Old Dutch Towns and Villages. By W. X. Tnyn. Illustrated
by W. 0. J. Nienwenkamp and J. G. Veldheer. (T. Fisher ljnwin. 21s. net.)—Here we have the towns and villages of the Zuyder Zee described by native pen and pencil. The author and his illustrators begin with Monnikendarn, and move northward to Edam and HOOrn. 'After Ilborif "Comes Eaklmiien; the Point at which the western end of the proposed sea-wall is situated. Beyond Enkhuizen, again; is Medemblik, a place which will still remain as it is, being outside the proposed reelemation scheme- These towns being disposed of; certain villages are described which it will require a special map to locate. The illustrations are good of their kind, felicitously imitating the woodcuts which one finds in seventeenth-century books. They are, perhaps, too much occupied with architectiire. Buildings, ecclesiastical and civil, are numerous ; we sometimes catch a glimpse of a tree, and even of a street. We have a windmill at Nieuwendam, and boats at various places. But there is no landscape, and the Zuyder Zee itself we see only, e6 ti Speak, by the pailful. And there are no figures.. One may carry away a distinct idea of the buildings and so on, but not of the people or the land in which they dwell. So much for the illustrations ; the text itself is more satisfactory.- It tells much about the past of the Hollanders of these parts, and something about the present,—and, indeed, the past is much more important than the present. There is yet another vicissitude in store for these places. At present they follow the industry of fishing, but when the southern portion of the-Zee is'enclosed they will have to make a move, or turn their anchors into ploughs, and cultivate the newarea added to Holland.
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