Amsterdam, it should be mentioned, had already at this time become the home of the diamond industry.  The art of cutting and polishing diamonds was a secret process brought to the city on the Y by Portuguese Jews, who were expelled by Philip II; and in Amsterdam their descendants still retain a peculiar skill and craftmanship that is unrivalled.  Jewish settlers were indeed to be found in many of the Dutch towns; and it was through them that Holland became famous in 17th century Europe for the perfection of her goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ art and for jewelry of every kind.  Another industry, which had its centre at Delft, was that of the celebrated pottery and tiles known as “delfware.”  It will be evident from what has been said above that vast wealth flowed into Holland at this period of her history, but, as so often happens, this sudden growth of riches had a tendency to accumulate in the hands of a minority of the people, with the inevitable consequence, on the one hand, of the widening of the gulf which divided poverty from opulence; on the other, with the creation among rich and poor alike of a consuming eagerness and passion for gain, if not by legitimate means, then by wild speculation or corrupt venality.  Bubble companies came into existence, only to bring disaster on those who rashly invested their money in them.  The fever of speculation rose to its height in the mania for the growing of bulbs and more especially of tulips, which more and more absorbed the attention of the public in Holland in the years 1633-6.  Perfectly inordinate sums were offered in advance for growing crops or for particular bulbs; most of the transactions being purely paper speculations, a gambling in futures.  Millions of guilders were risked, and hundreds of thousands lost or won.  In 1637 the crash came, and many thousands of people, in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leyden, Alkmaar and other towns in Holland, were brought to ruin.  The Estates of Holland and the various municipal corporations, numbers of whose members were among the sufferers, were compelled to take official action to extend the time for the liquidation of debts, and thus to some extent limit the number of bankruptcies.  The tulip mania reduced, however, so many to beggary that it came as a stern warning.  It was unfortunately only too typical of the spirit of the time.

Even worse in some ways was the venality and corruption which began to pervade the public life of the country.  The getting of wealth, no matter how, was an epidemic, which infected not merely the business community, but the official classes of the republic.  There was malversation in the admiralties and in the military administration.  The government was in the hands of narrow oligarchies, who took good care to oppose jealously any extension of the privileges which placed so much valuable patronage at their disposal.  Even envoys to foreign courts were reputed not to be inaccessible to the receipt of presents, which were