History and Language
phantly give proud expression to the words, “Wien Ne'erlandsch bloed door d'aderen vloeit, van vreemde smetten vrij” (“Those in whose veins the Netherlands blood flows free from foreign taint”); for it is blood that has told in the past, tells in the present, and will assuredly continue to tell in the future. It has told against the Germanic races, the Romans, the Franks, the Danes, the Normans, and the Spaniards; in Java, Sumatra, the East and West Indies, New Netherland, Japan, Brazil, Guiana, the Cape of Good Hope, and New York; it has in days past worsted England on the sea, resisted the Grand Monarque, and at one time made of the Dutch one of the three Great Powers of the day.
It is generally believed that a knowledge of German will enable one to get on in Holland, but such is far from being the case. Although the Dutch and German
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