A
TOUR THROUGH HOLLAND,
ALONG THE RIGHT AND LEFT
BANKS OF THE RHINE,
TO THE SOUTH OF
GERMANY,
IN
THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF
1806.

MY LORD,

If the name of your Grace had been rendered illustrious solely by those distinguished Patriots from whom you derived it, my pride could not fail of being eminently gratified by being permitted to dedicate to you the following pages: but other, and infinitely more impressive and honourable emotions are awakened, when I reflect, that in the present descendant of the House of Russel are displayed that patriotic fervor, that lofty spirit of political independence, and that ardent zeal in the great cause of humanity, which distinguished so many of its branches in the annals of this great country. Indeed, my Lord, it is a felicity to be able to attest, from experience, and now to record, the pretensions of your Grace to the gratitude of your country and the love of mankind.

To the wisdom of your administration was committed a great and important, but a much neglected portion of the United Empire. You became the ruler of a country long oppressed, wickedly calumniated, and still bleeding from many a wound. Soon after the elevation of your Grace to this august situation, public symptoms appeared which called for sagacity and ivenergy of no ordinary nature. Instead of listening, in the sunshine of vice-regal magnificence, to the vague reports of the idle, the ignorant, or the mischievous, you penetrated into the wild recesses of that distracted country, reputed to contain the hot-bed of insurrection; you personally contemplated the character of the poor, suffering Irish peasant, in all its rough but affecting simplicity; you beheld a fellow-being possessed of affections easily to be won by tenderness, of a vivid imagination, and quick and ardent susceptibility, clothed in rags, and living in common with the beast of the field, in a state of penury and wretchedness, unknown to the miserable and oppressed of any other region. To see, to feel, and to meditate relief were all simultaneous in the mind of your Grace. When some partial excesses at length broke out, when the violent and the intolerant clamorously demanded the terrible inflictions of military law, you firmly, wisely, and most humanely resolved upon surrendering up the guilty to the laws of their country, without delivering over their unoffending vicinage to the savage dominion of the bullet and the bayonet. The noble experiment answered, and your Grace lost no portion of your popularity, in the very spot where dire necessity compelled you to offer up victims to justice. Your conduct on that occasion, even in the absence of every other laudable event of your life, is sufficient to sweeten it to its latest period.

A great and unexpected political change rendered the administration of your Grace too brief to execute vthe enlightened and salutary plans which you had conceived for the amelioration of Ireland; but it was of sufficient duration to afford opportunities of displaying those qualities of the head and of the heart, which will endear your memory to that unhappy country for ever, and you have left to it the benefits of a brilliant example.

That your illustrious successor may adopt the same clemency and wisdom which your Grace so efficaciously exhibited; and that he may complete the measures which extraordinary political events prevented your Grace from perfecting, is the cordial prayer of him who is an enthusiastic well-wisher to Ireland, and who, with great respect, has the honour to subscribe himself,

I am indebted for some interesting anecdotes of the most eminent Painters of the Dutch and Flemish School to the authors of the Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres, to Pilkington’s Dictionary of Painters, and to the elegant and witty D’Israeli.

I had no companion with me during the greater part of the Tour described in the following pages, which was taken amidst many untoward and embarrassing circumstances, the melancholy effects of war, and which, for that reason, will, I hope, be favoured with the indulgent candour of my friends and of the Public.

The public shall be my confessor.—In the summer of last year, whilst the larger portion of the civilized world was anxiously awaiting the result of our sincere negotiations for a peace, which, alas! the crafty ministers of Napoleon, never intended should be other than mere “romans politiques,” the desire of contemplating a country, and a race of people to me entirely new, induced me to trespass upon their shore.

I resolved upon visiting Holland, although in a state of reluctant war with my own country, of a war which yet permitted to her commerce a few stolen embraces with that of England, which forced many a pursy Dutchman to lament the separation, and in the narcotic atmosphere of his consoling pipe, to wish for better times. In gratifying my wishes, I was guilty of assuming a character respected in every country, as well for its being most wisely and profitably at peace with all the world, as for its integrity and enterprize: I became an American, and by an act of temporary 2adoption, fixed upon Baltimore in North America as the place of my nativity. A fortunate correspondence in the personal description, except a slight variation, not easily discoverable, relating to my face and age, enabled a friend of mine, a legitimate American, to accommodate me with his passport, which after all I might as well have left behind me, so kindly are the Hollanders disposed towards us.

I was promised by my friend a full description of the principal places in Baltimore, and of the adjacent country, that I might pass unsuspected through a cross examination, should any be attempted: the description never arrived, or arrived too late, and I ascended my chaise, as ignorant of Baltimore as of the Peruvian Potosi, trusting to that good chance which has often favoured me, and under the guidance of which

The stratagem, if not perfectly blameless, was at least intended to be an inoffensive one; I had no hopes of a peace, and consequently none of seeing Holland in a more regular mode. I went not to investigate the nakedness of the land, and by availing myself of its confidence to penetrate the military depots, the docks and arsenals of a country not in amity with my own.

I abhor the character of a spy, moving in friendly garb, however useful his treachery may be to his employers. My imposition extended no farther than to enable me to make a picturesque tour through an almost aqueous kingdom, to view its natives in their ordinary habits, to glide upon their liquid roads, to saunter in their green avenues and flourishing gardens, and trace the wonderful results of that daring and indefatigable ingenuity, which has raised the permanent habitation of man in the ocean, and made successful inroads upon the physical order of the universe.

3But though the deception gave no pang to my conscience, yet, harmless as it was, (and let me mention it as a moral lesson) it did not escape the lash of many a petty inconvenience. Often have I been pestered upon the supposition of my being an American merchant, with interrogations as to the number of partners I had, how many clerks I kept, and the many other perplexing queries of minds at once devoted to commerce, and curiosity: nor did I escape dilemmas infinitely more perilous.

Having thus in all candour confessed my offence, if such it ought in justice to be called, and which has also met with its due proportion of chastisement, I trust I shall receive absolution from my reader, and in that hope I shall now proceed to my narrative.

I intended to have availed myself, as I wish I had done on former occasions, of the indulgence usually allowed to tours given in the shape of epistolary correspondence, the ease and familiarity of which render the tourist less formal, and the critic more indulgent; but the war presented an obstacle to the adoption of a plan which would have been more congenial to my mind, and to the nature of the remarks I have to offer.

In company with two highly esteemed friends, I proceeded to Gravesend: upon the road, we were charmed, by occasional views of the majestic Thames, formed by a rich setting sun into the appearance of an inverted sky, decorated by ships more supported over than upon its bosom, and a vast expanse of richly cultivated land fading in the mist of a far distant horizon.

Of the country which I was quitting, and of that to which I was proceeding, our Charles the Second, a monarch of whom Sir Richard Bulstrode justly says, that had he loved business as well as he understood it, he would have been the greatest prince in Europe, observed, “that the former was the most comfortable climate to live under, he had ever experienced; as there were more days in the year, and more hours in the day, that a man could take exercise out of doors in it, than in any country he had ever known. That during his exile he had seen many countries, of which none pleased him so much as the Flemings, who were the most honest and true-hearted people he had ever met with; 4and added very prophetically to me, to whom he addressed these remarks, I am weary of travelling, I am resolved to go abroad no more; but when I am dead and gone, I know not what my brother will do, I am much afraid that when he comes to the throne he will be obliged to travel again.” A prediction fatally realized by the wicked folly of the royal object of it.

At Gravesend we paid six guineas apiece to a Dutch captain, and a little favourable breeze springing up, we proceeded on board with a large party composed of specimens of the human race from various parts of the globe, proceeding, through the indulgence of the government of Holland, to their various destinations on the continent. The moment we stepped on board we found we were victims to the most infamous imposition. Six guineas for a berth in a vessel, which Noah in the first rudiments of his art, would have made a thousand times more commodious! Figure to yourself about forty persons stowed in a Dutch galliot of about one hundred tons burthen, deeply laden with a cargo of chalk, &c. a hold near the bows covered with straw for the accommodation of thirty-six of the passengers; a low miserable cabin, four feet high on the deck, which formed the honey-moon bower of a young Swiss and a pretty English girl just married; and a little hole astern which, furnished with a couple of tickings crammed with Dutch peas instead of feathers, constituted the vestibule, drawing-room and chamber for me and one of my companions.

Hoping for a speedy termination to our marine miseries, we set sail and slowly creeped down the Thames by the aid of a scanty breeze, which dying before we had advanced two miles, left us as a legacy to the tardy tides. Indeed, we almost tided it over to Holland, in the achievement of which we were six long days and nights; but then the days were serene and warm, and the nights were adorned by a brilliant moon, and the blue vault of heaven was spangled over with stars.

Our captain and his crew exhibited twice a day that attention to their devotions, which is still so characteristic of their country, in spite of every hostile attack and insidious intrigue of France, in 5the most vulgar, impious, and savage era of her bloody revolution. The breakfast of every morning, and the supper of every evening, were consecrated by a long shrill anthem, and still longer prayer. The cook was the chaplain, and the kitchen, a hole of about eight feet by five, the chapel. The spirit of Calvin, if it be not offered up to the manes of Servetus, must have smiled with satisfaction at the motley group, surrounding a pot of boiled peas and pork, and enveloped in a deep fog of steam and smoke, thus offering up their homage in the language, and according to the rites of that merciless reformer.

The piety of the commander was carried to an extreme length. One morning we were disturbed by a great noise: the captain had compelled his son, a sprightly lad of about nine years old, to read the Dutch Testament for three days together, and with scarcely any cessation; in consequence of which the young disciple became restive, and whilst his father’s back was turned committed the apostles to the deep, for which he received a tolerable proportion of castigation. Fifty times a day were we annoyed by our pious commander vociferating to his child,

I restored our captain, who spoke English very well, to good humour, by relating to him an anecdote of the activity and cool philosophy of a Dutch sailor belonging to the fleet under the command of the celebrated Van Tromp, who immortalized himself by his naval victories over the Spaniards in 1639, but submitted to the superior skill and prowess of the British fleet under the command of the sturdy patriotic Blake. At the time when the hostile fleets were laying very near each other, after a severe engagement, to refit, a British and Dutch sailor endeavoured to rival each other by their activity in ascending and descending the rigging of their respective ships; at last the English sailor astonished his competitor by standing with his heels in the air upon the truck head of the main top gallant mast; the Dutchman endeavoured to do the same, but in the attempt fell upon the deck, from which, 6with great anguish and difficulty, he raised himself a little, and exclaiming to the Englishman, “dere mynheer can you do dat,” expired upon the spot. The Dutch are very fond of dogs. Our captain had a bitch and two puppies on board of a very peculiar breed, for which he expressed great attachment, and he was one day not a little amused at my telling him that at the commencement of the gallant action which took place between the Nymph and Cleopatra in the last war, there was a large Newfoundland dog on board the former vessel, which, as soon as the firing began, ran from below deck in spite of every exertion of the men to keep him down, and climbing up into the main chains, there kept up a continual barking, and exhibited the most violent rage during the whole of the engagement. When the Cleopatra struck he was amongst the foremost to board her, and walked up and down her decks as if he participated in the glory of the victory obtained by the English.

After a passage, during which our patience was put to a severe trial, we discovered Schouwen, and soon after the Island of Goree, where the wind began to freshen, and just before we made the mouth of the Maas, we met and hailed a fine large fishing smack, the captain of which our commander endeavoured to prevail upon, by the usual and generally successful application of a little money, to smuggle us into the Briel: after a long consultation, the captain and crew of the smack, not considering that all was fish which came to their net, refused to take charge of us, and to our no very pleasant sensations, instead of standing out to sea, tacked and returned to the Briel under full press of canvass. A low slimy shore surmounted by green flags and a few scanty oziers announced our voyage to be at its close, and we entered the river of a country which our Hudibrastic Butler thus peevishly describes:

The Duke of Alva, with more whimsicality and less bitterness, observed, “that the Dutch were the nearest neighbours to hell of any people on the earth, for they dwelt the lowest.”

In consequence of the tide being always very rapid when going out, and the wind again falling, we came to an anchor in the mouth of the Maas. One of the first objects that saluted our eyes, in this state, was the telegraph, which was in a state of uncommon activity, and the glasses of its official attendants often came in direct opposition with ours. The balls flew up and down with wonderful rapidity for nearly an hour after we anchored, and sufficiently explained the motive which induced the captain of the smack to return to port. The signification of the word Briel, in Dutch, is spectacle, which is supposed to have given its name to this place, on account of the extensive view which its buildings command of the surrounding country. This town is celebrated for having given birth to the illustrious warrior I before mentioned, admiral Cornelius Van Tromp.

In the dead of the night, and in a deep fog, a fishing boat dropped along side, the master of which told us that the last vessel which had arrived from England had been confiscated, and all the passengers made prisoners, and after this exordium offered to conduct us in safety past the guard-ship if we would give him two guineas apiece: and to secure our transit, he proposed shutting us all down in his cabin, under hatchways, for that night and the whole of the next day, and then dropping past the guard-ship in the evening; during all which time we must have sat chin to knee, and have been infinitely worse accommodated than a cargo of African slaves. 8As we had an aversion from being introduced into the kingdom in this furtive manner, we persisted in refusing to quit our vessel, to the no little mortification of our captain, who having safely deposited our passage money in a large tin box, was very anxious to get rid of us in any manner. I believe personal apprehensions induced him to weigh the anchor early next morning, and to bear away for Maaslandsleys, on the other side of the Maas, where after the captain had satisfied the commodore commanding the guard-ships there, to whom he was well known, that we all came from Varel, a little neutral town to the eastward of the Weser, a fast sailing fishing boat was provided to take us up to Rotterdam, a distance of twenty-five miles, at half a guinea a head.

Gladly we bade adieu to our miserable ark, and about six o’clock in the evening embarked upon the Merwe river, a noble branch of the Maas, the breadth of which is about a mile, lessening but in a little degree as it reaches Rotterdam. The water of this river is rather foul, its shores are beautifully lined with villages, farm houses and avenues of trees. A botanical gentleman informed me that the eryngium campestre, field eryngo, so very rare in England, grows in great profusion, and wild, on either side of the river, and in most other parts of Holland.

When the night advanced, the floating lanterns of the fishermen had a pleasing and romantic effect, as we glided along with a fine breeze; and a row of lamps running parallel with a canal supplied by the Merwe, announced our passing Schiedam, so celebrated throughout Holland for its distilleries of geneva, of which we were informed there were three hundred before the Dutch submitted to the arms of France.

When the French troops entered Holland as victors, this beautiful river, in a season remarkably rigorous, formed a compact road of ice for the infantry, cavalry, and artillery, of the invaders: dreadful as the winter was, the French were in want of the most necessary articles of clothing; even whole battalions were destitute of shoes and stockings, and centinels frequently did duty with no other covering than a tattered blanket, and the fragment of a pair of breeches, which time and service had reduced by instalments to little more than a few shreds: yet they did not repine.

9In a milder climate, after the French took possession of Bologna, a soldier, whose coat was nearly in the predicament of his military countryman’s breeches before mentioned, came up to Bonaparte, and begged that he would order him a new one, to which his general, who had none to give him, very shrewdly replied, “my good fellow, that will not do, it will hinder your wounds from being seen.”

When the French troops entered Rotterdam, they were quartered on the inhabitants, whose good opinion, I was well informed, they soon conciliated by their quiet conduct and orderly deportment. I afterwards received the same character of the French troops in other parts of Holland, from those with whom, I am convinced, they were not very welcome visitors, on account of the contributions which they levied.

In the faces of our crew, and the scenery on each side of us, before dusk-fall, we saw those studies to which the exquisite works of the Dutch school have familiarized every person of taste. About twelve o’clock we arrived at the boom, or barrier for shipping at Rotterdam, and here a luckless accident had nearly befallen me. The luggage of the passengers was deposited in small holds nearly the length of the vessel, covered over with loose boards: the night was dark, and as by the light of a solitary lamp we were endeavouring to get at our luggage, a fat Dutchman’s wife sprung out of the cabin, in which she had been concealed during our expedition up the river, who thinking that we were molesting some of her bonnet boxes, in the unguarded violence of her approach, slipped into one of the holds, the boards of which had been inadvertently left open by the Swiss bridegroom before mentioned, in an irritable struggle to obtain his luggage; the oaths and howlings of the poor lady brought out her husband, a man whom we had remarked for the unpleasantness of his physiognomy and deportment during the voyage, and as I stood nearest to his prostrate wife in the act of assisting her, he charged me with having maliciously occasioned her suffering, and threatened repeatedly to call the watchmen of the city and send me and my companions to prison.

10It was a long time before I could allay the storm, and dulcify the temper of this man, which, considering my situation, required some little forbearance and management of feeling. At length we got on shore, and after much difficulty and perambulation discovered a comfortable hotel in the suburbs; the gates of the city being always shut, and the boom closed at eleven o’clock.

Our hotel lay at the bottom of a most beautiful avenue of trees, running parallel with the river opposite to the ferry. Our landlord was very civil, and all his servants spoke French. In the principal apartment was a print of Napoleon in his coronation robes: I afterwards observed similiar prints in many other houses in the city.

Many of the principal merchants of Rotterdam have country-houses in these delightful suburbs. I walked along a line of them, and beheld for the first time a specimen of the taste of the Dutch in rural scenery: the gardens, upon a level with the river, and divided from it by a high raised road, appeared to have been all designed by a mathematician; but still their neatness and luxuriance left a pleasing impression on the mind. Upon every gate, or house, a motto indicative of the mind of the owner, or of the character of the place, presented itself, of which the following are specimens:

Vreede is myn Lust Haf

Peace is my garden.

Lust en rust

Hope and repose.

Na by Bruten

Almost out of town.

Ziet op u minder

Look upon those beneath you.

N. B. This was inscribed upon a large house that commanded some little cottages.

Wel te vreeda

Very content, &c. &c.

These inscriptions are seldom used but by opulent tradesmen; amongst the higher classes they are considered to be a little tinctured with vulgarity, though, as I found, they sometimes indulge in them: the villas of the latter are frequently known by names corresponding with those which are applied to the country residences of the superior families in England.

In the morning our luggage was inspected by the proper officers, who gave us very little trouble, and were content with a 11trifling douceur. The entrance to the city, towards the river, through the principal gate, called De Nieuwe Hoofds Poort, a structure infinitely more elegant than another barrier of this city, called De Oude Hoofds Poort, is very handsome.

The immediate transition from the tranquillity of the country to the busy hum of men was very striking: the canals, with their numerous draw-bridges, as we proceeded to our city hotel, the Mareschal de Turenne, were lined with vessels of all sorts and sizes; and notwithstanding the war, every one appeared to be engaged in some active pursuit or another.

Before hostilities began, it was no uncommon circumstance to see between three and four hundred merchant ships, from England alone, lying in these canals and in the Maas; by which a vast commerce is carried on with the greatest facility and economy, from the centre to the extremities of the kingdom; and as they communicate with the Rhine and other large rivers, all the productions of the earth are conveyed at little expense to many parts of the continent, in a period of tranquillity.

The number of beautiful streets adorned, as is the case throughout Holland, with noble rows of trees, is a spectacle at once novel and beautiful. The trees act as a fan to the houses in hot weather, and their leaves are said to inhale whatever mephitic air may arise from such of the canals as are stagnant, and to breathe it out again with refreshing purity.

In a sick chamber, fresh flowers are now thought salubrious, although, in no very distant time, they were regarded by the faculty as extremely noxious.

The city derives its name from the adjoining river Rotte, which unites with the Merwe, and from the neighbourhood of both to the sea, renders the situation of this town very eligible for trade, commerce, and navigation. The pleasure-boats of some of the merchants, which we saw moored opposite to their houses, appeared to be very clumsy, and constructed only for smoking or napping in: they were broad, high at the head and stern, admitted only of one rower, and had a heavy cabin with moveable glass windows towards the stern.

12One of the first appearances which impress a foreigner on his arrival in Holland is that of the houses, which, built of very small bricks, very lofty, and filled with large windows, lean forward as they ascend; to such a rage has this unaccountable passion for avoiding an upright been carried, that I am sure many of them must be two or three yards out of the perpendicular: nothing can be more whimsical than the corner houses of most of the streets. If these houses had not the appearance of being perfectly stable, from the freshness of their outsides, and from their presenting no fissures, a stranger would be induced from apprehension of personal safety, to prefer paddling his way in the very centre of their canals, to walking in the streets. No scene can at first be more novel and interesting than that which Rotterdam presents; masts of ships, enlivened by gay streamers; beautiful stately trees and lofty leaning houses appear mingled together, and at one view he sees before him the characteristic features of the country, the city, and the sea.

One of the first places we visited was the Boom-quay, or Boompies, which extends along the river, about half a mile from the new to the old head, the two places where the water enters the city, and fills the canals, which are seven in number: this street is very broad and truly magnificent; and the prospect from it, over the river, and the opposite country, highly delightful. Cheyney-walk at Chelsea is a very humble resemblance to it.

Many of the houses are very noble, and some of them are built of free-stone, which not being the produce of the country, must have been brought to the spot at a great expense. In England a rage for expensive building had so possessed a man whom I knew, and who resided very far from the capital, that he had many parcels filled with bricks and stones sent down to his workmen by the mail coach.

The Boom-quay forms a fine mall for the inhabitants of the city, and is chiefly the residence of the most opulent and elegant families. An English nobleman, Lord North and Gray, had many years since a superb house here, which he became entitled to in right of his wife, a rich Dutch lady.

Upon this quay once resided the celebrated Bayle, the author of the Historical and Critical Dictionary, and professor of philosophy and history at Rotterdam, from which he was removed by 14the influence of M. Jurieu, who in a violent controversy with him, had illiberally misrepresented his principles, and driven him to great penury. The writings of this extraordinary man are so versatile and so adapted to every one’s taste, that he secured readers amongst divines, philosophers, physicians, wits, and libertines in every part of Europe. Saurin, with that antithesis for which he was more known than for the elegance of his compositions, thus describes him: “Bayle was one of those extraordinary men, whom it is difficult to reconcile with themselves, and whose opposite qualities give us room to doubt whether we ought to consider him as the best, or the worst of men. On the one hand he was a great philosopher, who knew how to distinguish truth from falsehood, who could at one view perceive all the consequences of a principle, and the chain or series, in which they were linked together; on the other, he was a great sophist, who undertook to confound truth with falsehood, and knew how to deduce false inferences from the hypothesis he advanced. On the one hand, he was a man of learning and of knowledge, who had read all that could be read, and remembered all that could be remembered; on the other, he was ignorant, or affected to be so, of the most common things, in respect of which he proposed such difficulties, as had been answered a thousand times. On the one hand he attacked the most eminent men, opened a large field of labour for them, led them through the most difficult ways, and if he did not get the better of them, at least gave them great trouble, to get the better of him; on the other, he made use of the worst of authors, to whom he was lavish of his praise, frequently disgracing his writings by citing such names as no learned man ever mentioned.” So speaks Saurin of this able man, whose abilities, however, have been honoured with the usual homage; they have been allowed to consecrate the place in which they flourished. No stranger can visit the Boom-quay without being informed that Bayle resided there, and without having the spot where his little mansion stood pointed out to him. It is the noble nature of genius to requite the ingratitude of a thankless country, by shedding upon it unquenchable lustre, and raising it in the rank of nations.

15In several parts of the city, memorials of the inroads of the Spaniards are traceable, not only in the forms of several of the buildings, but in several mottos and inscriptions in their language, which are still legible in many of the old buildings, in this and in other cities.

The number of Jews in Rotterdam is very great, and many of them are of high respectability, and as much distinguished for their integrity, as their industry and opulence.

Soon after my arrival I had the pleasure of dining with one of the first families of that persuasion: our host, a very amiable man, gave us a true Dutch dinner, consisting of nearly fifteen different sorts of fish, exquisitely dressed, and served up with vegetables of various kinds. In Holland, in preparing the fish for the kettle, the head, fins, and tail, are generally cut off. In this city port wine is scarcely ever drank; it is by no means gratifying to a Dutch palate. Some was presented to me at a dinner where I was, but it was so old that all its flavour had evaporated. The principal wines drank are Claret, Madeira, and the Rhine wines. I found the bread in Holland every where excellent, and the coffee every where bad.

I soon found that the received opinion of there being no beggars in Holland is perfectly erroneous. I was frequently beset by these sons and daughters of sorrow or idleness, who preferred their petition with indefatigable pursuit, but in so gentle a tone, that it was evident they were fearful of the police. They are abundant, but orderly. It was observed by some English in Holland, that a Dutch beggar is too wise to waste his breath by asking alms of a Dutchman, and that relief is only sought from strangers: the fact is, there are so many asylums for paupers, that a Dutchman acquainted with the legislative provision made for them, always considers a beggar as a lawless vagabond.

For this reason, and this alone, Charity seldom takes an airing in Holland: towards the wretched, in the streets, the rich in this country

16In no country of its size, as will appear in the course of this journal, are there more charitable institutions, and at the same time a stronger appetite for accumulation. To make a good bargain is considered by many a Dutchman as the highest achievement of the human mind. As a proof that they never suffer their national animosities to interfere with individual interest, the reader may rely on the following anecdote.

In an early stage of the last war, when the Dutch government rigorously prohibited the importation of English manufactures, some members of the executive body entered into an agreement with a mercantile house in Rotterdam, to supply the requisition for the clothing of the French army, by a clandestine importation of cloth from England, and the looms of Yorkshire accordingly clothed ten thousand French soldiers.

The same commercial spirit was observed by the Dutch many years since to us, when, in a severe battle between the fleets of the Republic and Great Britain, during a cessation of the fight, for the mutual accommodation of repairing the damages sustained, some of the officers of the Dutch ships actually offered the captains of some of ours, supplies of gunpowder at an advanced price, in consequence of understanding that two or three of our ships had nearly exhausted their stores of it.

The Dey of Tunis made a more whimsical offer; when the heroic and immortal Nelson threatened to blow his capital about his ears, the Dey sent to his lordship to know the cost of every shot that would be fired, the answer was nearly a pound sterling; upon which the Dey said, if his lordship would calculate how many shots would be necessary to demolish his capital, and send him half the amount in good bills, he would destroy it himself.

I nowhere saw, except amongst the skippers, that mighty mass of breeches, in which my expectation had in part clothed every Dutchman’s frame: but the appearance of many of the men in long flowered waistcoats, and trunk hose, and the females in short plaited petticoats, blue stockings, and large round silver buckles projecting over either side of the foot, was very whimsical. Many of their dresses are hereditary; and grandfather, 17father, and son, have in regular succession proceeded to the altar in the same nuptial breeches. The quays of Rotterdam are very spacious, and every where embellished with trees; and the canals deeper and cleaner than in any other of the large cities in the kingdom.

In consequence of the features of every street being so similar, a stranger finds uncommon difficulty in reaching the place of his destination, or in returning to his hotel, without a guide.

After having secured a bedroom and deposited our luggage at the Mareschal de Turenne, kept by Mr. Crabb, an Englishman, who renders the character of a maitre d’hotel eminently respectable, by his attention to foreigners of every description, and to his own countrymen in particular, by moderate charges and excellent accommodations, we proceeded to the Exchange at two o’clock, when the merchants assemble.

This building is an oblong square with a covered walk on each side, and is plain and handsome. It was finished in 1736. I was astonished to find it crowded in every part, and presenting, in the activity and bustle which were displayed, every appearance of a great commercial country in a high state of prosperous tranquillity.

In this Babel assembly the greatest interest for a successful termination of the negotiation between France and England seemed anxiously to prevail; and induced a stranger like myself to think that the interests of Holland were pretty closely interwoven with those of England.

The arrival of English papers, and of couriers from Paris, never failed to excite a strong sensation from one end of the city to the other. Upon the exchange I saw several Englishmen transacting business; and such is the respect which the Dutch bear towards us, that we soon found the suspicion of our being English rather increased than damped the civilities we experienced.

As Rotterdam may be considered, as Bonaparte has recently described the city of Hamburg, une ville Anglaise, in consequence of so many English families having settled there before the revolution, and also of the proximity of its port to England, it was 18with surprise I found that the new ruler and form of government were so popular as they are in this city.

In the years 1794 and 1795 the progress of the French arms excited uncommon consternation in this city, in which a higher veneration for the stadtholderian government, as established under the influence of England and Prussia in 1787, existed, than in any other city in the United Provinces.

As the French advanced, the principal English families fled with great precipitation, and were followed by many of the Dutch: their flight was in the most inclement part of a winter remarkably rigorous, and they were obliged to pass over frozen canals, rivers and deep snows, many by the most wretched open conveyances, in their way to Helvoetsluys, where they embarked for that country, which, since the time of the first Charles, has, thank Heaven! been neither the seat of war, nor of revolutionary phrenzy.

A short time before we visited Rotterdam, we heard that the king and queen had visited that city, the only one which they had then honoured with their presence, except the seat of the royal residence at the Hague.

Upon their arrival in the city, their majesties and the two princes, in their carriages, attended by their suite and an escort of horse, proceeded to the Exchange, where they were waited upon by the principal functionaries and a deputation of the most opulent merchants of the city. Their majesties appeared to be much affected by the very flattering manner in which they were received.

The queen, who is always mentioned by those who have had the honour of knowing her before and since the wonderful elevation of so many branches of her family, as a most amiable, enlightened, and accomplished woman, very much gratified some of the members, and the nation at large, by observing upon the Exchange: “We are deeply penetrated by the cordiality with which we have been received in the country; as strangers we could not, and did not expect such a reception; but we hope to remain long enough amongst you to secure your esteem, by doing all the good in our power.” This short address, delivered with that grace and manner, which, I am informed, are so characteristic of her majesty, 19captivated all the Dutchmen present, and spread with great celerity through every part of the city, and contributed to raise her very high in the public estimation.

From the Exchange their majesties proceeded to the Admiralty, and were gratified, for the first time in their lives, with seeing a man of war, a seventy-four, launched; and after partaking of a splendid collation, they passed through the principal streets in a single carriage, unattended by their body-guard. On this public occasion, the only external ornament which the king wore was the star of the legion of honour.

In the department of the admiralty, the king has effected many wise and salutary regulations. He has abolished all the sinecure offices attached to it, reduced overgrown salaries, and doubled the hours of labour of the clerks, who were before almost receiving the wages of idleness from the country. By this firm and sagacious conduct, the king has already produced a saving to the state of two millions sterling a year.

Before the new constitution, which will be given hereafter, was finally adjusted, the king declared, that the national debt should be most sacredly respected, and its guarantee forms accordingly a permanent feature in that system, and measures have been adopted for its speedy liquidation. The king has also chosen two gentlemen of high respectability from the body of the merchants of Rotterdam to be members of his council.

Before these circumstances, and the previous unsettled condition of the country are known or reflected upon, it would appear somewhat paradoxical, that as the interests of the Dutch have a bias in favour of England, and as their government is of French construction, the ruler who has been placed over them by events little less than miraculous, could ever, and especially in so short a time, have made himself popular; but to the fact I pledge myself, upon the authority of some of the most respectable and enlightened Dutchmen in different parts of Holland, repeatedly renewed to me.

It is a subject of congratulation with every Englishman, that a similar spirit of economy and retrenchment animates the minds 20of the present administration, which, during the short period of its elevation to power, has purified many of the public offices of slothful supernumeraries, and has to its eternal honour refused to augment the public burthens by reversionary pensions.

By such instances of public virtue, and the wisdom, vigour, and sound policy, which reign in the councils of his majesty, the British empire may ultimately triumph over its enemies, or at least be preserved entire amidst the general wreck of other nations.

The king of Holland was described to me to resemble his brother Napoleon, very strongly in size, complexion, manner, thoughtful taciturnity, and abstemiousness: he is a great invalid, and has received some severe paralytic shocks in one of his arms, for which, as well as for the general extreme delicate state of his health, he has been obliged to visit the baths of Wisbaden, and to drink the waters of the Spa; which prevented his remaining in Holland but for a very short time, after the constitution had placed him on the throne, and he was absent when I was there.

The king has the reputation of being much pleased with the English character, and very fond of the society of Englishmen; a gratification which a series of adverse circumstances has prevented him from indulging in for some time past. I remember, when I was at Paris, during the brief pause of war, that just gave “a time for frighted peace to pant,” he was never more happy than when he had one of our countrymen at his splendid and hospitable table.

The queen is, as she was also described to me, a brunette of considerable beauty, inclined to the en bon point, has a face expressive of great suavity of mind, and is highly accomplished; she particularly excels in dancing, in which, for the gracefulness of her attitudes, she is said to be unrivalled. To this elegant accomplishment she is particularly attached, and when she travels, is generally complimented, in any considerable town where she stops for a day or two, with a public ball, an attention by which she is always much gratified.

Their majesties have two princes who are very young; the eldest is called Napoleon after the emperor. Should the dynasty 21of the Bonapartes experience no convulsive overthrow, it is generally believed that, upon the demise of that extraordinary being, who has pushed so many kings from their thrones to make room for the members of his own family, the crown of France will devolve upon this child.

In detailing these few anecdotes, which to me at least were interesting, I have been induced by a veneration for truth alone, to give a representation which, to such as think that nothing favourable, however deserved, should be reported of those with whom we are not in amity, will not be very palatable. To an enemy, if not generous, let us at least be always just. It is as base in principle, as it is dangerous in politics, to depreciate the popularity of a prince with whom we are at war, for it obviously leads to a miscalculation of his influence upon his people, and of the nature and extent of his strength and resources.

I abhor fuming a sovereign with adulation, more especially the ruler of a country at war with my own; but it is what I owe to my own country to relate the fact.

In my way to the celebrated statue of Erasmus, and indeed wherever I moved, almost every face I met looked as if it belonged to a soul more disposed to cultivate the figures of arithmetic, than of rhetoric. I saw none of those sprightly physiognomies, which abound in the large towns of England or France, full of smiles, of levity, and carelessness, the happy owners of which appear as if they basked and frolicked in the sunshine of every event. Even the Spanish proverb, “thoughts close, looks loose,” is not observed in this city. An eye prone to the earth, a look of settled meditation, and a measured pace denote the Rotterdammer. Yet with these appearances Holland has not been insensible to that literary merit, in honour of which, in other times and regions, the Grecians and Romans raised temples, statues, and constituted public games, to which the Persians, the Arabians, the Turks, and even the Chinese, presented the most magnificent rewards.

As the inhabitants of Languedoc established floral games, at which they bestowed golden flowers as prizes to the fortunate poets; as Rome crowned Petrarch with laurel; as Ravenna erected a marble tomb to the memory of Dante, and Certaldo a statue to Boccaccio; as delighted princesses touched with their fragrant lips the cheeks of poets; as the Venetians paid to Sannazarius six hundred pistoles for six verses; as Baif received a silver image of Minerva from his native city, and Ronsard had apartments reserved 23for him in the palace of Charles IX. of France, and also the honour of receiving poetical epistles from that monarch: behold the Hollander has raised a superb bronze figure to the memory of that great restorer of the Latin tongue, Erasmus.

This statue stands upon an arch crossing a canal, and is nearly ten feet high; it was finished in 1622, and is said to be the chef-d’œuvre of Henry de Keiser, a very celebrated statuary and architect. It has been observed, that in the quality of the different statues which the Dutch raised to the memory of Erasmus, may be traced the different degrees of zeal with which his memory was cherished by them.

In 1540 they raised a statue of wood; seventeen years afterwards, blushing for the little respect they had observed, they exchanged it for one of blue stone; and in sixty-five years following apotheosized him by the noble memorial of their veneration, which I contemplated with equal admiration and delight. In 1572 the Spaniards, Vandal-like, shot at the stone statue with their muskets, and threw it in the canal, from whence it was afterwards raised and again set up, by order of the magistrates, upon the expulsion of the Spaniards; upon whom the Dutch retaliated in the most spirited and gallant manner, by attacking that nation through her colonial establishments in the East and West Indies, and in Africa, and by capturing the rich galleons of their merciless invaders.

The bronze figure is clad in an ecclesiastical habit, with an open book in his hand. Various attempts have at different times been made to convert the sage into a turncoat: before the revolution which expelled the stadtholder and his family, every concavity in his dress was crammed, on certain holidays, with oranges; during the hey-day of the republican form of government, amidst the celebration of its festivals, he was covered with tri-coloured ribbons, when the juice of the orange was never suffered to pass the lips of a true patriot!! Even the marigold, first consecrated by poets to the Virgin, and afterwards used as a symbol of the House of Orange,

24was expelled from the gardens of the new republicans. Oh, Liberty! happy had it been for millions, if all the outrages perpetrated in thy hallowed name had spent themselves upon ribbons, oranges, and marigolds!

Oudaan the poet has done honour to this star of erudition, whose works filled ten folio volumes, and whose talents had nearly raised him to cardinalate under Pope Paul III. in the following lines in Dutch, which are inscribed on his pedestal:

Or thus in English:

The reader may perhaps be pleased with the following anecdote. When Erasmus was in England, which he visited several times, and where he was honoured with the friendship of Archbishop Warham, Bishops Tonstal and Fox, Dean Colet, Lord Montjoy, Sir Thomas More, and other distinguished men, he mentions a custom then prevalent amongst the females of this country, the discontinuance of which, considering how much improved they are since the time of Erasmus, and how their natural charms are heightened by the grace of the Grecian drapery, must 25be a subject of infinite regret with all who love and cherish the sex, as it ought to be loved and cherished.

ERASMUS.

Sunt hic in Anglia nymphæ divinis vultibus, blandæ, faciles. Est præterea mos nunquam satis laudandis, sive quò venias, omnium osculis receperis, sive discedas aliquo, osculis dimitteris. Redis redduntur suavia; venitur ad te propinantur suavia, disceditur abs te, dividuntur basia; occurritur alicui, basiatur affatim; denique quocumque te moveas, suaviorum plena sunt omnia.

“The women in England are divinely beautiful, affable, and good humoured. There is a custom also here, which can never be sufficiently commended. When you go any where, you are received by all with kisses; when you depart, you are dismissed with kisses. On your return, kisses are again bestowed on you. When they visit you, kisses are presented; when they go away, kisses also pass between you. If you meet any body, kisses are plentifully distributed. In short, whatever you do, wherever you go, you are sure of kisses in abundance.”

This is language sufficiently warm to prove that Erasmus carried the feelings of a man under the cowl of a monk. Erasmus was very accomplished: he is said to have imbibed from Hans Holbein a fine taste for painting, and to have painted several pictures whilst in the convent at Gouda.

Holbein owed the patronage of Henry VIII. to Erasmus, for at his request it was that he came to London, and by him was introduced to Sir Thomas More, who employed and entertained him in his own house for three years, during which his likenesses, and the execution of his works, attracted the notice of the king, who took him into his service, and paid him as long as he lived: although he once hazarded the severest displeasure of his royal and turbulent patron; for being dispatched by Cromwell to paint the Lady Ann of Cleves, Holbein so flattered her with his pencil, that Henry was induced to marry her; but when he discovered how plain she really was, his anger turned from the painter to the minister, and poor Cromwell lost his head because the unhappy Ann was denounced by her royal husband for “a Flanders’ mare,” and not the Venus depicted by Holbein.

26Amongst the churches, the only one I saw worthy of notice was the cathedral of St. Lawrence, the tower of which I ascended, and from its top commanded the greater part of the south of Holland. The body of the church is very large. The walls, like all the rest of the Dutch churches, are saddened over with a great number of sable escutcheons, and the floor covered with rush bottom chairs for the congregation when assembled. A magnificent brass ballustrade of exquisite workmanship, separates the choir from the nave.

The church is used for various purposes: the synod of the province and the presbytery of the town used to assemble in it; I was informed they still continue to do so; and at the fairs, booths are erected in it.

The only monuments worthy of attention, and those merit but little, are erected to the memories of Admiral Cornelius de Witt, Johannes a Brakel, and Admiral Korlenaar. A magnificent organ has been building for some years in this church: a very large but inadequate sum of money has been subscribed for this superb instrument, which is intended to rival the celebrated one at Haarlem, but much more money will be necessary for that purpose: the object of this measure is not out of homage to St. Cecilia, but from a commercial spirit, that repines at hearing of the number of persons who flock to Haarlem to hear its boasted instrument, by which considerable sums of money in the course of the year are expended in that city.

To the honour of Holland, her seminaries of learning have always been favourite objects with her government; and I was well informed, that to the further promotion of this great and vital source of the morals, order, and glory of nations, the king has devoted much of his consideration.

To the choirs of this cathedral, the scholars of the charity schools of the city, attended by their masters and professors, repair twice a year to undergo a public examination, in the presence of the principal officers of the state resident in the city, who are distinguished for their learning, attended by some of the clergy. The rector, or first professor, opens the meeting with a short speech in praise of Literature and 27the Civil Magistracy: such of the pupils as are about to remove to the university, pronounce an oration in praise of some illustrious prince, or of Erasmus; on the dignity, ornament, and utility of sound learning to a state; in praise of commerce and industry; on the baneful consequence of passion and indolence; on fortitude, patience, concord, and other moral virtues; they then conclude with a compliment to their masters for their care of them, and to the magistrates for honouring them with their presence; and finally, take leave of their school-fellows, whom they exhort to pursue their studies indefatigably, and to live in amity with each other.

The principal magistrates then present each of them with some classical author, superbly bound and gilt: the juniors, who are to remove to the higher classes, then come forward, and compliment the magistrates and their masters in a sentence or two either of verse or prose. The effect of this ceremony is increased by the organ playing at its commencement and close.

The reader will, I am sure, be gratified with this brief description of a plan so generative of every good to the nation which adopts it. Children, as soon as they can think, discover that they are the peculiar care of their country; they are taught to respect its laws, and by descanting upon, to imitate its most shining examples, and to repay the paternal solicitude of the government, by becoming useful or ornamental members of its community.

Amidst the political storms which have agitated Holland for so many years, more fatal to its prosperity than those of the ocean, in which it almost appears to float, education has never been neglected: to bestow upon his children decent and useful instruction, has ever formed the anxious care of the Hollander: he feels that whilst he trains their minds to habits of investigation and industry, he secures to them, under any form of government, the sources of support and advancement.

This general diffusion of useful instruction made Holland what she was in the most shining periods of her history, and whenever its enlightening influence shall cease to be felt, as a commercial country she must decline.

28The very few instances of cruelty which occurred in Holland during the late revolution, have been very justly attributed to the happy effects of education. Whenever any disposition to severity evinced itself, an appeal to reason and humanity inclined it to forgive: a memorable proof of this statement will hereafter appear in the account of some of the revolutionary movements which occurred at Amsterdam.

Even an English merchant would be astonished to see the wonderful arithmetical attainment of stripling clerks in any of the Dutch compting-houses, and the quantity of complicated business which they discharge in the course of the day, the order of their books, the rapidity and certainty of their calculation, according to the commercial habits and exchange of different countries, and the variety of languages which they speak; to which may be added, the great regularity and length of their attendance, and the decency and propriety of their deportment.

With proper modifications, what an example for our own government, with respect to the sister kingdom, does Holland present! And here I cannot but lament my inability to do justice to the illustrious nobleman, to whose care his majesty has with sound wisdom and discrimination committed the administration of his government in Ireland. In his Grace the Duke of Bedford, that unhappy and long neglected island has found an able, zealous, and resolute friend and patron; who, shunning every ostentatious display, and almost the eye of observation, has conferred upon that country the salutary benefits of those measures which do honour to the christian, the statesman, and the governor.

To this nobleman, and to Lord Somerville, the British nation is indebted for having discerned the utility, and encouraged the progress of a system of education, which has entirely originated from the benevolent zeal and ability of Mr. Lancaster, a member of a religious community long known, as well for the purity of their minds as for the simplicity of their dress and deportment, who, after many arduous experiments, has matured a plan by which one thousand poor children may be taught and governed by one master, for the trifling expense of five shillings per annum for 29each child: a plan which is eminently honourable to its meritorious discoverer, and promises fair to effect an incalculable amelioration in the habits and condition of the rising generation.

We are not allowed upon the continent to be a people of much creative faculty, but this plan is solely of British growth, and till lately wholly unknown to political economists of every other country. This cheap and efficacious system, which has received, to their lasting honour, the cordial approbation and support of their Majesties and the Royal Family, his Grace the Duke of Bedford is anxious to introduce into Ireland, wholly free from religious proselytism, and which would powerfully accelerate those comprehensive and enlightened measures, to which another great friend to Ireland has, with uncommon promptitude and assiduity, obtained the assent of the imperial parliament; I allude to that amiable and able statesman Sir John Newport, the present chancellor of the exchequer of Ireland.

May the happy effects of such a measure be as forcibly experienced in that country, as they have been in this which I am describing!

It is with great reluctance I approach the subject of the currency of Holland, but as I hope to be read by some one who may hereafter visit that country, as much a stranger as I was to it, it is fit that I should not omit it; and I hereby apprize all my chair-travelling readers of my intention, that they may leap over my table of coins if they choose so to do.

SILVER COINS.

A doyt. Worth about half a farthing.

A stiver. About a penny at par. Twelve stivers are generally, but not in every part of Holland, considered equal to a shilling. This coin resembles a silver penny.

Dubbeltje, or two stiver piece. This coin is very convenient small change.

A quarter guilder, or five stiver piece. This coin, I am told, is very rare; I met with none of it.

A zesthalven, or five stivers and four doyts. This is a piece of base metal, and equal to an English six-pence; it is very convenient for an English traveller, on account of its precise value being known.

31Schellingen, of various kinds, the size of which determines the value, unless they are stamped.

Six and a half stiver piece. A silver piece, little larger than a six-pence, and the eighth part of a rix-dollar.

Eight stiver piece. A larger, but thinner piece than a schellingen, not much in circulation.

Ten stiver piece. Worth half a guilder, very scarce.

Twelve and a half stiver piece. Not much in use.

Thirteen stiver piece. A Zealand coin, and much in circulation.

A guilder or florin, or twenty stiver piece. The legitimate coin of Holland, by which they calculate, and is the best silver.

Twenty-four stiver piece, or half a rix-dollar.

Twenty-six stiver piece.

Twenty-eight stiver piece. There are many sorts of this in Holland: it is usual to receive five in a lot, each of which is equal to seven guilders.

Thirty stiver piece, or dollar. Of the value of half a crown English, and about that size.

Thirty-one and a half stiver piece, or half a ducatoon. They are rare.

Forty stiver piece, or two guilder piece. Not common.

Fifty stiver piece. The antient rix-dollar; not much in use.

Fifty-two stiver piece, or modern rix-dollar. Much in circulation: in Amsterdam, and several other places, they will not pass for more than 50 or 51 stivers. In Zealand they are worth 53.

Sixty stiver piece, called a three guilder piece. Much in use.

Sixty-three stiver piece, or ducatoon. Coined when the Spaniards were in the country.

GOLD COINS.

A ducat. A beautiful coin, of the purest fine gold. The Jews and the brokers generally deal in this coin, for which they receive two or three stivers profit on each. It is thin, and remarkably pleasant to the touch; and as a proof of its purity, it will bear to be frequently bent, without breaking. Upon almost every part of the continent this coin bears a premium, and is current throughout Europe.

32A double ducat is ten guilders ten stivers.

Rider, fourteen guilders.

Half rider, seven guilders. These are current through the provinces.

I would recommend the traveller to carry with him a sufficient number of guineas for his return to England, as they are scarce and very dear; for twelve guineas I paid an exchange of 35–4 agio 104 on 145, or 13l. 4s. 6d.

COINS.

No alteration has taken place in the legends of the coins of Holland. Since the revolution there has been a copious silver coinage, but the florin has remained the same for more than a century. The old calendar is adhered to, with the slight alterations rendered necessary by a change in the name and spirit of the government.

The practice of vails-giving still continues in Holland. Previous to my going to dine with some acquaintances which I made at Rotterdam, I was particularly reminded by a friend who knew the habits of the country, not to forget to carry a few florins with me, as the servant who opened the door, upon my quitting the house, would expect either one or two of those pieces. This abominably mean practice existed in England in a higher degree, and still continues in part in the shape of card money.

If I remember correctly, we are indebted to Mr. Hanway the philanthropist, whose life is given in a very entertaining manner by his pupil and protégé, Mr. Pugh, for the abolition of giving vails to servants; previous to which, a gentleman of moderate income could scarcely afford to dine with an opulent and fashionable friend.

In houses of great resort in Holland, servants are in the habits of purchasing their places of their masters free of wages, solely for the douceurs which custom rigidly exacts from the visitor. At one table a friend of mine, a thoughtless Englishman, was reminded of his having forgotten the usage, by having a quantity of soup poured over his new coat by accidental design.

33In the streets I was much gratified by seeing the fruit and vegetable sellers: the fruit was abundant, very fresh, and fine, and such as is usually to be found at the same season in England: the vegetables are remarkably excellent, and are submitted to the eye in the cleanest and most attractive manner. The Dutch potatoes are small and uncommonly good; I think they are, if possible, superior to those of Ireland.

The proximity of the houses to the canals enables the Dutch women to indulge to the full extent of their wishes, in scrubbing and mopping their passages and rooms, which they do from the first to the last blush of day; indeed, cleanliness in their houses is carried to a painful excess. All the strong features of an English Saturday evening, viz. mops, pails, scrubbing-brushes, dusters, fullers’ earth, are in active use every hour of the day, in Holland; and a little hand garden-engine is in perpetual requisition, for washing the outside of the windows.

But the aqua-terrene nymphs to whose hands these right useful instruments are committed, appear to be so solicitous of removing every feculent impression of the foot in their white-tiled halls, of giving a brilliant polish to the brass knockers, and of preserving the furniture of the rooms unsullied, that they frequently neglect to purify their own persons; the charms of which are to be often seen mingled with, if not obscured by, the accretions of long neglect and inattention.

Some travellers have extended similar remarks to the higher classes of the female sex, but unquestionably with more spleen than truth.

I had the honour of being acquainted with many Dutch ladies of respectability, and found them to be very neat in their persons, but my first remark too powerfully applies to the lower orders of the sex: they have no leisure to attend to themselves: to them, with a little transposition of the sentiment, may be applied the facetious lines that described a once celebrated opposition financier.

34I remember while at Amsterdam a servant was very angry because I would not suffer her to wash my bedroom every day. It might be supposed that in a climate which must be naturally very humid, the natives would prefer having dry rooms as long as possible.

Upon some of the canals I saw Rhine boats of extraordinary dimensions; they were principally laden with hardware, and their owners and families resided wholly on board, in a suite of cabins, generally raised upon the deck, which, in point of commodious arrangement, of neatness and comfort, cannot easily be surpassed on shore. Upon the fore and aft part of the deck their ware is exposed to sale, and below are prodigious depots of the same articles. These vessels are frequently six months in their voyage up and down the Rhine, in consequence of their stopping at those cities or towns situated on its banks, where the owners are likely to have a market for their merchandize.

The reader will be surprised to hear that in several shops I saw many prints of our illustrious Nelson, in which the artist, in order to prevent the beholder from doubting that he had lost the sight of one eye in the service of his country, had the optic completely removed from its socket, and left a large frightful hole, for the purpose of illustrating this part of his heroic history.

At an excellent table d’hote, at the Mareschal de Turenne, I had the happiness of meeting several of my countrymen, who were returning to England after a long and most unjust detention at Verdun; from them I learned that specie was abundant in France, and that Napoleon scarcely admitted any paper to be in circulation; that the roads were no longer farmed, but by the aid of a small additional duty on salt, were put into the finest condition, and that no toll whatever was taken in any part of the empire. They said, that in point of restriction, they were not rigidly treated, but that there were no bounds to the rapacity of those appointed to look after them, particular of the gens d’armes.

The collections of paintings in Rotterdam are not numerous, but very select: perhaps no people upon the face of the earth ever displayed a more inveterate and immoveable attachment to every 35thing of native growth than the Dutch, except the Chinese, who consider improvement as penal innovation, and who confined a native in irons for life, because he ventured to make a boat upon a new construction, by which it sailed faster than any other.

This immoveable adhesion to old customs in the Dutch, is the more singular, as from their commercial character, they have been in constant intercourse with the natives of every quarter of the globe, the various produces of which they have brought into their own canals, but not for adoption, imitation, or, generally speaking, for consumption, but solely for profitable re-sale.

This spirit, or if you like to call it so, this amor patriæ, is strongly evinced in all their collections of paintings: in only one or two private cabinets in Holland are to be found any productions of the Italian and Venetian schools.

The finest private cabinet belongs to M. Vanderpals, a very rich and respectable merchant; it is principally filled by the works of those delightful masters Nicholas Berchem, and Linglebach; of the former I shall give a few striking anecdotes when I reach Haarlem, the place of his nativity; of the latter I shall briefly speak when I describe Frankfort on the Maine, where he was born.

M. Vanderpot, another wealthy merchant, has also a very large and well selected collection of the Dutch and Flemish painters. M. Lockhorst, a gentleman of commercial distinction, has also a fine assortment of pictures of the same school.

The proprietors of these valuable productions are always ready with the greatest politeness to gratify strangers with the sight of them. Amongst other artists, Rotterdam has the honour of giving birth to the Chevalier Vanderwerf, who was born in 1659, and received his first instructions from Picolet, a portrait painter; he afterwards studied under Eglon Vanderneer, under whom he made a rapid improvement: he principally confined himself to historical subjects of a small size. The Elector Palatine conceived a great fondness for him, from accidentally seeing some of his performances in that style; this prince honoured him with every mark of esteem and beneficence. He conferred upon him the honour of 36knighthood, ennobled his descendants, gave him a chain of gold and a medal, and his portrait set with diamonds of great value, and allowed him a noble pension, besides paying him munificently for his productions; and upon the wife of Vanderwerf presenting him with a picture drawn by herself, their royal patron bestowed upon her husband six thousand florins, and on the lady a magnificent toilette of silver. What a model of munificence and liberal policy for princes! The pictures of this eminent master are very rare, and bear very high prices. He is principally celebrated for the roundness and relief of his figures; his defect lay in a coldness of colouring. Upon his pictures he laboured with unsparing toil, which injured the spirit of his productions.

His brother, Peter Vanderwerf, was born near Rotterdam in 1665, and was the pupil of his brother Adrian. His principal subjects were portraits and conversations, which entitled him to rank as a very able artist, and as a further proof of it, a small picture of his sold, in 1713, for five hundred and fifty guilders; and another, a copy from one of his brother Adrian’s, for eight hundred guilders. I did not hear of any living painter at Rotterdam of very distinguished eminence, a circumstance somewhat singular, when it is considered how many fine artists, though inferior to Vanderwerf, that city has produced.

The perfection to which the Dutch and Flemish schools arrived, proves that great artists may be formed, without the assistance of great galleries. The present low state of the French school demonstrates, that the most magnificent collection ever known, containing the renowned and exalted specimens of art, and opened to the inspection of every one with a becoming spirit of liberality, cannot form good artists. The St. Jerome of Corregio, and the St. Cecilia of Michael Angelo, have created no successful disciple since their arrival at Paris.

At Dort, or Dordreght, a city of great antiquity, about nine miles from Rotterdam, resides a celebrated artist of the name of Varestage, aged about fifty; he is justly celebrated for his candlelight subjects, which are masterly: one of his works, a school by candlelight, and a number of children, is spoken of as truly exquisite. 37On account of his eyes growing weak, he has altered his manner, and at present confines himself to large figures, portraits, and conversations.

As I was informed there was nothing very attractive at Dort, I did not visit that city: it is however famous for having given birth to several able men. John Gerard Vossius studied there in 1577, and wrote a great number of learned works; he was the father of Issac Vossius, also a man of profound erudition. Our King Charles humourously observed of him, alluding to his credulity and infidelity, “that he would believe any thing but the Bible.”

Adrian Junius was born here in 1511, and was considered to be one of the most profound men of his country, and wrote many learned works. Dr. Johnson observes of Junius, in the preface to his Dictionary, “the votaries of the northern muses will not perhaps easily restrain their indignation, when they find the name of Junius thus degraded by a disadvantageous comparison, (alluding to Skinner); but whatever reverence is due to his diligence, or his attainments, it can be no criminal degree of censoriousness, to charge that etymologist with want of judgment, who can seriously derive dream from drama, because life is a drama, and a drama is a dream.”

It would be an inexpiable offence to pass over the name of Albert Kuyp, or Cuyp, who was born here, son of the well known Jacob Gerritze Kuyp, whose pupil he was, and whom he infinitely surpassed. The former excelled in whatever he attempted to represent; the diffusion of his lights is as exquisite as it is natural, and the very times of the day in which he painted are immediately discoverable; the misty haze of the morning, the brilliant lustre of noon, the last blush of evening, and the lunar beam of night from his hands, presented the closest imitations of nature, and the utmost powers the art is susceptible of. Most of his subjects were furnished by his native city and the adjacent scenery, particularly his celebrated representation of the cattle-market at Dort, and the square where the troops exercised: his works are much sought after, and preserved as great curiosities; and yet, though now so highly prized, they fell into so much disrepute, that not many 38years since, a large collection of his best pictures sold for eight guineas apiece, so uncertain is the opinion and taste of the public.

Even our immortal Cowper experienced the severity of popular caprice. So diffidently did he think of his abilities, that he offered his first poems to his publisher; reserving only as a remuneration, a few copies to present to his friends, from an apprehension that his works might produce rather loss than profit. These productions were, on their first appearance, very rudely handled by most of the reviewers, and nearly the whole of the copies lay like so much waste paper for a long time in the bookseller’s shop.

Some time afterwards, not wholly discouraged by this mortifying neglect, he presented through the hands of a friend, his manuscript copy of that divine poem, “The Task” upon the same terms, the merit of which, dispelled the folly or ignorance of the town, as the rays of the sun pierce through and absorb the mist, and Cowper took a high rank amongst the living great men of his century; the fame of “The Task” brought into light his former discarded productions, and their sale has ever since continued to augment the wealth of his bookseller, the venerable and much respected Johnson.

The following very interesting and extraordinary circumstance occurred at Dort in the year 1785, which is still the frequent narrative of the young and old of that city, who relate it with mingled sensations of awe and delight, as an interposition of Divine Providence in favour of a widow and her family of this city. This woman, who was very industrious, was left by her husband, an eminent carpenter, a comfortable house with some land, and two boats for carrying merchandize and passengers on the canals. She was also 39supposed to be worth ten thousand guilders in ready money, which she employed in a hempen and sail-cloth manufactory, for the purpose of increasing her fortune and instructing her children (a son and two daughters) in useful branches of business.

One night about nine o’clock, when the workmen were gone home, a person dressed in uniform, with a musket and broad sword, came to her house, and requested a lodging. “I let no lodgings, friend,” said the widow, “and besides, I have no spare bed, unless you sleep with my son, which I think very improper, on account of your being a perfect stranger to us all.” The soldier then shewed a discharge from Diesbach’s regiment (signed by the Major, who gave him an excellent character), and a passport from Compte Maillebois, governor of Breda. The widow, believing the stranger to be an honest man, called her son, and asked him if he would accommodate a veteran, who had served the republic thirty years with reputation, with part of his bed. The young man consented; the soldier was accordingly hospitably entertained; and at a seasonable hour withdrew to rest.

Some hours afterwards, a loud knocking was heard at the street door, which roused the soldier, who moved softly down stairs, and listened at the hall door, when the blows were repeated, and the door almost broken through by a sledge, or some heavy instrument. By this time the widow and her daughters were much alarmed by this violent attack, and ran almost frantic through different parts of the house, exclaiming “Murder! Murder!” The son having joined the soldier with a case of loaded pistols, and the latter screwing on his bayonet and fresh priming his piece, which was charged with slugs, requested the women to keep themselves in a back room out of the way of danger. Soon after the door was bursted in, two ruffians entered, and were instantly shot by the son, who discharged both his pistols at once. Two other associates of the dead men immediately returned the fire, but without effect, when the intrepid and veteran stranger, taking immediate advantage of the discharge of their arms, rushed on them like a lion, ran one through the body with his bayonet, and whilst the other was running away, lodged the contents of his piece between 40his shoulders, and he dropped dead on the spot. The son and the stranger then closed the door as well as they could, reloaded their arms, made a good fire, and watched till day-light, when the weavers and spinners of the manufactory came to resume their employment, who were struck with horror and surprise at seeing four men dead on the dunghill adjoining the house, where the soldier had dragged them before they closed the door.

The burgomaster and his syndic attended, and took the depositions of the family relative to this affair. The bodies were buried in a cross-road, and a stone erected over the grave, with this inscription: “Here lie the remains of four unknown ruffians, who deservedly lost their lives, in an attempt to rob and murder a worthy woman and her family. A stranger who slept in the house, to which Divine Providence undoubtedly directed him, was the principal instrument in preventing the perpetration of such horrid designs, which justly entitles him to a lasting memorial, and the thanks of the public. John Adrian de Gries, a discharged soldier from the regiment of Diesbach, a native of Middleburgh in Zealand, and upwards of seventy years old, was the David who slew two of these Goliaths, the rest being killed by the son of the family. In honorem, a gratitudine ergo, Dei optimi maximi, pietatis et innocentæ summi protectoris, magistratus et concilium civitatis Dortrechiensis hoc signum poni curavere, xx. die Nov. annoque salutis humanæ, 1785.”

The widow presented the soldier with one hundred guineas, and the city settled a handsome pension on him for the rest of his life.

It is matter of surprise to the contemplative traveller to observe in a country apparently so mechanically moral and regular as Holland, the glaring defects of the most loose and meretricious government: in the hearts of the finest cities are to be found brothels surpassing in iniquity all such seats of impurity in any other nation, in which the horrible novelty of the most savage oppression is united to a public, licensed, and authorised display of vice and profligacy. I mean the spill-houses, to one of which my laquais de place conducted me about ten o’clock at night, when those scenes of revelry open. In a street, in an inferior quarter of the town, the sound of fiddles and dancing announced the approach to one of these houses: presently my guide stopped before one of them, into the saloon of which he introduced me by pulling aside a curtain drawn before the door, near which, in a little raised orchestra, two fiddlers were scraping; upon benches at the other end of the room were seven or eight females, painted and dressed in all their finery, with large silver buckles, loose muslin robes, massy gilt ear-rings, and ornaments of the same metal round the head. Most of them looked very jaded. As soon as I entered, a bottle of wine and glasses, and pipes and tobacco, were put before me, for which I paid a florin, and which is considered as the premium of admission.

42These miserable wretches were all prostitutes and prisoners, confined to this haunt of vice, and never suffered to pass its threshold until enabled, out of the wages of prostitution, to redeem themselves. The way in which they are ensnared into this brothel-dungeon is worthy of notice. The keeper of it hears of some girl who is in debt, frequently occasioned by dressing beyond her means, to set off her person to advantage at some of the music-rooms or other public places; he approaches her, pities her, offers her money to discharge her debts, advances her more for immediate and future purposes; she becomes his debtor: in a short time he seizes upon her person, and bears her away to his bagnio, and receives the profligate produce of her disgrace and infamy; and this scene of compound enormity is tolerated by the government, and has so continued for many years, till time has hardened the cruel practice into a custom which has become inoffensive to the people.

One of these poor wretches approached me; the affected gaiety of her deportment, so entirely discordant with the genuine feelings of a mind exposed to scenes of such humiliating profligacy, was in no little degree distressing; but I observed she drank the wine I gave her with a heavy heart, and some money I presented her with, excited expressions of gratitude, but no emotions of delight; from which I concluded that she was merely the channel through which my present would pass to her brutal gaoler; an apprehension which was confirmed to me by my lacquey upon my quitting this scene of complicated wretchedness.

It is a curious circumstance that to Solon, the wisest amongst the wise men of Greece, is attributed the origin of brothels: his motives may be appreciated in the following extracts. “Nicandre raconte dans le troisième livre des choses remarquables de Colophon, que le legislateur Solon a été le premier qui ait bâti un temple à Venus Pandemos. Philemon (Athenée liv. xiii. p. 569.) loue beaucoup la sage indulgence que Solon a témoignée par cette loi pour la foiblesse humaine: ‘Solon, tu as vraiment été le bienfaiteur du genre humain! car on dit que c’est toi qui a le premier pensé à une chose bien advantageuse au peuple ou plutôt au salut public. Oui, c’est avec raison que je dis ceci, lorsque je considère 43notre ville pleine de jeunes gens d’un temperament bouillant, et qui en consequence se porteraient à des excès impermissables. C’est pourquoi tu as acheté des femmes, et les as placées dans des lieux, où, pourvues de tout ce qui leur est nécessaire, elles deviennent communes à tous ceux qui en veulent.’” “Nicander relates in the third book of remarkable circumstances of Colophon, that the legislator Solon was the first who built a temple to Venus Pandemos. Philemon praises much the wise indulgence which Solon has shown by this law to human infirmity. ‘Solon! thou hast truly been the benefactor of the human race! for it is said that thou first thought of a measure greatly beneficial to the people, or rather to the public good. Yes, I say it with reason, when I see our town full of young men of warm constitutions, and who in consequence would indulge in censurable excesses. Therefore thou hast purchased women, and fixed them in places, where, provided with every thing they want, they become accessible to all who desire an intercourse with them.’”

The Dutch are so familiarized to these scenes, that parents frequently carry their children to them; from the hope of preserving them from vicious propensities, by placing before their eyes the nauseous and frightful images of suffering profligacy. Such an experiment in morals would be somewhat dubious in its operations; for vice like deformity ceases to disgust in proportion as it is contemplated. Such ideas never enter the sober brains of such visitors; they go to spend an hour, which to them is mirthful, and the poor wretches I have mentioned augment the pleasures of the scene by the gaudiness of their finery, and the company add to its vivacity. In the beauty of its plumage, “they forget the dying bird.”

Through considerable interest I was enabled to see the Rasp-House, or prison for male and female culprits: it is a large quadrangular building; most of the cells and rooms look towards the yard, which is considerably below the level of the street. The food is wholesome and abundant, and the chambers are kept very neat. I saw in this place nothing objectionable but the period allowed to the prisoners for taking exercise, which is infinitely too short and 44infrequent, each person being allowed to walk in the yard only once in the week; the consequence is, that few of the prisoners looked healthy.

Holland is justly celebrated for its public charities. In Rotterdam, before the last war, there were many benevolent institutions, some of which have inevitably languished, and others expired, in consequence of the political convulsions of the country and the usually impoverishing effects of long hostility.

In the streets I was surprised to see the horses shod in the shameful and clumsy manner they are: the shoe is behind elevated to a considerable height, so that the poor animal must suffer from the position into which he is always forced, resembling that of a lady in a high-heeled pair of shoes of the last century.

At my hotel I was much gratified by the whimsical appearance of a meeting called the Society of Variety and Unity, which was held there: about eighty Dutchmen of the middling classes of life were assembled in one of the rooms, to discuss philosophical, but more particularly religious questions: when I entered the room, one of their members was addressing the body upon the subject of death, as I was informed. His eloquence appeared to be as sluggish as the canal opposite; the motto of the fraternity was well illustrated by what appeared; the only variety I saw was in their pipes, and their unity was effected by the fumes of their tobacco, which seemed to blend them in one common mass of smoke.

I had not been two days in Holland without witnessing the abominable custom of introducing a spitting pot upon the table after dinner, into which, like the Kava bowl used amongst the natives of the South-sea islands, each person present who smokes, and that generally comprehends all who are present, discharges his saliva, which delicate depositary is handed round as regularly as the bottle. This custom is comparable in point of delicacy with that of washing the mouth and cleaning the teeth with a napkin after dinner, as in England, or picking the latter with a fork, as in France.

The Dutch are proverbial for smoking. The moment I entered any coffee-house, pipes and tobacco were introduced, as if the 45waiters were in dread of my imbibing some pestilent disease, without this sort of fumigation, and expressed uncommon surprise, when they remarked that I declined using them. The Dutch will insist upon it that smoking is not only as necessary to preserve their constitutions, as paint is to protect the exterior of their houses from the effects of their moist climate, but that the vapour invigorates the mind, which mounted like an aerial spirit upon a cloud, pours forth treasures of reflection with a brilliancy little short of inspiration.

The Dutch go to an astonishing expense in their pipes, which assume an endless variety of shapes, and are decorated sometimes with the most coxcombical figures painted upon the head or cup of it, according to the taste of its possessor.

Many of the opulent Hollanders use a pipe, the head of which is made of a clay which is very rare, and found only in Turkey, of so beautiful a colour, that is called the Meerschaum, or froth of the sea; for this piece of luxury the value of eight and even ten guineas is frequently paid.

The lower orders of society, and many of the higher, carry in their pockets their pipe, a pricker to clear the tube, a piece of tinder made in Germany from the large mushrooms growing on old trees, resembling spunge, a small steel and flint to kindle the fire with, and a box frequently capacious enough to contain a pound of tobacco.

It is curious to observe how naturally a pipe depends from a Dutchman’s mouth, and with what perfect facility he smokes without the assistance of either hand: he literally appears to have been formed by nature to breathe through this tube, with which he rides on horseback, drives in a carriage, and even dances. I have seen little boys take this instrument and puff away with an apparently instinctive predilection for the transatlantic weed. Smoking is a Dutchman’s panacea, he thinks it good in all cases, whether of consumptions, or plethora, nervous debility, or fiery fever: as a masticatory, tobacco is but little used even by the fishermen, sailors and boors; and I was surprised to find, that in the social shape of snuff, it seemed to have not many admirers.

46Tobacco had many enemies to contend with. In 1610, the smoking of tobacco was known at Constantinople, but it was thought so injurious a custom, that to remove it by ridicule, a Turk who had been found smoking, was conducted about the streets with a pipe transfixed through his nose: it was a long time before the Dutch cultivated the plant themselves; previous to that period they purchased it, and that the very refuse of the English. In 1615, tobacco began to be sown about Amsfort in Holland.

By James I. the practice of smoking was severely and most whimsically denounced in a work, called “King James the Sixth’s (of Scotland) Counterblast to Tobacco,” in which the royal pedant states, “that some gentlemen of his courts were accustomed to expend no less than three or four hundred pounds a year upon this indulgence.” He also says, “that it was used as a powerful aphrodisiac.” He particularly deplores the case of delicate, wholesome, clean complexioned wives, whose husbands were not ashamed to pollute them with the perpetual stinking torment of tobacco smoke: the concluding sentence of this extraordinary composition is somewhat laughable. “The use of tobacco,” he says, “is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrid Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.”

Few would wish to withhold from a Dutchman the narcotic enjoyment of his pipe, when they reflect, that he seeks no other species of oblivion to his care; for, I believe, notwithstanding a Dutchman’s eulogium upon his pipe, that it produces more oblivion than inspiration: he is scarcely ever seen intoxicated: indeed, drunkenness is held unpardonably infamous in Holland. To keep bad accounts, and to be seen inebriated, are equally disgraceful; and hence the use of wines and spirituous liquors is much less in Holland than in England.

The Dutch agree with Cassio’s reasoning:

——“Oh! that men should put an enemy into their mouths, to steal away their brains! That we should with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!”

47The spill-houses are not the only objectionable instances of the abuse of the government; the police master is suffered to misuse his authority to a shameful excess. Instead of bringing delinquents to justice, he is in the frequent habit of privately compromising public offence, and putting the sum paid into his own pocket. Some time before I was in Rotterdam, a burgher who had been guilty of adultery, paid twenty thousand guilders to this minister of justice, who thus partaking of the commercial spirit of his country, becomes a merchant in delinquency.

I saw in several shops a great number of articles of English manufacture exposed to sale, particularly Manchester goods. The Dutch manufacture their own woollens, and they are esteemed to be very good. The black cloth of Holland is very well known, which is infinitely of a deeper and superior colour than ours. The principal cloth manufactures are at Leyden and Tielburg. There are also very capital and flourishing manufactures of velvets, silk, and carpets, at Hilversom; and those of linen and table-cloths, which are exquisite, at Overyssel; and numerous paper-mills.

The population of Rotterdam is estimated at sixty thousand inhabitants. Upon the whole, it is a gloomy place to live in; a constant iteration of the same canals, bridges, boats, houses, and figures, will soon damp the spirits of a traveller, unless naturally very vivacious. There is no theatre, no place of public amusement, but the spill-houses I have described, which are as much, at least to feeling minds, not accustomed to them, entitled to that appellation, as any of our houses of correction.

Here I bade adieu to my companions and friends, who proceeded direct to Germany, where I promised to rejoin them. I was by no means sorry to follow a lacquey to that quarter of the suburbs where the Delft boats set off every two hours, with my portmanteau, and to bid adieu to Rotterdam. Our treckschuyt lay ready for starting; at two o’clock, a little bell fastened on the outside of a house where the director resides, announced that all was ready; the horse was fastened to a very long, and rather a thin line, and we slipped through the liquid road, sensible of moving only from passing the objects that lined the sides of the canal, 48consisting for a considerable way of pretty houses and avenues of trees.

The treckschuyt is a long barge divided into two apartments; the after one, called the ruif or roof, possesses superior accommodations, and will hold from eight to a dozen persons, and the other from forty to fifty: this vessel, which is drawn by a single horse, moves so precisely at the rate of four miles an hour, that the Dutch always compute by the hour instead of the mile.^[1] In the cabin or roof, there are four oblique windows, which move up and down, a table in the middle, with a long drawer filled with pipes. The seats are covered with handsome cushions; but the prime accommodations are a spitting-box, and a little iron pot filled with burning turf, to furnish the smokers with fire for their pipes. The price is about three pence an hour: this part is generally occupied by persons of a superior condition. So steady is the motion of the vessel, that the passenger may read, write, or draw in it, without interruption.

The treckschuyts preserve an easy intercourse between the most distant parts of the kingdom, and the cheapness of their conveyance places them within the reach of the most slender purse. Every thing relative to these vessels is conducted with such admirable punctuality, that the passenger can tell to the smallest cost in the kingdom what his expenses will amount to, and to a minute when he shall arrive at the end of his journey, in which, if it be long, he carries his provision with him, or purchases a frugal meal at the house where the boat stops a few minutes for that purpose. At those places where the treckschuyts stop on account of the course of the canal being interrupted, and where passengers are in consequence obliged to quit one vessel to go to another, there are females who offer refreshments for sale, consisting of little rolls and small birds, and slices of cold baked eels, fastened to a small stick.

49The treckschuyts are all under the direction of government, and are truly punctual, convenient, cheap, and agreeable. The town of Delft was about twelve miles, or three hours distant. On the sides of the canal, the surface of the water was frequently covered by the nymphæa alba, a magnificent white water-lily, whose expanded and unsullied flowers had a charming effect, particularly when intermixed with menyanthes nymphoides, the yellow fringed water-lily, which are very uncommon in England.

We passed by several sawing or wood mills, which are moved by wind: the machinery of those buildings, which I afterwards examined, is very curious; they were originally invented by Corneille Van Uitgust. The flies of the mill are fixed to a large beam, which turns on an axis; in the centre of the beam the principal wheel is fixed, which impels one immediately below it, which is also fixed on the middle of a piece of timber, hanging on an axis, to which four perpendicular saws, ten in each compartment, are fastened, which, as the wheel revolves, are elevated and depressed. Two iron hooks are fastened at the end of this beam, which catch a wheel, and as the saw rises and falls, move this wheel one cog; that wheel impels another, which catches into a piece of iron, and draws it towards itself; at the end of this iron there is a cross bar, which presses against the end of the tree, while the other end is sawing, and gradually forces it on to the teeth of the saws, as they proceed in cutting.

I remember at Memel, in Polish Prussia, the sawing mills there had another mechanical power, that of drawing up the trees from the barks in which they were brought in the river, into the yard or store-house. I believe mills for sawing timber have been introduced only partially into England. All the mills in Holland rise to a very great height, to secure as much wind at all times as possible. Many of these mills were thatched on the sides as well as the roof.

A very ingenious discovery, infinitely more curious than the Dutch sawing-mill, has, however, been recently made in London, by Sir George Wright, Bart. of machinery for sawing stone, for which a patent has been obtained, now the property of Samuel 50Hill, Esq. who has added many improvements to it. By means of a steam-engine, a number of saws are set in motion, by which a solid block of marble or stone, rough from the quarry, can be cut into shafts of columns of diminishing diameters, one within the other, at the same time: the blocks fixed in an iron circular frame, resting upon four small wheels, by which they can be turned round by the person who has the care of a certain number of them, to keep the saws, which are almost in a horizontal position, constantly acting upon them; the blocks are a little inclined, to enable the saws to be supplied with water from a trough above, conducted by means of tin pipes to the respective orifices.

By means of this admirable invention, a saving of three-fourths of the stone is produced upon a block of large diameter; the outer cases being as strong as the cube, five men can perform the work which occupied forty before the discovery; and stone columns are reduced to the price of wooden ones. These saws can also cut out an entire gothic window, which they effect at a saving of eighty per cent. with great beauty and precision, and which in its former construction was divided into six different parts; the last savings or cubes, upon being cemented together, constitute a complete gothic column, and the concavity of the divided outer case of a large column forms an entire recess; a block will also, after it has afforded several shafts of columns, form a handsome series of chimnies. The pipes for conveying water by this machinery are much preferred, on account of their durability: the proprietors of several public works have adopted them in preference to those of wood, which are continually wanting repairs. This highly ingenious discovery has been matured and prosecuted with great public spirit and expense by the proprietor, and promises, from its great utility and economy, to become an object of high national importance.

In our treckschuyt, I witnessed a strong contrast to the spirits and loquacity of the French and Germans; all was smoke and silence, save when it yielded to a few short sentences, in which the word mi vrow frequently met my ear. One very grave elderly gentleman, who wore an enormous curled and powdered wig, and 51who somewhat resembled Lord Burleigh in the Critic, spoke but once all the way, and that was in the following oracular sentence; “Wat is goed voor de man is ook goed voor de vrow—What is good for the husband, is as good for the wife;” so similar in many instances are the Dutch and English languages, that some of our witlings have observed that bad English will make very good Dutch. M. Siegenbeek, minister of the anabaptist church at Leyden, and the first who has occupied the chair for Dutch literature and eloquence in the university of that city, in which, by his genius and attainments, he reflects honour upon his country, has published a very ingenious work, entitled, Verhandeling over de Nederduitsche Spelling; a Treatise on Dutch Orthography, tending to render it uniform: this work and another by the same author, called Verhandeling over den Ionsted, &c. or a Treatise on the Influence of Euphony or agreeable Sound, and of the Facility of Pronunciation, on the orthography of the Dutch language, were, at the instigation and by the able exertions of M. Vander Palm, the agent of national education, some years since published, for the improvement of the national language and poetry. The late Batavian government adopted the system of orthography proposed by M. Siegenbeek, and ordered it to be used by all the offices of administration.

It is generally understood that the language of Holland is divided into High and Low Dutch, whereas there is but one pure language, as in England, which is called Neder Duitch, the language of the Netherlands, or of a country lying very low. In Holland, as in every other country, there is a variety of provincial idioms; for instance, a raw native of Friesland would not be understood at Amsterdam.

Of the Dutch language our immortal lexicographer, Johnson, says, “Our knowledge of the northern literature is so scanty, that of words undoubtedly Teutonic the original is not always to be found in any ancient language, and I have therefore inserted Dutch or German substitutes, which I consider not as radical, but parallel; not as the parent of, but as sisters to the English.” To close 52this digression, the language, I must confess, did not sound dissonant to my ear from the lips of well-bred persons.

The following specimens will enable the reader to observe the solidity of the learned doctor’s remark.

My companions continued smoking, and enjoying the delightful novelty of our aquatic conveyance and the surrounding scenery. We met several boats, and the dexterity by which the line was slackened by one boat, to permit the other, which kept its towing mast standing, to pass over the cord, according to the custom which governs this sort of rencontre on the canal, was admirable, as also was the ease and skill with which the skipper who has the care of the line throws it up on one side, and catches it on the other of a bridge under which the boat is obliged to pass.

At Overchie, a village about three miles, or one hour from Rotterdam, the houses are close to the water, and little children were playing on its very margin without exciting any apprehension. In this town the prospect of a late dinner induced me to taste its gingerbread, for which Holland is very justly celebrated. Before every cottage, brass kettles and pans just cleaned were placed upon stools in the open air, or were polishing under the hands of their indefatigable owners; and even certain utensils shone with such resplendent brightness in the sun, that the well-known saying which the French whimsically apply to the grave and thoughtful, Il est sérieux comme un pot de chambre, would lose the fidelity of its resemblance here.

57We were passed by several curricles, a very common carriage in this part of Holland, the horses in rope harness, going to and from Rotterdam. In the roof of the boat were some ladies and gentlemen, who, as well as I could discern through the smoke, seemed pleased to see me so with their country. The land all the way on each side was rich pasture. On our left, a short distance from Delft, we passed a cannon foundry, and on our right some potteries, where the Delft china, formerly much prized all over Europe, and which Vandevelt and other eminent artists embellished with their pencils, used to be manufactured in great abundance. These potteries, since last war, have greatly declined, to the severe injury of the adjoining town.

The principal cause of the decay of these potteries has been the vast quantities of porcelain which, for more than a century and a half, have been imported from China into Europe, and the great improvement of that beautiful manufacture in England and Germany. Some years since the earth-ware of Staffordshire was so much admired in Holland, that to protect the manufacture of Delft from utter ruin, the States General imposed a duty upon its importation into the republic, that nearly amounted to a prohibition. Hence the name of an Englishman is not very popular in Delft. I tasted some excellent beer in this town, which is celebrated for its breweries, and produces an admirable imitation of London bottled porter.

The town is very ancient and picturesque; at the place where we disembarked, were several treckschuyts moored under an old castellated gateway, from which, preceded by a commissary or licensed porter, who attends the moment the boat arrives, with his wheelbarrow, to convey the luggage of the passengers, we entered Delft, the capital of Delftland, in the province of Holland, and proceeded to a very comfortable inn, which furnished some good cutlets, and a bottle of claret. Before the hotel all was bustle, from the number of carriages filled with genteel people proceeding to, and returning from the Hague, to and from which boats are passing every half hour.

58Here, as in every inn in Holland, however humble, the guest has always the comfort of a silver fork placed by his side, and a tablecloth of snowy whiteness: in the room where I dined was a glass china cupboard, and every article within it bore shining testimony to its having received a due proportion of diurnal care. Delft is a large but gloomy town, and as silent as a monastery, except in the street immediately leading to the Hague; upon quitting which, no sound was to be heard but that of mops and buckets: narrow, green, stagnant canals divide most of the streets, which are generally, for some little distance before the houses, paved with black and white marble. However, the principal part of the town is handsome, having two spacious streets, with broad canals bordered with trees.

The navigation is interrupted from the Rotterdam entrance to that of the Hague, so that the water within it presents no animating object. In this town turf is principally burnt.

Although the taciturnity of the place would induce a stranger to think its population small, it reckons 13,000 inhabitants, 6000 of whom, since the war, have been reduced to the class of paupers. I met with two or three inhabitants who spoke good English, and expressed in terms of feeling misery, the heavy losses and distresses which they had sustained by a rupture with England; yet, strange as it may appear, they seemed to think well of their new government, and spoke with great esteem of their king, of whom they said they well knew, he felt the impolicy of a war with England as much as any Dutchman, and that he would rejoice at the hour, when the great political events which were passing in other parts of the world, would admit of a renewal of amity and free intercourse with that country; they spoke of the government of the Stadtholder with contempt, and of the Republic with detestation.

I visited the new church, the tower of which is very fine, and of a prodigious altitude. The first object that excited my curiosity, was the tomb of the immortal Grotius, whose remains were brought here, after he expired at Rostock, in 1645, upon his return from the court of Christina, Queen of Sweden, to this, his native city. The tomb erected to his memory is simple, but handsome; it consists of a medallion representing the head of this great 59man, and a child leaning upon an urn with a torch inverted. The epitaph in latin is elegant, and expressive of the merits and virtues it perpetuates. I regret, upon opening my memorandums, to find my pencil copy of it so effaced as to be unintelligible: of this great civilian and general scholar, Aubere du Marier, who knew him very intimately said, “that he was tall, strong, and a well made man, and had a very agreeable countenance. With all those excellences of body, his mind was still more excellent. He was a man of openness, of veracity, and of honour, and so perfectly virtuous, that throughout his whole life, he made a point of avoiding and of deserting men of bad character, but of seeking the acquaintance of men of worth, and persons distinguished by talents, not only of his own country, but of all Europe, with whom he kept up an epistolary correspondence.”

Grotius displayed great precocity of talents. At the age of fifteen, he accompanied the Dutch ambassador, Barneveldt, into France, and was honoured by several marks of esteem by Henry the Fourth, who at that age discovered extraordinary powers in the mind of Grotius, but could not help expressing his surprise, that the States should send a youth without a beard as an assistant to their ambassador; upon which the stripling astonished the great Henry by this brilliant reply: “Had my country conceived that your Majesty measured ability by the length of the beard, they would have sent in my room a he goat of Norway.”

At seventeen he pleaded as a civilian at the bar in his own country, and was not twenty-four when appointed attorney general. He escaped from the castle of Louvestein, where he was condemned to be imprisoned for life, for the share he had in the affairs which proved the ruin of Barneveldt, in the following interesting manner: his wife, Maria Van Reygersbergen, who was most tenderly attached to him, and a lady of great learning and accomplishments, conciliated the esteem of the wife of the governor of the castle so far as to obtain permission, during the absence of the governor one day, to have removed from her husband’s apartment a large quantity of books, which he had borrowed of a friend at Gorcum: by the address and excellent management of a servant 60maid, Grotius occupied the place of the books in the trunk; he was safely conveyed from the castle, not without imminent peril of being drilled through the body, in consequence of the porters who carried him down stairs, suspecting that the trunk held a more learned treasure, than that which it was said to contain.

Grotius took refuge in France, which he quitted in consequence of the illiberal conduct of the Cardinal de Richlieu towards him, and accepted of an invitation from that singular princess Christina, queen of Sweden, who was greatly attached to him, and made him her ambassador at Paris, where the Cardinal gave him much trouble, in consequence of his not yielding precedence to him. When Grotius had breathed his last, his countrymen felt contrition for their oppression, and struck a medal in honour of him, on which he is styled, “The Oracle of Delft, the Phœnix of his Country.”

The lines of Horace may be well applied to this great man;

I shall conclude these interesting anecdotes of Grotius, by giving his excellent sentiments on the education of boys, as he imparted them to Isaac Vossius, which in my humble opinion ought to be considered as a treasure to every parent; “Many persons,” says he, “make use of tutors for the education of their children, which hardly ever succeeds as it was intended. I have never approved of that method of education, for I know that young persons learn only when they are together, and that their application is languid where there is no emulation. I am as little of a friend to schools, where the master scarce knows the names of his scholars; where the number is so great that he cannot distribute his attention upon each of them, whose composition requires a particular attention. For these reasons I wish that a medium of the two methods 61were taken, that a master took only ten or twelve boys, who should live in the same house, and be of the same classes, by which means the master himself would not be overloaded with cares.” Grotius also recommends the student to begin with those histories which are nearest to his own time.

The fate of Barneveldt is related with great spirit by Voltaire, who says, But human affairs are ever chequered with good and evil. Mankind are so apt to deviate from their principles, that this republic (Holland) had nearly destroyed the liberty for which she had so bravely fought, and persecution boiled in the blood of a people, whose happiness and laws were founded on toleration. Two calvinistical doctors did what so many doctors have done in so many other places. Gomar and Arminius disputed most furiously at Leyden, about what neither of them understood. This produced dissensions in the United Provinces.

The dispute was in many respects similar to those of the Thomists and Scotists, or of the Jansenists and Molinists, concerning predestination, grace, liberty, and other obscure and frivolous articles, where they know not how to define the very subject on which they dispute. The leisure they enjoyed during the truce, unluckily gave those ignorant people an opportunity to fill their heads with theological disputes, till at length, out of a scholastic controversy, there arose two parties in the state. Maurice, Prince of Orange, headed the Gomarists, and the pensionary Barneveldt supported the Arminians.

Du Maurier says, that he had been told by the ambassador his father, that Maurice having proposed to the pensionary Barneveldt, to concur in giving him the supreme power, this zealous republican showed him the danger and injustice of the proposal, and from that time Barneveldt’s ruin was resolved upon. This however is certain, that the Stadtholder endeavoured to increase his authority by means of the Gomarists, and Barneveldt to check it by means of the Arminians: that several towns levied soldiers who were called Expectants, because they expected orders from the magistrate, but would take none from the Stadtholder: that there were insurrections in some cities, and that Prince Maurice vigorously 62persecuted the opposite party. At length he convened a calvinistical council at Dordrecht, composed of all the reformed churches in Europe, except that of France, the deputies from which were not permitted by the King of France to attend.

The fathers of this synod who had exclaimed so loudly against the fathers of various councils, and against their authority, condemned the Arminians, just as they themselves had been condemned by the council of Trent. Above a hundred Arminian ministers were banished from the United Provinces. Prince Maurice chose twenty-six commissioners from the nobility and the magistrates, to try the grand pensionary Barneveldt, the celebrated Grotius, and some others of the Arminian party. They had been kept six months in confinement, previous to their trial.

One of the chief motives of the revolt of the Seven Provinces, and of the house of Orange, against Spain, was the Duke of Alva’s severity, in suffering the accused to languish for a long period in confinement, without bringing them to trial, and in appointing commissioners to condemn them. The same grievances which had caused such complaints under the Spanish monarchy, were revived in the bosom of liberty. Barneveldt was beheaded at the Hague, more unjustly than Count Egmont, and Count Horn at Brussels. He was an old man of seventy, who had served the Republic forty years in the cabinet, with as much success as Maurice and his brothers had served her in the field. The sentence imported, “That he had done all he could to vex the Church of God.”

A charming anecdote is related of the admirable conduct of the widow of Barneveldt. After he had perished on the scaffold, his sons, René and William, entered into a conspiracy to revenge his death, in which they were discovered. William fled, but René was taken and condemned to die. His mother solicited his pardon of Prince Maurice, who replied, “It appears strange that you do that for your son, which you refused to do for your husband;” to which she nobly replied, “I did not ask pardon for my husband, because he was innocent; I ask it for my son, because he is guilty.”

The view from the steeple of this church is esteemed the most beautiful in Holland, and is remarkable fine and extensive; but the 63beauty of the scenery is principally at a distance, as the land immediately surrounding the town is boggy, dotted with piles of white turf. The chimes of this church, or as they are called, the Carillons, are very numerous, consisting of four or five hundred bells, which are celebrated for the sweetness of their tones. This species of music is entirely of Dutch origin, and in Holland and the countries that formerly belonged to her, it can only be heard in great perfection. The French and Italians have never imitated the Dutch in this taste; we have made the attempt in some of our churches, but in such a miserably bungling manner, that the nerves of even a Dutch skipper would scarcely be able to endure it.

These carillons are played upon by means of a kind of keys communicating with the bells, as those of the piano forte and organ do with strings and pipes, by a person called the Carilloneur, who is regularly instructed in the science, the labor of the practical part of which is very severe, he being almost always obliged to perform in his shirt with his collar unbuttoned, and generally forced by exertion into a profuse perspiration, some of the keys requiring a two pound weight to depress them: after the performance, the Carilloneur is frequently obliged immediately to go to bed: by pedals communicating with the great bells, he is enabled with his feet to play the base to several sprightly and even difficult airs, which he performs with both his hands upon the upper species of keys, which are projecting sticks, wide enough asunder to be struck with violence and celerity by either of the two hands edgeways, without the danger of hitting the adjoining keys. The player uses a thick leather covering for the little finger of each hand, to prevent the excessive pain which the violence of the stroke, necessary to produce sufficient sound, requires: these musicians are very dextrous, and will play pieces in three parts, producing the first and second treble with the two hands on the upper set of keys, and the base as before described. By this invention a whole town is entertained in every quarter of it; that spirit of industry which pervades the kingdom, no doubt originally suggested this sudorific mode of amusing a large population, without making it necessary for them to quit their avocations one moment 64to enjoy them. They have often sounded to my ear, at a distance, like the sounds of a very sweet hand-organ; but the want of something to stop the vibration of each bell, to prevent the notes of one passage from running into another, is a desideratum which would render this sort of music still more highly delightful. Holland is the only country I have been in, where the sound of bells was gratifying. The dismal tone of our own on solemn occasions, and the horrible indiscriminate clashing of the bells of the Greek church in Russia, are, at least to my ear, intolerable nuisances. I afterwards learnt that the carillons at Amsterdam have three octaves, with all the semi-tones complete on the manual, and two octaves in the pedals; each key for the natural sound projects near a foot, and those for the flats and sharps, which are played several inches higher, only half as much. The British army was equally surprised and gratified, by hearing upon the carillons of the principal church at Alkmaar, their favorite air of “God save the king” played in a masterly manner, when they entered that town.

In this church is a superb monument raised to the memory of William the First, the great Prince of Orange, in the east end of the church, which is semicircular, and a range of semicircular pillars support the roof: within these pillars is a large space railed off, and paved with black and white marble, under which is the family vault of the House of Orange; in the centre is the monument, a sarcophagus on which is placed a marble figure of the above prince, in his robes after death: at his feet is a dog, the expression of whose countenance is very much admired; above is a marble canopy supported by four buttresses of white marble, and twenty columns of black and gold in fine style: the epitaph, in small obscure characters, is inscribed upon a tablet held up by two boys in bronze, and at each corner of the tomb stands a bronze figure, the first representing Liberty with a cap, inscribed with aurea libertas; the second is Fortitude, the third Religion, and the fourth Justice, not blind, but ardently gazing upon the balance in her hand. Under an arch at the head of the tomb is a bronze statue of the same prince, and at the other end a figure of Fame just taking wing. The other internal parts of this edifice are adorned 65with the usual mortuary decorations in Holland, long sable lines of escutcheons. I am as little fond of describing, as I am sure my reader must be of reading, minute descriptions of monuments; but I have been particular here, because the Dutch, with their accustomed frugality, do not much indulge in mausoleums and statues. In France, the late revolution, in its savage phrenzy, with hands still reeking with the blood of the dying, tore open the tombs of princes, and their favourites, and disfigured the consecrated depositaries with the shattered fragments of their marble mausoleums: that revolution, which, with the guillotine in front, and the broken cross in the rear, threatened to spread over and waste the whole of civilized Europe, marched to Holland, where thousands flocked to its standard; but it there very rarely inebriated the mind, and never overpowered the national love of economy; it taught them to despise and expel their living princes, but with pious frugality they spared the costly asylums of their illustrious dead.

It is but just to state, however, that, during their political change, many of the people displayed great firmness, and none more than the manufacturers of this town, who in the year 1803 presented to the executive government of the Batavian republic, a very spirited remonstrance against the temporary suspension of an edict passed in 1802, prohibiting the importation of foreign manufactures of which the following is an extract: “Should we be left destitute,” said they, “of that just and lawful support, which we still hope to obtain, we shall be compelled to demand, that the laws which forbid the exportation of manufacturing tools and implements be repealed, in order that we may be enabled to sell our valuable tools and implements, which will then become altogether useless to us, to foreigners who know how to appreciate their value, or to transplant our manufactories into countries where they daily experience the encouragement which they so highly deserve.”

Not far from the old church, the tower of which is alarmingly out of its perpendicular, is the identical house in which William I. was murdered by a bigoted hireling of the King of Spain in 1584. A Dutch inscription, placed over two holes in the wall on the stairs, made by the pistol bullets after they had passed through his body, communicates the savage circumstance. The bigots of Spain celebrated the murderer as a martyr, and his family were 67ennobled and pensioned. A solitary instance of honours being paid to a regicide. Well has our immortal bard observed:

The old church had not sufficient attractions to induce me to enter it. The tombs of Admirals Tromp and Heine are there. Opposite the new church, in the great square, is the Stadt or Town House, the front of which is extensive, and very curious: in this house are some excellent pictures by Frank Hals, who died in 1666: this artist is justly celebrated for the beauties of his colouring and penciling. A pleasant anecdote is related of Vandyke’s having so high an opinion of the genius of this artist, that he went to Haarlem, where Hals lived, for the sole purpose of visiting him, and introduced himself as a gentleman on his travels, who had but two hours to spare, and wished in that time to have his portrait painted: Hals, who was enjoying his bottle at a tavern at the time, sprang from his companions, and on the first canvass he could lay his hands upon, commenced the portrait with all possible celerity; after he had proceeded some way, Vandyke desired to look at his progress, and observed, with great pleasantry in his countenance, that the work seemed to be so very easy, that he thought he could do the same: upon which he took up the palette and pencils, requested Hals to sit down, and painted his portrait in a quarter of an hour: the moment Hals saw it, he exclaimed with rapturous astonishment, “No one but Vandyke could have achieved such a wonder!” and embraced him with transport. Vandyke was desirous of Hals accompanying him to England, where he promised to make his fortune, but he declared that the enjoyment of his bottle and his friend was too powerful to permit him to accept of so generous and promising a proposal. Of this great painter Vandyke said, that he would have been unequalled had he given more tenderness 68to his colouring, and that in his pencil he was without a rival.

In the council chamber there is a fine composition by Bronchorst, who died 1661, representing the judgment of Solomon, and another of Christ driving the money changers out of the temple; the figures are finely finished, and the architecture, in which he excelled, truly admirable. In the great hall of the physicians and surgeons is a celebrated picture by Cornelius de Morn or Maan, who was born in this town, and who died 1706: the subject of it is a representation of the most celebrated doctors and surgeons of his time: it is in the manner of Titian, and in high estimation. Michael Jansen Mirevelt, who died in 1641, was also born in this town: he was an admirable portrait painter, and is said to have been in such high repute, and so indefatigable, that Sandrart, Descampe, and the authors of the Abrégé de la Vie des Peintres assert, that he painted at least ten thousand portraits, for the smallest of which he never received less than one hundred and fifty guilders, or fifteen pounds. In the surgeons’ hall there is a fine picture by this artist.

This town has produced also a self-taught poet, who flourished rather more than a century since, of the name of Hubert Noot. This man, who is said to be the father of Dutch pastoral and elegiac poetry, much resembles our Bloomfield in his early difficulties and his talents: he made his verses whilst he laboured, and committed them to memory from not being able to write. After he had taught himself to read, he even sold his wearing apparel to purchase books. He died in 1733: his images are said to be highly poetical, and his versification melodious.

In the Spin-house, or Bridewell, were several female prisoners, many of whom had been confined for several years, for respecting the genial laws of nature more than the sober laws of the nation, and some of them, for the same offence, had been publicly and severely flogged. What a contradiction in this government does its Spin and its Spill-houses present! In one place it sanctions prostitutes, and in the other imprisons and scourges them! Perhaps the legislature may think that it punishes the poor prostitute 69of the spill-house, by the oppression of her creditor and her gaoler; and thus, by Justice presenting a variety of shapes, she realizes the remark of our divine bard;

The stranger will find nothing to detain him in this melancholy town long. In Holland every traveller naturally becomes amphibious: the constant contemplation of so much water quickly engenders all the inclinations of a webfooted animal, and he soon feels out of his proper element when out of a canal. Right merrily did I follow my commissionary and his wheel barrow with my baggage through the whole town, until I reached the Hague gate, when my favourite conveyance, the treckschuyt, was ready to start. The boat-bell rung, all the party got on board, and away we glided, passing on each side of us the most lovely close scenery. Instead of seeing, as had been represented to me in England, a dull monotonous scene of green canals, stunted willows, and from a solitary house or two, foggy merchants stupidly gazing in fixed attention upon frog water, the canal was enlivened with boats of pleasure and traffic continually passing and repassing, the noble level road on the right, broad enough to admit four or five carriages abreast, thickly planted with rows of fine elms, the number of curricles and carriages, and horses, driving close to the margin of the water, the fine woods, beautiful gardens, country-houses, not two of which were similiar; the eccentricity of the little summer temples hanging over the edges of the canal; the occasional views of rich pasture land, seen as I saw them, under a rich, warm sky, formed a tout ensemble as delightful as it was novel, and very intelligibly expressed our approach to the residence of sovereignty. The single ride from Delft to the Hague would alone have repaid the trouble and occasional anxiety I experienced in getting into, and afterwards out of the country.

70All the principal country-houses have a wooden letter-box standing upon the margin of the canal, into which one of the boatmen, upon the treckschuyt being steered close to the adjoining bank, without stopping, drops the letters and parcels directed to the family residing there. In no part of the continent is social intercourse and communication so frequent, cheap, and certain.

For keeping the dams and roads in repair, turnpikes are established at proper distances, and the care of their repair is confided to directors, who are always gentlemen of high respectability, and receive a fixed salary for their services. The principal roads are kept in good condition; and, on account of the flatness of the country, are very easy for the horses, but the bye roads are intolerably bad.

In the steerage I found three very handsome and well-bred Dutch young ladies seated, one of whom spoke English very well: they all insisted upon my being an Englishman the moment I entered the boat; how they could think so, the spirit of physiognomy, if there be such a spirit, must explain; for in my best hours of health and delight, John Bull would scarcely acknowledge me for one of his family.

My charming companions talked much of Shakspeare and Milton, with both of whom they seemed to be familiar. They entered with much ability on Desdemona’s wish, alluding to her passion for Othello, “that Heaven had made her such a man.” Two of the three fair disputants contended that she would have been more happy had Providence made her a man, and such a man as Othello; the other observed that was impossible, for as she was deeply in love with the Moor it would have been irreconcileable to her passion to wish to be of his own sex, by which she could have felt only friendship for him. I was so pleased with my fair voyageurs, who talked, sung, and laughed, with so much talent, taste, and vivacity, that our two hours or six miles, the distance from Delft to the Hague passed rapidly away, and tempted me not to quit the vessel to visit the village of Ryswick, which lies about half way, and is only about half a mile from the canal, and, I am told, abounds with beauty and richness of scenery. It is known to the 71political world for the celebrated peace concluded there at a little palace of William III. called the House of Neubeurg, after a nine years’ war, on the 20th September, 1697, between Louis XIV. and the confederate powers, called the Treaty of Ryswick. I mention this as a guide for strangers who may follow me, and who may not be fascinated as I was by my situation in the boat and content with the highly cultivated and embellished scenery around me. A man must be in bad humour with nature indeed, who can pass, in the summer, from Delft to the Hague without emotions of strong delight.

As we approached the Hague, the scenery became more refined and beautiful, and the last light of a setting sun purpled the lofty edifices of that celebrated city; it was quite dusk as we passed the water-houses, in which the royal yachts are contained, the rich gilded carving of which was just visible through the grated doors; and after gliding along the suburbs, which were well lighted though not in this respect comparable with London, I disembarked, bade adieu to my charming companions, and proceeded with my usual attendant, through the greater part of the city to the Mareschal de Turenne, an excellent hotel, but at a most inconvenient distance from the place where the Delft boats stop, and where those for Leyden or Haarlem start from.

The morning after my arrival there was a grand review of the Dutch troops, who presented a very soldierly appearance; that of the body-guard, both horse and infantry, was very superb in military appointments. I was well informed that the king felt so secure in his government, that there were not at this time twenty French soldiers in the country, and that, accompanied by his queen, he was attending to his health at the waters of Wisbaden, in the south of Germany. The French interest, however, was predominant, and it was indispensably necessary that the passport of every foreigner should be countersigned by the French consul, whose fiat upon all such occasions was final.

The king had been at the Hague, or rather at his palace in the wood adjoining, only about six weeks, in the course of which, I was credibly informed, he had displayed uncommon activity and 72talent in the discharge of the great duties of his station. Although an invalid, he was at his bureau with his ministers every morning at six o’clock, which he never quitted until the business of the day was completed. The poor-laws occupied much of his attention, and they are, I hear, to undergo a considerable amelioration. I have already mentioned his abolition of useless offices, sinecures, and unmerited pensions, the reduction of excessive salaries, and an extension of the time devoted to the service of the state in the public offices. These advantages could only be expected to flow from that vast power which revolutions, after their effervescence has subsided, generally deposit with some fortunate individual, who, if he has talent and good inclination, is enabled to consult the prosperity of a state, by measures at once prompt, summary, and efficacious, unretarded by forms, clashing interests, or hoary prejudices. The first of the new has ever this advantage over the last of an old dynasty.

The hereditary successor of a long line of princes is like the owner of an ancient mansion devolved to him by hereditary right; he must take the edifice as it is, with its commodious and inconvenient chambers, its fantastic turrets and heavy chimney-pieces, its dark and its cheerful passages; or if he alters, it must be with a cautious and gentle hand, otherwise the whole fabric will fall about his ears; whilst he who is elevated by revolutions to command, may choose his ground, build wholly with new, or partly with the old materials of the prostrate constitution.

In order to appreciate the present constitution, it may be necessary to take a slight review of the old one. Anterior to 1747 the United Provinces subsisted in one common confederacy, yet each province had an internal government or constitution, wholly independent of the others, called the States of such a Province, and its delegates the States General, in whom the supreme sovereignty of the whole confederacy was lodged; and notwithstanding the number of delegates which a province might send, yet in every constitutional measure each province had only one voice, and the sanction of every province, and of every city within it, was necessary before such a measure could pass into a law, and every resolution 73of the states of a particular province required unanimous adoption. The Council of State consisted also of deputies from the several provinces, but differed in its constitution from the States General; it was composed of twelve persons, of whom Holland sent three; Guelderland, two; Zealand, two; Utrecht, two; Friesland, one; Overyssel, one; and Groningen, one. Such deputies could only vote personally: it was their department to prepare estimates, and ways and means, &c. to be submitted to the States General. The states of the provinces, were styled “Noble and Mighty Lords;” those of Holland, “Noble and most Mighty Lords;” and the States General, “High and Mighty Lords,” or “the Lords of the States General of the United Netherlands,” or “their High Mightinesses.” Queen Elizabeth called them in her time Messieurs the States. The Chamber of Accounts, in which all the public accounts were audited, and composed of provincial deputies, was placed under these two bodies. The executive part of the Admiralty was committed to five colleges, in the three maritime provinces of Holland, Zealand and Friesland. In Holland the people were excluded from choosing their representatives or magistrates. In Amsterdam, which had precedence in all public deliberations, the magistracy was lodged in thirty-six senators chosen for life, and every vacancy filled up by the survivors, and the representatives for the cities in the province of Holland, were elected by the same senate.

Such a complicated piece of machinery must have proceeded slowly if it proceeded regularly, and must have been constantly exposed to the peril of being disordered, without a principal head to guide it, which led to the stadtholdership becoming hereditary in the year 1747. The wonderful and constant vicissitudes to which Holland has been exposed, rendered such an expedient, however, objectionable; it afterwards proved to be in many instances necessary to the preservation of the country. The history of the republic for 147 years, namely, from its first entering the field of battle in 1566 to the peace of Utrecht in 1713, is a tissue of battles lost and won. The twelve years’ truce which produced an hiatus in her many wars with Spain, did not extend to the Indian possessions 74of the Dutch; and after a prodigal effusion of blood, the peace obtained in 1648 lasted only four years. The first war with Great Britain continued to 1654; and scarcely had the republic tasted of the sweets of peace before she was roused to resist at the same time the arms of Portugal, Denmark, and Sweden; and in the North their hostilities continued till 1660, and in the South to 1661: then immediately followed a fierce contest with Great Britain, which did not close till the treaty at Breda in 1667, and the moment that was concluded, the country was invaded by Louis the Fourteenth.

A respite of three years followed, when the republic was unexpectedly attacked by the united forces of England and France, both on the sea and shore; and after a carnage of six years more, the peace of Nimeguen was concluded in 1678; which, however, was fettered with several severe stipulations imposed by the French monarch. In 1688 the Prince of Orange sailed for England, to occupy its vacant throne; an event which involved the Dutch in a nine years’ war: the peace of Ryswick was scarcely signed, when the Spanish succession again called them forth to arms, which they did not lay down till after a slaughter of eleven years.

The peace of Utrecht gave them a slight repose, which was frequently disturbed by the insults and predatory attacks of the African corsairs upon the Dutch flag in the Mediterranean. The internal troubles of the republic, from its revolution, and its final submission to the French arms followed. Such is the brief history of a country which, in a political and physical view, may be truly called extraordinary.

The first princes of the House of Orange, by the illustrious services which they rendered the state by their wars and negotiations, were rewarded by its confidence and employments of the highest dignity and trust, which were conferred upon them by the grateful approbation and concurrence of the most rigid republicans.

These princes, in obedience to that law of nature which seems to be pretty equally predominant amongst all her sons, extended the power they enjoyed as often as they had the means, and what they gave to themselves was taken from the liberties of the people; 75but they dazzled the eyes of the subject, and concealed the encroachment, or legitimated it by the brilliancy of illustrious achievements. A small territory, scooped from the ocean, rose to rank and estimation in the scale of nations, by its valour, its riches, and its arts, and was enabled to resist the mighty power of England and France, by the genius and energy of succession of five princes of the House of Orange, for upwards of a century.

The stadtholderate remained vacant from the death of William the Third, who by his talents preserved the republic from impending danger, till fresh difficulties, the wishes of the nation, and the powerful interposition of George the Second, in 1747, induced them to confer the dignity of stadtholder on William the Fourth, father of the last stadtholder, and to make it hereditary in his family. This prince (I mean the father) possessed considerable talents, from which the country did not derive much advantage, for he died soon after his elevation to the dignity. By this act the offices of captain-general and admiral-general were united in the person of the stadtholder, who also became president of every province; and his power and influence was such as to enable him to change every deputy, magistrate, and officer, in every province and city, at pleasure, by which he had the almost complete formation of the States General, although he had no voice in it.

The authority described in the last chapter, so princely and powerful, in all human probability would have continued in the family of the prince upon whom it was conferred to this hour, and descended to their posterity, had the last stadtholder possessed the virtue, spirit, and wisdom of his ancestors: but the imbecility of his character, more than those wonderful events which were agitating other portions of Europe, was the principal cause of the overthrow of his house. Without any portion of ability, William the Fifth was alive only to his own aggrandizement and depraved pleasures. The attachment which he had been taught to cherish for the politics of England, had long marked him out as an object of hatred with the Dutch: under his auspices they saw their own trade deteriorated, and the ocean covered with the commercial vessels of the British empire, wafting wealth into her ports from every quarter of the globe, the resources and energies of the republic consuming without any attempt to resuscitate them, until at length his weak and culpable conduct closed in the conquest of the country, and the precipitate retreat of himself and family. The conduct of the Princess of Orange also contributed not a little to augment the displeasure of the people. She had that influence over him which strong minds always have over weak ones, but in 77no instance were her counsels advantageous to the state, and she had no one quality to conciliate the lower classes of the people.

During the troubles of 1787, she created uncommon disgust by answering in her own name an address of the States General to the prince her husband, when she had no recognised character in the republic, and consequently no right whatever to interfere in its affairs. Amongst other acts of presumption in the same year, so memorable in the Dutch annals, when the Orange party, supported by Prussia, and Great Britain, acquired the ascendency, she managed the negotiations between the Duke of Brunswick, who commanded the Prussian army, and the city of Amsterdam, in the course of which she declared in a tone of angry insolence, that the generosity of her disposition induced her to spare the lives of the guilty, but that they should be held incapable of discharging the duties of any public trust in future. Among the persons whom she caused to be dismissed were several distinguished and popular citizens, the survivors of whom were, upon the overthrow of the house of Orange, called to participate in the government of the country with the most flattering marks of congratulation.

This princess I know has had her admirers, she has been extolled for her spirit, and capaciousness of mind; but upon almost every occasion her talents were misapplied, and only served to augment the storm that burst over and laid the glory of her house prostrate. What was to close a reign (if such it may be called), so characterized by weakness and disaster, required not the spirit of a prophet to foretel. The French revolution found an unembarrassed introduction into Holland, and the feeble resistance which the Dutch troops opposed to the French armies, pretty clearly demonstrates the estimation in which the country held its unworthy ruler, and the desire they had of delivering themselves from him and the influence of England upon their councils. It is well known, that in the last war, the Dutch refused the sick and wounded of their allies, the British army, admission into Delft, and a body of burghers was formed at Amsterdam, to prevent the entrance of foreign troops; in other words, the English, into that city. In his last struggles the Stadtholder obtained a plenary power, resembling 78that of a dictator, a short time before the French army crossed the Waal, an event that decided the fate of Holland. Aukwardly clothed with this vast authority, he issued a proclamation, invoking the people to rise en masse to oppose their invaders: in obedience to the invocation, the Dutch army was strengthened by the accession of about fifty recruits. An order then followed, that throughout the United Provinces three houses should furnish one man for the defence of the state, the order experienced a worse fate than the proclamation.

The public antipathy to the Stadtholder and his government was now raised to its highest elevation: the French entered the country in triumph, and the flight of the Prince of Orange was received with enthusiastic expressions of exultation. On the 16th of February, 1795, a solemn assembly of the deputies from all the provinces was held at the Hague, at which meeting the stadtholderate was formally declared to be abolished for ever, and in the evening of that day a grand republican festival was celebrated, at which the Dutch legislators, the French representatives, and the chiefs of the army assisted. When the British troops afterwards landed at the Helder, they found the sense of the people still the same. It was not the dread of the revenge of the French army, that induced them to observe such marked and unequivocal disinclination to co-operate with a force which professed to have in view the achievement of salutary objects for their benefit, but the unextinguishable abhorrence in which they held the house of Orange, in whose name the English army endeavoured to wrest the country from the arms of France; and, I believe, since the death of the son of the Stadtholder, a young prince of great promise, that throughout the kingdom scarcely one partizan for the house of Orange is to be found.

The fate of Holland is a memorable lesson to other nations. We wonder that the power of France rolls on with overwhelming fury: the military observer traces her resistless march to her brilliant improvements in modern warfare; the politician to the magnitude, energy, and endless reinforcements of her troops; the superstitious to her good fortune, and the moralist to the divine 79interposition to rebuke the vices of her enemies. They forget, or will not see, that the victories of France have hitherto been the triumph of genius, promptitude, and energy, over ignorance, procrastination, and supineness: of vigorous over weak councils; of able, experienced, and faithful, over hereditary, senseless, and perfidious commanders. These are the causes that made Austria bow her neck to the chief of the French empire, and in ten days offered up Prussia to the manes of Poland, in memorable expiation of the horrors perpetrated in that devoted country in 1771. In the glorious triumphs of the British flag upon the ocean, we saw great yielding to greater skill: in Egypt and Media we beheld indisputable heroism yielding to superior intrepidity, directed by great military skill, and united to high national honour.

The moderation and mildness which characterized the conduct of the French, rendered them popular by a comparison with the rigorous folly of the Stadtholder in the last convulsions of his expiring power. The French checked and kept in complete awe some of the most illiterate and most depraved of the Dutch republicans who were preparing to avenge the long and galling triumph of their adversaries, with sharp and sanguinary resentment; not a drop of blood was judicially shed upon the overthrow of the ancient government of the United Provinces, although it had endured for two centuries; and the pensioners of the house of Orange, whose stipends were the rewards of meritorious services, received, and continue to receive, their salaries with generous punctuality, without being obliged to take an oath of hatred to the Stadtholder, as other persons who lived by the bounty of the republic were obliged to do. After Bonaparte had assumed the imperial purple of France, and determined upon creating a dynasty of sovereigns in his own family, he prepared the Dutch for the conversion of their republic into a kingdom, and the reception of a king.

On the 9th of June, 1806, Messrs. Verhuel and Van Styrum returned from Paris. His Excellency M. Verhuel, after paying a visit to the acting pensionary, held conferences with the secretaries of state, and opened the special mission entrusted to him by his Imperial Highness Prince Louis Napoleon, as King of Holland, 80as the result of several resolutions for the organization of the government and communicating, that his majesty the king had appointed M. Verhuel minister of the marine, and M. Gogel, minister of finance; the other secretaries of state being charged to continue in their posts till the king’s arrival.

The same gentleman repaired in person to the assembly of their High Mightinesses, where also, in pursuance of his commission, he expressed his majesty’s desire, and made the necessary communications; he also proceeded to the council of state; after which his excellency assumed the executive power, in the name, and by the authority of his majesty, whilst the pensionary, who had acted ad interim, resigned that post, and resumed that of president of their High Mightinesses. The following is the new constitution which has been digested and promulgated for the Dutch nation. I have given it rather at length, that the reader may be in possession of the principal branches of so important and interesting a document.

Louis Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutional laws of the state, to all whom these presents shall come, sends greeting. Be it known to all, that we have accepted, and do accept, with the approbation of his majesty the Emperor Napoleon, our august brother, the dignity of King of Holland, conformably to the wishes of the country, the constitutional laws, and to the treaty which, being protected by reciprocal ratifications, has been this day presented to us by the deputies of the Dutch nation. Upon our accession to the throne, our dearest care shall be to watch over the interests of our people. We will always study to give them constant and multiplied proofs of our love and solicitude (supporting for those ends) the liberty of all our subjects, as well as their rights, and in employing ourselves incessantly for their welfare. The independence of the kingdom is guaranteed by his majesty the emperor and king. The constitutional laws, and our firm and resolute good will, equally secure to every one his credit with the state, his personal liberty, and the liberty of conscience. It is after this declaration that we have decreed, and do decree, by these presents, as follows:

Art. 1. Our ministers of marine and of finance, nominated by our decree of this day, shall enter immediately upon their office: the other ministers shall continue in theirs till further orders.

2. All the constituted authorities, either civil or military, shall continue their functions until further, or other, orders.

3. The constitutional laws of the state, and the treaty concluded at Paris the 24th of May, in the present year, between his majesty the emperor 81and king, and the Batavian Republic, the purport of which is here-in-aftermentioned, shall be published immediately, as well as the present decree, in the most authentic manner.

We therefore order, that these presents be published and posted up in all places where it is usual so to do; and enjoin all those whom it may concern, to provide for the exact performance of every thing contained in these presents.

Given at Paris, the 5th of June, 1806, in the first year of our reign.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS.

First Section. General Dispositions.

Art. 1. The constitutional laws actually in force, particularly the constitution of 1805, as well as the civil, political, and religious laws now exercised in the Batavian republic, the operation of which is conformable to the dispositions of the treaty concluded the 24th of May, in the present year, between his majesty the emperor of the French and king of Italy, and the Batavian republic, shall be wholly preserved, excepting only those which shall be abolished by the present constitutional laws.

2. The administration of the Dutch colonies is regulated by particular laws. The revenues and the expenses of the colonies shall be considered as making part of the revenues and expenses of the state.

3. The public debt of the state is guaranteed by the present articles.

4. The Dutch language shall continue to be employed exclusively for the laws, publications, ordinances, judgments, and all other public acts, without distinction.

5. There shall be no change made in the name or weight of the current coin, but by virtue of a particular law.

6. The ancient flag of the state shall be preserved.

7. The council of state shall be composed of thirteen members. The ministers shall have rank, a seat, and a vote in the council of state.

Section II. Of Religion.

Art. 1. The king and the law grant an equal protection to all religions professed in the state. By their authority is to be determined all that is judged necessary in the organization, the protection, and exercise of all worships. Every exercise of religion is confined to the interior of the temples of all the different communions.

2. The king is to enjoy in his palace, as well as in every place where he shall reside, the free and public exercise of his religion.

Section III. Of the King.

Art. 1. The King has exclusively, and without restriction, the entire exercise of the government, and of every necessary power to insure the 82execution of the laws, and to make them respected. He appoints to all the offices, and to all the civil and military employments, which, according to the preceding laws, were at the nomination of the grand pensionary. He has the entire enjoyment of the pre-eminences and prerogatives hitherto attached to that dignity. The coins of the state shall be stamped with his head. Justice is to be administered in his name. He is to have the right of granting pardon, abolition or remission of penalties inflicted by sentence of law: nevertheless, he cannot exercise this right without having heard in private council the members of the national court.

2. At the death of the king the guardianship of the minor king shall be always confided to the queen mother; and in case there shall be no queen mother, to such person as shall be appointed by the emperor of the French.

3. The regent shall be assisted by a national council, whose composition and privileges shall be determined by a particular law. The regent shall not be personally responsible for the acts of his government.

4. The government of the colonies, and all that relates to their internal administration, belongs exclusively to the king.

5. The general administration of the kingdom is confided to the immediate direction of four ministers of state, named by the king, viz. a minister for foreign affairs, a minister of war and of marine, a minister of finance, and a minister for the home department.

Section IV. Of the Law.

Art. 1. The laws of Holland being made by the concurrence of the legislative body, formed of the assembly of their high mightinesses and of the king; the legislative body shall be composed of thirty-nine members, elected for five years, and named in the following proportions, viz. for the department of Holland, seventeen members, for that of Guelderland, four; for that of Brabant, four; for that of Friesland, four; for that of Overyssel, three; for that of Zealand, two; for that of Groningen, two; for that of Utrecht, two; for the country of Drenthe, one. The number of the members of their high mightinesses may be augmented by the law, in case of the aggrandizement of territory.

2. For this time, in order to proceed to the nomination of the nineteen members of their high mightinesses, by whom the number determined in the preceding article will be completed, the assembly of their high mightinesses shall present to the king a list of two candidates to fill each of the places. The departmental assembly of each department shall equally propose a double list of candidates. The king will make the election among the proposed candidates.

3. The grand pensionary for the time being shall take the title of president of their high mightinesses, and shall remain in office in this character during his life. The choice of his successors shall take place in the manner determined by the constitution of 1805.

4. The legislative body shall elect from itself a notary by a majority of votes.

835. The legislative body shall reassemble as usual twice a year, viz. from the 15th of April to the 1st of June, and from the 15th of November to the 15th of January. An extraordinary convocation may be made by the king on the 15th of November in every year; the oldest fifth of the members forming the legislative body shall retire from the same. The first going out shall take place the 15th of November 1807; and for this time the persons going out shall be determined by lot. The members who go out shall be always re-eligible.

Section V. Of the Judiciary Power.

Art. 1. The judiciary institutions shall be preserved as they were established by the constitution of the year 1805.

2. The king shall exercise (relative to the judiciary power) all the rights and all the authority which have been attributed to the grand pensionary by the articles 49, 51, 56, 79, 82, and 87, of the constitution of the year 1805.

3. All that relates to the military criminal justice shall be separately regulated by a further law.

Treaty concluded between his Majesty the Emperor of the French and King of Italy, and the Assembly of their High Mightinesses representing the Batavian Republic.

His imperial and royal Majesty Napoleon, emperor of the French and king of Italy, and the assembly of their high mightinesses representing the Batavian republic, president, his excellency the grand pensionary, accompanied by the council of state and the ministers and secretary of state.

In consideration, 1. That, seeing the general disposition of minds, and the actual organization of Europe, a government without consistency, and without a certain duration, cannot fulfil the end of its institution.

2. That the periodical renewal of the chief of the state will always in Holland be a source of dissensions, and out of it, a constant subject of agitation and discord between the powers either friends or enemies of Holland.

3. That an hereditary government alone can guarantee the quiet possession of all that is dear to the Dutch people, the free exercise of their religion, the preservation of their laws, their political independence, and their civil liberty.

4. That their greatest interest is to secure to themselves a powerful protection, under whose shelter they may freely exercise their industry, and maintain themselves in the possession of their territory, their commerce, and their colonies.

5. That France is essentially interested in the happiness of the Dutch people, in the prosperity of their state, and the stability of their institutions, as much in consideration of the northern frontiers of the empire, which are open and unprovided with fortified places, as of the principles 84and interests of general policy, have named for plenipotentiary ministers, viz. his majesty the Emperor of the French and King of Italy, M. C. M. Talleyrand, grand chamberlain, minister of foreign affairs, great cordon of the legion of honour, knight of the orders of the red and black eagle of Prussia, and of the order of St. Hubert, &c.; and the Grand Pensionary, M. M. C. H. Verhuel, vice admiral, minister of the marine of the Batavian republic, decorated with the great eagle of the legion of honour; J. J. A. Gogel, minister of finance; S. Van Styrum, member of the assembly of their high mightinesses; William Six, member of the council of state; and G. de Brantzen, plenipotentiary minister of the Batavian republic, by his imperial and royal majesty decorated with the grand eagle of the legion of honour, who, after having exchanged their full powers, have agreed upon as follows.

Art. 1. His majesty the emperor of the French and king of Italy, as well for himself, his heirs and successors for ever, guarantees to Holland the maintenance of its constitutional rights, its independence, the entirety of its possessions in the two hemispheres, its political, civil, and religious liberty, as it is consecrated by the actual established laws, and the abolition of all privileges in matters of taxes.

2. Upon the formal demand of their high mightinesses, representing the Batavian republic, that the Prince Louis Napoleon be named and crowned hereditary and constitutional king of Holland, his majesty, with deference to this desire, authorises the Prince Louis Napoleon to accept the crown of Holland to be possessed by him and his natural and legitimate male descendants, according to priority of birth, to the perpetual exclusion of females and their descendants. In consequence of this authority, Prince Louis Napoleon shall possess this crown under the title of King, and with all the power and all the authority, which shall be determined by the constitutional laws that the Emperor Napoleon has provided in the preceding article; nevertheless, it is enacted that the crowns of France and Holland can never be re-united on the same head.

3. The domain of the crown comprehends, 1. a palace at the Hague, which is to be destined for the residence of the royal household; 2. the palace of the Wood; 3. the domain of Soestdyk; 4. a revenue in landed property of 500,000 florins. The law of the state further assures to the king an annual sum of 1,500,000 florins of Dutch money, payable by twelve monthly instalments.

4. In case of a minority, the regency shall belong of right to the queen; and in case there shall be no queen, the French emperor, in his capacity of perpetual chief of the imperial family, is to name the regent of the kingdom. He is to choose among the princes of the royal family, and in default of them, among the nation. The minority of the king is to end at the age of eighteen.

5. The jointure of the queen shall be determined by her marriage contract; for this time it is settled that the jointure is fixed at the annual sum of 250,000 florins, which shall be taken from the domain of the crown. This sum deducted, the half of the remainder of the revenues of 85the crown will serve for the expenses of the maintenance of the house of the minor king, the other half shall be appropriated to the expenses of the regency.

6. The king of Holland shall be for ever grand dignitary of the empire, under the title of constable; the functions of this grand dignitary may, nevertheless, be filled at the will of the emperor of the French, by a prince vice-constable, when he shall judge proper to create this dignity.

7. The members of the reigning house of Holland shall remain personally subject to the dispositions of the 30th of last March, forming the law of the imperial family of France.

8. The offices and employments of the state, exclusive of those appertaining to the house of the king, can only be conferred on natives.

9. The arms of the king shall be the ancient arms of Holland quartered, with the imperial eagle of France, and surmounted with the royal crown.

10. There shall be forthwith concluded between the contracting powers, a treaty of commerce, by virtue of which the subjects of Holland will be treated at all times in the ports, and on the territory of the French empire, as the nation especially favored. His majesty the emperor and king, further engages to intercede with the powers of Barbary, that the Dutch flag may be respected by them, as well as that of his majesty the emperor of the French. The ratifications of the present treaty shall be exchanged at Paris in the space of ten days.

The 20th of June, 1806, his majesty the king of Holland made a proposal to their high mightinesses, concerning the oaths to be pronounced by the king and by the public officers, as also of the publication of the laws: their high mightinesses approved the same day the law, which is to the following purport:

Of Oaths.

Art. 1. Immediately after the proclamation, the king will receive the oath of their high mightinesses, of the ministers the counsellors of the state, of the high court of justice, of the great and other officers of the palace, of the national chamber of accounts, of the presidents, of the attorney general, of the courts of justice, of officers of the land and sea; to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and captain; lieutenant inclusively.

2. In the course of this year, the king, accompanied by his ministers, the great officers, and the officers of the palace, will take the oath to the Dutch nation, in the presence of their high mightinesses, the council of the state, of the high court of justice, of the national chamber of accounts, of the high military court, of the council of taxes and prizes by sea and land, of the presidents of the departmental administrations, and of the presidents of the tribunals. The secretary of state to commit to 86writing the verbal process of taking the oath. The oath of the king is conceived in these terms:

“I swear to maintain the constitutional laws of the kingdom, to defend the integrity of the territory of the kingdom, to respect the liberty of worships, to respect and to cause to be respected the equality of rights, as well as the civil, and political liberty: not to raise any taxes, and to order no impositions but by virtue of the law: to have no other end in my reign than the sole interests, the prosperity, and the glory of the Dutch nation.”

3. The oath that is made to the king is conceived in these terms:

“I swear obedience to the constitutional laws of the kingdom, and fidelity to the king.”

Of the Publication.

Art. 1. The king will seal and publish all the laws.

2. Two copies are to be made of each law, both to be signed by the king, countersigned by the secretary of state and one of the ministers, and sealed with the great seal.

3. One of the copies is to be deposited among the archives of the secretary of state, and the other among the archives of their high mightinesses.

4. The publication shall be conceived in these terms, &c.

The minister of the home department has the care of the publication.

5. Judgments shall be pronounced, and the execution of them follows immediately.

The court shall execute its judgments in the name of the king. All civil and military authorities, legally required for the purpose, are bound to render their assistance.

Royal Decree of the 25th of June, 1806, creating general directors for the different departments of the public administration.

Louis Napoleon, &c. considering, that the affairs of the colonies are administered by two councils, who have neither strength nor unity sufficient to act to the advantage of the interests of the kingdom; and that nevertheless this important branch of the administration of the affairs of the kingdom merits all our solicitude: considering, that the ministry of marine is of too high a nature, and that the objects which relate to it are too multiplied and too abstract to be united with that of the war department: considering, that the minister for the home department is sufficiently occupied by the inspection of administration, and the inspection of the waters; by the cares of promoting the advancement of agriculture; of the public safety and instruction; and, indeed, of the arts and sciences, we have decreed as follows:

Art. 1. There shall be three general directors, who shall follow immediately in rank the ministers, and shall be employed directly with us, viz. The director general of the war department; the director general of the affairs of India and of commerce; the director general of affairs relative 87to public worship and justice, and at the same time charged with the care of all that regards the safety of the kingdom.

2. They shall enjoy the honours, rank, and treatment of ministers.

3. Our ministers are respectively charged, as far as they are concerned, with the execution of the present decree.

Royal Decree of the 1st of July, 1806, containing the Organization and the Attributes of the Council of State.

Louis Napoleon, &c. considering, that the council of state is charged with high and important functions; that all the laws, and almost all the acts of administration, ought to be prepared and discussed there: considering, that amongst these acts there are many of great importance for the interests and security of the different departments, and which require the local knowledge of each country, its situation and particular customs: considering, that there are laws and acts of government of such importance, that they require the united talents and zeal of all the citizens who have experience thereon, have decreed, and do decree as follows:

Art. 1. That the council of state shall be composed of thirteen members residing near us.

2. That it shall be formed in a general assembly, and divided into sections.

3. That the general assembly shall be convoked, and presided over by the king.

4. That the ministers shall have rank, a seat, and a deliberative voice in the council of state.

5. That there shall be five divisions of the council of state, each of which shall have its president.

6. These divisions shall be as follows: the division of legislation and of general affairs, comprehending the affairs of administration, and all that has not a reference to the other divisions; the division of marine; of finances; of commerce and the colonies; the division of war. The president and the members of the divisions or sections shall be appointed by us every three months. Each section shall have a superior clerk attached to it.

7. The title, rank, and honours of the counsellors of state shall be granted either to the public officers or to the members of the different authorities, or to the citizens most distinguished by their talents and probity. They shall not be annexed to the divisions of the council of state until they have been called by us to the council.

8. There shall always be a counsellor of state of each of the eight great departments for the legislation and general affairs, another for financial affairs, and another for the affairs relative to commerce and the colonies; and this in order that we may be well assured that the laws, or very important acts of government, shall not be prepared and discussed without having taken into consideration the situation and interests of each of the eight grand departments.

9. These counsellors of state shall have no other provision than for such duty as they shall be otherwise called upon to exercise. They shall 88have no right to come to the council unless called thither by us. The counsellors extraordinary of state, who might be nominated members of the assembly of their high mightinesses, shall not be assembled at the council of state so long as they shall exercise that dignity.

10. On the first of January every year we will determine the list of the thirteen resident counsellors of state, and of the presidents, in order to call to a residence near us those who might be in the departments.

11. The resident counsellors who shall be preserved on the list will occupy in the departments the places to which they shall be or might have been called.

12. There shall be a secretary general of the council of state, having under him the offices necessary for the dispatch of business.

13. There shall be near our council of state, Auditors, of whom we shall determine the number and the distribution. They shall be chosen from amongst those young men who are destined for the administration, who have finished their studies, and who have distinguished themselves therein. There shall be two classes, the first composed of young people who shall have shewn in the exercise of their functions more capacity, discretion, and attachment to their duty: they shall take the name of auditors of the king, and the others merely the name of auditors. They shall be employed to prepare business, according to the orders they shall receive from the presidents of the sections of the council of state: they shall have no communication with the ministers unless by a formal order from us. The auditors of the king shall assist at the general sittings of the state when they are called there by us. In that case they shall rank behind the counsellors of state, and shall have no voice in council, unless we, from a wish to assure ourselves whether they improve in the transaction of affairs, in qualifying themselves for the administration, shall ask their advice: the other auditors shall only be employed in the interior of the divisions.

14. As the institution of auditors is intended to initiate young men in business, and to facilitate the means of succeeding in it, they will receive no provision.

Royal Decree of the 9th July, 1806, relative to the Presentation of the projected Laws of their High Mightinesses.

Art. 1. When the plan of a law, (the council of state having been heard) shall have been adopted by us, the secretary of state shall summon, by a letter, the president of the legislative body, at least two days beforehand, to assemble the orators of the government at such a day and such an hour, at the assembly of their high mightinesses, to present to them one or several projects of law; if there are many, the number shall be indicated.

2. The secretary of state shall inform the same day the secretary general of the council of state that such project of law has been adopted by his majesty; he will transmit to him at the same time a decree, signifying: 1st, the nomination of auditors; 2d, the day of presentation.

893. On the day appointed for the presentation at the latest, the general secretary of the council of state shall transmit to the person first named in the decree, and who is to be the speaker, 1st, a copy of the same decree by which their powers are constituted; 2d, two copies of the law.

6th. The orators of the government shall repair to the assembly of their high mightinesses, in the carriages of government, preceded by two tipstaffs and accompanied by two of the royal horse guards. The guards before whom they pass will draw up, and present their arms: at the palace, where the sittings of the assembly of their high mightinesses are held, they are to be received in a private room by the committee of that assembly, then at the door of the chamber of sittings by the notary, who shall introduce them to the place of the sittings of the assembly, and accompany them to the place destined for them, and which is similiar to that of the members of the assembly. The orator of the government first named in the decree, shall ask the president for leave to speak, and read, first, the royal decree and the project of the law, and secondly the exposition of the motives. This address finished, the president shall return the act to the orators, and a copy signed, which they are to report, and the orators will retire with the same ceremony with which they arrived.

As the 7th article of the treaty signed at Paris the 24th of May, 1806, ordains that the members of the reigning house of Holland shall remain personally subject to the dispositions of the 30th of last March, forming the law of the imperial family of France, it cannot but be agreeable to find here the most important articles to which his majesty the King of Holland is subjected, and which are most adapted to him: they are as follows:

Title 1st. Of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial House.

Art. 1. The emperor is the chief and common father of his family; under these titles he exercises paternal authority over those who compose it, during their minority; and preserves always, in respect to them, a power of inspection, of police, and of discipline, the principal objects of which will be determined hereafter.

3. The imperial house is composed, first, of the princes comprised in the hereditary order established by the act of the constitutions of the 28th May, 12th year, concerning their marriage, and their descendants in legitimate marriage: 2d. of the princesses our sisters, of their husbands, and of their descendants in legitimate marriage, to the fifth degree inclusively: 3dly. of our children by adoption, and of their legitimate descendants.

Title III. Of the Education of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial House.

26. The emperor regulates all that concerns the issue of the princes and princesses of this house: he nominates and revokes at will those who are commissioned with it, and determines the place where it is to be effected.

9027. All the princes born in hereditary order will be brought up together, and by the same tutors and officers, either in the palace inhabited by the emperor, or in another palace within the distance of ten myriamètres^[2] from his usual residence.

26. Their course of education will begin at the age of seven, and will finish at the attainment of the age of sixteen. The children of those who have distinguished themselves by their services may be admitted to participate of the advantages.

27. Should it happen that a prince in the hereditary order should ascend a foreign throne, he will be bound, when his male issue should be seven years old, to send them to the above-mentioned houses to receive their education.

Of the Presentation of Petitions and Audiences.

Those who wish to present petitions, or addresses, &c. to the king, will put at the head, “To the King.” They all begin with the title of Sire, and in the body of the addresses, &c. the words “Your Majesty” must be used. His majesty has provisionally charged the counsellor of state, M. Golberg, in order to receive in his name all the requests, supplications, and remonstrances which may be presented, and to give a circumstantial account of them to the King. This counsellor attends for this purpose in the apartments of the old court, every Tuesday and Friday, from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon. But all petitions, supplications, or remonstrances, must be presented in writing, on stamped paper: and there ought besides to be indorsed on the petitions, &c. the name of the supplicant, the nature of the demand, and in concise terms, the motives of the same. It must be observed besides, that all demands, addresses, or remonstrances to the courts, or tribunals of justice, departmental administrations, or other constituted authorities, ought to be sent to the minister or directors general, that the deed which relates to the object, be made by them, and presented to the king. Those who desire to be admitted to the audience of his majesty the king, are obliged to address themselves for this purpose to the chamberlain of the day, the motive for which this audience is requested, must be signified by writing, and the place where the answer may be sent exactly mentioned. The king has decreed, that in order to facilitate and assure as much as possible the relation between him and his subjects, all the ministers, or directors general, have to give once or twice a week a public audience; for this purpose they have fixed the following days, &c. &c.

The leading features in this constitution, are the guarantee of the payment of the national debt; the free and unqualified exercise of religion; the predominant authority vested in the king; the establishment 91of the salique law, for ever excluding females from the throne; the declaration that the minority of any future king shall expire upon his attaining his eighteenth year; that only natives shall be eligible to any offices under the state, exclusive of those immediately appertaining to the king’s household; that the yearly revenue of the king shall be two millions of florins, and that the royal residences shall be the palaces of the Hague, in the Wood, and at Soestdyke.

As a few months have only rolled away since the promulgation of this constitution, it would be somewhat hasty to offer any objections to it: it must be left to time to ascertain how far it is adapted to the genius and resources, and propitious to the prosperity of the people.

Soon after the promulgation of the constitution, the King and Queen set off from Paris to take possession of their new kingdom, and on the 23d of June following made their solemn entry into the Hague: they left the palace in the Wood in the following order; a herald at arms, his majesty’s horse guards, the guard of honour, the council of state in three coaches, the admirals in one coach, the ministers in two coaches, the great officers of the crown in one coach, their majesties in one coach, the generals in two coaches: the ladies and officers of the royal household in one coach, followed by aids-de-camp and other officers, and the whole procession closed by detachments of hussars and dragoons.

When the procession reached the palace of their high mightinesses, their majesties were received at the door by four deputies from the assembly. They ascended the great staircase, passed through the chamber of the national library, and were received at the door of the anti-chamber by the president of their high mightinesses, and two other deputies. Having entered the hall of the assembly, her majesty was conducted to her tribune by two deputies. The king seated himself on his throne, and put on his hat. On the right side, and behind his majesty, sat the grand chamberlain, 93and the aid-de-camp general; on the left, the master of the horse, and the grand master of the civil list. All the other officers of state were ranged in proper situations. The members of the assembly stood up in their places uncovered on the entrance of the king; but when his majesty covered himself, they followed his example. The president placed himself in his chair, directly opposite to the king. After the king was seated on his throne, he directed the grand master of the ceremonies to administer the oaths of allegiance to their high mightinesses. The oaths were accordingly first taken by the president, and afterwards by the other members, in the order of their seniority. Each member approached to the foot of the throne, and was sworn on the Holy Evangelists. When all the members were sworn, his majesty delivered the following speech to the assembly:

“Gentlemen,

“When the national deputies came to offer me the throne which I ascend this day, I accepted it, under the conviction that it was the wish of the whole nation; that the confidence and the necessities of all called me to it.

“Relying on the intelligence, zeal, and patriotism of the principal public functionaries, and particularly on yours, gentlemen the deputies, I have fearlessly weighed in my mind the misfortunes of the nation in their fullest extent. Animated by the strongest desire to promote the welfare of this good people, and entertaining a hope that I should one day attain that end, I stifled those sentiments which, till then, had been ever the object and happiness of my life. I have consented to change my country, to cease to be solely and entirely a Frenchman, after having passed my whole life in performing, to the best of my ability, those duties which that name prescribes to all who have the honor of bearing it.

“I have consented to separate myself, for the first time, from him who, from my infancy, has possessed my love and admiration: to lose the repose and independence which those whom Heaven calls to govern cannot have: to quit him, the separation from whom would fill me with apprehension, even in the most tranquil times, and whose presence precludes danger.

“I have consented to all this, and, gentlemen, had I not done so, I would nevertheless yet act the same part, now that by the ardour, joy, and confidence of the people through whose country I have passed, they have proved to me, that you were the true interpreters of the nation, now especially, when I am convinced, that I may rely on your zeal, your attachment to the interests of your native land, and on your confidence in, and fidelity, towards me.

94“Gentlemen, this is the first day of the real independence of the United Provinces. A transient glance at past ages is sufficient to convince us, that they never had a stable government, a fixed destiny, a real independence. Under that famous people, whom they fought and served by turns, as under the Franks and the Empire of the West, they were neither free nor tranquil.

“Neither were they so afterwards, when subjected to Spain.

“Their wars, and their repeated quarrels until the union, added to the glory of the nation, confirmed its qualities in point of frankness, intrepidity, and honor, for which, indeed, it had been always celebrated; but its efforts procured it neither tranquillity nor independence, even under the Princes of Orange, who, though they were useful to their country, as soldiers and statesmen, were always disturbing it, by pretending, or endeavouring to obtain a power which the nation denied them.

“Nor could Holland be considered in that state in later times, when the elevation of ideas, and the general agitation of Europe, so long suspended the repose of nations.

“After so many vicissitudes, so much agitation, so many calamities; and at a time when the great states were enlarging themselves, ameliorating and concentrating their governments and their forces, this country could enjoy no real safety nor independence, but in a moderate monarchical state; a form which had been acknowledged during a long period, and by each nation, in its turn, as the most perfect, and if not absolutely so, yet as much so as the nature of man will admit. But, doubtless, if perfection were the lot of humanity, we might then dispense with a government of this kind. Laws would then be founded in wisdom, and obeyed without reluctance or obstacle; virtue would reign triumphant, and insure its own reward; vice would be banished, and wickedness rendered impotent; but illusions which favour such romantic ideas of human nature, are transient; and experience soon brings us back to positive facts.

“However, even monarchy itself is not sufficient for a country, which, though powerful and important, is not sufficiently so for its position, which requires forces of the first rank both by land and sea. It will, therefore, be necessary for it to form a connexion with one of the great powers of Europe, with which its amity may be eternally assured, without any alteration of its independence.

“This, gentlemen, is what your nation has done; this is the object of its constitutional laws, and also that of my taking upon me an employment so glorious; this is my object in my placing myself in the midst of a people, who are, and ever shall be mine, by my affection and solicitude. With pride I perceive two of the principal means of government and confidence offering themselves to me; the honour and the virtue of the inhabitants.

“Yes, gentleman, these shall be real supporters of the throne; I wish for no other guides. For my part, I know no distinctions of religion or party; distinctions can only arise from merit and services. My design is only to remedy 95the evils which the country has suffered. The duration of these evils, and the difficulty of remedying them, will only increase and realize my glory.

“To effect these objects, I have occasion for the entire confidence of the nation, their complete devotion, and all the talents of the distinguished men whom it contains, but particularly of you, gentlemen, whose zeal, talents, and patriotism, are well known.

“I am at this moment appealing to the good and faithful Hollanders, before the deputies of the provinces and principal cities of the kingdom. I see them around me with pleasure. Let them bear to their fellow-citizens the assurance of my solicitude and affection: let them carry the same testimony of these sentiments to Amsterdam; that city, which is the honour of commerce, and of the country: that city, which I wish to call my good and faithful capital, though the Hague will always remain the residence of the sovereign. Let them also carry the same assurances to their fellow-citizens, and the deputies of that neighbouring city, the prosperity of which I hope very soon to renew, and whose inhabitants I distinguish.

“It is by these sentiments, gentlemen; it is by the union of all orders of people in the state, and by that of my subjects among themselves; it is by the devotion of each individual to his duties, the only basis of real honour assigned to men; but principally by the unanimity which has hitherto preserved these provinces from all dangers and calamities, and which has ever been their shield, that I expect the tranquillity, safety, and glory of the nation, and the happiness of my life.”

The king has given general satisfaction by the choice he has made of the persons he has nominated to fill the public offices; and if the wishes of one who trespassed a little irregularly upon their shores can avail, the brave, frugal, and indefatigable Hollanders will derive happiness, and, when peace is restored to Europe, prosperity under their new government.

The revenue attached to the stadtholderate was nominally 18,000l. per annum; but by the great patronage and influence belonging to it, no doubt it must have been considerably augmented, as also by the revenues arising from other hereditary territories of the stadtholders; but after all, the income of the stadtholderate was scarcely sufficient to support the dignity of the situation, powerful and important as it at last became. The king, in addition to his revenue, has an enormous private fortune: the savings which he has effected in the state reconcile the Dutch to this liberal, but perhaps not excessive allowance made for the support of his dignity.

96How the Hague could be called a village, in all its meridian splendor, is a matter of surprise: it derived its name from s’Cravenhage, or the Count’s Wood, on account of a wood which formerly grew here, and which formed, some centuries since, a part of the domains of the Counts of Holland. The following anecdote will show the simplicity which reigned in this great and beautiful city in former times. When Louisa de Coligni was coming to be married to Prince William at the Hague, the Dutch sent an open post-waggon to meet her, and she entered the city seated on a plank: towards the latter end of Prince Maurice’s days, and during Frederic-Henry’s lifetime, the Hague became a very agreeable place, and the resort of people of the first distinction.

In my rambles round this city, I was much impressed with the elegance and spaciousness of the buildings; every object seemed to have partaken of the spirit and magnificence of a court. But there was a solemnity in the splendor. It reminded one of looking into a magnificent ball-room after the greater part of the company had departed, and the lustres were dying away. If the Orange family had been entitled to sympathy, the scene would have led me to feel and think for them. Its noble buildings, its spacious streets, gracefully built, shaded with trees, and divided by canals, the variety of surrounding scenery, its proximity to the sea, its elevated situation, and the purity of its air, render the Hague the most charming town in Holland. The first place I visited was the palace of the last of the stadtholders. It is a vast pile of houses, many of them somewhat ancient, surrounded by a canal, without which and a pipe, paradise itself would have no charms for a Dutchman: over the canal are several draw-bridges; and the whole has a very pleasing effect seen from the spot where I took the view of it. On one side of a quadrangle is part of a new palace, built by the late stadtholder, and which, had it been finished, would have been handsome and princely; but the troubles in Holland have prevented its completion.

In part of this building there is a noble gothic hall, much resembling Westminster-Hall, and very large; on each side little shops were arranged, similar to those in Exeter ‘Change: it is converting 97into a chapel for the king. There were here formerly the prince’s cabinet of natural history and museum of rarities, consisting of a tolerable collection of shells, petrifactions, precious stones, fossils, minerals, and birds. This collection has been removed to Paris, although, from all I could learn, scarcely worthy of so much trouble: it, however, furnished the first elements of knowledge to Camper, one of the most profound geniuses which the United Provinces ever produced, and also Professor Pallas, who has been called the Pliny of Russia. The French offered to re-sell this cabinet to the Dutch government, who declined becoming the purchasers; a tolerable proof of its inferiority. The prince’s cabinet of pictures was very select and valuable, and was enriched by the productions of Titian, Holbein, Rembrandt, Vandyke, Gerard Dow, Metzio, Polemburgh, and other illustrious artists. On the confiscation of the property of the exiled Stadtholder, the Dutch government, for the purpose of promoting the polite arts, formed this collection of pictures, esteemed one of the most valuable in Europe, into a national gallery, set apart an annual sum for the augmentation of it, and deposited it in a fine suite of apartments in the House in the Wood, where a director of ability, and assistants, were appointed to superintend it: but the French soon afterwards transferred the best of them to that magnificent depot of the fruits of conquest, the Louvre at Paris. The first person sent by Napoleon to select for his gallery was unequal to his office, and left some excellent works behind him, which, upon “a second shaking of the tree” by another and more able inspector, were collected, and sent off to that colossal collector of works of art. Amongst several landscapes by Vernet was the finest he ever painted, the subject, the waterfall of Tivoli. It is a curious circumstance that there is not one fine private collection at the Hague.

I was much delighted with the Voorhout, considered the principal street, in which are many elegant and classical buildings, forming complete contrasts to the leaning, mercantile structures of Rotterdam. In this street the most elegant houses are those which formerly belonged to the Prince Wielburgh, who married the last Prince of Orange’s sister, and to the French ambassador, formerly occupied 98by the British minister: but the most beautiful part of the Hague is the Vyverburg; it is a vast oblong square, adorned with a noble walk or mall, strowed with broken shells, and shaded by avenues of trees on one side, and on the other by the palace, and a large basin of water called the Vyver, almost a quarter of a mile in length, variegated by an island of poplars in its centre. This mall is the place of fashionable resort, and, on the evening of the day I saw it, was adorned with several groups of lovely women attired in the French fashion, which generally prevails amongst the genteel families in Holland. Besides these there are many other very noble ones, and all remarkably clean, but the canals are almost all of them green and stagnant, and at this season emitted an unpleasant effluvia. Here, as in many cities in France, the armorial ensigns of distinguished families, which used to dignify the front of their dwellings, have been cut away, and many a shield remains despoiled of its quarterings. Some of them, since the new order of things has occurred, have been restored. In a square planted on all sides with trees the parade is held.

As Lady Wortley Montagu, in her accustomed sprightliness of style, has mentioned with some appearance of disgust, the white fishy faces of the Dutch women, I beg to observe, that at the Hague I saw several very pretty females: in general they possessed transparent delicacy of countenance, but as generally wanted expression. An English gentleman who had just returned from Italy, where he had been accustomed for several years to the warm voluptuous brunettes of that beautiful country, was uncommonly delighted with the fair faces of the Dutch ladies; but female beauty does not begin to expand itself till after the imprisonment and regimen of the nursery are past. Pretty and healthy children are rarely to be seen in Holland: in general they look pale and squalid, owing to an abominable system followed in rearing them; they are accustomed for the first two or three months to respire the atmosphere of a room, the windows of which are never opened to receive the freshness of the morning air; to wash them with refreshing cold water would be considered as certain infanticide; the miserable infant is swathed round with flannel rollers, until it 99becomes as motionless as a mummy; and over these ligatures there is always a vast flannel wrapper folded three or four times round the body, and fastened at the bottom of its feet: afterwards, for many months it is loaded with woollen garments, and when at length it is permitted to try for what purpose legs were originally constructed, it is cased in an additional wrapping of flannel, to prevent the dreaded consequences of freely inhaling the salubrious air.

As it was summer, I can only speak from information of an equally vile and destructive custom, which obtains in the winter, of suffering the children to sit over the chauffepies or stoves, which frequently supplants the ruddy tints of health by a white parboiled appearance. I saw several of these chauffepies, from which the little pots that in cold weather contain the burning turf, had been withdrawn, used by the ladies as footstools. Whilst the men warm themselves with the smoke of tobacco from above, the ladies, to recompense themselves for not using that indulgence, take care to fumigate themselves below, by placing, in the proper season, these ignited stoves under their petticoats, and resemble the glow-worm, which carries his fire in his tail: the cats and kittens, from the genial warmth of the climate, are glad to take shelter in this warm mysterious sanctuary. The ladies and the lower classes of females are always remarkably neat about the feet; the petticoats of the latter are in general very short, display a well-proportioned leg, clean blue stockings, and a slipper without any heel-piece, or sabot.

In my way to the palace in the Wood, near this square, I passed by a vast triumphal arch made of wood, painted to imitate stone, and adorned with a number of complimentary inscriptions in Latin, in honour of the king and queen, who passed through it on the 23d of June last, when they made their public entry; and in a vast field adjoining to the wood was a lofty temporary obelisk of the same materials, which formed one of the principal objects of a magnificent fête recently given by the French commander in chief in honour of their majesties, which was conducted in the highest style of Parisian taste. The day when I visited the wood was remarkably fine; this spot, so dear to the Dutch, is nearly two 100English miles long, about three-quarters of a mile broad, and contains a fine display of magnificent oaks growing in native luxuriance. Antony Waterloo made the greatest part of his studies from this spot and its environs. The ground upon which it grows, and the country about it, undulate a little, a circumstance of agreeable novelty, and the whole is a truly delightful walk, more romantic and umbrageous than our mall of St. James’s, and surpassed only by the garden of the Thuilleries. This wood has been held sacred with more than pagan piety. War and national want, that seldom spare in their progress, committed no violations here. Although the favourite place of royal recreation, yet, in the fury of the revolution, not a leaf trembled but in the wind. Philip II. in the great war with Spain, issued his mandate for preserving it: hostile armies have marched through it without offering it a wound, and the axe of the woodman has never resounded in it. Even children are taught or whipt into veneration for it, so that their mischievous hands never strip it of a bough. Once, however, it is recorded, that at a period of great state necessity, in 1576, their high mightinesses sat in judgment upon its noble growth, and doomed it to fall: the moment their decree was known, the citizens flew to the meeting, remonstrated with a degree of feeling which did honour to their taste; and upon learning that the object of its doom was to raise a certain sum to assist in replenishing the nearly exhausted coffers of the republic, they immediately entered into a contribution, and presented the amount to the “high and mighty masters” of the sacred grove.

It has been asserted by some travellers, that the Dutch treasure this spot more from national pride than feeling, and that they are more disposed to preserve than to enjoy it. To this remark I have only to offer, that I saw a considerable number of equestrian and pedestrian groups, who appeared to relish its shaded roads, and sequestered walks with great delight. The royal residence is to the right at the end of the wood. Upon my asking a Dutchman which path led to the “house in the wood,” the only appellation by which, in the time of the Stadtholder, it was known, he sharply replied, “I presume you mean the palace in the wood.” This building is 101merely fit for the residence of a country gentleman, and has nothing princely about it, except the centry boxes at the foot of the flight of stairs ascending to the grand entrance: two tall and not very perpendicular poles, from the tops of which is stretched a cord, suspending in the centre a large lamp, stand on each side of the house in front of the palace; on the left are the coach-houses and stablings, which are perfectly plain, and are just separated from the court road by a small stunted plantation: there was a very handsome carriage of the king’s in the coach-house, without arms or cyphers, of a pale blue colour, which, with silver lace, is the colour of the new royal livery. The carriage had every appearance of having been built in England. Excepting this, I never before saw a carriage, unless appropriated for state occasions, belonging to any crowned head on the continent, that an Englishman of taste and opulence would be satisfied with. Even the carriages of Napoleon, built in a city so celebrated for its taste in design, and beauty of workmanship, as Paris, are clumsy and unpleasant to the eye. Although it was Sunday, the sound of workmen, actively engaged in modernizing the palace after the Parisian taste, issued from almost every window. Some Dutchmen who were contemplating the front of the house, shook their heads at this encroachment of the sabbath. In consequence of the internal arrangement not being finished, strangers were not admitted. The walks on the outside of the gardens are formal and insipid; the gardens themselves are handsomely disposed, and kept in great order, and the whole of the premises is insulated by stagnant canals crossed with draw-bridges.

In this palace, amongst many other precious works of art, was the celebrated picture of King William the Third, who appointed the famous Godfrey Scalken, when he was in London, to paint his portrait by candlelight: the painter placed a taper in the hands of his majesty, to hold it in a situation most favourable to the designs of the artist, during which the tallow melted and dropped on the fingers of the monarch, who endured it with great composure, for fear of embarrassing the painter, who very tranquilly continued his work, without offering to pause for a minute: 102it is not much to the credit of the prince of the country to record, that this blunt enthusiasm for his art lost poor Scalken the favour of the court, and of persons of fashion, and he retired to the Hague, where he had a prodigious demand for his small paintings.

The furniture of this, which, as well as of the other palaces, was superb, but old fashioned, was sold by the French, upon the pretence that their arms were directed against the Prince of Orange personally. In this palace the Stadtholder and his family used to indulge his subjects in that ridiculous custom of eating before them on certain days; a custom which was a fit appendage to another, that of keeping dwarfs and fools about the royal person. How this stupid usage came to be adopted at first I know not, for one would naturally think that the situation least calculated to inspire awe and veneration, those great supports of royalty, amongst subjects towards their rulers, would be that in which a mere animal appetite is gratified. In England such splendid folly has been long discontinued.

The plain manner in which the Prince of Orange and his family resided at this palace, is thus described by the late ingenious Mr. Ireland. “The reception we met with as strangers, was highly flattering. It was the character of Englishmen that was our passport. Expressing our wish to see the prince, the court being then full, we were addressed by a gentleman (whom we afterwards found to be Lord Athlone) through whose politeness we gained admission, and were with great affability noticed by the prince. He is short in stature, with much elegance and familiarity in his manner, not unlike our royal family. The princess and her daughter, who is about eighteen, appeared in the room: their dresses were very plain, and they had no other mark of superiority than a train-bearer. So little ceremony is observed in the exterior of the house, that just without the door of the apartment, where the prince was giving audience (which was open), a woman was on her knees scrubbing the staircase.”

Upon my return to my hotel at one o’clock, the dinner hour, I found a very agreeable party, composed of foreigners from different countries, and an excellent table d’hote: over the chimney-piece 103was a good equestrian portrait of the famous Duke of Cumberland, who lodged at this house occasionally during the campaigns of 1747. After dinner, in company with a very amiable gentleman-like Englishman, whom I met at the table d’hote, I set off in one of the carriages, many of which are always ready to convey passengers, for about the value of six-pence English, for Scheveling, a village which every traveller should visit, on account of the beauty of the avenue leading to it, which is nearly two miles, perfectly straight, and thickly planted with beech, limes, and oaks; at the end of which superb vista the church of Scheveling appears. On the sandy ground on each side of this avenue are several birch thickets, and it abounds with the aiera canescens, hippophae rhamnoides, a singular dwarf variety of ligustrum vulgare (Privet), the true arundo epigejos of Linnæus (that is, calamagrostis), and a number of heath plants, mixed with others usually found in marshes. Scarcely is there so small a spot, where Flora presents such opposite variety, and which the fluctuating moisture of the soil can alone account for. Among the rarer species are convallaria multiflora, and polygonatum, with gentiana cruciata, which is not a native of England.

The Dutch value this beautiful avenue as much as they do their Wood, and great care is taken to preserve it from violation. At the entrance, in a most romantic spot, is the turnpike-gate, where all passengers, except the fishermen of Scheveling, pay a fraction of a farthing for permission to enter; and here are stuck up orders, threatening with punishment those who may attempt to injure in the smallest degree this consecrated forest. At short intervals, cautionary inscriptions are placed in conspicuous situations, to warn mischievous “apple munching urchins” from cutting the smallest twig.

Constantine Huygens, brother of the celebrated mathematician and mechanist of that name, had the honor of designing this avenue, in which there are many stately trees, upwards of a century and a half old: a terrible storm which took place a few years since, laid about fifty of these noble objects low, to the great grief and consternation of the country. Here, and perhaps here only, 104throughout Holland, the traveller may be gratified by the sounds of a running brook. The foot paths on each side were crowded with pedestrians of both sexes, in their holiday clothes; and the slanting rays of a brilliant sun flashing through openings in the branches of the limes, beech trees, and oaks, upon a crowd of merry faces, jolting in the most whimsical carts and waggons, to their favourite spot of carousal, had a very pleasing and picturesque effect.

The village is very neat and pretty; at the end of the vista, large sand-hills rising near the base of the church, preclude the sight of the ocean, which, when they are surmounted, opens upon the view with uncommon majesty. The beach, which we saw in high perfection on account of its being low water, is very firm to the tread, and forms a beautiful walk of nearly six miles in extent. The ocean was like a mirror, and fishing vessels were reclining on the sand in the most picturesque forms, just surrounded with water; their owners, with their wives and children, were parading up and down in their sabbath suits, and the whole sand for a mile was a fine marine mall, covered with groupes who appeared as capable of appreciating the beauty of the scene, as the worshippers of the Steyne at Brighton, or of the Parade at Bath. The Dutch are said to have an antipathy to sea-air; but this I found not to be generally true: certain it is, that they are not fond of sea-bathing, otherwise this beach would be crowded with bathing, and the country above it with lodging-houses.

Water is no novelty to a Dutchman, and he prefers, and there seems some sense in his preference, his neat, commodious country-house, and his gardens, and all the comforts of life about him, to the pleasure of bathing and contemplating a waste of waters from the windows of a cheerless inn or lodging-house. An English frigate, which lay off at a considerable distance, excited a good deal of attention, and added to the beauty of the scene. Upon quitting the beach we entered an inn which overlooked the sand and was a place of great resort, every room of which was crowded and filled with tobacco smoke. The state of Mr. Fox’s health formed the leading feature of the political discourse. “Herr Fock,” as he was 105called, was frequently repeated at every table. Opposite to where we sat a young Dutch couple were making violent love; they kissed, devoured dry salted fish, and drank punch with an enthusiasm, which presented to our imagination the warmest association of Cupid and the jolly god. John Van Goyen, who died in 1656, and was so justly celebrated for the transparency of his colouring of water, made this spot the frequent subject of his charming pencil. Dutch tradition dwells with delight upon a cock and a bull story respecting the celebrated flying chariot which used to sail upon those lands, and on the surrounding country. It was said to have been made by Stevinus, for Prince Maurice: it is thus described and commented upon in a curious old description of Holland: “The form of it was simple and plain: it resembled a boat moved upon four wheels of an equal bigness, had two sails, was steered by a rudder placed between the two hindmost wheels, and was stopt either by letting down the sails, or turning it from the wind. This noble machine has been celebrated by many great authors, as one of the most ingenious inventions later ages have produced. Bishop Wilkins, in his Treatise of Mechanical Motions, mentions several great men who described and admired it. Grotius mentions an elegant figure of it in copper, done by Geyneus; and Herodius, in one of his large maps of Asia, gives another sketch of the like chariots used in China.” Incredible as this story appears, one would be disposed to think, that a man of Grotius’s celebrity for learning and truth, would scarcely have eulogized the invention, had he doubted its existence. Upon a level, hard, straight road, uninterrupted by trees and buildings, such a piece of ingenuity might perhaps prove successful as a mechanical experiment, but utterly impossible ever to be made serviceable.

The coast of Scheveling is considered very dangerous in rough weather: the spires of the church here, and those of Gravesande and Monster, three leagues to the south, serve for landmarks; yet, owing to the coast of the province of Holland lying very low and flat, they are scarcely discernible three or four leagues at sea: for want of sand-banks to break the force of the sea, the coast is much exposed, and the fishermen are obliged, after their return, to haul their vessels on rollers up the beach beyond the water’s reach: this labour must be very great, for many of them are from twenty to thirty-five tons burthen.

This place has been at different periods subject to dreadful irruptions of the sea, particularly in the year 1574, when it broke in, and carried away 121 houses: Scheveling has its portion of historic celebrity. In 1650, the expatriated Charles II. after a long exile, embarked from this place for Scotland, to which he was invited, with a promise of assistance in recovering the rest of his dominions. Clarendon, in his History, vol. iii. p. 287, says, the king went from the Hague to Scheveling, where “the States of Holland, at infinite hazard to themselves from Cromwell and England, suffered their ship to transport him. They gave all countenance to the Scotch merchants and factors who lived in their dominions, 107and some credit, that they might send arms and ammunition, and whatsoever else was necessary for the king’s service, into that kingdom.” And this the States did “when the king was at his lowest ebb, and was heartily weary of being in a place (Paris) where he was very ill-treated, and lived very uncomfortably, and from whence he foresaw he should soon be driven.” Having experienced the most romantic vicissitudes after his escape from Worcester, this monarch, in the disguise of a sailor, escaped to Dieppe in Normandy, in 1651; and he again, in 1660, embarked at Scheveling on board of his own fleet, which was waiting to receive him. The grateful monarch declared war against his Dutch friends in 1672, and entered into a private league with the French king to lay waste their provinces with fire and sword. From this beach too the Stadtholder, his son the hereditary prince, and two or three Dutch noblemen attached to the prostrate fortunes of the house of Orange, embarked when they fled to England: the vessel they sailed in was a small fishing cutter, navigated by five men; the princesses took their departure in a similar conveyance the day before.

Another interesting event also is recorded as having occurred off this coast, by Bishop Burnet, who in the History of his Own Times thus relates this marvellous circumstance: “There was one extraordinary thing happened near the Hague this summer (1672); I had it from many eye-witnesses, and no doubt was made of the truth of it by any at the Hague. Soon after the English fleet had refitted themselves, they appeared in sight of Scheveling, making up to the shore. The tide turned, but they reckoned that with the next flood they could certainly land the forces that were on board, where they were like to meet with no resistance. The States sent to the prince for some regiments to hinder the descent. He could not spare many men, having the French near him; so between the two, the country was given up for lost unless De Ruyter should quickly come up. The flood returned, which the people thought was to end in their ruin; but to all their amazement, after it had flowed two or three hours, an ebb of many hours succeeded, which carried the fleet again to sea; and before that was spent, De Ruyter came 108in view. This they reckoned a miracle wrought for their preservation.” It is also a curious circumstance that the reverse of this extraordinary effort of nature enabled the immortal Nelson to lay his fleet so as to bear upon the batteries by which the capital of Denmark was protected. The tide had never been known, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Copenhagen, to have risen so high as on the day when the battle first commenced, and greatly contributed to his success in persuading the gallant Danes that they were beaten.

De Ruyter, the Nelson of the Dutch, was distinguished for the boldness of his designs and the celerity of his execution. In 1653, with Van Tromp, he commanded the Dutch fleet against this country with the greatest honour to his flag. The Moors presented him with a Barbary horse, magnificently caparisoned, for his gallantly reaching his destined port in the Salee roads, and for capturing five powerful Algerine corsairs. The celebrated vice-admiral d’Estrés said of him in a letter to Colbert, on account of his noble conduct in those hard-fought engagements between the English, Dutch, and French fleets off the Texel, “I should be very willing to purchase with my life the glory which De Ruyter has acquired in these desperate actions.”

On our return we met groups of little girls, whose short petticoats, and protuberances on all sides, looked very grotesque. Many of the Dutch girls of the lower order wear twenty or thirty yards of flannel tied round their hips. In the village is a pauper house for the poor and aged, founded in 1614. On a week day, the road from Scheveling is more characteristically gay, being covered with fishwomen running and singing to the Hague, under loads of soles, cod, turbot, &c. to which place I returned, highly delighted with my excursion. In the neighbourhood of that city are several fine flower-gardens. The passion of the Dutch for flowers is well known. M. Dutens, in his very entertaining and interesting Memoirs of a Traveller in Retirement, says, that at the kermis or fair held at the Hague in the month of May, “I was witness to a circumstance I could not otherwise have believed, respecting the price of flowers in Holland; I saw four hundred and seventy-five guineas offered and refused for a hyacinth. It was 109to be sure the most charming flower that ever was seen: it belonged to a florist at Haarlem, and another florist offered this price for it. The reason which the owner gave me for refusing the offer was, that his hyacinth was known to all the amateurs of Europe, and that he sold the bulbs every year for more than the interest of five hundred guineas. These bulbs produced the same sort of flower in all its beauty.” This singular passion has not subsided: at Haarlem fine narcissuses and jonquils sell for an immense price, and parties are made every summer to visit the roses, which grow in great perfection at Noordwyk.

Upon our return to the Hague, we visited a palace of the ci-devant hereditary Prince of Orange; it forms three sides of an oblong square towards the street; it was converting into a public office; behind are some pretty gardens, one of which is less formal than Dutch gardens in general. I concluded the day by walking round a great part of the town, the whole of which is surrounded with avenues of trees, similiar to, but not so fine as the boulevards of Rouen. In the fish-market, the next day, I saw several storks, who were parading about in perfect security, of which they seemed to be thoroughly satisfied, and were every now and then regaled by the offal of the fish. The prejudices of the people have consecrated these birds, on account of their being considered as the gardes du corps of republican liberty. The Greeks and Romans regarded them with peculiar veneration; and in Thessaly the destroyer of one was punished with exile. No animal but this discovers any token of fondness for the authors of its existence after it has attained strength and discrimination sufficient to provide for itself. The stork is well known to evince an exemplary regard for its aged parents, whom it defends from attack, and furnishes with food; and well did it deserve the Roman appellation of “pia avis.” The Dutch frequently erect frames of wood upon the tops of their houses to encourage these their favourite birds to build their nests there. Perhaps another reason why these birds are so much cherished is that which renders them popular in Germany, namely, on account of their quick perception of fire, and the noise they make when it takes place. If the 110Dutch really believed that the storks could exist only in a pure republic, they must for some time past have renounced their credulity, for these birds have survived the visits of the French, and seem to have no objection to be enrolled amongst the subjects of the new King. It is said that they assemble at certain periods and hold consultations. Certain it is that the crows in England frequently meet with all the appearance of a deliberative body. A gentleman of distinguished talents and veracity assured me, that he once observed a vast body of crows assembled near his country-house, that after making a great deal of noise, one of them moved slowly into the middle, soon after which the rest fell upon him and pecked him to death. The quails are another species of privileged birds in Holland, particularly in Guelderland, where they are preserved with superstitious care in cages suspended on the outsides of houses. The swan too is much venerated here, and the raven is greatly cherished at Nimeguen.

The traveller will be well remunerated for his trouble in ascending to the top of the tower of St. Jacques, the only high devotional building in the Hague, except the new church: to obtain permission to do so, it is necessary to apply to the principal magistrate of the police, the reason for which precaution I could not learn. The view from this elevation is exquisitely beautiful; below, on one side lay expanded the square, the venerable pile of the town palace, its superb basin, the noble streets leading towards the wood, and the spires of distant villages fading in midst of the horizon; whilst, on the other side, stretched the avenues of Scheveling, terminated by the blue and sparkling ocean.

A whimsical little penalty followed this gratification; at the hotel where I resided, a Dutch waiter attended me, who imposed upon his master to believe that he spoke English very fluently, in consequence of which he was selected to wait upon all English and American visitors: the English language of this personage was a ridiculous collection of the heads, legs, wings, and tails of English words, mingled together with all the confusion of a giblet-pye. Upon my expressing to this flippant gentleman my wish to ascend the tower of the church, he said, interrupting me, “Oh, de 111roof, de roof.” I acquiesced, and away he flew; about an hour afterwards he returned in high perspiration with a billet, which instead of proving to be an order to view the town and country from the roof of the tower, was an acknowledgment of money for the ruif of the treckschuyt for Leyden the day following, viz. the whole of the cabin which he had engaged and paid the amount of for me.

In Holland, that bee-hive of industry, every available source of service is made use of, so that dogs, and even goats, are not suffered to pick the bone, or eat the bread of idleness. Most of the little wares and merchandizes, and particularly fish, are drawn by the former, who are properly harnessed for the occasion to little carts, whilst the latter are yoked to infantine waggons and curricles, to air and exercise little children in. It is really astonishing to see what weight these animals will draw after them; nothing can exceed their docility, and for their labour, the Hollander, who is remarkable for his humanity to the dumb creation, feeds them well, and lodges them in his house very comfortably. Owing to the great care paid to their dogs, the canine madness seldom appears amongst them. On Sundays they are permitted to refresh and enjoy themselves, and never show any disposition to escape from their lot of industry. In their farms, cows and oxen are always used in draft, and display every appearance of receiving the kindest treatment from their masters.

The theatre at the Hague is tastefully arranged, and supplied with a tolerable set of French comedians. The centre box is appropriated for the royal family, and is elegantly fitted up. Before the conversion of the republic into a kingdom, when the government resided in the hands of the Batavian directory, the ornaments of the box which was allotted to them, were very unworthy of the rank of the personages for whose accommodation it was reserved: a piece of paper, on which was written, “Le loge du directoire Batave,” and pasted on the box door, alone announced the dignity of its destination. The usual national spirit of economy used to display itself in the Dutch theatre, where, to prevent a useless consumption of tallow, whenever the musicians quitted 112the orchestra, they were bound by contract to extinguish the lights by which they read their music. In many tradesmen’s houses at this day in Holland, winter courtships are carried on in the dark, the union of warm love and rigid economy being considered a very laudable conjunction.

If we are to give credit to the ridiculous story which is still believed at a village called Loosduynen, about three miles from the Hague, the ladies are far from being economical in breeding. A Dutch author has gone so far as to declare, that he had seen the three hundred and sixty-five children of the Countess of Henesberg, and with pleasant minuteness describes them to be of the size of shrimps, and Erasmus believed the story. Those who have the hardihood to differ from such authorities, explain away the miracle by stating, that on the third day of January, the beggar wished the countess, who expected to lie in every hour, might have as many children as there had been days in the year, and that she on that day was delivered of three children.

The Hague was once celebrated for its many elegant, and especially for its literary societies; the latter have declined, whilst those of France have flourished and improved, amidst the frightful fluctuations of revolutionary tumult. Erasmus, Grotius, and Boerhaave, have conferred immortality upon the letters of Holland, as they would upon those of any nation; but the literary glory of the country seems not to have spread upon the demise of these illustrious sages. Hooft, Vondel, and Antonides, are known in Holland, but not out of it; and we have heard but faintly of Huygens, Graveszande, and Vandoveron in physic; of Voet in jurisprudence, and Burman and Gronovius in the belles lettres.

It is certain, that if the Dutch poets are to be considered as favoured by Apollo, a condescension which those who are best acquainted with their productions much doubt, they have made more successful advances in the most difficult of poetical composition. I have heard of three epic writers; Antonides, before mentioned, who wrote an epic poem on the river Y, on which the city of Amsterdam is erected; Rotzans, and the author of Abraham de Aartsvader, or the history of Abraham the Patriarch. The Dutch 113mention with great exultation the name of De Cotts, who, like our Prior, united the characters of poet and statesman; his sensibility is said to have been very acute, his fancy very luxuriant, and his powers of versification very mellifluous. So attractive were the Muses, that when he held the splendid office of lord keeper of the seals in Holland and West Friesland, and stadtholder of the fiefs, he retired to his native shades to tune his oaten reed, which entitled him amongst his countrymen to the appellation of the Dutch Ovid: at the earnest solicitation of their high mightinesses, he quitted his lyre and beloved retreat, and appeared at the court of Cromwell in the character of ambassador of the States to England, where he was received with that politeness and attention which our country never fails to observe towards strangers of merit and distinction. Having accomplished the object of his mission, he retired from the bustle of life to his native country, in the bosom of which he expired, beloved, honoured, and lamented.

I was not much surprised to find that the splendor of the Hague was principally confined to its buildings, although it has been so often, in other times, celebrated for its magnificence and the expense of its inhabitants: the revolution expelled its hereditary princes, dispersed its nobles, and visited every description of society with more or less distress. However, I was informed by those who were enabled to compare, that it is again rearing its head. Before the revolution, sumptuous equipages and various other characteristics of polished luxury were displayed in almost every street; and the foreign ministers vied with each other in costly splendor: during the operation of that political hurricane scarce any other carriage was to be seen save a few crazy fiacres, and every servant was stripped of his livery. At present, society seems to be returning to many of its original habits, and some handsome equipages appeared in different parts of the town; yet, upon the whole, the first impression of its gloom was never effaced.

Upon inquiry after the present state of literature at this place, I found it was considered at a very low ebb: the press of the Hague was once justly celebrated, but has of late emitted little more than a few pamphlets of inconsiderable merit. Before the 114revolution there were several capital booksellers’ shops, of which I could only discover two; the books in their shops, apparently the remains of declining literary traffic, were neither very numerous nor very valuable. The booksellers formerly found very ample encouragement in the affluence of the court, and many petty German princes who selected the Hague for their residence. It has been asserted that as the Hague contained the seat of the executive government and of the representative bodies during the revolution, it suffered much less than any other town in the republic; but this I was well assured was not the case, because the commercial towns still derived resources from their commerce and enterprize, through the medium of neutral bottoms and other circuitous modes of traffic, notwithstanding the severity of British blockades and the vigilance of British cruisers.

The Hague has produced several very distinguished painters; amongst others I must beg to mention Daniel Mytens, who was born in 1636, and went to study at Rome, and afterwards employed himself in designing after the antique, in copying the most celebrated paintings of the best artists, and adding considerably to his improvement by an intimacy which he formed there with Carlo Maratti and Carlo Loti. The dreadful habits of dissipation to which Mytens was addicted, deplorably interfered with his advancement in his profession. His imagination was lively, his colouring agreeable, his composition good, and he designed with great facility. After a long residence in Italy, he returned to the Hague, where he was much admired and cherished by the lovers of the arts: his eminent qualities were displayed in those works which he painted at Rome, and upon his return to the Hague, where, not many years after, his productions became greatly depreciated, from his constant indulgence in the most intemperate excesses, to which he at length fell a victim in the year 1688. He acquired much and deserved reputation for the sketch of a very noble design for a ceiling of the painters’ hall at the Hague: this work commenced, and left unfinished for some years; at length he roused himself from his indolence, but it was only to show what ravages it had made on his fine abilities, for he only injured the work which he 115attempted to improve. Another distinguished artist, who has shed lustre upon the Hague, is John Hanneman, who was born here in 1611; by some he was said to have been a pupil of Vandyke. By others, and with greater probability, that of Hubert Ravestein; and in the soft and delicate tints of his carnations, he is considered to be very little inferior to Vandyke: many of Hanneman’s copies of that illustrious artist are mistaken for the originals.

Hanneman continued in England sixteen years, and upon his return to the Hague became the favourite painter of the Princess of Orange: he was also employed by the Prince of Nassau, for whom he painted, amongst others, several historical pictures, which are now highly esteemed. The third and last artist I shall mention is John le Duc, who was born at the Hague in 1636, and was a disciple of Paul Potter, so justly celebrated as a painter of cattle, whose works, however, are often scarcely distinguishable from those of his pupil. His principal subjects were the same as those of his master, viz. horses, sheep, goats, cows, &c. He finished his pictures very highly, and possessed great facility of pencil and purity of style. He was appointed director of the academy of painting at the Hague in the year 1671. The desire of distinguishing himself in arms induced him to exert all his interest to obtain a company, and such was his gallantry in the field, that he obtained the epithet of “Brave,” after which, unfortunately for the arts, he neither painted nor designed.

After spending some days very pleasantly at the Hague, I proceeded to the Leyden treckschuyt, which lay at a great distance from the hotel, where I found, from the blunder of the waiter before detailed, that I was considered as a personage of considerable consequence, on account of my having engaged the whole of the ruif to myself. The day was brilliantly fine, and nothing could be more delightful than my passage to Leyden: for two miles and a half the left bank of the canal presented an unbroken succession of handsome country-houses and highly cultivated grounds, which although laid out like so many vegetable problems, abounded with a variety of forms, which, as they were clad in luxuriant green, were very agreeable. Many of these spots were graced by the acacia and Weymouth pine, to which the soil and climate seemed to be congenial. On the other side were rich meadows, whose vivid green seemed to rival that of the emerald, and corn-fields yellow with harvest. Enchanted with the day and the scenery, I envied not the aquatic pomp of Cleopatra, although

117The blunder of the waiter added not a little to the delights of my passage, for I sat a solitary grandee upon the top of the cabin, without a soul to interrupt the happy frame of my mind formed by the lovely prospects on every side of me. In this agreeable manner three hours and a half passed away with feathered fleetness, and at the end of a long avenue of trees and a line of water, the spires and elevated buildings of Leyden appeared. We stopped about half way from the Hague at Leydehendam, a very neat pretty village, the neighbourhood of which abounds with pleasure houses and gardens. The country as I approached Leyden appeared to be thickly wooded, and displayed the novel variety of a gentle undulation of ground. After passing through a beautiful boulevard, and crossing some drawing bridges, I entered the elegant city of Leyden through the white gate, and proceeded to a very comfortable hotel in the principal street, called the Broad street, the length, spaciousness, and beauty of which entitles it to the highest admiration: there is no canal in it, and the buildings on each side are very handsome, many of them splendid mansions. This seat of learning is considered to be one of the handsomest in Holland, and next in size to Amsterdam; the entrance to it is through seven stone gates, at each of which is a draw-bridge: the town is surrounded with a rampart, and a deep, broad canal, and is adorned by beautiful shady walks. The number of bridges in this city is astonishing, they are said to exceed one hundred and forty-five of stone and railed with iron. It has also many canals, the most beautiful of which is the Rapenburg. It has been compared by travellers to Oxford, but I cannot see any resemblance, except in its being devoted to learning, and consequently presenting many of those features of meditation and consequent tranquillity, which are to be found in places destined to similiar objects: but in its fortification, its buildings, streets, and canals, there is unquestionably no resemblance. The channels or gutters of the Broad street are covered with boards which open like a trap door, into which the moment any dirt is lodged, it is removed by persons appointed for that purpose; and lofty common pumps, with large brass ornaments constantly scoured and kept bright, are 118placed in different parts of it, to supply the inhabitants and to purify the street, of which they are not a little proud. The fame of Lucas Van Leyden made the stadt-house or town-hall the object of my first visit; it is a vast gothic building, presenting a very long irregular front, in a very uncouth style of architecture, surmounted by a small steeple, which is crowded with carillons, and stands in the centre of the Broad street. As I ascended the grand staircase, a painter was giving a finishing touch to some large stone lions, which by way of blending them with the stone colour of the rest of the building, he had painted vividly red. In one of the apartments, which was very heavy and gloomy, I beheld the celebrated production of Lucas Van Leyden, or Hugens, who was born here in 1494, and died in 1533. This picture is in three divisions, the two external smaller ones being made like folding doors, to close if necessary over the middle one. The subject is the last judgment, for which vast sums of money have been repeatedly offered to the magistrates of the town and refused. I must confess I felt no more pleasure in contemplating this picture than what arose from its great antiquity. There are a great number of figures in it: the females are wholly destitute of beauty, at the same time there is a freedom in the outline: many of their limbs appear to be elongated, and every head seems to have been taken from the same subject, and wholly destitute of expression; however, considering the early period in which the artist flourished, it is a very curious and valuable production. This painter was instructed in the principles of his art by his father, Hugens Jacobs, an artist of some consideration: it is said that Lucas from his infancy displayed incessant application, and at the age of nine and twelve years astonished the artists of his time by his works. After he had learned the rudiments of his art under his father, he became a pupil of Cornelius Engelbrecht; at the age of fifteen he painted the history of St. Hubert, which elevated him to high distinction in his art. On account of the principles of perspective not being known in his early time, he proportioned the strength of his colouring to the different degrees of distance, in which his objects were placed. He painted not only in oil, but in destemper and on 119glass. A famous print of this master’s engraving, the subject a bagpiper, is also mentioned, which sold for a hundred ducatoons or twenty pounds sterling.

In the justice hall is a celebrated picture of Harel de Moor, who was born in this town in 1656; the subject, Brutus condemning his sons, the design, the colouring and finishing of which are very beautiful. De Moor had great and highly merited honours paid to him by various princes and distinguished personages, particularly by the emperor of Germany who directed his ambassador Count Singendoff to engage him to paint the portraits of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough on horseback, with which his imperial patron was so gratified, that he conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, and nobly rewarded him in a more substantial manner for his admirable production: he had also the honour of painting that mighty savage of the North, Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy. Under the picture of Brutus are some elegant Latin verses; there is also a large picture representing the bravery of its citizens, who are rendered immortal in the page of history for the heroic valour they displayed during a siege, which in the year 1573, for five months, visited this place with all the horrors of war, disease, and famine. The historian can scarcely do adequate justice to these heroes. After the Spaniards had been compelled to raise the siege of Alkmaar, they determined upon directing their forces against Leyden, from the trenches of which they were bravely repulsed by Count Louis of Nassau, brother to the then Prince of Orange; but having been reinforced, they returned to the attack; when the Spanish general, Francis Valdey, discovering that he could not take the place by storm, resolved upon reducing it by famine, and a scene of horror ensued which baffles the powers of the pen to describe. The Spanish General, Frederic of Toledo, son of the execrable Duke of Alva, repulsed a body of English auxiliaries who were coming to the relief of the besieged, in consequence of which the blockade was so vigilantly conducted, that the wretched inhabitants could derive no provisions from without. In this dreadful dilemma, they drew lots to determine which should fall each day to afford sustenance to the rest 120with their bodies; and it is said that the spirit of patriotism ran so high, that many of them anticipated this desperate alternative, and voluntarily slew themselves to furnish food to their brave fellow-citizens and soldiers. An extraordinary female patriot, of the name of Kenneva, headed the women, led them to the ramparts, where they assisted the nearly exhausted soldiery in working the cannon, and displayed that enthusiastic courage which great occasions will generally find lodged in that bosom which is the seat of every gentle, every tender feeling, and ought only to heave with the tenderest emotions. Many of them stabbed themselves, to assist in preserving the survivors, and expiring exclaimed, “See, my poor valiant friends, your provision for the rest of the day.” But notwithstanding these terrible sacrifices, and supplies of human flesh, many thousands of the garrison and burghers perished. The Spaniards, having been informed of their situation, again summoned them to surrender, and allowed a truce of an hour for deliberation, during which a consultation was held, the unanimous determination of which was contained the following reply: “Tell your arrogant general, that we shall not want the means of life whilst a left arm remains upon any of our shoulders, and with our right we shall continue to fight for our liberties to the last.” At length, broken down by their frightful situation, and hopeless of relief, after having exhibited prodigies of valor, and the sublimest acts of patriotism and resignation, the miserable survivors of this ghastly scene of desolation assembled round the house of Peter Adrian de Werf, the chief magistrate of the city, a man of great influence amongst the people, and implored him to sanction with his fiat the surrender of the place; but this noble being preferring, like Cato, to perish rather than see his country in the possession of a tyrant, thus addressed his emaciated brethren: “My brave comrades! cut this body in pieces; it is better that I should die for you, than by the enemy: my wounds disable me from further service. Take courage, let me receive death from your hands, and let my miserable frame furnish a wretched meal for some of you. Take me, and may Leyden be victorious, and her glory immortal!” Deeply impressed by such firmness and eloquence, his auditors turned their haggard 121countenances aside, and with the convulsive energy of expiring nature, rushed again to the rampart, and soon afterwards they were thrown into an agony of joy by the arrival of two carrier pigeons, to whose feet were tied stalks of corn and hemp, in which letters were concealed, announcing that relief was at hand. The Dutch confederates, having no other mode of relieving the inhabitants of Leyden, broke down the dykes of the Maese and the Yssel, inundated the Spanish camp, and the beautiful country which surrounds Leyden, and enabled Louis Brissot, admiral of Zealand, to send many flat-bottomed boats, well armed, to the succour of the besieged. This desperate measure compelled the Spanish general to evacuate his camp, and to retire with such of his army as did not perish by the waters, into their own country. This siege, which commenced shortly after Easter, was raised the third of October, on which day a supply of provisions was brought to the famished inhabitants, who greedily devoured the food, amidst tears and convulsive inarticulate exclamations to heaven for their delivery, and many of them dropped down dead upon too rapidly satisfying their ravenous appetites. After this signal deliverance, the Prince of Orange, although suffering under severe illness, ordered himself to be carried in a litter to Leyden, to condole with and express his admiration of its heroic inhabitants: the interview, as well as many scenes which occurred during the siege, must have afforded a fine subject for the pencil. He gave them their option of being exempted for a certain period from taxes, or of having an university founded in their town; when, with noble and disinterested wisdom, they gave the preference to the latter. Never did any seat of learning originate from a nobler cause: it may be said to have been endowed by the blood of the brave. The clergy of Leyden, in a public oration, still celebrate the anniversary of the glorious third of October, in which the story of the siege, and the deliverance of the town are feelingly recapitulated. I was surprised to find that such a subject had not more frequently engaged the pencil of the many divine artists which Holland has produced: the picture which led me to mention the above story is, in my 122humble opinion, unworthy of the subject; the figures are badly grouped, and express no one emotion which can affect the mind. After quitting the stadt-house, the evening being very fine, I ascended a large mount, which may be considered as a great curiosity in Holland, in the centre of the town, where there is a fine view of it: this mount is surrounded by a high wall, and is said to be the scite of a castle built by Hengist, king of the West Saxons, on his conquest in England, or, what is more likely, by one of the antient counts of Holland. The town presented a very beautiful appearance from this spot, but it is not elevated enough to enable the visitor to see the surrounding country: the fruit-trees in the gardens which encompassed the wall were loaded with very fine fruit, particularly pears, plumbs, and apples. This place is much resorted to, on Sundays and holidays, by the citizens and their families, to smoke and enjoy the beauty of the prospect, and the refreshing sweetness of the air.

The next morning I visited the university of Leyden, which stands by the Rapenburg canal: it is the most venerable seminary in Holland; and, by the great number of learned and famous men which it has produced, does honour to the luster of its origin. There is scarcely a science which has not been improved and extended in this hallowed seat of learning; which has to boast amongst its members the immortal name of the younger Scaliger, who bequeathed to it his valuable Hebrew library; of the two Hensius, father and son; the former of whom was invited by Pope Urban the eighth to Venice, “to rescue,” as he expressed it, “that city from barbarism;” and both of whom shone like stars of the first magnitude in every branch of graceful literature; of Salmasius, the profound and able competitor of our immortal Milton; of Boerhaave, whose consummate knowledge of physic, attracted pupils from the most distant parts of Europe; and of many other illustrious persons, who have shed honour and distinction upon their country and the times in which they flourished. The students board in town at different lodging-houses, wherever their inclinations or resources may dispose them; they wear no regular habit; 123when the professors appear in public, they wear a large black silk gown, bordered with velvet, on which the word ‘Leyden’ is worked in silver. My next visit was to the botanic garden, rendered immortal by the illustrious Boerhaave, as that of Upsal, in Sweden, has been by Linnæus. Haller says, in speaking of Boerhaave in the Leyden Botanical Garden, “sæpe vidimus ante Auroram optimum senen ligneiscalceis per hortum repentem, ut comminus et cultum herbarum perspiceret, et flores fructusque specularetur.” We have often seen the good old man before the morning dawn, crawling about the garden in the wooden slippers, that he might immediately superintend the culture of plants, and speculate on their flowers and fruits. This great man was born at Woerhout, near Leyden, in 1668; at the age of fifteen he found himself without parents, protection, advice, or fortune: he had then profoundly studied theology, intending to devote himself to a clerical life; but the science of nature presented all her attractions, and for some time wholly absorbed his contemplation. In 1693 he was created doctor of physic, which he then regularly practised. At this time he could scarcely exist by his labours, and was compelled to teach the mathematics to procure the bare necessaries of life, although he left at his demise the vast fortune of two hundred thousand pounds. At length his genius dissolved the darkness in which he was enveloped, many powerful friends gathered round him, and procured for him the valuable appointments of professor of medicine in the university of Leyden, of chemistry, and of botany. The Academy of Sciences at Paris and the Royal Society at London, to each of which he imparted his discoveries in chemistry, invited him to become one of their members. Whilst Boerhaave presided in the chair, in chemistry, medicine, and botany, the city of Leyden was considered the school of Europe in these sciences. In 1715, when Peter the Great went to Holland to study maritime affairs, he regularly attended the lectures of Boerhaave. So widely diffused was his fame, that a mandarine in China wrote to him a letter thus superscribed; “To the illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe,” and it was regularly received. It was the daily practice of this 124eminent physician, through his whole life, as soon as he rose in the morning, which was generally very early, to retire for an hour to private prayer, and meditation on some part of the Scriptures. He often told his friends, when they asked him how it was possible to go through so much fatigue, that it was this which gave him spirit and vigour in the business of the day. This he therefore recommended as the best rule he could give; for nothing, he said, could tend more to the health of the body than the tranquillity of the mind, and that he knew nothing which could support himself and his fellow-creatures, amidst the various distresses of human life but a well-grounded confidence in the Supreme Being, upon the principles of christianity: the truth of his doctrine he finely illustrated in his severe illness in 1722, when the course of his lectures and his practice were long interrupted. Of his sagacity and wonderful penetration in the discovery and description of such distempers as betray themselves by no symptoms to common eyes, such surprising accounts have been given, as scarcely can be credited, though attested beyond all doubt. Yet this great master of medical knowledge was so far from feeling a presumptuous confidence in his mighty talents, or from being inflated by his prodigious wealth, that his condescension to the humblest being who approached him, and his unceasing professional application were ever the theme of admiration and astonishment.

He often used to say, what will make many a practitioner in physic tremble, that the life of a patient (if trifled with or neglected), would one day be required at the hand of the physician. He used to call the poor his best patients, nobly observing, that God would be their paymaster; the lustre of his eyes bespoke the activity and vivacity of his mind. He was always cheerful and desirous of promoting every valuable end of conversation. He disregarded calumny and detraction; for even Boerhaave had enemies, and never troubled himself to confute them. “They are sparks,” said he, “which, if you do not blow, will go out of themselves. The surest remedy against scandal is to live it down, by a perseverance in well doing; and by praying to God that he would cure 125the distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us.” He was never over-awed by the magnificence or presence of great men, but boldly persisted in proceeding in what he considered to be right, and left the consequence to God. He was enabled, with unexampled celerity and acuteness, to penetrate into the tempers and characters of persons at a glance of his eye. A friend, one day, who had often admired his patience under great provocations, asked him, if he ever knew what it was to be angry? to which Boerhaave replied with the most perfect frankness, “that he was naturally quick of resentment; but, that by prayer and meditation, he had obtained complete mastery over his passions; this he attributed, as he did every good thought, and every laudable action, to his God.”

About the middle of the year 1737, he felt the first approaches of that indisposition which was destined to bring him to his grave, viz. a disorder in his breast, which was occasionally very painful, often threatened him with immediate suffocation, and finally terminated in an universal dropsy: during all the anguish which he suffered, his placid temper and firmness of mind never forsook him; he attended at once to the ordinary duties of life as if in full health, and prepared for that death which his skill and experience enabled him to know was not very distant.

About three weeks before his dissolution, when the Rev. Mr. Schultens, one of the most learned and exemplary divines of his age, attended him at his country-house, the Doctor desired his prayers, and afterwards entered into a sublime discourse with him on the spiritual and immaterial parts of the soul, which he illustrated with wonderful perspicuity, by a description of the effects which the infirmities of his body had upon his faculties, which, however, they did not so oppress, or vanquish, but his soul was always master of itself, and always resigned to the pleasure of its Maker, and then added, “He who loves God ought to think nothing desirable but what is most pleasing to the supreme goodness.” As death approached nearer, he seemed to be more happy, amidst the increase of corporeal torments, and at length, on the 23d September, 1261738, he sunk under them in his 70th year. His funeral oration was spoken in Latin before the university of Leyden, to a crowded audience, by his friend Mr. Schultens, amidst tears of genuine regret and sympathy. The city of Leyden has raised a monument in the church of St. Peter, to the sanative genius of Boerhaave, “Salutifero Boerhaavii genio sacrum.” It consists of an urn upon a pedestal of black marble, with a group representing the four ages of life, and the two sciences in which Boerhaave excelled. The capital of this basis is decorated with a drapery of white marble, in which the artist has shown the different emblems of disorders, and their remedies. Upon the pedestal is the medallion of Boerhaave; at the extremity of the frame, a ribband displays the favourite motto of this learned man, “Simplex vigilum veri.” Professor Allamand had destined a very fine piece of red jasper to be employed in this medallion, but on account of the great expense of cutting the stone his design was abandoned. His pictures represent him as above the middle size, well proportioned, and of a strong constitution; when age had silvered over his hair, his countenance was said to have been extremely venerable and expressive, and to have much resembled the head of Socrates, but with features more softened and engaging. He was an eloquent orator, and declaimed with great dignity and grace. He taught very methodically, and with great precision, but always so captivated his auditors, that they regretted the close of his discourses, which he often enlivened with a sprightly turn of raillery; but it was ever refined, ingenious, and incapable of offending. He used to say, “that decent mirth was the salt of life.” In the practice of medicine he gave a decided preference to green over dried herbs, thinking that there was more virtue in herbs when they had their juices, than when decayed and withered. He was a great admirer of simples, and consequently was not a great patron of the apothecaries. When health would permit he regularly rode on horseback; when his strength began to fail he walked, and upon his return home, music, of which he was passionately fond, gladdened the hours of relaxation, and enabled him to return to his labours with redoubled 127alacrity. Dr. Johnson has written the following beautiful eulogium on this great man; “A man formed by nature for great designs, and guided by religion in the exertion of his abilities; determined to lose none of his hours, when he had attained one science, he attempted another; he added physic to divinity; chemistry to the mathematics, and anatomy to botany. He recommended truth by his elegance, and embellished the philosopher with polite literature; yet his knowledge, however uncommon, holds in his character but a second place; for his virtue was more uncommon than his learning. He ascribed all his abilities to the bounty, and all his goodness to the grace of his God. May those who study his writings imitate his life! and those who endeavour after his knowledge, aspire likewise to his piety.”

The botanic garden is not very large; in the time of Boerhaave it must have been small indeed, as its history represents it to have been considerably enlarged since that period: in the frontispiece of his Index Horti L. Bat. 1710, it is represented to be a petty square piece of ground. It now occupies about four acres, and is in excellent order: the trees and plants are marked according to the Linnæan system; but it is infinitely inferior in value and arrangement to the botanic gardens of Upsala and of the Dublin Society. Amongst the plants, I approached with the reverence due to it, the venerable remains of vegetable antiquity, in the shape of a palm, which stands in a tub in the open air, supported by a thin frame of iron work; it is about fourteen feet high, and was raised from seed by the celebrated Carolus Clusius, who died professor at Leyden in 1609: the professor who attended me, presented me with a bit of its bark, as a little relic. This tree and the pot in which it grows, are also figured in the frontispiece of Boerhaave’s Index before mentioned: it there appears to have been about half as high as at present, and is said to be the palm mentioned by Linnæus in his Prælectiones in Ordines Naturales Plantarum, p. 27, published by Giseke in 1792, at Hamburgh, which Linnæus suspected 129to be a chamærops, but which, as the ingenious Dr. Smith observes, his editor rightly refers to the rhapis flabelli formis, Ait. Hort. Kew, v. iii. p. 473. It comes from China and Japan: there is a tree of this kind, and about as large, in the botanic garden at Paris, and another at Pisa. In this garden is also the ginkgo of the Chinese, a standard twenty feet high; Strelitzia reginæ, Ait. Hort. Kew, v. i. p. 285, tab. 2, which has never yet flowered in any garden out of England; the olea laurifolia, a new species according to Mr. Van Royen; Royena lucida in flower, as large as a moderate hawthorn tree, and thought to be very handsome; and a singular plant from the Cape, supposed to be an echites, with a large tuberous root raised high above the surface of the ground, two or three weak stems a foot high, and large dark brown flowers. In the university library is Rauwolf’s Herbarium, which is very magnificent, and the plants well preserved; also Boccone’s Herbarium of the plants described in his Fasciculus Plantarum, published by Morison at Oxford, in 1674; these specimens are very poor: Herman’s Collection of Ceylon Plants is also here, which are a part of the celebrated Herbarium, the rest of which is at Copenhagen; also a volume of West India plants, belonging to Herman, which are very scarce in Holland, and a fine collection of mathematical instruments; amongst other things, a most pure and brilliant prism of Brazil pebble, and a two-inch cube of Iceland refracting spar, perfectly clear and free from blemish.

In a very long apartment in the gallery there are some busts and statues in tolerable preservation, but of no great value; the best are busts of Nero and Agrippina, Servilius and a Bacchus: they were presented to the university by a citizen of the town. I was shown into a small room containing some stuffed birds and beasts, which were in very poor condition. The theatre of anatomy is very near the botanic garden; in it is a valuable collection of anatomical and pathological subjects. This hall is well worthy the notice of the traveller, as well for its valuable contents, as for having furnished Europe with some of its best physicians. This library is celebrated throughout Europe, for the many valuable specimens of oriental literature with which it abounds, exclusive 130of the books before mentioned. Golius, upon his return from the East, and who afterwards filled with great reputation the Arabic professorship of the university, has enriched this valuable depositary of learning with many Arabic, Turkish, Chaldean, and Persian manuscripts. I have before mentioned that Joseph Scaliger bequeathed his valuable collection of Hebrew books to it. The precious manuscripts contained here are said to exceed eight thousand. Since the last war commenced, no addition of English publications has been made to this library, which contains the Transactions of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies of London, and the Histories of Gibbon, Robertson, and Hume. To suffer an inimical disposition between two countries to erect a barrier between intellectual communication is giving additional barbarism to the ferocity of war. To the honour of England and France, they have never permitted those melancholy conflicts which have so long, and so fatally inflamed the one against the other, to check the free and liberal interchange of philosophical discovery and literary investigation. Whilst the respective governments have been engaged in reciprocal schemes of vengeance, the learned societies of both countries have communed with each other in the language of peace and liberality.

The king of Spain has presented this library with some magnificent folios, descriptive of the antiquities of Herculaneum. The books are principally bound in fine white parchment, and are gilded and decorated with considerable taste and splendor. There are in this room several excellent portraits of eminent men who have belonged to the university, or who have been benefactors to it: the head of that elegant and voluptuous poet Johannes Secundus, who died at the age of twenty-five, distinguishable for its dark penetrating eyes, adust complexion, and black hair and beard, is very fine. There are also very interesting portraits of Janus Douse, who during the siege of Leyden exhibited the most admirable heroism, by which he acquired the applause of the Prince of Orange and the government of the town: this hero shone in letters as well as arms; also of Erasmus at different stages of his life; of Hugo Donellus, painted after death, in which all the appearances of 131mortality are finely imitated with ghastly precision; also of Daniel Heinsius, and a miniature of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein. There are also several medallion likenesses of distinguished Englishmen carved in ivory, such as Milton, Marvel, Ludlow, Wickliffe, Harrington, &c. &c. executed by an English refugee, who took shelter in Holland after the overthrow of the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion. There is a museum of natural history, principally collected by Professor Allemand, containing some fine ores, corals, and pebbles, and also some rare quadrupeds and amphibia: also a young ostrich in the egg; the nautilus with the animal in it, and some papilios. In the anatomical theatre are the valuable preparations of Albinus, amongst them are specimens of the progress of ossification in the fœtus. This university has also to boast of the works of Mr. Pestel, professor of jurisprudence, for his admirable work, entitled Fundamenta Jurisprudentiæ Naturalis. The constitutional regulations of this university are conceived in a noble spirit of liberality. No offensive obligations, no religious tests, no repulsive oaths, are imposed, no insidious attempts at proselytism are exercised. Youths of every religious persuasion mingle together in perfect harmony; like brothers they aggregate to study, and not to quarrel about modes of faith. Whatever may be the rank of the student, or from whatever country he may come, he speedily adopts the decent, gentle, and frugal manners and habits of the inhabitants. The long war and revolution in this country have naturally withdrawn a great number of young men of rank and fortune from this seminary, and prevented others from entering it. The students do not now exceed two hundred. A considerable number of English students, in a period of peace, used to flock to this illustrious academy, which, as well as the beauty, tranquillity, cleanliness, and salubrity of the city in which it stands, and the cheapness and perfect freedom of living, and the charms of the surrounding country, holds out the strongest attractions to the recluse and studious. The examinations for academical honours are more severe than even for those of Trinity College Dublin.

Amongst other circumstances which have concurred to crown Leyden with celebrity, I must not omit to relate that its neighbourhood 132gave birth to Rembrandt in 1606. His real name was Gerretz, but he is known by the name of Van Ryn, an appellation given to him from the place where he spent the youthful part of his life, on the borders of the Rhine. This illustrious artist is one amongst the many instances which might be produced, of the effect of accidental circumstances in early life determining the character and formation of genius; he derived his peculiarity of shade from the circumstance of his father’s mill receiving light from an aperture at the top, which, and not his studying under Jacob Pinas, gradually led him to use that breadth of shade for which he was so eminently distinguished. At a very early period he exhibited strong proofs of genius for painting, and by his productions astonished his master Jacques Van Zwanenburg, in whose school he continued three years. His father’s mill, and the circumjacent country, first attracted his attention, which, with the heavy living objects with whom he associated, so completely possessed his mind, that he seldom selected any others which were beautiful or graceful. When very young, one of his friends prevailed upon him to go to Amsterdam, and offer one of his pictures for sale, which he did, and sold it to a very able judge of genius in his line for one hundred florins. He went on foot with the treasure under his arm, but returned in a carriage. This trifling circumstance induced him to settle in that city, where he soon became solicited by persons of the first distinction for his works. Here, from the number of pupils who flocked to him, and the great demand for his paintings, wealth poured in upon him copiously. For instructing each of his pupils he received one hundred florins per annum, but becoming avaricious as he became wealthy, he sold a great number of copies made by them for his own pictures, in which he deceived the purchaser by retouching several parts. The swindling tricks and stratagems by which this great artist used to raise money, threw a deeper breadth of shade than his pencil ever cast upon his canvass, over the brighter parts of his genius. It is related that one of his pupils, well knowing his rapacious disposition, painted a number of coins upon some cards which he laid upon his master’s table when he was from home; on his return, he ran eagerly 133to seize them and recovered the vexation of his disappointment, only by admiring the dexterity of the deception.

Rembrandt was a great humourist. One day when he was painting a large family picture, and one of the subjects was actually sitting to him, his servant informed him of the death of his favourite monkey, which he felt so sensibly, and whimsically, that he immediately ordered the dead body to be brought in, and drew it as one of the group, which he would not expunge, although the family refused to pay for the picture before it was effaced. His finest historical pictures are those of Ahasuerus, Esther and Haman; the woman taken in adultery; and St. John preaching in the wilderness, which are said to be touched with inexpressible fire and spirit. The imagination of this great artist was lively and active, and his invention very fertile: he had a large collection of old draperies, armour, weapons, and turbans, which he used sportively to call his antiques; these he preferred to any of the works of the Grecian artists. He had also a great number of the finest Italian prints, drawings, and designs, many of them taken from the antiques, which afforded him gratification, but do not appear to have ameliorated his taste. His portraits are excellent, and resemble life as near to perfection as possible, but his airs and attitudes are defective of grace and dignity. Many of his heads display such minute exactness, that even the hairs of the beard, and the wrinkles of old age, are given with the most exquisite fidelity. The portrait appears to breathe upon the canvass. It is a curious circumstance that his lights were produced by a colour unusually thick, more resembling modeling than painting, but every tint was so judiciously placed, that it remained on the canvass in full freshness, beauty, and lustre. The etchings of Rembrandt are greatly admired, and are regarded as prime treasures in the cabinets of the curious in most parts of Europe: these productions rival his paintings, every stroke of the graver exhibits expression and life: his genuine works are rarely to be met with, but whenever they are presented for sale, they produce incredible prices. In the splendid collection of Mr. Desenfans, are some exquisite productions of this and other Flemish masters; this collection is, 134upon the whole, the best in England, and is exhibited to persons of respectability, without cost, by its liberal possessor.

Amongst the curiosities of Leyden, I did not take the trouble of seeing the shopboard of the celebrated John of Leyden, a character distinguishable for its ambition, enterprize, and ferocity: those who have furnished us with an account of this aspiring monster, relate that his name was Bucold; that from being the son of a taylor, and brought up to his father’s trade, he resolved upon becoming a king; that accordingly he first tasted of royalty on the board of a strolling company of comedians in the character of a prince, which affording him much gratification, he connected himself with a baker of Amsterdam, a fanatic, who called himself God’s vicegerent upon the earth, and declared that he was sent to illuminate the world. This fellow, previous to his becoming the associate of John of Leyden, assumed the name of Thomas Munster, and impregnated a number of Germans with his religious phrenzy, which aimed at the demolition of the doctrine of Luther: this fanatic faction spread with incredible celerity, until the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and the duke of Brunswick, resolved upon drawing the sword against these furious zealots. The prophet Munster was taken prisoner and lost his head; but soon after, as if inspirited by this blow, John of Leyden took Munster at the head of a troop of sanguinary bigots, and ordered himself to be proclaimed king. After this ceremony was performed he committed the most horrible outrages: in the name of God, he battered down all the churches, and changed the religion of the country; he recommended polygamy, and kept a seraglio of sixteen wives, one of whom endeavoured to assassinate the Bishop of Waldeck, who fortunately seized the poniard from her hand, and plunged it into her own bosom; and another, John himself put to death for hesitation in complying with his wishes. When he appeared in the streets of Munster, he wore a crown upon his head, carried a sword in one hand, and the New Testament in the other, and was preceded on horseback by a group of dancing boys, whilst the sides were by his mandates, crowded with the prostrate terrified citizens, who were punished with instant death if they stood, or 135remained covered in his presence. The reign of this petty tyrant was brief: the Bishop of Munster besieged the town, which suffered nearly the same horrors which I have described to have occurred at Leyden, when the Spaniards sat down before it; the living fed upon the dead, and a look that intimated a wish to surrender was punished with instant death. The miseries which surrounded him, served only to inflame the fanatical spirit of the monster; at last, however, the town was taken by surprise, and John and the ministers of his bloody ambition were conducted before the victorious prelate, to whom, after being charged with the enormities which he had committed, he is said to have replied, with the craft of a coward, in the following manner: “The possession of my person has cost you much money and much blood, my death will be a loss to you, my life may become a source of profit to you, put me in an iron cage, set a price upon the exhibition of me, and send me through Europe, thus will you in the end be the gainer by me.” The bishop saw through his object which was the dastard preservation of his forfeited life, and accordingly ordered him to be put to death with a refinement of cruelty, at the relation of which human nature sickens, abhorred as the victim was. Two executioners tore his flesh slowly asunder with red hot pincers, and after the mitred conqueror and his followers had glutted their eyes with his writhings, and their ears with his screams, a javelin pierced his heart, and his mangled body was thrown into a cage, and exposed to the birds of the air from the steeple of St. Lambert’s church. It has been observed by some travellers, that the Dutch are much given to a tremulous motion of the head. I saw no instance of this national trait except, where I expected to find it, among old and paralytic persons. The practice of bowing is not confined to the Dutchman, though adduced against him as a sort of blemish by every Englishman who extends his rambles no farther than Holland: throughout Germany the same courtesy is displayed, and even among the common Russian boors the practice of exchanging bows is quite common.

I was not much gratified with the church of St. Peter, the principal one in the city; it is a large ponderous building, in the 136worst style of gothic architecture. In this structure the English and Russian soldiers were confined when taken prisoners at Alkmaar. The poor Russians, who expected no quarter, looked upon the brass chandeliers which are suspended in the body of the church, as the instruments of execution, to each of which they thought of being fastened by the neck. The Russians, in their first campaigns with the French, entertained the same apprehension, and were most agreeably astonished on one occasion, which presented a memorable display of French sagacity, to find that, instead of being shot or guillotined, they were presented with new clothing of the Russian uniform, and offered their liberty.

In the streets of Leyden are several very handsome bookseller’s shops, particularly Murray’s in the Braadstraat, where there are many valuable publications, and particularly a fine collection of the classics, which are sold at very reasonable prices. The press of Leyden, in the time of Elzevirs, presented some of the most elegant specimens of typography, in the many correct and beautiful editions which they have given of the most renowned authors of antiquity. In beauty, variety, and profusion, the Leyden press rivalled, and in many instances surpassed, that of the Hague and Amsterdam; but since the period of the above bibliopolists, it has gradually decayed. It may be easily imagined, that with the change which has taken place in the political relations of Holland, the liberty of the press is not what it used to be at Leyden, which was once celebrated for its Gazette, a rival in reputation of that of Brussels: the former was distinguished for its partiality to the Stadtholder, and his well known attachments to the English cabinet; and the latter for supporting the true interests of the country. The editors and proprietors of the Leyden Gazette fled with precipitation, on the irruption of the French into Holland; and the paper which is now issued from Leyden, is of course the organ of the new government, and but little enlivened with political discussion.

138The staple trade of Leyden, the woollen manufactory, has suffered very severely from the establishment of extensive looms in various parts of Germany, from the last and present war with England, and from the superiority of the manufactures of Yorkshire, which are in such high estimation in America and Asia, that Dutch merchants trading to those countries, found it more advantageous to send out English cloths. The coarse cloths of Holland had formerly a brisk market amongst the East and West India Companies: but from the above cause thousands of manufacturers have been obliged to renounce their looms, and divert their skill and industry to other sources of support; and in all human probability the woollen manufactures of Leyden will never revive.

Before I quit this celebrated city, I cannot help mentioning that, in addition to the illustrious artists before mentioned, it gave birth to Gerard Douw, who was born here in 1613, and entered at the early age of fifteen into the school of Rembrandt, with whom he continued three years, and from whom he obtained the true principles of colouring: his pictures are generally small, and remarkable for their wonderful brilliancy, delicacy, transparency, and exquisite high finishing. Sandrart relates a curious anecdote of the laborious assiduity which he displayed. Being with Bamboccio in the painting-room of Gerard Douw, they were enraptured with the wonderful minuteness of a picture which Douw was then painting, and were particularly struck with the finishing of a broom, and could not refrain expressing their surprise at the amazing neatness displayed in so minute an object; upon which Douw informed them that he should spend three more days upon that very broom before he could complete it to his satisfaction. The same author also relates, that in a family picture of a Mrs. Spiering, Douw occupied five days in finishing one of the hands that leaned over an arm-chair. This disposition to elaborate execution, in which he far surpassed every other Flemish master, so alarmed a great number of persons, that they had not patience to sit to him, and hence he chiefly applied his fine powers in works of fancy, in which he could introduce objects of still-life, and gratify his inclination in the choice of his time. A noble instance is 139related of the liberality of his great patron, Mr. Spiering, the husband of the lady above-mentioned, resident of the king of Sweden at the Hague, namely, that he allowed him a thousand guilders a year, with no other stipulation than that Douw should give his benefactor the preference of purchasing every picture he painted, for which he always paid him to the full extent of his demand. He lived to a great age, but his sight was so affected by the minuteness of his performances that at the age of thirty he was obliged to use spectacles. The finest picture from his hands considerably exceeded his usual size, being three feet high by two feet six inches broad within the frame: this matchless piece of art represents two rooms; in the first there appears a very curious piece of tapestry, forming the separation of the apartments, in which there is a very pretty-figure of a woman with a child at her breast; at her side is a cradle, and a table covered with tapestry, on which is placed a gilt lamp and some pieces of still-life; in the second apartment is a surgeon’s shop, with a countryman undergoing an operation, and a woman standing by him with several utensils: the folding doors show on one side a study, and a man making a pen by candlelight, and on the other side, a school with boys writing, and sitting at different tables, which parts are lighted in a most charming and astonishing manner, so that every feature and character of countenance is distinctly, and most intelligibly delineated. Incredible sums have been given, and still continue to be given for the works of this master, in his own country, and in every polite part of Europe where they are to be found. Some of his best works are now in the royal gallery at Dresden.

I must not omit that comical, dissipated humourist and happy artist, Jan Steen, who was born here in 1636, whose wit and drollery were only surpassed by his wonderful powers in painting, in which such was his astonishing faculty, that he seemed to be more inspired than instructed, for he kept an alehouse for a considerable time, from the cellars of which he drew more for himself than for his customers, and having exhausted his barrels, he replenished them by the product of his art, to which he never devoted himself but upon such occasions, and generally discharged the bills of 140the brewers and wine merchants with pictures. Although he might have lived in great affluence by his masterly pencil, he was frequently reduced to the most deplorable penury by indolence and dissipation; his faces alone completely indicated the rank and condition of the person depicted. Great prices are now given for the works of this artist, though they sold for small sums in his life time, on account of his being obliged to sell upon the pressure of necessity. A characteristic anecdote is related of this singular artist. In a picture of the crucifixion, having introduced a numerous group of figures, consisting of monks, old women, and dogs, at the foot of the cross, he was asked to explain the reason of such an assemblage; to which he replied, “the clergy and the old women are always the most eager in their inquiries, when any thing curious occurs.” Some years since, another instance of his eccentric turn of mind was sold for a considerable sum at Amsterdam, viz. a painting of the deluge, which he had delineated by introducing a large Dutch cheese, with the word Leyden inscribed upon it, floating in the centre of a sheet of water, which, he said, would incontestably prove that all the world was drowned. The name of Jan Steen naturally introduces that of his great friend Francis Mieres, who was born here in 1635, and was a pupil of Gerard Douw, who, from the rapid progress he made in his studies, used to call him the Prince of his Disciples: in rich transparency, an unusual sweetness of colouring, and an elaborate but delicate touch, he nearly approached his illustrious master. Mieres was generally paid a ducat an hour for his works, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany paid him no less than a thousand rix dollars for one picture. Unfortunately for this artist, he conceived an uncommon friendship for the drunken, droll Jan Steen, which frequently involved him in inconvenience, and disgrace. An anecdote is related of Mieres, in consequence of this association, which in its result did much honour to his feelings; being accustomed to pass whole nights with his friend in the most joyous manner at a tavern, he was returning home very late one evening from his company, when he fell into a common sewer, which had been left open in order to cleanse it, where he must have perished, had not a cobler 141and his wife, who were in a neighbouring stall, heard his cries, and instantly ran to his relief; having extricated him, although they were total strangers to him, they took care of him for the night, and treated him with all the kindness in their power: the next morning their guest returned to his lodgings, strongly impressed with the humanity and hospitality of his new friends, whom he resolved to reward in a manner worthy of their conduct; and accordingly having painted a picture in his best manner, he returned to his preservers and presented them with it, telling them it was the production of a person whose life they had preserved, and directed them to go and offer it to his friend and patron Cornelius Plaats, who would give the full value for it. The woman, unacquainted with the real value of the present, expected only a moderate gratuity for the picture, and was overwhelmed with surprise when the liberal purchaser paid her eight hundred florins for it. The grand Duke of Tuscany offered three thousand florins for a picture of Mieres, representing a lady fainting, and a physician relieving her. Francis Mieres left two sons and a grandson, all of whom were distinguished artists. John Van Goyen the father-in-law of Jan Steen, was also an artist of great celebrity: he painted a great number of pictures, and his execution was marvellously rapid, of which the following curious anecdote is recorded as a memorable instance: Hoogstraten relates that Van Goyen, Knipbergen, and Parcelles, had agreed each to paint a picture in one day, in the presence of several other artists, their friends, to whose judgment was left the disposal of a considerable sum of money subscribed for that purpose by the contending artists, to be bestowed upon the person who produced the best picture within that period. As soon as Van Goyen took the pencil, without making any previous sketch, he first laid on the light colour of the sky, then he rubbed on several different shades of brown, next masses of light on the foreground in several spots; out of this chaos, he produced trees, buildings, water, distant hills, vessels lying before a sea-port, and boats filled with figures, with almost magical celerity, and exquisite spirit, and finished the whole within the limited time, to the astonishment of the beholders. Knipbergen proceeded with his work 142in quite a different manner, for instead of beginning to colour his canvass he sketched on his palette the design he had formed in his imagination, and took much pains to give it all imaginable correctness, every rock, tree, waterfall, and other object, was disposed in the manner it was intended to be finished in the painting, and he attempted nothing more than to transfer the sketch upon the canvass; this picture was also finished in the time, and was allowed by the observers to possess much merit. The method observed by Parcelles differed from both, for when he took up his palette and pencils, he sat a long time in deep meditation upon his subject, and having arranged his thoughts, he executed within the time also, a sea-piece, admirably designed and delicately finished. The judges were unanimous in deciding for Parcelles, observing, that though the pictures of Van Goyen and Knipbergen were full of spirit, taste, and good colouring, yet in the picture by Parcelles there was equal merit as well in the handling as the colouring, and more truth, as being the result of great thought and judicious premeditation. William Vandervelde, the celebrated marine painter, was also born here in 1610: the love of his art induced him to remove with his family to England, on account of the superior elegance in the construction of British ships; and he was successively patronised by King Charles II. and King James II. Such was his enthusiasm, that, in order to unite fidelity with grandeur and elegance in his compositions, he would boldly advance in a small light vessel into the very heat of a naval engagement, and make his sketches, in undaunted tranquillity, whilst the balls were flying about him in all directions. Of this bold spirit he exhibited two very memorable instances, before he came to England; one was in the severe battle between the Duke of York and Admiral Opdam, in which the Dutch admiral and 503 men were blown up; and the other, in that great battle, which lasted three days, between Admiral Monck and Admiral de Ruyter, during which engagements Vandervelde plied between the fleets, so that he was enabled to represent every movement of the ships, and every material circumstance of the action, with astonishing minuteness and truth. There were formerly some good 143private collections of paintings in this city, but the political storms of the country have dispersed them.

About a mile from Leyden there is a very valuable collection by some of the most distinguished Dutch and Flemish masters, belonging to Mr. Gevers, who has a noble mansion, and grounds very tastefully disposed; and who upon all occasions is happy to permit strangers to visit his cabinet, and to show them every hospitality.

Near this city, in the village of Rhynsburg, the assembly of a very singular and equally liberal religious association is held, the members of which are called after the name of the place, Rhynsburgians: this meeting was established by three peasants, who were brothers, of the name of John, Adrian, and Gilbert Van Code, who to an excellent and profitable acquaintance with farming, which they followed, singularly united a profound knowledge of languages, for which they were so celebrated, that Prince Maurice, and Monsieur de Maurier, the then French ambassador, honoured them with several visits, and conversed with them in Latin, Greek, Italian, and French, in each of which they astonished their visitors by their fluency and pronunciation: another brother, William, filled the professorship of the oriental languages in the university of Leyden. In consequence of the churches being left without their pastors, on the expulsion of the remonstrant clergy in the year 1619, the three first-mentioned brothers determined to supply their places, and undertook to explain the Scriptures: they set an example of genuine christianity which has been rarely displayed; and they taught that every one had a right to worship God according to his own form of faith, taking the Bible for his guide. This association meet every Saturday, for the purpose of digesting the discourses of the ensuing Sunday, when, with the sincerest humility, one of the fraternity distributes the bread and wine. After the morning duties of the Sabbath are passed, they reassemble in the evening to return thanks to the Almighty for his favours, and at the same time particularize the instances of his goodness. On Monday morning they part to attend to their different temporal concerns, and at their taking leave, solemnly impress upon each other the 144sacred obligation, and the blissful result of a perseverance in the pious course which they have hitherto pursued. Such benevolent and exalted principles attract persons of various persuasions to the meeting, who assist in its solemnities, and partake in the pure spirit of its devotion. The religion most followed previous to the revolution, was the presbyterian and calvinistical; before the revolution, none but presbyterians were admitted into any office or post under government, except in the army. The republic, in its early stages, displayed its wisdom in making the calvinistical persuasion predominant, for the country at that period was too poor to erect magnificent temples of worship, and support a train of prelates in the splendor bestowed upon them in other countries, which were more rich, and had a population adequate to the cultivation of the soil. It was of the highest consequence to Holland to encourage population, and they could not more effectually do it, than by a policy equally generous and enlightened, which offered an asylum to all foreigners persecuted for their religion, and discouraged all monastic institutions.

As I was one day roving in this city, I was struck with the appearance of a small board ornamented with a considerable quantity of lace, with an inscription on it, fastened to a house: upon inquiry, I found that the lady of the mansion, where I saw it, had lately lain in, and was then much indisposed, and that it was the custom of the country to expose this board, which contained an account of the state of the invalid’s health, for the satisfaction of her inquiring friends, who were by this excellent plan informed of her situation, without disturbing her by knocking at the door, and by personal inquiries: the lace I found was never displayed but in lying in cases, but without it, this sort of bulletin is frequently used in other cases of indisposition amongst persons of consequence.

It is a painful task not to be able to close my account of this beautiful and celebrated city, without lamenting with the reader the dreadful accident which befel it on the 12th of January last, more terrible and destructive than all the horrors of its siege, the intelligence of which was communicated to me very soon afterwards 145by a friend in Holland, just as I had fairly written out thus far of my journal. About one o’clock of that day, a vessel laden with forty thousand pounds weight of gunpowder from Amsterdam, destined for Delft, and then lying in the Rapenburg canal, by some means which can never now be known, took fire and blew up with the explosion of a mighty volcano, by which many hundreds of lives were lost, and a great portion of the city destroyed. The king, on hearing of the dreadful catastrophe was sensibly affected, repaired to the city, remained all the following night in the streets, and was to be seen wherever his presence could animate the survivors to stop the progress of the flames, to clear the rubbish of falling buildings, and drag from under the ruins those who had been covered by them: the king offered the palace in the wood to persons of respectability, whose habitations had been overthrown by the shock, until they could secure homes to repair to; empowered the magistrates of this devoted city to make a general collection throughout the whole kingdom, and ordered 100,000 guilders to be paid out of the treasury for the relief of the surviving sufferers.

I quitted Leyden with great reluctance, and entered on board the treckschuyt for Haarlem, which sets off every two hours for that town, distant from Leyden fifteen miles. The canal all the way is broad and clear, and frequently adorned with the yellow fringed water-lily. Nothing could be more beautiful than our passage. As we approached Haarlem, the villas and gardens which nearly all the way adorned the banks of the canal, increased in number, beauty, and magnitude: many of them belong to the most opulent merchants of Amsterdam. Haarlem is not so beautiful as Leyden, but abounds with spacious streets, canals, avenues, and handsome houses: it is about four miles from the sea, and fifteen from Amsterdam: on one side of the canal is the Haarlem meer, or lake, the spring water of which is so celebrated all over Europe for producing the most brilliant whiteness upon the linens bleached here, and the superior property of which cannot be reached by any chymical process. Haarlem was once fortified, but its ramparts now form an agreeable promenade. The bleacheries 146of this city are too well known to be further mentioned; in all his wandering, the traveller will never enjoy the luxury of snow-white linen in such perfection as at Haarlem: before the war, Scotch and Irish linens used to be sent here to be bleached. There was a considerable manufacture of silks and camblets, but it has experienced a great decline, and the principal trade is bleaching threads and cambric; the inhabitants are calculated at thirty-two thousand. The cathedral, which is said to be the largest in the kingdom, though I am inclined to think that of Utrecht greater, was built in 1472, and the steeple, which is very handsome, was added in 1515. To inspect the internal part of the building, I was obliged to apply to one of the principal clergymen belonging to it, who resides in an adjoining house, and attended by a lady-like looking woman, perhaps his wife, or house-keeper, I was admitted into this venerable pile, where the first object that struck me was the celebrated organ supported upon pillars of porphyry: this instrument is said to be the finest and largest in the world; it occupies the whole west end of the nave. For a ducat paid to the organist, and two florins to the bellows blower, the former will gratify the traveller by playing for an hour; unfortunately for me he was absent in the country, and I did not hear the celebrated vox humana, or pipe, which most admirably imitates the human voice. Of the magnitude of this enormous musical pile, the reader may form some conception when he is informed that it contains eight thousand pipes, some of which are thirty-eight feet in length, and sixteen inches in diameter, and has sixty-four stops, four separations, two shakes, two couplings, and twelve bellows; like an elephant, that with his proboscis can either pluck a violet or raise a tree by its roots, the notes of this wonderful instrument can swell from the softest to the sublimest sounds, from the warbling of a distant bird to the awful tone of thunder, until the massy building trembles in all its aisles. On every Tuesday and Thursday, a voluntary is played upon this organ from twelve till one o’clock, when the doors of the cathedral are thrown open. Many years since the immortal Handel played upon this organ, when the organist, in amazement, pronounced him to be an angel, or the devil. Between 147two of the columns which support the organ, there is a noble emblematical alto-relievo, with three figures as large as life, by Xavery, representing Gratitude, assisted by Poetry and Music, making an offering to Piety, and a Latin inscription purporting that the organ was erected in 1738, at the town’s expense, the same having been built by Christian Muller of this city. This is the organ which the good people of Rotterdam are endeavouring to rival: the cathedral, like the other churches, is crowded with square wooden monuments, painted with the arms of the deceased on a black ground, with the date of their death in gold letters, but no names: in the wall at the east end of the church, a cannon ball is exhibited, which was fired into it by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, during divine service.

The walks round this city are very beautiful, and at a short distance from it there is a noble wood, in which is a fine walk of stately elms, nearly three miles long, abounding with beautiful scenery: this wood is a rival of that which I have described at the Hague. In this delightful place stands the mansion of Mr. Henry Hope, whose family has been long known for its loyalty and immense wealth: it is said to have cost fifty thousand pounds. Upon the revolution taking place, this gentleman was obliged to seek refuge in England, to the capital of which he had previously transported in safety his magnificent collection of paintings.

The villa, which is built of brick stuccoed, is modern and magnificent, and before the revolution was frequently resorted to by the Prince of Orange and his family, who were much attached to its opulent and liberal owner, which he eminently merited, by having rendered them many important services, particularly in 1788, when it was unsafe for him to appear on the exchange of Amsterdam without military protection. As the pictures were removed, there was nothing in the internal part of the mansion worthy of notice.

Haarlem and its environs are more celebrated than any other spot, for the beautiful flowers which it produces, the soil being peculiarly propitious to their production.

Not far from the church, the spot where stood the house of Lawrence Coster, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, the celebrated inventor of the art of printing, is shewn; formerly there was a statue over the gate where he lived, within this inscription:

The first book he printed is kept in the town house, in a silver case wrapt up in silk, and is always shewn with great caution, as a most precious relic of antiquity. The glory of this transcendent discovery, which spread light and civilization over the world, and formed a new epoch in its history, was for a long time disputed between Haarlem, Mayence, and Strasburg: the latter, after a laborious investigation, has renounced her pretensions, and the general 149opinion seems to bestow the palm upon the first city. The manner in which Coster imbibed the first impressions of this divine discovery, is said to have been from his cutting the letters of his name on the bark of a tree, and afterwards pressing a piece of paper upon the characters, until they became legible upon it, which induced him to continue the experiment, by engraving other letters upon wood. Those early principles were soon diffused through France, with considerable improvements, by the enterprising ability of the Etiennes; by the learned Manutius, a celebrated Venetian painter, and the inventor of Italian characters, through Italy; and through the Netherlands by Christopher Plantin, whose printing office at Antwerp was one of the principal ornaments of the town, and who was distinguished for his skill, erudition, and prodigious wealth, created solely by a successful prosecution of his important business.

Mayence contests the honour of the invention, but it is generally believed that a servant of Coster, of the name of Faustus, stole the types of his master on a Christmas-eve, whilst he was attending his devotions at church, and fled with his booty to Mayence. The portrait of Coster is to be seen in most of the booksellers’ shops at Haarlem, and in other principal towns.

A memorable, but not an unusual instance of affection, and of female presence of mind, occurred in this city many years since, at a spot which is still shown with no little degree of national pride, whereon an ancient castle stood, the lord of which was severely pressed by the burghers of the town, who laid siege to it, on account of his tyrannical conduct towards them: driven to the last extremity, and when his life was upon the point of paying the forfeit of his crimes, his lady appeared on the ramparts, and offered to surrender, provided she might be permitted to bring out as much of her most valuable goods as she could carry on her back; which being complied with, she brought her husband out upon her shoulders, preserved him from the fury of the troops, and gave 150up to them possession of the castle: thinking in the language of Shakspeare,

History informs us, that Haarlem presented a glorious example of resistance to the Spanish yoke, so heroically imitated two years afterwards at Leyden, which experienced a better fortune than befel the wretched inhabitants of the former city. Whilst the provinces were bravely opposing their invaders, a long and memorable siege in 1573, which was carried on against Haarlem by Frederic of Toledo, the son of the sanguinary Duke of Alva, during which the female inhabitants, like those of Leyden, assisted the garrison in their duties, underwent every privation, faced every horror, and rushed to certain destruction in defence of the town, with an alacrity and fortitude which have rendered them immortal in the annals of their country. Those heroines, when the garrison refused with indignation the conditions which were offered them by the Spanish general, fought with unshaken courage by the side of the men, in their desperate sorties against the besieging army, and in their fury put every prisoner to death, whom they took in these attacks. This unjustifiable conduct, and the derision which from the ramparts they expressed of the Roman Catholic worship, induced the Spaniards to retort with terrible vengeance. In consequence of a correspondence which the besieged carried on with the Prince of Orange by means of carrier pigeons, being discovered by the Spaniards, they shot every pigeon which came within the reach of their musketry, which rendered the situation of the garrison hopeless, and they at length surrendered, on condition that the lives of the soldiers and inhabitants should be spared, to which Frederic of Toledo consented, entered the town at the head of his victorious troops, and in cold blood butchered two thousand of those who had submitted to his arms, and trusted to his honour.

151When it is considered, that at this period, the Spanish monarchy was predominant in Europe, that its armies were mighty, its generals experienced, and its treasury overflowing, the triumphant prowess which the Dutch displayed in finally driving their powerful invaders back to their own frontiers, will render the Dutch name illustrious as long as the record of history endures. The Dutch ladies have rivalled in fame the most renowned heroines of Greece and Rome. The Hollanders treasure up these gallant exploits in their memories, they form the favourite subjects of their songs, and the old and the young recite with enthusiasm the great deeds of their ancestors.

The Haarlem lake which I mentioned, presented a very bleak and dismal sheet of water from the canal; it is about fourteen miles long, and about the same number broad, is said to be above six feet deep, and lies between Leyden, Amsterdam, and Haarlem: its waters are slimy, and abound with eels, some of which are of a prodigious size. This lake can have no charm but for a bleacher. The fuel used here is Newcastle coals and turf.

Having described what is worthy of notice at Haarlem, it would be indifference indeed to an art which I worship, were I to quit this city without briefly adverting to some of the principal distinguished artists which it had the honour of giving birth to. The first in chronological order was Philip Wouvermans, who was born at Haarlem in 1620, whose sweetness of colouring, correctness of design, beautiful choice of scenery, and perfect knowledge of the chiaro-scuro, or as it has well been defined, of light and black, have excited the admiration and applause of posterity: the subjects which he was particularly partial to were huntings, hawkings, encampments of armies, farriers’ shops, and all those scenes that admitted of his introducing horses, which he painted to great perfection. Notwithstanding his transcendent merit, for a considerable period he met with no encouragement, and encountered many difficulties which greatly depressed his spirits, of which the picture-merchants knew how to take every ungenerous advantage: at length he was relieved from his indigence and dependence, by the bounty of his confessor, who seeing his uncommon genius, was 152resolved to the extent of his power, to extricate it from the odious shackles which encumbered it, and accordingly advanced him six hundred guilders, by a judicious application of which he emancipated himself from his embarrassments: he now doubled the price of his pictures, and was enabled to give his daughter a marriage portion of twenty thousand guilders. As soon as he was enabled to pay his confessor, he sent the sum he had borrowed, accompanied with a chef-d’œuvre of his works, representing his holy benefactor in the character of St. Hubert kneeling before his horse. All connoisseurs agree that this picture is the finest he ever painted. Wouvermans resided in the Bakenessegragt, a short distance from the church. The depression of mind which his early disappointments excited, never quitted this great artist: a few hours before he died, he ordered a box filled with his studies and designs to be burned, saying, “I was so long unrewarded for my labours, that I wish to prevent my son from being allured by these designs, to embrace so unpromising and uncertain a profession as mine.”

The works of Wouvermans and Bamboccio were continually placed in competition by the best judges of art, and the latter having painted a picture which was much admired, John de Wilt prevailed upon Wouvermans to paint the same subject, which he executed in a brilliant manner: these pictures were soon afterwards exhibited together to the public, and De Wilt, when the room in which they were placed, was exceedingly crowded, exclaimed in a loud voice, “all our connoisseurs seem to prefer the works of those painters who have studied at Rome; but behold how far the work of Wouvermans who never saw Rome, surpasses the production of him who resided there several years.” This observation, which was received with general approbation, and seemed to receive the fiat of the company, so deeply affected the delicate spirits of Bamboccio, that it largely contributed to hurry him to his grave.

The justly celebrated Nicholas Berghem, was born here in 1624, and studied under his father, an inconsiderable painter, whose name was Van Haarlem, which Berghem exchanged in the following whimsical manner: whilst he was a pupil of John Van Goyen, who was very fond of him, his father was one day pursuing 153him in the street, to give him correction for some peccadillo, when his master seeing his father gaining upon him rapidly, cried out to some of his other scholars, Berg-hem! which signifies hide him; from which circumstance he obtained and kept that name. The distinguishing characteristics of Berghem’s pictures are breadth, and just distribution of the lights, the grandeur of his masses of light and shadow, the natural attitudes of his figures expressive of their several characters, the just gradation of his distances, the brilliancy, harmony, and transparency of his colouring, the correctness and true perspective of his design, and the elegance of his composition, and his subjects however various are all equally admirable. This great man had the calamity and the infatuation to make an offer of his hand and heart to the daughter of one of the masters under whom he studied, when he left Van Goyen, of the name of Willis, who proved to be one of the most clamorous and sordid termagants that Holland, or perhaps any other country ever produced; by the terror of her tongue, and the fury of her manner, she forced him to slave at his easel without intermission, from the break to the departure of day, and frequently all night long, without permitting him to have the disposal of a single guilder without her consent: amidst this domestic broil, poor Berghem never lost his temper, he sung, whilst she scolded, as if he thought

In this increasing state of internal broil, this artist produced some of the finest effusions of his pencil: he was singularly curious in purchasing the finest prints and designs of the Italian masters, to improve his own taste, which after his death sold for a large sum of money: by his indefatigable industry, he produced an amazing number of pictures, which now are rarely to be purchased, and then only for prodigious prices.

The last that I shall mention is Jacob Ruysdaal, who was born here in 1636, and was the bosom friend of Berghem, who imparted 154to him much of the spirit which adorns his own works. No painter ever possessed a greater share of public admiration than Ruysdaal, a reputation which has remained unimpaired to this hour. His works are distinguishable by a natural and most delightful tone of colour, by a free, light, firm, and spirited pencil, and by a happy choice of situation. He was fond of introducing water into his paintings, and he was equally fortunate in representing the tumultuous foam of the torrent, as the pellucid transparency of the canal. Ruysdaal was cut off at the age of forty-five. Since the removal of Mr. Hope’s collection, there is no private cabinet of pictures in or near Haarlem worth the attention of the traveller. There is, however, a cabinet of natural history, said to be the finest in Holland, which was formed by Doctor Van Marum, whose electrical experiments have ascertained that the death of animals is coincident with the cessation of irritability: this museum is well arranged according to the Linnæan system. I heard of nothing more to detain the traveller at Haarlem. The canal from Haarlem to Amsterdam is clear and spacious, and nearly straight for the first four miles, at the lessening end of which the former city has a very agreeable appearance; but I was surprised to find so very few country-houses, and scarcely an object that denoted our approach to the renowned capital of the kingdom, and, as it has been aptly called, “the great warehouse of the world.”

About half way we changed boats, and crossed the enormous sluices which protect the country from inundation in this part: we passed over the waters of the Haarlem Meer and of the river Y, so called from its form resembling that letter, being a branch of the Zuyder Zee. The only object worthy of notice thus far was a large stone building, called the Castle Zwanenburg, the residence of the directors of the dykes and water-works of Rhynland. The cost of constructing and repairing the sluices is paid out of the general taxes. The country here is four or five feet below the level of the river Y, which, however, is rendered perfectly innocuous by the massy and prodigious dams before mentioned, the construction and preservation of which place the indefatigable enterprise and industry of the Hollander in an eminent point of view.

155I reached Amsterdam just after the gates had been closed, but my commissaire and I were admitted upon paying a few stivers. As soon as we had entered, every object denoted a vast, populous, and opulent city: every street, and I passed through a great number before I reached my hotel, was tolerably well lighted, but in this respect infinitely inferior to London. At length, after traversing the city about two miles and a half, I reached the principal hotel, called Amsterdam Wappen, or the Arms of Amsterdam, which, in point of magnitude and accommodation, may vie with the first hotels in our own metropolis. Here, after an excellent supper of fish, which the Dutch dress to admiration, and some porter, which was an excellent imitation of that description of beverage for which London is so justly renowned, I found a sopha bed prepared for me, with curtains pendent from the centre, in the French taste, which much prevails in the internal arrangement of the houses of this great city.

In the morning I was awakened by the chimes of some of the churches, which in softness and sweetness resembled the distant sounds of a harp. Although it was seven o’clock, upon looking from the window, I heard the hum and beheld the bustle of business which in other countries characterise mid-day. Under the agreeable influence of a brilliant, cloudless sky, I descended into the street, and mingled with the active, ant-like multitude, every member of which presented a physiognomy full of thought and calculation: gold, gold, seemed to be the only object:

The first circumstance that afforded novelty was, that amidst all the bustle I seldom met with any carriages on wheels to augment the noise of the scene. Upon enquiry I found, that, by the police laws of Amsterdam, wheel-carriages are limited to a certain 156number, which is very inconsiderable compared with the size of the city, from an apprehension that an uncontrouled use of them might hazard the foundation of the houses, most of which are built upon piles; for nearly the whole of the ground on which this vast city stands was formerly a morass. A carriage, called by the Dutch a sley, and by the French a traineau, or, on account of its solemnity, un pot de chambre, is used in their room; it is the body of a coach fastened by ropes on a sledge, and drawn by one horse; the driver walks by the side of it, which he holds with one hand to prevent its falling over, and with the other the reins: nothing can be more melancholy than this machine, which holds four persons, moves at the rate of about three miles an hour, and seems more like the equipage of an hospital, than a vehicle in which the observer would expect to find a merry face; yet in this manner do the Dutch frequently pay visits and take the air. It was in allusion to the forest foundation of this wonderful place, that Erasmus sportively observed, when he first visited it, that he had reached a city, the inhabitants of which, like crows, lived upon the tops of trees; and another wit compared Amsterdam to Venice, on account of both having wooden legs.

Amsterdam is situated on the rivers Y and Amstel, from the latter of which it derives its name; it is about nine miles and a half in circumference, of a semicircular form, surrounded with a fosse about eighty feet wide, and a rampart faced with brick, which is in several places dismantled, and twenty-six bastions: it has also eight noble gates of stone, and several draw-bridges: the population is estimated at three hundred thousand. In 1204, with the exception of a small castle, not a building was to be seen upon the scite of this great city, which, from being at first a petty village of fishermen, dilated in the lapse of years, and by the enterprise and industry of the inhabitants, into a magnificent capital, which, at length, upon the shutting up of the navigation of the Scheldt, added the commerce of Antwerp to its own, and became the great emporium of the world. Neither here, nor in any of the cities or towns in Holland, through which I passed, is a stranger annoyed by barriers, productions of passports, or any of those disagreeable 157ceremonies which distinguish the police of many other countries. In Holland a foreigner finds his loco-motive disposition as little restricted, or encumbered by municipal regulations, as in England. Canals intersect nearly the whole of this city, adorned with avenues of stately elms. Many of the houses are very splendid, particularly those in Kiezer’s gragt, or Emperor’s street, and Heeren gragt, or Lords’ street, where there are many mansions, which, were they not so much concealed by the fan of the trees before them, would have a very princely appearance. Many of the shops are also very handsome, particularly those belonging to jewellers and print-sellers; in the windows of the latter prints of the illustrious Nelson, and of our marine victories, were exposed to view, The druggists here, and in other parts of Holland, use as a sign a huge carved head, with the mouth wide open, placed before the shop windows; sometimes it rudely resembles a Mercury’s head, at others it is surmounted by a fool’s cap. This clumsy and singular sign is called de gaaper, the gaper; what analogy it bears to physic I could not learn; it is very likely to have originated in whim and caprice. Some of the shop boards, called uithang borden, have ridiculous verses inscribed upon them.

The first place my curiosity led me to was the Stadt-house, which is unquestionably a wonderful edifice, considering that Holland furnishes no stone, and that the foundation of the building was boggy; the latter circumstance rendered it necessary to have an artificial foundation of extraordinary construction and magnitude, and accordingly it rests upon thirteen thousand six hundred and ninety-five massy trees, or piles, the first of which was driven on the 20th of January, 1648, and the last on the 6th of October following, when the first stone, with a suitable inscription, was laid; and seven years afterwards the different colleges of magistrates took formal possession of the apartments allotted for their respective offices, but at this time the roof and dome were not completed: the expense of this mighty edifice amounted to two millions sterling. The principal architect was John Van Kampen, who acted under the control of four burgomasters. The area in which it stands is spacious, and was till lately called Revolutie 158plein; it is disfigured by the proximity of the waag, or weigh-house, a very old shabby building. The form of the Stadt-house is square, its front is two hundred and eighty-two feet, its depth two hundred and fifty-five, and its height one hundred and sixteen. It has seven small porticoes, representative of the seven provinces; the want of a grand entrance is a great architectural defect, which immediately excites the surprise of the traveller; but it was so constructed from the wary precautionary foresight of the magistrates who had the superintendence of the building, for the purpose of preventing free access to a mob, in case of tumult.

One of the first apartments which attracts the attention is the tribunal, on the basement floor; in this room, prisoners who have been found guilty of capital offences are conducted to receive the awful sentence of the law; the entrance is through a massy folding door, decorated with brass emblems, indicative of the purpose to which the chamber is applied, such as Jove’s beams of lightning, and flaming swords—under which are two lines from Virgil,

Above, between the rails, are the old and new city arms, and at the bottom are death’s-heads and bones. The whole of the interior is composed of white marble; on the south and north are two eows of fluted pilasters, one above another; on the west side are statues representing four nude women, supporting the cornices which crown the pilasters: two of these figures conceal their faces with their hands, as indicative of shame: in the copartments between are basso-relievos, representing the judgment of Solomon; Zaleucus, the Locrian king, tearing out one of his eyes, to save one of his son’s who had been condemned to lose both for adultery, by a law made expressly against that crime by his father; and Junius Brutus putting his sons to death. Above these are figures representing Romulus and Remus drawing milk from the she wolf, and also of Jupiter: the head of Medusa upon the shield of Pallas is very finely executed. In the north, under a seat of white marble, is a place for the secretary, who pronounces the fatal sentence 159when the magistrates appear in their robes at a gallery on the west side. On the fore part of the judgement seat is a fine marble statue of Silence, which Dutch gallantry represents under the form of a woman, seated on the ground, with her finger on her mouth, and two children weeping over a death’s-head. On each side of this seat are serpents writhing round a tree, each with an apple in his mouth; the same ornaments also decorate the sides of the door: above the seat is a statue, raised on a black marble pedestal, representing the city of Amsterdam as a virgin, guarded by a lion on each side; above the head of the figure is an imperial crown, protected by a spread eagle; on each side of the pedestal are Neptune and Glaucus, representative of the rivers Y and Amstel, and a little higher are the arms of the four burgomasters, in whose magistracy the first stone of this building was laid, gracefully connected by festoons. On the pedestal is an inscription in letters of gold, commemorative of the laying of the first stone of the building.

The principal bas-reliefs and ornaments in this room, and other parts of this edifice, were made by Artus Quellinus, a celebrated statuary of Antwerp. When the awful doom of the law is to be pronounced, the criminal is brought into this hall guarded, and nothing is omitted in point of solemnity to impress on the mind of the delinquent and the spectators the awful consequences of violating the laws of the country.

A thorough knowledge of human nature dictated the policy of placing this hall on the ground-floor, the brazen door of which opens into a thoroughfare passage through the Stadt-house. I never passed by this door without seeing numbers of the lower orders of people gazing through the rails of it upon the emblematical objects within, and apparently in melancholy meditation, reflecting upon the purposes to which this hall is applied, and upon the ignominious results of deviating from the paths of virtue. On one side of this chamber is a a grand double staircase, which leads to the Burghers’, or Marble Hall: it is 120 feet long, about 57 broad, and 80 high, and is entirely composed of white marble, as are the galleries, which are 21 feet wide on each side, into which the entrances to the different courts of justice, the chamber 160of domains, of insurance, of orphans, the council-room, the offices of the bank, &c. open. This magnificent room and the surrounding galleries were seen to great advantage, on account of their having been cleaned previous to the coronation of the king, which was intended to have taken place in it about a month after I visited it. A great number of workmen had been employed in scraping, washing, and polishing their marble sides for several months, and their appearance was equally grand and beautiful: the bronze gates and railing which form the grand entrance of the hall are massy, yet exquisitely executed: over this entrance is a colonade of Corinthian pillars of red and white marble. At one end is a colossal figure of Atlas supporting on his shoulders the globe, attended by Vigilance and Wisdom. The roof is painted with allegorical figures. Upon the floor, the celestial and terrestrial globes are delineated in brass and various coloured marbles, arranged in three large circles twenty-two feet diameter; the two external ones representing the hemispheres of the earth, and the centre the planisphere of the heavens.

The Burgomaster’s Cabinet, as it is still called, is a handsome apartment, the entrance of which is adorned with some beautiful carving, emblematical of the use of the apartment. The chimney-piece in this room, representing the triumphs of Fabius Maximus, is worthy of notice. To the left of the Burgomasters’ chamber is a gallery, ten feet deep and thirty broad, where, after the ringing of a bell to give notice, all proclamations, law sentences, and municipal regulations, are promulgated.

The chamber of the treasury ordinary contains a picture of Mary de Medicis as large as life; a chart of Amsterdam as it appeared when first walled round in 1482; and on the bookcases are some curious effigies of the ancient Earls and Countesses of Holland.

The Burgomasters’ apartment is forty-five feet broad and thirty deep, and is in my opinion the handsomest room in the Stadt-house. The marble chimney-pieces are enriched with many exquisitely sculptured basso-relievos by De Wit; but its chief ornament is two paintings; one by Ferdinand Bol, representing Curius at his 161rural repast; and the other, Fabricius in the camp of Phyrrhus, by Flink. From this room there is a passage to the Execution Chamber, or the Chamber of the last Prayers, where criminals condemned to death take leave of their priest, and pass through a window, the lower part of which is of wood, to enable its being opened level with the floor to the scaffold, which is constructed on the outside, opposite to the weigh-house, and which is raised as high as this part of the building. There is nothing in this room worthy of notice, except its melancholy appropriation. From this room we were conducted to the council chamber, which is forty-five feet wide and thirty deep, where there is a very large painting by Jacob de Wilt, representing Moses and the seventy elders of Israel. Above the chimney-piece to the north is a very fine picture by Flink, the subject Solomon imploring heaven for wisdom. Above this is a scriptural subject, a noble production, from the pencil of Bronkhorst. Some of the basso-relievos which adorn various parts of this room, sculptured by De Wit, are exquisitely fine, particularly a hive of bees, a clock, a sieve and a lamp, a pen and ink-horn. It would puzzle a magician to interpret many of the allegorical devices, but they are all beautifully executed.

In the chamber for marriages, and injuries, there is nothing to arrest the attention of a visitor one minute. In Holland, marriage being a civil contract, when agreed upon in Amsterdam, it is always first performed before the magistrates in this room, without whose fiat the ceremony would be invalid; the clergyman, according to the religion of the parties, performs his functions afterwards. This room is also called, amongst the lower orders of people, the Scolding Chamber, on account of the irritability frequently displayed here by parties of that class, when they come to obtain redress for small offences. We were also led through the chamber for sea affairs, the mercers’ hall, the painters’ chamber, and in this room, but little suited to the treasures which it contains, is a very long picture by Vandyke, in which there is a gray head of an old man, of matchless excellence, which the observer cannot but retire from with regret. The burgomasters of Amsterdam were offered seven thousand florins for this head alone, to be cut 162out from the rest of the picture. There is also a large picture by Vanderhelst, representing a feast given by the burgomasters of Amsterdam to the ambassadors of Spain, on account of the peace of Munster, which closed a war that had lain waste the Netherlands for eighty years; and many other large and fine paintings by Rubens, Jordaans, and Otho Venius. It is a matter of surprise, that after Holland submitted to the French arms, these exquisite productions should be permitted to remain, upon the walls which they have so long adorned.

In the great, or council of war chamber, there are some good paintings representing the ancient train-bands, and officers in their proper costume; many of which are portraits. In the secretary’s office, a handsome room, amongst other decorations, is a basso-relievo of Silence, which the Dutch are very fond of representing under the form of a woman. Upon my observing to a Dutchman, that in England such a compliment had never been paid to my own lovely country women, he replied: “Yes, but do you not notice that the statuary has placed the finger of the lady upon her mouth, as if he thought that no one of the sex, not even a Dutch female, could preserve silence without keeping her lips forcibly together with her finger.” The convenience of having nearly all the principal public offices, and courts of justice under one roof, is very great; the size of the kingdom, and simplicity of its public transactions, render such a concentration more easy of accomplishment in Holland than in England.

Before we ascended to the dome, we were introduced into the great magazine of arms, which extends the whole length of the front and part of the sides of this vast pile: it contains a curious and valuable collection of ancient and modern Dutch arms. Some colours which the French took from the Spaniards have been lately added, as a present from the king to this city, a donation which could not fail affording great gratification to a people, who to this hour hold the Spanish nation in abhorrence. The prospect from the tower, or dome, is very fine and extensive, commanding the whole of the city and its environs, crowded with windmills, the river Y filled with ships, the Zuyder Zee, the Amstel, the Haarlem lake, 163and the quarter containing the gardens, the admiralty, and ships of war on the stocks. From this elevated spot we were nearer the bronze figures which adorn the front, representing Justice, Wealth, and Strength, and which are of an enormous size: on the other side is a colossal bronze statue of Atlas supporting the world, executed in a masterly manner. The tower contains a vast number of bells, the largest of which weighs between six and seven thousand pounds; the carillons in this dome are remarkably sweet, they play every quarter of an hour an agreeable air, which is executed to admiration. An excellent carilloneur is engaged to entertain the citizens of Amsterdam three times a week; the perfection to which he has brought his performance can only be appreciated by those who have heard it. The brass barrel by which he plays is seven feet and a half in diameter, and weighs four thousand four hundred and seventy-four pounds. The clocks strike the full hour, at the half hour, and upon the expiration of the full hour, repeat it upon a bell of a deeper tone.

By considerable interest, and with much difficulty, I was admitted to see the prison which occupies one of the courts of the Stadt-house, on two sides of which, below ground, are the dungeons, to which the gaoler conducted us by a lamp: as a place of confinement nothing can be more secure, and as a place of punishment more horrible. After descending a dreary flight of steps, and passing through a long narrow passage, midway vast double doors, thickly plated with iron, were opened, through which we entered, and at the end were stopped by two other massy doors which, upon being unbolted, led to a row of subterranean dungeons. In the first, by the faint light of a rush candle, I discerned the emaciated figure of a man who had been convicted of robbery, attentively reading: he just turned from his book to look at us a moment, and then returned to it; he was condemned to inhabit this cell alone for life! In the next were two young men who, in the forms of Dutchmen, seemed to carry the elastic souls of Frenchmen, that bend to and carol under every human misery; for in this gloomy abode, in which one would suppose resignation would turn to despair, they were whistling and waltzing in the dark; whilst in the third were several women and a young girl, the latter about fifteen, confined for having displayed an early, and rather too violent a fondness for the laws of nature. These miserable beings were 165also in darkness, except when they closely approached the vast double bars which crossed the windows of their cells, when they were enabled to behold a little light, which faintly reached them through some low oblong apertures on the opposite side of the passage, thickly guarded by similar massy bars, just raised above the level of the court, into which these poor wretches are never permitted to walk; for, deplorable to relate, from the first minute of their commitment till their fate is finally fixed, they are never suffered to quit their gloomy abodes but to appear before their judges in the adjoining hall, where they undergo private examinations, and at length a close trial. The crimes with which these latter unhappy prisoners stood charged were not of a very malignant nature, yet were they, even before the guilt of some of them was established, cut off from light and air, and immured in regions fit only to be a receptacle for the dead. I need scarcely inform the reader that their appearance when they pressed towards the grating, when alone they were distinguishable, was in a high degree squalid and sickly.

None of these miserable wretches were loaded with irons; they would, indeed, have been a very unnecessary augmentation of cruelty, for nothing but the miraculous interference of an angel could have burst their prison-doors, which were doubly cased with iron, and fastened with enormous bolts and locks, whilst the walls of the cells were cased with ponderous masonry, through which, if a prisoner had the means to penetrate, he would afterwards have to encounter all the earth upon which the rest of the Stadt-house stood. The gaoler showed us some irons of a particular construction, and a board which fastened round the neck and one hand, for refractory criminals, but he assured me they had not been used for many years.

The principal secretary of the magistracy showed me the hall of justice, which was also formerly the torture-chamber. Here the miserable sufferer, who refused to confess his guilt, at the pleasure of his barbarous judge, underwent a variety of torments; amongst others, it was usual to fasten his hands behind his neck, with a cord which passed through pullies fastened to a vaulted ceiling, 166by means of which he was jerked up and down, with leaden weights of fifty pounds each lashed to his feet, until anguish overpowered his senses, and a confession of guilt was heard to quiver on his lips. Some of the iron work by which this infamous process was effected was still adhering to the walls. This ferocious and stupid practice was only abolished in the year 1798. This room is entirely of stone, low, and vaulted; the windows are small, and guarded by vast double bars of iron, and the whole is very little better than a large dungeon. A bar for the prisoner to appear at, a seat for the witness, for only one is most judiciously admitted at a time; a table and raised seats for the judges, and lower ones for the officers attached to the tribunal, form all the arrangements of this gloomy seat of justice. The prisoner is permitted to have a counsellor to plead his cause, and no strangers are admitted on any account. Three days are suffered to elapse between the sentence and its execution in capital cases; during which the prisoner is allowed whatever refreshment he may choose; an indulgence which, from the state of the appetite at such a period, seldom runs the state into much expense. Public punishments are inflicted four times in the course of the year. On these occasions a vast scaffold is erected, as I have mentioned, in the great area between the stadt-house and the weighing or custom-house, upon a level with the first floor of the former building, through which the criminals enter to the spot assigned for them to receive their punishment: those who are to be whipped receive that punishment with considerable severity, and are not permitted to retire till those who are to die have suffered death, which is inflicted by decapitation with the sword or hanging, though the latter is most frequent. On these melancholy occasions, the chief magistrates attend in their robes, and nothing is omitted to augment the solemnity of the scene.

In consequence of its being expected that though a culprit is to suffer death, he is to receive the fatal stroke in the precise mode prescribed by the law, a magistrate who presided at the execution of a murderer a few years since, had nearly subjected himself to a severe punishment. The guilt of the criminal was aggravated by cruelty, and he was condemned to lose his life by 167decapitation, in which case the law directs that it shall be severed by one stroke of the sword: previous to his quitting the chamber of the last prayers he laid a wager with a friend who attended him that he had suggested an expedient by which the executioner should not be able to perform his office; and accordingly, the moment he knelt to receive the fatal stroke, he rolled his head in every direction so violently, and so rapidly, that the executioner could not strike him with any probability of decollating him at one blow; and after many fruitless aims, was compelled to renounce the attempt. The officers who were entrusted to see to the execution of the sentence were in the greatest dilemma; in vain did they try by argument to persuade the fellow to remain still, and quietly have his head taken off; he was remanded back to prison, and after an hour’s deliberation, the presiding magistrate, upon his own responsibility, ordered the gallows to be brought out, upon which he caused him to be executed. The judges and lawyers took alarm, and half the city felt as if the murderer had been murdered; and nothing but the high character, rank, and influence of the magistrate, by whose resolute orders the miscreant at length paid the forfeit of his life, preserved him from the most unpleasant consequences for enforcing the spirit of the law after a different fashion from that prescribed. Capital punishments are very rare: four malefactors were executed in 1799, and nine since. The Dutch entertain a frightful opinion of the criminal laws of England, which they consider very sanguinary, from the great number of delinquents who are annually put to death there.

The strong apartments which formerly contained the vast treasures of the bank, and the offices attached to that wealthy concern, are on the ground-floor, where several clerks are employed to transact the business of that celebrated establishment. From the wise measures adopted by the king, who made, as I have before observed, the recognition of the national debt one of the first measures of his government, the national creditor has no apprehensions. Before the war, this institution, which was a bank of deposit, was supposed to contain the greatest quantity of bullion in the world, and popular credulity dwelt with ostentatious fondness 168upon the extent of its accumulated treasures, which they resembled to a Peruvian mine; its pile of precious metals was valued at the enormous sum of forty millions. The regulations which governed deposits made in this bank were as follow: the person depositing cash or bullion received a credit in the books for the amount, and a receipt for the same, which expired at the end of six months, was given, renewable upon paying a small per centage for warehouse rent: if such receipt expired before the money or bullion was redeemed, neither the one nor the other could be afterwards removed, but for it an equivalent in bank credit was given, which receipt could afterwards be converted into cash in the market. Another regulation was, that not a florin of the cash or bullion invested should ever be removed by way of loan. This compact between the bank and the creditor was always considered inviolable. A rumour was circulated, with equal celerity and anxiety, soon after the arrival of the French in Holland, highly injurious to the responsibility of the institution, and a deputation of merchants waited respectfully on the directors of the bank, to solicit satisfaction as to its solvency; to which an answer, couched in general terms, but favourable to its responsibility, was given. Owing to the unshaken stability which it had displayed, from 1672, when Louis the Fourteenth, at the head of a victorious army, was expected every hour to have made his triumphal entry into Amsterdam, to 1795, when the French fixed the destiny of the country, this answer was received with perfect confidence and security in the bank, and any doubt upon the subject was considered to be the result of party malignity. Upon the French taking possession of Amsterdam, a complete investigation of the business followed, and the official report of the provisional representatives of the city announced, that

“No deficiency whatever will exist in the said bank, and the debits and credits will precisely balance, with this exception, that instead of species, there have been received into the said bank, from time to time, as securities for large sums advanced by it within the last fifty years, a very considerable number of bonds, viz.

“Seventy bonds of the India Company of Amsterdam, guaranteed by the states of that province, being each of 100,000 florins banco, at three 169per cent. interest; besides a similar one of 50,000 banco, on which there will be due, according to the calculation of the said clerks, the sums of 249,000 florins banco, for interest. On account of which bonds, the treasurer of the said city is debited in the aforesaid balance 6,273,000 florins banco.

“Besides these, there are fifty bonds, each for 24,000 florins, on account of the provinces of Holland and West Friesland, belonging to the loan-office of this city, on which, according to the information of the clerks, the bank has advanced, agreeable to the aforesaid balance, the sum of 838,857 florins banco, on which there will be due for interest 30,000 florins. In addition to which, the loan-office owes the bank, conformable to the same information, the sum of 1,715,000 florins banco.

“That further, if every thing shall appear as has been stated by the said clerks, and sterling being converted into stock, the treasurer of the city will, in addition, owe to the bank, and for which it was made debtor at the closing of the accounts above alluded to,

“That there is also due, from the said bank, 227,264 2 8, for which bonds were originally given; but according to the clerk’s statement were burnt; but for which the city notwithstanding paid interest annually to the bank.

“That it is nevertheless obvious, that the city is responsible for this sum, as well as for the whole, as it ought to be considered with respect to it, not only as guarantee, but as actual debtor to the bank.

“That moreover, among other things in the said bank, there has been found in substance all the specie for which accountable receipts have been given, agreeable to the list made out, and delivered to the committee of commerce and marine by the cashiers of the bank, and which can, in consequence, be at all times drawn out by the holders of the said receipts, in exchange for them, when it shall please them so to do.

“The aforesaid provisional representatives have, therefore, not only taken the requisite, and most efficacious measures, that henceforward there shall not be delivered from, nor advanced by, the said bank, contrary to its original institution, any specie whatsoever, by any authority, either as a loan, or in any other illegal manner; but also that the said bonds, lodged in the said bank as securities, as aforesaid, shall be liquidated as soon as possible, and generally, that this city, as debtor to the bank, shall, with all practicable dispatch, discharge in cash the balance of its account with the said bank, which being done, the provisional representatives declare, that there can exist no deficiency of any kind soever; and that they will, without delay, take into their serious consideration, and will carry into immediate effect, the means to obtain this end.”

For this sum, amounting to upwards of nine millions of florins, the proper investments had been made, but of the deposits, which ought to have been permanent, in consequence of the expiration 170of the receipts, not a florin remained in the caves of the bank. It appeared that the directors, like the magistrate who presided at the execution of the murderer, beneficially for the state, no doubt had departed from the strict letter of the law, and instead of suffering so much wealth to remain in a state of unproductive inertion, they had duplicated the energies of credit by judicious and advantageous loans of it to a variety of merchants and tradesmen. This statement excited the highest indignation against the directors, who were, in the violence of that party-spirit which then raged in Holland, branded with every epithet which appertains to the real national defaulter. The deficiency thus explained could have no injurious influence upon the bank, with regard to the cash receipts which were unexpired, unless the debts due to the bank, upon such accommodations, should not be regularly discharged. But no explanation could appease the popular fury, which connected this politic deviation from the strict letter of an unwise law into high treason against the state, and loudly demanded, that all the directors of the bank, and persons entrusted with the management of any other public fund, should be put under arrest: to such a height was this spirit carried, that many of the members of the old government would have been sacrificed to the animosity of faction, and revolutionary vengeance, had not the French general interfered, and by a humane proclamation addressed to people enlightened by the benign effects of public education, averted their anger.

On the 16th of February, 1795, upon the promulgation of the abolition of the stadtholderate, a general fraternization took place in Amsterdam, and a complete oblivion of all public animosities. This federation was celebrated, as I was informed, with all imaginable pomp. The carillons in the towers of the Stadt-house, and the principal churches, played the most enchanting patriotic airs, the tri-coloured flag waived upon their spires, and salutes from the bastions, artillery, and men of war, augmented the vivacity of this eventful day. Nothing could surpass the grotesque drollery exhibited in various parts of the city: the gaiety of the French character completely electrified the sobriety of the Batavian. Grave 171Dutch brokers, whose blood had long ceased to riot, who thought that the great purposes of life were answered when the duties of the bureau were discharged; who, could they have compared, would have preferred the brick of the exchange, to the “verd’rous wall of Paradise,” who had never moved but with a measured funeral pace, were seen in large full-bottomed wigs, and with great silver buckles, mingling in the national dance, with the gay ethereal young Parisian conscripts, so that it might be said of the Dutchman,

To such an elevation did the national spirit and ardour rise, that upon a requisition requiring every person to deliver up all the uncoined gold and silver, or plate (spoons and forks excepted) for the use of the state, there appeared to be no reluctance to obey it, and as these state offerings exceeded the estimate required, it is likely that none were concealed. When these contributions exceeded in value the amount of the taxes, to which the contributor was liable, a receipt was given for such excess, and carried to his credit, in the next payments; with these assistances, the government immediately directed its attention to the deplorable state of its marine, which under the last of the Stadtholders, had experienced the most ruinous and fatal neglect, in consequence of the influence of the British cabinet upon the imbecile mind of that unfortunate prince. When it is considered upon the breaking out of the last war with Holland, how numerous and valuable were the Dutch ships detained in British ports, what havoc our cruisers made on her commerce, by intercepting her rich merchant vessels, and blockading her ports, what a stagnation of internal trade must have followed, and what enormous sums were extorted by the French army and its generals, the reader may form some opinion of the prodigious opulence of this country, which, under the pressure of such calamities, is still enabled to raise her head with such few marks of suffering.

Amsterdam has no noble squares, which add so much to the 172splendor of London, nor is there any bridge worthy of being noticed, except that which crosses the river Amstel, which is built of brick, has thirteen arches, and is tolerably handsome: on the river looking towards this bridge, there is a fine view of the city, which I preferred sketching, to a more expanded one on the coast immediately opposite to the city, in the north of Holland. The only association throughout Holland, which resembles a monastic one, is that of the Beguines, who reside in a large house appropriated to their order, which is surrounded with a wall and ditch, has a church within, and resembles a little town; this sisterhood is perfectly secular, the members of which wear no particular dress, mingle with the inhabitants of the city, quit the convent, and marry when they please: but they are obliged, as long as they belong to the order, to attend prayers at stated periods, and to be within the convent at a certain hour every evening. To be admitted of this order, they must be either unmarried or widows without children, and the only certificate required is that of good behaviour, and that they have a competence to live upon. The restraints are so very few, that a Beguine may rank next to a happy wife: they have each an apartment and a little flower-garden, and take no vows of celibacy or of any other sort; in short, the whole establishment may be considered as a social retirement of amiable women, for the purpose of enjoying life in an agreeable and blameless manner. How superior this to living

The ladies of Holland, if I may judge from those with whom I had the honour and happiness of associating in Amsterdam, are very amiable, thoroughly well bred, well educated, speak English, French and German, and they are very polite and courteous to strangers: they are also remarkable for their attention to decorum and modesty; the unmarried, without prudery, are highly virtuous, and the married present a pattern of conjugal fidelity. They are also very fond of dancing, particularly of waltzing, and they 173are much attached to English country dances, in which the most graceful Parisian belle seldom appears to any advantage.

The interior of the houses belonging to the higher classes in Amsterdam is very elegant; the decoration and furniture of their rooms is very much in the French style: they are also very fond of having a series of landscapes, painted in oil colours, upon the sides of the rooms, instead of stucco or paper, or of ornamenting them with pictures and engravings. The average rent of respectable houses, independent of taxes, is from one thousand to twelve hundred florins. The dinner hour, on account of the exchange, is about four o’clock in this city, and their modes of cooking unite those of England and France: immediately after dinner the whole company adjourn to coffee in the drawing-room.

The water in this part of Holland is so brackish and feculent that it is not drank even by the common people. There are water-merchants, who are constantly occupied in supplying the city with drinkable water, which they bring in boats from Utrecht and Germany, in large stone bottles: the price of one of these bottles, containing a gallon, is about eight pence English. The poor, who cannot afford to buy it, substitute rain-water. The wines drank are principally claret and from the Rhine. The vintage of Portugal has no more admirers here than at Rotterdam, except amongst young Dutchmen, who have either been much in England, or are fond of the taste and fashions of our country.

The laws in Holland against nocturnal disturbers of the peace are very severe. A few months before I was in Amsterdam, two young gentlemen of family and fortune had been condemned to pay ten thousand florins for having, when “flushed with the Tuscan grape,” rather rudely treated two women of the lower orders. The night police of Holland would form an excellent model for that of England. The watchmen are young, strong, resolute and well appointed, but annoying to a stranger; for they strike the quarter-hour with a mallet on a board; which disturbs his repose, unless he is fortunate enough to sleep in a back room, or until he becomes accustomed to the clatter. Midnight robberies and fires very seldom occur: to guard against the spreading of the latter, there are persons appointed, whose office it is to remain all day and all night in the towers or steeples of the highest churches, and as soon as they discern the flame, to suspend, if it be in the day, a flag; if in the night, a lantern towards the quarter of the city in which it rises, accompanied by the blowing of a trumpet. This vigilance, and the facility of procuring water in summer, the natural caution of the people, and their dread of such an accident, conspires to render it a very rare visitor. An average calculation of fires which occur in London, where a regular account of all such accidents are registered, by each fire insurance company having an 175establishment of firemen and engines, may be collected from the register of one year, commencing from Michaelmas 1805, viz. three hundred and six alarms of fire attended with little damage, thirty-one serious fires, and one hundred and fifty-five alarms, occasioned by chimneys being on fire, amounting in all to four hundred and ninety-two accidents. The English fire insurance companies calculate on an alarm of fire every day, and about eight serious fires in every quarter of a year. This is a frightful estimate, and when it is considered, that scarcely a fire of any material extent has been known in the memory of man to have broken out in either of the universities, or in any of the inns of court, where it would be most likely they would occur, on account of the frequent carelessness of the inhabitants, little doubt can remain on the minds of any one, that infinitely the greater number of fires which happen are the fatal consequences of diabolical design.

Although, owing to the great frugality and industry of the people, an insolvent debtor is rather a rare character, consequently held in more odium in Holland than in most other countries, yet the laws of arrest are milder there than in England. If the debtor be a citizen or registered burgher, he is not subject to have his person seized at the suit of the creditor, until three regular summonses have been duly served upon him, to appear in the proper court, and resist the claim preferred against him, which process is completed in about a month; after which, if he does not obey it, his person is subject to arrest, but only when he has quitted his house; for in Holland a man’s dwelling is held even more sacred than in England, and no civil process whatever is capable of being served upon him, if he stands but on the threshold of his home. In this sanctuary he may set at defiance every claimant; if, however, he has the hardihood to appear abroad, without having satisfied or compromised his debt, he is then pretty sure, from the vigilance and activity of the proper officers, to be seized; in which case he is sent to a house of restriction, not a prison for felons, where he is maintained with liberal humanity, the expenses of which, as well as of all the proceedings, must be defrayed by the creditor. Under these qualifications, every debtor is liable to arrest, 176let the amount of the debt be ever so small. The bankrupt laws of Holland differ from ours in this respect, that all the creditors must sign the debtor’s certificate, or agreement of liberation; but if any refuse, the ground of their refusal is submitted to arbitrators, who decide whether the bankrupt shall, notwithstanding, have his certificate or not.

A passenger can seldom pass a street without seeing one or more public functionaries, I believe peculiar to this country; they are called aanspreeker, and their office is to inform the friends and acquaintances of any one who dies, of the melancholy event. The dress of these death-messengers is a black gown, a band, a low cocked hat with a long crape depending behind. To pass from the shade of death to the light of love: a singular custom obtains upon the celebration of marriage amongst genteel persons, for the bride and bridegroom to send each a bottle of wine, generally fine hock, spiced and sugared, and decorated with all sorts of ribbands, to the house of every acquaintance; a custom which is frequently very expensive. The Dutch have also a singular mode of airing linen and beds, by means of a trokenkorb, or fire-basket, which is about the size and shape of a magpie’s cage, within which is a pan filled with burning turf, and the linen is spread over its wicker frame, or to air the bed, the whole machine is placed between the sheets. With an exception of the streets I have mentioned, and some others in that quarter of the city, they are not remarkable either for beauty or cleanliness. They are all paved with brick, and none of them have any divided flagstone footpath for foot-passengers: however, the pavement is more handsome and comfortable than that of Paris; although in both cities the pedestrian has no walk that he can call his own, yet in Amsterdam is he more secure than in the French capital, on account of the few carriages, and the skill and caution of the drivers. In no capital in the world, not even excepting Petersburg, is the foot-passenger so nobly accommodated as in London. Most of the streets in Amsterdam are narrow; and many in which very opulent merchants reside, and great traffic is carried on, are not more than sixteen or seventeen feet wide.

177The canals of this city are very convenient, but many of them most offensively impure, the uniform greenness of which is chequered only by dead cats, dogs, offal, and vegetable substances of every kind, which are left to putrefy at the top, until the canal scavengers, who are employed to clean the canals, remove them: the barges which are used on these occasions, and the persons employed in them, present a very disgusting appearance; the mud which is raised by them, forms most excellent manure, and the sum it fetches in Brabant, is calculated to be equal to the expenses of the voyage. Some of the most eminent Dutch physicians maintain that the effluvia arising from the floating animal and vegetable matter of these canals, is not injurious, and in proof, during a contagious fever which ravaged this city, it was observed, that the inhabitants who resided nearest to the foulest canals, were not infected, whilst those who lived near purer water, only in few instances escaped; but this by no means confirms the assertion, because those inhabitants who lived adjoining to foul canals, were inured to contagion from its habitual application, for the same reason that medical men and nurses generally escape infection, from being so constantly exposed to it. The fair criterion would be to ascertain whether, when the city is healthy, such quarters of it continue more so. The effluvia arising from putrid animal matter, by the medical people of this country, and of almost every other, is considered far from being innoxious, but infinitely less injurious than that evolved by the decomposition of vegetables: at the same time there are many offensive smells that are far from being unwholesome, for instance, that of the bilge-water of a ship, and others might be enumerated. The water of these canals is in general about eight or nine feet deep, and the mud at the bottom about six more. Except in very foggy nights, few deaths by drowning, considering the amount of the population, occur in these canals, and fewer would still happen, if they were guarded against by a railing, which is rarely erected in any part of the city. At night, as the city is well lighted, a passenger, unless he is blind, or very much inebriated, a disgraceful condition, which as I have before 178observed is not often displayed in Holland, is not very likely to experience a watery death.

However, to guard as much as possible against the gloomy consequence of these casualties, the keepers of all inns and taverns, and all apothecaries in Amsterdam, and in every other city in Holland, are compelled under a heavy penalty to keep a printed paper containing the most approved method of resuscitating the suspended animation of drowned persons, in a conspicuous part of their houses. The government is also very liberal in distributing rewards to those who, at their personal peril, rescue a fellow-creature from destruction. Upon such occasions, gold, silver, or medals are bestowed, according to the risk and rank of the preserver. The first society for the restoring of drowned persons was formed in this city in 1767, and the utmost encouragement was every where given throughout the united provinces, by the magistrates in particular, and afterwards by the states-general, and the success of it has been equal to its humanity. To the Dutch nation the English are indebted for these admirable institutions, by which so many of our countrymen have at various times been snatched from the gripe of death, and restored as it were to a new existence, and to their agonized families. It is a curious circumstance to remark, that the visible disarrangement which the human frame experiences, from being a considerable time in water, is very little, so little that many are the instances where the sufferer has, in the first instance, displayed all the indicia of death, and has within a few hours been enabled to thank his deliverer in person. The body, during this temporary suspension of animation, resembles a clock, upon its pendulum being accidently stopped, its works are not mutilated nor shaken out of their proper places, but are competent to renew their functions the moment the former is touched by some friendly hand.

As a memorable illustration, I beg to relate an anecdote of an illustrious hero and august personage, who shedding light and happiness upon nearly forty millions of beings, and ruling once the most extensive empire upon the face of the earth, felt that he added a new ray of glory and happiness to his imperial dignity in 179preserving, by his own perseverance, a miserable fellow-creature from a watery grave.

In one of the journeys which his Imperial Majesty the Emperor Alexander made through Poland, as he was riding alone, his attendants being considerably behind him, on the banks of the little river Wilia, which flows between Kouna and Wilna in Lithuania, he perceived some persons assembled near the edge of the water, out of which they appeared to be dragging something; he instantly alighted, and on approaching the spot, found it to be the body of a man apparently lifeless. Urged by those exalted sensibilities which regard rank and power only as bounties delegated by heaven for the benefit of mankind, the monarch, without any other assistance than that of the ignorant boors about him, who from his uniform could only conceive him to be an officer of rank, drew the apparent corpse completely from the water, and laid it on the side of a bank, and with his own hands took off the wet clothes of the poor sufferer, and began to rub his temples and breast, which he continued to do for a considerable time with the most ardent anxiety, but found all his efforts to restore animation ineffectual: in the midst of this humane occupation, the Emperor was joined by the gentlemen of his suite, amongst whom were Prince Wolkousky, and Count Liewen, two Russian noblemen, and Dr. Weilly, his majesty’s principal surgeon, an English gentleman of distinguished professional talents, who always travels with, and is scarcely ever from his majesty. They united their exertions to those of the Emperor, and when Dr. Weilly attempted, but in vain, to bleed the poor creature, his majesty supported and chafed his arms, and lent every other assistance in his power: for three hours were they thus employed with all the ardour of humanity, but saw no symptoms of returning life, and Dr. Weilly pronounced the patient irrecoverable.

Fatigued as the Emperor was with these unceasing exertions, he would not relinquish the work as a hopeless one, but by his own example and language, urged and encouraged Dr. Weilly to renew his labours, which, solely in obedience to his Imperial Majesty’s wishes, and completely despairing of success, he recommenced; 180and as the whole party were making the last effort, the emperor had the inexpressible satisfaction of seeing the blood flow from the puncture, and of hearing a faint groan issue from the lips of his patient.

The emotions of his Imperial Majesty at this moment were indescribable, and in the fulness of his transport he exclaimed in French, “Great God! this is the brightest day of my life!” and tears of joy sparkled in his eyes, to ratify the feelings of his heart. Every exertion was now redoubled, and as humanity loves to dwell upon the minutest circumstances of this affecting scene, I must not omit to relate, that when Dr. Weilly looked round for something to stop the blood with, the Emperor with vivid promptitude took out his handkerchief, tore it in pieces, with his own hands bound the sufferer’s arm, and remained with him until he completely recovered, when he conveyed him to a place where proper care could be administered to him; at parting, he ordered him a liberal present of money, and afterwards, upon his return to his capital, as if grateful to him for so large a portion of felicity, settled a pension upon him and his family. The sensations of the patient, when he was informed of the exalted rank of his preserver, can be better felt than described. The poor inhabitants of that part of Poland, who were but rude artists, fabricated four snuff-boxes, on the lids of which they delineated, as well as they were able, this striking and exemplary event, which they presented to the Emperor and the gentlemen who assisted him in this work of humanity. Such is the heart of a prince, who, almost unassailable in his mighty empire, and moved alone by the elevated desire of impeding the gigantic progress of a power which aims at universal domination, renounced all the pleasure of tranquillity, and at the head of his gallant legions thundered at the gates of princes, to awaken them from their fatal lethargy, and to invoke them to oppose the common enemy of the world.

Alas! the solemn invocation was faintly and imperfectly obeyed. In vain did the heroic Alexander endeavour to impart to other chiefs, whose humiliation, if not destruction, must be the fruits of their supineness, that divine energy which actuated his own bosom. 181The historian, whilst with rapture he dwells upon the valor and the disinterested energy of Alexander, with burning blushes will relate the mournful results which followed the dire neglect of his solemn and unexampled appeal. To his renewed struggles in this mighty and august cause, the eyes of England, with whom his name will ever be consecrated, and of prostrate nations panting, without the spirit to contend for their deliverance, are turned with ardent anxiety. May glory crown the arms of such a prince, and may his days be long in the land!

The exchange here is in the same style of architecture as that of Rotterdam, but larger. My astonishment here was even greater than what I experienced at the latter place; for, at the exchange hour, it was overflowing with merchants, brokers, agents, and all the busy motley characters who belong to commerce. From the prevailing activity, the appetite for accumulation here appeared to have experienced no checks from the inevitable calamities of war. My surprise was augmented by reflecting, with these appearances before me, upon the present and former commercial condition of the country. The principal causes which contributed to render Amsterdam so rich before the two last wars, were the invincible industry, the caution, and frugality of the people. The ancient merchants of Amsterdam preferred small gains with little risk, to less probable, and to larger profits: it was their creed, that more fortunes were raised by saving and economy, with moderate advantages, than by bold, expensive, and perilous speculations. This golden rule they transmitted to their posterity, who have exhibited no great disposition to deviate from it. A Dutch merchant of the present day almost always calculates the chances for and against his success in any undertaking, which he will immediately relinquish unless they are very greatly in his favour, and as nearly reducible to certainty as possible: he very rarely over-trades himself, or extends his schemes beyond his capital: such was the foundation upon which the commerce of Amsterdam was raised.

The principal sources of commercial wealth to Holland arose from her herring and Greenland fisheries, which employed a great 182portion of her population. The superior manner in which the Dutch pickle and preserve their herrings is peculiar to themselves, nor has it been in the power of England, or any other country, to find out the secret which lies, it is said, in the manner of gilling and salting those fish. The persons who are acquainted with the art, are bound by an oath never to impart it, hitherto religiously adhered to, and the disclosure of it is moreover guarded against by the laws of the country. This national source of wealth has been greatly impeded, in consequence of the Dutch having no herring fisheries of their own, but being obliged to seek them on the English coast at the proper season, where, particularly off Yarmouth, the herring shoals have been known to be six and seven feet deep with fish. The permission granted to the Dutch fishermen, to prosecute their occupation unmolested on our coasts, notwithstanding the war, was frequently withdrawn by our cruisers. Last year a private agreement took place between the two countries, and the indulgence was renewed, by which the Dutch were very abundantly supplied with their favourite fish: so much esteemed is it, that the first herring cured was always presented to the stadtholder, and opulent families have been known to give seven shillings, and even a guinea, for the first herrings brought to market.

For more than a century the Dutch East India Company enjoyed the monopoly of the fine spices, comprehending nutmegs, cloves, mace, cinnamon, &c. which constituted the principal branch of the Asiatic as well as the European commerce of Holland: 360,000lbs. cloves were annually sent to Europe, and about 150,000lbs. were sold in India; 250,000lbs. of nutmeg, the produce of the island of Banda, used to be sold in Europe, and 100,000lbs. in India. In Europe also 400,000lbs. of cinnamon used to be brought to market, and 200,000lbs. consumed in India. Batavia presents a wonderful instance of the enterprise of the Dutch, who, born themselves in a marshy country, below the level of the ocean, erected a kingdom in the fifth degree of north latitude, in the most prolific part of the globe, where the fields are covered with rice, pepper, and cinnamon, and the vines bear fruit twice a year. Although this colony remains to Holland, the Dutch spice market must have very materially suffered, from the vigilance of our ships of war in various parts of the world, and particularly from the recent capture of her valuable spice ships returning home richly laden from that colony. The Dutch also carried on a large trade in rice, cotton, and pepper, and the Java coffee, which was thought to be second only to that of Mocha. The reader may, perhaps, be surprised to find that the amount of the spice exports should every year be the same. The Dutch East India Company 184was enabled to make this calculation in consequence of having acquired a tolerably exact knowledge of the quantity of each kind of spice that would be necessary for the consumption of the European markets, and never permitting any more to be exported. In this branch of trade they had no competition, and they were enabled to keep the price of their spices as high as they chose, by ordering what remained unsold at the price they had fixed upon it, to be burnt. Their spices gave them an influence upon the trade of the north of Europe, in consequence of their being highly prized by the different nations on the shores of the Baltic, who furnished the Dutch with their grain, hemp, flax, iron, pitch, tar, masts, planks, &c. The surrender of Curraçoa to the British arms must also be severely felt. This island was always of great importance to the Dutch, the possession and commerce of which they were very desirous of retaining and extending. The Dutch West India Company, many years since, refused to exchange it for the Spanish island of Porto Rico. The commerce of Curraçoa formerly took up yearly about fifty large ships, upon an average of 300 tons each, and the quantity of goods annually shipped from Holland amounted to 500,000l. and the returns nearly doubled that sum. The exports from Holland consisted of German and Dutch linens, checks, East India goods, woollen and cotton manufactures, spices, cinnamon, building materials, and many other articles of ease and luxury. The imports to Europe were indigo, coffee, sugar, hides, cotton, dye-wood, tortoiseshell, varinas, Porto Rico tobacco, and occasionally cochineal. The Dutch also carried on a very flourishing trade to Turkey and the Levant, by selling their own, the Irish and English cloths, and purchasing tea, cocoa, ginger, and thread. The commercial intercourse also between Holland and England was very important, in which the balance in specie was greatly against the Dutch, which induced many, who were ignorant of their real character, to conclude, that they never could support so prodigious a drain of specie as they have invariably experienced in such communications; an impression which subsides when it is considered that the Dutch consumed but little of what they imported from England, and that what they purchased they resold in 185an improved condition to other countries. A nation can only become rich from trade when its exports for the use of foreign states is in a greater proportion than its imports for its own consumption. An impression has gone forth, that a nation cannot be impoverished if the importation of foreign merchandize be purchased abroad by native commodity and not with specie; whereas upon a nation striking the balance of her account with the country she may have dealt with, it will be found that the deficiency on the side of her exportation must be made up in specie. Hence an industrious and frugal people like the Dutch will, when their country is in a state of tranquillity, possess great advantages over most other nations. Industry increases the native commodity, whether it arises from the soil or the manufacture, and increases the exportation. Frugality will lessen the consumption, and of course increase the exportation of native, and reduce the importation of foreign produce, for home consumption. The excess of all native commodities is sure of a market, of which those who can sell the cheapest will be the masters: hence a frugal and industrious people will be able to live and accumulate, where those who are neither could not live. This spirit of industry and frugality has been for ages, and still continues to be the guardian of this nation, by which it was enabled to support its many, long, and costly wars, and finally to force the king of Spain, its ancient master, to recognise its independent sovereignty. Although the Hollanders, before the last war, were the undisputed proprietors of the Indian spices, of the silks of India and China, and of the fine cotton manufactures of Indostan, till a period at no great distance the common people wore plain woollen cloth, and fed on fish and vegetables. So universally powerful was this propensity to economy, that formerly the common people, and even opulent merchants, never changed their fashions, and left off their clothes only because they were worn out. They have been known to purchase the coarse English cloth for their own wear, and sell their own fine Leyden cloths to Germany, Turkey, Portugal, and other countries: they also bought the cheapest butter and cheese in the north of England, and in Ireland, for their own consumption, and sent the best of those articles produced 186in their own country to foreign markets. The wealth which many individuals accumulated by their parsimonious habits was astonishing. The following anecdote will place this part of the national character in a striking point of view. As the marquis of Spinola and the president Richardot were going to the Hague in the year 1608, for the purpose of negotiating a truce with the Dutch, they saw on their way eight or nine persons step out of a little boat, and seat themselves upon the grass, where they made a frugal repast upon some bread, cheese, and beer; each person taking his own provisions from a wallet which he carried behind him. Upon the Spanish ambassadors inquiring of a peasant who these travellers were, he replied, to their no little astonishment, “they are the deputies of the states, our sovereign lords and masters.” Upon which the ambassadors exclaimed, “We shall never be able to conquer these people; we must make peace with them.” In the history of Sparta we can only look for a similar instance of virtuous simplicity.

Another source from which Amsterdam derived great wealth was the exchange and banking business. From her peculiar situation, vast credit; and extensive correspondence with every nation upon the face of the globe, this city has been the channel through which nearly three parts of the money remitted from one state to another in Europe have passed, and which have enriched the merchants by the customary commissions upon such remittances: to which may be added the duties payable upon all imports received from the manufactures of the western part of Germany, upon all goods which in their transit by the Rhine and by the Maas to foreign markets must pass through Amsterdam or Rotterdam, from which Holland must have derived a considerable revenue. In short, in other and better times, the trade with Great Britain, Persia, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cochin and its dependencies, Molucca, China, Japan, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Pomerania, Livonia, the possession of that important promontory the Cape of Good Hope, and the commerce of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Maas, all contributed to raise Amsterdam to the commercial renown which she once enjoyed. Yet, notwithstanding, under all her difficulties, arising from her territorial and marine losses by the 187war, the severity of the English blockade, the activity of the English cruisers, and of the French privateers, Holland still continues to carry on a considerable intercourse with her old connexions through the medium of neutral bottoms, secured by insurances effected frequently at the enormous premium of 20l. per cent.

To return to the Exchange of this great city: I was much struck with the confluence of people which surrounded one gentleman, who stood with his back towards one of the pillars, and were very eager to get a word or a whisper from him: upon inquiry this proved to be the acting partner of the house of Messrs. Hope; a house that, before the last war, could at any time dictate the exchange to Europe. This place is infested by a great number of Jew fruiterers, who practise all sorts of stratagems to set off their fruit, such as pinning the stalk of a fresh melon upon the bottom of a stale and rotten one, which had nearly succeeded with me. The melons in Holland are remarkably fine; and as a proof of their cheapness, I need only mention, that one morning, when strolling through the streets, I gave no more than the value of ten pence for a very large one, exquisitely flavoured.

I was much pleased with seeing the marine school, which, although its object is to form a nursery for naval officers, was, strange to relate, much neglected by the stadtholderian government, and was originally instituted, and afterwards supported, by the patriotic spirit of private individuals. The pupils are the children of citizens of all classes, and are received from seven to twelve years of age, upon the payment of a very moderate yearly stipend. Their education and treatment are the same as in similar institutions here and in other countries. In the yard is a brig completely rigged, for the instruction of the boys.

In the north-east part of the city stands the Rapshuys, or rasp-house, in which criminals, whose offences are not of a capital nature, are confined. A narrow court receding from the street, in which are the keeper’s lodge and apartments for the different officers, form the entrance of this prison. Over the gate are some insignificant, painted, wooden figures, representing criminals sawing logwood, and Justice holding a rod over them. The gaoler, apparently 188a good natured, merry fellow, showed me into the inner court, forming an oblong square, on three sides of which the cells of the prisoners, and on the fourth side the warehouses, containing the ground dying wood, are arranged. This yard is very much encumbered with piles of logwood, which sadly reduce the miserable pittance of space allotted for the prisoners to walk in. In one corner, in terrorem, is a whipping-post, with another little figure of Justice holding a rod. In this yard I saw some of the men sawing the Campeachy-wood, with a saw of prodigious large teeth, which appeared to be a work of extreme labour; and upon my so expressing myself to the gaoler, through my laquais de place, he informed me, that at first it required a painful exertion of strength, but that the prisoners by practice were enabled to saw it with ease, and to supply their weekly quota of two hundred pounds weight of sawed pieces, and also to make a variety of little articles in straw, bone, wood, and copper, to sell to those who visited the prison. The prison dress consists of a jacket, or surtout of white wollen, white shirts, hats, flannel stockings, and leather shoes. The conduct of these unfortunate persons is annually reported to the magistrate, who regulates the period of their confinement, where the case will admit of an exercise of discretion, by such report.

In a corner of the yard I was shown a cell, in which, if the person who is confined in it does not incessantly pump out the water let into it, he must inevitably be drowned; but the gaoler informed me, that it had not been used for many years, and that it was now only an object of terror. In the warehouses, which are very shabby, were piles of rasped wood for dyeing various colours; amongst others, the Evonymus Europæus, the Morus Tinctoria, and the Hæmotoxylum Campechionum. I was informed, that women who are attached to the prisoners, are permitted to visit them at stated periods, without any restraint, by which one of the great political objects of Holland, the encouragement of population, does not suffer by this wholesome separation of the faulty from the blameless members of society. The number of prisoners amounted to 124; they were far from looking healthy; this I attributed more to the height of the walls enclosing the yard, which, as well as the 189number of logwood piles, must greatly impede the circulation of the air, than to excess of toil and severity of treatment. The prisoners are not encumbered with irons, and I should think an escape from such a prison might be easily effected.

From the rasp-house I proceeded to the work-house, in the east quarter of the city, close to the Muider and Prince Gragts, an establishment which I believe has no parallel in the world. It is a vast building: the purposes to which it is applied are partly correctional and partly charitable. The number of persons within its walls, when I saw it, amounted to seven hundred and fifty of both sexes, and the annual expense is about one hundred thousand florins. In the rooms belonging to the governors and directresses, are some exquisite pictures by Vandyke, Rembrandt, and Jordaens. In a vast room very cleanly kept and well ventilated, were an immense number of women, occupied in sewing, spinning, &c.; amongst them was a fine, handsome, hearty looking Irish woman, who had been confined two years at the instance of her husband, for being more fond of a little true Schidam gin than of her liege spouse. In another vast apartment, secured by massy iron railing and grated windows, were about seventy female convicts, who appeared to be in the highest state of discipline, and were very industriously and silently engaged in making lace, &c. under the superintendency of a governess. From the walls of the room were suspended instruments of punishment, such as scourges, irons for the legs, &c. which, we were informed, were not spared upon the slightest appearance of insubordination. These women are always kept apart from the rest. The wards of the men, and the school-rooms for a great number of children, who are educated and maintained under the same roof, as well as the dormitories, were in the highest state of neatness. In another part of this building, never shown to strangers, were confined about ten young ladies, of very respectable, and some of very high families, sent there by their parents or friends for undutiful deportment, or some other domestic offence. They are compelled to wear a particular dress as a mark of degradation, obliged to work a stated number of hours a day, and are occasionally whipped: they are kept apart by themselves, and no 190one but a father, mother, brother, or sister, can see them during their confinement, and then only by an order from one of the directors. Husbands may here, upon complaint of extravagance, drunkenness, &c. duly proved, send their wives to be confined and receive the discipline of the house; and wives their husbands, for two, three, and four years together. The allowance of food is abundant and good; and each person is permitted to walk for a proper time in the courts within the building, which are spacious. Every ward is kept locked, and no one can go in or out without the especial permission of the proper officer.

Close to this place is the plantation, a very large portion of ground within the city, laid out in avenues, and a great number of little gardens, formed into several divisions by streets of pretty country and summer-houses; and the whole is surrounded by canals. To this rus in urbe, such of the citizens and their families repair in the summer to dine or drink tea, whose finances, or spirit of economy will not admit of their having a house in the country. To render these rural indulgences as cheap as possible, three or four families join in renting one small cottage, or perhaps a summerhouse and garden. Never did any spot devoted to the pleasure of nature exhibit more silence and solemnity: no sports, no pastime, no laugh nor gambol: the females drink their tea and work, and the men smoke in peaceful taciturnity, and scarcely move their eyes from their different occupations, unless some very animating and attractive object passes.

In my way from the plantation to the elegant country residence of a Dutch merchant of high respectability, I passed, a few miles from Amsterdam, two burial places of the Jews, who wisely bury their dead in the country; the other inhabitants follow the baneful practice of burying in the churches and church-yards in the city, where the catholics deposit their dead very frequently in protestant churches. In Holland the honours of funeral pomp are scarcely ever displayed: the spirit of economy, which seems to be the tutelar saint of these moist regions, seldom incurs a further expense than a plain coffin, which costs little, and some genuine tears or sighs, which cost nothing. To describe the numerous churches, 191chapels, and conventicles of the religions of all persuasions, who since the revolution live in cordial amity with each other, and with the government, under which they enjoy the rights of equal citizenship, would be a laborious and not a very interesting labour. The quakers here, and in every other town in Holland, are very few: the Jews and the anabaptists are very numerous, and there are many Roman Catholics. Before the revolution the clergy of the established church were paid by the government; they, as well as every other priest or pastor, are now supported at fixed salaries, raised rateably amongst the inhabitants of the parishes in which they officiate, each sect supporting its own minister. In every parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths are regularly kept. The church-yards are not disgraced, like ours, with low facetious epitaphs, more calculated to make the living merry, than to lead them to serious meditation. Each parish maintains its own poor, under the control of a council. They have also, as with us, outdoor poor. The sabbath is kept in Holland with the same solemnity as in England. The great number of noble charitable institutions in Amsterdam, in which the sick and the friendless of all persuasions are received and cherished, without any recommendation but that of affliction, cannot fail to impress a stranger with admiration, though to enumerate them here would not be very entertaining to the reader.

There are several literary societies in Amsterdam, which are supported with equal spirit and liberality. The Felix Meritis is the principal public institute; it is supported by private subscriptions: no money is paid upon admission; foreigners are admitted with a subscriber’s ticket, but no native can be received unless he is a subscriber. This place is a large building, containing some fine apartments, particularly the music-room, which, during the concerts, is much resorted to by the most opulent and fashionable families, many of whom play, with the assistance of professional performers. There are also rooms devoted to philosophy and the arts. In the painting-room I was shown some works of the modern Dutch painters, which were not above mediocrity; they appear to have lost that exquisite art of colouring, which so eminently 192distinguished their predecessors. This circumstance is very singular, considering how many ingenious artists this city has produced, amongst whom may be enumerated the three Does, Griffier, Schellinks, the celebrated Adrian, and William Vandervelde, &c. M. Smit, and Mr. De Winter, very opulent merchants, have a fine collection of paintings. Mr. Van Brenton has also a valuable cabinet, in which are the only Venetian pictures supposed to be in Holland; and in the surgery is a noble picture by Rembrandt.

The Dutch theatre is large and handsome, and has a noble front. On the night I was there, Madam Wattier performed: she occupies the same place in the public estimation in Holland as the immortal Siddons does in that of England: she is advanced in years, but still continues to display great tragic qualities: at the same time her manner is rather too vehement for an English auditor. The principal dancer in the ballet was Mademoiselle Polly, who dances with great agility. The scenery is good. During the interval between the acts, the people quit the house, to take refreshments and walk in the open air: upon these occasions the national spirit is again displayed: as there is no half-price, little boys hover round the doors, and bid upon each other for the purchase of the re-admission tickets of those who come out, for the purpose of re-selling them at a profit. The French theatre is small but neat, and tolerably well supplied with performers. After the play it is usual to go out to the Rondell, where the higher classes of the women of the town assemble to waltz. This assembly-room, like the spill-house of Rotterdam, is frequented by tradesmen, their wives and their children. After hearing so much of this place, I was greatly disappointed on viewing it. The assembly-room is small and shabby, the music wretched, and adjoining is a small 194square court, with three or four trees in it, scantily decorated with about a dozen lamps. Such is the celebrated Rondell of Amsterdam, which the Dutch who have never visited England contend is superior to our Vauxhall.

With a large and very agreeable party, I made an excursion into North Holland, where we visited Brock, one of the most curious, and one of the prettiest villages in Holland. The streets are divided by little rivulets; the houses and summer-houses, formed of wood painted green and white, are very handsome, though whimsical in their shape, and are all remarkably neat. They are like so many mausoleums, for the silence of death reigns throughout the place. The inhabitants, who have formed a peculiar association amongst themselves, scarcely ever admit a stranger within their doors, and hold but little intercourse with each other. During our stay, we saw only the faces of two of them, and those by a stealthy peep. They are very rich, so much so, that many of their culinary utensils are of solid gold. The shutters of the windows in front of the houses are always kept shut, and the principal entrance is never opened but on the marriage or the death of one of the family. The pavement of the street is tesselated with all sorts of little pebbles and cockle-shells, and is kept in such exquisite order, that a dog or a cat is never seen to trespass upon it; and it is said, that formerly there was a law which obliged all passengers to take off their shoes in the summer when they walked upon it; that a man was once reprimanded for sneezing in the streets; and latterly, a clergyman, upon being appointed to fill the church on the demise of a very old predecessor, was treated with great shyness by his flock because he did not (unwittingly) take off his shoes when he ascended the pulpit. The gardens of this village produce deer, dogs, peacocks, chairs, tables, and ladders, cut out in box. Such a museum of vegetable statuary I never witnessed before. Brock represents a sprightly ball-room well lighted up, without a soul in the orchestra or upon the floor. From Brock we proceeded to Saardam, which at a small distance seems to be a city of windmills. The houses are principally built of wood, every one of which has a little fantastic baby-sort of garden. Government has discontinued 195building ships of war here, which used to be a source of great prosperity to the town; however, its numerous paper and sawing mills employ a vast number of hands, and produce great opulence to the place. We paid our homage to the wooden cottage where Peter the Great resided when he came to this place to learn the art of ship-building; it is very small, and stands in a garden, and is in tolerable preservation. The women in North Holland are said to be handsomer than in any other part of the country. As I was very desirous of commencing my tour on the Rhine, I was glad to return to Amsterdam.

The climate of Holland is moist, but far from being unpleasant or unwholesome, although some travellers have thought proper to say it consists of six months of rain and six months of bad weather. The principal divisions of the country are at present the same as they were during the republic, namely, Holland, Overyssel, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Groningen, Guelderland, and Zutphen, besides the Texel and other islands; but the king has it in contemplation, it is said, of speedily dividing the kingdom into ten departments. Holland contains 113 cities or large towns, 1400 villages, and nearly 2,800,000 inhabitants. The military force of Holland amounts to about 40,000 cavalry and infantry. A population and a force which cannot but astonish the reader, when he reflects upon the size, soil, and position of the country.

I intended to have taken the treckschuyt to Utrecht, as the river Amstel is all the way lined with the most beautiful country-houses and grounds in Holland; but as some friends of mine in Amsterdam obligingly proposed accompanying me, and were strongly desirous that I should see Naarden, Soestdyke, and some other places in our way, the boat was relinquished for the carriage. I however recommend the traveller not to omit going to Utrecht by water. Excellent carriages and horses are always to be procured at a large livery stable keeper’s who resides near the Utrecktsche Poort, or Utrecht Gate, in Amsterdam, close to the house from which the Utrecht treckschuyts proceed: for these he must make the best bargain he can, as he will be wholly at the mercy of the proprietor. The inconvenience and imposition arising 196from travelling in Holland are frequently severely felt, on account of there being no regular posting. In Amsterdam the price of a carriage for the day is fourteen florins, and for this the coachman provides for himself and horses. The back of our carriage towards the horses, folded into two divisions, resting upon the fixed seat, so that when the cushion was placed upon it, the seat was only a little raised; thus the coach became either close or open: the roof was fixed. In this vehicle, with a pair of good horses, we set off for Naarden, a clean, pretty little town, and more skilfully and strongly fortified than any other town in Holland: here the same tranquillity reigns as in most of the other Dutch country towns. From the ramparts, which present a very agreeable walk, there is a fine view of the Zuyder Zee on the northern side, the water of which being in many places very shallow, at a distance resembled moving mounds of sand. Here, and throughout the journey, our coachman gave the preference to coffee, of which the Dutch are remarkably fond, instead of wine or spirits, with his dinner. From economy, as I observed at this place and elsewhere, the middling people keep a bit of sugar-candy in their mouth when they drink tea or coffee, instead of using sugar in the way we do. Our host regaled us after dinner with a volunteer dessert of some very delicious pears, which grew in very great profusion in his garden.

From this place to Soestdyke, one of the two country palaces of the king allowed by the constitution, the roads are very sandy, and we were obliged to take four horses. In the neighbourhood of Naarden the country is covered with buckwheat; which, after we had advanced about four English miles, began to undulated, and present a very beautiful appearance. The many spires and chimnies of villages peeping above the trees in all directions, the small divisions of land, the neat and numerous little farm houses which abounded on all sides of us, presented a picture of industry and prosperity seldom seen in any other country. The sound wisdom displayed by the Dutch in preventing the overgrowth and consolidation of farms, cannot fail to strike the observation of the traveller, and particularly an English one. By this admirable policy, Holland is enabled to maintain its comparatively immense population, under 197the great disadvantage of a soil far from being genial; hence it is but little burthened with paupers, and hence the abundance of its provision. In England, on the contrary, the farmers, grown opulent by availing themselves of the calamities of unproductive seasons, and consequent scarcity, have for many years past omitted no opportunity, by grasping at every purchase, to enlarge their estates, and hence a portion of land which, if separated into small allotments, would give food and a moderate profit, to many families, is now monopolized by one; and those who ought to be farmers on a small scale, are now obliged to toil as labourers in the fields of their employer, at wages that are not sufficient, if their families are numerous, to prevent the necessity of their applying for parochial aid. If some legislative provision could be effected to restrain this monstrous and growing evil, by that ardent and cordial lover of his country, and particularly of the lower classes of society, Mr. Whitbread, who has laudably in parliament applied his enlightened mind to ameliorate the condition of the poor, it would be one of the most beneficial measures that ever received the fiat of the British senate. I do not repine to see the farmers, or any other respectable class of men, receive and enjoy the honest fruits of their own enterprize and industry: I could see with less regret all those decent and frugal habits of the farm which once characterized the yeomanry of England superseded by the folly and fashion of the gay and dissipated; the farmer drinking his bottle of port instead of some cheap salubrious ale; his daughter, no longer brought up in the dairy, returning from a boarding-school, to mingle the sounds of her harp with the lowing of cows, or reluctantly going to the market of the adjoining town, tricked out in awkward, misplaced finery, with a goose in one hand and a parasol in the other, did not the poor classes of society become poorer, and the humble more humiliated, by the cause of this marvellous metamorphosis in rural economy. In Holland, I was well informed, there is not a farm that exceeds fifty acres, and very few of that extent. There the economy observed in and about the “peasant’s nest,” is truly gratifying: the farmer, his wife, and a numerous progeny, exhibit faces of health and happiness; their dwelling is 198remarkable for its neatness and order throughout; in the orchard behind, abounding with all sorts of delicious fruits, the pigs and sheep fatten; three or four sleeky cows feed in a luxuriant adjoining meadow; the corn land is covered with turkies and fowls, and the ponds with ducks and geese. Such is the picture of a Dutch farm.

Notwithstanding the enormous tax upon land, and a tax upon cattle per head, an imposition unknown to any other country, the expense of contributing to the support of the dykes, the duty on salt, and a variety of other charges, amounting to more than fifty per cent. on the value of their land, the beneficial effects arising from small farms and the simplicity, diligence, and economy of the Dutch farmer, enable him to discharge those expenses, and his rent, with punctuality, and with the surplus of his profit to support his family in great comfort. To these causes alone can be attributed the astonishing supplies which are sent to the different markets. North Holland, so celebrated for its cheese, supplies Enkuysen, upon an average, with two hundred and fifty thousand pounds weight of that valuable article of life, and Alkmaar with three hundred thousand, per week. In a very small space in the isle of Amak, within about two English miles of Copenhagen, no less than four thousand people, descendants of a colony from East Friesland, invited over by one of the kings of Denmark to supply the city with milk, cheese, butter, and vegetables, are enabled to live and flourish, and continue to supply that city with these articles. I remember being highly delighted with seeing their dwellings and little luxuriant gardens; nor did I ever see so many persons living within so small a space, except in an encampment. An experienced English agriculturist who had visited Holland, informed me that he thought the Dutch farmers did not sufficiently dress their land. The vegetable soil is in general so thin, that trees in exposed situations are usually topped, to prevent their being thrown down by the wind. In that part of Holland which I am describing, on account of its being well sheltered, there is a large growth of wood. Upon leaving the romantic and exquisitely picturesque village of Baren, we entered the royal chace, 199which occupies a vast track of ground in this forest. The trees are generally poor and thin, but I saw some fine beeches among them. On the borders of this chace are two country villas, in the shape of pagodas, belonging to a private gentleman, the novelty and gaudy colouring of which served to animate the sombre appearance of the forest behind.

In the evening we reached the principal inn at Soestdyke, lying at the end of a very long avenue in the forest, chiefly filled with young oaks, a little fatigued with the tedium produced by the heavy roads through which we had waded; however, after some refreshing tea taken under the trees, near the house, we proceeded to view the palace, formerly a favourite sporting chateau of the Orange family. A tolerable plain brick house on the left of the entrance, composed the lodge, and after passing through a large court, we ascended by a flight of steps to the principal entrance of this palace, if palace it may be called, for a residence more unworthy of a prince I have never seen. The only part of the house in any degree deserving of notice was the hall, the sides of which were decorated with the emblems of rural recreation, the implements of husbandry, and all the apparatus of hunting, fishing, and shooting, tolerably well executed. The rooms were principally white-washed, and destitute of furniture: the windows were large, and the panes of glass very small, fastened with lead, such as are used in cottages: in short, the whole palace presented the appearance of a country mansion in England of the date of Charles the First, deserted by the family to whom it belonged, and left to the care of the tenants who rent the estate to which it belongs. Nothing could be more dreary and desolate. The king and queen partook of a cold collation here a short time before I visited it, provided by the family who rented the place of the state, and occupied it when we visited it. I was not surprised to hear that the royal family staid only one hour, during which they scarcely ventured out of a large naked room at the back part of the house, called the grand saloon: one of the young princes gave a son of the gentleman who occupied the premises, an elegant watch set round with brilliants. I could not help reflecting a little upon the disgust this visit must 200have given to the queen, who had just arrived from Paris, and from all the voluptuous and tasteful magnificence of the new imperial court. The palace is surrounded by a ditch half filled with green stagnant water, the dulness of which was only relieved by the croaking of a legion of undisturbed frogs. The gardens and grounds, which abounded with hares, are very formally disposed into dull, unshaded, geometrical walks. After supper, a brilliant moon and cloudless night, attracted us into one of the most beautiful and majestic avenues of beeches I ever saw, immediately opposite the palace: as we sat upon a bench, looking through an opening upon the bright bespangled heavens, the description of our divine bard stole upon my mind:

In this wood are several genteel country-houses, many of which were formerly occupied by those who belonged to the Orange court. The inn here is much frequented, the accommodations of which are good, by the people of Amsterdam, who frequently make parties to it; and it is the great resort of those married couples fresh from the altar, until the honey-moon is in her wane.

In the morning about five o’clock we set off for Zeyst, or Ziest, and passed through a large tract of champagne country, interspersed with short brushwood, the dull monotony of which was at last relieved by a vast pyramid, erected by the French troops who were encamped in the immense open space in which it stands, amounting to 30,000 men, under the command of Gen. Marmont. On the four sides are the following inscriptions:

INSCRIPTION ON THE GRAND FRONT.

“This pyramid was raised to the august Emperor of the French, Napoleon the First, by the troops encamped in the plain 201of Zeyst, being a part of the French and Batavian array, commanded by the Commander in Chief, Marmont.”

INSCRIPTION ON THE SECOND FRONT.

Battles gained by the Emperor.

“The battles of Montenotte, de Dego, and Millesimo, of Mondovi, the passage of the Po, the battle of Lodi, the engagement of Berguetto, the passage of the Mincio, the battles of Lonato, of Castiglione, of the Brenta, of St Georges, of Arcola, of la Favourite, of Chebreis, of Sediman, of Montabor, of Aboukir, of Marengo.

INSCRIPTION ON THE THIRD FRONT.

“He terminated the civil war; he destroyed all cabals, and caused a wise liberty to succeed to anarchy; he re-established religious worship, he restored the public credit, he enriched the public treasury, he repaired the roads and constructed new ones, he made harbours and canals, he caused the arts and sciences to prosper, he ameliorated the condition of the soldiers, the general peace was his work.”

ON THE FOURTH FRONT.

“The troops encamped in the plains of Zeyst, making part of the French and Batavian army, commanded by the General in Chief Marmont, and under his orders, by the Generals of division, Grouchy, Boudet, Vignolle, the Batavian Lieutenant, General Dumonceau, the Generals of Brigade, Soyez, &c. [here follows a long list of the names of the other officers, too tedious to enumerate; also a very long list of the different divisions of the regiments to which the above officers belonged,] have erected this monument to the glory of the emperor of the French, Napoleon the First, at the epoch of his ascending the throne, and as a token of admiration and love, generals, officers, and soldiers, have all 202co-operated with equal ardour: it was commenced the 24th Fructidor, 12 ann, and finished in thirty-two days.”

The whole was designed by the chief of the battalion of engineers. The total height of this stupendous monument is about 36 metres, or 110 French feet; that of the obelisk, exclusive of the socle, is about 13 metres, or 42 French feet. One end of the base of the pyramid is 48 metres, or 148 feet. From the summit of the obelisk the eye ranges over a vast extent of country, Utrecht, Amersfort, Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, Dordrecht, Leyden, Gorcum, Breda, Arnheim, Nimeguen, Bois le Duc, Cleves, Zutphen, Dewenter, Swol, and a great part of the Zuyder Zee, may be distinctly seen on a fine clear day.

Upon this spot it is in contemplation immediately to erect a new city, the building of which, and the cutting of a canal to be connected with the adjoining navigation, have already commenced. Zeyst is a very handsome town, or rather an assemblage of country-houses, it abounds with agreeable plantations and pleasant woods, and is much frequented in the summer by the middling classes of wealthy merchants from Amsterdam, who sit under the trees and smoke with profound gravity, occasionally looking at those who pass, without feeling any inclination to move themselves: what an enviable state of indifference to all the bustle and broil of this world! upon which they seem to gaze as if they were sent into it to be spectators and not actors. Who, upon reflection and sober comparison, would not prefer this “even tenour” to the peril of the chace and the fever of dog-day balls!

The principal hotel here is upon a noble scale, the politest attentions are paid to strangers, and the charges are far from being extravagant. The only striking object of curiosity in the town is a very spacious building, formerly belonging to Count Zinzendorf, and now to a fraternity of ingenious and industrious Germans, amounting to eighty persons, who have formed themselves into a rational and liberal society, called the Herrenhuthers, or Moravians. This immense house, in its object, though not in its appearance, resembles our Exeter ’Change, but infinitely more the splendid depot of goods of every description, kept by a very wealthy and highly respectable Englishman of the name of Hoy at Petersburgh. 203Upon ringing at the principal entrance, we were received with politeness by one of the brotherhood, in the dress of a layman, who unlocked it and conducted us into ten good sized rooms, each containing every article of those trades most useful, such as watchmakers, silversmiths, saddlers, milliners, grocers, &c. Many of these articles are manufactured by the brethren who have been tutored in England, or have been imported from our country. The artificers work upon the basement story, at the back of the house, and no sound of trade is heard; on the contrary, the tranquillity of a monastery pervades the whole.

After inspecting the different shop-rooms, it will repay the trouble of the traveller to make interest to see the other part of the premises, shown only upon particular application. The refectory is a large room, kept with great cleanliness; and the meals of the fraternity, if I may judge by so much of the dinner as was placed upon the table, are very far from partaking of the simple fare of conventual austerity. A bon vivant would have risen from their table without a murmur. In this room were several music-stands, used every other evening at a concert; the vocal and instrumental music of which is supplied by certain members of the brotherhood, who I was told excelled in that elegant accomplishment. In the chapel, which was remarkably neat, there was an organ, and on the wall was a very energetic address from one of the society upon his retiring from it, handsomely framed and glazed. The dormitory upon the top of the house partook of the same spirit of cleanliness and order. Never was any sectarian association formed upon more liberal and comfortable principles. In short, it is a society of amiable, industrious, and agreeable men, who form a coalition of ingenuity and diligence for their support, and benevolently remit the surplus of their income, after defraying their own expenses, to their brethren established in the East and West Indies, and other parts of the world. They marry whenever they please; but those who taste of this blissful state are not permitted to have chambers in the house, although they may contribute their labours, and receive their quota of subsistence from it.

After we had amused ourselves with roving about this agreeable place, we set off for Utrecht. I have before mentioned the manner in which the Dutch compute distances, and although I had for some time been accustomed to hear hours substituted for miles, yet as I was no longer on the canals, it sounded somewhat strange to hear a charming lady of our party observe, which she did with perfect Dutch propriety, when we were speaking of the probable time in which we should arrive at Utrecht: “Surely our horses must be poor indeed if they cannot go six hours in three.” Our road lay through a very rich and beautiful country, well drained, abounding with neat compact little farms, orchards, wood plantations, the lofty and venerable towers of Utrecht appearing full in our view all the way. We passed by the mall, which has a handsome stone entrance, is upwards of a mile in length, and is bordered with a triple row of trees, with a carriage-road on each side. When this city surrendered to the arms of Louis the Fourteenth in 1672, he was uncommonly delighted with this walk, yet, from knowing that it was equally admired by the citizens, he threatened to have every tree felled to the ground, unless they raised a very large contribution, which was immediately produced, and the mall preserved. If the menace of the conqueror was sincere, which I can scarcely believe, he united the tasteless barbarism 205of a Vandal to the ferocious rapacity of a tyrant. Louis overran this province, and the greatest part of Guelderland, Overyssel, and Holland, at the head of one hundred thousand men, in less than a month, a rapidity of victory almost incredible, though infinitely surpassed by the arms of France in the present times. The progress of the French king was celebrated in the following gasconade:

I think Utrecht one of the most beautiful cities in Holland, next to the Hague, which it is said to exceed in size. The streets are wide, and the buildings handsome, amongst which the hand of the Spanish architect is frequently to be traced. The canals are about twenty feet below the street; and the access to them for the servants of the adjoining houses is by a subterranean passage. These canals are very much neglected, and were covered in all directions with cabbage-stalks, leaves, and other vegetable substances, left to putrefy upon the surface. There I first beheld a branch of the Rhine unmingled with other waters. This mighty river has partaken of the mutability to which every thing sublunary is subjected. Near the village of Cooten, about twelve miles from Utrecht, the traveller may contemplate corn waiving and cattle depasturing where once it rolled its broad majestic waters, now diminished to a little streamlet: its division into the two great copious and navigable streams takes place a little above Nimeguen: the right branch retains the name of the Rhine; the left is called the Waal, a word expressive of a defensive boundary, which separated the ancient Batavians from their hostile neighbours on the southern border: the former, during its superabundance, produced a small branch called the Lack, which ran near the little city of Wyk, by Deurstede, directed its course towards Utrecht, upon which it bestowed the name of Ultra trajectum, passed through Woerden Leyden, and disembogued itself into the German Ocean at Catwyk: the latter branch in rolling its waters toward the sea, incorporated with the Maas, and their united streams were called the New Maas, under which name they flow by Dort, 206Rotterdam, and other cities, into the sea. Had rivers tongues, as poets feign they have, this much-injured branch of the Rhine might have exclaimed with Wolsey, I now am left

Upon the subsiding of a great inundation, the frequent terror of the Low countries, it was found that the Rhine had changed its channels, and flowed into that of the Lack, to which it had given birth, in consequence of its channel having been amazingly deepened by the watery irruption. This branch, in consequence of the power of its waters not being able to bear down the obstructions opposed to it, is not able to force its way to the sea, and is stopped in its course near the village of Catwyk by mountains of accumulated sand, and being compelled to regurgitate, is distributed over, and lost in the neighbouring canals.

The French, under Louis the Fourteenth, retained possession of Utrecht for little more than a year, during which the magnificent monarch was so delighted with the place, that he held his court here in great gaiety and splendor; but the Dutch were heartily rejoiced to be relieved of this honour, and hailed with exultation the hour in which with his troops he retired from the country; this movement however, was preceded by the demolition of their fortifications, raising heavy contributions, and exercising many wanton acts of cruelty and oppression, which excited such disgust, that nearly all the inhabitants of the province resolved upon transporting themselves to Batavia. Although by this conquest the French had left an indelible impression of disgust behind them, and the regular forces of the town amounted to seven thousand men, and the inhabitants breathed nothing but vengeance against the Prince of Orange, this city surrendered to the arms of Prussia, who espoused his cause, in the year 1787. The rhyngrave of Salm, who had the command of the troops, covered himself with great disgrace, by this unresisting, cowardly, and, as it was generally believed, treacherous surrender of the place. In 1795, when the French troops once more approached the town, its gates 207were again thrown open, and they were received more as brethren than as conquerors; but the inhabitants very soon repented of this second visit, for the impositions they levied were extremely severe, and the French officers selected the best rooms in the best houses for their quarters, to the great inconvenience of families so oppressed. Upon two or three doors of very elegant mansions I saw little boards fastened, with the names and rank of the French officers who had taken up their lodgings within. The cathedral must once have been an enormous and magnificent structure, if I may judge by the doom or tower, the only part which remains perfect. The ruins present a fine specimen of the Gothic, some of the ornaments of which were in high preservation, and very beautiful. In the cloisters there is an arch, the pillars of which are apparently fastened with ropes, which upon examination prove to be done in stone, and admirably executed. The tower is of the astonishing height of 464 feet, and from the top, on a clear day, no less than fifty-one walled cities and towns may be seen; and the pyramid erected in honour of Napoleon at Zeyst presents a noble appearance in this expanded view. About midway in our ascent, we entered a vast vaulted chamber with galleries in it, in which two old women reside, who, if they require it, supply the visitors with schidam and biscuits to refresh themselves in their ascension, which are presented to them in a little room, the windows of which are scarcely visible to the beholder on the outside, commanding a very wide and agreeable prospect. Upon top of the tower there is a very numerous and fine-toned set of chimes. The ramparts are about four miles round the tower, and afford a very agreeable and picturesque walk. Utrecht was once a rich and powerful see, the bishops of which were sovereign princes, who laying the crosier aside, and assuming the sword, frequently waged bloody warfare with their rivals the prince bishops of Leyden.

The same causes which have thinned the number of students of Leyden, have reduced those of Utrecht, which do not exceed 360, most of whom are the sons of the inhabitants of the city. Two-thirds of the merchants of this place have connexions with London. There are several endowments of a charitable nature, 208which do honour to the city, many of which were originally instituted, and principally supported by English families resident here before the revolution. A botanic garden has lately been formed near the dome of the cathedral; it is upon a small scale, but appeared to be well arranged. In one of the gardens close to the city, was a naked little statue of Cupid, without arrows or wings, with the following beautiful inscription under it:

In the gardens of Chantilly, the little god appears in the same manner, and is celebrated in the same exquisite lines.

A traveller can scarcely enter a town in Holland which has not given birth to some genius, whose fame reflects lustre upon his country. Utrecht enrols amongst those illustrious sages who resided, or were born within its walls, and who have bestowed upon it immortal celebrity, the learned Gronovius, the critic; Grævius, his pupil, one of the most profound writers of the middle of the sixteenth century, so well known for his Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiæ, in thirteen folio volumes, and the two erudite Burmans. Doctor Johnson thus speaks of Peter Burman, and Gronovius, and Grævius, “One of the qualities which 209contributed eminently to qualify Grævius for an instructor of youth, was the sagacity by which he readily discovered the predominant faculty of each pupil, and the peculiar designation by which nature has allotted him to any species of literature and by which he was soon able to determine that Peter Burman was remarkably adapted to classical studies, and to predict the great advance he would make by industriously pursuing the direction of his genius. On the other hand, animated by the encouragement of a tutor so celebrated as Grævius, Peter Burman, by continuing the vigour of his application, fulfilled his master’s prophecy; and it has been asserted, that he passed honourably and fairly through the classes, and was admitted into the university at the age of thirteen.

“His biographer allows this to have been so stupendous a progress as to surpass the limits of all probability; of which indeed every man must be sensible, who considers that it is not uncommon for the highest genius in our country, to be entangled for ten years in those thorny paths of literature, which Burman is represented to have passed in less than two. But this prodigy has been cleared up very satisfactorily by the following observation. In the universities of foreign countries, they have professors of philology or humanity, whose employment is to instruct the younger classes in grammar, rhetoric, and languages; nor do they engage in the study of philosophy, till they have passed through a course of philological lectures and exercises, to which in some places two years are commonly allotted: whereas the English scheme of education, which, with regard to academical studies, is more rigorous, and sets literary honours at a higher price than that of any other country, exacts from the youth who are initiated in our colleges a degree of philological knowledge sufficient to qualify them for lectures on philosophy, which are read to them in Latin, and to enable them to proceed in other studies without assistance; so that it may be conjectured that Burman, at his entrance into the university of Leyden, had no such skill in languages, nor such ability of composition, as are frequently to be met with in the higher classes of an English school; nor was perhaps, at that time, more than 210moderately skilled in Latin, and taught the first rudiments of Greek.”

At Utrecht was also born, in 1459, pope Adrian VI. to whom the emperor Maximilian entrusted the education of his son, Charles the Fifth, and who afterwards filled the pontifical throne with piety and learning, with dignity and mildness: this distinguished personage, after having acquired his classical knowledge at the university of this city, and his philosophical at the college of Louvain, received the degree of doctor in divinity in 1491, the expense of which he was unable to sustain, and which was defrayed by Margaret, sister to Edward IV. of England. I was informed that the house he resided in, a fine Gothic building, was still standing, and that it was adorned with several curious basso-relievos, but time would not permit me to visit the venerable remains. This city had also the honour of producing the Chevalier Antonio More, who was born here in 1519, where he studied under John Schoorel, with whom, having made considerable progress, he improved himself in design at Rome, and in the true principles of colouring at Venice: one of his historical compositions, from the subject of the Resurrection, was in such high estimation as to be publicly exhibited at the fair at St. Germains, before it was purchased by the prince of Condé. More has the reputation of having imitated nature very closely and happily; his manner is strong, just, and bold, and in his portraits there is great character and life. He was much esteemed by the emperor Charles V. and was by him sent to Portugal to paint the portraits of the king, the queen, who was the sister of the emperor, and their daughter, afterwards the queen of Spain. For these portraits he received six hundred ducats, and many valuable presents; and to show their admiration of his talents, the Portuguese nobility presented him, in the name of that order, with a chain of gold valued at a thousand ducats. He was employed by most of the princes of Europe, and at every court his paintings excited universal applause. Queen Mary the First of England, presented him with a chain of gold and a pension. Upon his quitting London and settling in Spain, a singular circumstance befel him: one day as the king, who was 211very fond of him, and his great patron, was talking to him in a very familiar manner, he gave More in jocularity a sharp tap on the arm, which the irritable painter mistaking for indignity, instead of an act of good humour and condescension, resented by striking the king with his maulstick: a folly which had nearly in its consequence proved fatal to him, and which compelled him to quit the country with all possible celerity. His last work was the Circumcision, intended for the cathedral church at Antwerp, but which he did not live to finish.

Cornelius Poelemburg, another artist of high distinction, was born at Utrecht in 1586. He first studied under Abraham Bloemart, and afterwards, upon going to Rome, became enamoured with the works of that divine artist, Raphael, whose exquisite grace in the nude figure he endeavoured to imitate. His style was entirely new, and he surpassed all his contemporaries in the delicacy of his touch, in the sweetness of his colouring, and in the selection of fortunate objects and situations. His skies are clear, light, and transparent; and his female figures, which are generally represented naked, are equally elegant and beautiful. The Italians were highly delighted with his works, and some of the cardinals of Rome, of the finest taste, frequently attended his painting-room, to observe his extraordinary and happy manner of working. Upon his leaving Rome, the grand duke of Florence paid him great honours, and he was received with distinction in every city through which he passed. It is recorded to the honour of Rubens, that after paying him a friendly visit, and expressing the greatest pleasure from examining the works of Poelemburg, he purchased and bespoke several of his pictures, for his own cabinet; this noble conduct at once gave the stamp of currency to the works of the latter, and advanced his reputation and his fortune together. Our refined and munificent Charles the First invited him to his court, and nobly recompensed him for his labors, but he vainly endeavoured, by his princely encouragement, to prevail upon him to settle in England; the indelible love of his country prevailed over every other consideration, and he returned to his native country, where he lived in affluence and esteem, and where he continued to paint to 212the last day of his life, which was in the year 1660, at the great age of seventy-four.

Utrecht seems to have the fairest pretensions to have given birth to Anthony Waterloo, before slightly mentioned; an honour disputed with much ardor of rivalship by Amsterdam and other cities. The landscapes of this admirable artist are in the highest estimation, and are the closet copies of nature, without the aid of meretricious decoration. His favourite subjects were woody scenes, embellished with water, and figures and cattle added by Weenix and other artists: the variety in the verdure of his trees and grounds, the very tint of which illustrates the hour of the day and the season of the year in which they were taken, and the wonderful transparency of his water, remain unrivalled. Although the works of this great artist produced high prices, he expired in great penury in the hospital of St. Job, near Utrecht. John Glauber, called Polidore, another eminent artist, was born here in 1656: he was a disciple of the admirable Berghem, but a passion for travelling induced him to quit his master, to contemplate the sublime objects of nature in Italy. In his way he remained at Paris one year with Picart, a flower painter, and at Lyons two years with Adrian Vander Cabel, with whom he intended to have staid longer, had he not been attracted by a great number of people who were going to the jubilee, to proceed direct to Rome, where he continued for two years, indefatigably pursuing the means of improving himself in his art, and from thence he went to Venice. Upon his return to Holland he settled at Amsterdam, where he lodged with Gerard Lairesse, in whose house an academy of arts was established. These distinguished artists were united together by the same passion for their art, and the same elevation of mind, improved by their having travelled through the same countries: by this friendship the beautiful landscapes of Glauber became enriched by the graceful figures of Lairesse. Glauber ranks amongst the finest landscape painters of the Flemish school. The most frequent subjects of his pencil he derived from the neighbourhood of Rome and the Alps, and his style resembles that of Gaspar Poussin; his colouring is warm and true, his invention very luxuriant; and although his pictures 213are exquisitely finished, they appear as if they had been produced with perfect facility; his touch is so peculiarly just and natural, that every distinct species of trees or plants may be distinguished by the characteristic exactness of the leafing. The two brothers, John and Andrew Bott, were born in this city in the beginning of the sixteenth century; the former a landscape painter, and the latter a painter of figures: they both resided many years in Italy. John made Claude Lorraine his model, whose style he imitated with uncommon success, as did Andrew that of Bamboccio. They were much attached to each other, and painted in conjunction: their united efforts seem to be the happy result of one masterly hand. Andrew was unfortunately drowned in one of the canals of Venice whilst with his brother, in 1650, who returned to Utrecht overwhelmed with grief, which he consoled by an unabated pursuit of the art he adored. The works of John are of inestimable value, and eagerly sought after by connoisseurs.

Gallantry forbids my passing over the name of Anna Maria Schurman, born here in 1607: she was profoundly versed in languages, displayed great skill and taste in painting, as well as in every other branch of the graphic and elegant arts: she was honoured with a visit from Christina, queen of Sweden, who pronounced the most enthusiastic encomiums on her elegant attainments. This celebrated woman died at the age of seventy-one. There are other artists who do honour to this their native city, but I have mentioned those of the first order, in number and reputation perfectly sufficient to establish the pretensions of Utrecht to high rank in the roll of renowned cities. I quitted this beautiful place, the prosperity of which has suffered much by the war with England, about four o’clock on a beautiful autumnal morning, and proceeded to Arnheim, which and Nimeguen, are the capital cities of Guelderland. This beautiful and valuable province contains twenty-two considerable towns, and upwards of three hundred villages. The Menopii Gugerni, Usipetes, and Secambri, mentioned in Cæsar’s Commentaries, are supposed to have been its ancient inhabitants. Guelderland, remarkable for the salubrity of its climate and the fertility of its soil, abounds with the most romantic variety of scenery, 214mountain and valley, and is well stocked in every direction with fine cattle, and abounds with game. All the way to Arnheim the eye was gladdened by some of the most delightful objects descriptive of the amenity of nature. In this country I generally travelled in post-chaises, or as it is called, extra-post; but perhaps, as the following information respecting the route from Amsterdam to Cologne may be serviceable to those who travel by the diligence or post-waggon, I shall insert it:

We were serenaded all the way by nightingales, which are very numerous in every part of this province. Arnheim or Arnhem, is a very large and elegant city, partly watered by a branch of the Naas, over which are several draw-bridges, from which there are many agreeable views. The houses are in general well built, and, what is remarkable for a Dutch town, very few of them out of the perpendicular. The entrances, called St. Jan’s Poort and Sabel’s Poort, are picturesque. St. John’s church is a vast edifice of brick, with two spires, and a fine set of carillons; but with exception to its magnitude, there is little in or about it worthy of observation; the same may be said of the church of St. Nicholas. The church near Walburges Plain, the name of which I have forgotten, is a prodigious massy pile; and beheld from the surrounding scenery has a very noble effect. The market-place is capacious, and abundantly supplied with every species of provision, which are here much cheaper than in the other parts of Holland. The streets of this city are enlivened by several handsome equipages, and throughout the place there is a considerable appearance of refinement and opulence. Here the Dutch language begins to lose itself in the German, a circumstance made manifest by a friend of mine, a native of Germany, who accompanied me on my return 215from that country to Holland, finding considerable difficulty in understanding the lower people in Arnheim. The inns here are in general very good. This city gave birth to the celebrated David Beck in 1621, a disciple of Vandyke, from whom he imbibed that exquisite style of colouring and penciling which belong to his school. King Charles the First was so astonished at the freedom of his hand, he one day said, “I do believe, Beck, you could paint if you were riding post.” The person of this artist was remarkably handsome, and his manners perfectly well bred: these qualities, accompanied with such talents in his art, recommended him to the attention of queen Christina of Sweden, who appointed him her portrait painter and chamberlain; and under her patronage he painted most of the illustrious persons of Europe. The following singular event occurred to this artist in his tour through Germany. At an inn where he stopped for the night, he was suddenly taken violently ill, to appearance expired, and was accordingly laid out for a corpse. His valets, who were much attached to him, sat by his bed-side, deeply lamenting the loss of so good a master; and, like the Irish upon such occasion, sought consolation in the bottle, which was put about very briskly; at length one of them, who was greatly intoxicated, said to his companions, “Come, my friends, our poor dear master used to be very fond of his glass when alive, suppose, out of gratitude, we give him a bumper now he is dead.” To this jovial recommendation the rest of the servants consented. They accordingly raised his head, and the mover of the measure poured some of the wine into his mouth; this produced the immediate effect of forcing him to open his eyes, which, from the excessive drunkenness of the fellow, did not surprise him, and he continued pouring the wine down his master’s throat until the glass was emptied, which at last completely recovered him; and by this accidental circumstance he was saved from a premature interment. However, he escaped death in this violent shape only to meet it in another, for it was generally suspected that his final fate was effected by poison administered by some miscreant, hired for the purpose by queen Christina, at the Hague, in revenge for his having quitted her to visit his friends in Holland, with a determination 216never more to visit Sweden. The works of this master are justly held in very high estimation, and he became the favoured object of the most unbounded marks of distinction and honour.

With an exception to large churches, and handsome streets, and some pretty and well-dressed women, there is little, at least as far as I could learn, to detain a traveller in this city, so I set off for Wesel with all due expedition, impatient to move upon the bosom of the Rhine.

On the road, which was agreeably diversified, we met several milk-maids, bearing their milk home in large copper vessels, shining very bright, slung to their backs, which had a picturesque effect. About four miles from Arnheim, just after passing a bridge of boats at Sevenhal, I entered a small town, at the end of which is the first barrier of the new territories of prince Joachim, grand admiral of France and duke of Berg, a piece of history which I first learned from a new ordinance or law, in German and French, to regulate the safe delivery of letters, pasted upon one of the gates of the town. In this dutchy most of the peasants are catholics, who make a public avowal of their faith by pointing a large white cross on the outside of their houses. On the left, within a short distance of the frontier of prince Joachim’s territory, upon the summit of a mountain, are two large religious houses for monks and nuns. A little indisposition, in addition to the heat of a very sultry day, prevented me from quitting the carriage to visit the holy fraternity and sisterhood, of whom, I was informed, very few members remain, and those far advanced in life. The revolution of France, and the progress of the French arms, have at least the merit of having prevented the immolation of many a lovely young creature, possessed of every personal and mental charm to gladden this chequered life of ours.

217The approach to these convents from the town is by a pleasant avenue of trees, their situation must be very agreeable, from the extensive prospect which they command. On our right the spires of the city of Cleves, on the French side of the Rhine appeared, and produced a very pleasing effect. Upon turning the base of the hill on which the monastic mansions stand, we entered upon a deep sandy road, and a very flat and uninteresting country, in which very few objects occurred to afford any gratification to the eye. The Rhine occasionally appeared, but not to much advantage: the majesty of its breadth is obscured by the great number of islands upon it in this stage of its descent. Flink, whom I have mentioned in describing the Stadt-house at Amsterdam, was born at Cleves in 1616. This able artist was destined, like our celebrated Garrick, for the bureau of a compting-house; but his genius and passion for painting overcame all the impediments placed in their way by paternal authority, and the persuasions of friends, and he renounced the prospect of accumulating immense riches by commerce, for the glory of the art. He made great progress under Rembrandt, whose style he imitated to perfection; he soon rose to distinguished reputation, and was employed to paint the portraits of princes and illustrious personages of the times in which he flourished; he died very young and much regretted.

After a tedious and unpleasant journey I reached Wesel, a large, gloomy, and very strongly fortified town: as the gates had been closed at eight o’clock, and it struck eleven as I passed the last draw-bridge, it was with some difficulty and delay that I was admitted. Only persons travelling extra-post and in the post-waggon, or diligence, are admitted after the gates are once shut. This place presents a disgusting contrast to the neatness and cleanliness of the towns in Holland. The moment I passed the gates, a most offensive mauvais odeur assailed my nose on all sides. There is only one tolerable inn in the whole place, and that is generally very crowded. If the traveller cannot be accommodated there, he will be marched, as I was, to a pig-stye, or a house of ease to the former, where he may meditate at leisure on the sapient poetical advice of Shakspeare:

Here, according to a regulation which prevails in every part of Germany, I was annoyed by being presented with a printed paper, containing several columns, titled as follow:

All of which I duly answered in writing, except the last interrogatory but one, namely, “where are you going?” under which I peevishly wrote, “to sleep,” consolidated into one word, in large close letters. To an Englishman unaccustomed to such examinations, which after all are little more than formal, although every innkeeper by law is obliged to make such report of every traveller on his arrival, they are very liable to excite an inverted blessing upon the heads of those who trouble him in this manner.

Wesel is an abominable dunghill, very strongly fortified. In the course of my perambulations through the town, the objects which I met with were infinitely more offensive to the sense of smelling than gratifying to that of seeing, and doubly disgusting from the contrast of exquisite cleanliness which the country I had just quitted, exhibited. This part of Westphalia is very flat, barren, sandy, and dreary, presenting little more than thin patches of buckwheat. The roads are very heavy, and with an exception to an oratory in a little grove, and three wooden effigies as large as life, representing the crucifixion, not one enlivening or interesting object presented itself. I mention the following travelling anecdote by way of caution to my reader, should he select this route. At Dinslaken, one of the post towns between Wesel and Dusseldorf, the post-master told me that two horses would not be sufficient in such roads for the carriage, and declared his determination, that unless I took three, I should have none. If I had submitted to this imposition here, I must have done so throughout; I was 219therefore obliged to compound with this extortioner in office, by paying half of a third horse, which sum went into his pocket, and pursued my route with a couple, who conducted me in very good style to the next post town. In every part of Germany the postmasters are appointed by, and are under the control of the reigning prince of Turn and Saxis, the hereditary director and post-master general of the roads in that part of Europe. My driver stopped to give his horses some wretched hard bread, used by the peasantry in Westphalia, composed of straw and oats, called bonpournikel from the following circumstance. Many years since a Frenchman, travelling in this country, called for bread for himself, and upon this sort being presented, he exclaimed, C’est bon pour Nikel (the name of his horse); upon which the old woman who had brought it in ran about the village in a great pet relating the story.

As I was proceeding by moon-light, a German gentleman who had travelled some way with me was observing, that throughout Westphalia a robbery upon the highway had not been known for many years, and that a traveller was as safe in the night as in the day; and at the moment when he had just finished an animated eulogium upon the invincible honesty of the people, I happened to observe the shadow of a man behind the cabriolet, the head of which was raised, apparently very busy in endeavouring to cut off our trunks, which, upon our jumping out, proved to be the case; the fellow was much alarmed by our appearance, fell upon his knees, and declared that he belonged to Dusseldorf, and poverty had prompted him to quit that city, and try his fortune on the highway. Nothing could exceed the indignation of the German the moment he knew that our prisoner was a Westphalian; had he fortunately announced himself as a native of any other country, I believe he would have rather relieved the fellow’s distress, than pierced his ears, and perhaps his heart, with the bitter reproaches he heaped upon him: however, as the affair furnished me with a hearty laugh, I prevailed upon my companion to forgive the poor wretch, whose face and clothes indicated extreme wretchedness, and permit him to depart in peace; and we proceeded without 220further interruption to within a short stage of Dusseldorf, where we slept.

The appearance of Dusseldorf at a little distance is very handsome, particularly from the Grand ducal road, as it was styled. Upon my driving up to the principal inn, the maitre d’hotel with great pomp came out, and informed me in bad French that his house was then nearly full; that the grand Dutchess from Paris was expected every day; that his bed-rooms would be wanted for those belonging to the court who could not be accommodated at the palace, and, finally, that he could not receive me. As I immediately guessed his object, I told him that I intended to stay some days at Dusseldorf. “Oh, very well,” said he, archly adding, “you are an Englishman I perceive.” “No, sir, an American.” “Oh,” replied he, “never mind, it is the same thing: walk in, sir, and we will see what we can do for you.” This inn, the only eminent one in town, is spacious and handsome, and the table d’hote excellently supplied with a great variety of dishes, both at dinner and supper, perfectly well dressed. During my stay I was known by no other name than that of Monsieur Anglois, an appellation not very gratifying to me, upon reflecting that I was a sojourner in the territory of a brother-in-law of Napoleon, who, knowing that he is no favourite with the English, dislikes England and every thing that can remind him of it, to such a degree, that an English gentleman and lady, whom I knew, who had been detained prisoners of war in France, but were afterwards liberated, upon their route from Verdun to Holland to embark for their country, were one day overtaken by a gen-d’arme dispatched express from the last post town, to order them to turn out of the high road on which they were travelling, and to take another route which he pointed out, by which they were compelled to make a deviation of seventy miles. In consequence of the French Emperor being expected to pass that road in the course of the day, this messenger had been despatched to overtake and order them out of the way as fast as possible.

Dusseldorf, so called from the little river Dussel that waters its southern side, and Dhorpf which means village, is now the capital of the imperial dutchy of Berg, under the new dynasty of the Bonaparte family: it formerly belonged to the German empire, and afterwards to the elector Palatine, who at one period made it his residence; this city owed the prosperity which it long enjoyed, to the sagacity and liberality of the elector Joseph William, who enlarged it in 1709, by nobly offering its freedom, and an exemption from all taxes for thirty years, to every one who would build a house within its walls, and took every judicious advantage of its local adaptation to trade, and established universal toleration in religion; the benefit of measures so worthy of the Christian and the ruler was speedily felt, and Dusseldorf, from a petty village, soon became a flourishing city, and contained a population of 18,000 inhabitants.

Few towns have suffered more from the calamities of war than this: its streets, squares, and houses, denote its former consequence; it now resembles a mausoleum half in ruins. Early in the year 1795, the army of the Sambre and the Meuse suddenly crossed the Rhine, and summoned the city to surrender, which it refused to do; in consequence of which the French bombarded it, and set fire to one of its most beautiful churches, which was burnt to the ground; and the city palace, which contained many noble apartments, 222very nearly experienced the same fate; naked walls blackened with smoke, are all that remain of this splendid pile, except that part of it which contained the celebrated gallery of paintings, which were removed to Munich under a Prussian escort. The French at length took the city by assault, the Austrians who were garrisoned within it having previously retired. I was surprised to find that the French had spared the statue erected as a mark of public gratitude, in the centre of the court of the gallery, to the honour of the elector John William, who was its founder. He commenced it in the year 1710; but dying in 1716, the completion of this princely and public-spirited design was totally neglected by his successor Charles Phillip, who employed part of his treasure, and the whole of his taste, in improving the city of Manheim. Charles Theodore, his successor, finished this institution, established an academy of drawing and painting in Dusseldorf, and also erected a public gallery of paintings at Manheim, which were open to every one, and every artist had permission to study and copy them.

The ruins of the palace have a melancholy appearance from the water, on which I made a sketch of the city, when I saw for the first time one of the Rhenish flying bridges, the description of which I shall reserve for a few pages following, as I did not go on board of it. That famous gallery, which attracted men of taste from distant parts of Europe, occupied that part of the palace which stood close to the junction of the Rhine and the Dussel, and was divided into five very large and spacious apartments, one of which was wholly devoted to one picture of Gerard Douw, esteemed inestimable, and one of the finest he ever painted; the subject of it is uncommonly complicated, yet every figure in it is so exquisitely finished, that it will bear the closest inspection. Descriptions of paintings are seldom very interesting; but the subject of this renowned picture deserves to be recorded. It represented a quack-doctor at a fair, upon his stage covered with a Turkey carpet, set out with vials and gallipots, a shaving bason, an umbrella, and a monkey: the doctor, in the most whimsical dress, is haranguing with uncommon humour and cunning in his countenance, 223the motley crowd below; amongst whom, a gardener wheeling a barrow filled with vegetables, a countryman with a hare hanging over his shoulders, a woman with a child at the breast, baking little cakes for the fair; another woman listening with ardent credulity, whilst a sharper is picking her pocket, are penciled in a wonderful manner. Douw has represented himself looking out of the window of a public house, and drawing the several objects. The second chamber contained the productions of the Italian school; a third those of the Flemish: a fourth was dedicated to Vanderwerff; and the fifth to Rubens.

The only part of the city which presented any appearance of animation was the market-place, which abounded with fine vegetables, and exquisite fruit. The market-women, and the female peasants, wear a large handkerchief depending from the top of the head, which has a picturesque effect. Fruit is so abundant that for the value of 3d. I purchased a pound and a half of the most luscious grapes. In this square, part of the scaffolding used for illuminating the hotel de ville, on the grand duke making his first entry into the city, remained. About a mile from the town is a country palace of the prince, separated from a garden, in front of it, by the great road to Cologne. The palace is large, and very elegantly furnished; the gardens are spacious, well kept, and open to well-dressed persons. The view of the city from these walks is very beautiful. The ramparts, which are levelling as fast as the pickaxe and spade can lay them low, in many places present a very agreeable walk.

All religions are tolerated, but that most followed is Roman Catholic, for the celebration of which there are three large churches; before one of them, raised and railed off, is a group as large as life, in wood, painted white, representing our Saviour crucified between the two thieves, and Mary Magdalen, kneeling; several persons were praying very devoutly before those images. The dead are wisely buried out of the city. In one of the streets at the extremity of the town, is a prodigious pile of buildings for barracks. The soldiers of the grand duke, principally Germans, and a few French, had a very military appearance. The manufactures are at 224a pause; the population is reduced to about eight thousand persons, the greater portion of whom are in very abject circumstances. How different must this place be to its former period of prosperity, before the last war, when a gay old Prussian officer who resided there, told me, that it was enlivened with clubs, casinos, and balls, when every family of common respectability could regale its friends with the choicest Johannis-Berg Hockein-Rheideshein wine. The princes of Germany differ very much from those of our own country, in the plain and unostentatious manner in which they move about. One morning, when I was crossing the court of my inn to go to breakfast, I saw a little boy fencing with a stick with one of the ostlers: as I was pleased with his appearance, I asked him if he was the son of the maitre d’hotel, to which he replied, “No sir, I am the hereditary prince Von Salm.” The prince and princess, his father and aunt, were at the same hotel, having come to Dusseldorf to pay their respects to Prince Murat. The grand ducal court was, as I was informed, kept up with considerable splendor, in the circle of which the grand dutchess, one of the sisters of Napoleon, had not yet made her appearance. It was generally believed, notwithstanding the use my worthy host made of her approaching entry, that no great attachment existed between the grand ducal pair; and that the gaiety of the imperial court of Paris possessed more prevailing attractions to the grand Dutchess than her own. Murat, grand Duke of Berg, is an instance of the astonishing results of great ability and good fortune. His origin was so very obscure, that very little of it is known. The following anecdote will, however, throw some light upon the extreme humility of his early condition in life. After his elevation to the rank of a prince of the French empire, he halted, in the close of the last war, at a small town in Germany, where he stayed for two or three days; and on finding the bread prepared for his table of an inferior kind, he despatched one of his suite to order the best baker in the town to attend him, to receive from him his directions respecting this precious article of life. A baker who had been long established in the place was selected for this purpose; and upon the aide-de-camp ordering him to wait upon the 225prince immediately, he observed, to the no little surprise of the officer—“It is useless my going, the prince will never employ me.” Upon being pressed to state his reasons, he declined assigning any; but as the order of the messenger was peremptory, he followed him, and was immediately admitted to Murat, with whom he stayed about ten minutes, and then retired. As he quitted the house in which the prince lodged, he observed to the aide-de-camp, “I told you the prince would not employ me—he has dismissed me with this,” displaying a purse of ducats. Upon being again pressed to explain the reason of this singular conduct, he replied, “The Prince Murat, when a boy, was apprenticed to a biscuit baker in the south of France, at the time I was a journeyman to him, and I have often threshed him for being idle; the moment he saw me just now, he instantly remembered me, and without entering into the subject of our ancient acquaintance, or of that which led me to his presence, he hastily took his purse of ducats from the drawer of the table where he sat, gave it to me, and ordered me to retire.”

The heroic courage which Murat displayed in the campaign of 1797, when in conjunction with Duphoz, at the head of their respective divisions, they plunged into the deep and impetuous stream of Tagliamento, gained the opposite banks, and drove the Austrians, headed by their able and amiable general, the Archduke Charles, as far as the confines of Carnithia and Carniola; and the numerous battles in which he distinguished himself in Egypt, and afterwards at Montebello and Marengo, where at the head of his cavalry, he successfully supported the brilliant and eventful movement of Dessaix, will rank him in the page of history amongst the most illustrious of those consummate generals, which the fermentation of the French revolution has elevated from the depths of obscurity. In Egypt he was high in the confidence of Napoleon, whom he accompanied with Lasnes, Andreossi, Bessieres, and several members of the Egyptian Institute, when Bonaparte effected his memorable passage from his army to Frejus, in August 1799. Upon the death of General Le Clerc, who was united to a sister of Napoleon, Murat paid his addresses to, and espoused his 226widow,^[3] with the entire approbation of his great comrade in arms, by whom he was, upon his elevation to the imperial throne, created a prince of the empire, and at length raised to the rank of a sovereign. He is reserved and unostentatious, and is seldom visible to his people. Some of the Westphalians, who are attached to the ancient order of things, have a joke amongst themselves at the expense of their new prince, whose christian name being Joachim, they pronounce it with an accompanying laugh, Jachim, which means “drive him away;” and there is very little difference in the pronunciation.

As Dusseldorf had infinitely less charms for me than it had for the grand Dutchess, I was as well pleased to quit it, as she was disinclined to enter it; so mounting my cabriolet, for which I was obliged to make the best bargain I could with the post-master, I set off for Cologne, the road to which is far more pleasant than any other part of the dutchy which I saw, though the whole is very flat. About six miles from Dusseldorf, I passed a beautiful country palace of the grand Duke, called Benrad, composed of a range of semicircular buildings detached from each other, standing upon the summit of a gentle slope, at the bottom of which is a large circular piece of water. The grand Duke makes this place his principal residence, and very seldom goes to that in the neighbourhood of the city more than twice in the week, to give audience and transact affairs of state, which, as the government is entirely despotic, are managed with ease and despatch. The appearance of the body-guard at the entrance announced that the prince was at this place when I passed it: the grounds and gardens, seen from the road, appear to be tastefully arranged. Although the road is sandy, yet it is infinitely preferable, I was informed, to crossing the ferry at Dusseldorf, and proceeding by that route to Cologne. After passing Muhlheim, a very neat town, the suburbs of which are adorned with some handsome country-houses, I entered, about a mile further, the village of Deutz, and beheld the venerable city 227of Cologne, separated by the Rhine, immediately before me. At one end of the village is a large convent of Carmelites, and on the day of my arrival a religious fête was celebrating, at which nearly all the population of the place and neighbourhood assisted, and the streets were enlivened with little booths, in which crosses and ornaments of gold lace and beads were tastefully exposed to the eye.

The bell of the flying bridge summoned me on board, and in about five minutes I found myself in the French empire, attended by French custom-house officers in green costume, who conducted me to the Douane. This ferry cannot fail to impress the mind and excite the curiosity of a stranger: it is formed of a broad platform resting upon two large barges, like our coal lighters; from this platform a vast wooden frame in the shape of a gallows is erected, which is fastened to the former by strong chains of iron, whilst from the centre cross piece, a chain of the same metal of great length, is fixed to the top of an upright pole standing in each of a long line of boats, the remotest of which is at anchor; by this machinery a powerful pressure is obtained; to each of the barges a rudder is affixed, which, upon being placed in an oblique direction, produces a lateral motion upon the stream, which acts as a force from above; so that by changing the rudder to the right or left, the bridge is forced on one side or the other of the river, with equal certainty and celerity. Fifteen hundred persons can with perfect ease be transported at the same time upon these bridges, and carriages and horses are driven upon them without any stoppage, from the banks, to which they are lashed, until put in motion. The Germans call this machine the Fliegende Schiffs-Brücke, or the volant bridge of boats; the Dutch geer burg, or the bridge in shackles, in allusion to its chains; and the French le pont volant, or the flying bridge.

The search made by the custom-house officers amongst my fellow-passengers, most of whom had only just crossed and recrossed the river, was very rigorous; the females were marched up to a small house, where, as I discovered by accidentally opening the door, and offending as the elders did when they took a lawless peep at Susanna, to the no small delight of those who were lounging 228without, and of embarrassment to those within, they underwent a private examination by two matrons, appointed for the purpose.

At this place I expected some difficulty; but upon my declaring myself an American, and showing my pass, and just opening my trunk, the officers, with great politeness, called a porter to carry my luggage into the city, and pulling off their hats, recommended me to La Cour Imperiale, one of the best hotels, where I arrived just in time to sit down to a splendid table d’hôte, at which several beautiful and well-dressed ladies, German noblemen, and French officers, were present.

This city was formerly celebrated for the number of its devotees and prostitutes, which the French police has very much reduced. The first object I visited, was the cathedral, which, from the water appears like a stupendous fragment, that had withstood the shock of war, or some convulsion of nature, by which the rest of the pile had been prostrated; but upon inquiry, I found that it owed its mutilated appearance to no such event, but to the obstacles which have occurred for ages in completing it, according to its original design. In the year 1248, Conrad, the elector and bishop of Hocksteden, in the pride and exultation of holy enthusiasm, resolved to erect a temple to God, which should have no equal in size and magnificence; it was intended that the two western towers should have been five hundred feet in elevation, and the nave or body of the church in proportion, and every external stone which the eye could perceive, decorated with the most exquisite ornament of pure gothic architecture. The successors of the prince bishop, who resembled in the splendor of his spirit the emperor who so elegantly wished to leave the town stone, which he had found brick, continued the building for two centuries and a half; but owing to their resources being insufficient, they were obliged to leave it in a very imperfect state, but capable of being used for religious purposes. There is no building of the kind to compare with it, but the Duomo at Milan. One of the western towers, which I ascended, is about two hundred and fifty feet high, from which there is a fine view of the city, the Rhine, and the surrounding country; the other tower is not above forty feet high. The roof 229of the greater part of the body of the church is temporary and low; but so spacious is the area which it covers, that one hundred massy pillars, arranged in four rows, present a light and airy appearance upon it. My guide, who was a good humoured intelligent man, with many significant shrugs of regret, informed me, that the moveable decorations of the church and altar were once worthy of a stranger’s attention; but that the generals of the French armies, during the revolution, had pillaged this holy sanctuary of its richest ornaments; however, the grand altar in the choir was not sufficiently portable for their rapacious hands, and remains to show the magnificent scale upon which every part of the cathedral was originally designed. This altar is formed of one solid block, of the finest sable marble, sixteen feet long and eight broad, placed upon the summit of a flight of steps.

The treasury, or as it is called the golden chamber, contains the robes of the priests, which are very magnificent, arranged with great care and order in several ward-robes; and busts of saints and holy utensils in gold and silver, many of which were once encrusted with the most precious stones, but which had been removed by the French, and their places supplied by paste. Amongst the still costly contents of this chamber, I noticed a small tomb of a priest in solid gold and silver, and a skull of St. Peter, of the same precious metal. In this room were several ladies, who appeared to be under the strongest influence of Roman Catholic enthusiasm; not a robe or a relic was exhibited, which did not draw forth some fervidly pious exclamation.

I was shewn, as a marvelous curiosity, the mausoleum of the Three Kings, behind the grand altar towards the east, where the bodies of these personages, and those of the martyrs, Gregory of Spoleto, and Felix Nabor, repose. The bones of the three kings are said to have been brought away by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, when he sacked Milan, and presented to the archbishop Bernauld of Dassalde, who attended him in his military exploits, and who deposited them near Bonn, from whence they were transferred to the spot where their mausoleum was afterwards erected, before the building of the present cathedral in the 230year 1170: the bones of these personages, of course, performed all sorts of prodigies; the blind by touching them, became astronomers, and the lame, dancing masters. This tomb, before the last war, was uncommonly rich and magnificent; but the French, who have displayed no great respect for living kings, could not be expected to pay much to three dead ones, and accordingly they have stripped their shrine of most of the jewelry, and precious ornaments. The sacrilege committed upon three holy kings, who were transported so far from their native country, reminds me of an anecdote, in which the playful wit of Mr. Hastings, formerly governor-general of India, was eminently displayed. An antiquary having collected in India a considerable number of Hindoo gods, had them well packed up for the purpose of being sent to England, and on the top of the case wrote in large characters “Gods—please to keep these uppermost;” the governor-general calling one morning on the collector, observed the package in his library, and remarking the superscription, said, “your direction is a wise one, for when you transport gods into a foreign country, it is ten to one but that they are overturned.”

Every street reminds the stranger of the former prevalence of the priesthood. Before the war, the clergy in this city, were divided into eleven chapters, nineteen parishes, nineteen convents for men, and thirty-nine convents for women, besides forty-nine chapels, institutions which supported between two and three thousand persons in useless voluptuousness and sloth.

As the other churches have been stripped of their finery, and were not embellished by any striking work of the statuary, I merely took a cursory view of their exterior: the principal are the Jesuits’ church, the collegiate church of St. Gerion, that of the Maccabees, and the abbey church of St. Pantaleon: all these and a number of other sacred buildings useless to name, abounded with saints and shrines incrusted with a profusion of jewellery, and all the mummery and mockery of cunning and credulity. With respect to the chapel of St. Ursula, a whimsical circumstance occurred some years since: in this depositary, for a great length of time, have reposed the bones of the immaculate St. Ursula, and 231eleven thousand virgins her companions, who came from England in a little boat in the year 640, to convert the Huns who had taken possession of this city, who instead of being moved by their sweet eloquence and cherub-like looks, put an end to their argument by putting them all to death. Some doubts arose many years since whether any country could have spared so many virgins, and a surgeon, somewhat of a wag, upon examining the consecrated bones, declared that most of them were the bones of full grown female mastiffs, for which discovery he was expelled the city. The convents and monasteries are converted into garrisons for the French troops quartered in the city. It is in contemplation to pull down about two-thirds of the churches.

On account of its numerous religious houses Cologne was called the Holy city. Bigotry, beggary, and ignorance disfigured the place in spite of its once flourishing trade and university. When the French seized upon this city, in 1794, they soon removed the rubbish of ages; three-fourths of the priests had the choice of retiring or entering the army, and when withdrawn, the weak minds over which they had exercised sovereign influence recovered their tone, and lived to hail the hour of their delivery from fanatical bondage, and the sturdy beggars were formed into conscripts. One of the most illustrious of the archbishops of Cologne was Theodoric, who was much celebrated in his time for his talents, erudition and morals. An anecdote is related of him, that upon the emperor Sigismund one day asking him how to obtain happiness hereafter, as the possession of it seemed impossible, Theodoric replied, “You must act virtuously, that is, you should always pursue that plan of conduct which you promise to do whilst you are labouring under a fit of the gravel, gout, or stone.”

This city is celebrated for having given birth to Agrippina the mother of Nero, but it has derived more lustre from the immortal Rubens having been born here in 1640: the house in which he 232resided is still preserved and exhibited with great pride to strangers. This illustrious man was no less a scholar than a painter, and hence his allegorical works are more purely classical than those of any other master: of this the gallery of the Luxembourg and the banqueting-room at Whitehall bear ample testimony. Whilst he painted he used to recite the poems of Homer and Virgil, which he knew by heart, by which he infused the divine spirit of poetry into the productions of his pencil. After having studied a few years in Italy, his renown as an artist spread through Europe, whilst his learning, amenity of manners, elegant accomplishments, and amiable mind, secured to him the esteem and regard of all whom he approached. He was particularly cherished by the kings of England, Spain, and other monarchs: he was even employed upon a very delicate occasion to communicate proposals from the cabinet of Spain to that of London, and Charles I. was so delighted with his various talents, that he conferred upon him the honour of knighthood. The number of his paintings is prodigious. Sir Joshua Reynolds said that the most grand, as well as the most perfect piece of composition in the world, was that of Rubens’s picture of the Fall of the Damned, formerly in the gallery of Dusseldorf; that it combined such a varied, heterogeneous and horrible subject, in such a wonderful manner, that he scarcely knew which most to admire, the invention or the composition of the master. The last of Rubens’s paintings was the Crucifixion of St. Peter, with his head downward, which he presented to St. Peter’s church in this city one day after taking a copy of the register of his birth from its archives: the tasteless and mercenary heads of the church received this invaluable present with little expressions of gratitude, and were disappointed that the donor had not given them money in lieu: when Rubens heard of their dissatisfaction, he offered them 28,000 crowns for the picture, which, merely in consequence of the offer, they considered to be worth infinitely more, and therefore refused to sell him the work of his own hands, and it was preserved with great veneration in the church, where it continued till Cologne became one of the cities of the French empire. Rubens, to the powers and graces before ascribed to him, united the virtue 233of a christian: from motives of piety and benevolence he adorned many churches and convents with his matchless productions; which, as if the hallowed purpose to which they were devoted had inspired him, whilst he painted, were generally the most masterly efforts of his pencil.

Thomas à Kempis, so celebrated for his extraordinary piety, was born in the neighbourhood of this city in 1380. The last edition of his works is that of Cologne 1660, 3 vols. folio; his most celebrated work was entitled ‘De Imitatione Christi;’ which, on account of its great piety and merit, has been translated into almost every living language. This work has been attempted to be ascribed to an abbot of the name of Gerson, of the order of St. Benedict, which for many years produced severe controversies between the canons of St. Augustine, to which Thomas à Kempis belonged, and the Benedictines.

The celebrated William Caxton opened his printing office here in 1471, and printed the work of Le Fevre, which was three years afterwards published in London, where he had the honour of being the first to introduce the invaluable art of printing. Adam Schule the mathematician, who died at Pekin, was a calendar here. Vondel the Dutch Virgil was born here, as was the wonderful Maria Schurman, who was well versed in twelve languages, and wrote five classically, besides excelling in every accomplishment then known. Excess of genius and learning made her melancholy mad, and she died from an inordinate debauch in eating spiders.

The Town House is a very ancient edifice, and contains the only specimen of Grecian architecture in the city. There were three ecclesiastical electorates in Germany, viz. Cologne, Mayence, and Treves, which have been abolished by Napoleon. The revenues of the elector of Cologne amounted to upwards of two hundred thousand pounds. Cologne must have been declining for some centuries, for in the year 1200 it was capable of furnishing thirty thousand men for the field, a number which its present population is said not to exceed. The whole of the trade of this town was extensive before the last war, and at one period, in spite 234of its bigotted rulers, it was one of the richest and most flourishing cities in Germany: its traders carry outward annually large quantities of salted provisions from Westphalia, iron from the forges of Nassau, wood from the Upper Rhine and the Neckar, wine, hemp, tobacco, brass, tufo stone, tobacco-pipe clay, millet, gins, dried fruits, potash, copper, ribbands, stockings, and lace: and they purchase of the Dutch paper, oil, cottons, groceries, spices, medicinal drugs, also for dyeing, and English lead and tin.

The policy of the French government since it has assumed a settled form, has very much directed its attention to the depressed state of the manufactures of Cologne, which formerly employed eleven thousand children, and under its auspices there are several fabrics in a very flourishing condition, particularly those for manufacturing stuffs and ribbands, and a great deal of iron is now wrought in this city. The university is at a very low ebb, in consequence of so many young men having embraced the profession of arms. This university was once very celebrated, and was the most ancient in Germany, having been founded in 1380. Pope Urban the Sixth paid it the following compliment, in allusion to its having given birth to the college of Louvain:

This maternal university was divided into theology, law, medicine, and philosophy; but has not the only celebrity of having sent into the world many enlightened men.

In the department of Cologne the vineyards began first to appear. The vines in the garden grounds of the city are said to have yielded seven hundred and fourteen thousand gallons of wine. The wines are not attempted to be cultivated higher north.

During my stay at Cologne I visited the French parades every morning and evening. As the parades in France used to be confined to the morning, it was natural to conjecture that some new and great political storm was collecting, for which the French emperor was preparing by redoubled activity and energy. At these parades the conscripts, after having undergone a brief drilling, were incorporated with the veteran troops: to wheel, to form 235close column, to load, fire, and charge with the bayonet, seemed to be all the motions which were attended to. Instead of forming the line, as with us, with exquisite nicety, but little attention was paid to it, for a more slovenly one I never witnessed; but by thus simplifying the manœuvres, and confining the attention of the soldier only to the useful part of his duty, a conscript is qualified to march to the field of battle with the rest of the troops in five days. But little attention was paid to the dress of the men, who wore uniform only in a short blue coat with white or red facings, and appeared to be left at full liberty to consult their own taste or finances in every other article, for some wore breeches, some pantaloons, some appeared with gaiters, some without, some had shoes, and others half-boots.

As I gazed upon these men, whose appearance was slovenly, I was lost in amazement, by reflecting that they were part of that military force which had made itself terrible to so large a portion of Europe, which in its first organization was composed of men, many of whom had never had a musket in their hands, and commanded by generals who had never witnessed a military manœuvre; many of the most shining of whom had undergone an immediate transition from the most peaceful, and even the most subordinate occupations in life, to conduct armies to the field of battle, to confront and rout some of the prime, veteran troops of nations, long renowned for their eminence and military character. Robespierre may be considered as having laid the foundation of all the military glory of France, and by the unexampled energy and prospective acuteness of his measures, to have accomplished a system by which France has achieved so many brilliant victories. No one but a tyrant, who to a sanguinary soul united profound penetration, could have accomplished what he did. He swept away in a deep and impetuous stream of blood the immediate branches of the royal family, the court, its valuable and its obnoxious appendages, and made a clear arena to act upon. In the name of Liberty he invoked those who were favourably disposed to her cause, and by terror he forced the reluctant to sustain the miseries and perils of a camp. Glory or the guillotine were eternally 237before the eyes of the republican commanders, who thus stimulated, never revolted at a profuse expenditure of life, nor considered any victory dearly obtained, so that it was obtained: the soldiers were all young men, amongst many of whom high ardour and a passion for heroic enterprize, characteristic of that season of life, prevailed, which soon spread with electric influence upon the more considerate, prudent, and even timid part of the body. Thus impelled, they pushed on, and soon felt their enthusiasm redouble, upon beholding the brilliant impression which they made upon troops inured to war and led by distinguished commanders, who receded before them, from a conviction that they could only hope to repel the attack by an assimilation of tactics and a lavish waste of blood, a consideration which frequently forced the followers of the old school to meditate when they ought to have acted.

It is a remark in frequent use, that the efficiency of an army may be measured by the skill of the general; but the French soldiers have expanded the observation, and have exhibited the wonderful spectacle of skilful soldiers fighting under, and frequently enlarging the views and combinations of able generals. The animal organization of Frenchmen befits them for soldiers; their supple muscular form and height seldom exceeding five feet five or six inches, admit of great activity of movement, and the support of great fatigue: their minds quick, volatile, inquisitive, and fertile in expedients, enable them to see the intentions of their commanding officers in a movement, which, to the soldiers of many other countries would only be known by results. The French commanders knew how to gratify that national cast of intellect so useful to their operations, by frequently imparting to a soldier of a company, for the purpose of wider communication, the principal movements in contemplation previous to their engaging. The vanity of a French soldier is also another most valuable quality in his composition: he takes the deepest interest in the execution of every order, because he thoroughly believes that he is acquainted with all its objects; and upon the achievement of 238a victory, there is scarcely a French drummer who would hesitate endeavouring to make his hearer believe, that the fortune of the day was owing to some judicious idea of his own: to this vanity the military bulletins which announce successes in all the pomp of language, or convert a disaster into a retrograde victory, are addressed; for a Frenchman, even more than an Englishman, almost always believes what he is told, and is ever the last to confess a defeat. It is a rule with the French officers to give their troops as little trouble as possible when not actually in service, and to keep them perpetually upon the alert when the campaign has commenced; by this measure their troops, contrary to a received opposite notion, are generally fresher than other troops; and as they are mostly composed of young men, are capable of marching more rapidly and longer than soldiers of mixed seasons of life. The French have another great advantage in their plan of combat, which resembles the mode of engaging at sea, practised so gloriously by the late immortal Nelson, that of beating against the centre of an enemy’s line until they penetrate it; this they have several times successfully effected, by that almost endless reinforcement which the arbitrary levies furnish, and which in a moment supply the vacancy made by the bullet and the bayonet. To prevent any ill consequences from the impetuous temerity which might attend the first attack, a considerable corps of reserve is always formed of the more experienced troops, who are able to support their comrades in the front, when too severely pressed, or of forcing them to rally, should they discover any disposition to fly. To their flying artillery, which are served by their best soldiers, wherever the ground will best admit, they are also eminently indebted for their success: yet, with all those advantages, striking and eminent as they are, and the negative assistance which she derived from the frequently imbecile conduct of the enemy, France would perhaps never have been crowned with the success which has marked her march, had not her population been enormous, and had not the stupendous idea of placing a great portion of that population, by the novelty of a conscription, at the disposal of her ruler, 239been developed by the mighty monster^[4] whose name I have before mentioned. If she had had twenty thousand men on the plains of Maida, she would have been spared the disgrace of seeing 7,000 of her chosen soldiers fly before 4,795 of the British arms under the gallant Stuart.

To comprehend the present political state of those cities on the right and left banks of the Rhine, which I visited in my way to the south of Germany, it is necessary to lay before the reader the following memorable document, and letter of abdication, by which the Germanic empire is annihilated, and Bonaparte is raised to be imperial chief of a mighty feudatory confederation, in the organization of which new sovereign dignities have been conferred, and new dominions allotted, for securing his conquests in Germany.

Whereas, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, and their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, their Electoral Highnesses the Arch-chancellor and the Elector of Baden, his Imperial Highness the Duke of Berg, and their Highnesses the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, the Princes of Nassau Weilburg and Nassau Usingen, of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Siegmaringen, Salm-Salm, and Salm-Kyrburg, Isenburg, Birstein, and Lichtenstein; the Duke of Ahremberg, and the Count of Leyen; being desirous to secure, through proper stipulations, the internal and external peace of southern Germany, which, as experience for a long period and recently has shown, can derive no kind of guarantee from the existing German constitution, have appointed to be their plenipotentiaries to this effect; namely, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, Charles Maurice Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento, minister of his foreign affairs; his Majesty, the 240King of Bavaria, his minister plenipotentiary, A. Von Cetto; his Majesty, the King of Wirtemberg, his state-minister the Count of Wintzingerode; the Elector Arch-chancellor, his ambassador extraordinary the count of Beust; the Elector of Baden, his cabinet minister the Baron of Reitzenstein; his Imperial Highness the Duke of Berg, Baron Von Schele; the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, his ambassador extraordinary Baron Von Pappenheim; the Princes of Nassau, Weilburg, and Usingen, Baron Von Gagern; the Princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Siegmaringen, Major Von Fischer; the Prince of Isenburg-Birtsein, his privy-counsellor M. Von Gretzen; the Duke of Ahremberg, and the Count of Leyen, Mr. Durand St. André, who have agreed upon the following articles:

Art. 1. The states of the contracting princes (enumerated as in the preamble) shall be for ever separated from the Germanic body, and united by a particular confederation, under the designation of “The confederated States of the Empire.”

2. All the laws of the empire, by which they have been hitherto bound, shall be in future null and without force, with the exception of the statutes relative to debts, determined in the recess of the deputation of 1803, and in the paragraph upon the navigation to be funded upon the shipping tolls, which statutes shall remain in full vigour and execution.

3. Each of the contracting princes renounces such of his titles as refer to his connexion with the German empire; and they will, on the 1st of August, declare their entire separation from it.

4. The Elector Arch-chancellor shall take the title of Prince Primate and Most Eminent Highness, which title shall convey no prerogative derogatory to the entire sovereignty which every one of the contracting princes shall enjoy.

5. The Elector of Baden, the Duke of Berg, and the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, shall take the titles of grand Dukes, and enjoy the rights, honours, and prerogatives belonging to the kingly dignity. Their rank and precedence shall be in the same order as mentioned in Article I. The chief of the houses of Nassau 241shall take the title of Duke, and the Count of Leyen that of Prince.

6. The affairs of the confederation shall be discussed in a congress of the union (Diète), whose place of sitting shall be in Francfort, and the congress shall be divided into two colleges, the kings and the princes.

7. The members of the league must be independent of every foreign power. They cannot, in any wise, enter into any other service, but that of the states of the confederation, and its allies. Those who have been hitherto in the service of a foreign power, and choose to adhere to it, shall abdicate their principality in favour of one of their children.

8. Should any of the said princes be disposed to alienate the whole or any part of his sovereignty, he can only do it in favour of the confederates.

9. All disputes, which may arise among the members of the league, shall be settled in the assembly at Francfort.

10. In this the Prince Primate shall preside, and when it shall happen, that the two colleges have to deliberate upon any subject, he shall then preside in the college of Kings, and the Duke of Nassau in that of the Princes.

11. The time, when the congress of the league, or either of the colleges, shall have particularly to assemble, the manner of the convocation, the subjects upon which they may have to deliberate, the manner of forming their conclusions, and putting them in execution, shall be determined in a fundamental statute, which the Prince Primate shall give in proposition, within a month after the notification presented at Ratisbon. This statute shall be approved of by the confederated states; this statute shall also regulate the respective rank of the members of the college of princes.

12. The Emperor shall be proclaimed protector of the confederation. On the demise of the Primate, he shall, in such quality, as often name the successor.

13. His Majesty the King of Bavaria cedes to the King of Wirtemberg, the Lordship of Wisensteig, and renounces the 242rights which he might have upon Weiblingen, on account of Burgan.

14. His Majesty the King of Wirtemberg makes over to the Grand Duke of Berg, the country of Bondorff, Brenlingen, and Villingen, the part of the territory of the latter city which lies on the right bank of the Brigoetz, and the city of Tuttlingen, with the manor of the same name belonging to it, on the right bank of the Danube.

15. The grand Duke of Baden cedes to the King of Wirtemberg, the city and territory of Biebrach, with their dependencies.

16. The Duke of Nassau cedes to the grand Duke of Berg, the city of Deutz and its territory.

17. His Majesty the King of Bavaria shall unite to his states the city and territory of Nuremberg, and the Teutonic comitials of Rohr and Waldstetten.

18. His Majesty the King of Wirtemberg shall receive the Lordship of Wisensteig, the city and territory of Biebrach, with their dependencies, the cities of Waldsee and Schettingen, the comitial lands of Karpfenburg, Lancheim, and Alchausen, with the exceptions of the Lordship of Hohenfeld, and the abbey of Weiblingen.

19. The grand Duke of Baden shall receive the Lordship of Bonndorff, the cities of Vrenlingen, Villingen, and Tuttlingen, the parts of their territories which are given to him in Article 14; and along with these the comitials of Bolken and Freyburg.

20. The grand Duke of Berg shall receive the city and territory of Deutz, the city and manor of Koningswinter, and the manor of Wistich, as ceded by the Duke of Nassau.

21. The grand Duke of Darmstadt shall unite to his states the burgraviat of Freidberg, taking to himself the sovereignty only during the lifetime of the present possessor, and the whole at his death.

22. The prince Primate shall take possession of the city of Francfort on the Maine, and its territory, as his sovereign property.

24323. The Prince of Hohenzollern Seigmaringen shall receive as his sovereign property the lordships of Aschberg and Hohenfels, depending on the comitial of Alchausen, the convents of Klosterwald and Haltzthal, and the sovereignty over the imperial equestrian estates that lie in his dominions, and in the territory to the north of the Danube, wherever his sovereignty extends; namely, the lordships of Gamerdingen and Hottingen.

24. The members of the confederation shall exercise all the rights of sovereignty henceforward as follow:

His Majesty the King of Bavaria, over the principality of Schwartzenberg, the county of Castell, the lordships of Speinfeld and Wissenheid, the dependencies of the principality of Hohenlohe, which are included in the margraviate of Anspach, and the territory of Rothenburg, namely, the great manors of Schillings furstand Kirchberg, the county of Sternstein, the principality of Oettingen, the possessions of the Prince of La Tour to the north of the principality of Neuberg, the county of Edelstetten, the possessions of the Prince and of the Count of Fugger, the burgraviat of Winteriedden; lastly, the lordships of Buxheim and Tannhansein, and over the entire of the highway from Memmingen to Lindau.

His Majesty the King of Wirtemberg, over the possessions of the Prince and Count of Truchess Waldberg, the counties of Baindt Egloff Guttenzell, Hechbach, Ysuy, Koenigsek Aullendorff, Ochenhausen, Roth, Schussenried, and Weissenau, the lordships of Mietingen and Sunningen, New Ravensburg, Thanheim, Warthausen, and Weingarten, with the exception of the lordship of Haguenau, the possessions of the Prince of Thurn, with the exception of those not mentioned above; the lordship of Strasburg, and the manor of Ostraiz, the lordships of Gundelfingen and Neussen, the parts of the country of Limburg Gaildorf, which his Majesty does not possess, all the unalienated possessions of the princes of Hohenlohe, and over a part of the manor formerly belonging to Mentz, Krautheim, on the left bank of the Jaxt.

244The Grand Duke of Baden over the principality of Furstenberg, with the exception of the lordships of Gundelfingen and Neussen; also over Trochtelfingen, Jungenau, and part of the manor of Moeskirch, which lies on the left bank of the Danube, over the lordship of Hagenau, county of Thuengen, landgraviate of Klettgau, manors of Neidenau and Billigheim, principality of Leiningen, the possessions of Lowenstein Wertheim, upon the left bank of the Maine (with the exceptions of the country of Lowenstein), and the lordships of Hailack, Bonnberg, and Habitzheim; and lastly, over the possessions of the Princes of Salm-Reiser-scheid Krantheim, to the north of the Jaxt.

The grand Duke of Berg over the lordships of Lymburg-Styrum, Brugg, Hardenberg, Gimborn, and Neustadt, Wildenberg; the counties of Homburg, Bentheim, Steinfurt, and Horstmarn, the possessions of the Duke of Looz; the counties of Siegen, Dillenburg (the manors of Werheim and Burgach excepted) over Stadamar, the lordships Westerburgh, Schadeck, and Beilstein, and the properly so called, part of Runkel, on the right bank of the Lahn. In order to establish a communication between Cleves and the above-named possessions, the grand Duke shall have a free passage through the states of the Prince of Salm. His Highness the grand Duke of Darmstadt over the lordships of Brenberg, Haibach, the manor of Habizheim, county of Erbach, lordship of Illenstadt, a part of the county of Kodigsheim, which is possessed by the Prince of Stolberg Gedern; over the possessions of the Baron of Riedefel, that are included in, or lie contiguous to his estates, namely, the jurisdictions of Lauserbach, Stockhausen, Mort, and Truenstern, the possessions of the Princes and Counts of Solms, in Weterrau, exclusive of the manors of Hohen Solms, Braunsels, and Grietenstein; lastly, the counties of Wittgenstein, and Berleberg, and the manor of Hessen-Homburg, which is in possession of the line of that name.

His most serene Eminence the Prince Primate, over the possessions of the Princes and Counts of Lowenstein Wertheim, on the right bank of the Maine, and over the county of Rheneck.

245Nassau Usingen, and Nassau Weilburg, over the manors of Diersdorf, Alteneveid Neursburgh, and the part of the county of Bassenburg, which belongs to the Prince of Wied-Runkel, over the counties of Neuweid, and Holzappel, the lordship of Schomburg, the county of Deiz and its dependencies; over that part of the village of Metzselden, which appertains to the Prince of Nassau Fulda, the manors of Werhem and Balbach, that part of the lordship of Runkel, situate on the left bank of the Lahn, over the knightdoms of Kransburg; and lastly over the manors of Solms, Braunsels, Hohen Solms, and Griesenstein.

The Prince of Hohenzollern-Siegmaringen, over Trochtelfingen, Jungenan, Strasburg, Manor Ostrach, and the part of the lordship of Moeskirch which lies on the left bank of the Danube.

Salm Kyrberg, over the lordship of Gehmen.

Isenburg-Burstein, over the possessions of the Counts of Isenburg, Budingen, Wechtersbach, and Mehrholz, without any pretensions on the part of the branch in the present possession being urged against him.

Ahremberg, over the county of Dulmen.

25. The members of the confederation shall take the sovereignty of the imperial knightdoms included within their boundaries. Such of the lands as are between the states of two of the confederates, shall be with respect to the sovereignty, partitioned as exactly as possible between them, that no misunderstanding with respect to the sovereignty may arise.

26. The rights of sovereignty consist in exercising the legislation, superior jurisdiction, administration of justice, military conscription, or recruiting, and levying taxes.

27. The present reigning Princes or Counts, shall enjoy as patrimonial or private property all the domains they at present occupy, as well as all the rights of manor and entail, that do not essentially appertain to the sovereignty; namely, the right of superior and inferior administration of justice, in common and criminal cases, tenths, patronage, and other rights, with the revenues therefrom accruing. Their domains and chattels, as far as relates to the taxes, shall be annexed to the Prince of that house 246under whose sovereignty they come; or if no Prince of the house be in possession of immoveable property, in that case they shall be put upon an equality with the domains of Princes of the most privileged class. These domains cannot be sold or given to any Prince out of the confederation, without being first offered to the Prince under whose sovereignty they are placed.

28. In penal cases, the now reigning Princes and Counts, and their heirs, shall preserve their present privileges of trial. They shall be tried by their peers. Their fortune shall not in any event be confiscated, but the revenues may, during the life time of the criminal, be sequestrated.

29. The confederate states shall contribute to the payment of the debts of their circle, as well for their old as their new possessions. The debts of the circle of Suabia, shall be put to the account of the Kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, the grand Duke of Baden, the Princes of Hohenzollern, Hechingen, and Siegmaringen, the Prince of Lichtenstein, and Prince of Leyen, in proportion to their respective possessions in Suabia.

30. The proper debts of a Prince or Count who falls under the sovereignty of another state, shall be defrayed by the said state conjointly with the new reigning Prince, in the proportion of the revenues which that state shall require, and of the part which by the present treaty is allotted to attach to the attributes of the present sovereigns.

31. The present reigning Princes or Counts may determine the place of their residence where they will. Where they reside in the dominions of a member or ally of the confederation, or in any of the possessions which they hold out of the territory of the confederation, they may draw their rents or capitals without paying any tax whatever upon them.

32. Those persons who hold places in the administration of the countries, which hereby come under the sovereignty of the confederates, and who shall not be retained by the new sovereign, shall receive a pension according to the situation they have held.

33. The numbers of military or religious orders who shall lose their incomes, or whose common property shall be secularised, 247shall receive during life a yearly stipend proportioned to their former income, their dignity, and their age, and which shall be secured upon the goods of the revenues of which they were in the enjoyment.

34. The confederates renounce reciprocally, for themselves and their posterity, all claims which they might have upon the possessions of other members of the confederation, the eventual right of succession alone excepted, and this only in the event of the family having died out, which now is in possession of the territories and objects to which such a right might be advanced.

35. Between the Emperor of the French and the Confederated States, federatively and individually, there shall be an alliance, by virtue of which, every continental war in which one or either parties shall be engaged, shall be common to all.

36. In the event of any foreign or neighbouring power making preparations for war, the contracting parties, in order to prevent surprise, shall, upon the requisition of the minister of one of them at the assembly of the league at Francfort, arm also. And as the contingent of the allies is subdivided into four parts, the assembly shall decide how many of those shall be called into activity. The armament, however, shall only take place upon the summons of the Emperor, to each of the contracting parties.

37. His Majesty the King of Bavaria, binds himself to fortify Augsburg and Lindau; in the first of these places to form and maintain artillery establishments, and in the second to keep a quantity of muskets and ammunition, sufficient for a reserve, as well as a baking establishment at Augsburg, sufficient to supply the armies without delay, in the event of war.

38. The contingent of each is determined as follows:

39. The contracting parties will admit of the accession of other German princes and states in all cases where the union with the confederation may be found consistent with the general interest.

24840. The ratification of the present treaty shall be exchanged between the contracting parties, on the 25th of July at Munich.

Done at Paris, July 12, 1806.

Since the peace of Presburgh all our attention and all our care have been employed to fulfil with scrupulous fidelity all the engagements contracted by that treaty, to preserve to our subjects the happiness of peace, to consolidate every where the amicable relations happily re-established, waiting to discover whether the changes caused by the peace would permit us to perform our important duties, as chief of the Germanic empire, conformably to the capitulation of election.

The consequences, however, which ensued from some articles of the treaty of Presburgh, immediately after its publication, which still exist, and those events generally known, which have since taken place in the Germanic empire, have convinced us that it will be impossible, under these circumstances, to continue the obligations contracted by the capitulation of election; and even if in reflecting on these political relations it were possible to imagine a change of affairs, the convention of the twelfth of July, signed at Paris, and ratified by the contracting parties, relative to an entire separation of several considerable states of the empire, and their peculiar confederation, has entirely destroyed every such hope.

Being thus convinced of the impossibility of being any longer enabled to fulfil the duties of our imperial functions, we owe it to our principles and our duty, to renounce a crown which was only valuable in our eyes whilst we were able to enjoy the confidence of the electors, princes, and other states of our Germanic empire, and to perform the duties which were imposed upon us. We declare, therefore, by these presents, that we, considering as dissolved the ties which have hitherto attached us to the states of the 249Germanic empire; that we, considering as extinguished by the confederation of the states of the Rhine, the charge in chief of the empire; and that we, considering ourselves thus acquitted of all our duties towards the Germanic empire, do resign the imperial crown and the imperial government. We absolve, at the same time, the electors, princes, and states, and all that belong to the empire, particularly the members of the supreme tribunal, and other magistrates of the empire, from those duties by which they were united to us as the legal chief of the empire, according to the constitution.

We also absolve all our German provinces and states of the empire from their reciprocal duties toward the German empire; and we desire, in incorporating them with our Austrian states as Emperor of Austria, and in preserving them in those amicable relations subsisting with the neighbouring powers and states, that they should attain that height of prosperity and happiness which is the end of all our desires, and the object of our dearest wishes.

Done at our residence, under our imperial seal,

Vienna, the 6th of August, 1806. FRANCIS.

We, Francis Second, &c. In abdicating the imperial government of the empire, we, considering it as the last effort of our care, and as an absolute duty, do express thus publicly a desire equally reasonably and just, that the persons who have hitherto been employed in the administration of justice, and in diplomatic and other affairs, for the good of the whole empire, and for the service of the chief of the empire, should be suitably provided for:

The care which all the states of the empire took of those persons who lost their places by the affair of the indemnity in 1803, induces us to hope that the same sentiments of justice will be extended to those individuals who have hitherto been employed in the general service, who have been chosen in all parts of the Germanic empire, and many of whom have quitted other profitable places, looking forward to an honourable subsistence for life, and which should not be wanting to them on account of their 250fidelity, and the integrity and capacity with which they have executed their functions:

We have, therefore, taken the resolution of preserving to those of our imperial servants, who have hitherto drawn their salaries from our chamber, the same appointments, reserving to ourselves to place them in employments in the service of our hereditary states; and we hope, with so much the more confidence, that the electors, princes, and states will provide for the imperial chamber of justice of the empire, and the chancellerie of the chamber of justice, by charging themselves voluntarily with this expense, as it will be trifling in amount, and will diminish every year.

As to the chancellerie of the aulic council of the empire, the funds destined for its support will be employed to provide for the wants of those individuals who have hitherto drawn from thence their salaries; this will serve them until other measures may be taken.

Done in our capital and residence of Vienna, under our imperial seal, the 6th of August, 1806.

In consequence of having been informed the preceding evening that an imperial decree had passed, by which strangers entering the French empire were permitted to bring as much money into it as they chose, but were not suffered to take out of it more than what certain officers appointed for that purpose considered necessary for the prosecution of their journey, the surplus passing in the nature of a forfeiture to the crown, I concealed about thirty ducats, which fell within this description of overplus, in my cravat, and at five o’clock in the morning, marched from my hotel to the bureau des diligences par eau, a distance full two English miles, to be searched for this superfluity of cash, previous to my ascending the Rhine. At this house a scene took place which perhaps has not often occurred to travellers, in consequence of the temporary apprehension which it excited, the ridiculous situation in which it placed me, and the retributive chastisement which it inflicted for thus venturing upon an hostile shore. I was introduced into a room looking upon the Rhine; at the bureau sat the Director, a man who wore spectacles, with a strongly marked, expressive countenance, apparently about fifty years of age; upon my bowing to him he demanded of me, in German, who I was? I 252requested him to address me in French, which he did, repeating the question. I told him I was an American going to the Francfort fair, upon which he put down his spectacles, and running up to me, squeezed my hand with a violence of compression infinitely more painful than agreeable, and exclaimed in very good English, “How happy is this day to me! for I too am an American.” I was obliged to return the affectionate salutation, and also to express my delight in having, so far from our native home, met with a countryman. He then asked me from what part of America I came? “From Baltimore,” was the answer. “Happier and happier!” cried he renewing his embrace, “for I was born there too.” At this moment I wished, for the first time in my life, all the force of the amor patriæ at the devil; but there was no time to be lost in meditating upon the peril and awkwardness of my situation. To prevent, as much as possible his interrogating me further about my adopted country, I addressed with all possible fluency, as many questions as I could suggest respecting Cologne, the Rhine, the war; in short, I touched upon every subject but what had an American tendency. To my observations he bowed, to my questions he gave very brief answers, and continued expressing his delight in seeing me, a delight which was very far from being reciprocal. After ordering his servants to bring breakfast for me, which I did not decline, although I had already taken that meal at my hotel, for fear of offending him, he made many inquiries after some persons whom he named, and mentioned to be of the first consequence in Baltimore. I gave him to understand that I had left the city when quite a boy; but upon his assuring me that I must remember or have heard of the persons he had named, I gave him to understand that my recollection of them was very imperfect, but that I believed they had perished by the yellow fever; upon hearing which he expressed great affliction, observing they were the dearest friends he had in Baltimore before he quitted it, about fifteen years since. In this uncomfortable situation I sat vis-à-vis with my tormentor, who continued, during breakfast, to overload me with expressions of kindness. At last the skipper of the Rhine boat made his appearance, with the welcome 253information that the boat was ready, upon which the director ordered him to make up a bed for me on board if I wished it, and to show me every possible attention, adding, that I was his particular friend and countryman. I now thought the hour of my deliverance was arrived, and that an adventure which promised so adversely would terminate in the display of the civilities I have enumerated; but it was determined that my correction was not yet sufficient, for as the director looked out of the window, he exclaimed, “here comes my secretary, a very steady young man, who can attend to the office for the day,” and then turning round to me, added, “and I can now have the happiness of going half a day’s journey with you, which I am resolved to do; yes, I will show to you how dear my countrymen are to me, by going as for as Bonn with you.” Distressed and embarrassed beyond measure at this fresh proof of his provoking and perplexing regard for America and me, I tried in vain to prevail upon him not to think of carrying his politeness so far, and expressed my strong sense of the attentions with which he had already completely overwhelmed me: all that I urged appeared only to redouble the warmth of his expressions, and to confirm him in his determination.

With a heavy heart and a light countenance we walked arm and arm down to the shore, and ascended the boat, over which, as well as all the other Cologne passage boats, it appeared he had complete sovereignty by virtue of his office, and in a minute afterwards the towing horse advanced at a rate of about two English miles and an half in an hour on the French side of the river. The director made me sit next to him in the cabin, telling the passengers, who appeared to be very respectable, that I was an American and his countryman, and that that was the happiest day he had experienced for fifteen years. In the course of conversation with him, from the gasconade stories which he related of his own exploits, I was induced to entertain suspicions of his character; he told me that he was one of the most conspicuous characters in the French revolution; that General Custine owed all his glory in the field to him; that he had long resided at Berlin, where he had, by his intrigues, maintained for some time a complete 254ascendency in the Prussian cabinet; that he was engaged in a vast literary work, in which all the great events that had agitated the world for the last ten years, would be unfolded in a manner never before developed; that he had entered into the service of the French Emperor, solely to promote the interest of the empire. He observed, after engaging my word to keep the matter secret until I reached my own country, that the Emperor was abhorred throughout the empire, that he was a remorseless tyrant, and that he could prove him to be a coward.

To the latter part of his assertion I took care to offer no remark, but under the pretence of wishing to view the city of Cologne at a distance, the river and the country, and also to gain a little respite from such a rapid succession of untoward circumstances, I ascended the top of the cabin and refreshed myself by making the sketch engraved. The tower, the mighty mass of the unfinished cathedral, the numerous spires, the shores on either side, the rapid motion of the vessel descending the Rhine, the singing of those on board, the clear brilliancy of the sky, afforded reanimating delight to my mind.

About ten o’clock my persecutor raised his head through the cabin door, to announce that dinner was ready, and to request my company: upon descending I found some soup, and beef roasted after the German fashion, and that the director had, while I was above, been taken ill, from the occasional agitation of the boat, that to allay his sickness he had asked one of the gentlemen on board for some brandy, and of which he had evidently taken a great deal too much: the spirit rapidly operated upon his head, and a more abominable nuisance in the shape of man I never beheld: incapable of sitting at table with such a miscreant, I resumed my old place where I had not been seated long before I heard him abusing all the passengers, except myself, for whom he again expressed “the assurance of his high consideration,” and threatening to order them all to be thrown overboard, which he seemed to be perfectly able to do himself, for he was one of the most powerful men I ever beheld: upon which they relinquished the cabin to himself, and, excepting a very pretty French girl, came upon deck. 255Upon hearing her scream violently, I went below to see what influence his countryman could now have over the director: as I was handing her out of the cabin, he forcibly pulled me back, closed the door, and said, in a manner which was perfectly intelligible, though occasionally interrupted by the spasms of intoxication, “I know you, though you think I do not; you are no American, you are an Englishman, and a son of Mr. Erskine the orator; you are here on a secret mission, and your life is in my hands, but I will not betray you.” The reply I made was, “I am engaged in no secret mission, my soul would revolt at it, nor can I be the son of my Lord Erskine, for he is now upon the ocean, as ambassador from the court of Great Britain to my country;” to which I added, “that it was in vain for him to attempt to deceive me any longer, for I was satisfied, by his observations respecting America, that he had not been born in that country:” to which, to my no little consternation, he replied, “No, nor have I ever been there, I am a German by birth, I was educated by an Englishman who lived at my father’s, and I am now in the service of one of the greatest heroes, and the most illustrious of men.”

I know not whether my life was in peril, but it is certain my liberty was, and to preserve it, I thought that something should be immediately done; accordingly I ascended the top of the cabin, where all the passengers were assembled in a state of considerable uneasiness, from one of whom I borrowed a bottle of brandy and a coffee-cup, with which I returned to the director, and insisted upon drinking his health in some excellent spirit, and raising my hand and the bottle in a manner which, in his state, prevented him from seeing what I poured out, I affected to fill and drink it off; I then gave him a bumper, which I several times repeated in a similar manner, until the miscreant dropped under the table, where he continued in a state of utter insensibility, and with little appearance of life, until we arrived, which we did in about six hours, at Bonn, when he was taken out of the vessel by some men, conveyed to a house near the banks of the river, and, thank heaven! I saw no more of him, but proceeded with the rest of the passengers to a very neat inn a little way in 256the city, where we had an excellent dinner and some good white Rhine wine. The stream of the Rhine became less rapid as we approached Bonn, where its waters are shallower than in the neighbourhood of Cologne, where all large vessels ship their cargoes which are destined for any of the towns higher up, into craft constructed peculiarly for the purpose, and which draw much less water. As I determined to sleep at Bonn, I had a favourable opportunity of seeing this beautiful little city, which enabled the former Electors of Cologne to display their taste by selecting it for their residence. It was elegantly and justly observed by a French lady on board of the boat as we approached the city, Voilà Bonne! c’est une petite perle! no expression could describe it better; when I made my view of it, the dark clouds behind it set off the pearl-like appearance of the palace and buildings. I saw no spot on the Rhine in the shape of a town with which I was so much delighted; it consisted of little more than 1000 houses and 8000 inhabitants. In the neighbourhood the country begins to undulate, and the vines make a luxuriant appearance. The wine made here and in the adjacent parts is tolerably good; that which grows upon the black basalt hills, further to the southward, is infinitely preferable, black being a powerful agent to attract and retain heat; hence the rents of hills are rather high. So powerful is this colour in attracting and retaining the heat, that a very intelligent friend of mine, who resided for some time in China, informed me, that for the purpose of ripening their fruits as early as possible, the Chinese gardeners paint their garden walls black, and lately in some parts of England this plan has been followed. Everything in and about the city bears testimony to the enlightened liberality and refined taste of the last of the Electors of Cologne, who was cordially beloved and admired by all classes of his subjects. The building which was once his palace, is very extensive; it stands just without the city upon an elevation of ground, and commands a most enchanting prospect, embracing the windings of the majestic Rhine, part of the village of Poppledorff, the ci-devant monastery of Gruizberg crowning the summit of a hill, and at a distance the Seven Mountains, clothed with vineyards, and the spires of 257Coblentz. This beautiful building is now applied to government purposes; in the left wing towards the orange garden, which is prettily disposed, the French Emperor has preserved the Lyceum for instructing boys in Latin, Greek, German, French, mathematics, and philosophy: the professors are very able men, and the institution is in a flourishing condition: this is one amongst the many noble establishments founded by the last Elector, which in his reign was kept in another quarter of the city: this elegant pile of building, which is now stripped of all its valuable ornaments, was raised by the elector Clement Augustus in 1777, upon the same site on which no less than four preceding palaces had fallen victims to the flames: there is a beautiful walk under a quadruple row of lime trees, which leads to a small country palace: this walk forms the fashionable parade of the city, and was graced by a number of beautiful and elegantly dressed ladies. Some very pleasant French officers, with whom I was walking in this place, expressed their surprise at seeing an Englishman amongst them, and I was obliged to find refuge again in my American adoption.

Through a beautiful and romantic country, by a short walk a little beyond Gruizberg, towards the south, is the picturesque hill of Godesberg, or Godshill, so called from a sanative mineral spring flowing close to it, which contains fixed air, iron, magnesia, and salt: the last Elector who never omitted any thing which could add to the comfort and happiness of his people, erected an assembly and other rooms, and also pleasure gardens for recreation close to the spring, and by some very wise regulations, encouraged the building of lodging-houses. At this place, many of the unhappy French emigrants, after the revolution, found a little relief from the miserable recollections of their fallen fortunes and altered fate: the court of the prince bishop was remarkable for the elegance, hospitality, and refined freedom which reigned throughout it, and in return in every visitor he beheld a friend. The influence of this scene of courtly felicity upon the manners of the people had not as yet subsided. A peculiar air of refinement distinguished the deportment of the inhabitants: after an exquisite 258ramble, I returned through the square, a spacious irregular area, where the French troops quartered in the place were exercising, and where a very ancient Gothic town house stands, to supper at my hotel, at the table d’hote of which I again smarted for the temerity of trespassing upon this delightful spot. During our repast, which abounded with a great variety of choice and excellent dishes, and which was attended by many French officers, a German lady who sat opposite to me, always addressed and alluded to me by the perilous name of “Monsieur Anglois,” which excited some considerable attention amongst the company towards me; at last a French officer whose physiognomy did not present the most pleasing collection of features, rose up, eyed me all over, and went out: I expected nothing less than being obliged to take shelter once more under my American alliance, but after waiting in the room an hour, I saw nothing more of him, and went to bed. Whilst a cruel and savage state of hostility between man and man thus embarrassed the progress of a traveller, whose only object was to contemplate the beautiful face of nature, never did the divine object of his pursuit appear more arrayed in the smiles of peace and loveliness. The government of Bonn, as well as Cologne, and all the other cities on the left bank of the Rhine is vested in a governor appointed by Napoleon, and is purely military. Under a clear and cloudless sky I bade adieu to Bonn with great reluctance, and embarked on board of the passage-boat bound to Cassel. As we passed the lofty towers of Plittersdorff, on our right, the Rhine unfolded itself in all its glory. On our left the seven mountains (Sieben Geburge) called the Drakenfels, Wolkenbourg, Rolandsekke, Löwenburgh, Nonnenstromberg, Hoke Ochlbey, and Hemmerick, arose with uncommon grandeur, crowned with convents and the venerable ruins of castles. In distant ages, many a German baron bold resided in rude dignity with his martial followers upon the summit of these mountains, from whence they waged war against each other, and many of their remains of antiquity are the work of Valentinian in the fourth century, who overthrew the Germans, and who fell a victim to his inordinate passion, for when the Quadi sent to him to make a 259peace, the awkward appearance of some of the ambassadors so enraged him, that in his anger he burst an artery.

Drackensels has infinitely the advantage of situation; it rises perpendicularly from the river to a stupendous height, crowned with the roofless remains of an ancient castle, brown with antiquity; midway it is covered with luxuriant vines, whilst all above is red and gray rock. The other mountains, which recede to a great distance, appeared to be clothed with the clustering grape, on the opposite side the vineyards, sloping close to the water’s edge, extended as far as they could reach; every where the genius of this terrestrial Paradise seemed as if with tasteful finger he had

As we advanced, a beautiful island in the centre of the river, covered with poplars, walnut-trees and elms, from the bosom of which arose the roof and belfry of the monastery of Nonen Werth, or Worthy Nuns, formed the back scene: the bosom of the river was enlivened with the peasants of the neighbourhood moving in boats worked and steered with paddles, and the banks of the French territory with groups of French soldiers bathing, and singing their national songs.

As we passed the monastery the matin bells rung, and gave a romantic interest to the scene: this pious seclusion is included in the French line of sovereignty, and was condemned by Bonaparte to change its owners and its nature for ever; but at the earnest intercession of the Empress Josephine, he consented to suffer the sisterhood to enjoy it during their lives, after which it will devolve to the empire. Wherever power could effect and policy justify the measure, Bonaparte has displayed his decided hostility to monastic establishments of every description; he considers them as so many sinks of sloth, in which all the noble principles 260and purposes of life become stagnant. In Paris only one convent, that of the Blue Nuns, is permitted to remain. The numerous convents which adorn the French side of the Rhine with the most picturesque appearance, are either converted into fabrics, or suffered to run to dilapidation: the river, from its meanderings, is land-locked all the way, every turning of which surprised and captivated me with some new beauty. Here, behind a line of walnut, lime and beech trees, just skirting the margin of the river, a stupendous pyramidal cliff appears, with every projection upon which the cultivator could lodge a layer of vegetable mould, supporting a little growth of vine: there, mountains of vineyards, relieved by mouldering castles, and convents rising from masses of rock shooting forwards, or piercing the sky from their pointed pinnacles, arrest the attention. Sometimes a torrent brightens before the beholder, and distantly roars upon the ear; at others the naked bed of one appears, or a rude gap through which the eye penetrates into ranges of other vine-clad mountains, variegated with majestic ruins, is seen. At the base of the hills on the sides of the river numerous towers and villages constantly appear, defended by ancient walls and turrets, adorned with venerable churches, brown with age, surmounted with lofty spires, every where inviting the reflection of the moralist, the investigation of the antiquary, the song of the poet, and the pencil of the painter.

Almost all the immense mass of mountains which extend from Bonn to Andernach, is composed of the basalt and slate; the former has a more artificial appearance than almost any other mineral production. In no form can it puzzle the philosopher more than at the Giant’s Causeway, in Ireland, where it assumes a columnar shape, which has every appearance of having been chisseled by the hand of a skilful mason, and of having been regular granite cooling after fusion, and formed into regular masses by crystallization. In the small cavities of these mountains the martins and swallows find refuge, and in a comfortable state of torpidity pass through the cold and cheerless weather of winter. The children of the peasantry amuse themselves in discovering their retreats, at an apparent exposure of their own lives.

In an amphitheatre of vast dusky basalt mountains, the sombre gates, towers and pinnacles of Andernach appeared: in consequence of the river making a long sweep, I landed with an intention of rejoining the boat at a village named by the skipper; a more solemn scene of gloom and grandeur, I never contemplated: the ruins of this town towards Coblentz are of great antiquity. The inhabitants insist upon it, that the remains of the Emperor 262Valentine are deposited in one of their churches, and that Julius Cæsar when he so victoriously fought against the Suabians, passed over the Rhine at this spot, where Drusus the general of Augustus, built one of those fifty castles which are erected on the banks of the Rhine: but the French, who narrowly investigated every part of the river which their victorious arms enabled them to visit, with great acuteness, and with the assistance of history, believe that this celebrated landing was effected a little higher up the river, a short distance from Engers, at a place called the White Tower (der Weisse Thurm), the venerable front of which I saw as I afterwards advanced on our right, in the centre of a sudden recess of the river, where it has the appearance of having served the united purposes of a castle and a watch tower; at its base is a considerable village, which formerly belonged to the Elector of Treves: this situation is from a combination of local advantages, peculiarly favorable to the completion of such a passage, and in confirmation of the opinion, a great number of Roman antiquities have been found there. General Hoche, at the head of an immense army, aided by the obscurity of the night, crossed the Rhine at this place in 1797, and astonished the imperial troops the next morning by their presence.

This was the last exploit of that general. Near this tower there are deposited his remains, over which a mausoleum has been erected. This young commander died of an enlargement of the heart at Wetzlar. His funeral was conducted with uncommon military pomp. The procession moved from the place where he died, across the Rhine to the White Tower, amidst the discharge of cannon, which were fired every quarter of an hour.

The trade of the Rhine is here very flourishing, for exclusive of the neighbouring vineyards which produce fine wines, and the basalts of the adjoining mountains used for building and paving, this city derives considerable wealth from the lapis tophaceus or tuf stone, the harder sort of which form excellent millstones; vast quantities are shipped for Holland, to construct or repair its dykes with, and the more friable is used for building, whilst its powder mixed with lime forms the hardest and most durable cement. 263I saw the cabins of several treckschuyts in Holland covered with it, which were perfectly impervious to the rain: the Germans also use it to floor their houses with. This stone is considered to be a species of the pumice-stone, or imperfect lava, and of volcanic production.

On the banks leading to this city, I saw part of one of those amazing floats of timber which are formed of lesser ones, conveyed to this city from the forests adjoining the Rhine, the Moselle, the Maine, &c.; these floats are attached to each other, and form a platform generally of the enormous dimensions of eight hundred feet in length, and one hundred and sixty in breadth, upon which a little village containing about eighty wooden houses is erected for the accommodation of those who are interested in, and assist in navigating this stupendous raft, frequently amounting to seven and eight hundred persons, men, women, and children; besides these buildings, there are stalls for cattle, slaughtering houses, and magazines for provisions: the float is prevented from striking against the shores, where the turnings are abrupt, by the application of thirty or forty anchors, which with the necessary cables are conveyed in fourteen or fifteen boats which precede it, and its course is safely directed by German and Dutch pilots, who are hired for the purpose.

After great rains when the current is rapid, the whole is entrusted to its propelling force, otherwise several hundred persons are employed in rowing, who move their oars at a given word of command. The whole of these wonderful moving masses is under the entire direction of a governor or superintendant, and several officers under him. Sometimes they are months in performing their voyage, in consequence of the water being low, in which case they are obliged to wait till the river is swelled by the rains. In this manner they float from the high to the low countries, and upon their arrival at the place of destination, the whole is broken up, and finds a ready market. About twelve of them annually arrive at Dort, in Holland, in the months of July and August, where these German timber-merchants having converted their floats into 264good Dutch ducats, return to their own country with their families, to enjoy the produce of their labour and enterprize.

The clergy and monks in Andernach used to be, to use a good humoured homely expression of a late illustrious statesman, upon an application made to him for a place under his administration “as thick as five in a bed;” beside six vicars belonging to a large parish church, there were no less than five crowded convents, and the population did not exceed four thousand souls: the convents are now converted into garrisons for French soldiers, and storehouses for tradesmen. After viewing the city, I set off on the road to Coblentz, with a view of meeting the boat at the place appointed, and after walking about two miles, I lost all traces of the river; however, observing about three parts of a mile off, the tops of a long semicircular line of poplars, I concluded the river flowed by them, and I accordingly endeavoured to penetrate to the bank through a large willow wood, in which I soon lost myself. At last, however, I succeeded in forcing a way into a little footpath, in pursuing which I suddenly came upon a Frenchman, poorly clothed in green, with a book in his hand; he courteously addressed me, remarked that I looked rather warm, and conducted me to a recess in the wood, close to the water, where there was a bed of straw and a gun: at first I regarded him as a robber, but he soon gave me to understand that he was a link in a vast chain, composed of forty thousand soldiers, placed in this sort of ambuscade at the distance of a gun shot from each other, by the orders of the government of France, to guard the left bank of the Rhine from smugglers; and that to prevent contraband practices, no boat is suffered to pass either up or down the river after sunset, without being fired upon; that they are always clothed in a sombre dress, to prevent observation, and are concealed in this manner wherever the sides of the river will admit of it. Upon my informing him that I had lost my way and my boat, he politely assured me that it had not yet ascended the river, and hailed a little punt passing by, which enabled me to regain the vessel, then very fortunately just approaching. Notwithstanding the vigilance 265of the French police, the rafts I have described carry on a considerable contraband trade in the Rhine wines and Seltzer water.

Opposite to the spot where this occurrence took place, at the bottom of a range of hills, is the delightful town and palace of Neuwied, built of white stone, at one end of the line of poplars which I have mentioned, and almost the only town I saw without walls or any sort of fortification on the Rhine. Nothing could exceed the air of happiness and prosperity which seemed to reign in this delectable little capital, which looked perfectly fresh and new, the prince of which receives, because he deserves, the affections of his subjects; every one on board, with great vivacity, spoke of the toleration, the liberal extension of the rights of citizenship to foreigners, and the public spirit of its ruler. The place is enriched by several flourishing iron works, steel, paper, and cotton manufactures (the latter, the first introduced into Germany), printing, watch, and ingenious cabinet-making. Before the last war, in the forges and founderies, and different fabrics, not less than four thousand persons were employed, and their circulation at a fair has been known to amount to forty or fifty thousand florins. There is an establishment of Moravian brethren here more numerous than that at Zeyst. The last and the present wars have of course considerably reduced the number of workmen, by forcing many of them into the army; but, notwithstanding, there is no town on the Rhine in a more enviable condition, for every thing which can impart content and felicity to man. It was a curious and highly interesting circumstance to see in Neuwied and Andernach, almost opposite to each other, the most modern and the most ancient city on the Rhine. The price of freight upon the Rhine is rather high: before the French united together so many petty sovereignties it was much higher, owing to the number of tolls which were paid to each; previous to that event there were no less than twelve tolls to discharge between Cologne and Amsterdam.

We had a very good table d’hote on board, at a moderate price, abundance of Rhine crabs, excellent grapes, and a variety of other fruits, which, as well as the most delicious bread I ever 266tasted, we purchased at the different towns where we stopped. I had the comfort of being attended by an intelligent, animated fellow, who had been in the service of the immortal Nelson on board of one of the ships which he commanded, and afterwards with the English army in Egypt, who offered his services on board the boat at a very reasonable rate. The richness, novelty, and majesty of the scenery, kept me constantly on the roof of the cabin, from the early hour of starting till the hour of nine at night, when, for the reason stated, we always stopped at some town or village till morning. In these stoppages we entirely depended upon the variable velocity of the current, not to say a word of the caprice of our skipper, or the influence which the residence of any particular favourite or friend might have upon him; the consequence of which was, that we arrived at places to sup and sleep where we were not expected, and of course our patience was put to a little, but never a considerable trial. Within three or four miles of Coblentz, on our right in ascending the river, we passed a pyramidical mausoleum, erected to the memory of the French general Marceau, who distinguished himself at the battle of Mons and Savenai, and died of the wounds which he received at the battle of Altenkirchen in 1796.

At Bendorf, a romantic village on our left, upon a branch of the river, a terrible battle was fought between the French army, commanded by Gen. Hoche, and the Austrians, after the former had effected the passage I have before mentioned, from the white tower, which, after a tremendous slaughter on both sides, terminated in the retreat of the imperial troops. In this battle an extraordinary instance of prowess and enthusiasm occurred, which is said to have decided the fate of the day; the French had frequently attacked an Austrian redoubt, the possession of which was of great consequence to them, and had as often been repulsed with great carnage; at last a French general rode up to the granadiers commanded by Captain Gros, and exclaimed, “Soldiers, swear to me that you will make yourselves masters of that redoubt.” “We swear,” replied Gros, holding up his hand, and his soldiers doing the same: they returned to the attack with redoubled fury, 267and the havoc became dreadful: the French troops were upon the point of again giving way, when their leader had his right arm crushed by a grape shot, upon which, with a smile of triumph, he grasped his sabre with his left, rallied his men and carried the redoubt. As we turned a considerable meander of the river by Neuendorff, one of the grandest spectacles I almost ever contemplated opened upon me: the mighty rock of Ehrenbreitstein, formerly called the Gibraltar of the Rhine, with its dismantled batteries and ruined castles, rose with awful and unexampled majesty on the south; at its base was the palace formerly belonging to the Elector of Treves, and the town bearing the name of this wonderful fortification; and immediately opposite to it, as we advanced a little farther, the beautiful city of Coblentz appeared. Here we were obliged to be separated from our horse, on account of the Moselle, which discharges itself into the Rhine at this place, the mouth of which we crossed by the assistance of our boatmen’s poles. Over this river there is a handsome stone bridge of many arches, and formerly there was a bridge of boats from this city to Ehrenbreitstein, which has been most judiciously removed, and succeeded by one of the flying bridges before described, by which a more convenient communication is kept completely open, and the navigation is not impeded. Coblentz is a very ancient city; it was the seat of the Roman emperors, and of the kings of the Franks, and a favourite residence of the archbishops and electors of Treves, who, in ancient times of broil and peril, resided in the castle which crowns the majestic rock opposite to the city. Before the revolution there were three parish churches, two colleges, a church belonging to the Jesuits, four convents of monks, dominicans, carmelites, franciscans, and capuchins, and three nunneries. At that period the population of the inhabitants, of the garrison, and the vale of Ehrenbreitstein, was calculated at 13,000 souls; at present it is not supposed to exceed nine thousand. The city has many good and some handsome buildings, and it is further recommended by its supplies of excellent mines, pit-coal, wood, and lime. Its best square is the Clemenstadt; there are several handsome hotels, of which the ancient 268hotel, the vast rock which formerly protected it, and the antiquity of its buildings, cast a gloomy grandeur over the whole place, which never exhibited so much gaiety as in the winter of 1791, when the French princes and their followers were nobly entertained and protected here by the Elector, before they marched to Champagne, to experience those disasters which finally confirmed the overthrow of their devoted house.

Coblentz derives its name by not a little meander of etymology, from the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle at its base. Ausonius, one of the most celebrated of the Latin poets of the fourth century, wrote five hundred verses in commemoration of this river, which, compared with the majesty of the river into which it rolls and is lost, is scarcely worthy of such an honour: the view from its banks is also in an equal degree of comparative inferiority, and by the unceasing agitation of its confluence, it has the reputation of having alarmed the tender nerves of the river-fish, of which the inhabitants of this city are not so well supplied as the neighbouring towns.

One of the most beautiful objects in this place is the new palace, built to the south of the city, close to the Rhine, by that splendid and amiable prince, the Elector Clemont Vencelas; it is of brick stuccoed, to resemble stone, has a noble Ionic portico, and including its wings, extends one hundred and eighty yards. A further description of its exterior, as I have made a drawing of it, and moreover as it is now converted into an hospital, were useless. Its grand staircase, its apartments consisting of a chapel, an audience-hall, concert-room, library, cabinet, dining-room, besides an immense number of other rooms, excited the admiration of every visitor, by their magnitude, magnificence, or elegance. Its furniture, its mantle-pieces, its tapestry, and inlaid floors, all corresponded in taste and splendor with the rest of the building; now not a vestige of its consequence or original destination remains, but what its walls display. Most of the windows are broken, stuffed with hay, or further disfigured by having linen hanging out to dry from them; the area before the grand front, which was formed into an elegant promenade, is now broken, and its 269graceful plantation totally destroyed. A little way further to the southward, on the opposite side, under the impending rocks of Ehrenbreitstein, is the old palace, a sombre building, which the Elector Clement quitted almost entirely on account of its gloom, and the humidity of its situation.

The Elector of Treves excited the indignation of the French against him very early in the French revolution, by encouraging the expatriated French princes to reside and hold their counterrevolutionary councils at Coblentz. In September, 1794, General Jourdan, with his accustomed energy, compelled the Austrians to retreat to Hervé, and afterwards to Aix la Chapelle, when, supported by the main body of the army, the French attacked all the enemy’s posts from Ruremonde to Juliers: at this eventful period, General Clairfayt having occupied a strong position upon the Roer, resisted the French for some time, but their ardor and numbers at length compelled the Austrians to retire into Germany, leaving behind them ten thousand of their comrades, killed or taken prisoners, in the short space of three days; and soon afterwards a detachment of the French army, under the command of General Moreau, entered Coblentz as victors, Cologne being already in their possession, and Mainz, or Mayence, the only city in the possession of the allies on the left bank of the Rhine.

I was informed by some French officers who were in the boat with me, that the society in Coblentz was very elegant; that a number of families lived in splendor; and also, that Bonaparte had continued with some modifications the colleges, and most of the public institutions, which the Electors of Treves had at various times established in that city. The vast and celebrated monastery, called in German Karthaus, or La Chartreuse, situated on a high mountain, in the neighbourhood to the west of Coblentz, from which the countries of Treves, Mayence, Cologne, Darmstadt, d’Anspach, and Wied, may be seen, is converted into an observatory, and a place of very agreeable recreation.

Upon my return, in descending the Rhine, I had an opportunity of more closely seeing Ehrenbreitstein, which I was enabled to do from the following circumstance: the Rhine schuyt was 270uncommonly crowded, and late in the evening we arrived at a hamlet on the right bank of the river to sleep: the house in which we were to pass the night was not able to furnish beds more than barely sufficient for the ladies on board, which at once determined a French officer, one of the party, who had not placed his head upon a pillow for three preceding nights, and who was a wretched invalid, apparently in the last stage of a decline, to hunt amongst the cottagers for a fiddler, to whose miserable sounds this epitome of his nation, with several other officers and petty German merchants, danced till the dawn of day, pour passer le temps, and the boat was ready to proceed. Having found by moon-light a nook in a peasant’s nest, in the most romantic situation under heaven, I lay down, and never awoke till an hour after the boat had departed, in which dilemma I was obliged to hire a punt with two paddles, and by the assistance of a couple of sturdy peasants overtook the passage-boat, which lay off Coblentz, during which I visited Ehrenbreitstein. At its base there is a pretty town and an excellent hotel; opposite to the palace is a walk of limes, close to which was moored the electoral state yacht, or barge, in shape and size resembling our Lord Mayor’s, but not quite so gaudy. The ascent to this stupendous rock, which is eight hundred feet in a perpendicular line above the level of the river, is by a very narrow, steep, and winding path: the noble fortification on its sides, and the castles, arsenals, barracks, and batteries upon its summit, from whence the eye can behold the mountains of Lorraine, the meanders of the Rhine, and the countries through which it flows to a vast distance, and from which the beholder might almost think he could step into the clouds, are all roofless and dismantled. The citadel was erected by the order of the Prince Bishop Herman Hillinus, in the 12th century, upon the ruins of an ancient Roman building.

In the centre of the square, or parade upon the top, was formerly mounted the celebrated cannon, called “the Griffon,” as well known to the Germans as that called “Queen Anne’s pocket-piece” is to the English. The former merits the national pride which it has excited. It was cast at Francfort by the order of the 271Elector, Richard Greifenklau, weighed thirty thousand pounds, and was capable of projecting a ball of one hundred and eighty pounds, to a distance of sixteen miles. Close to the touch-hole there was the following inscription: “Vogel Grief heis ich, meinem gnädigen herrn von Trier dien ich, wo er mich heist gewanten, da will ich Thoren und mauren Zerspalten. Simon gos mich, 1528.” In English—“Griffon is my name, I serve my gracious master of Treves, I shatter gates and walls, whenever he commands me to exert my force. Simon cast me, 1528.” This rock was supplied with water from a well 280 feet deep, which occupied three years in digging, in the year 1481, and has a subterranean communication with Coblentz, dug out of the solid rock: the fortress was justly deemed, when properly garrisoned, impregnable. In the time of the Swedish war, the attacks of eighty thousand French troops on the southern side of it, and of forty thousand on the northern, could make no impression upon it; however, still maintaining its invulnerable character, it was destined to bend to a foe, before which all local advantage is useless, and all enterprise unavailing: after bravely sustaining a blockade for a whole year, by the troops of the French republic, the garrison having endured with the greatest fortitude almost every description of privation and misery, were obliged to surrender to famine, and capitulated on the 28th January, 1799; soon after which the French covered this mighty rock with the ruins of those wonderful fortifications, which had employed the skill of the ablest engineer to complete, and which, but for the want of food, would have defied the force of her assailing enemy to the end of time. The thal, or valley below, is justly celebrated for its fertility and romantic beauty.

Soon after our departure from Coblentz, we passed the island of Obewerth; and a little further on, on our left, the disemboguement of the river Lahn, which flows between two ancient and picturesque towns, called the Upper and Lower Lahnsteins, where the Rhine forms a considerable curve, and expands into the resemblance of a placid lake, adorned with two vast mountains, one crowned with a hoary watch tower, and the base of the other half 272encircled by a village, and the whole adorned by the captivating combinations of forest scenery, rich meadows, and hanging vineyards and orchards, amidst which, half embosomed in their foliage, the peasant’s peaceful dwelling every now and then gladdened the eye. This lovely view was soon exchanged for one of gloomy magnificence; before we reached Boppart, we entered a melancholy defile of barren and rugged rocks, rising perpendicularly from the river to an immense height, and throwing a shade and horror over the whole scene; here all was silent, and no traces of man were to be found but in a few dispersed fishermen’s huts, and crucifixes. Fear and superstition, “when the day has gone down, and the stars are few,” have long filled every cave with banditti, and every solitary recess with apparitions.

In the course of my passage I frequently, when the boat came very near the land, sprung on shore with two or three other passengers, and varied the scene by walking along the banks for a mile or two, and during these excursions had frequently an opportunity of admiring the astonishing activity and genius of the French, who have, since they became masters of the left bank of the Rhine, nearly finished one of the finest roads in the world, extending from Mayence to Cologne, in the course of which they have cut through many rocks impending over the river, and triumphed over some of the most formidable obstacles Nature could present to the achievement of so wonderful a design. This magnificent undertaking, worthy of Rome in the most shining periods of her history, was executed by the French troops, who, under the direction of able engineers, preferred leaving these monuments of indefatigable toil and elevated enterprize, to passing their time, during the cessation of arms, in towns and barracks, in a state of indolence and inutility.

The sombre spires of Boppart, surrounded by its black wall and towers, presented a melancholy appearance to the eye, relieved by the rich foliage of the trees in its vicinity, and the mountains behind it irregularly intersected with terraces covered with vines to their very summits. The antiquity of this city is very great; it was one of the fifty places of defence erected on the banks 273of the Rhine by Drusus Germanicus, and in the middle ages was an imperial city.

Not far from Boppart we saw, on the right bank of the river, a procession of nuns and friars returning to a convent, the belfry of which just peeped above a noble avenue of walnut-trees; they were singing, and their voices increased the solemn effect of the surrounding scenery. We put up for the night at a little village, amid mountains half covered with vineyards, tufted with forests, and chequered with convents and ruined castles. The evening was stormy, and a full moon occasionally brightened the scene: frequently we were enveloped in solemn gloom,

I have before mentioned the excellent accommodations which I have every where experienced at the different towns we stopped at. Although at the last place where we slept there were not above three or four houses, and we were not expected, we had an excellent supper, and clean comfortable beds. After our repast, as we were drinking some excellent hock, many of the company present communicated the object of their voyage, and amongst the rest an elegant young Frenchman, about nineteen, who had charmed us all the way by his politeness and inexhaustible flow of spirits, told us, to my no little surprise, that the object of his excursion would not admit of his returning when he pleased, for he was on his way to join part of the French army at Maynz, or Mayence, as a conscript; for which he had been drawn; and as his father who was a man of fortune at Aix-la-Chapelle, but was very fond of his money, would not put himself to the expense of paying the substitution money for him, “par conséquence,” said he with a smile of good humour, “il me faut aller en personne.” He told us that he had no hopes of raising himself from the ranks but by good conduct and equally good fortune, although his uncle was a general in the service, and commanded that part of the army into which he was soon to be incorporated. Whenever we stopped, he bestowed his 275money with liberality to beggars and chambermaids, alleging, that as he was about to be a soldier, he ought to live, when he became one, on a soldier’s pay, and that to have more till he was promoted, would only make him uncomfortable; adding, that on his arrival at head quarters, he should order a noble dinner, and give his clothes to the waiters, and surrender himself up to the captain of his company. He neither blamed the cruelty of his father, the tyranny of the conscription, nor repined at his unlucky fate, but filling a bumper, exclaimed, “Tout ce qu’il me faut maintenant, c’est, de devenir bon soldat.” “All that I have to do is to make myself a good soldier.” I never saw a point more easily and comfortably settled in my life. Our young conscript had the best wishes of us all, for his happiness and speedy promotion. This elastic spirit of vivacity seems to be the common property of every Frenchman, and never did it appear more striking than in the following circumstance: upon an English surgeon some years since visiting a hospital at Paris, he saw in one of the wards three Frenchmen who had received some very severe contusions by the fall of a scaffold a few days before, lying in bed; upon approaching them he found one dead, another dying, and the one in the middle sitting upright in the bed, fiddling to several invalids, who were dancing at the foot of it as well as they were able.

After a refreshing sleep we were called, upon the first intimation of the day’s approach, and early in the morning arrived at St. Goar, after passing by the ancient gothic tower of Welmich, the white and venerable palace of Thurnburg, crowning the mountain behind it, and through most delicious and romantic scenery, every where profusely embellished with the hoary remains of piety and war, under the various tints of progressive day. In a minute after the boat had stopped, all the passengers disappeared to attend matins, it being Sunday, and left me to gaze in amazement upon the stupendous rock of Rheinfels, or the rock of the Rhine, which rises most majestically behind the town, and supports the remains of a vast fortress which bears its name, and which the French demolished in the last war. This fortress was 276next in strength to that of Ehrenbreitstein; it was in the year 1245 converted from a convent to a fortress, by Count Diether le Riche. In 1692 the Hessians, who were in possession of it, made a gallant defence, headed by Colonel Goerz, against the French, who were in superior force under the command of the celebrated Mareschal de Tallard, who was compelled to give up the siege. In the last war it experienced a different fate: the French troops took quiet possession of it, and though it ranked next to Ehrenbreitstein in strength and advantage, it partook not of the glory of a similar resistance. At the foot of this enormous rock is a large barrack lately built, but now deserted. There was also a flying bridge here, but it has been removed.

In a bay of the river a little before we approached Oberwesel, there is a vast rock, which the passengers on the river never fail to address, for the purpose of hearing their own voices very closely imitated by its echoes. Almost all the way from St. Goar to Oberwesel, we were environed by enormous dark rocks covered with shattered fragments, impending over and embrowning the face of the river with their awful shadows. The gloom of the scene was enlivened only by a few fishermen’s huts here and there interspersed, protected from the intense heat of the sun retained by and reflected from the rocks rising above them, by the foliage of scanty groups of trees. This melancholy defile prepared us for Oberwesel, a venerable city, filled with the solemnity of ancient churches and deserted convents. In the time of the Emperor Henry the Seventh, this city was an imperial one; afterwards, and till the French seized it, it was in the possession of the Elector of Treves. The church of the Minorites had once a fine copy of Rubens’ Descent from the Cross, by a disciple of his, which upon inquiry I found had been removed. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the situation of this town; the scenery to the south of it is luxuriant and romantic beyond imagination. Close to it, rising from an avenue of stately walnut-trees, is a prodigious rock, supporting the celebrated chateau de Schoenberg, which gave birth to the illustrious and ancient family of the name of Belmont, afterwards changed for the German name of Schoenberg or Beaumont: 277this place and the neighbourhood abound with slate quarries. Immediately opposite, on the eastern bank, lofty mountains clothed with hanging vineyards, and attended by the usual association of mural ruins perched upon their pinnacles, and of monastic buildings projecting from their sides, or rising from their base, presented their majestic forms to the Rhine. From Oberwesel we crossed over to Kaub, a fortified town a little way further to the south. Previous to this we had kept, during the whole of the passage, on the left bank. In crossing the river we passed close to a large massy fortified tower, or fort, standing in the middle of the Rhine upon a rock, called the Pfalz or Palatinate. In distant times the Countesses of the Palatinate, when they were far advanced in that state which

used to remove to this insulated spot of gloom for the purpose of lying-in; afterwards it was used as a state prison, and a place to watch the vessels ascending or descending the Rhine, to prevent their eluding the tolls; it is now disused, but not likely very soon to run to decay for want of inhabitants. Enthusiastically as I admire the scenery of this part of the Rhine, I think I never saw a place where man or woman would less prefer to be confined in, than the Pfalz.

At Kaub, a very ancient but neat town, which stands at the base of a lofty mountain, in a handsome inn close to the river, we tasted some delicious wine, the produce of the neighbouring vineyards, for which we paid about ten pence English the bottle: and we were regaled gratuitously with some of the finest grapes, which a pretty girl produced as naturally as pipes and tobacco are introduced in similar places in Holland. The vineyards of Oberwesel, Kaub, and Bacharach, and the two hills of Vogtsberg and Kühlberg near the last city, which abound with blue slate, produce a vine remarkable for its odour and muscadelle flavour, and form one of the distinguished vine divisions of this enchanting region.

278Upon leaving the Kaub we proceeded through a scene of transcendent richness and beauty, where

Our ears were delighted with the solemn choruses of the inhabitants of the villages returning in large crowded boats from their churches, and the bells of the convents, while the shores on either side were enlivened by the peasants in their sabbath dresses going to or returning from their respective places of worship. At length the hoary battlements of Bacharach opened upon us; part of this town slopes from the vine-clad mountain behind it, and the remainder is close to the water. This town is also very ancient, and as a proof of its antiquity, derives its name from Bacchus, to whom tradition relates an altar was raised upon a rock in the centre of the Rhine. Indeed we might have supposed that he had been worshipped here in all the marvellous pomp ascribed to his original adoration, and that his priestesses, by striking the earth with their thyrsi, had caused rivers of milk, and honey, and wine to flow

This insulated rock was admirably adapted for bearing upon one of its trees, if ever one grew upon it, those little wooden or earthen images of Bacchus, which from the smallness of their mouths were called Oscilla, and were considered as so many watch towers, from which the god might look after the vines, to prevent their receiving injury. I know of no situation where he could have performed his tutelar duties better than in this very spot.

279The vine here has been long celebrated for its excellence; the Emperor Venceslas preferred four fuder of this wine (a fuder is equal to three hundred and sixty gallons) to ten thousand florins offered to him by the inhabitants of Nuremberg, to redeem their sequestered privileges; and even Pope Pius the Second imported for his table a fuder of this wine annually. These are illustrious authorities in favour of the Bacharach wine, but the best is its flavour.

My laquais, a merry, good humoured fellow, and having no bad ear for music withal, announced our being opposite to Lorch, the first town where, in ascending the Rhine, the Rhingau commences, in which district the finest wines are produced, by singing a national song in honour of this vine-covered region, in which every person on board joined most cordially. It was a very long one, but the following stanzas will serve as a specimen of it.

Every child in this part of Germany knows this song by heart.

Fronting the august ruins of the castle of Sannek, the Rhine presents the appearance of an ample lake, and the mountains, which hitherto were numerous and lofty, recede as we approach the pretty village of Drgeckshausen, a little beyond which the river expands, and forms a noble curve near Asmanshausen, at the foot of a forest, celebrated for the convent of Aulenhausen, much frequented by devotees. Asmanshausen is known for the fine blecker which it produces.

Nearly opposite to Ruppertsberg the navigation of the Rhine becomes very much impeded, and rendered hazardous by some vast rocks which just raise their heads above the surface of the water, and which our boatmen informed us had frequently occasioned the loss of lives. Here the country again becomes rude and rocky, occasionally covered with forest oak, and profusely ornamented with dilapidated castles, where the steel-clad chieftains of other times used to blow their

281A visible change in the scenery to which we had been accustomed, commenced as we approached Bingen: the hills retire farther from the banks of the river, more modern towns, yet occasionally chequered with the remains of antiquity, attract the eye, the trees of the forest succeed to the vines of the mountain, and in the room of stupendous rocks, rich meadows and corn-fields present their novel charms.

Bingen, which I visited upon my return, stands at the base of a lofty mountain, on the summit of which the ancient castle of Klopp is erected: the river Nohe disembogues itself by this city into the Rhine, over which there is a handsome stone bridge, called Druses, from its having the reputation of having been constructed by Drusis Germanicus: this confluence of the two rivers enables Bingen to carry on a considerable trade in Rhenish wines, grain, and timber.

As the shades of evening descended, we passed Ehrenfels, and a little before nine arrived at Rüdesheim, where we supped at a very handsome hotel, and drank copiously of its wine, which is said to be superior to every other part of the Rhingau. Very early in the morning I visited the remains of a magnificent castle, which has the appearance of a Roman origin: this opinion is countenanced by the strong evidences of the same character which attach to the antiquities to be found in towns within the Rhingau. The situation of this august ruin, which is close to the river, is commensurate to its grandeur: the town of Rüdesheim is large, clean, and cheerful, and has few of those features of awful gloom which characterise several of the cities on the lower sides of this river, which here widens to a great breadth, and is dotted over with luxuriant little islands. Upon quitting this town we were more frequently retarded than we had been before, by the obstructions which terraces projecting into the river, and islands, offered to our towing horse, who, with the driver, was frequently belly deep in the water, which often forced our boatmen to the tedious application of their poles. The towns of Geisenheim, St. Bartholomaï, and Winkel, presented the same sprightly and agreeable aspect as Rüdesheim. I have observed that many towns 282in the Rhingau are of Roman derivation, in corroboration of which, many of their names are unquestionably so: as Winkel from Vinicella; Eltivil, from Alta Villa; and Lorch, or as the Germans pronounce it, Lorricke, from Laureacum, &c.

After quitting Rüdesheim, the noble priority of St. Johannesberg, proudly placed upon the summit of a vast mountain, surrounded with villages, hamlets, convents, nunneries, and other stately buildings, and having a back ground of distant hills covered with vines, commanded the admiration of all on board. This priory was founded in 1102, by Ruthard, second archbishop of Mayence, and in the devastating war of thirty years under Gustavus Adolphus, was rased to the ground. The land was afterwards sold to the abbot of Fuld, who rebuilt it in its present modern style, and afterwards it was given to the late Prince of Orange as an indemnity, and now forms a part of the rich territory of the Prince of Nassau Usingen. In a cave or cellar belonging to the priory, several thousands of hogsheads of the choicest wines are kept. The red blecker of Johannesburg is celebrated all over the world, and is the juice of the vineyard of the priory only; but the finest produce of the Rhingau is from the grape of Asmanshausen; Ehrenfels, and Rüdesheim, and particularly of some very small vineyards contiguous to them, called Rodtland, Hauptberg, and Hinterhausen, which rank the highest; and in this class also are included the numerous vineyards on the steep hills of Bingen, on the opposite shore. The second class embraces the vines of Rothenberg, Geisenheim, and Kapellgarten. The third class includes the grapes of Johannesberg, and the Fuldische Schlossberg. The fourth, the vines of Hattenheim, and Marker Brunner. The fifth, those of the cloister of Eberbach. Sixthly, those of Kitterich and Grafenberg; and the seventh, those of Rauenthal, and the hills and spots adjacent. All these classes are included in the district of the Rhingau.

The celebrated hock, is the produce of the vineyards of Hockheim, or High-home, above Mayence, to the eastward. Of the grape, that called the Reislinge, the longest known to these regions, ranks the highest; the Orleans grape, the orange or red 283Burgundy, and the Lambert, occupy the next place in the public estimation; and the Muscadelle and Kleimberg, which are frequently cultivated in private gardens, the third.

We still continued our course on the left bank of the Rhine, and passed by many beautiful villages, and the handsome towns of Haltenheim, Erbach, Elfeld, Steinheimerhof, Nieder or Lower Wallauf, where ancient churches and convents are interspersed amongst many handsome modern houses. We reached Nieder Wallauf, the last town of the Rhingau to the east, and afterwards Schierstein, a pretty town where, as our progress was so frequently delayed by the numerous islands which lie close to the bank, in company with a very pleasant, intelligent German, I quitted the boat, and walked to Biberich: the day was remarkably fine, and our road lay through luxuriant corn and pasture fields, vineyards, orchards, every where profusely adorned with castles, religious houses, picturesque cottages, and beautiful chateaus, behind which the vast forest of Landeswald extends to an immense distance: at length the numerous spires, and the lofty towers and palaces of Mayence opened upon us, from the opposite side of the river, and had a very venerable, and majestic effect.

Our entrance into an avenue of nearly a mile and a half in length, thickly lined with walnut, apple, pear, and plum trees, loaded with fruit, announced our approach to Biberich, the superb palace of the Prince of Nassau Usingen. As I made a drawing of this palace and the adjacent town when I descended the Rhine, and the boat was in a central part of the river, it will be unnecessary to describe it. I had no time to view the apartments, but my laquais informed me, that they were grand, and furnished in a princely manner: the town is modern, small, and very handsome. As we skirted Ingelheim, we were informed that the illustrious Charlemagne, the great prototype of Bonaparte, selected this place for his favourite residence, where he built a magnificent palace, which was supported by a hundred columns of Italian marble, and had an immense number of apartments, in which synods and the most important councils of state were held: that his son Louis le Debonnaire died broken-hearted here, in consequence of the rebellions of his sons Lotharius and Louis.

Not a vestige remains of this celebrated pile to prove that it once existed: but in the life of Louis le Debonnaire, Nigellus thus consecrates this building:

No doubt is entertained that that august pile once embellished this spot. Charlemagne could not have chosen a place more advantageous with regard to his political relations, or more beautiful in richness and variety of scenery, where Nature every where saluted him with wine, with fruit, and every desirable production of a genial soil, fit to make glad the soul of an emperor.

In less than an hour after quitting Ingelheim we reached Cassel, immediately opposite Mayence, to which it communicates by an amazing long bridge, formed of a moveable platform, placed upon fifty-six lighters, two or three of which draw out at pleasure by means of ropes and pullies, to open a passage for vessels ascending or descending the Rhine, and is 3830 feet long; one very similar to this was built by order of Charlemagne at the same place: here our voyage terminated. On account of the search of the custom-house officers being very severe on the French side, the passengers prefer being landed at Cassel: where all the bustle of a populous city, and a great military station, presented itself. The bridge was crowded with beautiful and elegantly dressed women, French officers, soldiers, and various other persons, in carriages and on foot, going to or returning from Mayence, which, with its venerable cathedral and splendid buildings, extending themselves along the river, had a very grand effect. Our luggage was searched by a German custom-house officer, who behaved very politely; and I proceeded to a good hotel in Cassel, and sat down with several French officers to some excellent refreshments.

In my description of the Rhine as I ascended it, I have, from the desire of not fatiguing my reader, only noticed the principal towns and objects, some of which I visited then, and others on my return. I felt myself abundantly rewarded by the unparalleled 286beauty and grandeur of those scenes, which so often excited my admiration and amazement, for any little inconvenience, and perhaps some little hazard, to which I was occasionally exposed, and I regret that I can only convey a very imperfect impression of them to those who have never had the good fortune to form their personal opinion of them.

Having been previously warned not to attempt to enter Mayence, which, as it is now incorporated with France, I shall call by that name, on account of the unusual rigour exercised by the police towards strangers, in consequence of the city being the great military depot of the French on the Rhine, and the greatest skill of their engineers having been lavished on its fortifications, I was content to view it from Cassel, and to receive some little account of it from a very intelligent German, who had resided there some years, as we looked upon the city from our hotel window. The electoral palace, of red brick, by the side of which the Rhine flows, where Bonaparte resided during his stay in Mayence, in 1804, presented a very noble appearance. The dome or cathedral, which rose with awful dignity before us, is a vast gothic pile, having four unequal towers: it had once a lofty spire, but a thunder-storm, many years since, beat it down with lightning, and burnt a considerable part of the edifice. Few cities have suffered more than this by the ravages of war; most of its civil and sacred buildings have been at one period or another damaged or destroyed by cannon, the ruins of which still remain. My intelligent friend informed me that this city was celebrated for the great beauty of its female inhabitants, and that before the French took possession of it the electoral court threw a brilliant lustre over the place, which was unrivalled by any city on the Rhine for its gaiety, elegance, and splendor; characteristics which have been impaired, but far from annihilated. It contains colleges, lyceums, a theatre, and ball and concert rooms, all of which continue to be well attended.

Mayence, from its having been always considered as one of the great bulwarks of Germany, suffered most dreadfully in the last war. In October, 1792, General Custine compelled it to surrender 287after a slight bombardment, and under his administration the majority of the inhabitants who did not fly entered cordially into the views of the French revolutionists: he augmented the fortifications of the city, and placed a strong garrison in the suburbs of Cassel, which has always been considered as a place of great importance, and raised a number of redoubts and batteries there. In July, 1793, the Prussians, after seizing on Costheim, and defeating an army under General Houchard, which was marching to succour the garrison of Mayence, reduced both that city and Cassel, the miserable inhabitants of which endured the greatest horrors, and many of the finest and most venerable buildings of the former were fired, and nearly destroyed, during the siege. Merlin, who acted as one of the commissioners to the French army during the siege, stated to the convention, that such was the scarcity of provisions, a pound of horse-flesh had been sold at two, and a dead cat at six livres, and that five thousand men had perished in defence of the place. Although Custine had no choice left but to capitulate, Barrere, by his report of the siege, led to his being denounced and decapitated. During this siege the palace of the provosts suffered terribly; the celebrated electoral palace called La Favorite, and seven churches, were totally destroyed; and scarce a house escaped without being pierced with cannon balls. Mutton sold for sixty sols a pound, and beef one hundred sols; and at last bell-metal and paper money were used: the following was the superscription of the latter:

And, what an epicure will perhaps more regret, the whole vineyard of Hockheim was destroyed.

The French were highly indignant at the loss of so important a place, and resolved upon attempting the recovery of it from its 288victors, as soon as the mighty objects which claimed on all sides the activity and energy of their rulers and generals, were accomplished; and accordingly, in June 1795, the French army again blockaded this devoted city, during which it sustained a renewal of its suffering, from which it again was relieved by the successful operations of Mareschal Clairfayt, at the head of the Austrians against the revolutionary troops, who were attacked and routed upon the heights of Mornbach, when the Mareschal appeared before Mayence, attacked and carried the entrenched camp of the enemy, upon which the skill of their ablest engineers had been exerted for eleven months to render it invulnerable. General Schaal, who occupied this strong position, on the retreat of Jourdan, with fifty-two battalions of infantry and five regiments of cavalry, was obliged to retire with great loss in cannon, ammunition and men. In this bombardment some Tyrol sharp-shooters displayed their wonted skill in an amazing manner, by killing, from the banks of Cassel, several French officers with their rifle-pieces, who were walking on the ramparts on the opposite side of the river, the breadth of which I have already ascertained by the length of the floating bridge. In the beginning of the year 1797 a better destiny smiled upon the French arms in this region, and Moreau and Hoche made both sides of the Rhine resound with their victories, when the troops which garrisoned Mayence, to prevent the entire and unavailing demolition of the city, relinquished its possession, and the French remained masters of it.

Volumes have been written upon the superior pretension of Mayence to the original invention of the art of printing, and to transfer the honours of the discovery from Lawrence Coster of Haarlem to John Guttenburg, a citizen of this place. A vast deal of special pleading has been displayed on both sides; and, to use a jockey phrase, these racers for the merited gratitude and admiration of all who followed them, reached the goal almost “neck and neck,” but the majority of judgments given appropriate the glory to Coster: his mode was the simplest, and therefore thought to be the earliest; his moulds were made of wood and immoveable, 289and he stamped the paper only on one side: Guttenburg printed on both sides of the leaf with moveable metal types.

The extremity of the bridge towards Cassel, and all the ramparts and redoubts of the town, which are very strongly fortified, were occupied by French soldiers. With two German gentlemen and a Dutch officer, I set off for Francfort, distant eight stunder or hours, or four German miles, under a scorching sun, which did not seem to have any effect upon a large party of monks and priests, and followers, bearing the host, who were walking bare headed in procession to a monastery which we had just passed, near which I left the carriage to make a sketch of Mayence, upon a projecting bank of the river Maine, where I bade adieu to the Rhine. Our road lay through an avenue of walnut, apple, and pear trees, loaded with fruit, to which passengers helped themselves whenever inclination disposed them to do so; and part of the Hockheim hills, covered with the renowned vineyards, which produce what in England is called old hock. As many a saint, high in superstitious veneration, must have had at least ten skulls and one hundred toe nails, as if no illusion has been practised by those who have exhibited them to the credulous in different eras and various regions, so nothing short of the power of transmuting water into wine, could produce from these vineyards the immense quantity of wine which passes under the title of hock. Certain it is, that the greater quantity of wine honoured with that name, is from the grapes of both sides of the lower part of the Rhine. In the district where it is produced, very old genuine Hockheim wine is sold at the rate of three, and sometimes five, shillings a bottle.

At the first stage we stopped at a village where there is a noble building upon an eminence, commanding a beautiful prospect, which I at first took for a palace, but it proved to be a tobacco manufactory, warehouses, and the residence of the proprietor and his family; the front is five hundred feet long, and the whole exterior infinitely more princely than Buckingham-house. After passing this place the road became level, and the country presented corn-fields, pasture, and orchards in great abundance. For many miles round, this country had been often the theatre of hostilities; 290and though Nature had long since effaced their melancholy impressions from her fields by reviving verdure, yet prostrate cottages and battered convents displayed the march and ravages of the demon War! Happy, thrice happy my own country, where the sound of cannon is never heard but to announce a victory, or to augment the gaiety of some festive occasion!

The suburbs of Francfort are very delightful, and after passing over a draw-bridge, and through a deep, gateway, we entered the city, the streets of which are crowded and full of gaiety and bustle, in consequence of the great autumnal fair which was holding there. All the best inns were brimful, and with great difficulty the Dutch officer and myself procured a miserable double-bedded room, at an inferior inn, filled with petty merchants and their families, whom the spirit of traffic had led to this celebrated mart, and was half choked up with cases and boxes containing their merchandize. This town swarms with French soldiers, about thirty of whom slept in rooms adjoining to ours, where they deported themselves with great order. My companion had just returned from the Cape, in consequence of its surrender to the British arms. He spoke with liberal rapture of gallantry of the English troops. In Germany, as in Holland, time is taken by the forelock, and at six o’clock the stiefelputzer, or boot-cleaner, knocked at the door, followed by the chambermaid with a composition of frankincense and other gums of a pyramidal shape, and about an inch high, much used in Germany, called a Räucher-kerz, for perfuming rooms, which she placed upon our candlestick and left smoking. My Dutch companion annoyed me at this hour, first by begging that I would hear him read one book of Milton’s Paradise Lost, a little English edition of which he had in his pocket, which he achieved in an incongruous mêlange of various languages; and secondly, by begging me to lend him my tooth-brush for a few minutes, observing, that he preferred an English tooth-brush to any other, and at the same moment applying it to his teeth with equal alacrity and gratification. After he had paid such a compliment to English tooth-brushes, and had done me the honour of using mine, the least I could do was to beg that he 291would favour me with keeping it for my sake, with which he was much pleased, and accordingly introduced it to a party of combs and razors in his shaving-case. In all other respects he was an agreeable man, and I am sure a liberal-minded soldier. This city, which was till lately imperial, is one of the most ancient towns in Germany, and has several handsome streets and noble buildings: it is particularly celebrated for the splendor of its hotels, which are reported to be the most magnificent in Europe, particularly those called the Rothen Haus or Red House, and the Rörniskchen Kaiser or Roman emperor, where the King of Prussia lodged when he visited this town; and the Darmstadter Hof, in which Mareschal Augerau and his suite resided whilst I was at Francfort: so crowded was the city, that it was with great difficulty and some interest I procured apartments at the Weiden-hof, or Willow-Court, a second rate inn, but of great magnitude. Our table d’hote, at which between two and three hundred persons of respectability sat down every day, was held in a noble room; it was splendidly served, and an excellent band seated in an elevated gallery, performed during dinner. The principal houses are built of red and white stone: the cassino, to which I was admitted by a card of introduction from one of the principal bankers, is very elegant. There are also several other clubs and assembly rooms. The theatre is spacious and very handsome, the performers were good, and the band is large and select. Opposite to the theatre is a mall, formed by several rows of trees, which in the evening is much frequented, where many a lover may exclaim with Moore,

Before the Rhenish confederation the town was split into two religious sects, the Lutherans and Calvinists, which are now blended in perfect harmony by the liberal influence of toleration. A grand discharge of cannon one morning announced the ceremony of the members of the senate and the colleges being about 292to assemble in the Römer, or town-hall, to complete the investing the Prince Primate with the sovereignty of the city, the keys having been delivered up before to the representative of the prince, under a similar discharge of artillery, agreeable to certain provisions contained in the act of the Rhenish confederation.

Curiosity induced me to visit the place of this meeting, which is a very large and ancient gothic pile, situated in a narrow street. In this building are several chambers, which have been applied to memorable purposes; one in particular, which before the late revolution in the German empire, was used by the Electors upon the august occasion of making choice of a new Emperor: there are some good paintings in some of these apartments. The ceremony of the installation of the Prince Primate was over in a very short time; the mob, which was a small one, soon dispersed; and scarcely any one mentioned the matter three days afterwards.

The cathedral church of St. Bartholomew, which belongs to the catholics, is another venerable relic of antiquity: it is reported to have been built by Pepin, king of France, in 756, enriched by Charlemagne, and plundered by Lewis of Bavaria, on account of its chapter adhering to the Pope. Strange to relate, although the coronation of the Emperor used to take place in it, there is not one object within its walls, either of sacred splendor, or monumental celebrity, worthy of notice. In the year 1792, when the French entered this city as conquerors, their commanding officers went with great military pomp to this cathedral; where, being attended by the senators, the commander in chief closed an address by exclaiming, “Under the roof of this venerable temple have not many of you witnessed the coronation of the Emperor of the Romans?” to which no answer was given. “I demand a reply to my question,” exclaimed the general with some warmth; “Yes” was faintly answered; “Then,” replied he, “you will never see him more in this place.” This prophecy issued from an oracle which possessed the means of consummating its prediction.

I was pleased with the fair, although it fell far short of my expectation; the principal booths which were erected near the Römer, and also parallel with the river Maine, formed a very agreeable 293and sprightly street, entirely covered with canvass awnings: here all sorts of goods, the productions of various parts of the globe, were exposed to sale; and here were also several booksellers’ stalls, where the most eminent works are sold folded in sheets, for the purchase of lesser merchants in the trade. No press in the world is so prolific as the German: the number of ingenious works which it annually yields, amongst which are many able productions, are astonishing. I was informed that the fair had wasted almost to nothing, in consequence of the various injuries it has sustained from the war, and the severe policy of Bonaparte respecting the introduction of English manufacture, very little of which was to be found at this mart. In the printers’ stalls, which used to be well supplied from the English school of engraving, were very few prints worthy of attention. I saw several execrable imitations of some from the exquisite pencil of Westall. At the end of the principal street of the fair, close to the river, were rows of immense tubs, in which, like Diogenes, many poor German tradesmen and their families very sagaciously eat and slept, for want of a better habitation.

An excursion to the beautiful and elegant little sovereign town of Offenbach, about five English miles from Francfort, enabled me to admire the great progress which the Germans have made in the tasteful art of carriage-building. In a very large depot of carriages there, I saw several which would have been distinguished for their lightness and beauty in London. There are several other fabrics, viz. of jewellery, pocket-books, tobacco, toys, &c. The society of this place, where the prince who bears its name has a little court, is very refined and accomplished. The suburbs of Francfort are formed of beautiful and romantic walks and vineyards, enlivened by handsome country-houses. On the road near the entrance to the west, adjoining the splendid chateau of Mr. Beatham, the celebrated banker, at whose town house the present King of Prussia became enamoured with his Queen, is a monument, composed of a helmet, a lion’s skin, and emblems of war, in bronze, made out of the cannon taken by the King of Prussia from the French at Mayence, mounted upon a stone pedestal, rising from an artificial rock, upon which are inscriptions commemorative of its having been raised by Prince Williamstadt to the memory of the gallant Prince of Hesse-Phillipsthal and 295three hundred brave Hessians, who perished on this spot, when the French were obliged to evacuate the town in the year 1792. The French had taken quiet possession of it a few months before, under the command of General Neuwinger and Colonel Houchard, when they levied two millions of florins upon pain of military execution on the opulent classes of the inhabitants. The most distinguished personage in Francfort was Mareschal Augerau, whom I frequently met. The heroic valour and skill which he displayed in the campaigns of Italy, particularly at the battle of Arcole and before Mantua, and afterwards in Germany, will render his name illustrious in the military annals of France: he is a highly polished and accomplished gentleman, and was equally admired and esteemed by the inhabitants of Francfort; he lived in a style becoming his dignity, without ostentation, and was upon all occasions very accessible.

Linglebach, the celebrated painter, was born here in 1625. His subjects were fairs, mountebanks, sea prospects, naval engagements, and landscapes, in which he eminently excelled. In company with my two friends from whom I parted at Rotterdam, and who rejoined me here, I set off for Darmstadt, about eighteen English miles from Francfort. We crossed a noble bridge over the Maine, and passed through a considerable, and fortified town, called Saxenhausen. Our road, which was sandy, was for a considerable way lined with luxuriant nursery-grounds and vineyards. About four miles from Francfort we passed a plain oaken post, about six feet high, upon which, under a painted star and crown, was written (in German), “Sovereign Territory of the Prince Primate of the Rhenish confederation.” Upon this road I saw, for the first time, a great number of little posts, painted white and numbered; they are called minute-posts, by which the pedestrian traveller is enabled to ascertain with great exactness the progress he makes in his journey. A very handsome avenue of stately poplars, of nearly two English miles, forms the approach to the city, which is nearly surrounded by a lofty wall, not capable of affording much protection against an enemy. The suburbs contain some handsome houses, in which, as the principal hotel in the city was 296full, we took up our quarters at the post-house, a very excellent inn.

For a capital, Darmstadt is small, and its palace infinitely too large: of the latter the Emperor Joseph sarcastically observed, that it was big enough to accommodate himself and the nine electors. However, very little of the internal part is finished, and most of the windows are boarded up. The Grand Duke and his family reside in a part of a new palace, projecting from the old one, looking towards the gardens. That immense structure is built in imitation of the Thuilleries, and surrounded by a broad deep dry ditch. The hereditary Prince, who married the youngest daughter of the House of Baden, and whose sisters share the thrones of Russia and Sweden, has a large and handsome house at a little distance from the old palace; exclusive of this prince, his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, Louis the Tenth, has several other children. He is turned of fifty years of age, is an enlightened, brave, and amiable prince, and a celebrated engineer. He was the last of the German princes who in the last war sheathed the sword he had drawn against the French; a power which the preservation of his dignity and his dominion compelled him to coalesce with. Bonaparte, when he was digesting the Rhenish Confederation, wished to invest him with the kingly dignity, but the Grand Duke declined the offer. Darmstadt has produced many valiant and distinguished officers. At the parade I had the pleasure of seeing General Von Werner, the governor of the city, who at the head of the chevaux legers, or light horse, performed prodigies of valour in the Netherlands in the last war, where in one battle he was surrounded by seven French chasseurs, from whom he received the most desperate wounds in various parts of his body before he surrendered. The late General Von Düring, a name, on account of the heroic courage of the person to whom it belonged, for ever embalmed in the memory of the English who served in the last war in the Low Countries, in the years 1793, 4, 5, was born in this dutchy. The troops were good looking men, and presented a very soldier-like appearance: the uniform of the officers of the infantry is a blue coat faced with scarlet, 297a large cocked hat, richly trimmed with deep silver lace, and has a very handsome appearance. The dragoons wear a casket, a light green jacket, and are well mounted. The pay of a soldier is about the value of twopence a day. Several captains in the army are princes (princes appanages), or princes of a distant branch, who have but little property.

The principal object to attract the attention of a traveller is the Exercierhaus, or house for manœuvering the troops in the winter: it forms one side of the space of ground allotted for the parade, is three hundred and fourteen feet long, and one hundred and fifty-two broad, and has been erected about thirty-five years.

The ceiling of this enormous room is self-supported by a vast and most ingenious wooden frame-work, without the assistance of either pillar or arch below. Above this ceiling are a great number of apartments. In a part of the room below, the artillery of the Grand Duke is deposited, which is kept in high military order. About four thousand troops can be manœuvred in this room with ease. The gardens adjoining to the exercise-house are laid out in the English style, are very spacious, and would be very beautiful if the ground undulated a little more; much taste has been displayed in their arrangement, and the house of the chief gardener is very pretty. These gardens are liberally opened to the public, form the principal promenade, and were embellished on the day I visited them with several lovely and elegantly dressed women. In one part is a neat but simple mausoleum, erected by the order of Frederic the Great to the memory of one of the landgravines of Darmstadt, a princess remarkable for the powers of her mind and the beauty of her person: upon which is the following elegant inscription, composed by that great Prince:

298A short distance from the garden is a park in which wild boars are kept for hunting. The religion of the dutchy is Lutheran. The affairs of the state are conducted by a court of regency, and other courts, composed of counsellors and a president, who regulate the military, administer the laws, digest the finance, and superintend all matters that relate to religion. Those who complain of “the law’s delay” in England, would be speedily reconciled to the tardity of its progress were they to commence a suit in Germany, where it excited considerable surprise that the procrastination of Mr. Hastings’ trial, which lasted seven years and three months, should have caused any murmurs amongst us, that period being thought a moderate one by almost every German. Living in this dutchy is very cheap: a bachelor can keep a horse, dine at the first table d’hôte, and drink a bottle of wine a day, and mingle in the best circles, upon one hundred pounds per annum. The society in Darmstadt is very agreeable. As the minds of the men and women are so highly cultivated and accomplished in Germany, every party presents some mode or other, equally delightful and blameless, to make Time smile, and to strew over his passage with flowers. The country round Darmstadt is very beautiful, and abounds with corn and various sorts of fruit-trees, which are frequently unprotected by any fence, and the common path winds through avenues of them. Amongst other delicious fruit, there is a red plumb called zwetschen, peculiar to the south of Germany, which grows in great richness and luxuriance in this dutchy. As a proof of the profusion in which it grows, in one of my rambles with some friends, I met a boy laden with a basket full of them, who sold us 130 for some little pieces, amounting to a penny English; and the little rogue looked back with an arch smile as we separated, as if he had made a highly profitable bargain. As I was walking in the principal street with a friend of mine, I was struck with the following expression: “Look at that officer; would you believe it that with so fine a person, and a mind to correspond with it, he has received two baskets?” My surprise at the expression was dissolved by being informed, that when a lady refuses an offer of love, she sends the luckless lover 299a little basket as a token of her disinclination to receive his addresses.

The French interest is powerful in Darmstadt, although amongst all the princes of the Rhenish confederation, no one has displayed more energy and spirit than the Grand Duke. A striking instance of this occurred to one of my companions: in this dutchy, and I believe in other parts of Germany, there is a law that renders it penal to drive off the road upon the grass, but the postillion who drove him, having, to spare his horses, offended against the law, archly turned round to him and said, “Pray, Sir, in case I should be prosecuted, say you are a Frenchman, and then they will not make me pay the penalty.”

The antipathy between the natives of Darmstadt and their neighbours of Hesse Cassel, is as inveterate as that between the English and French. As I was preparing to set off for Heidelburg, we heard that the troops of Darmstadt were expected to march at a moment’s notice to seize upon Hanau, a town belonging to Hesse Cassel, which has afforded frequent subject of broil between the two countries; but upon inquiry, we were privately informed, that Bonaparte was expected to call upon the Grand Duke to march his contingent to the field of battle against the Prussians, with whom immediate hostilities were thought to be inevitable. I much regretted that this approaching storm, which began to spread a deep shade over the political horizon, prevented me from extending my excursion further into Germany, a country to which Nature has been very bountiful, where the women unite refined accomplishments to the charms of person, and where the men are distinguished for their genius, probity, and indefatigable industry, and both for an unaffected urbanity of manners.

Upon my return to Francfort, part of the French army rushed in like a torrent, on its way to give the Prussians battle. It had rained very hard all the day on which the advance guard entered; but every soldier, although covered with mud, and wet to the skin, went, or rather danced, singing merrily all the way, to the house where he was to be quartered. This city has been dreadfully drained at various times, by the immense number of French 300troops which have been billeted upon the inhabitants: at one time they had fifty thousand to support, and to supply with various articles of clothing for six months. Every house had a certain number billeted upon them, according to its size and the opulence of the family. Upon their march the French are as little encumbered as possible; in their way they compel the farmer, butcher, baker, &c. to furnish them with what they want, for which notes are given by the proper officers, if they have no cash, to the seller, according to the price agreed upon, which is generally a very fair one, and which the paymaster in the rear of the army discharges upon coming up.

As the gathering tempest prevented me from penetrating into the south of Germany beyond Darmstadt, I applied to M. Bacher, the French minister, for permission to return pour changer to Rotterdam, by the way of Brussels, Antwerp, &c. but the old, shrewd politician, in a very crabbed manner refused, and ordered me to keep on the right bank of the Rhine. Thus was I obliged to retrace my steps; however, it enabled me again to contemplate the sublime and beautiful scenes of the Rhine, which I did in a boat, the cabin and roof of which were crammed with passengers to various cities on different sides of the river: the wind was against us, but the stream was strong, of which our boatmen availed themselves by placing the vessel transversely, and, without rowing or towing, in two days and a half we bade adieu to our voyageurs, a little before we reached Cologne, where we landed at Duitz, and retrod our steps, which enabled me here and there to correct errors and supply omissions. At Wesel we arrived at half past six o’clock in the evening, and found the gates shut, which compelled us to sleep upon straw at a little inn in the suburbs. At six the next morning, we beheld a sad massacre perpetrating by the engineers and soldiers of the garrison, upon all the trees in the neighbourhood that could conceal or assist an enemy in approaching the town, and for a similar reason several houses in the suburbs were marked for destruction. Such is the commencement of the horrors of war! The Prussians were expected to lay siege to this strongly fortified town in a few days, which induced the Grand 301Duke of Berg, who was in the citadel at the time, to have recourse to these severe preparations.

After pursuing our route through Amsterdam, where the great fair was holding, during which the Dutch character became absolutely lively, through Leyden and Rotterdam, at the last of which we were sadly annoyed about our necessary passports of departure, which require the signature of the King’s secretary at the Hague, and the countersign of a Dutch commissioner, appointed, during my absence, for such purpose at Rotterdam, in consequence of the French ambassador’s power over such matters having been withdrawn, we at length, like hunted hares, arrived at the spot from whence we started, viz. Maesland-sluys, where, after undergoing the vexation of more forms and ceremonies before our old friend the commodore, on board of his guard-ship, we embarked in the identical dismal galliot which brought us to Holland, and after expecting every moment an order of embargo, we got out to sea, where we endured no common misery for six days and nights, after which I landed again upon my beloved native country: