enterprise, the intelligence and stalwart independence of its people. Long the first of commercial nations, the famous Dutch Republic has lost much of its prestige, but its colonies may be found in the uttermost parts of the earth; and, though its admirals no longer sweep the British Channel with a broom at their mast-heads, its merchant ships are still in every port and on every sea.

We have already remarked the tendency of the Germanic races to cohesion rather with outsiders than their own kindred. The Dutch have been famous not only for their aversion for other members of the Germanic family, but for each other. Nothing but the tremendous external pressure of Spain, could force these sturdy little republics, some of them scarcely as extensive as a farm on the prairies of America, into united and harmonious action. The retirement of the invader was always the signal for the assertion of the individuality of some one or other of these petty States, no one of which could stand alone, while each was jealous of every other. This only has prevented Holland from becoming the mistress of the seas, and the arbiter of European politics. She chose to be a confederacy of independent sovereignties instead of a nation. She has achieved wealth, culture, elegance and high respectability, but she has lost power.

The contrast between the Dutch and their German neighbors is very striking, socially as well as politically. Business relations attract them to the English, while in taste and feeling they are more closely allied to the French; and this mixture of action and feeling may be seen in full force at the Hague, the Lowland capital. This city, which at the time of the Counts of Holland was little more than a hunting enclosure, became, during the residence of King Louis, the father of Napoleon III, a place of importance, in which French influence predominated. Since that time, it has declined very considerably; but, as in all the other Dutch cities, French tastes and sympathies are still prominent.

The home of the Dutch woman is a curiosity. No Dutchman can understand the possibility of more than one family residing under one roof; and if scanty means compel them to adapt themselves to close quarters, each takes care to have his own entrance and stairs.

The first virtue of a Dutch woman is cleanliness; and their extracrdinary neatness has long been proverbial. The visitor is constantly reminded that no speck of dust must enter the dwelling, by mats at the entrance, in the passages, and at the threshold of each door. Passing through a kind of purgatory of steep and narrow winding stairs,

he finds himself at last in the "stube" or sitting-room, where each cupboard and article of luxury is veiled in clouds of thin muslin, lest any intruding particle of dirt should fall upon its immaculate surface. Such excessive neatness is far from pleasant to the guest, who must run a sort of guantlet before reaching the easy chair towards which his steps are directed, and where another mat awaits his feet. Mats are placed before each chair or sofa, and rugs are spread upon the hearths.

When Peter the Great was learning ship building in Holland, he expressed a wish to visit the home of a Dutch master-workman, with whom he had become acquainted. The good man referred the matter to his wife. "No" said she;" "the Emperor will not be willing to take off his boots when he comes into the house," So the honor was declined.

As soon as the guest departs, dust-pan and broom are in requisition to clear up any possibilities of litter he may have left behind him. The house is the paragon of neatness, but it is far from comfortable. Its tables and shelves are loaded with elegant trifles, too costly and too fragile to be handled safely; vases of China and Japan, bronzes, brackets and trinkets of every kind, all of which deinand the daily attention of the lady of the house, who can trust them to no other hands than her own, and who is so occupied in keeping them and the other parts of her "Dutch toy" of a house in perfect order, that she has little time for any thing else.

Next to her housekeeping the Dutch woman is occupied in providing for the bodily welfare of her household. The principal meal being in the evening, comparatively little food is prepared during the day. The family meets in the morning at the breakfast table, where tea, cakes of various kinds, eggs, butter and cheese are in readiness. Coffee is served only at noon, at the luncheon or second breakfast. If one wishes anything more, there are bread and cheese, butter and some kind of meat, with fruits at the end of the meal. A favorite dish is a sort of pap, composed of fresh strawberries, sour cream, sugar, cinnamon, and crushed biscuit, mixed by the lady of the house at the table. The Dutch cooking is ordinarily rather heavy, and scarcely tolerable to many tastes.

Social life in Holland has little variety. There is little intellectual activity even in the leading families, the theatre is sparingly patronized and music receives but moderate attention. Unlike most continental nations, the Dutch are keenly interested in distant lands and people, and nearly every family has a member, or near relative residing abroad or recently returned from the colonies. In the salons the outlandish names of the Malayan Archipelago are household words,

and young people frequently amuse themselves by conversing in the soft liquid language of Java or Sumatra. The mother endures the residence of her sons at the antipodes with composure, knowing that in a few years they are likely to return, rich in experience and perhaps in money, and that the way to honorable employment is certain to be open to them. Work and zealous performance of duty are national virtues with the Hollanders. Beggars are unknown among them, and idleness is a crime. Exciting amusements have little charm for them or their families. Life at the Hague would be dull and wearisome in the extreme but for the splendid promenade under the beeches, and the famous baths of Schweringen. There is no street life, such as is found in Southern Europe. If a man is not at home, it is useless to seek him upon the street or the public squares; most likely he will be found at his club which affords him society, reading, and diversion of every kind, and an excellent table at mid-day. Club life flourishes in Holland more than in any country of Europe, possibly because the superlative neatness of Dutch homes makes it impossible to be comfortable in them; and the club houses of the Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam are among the most elegant and comfortable buildings in those cities. From the Dutch to the Germans the transition is easy, though the differences in social and public life strike us at a glance. Tacitus praised the stern virtues of the German women, so strongly in contrast with the laxity of morals of his Roman aquaintances of the female sex. He speaks of the absence of slander among them, their truth and faithfulness, and their chastity and honor, in glowing terms; and is lost in admiration of their conduct in aiding and exciting the courage of the men, cheering them with their presence upon the field of battle, and even dashing with shield and spear upon the victorious legions of Marius after the men had been put to flight. None of them thought of the shame of captivity, and only a few yielded at last, on condition that they might be permitted to become Vestals. Plutarch also tells of the Cimbrian women who defended their camp with desperate valor. They slew the fugitives, their husbands, fathers and brothers; they cast their children under the wheels of the chariots and the feet of the horses, and then killed themselves."

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But it is needless for us to exalt the virtues of the German women of that early day. We can find plenty of material for our purpose nearer our own time, in the heroism of the great Empress Queen, Maria Theresa, for whom assembled Hungary was ready to die; and in Louisa of Prussia, the ideal of a German woman-a heroine in her patience, a queen in loftiness and magnanimity of soul. We can turn to Ferdinande of Schmittau, to the heroic Johanna Steger and the soldier's death of Eleanor von Probaska. We can remember the women of Berlin who sold their jewels to provide the means of defending their country against Napoleon, preferring to wear earrings and bracelets of iron, in order that the fetters of the conqueror might be stricken from their fallen country.

But the German women of to-day exercise their virtues in their homes, with moderate aspirations for either heroic or literary fame. Of great capacity for intellectual development, they have generally contented themselves with taking a position subordinate to their husbands, and brothers. They seldom excel in music, though their taste is often exquisite. They are scarcely heard of in sculpture or painting, though they have given reasonable evidence of capability for both. They prefer to be housewives; to confine themselves to the practice of the less obtrusive and humble virtues of patience, economy and industry, and their success in this direction has attracted a crowd of satirists, who delight in ridiculing what some of them at least have not scrupled to profit by. One of the bitterest of these is herself a woman-Hedwig Dohm, who thus sums up the entire need of a German matron. "I, Madam Schulz, believe with my whole heart and all my powers, in myself and my kitchen, my nursery and my laundry, my bleaching ground and my sewing machine. All that is over and beyond these, is of the Devil."

"I believe that if the dear God Himself had a wife, she would of necessity be just such a woman as I am.”

"I believe that the whole race of servant maidens is good for nothing, deceitful and worthless."

"I believe that every woman who ventures to doubt my infallibility, to see things other than as I see them, or to possess herself with