Venice.] VENETIAN STORY. 153 or, when all his voyages are over, receiving the homage of the Venetians on his return, and settling down as a member of the Grand Council. We gaze upon Ignatius Loyola again and again, passing through the narrow streets of Venice, sometimes begging his bread, and always sowing the seeds of the new doctrines which culminated in the establishment of the Order of Jesus. We see Goldoni writing his immortal comedies in the old Gothic palace near the Frari. We watch the brave Sarpi-Paul the Friar-resisting the wrath of Rome, personified in Paul the Pope; we see him nearly assassinated by the nuncios of the papal court, but fearfully wounded though he be, recovering so as to fight nobly in the cause of the Republic again. We enter at the house of Titin, whom kings and emperors delighted to honour, and see him surrounded with a gay and witty throng at one of his famous garden parties, and hear the sarcasm of Sansovino and the wild laughter of Aretino, the profligate poet; or we look in later on, while the plague is raging, and the old man in the agony of death sees his house robbed by ruffians, who are carrying away some of his choicest pictures as the eyes of the painter film in death. We see the first book printed in Italy issuing from the press at Venice, and note the excitement among the Venetians as they hold in their hands the "Gazette" -sold for a gazetta-the first newspaper ever published; or watch the excitement on the Rialto when the first bill of exchange was issued, and the first bank of deposit opened. We hear Malibran, Pasta, Catalini, Grisi, Rubini singing in the Fenice Opera House; we see Byron meeting Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, for the first time at the palace of Madame Albrizzi; we see Josephine ruling as Queen of Venetian society; we mark old Doge Manin fall senseless as he is about to take the oath of allegiance to Austria; and we hear the ringing shouts of gladness as the Venetians welcome Victor Emanuel, King of Italy. And so we leave Venice, calling it, as Goethe does, "a grand and reverend work of collective human effort-a glorious monument, not of a ruler, but a people." Characteristics of Holland-Its Origin-Its Disadvantages-The Waterstaat and its Work-Enemies-Summary of Political History-Site of Amsterdam-The Harbour-History of the City-Commerce-The Great Canals-The DamThe Palace-The Exchange and its Legend-The Churches of Amsterdam-Monument to De Ruyter-Religious Toleration-The Pilgrim Fathers-Diamond Cutting and Polishing-Dutch Art; its Characteristics-The MuseumManners and Customs in Amsterdam -Charitable Institutions-Environs-Broek-Zaandam-Alkmaar-HAARLEMThe Siege-The Groote Kerk-A Tulip Mania-Coster, the Inventor of Printing-The Great Sea of Haarlem. "Holland is a conquest made by man over the sea-it is an artificial country. The Hollanders made it. It exists because the Hollanders preserve it. It will vanish whenever the Hollanders shall abandon it."-E. DE AMICIS. J T is impossible to present anything like a comprehen sive view of a Dutch city until the country itself has been described, and therefore it will be necessary, in the first place, to tell how the country came into existence, and how its existence has been maintained. In some countries the history of great people and great events clusters round one or two of the chief cities. This is not the case with Holland. Obscure little towns have as much historical and biographical interest as the political capital or the commercial capital, and therefore, in our descriptions, while taking Amsterdam and the Hague as the two principal places for consideration, we shall endeavour to bring in some account of famous towns and villages, in order that the story of the lives of great men, and the history of great events, may be told with more completeness than could otherwise be done. AN AMSTERDAM POLICEMAN. Holland, at the first, was a wild, desolate land, in the midst of lakes and seas, with here and there a forest of oaks and alders. Hither came adventurous German tribes, who reared their rude mud hovels, and entrenched themselves as well as they could against the approach of wandering rivers and incursions of the sea. Enemies beset them on every hand-winds, rain, and fog; but the brave pioneers held their own, and defied, as long as Amsterdam] HOLLAND AND THE HOLLANDERS. 155 possible, the furious tempests. Sometimes it would happen that their settlements would be covered by the invading waters of the sea that poured into the very heart of the country, in which case they moved away, and pitched their tents elsewhere, living as they could on fish and game, and sea-birds' eggs. In course of time it became apparent that if ever those wandering tribes should be able to make themselves into a nation, and their land habitable, they must create a spot free from the invasion of waters from the sea, the rivers, and the morasses. To this end they built dykes round their tiny settlements, then they enlarged their borders by driving back the sea, cutting channels for the rivers, and protecting their separate provinces, until finally they were able to protect the whole land. They drained the lakes and morasses, and turned them into valuable tracts of land, where they built their towns and villages; the rivers and canals they pressed into their service as means of easy communication from one place to another, and from time to time they extended their conquest over the sea. The disadvantages under which the Hollanders laboured are almost inconceivable. "The soil, which in other countries is a gift of nature, is in Holland a work of men's hands. Holland draws the greater part of her wealth from commerce, but before commerce comes the cultivation of the soil, and the soil had to be created. There were sand-banks, interspersed with layers of peat, broad downs swept by the winds, great tracts of barren land, apparently condemned to an eternal sterility. The first elements of manufacture-iron and coal-were wanting; there was no wood, because the forests had already been destroyed by tempests when agriculture began; there was no stone, there were no metals. Nature,' says a Dutch poet, had refused all her gifts to Holland; the Hollanders had to do everything in spite of nature.' They began by fertilising the sand. In some places they formed a productive soil with earth brought from a distance, as a garden is made; they spread the silicious dust of the downs over the too watery meadows; they mixed with the sandy earth the remains of peat taken from the bottoms; they extracted clay to lend fertility to the surface of their lands; they laboured to break up the downs with the plough, and thus in a thousand ways, and continually fighting off the menacing waters, they succeeded in bringing Holland to a state of cultivation not inferior to that of more favoured regions." Holland may, in many respects, be regarded as the most wonderful country in the world; her great cities, as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, are built upon piles driven in the sand; the land is lower than the sea, and is protected by dykes, the work of men's hands; the rivers are diverted from their natural courses, and made to pass in beds which men's hands have made, and the whole country is dependent upon the unceasing watchfulness of the inhabitants to prevent its being carried away. The Waterstaat is the official organisation for watching and controlling the water -that great enemy which has so often threatened to destroy the whole country-an enemy which, if left unwatched or unchecked, would soon reduce the country to a state of absolute and hopeless ruin. The sources of danger are, in the first place, from the "outer water," caused by the "reflux of the Atlantic waves, which after being driven round the north of Scotland into the German Ocean, and thence southward towards the Atlantic again, are unable to find a Characteristics of Holland-Its Origin-Its Disadvantages - The Waterstaat and its Work-Enemies-Summary of Political History-Site of Amsterdam-The Harbour-History of the City-Commerce-The Great Canals-The DamThe Palace-The Exchange and its Legend-The Churches of Amsterdam-Monument to De Ruyter-Religious Toleration-The Pilgrim Fathers-Diamond Cutting and Polishing-Dutch Art; its Characteristics-The MuseumManners and Customs in Amsterdam -Charitable Institutions-Environs-Broek-Zaandam-Alkmaar-HAARLEMThe Siege-The Groote Kerk-A Tulip Mania-Coster, the Inventor of Printing-The Great Sea of Haarlem. "Holland is a conquest made by man over the sea-it is an artificial country. The Hollanders made it. It exi because the Hollanders preserve it. It will vanish whenever the Hollanders shall abandon it."-E. DE AMICIS. T is impossible to present anything like a compreh sive view of a Dutch city until the country itself been described, and therefore it will be necessary the first place, to tell how the country came into existe and how its existence has been maintained. 2 In some countries the history of great people great events clusters round one or two of the chief c This is not the case with Holland. Obscure little 1 have as much historical and biographical interest a political capital or the commercial capital, and the in our descriptions, while taking Amsterdam and the as the two principal places for consideration, we sh: deavour to bring in some account of famous towns and villages, in order that th of the lives of great men, and the history of great events, may be told with mo pleteness than could otherwise be done. AN AMSTERDAM POLICEMAN. se Holland, at the first, was a wild, desolate land, in the midst of lakes and here and there a forest of oaks and alders. Hither came adventurous German tri reared their rude mud hovels, and entrenched themselves as well as they could ag approach of wandering rivers and incursions of the sea. Enemies beset them hand-winds, rain, and fog; but the brave pioneers held their own, and defied, as Amsterdam] HOLLAND AND THE HOLLANDERS. 155 possible, the furious tempests. be covered by the invading waters of the sea that poured into the very heart of the country, in which case they moved away, and pitched their tents elsewhere, living as they Sometimes it would happen that their settlements would could on fish and game, and sea-birds' eggs. In course of time it became apparent that if ever those wandering tribes should be able to make themselves into a nation, and their land habitable, they must create a spot free from the invasion of waters from the sea, the rivers, and the morasses. they built dykes round their tiny settlements, then they enlarged their borders by driving back the sea, cutting channels for the rivers, and protecting their separate provinces, until finally they were able to protect the whole land. They drained the lakes and morasses, and turned them into valuable tracts of land, where they built their towns and villages; the rivers and canals they pressed into their service as means of easy communication from To this end one place to another, and from time to time they extended their conquest over the sea. The disadvantages under which the Hollanders laboured are almost inconceivable. "The soil, which in other countries is a gift of nature, is in Holland a work of men's hands. Holland draws the greater part of her wealth from commerce, but before commerce comes the cultivation of the soil, and the soil had to be created. sand-banks, interspersed with layers of peat, broad downs swept by the winds, great tracts of barren land, apparently condemned to an eternal sterility. manufacture-iron and coal-were wanting; there was no wood, because the forests had already been destroyed by tempests when agriculture began; there was no stone, there There were were no metals. Nature,' says a Dutch poet, had refused all her gifts to Holland; the Hollanders had to do everything in spite of nature.' The first elements of d. In some places they formed a productive soil with earth brought from a distance, a garden is made; they spread the silicious dust of the downs over the too watery lows; they mixed with the sandy earth the remains of peat taken from the bottoms; They began by fertilising the extracted clay to lend fertility to the surface of their lands; they laboured to break the downs with the plough, and thus in a thousand ways, and continually fighting off menacing waters, they succeeded in bringing Holland to a state of cultivation not to that of more favoured regions.' Hand may, in ; her great cities, as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, are built upon piles driven in the many respects, be regarded as the most wonderful country in the the land is lower than the sea, and is protected by dykes, the work of men's hands; vers are diverted from their natural courses, and made to pass in beds which men's ave made, and the whole country is dependent upon the unceasing watchfulness of ants to prevent its being carried away. Waterstaat is the official organisation for watching and controlling the water The stres of danger are, in the first place, from the "outer water," caused by the se it les lics, All of on of armest elaxing house L of the en piles, supports sums of é, for each |