TRE FLYING CHARIOT.

167

"Motions, mentions several great men who described and "admired it. Grotius mentions an elegant figure of it in

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copper, done by Geyneus; and Herodius, in one of his

large maps of Asia, gives another sketch of the like "chariots used in China." Incredible as this story appears, one would be disposed to think, that a man of Grotius's celebrity for learning and truth, would scarcely have eulogized the invention, had he doubted its existence. Upon a level, hard, straight road, uninterrupted by trees and buildings, such a piece of ingenuity might perhaps prove successful as a mechanical experiment, but utterly impossible ever to be made serviceable.

CHAPTER X.

HISTORICAL ANECDOTE OF SCHEVELING—ANECDOTE OF LORe nelson. A MARINE SCENE-PASSION OF DUTCH FOR FLOWERS NOT SUBSIDED -VENERATION OF DUTCH FOR STORKS-CAUSES OF IT-QUAILS AND SWANS-HUMOUROUS BLUNDER OF A DUTCH WAITER-UNIVERSAL INDUSTRY-DOGS AND GOATS-THE THEATRE THEATRICAL ECONOMY-PRODIGAL PROCREATION—PRESENT STATE OF THE HAGUE-STATE OF LITERATURE THERE---BRIEF ANECDOTE oF DANIEL MYTENS---OF JOHN HANNEMAN---OF JOHN LE DUC, or the BRAVE.

THE coast of Scheveling is considered very dangerous in rough weather: the spires of the church here, and those of Gravesande and Monster, three leagues to the south, serve for land-marks; yet, owing to the coast of the province of Holland lying very low and flat, they are scarcely discernible three or four leagues at sea: for want of sand-banks to break the force of the sea, the coast is much exposed, and the fishermen are obliged, after their return, to haul their vessels on rollers up the beach beyond the water's reach: this labour must be very great, for many of them are from twenty to thirty-five tons burthen.

This place has been at different periods subject to dread

HISTORICAL ANECDOTES OF SCHEVELING.

169

ful irruptions of the sea, particularly in the year 1574, when it broke in, and carried away 121 houses: Scheveling has its portion of historic celebrity. In 1650, the expatriated Charles II. after a long exile, embarked from this place for Scotland, to which he was invited, with a promise of assistance in recovering the rest of his dominions. Clarendon, in his History vol. iii. p. 287, says, the king went from the Hague to Scheveling, where "the "States of Holland, at infinite hazard to themselves from "Cromwell and England, suffered their ship to transport "him. They gave all countenance to the Scotch merchants "and factors who lived in their dominions, and some cre

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dit, that they might send arms and ammunition, and "whatsoever else was necessary for the king's service, into "that kingdom." And this the States did "when the king was at his lowest ebb, and was heartily weary of being in a place (Paris) where he was very ill-treated, " and lived very uncomfortably, and from whence he fore"saw he should soon be driven." Having experienced the most romantic vicissitudes after his escape from Worcester, this monarch, in the disguise of a sailor, escaped to Dieppe in Normandy, in 1651; and he again, in 1660, embarked at Scheveling on board of his own fleet, which was waiting to receive him. The grateful monarch declared war against his Dutch friends in 1672, and entered into a private league with the French king to lay waste

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HISTORICAL ANECDOTES OF SCHEVELING.

their provinces with fire and sword. From this beach too the Stadtholder, his son the hereditary 'prince, and two or three Dutch noblemen attached to the prostrate fortunes of the house of Orange, embarked when they fled to England: the vessel they sailed in was a small fishing cutter, navigated by five men; the princesses took their departure in a similar conveyance the day before.

Another interesting event also is recorded as having occurred off this coast, by Bishop Burnet, who in the History of his Own Times thus relates this marvellous circumstance: "There was one extraordinary thing hap

pened near the Hague this summer (1672); I had it "from many eye-witnesses, and no doubt was made of "the truth of it by any at the Hague. Soon after the English fleet had refitted themselves, they appeared in sight of Scheveling, making up to the shore. The tide "turned, but they reckoned that with the next flood they "could certainly land the forces that were on board, "where they were like to meet with no resistance. The "States sent to the prince for some regiments to hinder "the descent. He could not spare many men, having "the French near him: so between the two, the country

was given up for lost unless De Ruyter should quickly "come up. The flood returned, which the people thought was to end in their ruin; but to all their amazement,

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ANECDOTE OF LORD NELSON.

171 "after it had flowed two or three hours, an ebb of many "hours succeeded, which carried the fleet again to sea; "and before that was spent, De Ruyter came in view. "This they reckoned a miracle wrought for their preser"vation." It is also a curious circumstance that the reverse of this extraordinary effort of nature enabled the immortal Nelson to lay his fleet so as to bear upon the batteries by which the capital of Denmark was protected. The tide had never been known, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Copenhagen, to have risen so high as on the day when the battle first commenced, and greatly contributed to his success in persuading the gallant Danes that they were beaten.

De Ruyter, the Nelson of the Dutch, was distinguished for the boldness of his designs and the celerity of his execution. In 1653, with Van Tromp, he commanded the Dutch fleet against this country with the greatest honor to his flag. The Moors presented him with a Barbary ́ horse, magnificently caparisoned, for his gallantly reaching his destined port in the Salee roads, and for capturing five powerful Algerine corsairs. The celebrated Vice-admiral d'Estrés said of him in a letter to Colbert, on account of his noble conduct in those hard-fought engagements between the English, Dutch, and French fleets off the Texel,