Summary
An orphanage. Evelyn visited a Weeshuis in Amsterdam and described it as:
“,,, a foundation like our Charter-house, for the education of decayed persons, orphans, and poor children, where they are taught several occupations. The girls are so well brought up to housewifery, that men of good worth, who seek that chiefly in a woman, frequently take their wives from this hospital.”
Almost certainly, Evelyn was referring to the Civil Orphanage of Amsterdam. The orphanage was created in 1579 from a convent. Initially the orphanage held 200 orphans but during the plague epidemic (1663-1664) around a thousand orphans were hosed here. When the orphanage closed in 1960, only ten orphans remained.
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