the opening of the play, Major Huser had killed Baron Van Bergen in a
duel. There was no personal enmity between the men,—indeed they were
intimate friends; it was only public opinion and a barbarous etiquette
that forced on this ending to a trifling dispute. Huser was
broken-hearted at the way it ended: he accepted the charge of Van
Bergen’s only son as a sacred trust; and when he died, shortly
afterwards, made his own son, Gustaaf, promise to be a friend to young
Van Bergen at any sacrifice. Van Bergen turned out wild and
dissipated, and Gustaaf redeemed his promise by taking on himself a
forgery committed by his friend when in desperate straits for lack of
money at the university. No one knew the truth of this affair but
himself, Van Bergen, and the latter’s worthless valet, Frans. The
proofs of the whole were contained in certain letters in Van Bergen’s
possession. Huser disappears from society, and is supposed to have
fled the country. As a matter of fact, he is getting his living as a
music-master, under the name of Holm, and as such he is introduced to
us in the play. His principal pupil is Caroline, daughter of a high
government official named Van Wachler,—a shrewd, honourable, and
upright man, of simple tastes, meeting with little sympathy from his
fashionable and affected wife, with her would-be French manners, and
the aristocratic connections she will not allow him to forget. Mevrouw
Van Wachler is young Van Bergen’s aunt, and exceedingly anxious to
marry her daughter to the scapegrace, who, for his part, is not
unwilling to accept such a way of escape from his embarrassments. Her
husband is less dazzled by the match, and declares his intention of
letting his daughter choose for herself. He questions her, and finds
that her affections are set on Holm. Holm, who has meanwhile awakened
to the fact that he is in love with Caroline, has made up his mind
that he must leave without a sign; but Van Wachler’s genial kindness
wins his secret from him, and, finding that the statesman respects him
for himself, and is willing to take his position and his past for
granted, and that all he has to do is, to consent to the engagement,
he can only shut his eyes for the moment, and accept the offered
happiness. In the second act, which, with a few unimportant
abridgments, is given entire in the text, General Van Weller, brother
to Mevrouw Van Wachler, and the elder Huser’s old friend and comrade,
returns from the Indies, determined to clear up the mystery of Gustaaf
Huser’s disappearance, and is unwittingly helped on to the right track
by Frans. In the third act, Holm and Van Bergen meet—the best side of
the latter comes uppermost, and he has a passing mood of repentance
and reconciliation. But Frans’ influence is too strong; he is
persuaded to take a base advantage of his rival, and tells the Van
Wachler family, in Holm’s presence, that the latter is not only
passing under a false name, but is an outlaw and a convicted felon.
Holm (who had previously made up his mind, for the sake of their old
friendship and his promise to his father, to renounce Caroline, in the
hope that her love—could he succeed in winning it—might save Van
Bergen) is stunned and driven to despair by this treacherous attack,
goes home to his lodgings, and is about to commit suicide, when he is
interrupted by a visit from a man whose children he saved from a fire
a year ago, and who has now brought them to see him. This man (Wolf)
discovers his purpose, and does not leave till he has persuaded him to
forego it. Scarcely has he gone, when Caroline comes in. She tells
Holm that she has come to bid him farewell, but that nothing that has
happened can make any possible difference to their love. If she may
not belong to him on earth, she will be his bride in the other life,
and wait for him there. So they part.
Van Wachler is full of indignation at the way in which he considers
himself to have been deceived by Holm, but Van Weller arrives in time
to explain everything,—tells the whole story, sends for Holm, or
Huser, and sees his old friend’s son triumphantly righted, while Van
Bergen retires in disgrace. (See _A Rascally Valet_, p. 65.)
Footnote 3:
Strictly speaking, “Dominie,” in Holland, is a title reserved for
ministers, the old-fashioned designation of the schoolmaster being
simply “Meester.” But as the former title has, with us, become
inseparably attached to the latter profession, it has been thought
best to use it as the translation of “Meester.”
Footnote 4:
Equivalent to the French _garde-champêtre_ and the German
_Feldschütz_,—an official who is something between a gamekeeper and a
policeman. His duty is to patrol the fields and orchards with a gun,
and see that nothing is stolen.
Footnote 5:
Readers of Motley will not need to be reminded that this was the name
of William the Silent’s murderer.
Footnote 6:
“Wethouders:” corresponding to the “selectmen” of a New England
village.
Footnote 7:
_Doe wel en zie niet om_ (Do well, and don’t look behind you), was the
motto of the Knights of the Union. King Louis of Holland (Napoleon
I.’s brother) was but an indifferent Dutch scholar, and the tradition
goes, that, having to preside at a chapter of the above Order, he was
provided with a French phonetic version of their motto, as follows:
_Doux lainsi nid d’homme_. With the aid of this guide to pronunciation
he is said to have acquitted himself all right; but on another
occasion he came to grief by describing himself as the “friend and
rabbit” (Konijn, _quasi koning_, king) of his audience.
Footnote 8:
The Dr Watts of Holland.
Footnote 9:
A society at Amsterdam, which, besides fulfilling the usual functions
of a club, holds picture exhibitions and gives concerts, and founded
the zoological gardens in that city (hence often referred to as
“Artis,” _tout court_), to which its members have free right of entry.
Membership in “Artis,” as implied in the text, is a trustworthy
guarantee of respectability.
Footnote 10:
The hierarchy of Dutch etiquette is as follows, beginning from
above:—_Mevrouw_, _Juffrouw_, _Vrouw_.
Footnote 11:
_I.e._, confirmation.
Footnote 12:
Erroneously so. For, even though this is _not_ humour, it is quite
true that jokes of this sort are given out as such; and Master
Pennewip’s question can only have referred to this. The wig’s doubts
are therefore unfounded, and I would recommend to it the attentive
perusal of Professor Oosterzee’s treatise, “De Sceptici mo caute
Vitando.”
Footnote 13:
Two outlying districts of Amsterdam.
Footnote 14:
“_L’eau de reine_,” _i.e._, “eau de la reine de Hongrie,” known in
England as “Hungary water,” a fashionable perfume and restorative when
eau de Cologne as yet was not. Dutch ladies used to take it to church
with them instead of smelling-salts. Juffrouw Pieterse’s version of
the word is pronounced as spelt, the _y_ being long like that in the
English word _my_.
Footnote 15:
Intended for “marchand de parapluies.” The words in the above form
were the refrain of a favourite Amsterdam street song some seventy
years since.
Footnote 16:
The official known in a Dutch church as _Kerkmeester_ combines in
himself functions analogous to those of the English clerk and
churchwarden, or the Scottish beadle and precentor.
Footnote 17:
The Nes is a low part of Amsterdam, full of taverns and music-halls of
the worst description.
Footnote 18:
20 stivers = 1 florin = 1s. 8d.
Footnote 19:
5 stivers.
Footnote 20:
Two Leyden theological professors in the early part of this century.
Footnote 21:
The “Authorised Version” of Holland, published by order of the States
General, and in consequence of a resolution of the Synod of Dort, in
1610. It was completed in 1634.
Footnote 22:
“Rederijkers” (_i.e._, “rhetorikers”) Kamer is the name given to the
literary societies which still flourish at the Dutch universities. The
name has come down from the fifteenth century, and the most famous
societies were those of “In Liefde Bloeiende” and “De Eglantier,”
further reference to which will be found in the Introduction.
Footnote 23:
There are two provinces of Limburg; one of them being part of Belgium,
the other of the Netherlands. In the latter (which is the one meant
here) the people are Romanists and call themselves Flemings, not
Hollanders.
Footnote 24:
Fourth part of a _stuiver_.
Footnote 25:
This story appears to have several morals, the reader being left free
to choose the one most in accordance with his own views. The author
himself is strictly impartial. Perhaps the most obvious is, that it is
not good to match your wits against those of the Roman Catholic
clergy, unless you have capital to back your opposition, and not
always even then. M. Seipgens does not obtrude his own views, and we
are not quite sure whether the conclusion is meant to be serious and
edifying, or whether there is an underlying _pointe d’ironie_. The
story gives a lively picture of life and manners in the Limburg
district, that picturesque and little known region which, though part
of Holland, is in some respects so un-Dutch. The language spoken there
is less like Dutch proper than some broad and harsh dialect of German,
such as they speak about Cologne. After some hesitation between the
two, we have given this sketch of Seipgens’ in preference to “Kobus
Mulders’ Vote,”—which also turns on politics and clerical influence,
and is, in some respects, more characteristic; but the crisis—when
Mulders and his family are cut off by the flood—comes too near tragedy
for such a book as this.
Footnote 26:
The scene of this play is laid on what is now the frontier between
Holland and Belgium,—the time is 1830,—when the southern provinces of
the Kingdom of Holland revolted. The Liberal (French) party allied
itself with the Clerical Ultramontanes against the Government, and the
news of the Paris Revolution precipitated the outbreak of a riot at
Brussels (August 25), which soon spread over the country.
Footnote 27:
This is an allusion to one Kissels, who had been getting his living by
exhibiting a whale’s skeleton at Amsterdam, and joined the Belgian
side on the outbreak of the war.
Footnote 28:
A Flemish expletive.
Footnote 29:
“Up with Orange!” the Dutch national war-cry.
Footnote 30:
_I.e._, is born to be hanged. The site of the gallows is the
_Rabenstein_ in old German ballads.
Footnote 31:
“Grease” here has the sense of what is figuratively called “palm-oil.”
Footnote 32:
An illustration of comfortable, “Philistine” selfishness. The pumping
is supposed to be going on either on board a leaking vessel, or at a
break in the dykes.
Footnote 33:
_I.e._, cotton and pepper.
Footnote 34:
This is puzzling at first sight, but apparently is a comparison
between the three nations in point of foresight and prudence,—the
knife standing for anything needed in case of emergencies. The
Hollander is always prepared, the Frenchman never, the Scot makes
assurance doubly sure.
Footnote 35:
Another uncomplimentary proverb has it that the Portuguese apprentice
wants to cut out clothes before he knows how to sew.
Footnote 36:
Lit. “Madam my consort.”
Footnote 37:
This marriage would be legal in Holland.
Footnote 38:
Two-wheeled trap or dogcart (a Malay word).
Footnote 39:
Chinese trader.
Footnote 40:
_Kabaja_ is a long loose jacket, and _sarong_ the Malay petticoat,
forming the usual morning dress of Dutch ladies in the Indies.
Footnote 41:
_Njo_ is the Malay title given to the eldest boy in a family (like
_baba_ in Hindustani); for a girl it is _Nonnie_.
Footnote 42:
“No.”
Footnote 43:
_Sambal_ answers to the curry of British India, and is as various in
its composition.
Footnote 44:
Broth.
Footnote 45:
The Javanese equivalent to “ayah.”
Footnote 46:
_See_ Introduction.
Footnote 47:
She was Everdine Huberte, Baroness Wynbergen, a portionless orphan of
good family, whose property, seized by rapacious relatives, afterwards
cost him a series of lawsuits. Having picked up a lady’s handkerchief
at a ball, he chose to interpret the initials worked on it as “Eigen
Heard Wel Waard” (“A hearth of one’s own is worth much”) and at once
declared his intention of finding and marrying the owner. She is the
_Tine_ of “Max Havelaar.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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