A tour through Holland

by Sir John Carr

Close to this place is the plantation, a very large portion of ground within the city, laid out in avenues, and a great number of little gardens, formed into several divisions by streets of pretty country and summer-houses; and the whole is surrounded by canals. To this rus in urbe, such of the citizens and their families repair in the summer to dine or drink tea, whose finances, or spirit of economy will not admit of their having a house in the country. To render these rural indulgences as cheap as possible, three or four families join in renting one small cottage, or perhaps a summerhouse and garden. Never did any spot devoted to the pleasure of nature exhibit more silence and solemnity: no sports, no pastime, no laugh nor gambol: the females drink their tea and work, and the men smoke in peaceful taciturnity, and scarcely move their eyes from their different occupations, unless some very animating and attractive object passes.

In my way from the plantation to the elegant country residence of a Dutch merchant of high respectability, I passed, a few miles from Amsterdam, two burial places of the Jews, who wisely bury their dead in the country; the other inhabitants follow the baneful practice of burying in the churches and church-yards in the city, where the catholics deposit their dead very frequently in protestant churches. In Holland the honours of funeral pomp are scarcely ever displayed: the spirit of economy, which seems to be the tutelar saint of these moist regions, seldom incurs a further expense than a plain coffin, which costs little, and some genuine tears or sighs, which cost nothing. To describe the numerous churches, chapels, and conventicles of the religions of all persuasions, who since the revolution live in cordial amity with each other, and with the government, under which they enjoy the rights of equal citizenship, would be a laborious and not a very interesting labour. The quakers here, and in every other town in Holland, are very few: the Jews and the anabaptists are very numerous, and there are many Roman Catholics. Before the revolution the clergy of the established church were paid by the government; they, as well as every other priest or pastor, are now supported at fixed salaries, raised rateably amongst the inhabitants of the parishes in which they officiate, each sect supporting its own minister. In every parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths are regularly kept. The church-yards are not disgraced, like ours, with low facetious epitaphs, more calculated to make the living merry, than to lead them to serious meditation. Each parish maintains its own poor, under the control of a council. They have also, as with us, outdoor poor. The sabbath is kept in Holland with the same solemnity as in England. The great number of noble charitable institutions in Amsterdam, in which the sick and the friendless of all persuasions are received and cherished, without any recommendation but that of affliction, cannot fail to impress a stranger with admiration, though to enumerate them here would not be very entertaining to the reader.

There are several literary societies in Amsterdam, which are supported with equal spirit and liberality. The Felix Meritis is the principal public institute; it is supported by private subscriptions: no money is paid upon admission; foreigners are admitted with a subscriber’s ticket, but no native can be received unless he is a subscriber. This place is a large building, containing some fine apartments, particularly the music-room, which, during the concerts, is much resorted to by the most opulent and fashionable families, many of whom play, with the assistance of professional performers. There are also rooms devoted to philosophy and the arts. In the painting-room I was shown some works of the modern Dutch painters, which were not above mediocrity; they appear to have lost that exquisite art of colouring, which so eminently distinguished their predecessors. This circumstance is very singular, considering how many ingenious artists this city has produced, amongst whom may be enumerated the three Does, Griffier, Schellinks, the celebrated Adrian, and William Vandervelde, &c. M. Smit, and Mr. De Winter, very opulent merchants, have a fine collection of paintings. Mr. Van Brenton has also a valuable cabinet, in which are the only Venetian pictures supposed to be in Holland; and in the surgery is a noble picture by Rembrandt.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DUTCH THEATRE ... THEATRICAL TRAFFIC ... THE RONDELL ... SINGULAR VILLAGE OF BROCK ... SAARDAM ... COTTAGE OF PETER THE GREAT ... CLIMATE, DIVISIONS, AND POPULATION OF HOLLAND ... JOURNEY TO ZEYST ... DUTCH FOND OF COFFEE ... SMALL FARMS ... PICTURE OF A DUTCH PEASANT’S NEST ... EFFECTS OF INDUSTRY ... PALACE OF SOESTDYKE ... PYRAMID RAISED IN HONOUR OF BONAPARTE ... SOCIETY OF HERRENHUTHERS ... THEIR HOUSE AND INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS DESCRIBED.

The Dutch theatre is large and handsome, and has a noble front. On the night I was there, Madam Wattier performed: she occupies the same place in the public estimation in Holland as the immortal Siddons does in that of England: she is advanced in years, but still continues to display great tragic qualities: at the same time her manner is rather too vehement for an English auditor. The principal dancer in the ballet was Mademoiselle Polly, who dances with great agility. The scenery is good. During the interval between the acts, the people quit the house, to take refreshments and walk in the open air: upon these occasions the national spirit is again displayed: as there is no half-price, little boys hover round the doors, and bid upon each other for the purchase of the re-admission tickets of those who come out, for the purpose of re-selling them at a profit. The French theatre is small but neat, and tolerably well supplied with performers. After the play it is usual to go out to the Rondell, where the higher classes of the women of the town assemble to waltz. This assembly-room, like the spill-house of Rotterdam, is frequented by tradesmen, their wives and their children. After hearing so much of this place, I was greatly disappointed on viewing it. The assembly-room is small and shabby, the music wretched, and adjoining is a small square court, with three or four trees in it, scantily decorated with about a dozen lamps. Such is the celebrated Rondell of Amsterdam, which the Dutch who have never visited England contend is superior to our Vauxhall.

With a large and very agreeable party, I made an excursion into North Holland, where we visited Brock, one of the most curious, and one of the prettiest villages in Holland. The streets are divided by little rivulets; the houses and summer-houses, formed of wood painted green and white, are very handsome, though whimsical in their shape, and are all remarkably neat. They are like so many mausoleums, for the silence of death reigns throughout the place. The inhabitants, who have formed a peculiar association amongst themselves, scarcely ever admit a stranger within their doors, and hold but little intercourse with each other. During our stay, we saw only the faces of two of them, and those by a stealthy peep. They are very rich, so much so, that many of their culinary utensils are of solid gold. The shutters of the windows in front of the houses are always kept shut, and the principal entrance is never opened but on the marriage or the death of one of the family. The pavement of the street is tesselated with all sorts of little pebbles and cockle-shells, and is kept in such exquisite order, that a dog or a cat is never seen to trespass upon it; and it is said, that formerly there was a law which obliged all passengers to take off their shoes in the summer when they walked upon it; that a man was once reprimanded for sneezing in the streets; and latterly, a clergyman, upon being appointed to fill the church on the demise of a very old predecessor, was treated with great shyness by his flock because he did not (unwittingly) take off his shoes when he ascended the pulpit. The gardens of this village produce deer, dogs, peacocks, chairs, tables, and ladders, cut out in box. Such a museum of vegetable statuary I never witnessed before. Brock represents a sprightly ball-room well lighted up, without a soul in the orchestra or upon the floor. From Brock we proceeded to Saardam, which at a small distance seems to be a city of windmills. The houses are principally built of wood, every one of which has a little fantastic baby-sort of garden. Government has discontinued building ships of war here, which used to be a source of great prosperity to the town; however, its numerous paper and sawing mills employ a vast number of hands, and produce great opulence to the place. We paid our homage to the wooden cottage where Peter the Great resided when he came to this place to learn the art of ship-building; it is very small, and stands in a garden, and is in tolerable preservation. The women in North Holland are said to be handsomer than in any other part of the country. As I was very desirous of commencing my tour on the Rhine, I was glad to return to Amsterdam.

The climate of Holland is moist, but far from being unpleasant or unwholesome, although some travellers have thought proper to say it consists of six months of rain and six months of bad weather. The principal divisions of the country are at present the same as they were during the republic, namely, Holland, Overyssel, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Groningen, Guelderland, and Zutphen, besides the Texel and other islands; but the king has it in contemplation, it is said, of speedily dividing the kingdom into ten departments. Holland contains 113 cities or large towns, 1400 villages, and nearly 2,800,000 inhabitants. The military force of Holland amounts to about 40,000 cavalry and infantry. A population and a force which cannot but astonish the reader, when he reflects upon the size, soil, and position of the country.

I intended to have taken the treckschuyt to Utrecht, as the river Amstel is all the way lined with the most beautiful country-houses and grounds in Holland; but as some friends of mine in Amsterdam obligingly proposed accompanying me, and were strongly desirous that I should see Naarden, Soestdyke, and some other places in our way, the boat was relinquished for the carriage. I however recommend the traveller not to omit going to Utrecht by water. Excellent carriages and horses are always to be procured at a large livery stable keeper’s who resides near the Utrecktsche Poort, or Utrecht Gate, in Amsterdam, close to the house from which the Utrecht treckschuyts proceed: for these he must make the best bargain he can, as he will be wholly at the mercy of the proprietor. The inconvenience and imposition arising from travelling in Holland are frequently severely felt, on account of there being no regular posting. In Amsterdam the price of a carriage for the day is fourteen florins, and for this the coachman provides for himself and horses. The back of our carriage towards the horses, folded into two divisions, resting upon the fixed seat, so that when the cushion was placed upon it, the seat was only a little raised; thus the coach became either close or open: the roof was fixed. In this vehicle, with a pair of good horses, we set off for Naarden, a clean, pretty little town, and more skilfully and strongly fortified than any other town in Holland: here the same tranquillity reigns as in most of the other Dutch country towns. From the ramparts, which present a very agreeable walk, there is a fine view of the Zuyder Zee on the northern side, the water of which being in many places very shallow, at a distance resembled moving mounds of sand. Here, and throughout the journey, our coachman gave the preference to coffee, of which the Dutch are remarkably fond, instead of wine or spirits, with his dinner. From economy, as I observed at this place and elsewhere, the middling people keep a bit of sugar-candy in their mouth when they drink tea or coffee, instead of using sugar in the way we do. Our host regaled us after dinner with a volunteer dessert of some very delicious pears, which grew in very great profusion in his garden.

From this place to Soestdyke, one of the two country palaces of the king allowed by the constitution, the roads are very sandy, and we were obliged to take four horses. In the neighbourhood of Naarden the country is covered with buckwheat; which, after we had advanced about four English miles, began to undulated, and present a very beautiful appearance. The many spires and chimnies of villages peeping above the trees in all directions, the small divisions of land, the neat and numerous little farm houses which abounded on all sides of us, presented a picture of industry and prosperity seldom seen in any other country. The sound wisdom displayed by the Dutch in preventing the overgrowth and consolidation of farms, cannot fail to strike the observation of the traveller, and particularly an English one. By this admirable policy, Holland is enabled to maintain its comparatively immense population, under the great disadvantage of a soil far from being genial; hence it is but little burthened with paupers, and hence the abundance of its provision. In England, on the contrary, the farmers, grown opulent by availing themselves of the calamities of unproductive seasons, and consequent scarcity, have for many years past omitted no opportunity, by grasping at every purchase, to enlarge their estates, and hence a portion of land which, if separated into small allotments, would give food and a moderate profit, to many families, is now monopolized by one; and those who ought to be farmers on a small scale, are now obliged to toil as labourers in the fields of their employer, at wages that are not sufficient, if their families are numerous, to prevent the necessity of their applying for parochial aid. If some legislative provision could be effected to restrain this monstrous and growing evil, by that ardent and cordial lover of his country, and particularly of the lower classes of society, Mr. Whitbread, who has laudably in parliament applied his enlightened mind to ameliorate the condition of the poor, it would be one of the most beneficial measures that ever received the fiat of the British senate. I do not repine to see the farmers, or any other respectable class of men, receive and enjoy the honest fruits of their own enterprize and industry: I could see with less regret all those decent and frugal habits of the farm which once characterized the yeomanry of England superseded by the folly and fashion of the gay and dissipated; the farmer drinking his bottle of port instead of some cheap salubrious ale; his daughter, no longer brought up in the dairy, returning from a boarding-school, to mingle the sounds of her harp with the lowing of cows, or reluctantly going to the market of the adjoining town, tricked out in awkward, misplaced finery, with a goose in one hand and a parasol in the other, did not the poor classes of society become poorer, and the humble more humiliated, by the cause of this marvellous metamorphosis in rural economy. In Holland, I was well informed, there is not a farm that exceeds fifty acres, and very few of that extent. There the economy observed in and about the “peasant’s nest,” is truly gratifying: the farmer, his wife, and a numerous progeny, exhibit faces of health and happiness; their dwelling is remarkable for its neatness and order throughout; in the orchard behind, abounding with all sorts of delicious fruits, the pigs and sheep fatten; three or four sleeky cows feed in a luxuriant adjoining meadow; the corn land is covered with turkies and fowls, and the ponds with ducks and geese. Such is the picture of a Dutch farm.

Notwithstanding the enormous tax upon land, and a tax upon cattle per head, an imposition unknown to any other country, the expense of contributing to the support of the dykes, the duty on salt, and a variety of other charges, amounting to more than fifty per cent. on the value of their land, the beneficial effects arising from small farms and the simplicity, diligence, and economy of the Dutch farmer, enable him to discharge those expenses, and his rent, with punctuality, and with the surplus of his profit to support his family in great comfort. To these causes alone can be attributed the astonishing supplies which are sent to the different markets. North Holland, so celebrated for its cheese, supplies Enkuysen, upon an average, with two hundred and fifty thousand pounds weight of that valuable article of life, and Alkmaar with three hundred thousand, per week. In a very small space in the isle of Amak, within about two English miles of Copenhagen, no less than four thousand people, descendants of a colony from East Friesland, invited over by one of the kings of Denmark to supply the city with milk, cheese, butter, and vegetables, are enabled to live and flourish, and continue to supply that city with these articles. I remember being highly delighted with seeing their dwellings and little luxuriant gardens; nor did I ever see so many persons living within so small a space, except in an encampment. An experienced English agriculturist who had visited Holland, informed me that he thought the Dutch farmers did not sufficiently dress their land. The vegetable soil is in general so thin, that trees in exposed situations are usually topped, to prevent their being thrown down by the wind. In that part of Holland which I am describing, on account of its being well sheltered, there is a large growth of wood. Upon leaving the romantic and exquisitely picturesque village of Baren, we entered the royal chace, which occupies a vast track of ground in this forest. The trees are generally poor and thin, but I saw some fine beeches among them. On the borders of this chace are two country villas, in the shape of pagodas, belonging to a private gentleman, the novelty and gaudy colouring of which served to animate the sombre appearance of the forest behind.