History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

eneath the foot, and liable every spring and winter
to the terrible calamities of being drowned by the
waves, when the high tides or the fierce tempests
heaped up the waters of the North Sea, and to be
over-flown by the Rhine, when its floods were
swollen by the long-continued rams, what, one
asks, tempted the first inhabitant to occupy a
country whose conditions were so wretched, and
which was liable moreover to be overwhelmed by
catastrophes so tremendous? Perhaps they saw in
this oozy and herbless expanse the elements of
future fertility. Perhaps they deemed it a safe
retreat, from which they might issue forth to spoil
and ravage, and to which they might retire and defy
pursuit. But from whatever cause, both the center
island and the whole adjoining coast soon found
inhabitants. The Germans occupied the center; the
Belgae took possession of the strip of coast
stretching to the south, now known as Belgium.
The similar strip running off to the north, Holland
namely, was possessed by the Frisians, who formed
a population in which the German and Celtic
elements were blended without uniting.
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