76 



Holden'i 

 Tempera- 

 ment. 



HOLLAND. 



In a subsequent edition of his work, in octavo, enti- 

 tled, " An Essay towards a rational System of Music," 

 Mr Holden, from having, unfortunately, adopted a 

 defective rule for calculating the Grave HARMONICS 

 of ;i consonance, (see that Article), conceived, that he 

 had legitimately introduced the prime number 7 into 

 musical ratios ; and thereupon, in the 2d part of his 



book, grounds a great many unfounded and false rules Holdcn's 

 and conclusions, regarding harmonics: in particular, Tempera- 

 he gives an ascending and a descending scale, which, ^_ n ' c ' nt |_ 

 when combined, contains 24 notes within the octave, 

 eleven of which involve the number 7 in their numeri. 

 cal ratios. (?) 



HOLLAND. 



Holland. 



Situation, 

 boundaries, 

 mil extent. 



Divisions. 



South 

 Holland. 



Khineland. 



HOLLAND, one of the provinces of the kingdom of 

 the Netherlands, and, before the formation of that 

 kingdom, the most considerable of the united provinces 

 of the Netherlands, is bounded on the west by the 

 German Ocean, or North Sea ; on the north by the 

 Zuyder Zee, which separates it from the province of 

 Friesland ; on the east, by the same sea, which sepa- 

 rates it from the province of Overyssel, and by the 

 province of Utrecht, and part of Guelderland ; and on 

 the south by the province of Zealand, and part of Bra- 

 bant. It is situated between the latitude of 51 40' and 

 S3o 10' north, and the longitude of 3 56' and 5 30' east 

 of London. Its greatest extent, from south to north, 

 including the isle of Texel, is about 90 miles, and from 

 cast to west not above 25 miles in some places, and 

 above 40 in others, it being of a very irregular figure, 

 and extremely narrow towards its northern extremity. 

 According to the calculation taken in the year 1554', 

 there were upwards of 300,000 morgcns of land in this 

 province, each morgen being about two English acres. 

 The states of Holland and Zealand, in a remonstrance 

 made soon after this year to the Earl of Leicester, con- 

 tended, that these two provinces, with all their heath, 

 downs, and grounds delved out, could make in all but 

 about 500,000 morgens ; and De Witt, in his work on 

 the true interests of Holland, calculates that there can- 

 not possibly be more than 400,000 morgens of land in 

 this province, down and heath not included. 



This province is divided into South Holland, com- 

 monly called Ug Holland ; and North Holland, gene- 

 rally called West Friesland, and sometimes Water- 

 land ; there are also subdivisions, the principal of 

 which will be afterwards noticed. Both South Hol- 

 land and North Holland contain a great many consi- 

 derable cities, besides a vast number of large and beau- 

 tiful villages. In South Holland the principal places 

 are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Leyden, Haer- 

 lem, Dordrecht or Dort, Delft, the Briel, Gorcum, 

 Gouda, &c. Rhineland is a subdivision or district in 

 South Holland, the capital of which is Leyden : it 

 contains within its jurisdiction 45 large boroughs and 

 villages. This subdivision is bounded on the west by 

 the coast of Holland; on the east by part of the pro- 

 vince of Utrecht, and by Amstelland; on the north 

 by part of the river Y, along the course of the dyke 

 that goes from Haerlem to Amsterdam, and by the 

 shallows and washes as far as Beverwic; and on the 

 south, by a line drawn from Montfort through Ou- 

 dewater and Gouda to the Hague : it has its name of 

 Rhineland from the middle branch of the Rhine run- 

 ning through it. All the inhabitants of this district 

 are obliged by law, agreed to among themselves, to 

 provide for the maintenance and reparation of the 

 dykes, sluices, and canals within the district ; and they 

 have a council which meets every Saturday at the 



Rhineland House, in Leyden. This council is com- Holland, 

 posed of the Dyke-graaf, and seven assistants, called 

 Heemraden. There are several islands belonging to 

 South Holland : The island of Voornlees, between. the 

 mouths of the river Maese ; Briel is the capital : This 

 island, along with the small adjoining islands of Goree, 

 and Overslackee, form the territory called Voornland, 

 which was anciently part of Zealand. The isle of 

 Ruggonhill, to the east of that of Voorn, of which Wil- 

 liamstadt is the principal town, together with the isle 

 of Finard, formerly belonged to Brabant. 



North Holland is divided from South Holland by N ort h H O I_ 

 the river Y. The principal towns in it are Saardam, land. 

 Edam, Monikendam, Alcmaer, and Hoorn. Across the 

 mouth of the Zuyder Zee lies a row of islands, belong- 

 ing to North Holland. The Texel island is separated Texel. 

 from the North Cape of North Holland by a very nar- 

 row channel ; it is about eight miles long and five 

 broad ; it is defended from the sea by sand hills and 

 strong banks ; there are several villages in it, and a 

 large town on the east side, called Burgh, which enjoys 

 the privileges of a city. As this island lies at the 

 mouth of the Zuyder Zee, and commands the only pas- 

 sage to Amsterdam, the States have built a strong for- 

 tress on it, in which a considerable garrison is always 

 kept. The island of Vlieland lies towards the north- 

 east of the Texel ; it is about nine miles long, and two 

 broad ; it has only two small villages ; and is chiefly 

 remarkable for the great quantity of muscles found on 

 it. The island of Schelling lies to the north-east of 

 Vlieland ; and is about 10 miles long, and three broad; 

 there are five villages on it. These islands, together 

 with several large sand-banks, break the rage of the 

 ocean, and form two good harbours, or rather road- 

 steds, at the Texel and the Vlie; the first being a 

 noted station for ships bound to the south, and the 

 other for those bound to the north. The Wierengen, 

 thus called from the great quantity of sea-weed, named 

 in Dutch, as in Scotch, fVier, is a number of little 

 islands, which lie more to the south, on the coast of 

 North Holland ; the principal of them is five miles 

 long, and two broad, and contains several villages. 



The name of Holland, (the hollow land,) sufficiently Face of the 

 indicates the nature of the country. The level of a country, 

 great part of it is, indeed, below the level of the sea, 

 which is kept out only by means of dykes, or natural 

 sand banks. In many parts, the dyke, or mound, is 30 toast and 

 feet above the adjoining land; the width at top is dykes. 

 enough to permit the passage of two carriages ; and 

 there is a sort of imperfect road along it. In its de- 

 scent, the breadth increases so much, that it is not very 

 difficult to walk down either side. On the land side, 

 it is strengthened by stone and timber, and covered by 

 earth and grass ; towards the sea, somewhat above, and 

 considerably below water-mark, a strong matting ot' 



