"A slight incident that occurred shortly before our departure touched
me greatly. 'You think, sir,' said Mr. Bos, 'that because I do not
understand French, I have not read the books you have written on our
National Arts. Pray undeceive yourself, for here is a translation of
it,' The old gentleman then placed before me a complete manuscript
translation of the work, which he had had made specially for himself."
The special lion of Franeker, which I visited on my way back from
Harlingen, is the Planetarium of Eisa Eisinga, a mathematician and
wool-comber, who constructed it alone in his back parlour between 1774
and 1781. Interest in planetaria is, I should say, an acquired taste;
but there can be no doubt as to the industry and ingenuity of this
inventor. The wonders of the celestial law are unfolded by a very
tired young woman, whose attitude to the solar system is probably
similar to that of Miss Jellyby to Africa. After her lecture one
stumbles upstairs to see the clock-work which controls the spheres,
and is then free once more.
Franeker is proud also of her tombstones in the great church, but
it is, I fancy, Eisa Eisinga whom she most admires. She was once
the seat of an honourable University, which Napoleon suppressed in
1811.
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