Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/51

 us. xii. JULY IT, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

night. There were 26 boats plying up and down : 13 from Haarlem and 13 from Amster- dam. They stayed for nobody, but put off every hour just as the clock finished striking.* Sir Wm. Brereton passed down the canal in 1634, soon after it was completed, and the fare seems to have been fixed at 5 stivers per man, 3 for the boat and 2 for tolls. b From Leyden to Haarlem a boat went daily, a -id the fare was the same. From Delft to the Hague, three English miles, the sains traveller paid 1 stiver per man. d On the busier water-ways, where the boats left at stated times, the actual fares per man were fixed, but for smaller boats and shorter passages the amount paid depended on the number of passengers. Thus for a short journey with 10 passengers the fare would be fixed at 3 stivers per man ; but if a fewer number of passengers were ready to

Eay the 30 stivers, the boat had to start. f, again, the boat carried more than 10 passengers, the fare would still be 3 stivers per man, and the profit would belong to the boatman.

Pepys took a schuit or drag -boat from the Hague to Delft, and was much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers. 6 He does not tell us what he paid, but he does tell us that on the return journey there was a pretty, sober Dutch lass in the boat, reading a book, upon whom ho unsuccessfully attempted to " fasten discourse."

It was not only to the sight-seeing traveller that this form, of travel appealed. The writer of 'A Late Voyage to Holland,' printed in the ' Harleian Miscellany,' recom- mends it as well to the man of affairs, for, says he, a man loses no time from his business by this easy way of travel, and can write, eat, or sleep as he goes. f There is not much information as to the sleeping accommoda- tion on the boats, but regular meals seem

I \V. Montague, ' Delights of Holland,' 1696, 69.

II 'Travels in England and the Low Countries, 1(5:54-5' (Chetham Soc., vol. i. p. 53). A stiver equalled about one penny in present-day English money.

c M,p.48.

d Brereton, * Travels,' 28. Fynes Moryson, who was in Holland in 1592 and 1595, paid 4 stivers for 3 miles, 6 stivers for 7 miles, and 8 stivers for 14 miles (' Itinerary,' 1908, iii. 469).

' 'Diary,' 1660, May 18. Between Rotterdam and Delft was a Lazar House by the water, and as the boat passed, the inmates were permitted to ask charity of the passengers, which was conveyed to them in a floating box (Evelyn, Globe ed., p. 12; Brereton, ' Travels,' 19).

f 'Harl. Misc.,' ii. 590.

to have been served on some of them. Evelyrt speaks of a very good ordinary he had with, excellent company on the 20 -mile canal between Brussels and Antwerp. This jour- ney, however, had its disadvantages owing to the number of locks and bridges encoun- tered en route, the lock gates being frequently closed and the bridges often too low for the boats to pass under, so that the passengers were continually changing boats. What with locks and bridges, Sir Thomas Browne's son Edward was turned out five times on this journey in 1668 a ; and Evelyn had a similar experience, though he mentions only bridges. b

Land travelling was performed in long, lumbering wagons with movable tops, in which the passengers sat on boards. They carried as many as ten passengers, and their discomfort was proverbial.' 1 If the traveller had luggage, his troubles were increased. The drivers did not enter the towns (for- fear of wearing out the brick pavements, according to Moryson), 6 but deposited the pas- sengers, luggage and all, outside the gates, so that the carriage of the luggage to and fro from the inns was a heavy charge on the traveller's purse. The Dutchmen drove like mad, and had an unpleasant habit of baiting their horses in and out of season.

"An old bawd," says one writer, "is easier - turned saint than a waggoner persuaded not to bait thrice in nine miles, and when he doth his horses must not stir, but have their manger brought them

into the way after which they hurry away, for

they ever drive as if they were all the sons of Nimshi, and were furiously either pursuing an enemy or flying from him."*

Evelyn drove from Dort to Rotter- dam (ten miles) in less than an hour.? The rates seem to have been easy, though heavier than by schuit, as the wagons held fewer passengers. From the Hague to Leyden, three Dutch miles, a three hours' journey, Sir Wm. Brereton in 1634 paid 12 stivers a man. h From Delft to the Hague, a two hours' journey, Fynes Moryson paid 2 stivers with others, and 7 stivers when alone. From Amsterdam to

a Ed. Browne's ' Travels ' (1687), 109.

b ' Diary ' (Globe ed.), 22.

c Moryson, ' Itinerary ' (1908), i. 107.

d " More pleasant than a Dutch Waggon."

Coryat, ' Crudities ' (Glasgow, 1905), i. 379.

e Moryson, ' Itinerary,' iii. 469.

f ' Harl. Misc.,' ii. 596.


 * ' Diary ' (Globe ed.), 11.

h Brereton,' Travels,' 38. Brereton gives many particulars of sums paid for wagons, but he seems- to have travelled privately.