"
I gather from the account of Leeuwarden that the justices of that
city once knew a crime when they saw one--none quicklier. In 1536,
for example, they punished Jan Koekebakken in a twinkling for the
dastardly offence of marrying a married woman. This was his sentence:--
We command that the said Jan Koekebakken, prisoner, be conducted
by the executioner from the Chancery to Brol-bridge, and that he be
put into the pillory there. He shall remain standing there for two
hours with a spindle under each arm, and with the letter in which he
pledged faith to the said Aucke Sijbrant hanging from his neck. He
shall remain for ever within the town of Leeuwarden, under penalty
of death if he should leave it.
Done and pronounced at Leeuwarden April 29th, 1536.
But the best part of the guide-book is its rapid notes on the villages
around Leeuwarden, to so many of which are curious legends attached. At
Marssum, close at hand, was born the English painter of Roman life,
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Here also was born the ingenious Eisa
Eisinga, who constructed the Franeker planetarium in the intervals
of wool-combing. At Menaldum lived Mrs. Van Camstra van Haarsma,
a husband-tamer and eccentric, of whom a poet wrote:--
She breaks pipe and glass and mug,
When he speaks as suits a man;
And instead of being cross,
He is gentler than a lamb.
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