frequently
happens, especially in the case of flour-mills--they form a wheel of
flame, a furious rain of burning meal, a whirlwind of smoke, a tumult,
a dreadful magnificent brilliance that gives one the idea of an
infernal vision.

[Illustration: Near the Arsenal, Delft]

In the railway-carriage, although it was full of people, I had no
opportunity of speaking or of hearing a word spoken. The passengers
were all middle-aged men with serious faces, who looked at each other
in silence, puffing out great clouds of smoke at regular intervals as
if they were measuring time by their cigars. When we arrived at Delft
I greeted them as I passed out, and some of them responded by a slight
movement of the lips.

"Delft," says Lodovico Guicciardini, "is named after a ditch, or
rather the canal of water which leads from the Meuse, since in the
vulgar tongue a ditch is generally called _delft_. It is distant two
leagues from Rotterdam, and is a town truly great and most beautiful
in every part, having goodly and noble edifices and wide streets,
which are lively withal. It was founded by Godfrey, surnamed the
Hunchback, duke of Lorraine, he who for the space of four years
occupied the country of Holland."

Delft is the city of disaster. Toward the middle of the sixteenth
century it was almost entirely destroyed by fire; in 1654 the
explosion of a powder-magazine shattered more than two hundred houses;
and in 1742 another catastrophe of the same kind occurred. Besides
these calamities, William the Silent was assassinated there in the
year 1584. Moreover, there followed the decline and almost the
extinction of that industry which once was the glory and riches of the
city, the manufacture of Delft ware. In this art at first the Dutch
artisans imitated the shapes and designs of Chinese and Japanese
china, and finally succeeded in doing admirable work by uniting the
Dutch and Asiatic styles. Dutch pottery became famous throughout
Northern Europe, and it is nowadays as much sought after by lovers of
this art as the best Italian products.

At present Delft is not an industrial or commercial city, and its
twenty-two thousand inhabitants live in profound peace. But it is one
of the prettiest and most characteristic towns of Holland. The wide
streets are traversed by canals shaded by double rows of trees. On
either side are red, purple, and pink cottages with white pointing,
which seem content in their cleanliness. At every crossway two