Wien Neerlandsch bloed in de aderen vloeit,
      Van vreemde smetten vrij,
    Wiens hart voor land en Koning gloeit,
      Verhef den sang als wij: 
    Hij stel met ons, vereend van zin,
      Met onbeklemde borst,
    Het godgevallig feestlied in
      Voor Vaderland en Vorst.

These are brave words.  A very pedestrian translation runs thus:—­

    Who Ne’erland’s blood feel nobly flow,
      From foreign tainture free,
    Whose hearts for king and country glow,
      Come, raise the song as we: 
    With breasts serene, and spirits gay,
      In holy union sing
    The soul-inspiring festal lay,
      For Fatherland and King.

And now a specimen of really mellifluous Dutch.  “How would you like,” is the timely question of a daily paper this morning, as I finish this chapter, “to be hit by a ‘snellpaardelooszoondeerspoorwegpitroolrijtung?’ That is what would happen to you if you were run down by a motor-car in Holland.  The name comes from ‘snell,’ rapid; ‘paardeloos,’ horseless; ‘zoondeerspoorweg,’ without rails; ‘pitroolrijtung,’ driven by petroleum.  Only a Dutchman can pronounce it.”

Let me spice this chapter by selecting from the pages of proverbs in Dutch and English a few which seem to me most excellent.  No nation has bad proverbs; the Dutch have some very good ones.

Many cows, much trouble.

Even hares pull a lion by the beard when he is old.

Men can bear all things, except good days.

The best pilots are ashore.

Velvet and silk are strange herbs:  they blow the fire out of the kitchen.

It is easy to make a good fire of another’s turf.

It is good cutting large girths of another man’s leather.

High trees give more shadow than fruit.

An old hunter delighteth to hear of hunting.

It hath soon rained enough in a wet pool.

God giveth the fowls meat, but they must fly for it.

An idle person is the devil’s pillow.

No hen so witty but she layeth one egg lost in the nettles.

It happeneth sometimes that a good seaman falls overboard.

He is wise that is always wise.

When every one sweeps before his own house, then are the streets clean.

It is profitable for a man to end his life, before he die.

Before thou trust a friend eat a peck of salt with him.

It’s bad catching hares with drums.

The pastor and sexton seldom agree.

No crown cureth headache.

There is nothing that sooner dryeth up than a tear.

Land purchase and good marriage happen not every day.

When old dogs bark it is time to look out.

Of early breakfast and late marriage men get not lightly the headache.

Ride on, but look about.

Nothing in haste, but to catch fleas.