Pictures from Holland, drawn with pen and pencil, etc

Preface

. SOME of the previous volumes of the ' Pen and Pencil ' series have dealt with the Pencil ' series have dealt with the great countries of the globe, such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, and Germany. Some have described lands famous for beauty, for a long and varied history, for art treasures of sur passing splendour, such as Italy ; others have depicted regions dear to the heart of the lover of natural scenery and unconventional life, such as Norway and Switzerland. The present volume attempts a more difficult task. It seeks to carry the reader to one of the quiet corners of Europe, and to prove that — apart from the human interest which every land inhabited by man possesses in greater or A Dutch Cottage. lesser degree — Holland has claims upon the attention and interest of such weight, that she is as well entitled to be studied as Germany and Egypt, Australia and Norway.

PREFACE.

. Necessarily, this interest centres more in buildings and cities than in the variety and grandeur of her scenery. The landscape, as we attempt to show in the following pages, has much to charm the eye and edify the mind of him who rightly studies it. But Holland has played a great part in the modern history of Europe, and most of her towns and buildings are directly associated with this history. Hence her influence and her teaching ought to come as closely home to the traveller as those of lands whose real history begins where Holland's tends to decline, or whose active part in the world's affairs ceased ages before the Union of Utrecht or the Battle of Nieuport. The end for which this book has been written, will be served if it helps in any way to indicate how much the men of Holland have done to benefit the world in the great departments of architecture, art, political and municipal life, and, above all, in the battle for freedom of thought and worship in religion.

The engravings have been made as comprehensive as possible, and it is hoped that no important phase of Dutch life and scenery has escaped illustration. The author's thanks are due to Mr. W. C. Robinson, H.B.M. Consul at Amsterdam, for many useful hints, and for his kindness in reading the proofs of the volume. The Weigh House, Leeuwarden. The Dam, Amsterdam. The Farm House. (.From the fainting by Jan Wijnants in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.) CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Vyver at the Hague ..... Frontispiece The Market-Place, Roermond ..... page 5 A Dutch Cottage . . . . " . . . . 5 The Weigh House, Leeuwarden .... 6 The Dam, Amsterdam ....... 8 The Farm House — Jan Wijnants .... 9 Hindeloopen ... . . . . . 12

Chapter I. Holland And The Hollanders

Map of Holland ■ . . . . page 14 Winter at Zaandam ..... 15 The Burgomaster's Pew 18 Dutch Courtship, Isle of Marken . . . page 20 Hindeloopen Costumes ..... 21 A Dutch Maidservant ..... 22 B CONTENTS. 10

Chapter II. Amsterdam

Montalbans Tower, Amsterdam. . . page 24 St. Anthony's Gate from the Geldeische Kade, Amsterdam ...... 25 Tower of the Old Church, Amsterdam . . 25 An Amsterdam Bookstall .... 28 Servant and Aanspreker, or Undertaker's Assistant 30 Alva's Last Ride through Amsterdam . . 32 The Palace, Amsterdam .... 35 Orphans of the Protestant Burgher House in the Kalverstraat ...... 37 The Weeper's Tower ..... 40 The Mint 43 St. Anthony's Gate 45 The Church of Moses and Aaron . . page 46 In the Jews' Quarter, Amsterdam ... 47 Diamond Cleaving ...... 49 Diamond Cutting. ..... 49 Diamond Polishing ...... 50 The Pulpit, New Church, Amsterdam . . 52 The Old Church, Amsterdam 53 De Ruytei's Tomb ..... 54 The Rijks Museum 56 Rembrandt's Statue in the Rembrandtsplein . 57 Vondel Straat, Amsterdam .... 58 The Zoological Gardens, Amsterdam . . 60 A Street in Old Amsterdam . ... .61

Chapter III. To Marken Via Edam And Volendam

Volendam Children in their Working-dress . 62 Marken ........ 62 Edam. ....... 63 Volendamers ....... 6S Crossing to Marken ..... 70 At the Door of a Marken House ... 72 A Marken Girl ...... 73 A Corner in Marken. ..... 75 A Marken Interior ..... 78 A Group of Urk Islanders. .... 79

Chapter IV. To Alkmaar, Hoorn, And Enkhuizen, Via Zaandam

On the Zaan . . . . . . . 82 The Weigh House, Hoorn .... 82 Alcmaria Victrix ...... S3 The Locks at Zaandam ..... 85 The Weigh House, Alkmaar. ... 88 The Cheese Market at Hoorn .... 90 a\ Scene in North Holland .... 92 The State College, Hoorn .... 95 The Water Gate, Hoorn .... 96 Entrance to the Zuyder Zee .... 99 North Holland Dykes ..... 101 Nieuwe Diep ....... 102

Chapter V. Haarlem, The Home Of Frans Hals

The Market-Place, Haarlem . . . . 104 The Old Gate, Haarlem . . ' . . . 105 The Front of the Fleshers' Hall, Haarlem . 105 The Organ in the Great Church, Haarlem . . 109 The Town Hall, Haarlem . . . . no A Dormer Window in the Fleshers' Hall, Haarlem 1 1 1 The Rear Facade of the Fleshers' Hall . . . .112 CONTENTS. 11

Chapter VI. The Capital Of Holland

Dutch Fishing-boats off Scheveningen . . page 114 ' The House in the Wood ' . . . 115 A By-Canal at the Hague .... 117 William the Silent . . . . . page i-i8 The Town Hall, Hague .... 120 The Beach at Scheveningen in the Seasoa . • 123 A Bit of Old Dutch Furniture 124

Chapter VII. The Great University Town Of Holland

The Dunes on the Shore of the North Sea . . 126 The Senate Chamber, University of Leyden . 127 The Belfry ofthe Town Hall, Leyden . . 127 A Street in Leyden ..... 129 Arminius ....... 130 The University of Leyden .... 132 Town Hall, Leyden. ..... 135 A Dutch Idyll at Katwyk . . . . 136

Chapter VIII. Delft, The Town Of William The Silent

William the Silent 138 Delft, the Gate of St. Catherine ... 138 The Gemeenlandshuis ..... 14O Entrance to the Gemeenlandshuis . . . 141 The Fish Market and Town Hall, Delft . .143 A Dutch Boatman . , ..." ' 144

Chapter IX. Rotterdam, Dort, And Gouda

The Boompjes, Rotterdam .... 145 A Quay in Rotterdam . . . . - . 146 The Steiger, Rotterdam ..... 147 Erasmus ....... 148 Schiedam ....... 149 Vlaardingen Fishing Boats .... 150 Skating with the Wind at Slikkerveer . .152 The Dutch Roll 153 A View in Dort . . . . . . 1 C4 An Old Doorway in Dort . . . . 158

Chapter X. Zeeland

South Beveland Costumes. .... 160 Going to Church in Zeeland .... 160 4-\n Interior, Island of Walcheren . . .161 Zeeland Jewellery ..... 163 The Dome, Middelburg ..... 166 The Town Hail, Middelburg. . . , 167 The Town Hall, Veere . . . . , , , 16S B CONTENTS.

Chapter XI. Utrecht And The Southern Provinces

The Oude Gracht, Utrecht . . . -page 172 St. Anthony's Church, s' Hertogenbosch . . 173 The Sabelspoort, Arnhcm . . . . 173 The Cathedral, Utrecht 175 Facade of Town Hall, Bergen-op-Zoom . . 178 The Great Church, Bergen-op-Zoom . . page 1J9 The Town Hall, Arnhem .... 182 The Great Market, Nymegen . . . - 184 The Orphanage at Neerbosch . . . 187 Arnhem : General view . . . . 188

Chapter XII. To The East Of The Zuyder Zee

The Burgomaster's Room, Kampen . . 190 The Koppel Gate, Amerssoort . . . . 191 A Friesland Headdress . . - . 191 Church of St. Walburgus, Zutphen . . 193 Facade of the Town Hall, Kampen . . . 197 The Koppel Ga'.e, Amersfoort A Friesland Lady ..... 199 The Tower of St. Jacques, Leeuwarden • . 201 The Chancellerie, Leeuwarden . . . 202

Chapter XIII

A GLANCE AT SOME DUTCH PAINTERS. View of a River — Ruysdael .... 204 Peter denies his Lord — Rembrandt . . . 205 The Sortie of Banning Cock's Company of Arquebusiers — Rembrandt ..... 209 Rembrandt's First Wife, Saskia van Ulenburgh 211 The Burgomaster Jan Six— Etching by Rembrandt 212 Frans Hals — Etching by himself . . .214 Portrait of an Officer — Frans Hals . . 215 Gerard Douw . . . . . .216 Isaac blessing Jacob — Govert Flinck . . 217 Gabriel Metzu . . . . . .219 The Exterior of a House — Pieter de Hooch . 221 HlNDELOOrEN. HOLLAND Winter at Zaandam.

Chapter I

Holland and the Hollanders. WHATEVER did you go to Holland for?' said an acquaintance, when informed that the author had been travelling in the land of dykes and windmills, and visiting the home of Rembrandt and William the Silent. He seemed to think that the little kingdom so near our own shores was the part of Europe least worth visiting. And it is to be feared that multitudes of those who hurry through Flushing or Rotterdam, on their way to Cologne, give scarcely a thought to the country possessing such historic sites as Leyden, Haarlem, Alkmaar, and Amsterdam. They believe that the famous pictures at Berlin, Brussels, and Munich are worth time and trouble. PICTURES FROM HOLLAND. 16 They even pay considerable attention to the fine examples of Dutch paintings to be found there. But they seem never to dream that in reaching these places they pass the skies and landscapes that are so much more attractive, since, to the seeing eye and the receptive mind, they exhibit the true sources of the great Dutch landscape school.

They miss the landscape originals of which the paintings are but copies. With vague notions that Holland is made up of sandy wastes inter sected by malodorous canals, that if one Dutch village or town has been hastily explored, all that the country can show has been exhausted, many travellers press on, not only careless about and indifferent to the many claims of Holland upon the intelligence of the observer, but ignorant of the fact that it contains anything of sufficient value to hinder for even a week their feet from the beaten tracks of Germany, Switzerland, or Italy. Holland has long been, and still continues, a happy hunting-ground for the artist ; and there is encouragement in the fact that out of the increasing number of Continental travellers, a larger percentage yearly go to Holland wishful to look somewhat closely at the land where flourished the mighty Dutch Republic of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Such visitors soon begin to find what they seek. They obtain clear and strong conceptions of the capacity and industry the Dutch have displayed, in carrying on for centuries that tremendous, yet successful, struggle that was needful before the bare soil in many parts could be won from the destructive waters of the restless ocean. On every hand are evidences of the ceaseless nature of this conflict. Wonderful developments of engineering skill abound on every side. By seeing the country, it becomes much easier to understand how a nation that could wrest their land from the strong grasp of the ocean, could also wrench their civil liberty from the reluctant hands of Spain in her palmiest days ; how men who had triumphed over such adverse natural conditions, were not likely to allow the ignorant prejudices of a priest-ridden profligate bigot, like Philip n. of Spain, to dictate to them what they should believe, and how they should worship God.

The Spaniards wondered what the Hollanders could see in their land that made it worth fighting for ; but they had won it by brain and muscle, and the love of liberty had strengthened while they did so. The land and the race have acted and reacted upon each other. Side by side, with the slow conquest of the waters, developed the love for the soil, and the conviction that man had his rights in the fruits of his labour. And, as the race developed, it became more and more equal, not only to the extension of its natural domain, but also to strong-handed dealing with its natural foes. The narrow creeds of sixteenth-century kingcraft and popery could not satisfy the minds and souls of the Hollanders. To the observant mind Holland can teach many suggestive lessons. If, as some think, it has to be admitted that the Holland of to-day is The Burgomaster's Pew.

(From a Pointing by Henlces.) HOLLAND AND THE HOLLANDERS. 19 inferior in many respects to Holland under John van Olden Barneveld, yet everywhere, in the people and in the land, traces of the influence of those palmy days abound. They are seen in the town halls, in the paintings, in the great dykes that keep out the sea, in the fertile polders that exist where once the waters ruled supreme, in the vigorous commercial life of to-day, which has never lost the impulse of the seventeenth century, and in the sturdy self-reliance and open-mindedness of the Dutch people. Holland is as worthy as any country in Europe of the traveller's study from the point of view of History. William the Silent, John van Olden Barneveld, de Ruyter, and a host of others, did the great work of their time manfully, and lived lives full of human interest and instruction.

Leyden and Haarlem, Brill and Nieuport, are well entitled to stand high on the roll of fame. The fact that Holland is so small among the nations, makes her story the more wonderful, and the springs of her success better worth searching out. Her place in the Religious History of Europe is high, and her claim to have led the van in religious toleration cannot be disputed. Accompanied, as her religious development was, with many imperfections, it yet is very significant that, at a time when religious toleration in any true sense was unknown in Europe, William of Orange used all his mighty influence to secure it ; that the Jews, persecuted elsewhere, found a safe refuge in the land of Spinoza ; that no country ever had nobler martyrs than the hundreds of plain men and women who died by the score at Haarlem, Leyden, Amsterdam, and elsewhere in the early part of the sixteenth century, rather than deny that Jesus Christ is the one only Saviour, and admit that the mass is anything but a corrupt idolatry ; that at a time when Elizabeth's Government were executing men like Barrows, Greenwood, and Penry, Holland offered the early Baptists and Congregationalists protection and peace, and that when James i. harried them out of England, Holland nourished and developed that little pilgrim band who afterwards laid so broad and deep the foundation of the American Republic.

In Art also Holland has exerted an influence altogether disproportionate to her size and population. Time, in this as in other respects, has been on her side, and the true qualities and abiding greatness of the Dutch school of painting are becoming more and more evident. Even in art Italy did not solve every problem, and exhaust all the springs of genius. And the power of such men as Rembrandt and Hals, Gerard Douw and Jan Steen, Ruysdael and Van der Meer is becoming evident to an ever-widening circle of admirers. The old theory used to be that most Dutch artists were dissolute, and that the landscape painters obtained their sky and colouring from the glowing accounts of East Indian sunsets and Java views. Both opinions are as groundless as the statement, so often made, that Rembrandt deliberately altered his etchings in order to make more money out of them.

The natural explanation is the true one. Dutch artists, when their lives Dutch Courtship, Isle of Marken. [From a fainting by H. ten Kate.) are correctly known, prove to have been very similar to their brethren in other lands. There were good, bad, and indifferent among them, doubtless. HOLLAND AND THE HOLLANDERS. 21 But many of the stories about their riotous and dissolute actions are now known to be false, and the evidence is that for the most part they were good industrious citizens. With regard to the source of their skill in colouring and light, go and study Dutch scenery, especially in North Holland, and you will soon discover how the landscape painters learned to deal with the sky and the colour ing of their works. They simply copied with consummate skill what they saw before them. Be come familiar with the history of the sixteenth century, the fresh, strong, free life of the United Provinces when they threw off the yoke of Spain, and you will understand how, almost at a bound, Dutch portraits, landscape andgeure painting reached the zenith.

No country in Europe, moreover, affords more inter esting matter of study to the phil anthropist. The houses for the sup port of the aged, the orphanages, the beggar colo- HlNDELOOPEN COSTUMES. nies, and a host of similar benevolent institutions, invite the attention of those who are interested in the discharge of the duties which society owes to the helpless, the needy, and the unfortunate. Holland presents, moreover, many variations of the national type. The broad features are now much the same all over the country, and the inhabitant of Friesland is in all essential respects one with the Zeelander. Nevertheless, the varieties of costume are striking and picturesque, and a day's journey, undertaken with the object of studying these, will enable the observer to see as much, possibly more, variety in a small area in Holland than in any other country on the Continent.

But enough has been said, perhaps, in reply to the question, ' Whatever did you go to Holland for ? ' Holland has many reasonable claims upon the attention and observation of the traveller, and although one of the smallest of European countries, she can present pictures as interesting, and teach lessons as instructive, as her larger and more honoured sisters. A Dutch Maidservant. Montalbans Tower, Amsterdam. St. Anthony's Gate from the Geldersche Kade, Amsterdam.

Chapter II

Amsterdam. NORTH HOLLAND is one ol the most characteristic of the eleven provinces into which the kingdom is divided, and hence, to a foreigner, one of the most attractive. It contains such towns as Amsterdam, the commercial capital, Hoorn and Enkhuizen, decayed survivals of the time when great Dutch fleets navigated the Zuyder Zee, historic sites of undying fame like Haarlem, Alkmaar, and Naarden, and quaint fishing villages like Volendam and Monnickendam. It is intersected by the old North Holland Canal, which for many years was the main waterway between Amsterdam and the North Sea, enabling vessels to escape the troubles and dangers of the shallow waters of the Zuyder Zee. This — a great work for its day — has recently been eclipsed by one of the greatest marine engineering exploits which even Holland can show — the North Sea Canal, a short and direct communication be- To WER OF THE OLD CHURCH, AMSTERDAM.

C PICTURES FROM HOLLAND. tween Amsterdam and the North Sea. The province comprises the long narrow strips of sandy soil bounded on the west by the German Ocean, whose waters are kept out by long ranges of dreary irregular sandhills, or massive dykes, and on the east the broad expanse of the Zuyder Zee, whose far-reachingwaters stand at a higher level than much of the land of the province. North Holland was part of the patrimony of the old Counts of Holland ; it was the backbone of William the Silent's political and military force, and did much of the labour, and endured much of the sacrifice necessary to break the power of Spain in the sixteenth century. It is the seat of a large part of the most active commercial life in the Holland of to-day, and from the earliest times to the present it has been rich in interesting historical associations.

All visitors to Holland sooner or later reach Amsterdam, the metropolis of the province, and few cities in Europe present more features of interest to the stranger. Only by a signal triumph of energy and skill did it ever come into existence, for the very foundations upon which it is built have had in many parts to be provided by human foresight and labour. The Exchange, for instance, which now seems to be firmly planted upon the solid earth, really rests upon 3469 piles driven deep into the mud and slime which formerly occupied its site. The New Central Railway Station is built upon an artificial dyke which has been raised upon the shifting sand and mud of the Y. It is at the date of writing (1887) unfinished, because the foundation thus created has shown dangerous symptoms of yielding. There are many who think, not without just grounds for their opinion, that much of the beauty of the old sea-front has been spoilt by this unpicturesque building, and that another site should have been found for it.

The best approach to Amsterdam is from either the Zuyder Zee, through the massive locks at Schellingwoude, or by way of the North Holland or North Sea Canals. Then from across the waters of the Y, which is here a broad river, the traveller gets his first view of the great city, and sees it stretched out before him in the form of a vast semicircle. Seen under a clear sky and in a soft golden sunset light, with shipping in the foreground, buildings, towers and churches receding into the far distance, the broken masses of building conveying the impression of size and importance, it presents as charming an appearance as the most fastidious eye could desire. Few views are more pleasing than that seen when the steamer, after a two or three hours' sail alone the narrow waterway of the North Holland Canal, passes beyond the great entrance locks and swings out upon the broad bosom of the Y, with the dome of the Lutheran Church, the cupola of the Palace, and the tall antique spires of the Old and New Churches rising high above the multitudinous roofs of the great city, lying fair and beautiful in the distance.

If it has to be confessed that Amsterdam, like Venice and Stockholm, does not, on Vn Amsterdam Dookstall AMSTERDAM. 29 closer inspection, in some parts bear out its early promise, yet he would be a very captious critic who could find much fault with its distant view. The peculiarities of the site have, even more markedly than in the case of most great European capitals, determined the method of the city's ex pansion beyond the more ancient part. It has grown outwards in semicircles ever larger and larger from the central point, the Dam. Each semicircle is formed by a broad canal, bordered on both sides by a paved street, in many cases lined with double rows of trees. These semicircles are called Grachten, or Canals, and the most important of them are the Prinsengracht, the Keizersgracht, the Heerengracht, and the Singel.

At right angles to these canals, and all converging towards the central point, the Dam, run the smaller streets, in very many cases with canals passing through the centre. In short, visitors eager for statistics are soon informed that there are from seventy to eighty of these canals, that they are spanned by nearly three hundred bridges, and that they divide the city into upwards of ninety islands. The outlying parts of the town in the neighbourhood of the Rijks Museum and the Vondelspark, are laid out more in accordance with modern practice. The houses which line the sides of these canal-streets are tall, often gabled and picturesque, and well calculated to catch the eye and attract the attention of the stranger. In such streets as the Heerengracht, the buildings are often very fine, belonging to wealthy and successful men, like the present Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and not unfrequently being old family mansions, such as that belonging to the Six family.

A well-organised system of tramcars connects all quarters of the city. The streets are generally paved with what seem to an English eye abnormally rough and large cobble stones, and the passing of a cab produces a deafening uproar. Along the bigger canals small steamboats ply, and along all, big or small, canal boats, propelled by their occupants, who are expert in ' poling,' are incessantly passing, silently, it is true, unless a collision occurs — and they often do — and then the Dutch canal-poler seems to possess quite as ample and expressive a vocabulary, and one that strikes more raucously upon the ear, than that of a London cabman. Streams of animated pedestrians pass along the streets ; well-dressed ladies, who have long since discarded all national peculiarities of costume as unfashionable ; men eagerly intent upon business ; trim, whitecapped, bare-armed servant-maids ; here and there a typical peasant, say a Volendamer, with his broad, baggy trousers, or a Friesland woman, with her glittering gold skull-cap ; and, quite frequently enough to suggest that death visits Amsterdam as often as other crowded towns, the elaboratelydressed official who distributes summonses to a funeral.

Everywhere there is life and movement. Everywhere are signs of comfort and prosperity. The shining windows, the dazzlingly clean brass door-plates, and the spotless steps all please the eye. To the lover of his kind, few places are more PICTURES FROM HOLLAND. 30 interesting than the streets of Amsterdam, with their thundering cabs, their convenient tramcars, their quaint old canal boats, and their ever-varying, everinteresting faces and costumes Servant and .\anspreker, or Undertaker's Assistant. The heart of Amsterdam is the irregular square known as the Dam. From this the currents of busy life flow out in all directions, and to it from the remotest parts they all return. The far-distant suburbs are linked to it by an admirable series of trams, which differ greatly in the variety of their Alva's Last Ride through Amsterdam.

AMSTERDAM. 33 destinations, but all alike bear in a conspicuous part The Dam. Here the city took its name, here its history began, here its busy trade has for centuries centred ; here every one who treads its streets sooner or later finds his way. It was here, at the junction of the Y and the Amstel, that Gysbrecht n. constructed a dam, on which he built his castle, in 1204, and from this Amstel Dam the city derives her name. Age after age she steadily grew in commercial importance; but the period of most rapid growth was from 1585 to 1595. The Spanish Inquisition in Flanders, the sack of Antwerp, and the horrible cruelties perpetrated by the Spaniards, led multitudes of the skilled workmen to leave Flanders for Holland, and in the decade indicated Amsterdam nearly doubled her population. The city played no craven part in the long drama of the Dutch struggle for civil and religious liberty.

Her Government leaned at first to the Spanish side in the beginning of the struggle with Spain. Here Alva fixed his headquarters during the long and awful siege of Haarlem in 1573, and here, could the brave Dutchmen have succeeded in cutting the dykes, he would have fallen into their hands at the close of that terrible winter. But although Haarlem fell, and Alva's power seemed stronger than ever, it was here that the grim tyrant had to feel that the tide was on the turn. His son, Don Frederic, beaten back from Alkmaar, rejoined the Duke here. It was at this time that William the Silent united himself publicly at Dort to the Reformed Church, and also wrote his famous ' Epistle, in the form of Supplication to his royal Majesty of Spain,' wherein Alva is thus described: 'The tyrant would rather stain every river flood with our blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery.

Therefore, we have taken up arms against the Duke of Alva and his adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his bloodthirsty hands. If he prove too strong for us, we will rather die an honourable death, and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. Herein are all our cities pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be consumed with them to ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees of this cruel tyrant.' The great defeat of his fleet under Bossu off Hoorn, and the capture of that admiral, following hard upon the repulse at Alkmaar, proved the fatal blow to Alva's influence. The citizens who had welcomed him a few months before now cursed him, and even as he rode through the streets made but scant show of concealing their hatred.

Early in November, 1573, Alva left Amsterdam secretly and by night, in order to avoid his numerous and great creditors; and on December 1 8th, in the same year, left for ever the provinces where he had murdered no less than 18,000 innocent victims, where he had allowed his soldiers to perpetrate every crime that could PICTURES FROaII HOLLAND. 34 disgrace humanity, and where, by his own deeds, he has secured an abiding place in history as possibly the most cruel and ferocious monster who has ever been permitted to curse humanity. The peace of 1609, the decline of Antwerp, the enormous and rapid growth of the Dutch naval power, and the founding of the Dutch East India Company, raised Amsterdam in the seventeenth century to the proud eminence of being the first commercial city in Europe. But time has brought about its revenges.

With the decline of the Dutch power, and with the establishment of the monarchy, Amsterdam lost much of her commercial pre-eminence ; and although in recent years there has been an increase in her trade, Antwerp, as in ancient days, is the busier port. At the present time the population numbers about 400,000. The buildings that stand around the Dam bear their testimony also to the past history and present power and influence of the city. One angle of the Dam is occupied by the New Church, which, notwithstanding its name, dates from the beginning of the fifteenth century, and is only new in relation to its more ancient comrade, the Old Church, hard by. Next to the church, and forming one side of the square, is what is now called the Palace, but which ought really to be called the Town Hall and used for the purposes to which it was originally applied.