and well 
 
SCHIERMONNIKOOG SCHOOL. 75 
 
 ventilated. It is under the direction of a young but 
 well-educated man, well up to liis work, and fully 
 aware of the responsibility of his post. It is not a 
 merely superficial education that is required for the 
 children of the island ; all must be sailors, and all 
 wish to become captains. Not only, therefore, must 
 they have a fair knowledge of general subjects, but 
 are moreover expected to learn three or four languages, 
 have a thorough acquaintance with geography, and 
 as much knowledge of mathematics as to be enabled, 
 with the assistance of the compass and the sextant, 
 to find their way across the solitude of the ocean. 
 Add to this, book-keeping, history, philosophy, and 
 a smattering of medicine, and you have a fair idea 
 of what is taught at Schiermonnikoog school. 
 
 Each year the wealth of this little school is in- 
 creased, either in money or by scientific instruments, 
 by old scholars, who by this means try to show their 
 gratitude to the establishment that educated them. 
 
 It was with the burgomaster's family, the director 
 of the school, and one of the magistrates that we 
 spent the day and evening, during which pastry and 
 Rhine wine were freely partaken of, and so pleasantly 
 did the time pass that it was one o'clock before we 
 separated. Our friends accompanied us as far as the 
 modest inn, where something very like hard labour 
 awaited us in the shape of a gymnastic performance 
 to reach our beds. These were, after the fashion of 
 the country, imbedded in the wall, resembling cup- 
 boards, but placed at such a height from the floor as 
 
76 QUEER SHAPED BEDS. 
 
 to be almost beyond scaling. If it is difficult to get 
 into these narrow boxes, it is more so to get out, for 
 the bedding being composed of five trusses of straw 
 and a feather mattress, you find yourself on awaking 
 at the bottom of a sort of precipice, from which, to 
 say the least, it is awkward to get out. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ZOUTKAMP — GRIJPSKERK GRONINGEN MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 HISTORY THE CHURCilES ARCHITECTURE TWO HEAVY LAW 
 
 ACTIONS RIPERDA — THE ACADEMY THE DEAF AND DUMB 
 
 INSTITUTE. 
 
 T had taken us two hours to go from Oost- 
 mahorn to Schierrnonnikoog ; it took us six 
 from the latter to Zoutkamp — I mean by sea, 
 for having started at day-break, and it being low 
 water, we had to ' do ' an hour in the ' cart ' to reach 
 our craft — besides, there was still less wind than when 
 we crossed on the Sunday. However, the tide gradu- 
 ally rose and did for us what the wind refused, and 
 finally carried us to the landing stage at Zoutkamp. 
 Here we climbed the ladder and hastened to the 
 inn, taking care on our way not to trample on some 
 dozen lazy fellows lying stretched on the ground 
 with fixed eyes and immovable countenances. 
 
 Zoutkamp is an average sized village of about 
 600 inhabitants, and is of no great importance be- 
 yond being the harbour, or seaport of Groningen. 
 Situated at the mouth of the Reitdiep, which is the 
 obligatory channel of all vessels going to or coming 
 from Groningen, it is usually filled with foreign 
 
78 ROAD TO GRIJPSKERK. 
 
 seamen, who somewhat enliven it. Such a place has 
 neither character nor history. We did not care to stay 
 there long, but hastened to reach the capital of the 
 province. At the tavern we found it difficult to find 
 anyone to speak to. The master was one of the lazy 
 party we met on the quay, and did not seem the least 
 inclined to disturb himself to receive his customers. 
 He at length came, hat over eyes, pipe in mouth, and 
 an uncivil tongue. It was with regret he appeared 
 to serve us with some bread, ham, and beer, and 
 with a snarl informed us of the best means to reach 
 Groningen, namely, to walk to Grijpskerk — two good 
 leagues — where we w^ould find the railway. 
 
 Notwithstanding the ill-favoured countenance of 
 this strange inn-keeper, we could do nothing but 
 take his advice ; we, however, took the precaution to 
 ask for a guide to show us the road and relieve us 
 of part of our luggage. An old man was brought 
 to us, who in his turn fetched a child, and we all four 
 crossed the Lauwers in a boat and landed in a field 
 from whence we cut across country, during which 
 sundry ditches had to be jumped and numerous 
 gates climbed, both of which were difficult and un- 
 pleasant with forty pounds weight on one's back. 
 At length, after these most fatiguing performances, 
 we found ourselves in a narrow, dirty road, stretching 
 out of sight ; we thought our troubles o'er, but they 
 were but commencing. 
 
 Our guide, in fact, had only taken a companion so 
 as to be able to talk more at his ease. A fine speaker, 
 
OUR GUIDE. 79 
 
 he measured his steps by his sentences, and so as not 
 to interfere with the harmony of his discourse, would 
 slacken his pace at a ' comma ' and stop altogether at 
 a ' full stop.' To give expression to the notes of 
 ' interrogation ' and ' exclamation,' he would put 
 down his load and gesticulate with his hands and 
 arms. We were, however, in too great a hurry to 
 appreciate the beauties of his eloquence. Many times 
 we had to stop that they might overtake us, strong 
 expressions had no other result than to call forth 
 disdainful looks and a shrugging of shoulders. At 
 length we got angry, and having to explain himself, 
 the good man informed us that his light load was 
 irksome, and wanted us to relieve him of it. As to 
 his walking pace, he said it was the right one, and 
 as he was our guide we ought to follow his example. 
 
 Had it not been for his arrogant appearance and 
 impertinent looks we should have laughed the matter 
 off, but they were too palpable to be overlooked. In 
 a minute we had repossessed ourselves of the small 
 trunk he carried, and having paid him just half the 
 amount agreed upon, requested he would ' make him- 
 self scarce.' He protested, but seeing that we were 
 determined, and that all his eloquence was in vain, he 
 retraced his steps with his companion, showering on 
 our heads innumerable maledictions. 
 
 We now found ourselves in an unknown country, 
 scarcely knowing where we were, but we lost no 
 time in discussion ; having divided the luggage, we 
 started afresh. Directed by an agent of the police, 
 
80 GRIJPSKERK. 
 
 who evidently took us for deserters, and by some 
 girls, wlio by their smiles thought we were pedlars 
 and expected us to display our goods in the shape of 
 silks and sham jewellery, we at length arrived, covered 
 with dust and in a profuse perspiration, at Grijps- 
 kerk just in time to see the train leave the station. 
 
 The mischief, however, was not so great as we 
 imagined ; there was another train in the evening, 
 and we waited for it whilst wandering about the 
 village, which is simply an interminable street, bor- 
 dered with small houses with four or ^yq taverns. 
 In one we found bad beer, but splendid girls, who 
 certainly were not from Dockum, for their chignons 
 threatened to reach to heaven. In another, an ill- 
 favoured old hag, but a first-class dinner, which we 
 scarcely hoped for. We next visited the church, from 
 which the name of the village is derived, being that 
 of its noble founder Nicholas Grijp, who in 1476 also 
 erected a chapel of brick. 
 
 Repaired at various periods, the church is the sole 
 monument in the place ; we therefore quitted it with- 
 out regret and hastened to the capital. 
 
 Groningen is not only a fine large town, populous, 
 rich, and flourishing, but is moreover the most 
 ancient in the country. It is generally agreed that 
 Holland has no history. Never was greater mistake 
 made. On the contrary, she possesses one of the most 
 moving and interesting kind imaginable. To under- 
 stand it thoroughly it is not only necessary to study 
 the facts, but also how and when these facts were 
 
GRONINGEN. 81 
 
 brought about, and be able, as the saying goes, ' to read 
 between the Imes,' for the political reactions, at first so 
 incomprehensible, and which are the foundation of its 
 history, are easily understood when the independent 
 spirit, which characterises the Groningeners, is taken 
 into account. 
 
 In early times, Groningen, if not emancipated in 
 appearance, was so far so in reality as to be able to 
 retain her right of government. She was constantly 
 changing rulers, and never retained any single one 
 long enough to imperil her liberty. 
 
 The ancient chronicles date it as founded 500 
 years B.C., some by a person called Grunus, who gave 
 it his name ; according to others by a German race, 
 the Gruines, mentioned by Tacitus. But neighbour- 
 ing towns, jealous of its pedigree, affirm that the 
 name is derived from the Dutch adjective ' Groen ' 
 (green), and from the substantive ' inigen,' which in 
 the Drenthe and Overyssel patois means ' field ' or 
 ' meadow,' and that really she takes her name from 
 the green pasturages with which she is surrounded. 
 
 This, however, signifies but little, for from what- 
 ever source the name is derived, one thing is certain, 
 that in the year 48 of the present era, Corbulon 
 found the town thriving and the position good, 
 whereupon he endowed it with sundry institutes, 
 and better still with fortifications, which were more 
 in keeping with the age. A century later its im- 
 portance was such that the geographer, Ptolemy, 
 thought it worth mentioning in his works. In 398 
 
 G 
 
82 ITS FORTIFICATIONS. 
 
 the Normans, finding it easy of access, paid it a visit. 
 An old clironicler, who refers to it as ' Grins,' men- 
 tions it as defended by a palisade. Cornelius Kem- 
 pius tells us that in 1110 the Emperor Henry IV. 
 pulled down the palisade and substituted a rampart 
 of bricks surmounted by forts. In 1570 the Spani- 
 ards surrounded it with double fortifications, that of 
 the interior of brick, and outwardly with earth- 
 works. Finally the great Coehoorn, the Yauban of 
 Holland, turned it into a fortification of first rank. 
 
 Take a plan of Groningen, and you can easily 
 trace these three last transformations. First is the 
 larger circular street which envelopes the tower 
 bearing the suggestive name of ' Achter den Murr ' 
 (behind the wall). Then the also circular canal, 
 which forms a second girdle, known successively as 
 the * Loopende diep,' ' Katten diep,' ^ Zuider diep,' 
 'Noorder and Zuider Haven.' Lastly the actual 
 fortifications which encircle the place with a third 
 enclosure. 
 
 If the military history is easy to follow, the 
 commercial history is equally so. It was in 1116 
 that Groningen obtained its most important privi- 
 leges, and in 1220, with Lubeck and Bremen, or- 
 ganised a fleet that took part in the Crusades. In 1220 
 its sailors were in constant communication with the 
 people on the Baltic, and besides signing a treaty 
 with the inhabitants of the Island of Gottenburg, 
 in 1257 it contracted a commercial alliance with the 
 King of England. In 1284 it figured amongst the 
 
COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF GRONINGEN. 83 
 
 Hanseatic towns. In 1 285 it signed a treaty of com- 
 merce with the King of Sweden, and in 1298 with 
 the Counts of Holland. So much for the thirteenth 
 century. The fourteenth is none the less prolific, 
 and gives us an insight into its outside commerce. 
 The fifteenth deals with the formation of markets ; 
 that for fish in 1446 ; for provisions generally* in 
 1447; then come those for cattle and horses; and, 
 finally, that for corn — all of which exist to the 
 present day; the latter being one of the most im- 
 portant of the Low Countries. Since then its 
 agricultural importance has so far increased that the 
 neighbouring provinces allow its cattle to pass 
 through free of duty; and, as early as 1469, twelve 
 Groningen farmers were seen driving one thousand 
 head of cattle to the fair at Bois-le-Duc. 
 
 Amidst such agricultural prosperity the manu- 
 factures of a town could scarcely remain idle. In 
 1436 the different trades formed themselves into 
 the 'guilds' (gilden), so influential in the Low 
 Countries, first to the number of eighteen, but later 
 on to thirty; and these constituted a real power, 
 for their individual numbers and resources are, to 
 say the least, considerable. 
 
 The situation of Groningen is, however, excep- 
 tional. It not only provisions the neighbouring 
 towns, where it has no rivals, but, lying between two 
 rivers, the Hunse and the Aa, it is in communica- 
 tion, by the Damsterdiep, with ' Eems,' and by the 
 Reitdiep with the North Sea ; besides which it 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE DANISH PRINCE'S REVENGE, 
 
 joins Leeuwarden and the Zuider-Zee by its canals, 
 and by means of the ' Winschoterdiep ' holds com- 
 munication with the German provinces. 
 
 Naturally this flourishing state of business tends 
 to the happy temperament of the inhabitants. 
 Groningen is mentioned by old chroniclers as a kind 
 of ' Eldorado.' The festivities, according to Rabelais, 
 were specially esteemed by the inhabitants. As 
 early as the fourteenth century it was famous for its 
 good living; and we find a young Danish prince 
 speculating on its ' failing/ to avenge the death of 
 his father and the glory of its king. He arrived at 
 the mouth of the Eems with a shipload of provisions 
 and wines, well knowing he would not remain long 
 without visits from the heads of the community. 
 He was not deceived. Before long, officers and 
 magistrates vied with each other for invitations to 
 the navigator, who, it is needless to say, received 
 them in the most affable manner, and invited them to 
 dinner. Others who came on board, but could not 
 find room, got tipsy, and laid down to sleep. 
 Whereupon the prince raised anchor and carried off 
 those rebel magistrates who, having assassinated the 
 governor, had overthrown the yoke of the kings of 
 Denmark.^ 
 
 The lesson does not appear to have been lost on 
 the inhabitants ; for, from that date, they have 
 become more steady and sober. In the seventeenth 
 century they went so far as to publish prohibitions 
 
 ^ See Chronicle of Holland and Zeelande, 
 
THE HARMONIE CLUB. 8^ 
 
 against certain marriages and festivities. A citizen, 
 when giving a ball, had to curtail his orchestra to 
 two fifes and three string instruments, and was 
 further forbidden to allow the performers more than 
 two bottles of wine apiece. 
 
 In the fifteenth century we find the inhabitants 
 boasting of the quiet and steady habits of the town, 
 which is corroborated by Guicciardini, C. Kempius, 
 and Blaeu. The gates were shut at twilight, and no 
 one could enter the town, not even the burgomaster, 
 unless he was known to be absent on business relating 
 to the city. At night no one could walk the streets 
 without a lantern. A watchman was on every fort 
 to give notice of fires or riot, besides sentinels, 
 who sounded a bugle qwqtj half-hour. To this day 
 these precautions continue partly to be taken; for 
 watchmen still sound the bugle from the church- 
 tower of St. Martin. Nevertheless, the heads of the 
 community are worthy of their ancestors ; and no 
 better proof can be had than in the club known as 
 the ' Harmonic,' the most celebrated and best known 
 throughout the Low Countries. It is a magnificent 
 building, containing concert, reading, and dining- 
 rooms. It is ornamented by a magnificent and well- 
 kept garden or pleasure-grounds, frequented by the 
 fashionable society of Groningen, who, more liberal 
 than their neighbours of the adjoining provinces, do 
 not banish their wives and daughters from their 
 personal resorts, where lively conversations and 
 pleasant music are enjoyed. 
 
86 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The inhabitants of Groningen have, however, 
 much taste for music, of which we had a proof. 
 Struck by the beauty of the morning we got up 
 early, and, attracted by the chants coming from the 
 Catholic Church, we went in and assisted at the mass. 
 Seldom had I assisted at one performed with such 
 taste and devotion. The ' Hosanna ' was simply 
 splendid; and the pronunciation of the Latin by the 
 priests was most curious to French ears. 
 
 This church, belonging to the Roman Catholic 
 faith, was originally very fine, but having undergone 
 numerous repairs, has nothing of interest left. Grron- 
 ingen, however, has two larger and finer ones of the 
 Calvinistic creed, namely that of AakerJc^ and the 
 celebrated edifice of Saint Martin. 
 
 Aakerk^ the true name of which is ' Onze Lieve 
 Yrouwekerk ter Aa,' that is to say. Our Lady of 'Aa,' 
 was erected on the site of a chapel dedicated to Saint 
 Nicholas, and afterwards to all the Saints. In 1246 
 the Bishop of Utrecht conferred on it the title of a 
 parish church, but being struck by lightning in 1465 
 and burnt in 1671, and partly rebuilt in 1710, it has 
 lost much of its primitive character. The nave has, 
 however, retained its magnificent elevation ; it has, 
 moreover, some fine organs and a curiously sculptured 
 pulpit. 
 
 As regards Saint Martin's Church, we know that 
 it was built in the twelfth century. In the fifteenth 
 it was almost entirely rebuilt ; the lower portion and 
 the gallery were demolished, so as to extend the 
 
SAINT MABTIirS, 87 
 
 aisles. Like all churches in the country, it was 
 constructed in brick, and of the most simple archi- 
 tecture. The steeple is of stone, and rather more 
 ornamented. It was erected between 1469 and 1482, 
 and is composed of five stories, the two first of which 
 are square, and the three others octagonal, resting on 
 a square base pierced with a lofty vault which serves 
 as a passage. 
 
 This tower, whose top story is 94 metres above 
 the ground, is celebrated throughout the country. 
 Even in the sixteenth century it was looked upon as 
 a wonder, and C. Kempius, who liked to dwell on its 
 merits, states that, looking down from the top, the 
 people walking below appeared no larger than children 
 a year old. I confess that, either from confidence in 
 this faithful historian or from some other motive, we 
 did not trouble ourselves to verify the fact. 
 
 As may be supposed, the churches are not the 
 only monuments the town contains. At the foot of 
 St. Martin's Church, in the great market-place — 
 which, by the way, is one of the largest and best- 
 regulated in the Netherlands — stands a very curious 
 house, which goes back to the fourteenth century. 
 M. Acker Stratingh has published a work on this 
 curious house, entitled, ^ Het aloude raad en regthuis 
 thans de hoofdwacht te Groningen.' It really dates 
 from 1338, and was for some time made use of as 
 the court of justice, Raad en Regthuis. Beneath its 
 windows stood the pillory and gallows, for the Gro- 
 ningen judges had the power to pass all kinds of 
 
88 THE COURT HOUSE. 
 
 sentences, against which there was no appeal. Later 
 on the building became a guard-house. 
 
 If we are to credit- M. Diest Lorgion, in 1852 it 
 was one of only two houses left of that early period. 
 The fact, however, is not surprising, for all those built 
 during the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth century 
 were of wood, but the latter has left some few of in- 
 terest. They are large buildings with projecting 
 eaves, and a high arched window. They are sprinkled 
 throughout the town, but the best specimens are to 
 be seen in the Briigstraat. 
 
 The sixteenth century was still more prolific, and 
 to this period we are inclined to attribute the erection 
 of the house in the market-place, which at one time 
 also served as a residence for the Duke of Alba; 
 also many others, with their curious fronts and nar- 
 row windows, more like the loop-holes noticed on the 
 groote Spilsluizen^ and on the Ossenmarkt, near the 
 Deaf and Dumb Institute; and also that noble con- 
 struction the Court House, with its pleasant front, 
 which, although it bears the date of 1612, appears to 
 me to be at least thirty years older. ^ 
 
 But the most classical piece of architecture of that 
 period is a pretty little house, built entirely of stone, 
 standing close to the ' Harmonic ' Club, and occupied 
 
 ^ This charming edifice bears two dates, that of 1612 and 1779 j the 
 latter applies to the repairs, and more especially to a small gate of 
 curious style, which notwithstanding its anachronism has not a bad 
 effect. The former appears also to refer to a restoration, the great 
 entrance door for instance with its fine arched ceiling and decorations. 
 But the windows and the building generally are certainly anterior to the 
 seventeenth century. 
 
THE COLLKCTHUIS AT GRONTXOKN. 
 
A BUILDING OF 1559. 89 
 
 by M. Cardinaal, a banker. It has three stories of 
 different styles of architecture, the ground floor being 
 Tuscan, the first floor Ionic, and the second Corin- 
 thian. The latter has but one window, whereas the 
 two former have three each. 
 
 Fluted columns of exquisite taste run up to 
 about one-third of its height. Beautifully delicate 
 and elegant friezes divide the first two stories, and 
 the second has two buttresses bearing medallions in 
 demi-relief, surmounted by an attic which worthily 
 completes this attractive faqade. 
 
 This graceful little building dates from 1559. 
 It was not, however, until the seventeenth century 
 that the Groningen architecture adopted any original 
 style, of which only a few specimens remain in good 
 condition. Three or four still stand on the great 
 market-place, the most notable being that of the 
 collector (colleceihms) which is a genuine gem. 
 
 With the passing away of the seventeenth century 
 this charmingly original style disappeared also, and 
 the style generally adopted throughout Holland took 
 its place. The fashion was set by the Hague. A 
 few fine large houses, and the one inhabited by Count 
 von Heiden, governor of the province, are the only 
 exceptions to this general rule. Then came the 
 period, still more to be deplored, which terminated 
 the last century and began the present. 
 
 The Town Hall belongs to this unfortunate 
 period ; an immense building of grey stone and brick, 
 with large columns and Corinthian pilasters. On the 
 
90 THE ARCHIVES OF GBONINGEN, 
 
 front it bears the grievously eloquent date, 
 M.D.C.C.C.X.^ It was the year of its inauguration. 
 In the interior it has the same cold common -place, 
 but pretentious appearance. The old Raad en 
 WijnMns^ as represented to us in pictures, was in- 
 finitely superior. But wings surmounted by pinnacles 
 and historical weather-cocks were out of keeping with 
 the style adopted in 1800. 
 
 At that period the antique was the rage, the 
 models being supplied by Greece, and thus bringing 
 about those inopportune reminiscences. 
 
 Fortunately, although the walls are bare and the 
 rooms and passages gloomy, the archives contain 
 many precious treasures. 
 
 Thanks to the archaeologist, M. H. 0. Feith, who 
 is one of the most learned and kind of the Groningen 
 palaeographers, we had a most instructive and pleasant 
 visit. Everything was in perfect order, methodically 
 classed, and without any important blank or gap. 
 The charters, carefully labelled and dated, are stored 
 in large cupboards full of small drawers. Each 
 drawer corresponds with a period of ten years, be- 
 ginning at the year 1250 and ending with the last 
 century. After the charters come the town registers, 
 then those of the -guilds, precious in their information, 
 and precious also in their valuable bindings. The 
 registers of the jewellers, brewers, and victuallers, 
 with their silver coverings, are of great value. I may 
 say the same of the Stadbock^ which, with its corners 
 
 1 The first stone was laid April 29, 1793. 
 
THE SILVER BEANS. 91' 
 
 of embossed silver, is, as a work of art, worthy of 
 Goltsius. Its contents date from 1424 to the end of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 In this municipal treasury are still kept the 
 silver maces of the presidents of the corporation and 
 the burgomasters' sceptres, which are curious and 
 interesting specimens of old jewellery. Then comes 
 the emblematical hat in green velvet, with the town 
 arms and the following grand device : Summum 
 libertatis est testimonium moribus et legihus suis uti. 
 It dates from 1685, but was also copied on the 
 former one, which also served to hold the famous 
 beans. These latter number twenty-four, five black 
 and nineteen white, all of silver, and have heretofore 
 played their part in the policy of this powerful 
 city. 
 
 The corporation was composed of eight burgo- 
 masters and sixteen ' life ' councillors ; four of the 
 former, and eight of the latter really exercising their 
 functions. At the end of each year, the burgomaster 
 in power used to place the beans in the hat, and 
 present it to the councillors and their colleagues, 
 those drawing the black ones having to enter on active 
 duty for the ensuing year. (See Leclerc's History of 
 the United Pi^ovinces. ) 
 
 As we have seen, the authority of the magistrate 
 was boundless. He had the power to pass both 
 heavy and light sentences, rectify the duties or taxa- 
 tion, and dispose of the public funds. It was he 
 who represented the town at the councils of the pro- 
 
92 UNEQUAL DIVISION OF SUFFRAGE. 
 
 vince, and as all the territory surrounding Groningen 
 — known as the Ommelandes — had but one vote, the 
 town in itself, therefore, was as powerful as the 
 whole of the province. As their interests were 
 seldom similar, it is easy to understand the difficulties 
 to which thi^ unequal division of suffrage gave rise. 
 Groningen, more ambitious than the Ommelandes, 
 was constantly encroaching on the rights and privi- 
 leges of its neighbours. Hence innumerable squabbles, 
 often ending in open warfare. On ten occasions they 
 led to war. In 1577, on the 1st of November, ' the 
 prelates and nobles of the Ommelandes in the province 
 of Groningen, having ])een called upon to meet in the 
 town, to discuss certain differences existing between 
 the two, were seized by the authorities and put in 
 prison.^ 
 
 In vain did William the Taciturn grieve over these 
 dissensions in such serious times, and send Marnix 
 de Sainte Aldegonde and the pensioner of Sille to 
 arrange matters — they could do nothing ; their inter- 
 vention being looked upon as misplaced and uncalled 
 for. 
 
 Two years later (1579) Groningen, who had 
 never forgiven this interference b}? the States, declined 
 to adhere to the Union of Utrecht. To obtain its con- 
 sent it became necessary to send Count de Renneberg 
 to besiege it. Vanquished, it was compelled to com- 
 ply ; but its spirit of indiscipline became contagious, 
 for Renneberg, having been named governor, was the 
 first to raise the standard of rebellion. The 3rd of 
 
ACTS OF REBELLION. 93 
 
 March, at 4 a.m., he asserabled to the sound of the 
 drum, in the market-place, the gendarmes and citizens 
 of his party. Seated on his horse with drawn sword, 
 he addressed them as follows : ^ Children, help me to 
 do that which is necessary for His Majesty's service 
 and our own protection;' whereupon doors were 
 forced open and the partisans of the Union made 
 prisoners. In the meantime the Count's cavalry 
 scoured the streets, and no one could appear at a 
 window without being shot. 
 
 The States, to punish this fresh act of rebellion, 
 sent against the town Count William of Nassau, but 
 without success ; and it was only fourteen years later 
 that it re-entered the Union, and this only after a 
 lengthened siege, during which 18,000 cannon shots 
 were fired against it, after which it »was carried by 
 assault. It was then, and then only, that the inhabi- 
 tants entertained a compromise. Even then they 
 allowed no peace to the States, for in 1599 we find 
 the Government reinforcing the garrison, disarming 
 the population, and threatening to rebuild the citadel 
 to keep them in subjection.^ 
 
 What about the Ommelandes ? it will be asked. 
 During all this period the quarrelling continued be- 
 tween them, and it was only in 1640 that the com- 
 plaints, being brought before the States General, 
 were judicially settled. They must have been some- 
 
 1 See Guicciardini's * Description of the Low Countries ' ; Le Petit's 
 * Chronicles of Holland and Zeelande ' -, and Meteren's * History of the 
 Low Countries.' 
 
94 THE TRIBUNAL OF ' VEHME: 
 
 what complicated, for the judgment alone forms a 
 large volume, the report of the case generally com- 
 prising twenty-seven volumes of 1,200 pages each. 
 They can be consulted at leisure in the archives of 
 Groningen. 
 
 This is not the only heavy law action the town 
 had to undergo. Two centuries previously it had to 
 fight the terrible tribunal of ' Vehme.^ The origin of 
 this redoutable Areopagus, whose jurisdiction extended 
 to Westphalia and its provinces, has been lost in the 
 darkness of time. The learned Henry Bruman, whom 
 Dom Pitra calls, not without reason, the Tacitus of 
 Overyssel, states it to have been instituted by Charle- 
 magne. The Saxons, rebels, perjurers, thieves, and 
 murderers so often vanquished by this great emperor, 
 had deserved for their crimes an unique punishment. 
 The illustrious monarch had, therefore, this secret 
 tribunal, which hung like the sword of Damocles over 
 the heads of these evil doers. It had branches 
 throughout the country ; would move about un- 
 noticed, inspecting everything, and meeting at night 
 in conference.^ 
 
 Each member was at the same time witness, pro- 
 secutor, judge, and executioner. No exception could 
 be taken by any member of the family of the accused, 
 to the ruling of the court. A hatchet placed on the 
 door of the residence of the culprit was a sign of 
 condemnation. No one was exempt from its juris- 
 
 ^ In tlie 5th act of his play, Goetz de Berlichingetn produces a 
 moving scene in which these free judges appear. 
 
A HEAVY LAW ACTION. 95 
 
 diction, not even the powerful lord of Berg, Ulric de 
 Passau, Chancellor of the Empire, who with the 
 Emperor Frederick III. himself, had to appear before 
 it. Whole towns and provinces came under its curse. 
 The Vehme was never so terrible as when resisted 
 by numbers. Zutphen, Ootmarsum, and Groningen 
 had in turn to appear at its bar, the latter being 
 summoned on a purely civil question. It unlawfully 
 retained the sum of 5,000 florins belonging to a party 
 of the name of Dirck, and for this sum it was placed 
 outside the pale of the law and held up to execration. 
 This took place in 1456. A century earlier the sen- 
 tence would have carried its full weight, but in the 
 fifteenth century the terrible tribunal had lost much 
 of its power, and Groningen was in itself too powerful. 
 It rebelled, therefore, against the decree, and formed 
 a league which was joined by De venter, Kampen, 
 and Zutphen. The Emperor was called upon to take 
 notice of the case ; the Archbishop of Cologne inter- 
 vened, and many other theologians took part in the 
 debates. Finally a learned prelate, who had travelled 
 throughout those countries, and could testify to the 
 dreadful consequences of this anonymous Areopagus, 
 and who was no other than ^neas Sylvius, ascended 
 the pontifical throne as Pius IL, and launched forth 
 a bulP in 1483 which struck a death blow to this 
 tribunal. 
 
 The archives of Groningen still retain the copy 
 
 ^ This bull was addressed to the Chapters of St. Martin (Groningen), 
 St. Libium (Deventer), and St, Nicholas (Kampen), 
 
96 CURIOSITIES AND TREASURES. 
 
 of the famous Vehrne judgment as hurled against the 
 valiant city. It is probably the only trace to be 
 found of its relations with Germany. There are, 
 besides, some large glasses or tankards of a size 
 sufficient to frighten the drinkers of the present day. 
 whose appearance is certainly more lively than the 
 musty -smelling papers. Add to these, three ancient 
 carved and painted coffers, and a picture representing 
 the planting the ' tree of liberty ' in the great market 
 on the 14th February 1793, and you have a complete 
 list of the curiosities and treasures the Town- Hall 
 contains. 
 
 Those to be seen at the Government Palace are 
 of a different order. They form a small pre-historic 
 museum, which, although still in its infancy, already 
 contains many interesting specimens of the antiquities 
 of the country, chiefly polished and cut stones, 
 bone skates, and a few bronze and iron articles of the 
 same period. On the ground floor of this large 
 palace, built in 1602 and rebuilt in our time, is a 
 vast fine chamber bearing the impress of the seven- 
 teenth century. It is the States room ; at the end 
 there is a memorial chimney-piece, and a very fair 
 allegorical painting signed CoUenius, and dated 1712. 
 
 The building overlooks a triangular place, well 
 planted with trees, beneath which children play. It 
 is close to this spot that John William de Riperda 
 was born, one of the greatest impostors or adventurers 
 the eighteenth century has produced. 
 
 Born in 1690 of a noble and rich family, Riperda, 
 
RIPERDA. 97 
 
 at the age of twenty-two, commanded a regiment of 
 infantry; his intelligence obtained for him a diplo- 
 matic mission to Madrid. 
 
 Spain doubtless pleased him well, for he stayed 
 there altogether, and having renounced his religion, 
 managed to ingratiate himself amongst the courtiers 
 of Philip Y. Soon he captivated the King himself, 
 and in 1725 succeeded, in the name of his new 
 master, in concluding that famous treaty of alliance 
 with the Emperor Charles lY., of which Yoltaire 
 said : ' This is the strangest compact. Two opposi- 
 tion houses uniting, whilst distrusting one another. 
 It was the English, w^ho, having done their best to 
 dethrone Philip Y., acted as mediators to this treaty, 
 and a Dutchman, having become an all-powerful duke, 
 who signed it.' 
 
 From this time Riperda's fortune was at its 
 climax. At one time he was ambassador to the Court 
 of Vienna, and later director of the King's cabinet, and 
 holder of three portfolios, viz., that of Minister of the 
 Interior, Finance, and War. He was, in fact, every- 
 thing and everybody ; but the old Spanish aristocracy 
 became jealous of his good fortune at last, and con- 
 spired to ruin him. One fine day this spoilt child of 
 fortune and brilliant minister, awoke to find himself 
 a prisoner in the Tower of Segovia. There he re- 
 mained two years, seduced his jailer's daughter, and 
 ultimately escaped and returned to his country, where 
 he re-entered the Calyinistic faith. But Groningen 
 was not to his liking. Its area was too limited for a 
 
 H 
 
98 RIPERDA CONTINUED. 
 
 man of such ambitious views. He therefore started 
 for Morocco, turned Mussuhnan, gained the confidence 
 of Muley-Abdallah, became a general under the 
 name of Osman Pacha, and induced his new master 
 to declare war against Spain. Less successful in the 
 field than in the cabinet, he was defeated at Ceuta 
 and exiled to Tetuan, where he founded a new 
 religion of which he was the head ; but scarcely had 
 he began to obtain proselytes, than death overtook 
 him, and thus saved the world from fresh fanaticism.^ 
 
 It is difficult to meet with a more diversified 
 career, and when one looks upon the prosaic habita- 
 tion with its humble surroundings, it is difficult to 
 imagine that such a man could have been born there. 
 
 His biography, however, was published through- 
 out the country in French, English, Spanish, and 
 Dutch. The latter contains some interesting details 
 on the conversion of our hero to Islamism. 
 
 Curiously enough, this adventurer is about the 
 only inhabitant of Groningen whose name has ob- 
 tained an European celebrity. It is not that the city 
 has not produced great and noble men, but somehow 
 their names have died out. Who now remembers 
 Wessel Gansfort (born 1419, and died 1489)? Yet 
 he was Luther's predecessor, and his contemporaries 
 had surnamed him the ' Light of the World.' Wlio 
 knows Rudolphus Agricola? Yet in his day he was 
 
 ^ Chenier denies this last conversion} he says: ^People who knew 
 him assert that he ended his life at Tetuan without having either changed 
 his dress or religion.' 
 
GRONINGEN UNIVERSITY. 99 
 
 looked upon as a kind of phcenix. He was the Picus 
 de Mirandole of North Europe.^ 
 
 Ubbo Emmius himself would be unknown had he 
 not written the history of his country,^ and been the 
 chief rector of the Groningen University. 
 
 This University was founded in 1614, that is to 
 say, twenty-two years before the one in Utrecht, and 
 thirty-nine years after that of Leyden. Long before 
 its institution, however, it was celebrated throughout 
 the literary world, and as early as the sixteenth cen- 
 tury its school attracted students from all parts of 
 Europe especially whilst under the direction of the 
 rector Reynerus Prsedinius, who died in 1559. On 
 its opening, the academy had a fair number of pupils. 
 Afterwards in certain years there were as many as 
 6,000 at one time, 2,500 of whom were foreigners. 
 They came from Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and 
 France ; and it was no more than the University 
 deserved, for it spared no expense or trouble in ob- 
 taining the best masters. 
 
 Amongst the number were Antoine D using the 
 learned Eastern scholar, Maresius (Maretz, the lord 
 of Feret) the brilliant theologian and antagonist of 
 Coccejus, and Gomar, the adversary of the redoubtable 
 precepts of Arminius, whose eloquence echoed through 
 
 ^ His epitaph was as follows : 
 
 * Invida clauserunt hoc marmore fata Rudolphum, 
 Agricolum, Frisii spem decusque soli. 
 Scilicet hoc vivo meruit Germania laudis 
 Quicquid habet Latium, Grsecia quicquid habet.' 
 
 ^ Hegenitus proclaims him the most learned historian of Friesland. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 PROFESSORS OF THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 the halls of the academy. Unfortunately the success 
 was of short duration. Theological discussions took 
 the place of serious studies. The dispute emanating 
 in the sanctuary of study, spread to the streets, 
 and turned into a battle. The religious parties fought 
 with such bitterness for the different chairs, that in 
 order to stay the conflict, the authorities declined to 
 allow the re-occupation of those becoming vacant. 
 From this date the academy began daily to decay — 
 and when its centenary came round there was nobody 
 to celebrate it. 
 
 It required no less than the support of the 
 Princes of the House of Orange to raise it from its 
 ruins, and it was thanks to them that it ultimately 
 saw better days ; but it never regained its former glory, 
 although it still possessed several illustrious teachers. 
 Amongst others John Bernouilli, who, after Newton 
 and Leibnitz, was the greatest mathematician of the 
 time; also Babeyrae, exiled from France by the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantes; Petrus Camper, 
 the emulator of Boerhaave ; Schroeder the orientalist, 
 and Muntinghe the theologian, still attracted a 
 considerable number of foreio:ners. But the excitino: 
 events that occurred at the end of the eighteenth 
 century were as fatal to the unfortunate university 
 as the theological discussions of the preceding 
 century, and in 1812 it was proposed to suppress it 
 altogether. 
 
 It was, however, once more preserved from de- 
 struction. Reorganised in 1815, it became from a 
 
THE DECLINE OF THE UNIVERSITY. 101 
 
 provincial, a State University. Its new title, however, 
 did not restore the prosperity of former days. 
 Education was fast spreading throughout the neigh- 
 bouring provinces, and these were no longer de- 
 pendent on Groningen for the teaching of their 
 children: besides increased facilities of communication 
 enabled students to go either to Leyden or Utrecht to 
 complete their studies. At present the unfortunate 
 university is on its ' last legs,' and the professors 
 esteem themselves fortunate if they get an audience 
 of five or six students, for they are frequently 
 compelled to be satisfied with the attendance of a 
 solitary individual. The number of ' freshmen ' 
 steadily declines — the average for the last ten years 
 being twenty- seven, and for the present, 1875-6, 
 being but fourteen. The Student's Almanack, 
 gleaned from all sources, counts but 188. 
 
 The professors especially suflfer by this state of 
 things, and are compelled to seek outside employ- 
 ment in order to preserve their social standing and 
 bring up their families. The most eminent, however, 
 have left Groningen. M. de Vries is at Leyden ; 
 M. Jonckbloet has entered the political world, and 
 many others are on the point of leaving. 
 
 It will be unfortunate if this desertion continues. 
 The past of the Groningen Academy is too illustrious 
 for it to disappear without regret. Until lately its 
 instruction has been carefully watched by all learned 
 men in Europe. Independently of the celebrated 
 names before mentioned, Groningen possessed. 
 
102 TREASURES IN THE LIBRARY. 
 
 twenty years since, a theological school of great 
 renown. Under the inspiration of Messieurs Pareau, 
 Hofstede de Groote and Muurling, it proclaimed that 
 the Bible, although containing the word of God, was 
 not His word, and not in keeping with the sentiments 
 of the present day. It moreover refused to identify 
 Christ with God, preferring to allow Him a celestial 
 pre-existence and a miraculous origin. It is easy to 
 imagine the tempests of controversy raised by such 
 teaching. 
 
 Now M. Hofstede de Groote is the apostle of 
 other doctrines, and the learned societies trouble 
 themselves no further about the Groningen Academy. 
 But the ancient city has not abandoned the hope of 
 restoring to its University its flourishing state during 
 the seventeenth century. It is not for want of trouble 
 or expense, for only a few years since it had the 
 buildings reconstructed, giving them almost a 
 majestic appearance. The rooms are spacious, and 
 the passages wide and lofty. It moreover con- 
 tains a justly celebrated cabinet of Natural His- 
 tory and a valuable library, containing, amongst 
 other treasures, two hundred incunabula, of which 
 the ' Gemmula vocabularum cum addito diligenter 
 revisa et emendata^ is supposed to be unique.^ 
 
 1 Studying at the Hague with Mr. Campbell, the director of the 
 Royal Library, it was proved that this Gemmula is no other than that 
 described on page 116 of the Annales de la Typographie Neerlandaise, one 
 of which was put up at the ' Inglis ' sale, in 1871. The work, therefore, 
 cannot be unique, for two are now known to exist, viz. that of Groningen, 
 and that of the Inglis sale. 
 
DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTE. 103 
 
 Amongst other rarities must be mentioned a ' book 
 of hours/ printed on vellum, by a Frenchman, Simon 
 Yostre ; also a Bible filled with notes, and said to 
 have belonged to Luther. Of manuscripts there are 
 but few, but we must not forget to mention an 
 interesting chronicle dated 1237, and a Propertius, 
 which, although not very old, is none the less 
 celebrated. 
 
 The Academy is not the only establishment de- 
 serving attention. There is another well worth 
 visiting, namely, the Deaf and Dumb Institute. It 
 ranks third in importance to similar establishments 
 in Europe. It follows, in fact, immediately after 
 that of St. Petersburg, which is only surpassed 
 by the Paris Institute, the largest of all. At the 
 time we visited it it contained 173 inmates — ninety 
 boys and eighty-three girls, who only met to- 
 gether for study. They are first taught to talk on 
 their fingers, in which they (the girls chiefly) are 
 most proficient ; then by moving the lips. It is 
 curious to see these unfortunate creatures holding a 
 conversation with strangers. The guttural sounds, 
 uncontrolled by the ear, are often screeches and very 
 disagreeable ; but this is of little account compared to 
 the advantage they derive from being able to converse 
 with their relatives and friends and fellow- sufi^erers. 
 
 It is to Henry Daniel Guyot, a clergyman of the 
 Reformed French Church, that Groningen is indebted 
 for this institute. To this good man the corporation 
 have raised a modest monument, which consists of a 
 
104 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 large square pillar, surmounted by a lamp, standing 
 in the shade of the lofty trees, and near the small 
 place where the institute stands. 
 
 The old capital of the Ommelandes has many 
 other charitable institutions ; for, notwithstanding 
 its turbulent spirit and dreams of independence, it 
 always took care of its sick and infirm, as also those 
 otherwise afflicted by nature. In the sixteenth 
 century it had already ten hospitals and five 
 monasteries. At the Reformation the latter were 
 naturally abolished, but without ill-treatment or 
 violence to the inmates; for Groningen was alw^ays 
 tolerant as regards religion, and Guicciardini tells us 
 that the laws on religion were never enforced, 
 everyone being allowed to follow the dictates of his 
 or her conscience. The convents abolished were 
 replaced by orphanages and other establishments of 
 the kind, and Groningen now counts twenty-five 
 orphanages, hospitals and refuges for the infirm. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MIDWOLDE TOMB — DELFZIJL AND FARMSUM — APPINGEDAM — 
 THE HARBDRAVERIJ — FEMALE BARGE TOWERS. 
 
 the west of Groningen, on the frontier of the 
 Drenthe, there is a hamlet called Midwolde, 
 where can be seen the burial place of the 
 Lords of Inhausen and Kniphausen. To this spot 
 we directed our steps on leaving the great town. 
 
 At the gates of Groningen the country is rich 
 and fertile, and wonderfully diversified. The wind- 
 ing canals, the houses lost in foliage dominated by 
 windmills with their many-coloured sails, pleasantly 
 blend their various shades. But 
 wolde the 
 
 itself felt. The foliage becomes gloomy and the 
 earth darker. The oak takes the place of plane trees, 
 and high hedges rise up on all sides. The soil 
 becomes sandy, and the dwellings poorer in appear- 
 ance. Midwolde is a modest hamlet, and its celebra- 
 ted church is of the plainest architecture. A square 
 tower of medium height, a concrete roof, covering a 
 low narrow nave, the entire edifice is built of large 
 bricks mellowed by time. Such is this rural temple 
 
 on nearing Mid- 
 neighbourhood of the Drenthe makes 
 
106 THE TOMB OF CHARLES JEROME. 
 
 standing across and in the middle of the traditional 
 Kerhhof. 
 
 The escutcheons and armorial bearings on the 
 white-washed walls, the carved pulpit and baronial 
 pew, lend to this little sanctuary an air of antiquity 
 quite refreshing. At the further end, where origin- 
 ally stood the altar, now stands the famous mau- 
 soleum. It is a large monument of black and white 
 marble on which repose two statues. The first is that 
 of Charles Jerome. The noble seigneur is stretched 
 on a rush mat and enveloped in a mortuary robe. His 
 hands emaciated by suffering, drooping eyelids, and 
 parted lips, have a strikingly truthful appearance. 
 His long hair is thrown back, thus exposing the fore- 
 head, and his noble and likewise handsome figure is 
 not unlike that magnificent bust, by Rotrou, we all 
 so admired in the ' lounge ' of the Comedie Fran- 
 qaise.^ 
 
 At his side, reclining on her left arm, is the 
 baroness his wife, seemingly watching him she so 
 dearly loved. In the background is an enormous 
 scroll supported by little angels, half cupids and half 
 cherubs, containing a long, proud epitaph, enumerat- 
 ing the titles of the deceased, whilst a wreath of 
 escutcheons tells of their illustrious alhances. Possibly 
 so much glory had softened the widow's regrets, for 
 her look is more that of reflection than sorrow, more 
 
 ^ This statue, and that of the baroness, are by R. Verhulst, born at 
 Mechlin in 1624. The statue of the Baron d'Inhau?en is the master- 
 piece of this artist. 
 
HIS WIDOW'S CONSOLATION. 107 
 
 calm than despairing. In her hands, however, she 
 holds an hour-glass, which seems to attest that time 
 shall not assuage her grief. So doubtless she thought 
 when raising to the memory of this beloved husband, 
 too soon taken from her by inflexible death, this 
 superb mausoleum. ' But foolish they who believe 
 in eternal sorrows. ' This the lovely Annaof Ewsum 
 soon learnt by experience, for before long she was 
 untrue to the memory of her first husband, and 
 married her brother-in-law, whose statue in full 
 armour stands at the foot of the monument. 
 
 At about 500 yards from the church is the 
 chateau originally inhabited by this illustrious 
 family. It had been mentioned to us as curious and 
 interesting, we therefore took the trouble to visit it. 
 
 Although the word ' chateau ' or castle appears 
 a somewhat proud title in a country where the 
 Queen's palace is known as the ' wooden house/ and 
 that of the King's uncle as the ' peacock house,' we 
 scarcely expected to meet with much magnificence. 
 
 Thanks to the courtesy of M. Ter Horst, an 
 editor of Groningen, I had a large old map of the 
 country showing the- different castles throughout the 
 land, none of which I can safely say deserve the title. 
 They are, as a rule, modest houses surmounted by a 
 pigeon-house and surrounded by a muddy moat. Al- 
 though more or less prepared, we could not help 
 feeling disappointed, as we had expected the dwelling 
 of the living to be in keeping with that of the dead. 
 
 It would be scarcely worth mentioning if it was 
 
108 CHARLES JEROME'S CHATEAU. 
 
 not for a kind of stone portico at its entrance, pre- 
 tentiously covered with absurd allegories, and rising 
 like a triumphal arch. Behind this gate is a miry 
 moat covered by a drawbridge, on either side of 
 which are loop-holed watch towers, shelters which 
 would appear menacing but are in reality ridiculous. 
 This abuts on a weedy courtyard, in which are two 
 old culverins peaceably resting on their rotten car- 
 riages. Then comes the ' chateau,' a modest one- 
 storied building, with a farm and its appurtenances. 
 This completes this ambitious but unimposing dwell- 
 ing, which certainly gives some little animation to 
 this comparative desolation. Nature alone, with its 
 lofty trees, shady groves, and emerald green lawn, 
 lends something noble and grand to this spot by 
 enveloping it in verdure. 
 
 Our visit ended, we returned to Groningen by 
 way of Enumatil, Den Horn, and Hoogkerk, 
 
 The following morning at daybreak we were 
 once more on the road, but this time taking an 
 eastward course, as we wished to visit Appingedam 
 and Delfzijl and see the mouth of the Eems and the 
 Bay of Dollard. 
 
 Delfzijl, the most distant of these places, is eight 
 leagues from Groningen, at the mouth of the Dam- 
 sterdiep, placing the ancient capital in communication 
 with Eems and its German shores. It therefore 
 possesses a strategical position opposite its powerful 
 neighbour, of such importance that at various periods 
 
DELFZIJL. 109 
 
 it has been enlarged and fortified by those who were 
 desirous of lessening the power of the ancient city. 
 
 Twice Delfzijl was on the point of becoming as 
 rich and powerful as her rival. The first time was 
 in 1568. The Duke of Alva, according to Meteren, 
 seeing the fine situation of the spot and its good har- 
 bour, determined to unite to it the village of Farmsum, 
 which is on the opposite shore of the Damsterdiep^ 
 and thus form one large town. Paccioto, the most 
 intelligent engineer of the day, was entrusted with 
 the work of erecting the fortifications, and the bishop 
 Jan KnijfF was ordered from Groningen to bless the 
 foundations. But by petitions and the influence 
 brought to bear on the Duke and the Count de 
 Megen by their secretary Albuccos, the Grroningeners 
 persuaded him to renounce his plans. 
 
 The second time was in 1591. Groningen was 
 in open rebellion against the States. Prince Maurice 
 held the country, and had just captured Delfzijl with- 
 out striking a blow. Masters of this important posi- 
 tion, the States again thought of carrying out the 
 Duke of Alva's project of making of it a powerful 
 city, and by this means punishing the capital for its 
 everlastino; rebellion. 
 
 To avert this the Groningeners endeavoured to 
 ward ofi^ the blow by suppressing or destroying their 
 rival. On the 12th of February, 1593, it took ad- 
 vantage of the river being completely frozen to send 
 a small army to surprise Delfzijl. They started by 
 night, sliding in all directions, and came in sight of 
 
no THE FORTIFICATIONS OF VARIOUS PERIODS. 
 
 the fortifications without having been observed. 
 Crossing the moat, breaking through the palisade 
 and scaling the ramparts, they succeeded in sur- 
 prising the garrison. But a man-of-war lying off 
 broke the ice with cannon shots, and, taking up a 
 position in the rear of the assailants, 'raked' them with 
 its sixteen guns, and compelled them to retreat. 
 Their rout was complete. They carried away thirty - 
 seven sleighs full of dead and wounded, leaving be- 
 sides seven of the former on the field. 
 
 What once more saved Groningen from having 
 a formidable rival in Delfzijl was her own subjection. 
 Masters of the great city, the States no longer 
 thought of ruining her ; on the contrary they enriched 
 and made her yet stronger. 
 
 Let us hasten to add that the attempt by the 
 Groningeners of the 1 2th of February failed, owing 
 to Delfzijl's position and strongholds. In 1499 
 the mouth of the river had been fortified by Odsard, 
 Count of Friesland, with special care. Again in 
 1568 the Duke of Alva had increased the fortifications, 
 and if in 1578 they were partly destroyed, care had 
 been taken to restore them the following year ; so 
 well, in fact, that in 1591 'its ramparts were large 
 and wide, and its moat about 110 feet wide.' ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding the good state of its old fortifi- 
 cations, they were increased in 1696, when the great 
 Coehoorn surrounded it with the girdle of bastions 
 which we see to-day. 
 
 ^ De Meteren, ' History of tha Low Countries.' 
 
ENVIRONS OF DELFZIJL. Ill 
 
 At the present time the fortress has become a 
 pleasant simple little town, without monuments; its 
 modest houses seem to conceal themselves behind the 
 green banks of the ramparts, shaded by lofty trees. 
 The streets are wide, but the houses are low, and 
 often but one story high. Sometimes they are 
 below the level of the road ; and viewed from above, 
 with their red tiled roofs and flower gardens, have 
 a very pretty appearance. 
 
 To the east the ramparts overlook the Eems and 
 the Bay of Dollard, stretching like an immense lake 
 to the foot of the green bastions. On the horizon 
 can be seen the German coast sharply defined against 
 the clear sky. To the west is the river with its ships 
 and sluices, which give animation to the scene, for 
 Delfzijl is both a fort and a port. In the distance 
 Farmsum rises against the blue sky out of massive 
 clusters of tall trees. Further still, endless meadows 
 streaked with silver canals, and stocked with cattle, 
 cut here and there by avenues of lofty trees, amongst 
 which appear pretty cottages, all this forming to- 
 gether a most charming picture, which one could con- 
 template for hours. This is what we should have 
 done had we not been disturbed by the sound of 
 bells. 
 
 It w^as the town-crier. He made his announce- 
 ments surrounded by a troop of boys. We mechani- 
 cally followed him at a distance about the town, 
 seeking by this means to discover any similarity 
 between the people of this extreme end of Holland 
 
112 FARMSUM. 
 
 and their German neighbours, but our research was 
 vain. People, houses, types, language, and dress are 
 purely Dutch. The cleanliness alone is an irrefutable 
 proof of their nationality. In all this town we found 
 but one slight trace of the German ; it was in the 
 oflPer for sale, in a Jew's shop window, of some small 
 statuettes, representing Bavarian gallants and Prussian 
 soldiers making love to fair-haired servant girls. 
 But little proud of this discovery, we left Delfzijl 
 and crossed the sluices to reach Farms um. 
 
 Farmsum is a little village situated on the break- 
 water that stretches along the DoUard. In the dis- 
 tance it has a Swedish or Muscovite appearance — I 
 might almost say Chinese, were it not that those two 
 words, China and Holland, coupled together, are 
 disagreeable to Dutch ears. This strange aspect is 
 due to its bulging church steeple, low and many- 
 coloured houses, varnished tiles, broad square 
 chimneys covered with large cowls ; to this add little 
 wooden bridges, with their white rails, which stand 
 out clearly against the dark green of the fields, and 
 the likeness is complete. 
 
 In the interior, Farmsum has the look of a Gron- 
 ingen village, not too well kept, with twisting streets, 
 and houses sufficiently old without being ancient. The 
 oldest construction is a little bridge that bears the 
 date of 1712. The church bears that of 1869. No- 
 thing you see could be more modern. None the less 
 it has a pleasant and elegant appearance. 
 
 This lack of ancient buildings is remarkable, as 
 
ROAD TO APPINGEDAM. 113 
 
 Farmsurn is far from being of modern origin ; for, as we 
 have seen, it was already in existence in the time of 
 the Duke of Alva. This cheerful hamlet had, to begin 
 with, a chateau belonging to the Riperda family. 
 Fortified in 1401 by the Schieringers, this mansion 
 was taken by the Spaniards in 1536, who failed to 
 repair the breaches made in the walls. Since this date 
 it remained a majestic ruin ; it was the sole souvenir 
 of old times, its demolition was completed in 1812. 
 
 After a saunter through the streets of Farmsum, 
 we took the road for Appingedam, which. we were in 
 a hurry to reach, as the horse races were to take place 
 there that day. We regarded these races as a piece 
 of good fortune, for they afforded us an opportunity 
 of seeing a small Groningen town on a gala day, and 
 also to make more intimate acquaintance with the 
 rural population of this curious country. 
 
 You have no doubt remarked, dear reader, that 
 our first impressions of these people were not very 
 favourable. Upon entering the province by Zoulkamp 
 and Grijpskerk, we met with a rudeness and rough- 
 ness for which our experience in the other provinces 
 had not at all prepared us. Our reception was almost 
 malevolent, so little are these good people hospitable 
 by nature. This impression was dissipated at Gron- 
 ingen. There, on the contrary, everyone was polite 
 and eager to please, with agreeable manners and a 
 bearing full of tact. Everyone with whom we were 
 brought in contact, from Count Heiden Reinestein, 
 governor of the province, who is the very type of an 
 
 I 
 
114 MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE, 
 
 accomplished gentleman, down to the meanest em- 
 ploye^ comported themselves with the most perfect 
 politeness, and gave every proof of the strongest 
 desire to please. We were received by professors, 
 savants, and merchants with a charming courtesy. 
 We insensibly came to the conclusion that our first " 
 impressions were wrong, and to think that those whom 
 we first met, and to whom our unfavourable impres- 
 sions were due, constituted but an exception to the 
 rule. Unfortunately it was not so. 
 
 There are, in fact, two very distinct populations 
 in the province of Groningen, which it is important 
 not to confound one with the other : the population 
 of the capital which is amiable and polite, and that of 
 the country which is quite the reverse. In days gone 
 by, this same difference existed in all the other pro- 
 vinces betw^een the country and tow^n's people. ' As 
 regards the populace,' said an author of the last cen- 
 tury, 'they are coarse almost to excess, and it is 
 said that the low people and the citizens are two dif- 
 ferent nations.'^ 
 
 I would not suggest that the ' populace ' of the 
 other provinces are altogether better, or that they 
 constitute to-day a model of urbanity, but certainly 
 the countries of Groningen have, on this subject of 
 rudeness, a sad superiority which no one will dispute. 
 
 It must be concluded that this rudeness is some- 
 what contagious, for people in easy circumstances, 
 
 ^ ' Defence of the Dutch nation against the calumnies written in the 
 letters on the Dutch.' The Hague, 1736. 
 
OUR RECEPTION BY THE PRESIDENT. 115 
 
 public functionaries, and magistrates even, have not 
 succeeded in divesting themselves completely of this 
 external roughness. With them, it is true, the ab- 
 sence of ceremony does not extend to outrageous 
 familiarities ; but it is turned into a cold and 
 haughty reception, which would be most painful if it 
 were not ridiculous. 
 
 These reflections recurred to me in consequence 
 of the scenes witnessed during the day, especially at 
 our reception by the burgomaster of Appingedam. 
 ' It is often more difficult to get access to the burgo- 
 master of a village, than to the Prime Minister or 
 the King himself;' said to me one day one of the 
 most prolific novelists of the Young Netherlands, my 
 friend, Jan Ten Brink. 
 
 I took this for a joke, little thinking the very 
 birth-place of my friend would furnish the opportunity 
 for verifying the truth of the remark. 
 
 I was received with the greatest kindness by the 
 President of the Council of Ministers, without any 
 other claim upon his good- will than the nature of my 
 studies, and my works. I was introduced by him to 
 the governor of the province, who was most solicitous 
 on my behalf, and who gave me a warm recom- 
 mendation to the burgomaster of Appingedam. 
 Under shield of this double presentation, I thought 
 we were sure of at least a cordial reception ; and our 
 first care upon arriving in the litile city was to pre- 
 sent ourselves to the burgomaster. 
 
 Alas ! we laboured under a mistake. Our recep- 
 l2 
 
116 APPINGEDAM, 
 
 tion was cold, haughty, and so patronismg, as to 
 border upon the unpolite. It was municipal arro- 
 gance carried to excess. I must admit that we were 
 somewhat dusty ; but the toilette of the honourable 
 magistrate, also, was not exactly perfect, for he 
 received us in his shirt sleeves! We were tired, but 
 was that a reason for forgetting to offer us a seat ? 
 
 The worthy burgomaster, no doubt, desired to 
 appear important and imposing : he might have saved 
 himself the trouble. 
 
 Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici. 
 
 We took leave of him, having the greatest diffi- 
 culty imaginable to retain a serious countenance. 
 
 Having gained the street we laughed to our 
 hearts' content, and profiting by the earliness of the 
 hour, proceeded to visit the town. 
 
 Appingedam is a picturesque little town, through 
 which runs a narrow river without quays, on each 
 side of which are decaying houses and small gardens 
 invaded by rank weeds. Add to this the great high 
 pitched bridges, some large gaudily-painted boats, in 
 the distance a few old trees throuo^h the foliao^e of 
 which the houses may be seen, and the white painted 
 barriers, and one may form some idea of the beauti- 
 ful blending of colour and outline which this pretty 
 little river presents. 
 
 The streets are parallel or at right angles to the 
 course of the stream, and are pleasantly laid out, giv- 
 ing one the impression that the town is prosperous, 
 and the country rich. 
 
ITS TOWN HALL. 117 
 
 The principal monuments of Appingedam are 
 found on a large irregular square or place extending 
 to the right. First there is the church which, begun 
 in 1254 and finished in 1327, has been so often 
 restored that it offers but mediocre interest. By its 
 side stands the Town Hall with an out-building in 
 brick and stone after the fashion of the houses of 
 Groningen. \{sfaqade}B decorated with a bas-relief 
 set off in colour, representing Justice, and bearing the 
 dateof 1C31. 
 
 The interior of the Town Hall contains one im- 
 mense chamber devoid of all character, but furnished 
 with large presses enclosing a few souvenirs of past 
 grandeur. We inspected them hastily, as we were 
 anxious to get out of this unsympathising municipal 
 atmosphere. 
 
 The great square or place referred to above, 
 attracted us by its noise and bustle. 
 
 On the occasion of the races it was invaded by 
 manufacturers of poffertjes (a kind of small fritter, 
 insipid in taste but of savoury odour, made in the 
 open air), with merry-go-rounds and booths of every 
 description. 
 
 It was a sort of improvised fair, extending from 
 the neighbouring streets as far as the ancient cemetery 
 surrounding the church. 
 
 These itinerant players and groups of drinkers, 
 gaily installed in the resting-place of the dead, had 
 a very singular effect, and produced a still more 
 singular contrast. 
 
118 THE HORSE FAIR. 
 
 On the bastions of the ancient rampart, behind 
 the cemetery, several acrobats and gipsies had 
 established themselves. This rampart, which is now 
 planted with trees, was demolished in 1539. In 153G 
 it had been scaled by the troops of Charles V., who 
 were obliged to take the town by assault to bring it 
 to subjection. 
 
 The town has since remained dismantled ; never- 
 theless it did not lose its ancient importance, for it 
 was still the capital of one quarter of the Ommelandes, 
 the Fivelingo, and had forty-live villages subject to 
 its jurisprudence. It had also the right to coin 
 money, which right it retained till the end of the 
 sixteenth century. Although troops have defiled 
 through its streets, from the army of Prince Maurice 
 to the Cosaques in 1813, Appingedam still remains 
 important and rich. 
 
 Bat this importance does not rest now, as hereto- 
 fore, on privileges more or less dearly acquired. 
 Appingedam is the centre of the agricultural popula- 
 tion, and the cattle markets periodically held within 
 its walls make the town a focus of business, and pre- 
 serve to it the character of the capital of the district. 
 
 This horse -fair, above all, has a wide -spread repu- 
 tation; people travel from far and near to attend it. 
 
 Indeed, it is owing to this market that the races 
 are so important. The high-class stallions to be had 
 here are much sought by vendors, who pay dearly for 
 them. 
 
THE RACES, 119 
 
 The Harddravevii^ as these sports are somewhat 
 pompously called in the country, take place on a road 
 in the middle of a large plain. The preparations 
 consist in the erection of two ornamented poles with 
 a strong cord extended the length of the course. 
 The poles designate the starting point and win- 
 ning post, and the stout cord marks the reserved 
 places. At two o'clock the municipal council appeared, 
 preceded by a discordant band of music, of which 
 each musician played in his own time and key. I 
 am not even sure if they all played the same tune. 
 Surrounded by a halo of municipal glory, distributing 
 right and left their patronising glances, urbane and 
 smiling, the burgomaster and his colleagues appeared 
 quite to enjoy this atrocious noise. 
 
 After the bustle occasioned by such a pompous 
 arrival had somewhat subsided, each settled into his 
 place, and the races commenced. Enormous horses, 
 ridden by big lusty men, began to trot vigorously 
 down the macadamised road. 
 
 This should have lasted about three hours, but 
 it was a great deal longer, as the jockeys were 
 constantly obliged to stop to allow some carriage or 
 cart to pass. 
 
 Our Groningen friends had strongly advised us to 
 stay till the end of the day. These fetes^ it would 
 appear, usually end in characteristic excesses. The 
 gin, beer, and wine fermented by enthusiasm and the 
 
 1 jffart/fZmver corresponds with race-borse. It is a term seldom used 
 with reference to cart-horses. 
 
120 WOMAN'S LABOUR VERSUS DOGS'. 
 
 heat of the sun, are conducive to strange sounds and 
 friendly familiarities. 
 
 As to the concerts, we had had enough of the 
 municipal band. What we had already observed of 
 the familiarities, was more than sufficient to lead us 
 to believe they would end in the wild excesses, usually 
 to be seen at the great fairs in Holland. 
 
 We, therefore, decided to withdraw from these 
 family scenes, which are all very well if the people 
 are handsome, and the costumes origmal ; but on this 
 occasion we had met no less than twenty-three hunch- 
 backs, and the attire of the people of Appingedam 
 has nothing very attractive about it. 
 
 We returned to Groningen by boat, following the 
 Damsterdiep which had taken us to Delfijl. Our 
 journey was performed without trouble, but we felt 
 rather sad at the sight of the poor women who, 
 with drawn haggard features, and covered in dust and 
 perspiration, their bodies bent double, tow enormous 
 ' tjalks ' or barges loaded to the water's edge, the 
 owner of the craft lying, smoking carelessly, at the 
 helm. 
 
 This terribly hard work was, originally, partly 
 carried on b}^ dogs. But the Society for the Preven- 
 tion of Cruelty to Animals interfered and put a stop 
 to the abuse. Since then, women and children are 
 harnessed in their stead. The dog, I admit, is man's 
 best friend. But then what is woman ? Before 
 thinking of the animals would it not be better to do 
 the same of the people, and stay that protection of 
 the former which is at the cost of the latter. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 WINSCHOTEN THE MONUMENT OF HEILIGERLEE — NIEUWE BEERTA 
 
 THE ' BEKLEMMING ' THE ' BOERDERIJEH ' A MODEL SCHOOL. 
 
 understand thoroughly the province of 
 Gromngeu, it remained for us to visit 
 ^ the southern portion, which extends 
 below the Bay of Dollard, and lies between the 
 Drenthe and the German frontier. The most 
 important town in that part is Winschoten, situated 
 about five hours' walk south-east of Appingedam. 
 It is a bright and clean little town ; the houses are 
 low but well kept, and the winding streets are care- 
 fully swept. It is full of hotels, jewellers, and 
 confectioners. On the other hand, it has scarcely 
 any ancient monuments, but has some good perspec- 
 tives, especially the one on the great canal, called 
 Binnenveeu. 
 
 The Town Hall is both modern and modest- 
 looking, useful and clean, but of no architectural 
 character. Here, however, we first directed our 
 steps, as we hoped to find the Burgomaster there. 
 
 Count de Heiden, with his usual courtesy, had 
 informed us that he had advised this magistrate of 
 
122 OUR VISIT TO THE TOWN HALL. 
 
 our proposed visit, and that he would conduct us as 
 far as Heiligerlee. We naturally depended upon a 
 warm reception ; but it was a warm deception that 
 awaited us. But coldly received at Appingedam, 
 we were not received at all at Winschoten. The 
 secretary at the Town Hall informed us, in the most 
 natural manner, that the Burgomaster had left for 
 Groningen by the train corresponding with our 
 arrival here. 
 
 We easily consoled ourselves for this slight 
 mishap. None the less it seemed to us to reflect the 
 inhospitable manners of the country, which feeling 
 proves how little it requires to influence travellers 
 for or against a place. Never for one instant doubt- 
 ing that business of importance had taken the chief 
 mao^istrate of Winschoten to Gronin2:en, his absence 
 appeared as a kind of corollary of the unfriendly 
 spirit we had noticed both at Zoutkamp and Ap- 
 pingedam. Happily it was reserved to a peasant 
 of Beerta, and a village schoolmaster, to overthrow 
 these hastily -formed imj^ressions, and bring us back 
 to more charitable sentiments. But we . are an- 
 ticipating. 
 
 If the Town Hall of Winschoten is modern, the 
 same cannot be said of its church, which goes back, 
 at the very least, to the fifteenth century. Although 
 much renovated, it still retains a proud appearance. 
 It consists of one sole nave of medium height, 
 pierced by a number of long narrow windows re- 
 sembling large loop-holes. They, in fact, served 
 
ROAD TO HEILIGERLEE. 123 
 
 this purpose ; for the little edifice had formerly to 
 undergo a regular siege. In 1593, when the town 
 was surprised by the Spaniards, a sergeant named 
 Moda took refuge, with a portion of his regiment, 
 in this sacred asylum, which he held against the 
 enemy during a whole day. Towards evening, 
 finding that, owing to the losses sustained, he was 
 unable to defend such a large area, he withdrew to 
 the belfry, overlooking another portion of the same 
 street. There he held out some time longer, but 
 at length had to give in from lack of provisions 
 and ammunition. 
 
 We should like to have seen the interior of the 
 church, but the ' Koster ' was also absent from 
 Winschoten, and had taken the keys with him ; but 
 they did not tell us if he had gone to Groningen. 
 Unable to enter the only monument of interest in 
 the place, we took the road to Heiligerlee to visit 
 the glorious battle-field where, on the 24th of May, 
 1568, the first engagement, for the independence of 
 the United Provinces, took place. It is reached by 
 a shady twisting road, bordered by fertile fields 
 and rustic houses. On nearing the eventful spot 
 the ground becomes slightly uneven. It was, it 
 appears, the knowledge of these undulations that 
 decided the day. Thanks to them, Count Louis 
 Nassau, brother to William the Taciturn, was 
 enabled so to dispose his forces as to surround 
 the three thousand five hundred Spaniards, under 
 the command of Counts d'Aranberg and de Meghern 
 
124 COUNT ADOLPIIE'S MONUMENT. 
 
 and Colonel Braccamonte. The shock was terrific. 
 Count of Adolphe Nassau perceiving Count d'Aran- 
 berg, rushed upon him, when a hand-to-hand fight 
 took place, which ended by their rolling over 
 in the dust, to rise no more. The death of their 
 principal chief led to the total defeat of the 
 Spaniards, who in that day lost tw^elve hundred 
 men, all their baggage, and six guns.^ The army 
 of Nassau could not altogether rejoice over this 
 brilliant victory, for it also had lost one of its most 
 intrepid chiefs, a young hero of the greatest promise. 
 Count Adolphe had fallen amidst the triumph of 
 his party, and three centuries later, the grateful 
 Netherlands raised a monument to his memory, on 
 the spot where he so gloriously fell. 
 
 This monument stands on the top of a slight 
 eminence. It is composed of an octagonal pedestal 
 in Belgian bluestone, surmounted by a group 
 representing the death of the young Count. 
 Struck down, the generous soldier, still clad in 
 his armour, grasps his sword broken in the fray. 
 Behind him a figure, representative of the Nether- 
 lands, armed with a sword and shield, stops fighting 
 to cast a look of sorrow on the dying hero, whilst 
 the Dutch lion, roaring with rage, approaches to 
 protect the body and avenge his death. 
 
 In the midst of this plain, surrounded by a girdle 
 of foliage, under a grey sky which seems to associate 
 
 * De Meteren's ' Histoire des Pays Bas'j Leclerc's 'Histoire des Pro- 
 vinces Unies/ &c. «&:c. 
 
Reflections on the monument. 125 
 
 itself with sorrowful memories, the monument 
 appeared perfectly majestic. Nevertheless one can- 
 not help feeling a little dissatisfied with the two 
 artists, Messrs. Egenberger and Josef Geefs, who, 
 it appears to me, have — from a purely aesthetic 
 point of view — made some slight mistakes. In the 
 first place, it is a little too round, and the figure 
 of the Lowlander appears to me altogether too 
 melodramatic. It would have been better had it 
 been more simple. The Count, on the other hand, 
 is not sufficiently excited by the struggle. The 
 artists, I imagine, have never seen war or a battle- 
 field, or they would have observed that almost all 
 corpses have the eyes open and the mouth con- 
 tracted, and that after death they retain the ex- 
 pression of the passions and emotions engendered 
 by the struggle. It was a further fault not to have 
 left out the helmet, which scarcely permits the 
 features of the hero to be seen. The desirability 
 of following historical truth will perhaps be sug- 
 gested, but it is not done here ; and I cannot think 
 that the figures of the Lowlander and of the Dutch 
 lion can be anything but emblematical. Lastly, 
 I don't like the lion with his paw on the parchment. 
 Once the sword is drawn, treaties are of little value. 
 Then, again, what charters are these? Are they 
 those titles of Philip II. which the young Count 
 tore up, and were the artists ignorant of the fact 
 that the struggle of the Nassaus against Spain, was 
 that of the rights of the people against an ancient 
 feudality ? 
 
126- OLD AND NEW BEERTA, 
 
 Our pilgrimage finished, we took the road for 
 Beerta and Nieuwe Beerta, perhaps the two richest 
 agricultural villages in the whole province. They 
 are situated two miles from Winschoten, just below 
 DoUard Bay, in the midst of alluvial plains of 
 marvellous fertility. 
 
 Notwithstanding the distinction of Old and New 
 Beerta, these two villages date almost from the same 
 period. Old Beerta does not date back beyond the 
 early years of the seventeenth century^, while the 
 first houses of New Beerta were built in 1636, and 
 its church in 1665. From a distance, they both 
 appear as if enveloped in large trees, overlooking and 
 watching, so to speak, the luxuriant harvest, the 
 rich meadows, and the fields of colza which surround 
 them. They both stretch along the road in an in- 
 terminable range of farm-houses. There are no 
 cottages, and no tiny retreats ; the village scarcely 
 seems to contain small houses such as tradespeople 
 and shopkeepers would occupy. 
 
 The houses of the peasants, hoerderijen^ as they 
 are called, are four stories high, and are broad in 
 proportion, shaded by a great roof which juts out 
 over the angle of the gable. 
 
 A beautiful lawn, strewed with baskets of flowers, 
 a moat full of water and crossed by a pretty wooden 
 bridge, separates them from the road. But no walls, 
 no gates, nothing to shut them in from the view of 
 the passer-by. Behind a faqade of red bricks, en- 
 livened by white wainscotting and large windows 
 
THE PEASANTS' PARADISE. 127 
 
 spotlessly clean, with their neatly arranged muslin 
 curtains, may be seen large thatch- covered buildings. 
 These are the outbuildings adjoining the dwelling- 
 house, large stables and granaries for housing the 
 corn, and with carts and ploughs, flails and scythes, 
 all ranged in order. 
 
 Everywhere the most perfect order and methodi- 
 cal cleanliness; but without any exaggeration I may 
 say the same of the merest trifles one meets with in 
 North Holland. Everywhere, also, evidence of com- 
 fort and abundance, and riches seem to spring from 
 the ground, as indeed they do in the shape of verdant 
 pastures and golden harvests. We are, in truth, in 
 the peasants" paradise. They are the kings and 
 masters of the country. The soil does not belong 
 to them ; but that troubles them little, as they are 
 sure of its fruits. We are in reality in the region of 
 the Beklemming. The BeUemming is a peculiar in- 
 stitution, and probably does not exist in any other 
 part of the world. Outside the province of Groningen 
 there is nothing like it in Holland, and probably the 
 Low Countries is the only place in Europe where it 
 is to be found.^ 
 
 The BeUemming constitutes, to some extent, a 
 proprietorship over and above the original freehold. 
 It is the right of working the estate, and is a value 
 
 ^ The Beklemming is not unlike the Contralto di Livello, which was 
 practised in days gone by in Lombardy and Tuscany, and the Aforamento, 
 which is met with in Portugal. Portuguese and Italian legislation are 
 not, however, suitable to this description of lease, which is sure to 
 disappear before long. 
 
128 ORIGIN OF THE ' BEKLEMMING: 
 
 that can be inherited or bought, and in the contract 
 for which, the original proprietor has no right to 
 interfere, and for which he can exact nothing beyond 
 a fixed and unvarying rental, as consideration for the 
 holding of his property under certain conditions. 
 
 In order perfectly to understand the working of 
 such an institution, it is necessary to go back to its 
 origin. At that time two men appeared upon the 
 scene, the original proprietor and the cultivator. 
 ' The soil is of no value,' said the latter. ^ It brings 
 you in nothing. Give it up to me. By my labour I 
 will fertilise and make it productive ; but as it is not 
 just that you alone should profit by my efforts, let us 
 stipulate that all the improvements I effect upon 
 your property shall be for my benefit, and for the 
 payment of a fixed rental, which shall never be 
 increased, I alone shall for ever have the right to 
 work your land. This right, at my death, shall be 
 transmissible to my heirs. During my life I must 
 have the right to dispose of it in any way I may think 
 fit, to sell it, concede it, or give it to whom I please, 
 without you having the power to interfere ; and this 
 on the sole condition that my heir or grantee shall 
 undertake to pay you the stipulated rental.' 
 
 It will thus be seen that in the first instance the 
 contract was most simple. It was never perfectly 
 equitable. But from the second generation, while 
 still remaining a moral institution, the BeUenuning 
 lost much of its simplicity. The transmission by in- 
 heritance, of this right of working in consideration of 
 
COMPLICATIONS OF THE ' BEKLEMMING: 129 
 
 a fixed rental, transforms it simply into a capital of a 
 special nature, represented by the accumulation of 
 work expended by the past generation, and the im- 
 provements introduced. Like manorial or industrial 
 properties, it might be divided or sold by auction, 
 and in order to arrive at an equal division, the in- 
 heritors might have to sell their rights to a stranger, 
 who would benefit by all the advantages of the work 
 previously done. 
 
 The complications, which surround a combination 
 so simple in its principle, are numerous, as the right 
 of Behleniming is not everywhere observed in the 
 same manner. In certain cantons, together with the 
 ' Regt van heklemming ' is the ' Regt vaii altijd durende 
 heUemining^^ which constitute two dificrent rights; 
 the one being a lease in perpetuity, the other a long 
 term, the end of which is pre-arranged. In certain 
 other districts, the proprietor of the soil has the right 
 to exact a new rental upon each transmission, whether 
 it is by inheritance, sale, or gift. Therefore, when 
 the French introduced the Civil Code into the Low 
 Countries, with its numerous conditions and clauses, 
 they did not attempt to regulate so complicated a 
 matter. They devoted to the subject but a single 
 Article, verifying and confirming it, and referred to 
 local customs to resfulate its efi'ects.^ 
 
 ^ The following is tbe translation of this Article. Art. 1654 (Book 
 III. Chap. 8 of the Civil Code). The right of Beklemming and of 
 perpetual Beklemming, established by contract or other legitimate acts, 
 is regulated by the law and by tlie stipulated conditions, and where 
 these do not meet the case, by local customs. 
 
 K 
 
130 ADVANTAGES OF THE ' BEKLEMMING: 
 
 Less concise than the Civil Code, the legislators 
 of the country have written a large volume on the 
 subject, but the Beklemming is so prolific a source of 
 litigation that it has not by any means been ex- 
 hausted/ 
 
 To sum up, the Beklemming is, as it were, a 
 dividing of the manorial proprietorship. It divides it 
 into two parts, the one fixed, unchangeable, and bear- 
 ing always the same rental : that is the soil ; the other 
 is subject to all the vicissitudes of cultivation, and 
 enjoys all the improvements introduced, buildings 
 erected, and material acquired : that is the right of 
 culture. When these two divisions of proprietorship 
 are in the same hands, the estate is in common right. 
 
 The advantages of such a system are numerous. 
 In the first place it allows the cultivator to enjoy, in 
 return for a small rental, all the advantages of pro- 
 prietorship without actual purchase. Possessor in 
 perpetuity of the products of the estate, he can im- 
 prove it and increase its value without fear of its 
 being taken from him. He works it, nevertheless, 
 subject to the supervision of the real proprietor, and 
 he must neither destroy the soil, nor spoil it. On the 
 other hand, the division of the price of the property 
 into two parts enables the original owner of the soil 
 to hold extensive estates. Lowering the price of the 
 
 ^ The principal jurists who have occupied themselves with the law 
 of Beklemming' are Messrs. Van Swinderen, Tresling, Driessen, Nienhuis, 
 Van Houten, &c., &c., and especially Mr. H. 0. Teith, whose two works, 
 *IIet Groninger Beklemrigt,' and 'Ilandboekje over het Beklemrigt/ are 
 authorities. 
 
THE 'BOER' AND illS SERVANTS. 131 
 
 land prevents its being parcelled out in small lots, 
 which parcelling out is a regular practice in countries 
 under the Civil Code, much to the detriment of agri- 
 culture generally. Finally, with regard to the pro- 
 vince of which we are speaking, the result of these 
 united advantages is to give to agriculture the 
 greatest prosperity, and to render the country one of 
 the 'most fertile, rich, and productive in the world. 
 But as to its solving certain social problems, as some 
 writers have pretended, or as to simplifying the re- 
 lations between labour and capital, the Beklemming 
 has nothing to do with it. 
 
 Antagonism, indeed, no longer exists between 
 the proprietor and the peasant, but simply, between 
 the peasant who rents the estate, and his labourers. 
 The Boer has become under this system an agri- 
 cultural contractor, a land worker. The only 
 difference between him and the workman is that 
 the Boer lodges and feeds his labourers ; but oftener 
 than not the latter hate their master, pretend they 
 are reduced to slavery, and, like working men in 
 general, rave about emancipation. Neither does 
 there exist between the Boer and his servants the 
 same relationship that we find in all French farms 
 between the farmer and his men. They neither 
 live nor eat together, and one never sees at meal- 
 times the long table covered with a coarse cloth, 
 with the master at the head, while the twenty 
 servants are seated round with their soup before 
 them. Here the peasant and the labourer have no 
 
 k2 
 
132 SCHOOL-HOUSE AT NIEUW-BEERTA. 
 
 relationship, except in work ; the Boer resides oppo- 
 site the farm ; he has often two or three reception- 
 rooms, as many pianos, a quantity of silver plate and 
 Japanese ware ; and all the luxuries for which he has 
 a taste may be found in his rooms. The servants 
 live at the back of the house (achterhuis)^ badly 
 fed they say, and badly housed, and complaining of 
 the hardship of their master, his exorbitant demands 
 and his avarice. 
 
 Some of the peasants, it appears, justify these 
 accusations by their parsimony. We were told of 
 some who, for economy's sake, make their servants 
 of both sexes go to bed in the dark, greatly to the 
 detriment of manners and morality. I venture to 
 hope that these rural Harpagons are an exception 
 to the rule, and that the accusations of the '' Knechts^ 
 are often exaggerated. But it is none the less clear 
 that the right of Beklernming has not determined 
 the social question. 
 
 After an hour's walk, along a road between a 
 double line of well-built farmhouses, we reached the 
 school-house of Nieuw-Beerta. The schoolmaster, 
 M. Bauman, to whom our coming had been an- 
 nounced, received us surrounded by his family. 
 The reception was perfect. He placed himself en- 
 tirely at our disposal, to show us first his special 
 domain, that is, his school, and afterwards one of 
 the prettiest boerderijen of the country. 
 
 The school was, for me personally, an object of 
 great astonishment. I expected to find a village- 
 
THE 'BOERDERIJEN: 133 
 
 school something like our own, but as the principal 
 of Nieuw-Beerta is quite a gentleman, we might call 
 his establishment an institution. It is divided into 
 four classes, attended by about two hundred and fifty 
 children of both sexes. Each class, if my memory 
 serves me correctly, has some scholars only one or 
 two years old. They attend for eight years, and 
 their education is most comprehensive. It includes 
 reading, writing, grammar, history, geography, and 
 elementary mathematics. There is a room devoted 
 to natural philosophy, and one to drawing, con- 
 taining plaster models for drawing from the cast. 
 When the scholar leaves he possesses a considerable 
 smattering of useful knowledge. It would be well 
 if French villages were thus happily provided. 
 
 The boerderij, which we afterwards visited, is 
 like those just described ; furnished with rural 
 elegance, and kept with that wonderful neatness 
 which must be numbered among the virtues of the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 As we concluded our visit, we were (to use an 
 agricultural term) ' favoured with terrific rain.' We 
 had talked of visiting the outskirts, and pushing 
 on to Nieuwe Schans. The peasant, our host, not 
 wishing us to expose ourselves to the bad weather, 
 harnessed a couple of beautiful black horses to an 
 elegant britzka, and in this light carriage we bowled 
 through the villages of Finsterwolde and Drieborg, 
 and arrived after a couple of hours' ride at Oudezijl, 
 a hamlet adjoining the fortress of Nieuwe Schans. 
 
134 HAMLET OF NIEUWE SCRAN S. 
 
 This hamlet, which is quite modern, possesses no 
 habitations beyond those necessary for the garrison, 
 innkeepers and shopkeepers of all sorts. The 
 foundation-stone of its church was laid in 1751. 
 The fort is a century older ; it was constructed in 
 1665. Seven years after it was besieged by the 
 Bishop of Munster. Delivered by General Raben- 
 haupt in July 1673, it was occupied by the English 
 in 1794, taken by the Republican troops in 1795, 
 besieged by the Cossacks in 1813, and finally 
 evacuated after a pretence at defence which did not 
 cost the life of a single besieger. 
 
 It forms a sort of point which stretches into 
 German territory. In the distance may be seen the 
 clock tower of Bunde, the first Hanoverian town ; 
 but these two countries, which join each other, and 
 are only divided by a narrow river, are as widely 
 separated as if they were at d liferent ends of the 
 earth. They have neither the same manners nor the 
 same customs. 
 
 ' In days gone by,' the obliging M. Bauman 
 informed us, ^ the intercourse, without being very 
 active, was somewhat frequent. A few Germans 
 cross the frontier and work among us, but they are 
 not much liked. They have always been found 
 dirty, very careless, and great gluttons. Never- 
 theless, they speak our language, and that is a good 
 deal. The schools taught Dutch, and it was in 
 Dutch that the pastors addressed the faithful. But 
 since 1866 all that has been changed. The country 
 
BORDER DIFFERENCES. 135 
 
 has been Germanised. Government employes, school- 
 masters, pastors, all now come from the interior. 
 All is Prussian. The relationships between the 
 borderers are altogether broken. To-day scarcely 
 a reaper crosses the river to work amongst us, and 
 only the scarcity of labour compels us to receive 
 them civilly.' 
 
 ' We are a long way out of our calculations,' 
 objected Constant ; ' for we expected to find here 
 numerous German symptoms; we scarcely expected 
 to find a distinction so clearly defined between two 
 neighbouring populations.' 
 
 ' Ten years ago you would not have found it so,' 
 
 said the amiable principal. ' On both sides of the 
 
 frontier they were more Netherlanders than anything 
 
 else. Language and religion, all were agreed and 
 
 in unison. But the Prussians came ; and if we 
 
 have not remained faithful to our ancient traditions, 
 
 the poor folks have been converted against their 
 
 will.' 
 
 It is a pity, thought I to myself, that M. Kirchhof 
 
 could not hear this vigorous and sincere language. 
 
 At this point we separated, our kind hosts to go 
 
 back to their pretty village, and we to continue our 
 
 journey. Nevertheless, we were not permitted to 
 
 leave them without touching glasses once again, 
 
 and on the German frontier we drank a last glass 
 
 of French wine to the prosperity of the Netherlands. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 DRENTHE THE COUNTRY AND THE PEASANTS — THE ^ HUNNEBEDDEN 
 
 ZUIDLAEEN AND TIJNAARLOO — ASSEN AND ITS 
 MUSEUM— THE HISTORY OF A CHIGNON. 
 
 ETHNOLOGICAL 
 
 DO not know any transformation scene 
 more complete than that which takes place 
 in passing from the province of Groningen 
 into the Drenthe. Once the frontier crossed, all is 
 changed. The soil, manners, houses, and inhabitants 
 all differ. The fields have not the same appearance, 
 and the houses are of a different character. The 
 social organisation is altogether different, and agri- 
 culture is not carried on in the same manner. The 
 frontier of the two countries is but nominal — no 
 mountain divides them, no stream marks their 
 respective limits, yet an abyss separates them. It is 
 only necessary to cross a road, a ditch, or a field, to 
 find oneself in another world, both physically and 
 morally. In all my life I was never more surprised, 
 nor with better cause. 
 
 One of the great landed proprietors of the 
 country, M. Siccama, a near relation to my travelling 
 
OUR OLD-FASHIONED CONVEYANCE. 137 
 
 companion, was desirous that we should acquaint 
 ourselves with this extraordinary metamorphose. 
 He came to meet us at Punt, in the middle of the 
 Groningen country, with one of those good old 
 English chaises, drawings of which may still be seen 
 in the coloured engravings of fifty years ago. Ours 
 dated from the year 1815. We welcomed it with a 
 cry of joy, and declared it a very Phoenix of carriages, 
 for it was at the same time hierarchical and digestive. 
 Hierarchical, inasmuch as the three seats at different 
 elevations permitted the driver to overlook his pas- 
 sengers, and to give the upper seats to those whom 
 he wished to honour. Digestive, by reason of the 
 glorious jolts, which carry us back to our youthful 
 days, to those happy times when the heart beat 
 lustily when we saw the shandry being got ready. 
 It was in this venerable equipage that we made our 
 entry into the territory of the Drenthe ; and in visiting 
 the villages of Oosterbroek, Eelde, Peize, and Pater- 
 wolde, were able to distinguish the incredible differ- 
 ence between the country of the Drenthe and the two 
 rich provinces by which it is surrounded. The frontier 
 is scarcely crossed before the transformation is com- 
 plete. There are no longer the rich and heavy 
 meadows, where the cows stand buried to the knee 
 in the grassy and well planted lands, always fertile 
 and producing at will that which is required of them. 
 The soil is poor and sandy, from which nothing is 
 produced without much labour. The domains, culti- 
 vated with indefatigable perseverance, stand out in 
 
138 CULTIVATION OF THE DRENTHE. 
 
 the midst of the moors like oases in the middle of a 
 vast heath. Each year the rink is extended. Trees 
 are planted, a plot of heath cleared away, a canal is 
 cut or a road opened; but each part thus recovered 
 is watered with the sweat of the brow and covered 
 with golden corn. It is necessary to nourish the 
 earth, before she will nourish the inhabitants. 
 
 In face of such struggles, it will be understood, that 
 agricultural operations cannot be carried on, on the 
 same principles as in the neighbouring provinces. 
 Here the Beklemming would be impossible, for the 
 primitive soil is almost valueless. The agriculturist 
 need no longer be a sort of manufacturer, working 
 one or two branches of agricultural production ; he is 
 a country gentleman, living by and upon his estates, 
 and producing that which is necessary for his family 
 and his people. 
 
 From this mode of working two things result. 
 First, an excessive variety of cultivation, a parcelling 
 out of the work, which gives the land a peculiar ap- 
 pearance, and also the grouping round the principal 
 house of a number of small farms, which transforms 
 the field labourer into a small agriculturist, and sub- 
 stitutes family life for the grouping together of the 
 servants. Here, each has his work fixed. He is no 
 longer enrolled in a battalion manoeuvring under 
 the eye of the master. They work for a master, but 
 leave the field free to his personal initiative, and 
 throw upon him part of the responsibility. To one 
 of these cottagers the master confides the cultivation 
 
PEASANT DWELLINGS. 139 
 
 of the cereals ; this one is looked to to furnish corn, &c. 
 Another has charge of the pastures and the raising 
 of cattle; to him they look for butter, milk, cheese, 
 &c. A third looks after the colza, chicory, and 
 general fodder. Another attends to the woods, 
 cuttings, plantations, clearings, and such like. A 
 little turf-pit supplies fuel to everybody. Around 
 each of the farmhouses is a small orchard and a 
 kitchen garden, which, with their fruits, vegetables, 
 and a few flowers, permit these honest workmen to 
 ameliorate and vary their ordinary diet. 
 
 These rustic dwellings have an appearance which 
 is peculiar to them. Here they acquire another cha- 
 racter than in the north. Here no longer the houses 
 shining with care, which, repainted each year, appear 
 always new, nor the neat farm-yards where not even 
 a straw is out of place. The hoerderijen of the 
 Drenthe have, on the contrary, somewhat the appear- 
 ance of those in Normandy. A pleasant sort of 
 neghgence prevails : forgotten planks piled up in a 
 corner, creeping plants climbing to the right and left, 
 a broken pail or a half-smashed cart in the angle of 
 the yard. All this is picturesque enough, and has 
 about it just sufficient indifference to suggest an 
 independent existence, where nothing is pre-arranged 
 or supervised. 
 
 In the interior, the eye of the master again 
 asserts itself — or rather the eye of the mistress, for 
 this is her real department. Here everything is 
 orderly and well kept, and what Parival said two 
 
HO VILLAGES OF THE DRENTHE. 
 
 hundred years ago of the Dutch dames might be said 
 of these rustic housewives : ' They pride themselves 
 upon the neatness of their houses and their furniture, 
 to an extent that one can scarcely imagine.' 
 
 The villages present the same appearance as the 
 great houses. They are surrounded by a zone which 
 they call the ^ Esch^''^ which produces all necessaries 
 for food. It is not, indeed, until after existence has 
 been assured that the little accumulations are sold 
 or exported. Settled in the midst of these immense 
 steppes, in a territory made fertile at the cost of 
 much care and labour, communication with the outer 
 world is difficult. The roads are few, and for the 
 most part bad; the canals are fewer still. The first 
 thought of the inhabitants is therefore for them- 
 selves. Hence the occupations and habits are 
 entirely different from those one meets with in Fries- 
 land and in the province of Groningen. 
 
 Such is the feature of the villages in this isolation. 
 It appears as if, not expecting visitors, they do not 
 care to make their toilette. With the exception 
 of a few elegant houses inhabited by the well-to-do 
 burghurs and villagers, all the houses have a per- 
 fectly rural appearance. We did not meet every- 
 where and always the carefully painted woodwork, 
 the polished tiles, the immaculate windows — real 
 public mirrors to which the eye becomes used. Some 
 of the houses are in very bad condition ; the great 
 thatched roof descending to the earth, the plaster 
 
 ^ From the Latin esca^ nourishment. 
 
BEAUTY OF THE PEASANTS. 141 
 
 walls, the doors of the barns simply barred up, 
 give to these villages of the Drenthe a particularly 
 countrified aspect, which, after all, is not without its 
 charm. 
 
 What we have said of the habitations we can 
 equally say about the inhabitants, especially of the 
 women. The costumes are as simple as the houses. 
 It is no longer the everlasting caps braided with 
 gold, the buckles, brooches, and earrings in precious 
 metals. Instead of these expensive ornaments, so 
 generally worn in Friesland on the heads of the 
 kitchen wenches and farm servants, the women of 
 the Drenthe have another ornament, which is not 
 without merit. It is their beautiful fair hair. These 
 luxuriant locks, parted down the centre and bronzed 
 by the air and the sun, are worth all the gold and 
 silver • ornaments. The faces of these beautiful 
 country girls would, indeed, ill suit so much jewel- 
 lery. We are not in the country of the impassive 
 and insensible Madonnas, whose comely proportions 
 are ravishingly enrapt in uniform attire ; whose 
 satin complexions, without a wrinkle or a smile, 
 seem to be acquired, according to Propertius, ' by 
 roses steeped in milk.' 
 
 Utque ros£e puro lacte natant folia. 
 
 The daughters of the Drenthe have another style of 
 beauty. Their olive complexion, brown skin, and 
 great eyes, often brown, but always lively and enquir- 
 ing, with their lips a bright rose colour and often 
 
142 COSTUME OF THE GIRLS. 
 
 smiling, contrast greatly with their stouter and more 
 stately neighbours. No more lilies and roses, and 
 certainly no blemishes or suspicious scars. They are, 
 in effect, vigorous and rustic beauties. Their figures 
 are elastic, and the muscles are apparent on their 
 arms, which are always bare, while the little black 
 corsage which covers the bosom indicates a firm and 
 rounded form ; their flesh is firm and strong, and 
 their nature is a httle wild perhaps, but of the type 
 which always pleases an artist. 
 
 The girls of the Drenthe are modestly dressed, 
 without ornament or laces or jewels ; but they are 
 always neat, and their costume is, on the whole, 
 very picturesque. It generally consists of a dark 
 blue dress with short sleeves, a small corsage under- 
 neath, either black or brown, without sleeves and 
 simply covering the breast ; this, with a striped black 
 and white petticoat, completes their toilette, which, 
 though very simple, is gracefully worn, and is not 
 without character. 
 
 It must not be concluded that the poverty of the 
 country is the cause of this simplicity. The peasant 
 of Drenthe is generally in comfortable circumstances ; 
 but, like French countrymen, he hides his money and 
 makes no display of his wealth. He is industrious 
 and economical, stubborn and hard to a degree. * The 
 Drenthers are very difficult to manage,' as an old 
 chronicler has said, ^ being a far-seeing people.' Their 
 circumstances differ from those of the peasants of 
 Friesland and Groningen ; the latter not being able 
 
WANDERING BEES. 143 
 
 to extend their operations, while the former are sur- 
 rounded hy arid and uncultivated plains, which they 
 can cultivate or not as they choose. In this they 
 embark most of their capital, and not in golden kick- 
 shaws, like their neighbours of the North. 
 
 All these good people are not, however, as simple 
 as one might suppose. At Punt, where we passed 
 the night at a rustic inn kept by an honest peasant, I 
 had in my room a pretty marqueterie cabinet, filled 
 with china ware. Delft pottery, and curiosities. By 
 its side the beds were disposed, after the fashion of 
 Schiermonnikoog, that is, enclosed in a wainscot, and 
 composed of half down and half straw. Five or six 
 mice endeavoured all night to run over me. 
 
 The next day at dawn we continued our journey. 
 We followed the course of a small river called the Aa, 
 a name borne by most of the rivers in the country, 
 and took the road to Midlaren, where we expected to 
 find some of the earliest Celtic monuments. On the 
 way we met some wanderipg bees. They were in a 
 cart, enclosed in their hives, arid continued during 
 the journey to make that sweet honey which, in the 
 graceful language of Montaigne, ' is no longer thyme 
 or marjoram.' Twice a year they journey in this 
 way, from the north to the south and from the south 
 to the north, keeping near the flowering colza fields, 
 where they ' suck ' without hindrance. 
 
 After having traversed many kilometres of moors, 
 intersected here and there by a spare field of buck- 
 wheat, we reached those primitive monuments, enor- 
 
144 THE 'HUNNEBEDDEN: 
 
 mous piles of granite rocks, which in the country are 
 called Ilurmebedd en, 'the beds of the Huns.' ^ Beds 
 a little hard indeed, and somewhat primitive ! What 
 is their origin and signification ? They are to be 
 met with all over the world. In France we count 
 them by hundreds ; Wormius has described the 
 Danish ones, Rudbek those in Sweden ; Spartmann 
 has seen them among the Caffres, Jefferson in Vir- 
 ginia, Barrow among the Hottentots. Everywhere 
 their presence is attempted to be accounted for by 
 the most improbable stories. I have had the curiosity 
 to read what ancient authors have written respect- 
 ing the ffimnebedden of the Drenthe, and their con- 
 tradictory ideas do but little to clear up the mystery 
 which hovers about the gigantic ruins. 
 
 Originally it was said they were the work of evil 
 spirits. That is the religious explanation. For it 
 must not be forgotten that long after the establish- 
 ment of Christianity, these stones, regarded as idols, 
 were worshipped in secret. The Council of Aries in 
 452, and that of Tours in 587, exercised all their 
 authority to suppress this idolatry, and in order to 
 stop it, attributed an infernal origin to the monu- 
 ments. Schoevonius, on the other hand, believes 
 them to be the remains of the columns of Her- 
 cules. 
 
 J. A. Mellen inclines to the idea that they are 
 
 ^ According to another version, first admitted by Nicholas V^ester- 
 dorp, the word Hun means death, and thence Hunnebed would appear to 
 be bed of the dead, or tomb, an explanation now generally accepted. 
 
THE 'HUNNEBEDDEN'—ContinueJ. 145 
 
 altars or sacrificial stones erected by the Cimbri, 
 while Dr. Jean Picardt, pastor at Koevorden, took 
 them to be the work of giants who inhabited the 
 country in days gone by, and has even described 
 these giants and their manners and costumes. He 
 has gone even further, and has given us the portraits 
 of some of these gigantic phantoms as conjured up 
 in his mind/ 
 
 Others, again, more sensible or less fantastic, see 
 in these primitive monuments tombs erected by the 
 Celts, to their venerated chiefs ; sepulchres grand 
 but nameless, which have existed for ages, outlasting 
 the strength of those who erected them, but leaving 
 us in ignorance of the names of those whose naemories 
 they are intended to consecrate. 
 
 In this last opinion the savonts of our day agree, 
 and that which justifies this view is the excavations 
 that have been made during many years past in 
 digging round about them, and which have led to the 
 discovery, under a large number of these monuments, 
 of urns of baked clay containing human ashes. Un- 
 fortunately, from the commencement of this century, 
 a large number of these Hunnebedden have already 
 been rummaged by careless hands, who, believing 
 
 ^ See his ' Korte Beschrijving' &c. (Amsterdam, 1660). This belief 
 in giants was very general in the Low Countries. Guicciardini refers 
 to it several times. In his * Grande Chronique/ M. Jean le Petit grows 
 very indignant against those who doubt their existence : * Car de nyer 
 generalement qu'il n'y auroit eu nuls grants, ce seroit trop ridicule ! 
 Voir desmentir les sainctes Ecritures qui en font asses mention/ he 
 exclaims in anger. 
 
146 THE ' HUNNEBEDDEN'— Continued. 
 
 they should find other treasures there, have neg- 
 lected to preserve the result of their researches/ 
 
 Although a large number of these monuments 
 has been destroyed, there are still fifty -one in the 
 Drenthe, to which may be added a number of tumuli, 
 and of those mortuary chambers which, in the lan- 
 guage of the country, are called grafkelders^ but of 
 which, up to the present time, but little notice has 
 been taken. 
 
 The Hun7iehedden of the Drenthe are scattered 
 about somewhat unequally, but on the map their 
 position seems to be almost regular. The localities 
 in which they occur most frequently are Borger, 
 which contains eleven, and Emmen nine. Odoorn 
 has eight, and in and about Anloo are seven. 
 
 Of these fifty-one Hunnehedden^ twenty-nine 
 have been acquired by the Government by means 
 of the Credits opened from 1869 to 1872. Twenty 
 belong to the province, and two are private property. 
 The monuments of Zuidlaren and Middlaren are the 
 property of the Government.^ 
 
 I will not here describe these burying-places. 
 He who has seen one has seen all. Their principal 
 architectural feature is a vast slab resting on two 
 
 ^ Most of these early researches were made at the commencement of 
 this century, notably in 1809. At Loor the results of the first search 
 have been found, the debris discovered having been buried in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Unfortunately the pottery had been broken, and the shattered 
 urns rested amidst the ashes they should have enclosed. 
 
 2 See the pamphlet published by M. R W. Kymiuel, entitled, * De 
 Hunnebedden in Drenthe.' 
 
THE 'HUNNEBEDDEN' OF TUNAARLOO. 147 
 
 other stones, which form its supports. By the repe- 
 tition of this principle the constructors built a sort 
 of gallery,' closed at both ends by two other blocks. 
 The number of tables, and the dimensions of the nu- 
 merous slabs of which they are composed, constitute 
 the only difference existing between all these monu- 
 ments. Beyond this, there is not a sign of human 
 industry. The blocks are in their natural state — 
 unshaped, and bearing neither inscription nor sculp- 
 ture. 
 
 Under the influence of time and by the incredible 
 force of vegetation, some of these Hunnehedden have 
 been overturned. A sapling, in forcing its way be- 
 tween the gigantic stones, has disunited them, and 
 caused the edifice to collapse. This has been the 
 case with the monuments of Middlaren, the blocks of 
 which are now piled up without order, and are im- 
 posing only through their massiveness. Those of 
 Tijnaarloo, which ought to be seen the same day, are, 
 on the contrary, entirely complete and beautifully 
 preserved. They alone, in the midst of an immense 
 country, attest the presence of man and bear witness 
 of bis power. 
 
 Before arriving at Tijnaarloo, we passed through 
 the pretty village of Zuidlaren, where we made an 
 excellent breakfast at the Maison de Yille — not an 
 official repast, but a friendly one, for according to 
 the custom of the country, the Town Hall is installed 
 in a large inn. 
 
 Throughout the whole of the Drenthe, every 
 l2 
 
148 ZUIDLAREN. 
 
 municipality is similarly circumstanced. Each prin- 
 cipal inn contains a large and beautiful hall, decorated 
 in the old style. There the Council assembles, meet- 
 ings are held, and there the host receives travellers 
 of distinction. The hall of Zuidlaren, with its pic- 
 tures and its grand chimney-piece, appeared to us all 
 the more worthy of note as we were there served 
 with a delicious repast. In these modest villages of 
 Drenthe the French traveller finds two valuable re- 
 sources : the ham, justly praised throughout the 
 whole of the Netherlands, and excellent rye bread, 
 such as is not to be met with in any of the other 
 eleven provinces. 
 
 The good cheer, however, did not prevent our 
 visiting the village, which is most picturesque, with 
 its sandy lanes and large open greens, surrounded 
 by thatched cottages and grand trees. The church, 
 though largely restored, still wears a venerable as- 
 pect. The interior is cold and bare, the only wood- 
 work being the pew of the Counts of Heiden Reine- 
 stein, which illustrious family hold a magnificent 
 chateau close by the church. This chateau is called 
 Laarwoud. It is one of the oldest estates in the 
 province. The buildings are relatively modern, 
 having been reconstructed in the middle of the 
 last century by Count Alexander Charles, who was 
 then ' drossaard ' ^ of Koevorden. It is a real castle, 
 of lordly appearance, with two large projecting wings. 
 
 ^ The post of 'drost' or 'drossaard' is equivalent to that of seneschal, 
 or rather bailiff. 
 
LAAEWOUD PARK. 149 
 
 In front oithefaqade is a magnificent flower-garden, 
 enclosed by an iron railing. In the rear of the 
 buildings extends a magnificent park. Nothing is 
 wanting about this noble dwelling, which leaves the 
 miniature castles of Groningen far behind, in point 
 of beauty and grandeur. 
 
 The park is, above all, admirably laid out and 
 kept up in princely style, with its majestic avenues 
 ending in lovely perspectives, and its grand old trees 
 interlacing their branches overhead, and forming an 
 immense cradle, about the summit of which innu- 
 merable herons are continually fluttering. 
 
 If the stories we were told are to be believed, the 
 lords of Heiden owe to a singular custom the splendid 
 condition of these beautiful plantations. In the good 
 old times they enjoyed a curious privilege. Each 
 newly married peasant who became a father before 
 the regular time — that is to say, whose wdfe increased 
 the population in less than nine months after the 
 nuptial benediction — had to work for the counts of 
 Heiden, for as long a time as they were in advance of 
 the prescribed period. As these things, it appears, 
 happened pretty frequently, the lords of Laarwoud 
 had always a numerous company at work on their 
 estates. 
 
 It was certainly very hard upon the poor hus- 
 bands thus to render them responsible for the caprices 
 of nature. Perhaps it is owing to the sense of this 
 heavy responsibility that the origin of another custom, 
 equally strange, may be found. Every man, on the 
 
150 VILLAGE OF AS SEN. 
 
 morning of his wedding-day, purchased his coffin, a 
 purchase at least peculiar. This curious custom is 
 still in existence. 
 
 Zuidkren visited, we resumed our route through 
 the desolate moors. Nothing could be more melan- 
 choly than the slow and painful journey across this 
 immense heath. The carriages were buried to the 
 axle in the sand ; everywhere around, silence and 
 solitude ; on the horizon a line of hillocks entirely 
 destitute of vegetation ; not a human form in the 
 vast solitude, and the only living beings to be per- 
 ceived, the birds, appear like unquiet spirits wander- 
 ing at hazard in the midst of this desert. 
 
 Thus we followed Tijnaarloo, Taarloo, and Loon. 
 In the evening we arrived at Assen, the modern 
 capital of this dreary country. 
 
 Certainly, no one having seen Assen would doubt 
 the role that contemporary politics had assigned to 
 it. It has the appearance of a splendid village, not 
 at all that of a town, much less a capital. It is so 
 nevertheless, and the grand edifices, occupied by the 
 Government of the province and the administration 
 of the young city, clash almost with its low houses, 
 its unpretentious streets, its old trees, and the vast 
 meadows stretching out on every side. 
 
 Assen is altogether a modern town. You would 
 search there in vain for the closely packed houses, 
 the sinuous and tortuous streets and gloomy lanes, 
 the inevitable traces of the narrow and cramped 
 existence which was the ordinary life in the cities of 
 
ASSEN CHOSEN AS CAPITAL, 151 
 
 the middle ages. Throiighout you have light and 
 verdure — absohite necessaries in these days. And 
 this is not surprising, for Assen dates but from 
 yesterday. A century ago it was a hamlet of five 
 hundred souls ; to-day it has six thousand inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 When the National Government organised the 
 provinces under the Batavian Republic, it sought to 
 fix upon a capital for the Drenthe ; Koevorden, which 
 held that position in the middle ages, was not suffi- 
 ciently central. It became necessary to establish a 
 principal town. Assen was chosen on account of 
 its position, and was constituted the capital. Later 
 on, King Louis came to see it. He felt, as it were, 
 a secret affinity between this desert and desolate 
 country and the state of his mind. A sweet sympathy 
 drew him to this official village, which he treated 
 like a beloved child, endowing it with wealth. He 
 even entertained the idea of building himself a 
 shooting-box, a sort of quiet retreat, where he 
 might come for calm and repose. He was, however, 
 prevented from carrying out his designs, by events 
 which are known to all, and which hastened his 
 retreat. 
 
 Among the properties given by King Louis to the 
 town of Assen is a magnificent wood, which is to this 
 day one of the two attractions of the place. Young 
 couples love to Avander beneath the beech trees and 
 to picnic in their green shades. It is at once a 
 paradise for the poet and the lover. 
 
152 THE MUSEUM OF AS SEN. 
 
 The other attraction is more interesting to geolo- 
 gists and archaeologists. It is a museum of prehistoric 
 antiquities, justly held in great repute in the sur- 
 rounding provinces. Some years ago there were 
 collected and brought together, in a large room of the 
 provincial palace, all the antique debris that could be 
 found in the country. For, independently of the 
 scientific researches carried on round the Hunnehed- 
 den and in the grafkelders^ the Drenthe possesses two 
 almost inexhaustible mines of antiquities of all sorts, 
 its peat beds and its sand. 
 
 It is in the latter that the most ancient vestiges 
 of the presence of man in these countries are met 
 with. Flint-dressed and polished knives, arrows, 
 hatchets, and hammers of prehistoric times abound 
 in the glass cases of the museum of Assen. The 
 peat beds furnish evidence of the age of bronze only. 
 This age is represented in the museum by bracelets, 
 but, above all, by a magnificent sacrificial knife, the 
 geometrical ornamentation of which, together with 
 its elegant shape, give ample evidence of a highly 
 developed aesthetic idea. Of more modern times, 
 however, these beds have yielded articles of all kinds. 
 Amongst them are found specimens of almost every- 
 thing — clothes, purses, jewels, rings of fine gold, 
 cameos, and rich and precious relics of the period of 
 the Roman occupation. There have also been found 
 complete the wheels of an ancient Roman chariot, 
 entire bridges, well-preserved human remains, caps 
 and hats — what more shall I say ? The sand has 
 
AN ANTIQUE CHIGNON. 153 
 
 also furnished some bronze statuettes and a fragment 
 in alabaster of the abduction of Proserpine. Then 
 come the stone tombs, like those of Schierstins, with 
 their collection of swords, rings, bracelets, and dag- 
 gers. All these ethnographical treasures have been 
 preserved with great care by the erudite M. R. W. 
 Kijmmel, who has devoted a large portion of his 
 time to them, and who is constantly augmenting the 
 collection, by fresh discoveries. Amongst them is a 
 singular object, which I cannot pass in silence. The 
 ladies certainly would not wish me to do so. It is — 
 a chignon, and is sufficiently peculiar to merit descrip- 
 tion. It is composed of a card head-piece, of an 
 almost oval shape. The bottom is embellished 
 with plaited fair hair ; the top, that part which is 
 technically called the turban, is covered with seven 
 rows of small plaits. Some silver-threaded plaited 
 ribands seem to hold the structure together. The 
 shade of the hair is very well preserved. The ribands 
 are more damaged, having almost lost their colour. 
 
 This chignon was found in 1814 in an ancient 
 sepulchre. It surmounted a skull white and polished 
 like ivory. It was all that remained intact. The 
 adornment had outlived the head that wore it, and 
 it was through her vanity alone that the souvenir 
 of this fair person is handed down to our time. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 STEENWIJK — A HEROIC SIEGE — MEPPEL THE PENITENTTAKY COLONY 
 
 OF VEENHUIZEN. 
 
 T was our intention, after having visited 
 Assen, to proceed on foot, with our knap- 
 sacks on our backs, across the eastern 
 portion of the province of Drenthe. We wished to 
 leave by Rolde, reach Eext and Gieten, and descend 
 by Gasselte, Borger, Exloy Odooni, and all those 
 charming villages so justly renowned, follow the road 
 parallel with the German frontier^ and in this way 
 reach the little town of Koevorden, that celebrated 
 fortress, placed like an advanced sentinel at the ex- 
 treme limit of Netherland territory. 
 
 But, before putting our project into execution, 
 and starting across the arid steppes and endless 
 moors, we resolved to visit two little towns, Steen- 
 wijk and Meppel, situated between the capital of the 
 Drenthe and the Zuyder Zee, and also to see in detail 
 a penitentiary establishment of a special nature, lying 
 to the north-west of Assen, and known as the colony 
 of Veenhuizen. It was by Steenwijk that we com- 
 menced this series of excursions. 
 
STEENWIJK. 155 
 
 ' Steenwijk is an old town, situated on a small 
 river called the Aa. It is small, and measures but 
 sixteen hundred yards along the river, in the form 
 of a bow/ 
 
 In these terms the author of the ^ Grande Chro- 
 nique de Hollande et Zeeland' describes the little city 
 at the close of the sixteenth century, at a period 
 when, by reason of the sieges she had sustained, all 
 eyes were turned towards her. As he saw her then, 
 so she appears to us to-day, holding always the same 
 place, surrounded with grass fortifications which 
 have been altered into boulevards, neither greater nor 
 more extended than they have been for three hundred 
 years, and always retaining the same style, 
 
 Steenwijk is not, however, as old as Jean le Petit 
 would have us suppose. It was not until the year 
 1232 that she appeared in the history of the Low 
 Countries, where, indeed, she never played but a 
 secondary part. She was counted among the eight 
 close towns of the Overyssel ; but she figured at the 
 bottom of the list among the unimportant ones, and 
 belonged ecclesiastically to the Chapter of Deventer. 
 Her principal church is nevertheless one of the great 
 religious monuments of the country. It was built in 
 the twelfth century, and in 1205 raised to the dignity 
 of a parish church. Almost entirely rebuilt in the 
 fourteenth century, it presents to-day a high central 
 nave covered in wood, and two low vaulted sides in 
 brick, the whole overtopped by an enormous tower 
 of three storys, each pierced by a dozen diamond- 
 
156 CHURCHES OF STEENWIJK. 
 
 shaped windows. This tower has been lowered, or 
 remains unfinished ; and in order to improve its in- 
 complete appearance, a wretched, painful wooden 
 balustrade, and a small clock tower have lately been 
 added. Its interior is vast and bare, whitewashed 
 according to the custom of the country. As to works 
 of art, it contains nothing beyond a few beautiful 
 tombstones, now unfortunately much worn by the 
 footsteps of the faithful. 
 
 This grand church, in days gone by dedicated to 
 St. Clement, is not the only religious monument in 
 Steenwijk. There is another church, dedicated to 
 Our Lady, which is a handsome specimen of the 
 architecture of the fifteenth century. According to 
 an inscription on the faqade^ it was almost entirely 
 rebuilt in 1477. It has been restored in our time, 
 with great care and much taste. 
 
 These two monuments are the more interesting, as 
 very old houses are extremely rare in Steenwijk. 
 This is easily explained: XhQ town was nearly razed 
 to the ground in 1592. In order to reduce it, Prince 
 Maurice was obliged to mine the ramparts and bom- 
 bard the town. When it was carried by assault, ' les 
 maysons et les eglises estoyent presque toutes abba- 
 tues et les autres percees de part en part, de sorte 
 qu'il falloit que le peuple se tint es caves.' Let us 
 add that this memorable siege, of which Blaeu has 
 preserved the plan of operations in one of his beautiful 
 tracings, was neither the first nor the last that 
 the valiant little town had to endure. In the year 
 
THE SIEGE OF 1580 157 
 
 1552 it was besieged by Count de Meurs, but without 
 success. The following year, however, it was less 
 fortunate ; it was then occupied by the troops of 
 Charles the Fifth, and its castle razed to the ground 
 by order of the Emperor. But all the vicissitudes of 
 these diiFerent attacks are unimportant compared with 
 the memorable siege of 1580. 
 
 On this occasion resistance was carried to the 
 utmost extremity, and rendered for ever famous 
 the name of the little city. On the 18th October 
 Count de Renneberg invested the town. He led 
 against it six thousand infantry and twelve com- 
 panies of cavalry. Steenwijk possessed but six hun- 
 dred soldiers and three hundred townsmen, of whom 
 not more than a fiftieth were free from suspicion of 
 disloyalty. As to cavalry and artillery, the besieged 
 were absolutely without them. 
 
 It was in this deplorable condition, badly sup- 
 ported by the populace and badly provided with 
 provisions and ammunition, that the two brave cap- 
 tains, Cornput and Olthof, undertook the heroic 
 defence, of which Frison Remigo Fresinga has pre- 
 served minute details.^ I should like to trace, here 
 on the spot, all the episodes, too little kno^vn, of this 
 siege. It is among those which read like legends. 
 One would imagine oneself suddenly transported back 
 to the time of the Paladins. Though it is not prac- 
 ticable to recount them all here, the following two or 
 three will enable the reader to judge of the valour 
 
 ^ Published in 1584, at Deventer, by Fridsert of Campen. 
 
158 VALOUR OF THE BESIEGED. 
 
 of the besieged and of the spirit which animated 
 them. 
 
 On the 25th October the soldiers of Renneberg, 
 after several fruitless attempts, managed to fasten a 
 cask filled with tar and sulphur to one of the gates 
 of the town. In the evening they set fire to it, and 
 the flames, which began to lick the framework of the 
 gate, caused great uneasiness to the people of Steen- 
 wijk. It was impossible to extinguish the fire without 
 opening the gate, and thus delivering the place to 
 the enemy. The consternation was great, and the 
 people commenced to barricade their houses, when 
 there suddenly appeared on the top of the ramparts a 
 tall black figure. It was one of Corn put's soldiers, 
 brandishing an enormous cutlass. ' Wretched thieves,' 
 cried he, ' I am Arent of Groningen, son of a brewer, 
 and I am going to extinguish your fire.' This said, 
 and without hesitation, the tall phantom glided down 
 the embankment and into the water, struck out, and 
 amidst a shower of project iles cut the cords that held 
 the cask and pushed it into the middle of the moat, 
 where he in turn disappeared. A profound darkness 
 succeeded the blaze of the fire, while a deathlike 
 silence followed the crash of the fusilade. People 
 held their breath in anxiety, and all eyes turned en- 
 quiringly towards the dark and stagnant waters. The 
 uncertainty did not last long. The black form re- 
 appeared upon the top of the rampart, and in the 
 silence of the night cried aloud, ' Wretched thieves, 
 I am Arent of Groningen, son of a brewer, and your 
 fire is extincruished.' 
 
A CURIOUS EPISODE. 159 
 
 On the 1 5th January — for the siege lasted no less 
 than four months — the spectacle was of a different 
 nature. Pretending that they were bored, the 
 officers of Renneberg sent a challenge to those 
 of Cornput, who accepted, and the Captains Wil- 
 liam and Thomas, after exchanging cards in the 
 usual manner, fought on the ramparts before the two 
 armies. 
 
 But the most curious of all these episodes is 
 without doubt the scene that passed on the 4th Feb- 
 ruary in Steenwijk itself. By this time the provisions 
 had failed, and as it appeared impossible longer to 
 sustain the siege, the townsmen assembled in the 
 middle of that large and beautiful square which is to 
 be seen to-day, murmuring loudly against the go- 
 vernor, when, to the surprise of everybody, three 
 partridges fell in the midst of a group of the most 
 turbulent. 
 
 Cornput having been informed of this extraordi- 
 dinary event, rushed hurriedly to the place, and then, 
 taking from those around him the three little birds, 
 cried in a tone of inspiration, ' Courage, my children, 
 this is the hand of God. Behold in this the dove of 
 promise. In three weeks we shall be delivered.' The 
 most curious thing was that the prophecy of the 
 plucky Huguenot was exactly realised. Colonel 
 Norrits soon appeared with the States army. On 
 the 21st February he managed to send into Steenwijk 
 one hundred and fifty cheeses, three hundred and 
 fifty loaves, and some powder. On the 23rd February 
 
160 AN ORIGINAL 31ANCEUVRE. 
 
 Renneberg retired, abandoned his camp and all his 
 war material, and the town was saved/ 
 
 So much heroism was, however, but badly re- 
 warded. It was with great difficulty that the troops, 
 who comported themselves so bravely, could re- 
 cover their pay from the State. As to the citizens, 
 ruined by the siege, they were afterwards decimated 
 by the plague. So when, in the following year, the 
 town was again besieged by the Spaniards and the 
 Malcontents, the inhabitants were unable to offer any 
 resistance, and on the 15th November, Yerdugo 
 appearing suddenly before the town, forded the moat 
 with his troops, and scaled the ramparts without 
 opposition. 
 
 Some days before, the Spanish general had recon- 
 noitred the environs of the place, and the means he 
 adopted so as not to excite suspicion are too original 
 to be passed in silence. A very pretty girl went to 
 walk along the edge of the moat. All of a sudden 
 her hat, caught by the wind no doubt, fell into the 
 water. The efforts she made to recover it only in- 
 creased its distance from the bank. She then called 
 some boys to her assistance, who, by throwing stones 
 round the hat, guided it to that pari: of the moat 
 where the water was shallowest. Here the}^ waded 
 in, thus discovering the weak side of the place. 
 
 Steenwijk had remained ten years subject to Spain, 
 
 ^ An old and very rare book, the * Polemograpliia Avraico Belgica,' 
 contains a very curious engraving representing this siege of 1580-81, 
 and gives a perspective view of the town, which is most interesting, 
 
STEENWIJK WEIGH-HOUSE. 161 
 
 when Maurice came in person to retake it. We have 
 seen to what state the town was reduced as the result 
 of these six weeks' siege.^ Since then it has been 
 visited by the troops of the Bishop of Munster, who 
 occupied it in 1672, and abandoned it the following 
 year, after obtaining ransom. Riots in 1749 and the 
 inundation in 1825 were afterwards the only two 
 sorrowful pages that darkened her history. 
 
 To-day Steenwijk is a nice little town, with its 
 irregular streets overlooking the surrounding country, 
 the source of its riches ; for she * is situated in a 
 territory fertile in corn, in which she does a large 
 trade.' Her grain and butter markets are renowned, 
 and sometimes a thousand head of cattle may be 
 seen on the boulevards and on the grande place^ 
 where three hundred years ago the Puritan Cornput 
 took the partridges and gave out his oracles. Close 
 by, in a little street, is to be found the * Weigh- 
 house,' a pretty construction, ornamented with two 
 bas-reliefs, and bearing date 1642. From the ' Weigh- 
 house ' to the place, and from the place to the 
 ' Weigh-house,' there is on market-days a peq^etual 
 coming and going ; and if on these days one takes 
 refuge on the boulevards, there may be seen in the 
 distance long processions of peasants and carts coming 
 
 ^ It is a curious fact, that the heroes of the first siege took part in 
 the second, hut this time in the ranks of the besiegers and not of 
 the defenders. The brave Captain Osthof, who commanded one of 
 Maurice's regiments, was killed by a projectile shot from the place, and 
 the States army served the engines of war invented by the old governor 
 Cornput. 
 
 M 
 
162 ME P PEL, 
 
 to the town or returning joyously to their peaceful 
 villages. 
 
 Steenwijk was already an old town before Meppel 
 came into existence. At the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century it was counted in the province 
 of Overyssel among the ' very respectable places 
 which enjoy great privileges, and are boroughs of 
 importance.'^ In 1580 it was surrounded by a moat 
 and a wall, on account of the wars which desolated 
 the country. But it was nothing redoubtable, for 
 on the 11th September, 1587, a dozen of the States 
 cavaliers sufficed to take possession of it. They pre- 
 eented themselves on foot at the gates, requesting 
 permission to enter to make some purchases. As they 
 displayed their gold they were allowed, but they had 
 scarcely cleared the gate when they knocked down 
 the sentinel, and called their captain, who was hid- 
 den close hy. Thus the town was occupied. The 
 moat still exists, but the walls have been demolished. 
 Meppel is built lengthwise, forming a large and 
 beautiful street, into which run numerous smaller 
 ones. This principal street is divided by two canals 
 into three nearly equal parts, which open up pleasant 
 views on either side. Of ancient monuments there 
 are none, but there are some old houses of a cheerful 
 and pleasant appearance. These specimens of ancient 
 architecture are more particularly to be met with in 
 the centre of the town and at one of its extremities, 
 the Kruisstraat. The Hotel de Ville dates from the 
 
 * Guicciardini, 'Description of the Low Countries.' 
 
THE CHURCHES OF MEPPEL. 163 
 
 last century. If it were not for the coat of arms over 
 the door, one would readily take it for the house of a 
 respectable citizen. 
 
 Nevertheless it has a simple and unostentatious 
 appearance, which is not without a certain odour of 
 municipality. With its quiet but important appear- 
 ance, it looks like a burgomaster's residence of days 
 gone by. 
 
 Meppel has two churches: one, quite modern, 
 built at the entrance to the town, in that transition 
 style so much aifected by our own architects ; the other 
 dates from 1498, but was so extensively restored 
 during the last century, that it affords very little of 
 interest. It is easily overlooked in the midst of this 
 handsome and cheerful yet unpretentious little city, 
 which has altogether the air of a small provincial town. 
 
 Our third excursion to the west of Assen, it will 
 be remembered, was to the penitentiary establishment 
 of Yeenhuizen. It is an agricultural colony, where 
 poor people convicted of mendicancy are detained, 
 and is situated in the midst of a veritable desert. It 
 is reached by a two hours' journey across barren 
 moors. ' Not a tree, not a shrub is to be seen on 
 these immense plains, which would be condemned to 
 eternal sterility if man's industry had not effected 
 one of the most admirable transformations it is pos- 
 sible to imagine.'^ Nothing can convey an idea of 
 
 ^ Ramon de la Sagra, ' Voyage en Hollande et Belgique.' The history 
 of this journey, undertaken in order to study the Penitentiary system of 
 the Low Countries, contains a quantity of technical details respecting 
 these establishments, of the highest interest. 
 
 m2 
 
164 THE PENITENTIARY COLONY. 
 
 the charm one experiences when, after havmg crossed 
 these barren wastes, one suddenly finds oneself in 
 the midst of a golden harvest, fields of colza and 
 clumps of oaks. 
 
 The colony of Yeenhuizen possesses about 300,000 
 acres of land. Of this quantity, about 100,000 acres 
 are in full cultivation. The working is divided into 
 three departments : the first is reserved for the 
 women, the second for the men, and the third 
 is occupied by men and orphans. In the centre 
 are the manager's offices and three churches, one 
 for the Protestants, one for the Catholics, and the 
 third for the Jews. Separated in their churches, the 
 different sects are also separated in their domiciles ; 
 and the Catholics and the Jews have each a special 
 quarter. 
 
 At the time of our visit there were nearly 1,800 
 people in Yeenhuizen, of whom 400 were women, and 
 only 60 children. The whole establishment is em- 
 ployed in the fields during the summer time, and 
 in the winter at difi*erent trades that can be followed 
 indoors, such as weaving and matmaking. 
 
 The honours of the colony were supported with 
 the most perfect courtesy by Capt. Neetesen, the 
 director. We visited in turn the three establish- 
 ments, each of which is built after the same plan, that 
 is, round a large courtyard planted with trees, bor- 
 dered on each side by a long row of low houses, each 
 of the same height. These houses form a suite of 
 large chambers, which serve at the same time as sit- 
 
PBISON FAME. 165 
 
 ting -rooms, eating-rooms, and dormitories for the 
 inhabitants of the colony. They sleep in hammocks, 
 which they roll up in the daytime to make more room. 
 They are fully as comfortable as the beds of most 
 field labourers. Their food is also much the same as 
 that of ordinary farm servants. Two, three, and 
 even four times a week they have meat or bacon, and 
 every day a certain quantity of vegetables, and they 
 are also entitled to a ration of bread and coffee.^ 
 
 The bread is black, but it could, with a slight 
 addition, be made whiter, and thus improve their 
 daily fare. They are not entirely deprived of re- 
 sources. They receive a portion of the money they 
 earn, and their labour is paid for according to a 
 detailed tariff. 
 
 A man with a little industry will thus make for 
 himself a florin a day ; there are, indeed, some who 
 have made as much as eight florins in the six days 
 comprising the week's work. Upon the product of 
 their labour they are allowed fifteen per cent., of 
 which ten per cent, is paid to them immediately, and 
 the remaining ^ye per cent, is capitalised, to be 
 
 ^ The colonists are divided for work into three classes: the first 
 comprises men and women over sixteen years of age ; the second, boys and 
 girls from eight to sixteen years of age ; the third, children of less than 
 eight years of age. As to the little ones of two years and under, they 
 remain with their mothers. The food is divided by quantity into three 
 classes also : Children under thirteen receive three-fifths of a portion ; 
 those of thirteen to seventeen four-fifths of a portion ; and those above 
 the latter age an entire portion. For further details, a notice, published in 
 1872, by M. A. F. Eilerts de Haan, and entitled ^ De Noordnederlandsche 
 Landbouwkolonien,' may be consulted. 
 
166 PRIVILEGES ALLOWED. 
 
 handed over to them upon their leaving the place. 
 With what they receive on the spot they are able to 
 procure for themselves some little delicacies ; and the 
 proof that the regime thus mitigated is not unwhole- 
 some is to be found in the good health they nearly 
 all enjoy. We visited the infirmary attached to the 
 establishment of No. 2 : it contained but twenty- 
 eight patients. Out of six hundred prisoners, this 
 number is but small, especially if the fact is borne 
 in mind that a large number of these poor people 
 have been forced into mendicity through physical 
 weakness, sickness, or the consequent infirmities. 
 
 The regime is not unwholesome, nor is the dis- 
 cipline too harsh, for numbers of these unfortunates, 
 after having passed some time in the colony, conceive 
 a liking for it, and leave it only to return. 
 
 We were shown the book in which were entered 
 the names of some who had been sent back for the 
 eleventh or twelfth time. The maximum period for 
 each condemnation is two years ; and as those who 
 return always get the maximum, they will thus have 
 passed there twenty years of their existence. 
 
 On the other hand, some make their escape, but 
 these are quickly brought back and put in the prison. 
 They also lock up the insubordinate, and those who 
 refuse to work. But the prison of Yeenhuizen has 
 not a very terrible appearance. It is a neat little 
 house divided into cells, guarded by a sleepy veteran 
 who is anything but fierce. 
 
 The insubordinate are not very numerous; the 
 
ORIGIN OF THE PENITENTIARY. 167 
 
 lazy are more so. The ranks of the prisoners are 
 recruited from among the aged, the invalided, or 
 those cowardly vagabonds altogether indisposed to 
 exchange, for a laborious existence, their habits of 
 idleness and licence. The women above all, it 
 appears, are difficult to manage. Quarrelsome and 
 spiteful, lazier than the men, they require the most 
 constant* watching; and although they are never lost 
 sight of, more than one leaves the establishment in a 
 situation that would be more interesting if it were 
 more legitimate. 
 
 In establishing this colony it had been hoped 
 to form, without any great expense, an agricultural 
 population capable of rendering real services. This 
 idea, however, was soon abandoned. They calculated 
 that each prisoner would easily earn his own living. 
 But the number of incapables and invalids was much 
 too great, and the Societe Neerlandaise de Bienfaisance 
 which took the initiative in these Penitentiary colo- 
 nies, have found it necessary to transfer them to the 
 Government, who annually disburse a considerable 
 sum for their support.^ 
 
 Yeenhuizen and Ommerschans were founded in 
 1818. The years 1816 and 1817 were very disas- 
 trous. The dearth had become a famine. The small 
 cultivators and the workpeople were reduced to 
 begging for their bread, and mendicancy assumed 
 
 1 The two colonies of Veenhuizen and Ommerschans cost the Nether- 
 lands Government nearly 350,000 florins. Ommerschaus, which is 
 established on the same footing t^ Veenhuizen, contains from eight to 
 nine hundred prisoners. 
 
168 OPINIONS ON THE COLONY. 
 
 such proportions that it became a public danger. 
 Some feeling men then hit upon the idea of utilising 
 these inactive forces^ with a view to giving bread to 
 those who needed it. 
 
 Such was the beginning of this institution, which 
 has been variously judged. Certain philanthropists 
 have sadly asked if the solution of this terrible pro- 
 blem of misery is to treat as malefactors those who, 
 urged by hunger, have held out their hands for public 
 charity. Others again, by the light of a reasoning 
 more economical than sentimental, argue that a work 
 must be judged by its results; and that charity, public 
 or private, when it offers a certainty of assistance, does 
 more to increase improvidence than to assist the un- 
 fortunate. 
 
 Such was the opinion expressed by Mr. Batbie, 
 when commencing, at the School of Law, on the 
 10th April, 1866, his course of lectures on Political 
 Economy ; this opinion was also expressed in the 
 same year by Pierluigi Bembo, a magistrate of Venice, 
 to his colleagues of the Lagune ; also, six years pre- 
 viously, in one of his works,^ by M. E. Duceptiaux, 
 a Belgian economist. 
 
 1 The Association, in its dealings with the bettering of the condition 
 of the working classes. 
 
CHAPTER XIII, 
 
 THE VILLAGES OF DRENTHE, ROLDE, EEXT, GIETEN, BORGER, AND EXLO 
 
 A RURAL PRINTING-OFFICE — LOST ! — THE PASTOR OF ZWEELO— 
 KOEVORDEN. 
 
 UR excursions in the west terminated, we 
 forwarded our luggage to Zweelo, and 
 with our knapsacks on our backs started 
 for the eastern villages. Our intention, as I have 
 already said, was to reach Eext by passing through 
 Eolde, then on to Koevorden by the road that runs 
 parallel with the German frontier. 
 
 I know few pleasanter roads in Europe than the 
 one from Assen to Rolde. Like those in Friesland, 
 it makes many turnings and windings ; but no one 
 would think of complaining, so many beautiful and 
 attractive views succeed each other. The grand trees, 
 the rustic houses, and the hedges bordering on the 
 road, are most charmingly grouped. Every ten steps 
 reveal a perfect picture, admirably composed, which 
 would delight the eye of a landscape painter. Some- 
 times the hedges and trees open suddenly and then a 
 long stretch of country is to be seen, with vast fields 
 of golden grain beautified with corn flowers and red 
 
170 VILLAGES OF TILE DRENTHE, 
 
 poppies, or beautiful sketches of green pasturage, 
 with black and white cows browsing on the short but 
 nourishing grass. 
 
 Sometimes, also, there may be seen in the distance 
 a barren and uncultivated country, the dark outline 
 of which stands out in bold relief against the clear 
 sky ; or, again, a series of small hillocks placed in 
 regular order, which carries us back to prehistoric 
 times, and denotes the presence of one of those mys- 
 terious burying-places, of the inhabitants of which 
 but very little is known in these days. 
 
 Thus everything combines to interest the mind 
 and charm the eye. But we soon came in sight of 
 Rolde, where the beauty of the scenery is even 
 greater; for with Rolde commences that series of 
 villages of the Drenthe so much admired by artists, 
 and which indeed justifies their admiration, for it is 
 impossible to see anything more picturesque. 
 
 These cheerful hamlets are hidden amidst the 
 grand trees, and in their nest of foliage one catches 
 a glimpse on each side of charming rustic cottages, 
 with their roofs reaching to the ground, and of 
 ancient walls, with their warm-coloured bricks 
 peeping through the white plaster. 
 
 In the centre of this lovely picture stands a 
 church, with its tapering spire, and its little church- 
 yard filled with flowers. In one corner is a smithy 
 with the usual farrier's shop, and the smith in knee- 
 breeches and leather apron. On the ground axle- 
 trees and wheels, and secured to the wall large black 
 
WOUVERMAN, THE PAINTER. 171 
 
 long-tailed horses prancing while waiting their turn. 
 There are no streets or squares, and the houses 
 appear as if thrown about promiscuously, and 
 forming one of the most charming medleys of grey 
 roofs, white or red walls, and grand old trees that 
 one could well imagine^ 
 
 Such is Rolde ; such also are Eext, Gieten, Gas- 
 selte, and Borger. You know them — these charming 
 villages of the Drenthe — it is they who have inspired 
 the first landscape painters of the Dutch school. 
 
 The farrier's shop, to which allusion has just been 
 made, has been painted ten times by Wouverman, who 
 enlivened the picture with his brilliant cavaliers, his 
 weather-beaten old soldiers, and his smiling serving- 
 women. It is from the entrance to one of these 
 pretty villages that Waterloo has taken his ' Yoya- 
 geurs au Repos,' and his ' Mere aux Trois Enfants.' 
 Old Wynants came here for inspiration, and Jacob 
 van Ruysdael, a lover of solitude and an admirer of 
 wild scenery, would also come here before proceeding 
 on his wanderings among the Norwegian gorges. 
 Here he painted his ' Champ de Ble.' But no one 
 has depicted these charming little nooks with such 
 admirable truth and loving tenderness as Minderhout 
 Hobbema, thus justifying the local tradition that 
 his birthplace was, not Antwerp, as Pilkington pre- 
 tends ; not Haarlem, as Smith affirms ; not even 
 Guelderland, as Yan Eynde and Yan der Willigen 
 suppose ; nor Friesland, as MM. Henri Herris 
 and Charles Blanc believe; but Koevorden, on the 
 
172 EEXT AND GIETEN. 
 
 frontiers of Guelderland and the Drenthe, on the 
 confines of the two provinces, from which he bor- 
 rowed all his ideas and most of his subjects. 
 
 From Eolde to Borger all the pretty villages 
 along the route have quite a homely appearance, but 
 nevertheless each is distinguished from the other 
 by some interesting peculiarity. Beyond that, the 
 Hunnehedden and the ancient burying-places to be 
 met with in the neighbourhood, which suffice to 
 reconcile them to the esteem of archasologists, and 
 the appearance of the surrounding country, remove 
 anything approaching to monotony. The sites on 
 which these monuments are erected are infinitely 
 varied. 
 
 Everything about Rolde indicates abundance. 
 Its two beautiful dolmen are placed in the centre of 
 the Esch^ and are consequently surrounded by the 
 golden harvest. A thick tree has demolished the 
 most important of the two ; this patriarch of the 
 plain almost entirely envelopes in the folds of its trunk 
 one of the enormous blocks of which the monument 
 is composed. A hundred steps from there the church 
 stands, a beautiful construction of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, of which the graceful outlines and the strong 
 buttresses tower above the surrounding fields. 
 
 Eext and Gieten are totally different. They are 
 both situated in the midst of a veritable desert. No 
 fertile fields, no refreshing shades; but everywhere 
 dusky moors, and on the horizon a few clumps of 
 trees ; not a soul is on the road ; not a cry, not a sound 
 
GASSELTE AND BORGER. 173 
 
 is heard but the buzzing of insects and the cadence 
 of our own footfall. It is in the midst of this desolate 
 solitude and impressive silence, that the Celtic monu- 
 ments of Eext and Gieten are to be found ; and the 
 two villages which are five hundred metres from 
 there, seem to hide themselves behind a rampart 
 of verdure that they may have no part in the pitiless 
 desolation. 
 
 Once within this verdant boundary, all is 
 changed : again the smiling, picturesque, and charm- 
 ing aspect of these favoured hamlets, gay without 
 bustle and pretty without ornament, with their old 
 houses, their new church, and in one corner of the 
 road a neat and unpretentious inn, recognised by the 
 sign swinging above the door, and by the half-filled 
 trough awaiting the tired horse. 
 
 At Gasselte and at Borger the country changes 
 again. It is half moor and half fields, and the grand 
 trees to be seen in the distance indicate the vicinity 
 of a forest. The road is winding and the undula- 
 tions of the heath form the little hills which diver- 
 sify the horizon. There is nothing monotonous to 
 be seen in this country of wild aspect and ungrateful 
 soil, where man carries on a constant struggle for 
 existence, always to finish triumphantly. 
 
 Add to this a thousand joyous things, the 
 hearty welcome at the inns, the salutations on the 
 road, and the lively joke, all which tend to banish 
 monotony. 
 
 In the inn at Gieten we fell upon two wretched 
 
174 THE LOST CHILD. 
 
 lithographs, hanging in the full light among the 
 polished and shining cupboards. They were the 
 ' Pont d'Arcole ' and ' Napoleon blesse devant Eatis- 
 bonne.' 
 
 At Gasselte the scene changes again. It is now 
 a poor country tavern, patronised by rustic customers 
 and kept by a young female peasant. In a corner 
 the baby is sleeping, and the young mother, in order 
 that she may attend to the cradle and the business 
 at the same time, carries with her, as she passes 
 backwards and forwards, a piece of twine which is 
 fastened to the cradle, and by means of which she 
 keeps it gently rocking. 
 
 At Borger we experienced another instance of 
 maternal solicitude. An unfortunate woman had 
 lost her son, a child of two years of age, who, the 
 people said, was lost on the heath. All the gossips 
 of the hamlet, spreading themselves out like sharp- 
 shooters, beat the plain, calling the lost little one. 
 In the midst of them was the mother, crying and 
 tearing her hair. Her despair is explained by the 
 fact that these barren wastes swarm with black- 
 headed vipers. Each year they find many victims. 
 This gave rise to the fears of these good people and 
 to the battue -like form of their movements. The 
 child was found. While it was being sought for on 
 the moors it was in the house of a neighbour, quietly 
 occupied in playing with a large cat. 
 
 Notwithstanding the sociability of the inhabitants 
 of Borger, we were obliged to leave and to direct our 
 
JOURNEY TO EXLO. 175 
 
 course to Exlo. But this day's journey, which was 
 the most painful of all our excursions, deserves to be 
 narrated by itself. 
 
 We were called at four o'clock, and started at five. 
 Two gamekeepers accompanied us to show us the 
 road. Calculating that we should arrive at Odoorn 
 by eleven o'clock, and that we should be able to 
 breakfast there, we took only a cup of black coiFee, 
 but had nothing to eat. We struck at once on to 
 the moor, in order to get a closer view of the superb 
 Hunnehedden of Borger ; then afterwards, by a road 
 ankle deep in sand, we arrived at Exlo. To this 
 point the road had been almost agreeable. The 
 morning was fresh, and the vestiges of departed 
 people were sufficiently numerous on this desolate 
 plain to occupy both the mind and the eye. Not 
 only do tumuli and stone monuments abound, but 
 there are to be met with immense circular exca- 
 vations in the form of an enormous funnel, perfectly 
 regular, and comprising a radius of from fifty to 
 sixty metres. What could have been the origin of 
 these strange excavations? Legend attributes them 
 to witches escaped from the infernal regior^s. The 
 lugubrious aspect of this dismal country would 
 almost justify this fantastic explanation ; but ar- 
 chaeologists, who are less poetical, pretend they have 
 found a more plausible one. According to some they 
 are ancient Celtic camps, dug by the primitive popu- 
 lation to guard them against their enemies, and to 
 shelter them from the icy winds, from which there is 
 
17n HAMLET OF EXLO. 
 
 nothing in this desert to break the force ; accord- 
 ing to others, they are immense rain-water cisterns — 
 the only water obtainable in these parched solitudes. 
 It is, however, impossible in these days to confirm 
 the correctness of these opinions ; they must be 
 taken for what they are worth, that is, simple sup- 
 positions. 
 
 At Exlo we made but a short stay. It is a 
 charming hamlet. An old chronicler, Picardt, 
 affirms that it dates from the early years of the 
 ninth century ; and the existence of a large Celtic 
 burying place, that must be crossed before the village 
 is reached, would appear to assign to it an origin 
 even more remote. It was not, however, either the 
 picturesque cottages or the prehistoric sepulchres 
 that attracted us. We came to Exlo almost ex- 
 clusively to see a confrere. 
 
 This hamlet of a hundred hearths, lost in the 
 midst of the moors, hardly connected with the outer 
 world, and numbering at most but three hundred 
 inhabitants, possesses a printer and a printing-office, 
 a newspaper and a journalist. The ' Drentsche 
 Courant ' is a nice little journal, well got up, on good 
 paper and with pretty type. Its columns abound in 
 weighty articles and local news, while its fourth 
 page is devoted to advertisements, &c. It is often 
 quoted by the great papers of Amsterdam, and I 
 imagine they have but little idea of the place from 
 whence this publication is issued. 
 
 It is in a small, well-lighted room that all is done: 
 
A BUBAL PBINTING OFFICE. 177 
 
 — the editing, the setting-up, and the printing. It 
 joins a dining-room at one end and a stable at the 
 other. 
 
 While listening to M. de Ros, the proprietor of 
 this rural printing establishment, we could not help 
 admiring the primitive but ingenious arrangements ; 
 and my mind, making a bound through space, went 
 back to one of our principal Parisian artists, one of 
 our master printers, my old comrade, Jouaust. 
 How many times in our friendly chats have I not 
 heard him wish for a similar retreat, where he could, 
 far from noise and bustle, produce irreproachable 
 works of art. Here would have been the realisation 
 of his dream! 
 
 Notwithstanding the charm with which we con- 
 templated this village ' office,* the sun reminded us 
 that it was time to continue our journey. Ten o'clock 
 chimed. We began to feel the heat, and we must 
 reach Odoorn for breakfast. It being but little more 
 than an hour's walk from Exlo we took leave of our 
 kind cicerone and gaily continued our road. At 
 Odoorn our first disappointment awaited us. Not 
 an inn! Not a cottage where we could find any- 
 thing to eat! Most of the inhabitants were in the 
 fields, and the others said it was too late or too early 
 for eating, for the country people here do not possess 
 the culinary talents of our French villagers, who 
 know how to prepare a tasty repast quickly. We 
 tried to console ourselves in our enforced fast by 
 visiting an old church, which is partly built of blocks 
 
 N 
 
178 DIFFICULTIES OF OUR ROAD. 
 
 of granite taken from the neighbouring Hunne- 
 hedden ; and but slightly comforted by our archaeo- 
 logical repast, we continued our route, deciding to 
 push on to Zweelo, where we were expected. 
 
 It would take, as we have said, about a couple of 
 hours* walking ; but in the Drenthe, as in Friesland, 
 hours are somewhat elastic. Half an hour after 
 leaving Odoorn our guides left us, and, following 
 their instructions, we took a road across the moors. 
 
 For the first hour all went well. The road was 
 so sandy we sank at every step to the ankle, and 
 could follow its dusty Avindings into the far distance. 
 We thought it would take us to Zweelo, and our 
 impression was confirmed by the Ordnance map, 
 upon which the road is marked, besides which the 
 governor of the province had declared, during my 
 sojourn at Assen, that the roads of Drenthe were in 
 tolerable condition. 
 
 Unfortunately we were deceived. As soon as we 
 had cleared the Oranje Kanaal^ the road became 
 simply a track, traversed by country carts, and 
 furrowing in painful zig-zags the uneven surface 
 of the moor, which was full of bogs. Yery soon, 
 indeed, all trace of the road disappeared, and we 
 searched for it in vain for it was covered by sand. 
 Nevertheless we persevered, and soon the heath ap- 
 peared again, with its tough shrubs and the rushing 
 of the adders as they started away at our approach. 
 Thus another hour passed, we advancing all the time, 
 but without a trace of a road or a path before us. We 
 
OUR OBJECT IN VISITING ZWEELO. 179 
 
 walked straight on, not knowing whither this weary- 
 road would lead us, with overhead the burning sun, 
 under foot the black heath, overpowered by the heat, 
 crushed by the weight of our luggage, fasting since 
 the night before, and buried at each step in the 
 moving sand ; while around us not a habitation, nor 
 a human form was visible. We were lost. At last, 
 towards half-past one o'clock, we perceived a church 
 spire, which seemed to spring from a clump of 
 foliage. Constant, who had never ceased sweeping 
 the horizon with his glass, was the first to discover 
 it. ' Is it Zweelo ? ' he asked. ' I don't know the 
 place,' I replied. ' Let us go on at any rate, we will 
 enquire later on.' 
 
 It was Zweelo ! An hour later we reached the 
 limit of the Esch, We had still to pass through the 
 cultivated portion of the place, and it was not until 
 three o'clock that we entered the village. 
 
 Our principal attraction at Zweelo was to visit a 
 learned man, the pastor of Lesturgeon. But, knocked 
 up by our ten hours' tramp through the moor, over- 
 powered by the heat, and exhausted with fatigue, our 
 first thought was to obtain some refreshment and 
 attend to our disordered attire. We enquired for 
 the inn. We thought we should there, at least, 
 find the necessary accommodation. Alas! we had 
 reckoned without our host, or rather, our hostess, a 
 regular shrew, who refused to receive us. ' What do 
 you want?' cried she, 'a room? There isn't one 
 here for you ; there's the door ; be off ! ' We pro- 
 
 n2 
 
180 3L LESTURGEON. 
 
 tested strongly against such treatment, but we had 
 to go; so we went without any further hesitation to 
 the house of the venerable pastor, and sought from 
 him the hospitality^ which the innkeeper had refused 
 us for our money. This time the reception w^as 
 totally different, as one would suppose. Though I 
 had never seen M. Lesturgeon, I had known him for 
 ^ long time. I knew him to be a very deeply read 
 man. I had corresponded with him, and I had 
 been able to judge of the kindness of his heart 
 and of the shrewdness of his mind. Surrounded by 
 his family, he inhabited a charming villa, situated 
 in the midst of a beautiful garden filled with 
 flowers, and shaded by grand trees. He threw open 
 to us his house, his wine cellar, and his kitchen. 
 All the worse for him, for we played havoc every- 
 where. The wine cellar, in particular, was subject to 
 rude assaults. When we told him of the fashion in 
 which we had been received by the innkeeper, he said, 
 * I am the more indignant as these Mensingh are well 
 off, and are looked upon as among the wealthy people 
 of the neighbourhood, and the brother of this woman, 
 who received you so badly, is one of our magistrates.' 
 The worthy pastor, when he had seen us re- 
 freshed and restored, offered to do the honours 
 of his church, a modest structure of Eoman archi- 
 tecture, surrounded by a small churchyard. We 
 rested awhile in this peaceful asylum of the dead ; 
 and in the midst of these modest tombs, some of 
 which had only just been closed, we passed the re- 
 
HOSPITABLE RECEPTION BY THE PASTOR. 181 
 
 mainder of the day, meditating meekly, and forget- 
 ting in our friendly chat that we then saw each other 
 for the first time and perhaps for the last. 
 
 In the evening we returned to the house, where 
 the family awaited us. Mdlle. Lesturgeon, a charm- 
 ing and amiable girl, asked me many questions about 
 Paris. Paris ! that magical place which she had read 
 of in books, and which she had imagined a species of 
 paradise. ' Your houses must be beautiful,' said she, 
 ' and what pretty gardens you must have!' I had 
 to undeceive her, and to tell her of the niggardly 
 life led there, of the houses divided into flats, of the 
 dark and narrow courts, and to depict the gloomy 
 and cheerless streets. She opened her eyes in 
 astonishment. I had evidently dispelled an illusion. 
 Later on she recompensed me for my frankness : ^ If 
 you have no garden,' said she, with a charming smile, 
 'you must be all the more fond of flowers; permit 
 me to ofl^er you these,' and she presented me with a 
 superb bouquet which she had just gathered. 
 
 Just then her brother arrived with a carriage 
 and a capital horse. As we could not sleep at 
 Zweelo, he was anxious that we should reach Koevor- 
 den without fatigue. The hour of our departure had 
 arrived, and we were obliged to quit, not without 
 regret, this amiable family. As our carriage moved 
 away, M. Lesturgeon gave us a last shake of the 
 hand. ^ Do not altogether forget,' cried he, ' the 
 little village of Zweelo and its modest pastor.' We 
 readily promised him not to do so, and the promise 
 has been religiously kept. 
 
182 A PLEASANT DISCOVERY, 
 
 It was nearly one o'clock in the morning when 
 we arrived at Koevorden. We had trouble enough 
 to secure a room. Everyone at the inn and in the 
 town was fast asleep, and as soon as possible we 
 followed this excellent example — and our rest was 
 well earned. 
 
 The next day we were awakened by a malicious 
 dwarf, who bawled with all his might a fantastic ren- 
 dering of the Fille de Madame Angot, I profited by 
 the morning sunshine to thoroughly examine my 
 little room. What was my surprise to perceive, 
 hanging on the wall, a first-class old painting! It 
 was the portrait of the family. The father, palette 
 in hand, is represented playing with a pretty little 
 girl, whose mother held her on her knee. The cos- 
 tumes were curiously drawn, and the faces were 
 remarkably interesting, for it was the portrait of 
 that Rotius whose genealogy had puzzled me so much 
 two years before.^ It was impossible to be mistaken 
 about it, besides the inscription removed all doubt. 
 Put in good humour by this discovery, we wandered 
 about the town in the hope of meeting a few precious 
 monuments. But we were disappointed. Apart 
 from a pretty house, the graceful faqade of which 
 was constructed after the fashion of those of Gronin- 
 gen, and bearing date 1641, there was nothing worth 
 speaking of. 
 
 The Town Hall is a heavy, modern, plastered 
 building; and the church, built in 1641, is devoid of 
 
 * See ' Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee/ p. 5S, 2nd edition. 
 
I 
 
KOEVORDEN. 183 
 
 interest or character. The streets are large, irre- 
 gular, and badly paved. The whole beauty of the 
 town is confined to the superb bastions surrounding 
 it, and to the fine avenues of trees which shade it 
 with their rich foliage. One would imagine that 
 Koevorden desired no other ornament than that of 
 its ramparts, which, after all, is easily understood, for 
 the town is essentially a military town. From its 
 earliest date it has always been more a citadel than 
 a town ; and according to its old historians it owes 
 its very foundation to a Roman camp. Bizot con- 
 firms this in his description of an ancient medal 
 referring to this town, bearing the inscription, 
 ' Covordia capta Drenthe a Romanis constructa 
 
 Anno Domini X ' Picardt thinks that it is the 
 
 Villa Cruporicis referred to by Tacitus. However, 
 one fact is certain, and that is, that in 1024 the place 
 became the residence of the Counts of Drenthe, and 
 that the sovereignty of its territory was conceded to 
 the Bishops of Utrecht by the Emperor Henry II. 
 
 The first act of these new sovereigns was to 
 endow Koevorden with a castle, and thus make sure 
 of a position which, at that time, was of no little im- 
 portance, considering it was situated between two 
 undrained marshes, was a military point, and the key, 
 so to speak, to the whole country. This precaution, 
 however, was eventually turned against those who 
 had taken it. Profiting by the continual wars and 
 vexations which occupied their episcopal sovereigns 
 for nearly three centuries, the lords of Drenthe 
 
184 REBELLION OF KOEVORDEN. 
 
 deprived their lawful rulers of their power, and for two 
 hundred years played the part of sovereigns themselves. 
 This usurpation of their rights was not submitted 
 to by the bishops without a show of violent objection. 
 In the winter of 1288 the ^ episcopal troops took 
 advantage of a hard frost, which enabled them to 
 cross the marshes on horseback,' to besiege the 
 rebellious town ; but ^ their design w^as frustrated by 
 the advent of a strong southern wind and heavy 
 rain,' w^hich obliged them to beat a hasty retreat. 
 
 It was not till a century later that the town re- 
 turned to its original state of obedience, under the 
 following circumstances : 
 
 One day Frederic of Blankenheim, who was a 
 man given to studying the laws and rights con- 
 cerning his own property, and fond of increasing his 
 domains where he could, while rummaging over 
 some papers and records, discovered certain old 
 letters of value. These letters, sealed and authenti- 
 cated, mentioned that the country of Drenthe, 
 with the town and castle of Coevorden, was the 
 property of the bishopric, and that the predecessors 
 of those who now possessed it had only held it for a 
 certain sum, to be redeemed whenever it pleased the 
 bishopric to reimburse it. This sum Bishop Frederic 
 of Blanckenheim now demanded, and on the owner 
 of the castle refusing, the town was besieged and 
 the castle invested, and, after a siege of six weeks' 
 duration, the rebel vassal was forced to open his gates 
 and to return to obedience to his lawful sovereign. 
 
PRINCE MAURICE'S VICTORY. 185 
 
 Until 1552, the town and castle remained in the 
 power of the bishops of Utrecht, and then both were 
 occupied by the troops of Charles Y. Koevorden 
 had no ramparts at that time, and remained without 
 fortifications of any sort till the War of Independence 
 was at an end, although it had been occupied alter- 
 nately by Holenlo, Cornput, and Ranneberg. 
 
 Its last Spanish governor, Everard Ens, repaired 
 the oversight of his predecessors by fortifying the 
 town with a redoubt of earth and adding ramparts 
 to the castle, which enabled him to hold out, in 1592, 
 for six weeks against Prince Maurice, the State 
 troops, and a formidable artillery. Koevorden was 
 taken nevertheless, and the news was received with 
 such joy by the States that a medal was struck to 
 commemorate the happy event. Maurice did not 
 remain idle after his victory, but ordered able 
 engineers to surround the town with the fine solid 
 bulwarks which, thirty-six years later, formed the 
 base of those marvellous defences by which Coehoorn 
 protected it. 
 
 Erom that time forward (1592) the town was 
 regarded as impregnable. Still it was not so ; for, 
 in 1672, being besieged by the Bishop of Munster, 
 ^ and cowardly defended by Colonel Burum, and 
 betrayed by Colonel Broersma,' it capitulated, 
 although the warrior bishop had only 18,000 in- 
 different troops under his command. 
 
 This triumph, however, was not of long duration. 
 In December of the same year, Rabenhaupt, who 
 
186 RABENHAUPrS VICTORY. 
 
 was operating in the neighbourhood with an army of 
 the States, learned that the garrison, confident of 
 their position, were somewhat careless of their guard. 
 He therefore resolved to take advantage of the 
 severity of the season to surprise the town. Profit- 
 ing by indications ofi*ered him by a man called Yan 
 Thienen, who had formerly been a churchwarden of 
 Koevorden Church, but was now an engineer, he 
 made his troops advance slowly as far as the frozen 
 marshes, and then, by a forced march, cross the 
 marshes and surround the rampart of the town, 
 where they arrived about three o'clock in the 
 morning. The attack, under Colonel Eybergen, was 
 so unexpected that the Dutch army carried the place 
 the same day, and the garrison, reduced to 300 men, 
 after fighting as bravely as was in their power, were 
 taken prisoners and sent to Groningen. 
 
 This victory produced great excitement and 
 delight in the country. Yondel made himself the 
 mouthpiece of the general joy by composing a stanza 
 full of puns, as was the fashion in those days, which 
 remained a popular ditty for a century afterwards : — 
 
 De Eaven roepen : Kras, kras ! 
 Maer Eavenshooft roept : huiden ! 
 Men laet' de klokken luiden 
 Daer helpt noch sterkte, noch maeras.^ 
 
 1 The ravens cry, ' To-morrow, to-morrow ! But the head of the 
 raven says, " To-day ! " The bells may ring. Neither fortifications nor 
 marshes can avail.' Vondel puns on the word kras {eras), the cry of 
 the raven, and signifying in Latin to-morrowy as also on the name of 
 Babenhaupt, which means raven's head. 
 
DISMANTLING OF KOEVORDEN. 187 
 
 Since then, Koevorden has only had one other 
 siege to support. In 1813 it was invested by the 
 allies while occupied by the French ; but the garrison, 
 though few in number, held out for some time, and 
 did not capitulate till May 3, 1814, and then only 
 by order of Louis XYIIL, thirty-four days after 
 the taking of Paris, and twenty-two after the abdi- 
 cation at Fontainebleau. 
 
 Koevorden is no longer a stronghold. Its gates 
 have been demolished and its ramparts destroyed ; 
 for, under a new system of defence recently adopted 
 by the Low Countries, it was placed in the list of 
 useless frontier fortresses. 
 
 Wandering along the earthwork which surrounds 
 the town with its formidable bastions, one cannot 
 help regretting that such fine works should have been 
 destroyed. They were grand works of art, and for 
 that reason alone ought to have been preserved, even 
 if patriotic reminiscences could not save them from 
 their sad fate. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE OLDSALIAN COUNTRY DEVENTER ITS MILITARY HISTORY EDWARD 
 
 STANLEY AND COLONEL TAXIS — ST. LIEVIN AND THE BERGKERK 
 
 A PAINTING BY TERBURG THE ^ DONAT^ OF THE ATHENAEUM AND 
 
 THE ^ REYNARDUS VULPES' ^ KIJKINDEFOT.^ 
 
 N quitting Koevorden, we passed through. 
 Dalen, which has the reputation of being 
 the first village of the Drenthe. Its pretty- 
 houses and grand avenues of trees, bordering the 
 streets, have given it the name of DrentscJie Haag^ in 
 allusion to the royal residence in the Low Countries, 
 which for a long time was reported by travellers 
 to be the handsomest and largest village in the world. 
 On leaving Dalen, we left the bogs of Noord and 
 Zuid Borge on the east, and the village of Emmen 
 on the north, in order to pursue our road to the west 
 by the Drentsch Kanaal and reach Hoogwan and the 
 railroad. 
 
 We did not pass by Emmen and the bogs, because 
 they are not worth a visit ; on the contrary, Emmen is 
 a very pretty village abounding in old Celtic remains. 
 Its Hunnebedden are the largest if not the most in- 
 teresting in the Province, and several wooden bridges 
 which are attributed to Roman construction, and no 
 
BOG CLEARING. 189 
 
 doubt are the Pontes Longi referred to by Tacitus, 
 are well worthy of special attention. On the other 
 hand Nieuw- Amsterdam ought to interest, on account 
 of its being a fair example of what man's activity and 
 labour can accomplish, in a country of bogs and peat. 
 Not twenty years ago this part of the Province was 
 one vast piece of marshy ground, pestilential in 
 summer, and useless in winter, besides being a con- 
 stant source of danger to the neighbouring land. 
 
 Two intelligent men soon changed the aspect of 
 this desolate ground. Holthe tot Echten and H. F. 
 Gorselaar, the former a landed proprietor at Assen, 
 the latter a native of Emmen, worked together to 
 accomplish this purpose. The bed of a canal was 
 dug, the ground was drained, and certain parts were 
 rendered habitable, and then the enterprise of clear- 
 ing the bog itself began. Yery soon several of the 
 owners of land in Amsterdam joined the undertaking, 
 and imitated the good example set them by these in- 
 trepid men, and after a while 2,500 acres were 
 cleared, and a village founded, which although it has 
 only been twenty years in existence, possesses already 
 about three thousand inhabitants, one church, and 
 two schools. 
 
 In every direction around the purified soil pro- 
 duces potatoes, buck wheat, barley, beans and vege- 
 tables, and as the work of clearing the bogs goes on 
 in proportion to the demands of the village, a certain 
 amount of material is excavated from the bogs, under 
 the direction of M. Corver, an engineer of the country, 
 
100 BARON NAHUYS' HOSPITALITY. 
 
 which by a certain process is converted into a very- 
 good substitute for pit coal. All these things were 
 great inducements for us to linger about the spot, 
 but we were anxious to push on to ZwoUe, besides 
 travelling is a very difficult matter in this Drenthe 
 country, and each place is so difficult to reach that 
 this, in itself, was a sufficient reason for deferring the 
 pleasure at that time. 
 
 We had no intention of staying long at Zwolle. 
 "We intended indeed remaining but a few hours at the 
 capital of Overyssel, as I had already visited the 
 town, and had described it elsewhere.^ We thought 
 of merely staying sufficient time to pay our respects 
 to the governor of the Province, and to obtain from 
 him letters of introduction to the burgomaster of the 
 principal towns of the old Salian country. But we 
 counted without our host, or the excessive kindness 
 and courtesy of the high functionary, to whom we 
 appealed to grant our request. Baron Nahuys would 
 not hear of our leaving his pretty capital so soon. In 
 spite of our wish to hasten onwards, and our pre-ar- 
 ranged determination not to be persuaded into staying, 
 we found ourselves accepting a gracious invitation to 
 meet at the Governor's table the most distinguished 
 men of the Province. 
 
 We were not in the least surprised at the hospit- 
 able kindness of the Baron, for both he and his wife 
 are known throughout the Netherlands for their 
 courtesy and hospitality. The king made a happy 
 
 1 ' The Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee.' 
 
ORIGIN OF THE COUNTRY. 191 
 
 choice when he placed this gentleman at the head of 
 Overyssel, for the Province prides itself on its hospit- 
 ality and kindness, and naturally looks to its governor 
 to carry out the traditions of the country. 
 
 The borders of the Yssel (Issala in Latin) are 
 regarded by all old authors as the original country 
 of the Salian Franks. Oldenzaal {Salia vetus) must 
 have been their capital. The Seigneurie of Salland 
 (country of the Salian s) and the village of Salicura, 
 would justify this pretension which was gathered by 
 Hadrianus Junius, accepted by Revius, and conhrmed 
 by Guicciardini. 
 
 ' L'isle de Crete, glorieuse pour le berceau de lupe- 
 ter, et la ville de Theves, superbe par le naissance de 
 Hercules, doibvent a bon droit donner place a toi, 6 
 Over-Issel. Car ... en toy sont trouvez les sources at 
 les parents de la tres puissante et celebre nation des 
 Francs.' 
 
 The time we did stay at Zwolle was devoted to 
 pleasure, and to the enjoyment of the society of our 
 hospitable entertainers, for no one could have been 
 received more cordially than we were ; and then we 
 started on our journey to Deventer. 
 
 The route we chose to reach the episcopal city, 
 which played such an important part in the history 
 of Guelderland, was by the Yssel. 
 
 The Yssel is a line broad river, bordered on 
 either side by rich country, fertile meadows, and 
 powerful villages. Every moment we caught sight 
 of pointed steeples, surrounded by bright -look- 
 
192 DISTANT ASPECT OF DEVENTER. 
 
 ing houses, farms, and cottages. First came Hat- 
 tum with its strange look of antiquity, then Wijhe, 
 Yeessen, and 01st, were reflected in the river, 
 after which came the groves around Diepenveen, 
 Nijbroek, and Terwolde, skirting the sides of the 
 river like long avenues. At last the steeples of 
 Deventer appeared on the horizon, grand and firm in 
 their position like lords governing their domains, or 
 mitred bishops keeping watch over their diocese. 
 
 These steeples can be seen from a long distance, 
 and their imposing appearance gives one a favourable 
 impression of the valiant city, which is not diminished 
 as we draw nearer the town. Indeed the approach 
 to Deventer has the effect of a magnificent panorama. 
 The quay, still bordered by its old walls, shaded here 
 and there, and commanded by a mass of pointed 
 gabled roofs, high towers and numerous steeples and 
 belfries, forms on the whole the most attractive 
 entrance to a town one could wish to see. On the 
 other side superb plantations, and grand trees with 
 enormous out-spreading branches, and heads so tall 
 they seem to vie in height with the opposite steeples, 
 greet the eye the instant one turns one's head from 
 looking at the town. The banks of the river are 
 joined by a bridge of boats, the simplicity of 
 which seems slightly out of place in connection 
 with the noble appearance of its surroundings. For- 
 merly there existed here a very handsome wooden 
 bridge, the erection of which had cost no less than 
 16,000 florins of gold {Bijnsclie goudgulden)^ but it 
 
ITS GRAND OLD WALLS. 193 
 
 was destroyed by fire in 1521 and 1578, carried 
 away by ice in 1570, and finally cut down in 1592, in 
 which year it was replaced by the bridge of boats, 
 which still exists, although in constant need of repair 
 and restoration. 
 
 At the head of this bridge there are still to be seen 
 the ruins of the old walls, the glorious remains of the 
 first fortifications of Deventer. It was the same 
 enormous brick wall which resisted the assault of the 
 Burgundians, in 1457. The town had refused to 
 acknowledge for its legitimate sovereign, David of 
 Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, Philip the Good's 
 bastard ; and the old duke, furious at this insult to 
 his son, swore he would bring the town to reason. 
 Happily the Duke of Guelders interfered in time, and 
 the rebellious city was spared from devastation. The 
 grand old walls protected the inhabitants for a period 
 of many years, and even in 1578 resisted the troops 
 of the States General for a space of three months. 
 
 The gallant and populous city was not on very 
 good terms with Spain. It was Dutch and Huguenot 
 to the core, and very proud of its independence. Hence, 
 when taken, it refused to receive the garrison, and the 
 citizens organised a militia and declared they would 
 guard the town and its ramparts themselves. But in 
 1586 when the Spanish threatened the borders of the 
 Yssel anew, the Earl of Leicester forced Deventer to 
 receive certain troops, whereupon 1,200 entered the 
 place. According to Leclerc's ' Histoire des Pays Bas,' 
 these troops- were ^ Irish Savages,' coarse, rough, half- 
 
 
 
194 EDWARD STANLEY. 
 
 naked men, headed by an extraordinary man whose 
 history demands a few words from us. 
 
 Edward Stanley, the Englishman in command of 
 this cohort, was a knight of adventure. He distin- 
 guished himself at the taking of Zutphen, by a 
 brilliant action. Just as he was scaling the ramparts 
 a pike was advanced by one of the enemy with the 
 intention of running him through ; but he seized hold 
 of it so firmly that he was dragged by the soldier who 
 held the other end into the fort, where he laid about 
 him so lustily with his sword, that he vanquished all 
 those who attacked him. This heroic action attracted 
 the attention of Leicester, who forthwith dubbed 
 him knight and pensioned him. Later on Stanley 
 managed to slip into the circle around the earl, 
 became a great favourite, and thus obtained in a sort 
 of way the command of Deventer. It was worse than 
 imprudent to place such a man at the head of so 
 important a place. The States soon found this out 
 to their cost. The moment Stanley found himself 
 master of the town, he sought an opportunity to sell 
 the place to the Spaniards. In league with Colonel 
 Taxis and the Duke of Palma, he proceeded very 
 early on the morning of the 29th January, 1587, to 
 the Burgomaster's house, and demanded that the 
 gates of the town should be opened in order to 
 effect a sortie and to surprise the enemy who were 
 approaching the town. His demand was complied 
 with, and he rode out after announcing that he would 
 be back in an hour, and begging that the gates might 
 
STANLETS TREACHERY. 195 
 
 be opened again the moment he was seen approaching. 
 He returned at the appointed hour, but with Colonel 
 Taxis, and six companies of Spaniards, who pene- 
 trated the town, marched straight to the market-place, 
 put themselves in battle order, and took possession 
 of all the posts. All this was done so quickly and 
 with so little noise, that no one in the town knew 
 or noticed what was going on. When the citizens 
 awoke their surprise was immense. A few of the 
 Protestants were so frightened that they endeavoured 
 to escape by throwing themselves over the ramparts. 
 But Colonel Taxis reassured the inhabitants, who 
 very soon perceived that the Spanish soldiers were 
 far preferable to the Irish savages belonging to 
 Leicester. 
 
 Stanley ^s treachery did not bring him any reward. 
 He had delivered the town for a certain sum of money 
 and the promise of advancement, both of which were 
 very scantily paid to him — and being suspected by 
 both parties, he took refuge in Spain, where he died 
 in the greatest misery and obscurity. 
 
 Count Herman de Berghen succeeded Colonel de 
 Taxis as governor of Deventer. It was from him that 
 Prince Maurice retook the town in 1591. On the 
 day of Pentecost, June 9th, 1591, the prince sur- 
 rounded and attacked the town with twenty-eight 
 double pounders, and called upon it to capitulate. 
 Count de Berghen replied, ' that he wished happiness 
 to his cousin, but that he would keep the town for 
 the king, his master, while he had breath in his body.' 
 
 0^2 
 
196 ADEIAAN METIUS. 
 
 Before the end of the day Deventer had received 
 four thousand shots, and Count de Berghen, wounded 
 himself in his face, ordered the white flag to be 
 hoisted. ' Thus the town was taken in so short a 
 time,' says De Meteren, an historian of the time, 
 * that one heard of the attack and surrender at 
 the same time.' 
 
 No sooner were the States in possession of 
 Deventer, than they proposed enlarging its fortifica- 
 tions, and charged an engineer called Adriaan Metius 
 to render it impregnable. But in spite of all his 
 science, Metius did not succeed, which however can 
 hardly be imputed to him as a crime. He did not 
 count on the treachery of Governor Steeke, who, 
 terrified by the cannon of the Bishop of Munster, sur- 
 rendered the place in 1672, without firing a shot. 
 Happily for its military honour, the last siege 
 Deventer underwent was of a singularly glorious 
 type. It had been prepared beforehand, and when it 
 was invested by the allies early in November, 1813, 
 everything was ready to receive them. The captain 
 increased his defences, and the garrison, few in number 
 as they were, were nevertheless determined to do as 
 well as they could. The place was still intact, when 
 on the 15th April, 1814, the French troops received 
 an order to evacuate it. As this order was signed by 
 King Louis XyiII.,the commander demanded that it 
 should be confirmed hierarchically, hence it was not 
 before the 26th April, after the return of the officers 
 sent to the French staff, that the troops com- 
 
ORIGIN OF THE NAME DEVENTER. 197 
 
 menced their retreat, leaving the town with arms and 
 baggage, and military honours. 
 
 It would not have been astonishing if Deventer 
 had been partially destroyed through so many mili- 
 tary agitations. But happily it was not, and it is 
 still, as it was in the days of Guicciardini, ' a large 
 spacious town full of fine edifices both public and 
 private.' The few injuries inflicted by the besiegers' 
 cannon have been tolerably well hidden, and war has 
 not had much more effect on the town than the lapse 
 of time. 
 
 Deventer is certainly one of the oldest cities in 
 the country. J. Eevius, who wrote its history in the 
 seventeenth century, assigns a certain man called 
 Davon as its founder. He was powerful, respected, 
 very pious and learned, and a friend of the St. Lievin 
 who died at Deventer in 770. Others assert that 
 the town is still more ancient, and pretend that it was 
 founded in the year 130, by the Catti, a Germanic 
 tribe, who took refuge in Spain, when they were 
 turned out by the Salians, and became the origin of the 
 people of Catalonia. If this is the case, the name of 
 Deventer must be derived, not from the castle built 
 by Davon (Dava's Slot) ; but from the noun aven- 
 tmnum^ which means in the Catti language ' fortune,' 
 from which we might have derived the word ' adven- 
 ture,' if the Romans had not transmitted for our 
 benefit the noun eventum and the verb advenire. 
 However, whether it was founded in the second or 
 eighth century, it was not till the eleventh that it 
 began to take any important position in the world. 
 
198 ST. LIEVIN'S. 
 
 Deventer is indebted to Bernulphe, Bishop of 
 Utrecht, for its Cathedral. It was after having 
 obtained from the Emperor Henry III. a spiritual and 
 temporal power over the town and its environs, that 
 this prelate organised a council of canons, invited 
 twenty prebendaries from the church of St. Saviour, 
 of Utrecht, to the town, and then had the first church 
 dedicated to St. Lievin, constructed in 1046. How- 
 ever this building did not last long. In 1235 it was 
 rebuilt, and again in 1334 it was found necessary to 
 reconstruct it, in consequence of a fire which took 
 place that year. 
 
 It is this church, erected in 1334, that we visited, 
 and which remains in existence to this day — which 
 in spite of the alterations and enlargements it has 
 undergone at various periods, is still one of the 
 finest churches in the Low Countries. The centre 
 nave and the crypt immediately under the high altar, 
 are the only parts left of the original building. Two 
 naves of similar height were added in the fifteenth 
 century, and at the same time five brick vaults were 
 built over all three naves, which considerably en- 
 hanced the grace of the outline, and completed the 
 noble appearance of the structure. 
 
 The south faqade^ constructed in freestone and 
 ivory elaborately ornamented, dates from this same 
 period. There is a tower also at the head of this 
 faqade^ but in an unfinished state. In 1613 a belfry 
 was added which has not a bad efi'ect, although it has 
 a more modern appearance. It is of octagon shape. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF PAINTINGS. 199 
 
 with several attics and pilasters, on four sides of which 
 are four mottoes, worth meditating on : FIDE-DEO 
 — CONSYLE^YIGILA— FORTIS AGE: precepts 
 which are valuable in themselves, even when written 
 high in the air. 
 
 Evidently this handsome tower was not intended 
 to remain alone, the intention being to erect a similar 
 one on the north side — but the project was abandoned 
 early, and replaced by a large chapel. The western 
 door is a half-circle, standing between the unfinished 
 tower and the one in project. It is an architectural 
 curiosity, being, besides the doors of St. Pancras, of 
 Ley den, and the windows of the Abbey of Middelburg, 
 the only known specimen of half- circle construction, 
 at a time when ogive architectural was at its height. 
 Formerly the interior was covered with paintings on 
 the walls. But at the epoch of the Reformation these 
 beautiful decorations were destroyed by the white- 
 washing of the iconoclastic. Here and there a fragment 
 of these paintings escaped destruction ; and just at the 
 time when we visited the town, a rather large portion 
 of one of them, representing a kind of last judgment, 
 in which devils are torturing penal sinners, was dis- 
 covered. But unfortunately, although the plaster is 
 only half-an-inch thick, it cannot be removed without 
 destroying the painting it covers ; hence it is impossi- 
 ble to find a single one of these old specimens of art 
 intact. 
 
 Two or three of the minor bas-reliefs have hap- 
 pily escaped much damage, and are in such a state 
 
200 THE CATHOLIC ST. LIEVIN. 
 
 of preservation as to give us a very good idea of 
 the beautiful sculpture formerly ornamenting the 
 church. One indicates the place where a certain 
 Johan van Leyden reposes, and is very curiously 
 executed. One must not confound this Johan van 
 Leyden with the well-known John of Leyden. He 
 was a simple citizen and respectable burgomaster, 
 who died in 1435, and had nothing in common with 
 the famous prophet of Munster. By his side lies his 
 wife. Dame Mitchell. 
 
 This large Church of St. Lievin is not the only 
 one of the same name in Deventer. There is a 
 Catholic St. Lievin, as well as this Protestant St. 
 Lievin, although its construction is of a much more 
 simple style. It has only two naves, terminating in 
 three sides of an octagon ; hence I believe it is in 
 an unfinished state. However, in spite of the sim- 
 plicity of its design, and built as it is, entirely of 
 brick, it has a very presentable appearance in the 
 interior. Its coloured windows, carved and gilded 
 altars, and wall paintings, although modern, never- 
 theless give it an imposing appearance, which as a 
 rule is wanting in temples of the Reformed religion. 
 It was not till 1803 that this church was made use of 
 for the Catholic form of worship. Since 1579 it had 
 been occupied by Calvinists, and before that period — 
 for it dates from 1338 — it had formed part of a 
 monastery, perhaps that of the Freres de la Vie 
 Commune, or most probably that of the RecoUets, 
 founded in 1335 by Eleanor of England. These 
 
ST. NICHOLAS. 201 
 
 dates coincide too distinctly to admit of any other 
 hypothesis. This church is described in old parch- 
 ments as BroerkirJc (Church of the Brothers). 
 When it was restored to the Catholics they remem- 
 bered that St. Lievin had been the patron saint of 
 this little city ; that he had, in fact, established the 
 first chapel in 760, and that it was owing to his pro- 
 tection the pretty little town had not been destroyed 
 in 882 by the Normans, and in 1178 by the Duke of 
 Guelderland ; and, remembering all these good offices, 
 they consecrated their only church to him, indiffer- 
 ent to the fact of the name being already possessed 
 by the large church. 
 
 If there is any doubt about the exact religious 
 order to which the Catholic Church of De venter once 
 belonged, there is no such doubt about St. Nicholas, 
 also called the Be7'gkirk (Church of the Mountain). 
 The Premonte monks were in possession of the 
 parish. Their convent was the most ancient in the 
 town, having been founded in 1123; and their prior, 
 as pastor of St. Nicholas, was generally called pastoor 
 op den Berg (pastor up the mountain). Yet to visit 
 St. Nicholas it is not necessary to climb steep places, 
 nor to round sharp corners. Here the slightest undu- 
 lation appears like a mountain — even a hill or a small 
 eminence — for one could hide a hundred such moun- 
 tains as Deventer in the rise of Montmartre. 
 
 The position of the Berghirk is tolerably pic* 
 turesque, if one takes into consideration that in this 
 flat country the slightest approach to a rise assumes 
 
202 INTERIOR OF ST. NICHOLAS. 
 
 the appearance of a hill. The building stands out 
 boldly from the surrounding landscape. It was 
 erected in 1198 by Thierry van der Arc, Bishop of 
 Utrecht ; but the only portions in existence of that 
 date are the faqade and the towers, with their tiled 
 roofs, though in the arches of the choir there is still 
 a trace left of the half-circle period. The columns 
 without capitals, and with ornamented round bases, 
 the arches of the nave, and the brick vault above, date 
 very probably from 1463, the epoch when the side 
 aisles and the circumference, with its seven sides, 
 were built. The interior is bare and desolate. It is 
 said that it contains the tomb of Eleanor of England, 
 who died at Deventer in 1356. But we could not 
 find it. No doubt it has been destroyed. In fact, 
 it is of no use to expect paintings or statues in the 
 Berglirk. The building was scratched, pumice- 
 stoned, plastered, white-washed, and done up afresh 
 about three years ago ; and the only fault its hosier 
 finds with it now, is, that it is not lit with gas. 
 
 This destruction of churches in Deventer is all 
 the more to be regretted, because formerly they were 
 very richly decorated. From the earliest times they 
 were provided with prebends and canons of con- 
 siderable importance, and they must have had gifts 
 in their possession of immense value, when they were 
 governed by a bishop. The archives of the town 
 prove this, and refer to a number of tithes, belonging 
 to the chief churches of Deventer, of great value. 
 The bishopric of Deventer did not exist for a very 
 
TOWN HALL OF DE VENTER, 203 
 
 long period. It was first established by Paul V. to 
 combat the progress of Protestantism, and counted 
 in all only three possessors : Jean Mathiew, whose 
 bad health obliged him to retire from his see, and 
 who, living among the RecoUets of Oudenarde, was 
 cruelly tortured by the Huguenots ; Egidius de 
 Monte, called also Gilles van den Berg, or Gilles 
 Dumont ; and Gilbert Coeverinx, dean of the chapter 
 of Bois-le-Duc, who was instituted in 1589, but was 
 not able to take possession of the episcopal see owing 
 to the disordered state of the Provinces, and the 
 decline of spiritual before civil authority. 
 
 The Town Hall is built on the site where the 
 cemetery was formerly, close to the large church. 
 The place is still called the Kerkhof. The building 
 dates from 1693. To mention its date is to mention 
 its style, though the Dutch architects rarely suc- 
 ceeded in their Greek or Latin reminiscences. The 
 large vestibule is decorated in the best style of the 
 Louis XIV. period. The simple white walls bring 
 out in strong relief the grand carved frame-work of 
 the doors, and form a sharp contrast to the bright 
 vivid tints of the armorial shields of the old guilds. 
 Amongst these emblems of industry and peace a 
 dozen swords hanging over our heads reminded us 
 that the Magistrat of Deventer formerly possessed 
 the right of high and low j ustice on all the city and 
 its dependencies. 
 
 Twelve magistrates and four counsellors formed 
 the body invested with these rights. Each year, 
 
204 THE COUNCIL OF MAGISTRATES. 
 
 on the 23rd February, they were elected by an 
 assembly of citizens. These citizen-electors were 
 forty- eight in number, and swore they would only 
 choose such magistrates as were honest, and had the 
 good of the State at heart. Each quarter furnished 
 six, the town being divided into eight quarters. 
 The privileges of these men were various. Amongst 
 others they might assemble four times a year 
 for the purpose of deliberating on the affairs of 
 the Province, comprising peace and war, which, 
 according to a writer of the time, gave them con- 
 siderable authority over their fellow- townsmen. The 
 hall where the Council of Magistrates was held 
 and Avhere also the Municipal Council held their 
 meetings, is still in existence. A magnificent picture, 
 dated 1667, which still hangs in the Council Cham- 
 ber, gives one a very good idea of what those Assem- 
 blies of Justice were like a couple of centuries ago. 
 It is the portrait of the sixteen magistrates and four 
 secretaries holding office at that time. Each one is 
 sitting in his place. The two men, who were elected 
 every quarter, occupy the President's desk, and the 
 four secretaries the small table in front. Each figure 
 is robed in black, as becomes the office of judge. 
 Each face is expressive of strong character, and a 
 conscientious honesty. The picture is by Terburg, 
 and it certainly is a marvellous display of the exact- 
 ness and power of observation generally attributed 
 to that gifted being. The colouring and style are 
 very charming, Terburg was born at Zwolle, in 
 
TERBURG THE PAINTER. v205 
 
 1608 ; but it was not till lie was about sixty years 
 of age that he established himself among his rela- 
 tions in De venter, where he married one of his 
 cousins, and died thirteen years later, without leav- 
 ing behind him any children. No doubt while he 
 was painting this marvellous chef-d'oeuvre he himself 
 sat under the swords and administered justice in his 
 turn. He deserved honouring by a town which he 
 honoured so much by his talents and his just charac- 
 ter. It would be a good thing if M. Ch. Blanc could 
 see this noble picture. He would not again say 
 of Terburg that he was a ' painter without any 
 depth.' 
 
 It is with very great regret that we turn from this 
 grand picture to a Biblical painting by Hardenberg, 
 and four others of the four Evangelists, by Henry 
 ter Brugghen. This latter artist was born at De ven- 
 ter, but, unlike Terburg, he quitted the pretty 
 town to go and live at Utrecht. He was born in 
 1588, and died in his adopted town in 1629. His 
 son, at the age of ninety-nine, restored these paint- 
 ings to his father's native town. 
 
 Before leaving the Town Hall we paid a visit 
 to the Burgomaster's chamber, and the library of the 
 Athenaeum, which has gained a well-merited reputa- 
 tion. The Municipal Cabinet contains three inter- 
 esting pictures of views of Deventer, and a very 
 handsome chimney-piece,, There are more than 
 6,000 volumes in the library, many of which are 
 rare and valuable. There is a goodly collection of 
 
206 ORIGIN OF PRINTING IN DEVENTER. 
 
 Oriental works and manuscripts/ 130 volumes of in- 
 cunabula containing about 500 different works, among 
 which are two of very great value, two bibliographical 
 treasures — a xylographic JDonat^ and the only known 
 copy of a certain Reynardus Vulpes. The Donat 
 has had the honour of a facsimile reproduction. In 
 his Monuments Typographiques^ M. Holtrop has com- 
 pared it with a,n identical copy in the Royal Library 
 at the Hague. The special value of the De venter 
 Donat consists not in its being unknown, but that it 
 is the only complete copy extant. The Reynardus 
 Vulpes dates from the thirteenth century. The li- 
 brary is well taken care of M. A^an Eyck, the real 
 librarian, to whom we are indebted for the cata- 
 logue, is not only a careful keeper of manuscripts, 
 but a scholar. He has devoted a great deal of time 
 and attention to the origin of printing in his native 
 town, and his researches have been crowned with 
 success. To him we are indebted for the know- 
 ledge that between 1470 and 1475 this marvellous 
 discovery was brought to Deventer by one Rykert, 
 or Richard Paffroed, who established himself in the 
 neighbourhood, and worked at his printing till 1486. 
 In this year he seems to have handed over his block 
 and plant to a man called Jacques de Breda. How- 
 ever, he returned to his art about the year 1488 with 
 a new set of implements, and from that time the 
 town of Deventer possessed two printers. 
 
 * M. de Goeje has drawn up a catalogue of these works. It can be 
 found in his Codius orientalis. 
 
THE HARDEWIJK LIBRARY. 207 
 
 Although this early establishment of the art of 
 printing proves that the inhabitants of Deventer 
 were cultivated people, it does not account for the 
 extreme richness of the Athenaeum library. The 
 treasures it contains were obtained from the library 
 of Hardewijk when the Academy, which was the 
 principal ornament of that little town, was sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 The books comprising this academical library 
 were divided, by command of the king, into two 
 parts. The one, consisting of the larger number of 
 ordinary books, went to Arnhem ; while Deventer 
 became the happy possessor of the second part, con- 
 sisting of rare and precious treasures. Not very 
 far from the library are to be found the archives, 
 classed in order, docketed and described with the 
 greatest care. It is a pleasure to look at archives 
 in this condition ; all the more so because Deventer 
 having been the capital of the Province, and an 
 episcopal town, its archives, of necessity, are very 
 valuable. The catalogue refers to 1,600 principal 
 documents, several of which are a kind of combina- 
 tion of others. We had no time to stop and look 
 over these interesting papers, much as we should 
 have enjoyed studying their contents. 
 
 Close to the Town Hall, and built on the same 
 site of the old Kerhhof., is a handsome edifice used as 
 a police-office. Th^faqade is of brick and stone. It 
 has five storeys, the two highest of which, including 
 the gable, have no openings, and are surmounted by 
 
208 THE WEIGH-HOUSE. 
 
 a figure of a warrior, carrying on his shield the arms 
 of the town, said to be the statue of Charles Y. 
 This handsome faqade is in very good taste and 
 style. The doors of the ground-floor, especially the 
 centre one, are veritable triumphal arches of most 
 elegant form and style. 
 
 This building is not the only one in Deventer 
 either of this period or of this style. One could 
 point out half-a-dozen others — one especially, built 
 near to the Biink — and the Palace of Justice, 
 standing in a corner, and shaded by grand trees; 
 but the Police Office is perhaps the finest and the 
 one most beautifully ornamented. 
 
 There are fewer traces of the fifteenth and six- 
 teenth centuries to be found in this town. However, 
 the pretty little city need not complain of this, as 
 the Weigh-house, and a house near the KevTcIiof^ will 
 prove. This house has a pointed gable, two jut- 
 ting storeys, and eight consoles supporting curious 
 figures — not only very rare, but full of interest when 
 one takes into consideration that all the wooden 
 houses of the fifteenth century were carefully 
 destroyed for fear of fire. 
 
 The Weigh-house dates from 1528, although it 
 has triangular windows, towers, and turrets ; in fact, 
 all the attractions of the Gothic style. It was 
 erected close to the shady place called the Brink ^ 
 and is altogether a very charming building. It has 
 been several times restored — ^in 1620, 1755, and 
 1873 — ^but never disfigured. It was completed in 
 
IMPORTANCE OF DEVENTER. 209 
 
 1643, by the addition of a staircase with double 
 balustrades and an elegant flight of steps in front. 
 In olden times it was the rendezvous of the business 
 men of Deventer, the place where most of the com- 
 mercial transactions took place. The importance of 
 these transactions was much greater at that epoch 
 than might generally be imagined, for Deventer was 
 a rich, industrial town, with large revenues. Besides 
 the yearly income accruing from its 'free Weigh- 
 house,' which was a gift from Count Florent V., the 
 town received special privileges from the Emperor 
 Henry Y., who loaded it with gifts in order to attach 
 it firmly to himself. His example was followed by 
 Count Otho I., next by Kenaud of Guelderland, and 
 later on by the Bishops of Utrecht, each with the 
 same object in view — only his own benefit. Then 
 the importance of the town was considerably in- 
 creased by its joining the Hanseatic League, and by 
 signing treaties with the King of Denmark, and the 
 sovereigns of England. No wonder, then, that the 
 ' Weigh-house ' reflected the importance and pros- 
 perity of the town which had made it the centre of 
 its industrial and agricultural commerce. 
 
 Even now, Deventer is a town of no mean im- 
 portance. Besides its markets, which still continue 
 very important, it carries on an active manufacture 
 of cotton, wool, and silk, and especially a certain 
 kind of carpet which is celebrated throughout 
 Europe. 
 
 While we are on the subject of industry, we may 
 
 P 
 
210 THE WEIGH-HOUSE. 
 
 as well mention the manufacture of gingerbread 
 (Deventerkoek) and of wine. For Deventer does ma- 
 nufacture its own wine, and is very proud of it too. 
 The hotel-keepers announce it on their cards, and 
 make a great distinction between the native wine 
 (onversneden) and that which is not. 
 
 The ' Weigh-house ' has two or three sculptured 
 pieces about it which must not be passed over in 
 silence. First we have the sun, moon, and stars, 
 as a magic lantern; and then a couple of curious 
 fiofures in hio;h relief on either side of the buildinof, 
 one representing a very ugly fellow looking into a 
 pot, called kijkindepot (glancing in the pot) ; the 
 other, the same fellow looking away from the pot 
 while cooking something in it, called kijkuitdepot 
 (glancing out of the pot). We wished to know 
 a little more concerning the subject treated in this 
 double way, but we could find out nothing of any 
 importance. We were told that an immense cauldron, 
 hanging close by, and pierced by several balls, had 
 once served as a means for boiling a coiner of false 
 money. The execution took place on the Brink. It 
 was the punishment in those days for the crime of 
 forging coin.^ 
 
 This was not the only execution which took 
 place on the Brink, in front of the Weigh-house. A 
 certain number of heretics were burned there. In 
 
 ^ There is a drawing of this mode of death on the margin of one of 
 the archives of Lille, close to the sentence passed the 12th July, 1560. 
 condemning a coiner of gold to be boiled in a cauldron. 
 
HOUSES AROUND THE 'BRINK: 211 
 
 1544 Marie van Beekum and her sister met their 
 deaths on this identical spot, and in 1571 a dozen 
 other unfortunate victims shared the same fate. I 
 mention these specially because Jan Luiken has pre- 
 served a record of their memory. 
 
 Looking at the Brink now, one finds it difficult 
 to believe it has such a sinister history. It is the 
 most charming little place in the world, and is sur- 
 rounded with handsome houses, one or two of which 
 are so ancient and attractive that I must describe 
 them. The first is a genuine specimen of the Kenais- 
 sance period. It is a small building, only one storey 
 high, surmounted by an immense roof The mul- 
 lioned windows are placed between two friezes orna- 
 mented with scrolls. The entrance to the buildino^ 
 is composed of a grand portico, with an enormous 
 arched door, above which are two storeys decorated 
 with windows, niches, and statues. The faqade ter- 
 minates in a pinnacle, with an enormous grotesque 
 head at the top. The niches are crowned with attics 
 or with arches, and arabesque designs of graceful 
 form and outline connect them with a series of scrolls 
 bearing inscriptions. It is scarcely necessary to add 
 that the statues represent a remarkable collection of 
 rare virtues — Courage, Prudence, Faith, &c. The 
 other house is situated a little farther away, but also 
 on the Brink. It only dates from 1739, hence is not 
 very old. It is occupied now by a silk merchant. 
 
 In spite of its bastard style, which might be 
 called the Louis XIV. of the Low Countries; in spite 
 
 p2 
 
212 ARCHITECTURE OF DEVENTER. 
 
 of the heavy entablature surmounting it ; in spite of 
 its flower-pots and such things, it has such a grand, 
 noble appearance, with its two fine statues towering 
 above, that it forms an exception to its age, and 
 proves the fact that a good architect can always 
 master every style. It is certainly not paying an 
 empty compliment to Deventer to tell the world that 
 such grand edifices are to be found within its walls. 
 These houses are in themselves proof positive of the 
 intelligence and artistic tastes of the population. It 
 is one of the brightest and prettiest towns possible, 
 and pleasant and instructive to visit. A town also 
 that one would like to see more than once, and where 
 one would not be sorry to settle down for a time. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 APELDOORN — THE LOO AN ABDICATION — ZUTPHEN — PILLAGE — HOL- 
 
 LANDSCHE TUIN — A LETTER FROM LOUVOIS ARCHIVES THE 
 
 MUSEUM — ST. WALBURGUS AND NOTRE DAME. 
 
 [HE environs of Deventer are as charming 
 and coquettish as the town is full of 
 artistic houses, and rich in reminiscences. 
 The silver Yssel winds in and out, green meadows, 
 groves and shady walks abound along its banks ; and, 
 turn in whichever direction one will from the town, 
 a pleasant promenade is sure to invite, and then 
 claim, our attention. The country is superb all 
 around, but the road to Apeldoorn is specially in- 
 teresting from a variety of causes. Apeldoorn is 
 certainly one of the finest villages, not only in the 
 provinces, but in the whole of the Low Countries ; 
 and it is there that the favourite residence of the 
 King of Holland is situated. The castle is called 
 Loo. 
 
 The distance between Deventer and Apeldoorn is 
 about eight or nine miles. We started early in the 
 morning, and walked this distance with the greatest 
 ease, for the route was shady, and the cottages we 
 
214 APELDOORN. 
 
 passed, ornamented with flower-gardens and large 
 verandahs, beguiled the monotony of the way. 
 
 No such village as Apeldoorn is to be found 
 in France. Imagine several majestic avenues of 
 elm- trees a century old, with elegant houses emerg- 
 ing from beneath their shade, surrounded by beau- 
 tiful flower-gardens. Each house leaves its hall-door 
 open, and chairs are placed outside. They are 
 divided from the road by no wall or barrier of any 
 kind, and the owners of these charming habitations 
 appear to live altogether in the greatest harmony 
 and peace, like one immense family party. 
 
 Apeldoorn is by no means a village of to-day. 
 Otho III. and Lothair III. refer to it in their letters. 
 In 1629 it was considered sufficiently rich and pros- 
 perous for a band of Spaniards, commanded by 
 Count Salazar, to pay it a visit. Burned and pil- 
 laged as it was, it sprung up again after a time, and 
 in 1770 the widow of William Y., Princess Frederica 
 Sophia, endowed it with the church still in existence. 
 This church is not very handsome, being heavy and 
 massive; but its austere appearance enhances, by 
 pleasant contrast, the beauty of the elegant and 
 flower-covered cottages around. 
 
 The Castle of Loo is reached through these mag- 
 nificent elm-avenues. It is an imposing-looking 
 building, with an immense white frontage broken by 
 a number of windows with outside shutters of a very 
 dark colour. A large court of honour is in front, 
 with a peristyle, leading to a magnificent vestibule, 
 
CASTLE OF LOO. 215 
 
 by a staircase ornamented from top to bottom with 
 trophies and scutcheons. Armour, banners, and flags, 
 and a few Indian pictures, painted by Eadhen Sale, 
 a painter of Batavia, complete the decoration of the 
 vestibule. 
 
 The private reception-rooms are on the first 
 floor; two or three of which are still ornamented in 
 the magisterial style of the eighteenth century. The 
 others have been arranged according to the good 
 taste of the royal owner, and are profusely orna- 
 mented with works of art, and furnished in a very 
 costly manner. These rooms have a pleasant and 
 charming appearance, and give one the impression 
 that they have been furnifched and adorned by one 
 who had an affection for the place. 
 
 The dining-room is on the ground -floor, fur- 
 nished in a rich style, and decorated here and there 
 with precious mementoes of bygone heroes. Side by 
 side with silver pyx and silver-gilt jugs, one notices 
 the knife which belonged to the great William the 
 Taciturn, and a glass which William Y. drank from. 
 The original decorations of the room are preserved 
 as they were. 
 
 Next to this apartment is the library ; and then 
 come the rooms set apart for Prince Frederic, the 
 King's uncle. 
 
 Through a series of passages one arrives at the 
 theatre. It was just receiving its finishing touches 
 when we visited it, and it certainly is one of the 
 most charming places of the kind I ever saw- 
 
216 LITTLE LOO, 
 
 It is impossible to imagine anything more 
 grandly beautiful than the park and garden belong- 
 ing to this castle. Lawns, rich beds of exquisite- 
 coloured flowers, gigantic black birch-trees, chestnut- 
 trees in groups and apart, meet the eye at every turn, 
 forming the most perfect landscape and charming 
 scenery. Each step brings one to a fresh surprise in 
 the form of a lovely nook or exquisite grove, and 
 whichever way one walks one appears to be in a 
 fairy land of beauty. 
 
 At the end of the magnificent alleys is the ancient 
 castle called now, the little Loo, the residence of the 
 young Prince of Orange. It is an old feudal build- 
 ing with machicoulis and turrets half covered with 
 creeping- plants, ivy, and honeysuckle. This simple 
 edifice, destitute of any ofiicial pretension, was 
 erected about the beginning of the sixteenth century 
 by the Seigneur Johan Bent ink. 
 
 First of all it was a sort of hunting castle (Jacht- 
 slot); then later on it became a lordly habitation, 
 and the owner, knowing the advantage of having a 
 powerful protector, paid homage to Duke Charles in 
 1537. The result of this was that it became a 
 transmissible fief, subject to the singular annual rent 
 of a hunting-horn and two white greyhounds.^ 
 Johan Bentink's sons dying without issue, Loo 
 passed into the hands of Zeger van Arnhem, his son- 
 in-law. From him it went to the Van Voorst family ; 
 
 ^ Van der Aa sayp, * two white hinds ; ' more difficult still to b e 
 obtained. 
 
LITTLE LOO TURNED INTO A MENAGERIE. 217 
 
 from them it was inherited by Van Isendoorn ; then 
 later on by Van Stepracht; till finally it fell to the pos- 
 session of Yan Dornick, who yielded it to the Stad- 
 holder William III. This prince conceived a great 
 affection for the place, and had the ground laid out 
 in the marvellously beautiful manner so much 
 admired in the present day ; commanded the erection 
 of the new castle, the great Loo, and, in order to 
 ornament and decorate it in the best style, he em- 
 ployed the highest talent of the age to carry out his 
 wishes. In the meantime the little Loo was turned 
 into a menagerie. 
 
 In 1795, when the Republican troops invaded the 
 country, this property was considered as no longer 
 belonging to the Princes of Orange, so the castle 
 was confiscated and converted into barracks, and 
 the furniture and menagerie sold. Two elephants, 
 deemed worthy of a place in the Jardin des Plantes, 
 were reserved by the victors, shut up in enormous 
 wooden cages, and sent to Paris. These animals 
 were called Hans and Parkie, and the account of 
 their journey to the French capital is to be found in 
 a book called ' Les Animaux cel^bres et intelligent s.' 
 Elephants at that time were very rarely seen in 
 Europe; hence these two afibrded ample amuse- 
 ment to the public fpr a long time, till finally one 
 day they took cold and died of inflammation of the 
 lungs. 
 
 During his short reign King Louis made great 
 efforts to have the castle restored to its original 
 
218 ABDICATION OF KING WILLIAM L 
 
 splendour; but time failed him, and his intentions 
 were very imperfectly carried out. 
 
 On their return to the country, the Princes of 
 Orange naturally regained possession of their mag- 
 nificent domain. William I. was very fond of the 
 place; he lived there constantly, and it was in the 
 great hall of this castle that he abdicated on the 17th 
 October, 1840. In the presence of his son and grand- 
 son, the ministers and members of the Council of State, 
 the old King passed his crown to the Prmce of Orange. 
 The President of the Council read the form of abdi- 
 cation; it was signed by all present, and then the 
 ceremony was over. 
 
 Was it the remembrance of this ceremony, or 
 some other cause, which kept William II. from enjoy- 
 ing the shades of this peaceful retreat ? He rarely, 
 if ever, set foot in the place. Fortunately his suc- 
 cessor, William III., was particularly attached to the 
 old castle, and not only lived there continually, but 
 had the domain restored to its original grandeur, and 
 the park and gardens improved, as we have already 
 remarked. 
 
 An enormous forest, stretching to the north as far 
 as Elspeet and to the west as far as the heaths of 
 Milligen, joins the park and gardens of this princely 
 residence. The desolate heaths of Milligen are 
 admirably adapted, by their great extent, for mili- 
 tary evolutions, and it is there that the grand ma- 
 noeuvres of the army take place in summer and 
 autumn. 
 
ZUTPHEX (banks OF THE BERKEl). 
 
OLD MOAT AND WALL. 219 
 
 A beautiful wide road connects Loo with Milligen, 
 leading on to Apeldoorn, and from thence to Zutphen. 
 To reach this last-named town requires three good 
 hours' walking ; the moment the border of the Yssel 
 is reached, fatigue is forgotten in admiration of the 
 charming and picturesque appearance of this city. 
 In the distance it looks like a great lake of red roofs 
 instead of shimmering waves ; but on approaching 
 nearer one can perceive the little river Berkel dividing 
 the town into two parts, washing its old ramparts, 
 and opening to view such delicious bits of colour and 
 form that a painter might go mad with joy at sight 
 of them. 
 
 The old moat and the wall, which formerly en- 
 closed the enceinte of the town, form a very attractive 
 picture, though the latter is party hidden by houses 
 which have been built out of it by some of the 
 inhabitants of Zutphen. An opening here and there, 
 and a bit of roof, and behold the house was considered 
 fit for habitation ! Here and there a wall had been 
 whitewashed, or a little plaster stuck on, and the 
 windows ornamented with shutters or blinds ; but as 
 a rule these places have been left in their original 
 state, and the impression of the old machicoulis is 
 still to be seen under the shadow of their roofs. 
 
 Add to all this a mass of plants and flowers, 
 white inclining barriers, and black, worm-eaten stair- 
 cases, red roofs and grey walls, surrounded by tiny 
 gardens gay with colours, and with the branches of 
 their trees drooping in the bright water beneath. 
 
220 THE FISH.MARKET. 
 
 Then, by way of contrast, we see on the opposite 
 side of the moat clean, well-kept houses, painted 
 pale yellow or grey, their outlines all perfect, their 
 angles sharp, and the mouldings above the windows 
 as fresh and new as if only just finished by the hand 
 of the workman. They are the backs of the houses 
 of Ijsselkade, facing the large river. 
 
 These houses are the pride of the town, but I am 
 inclined to find them too stiff and slightly pre- 
 tentious ; so we will leave them behind, and follow 
 the course of the river, which will interest us a great 
 deal more, and show us at every dozen yards some- 
 thing worth seeing. First, we have a row of shaky 
 houses with their walls full of cracks ; then comes 
 the fish-market, situated close to the water's edge, 
 but deceitful in appearance, for the eels and plaice 
 are brought there in carts, and carried away in 
 baskets on the arms of the buyers. Fish is sold by 
 auction. At first a high price is called out ; then, in 
 a monotonous tone, the price is gradually lowered 
 till it is in accordance with the pocket of the pur- 
 chaser, who cries out 'Ja,' and the lot is knocked 
 down to him, unless, of course, two persons happen 
 to pronounce the fatal ' Ja ' at the same moment, in 
 which case a great deal of joking and discussing goes 
 on, ending sometimes in blows. 
 
 Beyond the markets we have the mills — genuine 
 mills — with enormous wheels, half rotten by constant 
 immersion in the water, continually in need of repair. 
 They are picturesque marks of olden time, and 
 
THE ' WATERPOORT: 221 
 
 were given to the town/ in 1312, by Count Eeinoldt 
 — a gift that was truly appreciated by the grateful 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Following the mills are the bridges, with their 
 arched vaults overtopping the street below. On 
 either side of the river, which has no quay, there are 
 curious groups of tumble -down roofs, laticed bal- 
 conies, boarded terraces, leaden spouts, worm-eaten 
 steps, and decayed walls covered with verdure and 
 moss. All this, in bright warm tints, is to be seen 
 along the road, tiH a grand and majestic ruin inter- 
 cepts the view and draws one's attention to itself. 
 This ruin was formerly the gate to the town — one 
 of those called Waterpoort. Standing on two enor- 
 mous piles, it stretches across the water like a bridge, 
 thus commanding and defending the access to the 
 river. Above the arches, open during the day for 
 boats to pass under, is a long gallery, with windows 
 and loopholes, formerly crowned with battlements. 
 Two small toTV^ers, completing the warlike appearance 
 of the old ruin, have fallen a prey to the ravages of 
 time, and form support for the creeping ivy and iris. 
 
 Beyond this old gate is the new rampart, with its 
 large bastions and grand trees, commanding the sur- 
 rounding country, which, although flat and marshy, 
 is very fertile. This new rampart encircles the city, 
 here and there following the ancient walls, for the 
 Waterpoort is not the only vestige of the old defences 
 still remaining. Portions of the wall are still visible 
 
 ^ The letter bestowing the gift is among the archives of the town. 
 
222 FERTILE SOIL OF ZUTPHEN. 
 
 in various places, and in the distance can be seen the 
 double platform of the Drogenapstoren, 
 
 In spite of time and ill-treatment at the hands of 
 men, the old tower holds its machicolated battlements 
 high in the air, frowns down on the picturesque assem- 
 blage of gabled-roof, belfries, and old trees around it, 
 and reflects its haughty head in the stagnating waters 
 at its base. 
 
 On the opposite side of the ramparts the eye 
 catches sight of a little island, full of wooden houses, 
 inns, and dockyards, and hemmed in by Tjalks, with 
 red-coloured sails and masts gay with flags, which 
 seems to be at once the naval quarter, and gate of 
 the town. 
 
 It is pleasant to contemplate this mass of lines 
 and colour, to listen to the subdued hum from the 
 busy streets, and then to glance one's eye over the 
 golden fields beyond, glistening in the warm noon- 
 day sun. 
 
 The richness of the soil of this country has long 
 been proverbial. ' It is a special favourite of Heaven,' 
 cries Bleau, the geographer, in a sort of ecstasy. 
 ' The atmosphere around it and the air it breathes 
 are salubrious and strengthening. The fields and 
 meadows are fertile and productive, as fattening for 
 beasts as abundant in harvest.' However, unfortu- 
 nately, this much-boasted salubrity of climate has 
 not prevented Zutphen from being visited at various 
 epochs by terrible epidemics. From 1458 to 1617 it 
 was ravaged no less than ten times by the plague. 
 
ZUTPHEN. 223 
 
 and each time the inhabitants were frightfully thinned 
 in numbers. 
 
 The plague was not the worst disaster which 
 happened to this charming city in those sinister times. 
 Sieges, assaults, massacres, and devastation of every 
 kind periodically assailed it. 
 
 It was almost depopulated by the Spaniards in 
 1572. 
 
 In spite of the inhabitants making no difficulty or 
 resistance to receiving the Duke of Alva's troops, 
 the soldiers had no sooner entered the town than ' they 
 began murdering, hanging, strangling, drowning, and 
 cruelly ill-treating the women and children.' 
 
 The author of the Polemographia has given us a 
 touching account of these horrors, in a print entitled 
 '• Horrenda ab Hispanis commissa latrocinia.' * They 
 were hung up by their feet,' he says, ' officers and 
 soldiers alike ; several of the inhabitants were tied 
 together and flung naked into the riter, while others 
 were deprived of their clothing and driven out of the 
 town, where they perished with cold and hunger.' 
 
 It was next besieged by the States' troops. In 
 1586 Leicester attacked it, but in vaiii, for the Duke 
 of Palma prevented his entering the town by giving 
 him battle outside, in which ' the English were rudely 
 repulsed.' Re victualled and refurnished, Zutphen 
 held out till 1591, when Maurice himself invested it. 
 This time it was carried by a genuine stratagem. 
 On the 22nd May a dozen soldiers belonging to the 
 garrison of Doesborg arrived early in the morning, 
 
224 A SUCCESSFUL STRATAGEM. 
 
 and posted themselves at the door of the large fort 
 the Spaniards had established on the left bank of the 
 Yssel. They were disguised as simple country fel- 
 lows, carrying for sale butter, eggs, milk, and cheese. 
 The moment the gates were open they entered the 
 guard-room under pretence of selling their wares, 
 and while the unarmed soldiers were making their 
 purchases they threw themselves upon them, killed a 
 portion of the guard, made prisoners of the others, and 
 were soon joined by the rest of their accomplices hang- 
 ing about the neighbourhood. 
 
 As soon as Prince Maurice heard of the success 
 of this stratagem, he hastened with all speed to invest 
 the town, and call upon it to surrender. For want 
 of ammunition and salt the garrison capitulated, not 
 daring to hazard an assault, or to attempt to prolong 
 the siege. The Spaniards marched out of the town 
 with sword and dagger, and with as much of their 
 personal property as they could carry round their 
 necks ; and I think there is no manner of doubt that 
 they took advantage of this permission to pillage the 
 town to perfection. 
 
 However, in spite of epidemics, wars, assaults of 
 arms, and pillage, Zutphen continued in a rich and 
 flourishing state. Her wealth even became proverbial, 
 passing into a ballad, and sung about the streets of 
 Guelderland. 
 
 Nymegen de oudste, 
 Roermond de grootste, 
 Arnhem de lugtigste, 
 Zutphen de rykste. 
 
 Nymegen the oldest, 
 Koermond the largest, 
 Arnhem the gayest, 
 Zutphen the richest. 
 
ORIGIN OF ZUTPHEN. 225 
 
 Even at the present time Zutphen is a very 
 wealthy place, with considerable agricultural and 
 commercial importance. If we are inclined to 
 believe the statistics, which tell us of seven hundred 
 boats moored each year along the quay, of ten thou- 
 sand horned cattle in the markets, five thousand 
 sheep bleating in the streets, and eight thousand pigs 
 grunting behind doors, surely the town merits its 
 reputation. Besides its traditional wealth, it has 
 other points worthy of attention. Although not as 
 old as ' Nymegen the oldest,^ Zutphen is, neverthe- 
 less, an ancient city and noble to boot, for it was the 
 capital of a province bearing its name. 
 
 The history of this province is neither very im- 
 portant nor very clear in its origin. According to 
 Pontanus, who has written a history of the country, 
 the first titular lord was a certain Count Reimer, who 
 lived about the year 833. Berchemius says that in 
 810 a certain Wichard, or Wichman, belonging to 
 the House of Saxony, bore the title of Count of Zut- 
 phen. Be this as it may, it was certainly not before 
 914 that any serious mention is made of the country, 
 and then it was in reference to the marriage of Ade- 
 laide, ' Countess of Zutphen,' with Eobert de Heusden. 
 Later on, by the marriage of Sophia, daughter of 
 Wichman, with Otho of Nassau, Count of Guelderland, 
 Zutphen and its territory were united to the neigh- 
 bouring province. When the latter was raised to 
 the dignity of a Duchy, Zutphen was definitely 
 absorbed in the more powerful province. Hence the 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE 'HOLLANDSCHE TUIN: 
 
 reason for the province of Zutphen figuring among the 
 titles and dependencies of the Emperor Charles Y . 
 
 But to return to the town itself. In its aristocratic 
 quarters Zutphen is decidedly elegant and well built ; 
 the streets are large and cleanly, and have the winding 
 appearance of an old city. Plenty of life is always 
 stirring in this gay old town. The principal hotel 
 bears a name that is very suggestive and agreeable to 
 the ear. 
 
 It is called Hollandsche Tuin (the Dutch Garden). 
 Certainly it is a very curious, even peculiar garden, 
 for it has neither flowers, nor plants, nor a blade of 
 grass. Its only grove is a straight sombre-looking 
 courtj^ard full of niches, which by no means carries out 
 the promise suggested by the signboard. It is true 
 that the absence of flowers is, to a certain extent, 
 compensated for by a number of talking, laughing 
 girls hurrying to and fro the passages, and that the 
 sweet song of the nightingale is substituted by a peal 
 of bells constantly ringing close by. 
 
 That this peal of bells is still in existence is not 
 due to the present inhabitants of Zutphen, or to those 
 of bygone days either — but rather to Louvois, the 
 austere minister of Louis XIY. Allow me to explain. 
 
 When, on the 26th June, 1672, after five days of 
 trenches, the Duke of Orleans carried Zutphen by 
 assault and took the garrison prisoners, the French 
 artillery officers, in accordance with their right, laid 
 an embargo on all bells and belfries, and every descrip- 
 tion of copperwork to be found in the town. Then 
 
LETTER FROM LOUVOIS. 227 
 
 the authorities of the town were invited, according to 
 the custom of the time, to redeem these articles, by a 
 sum of money, fixed by the officers at ten thousand 
 crowns. 
 
 Takino; advantao^e of this to rid the town of its 
 numerous peals of bells, church bells, and bell towers, 
 the authorities turned a deaf ear to the proposition, 
 and offered instead to pay half the sura, and to write 
 to that effect to M. de Louvois. 
 
 Now to address M. de Louvois in writing was 
 looked upon as a very audacious proceeding, and 
 the Duke of Orleans, who knew the terrible man, 
 tried to dissuade the authorities from any such 
 hazardous undertaking. ' It will be quite useless, 
 and you will lose your bells into the bargain,' he said. 
 But the brave men persisted, and their letter was 
 written and despatched. 
 
 To their great astonishment they received the 
 following reply from the haughty minister : — 
 
 Messieurs, — 
 J'ay receu la lettre que tous m'avez escrite, par laquelle vous me 
 faites connoistre Fjinpuissance dans laquelle vous estes de payer dix mil 
 escus, pour les droitz que les officiers d'artillerie ont sur vous cloches. 
 J'en ay rendu compte au Roy, et Sa Ma° a bien voulu modtSrer cette 
 somme a la moitie. Mais apres cela, il faut que vous sortiez prompte- 
 ment de cette affaire. Je suis. Messieurs, 
 
 Votre affectionn^ seruiteur, 
 
 DE LOUVOIS. 
 Saint Germain, ce X's Aoust 1672. 
 
 Les Bourguemestres de Zutphen * 
 
 * Gentlemen, — 
 
 I have received the letter that you have written, in which you in- 
 form me of your inability to pay the ten thousand crowns, the indemnity 
 
 q2 
 
228 THE WEIGH-HOUSE OF ZUTPHEN. 
 
 This interesting letter from Louvois is preserved 
 in the archives of Zutphen. 
 
 Hence it is certainly de Louvois' fault that the 
 peal of bells, which awakens the inhabitants of Zut- 
 phen night after night, is still in existence. 
 
 The pedestal supporting this belfry of Zutphen 
 is the tower of the ' Weigh-house,' which stands 
 in the centre of the town, at the cross-road of 
 the long street where the market is held. This 
 ' Weigh-house,' composed of a kind of fore-build- 
 ing of very solid architecture of the year 1618, 
 soars high above a grand display of market stalls, 
 butchers' shops, and spekslagers^ and a noisy talk- 
 ing crowd of buyers and sellers. The fore-building 
 is divided into two storeys, surmounted by a long 
 roof and high tower, in the same style as the Wester- 
 kirh of Amsterdam. The first storey of this tower, 
 on a height with that of the main building, forms a 
 sort of balcony, to which is attached a double flight 
 of steep steps, adding greatly to the picturesque ap- 
 pearance of the faqade. This balcony with its flight 
 of steps is the place from whence in olden times pro- 
 clamations, edicts, and condemnations were read, or, 
 more literally speaking, were ' cried on the steps.' 
 
 In 1660 this building was called the Wynhus (wine- 
 claimed by the officers of artillery on your bells. I have submitted the 
 matter to the King, and his Majesty is willing to reduce the sum by one- 
 half. But after that, the sooner you settle this affair the better. 
 I am, gentlemen, your affectionate servant, 
 
 DE LOUVOIS. 
 
ABCHIVES OF ZUTPIIEN. 229 
 
 house), owing to the duties levied there on wines, 
 since which time, however, the prestige of the name 
 has gone for ever, and a police-office, superintending 
 fresh laws, has been established on the ground-floor 
 to the terror of drunkards. 
 
 The first floor of the Wynlius contains many art- 
 istic I'elics of the town, comprising the beginning of 
 a local museum, an interesting collection of archives, 
 and the foundation of a tolerable library. We will 
 not say a single word of the library, for we found 
 nothing new or attractive in it ; but the collection of 
 archives is really good. These documents number 
 about a thousand, and have been arranged in order 
 by M. Yan de Velde, a scholar and man of taste. 
 The most ancient of these charters go back as far as 
 the close of the tenth century, but are all of mere local 
 interest. Some few among them are excessively curious, 
 on account of the strange way they are illustrated. 
 There is one, SiBemonstrance of Count de Meurs to the 
 Count of Guelderland, dated the 20th November, 1493, 
 covered with very amusing scenes and little figures 
 curioush^ drawn. Among the illustrated autographs 
 are many of illustrious persons : as, for example, the 
 permission given by Maximilian and the Archduke 
 Philip to the inhabitants of Zutphento erect a bridge 
 over the Yssel ; a letter of Charles of Guelderland, 
 rewarding a valiant soldier for brave actions by the 
 office of executioner ; also ' the Letter of Pardon,' 
 sent by Philip 11. , in 1585 (after the pillage), to his 
 
230 THE MUSEUM. 
 
 ' good people of Zutphen,' with a black seal as 
 sinister as its master ; also letters from Charles V., 
 Maximilian of Egmont, Gilles de Barlaymont, Mar- 
 garet of Parma, the Prince of Orange, and a hundred 
 others. 
 
 In the museum there are also a few manuscripts 
 remarkably illustrated. This museum contains also 
 a fair collection of arms, amongst which are several 
 superb halberds, ancient seals of state, sceptres of 
 burgomasters, and specimens of wrought gold of the 
 sixteenth century ; besides sundry pieces of sand- 
 stone of mere local value, and a few glass cups 
 engraved with the arms of the town. Two of the 
 latter have a special interest for the Zutpheners. 
 They are enormous goblets, the feet of which are 
 blown, and veined inside with white in imitation of 
 the productions of Marano. They were manufactured 
 at Zutphen in 1668, by a man called Simon, a native 
 of Tournay, who had established in the town a large 
 glass manufactory —a trade which has long since 
 disappeared there. 
 
 Notwithstanding these various collections, the 
 ' Weigh-house ' is neither the most interesting nor the 
 most remarkable monument possessed by Zutphen. 
 The Town Hall is a modern edifice without any 
 special character, so we will say nothing about it, but 
 pass on to describe minutely the three churches, one 
 of which, St. Walburgus, decidedly merits its archi- 
 tectural fame. 
 
 It is situated near the ramparts, on an uneven but 
 
RELICS OF ST. JUSTUS. 231 
 
 pleasant spot. It was built in 1105, but in 1406 a 
 fire broke out in tlie tower, which in falling crushed 
 the church and partly destroyed it. It was rebuilt in 
 the ogive style with side aisles, but in 1466 the 
 interior walls were pulled down and new ones raised 
 to the height of the nave, so as to form three naves of 
 equal height. Thus transformed, St. Walburgus 
 presented grand, noble proportions, harmonising well 
 with the crowd who formerly worshipped on its flag- 
 stones. For in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
 this large church had a widespread reputation in con- 
 sequence of its possessing the relics of St. Justus, a 
 young neophyte who died a martyr's death in the 
 neighbourhood of Beauvais, during the reign of Dio- 
 cletian. These relics were supposed to have miraculous 
 power, and pilgrimages were undertaken to worship 
 at the shrine wherein they were kept. 
 
 But if we are to believe an old song inserted by 
 Aubertus Mir^us in his Annals of Belgium^ there is 
 no reason to doubt that Treves really possessed the 
 best portion of the body of this young martyr, and 
 that the head presented for the veneration of visitors 
 
 was genuine. 
 
 Ejus caput nunc habetur, 
 Magna Treviris reverentia ; 
 Sed corpus obtinetur 
 Diligenter in Zutphania. 
 Laudetur hinc Dei dementia ! 
 
 Hence the grand church at Zutphen could only possess 
 a part, and not the whole of the sacred body. 
 
 However, be that as it may, it is undoubtedly 
 
232 ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ST. WALBURGUS. 
 
 owing to the presence of these holy relics that 
 the town still possesses two beautiful specimens of 
 wrought and cast iron work. The first is one of 
 those chandeliers known as ' coronas,' and was pre- 
 sented to the Church by Count Otho II.; hence it 
 must have been made during the latter half of the 
 thirteenth century. It is made of a fine piece of 
 forged iron in the form of a tiara, very elegant, but 
 rather too slight. The other is an enormous bronze 
 baptismal font in the form of a cup, with a pedestal 
 supported by crouching lions, and ornamented with 
 the figures of the Four Evangelists. The lid is a kind 
 of double structure of figures and small pinnacles, sur- 
 mounted at the top by a pelican. This superb metal 
 monument is about sixteen feet high, and the basin 
 about four in diameter. 
 
 St. Walburgus possesses still another curiosity, 
 which, in its way, is unique. It is a library — not 
 such a one as is usually to be seen everywhere 
 nowadays containing common rows of books, and 
 presses and tables — but exactly in the same state as 
 libraries used to be three hundred years ago. This 
 library is a low, narrow, badly -lighted room, with a 
 vaulted ceiling, supported by four old pillars orna- 
 mented with curious capitals and animals in bas- 
 relief. Twenty double desks extend perpendicularly 
 along the wall, covered with enormous folios, with 
 a chain attached to keep them in their places. There 
 are only about three hundred volumes, none of them 
 
ITS CONTENTS. 233 
 
 very varied in their contents, as Blaeu ^ remarks, for 
 the celebrity of this resort does not date from yes- 
 terday. But the three hundred folios are genuine 
 treasures. The greater number of them came from 
 Venice and Cologne, works of the Bapistas Tortis, 
 of the Andreas Thoresanus, Johannes Alemanus, and 
 twenty others, among which we find the celebrated 
 name of Petrus SchoiiFer's famous Bible, dated 1469. 
 Of more recent works there are several very precious 
 ones — the Horner^ printed at Basle for Jean Froben, 
 the friend of Erasmus ; Aristotle's Logic^ and the 
 Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chromcon, with its twenty 
 strange vignettes and peculiar plates, which seem 
 oddly out of place amongst such a religious and learned 
 collection. 
 
 Unfortunately, the riches enshrined in this ancient 
 crypt are under the care of a sacristan who scarcely 
 appreciates the importance of his charge. Fresh air 
 is rarely allowed to enter the room, and damp is slowly 
 doing its silent work ; and from time to time the pre- 
 cious books are soiled and torn by those who turn 
 them over out of curiosity, but with careless and 
 indifi^rent hands. We did our best to inspire the 
 good hosier with affection and solicitude for the 
 treasures he has to guard, but our words had no 
 effect. The good man's dinner was on the fire, 
 and all his thoughts were concentrated on that, and 
 
 ' ' Ad partem templi orientalem bibliotlieca est publica vavietate 
 librorum, mediocriter instructa.' — Blaeu. 
 
234 ACTS OF VANDALISM. 
 
 that alone. He paid no heed to our wise and earnest 
 exhortations. 
 
 "We quitted this scientific resort somewhat down- 
 hearted, for we felt bitterly the danger of destruction 
 these typographical treasures incur in such hands, 
 added to which we knew that the churchwardens of 
 St. Walburgus have never been noted for the careful 
 preservation of treasures. Indeed, no less than ten 
 acts of Yandalism have been brought home to them 
 at various times. Formerly the church was decorated 
 by magnificent painted windows. Guicciardini con- 
 firms this with a sigh of regret, for, with his Italian 
 taste, he found the edifice too obscure, but he excuses 
 it by remembering that ' it was the opinion of saintly 
 persons at that time, and also of our wise fathers and 
 ancestors, that sacred places of worship ought, on 
 first entering, to have the appearance of a great de- 
 votion and contrition for sins, and not distract our 
 thoughts from prayer by dazzling our eyes with too 
 much light.' And yet in that very century these 
 beautiful windows were destroyed ! One day a car- 
 penter conceived the insane idea of replacing these 
 grand windows by common glass ones ; his idea 
 was approved of and acted on. But the sacrilege did 
 not end there. We were shown, in the museum, a 
 couple of beautiful panels, exquisitely decorated with 
 charming figures, and dating from at latest the 
 fifteenth century. These panels bear the marks of 
 nails and planing. Just imagine — they had been em- 
 ployed as an inside lining to a press ! After that, 
 
CHURCHES OF ZUTPHEN. 235 
 
 can any one wonder that we were downhearted on 
 leaving these library treasures in such hands ? 
 
 It appears, also, that formerly it was a real plea- 
 sure to the magistrates of Zutphen to associate their 
 names with works of destruction. JN^ow, St. Wal- 
 burgus is surmounted by an enormous tower five 
 storeys high, very massive, and almost devoid of 
 openings. Twice, at different epochs, in 1406 and 
 1600, this tower fell a prey to flames. Each time it 
 was struck by lightning, and naturally those in office 
 had nothing to do with it. But each time this mis- 
 fortune happened, the magistrates in office at the 
 moment had their names inscribed on a plate with 
 the date, and the plate fastened to the wall of the 
 unhappy tower. Truly, such a love for fame is a 
 little too much ! 
 
 Besides St. Walburgus, there are two other 
 churches worth mentioning in Zutphen — the Domi- 
 nican Church, standing in the centre of the town ; and 
 another occupied by the Catholics, which, if I remem- 
 ber rightly, is called Notre Dame, but designated, I 
 do not know why, in old maps under the name of 
 Nieuwstadskerk (church of the new town). 
 
 The most remarkable thing about the Dominican 
 Church is the way it is entered on ordinary days. 
 One has to traverse a suite of small, deserted, 
 queer-looking courts, enclosed in old walls, orna- 
 mented and variegated with honeysuckle and petunia, 
 all of which, richly coloured, represent the ancient 
 dependencies of the cloister. The main building has 
 
236 THE DOMINICAN CIWJICIL 
 
 been transformed into barracks for the infantry, and 
 is reached through one of those passages called by the 
 Venetians sotto portico. 
 
 The interior of the Dominican Church has not 
 much to boast of. . It is of brick, consequently very 
 simple, and whitewashed throughout. Like the ma- 
 jority of convent churches, the choir terminates in 
 three sides of an octagon. It has no aisles, and 
 the ten round, short, and thick columns supporting 
 the vault, by no means enhance the elegance of the 
 building. 
 
 The exterior is just as bad. There is no steej)le, 
 but in its stead the edifice is surmounted by a bell- 
 tower, which looks as if it had been taken off a 
 Savoy cake ; and to embellish its general appearance, 
 a lateral entrance of columns and attics has been 
 added, which is simply atrocious. 
 
 The church of Nieuwstad is better off than that of 
 the Dominicans, inasmuch as it possesses an elevated 
 steeple, a sort of immense tower in the style of that 
 of St. Walburgus, with small arched openings, partly 
 hidden by brickwork and surmounted by a high 
 tapering roof twice its height. 
 
 The interior, however, does not correspond 
 with the proportions of the immense steeple. It is 
 heavy, with three low naves, supported by enor- 
 mous octagonal pillars, and lighted by ten windows, 
 the panes of which are so happily decorated that 
 they hide the bareness of the interior. According 
 to Jacob Clinge this church dates from 1361, but 
 
THE CHUECH OF NIEUWSTAD. 237 
 
 according to other authorities from 1272. The altars, 
 pulpit, and ornaments, which are all new, are in 
 Gothic style, and would be in good taste were it 
 not that they are too much gilded, and the colours 
 too bright for the severe and austere aspect of the 
 building. 
 
 The church of Nieuwstad is near the ramparts, 
 and close to one of the gates of the town, sur- 
 rounded by barracks. Beyond the gates is a charm- 
 ing promenade, bordered by water and clumps of 
 verdure, which leads on one side to the Yssel, on 
 the other to a grand highway shaded by superb trees. 
 This road turns in the opposite direction from the 
 river, traversing a rich country bordering upon the 
 pretty little town, and leads to the agricultural colony 
 which bears the name of Mettray hollandais. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 NEDEHLANDSCH METTRAY HENGELO EUSCHEDE CONFLAGRATION 
 
 ALMELO OLDENZAAL ST. PLECHELME THE HUNNEBED OF 
 
 OLDENZAAL. 
 
 |HE NederlandscJi Mettray is an hour's walk 
 from Zutphen. It is not necessary to de- 
 scribe it minutely or at length, for it is a 
 miniature but faithful copy of the other colony on 
 the borders of the Loire, a few miles from Tours, and 
 near the village from which it takes its name of Met- 
 tray. Every one is acquainted with this model 
 establishment, which is well deserving of a visit. 
 
 Nothing is more touching and instructive than a 
 walk through these pretty cottages in the midst of 
 their gardens and lawns, or than an excursion on the 
 land cultivated by the colony. In a few hours one 
 discerns the narrow limit which separates good from 
 evil better than by reading a host of books. For here 
 the possibility of transmuting wasted powers which 
 might otherwise have been dangerous, into useful 
 forces, is demonstrated. The principles of action 
 and their application are identical. The former 
 Mettray had been in full action for ten years, and 
 
THE DUTCH METTRAY. 239 
 
 had vindicated the excellence of the institution, 
 when a brave-hearted man, M. Suringar, generously 
 thought of introducing into his own country an 
 establishment which produced such good fruits. 
 He knew M. Demetry, the founder of Mettray. He 
 was also aware of the devotion and goodness on 
 which his doctrine w^as based. He had felt the 
 persuasion and power of his captivating eloquence, 
 and became in turn an apostle. He pleaded the 
 cause of poor children, innocent by law, yet im- 
 prisoned as if guilty. He tapped the inexhaustible 
 spring of Dutch charity ; and on the 21st June, 1851, 
 he laid the first stone of the establishment we are 
 about to visit. 
 
 Ties of family and affection, broken only by death, 
 had long attached me to the founder of our Mettray, 
 so that it was not without emotion that I visited upon 
 Dutch soil the faithful reproduction of the noble 
 work to which his life was devoted. The same 
 principles were applied in the same manner, a similar 
 division in the small houses, and each taking the name 
 of a family, which extend their simple and elegant 
 faqades along a green lawn. At the base of the paral- 
 lelogram were the workshops and offices ; at its sum- 
 mit the church, all on a reduced scale, for the Dutch 
 Mettray has only ten cottages, containing 120 children 
 — scarcely a fourth of the number contained in the 
 original institution. 
 
 Each of these pretty cottages bears on its front the 
 name of the donor, each being a special donation and 
 
240 METTRA Y. 
 
 pious foundation. The King contributed three, to 
 which he gave the names of Anna Paulo wna, Wil- 
 liam II., and Prince Mauritz. The late Queen-mother 
 gave one called after her grandson, Alexander. The 
 others were given by Prince Frederick, by the towns 
 of the Hague and Rotterdam, and by the three pri- 
 vate families of Yalkart, Boelens, and Dubois. 
 
 Each of these houses is inhabited by a number of 
 children who live together as one family, and form a 
 home of itself, whose softening influence has pro- 
 duced the very best results on these poor little out- 
 casts. As a rule they look very well in their 
 working clothes ; and their happy faces, straight 
 figures, and respectful manner, bear witness to their 
 return to better ways. 
 
 As in France, farming is the chief part of the 
 work done here. The grand principle which guided 
 M. Demetry is applied ' to improve the earth by 
 man, and man by means of the earth.' Although 
 the ground at the disposal of this colony is not very 
 extensive, nevertheless it keeps the young colonists 
 hard at work together wdth their horticultural 
 labours, the keeping of the stables clean, and the 
 care of the animals.^ 
 
 Several boys are put to trades which have more 
 or less to do with farming or the wants of the 
 colony, such as wheelwrights, blacksmiths, tailors, 
 
 ^ The colony possesses fifteen cows, two bulls, one ox, six heifers, and 
 eight calves; most of these animals are of French race. They have also 
 three horses, a colt, and a donkey, to go to and fro to market. 
 
MEANS OF SUPPORT. 241 
 
 shoemakers, &c., &c. There are even two or three 
 future artists among the boys, for we saw several 
 drawings hanging on the w^alls of the large reception- 
 room, which were not badly executed and are in them- 
 selves decided proofs that the arts are not forgotten 
 in the general education received by the inmates of 
 the little colony. 
 
 If the principles upon w^hich the Dutch Mettray 
 is worked are borrowed from the French institution, 
 the recruiting of the establishment, as also its means 
 of support, are not obtained in the same way. In 
 France, the institution was built from the proceeds of 
 public charity, and is maintained chiefly from the same 
 source, aided by the Government, which pays a cer- 
 tain sum for the support of each child. This is quite 
 right, for Mettray only receives such boys as are 
 bound by Article ^^ of the Penal Code to be kept in 
 houses of correction at the expense of the State, for 
 having committed offences for which they are not 
 responsible, owing to their tender age. Hence it is 
 natural that the State should pay the sum to Mettray 
 that it would have to spend on the lad, if kept in 
 a house of correction. 
 
 On the other hand, the Dutch Mettray is abso- 
 lutely and entirely supported by private charity. The 
 Government has nothing to do with it from a financial 
 point of view. All it does is to give up the children 
 to be educated there. Not a farthing of money is paid 
 for the support of the children. The expenses of the 
 establishment are paid by subscribers. Thirty-four 
 
 E 
 
242 LAX DISCIPLINE. 
 
 towns and villages contribute to this work; and if 
 amonff the larofe towns we read the names of Am- 
 sterdam, Lieuwarden, the Hague, Rotterdam, and 
 Utrecht, we must not forget that small villages, and 
 even tiny hamlets like Zeist, Apeldoorn, and Yelp do 
 their best to help on such a good work. Each of these 
 subscribers has either a direct or indirect share in the 
 administration of the establishment. He can place 
 a child there, and yet keep him to a certain ex- 
 tent under his own surveillance. All the boys have 
 not entered under Article 66. There are many 
 orphans, and a few viciously inclined. In the French 
 Mettray the latter are kept apart in more severe dis- 
 cipline in a house called the Father's House, and the 
 former are not admitted. 
 
 The result of this difference of management and 
 means of support is, that authority is not so severe 
 in the Dutch Mettray as in its French model. Dis- 
 cipline is more lax, and rules are less strict ; and, 
 unhappily, it requires a very firm hand to make good 
 men out of these poor outcasts from society. 
 
 The director of the institute deplores this want 
 of discipline very much, and has already somewhat 
 raised the tone of the establishment on this point. 
 Still, he cannot assert what the celebrated founder of 
 the French Mettray proclaimed a few years ago before 
 the Congres de r Alliance Universelle : ' Thirty-three 
 years our Mettray has existed, and we have not once 
 had to inform the Minister of the Interior of a deserter.' 
 
 .Desertion is a very frequent occurrence in the 
 
MONUMENT TO M. SURINGAR. 24 eS 
 
 Dutch Mettray, though certainly it has not taken 
 place quite so often lately. ^ I had more bacon put 
 in their soup,' said the director to me, with a smile ; 
 ' so the bad boys were more willing to stay with me.' 
 Not being able to touch them by kindness, he ap- 
 pealed to them through their stomachs, a practical 
 way of acting — but will he succeed always ? 
 
 With all its faults, the Dutch Mettray is an excel- 
 lent institution, and very well cared for. It cannot 
 fail to have good results, and Holland ought to be 
 eternally grateful to the memory of M. Suringar, its 
 generous and honourable founder. The good man 
 sleeps his last sleep in the little cemetery of Mettray, 
 under the modest-looking tombstone raised to his 
 memory. 
 
 There is another name I looked for in vain in the 
 colony, that of M. Demetry. If it is well to honour the 
 one who accomplished the good work, surely it is well 
 also to honour the man who first conceived the idea ; 
 and I confess I should have liked to see a portrait or 
 an inscription in memory of the generous-hearted 
 man who first started this noble work, of which Lord 
 Brougham said before Parliament, ' Mettray is a work 
 which will suffice for the glory of a nation, for a whole 
 century.' 
 
 In order to visit the various towns on the frontier 
 of the country — Almelo, Enschede, and Oldenzaal — 
 and carefully to study their characteristics and ap- 
 pearance, on quitting Mettray we took up our quar- 
 ters at Hengelo, a village about half-way to the above 
 
 R 2 
 
244 HENGELO. 
 
 towns, and a centre-point from whence we could direct 
 our movements whichever way we chose. 
 
 Hengelo is a sort of outlying hamlet, partly rural 
 and partly industrial, not very ancient, and with no 
 special history. It was in existence about two centuries 
 and a half ago, and possessed a church at that time, for 
 in 1608, on the 3rd July, the Drossaardof Twenthe 
 complained of mass being performed in his territory.^ 
 Fifty years later, in 1650, a horse and cattle fair was. 
 held there, which afterwards became an annual affair, 
 held on the eve of St. Michael.^ 
 
 Situated in the centre of a rich country, some of 
 the houses in the principal street of Hengelo are 
 newly erected, elegant in appearance, and in the style 
 of those built at Arnhem and Zutphen of late years 
 along the Ysselkade. A dozen smaller streets branch 
 off from the principal one, all of which have a rural 
 aspect, with their one-storeyed picturesque houses of 
 brick, surmounted by enormous wooden lofts. There 
 are two churches, one built in 1750, in the pretentious 
 antique style, so much admired about that time, 
 and which the inhabitants were so proud of, that they 
 sent a sketch of it to the Governor of the Province. 
 The sketch is preserved in the archives of Arnhem. 
 The sister church belongs to the Catholics, and is as 
 tasteless as possible. It is built in that irregular 
 
 ^ This complaint exists among the archives of Deventer. 
 
 ^ I have found out since, among the Kronijk van Arnhem, that the 
 place is supposed to be more ancient. There is mention made of a cer- 
 tain grant of land to the Abbey of St Sauveur, dated 1405, held by a 
 certain (ierard de Hengelo. 
 
ENSCHEDR 245 
 
 style in vogue at the beginning of the present cen- 
 tury, called in derision ' Troubadour style ; ^ but it 
 is not even a good specimen of that period : on the 
 contrary, it is simply a detestable monument, and 
 the sooner the inhabitants of Hengelo repair this 
 mistake of the past, the better. 
 
 From Hengelo we went on to Enschede. Al- 
 though it does not seem so, this small town is much 
 more ancient than Hengelo. In the thirteenth cen- 
 tury its name appears in history, for in 1288 it was 
 burned to the ground by Otho 11., thirty-fourth 
 Bishop of Utrecht. It lost no time in rising from 
 its ashes, for it was rebuilt within a century; and 
 its sovereigns, the bishops, as a kind of reparation 
 for their predecessor's cruelty, endowed it with a 
 number of privileges. It gradually increased in 
 wealth till the sixteenth century, when Guicciardini 
 speaks of it as an 'important hamlet.' In 1597 
 Maurice occupied it, but did not fortify it ; and from 
 that time it has never had any ramparts. 
 
 However, that did not much affect the industrious 
 little town, for its inclinations were not warlike ; on 
 the contrary, it loved peaceful occupations, and pre- 
 ferred the arts of pleasing to those of intimidating. 
 Unfortunately, its old houses and neat little cottages 
 were all destroyed by fire in May, 18G2. In a few 
 hours the flames had taken possession of two-thirds 
 of the town, and completely destroyed it. The 
 Town Hall did not escape the conflagration. Even 
 ttte Church, an old basilica of freestone, and the 
 
246 CONFLAGRATION OF 1862. 
 
 legitimate pride of the town, fell a victim to 
 the flames. The inhabitants, hoping the sacred 
 edifice might escape the general destruction, placed 
 all their treasures within its stone walls ; but, alas ! 
 their hopes were doomed to disappointment, and the 
 poor houseless creatures saw their effects and house- 
 hold treasures consumed by the remorseless flames 
 before their eyes. The only part remaining of this 
 ancient church is the steeple. 
 
 From our position in the tower of the Town 
 Hall we could note the course of this terrible con- 
 flagration by the red roofs and new fronts to the 
 houses. 
 
 The only ancient monument left in this town is 
 the steeple already mentioned, which would have a 
 very handsome appearance were it not for the octa- 
 gonal bell-tower — pseudo-GiO\hic^ and in very bad 
 taste — which tops it. 
 
 The other Church, belonging to the Catholics, is 
 of modern architecture, and of elegant and graceful 
 appearance. The same cannot be said of the Town 
 Hall, which is also modern, and was reconstructed 
 in 1863, in a vulgar, irregular style, and surmounted 
 by a belfry, from whence can be obtained a most 
 magnificent view of the surrounding country. 
 
 Rich and fertile as the country is, it is not from 
 this source entirely that Enschede obtains her large 
 revenues. The town is essentially industrial, and 
 the manufactures of its cotton materials realise large 
 sums yearly. 
 
THE PEOPLE'S PABK. 247 
 
 Perhaps the secret of its having doubled, during 
 the past twenty years, its industrial resources, is that 
 the manufacturers do not look upon their workmen as 
 mere human machines, but rather as useful fellow- 
 labourers. Hence the masters do all in their power 
 to improve the condition and provide for the future 
 peace and repose of their men. To this end a society 
 has been formed, with funds of about 16,000 florins, 
 to aid the sick and wounded. There is also a school 
 for the children of the workmen, bearing the signifi- 
 cant name of JabrieTcschoof} 
 
 Then, as rest and repose are as good for the 
 workman after his day's toil, as play is for boys out 
 of school, a large public garden has been laid out 
 just beyond the gates of the town, called the Volks- 
 park (people's park). It is a fine promenade, with 
 ornamental water, beds of flowers, and large restaur- 
 ant. When the trees are grown it will be quite a 
 beautiful park; in the meantime the heat is rather 
 trying there in summer, which perhaps accounts for 
 the enormous quantity of drink sold there during a 
 few short months. No less than 30,000 pints of 
 beer, 300 bottles of Sitzer water, 300 pounds of 
 cofl'ee, and 500 pounds of sugar, were sold in the 
 space of eight months. The two latter, of course, 
 were sold in the form of cups of cofl'ee, so I leave 
 the number of cups to be imagined. 
 
 I have already observed that everything is new 
 
 * Five hundred and seventy-two children attended this school in 
 1872 and in 1873 the numbers were increased to 631. 
 
218 ALMELO, 
 
 about Enschede, both houses and streets. The same 
 may be said of Almelo. Its houses are clean and 
 neat, its streets wide and quiet, and appear to be 
 about fifty years old. The only proof that the 
 place has been inhabited for several centuries exists 
 in a portion of an old church, which has not been 
 destroyed by fire. However, appearances are de- 
 ceitful as regards this little town, for Africus, the 
 historian of Saint Ludger, refers to ^Almaloh.' 
 Hence it must have existed in the ninth century. 
 It was also referred to during the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries, for in the archives of Deventer 
 there are several documents relating to the Heekeren, 
 the lords of Eichteren and Almelo and their castle, 
 and even to the town itself. In 1318 the said lords 
 paid homage for their fief to Renaud the Fair, Duke 
 of Guelderland. In 1393, the ' Sunday before Easter; ' 
 in 1394, and in 1405, agreements were signed with 
 the Bishops of Utrecht. In 1421 Egbert, Seigneur 
 of Almelo, accorded to the town the right of choos- 
 ing magistrates ; and from that time forward the 
 city became almost independent of its lords, who 
 lived in their castle, and spent their time at the chase 
 and in the management of their immense estates. In 
 1664 the castle was pulled down, and reconstructed 
 in a modern style, with two large wings, pilasters, 
 and attics, as it remains to this day. The present 
 legitimate owner, Count Adolf, is a direct descen- 
 dant of the old Richterens, and one of the most kind- 
 hearted men in Holland. 
 
THE 'AMBT ALMELO: 249 
 
 Better still, the old family not only retains the 
 castle in its possession, but almost the whole of the 
 ancient domain. The Amht Almelo, as it is called, 
 comprises the town of Almelo and its territory, in 
 the same manner as the department Seine-et-Oise 
 comprises that of the Seine. The town, too closely 
 confined within the narrow limits, which it cannot 
 extend without changing its jurisdiction, is constantly 
 in danger of encroaching on the domain surrounding 
 it. The dead have already stepped over the fatal 
 barrier which confines the living. After passing their 
 lives under the sceptre of the burgomaster, they 
 take their last sleep in the ground of their rival ; 
 a privilege which has not been obtained without 
 numberless contests, as those will understand who 
 know anything of the municipal spirit of such small 
 countries. 
 
 As we expressed a great desire to visit the Ambt 
 Almelo^ Count Adolf ofi^ered to accompany us and 
 show us over it. Mounted on a high dog-cart, 
 drawn by a couple of thorough-breds, we drove 
 over his property for about two hours, looking at 
 his majestic woods, rich golden harvests, green pas- 
 turage, and the polders} We also visited his farms 
 and dairies, and were greatly interested in a new 
 kind of agricultural enterprise which our host was 
 carrying out extensively. 
 
 In the evening, when we returned to Almelo, the 
 town had assumed quite a different aspect. The 
 
 ^ Drained marshes. 
 
250 PATRIOTIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 factories had turned out their hands from their day's 
 labour, and the streets were full. Of its 4,000 inhabit- 
 ants 2,000 are artisans employed in textile trades, 
 and in the branches affecting those trades, such 
 as dyeing and bleaching. This industrial population 
 is Dutch in origin, and especially so in habit and feel- 
 ing. Manners, customs, language, and character are 
 all essentially Dutch ; and as to their patriotic senti- 
 ments, the following will prove their genuineness. 
 
 A few years since the manufacturers of Almelo 
 contracted the habit of paying their workmen in 
 German coin, on account of the depreciation their 
 money is subject to in the bordering countries. This 
 went on for some time under difficulties. But one 
 day the workmen declared that ^ they were Dutch, 
 and had a right to be paid in the money of their 
 own country.' Plausible as this reason was, the 
 masters refused, and a strike ensued. The troops 
 were had out, but intimidation was of no use. At 
 last, after a great deal of misery, matters were ar- 
 ranged, but the brave workmen preferred loss and 
 the payment of exchange rather than continue to 
 receive German thalers. Their patriotism was 
 stronger than their personal interests, and they 
 proved it. How many industrial populations would 
 do the same? 
 
 From Almelo we went on to Oldenzaal, an old 
 town, with a picturesque appearance. It does not 
 give one the impression now of having once been a 
 capital. Still it has had a glorious history. 
 
OLDENZAAL. 251 
 
 Founded about 700 years before Christ, it was at 
 first inhabited by the Teutons, who erected a temple 
 consecrated to their god Tanfana, close to the town. 
 This temple existed in the time of Germanicus. In 
 due time the Teutons were replaced by the Franks, 
 who enlarged Oldenzaal, and chose it as their capital. 
 Then later on, when the Germanic populations were 
 moving towards the west, the Franks were replaced 
 by the Huns, who, according to Marcellinus, gave 
 way in their turn to the Saxons. 
 
 It was these Saxons whom St. Plechelm endea- 
 voured to convert by mildness, but whom Charlemagne 
 converted by stronger means. Oldenzaal fell under 
 the hands of the Carlovingians, and was comprised 
 by Louis the Debonnaire in the county of Twenthe, 
 the investiture of which he gave to Bandouin of 
 Cleves. At that time it was known as the Salia 
 Vetus (the old Salian town). 
 
 Fifty years later (970) Count Balderic, its noble 
 possessor, having been nominated Bishop of Utrecht, 
 added this family fief to his new dignity, from which 
 day Oldenzaal was incorporated in the bishopric. 
 
 It had no need to complain, for Balderic endowed 
 it with a church, to which he attached rich pre- 
 bendaries. In 1049 the Emperor Henry III. con- 
 ceded to it important privileges, from which time the 
 town has ever been devotedly attached to the bishops 
 and the Catholic religion, an attachment which exists 
 to this day. 
 
 At the time of the Reformation Oldenzaal was 
 
252 OLDENZAAL BESIEGED IN 1626. 
 
 a rich, strong, and very important place. An old 
 chronicler, Francois le Petit, describes it as ' large 
 and well-peopled, surrounded by three double walls, 
 and as many moats ;' and the formal, exact Meterin 
 speaks of it as ' a tolerably reasonable town, having 
 no river, but several good high walls, and many 
 antique towers.' The States regarded it as a mili- 
 tary point worth possessing, and they did their best 
 to obtain it, but in vain. On two occasions their 
 generals seized it — Hohenlo in 1580, and Prince 
 Maurice in 1597 — but each time the inhabitants, 
 ' leaning towards the Spaniards,' escaped from their 
 power. It remained one of the last bulwarks of 
 Catholicism; and it was not till 1626 that the Prince 
 of Orange subdued it. 
 
 That year, on the 25th July, the town was suddenly 
 invested by seventeen troops of cavalry. The fol- 
 lowing day Count Ernest Casimir of Nassau arrived 
 with the infantry, and attacked it at once. A breach 
 was made on the 2nd August, and the commander of 
 the garrison. Baron de Moncle, was summoned to sur- 
 render. While the parleying went on, some slight 
 misunderstanding brought about a panic. A few 
 shots were fired, and treason was cried on both sides; 
 an assault took place, the town was invested, and 
 battle raged in the streets. Both parties were deter- 
 mined not to give way, so the day was a terribly bloody 
 one. Partly overcome by the besiegers, the Spaniards 
 retreated to the church, where they sustained a fresh 
 siege, and it was two days before they could be dis- 
 
THE CHURCH. 253 
 
 lodged from their place of refuge. As an example 
 and punishment, Oldenzaal was dismantled, and its 
 fortifications razed to the ground, since which time it 
 has been an unprotected town. 
 
 The church still bears traces of the terrible com- 
 bats which then took place. Part of the southern 
 w^all is covered with holes, and one ball is incrusted 
 in the faqade. We looked at those marks of past 
 glory with a great amount of respect, while the 
 venerable old dean, who was with us, retraced their 
 history with spirited ardour. 
 
 Suddenly pointing to his church, he cried out 
 enthusiastically, ' That belongs to us, and no one can 
 take it from us during our life-time ! ' 
 
 ' But no one thinks of doing so,' remarked Con- 
 stant. ' The Catholics in Holland are as free as 
 elsewhere, and as much masters of their own pro- 
 perty.' 
 
 ' The danger is not from that quarter,' replied the 
 dean. ' It is there ! * and he pointed in the direction 
 of Germany. 
 
 ' Yes, indeed,' I thought to myself ; ' at Alrnelo 
 it was the workmen, here it is the clergy ! What a 
 pity M. Kirchhoff is not here ! ' 
 
 Dropping the subject, we entered the church, an 
 interesting specimen of the Eoman style, erected 
 about the middle of the eleventh century, under the 
 auspices of St. Bernulph, in place of the oratory of 
 stone constructed a century earlier by Bishop Bal- 
 deric, and dedicated to St. Sylvester. 
 
254 ST. P LECH ELM, 
 
 It is built in the style of the basilicae on the 
 borders of the Rhine. The choir originally ter- 
 minated in a hemicycle, with a niche to correspond 
 at each end of the transept. The interior is of great 
 interest architecturally, for it distinctly marks the 
 effect certain materials employed may have on archi- 
 tecture. In reality St. Plechelm differs considerably 
 from all other basilicae of that period, that I could 
 find in the diocese of Utrecht. The majority of 
 these churches, constructed in pumice-stone, the 
 relative weight of which is not heavy, have their 
 walls supported by light columns or very thin pil- 
 lars; whereas the stone this church is built of is a 
 yellow sandstone, obtained from the quarries of Gil- 
 huis, two or three leagues off ; and the architecture 
 being heavy the pillars are very thick, and the walls 
 very massive. 
 
 Partly destroyed by the fire which ravaged the 
 town in 1492, St. Plechelm was restored and en- 
 larged towards the end of the fifteeth century. The 
 south aisle was done away with, and the original con- 
 struction, still in existence, was put in its place ; a 
 sacristy was also added and the tower finished. In 
 1809, the church being occupied by the Catholics, it 
 underwent restoration again. An altar, chairs, and 
 'prie-Dieu' were added; but its ancient ornaments 
 could not be restored, and the only vestiges left of its 
 primitive contents are the chandeliers. Fortunately 
 the clergy were able to retain and preserve such 
 precious relics as the head of St. Plechelm and the 
 
THE SHRINE OF ST. FLECHELM, 255 
 
 shrine in which it was enclosed. Although the 
 making of this shrine is imputed to St. Balderic's 
 time, it cannot be older than the fourteenth, century. 
 
 It has the form of the saint's head crosiered and 
 mitred, and belongs, by its style and its severity, to 
 the Gothic period. It is in silver, with the cap and 
 mitre gilded and covered with enamel work. The 
 crosier especially is an exquisite piece of work. 
 Raised on a pedestal at the entrance to the choir, this 
 austere -looking visage seems to exhort and reprimand 
 at the same time, and produces an impression on the 
 crowd of peasants the more profound because they 
 know that the precious shrine contains the head of 
 the venerable saint. This treasure is taken great 
 care of. It is allowed to be seen only once a year, 
 and by a fortunate coincidence our visit took place on 
 the very day appointed for this annual exhibition. 
 Thus we saw, not only the shrine, but the crowd of 
 worshippers dressed in their best,^ and kneeling with 
 solemn earnestness repeating their prayers. 
 
 St. Plechelm is not the only church in Oldenzaal. 
 The Reformers, though few in number, possess a 
 little temple of rather singular appearance in which 
 to worship. It was built in 1809, when the old church 
 was handed over to the Catholics. Is it necessary 
 to describe it? The little sanctuary has an antique 
 aspect with its pilasters, arches, and attics, with its 
 garlands and its miniature dome. On the whole it is 
 a very neat specimen of the architecture of this special 
 
 1 E. P. Pitra endorses this opinion (see the ' Ilollande Catliolique.') 
 
256 THE * hunnebed: 
 
 style. It is surrounded by a garden, carefully laid 
 out, with shady paths and walks, and enclosed by a 
 wall with two large pedestals bearing simple vases ; 
 a gate to enter by is also there. This little place has 
 such a genuine antique air that we seem to expect to 
 see a girl in ancient dress issuing from its portals 
 with bare arms and short waist, accompanied by a 
 sweetheart with costume to match. 
 
 There is another religious monument in the. 
 neighbourhood of St. Plechelm, but it belonged to 
 a sect long since passed away, and is a vestige of the 
 first inhabitants of this fertile soil. It is a hunnehed^ 
 anterior no doubt to the presence even of the Teutons. 
 It stands about a dozen steps off the church to the 
 north, in a deliciously picturesque corner. The out- 
 line of the church, half Byzantine, half Gothic, the 
 houses near, and the huge trees surrounding an im- 
 mense arch, and shading the colossal table of this 
 hunnebed^ the most ancient human monument in the 
 country, form a most refreshing picture, full of calm 
 and poetic tranquillity, which impresses itself on the 
 mind as a scene not likely to be forgotten. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DOESBURG — D(ETINCHEM THE KRUISBERG THE KOLONIAAL MILITAIR 
 
 INVALIDENHVIS DUTCH SWITZERLAND ROSENDAAL ZONSBEEK 
 
 AND BILJOEN. 
 
 N quittinir Oldenzaal we were anxious to go 
 straight to Arnhem, but there were two 
 towns — Doesburg and Doetinchem — on the 
 road, far too attractive to us to be passed without pay- 
 ing them a visit ; besides, the latter contains a peni- 
 tentiary which we wished to compare with Mettray, 
 We determined, therefore, to push on to Dieren, and 
 from there to visit the above-named places, and while 
 examining the neighbourhood to put up, for the time 
 being, at the Kruisherg, 
 
 Doesburg is a stronghold on the borders of the 
 water, one of the line of defences on the Yssel; to 
 reach it we were obliged to cross the river, on a very 
 singular bridge, partly wooden and partly made of 
 boats. The town is said to be very ancient, dating 
 from the time of Claudius Drusus, the adopted son of 
 Augustus, who founded it, and after the celebrated 
 canal was cut, to which he gave his name, he colo- 
 nised the country and built several castles. Drmi^ 
 
 S 
 
258 DOESBURG. 
 
 bergum^ the burg or Castle of Drusus, is the etymology 
 of the name Doesburg. It is certainly one of the 
 oldest towns in the country, for in 884 it was pil- 
 laged by the Normans, and in 1230 raised to the 
 dignity of a town endowed with privileges^ by Otlio 
 the Limper, Count of Guelderland and Zutphen. 
 
 Several old houses are still standing with their 
 trebled arcades in front and crossed gables, present- 
 ing a strange contrast to the modern buildings close 
 hj^ w^ith large bedizened shops, the fronts of which, 
 being of glass, show oiF the brilliantly-coloured con- 
 tents within. 
 
 In the centre of the well-formed, clean-looking little 
 streets is the Church, a handsome building, erected 
 in 1340, on the site of the one formerly destroyed 
 by the overflow of the Yssel. The magistrate who 
 ordered this church to be erected named it St. Martin. 
 But ill-luck seemed to pursue the unfortunate place of 
 worship, for in 1483, and later on (1548) it was partly 
 destroyed by fire, and on the 1st September, 1717, 
 the very day of the Kermesse^ a fire again broke out 
 in the steeple. The Reformation destroyed in the 
 interior Avhat the flames had spared. Coloured win- 
 dows, statues, and paintings have all disappeared, to 
 be replaced by plain glass windows, oak benches, and 
 the inevitable white-washing; hence there is nothing 
 interesting to be seen there. 
 
 For some distance beyond the gates of the town 
 \* 
 
 1 An edict of Count Otho dated 1230 accords to tbe town the right 
 of having aweekly market and an annual fair. This and several other edicts 
 are preserved in the archives of Doesburg. 
 
DCETINCIIEM. 259 
 
 redoubts and advance-wcorks extend along the road, 
 bordered farther on by pleasant shady walks, which 
 are as fresh and green, as it is dry and bare at the 
 gates of Doesburg. The Castle of Keppel midway 
 between Doesburg and Doetinchem, and surrounded 
 by clumps of trees, is close to the borders of the old 
 Yssel. It has an impressive and bright appearance. 
 Its gabled advance-building, with its layers of brick 
 and stone, and bulging bell- towers give it the air of 
 an old warrior who has given up fighting, in order to 
 pass his last days in rural felicity. A couple of leagues 
 farther on, one catches sight of Doetinchem, a pretty 
 little town, less ancient and of fewer inhabitants 
 than its neighbour Doesburg. Mention was first made 
 of Villa Duttliinge on the day of the consecration of 
 its church, 23rd March, 838, by Bishop Balderic. 
 That building was replaced in the thirteenth century 
 by another which was burned in 1527 ; nothing of 
 which remains but the walls. It was reconstructed al- 
 most immediately, but in spite of having been repaired 
 at several epochs it is still in a very dilapidated state. 
 In 1100 mention is again made of the little town, 
 this time in reference to the construction of a wall 
 to enclose it, some portion or fragments of which are 
 still to be seen on the side towards the river. In the 
 fourteenth century it became rich and prosperous, 
 and generous to boot, for Pont anus boasts of its gifts 
 to the Abbey of Bethlehem.^ 
 
 ^ See Pontaniis, Historia Gelrica. This Abbey of Bethlehem was 
 founded by Count Henry of Guelderland in the neighbourhood of Doetin- 
 chem. 
 
 s 2 
 
2G0 DCETINCIIEM'S FAMOUS SONS. 
 
 The Town Hall (the only monument it possesses) 
 was destroyed by the fire of 1527, which also destroyed 
 the Church ; but reconstructed that same year, it was 
 again destroyed, this time by the terrible tempest of 
 1724. It is to this double disaster that we must 
 attribute its poverty in the way of archives. 
 
 Doetinchem never played any important part in 
 the annals of the country. For three hundred years 
 it enjoyed peace and quiet, and peace and quiet it. 
 enjoys to this day. It is proud of havin^^ given birth 
 to the diplomatist Christian Verhuell — who took a 
 leading part in the famous deputation charged to 
 offer to Louis Bonaparte the crown of HolLmd — 
 and his brother, Admiral Charles Verhuell, whom 
 Queen Hortense in her sorrowful days called her 
 ' beau tenebreux.' 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Doetinchem is the Kruis- 
 herg. Its name signifying ' Mountain of the Cross ' 
 proves pretty plainly that the word herg (mountain) 
 has not always in Holland a very exact meaning. 
 This ' colony ' is built at the foot of a gentle rise 
 planted with trees, where the air is fresh and the 
 situation agreeable, giving to the building more the 
 appearance of a castle or country house than that of 
 a prison. In fact it was once an old fortress, and 
 has only changed its destination during the last few 
 years. ^ Its old lugubrious aspect has been done away 
 
 ^ Since 1866. In an almanack published that year by the Maats- 
 chappij van Weldadigheid, called Erica, there is an article on tlie colony 
 of Kruisberg, by M. A. F. Eilerts de Ilaan^ containing a mass of informa- 
 tion of great interest. 
 
THE 'KRUISBERG: 2G1 
 
 witli by strengthening the walls and constructing new 
 buildings. There are no longer any battlements, or 
 iron gates, or garrison, or grim warders. Large 
 windows, open doors, and plenty of space, with here 
 and tliere a keeper to preserve order and imme- 
 diately to repress insubordination, in case of need. 
 Such is the place now, where the young lads pass 
 the time of their detention. 
 
 The inmates have not much to recommend them, 
 nor can one 'have much confidence in their future. 
 They are not young lads who have committed faults, 
 of the gravity of which they were scarcely able to 
 judge, but the majority of them are criminals of deep 
 dye. Thieves, incendiaries, and, in some few instances, 
 murderers. Notwithstanding, they are allowed to 
 come and go about the place freely, even to take long 
 walks outside, under the eye of their keepers. On our 
 way to the Kruisherg we met several small parties 
 resting on the roadside ; some keep the roads in order, 
 others are told off to pull up vegetables, and while 
 some are occupied in haymaking, others are employed 
 in the kitchen garden. 
 
 The Kruisherg^ however, cannot, like Mettray, be 
 called an agricultural establishment, for it only farms 
 about forty acres, which is very little in proportion to 
 the number of the establishment To extend their 
 labours farther would be to deprive the inmates of 
 surveiHance, as even now evasions take place from 
 time to time, with all their care and Avatching; the 
 numbers would considerably decrease if no precautions 
 
2G2 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 could be taken. The director kindly guided our steps 
 over the establishment, taking us first to the work- 
 shops of the younger inmates. The rooms are well 
 lighted and well ventilated, and each boy is taught a 
 trade which will enable him to gain an honest liveli- 
 hood on leaving prison. 
 
 Many even are able to gain money for themselves, 
 long before their term of detention is expired, as each 
 one has a right to a certain sum for work done beyond 
 the appointed task, which money is saved up and 
 forms a resource in hand, when they depart. The 
 director pointed out to our notice the chapel, which, 
 he informed us witli no little pride, had been built 
 and furnished entirely by the convicts. 
 
 We may as well add here, that such trades as 
 slaters, tilers, and masons are very little exercised in 
 the colony, for the very good reason that such work is 
 rarely required; besides, the majority of the inmates 
 would not physically be strong enough for such em- 
 ployments. At the time we were there, the place 
 contained one hundred and fifty-nine inmates, of 
 whom thirty-eight were under thirteen years of age ! 
 
 The trades more especially taught are tailoring, 
 shoemaking, carpentering, and tinning. The diet is 
 similar to that in the large prisons, coarse and un- 
 savoury, and at night the boys retire to similar small 
 iron cells resembling cages. 
 
 Kruisberg is, without doubt, a wonderful improve- 
 ment on establishments of the kind formerly in Hol- 
 land, as also on those of other countries at the present 
 
VISIT TO GENERAL SMITS. 2G3 
 
 time. Its system is somewhat similar to tliat carried 
 on at Mettray^ but more extensive, and applicable to 
 great criminals, as well as to those who have com- 
 mitted minor crimes. 
 
 Instead of being shut up in an unhealthy place, 
 which they quit corrupted in mind and body, the boys 
 brought up n,iKruisherg have a healthy tone given to 
 them, both physically and morally, which, unless they 
 are irretrievably bad, corrects their inclinations and 
 lessens their faults. They enter life with the con- 
 sciousness of having committed a fault, it is true, but 
 also with the certainty that, by hard work and honest 
 dealing, they may redeem their past, and reconquer 
 the respect of their companions and fellow- citizens. 
 
 A couple of days later, we were enabled to extol, 
 by a strange coincidence, the excellence of this open- 
 air system on children and old men. 
 
 On quitting Kruisherg w^e passed on to Arnhem, 
 where we arrived the following Saturday evening; 
 and as we had promised General Smits, Governor of 
 the Koloniaal militair invalidenhuis (establishment 
 for the disabled soldiers of the Indian army), that we 
 would visit Bronbeck immediately on our arrival at 
 Arnhem, we took advantage of the next day, being 
 Sunday, to spend a few hcfUrs with him. The Kolo- 
 niaal militair invalidenhuis is about an hour's walk 
 from Arnhem, in that part of Guelderland called 
 ' Dutch. Switzerland.' The road to it is certainly 
 lovely— shaded by grand trees, bordered by limpid 
 streams, and interspersed by handsome houses, the 
 
2G4 GENERAL SMITS' KINDNESS. 
 
 gardens of which extend as far as the footpath, with- 
 out any barrier or enclosure of any kind to hide their 
 brio^ht-coloured flower-beds from view. Most of 
 these villas are inhabited by enormously rich men, 
 who, having gained their wealth in the Dutch Indies, 
 have returned home to enjoy it ; which accounts 
 for the luxury prevailing in these charming habita- 
 tions. 
 
 The building occupied by the disabled soldiers 
 stands in the midst of a magnificent lawn, enclosed 
 by large trees, with an artificial river meandering 
 through the grounds around. An elegant little 
 pavilion, ornamented with a large verandah, fronts 
 the main building. It is now the residence of the 
 Governor, but formerly it w^as inhabited by the Count 
 de Chambord. On the threshold of this pavilion 
 stood General Smifs, with a smile of welcome on his 
 kind face as he greeted us ; and I remarked, with a 
 warm glow at my heart, that he had hoisted the 
 French flag above his house, in honour of our arrival. 
 He proposed showing us over his establishment him- 
 self; a pleasure we were glad to accept. 
 
 The number of soldiers amounts to 210, including 
 40 non-commissioned officers. The house they inhabit 
 is an enormous, but handsome brick and iron edifice, 
 plastered in grey, and not having the appearance of 
 either a barracks or a hospital. It is divided into two 
 storeys, and is very lofty and well ventilated. The 
 ground-floor is employed for general use. It contains 
 the dining-halls, coffee and billiard rooms, and conver- 
 
HOSPITAL FOR DISABLED SOLDIERS. 2G5 
 
 sation-rooms, besides two others we shall speak about 
 presently — the chapel and library. Above are the 
 private rooms of the old soldiers. 
 
 On both floors the rooms are divided by long 
 corridors, the walls of which are ornamented with, 
 arms and the colours captured from the enemy. Some 
 few of these trophies are of rich workmanship, 
 mounted in gold, enriched with diamonds, and covered 
 with marvellous engravings. Several very remark- 
 able cannon are on the ground-floor. These long 
 corridors, or rather galleries, serve for the soldiers 
 to take exercise in, when the weather is too inclement 
 for them to take a turn in the park, or go on wdth 
 out-door occupations. 
 
 The extent of this park is about a dozen acres. 
 The river, winding through it, is ornamented here and 
 there with graceful cascades, while white swans and 
 brilliantly-coloured ducks flap their wings on its 
 banks or swim along its surface. The old soldiers 
 are very proud of their river, besides having a great 
 affection for it, which is not to be wondered at con- 
 sidering the fine trout and carp to be found in it, and 
 that both fish are great favourites with the soldiers. 
 Besides this river, the inmates of the hospital have a 
 cowhouse, containing a dozen animals for the supply 
 of milk and butter; a pigsty, with fifty grunters, each 
 of which in turn supplies bacon, ham, and sausages ; 
 and a well-kept kitchen garden and a fowl-yard. 
 
 Each and all of these stables and outhouses are 
 kept in a perfect state of cleanliness and order, as 
 
206 WORK AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 indeed is the case with the kitchen, and the establish- 
 ment generally. Care and due attention to the 
 slightest detail is observable everywhere, both in the 
 persons of the old soldiers and in the house and 
 grounds belonging to them, which, added to a happy, 
 contented expression on every face, rather surprised 
 us. As most of the inmates are old men, we asked 
 for an explanation of this phenomenon. 
 
 ' We have very stern discipline here,' replied our 
 amiable cicerone, ' The old fellows belong to every 
 nation — Spanish, Belgian, German, Prussian, and 
 French — and not one of them is allowed to infringe 
 the rules; consequently we have adopted a principle 
 from which we never swerve — work and amusement. 
 Each man owes it to his neighbour, to do as much 
 work as his strength permits. Besides our agricul- 
 tural labour, we have various trades carried on — 
 carpenters, tailors, bootmakers, wheelwrights, black- 
 smiths, joiners, even bookbinders; so that, while we 
 increase the comfort of the house, we lessen expenses, 
 and the money thus saved is spent in giving the old 
 fellows as much amusement as possible, both in 
 winter and summer. 
 
 ' We will not say anything about the thirty or 
 forty days a year on which they play at dominoes, or 
 skittles, or billiards, and enjoy a promenade to music, 
 for that is their right ; but we have besides concerts, 
 discussions, theatricals, and evenings spent in the 
 enjoyment of literature and other improving subjects. 
 The moment' we hear of the arrival of a conjuror or a 
 
CLAIMS TO ADMITTANCE. 2G7 
 
 musician, he is sent for to perform here ; and when 
 we can get no foreign artist of distinction, the singing- 
 hall in the neighbourhood supplies us regularly with 
 the best singers to be had.' 
 
 ' It seems to me, my dear General,' I could not 
 help remarking, ' that all you want, to complete your 
 list of amusements, is to give a ball.' 
 
 ' Ah ! you think so ? But to do that we should 
 have to admit women, and that is strictly forbidden 
 
 ' What ! you think it might be dangerous for the 
 old fellows V 
 
 ' There is no knowing ; they might fall in love, 
 you know,' added the General, smiling. 
 
 This existence, passed in work and amusement, 
 is very pleasant for the old soldiers accustomed to 
 discipline, and certainly very conducive to health, 
 for they live to a good old age at Bronbeck, and very 
 rarely think of taking their last voyage till a very 
 advanced period of life. Before they can be ad- 
 mitted to this retreat they must have seen forty 
 years' service, and, considering that service in India 
 is continual expeditions full of fatigue, and that the 
 climate is bad, the peaceful pleasures and life they 
 enjoy after entering the hospital, are somewhat dearly 
 earned. 
 
 Each soldier is entitled to \s. Zd. per week, the non- 
 commissioned officers receiving double. This does 
 not sound very much, but being well housed, well 
 nourished, clothed, and amused, it is sufficient in 
 
208 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF OAF IXMATE. 
 
 plenty to supply them with gin and tobacco, the only 
 two things not furnished by the administration. 
 In Holland both gin and tobacco are very cheap, and 
 a great deal of both can be obtained for very little 
 money. Besides, the very best guarantee we have, 
 that existence in this place is pleasant and complete 
 is, that many who need not enter at all, do so from 
 choice. Lately an old man died at Bronbeck who 
 was found on his death to be in possession of two 
 hundred thousand francs, besides five hundred francs 
 in gold. He was a subaltern adjutant, and no one 
 had any idea he possessed such a fortune. 
 
 Born in Switzerland, at first he served in the 
 Helvetian army, and retired from that as an ensign. 
 He next entered the Papal army, from which he 
 voluntarily retired with the rank of second lieu- 
 tenant. A few years later he enlisted in the array in 
 India, as a common soldier, where he gained promo- 
 tion ; after which, wounded in an engagement, he 
 had himself admitted to the Kolonaal militair inva- 
 lidenhuis^ at Bronbeck. Certainly such a singular 
 life as his had a halo of mystery about it ; but, what- 
 ever secret he had, he guarded it carefully, and 
 carried it with him to the tomb. 
 
 The two rooms we said we should refer to again 
 are the library and the chapel. The former contains 
 about a dozen or thirteen hundred volumes, for the 
 use of the inmates ; a privilege they take good care to 
 avail themselves of largely. A librarian has charge 
 of the room, and keeps a record of the books lent 
 
DUTCH SWITZERLAND. 209 
 
 to and returned by each man, for the last one must 
 be brought back before a fresh one is allowed out. 
 
 The chapd is a very shnple buildmg, and is used 
 alike for the Catholic and Protestant service. The 
 pulpit faces the altar, both of which are furnished 
 with large ^reen curtains. When the Catholic priest 
 officiates, the pulpit of the predikant is hidden by the 
 curtain; and when the i^redikant mounts the pulpit 
 to expound the word of God, the altar is veiled fi-om 
 sight by its curtain. I was particularly touched 
 with this simplicity of treatment. 
 
 We have already remarked that Bronbeck is situ- 
 ated in that part of Guelderland called ' Dutch 
 Switzerland.' This term may appear somewhat pre- 
 tentious, but it is nevertheless perfectly justifiable. 
 The country stretching to the north of Arnhem is 
 covered with extensive woods, and very hilly. Of 
 course, there are no steep mountains or eternal 
 snows ; but the scenery has a wild beauty of its own 
 which is very attractive, with its hills and springs 
 and leaping cascades in the midst of wide -spread- 
 ing heaths, forming a contract it would be difficult 
 to find elsewhere, and which is very charming to 
 behold. 
 
 It is not much to be wondered at, I think, that 
 the nobility of Guelderland made choice of this pretty 
 corner of the province in which to build their country 
 seats. Later on their good example was followed by 
 the patricians of the neighbouring province, who liked 
 to pass a few days under the shade of its grand old 
 
270 ROSENDAAL. 
 
 trees; hence the origin of the Beckhuizen, Rosendaal, 
 and Duinoog Chalets^ or inns, analogous to those in 
 Oberland. Then after a while this inn accommoda- 
 tion was found to be insufficient, for those who 
 came to stay a few days wished to live there alto- 
 gether; so country-houses were built in every direc- 
 tion, and handsome villas and pretty cottages sprang 
 up as by enchantment; but, elegant and showy as 
 these latter are, one cannot prefer them to the 
 lordly residences which were first built there. 
 
 Rosendaal is incontestably the handsomest and 
 most illustrious of these residences, both as regards 
 position and appearance. Situated at the mouth of 
 the gorge, surrounded by wooded heights, shaded by 
 gigantic beech-trees, with its park and glistening 
 lakes and limpid streams and marble statues, no 
 wonder it was compared more than once to the 
 Valley of Tempe : — 
 
 Roosendaalsche Tempe, o pronkcieraad der Hoven ! ^ 
 
 The magnificence of this castle is, to a certain 
 extent, accounted for by its having remained in the 
 same family for several centuries"; and, the family 
 bearing the same name as their residence, they have 
 done all in their power to keep up its reputation, and 
 add to the charm and beauty of their place. It is 
 inhabited at present by the last descendant of the 
 old name. 
 
 ^ * Tempe of Eosendaal, queen of residences ! ' Such is the bejrinning 
 of some pompous verses in praise of Rosendaal, written last century by 
 J, d'Outrien. 
 
RECEIVES KINGLY VISITORS. 271 
 
 Formerly Eosendaal ^ was a regular old manor, 
 with machicolated battlements. An old tower still 
 standing, reflecting its magnificent top in the moat 
 at its feet, bears ample proof of the strength of the 
 walls and the assaults they could have sustained. 
 When artillery came to be employed, these walls 
 were no longer of any use ; and from that time the 
 castle was turned into a country-house, the park im- 
 proved, the bridges, grottoes, cascades, and fountains 
 renovated and embellished, and old tritons in marble 
 holding their traditional urns to the limpid streams, 
 and figures of nymphs half hidden in the shade of 
 the trees, were added in every direction. It was 
 well to render this dignified retreat worthy of the 
 august visitors likely to become its guests. William 
 III. sojourned there at different times ; for, as 
 King of England, he did not forget the early 
 companions of the Prince of Orange, nor the friends 
 devoted to him when he was Stadholder of Holland. 
 He loved to find himself among those friends who had 
 aided him to mount one of the finest thrones in the 
 world ; and there is still at Rosendaal a reminiscence 
 of his last stay there, or rather of that of Queen Mary. 
 It is a screen, embroidered entirely by hand, which 
 was presented to the mistress of the castle by the 
 ladies of honour of the Queen of England.^ 
 
 ^ Eosendaal signifies valley of roses. 
 
 ^ This royal visit inspired the poetical talents of John d'Outrien, 
 predikavt of Dort. lie published, in 1G99, in Amsterdam, a long- poem 
 called Wegwyzer door de Ilurligklieid Ruozendaul, in which he celebrated, 
 in pompous verse, the beauties of this superb domain. The book must 
 
272 RENAUD III.'S UNHAPPY FATE. 
 
 William III. was not the first great personage to 
 visit the old castle. Long before his time, Renaud 
 III., Duke of Guelderland, was brought there in 
 1361 by his unnatural brother, who kept him ' con- 
 fined in a close prison ' during a period of ten long 
 years. The dungeon where this unhappy man was 
 incarcerated is still in existence. It is a kind of 
 recess formed in the thickness of the wall, lighted by 
 an imperceptible grated window. A man of ordi- . 
 nary size could scarcely move in it. It was ap- 
 proached by a dozen steps and through two barred 
 iron doors, which made any attempt at escape impos- 
 sible. It makes one shudder to think that a human 
 being was once incarcerated in such a hole for so 
 long a space of time. When the poor fellow was at 
 last set free, he had lost the use of his limbs, and his 
 forced immobility had produced an embonpoint that 
 prevented his being able to pass through the doors, 
 which had to be broken apart before he could be 
 dragered out of his dungeon.^ 
 
 Another fine place in this Dutch Switzerland, also 
 possessing a good position and a good name, is 
 Zonsbeek. It belongs to Baron de Heeckeren, a rich 
 landowner, of Holland. The park contains fine 
 timber, streams, ponds, cascades, and a small belvi- 
 
 liave been a success, for in 1718 a third edition was brought out, en- 
 riched by a great many very interesting plates, showing the different 
 views of the castle at that time. 
 
 ^ In 1808 M. G. Van Hasselt published an account of all the docu- 
 ments he could find, referring to Rosendaal, from the earliest, dating 
 1304, to 1793. His work is entitled Rosendaal als de prachtizste Aeziiting 
 van de (jfildersche graven en hertogen. 
 
BILJOEN. 273 
 
 dere tower, from whence a grand panorama can be 
 seen, stretching as far as Cleves. Its situation, how- 
 ever, is not so picturesque as that of Rosendaal, and 
 the castle is entirely devoid of character. 
 
 The same cannot be said of Biljoen, its appear- 
 ance being most warlike, with a touch of the middle 
 ages about it. 
 
 This fine castle is a huge, massive building, 
 flanked at the four corners by handsome towers, the 
 high tapering roofs of which have been unfortunately 
 done away with, and replaced by bulging tops of 
 singular eifect. However, on the whole, it has a 
 very good aspect; and the bridge, by which alone 
 the interior can be reached, adds to its quaint appear- 
 ance. The building itself is not more than about 
 300 years old ; but some other castle must have 
 existed prior to this one, for Biljoen is one of the 
 most ancient in the province. The oldest and finest 
 charter among the archives of Guelderland is its con- 
 stitution Act, signed by the Emperor Henry lY., of 
 heretic memory, in the year 1076. 
 
 A few years ago, Biljoen possessed the charm, no 
 longer in existence, of being enclosed by the most 
 magnificent trees. It contained also many precious 
 treasures, and was a central point of attraction for 
 artists and lovers of the beautiful. Alas ! all this 
 has disappeared. Death knocked at the door. 
 
 . . . Omne sacrum mors importuna profanat, 
 Omnibus obscuras injicit ilia manus . . . 
 
 His breath passed over Biljoen. The castle was 
 
 T 
 
27A THE SALE OF BILJOEN. 
 
 put up to auction. For a moment the hope sprang 
 into existence that treasures, timbers, and castle 
 would all be saved. The nobility of Guelderland 
 regarded the manor as specially belonging to their 
 province, and as such they agreed to purchase it. 
 But a foreigner arrived on the scene — a German, 
 devoid of any love of art, of country, or of nature. 
 The precious treasures were dispersed to the four 
 winds; trees, a century old, were cut down, the old 
 manor converted into a common dwelling, and the 
 forest became a desert. 
 
 ' Only one of them came into the country, and 
 yet you see everything is destroyed,' remarked M. 
 Van T , with whom we were lamenting this dis- 
 aster. ' Imagine what would happen if our poor 
 Guelderland were invaded by a number of them ! ' 
 
 * I am sure I should be the last one,' I replied, 
 * to wish you any such experience.' 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ARNHEM — 'VIR BONUS ' THE ARNHEMSE FABRIQUE ST. EUSEBIUS 
 
 AND ST. WALBURGUS THE DEVIL's HOUSE CARNIVAL OF 1525 
 
 — PLEASURES AND AMUSEMENTS ' GELRE ! GELRE ! ' THE RHINE 
 
 AND THE WAAL. 
 
 F in olden times this town was called Am- 
 hem de lugtigste (Arnhem the Joyous), 
 what could it not be called now ? 
 For the last fifty years this handsome town has 
 been growing handsomer every day. Its old ram- 
 parts have been transformed into magnificent boule- 
 vards, its military courtyards into bright flower-beds, 
 and its ancient moats have been turned into a flow- 
 ing river ornamented with tiny isles, and shaded by 
 trees a century old. It is no longer a fair-sized 
 town, ' chef de I'Estat and Seigneurie de Weluwe,' of 
 Guicciardini's time, but the capital of the whole 
 province ; an aristocratic capital, too, abounding in 
 pleasures and distractions of every kind. 
 
 Situated in the centre of a hilly country, washed 
 by the calm majestic Rhine, well laid out, well built 
 and with a salubrious air, Arnhem seems to have been 
 predestined by nature and by man to be the huen 
 
 T 2 
 
276 ARNHEM. 
 
 retiro of Holland ; and indeed it is so. Fortunes are 
 made in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, or better still 
 in Java ; but it is in Arnbem that they are spent and 
 enjoyed, where well-earned repose and peace are the 
 reward of years of toil. 
 
 Here the houses are as handsome as in Amster- 
 dam, Leeu warden, or Groningen, of elegant outline 
 and carved ornament ; yet, owing to their being con- 
 structed in brick, their aspect is severe ; they have 
 no pointed gables or sloping roofs reminding one of 
 Norwegian winters ; no narrow doors, no granite steps, 
 no chains or boundaries giving the appearance of a 
 rampart to each individual house, and preserving the 
 privacy of home so dear to the Batavian race. 
 
 On the contrary, the various soft, tender shades 
 of colour give to the houses a fresh gay appearance, 
 and the terraced roofs, defying rain and storms, 
 add to the spring-like aspect of the town. Windows 
 are wide open, and terraces, verandahs, and gardens 
 are as fully occupied as the interior of the habita- 
 tions, enabling passers-by to gain an insight into 
 the domestic life of the owners. Again, the presence 
 in Arnhem of a large number of Indian families has 
 given an exotic character to the recently -erected build- 
 ings, which is very marked. Some affect Italian style, 
 others old Batavian ; but all are decorated with rare 
 shrubs, plants, and tropical flowers, which, tastefully 
 arranged, give a very festive appearance to each and 
 all of these habitations. 
 
 Pontanus, an old author, describes the people of 
 
ARNHEM. Til 
 
 ArnJiem as ' cives liumani ac honarum litter arum 
 amantes.^ This is almost the ' vir bonus dicendi 
 peritus^ so dear to the ancients. Now Pontanus was 
 born at Arnhem, so he naturally was a partial writer ; 
 however he gives examples of his statement, and tells 
 us of many persons occupied in literary works about 
 his time. So we must accept his assertion and 
 remember that scholars are no rarer at Arnhem now, 
 than they were in his day. 
 
 ' Their courage,' adds the old annalist, 'has been 
 proved by their brave deeds.' And we have no 
 reason to doubt that, when called upon, the Arn- 
 hemers would do their duty as bravely now, as 
 ever. 
 
 However, notwithstanding its reputation for 
 scholarship and bravery, this charming little city has 
 never given birth ^ to any great genius, or scientific 
 discoverer, or hero ; and, with the exception of 
 Wemmer Noott, a painter of very mediocre talent, 
 cannot boast of any known artist. Even in the 
 fifteenth century, when Arnhem was a ducal city, it 
 was obliged to borrow its artists from the towns of 
 Flanders and the Overyssel ; hence its archives abound 
 in curious revelations. There is one dated 1459, in 
 which Clais Yan Braband, a Brabant artist, figures as 
 having painted a picture, to ornament the Town Hall, 
 for the sum of ^w^ florins. 
 
 ^ Perhaps we oiiglit to mention tliat the Emperor Henry III. was 
 horn at Oosterheck in 1027. But Arnhem at that period was only a 
 small village, and had no seigneurial right over the surrounding countr}-. 
 
?78 FAIENCE MANUFACTORY 
 
 Certainly the arts were not in a flourishing state 
 in this town, for in 1522 the Duke of Saxony, 
 wishing, in honour of his deceased wife, to give to 
 the Brotherhood of St. Nicholas a mark of his 
 favour, was forced to apply to a painter of ZwoUe 
 for a window, for which he paid the sum of thirty-six 
 golden florins.^ 
 
 Throughout the sixteenth century there is no 
 mention of one celebrated worker in gold, or em- 
 broiderer, or cabinet-maker ; in fact, to find one in- 
 dustrial art we must turn to the last century, and 
 then we only have a manufactory of faience, the 
 existence of which is still open to question. If this 
 manufactory were to be re-established in Arnhem it 
 would be a great ornament to its mural crown, for 
 the specimens we obtained, as belonging to the 
 town, were certainly very exquisite, being of beautiful 
 enamel of pure cream-white, covered with delicate and 
 chaste designs. They are all of the Louis XY. period, 
 and the ornaments surrounding them are of rock- 
 work, and also of elegant design. A few of them 
 are marked with a cock. They had been attributed 
 first to Delft, and then to Amsterdam, but without 
 any special certainty. But a plate I saw one day at 
 Brussels, at M. Evenepoel's the collector, representing 
 a river with a manufactory in the background, put 
 me on a new scent. The plate bore the inscription 
 ArnhemM Fahrique^ with a cock perched on a branch. 
 
 * Dame Christian, Duchess of Saxony, Queen of Saxony, Sweden, 
 and Norway, who died in 1522, and was interred in the large church. 
 
OF 1740-75. 279 
 
 The style and ornaments made me certain of the 
 period, and the words seemed to me to have been 
 spelt by a French hand. A Dutchman would have 
 written Arnhemsche fahrieh oy fabrijh ; but a foreigner 
 on the contrary, ignorant of the language, would 
 write according to his own mode of spelling ; so all 
 that was left for me to do was to try and discover 
 among the archives of 1740-75 if a manufactory of 
 faience had ever existed in Arnhem. I interested 
 two archivists, one for the country the other for the 
 town, in my research, and very soon the truth was 
 found out, and not only perhaps may M. Evenepoel's 
 plate be attributed to the artistic activity of Arnhem, 
 but also the coffee-pot of M. Van Komondt of Utrecht, 
 the pretty dishes belonging to M. Felis of Brussels, 
 the superb fountain of M. Paul Dalloz, and a hun- 
 dred other celebrated specimens adorning collectors' 
 cabinets. 
 
 Arnhem is not badly off as regards architecture ; 
 not that the town possesses a great number of re- 
 markable monuments, but rather two or three well 
 worthy the attention of archgeologists and artists. 
 The Church of St. Eusebius is the most important, the 
 erection of which is relatively recent, the first stone 
 having been laid in 1451, on the Cardinal Legate's visit 
 to the town. The building must have been carried 
 on with marvellous rapidity, for the following year 
 there was question of the Duke of Guelderland visit- 
 ing the Cathedral {ad cathedram), and the archives 
 mention that on the 23rd September of that same year 
 
280 CHURCH OF ST. EUSEBIUS. 
 
 a canon of Leyden, Jean van Hanen, presented to St. 
 Martin (the name the church then bore) a silver cup 
 of great value. It is presumable also that in 1453 
 the immense building was completed, because the 
 burgomasters judged the church in a fit state to 
 receive the relics of St. Eusebius, which were trans- 
 ported thither in great pomp on the Wednesday 
 following the Assumption, and from that time 
 forward .the church dropped its former name of 
 St. Martin to assume that of the saint whose bones 
 reposed within its precincts. 
 
 In spite of the rapidity of its erection, St. Eusebius 
 is one of the largest and finest churches in Holland. 
 At a time when Gothic architecture was not much in 
 favour, Blaeu speaks of it as a magnificent work 
 (opere magnifico), which is not saying too much, for 
 it certainly is very grand in appearance and pure in 
 taste, in spite of its having been erected so recently. 
 It has a very high nave, and two aisles void of 
 chapels. The choir is semi-hexagon, enclosed in a 
 semi-decagon circuit, and presents the peculiarity of 
 having been erected after the nave. The vaults of 
 the nave and transept, constructed in brick and 
 divided into very graceful caissons, are about five 
 centuries old, whilst those of the choir are faulty, 
 although they do not appear so. M. Eyck Van Zuy- 
 lichem, who has minutely examined the building, says 
 that he was unable to discern the slightest trace of 
 injury outside ; and what confirms this statement is 
 the fact of there being no buttresses to the exterior 
 
MAUSOLEUM OF JOSSE SASBOUT. 281 
 
 of the choir, while the nave and the transept are both 
 furnished with them. The interior of the church, 
 unfortunately, is plastered throughout. Even its 
 windows have been deprived of their very interesting 
 stained panes. The only break to the colourless mo- 
 notony everywhere around, consists in a few shields, 
 formerly belonging to ancient corporations, sus- 
 pended on the walls. Close to the entrance to the 
 choir stands the mausoleum of Josse Sasbout, the 
 first chancellor to whom Charles Y. confided the 
 government of his Duchy of Guelderland ; he did not 
 fill the honourable post long, however. I have re- 
 ferred in my other work^ to the eloquent lines on his 
 tomb, and never were lines more happily inspired. 
 The sculptor proved himself worthy of his work, and 
 the mausoleum is a chef-d'oeuvre of taste and elegance. 
 Impossible for the chisel to have more completely 
 realised a dark philosophical thought, than is done 
 here in this work of art. 
 
 Another monument of larger proportions, and 
 much more interesting, stands in the centre of the 
 choir. It is the tomb of Charles Egmont, the last 
 Duke of Guelderland. In 1538, bowed down by old 
 age, vanquished, humiliated, his last hope gone of 
 reconquering the Duchy he had conquered, lost, 
 and fought for during half a century, Charles Count 
 Egmont found here that peace and repose he had never 
 known during his life. His tomb consists of a vast 
 pedestal of black marble, upon which he rests armed 
 
 1 ' The Dead Cities of tlie Zuyder Zee,' p. 359. 
 
282 PULPIT OF ST. EUSEBIVS. 
 
 to the teeth, with his' hands clasped, and his eyes 
 closed. Six lions holding the arms of his family 
 surround him, and in sixteen niches in the sock of 
 the pedestal stand as many statues representing the 
 Apostles and Evangelists. Each one of these pieces 
 of sculpture is beautifully executed, slightly heavy, 
 perhaps, but eloquent of a grand epoch and grand style. 
 Another statue of the Count, also life size, but in 
 a kneeling position, stands in the choir. Strangely 
 enough it is placed in a kind of niche, one might 
 almost call it a cage, about twenty feet from the 
 ground. What the reason was for placing the 
 Count in a kneeling attitude of defence, in such an 
 isolated position so far from the ground, we were 
 not told, and could not find out. 
 
 The pulpit is a charming specimen of architecture 
 at its best epoch. It is octagonal in shape, with a 
 fine pseudo-Govmihi^in. column at the summit of each 
 angle. The panels are covered with scrolls and de- 
 signs of exquisite finish. Seats are dispersed around 
 the pulpit with most studied care for the comfort of 
 the worshippers, having small curtains hung round of 
 woollen material to subdue strong light, and at the 
 same time to prevent draughts and cold air from 
 reaching the occupants. 
 
 The exterior of St. Eusebius is as elegant as its 
 interior. It is constructed in brick and ornamented 
 in sandstone, which sadly requires restoring. Its 
 lateral faqades front two large open spaces or squares, 
 one of which, the market, would be remarkably pic- 
 
ST. WALBURGUS. 283 
 
 turesque if it were not hemmed in by pretentious- 
 looking buildings, erected during the French occupa- 
 tion, in that heavy, severe style in vogue for official 
 dwellings, at the commencement of this century. 
 
 The principal entrances to the church are in these 
 squares ; each has a fine portico, and stands at either 
 end of the transept. A third door is to be found at 
 the base of the tower ; rarely used, however, as it 
 leads on to a street of narrow proportions and ill 
 fame ; rather a peculiar surrounding for a church. 
 The tower is handsome, but famous specially for its 
 height. 
 
 The other old church, St. Walburgus, belongs to 
 the Catholics. According to M. Eyck Van Zuylichem 
 it was erected in 1328 ; according to other authorities 
 in 1421. 
 
 Although from an architectural point of view the 
 former date appears most probable, still, as I did not 
 know the reasons for asserting this date as a fact, I 
 thought I would hunt up for myself the documents 
 relating to it. The only record I could discover is 
 dated 1391 ; translated literally it is as follows : — 
 ' Furnished to the Messieurs of St. Walburo^us in 
 town for constructing, lifty-two thousand bricks.' 
 Hence, as that year (1391) the church was not com- 
 pleted, the latter date (1421) must be the correct 
 one. 
 
 Be the date of its erection one or the other, St. 
 Walburgus is a very interesting building in brick, and 
 consequently simple in style. In form it is an oblong 
 
284 DISCOVERY OF A TRIP TIC. 
 
 square, the size of which has been enlarged of late 
 years, by a choii' of polygon shape. In spite of the 
 bareness of the interior, with its square pillars, it 
 is not devoid of elegance. Unfortunately, in order 
 to increase the number of seats, one portion of the 
 aisle has been cut off, thus spoiling the general effect. 
 When we visited the church the plasterers were busy 
 in it (those people pursue me everywhere in Holland), 
 consequently the pictures had been taken down, and 
 we were enabled to gratify our curiosity by examin- 
 ing them. Among the number we made a charming 
 discovery. It was two divisions of an ancient triptic, 
 the work of one of those great Flemish artists who 
 were the ignored disciples of Memling or Yan Eyck, 
 and for that very reason, perhaps, were faithful inter- 
 preters of the Christian faith. The panels were 
 soiled and slightly scratched, but for all that very 
 precious and very interesting. One of the plasterers 
 cleaning the church, came over to us, and announced 
 that the picture was going to be washed directly. 
 We protested in strong terms against such a desecra- 
 tion, and tried to make him understand the enor- 
 mity of the crime he was about to accomplish. He 
 smiled incredulously ; but, seeing our distress, he 
 promised to respect the poor picture, and leave it as 
 it was. We went away reassured ; but it is doubtful 
 if the man kept his word. 
 
 Besides these two churches, the only other 
 ancient monument possessed by Arnhem, is the Town 
 Hall. We went to see it, not because it is handsome, 
 
THE DUIVELSHUIS. 285 
 
 but because it is interesting. Exteriorly it has a 
 singular and peculiar appearance, with which art has 
 had little to do. It is called by the country people 
 Duivelshuis (the devil's house), on account of certain 
 caryatides of coarse aspect, representing satyrs, which 
 figure on it. For my part, I should have thought it 
 obtained this name in remembrance of Maarteii Van 
 Rossem, a stern general of Charles Egmont's, and a 
 sort of brigand disguised as a soldier, fond of carnage 
 and devastation, who once made it his favourite 
 residence. One saying of his will show the man's 
 character : 'As the Magnificat is the ornament of 
 the vespers, so fire is the ornament of fields of battle.' 
 He did not live much in his house at Arnhem, and 
 did not even die there, for he expired at Antwerp in 
 a most inglorious fashion, while gluttonously eating a 
 pigeon with great enjoyment. 
 
 It is some time now since this house was used by 
 the Municipality of Arnhem. About the beginning 
 of this century the Town Hall stood on the Groote- 
 marJct. In 1804 it was demolished to make room for 
 a government house and a ' temple of justice,' both 
 of which face the market with their pretentious 
 appearance. 
 
 Unfortunately it was not a favourable time for 
 restoring, and when the municipal body took posses- 
 sion of their new Town Hall, they spoilt the faqade 
 by destroying its character. The enormous roof was 
 removed, and a storey added to the main building, 
 which is surmounted by a kind of flat roof, and the 
 
286 THE LIBRARY OF AMNHEM. 
 
 faqade was plastered in blue grey. The interior 
 had been stripped of its ancient appurtenances, and 
 we would not have passed over the threshold of the 
 door, had it not been that we were obliged to do so 
 in order to see the archives, museum, and library. 
 
 The latter is very extensive, containing about fif- 
 teen thousand volumes, most of which were inherited 
 from Harderwyk, at we remarked when mentioning 
 the library at Deventer. Unhappily, although the 
 number of books is good, there are no rare ones 
 amongst them, no precious incunabula, and very few 
 manuscripts of any peculiar kind, except one, and that 
 one deserves the attention of artists, for it is the great 
 book of the monastery of Bethlehem. It dates from 
 the thirteenth century, is magnificently bound, and 
 comes from the famous abbey of Doetinchem we have 
 already referred to. The cover is ornamented in 
 silver, with medallions and ornaments, inlaid in un- 
 cut jewels of rubies and rock-crystal. On the recto 
 is a curious bas-relief in ivory. This beautifully 
 bound manuscript — precious in so many points — 
 ought not to be in the library, but rather in th 
 museum, where so many other valuable objects are to 
 be found. 
 
 First among these latter is a complete collection 
 of goblets of the different guilds, of enormous size, 
 most of which were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition 
 of 1867. The one belonging to the vintners carries 
 off the palm in point of ample dimensions. Side by 
 side with these goblets are the different sceptres of 
 
ARCHIVES. 287 
 
 the guilds, burgomasters, and municipal bodies, heads 
 of drums, and various instruments of torture. Then 
 come the seals of the abbeys, those of the town of 
 different epochs, and those of the Duchy of Guelder- 
 land ; and last, a small collection of various curious 
 things, and old vases, among which are several 
 Eoman ones, discovered in the neighbourhood of 
 Nymegen. 
 
 If it is to the convent of Bethlehem that the mu- 
 seum owes its finest attraction, it is to that also that 
 it owes the most beautiful charters of the archives. 
 I refer more especially to the archives of the province, 
 because the town archives, on the contrary, were 
 added to by the Harder wyk inheritance. M. Ooster- 
 buk, who has succeeded M. NyhofF in the office of 
 archivist of Guelderland, showed us these paleogra- 
 phical treasures, which certainly deserved closer in- 
 spection than we had time to bestow on them at the 
 moment. 
 
 They comprehend all the titles relative to the 
 history of Guelderland from the twelfth century to 
 the treaty of Yenlo, the account books of the Dukes 
 from 1329, fief books, law proceedings of the Land- 
 dag, and resolutions of the States provincial, &c., &c. 
 The history of the country day by day could be as- 
 certained by studying these records. 
 
 Added to these provincial archives are those from 
 the abbey of Bethlehem, which consist of more than 
 four hundred and fifty charters in fine writing orna- 
 mented w^ith seals, of which one hundred and twelve 
 
288 ARCHIVES. 
 
 date from the thirteenth century, and a hundred and 
 fifty from the fourteenth. The most ancient one is 
 dated 1200.i 
 
 The archives of the town are not so old, and are 
 placed apart under the care of M. Sannes. 
 
 Although some say that the Arnhem of to-day 
 was founded by the Romans, that it is in fact the 
 Arenacum referred to by Tacitus, or the Ilarenatum 
 of Antonin, in spite of Peutirges and the Theodosian 
 table referring to it under the name of Arenatum^ its 
 antique splendour was not of very long duration. In 
 the tenth century it was merely a small village of 
 so little consequence that the Emperor Otho barely 
 referred to it in his letters — and it was not till the 
 13th July, 1233, that Count Otho raised it to the 
 dignity of a town, surrounded it with walls, and 
 endowed it with certain privileges. This Act has an 
 interesting clause — ' In morem, coeterarum civitatuni 
 liber arum ac proeserthn oppidi Zulphaniensis — showing 
 that Arnhem had been preceded in titles, dignities, 
 and privileges, by a good many neighbouring cities. 
 
 Besides this special record, the archives contain a 
 mass of other documents of a most interesting nature, 
 such as the Acts from 1423, the register book since 
 1435, that of sentences since the fourteenth century, 
 and the rules regulating the Guilds an,d Schrutterijen 
 since 1582, besides a hundred others. 
 
 We have no intention of giving the history of 
 
 ^ The charter dated 1076, relating to Biljoen, which is also among 
 the archives of Guelderland, we have referred to before. 
 
GAT DISPOSITION OF THE ARNHEMERS, 289 
 
 Arnliem drawn from these records — to do so we 
 should have to relate the history of the whole of 
 Guelderland, that is to say, recount all its wars, family 
 contentions, and hand-to-hand fights for four centuries. 
 We should also have to tell of the hatred between 
 the Bronckhorst and the Heeckeren, of wives faithless 
 to their husbands, of brothers slaying brothers, of 
 Adolf of Egmont who dragged his father five Ger- 
 man leagues, half naked in the cold, to fling him into 
 a dungeon where no light of day could penetrate, 
 except through a hole in the wall, and of those 
 assassinations and pillagings which inspired Pasquil 
 Merus with tardy lamentations, and the Guelderlanders 
 with their sombre but amusing motto : — 
 
 Hoog van Moed 
 
 Klein van Goed 
 
 Een Zwaard in de liand 
 
 Is t'wapen van Gelderland. 
 
 Much courage, 
 
 Little money, 
 
 A sword in the hand, 
 
 Such are the arms of Guelderland. 
 
 Neither sorrow nor distress would prevent the 
 Arnhemers from drinking and singing, as we may 
 easily find out from old books and accounts of the 
 town. They are always gay, and if there is no special 
 love of the arts among them it is at least compensated 
 for by their love of wine. 
 
 If we open old accounts of the year 1525 we shall 
 see how the Duke and Duchess of Guelderland 
 amused themselves during the carnival. ' On the 
 
 U 
 
290 THE CARNIVAL AT ARNHEM, 
 
 Monday evening our honoured Dame amused herself at 
 the tavern with the Councillors of Arnhem, and their 
 wives and daughters. The minstrel received one 
 golden karolus for his music, the blacksmith one 
 golden florin for dancing after the old fashion, a boy 
 of the smithy seven sous, the clowns received one 
 golden karolus for their performance on the Monday 
 and their speechifying ori the Tuesday, and the^ 
 brewers had three herrings from Monseignor and 
 Madame according to old custom, making in all five 
 florins and six sous.' ^ 
 
 Shrove Tuesday was not spent in amusement of 
 this kind, but casks of beer came into requisition 
 with wine and sweet cakes {Zuyches-Koichen), 
 
 At the present time, however, all these excesses 
 have been regulated, and the carnival is passed at 
 Arnhem as properly and decorously as elsewhere. 
 
 The inhabitants of Arnhem are thorough judges 
 of good wine, and, if they do not indulge in the 
 wild excesses of their ancestors, they take care to 
 have the quality of their drink of the best. The 
 Rhine furnishes them with the finest, besides 
 sending them its clear or clouded waters accord- 
 
 * I conclude the people mentioned in this document are the Duke 
 and Duchess, although they are called merely ^ Mijn gen ; Heer ind 
 Vrouw.' This curious record was published, in 1790, in the Kronijh 
 van Arnhem ; written in old Flemish with such peculiar orthography 
 that it is almost unintelligible, even to natives of the countr}^ Hence 
 many of the words I could only guess at ; 4n t'wynhuis,' I only suppose to 
 mean ' tavern.' It might be the municipal establishment called V^ine 
 House ; but that I cannot say. 
 
ARNHEM THEATER. 291 
 
 ing to the season. But water is not much drunk 
 m Arnhera. 
 
 ^ I taste that water ! ' said one to me, whom I was 
 congratulating on having such water. ' When I 
 think that, may be, Germans have bathed in its cool- 
 ness — pouah — it makes me sick.' 
 
 Arnhem has higher tastes than that of drinking. 
 Few towns in Europe are so well provided with 
 pleasures of various kinds. With the exception of 
 one pretty little church in the new quarter, every 
 edifice built within the last fifty years is devoted to 
 amusement of some sort. There are about a dozen 
 clubs and societeiten, the indispensable ornaments 
 to every Dutch town. 
 
 But Arnhem possesses the rare advantage of 
 a good theater, perfectly managed, and prettily 
 decorated, while a public garden consecrated to the 
 Muses, ''Musis sacrum^ and exquisitely laid out, opens 
 its concert-rooms and flower-beds every summer for 
 the amusement of the highest society. Added to 
 this, during excessively hot weather the ingenious Arn- 
 hemers have devised what they call a Buitensocieteet^ 
 a club outside the town. It stands on a hill over- 
 looking the Rhine, commanding a splendid view of the 
 country. A Dutch architect, M. Oudtshoorn, super- 
 intended its building, and made it most heavy in 
 style ; but its situation is so fine one forgets to find 
 fault with the architecture. Thanks to the kindness 
 
 of one of the Municipal Councillors, M. vanT , we 
 
 were enabled to see, not only all the suburban and 
 . u2 
 
292 JOURNEY TO NYMEGEN. 
 
 rural amusements, but those of town also, some of 
 which are easier of access for foreigners, and very 
 ao'reeable. Arnhem is one of the few Dutch towns 
 where the public walks and boulevards are pleasant 
 to the eye, the beauty of which is enhanced by 
 the number of families who, as we have said, live 
 chiefly in their gardens in the summer weather, 
 and add colour and life to their lovely surround- 
 ings. Then, again, the extension of certain portions 
 of the town towards Velp and Rosendaal, and the 
 position of various Chateaux in the neighbourhood, 
 render communication between the town and villages 
 less difficult, and the constant passing to and fro 
 of carriages on the highway enlivens the scene. 
 When the time came for us to quit Arnhem, we 
 were sorry to leave the gay little place to continue 
 our route to Nymegen via the Rhine. However, 
 we had to do it, and that too in weather which 
 was anything but agreeable, for it rained and 
 thundered and lightened very heavily. In the 
 midst of this terrible storm, with the thunder roll- 
 ing over our heads, and our eyes nearly blinded by 
 the vivid flashes of lightning, we arrived at the mouth 
 of the Yssel, avoiding as well as we could the huge 
 masses of wood, the conductors of which had sought 
 shelter from the inclement weather along the banks of 
 the river. Then we continued our course between flat 
 monotonous banks, for the Rhine on entering Hol- 
 land leaves behind it its towering mountainous borders 
 and fantastic castles, almost as if it understood that 
 
GELRE! GELRE! 293 
 
 such feudal remains would have no value in the eyes 
 of a country given to citizen independence and 
 equality. The moment it passes the frontier it be- 
 comes genuinely Dutch, and Yan Goyen might sign 
 all the landscapes between Arnhem and Pannerden. 
 
 The tempest continued unceasingly. The black 
 clouds above, clashed with deafening noise, and the 
 darkness began to get so dense that, as I dimly per- 
 ceived the scenery around me, I could not help think- 
 ing of that other dark legendary night to which 
 Guelderland owes its name. 
 
 It was in the year 878, last of the reign of the 
 Emperor and King of France, Charles the Bald. One 
 evening in the month of January, there appeared in 
 the middle of this verdant country a ' most horrible, 
 savage, fearful beast, who devoured alike men and 
 animals.' It had eyes ' fiery and sparkling like flames, 
 and constantly uttered a terrible cry as if pronouncing 
 the word '•Gelre! Gelre!^ Very soon the country was 
 abandoned, for all who could, hid themselves from the 
 sight of this monster ; and fields, houses, and castles 
 were alike deserted. This terrible creature spared no 
 one, and the seigneur had to suffer equally with his 
 people. Now this seigneur had two sons, Wichard 
 and Luppold, who begged their father's permission to 
 go and fight the monster. The father consented, and 
 blessed them, and they departed. The darkness 
 grew thicker Avhen they started, and a terrible tem- 
 pest shook the whole country with the power of its 
 fury. The two young men were not daunted, but, 
 
294 FORTRESS OF SCHENCK. 
 
 sword in hand, advanced on their road till they 
 reached the den of the beast, whose glaring eyes 
 betrayed him in the surrounding obscurity. The 
 brothers kissed each other as a fresh incentive to fight 
 bravely, attacked the creature in the name of God, and 
 killed him. The people, overjoyed at the victory of 
 the young men, offered them the sovereignty of the 
 land, and they, in return, gave the name to the coun- 
 try which their terrible foe had pronounced with his 
 dying breath : Gelre. 
 
 The storm over, we arrived safe at Pannerden, 
 at the confluence of the Waal, where the Rhine 
 divides into two large arms. We passed the fort of 
 Schenck, long since abandoned, but which at one time 
 was regarded as a stronghold of great importance. 
 ' Nothing can pass either in or out of the two rivers 
 without the cognizance of the governor of that castle,' 
 said an author of the last century, ' which may be 
 called the key or centre of communication between 
 Germany and Holland.' 
 
 Although it was believed impregnable, it was 
 taken no less than three times within forty years. 
 First by the Spaniards in July, 1615 ; then the fol- 
 lowing year by Maurice after a siege of six months ; 
 and finally in 1672 by Turenne after only eight hours' 
 fighting. The attack of the French army was so 
 brilliant and rapid that the garrison took fright, and 
 the gates were thrown open to the troops of the great 
 king. Six days before (12th June, 1672), the governor 
 of the fortress might have watched from the heights 
 
THE TOLHUYS. 
 
 295 
 
 of the bastions, the famous passage of the Rhine, 
 sung of by Boileau and painted by Parrocel and 
 Van der Meulen. 
 
 This celebrated event took place at a spot called 
 Tolhuys^ but we did not visit it. We doubled Pan- 
 nerden point, passed the fortress of that name, 
 entered the Waal, and about an hour later per- 
 ceived in the distance the outline of the town of 
 Nymegen. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NYMEGEN — THE VALCKHOF — CHARLEMAGNE S CHAPEL — INSURRECTIONS 
 
 TOWN HALL AND MUSEUM THE PEACE OF NYMEGEN THE 
 
 UOVTENROKKEN — ST. STEPHEN — * SIC VOS NON VOBIS.' 
 
 YMEGEN is situated on the slope of a 
 hill on the river Waal, which washes 
 the lower town and separates it from 
 Betaw, a flat piece of land forming an isle between 
 the Waal and the Rhine. Formerly it was the spot 
 inhabited by a people the Romans called Batavians, 
 to whom they allied themselves when they subju- 
 gated the neighbouring inhabitants of Gaul and Ger- 
 many. Betaw and Waal were the old German 
 names changed by the Romans to Batavia and Va~ 
 halts. Betaw, in old German, signifies rich earth ; in 
 the same way as Velow, a large country covered with 
 brushwood, on the other side of the Rhine, signi- 
 fies barren ground. I cannot quite decide if Nymegen 
 is derived from Neomagus^ or Neomagus from Ny- 
 megen ; but from certain indications of old ruins and 
 the old castle still in existence, it appears that it was 
 once a Roman colony. ' The town is in a salubrious 
 
NYMEGEN. 297 
 
 situation, and surrounded on three sides by extensive 
 dry heaths inhabited by good people.' 
 
 So wrote Sir William Temple of Schenne, ambassa- 
 dor at the Hague, in reference to Nymegen towards 
 the end of the seventeenth century, when he had been 
 sent by the King of England to negotiate at the great 
 European Congress which met to sign one of the 
 most famous treaties of modern times. The description 
 is tolerably exact, only Sir William might have added 
 that on arriving at the Waal, or on the great plains 
 of Betaw, the most magnificent panorama stretches 
 away to the horizon, that one could wish to see. 
 The town is not low down and flat, scarcely rising 
 above the plain itself, like those we had left behind 
 us. On the contrary, Nymegen stands boldly out 
 from the mountain side with its fine houses, towering 
 one above the other, their pretty gables and turrets 
 and roofs forming irregular lines, at once pleasing to 
 the eye and picturesque in appearance. Its bright 
 colouring is enhanced by the green slope covered with 
 large trees on one side, and on the other by the im- 
 posing and grand massive beauty of the Church of 
 St. Stephen. 
 
 Sir William Temple had not much opportu- 
 nity of contemplating the beautiful view, for he 
 nearly lost his life when he arrived, owing to the 
 burgomaster's desire to do honour to the great diplo- 
 matist. His equipage, with six horses attached, was 
 being ferried across the Waal when the cannon 
 boomed forth a salvo of honour. ' My horses,' wrote 
 
298 ARRIVAL OF AMBASSADORS. 
 
 Sir William, ' were so terrified at the noise and at the 
 swaying of the boat under their feet, that I feared we 
 should be turned over into the water. However, by 
 the aid of my servants we safely reached the other 
 side.' 
 
 This mark of honour was a very natural attention, 
 on the part of the town, to such a great man. The 
 congress meeting within its walls was an event of 
 great importance to Nymegen. Other towns had 
 claimed the honour, but Nymegen was chosen as a 
 sort of compensation for the losses it had suffered 
 during the war. 
 
 Saint Didier tells us that the French ambassadors 
 arrived in the imperial city incognito, and without 
 any retinue, although one might say that they 
 had a public reception, owing to the concourse of 
 people who turned out to see the arrival of ' the long- 
 desired ambassadors.' To which we must add that al- 
 though they arrived ' incognito and without retinue,' 
 yet they were accompanied by such a large number of 
 waggons loaded with baggage, that they extended 
 from the gates of the town to the ambassadors' resi- 
 dences. No doubt, even now, such an incognito 
 would make a strong impression on the population of 
 Nymegen, and excite their curiosity to a large ex- 
 tent — fortunately for us, not being encumbered with 
 so much baggage, we entered the town unnoticed. 
 
 Nymegen is divided through the centre by a 
 broad street, from which all the smaller ones lead, on 
 one side towards the Waal, on the other in the 
 
THE VALCKHOF. 299 
 
 direction of the open country. It is here in this prin- 
 cipal street that the chief public buildings are to be 
 found, for it crosses the Grootemarkt, leads past St. 
 Stephen's Church, skirts the University, and termi- 
 nates at the beautiful park where a century ago the 
 battlements of the ancient Vakkhof stood towering 
 above the ground. 
 
 This Valckhof, the name of which, according to 
 Pontanus and Blaeu, is derived from Waelhof (resi- 
 dence or castle on the Waal), is incontestably the most 
 ancient establishment of the country. It is to it that 
 Nymegen owes its existence, and certainly it was 
 the origin of civilisation in that part of the country. 
 
 According to tradition, it was occupied and forti- 
 fied in turn by Celts, Teutons, and Gauls, and one of 
 the kings of the country, called Magus, conceived the 
 idea of adding a town to the citadel. Hence arose 
 Maga, which was afterwards destroyed by the Celts 
 when they invaded the country. Then a king named 
 Baton restored, enlarged, and fortified it with three 
 walls, and called it Novio-magus. 
 
 This name was not preserved by the Romans. 
 Tacitus called it the fortress of the Batavians (Bata- 
 iwrum oppidum)^ a title it truly deserved, when 
 Claudius Civilis turned it into the last ramparts of 
 national independence. The place, to this day, is 
 shown where the rebel general watched the defeat of 
 his troops. It is a sort of belvidere, commanding a 
 view of Betaw and the double course of the Waal, 
 from whence the steeples of Arnhem can be seen in 
 
300 THE OLD CASTLE. 
 
 the distance. Ten towns and fifty villages are dotted 
 on this fine peninsula, now become a rich fertile 
 country. 
 
 The Castle, of which this belvidere was formerly 
 one of the terraces, is entirely demolished, and a 
 public promenade has been laid out on its site. Of the 
 noble building where twenty emperors and their suites 
 were lodged ; of the grand vast halls where foreign 
 ambassadors bowed their heads before the Christian 
 successors of pagan Caesars ; of the luxurious chambers 
 where Charlemagne, Louis le Debonnaire, Charles the 
 Bald, Otho I., Conrad III., and the Emperors Sigis- 
 mond^and Albert slept ; of the rich sumptuous walls 
 wherein Henry YI. was born and wherein his first 
 cry was heard ; of ancient gates through which the pala- 
 dins of old made their way to the Holy Land ; where 
 Kenault II L, Charles the Bold, Charles Egmont, 
 Maximilian of Austria, Charles Y., and Philip II. 
 were complimented by the burgomasters of Nyme- 
 gen — of all this grandeur there only remain now a 
 couple of small simple vestiges, and even they were 
 only preserved at the earnest entreaty of the anti- 
 quarian, M. In van Betouw, who by dint of prayers 
 and supplications succeeded in saving them when 
 the castle was destroyed in 1799. 
 
 The largest, but least perfect, of these remains is 
 the vault of an ancient chapel, most likely contem- 
 porary with the restoration of the castle by Charle- 
 magne's order in 774. Hemicycle in form, it is 
 headed by a demi-cupola, the centre arch of which 
 
THE ROMAN CHAPEL. 301 
 
 has defied alike the devastating hand of man and the 
 inclemency of the weather. A vaulted crypt fully 
 lighted by circular openings formerly extended 
 beneath the choir, and fine narrow windows let 
 in the thick walls dispersed a dim light over the 
 altar. In front are two beautiful columns, in white 
 marble, the Corinthian capitals of which would decide 
 the antiquity of the chapel, if the hemispheric head- 
 ings, analogous to those in Italian basilicae, did not 
 indicate its exact date. 
 
 The other fragment, in still better preservation, 
 is a small octagonal building, already so well described 
 by M. Oltmans^ that I shall merely refer to its most 
 curious points. 
 
 Form and ornaments are of charming simplicity. 
 The interior has a double gallery, supported by 
 carved arches for the lower, by double arches for the 
 upper one ; both galleries are vaulted, but many of the 
 arches, and a certain number of exterior openings, 
 were reconstructed at a later date, in the pointed arch 
 style. This very peculiar little construction is called 
 the Roman Chapel. 
 
 At a period when architectural science was not 
 very extended, many scholars attributed the origin of 
 this chapel to a very antique age, some even sup- 
 posing it was an ancient pagan temple. Birchemius 
 pretends that it was built in honour of Julius Pru- 
 
 * 'Description of the Oarlovingian Ohapel and Koman Chapel, for- 
 merly of the Castle of Nyniegen/ by Alex. Oltmans, Amsterdam, 
 1847. In 1840 Mertens wrote a description of the Roman Ohapel pub- 
 lished in the ' Algemeine Bauzeitung ' at Vienna. 
 
302 ORIGIN OF THE ROMAN CHAPEL. 
 
 dens, whose tomb stood close by. Paul Merula 
 thought it was a sanctuary consecrated to Janus, and 
 M. In van Betouw, the gentleman who saved it from 
 destruction, believed it had been dedicated to the god 
 Thor. 
 
 Others, again, say that it is not older than the 
 eighth or ninth century. Certainly the form of the 
 upper arches, with their peculiar cupolas, makes this 
 statement appear very plausible. Supposing this ver- 
 sion to be the correct one, it remains to be proved 
 what was the original intention of this little sanc- 
 tuary. It is generally thought to be the ancient 
 Imperial Chapel where the Emperor went to hear 
 mass, and even the place is pointed out where the 
 illustrious monarch's throne stood. Now a little re- 
 flection will show that this could not have been the 
 case, for many reasons. First, it only requires a little 
 knowledge of those times to perceive that the sur- 
 roundings of princes, the number of dignitaries, pre- 
 lates, and knights, who accompanied the Emperor 
 everywhere at that period, would make it an utter 
 impossibility for him to have worshipped in such a 
 narrow space. 
 
 Besides, the Fa/cMo/was not a temporary resting- 
 place, nor was Nymegen a chance residence. The 
 old town had the title of second imperial city of 
 Lower Germany ; it was called the ' foot of the empire,' 
 and in hierarchical order it was secondary only to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle. In 829, when there was question 
 of holding a diet to reinstate Louis le Debonnaire in 
 
SUPPOSITIONS OF ITS ORIGIN. 303 
 
 his title of Emperor, Nymegen was chosen for the 
 honour. Hence it was in a position to lodge three 
 kings, an emperor, and their respective suites. The 
 palace also was worthy of its guests. One author, 
 H. Cannegieter, asserts that it derives its name from 
 Falckenhof (palace of the hawks j, in reference to 
 those Louis le Debonnaire had bred there for the 
 chase — proving that he was in the habit of staying at 
 the castle and hawking in the neighbourhood. Egin- 
 hard,^ the companion of Charlemagne and the historian 
 of his life, tells us that the Emperor had two magni- 
 ficent palaces built (operis egregii)^ one close to 
 Mayence, the other at Nymegen, above the Waal. 
 It is the same palace that the venerable Radeyicus, 
 ' chanoine * of Freisengen, calls ' nohile palatium opus 
 fortissimum^' and that Lambertus the monk, who in- 
 habited the monastery of Hirschfeldt, spoke of as a 
 ' royal residence of admirable and incomparable 
 work ' {regiam domum miri et incomparahilis operis) ; 
 and when Charles the Bold seized Nymegen and the 
 Valckhof^ it is known that he gave special orders to 
 his troops to respect this antique palace. 
 
 All this has not escaped M. Oltmans' notice, who 
 seems not only to have studied the history of the 
 construction of the castle, but also the manners of 
 the times in which it was built ; and he grows elo- 
 quent in imagination as he pictures to himself the 
 pomp and grandeur of which this place was once the 
 scene. 
 
 ^ Vita et gesta Oaroli Magni. 
 
304 SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTY. 
 
 ' Imagine/ he cries, ^ what this monument must 
 have been hke at the time of its inauguration, gUttering 
 with mosaic and frescoes, filled with the magnificent 
 retinues of the peers and lords of the realm, sur- 
 rounding the throne of Charles the Great, with richly 
 robed prelates standing by, and the air resounding 
 with the glorious music of canticle and hymn/ 
 Certainly, I must acknowledge, a very inviting pic- 
 ture, but difficult to imagine in a small chapel about 
 twenty-five feet in diameter. 
 
 Then again, another reason for objecting to this 
 little chapel having been the scene of so much show 
 and grandeur, is, that it is composed of materials of 
 very inferior quality to those used for the large 
 chapel, added to which it was detached from the 
 main building in the old plan, whereas the larger one 
 was enclosed in it. But if it was not a chapel, what 
 was it ? is a very natural question. 
 
 It was a baptistery. During the eighth and 
 ninth centuries baptism was performed by immersion. 
 The convert undressed, entered the enormous basin 
 in a state of nature, and received his baptism, as 
 Chris u did at Jordan. And to prevent members of 
 the Church from being forced to witness a ceremony 
 which might shock their modesty, a small sanctuary 
 was erected close by, where the service could be 
 performed before a limited number of witnesses. 
 Several of these baptisteries are still in existence, 
 some even very celebrated, as, for example, the one 
 of S. Giovanni Lateran in Rome, and those of Florence 
 
THE OCTAGON CHAPEL. 305 
 
 and of Pisa. All are constructed on a model almost 
 identical with the octagon Chapel of Nymegen, only 
 they are somewhat larger, and the architecture is 
 more elegant and more ornamented, and the materials 
 they are made of much richer. 
 
 The number of Churches of octagonal form is, 
 on the contrary, very limited, there being only two 
 in existence, Santa Vitale at Ravenna, and the little 
 Church of Othmarsheim in Alsace, The nearest 
 approach to this model is the dome of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 Cathedral, which has sixteen sides. It is very likely 
 that these Churches were originally intended for 
 baptisteries also, for their dimensions are very limited, 
 and scarcely harmonize with the title of Church, espe- 
 cially in the case of the Doiii Kirche of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 which is called a Cathedral. 
 
 Now^ when it is remembered that it was only a 
 very short while after the arrival of Pope Leo III. 
 in the country, that the octagon Chapel was erected,^ 
 and that Charlemagne often visited Nymegen to cele- 
 brate Easter there, during the years 804-808, and that 
 he received a large number of Saxon chiefs baptised 
 there each time, it must be acknowledged that our 
 supposition has an air of truth about it. Besides, this 
 supposition is confirmed by a tradition, to the effect 
 that a haptistery in precious material was buried in 
 the middle of this sanctuary. Only a few years ago 
 the treasure was sought for, but of course nothing 
 
 ^ ^ Noviomaffi Annals.' 
 
306 OCTAGON CHAPEL MUSEUM. 
 
 was found. Tradition has made a mistake, and con- 
 founded the contents with the case. 
 
 This tradition, which plays an important part in 
 the history of the little Chapel, we heard from M. 
 Pabst Van Bingerden, an archagologist of standing, 
 who accompanied us on our visit to these curious 
 ruins. 
 
 The interior, as also the exterior, of the octagon 
 Chapel has been stripped of its ancient decorations, 
 even to the stonework which once covered it. To 
 give it an interest in the eyes of the public it has 
 been converted into a museum containing a number 
 of antiquities found in the neighbourhood. A small 
 wooden flight of steps leads from the centre to the 
 upper gallery,^ which does not always see those come 
 down who mount it. It is the flight of steps leading 
 to the scafibld. 
 
 On quitting this venerable little building we 
 could not help remarking how vividly the memory 
 of Charlemagne is preserved, in every country he 
 visited for any length of time. His memory seems 
 to fill people's hearts, as his name does their ears. 
 Certainly this is the case here, and the only reason 
 for transforming this baptistery into a royal Chapel 
 appears to be, that the people may have a pedestal on 
 which to stand their venerated prince. 
 
 It is not, however, the only souvenir of the great 
 
 * Another point which confirms our supposition that this chapel 
 was a baptistery is, that it has no staircase like S. Vitale of Ravenna 
 and the Domldrche Aix-la-Ohapelle. The upper gallery is reached by a 
 ladder. 
 
CHARLEMAGNE'S PRAYER, 307 
 
 Emperor to be found in Nymegen. Every evening 
 an enormous bell, which is nothing less than an old 
 curfew-bell, rings out its droning noise, and for some 
 reason, which I could not discover, is called ' Charle- 
 magne's prayer.' A few years ago the burgomaster, 
 like a sensible fellow, wished to abolish its use, 
 thinking that by so doing he should please the whole 
 town. Nothing of the sort — complaints arose in 
 every direction, people objected in strong terms to 
 abolishing the old custom, and ' Charlemagne's 
 prayer ' was re-established and again heard every 
 evening. 
 
 Now it must not be imagined from the affection 
 shown to these relics, that the inhabitants of the ancient 
 town were submissive, peaceful subjects. Far from 
 it. The hill on which Nymegen is built was con- 
 tinually swept by the breath of independence and 
 rebellion. The town was always in a state of 
 smouldering or open insubordination. Guicciardini 
 says that ^ In times past they cared for nothing but 
 the handling of arms,' and Blaeu adds that the ^ citi- 
 zens being exempt from servile conditions ' they were 
 not constrained to submit to anything, and that they 
 were remarkably tenacious of their rights and all 
 that concerned the liberty of their city. Besides 
 have they not inscribed on one of the gates of their 
 town, ^Melius est Bellicosa libertas quam servitus 
 pacijica.^ 
 
 Sometimes this spirit of rebellion led the popula- 
 tion to commit acts which did not always redound to 
 
 X 2 
 
308 INSURRECTION. 
 
 tlieir credit, as for instance, when they assisted Count 
 Adolf to rise against his old father the Duke of 
 Guelderland, who on being taken, demanded as a grace 
 and with the tears in his eyes, not to be taken to 
 Nymegen, so much did he fear the ^populace and 
 citizens.' 
 
 Another time these worthy sons of this war- 
 loving town, which had shown a bold front to the 
 Duke of Burgundy, and forced Charles the Bold to 
 enter through a breach, resisted the troops occupying 
 their town and dispersed them. 
 
 'In the year 1585,' says an old chronicler, 'the 
 town of Nymegen was in a great commotion ; the 
 bourgeois took counsel together how they could get 
 rid of the garrison from the town. Fifty men were 
 found of the same mind, who seized the arsenal and 
 the market-place on March 16, and imprisoned the 
 soldiers, persuading their fellow townsmen that these 
 men had determined to pillage the town.' Upon 
 which news each citizen fled to his arms, they attacked 
 the garrison, turned it out of the gates, and announced 
 that for the future they could defend themselves and 
 had no need of soldiers to help them. 
 
 The States on hearing this ordered Count de Meurs 
 and Colonel Schenk to retake Nymegen. They, think- 
 ing they had to do with second-rate soldiers, tried 
 a few stratagems but without much success, though 
 one encounter with the rebels cost the poor colonel 
 his life. 
 
 At the head of his company, he traversed the 
 
CLABA WANBAT. 309 
 
 Waal during the night, hoping to take the town by 
 surprise while the inhabitants slept. His soldiers 
 were noiselessly disembarking on the other side, and 
 congratulating themselves upon the success of their 
 stratagem, when suddenly a cry rent the air ! In a 
 house close to the water's edge a wedding was being 
 celebrated. One of the dancers had gone outside to 
 enjoy the cool when he perceived the boats loaded with 
 soldiers, many of whom had already disembarked. 
 Rushing back to the house he raised the alarm, and 
 the friends, armed with anything they could seize hold 
 of, attacked the soldiers at once. The tumult caused 
 by this unexpected engagement attracted the attention 
 of others ; windows and doors opened, and men, women 
 and children, threw themselves, armed as they best 
 could, on the assailants. Furniture and crockery of 
 every kind were hurled at the enemy, even young girls 
 forgot their timidity, and ran down to the streets half 
 dressed, to join in the commotion. One of them, a 
 girl called Clara Wanray, seized a trumpet and blew 
 a blast as loud as she could. The noise terrified the 
 assailants, who meeting with so much resistance 
 where they expected to find an easy victory, and 
 thrown into disorder by the blows showered on them 
 whichever way they turned, fled to the river side 
 and scrambled into their boats. But the boats 
 being over-loaded foundered, and the next morning a 
 hundred corpses were seen floating in the water. 
 
 Among them was the body of Martin Schenk. 
 The inhabitants, not content with knowing their 
 
310 THE CAPITULATION OF 1591. 
 
 enemy dead, revenged themselves for the night's 
 unexpected attack by dividing the body into four 
 portions and publicly exposing them till the governor 
 of the town, the Marquis de Yerambon, had them 
 gathered together and placed in a tower. 
 
 Before the town would return to its submission to 
 the States, Prince Maurice w^as obliged to besiege it in 
 person. Even then the rebellious town held out for 
 the space of three months, although it had no hope of 
 success from any quarter, before it would consent 
 to an honourable capitulation, which took place in 
 October 1591. 
 
 Then again in 1672, when the French invaded 
 the country, it was just the same. Nymegen was 
 attacked among the first towns, but it did not sur- 
 render till forced, and even then its magistrates 
 obtained every concession in its favour, possible to be 
 granted. 
 
 Now it must not be imagined that these magis- 
 trates, who spoke wdth so much dignity when con- 
 versing with the enemy, who stipulated so firmly 
 for honourable conditions, and who obliged the 
 vanquishers to respect the vanquished, were always 
 respected by the citizens of Nymegen. 
 
 In 1702, to quote only one instance, when the 
 death of William III. was announced, the people de- 
 manded a change of magistrates and the municipal 
 body. The result was a great tumult ; the old body, 
 backed up by the States, protested, but the populace 
 seized them at the doors of the Town Hall, and 
 
TOWN HALL OF NYMEGEN. 311 
 
 publicly decapitated the burgomaster of highest rank, 
 William Roukens, and hung a few others on the win- 
 dows of the Stadhuis. 
 
 This happened on the 7th and 8th August, 1705, 
 and the place is still shown where these summary exe- 
 cutions were carried out, for i\iQ faqade of the Town 
 Hall has not been altered since the building was first 
 erected in 1554. As its date will indicate, its style is 
 very simple, but very elegant and very characteristic. 
 Besides Nymegen was rich enough in the sixteenth 
 century to afford handsome edifices. 
 
 Three centuries earlier, William II., its sovereign, 
 who was Count twenty years, and seven years king, 
 had pledged the town for the enormous sum of 21,000 
 silver marks. In 1554, having again become an im- 
 perial town, belonging to the Hanseatic league, and 
 ' given to commerce,' it could well aiford to ex- 
 pend largely. Hence the Town Hall was erected in 
 freestone, composed of a ground floor and one above, 
 and with seven front windows to each story. Those 
 on the ground floor were secured by formidable grat- 
 ings of iron which still exist, though from the very 
 first a needless precaution. They are surmounted by 
 a graceful attic, above which is a head carved in high 
 relief. The windows in the upper story are very 
 simple in style and almost square, above which again 
 is a large entablature, ornamented with a series of 
 medallions representing the busts of those emperors 
 who were benefactors to the town. 
 
 On entering, there is a large vestibule or hall, in 
 
312 THE VESTIBULE. 
 
 the form of a lengthened parallelogram, at the upper 
 end of which are the seats of the ancient tribunal. 
 
 These seats, about three centuries old, are raised 
 a few steps in order to permit the judges occupying 
 them to command the rest of the hall. Below the 
 steps is a balustrade, where the advocates plead. 
 Above the presidential throne stands the figure of 
 Justice, with the traditional attributes, and the in- 
 scription: UTRAMQUE PARTEM AUDITE at itS feet. 
 Three fine doors framed in beautiful carved wood- 
 work complete the architectural decoration of this 
 noble hall. 
 
 In this room there is also a very curious clock, a 
 master-piece of mechanism besides being a very elegant 
 looking object. It marks the years, months, days, 
 hours, minutes, and seconds, and could for a very little, 
 mark also the age of the magistrates, the number of 
 inhabitants, and the total of deaths and marriages. 
 It is decorated at the top with a miniature belfry, and 
 in the centre with the signs of the zodiac, encircled 
 with legends with indiscreet allusions, to which we 
 must add a picture, bearing the peculiar title of ' The 
 Nymegen Enigma,' representing a young girl who, 
 by a series of matrimonial combinations, is found to 
 be the mother, grandmother, daughter, aunt, and 
 sister of her father's children. Words cannot ade- 
 quately express the idea of the grand beauty of this 
 vast hall. 
 
 Besides this vestibule, the ground floor contains a 
 secretary's office, tapestried in Cordova leather, the 
 
THE MUSEUM. 3l3 
 
 burgomaster's room wainscoted all round in rich 
 carving of a fine style, the marriage-hall, and the 
 council-room. Although the latter were occupied 
 at the moment of our visit with the municipal 
 elections, the burgomaster kindly allowed us to enter 
 and examine them. Both are hung with old tapestry 
 of the most beautiful workmanship, and each contains 
 one of those ancient monumental fireplaces, the man- 
 telpiece of which is ornamented with allegorical 
 paintings, and rests on two columns of black marble. 
 Thus decorated these apartments have a rich muni- 
 cipal air, which I might almost call, august. 
 
 On the first floor is the museum, a collection of 
 antiquities, carefully arranged in a well-lighted hand- 
 some room. It is approached by a long corridor, 
 ornamented with Roman remains and fragments of 
 inscriptions, let into the wall as in the lapidary gal- 
 lery in the Vatican. The various objects composing 
 the museum have been gathered together from the 
 neighbourhood or from the town itself, hence they 
 have a twofold interest. They have been catalogued 
 with the greatest care. Commencing with the polished 
 stone age, the collection continues through the bronze 
 age, of which it has a few interesting specimens. Then 
 comes a goodly array of Norman remains, cinerary 
 urns, fine dishes, pretty cups, lamps, and bowls, and 
 a curiosity of some note, consisting of a mask in whit- 
 ish clay on the sides of which the holes intended to 
 hold the strings are still visible. Of the group apper- 
 taining to bronze, we have rings, hooks, statuettes, 
 
S14 BRONZE OBJECTS. 
 
 emblematic animals, amulets, toys, pots, vases, covers 
 and basins, which remind one of Pompeii and its 
 inexhaustible treasures. Two of the basins are very 
 beautiful, one being fluted, the other engraved, the 
 frieze representing a curious incident in hunting. 
 Then come bronze lamps, bells, mirrors, keys, a great 
 many medallions, and arms which are very rare, also 
 rings, seals, engraved stones, bored stones, and a mass 
 of things in ivory, such as were always left behind 
 after every Roman occupation. 
 
 A rather surprising fact is, that the mediseval age, 
 the epoch of Nymegen's true grandeur, is poorly 
 represented in this museum. 
 
 With the exception of a few laholiakannetjes^ a 
 few arms covered with rust, seals, and some old 
 charters, there is nothing to speak of, but an old 
 embroidered banner or curtain of very remarkable 
 workmanship. 
 
 The Renaissance period is more fruitful. First 
 we have a series of sandstones of peculiar form and 
 detail, and a few painted glasses ; next the treasures 
 of the Guilds, emblems, goblets, drinking horns 
 covered with medals, presidential vestments heavy 
 with embroidery, and standards, even books for mass 
 and account books. Among the prayer books is one 
 belonging to the bakers, a magnificent missal dated 
 1482, richly ornamented with beautiful miniatures, 
 also an account book of the blacksmiths containing 
 the very useful bit of advice, always to choose secre- 
 taries from those who could write a good hand. 
 
ALLEGORICAL PICTURES;. 315 
 
 The municipal treasures, kept in another case, in- 
 clude burgomaster's sceptres, a pelerine formed of 
 pieces of money, the signification of which I have for- 
 gotten, halberds, the throne of William Y., and two 
 curious instruments called Houtenrok^ which I will 
 explain presently. 
 
 In a room on the upper floor we were shown a 
 picture, attributed to Rubens, representing a king 
 called David. We were also shown a view of Ny- 
 megen, and of the ValckJiof^ supposed to be by Van 
 Goyen, but which I think is more likely to have been 
 painted by one of his pupils ; a portrait of William 
 III., and two large allegories, one signed by Stevens- 
 Palamedsz, the other by Rutger Yan Langevelt 
 (1670), who I confess I never heard of before as a 
 painter ; he was born in Nymegen, and died in Ber- 
 lin in 1695, at sixty years of age. 
 
 The allegories represent the imperial city acquit- 
 ting herself of her dues vis-a-vis to the empire. 
 These dues consisted, according to Guicciardini, of a 
 glove full of pepper, which had to be forwarded to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle each year; but Frederic Sandius 
 gives another explanation of these dues. He speaks 
 not of a glove full of pepper, but of a pair of deer- 
 skin gloves, and two pounds of pepper, which the 
 town was obliged to send each year, not to Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, but to Liege to be free of ' toll ' on the 
 Meuse. 
 
 In this same room there are also portraits of some 
 of the plenipotentiaries who signed the famous treaty 
 
316 PORTRAITS. 
 
 of Nymegen, — Sir William Temple, d'E strath, 
 William Yan Haren, Bevernink, Bevilaqua, and a 
 person of unamiable mien, who, according to the in- 
 scription in the corner, was ' een der vier ambas- 
 sadeurs van Spanje ' (one of the four Spanish am- 
 bassadors), most probably John Baptiste Christyn, 
 afterwards Chancellor of Brabant. 
 
 The portraits of the others are not very amiable 
 looking, and a glance at them enables us to under- 
 stand the etiquette and ceremonial complications 
 which arose, and thereby lengthened the negotiations 
 into two years' duration, — difficulties which Temple 
 designated ^ impertinences.' 
 
 In order to completely realise the absurdities and 
 weaknesses of a body of clever men, each one more 
 susceptible of his own dignity than the other, one must 
 read the history of the diplomatic campaign from 
 beginning to end, not forgetting that while the nice 
 questions of etiquette were being decided in Nyme- 
 gen war was ravaging the country, towns were being 
 bombarded, villages pillaged, and blood flowing. But 
 not even the roar of cannon, or the flames of con- 
 flagration were able to rouse these diplomatists from 
 their cool serenit}^ No wonder Temple exclaimed 
 that ' the interests of those who govern are always 
 diff'erent to the interests of those who are governed ! ' 
 
 Our visit to the Town Hall over, we were taking 
 leave of the burgomaster, when our cicerone called our 
 attention to a large press on the ground floor, which 
 we bad not hitherto noticed. It contains the deeds 
 
A CURIOUS OLD FEESS. Sl'f 
 
 of the town, and is an enormous wooden piece of fur- 
 niture, lined with iron, and bristling with bars of 
 steel, locks, and padlocks. It can only, it appears, 
 be opened by a clever locksmith after many hours' 
 labour. Formerly, when one of the documents it 
 contains was needed for consultation, the municipal 
 body met together, the garrison was called out, doors 
 were closed, ai;id artillerymen placed along the ram- 
 parts by the side of their pieces; because it contained 
 the deeds and privileges of the ancient powerful city, 
 of which the other towns were jealous, and which in 
 themselves were likely to rouse their covetousness. 
 First, there was the Grand Charter signed by Henry 
 YII., August 31, 1230, conceding to Nymegen the 
 same rights and privileges that Aix-la-Chapelle and 
 those cities favoured by the empire had received from 
 their predecessors, and the power to freely send 
 forth their merchandise and goods, either by water or 
 land to every part of the empire. Confirmed by 
 Richard, King of the Romans, in 1257, it was added 
 to by the Emperor Rodolph I., in 1282, who secured 
 his dear inhabitants of Nymegen ^ from all molesta- 
 tions, arrestations, and armed attacks ; and by Henry 
 YII. also, who in 1316 accorded to them the right of 
 pronouncing sentences without appeal. 
 
 But it would take us too long to enumerate all 
 the emperors, kings, dukes and princes who con- 
 ferred privileges on the town, and added to its 
 grandeur and power — each one relaxing in its favour 
 
 1 'Delecti cives Nri Noviomao:enses.' 
 
318 THE HOUTENROKKEN, 
 
 their usual demands ; even Turenne, who in the 
 articles accorded to the burgomasters, magistrates, 
 council, and citizens of the town of Nymegen, 
 July 9, 1672, conceded to the inhabitants the power 
 of ' remaining in town, to return or go out without 
 molestation to their goods or their persons,' and de- 
 cided that the ' artillery belonging to the town should 
 remain to guard it, and should not be transported 
 without the consent of the magistrates.' 
 
 And now for a word of explanation on the houten- 
 rohhen (wooden petticoats). These singular things are 
 in the form of a barrel, narrower at the top than at the 
 base, painted with every imaginable colour, and 
 decorated with the arms of the town, also furnished 
 with an iron collar and chains. They were taken to the 
 market-place, where girls who had gone wrong were 
 stripped and put into these ' petticoats,' and then 
 marched round the town in the midst of a crowd of 
 wags and noisy persons of all sorts. Bad women 
 were treated much more severely, for they were 
 stripped of their clothing, and placed in open barred 
 cages and the populace were encouraged to pelt them 
 with dirt and injurious expressions. 
 
 Now, however, these barbarous customs are no 
 longer in existence, and Nymegen has become, on 
 these special points, very much more civilised than it 
 was formerly. We were anxious to know more on 
 this head, but unfortunately we could find no one 
 able to inform us on the subject. 
 
 The market-place where these punishments were 
 
THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 319 
 
 performed is called the Groote markt, and a very 
 pretty, dainty place it is, with its bordering of old 
 houses, and pointed gables. At one corner is the 
 ' Weigh-house,' used now as a guard-room — a very 
 handsome square building with an ornamented gable, 
 dating from the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. Close by is a house divided at the base into two 
 large bays, surmounted by a surbased arch, dating at 
 latest from the fifteenth century. Above this portico 
 is a building of about a hundred years later date, 
 but graceful in outline, and interesting to study. 
 
 It was through this curious door that we reached 
 the place where St. Stephen stands, a narrow pent-up 
 place enclosed by a double row of houses all in a dila- 
 pidated condition, but very picturesque in appearance. 
 
 The one which attracted us most was the Gram- 
 mar School. It is two stories high, and surmounted 
 by a large roof. Each story has eleven windows, 
 and each of the windows, bowed with a surbased arch, 
 was formerly separated from the other by an elegant 
 statue, standing on a wide console. These statues were 
 placed there in 1544, and marked the completion of 
 the building, but were destroyed, or rather mutilated, 
 at the time of the Reformation. The consoles also 
 are in a very sad state, as also the beautifully traced 
 frieze forming a graceful finish to the faqade. 
 
 This building is not the only one which has 
 suffered from the lapse of time in this little corner of 
 the town. Its neighbour, the large church of St. 
 Stephen, has fallen a victim to the same cause, as its 
 
820 CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 
 
 decaying walls, crumbling under the wind and worn 
 away by the damp, amply prove. And I do not see 
 how it could be otherwise, when one takes into con- 
 sideration that the softness and want of consistence 
 of the stone with which it was outwardly protected, 
 was not of a nature to resist the influence of the 
 weather ; hence the reason for the holes caused by 
 Avind and rain being stopped up with brick walls. 
 
 According to old chronicles St. Stephen was built 
 in the thirteenth century. William, King of the 
 Romans, recognising that the parish situated outside 
 the walls (no doubt the chapel of the castle) had 
 grave drawbacks, resolved in 1254 to erect a church 
 in the centre of the city, giving for the purpose the 
 necessary piece of land — an ancient cemetery where 
 Christians were buried, it is said, during the early 
 days of Christianity. The sanctuary was erected in 
 1273, and on 7th September, Albert the Grreat, Bishop 
 of Ratisbonne, consecrated it to the Virgin and to St. 
 Stephen. 
 
 The greater part of the church as we now see it 
 does not date earlier than the fifteenth or sixteenth 
 century. It has very noble proportions on the whole, 
 spoiled slightly by the timber roof which has replaced 
 the former fine vaulting. It has an immense nave 
 with large aisles, and the transept with its aisles termi- 
 nates in a porch at the west end, formerly ornamented 
 with carving, but which even now has a very bold 
 and elegant appearance. The Chapels around the 
 circumference are all of pentagon form. There is 
 
INTERIOR OF ST. STEPHEN. 321 
 
 nothing left of the faqade but the tower, and that, 
 perhaps, is the only origmal portion of the church 
 left- It stands on a small sloping hill, formerly a 
 cemetery, where weeds and grass grow undisturbed 
 now, and commands perpendicularly a small nar- 
 row street, where the houses seem to be inclining in 
 front of the old church — as if on their knees, a 
 situation which has an original and picturesque 
 effect. 
 
 The interior of St. Stephen contains several ancient 
 bas-reliefs, injured at the time of the Reformation, 
 and daubed over with • plaster, but for all that 
 very graceful and fine ; and several good carved 
 wainscotings of the early part of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, as well as the vast mausoleum of Catherine of 
 Bourbon, mother of the last Duke of Guelderland, 
 and wife of that Adolf whose sad memory was so 
 dear to the citizens of Nymegen. 
 
 This mausoleum is formed of an immense cube of 
 black marble, very simply ornamented with a few 
 mouldings, and decorated with engraved bronze 
 plates. These plates, one on each of the four sides, 
 represent saintly personages, interspersed with the 
 arms of the powerful families of Yalois, Bourbon, and 
 of Egmont, Dukes of Guelderland. The upper slab 
 holds the effigy of the sweet princess, who not being 
 brought prominently forward in history, seemed to 
 have passed unnoticed amongst all the terrible deeds 
 accomplished around her. 
 
 Y 
 
322 MARRIAGE OF CATHERINE OF BOURBON. 
 
 It was at the Court of her brother-in-law, Charles 
 the Bold, that she met young Count Egmont, who 
 fell in love with her and married her. According to 
 Philip de Comines it was ' Sunday, 18th December, 
 1463, that the town of Bruges witnessed at the hotel, 
 at the expense of the Duke of Burgundy, the mar- 
 riage of Monseigneur Adolphus, only son of Arnault, 
 Duke of Guelderland, with Catherine, daughter of the 
 Duchess of Bourbon. The Count of Charolois was at 
 Rotterdam, and the Countess at the Hague, where she 
 entertained this same Adolphus on the 25th Decem- 
 ber, who had gone to pay her a visit with his wife.' 
 She was called the ' Young Madame of Guelderland.' 
 For a long time she stayed at the Court of Burgundy, 
 where she was tenderly loved. But when her hus- 
 band was excommunicated by Paul 11. , put under 
 the ban of the empire, and menaced by the Duke of 
 Cleves and her own brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, 
 she returned to his side to share his fate. 
 
 She died at Nymegen in 1469, and on 22nd 
 May her body was laid in the church of St. Stephen. 
 
 But she was not allowed to remain undisturbed 
 under the bronze cover, and the same fatality followed 
 her in death which had weighed so heavily on her in 
 life. 
 
 The mausoleum was opened a few years ago, when 
 it was found that the remains of the poor princess 
 had been enclosed in a box and put in a corner, to 
 make room for a Duke of Saxony, dressed in full 
 robes and lying in a large coffin. 
 
SIC VOS NON VOBIS: 
 
 323 
 
 One might almost say that it was for her Yirgil 
 wrote his famous ^ sic vos non vohis^^ and Ovid the 
 verse he addressed to the manes of Tibullus : — 
 
 Ossa quieta, precor, tiita reqiiiescite in iiriia. 
 
CHAPTER XX, 
 
 GRAVE^DUKE ARNOLD THE DEFENCE OF GRAVE BY CHAMILLY 
 
 ^ CARNOT's MAXIM THE CHURCH OF ST. ELIZABETH — THE CHARNEL 
 
 HOUSE. 
 
 E quitted Nymegen early one morning, and 
 on our road to Grave passed the ramparts 
 and grassy redoubts which have ever been 
 the pride and glory of the town, and which extend 
 for a considerable distance towards the plain. 
 
 The English Sevigne, Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 
 tague, while travelling in the country during the 
 last century, had her attention first directed to these 
 grand fortifications, and on her tablets she wrote con- 
 cerning them : ' Those learned in the arts of war 
 praise them highly.' A phrase which did not com- 
 promise her much. 
 
 Beyond the fortifications, the landscape has quite 
 another aspect, and the moment one reaches it one 
 feels one has entered another province. The country 
 is more rugged, trees twist their gnarled branches, 
 golden fields are interspersed with patches of heath, 
 and broad clearings announce the presence of sandy 
 
WOMEN OF GRAVE. 325 
 
 soil, where harvests are only reaped after intermin- 
 able labour. 
 
 If the aspect of the country is changed to a cer- 
 tain degree, the population seems transformed in the 
 most absolute manner. Along the highway women 
 are to be seen carrying panniers of vegetables, or 
 baskets of fruit, which rest on a sort of pad attached 
 to their waists — while they walk they talk, and while 
 they talk they gesticulate, which gives them a very 
 animated appearance. Their hair is darker than that 
 of their neighbours, and their complexion is browner, 
 and the expression in their faces more changeable, 
 and the glance of their eye much brighter. An ani- 
 mation rarely seen in the women of Guelderland, or 
 of the southern provinces, charms one here at every 
 turn. The toilette, too, of this province differs in a 
 very marked degree from that of the one we had just 
 left. The gown is large, heavily plaited, and with 
 puffed sleeves, as worn in Belgium; and the gilded 
 casque with the cap and black headband have yielded 
 to a large voluminous sort of cap, which is some- 
 times black and sometimes white, often trimmed with 
 lace, but never very becoming or graceful in appear- 
 ance. 
 
 A two hours' drive brought us to the Meuse — and 
 Grave is situated on the opposite side. As we drew 
 near we thought its aspect corresponded well with its 
 past glorious history. High brick walls, topped with 
 mounds of green, almost entirely conceal from view 
 the roofs of the houses and a steeple in ruins, while 
 
326 ARRIVAL AT GRAVE. 
 
 right and left the bastions extend in formidable 
 array. At their feet the Meuse rolls along in silvery 
 beauty. 
 
 The river is traversed by means of a ferry-boat, 
 as at Nymegen. When we took our places, in com- 
 pany with some of the neighbouring people going 
 over to the market, we could not help thinking of 
 the disguised soldiers who surprised Zutphen. 
 * Dressed as common peasants, they stood at break 
 of day before the gate of the fortress, loaded with 
 butter, eggs, and cheese, like ordinary countrymen, 
 waiting for the opening of the gates to enter.' 
 
 Truly generations succeed each other, but habits 
 and customs remain. 
 
 We disembarked at the foot of the ramparts, 
 passed under a dark resounding arch ; followed the 
 winding of a little street, and then suddenly found 
 ourselves in the heart of the little city, in the im- 
 portant part too, where the chief monuments are to 
 be seen, or rather those which are still left: — the 
 Town Hall, a ^ respectable edifice ' as it is described, 
 and a large portion of ih^ ancient St. Elizabeth. 
 
 Most of the houses are of modern construction, the 
 oldest among them being scarcely a century in age ; and 
 yet Grave is by no means a modern town. It existed 
 in the thirteenth century, and even at that time was 
 a freehold of the family van Cuyck, one of the oldest 
 in Brabant. In 1322, Otto, seigneur of Cuyck and 
 Heverlee, presented it to John III., Duke of Brabant, 
 who restored it to him the following year under form 
 
OLD CASTLE OF GRAVE. 327 
 
 of a fief, that he might enjoy its privileges according 
 to the custom of the Duchy. 
 
 Later on the Dukes of Guelderland laid claim to 
 the sovereignty of Grave, and took possession of a 
 castle in the town as their residence. This castle was 
 a huge square building, surrounded by a ditch of deep 
 water bordering a long wall flanked by four turrets. 
 It was destroj^ed in the bombardment of 1674. Its 
 exterior appearance had nothing very grand about it 
 judging from old views of it, but the interior must 
 have been richly decorated, for we hear at various 
 times of illustrious visitors staying within its walls. 
 In 1460 Mary, Queen of Scotland, paid the castle 
 a visit, and was ill there, for a paper, found among 
 the archives of Arnhem, informed us ' that in that 
 year J. Adriaenss, the apothecary, was sent to Grave 
 by order of the Duke, with medicines prescribed by 
 M. Philips for the Queen of Scotland, who was ill.' 
 No doubt both the doctor and apothecary were clever 
 men, for the princess did not die till four years after- 
 wards at Bruges, where the ' Duke of Burgundy 
 assisted at the obsequies of the Queen of Scotland, in 
 the church of Saint Donas.' 
 
 While the poor queen was dying at Bruges, a sad 
 tragedy was being performed at the castle of Grave. 
 The old Duke of Guelderland, her father, overcome 
 with grief at his daughter's sad fate, retired to his 
 favourite residence to indulge in his grief, where he 
 w^as joined by his son, the ambitious Count Adolf, 
 
328 DUKE ARNOLD. 
 
 with whom he was on terms of estrangement, but 
 who now sought a reconciliation. 
 
 The old Duke opened his heart and his house 
 to his son. ' But this reconciliation,' says Comines, 
 ^ was only a pretence, for Prince Adolf, while pursuing 
 his mother contrary to all filial feelings, endeavoured 
 to apprehend his father, and to undertake the govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 One evening, the Duke having finished his usual 
 game of chess, his son proposed his having a dance 
 with the ladies. But the old man refused, and ex- 
 pressed a wish to retire to his room. He did so, and 
 then the ball began. Under cover of the noise of 
 the music and dancing, accomplices were introduced 
 within the castle, who hurried towards the Duke's 
 chamber, where they knocked against the door as if 
 they would break it in. The Duke cried out from 
 his bed : — ' Children, let me alone to sleep ; I cannot 
 dance to-night, another time I will try.' Whereupon 
 the men burst open the door, and with drawn swords 
 ordered him to surrender himself prisoner. The 
 Duke, seeing this, immediately asked for his son, for 
 the poor man feared that harm had happened to him, 
 and that the men were come to take them both. 
 The prince appeared and said : ' My father, you must 
 surrender yourself a prisoner — it must be done. ' 
 The old Duke looked at the prince with tears in his 
 eyes, and replied : ' My son, what do you want ? ' I 
 have given this simple account as I found it, for few 
 pages in history are more touching. 
 
GUESTS AT THE CASTLE, 329 
 
 The old Duke did not return to the castle he loved 
 so well, and from which he had been dragged so 
 mercilessly, till nine years later, when he died. He 
 was buried in the church, and a monument was raised 
 to his memory, which is still to be seen there. 
 
 The next guest of note who visited the castle was 
 Charles the Bold, who confirmed all the privileges 
 hitherto enjoyed by the brave little town from his 
 predecessors, which was a sensible mode of making 
 himself agreeable to the inhabitants, for, an author 
 of the last century tells us that, ' at that time, the 
 burghers of Grave had so many privileges that a 
 stranger esteemed it an honour to marry one of the 
 maidens of the city, without any other dowry than 
 the right to be enrolled himself among the burghers.' 
 
 This town, at the period we mention, was re- 
 garded as the key to the whole country, and the 
 people of Brabant attached so much importance to its 
 possession that their sovereign dukes were obliged to 
 swear on their succession that they would never give 
 up their pretentions to Grave. And, in spite of its 
 annexation by Charles the Bold, the town with its 
 domains returned to the Dukes of Brabant, from 
 whom it passed into the hands of William III.; and, 
 later on, was confiscated by the Duke of Alva, as an 
 appanage of a rebel prince. 
 
 Retaken by the Earl of Leicester, and cowardly 
 defended by the seigneur. of Hemert,^ who later on 
 
 ^ H^mert and two of his captains, Banck and Korf, were an^ested in 
 Utreclit, tried, and executed for the crime of cowardice. 
 
330 DEFENCE OF GRAVE 
 
 paid dearly for his want of courage, the town fell 
 back into the hands of the Spaniards, who kept it 
 till 1604. That same year Prince Maurice besieged 
 it in person, and after a siege of two months took 
 possession of it, where he exhibited his customary 
 skill, of which Blaeu, in one of his fine engrav- 
 ings, has preserved the history and the plans. In 
 1672 Turenne succeeded in taking the town after 
 only a few days' assault. A part of the garrison had 
 been ordered to assist Bois-le-Duc, w^hich was sup- 
 posed would be attacked. When they returned the 
 place was invested, and they themselves were com- 
 pletely routed and cut to pieces. 
 
 The French troops did not occupy Grave for 
 longer than two years, but when they quitted it the 
 little town of only three thousand inhabitants had 
 made itself signally famous by the heroic siege it had 
 just undergone. The Marquis de Chamilly had been 
 charged with the defence of the place, having com- 
 mand over 4,000 men and three hundred and twenty- 
 five pieces of cannon. The troops of Louis XIV. 
 by Avithdrawing had left the town undefended, and 
 Rabeuhaupt, the victor of Koevorden, besieged it in 
 the early part of July. 
 
 By the kind intervention of a Flemish literary 
 man, we were enabled to walk along the ramparts, 
 and retrace for ourselves the history, day by day, of 
 that splendid defence, which Napoleon considered one 
 of the finest feats of arms of modern times, and to 
 read over again on the bastions themselves the 
 
BY CHAMILLY. 331 
 
 correspondence carried on between the hostile 
 generals. 
 
 This correspondence was begun in the most 
 courteous manner, after the fashion of Fontenoy. 
 ' It will not be my fault/ wrote Rabenhaupt, on the 
 23rd July, ' if we do not conduct well the business 
 we have in hand.' To which Chamilly replied on the 
 same day: ^ I would rather have to do with you than 
 another, for I hope I shall have it in my power to 
 gain the esteem of so gallant a man as yourself.' 
 
 But amiabilities of this kind do not last long. 
 The siege continued for a month, and then seeing that 
 the troops could not approach the place, and that 
 the soldiers were disheartened by the vigorous defence 
 of the garrison, the Dutch general counselled his 
 adversary to capitulate : ' If you do, matters will be 
 more advantageously arranged now than at a future 
 time. Consider this, and that I should be grieved if 
 harm befell such a brave man as you.' To which 
 Chamilly indignantly replied : ' It is exactly for that 
 very reason that I counsel you with all respect to be 
 off at once instead of later, and by no means to await 
 unhappy extremities.' 
 
 Rabenhaupt lost his patience, and bombarded 
 Grave. The castle was destroyed, the church fell in, 
 and the houses were burnt ; and then Chamilly, over- 
 come by a touch of humanity, did his best to save 
 the women and children by demanding for them to be 
 allowed to pass out of the town. Rabenhaupt re- 
 fused in arrogant terms, and finished his letter with 
 
SSS BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 the remark : ' You should avoid offending the States 
 General.' To which the Governor replied by a witty 
 jest : ' I had allowed the women who wished to with- 
 draw to pass out ; you have sent them back, and I 
 received them willingly, wanting for nothing to sub- 
 sist them and ourselves ; besides which we have 
 gallantry enough for both, and we are not therefore 
 surprised that, at your age, you have been unwilling 
 to receive them.' 
 
 The bombardment not having the desired effect of 
 making the town capitulate, Rabenhaupt tried another 
 plan. He softened his tone, and transmitted to the 
 governor the alarming news that several French 
 troops were in possession of the neighbouring country. 
 ' You have done all that a brave governor could 
 do,' said he, ' and you have been splendidly supported 
 by your garrison. I am ready to acknowledge this 
 publicly, for you deserve all the praise you can get.' 
 But this mode of proceeding had no more effect 
 than the former. Chamilly replied that he had not 
 yet done enough to merit the esteem of his adversary, 
 expressed a doubt about the news he had had trans- 
 mitted to him, and finished by begging to have the 
 Holland Gazette sent him : ' I don't suppose,' he 
 added, 'you doubt it yourself.' On the 9th October 
 Rabenhaupt wrote again, but this time exasperated 
 beyond measure : ' The intentions of the High and 
 Powerful States General are such, that you had better 
 try and merit some quarter at their hands. For my 
 part, I tell you plainly that your obstinacy will pre- 
 
CONDITIONS ACCEPTED. 333 
 
 vent my asking anything for you.' To which the 
 Governor replied with indignant haughtiness : ' I will 
 accept quarter from neither them nor you. I shall 
 await you at the passage of our outer trench; there, 
 you and I will know what to do.' 
 
 This noble energetic provocation closed the corres- 
 pondence. 
 
 Chamilly received one more letter, not from the 
 enemy's camp, but from Louis XIV. It was a formal 
 order to capitulate. 
 
 ' Monsieur de Chamilly,' wrote the king, ^ the 
 stout resistance you, and the officers of my troops 
 of the garrison of Grave, have hitherto offered to 
 the enemy, gives me the greatest satisfaction ; but I 
 have resolved not to lose so many of my brave 
 soldiers, preferring their lives to any advantage to be 
 gained from a longer resistance.' Then followed the 
 conditions of the surrender, and the letter finished : 
 ' Understanding that if these conditions are not 
 granted, you will defend the town to the best of your 
 ability, and carry matters on to the very extreme you 
 judge it right to do.' 
 
 For a moment Chamilly hoped the conditions 
 would be rejected. But exacting as the demands 
 were, they were not refused. The siege had already 
 cost the besiegers sixteen thousand men, without 
 their being in a position to lay claim to the least 
 advantage, and the Prince of Orange w^as forced to 
 be present in person. ' But for the ardour of the 
 Prince, who led on the assault and encourao^ed the 
 
331 HONOURABLE CAPITULATION. 
 
 men by his presence when they were unsteady,' the 
 soldiers would have refused to move. 
 
 When he knew for certain that the conditions had 
 been accepted the poor Governor was in despair. 
 ' What ! ' he cried, ' give up a place to the enemy, 
 when they have not even gained one advantage over 
 us.' Nevertheless the capitulation was of the most 
 honourable kind. In fact it was a sort of homage 
 rendered to both men and chief. The first article 
 was to the effect: ' That the garrison should march 
 out with arms, horses, and baggage, drums beating 
 and colours flying;' and the rest was in keeping. 
 The besiegers sent up carriages for the sick and 
 wounded, conveyed the artillery as far as Charleroi, 
 furnished an escort to the garrison, distributed rations 
 on the road at the expense of the States, gave up 
 the prisoners without any ransom, and granted a 
 general amnesty to the whole of the inhabitants. 
 
 Thus Chamilly justified the military maxim which 
 Carnot formulated a hundred years later : ' In the 
 defence of strong places, valour and industry cannot 
 dispense the one with the other ; united they can 
 accomplish everything.' 
 
 St. Simon has given us a description of Cha- 
 milly as ' a large tall man, the best, the bravest, 
 the most honourable, but so stupid and so dull, 
 that one can scarcely understand he had any 
 talent for war ; ' whicli testimony is a little open to 
 doubt, for Chamilly said twenty witty things, and 
 performed striking actions during the memorable 
 
STRIKING ACTIONS OF CHAMILLY. 335 
 
 siege, which placed him in the front rank of the most 
 brilliant officers. 
 
 One day whilst dining, he was informed that the 
 enemy had seized a trench, but not one of much im- 
 portance. Chamilly rose immediately, asked for his 
 sword, and said to his officers : ^ Up, gentlemen, we 
 will go and dislodge the enemy and then return here for 
 dessert.' He went out and chose five hundred picked 
 men, ordered the gates to be thrown open, and pre- 
 cipitated himself like an avalanche on Rabenhaupt's 
 soldiers, routed them, dislodged them from the 
 trenches, killed half of them, and drove the rest, 
 sword in hand, as far as the outworks of the States' 
 army. An hour later he returned, and finished -his 
 dinner as if nothing had happened. 
 
 Another time, about seven o'clock in the evening, 
 the Prince of Orange had headed in person an attack 
 on one of the outposts, which he took. The out- 
 post had been bravely and energetically defended, 
 and two Captains, de Morinval and Gonthier, of the 
 Normandy regiment, were killed in the work itself. 
 The news was carried to Chamilly, jmd the officer 
 he was conversing w^th at the moment, seeing him 
 turn suddenly pale, observed : ' But will you not lose 
 something, sir, after three months of trenches ? ' 
 ' No,' he replied, ' I shall dislodge them presently.' 
 And dislodge them he did. 
 
 On his return to France he was received by the 
 king, who complimented him upon his brilliant doings, 
 and requested him to demand a favour. Chamilly 
 
336 SIEGE OF 1794. 
 
 might have obtained a title, rank, or wealth ; but he 
 contented himself with begging for the release of his 
 old Colonel, at that time a prisoner in the Bastile. 
 He knew that his request would irritate the king and 
 retard his own advancement, but he did not mind 
 that ; he listened only to the dictates of his kind heart, 
 and pressed his demand to be granted. The con- 
 sequence was, he was not made Marshal till 1703, 
 when ten others had the same honour conferred on 
 them, — ' in the fear of omitting him,' as Saint Simon 
 remarks. 
 
 The next siege of the citadel of Grave was in 
 1794. But this time the r61e was changed, it being 
 the Dutch who occupied the town, and the French 
 who besieged it. On the 13th October the enemy 
 invested it ; on the 7th November the garrison was 
 called upon to surrender. To which General van 
 Bons replied as became a loyal soldier : ' The place 
 confided to me is in a good state, the garrison is full 
 of ardour and bravery, and I hope to prove myself 
 worthy of its command.' The siege was carried on 
 with redoubled vigour. December 7th there was a 
 fresh summons to surrender, and a fresh refusal ; on 
 the 10th the bombardment commenced. ^ The 20th 
 December the inhabitants besought the governor to 
 capitulate, he refused stoutly ; on the 23rd some 
 French soldiers picked up five or six bottles, which 
 had been thrown into the Meuse, each containing the 
 following touching appeal : ' We, the burghers and 
 citizens of Grave, entreat that a trumpeter may be 
 
CHURCH OF ST. ELIZABETH. 337 
 
 sent to us. We assure you the town will be sur- 
 rendered on his arrival ; otherwise we shall all be 
 reduced to the most extreme poverty. Signed : The 
 citizens of Grave.' The following day, the 24th, van 
 Bons hoisted the white flag. 
 
 Hence it can well be understood that the town of 
 Grave cannot be very rich in old monuments and 
 ancient houses. The most ancient building of all 
 is the church of St. Elizabeth, which bears traces of 
 the heroic struggles we have just been recounting. 
 Commenced in 1290, it has had a most checkered 
 architectural existence, for so early as the fifteenth 
 century the choir had to be reconstructed, owing to 
 its destruction by fire. In 1674 the roof of the nave 
 fell in, during the bombardment of the town by 
 Kabenhaupt. The nave was never rebuilt, and the 
 opening to the transept was closed in by a straight 
 wall, thus separating the choir from the tower as at 
 Utrecht. In 1794 the church was slightly injured in 
 the bombardment by the French, but no extensive 
 damage was done, beyond splitting the walls and 
 spoiling the mausoleum of old Duke Arnold. At 
 last, in September 1874, a fire broke out in the steeple, 
 which finished the destruction the bombardments had 
 begun. Now it is a grand venerable pile of ruins, 
 the majestic appearance of which, seems to relate 
 from a distance, the sad series of disasters which 
 have reduced it to its present state. 
 
 The interior of St. Elizabeth still contains 
 several good pieces of carving. The pulpit, although 
 
 Z 
 
338 EXTERIOR OF ST. ELIZABETH. 
 
 designed in the affected style of Bernini, is very 
 beautiful. The altar belongs to that pompous style 
 in vogue during the latter half of the eighteenth 
 century, of which the church dei Gesuiti in Eome is 
 the finished prototype. But the splendour here is 
 illusive, for the marbles are painted v^ood, and the 
 gold is in leather. Everything is a copy, even to 
 the picture above the principal altar, which is said to 
 be by Van Dyck. 
 
 With the exception of a small Flemish painting 
 dated 1528, and a memorial panel of a certain Jacob 
 van Haen, all the paintings, seemed to us, to be very 
 mediocre indeed. 
 
 The mausoleum of old Duke Arnold of Guelder- 
 land is worse however. It was built in 1493, de- 
 stroyed in 1794, and then rebuilt in 1802 in the 
 ^ troubadour ' style of that time. The pyramid 
 itself, with the casques, swords, and flags which 
 decorate it, seems still more ridiculous when one 
 thinks of the ' poor old man in tears ' who reposes 
 beneath this pompous show of arms. 
 
 On the exterior Saint Elizabeth is enclosed by the 
 walls of an ancient monastery, the ruins of which 
 have been converted into a kind of Campo Santo. 
 Here vegetation has grown abundantly, creeping 
 plants twine along the crumbling walls, and cling to 
 the jutting arches and antique consoles which formerly 
 supported the shafts of the vaults. Peeping out 
 from beneath the plants one perceives several large 
 memorial slabs in blue stone, with either figures or 
 
A CHARNEL HOUSE. 339 
 
 arms on them, sculptured in bas-relief, and in a corner 
 of this enclosure there is a ridiculous phantasma- 
 gorical imitation of purgatory in earthenware, which 
 has been turned into a regular charnel house. There 
 the refuse, if one may so term it, of the cemetery is 
 collected, till it is almost full of human remains — 
 blanched skulls, arm and leg bones are all thrown in 
 there indiscriminately, the mass perhaps representing 
 about ten generations ; sex and age have no distinc- 
 tion in that terrible receptacle, and if Chamilly and 
 the brave van Bons could return to this earth, they 
 would certainly not be able to distinguish their own 
 soldiers, or know one from another. 
 
 z2 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE MOOKERHEIDE VENLO — ST. MARTIN VANITAS VANITATUM. 
 
 AMBITIOUS INSCRIPTION THE CELEBRATED SONS OF VENLO. 
 
 •AN 
 
 N quitting Grave, we went up the Meuse to- 
 wards Yenlo. The passage is rather pleasant, 
 though a little long perhaps, especially as 
 there was nothing interesting about it ; still one can 
 always find something worth seeing or knowing when 
 one is determined so to do. The passage is made on 
 one of those small steamers going from Rotterdam to 
 Maestricht, taking from two to three days to ac- 
 complish the journey. The society on board was 
 somewhat limited, and amusements were nil ; but 
 then, on the other hand, the windings of the river 
 and its verdure-clad banks occupied one's attention 
 entirely. 
 
 Grave, in fact, is surrounded by far stretching 
 meadows interspersed with shady walks and bordered 
 by grand old trees. These rich pasture lands, which 
 Blaeu celebrated for their fertility and verdure, are 
 found more on the left than on the right side of 
 the river. On the opposite bank, just after passing the 
 
THE MOOKERHEIDE. 311 
 
 first bend of the Meuse, and beyond the pretty village 
 of Mook, are perceived those arid eminences covered 
 with wild heath, which bear the sinister name of 
 Mookerheide, a name very lugubrious in Dutch ears, 
 for it reminds them of a terrible defeat, and of the 
 death of three brave nol)le men. 
 
 It was on this very heath that Counts Louis and 
 Henry of Nassau, and Prince Christopher, the son of 
 the Elector Palatinate, were surprised by the Spaniards 
 and massacred, without the cause, for this terrible 
 misfortune, ever becoming known. There is no hope 
 now of elucidating the mystery, for the historians of 
 the time could not agree on the subject, and those 
 who have followed have differed just as widely 
 from each other, although they have had at their 
 command every document that has been written 
 about it. 
 
 Kheidanus thinks that, deceived by the spies and 
 not knowing that the enejny had crossed the Meuse 
 at Grave, the Count was surprised in an unfavourable 
 position. 
 
 Grotius attributes his defeat to the mutiny of his 
 troops, who, in face of the enemy, clamoured for their 
 pay. According to Meteren, the Count had scattered 
 his soldiers too much ; the different corps being so far 
 apart he could not concentrate them in time. But 
 one and all, even the Spanish historians Bentivoglio 
 and Strada, agree that the bravery and courage of 
 the chiefs was irreproachable. All mourned these 
 three noble men, who fought to the death, and were 
 
342. VENLO. 
 
 SO confounded in the melee witli their brave soldiers, 
 that their bodies could not be found afterwards. 
 
 After passing Mookerheide, the banks of the two 
 rivers regain their smiling aspect, among meadows, 
 fields and clumps of trees ; then come the villages Mid- 
 delaar, OeiFelt, Heijen, Afferden,and Bergen, with their 
 pointed steeples ; from time to time a ruin is passed, 
 and then we see a convent with nuns, which indicates 
 to us in a moment how very much we have changed 
 in latitude, that we are, in fact, in Catholic Guelder- 
 land. As we advance, the difference becomes more 
 marked, until at last Yenlo appears in the distance 
 concealed behind her huge half-demolished bastions, 
 and with the remains of her old walls and a few new 
 houses extending along the river side. 
 
 One cannot call Yenlo a handsome town ; it has 
 no fine squares or beautiful promenades, or excellent 
 boulevards ; its streets have no buildings of any note, 
 neither are they very broad or well-arranged, but 
 such as it is, this kindly little town possesses a 
 special interest for the archaBologist, inasmuch as it 
 marks a very sudden transition line. To pass beyond 
 her walls is to enter quite a new region ; the province 
 of Limbourg is the only one which does not, as it were, 
 form a part of the whole, for it has neither the same 
 religion nor the same traditions, and we can add, 
 neither the same manners, nor the same language as 
 the sister provinces. It is Netherland at heart quite 
 as much as the others, but it has the appearance of 
 forming the rear guard to this generous country in a 
 
FIRST MENTION OF VENLO. 343 
 
 special, peculiar, and original manner, and to have 
 placed itself there with its extenuating differences to 
 round off the sharp edge of transition. One finds 
 again and again among the populations of these 
 frontier towns the grand qualities inherent in the 
 Batavian race ; and while they repudiate most 
 energetically all Germanic characteristics, they have 
 not hesitated to adopt many manners and customs 
 from the neighbouring provinces, who, up to the end 
 of last century, were under the Austrian sceptre, 
 although they bore the name of the Low Countries. 
 
 Yenlo is by no means an ancient town, in spite 
 of some saying that it was founded in the year 95 by 
 a noble, rich and powerful seigneur named Yaluas ; the 
 truth is that the first mention made of the town was 
 not till the year 900, when it figured among the 
 deeds of Wichard de Pont, attorney of Guelderland. 
 Then its archives, although complete and in perfect 
 order, and quite at our disposal in our researches, 
 make no mention of it till the year 1272, when we 
 found out that it was in possession of a judge 
 {^'ecliter)^ magistrates, and burghers. Another docu- 
 ment, dated August 18, 1339, makes mention of its 
 burgomasters and magistrates, and of its council. 
 But Yenlo was then only a village (dorp), and it 
 was not till September, 1343, that it attained to the 
 dignity of a town, by the grace of Duke Renault, 
 third of his name, who enclosed it with walls and 
 endowed it with privilegeir\ 
 
 As regards its name, the linguists of the country 
 
344 SIEGE OF 1794. 
 
 affirm that it is derived, not from the doubtful 
 Valuas, but from a Dutch word — veen^ signifying 
 marsh, and from lo which in olden times signified 
 wood or forests, as for example in a distich of Walther 
 van Vogelweide's of the thirteenth century : — 
 
 Sumer maclie iins aber fro 
 Du zieriest aiizer un lo.^ 
 
 Incorporated into the Duchy of Guelderland, 
 Yenlo remained faithful to its suzerains, even in time 
 of sorrow. It was besieged by Margaret, aunt of 
 Charles Y., and heroically resisted the imperial troops. 
 In 1543, it was united to the crown of Spain, and fell a 
 victim to the fate attending all the towns belonging to 
 that country, of being taken and retaken, occupied now 
 by the troops of the States and then by those of 
 Austria, until the year 1715, when by the Barrier 
 Treaty it was definitely added to the United Provinces. 
 
 Thus, subjected to so many assaults, to which we 
 must add one more — the siege of 1794, it is not 
 difficult to imagine that Venlo possesses few un- 
 injured monuments. The large church, the most 
 ancient and venerable building of the town, has 
 suffered perhaps more than many of the smaller edi- 
 fices. It would be hard to tell now what its plan was 
 
 ^ ' Summer make us liappy : 
 
 Thou beautifyest the field and wood.' 
 In the sixteenth century Folcuin, Prior of Lobbes (Lobach), made use 
 of the same word to explain the etymology of his abbey, which word 
 ' lo/ passed into the Latin tongue became ' laia/ which, translated into 
 French, becomes ' lave.' ' Saint-Germain en Laye ' might be translated 
 into ' Saint Germain en foret ' with very plausible reason. 
 
ST. MARTIN'S. 345 
 
 originally. Inaugurated in 1458, by a son of Venlo, 
 William, bishop of Nicopolis and archdeacon of Briinn, 
 it was enrolled under the name of Saint Martin. In 
 the present day it is a large temple with three naves 
 of equal height, surmounted by beautiful arched 
 vaults. The windows are fine, but furnished with 
 modern panes of an agreeable tint. The pulpit is 
 cleverly carved, but in the Louis XY. style ; the 
 carved wainscoting around the baptistery belongs to 
 the early years of the seventeenth century ; the bap- 
 tistery itself is of the same period, and is composed of 
 a magnificent piece of bronze in the form of a cup, 
 mounted on a projecting foot and ornamented with 
 heads of angels. The lid is round, surmounted by a 
 group of pinnacles connected by arches intermixed 
 with foliage, forming an arbour, under which Jesus 
 receives from John the Baptist the first holy rite. 
 Above, God the Father appears, pronouncing the 
 words in holy writ, ' This is my Son.' 
 
 Saint Martin contains several interesting pictures, 
 but we will speak of them presently. 
 
 Close to the church stand a certain number of 
 old houses with very curious faqades. Like many 
 of the Dutch houses, their gables jut out on the 
 street ; sometimes the edge of the gable, instead of 
 being smooth and straight, is curved into very singular 
 form. One faqade of this kind, dated 1588, with its 
 windows cut under a surbased arch, and with arms 
 and grotesque heads carved in stone, and let into the 
 brick wall, seemed to us to be well worthy of the 
 
346 VANITAS VANITATUM. 
 
 attention of archaeologists. But of perpendicular 
 gabled houses there are very few, most of the build- 
 ings being much less pointed in the roof than is 
 generally to be seen in the northern provinces. On 
 the other hand, they are much broader and stand on 
 a larger base. As a rule they are whitewashed or 
 plastered in light colours, and often have in front, 
 either a court-yard, or a small structure with an 
 enomious gateway. 
 
 A large number of these porticoes lead down side 
 streets to defaced shaky houses, the ruined walls of 
 which would make the fortune of artists in water-colour. 
 Others lead to ancient places of worship, for Yenlo 
 abounds in old churches or chapels ; at every step 
 one comes across these consecrated buildings, some 
 transformed into barracks and others into shops. In 
 our anxiety to miss nothing and see all we could, 
 we paid a visit to one of these old chapels converted 
 into a depot for guano and manure from private 
 dwellings. Need I enlarge on the fearful odour whicli 
 has replaced the perfume of incense, or on the coarse 
 language of the men resounding through the vaulted 
 chamber, where formerly rich sonorous chants filled 
 the air with harmony ? Truly here one can say : 
 ' Yanitas vanitatum.' 
 
 While wandering about the town we watched the 
 inhabitants with no little curiosity. As a rule they 
 are pleasant and amiable -looking, with smiling faces 
 and agreeable manners, which disconcerted our pre- 
 conceived impressions of them, for history has given 
 
THE AMUSEMENT OF 1588. 847 
 
 them a somewhat alarming reputation. We are told 
 that they were fierce and warlike and impatient of the 
 least control, and that when they were not fighting 
 their enemies, they sought subjects for dispute among 
 the garrison, who rarely had the last word. ' These 
 people of Venloo,' writes Francois le Petit, a con- 
 scientious chronicler of the sixteenth century, ' are 
 always fighting and irritating soldiers, no matter to 
 which party they belong. I have seen them no less 
 than three times change their garrison, one party 
 just as well as another.' According to whether 
 they belonged to one camp or the other, it was the 
 Italians, Spaniards, English, or Germans whom they 
 attacked. In 1586,^ the Duke of Parma took the 
 town and placed there a strong garrison, but in 1590 
 these troops were expelled by the inhabitants, who, 
 ^ not content with getting rid of them, heaped abuse 
 of every objectionable kind upon them.' The same 
 thing had occurred ten years before. One ought to 
 read the authors of the time to gain an insight into 
 the doings of the turbulent energetic population, 
 who in more than one way resembled the intractable 
 Nymegeners. The amusements they indulged in 
 will sufiiciently indicate their spirit. In 1588 one 
 kind of recreation was the invention of bomb-shells. 
 The people were delighted with a sight of such 
 
 ^ In the royal library at the Hague there is an excessively rare 
 engraving giving an account of this siege. It was published in Antwerp 
 in 1586, the same year that Venlo was captured, under the title of 
 ' Beschrijuinghe der Stadt van Venloo.' Under the title is a small 
 vignette, representing the Duke in front of the ramparts of the town. 
 
348 AN AMATEUR CONCERT. 
 
 projectiles bursting in the air, and on each fete-day a 
 large number of them were sold, till it was found 
 out, by half the town being on fire, that such 
 dangerous weapons might be used much more ad- 
 vantageously than as popular amusements. 
 
 The inhabitants are not so fierce and war-loving 
 now; on the contrary they are on very good terms 
 with the Dutch army, who possess a school for 
 cavalry in the town. It is also very likely that if 
 the garrison were removed from Venlo many faces 
 would grow sad, and many tears flow. 
 
 Towards night we found out a very good reason 
 for this remarkable change in the manners and dis- 
 position of the population. We had eaten a detest- 
 able dinner, and retired to our rooms to enjoy the 
 rest we merited after our exertions all day, when 
 suddenly we were disturbed by a violent vibration of 
 the windows. Loud sounds of harmony soon reached 
 us, making the walls and ceilings shake ; a trombone 
 was rending the air, other brass instruments were 
 resounding with deafening noise, and an ophicleide 
 was bellowing forth its notes in a fashion to drive a 
 musical person mad. We hurried to the window to 
 see what it all meant. The street was narrow, and 
 on the opposite side a company of amateurs, belong- 
 ing to a philharmonic society, were exercising their 
 lungs to the best of their power, each on his own 
 instrument. Evidently they dispensed by this means 
 of their superfluous warlike propensities, and al- 
 though there was very little harmony in this music, 
 it nevertheless softened their manners and calmed 
 
THE TOWN HALL OF VENLO. 349 
 
 down their ardour. The concert lasted till mid- 
 night. A goodly number of persons had gathered 
 too-ether under the windows, and from time to time 
 proved that they had more correct ears than the 
 would-be musicians, by the remarks they unhesitat- 
 ingly made use of in loud tones. 
 
 The next morning we continued our inspection 
 of the town, still rather tired from the effects of the 
 disturbance of the previous evening. We only had 
 the Town Hall to visit, so we directed our steps 
 thitherward at once. The stadhuis of Yenlo is built 
 on one side of a square or place very clean and tidily 
 kept, but shockingly paved. This place is enclosed 
 by very simple, but elegant houses, coloured in light 
 yellow or mouse or grey. The municipal building 
 itself has not escaped the process of plastering ; but 
 its two octagon turrets and its double flight of stone 
 steps prevent the yellow covering from spoiling it; 
 in fact, on the whole it has a very picturesque ap- 
 pearance. Constructed in 1595, it once formed the 
 residence of Archduke Albert, who left nothing 
 behind him, as a memento of his presence in the 
 house, but a pretentious inscription which proves 
 very forcibly that shyness is not always the most 
 prominent virtue in princes : — 
 
 IVSTVS SVBJECTIS, PRVDENS MIHI, FORTIS IN HOSTES 
 
 IMPERO, CONSVLO, STO, LEGIBVS, ORE, MANY. 
 CLARVS AVO, ALBERTVS, PATRE FRATRE QVE, CiESARE, 
 
 REGE. 
 SVM PATRE, REGINA MATRE. ISABELLA .SA. T. A. 
 
350 INTERIOR OF THE TOWN HALL. 
 
 The interior of this Town Hall was restored in 
 1609, and then again in the eighteenth century when 
 Yenlo was definitely yielded to the United Pro- 
 vinces. It contains only one room of much interest, 
 and that is the raadzaal or council chamber, which 
 might with more truth perhaps, be called the hall of 
 the capitulations, for no less than four have been 
 signed within its walls. It is entirely hung in Cor- 
 dova leather embossed with gold, and decorated with 
 a monumental chimney-piece and several good pic- 
 tures. 
 
 Among the latter, is one representing the last 
 judgment, placed above the entrance, which might 
 very well be attributed to Rubens, and certainly is 
 by one of his pupils. Then comes a portrait of 
 Christ, followed by one of the Virgin belonging to 
 the Florentine School, good well-painted pictures, but 
 unfortunately hung against the light. Then again, 
 there are two curious monuments, of the end of the 
 sixteenth century, or the beginning of the next, 
 which stand in the opposite corner of the chamber. 
 They are enormous scrolls of good design and 
 elegant form, one containing a complicated timepiece 
 which marks everything but the exact hour, the 
 other an allegorical painting, representing Justice 
 and Peace clasping hands. Then, to complete the 
 decoration of the hall, the magistrates of Venlo, like 
 true and faithful citizens, have hung up the portraits 
 of certain celebrated men, born in the town. 
 
 First we have Michel Mercator, who I confess I 
 
ERICIUS PUTENAUS. 351 
 
 never heard of, though I have no doubt he was a 
 relative of the famous geographer of that name, 
 buried at Duesbourg. Then comes Hubert Golt- 
 zius, a Latin and Greek scholar, who must not be 
 confounded with Hendrik Goltzius the painter, and 
 lastly Ericius Putenaus (or, if one likes, Hendrik 
 Van de Putten, or Henri du Puy), whose works 
 are known to all scholars. 
 
 His works on the Ambrosian library of Milan, 
 and on the invasion of the barbarians in Italy, alone 
 would have entitled him to a just amount of fame, 
 if his pamphlet on the royal crown (Isaaci Casauhoni 
 Corona regia), by bringing upon him the enmity of 
 King James,^ had not sealed his reputation. So true 
 is it, that a little persecution is a great impetus to 
 becoming famous. 
 
 There are two other sons of Yenlo whose por- 
 traits I should have liked to see hanging in this 
 municipal hall. One is the painter Jan Yan Cleef, 
 who ought at least, to have one of his pictures placed 
 against these walls; the other is Foder, the founder 
 of the museum in Amsterdam, bearing his name. 
 Foder was an amateur collector of antiques, and quite 
 widely known enough in the artistic world to have 
 been admitted here on canvas. Although Van Cleef's 
 
 ^ The angry monarcli did not hesitate to claim from his cousin, the 
 Archdulie Albert, 'justice and reparation against Iricius Putenaus, pro- 
 fessor of the University of Louvain, for the defamatory libel he has dared 
 to write and publish against us, by which he has maliciously damaged our 
 reputation.' Fortunately these demands were not accorded, and Pute- 
 naus retained his chair at the University. 
 
352 M. FODER'S COLLECTION, 
 
 portrait does not hang in the Town Hall, and not one 
 of his pictures, he is well represented in the large 
 Church, where two or three of the latter, the ' An- 
 nunciation ' and ' St. George,' are well placed. As 
 to M. Foder, his native town perhaps is a little 
 jealous, that he should have enriched Amsterdam 
 with a collection which ought to have been handed 
 over to his birth-place, which by the way, is singu- 
 hirly in need of a collection of the kind. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ROERMOND — FLEMISH CATHOLICISM — SMALL CHAPELS — A WORK OF 
 
 INGENUITY AND PATIENCE THE MUNSTER — SAINT CHRISTOPHER 
 
 PATRIOTIC POETRY INTRODUCTION OF THE PIPE. 
 
 F Venlo surprises the traveller coming from 
 tlie northern provinces, by revealing to him 
 a world of new customs and manners, on 
 reaching Roermond his impressions are confirmed 
 with double force. 
 
 No one could imagine, on finding himself in 
 Roermond, that he was visiting a town of old Guelder- 
 land, a neighbour of Arnhem and Zutphen, the special 
 quality of which rhymed with that of Nymegen.^ 
 Policy, in withdrawing Roermond from the old 
 province and uniting it to Limbourg, followed the 
 dictates of geography and ethnography. In Guelder- 
 land it was an alien, but in Limbourg it returns to 
 the bosom of its family, if I may so express it, 
 morally, intellectually, and religiously. 
 
 ' See page 224. 
 
 A A 
 
?54 FLEMISH CATHOLICISM. 
 
 Koermoiid is essentially a Catholic and Episcopal 
 town, not after the Italian or French manner of in- 
 difference or even scepticism, with a large amount of 
 indulgence for the priesthood and toleration on all 
 sides, but according to the Flemish manner, that is 
 to say strict, watchful, intolerant, and severe. It 
 would almost appear as if Calvinism had cast its 
 shadows over Catholicism in this Flemish country, so 
 sombre and taciturn has the latter become. It has 
 none of the bright pleasing adjuncts to be found con- 
 nected with it in the South of Europe. Regarding 
 the nearness of the ^ enemy ^ as a continual menace, 
 feeling controlled and watched by the Protestants 
 around them, and believing themselves and their 
 actions misunderstood, the priests have adopted an 
 austere and reserved manner, that people are not 
 accustomed to in France or elsewhere. Instead of 
 being pacifiers or preachers of peace, they have 
 become pugnacious Christians urging to a crusade. 
 The priest here gathers his vestments about him for 
 fear of being contaminated, and in order to establish 
 more firmly his power over men's minds, dictates 
 and rules where he ought to act or not interfere at 
 all. In this small town of Roermond the bishop has 
 been known to preside at municipal elections, and 
 from the height of his pulpit issue decrees against 
 liberal candidates ; and his subordinates, following in 
 his steps, throw themselves bravely into the battle 
 without taking heed to the chance that they might 
 incur defeat. The result of these ignoble encounters, 
 
ROADSIDE CHAPELS. 355 
 
 where divine interests are too intimately mixed with 
 earthly interests, is to increase the austere reserve of 
 the priests. Aware that at any moment they may be 
 called upon to fight both for spiritual and temporal 
 benefit, they show themselves genuine soldiers above 
 all, and not knowing who may be an adversary on the 
 morrow, they avoid mixing too eagerly in a society 
 w^hich suspects them at every turn. 
 
 JS'o one sees here, as in Italy, ecclesiastics loitering 
 about the cafes or visiting the theatres, for that would 
 create frightful scandal ; but they do not even visit 
 the families of their parishioners on the friendly terms 
 usual in France. They exist, on the contrary, within 
 themselves ; their faith becomes exalted, they turn to 
 works as the expression of their religious sentiment, 
 and do their best to increase the number of their 
 sanctuaries. 
 
 Around Koermond the latter are to be found on 
 every side. All along the high road, about every 
 hundred steps, little chapels are erected, containing 
 lamps, waxen figures, and artificial flowers. Some 
 few of these Madonnas perform miracles — when this 
 is known a church is built on the spot, and in course 
 of time a superb convent. 
 
 We paid a visit to the most celebrated of these 
 miraculous Virgins in the neighbourhood. About 
 three centuries ago she was found in a well. The 
 shepherd who drew her out fastened her to a tree. 
 At the close of the sixteenth century this rustic 
 shelter was exchanged for a simple little chapel, which 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 STATUE OF THE VIRGIN. 
 
 has now been converted into a small, pretty church, 
 in the Roman- Byzantine style. It is visited as a 
 place of pilgrimage for twenty leagues around, and 
 when we were there a commodious religious residence 
 had just been installed. 
 
 We had the curiosity to examine very closely this 
 statue of the Virgin. We found it was a small 
 wooden carved figure of good workmanship of about 
 the seventeenth century, very elegant and very grace- 
 ful. Unfortunately one cannot say the same of every 
 statue to be met with on the road. The gigantic 
 crucifixes in the streets of Roermond are also far 
 from perfect. 
 
 In fact their workmanship is most coarsely finished, 
 and the taste of their design most abominable ; added 
 to which the appearance of these rudely painted wooden 
 figures is in itself scandalous, when one considers that 
 the town, for many long years, has been able to fur- 
 nish the churches and chapels, within a radius of a 
 hundred leagues, with holy objects, statues, altars, 
 shrines, &c. There are several fabrics in the town 
 where these things are manufactured : the native 
 sculptors and painters are widely known for their 
 talents. Some among them are really very remark- 
 able artists. We visited the studio of one of them, 
 M. de Leeuw, who was just finishing a masterpiece of 
 patience and manual dexterity. It is a portrait of the 
 Queen of the Low Countries in carved wood, sur- 
 rounded by a framework of graceful nymphs, fat 
 cupids, and garlands of flowers. The whole does not 
 
IIOERMOND. 357 
 
 measure more than a foot in length, and is beautifully 
 and delicately carved. The nymphs are not more 
 than a couple of inches high, and yet one can distinctly 
 count the dimples in each cheek and the nails on each 
 hand. The cameos of their jewellery can be recog- 
 nised as portraits, and with a magnif^dng glass we 
 discovered flies settling on the roses, which could not 
 be seen by the naked eye, all beautifully carved. I 
 am not quite sure that by the aid of a microscope we 
 should not have found parasites on the flies, for 
 nothing appears to be forgotten. 
 
 But we must return to our description of the 
 town. Although Roermond is a pretty, well laid out 
 city, there is nothing about it to warrant its being 
 called ' very large,' as affirmed by the old Guelder- 
 lander couplet. It must either have strangely de- 
 creased in size since that time, or the others must 
 have been considerably enlarged, for Eoermond is 
 now by far the smallest of the four. Guicciardini re- 
 lates that in his time it was a ' city well peopled, rich 
 and abounding in fine buildings.' Pontanus depicts 
 it as an ' agreeable town, rich, spacious, and abound- 
 ing in religious and civil buildings, both public and 
 private.' An opinion which might still be quoted of 
 it, if war, and above all fire, had not despoiled it of 
 its monumental beauty. 
 
 The most disastrous of these conflagrations was 
 the one of May, 1665, caused by an act of impru- 
 dence. During a procession which took place on the 
 anniversary of the de lication of the town, the armed 
 
358 ANCIENT ABBEY OF BOEBMONR. 
 
 burghers, following the holy cortege, fired off their 
 guns as a token of rejoicing, and accidentally set fire 
 to a thatched roof. In a moment the flames spread 
 with most frightful rapidity, burning down to the 
 ground a large number of houses, churches, convents, 
 and the episcopal palace. A little more and the town 
 would have been entirely destroyed and reduced to a 
 state of cinders, and Roermond would have finished 
 as it began — that is, if it had perished by means of a 
 religious festival, it was to a religious establishment 
 it owed its existence. 
 
 At the commencement of the thirteenth century, 
 on the site it occupies now, there was only a castle, 
 or rather a simple place of meeting for the hunt ; 
 just at this spot a little river called Roer empties 
 itself into the Meuse, so the place was named Roer- 
 mond — mouth of the Roer. In 1218 Gerard III., 
 Count of Guelderland, at the instigation of Richard 
 of Brabant, his mother, who was to be the first 
 abbess, supplemented the chateau by a fine convent. 
 This convent was granted to the noble ladies of the 
 Cistercian order. To cultivate their land these noble 
 dames required a goodly number of servitors, to accom- 
 modate whom houses were constructed around the 
 convent. ' In a few years,' says Pontanus, ' this 
 little colony grew so rapidly that it may be regarded 
 as the true origin of the town, besides being the cause 
 of its celebrity.' 
 
 This magnificent abbey, the cradle of the present 
 city, was unfortunately partly destroyed by fire in 
 
THE MUNSTER. 359 
 
 1665, and completely demolisLed in 1797. Although 
 the cloisters and its dependencies have almost entirely- 
 disappeared, the church remains, and constitutes one 
 of the most curious monuments of the present day ; 
 we might add, indeed, the rarest, for with the excep- 
 tion of the Church of the Apostles at Cologne, there 
 is not, perhaps, in Europe another basilica where the 
 Koman-Byzantine style of the borders of the Rhine 
 mingles, as in this case, with that of the Transition. 
 But my own personal opinion is that monuments 
 built in this Transition period are neither so fine nor 
 so imposing as those of the great epochs. Architec- 
 ture ought to be the expression of ideas, thoughts; 
 that is its purpose — and those ideas are far more 
 striking when their means of expression are pure and 
 according to rule — a compromise may be more agree- 
 able to the eye, but is nearly always wanting in 
 force, and oftener than not in clearness. With this 
 reserve in view, I do not hesitate to acknowledge the 
 Munster of Roermond as a first-class arch^ological 
 curiosity, meriting the attention of those learned in 
 the subject. 
 
 Like most abbey chapels, the Munster is of 
 mediocre size. Its primitive form, that of a Roman 
 cross, is admirably preserved. Its other architectural 
 arrangements are similar to those of the basilicaB of 
 the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Two aisles com- 
 plete the nave, and above is a gallery, which ter- 
 minates at the transept with a wall. This wall 
 contains a niche, which no doubt was formerly used 
 
360 OUR LADY OF THE MUNSTER. 
 
 for small altars. The body of the church is built in 
 a half- circular style with the exception of the vault 
 of the choir and those terminating the arms of the 
 transept, which are pent agon- shaped instead of 
 in hemispheric form, which is never seen in the 
 basilicaa of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and 
 not even in the Church of the Apostles at Cologne. 
 At the point where the nave and transept meet, the 
 decoration of this part of the edifice is completed 
 by an octagon cupola. Then, at the western end, 
 there is a structure in ogive style with long arched 
 windows, which indicate having been built at some 
 previous epoch. This structure, which is connected 
 with the interior galleries, forms a kind of juhe^ 
 which was formerly underneath the principal en- 
 trance to the church, but is walled up now, no 
 doubt to prevent the sinking, of which this special 
 part is beginning to show signs. 
 
 Marvellously preserved in the interior. Our Lady 
 of the Munster is unfortunately not so well off as 
 regards the exterior. The vaulting has not suffered 
 much, and its elegant cupola, canted by two towers, 
 is almost intact. But then, the western part no 
 longer bears any trace of its original formation, from 
 it having been demolished and then reconstructed at 
 a later date, so that the repairs going on at the pre- 
 sent time are guided by pure conjecture. Fortu- 
 nately they have been put in the hands of an architect 
 of considerable talent, who has had some experience 
 in this sort of work, but whose projects are controlled 
 
THE TOMB OF GJERARD III. 361 
 
 by a scholar wlio has made these subjects his special 
 study; and it was with a great deal of pleasure that 
 we glanced over M. Cuyper's plans endorsed by M. 
 Yiollet-le-Duc. Hence no fault can be found with 
 the way the work is being carried on, or with the 
 zeal employed in executing it. Indeed, it would 
 perhaps be as well if this ardour were slightly mode- 
 rated as regards the embellishment of the old church. 
 Examining minutely the capitals of the columns 
 lately repaired, those I mean surrounding the altar, we 
 discovered small heads of modern date, with whiskers 
 and spectacles, mingling with the other ornaments, 
 which in such a place had a very ridiculous effect. 
 These porti-aits may be very good in themselves, but 
 the taste which placed them here is open to question, 
 and it would be well if they could be removed, to 
 avoid the famous saying Nomina Stultorum being 
 applied in a manner, not difficult to guess. 
 
 Fortunately the Munster contains other monu- 
 ments of more value. First there is the magnificent 
 tomb of the founder of the church, Gerard III., 
 Count of Guelderland and Zutphen, and his wife 
 Margaret of Brabant. 
 
 The two slab figures reclining on the vast mau- 
 soleum are a couple of precious specimens of the 
 «=jculpture of the thirteenth century. They are very 
 simple both in design and workmanship. The 
 Count and Countess repose side by side on a slab of 
 black marble supported by twelve small columns with 
 gilded capitals ; their heads rest on a gilded cushion, 
 
362 THE FIGURES ON THE MAUSOLEUM, 
 
 their eyes are half closed, their features calm, the ex- 
 pression on each face kind-hearted and amiable ; the 
 upper lip of the Count's mouth slightly pressing the 
 lower, and the dimple in his chin give an air of truth 
 to his portrait, and at the same time suggest a smile 
 as if the good seigneur had gone to sleep in a merry 
 mood when he closed his eyes for ever. He is habited in 
 a long blue plaited robe, with a green mantle thrown 
 back, and instead of a sword at his side he has his 
 purse, which is better for those who build churches. 
 The Countess is robed in white with a golden mantle, 
 on her head a cap fastened under her chin, and on 
 her face the placid quiet expression of one who has 
 passed a saintly existence. Both have their left 
 hand resting on their heart, both have their hair 
 gilded, and both wear a huge medallion suspended 
 from their neck. 
 
 The epitaph above the Count sets forth in glow- 
 ing detailed terms the origin and foundation of the 
 convent. 
 
 Not far off is another tine piece of work — a 
 magnificent altar-piece. The centre part, divided 
 into six compartments, is full of scenes carved and 
 painted representing the principal episodes of the 
 Passion ; the doors are covered with excellent paint- 
 ings, one of which, the Garden of Olives, recalls to 
 one's mind the well-known engraving by Goltzius; 
 the portrait of St. Peter is striking in its resem- 
 blance. According to the archaBologists of the coun- 
 tr}^, the church of the Munster possessed at one time 
 
A FINE ALTAR-PIECE. 363 
 
 many other monuments of precious value which 
 must have been parted with by the priests either 
 from ignorance, or indifference, or perhaps from 
 avarice. This fine altar-piece would have shared the 
 same fate, if it had not been in such a dilapidated 
 state. We cannot but say that ^ to some things 
 misfortune is good,' for one of the elders of the 
 town asserts that not so long ago, when this work 
 ' was put aside as rubbish in the grille of the church, 
 people thoughtlessly detached many of the little 
 fio-ures and carried them awav.' 
 
 The tomb and this altar-piece, both restored as 
 cleverly as possible, are the only objects of any value 
 left in the Munster. I say the only ones, because 
 it is scarcely worth while mentioning a picture of 
 moderate quality, divided into sixteen compartments, 
 representing various scenes of the Passion, and a 
 portrait of a bishop, which I merely refer to on 
 account of an inscription, which might possibly in- 
 terest some of my readers, inscribed on the lower 
 -border of the frame, which I copy according to the 
 text:— 
 
 PATRON CONTRE LA PIERRE ET LA GRAVELLE. 
 
 The name of the saint I could not find out, though 
 I have no doubt it w^ould be easy enough to obtain 
 if applied for at the sacristan's. 
 
 This curious and very interesting church, the 
 Munstei^ is not as might be supposed the Cathedral of 
 Roermond; but a simple chapel of ease. At the time 
 
364 ST. CIiniSTOPHElVS. 
 
 of the institution of the bishopric, it belonged to the 
 order of the Cistercians, so the bishop installed his 
 chapter in another church, situated in the market- 
 place, and dedicated to the ' Blessed Holy Ghost,' 
 then the parish church of the town. The antiquity of 
 this parish procured it the honour conferred on it 
 by William Lindan, ' a very learned and honourable 
 prelate,' says Guicciardini, ' who has written many 
 good books for the profit and edification of his own 
 generation and of those who followed.' This last-men- 
 tioned church is referred to in a charter of 1279, 
 hence its construction is contemporaneous with that 
 of the Munster, In 1659 it threatened to fall into 
 ruins. Architects were consulted, but they pro- 
 nounced it too far gone to restore and repair, and it 
 being thus condemned as useless, the Chapter aban- 
 doned it on Maundy Thursday, and transferred them- 
 selves to the church of St. Christopher, where they 
 still reside. 
 
 St. Christopher is a much more modern building, 
 dating from the beginning of the fifteenth century, 
 and of Gothic style. It presents the peculiarity of a 
 nave, with double aisles, enriched with lateral chapels 
 reaching as far as the transept, from which point 
 the aisles are converted into three naves of equal 
 height without circumference. Two of the latter 
 terminate in three sides of the octagon, while the 
 third, the one on the right, is intersected by a dome 
 with a huge window. The whole building is of 
 brick, hence both the interior and exterior are ex- 
 
ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH. 365 
 
 ceedingly simple in style. Several fine confes- 
 sionals, a pulpit dating from the seventeenth century 
 — and very remarkable too — and many paintings, 
 notably one belonging to the Kubens school, are 
 still preserved in the interior. Lately, beautiful 
 modern panes of glass have been added to the win- 
 dows, a tribute which the town owed to itself, as 
 its name has figured somewhat prominently in the 
 history of painting on glass. ^ 
 
 The principal entrance to the church is under a 
 kind of porch at the end of the south transept. At 
 the west end there is a high square tower of the 
 same date as the church. This tower is flanked at 
 the top by four turrets, over which, in the centre, is 
 a tall tower of very singular form — all of which 
 give a very picturesque appearance to the church. 
 
 On the north side of St. Christopher there is an 
 ancient burying-ground, which formerly extended 
 close to the ramparts. A grand noble old tower m 
 brick, with thick walls, without any openings, and 
 with formidable machicoulis of severe aspect, still 
 stands, and is the only remaining portion of the 
 ancient ramparts. Originally it formed a part of the 
 second enclosure of the town, the one which supported 
 a dozen sieges and four or five assaults. In fact 
 Eoermond had more demands made on its prowess 
 than any other city of Guelderland, for it was not 
 only attacked by the enemies of its suzerains, but by 
 
 1 See ' Notices on the Stained Glass of Belgium/ by M. 0. Kelly, of 
 Galway. 
 
3G6 SIEGES OF ROERMOND. 
 
 its suzerains also, because it remained true and faith- 
 ful to its legitimate rulers. For example, Adolf of 
 Guelderland never forgave the city for being faithful 
 to his miserable father, and to avenge this noble 
 fidelity, he made continued incursions on his terri- 
 tory, laying waste by fire and sword all before him. 
 
 At seven different times, in 1572, 1577, 1632, 
 1637, 1702, 1795, and 1797, Roermond was be- 
 sieofed and taken. One of the most disastrous of 
 these sieges was in 1572, when the town was pillaged. 
 In 1632, although the garrison consisted of only 
 three hundred men, the attack through an open 
 breach continued during four days, and cost Ernest 
 Casimir of Nassau his life. At last, in 1637, 
 Roermond was ' reduced to obedience, after having 
 been furiously attacked during five days at four 
 different points, and pressed by a general assault 
 which it could not resist.' 
 
 The occupations, on the other hand, which seem to 
 have left least disastrous effects behind them were 
 those of 1672 and 1795. During the latter, the 
 revolutionary idea imported by the French troops 
 seems to have been particularly to the taste of the 
 Roermonders. Everywhere, clubs, in imitation of 
 those of Paris, were installed, the ' Patriots ' under 
 the presidency of Judge Schommers, and the ' Jaco- 
 bins * at the RecoUets. One can easily imagine the 
 avidity with which these discourses were listened to 
 when one remembers the profound hatred against 
 the * Imperialists ' as they were then called. One 
 
PATRIOTIC POETRY. 367 
 
 example will give an idea of tLe terribly excited 
 state things v/ere in: — 'An old man called Maertins 
 was all but massacred because he was suspected of 
 having hidden some Austrian flags in his house.' 
 
 Thanks to a triple chronicle recently discovered, 
 we can follow, almost day by day, the history of this 
 interesting epoch. ^ One might relate days of touch- 
 ing episode, and retrace at the same time patriotic 
 ceremonies. The last of these chronicles relates to 
 the planting of the tree of liberty on the 2nd ' Plu- 
 voise. ' An embryo poet, inspired by democratic 
 enthusiasm, wrote a doggrel, the virtue of which lay 
 only in intention, and attached it to the tree. Trans- 
 lated it is as follows : — 
 
 Traveller, wlio see'st me in this happy place, 
 Learn how I came by this most lucky grace ; 
 Bless my foundation, the day that gave me birth, 
 And swear to have no master here on earth. 
 
 When the French regiment in garrison at Roer- 
 mond started for Italy, the same poet attached to 
 the same tree another verse : — 
 
 Cherished tree of liberty, 
 Here the French have planted thee. 
 To Tiber's banks they go, to teach 
 Freedom to all in acts and speech. 
 
 The population^not satisfied with simply utter- 
 
 1 This triple chronicle was discovered a few years ago by M. Charles 
 Guillers, a notary of Roermond. It is the diary of three persons, who, 
 without being personally known to each other, took the trouble to relate 
 the events passing around them. They were the Demoiselle van Elsachen 
 (whose diary dates from 1769 to 1819), Pieter Hendrick Scheurs (1794 
 to 1799), and Ramoekers (1781 to. 1802). 
 
368 SUMMARY PUNISHMENT. 
 
 ing their farewells in this poetical way — accompanied 
 the troops some distance, crying out ' au revoir., au 
 revoir ! ' Even the priests joined in the marks of 
 sympathy, for they had been on good terms with the 
 republican army during the occupation of the town. 
 Hoche when staying in the country had been the 
 guest of the cur^ of Maestricht. Yandamme had 
 lodged with an ecclesiastic during his stay at Koer- 
 mond, and the troops had received strict orders to 
 respect every thing in connection with church wor- 
 ship ; the least dereliction of discipline on this head 
 was most promptly and severely punished. 
 
 One day, a few soldiers, during the absence of 
 their officers, broke the large crucifix of Merum. The 
 peasants of the village, indignant beyond measure, 
 attacked the culprits ; they killed one and captured 
 another, whom they pinioned and conducted to Roer- 
 mond, where they presented themselves with their 
 prisoner before the general. The latter went out, 
 assembled his soldiers in the Rue Basse, and there, 
 before the troops, first had the sacrilegious offender's 
 hair shaved and then turned him out of the army, to 
 the intense gratification of the crowd around. 
 
 In 1673, the same pleasant understanding existed 
 between the priests of Roermond and the French 
 army. This time the soldiers introduced into the 
 country the use of the pipe,^ instead of revolutionary 
 
 ^ M. Louis Figuier mentions the fact that it was during the siege of 
 Maestricht, 1672, that the use of the pipe became general in the French 
 army. Up to that time it had been the fashion to take snuff. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF THE PIPE. 369 
 
 ideas. In their intercourse with their new friends, 
 the ecclesiastics took so kindly to smoking, that a 
 few years later, in 1677, Bishop Reginald Cools 
 issued a mandate to forbid the priests of Roermond 
 the immoderate use of tobacco, alleging that it was 
 more a military habit : ' tahaci more militari immodicum 
 
 It would be somewhat difficult to foretell the sort 
 of reception French troops would receive now if they 
 had to return to this country ; and after all it does 
 not matter, considering there is no chance of their 
 doing so. But one thing I must affirm before closing 
 my remarks on Roermond, and that is, that the in- 
 habitants of this town receive most kindly and 
 hospitably all foreigners and strangers who knock at 
 their gates in a peaceful spirit. Indeed their hospi- 
 tality is most cordial to every one, and I for my part 
 shall never forget the many charming hours I passed 
 with a young magistrate of the kindly city, nor the 
 many pleasant excursions we enjoyed in his society 
 round about the town, and in its environs. 
 
 feB 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MAESTRICHT — ANCIENT SOUVENIRS — THE OUTSKIRTS OF WIJCK 
 
 HISTORY OF A CHAPEL-MASTER — THE GATE OF HELL NOTRE DAME 
 
 SAINT SERVAIS THE CHAPEL OF CHARLEMAGNE THE FAIR OF 
 
 RELICS THE TREASURY AND THE ARCHIVES — PURGATORY — THE 
 
 MIRACULOUS STONE. 
 
 N leaving Roermond, we were singularly 
 near the end of our journey. Maestricht 
 was within a few leagues, and we could go 
 no further without quitting Holland, that old Gallo- 
 Roman city being in truth at the extreme limit of the 
 kingdom. East, west, and south it is surrounded by- 
 foreign lands, and to the north a narrow strip of 
 territory alone attaches it to the northern country* 
 To describe Maestricht faithfully would need at least 
 a volume, or even more, for many volumes have been 
 devoted to its history without exhausting it. Every 
 step in its street calls up a flood of memories ; there 
 is not a place nor monument which has not a tale to 
 tell or the memory of some glorious hero to recall ; 
 at every stroke of the pick in the ground faces are 
 revived which have disappeared beneath it. People 
 who have cultivated, inhabited, embellished it, and 
 
RAMPARTS OF WIJCK. 371 
 
 covered it with monuments, or generations which 
 have watered it with their blood, and died in its 
 defence, are resuscitated. 
 
 At the place of debarkation, on the spot where 
 the railway buildings are now in course of erection, 
 Roman remains were found ; three large red earthen 
 jars and a glass barrel in addition, prove the presence 
 of the old remains in this locality. In the whole 
 country round eloquent proofs of their sojourn 
 abound. There are ruins of villas, funereal urns, and 
 ha If- destroyed monuments, to perpetuate the memory 
 of those illustrious conquerors. 
 
 Long before them again, in the times which 
 history has been unable to reconstruct, the country 
 was well peopled, and the flint implements frequently 
 found in Saint Peter's Hill attest the presence of 
 primitive races and those wandering tribes who had 
 dwelt in this favourite resort. 
 
 On approaching the town, proud bastions invoke 
 recent recollections. The ramparts of Wijck, the 
 outskirt of Maestricht, are the portions of the city 
 situated on the right bank of the Meuse. Their desig- 
 nation — the refuge — has an eloquence of its own. It 
 seems to have been acquired by the fact that when the 
 town was lost, the citizens felt sure of an asylum there. 
 
 A few years since Wijck possessed another en- 
 closure much more ancient and curious. It was 
 that against which the Spaniards spent their strength 
 in vain, that of which Strada had seen the ditches 
 filled with the blood of the besiegers. It surrounded 
 
 bb2 
 
372 THE SIEGE OF 1579. 
 
 the whole town, and every stone had its deed of 
 heroism to tell ; for not only did the citizens defend 
 their soil foot by foot, but the women, brave as their 
 valiant husbands, shared in the defence. In 1632, 
 and before that, in 1579, the intrepid women of 
 Maestricht, organised in battalions, underwent the 
 severest hardships. They were mustered by beat of 
 drum, and shouldering their picks and shovels, 
 marched with colours flying, to repair the breaches, 
 caused by the enemy's fire. 
 
 Such an example electrified the men. To mention 
 only the siege of 1579, the Spaniards had been so often 
 driven away from the ramparts, that they did not 
 venture an assault. The besieged, as Strada narrates, 
 * did not despair even with the enemy upon their walls,' 
 and so not being able to reduce it by force, the Duke of 
 Parma resorted to stratagem ; he opened negotiations 
 with the besieged, and taking advantage of the re- 
 liance placed on his parole by the citizens, who 
 neglected all precautions, he introduced some of his 
 soldiers by night, surprised the town, and carried it 
 by assault. 
 
 Exasperated by the heroic resistance of the be- 
 sieged, his troops behaved like wild beasts, killing 
 every man and woman, young and old, whom they 
 met for three mortal hours, until the Prince ordered 
 the butchery to cease, and those who were afterwards 
 taken to be ransomed. It was one of those victories 
 in which the vanquished wept, and of which the 
 victors are ashamed to boast, says old William Ban- 
 
THE DEFENCE OF 1676. 373 
 
 dart, an author who cannot be charged with over- 
 sensibility. 
 
 This was not, however, the only occasion on which 
 Maestricht underwent a similar disaster. Three 
 years earlier, a like resistance was followed by a 
 parallel assault and devastation. An old engraving 
 has preserved a detail of this horrible slaughter, and 
 the Latin notice accompanying it is full of painful 
 revelations. 
 
 Happily all the sieges to which Maestricht has 
 been subjected did not end so ill. Five times, from 
 1284 to 1408, the valiant city repelled her invaders. 
 The sieges of 1284, 1304, 1334, and twice in 1408 
 were ignominiously raised, and the attacking armies 
 pursued by the victorious burghers. Even had 
 these creditable feats of arms not been accom- 
 plished, the defence of 1676 would have rendered the 
 town illustrious. 
 
 In the month of July of that year, while nego- 
 tiations were going on at Nymegen, the Prince of 
 Orange besieged Maestricht, hoping to derive advan- 
 tage from the absence of the governor of the town. 
 Marshal d'Estrades, who was away as plenipotentiary 
 at the Congress. But he reckoned without his host, 
 as the second in command, the brave Chevalier Calvo, 
 a sturdy Catalan, resolved to carry matters to the 
 last extremity. ' I know nothing about the defence of 
 a place,' he said to the engineers, 'but I do know that 
 I will not surrender.' 
 
 The Prince of Orange commenced his invest- 
 
374 THE PRINCE'S WOUND. 
 
 ment near the end of July, pushed on the siege with 
 much vigour, and delivered such severe assaults that 
 heavy odds were taken at Nymegen that Maestricht 
 would be captured in a certain time. We do not know 
 whether Marshal d'Estrades bet the contrary, or 
 whether he knew that the place would be so well 
 defended ; but, in spite of the terrible assaults, 
 Maestricht held her own. The assailants, always 
 and everywhere repulsed, began to refuse to approach 
 the ramparts. The prince soon paid tribute in his 
 own person, for, on one of the days of attack, when 
 his soldiers were being dispersed by the besieged, 
 he attempted to rally them with signal valour, and 
 sword in hand drove our people back to the very 
 gates, says Temple. He was wounded in the arm, and 
 said to those who had done so ill : — ' This, gentlemen, 
 is how you should act ; you are the cause of my 
 wound, regarding which you profess so much concern.' 
 But all those gallant efforts were vain and fruitless. 
 Marshal Schomberg drew near ; they did not dare to 
 do battle with him, and the siege was raised precipi- 
 tately, the besiegers withdrawing with the loss of all 
 their war material. 
 
 At the French Court there was much misojivino^ 
 about Maestricht, and so, when its deliverance was 
 known, there was corresponding joy. Madame de 
 Sevigne, in her letter of the 2nd of September, 1676, 
 records how ' Monsieur de Louvois ran to give the 
 good news to the king, with whom the Abbe Calvo 
 chanced to be. The king embraced him warmly, 
 
LOUIS XIV.' S REGARD FOR MAESTRICIIT. 375 
 
 gave him an abbey with a rental of twelve thousand 
 francs, and bestowed on his brother a pension of 
 twenty thousand livres, with the government of Arie, 
 and thousands of thanks which were thought most of 
 all. Louis XIV., indeed, attached supreme import- 
 ance to the preservation of Maestricht; for, beyond 
 the value of the place to his army, he retained very 
 pleasant recollections of his triumphal visit there 
 years before. His victorious entry in 1673 had been 
 celebrated in every way, and caused rhyme to run as 
 freely as tears to flow. Scarcely had he made his 
 first appearance, when a singular poem, written in 
 the district dialect by the Jesuit Jean Berthet, was 
 presented to him. The poet was a learned critic, an 
 astronomer, a professor at times, and always a courtier. 
 It was a very short and simple poem, yet it pleased 
 the king. It ran thus : — ' Saint Peter, with shaven 
 crown, said before Maestricht the other day to Saint 
 Paul, to fight to-day lend me your sword, to enter 
 to-morrow I'll lend you my key.' 
 
 A number of poems, addresses, and petitions were 
 presented to the king when he passed through; but 
 there was one, composed on that very day, which no 
 one had been bold enough to submit. It was a song 
 in dialogue, in which poor Maestricht, knowing not 
 His Majesty, complained bitterly of the rigours of war. 
 It is too long to reproduce, and whether the king 
 heard it or not, he could not understand it, for it was 
 written in Dutch, and the royal ear was filled with the 
 music of the grand Te Deum sung at Saint Servais. 
 
376 DUMONT'S READY REPLY. 
 
 At one time, however, it was feared that this 
 pompous ceremony would be shorn of its customary 
 splendours. For a whole month the Director of the 
 Chapel Eoyal, a Liegois named Dumont, had disap- 
 peared, and been sought for in vain. He was found 
 at Maestricht, where he had ventured to make love to 
 a pretty damsel of the town, had been shut up by the 
 investment, and had to remain during the whole of 
 the siege. The king spied him out in the crowd 
 assembled to receive him. ' What ! is that you, 
 Dumont,' said he in an angry voice ; ' what business 
 had you in the middle of enemies while I was laying 
 siege to this town ? ' 
 
 ' Sire,' replied the ready master of the Chapel, ^ I 
 was composing a Te Deum for the success of your 
 Majesty's arms.' 
 
 The king smiled and passed on. This Dumont 
 was not the only artist who entered Maestricht with 
 the French army on the day of Xh^ king's entry. Some 
 actors pitched a tent in the market-place, and com- 
 menced their representations, which was the first 
 playing of comedy in the town, and an entire novelty. 
 The inhabitants received them kindly, and the French 
 reciprocated their friendliness. Louis XIY. visited 
 the temporary theatre twice, and so the good folks 
 prospered in their adventure. 
 
 The tent remained for five years in the great 
 market, and created so great a taste for the histrionic 
 art, that a room in the old Town Hall was turned 
 into a theatre, in which the performance continued. 
 
VIEW FROM THE OLD BRIDGE. 377 
 
 This soon became too small, so when m 1748 the 
 French, under Marshal Saxe, again occupied the 
 town, as they brought a fresh host of spectators, a 
 call came for a bigger place to play in. A great 
 riding establishment was converted into a theatre, and 
 remained true to its destiny until 1786, when the 
 States gave to the town the Church of the Jesuits, 
 which had been confiscated with the rest of their 
 property in 1638. This in turn was transformed into 
 a play-house, and in it representations are still 
 given. 
 
 But we have unconsciously wandered to the centre 
 of the town, and so must retrace our steps along a 
 road paved with memoirs of the past. And first, to 
 go from Wijck into Maestricht, the famous bridge to 
 w^hich the city owes its existence must be traversed. 
 The view from it merits a passing pause, for the 
 panorama from this side is most charming and richly 
 coloured. The old houses, the ancient monuments, 
 the ramparts, and the churches commingle their pic- 
 turesque outlines, their hard and elegant forms, their 
 bright and gay colours, their bricks and their stones. 
 It is a charming disorder, in which neither large trees, 
 green swards, high belfries, majestic towers, with 
 ancient profiles in walls embowered by age, are want- 
 ing. They seem to watch over the busy city as 
 elder brothers do over younger ones. 
 
 All is animation everywhere, a busy hive of life 
 and general rejoicing, in which the ancient river 
 rolling its silver ripples under foot appears to partici- 
 
378 ORIGIN OF MAIISTRICIIT. 
 
 pate. She bears lightly the burthen of stones which 
 has traversed her for so many ages, and her waves 
 bury themselves under the broad arches with a 
 strange whistling which resembles a kiss, for the 
 town loves the river, and the river loves the town. 
 This, in fact, is the spot where Maestricht originally 
 began, for it was a fortified Roman tete-de-pont^ as 
 the old road from Turgau to Cologne attests, as well 
 as the underground structures of the ancient villas. 
 Tradition affirms that it was where Wijck now stands 
 that the Batavians, led by Claudius Civilis, extermi- 
 nated the legions of Vespasian in the fourth century.^ 
 The tete-de-pont soon became a fortified town, to 
 which Saint Servais, feeling incensed at Turgau, 
 transferred the seat of his episcopacy for security 
 against the Saxons and Huns, who were always 
 rapidly approaching the Ehine. The presence of the 
 holy prelate seems to have brought luck to his new 
 living, for from this time it began to increase and 
 prosper. Its splendid position is universally recog- 
 nised. Blaeu has painted it as 'a convenient and 
 well planned city; ' which other authorities have 
 endorsed. Its bridge was in truth of too great 
 importance, for in consequence of its rich revenue 
 all the authorities of the banks of the Meuse only 
 sought to seize and to hold it. 
 
 ^ This has been contested by a Belgian archaeologist, M. Oaumartin, 
 on the ground mentioned by Tacitus, that the troops of Sabrinus fought 
 in a defile ; and where can such a place be found in a plain as flat as the 
 palm of the hand ? 
 
THE OLD BRIDGE. 379 
 
 This bridge, however, is not altogether unknown 
 to us. It has a civil history, which is unfortunately- 
 incomplete, from the frequent dispersion of the 
 archives of Maestricht and of her churches. But we 
 know that in 1139 the Emperor Conrad II. pre- 
 sented it to the Chapter of Saint Servais, ^ for their 
 use and its advantage to maintain it, and to divide the 
 revenue not absorbed in such maintenance into two 
 parts, the one for the provost of the town, the other 
 for the Chapter.' It was a wooden bridge, and the 
 Chapter acquitted itself so ill of the first part of the 
 pact, that in 1275, worm-eaten and rotten, it fell during 
 the procession of Notre Dame, and killed more than 
 fiYQ hundred persons. 
 
 It was reconstructed in wood on the spot which it 
 now occupies, and later on (1581 to 1585) it was re- 
 built in stone. This is the bridge which is now seen, 
 but renewed more than once, arch by arch, and bit by 
 bit. To tell of all the important events associated 
 with this bridge would be to recount the history of 
 Maestricht — bombardments, butcheries, massacres, 
 triumphal entries, religious festivals, ceremonies and 
 rejoicings of all sorts. One of the most brilliant of 
 the latter was the nautical fete given by the town to 
 the Czar Peter the Great. 
 
 This fete was held on the 28th of July, 1717. 
 The Czar had entered the town at five o'clock on the 
 previous evening, and on the same day had visited 
 the fort of Saint Peter, as well as the ramparts ; and 
 supped with the magistrates at the Town Hall. The 
 
380 THE HELPOORT. 
 
 next day there was an attack of the fort on the 
 Meuse. This fort was a sort of square tower built 
 on a pivot in the centre of the river ; several boats 
 filled with boatmen attacked it simultaneously, and 
 endeavoured to carry it by escalade. But two men 
 in the interior of the fort defended it with muskets 
 and hand grenades ; and, by turning it on its pivots, 
 tumbled over the ladders and the boatmen carrying 
 them. This play lasted a couple of hours, to the 
 great amusement of the Czar, after which he left the 
 town to dine at the Chateau of Canne, from whence 
 he immediately departed for Holland. 
 
 The bridge which has detained us so long, in- 
 teresting as it is, is neither the most curious con- 
 struction nor the oldest building possessed by 
 Maestricht. That which is considered the most 
 ancient is certainly the Helpooi% or Hell-gate. I 
 said considered the most ancient, because the archaeo- 
 logists of the country have been exercised consider- 
 ably concerning it. One party, headed by M. Alex- 
 ander Shaepkens, thought they had discovered in it 
 a Eoman fortress; others, with M. Schayes, relying 
 upon more or less doubtful tests, wish to find in it a 
 fragment of the enclosure reconstructed in the thir- 
 teenth century. To our perception this Helpooi^t 
 deserves neither ' much praise nor much abuse,' for it 
 seems to belong to the commencement of the Roman 
 architecture of the country, that is to say, the ninth 
 or tenth century. It is, however, more interesting 
 than beautiful, consisting of a lofty masonry base- 
 
CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME. 381 
 
 merit, flanked by two towers, round externally and 
 square within, surmounted by small pointed roofs. 
 This basement is preceded by a large vaulted arch, 
 and at its summit by three windows now blocked up. 
 The indifferent masonry has not resisted the ravages 
 of time, w^hich has accomplished its usual work of 
 eating away the stone and mortar, until this noble 
 structure is covered with myosites, giving it a rustic 
 but picturesque and repellent look. 
 
 As to the terrible name of Hell-gate, it originated 
 in a sign which formerly ornamented the little street 
 on which the gate abutted. 
 
 Not far from the Hell-gate w^as an ancient and 
 much renowned sanctuary, the church of Notre Dame. 
 According to M. Eug. Gens, who has studied and 
 described it with much care, Notre Dame dates 
 from the fifth century, w^hen it must have been built 
 in the shape of a parallelogram by Saint Monulf. 
 Subsequently, in the ninth century, it was enlarged 
 and modified, to be again touched up and finished in 
 the pointed arch epoch. Unfortunately the nave was 
 so horribly restored in 1764, that it is nearly impos- 
 sible to trace out the original building, which is the 
 more to be regretted as the choir, nearly intact, is a 
 perfect gem. 
 
 As to itself, there can be no mistake that it be- 
 longs to the eleventh century, the period of perfec- 
 tion of the Roman style, and of its best models. The 
 choir is composed of a semicircle, with two super- 
 posed ranges of arcades supported by thirty-two 
 
382 A CURIOUS BAS-RELIEF. 
 
 pillars most beautifully carved, and with extremely 
 rich capitals. They are adorned with twenty sub- 
 jects from the Old and New Testament, of exquisite 
 workmanship, and delicious simplicity. 
 
 The Last Supper^ JacoVs Ladder^ His Struggle 
 with the Angel, The Samjice of Abraham, and Joseph 
 Sold hy his Brethi^en are masterpieces of delicate and 
 fine sculpture. The other capitals represent fantastic 
 interlacements of extraordinary animals, and hyper- 
 bolical vegetables of most graceful design — than 
 which it would be impossible to dream a more elegant 
 phantasmagoria. 
 
 Upon one of them, M. Franquinet, the learned 
 keeper of the Limbourg records, who accompanied us 
 in our visit, devoted our attention to a little bas-relief 
 on which was an inscription. This bas-relief repre- 
 sents a personage offering what looks like a Savoy 
 cake to a lady. The Limbourg archaeologists fancy 
 that they find in this the architect offering his work 
 to the Virgin, and in the second part of the inscrip- 
 tion — S. Maeia J. Emo — the name of the artist. It 
 needs a genuine archasologist to accept this plausible 
 explanation. We regretted it, because in the eleventh 
 century architects were of less account than are 
 builders of our time, and it would have been the 
 height of presumption, in a man of mere science, 
 to venture to dedicate to the Virgin a building 
 which he had only designed and constructed. This 
 was the privilege of the Duke of Brabant, pro- 
 tector of the church; of the Bishop of Liege, its 
 
THE CHOIR OF NOTRE DAME. 383 
 
 spiritual chief; of the dean, or of some wealthy 
 donor ; but the architect, who cares for a poor devil 
 of a mechanic ? As for the inscription, the following 
 is our unhesitating translation, Santa Maria In 
 ExcELSis Jesus Mater Optima. The reader may 
 take his choice of two explanations, both of which are 
 more or less conjectural. 
 
 The choir of Notre Dame, where this contro- 
 versy occurred, is placed in an interesting crypt. It 
 has a ridged, vaulted arch supported by divers ranges 
 of extremely simple cylindrical columns, and with 
 the exception of a Christ on the Cross in the style of 
 Van Dyck, there was nothing more worthy of notice. 
 With the exterior it is happily otherwise. Besides 
 the apse, which has pre served the form and primitive 
 decoration of the best Roman style, Notre Dame 
 has a Western /a^ac?^', which is one of the strangest 
 and most unusual to be met with anywhere. It 
 is an enormous square tower, heavy, massive, un- 
 graceful, flanked by two small round turrets, 
 lanceolated, painted, spare, with no other openings 
 than a few attic windows. This gives a correct idea 
 of this singular and repulsive structure, which is 
 more like a fortified tower than an ecclesiastical 
 belfry. 
 
 There are only two other known faqades like it : 
 one at the Bonn Cathedral, the other at Saint Denis, 
 in Liege. That now under consideration is the most 
 ornate of the three, for it has sham arcades at its 
 summit, which the others are without. 
 
384 THE TREASURY OF NOTRE DAME. 
 
 Notre Dame possesses in addition a prettily finished 
 arched cloister, a treasury, and a treasure room, which 
 claim a few words. The cloister is good Gothic, in 
 elegant style and perfect preservation. Its galleries 
 are backed at the sides by a square court-yard with a 
 central garden. There are few more agreeable walks, 
 where philosophic reading or calm contemplation can 
 be more completely enjoyed. 
 
 The treasury is simply what the word means. 
 Formerly, according to ancient collegiate catalogues, 
 it was one of the last founded of the diocese of Liege 
 — ^but in 1798 the most precious of its treasures had 
 disappeared. Some, like the bust of Saint Barthelemy, 
 and several other silver statues were melted down 
 for their metal. Others, to escape the revolutionary 
 requisitions, were confided to Canons, who proved 
 untrustworthy depositaries, as witness the Byzantine 
 cross, brought by Philip of Swabia from Constanti- 
 nople in 1204. The Abbe Willemsem describes it as 
 unequalled in richness, and M. Shaepkens has written 
 its sad odyssey. 
 
 Why the treasury of Notre Dame is so poor is 
 explained by these spoliations — yet, it still has some 
 precious objects. Among them a Greek reliquary in 
 silver of the eleventh century, with carved and ena- 
 melled figures, is most noteworthy. Another in rock- 
 crystal in the form of a shrine of the Ihirteenth cen- 
 tury, and a third in silver, turret- shaped, dating from 
 the fourteenth century. There are also several purses 
 of relics of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
 
THE CHUIWH OF ST. SERVAIS. 385 
 
 elegantly embroidered, and an ivory horn with an 
 oriental mounting worth recording. 
 
 The archives have been as sorely tried as the 
 treasury. But jewels quite as precious, from their 
 small apparent value and more difficult disposal, 
 travelled less far, and returned home willingly to 
 their nest. Nevertheless, an index of documents 
 recently recovered, and containing a summary of the 
 privileges, bulls, and donations which formed its 
 archives at the end of the last century (an index of 
 two thick volumes) indicates the exact and irreparable 
 nature of its losses. 
 
 There remain in the archives 411 documents, the 
 most ancient of which, running back to 1312, is a 
 diploma from the Emperor Lothaire, attesting the 
 high antiquity of the College of Saint Servais. 
 
 The church of this latter, to which we must now 
 come, is the most remarkable, the most ancient, the 
 most complete, and the most famous of the buildings 
 of Maestricht. Archaeologists are unable to agree as 
 to the probable period of its construction. First 
 of all there is the legend assigning it to the time 
 of Charlemagne, and associating the shade of a great 
 emperor with the fame of a great saint : but little 
 account has been taken of this legend. Without 
 admitting with the meritorious archaeologist, M. Eug. 
 Gens, that it is so ancient, there is little doubt that 
 Maestricht possessed a Church of Saint Servais in the 
 ninth century, as attested by venerable and tolerably 
 positive tests. The Bollandistes affirm that Charle- 
 
 cc 
 
386 FIRST DEDICATION OF ST. SERVAIS. 
 
 magne performed his Easter devotions there. It 
 existed then, certainly not as it now is ; but is it 
 absurd to suppose that the crypt so stupidly destroyed 
 in 1806, and the great flat dome of which the sub- 
 structures were then discovered, dated from that 
 time ? And so it is for that species of narthex^ which 
 is by turns called the Virgin's Chapel, Charlemagne's 
 Chapel, and the New Church (Nieuwekerk). It has 
 "evidently been frequently restored — but it is safe to. 
 date its massive masonry from the ninth century. 
 
 The rest of the building is doubtless of later date, 
 as revealed by the old chronicle of Arras and Cam- 
 bray, of which, in my judgment, sufficient account 
 has not been taken. ' In the month of August, 1039,' 
 writes the contemporaneous author of this chronicle, 
 ' Bishop Gerard of Cambray accompanied King Henry 
 to Maestricht, and at the request of Bishop Nithard 
 exhumed the bodies of the holy confessors Gondulf 
 and Monulfe, from which he took relics. Then also 
 the Church was dedicated to Saint Servais.' 
 
 Now this "first dedication must have had some sig- 
 nification, and what more likely than that the church 
 had been rebuilt ? If it has no other merit, the 
 principal archasologists who have investigated Saint 
 Servais, are satisfied with it, viz. : Champeauville, 
 who thinks the church was probably built in 1015 ; 
 M. Schayes, who believes in the probability of the 
 end of the tenth or beginning of the eleventh cen- 
 turies ; and MM. Eyck Van Zuylichem and C. 
 Schnaase, who agree with him. 
 
ST. SERVAIS. 387 
 
 It seems then to be fairly made out that Saint Ser- 
 vais was built in the ninth, and almost reconstructed in 
 the tenth century. As for M. Eug. Gens, who assigns 
 the whole to the time of Charlemagne, it is enough 
 to tell him that the only rehgious edifice which is 
 acknowledged to be really contemporaneous with the 
 great Emperor is the Church of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 Now, this building is entirely ornamented with 
 Italian columns, which seems to show that stone 
 carving was nearly unknown on the banks of the 
 Rhine, whilst the capitals of Saint Servais are of an 
 elegance and finish indicating the presence of skilled 
 workmen and accomplished artists. 
 
 Agreed as to this, we will, if you like, try back to 
 times anterior to the Church as it is. The origin 
 of this sanctuary is too intimately connected with 
 that of the city to be devoid of interest. It was, in 
 truth, the translation by Saint Servais from the seat of 
 his bishopric to the town of Maestricht, which gives 
 the earliest certain date of its history ; and Maestricht, 
 grateful from the first, vowed to its holy prelate 
 boundless afi'ection. 
 
 The adopted him as her patron saint and pro- 
 tector. He became the joy of ' its heart and the light 
 of its eyes,' says the old Dutch poet, Heijndrijck Van 
 Yelden. The translation sounds like a biblical epi- 
 sode, and the legend relates that the ' angels of heaven 
 honoured it with melodious chants/ Later on, in the 
 tenth century, when Mathilde, wife of a king and 
 mother of an emperor, attempted, by an abuse of 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 REPUTATION OF ST. SERVAIS. 
 
 power, to transfer the relics of Saint Servais to 
 the Monastery of Quedhmbourg, the inhabitants of 
 Maestricht stole into the holy monastery at night, cut 
 the cords of the bells, emptied the case in which were 
 the precious bones, and carried their pious larceny 
 back to their own town, where for ages they celebrated 
 the return of ' the grand Seigneur of Maestricht ^ 
 to his home. 
 
 Saint Servais, on his .part, was not ungrateful. 
 On the morrow of his death he began to perform 
 miracles, which acquired such fame that Saint Gregory 
 of Tours thought them deserving of detailed record. 
 One of the most remarkable was that the tombstone 
 of the saint could not be wetted, rain, hail and snow 
 appearing to respect it. This property inspired Saint 
 Domitian with the pious thought of covering it with 
 a wooden shed. 
 
 The incredulous considered it a useless precaution, 
 and the wind seemed to be of the same mind, for it 
 blew down the shed. But Saint Ronulfe would not 
 have it ; and so he built the basilica to replace the 
 shed, and this rebuilt, enlarged, and transformed, is 
 the magnificent church which we now admire. 
 
 During this time, the reputation of Saint Servais 
 increased daily. Pilgrims flocked to the sanctuary, 
 and the tomb of the venerable prelate became so 
 lavish of prodigies that on January 15, 1147, the 
 great miracle-monger, Saint Bernard, did not dare to 
 heal the sick there, lest he should offend Saint 
 Servais. It was even necessary to free his hands 
 to get him to cui'e a cripple. 
 
THE 'FAIR OF BELICS: 389 
 
 The speciality, however, of Saint Servais, which 
 Saint Bernard knew well, was less devoted to healing, 
 than to casting out Putduivels^ Boschduivels^^ and evil 
 spirits — in fact, every thing in olden Flanders which 
 was more feared than a club foot or the loss of an eye. 
 In this respect the old saint feared no rival, and so 
 precious a power was rich in results. He governed the 
 Chapter, for all its neighbouring princes went to do 
 honour to the relics, from Charlemagne who performed 
 his Easter devotions at Saint Servais, to Louis XI. 
 who endowed it with a chapel, to Maximilian and 
 Charles I., who assisted at the opening of the casket 
 in ecclesiastical costume. At length its popularity 
 robbed the saint of his jaw bones, of which one was 
 taken by the Emperor Henry III., and the other 
 purchased by Charles lY. of Luxembourg. At last 
 the popularity of the good man established a Kermis, 
 
 This Kermis, which was called the ' fair of relics,^ 
 was held every seven years, and was a source of 
 wealth to the city. Whenever it drew near, provision 
 was made on all hands to feed and lodge a large 
 number of pilgrims, who brought grist to the mill, 
 and left the greater part of their pelf in Maestricht. 
 
 In the beginning of the thirteenth century, so 
 great was the influx of pilgrims, that precautions 
 against disorder were taken by the magistrates. In 
 the eighteenth century they began a standing order, 
 which was enforced at the beginning of each Kermis, 
 
 ^ Putdmvels — the devils which inhabit wells ; Boschduivels — those 
 which roam about woods. 
 
390 THE CHAPEL OF CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 The ordinance of 1440 has been preserved, and it con- 
 tains some provisions worthy of reproduction, and good 
 to observe at all times. The first was a prohibition 
 against selling unwholesome meat ; the second, to 
 have a barrel of water in the house as a protection 
 against fire ; the fourth, to be honest and decent by 
 day and by night ; the sixth, to keep the house 
 clean : the seventh, to sell at fair prices to the 
 pilgrims ; the eighth, to use correct weights and 
 measures, and so on. 
 
 It was in the Vnjthof^ at the ver}^ feet of Saint 
 Servais, that the fair was held and the relics shown, 
 but now-a-days neither exists. The church only 
 remains, to the splendour of which they contribufe so 
 much. From the place where the pilgrims crowded 
 formerly, the grand outline of the apse may now be 
 seen, delineating its dark mass in the clear blue sky, 
 and exhibiting one of the beautiful vestiges of the 
 Roman style. It is semicircular, adorned with two 
 rows of closed arcades, of which the lower stones rest 
 on cylindrical columns with ornamental capitals, and 
 by an open gateway forming a series of little-arched 
 arcades under the roof. Right and left two large 
 towers, similarly ornamented, complete this very im- 
 posing architectural picture. This superb apse is not to 
 archaeologists the most interesting part of this beauti- 
 ful structure. It is the fore -building, the narthex called 
 the chapel of Charlemagne, which first attracts atten- 
 tion. It would make Saint Servais an unique monu- 
 ment of its kind if the Churches of Saint Bartholomew 
 
INTElUOli OF ST. SEUVAIS. 391 
 
 and Saint Servais at Li^ge in Belgium, did not possess 
 the same peculiarity. 
 
 Of these three fore -buildings, the only ones known, 
 Saint Servais is incontestably the most beautiful and 
 the best preserved. Its frontage has not altogether 
 escaped injury from age. It has stood the assaults 
 of the weather, and, eaten into for centuries, it has 
 glorious scars. It would seem also that immediately 
 after its erection the walls must have lost their 
 equilibrium, for they are supported by two enormous 
 buttresses, resembling bridges in their massiveness 
 and solidity. 
 
 The masonry of the buttresses appears to be of 
 the same date as the walls supported by them, and 
 its massiveness produces a singular effect. In dis- 
 regard of the general lines of architecture, it con- 
 siderably heightens the strange aspect of this sombre, 
 bare and handsome /a^a^f^. 
 
 Within, irrespective of this curious narthex^ Saint 
 Servais consists of a vast nave, with two low sides as 
 far as the transept, and of a hemispherical choir sur- 
 mounted by a demi-cupola. This forms a noble whole, 
 the more suggestive as the old wooden ceiling of the 
 ancient basilica was replaced by handsome pointed- 
 arched vaults in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. 
 
 This is not the only addition with which that 
 graceful epoch adorned the sturdy old church. A 
 grand and well-proportioned cloister has been added, 
 of which the vaulted roof is supported by a frieze 
 of delicate columns, on which rest beautiful pointed 
 
392 RESTORATION OF ST. SERVATS. 
 
 arches, elegantly bayed, finely carved, and delicately 
 ornamented with trefoil and quatrefoil. 
 
 All archasologists and architects do full justice to 
 it. * It is not only,' truly says M. Schayes, ' the most 
 remarkable monument of the kind raised in Belgium 
 in the middle ages, for such an eulogy would not 
 express its real beauty 5 the porch of Saint Servais 
 compares favourably with the most beautiful porches 
 of the cathedrals of France, so richly endowed in 
 this respect.' 
 
 For some years the internal and external re- 
 storation of this old basilica has been in hand ; and 
 those who have undertaken the heavy task are much 
 to be commended, for they are executing it admirably. 
 Saint Servais has the good fortune to be governed by 
 a dean, who is as learned and artistic as he is kind 
 and courteous. Calling to his aid the most skilled 
 and enlightened agents, this worthy churchman has 
 contrived to interest a host of rich and benevolent 
 people in his much-loved basilica. 
 
 Money pours in from all sides, and the judicious 
 use made of it attracts new gifts and givers. 
 
 In this restoration nothing is left to chance. Ex- 
 ternally no column is recarved, no stone replaced, not 
 a single stroke of the hammer struck, except under 
 the advice of artists and archasologists to guide the 
 hands of the skilled artizans engaged in this interest- 
 ing restoration. Within, chapels are dressed in new 
 altars, altars are re-covered with magnificent screens, 
 and the marble pulpit, elegantly renewed, has re- 
 
PRECIOUS OBJECTS OF ST. SERVAIS. 393 
 
 turned to its proper place in the centre of the nave. 
 Unhappily all these decorations, grand as they are, 
 have in my eyes the defect of being modern. How 
 much we would have preferred to them the old 
 richness heaped up in this beautiful nave, of which, 
 alas ! there remains only the superb statue of Saint 
 Servais, dating from the thirteenth century, and a few 
 good paintings, two of which bear the name of Grayer, 
 and a third is correctly attributed to Van Dyck ! 
 
 To compensate a little for this, the treasury of 
 the church is better furnished ; its keeper, a learned 
 priest, has taken pains to describe it with much 
 knowledge and art; and his description, full of interest- 
 ing facts, forms a thick volume of four hundred pages. 
 
 Of the precious objects preserved there, the post 
 of honour properly belongs to the shrine containing 
 the relics of Saint Servais, as it is the first object seen 
 on entering the elegant chapel which contains the 
 treasury. It is a pretty monument of copper, gilded, 
 and chased, and adorned with a number of raised 
 enamels and precious stones. 
 
 Its upper walls are covered with medallions full 
 of curious figures, and on the sides are twelve semi- 
 circular niches, separated by pilasters, and contain- 
 ing the twelve Apostles. The drawing of the figures, 
 the character and nature of the ornamentation, and 
 the shape of the capitals, show that this beautiful 
 work was done in the twelfth century. Another 
 cabinet presented by Charles Martel preceded this 
 one, but no one knows what has become of it. 
 
nU DATE OF PllEClOVS OBJECTS. 
 
 This precious piece of the goldsmith's art is not 
 the only jewel secured to Saint Servais. 
 
 The key of the holy prelate, his cup, his pastoral 
 crook, his crosier, his priestly vestments, and the 
 portable altar on which he celebrated mass, must also 
 be mentioned. In those distant times churches were 
 few and far between, and no pastor went on a tour 
 without carrying a consecrated stone on which to 
 celebrate the Holy Communion. 
 
 All these objects are doubly precious, by the 
 memoirs attached to them, as well as by the beauty 
 of the work and the distant epoch to which they 
 carry us back. But it must be confessed that their 
 authenticity is open to question, when, in turning 
 back to this distant period, we consider of what small 
 importance the Bishopric of Maestricht really was, and 
 how very modest and simple was its pastor. Would 
 they have buried in the grave of this venerable pre- 
 late such costly treasures, under a tomb covered 
 with planks ? Is it not more likely that these jewels 
 are golden caskets, subsequently fashioned and 
 fabricated to contain the whole or parts of these 
 primitive objects ? It is impossible to doubt the 
 antiquity of the works, and they may be admitted to 
 date back to Saint Hubert, the last Bishop of Maes- 
 tricht, or probably even to Saint Ronulf ; but 
 greater age than that is questionable. The work 
 itself is there, to tell by its perfect style and finish 
 the relatively recent time of its execution. 
 
 We have, moreover, an example of these later 
 
PRICELESS CURIOSITIES. 395 
 
 enshrinements in a cup of Saint Servais, which was 
 broken in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and en- 
 closed at that time in a goblet shaped like a pine- 
 apple. The cup was of glass, very simple and 
 ordinary both as to form and workmanship. It was 
 nevertheless (it is M. Willemsen who tells it) the 
 work of God, for it was brought to the prelate by an 
 angel. 
 
 If, at that time, divine work was so ordinary, is it 
 not somewhat sacrilegious to attribute the workman- 
 ship of jewels so perfect as the key of the confessional, 
 and the crozier to the hand of man ? 
 
 In addition to the objects relating to Saint Servais 
 are many other priceless curiosities. Among them is 
 a golden cross with an ivory Saviour, enriched with 
 precious stones, and dating from the tenth century; 
 a curious shrine with an enamel cross of the twelfth 
 century ; relic tablets younger by a century ; the bust 
 of Saint John in silver, a very fine and interesting 
 work ; the ornament of Saint Agries, a pretty silver-gilt 
 jewel of the fourteenth century, enclosing the hair of 
 the Virgin ; a monstrance of the fifteenth century, in 
 silver-gilt, elaborately foliated and beautiful in de- 
 sign ; and four shrines in the shape of domes ; but 
 there would be no end to it if we were to describe all. 
 But this treasury is far from complete, and we now 
 only see a small part of what it contained in the last 
 century. 
 
 When the revolutionary storm passed over the 
 country, these treasures were scattered for the time; 
 
396 SALE OF THE FOUR SHRINES. 
 
 but it would be wrong to attribute all that is missing 
 to the revolution. To prevent their falling into the 
 hands of the republican armies, they were divided 
 among the canons, and it is no fault of the revolution 
 if they or their heirs did not render a strict account 
 of their trust. To form an idea of the rapacity of 
 some of them, it is only necessary to remember the 
 detainer of the relics of Saint Manilfe and Sandulf, 
 who restored the despoiled Saints, but had melted 
 and sold the leaden coffins which had contained 
 them. 
 
 This sarcophagus, although of little saleable value, 
 had a reputation for miracles which ought to have 
 restrained the hand of the profaner. It was found that 
 the Saints had emerged to assist at the dedication of 
 the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, when Charlemagne 
 wanted 365 bishops for the ceremony, and the Pope 
 could only supply 363. God, to please the glorious 
 emperor, permitted the two venerable prelates to 
 undertake this posthumous journey ! 
 
 It was not in the last century alone that the 
 treasury of Saint Servais was roughly attacked. In 
 1843 the church still possessed, besides the shrine of 
 the saint himself, four other shrines, which, placed on 
 the side altars of the choir, completed its ornamenta- 
 tion. In that year a broker tried to obtain them. 
 They asked what they thought an exorbitant and 
 prohibitory price, the dealer gave it, and so by this 
 illegal sale these four precious shrines passed into the 
 collection of Prince Soltvkoff. 
 
ARCHIVES OF ST. SERVAIS. 31)7 
 
 If the treasury has been treated with scanty re- 
 spect, the archives have not fared better. Fragments 
 of a goodly number of them are found in pubKc 
 collections, in the national library of Paris, that of 
 the Dukes of Burgundy at Brussels, and in ten other 
 places. Saint Servais does not even possess the 
 oldest of its own diplomas relative to its Chapter, 
 The most ancient mentioned in the chronological in- 
 ventory of the charters and documents of the Church 
 of Saint Servais dates no farther back than the year 
 1087, whereas in the archives of the State at 
 Coblentz there are charters as old as 889, 898, 919, 
 994. Moreover, it is not long since an archaBologist, 
 M. C. de Borman, discovered in charters preserved in 
 Paris, and which came from the old basilica, ' that 
 the Chapter of Saint Servais had very long since lost 
 all their title deeds anterior to the eleventh century.' 
 
 From what remains, after such dispersion and de- 
 struction, a good idea can be formed of the ancient 
 wealth of this majestic sanctuary. Alongside of such 
 sumptuous riches and luxuries of every kind all other 
 churches fade, and one has scarcely the courage to glance 
 at them. Yet there is close to Saint Servais a pretty 
 Gothic chapel, which has been turned into a Calvinist 
 church. In any other situation it would be most in- 
 teresting, but here its great neighbour kills it, as it 
 is only separated from the old basilica by a narrow 
 street, dubbed Purgatory. Who is to determine on 
 which side are the blessed? 
 
 The Church of the Dominicans, also formerly 
 
^98 THE MIRACULOUS STONE. 
 
 celebrated, would in any other city have been of some 
 repute. Within, it is of a fine Gothic form, in which 
 are seen fragments of mural pictures. But after Saint 
 Servais it is a mere debt of conscience to visit it, and 
 not to regret that it has become an ordinary shop. 
 
 The Jesuits' church is a theatre, Saint Bartholo- 
 mew's, and we should not dare to mention Saint 
 Matthew's but for the great Christ in wood which is 
 over the door, and has its legend. 
 
 Formerly it adorned the Convent of the White 
 Ladies, and large as it is, is fabled to have come out 
 of a walnut. This walnut had been brought from 
 the Holy Land by a victorious Maestrichter, who, 
 during his pilgrimage, had picked it up on Calvary. 
 The son of this man, on his return, asked him for a 
 souvenir of his pious voyage, and he gave him this 
 nut, which the child received with confidence. Later 
 on he planted it, and, instead of a walnut tree, a 
 crucifix grew up. The author of this anecdote de- 
 clined to be responsible for the truth of the tradition 
 — and I think it is advisable to share his prudence. 
 
 ?<5"J 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MAESTRICHT (CONCLUSION) — THE TOWN HALL THE LIBRARY — THE 
 
 PROMENADES — PIETERSBURG AND THE BOHEMIANS. 
 
 AYING described the religious monuments, 
 we must now turn our attention to the civil 
 buildings. Those which are of any archaeo- 
 logical interest are few in number, and with the 
 exception of a charming little dwelling of the sixteenth 
 century in the Rue du Pont, which possesses some 
 curious classical features ; of the facade of the old 
 hotel de ville, and some pretty little gable houses in 
 the Brugstraat and the Neerstraat^ there is only the 
 Town Hall worthy of a visit. Its noble propor- 
 tions and the beautiful things contained in it will, 
 however, detain us awhile. 
 
 It is situated in the middle of the grand market, 
 which is a vast place, very regular, well built, and 
 full of animation. It is at once an elegant and 
 majestic structure, forming a massive pile nearly 
 square, with ionv faqades. Each of these frontages is 
 two storied, ornamented with palisades, and resting 
 
400 DOUBLE STAIRCASE OF TOWN HALL. 
 
 on a dwarf ground floor. A great roof, cut on each 
 face by a large attic, covers the building, and is 
 surmounted by an elegant belfry, which replaces 
 gracefully the old bell tower. A double staircase, 
 ending in a large landing, leads to the vestibule. 
 The double stair formerly was significant of its use. 
 The town was under the double government of the 
 bishops and of the Dukes of Brabant. The latter 
 were the suzerains, and the former, as heirs of 
 the rights and privileges of the Maestricht bishops, 
 of whom they were the successors, claimed the right 
 to administer justice and levy taxes on the old town 
 of Saint Servais. Finally, after much contention, they 
 divided the objects of strife and the town into two 
 parts. Every new dweller on his arrival had to 
 declare which jurisdiction he elected; every old 
 inhabitant followed that of his mother. The son of 
 a Liegeoise belonged to the bishop's party, and those 
 were held to be Brabanters whose mother was a 
 dependent of the Duke of Brabant. 
 
 When the States took possession of Maestricht, 
 they simply claimed the rights of the duke, and the 
 town remained divided as it was before, with the 
 exception that the difference of origin then became 
 the difference of religion. 
 
 Each of the two powers nominating their dele- 
 gates, mounted the side of the staircase assigned to 
 it, and both only met in the vestibule. This 
 vestibule occupied the whole height of the building, 
 and although a little heavy and massive, was not 
 
THE LIBRARY. 401 
 
 deficient in a certain dignity. It led to the principal 
 rooms of the Stadhuis. There are on the ground 
 floor the burgomaster's office, with beautiful coloured 
 Chinese designs on gilt Cordova leather ; the ante- 
 chamber of the council, hung with superb Gobelin 
 tapestry, representing the history of Moses ; the 
 council chamber, furnished in Flemish green, with a 
 pretty ceiling painted by a talented native artist 
 named Coders, and lastly, the secretary's office 
 furnished in a similar manner. All these rooms had 
 majestic chimney-pieces, covered with allegorica 
 pictures, which added to their imposing appearance. 
 The greater part of these paintings partook of the 
 strange character of the municipal power, which was 
 formerly the ' particular sign ' of the brave city. 
 
 On the first floor is the library, charmingly 
 placed, and well cared for, but in too narrow a room. 
 Besides a respectable collection of books, it contains 
 a fine bust of Napoleon by Canova, a compulsory 
 purchase when it was the chief place of the depart- 
 ment of the Lower Meuse. Yet it was not a bad 
 bargain, for it is the most artistic object contained in 
 this sanctuary of thought. The library is not rich in 
 rarities. With the exception of a few good manu- 
 scripts and a unique copy of Terence, it contains 
 nothing out of the way. Two plates printed between 
 1470 and 1480, shown to us by M. Franquinet, 
 formerly were especially interesting to Maestricht. 
 They are two little works by Matthew Herben, a 
 native of the country, who when living, was rector of 
 
 DD 
 
402 INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING. 
 
 the schools of the Chapter of Samt Servais. The one 
 is a scholastic work, the other a collection of three 
 letters, which are still considered unique, and before 
 its discovery these two copies were always thought 
 to have been unpublished. These plates were not 
 printed at Maestricht, for printing was not intro- 
 duced until long afterwards into the kindly city. It 
 was only in 1552 that Jacques Bathen printed the 
 first little work in a Maestricht press, and the only 
 copy which has survived was bought in 1846 for the 
 royal library in Brussels. 
 
 Considering how many of the neighbouring towns 
 were precocious in the matter, it is astonishing how 
 stubborn Maestricht was in the introduction of 
 printing — between her and Louvain there is a 
 century of distance. This tardiness is the more 
 inexplicable that the gentle Brabantic city always 
 contained a number of learned enquirers. She 
 was likewise not always indifferent to the plastic 
 arts ; we have seen at Saint Servais and at Notre 
 Dame what her sculptors could do. She pos- 
 sessed besides, in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries, a school of painting, of which unhappily 
 not a trace now remains, but which aided in the 
 development of the schools on the banks of the 
 Rhine. Half-way, however, between her and Eoer- 
 mond, is Maaseijk, the renowned birthplace of Hu- 
 bert and Jan Yan Eyck, the immortal predecessors 
 of the great Dutch and Flemish masters. It has also 
 at all times had poets, and if their reputation was 
 
DIALECTS OF MAESTRICHT. 403 
 
 not European J it was not that they were deficient in 
 abihty, but that they wrote in a language little 
 understood beyond their town. 
 
 Maestricht, indeed, has a peculiar dialect with a 
 grammar and a syntax of its own, in which even now 
 amusing dialogues and pretty comic operas are written. 
 The people use no other idiom, and in their every- 
 day discourse employ poetical terms and expressions, 
 indicative of their love for their proper tongue, some 
 of which when done into French lose neither their wit 
 nor their sense. Thus they say of a lady favoured 
 by nature that she has * un beau gilet.' A woman of 
 the lower classes will not threaten to box another 
 woman's ears, but tell her to beware of the ' star ' of 
 Maestricht, a star which in the arms of the town has 
 five points, resembling a ^five-leaved clove,' an ex- 
 pression still used in some remote corners of old 
 France. In high society French is spoken, but no 
 one is unacquainted with the vulgar tongue, which 
 becomes more chaste and delicate when spoken by 
 gentlefolks, yet is largely used. The Netherlander s 
 complain because they do not understand a word of 
 it, and it is amusing to hear them protest against 
 this peculiarity. 
 
 'Maestricht,' says one of them, 4s not yet a 
 Dutch town. They have in the first place a special 
 language in which books are written, next they 
 speak French, and lastly they talk partly Dutch. 
 They pay in Belgian francs and centimes ; their 
 cigars are 1^yq or ten centimes each. The people no 
 
 D d2 
 
404 HATRED OF GERMANY. 
 
 longer go abroad in woollen coats, but in blouses ; the 
 women have ceased to wear caps or capes with metal 
 fronting, but tie kerchiefs deftly round their heads.' 
 
 I have quoted this passage because it is typical 
 and true to nature. What the author however does 
 not tell us is that this population, proud in their 
 ways, sympathetic and amiable, has a real regard for 
 us. Nowhere have our misfortunes met with more 
 sympathy than in and around Maestricht. A striking 
 instance of this is related. 'In 1871,' said a learned 
 functionary to me, ' as soon as we heard of the capi- 
 tulation of Paris, as I was a corresponding member 
 of your Society of Agriculture, I raised 20,000 francs 
 in a few days to supply seeds to your poor cultivators 
 — each little hamlet sending its mite. But the sub- 
 scription was stopped by a peremptory order from 
 above, lest it should give offence over the border.' 
 
 On iho, other hand everything German is repelled. 
 The Prussians, so insinuating and intrusive every- 
 where, have not overcome the antipathy of the 
 Maestrichtians, whose good-natured town has resisted 
 their invasion. These feelings are intelligible enough. 
 Maestricht, in giving us her sympathy, is only repay- 
 ing a pious debt, for during the last five centuries 
 France has done her best to keep her honest citizens 
 in good humour. Our Burgnindy vineyards have 
 always sent her the best of our produce, for if Arn- 
 hem is the Netherland town where the best Rhine 
 wine is drunk, the best vintages of the Cote-d'Or 
 find their way to Maestricht. It may be that to this 
 
THE VRIJTHOF. 405 
 
 marvellous elixir the pretty Maestriclitians owe their 
 sprightly manner and their rosy complexions. They 
 have only to be seen in the park, at the Vrijthof, the 
 Groote-market^ or in the streets for the great difference 
 between them and their compatriots in the north to be 
 seen. Everywhere are amiable smiles, lively talk, a 
 gushing manner, and a light quick elastic step, some- 
 what at variance with the staid demeanour of the 
 Dutch and even the Guelderland ladies. And so the 
 public promenades are more gay and animated. 
 
 The most important of these promenades is on 
 the bank of the Meuse. It is a kind of English 
 garden, well designed, shady, and gaily bedded-out 
 with beautiful flowers. Another much frequented 
 promenade, a fine large place on which the military 
 band plays, is called the Viijthof^ a ' Free Court,* 
 which has been translated into ' parade ground ' for 
 some unknown reason, for at Maestricht the names 
 of streets are written in two languages, Dutch and 
 French. On band days and summer evenings the 
 Vrijthof is very lively. The shopkeepers and even 
 the artizans put in an appearance, for there are 
 several paper and porcelain works in the town. 
 
 But even were there not this large concourse of 
 visitors, the Vrijthof would be the gayest place in 
 the town, for it has on one of its sides the Society of 
 Momus, and the Courier of the Meuse^ where from all 
 times the pretty Maestriclitians have enjoyed their 
 fun. 
 
 The Society of Momus is a club to be remembered. 
 
406 THE 'COURIER OF THE MEUSEJ 
 
 All kinds of follies, masquerades, and queer notions 
 are there organised. As for the Courier of the Meuse^ 
 it is a source of quiet gaiety and fun. An intolerant 
 and fanatical paper, it plays the part of a pious Punch, 
 and in Frenchified language indulges in amusing 
 lectures, which are intended to be very serious. Its 
 smallest descriptions are in dithyrambics. Everybody 
 remembers its imaginative style : ' Clouds of crape 
 making way for a sunny robe; * ' white roads trans- 
 formed into rivers of men and women;' * those bye- 
 ways whence came hundreds of curious heads — 
 women of fashion and women of lowly state, lawyers, 
 and peasants ' — all intended to announce the simple 
 fact that the weather was fine, and the streets 
 crowded. 
 
 But alas ! everything degenerates, and the Society 
 and the Courier are no longer what they were. The 
 one having become reasonable and almost serious, 
 organises patriotic cavalcades scientifically, and em- 
 ploys a learned archa3ologist to write the libretto. 
 The other has ceased to indulge in preposterous 
 hyperbole, and abandoned the Phrygian fashion to talk 
 like the rest of the world. From time to time there 
 is a slight relapse, but they have lost the sharpness of 
 their ancient state. 
 
 Besides these inner promenades, Maestricht has a 
 hundred picnic places of excursion in its vicinity, 
 some more picturesque than others. Of the number 
 the most interesting is Saint Peter's Mount, called in 
 the country the Pietersherg. Tt is there the famous 
 
THE CRYPTS OF MAASTRICHT. 407 
 
 quarries called, why I know not, the crypts of Maes- 
 tricht, are found. It is reached by a pretty road 
 along the Meuse, or by a steep, lively path up the 
 side of the mountain. These enormous quarries have 
 six entrances. The quarry is usually entered by an 
 anfractuosity of the mountain, which commands a 
 little elevation surmounted by an ancient fort. 
 
 This construction is named the Mountain of Light 
 (Lichtenberg) J and it is conjectured that it was 
 originally a Roman lighthouse. It is simply a feudal 
 dwelling and nothing more ; the vulture's nest of 
 one of those ancient ' seigneurs ' who profited by the 
 quarrels of the Bishops of Li^ge with their subjects 
 to ransom travellers and plunder villages. To enter 
 the caves a torch and a guide are needed. These 
 quarries, of which the plan was drawn up by the 
 order of Napoleon I. in 1804, contain not less than 
 100,016 streets, and 11,332 great thoroughfares. 
 Individuals without guides have frequently wandered 
 about them and perished. The place is shown 
 where, after many years, the corpses of three 
 reformed ecclesiastics of the Order of Saint Francis 
 were found. They were provided with a cord, which 
 was fastened outside, but by rubbing against a flint 
 stone it was cut, and the unhappy men wandering 
 about in this sombre retreat, penetrated deeper and 
 deeper into the galleries, where they died of inani- 
 tion. In 1795, M. Faujas de St. Fond, who visited 
 these galleries with Generals Daboult and Bolemont, 
 found a workman who had perished from starvation 
 
408 THE QUARRIES. 
 
 many years before. An uncomfortable feeling is 
 unavoidable in these interminable windings when 
 one reflects on the prolonged and terrible agony 
 which these victims must have undergone. This 
 subterranean walk is, in truth, a somewhat melan- 
 choly affair ; the tangled thread of never-ending ways 
 crossing and recrossing forms an inextricable web of 
 which the eye in vain essays to fathom the depths. 
 And yet these apparently impenetrable highways 
 have been often a refuge against persecutions and 
 pursuits. For many times when armies ravaged 
 the surrounding country, the peasantry found shelter 
 and security in the quarries. In the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries, troops of gipsies took up their 
 abode in them, and it needed the intervention of the 
 Bishop of Liege to dislodge the * Egyptians from 
 the subterranean holes between Castert and Lich- 
 tenborch,' where they squatted down. 
 
 The quarries have held whole towns, and for 
 thousands of years successive generations have found 
 in them means of defence against their enemies. 
 There are some galleries in the upper parts which 
 must have been worked in the time of the Romans. 
 In these galleries are seen, about five yards above 
 the ground, the grooves formed by the rubbing of the 
 chariot wheels against the walls, and the pillars are 
 ornamented with heavy cornices. These cornices are 
 not the only artistic remains found in the Pietersherg ; 
 there are likewise some coarse, rudimentary wall 
 pictures, representing religious subjects, such as 
 
NAMES WRITTEN IN THE QUARRIES. 409 
 
 Paradise and Hell. Other compositions are Pagan, 
 and reproduce the deities of Olympus. In the depths 
 naturalists have found the remains of antediluvian 
 monsters, trees, and a natural fountain. Paleo- 
 graphers, again, may exercise their patience and 
 ingenuity in deciphering millions of names inscribed 
 by ancient and modern visitors, som'fe of them of very 
 remote date. Among them, a Bregmatee of 1039, a 
 Batibas of 1229, a Petre Nohhe of 1408 : these are 
 the oldest and are placed highest up. Beneath them 
 are many others very illustrious, but of doubtful 
 authenticity. Among the latter is that of Napoleon I., 
 which has nearly disappeared by being hacked about. 
 Half a century ago, Coustens, the grandfather of our 
 guide, was forcibly held by two Prussian officers, 
 while a third hacked at the name of the Emperor. 
 His descendant still shed bitter tears in telling of 
 his grandsire's rage and impotence to prevent the 
 sacrilege. It was in truth a silly and unworthy act. 
 After having done the interior of the Pietersherg^ 
 which has been immortalised in song by Francis 
 Halma, a Friesland poet, we visited the summit of 
 the hill where there were said to be some Celtic 
 monuments. Guided by an amiable engineer of the 
 public works, we set out to discover them by a little 
 slippery path, encumbered with brambles and stray 
 branches, riddled with boggy places, cut into ravines 
 by the rains, tacked on to the side of the hill, and 
 overhanging a precipice 160 feet in depth. At every 
 step the ravine expanded before us, and the magnifi- 
 
410 RETURN TO THE HAGUE. 
 
 cent panorama unfolded, alone made us oblivious 
 of the perpetual danger of this giddy height. 
 
 At length, after a perilous journey in this tangled 
 path, in which we lost and found our ravine a dozen 
 times ; after braving the branches which struck our 
 faces, and the thistles which impeded our feet, we 
 found our way down to Belgian territory. There we 
 came upon a good inn, kept by good people, and had 
 a good bottle of sherry wine. Of Druidical monu- 
 ment we saw not a trace. 
 
 Having rested, there was nothing for it but to 
 retrace our steps to Maestricht by an easier way, and 
 to end our journey by going quickly home, which we 
 did. In the evening we dined for the last time in 
 this charming town, and on the morrow set out for 
 the Hague, wondering, with good reason, why so pretty 
 a town, so well placed and so hospitable, with magni- 
 ficent environs, picturesque landscapes, and a fine 
 river, was so little frequented by the Netherlanders. 
 They might find there all they seek for elsewhere ; 
 fine sites, interesting promenades, superb monuments, 
 an amiable people, excellent hotels, and cheap 
 living .... but perhaps it is necessary to cross 
 frontiers, and spend largely for true enjoyment ? We 
 leave the solution of this question to others. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 N arriving at the Hague we could say : 
 Invent portuni : our voyage was at an 
 end. We had now only to return to our 
 respective hearths, and to forget our fatigues in well- 
 earned repose ; but some friends, anxious to fete our 
 return, had determined otherwise. 
 
 Warned of our arrival, they had organised a din- 
 ner in the best club at the Hague, the Witte Societeit^ 
 and there, in the evening we found ourselves for the 
 last time, glass in hand, surrounded by loyal hearts 
 and true friends. 
 
 The feast was sumptuously served, and above all, 
 seasoned by the heartfelt joy, ever experienced after 
 long absence on finding oneself in the midst of 
 those dear to us. Nature herself seemed to share 
 our lightness of heart, and to fete us. The last 
 rays of the setting sun gilded the substantial 
 dwellings of the Plein^ a genial breeze trembled in 
 the tops of the great trees, and the silence was only 
 broken by distant songs, lost in the depths of the 
 Voorhout 
 
412 FAREWELL SPEECH. 
 
 We were silent for a moment. A cheery voice 
 proposed our healths, and champagne cups were 
 filled and emptied in our honour. 
 
 In response to this kindly toast, I, the sole 
 Frenchman there, rose, and drank to the Netherlands. 
 
 According to the Dutch custom of saying a few 
 words, I endeavoured to recount the object of our 
 journey and its results, and to condense in a few 
 sentences the impressions it had taken months to 
 form. 
 
 Spontaneous expressions are always the best, for 
 they have a stamp of sincerity, absent otherwise. On 
 my return at night I took note of my short improvi- 
 sation, and here it is, as far as I could remember it : 
 
 ' My friends, I drink to your country ! to the 
 Netherlands ! To that generous country, so indus- 
 trious, so honest, so hospitable, and above all so tho- 
 rough in its love of independence ! 
 
 ' I drink to the glorious past and to the future of 
 the Netherlands. 
 
 * We have traversed that generous land, and from 
 one end to the other, from Groningen to Maastricht 
 we have witnessed the modest expansion of those 
 high qualities of the people, that substantial probity, 
 that unchangeable pursuance of good, that thorough 
 love of country, which still distinguish the old 
 Batavian race. 
 
 y Assuredly, in that extent of country, we have 
 met and measured many different shades. 
 
 ' The soil, the types of men, the costumes, the 
 
FAREWELL SPEECH. 413 
 
 manners, the religion, all undergo constant change 
 and modification — but what of that ? Does the head 
 resemble the foot, and is the stomach like any other 
 organ ? And yet, varied as they may be, they con- 
 stitute but one body, warmed by the same blood, 
 and moved by the same head ! 
 
 ' So, you may take my word for it, the old Bata- 
 vian blood is in full flow on your blessed soil, and the 
 good heart of the country beats in unison with those 
 of all her children! 
 
 ' And yet the individuality of this heroic corner 
 of the world is disputed. Men have said in print 
 that it was part of a great whole, without reflecting 
 that it was itself complete, an indivisible unity twice 
 conquered by your ancestors, first from the elements 
 and then from foreign domination. 
 
 ' But what would become of this land if it were 
 wrested from the hands of the descendants of those 
 who have built it up, watered it with their blood, and 
 fertilised it with their genius ? And where would 
 justice be if a capricious stroke of the pen, wielded 
 by a fanatic savantj or if an unscrupulous political 
 reign, could extinguish the sacrifices and holy immo- 
 lations of ages. 
 
 ' Do we live in an age when numbers efi^ce 
 genius ? Are figures our only factors ? No. Num- 
 bers are nothing. Reconstruct without shame the 
 map of Europe, efikcing frontiers which are in their 
 way, and disposing of people without their consent. 
 AH the steps of the operation have been conducted 
 
414 FAREWELL SPEECH. 
 
 under your eyes, and supported by impartial proofs, 
 not open to suspicion, for the documents produced 
 date before the debate. 
 
 * I have been so scrupulous as even to withhold 
 my impressions, omitting in my recital all that could 
 recall the objects of our voyage, letting the facts 
 speak for themselves. 
 
 * Can MM. Daniel and Kischhoff discover in this 
 work anything in support of their strange annexa- 
 tions ? I ask, what reasons can they assign ? 
 
 ' Are they based on manners, usage, ethnical 
 characters ? Remember Delfzijl and Nieuw-Beerta. 
 
 'Is it sympathy? Recollect Almelo, Oldenzaal 
 and Maestricht. 
 
 ' What more ? language, history — but where have 
 we heard German spoken ? Dutch is ever in possession 
 of the field, and the language of Yondel alone is used. 
 One province is perhaps an exception — Limbourg ; 
 but French and not German is the language of society 
 there. 
 
 'As for history, what countries, say our geo- 
 graphers, with small exceptions, belonged to the 
 German Empire, and, in fact, until 1866 to the 
 Germanic Confederation ? 
 
 ' It is light, it is heat which illumine and warm 
 the world. Who would have remembered the armies of 
 Darius if they had not basked in the sun of Marathon ? 
 
 'History is shown to protest with indignation 
 against these theories of invasion, and the luminous 
 track which your glorious history has left on the 
 
FAREWELL TOAST. 415 
 
 annals of Europe is too dazzling to allow of this grand 
 fact to be effaced by fantastic policy or geographical 
 illusions. 
 
 ' The future is in your hands, for you have pre- 
 served the great qualities of your ancient race ! But, 
 come what will, the whole world owes to your country 
 too many shining lights, ever to forget the debt of 
 gratitude contracted by all mankind to the united pro- 
 vinces. My friends, To the Netherlands ! ' 
 
 These words, read again eight months afterwards, 
 are an exact reproduction of impressions gathered in 
 this long and painstaking journey. It is for you, 
 dear reader, to decide which is right — the conscien- 
 tious traveller who has completely traversed the 
 country, the scrupulous archaeologist who has visited; 
 its monuments, ransacked its archives, and restored 
 to life its history, or fanciful philosophers, who from 
 the depths of things devise a strange pretext for the 
 annexation of a kingdom, that a slice of its territory 
 was for thirty years nominally united to the Con- 
 federation ! A strange pretension thus to trace back 
 beyond the rule of the House of Burgundy in order 
 to revive rights in abeyance for four centuries. 
 
 And these rights, so loftily proclaimed, what is 
 their importance ? 
 
 Of two hundred Dutch towns, four only ever di- 
 rectly belonged to the Emperor, and three of these — 
 Zwoll, Deventer, and Kampen, were only in his posses- 
 sion for a few years. They were surrendered to him 
 to furbish up his nearly tarnished glory, and to enable 
 
416 CONCLUSION. 
 
 liim to put on a good face. But as soon as they were 
 able to break the chain, they repudiated the repugnant 
 dependence. 
 
 One city alone remained to him for some time, 
 Nymegen, the indomitable city, never subjected, 
 rebelling against all masters, and having for its motto 
 ' Melius est bellicosa Libertas quam pacifica 
 Servitas.' 
 
 And this noble maxim would be endorsed by the 
 whole of Holland, if a people were to leave the 
 regions of Utopian geography, to enter those of 
 violent annexations, a nation of invaders unmindful 
 of the respect due from humanity to a generous nation 
 which has always preserved its dignity and its 
 sense of duty. 
 
 LOKDOS : PRIKTED HY 
 
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