Whatever the cause of Zeeland's friendliness,
there it is; and in Middelburg the foreigner wanders at ease, almost
as comfortable and self-possessed as if he were in France.
And it is the pleasantest town to wander in, and an astonishingly
large one. A surprising expansiveness, when one begins to explore them,
is an idiosyncrasy of Dutch towns. From the railway, seeing a church
spire and a few roofs, one had expected only a village; and behold
street runs into street until one's legs ache. This is peculiarly
the case with Gorinchem, which is almost invisible from the line;
and it is the case with Middelburg, and Hoorn, and many other towns
that I do not recall at this moment.
My advice to travellers in Walcheren is to stay at Middelburg rather
than at Flushing (they are very nigh each other) and to stay, moreover,
at the Hotel of the Abbey. It is not the best hotel in Holland as
regards appointment and cuisine; but it is certainly one of the
pleasantest in character, and I found none other in so fascinating
a situation. For it occupies one side of the quiet square enclosed
by the walls of the Abbey of St. Nicholas (or Abdij, as the Dutch
oddly call it), and you look from your windows through a grove of
trees to the delicate spires and long low facade of this ancient
House of God, which is now given over to the Governor of Zeeland,
to the library of the Province, and to the Provincial Council, who
meet in fifteenth century chambers and transact their business on
_nouveau art_ furniture.
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