Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 127.djvu/187

Rh  assembles; the widow, covered with a large black hood, sits at the foot of the corpse, and the religious service begins. When the preacher has ended, she bursts into a loud wail; the coffin is taken up, carried out of the ornamented door, and placed on a car, the widow seating herself on the coffin. Every peasant-woman cuts off her hair on her wedding-day, notwithstanding the remonstrances of her husband. Ornaments of all kinds are put on to cover up this act of vandalism; frontals of gold which are worth twenty or thirty pounds. The origin of this device is said to be, that the Dutch in former days loved the bottle too well, and the feast often terminated in violent quarrels, ending in a regular battle; and the women, wishing to save their heads from these conjugal attentions, adopted a metal helmet. This may be a doubtful interpretation; but it is certain that in many municipahties where conjugal scrimmaging was not unknown, it was the law to charge a husband who beat his wife with the payment of a ham, and two hams when the wife struck her husband.

Medemblik, the old capital of western Friesland, would be a charming city if animation could be restored to it, but is now like a vast cemetery; a mortal sadness creeps over the solitary traveller as he passes over deserted quays, wide streets, and promenades. Long before Enkhuizen and Hoorn existed, it sheltered kings and their armies. Here resided the famous King Radbod, whom Pepin and Charles Martel did their best to convert to the Christian religion by armies and lances. He even consented to be baptised, but when his foot was in the baptistery, he hesitated, and asked the bishop if the kings his ancestors were in heaven or hell. The bishop replied that they were doubtless in the latter place, seeing that they had not been baptised; then said the king: "I would rather go where my friends are, than follow the few that are in Paradise."

One by one the old houses are dropping to pieces; the walls are rent, and the centre of the town is alone inhabited. Formerly, it had the privilege of a mint; fleets were armed; and around its magnificent docks splendid buildings still exist, but are deserted. Black and white cows graze peacefully on the green, which is surrounded by the grandest building in Holland for the construction of ships, now empty; and the former garden belonging to the admiral, once containing the finest collection of plants in Europe, is planted with potatoes.

Unfortunately, the people do not care to preserve their relics. The Stadhuis possessed a remarkable hall, but the wood-carvings have been taken down, and sold to an amateur. The castle, one of the oldest in Holland, where Radbod held his court, has been partially demolished. The remains are very interesting; here was placed the statue of the Friesland goddess Medea, to whom human sacrifices were offered. As it was gilt, and the sun shone upon it, the city received its name from this circumstance — Medea blickt, or shines.

Among the other old towns, that of Kampen possesses many antiquities. Of its seven gates, the four best are still standing. The Brothers' Gate, in the midst of a lovely flower-garden, is one of the finest specimens of the architecture of the sixteenth century. It was named after the monastic order of the Brothers of Common Life, who did a good work in copying and preserving manuscripts. Gerard Groot was their founder, and they lived in absolute poverty, giving all they received to learned clerks who assisted them in their literary labours. There are some remarkably fine churches; but the gem of this old imperial city is the town-hall, which is a real feast to the eye of the artist. It has a façade of brick and stone, high roof pierced with dormer windows, and between every window are pinnacled niches filled with statues of the sixteenth century.

Within are two halls, just as they were when built; decorated with exquisite wood-carving and carved stalls, and seats fastened to the wall. Flags, pikes, halberds, partisans, witnesses to the struggles of old times, garnish the walls, and some formidable syringes of polished brass, shining like gold, which were used to throw boiling oil on assailants who approached too close to the walls. Nothing can give a better idea of a hall of justice in the sixteenth century than the second chamber, with its superb balustrade, stalls divided by Ionic columns, and the chimney-piece of four stages, unequalled in Europe for its fine statues and bas-reliefs.

Happily, the people have preserved their old municipal documents, instead of selling them for waste-paper; now they are priceless. A good library, pictures, and goldsmith's work, belonging to the ancient guilds, are interesting. There is a small gold box, called the bean-box, 