Other admirals also lie
there, the Dutch naval commander never having wanted for honour in
his own country.
The New Church, where the monarchs of Holland are crowned, has a very
large new stained-glass window representing the coronation of Queen
Wilhemina--one of the most satisfying new windows that I know, but
quite lacking in any religious suggestion. That poet who considered
a church the best retreat, because it is good to contemplate God
through stained glass, would have fared badly in Holland.
The New Church is new only by comparison with the Old. It was built
in 1410, rebuilt in 1452 and 1645. Amsterdam's Old Church, on the
other side of Warmoes Straat, dates from 1300. The visitor to the
New Church is handed a brief historical leaflet in exchange for his
twenty-five cents, and is left to his own devices; but the Old Church
has a koster who takes a pride in showing his lions and who deprecates
gifts of money. An elderly, clean-shaved man with a humorous mouth,
he might be taken for Holland's leading comedian. Instead, he displays
ecclesiastical treasures, of which in 1904 there were fewer than usual,
two of the three fine old windows representing the life of the Virgin
being under repair behind a screen. The tombs and monuments are not
interesting--admirals of the second rank and such small fry.
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