Things Seen in Holland
nickendam, to name one small town specially, with its quaintly and many-gabled little homes, fronted with medieval bas-reliefs, its tower with a graceful campanile in the Spanish style, crowned with an open belfry, from which, when the hour is struck, steps out a manikin sounding a trumpet, and followed by a cavalcade of puppets; art in the picture presented to you at Hoorn, as you sail into its pleasing harbour, at the end of which arises the famed Water-Tower; art even in the post-offices, gaudily ornamented with the coloured escutcheon of Orange, with its proud device, Je maintiendrai, embodying a perpetual promise; art at the side of the humblest fireplace, which, like the French foyer, is the centre, not only of social life, but also of domestic art, ornamented as it is with its blue and white tiles, illustrative of Scripture history or
140