[7]. Doe wel en zie niet om (Do well, and don’t look behind you), was the motto of the Knights of the Union. King Louis of Holland (Napoleon I.’s brother) was but an indifferent Dutch scholar, and the tradition goes, that, having to preside at a chapter of the above Order, he was provided with a French phonetic version of their motto, as follows: Doux lainsi nid d’homme. With the aid of this guide to pronunciation he is said to have acquitted himself all right; but on another occasion he came to grief by describing himself as the “friend and rabbit” (Konijn, quasi koning, king) of his audience.
[8]. The Dr Watts of Holland.
[9]. A society at Amsterdam, which, besides fulfilling the usual functions of a club, holds picture exhibitions and gives concerts, and founded the zoological gardens in that city (hence often referred to as “Artis,” tout court), to which its members have free right of entry. Membership in “Artis,” as implied in the text, is a trustworthy guarantee of respectability.
[10]. The hierarchy of Dutch etiquette is as follows, beginning from above:—Mevrouw, Juffrouw, Vrouw.
[11]. I.e., confirmation.
[12]. Erroneously so. For, even though this is not humour, it is quite true that jokes of this sort are given out as such; and Master Pennewip’s question can only have referred to this. The wig’s doubts are therefore unfounded, and I would recommend to it the attentive perusal of Professor Oosterzee’s treatise, “De Sceptici mo caute Vitando.”
[13]. Two outlying districts of Amsterdam.
[14]. “L’eau de reine,” i.e., “eau de la reine de Hongrie,” known in England as “Hungary water,” a fashionable perfume and restorative when eau de Cologne as yet was not. Dutch ladies used to take it to church with them instead of smelling-salts. Juffrouw Pieterse’s version of the word is pronounced as spelt, the y being long like that in the English word my.
[15]. Intended for “marchand de parapluies.” The words in the above form were the refrain of a favourite Amsterdam street song some seventy years since.
[16]. The official known in a Dutch church as Kerkmeester combines in himself functions analogous to those of the English clerk and churchwarden, or the Scottish beadle and precentor.