"
The legend was naturally popular in a land of large families, and it
was certainly credited without any reservation for many years. In
England the rabbit-breeding woman of Dorking had her adherents
too. What the beggar really wished for the Dutch lady was as many
children at one birth as there were days in the year in which the
conversation occurred--namely three, for the encounter was on January
3rd. Or so I have somewhere read. But it is more amusing to believe in
the greater number, especially as a Dutch author has put it on record
that he saw the children with his own eyes. They were of the size
of shrimps, and were baptised either singly or collectively by Guy,
Bishop of Utrecht. All the boys were named John and all the girls
Elizabeth, They died the same day.
Thomas Coryate of the _Crudities_, who also tells the tale, believed
it implicitly. "This strange history," he says, "will seem incredible
(I suppose) to all readers. But it is so absolutely and undoubtedly
true as nothing in the world more."
And here, hand in hand with Veritas, we leave The Hague.
Chapter VI
Scheveningen and Katwyk
The Dutch heaven--Huyghens' road--Sorgh Vliet's
builder--Jacob Cats--Homely wisdom--President Kruger--A
monstrous resort--Giant snails--The black-headed
mannikins--The etiquette of petticoats--Katwyk--The old
Rhine--Noordwyk--Noordwyk-Binnen.
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