Opening the text

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806Carr, John, Sir

History

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806

Name: A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806
Author: Carr, John, Sir

Carr, John, Sir

Netherlands -- Description and travel; Rhine River Valley -- Description and travel

CHAPTER XIX.
   THE MALL OF UTRECHT ... A GASCONADE ... THE RHINE ... CONQUEST OF
     UTRECHT ... THE CATHEDRAL ... BEAUTIFUL LINES ... ANECDOTES OF
DISTINGUISHED PERSONS BORN AT UTRECHT ... THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS ... A
  DIRECTION ... THE CITY OF ARNHEIM ... ANECDOTE OF BECK ... DUTCHY OF
BERG ... CLEVES ... ANECDOTE OF FLINK ... A TEDIOUS FORM ... ANECDOTE OF
BROWN BREAD ... THE CONTRAST ... THE RECEPTION ... BONAPARTE’S HATRED OF
                                ENGLISH.


After we had amused ourselves with roving about this agreeable place, we
set off for Utrecht. I have before mentioned the manner in which the
Dutch compute distances, and although I had for some time been
accustomed to hear hours substituted for miles, yet as I was no longer
on the canals, it sounded somewhat strange to hear a charming lady of
our party observe, which she did with perfect Dutch propriety, when we
were speaking of the probable time in which we should arrive at Utrecht:
“Surely our horses must be poor indeed if they cannot go six hours in
_three_.” Our road lay through a very rich and beautiful country, well
drained, abounding with neat compact little farms, orchards, wood
plantations, the lofty and venerable towers of Utrecht appearing full in
our view all the way. We passed by the mall, which has a handsome stone
entrance, is upwards of a mile in length, and is bordered with a triple
row of trees, with a carriage-road on each side. When this city
surrendered to the arms of Louis the Fourteenth in 1672, he was
uncommonly delighted with this walk, yet, from knowing that it was
equally admired by the citizens, he threatened to have every tree felled
to the ground, unless they raised a very large contribution, which was
immediately produced, and the mall preserved. If the menace of the
conqueror was sincere, which I can scarcely believe, he united the
tasteless barbarism of a Vandal to the ferocious rapacity of a tyrant.
Louis overran this province, and the greatest part of Guelderland,
Overyssel, and Holland, at the head of one hundred thousand men, in less
than a month, a rapidity of victory almost incredible, though infinitely
surpassed by the arms of France in the present times. The progress of
the French king was celebrated in the following gasconade:

               Una dies Lotharos, Burgundos hebdomas una,
               Una domat Batavos luna, quid annus erit?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806Carr, John, Sir

History

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806

Carr, John, Sir

Netherlands -- Description and travel; Rhine River Valley -- Description and travel

CHAPTER XIX.
   THE MALL OF UTRECHT ... A GASCONADE ... THE RHINE ... CONQUEST OF
     UTRECHT ... THE CATHEDRAL ... BEAUTIFUL LINES ... ANECDOTES OF
DISTINGUISHED PERSONS BORN AT UTRECHT ... THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS ... A
  DIRECTION ... THE CITY OF ARNHEIM ... ANECDOTE OF BECK ... DUTCHY OF
BERG ... CLEVES ... ANECDOTE OF FLINK ... A TEDIOUS FORM ... ANECDOTE OF
BROWN BREAD ... THE CONTRAST ... THE RECEPTION ... BONAPARTE’S HATRED OF
                                ENGLISH.


After we had amused ourselves with roving about this agreeable place, we
set off for Utrecht. I have before mentioned the manner in which the
Dutch compute distances, and although I had for some time been
accustomed to hear hours substituted for miles, yet as I was no longer
on the canals, it sounded somewhat strange to hear a charming lady of
our party observe, which she did with perfect Dutch propriety, when we
were speaking of the probable time in which we should arrive at Utrecht:
“Surely our horses must be poor indeed if they cannot go six hours in
_three_.” Our road lay through a very rich and beautiful country, well
drained, abounding with neat compact little farms, orchards, wood
plantations, the lofty and venerable towers of Utrecht appearing full in
our view all the way. We passed by the mall, which has a handsome stone
entrance, is upwards of a mile in length, and is bordered with a triple
row of trees, with a carriage-road on each side. When this city
surrendered to the arms of Louis the Fourteenth in 1672, he was
uncommonly delighted with this walk, yet, from knowing that it was
equally admired by the citizens, he threatened to have every tree felled
to the ground, unless they raised a very large contribution, which was
immediately produced, and the mall preserved. If the menace of the
conqueror was sincere, which I can scarcely believe, he united the
tasteless barbarism of a Vandal to the ferocious rapacity of a tyrant.
Louis overran this province, and the greatest part of Guelderland,
Overyssel, and Holland, at the head of one hundred thousand men, in less
than a month, a rapidity of victory almost incredible, though infinitely
surpassed by the arms of France in the present times. The progress of
the French king was celebrated in the following gasconade:

               Una dies Lotharos, Burgundos hebdomas una,
               Una domat Batavos luna, quid annus erit?

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806

A tour through Holland : $b along the right and left banks of the Rhine, to the south of Germany, in the summer and autumn of 1806

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