If you are interested in the flowers of the mountains, you have a delightful book by W. Robinson, _Alpine Flowers_; and _The Alps in Winter_ are written of by Mrs. Main (Mrs. Fred Burnaby), and the many books on Davos Platz, and the Engadine, may all be found in any catalogue, if health be in question. If you were interested in geology, glaciers, and botany, you can study them with ease in Switzerland, as well as Lancastrian dwellings, and the last methods in tree-culture. As for schools, they abound, and the Swiss education is the best in the world, in its thoroughness and complete grounding in all subjects. Lately, too, it has been found worth while to study the Swiss army, and its manœuvres which take place every year in the month of September. One of the European countries round which both history and literature have been making and growing is Holland; and for so small a country the amount of both is quite marvellous. It is all so interesting too, and most of it in our own tongue, so that we need not be professors in Dutch. The most delightful of all histories have been written for us by American hands, and no library is complete without Motley’s two great Dutch works, _The Rise of the Dutch Republic_ and the _History of the United Netherlands_. The great Italian writer, Edmondo de Amicis, has written two books on Holland—_Holland_, and _Holland and its People_; and we have the charming volume on the _Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee_, H. Taine’s _Low Countries_, and _Holland and Germany_, by J. P. Mahaffy and J. E. Rogers. In the “Story of the Nations” Series there is an excellent volume by J. E. T. Rogers, and there are several delightful tales published lately, with the Low Countries for a background. And we have made acquaintance with Maarten Maartens, the author of stories that are Dutch in their characters and surroundings. You must bear in mind that the Netherlands means Holland and Belgium. For so small a portion of the earth, the history of Holland is most interesting; and we must remember that she was once the mistress of the seas. There is a popular history of the _Great Dutch Admirals_, by Jacob de Liefde, and he has also written _Beggars, Founders of the Dutch Republic_. Prescott’s work of _Philip II. of Spain_ covers much the same ground as Motley’s _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, though from the point of view of Spain. In this connection, W. C. Robinson’s _The Revolt of the Netherlands_ may be read. Holland claims to be the birthplace of printing, and advances the claims of Haarlem, in opposition to Mentz, and the record of the Elzevir presses at Leyden, Amsterdam, and the Hague is a very famous one. Lord Ronald Gower has written a _Pocket Guide to the Art Galleries of Belgium and Holland_, containing both the public and private galleries; and Kate Thompson has contributed a _Handbook to the Picture Galleries of Europe_, while there are several very excellent guide-books in the ordinary way.