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diff --git a/old/62403-0.txt b/old/62403-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2972762..0000000 --- a/old/62403-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3279 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Holland and Scandinavia, by -Augustus J. C. Hare - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Sketches in Holland and Scandinavia - -Author: Augustus J. C. Hare - -Release Date: June 15, 2020 [EBook #62403] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES IN HOLLAND AND *** - - - - -Produced by Fiona Holmes, MFR and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes. - -The few instances of inconsistent hyphenation have been retained. -Page 100 — Changed Lubeck to Lübeck. - - - SKETCHES - IN - HOLLAND AND SCANDINAVIA - - BY - AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE - AUTHOR OF "CITIES OF ITALY," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," ETC. - - LONDON - GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD - - LONDON - SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE - 1885 - - [_All rights reserved_] - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The slight sketches in this volume are only the result of ordinary -tours in the countries they attempt to describe. Yet the days they -recall were so delightful, and their memory—especially of the tour -in Norway—is so indescribably sunny, that I cannot help hoping their -publication may lead others to enjoy what is at once so pleasant and so -easy of attainment. - - AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE. - - HOLMHURST: _November 1884_. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - IN HOLLAND 1 - - IN DENMARK 59 - - IN SWEDEN 83 - - IN NORWAY 105 - - - - -_IN HOLLAND._ - - -At Roosendal, about an hour's railway journey from Antwerp, the -boundary between Belgium and Holland is crossed, and a branch line -diverges to Breda. - -Somehow, like most travellers, we could not help expecting to see some -marked change on reaching a new country, and in Holland one could not -repress the expectation of beginning at once to see the pictures of -Teniers and Gerard Dou in real life. We were certainly disappointed at -first. Open heaths were succeeded by woods of stunted firs, and then by -fields with thick hedges of beech or alder, till the towers of Breda -came in sight. Here a commonplace omnibus took us to the comfortable -inn of Zum Kroon, and we were shown into bedrooms reached by an open -wooden staircase from the courtyard, and quickly joined the table -d'hôte, at which the magnates of the town were seated with napkins well -tucked up under their chins, talking, with full mouths, in Dutch, of -which to our unaccustomed ears the words seemed all in one string. -Most excellent was the dinner—roast meat and pears, quantities of -delicious vegetables cooked in different ways, piles of ripe mulberries -and cake, and across the little garden, with its statues and bright -flower-beds, we could see the red sails of the barges going up and down -the canals. - -As soon as dinner was over, we sallied forth to see the town, which -impressed us more than any Dutch city did afterwards, perhaps because -it was the first we saw. The winding streets—one of them ending in a -high windmill—are lined with houses wonderfully varied in outline, -and of every shade of delicate colour, yellow, grey, or brown, though -the windows always have white frames and bars. Passing through a low -archway under one of the houses, we found ourselves, when we least -expected it, in the public garden, a kind of wood where the trees have -killed all the grass, surrounded by canals, beyond one of which is a -great square château built by William III. of England, encircled by the -Merk, and enclosing an arcaded court. There was an older château of -1350 at Breda, but we failed to find it. - -[Illustration: THE MARKET-PLACE AT BREDA.] - -In stately splendour, from the old houses of the market-place, rises -the noble Hervormde Kerk (Protestant Church), with a lofty octagon -tower, and a most characteristic bulbous Dutch spire. Here, as we -wanted to see the interior, we first were puzzled by our ignorance of -Dutch, finding, as everywhere in the smaller towns, that the natives -knew no language but their own. But two old women in high caps and -gold earrings observed our puzzledom from a window and pointed to a -man and a key—we nodded; the man pointed to himself, a door, and -a key—we nodded; and we were soon inside the building. It was our -first introduction to Dutch Calvinism and iconoclasm, and piteous -indeed was it to see so magnificent a church thickly covered with -whitewash, and the quantity of statues which it contains of deceased -Dukes and Duchesses of Nassau bereft of their legs and petticoats. -Only, in a grand side chapel on the left of the choir, the noble tomb -of Engelbrecht II. of Nassau, general under the Emperor Maximilian -(1505), remains intact. The guide lights matches to shine through the -transparent alabaster of the figures; that of the Duke represents -Death, that of the Duchess Sleep, as they lie beneath a stone slab -which bears the armour of Engelbrecht, and is supported by figures -of Cæsar, Hannibal, Regulus, and Philip of Macedon; that of Cæsar is -sublime. The tomb of Sir Francis Vere in Westminster Abbey is of the -same design, and is supposed to be copied from this famous monument. -Outside the chapel is the tomb of Engelbrecht V. of Nassau, with all -his family kneeling, in quaint headdresses. The other sights of the -church are the brass font in the Baptistery, and a noble brass in the -choir of William de Gaellen, Dean of the Chapter, 1539. It will be -observed that here, and almost everywhere else in Holland, the names -of saints which used to be attached to the churches have disappeared; -the buildings are generally known as the old church, or new church, or -great church. - -After a delicious breakfast of coffee and thick cream, with rusks, -scones, and different kinds of cheese, always an indispensable in Dutch -breakfasts, we took to the railway again and crossed Zealand, which -chiefly consists of four islands, Noordt Beveland, Zuid Beveland, -Schouwen, and Walcheren, and is less visited by the rest of the -Netherlanders than any other part of the country. The land is all -cut up into vast polders, as the huge meadows are called, which are -recovered from the sea and protected by embankments. Here, if human -care was withdrawn for six months, the whole country would be under the -sea again. A corps of engineers called 'waterstaat' are continually -employed to watch the waters, and to keep in constant repair the dykes, -which are formed of clay at the bottom, as that is more waterproof -than anything else, and thatched with willows, which are here grown -extensively for the purpose. If the sea passes a dyke, ruin is -imminent, an alarm bell rings, and the whole population rush to the -rescue. The moment one dyke is even menaced, the people begin to build -another inside it, and then rely upon the double defence, whilst they -fortify the old one. But all their care has not preserved the islands -of Zealand. Three centuries ago, Schouwen was entirely submerged, and -every living creature was drowned. Soon after, Noordt Beveland was -submerged, and remained for several years entirely under water, only -the points of the church spires being visible. Zuid Beveland had been -submerged in the fourteenth century. Walcheren was submerged as late as -1808, and Tholen even in 1825. It has been aptly asserted that the sea -to the inhabitants of Holland is what Vesuvius is to Torre del Greco. -How well its French name of Pays-Bas suits the country! De Amicis says -that the Dutch have three enemies—the sea, the lakes, and the rivers; -they repel the sea, they dry the lakes, and they imprison the rivers; -but with the sea it is a combat which never ceases. - -[Illustration: BERGEN-OP-ZOOM.] - -The story of the famous siege of 1749 made us linger at Bergen-op-Zoom, -a clean, dull little town with bright white houses surrounding an -irregular market-place, and surmounted by the heavy tower of the Church -of S. Gertrude. In the Stadhuis is a fine carved stone chimney-piece; -but there is little worth seeing, and we were soon speeding across -the rich pastures of Zuid Beveland, and passing its capital of Goes, -prettily situated amongst cherry orchards, the beautiful cruciform -church with a low central spire rising above the trees on its ramparts. -Every now and then the train seems scarcely out of the water, which -covers a vast surface of the pink-green flats, and recalls the -description in Hudibras of— - - A country that draws fifty feet of water, - In which men live as in the hold of nature, - And when the sea does in upon them break, - And drown a province, does but spring a leak. - -The peasant women at the stations are a perpetual amusement, for there -is far more costume here than in most parts of Holland, and peculiar -square handsome gold ornaments, something like closed golden books, are -universally worn on each side of the face. - -So, crossing a broad salt canal into the island of Walcheren, we -reached Middleburg, a handsome town which was covered with water to the -house tops when the island was submerged. It was the birthplace of -Zach Janssen and Hans Lipperhey, the inventors of the telescope, _c._ -1610. In the market-place is a most beautiful Gothic townhall, built -by the architect Keldermans, early in the sixteenth century. We asked -a well dressed boy how we could get into it, and he, without further -troubling himself, pointed the way with his finger. The building -contains a quaint old hall called the Vierschaar, and a so-called -museum, but there is little enough to see. As we came out the boy met -us. 'You must give me something: I pointed out the entrance of the -Stadhuis to you.' In Holland we have always found that no one, rich or -poor, does a kindness or even a civility for nothing! - -The crowd in the market-place was so great that it was impossible to -sketch the Stadhuis as we should have wished, but the people themselves -were delightfully picturesque. The women entirely conceal their hair -under their white caps, but have golden corkscrews sticking out on -either side the face, like weapons of defence, from which the golden -slabs we have observed before were pendant. The Nieuwe Kerk is of -little interest, though it contains the tomb of William of Holland, who -was elected Emperor of Germany in 1250, and we wandered on through the -quiet streets, till a Gothic arch in an ancient wall looked tempting. -Passing through it we found ourselves in the enclosure of the old -abbey, shaded by a grove of trees, and surrounded by ancient buildings, -part of which are appropriated as the Hotel Abdij, where we arrived -utterly famished, and found a table d'hôte at 2.30 P.M. unspeakably -reviving. - -Any one who sees Holland thoroughly ought also to visit Zieriksee, the -capital of the island of Schouwen; but the water locomotion thither is -so difficult and tedious that we preferred keeping to the railways, -which took us back in the dark over the country we had already -traversed, and a little more, to Dortrecht, where there is a convenient -tramway to take travellers from the station into the town. Here, at the -Hôtel de Fries, we found comfortable bedrooms, with boarded floors and -box-beds like those in Northumbrian cottages, and we had supper in the -public room, separated into two parts by a daïs for strangers, whence -we looked down into the humbler division, which recalled many homely -scenes of Ostade and Teniers in its painted wooden ceiling, its bright, -polished furniture, its cat and dog and quantity of birds and flowers, -its groups of boors at round tables drinking out of tankards, and the -landlady and her daughter in their gleaming gold ornaments, sitting -knitting, with the waiter standing behind them amusing himself by the -general conversation. - -Our morning at Dortrecht was very delightful, and it is a thoroughly -charming place. Passing under a dark archway in a picturesque building -of Charles V. opposite the hotel, we found ourselves at once on the -edge of an immense expanse of shimmering river, with long rich polders -beyond, between which the wide flood breaks into three different -branches. Red and white sails flit down them. Here and there rise a -line of pollard willows or clipped elms, and now and then a church -spire. On the nearest shore an ancient windmill, coloured in delicate -tints of grey and yellow, surmounts a group of white buildings. On the -left is a broad esplanade of brick, lined with ancient houses, and a -canal with a bridge, the long arms of which are ready to open at a -touch and give a passage to the great yellow-masted barges, which are -already half intercepting the bright red house-fronts ornamented with -stone, which belong to some public buildings facing the end of the -canal. With what a confusion of merchandise are the boats laden, and -how gay is the colouring, between the old weedy posts to which they are -moored! - -It was from hence that Isabella of France, with Sir John de Hainault -and many other faithful knights, set out on their expedition against -Edward II. and the government of the Spencers. - -From the busy port, where nevertheless they are dredging, we cross -another bridge and find ourselves in a quietude like that of a -cathedral close in England. On one side is a wide pool half covered -with floating timber, and, in the other half, reflecting like a mirror -the houses on the opposite shore, with their bright gardens of lilies -and hollyhocks, and trees of mountain ash, which bend their masses -of scarlet berries to the still water. Between the houses are glints -of blue river and of inevitable windmills on the opposite shore. And -all this we observe standing in the shadow of a huge church, the -Groote Kerk, with a nave of the fourteenth century, and a choir of -the fifteenth, and a gigantic brick tower, in which three long Gothic -arches, between octagonal tourelles, enclose several tiers of windows. -At the top is a great clock, and below the church a grove of elms, -through which fitful sunlight falls on the grass and the dead red of -the brick pavement (so grateful to feet sore with the sharp stones of -other Dutch cities), where groups of fishermen are collecting in their -blue shirts and white trousers. - -[Illustration: GROOTE KERK, DORTRECHT.] - -There is little to see inside this or any other church in Holland; -travellers will rather seek for the memorials, at the Kloveniers -Doelen, of the famous Synod of Dort, which was held 1618-19, in the -hope of effecting a compromise between the Gomarists, or disciples of -Calvin, and the Arminians who followed Zwingli, and who had recently -obtained the name of Remonstrants from the 'remonstrance' which they -had addressed eight years before in defence of their doctrines. The -Calvinists held that the greater part of mankind was excluded from -grace, which the Arminians denied; but at the Synod of Dort the -Calvinists proclaimed themselves as infallible as the Pope, and their -resolutions became the law of the Dutch reformed Church. The Arminians -were forthwith outlawed; a hundred ministers who refused to subscribe -to the dictates of the Synod were banished; Hugo Grotius and Rombout -Hoogerbeets were imprisoned for life at Loevestein; the body of the -secretary Ledenberg, who committed suicide in prison, was hung; and Van -Olden Barneveldt, the friend of William the Silent, was beheaded in his -seventy-second year. - -[Illustration: CANAL AT DORTRECHT.] - -There is nothing in the quiet streets of Dortrecht to remind one that -it was once one of the most important commercial cities of Holland, -taking precedence even of Rotterdam, Delft, Leyden, and Amsterdam. It -also possessed a privilege called the Staple of Dort, by which all the -carriers on the Maas and Rhine were forced to unload their merchandise -here, and pay all duties imposed, only using the boats or porters of -the place in their work, and so bringing a great revenue to the town. - -More than those in any of the other towns of Holland do the little -water streets of Dortrecht recall Venice, the houses rising abruptly -from the canals; only the luminous atmosphere and the shimmering water -changing colour like a chameleon, are wanting. - -Through the street of wine—Wijnstraat—built over storehouses used for -the staple, we went to the Museum to see the pictures. There were two -schools of Dortrecht. Jacob Geritse Cuyp (1575), Albert Cuyp (1605), -Ferdinand Bol (1611), Nicolas Maas (1632), and Schalken (1643) belonged -to the former; Arend de Gelder, Arnold Houbraken, Dirk Stoop, and Ary -Scheffer are of the latter. Sunshine and glow were the characteristics -of the first school, greyness and sobriety of the second. But there -are few good pictures at Dort now, and some of the best works of -Cuyp are to be found in our National Gallery, executed at his native -place and portraying the great brick tower of the church in the golden -haze of evening, seen across rich pastures, where the cows are lying -deep in the meadow grass. The works of Ary Scheffer are now the most -interesting pictures in the Dortrecht Gallery. Of the subject 'Christus -Consolator' there are two representations. In the more striking of -these the pale Christ is seated amongst the sick, sorrowful, blind, -maimed, and enslaved, who are all stretching out their hands to Him. -Beneath is the tomb which the artist executed for his mother, Cornelia -Scheffer, whose touching figure is represented lying with outstretched -hands, in the utmost abandonment of repose. - -An excursion should be made from Dortrecht to the castle of Loevestein -on the Rhine, where Grotius, imprisoned in 1619, was concealed by his -wife in the chest which brought in his books and linen. It was conveyed -safely out of the castle by her courageous maid Elsje van Houwening, -and was taken at first to the house of Jacob Daatselaer, a supposed -friend of Grotius, who refused to render any assistance. But his wife -consented to open the chest, and the philosopher, disguised as a mason, -escaped to Brabant. - -It is much best to visit Rotterdam as an excursion from Dortrecht. We -thought it the most odious place we ever were in—immense, filthy, and -not very picturesque. Its handsomest feature is the vast quay called -the Boompjes, on the Maas. Here and there a great windmill reminds you -unmistakably of where you are, and the land streets are intersected -everywhere by water streets, the carriages being constantly stopped -to let ships pass through the bridges. In the Groote Markt stands a -bronze statue of Desiderius Erasmus—'Vir saeculi sui primarius, et -civis omnium praestantissimus,' which is the work of Hendrik de Keyser -(1662), and in the Wijde Kerkstraat is the house where he was born, -inscribed 'Haec est parva domus, magnus qua natus Erasmus, 1467,' but -it is now a tavern. The great church of S. Lawrence—Groote Kerk—built -in 1477-87, contains the tombs of a number of Dutch admirals, and has -a grand pavement of monumental slabs, but is otherwise frightful. The -portion used for service is said to be 'so conveniently constructed -that the zealous Christians of Rotterdam prefer sleeping through a -sermon there, to any other church in the city.' Part of the rest is -used as a cart-house, the largest chapel is a commodious carpenter's -shop, and the aisles round the part which is still a church, where -there has been an attempt at restoration in painting the roof yellow -and putting up some hideous yellow seats, are a playground for the -children of the town, who are freely admitted in their perambulators, -though for strangers there is a separate fee for each part of the -edifice they enter. - -We went to see the pictures in the Museum bequeathed to the town by -Jacob Otto Boyman, but did not admire them much. It takes time to -accustom one's mind to Dutch art, and the endless representations -of family life, with domestic furniture, pots and pans, &c., or of -the simple local landscapes—clipped avenues, sandy roads, dykes, -and cottages, or even of the cows, and pigs, and poultry, which seem -wonderfully executed, but, where one has too much of the originals, -scarcely worth the immense amount of time and labour bestowed upon -them. The calm seas of Van de Welde and Van der Capelle only afford -a certain amount of relief. The scenes of village life are seldom -pleasing, often coarse, and never have anything elevating to offer or -ennobling to recall. We thought that the real charm of the Dutch school -to outsiders consists in the immense power and variety of its portraits. - -Hating Rotterdam, we thankfully felt ourselves speeding over the flat, -rich lands to Gouda, where we found an agricultural fête going on, -banners half way down the houses, and a triumphal arch as the entrance -to the square, formed of spades, rakes, and forks, with a plough at -the top, and decorated with corn, potatoes, turnips, and carrots, and -cornucopias pouring out flowers at the sides. In the square—a great -cheese market, for the Gouda cheese is esteemed the best in Holland—is -a Gothic Stadhuis, and beyond it, the Groote Kerk of 1552, of which the -bare interior is enlivened by the stained windows executed by Wonter -and Dirk Crabeth in 1555-57. We were the better able to understand -the design of these noble windows because the cartoon for each was -spread upon the pavement in front of it; but one could not help one's -attention being unpleasantly distracted by the number of men of the -burgher class, smoking and with their hats on, who were allowed to use -the church as a promenade. Gouda also made an unpleasant impression -upon us, because, expensive as we found every hotel in Holland, we were -nowhere so outrageously cheated as here. - -[Illustration: THE VIJVER.] - -It is a brief journey to the Hague—La Haye, Gravenhage—most -delightful of little capitals, with its comfortable hotels and pleasant -surroundings. The town is still so small that it seems to merit the -name of 'the largest village in Europe,' which was given to it because -the jealousy of other towns prevented its having any vote in the States -General till the time of Louis Bonaparte, who gave it the privileges -of a city. It is said that the Hague, more than any other place, may -recall what Versailles was just before the great revolution. It has -thoroughly the aspect of a little royal city. Without any of the crowd -and bustle of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, it is not dead like the smaller -towns of Holland; indeed, it even seems to have a quiet gaiety, without -dissipation, of its own. All around are parks and gardens, whence wide -streets lead speedily through the new town of the rich bourgeoisie -to the old central town of stadholders, where a beautiful lake, the -Vijver, or fish-pond, comes as a surprise, with the eccentric old -palace of the Binnenhof rising straight out of its waters. We had been -told it was picturesque, but were prepared for nothing so charming -as the variety of steep roofs and towers, the clear reflections, the -tufted islet, and the beautiful colouring of the whole scene of the -Vijver. Skirting the lake, we entered the precincts of the palace -through the picturesque Gudevangen Poort, where Cornelius de Witte, -Burgomaster of Dort, was imprisoned in 1672, on a false accusation of -having suborned the surgeon William Tichelaur to murder the Prince of -Orange. He was dragged out hence and torn to pieces by the people, -together with his brother Jean de Witte, Grand Pensioner, whose house -remains hard by in the Kneuterdijk. - -The court of the Binnenhof is exceedingly handsome, and contains the -ancient Gothic Hall of the Knights, where Johann van Olden Barneveld, -Grand Pensioner, or Prime Minister, was condemned to death 'for having -conspired to dismember the States of the Netherlands, and greatly -troubled God's Church,' and in the front of which (May 24, 1619) he was -beheaded. - -[Illustration: HALL OF THE KNIGHTS, THE HAGUE.] - -Close to the north-east gate of the Binnenhof is the handsome house -called Mauritshuis, containing the inestimable Picture Gallery of the -Hague, which will bear many visits, and has the great charm of not -being huge beyond the powers of endurance. On the ground floor are -chiefly portraits, amongst which a simple dignified priest by Philippe -de Champaigne, with a far-away expression, will certainly arrest -attention. Deeply interesting is the portrait by Ravesteyn of William -the Silent, in his ruff and steel armour embossed with gold—a deeply -lined face, with a slight peaked beard. His widow, Louise de Coligny, -is also represented. There is a fine portrait by Schalcken of our -William the Third. Noble likenesses of Sir George Sheffield and his -wife Anna Wake, by Vandyke, are a pleasing contrast to the many works -of Rubens. There are deeply interesting portraits by Albert Dürer and -Holbein. - -On the first floor we must sit down before the great picture which -Rembrandt painted in his twenty-sixth year (1632) of the School of -Anatomy. Here the shrewd professor, Nicholaus Tulp, with a face -brimming with knowledge and intelligence, is expounding the anatomy of -a corpse to a number of members of the guild of surgeons, some of whom -are full of eager interest and inquiry, whilst others are inattentive: -the dead figure is greatly foreshortened and not repulsive. In another -room, a fine work of Thomas de Keyser represents the Four Burgomasters -of Amsterdam hearing of the arrival of Marie de Medicis. A beautiful -work of Adrian van Ostade is full of light and character—but only -represents a stolid boor drinking to the health of a fiddler, while a -child plays with a dog in the background. - -A group of admirers will always be found round 'the Immortal Bull' of -Paul Potter, which was considered the fourth picture in importance -in the Louvre, when the spoils of Europe were collected at Paris. -De Amicis says, 'It lives, it breathes; with his bull Paul Potter -has written the true Idyl of Holland.' It is, however—being really -a group of cattle—not a pleasing, though a life-like picture. Much -more attractive is the exquisite 'Presentation' of Rembrandt (1631), -in which Joseph and Mary, simple peasants, present the Holy Child to -Simeon, a glorious old man in a jewelled robe, who invokes a blessing -upon the infant, while other priests look on with interest. A wonderful -ray of light, falling upon the principal group, illuminates the whole -temple. Perhaps the most beautiful work in the whole gallery is the -Young Housekeeper of Gerard Dou. A lovely young woman sits at work by -an open window looking into a street. By her side is the baby asleep -in its cradle, over which the maid is leaning. The light falls on the -chandelier and all the household belongings of a well-to-do citizen: in -all there is the same marvellous finish; it is said that the handle of -the broom took three days to paint. - -There is not much to discover in the streets of the Hague. In the great -square called the Plein is the statue of William the Silent, with his -finger raised, erected in 1848 'by the grateful people to the father of -their fatherland.' In the fish-market, tame storks are kept, for the -same reason that bears are kept at Berne, because storks are the arms -of the town. But the chief attraction of the place lies in its lovely -walks amid the noble beeches and oaks of the Bosch, beyond which on the -left is Huis ten Bosch, the Petit Trianon of the Hague, the favourite -palace of Queen Sophie, who held her literary court and died there. -It is a quiet country house, looking out upon flats, with dykes and a -windmill. All travellers seem to visit it,—which must be a ceaseless -surprise to the extortionate custode to whom they have to pay a gulden -a head, and who will hurry them rapidly through some commonplace rooms -in which there is nothing really worth seeing. One room is covered with -paintings of the Rubens school, amid which, high in the dome, is a -portrait of the Princess Amalia of Solms, who built the house in 1647. - -[Illustration: SCHEVENINGEN.] - -A tram takes people for twopence halfpenny to Scheveningen through the -park, a thick wood with charming forest scenery. As the trees become -more scattered, the roar of the North Sea is heard upon the shore. -Above the sands, on the dunes or sand-hills, which extend from the -Helder to Dunkirk, is a broad terrace, lined on one side by a row of -wooden pavilions with flags and porticoes, and below it are long lines -of tents, necessary in the intense glare, while, nearer the waves, are -thousands of beehive-like refuges, with a single figure seated in each. -The flat monotonous shore would soon pall upon one, yet through the -whole summer it is an extraordinary lively scene. The placid happiness -of Dutch family life has here taken possession. On Sunday afternoons, -especially, the sands seem as crowded with human existence as they are -represented in the picture of Lingelbach, which we have seen in the -Mauritshuis, portraying the vast multitude assembled here to witness -the embarkation of Charles II. for England. - -An excursion must be made to Delft, only twenty minutes distant from -the Hague by rail. Pepys calls it 'a most sweet town, with bridges and -a river in every street,' and that is a tolerably accurate description. -It seems thinly inhabited, and the Dutch themselves look upon it as a -place where one will die of _ennui_. It has scarcely changed with two -hundred years. The view of Delft by Van der Meer in the Museum at the -Hague might have been painted yesterday. All the trees are clipped, -for in artificial Holland every work of Nature is artificialised. At -certain seasons, numbers of storks may be seen upon the chimney-tops, -for Delft is supposed to be the stork town _par excellence_. Near -the shady canal Oude Delft is a low building, once the Convent of S. -Agata, with an ornamented door surmounted by a relief, leading into a -courtyard. It is a common barrack now, for Holland, which has no local -histories, has no regard whatever for its historic associations or -monuments. Yet this is the greatest shrine of Dutch history, for it is -here that William the Silent died. - -[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO S. AGATA, DELFT.] - -Philip II. had promised 25,000 crowns of gold to any one who would -murder the Prince of Orange. An attempt had already been made, but had -failed, and William refused to take any measures for self-protection, -saying, 'It is useless: my years are in the hands of God: if there is -a wretch who has no fear of death, my life is in his hand, however I -may guard it.' At length, a young man of seven-and-twenty appeared -at Delft, who gave himself out to be one Guyon, a Protestant, son of -Pierre Guyon, executed at Besançon for having embraced Calvinism, and -declared that he was exiled for his religion. Really he was Balthazar -Gerard, a bigoted Catholic, but his conduct in Holland soon procured -him the reputation of an evangelical saint. The Prince took him into -his service and sent him to accompany a mission from the States of -Holland to the Court of France, whence he returned to bring the news -of the death of the Duke of Anjou to William. At that time the Prince -was living with his court in the convent of S. Agata, where he received -Balthazar alone in his chamber. The moment was opportune, but the -would-be assassin had no arms ready. William gave him a small sum of -money and bade him hold himself in readiness to be sent back to France. -With the money Balthazar bought two pistols from a soldier (who -afterwards killed himself when he heard the use which was made of the -purchase). On the next day, June 10, 1584, Balthazar returned to the -convent as William was descending the staircase to dinner, with his -fourth wife, Louise de Coligny (daughter of the Admiral who fell in the -massacre of S. Bartholomew), on his arm. He presented his passport and -begged the Prince to sign it, but was told to return later. At dinner -the Princess asked William who was the young man who had spoken to him, -for his expression was the most terrible she had ever seen. The Prince -laughed, said it was Guyon, and was as gay as usual. Dinner being over, -the family party were about to remount the staircase. The assassin was -waiting in a dark corner at the foot of the stairs, and as William -passed he discharged a pistol with three balls and fled. The Prince -staggered, saying, 'I am wounded; God have mercy upon me and my poor -people.' His sister Catherine van Schwartzbourg asked, 'Do you trust in -Jesus Christ?' He said, 'Yes,' with a feeble voice, sat down upon the -stairs, and died. - -Balthazar reached the rampart of the town in safety, hoping to swim -to the other side of the moat, where a horse awaited him. But he had -dropped his hat and his second pistol in his flight, and so he was -traced and seized before he could leap from the wall. Amid horrible -tortures, he not only confessed, but continued to triumph in his crime. -His judges believed him to be possessed of the devil. The next day he -was executed. His right hand was burnt off in a tube of red-hot iron: -the flesh of his arms and legs was torn off with red-hot pincers; but -he never made a cry. It was not till his breast was cut open, and his -heart torn out and flung in his face, that he expired. His head was -then fixed on a pike, and his body cut into four quarters, exposed on -the four gates of the town. - -Close to the Prinsenhof is the Oude Kerk with a leaning tower. It -is arranged like a very ugly theatre inside, but contains, with -other tombs of celebrities, the monument of Admiral van Tromp, -1650—'Martinus Harberti Trompius'—whose effigy lies upon his back, -with swollen feet. It was this Van Tromp who defeated the English -fleet under Blake, and perished, as represented on the monument, in an -engagement off Scheveningen. It was he who, after his victory over the -English, caused a broom to be hoisted at his mast-head to typify that -he had swept the Channel clear of his enemies. - -The Nieuwe Kerk in the Groote Markt (1412-76) contains the magnificent -monument of William the Silent by Hendrik de Keyser and A. Quellin -(1621). Black marble columns support a white canopy over the white -sleeping figure of the Prince, who is represented in his little black -silk cap, as he is familiar to us in his pictures. In the recesses of -the tomb—'_somptueux et tourmenté_,' as Montégut calls it—are statues -of Liberty, Justice, Prudence, and Religion. At the feet of William -lies his favourite dog, which saved his life from midnight assassins at -Malines, by awakening him. At the head of the tomb is another figure of -William, of bronze, seated. In the same church is a monument to Hugo -Grotius—'prodigium Europae'—the greatest lawyer of the seventeenth -century, presented to Henri IV. by Barneveld as 'La merveille de la -Hollande.' - -On leaving the Hague a few hours should be given to the dull university -town of Leyden, unless it has been seen as an afternoon excursion from -the capital. This melancholy and mildewed little town, mouldering -from a century of stagnation, the birthplace of Rembrandt, surrounds -the central tower of its Burg—standing in the grounds of an inn, -which exacts payment from those who visit it. Close by is the huge -church of S. Pancras—Houglansche Kerk—of the fifteenth century, -containing the tomb of Van der Werff, burgomaster during the famous -siege, who answered the starving people, when they came demanding -bread or surrender, that he had 'sworn to defend the city, and, with -God's help, he meant to keep his oath, but that if his body would -help them to prolong the defence, they might take it and share it -amongst those who were most hungry.' A covered bridge over a canal -leads to the Bredenstrasse, where there is a picturesque grey stone -Stadhuis of the sixteenth century. It contains the principal work of -Cornelius Engelbrechtsen of Leyden (1468-1533), one of the earliest -of Dutch painters—an altarpiece representing the Crucifixion, with -the Sacrifice of Abraham and Worship of the Brazen Serpent in the side -panels, as symbols of the Atonement: on the pedestal is a naked body, -out of which springs a tree—the tree of life—and beside it kneel the -donors. The neighbouring church of S. Peter (1315) contains the tomb -of Boerhaave, the physician, whose lectures in the University were -attended by Peter the Great, and for whom a Chinese mandarin found -'à l'illustre M. Boerhaave, médecin, en Europe,' quite sufficient -direction. Boerhaave was the doctor who said that the poor were his -best patients, for God paid for them. - -The streets are grass-grown, the houses damp, the canals green with -weed. The University has fallen into decadence since others were -established at Utrecht, Groningen, and Amsterdam; but Leyden is still -the most flourishing of the four. When William of Orange offered the -citizens freedom from taxes, as a reward for their endurance of the -famous siege, they thanked him, but said they would rather have a -university. Grotius and Cartesius (Descartes), Arminius and Gomar, -were amongst its professors, and the University possesses an admirable -botanical museum and a famous collection of Japanese curiosities. - -The Rhine cuts up the town of Leyden into endless islands, connected by -a hundred and fifty bridges. On a quiet canal near the Beesten Markt -is the Museum, which contains the 'Last Judgment' of Lucas van Leyden -(1494-1533), a scholar of Engelbrechtsen, and one of the patriarchs of -Dutch painting. - -A few minutes bring us from Leyden to Haarlem by the railway. It -crosses an isthmus between the sea and a lake which covered the whole -country between Leyden, Haarlem, and Amsterdam till 1839, when it -became troublesome, and the States-General forthwith, after the fashion -of Holland, voted its destruction. Enormous engines were at once -employed to drain it by pumping the water into canals, which carried it -to the sea, and the country was the richer by a new province. - -[Illustration: MARKET-PLACE, HAARLEM.] - -Haarlem, on the river Spaarne, stands out distinct in recollection from -all other Dutch towns, for it has the most picturesque market-place -in Holland—the Groote Markt—surrounded by quaint houses of varied -outline, amidst which rises the Groote Kerk of S. Bavo, a noble -cruciform fifteenth-century building. The interior, however, is as -bare and hideous as all other Dutch churches. It contains a monument -to the architect Conrad, designer of the famous locks of Katwijk, -'the defender of Holland against the fury of the sea and the power of -tempests.' Behind the choir is the tomb of the poet Bilderdijk, who -only died in 1831, and near this the grave of Laurenz Janzoom—the -Coster or Sacristan—who is asserted in his native town, but never -believed outside it, to have been the real inventor of printing, as he -is said to have cut out letters in wood, and taken impressions from -them in ink, as early as 1423. His partisans also maintain that whilst -he was attending a midnight mass, praying for patience to endure the -ill-treatment of his enemies, all his implements were stolen, and -that when he found this out on his return he died of grief. It is -further declared that the robber was Faust of Mayence, the brother -of Gutenberg, and that it was thus that the honour of the invention -passed from Holland to Germany, where Gutenberg produced his invention -of movable type twelve years later. There is a statue of the Coster in -front of the church, and, on its north side, his house is preserved and -adorned with his bust. - -Amongst a crowd of natives with their hats on, talking in church -as in the market-place, we waited to hear the famous organ of -Christian Muller (1735-38), and grievously were we disappointed -with its discordant noises. All the men smoked in church, and this -we saw repeatedly; but it would be difficult to say where we ever -saw a Dutchman with a pipe out of his mouth. Every man seemed to be -systematically smoking away the few wits he possessed. - -Opposite the Groote Kerk is the Stadhuis, an old palace of the Counts -of Holland remodelled. It contains a delightful little gallery of -the works of Franz Hals, which at once transports the spectator into -the Holland of two hundred years ago—such is the marvellous variety -of life and vigour impressed into its endless figures of stalwart -officers and handsome young archers pledging each other at banquet -tables and seeming to welcome the visitor with jovial smiles as he -enters the chamber, or of serene old ladies, 'regents' of hospitals, -seated at their council boards. The immense power of the artist is -shown in nothing so much as in the hands, often gloved, dashed in -with instantaneous power, yet always having the effect of the most -consummate finish at a distance. Behind one of the pictures is the -entrance to the famous 'secret-room of Haarlem,' seldom seen, but -containing an inestimable collection of historic relics of the time of -the famous siege of Leyden. - -April and May are the best months for visiting Haarlem, which is the -bulb nursery garden of the world. 'Oignons à fleurs' are advertised for -sale everywhere. Tulips are more cultivated than any other flowers, -as ministering most to the national craving for colour; but times are -changed since a single bulb of the tulip 'L'Amiral Liefkenshoch' sold -for 4,500 florins, one of 'Viceroy' for 4,200, and one of 'Semper -Augustus' for 13,000. - -Now we entered Amsterdam, to which we had looked forward as the climax -of our tour, having read of it and pondered upon it as 'the Venice of -the north;' but our expectations were raised much too high. Anything -more unlike Venice it would be difficult to imagine: and there is a -terrible want of variety and colour; many of the smaller towns of -Holland are far more interesting and infinitely more picturesque. - -[Illustration: MILL NEAR AMSTERDAM.] - -A castle was built at Amsterdam in 1204, but the town only became -important in the sixteenth century, since which it has been the most -commercial of ancient European cities. It is situated upon the influx -of the Amstel to the Y, as the arm of the Zuider Zee which forms the -harbour is called, and it occupies a huge semicircle, its walls being -enclosed by the broad moat, six and a half miles long, which is known -as Buitensingel. The greater part of the houses are built on piles, -causing Erasmus to say that the inhabitants lived on trees like rooks. -In the centre of the town is the great square called Dam, one side of -which is occupied by the handsome Royal Palace—Het Palais—built by J. -van Kampen in 1648. The Nieuwe Kerk (1408-1470) contains a number of -monuments to admirals, including those of Van Ruiter—'immensi tremor -oceani'—who commanded at the battle of Solbay, and Van Speyk, who blew -himself up with his ship in 1831, rather than yield to the Belgians. In -the Oude Kerk of 1300 there are more tombs of admirals. Hard by, in the -Nieuwe Markt, is the picturesque cluster of fifteenth-century towers -called S. Anthonieswaag, once a city gate and now a weighing-house. - -But the great attraction of Amsterdam is the Picture Gallery of the -Trippenhuis, called the Rijks Museum, and it deserves many visits. -Amongst the portraits in the first room we were especially attracted -by that of William the Silent in his skull-cap, by Miereveld, but -all the House of Orange are represented here from the first to the -last. We also see all the worthies of the nation—Ruyter, Van Tromp -and his wife, Grotius and his wife, Johann and Cornelis de Witt, -Johann van Oldenharneveldt, and his wife Maria of Utrecht, a peaceful -old lady in a ruff and brown dress edged with fur, by Moreelse. The -two great pictures of the gallery hang opposite each other. That by -Bartholomew van der Helst, the most famous of Dutch portrait-painters, -represents the Banquet of the Musqueteers, who thus celebrated the -Peace of Westphalia, June 18, 1648. It contains twenty-five life-size -portraits, is the best work of the master, and was pronounced by Sir -Joshua Reynolds to be the 'first picture of portraits in the world.' -The canvas is a mirror faithfully representing a scene of actual life. -In the centre sits the jovial, rollicking Captain de Wits with his -legs crossed. The delicate imitation of reality is equally shown in -the Rhenish wine-glasses, and in the ham to which one of the guests is -helping himself. - -The rival picture is the 'Night Watch' of Rembrandt (1642), -representing Captain Frans Banning Kok of Purmerland and his lieutenant -Willem van Ruytenberg of Vlaardingen, emerging from their watch-house -on the Singel. A joyous troop pursue their leader, who is in a black -dress. A strange light comes upon the scene, who can tell whence? Half -society has always said that this picture was the marvel of the world, -half that it is unworthy of its artist; but no one has ever been quite -indifferent to it. - -Of the other pictures we must at least notice, by Nicholas Maas, a -thoughtful girl leaning on a cushion out of a window with apricots -beneath; and by Jan Steen, 'The Parrot Cage,' a simple scene of tavern -life, in which the waiting-maid calls to the parrot hanging aloft, who -looks knowingly out of the cage, whilst all the other persons present -go on with their different employments. In the 'Eve of S. Nicholas,' -another work of the same artist, a naughty boy finds a birch-rod in -his shoe, and a good little girl, laden with gifts, is being praised -by her mother, whilst other children are looking up the chimney by -which the discriminating fairy Befana is supposed to have taken her -departure. There are many beautiful works of Ruysdael, most at home -amongst waterfalls; a noble Vandyke of 'William II.' as a boy, with -his little bride, Mary Stuart, Charles I.'s daughter, in a brocaded -silver dress; and the famous Terburg called 'Paternal Advice' (known -in England by its replica at Bridgewater House), in which a daughter -in white satin is receiving a lecture from her father, her back turned -to the spectator, and her annoyance, or repentance, only exhibited in -her shoulders. Another famous work of Terburg is 'The Letter,' which is -being brought in by a trumpeter to an officer seated in his uniform, -with his young wife kneeling at his side. Of Gerard Dou Amsterdam -possesses the wonderful 'Evening School,' with four luminous candles, -and some thoroughly Dutch children. A girl is laboriously following -with her finger the instructions received, and a boy is diligently -writing on a slate. The girl who stands behind, instructing him, is -holding a candle which throws a second light upon his back, that upon -the table falling on his features; indeed the painting is often known -as the 'Picture of the Four Candles.' - -Through the labyrinthine quays we found our way to the Westerhoof to -take the afternoon steamer to Purmerende for an excursion to Broek, -'the cleanest village in the world.' Crossing the broad Amstel, the -vessel soon enters a canal, which sometimes lies at a great depth, -nothing being visible but the tops of masts and points of steeples; and -which then, after passing locks, becomes level with the tops of the -trees and the roofs of the houses. We left the steamer at T Schouw, -and entered, on a side canal, one of the trekschuiten, which, until -the time of railroads, were the usual means of travel—a long narrow -cabin, encircled by seats, forms the whole vessel, and is drawn by a -horse ridden by a boy (het-jagerte)—a most agreeable easy means of -locomotion, for movement is absolutely imperceptible. - -No place was ever more exaggerated than Broek. There is really very -little remarkable in it, except even a greater sense of dampness and -ooziness than in the other Dutch villages. It was autumn, and there -seemed no particular attempt to remove the decaying vegetation or trim -the little gardens, or to sweep up the dead leaves upon the pathways, -yet there used to be a law that no animal was to enter Broek for fear -of its being polluted. A brick path winds amongst the low wooden -cottages, painted blue, green, and white, and ends at the church, with -its miniature tombstones. - -The most interesting excursion to be made from Amsterdam is that -to the Island of Marken in the Zuider Zee—a huge meadow, where the -peasant women pass their whole lives without ever seeing anything -beyond their island, whilst their husbands, who with very few -exceptions are fishermen, see nothing beyond the fisher-towns of the -Zuider Zee. There are very picturesque costumes here, the men wearing -red woollen shirts, brown vests, wooden shoes, fur caps, and gold -buttons to their collars and knickerbockers; the women, embroidered -stomachers, which are handed down for generations, and enormous white -caps, lined with brown to show off the lace, and with a chintz cover -for week days, and their own hair flowing below the cap over their -shoulders and backs. - -An evening train, with an old lady, in a diamond tiara and gold pins, -for our companion, took us to the Helder, and we awoke next morning -at the pleasant little inn of Du Burg upon a view of boats and nets -and the low-lying Island of Texel in the distance. The boats and the -fishermen are extremely picturesque, but there is nothing else to -see, after the visitor has examined the huge granite Helder Dyke, the -artificial fortification of north Holland, which contends successfully -to preserve the land against the sea. There is an admirably managed -Naval Institute here. It was by an expedition from the Helder that -Nova Zembla was discovered, and it was near this that Admirals Ruyter -and Tromp repulsed the English fleet. Texel, which lies opposite the -Helder, is the first of a chain of islands—Vlieland, Terschelling, and -Ameland, which protect the entrance of the Zuider Zee. - -[Illustration: APPROACH TO ALKMAAR.] - -The country near the Helder is bare and desolate in the extreme. It is -all peat, and the rest of Holland uses it as a fuel mine. It was here -that the genius of Ruysdael was often able to make a single tree, or -even a bush rising out of the flat by a stagnant pool, both interesting -and charming to the spectator. We crossed the levels to Alkmaar, which -struck us as being altogether the prettiest place in the country and -as possessing all those attributes of cleanliness which are usually -given to Broek. The streets, formed of bricks fitted close together, -are absolutely spotless, and every house front shines fresh from -the mop or the syringe. Yet excessive cleanliness has not destroyed -the picturesqueness of the place. The fifteenth-century church of -S. Lawrence, of exquisitely graceful exterior, rises in the centre -of the town, and, in spite of being hideously defaced inside, has a -fine vaulted roof, a coloured screen, and, in the chancel, a curious -tomb to Florens V., Count of Holland, 1296, though only his heart is -buried there. Near the excellent Hôtel du Burg is a most bewitching -almshouse, with an old tourelle and screen, and a lovely garden in a -court surrounded by clipped lime-trees. And more charming still is -an old weigh-house of 1582, for the cheese, the great manufacture of -the district, for which there is a famous market every Friday, where -capital costumes may be seen. The rich and gaily painted façade of the -old building, reflected in a clear canal, is a perfect marvel of beauty -and colour; and artists should stay here to paint—not the view given -here, but another which we discovered too late—more in front, with -gable-ended houses leading up to the principal building, and all its -glowing colours repeated in the water. - -[Illustration: THE WEIGH-HOUSE, ALKMAAR.] - -It is three hours' drive from Alkmaar to Hoorn, a charming old town -with bastions, gardens, and semi-ruined gates. On the West Poort a -relief commemorates the filial devotion of a poor boy, who arrived here -in 1579, laboriously dragging his old mother in a sledge, when all were -flying from the Spaniards. Opposite the weighing-house for the cheeses -is the State College, which bears a shield with the arms of England, -sustained by two negroes. It commemorates the fact that when Van Tromp -defeated the English squadron, his ships came from Hoorn and on board -were two negroes, who took from the English flagship the shield which -it was then the custom to fix to the stern of a vessel, and brought it -back here as a trophy. Hoorn was one of the first places in Holland to -embrace the reformed religion, which spread from hence all over the -country, but now not above half the inhabitants are Calvinists. - -In returning from Alkmaar we stopped to see Zaandam, quite in the -centre of the land of windmills, of which we counted eighty as visible -from the station alone. They are of every shade of colour, and are -mounted on poles, on towers, on farm buildings, and made picturesque -by every conceivable variety of prop, balcony, gallery, and insertion. -Zaandam is a very pretty village on the Zaan which flows into the -Y, with gaily painted houses, and gay little gardens, and perpetual -movement to and from its landing-stage. Turning south from thence, a -little entry on the right leads down some steps and over a bridge to -some cottages on the bank of a ditch, and inside the last of these is -the tiny venerable hovel where Peter the Great stayed in 1697 as Peter -Michaeloff. It retains its tiled roof and contains some old chairs and -a box-bed, but unfortunately Peter was only here a week. - -[Illustration: MILL AT ZAANDAM.] - -[Illustration: PAUSHUIZEN, UTRECHT.] - -The evening of leaving Zaandam we spent at Utrecht, of which the -name is so well known from the peace which terminated the war of the -Spanish succession, April 11, 1715. The town, long the seat of an -ecclesiastical court, was also the great centre of the Jansenists, -dissenters from Roman Catholicism under Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, -condemned by Alexander VII. in 1656, at the instigation of the -Jesuits. The doctrines of Jansenius still linger in its gloomy houses. -Every appointment of a bishop is still announced to the Sovereign -Pontiff, who as regularly responds by a bull of excommunication, which -is read aloud in the cathedral, and then immediately put away and -forgotten. Solemn and sad, but pre-eminently respectable, Utrecht has -more the aspect of a decayed German city than a Dutch town, and so -has its Cathedral of S. Martin (1254-67), which, though the finest -Gothic building in Holland, is only a magnificent fragment, with a -detached tower (1321-82) 338 feet high. The interior as usual is ruined -by Calvinism and yellow paint. It contains the tomb of Admiral van -Gent, who fell in the battle of Solbay. The nave, which fell in 1674, -has never been rebuilt. The S. Pieterskerk (1039) and S. Janskerk -offer nothing remarkable, but on a neighbouring canal is the quaint -Paushuizen, or Pope's house, which was built by Pope Adrian VI. (Adrian -Floriszoom) in 1517. Near this is the pretty little Archiepiscopal -Museum, full of mediæval relics. - -The interesting Moravian establishment of Zeist may be visited from -Utrecht. - -From Utrecht we travelled over sandy flats to Kampen, near the -mouth of the wide river Yssel, with three picturesque gates—Haghen -Poort, Cellebroeders Poort, and Broeders Poort; and a town hall of -the sixteenth century. Here, as frequently elsewhere in Holland, we -suffered from arriving famished at midday. All the inns were equally -inhospitable: 'The table d'hôte is at 4 P.M.: we _cannot_ and _will -not_ be bothered with cooking before that, and there is nothing cold -in the house.' 'But you have surely bread and cheese?' 'Certainly -not—_nothing_.' - -[Illustration: CELLEBROEDERS POORT, KAMPEN.] - -At Zwolle, however, we found the Kroon an excellent hotel with an -obliging landlord; and Zwolle, the native place of Terburg (1608), is a -charming old town with a girdle of gardens, a fine church (externally), -and a noble brick gateway called the Sassenpoort. - -[Illustration: SASSENPOORT, AT ZWOLLE.] - -It was more the desire of seeing something of the whole country than -anything else, and a certain degree of misplaced confidence in the -pleasant volumes of Harvard, which took us up from Zwolle, through -Friesland, the cow-paradise, to Leeuwarden, its ancient capital. Sad -and gloomy as most other towns of Holland are, Leeuwarden is sadder and -gloomier still. Its streets are wide and not otherwise than handsome, -but they are almost deserted, and there are no objects of interest -to see unless a leaning tower can be called so, with a top, like that -at Pisa, inclined the other way, to keep it from toppling over. An -hour's walk from the town there is said to be a fine still-inhabited -castle, and, if time had allowed, respect for S. Boniface would have -taken us to Murmerwoude, where he was martyred (June 8, 853), with his -fifty-three companions. King Pepin raised a hermitage on the spot, and -an ancient brick chapel still exists there. - -Here and elsewhere in Friesland nothing is so worthy of notice as the -helmets—the golden helmets of the women—costing something equivalent -to 25_l._ or 30_l._, handed down as heirlooms, fitting close to the -head, and not allowing a particle of hair to be visible. - -In the late evening we went on to Groningen, a university town with -a good hotel (Seven Provincen), an enormous square, and a noble tall -Gothic tower of 1627, whence the watchman still sounds his bugle. Not -far off is Midwolde, where the village church has fine tombs of Charles -Jerome, Baron d'Inhausen and his wife, Anna von Ewsum. - -As late as the sixteenth century this province was for the most part -uninhabited—savage and sandy, and overrun by wolves. But three hundred -years of hard work has transformed it into a fertile country, watered -by canals, and sprinkled with country houses. Agriculturally it is one -of the richest provinces of the kingdom. This is mostly due to its -possessing a race of peasant-farmers who never shrink from personal -hard work, and who will continue to direct the plough whilst they -send their sons to the university to study as lawyers, doctors, or -churchmen. These peasant farmers or boers possess the _beklemregt_, or -right of hiring land on an annual rent, which the landlord can never -increase. A peasant can bequeath his right to his heirs, whether direct -or collateral. To the land, this system is an indescribable advantage, -the cultivators doing their utmost to bring their lands to perfection, -because they are certain that no one can take away the advantage from -themselves or their descendants. - -On leaving Groningen we traversed the grey, monotonous, desolate -district of the Drenthe, sprinkled over at intervals by the curious -ancient groups of stones called Hunnebedden, or beds of death (Hun -meaning death), beneath which urns of clay containing human ashes have -been found. From Deventer (where there is an old weigh-house, and a -cathedral of S. Lievin with a crypt and nave of 1334), time did not -allow us to make an excursion to the great royal palace of Het Loo, -the favourite residence of the sovereigns. The descriptions in Harvard -rather made us linger unnecessarily at Zutphen, a dull town, with a -brick Groote Kerk (S. Walpurgis) which has little remaining of its -original twelfth-century date, and a rather picturesque 'bit' on the -walls, where the 'Waterpoort' crosses the river like a bridge. - -At Arnhem, the Roman Arenacum, once the residence of the Dukes of -Gueldres, and still the capital of Guelderland, we seemed to have left -all the characteristics of Holland behind. Numerous modern villas, -which might have been built for Cheltenham or Leamington, cover the -wooded hills above the Rhine. In the Groote Kerk (1452) is a curious -monument of Charles van Egmont, Duc de Gueldres, 1538, but there is -nothing else to remark upon. We intended to have made an excursion -hence to Cleves, but desperately wet weather set in, and, as Dutch rain -often lasts for weeks together when it once begins, we were glad to -hurry England-wards, only regretting that we could not halt at Nymegen, -a most picturesque place, where Charlemagne lived in the old palace of -the Valckhof (or Waalhof, residence on the Waal), of which a fragment -still exists, with an old baptistery, a Stadhuis of 1534, and a Groote -Kerk containing a noble monument to Catherine de Bourbon (1469), wife -of Duke Adolph of Gueldres. - -We left Holland feeling that we should urge our friends by all means to -see the pictures at Rotterdam, the Hague, and Amsterdam, but to look -for all other characteristics of the Netherlands in such places as -Breda, Dortrecht, Haarlem, Alkmaar, and Zwolle. - - - - -_IN DENMARK._ - - -Formerly the terrors of a sea-voyage from Kiel deterred many travellers -from thinking of a tour in Denmark or Sweden, but now a succession of -railways makes everything easy, and while nothing can be imagined more -invigorating or pleasant, there is probably no pleasure more economical -than a summer in Scandinavia. Those who are worn with a London season -will feel as if every breath in the crystal air of Denmark endued them -with fresh health and strength, and then, after they have seen its old -palaces and its beech woods and its Thorwaldsen sculptures, a voyage of -ten minutes will carry them over the narrow Sound to the soft beauties -of genial Sweden and the wild splendours of Norway. - -Either Hamburg or Lübeck must be the starting-point for the overland -route to Denmark, and the old free city of Lübeck, though quite a small -place, is one of the most remarkable towns in Germany. We arrived -there one hot summer afternoon, after a weary journey over the arid -sandy plains which separate it from Berlin, and suddenly seemed to -be transported into a land of verdure. Lilacs and roses bloomed -everywhere; a wood lined the bank of the limpid river Trave, and in its -waters—beyond the old wooden bridge—were reflected all the tallest -steeples, often strangely out of the perpendicular, of many-towered -Lübeck. A wonderful gate of red brick and golden-hued terra-cotta -is the entrance from the station, and in the market-place are the -quaintest turrets, towers, tourelles, but all ending in spires. The -lofty houses, so full of rich colour, throw cool shade on the streets -on the hottest summer day; and we enjoyed a Sunday in the excellent -hotel, with wooden galleries opening towards a splashing fountain in a -quiet square, where a fat constable busied himself in keeping everybody -from fulfilling any avocation whatever whilst service was being -performed in the churches, but let them do exactly as they pleased as -soon as it was over. - -It must, at best, be a weary journey across West Holstein, through -a succession of arid flats varied by stagnant swamps. We spent the -weary hours in studying Dunham's 'History of Denmark, Sweden, and -Norway,' which cannot be sufficiently recommended to all Scandinavian -travellers. The glowing accounts in the English guide books of a lake -and an old castle beguiled us into spending a night at Sleswig, but it -turned out that the lake had disappeared before the memory of man, and -that the castle was a white modern barrack. The colourless town and its -long sleepy suburb, moored as if upon a raft in the marshes, straggle -along the edge of a waveless fiord. At the end is the rugged cathedral -like a barn, with a belfry like a dovecot, and inside it a curious -altarpiece by Hans Brüggemann, pupil of Albert Dürer, and the noble -monument of Frederick I., the first Lutheran King of Denmark; while -richly carved doors at the sides of the church admit one to see how -the grandmother of the Princess of Wales and various other potentates -lie—Danish fashion—in gorgeous exposed coffins without any tombs -at all. Everywhere roses grow in the streets, trained upon the house -walls; and, up the pavement, crowds of the children were hurrying in -the early morning, carrying in their hands the shoes they were going -to wear when they were in school. In the evenings these children will -not venture outside the town, for over the marshes they say that the -wild huntsman rides, followed by his demon hounds and blowing his magic -horn. It is the spirit of Duke Abel the fratricide, who, in the fens, -murdered his brother Eric VI. of Denmark, and who was afterwards lost -there himself, falling from his horse, and being dragged down by the -weight of his armour. To give rest to his wandering spirit, the clergy -dug up his body and despatched it to Bremen, but there his vampire gave -the canons no peace, so they sent the corpse back again, and now it -lies once more in the marshes of Gottorp. - -Most unutterably hideous is the country through which the railway -now travels, wearisome levels only broken here and there by mounds, -probably sepulchral. A straight line with tiny hillocks at intervals -would do for a sketch of the whole of Sleswig and the greater part of -Funen and Zealand. In times of early Danish history it was a frequent -punishment to bury criminals alive in these dismal peat mosses. Twelve -hours of changelessly flat scenery bring travellers from Hamburg to -Frederikshaven, where we embark upon the Little Belt, the luggage-vans -of the train being shunted on board the steamer. Immediately opposite -lie the sandy shores of Funen, and in a few minutes we are there. -Then four hours of ugly scenery take us across the island. It is only -necessary to look out at the little town of Odense, called after the -old hero-god, which was the birth-place of Hans Christian Andersen in -1805. The cathedral of Odense contains the shrine of the sainted King -Canute IV. (1080-86), who was murdered while kneeling before the altar, -owing to indignation at the severe taxation to which the love of Church -endowment had incited him. - -Nyborg, where we meet the sea again, will recall to lovers of old -ballads the story of the innocent young knight Folker Lowmanson, and -his cruel death here in a barrel of spikes, from the jealousy of -Waldemar IV. for his beautiful queen Helwig, and how, to know his fate— - - With anxious heart did Denmark's Queen - To Nyborg urge her horse, - And at the gate his bier she met, - And on it Folker's corse. - - Such honour shown to son of knight - I never yet could hear; - The Queen of Denmark walked on foot - Herself before his bier. - - In tears then Helwig mounted horse - And silent homeward rode, - For in her heart a life-long grief - Had taken its abode. - -At Nyborg we embark on a miserable steamer for the passage of the -Great Belt. It lasts an hour and a half, and is often most wretched. -On landing at Korsor travellers are hurried into the train which is -waiting for the vessel. - -Now the country improves a little. Here and there we pass through -great beech woods. Down the green glades of one of them a glimpse is -caught of the college of Sorö. It occupies the site of a monastery -founded by Asker Ryg, a chieftain who, when he departed on a journey -of warfare, vowed that if the child to which his wife, Inge, was about -to give birth proved to be a girl, he would give his new building a -spire, but a tower if it were a boy. On his return he saw two towers -rising in the distance. Inge had given birth to twin sons, who lived -to become Asbiorn Snare, celebrated in the ballad of 'Fair Christal,' -and Absalon, the warrior Bishop of Roeskilde—'first captain by sea and -land.' Absalon is buried here in the church of Sorö, which contains the -tomb of King Olaf, the shortlived son of the famous Queen Margaret; -of her cruel father, Waldemar Atterdag, whose last words expressed -regret that he had not suffocated his daughter in her cradle; and of -her grandfather, Christopher II., with his wife, Euphemia of Pomerania. -Soon we pass Ringsted, which is scarcely worth stopping at, though -its church contains the fine brass of King Erik Menred (1319) and his -queen, Ingeborga, and though twenty kings and queens were entombed -there before Roeskilde became the royal place of sepulture. Amongst -them lies the popular Queen Dagmar, first wife of Waldemar II., still -celebrated in ballad literature, for there is scarcely a Dane who is -ignorant of the touching story of 'Queen Dagmar's Death,' which begins - - Queen Dagmar is lying at Ribé sick, - At Ringsted is made her grave, - -and which contains her last touching request to her husband, and her -simple confession of the only 'sin' she could remember— - - Had I on a Sunday not laced my sleeves, - Or border upon them sewn, - No pangs had I felt by day or night, - Or torture of hell-fire known. - -Tradition tells us that the dismal town of Ringsted was founded by King -Ring, a warrior who, when he was seriously wounded in battle, placed -the bodies of his slain heroes and that of his queen, Alpol, on board a -ship laden with pitch, and going out to the open sea, set the vessel on -fire, and then fell upon his sword. - -In the twilight we pass Roeskilde, and at 10-1/2 P.M. long rows of -street lamps reflected in canals show that we have reached Copenhagen. - -To those whose travels have chiefly led them southwards there is a -great pleasure in the first awaking in Copenhagen. Everything is -new—the associations, the characteristics, the history; even the -very names on the omnibuses are suggestive of the sagas and romances -of the North; and though the summer sun is hot, the atmosphere is as -clear as that of a tramontana day in an Italian winter, and the air is -indescribably elastic. The comfortable Hôtel d'Angleterre stands in -the Kongens Nytorv, a modern square, with trees surrounding a statue -in the centre, but there are glimpses of picturesque shipping down the -side streets, and hard by is a spire quite ideally Danish, formed by -three marvellous dragons with their tails twisted together in the air. -Tradition declares that it was moved bodily from Calmar, in the south -of Sweden. It rises now from a beautiful building of brick erected in -1624 by Christian IV., brother-in-law of James I. of England, and used -as the Exchange. - -Not far off is the principal palace—Christiansborg Slot, often -rebuilt, and very white and ugly. It was partially destroyed by fire in -1884. Besides the royal residence, its vast courts contain the Chambers -of Parliament, the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery chiefly filled -with the works of native artists, amongst which those of Marstrand and -Bloch are very striking and well worthy of attention. - -[Illustration: THE DRAGON TOWER, COPENHAGEN.] - -A queer building in the shadow of the palace, which attracts notice by -its frescoed walls, is the Thorwaldsen Museum, the shrine where Denmark -has reverentially collected all the works and memorials of her greatest -artist—Bertel Thorwaldsen. Though his family is said to have descended -from the Danish king Harold Stildetand, he was born (in 1770) the son -of one Gottschalk, who, half workman, half artist, was employed in -carving figures for the bows of vessels. From his earliest childhood -little Bertel accompanied his father to the wharfs and assisted him in -his work, in which he showed such intelligence that in his eleventh -year he was allowed to enter the Free School of Art. Here he soon made -wonderful progress in sculpture, but could so little be persuaded to -attend to other studies that he reached the age of eighteen scarcely -able to read. In his twenty-third year he obtained the great gold -medal, to which a travelling stipend is attached, and thus he was -enabled to go to Rome, where, encouraged at first by the patronage of -Thomas Hope, the English banker, he soon reached the highest pitch of -celebrity. Denmark became proud of her son, so that his visits to his -native town in 1819 and 1837 were like triumphal progresses, all the -city going forth to meet him, and lodging him splendidly at the public -cost; but his heart always clung to the Eternal City, which continued -to be the scene of his labours. Of his many works perhaps his noble -lion at Lucerne is the best known. He never married, though he was long -attached to a member of the old Scottish house of Mackenzie, and he -died on a visit to Copenhagen in 1844. - -In accordance with Thorwaldsen's own wish, he rests in the centre of -his works. His grave has no tombstone, but is covered with green ivy. -All around the little court which contains it are halls and galleries -filled with the marvellously varied productions of his genius, arranged -in the order of their execution—casts of all his absent sculptures -and many most grand originals. Especially beautiful are the statue -of Mercury, modelled from a Roman boy, of which the original is in -the possession of Lord Ashburton, and the exquisite reliefs of the -Ages of Love, and of Day and Night, the two latter resulting from -the inspiration of a single afternoon. But all seem to culminate in -the great Hall of Christ, for though the statues here are only cast -from those in the Vor Frue Kirche, they are far better seen in the -well-lighted chamber than in the church. The colossal figures of the -apostles lead up to the Saviour in sublime benediction; perhaps the -statues of Simon Zelotes and the pilgrim S. James are the noblest -amongst them. In the last room are gathered all the little personal -memorials of Thorwaldsen—his books, pictures, and furniture. - -[Illustration: The Rosenborg Palace, Copenhagen.] - -The Museum of Northern Antiquities should also be visited and the Tower -of the Trinity Church, with a roadway inside making an easy ascent to -the strange view of many roofs and many waters which is obtained from -the top. But the most delightful place in Copenhagen is the Palace -of Rosenborg, standing at the end of a stately old garden—where it -was built by Inigo Jones for Christian IV., and containing the room -where the king died, with his wedding dress, and most of his other -clothes and possessions. This palace-building monarch, celebrated -for the drinking bouts in which he indulged with his brother-in-law, -James I. of England, was the greatest dandy of his time, and before -we leave Denmark we shall become very familiar with his portraits, -always distinguished by the wonderful left whisker twisted into a -pigtail falling on one side of the chin. Other rooms in Rosenborg -are devoted to each of the succeeding sovereigns, and filled with -relics and memorials which carry one back into most romantic corners -of Danish history, the ever-alternate succession of Christians and -Fredericks making a most terrible bewilderment, down to the two English -queens, Louisa the beloved and Caroline Matilda the unfortunate. Most -curious amongst a myriad objects of value are the three great silver -Lions—'Great Belt, Little Belt, and Sound'—which, by ancient custom, -appear as mourners at all the funerals of the sovereigns, accompanying -them to Roeskilde and returning afterwards to the palace. - -Those interested in such matters will wander as we did through the -more ancient parts of Copenhagen in search of old silver and specimens -of the older Copenhagen china. Formerly the china imitated that of -Miessen, but it has now a more distinctive character, and is chiefly -used in reproducing the works of Thorwaldsen. Copenhagen has no other -especial manufactures. - -No visitors to the Danish capital must omit a visit to Tivoli, the -pretty odd pleasure grounds—very respectable too—near the railway -station, where all kinds of evening amusements are provided in -illuminated gardens and woods by a tiny lake, really very pretty. -Here we watched the cars rushing like a whirlwind down one hill and up -another, with their inmates screaming in pleasurable agony; and saw the -extraordinary feats of 'the Cannon King,' who tossed a cannon ball, -catching it on his hands, his head, his feet—anywhere, and then stood -in front of a cannon and was shot, receiving in his hands the ball, -which did nothing worse than twist him round by its force. - -[Illustration: ROESKILDE.] - -One day we went out—an hour and a half by rail—to Roeskilde, where -a church was first founded by William, an Englishman, in the days of -King Harold Blaatand (Blue-tooth), brother of Canute the Great. It is -dedicated to S. Lucius, because tradition tells that a terrible dragon, -who infested the neighbouring fiord and banqueted on the inhabitants, -was destroyed for ever when the head of the holy Pope S. Lucius was -brought from Rome and presented for his breakfast. The tall spires -of the cathedral rise, slender and grey, from the little town, and -beneath, embosomed in sweeping cornfields, a lovely fiord stretches -away into pale blue distances. Endless kings and queens are buried at -Roeskilde. The earlier sovereigns have glorious tombs, amongst which -the most conspicuous is that of Queen Margaret—'the Semiramis of the -North,' who, born in the prison of Syborg, where her unhappy mother -Queen Helwig was imprisoned by Waldemar Atterhag, and allowed to run -wild in the forest in her childhood, lived to become one of the wisest -of Northern sovereigns, and to unite, by the Act known as 'the Union -of Calmar,' the crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which attained -unwonted prosperity under her sway. There are effigies of Frederic -II. and Christian IV., the grandfather and uncle of our Charles I., -which recall his type of countenance and have the same peaked beard. -Christian IV., the great palace-builder, whose birth was believed -to have been prophesied by the mermaid Isbrand, was born (April 12, -1577) under a hawthorn tree on the road between Frederiksborg and -Roeskilde, as his mother, Sophia of Mecklenbourg, insisted on taking -walks with her ladies in waiting far longer than was prudent. This -king, his father, and all the later members of his royal house lie, -not in their tombs, but in gorgeous coffins embossed with gold and -silver upon the floor of the church, which has a very odd effect. The -entrance of one of the private chapels is a gate with a huge figure, in -wrought ironwork, of the devil with his tail in his hand. In another -chapel are fine works of Marstrand (1810-75), the best of the pupils -of Eckersberg, who gave the first stimulus to the art of painting in -Denmark, where it has since attained to great eminence. - -[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF FREDERIKSBORG.] - -The district around Roeskilde, and indeed the greater part of Denmark, -is devoted to corn, for there is no country in Europe, except -England and Belgium, which can compete with this as a corn-grower. -It is curious that though the neighbouring Sweden and Norway are so -covered with pines, no conifer will grow in Denmark except under most -careful cultivation. The principal native tree is the beech, and the -beech woods are nowhere more beautiful than in the neighbourhood of -Copenhagen. The railway to Elsinore passes through the beautiful beech -forests which are familiar to us through the stories of Hans Christian -Andersen. Here, near a little roadside station, rises the Hampton Court -of Denmark, the great Castle of Frederiksborg, the most magnificent -of the creations of Christian IV., which John of Friburg erected for -that monarch, who looked personally into the minutest details of -his expenses, and so raised this structure, glorious as it is, with -an economy which greatly astonished his thrifty parliament. In the -depths of the beech woods is a great lake, in the centre of which, on -three islands united by bridges, rises the palace, most beautiful in -its time-honoured hues of red brick and grey stone, with high roofs, -richly sculptured windows, and wondrous towers and spires. Each view -of the castle seems more picturesque than the last. It is a dream -of architectural beauty, to which the great expanse of transparent -waters and the deep verdure of the surrounding woods add a mysterious -charm. A gigantic gate tower admits the visitor to the courtyard, where -Christian IV., with his own hand, chopped off the head of the Master -of the Mint, which he had established here, who had defrauded him. -'He tried to cheat us, but we have cheated him, for we have chopped -his head off,' said the King. Inside, the palace has been gorgeously -restored since a great fire by which it was terribly injured in 1859. -The chapel, with the pew of Christian IV.—'bedekammer,' prayer -chamber, it is called—is most curious. There is a noble series of -the pictures of the native artist Carl Bloch, recalling the works of -Overbeck in their majesty and depth of feeling, but far more forcible. - -A drive of four miles through beech woods leads to the comfortable -later palace of Fredensborg, built as 'a Castle of Peace' by Frederick -IV. and Louisa of Mecklenbourg, with a lovely garden, and a view of the -Esrom lake down green glades, in one of which is a mysterious assembly -of stone statues in Norwegian costumes. - -[Illustration: CASTLE OF ELSINORE.] - -We may either take the railway or drive by Gurre from hence to -Elsinore (Helsingor), where the great castle of Kronberg rises, with -many towers built of grey stone, at the end of the little town on a -low promontory jutting out into the sea. Stately avenues surround -its bastions, and it is delightful to walk upon the platform where -the first scene of Shakspere's 'Hamlet' is laid, and to watch the -numberless ships in the narrow Sound which divides Denmark and -Sweden. The castle is in perfect preservation. It was formerly used -as a palace. Anne of Denmark was married here by proxy to James VI. -of Scotland, and here poor Caroline Matilda sate daily for hours at -her prison window watching vainly for the fleet of England which she -believed was coming to her rescue. Beyond the castle, a sandy plain -reminding us of Scottish links, covered with bent-grass and drifted -by seaweed, extends to Marienlyst, a little fashionable bathing place -embosomed in verdure. Here a Carmelite convent was founded by the wife -of Eric IX., that Queen Philippa—daughter of Henry IV. of England—who -successfully defended Copenhagen against the Hanseatic League, but was -afterwards beaten by her husband, because her ships were defeated at -Stralsund, an indignity which drove her to a monastic life. Hamlet's -Grave and Ophelia's Brook are shown at Marienlyst, having been invented -for anxious inquirers by the complaisant inhabitants. Alas! both -were unknown to Andersen, who lived here in his childhood, and it is -provoking to learn that Hamlet had really no especial connection with -Elsinore, and was the son of a Jutland pirate in the insignificant -island of Mors. But Denmark is the very home of picturesque stories, -which are kept alive there by the ballad literature of the land, -chiefly of the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, but still known to -rich and poor alike as in no other country. For hundreds of years -these poetical histories have been the tunes to which, in winter, when -no other exercise can be taken, people dance for hours, holding each -other's hands in two lines, making three steps forwards and backwards, -keeping time, balancing, or remaining still for a moment, as they sing -one of their old ballads or its refrain. - -[Illustration: TOWER OF HELSINGBORG CHURCH.] - -It was in a wild evening, with huge blue foam-crested waves rushing -down the Sound, that we crossed in ten minutes to Helsingborg in -Sweden, mounted for the sunset to the one huge remaining tower of its -castle, and sketched as typical of almost all village towers in Denmark -the belfry of the church where King Eric Menred was married to the -Swedish princess Ingeborga. - - - - -_IN SWEDEN._ - - -It is not beautiful in Sweden, but it is very pretty; if everything -were not so very much alike, it would be very pretty indeed. The whole -country as far north as Upsala is like an exaggerated Surrey—little -hills covered with fir-woods and bilberries, brilliant, glistening -little lakes sleeping in sandy hollows, but all just like one another. - -We turned aside in our way from Helsingborg to the north to visit the -old university of Lund, the Oxford of Sweden, a sleepy city, where the -students lead a separate life in lodgings of their own, only being -united in the public lectures; for in Sweden, as in Italy, the taking -of a degree only proves that the graduates have passed a certain number -of examinations, not, as in England, that they have lived together -for three years at least, forming their character and taste by mutual -companionship and intimacy. The cathedral of Lund is a most noble -Norman building, with giants and dwarfs sculptured against the pillars -of its grand crypt, and a glorious archbishop's tomb, green and mossy -with damp. - -[Illustration: THE JUNCTION OF LAKE MALAR AND THE BALTIC, STOCKHOLM.] - -An immense railway journey, by day and night through the endless -forests, brought us to Stockholm, where we arrived in the early -morning. Though the town is little beyond an ugly collection of -featureless modern streets, the situation is quite exquisite, for the -city occupies a succession of islets between Lake Malar and the Baltic, -surrounding, on a central isle, the huge Palace built from stately -designs of Count Tessin in the middle of the last century, and the old -church of Riddarholmen, where Gustavus Adolphus and many other royal -persons repose beneath the banner-hung arches. - -It sounds odd, but, next to the Palace, the most imposing building -in Stockholm is certainly the Grand Hotel Rydberg, which is most -comfortable and economical, in spite of its palatial aspect. There -is no table d'hôte, and everything is paid for at the time, in the -excellent restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. Here, a side -table is always covered with dainties peculiarly Swedish, corn and -birch brandy, and different kinds of potted fish, with fresh butter -and olives, and it is the universal custom in Sweden to attack the -side table before sitting down to the regular dinner. The rooms in -the hotel are excellent, and their front windows overlook all that is -most characteristic in Stockholm—the glorious view down the fiord of -the Baltic: its farther hilly bank covered with houses and churches; -the bridge at the junction of the Baltic and Lake Malar, which is the -centre of life in the capital, and the little pleasure garden below, -where hundreds of people are constantly eating and drinking under the -trees, and whence strains of music are wafted late into the summer -night; the mighty palace dominating the principal island, and the -little steam gondolas, filled with people, which dart and hiss through -the waters from one island to another. In Stockholm, where waters -are many and bridges few, these steam gondolas are the chief means of -communication, and we made great use of them, the passages costing -twelve oëre, or one penny. The great white sea-gulls, poising over the -water-streets or floating upon the waves, are also a striking feature. - -The museums of Stockholm have little to call for any especial notice, -except a grand statue of the sleeping Endymion from the Villa Adriana, -and the curious collection of royal clothes down to the present date, a -gallery of costume like that which once existed in London at the Tower -Royal. The chief curiosity which the Swedish collection contains is -the hat worn by Charles XII. when he was killed, in which the upward -progress of the bullet can be traced, proving that the king's death was -caused by an assassin, and not the result of a chance shot from the -walls of Frederikshald. No especial features mark the interior of the -Palace, though the Royal Stable for a hundred and forty-six horses is -worthy of a visit; and the churches are uninteresting, except perhaps -S. Nicholas, the coronation church, which contains the helmet and -spurs of S. Olaf, stolen from Throndtjem. Riddarholmen can scarcely -be regarded as a church; it is rather a great sepulchral hall hung -with trophies, having a few tombs on the floor of the building, and -vaults opening under the side walls, in which the different groups -of royal persons are buried together in families. Under a chapel on -the left lies Gustavus Adolphus, the justly popular great-grandson of -Gustavus Wasa, who fell at the battle of Lutzen, and who, as soldier, -general, and king, ever knew true merit, and laboured for the glory of -his country rather than for his own. In the opposite chapel repose the -present royal family, descendants of Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, -the only one of Napoleon's generals whose dynasty still occupies a -throne. He began life as a common soldier, and his election as Charles -XIV. of Sweden was chiefly due to the kindness with which he treated -Swedish prisoners taken in the Pomeranian wars. But the Swedes have -never had cause to repent of their choice, and their reigning house is -probably the most popular in Europe. The coffins of those members of -the royal family who have died within the memory of man are ever laden -with fresh flowers. - -Close by the Riddarholmen Church is the most picturesque bit of -street architecture in Stockholm, where a statue of Burger Jarl, the -traditional founder of the town, forms a foreground to the chapel of -Gustavus Adolphus and one of the many bridges. - -[Illustration: RIDDARHOLMEN, STOCKHOLM.] - -In saying that Stockholm is not picturesque one may seem to have -spoken disparagingly, but, nevertheless, it is perfectly charming: -there is so much life and movement upon its blue waters, and its many -little public gardens give such a gay aspect to the buildings. Of -these, the chief is the Kongsträgården, surrounding a statue of Charles -XIII., where the pleasant Café Blanche is filled all the evening with -an animated crowd, gossiping and eating ices under the verandah and -shrubberies, and listening to the music. While we were staying in -Stockholm a hundred Upsala students came in their white caps to sing -national melodies in the Catherina Church. We lived through two hours -of fearful heat to hear them, and most beautiful it was. King Oscar II. -was present—a noble royal figure and handsome face. He is the ideal -sovereign of the age—artist, poet, musician, student, equally at home -in ancient and modern languages, profoundly versed in all his duties, -and nobly performing them. - -We had intended going often, as the natives do, to dine amongst -the trees and flowers at Hasselbacken, in the Djurgården, a wooded -promontory, to which little steamers are always plying, but, alas! -during eight of the ten July days we spent at Stockholm it rained -incessantly. We were so cold that we were thankful for all the winter -clothes we brought with us, and were filled with pity for the poor -Swedes in being cheated out of their short summer, of which every day -is precious. The streets were always sopping, but, in the covered -gondolas, we managed several excursions to quiet, damp palaces on the -banks of lonely fiords—Rosendal, remarkable for a grand porphyry vase -in a brilliant little flower garden; and Ulriksdal, with its clipped -avenues and melancholy creek. - -Our limited knowledge of Swedish often caused us to embark in amusing -ignorance as to whither we were going, and led us into many a surprise. -One day we set off, intending to go to Drottningholm, but, on reaching -the quay, found the steamer just gone. At that moment such a fearful -storm of rain came on that we were obliged to rush for shelter wherever -we could, and the nearest point of refuge was the deck of the steamer -_Mary_, which instantly started. We feared we might be bound for -the Baltic, and, failing to make any one understand us, resolved to -disembark at the first landing-place. But then the rain was worse than -ever, and we allowed ourselves to be carried on down Lake Malar, till -our boat turned into a little creek, and landed us on the pier of a -manufacturing town. We had not reached the end of the pier, however, -before the rain came on again in such convulsive torrents that we fled -back to the _Mary_, which again started on its travels, and this time, -after stopping at many little ports, conveyed us back to Stockholm. -When we asked the captain what we were to pay for our voyage, he said, -'Oh, nothing;' and very much amused he and his crew seemed to be by our -ignorance and adventures. - -[Illustration: THE GRAVES OF THE GODS.] - -We had a fine day for our excursion by railway to Upsala, whence we -hired a little carriage to take us on to Old Upsala, about three -miles distant. A drive across a dull, marshy plain brings one to a -delightfully wild district of downs, covered with hundreds of little -sepulchral mounds like Wiltshire barrows, amid which three great -tumuli, standing close together, are said to mark the graves of Odin, -Thor, and Freya—heroes in their lifetime, gods in their death. Close -beside them for centuries rose the temple which was the most sacred -shrine of Scandinavian worship. It glittered all over with gold, and -a golden chain, nine hundred ells in circumference, ran round its -roof. In the temple were three statues, around which hovered all the -principal mythological traditions of the north. The central figure was -that of Odin or Wodan, the wizard-king, who is said to have come in -the dawn of Swedish history from his domains of Asir, which extended -from the Euxine to the Caspian, and whose capital was Asgard. He -landed in Funen, where he founded Odense, and left his son Skjöld as a -sovereign. Thence he passed into Sweden, and established his government -at Sigtuna, not far from Upsala. His existence is affirmed by the Saxon -Chronicle. He was called 'the Father of Victory,' for if he laid his -hands on the heads of his generals, and predicted their success when -they went out to battle, that success never failed them. He was also, -says Snorro Sturlesen, 'the Father of all the arts of modern Europe.' -Tradition has endowed him with every miraculous power. He could change -his looks at pleasure—to his friends most beautiful, but a demon to -his enemies. By his eloquence he captivated all who heard him, and -as he always spoke in verse he was called 'the Artificer of Song.' -His verses were endowed with such magic power that they could strike -his enemies with blindness or deafness, or could blunt their weapons. -To listen to the sweetness of his music even the ghosts would come -forth and the mountains would unfold their inmost recesses. He was -the inventor of Runic characters. He could slaughter thousands at a -blow, and he could render his own followers invulnerable. At his will -he could assume the form of beasts; at his word the fire would cease -to burn, the wind to blow, or the sea to rage. If he hurled his spear -between two armies, it secured victory to those on whose side it fell. -The dwarfs (Lapps) had built for him a ship called _Skidbladner_, in -which he could cross the most dangerous seas with safety; but when -he did not want to use it, he could fold it up like a handkerchief. -Everything was known to Odin, for did he not possess the mummified head -of his enemy Mimir, which was all-wise, and he had only to consult it? -Yet, with all these gifts and attributes, Odin remained human; he had -no power over death. When he felt his end approaching he assembled -all his friends and followers, and, giving himself nine wounds in -a circle, allowed himself to bleed to death. The body of the great -chieftain was burnt, and his ashes were buried under the mound of -Upsala; but his spirit was believed to have gone back to the marvellous -home in the Valhalla of Asgard, of which he had so often spoken, and -whither he had always said that he should return. Henceforward it was -considered that all blessings and mercies were gifts sent by Odin. -The younger Edda tells that all who die in battle are Odin's adopted -children. The Valkyriae pick them out upon the battle-field and conduct -them to the Valhalla, where they have perpetual life in the halls -of Odin. Their days are spent in hunting or the joys of imaginary -combats, and they return at night to feast upon the inexhaustible -flesh of the boar Sahrimnir, and to drink, out of horn cups, the mead -formed from the milk of a single goat, which is strong enough nightly -to intoxicate all the heroes. Huge logs constantly burn within the -palace of Odin, for warmth is the northern idea of heaven, while in -their hell it is eternal winter. When a Scandinavian chieftain died in -battle, not only were his war-horse and all his gold and silver placed -upon his funeral-pyre, but all his followers slew themselves that he -might enter the halls of Odin properly attended. The more glorious the -chieftain the greater the number who must accompany him to Valhalla. -To rejoin Odin in Asgard became the height of a warrior's ambition. -It is recorded of Ragnar Lodbrok that when he was dying no word of -lamentation was heard from him: on the contrary, he was transported -with joy as he thought of the feast preparing for him in Odin's -palace. 'Soon, soon,' he exclaimed, 'I shall be seated in the pleasant -habitation of the gods, and drinking mead out of carved horns! A brave -man does not dread death, and I shall utter no word of fear as I enter -the halls of Odin.' But stranger than all the legends concerning Odin -is the fact that his memory is still so far fresh that 'Go to Odin' is -yet used by the common people where an uncivil wish as to the lower -regions would find expression in England. The fourth day of the week -still commemorates Odin or Wodan—in old Norse Odinsdgr, in Swedish and -Danish Onsdag, in English Wednesday. - -On the right hand of Odin, in the temple of Upsala, sate the statue of -Freyja, or Freyer, represented as a hermaphrodite, with the attributes -of productiveness. Freyja was the goddess of love, who rode in a car -drawn by wild cats. She knew beforehand all that would happen, and -divided the souls of the dead with Odin. She is commemorated in the -sixth day of the week, that Freytag or Freyja's Day which in Latin is -Dies Veneris, or Venus' Day. - -On the left of Odin sate Thor, who, says the Edda, was 'the most -valiant of the sons of Odin.' He was the offspring of Odin and Frigga, -'the mother of the gods,' and the brother of 'Balder the Beautiful.' As -the defender and avenger of the gods, he was represented as carrying -the hammer with which he destroyed the giants, and which always -returned to his hand when he threw it. He wore iron gauntlets, and had -a girdle which doubled his strength when he put it on. The fifth day -of the week was sacred to Thor, in old Norse Thórsdag, in Swedish and -Danish Torsdag, in English Thursday; in Latin Dies Jovis, for Jupiter, -the God of Thunder, had the same attributes as Thor. - -There were three great festivals at Upsala, when multitudes flocked to -the temple to consult its famous oracles or to sacrifice. The first was -the winter festival of 'Mother Night'—saturnalia in honour of Frey, -or the sun, to invoke the blessings of a fruitful year; the second -feast was in honour of the Earth; the third was in honour of Odin, to -propitiate the Father of Battles. Every ninth year, at least, the king -and all persons of distinction were expected to appear before the great -temple, and nine victims were chosen for human sacrifice—captives in -time of war, slaves in time of peace—'I send thee to Odin' being the -consolatory last words spoken to each as he fell. If public calamities -had been caused by any royal mismanagement, the people chose their king -as a sacrifice; thus the first king of the petty province of Vermeland -was burnt to appease Odin during a famine. It is also recorded that -King Aun sacrificed his nine sons to obtain a prolongation of his own -life. The victims were either hewn down or burnt in the temple itself, -or hung in the grove adjoining—'Odin's Grove'—of which every leaf was -sacred. Still, according to the Voluspa, the famous prophecy of Vela, -at the end of the world even Odin, with all the other pagan deities, -will perish in the general chaos, when a new earth of celestial beauty -will arise upon the ruins of the old. - -[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF OLD UPSALA.] - -One of the most curious little churches in Christendom now stands upon -the site of the ancient temple. The apse is evidently built out of the -pagan sanctuary. The belfry, Swedish-fashion, is detached, built of -massive timbers and painted bright red. There are scarcely any human -habitations near, only the mighty barrows, overgrown with wild thyme -and a thousand other flowers, which rise over the graves of the gods. -In the tomb of Odin the Government still gives the mead, which was the -nectar of Scandinavian heroes, to pilgrim visitors. - -Like most of the Swedish towns, Upsala is disappointing, and its mean, -ill-paved streets show few signs of antiquity. At the east end of the -cathedral is the lofty tomb of Gustavus Wasa, the first Protestant -King of Sweden, whose effigy lies between the charming figures of -his two pretty little wives. In 1519 he was carried off as a hostage -by that Christian, King of Denmark, who forcibly made himself King -of Sweden also, and ruled with savage tyranny. Escaping to Lübeck, -he headed a revolutionary party against the tyrant, and, after many -defeats, succeeded in taking Stockholm, where he was made king in 1523. -Soon after, Olaf Petri's translation of the New Testament led to the -Reformation in Sweden, where Gustavus Wasa was another Henry VIII., in -taking the opportunity of seizing two-thirds of the Church revenues, -and depriving all ecclesiastics of their incomes if they refused to -embrace Lutheranism. One of his daughters-in-law was the famous Polish -princess, Queen Catherine Jagellonica, who tried hard to upset the new -religion, and inculcated Catholicism upon her son, King Sigismund, who -was deposed, on religious grounds, in favour of his uncle, Charles IX., -the father of Gustavus Adolphus. This Queen Catherine Jagellonica has -a fine tomb in a side chapel of Upsala Cathedral. - -[Illustration: GRIPSHOLM.] - -On a brilliant July morning we embarked at Stockholm in the steamer -which runs twice a week down Lake Malar to Gripsholm. Most lovely were -the long reaches of still water with their fringe of russet rocks, -every crevice tufted with birch and dwarf mountain ash, opening here -and there to show some red timber houses or a wooden spire. It was -several hours of soft diorama, with the music of the pines, before the -great castle of Gripsholm, the Windsor of Sweden, came in sight, with -its many red towers and Eastern-looking domes and cupolas. We were -landed at the little pier of Mariefred, in itself a lovely scene, with -old trees feathering into the water, and a picturesque church rising -in a grove of walnuts on a green hill behind. Hard by is a little inn -where the whole of the passengers in the steamer dined together, at -many little tables, the great staple of food being fresh trout and -salmon of the lake, the bilberries and cloudberries of the rocks, and -the birch brandy and wild strawberries from the woods. After dinner -every one trooped along the meadow paths to the castle, and rambled -in friendly companionship over its numerous rooms, full of interest, -and with many curious royal portraits and pieces of ancient furniture. -There are endless historic recollections connected with Gripsholm, -but they centre for the most part around the sons of Gustavus Wasa. -Of these, John was immured here by Eric XIV., with his wife Catherine -Jagellonica, who, during her imprisonment, gave birth to her son -Sigismund (afterwards Sigismund III. of Poland), in a box-bed which -still remains. Eric intended to have put his brother to death, but -when he entered his cell for the purpose was so overcome by fraternal -feeling that he begged his pardon instead. That pardon was not granted, -for when John got the upper hand he imprisoned Eric in a small chamber -at the top of the castle, where he languished for ten years, during -which he wrote a treatise on military art, and translated the history -of Johannes Magnus, and where—in the end—he was poisoned. - - - - -_IN NORWAY._ - - -The weather changed to a cloudless sunshine, which hatched all the -mosquitoes, as we entered Norway in the second week in July, and the -heat was so intense that, in the long railway journey from Stockholm, -we were very thankful for the little tank of iced water with which -each railway carriage is provided. We were disappointed in Kristiania, -which is a very dull place. The town was built by Christian IV. of -Denmark, and has a good central church of his time, but it is utterly -unpicturesque. In the picture gallery are several noble works of -Tidemann, the special painter of expression and pathos. As a companion -for life is the memory of a picture which represents the administration -of the last sacrament to an old peasant, whose wife's grief is turned -to resignation, which ceases even to have a wish for his retention, as -she beholds the heaven-born comfort with which he is looking into an -unknown future. Another of the finest works of the artist represents -the reception of the sacrament by a convict, young and deeply -repentant, before his execution. - -There is no striking scenery in the environs of Kristiania, but they -are wonderfully pretty. From the avenues upon the ramparts you look -down over the broad expanse of the fyord, with low blue mountain -distances. Little steamers dart backwards and forwards, and convey -visitors in a few minutes across the bay to Oscars Halle, a tower and -small country villa of the king on a wooded knoll. - -We went by the railway which winds high amongst the hills to Kongsberg, -a mining village in a lofty situation. Here, in a garden of white -roses, there is a most comfortable small hotel kept by a Dane, which -is a capital starting-point for all expeditions in Telemarken. There -is a pretty waterfall near the village, and the church should be -visited, for the sake of its curious pulpit hour-glass—indeed, four -glasses—quarter, half-hour, three-quarters, hour—and the top of a -stool let into the wall with an inscription saying that Mr. Jacobus -Stuart, King of Scotland (James I. of England), sate upon it, Nov. 25, -1589, to hear a sermon preached by Mr. David Lentz, 'between 11 and -12,' on 'The Lord is my Shepherd.' - -We engaged a carriage at Kongsberg for the excursion to Tinoset, whence -we arranged to go on to the Ryukan Foss, said to be the highest -waterfall in Europe. We do not advise future travellers without -unlimited time to follow us in the latter part of the expedition by -the lake, but the carriage excursion is quite enchanting. What an -exquisite drive it is through the forest—the deep ever-varying woods -of noble pines and firs springing from luxuriant thickets of junipers, -bilberries, and cranberries! The loveliest mountain flowers grow in -these woods—huge larkspurs of rank luxuriant foliage and flowers -of faint dead blue; pinks and blue lungworts and orchids; stagmoss -wreathing itself round the grey rocks, and delicate, lovely soldanella -drooping in the still recesses. - -Our midday halt was at Bolkesjö, where the forest opens to green -lawns, hill-set, with a charming view down the smooth declivities to -a many-bayed lake, with mountain distances. Here, amid a group of old -brown farm-buildings covered with rude paintings and sculpture, is a -farmhouse, inhabited by the same family through many generations. It -is one of the 'stations' where it is part of the duty of the farmer -or 'bonder' who is owner of the soil to find horses for the use of -travellers. These horses are supplied at a very trifling charge, and -are brought back by a boy who sits behind the carriole or carriage -upon the portmanteau: but as the horses, when not called for, are -turned loose or used by the bonder in his own farm or field work, -travellers generally have to wait a long time while they are caught -or sent for. They order their horses '_strax_'—directly—one of the -first words an Englishman learns to use on entering Norway, yet they -scarcely ever appear before half an hour, so that Norwegians repeat -with amusement the story of an Englishman who, when he wished to spend -an hour at a station, ordered his horses 'after two strax's.' These -halts are not always congenial to English impatience, yet they give -opportunities of becoming acquainted with Norwegian life and people -which can be obtained in no other way, and recollection will oftener -go back to the quiet time spent in waiting for horses amid the grey -rocks above some foaming streamlet, in the green oases surrounded by -forest, or in clean-boarded rooms strewn with fresh fir foliage, than -to the more established sights of Norway. Most delicious indeed were -the two hours which we passed at Bolkesjö, in the high pastures where -the peasants were mowing the tall grass ablaze with flowers, and the -mountains were throwing long purple shadows over the forest, and the -wind blowing freshly from the gleaming lake—and then, most delicious -was the well-earned meal of eggs and bacon, strawberries and cream, and -other homely dainties in the farmhouse where the beams and furniture -were all painted and carved with mottoes and texts, and the primitive -box-beds had crimson satin quilts. Portraits sent by well-pleased royal -visitors hung on the walls side by side with common-coloured scripture -prints, like those which are found in English cottages. The cellar -is under a bed, beneath which it was funny to see the old farmeress -disappear as she went down to fetch up for us her home-brewed ale. - -[Illustration: BOLKESJÖ.] - -With the cordial 'likkelie reise' of our old hostess in our ears, we -left Bolkesjö full of pleasant thoughts. But what roads, or rather what -want of roads, lead to Tinoset!—there were banks of glassy rock, up -which our horses scrambled like cats; there were awful moments when -everything seemed to come to an end, and when they gathered up their -legs, and seemed to fling themselves down headlong with the carriage on -the top of them, and yet we reached the bottom of the abyss buried in -dust, to rise gasping and gulping and wondering we were alive, to begin -the same pantomime over again. - -Late in the evening, long after the sunlight had faded, and when the -forests seemed to have gone to sleep and all sounds were silent, we -reached Tinoset. The inn is a wooden châlet on the banks of a lake with -a single great pine-tree close to the door. It was terribly crowded, -and the little wooden cells were the smallest apology for bedrooms, -where all through the night we heard the winds howling among the -mountains, and the waves lashing the shore under the windows. In the -morning the lake was covered with huge blue waves crested with foam, -and we were almost sorry when the steamer came and we felt obliged to -embark, because, as it was not the regular day for its passage, we -had summoned it at some expense from the other end of the lake. We -were thoroughly wet with the spray before we reached the little inn -at Strand, with a pier where we disembarked, and occupied the rest -of the afternoon in drawing the purple hills, and the road winding -towards them through the old birch-trees. An excursion to the Ryukan -Foss occupied the next day; a dull drive through the plain, and then -an exciting skirting of horrible precipices, followed by a clamber -up a mountain pathlet to a châlet, where we were thankful for our -well-earned dinner of trout and ale before proceeding to the Foss, -the 560-feet-high fall of a mountain torrent into a black rift in the -hills—a boiling, roaring abyss of water, with drifts of spray which -are visible for miles before it can be seen itself. - -[Illustration: OLD CHURCH OF HITTERDAL.] - -In returning from Tinoset, we took the way by Hitterdal, the -date-forgotten old wooden church so familiar from picture-books. It -had been our principal object in coming to Norway, yet the long drive -had made us so ravenous in search of food that we could only endure -to stay there half an hour. The church, however, is most intensely -picturesque, rising with an infinity of quaintest domes and spires, -all built of timber, out of a rude cloister painted red, the whole -having the appearance of a very tall Chinese pagoda, yet only measuring -altogether 84 feet by 57. The belfry, Norwegian-wise, stands alone -on the other side of the churchyard, which is overgrown with pink -willow-herb. When we reached the inn, as famished as wolves in winter, -we were told by our landlady that she could not give us any dinner. -'Nei, nei,' nothing would induce her—she had too much work on her -hands already—perhaps, however, the woman at the house with the flag -would give us some. So, hungry and faint, we walked forth again to a -house which had a flag flying in front of it, where all was silent and -deserted, except for a dog who received us furiously. Having pacified -him, and finding the front door locked, we made good our entrance at -the back, examined the kitchen, peeped into all the cupboards, lifted -up the lids of all the saucepans, and not till we had searched every -corner for food ineffectually, were met by the pretty, pleasant-looking -young lady of the house, who informed us in excellent English, and -with no small surprise at our conduct, that we had been committing a -raid upon her private residence. Afterwards we discovered a lonely -farmhouse, where there had once been a flag, and where they gave -us a very good dinner, ending in a great bowl of cloudberries—in -which we were joined by two pleasant young ladies and their father, -an old gentleman smoking an enormous long pipe, who turned out -to be the Bishop of Christiansand. The house of the landamann of -Hitterdal contains a relic connected with a picturesque story quaintly -illustrative of ancient Scandinavian life. It is an axe, with a handle -projecting beyond the blade, and curved, so that it can be used as a -walking-stick. Formerly it belonged to an ancient descendant of the -Kongen, or chieftains of the district, who insisted upon carrying it to -church with him in accordance with an old privilege. The priest forbade -the bearing of the warlike weapon into church, which so much affected -the old man that he died. His son, who thought it necessary to avenge -his father's death, went to the priest with the axe in his hands, -and demanded the most precious thing he possessed—when the priest -brought his Bible and gave it to him, open upon a passage exhorting to -forgiveness of injuries. - -[Illustration: THRONDTJEM FYORD.] - -On July 25 we left Kristiania for Throndtjem—the whole journey -of three hundred and sixty miles being very comfortable, and only -costing 30 francs. The route has no great beauty, but endless pleasant -variety—rail to Eidswold, with bilberries and strawberries in pretty -birch-bark baskets for sale at all the railway stations; a vibrating -steamer for several hours on the long, dull Miosen lake; railway again, -with some of the carriages open at the sides; then an obligatory night -at Koppang, a large station, where accommodation is provided for every -one, but where, if there are many passengers, several people, strangers -to each other, are expected to share the same room. On the second day -the scenery improves, the railway sometimes running along and sometimes -over the river Glommen, on a wooden causeway, till the gorge of -mountains opens beyond Stören, into a rich country with turfy mounds -constantly reminding us of the graves of the hero-gods of Upsala. -Towards sunset, beyond the deep cleft in which the river Nid runs -between lines of old painted wooden warehouses, rises the burial-place -of S. Olaf, the shrine of Scandinavian Christianity, the stumpy-towered -cathedral of Throndtjem. The most northern railway station and the most -northern cathedral in Europe! - -[Illustration: THRONDTJEM CATHEDRAL.] - -Surely the cradle of Scandinavian Christianity is one of the most -beautiful places in the world! No one had ever told us about it, and we -went there only because it is the old Throndtjem of sagas and ballads, -and expecting a wonderful and beautiful cathedral. But the whole place -is a dream of loveliness, so exquisite in the soft silvery morning -light on the fyord and delicate mountain ranges, the rich nearer hills -covered with bilberries and breaking into steep cliffs—that one -remains in a state of transport, which is at a climax while all is -engraven upon an opal sunset sky, when an amethystine glow spreads over -the mountains, and when ships and buildings meet their double in the -still, transparent water. Each wide street of curious low wooden houses -displays a new vista of sea, of rocky promontories, of woods dipping -into the water; and at the end of the principal street is the grey -massive cathedral where S. Olaf is buried, and where northern art and -poetry have exhausted their loveliest and most pathetic fancies around -the grave of the national hero. - -The 'Cathedral Garden,' for so the graveyard is called, is most -touching. Acres upon acres of graves are all kept—not by officials, -but by the families they belong to—like gardens. The tombs are -embowered in roses and honeysuckle, and each little green mound has -its own vase for cut flowers daily replenished, and a seat for the -survivors, which is daily occupied, so that the link between the dead -and the living is never broken. - -Christianity was first established in Norway at the end of the tenth -century by King Olaf Trygveson, son of Trygve and of the lady Astrida, -whose romantic adventures, when sold as a slave after her husband's -death, are the subject of a thousand stories. When Olaf succeeded to -the throne of Norway after the death of Hako, son of Sigurd, in 996, he -proclaimed Christianity throughout his dominions, heard matins daily -himself, and sent out missionaries through his dominions. But the duty -of the so-called missionaries had little to do with teaching, they were -only required to baptize. All who refused baptism were tortured and put -to death. When, at one time, the estates of the province of Throndtjem -tried to force Olaf back to the old religion, he outwardly assented, -but made the condition that the offended pagan deities should in that -case be appeased by human sacrifice—the sacrifice of the twelve nobles -who were most urgent in compelling him; and upon this the ardour of the -chieftains for paganism was cooled, and they allowed Olaf unhindered to -demolish the great statue of Thor, covered with gold and jewels, in the -centre of the province of Throndtjem, where he founded the city then -called Nidaros, upon the river Nid. - -No end of stories are narrated of the cruelties of Olaf Trygveson. -When Egwind, a northern chieftain, refused to abandon his idols, -he first attempted to bribe him, but, when gentler means failed, a -chafing-dish of hot coals was placed upon his belly till he died. Raude -the magician had a more horrible fate: an adder was forced down a horn -into his stomach, and left to eat its way out again! - -The first Christian king of Norway was an habitual drunkard, and, by -twofold adultery, he, the husband of Godruna, married Thyra of Denmark, -the wife of Duke Borislaf of Pomerania. This led to a war with Denmark -and Sweden, whose united fleets surrounded him near Stralsund. As much -mystery enshrouds the story of his death as is connected with that of -Arthur, Barbarossa, or Harold: as his royal vessel, the _Long Serpent_, -was boarded by the enemy, he plunged into the sea and was no more seen, -though some chroniclers say that he swam to the shore in safety and -died afterwards at Rome, whither he went on pilgrimage. - -Olaf Trygveson had a godson Olaf, son of Harald Grenske and Asta, -who had the nominal title of king given to all sea captains of royal -descent. From his twelfth year, Olaf Haraldsen was a pirate, and he -headed the band of Danes who destroyed Canterbury and murdered S. -Elphege—a strange feature in the life of one who has been himself -regarded as a saint since his death. By one of the strange freaks of -fortune common in those times, this Olaf Haraldsen gained a great -victory over the chieftain Sweyn, who then ruled at Nidaros, and, -chiefly through the influence of Sigurd Syr, a great northern landowner -who had become the second husband of his mother, he became seated in -1016 upon the throne of Norway. His first care was for the restoration -of Christianity, which had fallen into decadence in the sixteen years -which had elapsed since the defeat of Olaf Trygveson. The second Olaf -imitated the violence and cruelty of his predecessor. Whenever the new -religion was rejected, he beheaded or hung the delinquents. In his -most merciful moments he mutilated and blinded them: 'he did not spare -one who refused to serve God.' After fourteen years of unparalleled -cruelties in the name of religion, he fell in battle with Canute the -Great at Sticklestadt. He had abducted and married Astrida, daughter -of the King of Sweden, but by her he had no children. By his concubine -Alfhilda he left an only son, who lived to become Magnus the Good, -King of Norway. There is a very fine story of the way in which Magnus -obtained his name. Olaf had said, 'I very seldom sleep, and if I ever -do it will be the worse for any one who awakens me.' Whilst he was -asleep Alfhilda's child was born. Then the King's scald or poet and -Siegfried the mass priest debated together as to whether they should -awaken him. At first they thought they would; then the poet said, 'No; -I know him better than that: he must not be awakened.' 'That is all -very well,' said the priest, 'but the child must be baptised at once. -What shall we call him?' 'Oh,' said the scald, 'I know that the King -said that the child should be named after the greatest monarch that -ever lived, and his name was Magnus,' for he only remembered one part -of the name. So they called him Magnus. - -When the King woke up he was furious. 'Who can have dared to do this -thing—to christen the child without consulting me, and to give him -this outlandish name, which is no name at all—who can have dared to do -it?' - -Then the mass priest was terrified and shrank into his shoes, but the -scald answered boldly, 'I did it, and I did it because it was better to -send two souls to God than one soul to the devil; for if the child had -died unbaptised it would have been lost, but if you kill Siegfried and -me we shall go straight to heaven.' - -And then King Olaf thought he would say no more about it. - -However terrible the cruelties of Olaf Haraldsen were in his lifetime, -they were soon dazzled out of sight amid the halo of miracles with -which his memory was encircled by the Roman Catholic Church. It was -only recollected that when, according to the legend, he raced for the -kingdom with his half-brother Harald, in his good ship the _Ox_, - - Saint Olaf, who on God relied, - Three days the first his house descried; - -after which - - Harald so fierce with anger burned - He to a lothely dragon turned; - -but because - - A pious zeal Saint Olaf bore, - He long the crown of Norway wore. - -His admirers narrated that when he was absently cutting chips from -a stick with his knife on a Sunday, a servant passed him with the -reproof, 'Sir, it is Monday to-morrow,' when he placed the sinful chips -in his hand, and, setting them on fire, bore the pain till they were -all consumed. It was remembered that as he walked to the church which -Olaf Trygveson had founded at Nidaros, he 'wore a glory in his yellow -hair.' And gradually he became the most popular saint of Scandinavia. -His shirt was an object of pilgrimage in the Church of S. Victor -at Paris, and many churches were dedicated to him in England, and -especially in London, where Tooley Street still records his familiar -appellation of S. Tooley. - -It was when the devotion to S. Olaf was just beginning that Earl Godwin -and his sons were banished from England for a time. Two of these, -Harold and Tosti, became vikings, and, in a great battle, they vowed -that, if they were victorious, they would give half the spoil to the -shrine of S. Olaf; and a huge silver statue, which they actually gave, -existed at Throndtjem till 1500, and if it existed still would be one -of the most important relics in archæology. The old Kings of Norway -used to dig up the saint from time to time and cut his nails. When -Harold Hardrada was going to England, he declared that he must see S. -Olaf once again. 'I must see my brother once more,' he said, and he -also cut the saint's nails. But he also thought that from that time it -would be better that no one should see his brother any more—it would -not be for the good of the Church—so he took the keys of the shrine -and threw them into the fyord; at the same time however, he said it -would be good for men in after-ages to know what a great king was like, -so he caused S. Olaf's measure to be engraved upon the wall in the -church at Throndtjem—his measure of seven feet—and there it is still. - -[Illustration: S. OLAF'S WELL.] - -Around the shrine of Olaf in Throndtjem, in which, in spite of Harold -Hardrada, his 'incorrupt body' was seen more than five hundred years -after his death, has arisen the most beautiful of northern cathedrals, -originating in a small chapel built over his grave within ten years -after his death. The exquisite colour of its green-grey stone adds -greatly to the general effect of the interior, and to the delicate -sculpture of its interlacing arches. From the ambulatory behind the -choir opens a tiny chamber containing the Well of S. Olaf, of rugged -yellow stone, with the holes remaining in the pavement through which -the dripping water ran away when the buckets were set down. Amongst the -many famous Bishops of Throndtjem, perhaps the most celebrated has been -Anders Arrebo, 'the father of Danish poetry' (1587-1637), who wrote -the 'Hexameron,' an extraordinarily long poem on the Creation, which -nobody reads now. The cathedral is given up to Lutheran worship, but -its ancient relics are kindly tended and cared for, and the building -is being beautifully restored. Its beautiful Chapter House is lent for -English service on Sundays. - -In the wide street which leads from the sea to the cathedral is the -'Coronation House,' the wooden palace in which the Kings and Queens of -Sweden and Norway stay when they come hither to be crowned. Hither the -present beloved Queen, Sophie of Nassau, came in 1873, driving herself -in her own carriole from the Romsdal, in graceful compliance with -the popular mode of Norwegian travel. It is because even the finest -buildings in Norway are generally built of wood that there are so few -of any real antiquity. Near the shore of the fyord, the custom-house -occupies the site of the Orething, where the elections of twenty kings -have taken place. It is sacred ground to a King of Norway, who passes -it bareheaded. The familiar affection with which the Norwegians regard -their sovereigns can scarcely be comprehended in any other country. -To their people they are 'the father and mother of the land.' The -broken Norse is remembered at Throndtjem in which King Carl Johann -begged people 'to make room for their old father' when they pressed too -closely upon him. When the present so beloved Queen drove herself to -her coronation, the people met her with flowers at all the 'stations' -where the horses were changed. 'Are you the mother of the land?' they -said. 'You look nice, but you must do more than look nice; that is not -the essential.' One old woman begged the lady in waiting to beg her -majesty to get upon the roof of the house. 'Then we should all see -her.' At Throndtjem the peasants touchingly and affectionately always -addressed her as 'Du.' - -In returning from Throndtjem we left the railway at Stören, where we -engaged a double carriole, and a carriage for four with a pleasant boy -called Johann as its driver, for the return journey. It was difficult -to obtain definite information about anything, English books being -almost useless from their incorrectness, and we set off with a sort of -sense of exploring an unknown country. At every 'station' we changed -horses, which were sent back by the boy, who perched upon the luggage -behind, and we marked our distances by calling our horses after the -Kings of England. Thus, setting off from Stören with William the -Conqueror, we drove into the Romsdal with Edward VI. After a drive -with Lady Jane Grey, we set off again with Mary. But the Kings of -England failed us long before our driving days were over, and we used -up all the Kings of Rome also. As we were coming down a steep hill into -Lillehammer with Tarquinius Superbus, something gave way and he quietly -walked out of the harness, leaving us to run briskly down-hill and -subside into the hedge. We captured Tarquinius, but how to put him in -again was a mystery, as we had never harnessed a horse before. However, -by trying every strap in turn we got him in somehow, and escaped the -fate of Red Riding Hood amid the lonely hills. - -For a great distance after leaving Stören there is little especially -striking in the scenery, except one gorge of old weird pine-trees in a -rift of purple mountains. After you emerge upon the high Dovre-Fyeld, -the huge ranges of Sneehatten rise snowy, gleaming, and glorious, above -the wide yellow-grey expanse, hoary with reindeer moss, though, as the -Dovre-Fyeld is itself three thousand feet high, and Sneehatten only -seven thousand three hundred, it does not look so high as it really is. -Next to Throndtjem itself, the old ballads and songs of Norway gather -most thickly around the Dovre-Fyeld. It is here that the witches are -supposed to hold their secret meetings at their Blokulla, or black -hill. Across these yellow hills of the Jerkin-Fyeld the prose Edda -describes Thor striding to his conflict with the dragon Jormangandur -'by Sneehatten's peak of snow,' where 'the tall pines cracked like a -field of stubble under his feet;' and here, according to the ancient -fragment called the ballad of 'The Twelve Wizards,' as given in Prior's -'Ancient Danish Ballads'— - - At Dovrefeld, over on Norway's reef, - Were heroes who never knew pain or grief. - - There dwelt there many a warrior keen, - The twelve bold brothers of Ingeborg queen. - - The first with his hand the storm could hush - The second could stop the torrent's rush. - - The third could dive in the sea as a fish; - The fourth never wanted meat on dish. - - The fifth he would strike the golden lyre, - And young and old to the dancing fire. - - The sixth on the horn would blow a blast, - Who heard it would shudder and stand aghast. - - The seventh go under the earth could he; - The eighth he could dance on the rolling sea. - - The ninth tamed all that in greenwood crept; - The tenth not a nap had ever slept. - - The eleventh the grisly lindworm bound, - And will what he would, the means he found. - - The twelfth he could all things understand, - Though done in a nook of the farthest land. - - Their equals were never seen there in the North, - Nor anywhere else on the face of the earth. - -In spite of great fatigue from the distances to be accomplished, each -day's journey in carriage or carriole has its peculiar charms, the -going on and on into an unknown land, meeting no one, sleeping in odd, -primitive, but always clean rooms, setting off again at half-past five -or six, and halting at comfortable stations, with their ever-moderate -prices and their cheery farm-servants, who kissed our hands all -round on receiving the very smallest gratuity—a coin meaning -twopence-halfpenny being a source of ecstatic bliss. - -The 'bonders,' who keep the stations, generally themselves represent -the gentry of the country, the real gentry filling the position of the -English aristocracy. The bonders are generally very well off, having -small tithes, good houses, boundless fuel, a great variety of food, -and continual change of labour on their own small properties. Their -wives, who never walk, have a sledge for winter, and a carriole and -horse to take them to church in summer. In the many months of snow, -when the cows and horses are all stabled in the 'laave,' and when -out-of-door occupations fail, they occupy the time with household -pursuits—carpentering, tailoring, or brewing. When a bonder dies, his -wife succeeds to his property until her second marriage; then it is -divided amongst his children. - -The 'stations' or farmhouses are almost entirely built of wood, but -those of a superior class have a single room of stone, used only in -bridals or births, a custom handed down from old times when a place of -special safety was required at those seasons. - -Nine-tenths of the country are covered with pine-forests, but the trees -are always cut down before they grow old. We did not see a single old -tree in Norway. The pines are of two kinds only—the _Furu_, our pine, -_Pinus silvestris_; and the _Gran_, our fir, _Pinus abies_. - -Wolves seldom appear except in winter, when those who travel in sledges -are often pursued by them. Then hunger makes them so bold that they -will often snatch a dog from between the knees of a driver. - -From the station of Dombaas (where there is a telegraph station and a -shop of old silver) we turned aside down the Romsdal, which soon became -beautiful, as the road wound above the chrysoprase river Rauma, broken -by many rocky islets and swirling into many waterfalls, but always -equally radiant, equally transparent, till its colour is washed out by -the melting snow in a ghastly narrow valley, which we called the Valley -of Death. - -The little inn at Aak, in Romsdal, with a large garden stretching -along the hillside, disappointed us at first, as the clouds hid the -mountain-tops, but morning revealed how glorious they are—purple -pinnacles of rock or pathless fields of snow embossed upon a sky which -is delicately blue above but melts into the clearest opal. Grander, -we thought, than any single peak in Switzerland is the tremendous -peak of the Romsdalhorn, and the walks in all directions are most -exquisite—into deep glades filled with columbines and the giant -larkspurs, which are such a feature of Norway: into tremendous mountain -gorges: or to Waeblungsnaes, along the banks of the lovely fyord, -with its marvellously quaint forms of mountain distance. Aak is a -place where a month may be spent most delightfully, as well as most -comfortably and economically. - -[Illustration: IN THE ROMSDAL, NORWAY.] - -We had heard a great deal before we went to Norway about the difficulty -of getting proper food, but our own experience is that we were never -fed more luxuriously. Perhaps very late in the season the provisions -at the country 'stations' may be somewhat used up, but when we were -there in July only those who could not live without a great deal of -meat could have any cause for complaint, and once a week we generally -had reindeer for a treat. When we arrived in the evenings, we always -found an excellent meal prepared—the most delicious coffee, tea, -and cream; baskets of bread, rusks, cakes and biscuits of various -descriptions; fresh salmon and trout; cloudberries, bilberries, -raspberries, mountain strawberries and cream; and for all this about a -franc and a half is the payment required. - -My companions lingered at Kristiania whilst I paid a visit, which is -one of the most delightful recollections of my tour, to a native family -near Moss, at the mouth of the fyord; then we came back to Denmark, -travelling in the same train with the beloved Prince Imperial, who -was then in the height of health and happiness, and received at every -station with the enthusiastic 'Hochs!' which in Scandinavia supply the -place of the English hurrah. - - - LONDON: PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE - AND PARLIAMENT STREET - - - - - WORKS BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE. - - - CITIES OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY. - With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ - - 'Mr. Hare's name will be a sufficient passport for the popularity of - his new work. His books on the Cities of Italy are fast becoming as - indispensable to the traveller in that part of the country as the - guide-books of Murray or of Baedeker.... His book is one which I - should advise all future travellers in Southern Italy and Sicily to - find room for in their portmanteaus.'—ACADEMY. - - 'We regard the volume as a necessary part of the equipment of a - traveller in Southern Italy; if he goes without it he will miss the - most thorough and most helpful book that has treated it. The part - devoted to Sicily is especially full of interest: and we should not - omit to make mention of the exquisite little woodcuts done from Mr. - Hare's water-colours executed on the spot.'—BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW. - - - CITIES OF CENTRAL ITALY. 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Crown 8vo, 1_s._ 6_d._ - - - _GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON_ - - - - - THE STORY OF MY LIFE - - BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE - - Vols. I. to III. Crown 8vo, £1, 11s. 6d. - Vols. IV. to VI. Crown 8vo, £1, 11s. 6d. - - - _PRESS NOTICES_ - - "The story is full of varied interest.... Readers who know how to pick -and choose will find plenty to entertain them, and not a little which -is well worth reading."—_The Times._ - - "Mr. Hare gives an idyllic picture of the simple, refined, dignified -life at Lime.... The volumes are an inexhaustible storehouse of -anecdote."—_Daily News._ - - "The reader rarely comes across a passage which does not afford -amusement or pleasant entertainment."—_The Scotsman._ - - "One may safely predict that this will be the most popular book of -the season.... We have not space to point out a twentieth part of -the passages that might be described as having a special interest. -Moreover, though the book is, among other things, a repertory of -curious occurrences and amusing anecdotes, it is much more remarkable -as a book of sentiment and character, and a story of real life told -with remarkable fulness."—_The Guardian._ - - "A book which will greatly amuse the reader."—_The Spectator._ - - "Much of what the author has to tell is worthy the telling, and is told -with considerable ease and grace, and with a power to interest out of -the common. He introduces us to the best of good company, and tells -many excellently witty stories.... Whenever he is describing foreign -life he is at his best; and nothing can exceed the beautiful pathos of -the episodes in which his mother appears. Indeed, he has the gift of -tenderness for all good women and brave men."—_Daily Telegraph._ - - "This autobiography could not fail to be exceptionally interesting. -There may be readers who will protest that the more minute details of -daily life might have been abridged with advantage, but the aim of the -book makes this elaborate treatment of the subject indispensable. The -conscientious record of a mental development amid curious surroundings, -would make these volumes valuable if not a single name of note were -mentioned.... Even more interesting than the stories of people and -things that are still remembered are the glimpses of a past which is -quickly fading out of recollection."—_The Standard._ - - "The book is unexceptionable on the score of taste.... It is -an agreeable miscellany into which one may dip at random with -the certainty of landing something entertaining, rather than an -autobiography of the ordinary kind. The concluding chapter is full of a -deep and tender pathos."—_The Manchester Guardian._ - - "Mr. Hare's style is graceful and felicitous, and his life-history -was well worth writing. The volumes simply teem with good things, -and in a single article we can but skim the surface of the riches -they contain. A word must also be said of the beauty and delicacy of -the illustrations. Few living men dare brave criticism by giving us -the story of their lives and promising more. But Mr. Hare is quite -justified. He has produced a fascinating work, in some parts strange -as any romance, and his reminiscences of great men are agreeable and -interesting."—_Birmingham Gazette._ - - "An inexhaustible storehouse of anecdote."—_South-Western News._ - - "These volumes possess an almost unique interest because of the -striking series of portraits we get in them, not so much of -celebrities, of whom we often hear enough, but of 'originals' in -private life.... They give us a truly remarkable picture of certain -sections of European society, and, above all, introduce us to some -singularly quaint types of human character."—_Glasgow Herald._ - - "Brimful of anecdotes, this autobiography will yield plenty of -entertainment. We should like to quote many a characteristic little -tale, but must content ourselves by heartily recommending all who care -for the pleasantest of pleasant gossip concerning famous people and -places to procure these three volumes."—_Publisher's Circular._ - - "Mr. Hare has an easy, agreeable style, and tells a story with humour -and skill."—_The Saturday Review._ - - "It would be well for all who think the children of to-day -are over-pampered and too much considered, to read Mr. Hare's -life."—_Lady's Pictorial._ - - "Very delicate, idyllic, and fascinating are the pictures the author -has drawn of daily life in old rectories and country houses."—_The -World._ - - "Mr. Hare has the gift, the rare gift, of writing about himself -truthfully. Nor can a quick eye for shades of character be denied to -Mr. Hare, who does not seem ready to take people at their own estimate -or even at what may be called their market price. But we do not detect -a touch of malice, but only that knack of telling the truth which is -so hateful to the ordinary biographer, and so distasteful to that -sentimental public which is never so happy as when devouring sugared -falsehoods."—_The Speaker._ - - "The book has throughout a strong human interest. It contains a great -many anecdotes, and in our opinion, at all events, deserves to take -rank among notable biographical works."—_Westminster Gazette._ - - "A deeply interesting book. It is the story of a man who has seen much -and suffered much, and who out of the fulness of his experience can -bring forth much to interest and entertain.... The book has a wealth -of apt quotations and graceful reference, and though written in a -scholarly and cultured way, it is always simple and interesting.... -Nothing in the work has been set down in malice; there are excuses for -everybody.... Of course it is hardly necessary to say that the book -teems with entertainment from beginning to end."—_St. James's Budget._ - - "There is much besides human character and incident in these -well-packed and well-illustrated volumes.... No one will close the -work without a feeling not only of gratitude for a long gallery of -interesting and brilliantly-speaking portraits, but of sympathy with -the biographer."—_The Athenæum._ - - "It is doubtful whether any Englishman living has had a wider -acquaintance among people worth knowing in England and on the -Continent, than the author of these memoirs. It is also doubtful -whether any man, with equal opportunities, could have turned them to -so good an account.... We have here an incomparable storehouse of -anecdotes concerning conspicuous persons of the first half of this -Victorian age."—_New York Sun._ - - "This is assuredly a book to read."—_Freeman._ - - "Singularly interesting is this autobiography.... Altogether it is a -notable book, and may well be recommended to those who are interested -in the intellectual life of our time."—_New York Herald._ - - "Mr. Hare's excellence, apart from felicity of style and directness -of method, has ever been conspicuous by the excellence that comes of -wide knowledge of his subject, and a keenly sympathetic nature. Alive -as he has ever been to responsive emotion, he possesses also a bright -humour that seizes upon the discrepancies, the nuances and quaintnesses -of whatever comes within the range of his eye and pen. These qualities -have made for Mr. Hare a circle of admirers who, while they have sought -in his pages no very thrilling passages, have felt steadily the growth -of a liking given to an old friend who is always kindly and oftentimes -amusing.... Mr. Hare dwells with a rare and touching love upon his -mother, and these passages are amongst the most appealing in the -book."—_Philadelphia Courier._ - - "Mr. Hare has given us a picture of English social life that for -vividness, picturesqueness, and completeness, is not excelled in -literature. There is a charming lack of attempt to be literary in -the telling of the story—a refreshing frankness and quaintness of -expression. He takes his readers with him so that they may breathe the -same social atmosphere in which he has spent his life. With their own -eyes they see the things he saw, and best of all they have freedom to -judge them, for Mr. Hare does not force himself or his opinions upon -them."—_New York Press._ - - "Mr. Hare's memoirs are their own excuse for being, and are a -distinct addition to the wide and delightful realm of biographical -literature."—_Chicago Journal._ - - "It is rarely that an autobiography is planned on so ample a scale, and -yet, to tell the truth, there are singularly few of these pages which -one really cares to skip."—_Good Words._ - - "A sad history of Mr. Hare's childhood and boyhood this is for the -most part, but there were bursts of sunshine in Augustus Hare's -life—sunshine shed around him by the kindly, noble-minded lady who is -called mother all through these volumes, and for whom his reverence and -gratitude deepened with years."—_Clifton Society._ - - "The 'Story of My Life' is no commonplace autobiography, and plunge -in where you may, there is something to interest and attract."—_The -Sketch._ - - "No one can read these very fascinating pages without feeling that what -their author has written is absolutely that which no other would have -ventured to say of him, and what not one in a million would have told -concerning himself. There is a wonderful charm of sincerity in what he -discloses as to his own feelings, his likes and dislikes, his actions -and trials. He lays open, with photographic fidelity, the story of his -life."—_New York Churchman._ - - "These fair volumes might be labelled the Literature of Peace. They -offer an outlook on life observant, and yet detached, from the turmoil -of disillusion."—_New York Times._ - - "Mr. Hare has written an autobiography that will not soon be -forgotten."—_Chicago Tribune._ - - "The story of Mr. Hare's literary life is most entertaining, and the -charm of the work lies pre-eminently in the pictures of the many -interesting and often famous men and women whom he has known."—_Boston -Congregationalist._ - - "Mr. Hare's story is an intensely interesting one, and his style, -which at first appears to be diffuse, is soon seen to be perfectly -well adapted to the writer's purpose.... These volumes are full of -the most valuable and attractive material for the student of human -nature."—_The Book Buyer._ - - "Mr. Hare's story contains no touches of egotism, but is always plain, -honest, and straightforward. It is distinctly worth reading."—_London -Literary World._ - - - _GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON_ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches in Holland and Scandinavia, by -Augustus J. C. 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