On the first floor of the museum there is a "Royal Cabinet of
Curiosities," which contains some very precious historical relics,
besides a great number of different objects from China, Japan, and the
Dutch colonies. Amongst other things there is the sword of that Ruyter
who began life as a rope-maker at Vlissingen, and became the greatest
admiral of Holland; Admiral Tromp's cuirass perforated by bullets; a
chair from the prison of the venerated Barneveldt; a box containing a
lock of hair from the head of that Van Speyk who in 1831, on the
Schelde, blew up his vessel to preserve the honor of the Dutch flag.
Here, too, is the complete suit of clothes worn by William the Silent
when he was assassinated at Delft--the blood-stained shirt, the jacket
made of buffalo skin pierced by bullets, the wide trousers, the large
felt hat; and in the same glass case are also preserved the bullets
and pistols of the assassin and the original copy of his
death-warrant.
This modest, almost rough dress, that was worn at the zenith of his
power and glory by William, the head of the Republic of the
Netherlands, is a noble testimony to the patriarchal simplicity of
Dutch manners. There is perhaps no other modern nation, equally
prosperous, that has been less given to vanity and pomp. It is related
that when the Earl of Leicester, who was commissioned by Queen
Elizabeth, arrived in Holland, and when Spinola came to sue for peace
in the name of the King of Spain, their magnificence was considered
almost infamous. It is further said that the Spanish ambassadors who
came to the Hague in 1608 to negotiate the famous truce saw some
deputies of the Dutch States seated in a field, meanly clad and
breakfasting on a little bread and cheese which they had carried in
their saddle-bags. The Grand Pensionary, John De Witt, the adversary
of Louis XIV., kept only one servant. Admiral Ruyter lived at
Amsterdam in the house of a poor man and swept out his own bedroom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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