The flower of the French romantic school is represented here, brought
together by a collector with a sure eye. No visitor to The Hague who
cares anything for painting should miss it; and indeed no visitor
who cares nothing for painting should miss it, for it may lure him
to wiser ways.
The Binnenhof is a mass of medieval and later buildings extending
along the south side of the Vyver, which was indeed once a part of
its moat. The most attractive view of it is from the north side of the
Vyver, with the long broken line of roof and gable and turret reflected
in the water. The nucleus of the Binnenhof was the castle or palace of
William II., Count of Holland in the thirteenth century--also Emperor
of Germany and father of Florence V., who built the great hall of the
knights (into which, however, one may penetrate only on Thursdays),
and whose tomb we shall see in Alkmaar church. The Stadtholders made
the Binnenhof their headquarters; but the present Royal Palace is half
a mile north-west of it. Other buildings have been added from time to
time, and the trams are now allowed to rush through with their bells
jangling the while. The desecration is not so glaring as at Utrecht,
but it seems thoroughly wrong--as though we were to permit a line to
traverse Dean's Yard at Westminster.
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