Known as the "low countries" because much of the land is now below sea level, many of the country's largest cities are kept dry only by huge walls holding back the sea.

The Sea King had been a widower for many years, and his aged mother kept house for him.

Its spell, however, was still potent, and kept the scaffold awful where the poor minister had died, and likewise the cottage by the sea-shore, where Hester Prynne had dwelt.