E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Holland.
The country of paradoxes. The “houses are built on the sand;” the sea is higher than the shore; the keels of the ships are above the chimney-tops of the houses; and the cow’s tail does not “grow downward,” but is tied up to a ring in the roof of the stable. Butler calls it:
1
“A land that rides at anchor and is moored,
In which they do not live, but go aboard.”
Description of Holland.
(See also Don Juan, canto x. 63.)
2
Holland. A particular kind of cloth; so called because it used to be sent to Holland to be bleached. Lawn is cloth bleached on a lawn; and grass-lawn is lawn bleached on a grass-plat.
3
Bleaching is now performed by artificial processes.
