ortly before noon comes a good breakfast; before
dinner they partake of some light nourishment, such as a glass of wine
and biscuits; then follows a heavy dinner; and late in the evening, to
use their own words, some trifle, so as not to go to bed with an empty
stomach. They eat in company on many occasions. I do not mean on the
occasions of christenings or marriages, as in other countries, but,
for example, at funerals. It is the custom that the friends and
relatives who have accompanied the funeral procession shall go home
with the family of the deceased, where they are then invited to eat
and drink, and they generally do great honor to their hosts. If there
were no other witnesses, the Dutch paintings are there to testify to
the great part eating has always played in the life of this people.
Besides the infinite number of domestic subjects, in which we might
say that dishes and bottles are the protagonists, nearly all the large
pictures representing historical personages, burgomasters, and
national guard, show them seated at table in the act of eating,
carving, or pouring out wine. Even their hero, William the Silent, the
incarnation of New Holland, shared this national love of the table. He
had the first cook of his time, who was so great an artist that the
German princes sent beginners to perfect themselves at his school, and
Philip II., in one of those periods of apparent reconciliation with
his mortal enemy, begged for him as a present.

But, as I said, the principal characteristic of the Dutch kitchen is
abundance, not delicacy. The French, who are _bon-vivants_, find much
to criticise. I remember a writer of certain _Memoires sur la
Hollande_ who inveighs with lyrical fervor against the Dutch cuisine,
saying, "What style of eating is this? They mix soup and beer, meat
and comfits, and devour quantities of meat without bread." Other
writers of books about Holland have spoken of their dinners in that
country as if they were domestic misfortunes. It is superfluous to say
that all these statements are exaggerations. Even a fastidious palate
can in a very short time accustom itself to the Dutch style of
cooking. The substantial part of the dinner is always a dish of meat,
with which four or five side dishes of salt meat and vegetables are
served. These every one mixes according to his taste and eats with the
principal dish. The meats are excellent, the vegetables, which are
cooked in a thousand different ways, are e