A Wanderer in Holland

in English

Heterogeneity-Foot warmers-A champion of the Hollow Land-The Dutch Drawn to the Life-Dutch suspicion-Sir William Temple's opinion-and Sir Thomas Over

from writing at least one anti-Batavian satire, the classical example of which is Andrew Marvell's "Character of Holland" (following Samuel But

carce deserves

-scouring of t

earth as was

ots when they

e ocean's slo

cockle and the

ested vomi

Dutch by jus

miners who hav

labour, fish'd

sperately for e

f't had been o

xiously small

building swal

ills which sord

nto them thei

rivet, with g

enter their ne

ke a strugglin

ves still bait t

r wat'ry Babe

a, than those t

claim the inju

-frog ore their

pose it on l

what's their

uge over th

water play a

times the bur

as a meat, bu

itons and the

Dutch serv'd u

over the new

rring, pickled

m'd, asham'd o

ir land away at

ty by magnificent feats of engineering and persistence. Why the notion of a reclaimed land

he Rhine: while the Duke of Alva remarked genially that the Dutch were of all peoples those that lived nighest to hell; but Marvell's sarc

ughly warmed to his con

ssity, that fi

government am

gmees, who best

ry, he that tr

, the one-ey'd

the drowned h

sees the risin

irst discern th

know to pump an

ord, and Country

, was a great

v'l, and be

were a laudable enough enterprise. Marvell then passes on t

le Religion

der, which they

Dutch but be c

were so man

aters of thems

land, so them

for their God f

to have been t

ld never twins

ile, spawn'd

an their Marg're

elder of a wh

ligion did i

st would Westwa

plitting on this

pillag'd the fir

m, Turk-Christ

s, and mint of

science, where n

inds credit,

olicks ourselves

al Church i

ity there wan

their Court, they

le clothes th

ogs, as all thei

to give their

ne Civilis ca

hundred and m

never any t

s purpose of ridicule and attack. Our satirists to-day are contented to pillory individuals or possibly a sect or clique. Marvell's e

th burning peat which are used to keep the feet warm in church. Such a custom was of course not less reprehensible than the

rmaids, with the

urch over the

, enshrin'd i

he loopholes of

mple with thes

place it at h

steam of fem

s nostrils, and p

Sick

St

cture in th

his England's Exchequer in 1625 (written before the war: hence,

d'st thou Englan

ery waist; her

ss to feed thy

ves, and crystal

ld'st thou be b

ge so fresh a y

oak, and ribs of

prudent moth

she might equ

r sons-that's

èrdons of th

that brings

g the fairest

ian bird to b

ian bird thy

s thou flyest fo

ich the Sabáan

the goods of e

pe, shall serve t

ise, secur'd by

es, from fires mo

ish animosity to the point of war. A great deal was made of the success of the Dutch fisheries and the mismanagement of our own. The nation was criticised in all its aspects-"wel

ack again in showers: what the souldier receives in pay, he payes in Drink: their very enemies, though they hate the State, yet love their liquor, and pay excise: the most idle, s

ge

ot large, but neat; handsome on the outside, on the inside hung with pictures and tapestry. He that hath not bread to eat hath a picture."-"They are seldom deceived, for they will trust nobody. They may alw

w Countries is as packed with pointed phrase as a satire by Pope: the first half of it whimsically destructive, the second half eul

terature to their dirt and rags. In Earle's Microcosmography, for example, a younger brother's last refuge is said to be the Low Countries, "where rags and linen are no scandal". But better t

you to give me

Whi

me. P

that you goe

hat I and my brother sho

what

yd may beat ou

at to say? Ar

, very

ns upon the United Provinces he says this: "Holland is a country, where the earth is better than the air, and profit more in request than honour; where there is more sense than wit; more good nature than good humour, and more wealth than pleasure: where a man would chuse rather to travel than to live; shall find more things to observe than desire; and mor

other vice; hard in bargaining, but Page 26just; surly and respectless, as in all democracies; thirsty, industrious, and cleanly; disheartened upon the least ill-success, and insolent upon good; inventive in manufactures, and cunning in traffick: and generally, for matter of action, that natural slowness of theirs, suits better (by reason of t

ubt if any very interesting narrative would have resulted. One of Johnson's contemporaries, Samuel Ireland, the engraver, and the father of the fraudulent author of Vortigern, wrote A Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France, in 1789, while a few years later one of Charles Lamb

xious

f Is

ntinue uncovered till the man is past him to whom he pays the compliment. The ceremony of bowing is more strictly observed at Leyden and Haarlem, than at Rotterdam or The Hague. In either of the former cities, a stranger of decent appearance can scarcely walk in the streets

an English-woman whose clothes chance to differ in any particular from those of the Dutch to escape embarrassing notice. Staring is carried to a point where it become

tantamount to a confession of failure. Had they a little more trust in the attractive qualities of their land, a little more imagination to realise that in other eyes its f

other saying, Page 28not in this case contemptuous but rather complimentary-signifying "I'll dress you down to some purpose". One piece of slang we share with Holland: the reference to the pawnbroker as an u

script, for example, was probably known as Dutch news, so terrible was his hand,-and also to "pie". The origin is to be found in the following

ved too late for translation, and so had been cut up and printed in the original. This wondrous article drove half of England crazy, and for years the best Dutch scholars squabbled and pored over it with

arly a column; but there stood on the galleys a tempting column of pie. It suddenly struck me that this might be thought Dutch. I made up the column, overcame the scruples of the foreman, and so away the country edition went with its philological puzzle, to worry the honest agric

ge

ich is dependent upon spirits (originally as supplied to malefactors about to mount the scaffold), is no indication that the Dutch lack bravery. To one

what is Dut

mes, and as

on's fire and

yter yards

Robert an

olebay and

ke, whose

chivalry

ellington,

ince of O

e of nobl

nd'ring ea

ver foul

r King Willi

Papacy b

tists want

er may be

rid of fo

your Dutch

see Dutch c

ge