Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.
More impressive than the size of the silently protesting crowd was the orderliness and simplicity with which it was dispersed. Assured that Hinton had received the proper care, Malcolm approached the crowd, raised his arm, and gave a signal. One bystander described it as “eerie, because these people just faded into the night. It was the most orderly movement of four thousand to five thousand people I’ve ever seen in my life—they just simply disappeared—right before our eyes.” Malcolm’s silent command also left a strong impression on the New York City police. The chief inspector at the scene turned to Amsterdam News reporter James Hicks and said, “No one man should have that much power.”2
I did cancel one performance in Holland where they thought my music was so easy that they didn't rehearse at all. And so the first time when I found that out, I rehearsed the orchestra myself in front of the audience of 3,000 people and the next day I rehearsed through the second movement -- this was the piece _Cheap Imitation_ -- and they then were ashamed. The Dutch people were ashamed and they invited me to come to the Holland festival and they promised to rehearse. And when I got to Amsterdam they had changed the orchestra, and again, they hadn't rehearsed. So they were no more prepared the second time than they had been the first. I gave them a lecture and told them to cancel the performance; they then said over the radio that i had insisted on their cancelling the performance because they were "insufficiently Zen." Can you believe it? -- composer John Cage, "Electronic Musician" magazine, March 88, pg. 89
"We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds." (Linus Torvalds about the superiority of Linux on the Amsterdam</p> Linux Symposium)
We all know Linux is great... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds. - Linus Torvalds about the superiority of Linux on the Amsterdam</p> Linux Symposium
During my researches in the Leviathanic histories, I stumbled upon an ancient Dutch volume, which, by the musty whaling smell of it, I knew must be about whalers. The title was, "Dan Coopman," wherefore I concluded that this must be the invaluable memoirs of some Amsterdam cooper in the fishery, as every whale ship must carry its cooper. I was reinforced in this opinion by seeing that it was the production of one "Fitz Swackhammer." But my friend Dr. Snodhead, a very learned man, professor of Low Dutch and High German in the college of Santa Claus and St. Pott's, to whom I handed the work for translation, giving him a box of sperm candles for his trouble--this same Dr. Snodhead, so soon as he spied the book, assured me that "Dan Coopman" did not mean "The Cooper," but "The Merchant." In short, this ancient and learned Low Dutch book treated of the commerce of Holland; and, among other subjects, contained a very interesting account of its whale fishery. And in this chapter it was, headed, "Smeer," or "Fat," that I found a long detailed list of the outfits for the larders and cellars of 180 sail of Dutch whalemen; from which list, as translated by Dr. Snodhead, I transcribe the following:
DUTCH SAILOR. Grand snoozing to-night, maty; fat night for that. I mark this in our old Mogul's wine; it's quite as deadening to some as filliping to others. We sing; they sleep--aye, lie down there, like ground-tier butts. At 'em again! There, take this copper-pump, and hail 'em through it. Tell 'em to avast dreaming of their lasses. Tell 'em it's the resurrection; they must kiss their last, and come to judgment. That's the way--THAT'S it; thy throat ain't spoiled with eating Amsterdam butter.
The fact is, that among his hunters at least, the whale would by all hands be considered a noble dish, were there not so much of him; but when you come to sit down before a meat-pie nearly one hundred feet long, it takes away your appetite. Only the most unprejudiced of men like Stubb, nowadays partake of cooked whales; but the Esquimaux are not so fastidious. We all know how they live upon whales, and have rare old vintages of prime old train oil. Zogranda, one of their most famous doctors, recommends strips of blubber for infants, as being exceedingly juicy and nourishing. And this reminds me that certain Englishmen, who long ago were accidentally left in Greenland by a whaling vessel--that these men actually lived for several months on the mouldy scraps of whales which had been left ashore after trying out the blubber. Among the Dutch whalemen these scraps are called "fritters"; which, indeed, they greatly resemble, being brown and crisp, and smelling something like old Amsterdam housewives' dough-nuts or oly-cooks, when fresh. They have such an eatable look that the most self-denying stranger can hardly keep his hands off.
_Justice._--The administration of justice is entrusted (1) to the high council (_hooge raad_) at the Hague, the supreme court of the whole kingdom, and the tribunal for all high government officials and for the members of the states-general; (2) to the five courts of justice established at Amsterdam, the Hague, Arnhem, Leeuwarden and 's Hertogenbosch; (3) to tribunals established in each arrondissement; (4) to cantonal judges appointed over a group of communes, whose jurisdiction is restricted to claims of small amount (under 200 guilders), and to breaches of police regulations, and who at the same time look after the interest of minors. The high council is composed of 12 to 14 councillors, a procureur-general and three advocates-general. Criminal and correctional procedure were formerly divided between the courts of justice and the arrondissement tribunals; but this distinction was suppressed by the penal code of 1886, thereby increasing the importance of the arrondissement courts, which also act as court of appeal of the cantonal courts. Entry: HOLLAND
Besides the dunes the only hilly regions of Holland are the southern half of the province of Limburg, the neighbourhood of Nijmwegen, the hills of Utrecht, including the Gooi hills, the Veluwe region in Gelderland, the isolated hills in the middle and east of Overysel and the Hondsrug range in Drente. The remainder of the country is flat, and shows a regular downward slope from south-east to north-west, in which direction the rivers mainly flow. The elevation of the surface of the country ranges between the extreme height of 1057 ft. near Vaals in the farthest corner of Limburg, and 16-20 ft. below the Amsterdam zero[2] in some of the drained lands in the western half of the country. In fact, one quarter of the whole kingdom, consisting of the provinces of North and South Holland, the western portion of Utrecht as far as the Vaart Rhine, Zeeland, except the southern part of Zeeland-Flanders, and the north-west part of North Brabant, lies below the Amsterdam zero; and altogether 38% of the country, or all that part lying west of a line drawn through Groningen, Utrecht and Antwerp, lies within one metre above the Amsterdam zero and would be submerged if the sea broke down the barrier of dunes and dikes. This difference between the eastern and western divisions of Holland has its counterpart in the landscape and the nature of the soil. The western division consists of low fen or clay soil and presents a monotonous expanse of rich meadow-land, carefully drained in regular lines of canals bordered by stunted willows, and dotted over with windmills, the sails of canal craft and the clumps of elm and poplar which surround each isolated farm-house. The landscape of the eastern division is considered less typical. Here the soil consists mainly of sand and gravel, and the prevailing scenery is formed of waste heaths and patches of wood, while here and there fertile meadows extend along the banks of the streams, and the land is laid out in the highly regular manner characteristic of fen reclamation (see DRENTE). Entry: HOLLAND
At Amsterdam a hand-process is employed, which lies between the cleavage and the brutage. This consists in cutting or trimming away angles and irregularities all over the stone by means of a sharp-edged or pointed diamond, both being mounted in cement on pear-shaped handles for firm holding. This work is largely done by women. In all these processes the dust and fragments are caught and carefully saved. Entry: 1
Among contemporary authorities for the history of Marie de' Medici, see Mathieu de Morgues, _Deux faces de la vie et de la mort de Marie de Médicis_ (Antwerp, 1643); J. B. Matthieu, _Éloge historial de Marie de Médicis_ (Paris, 1626); Florentin du Ruau, _Le Tableau de la régence de Marie de Médicis_ (Poitiers, 1615); F. E. Mézeray, _Histoire de la mère et du fils, ou de Marie de Médicis et de Louis XIII._ (Amsterdam, 1730); and A. P. Lord, _The Regency of Marie de Médicis_ (London, 1904). For the political history see the bibliographies to HENRY IV. and LOUIS XIII. Entry: MARIE
BLONDEL, DAVID (1591-1655), French Protestant clergyman, was born at Châlons-sur-Marne in 1591, and died on the 6th of April 1655. In 1650 he succeeded G.J. Vossius in the professorship of history at Amsterdam. His works were very numerous; in some of them he showed a remarkable critical faculty, as in his dissertation on Pope Joan (1647, 1657), in which he came to the conclusion, now universally accepted, that the whole story is a mere myth. Considerable Protestant indignation was excited against him on account of this book. Entry: BLONDEL
Some of the finest of van Huysum's fruit and flower pieces have been in English private collections: those of 1723 in the earl of Ellesmere's gallery, others of 1730-1732 in the collections of Hope and Ashburton. One of the best examples is now in the National Gallery (1736-1737). No public museum has finer and more numerous specimens than the Louvre, which boasts of four landscapes and six panels with still life; then come Berlin and Amsterdam with four fruit and flower pieces; then St Petersburg, Munich, Hanover, Dresden, the Hague, Brunswick, Vienna, Carlsruhe and Copenhagen. Entry: HUYSUM
CURAÇAO, or CURAÇOA, an island in the Dutch West Indies. It lies 40 m. from the north coast of Venezuela, in 12° N. and 69° W., being 40 m. long from N.W. to S.E., with an average width of 10 m. and an area of 212 sq. m. The surface is generally flat, but in the south-west there are hills attaining an elevation of 1200 ft. The shores are in places deeply indented, forming several natural harbours, the chief of which is that of St Anna on the south-west coast. Curaçao consists of eruptive rocks, chiefly diorite and diabase, and is surrounded by coral reefs. Streams are few and the rainfall is scanty, averaging only 16 in. per annum. Although the plains are for the most part arid wastes, sugar, aloes, tobacco and divi-divi are produced with much toil in the more fertile glens. Salt, phosphates and cattle are exported. The commerce is mainly with the United States, and there is a large carrying trade with Venezuela. The famous Curaçoa liqueur (see below) was originally made on the island from a peculiar variety of orange, the _Citrus Aurantium curassuviensis_. Willemstad (pop. about 8000), on the harbour of St. Anna, is the principal town. It bears a strong resemblance to a Dutch town, for the houses are built in the style of those of Amsterdam, and the narrow channel separating it from its western suburb of Overzijde and the waters of the Waigat, which intersect it, recall the canals. The narrow entrance leading to the Schottegat or Inner Harbour is protected by forts. The negroes of the island speak a curious dialect called _Papaimento_, composed of Spanish, Dutch, English and native words. Curaçao gives name to the government of the Dutch West Indies, which consists of Aruba, an island lying W. of Curaçao, with an area of 69 sq. m. and a population of 9591; Buen Ayre, lying 20 m. N.E., with an area of 95 sq. m. and a population of 4926; together with St Eustatius, Saba and part of St Martin. The governor is assisted by a council of four members and a colonial council of eight members nominated by the crown. The island of Curaçao has a population of 30,119; and altogether the Dutch West Indies have a population of 51,693. Entry: CURAÇAO
GEEL, JACOB (1789-1862), Dutch scholar and critic, was born at Amsterdam on the 12th of November 1789. In 1823 he was appointed sub-librarian, and in 1833 chief librarian and honorary professor at Leiden, where he died on the 11th of November 1862. Geel materially contributed to the development of classical studies in Holland. He was the author of editions of Theocritus (1820), of the Vatican fragments of Polybius (1829), of the [Greek: 'Olumpiakos] of Dio Chrysostom (1840) and of numerous essays in the _Rheinisches Museum_ and _Bibliotheca critica nova_, of which he was one of the founders. He also compiled a valuable catalogue of the MSS. in the Leiden library, wrote a history of the Greek sophists, and translated various German works into Dutch. Entry: GEEL
In the chamber of the Eglantine at Amsterdam two men took a very prominent place, more by their intelligence and modern spirit than by their original genius. Hendrick Laurenssen Spieghel (1549-1612) was a humanist of a type more advanced and less polemical than Coornhert. He wrote a charming poem in praise of dancing; but his chief contributions to literature were his _Tweespraeck van de nederduytsche letterkunst_, a philological exhortation, in the manner of Joachim du Bellay's famous tract, urging the Dutch nation to purify and enrich its tongue at the fountains of antiquity, and a didactic epic, entitled _Hertspieghel_ (1614),[11] which has been greatly praised, but which is now much more antiquated in style and more difficult to enjoy than Coornhert's prose of a similar tendency. That Spieghel was a Catholic prevented him perhaps from exercising as much public influence as he exercised privately among his younger friends. The same may be said of the man who, in 1614, first collected Spieghel's writings, and published them in a volume with his own verses. Roemer Pieterssen Visscher[12] (1547-1620) proceeded a step further than Spieghel in the cultivation of polite letters. He was deeply tinged with a spirit of classical learning that was much more genuine and nearer to the true antique than any that had previously been known in Holland. His own disciples called him the Dutch Martial, but he was at best little more than an amateur in poetry, although an amateur whose function it was to perceive and encourage the genius of professional writers. Roemer Visscher stands at the threshold of the new Renaissance literature, himself practising the faded arts of the rhetoricians, but pointing by his counsel and his conversation to the naturalism of the great period. Entry: DUTCH
GOHIER, LOUIS JÉRÔME (1746-1830), French politician, was born at Semblançay (Indre-et-Loire) on the 27th of February 1746, the son of a notary. He was called to the bar at Rennes, and practised there until he was sent to represent the town in the states-general. In the Legislative Assembly he represented Ille-et-Vilaine. He took a prominent part in the deliberations; he protested against the exaction of a new oath from priests (Nov. 22, 1791), and demanded the sequestration of the emigrants' property (Feb. 7, 1792). He was minister of justice from March 1793 to April 1794, and in June 1799 he succeeded Treilhard in the Directory, where he represented the republican interest. His wife was intimate with Josephine Bonaparte, and when Bonaparte suddenly returned from Egypt in October 1799 he repeatedly protested his friendship for Gohier, who was then president of the Directory, and tried in vain to gain him over. After the _coup d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), he refused to abdicate his functions, and sought out Bonaparte at the Tuileries "to save the republic," as he boldly expressed it. He was escorted to the Luxembourg, and on his release he retired to his estate at Eaubonne. In 1802 Napoleon made him consul-general at Amsterdam, and on the union of the Netherlands with France he was offered a similar post in the United States. His health did not permit of his taking up a new appointment, and he died at Eaubonne on the 29th of May 1830. Entry: GOHIER
In modern times numerous methods of embalming have been practised. Dr Frederick Ruysch of Amsterdam (1665-1717) is said to have utilized alcohol for this purpose. By William Hunter essential oils, alcohol, cinnabar, camphor, saltpetre and pitch or rosin were employed, and the final desiccation of the body was effected by means of roasted gypsum placed in its coffin. J.P. Boudet (1778-1849) embalmed with tan, salt, asphalt and Peruvian bark, camphor, cinnamon and other aromatics and corrosive sublimate. The last-mentioned drug, chloride and sulphate of zinc, acetate and sulphate of alumina, and creasote and carbolic acid have all been recommended by various modern embalmers. Entry: EMBALMING
The time thus spent seems to have been on the whole happy, even allowing for warm discussions with the mathematicians and metaphysicians of France, and for harassing controversies in the Netherlands. Friendly agents--chiefly Catholic priests--were the intermediaries who forwarded his correspondence from Dort, Haarlem, Amsterdam and Leiden to his proper address, which he kept completely secret; and Father Mersenne sent him objections and questions. His health, which in his youth had been bad, improved. "I sleep here ten hours every night," he writes from Amsterdam, "and no care ever shortens my slumber." "I take my walk every day through the confusion of a great multitude with as much freedom and quiet as you could find in your rural avenues."[3] At his first coming to Franeker he arranged to get a cook acquainted with French cookery; but, to prevent misunderstanding, it may be added that his diet was mainly vegetarian, and that he rarely drank wine. New friends gathered round him who took a keen interest in his researches. Once only do we find him taking an interest in the affairs of his neighbours,--to ask pardon from the government for a homicide.[4] He continued the profession of his religion. Sometimes from curiosity he went to the ministrations of anabaptists,[5] to hear the preaching of peasants and artisans. He carried few books to Holland with him, but a Bible and the _Summa_ of Thomas Aquinas were amongst them.[6] One of the recommendations of Egmond the Abbey was the free exercise there allowed to the Catholic religion. At Franeker his house was a small château, "separated by a moat from the rest of the town, where the mass could be said in safety."[7] And one motive in favour of accepting an invitation to England lay in the alleged leanings of Charles I. to the older church. Entry: DESCARTES
Louis Moréri (born on the 25th of March 1643 at Bargemont, in the diocese of Fréjus, died on the 10th of July 1680 at Paris) wrote a dictionary of history, genealogy and biography, _Le Grand Dictionnaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane_, Lyons, 1674, fol. He began a second edition on a larger scale, published at Lyons in 1681, in two volumes folio; the sixth edition was edited by Jean le Clerc, Amsterdam, 1691, fol. 4 vols.; the twentieth and last edition, Paris, 1759, fol. 10 vols. Moréri's dictionary, still very useful, was of great value and importance, although not the first of the kind. It superseded the very inferior compilation of Juigné-Broissinère, _Dictionnaire théologique_, _historique_, _poétique_, _cosmographique_, _et chronologique_, Paris, 1644, 4to; Rouen, 1668, &c.,--a translation, with additions, of the _Dictionarium historicum_, _geographicum_, _et poëticum_ of Charles Estienne, published in 1553, 4to, and often afterwards. As such a work was much wanted, Juigné's book went through twelve editions in less than thirty years, notwithstanding its want of criticism, errors, anachronisms, defects and inferior style. Entry: I
The only individual at all clearly connected with Bredero in talent was Dr Samuel Coster,[14] who was born at Amsterdam on the 16th of September 1579. He studied medicine at Leiden, and practised at Amsterdam. He is chiefly remembered for having been the first to take advantage of the growing dissension in the body of the old chamber of the Eglantine to form a new institution. In 1617 Coster founded what he called the "First Dutch Academy." This was in fact a theatre, where, for the first time, dramas could be publicly acted under the patronage of no chamber of rhetoric. Coster himself had come before the world in 1612 with his farce of _Teuwis the Boor_, based on a folk-song in Jan Roulans's _Liedekens Boeckh_, and he continued this order of composition in direct emulation of Bredero, but with less talent. In 1615 he began a series of "blood-and-thunder" tragedies with his horrible _Itys_, and he continued this coarse style of tragic writing for several years. He survived at least until after 1648 as a supreme authority in Amsterdam upon all dramatic matters. Entry: DUTCH
His son, Gosewijn Theodor van Coehoorn, wrote his life (re-edited Syperstein, Leeuwarden, 1860). See also v. Zastrow, _Geschichte der beständigen Befestigung_ (Leipzig, 1828); von Brese-Winiari, _Über Entstehen und Wesen der neueren Befestigungsmethode_ (1844); Cosseran de Villenoisy, _Essai historique sur la fortification_ (1869); Mandar, _Architecture des forteresses_ (1801); Krayenhoff, _Verhandeling over de erste versterkingsmanier van Coehoorn_ (Hague, 1823); Bosscha, _Nederlandsche heldend te Land_ (Amsterdam, 1838); Dewez, _Histoire de Belgique_ (Brussels, 1823); Ypey, _Narratio de rebus gestis Mennonis Cohorni_ (1771); Hennert, _Dissertation sur la fortification permanente_ (1795); Böhms, _Gründliche Anleitung zur Kriegsbaukunst_ (1776); _Axiomatas of allgemeene bekentnisse over de Vestinghbouw door Menno Baron van Coehoorn, Uytgewerkt door E. W. Berg_ (MS. in Dutch Ministry of War); Bousmard, _Essai général de fortification_ (1797); also the article FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT. Entry: COEHOORN
Out of 100 pictures or more to be met with in European galleries scarcely eighteen are dated. The earliest after that of Gotha is a chased tankard, with a bottle, a silver cup, and a lemon on a marble table, dated 1640, in the museum of Amsterdam. A similar work of 1645, with the addition of fruit and flowers and a distant landscape, is in Lord Radnor's collection at Longford. A chalice in a wreath, with the radiant host amidst wheatsheaves, grapes and flowers, is a masterpiece of 1648 in the Belvedere of Vienna. A wreath round a Madonna of life size, dated 1650, in the museum of Berlin, shows that de Heem could paint brightly and harmoniously on a large scale. In the Pinakothek at Munich is the celebrated composition of 1653, in which creepers, beautifully commingled with gourds and blackberries, twigs of orange, myrtle and peach, are enlivened by butterflies, moths and beetles. A landscape with a blooming rose tree, a jug of strawberries, a selection of fruit, and a marble bust of Pan, dated 1655, is in the Hermitage at St Petersburg; an allegory of abundance in a medallion wreathed with fruit and flowers, in the gallery of Brussels, is inscribed with de Heem's monogram, the date of 1668, and the name of an obscure artist called Lambrechts. All these pieces exhibit the master in full possession of his artistic faculties. Entry: HEEM
HOSKINS, JOHN (d. 1664), English miniature painter, the uncle of Samuel Cooper, who received his artistic education in Hoskins's house. His finest miniatures are at Ham House, Montagu House, Windsor Castle, Amsterdam and in the Pierpont Morgan collection. Vertue stated that Hoskins had a son, and Redgrave added that the son painted a portrait of James II. in 1686 and was paid £10, 5s, although it is not supported by any reference in the State Papers. Some contemporary inscriptions on the miniatures at Ham House record them as the work of "Old Hoskins," but the fact of the existence of a younger artist of the same name is settled by a miniature in the Pierpont Morgan collection, signed by Hoskins, and bearing an authentic engraved inscription on its contemporary frame to the effect that it represents the duke of Berwick at the age of twenty-nine in 1700. The elder Hoskins was buried on the 22nd of February 1664, in St Paul's, Covent Garden, and as there is no doubt of the authenticity of this miniature or of the signature upon it, it is evident that he had a son who survived him thirty-six years and whose monogram we find upon this portrait. The frame of it has also the royal coat of arms debruised, the batons of a marshal of France, the collar of the Golden Fleece and the ducal coronet. (G. C. W.) Entry: HOSKINS