738 



HOLKAB 



HOLLAND 



being devoted to the history of England, the fifth 

 to Scotland, the sixth to Ireland, each having 

 the Description of its proper country prefixed. 



Holinshed was an honest and industrious man, 

 and had the advantage of being able to consult the 

 manuscripts of Leland. In the ' Preface to the 

 Reader,' at the beginning of the third volume of 

 the second edition, he says : ' My speech is plain, 

 without any rhetorical show of eloquence, having 

 rather a regard to simple truth than to decking 

 words.' And in his conclusion to the reign of 

 Elizabeth, Abraham Fleming, the contributor of 

 many valuable notes throughout the entire work, 

 describes with modest truthfulness those who had 

 laboured together as ' men of commendable dili- 

 gence, though not of deepest judgment.' 



Holkar, the name of a powerful Mahratta 

 family, the members of which have at various times 

 been formidable enemies to the British empire in 

 India. The founder of the family was Mulhar Rao 

 Holkar, who was born in the Deccan, 1693, and, 

 having gained by his valour the favour of the 

 Peishwah, obtained from him the western half of 

 Malwa, with Indore for his capital. See INDORE, 

 MAHRATTAS. 



1 1 oil. FRANK, R.A., portrait and subject painter, 

 was born in Kentish Town, 4th July 1845, a son of 

 Francis Roll, A.R.A. (1815-84), the well-known 

 engraver. He was educated at University College 

 School, London, and in 1860 entered the schools of 

 the Royal Academy, where he won gold and silver 

 medals, in 1863 a two years' scholarship for the best 

 historical painting by his ' Abraham about to sacri- 

 fice Isaac,' and in 1868 the travelling studentship of 

 the Academy by his subject-picture of ' The Lord 

 gave, and the Lord hath taken away.' Four years 

 previously he had begun to exhibit in the Royal 

 Academy with a portrait of himself and a subject- 



Kicture, 'Turned out of Church.' These were fol- 

 >wed by various effective genre-subjects dealing 

 almost invariably with pathetic scenes from modern 

 life, such as ' I am the Resurrection and the Life ' 

 ( 1872 ), ' Want the Pawnbroker's Shop ' ( 1873 ), ' Her 

 First-born ' ( 1876 ), ' Newgate Committed for Trial ' 

 (1878), ' Ordered to the Front ' (1880), 'Returned 

 from the Wars ' ( 1881 ), ' Deserted ' (1884 ). He was 

 elected A.R.A. in 1878, and R.A. in 1884. About 

 1877 he turned his attention to portraiture, and 

 speedily attained immense popularity in this de- 

 partment, his works being marked by a powerful 

 if rather heavy touch, an effective chiaroscuro, 

 and by much dignity of style, though they possess 

 little sweetness of colour, and are somewhat marred 

 by the recurrence of opaque blackness in the 

 shadows. Among the most important of his por- 

 traits may be named ' Sir Henry Rawlinson ' ( 1881 ), 

 'Dnke of Cambridge' (1883), 'Prince of Wales' 

 (1884), 'Duke of Cleveland' (1886), 'Sir G. O. 

 Trevelyan ' (1887), and 'W. E. Gladstone,' ' Sir 

 William Jenner,' and ' Lord Spencer ' ( 1888). His 

 health suffered from his incessant artistic produc- 

 tion, and he died 31st July 1888. A collection of 

 over fifty of his works was brought together in the 

 -vinter exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1889. 



Holland, the popular and generally-accepted 

 name of a country which is officially described as 

 ' Netherlands or 'The Netherlands,' applies to a 

 maritime kingdom lying between 50 43' and 53 

 36' N. lat.,'and 3 22' and 7 16' E. long. It is 

 bounded on the N. by the North Sea, E. by 

 Prussia, S. by Belgium, W. by the North Sea. Its 

 greatest length from north to south is 195 miles, 

 and its greatest breadth from west to east 110 

 miles. It contains 12,630 sq. m. little more than 

 one-tenth of the size of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Luxemburg was long included, but this grand- 

 duchy had a distinct government as a separate state, 



and Holland only possessed a dynastic interest in it, 

 which passed away with the death of William III. 

 in 1890 (see LUXEMBURG). The following table 

 gives the population of Holland in 1888, the area 

 of the provinces, and the provincial capitals : 



Provinces. 



Area in 



North Brabant ...... 1980 



Guelderland ........ 1950 



South Holland ...... 1160 



North Holland ...... 1070 



Zealand ............ 690 



Utrecht ............ 530 



Friesland .......... 1280 



Overyssel ........... 1-290 



Groningen .......... 800 



Drenthe ............ 1030 



Limburg ........... 850 



12,630 



510,249 

 511,273 

 943,495 

 819,283 

 201,847 

 218,638 

 339,030 

 295,696 

 276,052 

 130,208 

 260,161 



4,505,932 



Provincial 



Capitals. 



Bois-le-Duc. 



Arnhem. 



The Hague. 



Haarlem. 



Middelburg. 



Utrecht. 



Leeuwarden. 



Zwolle. 



Groningen. 



Asseri. 



Maastricht. 



At that date the population of Luxemburg (213,000 ) 

 was also under the king of the Netherlands. At 

 the census of 1889 the total population of the Nether- 

 lands was 4,511,415 ; in 1895 it was 4,795,646. 



Thus, in spite of increased emigration to Ame- 

 rica North and South, and Africa, the popula- 

 tion shows 379 inhabitants to the square mile. 

 Holland is the most densely peopled country of 

 Europe, after Saxony (605 inhabitants to sq. in.) 

 and Belgium (558). The population is thinnest 

 in the eastern provinces, and densest in North 

 and South Holland, where it averages about 850 

 per square mile. About tliree-h'fths of the popula- 

 tion are Protestants, and two-fifths Roman Catho- 

 lics, besides 100,000 Jews. 



In 1895 there were eight towns with more than 

 40,000 inhabitants viz, Amsterdam, the capital, 

 450,000 ; Rotterdam, 235,000 ; The Hague, resi- 

 dence of the royal family and seat of the govern- 

 ment, 180,000'; Utrecht, 93,000; Groningen, 

 60,000; Haarlem, 58,000; Arnhem, 53,000; and 

 Leyden, 45,000. 



Physical Aspect. Voltaire's words, ' Canards, 

 canaux,' aptly describe the leading features of the 

 country flat, full of water and waterways, swarm- 

 ing with aquatic birds. Like Egypt, Holland, in 

 its greater part, is a delta formed by the alluvium 

 deposited by the great rivers that now through 

 it into the North Sea. But Holland is not only 

 flat ; it is also hollow, and this explains its name 

 Hollowland. In a large measure the soil lies 

 under the level of the water, salt or otherwise. 

 Along the canals the meadows are 10 or 12 

 feet, sometimes more, beneath the water-line ; 

 by the sea, at high tide, there may be a differ- 

 ence in the level of the soil and of the ocean 

 of quite 25 feet or more. Of course all these 

 lands have to be protected by embankments or 

 dykes, the tops thereof, broad and flat, being 

 used for carriage-roads and foot-paths. The 

 constant battle of the Hollanders against the 

 watery element finds expression in the motto of 

 the province of Zealand : Luctor et emergo ! They 

 utilised the mighty rivers, the Rhine, Waal, and 

 Maas, that traverse and fertilised their country, ai> 

 an early date ; and they have covered the land 

 Avith a network of canals that is probably unique 

 in the whole world. Apart from forming conveni- 

 ent boundaries, these canals serve a twofold pur- 

 pose : they are mostly navigable for small craft, 

 and they help to irrigate the land. Large wind- 

 mills are posted at the main points to pump out 

 the superfluous water ; hence they form a conspicu- 

 ous feature of Dutch landscapes. Other windmills 

 near the towns and villages frequently work for 

 different purposes, but they are one and all remark- 

 able for their peculiar shape and the enormous size 

 of their sails, one single sail reaching often to 120 

 feet. The canals also provide, when frozen, an 

 important medium of communication to skaters. 



