erdam. For a while he took some part in politics as a member
of the second chamber; but his heart was bent on the pursuit
of literature, and he gradually abandoned all else for that.
His first volume of poems was published when he was but
four-and-twenty; and he was the author of several dramas. But
his strongest predilections were for romantic novel-writing;
and his works in this direction show signs of the influence of
Walter Scott, who dominated the romantic field in the first half
of this century, and was known in Holland as well as throughout
the rest of Europe. "The Foster Son" was published in 1829; the
"Rose of Dekama" in 1836; "The Adventures of Claus Sevenstars" in
1865. His complete works, in prose and poetry, fill six-and-thirty
volumes. A younger contemporary of Van Lennep was Nikolas Beets,
born at Haarlem in 1814; he also was both poet and prose writer,
and his "Camara Obscura," published in 1839, is accounted a
masterpiece of character and humor, though it was composed when
the author was barely twenty-four years of age. Van den Brink
was a leading critic of the Romanticists; Hasebrock, author of
a volume of essays called "Truth and Dream," has been likened
to the English Charles Lamb. Vosmaer is another eminent figure
in Dutch literature; he wrote a "Life of Rembrandt" which is a
masterpiece of biography. Kuenen, who died but ten years ago,
was a biblical critic of European celebrity. But the list of
contemporary Dutch writers is long and brilliant, and the time
to speak critically of them must be postponed.

Nothing impresses the visitor to Holland more than the vast dikes
or dams which restrain the sea from overwhelming the country.
They have to be constantly watched and renewed, and to those
unused to the idea of dwelling in the presence of such constant
peril, the phlegm of the Hollanders is remarkable. M. Havard, who
has made a careful study of the country and its people, and who
writes of them in a lively style, has left excellent descriptions
of these unique works. "We know," he says, "what the Zealand
soil is--how uncertain, changing, and mutable; nevertheless,
a construction is placed upon it, one hundred and twenty yards
long, sixteen yards wide at the entrance, and more than seven
and a half yards deep below high water. Add to this, that the
enormous basin (one thousand nine hundred square yards) is enclosed
within granite walls of extraordinary thickness, formed of solid
blocks of stone o