A tour through Holland

by Sir John Carr

The reader may perhaps be pleased with the following anecdote. When Erasmus was in England, which he visited several times, and where he was honoured with the friendship of Archbishop Warham, Bishops Tonstal and Fox, Dean Colet, Lord Montjoy, Sir Thomas More, and other distinguished men, he mentions a custom then prevalent amongst the females of this country, the discontinuance of which, considering how much improved they are since the time of Erasmus, and how their natural charms are heightened by the grace of the Grecian drapery, must be a subject of infinite regret with all who love and cherish the sex, as it ought to be loved and cherished.

ERASMUS.

Sunt hic in Anglia nymphæ divinis vultibus, blandæ, faciles. Est præterea mos nunquam satis laudandis, sive quò venias, omnium osculis receperis, sive discedas aliquo, osculis dimitteris. Redis redduntur suavia; venitur ad te propinantur suavia, disceditur abs te, dividuntur basia; occurritur alicui, basiatur affatim; denique quocumque te moveas, suaviorum plena sunt omnia.

“The women in England are divinely beautiful, affable, and good humoured. There is a custom also here, which can never be sufficiently commended. When you go any where, you are received by all with kisses; when you depart, you are dismissed with kisses. On your return, kisses are again bestowed on you. When they visit you, kisses are presented; when they go away, kisses also pass between you. If you meet any body, kisses are plentifully distributed. In short, whatever you do, wherever you go, you are sure of kisses in abundance.”

This is language sufficiently warm to prove that Erasmus carried the feelings of a man under the cowl of a monk. Erasmus was very accomplished: he is said to have imbibed from Hans Holbein a fine taste for painting, and to have painted several pictures whilst in the convent at Gouda.

Holbein owed the patronage of Henry VIII. to Erasmus, for at his request it was that he came to London, and by him was introduced to Sir Thomas More, who employed and entertained him in his own house for three years, during which his likenesses, and the execution of his works, attracted the notice of the king, who took him into his service, and paid him as long as he lived: although he once hazarded the severest displeasure of his royal and turbulent patron; for being dispatched by Cromwell to paint the Lady Ann of Cleves, Holbein so flattered her with his pencil, that Henry was induced to marry her; but when he discovered how plain she really was, his anger turned from the painter to the minister, and poor Cromwell lost his head because the unhappy Ann was denounced by her royal husband for “a Flanders’ mare,” and not the Venus depicted by Holbein.

Amongst the churches, the only one I saw worthy of notice was the cathedral of St. Lawrence, the tower of which I ascended, and from its top commanded the greater part of the south of Holland. The body of the church is very large. The walls, like all the rest of the Dutch churches, are saddened over with a great number of sable escutcheons, and the floor covered with rush bottom chairs for the congregation when assembled. A magnificent brass ballustrade of exquisite workmanship, separates the choir from the nave.

The church is used for various purposes: the synod of the province and the presbytery of the town used to assemble in it; I was informed they still continue to do so; and at the fairs, booths are erected in it.

The only monuments worthy of attention, and those merit but little, are erected to the memories of Admiral Cornelius de Witt, Johannes a Brakel, and Admiral Korlenaar. A magnificent organ has been building for some years in this church: a very large but inadequate sum of money has been subscribed for this superb instrument, which is intended to rival the celebrated one at Haarlem, but much more money will be necessary for that purpose: the object of this measure is not out of homage to St. Cecilia, but from a commercial spirit, that repines at hearing of the number of persons who flock to Haarlem to hear its boasted instrument, by which considerable sums of money in the course of the year are expended in that city.

To the honour of Holland, her seminaries of learning have always been favourite objects with her government; and I was well informed, that to the further promotion of this great and vital source of the morals, order, and glory of nations, the king has devoted much of his consideration.