This,
Being Their Usual Meeting-Place, Would Naturally Be The Place Of
Rendezvous On The Morning Of Departure.
From thence it was but a stone's
throw to the boats, and quickly after starting they would enter the
Vliet, as the section of the canal between Leyden and Delft is named, and
which for a little distance runs within the city bounds, its quays
forming the streets.
In those days the point where the canal leaves the
city was guarded by a water-gate, which has long since been removed, as
have also the town walls, the only remaining portions of which are the
Morsch-gate and the Zylgate. So, gliding along the quiet waters of the
Vliet, past the Water-gate, and looking up at the frowning turrets of the
Cow-gate, 'they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their
resting-place near twelve years.' . . . Nine miles from Leyden a
branch canal connects the Vliet with the Hague, and immediately beyond
their junction a sharp turn is made to the left, as the canal passes
beneath the Hoom-bridge; from this point, for the remaining five miles,
the high road from the Hague to Delft, lined with noble trees, runs side
by side with the canal. In our time the canal-boats make a circuit of
the town to the right, but in those days the traffic went by canal
through the heart of the city . . . . Passing out of the gates of
Delft and leaving the town behind, they had still a good ten miles of
canal journey before them ere they reached their vessel and came to the
final parting, for, as Mr. Van Pelt has clearly shown, it is a mistake to
confound Delft with Delfshaven, as the point of embarkation in the
SPEEDWELL.
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