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HISTORICAL ANECDOTES OF SCHEVELING.

their provinces with fire and sword. From this beach too the Stadtholder, his son the hereditary prince, and two or three Dutch noblemen attached to the prostrate fortunes of the house of Orange, embarked when they fled to England: the vessel they sailed in was a small fishing cutter, navigated by five men; the princesses took their departure in a similar conveyance the day before.

Another interesting event also is recorded as having occurred off this coast, by Bishop Burnet, who in the History of his Own Times thus relates this marvellous circumstance: "There was one extraordinary thing hap

pened near the Hague this summer (1672); I had it "from many eye-witnesses, and no doubt was made of "the truth of it by any at the Hague. Soon after the English fleet had refitted themselves, they appeared in

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sight of Scheveling, making up to the shore. The tide "turned, but they reckoned that with the next flood they "could certainly land the forces that were on board, "where they were like to meet with no resistance. The "States sent to the prince for some regiments to hinder "the descent. He could not spare many men, having "the French near him: so between the two, the country was given up for lost unless De Ruyter should quickly << come up. The flood returned, which the people thought

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was to end in their ruin; but to all their amazement,

ANECDOTE OF LORD NELSON.

171 "after it had flowed two or three hours, an ebb of many "hours succeeded, which carried the fleet again to sea; "and before that was spent, De Ruyter came in view. "This they reckoned a miracle wrought for their preser"vation." It is also a curious circumstance that the reverse of this extraordinary effort of nature enabled the immortal Nelson to lay his fleet so as to bear upon the batteries by which the capital of Denmark was protected. The tide had never been known, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Copenhagen, to have risen so high as on the day when the battle first commenced, and greatly contributed to his success in persuading the gallant Danes that they were beaten.

De Ruyter, the Nelson of the Dutch, was distinguished for the boldness of his designs and the celerity of his execution. In 1653, with Van Tromp, he commanded the Dutch fleet against this country with the greatest honor to his flag. The Moors presented him with a Barbary horse, magnificently caparisoned, for his gallantly reaching his destined port in the Salee roads, and for capturing five powerful Algerine corsairs. The celebrated Vice-admiral d'Estrés said of him in a letter to Colbert, on account of his noble conduct in those hard-fought engagements between the English, Dutch, and French fleets off the Texel,

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"I should be very willing to purchase with my life the glory which Ruyter has acquired in these desperate actions."

On our return we met groupes of little girls, whose short petticoats, and protuberances on all sides, looked very grotesque. Many of the Dutch girls of the lower order wear twenty or thirty yards of flannel tied round their hips. In the village is a pauper house for the poor and aged, founded in 1614. On a week day, the road from Scheveling is more characteristically gay, being covered with fishwomen running and singing to the Hague, under loads of soles, cod, turbot, &c. to which place I returned, highly delighted with my excursion. In the neighbourhood of that city are several fine flower-gardens. The passion of the Dutch for flowers is well known. M. Dutens, in his very entertaining and interesting Memoirs of a Traveller in Retirement; says, that at the kermes or fair held at the Hague in the month of May, "I was wit"ness to a circumstance I could not otherwise have be'lieved, respecting the price of flowers in Holland; I saw "four hundred and seventy-five guineas offered and re"fused for a hyacinth. It was to be sure the most charming flower that ever was seen: it belonged to a florist at Haerlem, and another florist offered this price for it. The

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DUTCH PASSION FOR FLOWERS.

173 reason which the owner gave me for refusing the offer was, that his hyacinth was known to all the amateurs of "Europe, and that he sold the bulbs every year for more " than the interest of five hundred guineas. These bulbs produced the same sort of flower in all its beauty." This singular passion has not subsided: at Haerlem fine narcissuses and jonquils sell for an immense price, and parties are made every summer to visit the roses, which grow in great perfection at Noordwyk.

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Upon our return to the Hague, we visited a palace of the ci-devant hereditary Prince of Orange; it forms three sides of an oblong square towards the street; it was converting into a public office; behind are some pretty gardens, one of which is less formal than Dutch gardens in general. I concluded the day by walking round a great part of the town, the whole of which is surrounded with avenues of trees, similar to, but not so fine as the boulevards of Rouen. In the fish-market, the next day, I saw several storks, who were parading about in perfect security, of which they seemed to be thoroughly satisfied, and were every now and then regaled by the offal of the fish, The prejudices of the people have consecrated these birds, on account of their being considered as the gardes du corps of republican liberty. The Greeks and Romans regarded

them with peculiar veneration; and in Thessaly the destroyer of one was punished with exile. No animal but this discovers any token of fondness for the authors of its existence after it has attained strength and discrimination sufficient to provide for itself. The stork is well known to evince an exemplary regard for its aged parents, whom it defends from attack, and furnishes with food; and well did it deserve the Roman appellation of " pia avis." The Dutch frequently erect frames of wood upon the tops of their houses to encourage these their favourite birds to build their nests there. Perhaps another reason why these birds are so much cherished is that, which renders them popular in Germany, namely, on account of their quick perception of fire, and the noise they make when it takes place. If the Dutch really believed that the storks could exist only in a pure republic, they must for some time past have renounced their credulity, for these birds have survived the visits of the French, and seem to have no objection to be enrolled amongst the subjects of the new King. It is said that they assemble at certain periods and hold consultations. Certain it is that the crows in England frequently meet with all the appearance of a deliberative body. A gentleman of distinguished talents and veracity assured me, that he once observed a vast body of crows assembled near his country house, that after making a great deal of noise, one of them moved slowly into the