century. It has two curved brackets which are adjustable, as will
be seen by the hinged attachments in the illustration. The height
is 18-1/4 inches and the width, from bracket to bracket, is 12-1/8
inches. Another old-fashioned object used for lighting is the brass
lantern with arched top (page 148). All the three windows are
surrounded by a border of floral openwork, very finely pierced with
a pattern common to the eighteenth century. The fourth side, forming
the back, has a panel in the centre.
The cover of the warming-pan, given on page 147, furnishes an excellent
specimen of perforated and engraved brasswork. The central figures
represent Venus and Cupid, while interwoven with the strap and foliated
ornaments are grotesque figures, beasts and birds. Each little part
of the design is engraved, and around the outer margin of the pan
is a Dutch inscription which embodies the date of 1602. Further
well-executed piercing and engraving, but of a later date than the
above, appear on the tea-caddy here illustrated (page 148). This
latter object is 6 inches high and 4 inches wide. The pastille-burner
(page 148) is made wholly of brass. Upon the baluster stem and circular
base are rococo designs beaten-up in relief. Made of wickerwork, the
coffer reproduced on page 147 is adorned with handsomely shaped and
perforated brass mounts that extend around it.
The corridor at Hoorn (page 149) belongs to the seventeenth century. It
has a timber roof springing from the two side-walls in the form of a
barrel-vault. Upon the concave surface are longitudinal and transverse
ribs whose intersections are emphasised by carved bosses. The vault is
supported at each side by decorated wooden brackets. Another detail
associated with a place of access is the wrought-iron railing from
Zierikzee (page 146).
And lastly, three typical village interiors are given. Two, from
Volendam (above) and Marken (page 151), have simple fireplaces faced
with ordinary blue and white Dutch tiles. Another shows a room in
a wooden house at Marken (page 152), the timbering of the walls
being visible.
But it is the old towns of Holland, rather than the villages, that
hold the charms for those who sojourn in that fascinating country;
towns rich in associations that unbrokenly date back to a buried and
untraceable antiquity. In them history has been made. There stand
the old and sober gabled buildings, silent monuments to the thoughts,
ideals and ambitions of those who built them. And, clustering around
the market-places where life yet centres as it did in days gone by,
or reflected in still waters, the houses keep their secrets well.
Sydney R. Jones.
NOTE
[1] "Biographical Sketches of Dutch Architects."--MSS. by
J. B. Weenink.
End of Project Gutenberg's Old Houses in Holland, by Sydney R. Jones