. The New England magazine. tellectual see this, tomention one inter-esting matter, inthe old townsidentification withprinting. At leastas early as 1477,nine years afterGutenbergs death,the first Low Ger-man Bible, trans-lated from theVulgate, was fin-ished at Delft, andbecame a not un-important lever forthe Reformation,being known asthe Delft Bible. There are manymonuments of thehistoric past inDelft, for the townseems to havealtered little in thecourse of cen-turies ; and themost conspicuousof these are herchurches, which have long been fa-mous. Elder of these is the OudeKerk, or
. The New England magazine. tellectual see this, tomention one inter-esting matter, inthe old townsidentification withprinting. At leastas early as 1477,nine years afterGutenbergs death,the first Low Ger-man Bible, trans-lated from theVulgate, was fin-ished at Delft, andbecame a not un-important lever forthe Reformation,being known asthe Delft Bible. There are manymonuments of thehistoric past inDelft, for the townseems to havealtered little in thecourse of cen-turies ; and themost conspicuousof these are herchurches, which have long been fa-mous. Elder of these is the OudeKerk, or Old Church, a Gothicpile of heavy proportions, whosedial-faced leaning tower may be seenfor miles away. The origin ofthe piece-made structure is un-known. The tower was built in1070, and in time a church of brickwas added and dedicated to St. Bar-tholomew. For a century or two theparishioners trustingly paid theirtribute to this patron; but the citi-zens, having on St. Hypolituss Day in1396 recovered the liberties they had. A [iff Wm TOMB OF WILLIAM THE SILENT. lost in the fierce struggles between theHook and the Codfish parties, tradedthe holy St. Bartholomew for , and the latter became thepatron saint of both church and Bleyswyck, an old-time historianof Delft, remarks, the church is agreat Colossus, and reminds us sadlyof the limitations of Gothic expressionin brick. It is only when taken as awhole that the architecture is credit-able, although a certain charm isgiven by the finely proportionedtower. Once within the Oude Kerk, disap- 136 DELFT AND DELFT WARE. pointment and vexation of spirit as-sail the lover of art who has enjoyedthe splendor of developed over with rough, unsightlyboards, rude reminders of the six-teenth century, daubed and spatteredwith hideous whitewash, the interiorof the great edifice is bare and cheer-less. Not a trace remains of the dec-oration made in the days of cleanstone or tinted stucco, when the OudeKerk was in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1887
