Review of Reviews^ 119/06. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



297 



and Thera. Among other contributions are two of 

 historical importance ; one concerning Holland and 

 Spain, the other dealing with Holland and France. 

 The story of '' Phillip's William " Ls a curious and 

 little-known piece of history: William was the eldest 

 son of William the Silent, and Philip was the famous 

 Kincr of Spain who gave us so much trouble with his 

 Armada. William was taken as a prisoner to Spain 

 and kept there for thirty years; he was well treated 

 and his education attended to, for he was but thir- 

 teen when taken from his people ; the idea was to 

 have him ready to act as the tool of Spain in the 

 Netherlands when the proper time arrived. Aft.er liLs 

 release William tried to return and enter into pos- 

 session of his own. but the Protestants, although 

 not numerous, were against this Catholic Prince, and 

 sided with liis brotlier. Then we are told of William's 

 visit to Rome, of his journeys and efforts to obtain 

 recognition by bis people, who requested him to stop 

 awaj', and his death through the ignorance of a sur- 

 geon. It is a pitiful stoi-y. 



Johan, or Jan. de Wit is the .subject of the second 

 article. This statesman was accused of entering into 

 secret negotiations with Louis X.TV. to overthrow the 

 Prince of Orange, and ever since 1672 there has been 

 a division of opinion about the accuracy of the charge. 

 Some Dutchmen would like to raise a statue to his 

 memory, others would burn his effigy as a mark of 

 contempt. The author cf this article arrives at the 

 conclusion that De Wit was not false to his country. 



Elsevier is a good issue. Tlie opening article on 

 Dutch Sculpture Ls fresh and interesting. The article 

 on the magnolia is also worth mention. 



The fii-st of the three contributions to Vragen (ks 

 Tijds is on the vexed question of Paternity. In Hol- 

 land, inquiry into the paternity of a child born out 

 of wedlock is not permitted ; it was not always so, as 

 the writer shows. Should the law be altered? On 

 the grounds of humanit.y, and for other reasons, yes! 

 Illegitimate children, where the father is known, 

 should have the same rights as the legitimate. The 

 author realises that the inquiry may be fraught with 

 difl5culty and also with risk, but on the whole the 

 reasons for permitting it outweigh those for forbidding 

 it. 



THE SCANDINAYUN MAGAZINES. 



NylaenJe (No. 11) contains an outspoken article by 

 Dr. Agnes Mathilde Wergeland, now Professor of His- 

 tory and French at Wyoming University, on " Wliy 

 Norsemen Emigrate." One of the reasons would 

 seem to be that Norwa.y, by very nature of her rugged, 

 majestic beauty, is too cold, too barren and unyield- 

 ing to afford to her children more than the barest of 

 livings — and men cannot live on beauty alone. But 



in lier own mind Dr. Wergeland is convinced that the 

 chief reason is neither this nor that the Norse do not 

 love their homeland enough, but that they love each 

 other too little! There under the high heavens spread 

 over breezy fjeld and fjord, there is such an onpres- 

 sive spiritual atmosphere of narrow-minded intolerance, 

 of unloving readine.ss to raise teacup storms, of cavil- 

 ling, of insolence, private and political, of clerical and 

 sesthetio arrogance that the Norseman, though scarcely 

 knowing why, longs to get away from it all and to 

 breathe a fresher, sweeter air. No wonder the people 

 emigrate, exclaims Dr. Wergeland. 



There is a peculiar hardness and unbendableness in 

 the Norseman's nature, and the mild virtues of for- 

 bearance grow but sparsely in his surroundings. That 

 is perhaps the reason why the Norse emigrant brings 

 to his new homeland for tlie first four or five years 

 nothing but an open mouth and a silent tongue- 

 speechless astonishment! And that is why, to come 

 home after spending some years abroad, is so often 

 like coming from open fields into narrow alleys, where 

 the fancies and prejudices of centuries still lie sleeping 

 in the gutters. 



But Dr. Wergeland, true to her name, is too good 

 a patriot to liavo written in this fashion without a 

 definite hope that it would do good. Her object is 

 to try to exorcise tliat spirit of intolerance which is 

 a curse to any land, and to rouse a spirit of love, of 

 youtliful gladness and enthusiasm, and of genial emu- 

 lation of foreign progressiveness. To the charge that 

 . Norway is a poor country, she replies that Norway is 

 rich in opportunities. Let but a spirit of love link 

 her children together in a patriotic resolve to find 

 these out and make the most of them, and their re- 

 ward will not be wanting. 



Daiisk Tidskrift has an essay by Adolf Hansen on 

 " English Influence on Danish Literature in the 

 Eighteenth Century," which contains much about 

 Ludvig Holberg, " who, it may be said, taught the 

 Danes and Norwegians to read." even as it is with 

 some truth said that the Tathr and the Spectator 

 taught the English to read. 



In Kihujsjaa, Dr. August Koren, junr., describes a 

 new method (invented by himself) of watering gardens. 

 Without the illustrations, however, an explanation 

 would occupy too much space. Briefly, the apparatus 

 consists of one or more long wooden gutters fixed at 

 the desired height on either side of the portion to be 

 watered, which may be of any size. Along these the 

 water is conveyed by means of hose, and the watering 

 itself Ls done from broad flat sieves fixed from gutter 

 to gutter and moving along by means of small wheels. 

 It IS claimed that this method of irrigation ensures 

 a gentle, systematic, even watering unattainable by 

 other means. 



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