The times., 1899-10-29
TRoPEs OF THE DUTCH.
English Expressions From Seven
teenth Century Hostility.
U'rOm the london NIODt.J

Trom the London Globe)
Among the accidental results of the loug
existing rivalry between English and
Dutch in the seventeenth century was the
introduction into common speech OF many
characteristic phrases and illusions 10
Dutch manners. In the course OF time,
however the word Dutch, used adjec-
lively. came to be regarded not necessarily
as pertaining to Holland or its inhabitants,
but as expressing any quality that was odd,
grotesque or out of the way So greatly
were the vulgar taken with the word that
they seemed to have used il at large, less
as meaning anything in particular than be
cause it was short, emphatic, and came
readily TO the tongue.
But of the many tTOpes which have done
good service in their time no small Por-
tion had their origin in the fO'c'sle.
Though our sailors laughed at the Dutch
man. they respected his valOr, and there
was little malice in their jibes. OF course,
lack was already with "a dose tor the
Dons frog for the Fench, and a salt eel
for the Dutch" But it was the quaint
ways of the latter that most tickled his
fancy, and as often as 'Mynheer smoked
his pipe and cried yaw,' he was the cause
of genuine merriment to the British sailor.
As for Dutch. high or low, that was the
most outIandish Lingo" he ever heard;
and when Jack laughingly dubbed it 'dou-
bic Dutch he felt that neither the wit nor
tongue of man could carry him further.
Dutch courage" as a synonym Tor pot
yalor was originally a salt water phrase
Not that Mynheer liked his schnapp5 bet
fer than Jack did his grog. but because the
prefix "Dutch" had begun to acquire a
quite Fictitious meaning, based upon the
national peculiarities which once made the
low countries a stock subject Of satirical
E1pglich CailOr ggN
enough blue in the sky to make a pair Of
Dutchman's breeches' he was drawing Up
on his recollectiOns Of a decidedly queer
figure which Goldsmith described as one
of the oldest in nature. Upon iank head
of hair he wears half-cocked hat. No
coat but seven waistcoats and nine pair of
breeches. so that his hips reach almost to
his armpits This well-clothed vegetable
is now fit to see company and make love.
Such in the last century was the popular
conception of a Dutchman's appearance.
The Hollanders avarice, with his natu-
raj instinct for getting the best of a bar
gain has often made itself felt not only in
affairs of diplomacy The poet has told
us that
In matters OF commerce. the fault of the Dutch
Is giving TOO little, and asking too much.
This from the foreigners point of view;
but John Evelyn records that when dining
on a certain occasion with the Dutch Am
bassador in London that official admitted
that his nation minded their own profit
only, and did nothing out of gratitude
but collaterally. as it related TO their own
gain and security" And if We may trust
the many sly aliusions that have been made
TO IT, this is as much a personal as a ma
tional trait. Thus Dutch bargain sig
nifes that one of the parties had taken so
much to drink that he was easily taken
in by the ether. And the Dutch reckon
ing" which often follows such transaction
means simply a statement of account in
the lump, without any details by which