nce. Now and then an aristocratic carriage rolled past me almost
noiselessly over the brick pavement, or I saw some stiff lackey
standing at a door, or the fair head of some lady behind a curtain. As
I walked close to the windows, I could see out of the corner of my
eye my shabby travelling-clothes reflected clearly in the large panes
of glass, and I repented not having brought my gloves, and felt a
certain sense of humiliation because I was not at least a knight by
birth. It seemed to me that now and then I could hear soft voices
saying, "Who is that beggar?"

The most noteworthy part of the old town is the Binnenhof, a group of
old buildings in different styles of architecture, which overlook two
wide squares on two sides and a large pool on the third side. In the
midst of this group of palaces, towers, and monumental doors, of a
gloomy mediaeval appearance, is a spacious courtyard which may be
entered by three bridges and three doors. In one of those buildings
the Stadtholders lived. It is now the Second Chamber of the States
General; opposite to it are located the First Chamber, the rooms of
the Ministry, and the other offices of public administration. The
Minister of the Interior has his office in a little, low, black,
gloomy tower which leans slightly toward the water of the pool.

The Binnenhof, the Buitenhof (a square extending to the west), and the
Plaats (another square on the other side of the pool, which is reached
by passing under an old door that once formed part of a prison) were
the scenes of the most bloody events in the history of Holland.

In the Binnenhof the venerable Van Olden Barneveldt was beheaded. He
was the second founder of the republic, the most illustrious victim of
the long struggle between the patrician burghers and the Stadtholders,
between the republican and monarchical principles, which so terribly
afflicted Holland. The scaffold was erected in front of the building
where sat the States General. Opposite was the tower from which, they
say, Maurice of Orange, unseen, assisted at the execution of his
enemy. In the prison between the two squares was tortured Cornelius de
Witt, who was unjustly accused of plotting against the life of the
Prince of Orange. The furious populace dragged Cornelius and John de
Witt, the Grand Pensionary, into the Plaats all wounded and bleeding,
and there they were spit upon, kicked, and slaughtered with pike and
pistol, and afterward their corpses were mutil