PIET HEIN.

IT will, I hope, be, remembered by my readers that in a previous memoir I related how the personal influence of the brave Heemskerk, and his determination not to think of death in the hour of greatest danger, so inspired all those around him with courage that they performed a feat, which, when done, was long looked upon as a wonder. I now come to a man whose name is perhaps still better known, although his services were not, and could not have been, more splendid. But Admiral Hein had the good fortune to fill the people's purses full of silver just when they had changed their last sixpence, and were looking very hard at the coppers. Indeed, the relief he thereby brought was so great that they made a song about him, and sing it to this very day. I remember the chorus, which I learned at school, 'Piet Hein, His name is small, His deeds are great, He conquered the silver fleet, Hurrah, Hurrah, He con-quer-ed the silver fleet!' And there was not a boy who did not know this chorus, and was ready to join in it at any time. If he could not sing, and the master happened to be out of the way, he waited till

we came to the hurrah, and I never met a boy yet who couldn't do that part of the chorus to his own and I dare say to Piet Hein's satisfaction.

Hein was born in the year 1578 in Delfshaven, a small town on the right bank of the Meuse, not far from Rotterdam. His father was a herring-fisher, and poor. But not so very poor as you would imagine. For you must remember that trading was a very risky thing for the Dutch in those days. Flat-bottomed nutshells for ships; compasses, mathematical instruments, charts, and maps of a very faulty kind; unknown currents, savage people, Spanish men-ofwar on one hand, pirates on the other, made it quite as probable that a ship would never come back at all as that it would bring home a cargo of treasures. Those who could not afford to lose much, but who were still fond of the sea, invested their money in fishing-boats or coasting-traders, which ran short journeys to the English or Irish coast, or to Dieppe, or to any other place that could be reached in a couple of days. And even that was not without danger. Most of the boats had two or three small cannon, and the crews were all armed to the teeth. They always sailed out in fleets of twelve or twenty, and seldom came back without some long yarn about fights with pirates. Many of the men would return. with wounds and great gashes; and sometimes, too, the small fleet would come back with some of the boats missing, and the crews of the rest showing very long faces and solemn mien; and then it was pretty

well known that those who had not come back had been made prisoners, and were now in some Spanish ship chained together like dogs.

But at other times the small fleet would come sailing up the river covered with flags, and dragging three or four strange vessels behind them. Then all the people of Delfshaven ran out to the quay, and clapped their hands and waved their handkerchiefs; for they all knew that these had been taken in fair fight. Then the vessels were sold to the highest bidder, and the money was fairly divided amongst the brave fellows; the burgomaster would slap them on the back and shake them by the hand, the Town Council gave them a dinner, the minister on the following Sunday would thank God for their safe return and their good fortuue; and altogether there was so much excitement that these herring-fishers felt themselves quite important, and would not have given up their work for any quiet, peaceable life in the world. I do not know whether old Hein, who was one of these, made much money. Perhaps he liked fighting best; but, at any rate, he earned enough to give his son a good education. But when young Piet grew into his teens, and saw other boys of his age go out with their fathers in the boats, and when he smelt the fresh sea-air, he could not, for the life of him, stop at home; so one fine summer morning, although his mother sobbed and begged him to stay, he was off with his father in the boat, and delighted to dance about on the green waves..

He is supposed to have been thirteen or fourteen at that time, but there is nothing known of him with any certainty in the history of the Netherlands until he was forty-four. He was probably a herring-fisher until he was thirty. Then came the magnificent victory of Heemskerk, and, as a consequence of that victory, a peace of twelve years with Spain. Have you ever seen a young retriever, chained up for a long time and suddenly let loose, bound and jump and race about, and bring his master all sorts of things? The Dutch were very much like this. The war had chained them. They could snarl, and bark, and they could bite too, as you know. But now they were free, and their ships bounded across the seas in all directions, and were soon to be seen in Turkey, Egypt, India, China, Japan, North America, Brazils, and the Cape of Good Hope.

Twenty years of herring-fishing and pirate-fighting had made our Piet Hein a bold and clever seaman, and he had saved some money. He got a larger ship somehow, and sailed to America as soon as the peace was signed. He made money by that, and got a larger ship still. During the twelve years of the peace he was prosperous, cautious, and brave, and he saved a good deal of money. But when the twelve. years were over, and the fighting began again as hard as ever, Hein was one of the first to buckle to. He had no mercy for the Spaniards. While there was peace he had left them alone. But he had never forgotten that they had taken him and his father

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prisoner twice, that they had used them with abominable cruelty, and flogged him till his back was raw. So he was determined to have a fling at the Spaniards on his own hook. He fitted up his ship with the best guns he could buy, and sailed out of the Meuse. He was exceedingly fortunate. Nothing seemed to go wrong with him. One of the oldest books that mentions his name says, 'Time after time he fell into the hands of his enemies, who often pointed their swords and lances at his throat or heart; but, by his good fortune and his cleverness, he escaped all these dangers. Many volumes could be filled with his wonderful adventures, wherein water, wind, fire, and earth seemed to fight for him.' Another says, 'His name was like the drum of Zisca: wherever it was mentioned the Spaniards began to tremble, and it was sufficient to say that Piet Hein was coming to silence the crying children in the cradle.' This you must allow was no common reputation. He never sailed out but he brought home some valuable prize. He was afraid of nobody, and went back for no enemy; and although his courage was as yet only shown in small engagements, in which he engaged as a private trader, he displayed so much judgment and coolness, that people began to say it was a pity that he was not in the country's service.

Two years after the recommencement of the war Piet Hein was offered the post of vice-admiral of the fleet of the West Indian Company, which had been founded previously with a capital of 500,000l., for the