uMC-*) Qo T (a t 't' -OIS39/C : :r_7 A JOURNEY OF AN ARCHITECT IN THE NORTH-WEST OF EUROPE LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET Fig. 125 . — Country House, near Hanover. NOTES & SKETCHES OF AN ARCHITECT TAKEN DURING A JOURNEY IN THE NORTH-WEST OF EUROPE TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF FELIX NARJOUX ZB~ST J O H IT IPIETO WITH 24 ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET 1876 All rights reserved Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/notessketchesofa00narj_1 PREFACE. It has long been thought necessary that a young man should visit foreign countries in order to complete his education, and it has also, from the earliest times, and with very great propriety, been asserted, that foreign travel is no less fitted to develop the faculties of a man in maturer life ; and from these maxims, the fruit of long experience, we may confidently deduce the incontestable and undoubted utility of visiting other countries besides our own. And yet a taste for travelling has not been very common among us. The French have a strong ob- jection to quit ‘ la belie France ; ’ some from an un- willingness to leave their homes ; others, because it is not in their power. But all are agreed on one point, that, if they do not themselves travel, they ought to profit by the descriptions given by the fortunate indi- viduals who are able to do so. We are, therefore, performing a task useful to our fellow-men, when we record the events of our wander- ings. But all the readers of this class of books are unanimously agreed that those which excite the warm- VI PREFACE. est interest, and from which they can derive the greatest advantage and satisfaction, are illustrated works, in which a great number of plates render the narrative more intelligible. Therefore we have travelled, pencil in hand, like an architect, making sketches wherever we have taken notes, so that the illustrations and descriptions should afford each other mutual aid. The sketches themselves, besides representing the larger public buildings erected in each country, which serve as the exponents of its greatness and of the degree of its civilisation, give also, and more especi- ally, an idea of the dwellings of private persons. They show the interiors, and the less conspicuous parts of houses which have been constructed with a view to meet the wants of the inhabitants, the local customs, and the requirements of the climate. With this intention we have sketched the internal parts, the decorations, and even the furniture of these^ houses. The text itself is nothing but the explanation of the plates ; it shows the relations which exist be- tween the customs of a country, the climate, the materials employed, and the dwellings erected by the inhabitants— dwellings adapted to the tastes and wishes of their proprietors, and in which they find comfort and delight. The strange and sometimes grotesque aspect of the manners of a people is thus brought under con- sideration ; while it is shown that unusual forms of PREFACE. vii construction, and the manner in which they have been worked out, have been necessitated by these pecu- liarities. We have endeavoured to interest the reader by describing countries but little known. Tourists occa- sionally indeed make excursions into Holland, but most of them are satisfied with visiting the Hague or Amsterdam, the cottage of Peter the Great at Zaan- dam, or the village of Broeck ; and not many travellers venture so far as Hanover or Hamburg. As to poor Denmark, the names of but few Frenchmen have been entered in the visitors’ book at Helsingoer during’ the space of eight years. It will, therefore, be a new and interesting journey which the reader may make with us — a novel excur- sion among people and through countries, of whose buildings he knows nothing, or, which having once seen, he may be glad to, visit a second time. Felix Narjoux. Charly. September 1875. CONTENTS HOLLAND. Moerdyk — Dordrecht. PAGE The Country — The Meuse — The Town — The Cathedral . 3 Rotterdam. The Groote-Kerk — The Hospital — The Museum — The Houses — The Delft Gate . . . . . . .7 The Hague. The Binnenof — The Town-Hall — The Market — The Houses — The Museums . . ". . . . . 25 SCHEVENINGEN. The Villas — The Church . . . . . -43 Leyden. The Koornbrog — The Town-Hall . . . . 52 Haarlem. The Groote-Kerk — The Shambles — Head-dresses . . .56 Amsterdam. The Houses — The Nieuwe-Kerk — The Oude-Kerk — The Wester- Kerk — The Katolik-Kerk — The Crystal Palace — The Amstel- Hotel — The Montalbans-Toren . . . . . 69 North Holland . no X CONTENTS. PAGE Utrecht . . . . . . . . 121 Fine Arts— Manners — Customs . . . . .127 GERMANY. HANOVER. HAMBURG. THE DUCHIES. From Utrecht to Hanover. The Country, the Journey, and the Travellers . . . . 137 Hanover. I. General Appearance — New Streets — The Old Town — The Rathaiis — The Markt-Kirche — The Residenz-Schloss — The Opera- House — The Gymnasium — The Synagogue — The Schools . 143 Hanover. II. The -Houses, their Furniture, and their Inhabitants . . . 181 Hamburg. From Haarburg to Hamburg — The Elbe — Hamburg — The Alster — The Jungfernstieg — The Old Town — The Conflagration of 1842 — The New Town — The Public Buildings — The Houses and their Inhabitants . . . . . . . 225 Altona. A Funeral — The Kinder-Garten — Altona — Blankenesse . . . 260 Heligoland ........ 264 The War of the Duchies. Preliminary Remarks — The Austro-Prussian Army — The Danish Army — The Lines of Danevirke — Taking of Missunde — ^Fortifi- cations of Duppel — Taking of Duppel — The Island of Alsen — Conditions of Peace — The Prussians during the Campaign . . 274 CONTENTS. xi DENMARK. PAGE Jutland — The Little Belt — A Ferry-Boat — A Farm — Funen — The Great Belt — The Island of Zealand .... 293 Copenhagen. I. General Aspect . . . . . . . . 315 Copenhagen. II. Kongens-Nytorv — Amalienborg — Ronde-Kirk — Frue-Kirk — Christianborg — Rosenborg — Exchange — Crystal Palace — Hos- pital — Schools — Fredericksborg — The Old and New Fortifica- tions ........ 323 Copenhagen. III. The Museums — Thorwaldsen Museum — The Museum of North- ern Antiquities — The Ethnographical Museum . . 341 Copenhagen. IV. The Danes — The Theatres — Amusements . . . 365 Copenhagen. V. The Dwelling-houses . . . . . . . 375 Elsinore (Helsingcer). The Copenhagen Station — The Country — Elsinore — The Town-hall — The Kroonborg . . . . . . 390 ■S' LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. F IG. PAGE 65. Church of the Sacred Heart, Amsterdam . to face 90 85. Cathedral Tower, Utrecht .... 55 I 12 119. Country House, Hanover . . . . . V I96 I2 5 - Country House, near Hanover . /UBCC . 55 J 57 - Bathing Establishment, Heligoland (Section and View of Interior) . . . . . . 55 270 ! 5 8. Bathing Establishment, Heligoland 55 272 175 * The Chateau of Rosenborg, Copenhagen . 55 330 209. Town-hall, Elsinore ..... 55 394 213. The Kroonborg, Elsinore . . . , 5 ? 396 WOODCUTS IN TEXT. FIG. 1. General View of Dordrecht 2. Ground-plan of the Groote-Kerk at Rotterdam 3. Interior of the Groote-Kerk 4. The Groote-Kerk ..... 5. Elevation of the Hospital at Rotterdam 6. Ground-plan ...... 7. Enlarged Plan of Sick Ward 8. The Ground-plan of the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam 9. The Boymans Museum .... 10. Statue of Erasmus, at Rotterdam 11. House in one of the Streets of Rotterdam . 12. Ground-plan of a House at Rotterdam. Basement 13. „ „ Ground-floor 14. „ „ First-floor . 15. Houses on the Banks of a Canal, Rotterdam 8 10 1 1 12 13 13 14 15 16 19 20 20 20 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG - T’AGE 1 6. The Delft Gate, Rotterdam . . . . . . 23 17. The Binnenof at the Hague . . . . .26 18. The Lottery-hall at the Hague . . . . . . 27 19. Ground- plan of the Senate-hall at the Hague . . .28 20. Section „ „ „ .... 28 21. The Town-hall at the Hague . . . . -32 22. Fish-market . . . . . . 33 23. Ground-plan . . . . . . -33 24. Vehicle used by Country People . . . . 34 25. Monument in Commemoration of the Independence of Holland . 35 26. View of a House in an Avenue at the Hague . . . 36 27. Ground-plan of Private House . . . . -37 28. First-floor . . . . . . . 37 29. Elevation . . . . . . . .-38 30. Ground-floor of Villa at Scheveningen . . . . 45 31. First-floor . . . . . . . -45 32. A Staircase . . . . . . . 47 33. Ground-plan of Church at Scheveningen . . . .48 34. View of Exterior . . . . . . 49 35. View of the Koornbrog at Leyden . . . . -53 36. The Town-hall at Leyden . . . . . 54 37. Ground-plan of the Church of St. Bavon, at Haarlem . . 59 38. Interior and Organ-case, at the Church of St. Bavon, at Haarlem . . . . . . . 60 39. Stadthouse at Haarlem . . . . . .61 40. The Old Shambles . . . . . . 62 41. The Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem . . . . -63 42. Head-dress of the Women of Zuid Hollande . . . 66 43. Head-dress of the Women of North Holland . . .6 7 44. Dutch Head-dress . . . . . . 67 45. Houses in one of the Streets of Amsterdam . . . 70 46. Elevation of a House in the Nieuwe-Mark, Amsterdam . . 72 47. Plan of Ground-floor . . . . . -73 48. Plan of First-floor . . . . . • • 73 49. Elevation of a House in the Calver-Straat, Amsterdam . . 74 50. Ground-plan of the Frontage . . . . . . 74 51. Plan of Ground-floor . . . . . . 76 52. Plan of First-floor . . . . . . . 76 53. Geometrical Elevation . . . . . -77 54. Houses of Business at Amsterdam. Basement . . . 78 55. „ „ Ground-floor . . 78 56. Geometrical Elevation . . . . . . 79 57. External View of the Royal Palace at Amsterdam . . 82 58. Ground-plan of the Oude-Kerk at Amsterdam . ..84 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv FIG. 1’AGE 59. View of the Interior of the Oude-Kerk . . . . 85 60. Ground-plan of the Nieuwe-Kerk at Amsterdam . . 86 61. Section of Aisle . . . . . . .87 62. Ground-plan of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam . . 88 63. View of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam . ’ . . .89 64. Ground-plan of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Amsterdam. 90 66. Transverse Section of Arches of the Aisles . . . 91 67. Details of the Timber-work of the Spire . . . 93 68. Ground-plan of the Crystal Palace at Amsterdam . . 95 69. View of Exterior of Crystal Palace . . . . 96 70. View of the Interior . . . . . .9 7 7 1. Amstel-hotel. Ground-floor . . . . . 98 72. First-floor . . . . . . . .98 73. General View of the Amstel-hotel and neighbouring Buildings . 99 74. A Movable Bridge at Amsterdam . . . .101 75. Offices of Inspector of Weights and Measures, Amsterdam . . 102 76. The Montalbans-Toren, Amsterdam . . . -103 77. Reception-room in a Farm-house in North Holland . .112 78. View of the Exterior of a Farm-house in North Holland . 1 13 79. Ground-plan of a Farm-house . . . . 113 80. View of a large Farm-house . . . . • I][ 5 81. Ground-plan . . . . . . . 1 1 5 82. Elevation of Artisans’ Houses at Enkuisen . . .118 83. j> jj • • . . 1 1 8 84. Plan of the First and Second Stories of the Tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht ...... 122 86. Canal at Utrecht . .' . . . . 124 87. Windmill . . . . . . . .125 88. Railway-station in Germany . . . . . 140 89. A Corner-house in Hanover . . . . 147 90. House in Hanover . . . . . . 148 91. View of a House in a Square ..... 149 92. Corner-house in Hanover . . . . . 15 1 93. Ground-plan of angular Portion . . . . .152 94. House with ancient Gables in a Street in Hanover . . .153 95. The Rathaiis, Hanover . . . . . . 1 5 5 96. Ground-plan of St. George’s Church, Hanover . . 157 97. View of the Church of St. George and its surroundings, at Hanover . . . . . . .158 98. The Opera-house, Hanover . . . . . 162 99. Ground-plan of Opera-house, Hanover . . . .164 100. The Gymnasium, Hanover . . . . . . 165 1 01. Ground-plan of Gymnasium . . ‘ . . .166 102. Plan of the First-floor . . . . . . 1 67 a XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. TAGE 103. Section and View of Roof of Gymnasium . . .168 104. Interior of a Church in ^gidien-stadt, Hanover . . . 170 105. Ground-plan of the same . . . . . .170 106. Ground-plan of Synagogue, Hanover . . . . 173 107. Transverse Section . . . . . . 174 108. Exterior, with principal Entrance . . . . 176 109. Plan of Ground-floor of Private House .... 187 no. Plan of First-floor . . . . . . 187 in. Semi-detached Houses, Hanover . .... 189 1 12. Ground-plan of Private House, Hanover . . . . 190 1 13. View of Interior ....... 191 1 14. Decorative Paintings . . . . . . 192 1 1 5. Ground-plan of a Mansion, Hanover .... 193 1 16. Plan of First-floor . . . . . . 194 1 17. Hall, with Staircase ...... 195 1 1 8. Geometrical Elevation of the Fagade of a Private Mansion, Hanover . . . . . . . . 196 120. Plan of First-floor of Public Hotel, Hanover . . . 198 121. Ground-plan . . . . . . . . 198 122. Interior of large Dining-room ..... 200 123. View of the Fagade . . . . . . . 202 124. Ground-plan of a Country House in the Environs of Hanover . 203 126. Surface and Section of a Panelled Ceiling, Hanover . . 209 127. Surface and Section of Panelled Ceiling . . . .210 128. Chimney-piece. . . . . . . 21 1 129. Sofa Table . ....... 212 130. Table with Cupboard below . . . . . . 213 1 31. What-not . . . . . . . .214 132. Pine-wood Bedstead . . . . , . 215 133. Walnut-wood Cupboard . . . . . .216 134. Walnut-wood Bureau . . . , . . 217 135. Book-case ........ 218 136. Arm-chair . . . . . . . . 219 1 37. Chair ........ 220 138. Chair . . . . . . . . 221 139. Bracket ...... ^ 222 140. View of the Alster Quay, Hamburg . . . . 228 141. An Old Street in Hamburg ..... 232 142. Flower-girl . . . . . . . 235 143. Ground-plan of the Museum at Hamburg . . . 238 144. Elevation of Museum, Hamburg . . . . 240 145. Ground-plan of the General Hospital, Hamburg . . 243 146. Ground-plan of Roman Catholic Church at Hamburg . . 245 147. View of the Interior ...... 246 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii FIG. PAGE 148. Exterior of New Roman Catholic Church at Hamburg . . 247 149. Ground-plan of Lodging-house . . . • *253 150. Plan of First-floor . . . . . . 253 1 5 1. Exterior and Section ...... 254 152. Ground-plan of Private House, Hamburg . . . 257 153. Plan of First-floor ....... 257 154. View of Exterior and Section . . . . . . 258 155. View of Heligoland ...... 267 156. Ground-plan of Bathing Establishment at Heligoland . . 269 159. Blindage in the Lines of Danevirke .... 278 160. Improved Blindage . . . . . . 280 1 61. A Peasant Girl, Jutland ...... 294 162. Pier and Ferry on the Little Belt . . . . 295 163. Section of the Movable Pontoon ..... 297 164. General Plan of a Farm in the Island of Funen . . . 302 165. General View of a Farm ...... 303 166. Exterior of Farm-house . . . . . 304 167. View of Interior ....... 306 168. Ground-plan of the Cathedral at Roeskilde . . . . 312 169. Geometrical Elevation of the Fagade of the Transept . . 313 170. The Kongens-Nytorv at Copenhagen . . . 316 1 7 1. The Palace of Amalienborg ..... 324 172. Plan of the Amalienborg-Slot . . . . ..325 173. Runde-Kirk, Copenhagen. ..... 327 174. Ground-plan of the Rosenborg . . . . . 330 176. The Exchange, Copenhagen . . . . . 33 1 177. Ground-plan of the Exhibition Building . . . . 333 178. Transverse Section of the Exhibition Building, Copenhagen . 334 179. General View of the Industri-borg . . . . 335 180. Ground-plan of Communal Hospital .... 336 181 to 185. Trumpet of the Age of Bronze . . . . 346 186. Handle of Drinking-vessel ..... 347 187. Bronze Pin . . . . . . . . 348 188. Bronze Pin ........ 349 189. Bronze Pin . . . . . . . . 349 190. Bronze Cup ....... 350 191 and 192. Harness found in a Tumulus in Funen . . . 351 193. Granite Tomb. Front View ..... 353 194. Opposite Side of Tomb . . . . . . 353 195. Granite Font ....... 354 196. Chancel Candlestick . . . . . . 355 197. Terra-cotta Taper-stand ...... 356 198. Modern Gable, Copenhagen . . . . . . 376 199. Elevation of a Lodging-house ..... 3 77 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. PAGE 200. Plan of the Ground-floor ..... 378 201. Plan of First-floor ....... 378 202. Ground-plan of Private Residence . . . . 381 203. Plan of First-floor . . . . . . .381 204. Interior of two Rooms . . . . . . 383 205. External View ....... 384 206. Ground-plan of a Private Mansion . . . . . 386 207. Plan of First-floor ....... 388 208. Interior of Drawing-room and Ante-room . . . . 389 210. Ground-plan of Town-hall, Elsinore .... 394 21 1. Town-hall, Elsinore. First-floor . . . . . 395 212. Interior. First-floor ...... 396 214. Life-boat Station, Elsinore . . . . . . 401 HOLLAND. ‘ Hollande ; canaux, canards, canailles.’ — Voltaire. ‘ La Hollande est le pays le plus charmant, le plus lointain qu’on puisse parcourir sans sortir d’Europe.’ — Maxime Ducamp. B MOERDYK— DORDRECHT. THE COUNTRY — THE MEUSE— THE TOWN — THE CATHEDRAL. The Belgian railway terminates at Moerdyk ; 1 &t this point the traveller who is going to Holland ought to embark on the Meuse, and ascend it as far as Rotterdam, if he desires to have vivid impressions of the country, and to grow accustomed to it by degrees as he proceeds. The river is as wide as a sea ; its grey, muddy, thick waters, glittering with reflections of yellow light, are covered with vessels 'from every port and bound to every destina- tion. The mud banks on each side rise above immense meadows intersected by canals, streaked with long lines of poplars, and enlivened by large herds of black or white cows, which feed there during the whole year, finding a plentiful supply of pasture, and yielding abundance of meat and milk. In the midst of these meadows boats or steamers appear to be passing over dry land, for the canals along which they go are enclosed between two artificial banks rising above the level of the surrounding soil. The sea breeze gently stirs the leaves of the trees, brings flocks of herons or storks, and turns the gigantic sails of windmills, whose cheerful click resounds on all sides. A slight mist, a bluish haze, rises from the soil ; if a gust of wind dissipates it for a moment, it returns immediately afterwards more heavily and densely ; it tones down the out- lines, and rounds off the forms of objects, so that they appear soft, and as if they had been steeped in water. There is nothing ‘ It is now continued as far as Rotterdam. 4 HOLLAND. to arrest or fix the eye as it glances around, and passes from one object to another without resting on anything, or feeling any desire to make a -choice; all nature is seen through a thin veil. The herdsmen who tend the flocks, the peasants who till the ground, the girls who milk the cows, move but seldom, and with a heavy step ; they utter no shouts or songs, and are not easily induced to do anything hastily ; the animals, tied to painted stakes placed at regular intervals, seem more calm and peaceful than in any ether country. Here and there, nearer the environs of towns and villages, are country houses, built of wood or brick, more grotesque than original, souvenirs of Java or Japan. In front of each there is a little garden, planted with gaudy flowers, especially bright-coloured tulips ; instead of being enclosed by a wall, they are surrounded by a ditch full of water. The buildings are neat, though low, con- tracted, and of small size, painted with vivid and monotonous colours, and always detached from each other, in order not to shock the unsociable tastes of their inhabitants. Behind, is the inevitable windmill, which pumps out the water in case of an inundation, fills the ditch in dry weather, supplies the house, waters the garden, saws the wood, and makes a slight noise in the midst of this deep silence. The whole scene is strange ; the perfect calm astonishes and soothes us at first. It is an entirely new country which unfolds itself before the spectator. We give a representation of Dordrecht or Dor, as it is called in the neighbourhood. The new-comer, as yet little accustomed to the solitude, the monotony, and the scrupulous cleanliness of the Dutch towns, finds here the first cause for astonishment. The effect produced by this small town is unexpected and charming ; almost lost in the river, and confounded with it, half hidden by a curtain of verdure, it shows only as much as it cannot conceal of its singular houses, so brightly coloured, so neat and uniform, and grouped so regularly around the Dom-Kerk, which dwarfs them by its size and its height. In the harbour, vessels of every form and size pass to and fro, either going up or down the river. This continual, MOERD YK— DORDRECHT. 5 incessant movement on the water forms a striking contrast with the calmness which reigns on dry land. As we enter Dordrecht, we are struck with the quiet which surrounds us. The sound of our footsteps awakes no echo ; scarcely does it attract any curious fair-haired woman to the diagonal mirror of her eyer-closed window. We pass through one street, a second, and a third, and we imagine Fig. i. — General View of Dordrecht. that we have retraced our steps, so much does the third resemble the second, and this again the first. The houses are identically the same everywhere, the same not only in their general arrangements and their outlines, but in their details ; all are built of brick more or less unfaced ; they have the same appearance, the same form. The frames of the windows and doors are of wood, all of the same dimensions, 6 HOLLAND. and of a similar colour, and, what is more, of the same tone of this same colour. Thus Dordrecht prefers yellow, and all is yellow, and the same yellow. The public buildings of Dordrecht are soon seen ; indeed, we might dispense with the sight of them. The Dom-Kerk, an ancient cathedral, which has been turned into a Protestant place of worship, was built in the fourteenth century ; before it stands an enormous brick steeple, which has been several times altered and mutilated, so that its original proportions cannot be ascertained. The Town-hall is common and unworthy of notice ; the pier and the harbour are uninterest- ing, and — that is all. ROTTERDAM. 7 ROTTERDAM. THE GROOTE-KERK — THE HOSPITAL — THE MUSEUM — THE HOUSES — THE DELFT GATE. AFTER leaving Dordrecht we soon come to Rotterdam. Landing at the quay of Bompjes, an architect may for a considerable time imagine himself still on board ship, for the houses appear to him to be dancing a saraband, which disturbs their equilibrium. The symmetrical gables advance, retire, lean to the right or the left, backwards or forwards ; not one has maintained its perpendicularity. This may, however, be easily understood when we consider that the town was built on piles driven into the subjacent marshes that have been disturbed and shifted by frequent inundations ; still, if the equilibrium has been affected, the stability has not been impaired ; the fall of houses is not more frequent at Rotterdam than elsewhere, and one may venture to walk through the city without any danger. The most important structure in Rotterdam is the church of St. Laurence, better known by the name of the Groote- Kerk (the great church). Like all other ecclesiastical build- ings in the Netherlands, the Groote-Kerk, originally intended for Roman Catholic worship, has been subsequently turned into a Protestant church. Holland is Protestant ; and when, after the excesses of John of Leyden and the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, the Reformation was firmly established in the Netherlands (1536), the Roman Catholic churches became places of worship connected with the new faith ; but, not having been constructed for that purpose, this transformation was not 8 HOLLAND. easily effected. We can clearly understand th^t, of all eccle- siastical edifices, Gothic churches are, less than any others, suited to the requirements of the Protestant religion. Nothing is needed for the reformed temple, but a large Fig. 2. -Ground-plan of the Groote-Kerk at Rotterdam, (Scale, -039 inch to the yard.) hall ; it is unnecessary to have side aisles for Catholic pro- cessions, a vast choir to accommodate a great number of priests, spacious chapels where divine service may be celebrated in many different functions, and ornaments of all kinds, which ROTTERDAM. 9 give such effectual aid to the pomp of ceremonies. The minister and the priest cannot officiate in the same sanctuary; the building which is adapted to the one is unsuited and inconvenient for the other. The Groote-Kerk has passed through these various trans- formations. Its naked walls, of a uniform tint of colouring, present a cold and sad appearance ; the choir and the chapels are closed; the windows have been despoiled of their coloured glass ; the transept and nave are filled with seats placed as in an amphitheatre, which hide the arcades, the bases, the shafts, and even the capitals of the columns of the side aisles. The ancient edifice can no longer be recognised ; it is de- graded and mutilated, and the effect which it might otherwise produce is completely destroyed. Yet, even such as it is at the present day, it deserves examination, and attracts attention ; its ground plan (fig. 2) shows a certain kind of grandeur and much unity in the arrangements of the nave, transept, and choir, but the apse is poor, and the aisles surrounding the east end correspond badly with the rest of the building. The most curious part is the timber-vaulted roof which covers the nave, the weight of which rests on the ends of enormous bare tie-beams, which also serve to buttress the walls. The transverse ribs of the roof extend from aisle to aisle, and support the boards which form its framework ; each of these ribs springs from a slender column or pilaster, also of wood, which extends down to the chapiter of the column, and is supported by it, its bearing being sometimes strengthened by a brace placed below. This very homogeneous structure is entirely independent of the main masonry ; the profiles of the arches resemble those of stone voussoirs ; they are composed of small pieces of wood indented together, thus forming a rigid system, but possessing sufficient elasticity to yield, without breaking, and without losing their shape in consequence of the movements communicated to the whole building by an unstable soil. Constructions of this kind are very frequent in the ecclesi- IO HOLLAND. astical buildings of the Netherlands. This is explained by the double advantage which they offer : first, in not imposing too great a weight on walls erected on a bad soil, and also in allowing architects to make use of those materials which, at the time when the churches were erected, were found abundantly in the country, then covered with forests which have since disappeared. It is true that a fire — and they are frequent here — would soon have destroyed the whole. The timber roofs of the Groote-Kerk are in good preservation ; they are of no older date than 1513; they are not so well constructed, and are certainly less interesting, than those of ROTTERDAM. 1 1 other buildings, of which we shall have occasion to speak. The architect made his wood-work too massive for the purpose for which it was intended, and therefore the whole looks heavy and almost clumsy. This exaggeration of necessary solidity is, indeed, a general fault in Holland, where, less than elsewhere, we meet with delicacy and gracefulness. Fig. 4. — The Groote-Kerk. We see, at the entrance of the choir, an open screen in copper, of the Louis Treize style, of very remarkable workman- ship, and with exceedingly rich decorations ; there is also in one of the chapels another communion screen in copper, the HOLLAND. 12 tracery and, sharp edges of which are in a perfect state of preservation. The building is entirely of brick, except the points of sup- port and some courses placed on the external facades, which are of stone (fig. 4), the white colour of which contrasts strongly with the deep red of the bricks. The tower above the entrance was not erected till the seventeenth century ; a wooden spire was then placed upon it, which was afterwards destroyed, and re- placed by the tower of several stories which we see at present. We must remember, in order to explain the date assigned to the erection of the Church of St. Laurence, that in the Middle Ages the north of Europe was far behind our French provinces, and that in the thirteenth century admirable ca- thedrals had already been erected in the Ile-de-France when the German races were only just beginning to construct equilateral arches. Fig. 5. — Elevation of the Hospital at Rotterdam. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) We must not, indeed, expect to find in Holland ecclesi- astical edifices such as have been so much admired in France, Italy, Belgium, or Spain. Nothing is to be seen there in the least degree approaching those admirable churches in which a religion which appeals to the eye and the imagination has collected artistic treasures which every one can now see and admire. On the right hand rises, high above this part of the city, a vast building— the hospital, which was begun in 1844. In consequence of their not having taken the precautions which ROTTERDAM. 13 were rendered necessary by the nature of the soil, the works were interrupted for four years, and completed in 1850 (fig. 5). This hospital is therefore one of the modern benevolent estab- lishments constructed in Europe. The praise which has been Fig. 6. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) 1. Principal entrance. 2. Entrance-hall. 3. Board -room. 4. Director’s apartments. 5. Physician’s-room. 6. Bath-room. 7. Vapour baths. 8. Drawing-room. 9. Staircase. 10. Lifts. 11. Sick wards. 13 - 14. 15 - 16. 17 . 18. 19. 20. Corridors. Library. Theatre for operations. Principal hall. Wards for patients who pay for attendance. Water-closets. Nurses’ apartments. S tore-rooms. Dressing-rooms. ! I I Fig. 7. — Enlarged Plan of Sick Ward. (Scale, '078 inch to the yard.) bestowed upon it is doubtless somewhat exaggerated, for we shall see that the arrangement of the sick wards, an essential part of such a building, is not free from blame. 4 HOLLAND. The hospital at Rotterdam is capable of containing from 260 to 280 beds. It is three stories high ; on the ground- floor are the surgery, the kitchen and its offices, the steam- engine, and other necessary appendages. The central part is reserved for the officers of the institution. The two wings are devoted to the patients, and are divided into small wards, each containing only twenty beds, which is an excellent arrangement. But the dimensions of these rooms, 6, 5 x 1 1 x 4, 6 metres = 328, 9 cubic metres (about 430 cubic yards), only allow each patient 33 cubic metres (about 43 cubic yards), which is very insufficient. 1 Fig. 8. — The Ground-plan of the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam. (Scale, ’039 inch to the yard.) In addition to this, the wards are lighted and ventilated merely by a window and a half-glass door opening on a common corridor perfectly closed, and therefore a constant cause of insalubrity, especially during epidemics (figs. 6 and 7). Each ward has a dressing-room and water-closet, the walls of which are covered with glazed tiles, and which are venti- lated only by means of the corridor common to all the wards. The floors of the latter are of deal, and are washed every 1 The quantity of air to each bed, in the Hopital Lariboisiere at Paris, is from 50 to 60 cubic metres (65 to 78 cubic yards). ROTTERDAM. day, so that they are perfectly clean, but at the same time constantly damp. The patients are raised to the upper floors by a lift, so as not to expose them to any inconvenience from jolting, and Fig* 9* — The Boymans Museum. this also spares the attendants the fatigue of carrying up heavy and cumbrous packages. The Boymans Museum was one of the glories of Holland. It was burnt in 1864. This building, which contained the masterpieces of the Dutch school, has been re-erected, but unfortunately it has not been so easy to replace the pictures that were destroyed. i6 HOLLAND. The new museum is not faultless. Detached on three sides, it is in the form of a rectangle, and contains two vast halls, lighted from the ceiling, for the reception of pictures of large size, and three smaller rooms for drawings, medals, &c. ; the ground-floor contains sculptures and more unimportant works. The facades, constructed of stone brought from Fig. io. — Statue of Erasmus, at Rotterdam. Belgium, at great expense, are well proportioned and highly decorated, but have no originality. However, the building is far superior to the museums of the Hague and Amsterdam. The statue of the magistrate Gysbert Karel has been lately erected behind the Museum. This personage is seated in an arm-chair, and clothed in a robe, the folds of which conceal the details of the seat ; the sculptor has given to the figure the simplest position possible. The body is leaning backward, and the legs are crossed in a careless and natural ROTTERDAM. 1 7 manner, perhaps rather too realistic ; but this will be readily pardoned, as there is an entire absence of studied effect and pretension. The bronze statue of Erasmus stands on the Groote Mark (fig. io) ; it was cast in 1622, and is very celebrated in the North, and considered as the masterpiece of the sculptor Keiser. Erasmus is represented as standing, draped in a long doctor’s robe, the folds of which cover his feet ; he holds in his hand an open book, which he is reading. This figure has been alternately much praised and greatly decried ; it cer- tainly deserves ‘ neither this excess of honour nor this in- dignity.’ It is a mediocre work, but it has the merit of representing a person who really seems to live, to read, and to walk. The bases of these two statues are equally common and worthless. The Dutch think a great deal of their primary schools ; but there was nothing in their contributions to the Universal Exhibition at Paris in 1867 which seemed to justify their pretensions, and the schools which we visited did not induce us to change our opinion. The buildings, both in their ex- ternal appearance and internal arrangements, are far inferior to ours. As to the boasted neutral schools, in which children of every sect receive necessary instruction without any inter- ference with their religious tenets, it is easily understood that they are indispensable in a country whose inhabitants are unwilling to admit any variety or fancy except in their re- ligious notions ; in a country where a city of 100,000 souls, like Rotterdam, has seventeen different sects of almost equal importance — Roman Catholics, Jansenists, Remonstrants, Mennonites, Reformed, Lutherans, Anglicans, English Pres- byterians, Scotch, Jews, Greeks, &c. We readily acknowledge that neutral schools might be useful in France, especially in certain provinces ; but in most cases the uniformity of religion amongst us renders them superfluous, while, on account of the excessive division of religious sects, they are indispensable in Holland. C HOLLAND. 1 8 The Exchange is an edifice of the eighteenth century, possessing no architectural interest. This large block of buildings surrounds a vast enclosure covered with glass, the metallic framework of which is supported by enormous cast- iron columns, painted to imitate stone. The whole is surmounted by a campanile, which was, at the time of our visit, surrounded by scaffoldings made of small pieces of rough wood with the bark on ; and this ex- cessively light construction reminded us of those which we see in Rome at the present time ; a circumstance which strikes one more forcibly, since the Dutch do not generally excel in the economical use of materials. Holland extends her commerce over the whole world : she has factories at the North Cape, and others in Oceania ; her numberless vessels bring into her ports the riches of the globe, to be conveyed over the Continent by railways and canals. Rotterdam is the second, and will, it is said, soon be the first of her ports. The productions of the farthest East are brought thither by the mercantile genius of its inhabitants. Regular lines of sailing vessels and steamers constantly make the long voyage of six thousand leagues which separate Batavia from the North Sea. We see them, full and heavily laden, enter the deep canals of the interior, along which they pass to the very houses of their owners, to discharge their freight. This exceptional circumstance, resulting from local ar- rangements, converts the whole city into a port, instead of limiting it to that portion by the side of the river ; and this renders unnecessary at Rotterdam those immense ware- houses which we see in London, Marseilles, Genoa, &c. But although each shipowner has his private warehouses and depots of merchandise, there are some general establishments of this kind at the extremity of the Bompjes. But these dark and gloomy buildings are very badly placed ; the usual Dutch cleanliness is wanting, and the architect can find nothing to admire in their construction. ROTTERDAM. 19 The private dwellings of Holland differ essentially from those of France, which would suit neither such a climate nor habits so different from ours ; but, on the other hand, they are perfectly adapted to the wants, the manners, and the tastes of their inhabitants ; and in this respect the practical dispo- sition of this nation of merchants is especially manifested. The Hollander is not very sociable ; it is difficult to form Fig. 11. — House in one of the Streets of Rotterdam. any intimate acquaintance with him ; his house, closely shut up, is but rarely, and only under certain circumstances, open to the members of his family. As soon as his business is over at his warehouse or his office, he goes to a club, where he passes many hours smoking and drinking beer ; he speaks but little, unless he has some direct motive for breaking the silence. His wife keeps the house, and brings up the children. The pleasures of the understanding and the mind, the love 20 HOLLAND. of art, are not so much cultivated in Holland as among our- selves. Thus Rotterdam, a town of 100,000 souls, has no theatre ; and at Amsterdam, which contains 300,000 in- habitants, there is no opera-house. The love of flowers, carried to such an extent in some cities as to become a mania, may, however, be accounted for by the very natural desire which these people must feel, to see here and there around them some brilliantly-coloured spots Ground-plan of a House at Rotterdam. Fig. 12. — Basement. Fig. 13. — Ground-floor. Fig. 14. —First-floor. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) A. Kitchen entrance. B. Area. C. Kitchen. D. Coal-hole. E. Wine-cellar. F. Bath-room. G. Hall. H. Drawing-room. I. Dining-room. J. Greenhouse. K. Bed-rooms. L. Dressing-room. breaking their grey and misty horizon. This desire, perhaps, justifies their exaggerated taste for tulips of the most gaudy colours, and for pink or blue houses, and induces them to paint the trunks of trees white and the wooden shoes of the peasants red. In order to satisfy these tastes and habits — which, as we have seen, must leave the mind and the imagination perfectly calm — the Dutchman, who loves neither change nor variety, who can comprehend nothing but symmetry and monotony, ROTTERDAM . 21 who seeks neither society nor intercourse with his neighbour, constructs for himself dwellings arranged exactly on a uniform plan, with scarcely even a variation in size ; the only differ- ence which exists in the front of their houses is in the shape of the gables, which, according to the period of their con- struction, and the taste of the day, are more or less strange ; and nothing can, in every case, justify their grotesque forms (% ii). The ground-floor (figs. 12, 13, 14) is composed of two rooms of equal dimensions, separated by a partition formed of panels, so as to slide upon each other by means of rollers, which renders it easy to throw both into one. Opposite to the street-door is the staircase leading upwards to the first- floor, and downwards to the basement, where are the kitchen, the room for coal or peat, the cellar, a bath-room, and closets. There is direct access to this underground portion from without, and, in order to give all the air and light pos- sible, an area of from 3 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. wide separates the front wall from the public way, and keeps the passer-by at a dis- tance. The upper story comprises two apartments similar to those on the ground-floor, a dressing-room over the hall, and a closet. If the house is of greater importance, there is another story or even two or three above it, but the latter case is very rare. The attics are used for stores, and, in order to avoid anything being carried up or down the stair- case, a pole with a pulley attached is fixed on the outside, by which all packages can be raised or let down. When the fronts of the houses abut on a canal, they are sometimes covered with enclosed or sheltered balconies, or large projecting bay-windows, which produce a picturesque effect (fig. 1 5). The rooms on the ground-floor are intended to be seen by the public who pass along the street, but do not enter : the windows of these rooms have their sill very low, and are ornamented within by stands full of flowers. The furniture can thus be seen from without, and is almost always com- posed of the productions of Java, China, or Japan, of objects 22 HOLLAND. of art or vertu, of strange forms, but of an inappreciable value and rarity ; immense jars, hideous Bouddhas, jade vases, and unsightly bronzes, are seen in abundance. Nothing interferes with the view of the back room, and the rare plants and choice tulips arranged on the floor of the conservatory. A Fig. 1 5. — Houses on the Banks of a Canal, Rotterdam. very simple contrivance serves to bring the flowers nearer to or farther from the window. All the windows are hung with sashes — an excellent plan for enabling them to be securely closed without any inconveni- ence, in a country where there is no necessity to renew the air of the apartments frequently, and where it is not only ROTTERDAM. 2 3 contrary to 'the usual custom to look out of the window, but even to open it. To atone for this imprisonment, the women, who always live in the upper story, have adopted the Belgian or Swiss spy mirror / by means of which they can, while seated within the room, notice all that passes in the street. But in rigid families this mirror is prohibited, and the women live in the rooms which look into the back garden. Fig. 1 6 . — The Delft Gate, Rotterdain. The use of outer blinds is a rare exception ; they are replaced by inner shutters or double windows. When they wish to prevent passers-by or neighbours seeing what takes place within, they put before the windows, on the inside, small fine wire-work screens, painted blue or rose-colour, called Horren , which allow them to see without being seen. These houses are entirely constructed of brick : the floors and timbers are of deal, as well as the internal woodwork, 1 A diagonal mirror on the outside, so placed as to reflect all objects in the street ]oelow. — T r. 24 ' HOLLAND. and the doors and window-frames. The roofs are covered with curved tiles, slightly differing in form from ours ; the bricks, which are generally of a deep colour, measure about 8^ in. x 4 in. x 2 in. ; they are employed in the most primitive manner, without any attempt at combinations which might offer any advantages in the construction, or present forms pleasing to the eye. The highway regulations, which, with us, restrict in so many ways both architects and their buildings, do not appear to be very rigorous in Holland. Each person builds his house in a certain given line ; he constructs it solidly, because it is his interest to do so ; he renders it convenient and healthy, because otherwise he could neither let, sell, nor inhabit it; but he attains this end without being subjected to our many regulations, which are difficult in application, variable, and often doubtful in interpretation. When we leave Rotterdam, we pass through the Delft gate (fig. 1 6), built in the last century, which is considered an important structure in a city where there are so few. Then we arrive at a modern Gothic building — and such Gothic ! — which is the terminus of the Hague railway. As soon as we lose sight of the last houses in Rotterdam, we find the country just as we left it on the other side before we entered the towns. The canals, the meadows, the flocks, the windmills, the roads paved with brick, return incessantly, and succeed each other in such a regular and uniform manner, that one is afraid after a while of being the victim of an illusion, and is tempted to rub the window of the carriage, in order to be assured that this invariable image is not engraved upon it. THE HAGUE . 25 THE HAGUE. THE BTNNENOF — THE TOWN-HAI.L — THE MARKET— THE HOUSES — THE MUSEUMS. The Hague is the town where the Dutch nobility reside ; there is scarcely any place more agreeable in the world. — Regnard, 1681. If the terminus where we start for Rotterdam is Gothic, that, on the contrary, at which we stop at the Hague is Grecian. One is as good as the other ; indeed, it is almost impossible to choose between them. The Hague (St. Gravenhage) is more unlike a Dutch town than any other in Holland ; it has no decided character, no original personality ; it is the capital of the kingdom, the residence of the Court, a fashionable city, a favourite abode of that nomadic crowd, without fixed habitation, who look upon Europe as their dwelling-place. It has constantly offered an asylum to exiles of all nations ; you find there enlightened, learned society, beautiful fine-art collections, and all kinds of intellectual resources. The natural productions are rich, and the sea is close at hand. The appearance of the city corresponds very well with the idea which one would form of it. The streets are straight, and there are wide avenues and squares planted with trees ; and also — a noticeable thing in a Dutch town — no internal canals ; they have all been restricted to the harbour. A single piece of water has received the freedom of the city, the Vivyer, whose dimensions are those of a lake, and which, occupying the side of a vast square, bathes the walls of the Binnenof. ,26 HOLLAND. The Binnenof (fig. 17) is a palace, or rather an assemblage of buildings fulfilling the same purposes as that degli Uffizi at Florence. It is the ancient palace of the Stadtholders and the cradle of the Hague, and was formerly a fortress sur- rounded by trenches. There is still no communication between it and the city, except by three bridges. Installed in this vast building there are a chapel, the Treasury offices, the Senate, the Museum (a little beyond Fig. 17. — The Binnenof at the Hague. the ancient buildings), two offices of the Ministry, and those of several other branches of public administration. In the midst of the court stands a building of the thirteenth century, intended originally as a chapel, but now used as a place where the public lottery is drawn, and for the exercises of the civic guard, who thus perform their manoeuvres sheltered from the sun and rain (fig. 18). The whole of the Binnenof has been several times altered and modified. The original buildings, which are to be seen THE HAGUE. 2 7 around the inner court, are composed of a ground-floor before which is a portico, and two upper stories of a square form. The materials employed are stone and unfaced brick. It has been very carefully constructed, so that in spite of time, and foundations resting on a movable and compressible soil, the general mass of the building has stood well, and no deterioration is perceptible to the eye ; but the appearance Fig. 1 8 . — The Lottery-hall at the Hague. of the edifice is not cheerful, and it gives one the idea of a barrack or a prison rather than of a palace. The Lottery-hall alone relieves the whole structure. This little Gothic building makes an agreeable break in the monotony of the cold and symmetrical lines which surround it. The two turrets, the object of which is not at once evident, were formerly watch-towers, commanding the flat and level country all around. The campaniles which are above them are modern. 28 HOLLAND. The interior of this hall has a bare wooden roof, said to be of cedar ; but we could only examine it through a broken pane of glass, all our attempts to penetrate farther having been ineffectual. The discussions which lately took place in France, when it was proposed to instal the Municipal Council of Paris in the Luxemburg and in the projected Hotel de Ville, give a Fig. 19. Giound-plan and Section of the Senate-hall at the Hague. (Scale, '078 inch to the yard.) A. President’s seat. B. Secretaries. C. Seats of Ministers. D. Seats of Senators. E. Gallery for the public and the press. certain amount of interest to the arrangements adopted at the Hague in order to seat the members of the Senate. The hall of assembly, of which we give a ground-plan (fig. 19), and a section (fig. 20), has nothing remarkable in itself, but its arrangement deserves to be noticed. On the right and left are the seats of the great dignitaries of the king- dom, the representatives of foreign Powers, and the public ; THE HAG HE. 2 ? below, the senators, thirty-nine in number, are seated three by three on benches with alternate desks ; these benches are placed in six rows opposite to each other. In the inter- mediate space are the president’s arm-chair, and the seats of the ministers and secretaries. This is, in principle, almost the same arrangement as that adopted at the House of Commons in London. There is no tribune ; the members speak from their places ; each one rises to ask a question or to reply, without making a formal speech. The senators engage in conversation or discussion, rather than in an oratorical tourna- ment, and the affairs of the country do not suffer in con- sequence. The Dutch do not seem to value the works of art which they possess, so much for the pleasure which they may afford, as for the profit which they may derive from them. The museums of the Hague and Amsterdam are badly placed in third-rate buildings, and the public are not admitted, except on payment — a custom which is observed in no part of Europe except in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Museum at the Hague contains on the ground-floor a collection of Chinese and Japanese curiosities of an exagge- rated reputation ; and, on the first-floor, a gallery of paintings containing about 300 pictures. The greater part of these belong to the Dutch school, among which are found Paul Potter’s ‘ Bull ’ and Rembrandt’s ‘ Lecture on Anatomy.’ Although the numerous copies of the masterpiece of Paul Potter have rendered it so well known, the impression which it gives us is new, because none of its reproductions have given the exact proportions and the scale of the original, which is of the natural size ; to this striking peculiarity we must add the excessive study of detail, and a minute care to reproduce the slightest accessories. Thus the spectator feels more surprise than admiration ; he counts the flies scattered over the animal’s back, and the roughened parts of the horns, and remains almost unmoved before such an exact and rigorous copy of nature. The ‘ Lecture on Anatomy ’ is a work of a different 30 HOLLAND. character. The spectator cannot avoid feeling a certain emotion, when studying the scene which the painter places before him. A dead body is lying extended, the students surround it, listening to the lecture delivered by Professor Tulp, in corpore vili. This is the subject, which is not in itself very attractive ; but the body is unmistakably a dead body ; the head of the professor and those of the physicians are portraits ; each is represented with his natural characteristics, his usual gestures, his peculiar temperament, expressed in such lively though apparently insignificant detail, thanks to the genius of Rembrandt, as clearly to show the impression made on each person present at this dismal scene, the points in which they differ, and those in which they resemble each other. Many other works at the Hague Museum are as remark- able as the preceding, without being so well known. They all have the same character peculiar to the genius of this people and this school of artists, the last which has appeared in the history of art. In the ‘Woman at the Window ’ and the ‘ Woman with the Lamp,’ by Gerard Dow, the ‘ Herb-market at Amsterdam,’ the ‘ Musicians,’ and the ‘ Huntsman,’ by Metzu, in the ‘ Painter and his Wife ’ and the ‘ Soap-bubbles ’ of Mieris — in all of them, in fact — we con- stantly find the same representation of the actions of ordinary life, and of facts patent to every one ; there is nothing ideal or elevated, nothing which strikes us as great. Contem- porary history, the remarkable deeds of heroes, love, religion, or the glory of one’s native country, have only inspired these masters with citizen scenes, treated in a citizen-like manner. They have felt only the material side of life and nature ; dreams and imagination have evaded their genius, which only shows itself in conscientious studies of subjects, at times the most vulgar and grotesque, in copies of common models, without grandeur or elevation, in which there is nothing to awaken the vibration of those noble sentiments which Art is destined to arouse in the heart of man. We shall have again to return to this subject when visiting THE HAGUE . 3i the museum at Amsterdam, and shall then describe more fully the characteristics of the Dutch school of painting. Prince William proposed, about the year 1840, to have a palace built for him by an English architect — the most absurd palace that ever excited the mirth of an architect. It is said to be Gothic ; but we cannot tell why. It is in every respect a work of folly, and beyond the bounds of reason : its turrets, machicolations, and half-hidden apertures, cannot be described. The strangest thing of all is, that this grotesque assemblage is only an outward show, a mere decoration. Behind it is the veritable palace, with real walls, real windows ; a palace in which it is possible to live and to endure life. In front of William’s palace is a Neo-Grecian edifice, which is the royal residence. One who was fond of finding fault with the architecture of the Middle Ages, said one day, as he showed us a stonemason’s shop near one of the cemeteries of Paris : ‘ See how easy it is to make Gothic architecture ; it is within the reach of every mind and every workman.’ This simpleton considered funeral monuments as types of Gothic architecture. He might have repeated his tirade before Prince William’s palace. Instead of entering into a long discussion we should then have asked him to i face-about ’ towards the royal palace, and should have cried in our turn : ‘ See, then, how easy it is to construct Grecian architecture.’ This simple story shows that neither good Gothic nor good Grecian architecture is easy, and that we ought not to employ either one or the other indifferently ; that, on the contrary, each has its raison d'etre and its conditions of existence ; that, indeed, at the present day, a supposed Grecian palace ought not to have been built at the Hague opposite to one pretending to be Gothic. The churches of the Hague possess little interest. The Groote-Kerk dates from the fourteenth century; it has lost its first character, and there remains no trace of the original plan except the large tower at the entrance. The Nieuwe-Kerk is built entirely of bricks of different HOLLAND. forms and dimensions ; all the plain mouldings, fillets, small columns and mullions, are constructed of bricks of the requisite shapes ; these bricks are not faced, and are simply jointed together — a logical and reasonable process, far preferable to that which consists in covering brick walls with a sufficiently thick coat to obtain in plaster the desired forms. We see, Fig. 21. — The Town-hall at the Hague. also, in Germany, the former process prevalent and in con- stant use. The Town-hall (Stadhuis) is of the sixteenth century, and underwent important modifications about I/ 30 - It is placed at the corner of two streets, and shows the traditional belfry still intact, and the flight of steps, from the top of which orators used to address the people. THE HAGUE 33 The architectural details are excessive and somewhat exaggerated ; this defect, however, does not entirely destroy all interest in this little edifice (fig. 21). Near the Town-hall stands the Fish-market, sheltered above, but open to all the winds, an arrangement not conducive Fig. 22. — Fish-market. Fig. 23. — Ground-plan. (Scale, '039 inch to the yard.) to comfort, but evidently favourable to cleanliness and the avoidance of unpleasant odours. This market is covered with a sloping platform roof ; the fish-woman stands at the lower side, behind a trough in which are the fish ; the cus- tomer, protected from the rain and the drip from the roof, D 34 HOLLAND . walks round under the projecting part. This market, repre- sented in perspective in fig. 22, and in ground-plan in fig. 23, is very economical, but inadequate for a large city, and yet far superior to those we find in many of our provincial towns. The country people who come to the city use curious 'vehicles of varnished deal, ornamented with carving. When the weather requires it, these carriages are covered with a linen tilt. The driver sits on the single seat in front, the rest of the vehicle being intended to receive packages (fig. 24). Fig. 24. — Country Vehicle. The Hague has erected a statue to King William II. and two to William the Silent. With the exception of the rider in the equestrian statue of the latter king, which is well executed, the three works are but mediocre. The monument erected to perpetuate the remembrance of the day when the indepen- dence of Holland was proclaimed possesses no very great interest ; but it is the most important of its kind, and on this account we give a sketch of it (fig. 25). THE HAGUE. 35 Another building also awakens political recollections, but such as are written in characters of blood in the history of the Hague. This is the prison which served as the last abode of Barneveld Olden, the chief of the republican party, who was assassinated in 1617; and of the two brothers De Witt, the Fig. 25.— Monument in commemoration of the Independence of Holland. grand pensionaries or prime ministers of Holland, at first the idols and then the victims of the people. Places that have witnessed gloomy tragedies of this kind have usually changed their character and appearance, and the traveller cannot find in them the traces of the past. The hall in the Chateau de Blois, where the Duke of Guise was assassinated, now richly painted and restored, certainly in- D 2 3 6 HOLLAND. spires us with no melancholy ideas ; the old prison of Cardinal la Balue, where he was shut up in his celebrated iron cage, serves at present as a bed-room for a pretty Touraine peasant girl ; the Castle of St. Angelo, at Rome, is covered with the joyous inscriptions of our French soldiers ; in the Tower of London delicate fair young English ladies gaily lay their heads on Anne Boleyn’s block, while the attendant touches their white necks with the edge of a tin sabre. The prison Fig. 26. — View of a House in an avenue at the Hague. of the Hague, on the contrary, yet remains a gloomy and desolate place ; it is still the prison in all its horrors ; a stair- case of worn stones, fortress walls, cells insufficiently lighted by narrow windows so high that the hands cannot reach them, and defended by iron bars and gratings ; heavy thick doors, studded with large-headed nails, and closing with enormous bolts which slip into their sockets with a dismal sound ; and on the walls words of hatred and vengeance, and traces of the bloody hands of the wretched men who sought to defend themselves in the last convulsions of terror and despair. THE HAGUE . 37 The dwelling-houses of the Hague differ from those which we have seen at Rotterdam, and those which we shall see at Amsterdam. The Hague, as we have said, is a city of pleasure. The stranger who pitches his tent there thinks only of the means of passing his time agreeably. The Dutch- man, who retires there after having made his fortune by selling for seventy-five francs in Europe the picol of sugar or of coffee which he bought in Java for seven francs, has no other care than to enjoy the riches which he gained so rapidly Fig. 27. — Ground-plan. (Scale, '078 inch to 1. Hall. 2. Porch. 3. Area. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Dining-room. Fig 28. — First-floor, the yard. ) 6. Winter garden. 7. Morning-room. 8. Enclosed balcony (Loggia). 9. Bed-room. 10. Dressing-room. by such a lucrative trade. It is interesting- to observe how, without renouncing entirely the habits inherent in his race and the usages which belong to his nature, he passes from the sombre houses of the Hoog-straat or the Kalver-straat, from the fetid canals of the Rokin or the Amstel, to the cheerful dwellings of Langevoorhout or of Princessgratch, to the gay villas of the Wood or of Scheveningen. The houses in the luxurious quarters of the Hague are large and conveniently situated, always surrounded by gardens filled with brilliant flowers, and, in proportion to the means 38 HOLLAND. of the proprietor, adorned with external conservatories and glazed porticoes, forming an outer saloon (fig. 26). We no longer meet with facades of such monotonous and frightful uniformity as are seen in all other Dutch towns : the height, Fig. 29. — Elevation. (Scale, l inch to the yard.) the dimensions, and even the colour of almost all of these vary. Still the true Dutchman, even at the Hague, cannot re- nounce the traditions of his whole life ; and here we give, as an example of this transformation, a house in which he has THE HAG HE. 39 endeavoured to reconcile his old recollections with his new aspirations (figs. 27, 28). He always separates it from the public road by an area, which gives access to the kitchen and offices ; a covered entry above leads to a hall, which opens, on the right, to the dining-room, and on the left to the drawing- room. Behind these rooms is a conservatory or winter garden ; on the first-floor are the dwelling-rooms of the family ; the principal bed-room is, as a concession to modern ideas, ornamented with a balcony, but this balcony is enclosed on all sides, and is always kept shut, so that one can, without being seen, notice all that passes without (fig. 29 V Environs of the Hague . — Close by the gates of the city is the celebrated promenade called the Wood, for which the whole of Holland professes the warmest admiration, and which Gerard de Nerval once asserted to have been raised on piles and subsequently planted. When the sky is clear, and the sun shines, which seldom occurs in Holland, this park is on fete days the rendezvous of the whole population of the city. Rich citizens, workmen in their Sunday clothes, and paupers in the livery of their asylum, come here to listen to concerts in the open air, given gratui- tously by the military bands, which are stationed on a small island, around which the promenaders pass, always going me- thodically in the same direction, without interfering with each other, and especially without any haste. Carriages are rarely to be seen ; we remember that one day we met but two. In one were the Queen-Dowager and the King ; in the other, an odd coincidence, was a Frenchman who acquired a sad noto- riety at the time of our last civil discords. As the royal personages passed, there was no cry, no noisy demonstration ; every one uncovered at their approach, whilst they themselves saluted the crowd with that automatic movement peculiar to crowned heads. The presence of their king awakened neither transports nor enthusiasm in those who were present, but only simple marks of regard, the testimony of the respect which is due to the representative of a government freely accepted by the nation. This attitude, however, was 40 HOLLAND. very noble, and presented a striking contrast to the silly manifestations which are seen elsewhere under similar circum- stances. It would be wrong to compare the Wood at the Hague with our Bois de Boulogne, since there could be no points of resemblance between them. They present two entirely dis- tinct aspects, each having its own merit, but different The soil in the Wood is perfectly flat and level ; water is abundant ; a hole made with a walking-stick in the ground would become a small well. The walks are bordered with superb trees ; the roots of the beeches passing down into a damp soil give to the bark and foliage a whitish tint, to which the rays of the sun communicate a quasi-metallic glistening, which is represented in the landscape of the national painters. In the midst of this park stands the royal palace called the ‘ House in the Wood,’ a rich, citizen-like habitation, dating from the seventeenth century ; it contains a certain number of pictures and works of art of secondary interest. Different avenues extend from the park, and are for a considerable distance bordered with villas and country houses, in which the rich Dutchmen of Holland or Java come to retire and enjoy themselves after their fashion. For the love of their native land is so great in these natures otherwise so calm and cold, that whatever may be the position which they have acquired, the distance they may have to traverse, the hopes which have been realised or disappointed, they have always a tendency to return to the home of their childhood. They resemble in this respect the Chinese coolie, who is content to remain for five years among the guano heaps of Peru, in order to gain enough for a burial-place in the soil of the Celestial Empire. We had an introduction to the proprietor of one of these houses, and we went with him to inspect it. The richness of the furniture and the objects of Oriental art which filled it astonished us, and our admiration made him smile. He then showed us some large coloured photographic views represent- THE HAGUE , 4i in g his habitation at Samarang — a veritable palace entirely of marble, surrounded by a verandah of teak-wood. Three distinct buildings, protected from the sun by a double roof, are connected together by long galleries supported by pillars of carved wood ; these pavilions contain a dining-room, an immense vivarium, and a drawing-room. In each apartment there was a ventilating apparatus of a somewhat primitive kind — gigantic fans, which a Malay, dressed in a blue robe, worked by means of a string passed round a roller, and which were sufficient to keep these vast rooms cool, whether they were open or closed on two or more sides, according to the hour of the day. Then there were immense gardens filled with the productions of the exuberant vegetation of the tropics — fruits whose juices are deadly, plants whose perfume is poison. And, to complete this establishment, stables for four-and-twenty horses, and rooms for eighty servants, whom you might see dressed in the richest costumes, and performing their various functions. The dwelling at the Hague must have appeared poor and mean to this man, habituated to the luxury and splendour of the East ; and yet this nabob feels occasionally that it is necessary for him to abandon for a while the princely life that he leads there. He quits his palace, the dazzling sunshine, and the natural luxuriance of Java, and returns with delight to revisit his little villa, and the fogs and tulips of his beloved Holland. He forgets his riches and his power, and becomes again a simple citizen, the modest proprietor of a little house at the Hague, in which he resumes the habits of his race and the recollections of his childhood. ‘ Have you any architects at Java ? ’ we asked our host, as we took our leave of him. ‘ Yes, certainly. We have, first, the European architects who, imbued with the traditions of the West, come to con- struct there houses on the models which are seen everywhere in Holland or elsewhere ; they endeavour to recall in Java the remembrance of Grecian, Roman, or Gothic buildings which 42 HOLLAND. they have more or less understood . 1 The result attained is what you may suppose. Besides these, we have the Chinese, who do not strive to give the predominance to their personal tastes and their own manner of looking at things, but who have, on the contrary, a remarkable talent for assimilation ; they are, at the same time, to a great extent architects, engineers, and contractors. A Chinaman becomes whatever he wishes ; they listen attentively to the directions of their employer, speaking not to give him new ideas, but only to induce him to develop his own. A sketch, often a mere tracing on the ground, is sufficient, and they produce immediately all that you wish. Here are buildings in wood and in marble. No- tice how thoroughly the architects have understood, accord- ing to their destined use, both the materials which they have employed and the position which they should occupy. It is impossible not to distinguish, at first sight, that this com- partment contains the aquarium, this the drawing-room, the other the family sitting-rooms, and the fourth the secondary apartments. As to the marvellous decorations and the infinite variety of internal arrangements, it is the result of Chinese and Hindoo art united with the effects of that dazzling light which gilds, animates, and throws into relief the simplest objects. ‘ It is wonderful, in fact ; and to think that such results have been obtained by people whom we consider barbarians.’ The Chinese, barbarians ? Ah ! well. 1 Let us not be accused of exaggeration, since we Frenchmen have built a Neo-Grecian palace for the Governor of Saigon, and a Gothic cathedral at Shanghai. SC HE YEN INGEN. 43 SCHEVENINGEN. THE VILLAS— THE CHURCH. One can go from the Hague to the sea in less than half an hour, by a very pleasant road. We saw on our way a carriage driven by sails. — Regnard. A PASSAGE in a tresckuit is a mode of travelling still held in honour in Holland, and it is well to describe it to the reader, in order that he may avoid it. One must be possessed of Dutch calmness of disposition to be able to endure a trip, however short, in those heavy, flat, and narrow boats, towed by a horse along canals of thick and greenish water. You can see nothing, for the canal is enclosed within two very high banks ; nothing can be heard, for there is no noise ; your travelling companions, usually inhabitants of the neigh- bouring villages, are motionless, fixed to their seats ; they have nothing to say to each other, and, certainly, not much more to think about. The men smoke, the women knit ; their heavy countenances, unvarying and without expression, show no traces of any impression or emotion whatever. Sometimes the boat stops, and draws up to the side ; another tresckuit is coming in the opposite direction. It is more than a hundred yards off, and there is ten times as much time as would be required to get out of its way, and to avoid delay ; but it would never come into the mind of any person in this country to do anything in a hurry. We must therefore bear the inconvenience with patience, thinking with regret of the tram-road carriages which perform the journey from the Hague to Scheveningen in a quarter of an hour, and of Reg- 44 HOLLAND. nard’s carriage with sails, which is no longer in use except on the plains of Hong Kong ; but still, at last, we arrive at our destination. But to do justice to the tresckuit, it gives us one moment of solid satisfaction, and that is when we leave it. That which most astonishes a traveller when he first lands at Batavia is not the brilliant shells or the fan-palms, the marble verandahs or teak-wood kiosks. Nothing of this kind seems to impress a stranger so strongly, as to see under this burning sky, and surrounded by such luxuriant vegetation, narrow and mean brick houses with fantastic gables, built on this new soil by Dutch colonists, in remembrance of the mother country. A similar, though contrary, impression awaits the traveller who passes through certain environs of the Hague, and goes to Scheveningen or Woorburg. In the midst of clumps of shrubs and groups of tropical flowers, raised in hot-houses and brought out on grand occasions, may be seen houses open to the winds of heaven, showing nothing but verandahs, porticoes, and enclosed or open balconies. We ask with astonishment how such buildings can be habitable under this grey and misty sky. They are doubtless very uncomfortable ; but when, by chance, a bright ray of sunshine lights up the landscape, the eye can see it and rejoice. We give the plan of one of these dwelling-houses, which is in process of construction. All of them have not been erected with the same care as this, and with so much atten- tion to detail. Very often recollections derived from a dis- tant country are not so happily carried out, and in every case this mutual transference of works adapted specially to climates and necessities so opposite to each other is not precisely satisfactory, either to logic or reason. This villa (figs. 30 and 31) has a north and south aspect, with a view of the sea. On that front it has a large loggia — a kind of conservatory — communicating with the open gal- leries on the lower floor ; a verandah, which establishes a communication between the apartments on the ground-floor, SCHE VEN INGEN. 45 shelters the south front from the sun. On the opposite side of the house there is a porch, serving as a covered entry for carriages. On the first-floor are the family rooms, all having balconies either enclosed or open. The two principal bed- rooms show in their arrangement a great knowledge of the art of comfort ; each is provided with a dressing-room ; the beds are placed on an elevation in a recess formed by the projection of the partition wall, thus leaving a wide empty space in the room ; they are also completely sheltered from draught, or from the too bright light, which, when reflected from the water, is rather fatiguing to the eye. If it is fine, * 6 1 1 < • r - "*"t - - • 6 ' 4 - , 5 ; : .Ti*G3 1 L J Fig. 30. — Ground-floor. Fig- 31. — First-floor. (Scale, ’039 inch to the yard.) 1. Porch. 2. Ante-chamber. 3. Morning-room. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Dining-room. 6. Open gallery. 7. Closet! 8. Bed-rooms. 9. Enclosed balcony. 10. Dressing-rooms. 11. Water-closets. the occupier may, without leaving his apartment, go out into the enclosed balcony to breathe the fresh air from the sea ; if it is wet, he can sit at his fireside, sheltered from the rain and wind, and enjoy the prospect to be seen through his wide sash windows, which are securely closed. The inferior apartments and the offices are placed on the opposite side of the house, where the view is less interesting. The side facing the north has no opening, but is a dead wall, solidly constructed, for it was necessary on this aspect to be more completely protected from bad weather. Instead of an ordinary wall of one thickness, the builder has erected two ; 46 HOLLAND. that on the outside is about i ft. 8 inches in thickness, and the inner wall, formed of bricks placed lengthwise, is about 4 ^ inches wide. These two walls are separated by an interval of 4 inches ; they are connected only by cross pieces of iron placed at the level of the floors, intended to bind them to- gether, without, at the same time, allowing any damp to be communicated from one to the other ; the floors being sup- ported by the inner wall, the outer has only its own weight to sustain. Four narrow openings are made in the outside, so as to keep up a draught, and at the level of the ground is a small channel, hollowed like the stones of a gutter, which receives all the water produced by fog, and any damp that may have passed through the outer wall ; the paper-hangings of the internal wall are thus protected from all external in- fluences, and remain perfectly dry. This system of double walls is frequently employed in Russia, and the hollow space between the two serves to con- duct the heat supplied by warming apparatus, which thus raises the temperature by warming large surfaces, instead of introducing heated air by a single opening, the neighbourhood of which is often disagreeable. The decoration of the interior of this villa is not less deserving of attention than the external arrangements. Deal is the only wood employed ; but, notwithstanding such simple materials, the result obtained is excellent, and unquestionably superior to that produced by the use of imitative marble and papier mache so much in fashion with us. The joists of the ceiling are left uncovered ; there is a moulding on their edges, relieved by stripes of colour ; other bands of very bright tint, traced on the joints of the boards, serve to form regular compartments, relieving the bright and uniform ground of the deal, which glistens with a thick coat of varnish. All this is very simple, but free from pretension and vulgarity. Fig. 32 shows the general plan adopted for the construc- tion and decoration of the principal staircase leading to the first-floor. The steps, string-boards, supports, and even the SC HE VEN INGEN. 47 balustrades themselves, are entirely made of deal ; some parts are simply moulded or carved in the solid wood. The details bear the impress of Gothic ideas, and have been very carefully studied ; the materials employed are only brick and wood, with the exception of a few pieces of Belgian stone . 1 1 For further details, and the drawings to which we have alluded in our descriptions, see ‘ Habitations Modernes, par MM. Viollet-le-duc et Felix Nar- joux, architectes. ’ — V e A. Morel et C ie , editeurs, Paris. 48 HOLLAND. The village of Scheveningen, which is the Dieppe of Hol- land, contains nothing interesting except its country houses. There is, however, in the part inhabited by fishermen, a church (fig. 33) which was built in the fourteenth century; the choir was erected in the fifteenth ; the nave and the side- aisles are covered with the same roof. This church is, at present, devoted to the Protestant form of worship, and has lost much of the interest which it must have formerly pos- sessed (fig. 34). Fig. 33. — Ground-plan of Church at Scheveningen. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) On a dune, the base of which is consolidated by a brick wall, are arranged three hundred boats which the fishermen drew up for shelter from a storm of wind last night. They are lying there in quiet, in perfect order, and ready to put again to sea. These boats are heavy, thick, and massive, and are very unlike any that you may find elsewhere. Lee- boards, fixed on the gunwales by a screw, hang over the sides during rough weather, in order to lessen the oscillation caused by the waves. Whether, this plan is efficacious, or likely to be advantageous to boats intended for such service as these SC HE VENINGEN. 49 fishing-smacks, is very questionable ; at all events, it appears to us that this contrivance must interfere with the manage- ment of the boats, and when the sea is rough prevent their rising easily over the waves . 1 i The sea-shore at Scheveningen is very curious : there is an immense extent of fine, soft, level sand, which you reach, not by going down, but up, for the sea here is not below, but con- siderably above you. The depth of water is so slight, that 1 These boards are, more probably, used to prevent the boats making lee-wav while fishing. — T r. E 5 ° HOLLAND. bathers make use of machines on four wheels, and drawn by a horse. Before the vehicle stops, you have had time to undress ; the door is then opened, and you plunge into the water in a narrow space protected from prying eyes by sail- cloth. You may, indeed, by raising this screen, swim out into the open sea, if you wish to do so. When you have enjoyed your bath, you re-enter the machine, the horse starts afresh, and you have time to dress as you return. While speaking of Scheveningen, we may mention some traits of Dutch life and manners which are obvious, yet worthy of notice. The roads or canals from the Hague to Scheveningen are, during almost their whole length, bordered by villas, the form or the good taste of which we do not now discuss ; but their appearance is cheerful, smiling, and very agreeable. In front are hedges, flowers, grass-plots, borders filled with richly-coloured plants carefully cultivated. From the midst of these flower-beds the eye is charmed by the sight of the country, the beauties of the neighbouring landscape, the pedestrians and the carriages that pass along. Behind these buildings is usually found a confined, enclosed space, very dull and uninteresting, with a ditch of stagnant water, and the unfailing windmill. Ah, well ! this is the spot which the Dutchman has reserved for his own use ; here he feels at home and united with his family ; this ditch, this windmill, are a source of enjoyment to them all ; they neither see any one nor are themselves seen, and they are happy. As to that part of the dwelling left exposed to the public, it is entirely sacrificed to show. The Dutchman there makes an exhibition of his fortune, and of the enjoyment that it is capable of affording to him ; he satisfies in this manner his vanity and his love for seclusion ; for if he were actuated solely by this latter feeling, nothing would prevent him from concealing and at the same time enjoying the riches which he now exhibits to the eyes of others. We have another instance of this. The sea-shore at Scheveningen is frequented during the season by elegant people. The women, instead of showing themselves and SCHE VENINGEN. 5i making a display as they do in other countries, instal them- selves in small huts or summer-houses, which conceal them. They do not mix with each other ; there is no exhibition or competition in dress, but they live retired and by themselves. Yet they are all rich ; many are very rich. They often possess a peculiar beauty, produced by the union of the Javanese and Dutch races— a type full of contrasts : a fair and brilliant complexion with black hair, a dark skin with blue eyes, a nonchalant gait allied with expressive gestures. But their riches, grace, and beauty, all are concealed, and are never shown to the outer world. These are pleasures and charms reserved for the family circle. Social life is reduced to that of the family. In this respect, more than in many others, the Dutch do not resemble ourselves. 52 HOLLAND . LEYDEN. THE KOORNBROG — THE TOWN-HALL. The city of Leyden is the Versailles of Holland, by its air of decayed grandeur, its perfect sadness, and its imposing solitude. — Esquiros. At the Dutch railway stations there are no locked waiting- rooms, unfortunately so common among ourselves. We re- joiced, therefore, as we started on our journey from the Hague, to be able to go in or out of the refreshment-room as we pleased. A grave Dutchman, our fellow-traveller, ex- plained to us, with the utmost seriousness, that such liberties could not be allowed to travellers in our country without exposing the French to great danger of accident, on account of our natural impetuosity ! It is indeed true that the inconceivable calmness and placidity with which a Dutchman enters or quits a railway carriage is a striking contrast to our haste and vivacity. But this slowness does not accelerate the journey ; and as the country to be passed through is identically similar to that which you have already traversed, and as the most frightful monotony reigns all around, in nature as well as in the works of man, a journey through these interminable meadows, filled with the same black or white cattle, watered by the same canals, interspersed with the same windmills, soon becomes very tedious. Here we are at Leyden at last, with its encircling canals, its green houses, its burg , and its souvenirs of the Anabaptists, LEYDEN. 53 the Elzevirs, and the famous siege of 1 574, during which the besiegers employed pigeons to convey news. When we first saw Leyden we thought it dull and solitary ; but afterwards we visited Utrecht, and now Leyden seems in our recollections full of life and animation. It is indeed an interesting town, commanded by a ruined fortress, which is coeval with its earliest days. These ruins are all that remain of the old burg, the foundation of which is attributed Fig- 35- — View of the Koornbrog at Leyden. to the Romans, and which, on the top of a hill fifty feet high — one must be in Holland to call such a mole-hill a hill — commanded a very strong position on the Rhine ; a position unimportant at the present time. We expected to find in the ‘ burg ’ of Leyden some souvenirs of the castles on the Rhine, and some resemblance to them ; but these ruins are not very interesting, and are now converted into a cafe and refreshment-rooms. The keep, 54 HOLLAND . which is still standing, has just been repaired, and from its battlements you can see the city and the environs. At the foot of the castle is the Koornbrog (a covered bridge), in which we do not find the character and originality seen in buildings of the same kind in Switzerland and Italy ( fi g- 35)- Fig. 36. — The Town-hall at Leyden. The Town-hall is the most ancient building in Leyden. It is a large edifice of the sixteenth century, and has a high flight of steps, which serve as an extemporaneous tribune for popular orators. The details of the facade are bad ; the statues, pinnacles, balustrades, and other forms of decoration affect grotesque, distorted, and exaggerated shapes (fig. 36 ), LEYDEN. 55 which show what kind of buildings were erected there at the time of our ‘ renaissance.’ Beyond Leyden, the road crosses a bridge over a yellow and muddy stream — the old Rhine (the Oude Rijn), as the Dutch call it. Poor noble river, which, after having rushed over the rocks of the Orisons, formed the cataracts of Schaff- hausen, and extended itself in all its majesty at Cologne, finishes its course sadly between the two walls of the quay of a canal, or disappears amongst the mud-banks of Northern Holland. 56 HOLLAND. HAARLEM. THE GROOTE-KERK — THE SHAMBLES— HEAD-DRESSES. In the very place where you now see a village, ships of considerable burden Tised to sail, scarcely twenty years ago. — Van Ostade. Before we reach Haarlem we pass by the ‘ polders,’ the former site of the lake of Haarlem. This inland sea, eleven leagues in circumference, with difficulty protected from the North Sea by dunes insufficient to resist stormy weather, was subject to real tempests, to terribly high tides, which more than once threatened Amsterdam itself. It was therefore necessary to restrain this dangerous neighbour, and this was no trifling matter. The first proposals of this project were made during the sixteenth century. After having been long abandoned, it was reconsidered subsequently to the terrible inundation of November 9th, 1836, but not undertaken till 1840. This gigantic enterprise included, not only the draining of the lake, but the execution of many preparatory works of almost as great importance as the principal operation. It was first necessary to throw up round the lake or sea of Haarlem a double dyke, enclosing a ring canal with a towing-path, and a weir, emptying itself into the North Sea. The water pumped out was poured into this canal, and thence ran into the sea. Locks constructed in the canals prevented the return of the sea at high tides, and kept it in stormy weather from filling the channels and flowing back into the lake. HAARLEM. 57 Having ascertained by repeated soundings that the mean depth of the lake was about thirteen feet, they calculated that the quantity of water which it contained might be estimated at 947 millions of cubic yards. It was necessary to add to this large amount the water brought by rain or by infiltrations from the soil — about 47 millions of cubic yards — deduction having been made of the loss by evaporation, which is not very considerable in a country where the atmosphere is con- stantly saturated with vapour. Three steam pumping-engines were employed, and were sufficient for this work, which only lasted three years and three months, in spite of unforeseen difficulties and compli- cations inseparable from the execution of such an under- taking. The most important of the machines used for this purpose was the Leeghwater, which is still at work, and which, by means of eleven lifting tubes, raised at once, at each stroke of the piston, the enormous weight of 145,200 pounds of water. The expense of this enterprise comprised, first, the actual expenditure for the drainage itself, and then that of keeping up and repairing the dykes, canals, and draining-engines still necessary in order to ensure the wholesome condition of the land. The practical turn of mind of the Dutch succeeded in covering the first outlay by the sale of the land reclaimed from the sea, and in reducing the second so as not to exceed the sum allotted previously every year for the construction and repair of dykes intended to protect the province from the encroachments of the sea of Haarlem. The surface of land devoted to agriculture by this opera- tion is about 44,480 acres, now in full working order, and remarkably fertile. Villages have been built on this re- claimed land. Instead of liquid plains, we see solid green meadows ; trees, houses, and churches now rise where for- merly ships floated. 1 1 A similar, but much less important, work is on the point of being executed in France, at St. Louis du Rhone 58 HOLLAND. But every medal has its reverse. When the traveller passes, on a hot day in summer, and looks on what was formerly the lake of Haarlem, he sees heavy vapours rising from the soil, marshy exhalations issuing from this muddy land ; and if he should linger, he will soon feel the sad shivering fit which is the precursor of fever. Nature seems to try to make man pay for his victory, and to take revenge for the struggle in which she has been conquered. This strife is without any truce ; and in order to under- stand that such must be the case, we have only to remember that almost all the soil of Holland is below the level of the sea. Thus, taking the level of Amsterdam as a base, an assumed line to which the situation of other cities may be referred, we find that Rotterdam is ten feet and a half below the level of the surface of the Meuse at high water, and the environs of Leyden and Haarlem are more than eleven feet below the level of the North Sea. The only aim of the Dutch must therefore be to ‘ bridle the fury of the waves ; ’ and one of the characteristic traits of the persevering and industrious disposition of this people is that they have raised immense dykes to protect all the most threatened parts, and constructed them in wood and in granite, in a country which possesses neither quarries nor forests. Haarlem is especially distinguished for its love for tulips, and for the large organ in the church dedicated to St. Bavon. The rage for tulips has somewhat subsided. A bulb which formerly cost 5,000 florins may now be bought for 200, which is still a considerable price. But the love of flowers has not diminished at the same time as their value, and the gardens in the environs of Haarlem are still the most beautiful that can be seen. Gardeners go thither from nearly every part of Europe to supply themselves with rare plants, and the flower-beds round the city form a brilliant border full of brightness and perfume. The church of St. Bavon, or the Groote-Kerk, which contains the organ, the great curiosity of Haarlem, is a building especially remarkable for its great dimensions (fig. HAARLEM. 59 ■37). The nave and the choir were built in 1472 by Albert of Bavaria, Duke of Holland. The spire is not so old ; it was not erected till 1516. Fig- 37- — Ground-plan of the Church of St. Bavon at Haarlem. (Scale, '039 inch to the yard.) When we compare this church, one of the most important in Holland, with those constructed in France at the same period, we see what progress we had already made, and what 6o HOLLAND. results we had obtained, while our neighbours, gaining hints from our works, were only feeling their way by copying us unskilfully. A special arrangement in the churches of Holland — and Fig. 38. — Internal View and Organ-case, at the Church of St. Bavon at Haarlem. on which we must dwell, as it gives them a character entirely different from ours — is the substitution of a timber-vaulted roof for those built of stone or bricks, without any other modification than that which the suppression of flying but- HAARLEM. 61 tresses may have caused in the lower parts of the structure ; while the ground-plan, the section of the pillars, and the nature of the materials, have the same conditions of resistance as if they had been intended to support heavy roofs of masonry. One might be induced to suppose that the Dutch archi- tects had taken the idea of their buildings from those of other countries, or rather that they had copied them as far as the spring of the vault ; but that, having arrived at this point, fearing, on account of the nature of the soil, the heavy weight of stone roofs, they had substituted for them vaulted roofs of wood. The organ of the church of St. Bavon at Haarlem is enclosed in a very rich case, of which fig. 38 will give some idea. It was built about the year 1736, and it enjoys a celebrity which may be justly rivalled by the perfection of our modern instruments. A simple remark, however, will show its importance. The organ of the Abbey of St. Denis, built in 1841, and which is well known throughout France, contains only 4,500 pipes, while that of Haarlem has 5,000. The copper chandeliers at St. Bavon are Flemish. They 62 HOLLAND. have been wrought with the greatest care, and the style is very simple ; but the thickness given to the metal scrolls injures the effect of the whole, and gives them a heavy ap- pearance (fig. 38). Before the Groote-Kerk stands the statue of Laurence Coster, who is said by the inhabitants of Haarlem to have Fig. 40. — The Old Shambles. anticipated Gutenberg in the discovery of printing. Close by is seen the Stadthouse or Town-hall (fig. 39), built of brick, about the year 1630, if one may trust to the date inscribed above the door ; but the style of architecture seems to in- dicate an earlier period. This edifice has undergone modifi- cations and additions which have altered its original form. The principal building, standing behind the more modern HAARLEM . 63 erections, has in front a very elevated flight of steps. The facade, having an open balcony, shows a simplicity rare in Holland, and contrasts strongly with the neighbouring structure, the Old Shambles (fig. 40), a Spanish and Hindoo edifice of a most grotesque appearance. The swollen pyra- midal turrets, the frieze, ornamented with the heads of animals, Fig. 41. — The Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem. the red colour of the bricks, and the white tint of the stone or of the parts covered with plaster, produce altogether an effect which is characteristic, but only moderately pleasing. The ramparts which formerly defended the town are now nearly demolished. One of the gates is still standing. It is a solid structure of the fifteenth century (fig. 41). When we had gone over the city, we were invited to attend a very curious meeting, of which the reader will be 6 4 HOLLAND. glad to hear some particulars, for it was called for the purpose of deciding on a competition for the plan of a building, and there never was in France among architects a more bond fide competition. A neighbouring town, wishing to erect an elegant fountain in a public square, asked for plans and tenders for the work. Several architects and sculptors answered to this appeal. The decision was made. Of course, every one was very dis- contented except the successful candidate ; but this was not all. Each of the others declared that the judges had not adhered to the conditions of the plan laid down, and that he had fallen a victim to the strictness with which he had ob- served the required conditions, &c. &c. — such protestations and complaints as are always sure to be made in case of a competition, whether it takes place in Holland or in France, and which we have always known to recur on every occasion. Thus far there was nothing new ; but at this point the novelty commences ; for, after the decision, the judges are expected to give a public account to the competitors of the motives which decided them, and which caused them to incline to the right hand or the left. This account was to be given at the meeting to which we were invited. It was a very interesting occasion. The competitors were numerous. Each one claimed the right of putting two ques- tions to the foreman of the jury, who replied, after having consulted with his colleagues. There could, therefore, be no decision with closed doors, no influence of party or position. A therefore could not give his vote to the son of B, on con- dition that B should, on the next day, vote for A. The questions proposed were of course clear, precise, expressed in very good terms, and with the calmness and good temper which a Dutchman always displays, and which require a categorical answer, free from circumlocution and subterfuge. It was not sufficient to say to an unsuccessful candidate, ‘ I consider your plan a bad one ; ’ for he demands immediately why and in what respect this judgrpent has been formed, and he has the right to expect an answer. HAARLEM. 65 Thus, having been closely pressed by one of the candi- dates, the president made the following reply : — ‘ A programme cannot always be literally carried out ; we must interpret the spirit of it. This is a matter of tact and judgment. Suppose, for example, it was proposed to study the arrangement of a floor of a building consisting of four rooms. Among those who send in plans, the first places his apartments behind each other. He fulfils the conditions, but the arrangement is bad. Another divides a rectangle into four parts. He also fulfils the programme ; and yet his so- lution is no better than the former. A third, however, makes his four rooms independent of each other, by means of a hall. His project is a good one. Would you accuse him of having violated the conditions because he has introduced another element, the hall, which was not specified ? For my part, I should not hesitate to give him the preference ; and it is a consideration of this nature which has caused the rejection of your plan. You have complied faithfully, but in a servile manner, with the conditions imposed. Another has under- stood and interpreted them better ; he has been more intelli- gent and skilful, and has justified the preference which has been given to him.’ There was no replying to this argument, as it was stated in so simple and moderate a manner ; and, indeed, this mode of discussion, by immediately adducing an apposite example in order to render the demonstration more striking, is quite in keeping with the upright and practical disposition of the Dutch people. Why could not we follow this example ? Is it not in accordance with our disposition ? I see no reason, at least, that we should not try it ; and if it should become a regular custom among ourselves for architects to be called upon to compete with each other, by supplying designs for public works, a plan much to be desired, it would be necessary, in order to encourage this innovation, to surround the decision with every possible condition of impartiality ; and, unques- tionably, the best means of effecting this is to give each 66 HOLLAND. candidate an opportunity, on the day following the decision, to ask the judge the reasons for his preference without its being possible for him to refuse to reply, or to shelter himself behind the opinions of his colleagues, as was the case at , where an unfortunate competitor showed, one day, letters of condolence received from his four judges, each throwing upon the others the responsibility of the decision at which they had arrived. On the walls of the hall in which we were assembled hung some pictures, bad enough in themselves, represent- ing the different types of head-dress of the Dutch women — Fig. 42. — Head-dress of the Women of Zuid Hollande. fashions which have already become obsolete in towns, but are still preserved in the villages in certain provinces. Our sketches (figs. 42, 43, and 44) may give an idea of some of them. The women of the southern part of Holland (fig. 42) ornament the head with bands of gold and silver, secured under their caps, and terminating in a kind of spiral horns, often adorned with precious stones or rich enamel. In the north of Holland (fig. 43) the head-dresses worn by the women are very rich and complicated. The hair is HAARLEM. 67 cut short, and covered with an under-cap of white satin, trimmed with black embroidery. Over this cap is worn a Fig. 43- — Head-dress of the Women of North Holland. pad, which supports a broad circular band, having plates of metal attached to it, and adorned in front with the usual antennse. Servants wear these ornaments made of silver ; richer persons have them in gold. F 2 68 HOLLAND . In addition to these, there is fixed in the hair, at the top of the head, what is called the forehead hair-pin. The married women wear the larger end of it on the right, the unmarried girls on the left. We may also add that rich citizens’ wives cover the whole with a bonnet trimmed with flowers (fig. 44) brought from Paris or London, and the effect is as droll as can be imagined. The journey from Haarlem to Amsterdam is not a long one. We can see at intervals the gulf of Y. The railroad passes through a district full of country-houses of the most cheerful aspect, but built with little variety. We soon enter a Grecian building — the terminus. The courtyard adjoining is filled with omnibuses gilded and painted in gaudy colours. We pass under a gateway, a kind of triumphal arch with Corinthian columns, and we are in Amsterdam, AMSTERDAM. 69 AMSTERDAM. THE HOUSES — THE NIEUWE-KERK— THE OUDE-KERK — THE WESTER-KERK — THE KATOLIK-KERK — THE CRYSTAL PALACE — THE AMSTEL-HOTEL — THE MONTALBANS-TOREN. Among 500,000 men living in Amsterdam, there is not one who is idle or poor, not one fop, nor one who is insolent. — Voltaire. Amsterdam is built on herring-bones. — D utch Proverb, seventeenth cen- tury. Innumerable canals covered with vessels ; a port dug in mud ; a yellow sea which wears away its slimy shores ; a soil reclaimed from the water by an incessant struggle ; a calm, laborious population ; enormous ships going and returning in the midst of a mass of uniform, dismal houses, always closed ; large, low, stunted public buildings, without any decided out- line ; no cries, no songs ; people who go on their way without any haste ; going out and coming back with unalterable placidity ; the same identical expression on every counte- nance ; round faces, with a white and red complexion ; be- hind the windows immovable figures, looking as if benumbed. This was what our first walk through the city revealed to us ; and yet we have often heard it compared to Venice. Alas ! where is the blue lagoon ? where the gay songs of the gon- doliers, the Square of St. Mark, and the piazza ? Where can we find anything to remind us of that active, lively population, content with the sunshine and their free and easy life ? It is morning. The city awakes. Each inhabitant goes to business, leaves his dwelling, carefully closing the door. 70 HOLLAND. The children go to school without noise, without any hurry or disturbance. The servants and house-wives, armed with large brooms and gigantic sponges, wash, rub, and polish the fronts of the houses, the footpaths, and the bricks which pave the streets. The houses resemble those which we have already seen ; and the details into which we have entered, when speaking of those of Rotterdam, need but little amplification. Holland produces scarcely any building materials, except mud. But this, dried and burnt, becomes brick, and thus forms the constituent element of every structure. These bricks are not laid, as in some countries, with studied care, and with varied combinations of form and colour. The Dutch mind is opposed to such labour, such an innovation. The bricks are simply piled upon each other ; the AMSTERDAM. 7i lintels of the doors and windows are of iron or wood ; the bricks follow, without interruption, their regular lines, only stopped at each opening by the wooden frame-work that surrounds it ; and, at last, after one or more stories, they crown the building with a grotesque gable, the top of which is often decorated with a pine-apple, a vase, or a vulgar piece of sculpture. All these houses follow each other in interminable lines. They are all alike ; they have no distinct characteristics. They differ from each other in no special and individual aspect, and can only be recognised by some variation in the shape of the gables ; so that we have often wondered how the inhabitants of certain streets of Amsterdam and London, where the same uniformity of plan is adopted, can distinguish their house from that of their neighbours. In the plan of these houses there is no more variety than in their facades. On the ground-floor is a long passage serving as a vestibule ; at the farther end are the stairs ; at the side, the dining-room and drawing-room, separated by a movable partition. On the first floor are two bed-rooms, each with a dressing-room. If the house is of sufficient im- portance, there is another floor above arranged in the same manner ; and over this, on the upper story, the nursery and the servants’ rooms. In the basement there are the kitchen and several important offices, for good cheer is fully appre- ciated in this humid climate. In the attics are store-rooms, intended to contain all kinds of provisions and articles for domestic use, since cellars are impossible in such a permeable soil. At the top of the gable a pulley is attached to a horizontal piece of wood, by means of which a basket can be raised or lowered with packages, so as to avoid the incon- venience and injury which might be occasioned by carrying them up and down the stairs within. In some cases, however, the houses built during the last century show greater variety in their facades and evince a certain amount of taste, and are therefore not destitute of interest. r HOLLAND. We give, in figs. 47 and 48, the ground-plans, and in fig. 46 the elevation, of one of the houses constructed on the Nieuwe-Mark. What is especially worthy of observation in this house is not the general plan adopted in the decoration, but certain special arrangements made by the builder, which manifest a conscientious endeavour to carry out the proposed plan in all its details, and to leave nothing unforeseen. Thus, we see beneath the cornice placed at the base of the AMSTERDAM. 73 gable, openings about seven inches square, intended to receive the ends of poles by which scaffoldings may be supported, when required for the purpose of cleaning the frontage, point- ing the bricks, or otherwise repairing the front of the house. These holes are usually closed by a small stone, by a terra- cotta ornament, or simply by the end of the pole, the rest of which is concealed in the attic. In the business streets the houses are of a different form. The shops occupy the ground-floor ; the upper stories, of which there are never more than two or three, serve as store- Fig. 47. — Plan of Ground-floor. 1. Entry. 2. Hall. 3. Dining-room. Fig. 48. — Plan of First-floor (Scale, ’078 inch to the yard.) 4. Drawing-room. 5. Morning-room. 6. Bed-rooms. rooms or lodgings for the tradesmen. The outer door opens directly on the street. The arrangement is almost the same as with us ; with this difference, that the shops are often separated from the public way by an open, covered space, forming a recess in the front wall, and supported on pillars of the height of the ground-floor. This space, forming a kind of porch, facilitates the entrance to the shop, and gives passers-by an opportunity of examining quietly the articles exposed for sale, without interfering with the traffic or blocking up the pavement ; but it has this inconvenience, that it darkens the ground-floor (figs. 49 and 50). Such of these houses as are used for taverns, breweries, or ‘ societies' (nearly the same as our cafes or ‘ cercles ’), gene- rally have the floor sunk below the level of the street, and 74 HOLLAND. are divided into two parts — one for the public, the other reserved for certain privileged customers . 1 We may see, Fig. 49. — Elevation of a House in the Calver-Straat, Amsterdam. 1 These societies , or places of resort, often bear very pretentious names, such as Prudence, Wisdom, Friendship, and Virtue. AMSTERDAM. 75 through the windows, the frequenters of the rooms, sitting apart, immovable in their places, each at his little table, drinking and smoking, without exchanging a word, and with- out seeming to have a single idea to express. These rooms, such as they are, correspond exactly with the needs of their inhabitants, and the requirements of their domestic and unsociable life. Land is so scarce in Amsterdam that fresh buildings cannot be constructed, and it is an almost insurmountable difficulty for a new-comer to establish himself. Each inhabi- tant lives in his own house, and it is only when he dies without heirs, that any one can hope to procure, not indeed the house which he would prefer, but that which falls vacant. It is true, that they are all so much alike, that choice is of no great importance. When a house falls into ruins it is rebuilt in the former manner, without modifying either the details or the dimen- sions. This plan, though excellent for preserving the un- changed appearance of the city, is not exactly conducive to the development of an architect’s imagination. Yet an opportunity presented itself, and was quickly seized by one of our brethren, to whom was entrusted the construction of some houses to be erected in a spot recently reclaimed from the sea . 1 These modern houses are of an entirely different character from those which we have already described, and show an incontestable progress ; for, besides the talent which their constructor has manifested, he must have displayed con- siderable energy, and have had great influence over his fellow-countrymen, to induce them to adopt the new ideas and plans which he desired to carry out. We give two types of these dwellings. First, a group of houses erected in a sort of enclosure, and surrounded by a garden ; and then another kind of buildings, with narrow 1 M. Cuypers, architect at Amsterdam, Councillor of the Government for Historical Public Buildings. 76 HOLLAND. fronts more conformable to Dutch tradition, with an area before and a garden behind. The first type (figs. 51 and 52) comprises three dwelling- 1. Principal entrance. 2. Kitchen entrance. 3. Passage. 4. Drawing-room. 5. Dining-room. 6. Bed-rooms. houses united, yet each distinct in itself. On the ground-floor of each of them are two sitting-rooms, one behind the other ; in the basement are the kitchens, and on the first-floor the AMSTERDAM. 77 bed-rooms ; in front is a porch sheltering the door-steps, and forming a balcony above. These balconies are open — an arrangement which a Dutchman would certainly not have Fig. 53. — Geometrical Elevation. (Scale, *151 inch to the yard.) permitted in a street where there are many passers-by, or on a frequented canal, but which he has tolerated in the midst of an enclosed space. We are, however, assured that a 78 HOLLAND. young lady would never come and lean on the rails of this balcony. Without further reference to this prudery, which loses much of its importance since the house is intended for foreigners, we must, however, admit that, in a climate as damp as that of Amsterdam, an enclosed balcony is preferable to one open to the winds. The details are well carried out. The bricks, the con- stituent materials, are employed in various combinations. Glazed tiles, painted of different colours, placed in the gables, enliven the general aspect (fig. 53), and produce a pleasing 0 \ 4 6 M? House of Business at Amsterdam. Fig. 54. — Basement. Fig. 55. — Ground -floor. 1. Kitchen. 4. Shop. 2. Wash-house. 5 - Back-shop. 3. Courtyard. effect, especially when contrasted with the neighbouring buildings. The second example possesses less originality. It is too narrow, like the houses of this country, with an area in front, two rooms, one behind the other, on the ground-floor, with a earden behind, and then two bed-rooms on the next floor (figs. 54 and 55). The facades (fig. 56) show well-defined outlines and original combinations. The well-staircase, constructed in the inner' part of the house, is unusual in Amsterdam. The plan AMSTERDAM. 79 is carefully reasoned out, and the materials are well employed, considering their nature. It must, however, be remarked how conscientiously the architect has preserved, in the buildings which he has erected, everything which appeared to him excellent and useful in Fig. 56. — Geometrical Elevation. (Scale, about | inch to the yard.) those which preceded him, at the same time that he used new materials in new forms. For this reason he did not hesitate to have large gables in front, and to utilise the valuable attic floor by means of a large opening and a 8o HOLLAND. common pulley. He did not conceal the holes intended to receive the scaffold-poles for repairs, while he contrived to make them subservient to the decoration of the facades. But, though a thoughtful and sensible inventor, he would not, through the desire of novelty, substitute Italian terraces for pointed roofs, and stucco or imitative stone for the excellent bricks which he had at his disposal ; but he remained true to the old traditions while he endeavoured to bring them to perfection. Indeed, a work progresses, an art is perfected/only by gradual advances, by taking time to draw conclusions slowly from study and thought, and by never taking one step for- ward until the preceding one has been accepted. Sudden transformations, hasty and rapid changes which take into account neither received ideas, nor the respect due to the productions of our predecessors, excite party hatred, cause mistrust and fear, and usually end in a revolution, and then in the reaction which is, unfortunately, almost always the fatal result. But to return to the dwelling-houses of Holland, and to conclude our description of them ; it would be interesting to study the habitations constructed by the German, as compared with those of the Latin, races, in order to ascer- tain by what means each of these races, so opposite in their tastes, and differing so much in their requirements, have been able, wherever they have established them- selves, to construct dwellings adapted to their wants, their manner of living, as well as the nature of the climate and the materials which they had at their disposal. We have hitherto been able to touch but slightly on this subject, the further development of which would have too long detained us ; but we shall have occasion to return to it, and to com- plete our remarks by means of examples collected from other countries. The public buildings of Amsterdam are not numerous ; but they are not without interest, more especially since they allow us to make useful comparisons with our own. AMSTERDAM. •8.i The square called the Dam 1 is the centre of the activity, the business, and the life of all the city. The most crowded and frequented streets terminate there, and the most im- portant buildings of Amsterdam have been erected round it — the Exchange, the Royal Palace, and the Nieuwe-Kerk. We may notice, en passant , the conscientious care with which the Dutch guide-books state how many piles the foundations of the public buildings have required, and the evident pride with which they name certain numbers, as if the interest inspired by an edifice were in direct ratio to the quantity of piles driven in to support its walls. The Exchange (whose foundations required 34,000 piles !) is a kind of Grecian temple, massive, square, and heavy, of sad and sombre aspect, the construction of which dates from the year 1845. The Royal Palace, erected in the seventeenth century to serve as a town-hall, is sustained by only 14,000 piles ! This building is regarded as the finest in Holland. It is well situated, and produces a good effect. Its architect, whose name is known — Jacob van Campen — was imbued with Italian ideas ; but he was still a Dutchman. His methodical, regular disposition exercised an influence over the result of his studies of the buildings of another country, constructed during another age. The general plan adopted is cold and monotonous. The symmetry of this immense fagade of 110 yards in length is fatiguing both to the sight and the mind. There is nothing to attract or arrest the eye, as it follows the long lines of architecture scarcely broken by the insufficient projections of the extreme wings and of the main central building. Fortunately, however, the profile of the campanile slightly relieves the regularity of the lines of the roof. The basement is so low that it is scarcely noticed. Two high stories, each having a large and small window of the same character, the one placed above the other, alone attract the attention, but are unpleasing on account of the repetition’ 1 The word Dam means dyke. Amstel-dam — whence comes Amsterdam — signifies the dyke of the Amstel, on which the city is built. G 8 2 HOLLAND . of the same proportions, the same orders, and the same details. There is a still greater fault. There is no projection in the main front of the building to distinguish the entrance. One cannot understand how those seven low half-hidden doors can give access to such an immense palace (fig. 57). 1 The interior contains many fine rooms, most, of them very highly decorated, and some filled with valuable works of Fig. 57. — External View of the Royal Palace at Amsterdam. art. They are well adapted for receptions and public cere- monies. The great staircase reminds us of the grandeur and the proportions of those of the Genoese palaces. That which is most striking in these saloons is the furniture. A French- man recognises there, even in the most minute details, that of the period of the Empire. In fact, when in former times 1 The advocates of symbolic architecture imagine that there is an allusion in these seven doors to the seven united provinces. AMSTERDAM. 83 France gave kings to Europe, she one day placed Louis Napoleon on the throne of Holland, and, by way of doing things thoroughly, she sent all his furniture with him. This has remained intact. The chairs have crossed legs, the bed- steads are ornamented with sphinx-heads, the carpets and hangings represent the exploits of Homer’s heroes ; the coverings of the chairs and sofas came from Lyons and Beauvais, the porcelain from Sevres. In spite of its dimensions and its splendour, this palace, without gardens and with no courtyards except those con- nected with the domestic offices, cannot be a pleasant dwel- ling-place ; and we can easily understand that the King of Holland prefers to live in the royal palace, or the ‘ House in the Wood,’ at the Hague. Holland can scarcely be said to have existed at the time when the public buildings of the Roman epoch were con- structed in France. Thus edifices erected at the commence- ment of the Middle Ages are rare, and those that we meet with, scarcely date so far back as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Their types were all found in Rhenish architec- ture, or in that of the Ile-de-France ; but the application which has been made of these forms and these recollections admits of much discussion. The feeling of due proportion and delicacy of taste are wanting, and they have not always made a happy choice of models. Sometimes, and even more generally, the model has been imperfectly imitated, or sub- jected to a kind of adaptation , so that the original idea is no longer to be found, scarcely even to be remotely recognised ; and it requires excessive complaisance, even in a Dutch archaeologist, to admit that a certain church resembles Notre Dame de Paris or the cathedral of Amiens. Nevertheless, such as they are, and precisely on account of what they are, and of the differences which distinguish them from ours, the ecclesiastical buildings of Holland cannot be passed over without notice by an architect. When speaking of St. Laurence at Rotterdam and St. Bavon at Haarlem, we have already described the timber 34 HOLLAND. roofs which cover most of the churches of the Netherlands. Their architects have thus been able to utilise materials formerly very abundant in their country, and at the same time to avoid placing too heavy a weight on the very com- pressible soil on which they erected their structures. Fig. 58. — Ground-plan of the Oude-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) We saw at Rotterdam a remarkable example of these wooden roofs ; that which we examined at the Oude-Kerk of Amsterdam is still more interesting. This church was founded in the fourteenth century, but the greater part of the structure dates from the fifteenth. Its AMSTERDAM. 85 ground-plan (fig. 58) is composed of a nave and a choir, both surrounded by a very wide side aisle on which open chapels, originally belonging to certain families, who oc- cupied them during religious ceremonies. At the time of its transformation into a Protestant church, there were very rich ornaments, valuable works of art, and as many as thirty-three gorgeous altars. All these treasures have since disappeared. The walls are bare, poor, and sombre in ap- pearance. Fig. 59 shows the general arrangement of the timber roof 86 HOLLAND. covering the principal nave. This vault is composed of cross springers as well as wall ribs and diagonal ribs, which have the disadvantage of presenting outlines similar to those which would have been given to them if they had been constructed of stone. These arches are connected by cross beams which render them rigid, and on which rest the planks forming the vault ; the diagonal and wall ribs rest on a small Fig. 60. — Ground-plan of the Nieuwe-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, -039 inch to the yard.) corbel, while the transverse ribs spring from a slender column, the base of which rests on a tie-beam placed above the arches of the side aisles. These tie-beams, which break the distance between the ground and the spring of the vault, were, no doubt, intended to maintain the side walls in a perpendicular position, and also served as internal supports and buttresses, rendered necessary by the nature of the soil. The shaft of AMSTERDAM. 8 7 the columns is surmounted merely by a heading without sculptured capitals, the mouldings are meagre, the proportion Fig. 61. — Section of Aisle. (Scale, about l inch to the yard.) 88 ’ HOLLAND of the arches is disagreeable. The arcades, which are above the arches of the side aisles, are of inlaid work — a kind of decoration which has a very bad effect. Another church at Amsterdam, equally worthy of notice, is the Nieuwe-Kerk (the new church), a name to which it has about as great a title as our Pont Neuf, for it dates from the beginning of the fifteenth century. Its ground-plan is superior in grandeur and proportion to that of the Oude-Kerk ; it is also more compact and correct, if we may use the ex- pression ; a rather narrow aisle surrounds the nave. Several Fig. 62. —Ground-plan of the Wester-Kerk at Amsterdam. (Scale, *039 inch to the yard.) chapels erected on the right side of the transept must, by their arrangements, have greatly contributed to the splendour of Roman Catholic ceremonies. The choir is surrounded by aisles and radiating chapels, that of the east end rising above the others. The Nieuwe-Kerk was twice injured by fire. The present vaulted roof cannot be earlier than the seventeenth century ; it is constructed in the same manner as those which we have already described, but the plan is not so good, and it is not so well executed or so original as that of the Oude- Kerk. AMSTERDAM. 89 The section (fig. 61) gives a general idea of the interior of the building ; its proportions are not pleasing, the points of support are meagre, the outlines and the mullions of the Fig- 63. — View of the Wester- Kerk at Amsterdam. windows are slender and bare. We find at the entrance of the choir another bronze screen of elaborate workmanship, but somewhat heavy and clumsy. The two sides of the 90 HOLLAND. transept are connected by a gallery. On the walls of the church and on the pavement there are a great number of gravestones and funeral monuments, one of the most noted of which is that of Admiral Ruyter, with the celebrated but not very modest inscription, Immensi tremor Oceani. Amsterdam also possesses many types of churches of that Fig. 64. — Ground-plan of the Church of the Sacred Heart at Amsterdam. (Scale, '078 inch to the yard.) style which we have denominated Jesuit architecture. One of the most complete of these is the Wester-Kerk (the west church). The ground-plan, which we give in fig. 62, and the elevation (fig. 63), will enable the reader to form an opinion of the Dutch churches of that period. We will only add that this building was constructed in 1610, and that from its Fig. 65. — Church of the Sacred Heart, Amsterdam AMSTERDAM. 9i steeple, which is 328 feet in height, there is a beautiful view all around, of the town, the Gulf of Y, and the Zuyder-zee. The Roman Catholics of Holland, wishing to supply the place of the churches of which they were dispossessed during the sixteenth century, are now erecting a new one, dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The work is not yet completely finished, but we can already perceive what it will be. The ground-plan (fig. 64) shows much originality ; the nave is wide and short, with chapels forming the side aisles, and it terminates in an immense transept capable of containing more than fifteen hundred persons, all of whom can, without difficulty, witness, from their seats, the cere- monies which are celebrated at one of the three principal altars, or at one of the four secondary ones. Four entrances of equal size allow the congregation to assemble rapidly, and to disperse without inconvenience ; the unusual forms of the ground-plan are well adjusted to each other; and, besides this, they all have a reason, and indicate study though but little research. 1 The facades have an irregular outline ; that of the Fig. 66. — Transverse Section. (Scale, *078 inch to the yard. ) 1 The architect is M. Cuypers. 92 HOLLAND. apse (fig. 65) gives an idea of the general appearance of the building, and of the effect produced. This edifice, which would be remarkable in any country in which it had been built, is still more so in one where monotony is so much in favour, and where the same forms are incessantly repeated and reproduced. It is therefore no slight cause for astonish- ment to see, in the midst of the neighbouring structures, what variety Monsieur Cuypers — an artist who has seen so much, and so well understood what he has seen — has introduced into his work. The outlines of the upper part are in good propor- tion ; the difference in the height of the gable-walls correspond with their lower dimensions ; the spire stands well upon its base, and tapers gradually to its extremity. The vaulted roofs being built of hollow bricks, are conse- quently very light, and are directly supported by buttresses or arches placed under the lower roofs. Fig. 66 shows the height of the columns bearing the arches of the side aisles, that of the vaults, as well as the general system of the con- struction. A lantern, which occupies the centre of the steeple, enlarges and lengthens the cupola of the transept. We give in fig. 67 the details of the spire from its base. It is, from the very bottom, built on an octagonal plan. Four of the trusses which support its triangular sides rest on the ridges of the gables of the transept ; the four others in the gutters which separate these gables ; lower trusses, resting directly on the piers and formed of braces bound together by diagonal ties, sustain the principal trusses, the higher ones forming a fresh octagonal plane reduced to the dimensions of the base of the pyramidal spire. The angles where the faces of this spire meet are constructed of double beams, and are therefore completely rigid ; long struts, which take their bearing on the central timbers, the main support of the principal structure, keep these beams in a vertical position ; secondary braces also connect the higher part of these faces with the same central timbers ; besides those braces which secure the connection of the trusses with each other, other ties, connected in the form of a St. Andrew’s cross with AMSTERDAM. 93 the rigid uprights, serve to bind together the several sides of the spire. The eight angles of the spire, therefore, take their bearing on fixed points, free and independent, but yet firmly connected with each other, so that every torsion movement (the ordinary cause of the fall of spires built of timber) that Fig. 67. — Details of the Timbers of the Spire. (Scale, -157 inch to the yard.) might be exerted on one of the sides would be equally divided among the rest, which would thus be able to resist it. Tenons and mortises are not used, but are replaced by braces and ties. The wood-work, far from being weakened on this account, preserves, on the contrary, a considerable resisting .power. Iron is used only for bolts, and not for cross-bars or 94 HOLLAND. tie-rods, &c., which deprive the structure of the necessary elasticity. The scantling of the timbers diminishes in propor- tion to the height at which they are placed ; the weight of the upper part is thus lessened, and it is better supported by the stronger portions below. As to the external appearance, and to the profile of the roof, the architect knew that objects which are sharply defined against the sky may be easily made to lose or gain in relative importance. He has made use of this acquired experience, and all his attention has been given to the outline of the massive parts, so as to lead the eye upwards from the base to the summit of the spire, without allowing it to rest on any disproportion which might injure the general effect. The large town-chimes are placed in the Mutz-Toren ; at midnight, when the clock has struck twelve, a brilliant peal suddenly breaks forth ; at first there is heard the loud whirr of revolving wheels, and then come the modulated notes, the deep sounds of the bass united with the shriller tones of the lighter bells, and all the notes in full harmony melt into a cascade of shrill, deep, and mellow sounds. The profound silence of the sleeping city is for a moment disturbed ; each bell plays its part, unites its melody with that of its neighbour, and disappears in the concord. It is a brilliant harmony of sharp, clear, metallic sounds, which spread far and wide, recalling an old national air, calling up happy and joyous recollections, at which the half-awakened sleeper smiles ; and then the concert ceases as suddenly as it began, while the last vibrations only linger for a moment in the air. The Crystal Palace is built of iron and glass. It is in- tended for the same purpose as our ‘ Palace of Industry/ but without having so heavy an appearance. The materials em- ployed, the mode of construction, the simplicity of its plan, or rather the absence of decorations, give it the appearance of an immense hall. The ground-plan (fig. 68) consists of a nave and double aisles, and of a transept surmounted, at the point of inter- section, with an oblong cupola. The means of access are AMSTERDAM. 95 numerous and convenient ; principal entrances placed at the extremities, and supplementary doors opening at the sides, allow the crowd to pass rapidly. And then there is an excellent u ON o oT o cn arrangement, too seldom employed in our public buildings, that carriages enter under a covered and enclosed approach, while visitors on foot go in through a special and separate entrance, without being exposed to inconvenience from the 96 HOLLAND. horses, or interfered with by the great number of equipages. The stairs which lead to the upper galleries are not of sufficient importance, and the deal employed in their construction gives the idea that the present stairs are only provisional. Fig. 69. — View of Exterior of Crystal Palace. AMSTERDAM. 97 The facades of this palace are more varied in outline than the usual Dutch public buildings, and their profile breaks somewhat the surrounding uniformity (fig. 69). The section (fig. 70) shows the plan of the construction ; the large semi-circular arches of the nave spring from a series of cast-iron columns connected in pairs ; these are bound together by arches, on which are placed small secondary supports. Fig. 70. — View of the Interior. The roof is of glass, the walls are of brick, but of no considerable thickness, which causes the air in the interior of the building to be very much affected by variations of tem- perature. There is another circumstance connected with this which we might advantageously imitate ; the erection of this vast edifice is due to private enterprise. The idea of the building H 98 HOLLAND. originated with an individual unconnected with the govern- ment, Dr. Sarphati, and the engineer and architect, M. Out- shoorn. The Amstel-hotel, also constructed by Outshoorn, is a private undertaking, not less worthy of notice than the 1. Porter’s lodge. 2. Lift. 3. Office. 4. Servants’ rooms, c. Large vestibule. 6. Hall. 7. Dining-room, table d’hote. 8. Breakfast-room. 9. Refreshment-rooms. 10. Store-room. 1 1 . Reading-room. 12. Coffee-room. 13. Directors’ room. 14. Bed-rooms. 15. Drawing-rooms. 16. Bath-rooms. 17. Water-closets. Crystal Palace ; and since so many large hotels for travellers are being built at the present day, it may be useful to enter into some details respecting that at Amsterdam. It differs from the large hotels at Paris, Marseilles, Nice, Vienna, Geneva, and elsewhere, in this respect. Instead of having a central courtyard, serving as a vestibule, into which AMSTERDAM. 99 carriages enter, and around which are the travellers’ apart- ments and the servants’ offices, it has a covered and enclosed porch for the entrance of carriages and the reception of luggage ; and beyond this a large hall, on which the various General View of the Amstel- hotel and of its Approaches. IOO HOLLAND. rooms open, and where the stairs are placed ; while the travellers’ apartments, out of the way of all noise and dis- turbance, are arranged to the right and left, with wide and convenient modes of access, connected with halls and galleries which give air and light to every part. The plan of the ground-floor (fig. 71) and that of the first floor (fig. 72) show the general arrangement. The hotel contains, in all, one hundred and twenty-four bed-rooms, ten of which have a sitting-room attached ; a lift renders it un- necessary to carry luggage and packages up the stairs ; and all the bed-rooms are supplied with water and gas, and are warmed by heating apparatus, and provided with means of ventilation. Air is collected and compressed in a reservoir constructed in the underground-floor; pipes, such as are used for gas, distribute it to the various apartments ; it can be made to flow in by the simple pressure of a button. The air, as it leaves the reservoir, passes through a jet of finely divided vapour, which gives to it, when necessary, the required hygro- metrical condition. 1 The facades of the hotel possess little originality, and resemble most of our modern buildings (fig. 73). The construction of the Amstel-hotel comprised three distinct operations : the first consisted in the embankment of the land reclaimed from the Amstel ; the second, the estab- lishment of the foundations on piles, a work commenced in 1864 and finished in June 1865 ; the third, in the buildings above ground, which, undertaken in February 1866, were completely finished in July 1867; the hotel was ready for occupation on the 1 5th of that month. These works cost 600,000 florins (50,400/.), about 25/. for each square yard covered, not including the substructures. These details are interesting ; they show the process of the construction of great public works in Holland, and the different phases through which they pass ; and by comparing dates we find that, after a necessary delay, in 1 A similar arrangement is found in several public establishments in France. AMSTERDAM. IOI order that the works should be thoroughly studied and arranged, sufficient activity was displayed to bring it to a rapid completion. The bridges that we constantly met with in order to cross the innumerable canals by which the city is intersected, have a gangway movable in the whole or in part, so as to allow vessels to pass ; the contrivance which raises or lowers this drawbridge is continually in action, and works with extreme facility, in consequence of the arrangement adopted (fig. 74). Fig. 74. — A movable Bridge at Amsterdam. On the axis of the central piles rise two vertical supports, on the top of which are placed two horizontal beams, corre- sponding in weight and dimensions with the lower transverse portions of the gangway. These two parts, thus disposed, keep themselves mutually in a state of rest ; but if an acci- dental cause, a difference of weight, however slight it may be, breaks the equilibrium, it begins to swing, the lower branches raise without effort the gangway of the bridge, and allow it to fall again gently as soon as the additional weight is removed. The markets of Amsterdam are not, in all respects, so 102 HOLLAND. well arranged as ours. The new market is dark and badly ventilated ; its ground-plan, a square each of whose sides measures nearly a hundred feet, required a covering of a special kind. The roof is divided into two sloping portions — the external skirt from which the water passes into the gutters and the eaves, and thence into the public street ; and that which inclines inwardly, concentric with the former, and having the form of a funnel, from which the water descends into a large opening in the central pier, which is placed in the middle of the building to support the beams of the Fig. 75. — Offices of Inspector of Weights and Measures, Amsterdam. timber-work. This combination has the two-fold advantage of lessening the height, which would have been necessary for the roof of a building one hundred feet square, and of avoiding the intermediate gutters between two sloping skirts, which are an incessant cause of leakage, and consequent repairs. On the fish-market square, Visck-markt , we noticed a AMSTERDAM, 103 massive building of extraordinary appearance, with many projections. It is not now applied to any especial purpose, but was constructed in the fourteenth century to contain the standard weights and measures, from which it still derives its name (fig. 75). In the centre of another square, the Boter-markt, stands the statue of Rembrandt. The sculptor, a Belgian, has Fig. 76. — The Montalbans-Toren, Amsterdam. represented him in a standing position ; he has given him a haughty, proud, and stern look. This statue, however, is not without merit, though it does not well correspond to the idea that one forms of Rembrandt, a good citizen of Amsterdam, a rich and eager collector of objects of vertu. 104 HOLLAND. The inscription on the pedestal is full of grandeur in its conciseness, consisting only of two words : ‘ To Rembrandt.’ The ancient fortifications of the city are no longer in existence. We still find, however, three of the towers which flanked the ramparts ; the Montalbans-Toren is one of these, and formed part of the system of defence constructed at the close of the fifteenth century. At present it is devoted to no particular purpose (fig. 76). Amsterdam is defended from the sea by dykes, two immense arms which extend to the right and left ; the dyke on the right encloses the docks and the basin for the large ships which make the voyage to Oceania. There were serious difficulties in constructing these docks, the walls of which are of considerable height, since they were intended to receive ships in order to take in or unload their cargoes. In fact, to raise isolated walls to the height of from 50 to 65 feet, un- supported by any timbers, with the foundations laid in a yielding and compressible soil, was no easy undertaking. The system employed consisted in the establishment of very firm supports, consolidated by innumerable piles, to sustain the weight of the superstructure ; then these foundations were connected together by arches, and the interval which separated them was filled in with comparatively light masonry, not throwing any great weight upon the foundations, and inde- pendent of the principal structure, of which it forms no part, and from which it might be detached, even without modifying the general system or even weakening it. On this account, if any subsidence were to take place in the parts thus filled, the solidity of the foundations of the arches would not be compromised ; and if, on the contrary, one of these were to give way, it would be an isolated acci- dent, the consequences of which would probably be but local and circumscribed. In addition to this, it was a great ad- vantage to practical and economical people that this circum- stance enabled them to secure the necessary stability for the foundations, by confining to these points alone the labour of consolidating the soil instead of extending it all round the AMSTERDAM. 105 circumference of the walls. This system, indeed, is only the application of the principle which was carried out in the construction of our large cathedrals of the Middle Ages. The artistic riches of Amsterdam are its museums, in which are deposited the masterpieces of the Dutch school. A Frenchman, more witty than wise, wrote, a short time since, during his visit to Amsterdam : ‘ Pay no attention to people who advise you to go and see the curiosities of Holland, for there are none ; the museums are few and but indifferent ; there are two Rembrandts and one Potter ; this is all that is worth seeing ; and my guide informs me that the “ Bull ” of the latter and the “ Night Watch” of the former are much criticised and depreciated.’ This traveller is not to be trusted. He was, no doubt, exasperated by the ridiculous pretensions of the Dutch, who do not hesitate to prefer Rembrandt’s ‘ Night Watch ’ to the ‘ Transfiguration ’ of Raphael. On the contrary, the museums of Holland, especially that of Amsterdam, will well repay the traveller for frequent visits. This museum is located in an ancient private house. The pictures are placed in ordinary rooms, which are lighted from the sides ; the ceilings are so low that the larger paintings nearly reach the floor, so that, in order to see them, you must stand so as almost to touch those on the opposite side. It is unworthy of an enlightened people to show such want of respect both to the productions of genius and to the public who come to admire them. But considerations of this kind have but little influence on the Dutch, and they are readily provided with a reply to every remonstrance on this subject : ‘ We are satisfied with things as they are, and if others do not approve of them they may stay at home.’ This manner of practising hospitality, and of estimating social relations, is not exactly conformable to our ideas, and we give a very different reception to those who think fit to visit us. But the traveller must learn to overcome his angry feelings, for when once he has entered the Amsterdam museum, he will quickly forget his first impression. io6 HOLLAND. This museum is the most important in Holland. It is there that we should study this school of painting, the last which arose in the history of art, the only one born on German soil, and whose works show such an incontestable originality. These artists were wanting in imagination ; they do not rise into the ideal world, but remain on the earth ; they do not create, but are content with copying ; but how carefully they perform this task ! With what scrupulous minuteness do they not reproduce even the slightest details of the design of a drapery, its bright colours, or the disposition of its folds ! with what care they represent the mouldings of a vase, every hair in a furred robe, the bricks of a house, and even the disproportion of the human body ! how accurately they depict the grotesque features and the heavy broad shoulders of their fellow-citizens ! Their entire aim is the glorification of real life, the only one which they can comprehend. They neither understand nor wish to see anything except the quiet repose of a citizen’s home, the comfort and conveniences of an apart- ment kept carefully closed, the sensual satisfaction afforded by a hearty meal. The gaiety which they depict is heavy, dense, and trivial ; it is that of a tavern or of a monotonous and regular life. They do not bring before our notice the efforts of man to attain to happiness, but the enjoyment which he derives from the satisfaction of his senses. Whenever they leave this habitual track, and this general rule of their compositions, their idea is not clearly expressed or rendered evident. The two principal paintings in the museum at Amsterdam, Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’ and Vander Heist’s ‘ Civic Banquet,’ are proofs of our assertion. The latter represents a citizen scene, national guards seated at table, and all the heads are portraits ; the former is a work of imagination, and the subject of it is not, even up to the present time, clearly determined. But it is the difference of origin alone which forms the distinction between these two works. Both have an astonish- ing truthfulness and depth of colouring ; each personage is AMSTERDAM. 107 depicted with his peculiar character and temperament, ex- pressed not only in his features, but by his precise and sober gestures. As to the details, they are studied with a careful- ness and a finish, the value of which can be appreciated only by close examination. The principal merit which is displayed in these works— a merit perhaps superior to truth of expression, and the exacti- tude of the scenes represented — is the knowledge and delicacy of colouring displayed by these masters. In order thoroughly to understand this side of the question, we must know the country in which the Dutch school of painting took its rise, and thus take into account the influence which it has exercised on the artists and their productions. The deepest impression that can be made on the mind of a painter is that which is produced by the natural objects in the midst of which he is placed. In a varied and rugged country the artist notices especially and almost exclusively the outlines ; the mountains are clearly defined against the sky in noble and grand forms. In Sicily and Tuscany, for instance, every object stands out in bold and definite relief against the back-ground formed by the pure and clear sky ; in flat countries, on the contrary, the contours disappear, all forms are softened down. In the Netherlands the lines are indistinct, the horizon is sombre and cold, colour must come to the aid of drawing, which is of itself insufficient to give effect to form, relief, and outline. It is for this reason, that, when makmg a comparison between the Venetian and Dutch schools, it has been said that, in these two countries, nature has made man a colourist ; but Venice had its sun to gild its landscapes, and Holland has nothing but mist, which leaves hers pale and cold. The fair locks of the patrician ladies of Venice do not resemble the yellow hair of the wives of the burgesses of Amsterdam. Drawing may indeed represent a landscape among the mountains of Provence or Spain, may show the dry and dull aspect of the soil, all the tints of which disappear under the bright light of the south ; but in a flat and moist country io8 HOLLAND. like Holland, the sky, hidden during a great part of the year, loses all its importance ; we see it only as an opaque veil, and terrestrial objects, consequently, acquire an importance which there is nothing to counterbalance. These must, therefore, be brought prominently forward, and thrown into relief. The artist must represent these glistening muddy streams, changing colour every moment, passing from the most delicate grey tones to those of moistened soot. He must show the red or yellow fronts of the houses, or the cattle dotted here and there over meadows always verdant ; objects with but little variety, constantly bathed in vapour, and standing out against a level and monotonous horizon. To arrive at such a complex result, it was necessary to unite with a knowledge of all the niceties and resources ol colour, that calm, placid, and studious temperament peculiar to the Dutch — a gift indispensable in order to bring to a suc- cessful issue the long and patient study necessary to conduct to the end which has been so happily attained. We may add to these observations on the Dutch school of art, that it was the breath of liberty to which it owed its rise, and that when the Netherlands lost their independence they saw the last of their great artists pass away. We are now near the time of the Kermess, the great annual fair of September. As soon as the gas is lighted, Amsterdam changes its aspect ; there is bustle and noise instead of calm and silence ; the whole population begin to prepare for the enjoyment which is about to take place, and present a curious sight. The principal streets are filled with an impatient crowd, rude in their movements, and with whom it is unpleasant to come in contact. In the public squares booths are erected for the supply of eatables and liquor, and for the sale of articles of every kind, especially such as are brought from Paris. There are crowds of servants arm-in-arm with soldiers, all in a state of inordinate gaiety, singing, as they pass, songs which excite shouts of laughter, shrill prolonged cries which fatigue the ear. But this gaiety is coarse, low, and noisy ; the animal feelings are unre- AMSTERDAM . 109 strained ; they show themselves openly, without bounds or disguise. The people enjoy to repletion during a whole week the pleasures from which they have abstained for all the rest of the year; expenses, usually so economically regulated, become, for the time, excessive ; calm and quiet are banished from the houses ; the Dutchman leaves his home and lives out of doors ; though, during the rest of the year, he shows his excessive love for economy, retirement, and silence, yet now, during the Kermess, he spends his money, goes out and shouts. These trivial demonstrations, this coarse enjoyment, has in it nothing attractive ; far from this, it inspires one with a feeling of utter repulsion. What a contrast with the popular fetes of Paris or Rome ! There a display of fireworks, a van full of masquers, a band in the open air, are enough to please every one ; the crowd will remain for hours to see a sky-rocket or to hear a song. And how thoroughly they fill up the intervals, while away the time with a rattling fire of personal jokes, an uninterrupted series of witticisms and jests which pass from one individual to another and from group to group ! The listeners are the judges of this tournament of fun ; their shouts of laughter encourage the merry orators, and loud ‘ bravos ’ await the happy repartee which procures for its author the difficult achievement of having the last word. In Holland, these witty contests, these battles of the tongue, are unknown ; they do nothing but eat, drink, shout, and fight in an indescribable manner. Plolland has the reputation of pure morals, but it does not deserve this credit at the Kermess. As to other times, after having witnessed certain scenes in the solitary paths of the Wood at the Hague, or in the Calver Straat and other unmentionable quarters of Amsterdam, we may well ask whether this pretended simplicity is anything but the most entire corruption. I IO HOLLAND. NORTH HOLLAND. Some of the details of this singular country would lead us to suspect that a scene had been got up to mystify the traveller. — N im. Amsterdam is the starting-point for several excursions, the most interesting of which is that through North Holland, a large peninsula united to the continent by a narrow neck of land. The northern canal cuts through this isthmus, and unites the North Sea with the gulf of Y, and allows ships of con- siderable burden to proceed, at all seasons, to the port of Amsterdam, without undergoing the delays peculiar to the canal of Holland, or fearing the sand-banks and shallows of the Zuyder-zee. We pass over the gulf of Y (which froze so conveniently in 1794 as to allow the French cavalry to board the fleet of the Netherlands), and when once we are on the other side we look back at the panorama of the city which we have just left — a mass of red houses scarcely rising above the water, four or five steeples, grey and yellow blocks of buildings, a slimy and glistening sea, and, if it is warm weather, the aroma of the port and the canals of Amsterdam brought over by the wind. There is nothing here, whatever may be said, to remind one, even remotely, of Venice as seen from Lido. Nearly in the midst of the gulf, small wooden huts, built on piles, standing by themselves in the midst of the waters, on a kind of dyke, are the pleasure-houses of the rich mer- chants of the city. They come in boats to pass their Sundays NORTH HOLLAND. 1 1 1 in these prisons, and make themselves happy in eating, drink- ing, and smoking, without the fear of noise or any visit from an intruder. There are two principal points of attraction for the traveller in North Holland. One is the fantastic village of Broeck, whose fastidious and ridiculous cleanliness is known to all ; and the other is the cottage at Zaandam, inhabited by Peter the Great when he came to Holland in 1696 to study ship-building. We passed by these two points, which have become rather hackneyed, and preferred to continue our journey as far as Enkuisen. It would give the reader no information were we to state that the country is flat ; indeed, it would be incorrect and insufficient, for we ought rather to call it hollow. The shores of the sea are slightly elevated by means of dykes ; the rest of the country is depressed, and exactly resembles a basin. The canal of Holland, which reaches from Amsterdam to the extremity of the Helder, passes to the left. The road crosses the polders, with their meadows, cattle, and windmills, which are everywhere the same. But in the midst of this monotony, which strikes us more and more forcibly in the country, we see more decidedly the strange and grotesque aspect of the works of man. The country is very rich. We perceive this by the number of cattle, as well as of houses, and more strikingly by the costume of the inhabitants, especially of the women, whose heads are enclosed in a kind of helmet similar to those which we have already described ; but with this difference, that, instead of being made of copper or silver, they are of gold, decorated with valuable stones and blinkers of excellent workmanship. The women have an exaggerated reputation for beauty ; yet they possess a peculiar charm, owing to the delicacy of their skin, the brightness of their complexion, and the whiteness of their teeth. Their hair, as far as they allow it to be seen, is of a dull, fair hue. Their features are coarse, their gait is heavy, and entirely destitute of elegance or grace. I 12 HOLLAND. The farms and houses inhabited by the peasants corre- spond but little with the idea which that word awakens in us. Instead of heaps of manure, cattle wandering at liberty, crowded farmyards, rooms badly kept and in disorder, and the untidy inhabitants of our- houses in the country, the Dutch farms have courtyards well sanded, enclosures in good condition, houses neat and well kept ; within doors, rooms of an unheard-of, excessive, inconceivable cleanliness. In one of these the mistress is at work, surrounded by her maids. Their dress is coquettish and even elegant. The stable, which has a direct communication with this kind of parlour, has a floor perfectly irreproachable, clean, and free from stains. The milk-pans and utensils of every sort shine and glitter with a brightness continually renewed. The bed-rooms, on the same floor with the rest of the dwelling-house, contain large beds enclosed in alcoves, which form a kind of cupboard. There are nests of shelves covered with delft ware of surprising value. In the common room we find, hanging on the walls, Fig- 85. — Cathedral Tower, Utrecht. NORTH HOLLAND . ii 3 maps, mathematical instruments, a lactometer, a barometer, a level, a levelling-staff, or carpenters tools. On a book-shelf are arranged books and newspapers. There are two kitchens, one for the summer, with a north aspect ; the other for winter Fig. 78. — View of the Exterior of a Farm-house in North Holland. Fig- 79- — Ground-plan of a Farm-house. (Scale, -039 inch to the yard.) 1. Stable. 2. Cart-shecl. 3. Kitchen. 4. Bed-rooms. 5. Usual entrance. 6. Special entrance. use, sheltered from cold winds ; and, to crown all, a room for grand occasions, cleaned every week with the most scru- pulous care. This apartment (fig. 77) is intended for no special purpose, but in it are kept the rich family ornaments, I HOLLAND. 114 and the layette for the new-born child. It is there that the bride puts on her marriage-dress. The coffin of the dead parent is placed there. The door of this room, called the ‘ golden door,’ opens on the road, but is always kept closed except on great days of mourning or rejoicing— a baptism, a marriage, or a burial. We were present at a ceremony of the latter kind. The relations and friends filled the room, surrounding the coffin, the lid of which was partly raised, so as to show the face of the dead. The minister and the schoolmaster were chanting a hymn, in the midst of cries and sobs which seemed to form part of the ceremony. Then the golden door was opened, the bier was placed upon a car, and the widow solemnly seated herself on the remains of her late husband to convey him to the cemetery. Figs. 78 and 7 9 represent the house of a respectable peasant. It contains a kitchen, a sitting-room, and bed- chamber. Behind, and forming a part of the same building, are the barn and a house for six cows. A small gable sur- mounts the sitting-room, and shows the importance which is attributed to it. The four chimneys unite in a single open- ing — a large shaft with a chimney-pot at the top. Figs. 80 and 81 represent a farm of greater importance. The stable is capable of containing eighteen cows. The dwelling contains two kitchens. That for summer use is isolated, and has wide openings ; that used in winter is placed in the centre of the building, with two large closets to contain beds, and is in direct communication with the stable, which is perfectly neat and clean. On the other side of the building are the parlour, the master’s bed-room, and the special room with its private door. Beyond the stable are the piggery, and the dairy with the cheese heaped up in the corner, reminding one of cannon-balls in an arsenal ; the large roof contains granaries for the storage of corn and fodder. These two farm-houses are constructed of wood and bricks. The wall of the basement floor is a brick and a half NORTH HOLLAND. 1 1 5 in thickness. The upper walls are of only a single brick ; but their outer surface is covered with a wainscoting of planks, Fig. 80. — View of a large Farm-house. 1. Winter-kitchen. 2. Stable. 3. Piggery. 4. Summer-kitchen, 5. Sitting-room. 6. Bed -room. 7. Special room. 8. Ordinary entrance. 9. Special entrance. i6 HOLLAND. an arrangement which causes the interior to be perfectly healthy and free from all damp. The larger farm-house is covered with tiles, the smaller one with rushes from the isle of Marken — that remarkable little island near the coasts of the Zuyder-zee, the buildings of which resemble those of a colony of beavers. These two houses are most carefully constructed. Among the noticeable details we may mention wooden gutters for the roof, supported by small brackets, discharging arches over the lintels, and projecting ridge-tiles, to prevent water penetrating where the shafts of the chimney pass through the roof. These buildings, which we have taken as a type among the many of a similar kind that we have met with, are in a perfect state of repair, owing to the constant care bestowed on them by the proprietor. One would suppose that they had been built but yesterday ; and yet they date from the beginning of the seventeenth century. There are few coun- tries where buildings so simply and economically con- structed, and of materials so little durable, have lasted to the present time, except in ruins, or without having undergone such modifications as have completely altered the original form. As we continue our journey we find the same strange character showing itself still more and more in the habitations and in the manners of the people. This affords some relief amidst the monotony of the landscape which never varies. In certain parts, all the houses are built in the middle of a square piece of land, surrounded by a wide ditch full of water. When one of the inhabitants wishes to go out, he throws over the ditch a movable bridge, formed of a plank, which he kicks back again when he has passed. No risk here of being annoyed by troublesome visitors or prying passers-by ! The little gardens in certain small towns are still more curious. We find there rustic bridges, Japanese temples, Gothic chapels, and ancient ruins in close proximity. We even see summer-houses in which are stuffed figures forming groups NORTH HOLLAND. u 7 not easy for the uninitiated to understand. Then, under trees cut out of zinc, there is a piece of water on which black and white swans and tame ducks try to reach cakes which, like themselves, are made of zinc ; while red fishes, painted on cement to imitate sand, seem to be swimming in a stream of which we cannot say ‘ susurrans inter lapillos,’ for it is formed of a certain number of panes of glass. These are but playthings for grown-up children. Sometimes we see a rich farmer driving at full trot along the road, which is paved .with bricks, in order to avoid both mud and dust. His yellow or red cab, the body of which is ornamented with paintings and carving, is mounted on high wheels which pass rapidly over the ground, and is drawn by a black stallion. These equipages are the boast of their owners. The horses are remarkably fine animals, with black coat, and a tail which reaches the ground. We see in Paris their degenerate descendants performing the dismal duty of drawing funeral cars. In the sixteenth century Enkuisen sent 140 boats to the fishery, and had 20 men-of-war to protect them. At this period it had a port and dockyard for building ships, and its walls enclosed streets with large and luxurious habitations ; now the harbour is choked with sand, the dockyards are closed, the edifices destroyed. The grass grows on the remains of the ruined buildings, and Enkuisen has but 500 inhabitants. The sight of this great dilapidation and ruin does not produce such an impression as might be expected. The houses are empty, but they are always clean, and the bricks and stones which fall from the front are carefully heaped together before each house. Time itself has introduced order and method, while it has created such a solitude and desolation. That which still remains of the church will scarcely give an idea of what it formerly was. It is now a bare chapel, cold, sombre, plastered from top to bottom, and paved with large black slabs. Its rood-loft, of the sixteenth century, is covered with carvings which show a curious mixture of Christian subjects and mythological allusions. We find also some HOLLAND. timber-work and a pulpit of the same epoch, which are curious specimens of the renaissance beyond the Rhine. We will not speak of their form and details ; but the execution is remarkable, and shows a patience and manual skill which we can only regret to see employed on subjects of such doubtful interest. Among the buildings that yet remain, those which are in the best condition are the artisans’ houses of the seventeenth Fig. 82. Fig. 83. Elevations of Artisans’ Houses at Enkuisen. (Scale of about \ inch to the yard.) century ; they are still, as when they were first erected, in- habited by a single family. Their arrangement is very simple ; a large room looking on the street, one of smaller dimensions behind, and at the back a courtyard and a little garden ; on the upper floor are shops or work-rooms for the inhabitant, if he carries on his trade in his own dwelling- house. These houses are wholly of brick (figs. 82 and 83), with NORTH HOLLAND. 1 19 the exception of a few parts constructed of wood, and two or three pieces of stone. They are well built, and remain in good repair in the midst of the desolation around them. Their external appearance, characterised by lofty gables of stair-like form, reminds one rather of Flemish gables than the Dutch ones covered with grotesque ornaments ; as to the internal parts, like all those that we have already seen, they are replete with everything conducive to the comforts and conveniences of life, and are kept with a scrupulous neatness and care unknown among ourselves. A little above Enkuisen the Zuyder-zee grows narrower, and the land projects on each side, nearly closing the entrance of this great gulf. The industrious and persevering genius of the Dutch has conceived the idea of draining the Zuyder-zee and converting it into polder. All that would be necessary, says an official report, is to construct a dyke from Medem- blik, a cape at no great distance from Enkuisen, as far as Stavoren on the opposite shore, that is to say, in Friesland. This dyke would be rather more than 3 1 miles in length, with a variable but insignificant depth ; the portion of sea to be drained would yield a surface of 494,228 acres. Engineers are now studying the means of carrying out this plan ; bankers are raising capital. The undertaking will perhaps be long before it is completely carried out, but the scheme is feasible ; and it is no less certain that, if commenced, it will be suc- cessful. The wind has blown a gale since yesterday, so that, instead of returning to Amsterdam, we started for the Helder to see the effect of the great waves upon the dykes which protect the coast. It is a magnificent spectacle. The wind is due north, and there is no land between Holland and the Pole to break the force of the rollers ; they are of monstrous size, and their frightful mass dashes incessantly on the granite walls which arrest their course. Not a sail is in sight, the sky is dark and gloomy. It is very cold ; the terrible uproar of the sea over- powers every other sound in the heavens or on land. As the 20 HOLLAND. night comes on, every one departs. The engineers and those under their command alone remain at their post, ready at the first signal to rush to the threatened point ; for upon a breach depends perhaps the existence of the country, since a storm like this might sweep away all North Holland at once. The dykes, against which the sea spends its force in fruit- less efforts, are constructed almost entirely of Norwegian granite ; they are about 5 miles long, with an average height of 262 feet, 46 of which rise above the water, and the slope of the masonry is 40 degrees. The upper part serves as a promenade and a public drive. UTRECHT. 1 2 I UTRECHT. Utrecht is, by its University, the seat of Protestant orthodoxy. — Esquiros. FROM Amsterdam to Utrecht there is no change in the usual monotony of the country. We pass, for a short distance, through a large meadow planted with trees, whose trunks are decorated with alternate bands of black and white paint, of equal breadth. The stakes to which animals are tied, the milk-pails, and the wooden shoes of the peasants, have all received the same kind of ornament. The road over which we pass is paved with bricks, so as to form black and white stripes. This frightful repetition of the same things and the same colours, a repetition for which no motive can be assigned, troubles the mind and irritates the reason ; it is the last and most complete expression cf this strange mania by which a whole people is so entirely possessed. Utrecht is dull and solitary. It is a religious city where old sects are still preserved, the remembrance of which is almost entirely effaced and lost elsewhere. The austerity of Calvinism prevails there without mitigation. A silence peculiar to the cloisters reigns in the streets bordered with houses, which are low, narrow, hermetically closed, without any mirrors suspended at the windows, without anything which can allow those within even to guess at that which is passing without. No carriages, no pedestrians ; here and there may be seen a Jansenist, with an anxious look, ex- changing, as he passes, a glance of contempt with an orthodox Lutheran ; some fair Puritan, with downcast eyes, goes slowly to hear a sermon, and this is all ! The greatest excitement 122 HOLLAND. to be met with is the noise of the little cart drawn by a dog, in which a tradesman is conveying provisions : a female servant, in a violet dress— for such is the uniform — her arms bare as far as the shoulders, shows herself at the area, makes her purchases almost without a word, and hastily withdraws ; then all returns to the usual quietude, undisturbed even by the sound of footsteps, for even this is dulled by the moss with which the brick pavements of the streets are covered. Yet, notwithstanding this sadness and solitude, Utrecht 1ST STORY. 2ND STORY. Fig. 84. — Plan of the First and Second Stories of the Tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht. (Scale, inch to the yard.) does not fill us with ennui. These striking characteristics, so rarely now to be met with, have left upon us an impression on which we love to dwell. We especially remember a very small house, shaded by large trees, by the side of a canal covered with duck-weed, a house where one would love to study quietly. Another, the door of which we ventured to push open, showed us an old man sitting in a large room filled with flowers, singing psalms with his two daughters by his side, who were quietly working on a piece of tapestry, while their mother was preparing dinner. UTRECHT. 123 How can all these people live, and what is their home existence like ? It is not easy to ascertain it ; and perhaps, if our curiosity were satisfied, it would end in deception, by placing before us individuals filled with the convictions of a former age, and whose ideas do not extend farther than a limited horizon, beyond which, as far as they are concerned, there is nothing. But Utrecht contains the most remarkable Dutch edifice of the Middle Ages ; it is the Dom-Kerk, which has pre- served its Catholic name of cathedral. Built in the thirteenth century, on the ruins of a primitive church, it contains nothing at present except the transept, the choir with its chapels, and the tower formerly placed at the entrance. This tower is now separated from the rest of the structure by the whole space once occupied by the nave, the very vestiges of which have disappeared. The choir and the transept have been recently restored in a remarkable manner, but the necessary works did not affect the main fabric ; we see no traces of important alterations ; the details only of certain parts needed reparation. The restorers respected not only the form and disposition of the ancient parts, but also the arrangement and the nature of the materials. The tower (Domtoren) is the most remarkable part of the building ; it rises from a ground-plan 62 feet square, and is about 393 feet in height. This is occupied by two high stories, the upper one being narrower than the lower, and the former is surmounted by a campanile, a sort of open lantern, the lightness of which contrasts with the lower part of the building, which is massive and heavy. The spire which should crown the whole no longer exists. The difference of width between the two stories is com- pensated by the excessive dimensions given to the lower walls, which, as they retreat, always leave sufficient space to take the bearing of the upper walls. This is the plan on which many steeples were erected in France during the Middle Ages (Limoges, St. Leonard, &c.) ; 124 HOLLAND. but the tower of Utrecht, which resembles that of Limoges by being separated from the rest of the church by the space formerly occupied by the nave, was constructed with less science and research. The Dutch architect employed nothing but bricks ; it was, therefore, difficult for him to depend on slight and but few points of support for the structure ; besides this, it would have been imprudent to throw the weight of so considerable a mass on piles of masonry of small dimensions, Fig. 86. — Canal at Utrecht. since the soil in which the foundations w'ere to be laid was of an inferior quality. It was necessary, on the contrary, to divide, as he has done, the weight of the whole work over the largest possible surface, in order to avoid the subsidence or flaws so much to be feared under these circumstances. The plan of the two stories (fig. 84) shows the whole system of construction. Intermediate masses of masonry have been constructed to consolidate the original work, which UTRECHT : 125 render it difficult to ascertain it with certainty. Fig. 85 gives an idea of the general aspect of this tower, by far the most interesting of all those which we have seen in Holland. The Oude Gracht (old canal), which crosses the city in its greatest length, has by its side quays with two terraces. The lower one, which scarcely rises above the level of the canal, Fig. 87. is bordered by arches, which afford shelter to fishermen, sailors, and all those whose business is carried on by water. The extrados of these vaults— which, by the way, are very unhealthy — is converted into promenades, along which are erected buildings of a rich and comfortable appearance, each always inhabited by a single family (fig. 86). Utrecht was our last stage in Holland. Beyond this city 26 HOLLAND. the nature of the country begins to change. There are no longer those interminable meadows which we have never ceased to traverse since we left Dordrecht. We see ploughed fields, with here and there a copse ; a kind of hill diversifies the horizon, and then, towards evening, the last windmill is lost in the mist (fig. 87). FINE ARTS— MANNERS— CUSTOMS. 12 7 FINE ARTS— MANNERS— CUSTOMS. BEFORE we reach the frontier of Germany, let us rapidly sum up our impressions of what we have seen in Holland. Holland has no architecture of its own. Its public buildings and its arts have no peculiar style ; its school of painting alone has cast a bright splendour on the seventeenth century. From this period the Dutch seem to have renounced the fine arts, in order to give themselves exclusively to commerce, to trade, and all those professions adapted to ameliorate the physical condition of mankind. In fact, Holland produces nothing of importance to the literary world — a subject which does not at present occupy our attention. Statistics prove that though this is the country where the most printing is done, it is, on the contrary, that in which the fewest books are written. Publishers issue nothing but theological works, and more especially translations of foreign productions. Modern Dutch painters do not challenge notice, and this modesty is not a proof of great artistic excellence. Dutch architects also produce nothing new ; for in all that we have seen and brought before the attention of the reader, nothing indicates an original school, which has a style of its own, and is not a souvejiir of the buildings of another country. Some few houses only have a special character— an arrangement peculiar to themselves. Upon what does this state of things depend, and how can we explain it ? It will be necessary, for this purpose, to enter into some details ; and as the nature, the customs, and the tastes of men are always indicated by the dwellings which 128 HOLLAND . they rear, and the public buildings which they originate, let us inquire what are the disposition, the habits, and the tastes of the Dutch. And, first of all, the country. The soil is damp, because of its situation below the level of the sea ; then it is watered by three great rivers, the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhine ; it is intersected by numerous canals, and in certain parts water stagnates on the surface of the soil. The inhabitants must therefore keep up an incessant struggle to enable the land to defend itself against the water — a conflict in which the very life of the people is at stake. The climate, saturated with vapour, relaxes a man’s nerves, does not excite his passions, but rather tends to calm them ; and the precautions necessary for his defence render him persevering, patient, and laborious. Now let us examine the individual himself. The Dutch race is a branch of the Germanic stock, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and light hair ; they are jocosely said to have turnip-juice in their veins. The Hollanders are tall, well- formed, but without elegance ; carved, as it were, with the axe. Their features are bony ; they have a heavy and dull look, with no resemblance whatever to Grecian statuary. They receive impressions from without but slowly ; their intelligence is neither active nor alert ; they are wanting in what is called quickness of apprehension (esprit) ; if you ask them for information or direction, the answer is slow in coming ; you notice a painful effort which is shown in the face — an evident difficulty in finding a suitable reply. A dealer in cigars threw himself into a perspiration one day in explaining to me, very insufficiently, the value of the national coinage. The Dutch are not very refined in their pleasures ; during the Kermess the people give way to low debauchery. They are indifferent to the gratification of vanity or glory ; their calm, unimpressionable disposition deters them from ambition. They know how to be content ; and when they have attained the end proposed, we see them give up business, while yet young, to enjoy a repose which will allow them to live, for a long time, on the fruit of their labours. FINE ARTS— MANNERS— CUSTOMS. 129 The Dutch are domesticated, economical, rather un- sociable. When together they are good listeners ; they will remain immovable for several hours ; they are not dazzled by frivolous appearances, but wish to go thoroughly into a question. It is on this account that their banking-houses are so prosperous and so firmly established. They shut themselves up in their homes, living a family life, devoted to a certain routine of religious observances, and never seem to dream of anything beyond this limited horizon. Public assemblies are very rare ; social meetings are almost unknown. At Scheveningen, the most frequented sea-side town in the North, we may see mothers at work, surrounded by their children, and forming each a separate clan, without uniting in groups and coteries , as among our- selves ; they have even invented, for this purpose, a kind of hut or watch-box, which, under the pretence of sheltering them from the wind and the sun, serves to isolate and conceal them from each other ; and in these the women work for hours together, without speaking or even stirring. The love of gain, and the desire of promoting their worldly interests, occupy all the powers of their minds, and divert them from the search after intellectual or metaphysical enjoyments. Religious questions, in which they are so intolerant, disturb and trouble them. They have established neutral schools, reasonably hoping that children of various religions, subjected to the same rules and the same instructions, will, when they have grown up, be more ready to make conces- sions, and be more tolerant towards each other. Their calmness and tenacity of purpose easily turn to obstinacy. One evening at Amsterdam, in the Dam Square, an omnibus contained one passenger too many. They were going to a kind of promenade concert which closed at ten o’clock. It was already eight ; the conductor refused to start, the passenger to get out. The conveyance drove once, twice, three times round the square, and then returned to the starting-point. A crowd gathered round ; there were no shouts, no angry words ; they discussed seriously the rights K J 3° HOLLAND. of the passengers and the duty of the conductor. At ten o’clock the coachman took out his horses and went home to bed ; the passengers also left the vehicle and returned home ; they had lost their evening’s amusement, but they had not yielded the disputed point. It is worthy of notice that the police had no occasion to interfere, and that no one had even thought of them. The family is, with them, the object of a truly religious worship. Ill-conducted households are very rare. The birth of a child is announced to the public by a small cushion suspended' outside the house, and the sight of this imposes on those who pass by certain notice and attention. The tastes of the Dutchman are all directed to the satis- faction of some material wants. The most strongly-developed of these is the love of good cheer, for he has an excellent appetite. Next to peace of mind and repose, which he loves above all things, he enjoys the happiness of a comfortable, neat home, a quiet hearth, exempt from storms. He excels in such works as demand great patience, attention, and perseverance. It is among the Dutch that we meet with the best diamond-cutters — a profession at which a workman must be occupied for months together in cutting and polishing a small precious stone of insignificant dimensions. The Dutch feel no desire to talk or to sing. It is only during the Kermess that we hear for a few days in the streets the songs which are so frequent in our southern towns. Dealers who sell their wares in the streets do not attract purchasers by their cries : they pass silently along, always at the same hour , before the houses of their customers. Their love of cleanliness has become a mania, and the seemingly incredible exaggerations which we hear of this quality are only simple truth. The desire of gain has induced them to conquer their love of repose. Hardy mariners, skilful merchants, they have profited in a remarkable manner by their intercourse with Japan ; squeezing the inhabitants dry, buying for a trifle that which they sell in Europe for gold, and, until lately, they FINE ARTS— MANNERS— CUSTOMS. 131 were the only people of the Old World who had a factory in Japan. Their servants are not, like ours, lodged in the upper story of the house. They are few in number, have apartments near their masters, and are in constant communication with the mistress, who is not satisfied with merely superintending and directing them in the cares of the household, but she assists with her own hands in domestic affairs. Charity is entirely dependent on private enterprise, and yet there is no country in Europe which possesses so great a number of establishments for the relief of human misery. They make some display of this very natural feeling, and the odd uniforms in which they dress the paupers in their alms- houses must at all times lessen the dignity of the unfortunate recipients and the modesty of their benefactors. They are generally rich, sometimes very rich, and pay exorbitant taxes. It is requisite, in order to become an elector, to pay in land-tax alone, nearly 1 50 florins, about 1 2/. 1 2 S . They do not like discussion, and are good listeners, as we have already said ; therefore the representative and parliamentary regime suits them admirably, and their poli- tical organisation is carried on in a manner which may excite our envy. It is not the same with religious questions ; and, while they agree on political matters, they can never come to an understanding on religious dogmas, which are the source of constant and interminable discussions, in which they almost lose their temper. It is easy, from what has been said, to understand why the architecture of Holland is such as we have found it. Except a few churches of the Middle Ages, bequeathed to them by the Roman Catholic religion, the Dutch have no ecclesiastical buildings worthy of the name, because they are divided into so many sects that a small space is sufficient to conduct the worship of each. They have no theatres because they are not fond of meeting in public ; and in literature, as well as in painting, 132 HOLLAND. they care only for the representation of the ordinary actions of their daily life — subjects, as we may believe, but little adapted to excite the genius or imagination of foreign poets or musicians. We have already seen that they themselves neglect literary productions. They have no splendid buildings for their museums, since they do not value external appearance, and are insensible to that which speaks merely to the eye. They consider the riches of a museum to consist only in the works of art which it possesses, and not in the building which contains them. For the same reason they dispense with elegant buildings for their town-halls and courts of justice, as well as for the dwellings of their princes and high functionaries ; since they despise everything which has for its aim outward appearance — that which merely pleases the eye, without having any useful and remunerative purpose ; this causes them to neglect the decoration and ornamental arrangement of their towns. On the other hand, they have schools, hospitals, asylums for the poor, dykes, harbours, roads, canals, and railways ; works in which practical ideas prevail rather than the ima- gination, and where we find, combined with an outward form almost always unpleasant and of doubtful taste, a skilful carrying out of the proposed plan, and a logical, clever adaptation of the means necessary to attain the de- sired end. They have especially dwelling-houses very well suited to their character, their tastes, and their wants. These are small, sombre, detached, all alike, perfectly neat within and without, divided into a limited number of rooms of considerable size, with a small garden, where they cultivate the flowers which they love so well. This affords the Dutchman the most complete satisfaction of his desires and aspirations. He is there alone and at peace, shut in, with no neighbours, no prying looks, no noise. These houses are as well adapted to their inhabitants as the inhabitants themselves seem made for them. FINE ARTS— MANNERS— CUSTOMS. 133 Such dwellings as these would be utterly unsuitable for us who are so fond of variety and novelty, who change our habitations ten times in the course of our lives, modifying our abode according to our situation at the time, our present resources, or the increase of our family. If the Hollander grows rich, he improves the interior arrangements of his house, but without changing his residence ; if his family increase (never beyond a certain number), the children are crowded together, and leave their home while young to seek their fortune elsewhere — in Java or the Indies — but the idea of the removal of the household would never occur to them. There are no apartments to let at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or the other large towns, and a house is never rebuilt till it falls down . 1 The system of tracing out new streets by expropriation is entirely unknown. The plan of building detached houses inhabited by a single family has not yet been adopted by us, and it is probable that it will be long before we imitate it. The excessive value of land in large towns is doubtless one of the reasons of this, but not the only motive ; since in London, where land is as expensive as at Paris, each person has his own house. The true cause of this habit depends upon our natural disposition and our origin. We are of Latin race, and we like to make a show. Everything which is brilliant and splendid pleases and attracts us. We are fond of beautiful stuffs, of bright colours, of palaces, and all that can throw an illusion over our life and the social position we occupy. .We should never be contented to inhabit a house built of bricks, mean in appearance, with contracted windows, low doors, and narrow passages and staircases. We require large vestibules, a hall with a wide porte-cochcre, a grand staircase, an orna- mental facade, and all those external signs which would give a stranger an idea of our fortune and position in the world. We can only satisfy desires of this kind at great expense, and a private individual cannot procure the enjoyment of 1 They have, however, lately endeavoured to build, in Amsterdam, a quarter where new-comers may be able to take refuge. 134 HOLLAND . them from his own resources ; therefore several unite their funds and inhabit a large house, with such conditions of out- ward appearance as please them best, the expenses of which are less since they are divided among a greater number . 1 A private house includes in France not only the expense of the first establishment, the price of the land and of construc- tion, but the additional outlay for decoration, repairs, servants, porter, gardener, and other expenditure of the same kind ; which, as we have seen, the economical Dutchman is singularly able either to restrain within due bounds, or to avoid alto- gether. We will not here discuss the question whether we are right or wrong— whether we are the madmen, and the Dutch are wise. We merely state facts, show the conditions under which we live, the details of our social life which distinguish us from the Hollanders ; and we will conclude by saying that the Dutch houses, so well adapted to their inhabitants, would be as little appreciated by us, as our spacious habitations, in which several families live side by side, would be suited to their tastes. 1 It is understood that we here speak of only the middle ranks both in France and Holland. The higher or lower classes are not affected by these con- siderations. GERM A N Y. HANOVER. HAMBURG. THE DUCHIES. FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. THE COUNTRY, THE JOURNEY, AND THE TRAVELLERS. It was with a heart-rending feeling that we approached the frontiers of Germany. We thought with sadness of all the harm that had been done to us by those who had come from that country. The image of our disasters, of the terrible misfortunes of which we had been victims, recurred to our mind, with the remembrance of all the painful details and the mournful scenes which had accompanied them ; but an interest which can easily be understood urged us onward. We wished to see in their homes, to study in their own country, those Germans who know us so well, and whom we know so im- perfectly and so little. We had already visited Germany, but before 1870; and since that time both the people and the country appeared to us in a new light and under another aspect. In order thoroughly to attain our end, we ought perhaps to have gone to Prussia ; but our courage had failed us, and we had, on the contrary, chosen for the scene of our new journey those provinces of this great empire which were the least Prussian, and had been the most recently annexed. At Oldenzaal, the Dutch custom-house officers, dressed in white and red, bade us adieu. Those who received us at Bentheim had the rough speech and the appearance of soldiers. The railway-station is fortified ; the employes wear 138 GERMANY. the military costume ; they are armed, and you would imagine that you were entering a fortress. Germany, from the very first, appeared to us under that aspect which is the basis of its character — that of military government carried to the last extreme ; society, as a whole, organised like an immense regi- ment, in which each member, from the highest to the lowest, is but a number. Custom-house officials do not in any country assume attractive forms, but nowhere are they so disagreeable as in Germany. Rude and imperious, they thrust everywhere their villanously dirty hands, indulging occasionally in coarse jests, repeated with the accompaniment of rude shouts of laughter. They take an immense time in performing their duties, and confiscate every doubtful article with a zeal that reminds one of the former custom-house officers of the Italian principalities. Rut everything comes to an end in this lower world, even a visit from German officials; and at last they allowed us to return to our carriage and continue our journey. The railway from Rheine to Minden — a point where it joins the line from Hanover to Cologne — is a new route, still but little known, and which appears picturesque to a traveller arriving from Holland. He sees cultivated land, high hills covered with woods, cottages painted with cobalt blue or vermilion, carts passing with the last loads of the year’s harvest ; all around are numbers of young men and girls, strong, vigorous, and well-proportioned. Near Osnabruck, the centre of important iron mines, we saw an immense assemblage of workmen — a sort of meeting preparatory to a strike. In the country, at the entrance of the towns, and at the gates of the stations, are large direction-posts covered with notices, showing the name of the province, that of the commune, the number of the regiment, of the battalion, and of the landwehr company, of which the adjoining country forms a part. This is one of the elements of the district organisation which renders it so easy to concentrate rapidly- mobilised troops, since each soldier belonging to them knows beforehand the place of meeting. At the more important FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. 139 stations — that is to say, almost every hour — there is a long stoppage. The train is emptied, the travellers rush out into the refreshment-rooms, take by storm mountains of rolls filled with ham or cheese, which they wash down with large glasses of ale drunk off at a draught, and then return supplied with sufficient provisions to last until they reach the next station. The passengers are unoccupied during the journey. They <|o not read, converse but little, and hum occasionally some patriotic airs. Their only amusement, when they cease to eat, is to smoke enormous pipes. Sometimes they smoke at the same time a cigar and a pipe, taking alternate whiffs at each. Contrary to what takes place among us, who have a smoking compartment, they have one for those who do not smoke. The men appear rough, brusque, unpolished. They thrust aside without pity the women and children who come in their way, in order to get first into the carriages and secure the best places. The jokes which pass among them if they are successful, and the gestures by which they are accom- panied, are rude and foolish ; but these excite loud and boisterous laughter, the repetition of which is annoying and fatiguing. Happily the carriages are comfortable, and each compartment is, as a rule, far from full. There are four classes ; the first exactly resembles our coupes. As to the fourth, it is no better than our cattle-vans. The seats in the second-class carriages, placed opposite to each other, can be drawn nearer at night, and form an excellent bed. The express trains usually have carriages of all four classes. The station at Minden looks like a veritable fortress, with an external rampart protected by forts. The railway here enters the valley of the Weser — a very strong line, and well defended. All the railway-stations have the appearance of fortifications (fig. 88). They are built of brick, with watch- towers, machicolations, and loop-holes. One would imagine them to be great playthings, if the Germans were fond of play. It is most reasonable to suppose that our prudent 140 GERMANY. neighbours have desired to provide against the possibility of an attack in the north-west, and to arrange that in case of defeat they might be able to fall back and re-form under the shelter of a second line resting on the sea, and extending along the course of the Weser. The views and landscapes which succeed each other are varied and interesting ; but they are wanting in animation and cheerfulness, in that joyful festival air which gives such a charm to the countries of the South, where you constantly hear the shouts and lively songs in which the people of France, Spain, and Italy take such delight. The buildings, which lie on each side of the road, bear no resemblance to those which we have hitherto seen. Their form and arrangement are infinitely varied ; the exteriors FROM UTRECHT TO HANOVER. 141 differ greatly, and the picturesque is developed freely on the fagades. The materials employed are brick and the white stone of the country. These bricks are used in every possible combination. They have also special forms of them, which are adapted for use in a manner unknown among ourselves, and which produce unusual forms of great originality. Their colours are as varied as their shape. Sometimes the angle of a brick is removed ; several bricks, thus broken, being placed by the side of each other, produce an effect like the teeth of a saw. Four bricks, with the angles thus taken off, joined together, leave a small dark opening which throws the courses into relief. Occasionally, bricks alternately red and white are laid edgeways, so as to show the narrowest face, and are surmounted by black bricks cut to an angle of 45 0 , presenting the appearance of a kind of arcade, &c. The joints of bricks are also often filled with a cement, the colour of which con- trasts with them, and forms a fresh design. The sills of the windows, the chimney-pots, and the spaces above the doors, being carefully studied and more richly decorated than the rest of the building, present salient points which attract attention. All the buildings, whether great or small, are formed on the model of French architecture of the Middle Ages, adapted to modern requirements with a remarkable skill and a care which are the result of long and patient study. We do not move for a moment from the window of our carriage, being anxious to lose nothing of what is passing before our eyes. As we approach Hanover, where the Gothic style has so remarkably flourished during our own times, we begin to believe that the marvels that have been promised to us will not prove illusory, and will not prepare for us, as is usually the case under similar circumstances, a bitter deception. We reach the station. The public crowd on the plat- form, for they have free access to receive the friends who are arriving, and to bid adieu to those who are going. The wait- ing-rooms of all classes have refreshment- rooms, which you can enter or quit as you please. There are long sofas by the 142 GERMANY. side of the walls, with tables before them, on which to place parcels — advantages reserved in our equal republic for the passengers of the first class only. The offices are open to the platform ; immense maps cover the walls. The foreigner, if he finds any difficulty in making himself understood, can point out the place whither he wishes to go. By looking at these maps during the long hours he has to wait, even an ignorant man would at last receive into his mind certain configurations, certain traces which are thus unconsciously imprinted on his memory, and which may recur to his recol- lection at a time when he may need them. Announcements in English, French, and German, show the traveller the direc- tion in which the trains pass. While he has to watch over his own personal safety, it is not easy for him to ascertain which way he should go, while trains passing in different directions are crossing each other. Happily an attendant came to our assistance, and almost immediately we found our way into the city. The impression made by our first walk through the streets of Hanover is still present to our mind. Night was coming on, and the large buildings and houses on each side of the wide streets through which we passed assumed a fantastic aspect, which carried us back to another epoch, and made us dream of other ages ; so that the morrow, which was to transform the illusion into reality, seemed very slow in coming. HANOVER. M3 HANOVER. I. GENERAL APPEARANCE — NEW STREETS— THE OLD TOWN— THE RATHAUS — THE MARKT-KIRCHE — THE RESIDENZ-SCHLOSS— THE OPERA-HOUSE — THE GYMNASIUM — THE SYNAGOGUE— THE SCHOOLS. There is no European city which has been remodelled during the present era, according to a decided and well- determined style of architecture, and in which the public buildings stand in due relation to the private dwellings, where we do not find Gothic churches by the side of Grecian palaces, placed in the midst of houses of the Renaissance. Munich contains, in the works carried on by King Louis, only copies of buildings of every age, of all countries, and every style of architecture, without any connection between them ; it is a museum of copies. St. Petersburg, Vienna, Geneva, and many other towns, have lately done nothing but repro- duce Parisian buildings, which are not very remarkable for their homogeneity, or the expression of a unique idea, or a dominant principle. Hanover, for some reason which we can neither ascertain nor understand,, has given birth to a school of learned archi- tects who have pursued their studies at home and abroad, more especially in France, as we may say without an affecta- tion of false modesty. The works of this school are already numerous and important. We can recognise and follow step by step, in the modern structures in Hanover, the manner in which they first felt their way, the progress attained by slow degrees, and their influence in the former kingdom of 144 GERMANY. Hanover, afterwards extended to many cities in the German empire. The first step in these attempts was the study of the old buildings — types that remained of the architecture of a former age and of another country, transplanted to this foreign soil. This architecture, which, properly speaking, does not belong to Germany, was inspired by Rhenish buildings, and 'the examples of our old French architecture of the Middle Ages. The Germans, who have schools of literature and music of their own, have none of painting or of architecture. They have no national architecture ; and we see this great German race borrowing from the Latins, the Slaves, and the Saxons, who are on their frontiers, the form and construction which are to be seen in their private and public edifices. For this reason we cannot discover in Germany a gradual development of artistic facts, a relation between the various buildings, or that regular gradation which they display every- where else. The transitions are sudden ; or, rather, there is no transition between the various periods and the different styles. They received the Gothic in its completeness, they applied it without effort or study ; all at once, without passing through our Renaissance, they advanced from Gothic to Rococo, and what Rococo it is ! When we built Versailles, they constructed their palaces at Berlin and Vienna. They have never origi- nated anything, and have always copied ; but we cannot but acknowledge one merit which they possess — that they have known well how to choose their models. The same thing which the Germans did in the Middle Ages, and at the period of the Renaissance, they know how to do in the nineteenth century, After having taken as their examples the Roman and Gothic buildings of the Rhine and the Ile-de-France; after having endeavoured, without any result, to comprehend our Renaissance, and having transformed it in a manner so well known ; the Germans have, at the present day, entered on the path which archaeological studies and labours had begun to open in France thirty years ago ; and since then they have made such rapid advances in the HANOVER. H5 career they had traced out for themselves, that sometimes, as at Hanover, they have excelled us. We knew what to expect at Hanover. Drawings, photo- graphs, descriptions, had prepared us beforehand to see Gothic architecture 1 valued there more than among ourselves ; but our expectations were exceeded, and, a thing which seldom occurs, we found works better planned and more numerous than we anticipated. The new city is intersected by magnificent avenues, the principal of which, Schiller-strasse, George-strasse, and Eisenbahn-strasse, are nearly 100 feet in width. These roads are, in their whole extent, bordered by modern buildings, almost alw r ays in the most original and varied style. Not one of these houses resembles the adjoining one ; each has its own peculiar form, its distinctive aspect. The proportions are not always agreeable ; the details show somewhat of pre- tension and research, but the entire effect is pleasing ; it excites and retains the attention. We lingered long over our first walk. We were never tired of gazing at the facades of public buildings, or of private houses of brick or of stone, on which were to be seen bold projections formed by loggias, covered balconies, veritable moucharabys surmounted by extraordinary gables. We glance cautiously through an open window, at some drawing-room on the ground-floor, some half-hidden interior, thus preparing in our own mind a plan for a visit and examination which promise such attractive studies, so fertile in information and satisfac- tion of every kind. It is not so easy as may at first be thought to find one’s way in the midst of buildings so varied, but between which there is such a family likeness, that some time is required to arrange and classify them thoroughly. Nevertheless, we were not long in conquering this difficulty. A little observation alone sufficed, and it soon became easy to ascertain our bearings. 1 We employ the word Gothic to describe the architecture derived from the recollections of the Middle Ages in France, because we have no other which we can use. L 46 GERMANY. We soon begin to make certain classifications and remarks, the result of which serves to show how much care and study have been devoted by the authorities of Hanover to the task of constructing the new quarters of the city. Nothing has been left to caprice or chance ; and yet it is easy to see that the greatest liberty of action has been allowed to the skill and the individual tastes of the architects to whom was entrusted the duty of carrying out the plan. One of the most important questions to be solved in a new city, when once the general outline is adopted and the plan laid down , 1 is the study of the angles formed by the meeting of two streets. In certain towns, as at Turin, for example, which is the perfect image of a draught-board, no particular arrangement is necessary. In Paris, we see the houses at important angles, such as those which are at two cross-roads, distinguished from the rest by a special combina- tion. Unfortunately, all the houses constructed under these conditions resemble each other so strongly, that it is not always easy to recognise them a second time. At Hanover, the houses at the corners of a cross-road, or those fronting a square, are treated differently, according to the form of the site on which they are built, and the effect of perspective which they are intended to produce. When the disposition of the public road leaves a large vacant space before the building, the fagade of such a house is treated otherwise than if it were built in a narrow road ; and as, in spite of the width of the streets, the buildings which form them are relatively low, the system of ventilation is excellent. On a public promenade, or before a square, the look-out is skilfully arranged, so as to allow the inhabitants within the house to enjoy the prospect without. The windows have then a special form : they are wider and descend lower, and bay- windows are thrown out to enable persons to see what passes on every side. 1 In order to discuss the plan of Hanover, it would be necessary to have a knowledge of the local topography, which we do not possess, and we must there- fore consider this plan a good one until the contrary is proved. HANOVER. 147 A few sketches will illustrate what we have already said, and what is to follow. Fig. 89 represents the front of a house, by Mons. Oppler, architect, built at the corner of two streets, forming an acute angle with each other ; the angular point is occupied by a bay-window of picturesque appearance ; the two retreating -* ~ " ^ ^ „ , . <, \ Fig. 89. — A Corner-house in Hanover. fronts are much varied in their outlines, with very decided projections ; their principal lines being also broken up by buttresses and gables, as well as by many recessed and pro- minent portions, the whole, from a front view, would have a heavy appearance, but seen sideways it is foreshortened, and 1 48 GERMANY. a lighter effect is produced by the contrast of light and shade which soften down the details. At an obtuse angle, on the contrary, as in fig. 90, the fagades are thrown forward, and may be taken in at a single glance ; there would be, in such a case, some fear of the monotony resulting from a long line of similar openings ; in order to obviate this inconvenience, the fagade is unequally Fig. 90. — House in Hanover. divided, and the principal part projects beyond the wings. The lower lines extend regularly along the building, passing over the projecting portions, and thus producing a good effect ; while in the wings there are the divisions with their projections. The stories vary in height, according to their importance and the part which they are intended to play; and in the thickness of the walls there are recessed balconies, HANOVER. 149 surmounted by large arches, which extend over the windows on two floors. The whole is very subdued, and does not aim at effect so much as the preceding example, where the attention is arrested by each separate point ; while here, on Fig. 91. — View of a House in a Square. the contrary, the mass of the work was of sufficient im- portance to make it necessary to divide it, so as to allow the spectator easily to take in the whole effect from one extremity to the other, and, by means of breaks and intervals GERMANY. 150 skilfully interposed, to diminish the extent on which the eye would have to rest. A building erected in a square (fig. 91), by Mons. Oppler, the architect, resembles in many respects the preceding structure ; but with this difference, that the principal projec- tion is more prominent, and assumes the proportions of an important decoration. The wings are relatively sacrificed to it, and throw into relief the middle of the building, which is treated in a more elaborate style, and differs from the rest both in form and the nature of materials. It is evident that a square, surrounded by buildings with such outlines as these, looks brighter and more cheerful than if the houses were uniform in appearance and height. It may indeed be replied, that the latter plan — adopted, for example, in our Place Vendome and Place Royale, &c. — gives to them, according to academic conventionalities, a grander and more monumental aspect. When a house is to be erected at a corner formed by the intersection of two or more cross-streets of secondary importance, the plan adopted is less rich, but the result ob- tained is always original, picturesque, and remarkably varied. We see that the architect has endeavoured to produce a good effect with regard to perspective, and an outline which is striking at a distance. Figs. 92 and 93 represent a small corner-house : it is distinguishable at a distance, and cannot be confounded with the neighbouring houses ; the angle, being cut off, is super- seded by a plane surface supported by a small column, rising to the level of the ceiling of the first-floor, and sustaining the balconies of the upper stories ; and the whole arrangement carries out an ingenious idea, the conception of which is analogous with those to which we have already alluded, the principal aim being to attract attention to one special point, throwing into the back-ground the other portions of the frontage, which are to some extent sacrificed. These examples are only intended by us to explain the principal combinations adopted in the facades of Hanover. HANOVER. 5i As to the use which the builder has made of the materials Fig. 92. — Corner-house in Hanover. 152 GERMANY. employed, and the arrangement of the ground-plan, these are questions which will occur hereafter, when we come to examine the interior of these dwelling-houses. We will merely remark here that the houses to which we have just alluded are built, some entirely of bricks, and others of white stone and brick ; that these bricks are of various colours, yellow, red, or black ; that their form varies, as we have already shown ; and that, according to the manner in which they are employed, they are well adapted to imbricated work of every kind, thus giving to the facades an appearance entirely new to us. We also feel assured that the inhabitants must find in the interior of their dwellings an enjoyment as great as the exterior produces on the passer-by. We can easily imagine what a charm must be added to an apartment by a bay-window filled with flowers, well exposed to the sun, with an extensive view, which diffuses animation and cheer- fulness over the whole room. We may also remark that these are not peculiarly luxu- rious houses or sumptuous mansions, but lodging-houses, intended to be used by several lodgers ; the ground-floor con- taining shops, and the upper stories the ordinary apartments. The new streets of Hanover are usually quiet, and the crowd is not great. They possess an importance not in keeping with the rest of the city ; they seem to have been built on too grand a scale. It is true that when Ernest Augustus under- took the embellishment and enlargement of the city, Hanover was the capital of the kingdom, the seat of government, and the residence of the Court, and that no one could foresee that some day Prussia, taking possession of this little State, would constitute it a province of the German Empire. HANOVER. 153 Hanover is an ancient city ; it possessed considerable importance even in the twelfth century. In 1553 it accepted Fig. 94. — House with ancient Gables in a Street in Hanover. the Reformation, and increased rapidly after the year 1763, when George III. caused the surrounding fortifications to be demolished. In 1801 the kingdom lost its autonomy, be- 154 GERMANY. came first a Prussian province, then a French department, and was reconstituted in 1817, to become once more a German province in 1866. The old city has preserved the characteristics of the Middle Ages. The streets are dull, narrow, dark, and in many places there are still wooden houses with gigantic gables, the height of which extends to five stories. These houses (fig. 94) are of various periods ; some as old as the fourteenth or even the thirteenth century. These are the most ancient : the different stories project one over the other, supported by small wooden corbels ; the intervals be- tween the cross-beams are filled in with earth or brick. Other houses, more numerous, date only from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They show many details of the archi- tecture of the Netherlands united with those of the style called by the Germans the German renaissance , and which is, in fact, only a species of rococo, ugly in form and disagreeable in its proportions. This kind of architecture has for its distinctive characteristic swollen balustrades and columns, pinnacles wider at the top than at the base, and also (but this is an advantage) projecting loggias, a kind of bay-window extending down several stories, a modified form of which we have already found and noticed in the modern buildings of this city. The Germans are eminently a conservative people ; this is one of the fundamental qualities of their character. No European nation — for the Dutch are decidedly of German origin — has taken more care to preserve the public buildings and works of art which it possesses. We do not meet in Ger- many with those zealous authorities who demolish an edifice in order to collect portions of it in a museum. On the con- trary, the council of a town or commune will, on all occasions, take every precaution most lovingly to protect the ruins which they possess, and adorn them so as to render them more pleasing, restoring them as far as possible, and always pre- serving them. The smallest public building is brought under our notice, the most modest gallery of paintings exhibited so HANOVER. 155 as to attract attention and to acquire celebrity. If there is any remarkable work of art in an unimportant town, public notice is given of it, and as soon as the traveller leaves his railway carriage he is made aware of what there is to excite his curiosity, and by what means it may be gratified. We ought, indeed, in some cases, to distrust the enthusiasm which Fig. 95. — The Rathaiis, Hanover. has its source in so good a motive, but which too often ends in deception. Disappointments of this kind await ^he traveller who expects to find in the Rathaiis or the Markt-Kirche, at Hanover, buildings worthy of his attention. The Rathaiis (town-hall), fig. 95, is a large building de- 156 GERMANY. tached on three sides, of grotesque appearance, and dwarfed by an enormous roof. The first-floor is irregularly pierced by windows of various dimensions ; the upper cornice is no longer in its original form ; dormer windows, of late con- struction, occupy the places of gables like those in the prin- cipal front, and change the original proportions of the roof. The gables at the end of the building, which are very pointed, are composed of five rows of square brick pillars, which present to the view, not one of their flat sides, but an angle ; the intervals are filled with masonry work in very thin bricks, so as to allow the angles of the pillars to project boldly from the front ; between each of these pillars there is a narrow opening. This remarkable feature, almost entirely detached from the mass of the building, gives a striking but not very attractive appearance to the whole. On the ground-floor, and covering the outside steps, there is a porch with a square balcony, built at a much later period than that of the rest of the Rathaiis, in the architectural style of that German renais- sance of which we have so often spoken. This does not produce a pleasing effect, either in its entirety or its details. In the whole of this building the proportions are very defective. The openings and the solid parts are badlyarranged ; the projections are too pronounced, the outline is therefore hard and exaggerated, and our French taste does not readily accept the excessive means employed under the grey sky of the North to produce the effect which the warm light of the southern sun gives so readily elsewhere. As to details, they are but few ; those which we find are reminiscences of other models, and often badly placed. Near the Rathaiis stands a modern building which serves as a butchers’ market, the details of which are somewhat interesting, since they evince care in the plan on which it has been erected. The hooks on which the animals are hung, the stalls of the dealers, the beams of the wooden ceiling, the decoration of the walls, have not the usual commonplace forms and colours ; but the whole plan has been well traced and reasoned out, and all is truly Gothic. HANOVER. *57 Cn the market square stands the church of St. George, the only ancient ecclesiastical edifice in Hanover which is interesting (figs. 96 and 97), and in which we find the union of the two distinctive characters of the churches of the Middle Ages in Westphalia, the vaults of the side aisles raised to the same height as that of the nave, and the columns with- out sculptured capitals. The interior contains painted glass windows of Middle Age workmanship, which, although they do not equal those of our fine French cathedrals, are, in some parts, admirable both in colour and design. They have been recently restored with much care and good taste. These Germans can neither destroy nor create, but still they know how to preserve most admirably ; while to demolish, or to replace an old thing by a new one, is opposed to their nature. There was, in a corner of this church, a plumber occupied in repairing the narrow leads of a glass window which had just be^n taken down. He proceeded leisurely with his work, making his repairs with great care, measuring slowly on a rule pieces of lead an inch and a half in length ; and he took delight in this monotonous and tedious occupation. A French work- 10 Fig. 96. — Ground-plan of St. George’s Church, Hanove; 158 GERMANY. man would soon have cast aside all these morsels ; his master would have preferred that he should use ‘ new stuff ; ’ but the Germans are patient and thrifty ; they bear, without any inconvenience, the monotonous labour imposed upon them. Being economical, they never go to any useless expense. It never comes into their minds to employ a new thing when the old one can be utilised . 1 1 The Germans carry the principles of conservatism to such an extent, that they have not yet removed from the uniform of their soldiers the three buttons HANOVER . 159 A guard-house with Doric columns, which reminds us of the old barriers in Paris, indicates from a distance the Residens-Schloss (the royal residence). We passed before a line of soldiers. In a corner there was a little, low, and narrow door, and, after many formalities required by a dis- obliging porter, we were left to the care of a guide, who went with us across a dismal and solitary court. There was no noise, no other movement than that of the monotonous and regular steps of the sentinels ; one would think that it was a prison rather than a palace. The pavements are damp, and grass grows among the chinks ; it seems as if life and animation had disappeared for ever from the place. Its masters are gone, and the latest resident, blind and in exile, is spending his life with his daughter sadly and far from his country. Our guide was able to read our name and that of our country inscribed in the register. After having led us through the porch, he began his description in French, very good French ; and, noticing our astonished looks, he said, with an expression that cannot be described, ‘ I am from Metz.’ There was a profound sadness in his voice, and this short phrase showed in its utterance such great grief — it was so eloquent in its brevity — that we dared not ask him, though we could easily guess, what were the circumstances which had thus driven him from his country. We held out our hands, and wrung his in silence. What a sad similarity between the destinies of the King and this simple citizen, two beings placed at so great a distance from each other in the social scale, and on whom the same hand had inflicted the same misfortune ! The one driven from France, deprived of his cottage, finds an asylum in Flanover ; the other, deposed from his kingdom, driven from Hanover, takes refuge in France. The royal palace is a princely residence, furnished luxu- riously. The facades have no distinguishing characters, but which Frederick the Great caused to be sewn on the sleeves of his grenadiers, to prevent their making use of them instead of pocket-handkerchiefs. i6o GERMANY. we were struck with the interior ; first with the floor, and then with the decoration of one of the apartments, and this neither the largest nor the most elegant. The floors, constructed of wood of various kinds, are covered with inlaid work, forming arabesques and geometrical designs, sometimes even representing bunches of flowers or human figures. This marqueterie, executed with as much care as in minute articles of Parisian workmanship, shows a finish and perfection not easily attained, both as regards composition and execution. We must, however, add, that in some parts the more difficult scroll patterns are traced by means of coloured cement let into the wood, thus allowing the artist to obtain effects more agreeable and more uniform than those that could be produced by inlaid wood alone ; but these artifices are too rare to diminish the merit of the whole work. The room, the decoration of which struck us most, is of moderate dimensions, and we have forgotten its precise destination. The walls are painted with trellis-work, between the irregular lozenges of which are interlaced vine-branches and flowers ; the ground is of a milky-white tint, and through the intersections pass garlands of flowers and leaves ; the tones of colour are but slightly varied — red, yellow, green, blue, all clear and fresh. The drawing is exquisite, and with a truly astonishing richness of imagination on the part of the artist, notwithstanding so great a number of objects of the same nature and the same kind, not one resembles another ; each has its special form by which it is distinguished — its physi- ognomy, if we may so call it. These paintings have not the usual error of ordinary decorations in imitating conventional lights and shadows — a deception which is modified by the time of day, and the effect of which is not the same in the day-time as by candle-light. The subjects are painted without the help of light and shade, and the effect is produced only by the contour of the forms and the purity of design. The royal palace contains several other apartments remark- able for many reasons, but which unfortunately resemble those of all possible palaces. One of these, the Silber Rammer , HANOVER. 1 6 1 formerly contained about twenty tons weight of silver plate, which may now perhaps be seen at Berlin. Another, a kind of long gallery, in imitation of the ‘ Galerie des Glaces ’ at Versailles, looks out on the valley of the Leine, and gives a distant prospect of smiling meadows, a sweet and animated landscape, varied with copses on the hills, at the foot of which are situated the dwellings of Montbrillant and Herren- hausen. In this room there are several pictures remarkable for many reasons, and among others the portrait of Duke George Louis, before which the courtiers used to bow every Sunday when this prince had quitted Hanover in 1714 to occupy the throne of England under the title of George I. As we returned into the new town, we perceived at the end of a large square, ornamented with plantations of trees, a vast edifice, which at first sight seemed larger than it really is. This is the new opera-house, opened in 1854. We know not why this building, a specimen of Italian architecture, has been erected in the midst of this new Gothic city, and we were not able to ascertain the reason ; but the opera-house at Hanover, such as it is, deserves a visit (figs. 98 and 99). The carriage entrance is a covered space under a porch wide enough to allow two carriages to pass each other without inconvenience ; visitors on foot enter by two side doors, which are reserved for them, and they thus escape any danger from the horses or the wheels ; afterwards those who come either on foot or in carriages meet in the vestibule in front of the ticket-office. To the right and left, two winding staircases, the steps of which are more than six feet wide, lead to the floor containing the first tier of boxes; secondary staircases lead to the second, third, and fourth tiers. Each tier contains twenty-two boxes, and, besides, there are the stage boxes, and the grand royal box, which, as in the Italian theatres, occupies the centre of the house and the height of two tiers. The King had also a private stage box allotted to him ; he reached it by a special staircase leading from an inner courtyard, where the escort and the carriages M 62 GERMANY. were stationed. The ‘foyer’ is on the first floor. It opens on a terrace, which, during summer evenings, forms an agree- able promenade for the spectators. To this foyer is attached an immense refreshment-stall — an indispensable accessory to all places of public resort in Germany. The interior of a theatre, seen by daylight, and between Fig. 98. — The Opera-house, Hanover. the hours of representation or rehearsal, has always a fan- tastic, strange, disquieting look. The body of the house, plunged in silence and obscurity, seems sombre, dark, and frightful ; there is nothing there but emptiness and solitude. A human figure wandering in the midst of this darkness reminds one of a ghost. The stage, only lighted by a few attic windows in the roof, which give but a pale and dull HANOVER. 163 light, assumes grotesque, incomprehensible proportions ; the decorations, seen out of the proper point of view, show strange outlines without any intelligible signification ; the side wings, brought close to each other against all the rules of perspective, look like a shapeless, incongruous, and falsely- coloured assemblage of palaces, churches, ruins, houses, gardens, and forests. The mind cannot take in the meaning of this mass of objects: the ropes, pulleys, ladders, the ac- cessories and decorations piled up everywhere, heaped to- gether without order or symmetry, or strangely hung one over the other, seem as if in an inextricable confusion, in which it appears as if it would be impossible to find at the time of representation anything necessary for use at the proper moment. Sometimes a sudden noise, without any apparent cause, is heard in the roof ; it resounds, awakening the echoes of the vast space, and makes us shudder involun- tarily. A beam cracks — the acoustic effect gives us an idea that the whole building is about to fall. A cat utters a loud mew, and it seems as if all the fantastic animals which people the cardboard menagerie start at once into life and motion. The imagination is strongly and strangely moved by the scene. We were in this excited state, when suddenly, from the royal box, came a full, youthful, vibrating voice — that of a woman ; an Italian voice, whose accents filled the whole house. She was singing that grand morceau from the first act of the Traviata : Tutta sola perduta in questo deserto. Poor girl ! She had left her bright sunshine, her cheerful and gay fellow-countrymen so easily pleased, for this gloomy and cold sky, these heavy dull people, who come and listen to her as they digest their sauer-kraut. But what a pleasure it was to us to hear instead of rude German accents the soft and winning intonations of the sweet language of Italy ! Then silence returned, more entire and deep than before. This song had in a moment transported us far away, calling up such a crowd of recollections as the slightest incident is 1 64 GERMANY. able sometimes to evoke, and over which perhaps it is well not to linger. Let us return to our visit to the opera-house. Besides the theatre, properly so called, there is a concert-room con- taining 430 square yards. The principal entrance is through the foyer. Being lighted by windows on both sides, this hall serves also for meetings in the day-time. The opposite wing contains the rehearsal-room, three rooms for the prac^ tice of the ballet-corps, and of the musicians and dramatic artists, with rooms open to the air in order to isolate them from the rest of the building and to avoid noise ; and then, at the back of the stage, the various offices and accessory rooms, the wardrobe, and the dressing and retiring-rooms for the actors. This building, as we have said, is entirely detached, and HANOVER. 65 placed at the highest part of a large open space. This position gives it importance, and it appears higher and more elegant than it really is. Its fagades (fig. 98) have, on the whole, a grand appearance. The details are wanting in originality, but are very simple and Fig. 100. — The Gymnasium, Hanover. kept under due restraint. The proportion of the various stories, and their dimensions when compared with the main body of the building, as seen from without, are too uniform. There is also another more serious defect. This building — the idea of which has been derived from an architectural style be- longing to another country, under a climate less rigorous GERMANY. 1 66 than that of the north — has the great disadvantage of having roofs formed into terraces — a deplorable condition in a damp country under a dull and cold sky ; and, although it is only twenty years old, it already shows traces of deterioration, which will only be aggravated by time. t— l '0 -4 5 1ft "ho m Fig. ioi. — G round-plan of Gymnasium at Hanover. 1. Hall. 2. Men's dressing-room. 3. Washing- room. 4. Room for apparatus. 5. Office. 6. Attendants’ rooms. 7. Gymnasium. We noticed on our way home a curious structure, which presents a striking contrast to the opera-house. This is the Gymnasium, built by Messrs. Schulz and Havers, architects. HANOVER. 6 7 The principal portion of the building fronts the public road (fig. ioo) ; it includes one story above the ground-floor, which, being dwarfed and low, gives the upper part greater importance. The ornamental portion, placed over the entrance-door, is somewhat complicated, but is ingeniously arranged. There are many details in which the German taste has endeavoured to represent, after its manner, Gothic ideas. The effect produced is original, since it shows so plainly its origin and the transition from the heavy, harsh forms of Teutonic Gothic to the new proportions ; not, indeed, invented by the Germans, but so well adapted and applied I. Gymnasium for women. | 2. Women’s dressing-room. by them. There is, however, a redundancy of ornament and a want of simplicity in the whole conception ; thus the prin- cipal projection does not correspond well with the side portions, so that instead of a homogeneous whole we have two distinct things having no relation to each other. The ground-plan (fig. 101) is anything but academical. In the principal building we find on the ground -floor a vestibule, a kind of English hall, enclosing on the left the staircase, the dressing and washing-rooms for men ; on the right the office and the apartments for the attendant, with a sitting- room for the professors. On the first-floor (fig. 102) there is a separate gymnasium for the exercises of women i68 GERMANY. and sick persons under special treatment, and opposite to this is the women’s dressing-room. One of the apartments also serves as a dancing-room. In the building at the back of the first-floor is placed the large hall for gymnastic exercises (io 6 feet in length, by 72 in breadth). It is divided into eight compartments, each about 13 feet wide, with the exception of the last two, which are only about 6 feet 6 inches, and on which rests a gallery, approached by a staircase from the ground-floor. This hall is covered by a unique roof, the timber-work of which is as curious as we have ever seen (%• 103). From isolated stone pillars, only 9 feet 10 inches high, spring arches which separate the nave from the side aisles. These very narrow side portions, being only 4 feet 3 inches in breadth, have a cylindrical vault turned over them, while a lower arch connects the isolated pillar with the outside wall which is only about 1 foot 8 inches in thickness, but is sup HANOVER. 169 ported by buttresses. The construction, up to this point, is precisely similar to that adopted in certain French churches of the Middle Ages ; for instance, La Souterraine, in the de- partment of Creuse. But, beyond the nave, the resemblance between these buildings disappears ; for, instead of a stone roof like that which covers the French building, an uncovered timber roof, of a special construction, has been erected over the German edifice. The top of the pillars is about 9 feet 10 inches above the ground, as we have already said, while the height of the ridge- piece is 54 feet, and the distance of the opposite pillars from each other is 59 feet. The erection of a timber roof of these dimensions, without any intermediate support, presented great difficulties, which the Hanoverian architects have surmounted in a most intelligent manner. On the top of the walls they have placed a hammer-beam, supported by a brace, which forms a right-angled triangle with the wall and the under part of the beam. Above this hammer-beam the same triangle is repeated by a vertical bearer supporting the principal rafter ; the brace of the lower triangle, prolonged so as to meet the king-post, forms with the principal rafter a system which the triangles, firmly braced together, render rigid and unyielding Above the lower hammer-beam a boarded vault has been constructed on an arch occupying the space between the principal and secondary rafters, so as to render the interior of the building less affected by cold and heat. This vault, the upper part of which is, unfortunately, rather dark, serves, by its form and importance, as an ornament to this large hall. As to the thrust exerted on the walls by the timber-work and the very heavy roof which it supports, it is perfectly resisted by the pillars connected with the walls and the counterforts, the construction of which we have before explained. The masonry is in stone and brick, the wood-work in deal ; and neither the vault nor the roof has shown the slightest indications of giving way. It maybe said that it would have been easy, by employing iron, to have attained this end without having to overcome so 170 GERMANY many difficulties. Our answer is, first, that the employment of iron- would have been much more expensive, and also, that it would not have been possible to erect roofs of the size Fig. 104. — Interior of a Church in zFgidien-stadt, Hanover. Fig. 105. — Ground-plan of the same. HANOVER . 171 required, so as to afford the same protection from heat and cold as those which have been adopted ; thus a zinc roof under similar conditions does not avail unless complemented by an inner layer of wood. A glass roof would have been too hot in summer and too cold in winter ; and would, besides, have been obscured by snow at the very time when the light afforded by it would have been most needed. A tiled roof would have required iron supports of enormous dimensions, and consequently very costly ; and, indeed, when we see what results have been attained, we may surely con- cede to the Hanoverian architects the right to build as they think fit, and to prefer the timber, which they have ready to their hands, to iron, which must have been procured at great cost. While we are speaking of buildings departing from ordi- nary rules, we may also mention a church now being erected in Higidien-stadt (figs. 104 and 105). We see there the same isolated pillars, the narrow aisle, forming a kind of internal buttresses which we have already noticed at the gymnasium ; so there is no necessity to allude again to them. We will only call attention to the method adopted for the roof of the nave, and which, consists in long tie-beams, sup- ported by two rows of braces of unequal length, from which annular vaults spring. This combination is ingenious, but the effect is heavy. The dimensions which are necessarily given to the timbers dwarf the lower parts. It is a kind of compromise between some churches in the Netherlands and certain of our modern ones, in which barrel vaults have recently been constructed. Still, while accepting ideas of this nature, it is evidently an advantage, with regard both to the appearance, the construction, and the durability, to sub- stitute, as we have done, stone arches for the wooden tie- beams from which the vaults spring. The most important modern ecclesiastical building in Hanover is the new synagogue, the architect of which is Mons. Oppler. The synagogue was anciently the place where the Jews 172 GERMANY. met to pray, to read and expound the sacred Scriptures. This custom has not been changed ; and the Hebrew worship, after the lapse of three thousand years, requires no modifica- tion of the arrangement according to which the temple of Solomon was built It seems, therefore, at first sight, that the plan of this temple ought to have been adopted for all synagogues in every country; but, though the creed and mode of worship have not been altered, the requirements of different climates are not the same. It was necessary to unite the modern necessities of the West with the conditions required by a religion which originated in the East, and to plan an edifice which by its form, its character, and the system of its construction, is adapted to present circumstances, and, at the same time, in accordance with the traditions which it must recall, and the fundamental principles which it must transmit Synagogues, like all other buildings, vary, therefore, in form as much as in architectural disposition. The ground-plan of the Hanover synagogue (fig. io 6) is conformable to conventional notions. It assumes the form of a rectangle, but the greater width to the right and left of the nave would, unfortunately, recall the idea of the cross, were it not that this transept is so disposed as to present, with the prolongation of the nave and the choir, a vast central division, which, correctly speaking, forms in itself the main portion of the building, divided from the aisles by arches springing from isolated pillars. Before the entrance, which is at the west end, is a porch, to which open the staircases leading to the galleries ; the vaulted roof of this porch is supported by twelve columns, intended to represnt the twelve tribes of Israel. Beyond the nave or holy place , is the sanctuary or holy of holies, placed at the east end. In the central part, a large cupola rises higher than any other part of the building, and symbolises the idea of the unity of God. Near the sanctuary there are two vestries, to the right and left ; and at the entrance are two other rooms. In the large space on the ground-floor are raised seats reserved for men, HANOVER. 173 and on the first-floor those allotted to women. Within the choir are the stalls of the grand rabbi, of the members of 10 j 20 M Fig. 106. —Ground-plan of Synagogue, Hanover. 174 GERMANY. consistory, and of the administrative commission. In front are the pulpit, the seven-branched candlestick, and the tra- ditional lamp ; in the apse, the ark or chest, a souvenir of the ark of the covenant, in which the Jews keep the five books of HANOVER . 1 75 the law of Moses, written by hand on vellum, and rolled up in the ancient manner. We may notice among the architectural details of the interior (fig. 107) the large arches of the nave, which occupy its whole height, from the ground to the roof, without being cut by lower arches intended to support the galleries. These remind one of the ancient churches in Westphalia, in which the aisles were always as high as the nave. The galleries are sustained on pillars and consoles of wrought iron, and seem to be independent of the structure, so that they might be removed without making any other change in the disposition of the building. This is, perhaps, a fault, but, on the other hand, the plan adopted is novel ; it increases the elevation of the vaults, since no combination of details interferes with their height. The cupola is supported on four squinches, formed of retreating arches successively lessening as they recede. The rest of the building is covered with groined vaults with projecting ribs. The whole has a comfortable and rich ap- pearance, which will be still more augmented by the decorative parts, which are far from being finished at the present time. The principal arrangements of the ground-plan and the interior are evident in the facades (fig. 108). We can easily recognise, as we examine them, the large central hall, men- tioned before, surmounted by a cupola, and defined by four projecting pillars. We may remark that the vaults of the nave might, perhaps, be dark at the upper part (for they receive only borrowed light from the windows of the aisles), were it not that, on account of the comparatively little length of the ground-plan, the building will be lighted by the large windows at the extremities of the transept. This synagogue is built of free-stone, as well as bricks, wood, and iron. This is one of the few buildings in Hanover in which we have noticed the employment of iron. Its use has been so well understood, and it has here been employed in forms and combinations so appropriate to its nature and to the part which it plays in the construction, that it is evident that its unfrequent application is not owing to GERMANY. 1 76 Hanoverian architects not knowing how to employ it with effect. It rather depends on the influence of wise economical views which cause timber to be preferred to iron, since the Fig. 108. — Synagogue at Hanover. former is still abundant in the country and comparatively cheap. The gymnasium and the synagogue are two such in- HANOVER. 1 77 teresting buildings that they certainly deserve the detailed descriptions which we have given of them. The architects who planned them have had the merit, rare among our German brethren, of not borrowing and appropriating to themselves the results of the studies of others. These public buildings constitute, each in its kind, works of great personal ability, including, as we see, many diverse elements ; but these reminiscences are wisely co-ordinated, and placed in perfect agreement with each other, and produce, on the whole, a combination much to be admired. We enter a primary school, where we find the playground small, the class-rooms insufficient, the ceilings too low, the children too crowded together, the school furniture unsuitable. One master presides over and teaches more than a hundred scholars at once. The light is not good ; the building, originally a private house, has been transformed into a school, and this transformation has not been judiciously effected. We pay a visit to a second school. This is not so badly arranged and kept as the preceding, but still it is far below what we meet with in the modern schools of France and England. It was very warm there, and the odour produced by the assemblage of so many children was intolerable. We asked the master what means he had at his disposal for ventilating the school- room. It was necessary to repeat the question several times, and then his countenance suddenly lighted up ; he under- stood, and rushing to one of the windows, threw it wide open with a triumphant air. The Polytechnic School is an establishment which nearly corresponds to our large lyceums, or rather to the Rollin and Chaptal colleges in Paris. The class-rooms are small but well ventilated, and the pupils have a respectable appearance. Not being desirous of showing our nationality as Frenchmen, we asked one of the elder lads a question in English. He replied in very good French that they did not learn English, but PTench only, as this language alone is obligatory. He was a boy of about fifteen years of age, and he expressed himself easily and without embarrassment. We doubt N i;8 ■GERMANY. whether many of the pupils of our lycees could make them- selves so well understood in German. The uniform consists of a minute white cap with a wide red band round it. Many of the children wear spectacles ; we might almost say that those who do not are in the minority. Short sight, indeed, is an infirmity which is distressingly on the increase in Germany, and is generally attributed to the defective manner in which the rooms are lighted, and to the insufficient plans adopted for the construction and arrangement of the primary schools. 1 Hanover possesses one of the six military schools of Germany. We shall only notice them in order to show what kind of instruction is given to the fourth division, which includes a knowledge of every document connected with the armies of foreign Governments. These documents, modified every day, keep the students perfectly acquainted with the armaments, the position of the various coips d' cinnee and the strength of each regiment, the places where they are stationed, the names of the officers who command them, the cannon with which they are provided, and the war material in the arsenals of Europe. It was the exact knowledge of all these details which we attributed to the spy system, not being able to explain it otherwise during the war of 1870. The students, during their last year, undergo frequent examinations on these subjects. They are expected, in answer to the questions proposed to them, to give, for instance, the numbers of the regiments forming such or such a corps d'armee in a foreign country, the military stations, the local resources, the importance and the nature of the productions of every commune, the names of the generals of brigade and of division, with the particulars of the service which they have seen. The camps, fortresses, and arsenals are the subjects of similar study and of the same careful investiga- tion. A German officer ought also to know thoroughly the network of railways throughout Europe, the manner in which 1 See ‘Constructions et installation des ecoles primaires,’ par Felix Narjoux, architecte. i vol. in 8vo. Librairie Morel, 13 Rue Bonaparte, Paris. HANOVER . 179 they are worked, the points of bifurcation of the lines, and the quantity of rolling stock belonging to the companies. The bridges over the larger and smaller rivers are indicated on special maps, with an estimate of the weight which they are calculated to bear. The width and depth of rivers and canals are exactly quoted and learned by heart. Nothing is neglected, so that during a campaign there should be no obstacle whatever due to ignorance or irresolution, so as to delay the advance of troops. The pupils, both of primary and secondary schools, engage with eagerness in gymnastic exercises. The importance given to the buildings of the Gymnasium (figs. 100, 10 1, 102, and 103) shows what interest the Germans attach to such games as develop the body and give it the strength neces- sary to maintain a just balance between the physical and mental powers. We have no intention of instituting a thorough com- parison between the secondary schools of France and Ger- many ; but still we will notice the most important points of difference between the two systems. Germany has estab- lished the tutorial system so much in favour in England, by substituting for large boarding-schools, smaller ones for eight or ten pupils, limited establishments kept by professors of colleges. The professors receive these boys into their own families, accompany them to school, hear their lessons, watch over their conduct, and take the place of their absent parents. There are no regular and obligatory hours of study ; the children work whenever they please ; provided that their duties are performed at a given moment, the master re- quires them to give no account of their time. Instead of junior masters, there are monitors chosen by the pupils, and taken from themselves. The classes, instead of lasting two hours each, are only three-quarters of an hour or an hour in duration, and are always separated by a period of recreation. If the higher German studies lose themselves in the mazes of metaphysics, and a sort of poetical dreaminess full of minute details respecting the analysis of the senti- N 2 i8o GERMANY. ments, the secondary teaching for younger lads is, on the contrary, eminently practical ; and young pupils are well grounded in geography, history, mathematics, the natural sciences, singing, drawing, and one or two living languages, taught by means of long conversations between the professors and the pupils. Primary instruction, when the somewhat slow intelligence of a German child is able to follow it, is rather advanced. The pupils have greater knowledge of singing, arithmetic, and geography, than the children of the lower classes in our country. The last observation that we shall make on this subject is, that during several visits paid to Germany, we have always been struck — long before 1870 — with the great number of maps which cover the walls of the railway-stations, taverns, and restaurants ; in fact, of everyplace of public resort. There were among them many maps of P"rance, and we still find them there. They are, we must say, excellent substitutes for the pictures, in such bad taste, unfortunately so much in favour among ourselves and elsewhere. This use of maps appeared to us so advantageous, that when we were requested, soon after one of these visits, to draw up a plan for a school-house, we proposed to paint maps on the walls of the class-rooms and playground. This pro- position was received by the local administration with much laughter at our expense. The same result followed our suggestions in Paris with respect to the construction of work- shops for a large number of men. We then suggested that maps, tools, models for calculation, writing, design, or the usual requirements of the business, should be painted on the walls. ‘ That would distract the attention of my workmen,’ replied the master. HANOVER. 1 8 1 HANOVER. II. THE HOUSES, THEIR FURNITURE, AND THEIR INHABITANTS. Before speaking of the houses of Hanover, let us notice their inhabitants and the general aspect of the city. Though it is still early, the streets wear already an animated appear- ance ; housekeepers are going to market in their red or blue bonnets ; the mistress of the house does not consider it beneath her dignity to go herself to make her purchases, accompanied by servants who, with their arms bare as far as their shoulders, carry in their large baskets an enormous load of provisions of all kinds, and are prodigal of their smiles to the helmeted soldiers whom they pass. Groups of persons are frequently seen. Those who compose them remain indefinitely rooted to the same spot, and yet their conversation does not seem very animating or interesting. Two men meet ; they stop and smoke by the side of each other their long porcelain pipes ; they exchange but few sentences, but are contented with uttering now and then a word which appears to be very significant, for it is sufficient to give fresh Life to the interview and to prolong the time of their stay. There are not many vehicles drawn by horses, but a great number of hand-barrows, in which a single man is able to take a considerable load. Clerks go to their offices with that weary look, that indefinable expression of ennui , which, in every country, is given to their features by the monotonous and regular life that they lead. We see regiments of soldiers drawn up in line ; the men are 182 GERMANY. strong and robust ; their natural powers are developed, their physical force is very great, but there is but little intelligence shown in their eyes or their brows. The discipline appears to be excessive, and is maintained with exemplary severity. If an officer passes, the soldiers stop and salute ; if it is a superior officer, not only the common soldiers, but the officers whom he meets, draw up, salute him, and continue on their way with the regularity and precision of an automaton when the spring which moves it has been touched. At meal times— and they frequently recur — the restaurants are filled immediately the former guests have left. Enormous dishes full of meat, prepared with but little delicacy, are placed before customers who are always hungry and eat greedily, scarcely stopping for a moment to empty large glasses of beer, which they drain at a single draught. Between meals, they frequently take rolls filled with ham, cheese, or cold beef, and wash them down with beer or brandy. The men lay down their pipes only when they are eating, and resume them immediately after they have finished. One may easily understand that their manners have but little refinement and politeness. The time which is not given to business is often passed at the tavern. The women sometimes exchange visits in the afternoon ; these little social meetings are called Mittwochnach m ittageaffeg escllscha f t ! They then partake of slices of bread and butter and cups of cafe an lait ; these slices and cups are of considerable size, and nevertheless the former rapidly disappear, and the latter are frequently refilled. When one of the guests, seated at the door of a tavern, makes a joke, he smiles blandly, his countenance expands with simple and dull enjoyment ; the jest passes from one table to another ; each one repeats it to his neighbour, even repeats it to himself that he may thoroughly understand it ; at last they begin to laugh, and their mirth increases in intensity, so that there is no end of it ; a quarter of an hour afterwards it still continues. They dwell upon a single word or a gesture which they think worthy of attention, and ponder it in their minds, heavily engrossed by it. In HANOVER . 183 one of the grand taverns near the railway-station a stout officer had just taken his breakfast. The meal which he had swallowed would frighten the reader ; but having at last finished with a salad-bowl full of herrings and potatoes, and a soup-plate of cafeau Lait , he felt satisfied ; then, rising from table, adjusting his spectacles and buckling on his belt, our hero began to sing with a thundering voice and an accent impossible to describe, Mein Herr Malporough s'en fa-t'-eu guerre ! The applause which he obtained was prodigious. Every person present repeated the words, passed them on to their neighbours, told them to the new comers, and then came shouts of laughter and stamping of feet. An hour afterwards the excitement had not calmed down, for it only ceased to begin afresh. The famous phrase was repeated and commented on in a hundred ways with evident satis- faction and admiration, and certainly provided sufficient intellectual employment for the whole of the day. The vanity of these people is unbounded ; 1 you notice it in every word and gesture. These parvenus of victory have endured our supremacy and our influence in all European questions for many years, and they are now determined to have their revenge ; but they do not understand, as we do, true glory ana pride, and they remain inferior to us in great- ness and generosity. The splendour of triumph is sufficient for us, but they can understand only the outward and material aspect of conquest. A title of honour is the reward of a French general who returns victorious. German generals, like barbarians, gorged themselves with gold after the war of 1870. We stop before a cabinet-maker’s shop. The men are working conscientiously, steadily, and without spirit, yet still without wasting their time. The one who was nearest to us was connecting two oak planks by a groove and tongue joint ; every moment he fitted his boards together, tried 1 On a table in the museum of Sans-Souci at Berlin there is a large book bound in red velvet. On the first page we read, in letters of gold, ‘ The Austrian campaign ; ’ then beneath this, ‘ It occupied Frederick the Gieat for seven years ; ’ and on the opposite page, ‘ William I. concluded it in seven days.’ 8 4 GERMANY. them, turned them over, and compared them ; he took a small piece off the tongue, and then enlarged the groove ; then he tried them afresh, endeavouring to drive one into the other with his mallet ; then he examined his boards on every side. The work was certainly done firmly and well, but he had occupied twice as much time as a Frenchman would have done ; and, after all, it was finished without taste. The veins of the wood were not matched ; they crossed each other instead of meeting at the central line, and spread- ing afterwards so as to form the aigrette , so much admired in our cabinet-work, and which would not have been for- gotten by a French workman who was skilful and who was fond of his trade. There are no beggars in the streets, for mendicity is strictly forbidden in Germany, and in some of the northern towns a fine is inflicted on every person convicted of giving alms. We do not see so many women in the streets in the after- noon as in the morning. They go out but little, and pay but few visits to each other ; which accounts for their eagerness to form groups in the streets, and to exchange a few words when they are out and happen to meet. The men are heavy, dull, stout, gross, but strong and robust ; we seem every moment to meet with all the shoe- blacks, tailors, and shoemakers that we have seen in France. Benjamin Constant was right when he once said of these people: ‘The Germans are ponderous in their reasoning, th'eir jokes, their tenderness, their diversions, and their quiet hours — they seem to think that it would put them out of breath to be cheerful, and that they would be thrown off their guard if they were polite.’ Theatrical performances begin and conclude at an early hour. The women go in morning dress ; they listen without stirring from their boxes, or paying visits to each other ; the men frequently go out to eat, drink, and smoke, and return with great noise, still wearing their over-coats, and affecting in public a deplorable want of decorum and consideration for others. They have not yet, however, adopted the custom of HA NO VER. 185 the inhabitants of Breslau, who enter the theatre with muddy boots, and place them on the railing in front of their box, where they form a kind of decoration, which has, at least, the merit of originality. The inhabitants of Hanover seem to have considerable taste for the theatre ; their opera-house is open during eleven months of the year. The repertoire is chiefly composed of comic operas, a few ballets, some translations of French pieces, and the works of native authors. One of the favourite amusements of a certain class of the population is chamber-music, for which German composers have written so many pieces, and by the harmony of which they are able to produce a wonderful effect, even with but few performers. These people are not rich, and they spend but little, so that their income and profits are small; and the balance-sheet is not always in their favour, since they are often in debt. The dress of the women is modest, but in bad taste. They are in themselves neither graceful nor elegant ; many of them wear glasses, and all of them show in their intercourse with men a strange want of reserve, which is singularly repugnant to our ideas of propriety and decorum. At a table d'hote , before a hundred persons, a woman will kiss her husband ; she sits on his knee in a railway-carriage, and sings to him, in a low voice, melodies in that sweet language which we in France consider fit only for horses. If they are merely engaged to each other, he only presses her knees under the table, and sends her kisses from his fingers’ ends. It must be remembered that we are here speaking of persons who, by their fortune and position, evidently belong to the higher classes in society. It is said that such free manners show the innocence and simplicity of those who practise them ; it seems to us, on the contrary, that they are a proof of a defective education, and of the absence of delicate and elevated feel- ings . 1 1 In F ranee, eight per cent, of the children are said to be bot n { en-ante naturels ; ’ in Germany the percentage is fourteen. GERMANY. i?6 The middle class possess neither the influence nor the power which they have in France; where, in these later times, they may be said to be absolute masters. In Germany they are in a rudimentary position ; they have but few possessions, and are either absorbed into the higher class, or not distin- guished from that beneath them. They are of an anxious temperament ; their debts occupy their whole attention, and are the sole object of their thoughts. These form an inex- haustible subject of conversation, and the theme of anecdotes, remarks, and stories of all kinds. This impression we re- ceived many years ago ; for tedious histories of debtors and creditors formed the staple of all the themes and exercises con- tained in the grammar from which we learnt so imperfectly when we were at college this terrible German language. One of the subjects most frequently treated of in their works of fiction is the rapid acquisition of fortune, not by industry, but by some accidental cause : an unknown rich relative is all at once discovered, or an unexpected inheritance is left by some great nobleman, who forms a just appreciation uf their merits. Their life is simple, and exempt from trouble. Violent passions are rare ; all their interest centres in the family, and everything is so arranged in the household as to secure the influence of the father, and to simplify the duties of the mother, who undertakes the education of her children, of whom there are often a great number. The family hearth is never aban- doned, except for weighty reasons ; when the fortune of the parents permits it, the home contains all the elements necessary to render it agreeable, and is abundantly provided with linen, china, plate, and more especially with flowers. Gold is very rare in Germany; our French coins have no circulation there ; but as soon as a five-franc piece is offered to a tradesman, he seizes it, presses it fondly, and looks par- ticularly radiant if he can extort one or two silver groschen as a premium for exchange. We must, however, make one remark in favour of the Germans. During the whole course of this excursion, made soon after the war, and a second visit paid since, we never in HA NO VER. 187 any town heard a single insulting expression relating to our defeat, or recalling it in such a manner as to hurt our feelings. A considerable foreign element is to be found in Hanover, principally of English residents. The bonds which unite England with Hanover are of ancient date. They were for Fig. 109. — Plan of Ground-floor of Private House. 1. Porch. 2. Hall. 3. Drawing-room. 4. Breakfast-room. 5. Dining-room. (Scale, '098 inch to the yard.) a long time under the same sceptre, and the race of their kings, as well as their political interests, have been entirely separated only by the events of the last few years. This rapid sketch was necessary to give an idea of the manners of the inhabitants whose dwellings we desired to study. The principal points worthy of notice, and on which we wished to dwell are : first, the mediocrity of their resources, their calm and peaceful habits, the love of home, the absence or at least the rarity of social meetings, and, as a consequence of this, the neces- sity of remaining usually in the bosom of their families. In order, therefore, to minister to these wants, they require cheerful Fig. no. — Plan of First-floor. 6. Library. 7. Bed-rooms. 8. Dressing-rooms. 9. Terrace. 1 88 GERMANY. and convenient habitations, containing all those arrangements for comfort which make home life agreeable; and these must be of sufficient size, so that the inhabitants may have plenty of room and everything that they may require. The house, of which fig. 109 represents the ground-floor, and fig. no the first story, is a semi-detached double house, being intended for two families who wish to live side by side and united, yet entirely independent of each other — a combi- nation frequent in the North, where families and friends love to assemble in the same quarter and the same streets. A dwarf wall, surmounted by a balustrade, is built in front of the public road, and a free space, serving as a terrace-walk before the drawing-rooms, separates the building from the street, and keeps passers-by at a distance. A covered porch protects the front steps, which rise from the level of the street to the ground-floor. The kitchen and its offices are placed in the basement ; on the ground-floor are a drawing and dining-room, each having attached to it a secondary apartment. These two rooms, the most important in the house, are comparatively small, but they can be united so as to form but a single room. On the first-floor there are two large bed-chambers, with dressing-rooms, and above these the school-room for the children, the nursery bed-room, and two for servants. This dwelling-house is well adapted to a private family. The rooms are lofty, being thirteen feet in height ; the mode of access is easy, while the terrace-walk and the balcony allow the residents to go in and our, and add a charm to the interior of the house. The architectural forms adopted in the fronts (fig. 1 1 1) are not like those which we are accustomed to see in modern Trench houses; they rather resemble certain monastic habita- tions of the Middle Ages, views of which are given in archaeo- logical publications. The proportions are not perfect, but the details have been carefully studied, and show that the architect has endeavoured to give to his work a special appearance peculiar to itself. HANOVER . 189 The mode of construction is in good taste and keeping. Bricks, with a few blocks of stone, form the principal part of the building. These bricks are yellow, red, or black. This Fig. hi. — S emi-detached Houses, Hanover. variety of colour has permitted the introduction of imbricated work, the use of which enlivens the general effect. The di- mensions of these bricks are rather different from those em- ployed by us, being about 2-36 inches in thickness, Si inches 190 GERMANY. in width, and 9 - 6 inches in length. The stone is white, and of a good quality. We make remark, before we proceed further, that two cir- cumstances give to the houses of the North in general, and to those of Hanover especially, a peculiar aspect: on the outside the absence of blinds ; and within, that there are no fire-places. The custom of standing at the window is not permitted ; and so the window-sills do not project beyond the outer wall^ but are flush with the inner surface of the frame, and incline outwards to the front. On this slab flowers are placed, and sometimes birds are kept in the intervening space. On the inside a second glazed window-frame forms an enclosure, open- Fig. 1 1 2. — Ground-plan of Private House, Hanover. 1 . Passage to carriage entrance. I 4. Pack drawing-room. 2. Antechamber. 5. Dining-room. 3. Drawing-room. | 6. Store-room. ing by a small casement, rather larger than our usual panes of glass, which is intended to give fresh air to the apartment. Stoves are substituted for fire-places. The heat given by them is more equalised ; it is greater, and especially more economical, than that of an open fire ; but this plan deprives the room of an ornamental feature, which stands out so pro- minently, and by which we produce such striking effects. The looking-glasses have no invariable position ; they are of small dimensions, and many rooms are entirely without them. HANOVER. 1 9 1 Clocks are rare, ^W 72 at the present time ; and what we are ac- customed to call chimney ornaments are usually placed on a console table fixed to the wall. The reception-rooms in the interior of these dwelling- houses are not decorated in a manner out of proportion to the fortune of the inhabitants. Stucco-work, imitation marble, plaster ceilings with gold on a blue ground, and cupids in papier mache ’ are not in favour. The construction is simply Fig. 1 13. — View of Interior. carried out, and the parts thrown into relief are decorated in a manner, the least merit of which is that it is reasonable and sensible. Figure 112 represents the ground-plan of a small mansion, the arrangement of which, we must say, is open to criticism . 1 We enter directly from a rather narrow vestibule into a large drawing-room adjoining a smaller one; the door of the 1 See, for further details, ‘ Habitations modernes en Europe,’ par MM. Viollet le Hue et Felix Narjoux, architectes. Librairie Morel, 13 Rue Bonaparte, Paris. 192 GERMANY dining-room is opposite to that which leads from the passage forming the carriage entrance. The vestibule is too small, and the visitor and the friends who receive him are crowded into too little a space, but the internal decorations of the drawing-rooms amply deserve the praise which we have already given. The dining room is separated from the large drawing- Fig. 1 14. — Decorative Paintings. room, and that again from the smaller one, by wide openings (fig. 113), which can be closed by thick leathern hangings. The framework of these openings tends to lessen the appa- rent height of the apartments, and in the dining-room supports a partition wall. The whole of this combination is in oak; some paits are decorated and enriched with very HANOVER. 193 brightly-coloured designs. The walls are hung with printed calico (fig. 1 14), covered with foliage patterns of bright colours, and with figures of men and animals, hunting scenes, in the midst of scrolls of flowers and leaves, the whole being in imitation of tapestry ; but the designs are in outline and not relieved by shading. The ceiling is oak, formed of small bare beams with chamfered edges. The long intermediate panels are painted of a uniform tint, with a few stripes of another colour. The 1 2 3 4 Fig. 1 15. -Ground-plan of a Mansion, Hanover. . Porch. . Garden entrance. . Hall. . Small drawing-room. 5. Drawing-room. 6. Dining-room. 7. Library. 8. Garden. (Scale, -098 inch to the yard.) pilasters have chamfered edges, and, above the fillet which divides them midway, they are ornamented with designs in trellis-work. The large stove which warms the drawing-rooms is made of enamelled terra-cotta, the colours of which, however bright they may be, are a poor substitute for the cheerful blaze which the eye looks for in vain during the long winter evenings. Terra-cotta is much used in Germany, and this manufacture has been brought to great perfection in that O 194 GERMANY. country. We will not enter into any further details respecting it, as we shall have to return to this subject when we describe our visit to the porcelain and pottery works at Hamburg. We give in fig. 115 the ground-plan, and in fig. 116 that of the first-floor, of a mansion more important than the preceding. In Paris it would perhaps be considered only a private house, but here it occupies a much higher rank. Carriages do not enter under a covered way, which is, especially in the North, an unfortunate omission. It is true that a projection of the gable shelters the steps and protects kiA — * — V'Hs — ‘jo ms Fig. 1 16. — Plan of First-floor. 1. Ante-chamber. 2. Bed-rooms. 3. Dressing-rooms. visitors. The front wall is separated from the public way by an area, in which is the kitchen entrance ; the servants and tradespeople do not cross the threshold of the principal door, which is covered by a projecting porch. The hall is divided into two unequal parts ; the largest of these serves as an ante- room, and is of sufficient size to be used as a cloak-room, and to contain benches for servants while they wait for their masters. An isolated column, which indicates the point of separation of these two portions, as shown in fig. 117, gives an air of elegance to the hall, and this simple arrange- HANOVER. 195 ment enables one to understand the construction of the stair- case. By a door on the left hand of the vestibule we enter the smaller drawing-room, and directly opposite is the entrance to the larger one. The dining-room communicates with both Fig. 1 1 7. — Hall, with Staircase. of these by wide openings, thus allowing all these apartments to be easily thrown into one suite on reception days. The kitchen and its dependent offices are connected with the ground-floor by a spiral staircase in a turret, which is approached by a wide passage leading to the closets. We must not forget that the servants in Germany are not entirely o 2 GERMANY. 196 separated from their masters, but live more with the family than is the case with us ; and the mistress of a house on the 1 _J — I x 1 1 j ’ ‘r> L 2 J 4 5 1,0 * Fig. 1 1 8. — External Geometrical Elevation of the Fa5ade of a Private Mansion, Hanover. Fig. 1 19 . — Country House, Hanover, HANOVER . 19 1 other side of the Rhine does not consider it derogatory to go occasionally to superintend the kitchen department. On the first floor is a large ante-chamber where the children can play. Then there are very large and lofty bed- rooms, each with its dressing-room, fitted with hot and cold water, a large bath and shower-bath — the latter an English fashion. We must here notice the manner in which the beds are placed. There is no recess ; but the bed stands with one of its shorter sides against the wall, so that it projects into the room and leaves both of its longer sides exposed. This arrangement, when the size of the room will permit, is the most convenient and the most healthful, and is especially useful in cases of sickness. It is always employed in large state bed-rooms in palaces, and was constantly found in those of the Middle Ages. The want of space is the only reason which can induce people to prefer the position now commonly adopted. The facades (figs. 118 and 119) resemble those which we have already seen. There is too much variety in them, and they have not a quiet appearance ; but the principal parts of thq structure are well indicated. The spiral staircase (fig. 1 1 9) as well as the drawing-rooms and vestibules, project externally ; large double windows give light to the principal apartments, and, contrary to the laws of symmetry, lesser ones open into the smaller and secondary rooms. Imbricated work plays an important part in the decoration of these facades, to which both recessed and projecting arches give a varied outline. Ter- races and covered balconies render the interior of the house more agreeable, and allow sedentary inhabitants frequently to take a little exercise. We might multiply examples of these dwellings ; but we must not delay, as we have still to examine at least one public hotel and one country-house. The hotel of which the ground-plan is given in fig. 12 1, and the plan of one of the upper stories in fig. 120, is one of the second rank. It is not intended for tourists travelling for 98 GERMANY. pleasure, who are accustomed to luxurious dwelling-houses, Fig 120.— Plan of First-floor of Public Hotel, Hanover. j ' 12 04 M 2 Fig. 1 21. — Ground-plan. 1 . Carriage entrance. 2. Front door. 3. Porter’s lodge and lift for luggage. 4. Office. 5. Drawing-room. 6. Breakfast-room. 7. Table d’hote. 8. Housekeeper’s room and Store-room. 9. Bed-rooms. 10. Dressing-rooms. 11. Balcony on ground-floor. 12. Ditto on first-floor. HANOVER. 199 and to whom expense is of secondary importance. Those who use it are either commercial travellers, or persons living in the environs, who come into the town on fair or market- days on business. Rooms for reading and conversation are therefore unne- cessary. The apartments must be of no greater dimensions than are absolutely necessary. They must be convenient, warm in winter, and cool in summer. Dressing-rooms and reception-rooms would be superfluous. Under the carriage entrance, which is enclosed by three glazed doors, intended to give sufficient light while they protect persons from draught as they enter or leave their vehicles, is the lift, which receives the luggage at once from the roof of the omnibus, thus sparing the servants fatigue, and avoiding the inconveniences of carrying heavy articles up the stairs. By the side of this lift is the entrance to the hall, and on the left the lodge of the porter, who plays so important a part in the towns of the North, and acts as a special provi- dence to foreign travellers. This porter, who differs entirely from our concierges, always speaks German, French, and English. It is he who gives all the necessary information to travellers, sees that passports are vised , obtains permission for residence when any is necessary, procures cards to visit museums and public buildings, and knows the hours of arrival and departure of trains, diligences, and steamboats. He sells also French cigars and photographs, keeps samples of articles of local manufacture, procures couriers, settles disputes with the drivers of vehicles, and neglects no means of obtaining from the traveller — whether or no he is willing to bestow them — all kinds of gratuities. In front of this useful functionary’s box is the door of the office, which is divided into two parts ; the first serves as a waiting-room for travellers, the second for the money de- partment. After these come four rooms, separate, yet con- nected with each other — the smoking-room, where the newspapers can be read ; the large dining-room ; the breakfast- room (for meals are too frequent, and follow each other too GERMANY. 200 closely to allow persons who wish to take some slight refresh- ment to obtain a place at the table d'hote in the large room) ; and then, facing this smaller room, there is another, of the Interior of large Dining-room. HANOVER. 201 same form and dimensions, which can be used for private dinners, and in which the dessert is prepared, the meat carved, and the dishes placed when removed from the general tables. These two rooms communicate with the large dining- room (fig. 122) by means of arches, which can be closed by thick hangings. At the end of the large room there is a recess in which a table can be placed when required, and where persons may sit while waiting for the dinner hour. The office, the coffee-room, and the small dining-room, open on a terrace, on which, in summer, tables are placed for those who may feel inclined to look out on the busy streets while they take their meals. The stairs turn to the right, with a large landing orna- mented with flowers ; and at the bottom is a hall, the walls of which are covered with maps and notice-boards of all kinds. To the right and left hand are two turrets, one containing two closets, the other the kitchen stairs. On the walls are maps, useful notices in various languages, a table of the com- parative value of money in different countries, and a complete list of everything curious and worthy of notice in the town. There are no fire-places ; but in their stead are large earthenware stoves, which reach from the ground to the ceiling. The furniture of the bed- rooms is simple, but very neat and well kept. A wash-hand stand, a chest of drawers, two chairs, and one of those terrible German beds — instruments of torture which will never be forgotten by one who has been condemned to them even for a single night. The rooms are high pitched, the ground-floor is 1 5 feet high, the other stories 13 feet and \ 2 \ feet. There are twenty-five bed- rooms; and the dining-rooms would be too large for such a limited number of travellers, were it not that, besides those in the house, this establishment accommo- dates many persons coming from the neighbourhood only to take their meals, so that it serves as a restaurant for a great many inhabitants of the town. The fagade resembles those which we have already de- 202 GERMANY. scribed, and our sketch (fig. 123) renders any further notice unnecessary. The building is constructed, as usual, of brick and stone, and the framework of wood, with the exception of the large covered balcony, the supports of which are of cast-iron, and its roof of wrought- iron. The country-house, the ground-plan of which we give in fig. 124, is honoured with the name of a chateau. The HANOVER. 20 ' ground-plan is rather wanting in regularity. The taste and wishes of the proprietor have perhaps influenced the architect, Mons. Oppler, and interfered with his plans, for we have seen many of his works superior to this ; yet it is a complete Fig. 124.— Ground-plan of a Country house in the Environs of Hanover. 1. Verandah. 2. Ante-chamber. 3. Dining-room. 4. Store-room. 5. Smoking-room. 6. Parlour. 7. Library. 8. Drawing-rooms. 9. Oratory. example of a modern country habitation in Germany, and as such it is worthy of attention. The arrangement of the rooms is very peculiar. It corresponds with wants very different from our own, and on this account loses much of its interest to us. As to the facades (fig. 125), they have too strong a Teutonic character to please us ; there is too great a desire for novelty. One # Vul In vtvfaxu- • :o4 GERMANY. cannot imagine what motive can have induced them to erect those square gables of exaggerated form, with so many arched apertures, through which the outlines of the roof can be seen. But, in spite of these defects, we are struck with the general outline when we do not examine the details, and with the effect produced by the many projecting parts, which indicate externally the distribution of the rooms within. The building is constructed with conscientious care. The proportions are correct, and in accordance with established rules. The height of the stone courses corresponds exactly with an entire number of bricks, without rendering any con- trivance necessary in order to obviate a difficulty of this kind, or ever showing a loup or wolf 1 in the facings. Great care in the employment of materials, as well as regularity and scientific knowledge, are usually shown in German buildings, and constitute one of their chief merits ; and for this reason we dwell on this important matter, which is too frequently neglected in our modern structures. All the dwelling-houses which we have described, and which are only examples chosen from among a great number, have excellences and defects in common, on which it was necessary to make some observations. They are adapted to the tastes, the wants, and the social habits of the persons for whom they are intended. They vary according to the position, the profession, and the fortune of their proprietors. We have not been able, in these notes of our travels, to enter into details which would have become tedious, or to give a greater number of examples in support of our observations, since time would have failed us. We could not give sketches of houses adapted to certain professions ; one for a physician, for example, with a special ante-chamber, a consultation-room with two distinct entrances, the whole being separate from the family apartments. We should have liked to describe fully a certain architect’s offices, containing a large lofty room, with a gallery midway towards the ceiling serving as a library, and cases filled with 1 A French workman’s phrase, signifying an imperfection in the construction, — Tr. HANOVER. 205 architectural models ; there are tables for daily work and a retired bay, where one could study of an evening calmly and quietly. At the side is a separate room, intended for the reception of clients and contractors, and there is convenient communication between these offices and the family apart- ments, the entrance to which is separate. If we had noticed all these houses we must have sketched half the city of Hanover. In all these buildings no space is lost. The staircases, which are fully in sight, are easy of ascent, and have wide and low steps turning to the right hand, and the landings are decorated with flowers. The apartments correspond with the importance of the house, and the social or secluded habits of the inhabitants. Thus there is often no drawing- room, it being considered unnecessary for quiet people of moderate fortune ; but then the dining-room is very large, and the family live there, thus saving fire and lamps. The same character of economy and foresight is shown in the fagades. The front is not covered with a costly coating of plaster, which is expensive to repair ; there is no cement facing loaded with very perishable mouldings, and no widely projecting cornices covered with sculptures executed in very bad taste, and with gutters formed of imitation stone, through which the water percolates to the inside of the walls. But, instead of these, there are level fronts made of bricks, so laid that the outline of the materials is clearly displayed, with a cornice, or rather a simple projecting coping, supported on corbels. Above this there is a wide zinc gutter, a complete passage round the roof to facilitate repairs. There is no fear of infiltration to the walls ; it is easy to examine the roof, and conse- quently it is better kept in order. There is economy both in the original construction and in the subsequent attention which it may require. Yet, in order to carry out the views which prevailed in the construction of these houses, some improvements might perhaps have been made. Thus for persons of moderate fortunes, kitchens placed under ground are inconvenient. It is impossible to have servants on every story at the same 206 GERMANY. time ; the frequent journeys up and down the stairs are trying to them, and take up much of their time. The mistress of the house is less able to have its arrangements under her own eye ; it entails upon her greater fatigue, and she involuntarily hesitates at going up or down the stairs, when she would willingly cross a passage. Whoever is acquainted with a German household and the economical principles which govern it, will understand the importance of this observation. There is another important matter. The principal rooms are large and well ventilated, but neces- sary conveniences are wanting. The closets are insufficient or too few in number ; the modern requirements of a large house expect these to be placed near the principal bed-chambers, as well as a bath-room and dressing-room. Germans, it is true, are more easily satisfied than we are. They are more simple in their habits, and are not accustomed to the refinements of our civilisation, and to the necessaries which administer to our comfort. So much for the interiors. On the outside, as we have already said, the facades are too complicated. Both in public edifices and private buildings, they strive after exaggerated and unusual effects. These are, in fact, the expression of the characteristics of the German mind, which imitates, lays a stress upon, and draws atten- tion to delicacy and elegance of language, yet cannot com- prehend them. The details are heavy, forced, and pretentious in execution. It may be said that this is a matter of personal taste, on which it is impossible to give a decided opinion, resting on a firm and incontestable basis. A Frenchman, for instance, could never persuade a German that the latter wants taste, and that his own ideas are preferable. The reasons which each one advances to support his own opinion are the same ; they may, with the same success, be used on each side, and therefore it is impossible for either to be convinced. One of those foolish remarks on this subject, which are constantly repeated in every country, is, ‘ that artistic edu- cation should be made to agree with the public taste.’ This HANOVER . 20 / signifies, on the part of the artist, that he ought to impose upon the public his peculiar tastes, which are superior to all others ; and, on the part of the public, that the artist should be compelled to produce nothing but that which pleases the said public, who are better judges than any one else of their requirements and desires. We may also remark that French, English, German, Italian artists, and others, all wish to reform the public taste— that is to say, to impose upon it their own — and not only do these various tastes differ, but they are destructive of each other. Therefore, although there exists a standard of measure, the metre, to which reference can be made in case of disagreement, no one has yet invented a standard of taste, so that every one persists, and will still persist in his own, and in the conviction that it is far superior to that of his neighbour. Now that we have examined the Hanoverian houses with reference to their construction, we must pay attention to their furniture and internal decoration, in which respect they are well worthy of notice. In France, the interior and exterior of our houses bear little relation to each other, which is explained by the simple reason that, being but rarely the owners of the house in which we live, we cannot modify our furniture at every change of residence. Besides, these discrepancies unfortunately do not shock us. We have no objection to a Renaissance house with furniture and decorations belonging to another period, or to Moorish apartments with Gothic furniture, or that of the age of Louis XV. The exaggerated fondness for nick-nacks at the present time has favoured and justified this strange eclecticism. These incongruities are not so readily accepted in England and Germany, for there the style adopted in the facade of a house is usually followed in the interior. In a word, if the fronts of houses that we have seen there are Gothic, the interiors are in the same style, and the furniture has some of the characteristics and remembrances of the Middle Ages — souvenirs , which are shown not so much in forms modified and adapted to the wants which they 208 GERMANY. are intended to satisfy, as in the application of principles which have guided the study and adaptation of these forms. The people of the North, so skilful in all carpentry-work, are not less so in the manufacture of furniture. They know perfectly well how to give to all kinds of wood those forms which correspond to its nature and the purpose for which it is intended. Timber is still plentiful in Northern Germany, and it has supplied builders with materials which they have so happily employed in the decorations and furniture of their dwelling-houses. As German masons have respect to the value and nature of the stone which they employ in their buildings, so do their cabinet-makers study the value and nature of wood. They employ it according to its character- istics and qualities, avoiding useless waste and large curved portions which interfere with the grain of the wood ; but, on the contrary, they always form combinations with it in the direction of the fibres, and so preserve all its strength. As to the taste shown in the execution of this kind of work, the reader must judge for himself. Thus, instead of our plaster ceilings — which conceal the timber and lessen its duration, which are subject to cracks and crevices which cannot be avoided, and require continual at- tention and expensive repairs — they have constructed panelled ceilings, of which figs. 126 and 127 afford two examples. These ceilings seem, at first, to remind one very strongly of those of the town-hall at Augsburg, and the Presle mansion at Nuremberg. They are not therefore interesting in respect of originality, but of very ingenious adaptation. The ceilings of public buildings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries consisted only of bare joists resting by each extremity on a wall ; or, if the distance was too great, on an intermediate beam. There were few or no openings in the walls to receive them, but corbels inserted in the masonry to support the ends of the beams. The edges were chamfered, the intervals and projecting parts were painted, and sparingly decorated. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries these primitive arrangements were trans- HANOVER. 209 formed and enriched. The beams were placed so as to form panels and compartments ornamented with carving and painting ; and at last the decoration assumed the principal P 210 GERMANY. feature, being distinct from the timber-work to which it was affixed, and thus ceasing to be an integral part of the structure. Fig. 127. — Surface and Section of Panelled Ceiling. The ceilings represented in figs. 1 26 and 1 27 are, as we HANOVER. 21 I 212 GERMANY. have said, copies from fourteenth century models, and in reality present only the lower face of the boards, thus showing plainly the nature of the construction which they embellish. In the ceiling (fig. 126) the panelling is at- tached to the lower surface of the joists; in fig. 127 it is supported by furring nailed along each principal and cross- beam. The carvings are in solid wood, and the ground- work of the panels rests on planks cut so as to give them the necessary projection ; our sketches show the plan of con- struction. Above these large girders are joists of sufficient thickness to support the upper floor, and to fill up, in certain Fig. 129. — Sofa Table. parts, the intervals between the beams. The height of the room in which these ceilings are placed is 18 feet, which accounts for the outlines being so bold and the carvings so decided. As to the price of these ceilings, it is somewhat high, the square foot costing 2 \ thalers (about gs. 4^.). The chimney-piece (fig. 128) stands in a large vaulted hall of octagonal form. It is made of white sand-stone and polished serpentine. By means of a combination of colours which cannot be seen in our sketch, the union of stone and marble of different tints gives the colours of the armorial bearings of the proprietor, whose scutcheon is placed over HANOVER. 213 the mantel-piece. The table (fig. 129) is intended to stand before a sofa in a drawing-room. The dimensions of its various parts may perhaps appear exaggerated, when com- pared with those of our modern furniture ; but, on the other hand, they increase its firmness and durability. The legs spread out at the end, by means of an oblique arrangement, which gives greater support and steadiness to the upper part. The braces and cross-pieces, which connect the extremities, are rather high, in order to prevent persons placing their feet upon them, contact with which injures them so rapidly. This precaution may appear trivial, but it is the mark of a practical and thoughtful mind. This table in walnut wood cost 65 thalers (about 9/. 16s.). Another table (fig. 1 30) may at the same time serve as a cupboard in the lower part. It is made of oak, and copied from an old engraving of the fourteenth century, from Ramerstof. So true it is, that in small things as well as great, the Germans prefer to copy rather than originate. 214 GERMANY. The ‘what-not’ (fig. 131) is intended to hold albums or curiosities. It is made of oak ; but its supports, which are rather heavy, and its prominent carvings, render it unsuitable for a drawing-room. It cost 32 thalers (4/. 16^.). The bedstead (fig. 132) is entirely in red deal (pitch-pine), '' roMXZTKrf^-inl. Fig. 1 3 1. — What-not. which possesses the great advantage of never being attacked by vermin. 1 Excepting the angles, which are carved, all the rest of the decorations are painted and varnished, for the sake 1 This kind of wood is used in Alsace for a similar purpose and for the same reason. HANOVER. 215 - Pine-wood Bedstead. 2l6 GERMANY. of cleanliness. The price of this bedstead, exclusive of the painting, is 30 thalers, equivalent to 4 L Ss. Fig. 133. — Walnut-wood Cupboard. The cupboard (fig. 133) differs from the preceding articles of furniture, and those which follow^ in the quiet character of HANOVER. 217 its ornaments. The hinge-plates on the doors are of polished iron, and the wood employed is American walnut. Fig. 134. — Walnut-wood Bureau. The bureau (fig. 134) is an article of furniture of a very complicated construction, and is intended for a lady’s use. 2l8 GERMANY. The wood employed is also American walnut ; the metal- work, which is very rich, is polished iron. The scrolls repeat Fig. 135. — Book-case. the letter E, the owner’s initial The figure placed at the top represents Albert Durer. This bureau is too richly orna- mented ; there is a want of simplicity, and of that which is HANOVER. 219 highly necessary in every bureau, sufficient room for work. In the midst of the many partitions, drawers, and doors, there is scarcely room to hold a sheet of paper. This bureau cost 160 thalers (24/.), which is rather dear. The book-case (fig. 135) has perhaps the same defects, but this is atoned for by an arrangement which allows it to be Fig. 136. — Arm-chair. adapted to the circular form of the room in which it stands, since the two wings can be placed obliquely. The chairs (figs. 136, 137, and 138) are in oak or walnut ; the arm-chairs, without the covers, cost 50 thalers (about 7/. 9 s.). In order to avoid the usual manner of connecting the back of the chair and the hind legs, the designer (Mons. Oppler, the architect,) has obtained the necessary inclination 220 GERMANY. for the back, by causing the framework to go down to the middle of the hind legs, which are placed at a more oblique angle than those in front. This idea, which is very simple and ingenious, is also applied to the construction of common chairs, which are thus more steady than ours, the legs of which are united with the back at the level of the seat, and they are more comfortable than those with upright backs. The price of common chairs is 2\ thalers (about 8s.). Fig. 139 represents a bracket, intended to be fixed against a wall to support a statuette, or any other work of art which stands out in relief against the background of velvet. A looking-glass is often substituted for the velvet, and serves as a reflector for a lamp placed in front of it. These articles of furniture resemble joiners’ rather than cabinet-makers’ work. They are really strongly made, and their construction is well planned and executed. The wood HANOVER. 22 is of fine quality, well cut according to the grain, with sharp and well-defined sides and edges. The joints are made with the greatest care, always fastened with wooden pegs, without any parts let into each other or nailed. There is no veneering or gluing. On the contrary, the mouldings and carvings are cut out of the solid wood ; but there is often a deficiency of grace and elegance in the workmanship. The general effect is heavy, clumsy, and massive, and, when they do not copy ancient models, there are often defects in the proportions. Fig. 138. — Chair. Having now visited the different public buildings, and seen the exteriors and interiors of the houses of Hanover, there remains nothing, before we go, except to add a few words respecting modern German Gothic. The Germans, as we have already said, have never had any architecture peculiar to themselves ; they take their ideas from the buildings of foreign countries, and copy those of past ages. The types of Gothic architecture which they possess are far inferior to the magnificent examples of the 222 GERMANY. Middle Ages to be found in France ; and they did not dream of reviving this style in Germany till after the appearance of those buildings which were the results of our first archaeo- logical studies, which, twenty-five years ago, led us to regard with honour, edifices till then considered rude and barbarous. They followed in our steps, profiting by our attempts, our studies, and our faults ; translating into their language, without; compunction, extracts from our works, in order to apply the Fig. 139. — Bracket. results of our researches. And in the same manner as the German who built the cathedral at Cologne knew and imitated those of Amiens, Beauvais, and Troyes, so modern Germans, finding in a neighbouring country information, hints, and formulae ready to their hand, have, with great skill and much success, appropriated to themselves all that could be useful and profitable. But while, amongst ourselves, the architects of the Gothic school limited their works to the HA NO VEX. 223 restoration of ancient buildings and to the construction of churches, the Germans, on the contrary, went farther, and following out the ideas which they had received, erected ecclesiastical and civil structures, both public and private, said to be Gothic, in which, while they respected the funda- mental principles of the logical reasoning which had served as a basis and starting-point, they varied the forms and multiplied their combinations, so as to obtain different results, and to carry out varied plans suited to all the requirements of public and private life. Their want of imagination in works of art was of service instead of hindrance to them in the laborious task from which they derived such excellent results. Being cold and con- scientious reasoners, they did not allow themselves to be carried too far. Not overstepping the bounds of nature, while trusting to their taste and skill, they have hitherto avoided excesses and exaggerations into which others, as the English for instance, have fallen, while following the same path. The synagogue, the goods station at the railway , 1 the gymna- sium, and most of the houses of Hanover, are illustrations of what we have stated. As to cur influence in the country, it is latent, but in- contestable ; facts prove it, though not a single German has had the good taste to allow or own it. They copy our architecture and our works of art, they act our plays and perform our musical compositions. They almost all know our language, read our literary and scientific publications, and are eager for articles of Parisian manufacture. Their women ape ours, and think that they resemble them. They have conquered us, and yet the conquered people inspire them with a terror, an envy, and a mean jealousy which they can neither overcome nor conceal ; and the phrase ‘ to live like a God in France,’ has passed into a proverb, which is often on the lips of the people. 1 We twice endeavoured to sketch the goods station, but each time we were interrupted and expelled in a manner so essentially German, that we did not think it prudent to make another attempt. 224 GERMANY. If they know us so well, we, on the .contrary, know little of them, and that little but imperfectly. On our return from one of our visits to Germany, a friend, an eminent architect, said to us one day, 5 What induced you to go to that country ? there is nothing to be seen there, not a single public building ; there are scarcely any railway stations.’ We then showed him some of our sketches. He could not contain himself, made a hundred exclamations, and, like a true Frenchman, passing from one extreme to the other, he declared that these people were ‘ very clever, cleverer far than we ; ’ which was as foolish a saying as if any one were to assert that the re- flected ray was more bright and luminous than the source from which it emanated. It is, unfortunately, one of our national characteristics to yield too readily to the excitement and impressions of the moment. Ever since the misfortunes which have befallen us, two trains of thought and feeling have been manifested among us. Some, filled with foolish pride, and unwilling to acknowledge either our misfortunes or their cause, con- sider themselves greater than before. Others, on the con- trary, giving themselves up to an exaggerated humility, have too low an opinion of themselves, and think their adversaries in every respect superior. We must avoid falling into either of these opposite extremes. But, without entering into con- siderations foreign to the scope of this work, we can but see that the efforts made by the Germans to copy us in artistic matters, prove that we have excelled them, and that they have been our imitators. It is for us so to act that we may maintain this position. HAMBURG . 225 HAMBURG. FROM HAARBURG TO HAMBURG — THE ELBE — HAMBURG — THE ALSTER THE JUNGFERNSTIEG — THE OLD TOWN— THE CONFLAGRATION OF 1842— THE NEW TOWN— THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS— THE HOUSES AND THEIR INHABIT- ANTS. From Hanover to Hamburg, the country is flat and unattrac- tive. In the midst of a large sandy plain we notice Zela, whose inhabitants speak, it is said, the purest German, but which does not sound to us on that account sweeter or more melodious. Then we come to Luneburg, with its houses with pointed gables, and its town-hall full of artistic curiosities, the merit of which has been greatly exaggerated. Happily, the country is adorned by the guard-houses and the stations, which are by the side of the line. These small build- ings are constructed entirely of brick, with the exception of a few blocks of stone ; the platforms are protected by sheds, made entirely of plain wood. Climbing plants cling here and there, mount to the roof, and fall in rich festoons, covered with brilliant flowers. A fountain is playing in one corner, and through the open doors of the waiting-rooms we see large earthenware stoves, which mitigate the cold in winter, and the stalls of the refreshment-rooms covered with provisions and large glasses of sparkling ale. These refreshment-bars play an important part in the stations of German railways, and all are provided with them. They are attacked on the arrival of every train, and the formidable appetite of the people is a constant source of astonishment to the foreign traveller. We leave the railway at Haarburg, and embark on the Elbe to follow it as far as Hamburg. This is the most in- Q 226 GERMANY. teresting part of the journey. The boat at first descends the southern stream of the Elbe, and then, by a lateral branch, reaches the northern Elbe. From this moment we perceive Hamburg, with its steeples, its buildings rising in the form of an amphitheatre, and the astonishing activity of its immense harbour. First we reach Altona, formerly the second city of Den- mark, but now absorbed into the Empire of Germany. To the right is the large island of Wilhelmburg, across which Marshal Davoust, in 1813, raised a causeway to connect Haar- burg with Hamburg by means of a bridge of boats. 1 Boats find some difficulty in making their way in the midst of the enormous quantity of ships with which the river is covered, and among which the large vessels of the Hamburg Company, which put in at Havre on their passage to New York, occupy the first place. Our poor little steamer was obliged to stop every instant, and to back, sometimes almost going about, in order to prevent her bow getting fouled ; and at times being scarcely able to proceed. No river in Europe serving as a port to a large city, with the exception of the Thames in London and the Clyde at Glasgow, can give one an idea of this state of confusion — this incessant and ever- varying bustle. Large vessels laden with emigrants are just beginning their long voyage, escorted by boats full of friends and relations who wish to bid them farewell ; the men may be seen clinging to the nettings and waving their hands, the women weeping and holding their children above their heads to let them have a last look at their native land, which, for the most part, they will never see again. The officers of a man-of-war are going ashore in a twelve-oared cutter. It flies over the water, regard- less of all the boats that are in its way. We pass close by a magnificent iron-clad frigate ; the sailors are in the rigging, singing one of those old airs whose monotonous melody is heard in every sea. Fishermen are tacking out to sea, for the 1 These works have been since destroyed ; and until the bridges and the rail- way, now in course of construction, are finished, they have stationed here steam ferry-boats of sufficient dimensions to receive six carriages of full size. HAMBURG . 227 season is already advanced, and the lucrative northern fishery will soon commence. Some little coasting vessels, laden till they are ready to sink, are passing up the river made fast to a tug, and seeking a convenient place to unload. We are pro- ceeding very slowly ; but the scene which passes before our eyes is so varied, so picturesque, so full of life and colour, that we feel that we have no reason to complain. And now we no longer look around us, but forward, and try to make out the large city which stands out so massively against the blue sky. Rising above our heads is a terrace-walk, passing along the crest of an eminence ; it is the extreme point of the enclosure formed by a net-work of canals. The city begins to show itself : first come the high roofs of the public buildings, which rise above the low, narrow, filthy houses which lie along the quays. As we draw nearer, the details begin gradually to appear; the buildings around the harbour are black and dirty, and the inhabitants of these wretched hovels resemble them. The aspect of Hamburg, as seen from the river, is anything but attractive ; we would fain turn back to gaze upon the moving vessels with their busy crews, and upon the outline of the city defined against the horizon; but our trip is over. We land, and a drosky conveys us through a labyrinth of miser- able streets and filthy canals to the magnificent quays of the Alster, where in our astonishment we ask if we can possibly be in the same city, of which we had a glimpse but a moment before. Night came on before we had walked round the quays of the lesser Alster, known under the sweet names of ‘ Neue und alte Jungfernstieg.’ These quays are lined by lofty houses (fig. 140), five stories high, almost all hotels or large estab- lishments. The shops are in two tiers ; those underground, in which live those who keep restaurants and taverns, and dealers in eatables ; the ground-floors, raised very high above the level of the street, contain shops of all sorts, brilliantly lighted. Crowds of people come and go, and everything shows the activity of a great city. A number of persons are standing before a large placard illustrated in the English 228 GERMANY. fashion, and which represents two people fighting a duel ; above this is a woman dressed in a shroud, and laid on a bier. We follow the current, and enter the exhibition of Jenkins Brothers, ‘citizens of free America.’ At the moment that we took our seats the stage was occupied by the persons Fig. 140. — View of the Alster Quay, Hamburg. represented in the bills ; they were clothed in an odd costume, the one being dressed like a Hungarian, and the other in a sort of pelisse resembling that of a Russian peasant. They clash their sabres against each other with looks as terrible as their blows. After a short time and many attempts, the HAMBURG. 229 Hungarian gives his adversary a severe cut through his sleeve ; the hand of the Russian, dropping the sword, rolls down to the middle of the stage before the horrified spectators. Blood flows from the wrist in large drops, and stains the floor ; the wounded man turns pale, and falls. They rush to him, and carry him off, while the Hungarian, picking up the hand of his opponent, waves it over his head, showing the contracted fingers, the blue nails, and the bleeding wound ; it is a hideous sight. The stage remains vacant for a few minutes, till the two antagonists return, show their four hands uninjured, bow to the company, and the curtain falls. When it rises again, there is nothing on the stage but a box of oblong form and dismal appearance, the sight of which in such a place makes a painful impression. When the spectators have had time to contemplate this sight, and their emotion is sufficiently excited, a man enters, dressed in black with a white neck-cloth, armed with a hammer, and with his hand full of nails. He opens the box, which resembles a coffin, turns it all round, strikes it on all sides, and invites those present to examine and see that it is fastened tightly together. During this preliminary operation a fresh personage, a woman, makes her appearance, dressed in a winding-sheet, which covers her from head to foot, and fits closely to her body. She places herself in the coffin, and her companion carefully nails down the lid ; then he spreads over it a black pall, covered with white spofis resembling tears, and, having done this, he retires. We looked on with much astonishment, not understanding the whole proceeding, and unable to guess what was about to happen, when the coffin suddenly begins to tremble, the dead- alive struggles, and begs, as well as she can, to be released from her prison. At first there are nothing but dull sounds ; then you hear her heels beating against the sides of the coffin, and the head moving up and down in despair ; the hands en- deavour to tear with their nails the smooth surface of the wood : the most frightful silence reigns in the hall ; you may imagine that you hear the panting breath of the woman thus 230 GERMANY. struggling between four boards ; then cries of fear are heard among the spectators, which are instantly hushed. But the movement of the coffin becomes more sudden and violent ; it rolls about, shaken by the poor creature supposed to be in such fearful convulsions, and struggling in her anguish, a prey to terror and fright. We seem to see her, with her writhing and bleeding limbs, dashing herself, without a moment’s ces- sation, against the walls that confine her; she loses her senses, she sees nothing, feels nothing now ; there is not sufficient air for her to breathe ; her strength is exhausted, and her cries are stifled. Then the movements become less rapid ; they cease for awhile, only to recommence with greater energy and courage ; then all is quiet again ; the dismal box shakes for the last time, and all is over. They throw the pall over the coffin again, and carry it away not a moment too soon. What a night-mare it seemed ! but the movement given to the coffin by a person thus enclosed within four planks of wood, and without space to move and throw about her limbs, must be a very difficult gymnastic feat. Fortunately, to revive our spirits a young girl appeared, extremely pretty, but so lightly clad that one knew not whether she were about to dress, or had just finished undressing. She was well-formed, however, and took no pains to conceal it. She advanced timidly, with downcast looks and trembling voice ; her beautiful eyes scarcely dared to glance around. This behaviour contrasted so strangely with her dress, that we asked ourselves, as in the preceding scenes, what was about to take place. The heroine crosses the stage, and sings, in French it was said, and we suppose it was, some lines from the ‘ Belle Helene.’ When this was over, she turned, and found herself confronted by a person in the fancy costume of an executioner — one half red, and the other black — who seized her by the nape of the neck. She fell gracefully backwards, and he stabbed her with a poniard in the breast. The blade disappeared ; the executioner gave it a slight twist, and drew it out again ; the blood flowed, dyeing the white robe of the victim who fell, with her hair dishevelled, her eyes closed, her HAMBURG. 231 face, her arms, her breast, and her limbs livid, yet still exhibit- ing in her fall the remarkable plasticity of her frame. This trick was less successful than the preceding ; it was too evidently seen that the executioner, while twisting his dagger in the wound, fixed on the bosom of his victim an adhesive picture, intended to favour the deception ; but how was it possible to produce in a moment such decidedly death- like hues ? This little performance satisfied us, and we did not care to wait for the conclusion of the exhibition, but hastened to our lodgings for the night. Fatigued with our voyage, and having eaten for supper some fowl and gooseberry jam, lying on a German bed, and lulled to sleep by the remembrance of the scenes which we had just witnessed, it may well be imagined what night-mares embellished our dreams, and how often the foolish saying recurred to our mind till we were inclined to curse it, ‘ a bad night is soon over.’ We had, however, long before been convinced of the contrary fact, that a good rather than a bad night seems of short duration. Early the next morning we began to examine the laby- rinth of streets which compose the old town. Some of the worst streets of Frankfort, Genoa, Naples, and London may give some idea of those which form the ancient quarters of Hamburg, and of the picturesque appearance of all these houses built of wood, with their tottering gables advancing irregularly one over the other (fig. 141). The timbers are sharply defined on the brown ground of the bricks or mud with which the frame-work of the wall is filled in ; they are sometimes relieved with a red band, forming around them a kind of frame. These houses are lofty, for land has always been dear in large cities ; they have some- times four and even six stories. The dates of their construc- tion are exceedingly various, and they have been so often modified and restored that they possess now no other interest than as objects of curiosity, the greatest merit of which is their undoubted antiquity. These old houses are found everywhere, along the sides of 32 GERMANY. narrow streets and tortuous canals ; they all have gables with openings through which the light can be seen, narrow windows, and plastered walls falling to decay. Not one of them resembles its neighbour ; each has its peculiar appear- ance and different character, and one is never tired of examin- Fig. 141. --An old Street in Hamburg. ing them. These quarters are often the scene of painful incidents, showing no very high sense of moral obligation, or any very refined taste in those who are connected with them. Brutality, desire of gain, and roughness of manners form the prevailing characteristics. The maritime population live near the harbour or the HAMBURG. 233 canals. Another quarter is almost exclusively occupied by the dwellings of the Jews, who are very numerous at Hamburg, where they carry on profitably many of the favourite callings of their race ; but, throughout all the ranks of their social life, the types have remained the same. And on the thresholds of the doors, or through the panes of the windows, may be seen beautiful girls with dark hair, white teeth, and hooked noses, whose profile resembles that attributed by tradition to Rachel or Sarah. We may easily understand the result of a fire, when it breaks out in these hovels of worm-eaten wood, and what its ravages would be among so many elements so well suited to aid in the work of destruction ; and we may imagine what the terrible conflagration of 1 842 must have been. ‘ The Great Fire,’ as it is still called at Hamburg (where this event occupies so important a position that it divides the history of the town into two portions, the one before and the other after this disaster), was almost as terrible as that of which London was the victim in 1666. It began on Thursday, May 5. There was a report that a fire had broken out in a cigar manufactory in Deichs-Strasse. The devouring element soon assumed such proportions that ordinary means were insufficient to resist it. There had been a month of great drought, and the canals were dry. On the first day, twenty-two houses were consumed, and the church of St. Nicholas fell into the flames with a dreadful crash ; and the next day the sun rose over an ocean of fire, throwing far around a shower of ashes and sparks, the violence of which increased every moment. Cannons were employed to clear a space around the burning houses ; but through the violence of the flames the wind blew from every quarter, and changed its direction every instant, rendering it excessively difficult to approach the places that were attacked. The cries of the terrified crowd, the heart-rending scenes that occurred in all directions, prevented aid being given with sufficient activity and authority to render it effectual. The metal ran down from the roofs, covering the spectators with a 234 GERMANY. shower of fire. All the inflammable materials had been thrown into the canals, and had there taken fire, and like a river of flame carried on all sides fire and death. In every street might be seen vehicles loaded with furniture and valuable effects, mothers rescuing their children, some, who had become mad, throwing themselves headlong into the burning mass. Then, all at once, there arose a fearful cry ; the tower of St. Peter’s Church began to totter on its founda- tions ; its bells, set in motion by the action of the fire, tinkled for the last time, and the enormous mass was. overwhelmed in the immense furnace below. On the same day, the Bank, the Old Exchange, and the Town Hall were destroyed. Assistance came from every quarter. Altona, Lubeck, and Bremen sent provisions, men, and troops. On the 7th, a merciful shower of rain fell, which restored courage to those who were employed in the work of extinguishing the flames ; and finally, on Sunday, the 8th, the fire may be said to have been got under control. It had lasted three days and three nights ; had destroyed sixty-one streets and two thousand houses (a fourth part of the city). A hundred persons had perished ; twenty thousand were reduced to poverty, and were without shelter. The loss in money was estimated at one hundred millions of marks banco (about 7,520,000/.). Subscription lists were imme- diately opened in Europe and America for the assistance of the unfortunate people who were thus left without any re- sources. The sum obtained amounted to more than 400,000/. ; and thus the victims of this frightful disaster were enabled to procure for themselves the indispensable necessaries of life. At Hamburg, the inhabitants engaged to raise among them- selves a sum of 2,000,000 /. for the rebuilding of the town. All traces of this calamity have now disappeared. New buildings have arisen instead of those quarters that were burnt. These are built of stone, erected along wide, well-planned, and well- ventilated streets ; the noisome canals are arched over ; and Hamburg lays greater claims than ever to be ‘ the finest city in the north of Europe.’ HAMBURG. 235 When the Exchange is closed, and the day’s quotations have been telegraphed to the whole world, the business day is over, and that of pleasure begins. All the mercantile and labouring population of the town repair to the Jungfernstieg, which, at this moment, exhibits a spectacle of which the Unter den Linden at Berlin and the Prater of Vienna may, to a certain extent, give some idea. The crush is great under the trees which line the Alster ; cafes established in small Fig. 142. — Flower-girl. tents fill rapidly ; a number of boys bring on pewter trays refreshments contained in vessels which resemble the birettas worn in our churches. Carriages throng the road ; the pro- menaders, among whom may be seen the most distinguished of the demi-monde , exhibit gaudy costumes in extravagant and glaring colours. Among the wheels of the carriages and the groups of promenaders may be everywhere seen flower- girls (fig. 142) in a singular dress, a very short red petticoat with a broad green border, showing a great deal of a leg with 236 GERMANY. red stockings, and feet which are rendered as narrow as pos- sible by tight shoes. The body of the dress and the apron are violet, and the arms are left half bare. In winter, long white skin gloves reach to the elbow and meet the sleeves. They wear on the head a straw hat which strongly reminds of the women of the Bay of Tourane in Cochin China. These young girls, who are not over-burdened with modesty, accost unceremoniously every new comer; fortunately, they express themselves in German. When they find that their eloquence is in vain they stick a rose in your button-hole, and then demand a few groschen with an importunity which is soon complied with. Workmen who are enjoying their leisure seat themselves at tables by the side of the road, smoking and drinking, and from time to time venturing some rude joke, of more than questionable taste, on some woman who is passing, and who replies in the same strain, without being disturbed, and with- out any hesitation. As the evening advances the meal-time arrives. Then the restaurants are filled ; the counters are covered with attractive and choice eatables — the salmon of the Elbe, geese from Stettin, game stuffed with prunes, roast beef with pears, raw hams, and smoking pies are displayed on the refreshment-bars so as to be seen from without. The customer can judge of the resources of the establishment before he enters ; but there is no exquisite cookery, none of those choice sauces, the glory of French chefs , but quantity and solidity are substituted for delicacy and skill. When once they have taken their places the people all eat greedily, with their elbows on the table, without troubling themselves about the glances of strangers, who are very numerous at Hamburg, and who, seated by their side, are astonished to see them satisfying so unreservedly and so grossly their physical wants. They shock, though uncon- sciously, no doubt, all the instincts of elegance and delicacy of people of Latin race. They are stolid, heavy, and impolite ; their women are ignorant of the laws and resources of the toilette ; they know neither how to make a bed, nor prepare a HAMBURG . 2 37 dinner, and spoil the best things by mixing them in a manner contrary to all the rules of taste and reason ; they have no idea of self-restraint, so that they sometimes forget even the respect due to themselves. We have been often told that this arises from artlessness and simplicity. As for German simplicity, where shall we find it ? These people are utter roues ; we have seen them in their unguarded moments, alas ! In what does their simplicity consist ? In embracing each other ridiculously in public ? Or is it because they have more natural children than any other nation in Europe ? Or because they hoard the few crowns which they possess, and never give way to any sentiment which will not yield them either advantage or profit ? To-day we entered a school ; there were the maps on the walls, and we had no need to examine them, to know what country they represented. It was France, with its rivers, railways, and mountains. There were references to printed details of the nature of local productions, and information, respecting the means of communication and the obstacles which might present themselves. Opposite to these was a large map, showing the extent of the Empire of Germany, with the Duchies, Hanover, Saxony, Alsace, Lorraine, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, &c., &c. Looking at such a map, we are at once struck with the idea that Germany is not a nation, but an agglomeration of manv nationalities differing in their origin, their manners, and their religion. The only thing which they have in common is their language ; but, should a fortuitous event stop one of the wheels of this immense machine, the whole would fall to pieces, and instantly separate. Each country would rise against the master who has brought it under subjection, would resume its autonomy, and recover the position of which it had been deprived. Continuing our walk along the Alster quay, we saw on the right the new museum, built entirely of brick, which deserves notice on this account rather than because of its form. 2 3 8 GERMANY, The ground-floor (fig. 143) is composed of a central build- ing and two wings. A very fine staircase occupies the middle ; it is of a single flight, with a wide landing half-way, and seems a miniature of that of the senate hall at the Luxembourg. On the ground-floor are the sculptures and the curator’s apartments. On the first-floor, there is a large and beautiful room at the head of the stairs, then a smaller one, and a long side gallery. A fourth division, in three compart- ments, contains drawings' and engravings, light being admitted at the side. The whole of these rooms are not yet filled ; the Fig. 143. — Ground-plan of the Museum at Hamburg. works of art which they contain are but of secondary merit, but they are well arranged, and placed so as to be seen in the best possible manner. Those of greater importance are hung on hinges, which allow the light to be modified, and the position to be altered, according to the hour of the day. There are many seats, and the visitor may sit on a low and wide divan, without fatigue, and examine the picture opposite to him. Most of the paintings are works of that German school so well known in France by the specimens sent to our annual exhibitions ; but the effect produced is not the same when HAMBURG. 239 these paintings, instead of being lost in a crowd, are brought together so as to form a whole. The Genre pictures, so much admired by our neighbours, shock our ideas, because of the choice of subjects ; some of the details are too crude and too realistic for our refined taste. It was always a subject of astonishment to us to see how openly a German shows his preference for one subject' over another. Good taste is as unknown to him as reserve or delicacy. Thus, a group, composed of a husband, wife, and children, who wore the appearance of people moving in good society, were standing by our side convulsed with laughter, and were uttering loud exclamations before a picture representing a soldier too familiar with a servant girl. The most favourite subjects of the German artists are interiors, as we have before said ; the representation of the ordinary occurrences of citizen life, simple and sometimes trivial family scenes. Such subjects as these are unsuited to .the sculptor, so that works in this branch of art are rare. It is not adapted to the genius of the Germans, who only leave the trivialities of life when they lose themselves in the domain of a vague idealism, often difficult to be understood, and which sculpture, with its rigorous geometrical precision, is unable to reproduce. We have already said that the facade of the museum (fig. 144) is entirely built of bricks. These vary in form according to the position which they are to occupy ; thus the shafts of the columns are formed by four triangular bricks, united at the centre by a core filled with mortar, exactly in the manner that columns in the Forum of Pompeii, and many other ancient public buildings, were constructed. The bricks used as voussoirs are adapted to the form of the arch ; their upper part is wider than the lower, so as to allow the joints to be of the same thickness. Mouldings are formed of bricks ot special shape, the inconvenience of which perhaps is, that they have the same profiles as stone, without being able to show such clear and delicate edges. In the upper cornice 240 GERMANY. there are panels filled in with enamelled terra-cotta, orna- mented with designs in bright colours. Compartments, formed of bricks of various tints, fill the solid parts of the building, and tend to give it a heavy appearance. We feel that the conception is too laboured ; the niches filled with Fig. 144. — The Museum, Hamburg. unnecessary statues ; the combinations of balustrades and of cornices intended to conceal the roof show a striving - after effect, a certain embarrassment, and an exaggerated attempt to succeed, while it would have been easy to obtain a better result by the employment of more simple means, and the study of more pleasing proportions. HAMBURG. 241 The Gross-Alster is separated from the Binnen-Alster by a narrow neck of land, on which they have contrived to con- struct a road and a railway. This connects the Berlin line with that of Sleswig, and serves as a medium of communica- tion between different parts of Hamburg. It crosses, on a level, one of the frequented streets of the city, and yet there is no guard, no barrier placed there to prevent access. When one wishes to pass, he looks if the way is clear, raises a chain, replaces it, and goes on his way. A clock, placed by the side of a notice-board fixed to a post, gives all requisite in- formation, and the precise time of the arrival of the trains, so that large and heavily-laden vehicles, which move but slowly, may not pass the crossing without a certainty of having sufficient time. Each person is able thus to secure himself from danger. We do not manage matters so simply in France. After having traversed without inconvenience the level crossing before us, and passed along the causeway by the side of the Gross-Alster, we found ourselves before the general hospital, of which we wish to give a short description. Questions relating to the construction and internal arrange- ment of hospitals are at present of so great interest, that it will be useful to enter into some details and explanations respecting that at Hamburg, one of the largest establishments of the kind in Germany. In a notice issued by the authorities of the hospital, it is said : ‘ We have not here to do with a small establishment limited in its development, and containing but a few hundred beds, but with one of the first rank, organised for the purpose of affording public aid in an unlimited and more perfect manner, and capable of receiving, when necessary, as many as eighteen hundred patients.’ Among the hospitals recently erected, that at Hamburg has adopted, in the arrangement of its buildings, one of the forms most usually found in Germany, a quadrilateral, open on one side. Such is, at least, the character of the principal part of the structure ; for, since the fire of 1842, which brought R 242 GERMANY. to the hospital so large a number of victims, they determined to enlarge it ; and in 1848 they added to the original build- ing, and prolonged its fagade by two wings, which materially alter the general appearance of the establishment. The site occupied by the general hospital at Hamburg is by the side of the basin of the outer Alster. It covers a surface of about 64,585 square yards. It was begun towards the end of the year 1820, and finished three years afterwards. The expense of the works was 1,282,000 marks current (about 76,000/.) It is composed (fig. 145) of a central building, and of four annexes. The central part is raised two stories above the ground -floor ; the wings have only two, with attics above. Beneath the whole building there are vaulted rooms under- ground. On each side of the central building are carriage- entrances, from which staircases lead to the different parts of the establishment. The annexes are divided into two parts, the first of which extends along the front, and the second at right angles. Each extremity is terminated by a rect- angular building. The central courtyard is divided into two parts, intended for the patients of each sex. A wide passage crosses it, leading from the principal door of the official department, and ending at the surrounding moat. Behind the principal building, are situated on one side the anatomical hall, and on the other a kind of coach-house, in which the fire-engines are kept. At the side of the outer enclosure is a small building where woollen clothes are washed. The sick wards are of various dimensions, the smallest being in the rectangular portions at the extremity of the wings. These are allotted to patients who pay for lodging and attendance, and to isolated cases. Each of the ordinary wards, placed on the first-floor, is intended to receive twelve patients and a nurse. They are 38 feet long, 22 \ feet wide, and about J 2 feet 3 inches high ; each patient must there- fore have about 30 cubic yards of air, which is very in- sufficient. (See p. 14.) All these wards communicate with imuiii: Tiirumr .iiiiigL; : : co ; i d 'T'T'T'T'T' [*T r •5