Hague

“ At the Hague, the basin in the middle of the city, near the Binnenhof, is invaded by a crowd of people who elbow each other and press and mingle as if they were all seized with dizziness; the flower of the aristocracy skates on a basin in the midst of the wood; and there, altogether in the snow, glide officers, ladies, deputies, students, old men, boys, and sometimes among them the hereditary prince, and around gathers a throng of spectators ”

“ At the Hague, whether in the intercourse of the courtly personages, or in the calm enjoyment of beautiful scenery and rural diversions, no thought but of the present appeared ever to intrude upon the memory of one, since her earliest years, accustomed to sway the audiences of every capital, as if it were with the wand of an enchanter—the crowds alternately hushed to dead silence—a moment later excited to the loudest and most enthusiastic applause. ”

“ The person who formerly conducted the Parliament of England, with so much honour to himself and satisfaction to his guests, was an Englishman; but he retired from business shortly after the expulsion of the stadtholder, and the consequent removal of British subjects from the Hague. His successor, with every possible disposition to gratify those who frequent his house, has not the ability; for, alas! the Hague is no longer the resort of the wealthy and luxurious from all parts of Europe, and by such guests alone is an inn to be maintained in splendour. ”

“ The Hague is the place in the world for a motley assembly, and, in some humours, I think such the most agreeable.
After coffee I strayed to the great wood, which, considering that it almost touches the town with its boughs, is wonderfully forest-like. Not a branch being ever permitted to be lopped, the oaks and beeches retain their natural luxuriance, and form some of the most picturesque groups conceivable. In some places their straight boles rise sixty feet without a bough; in others, they are bent fantastically over the alleys, which turn and wind about just as a painter would desire. ”

“ Geographers and travellers have persisted in calling the Hague a village, because it is not surrounded with walls or fortifications, which are necessary in their opinions to constitute a town or a city; but probably it is indebted for this humble appellation to the signification of its name in the Dutch language, s' Graven Haag, or the Count's Hedge, it forming some centuries ago a part of the domains of the counts of Holland. ”

“ The Hague, which is called a Village, because ’tis not inclosed, and sends no Deputies to the Assembly of the States of the Province, is nevertheless a better Place than many great Cities which have that Privilege, and is certainly one of the finest in Europe. ”

“ The Hague and Scheveningen A Dutch saw has it that you “make your fortune in Rotterdam, consolidate it in Amsterdam, and spend it at The Hague.” I am not so sure about the veracity of the first two clauses, but you can certainly spend it at The Hague.
The Hague is at once the most beautiful and the most expensive city in Holland. It is the Paris, the Washington, the Berlin of the Netherlands all in one. Like Paris, it is so overflowing with history and art that it would take a small book to tell of it all in detail ”

“ Wearily the horse now jogged along the Bezuidenhout; and she saw poor Bertha's house, with its tightly-drawn veil of chill panes stiff and repelling a swift penetrating glance.... Yes, the Hague was like a grave to her; and yet even as a grave the Hague was dear to her. A grave? And Addie lived down there, at the end of the street!... Would she still care to live in the Hague? ”

“ Beauty is a rare flower here as everywhere; but in one turn about the wood of the Hague, I saw more pretty women than I had seen in all the picture galleries in Holland. There is not among these ladies either the sculpturesque beauty of the Roman, nor the brilliant complexion of the Englishwoman, nor the vivacity of expression of the Andalusian ”

“ Count de Hompesch, General of the States Cavalry,400 have Lodgings there. I could name several other Houses of Consequence to you, which I pass over in Silence, for fear of swelling my Letter with Things that are needless.
The Situation of the Hague is very different from that of the other Towns of this Province, and in its Neighbourhood there’s every Thing that forms a fine Landskip. Every Inlet into the Place is by fine Avenues paved With Bricks. There is not a better Road than that which leads to Scheveling, a Village on the Sea Shore, a League from the Hague. ”

“ Go any time of the day into the Mauritshuis at The Hague and you will always discover a crowd before that clumsy, stupid bull with the wooden legs, by no means Paul Potter's masterpiece, while the gem of The Hague gallery, the View of Delft, with its rich pâte, its flowing rhythms, its clear daylight, seldom draws a large audience. ”

“ As the seat of the executive government, and of the representative bodies, the Hague enjoys advantages which other towns of the republic do not possess; but these advantages are vastly inferior to the benefits which it derived from the stadtholder and his court, and most persons, even republicans, sorrowfully complain of its striking and rapid decay. ”

“ But as it has less of historical interest, we pass it by, to spend a day at the Hague, which is the residence of the Court, and of course the seat of rank and fashion in the little kingdom. It is a pretty place, with open squares and parks, long avenues of stately trees, and many beautiful residences. We received a good impression of it in these respects on the evening of our arrival, as we took a carriage and drove to Scheveningen, two or three miles distant on the sea-shore, which is the great resort of Dutch fashion. ”

“ And, although numbers of Germans, Swedes and Englishmen set out for the Forest of Fontainebleau to catch something of the spirit of the Barbizon masters and sat by the edge of the ponds at Ville-d'Avray, seeking for the genius of Corot, or came to Holland to study the old and new landscape-painters, the essence of the national art of the country remained as foreign to them as the land itself and the race.
The Hague masters did not at once achieve their complicated solutions of light, their breadth of view, their masterliness of touch. ”

“ Although not a seaport, it is more cosmopolitan than Amsterdam, the Dutch city par excellence. The Hague's aspirations are modern, and Dutch traditions are to its citizens a negligible quantity; it is striving to fall in with modern Europe. It is a beautiful city, with its wide streets and well-shaded avenues. Its houses have a characteristic feature in their artistic balconies, and bear an imprint of aristocracy; its citizens are prone to display a certain amount of morgue, and to consider themselves vastly superior to the rest of the Dutch nation. ”

“ The Hague is the best Place in Europe for a Foreigner to make a good Acquaintance with the greatest Ease, because of the many Societies or Assemblies, public Spectacles and Walks. If a Person appears ever so little in public, he is presently known. The Houses that are most open to Company, and where the most distinguished Persons of both Sexes at this Place are to be seen, are those of my Lady Albemarle, M. de Keppel, and the Count de Welderen. ”

“ Elegance and beauty of form we mustn't look for: but I found myself surrounded by it in The Hague. There were streets of tall, brown palaces, far finer than the royal dwelling which Robert pointed out; the shops made me long to spring from the car and spend every penny set apart for the tour; the Binnenhof—that sinister theater of Dutch history—with its strangely grouped towers and palaces, and its huge squares, made me feel an insignificant insect with no right to opinions of any kind ”

“ I see them around me with pleasure. Let them bear to their fellow-citizens the assurance of my solicitude and affection: let them carry the same testimony of these sentiments to Amsterdam; that city, which is the honour of commerce, and of the country: that city, which I wish to call my good and faithful capital, though the Hague will always remain the residence of the sovereign. Let them also carry the same assurances to their fellow-citizens, and the deputies of that neighbouring city, the prosperity of which I hope very soon to renew, and whose inhabitants I distinguish. ”

“ The Hague is the political capital of Holland, and in some ways the most beautiful and interesting of all Dutch cities. It is a most cosmopolitan town, and its population includes many distinguished people. Among the cities of Holland, The Hague leads in culture and refinement, as Amsterdam and Rotterdam do in commerce. It is, moreover, the most attractive city. In neatness and in cleanliness it is claimed that The Hague cannot be excelled by any city in the world. ”

“ His training, like Thérèse Schwartze's, was quite foreign to the ideas existing at the Hague. And he excels rather as an academic draughtsman than as a powerful painter, so that it would appear as if the building up of a head or the oudine of a hand never cost him the slightest trouble. ”

“ But in the midst of the warring diplomatists at The Hague one could discover none of that glow, that fervour of devotion to peace, which distinguished the early Quakers and is still felt among a few fine enthusiasts. The first duty imposed upon every representative at The Hague was to get everyone to do as much as possible for peace, except himself. It is not so that the world is moved. ”

“ I have spoken of the French operettas and comedies. At the Hague not only the plays are French, but public life as well. Rotterdam has an English imprint, Amsterdam is German, and the Hague Parisian. So it may truthfully be said that the citizens of the large Dutch towns unite and temper the good qualities and the defects of the three great neighboring nations. At the Hague in many families of the best society they speak French altogether; in others they affect French expressions, as is done in some of the northern towns of Italy. ”

“ The characteristics of the town are quite in keeping with its political position; it is as handsome as it is fashionable, and was rightly described by de Amicis in his Olanda as half Dutch, half French. The Hague has grown very largely in modern times, especially on its western side, which is situated on the higher and more sandy soil, the south-eastern half of the town comprising the poorer and the business quarters. The main features in a plan of the town are its fine streets and houses and extensive avenues and well-planted squares ”

“ Israëls came to the Hague in 1869, from Amsterdam, as "a made man," although his greatest and most philosophical works were yet to come; Mesdag came in the same year, after achieving his first successes in Brussels; Mauve arrived in 1870; Weissenbruch was a native of the Hague; Bisschop, the Frisian, was living there as a young painter; Jacob Maris returned to the Hague in 1871, after the Paris Commune, and Artz a few years later. Albert and Jozef Neuhuys moved to the Hague from Utrecht in 1875; Gabriël from Brussels in 1884 ”

“ Hence, so far as political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent. Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht, and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says, 'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to social intercourse at The Hague. ”

“ The Hague—in Dutch, s'Gravenhage, or s'Hage—the political capital, the Washington of Holland, Amsterdam being the New York—is a city half Dutch and half French, with broad streets and no canals; vast squares full of trees, elegant houses, splendid hotels, and a population mostly made up of the rich, nobles, officials, artists, and literati, the populace being of a more refined order than that of the other Dutch cities. ”

“ The czar continued three months in Holland, during which he passed his time in matters of a [Pg 266] more serious nature than the adventure just related. Since the treaties of Nimeguen, Ryswic, and Utrecht, the Hague had preserved the reputation of being the centre of negotiations in Europe. This little city, or rather village, the most pleasant of any in the North, is chiefly inhabited by foreign ministers, and by travellers, who come for instruction to this great school. ”

“ The States General, as well as those of this Province, assemble here, and ’tis the Place of Residence for the foreign Ministers. Heretofore the Counts of Holland lived here. Since the Establishment of the Republic, the Stadtholders have kept their Court here; and the Hague, as much a Village as it is, may be reckoned for the Capital of the whole United Provinces. The Inhabitants are more genteel, more sociable, and in every respect more conversable than in the other Parts of Holland. The Nobility here are esteemed, and Merit does not go for nothing. ”

“ And then they land at the Hague; some 'nasty Dutchmen' come on board to offer their boats, and get money, which Pepys does not like; and in time they find themselves in the Hague, 'a most neat place in all respects:' salute the Queen of Bohemia and the Prince of Orange—afterwards William III.—and find at their place of supper nothing but a 'sallet' and two or three bones of mutton provided for ten of us, 'which was very strange. ”

“ His own idea is, that I should go to 213 the Hague in some week, when there is a President whose sentiments and disposition are favorable, and demand an answer to my former proposition, and afterwards, that I should go round to the cities of Holland, and apply to the several Regencies.
He thinks that I may now assume a higher tone, which the late Cornwallization will well warrant. I shall, however, take care not to advance too fast, so as to be unable to retreat. His advice is, to go to the Hague tomorrow, and meet the gentlemen who wish to see me there; this I shall do. ”