The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102,
June 18, 1892, by Various, Edited by F. C. Burnand

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Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, June 18, 1892

Author: Various

Release Date: January 20, 2005 [eBook #14745]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI

VOL. 102

June 18, 1892

THE COURIER OF THE HAGUE.

(_BY THE "VACUUS VIATOR."_)

He is an elderly amiable little Dutchman in a soft felt hat; his name
is BOSCH, and he is taking me about. _Why_ I engaged him I don't quite
know--unless from a general sense of helplessness in Holland, and
a craving for any kind of companionship. Now I have got him, I feel
rather more helpless than ever--a sort of composite of _Sandford_
and _Merton_, with a didactic, but frequently incomprehensible _Dutch
Barlow_. My _Sandford_ half would like to exhibit an intelligent
curiosity, but is generally suppressed by _Merton_, who has a morbid
horror of useful information. Not that BOSCH is remarkably erudite,
but nevertheless he contrives to reduce me to a state of imbecility,
which I catch myself noting with a pained surprise. There is a statue
in the Plein, and the _Sandford_ element in me finds a satisfaction in
recognising it aloud as WILLIAM the Silent. It is--but, as my _Merton_
part thinks, a fellow _would_ be a fool if he didn't recognise WILLIAM
after a few hours in Holland--his images, in one form or another,
are tolerably numerous. Still, BOSCH is gratified. "Yass, dot is
ole VOLLIAM," he says, approvingly, as to a precocious infant just
beginning to take notice. "Lokeer," he says, "